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elijahlittle · 3 years

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PERHAPS YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE (ERWIN SMITH/READER)

TAGS: sugar daddy erwin, smut, brat tamer erwin, oral (male receiving), lazy fucking? , praise kink? very light degradation? idk i am just writing things that i feel like was included DESCRPTION: my brain absolutely rots for brat tamer sugar daddy erwin who finds a creative way to punish his baby for making a fool out of him i am going to cry idk why i just see erwin a brat tamer but one that goes very slow. idk this is just how i see him in my head don't @ me. idk how i feel about this but it definitely exists. WORD COUNT: 3,521

It was no secret that Erwin Smith like young women.

Specifically, young smart men and women - men and women with a good head on their shoulders and aspirations. It made conversating enjoyable, as he liked to hear about what made them tick, what brought them joy, what they wanted to do in their lives. Provided their aspirations were noble enough for his liking, he liked to fund their passions, lifestyles, and hobbies. After all, his pockets were deep and no mister, misses, or family of his own and things got boring - so since he didn't have kids or a life partner to pour into, he liked to pour into his fleeting partners.

He also liked to see them unravel before him, tongue hanging out of the side of their mouths, toes curling against the mattress, and eyes rolling into the back of their head as he fucked the mercilessly stupid - reducing them to nothing but a babbling mess of incoherent thoughts and words, drunk on the feeling of his massive cock sliding in and out of them.

But Erwin Smith, a gentleman, would never admit to that.

Sprawled out on his back, Erwin rested his right hand behind his head, looking up at you as you straddled his waist, his left hand idly playing with the small, silver, ring dangling from the front of the black choker adorning your neck.

A pout twisted on your lips as he pushed the ring back and forth, eyes focusing on your throat instead of you.

Your hands pawed at his waist before moving to his belt buckle, beginning to slide it through.

"Ah -" Erwin moved his right arm out from behind his head, resting his large hand over yours - keeping you from undoing his belt. "What do you think you're doing?"

Your lips curled downwards into a scowl.

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Something you shouldn't."

"And why . . ." You tapped your free hand, the one that wasn't trapped under his own, on his - impatiently. "Is that?"

"Do you recall the events that unfolded tonight?"

"Hm . . ." You tapped your index finger against your chin. "No. Not particularly."

Had this been anyone else, their temper would have been lost. Hell, your attitude was strong enough to crack most people who tried to reign it under control. Erwin ran his tongue over his bottom lip, his eyebrows furrowed together. If anything, Erwin liked the challenge. If there was anything Erwin was known for, it was his seemingly infinite patience.

"You can't recall?"

"No."

"Would you like to recall before I give you a reason to recall?"

You squirmed with excitement. Threats excited you - threats with others usually ended in spankings, and you liked those.

"No - I don't think so."

Erwin hooked his right finger into the silver ringlet dangling at your neck, giving it a slight tug forward - bringing your head down so that your lips ghosted his own.

"Very well then." Erwin breathed against your lips, "Take of your stockings."

Excitedly, you began to roll off your black stockings - those $300 dollar pair he had bought you on a whim, because you had pointed at them and told him you thought they looked nice.

You shifted on him patiently, dropping your weight down onto his cock, squirming with anticipation - waiting for him to flip you onto your stomach, press your head into the pillows, and strike his hand against your ass.

That time never came.

In fact, he was starring intently into your own eyes - and now you weren't squirming with anticipation but, rather, nervousness.

"Ride me."

"What -"

"You heard me."

"You can't be serious -"

"I am."

"Suddenly, I remember what I did -" You were starting to, essentially, plead with him, "We were at the party and -"

Erwin reached up, pressing his finger to your lips.

"You can finish the story when my cock is inside of you."

You sucked in your lower lip, tears biting the corner of your eyes.

He removed his large hand from your own.

"Go on - take my belt off . . . since you were previously so eager to take it off."

Your face was hot with humiliation and frustration as your fingers fumbled with his belt, starting to pull it through its loops.

"Maybe I shouldn't have told you to get your own drink when you asked me to grab the punch . . ."

"Mmm . . ." Erwin responded, lifting his hips slightly as you slid the belt off of his hips. "Perhaps you shouldn't have. It doesn't change the prognosis of your situation, though. Continue with what you were doing." Erwin now stretched both of his arms back, his abs rippling and flexing underneath his shirt as he cradled his hands underneath his head, eyes still trained on you.

Your fingers shook a bit as you began to unbutton his pants, pushing his boxers down, pulling his cock out. It was big, long, and girthy - the holy trifecta, as you called it - and was currently semi-hard. You ran your tongue over your top row of teeth. You couldn't help but imagine how great it would feel for his big hands to press your head down into the mattress and fill you up from behind before fucking you into the bed.

"Be a dear and help me out, use your mouth."

Your heart was pounding in your chest.

"I shouldn't have embarrassed you in front of your friends -"

"Mmm . . ." Erwin hummed again, "Perhaps you shouldn't have. Continue on."

"And if I don't?"

He raised an eyebrow at you, reaching his hand out and pressing the palm of his hand against the hot side of your face.

"You know me, I'm not going to force you to do anything you're not willing to do."

"Alright, seems like we have a mutual understanding -" You leaned him into his warm hand, body tensing at the feeling of his touch.

"- but do you think I'll just forget about tonight? At some point, you'll have to face the music. Do you think I'll just forget by tomorrow and then by the next day, roll you over and fuck you? You should know me better by now."

You crinkled your nose.

Running your tongue over your bottom lip, you hesitantly leaned your head down. Truthfully, this isn't how you expected the night to end. You had hoped in your playfulness - in openly defying him and saying no in front of his friends - he'd lose his temper at home and bring out the crop whip.

"Are you sure you don't want to just use the crop whip and call it even?"

Erwin's arms now stretched behind his head again, he tilted his head down. The sight of your hand gripped around the base of his cock, looking up at him with those doe eyes - it made him want to roll you onto your stomach, press your cheek to the headboard, and thrust into you mercilessly.

But this wasn't about seeking his own pleasure - it was about teaching you a lesson - and patience was key.

"Whips are for good girls and boys." Erwin drawled lazily, "Do you think you've been good?"

You hummed in response. He really wasn't going to let up, was he?

"And if I comply, what do I get?" You puffed out your cheeks.

"You think making amends should end in a reward?"

"I don't see why not."

"We'll see."

We'll see.

That maybe was enough to convince you it might be worth your time to comply. You lowered your head, running your tongue around his tip. You could feel his legs tense at the feeling. You used his tongue to continue to tease around the tip of his cock.

Two could play at this game.

You had planned on continuing to do this until you felt Erwin's hand come against the back of your head. It wasn't heavy, it didn't push down on your head, but simply rested there.

"Go on."

If you were going to lower your head, he wanted you to do it out of your own volition.

He wanted the satisfaction of your compliance.

There was a moment of hesitation as you continued to tease the tip of his cock - which was big. You hadn't taken him in your mouth before - usually, by now, he would bury himself to you to his hilt and thrust mercilessly. You hadn't had him in your mouth before. Hell, you weren't sure if it was capable. Even so, you widened your mouth - slowly taking him into your mouth - your tongue sliding along the length of his big cock, which stretched your mouth beyond what was normal. He kept his hand on the back of your head, fingers curling into the strands of your hair.

Slowly, you began to slide your bob your head up and down on his cock. Pride swelled in you as he let out a breathy sigh, his abdomen flexing slightly. Positioned between his legs, you gripped at his thighs - fingernails digging into the large muscles of his thighs. Erwin's thighs clenched as your sides as you continued to bob your head up and down his cock slowly - your hands gripping at the base of his cock to steady yourself. You had only managed to make it half of the way down before you could feel your eyes water, close to triggering your gag reflex. Your neck began to flex upwards but his hand became heavy on the back of your head, pushing your head back down slowly.

"Your little mouth looks so pretty around my dick-" Erwin breathed out, "Much better than it looks when you're spewing defiant vulgarities against me."

You grew wet at the comment, drenching you panties. You fidgeted, rubbing your thighs together with arousal as his fingers curled tightly in the strands.

Pink lipstick smudged at his dick as he pulled your head upwards, starting to guide you up and down the length of his cock.

"Don't you think?"

Saliva dripped from the edges of your lips as your mouth continued to slide up and down his dick, his breath becoming shaking and unstable - only driving you to perform better. Perhaps if you had him like putty your hands, he'd be more willing to forgive and forget.

"So pretty -" Erwin praised, his sharp blue eyes looking lazily down at you, clearly pleased with the way you struggled to take the entirety of his cock between your lips, the way saliva dripped from the edges of your lips, and the muffled mmfs and hhns you gagged out - rumbling against his skin. "Pretty little things like you shouldn't waste your time spewing such hateful and bratty things. Don't you agree?"

"Hmmm" You hummed against his cock, looking up at him through your eyelashes. His breath was becoming more erratic as he continued to guide your head up and down the length of his cock, though maintained eye contact with you.

"- wanna look into your eyes when I cum in your mouth" Erwin choked out, his chest rising and falling more rapidly, "- and see it spill over that smart mouth of yours"

Your pussy now throbbing and aching as his tip pressed the back of your throat, coming dangerously close to triggering your gag reflex.

He didn't move his hips to aide you, simply guided your head.

Despite his light moans and groans, he remains miraculously quiet. Unlike you, he's never been quite loud. There's a moment as your lips and tongue drag up from the base of his cock, dragging to his tip, and he for a moment he thinks he may just see stars as he unloads into your mouth. If you think about pulling back, you can't, as his hand holds you in place even as cum starts to drip from the corners of your mouth, spilling and dribbling onto your chin.

His fingers uncurl from your hair and drop to move strands of hair from your eyes before wiping at the corner of your mouth - though the movement of his thumb doesn't do anything to clean you up in the slightest. It's more of gentle gesture than anything else.

"I've done my part -" You go to sputter out, but he only laughs and shakes his head.

Erwin's hand slips between your legs, gently grabbing at your pussy with his big hand. "You're already wet - and from just that? Dirty little thing. You want my cock in you, right?"

"Yes -"

The hand between your thighs presses up against your pussy and his left hand grips at your hips, lifting you to your knees so that you're properly straddling him again. He's working of your lacy panties now, tossing them to the side.

"Go ahead -" He motions to himself, "Fill yourself."

You furrow your eyebrows, expression clearly displeased. You feel more and more control slipping away from you and suddenly, you feel increasingly more self-conscious. By now, anyone else would have simply had their way with you - the way you liked it. But this man was making you work for it - and honestly, it was punishment enough.

"I think I've learned my lesson by now -" You sputter out, not too keen on doing the rest of the work.

"Maybe you have." Erwin responds lazily, "But if I were to end the punishment here, you wouldn't learn your lesson - would you? But surely, if you want - we can stop here." He pressed his hand in between your thighs, his fingers rubbing lazily at your slit before running around your clit. Your legs were shaking as you let out small whines and moans. "Do you want to end here?"

"N-No!" You sputter out as his fingers continue to slide slickly up and down your pussy. Erwin's fingers teased the entrance of your cunt, pressing in slightly as his thumb pressed itself into your clit - but didn't go much further.

"Then I suggest -" Erwin arched his back up, bringing his lips to ghost over yours as his free hand wiped some of the frustrated tears dripping at the corner of your eyes, threatening to spill down the sides of your cheeks, "- you put in the work to show me just how sorry you are . . . and maybe I'll consider rewarding you for your effort."

He really wasn't going to relent.

You placed your hands on his fully erect cock again, lining the tip of his dick up against your entrance. Both of his hands rested against the side of your face reassuringly, admiring how your chin glistened with his cum.

"Go on." He encouraged you.

Slowly, you lowered yourself down onto his cock - carefully taking it agonizingly slow as his dick stretched you out uncomfortably; it was clearly taking you a while to adjust. For the moment, he let you take your sweet time - besides, the punishment itself wasn't about not seeking pleasure. It was about making you put in the work to seek out your own pleasure. Perhaps after this, you'd be less likely to make a fool out of him in front of his friends.

Your legs shifted as you sat still, practically warming his cock as you sat there.

"Well?" He asked patiently, "Work for it."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

Hesitantly, you raised yourself up a bit - sliding yourself upwards. At the feeling of your tight cunt sliding against his big cock, he couldn't help but groan. Slowly, you lowered yourself down again. For a second, you waited - hoping that if you took it slow and steady, he'd get impatient, grab you by the hips, and fuck you himself.

"You're smart enough to know I'm not stupid," Erwin said, tapping your temple with his index finger, "I know the game you're playing. Keep going."

You pouted but he simply drug his thumb over your lip, puling it down before hooking his thumb into your mouth - pressing the pad of his thumb into your gums.

You continued to slide slowly up and down against his cock, groaning as his tip pressed into that sweet spot he knew how to reach every time. However, given that you were tasked with handling it yourself - it was much different.

Your body ached for him to grab at you - your breasts, your ass, your thighs - something. But instead, Erwin moved his hands from your mouth and linked his fingers behind his head, propping his head up so he could see your little mouth contort into different expressions as you bounced up and down on his dick, clearly humiliated by the fact that you were even having to put in this much work to begin with.

"Very good." He cooed as you placed the palms of your hands on his clothed chest, working at the buttons of his shirt. "Ah - no." Erwin corrected you, grabbing your hands and removing them from his shirt. "I don't think you deserve it. Unbutton your own shirt."

Your ears grew hot as you continued to bounce up and down on his cock, his tip hitting your sweet spot over and over again. Your eyes were watering and legs were shaking - clearly already tired, as this was obviously something you didn't ever do.

Your shaky fingers unbuttoned the front of your shirt as you continued to bounce on his cock, tight black skirt clinging to your thighs as he looked lazily up at you, once more moving his hands behind his head.

"Take it off."

You slid the shirt off your shoulders, letting it drop at the edge of the bed.

"Now your bra, dear."

Still bouncing, this time more relentlessly, you twisted your arms behind your back - struggling to unclasp your bra but, after a few long seconds of struggling, freed your breasts from its restraints.

"Touch me -" You breathed out as you dropped your bra at the end of the bed with your shirt, "P-Please" You pleaded.

"Hmm . . ." Erwin looked pensive. "No. I don't think you're sorry enough yet." His own breath was becoming labored again, his abdomen flexing and legs twitching as pleasure began to pool in him. The sight of you helplessly bouncing up and down on him, your ass pressing against his pelvis, breasts bouncing up and down as you struggled to keep up the pace that was most pleasurable for you, was absolutely magnificent. "Since you want to touch yourself so bad, why don't you do it yourself? Go ahead, pinch your nipples."

Hesitantly, you gripped at your right breast, letting your thumb roll over your nipple gently and couldn't help but moan as you pinched and pulled at it - desperately trying to receive pleasure from yourself as you continued to rock your hips back and forth - sweat rolling down the back of your neck as you bring your other hand to fondle at your left breast, gripping and squishing at the skin - closing your eyes and pretending it was him playing with your nipples.

Your bouncing became more desperate, frantic even, and a pool of pleasure was beginning to build at your abdomen.

"H-Help . . ." You sputtered out, but Erwin didn't seem to be particularly interested in helping you out, his own breath ragged and shaking. More than anything, he wanted to grab your hips and snap his upwards into yours - but reminded himself that it wasn't about his pleasure but, instead, teaching you a lesson.

"You seem to -" Erwin groaned a bit, "You seem to -" He repeated himself, "Be handling it just fine -"

You bounced more desperately against his cock, his tip smashing easily into your sweet spot as you slid up and down against him with ease, clearly exhausted but still desperate to get something out of this entire punishment.

Before you knew it, the tension in the pit of your stomach had broke and you were gushing all over his dick and your own thighs, your body tensing and shaking as you orgasmed.

Erwin himself hadn't orgasmed - though he came close. In truth, the only times he could orgasm was when he took control himself. But his pleasure hadn't come from the sex itself, but instead watching you desperately and tiredly fuck yourself stupid on his cock, rocking back and forth pathetically as you tried to work for some kind of release.

Besides, bad little playthings that misbehaved didn't deserve to have their pussy dripping with his cum - no matter how desperately they wanted to.

Very gently, he raised you off his cock and helped you lay down beside him.

Slowly, he zipped himself up and leaned himself over on his arms, pressing a very gentle kiss to your forehead.

"I think you've redeemed yourself."

He had half a mind to roll you over onto your stomach and fuck you to sleep - but punishments were punishments for a reason.

Instead, he stood up and grabbed your clothes from the end of the bed, putting them in the hamper before changing into his own pajamas and crawling back under the sheets himself.

Erwin leaned over, placing one more gentle kiss to your cheek before turning over to turn off the lamp at his bedside.

"If you decide to behave, then tomorrow will be a better day."

With that blunt, yet cheeky, comment - he turned the silver finial on the lamp, shutting off the light with a gentle click.

#erwin smith x y/n #y/n x aot #aot smut #snk smut #shingeki no kyojin #erwin smith #y/n x attack on titan #erwin smith smut #erwin smith x y/n smut #brat tamer erwin smith #erwin smith x reader #commander smith #erwin smith headcannons #aot fanfiction smut

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mkstrigidae · 3 years

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Current WIPs and Fic Concepts

I promised I would do this yesterday, and then I forgot!!! (I was very sleep deprived). Anyways, here are a bunch of the WIP premises that I have in my 'unfinished drafts' folder. Most have at least a few pages written for them, but I love them all! ☺️💕

- A Santa Clarita Diet AU (Jonsa) Takes place in sunny southern California, where a shitty dinner at a mediocre restaurant turns into a huge problem for Jon and Sansa when Sansa's heart stops beating. Although she seems fine, Jon is flabbergasted several days later as he watches his wife- who alphabetizes their pantry and refuses to let anyone wear shoes in the house- rip the throat out of one of the sleazy new partners at their law firm, eating half of him before anyone processes what's going on. Hilarity ensues as Sansa's inhibitions and filter disappear, Arya ropes an extremely confused Gendry into helping figure out what the hell is going on just because he moderates the zombie forum on reddit, and Jon tries to deal with the fact that the woman he loves more than anything is now a humanitarian. He really could use a drink. (This one is actually mostly complete, but i need to refine a few things- i really love it. It's as gory and irreverent as the show, so viewer discretion advised, but it's a BLAST to write).

