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netherworldpost · 11 months

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With the various rumors and releases of Tumblr possibly changing how they do things... (gestures to the vague rumor mill)...

Zines.

I really think we as Folks Who Make Things and Folks Who Like Art Writing Poetry Music Comics Other Things need to explore zines. And I mean ZINES. Nothing glossy. Nothing fancy.

Very. Cheap. Zines.

I've been threatening mentioning I was going to create a guide on how I'm going to approach this -- and I'm going to -- but I am also realizing in the writing I Do Things Highfalutin because I am who I am + had a career in graphic design.

Let's talk about how you can make a zine very cheaply and very pretty.

STEP ONE: SUPPLIES

Very bright paper. I like "Astrobrights" because they are absurdly bright. Here is a link in a store I like. I buy a lot of paper and envelopes from them. You can generally find Astrobrights in big box office stores. It prints on laser printers and ink jet and photocopiers.

Very bright envelopes. What's that? Astrobrights has envelopes?! AM I SOLVING PROBLEMS let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Letter paper is 8.5" x 11" and is the most common size in the united states (overseas folk will have to use this advice with a grain o'sea salt and search yer own waters).

A9 envelopes are a letter sheet folded in half.

A2 envelopes are a letter sheet folded in half, then folded in half.

#10 envelopes are your common long envelopes, letter paper folded in thirds.

Pick the size you like.

If you want to get big and fancy, Tabloid is 17" x 11" -- so double a letter sheet. This gets tricky to work with but is neat in sizing.

STEP TWO: ZINE CONTENT

Do you know how to use InDesign or similar program? Use that.

No? Use Google Docs or Word or whatever other program and ramble.

Want something special? Write out some or part with a sharpee or pen.

Mix and match both.

If you are feeling fancy, design it like a booklet -- mock up a sheet of blank paper as if it were a brochure. If not, just design it straight up and down like a letter. There are no zine laws.

STEP THREE: ZINE PRINTING

Print at home on your home printer.

Don't have a printer at home? Print it at work (don't get fired)

Can't? Your local library may be able to help.

You need 1 copy on white paper.

FedEx Office has photocopiers. Your local library may too. Or your job.

Print 1 copy of your zine on white paper and then photocopy the rest onto colorful paper (or white paper, it be yer zine seadog).

Or print everything on the color paper if you have access to free printing, that's fine too.

The photocopy setup is purely "printing tends to cost more than photocopying."

If you want to slash prices, print 2 per sheet and have FedEx office cut them for you, this will cost $1 - $5 depending on how many sheets you are dealing with. This is for when you're doing a LOT of zines at once.

Or use their manual paper cutter yourself for free.

STEP FOUR: ZINE STAPLING

"Long reach stapler" is what I recommend. There are a few varieties. They tend to be $20 - $30.

Or just use 1 sheet!

STEP FOUR: ZINE POSTAGE

A single first class stamp for 1-2 pages. If you get up to 3+, go to the post office and ask them to weigh a comp you have assembled.

This is a guideline.

It's a really good idea to check at least once how much your zine weighs just in general. Post offices have scales. And are pretty. And have stamps.

OKAY ENOUGH LUSTING FOR THE POST OFFICE FROM THE GHOTS POST OFFICE BLOG BACK TO WORK

STEP FIVE: ZINE MAILING

This is actually the most difficult part. Label printers exist with various costs -- if you're starting out? Go with printable labels.

Your office supply shop will have them and they'll have templates you can drop in the customer addresses.

Save yourself time by using this label as the thing that seals the envelope -- don't lick envelopes.

A key tenet to staying in business is constantly reviewing physical (and mental) labor and stressors and reducing them as much as possible.

Return address labels are intensely cheap in literally every online printer, google "return address labels." Make sure you have this because at least a few of your shipments will come back to you.

STEP SIX: ZINE PRICING

Okay here is where we get uncomfortable because we're talkin' coins.

Prices are based on above links. You can get whatever paper you want, so this is guidelines. All numbers rounded up.

Payment processing ($0.30) + $0.05 sheet + $0.15 envelope + $0.66 first class postage = $1.16 base cost

$1.16 + 2.9% of $1.16 payment processing = $1.20

Plus taxes. I'm not getting into tax figures YOU DO THAT (just say 30% for easy math, this is not saying "your taxes are 30% or that mine are" I am saying "I am going to factor 30% for this equation to complete this guide".)

I did not include the mailing label (it will be $0.01 - $0.05 depending on how fancy and how many you buy) because you have the option to just write things and also it fits into the rounding of the above.

If you use Patreon, include your fees. Probably replace the above processing fees with your patreon processing... fees? I don't use patreon I don't know how it works.

Retail option 01: $1.50 - 1.20 = $0.80 gross - 30% = $0.09 / net / zine.

Retail option 02: $2 - 1.20 = $0.80 gross - 30% = $0.56 / net / zine.

Retail option 03: $3 - 1.20 = $1.80 gross - 30% = $1.26 / net / zine.

Should it be $1.50? Should it be $3.00? MORE? LESS?! That is for you to decide. Base it on what your zine contains, how long it takes you to write/draw/etc. it and how you want your flow to be.

STEP SEVEN: ZINE FREQUENCY

When my shop launches, it'll have a zine once a month. We are going to offer a subscription option + a "I just want 1" option.

You can do a zine monthly, or every few months, or whatever.

Keep in mind that the purpose of doing this is to break the dependency on social media marketing.

KEEP IN MIND AS AN AUDIENCE MEMBER TO A CREATOR YOU LIKE THAT THEY ARE DOING THIS TO BREAK THEIR DEPENDENCY ON SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING.

If you have a lot of energy and an audience that comes to your shop a lot? Consider doing a zine monthly.

If you do not have a lot of energy and/or your audience is tapped for cash frequently? Considering doing 1 zine per season.

Consider 2 zines a year if that works better for you!

NO RULES ONLY JOY

Not sure? Experiment! Be upfront! "This is new. I'm figuring this out. Billionaires are tinkering with these things and we gotta figure something else out."

BONUS STEP: NETHERWORLDPOST.COM

so hi I'm atty and I'm your loud long rambler today

Netherworld Post Office used to be @evilsupplyco and now we are rebranding in prep of relaunching. Same person behind the rambles and comics, new name with a more focus (mail instead of mail + seemingly everything else in experiment)

if you enjoyed this ramble and/or like ghosts, monsters, witches, mermaids, and fun stories and projects focused on cozy Halloween, you may like us when we finish the rebranding and relaunching in autumn 2023.

email sign up (the zine will come when we are open)

WHETHER YOU JOIN MY LIST OR NOT

I really, really, really hope you consider doing a regular, or irregular, zine. Something outside of email, something outside of social media, something that connects I MADE A WEIRD THING and the people who say I LOVE THIS WEIRD THING YOU MADE.

The walls are closing in on free social media as a platform for people who make weird things to build audiences for free or very cheap.

And with that...

netherworldpost.com as one final hat pass

good luck folks

thanks for listenin' to the ol' ghost

#small business #small business marketing #small business fun #zines #zine #making zines

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leonw4nter · 22 days

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There Are No Cute Officers In The Station!.. save for one

RE2R!Leon x Teacher!F!Reader

“Tehila Kaufman.”

“Here!”

“Antonia Lange.”

“Here!”

“And… Sherry Birkin.”

The lack of a response caught your attention instead of her voice. You call her name again, looking around in the bus for any sign of the blonde 12-year-old. You observe each seat, counting and checking each student for any sign of Sherry.

“Sherry!” A classmate of hers calls out, shifting in her seat and pressing her hands into the foggy windows. You remind the class to stay put in their seats and be on their best behavior as you exit the bus to greet your pupil and her guardian, who looked a little frazzled.

“Sherry! Good morning, I was looking for you,” you say with a soft smile as you ruffle her hair which is styled into a braid paired with a strawberry clip near her temple.

“I’m really sorry, miss. The taxi we rode on the way here got pulled over by cops and it took us quite some time to find another one,” her guardian Claire apologized with a meek beam.

You smiled and nodded, understanding her situation; you have enormous respect for Claire, juggling an odd job along with college while also taking care of a 12-year old. Despite all the odds stacked against her, the teen always managed to make sure Sherry was ready for school, which included making sure she had complete supplies and was sent to school before the school day started. You reassured her that all is fine before informing her that Sherry should board the bus now since the bus is scheduled to leave for the Raccoon City Police Station soon to begin the whole-day trip.

“Bye, Claire! See you later! I’ll try to bring home a souvenir if I can afford some!” She excitedly beams, to which she chuckles brightly at. With one more wave and a hug, she finally hops on the bus and goes to her designated seat.

After doing one final headcount of all the students and asking any of them if they needed to go to the restrooms, you give the driver a go signal to hit the road. Since the elementary school was just 15 minutes away from the museum-turned-police station, you advised that the students take a quick nap before they arrive at the destination. You look back and see some students already taking their naps, though some were talking with their peers or snacking on some energy bars. With a small smile, you turn back to the brochure you were sent and go over the paper. The program would start with a quick greeting by the lieutenant Marvin Branagh before he hands over the main task to officer Leon Kennedy for the rest of the afternoon before ending the tour with a quick video presentation and an essay-writing activity on their experience. Since you went over everything that needed to be checked and there would be some moderate traffic on the way, you decided to also catch a nap of your own.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────

After that short nap, you spent most of the time reminding the children not to touch anything they weren’t given permission to touch and to avoid bothering the other officers there since they had work to do. You also reiterated rules once more which included asking questions respectfully, asking permission to go to the restroom, and no rough playing. You considered it perfect timing when your reminders came to an end, the driver announcing that the class had arrived at the RPD. All the students pressed against the windows nearest to the station’s gates, oohing and aahing at the sight in front of them.

“That’s so cool! Look at that!”

“I can’t believe this place is a police station now. It still looks fascinating!”

“I wonder if there’s going to be any cute officers in here,” you hear a pupil giggling to her friends. You chuckle at her outlook on the situation before responding to her, her cheeks burning pink like her sweater.

“There won’t be any cute officers, Clara. Admire the art and not the cops, okay?”. She responded with a giddy grin and gave you a thumbs up, still giggling with her friends. Well, that was as much as an adolescent girl can promise but you didn’t mind too much as long as she didn’t get in trouble. After all, it’s not like you could judge her when you’re out on a personal mission to find a worthy bachelorette for your coworker Lilia’s affections; she could really use some help in rekindling her love life.

After a few minutes, you instructed your students to leave the bus in an orderly manner before lining them up by girls and boys in order to enter the beautiful station. The last thing people expected a museum to transform into is a police station and the RPD did a damn good job at it. Although much of the museum has been changed to fit a more police station feel, there were still remnants of the past museum that stayed like puzzle mechanisms, the statue up front, and the library that still stood according to the contractors involved in transforming the building. Those were only what you’ve read somewhere so of course, there’s going to be more locations within the precinct that were left unchanged during the renovation. Now that all your students have finally calmed down and straightened their lines, you begin leading them inside the gates and eventually into the precinct proper. The entire way to the large brown doors, your students quietly observed the various red and green herbs near the fences along with other ornamental flowers but occasionally oohed and ahhed some more, especially when officers started coming out of the door to welcome the eager students. The giggles and excited chuckles increase in volume, the electric excitement sizzling in the air– even the officers were excited, some of them also giggling and beaming widely; it seems like they’re just as excited as the kids are. Now that the class is right at the entrance of the precinct proper, you give them the cue to quiet down before greeting the three officers ‘good day’.

“Good day, officers!” They all greet in unison, genuine smiles on their lips. Their greeting pulls gleeful laughs from the officers before one of them speaks up.

“Good day to you as well, students. I’m Marvin Branagh, the Lieutenant for the Raccoon City Police Department but you may call me Officer Branagh. Here with me are officers Jill Valentine and Brad Vickers. They will help me in explaining the history of the museum up until recent renovations and then we’ll hand over the task to Officer Kennedy, who is waiting inside. He will act as your tour guide around the station– he may be a rookie but he’s well-versed in the rooms and artifacts in here so I trust that he will be able to execute his job well.”

The students nod, most of their gazes now peeled on the door instead of the officers. Jill chuckles and looks at you, giving you a kind smile.

“I guess you guys look ready to head in. Do you wanna head in now?,” she asks with a bright beam.

“Yeah!” Your students respond all together. Brad chuckles, giving Jill a friendly smack to the back.

“Hmm, I don’t feel the energy. Are you guys really ready?”

“YEAH!” They respond even louder, some of them cupping their hands to their mouth. Jill looks pleased with the hyping she’s done, giving Brad a confident look before she directs them in. “Alright. Let’s head in.”

With a small grunt, she and Brad open the doors to reveal the interior of the station. As soon as the kid last in line enters, you follow and take a look around for yourself. Your gaze falls on the ceilings and the wooden accents on the walls, stairs, and pillars before you really drink in the sight of the marble statue right in front of you. The Statue of the Winged Goddess is a lot taller than you thought, pictures now seeming to not capture the breathtaking marble sculpture. Even your students were stunned into silence, quietly appreciating the statue and the rest of the station’s wonders. “Wow, it’s so pretty” you think to yourself. “I should visit here again by myself sometime.”

“I see everyone’s got their breaths taken away by the beautiful Goddess in our station,” Brad’s voice snaps everyone out of their trance, you included.

“I get it, I was like that too when I first got there. Couldn’t stop staring and marveling at her, she’s a beauty isn’t she?”

The students murmur some “uh uh”s, unable to really tear their eyes off. You managed to snag your attention away from her, a little surprised at how your students were more enamored by the statue than the remnants of the museum that remained in the form of wooden accents and carvings on the Roman Tuscan columns.

“Alright, class. Eyes on Officer Vickers, he’ll be explaining the history of Raccoon City and the museum before it got renovated and reworked into a police station,” you say. They lead the students towards a room and they take their seat, sitting with their friends though you reminded them not to be too noisy.

“I advise that you take out notebooks and pens because you will have a written reflection activity by the end of the trip.”

The news of an essay activity due soon drew groans and complaints from your pupils but they still brought our paper and pens, ready to listen to the presentation.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────

After the 30-minute long presentation on various facts and information regarding the city and the station’s history, Brad finally wrapped it up. In the first half of the presentation, Marvin left the room and went somewhere to go look for someone, Officer Kennedy you assume. Jill and Brad took turns presenting, the pair doing their best to make this as interesting as possible for the children to keep their attention hooked on the slides and the short video that will be shown later on. Jill and Brad shared stories about how they came to work at Raccoon City, their younger years, their experiences when they were rookies, among many others.

“Jill here nearly got crushed during an investigation up there in the Arklay Mountains, carried around the ‘Jill Sandwich’ nickname for a bit,” Brad reminisced with a wicked grin while Jill was in the corner, arms crossed with a smirk while she tilts her head down and shakes it, brown strands swaying along to the motion.

Some students giggled, laughing along to their jokes; though it was easy to make them laugh, you’d bet that their cheeks would hurt by the time they got home due to how wide they were grinning. Sherry was talking amongst her friends, beaming and whispering every now and then. She seemed a lot more excited than the rest, if that was even possible; she kept looking towards the door where Marvin left but you didn’t really mind since it didn’t look like Sherry was too bothered by anything yet you made sure to still look after her well.

“That is it for our presentation, how was it?” Brad asked. “Anyone got questions? Clarifications? Insights?”

“Calm down, Vickers. Let the kids choose what to answer man,” Jill teased.

Casey raises his hand, waving it in eagerness to share what he possibly has to say. Jill nods to him, giving him the go-ahead to speak.

“It must be so cool working here! I mean– you got cool lookin’ statues and puzzles everywhere!”

Brad nods, smiling sincerely at the boy. “Yeah, it’s cool working here but it gets boring sometimes. Sometimes the day is slow and police work isn’t all going on missions and shooting guns– there’s times where we just sit at our desks and read mountains of reports but I love my job.”

Jill agrees, sharing an experience of her own for a few more minutes before officially wrapping up the presentation. “Now that everyone’s run out of things to say and ask, it’s time for the station tour to be led by our own rookie, officer Kennedy.”

You hear the door slightly creak along with the shuffling of shoes, soft taps of the soles of their footwear against the marble floors. You turn your head to observe where the sound is coming from and you swear you saw the sun walk in clad in blues and RPD badges. You try to stop staring at him shamelessly, to not gawk with your jaw parted but you fail; the longer you stared, the surroundings blurred into insignificance and all noise died down, the cheesiest romantic song you know seemingly playing in the distance the more he walked. It seemed perfect that this tall glass of water walking towards the front of the class worked at a building that used to house the finest pieces of art; this man looks like he was sculpted by a maestro. He didn’t say or do anything but his presence commanded your eyes, drawn to him like a moth to a flame. He must’ve really had you under his spell since you didn’t notice your grip loosening on your tumbler, the metal bottle falling and creating an irritating clanging sound. The pretty officer whips his head towards your direction, his gaze aimed straight for your eyes before dropping down to the tumbler on your foot. Before you could bend down and pick it up before mumbling an apology to everyone, he rushed towards your direction to pick it up for you. Neatly trimmed nails and long, slender fingers wrapped around the bottle to hand it to you. As he stood back to original height, he locked eyes with you before extending his hand.

“Here. Cute stickers, by the way,” he softly whispers with a small smile. A warm gust of air escapes your lips, exhaling a breath you didn’t know you held. You could simply nod and look dumb in front of who is possibly the most gorgeous man you’re ever seen, what a way to create a first impression. You take the bottle from him, the tip of your finger brushing against his hand causing your finger to feel an electric tingle on where skin met.

“Thanks,” you mumble with a wonky smile. He nods at you before heading to the front to really start the tour.

“Leon!”

You crane your head to where Sherry is standing– or, was standing. She shot up from her area and ran towards Leon, giving him a big hug with her arms wrapped around his waist. Leon looked pleasantly surprised, returning her hug with a hug of his own, his hand around her shoulder. “Don’t worry guys! We know each other,” Sherry explained coolly. Leon chuckles, nodding along and confirming her statement. He gives her kind pats to the back, the room looking a lot brighter every time he chuckled; the way his eyes wrinkled when he grinned big reminded you of a golden retriever puppy, down to the color of his sun-spun hair and his overall aura. You had to blink away the trance he unknowingly set on you, turning your attention back to the students and the other officers in the room, acting as if your heart wasn’t rattling at the rib confines of your chest. You hoped that your cheeks weren’t a vibrant red, standing out from the rest of your appearance.

“Good day, students. I’m Officer Kennedy and I’ll be your tour guide around the station. Although you are free to look around and take pictures, I’m going to set some rules down for the class, does that sound great?” He throws up two thumbs up, looking at the children for confirmation. You swore that your nails would dig into the paint of the tumbler, causing the paint to chip away a little bit due to the sheer force you were exerting into holding on that tumbler just to stay calm. You couldn’t possibly have a crush on an officer in a station you visit for a trip! You’re not even sure if you’re going to come back here anytime soon! Now that the kids had given him confirmation, he puts his hands down, and chuckles a little more before continuing on with the explanation.

“As I’ve said earlier, you can take pictures and take sketches but please do not place your hands on the display, draw on any surface, or play with the artifacts. Most of these are old and possibly even the only of its kind so we advise you to proceed carefully. Everything clear?”

The students once nodded again, some students repeating “clear” back to the man in front of them.

“Okay. Now that that’s done, I would like to ask you to form a line outside the briefing room before we start.”

You direct the students to get up and form a line of two but surprisingly, Leon helps you even if the task doesn’t seem to be bothering you. He shoots you a small smile as he continues to assist you in arranging the students, which didn’t take much. Now that everyone was arranged accordingly, he began to lead the class around the station while receiving smiles and thumbs-up from his coworkers who seemed to be hyping him up while Marvin looked on proudly. You smiled at the thought since it was nice that they all seemed to have a bond closer than you thought. Leon was just about to look ahead again, turning his head back to face the corridor ahead when he caught your gaze.. He held eye contact for a little bit before breaking away and you swear you left behind your soul downstairs. This is going to be one interesting trip, especially with a charming officer charming his way into your heart.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────

All went smoothly until you noticed the line looking a little too odd. Well, that’s because someone happened to be missing. The moment you realized that someone had managed to slip away and wander into the myriad of rooms in the upper floors of the station. As soon as you noticed, you made the children neaten up their line before giving Leon a tap on the shoulder.

“Officer,” you whispered. “I’ve got a missing student! I don’t know where they are, probably in one of the rooms. I swear I saw them just a few moments ago, must’ve slipped away.”

His eyes widen but not before he takes one more glance at the line of children, curious as to why the productive tour suddenly stopped. Some students seemed to have picked up on a missing student, asking where their peer might’ve gone off to. Leon places a reassuring hand on your shoulder before reaching into his walkie-talkie to radio to the other officers to look for a missing student, giving descriptions of their hair color and clothing. The tour had to be put on hold, Leon directing them back to the holding area and making sure no one else slipped off. Leon took your hand and looked into your eyes, determination and hope shining bright in those eyes of his. He gave your hand a gentle squeeze, instructing you to stay with your students for the meantime.

“Don’t worry, miss. We’ll find them in no time. In the meantime, please ask officer Bass to reach into the drawer to my right and get the bags of mini donuts. The kids deserve a snack.”

He nodded and began to walk off before turning around to face you again. “Help yourself to some too. It’s been quite the morning.”

As soon as he left, another officer came in. “Bass”, his patch reads. Leon must've called his attention before he left, telling him to come in. You told the officer about Leon’s directions, disappearing through the door before coming back in with bags of mini donuts for the class. You open up bags and instruct students to take what will satisfy their hunger, making sure that there’s other pieces for other students. You decided not to have some, anxiety disabling your ability to feel hunger at the moment. You can only hope that this issue is resolved before parents get involved.

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“Miss Y/N. Found them,” Leon says. His large hand is on the student’s shoulder, the student looking a little sheepish after realizing he got the class worried. They were fiddling with the straps of their bags, gaze downcast towards the ground as the officer walked him towards you. “Found them in the entomology room, was sketching some beetles.”

You walk towards your student, checking around if they lost anything or appeared injured even if they were just sketching some insects.

“Are you alright? When did you slip away from the rest of the line?” you softly ask. “Why didn’t you ask permission?”

Your student stayed silent, a little too shy to answer any questions for now. Eventually, they spoke up but in a hushed voice.

“I got a little distracted with the longhorn beetle display and forgot to tell everyone else that I was there at the insect-display room,” they explain. “I didn’t mean to make everyone worried and I’m sorry for causing a fuss all over the station.”

Leon chuckled softly and bent down to his level, a kind smile displayed on his face. “Hey, it's fine. Just make sure to tell your teachers or any adults if you’re going to go somewhere, okay? Nice drawing back there though. You’ve got a knack for art.”

The student smiles a little bit though they’re still stiff. You lead them to the rest of the group, the tour day ending. Some students pass a few mini donuts in their direction. You finally call up the driver to come pick everyone up and go back to the school, where their guardians will fetch their children.

“I don’t think you had a donut,” Leon asks with a boyish grin.

“Yeah. I didn’t,” you softly respond.

“Anxious?”

“Yeah. Well, I was because that’s my student and how could I be so careless to let something like this happen?”

Leon stays silent, standing right beside you as he observes the kids along with other officers deployed during the incident earlier.

“They’re here now, safe and sound too. I guess this is a learning experience for all.”

His comment pulls a small grin from you. What he said wasn’t even remotely funny but it somehow made you smile. God, were you all sappy for him already? Well, it is easy to make you smile. Maybe you’re subconsciously using smiling as a way to calm yourself down and try not to be too overwhelmed with the incident from earlier.

“Well, since you didn’t have a snack earlier… What if I take you up on a donut run one of these days? Next week, maybe– or any time you’re free?” He asks. “I know a couple places.”

His cheeks flush to the shade of cold watermelons on a hot summer day, the sudden burst of color a contrast to the pale skin of his face. You noticed him fidgeting with a loose thread of his pants, a little nervous on asking you. You beam wider, accepting his offer and setting dates, exchanging numbers. Just as you finish writing down the last digit of your number, the bus arrives. Quickly, you arrange your students again and begin leading them out the station, reminding them to thank the officers for their patience and time.

“I’ll walk them out,” you hear Leon say to his superior as he accompanies you to the bus and helps the students jump up on the steps, reminding them to be careful and to have a safe ride back home.

"You too, miss Y/N. Have a safe trip back home.”

“Will do, officer.”

He takes your wrist and gently helps you up even if the height isn’t even that great to begin with. You give him a thumbs up before waving him bye. You’ve already made a mental note to come back there and sign up on an itinerary tour as soon as you arrive in order to take some time admiring the architecture for yourself but turns out you’re going to be coming back to admire someone who you wish will be all to yourself soon.

NOTE - This was supposed to be posted 3 days ago in time for my birthday but I was busy with so much school work, I wasn't able to post this on the date I set for myself 😭😭 My birthday was cool actually: I almost got lost in another town, I passed an admission test that I got sick and miserable for, and my best friend got me a Chris Redfield capcorom!!!!! Taking Chris wherever I go now like I'm out here greeting him good morning or good night before I go to bed 😭😭 I forgot to ask my mom if I can get a birthday cake so I was unable to print my Leon, Dante, Vergil, and Nero cake-toppers BUT IT'S FIINEEE. I was losing motivation due to being unable to work on this because I have requirements due and this fic was marinating in my document for 2 weeks so... yeah :| Fic releases will be less frequent since I've got so much things to do lately. I'm also still accepting requests so feel free to drop by in my asks. OH RIGHTT my team for our sports festival on dodgeball won despite having absolutely ZERO practice so I'm proud of that :) Anyways, that's it and thank you so, so, so much for reading my fics!!!!!! I <333333 UUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!

The dividers are from @plutism , the images are made by me (sourced from Pinterest).

#leon kennedy fluff #leon s kennedy fluff #leon kennedy #resident evil #resident evil 2 remake #leon kennedy x reader #leon kennedy x y/n #fluff #leon scott kennedy #leon s kennedy #re2 #resident evil 2 #re2r #re2 remake #biohazard

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discount-shades · 1 year

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Sleepy Baby Part 2

a/n: I was shocked and flattered about how many people liked the first one. I figured I’d do Part 2.

Pairing: Jake “Hangman” Seresin / Reader

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1400 ish

Summary: Despite all evidence to the contrary Jake is still very confident in himself.

Previous Masterlist Next

Jake glances up from the dart board to see who was walking through the door of the Hard Deck. His shoulders slump when it isn’t you. It had been a month since you had played the Village Peoples’ In the Navy and walked out the door after calling him Baby. His friends had laughed at him when you made your dramatic exit. Penny had been delighted that you used the song in the way it was intended when she left it on the jukebox. To knock a pilot down a few pegs. She was known to play the song to tease Maverick.

From the moment he met you, Jake was hooked. Your smile, your laugh, your wit, it was everything about you. If he was being honest with himself it was probably the salute you sent him as you walked out the door that sealed the deal for him. You did not care that he was a pilot. In fact you spent most of your short amount of time with him mocking what most people fawned over him for.

While the pilot schtick got him laid, he always got the impression that the uniform was the key factor. Not himself. Spending most of his time at bars near the base probably didn’t help. They tend to attract a certain clientele.

When you had called him Baby he had been sure you would be back and had taken to spending an inordinate amount of time at the Hard Deck, waiting. He had even promised Penny to buy the bar a round if she would call him if you arrived and he was not there. No luck so far.

“Get over her, man.” Javy sighs at his friend's antics. “You were clearly more into her than she was you.”

“No, she was into me,” Jake insists, throwing a bullseye. “She said she would give me her number next time, well implied she would, but still.” Despite Javy’s laughter at the comment, Jake was sure. He just needed to see you again. “She is probably at a different bar.”

“That is because she is avoiding you, Hangman.”

“She is, but not like you think,” Jake took his time lining up his final shot. “I need to find her to get her number.” As the days of not seeing you back at the Hard Deck passed Jake was becoming more convinced that he needed to go find you.

“You don't even know her name!” Jake could tell Javy was getting exasperated. “And there must be thousands of bars and pubs in San Diego. How are you going to find her?”

Jake threw his final dart and hit the bullseye again. Turning he grinned at his friend, “But, she said she worked with kids at the library,” a plan was forming in his mind. “I’ll just visit her at work!”

“This is starting to slip closer into ‘stalker territory’ than I am comfortable with.” Javy said, rubbing his head. “How many libraries are in San Diego anyway?”

“There are 34 libraries within San Diego City limits, and another 33 in the surrounding county.” Bob said from behind them, reading from his phone.

Jake and Javy startled and spun around. “How long have you been sitting there?” Jake asked.

“Again, I've been here the whole time.”

Jake pointed his finger at Bob. “Phoenix doesn't hear about this!”

“No promises.”

…

Jake pulled his truck into the library parking lot and gently laid his head on the steering wheel. This will be the 42nd library he has checked, and the last one within city limits. It has been six weeks since he has started looking for you and he has his spiel down.

He’d introduce himself and apologize for forgetting the name of the woman who he had previously spoken to. She had mentioned some great kids programs for his niece who he will be watching for his sister who is on a business trip. Polite description of your features, hide his disappointment when he is told that no one matching your description works there. Graciously accept the brochure of the Children's Activity Program and on to the next library.

The good news is that if Evie ever did come to stay with him for a few weeks he would be set on activities for a seven year old to do. He sighed and got out of his truck and made his way toward the door.

…

You are in your office ordering caterpillars for the yearly butterfly program your library puts on. After putting the caterpillar kit in your online cart you click the sale tab on the website to see if there is anything else the library needs. The first item is a 3D tic-tac-toe game and you are reminded of him.

It has been over 2 months and, if you are honest, everything still reminds you of him. You regret not giving him your number more than you care to admit. Your therapist was right. You are ready to get back out there. But your heart is still too tender to go back to the Hard Deck and not see him. Or worse, risk him not being interested. He is the one that you let get away.

So every week you still go to a different bar. You make small talk to those around you. But you have not felt the instant chemistry you felt with the pilot. No banter, no jokes. And every time you meet someone who is charming you can't help but compare them to the pilot. And you still don't even know his real name.

“Hi my name is Jake Seresin, I’m looking for some children's programs for my niece.” Your ears perk up as you listen to the front desk through the open doorway. When the man describes speaking with a woman who matches your description you search your memories for men you have spoken to recently.

There was the man with a wedding ring who had hit on you. A single dad who had just signed his son up for everything, no questions asked, and someone who looked like a teenager who was looking for activities for his younger siblings. No uncles that you remembered.

“Our Activity Coordinator is in that office,” you hear your coworker say, “she is the one you need to talk to.”

You sit straight in your chair and look up, ready to greet the person walking through your door and your breath catches in your throat. It's him, looking just as good in jeans and a t-shirt. The pilot. Your pilot. He is smiling so widely when he sees you his whole face is lit up.

“Hugs and Kisses, you are a hard woman to track down.”

You press your lips together trying not to smile as widely as you want to. “I figured you were up for the challenge, Sleepy Baby," you reply.

“This is the 42nd library I have checked to see if you worked at.” He sits down in the chair across from your desk. “The thought of your smile was the only thing that kept me going.”

“Well 42 is the meaning of everything.”

“Oh Darling, you are the meaning of my everything.”

You give in and laugh, grinning so much your cheeks hurt. “I liked the imaginary niece in your story,” you lean back in your chair matching his posture. “Who did you steal her from?”

“Oh Evie is mine and very real.” He assures you. “My sister's daughter, she’s seven and happens to be delighted when she hangs me every time we play hangman.”

“A girl after my own heart,” you smile at the way his face lights up when he talks about Evie. “You let her win, don't you?”

“I do.” He admits looking slightly distressed. “She is the type who would steal imaginary kittens too and I can't help but love her for it.” You both laugh at his confession.

You sit for a moment, smiling at each other across the desk. “I’m Jake, and I never did get your name or number.”

You smile at him before leaning over and picking up a blank piece of paper off your desk. You carefully draw the number of lines for letters in your name and ten lines for the digits in your phone number. You hold up the paper with a cheeky grin. “Well Jake, my name and number, I’ll play you Sleepy Baby for it?”

#jake hangman seresin #jake seresin #topgun maverick #top gun hangman #hangman/reader #hangman #top gun fanfiction #top gun maverick #hangman top gun #jake hangman x reader #jake seresin/reader #top gun x reader

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craykaycee · 10 months

Text

sneaks onto ur dash to talk ab one of my aus with these magma doodles------

This is a Street Artist AU I-- basically adopted from @starrspice (thank you, lovelyy!!) This is a post-fire AU where the DCA escapes the fire themselves and into the city. They're stripped of the proper prompts and triggers for their childcare and entertainment programming, but are able to find something their coding can latch onto: a group of children who need entertainment. They modified their performance and entertainment programming with their arts and crafts protocols to create art as a performance!

More details (so many details-- I went off xDD) and designs of the AU, of which I've titled "City Lights and Paint Water", under the cut :3c

They're pretty beat-up from the fire, and without proper access to maintenance, they've retained the burn marks, splattered paint, and other grime associated with being outdoors. Over the months as street artists, passersby donate their old paints and other supplies, hence the oversized trousers and worn apron! (P.S.: cloth placement is more accurate in the magma doodles)

Sun and Moon each have preferred mediums and styles!

Sun prefers acrylic paints and spray paint, his paintings a controlled chaos with loud, scattered colors, large brushstrokes, and splatters. His paintings always have a lot of movement due to his freeform painting style, splattering paint and getting a laugh from the kids.