- A Thor/MCU AU (Jonsa, Steve Rogers/Sansa)- Asgardian prince Aegon is banished to Midgard after one too many arrogant decisions, and is promptly hit by a van containing Dr. Sansa Stark, Dr. Barristan Selmy, and Margaery Tyrell- two astrophysicists studying wormholes and Sansa's best friend and pseudo-intern. Marg yells at him, he yells back, Sansa tases him, and Barristan didn't sign up for the kind of heavy lifting that getting a 200+ pound slab of muscle into the back of a van takes. And then Aegon's younger brother, Jon, shows up, in the middle of an identity crisis because, apparently, he's adopted. He wasn't intending to stay, but he's rather drawn to Dr. Stark and her brilliance, and against her better judgement, she starts to trust him, and maybe even like him. This story is in about three parts so far- the first is based on 'Thor' and the second on 'The Avengers' and are fully Jonsa, and the third started as a family bonding story between the Stark kids and Tony (Ned and Tony are second cousins, and Ned was really supportive of Tony in rehab without expecting anything in return), and accidentally turned into a Steve Rogers/Sansa Stark story, which is a pairing i am HERE for. A lot of this one is written, but it needs some fill in before publishing, although it's one of my favorites that i've written to go back and actually read.

- A Star Wars AU (Jonsa) where Sansa and Arya are Alderaanian princesses who are off planet when Alderaan is destroyed- Sansa as a senator and Arya as a pilot, both working for the rebellion, and jon is a smuggler who does not know how all of these people got on his ship and why two princesses are sassing him. His copilot, Tormund (yes he's a wookie), thinks it is hilarious. I started this one just the other day, and it's already thirty pages long, most of them involving Sansa and Arya sassing people. Dany is a leader in the rebellion, Roose Bolton is the emperor, and Barbrey Dustin is a disgruntled former jedi trying to live in peace on a remote planet until another Stark crashes into her life and harangues her into teaching again.

- A witches/magic AU (Jonsa) where the Starks run an apothecary and spellcasting supplies shop. Jon had been completely in the dark about magic before his mother confessed to being born into a family of witches. He finds himself traveling to her hometown, trying to understand her world more clearly, and what it means for him. On the way, he develops something of a crush on the red-headed shop clerk who brews the best headache potions in town. Featuring lots of magical shenanigans, this is one of my favorites in the folder :)

- A 24 hour diner AU (Jonsa) where Jon is a local mob boss, and Sansa works the late shift at Seaworth's diner to buy textbooks for the PhD she's working on in botany. Sansa's running from memories, and Jon has a soft spot for the red-headed waitress who always remembers how he likes his coffee.

- An East of the Sun, West of the Moon AU!!! (Jonsa) This is one of my fav fairy tales, and of course i couldn't resist Jon as a direwolf striking a deal with the starks!

- A Roomates AU (Jonsa)- Arya, Jon, Tormund, and Sam have been renting the same house together off Winterfell's campus for years- but when Sam moves in with his girlfriend, they need one more person on the lease. Sansa, about to relocate to Winterfell for grad school, finds out that her boyfriend has been cheating on her and that her housing plans have fallen through, all on the same day. Needless to say, she's a bit upset when she calls Arya to relay the news. There's a simple solution here, if Arya and Tormund can stop teasing Jon about his crush for five minutes. (any excuse to write tormund and arya roasting jon, tbh).

- A Fae AU (Jonsa)- When Sansa, a baker living in the city, washes her face in an enchanted spring on a camping trip, she gains the sight as a result. Suddenly able to see the fae underworld all around her is disorienting and terrifying. Sansa tries to conceal it- afraid of what might happen if the fae around her know that she can see them- but slips up, and catches the attention of Jon Snow- one of the lords of the unseelie court.

- A nuclear winter wasteland AU (Jonsa)- (?? I don't even know how to describe this premise, haha) where the Starks are living and running the Free Winterfell settlement in Siberia after a worldwide nuclear meltdown. Before the fallout, Sansa was one of the world's preeminent researchers in plant genetics and pathology, and works at the settlement to create newer, disease and radiation resistant crops to distribute for free to other settlements, aiming to break up the monopoly that Lannister Corp has on the market. Jon is a scavenger, searching throughout Siberia for his sister Rhae who disappeared several years previously. When he runs across Arya Starkovna, helping her fight off another band of radiation ravaged scavengers is just instinct- he doesn't think twice about it. In thanks, she brings him to the Winterfell settlement, where her brother Robb offers Jon sanctuary and resources, in exchange for serving as a bodyguard for Sansa when she travels to other settlements. Sansa is not particularly thrilled by this arrangement, but given that multiple parties seem to want her dead, she doesn't have much of a choice but to accept his company.

- A reincarnation AU (Jonsa)- of sorts. Robb is an archaeologist who finds a strange set of runes at a site up north, and immediately calls in Jon Snow- a historian and expert in said ancient language, as well as an old university friend of Robb's. When he arrives though, Robb shows him their most valuable finds- two mysterious ice blocks, with what appear to be perfectly preserved bodies from over a thousand years ago. No one could ever have imagined that either of them were still alive, but when the ice melts, revealing two very alive girls, the entire crew is instantly buried in NDAs, and given an assignment from the Westerosi government to figure out what the hell was going on. Sansa and Arya wake up, extremely confused about the world they live in, trying to adapt and mourning all that they've lost, even as the people around them wear familiar faces.

- Soulmates AU (Jonsa)- (Yes, another one, I love this dumb trope) Trauma surgeon and medical resident Sansa Stark is having a very bad day, and ends up meeting her soulmate during what she thinks is a mugging gone wrong. Fortunately, he’s not the one mugging her, just an intervening bystander, but she ends up slightly shot nonetheless. Sansa’s fretting about bleeding on the upholstery in his car, but Jon is a bit more worried about her injuries than the blood stains. He’s a bit confused when she threatens him if he takes her to a specific hospital, nearly has a nervous breakdown when she insists on doing her own triage, and is very charmed when she insists on ice cream after taking pain meds at the hospital. On Sansa’s part, she’s a little less concerned about being shot, and a bit more concerned about whatever weird first impression she’s making to her soulmate while high as a kite on pain pills. (this one just needs some tweaking to be postable- I'm not sure if it's going to be a oneshot or a series, but i love what I have already)

- A Demon/Archivist AU (Jonsa)- where Sansa works in the university's historical archives in Oldtown, and is learning to restore old texts with her fellow student and friend, Alleras (Trans Sarella is an amazing concept). When Joffrey Baratheon shows up with a pile of old books from his family's library to donate, Sansa is eager to get away from his sleaze, and accidentally takes one of the books home with her in her rush to leave. Unbeknownst to her, it's more than it appears, and when she leaves it open overnight, she accidentally summons forth Jon- an ancient, powerful, and extremely annoyed demon who is under a curse, and now hers to command. As Jon and Sansa try to get used to this new normal, the Lannisters (unaware that Joffrey had donated the tome) try desperately to find the book and it's owner, wanting Jon's power for themselves, and putting Sansa in considerable danger unless she can figure out how to break Jon's curse. Fortunately, she's a pretty good researcher, even if Jon is initially a bit of a grump. (This is based on a total wish-fulfillment mary-sue type premise for something I wrote when I was thirteen, and I revisited it and wanted to see what it would look like if i took it very seriously, and i am really enjoying it so far. It's a love letter to the terrible, heartfelt writing i was doing in middle school that created the foundations for my writing today, and so much fun).

The one that I am MOST excited about though:

- A Pacific Rim AU!!!! (Ned/Cat, Gendrya, Braime, Sansa/Jon Umber)-Twins Sansa and Robb Stark have always been completely in tune with each other, and when your parents are Jaeger pilots and your mother invented the neural handshake, what option is there but the Jaeger academy? Sansa studies to be an engineer, but ends up copiloting the Jaeger 'Winter Wolf' with her twin brother, after they lose Ned Stark to cancer. When Robb is ripped out of the conn-pod and killed by a kaiju while he's still connected to Sansa, she barely manages to kill the creature before stumbling back to shore, traumatized, grieving, and swearing that she'll never pilot again.

Unfortunately, the Kaiju don't stop just because Sansa does, and when the end of the world is imminent, Marshall Catelyn Stark orders both her daughter and former pilot Jaime Lannister (who lost his twin and copilot, Cersei, several years previously) back to Hong Kong for one final stand. Forced to face both her demons and an irate Arya, furious that Sansa had abandoned the rest of them after Robb's death, Sansa and Arya have to figure out how to pilot Winter Wolf together before the apocalypse comes for them all.

Featuring Marshall Catelyn Stark (commander of the Hong Kong Shatterdome, inventor of the neural handshake, former Jaeger pilot, and BAMF), Sansa x Jon Umber (Yes i know it's a rare pair but i've always kind of loved the idea of them, even though we know so little about him), Kaiju parts dealer and smuggler Petyr Baelish, bickering kaiju biologist Dany and theoretical mathematician Jon Snow, LOCCENT officer Theon, lots of snark, lots of angst and heartfelt conversations, and a weird friendship between snarky-grieving-asshole Jaime Lannister and kind-quiet-grieving Sansa Stark, who are the only two people in the world who know what it's like to lose a copilot and a twin in the drift.

Thanks for reading guys!! There are more, but some of them I just don't know how to explain quite yet, haha. I'd love to hear what you guys think about these!

#my writing #fanfics #fanfic wip #jonsa #jonsa fic

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il0veyoujk · 3 years

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Unusual roommates

Summary: Nefeli (18) is moving to a new house in the middle of the forest in Seoul. The only thing she doesn’t know is that her new home is haunted...

Warnings: Light mention of harsh language

Notes: None

Τhis is a tickle related ff, if you are not interested in it, please keep scrolling

Lots of love Nef 💕

Nefeli was currently peacefully reading a book on her apartment in Daegu. The weather outside was sunny so she was sitting on her hammock swing near her large window, a mug of fragrant hot chocolate on her other hand.

The 18-year-old girl was enjoying her favorite book, Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens to be specific when her phone started vibrating on the glass coffee table in front of her.

She looked at the ID but she didn’t recognize it and her face lit up. She only hoped it was the owner of the house she wants to move to, in Seoul.

You see Nefeli needed to move to Seoul due to her studies as a journalist and she needed a house as well.

“Hello?”

“Hey, are you Nefeli? I am Min Sangwook, we talked some days ago for the house” the voice of an old man around his late 70s echoed the other line, with softness in it.

“Yes, this is me. Anything new about the house?” the young girl asked politely, with a cheery but calm tone. She was trying her best not to give hope to herself. Mr Sangwook had told her that it would be a little difficult for her to buy this house too soon since they didn’t know how long it would take them to find a new one.

“Yes, you can come to sign contracts even today and then stay in the house. We have already found our new home” he explained politely.

Nefeli used all her might not to scream or jump and fall off of her hammock swing. Finally, she was moving to start a new life!

“Thank you thank you thank you thank you! I will be there tomorrow afternoon! Thank you so much!” she exclaimed, the chuckles of the old man as a background.

“Then I guess me and my wife will see you tomorrow then”

“Yes of course! Thank you once again mr Min! I owe you!” she hung up and rushed to her bedroom to pack her things up. She threw inside her huge, red suitcase all her clothes, which were already folded, her jewelry, some photos and room decorations from her room.

She got out of her pocket her phone and dialed the first person she wanted to let her know what was happening, back in Greece where she was raised “Hey mum! You will never guess who called me!”

Next day, afternoon:

Nefeli was currently in her car, driving to the house she was supposed to go to.

One of her favorite songs, Believe In You by Amanda Marshall was echoing the car cabin, relaxing the young girl’s souls and helping her calm down, giving her confidence and self-esteem up.

I believe in you And all I want to do is help you to Believe in you

As the song was coming to an end, Nefeli’s car was entering a dark forest filled with tall, somehow scary trees. It was almost night and the sky had golden and orange near the ground and as the vision was raising the colors were become darker and more bluish.

As the car was moving more into the woods, she spotted an old house, with a nice, wooden balcony. The building was on a glade, in the very middle of the forest, circled my trees.

She wasn’t gonna lie, the house was scary. As the sun was falling onto the walls, weird and terrifying shadows were forming, like they were young lads while the sound of a light, summer breeze was brushing the leaves was mixed with the nice smells of the fresh grass.

Outside of the house, there was mr and mrs Min, holding hands and sitting on the outside couch on the balcony, drinking some really tasty tea and chitchatting. They both seemed really sweet, warm, and lovable people.

Nef parked the car near the house, next to the owners’ car, and grabbed her backpack. As she was walking near the couple, she heard small giggles coming from the walls of the house and she felt shivers running down her spine. Let’s be honest, the house was a little -a lot- creepy and those sounds weren’t the best ones she could hear. I mean, it was an old house, in the middle of nowhere, in the forest, and it was dark outside. How idyllic! Note the sarcasm.

“We are so happy you are here!” mrs Min told me, shaking her hand. She was an old woman, around her early 70s, a little younger than her husband.

“It’s my pleasure” the young girl smiled warmly. “Can we sign the contracts please?” she asked excitedly, making the owners chuckle.

“Sure, here are the papers and a pen, we hope you like the house” mr Min said, smiling nervously.

To be honest, Nefeli always wanted to live away from the town, in the middle of nowhere, not having people and car horns annoying her and unhealthy smoke hurting her lungs, considering the fact she had asthma, and the fresh air of the forest was exactly what she needed. Plus she would live peacefully. The house may be a little creepy, but she could handle that. She didn’t believe in ghosts and all anyway.

She picked up the pen and scribbled on the papers her signature with excitement. However, as soon as she scribbled on the paper, she felt something scribbling on her lower back, making her squeal and giggle.

The old couple looked at her weirdly and she cleared her throat, shaking that feeling off of her mind, thinking it may only be some soft air.

“Do you want us to give you a quick tour?” mr Sangwook asked her, but she kindly denied, wanting to explore her new place by herself. “Alright then, if you need anything you have our phone. I have seen the money you gave us in my bank account, don’t worry about it. Tomorrow morning we will have our furniture moved so as you can have your own here” the man smiled kindly as she opened the car door for his wife to enter and then proceeded to go to the driver seat

“Thank you so much! Have a nice ride!” she waved at them as she was watching them exiting the forest, leaving her alone.

When they were out of her vision, Nefeli turned around to take a glance at the house and she felt shivers running down her spine. It was like the now almost dark sky was swallowing it and it seem more intimidating than before. And that was what she loved more about it. When her furniture arrives, the place is gonna look so vintage!

She took a deep breath and entered the old building, feeling a cold breeze brushing behind her shoulders and the back of her neck, straightening every hair she had on her body. But she still wanted like hell to live there. It was the best place she had ever seen!

She took a step inside the house and looked around. The inside of the living room was all old and wooden. The kitchen was in the same room as the living room and there were three bedrooms and one bathroom. The two bedrooms were simple, with no decoration at all, and the bathroom was white with a blue bath. Nothing special.

She closed the door behind her and set the suitcase on the floor next to her. She roam around the living room, a big grin on her face. Nefeli plopped herself on the couch, lying on her back.

As she took a better glance over the place, she spotted something weird. Hairbrushes, feathers, toothbrushes, and many other things which were usually used for... tickling.

The more she was staring at them the more she was feeling more agitated. The more she was staring at them, the more she was feeling pokes on her sides. Nefeli was probably too ticklish to even look at the tools. She had never experienced them, not even a feather, but she was getting nervous just by the thought. She was super sensitive. Like it wasn’t even funny how ticklish she was, and all of her friends were taking advantage of it. Like, they would poke her sides from behind every chance and when she’d something cheeky they would tickle her. (a/n true stories lmao)

The only thing is that she has never been tickled on her feet, and those hairbrushes were making her feel the most nervous. She knew she was extremely ticklish on her feet, but she had never received tickles there, except some foot rubs which was tickling her like hell, but she was trying her best not to show it because it was caused by her own mother, and she was feeling too uncomfortable.

“Nononononononoo” she squealed and jumped on her feet, grabbing all of them and hiding them in the first cupboard she saw, sighing in relief when they were out of her vision.

Just then she felt jabs on her sides, making her jump and start giggling alone, not knowing why. “Hehehehehe” she pressed herself onto the wall and immediately all the pokes stopped. “What the fuck was that?!” she exclaimed, unable to hide her leftover giggles.

“I guess I need to go to bed, I imagine things” she sighed and walked to the bedroom to change into her pajamas. It was still the middle of August, so she decided to wear her cropped ones. She set all her clothes into her new closet and plopped on the bed, pulling the sheets up to her shoulder, drifting to sleep.

Some hours after that:

It was the middle of the night and everything was peaceful outside. Nefeli was sleeping on her bed, dreaming about her new house and how she is gonna decorate it when something woke her up.

Something feeling like she was being... tickled... on her knees.

Nefeli shot up and started kicking on her bed, trying to get that feeling vanished but she wasn’t doing much. She was only able to laugh and laugh and laugh and nothing seem to work to make the feeling stop.

“Whahahahahat ihihihihis thahahahahat?!” she yelled in-between her laughter. The mysterious touch was now moving behind her knees, digging there, making the poor girl throw herself back on the mattress and laugh loudly. Thankfully no one could hear her.

With all her strength, in a shift move, she sat up and reached down to the spot which was being tickled, only to grab... nothing!

She started feeling worried and weird and even scared. “Nahahahaha! Stahahahap” she laughed. However, it came out more like a command than amusement.

Lemme give you a fun fact about Neffie. When she says stops, and she means it, you always can understand that. It will come out as a yell and not as laughter. And trust me, she is able to scare someone with that tone.

As soon as she said that, all the tickling stopped and she heard giggles filling her room. A knot formed in her stomach as she heard those giggles. It was like ghosts were mocking her! ‘Is the house haunted?!’

Just as she thought that a boy appeared in front of her, with small eyes and a gummy smile, winking at her, and then vanished.

Nefeli’s eyes widened and screamed loudly, hiding under the sheets fastly, having a panic attack. She curled up in a small ball of herself, trying to protect herself from possible tickles, but nothing came.

Instead, she felt sleep circling her and her nerves relaxing. It was really weird how fast she felt sleepy in the middle of a panic attack, but she couldn’t help it. She felt an arm rubbing her lower back, helping her sleep more relaxing and without any more disturbing or fear at all.

Just as she was ready to fall asleep, she heard a heave voice whispering in her ear “Goodnight Neffie” and with that she passed out, sleeping sweetly.

Next afternoon:

Her furniture was finally here and the old one was moved to Choi’s house and Nefeli was over the moon. She had already decorated her room with her favorite posters of her favorite band like Three Days Grace, Arctic Monkeys, and Linkin Park, she had set her bookcase in her room, next to the door, and placed small, fairy lights on her books, photo frames of her and her family and her friends on the window sill, her couch and armchairs in the living room, near the fireplace, and her favorite hammock swing on the balcony.

The young girl was currently sitting on this specific swing, continuing the same book she was reading two days ago, the day mr Sangwook phoned her. She had a faded memory of what had happened last night, believing it was a weird dream and she decided to continue her life without it messing her head.

The weather had started getting a little chilly so she was wearing her fluffy, grey socks and her black sweatpants along with a light hoodie jacket, along with a cub of mint chocolate chip ice cream on her lap.

Nefeli was on the part of the book where Sikes beats Nancy to death in a fit of rage when she heard whispers coming from her behind her. She turned her head, with fear running in her veins, to see who was there. However, behind her was only the wall.

She picked up her phone and dialed mr Min’s number, waiting for him to pick it up. The whispers were keeping going and the blood in her veins was turning cold as the seconds were passing by.

“Hello?” the old man picked up the phone faster than Nef expected.

“Hello, mr Sangwook? It’s Nefeli” the young girl said and everyone could notice the nervousness in her voice.

“Nefeli? Is everything alright?” he asked worriedly, expecting her to say something like a wolf is in her house or something like that.

“Um, I wanted to ask you if everything is alright with the house. Because I can hear weird whispering of giggles coming from the walls since I moved in” Nefeli explained, looking around her to understand who was whispering.

“Oh yeah, I understand what is happening. You may see some mice in the house, don’t worry, it’s not people” mr Min explained and Nefeli sighed in relief. She is not afraid of mice and she believes they are cute. And she knows they are making weird noises, so she believed it.

“Okay, thank you! Have a nice day!”

“You too Nefeli! And if you need anything, don’t hesitate to call us!”

They hung up and Nefeli, returned to her book, humming on Still Loving You by Scorpions.

She raised her vision to take a glance around the trees and her heart melted. The peaceful silence of the forest, the birds’ singing mixed with the light breeze which was brushing against the summer leaves was sending her into what felt like heaven.

All that she ever wanted was silence. Nothing else. Of course, she likes being with people, communicate, having fun, partying, and all, but when she is home, she just wants to be alone, in silence, doing whatever she wants. And this house in the middle of the forest was like his paradise.

She was ready to turn to the next page when her phone started vibrating next to her. She picked it up and it was her best friend, Zoe who was calling her.

“Heyooo!” she cheered happily and placed the book on the glass table next to her, not forgetting to mark the page she was at.

“You are coming over for a coffee and I am not taking no as an answer” her friend playfully commanded, making Nefeli mentally giggle.

You see Zoe was a childhood friend of Nefeli, but she had moved to Seoul some years ago. They were always meeting when Nefeli was coming there or Zoe was returning to Daegu.

“Okay, I will be there in fifteen minutes” Nefeli smiled and before she could, Zoe had already hung up. She rushed to her car, pulling out and driving to her friend’s house.

The car drive was short and fast. The roads were surprisingly almost empty and the music from her radio was the only thing she could hear. Bang Bang by Monophonics was echoing the car cabin and she was murmuring the lyrics.

However, the only thing which was in her mind was the giggles. She couldn’t believe that those giggles were coming from a mouse. Something was up with that house, but she couldn’t find what.

One thought crossed her mind. That the house was haunted. But she couldn’t believe it. Nefeli doesn’t believe in ghosts, supernatural things, next lives, and all. She believes only in what scientists can explain and only in what she can see or touch. So there was no way she would believe that the house she was living in was haunted. ‘Nonononono, something else must be up here’

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t notice the tall, blond girl who was waving at her from the edge of the road.

Nefeli pulled over and rushed out of the car, into her friend’s embrace, a wave of happiness feeling her.

“I missed you so much!- I missed you too!” they said in unison and then burst into laughter. They had so much time to spend some time together. “Let’s go inside girl” Zoe threw her hand over Nef’s shoulders and they both went inside the house.

After 30 mins:

“And I hear weird giggles and whispers from the house!” Nefeli had finally finished with the storytime and the two girls both took a ship from their hot chocolates.

“Wait, you mean you live at the house of the Hysterical Ghosts?” Zoe asked more seriously than ever, looking straight into Nef’s eyes like she was the teacher and Nefeli was a student.

Nefeli couldn’t help but start giggling hard. “The what? That’s the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard Zoe! What in the world is that now?”

The blond girl rose an eyebrow at Nefeli and stared at her in disbelief “You mean you don’t know the thrill of the town?” Nefeli shook her head, unable to contain her giggles. She believed that her childhood friends would know her better than that.

Zoe sighed and moved closer to the young journalist “It said that seven lads were living in that house some years ago. When they would come to the town, no one would talk to them and people would always be afraid of them. It was believed that they would torture innocent people just to have fun, that’s why every time someone would pass by that house, they could hear hysterical laughter coming from inside. It is said that it was their laughter of amusement. The locals still say that they were all killed by a young boy who was to be tortured by them and that the house is still haunted by their spirits”

As soon as Zoe was finished, Nefeli’s jaw was on the ground. To be fair, she absolutely and completely LOVES those types of stories. She doesn’t believe in them, but they are so interesting and they are fascinating the 18-year-old girl really much.

“Omg! Really?! Dude, this is the best myth I have ever heard!” Nefeli yelled in excitement, bouncing on the couch.

She was gonna write a story about it, for real. Nefeli has an account on Wattpad and she is posting her stories and this myth about the ‘Hysterical Ghosts’ was giving her inspiration.

However, as soon as Nef saw the clock on the wall, her eyes widened. It was near the time of the Curfew and her house was 15 mins from there.

“I have to go, I don’t wanna pay a fine because of Corona” the young girl laughed and collected her things to get out of her friend’s house, Zoe following close behind her.

“See ya later! And be careful of the ghosts!” Zoe remind Nef, not joking at all, which only made Nef giggle and shake her head. “Yeah, the ghosts are gonna eat me” she smiled and Zoe sighed. “I am being serious, be careful”

“See ya later Zoe”

“See ya later Nef”

And with that the young journalist drove away, going back to her new house.

The drive back home was silent. For the first time in her life, Nefeli didn’t need to listen to some music. However, what her friend told her about the ghosts couldn’t leave her mind. She wasn’t believing it, but something deep inside her was scared. Like, all those nonsense about ghosts was completing this weird puzzle.

‘What if I am indeed living in a haunted house?’ she asked herself, continuing driving, talking to herself driving the whole ride.

Suddenly the thought of her new house is already owned by those ghosts started scaring her. Especially the specific ghosts. Boys who were torturing innocent people for their fun. And now their spirits were haunting every new owner who was staying in this house. She felt shivers down her spine but tried to brush them off of her mind ‘C’mon Neffie, you don’t believe in this, no one has ever proved that ghosts exist, you have never seen one, don’t let a stupid myth scare you’ she kept trying to calm herself down.

She entered the forest and immediately a weird and tingling aura surrounding her, straightening all the hairs on her body. Like the whole area was... enchanted... It was like she was being followed by something eerie. And that the forest locked when she entered

However, she shook it off and continued driving, trying to forget about what Zoe told her.

She pulled out next to her new home, having almost convinced herself that her friend was saying only nonsenses. She got out of her car, opening her phone to scroll through Instagram, her back still on her shoulder.

She got out of her black backpack her keys to open the door, still feeling that tingling on her spine, but trying to ignore it.

She opened her door and immediately she froze, letting her bag falling on the ground, her jaw along it. On the couch, there were three boys, their feet on the table in front of it, and four others were sitting crossed legs... on the air!

All the heads snapped towards her with shocked expressions on their faces. The four ones who were on the air fell on the floor brutally, and the rest of them shot up from their seats, looking at the girl with their mouths wide open.

“Um hi?” the tallest one, who was now on the floor, said, coming out more like a question than a greeting. He had dirty blonde hair and brown eyes.

Nefeli let out an incredibly loud scream and rushed out of the house, trying to make it to her car. She was ready to grab the handle of the car door when she felt two strong arms being wrapped around her waist and being carried back to her house.

The young girl started screaming loudly and thrashing around, trying to get out of the grip “No! Lemme go! Please! Don’t hurt me!”

The strong grip put her down on the couch, not even caring to take in mind her protests. The lad placed her down on the couch and sat next to her with a cold expression. He was a short guy, with small eyes and cute lips. His eyes were dark brown, his hair had a mint green color and pierced ears.

A nice, a little taller boy with light brown hair and dark brown eyes kneeled in front of her, placing his hands on the couch, smiling softly yet worryingly.

Nefeli pushed herself on the back of the couch, as another boy with black hair and dark brown eyes sat next to her, equally short as the one on her other side. He had the same smile the one in front of her had, his ears pierced as well.

She had a terrified expression on her face, bringing her legs on her chest, hugging them tightly, and looking at all the boys who were circling her, everyone with the same shocked yet anxious expression on her face. She had started believing what her friend told her some minutes before and she was really scared.

“Please don’t hurt me, I’m begging you, I’ll do everything you’ll tell me, just please don’t hurt me!” she yelled, and placed her head n between her knees.

“Hurt you? Why would we ever hurt you?” a boy with red hair and dark brown eyes, with pierced ears and tattoos on his hand asked confused, with puppy dog eyes.

Nefeli rose her vision and looked at all seven of them, ready to burst into tears “Y-you won’t?”

The boys looked at each other confusingly, like Nefeli was telling them the weirdest thing “Of course not, why would we?” another one asked, with large shoulders and weird-shaped finger, blond hair, brown eyes, and a deeper.

“Don’t tell us you believe what everyone says about us...” another one said, with black hair and brown eyes, equally tall as the tattooed one, a hurt of disappointment and hurt in his voice.

“H-How do you k-know?” she shuttered, still not uncurling herself from the small ball she had formed herself. She was feeling truly afraid. Whatever she thought wasn’t existing, was now in front of her, talking to her like they were alive.

The lads shared a look and sighed deeply. “We are not going to hurt you, don’t worry,” the short, smiley one said, sadness taking a place on his smile and voice.

“Who are you?” Nefeli asked, gaining some confidence, but still hiding behind her legs.

“What do you wanna know about us?” the tallest one asked, seriously, trying to hide his emotions behind a stern voice. Nefeli was taken aback by the sternness of his voice and pressed herself more on the cushions on her back, making everyone understand they were scaring her.

“Namjoon, don’t scare her!” the sweet one in front of her scolded the tall, whose name is apparently Namjoon, and then turned to her with a soft smile, rubbing her leg.

And Nefeli surprisingly didn’t flinch.

“We are not what people think Nefeli, we never hurt people, neither physically nor mentally. We could never” he said, his eyes sparkling and screaming honest.

How could she trust them tho? She didn’t even know if they were real or if she was dreaming again. Wait- Was that indeed a dream she had had last night? Or was it them? What the hell was going on?

“Then?”

“We just wanted to make people happy! I mean, I am sure you have already understood and you know we are ghosts, I guess” he said, while everyone else remained silent.

“Who are you? What do you want from me then?” she asked, earning glances from every boy.

“I am Hoseok,” he sweet boy in front of her said “This is Yoongi, then Jimin” he pointed to the short ones “Jungkook, Taehyung” he continued with the red-haired one and the deep-voiced one “And then Namjoon and Jin” he finished with the tallest one the boy with the large shoulders and smiling softly at her, his sweet lips and nose making her melt.

“Call me Jin” he smiled warmly at her, giving her a feeling of hospitality and love. She smiled back and nodded her head

“And we don’t want anything from you Nefeli. We just live here as well as you” Namjoon explained with cute eyes sparkling.

However, except for melting, that made her more upset. There was no way Nefeli was gonna live in a haunted house. Especially with ghosts! Like, no! She bought that house because she wanted to be alone! Not because she wanted to live with freaking ghosts!

“B-But I moved here because I wanted to live by myself, not with seven um... boys” she was feeling weird to say in their face that they were ghosts. It was not polite.

“Don’t worry about it, we are not gonna have any communication if you don’t wanna! We don’t wanna be a burden to you” Jimin assured next to her.

Nefeli immediately felt really bad. It was like she was feeling like she was stealing their home. Where they had lived their life! Where they had spent and they still spend memorable moments. And they weren’t the ones who people were said to be. She could see it in their eyes. The moment she got terrified they were gonna hurt her, the sadness that filled their eyes and faces cannot be described with words. It was sure they could not even hurt a single ant, how could they hurt the young journalist? They couldn’t.

“No! You are not a burden to me!” she semi-yelled and sat crossed legs on the couch, holding a pillow.

How could she make them feel like that? It was terrible! She shouldn’t have said that! It was so mean...

However, the next words shocked her...

“Of course not, you are a burden to us” Yoongi hissed next to her, and then he vanished, leaving an unbearable silence behind him, filling the room.

Nefeli was beyond shocked, even tho the boys didn’t seem as much as her.

“I um...” she tried to say something but nothing came out. She was unable to. No one had ever talked to her like that. What had she done now?

“Don’t worry Nefeli, you are not a burden. He is just um, emotionally attached with the house” Jungkook explained, playing with his fingers, not daring to look at her.

And she only nodded. Like she could do something else...

“Ahhh, I think I may go and calm him down a little” Hoseok said, looking at the ground, “Sorry for that sweetie” and with that he vanished as well.

“Nefeli don’t worry, we are not gonna have much communication with you, you can have your life, and we can have yours” Namjoon explained and they all vanished, except Jimin.

“If you need anything, you can always call us, we will be around” he smiled and left too, leaving her more confused. ‘I guess I just found my new roommates...’ she sighed and went straight to bed.

Next morning:

Nefeli woke up from hysterical laughing coming from... nowhere... And then it hit her. The boys.

She looked at her clock and groan in frustration. 10:26 in the morning. Nefeli was the hugest sleepyhead on the whole wide universe and she was planning on sleeping till midday, however, the boys had other plans.

She got up from her comfy bed and got inside her bathroom to do her business. She applied lotion on her skin and brushed her teeth before she goes to the kitchen to make some vanilla caramel tea. However, the laughter didn’t die down. It was being kept going. Sometimes some giggles, sometimes hysterical laugher. Sometimes loud, sometimes quiet. Sometimes hiccupy, sometimes airy. Sometimes normal, sometimes hoarse. But it never ended.

She was putting some honey in her tea, when it died down, making her relieved. Finally, her ears could rest. Too much noise for so early in the morning. She hoped that now she lived alone she could have the quiet she wants. But no...

However, she did not want to give in and leave the house. She didn’t have the money anyway. So she was stuck with them.

She turned around, taking a ship from her hot tea, only to spill it out in shock. Jungkook was standing behind her, ready to grab a glass of the cupboard, all red, sweat dropping off of his forehead and drained tears on his cheeks, as a grin was forming on his face. “What the hell?!” she yelled, almost dropping the mug.

“Oh I am sorry Nefeli, I didn’t mean to scare you, I just wanted some water, I am a little tired,” he said casually like he didn’t just appear out of nowhere.

“I am sure you are” Nefeli mumbled jokingly and took a sip from her tea, smiling softly. She didn’t mind the tickling, the laughter, and all, at all, she just wanted her sleep back tho.

Jungkook smirked and walked past her, to the sink to pour some water. Nefeli grinned widely and drank some more, enjoying the sweet flavor. But she didn’t have too much time to swallow properly because the mug was being grabbed off of her hands, placed on the table, and she felt hands kneading fastly her sides, making her scream and then fall into hysterical laughter, trying to pry the fingers off of her, without success of course.

“NAHAHAHA!” she cried and fell on the ground, kicking the air, laughing loudly.

“Hmm, jackpot” Jungkook teased, kneading faster but softly her sides and bringing his face closer to hers, smirking from ear to ear. He was clearly enjoying that. And it would be a major lie if Nef would say she wasn’t enjoying that too.

“PLEAHAHAHAHASE!” Nefeli tried to grab his wrist, but every time he would move his hands higher or lower her sides, driving her crazy.

She was rolling on the floor, rosy cheeks and a huge grin on her face as she was kicking the air and was trying to stop the fingers. However, she was doing it in a way where she wasn’t really stopping him. It wasn’t like she really wanted him to stop.

“Looks like someone is more ticklish then” Jungkook winked at her, bending down fastly and blowing a short raspberry on her side, making her scream even louder. One more positive thing about that house; no one could listen to her shrieks.

Jungkook proceeded and pinned her arms above her head, doing the only one thing which tickles her more than anything; he nibbled on her lower ribs and all the way up.

The lad continued nibbling on her hypersensitive ribs for good 5 more minutes before he decided to show some mercy on her. Jin pulled away from Nefeli smirking, leaving her panting and curling up in a small ball of herself, panting and leftover giggles escaping her mouth.

“Now you are tired as well” he chuckled and stuck his hand out for her to help her stand up.

“Good morning to you too um...” Nefeli dragged her sentence, trying to remember his name, with no success tho.

“Jungkook, I am the youngest out of them” the boy smiled softly.

The silence which followed was uncomfortable, with a hint of comfort. They were standing awkwardly, mug and glass on hands, but the atmosphere was merely. The silence was taking away all the ghost tickles away from Nefeli and was making Jungkook calming down.

Nefeli could still not believe what was happening. She was living with seven ghosts... Some hours ago, she wasn’t even believing in them and now she lives with 7. It was like she was in another universe, with all the paranormal things she had seen in Supernatural. The next thing she was expecting to see was Dean Winchester approaching her. But she kinda loved it. It hadn’t even been 24 hours since she had met them and she was already feeling okay with that and she was enjoying it.

“And what do you think you are doing?” a heavy voice broke the silence and her thoughts, making both their head snap towards the direction where it was coming.

The figure which was standing there sent shivers down Nefeli’s spine as these cold brown eyes were piercing her warm, chocolate ones. The polar glare was hiding an icy breeze behind it and his gaze was towering her, even tho the lad was short. Yoongi was standing there, glaring at both the poor girl and his friend, arms crossed in front of his chest.

“I didn’t see you there Yoongz,” Jungkook said casually, not meeting his gaze tho.

“I think we promised not to have any communication with her!” he growled, pointing a finger at Nefeli who was already feeling too bad. What had she done? Nothing. If she knew they were living there, she wouldn’t have come. And she never pressed or even asked them to talk with her.

“Calm down dude, I just came to drink some water” Jungkook tried to defend himself, even tho he knew Yoongi’s opinion. And he knew there was no way he would change his mind.

“And you were tickling her!” the shirt boy pointed out, his eyes burning. However, they were hiding something else behind that cold mask. There was sadness and hurt behind them. Like, he was missing something.