Moon like to work with watercolors and colored pencil, the colors more muted with small pops of brighter colors (such as lights within windows). He likes to capture the lights of the streets, wondering what the true night sky looks like, his art giving a soft and ethereal mood.

Then we have our Main Character (MC), the viewer/reader! They're a graphic designer for a big corporate tech company, tasked with making pamphlets, brochures, posters, et cetera for the company. Though they do good work as a graphic designer, their true passion is fine arts, but their work isn't taken seriously due to its "childish" appearance despite the real-life deeper meanings. In the meantime, they create for themself, crafting and making trinkets for their apartment. They even make some of their own clothes, made up of several different garments to make something one-of-a-kind. Their outfits are fairly chaotic, typically accompanied by a hair accessory, but the patterns and colors compliment each other well.

MC grew up in a rural area, and still love the open and free areas it provides, but they had to move to an urban city for work and better opportunities. It's a big step up from their small town, overwhelmed by the activity. At the start of the story, they feel disconnected from their work, drained by the cookie-cutter bland work of their graphic designer job, but it's the only way they can reliably earn income.

The story starts with Sun spotting MC beyond the crowd, rushing somewhere. He continues to see them in the distance, unable to approach them due to their haste. He's mesmerized by their appearance, drawn to their creative expression just in their outfit. Moon catches a few glances of MC in the evenings, but doesn't have the same draw to them as Sun, figuring them as just another "everyman" in the crowd. One day, in MC's haste, they lose a paper from their portfolio. When Sun catches it, he sees a presentation sheet of several different designs meant for a business card or a t-shirt emblem. Sun is astounded by them, making MC more interesting than they already were.

It's not until about a week later that Sun takes an opportunity to return the paper and give his compliments. When he does this, however, MC's face falls before forcing a polite smile, thanking him. Before Sun could say anything more, they're gone.

There's so many small moments I'd like to explore, but that's the set-up :3cc I nearly have chapter one (1) completed, two (2) chapters after that already planned. The chapter length is pretty short right now, but I don't know if I wanna beef them up or keep them at this shorter length. We'll see! :D

Welp, these are my boios! I hold them gently in my hands and present them like a proud parent

#City Lights and Paint Water #sun x reader #moon x reader #fnaf au #street artist au #street artist!Sun #street artist!Moon #fnaf y/n #fnaf daycare attendant #cray kay art

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hoodharlow · 2 months

Text

Used to Be

AN: yes I delete this when it flopped 🤭

Requested? No

Warnings: elopment, angst, a mini me revelation, a proposal, and mentions of break ups. Overall mess 🤭

Word Count:

2016

“Until 2003, you needed blood tests to get married?” Urban exclaimed, reading out loud a brochure for getting married.

“Yeah, you know how whites are. Always marrying their cousins.” Naya commented. She glanced over to Jack and Sydney. “You're sure you're not cousins right?”

“She was the only witness available?” Jack asked Sydney.

“Yes,” Naya answered. “I'm also the only one who won't tell a soul. If your parents find out you two are getting hitched, you're both dead.”

“I think I saw a vending machine down the hall. Let's get snacks.” Urban motioned Naya to follow, leaving Jack and Sydney.

Jack relaxed in his seat and reached for Sydney's hand. “Do you think we're making a huge mistake?” He asked her.

“No, do you?” She asked back.

“No.” Jack shook his head. “I love you so much, Syd. I've known since we were ten and you hit my head with the tetherball.”

“It was an accident but I'm glad that it made you come to your senses. Because I've loved you since you stole back my latest copy of The Series of Unfortunate Events from Miguel Casillas in fourth grade.”

Jack chuckled and pulled her to his chest.

Sydney hugged him tight, sighing contently. It wasn't how she imagined herself getting married when she was playing with Barbies growing up. But it was perfect. She had the man of her dreams at her side with their best friends. Sure they were barely eighteen and fresh out of high school but they loved each other and that was all that mattered. They didn't have much when they moved from Louisville to Atlanta other than their love, aspirations, and support for each other to keep them going. The rest could come later once Jack was settled in Atlanta.

For now his parents think he's just visiting Sydney during her summer bridge program at Georgia Tech where she was going to study architecture like her late father. Jack didn't apply to any schools. It wasn't in the books for him. His dream was to be a rapper. He was pretty decent at it. With the connections he had back home that led him to Atlanta, it wouldn't be long for him to get signed. He knew a radio host back in Louisville that sent his work to Atlanta to a producer from home that worked with some huge artists he was a fan of. He had everything going for him. From being minutes away from marrying to the love of his life to working on his music.

Jack and Sydney have been together since their sophomore year of high school. Though they've known each other for way longer than that. They went to the same elementary school and were always seated together because of their last names (Harlow and Harris). When her dad passed away from a car accident, he was at her side cheering her up when she was down. He was always someone she could count on.

“When I get my first break I'm buying us a huge plot of land for you to design our home.” Jack said, twirling one of her curls with his index finger.

“Can it be in Louisville? I don’t want the paparazzi up my butt when you're famous.” Sydney said, pretending to shield herself from paparazzi.

“Where else would we raise our soccer team? Also the only person that's gonna be up your butt is me.” He huffed out his chest.

“If you're up my butt how are we gonna have kids?” She asked playfully.

“Fine, I'll be up your butt on special occasions.” he gave in.

“Okay,” she laughed.

Jack wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him, kissing her temple. They talked amongst themselves until it was their turn to go up. A woman in a button-up and trousers walked out with a clip board along with a couple a few years older than Jack and Sydney. The groom was dressed in a formal marine uniform and the bride in a simple sundress. Under her dress was the outline of a small bump.

The woman with the clipboard looked down and read outloud, “Harlow and Harris?”

“That's us.” Jack said, squeezing Sydney's hand. “Forever and always?”

A bright flash burned his eyes. Jack closed his eyes and blinked until he regained his eyesight. He was brought back to the present. To his engagement photoshoot.

Jack’s knee began to lose sensation with how long he’d been on one knee. 92830 pictures later and they were finally finished with the shoot. He never thought he was going to spend almost a full day taking pictures of his engagement for some magazine spread. Hell, Jack wasn’t even sure he was going to remarry after his divorce with Sydney. But it was the next step for him and Mallory, his fiance.

Mallory is the niece of one of the higher ups at Atlantic Records. Jack met her at a networking event a year after he signed to Generation Now. He never paid her much attention after that. But if they ran into each other he would say hi. It continued like that until the night his debut album came out. His team went all out and had a huge celebration.

Jack had to hand his phone to Urban because he was tempted to call Sydney and show her that paid off in the end. He didn't, he wasn't that cruel. He just spent the night drowning his sorrows with tequila and champagne. The following morning he woke up with Mallory next to him. From there they've been inseparable (he couldn't get rid of her). He grew accustomed to her presence and liked being around her. When she wasn't shoving her phone in his face for her content. When people found out about their relationship, Mallory banked on it and grew a following for her pottery and sculptures. Did people actually buy her artwork? No, but she had over two million followers and that was something for her.

“Baby, do you want to see the pictures Gianni took?” Mallory asked him.

“It's fine. I'm sure they came out great.” Jack answered.

He went to his dressing room where his friend and family were. They were there for the proposal but once Mallory started talking about outfit changes and the photographer she brought.

“Hey,” he said, hugging his mom.

“Hi.” She said curtly.

His mom wasn't the biggest fan of Mallory. Mainly because she was best friends with Sydney's mom, Miss Esther, and they still talked. They had a brief falling out when Jack and Sydney divorced but according to his dad, they became best of friends once again a few years ago and they would hang out a lot. Jack wouldn't know, he tried his best to never mention them or when they were over at his parent’ place for dinner he'd avoid visiting. But here and there he would ask his mom about them. Maggie made it obvious that she still hoped that he and Sydney would try again now that they're older but that was never going to happen. Especially with how Jack ended things with her.

“Look mom, I know you're not Mal's biggest fan but we're getting married and I want you to try to be nice to her.” He said.

“I've never been rude to her, Jack.” His mom said, sipping her flute of champagne.

“I'm not saying you are or were. I just want you to be more accepting or at least pretend to be. She's going to be my wife.” Jack said frustrated.

Maggie's ever present frown turned to a straight line, which was a grin in Jack's books. “I have to get going. I'm meeting Esther for something.”

“Could you hold off telling her about this?” He gestured around them.

“Baby, you're at the bottom of the list of talking topics we have. Don't worry about it.” She smiled sweetly.

She motioned to Jack's dad and they bid Jack goodbye. Jack went to Mallory who was busy going through the pictures with her friends. He sat with her and pulled her to his lap. She met his gaze and smiled. Jack smiled back. He looked over to where his parents were and felt a shiver go down his spine. He felt uneasy and couldn't figure out why.

Jack's friends left not much after. They agreed to meet up again for the Louisville soccer game. Jack reserved a suite for them as a way to celebrate that he was engaged. Mallory's friends that flew in went back to the hotel and Mallory was meeting with them for a girls night. They had a few hours before that, so they decided to check out some houses. A new private neighborhood was hosting an open house.

There were two rows of various gates and fences with no end. They passed four fences when Jack finally pulled up to a house. He parked on the side of the street next to other cars. He opened Mallory's door and helped her out.

As they made their way to the house, a gate from the house across the house they were going to see opened. A black Mercedes pulled out and parked in front of the small mailbox. That didn't get Jack's attention. The house in the gate did. It looked exactly like the house Sydney would talk about designing for them. He let go of Mallory’s hand and went to get a closer look.

“Jack, where are you going?” She called after him.

He waved her off and crossed the street. Just as he approached the house, the gate closed. He looked over to the Mercedes but the windows were dark. He couldn't get a good look unless he shoved his face in the window. A little boy got out of the car followed by a guy several inches shorter than him. The little boy shoved a small key in the lock of the mailbox and grabbed a small box, leaving.

“It's here!” He held up the box triumphantly to the guy.

“That's great, but we're running late. Your grans are waiting for us, mate.” The guy said in a New Yorker accent. Sensing Jack, he turned around. “Oh ‘llo? Are you here for the open house? If so it's across the street.”

“I am, but I by chance saw your house and–”

“It's my cousin's house.” He said.

“Oh, sorry,” Jack began. He cleared his throat. “Do you know who designed it for your cousin?”

“My grandma has pictures of you at her house.” The little boy said, also cutting off Jack.

“Oh thanks.” Jack said, a bit confused.

“I wish we could chat, but we have to get going.” the guy said.

He opened the backseat for the little boy. Jack noticed someone else was sitting in the passenger side. He couldn't see their face but he saw a head full of curls similar to the little boy’s.

“Bye.” The little boy waved at Jack.

The guy nodded at Jack and got in the driver's seat. They sped off and the uneasy feeling he had earlier returned. His stomach churned, but Jack brushed it off. He crossed the street back to Mallory.

“What was that all about?” She asked.

“Don't worry about it, let's go see if this is our future home.” Jack said, placing his arm over her shoulders.

He looked back once more at the house before going inside.

Jack couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling and it got to the point that he was irritating people around him. He couldn't enjoy the game because he was so distracted. He felt some familiarity when he saw the little boy. He had the same hazel eyes as Sydney. He silently cursed himself. Sydney is the last person he should even be thinking about.

“Yo, is that mom?” Clay asked Jack in a quiet tone, bringing him back to the game.

“What are you talking about?” Jack frowned.

“There.” His younger brother pointed to the bottom row of the suite across from them.

“I can't see that far.” He said.

“You came to a sporting event and sat yourself in the way back knowing you can't fucking see?” Clay shook his head.

He pulled out his phone and zoomed in to where he was pointed at. Lo and behold, it was their mom. Most importantly the little kid that Jack saw in the neighborhood was sitting on her lap and they were sharing a tray of nachos and a hotdog. A seat behind them was Esther, Sydney's mom, and Jorge, her step-dad.

“Why is she sharing nachos with that kid? In my twenty-two, almost twenty-three years of life, mom has never bought me nachos.” Clay said in disbelief.

“Those are Syd's parents.” Jack told him.

“Damn Miss Esther is still fineass-OW!” He rubbed the back of his neck where Jack smacked him.

“That's my mother-in-law, don't be weird.”

“Ex mother-in-law.” Clay corrected him.

Jack held up his finger to tell him to be quiet. He pulled out his phone and called his mom. They looked through Clay's phone camera as their mom looked at her phone then hung up. A message came through seconds later that her hands were full and that she'd call him later.

“I bet her hands are full, sharing nachos with some kid and not her son.” Clay mumbled.

He ignored Clay as he went on about how he used to use his birthday money at the concessions stand because their mom never bought him nachos. Jack snapped a picture of their mom and the little boy, sending it to his dad. His dad saw it. The three dots appeared then disappeared. From Clay's phone he saw his mom look at her phone then scan the stadium. Her eyes landed on her sons. She pushed off the little kid and told Esther something before getting up.

“Come with me.” Jack said, pulling Clay from his seat.

“Where y'all going?” Urban asked them.

“We'll be right back.” Jack said.

They left their seats and walked to the seats their mom was sitting at. They found her pacing and texting frantically.

“Mom, what–”

“Why are you eating nachos with some kid?” Clay beat him to the punch.

“What are y'all doing here?” She asked them, annoyed.

“What are we doing here? What are you doing here? And with Syd's family?” Jack asked her.

“It's complicated. We'll talk at home. Why don't you go back to your seats.” Maggie said.

“Mom, what's going on?” he asked her.

“Maggie, what's going on? My mom was–” a voice Jack never thought he'd hear again.

“Syd?” He said softly.

“Oh my god! You're Jack Harlow!” A girl, a few years younger than Sydney, squealed.

It took Jack a second but it was Sydney's younger sister. She was eight years younger than them. He didn't recognize her. The last time he saw her was right before he and Sydney eloped.

“Nina, let's go inside.” The guy from the house said, pulling her away.

“Holy shit, Sydney. It's been forever.” Clay said, pulling her into a hug.

“Hey.” She smiled at Clay.

Sydney took a step back and stood behind Maggie. The door abruptly opened.

“Mommy, where are you?” the little boy said. He looked at Jack then to Maggie, pointing. “Gramma, that's the guy in the pictures in your house.”

Clay threw his arms in the air. “What am I, chopped liver?”

Sydney tapped her pen against her desk. She was stressed out of her mind ever since she saw Jack at the soccer game. After three years of living in Louisville, she finally ran into him. Part of her was proud of herself that she was able to avoid him for that long. The other didn't know how to feel. She was scared out of her mind though.

She never planned to tell him that he had a son, Jaden. She didn't even plan to tell his parents, but they found out a month after she moved in when she was dropping him off at her parents. Sydney had just graduated from Georgia Tech and was working at her grandparents’ (her late dad's parents) architect firm. She begged Jack's parents not to tell him. After how things ended she wanted nothing to do with him. It wasn't like she needed him. She made good money working with her grandparents and she had her own trust fund. Jack's parents help around but she never took any financial gifts from them. She doesn't even know what she's going to do know that Jack knew.

When Jaden popped up at the game she left. She had her bag with her so just scooped up her son and bolted out of the stadium. Since then she's been on high alert, looking over her shoulder in case Jack popped up. He already knew where she lived.

The phone on her desk rang.

Sydney pressed the answer button. “Yes?”

“Miss Hart, your nine am is here.” the firm's receptionist said.

“I don't have a nine am.” she said into the speaker. “Hello? Clara?”

Seconds later there was a knock on her office door. Sydney got up and opened the door. Behind Clara was Jack.

“And here's miss Hart's office.” the receptionist gestured to Sydney. She turned to Jack, fully taking him in. “Would you like anything to drink? We have still water, sparkling water, soft drinks, juice, coffee and tea as well as danishes, croissants, doughnuts, and muffins.”

“I'll take your hottest tea.” Jack smiled sweetly at the sixty-something receptionist.

“Sounds good. If you'll excuse me.” Clara said, leaving them alone.

“How the fuck did you find me?” Sydney asked him, closing the door behind him.

Jack took a seat on the dark purple couch. He picked up a picture frame of her with her dad's parents from her college graduation. In her arms was their son. He couldn't be more than a year and a half.

He turned the frame to her. “You're not that hard to find. Your grandparents own the biggest architecture firm in all of Jefferson County right here in Louisville. I thought it would've been a more neutral place than showing up at your house.”

“Jack, this is my place of work.”

“I want to meet my son.” He said, dismissing her previous comment.

“He's not your son. He's my son.” Sydney sneered.

“You had no right keeping him from me, Syd.” he snapped at her.

“You don't get to be upset, Jack. You don't get to waltz into my job and demand shit from me.” She jabbed her finger at him. “You wanted the divorce. You wanted an out because I was holding you back. But ironically enough you were too much of a coward to tell me. You had to get your little fountain entourage to do it for you.”