Nefeli didn’t dare to say anything. She was simply standing in the middle of the two lads, watching them arguing, feeling worse than ever. She could understand he didn’t want her there, and she was feeling too bad that she couldn’t do anything about it. She didn’t have the money to move again, and she definitely wasn’t wheeling to chat with Yoongi. It’s not she was afraid or something, no. It’s just that she didn’t know what to say. She would probably do something wrong and she would make him more upset. And that’s something she never wanted to.

“Jesus dude! We were just messing, chill!” Jungkook complained from behind her, making Nefeli feel even more uncomfortable.

Yoongi narrowed his eyes and then turned to the young girl’s direction, not moving from his spot. His gaze tho was enough to send new shivers down Nefeli’s spine.

“You” he pointed again at her “Are not gonna destroy everything! I was tryna hard to forget! You didn’t come here to ruin it!” he raised his voice, widening his eyes, making him look like he was ready to attack Nefeli. And with that, he vanished.

If we say Nefeli wasn’t taken aback by his tone, it would be a lie. She wasn’t expecting Yoongi to talk to her like that.

“What did he mean?” Nefeli asked curiously, unable to understand the young lad.

Jungkook sighed and set his glass on the kitchen counter, running his hand on his face. He sat on the couch, patting the space next to him for Nefeli to sit.

“Yoongi had a sister around your age,” Namjoon said, as everyone appeared behind her, except Hoseok, and Yoongi, making Nefeli flinch.

“Seriously you guys need to stop popping out of nowhere” she chuckled nervously as sat crossed legs on the couch next to Jungkook, everyone else taking a seat around them “And where is that girl now?��

The lads exchanged looks and sighed deeply, with hurt in their eyes and voice. It was sure that something was up with this girl... She probably had hurt Yoongi too much or they weren’t on good terms and they were fighting a lot. Nefeli doesn’t have any siblings but she knows how it feels to fight with your siblings. All her cousins have siblings and they are always fighting.

“Yoongi and Haeun were really close. She was a really shy girl and really ticklish as well. Yoongi loved to play fight and tickle with her. When he was with Haeun, he was a completely different person. Yoongi was tickling her to tears almost every day. It was their thing. He was so protective and caring for her. We weren’t close with her, because Yoongi was afraid that any of us would fall in love with” Namjoon chuckled at the memory, whispered loud enough for us to hear. His voice was cracking and a soft smile was playing on his face.

“However, one day everything changed,” Jimin said, taking a serious look “One day their house caught fire. Everyone managed to get out, except her. Yoongi tried to get in to save her but failed. They found her inside the house charred after a few days. From that day on, Yoongi could do nothing but cry. She cried for years, blaming herself for not being able to save her. And that’s why he got mad at Jin tickling you. He remembered Haeun”

“Hey! It wasn’t me!” the oldest one complained and all the heads snapped towards him “It was Kook!” he pointed at Jungkook who just rolled his eyes and ignored him “Whatever”

“Remember the hysterical laughter you friend was talking about?” Taehyung asked, ignoring as well his older friend, and Nefeli with confused and still wide eyes nodded “It was hers”

Nefeli felt her heart breaking into tiny pieces. It was so sad that a young person had suffered so much in his life. And even sadder that an even younger person lost her life in such a torturous way. Yoongi wasn’t the kindest boy she had ever met since yesterday, but she of course never wanted him to be hurt at all.

“One day though, we had decided to go on a trip to Berlin to help Yoongi snap out of it a little” Jin looked at her ready to burst into tears “The plane crashed. We all died. Since then, we promised ourselves that we would make people happy and smiling. Like Yoongi would want Haeun to be” he let some crystal tears roil down his cheeks but whipped them fastly with the back of his wrist, sniffling a little. “This house you are living right now is his old home, where she died and their parents rebuild them someday after that. The owners you met are their parents”

“We chose to live here with them because of Yoongi” he explained, looking at Nefeli dead in the eyes.

Nefeli’s eyes widened in shock and felt something inside her falling. This was the most sorrowing thing she had ever heard, but at the same time, she was feeling like she was living in a house which somewhen was filled with love. Yoongi’s love.

“And what happened to the girl? I mean you are all ghosts, they must have been reunited!” she exclaimed, bouncing a little on the couch, ready to cry as well.

“Nefeli it’s not that simple” Namjoon place a hand on her shoulder and sat down next to her “When you become a ghost you live inside someone’s love. But when the person who loves you the most dies you are vanishing forever. So when Yoongi died... We tried hard to bring her back. We really did. But we didn’t manage anything. He lost her forever, and we couldn’t do anything about that”

Nefeli couldn’t help but let the salty tears roll down her now rosy cheeks. She was feeling really bad. Like she had stolen and burn those memories from Yoongi. How could she be so mean? Of course, it wasn’t her fault, she didn’t know that, but she was feeling like it. Like she was so cruel...

“So that’s why he acted like that...” she whispered in realization and everyone nodded “I-I am so sorry, I didn’t know that. It’s all my fault, I think I need to move with my friend until I find a new house,” she said playing with her fingers. Of course, she didn’t want to live in this place, but she couldn’t stand the idea of making Yoongi feel really bad and sorrowful.

“Nononononononoo, it’s not your fault, please don’t think like that!” Taehyung sat in front of her, taking her hands in his own “Nothing is your fault, you couldn’t know about us. And you don’t have to move with your friend. We all know you like living away from town. Please don’t blame yourself about anything!” he smiled sweetly at her, trying to convince her with his eyes to stay

Jin smiled softly and pulled her in for a hug, her back on his chest “Don’t worry, there’s nothing you can do. We will try to convince him to at least be a little nicer to you. And you are not going anywhere!” he said as Nefeli snuggled onto him, making her giggle.

She felt really good in his embrace. Like everything was better. The boys were looking at her in awe and she couldn’t help but blush but she was feeling good. The boys really wanted her to stay with them. They didn’t have someone to talk with. Someone to play with and have some fun. When they were going out of town, everyone would recognize them, so they had to steal whatever they wanted from Yoongi’s parents or from stores.

But now Nefeli wasn’t seeing them as ghosts, but as normal boys. Her friends. And she wasn’t afraid of them anymore. She was feeling nice like she could trust them.

They stayed like that for almost two minutes, in comfortable silence, before Nefeli decided to speak again “Well... I guess we can spend some time together every day if you want as well” she said shyly and blushed a little as everyone’s face lit up and they rushed on them hugging her tightly in a group hug.

At least Yoongi wasn’t there to see them... He would feel really bad and even worse, get mad. And that was something Nef didn’t want at all...

A few days after:

Nefeli and the boys had created a nice bind. They would eat all together and have movie nights almost every night. The boys were making Nef laugh really much and they would usually tickle her, only when Yoongi wasn’t near tho. They knew it would upset him.

However, Yoongi never appeared. And that was making Nefeli really sad. How she wishes she could talk to him. Learn more things about him and have fun with him as well. But he didn’t want the same things as her. He was always cold towards her.

However, today was a different day. Today all the boys had gone out God knows where and she was alone. Nef wasn’t feeling good tho. She was feeling really down. She wanted to cry but she didn’t know why. It was one of those days where she wanted cuddles and some cheering up but nothing had happened.

She was currently sitting on her bed, crystal tears rolling out of her eyes and down her puffy, now rosy cheeks as some Three Days Grace music was playing in the background. She was curled up in a small ball of herself, burying her face in the pillow.

Suddenly she felt a hand rubbing her back affectionately, making her breathing relax.

“Tae please, leave me alone” she sobbed and snuggled more into her pillow.

However, the voice which rang in her ears wasn’t Tae’s. It was a voice she would never expect to hear again. It was the same voice she heard that night when something was tickling her knees and then whispered goodnight at her. It was the same heavy but sweet voice.

“Why are you crying?” that voice tho was familiar to her from somewhere else. And she couldn’t make the connection then, but now she could. And she was beyond shocked.

She turned around and with her watered, red eyes she saw Yoongi sitting there, trying to calm her down, the same serious expression on his face, and completely taking Nefeli by surprise. You cannot blame her for not expecting Yoongi to be there.

“Wha- Why are you here?” she sniffled, rubbing her eyes and sitting crossed legs in front of him, clutching on her pillow tighter.

“I asked something, why you are crying?” he asked, scooping closer to her. And she didn’t move...

She sighed and looked down on her lap, playing with her fingers “I-I don’t know, I felt like crying, I am sorry, I didn’t want to upset you”

Yoongi sighed as well, taking her hand in his larger one, shocking Nefeli once again. He was showing her his soft side for the first time in so many days he was being rude and arrogant towards her.

“The boys told me that you know,” he said, making her raise her vision, looking at him with her big, doe eyes. “You remind me so much of her, the same hair, the same eyes, the same height... the same spots, you are almost exactly like my Haeun” his voice broke when he mentioned his sister, making Nefeli wonder whether he could help him or not. Whether her presence there was helping him or upsetting him more. “They also told me how you are feeling. And I am so sorry about it. But it was really hard for me to control it. When I saw my parents moving away I felt like a part of me was being uprooted from within me. Then I saw you. You look so like my sister that I felt like you were replacing her here. And I got really mad. I thought that if I were discourteous with you, I would think less about her. But I was wrong. The more I was being rude to you, the more I was feeling bad. And when Namjoon and Jin told me how you felt guilty and you wanted to move again, I- Nefeli I am so sorry. Please don’t leave!” Yoongi’s tears rolled down his cheeks, as he pulled Nef in for a tight hug, rubbing the back of her head and her back soothingly.

“Yoongi please don’t cry, everything is alright, I won’t leave!” she was really taken aback by his sudden action of affection and softness. He never expected him to apologize to her like that. And in such a short time. It had passed only some days since she moved in and it was the first time Yoongi was sweet and kind towards her.

Yoongi felt like he had gone so harsh on his own sister. Looking straight into Nefeli’s chocolate brown eyes, he could see Haeun looking back at him. And he understood that the young journalist wasn’t responsible for anything. He couldn’t stop anyone from having fun and messing with each other, tickling each other and laugh together. He was just missing those moments and he was jealous he couldn’t have them anymore with his sister.

Nefeli and Yoongi stayed cuddled, him in her embrace as Yoongi was mentally accusing himself for Nefeli’s wanting to move away again cause of him.

Suddenly Yoongi felt tears in his soft hair, watering his head. He raised his head and saw Nefeli crying tiny, bitter tears, trying not to make any sound so as she wouldn’t catch Yoongi’s attention. But she failed.

“Now why are you crying?” he asked her, sitting upon his knees in front of her, piercing her with his eyes.

Nefeli sniffled and wiped her nose on her sleeve “I feel really bad. It's my fault you feel that way and I reminded you of what happened and I hurt you so much” she admitted, feeling guiltier than ever. Her mind was being tortured with that thought and her stomach was formed into the tightest knot she had ever felt.

Yoongi’s heart dropped. What had he done to her? “Don’t say that Nefeli, it’s really not your fault...” he caressed her hair soothingly, trying to convince her.

But he was doing nothing. The young girl couldn’t stop blaming herself for what was happening and what she had caused in Yoongi’s heart and the happy memories that they now were dismal she had reminded him. It was all her fault, she was sure about it.

Droplets had stopped rolling down her cheeks and her nose was now unblocked, but she couldn’t help but feel guilty “If I wasn’t there tho, nothing of that would have happened and you wouldn’t have remembered all these, I am so sorry Yoongi” she whispered, playing with her fingers out of nervousness and regret.

“No Nefeli, it’s not like that! Haeun was, is, and will ever be in my heart and I will never forget her, but that didn’t give me the right to be a jerk to you!” he frowned his eyebrows together, his eyes pleading for her to believe him, and his hands gripping hers as he was trying to persuade her it was not her fault.

They stayed like that for a while. No one was talking and no one was doing anything at all. Yoongi was staring at Nefeli and Nefeli was staring at Yoongi.

Until them both burst into loud giggles.

I guess no one is good at starting competitions.

It was the first time Nefeli could hear Yoongi laugh. And he has a really cute laugh. His white teeth were making his gummy smile shining more as his shoulders were bouncing a little from the giggles. His eyes had formed into thin lines and his nose had scrunched up.

They continued giggling like maniacs and as the seconds were passing by, they would die down, but the smiles on their faces would remain still. Yoongi was like a whole another person when he was laughing. ‘He should be like that more often’ she thought.

“Nefeli, I am really sorry for what was happening these days. I was really cruel towards you” Yoongi apologized once again, his smile not leaving his face.

But there was something in that smile.

Something Nefeli hadn’t seen before.

There was pureness. Softness. Happiness. Emotions like them.

“It’s alright Yoongi, really” she smiled fondly and rubbed his arm soothingly.

Nefeli had completely forgotten that Yoongi was so rude to her since the day she moved in. She could now see a sweet boy who had completely regretted what he had done and was tryna make it up for her really hard. She had completely forgotten that he was a ghost. She was seeing him like an ordinary boy who was really pissed off at her. It was really hard for her to get used to living with supernatural creatures when she never believed in them.

Yoongi, on the other hand, was feeling guiltier than ever. He had made her wanna leave the house she was tryna to buy for so many months and she made her be afraid of him. At first, that was what he wanted to do, but then, when his friends told him how Nefeli was feeling, Yoongi felt something breaking inside him. He knew he must apologize and convinced her not to leave like that.

“Please, don’t leeeeeave” he dragged his words in a way like he was begging her to stay. Which practically was exactly what he was doing.

Nefeli chuckled and rubbed his head affectionately “For the last time Yoongi, I am not gonna leave, don’t worry” she said sweetly as he placed his head on her chest, in between her legs.

The two young adults cuddled together and if anyone saw them, their jaws would drop on the ground. Yoongi had always been a cold boy towards everyone except his friends and the fact that now he was showing his well-hid affectionate face to someone except them was more surprising and unexpected.

However, there was only one thing that was now torturing her poor mind. Something she couldn’t forget. That voice that night. That night it was Yoongi who was... tickling her. The same cold boy who was against tickling, that night he was tickling her.

“Yoongi,” Nef asked and he just hummed in response, not meeting his gaze “Why were you tickling my knees that night?” she asked, feeling a blush rising on her face.

“I told you, you remind me of Haeun. I felt like I was tickling her” he said casually, playing with the hem of her hoodie.

Nefeli felt so weird at that moment. She felt flattered and loved by Yoongi and that means a lot to her, but at the same time, she felt like she was replacing her in his heart. And that was something she never wanted to do.

Yoongi continued looking down at his fingers which were still playing with her blouse, when a wide smirk appeared on his face “I know you liked it” he asked, not even looking at her face, taking Nefeli by surprise.

“H-How do y’know that?!” she exclaimed shocked and brutally stopped playing with his hair.

Yoongi just chuckled and shook his head “I can hear people's souls. When someone is happy, I can hear a sweet-sounded bell coming from them. When someone is feeling sorrow, I hear a weird noise, like it’s screaming for help. Every feeling has its different noise. And that’s only when I allow myself to hear it, it’s my own special power as a ghost” he explained like nothing was happening like it was the most normal thing in the world. Nef stayed like that, staring at him with wide eyes and gasped mouth.

“Oh” was the only thing she said, as she felt embarrassment rising inside her. She had never told anyone that she likes being tickled and even if someone had understood something, no one had ever pointed it out. And now it was like someone was exposing her to herself and she didn’t know what to do.

Suddenly the duo felt two more presence behind their backs watching them. Nefeli and Yoongi looked behind them and they both smiled brightly at Hoseok and Taehyung who appeared out of nowhere, smiling softly and sweetly from ear to ear. Taehyung was leaning on the door frame with arms crossed in front of his chest and Hoseok was resting his torso on the wall next to the door, hands in his pockets.

“Ahh, I see you two are getting along after all” Hoseok exclaimed proudly, taking a seat next to Yoongi and Taehyung following close, and sitting near Nef’s feet.

Yoongi and Nefeli looked at each other smiling and nodded happily. Ahh, who could imagine that an iceberg could get along with a warm girl like her? No one.

“I told you that they would become close after all” Taehyung nudged Hoseok’s arm and they both laughed.

“Apparently Yoongi is a nice company” Nefeli admitted and smiled at Yoongi who was still playing with that hem.

“Don’t tell me you are gonna forget us and stick with him!” Hoseok poked her sides fastly making her fall back with giggles. Her sides have always been probably one of her worsts spots and pokes are somehow heaven/hell for her. They tickle her so much.

“Nohohahahaha I promise ahahaha!” she giggled loudly and she tried to grab his wrists just when he stopped. However, Nef didn’t really want him to stop. After all that crying and heavy aura, she wanted something to lighten up the mood.

The other two boys were smiling smugly at the scene in front of them. Amusement was formed in their eyes and they were grinning from ear to ear. It was the first time Nefeli could see amusement in Yoongi’s eyes and it was probably the best thing she had ever seen. His eyes were sparkling and his cute smile was making his nose scrunching up a little. He was adorable under his cold mask.

However, his next words sent a shiver down her spine and she felt her face heating up in embarrassment.

“She loves it, I can hear her soul giggling” Yoongi smirked and the rest of the boys copied him.

“Is that so Neffie? You wanna get tickled?” Hoseok smirked down at the girl who was now lying on her back on the bed and started poking all around her sides again “That’s great!”

Taehyung felt so happy to see his friend smiling so bright after so long time. It had been many dedicates since they died and he and never seen Yoongi being so happy. Maybe that girl was a blessing after all.

He laughed loudly as he saw Hoseok trying to battle the young girl’s hands which were desperately trying to grab his wrists and giggling like a maniac. So he did the only thing he could think of. He grabbed her flying hands and pinned them above her head and sat on them, making everything 10 times worse for her.

“Nahahahaha lehehemme gohohoho!” she giggled loudly, shaking her head left and right from the ticklish sensations.

Tae wiggled fingers in front of her face bringing to the surface louder giggles. That was the most torturous thing someone could ever do. It tickles her without even touching her “But I thought you liked it” he teased from above her as put his wiggling fingers on her bare armpits, running them up and down softly like a feather.

“Come on Yoongz, join the fun” Hoseok called Yoongi by his nickname to give him more motivation. Everyone knew how much it means to him and they wanted to make him snap out of his thoughts for some minutes.

“Sure” Yoongi smirked and sat on her shins, clawing behind her knees the same way he was clawing that night, getting the same giggles he got then.

Nefeli was giggling like a maniac, not knowing what to try and stop first. It was like tiny bugs were running up and down her skin. Loud giggles were echoing the whole house as she was shaking her head left and right while the boys were only smirking widely down at her.

“Nahahahaha!” she giggled ringingly as the pokes on her sides, the circles on her armpits, and the clawing on her knees became faster. She kicked her knees up and down, trying to stop the feeling but nothing seem to work.