“Syd, I don't want to but I will take you to court.” Jack warned.

“I'm sure your fiancé would love to read about your ex wife next to her unsold engagement announcement cover for People magazine. Congrats by the way.” She smiled sweetly.

It hadn't even been a week since they took their engagement pictures when every newsstand and grocery store stand were filled with them. Jack was annoyed because he wanted to wait a few weeks to announce it. Mallory and Neelam rushed it to the stands.

He reached for the stack of sticky notes and pen. He scribbled something on the baby pink post-it then got up.

“You have three days to decide if you let me meet him or I'll get my lawyers involved.” He handed her the sticky note. “Here's my number. I'll be waiting for your call.”

His phone began to ring. He pulled it out of his cargo pants. Sydney saw ‘Neelam’ on the caller ID and rolled her eyes. She and Neelam never saw eye to eye. Most of the animosity came from the fact that Sydney was married to Jack. When they finally called it quits, Neelam was the most excited to see it happen. Her Cheshire cat grin had as Sydney signed every NDA and contact would be forever imprinted in Sydney's mind.

“Your fucking job was to keep tabs on that shit… How could you miss the most important document? Send it fast so we can get it resolved.” He hung up without another word. Jack rubbed his temples. He looked at Sydney and sighed. “Turns out we're not divorced.”

#jack harlow #jack harlow angst #jack harlow fanfic #jack harlow imagine #Jack harlow one shot

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nitewrighter · 11 months

Note

aince we're not getting any this year, could you write some pride month related fanteractions between some heroes?

I mean, I wouldn't say a whole short story confirming Pharah as a lesbian and Baptiste as bi is nothing. But yeah, some in-game voicelines would have been fun...

---

Pharah: Mum, when I was growing up, did you kno--

Ana: Oh I knew. I immediately knew. You could see it from a mile away. I remember you were on a soccer team and you were fond of this little boy and his mother said the two of you were cute together and I just burst out laughing in her face.

Pharah: Aw, mum!

---

Tracer: Growing up in a small town, did you always know?

Soldier 76: There was always a feeling, but I didn't really let myself explore it until I was traveling the world. Even then, I was still in the military, so it was one of those things I didn't want to be the... defining thing about me to my squad mates.

Tracer: But you were pretty open about it with Overwatch!

Soldier 76: Vincent helped a lot with that. But also... Overwatch was this new thing. I realized, I could help make it this new thing.

Tracer: It meant a lot to me. :)

Soldier 76: That was the hope.

---

Baptiste: Is Vishkar picky about what partners you can have?

LifeWeaver: Not that picky. Different kinds of couples look good on their brochures, after all. All they ask is that you give up everything else interesting about you.

Baptiste: *shuddering noise* Glad you got out of there.

LifeWeaver: Me too. The present company is much more preferable.

---

Echo: Am I trans?

Cassidy: Uh, I can't rightly say..

Echo: I was previously genderless, but now I primarily identify with she/her pronouns, and frequently take the forms of other genders. Is that not trans?

Cassidy: I mean, Liao would probably know more about this than me-

Echo: Is being organic a prerequisite to being trans?

Cassidy: Uh--no? I don't think it is... Heck, I don't know...

Orisa: The OR-15 frame was originally designed to be genderless, but with Efi's learning programming, I too use she/her pronouns! *gasp* Did Efi make me trans?

Cassidy: WHY ARE YOU BOTH ASKING ME?!

#*holding up a gun* Answer the question Cassidy #overwatch #fanteractions #me writing 'Vishkar = Rainbow capitalism?' on a whiteboard and frowning at it like it's a complex equation #fareeha amari #ana amari #orisa #echo overwatch #tracer #soldier 76 #jean baptiste augustin #lifeweaver

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ladytauria · 6 months

Note

👀👀 meeting in the ER with damitim pls?

thank you!!

this is more urgent care than ER---actually, i'm picturing this happening at Leslie's clinic?---but. still on theme xD it's also heavily inspired by this post, bc... it's just so damian, you know?

“So… you said a cat did this?”

“Ah… yes.” Damian is distracted—not by the distant tug of a needle, in and out of his skin, but rather by the man doing the stitching.

He would not call him the most beautiful man he’s ever seen, but the man is certainly… attractive, with his sharp cheekbones and aquiline nose. Most striking is the pale, ice blue of his eyes; made even more so by the dark circles under his eyes.

Damian can relate.

“It was a kitten, actually,” he admits, somewhat reluctantly.

That gets those eyes on him, the needle stilling. The nurse’s brows raise. “A kitten?”

“She was very fierce.” Normally he keeps gloves in his car for such an occasion, but he had taken them out to wash them, and— Well. Of course he ended up finding the kitten before he got them back into his car.

"I see," the nurse says, a smile tugging at his mouth. "I wonder if I'll be stitching up the next poor person to find her, too."

Damian sniffs. "Hardly," he says. "She's in my car." His emergency kennel, luckily, had still been there. He hated to leave the poor creature out there—on the way over, he had contemplated calling Richard or Todd to pick her up for him. However, neither of them was likely to listen to his instructions to leave her alone. Richard because he would believe he could befriend her, and Todd because he would underestimate the severity.

Pity Cassandra was out of town.

Pity Jon lived two hours away.

“Huh.” The nurse goes back to stitching. “You didn’t let go?” He sounds vaguely impressed. Damian cannot help the way he puffs up with pride.

“Of course not,” he says. “I would hardly leave the poor thing out there to suffer. Fierce or not, Gotham’s streets are no place for a kitten.”

The curve of the man’s mouth turns—soft, almost. It is reminiscent of a look he often sees from Richard, though it incites a different feeling in him entirely. He feels… warm. His fingertips tingle.

“Of course not,” the man echoes, softly. “Do you do that a lot? Rescue kittens, I mean.”

“At nearly one in the morning? No, not typically,” Damian says. “However, I volunteer at an animal shelter, and I am enrolled in the veterinary program at Gotham University. I find myself rescuing many animals.” He also had, vaguely, considered the notion of stitching himself up. It was only the knowledge of Richard and Pennyworth’s disappointed faces that had sent him to the clinic, instead.

“Huh,” the man says, thoughtfully. “So what happens to the kitten now?”

“She is young enough it should be fairly easy to socialize her,” Damian says. “Once she is used to people, I suppose I will look into finding her a home.” He would keep her himself, but— He has reached his limit on the amount of animals he can realistically take care of. His younger self would scoff at this, but part of adulthood was learning his limits. A dog, two cats, a snake, and several fostered kittens were certainly his.

The nurse hums, snipping the thread. He lingers at Damian’s side. “You know… I always wanted a cat. Do you… think I could call you, sometime? Maybe arrange a visit?”

Damian’s pulse quickens. “I—yes. I would be, ah. Amenable to that.”

The nurse smiles. The brightness of it steals the breath from Damian’s lungs. “Cool,” he says. “Hold on just a second.”

The nurse disposes of the needle and washes his hands before snagging one of the brochures from the countertop, by the sink. He withdraws a pen from his pocket and writes, quickly.

When he passes it to Damian, he winks. “You should be good to go now, Mr. Wayne.”

“Thank you,” Damian says, sliding off the exam table. As he walks out the door, he glances down at the paper. On it is a phone number, which Damian memorizes automatically, signed—

Tim Drake. Call me :)

Next to words is a doodle of a cat, wearing what is likely a nurse’s cap.

Damian is impossibly, terribly charmed.

[ send me an au if u like~ ]

#damitim #timdami #asks and answers #waffleinator-inator #tauriawritesfanfic #did i make up a whole au in my head to go with this? ...no ofc not...#thank u for the prompt #this was fun!!!#i almost had this done last night but. i tripped over the end a little bit

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stinkysam · 1 year

Text

Eddie Munson - Summer of 85

Warning : alcohol mention (once)

Genre : fluff

Synopsis : Eddie's curiosity got picked when he read about a few summer camp programs that focus on music, allowing the participants to learn how to play any instruments they want. He decides to try it when his uncle point out one of them mentions the possibility of playing in a small gig on the last week.

Reader : male (he/you)

Eddie had saved enough money for that one summer camp Wayne told him about. Despite not being interested at first, not believing there would be one made for people with "different" music taste, Eddie finally caved in. He had planned to go with the other members of Corroded Coffin, hoping he'd get his band to play with him during that gig mentioned in the brochure.

But sadly, only he could attend this summer camp. Grant got himself a summer job and refused to quit since he needed the money to buy a new electric bass, Jeff was away visiting his family and Gareth's parents were not too fond of the idea. So Eddie went alone.

Not wanting to feel the loneliness of their empty home just yet, Wayne accompanied him to the bus station, adding it was also not safe to leave his van there for a month and a half, unless he wanted it to get stolen. He was happy Eddie would get to leave Hawkins. Even for just one summer. He would get to enjoy himself without worries and without the sour faces of his other classmates.

The man glanced at him, a bit amused at how Eddie refused to let go of his guitar, holding it tightly with one hand to make sure it wouldn't fall over and get scratches despite being wrapped up with protections. Taking care of it since the first day he got his hands on the instrument. He looked at the bag of clothes by the boy's feet.

"You make it look like you'll be gone for only two weeks. I ain't gonna drive to another state to bring you more, got it ?"

Although his tone was serious, Eddie knew it was a lie. Maybe he wouldn’t drive to another state but he would still find a way to get him his clothes. He looked at his bag and then at his uncle with a bright smile, claiming he had plenty enough. Seeing he was unsatisfied by his answer he added that if it was bad he'll just come back without wasting any more time there, making him chuckle.

Sitting in the bus, Eddie was studying the other passengers, trying to spot any metalheads or people with instruments. Surely he couldn't be the only one going with his guitar.

The ride was long and he had to change busses a few times to finally find his people. Two of them seemed to be friends already, seated together and chatting loudly. Others just made it obvious by their clothing or by having their instrument with them. Eddie couldn't stop turning and shifting around in his seat as he couldn't change places. All of them were too far to talk with him and he was livid and frustrated, pushing his bag on his face as if to stop himself from screaming.

The bus stopped for a few minutes before starting again and Eddie moved his face out of his bag, sitting back normally and wanting to give one last defeated glance to his fellow metalhead campers only to nearly jump out of his skin with a small scream. A young man blocking was his view, staring at him with an equally startled look.

"Are you okay ?"

"Yeah- You were an old woman, like- 2 minutes ago," Eddie says while examining your belongings, quickly catching his breath.

"Pretty sure she left and I took her place while you were in your bag. I promise you I'm not a doppelganger."

You grinned letting yourself fall in your seat. Eddie stared at you with wide eyes before squinting them and finally, he smiled back.

"Are you going 'there' too ?" He says, as if the there was obvious to all. You played along.

"Probably so."

The two of you continued chatting for the rest of the ride and any awkward feelings quickly dissipated. By the time you finally set foot outside you were already building plans to do together. You watched him stretch as he complained he couldn’t feel his ass anymore from so much sitting and you heard what you could imagine to be the camp counselors calling everyone toward them, wanting to make sure every name on the list was present.

After the presentations and visit of the dorms you and Eddie had spoken to almost everyone else. Although you tried to make friends, the two of you were mainly trying to find other people to form a temporary band with to be able to perform for the gig mentioned in the brochure. You’ve each managed to find one person and asked if you could share the same room, seeing some people were already switching places.

The summer goes by fast when you’re surrounded by your people. Everyday you got to play with beginners and experienced people, gaining a sense of competitiveness over time to be a part of the group playing for the gig on the last night. Eddie and you had decided to be together, spending most of your time by his side talking about music or your common passion : Dungeons and Dragons. You even created a group with a few other students. Once again, Eddie found himself to be the game master again and decided to do his absolute worst. He claimed wanting to leave a mark in people’s minds, in case he couldn’t do it by being a famous metal band.

You’d spend your days together, talking about music and sharing weird recipes you’d do at home when your parents weren’t there. He had a few to share too, admitting he’d only skip dinner when his uncle wasn't there and if he felt too lazy to make something even if most of the time he mixed cereals with pasta.

You learned about his friends and his band, so you asked him to play some of his. He refused at first, you wouldn’t be able to experience the whole thing because the other three members weren’t there but he finally caved in. Playing for you and the people you shared your room with. You had a band as well, almost everyone here had so you ended up playing your own creation before everyone else around a fire camp.

Electricity was in the air as a rumor was going around about a metal band going to town to play tonight. Everyone wanted to go but it wasn’t possible. The only way was to sneak there and pay with your own money. Not before letting your camp counselor you were sound asleep in your bed and leaving through the window to luckily hitchhike with someone nice enough to drive you to the concert.

Which you did. You were the one who came up with Eddie. Well, Eddie did too but you voiced it first. So many people were there and despite the night you could see clearly with the strong lights. You lost him after an hour only to notice he was in the mosh pit, going absolutely ham.

Your ears were ringing when you got back to the dormitories and almost got caught.

Finally the last days were here and you had to prepare for the gig, choose those who will go on the stage. And almost as if it was scripted, you and Eddie got chosen to play together. Three other people were added and you spent the whole week training together.

It was exhilarating. You almost fell in love with Eddie when you looked up at him from your drums, he was absolutely shining in those stage lights. You would not tell him that. He was smiling so bright, he didn’t care that the people in front of him didn’t come for them yet he knew they would not regret it. He belonged there. Eddie felt the same. He belonged here and so did you. You played so well together and he was glad he got to do it with you. His heart skipped a beat when he saw you drenched in sweat at the end of the gig, hair sticking to your skin as your chest heaved up and down with big breaths.

Eddie stared at you when you suddenly got up from your seat to grab your bag from the luggage rack.

"What's going on ?"

"My stop."

Shit. He had forgotten you only had one hour drive from the camp to your town.

"What ?" he looked outside the window to see the bus had slowed down and stood up, awkwardly facing you. "Leaving me already ?"

"Yeah, I can't bear your presence any longer. So, I'm off." you said with a smile as he deadpanned you.

"No, I'm- I'm glad you were here. It was cool meeting ya."

Eddie laughed a bit bashfully at your words before bowing dramatically. Though he felt restricted by the area.

"What can I say, I'm often told I'm the best. And… you were not so bad yourself, [last name]."

He gave your shoulder a slap before pulling you in a tight hug, struggling slightly to not fall over as the bus finally came to a halt. You felt Eddie squeeze your shoulders once you took a step back and grabbed your bags again to follow the people that were getting off the bus.

Falling back into his seat with a sigh he soon spotted you outside and waved at you, smiling when you did the same.

After a few minutes the doors closed, signaling the bus was about to leave and only then Eddie remembered the small paper in his pocket.

Shit !

Eddie couldn't stop moving, although he was no longer in a bus, Wayne's car was barely an improvement for his ass after sitting for so long. Luckily, they were not too far from home anymore and soon he would get the freedom of simply standing up.

"So where does he lives ?" Wayne asked, trying to ignore the constant shifting of Eddie.

"I huh… I don't know."

Wayne looked at him in confusion only to see he was looking out the window, obviously avoiding eye contact.

"You don't know where he lives ?"

"It didn't really come up in the discussion."

It was true. He never even thought about it and neither did you, too immersed in your time together to remember it would end.

"Well, you'll be able to ask him through the phone I suppose. Just don't clog the line too much."

Eddie said nothing, only humming not wanting to explain he also forgot to give you his phone number.

He had talked about you and your shared adventures to each member of Corroded Coffin, narrating them like big tales. And when he met Lucas, Mike and Dustin, Eddie made sure they knew about you as well. The man that made the summer of 85. Without even meeting you, they grew to like you despite hearing the same stories over and over.

"But I don't understand," started Lucas one day at their lunch table, cutting Eddie off. "How come you were together for two months and never thought of sharing how to stay in touch ?"

Eddie's eyes went to the young boy, staring at him unamused. It's not the first time they talked about this as they apparently found it very funny to bring it up randomly to annoy him.

"Yeah, weren't you, like, attached to the hip or something ?" Mike asked, pointing his fork at him, meat hanging from it only for Eddie to slap it out of his hands.

"Careful, you two, I can make sure none of you survive this campaign." At his words their giggles quickly died down, reminded of the time Dustin almost got written to be only an NPC.

It felt weird.

Eddie felt like he was starting to accept the idea of never seeing you again while also finding it absolutely unbelievable.

You just crossed paths and that's it.

While he didn't like to think about it, he feared he would forget you, doubting his own memories at times. He used to be able to hear your voice in his head or imagine you by his side as if you really were there. Although he could still do it, he knew some details were off ; not sure if you were the same height as him or taller. Did he really have to look up ? Were you a personal space invader ?

And your voice, he couldn't hear it properly anymore. It sounded more like an idea, a bunch of words thrown in together to describe it rather than an actual sound in his ears.

It has been a year and while he did not mention you as much as before he was still upset about it, feeling too uneasy to simply move on and forget. You became his friend and he was not going to simply shrug it off.