“Aww look how much you are giggling! You must really like this, right Yoongi? What do you hear?” Hoseok teased, poking her ribs fastly.

“Ah I cannot concentrate on her inside noises Hobi, her giggles are too loud” Yoongi replied mischievously as he dug fastly behind her knee, sending her into louder fits of giggles, almost hysterical “See what I mean?”

“She is so ticklish, it’s adorable!” a cute voice sounded from behind them and they both snapped their heads towards it.

Jungkook stood there smiling softly his famous bunny grin Jimin, Namjoon, and Jin who were copying his smile. They had heard all the laughter and they had come there to check what was happening. And to say they were surprised to see Yoongi in that position was an understatement. It was like a weight left over their shoulders.

“Ahh, I still remember her first day here when I poked her sides, how much she was giggling with a simple touch” the bunny-toothed guy continued as he folded his arms and leaned back on the wall, watching Nef squirming under their devilish fingers.

“WHAT?!” she cried but fell back again to hysterical giggles as Hoseok moved his hands to her ribs “It was youhouhouhou?!” she kicked her feet and legs more as her soft skin was being tortured.

“Ah yeah, I saw it too, she is just so sensitive! I bet a single feather could tickle her!” Jin exclaimed and giggled as he heard her giggles becoming loud laughter when Hoseok shook his fingertips on the middle of her tummy.

Namjoon shook his head at her ticklishness “Let’s test it then” he said and did something Nefeli could have never imagined; he moved his hand in a circled motion and a soft, white, long feather appeared.

Nefeli’s eyes widened for a second as she saw him approaching her with the feather in his hand but Taehyung who was now digging into her armpits didn’t let her. The sudden feeling sent her in new fits of pure laughter and a nice shiver down her spine.

“Nanananahahahaha!” she cried and shook her head, thrashing around as Namjoon raised her blouse more and the fresh air hit her warm skin.

“Already giggling girl? I didn’t even touch you yet” the young lad chuckled at her panicked expression and twirled the soft item in between his fingers “Ohokay okay, stop for a sec” he ordered the three boys and they immediately stopped, letting her breathe for a brief second.

Key phrase; a brief second.

Taehyung, Hoseok, and Yoongi had her still pinned down and the other three boys circled them to see what was gonna happen “Watch this” Namjoon smirked widely and kneeled next to her side, lowering his hand towards her tummy.

“Nonononono Namjoon please nonononahahahahaha Namjoohoon nahahahahahaha!” her giggles came out screamingly and she tried desperately to shot her arms down as she shot her arms down but she couldn’t. Those giants were keeping her pinned down for good. Namjoon dipped the feather in her bellybutton and twirled it around, destroying every nerve she had in her body from how much it tickled.

It was really surprising because she knew her bellybutton was not even ticklish when someone tickles her in there with their finger. But the feather... Oh gosh, it makes her feel so sensitive and melts her like ice under the warm sun. The giggles were running out of her mouth like a waterfall and her head was shaking from side to side fastly.

“Wow, even a simple feather tickles you? You are so ticklish Neffie!” Jin giggled along with her and squeezed her side twice, earning a giggly scream from Nefeli “Oh, too ticklish sides? This will come in handy” he pointed out smirking and everyone laughed, agreeing with the oldest.

“Agh plehehehase nahahahahahaha!” she thrashed around and tried to escape the tickles but nothing could stop them from attacking her mercilessly.

All of sudden, she felt Hoseok getting up and Yoongi taking his place before she could even react. Yoongi traced softly his index nail from her elbow down to her hipbone and up to her elbow again and again and again repeatedly while the feather was still twirling around her bellybutton. Never slower, never faster. Up and down. Again and again. It was driving her crazy!

“Mm I think her feet need a massage, don’t you think Kook?” Taehyung grinned widely at the youngest one, who simply smirked and rushed to get one of her tiny feet.

“I’ll get the other one!” Jimin jumped on his feet happily and grabbed gently her other ankle, sitting it on his lap and Jungkook did that same.

“NO! Dahahahan’t you dahahahare!” she cried before they even start, knowing from experience that her feet are one of her worst spots along with her sides and her ribs.

“We haven’t even touched you yet, chill Nef!” Jimin laughed and wiggled his fingers just above her sole to tease her even more.

“NO!” she yelled in between her giggles, causing every boy to stop and look at her with wide eyes.

The ponytail she had was now half-destroyed and pieces of hair were all over her grinning face. However, a small pout appeared on her face, replacing the happing face she had some seconds ago.

Namjoon clicked his fingers and the feather disappeared, Taehyung let her arms go and Hoseok stopped smiling. Instead, a pout formed on his lips, increasing how cute he already looked but at the same time, a hint of worry could be found in his eyes.

“B-But you like it...” Yoongi mumbled under his breath and looked around his friends to understand what was happening but no one was moving. They were all waiting for Nefeli’s reaction.

‘Oh no... I didn’t mean it! What can I do now? I cannot ask them to start again! Poor Yoongi, he looks hurt, I didn’t wanna hurt him! Look at him...’ Nefeli thought to herself, the pout she had on her lips growing bigger, still laying down and arms collapsed on her torso.

However, she felt a weird tingling before a chuckle of amusement came from above her tho and everyone’s heads snapped towards Taehyung “She didn’t want us to stop, it was only a reflex, she just said it” he chuckled again, this time everyone else doing the same.

Realization hit her when she understood what Yoongi said about powers. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who had powers. Everyone had!

“Is that true Nef?” Jungkook asked, a hint of amusement playing in his as he held her ankle higher and tighter, careful not to hurt her.

“Wha- How do you know that?!” she exclaimed with wide eyes and everyone else laughed at her.

“I can read minds, little one, this is my special power” he smirked as he saw her eyes growing even bigger. That was the tingling she felt.

“I can move things with my mind” Namjoon explained “Hoseok moves faster than light, Jin heals wounds, Jungkook transforms into various creatures and Jimin cheers people up without them knowing” her jaw dropped to the ground as soon as she heard their powers. They were all so different but at the same time so unique and amazing!

However, Nefeli was concentrated on something else. She wanted tickles. And she wanted Yoongi to be happy. She was feeling like she had hurt him. She just learned how much it means to him but yet he stopped them brutally because of a stupid fear. She had never been tickled on her feet before, but she knows this is one of her most ticklish spots. Even the thought tickles her.

Yoongi and Taehyung shared a knowing look and grinned widely, signaling at Jungkook and Jimin to get her feet while she was still didn’t expect them to move.

Electric shots hit her body as she felt five fingers with sharp blunt nails scribbling all over each one of her hypersensitive feet. Nefeli screamed loudly and fell into hysterical laughter, thrashing around and punching whichever angle on the bed she could so as to stop the torturous sensations.

“AGH NAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” she screamed loudly and everyone tried to cover their ears because of how loud it was, chuckling at her.

Jimin and Jungkook looked at each other, understanding that she was too sensitive there and they had gone too much since the beginning so they slowed down, enough for her to fell into hysterical giggles once again.

She could have never imagined her feet would be THAT ticklish and a simple finger could make her scream so loud.

However, to say she wasn’t enjoying that, would be a lie. She loves playfulness and she enjoys being tickled even tho she doesn’t really know why. She could feel butterflies in her stomach even tho she wasn’t in love with anyone and she could feel that she wanted more.

Yoongi tho sensed that and gave a nod to Taehyung to pin her arms again, sitting on them and everyone else positioned themselves around the squirming girl.

Jin sat next to her side while Namjoon clicked his fingers and appeared the feather again, taking a seat on her other side. Hoseok sat again on her shins and Yoongi on her hips while Jungkook and Jimin remained in their places.

The eldest one poked once her side softly, earning a mini scream in between her giggles which made everyone smile at her.

Hoseok tho didn’t start easy on her. He dug fastly his fingers behind her knees as she squealed and bucked her hip in the air, making Yoongi look like he was riding a wild horse.

Taehyung did the same to her armpits while her feet were being scribbled softly and her side was being kneaded by Jin.

Namjoon had dipped again the feather in her bellybutton and was drawing circles in it fastly, not missing to draw some around it before while with his other hand, he was squeezing her other side.

Yoongi on the other hand was doing everything he could to make her laugh as much as she can. With one hand he was drawing fast circles on her hipbone and was squeezing under her bellybutton, her lower tummy.

Nefeli was sent in the loudest laughter she had ever experienced. She was feeling like electricity was hitting her body. But it wasn’t simple electricity. It was an extremely ticklish one!

Everything seemed to be bearable till that moment. Till that torturous moment when all the teasing started.

“Aww look at you! You are so cute!” Namjoon teased, dipping further the feather in her bellybutton. She blushed really hard, harder than she expected.

Nefeli shook her head from side to side and laughed loudly, knowing that this wouldn’t stop the feeling. At least she tried to. She had never experienced any tool and now that a feather was tickling her, she could say that it was feeling like Heaven and Hell at the same time. Too soft yet too ticklish.

“NAHAHAHA AHAHAHAM NAHAHAHAT!” she laughed loudly, unable to open her eyes to look at any of them.

“Then why do you look like it?” Jimin teased from down there on her foot, pinching and wiggling each and every one of her toes.

Jungkook on the other hand had softly pulled back the ones on her other foot and he was scribbling fastly on her poor sole, setting on fire Nefeli’s nerves. Her feet are probably the most ticklish ones someone can meet. Even a soft massage can get her for good.

Suddenly she felt jabs and light squeezes on her other side. Nefeli would have fell off of the couch if the boys weren’t blocking her from how much it caught her off guard.

Namjoon. That evil ghost had used his powers and was moving the feather with his mind while he was squeezing with both hands her side.

“GAH NAMJAHAHAHAN NAHAHAHA!” she arched her back. Jinn saw it as an opportunity to trace her spine up and down, making her arch her back even more.

“There too? You are so sensitive Neffie!” Yoongi teased, squeezing fastly her hips. Yoongi had the widest smile the boys had ever seen. No one in all those years had made him smile so much. If his parents could see him, they would be truly proud and happy.

And this was the moment Nef got to experience Hoseok’s powers for the first time. What I mean by that? Lemme explain it then. Hoseok used his super-speed to scribble fastly her inner thighs, sending her into fits of really loud laughter.

“HOSEAHAHAHAHAHAK!” she tried to shut her thighs together so she would stop him, but she did nothing at all. She was only torturing herself even more.

“Yes baby girl?” the young girl blushed at the new nickname but she couldn’t help her body thrashing around from the new feeling.

“DAHAHAHAHAN’T TEAHAHAHAHAHASE MEAHAHAHA!” of course she didn’t mean it. Nefeli loves being teased and even tease people.

Her mouth had started aching already from how much she was laughing but she was enjoying as much as the boys.

“But whyyyy? You love it!” Jin teased, giving multiple kisses on her bare side. If Nefeli couldn’t stand at all was kisses. Even kisses on her face and cheeks tickle her.

“NAHAHAHAHA NAHAHAHAT KISSES AHAHAHAHAHA!” she wiggled like a worm, tryna escape the tiny kisses which felt like bugs were running up and down her warm skin.

“Aww someone is sensitive to kisses huh? How interesting” Yoongi smirked and bet down, kissing all over her belly as Jin kept going kissing her side.

A wave of electricity hit all over her body from her neck down to her feet and she let out a scream and started thrashing around, begging for some mercy.

“AGH PLEAHAHAHAHAHASE!” Nefeli hid her head in her shoulder as everyone cooed down at her.

“Please what? Please more? Well... We are not planning on stopping anytime soon, don’t worry” Jimin wiggled his eyebrows as he scratched the base of her toes.

Bad move.

Nefeli kicked out, almost hitting him somewhere she wasn’t supposed to, earning a squeak from Jimin. “Now who told you that you can kick me? You are in for it now!” he sat on her ankle and clicked his fingers, appearing a long, blue paintbrush.

He brushed softly yet fastly all over her hypersensitive foot. Everyone smirked widely as they heard her laughter going almost hysterical.

The six boys shared a look of happiness as they saw Yoongi trying to ride excitedly the roaring girl and he was still kissing airy her belly.

“Aw look at you! A little worm!” Taehyung whispered in her neck as he had bent down before he blew a short raspberry.

“TAEAHAHAHA!” she shrieked and bucked once again her hips in the air.

“Neffie!” he mocked her while her clawed on her hollows with his fingers.

The feather in her bellybutton was still twirling and Namjoon was still squeezing her side faster and faster as the moments were passing by. Lemme tell you that every hair on her body was straight now.

“You have such a soft skin little one,” he said as he poked her sides faster than the speed of light. He was really careful so it wouldn’t hurt her but only tickle her while Jimin moved the brush on her toes.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” her laughter at this point was able to break a glass.

“Yaaaaa don’t scream so much Nefeli! We are not killing you!” Jungkook teased while he was tracings multiple patterns on her sol non-stop.

The young girl couldn’t stop smiling and laughing her heart out. If she was ticklish before, now she was feeling way more sensitive that day. Not because she was being tickled by ghosts but because for some reason their fingers were touching some of her most sensitive nerves on her already too ticklish body.

“Look at this happy, gummy smile!” Yoongi teased and brought his fingers higher, reaching her ribs.

Nefeli let out an inhuman scream and fell into louder laughter as his fingers touched the skin of her hypersensitive ribs, pinching and massaging them. She didn’t know she had THAT ticklish ribs, and it tickled her way more than she could ever expect.

“Whoa, I think you hit the jackpot dude” Jin teased, digging deeper in her side, sending her in a new round of ear-piercing loud laughter.

“NAHAHAHAHA NAHAHAT THEAHAHAHARE!” she roared, not really knowing who she was talking to. Jin on her side? Yoongi on her ribs? Taehyung on the hollows of her armpits? Jungkook and Jimin in her feet? Hoseok behind her knees? The paintbrush on her poor toes? Or the feather in her bellybutton?

Nefeli heard fingers clicking from above her, but she chose to ignore it. However, a buzzing sound made her realize what it was. A toothbrush.

“GAH TAHAHAHAHAHAE NAHAHAHAHA!” she cried laughingly when the tiny toothbrush touched the soft skin of her armpits, sending her in fits of hysterics.

The toothbrush traveled from the flesh skin of her forearm to the sensitive place of her hollows in circle moves, setting on fire her nerves and bringing to the surface mostly screams.

“Agh, my ear!” Jimin complained playfully, playing with her tiny toes like they were piano.

“Okay, let’s count your ribs, I think you miss some” Yoongi smirked widely and before Nefeli could say anything else, the boy had already started massaging her lowest ribs “Oneeeee”

The young girl threw her head back in laughter, unable to even move. The rest of the boys had slowed down a little to the point they were only teasing her body with soft tickles so they could enjoy the scene in front of them.

“Twooooo” he moved to her second-lowest ribs as her laughter turned hiccup.

“Threeeee”

“PLEAHAHAHAHAHAHASE!” she shrieked and arched her back again, shutting her eyes tightly.

“Fouuuur”

“COUNT FASTER AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” she begged as her tired body collapsed on the mattress again.

“Oh you want me to count faster?” his evil grin grew bigger and brought his fingers on her lowest one again. Then he did something truly unexpected “Onetwothreefourfivesixseveneight” he poked all over her ribs, without a specific order.

She had seen before on Tumblr people counting other’s ribs while they were tickling them, but she had never seen that anywhere before, and of course she had never experienced it.

After that tho, as soon as he finished, he bent down and nibbled on them. That was the worst thing someone could do to her. Nibbles. They were driving her crazy, out of her mind!

Jin, Taehyung, and Namjoon looked at each other and they gave a signal to each other. However, they didn’t do anything... They simply vanished... She was still unable to shot her arms down tho... Nefeli got confused but she couldn’t express it. She couldn’t even say a word, only shriek, and laugh.

However, she soon felt fast nibbles on her sides and neck. Yoongi and Hoseok almost fell off of her from how much she exploded and thrashed around. She literally shrieked louder than she ever had before and erupted into hysterical laughter.

The nibbles were mixed with raspberries and giggles from the boys could be heard as a background. Their breaths were tickling her as well and were sending shivers down her spine.

“PLEAHAHAHAHA NAHAHAHAHA MERCAHAHAHAHA!” she begged, unable to form a whole sentence.

However, she knew that she couldn’t take any longer. She desperately needed a break. She wanted to experience more, but if she didn’t take a break soon, she would fade away.

“BREAK! BREAHAHAHAHAKE!” she cried and fell into silent laughter, shaking her head from side to side.

Taehyung, who read her thoughts, gave a signal to everyone else and everyone stopped immediately, pulling away from her.

Yoongi’s eyes widened and he felt anxiety rising inside him. Had he hurt her? Had we gone too far? Had he made her feel uncomfortable?

However, as soon as he heard her giggly soul, relief filled him.

Nefeli curled up in a small ball as soon as everyone gets off of her and the items vanished. Yoongi pulled her onto his lap and rubbed her back soothingly as she rested her head onto his chest, still giggling airily.

Jungkook clicked his finger and a glass of water appeared. He pushed the flying glass towards her lightly and that stopped in front of her. She chuckled lightly, still not believing that this was actually happening, and took it gladly, drinking it all.

“Are you alright? Did we go too harsh?” Namjoon asked with concern.

“No, don’t worry, I am completely fine” she gave them a big smile and snuggled more onto Yoongi.

Yoongi on the other hand could feel happiness rushing in him and a wide smile appeared on his face. He remembered how he used to cuddle with Haeun after tickles and she used to snuggle into him like Nefeli was right now. ‘Ah, Haeunnie... I miss you so much, sissy’

Yoongi felt a tingling and immediately understood what had happened. He raised his vision and he saw Taehyung looking at him with a sympathetic smile. Yoongi nodded at him and they both sighed deeply.

“You have to admit that you loved it tho” Jimin winked at Nef. She blushed deeply and hid her face in Yoongi’s chest.

“No, I cannot deny it” she mumbled and everyone’s face lit up.

“And Yoongi seemed to enjoy it too, right?” Jin pointed out.

All the eyes snapped towards him and he looked down shyly, nodding. To be honest, he loved it. And he loved even more that he made Nefeli happy.

‘Should I ask for more? Not too intensive ones t-tickles... Wow why is it really hard to pronounce th-’ she stopped her thoughts when she felt that tingle again. Taehyung.

She looked at him and she saw a smirk formed on his face as he leaned closer to Jungkook and Jimin, whispering something.

She gulped when smirks formed on the two as well and they turned their heads towards her. Did he tell them that I want more? They were up to something.

Before they could do anything, she was snatched from Yoongi’s lap and was placed in between Jin and Yoongi who held each one of her arms collapsed on her torso.

Jungkook then sent her a flying kiss and in a flash of light, he had vanished.

Nef’s widened as she looked at the boys with question “W-Where did he go?” she asked. However, she didn’t have enough time to react when Jimin sat on her ankles, pulling back her toes, fully exposing her poor, bare soles.

“What are you dohohoing?” she giggled loudly, sensing that something was up and that something was gonna happen to her feet, but she couldn’t understand what.

Surprisingly, she heard high-pitched giggles coming from down her feet and she felt something running up and down her poor soles and toes, and in between them. Something like a... Bug.

“Ahahahahaha whahahat ihihihihis thahahahat?!” she giggled loudly and kicked her knees up and down as she was desperately trying to set herself free.

“Be careful! It’s Jungkook!” Namjoon warned as he saw her tryna clap her feet together.

“WHAT?!” she exclaimed in between her giggles.

“He transformed into a ladybug!” they all explained at her, wide smirks on their faces. And as if it wasn’t already too much, Yoongi, Hoseok, and Namjoon started poking all over her sides and belly while Jin and Taehyung were tryna keep her arms down on her torso.

“NAHAHAHA PLEAHAHAHASE NAHAHAHAOOOO!” she yelled in between her laughter and tried to squirm away, but at the same time not to move her legs and feet, afraid that she would hurt Jungkook.

Jimin on the other hand was helping Jungkook by scribbling all over her soles as the youngest member was running between, on, and under her toes, sending her into fits of hysterics.

As her most sensitive spots were being attacked, she couldn’t help but scream when Jin dug in her ribs from behind her, falling onto him.

“Coochie coochie coo Nef!” Hoseok whispered in her ear, sending shivers down her spine while Taehyung was tracing his finger on it up and down, now and then scribbling her lower back as well, and making Nefeli arch it.

“NAHAHAHAHAHA NAHAHAHAT THE WAHAHAHAHARDS!” ugh those three words are literally the worst tease she can ever receive. It drives her crazy and makes her shy at the same time!

“No? Seriously you cannot take it? Ah, I will keep that in mind” Yoongi teased while kneading fastly her side. Electric shots hit her body once again as she shook her head frantically from side to side, and trying with all her might not to move her legs.

“PLEAHAHAHAHAHASE NAHAHAHAHAHA!” she laughed loudly, dipping her nails and fingers in the soft mattress.

Jungkook had focused in between her toes, which were pulled back by Jimin with one hand, while his other hand was scribbling her feet. Jungkook’s soft giggles could be heard as a background along with the rest of the boys’ louder ones.

Yoongi and Namjoon continued kneading fastly her sides as Jin was digging in her ribs while everyone was cooing at her for how cute she was.

“Ah I think you absolutely love it, you are not even telling us to stop” Hoseok whispered once again in her ear before blowing a huge raspberry on her neck.

“NAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Nefeli shrieked and threw her head back in laughter, as she fell onto Jin, completely exhausted as her laughter turned silent.

However, Hoseok was wrong.

Sweat was sliding down her face and tears had started rolling down her cheeks. Her hair was messy and her breath was stolen away. Her laughter had turned hoarse and her tummy and throat were burning.

‘N-no more...’ she thought, more like begging them to stop, in hope Taehyung would hear her thoughts.

And he did.

She felt the tingling and then Taehyung’s fingers stopping.

“Okay I think that was enough let her breath,” he told the others as they all stopped. They all do as Taehyung says since he can read minds.

Everyone let her go once again and Jungkook returned to his official look as a person. She curled up in a small ball as Namjoon was rubbing her back soothingly and Yoongi was putting pieces of hair behind her ears and massaging her head.

“Are you alright?” they asked her for the second time today and she nodded straight away as Jungkook gave her some water again.

“Ihihihi- I guess I reached my limits” she explained and sat up again, drinking the water. All the eyes were on her, making her shy.

She felt butterflies in her stomach as she thought of what just happened and she realized she had just been tickled by... ghosts. But she didn’t really care. She had fun. And she had made new friends.

“Yoongi, are you okay?” she asked Yoongi, catching him by surprise. How could a girl he had met some days before be so sweet and affectionate towards him when he had been an asshole to her?

He felt a smile appearing on his face as he nodded and kissed her forehead. He hadn’t done that since... Haeun’s death “Thanks for that,” he said and Nefeli copied his warm smile.

Yes, he was thankful. Nefeli had helped him realize something. He had made him realize that life goes on. Even after death. That we may lose people from our lives... but new ones are coming. Our favorite ones are staying in our hearts whether they are alive or not. And if they are dead, we must not stay stuck in their memory. We must move one. We will never forget them, but it will take us nowhere if we cry and refuse to move on from a situation we cannot change at all.

“So you are not gonna leave?” Hoseok asked with pleading eyes, fear in them. None of the boys wanted Nef to leave.

The young girl chuckled softly and rolled her eyes playfully at them “Of course I am not gonna leave!”

All the boys cheered and tackled her into a group hug as huge grins of happiness were reaching everyone’s ears.

That move then was definitely the best decision she had ever taken, and she wouldn’t change it for anything in the world...

84 notes · View notes

theladyofdeath · 3 years

Text

Get a Clue {ACOTAR}

31 Days of Halloween: Day 30.

All installments co-written with @snelbz

Warning: language.

Autumn/Halloween 2020 {Collection}

I know, I’m a little past the date....but, we wanted to post anyway. :)

Prompt sent in by @photofeesh

Elain was dressed in her finest 1950s attire. It was her first character-themed murder mystery party, and she had decided there was no better time to throw it than on Halloween. The theme? Clue. And since none of them knew their character until everyone arrived, they decided to dress in 1950s wear, due to the fact that the board game had been invented around that time.

The girls used to love playing Clue as children.

Nesta would always get pissed if she didn’t win, Feyre was usually doodling while they were playing, and Elain just loved to have fun; but, no matter how the game went, they all got excited to play together. It was one of Elain’s fondest memories of her childhood: playing board games on rainy days with her sisters.

“I look ridiculous!”

Elain rolled her eyes as she adjusted the gloves that she wore. “You look handsome!”

He stepped out of his closet. The blue ascot tied around his throat was loose, but he tugged on it as if it were a noose.

The dark blue naval uniform looked like it was made for him, but it hadn’t been. It had belonged to the girls’ papa and seeing Azriel wear it brought a huge smile to Elain’s face

He couldn’t complain when she looked at him like that. “I’m not putting the hat on,” he grumbled.

His hair was slicked back, and Elain found herself wishing that she was born in the 50’s so she could look at Azriel like this every day.

Heading downstairs to make sure everything was ready, she paused to press a kiss to his cheek. “Yes, you are,” she said, with a smile.

She could hear Azriel groan as she took to the stairs, knowing full well that he’d do anything to please her.

Mor was in Elain’s kitchen, sealing the final envelope.

“No!” she yelled, clutching all the envelopes to her chest. “I haven’t hid them yet!”

Elain chuckled. “I have to take out my chicken!”

Mor narrowed her eyes but hurried away, nonetheless, taking her envelopes along with her. When Elain mentioned that she wanted to throw a murder mystery party, Mor was the first to volunteer to be the mediator of the whole thing. Mor definitely had a flare for the dramatics, but she also loved to know things others didn’t. Therefore, she offered to be the one to hide the envelopes and watch everyone else go crazy trying to figure out her riddle.

It wasn’t long before everyone arrived. Feyre and Rhysand first, having sent their three-month-old infant away with a sitter for the first time, even though the sitter was just Rhysand’s sister. Cassian and Nesta showed up next, and ten minutes late, in true Nesta fashion. Lucien was the last to arrive, bringing a plate of brownies. Unlike Nesta, Lucien’s late arrival was excused, considering he had to work until 6:45 on the opposite end of town.

“Do we get to eat first?” Cassian asked, his stomach grumbling so loud that everyone could hear. Elain had to admit that the 1950s were kind to the men in their lives.

Cassian looked like an old-time greaser in his rolled up jeans, his black Converse, his plain white tee, and his leather jacket. A cigarette rested behind his ear and his newly cropped, chin-length hair was greased back. He was the complete opposite of Nesta, who wore the cutest, knee-length circle dress. Her hair was in tight curls, and she finished her outfit with a pearl necklace and white gloves.

They were the living image of Danny and Sandy.

Elain felt the sudden urge to sing, but controlled herself.

Feyre and Rhys, however, looked like the President and CEO of a very well established 50’s business. They weren’t, obviously, but the vest, wool overcoat and thin tie Rhys wore and the very smart, but powerful sheath skirt and top Feyre wore would have fooled anyone. The red bowler hat she wore complimented the look flawlessly.

Then there was Lucien in his khakis, suspenders, plaid button down tee, and slicked back, fiery red hair.

Elain’s friends had done her proud. “Dinner is a part of the game. So, if you all would follow me to the dining room table.”

No one complained at that request. Cassian was the first to sit down, and Nesta was rolling her eyes as she joined him to his right.

“As we start our meal, I’m going to pass the basket around. There’s an envelope for boys, and an envelope for the girls. Pick your character.” As Elain sat down, she held her basket to her right, where Lucien was sitting, already filling half his plate with corn.

She adjusted the floppy, but adorable hat on her head and said, “You can tell us all who you are, but the rest of the information needs to be learned throughout the night, as you’re being asked questions.”

Nesta took the basket from Lucien and she and Cassian both removed a small piece of paper. She glanced in the envelopes. “Why do the guys have an extra character that the girls don’t have?”

“Someone has to be the dead guy,” Mor shrugged.

“Sweet,” Cassian said, grinning. “I hope I get to be the dead guy.” He looked at the slip in his hand and groaned. “Man. I’m Colonel Mustard. I don’t get to be the dead guy.”

Without a word, Azriel dropped to the floor, making Feyre jump.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

He looked up at her with a smirk. “My name is Mr. Boddy. And I’m the dead guy.”

Azriel was laying on his stomach and when Elain rolled her eyes and held the basket out to Feyre and Rhys, he knocked the stupid hat off of his head.

If he had been murdered, the hat never would have stayed on anyways.

“I’m Miss Scarlet,” Feyre announced. “You?”

“Professor Plum,” Rhysand snorted. “Of course.”

The basket got back to Elain, and she picked the last slip of paper from the girl’s envelope. She beamed, “I’m Mrs. White, which means Nesta must be Mrs. Peacock?”

Nesta held up the slip in her hand that proved Elain was correct.

“And Luce is Mr. Green,” Elain said, giving her best friend the side eye.

Lucien grinned, stuffing his mouth full of chicken.

Azriel reached up from the floor and stole a roll from the basket.

“So, how does this go, Mor?” Cassian asked, his mouth full.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Nesta muttered.

Cassian didn’t bother swallowing. “Okay, mom.”

“Well,” Mor said, clapping her hands together as Azriel dragged his entire plate down to the rug beneath the table. “On the back of your slips is a character description. You all need to follow the character description, along with the other details noted on your paper. We’ll start ruling people out until someone realizes who the killer is. In each room, there’s an envelope, hidden. Throughout the party, when you find an envelope, there are clues that will help you rule out specific characters, weapons, and rooms. I have an envelope inside my jacket pocket. Inside that envelope is the killer, the room in which Mr. Boddy was killed, and the weapon that was used to kill him.”

“Does the killer know who the killer is?” Cassian asked.

“We just picked our characters two seconds ago, Cass,” Feyre snorted.

“No,” Elain said, politely. “The murderer was chosen at random.”

“How do we know you didn’t rig the game?” Azriel asked, voice muffled by the table.

“Because,” Mor said, eyeing Azriel under the table. He smirked as he took another huge bite of green beans. “I am nothing but an honest woman.”

“This is actually your house though,” Cassian said, pointing at Azriel. “And Mr. Boddy is the owner of the house in Clue. What if I would have been the dead guy, would we have had to be at our place? A two bedroom apartment with three cats wouldn’t have been near as fun.”

Elain was pinching the bridge of her nose and sighing quietly.

Cassian took a drink of his wine and muttered, “It would definitely have been one of the cats.”

Mor rolled her eyes. “Everyone understand the rules of the game?”

A series of nods rounded the table.

Elain smiled brightly. “Then let the game begin!”

“Can we finish eating first?” Cassian asked, his mouth still full.

Nesta just sighed, and shook her head.

“I hope so,” Azriel muttered. “No telling how long it will take you lot to figure out who killed me, and I’m starving.”

“You can eat while you play,” Elain said, pointedly toward her fiancé.

“You mean while I’m dead?” He asked. “Because I’m dead, I can’t answer any questions, so…”

He trailed off and shoved a forkful of chicken into his mouth.

Nesta cleared her throat. “Professor Plum?”

“Yes, Ms. Peacock?” He said, falling into character.

She stood, picking up her wine glass. “I’ve run out of wine, will you accompany me to the kitchen? I’ve got some questions I need to ask you.”

Cassian raised an eyebrow. “You aren’t out of wine.”

With a heavy sigh, Nesta said, “I’m trying to be in character.”

He took a drink of his own wine, but said, “Sounds like your character needs to get her story straight.”

Looking him dead in the eye, she tipped her glass back and drained it. “Okay, now I need a refill. Plum, you’re with me.”

Her heels clicked on the hardwood as she headed for the kitchen and Rhys glared at Cassian. “Now I’m not going to get any information out of her.”

Cass smirked. “I know.”

Rhysand just shook his head as he followed Nesta into the kitchen. Cassian was instantly eyeing Lucien, who was sipping from his wine glass.

“Mr. Green,” Cassian began, cordially.

Lucien blinked. “Yes, Colonel?”

“Shall we leave these ladies alone and go for a walk of our own?” Cassian asked.

Lcien lifted an auburn brow. “Sounds like you’re flirting with me, Colonel.”

Azriel snorted from his place on the rug.

Cassian grinned. “Don’t let Peacock hear you. She gets jealous.”

Lucien laughed as he pushed himself up from the table. The men, with their plates in hand, went into the living room.

Elain faced Feyre, who was already watching her with narrowed eyes.

Feyre glanced down at her card. “Where were you at five this afternoon, Mrs. White?”

Elain didn’t skip a beat. “Changing the sheets in the master bedroom, of course.”

Feyre sipped from her glass. “And why was there need to change the sheets?”

Elain’s cheeks heated. “Shut up, Miss Scarlet, goodness.”

“Can I go be dead in the living room?” Azriel asked from the floor.

“Shh, you’re dead,” Feyre said, not looking away from the face of innocence in front of her. “What I meant was…” A dramatic pause. “There wasn’t blood on the sheets from where you stabbed him with a knife was there?”

Azriel murmured from the floor, “Jesus, Feyre, bury the lead.”

“Of course not,” Elain said, a hand pressed to her heart. “I always change the sheets on Tuesday.”

From the floor, “It’s Friday, babe.”

“…on Friday,” she corrected herself.

Feyre narrowed her eyes at her sister again, standing from her chair and walking around the table to grab a roll. “Your story checks out. You’re off the hook…for now.”

“I think a better question is where were you at the time of the murder, Miss Scarlett,” Elain asked, eyeing Feyre.

“Easy,” she said, pausing with a hand on her hip. “Professor Plum was teaching me a lesson.”

“Boooo!” Clearly, the rug hadn’t liked Feyre’s innuendo.

“You know, you’re loud for a corpse,” Elain said, looking down at Azriel, and back to Feyre, who was smirking. “And could he corroborate that story?”

“Professor Plum!” Feyre called.

He poked his head in from the kitchen a moment later. “Yeah?”

Feyre gestured to Rhys. “Go ahead.”

Clearing her throat, Elain asked, “Where were you at the time of the murder, Professor?”

“Banging Miss Scarlet,” he replied, without missing a beat, smirk growing.

Feyre’s grin widened.

Elain cleared her throat. “Thank you…Professor.”

“Anytime,” he winked, before disappearing back into the kitchen.

“Is that all?” Feyre crooned.

Elain cleared her throat. “How is it that you know Mr. Boddy?”

Feyre’s brows scrunched together, unsure of how to answer, but then Elain cleared her throat and gestured down at the notecard in Feyre’s hand.

“Oh,” Feyre began. “We are….having an affair, it seems.”

“My, Mr. Boddy, Professor Plum. You sure do have a long list of lovers, Miss Scarlet. Perhaps a jilted lover had found out about your affair with Mr. Boddy. Or maybe Mr. Boddy found out about Professor Plum?”

“I was open about my promiscuous lifestyle,” Feyre said, yawning dramatically. “Now if you'll excuse me, Mrs. White, I’ve grown bored of this conversation.”

Elain’s mouth fell open but she did nothing more as Feyre dramatically made her exit.

Azriel snorted. “Ouch.”

“Hush, dead man,” she whispered, harshly.

The dead man's grin only widened.

As Elain made her way into the living room and snatched Lucien from Cassian’s attentions, someone new soon filled them. Mrs. Peacock perched herself on his lap.

“Well, hello,” he said, dragging a hand up her thigh.

“Colonel,” she said, with an over exaggerated southern drawl.

Cassian snorted. “I don’t remember Mrs. Peacock being a southern bell.”

“Instead of what you don’t remember, how about we talk about what you do remember?” Nesta reached into the pocket of his jacket. “How exactly did this wrench come to be on your person?”

Cassian took a long drink out of his glass of wine — which he used as an excuse to look at his character slip — before saying, “My cat broke down today and I had to fix it. Must have accidentally brought it with me.”

Nesta blinked, then whispered, “Your…cat, Cass?”

Cassian’s brows drew together as he looked back down at his notecard. “Car. My car. I meant….car. My car broke down, hence the wrench.”

“And when did your car break down?” Nesta continued, after she rolled her eyes.

“This afternoon,” Cassian shot back.

“At what time?” Nesta asked.

Cassian looked back down at his notecard. “At four-thirty this afternoon. I then spent the rest of my afternoon working on my car, until I came here, of course.”

“For someone who’s been working on his car all afternoon you sure are clean,” she noted.

“I, uh-.” Cassian froze and glanced down at his card, for some fact of information that may help out. “I always carry a change of clothes with me. It never hurts to be prepared.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Prepared for what?”

He squeezed one of her thighs. “Prepared for anything.” He smacked her ass and asked, “What about you, Mrs. Peacock?” He enunciated the last word.

“What about me?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I can’t help but notice I missed you in the parlor for drinks,” he mused, raising a glass of whiskey to his lips. Nesta blinked. She wasn’t even sure where he’d gotten it from, the glass of wine was still sitting on the table beside him. “Mr. Boddy was also suspiciously absent.”

Nesta’s brows rose. “What are you implying?”