Eddie had hoped the camp would happen again this summer and that he'd found you by going but sadly it seemed like it was a one time only event.

With an annoyed sigh he roughly replaced the brochure back on its stack, walking toward the alcohol aisle. He had graduated a few days ago and after duly celebrating it, no beers were left in his trailer. Not even orange juice had been spared.

Once he had his cheap packs of beers under his arms he walked toward the snacks, humming lightly along to the songs the store was playing, not noticing someone was staring at him as he kneeled to inspect a bag of chips.

"Munson ?"

Eddie frowned thinking it was someone from Hawkins High wanting to disturb his peace. Looking up, ready to blow them off he instead jumped to his feet when he saw who it was. Nearly tripping on the beers sitting beside him, he would've fell if you hadn't pulled him into a bone crushing hug right away.

"What the fuck are you doing here, man ?" you asked with a laugh, moving back to look at him.

Eddie's hands went to your shoulders, giving them a light squeeze, "Shit dude, I live here ! You, what are you doing here ? How long are you gonna stay ?"

"You do ? I just moved in. Don't remember the street name but huh- fuck, why didn’t you tell me ?"

Are you joking ? Eddie scoffed at your words but his smile didn't falter, "You didn't tell me either ! Jesus- what's your phone ?"

He let go of you, hands desperately digging in his pockets to find some paper or a pen only for you to stop him. He was not going to let this mistake happen a second time.

"Get your chips while I get my sandwiches, you gonna help us unpack. You'll have everything you want there. Phone number, full adress, embarrassing childhood pictures…"

"Birth certificate ?"

"You'll have to ask my mom for that."

#male reader #m!reader #stanger things #stranger things x male reader #eddie munson #eddie munson x male reader

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sanccharine · 7 months

Text

return to you | sy (1)

superhero au, doctor au

pairing: superhero!siyeon x doctor!reader

genre: angst, fluff

word count: 2.7k

warnings: descriptions of injuries, blood

summary: siyeon is dead set on saving you, even if it means shirking her responsibilities. you weren't going to let her.

a/n: sequel to stay is finally here for this request ! but in parts bc i haven't finished the rest of it lol. also this is the first fic i've posted this year that's not hufflepuff!tzu or assassin!momo, i think ?

part 2 | part 3

“What I'm doing here is under-researched,” you said, swiping your keycard. The glass door unlocked with a click, you pushed the door to enter the main research hub.

Gawking like children at an aquarium, the handful of eager graduates filed in. With a smile on your face, you watch them take in everything that comes into their sight. They split into smaller groups, pointing and discussing the equipment they’ve only seen at a distance. One girl remained at the back, her laptop flat against her front as she looked around at her own pace.

Moments like these make you second-guess your decision to choose research over teaching. You missed teaching, you missed it so much. Actively working with students, helping them when they’re in difficult spots, and being their support system. There was just something invigorating about it. Definitely beats being locked away in a lab for hours on end. But then your desire to discover would be unsated. When you tried to balance them between the two, you only ran yourself into the ground… and dragged down others with you.

For now, taking in graduates is the next best compromise. Of course, that is if they decide to join you.

“Due to the nature of my research, the work hours will be extensive. But you will be appropriately compensated,” you said, making your way to the desk in the middle of the room.

With a swipe of your hand, a screen flickered to life, projecting the most recent test run. Very quickly, you explained the logistics of the experiment and answered any questions the students asked. And pretty soon, your hour had come to an end.

“Depending on what area you decide to work in, you will be based in different locations,” some students were already flipping to the map on their brochure. “But otherwise, this is the end of your tour. Now it's up to you to make your decision. Good job making it this far!”

With another swipe of the hand, the screen flickered off as the students clapped. They dispersed, no doubt considering their decisions with fellow graduates before they were asked to leave. Some of them were familiar faces. You already knew what research programs they would pick, even if they didn’t know it themselves yet. While others milled around discussing their thoughts, one young girl made her way to you. If you remember correctly, her name was Lee Gahyeon.

“Doctor, it was lovely to see you again,” with her laptop tucked in one hand, she extended the other to shake yours.

“It’s lovely to see you again too, Gahyeon,” you said, accepting her hand, “but I have to say I’m surprised to see you here.”

“Why’s that?” she asked, using her hand to push up her glasses.

“I just didn’t think this was—”

An explosion rocked the building, throwing both you and Gahyeon off balance. On instinct, you grabbed her, your arm breaking her fall. There was a moment of stillness before a hissing sound filtered in. Another blast sent tremors through the ground.

You covered Gahyeon’s face with your arm but fortunately, nothing fell on the both of you.

The explosion wasn’t at your building. But it was close enough.

Evacuation alarms began to blare as the lights flashed red.

“Take the stairs on the left! Door is unlocked,” you ordered over the alarms.

The students were filing out as asked while you picked yourself up from the floor. Helping Gahyeon up, you scanned her for injuries. She seemed to be fine, still clutching her laptop protectively.

“Are you injured?” you asked just for good measure, as you led her to the exit.

“No, Doctor, I’m alright,” Gahyeon said, oddly unperturbed.

You nodded, patting your right pocket to make sure your access key was still on you. Another blast rocked the building just as you made the stairs, you weren’t easily thrown this time. The lower you went, the more crowded it became as even more people poured in from the floors. Thankfully, only a handful of students were left in your care, all of whom were still in your sight. However, that didn’t last long.

The main lobby, usually pristine and quiet, was now chaotic. A mass of panicked people moved in all directions, struggling to find those they’d lost or rushing to the entrance. A sight like this was commonplace in your city, you were trained for it. But it still stopped you for a moment. Fortunately, security guards were already evacuating people through the intended emergency exit. Yet, you still wanted to make sure the graduates made it though.

You only looked away for a second. You don’t know how you lost sight of her but Gahyeon wasn’t there.

You couldn’t help it. You had to look for her.

The security guards called after you, but you were already making your way towards the lobby's main entrance. It was stupid. It was even more stupid to believe you’d find her in this crowd. People shoved and stepped on your feet, you were breathing harder. The moment you passed the glass doors, air filtered back into your lungs. But it offered no relief because it was thick suffocating smoke.

Then that hissing sound returned.

Much clearer now.

You couldn’t locate it.

You couldn’t make sense of it.

You couldn’t do anything but watch the building across the street erupt.

People screamed as they scattered with the blast, weightless much like the glass shards pouring down.

You only remembered the sensation of flight before everything went black.

A strange stiffness, not exactly numbness, spread down the length of your left shoulder accompanied by searing pain just above your elbow. That was the first thing you felt.

The second was the incessant pats on your cheek. Groaning, you waved your right hand in hopes of getting the patting to stop. Instead, you were welcomed with a cry.

Your eyes fluttered open and with great struggle, they were able to focus. You were face to face with Siyeon, unmasked. That unsettled you.

Siyeon looked as though she’d just run across the city, fighting every local gang, drug cartel, and trafficking port, all in a span of an hour. Her face was caked with dirt and blood. Her mask sat bunched up beneath her chin. That midnight black hair of hers, depthless as always, was pulled back tightly, a few escaped strands sutkc to her sweaty forhead. Yet, the most startling features were Siyeon’s eyes. All white with how wide they were, peering right through you.

You pulled away from her. Uncomfortable under her stare, but not as uncomfortable as the jagged stone pressing into your sore back. Siyeon had you propped up against a brick wall. Still regaining your bearings, you didn’t make out what she was muttering when she pulled you into a hug. Her face nuzzled into the juncture between your neck and shoulder, her tears wetting your skin.

“I thought I lost—I thought you,” her voice was barely audible over your groan. “You were—”

Her breath hitched as a sob passed her lips. However, you couldn’t tear your eyes from the flashing lights and the faint sounds of sirens… situated buildings away from you. The real indicator of how far away you were from everything was the eighty-floor skyscraper illuminated by a terrifying array of blue and red. The main headquarters of your research facility.

“Siyeon, where are we?” you couldn’t help but ask even though it was pretty clear you were in a secluded alley, safe from everything going on.

Your voice was raspy, understandably so, your tongue felt like sandpaper when you tried to wet your lips. Siyeon tried to compose herself. Inhaling and exhaling into your neck, feeling your warmth, your pulse underneath her hand before pushing away. She took a moment to look at you again, a sort of relief passed over her breath and stuttered out. Her eyes were red-rimmed, her tears trailing a clear path through dirt and dried blood, but they didn’t look afraid anymore.

“You’re hurt, I found you, passed out, you—” Siyeon paused, closing her eyes when her breath hitched again. When your working hand cupped her cheek, she exhaled, no stuttering this time. “I brought you away from the explosions. The blast knocked you out, completely.”

Siyeon sputtered when mentioning that but caught herself. She covered your hand with hers and pushed her cheek into your grasp, sighing at the sensation.

“I found you on the stairs, at the entrance to building two. There's a huge gash down your left arm, I think you lost quite a bit of blood. I don’t think you’re concussed,” you felt fine apart from the pain in your left arm, just slightly exhausted. You shook your head and Siyeon finally let out a chuckle. “Alright, Doc, you’re not concussed. But you’re still injured and I’m taking you home. That’s final.”

“Siyeon, don’t—”

“I said that’s final!” Siyeon yelled, gripping both your shoulders and pushing you into the wall.

You looked at her. She looked at you.

In an instant, she fell backwards, clasping both her hands to her chest as you let out a pained gasp.

Clenching your teeth, you tilted your head up to breathe in hopes of alleviating the pain. A soft whimper from the back of your throat escaped you without permission and you glared at the sky. You needed to get used to this pain and get used to it fast. You couldn’t let it deter your focus. You were wasting time.

With a groan, you focused all your energy on curling your fingers into a fist. The pain that shot up your left arm was sharp, making you shudder. But once the sensation passed, so did the stiffness. You did just that a few more times, all the while not missing how Siyeon kept mumbling apologies.

“Siyeon,” you called to her, finally able to somewhat lift your left arm.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry—”

“Siyeon, please,” you nudged her with your leg.

She just shook her head. Her nails dug into her thighs as she kneeled before you, almost reverent.

“Siyeon, please, would you just look at me?”

She scrunched her eyes shut, blowing out a shaky breath. Then, from underneath her lashes, Siyeon looked up at you.

“Come here,” you extended your right hand.

Akin to a wary animal, she gingerly took your hand before moving forward. When you pulled her close to you, a deep exhale left as her forehead found purchase on your shoulder again. Naturally, you wrapped your arm around her, running circles on her back as she continued to mutter apologies. Siyeon had stopped her sobbing, yet she continued to tremble, so much that you tightened your hold on her. You’ve never seen her so distraught.

“I’m here, I’m fine,” you pressed her flush against your side before repeating the words.

A few moments later, she pulled back. Only enough to look down at her. Her breathing was back to normal, but tears still stained her eyes. You couldn’t take the look she was giving you.

“Now you know how I felt every time you showed up at my door,” you breathed out.

It was supposed to be a joke. At least, you think that was the intention. Something to alleviate the tension.

It didn’t come out that way.

There was too much honesty in that statement to ever treat it so lightly. You couldn’t help but pour some of the animosity you’d felt in the years you were together. All of those tiny moments building up to your painful separation. You wished you reigned in your emotions better.

Because it was wrong.

It was wrong to throw that in her face, now of all times. Especially when she was so close, that you could witness every single emotion that flicked across her face.

“I hated every second of it. I never want to feel it again.”

Right, if only it was that easy.

“You handled it way better than I did,” Siyeon confessed. A strange look passed her face when she glanced at your arm. “Even now.”

Siyeon didn’t give you the chance to respond. She pulled back as she furiously swiped at her eyes, her lips pressed into a thin line. Perhaps, that was smart of her. And maybe for once, you’ll bite your tongue.

Sighing, you reached out to her. You carefully drag the pad of your thumb across her furrowed eyebrows, a familiar instinct. Then just as naturally, you moved to place a kiss on her forehead.

“Are you—” Siyeon nodded before you could finish the question.

“I’m still taking you home,” Siyeon shook her head when you tried to speak. “You have to let me take you home. Please, I’m not leaving you here. I can’t leave you here.”

“I’m fine, I promise,” Siyeon sent you a scathing glare but you pressed on. “We’re not too far away—”

“You’re aware you’re telling that to the person who carried you here, right?” Siyeon asked, folding her arms. “Who, by the way, happens to have superpowers and still is tired and sweaty from the trip.”

“I think you’re more sweaty from all the anxiety when you thought I—”

“Too soon. Not funny.”

Siyeon always managed to lighten the situation with you. Maybe jokes were just not your thing.

“It is far, fine. But I am feeling better,” it was your time to shake your head when she tried to interject. “I’m not concussed but still exhausted, walking back would be a terrible idea, I know. I can probably get a cab back to my hospital—”

“Oh, you mean the hospital that’s up in flames?”

“Our buildings weren’t being attacked,” you rolled your eyes at her exaggeration. “Actually, I think they were energy blasts with—”

“That is still an attack,” Siyeon deadpanned and you shook your head, vehemently. There was something more, that familiar hissing before the disruptive blast.

“No, no, you don’t—never mind, that’s not the problem right now,” you said, filing the thought away. “Seriously, our buildings weren’t being attacked. Only those in our vicinity were.”

“This was a distraction,” Siyeon answered and you nodded eagerly, unable to hide the surge of pride.

“More or less, they’re after something else,” you glanced at the skyscraper ahead, now surrounded by helicopters. “And there's a good chance it's back in our labs.”

“Then I’m definitely not letting you go back or anywhere near your lab until—”

A beep interrupted Siyeon. A beep you were once familiar with.

You sent Siyeon a confused look, but she just mirrored yours.

The beep played again. You definitely recognized that sound.

Siyeon, still a bit confused, backed away from you. She lifted her left wrist and pushed back her sleeve. Instead of showing the time like it usually did, Siyeon’s watch glowed a vibrant blue. An incoming call. Siyeon could only stare, frozen in place.

“Tell me that’s not who I think it is?” you whispered.

“Yes, it is,” Siyeon muttered back, fingers shaking as they inched closer to the screen.

“I thought you stopped working for them.”

“I thought so too,” she scoffed when a familiar face appeared. The watch answered the call for Siyeon, a shaky hologram washing her in a blue light.

“Cygnus Protocol,” your blood chilled. You looked up to catch Siyeon’s gaze, but all she did was glare holes into the hologram. “Agents report to these coordinates,” with that, the face disappeared and was replaced by a map.

“Wait, wait, agents?!” you asked, on instinct looking at every hidden corner for a camera. When you couldn’t find anything, you pulled away and pressed yourself against the brick wall, as if you could become one with it. “How does he know?”

“That’s what I’m thinking,” Siyeon said as she studied the map with a frown. It was quite the distance, in fact, it was the exact opposite of where you were currently situated. Near the other side of the city.

Meaningless blasts. Out of bound distress call. Something wasn’t adding up here. You must get back to the labs. And Siyeon—

“Siyeon, you have to go,” she only chewed her bottom lip as she considered it. “You have to leave if he—”

“Would you go?” Siyeon asked, swiping at her watch before looking up at you.

You gulped, afraid for the first time tonight.

Without the blue light, Siyeon was only dimly lit by the moonlight. The flickering street lights far down the alleyway, painted her shadows much darker so that it was difficult to discern her clearly.

However, one thing was abundantly clear.

Siyeon was angry.

any feedback is much appreciated.

a/n: i'll post the rest of it when im not crying over my exams ;-; anyways hope everyone has a good day/night !

tagging: @someone-who-likes-broccoli

#mala's collection #sanccharine #siyeon x reader #dreamcatcher x reader #siyeon imagines #dreamcatcher imagines #superhero au #doctor au #return to you

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valiantstarlights · 11 months

Note

Loved your personal trainer Dream!!! ❤️❤️❤️I love how both are just really really horny for the other

Now I got the feeling Dream might do some brochures like Destruction's (if I got that correctly, do they have the list of exercises/training in them?)

But these are only for Hob and they are meant to be done in the bedroom (or maybe in the gym at late hours when no one is there)😏

And those, too, having extremely silly and lewd names as titles

Will wait patiently for the next chapter 💞

Thank you for your kind words and for waiting 🙇‍♀️ RL is being rough on me rn (and not in the fun way), but I'm always cheered up by everyone's reactions and feedback 😊

Endless Gym Brochures

Endless Gym has a variety of brochures in the reception area, and they cater to all sorts of gym-goers, from beginner level to advanced.

The brochures have all been pre-tested to a random sample of their target audience, and comments and suggestions made by the group were taken into serious consideration.

(There are brochures for tai chi classes, extreme sports training, self-defense, dancing, etc.)

Destruction's brochure underwent the pre-test stage as well, though I suppose he's more involved in the creation process and had insisted on the exploding volcano and raining hellfire theme. 😂 His target audience is, of course, very intense people (who would voluntarily sign up for classes named Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse Regimen 💀), so the brochure was approved in the end. 🤷‍♀️

It's a mystery how Hob got Destruction's brochure. Maybe Jo just picked one at random, thinking that the contents of all the brochures are the same?