Cassian shrugged. “That Miss Scarlet wasn’t Boddy’s only lover.”

Nesta’s eyes narrowed with such distaste that it was hard for Cassian to stay in character. “Is that what you think, Colonel?”

Cassian cleared his throat and muttered under his breath, “Just a side note, I love it when you call me that in that damned accent.”

Nesta gave him a small, mischievous grin. “Noted.”

“I think,” he began, slipping back into character, “Mr. Boddy told you your secret tryst was over and you retaliated.”

Nesta chuckled and squeezed Cassian’s leather covered shoulder. “A good theory, but you should have done your research, Colonel.” Cassian’s eyebrows furrowed but Nesta continued. “Mr. Boddy was my brother. Estranged. I was here tonight to make amends.”

He asked, “Peacock is your married name?” She nodded. “What happened to Mr. Peacock?”

“Nothing you can prove,” she said, with a smirk. “But I wasn’t present for drinks because I was doing drugs in my room.”

Cassian blinked. “Oh.”

“Yes, I have a drug problem.”

Cassian’s eyes narrowed. “Do you really? Or are you making that up to throw me off?”

“Heroin.” Nesta’s face was deadpan and he was about to suggest they have a talk with Elain after the game when she smirked. “No, I fell asleep in my room. I had a long drive in and needed a nap before I was pleasant for company.”

“I see,” Cassian muttered. “Now, back to Mr. Peacock… Are you completely over him? Or…”

Nesta rolled her eyes but pressed a kiss to Cassian’s lips before pushing herself off of him and walking toward Lucien on the other side of the room.

“Finally, time alone with the colonel.” Cassian looked up to find Feyre, sipping from a glass of wine, plopping down on the couch beside his chair.

“That sounds terrifying coming from you,” Cassian mumbled.

“Don’t tell the professor,” she said with a wink.

“It’s fortuitous that you were wanting to speak with me,” Cassian said, matching Nesta’s overly dramatic southern drawl. “Cause I was wanting to speak with you, Miss Scarlet.”

“Oh?” She crossed a leg and raised an eyebrow.

“Rumor has it you were quite familiar with our late host,” he said.

“Rumors can sometimes be true, and sometimes be false,” she said, adjusting her hair. At some she’s ditched the bowler hat. Cassian was willing to bet that it had something to do with the fact that her cheeks were as red as her hat was. And her glass was nearly empty again. A year of not drinking had turned Feyre into a lightweight.

“So, which was it?” Cassian pressed. “True or false?”

Feyre’s eyes narrowed as she finished off her glass. “Butler!”

With a snort, Mor came to Feyre’s side with a bottle of white wine and refilled Feyre’s glass. Before she left, she coughed, “Under the coffee table.”

Both Feyre and Cassian blinked as she walked away.

As Feyre started sipping her new glass of wine, Cassian was reaching under the coffee table, where he pulled out a manila envelope that read Living Room.

Feyre’s brow arched as she snatched it away from him and opened it up. She pulled out a single, white feather. “What the hell is this?”

“A clue,” Cassian whispered, taking it away from her. “A white feather.” He was looking around at all the characters, trying to scope out what their notecards said about their personalities. “What does it mean?”

Feyre stared at the feather for a second before saying, “I dunno, I’m too drunk to form a thought.”

“Is it from a hat? One of those ridiculous things women wear around their necks like a scarf? From a pillow? Feather-duster?” Cassian guessed, then gasped. “What if it has to do with the color and not the feather itself?” His eyes shot to Elain. “Mrs. White is the murderer?”

Feyre shook her head. “I may be drunk, but even I know you can’t have a case based on one clue, Colonel.”

“No, but one clue can get you closer to solving it,” he replied, tucking it behind his ear.

Feyre looked at Cassian for a moment with the most serious of expressions before bursting into laughter. Cassian shot Rhysand a look from across the room, but Feyre’s husband was watching her with the utmost adoration.

And so the night went on.

There were arguments and accusations and all the while, the wine continued to flow. At some point, Azriel excused himself to open a bottle of whiskey, which he generously offered a glass of to his brothers and Nesta, before he retook his spot on the floor, bottle still in his hand.

Nearly two hours later, the entire group was back in the living room. Azriel was in a chair now, thank the Cauldron, but now there was a prop knife jammed between his arm and side, “stabbing” him. He silently continued to sip on his wine, watching in amusement as Nesta and Rhys yelled at each other, arguing over whether he was stabbed or beaten over the head with a pipe.

“There’s not nearly enough blood for him to have been stabbed!” Rhys said, extending his arm towards Azriel.

“It’s not real,” Nesta cried, enunciating the words. “Did you expect Elain to let Mor spray her house in fake blood?”

“If she were committed, she would have,” Azriel said, but Elain glanced over at him and he became as quiet as the dead man he was pretending to be and put his glass back to his lips.

“I’m right,” Nesta hissed.

“Uh, no, I’m right,” Rhysand argued, his arms crossed. “I know who the murderer is, I’ve figured it out.”

Nesta scoffed. “That’s shit, but okay, go ahead.”

Rhyasnd lifted one brow. “Fine. Murderer? You. Weapon? Rope. Room? Kitchen.”

Nesta rolled her eyes but looked at Mor alongside everyone else.

Mor looked back and forth between Nesta and Rhysand before slowly shaking her head.

“Ha!” Nesta yelled, pointing her finger at Rhysand. “You failed!”

“My gods, I’ve never loved you more,” Cassian muttered, sipping from his glass.

“I win,” Nesta announced, simply.

Rhysand was not going down easily. “No, you do not win.”

“No?” Nesta asked, crossing her arms, as the rest of them watched her and Rhysand’s little display. “The killer is Miss Scarlett. Weapon? Rope. Room? Bedroom.”

The room was quiet for a moment before Mor said, “She’s right.”

“She killed him because he was going to end their affair, essentially cutting her off from the lifestyle she had grown accustomed to living,” Nesta said, not a hint of doubt on her face.

Rhys looked to Mor who shrugged. “She’s right again.”

Rhys breathed, “Damn it,” and dropped down next Miss Scarlett.

Who had been drooling on the arm of the couch since nine o’clock.

Rhysand shook his head as he looked down at his sleeping, drunk, passed out wife.

“I’m right?” Nesta repeated, and looked to Cassian with wide eyes. “What do I win?”

Mor hesitated. “What do you win?”

Nesta nodded, looking at Elain. “Yeah, I won, there’s a prize, right?”

Elain sucked in her bottom lip. “There’s….cake.”

Nesta followed Elain’s gaze to where the half-eaten cake sat on the dining room table.

“You win half a bottle of whiskey,” Az said, leaning forward and setting the bottle

and the fake knife on the table in the center of the room.

Nesta raised an eyebrow as she looked at Azriel. “That’s almost completely empty.”

He shrugged. “You got to enjoy your prize early.”

She rolled her eyes, but smiled and grabbed the bottle regardless. They all couldn’t help the smiles on their faces, all except for Feyre, who Rhys had gathered in his arms, ready to take her home. More laughs and love had been shared tonight than some people got to experience in a lifetime.

None of them had a clue how they got so lucky.

#31 days of halloween #acotar #late #sjm #fanfic #oneshot

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giffingthingsss · 3 years

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J/C, C/7, and Me

Disclaimer: I am not necessarily a J/C shipper. I just have eyeballs and enjoy the show. Long ass post.

In the Beginning

Was a Janeway/Chakotay romantic plot baked in? I tend to think not. At least not at the very start. But this is pure speculation on my part.

If romance is your goal, then it’s much more interesting to have Chakotay not immediately being 100% supportive. (An AU where they never get lost and it’s just Janeway pursuing this Maquis leader and maybe eventually being persuaded and helping him, please.)

I think initially they were flirting with the idea of Janeway/Paris. The character of Tom was described as being a potential love interest for Janeway. That idea doesn’t seem to have made it past the character sketches, but you can see a trace element of it in the very beginning.

The writers played with a number of character combinations. A pretty natural chemistry was cropping up between Captain and First Officer. Little things were dropped into scripts. Performances certainly came across as interested, whether intended or not, who knows.

Ramping Up

Where before there were hints and moments, Resolutions kicks off a series of flashing red sirens.

From this episode on there would be declarations of... ‘you bring me true peace’, and ‘I’m frickin jealous, okay?’ and bawling declarations of ‘you can’t die!’ These developments are not in the shipper’s imagination. They’re building toward something. Clearly. Obviously. Said all the people with eyes.

For the first couple seasons, Janeway being engaged kind of kept this at bay. But now they’re fully playing with it.

Road Block

However, Kate Mulgrew (and maybe others, I dunno) was like, ‘sure. develop the relationship. but no sex. the first female captain isn’t going to be having booty calls in the ready room. not gonna happen. people are going to take this captain seriously.’

So they played with it here and there, but it could only go so far. Kate seemed to want the best of both worlds. A deep, complicated, growing relationship, that never tipped over into the sexual. Her focus was on getting the crew home.

Beltran flat out says (in one of the books I own that I don’t feel like digging out) that Chakotay was in love with her. But Beltran was getting frustrated. When Year of Hell came around, he apparently called up the writers and said, ‘how long is this guy gonna keep throwing himself at a woman who never reciprocates? it’s getting pathetic. either do something with these two or don’t.’

Loner Janeway

Along the way, I think Kate became enamored with the idea of the loneliness of command, the sacrifices it entails. Fell in love with the poignancy of it all.

This is not something that’s out of character for Janeway. Beyond the fact that in the beginning she was engaged, pairing off was a luxury she didn’t think the captain had. So any kind of romantic relationship she might pursue would have to start with her being broken out of that mindset.

That’s basically what Resolutions did. Once they finally pried Voyager out of her fingers, you could see a burgeoning love very clearly. But then Voyager came back. And with it her... resolutions.

Coulda Woulda Shoulda

If they had wanted to snip it and move on, they should have had that conflict between Janeway and Chakotay at some point. Perhaps after Beltran called them up and said, ‘hey. Make up your minds.’

Have the characters actually talk about it and reach a conclusion and there ya go. But maybe the writers just didn’t know wtf they wanted to do with it and wanted to leave their options open. And then did nothing at all.

Me, a Non-Shipper

Personally, I tend to agree with the Mulgrew side of things (and can also see why Beltran would be bored with the eternal holding pattern and not mind when they said ‘hey, you can kiss Jeri Ryan.’)

They developed the Tom/B’Elanna romance, which was great. We didn’t need non-stop romantic plots. I think the shippers could understand Kate’s reasoning and were willing to go with the slow burn...if the writers had actually sat down and decided that’s what they were doing. If only they hadn’t dropped the ball at the very end.

Here’s the thing: if you build up a relationship like that, you can’t be upset when people notice. And you can’t give up on it behind the scenes without telling the audience on screen. ‘There are some lines we never cross’ might have been an attempt, but was too late. And was certainly not closure. The audience deserved better.

C/7? WTF!?

Well, if you thought there was no build up for it, it’s because there wasn’t. If you felt like it was whirlwind and came out of nowhere, it’s because it was, and it did. Apparently even in the writer’s room.

Brannon Braga wanted Seven to die in the finale. He was writing her episodes to gear up for that. Human Error, the episode where Seven experiments with romantic ideas with a holographic Chakotay (with a kiss that was apparently the result of a dare Beltran made to Jeri), was written with Seven’s death in mind. It wasn’t supposed to be the opening salvo of an actual relationship.

I think Seven of Nine should have bit the dust. I think there had to be a real sacrifice for this crew getting home, a real blood sacrifice. Seven of Nine was, for me, designed to be a character that was gonna die tragically. I planned that.... There’s an episode called Human Error that I wrote...she's trying to feel emotions. She actually succeeds and then almost dies. She learns there’s a Borg implant, that if she becomes too human, it will kill her. And it was that moment in my mind that would set up the finale, where she realized she can’t live here, she can’t live there. And she dies getting her family home. - Brannon Braga

I’m glad they didn’t go that way for various reasons. I love Endgame as it is. But it’s interesting to know the thought process. They weren’t gearing up for romance, they were aiming for tragedy. At least Braga was.

Human Error was only about six episodes from the end. At the time of that writing, that's what was in at least his head.

Human Error was not written with an eye toward a C/7 future. Without that episode I doubt highly C/7 would have been a thing. And it wasn’t even written to make it a thing.

Endgame obviously didn't go that way. Janeway-palooza instead. So. What do we do now? What to do with Seven? And from here on, all I have is speculation.

Retooling

'Well, we've got this holodeck scenario from the episode we wrote when we were planning to kill her off that hints that she might like Chakotay. So. I guess we'll go with that.'

It appears to me that they retooled recently written story elements to fit their ending, to provide more motivation for that ending.

They picked the three people it would kill Janeway most to lose. Tuvok, obviously. An ongoing torment, visiting him every week. Seven dies (a remnant of plan A) and in a sense takes Chakotay with her.

This is all fuel for Admiral Janeway without making it about saving her lover (unless you’re a J/7 shipper, in which case, hog heaven).

When you think of it only in terms of ‘what can we do to make the finale work’, it’s not terrible. When you think of it in terms of seven preceding years, it doesn’t work at all. They got myopic.

In hindsight I think the writers could probably admit it was a mistake in terms of the show, and they should have resisted the urge to do something that was thrown together and jarring rather than nothing at all with Seven.

Gossip

Apparently neither Mulgrew or Beltran were opposed to C7 in the end. Maybe because they had at points been a bit frustrated with each other behind the scenes. Whether those frustrations were forefront in anyone’s mind at the time, idk.

I tend to think Kate really was over the idea of Janeway’s destiny having much to do with romance at all.

It is interesting that when Seven first arrived on the show, Kate specifically mentioned not wanting the writers to throw her with Chakotay. At that point perhaps feeling a tad possessive. Perhaps didn’t want him ‘sullied’ by the busty blonde.

But this was seasons in the past by the time the finale rolled around, and I doubt highly it had anything to do with anything. Who knows.

Me on Endgame

Personally, I'm glad Endgame was a Janeway palooza. I love 99% of Endgame. I’m glad it was about Janeway vs.Janeway vs. Borg Queen. I wouldn’t have wanted it to be about J/C either.

But if you’re not willing to go there, leave it then to the imagination. It's cruel to basically tell your audience that these two would be together if not for their delta quadrant circumstances, and then rip the rug from under them the second they get to the quadrant where this romance is supposed to be possible. Not cool, man. Not cool.

When I first saw Endgame (as a non-shipper with eyes) C/7 was jarring and weird. But I thought the scene where Seven was distancing herself was well acted and stirred up an emotion or two (even if it was a little histrionic, considering they'd just started dating). So I wasn’t throwing things at my television. Just confused.

I also basically dismissed their future relationship. They got home after like one date, not ten years of marriage. And now their lives will completely change. So I just kind of hand-waved it away. "It did its job for the episode, but the future's changed and they won't last. So whatever."

Headanons on Janeway’s romantic reasoning and original timeline reaction to C/7

Captain Janeway had no idea how long it would take to get back home. Obviously you hope for tomorrow, but it could be twenty years from now. She resigned herself to not pursue romance. Her sole purpose in life was to get the crew safely home.

So I speculate her reaction to C/7 would be quite stoic. She would recognize it’s not fair for him to just pine away, possibly forever. That she has made this choice and he shouldn't have to be alone because of it. Her being alone is just part of the price she must pay, the burden she must bear. Her own wants and needs must take a backseat. She has greater responsibilities.

In fact, I can see her encouraging C/7. She would see it as a form of selfless love. ‘It doesn’t matter that he’s with me; it matters that he’s happy.’ Of course feelings would rear their heads from time to time, but she would quickly corral them into that channel.

Lots of lovely internal martyrdom. She would make it her mission to make sure they were both okay and happy. A bit of a masochistic streak that she buries under a sense of nobility and sacrifice.

This is the kind of angle I think Mulgrew came to prefer. That lovely little tragic pang. She loves drama, if nothing else.

“It’s a lonely thing, but I’m gonna get this crew home.” - Kate Mulgrew

“You always made it hard for yourself. If there was a rocky path and a smooth one, you chose the rocky one every time.” - Coda

This is a woman with a lot of love to give. But finds herself, or perhaps unnecessarily forces herself, depending on your view, in a place where that’s not a possible life choice. So those instincts expand outward, enveloping them all. She finds fulfillment in the well-being of the crew and the ship as a whole.

Post Endgame

Their trip was shortened by a lot because of Endgame. The future is no longer written in stone. So the possibilities are endless, the sky’s the limit. And apparently Seven’s a lesbian (I haven’t seen it, but I hear tell). So. There ya go.

(She is crying here, btw. I never noticed before I did that episode and feel the need to point it out once again. Lest anyone else still not have noticed.)

If you actually read this whole thing, congratulations. Hopefully it made sense. I now continue with my rewatch and probably won’t talk much about this in the future. Unless something new comes up, I’ll just continue to be a non-shipper with eyeballs, enjoying whatever’s around.

#voyager things #long ass post #of fact and probably fiction #my best current take on what went down

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nyxravessnow · 3 years

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Toumyu – Tokyo Kokoro Oboe First Day Stage Review

Again, as always, this is not a bias free review. It is heavily opinionated and not objective.

Thank you so much to Suke, Vivi and Koursed from the Touken Ranbu discord who helped me with the story and some of my vocal assessments.

FREE OF SPOILERS

Overall rating: 9/10

Acting – 10/10

Music – 9/10 (average of all the song scores)

Ease of understanding – 2/10

Direction – 8/10 or 4/10 I honestly dunno. It depends on the next shows and the follow through for the storyline. If it is satisfying then I think this shows direction was excellent but if it falls flat then this show was kinda the beginning of that.

Overall Summary: Honestly, I dunno what happened rly but the music, staging and acting were excellent. The idol portion was maybe my favourite out of all the myus, and I really enjoyed all the new songs. The first half was fascinating, enthralling and a spectacle but almost completely incomprehensible as so little was clarified, and we were left with so many questions. I really recommend watching the show for yourself as no review I can write will adequately explain or demonstrate what the show was like.

Now I’ll have to get into spoilers to go any further into what the show was like

As I normally do, I am going to give my thoughts on story, acting, songs and directing, then mention some extra stuff that I might think of at the end.

Story: Please keep in mind that this show is complex, and I didn’t manage to catch everything, and I might be wrong about some things, but this is the best I could do, trying to get it out asap. I will only describe the first half bc the 2nd half has no story.

So, the entire show revolves around Suishinshi and he is trying to work out what Mikazuki is doing and what his goal is.