Dream's Spicy Brochure

Realistically, I don't think Dream would make one, because there's always a chance that it could leak to the general public and...that would be super bad. 👀 Can you imagine the size of the crowd wanting to sign up?

However! That isn't to say that Dream doesn't already have a spicy training program outlined in his mind. He is only waiting for Hob's explicit consent so they could begin. 😏

In this ask I answered, we can briefly see Dream in the process of training Hob's virgin hole into taking his cock. And that's all I'm gonna say about spicy training for now. 😊

#personal trainer dream AU #ask and you shall receive #dreamling #the sandman #i am highkey interested in knowing how many of us would be part of the crowd wanting to sign up for dream's spicy training program 😂

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s-w-h · 8 months

Text

Bittersweet Love pt.1

Genre: angst, College/student life, slight love triangle(?)

Members included: Mingyu, Wonwoo, Seungkwan, Dino, and Vernon

Word Count:3k

SUMMARY: You end up being accepted to a study abroad program in South Korea and you meet a group of friends that ends up making your time abroad a little more interesting.

“Y/n Congratulations! You’ve been accepted to join a study abroad program in South Korea.”

You’ve finally been accepted to study abroad after months of waiting. You’ve always wanted to try living in a new country away from home. You pack all your clothes and precious belongings while blasting “Bad Vibes Lonely” by DEAN, one of your all time favorite songs. You're so excited to be in a new area, a completely different experience from your own.

The day finally comes and you board the plane. It’s a long and tiring flight. The more excited you got just thinking about being in South Korea the more the flight seemed to get longer and longer. You’ve been on this flight for what felt like years. Once you finally land to get off the plane you wait outside the airport for a taxi. A taxi pulls up right next to you and you hop in. You tell the driver the address of your new college. After a 30 minute ride the driver pulls up right in front of the college campus. It’s huge! The campus seemed a lot bigger than what was shown in the online brochure. A big sign outside of the main building “Welcome to the University of Seoul!” you read in big bolded letters. You couldn’t believe you were actually here, the Universe of Seoul. You look around trying to find the women’s dorm rooms. While looking for the dorms you trip and fall to the ground. You hear a slight chuckle behind you.

“Are you okay?” you hear.

“Yeah I’m fine, but I heard you laugh at me.” you say with a slight attitude.

A smile still on his face he says, “You seem lost, where are you tryna go?”

“I’m trying to find the women’s dorms but this campus is so huge I can’t seem to find anything,” you say looking around in complete awe of how truly big the campus was it seemed like a whole new world.

“Well before I show you around a little let me introduce myself, I’m Jeonghan. It's nice to meet you.” Jeonghan says with a grin on his face, probably still laughing about how stupid you looked when you fell. He walks you to the front entrance of the women’s dorms and you thank him and walk in. You find your new room and start unpacking. You hear someone open the door and walk in behind you.

“Hey y/n!” your friend, Joy, says with a smile.

“Hi Joy, I missed you,” You replied with a friendly smile. You both talk for a little bit about your flights and getting to the university. After the talk you decided to take a break from unpacking your things and go out for a walk. You wanted to look around and explore the campus a bit. It would be hard to get used to so you wanted to get a head start. You head out to the courtyard, the center of the campus. From a distance you see a small coffee shop.

“That café seems cute and I wouldn’t mind an iced latte right now.” you walk in and the aroma of coffee immediately hits you. As soon as you walk up and order your drink a line starts to form behind you.

“Hi, may I get a small iced vanilla latte to go please.” as you’re in the middle of your order you realize you don’t have your wallet. The cashier tells you your total but you have no way of paying. You frantically pat yourself down looking for loose cash or a card or any form of payment. The line behind you is getting longer and you start to feel more and more embarrassed. Someone walks up and stands right next to you.

“I’d like to pay for her drink please.” the guy says with an almost frustrated expression.

“Will that be all for you today sir?” says the cashier.

“No, I’d like to order an iced americano as well please.”

“Can I get a name for your order?”

“Seungkwan.” he says, pulling out his wallet to pay for both drinks.

“Thank you so much I thought I had my wallet on me before leaving. I guess I was so excited to explore my new surroundings I completely forgot to grab it.” You say in embarrassment.

“You know you have to pay me back right?” he says with a serious look on his face.

“Of course! How much was it? I can go back to my dorm and get my wallet right now.”

“Nah it’s good, just take me out for food tomorrow and all is forgiven.” you agree and exchange contact information to plan for tomorrow. You head back to your dorm and finish unpacking. The next day you head to your first class. You walk in and sit down in a random seat. You start scrolling on your phone while waiting for the professor to show up. You look up and see two people sitting beside you. You overhear them talking about one of your favorite artists.

“Are you guys talking about GSoul?” you say with an excited look on your face.

“Yeah you know GSoul?” one of them says.

“Yes! He’s one of my favorite artists. I love his voice! My favorite song is Circles. I've been having it on repeat for the past week now!”

“Broo my favorite is Can’t!” says the other one.You guys start talking on and on recommending each other new music and showing each person’s playlists. After class you invite them out to eat because it seemed like you’d finally found some people to be friends with.

“Are you guys free later?” you ask hopefully.

“Nah sorry we have something to get to but we’ll definitely talk tomorrow.” one of them says reminding you that you also have plans later that day.

“Okay, I’ll see you guys tomorrow!” you say walking off realizing you never caught their names you guys have been talking non stop before the lecture neither one got the chance to introduce themselves.

“I’ll ask for their names tomorrow.” you think while heading to your next class.

Later that day you get ready to go meet Seungkwan at the restaurant he had texted you about earlier. You take a last good look around your dorm room before leaving making sure you didn’t forget your wallet this time. You type in the address into your phone and realize it’s a short distance from your dorm building and decide to walk there instead of spending money on a taxi. You arrive at the restaurant and walk in. It’s a Korean barbecue spot, you’ve never had Korean barbecue before so you're excited. The smell of meat grilling and the loud sounds from the restaurant makes you even more excited. You head in and see Seungkwan straight ahead, but he looks to be sitting with a large group of people. You walk in, seeing everyone in clear view, it seems to be around maybe 12 other people.

“Hey it’s y/n!!!” Seungkwan shouts, slurring his words a little. It seems he’s already been drinking.

“Hey I thought I was only paying for you? What’s all this, you know I can’t afford all of that right?” You say with a concerned expression.

“Of course you're not paying for everyone, just my meal, I’ll pay for my own drinks though.”

“Okay cool,” you say, taking your seat. As you sit down you recognize some familiar faces.

“Hey you guys are from my class right?” You say with a smile, glad to be seeing someone familiar so you won’t be sitting alone awkwardly because you didn’t know anyone else at the table.

“Oh yeah hey! We didn’t get a chance to formally introduce ourselves earlier did we?” One of them says, “I'm Vernon, nice to officially meet you!”

“And I'm Dino!”

“Nice to meet you guys I’m y/n”

Around ten minutes past and you're getting comfortable with the group. But the more comfortable you feel the more you drink. Bottle after bottle at this point you're inhaling liquor. You’ve never had soju before so you don’t really know your limits. You start to feel really hot so you decide to get some fresh air.

“Hey Seungkwan, I think I’m going to head out.” You say slurring your words and stumbling. Seungkwan was occupied talking to the rest of the group and a little tipsy at that.

“Oh okay yeah sure get home safe.” He says as you turn away and start walking toward the cashier to pay for your food and Seungkwans. As you step outside the restaurant a cool breeze hits you. You’ve been In the restaurant for a few hours now so the wind feels refreshing.

Walking on the sidewalk, cars flying past you on the road it felt like you were dreaming. Suddenly you hear footsteps behind you, you didn’t think much of it seeing as you had walked past a few people already. Maybe one of them turned around or something. But just in case you decide to speed up a little. The liquor in your system had you thinking about the worst possible situations. You speed up a little more, but so do the footsteps.

“They aren’t going away anytime soon. At this point they’ll follow me all the way back to my dorm.”

You stop in the middle of the sidewalk, the sound of footsteps pauses. You can feel someone standing right behind you. As fast as possible you turn around to land a hit on them so you have a chance to run and call for help. But as soon as you turned around and realized who was behind you but it was too late you had already hit him. As he falls to the ground you hear the sound of glass shattering.

“Oh my god are you okay?” You say panicked.

“I’m fine, but you broke my glasses.”

“I’m so sorry I thought you were a stalker or something I don’t know I just got freaked out.” You say trying to convince him that you truly didn’t do it on purpose.

“You're from the dinner though right? You look familiar or maybe I'm just drunk.”

“Yeah I am, I decided to head home too but I saw also walking out.I just wanted to make sure you got back safe.” He says as you help him off the ground.

“You seemed like you drank a little over your limit. I’m sorry I scared you though that wasn’t my intention.” You guide him onto a bench as best as your drunk mind can.

“Again I’m so sorry for hitting you. I really thought you were a kidnapper or something.” “and I broke your glasses. How much were they? I'll pay for it.” You say frankly searching your pockets and your purse any money you could find to make up for breaking his glasses.

“It’s fine I promise I have multiple pairs of glasses at home that won’t be missed.” He says laughing it off

“Can I at least get your name so I know who to apologize to.” You say laughing back

“My name's Wonwoo.” He says while putting his hand out asking for a head shake

“I’m y/n, I’m so sorry for hitting you and breaking your glasses Wonwoo.” You say lifting your hand to meet his

“Let me walk you home and all is forgiven.” He says smiling at you

He walks you all the way back to your dorm making sure you get in your room safe seeing as you were still stumbling a little. As you guys are walking up to the door of your room you trip and he catches you. In the same moment your room mate joy walks out.

“y/n who’s he?” She says with a grin on her face.

“Shut up and get inside” you say, shoving her back in the room and swiftly turning around to wave Wonwoo goodbye.

“Who was he~” she says, teasing you.

“Just some dude I met after dinner wanted to walk me home. I drank a little too much.” You said rolling your eyes and getting undressed.

“Oh he was cute, maybe there could be something there?” She says teasing you again.

“No I don't, although I did think he was cute.” You say jumping into bed.

“Oh? Tell me more!” She says with a big smile.

“No, I'm tired, go to sleep.” You say while turning off the lights.

The next morning you had class normal. You say hey to Dino and Vernon and you guys talked about the same old same old. GSoul, DEAN, Giveon, and a whole bunch of different artists. After class ends and you're walking out with Vernon and Dino the professor calls you back.

“I wanted to talk to you about the most recent project assignment.” “It seems you didn’t fully understand the question I was asking. Go back, reread it and turn it back to me. I won’t deduct any points if you fix it.” He says with a straight face. He's a nice teacher and one of your favorite professors. He just never seems to smile for some reason.

You agree to fix the assignment and head to your next class. Later that day you see Seungkwan on your way to the library.

“Hey y/n let me talk to you for a minute.” he says pulling you aside

“There’s someone from the dinner that I want to properly introduce you to. He says interested in you. I can’t set you guys up if you want.” he says pulling out his phone ready to give you the guys phone number

“There was someone that i was looking at during the dinner he walked me home too, i wanted to try going on a date with him” you say thinking about Wonwoo

“Oh really? He took you home? I don't remember him leaving early but maybe i got too drunk to remember” he said confused

“Give me his number, I have to go work on a project before the library closes.” you say pulling out your phone in a hurry

You get to work on trying to fix the assignment but it seems you really don’t understand how to answer the question.

“Hey you were at the dinner right?” You hear coming from behind you.

“Did you get home alright you seemed hella drunk.” He laughs at you a little.

“Yeah I got home fine” you say giggling.

“Is that the project from Mr. Martin's class?” He says pointing at your work.

“Yeah it is, I don't understand what it’s asking me at all.” You say in frustration.

“Let me help you, I’m Mingyu by the way.”

You were finally able to finish your work thanks to Mingyu. As you guys are leaving the library a conversation sparks up. You guys start teasing each other back and forth.

“His class is so easy bro maybe you're just a little slow.” He says laughing.

“Bro shut up and leave me alone. I promise it's getting harder for no reason.” You said jokingly.

You and Mingyu laugh a little more talking about random topics. You guys eventually head your separate ways. You thanked him one last time before heading back to your dorm room. Once you get back to your dorm you remember the phone number that Seungkwan gave you and you decide to text it.

You remember you forgot to ask Seungkwan who’s number it was, but you think who else’s number could it be? You were only with one other guy the rest of the night. Wonwoo, the one who was kind enough to take you home and forgive you for breaking his glasses. So of course you wanted to go out with him.

The weekend came faster than you expected. It's Friday night when you get another text from the number.

Saturday, 4 p.m you start getting dressed to meet him. Nothing fancy, just a nice shirt and some jeans, you didn't feel like doing a full face of makeup so you just put on some mascara and called it a day. You finish getting dressed early with 30 minutes to spear. You decided to go to the coffee shop early so you could get a drink while you wait on him. You walk into the coffee shop and see someone familiar.

“Oh Mingyu? Hey! What are you doing here? Are you waiting on somebody or something?”

“Yeah, I was waiting for you.” he said with a confused face

“Wait what? I have plans with someone though.” you say as Mingyu reaches for his phone then pulls up the messages between who you thought was you and Wonwoo

“Seungkwan gave me your number?” you say

“Yeah i assumed you knew it was me that’s why i didn’t say anything” he says laughing it off

“Well i guess it doesn't matter at this point” you think to yourself

“If you're ready we can go now, i wanted to check out this arcade not too far from the campus. We can just walk there if you're up to it.” Mingyu says

Thankfully you didn't wear anything special and the weather was really nice so you thought a walk would be nice. The walk from the coffee shop to the arcade really was bad. The weather was cool, not too cold, not too hot and not humid at all. It was honestly perfect, and you and Mingyu joked with each other the whole way so the walk felt even shorter. Once you guys got to the arcade it seemed to be empty, almost closed? There was no closed sign on the door though so you guys walked in. There was an employee at the front desk before entering the room with all the games. He told you guys where to put your money for game coins and you guys set off looking around the arcade for a fun game to start off with.

“I bet I'll whoop your ass at air hockey.” You say to Mingyu taunting him

“Big talk for real, let's see if you can actually beat my ass though.” He says with a smile on his face. The smile almost made you blush a little. He was starting to look more and more attractive to you. You guys played for hours, from air hockey(you won the game multiple times), to those basketball shooting games, to motorcycle racing games, to even an old pacman machine the arcade had in the back of the room. After a few hours you realized how hungry you had gotten, and it was getting late. You tried looking at the time but your phone wouldn't turn on somehow it had died. “I knew i should've charged it before i left” you think to yourself

“Mingyu, what time is it? My phone died.” you ask putting your phone back in your back pocket

“Oh it's…” he says taking out his phone “Wow it's already 8:30, are you hungry at all? We can leave and go to this street market around the corner I heard about.” said Mingyu

Just imagining all the street food made your mouth water. You’ve never had Korean street food before so you were very excited.

“That sounds really good! I'm ready to go now to be honest” you said

“Alright, bet go.” Said mingyu

Getting closer and closer to the street market you could smell all the delicious food. It felt like you were getting hungrier and hungrier by the second. You wanted to try everything that was there. You spotted an older lady selling tteokbokki and you immediately started walking towards her.You and Mingyu said hello to the owner and ordered.

“Are you guys on a date?” says the lady as she's preparing our order

“Yes we are.” Mingyu says with a slight chuckle

As the lady hands you guys the food she says “i hope you guys have a good rest of your date.”

You and Mingyu say thank you and head off but right before you leave you hear the lady say slightly under her breath

“They’re so cute they’d make such a cute married couple.”

You’re not sure if Mingyu also heard it but you decide to ignore it. You guys walk around a little while eating. It's getting late and you're getting a little tired.

“You seem a little sleepy. I can walk you back to your dorm if you're ready to call it a night.” said Mingyu

“Yeah I am getting a little tired.” you say shocked he even noticed

You and Mingyu reach the campus but he insists on at least taking you to the girls dorm building. As you guys are walking through the campus you run into Wonwoo.

“Hey y/n why are you out so late?” he says with a smile that immediately fades once he sees Mingyu standing next to you

“I just took her out on a date, i wanted to make sure she got back to her dorm okay.” says Mingyu

You three had a quick conversation, said your goodbyes and you walked into your building. You get to your dorm, walk in, set your things down, undress and lay down. You realize just how awkward it truly was talking to Wonwoo with Mingyu right next to you. Thinking back to it, Wonwoo almost seemed annoyed when Mingyu told him you guys were on a date. “Was he jealous?” you thought but immediately dismissed the idea. The tiredness crept in faster and faster until you eventually fell asleep.

#seventeen #seungkwan #vernon #mingyu #svt x reader #wonwoo #mingyu x reader #wonwoo x reader #angst #svt dino

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zorilleerrant · 2 months

Text

Jason was right about the school. Bruce pulled some strings and went on some whole long thing about scholarships. Not to Jason, but he can still see it in the haggard smile on the face of the woman in charge of liaising with all the educational institutions, the way she overemphasizes certain phrases like she’s repeating them word for word.

Not least of all the part where she pushes seventeen brochures into his hands and asks him, with a pained look in her eyes, if he’s thought about college, and work-study programs, and student discounts on all sorts of things. Thin lips biting back the way Bruce obviously wants desperately to pay for it all, as if he isn’t already paying Damian’s tuition out of pocket.

The scholarships are real, this just clearly isn’t one. This is someone paying too close attention to someone who should’ve slipped his view, and now Jason can’t even use his own name anymore. A Jason, sure, there are lots of them, but the one Bruce has gotten so worked up about? Best case, he’ll think Jason’s a plant by some villain who wants to throw him off his game, worst case – worst case he’ll know.

He doesn’t think he can use Peter, either. Not unless he wants to see tears pile up in the corners of Bruce’s eyes while he smiles softly and pretends they aren’t. Not that Jason’s ever gotten entirely used to that one, either, the handful of times he used it.

Fuck, it would all be so much simpler if he really were just some down on his luck single dad, going back to university to learn things he never got a chance to, never having to hide all the things he shouldn’t know. But he’s about as much Greg Cather as the guy who made the fake ID was, if you don’t count the picture. It’s not actually of Jason, but it’s close enough.

Damian can still keep his given name, at least, and Jason can be Baba all he wants, and they have, you know, the things he planned. All the things he planned. They have food, and clothes, and somewhere to stay, and Damian’s going to school soon. Everything but Jason’s rock solid plan to hole up in a safehouse and do who knows what.

Put on a mask and be Robin again. Be Batman, but better. Hell, be a supervillain, maybe, just so long as he got to dress up as someone else for a while, have an excuse to run and jump and climb and stare at the blurry stretch of Gotham under weightless apogee. Drag himself back into the moment when he could fly.

He still has weapons. He just also has Batman’s scrutiny.

There’s something almost as soothing about packing a bookbag for Damian. The bag he had, sturdy canvas dragged all the way from home, and Damian would probably throw a fit if he had to go to school without it, so just as well. Something has to be consistent in the kid’s life. But everything else is from this neat little closet, smelling like artificial flowers over industrial cleaner, someone trying to pretty up another soulless shell. But under that, he can smell the paper scent of brand new notebooks, carboard boxes and plastic discarded to the side.

Everything is new and fresh and unmarred. Jason doesn’t think Damian’s ever used a marble composition book before. He’s used a ballpoint pen, but nothing this cheap, used markers, but never the washable, nontoxic kind. The books are well below his reading level, but he hasn’t studied literature yet, doesn’t know what he’s in for, and Jason finds himself a little jealous. Back to school shopping was always his favorite, just for this, even if the charity bins look a little brighter these days. Bruce’s fault or whatever. At least he’s done something right.

Damian looks skeptical at the neatly packed bag, lighter than he’s used to hauling around, but Jason’s riding his satisfaction high, brushing out the kid’s hair and feeding him breakfast, getting him to his first day of classes on time.

Breakfast is a granola bar and an apple. Jason will go shopping after.

Damian glares at Jason for clutching his hand too tight, but they make it to school without incident, and Jason barely has to juggle pleasantries before he remembers how to sign a form, sign Damian in. Hopefully not consign him to – well, Jason went here, too, and it was bad, some days, and worse others. But Damian is starting sooner, knowing more than he did at that age, and with Jason to back him up if anything goes wrong. So.

So.

“I’ll be fine,” Damian says, with an eyeroll that doesn’t cover the tremble in his lip, but makes Jason smile all the same.

He packed Damian a lunch. It’s not a very good lunch, but it has a note in it, some aphorism he’s already forgotten, just to get the kid through the day.

“I know you will,” Jason tells him, and wonders what he’ll do the whole time Damian’s in classes. Find someplace to hide and watch the school all day, waiting for something to happen? Better at least pretend to look for a job. Better plan how to make his money look legitimate and keep the Bats off his tail.

“Be good for your teacher,” Jason says, because he knows the three people in the office with them expect to hear it, even though he’s never understood exactly what it meant. But it sounds good, fatherly, when he says it, and causes Damian to give him a serious nod.

“I’ll pay attention and take notes,” Damian says, solemnly, with the double meaning Jason can’t break him of, because he’s still convinced they’re undercover somehow. He knows they left, he knows they’re hiding, he knows all the implications of running away, it’s just that Jason can’t explain what that means about their life. What is there to compare it to?

How do you ever explain to a kid that you’ve dragged them into a world they always knew existed but never got a chance to see? How do you teach them to fit in without telling them day after day this isn’t right anymore and that isn’t how we do things and for god’s sake, Jason, you can’t pick fights at school and calm down, it’s just a test.

Damian looks over his shoulder to wave goodbye as the smiling sunshine teacher takes him by the hand, and Jason waves back, fingers stiff as he tries to look casual. It’s easy to be calm in the face of the quotidian. Everything is a test.

#look i said something #my writing #fanfic #zorille's jason raises dami

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thoughtlessarse · 5 days

Text

An Israeli drone company is proselytizing to American police departments about an autonomous drone system that can automatically launch police drones to fly to the sites of suspected crimes. One sheriff’s department in Louisiana has repeatedly tested the system, called Orion, which is already in use by the Israeli national police and, since October 7, many Israeli settlements, according to the company’s founder. Created by the Israeli company High Lander, Orion allows users to direct hundreds of drones at once by automating them to navigate and perform actions without user input. The software system turns drones into “next-generation security guards,” according to an Orion brochure. In February, High Lander held a demo event in Baton Rouge to showcase the “drone-in-a-box solution,” which the East Baton Rouge Sherrif’s Office first tested out last June. “The system will be a game changer for the fight against crime in Baton Rouge,” High Lander wrote in a LinkedIn post about the event, which was attended by officers from around the country. The company has used its pilot program in Louisiana to encourage other police agencies to check out Orion, and its February event in Louisiana was just one part of a tour that included stops in San Diego, Phoenix, and Miami, according to LinkedIn posts. Orion’s capabilities are startling. A police force could have drones automatically launch from charging stations when triggered by “events like gunshots, burglaries, and car accidents.” Once they deploy, the drones can perform pre-set tasks: releasing cargo; relaying live video feeds; identifying and searching for people, objects, or vehicles using AI and thermal sensors; and making announcements over loudspeaker. If the system gets multiple calls, Orion can automatically choose which to prioritize. A High Lander blog post about the project adds “new capabilities are being discovered all the time.” The East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office held “mock scenario testing” with High Lander’s system “approximately 5 times,” Casey Hicks, the department’s public information director, told The Intercept. Hicks added that the demos were conducted at the sheriff’s range facility and that they “are not aware of any use out in the community at any time.” High Lander did not respond to a request for comment.

#us #israel #israeli drone company #us pds #police militarisation #human rights abuses #israeli apartheid #capitalism

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oh-for-fic-sake-library · 2 years

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Soothing A Soul Chapter 1

Masterlist

Summary: congratulations miss Caine, you have won in a new government health lottery. Your prize is an all expenses paid trip to the new Xoumen destination medical facility in figi. You have been selected at random and are one of the first humans to undergo advanced xoumen medical treatments and will be cured. This is lottery is part of human Xoumen intergalactic treaty of trade and resources. This program is designed to build trust in new Xoumen technologies we look forward to your arrival at the facility please report to your doctor for the rellegant information packs and vaccines for your travel.

Warnings: swearing?, Alien Au, coercion

A/n: this story is going to be completely self indulgent size kink, A/B/o, mateing, breeding, knotting, alpha daddy fic. And im not apologising for it. And the main characters name is pronounced Eye-ra 😅😅

"Congratulations miss caine!" You frowned as your doctor began congratulating you before youd even managed to take a seat in the chair.

"Im sorry? What for?" You asked warily pausing hakf way across the office as he eam3d up at you. Skmething felt odd, your hands squeezing your bag strap nervously. You wasnt sure why your doctor had booked this appointment just that it was urgent.

"What do you mean; have you not been informed? Oh for goodness sake! They were supposed to send a letter!" He paused confused for a few seconds before scowling curseing whoever had supposed to send you a lietter of some sort. He motioned for you to take a seat near the computer.

"Informed of what?" You asked still on edge as you perched onto the seat beside him winceing slightly as you did so, your back has been killing you again recently, not that there was anything you could really do about it. You eyed him carefully, your gaze flicking to his screen whci was quickly clicked off on to a generic screen saver.

"You won. You have been specially selected to visit a new medical facility. An island off of the coast of figi has been converted into a destination medical facility" he preened excitedly before reaching over his desk pulling a lilac sleek looking folder with your details on a small sticker plastered on the front of it.

"Destination medical facility?" You quized, that was new. Nothing youd ever heard of befpre. Sure there were spas and wellness cnnters but a destindestination medical facility? That sounded a bit to far fetched. But your doctor continued talking as he pulled out a brochure and advertising leaflets from the lilac folder.

"Yes indeed, as you know we have been working closely with the xoumens for quite a while now and they have shared a great deal with us. And finally we have been given access to their advanced medical technology. A facility has been created to begin treating humans with this alien tech, we can cure many diseases and health complaints!" Ah. That explains it. The Xoumens, an alien race that had made contact with humans a few years ago.

No one truly knew why they had come now, many belived it was because of the state of our planet. The first thing they had done was offer new technology. In five years our consumption of fossil feuls had dropped to ten percent and will soon be zero.

Apparently they are our ancestors, or lived along side our ancestors but fled the planet for some unknown reason. No one knows how or why they left but they did. Well thats if you belived them. Many did simply based on their physiology, They were like humans, ten fingers presumably ten toes. Their colouring was the same- except their eyes. Their eyes were more pigmented almost cartoon like woth the bright colours ranging from brown, blue green, purple red orange you name it!

Everything else seemed the same but huge. Well almost everything, they had fangs and naturally sharp nails;claws if you will. And some had some strange bones in their chest apparently, they could purr like cats and snarle and growl like beasts. Not that anyone had actually heard either it could just be a rumour. But when they say huge they meant it. The shortest one seen was an adolescent he looked around fifthteen and six foot four. Many Xoumen were around seven foot. The ambassador that came to earth was seven foot three!

The news had gone wild but after a few tense months and some odd political games and exchange in technology the newcomers were deamed friendly. Slowly but surely the alien tech was being drip fed into the daily lives of everyone. New food, new greener technology, there had evenbeen stories of some animals had been smuggled into the pet trade. And now finally it would seem their medical knowledge was being shared, and somehow youd won the chance to experience it.

"You have been selected at random with one hundren other people to visit the island and receive advanced treatment free of charge" your doctor wheeled his chair across the room to you with a grin. He looked more excited then you did.

"Free? Treatment? But i? I never entered any;this cant be right" you argued weakly trying to think back incase you had entered anything on a whim on the internet. But you hadnt, health was expensive and you dpwere too frightenedof being scammed to do anything online.

"It is all here in black and white. Iyra Caine, currently 26 years old diagnosed with early osteoporosis, depression, anxiety and migraines?" You frowned again when he read off your details. They were correct but still this made no sense. Why would they want to cure you? What had you done to earn that kind of hand out?

"Yes thats me but... why? Im sure theres more severe cases then mine; people who suffer more that are older " you argued shrugging calmly trying not to snap up the offer without asking the sensible questions first. Stuff like this came at a price, and you wanted to be sure you were willing to pay it before accepting.

"And that is why we used a random selection. We need to build trust in new medicine, we needed a large demographic old, young, mental health complaints, physical health compliants, long term and acute conditions. We need to prove that these new treatments work long term. And so we included your diagnoses in the selection pool" your doctor explained rationally, surprisingly not getting irritated as he usually did. Normally too many questions irked him.

"And what is the treatment? What will i get done?" You added stull tryjng to find the down side, there had to be one. A fly in the ointment as they say. The male sighed pushi g his glasses up his nose and leveled you with a look.

"That Im afraid is classified. We cannot divulge the specifics untill you are at the facility, at which point you will be given a run down of the treatments and asked to consent and receiveit or be returned home." You eyed him. On the one hand things are startingmto sound suspicious. Yet you can understand, if these were miracle cures then obviously you wouldn't want information leaked. Medicine was big business.

"What we can say however is that there is a one hundred perent certainty that you will be cured with no chance of any of your helath complaintsretuning. The xoumens are the same as us just physically just larger. They cured their own ills on their home planet and finally offered us; cancer and chronic illness doesn't even exist on their planet anymore" he continued growing ,ore enthusiastic. He looked awe inspired, as if he himself would give anything to visit a xoumen medical unit and watch them work.

He paused noticing your scepticism and leant over holding his gaze with yours sincerely before speaking quietly, reassuring you.

"I understand your trepidation, but have see the data myself, everything is tested and safe. Because its the first alien medicine we have ever encountered the trials have been even more stringent. The medical board were much stricter with this technology. We even brought in the Europeans to test it and they signed off on it" You nodded silently actually feeling better knowing what ever the treatment was had passed the stricter European approval system.

" I promise you nothing bad will happen to you, and in a few months these treatments will be hailed as miracle cures. And astronomically expensive." He then added as if rubbing a little salt into the wound. He knew your health was costing you more money then most andfor a second you wondered if that was the reason behinde your win. Were you a guinea-pig? Seen desperate enough to get free health care youd throw yourself in no questions asked? And more importantly would you actually do that?

"What do i need to do? I mean there has to be a catch?" You said quickly cuttingmoff the more uncomfortable thoughts of money and medical debt.

"Sharp as ever. All we ask is that once you are cured you advocate for the treatment. Give reviews and testimonials, you may be asked to do a few interveiws and seminars about the site and we hope you would encourage people to seek out the new medicinal technologies. Some are still resilient to the xoumen's technology, they fear change" your jaw dropped at his reply. Wait what? That was all? Surely not.

"So let me see if i understand this. I will be cured, get free miracle health care for a yelp reveiw?" You quizzed completely shocked you couldnt believe that, no way. Not for a second. But he nodded.

"Well yes thats basically it. This is a once in a life time opportunity. You will have a new pain free possibly longer life- the xoumen do have a much longer life span then we do. You may never hpget this opportunity again, your bones are crumbling Iyra, you could be in sever pain and immobile in a few years time" he prodded hitting another nerve. He knew of your fear, you were only twenty six and the idea of loosing your mobility and independence before you even got to your thirties hainted you.

"I might not get that bad" you made to argue, trying to be optimistic but he shook his head and intterupted you.

"Are you willing to take a chance? Especially when this could cure you now." He added tapping the lilac folder as he spoke. He made it seem cut and dry, like this would be a walk in the park all you had to do was say yes.

"Can i think about it?" You uttered eyes locked onto the folder wistfully. Could those apers really change your life?

"Im afraid there isnt much time. You were supposed to get a letter and pamphlet a few weeks ago. Today was mearly to pick up your welcome pack and wrist band. You need your vitals done and then a quick milaria and zika virus shot before leaving the shuttle craft is already waiting to take you to the air port" his reply was bleak, a heavy sigh. You couldnt help feel slightly rushed, his was all haplening so fast! You couldn5 even register the slight excitement of possibly travelling in a shuttle craft! A new form of travel given to us b the Xoumen.

It was a sleek futuristic space craft that skimmed the ozone to race around the planet in minutes. And it ran on water, their emissions from that water replenish the atmosphere healing it as they fly. And only four are in operation at the moment, only the super rich had been on them before.

"Trust me everything is fine, you are going to be cured. This was a government selection, your home, bills will all be taken care of and your work has been informed. You will also be compensated for participating in the treatment" he added almost hastily as if he were trying to get you out the door asap. You shrunk beginning to feel like a nuisance.

"Theres nothing that could go wrong? Nothing life threatening?" You asked, voicing your biggest worry.

"No. I swear to you, youve been my patient since you were knee high. Id never let anything happen to you, if i thought it was a bad idea i wouldnt have called you in today, id have ommited your selection."he spome calmly, maintaining eye contact with you. He seemed confident and positive.

"I swear to you when you leave here to the facility your life will change. You'll get a do over." And with that he seemed to rest his case. You drew a deep breath takjng a few moments to mull over the decision before finally settling on your answer.

"O-okay if your sure, i can think of it as a holiday or something" You nodded slowly finally deciding to go. Besides he said if you didnt like the program you could come straight home, so it was win win when you thought about it, no risk to yourself.

"That'a girl, come roll up your sleeve and i will get these shots over with, they will be in your system before you get there. Trust me zika virus sounds funny but you dont want to get it" he perked up and stood speakingmpver his shoulder as he strode across the small office to a mini fridge and pulled out some injections and vials.

You smiled relaxing, youd read over the folder on the trip, for now you needed to get these shots and find a decent coffee somewhere. The commanding alpha stared out at the vast cargo hold,rows upon rows of chambers lined the huge space four chambers high. Each one a specially designed tube housing a specimen of the tiny race. Humans, delicate and fragile but perfectly formed humans. He sighed eyeing the closest row of humans, all of them suspended in anti gravity animation. They looked like they were submerged in water, hair rippling around them limbs floating aimlessly as if they were drifting with a gentle current of a stream. it was peacefull sight despite it being an unintended consequence.

It was the air contracting around them that gave the humans their gentle lulling motion. The oxygen life support systen was intune with their breathing, the chamber circulated the air drawing out the crabon dioxide and pumping fresh clean pure oxygen.

The tubes aclimatised them to the new air of his home planet and the anti gravity cushioned their journy whilst also protecting them. Though each one would suffer the consequences of such a weightless ride. They all lost some muscle mass on the long journy and would awaken no more capable then an newborn pup, the odd one would be more mobile but still clumsy in their movements. But it was actually quite usefull as they cant run off when they awaken panicked and frightened. And they were always panicked at first.

But for now each one was resting, blissfully unaware of the long journy they underwent. He almost felt sorry for them, so like himself yet completely defensless. They were like children. Small in stature all 1000 of the donated humans stood at most 5'5ft tall. Perfect for what the xoumen needed, small and defenceless the ideal substitutes omegas.

"Alpha sir, your here?" A confused voice carried across the small suspended platform. Henry turned facing the other male, shorter and slightly plump yet still in uniform. Henry could tell the man was ex-military from the straight posture and overall appearance. He gave a small smile and nodded stepping closer tucking his hands behind his back.

"yes, i wanted to see the new crop before they were transferred into the selection clinic. A sneak peak if you will" he replied casting another look to the almost unending rows of humans. Every time his took in the sight his heart swelled. Pride and hope. Thats what this was, this was the future of his own civilization. There was also something diretingmhis gaze, like a teasing trepidation. Right, he eyes alwyas drifted to thr right hand side of the hold.

"Peak? I assume its your lucky day then? You get to pick your own?" The burly male said a jovial smile acorss his face. He didnt seem the least bit envious which was a change. Eeryone else had snipped at him when he had reealed his number had been called. They believed he was bumped up the list because of his station and high rank. But honestly it was just luck.

"With luck my substitute female will be in this batch" henry hummed with a wistful longingnto his voice. He hoped beyond hope that she was here. He needed the calm, the sanity that came from protecting his own tiny omega. He was too close to failing himself and becoming a beast. Only two weeks before his nu,ber had been chosen he'd almost slaughtered so e of his own recruits because they had sassed him. He really was on the knife edge.

"These are all defective humans correct?" The male asked once more, clearly wanting to learn more about the crops of humans that were being brought into port. Henry couldnt blame him, this was only the thrid crop and there were mutterings of the illnesses that had plagued the tiny creatures.

"Indeed, their governments belive they are getting a good deal selling us the sick,these ones had no prospects. No futures. incurable they say. Unable to work the long hours society demands so were abandoned. Though we heal them on the journy, each one will wake healthier then they have ever been" he confirmed and then explained alittle, wanting the truth to be out in the public rather then remain silent on the issue.

The Xoumen officials and true pack leaders had mae sure to keep certain things a secret. Noone was even meant to know about the humans being shipped here were sick. Their sicknesses were so trivial, no more complicated then the ilnesses pups got, sniffles and fevers. The humans were so fragile, missing so much of the evolutionary dna that the Xouman had. These tiny creatures own bodies began deterioating after only three decades of life.

"Could you imagine the look on the humans faces if they realised we actually cured them of all their ailments on the journy?" Henry chuckled at the man, it was clear thos male was aware of the humans attitudes. The Xoumen didnt necessarily like the humans in power, but had little choice but to play nice. If not be a little secretive about some aspects of their life on astren. Yes indeed they would be enraged of they found out these sacrificial la,bs were to be givein perfect health and a much longer existence.

"The humans in charge are a victim of their own greed. So willing to write these ones off and sell them like cattle" henry's eyes narrowed, he didnt like the humans he'd met on earth. They were cruel and nothing like his own kind. Money ruled. Paper, plastic and little metal discs! Thats all their money was yet it caused so much chaos greed and death.

Xoumen had destroyed money eons ago. Everyone was given the everything they needed for a happy healthy life, you had packs, tight knit communities that all shared the labor and all reaped the rewards. Everyone had their role to play and anything past the basics of food, healthcare, home and utilities were all aquired though a points system. Points achived by serving your pack and community rather then actual money.

The humans clung to the old ideals of bartering and wealth they would put a price on a persons life. Which is exactly why xoumen would not hand over their medical knowledge, it would just add another cash cow into the greedy governments back yard. But thats not to say the xoumen wont use their advanced medical expertise on the donated humans, it was the least they could do for the poor little things, they were all told this was a lottery win, that they were going to an island to receive breakthrough treatments for thoer ailments. The least the xoumen could do is keep their word on that.

"gods just look at them all! Tiny and defenceless. Who'd have thought they would survive the commet" henry hummed in agreement. It was indeed a evolutionary miracle. Not just that some being survived the cataclysmic event of the comment hitting earth, but these being would evolve once more into xoumen like creatures. It was a mystery, perhaps each planetary ecosystem was only capable of evolving one type of intelligent life form. One dominant spieces per planet. The humans were a smaller weaker variety. Their dna was diluted in a sense.

"yes, quite a resilient race, which explains our own escape and survival. I read the stories, these humans had to restart their entire evolution after the astroid. I knew they would be small but they are still smaller then i anticipated" henry spoke still glancing out at the vast space. He couldnt belive some Xoumen had mated thir humans apeady, the thought excited him, but also made him wince. It just be tricky to copulate and not harm the smaller females, but it wasmin every xoumens nature to mate and knot their omega. Not for breeding persay but to strengthen the bond, solidify it.

"But then again thats why they are here, each one hand selected, each destined to play their part and rejoin their true ancestors" his words were a shallow whisper. It was only right that they were here. The humans were a disastrous race and soon theywill self destruct. Bringjng so many here will not only mend Astrens own issues but also save the humans from becomign completely extinct. It was only a matter of time before those in power on the small blue planet did something stupid.

"Do you think any of them are evolved enough to be true omega?" The male asked joining the comanding alpha looking at the peacfull humans in their slumber.

"No. Its impossible, they will never evolve like us, they missed their chance when their ancestors declined to travel with ours. Their evolution was weaker than ours, theh hae no presentation. They will remain small and defenceless" henry uttered his head tilting back to the right, his gaze seemed to linger there. No ,atter how many times he looked over the large crop the right called to him.

"Its hard to belive we were like them eons ago, no presentation, no fangs or claws hell the idea of a xoumen not reaching 6'3? It makes the skin crawl. Anyway i best get gojng, another late batch and i will be gettjng a disciplinary, apparently" the male huffed walking to the back wall and pressed a kye pad a door opened lighting the darkened ship hold with a sterile white light. With a few more buttones and metal whirrjng sounds the hold shuddered and jerked to a stop. The tracks now lined up in the docking bay. And like a well oiled machine the rows od human filled tubes began filing out into the facility.

Henry watched with a smile, this was the salvation of his planet in motion. And his own, for his number had been called, he was to recive one of these omega substitutes this time. He couldnt wait untill they allowed the selection to begun, somewhere in this crop was his omega he could feel it. His female to love and protect. The female who would keep him sane and sate his beast. Soon He would know peace, true peace. If all went well he would have his human placed in his arms. Small, delicate and completely dependent on him for her safety and happiness. He would coddle and love her as he would a true omega, she will be his world and he would be hers.

Somewhere in this sea of miniatures was hos own perfect omega. And he just couldnt wait to sniff her out.

#henry cavill #oh for fic sake fics #henry cavill fanfiction #henry cavill rpf #rpf fanfic #fic:Soothing A Soul #alien au #abo

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purplebass · 7 months

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The Element of Surprise - Matthtober 2023

Hi all! A little late, but here's my entry fic for @matthtober-2023 💙 It is Matthew's POV of the Thomastair fic where they have to dogsit Oscar. We see where Matthew went and who he met in Paris and there's a bit of Thomastair and Matthew and Alastair banter in this fic.

“There you are. I was worried you’d forgotten,” Matthew chirped at the two people outside his apartment door, not bothering to let them in. “I’m quite late for the train,” he added. “I thought I said nine, and it’s past nine –”

“You said half past nine, Fairchild,” Alastair argued. “Well, according to my clock, it is ten minutes after nine. We are on time.”

Matthew shrugged nonchalantly and grabbed his luggage with one hand and his dog Oscar with the other. “If you say so.”

“I’m not saying so, the clock is saying so,” Alastair said. “And you said so in your three fire messages. Too bad I’ve thrown them into the fire, or I would’ve showed you the evidence.”

“I didn’t know you paid attention while I talked.”

Alastair raised his eyebrows and sighed. He was about to reply to Matthew, but Thomas interjected. “Come on, you’ll lose the train if you keep arguing about the time,” he patted Matthew’s shoulder, and he finally went out of his apartment, passing in between his friends with his dog on a leather leash.

Thomas and Alastair looked at each other, and followed him outside. The air was crisp, the street still bore the signs of the storm that had bothered the city the night before. Matthew stopped in front of a hansom cab and told the driver to wait, and turned to his dog.

“Oscar. Your father is going to Paris for a few days,” he cooed. “Unfortunately, I can’t take you with me, because Angel forbid dogs can’t attend fashion shows.” Alastair grumbled in the background, said something like “I thought you were late,” but Matthew ignored him. “So I have to leave you with these handsome chaps. You know them both. There is Thomas, who is your friend already. And there’s Alastair,” he took a pause, “who might be your friend. Do not ruin his carpets if you don’t like him, but you can totally eat his ties –”

“Matthew,” Alastair said gravely. “Give me the dog and leave.”

Matthew smiled at his dog and then he turned to his friends. “See, Oscar? Alastair is already brimming with excitement to take you out and clean after you do your business.”

Alastair rolled his eyes as Matthew finally passed the leash to him. Oscar observed Alastair and smelled his pants, then turned to his owner when he greeted them one last time and got into the cab.

Matthew didn’t like to leave Oscar, but he knew that at least the dog would stay with people he trusted. Yes, even Carstairs. To an outsider they may look like a cat and a dog not getting along, but it was just a farce. He knew Oscar would have fun.

The train to Paris was delayed, and Matthew found himself in the city of lights a few hours later than planned. He couldn’t attend the first salon show he had booked because of this, but never mind. There was more than one show. He couldn’t complain to anyone, though, because this city was always in a rush, and people seemed annoyed by small talk. Time was money.

Time was precious indeed, and Matthew had to change his suit as soon as he entered his lavish room at the hotel where he was staying, because he didn’t want to smell like the train. He eventually made it to the Palace of Versailles where the second event was going to happen. This one, unlike the others, featured a fashion show with models. It was a smart way to let the customers see all the looks and then see in detail those that caught their eye.

Matthew walked briskly to his front seat with a brochure in hand, but instead of reading the program, he used it to fan himself.

“Quite different from London, right?”

In the time Matthew turned his blonde waves toward the voice who had just spoken, he realized to whom it belonged. “Must be the position,” he offered the woman a pleased grin. “We are more South after all. Maybe the perturbation that worried our country last night will head here next.”

“It would be hilarious if it did,” she said, exchanging smiles. “One of the shows I have to attend is in an Italian garden. Imagine the rain falling suddenly and drenching the poor posh people who came from everywhere just to buy clothes.”

“I would like to see that,” Matthew laughed softly. “I never thought we would be meeting here.”

“Esme, the name is Esme,” she blurted cheerfully. “I did. I know you like fashion.”

Matthew nodded. “Yes, I do remember you, Esme,” he replied. “We often frequent the same circles, you see. And now even fashion circles. Out of my friends, only Anna likes fashion. Ah, and probably Alastair,” he sighed. “But they are so boring when it comes to clothes. They do not go out of their black comfort zone.”

Esme smiled again, and she blushed. “I never thought you paid attention to me,” she mumbled, moving her gaze to the guests who were searching for a seat. “I wouldn’t consider myself part of a fashion circle, not at all.”

“Then are you here out of curiosity? Paris is one of the pillars of women’s fashion, after all.”

“I’m here because of my mother,” she explained. “You see, this seat was hers. She had another event she had to attend, but didn’t want to waste the opportunity to take a peek into the new trends.”

“Oh, so she sent you in her stead. Clever.”

“Yes,” she nodded. “She also told me to order the gowns I think are good for her, but I…”

“I remember your mother,” Matthew said. “I could help you, if you want? And maybe suggest something you can order for yourself.”

Esme’s smile widened, and the pink on her cheeks deepened. “Yes, I would love that.”

Matthew exchanged the grin, and the conversation quieted because the orchestra had just started playing. The show was about to begin.

A few days later, Matthew was exhausted even if he didn’t do much aside from examining and choosing new suits and ties and shoes to add to his wardrobe. Picking out fashion items was tiring, but it was fun, especially when you weren’t alone.

He ended up meeting Esme Hardcastle at every other show he had booked, and the two resorted to spending time together because they both came by themselves. Matthew didn’t mind being alone, because he could always find company if he desired. But being with someone he knew, even if barely, was better. Somehow, it made him more comfortable when he was traveling. It was like having a piece of your home country with yourself.

He had to admit, Esme was a cheerful and bright woman. She liked to talk about different topics, but she enjoyed it when people inquired about her family tree project.

“How should I write you on the family tree?” she had asked him.

“Just write my name and surname? I’m too young to think about marriage,” he chuckled.

“I never mentioned marriage.”

“No, but you told me you asked people about their plans. Whether they will get married soon, whether they have kids,” he had shrugged. “I don’t plan on either of those things,” he smiled. “At least for the time being.”

“You’re a dog dad,” she nodded and scribbled something on her notebook. “Noted.”

Matthew thought Esme was disappointed, but he never had time to ask her because the day after he went back to London. He was sure they would have chances to speak again.

As he thought about what he did with Esme during those days, he decided to get Oscar from Cornwall Gardens on the way back from the station. For some reason, her last words to him stuck. She had called him dog dad, and he knew it was true. He sent a fire message to Thomas to make sure they were home, so he could embrace his dog.

“I thought you were in Paris,” Thomas answered the door. “I mean, I thought you would be back tomorrow morning.”

“They canceled a show due to the bad weather,” he explained, letting himself in. “How did it go? Was Oscar good?”

“I believe you’ll have to see for yourself,” Thomas said.

“What? Did he break a vase? Did he tear one of Alastair’s shirts apart?”

Thomas led him to the living room. “Even better,” he lowered his voice as he opened the door.

Matthew frowned, wondering what Oscar could’ve done, until he saw the scene. Oscar was perched on the sofa, sleeping quietly. This wouldn’t have been weird at all, but what made Matthew gasp in surprise was on who Oscar was leaning. His head was on Alastair’s leg, and he was resting as well, one hand on the dog’s back. But he wasn’t jealous, just amused.

“What in the world,” he muttered. “Oscar!” he called, and the dog instantly raised his head and left the sofa to come to him, flapping his tail happily. “Yes, yes, I missed you too,” he stroked his fur.

“You are early,” Alastair grunted from the sofa, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

“I believe in the element of surprise,” Matthew declared. “And perhaps you do too.”

“Well, I don’t, but what can I do?” he scoffed, but he was grinning. “Is it really shocking that Oscar likes me?”

Matthew shrugged, a smile tugging at his lips. “I might leave Oscar here more often.”

“He’s welcome to sleep on my leg whenever he wants,” Alastair admitted, and Oscar barked. “I do think he agrees.”

“Did you meet someone interesting in France?” Thomas wondered, and Matthew’s mind went back to Esme.

“You wouldn’t believe…” he began, and he told them about his Parisian experience. He would send a fire message to Esme, at least to see if she returned home safely. But not today, tomorrow. Today he would be a dog dad and spend the remaining time of the day with Oscar.

This story is called "element of surprise" because Matthew is surprised of finding Esme in Paris and getting along with her but at the same time, he's amused that Oscar likes Alastair so much. I hope you can tell that Matthew and Alastair are joking, they like to banter like that. lol.

Also: fashion shows/weeks in Paris as we know them weren't a thing until the 1970's, but bear with me. I do believe there might have been fashion expositions where rich people like Matthew would go check the new trends

#tsc #tsc fan fiction #matthtober 2023 #matthew fairchild #tlh #alastair carstairs #thomas lightwood #the last hours #chain of thorns #chain of iron #chain of gold #the shadowhunter chronicles #esme hardcastle #tweety.writes

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