In the first scene he is in modern Tokyo and then a HRA person shows up and everything collapses. He says that his consciousness was stolen. Red threads are pulled all over the stage. Sand pours into a pile near the back of the stage and a girl in Noh mask and traditional clothes comes onto stage and dances at the back. It is unclear if Suishinshi recognises her. The music that she was dancing to suddenly disappears and she stares at Suishinshi and then she runs off. Kiyomaro quickly runs on and tells Suishinshi that there is a battle and then they go off together.

In the 2nd scene Kiyomaro and Suishinshi arrived in the 10th century and find two soldiers fighting HRA members. They are about to step in but Taira no Masakado arrives defeats them. The two are surprised but as the discuss that Mikazuki speaks to Suishinshi and tells him Masakado’s name then Suishinshi has flashes of the future of Tokyo/Edo and sees figures that are important to the city, the humans in this show.

But he is broken out of this by Buzen and Kuwana. Kiyomaro describes how Suishinshi said that he saw time moving like film unwinding like a movie. And it was so disorientating that he didn’t know where he was or when it was anymore. He says he’s been like that since their last mission.

Then Oodenta comes on and sings about being a Tenka Goken with Sohayanotsurugi. (I am mostly not going to include songs but it is their first appearance so I will here)

The two are in Tokugawa controlled Edo, at some point in the early 17th century, and they see Tenkai, one of Ieyasu’s advisors who is a monk, chanting and is repels the HRA. They mention that he sang a very old nursery rhyme, may be the one from Mihotose, and Suishinshi comes on and says that he has heard that song before. The film of the future of Edo plays again. But is a bit shorter.

Then it fades out and is replaced by fire and the sound of a sword being crafted. Samidare arrives on stage and sings then leaves and Murakumo does the same thing then they duet.

They are greeted by Kuwana and Buzen who tell them that Kotegiri and Matsui aren’t there at the moment. Then they take Murakumo and Samidare on a tour of the citadel.

Kiyomaro and Suishinshi come back on stage and Kiyomaro says it’s a good thing to have more allies. Suishinshi describes how Nikkari told him that it can be a good and bad thing. Kiyomaro then says that must be why he left on a trip. Kiyomaro then asks Suishinshi if there is anything, he can do for him and Suishinshi doesn’t answer but Kiyomaro takes that as a no and leaves the stage. Some of the film plays again then Suishinshi leaves too.

Kuwana comes out and is farming then Suishinshi comes back on and asks about the crops and so Kuwana tells him about a patch of grass as Buzen runs off stage chasing a mole. Kuwana tells Suishinshi that he is getting the fields ready for the rain and then Suishinshi says something about the world ending, I did not get this bit. Then the film plays again

Then it cuts to Saigo Takamori and Katsu Kaishuu talking. They talk about the future and some other stuff that I didn’t quite catch. Oodenta and Sohayanotsurugi come on and discuss the end of the Tokugawa government. Oodenta says if they had more spiritual power then they would have been able to last longer. And Suishinshi asks where he went after the end of Edo and the Tokugawa government.

Kiyomaro then comes on and asks the Saniwa about abandoned timelines and is told not to think about it as there are some things it’s better not to know.

Then we go to 1457 and see Ota Dokan supervising the building of Edo castle. Suishinshi wonders why Dokan decided to build a castle in that specific place. Dokan talks about enjoying the flowers and having a picnic there. Suishinshi then describes how as the seasons changed Edo went on to become the centre of Japan and his birthplace.

During Dokan and Samidare’s duet the little girl comes out again and dances then hands a big leaf she was dancing with to Dokan and leaves the stage again. Then the film plays again.

Sohayanotsurugi comes on fighting the HRA. He is joined by Oodenta, Murakumo and Samidare, Then Tenkai comes on stage again and repels the HRA. Suishinshi says he needs to make a boarder within himself between what is him and what isn’t him.

Buzen comes on stage and says he believes anything that can think and remember is living. Suishinshi asks him if that means that if there is no memory of a specific living thing then does it mean it didn’t live at all and Buzen says that he’s not a person who can answer that. During their discussion, the little girl in the mask returns.

Buzen leaves the stage and a full moon is visible in the back before it fades into the film playing backwards.

In the next scenes we are back at the building of Edo castle and Buzen is helping the workers pull a big stone along. Buzen has clearly been helping the group before as Dokan welcomes him back from his trip and says he wishes he could go on a trip too, but he’s too surrounded by war. He asks Buzen where he went and Buzen told him he visited the sea and says it would be nice if they could go together sometime.

Samidare comes to talk to Buzen and he asks him what Dokan is like and Buzen says he’s an amazing person and he would love to show him the future of Edo.

Suishinshi, Kiyomaro and Oodenta come on the stage and Kiyomaro seems to be asking Oodenta about Mikazuki. Oodenta wonders when they were first called the Tenka Goken. Then Suishinshi and Kiyomaro start talking about curses, sorry this bit was incomprehensible to me.

The curse may be in relation to Taira no Masakado who is believed to be a vengeful ghost who still plagues Tokyo today.

The next scene shows Suishinshi watching as Masakado fights off four people and then is shot in the head, killing him. As he dies Suishinshi wonders why he has to die. If they’re meant to protect history then why aren’t they protecting him. Whose history are they protecting. Many figures with the same outfit as him but bands over their eyes and long grey hair come on and surround Masakado changing him into what resembles the painting of his vengeful spirit. He then stares at Suishinshi and leaves the stage.

Suishinshi asks if this is also a curse. He says he has to make himself normal again. Saying his name is Suishinshi Masahide. However, his name that was written on the screen at the back melts away. It is replaced by Mikazuki’s name then lots of other Touken Danshi names play across the screen and disappear like they’re being erased. He calls out that his name is Suishinshi Masahide as the names fade into letters, the red lines cross across the stage again and the child with the Noh mask appears again.

In the next scene Dokan is about to be executed when the HRA save him and run off. Buzen sees this and waves at him. Dokan smiles and walks towards him, going to say something but Buzen jumps towards him and stabs him in the heart. He says that that is because that is what the history is. He says that he didn’t want to have to kill him even as an order then walks to him, closing his eyes. He laments that he never got to take Dokan to the quiet ocean. (A reference to Paraiso) Samidare says that he should be doing the dirty jobs and the next time Buzen should let him do it instead. Buzen says that it’s fine and that he wants Samidare to be able to just sing and dance. He asks him to perform for Dokan. The child with the Noh mask appears again and lays the leaf that she handed to Dokan earlier, on his chest.

The next scene has Kuwana farming again. He is approached by Murakumo who asks him what he’s doing. He explains that there is nothing there, so he has to prepare it for when the sun is bright, and the rain is beautiful. Murakumo reflects that rain is important for crops and Kuwana says that clouds are important too. Clouds and rain are in a circle where clouds will become rain, rain will fall then will trickle into the ocean. The water will then leave the sea and become clouds again. He says that they are all connected in this circle. Humans, history and all the swords. Kuwana tastes the earth and says that it is good earth. Murakumo says that he would like the make the field a field of Kerria but then goes back on this saying they should grow food as flowers aren’t useful as you can’t eat them. Kuwana says you may not be able to eat them, but they are needed, even in this world. Murakumo tries to eat some of the dirt and says that Kuwana is very weird for trying to eat the earth. Kuwana just laughs along and says that maybe he is.

We go back to Tenkai who Oodenta and Sohayanotsurugi are with. Then Masakado appears and tries to attack them. Finally, with Samidare, Murakumo, Kuwana and Kiyomaro’s help as well, they manage to defeat Masakado but apparently there are 6 more. Tenkai creates a spiritual barrier in the place where they defeated Masakado and Tenkai tells them they have to go defeat the rest. Sohayanotsurugi, Murakumo and Kuwana leave but Oodenta asks Kiyomaro if Tokyo/Edo always had that many monsters. He remarks, I think, that if a person lives for 100 years then they will become a Tsukumogami. (this is what I think I heard but it doesn’t rly make sense as a Tsukumogami is an object that becomes sentient rather than being a person hence why I am confused)

In the next scene Mikazuki is projected onto the screen and Suishinshi demands to know what he is doing. He takes out his sword and tries to fight Mikazuki, but the image ripples and he has to take some steps back, saying he knows Mikazuki isn’t the kinda of opponent he can fight against. He attacks it again and the image disappears, reappearing to the side. Suishinshi says that he is going against the river of history. He attacks that image, and it reappears on the other side. He says Mikazuki has taken on a very sad role in the flow of history then attacks the image again. The image appears on the back again and Suishinshi asks what on earth was Mikazuki trying to protect. He says that Mikazuki is doing something horrible and this time the image of Mikazuki blocks all of his attacks. Mikazuki brings his sword up and the instrumental of Hana no Utena can be heard then as he brings it down Suishinshi sees a flash of many of the humans who have been in Toumyu so far, including people like Yoshitsune, Sadachika and Souji. Then Suishinshi starts saying the names of flowers. I don’t rly know why. But as he is saying this the girl with the mask appears again behind the screen. Suishinshi asks if all the flowers were her doing and if she was making time move along. Then he seems to realise who she is and says ‘I see, you are-’ then it cuts off. The screen and sounds statics and Suishinshi falls to the ground.

In the next scene Kiyomaro asks the Saniwa if he can look after Suishinshi, saying he will definitely come back, making it seem like he is gone for a while. Kiyomaro says that Suishinshi is really amazing and the Saniwa agrees. Suishinshi then comes in and asks for permission to go after Mikazuki saying that his eyes looked so sad ‘at that time’. He says that with even a little time he might be able to lighten his burden. He says that history is like a big river but the small rivers coming off it can still be beautiful. The Saniwa then says he will leave it to Suishinshi. Suishinshi asks Kiyomaro to come with him and they leave together.

In the next scene Oodenta and Sohayanotsurugi are listening to gunfire and canons and talking about how Edo is ending (as it will soon be named Tokyo instead). Kiyomaro and Suishinshi walk on and Kiyomaro asks why they have come to the Bakumatsu time (the end of the Tokugawa government). Suishinshi says there is something that needs to be fixed in that time. Kiyomaro says that he will believe Suishinshi and follow him. Sohayanotsurugi and Oodenta come and join them and Suishinshi tells them about his plan. He takes out a map and indicates all the places in which Tenkai made kekkai and what the effect of those was, I couldn’t catch that bit. I couldn’t really understand the rest of the bit when it’s just the four swords.

Then Katsu Kaishuu comes on and is surrounded by HRA. He keeps spitting at them for some reason. The swords defeat the HRA and Kaishuu thanks them. Suishinshi asks him if he is trying to protect the Tokugawa government and he seems insulted by that. He says that it isn’t anything that small. He is trying to protect the world and says that it is his dream to go on a trip somewhere. Even if everyone he wanted to go with is dead. Suishinshi gets incredibly excited and happy and says that Kaishuu is really an amazing person. He then runs off but quickly runs on again and says that Kaishuu has a wonderful sword. (which is probably him as he was one of Kaishuu’s swords)

Kuwana and Murakumo come back on with Tenkai, fighting more HRA. Another Masakado comes on and they have to fight him. The four from the previous scene then join them as well. Tenkai then makes the final kekkai. Suishinshi asks him why he wanted to protect the land. He says that’s just his thing and he thanks them saying he was able to protect Edo because of them. Then he dies.

The next scene has Dokan with Samidare and Buzen as they look at the newly completed Edo castle, obviously earlier in Dokan’s timeline. Dokan asks if Samidare knows why it’s beautiful and Buzen says because of the people. Dokan agrees. A place that is built by people and lived in by people is beautiful. Samidare then asks if he thinks that then does he not find nature beautiful. Dokan says that he does because of the heart of that thing. Samidare then barks at Dokan and apologises, saying it is because he was so moved. When Dokan laughs he hides his face in his scarf which is literally the cutest thing ever. Suishinshi then suddenly appears and says that he has something to ask Dokan. He asks him why he decided to build Edo castle. Was it as a home or for battle? Dokan says maybe a little bit of both then recites a poem about Kerria and says that Suishinshi will understand what he means one day. Suishinshi and Kiyomaro leave. Buzen asks Samidare if he understands the poem and Samidare explains it – I didn’t understand the explanation though.

In the next scene Masakado is fighting off HRA and Suishinshi and Kiyomaro appear to help him. Suishinshi asks Masakado why he started the uprising and Masakado asks him why he’s asking him that. He then says there was another person who asked him that and a crescent moon is projected onto the back. He says Mikazuki called him a friend. Suishinshi tells him Mikazuki has taken a heart-breaking role upon himself and Masakado says that he knows. History is nothing but winners and losers. History is just things and people that are left over. Things like Suishinshi and Kiyomaro. The smell of flowers and the tone of songs. He wonders whether things that aren’t there anymore were ever there at all. He confirms with Suishinshi that he is going to lose the battle. He wants to leave behind the trace that he was there so no one can think that he wasn’t. He says Mikazuki is too kind. He then says some stuff I couldn’t get. He then goes to leave but Suishinshi asks him again why he started the uprising. He says it was all for a woman.

He starts singing and all the other humans join him.

In the next scene Suishinshi tells Kiyomaro that wherever he goes he can only see a crescent moon, never a full moon. He says history is just what the winners say happened, no one can ever know truly what happened, no matter how sad this may be. (As he says this the girl appears again, she is dancing in a circle of Kerria flowers). Even if his memories aren’t completely there, he knows that all of history is connected.

Then all the Gous walk on and the crescent moon appears. Mikazuki says as expected of Suishinshi. Mikazuki says Suishinshi doesn’t have to say out loud what he has worked out, his feelings are enough. Suishinshi was able to lighten his load. Suishinshi shouldn’t be sad for him because this is Mikazuki’s role. But there are things he cannot do so he needs help. Suishinshi and Kiyomaro have to become the link between the past and the future. The Gous have to be the ones to connect to people. Buzen is about the asks Mikazuki something when all the Gous double over as if they have a flash of memory like the film that Suishinshi has been seeing. Buzen looks horrified and asks Mikazuki if it could mean- but he is cut off by Mikazuki. Mikazuki laughs and remarks how beautiful the moon is and then leaves. Suishinshi and Kiyomaro say they have to fulfil their role then leave. The Gous then start saying confusing things. Murakumo says ‘a little, just a little’, Samidare says ‘Yes, the memory’, And then Buzen says ‘It seems like we Gou are-g’ then he is cut off.

The next scene begins the same as the first scene, with Suishinshi in modern Tokyo. And he says he finally knows who someone is, most probably the girl. The full moon is visible behind him and the dirt is falling from the ceiling again. He says, ‘So, you came here? But if this hadn’t happened and you could have chosen would you have come here at all? The curse, the kekkai. You must be frustrated. I don’t know why you did this, but I respect your determination. The people who were here and the people who weren’t, the people who came and the people who chose not to come, it’s not fun for them. Your feelings have reached me. Thank you. And I have a request, please don’t hurt this time, reality, or the things that you chose. It’s gotten across to me. It would be nice if it could be understood. Barriers aren’t just in people’s hearts. We will definitely meet again. So, don’t close off or hurt things. To achieve that goal, we will do everything’.

As he is speaking the HRA are pulling the red ribbons across the stage again and on his very last sentence all of the other swords join him.

In the next scene different swords come on and just small talk a little.

Kiyomaro and Suishinshi come on. Suishinshi says his mission is to make sure everyone is smiling. Kiyomaro then asks him about the girl and Suishinshi says he doesn’t know her name. The wonder what type of person she could be. Suishinshi says he thinks she is a person doing her best.

And that is the end of the first half.

Acting: I am not going to go person by person because honestly, [I have 0 criticisms for any of the actors. I cannot believe that this was the first show. The singing and acting was amazing.] I am leaving what I initially wrote as it was my first impression but as I dove into the songs a little more I realise there is a lot of room for improvement in the singing department.

The standouts for me were Samidare, Dokan and Masakado. I loved all three actors and thought they were excellent even among this incredible cast. I will also give a shoutout to Nagata Seiichirou, Murakumo’s actor, as I have seen him a lot in Prince of tennis where personally I really did not enjoy his acting or singing and was so pleasantly surprised to see how much he has improved. He obviously practiced so hard for this show.

Songs:

Obviously, I don’t know the song titles, so I am just gonna to refer to who is singing the song. (except for Touken Ranbu) I do have singing experience, but I do not know all the technical terms so please bear with me for what I am trying to express. This will be less in depth than my Kuromyu song review because I spent so much time on the story already and I really want to get this out soon.

Touken Ranbu – 10/10

I love the new accompaniment. While personally I was not getting bored of the previous Touken Ranbu I know people who were but I also now that I would not have been happy if they changed the song, so I am really happy with what they did. It feels nostalgic but also fresh.

Taira no Masakado solo – 7/10

I think the song is good and very well sung but Bishin wavers on the notes at the beginning a bit hence why it is only 7/10. It might change depending on the final performance. This song is really good but because of the way it is written it sounds pretty difficult to sing as it isn’t in lines that flow to get but more short phrases that, while being sung not spoken, sound pretty harsh to get out.

Kiyomaro and Suishinshi duet – 10/10

This song is beautiful and so well sung. Nobunaga and Seiya’s voices really compliment each other well. The gentle music and gentle singing works, really well with emphasizing how worried Kiyomaro is for Suishinshi. When I was watching it with people it was fun to see literally everyone be like ‘Well I guess I stan Tenpou now’ immediately.

Oodenta and Sohayanotsurugi duet – 9/10

This song is really amazing, and I like how different it is to the previous duet. It starts of with a beat that makes it sound like Oodenta is going to rap. Raita has one of the best voices in this show and he really showcases it in this song. He goes from singing higher to lower and nails both of them. The only reason why this is a 9 and not a 10 is that Masaki’s voice is definitely not as strong and he doesn’t sound great on some of the notes, hoping he can improve for the final show. The song is still 9 though because his solo bit is much shorter and his harmony with Raita sounds really good.

Samidare and Murakumo duet – 8/10

I know I haven’t given it 10/10 but this is my favourite song in the show. (I am very biased towards Gous and Yamazaki Shogo) This song is again, hugely difficult. It goes from quite low to very high and honestly it is no surprise that Shogo and Seiichan didn’t nail every single note on the first night. I am so excited to hear this on the album and on the final night. Shogo has some tension in his voice, probably from nerves, and this is not his best performance, but I know he will improve as the show goes on. Honestly, this song isn’t sad at all, but I started to tear up during this song. I was not a fan of Seiichan in Prince of tennis. I did not think much of his acting and singing and I have not re-watched any of his casts shows more than once. So, I was so happy here to hear how much he has improved. Not only his acting but his singing is world’s apart from a few years ago. It is abundantly clear how hard he worked to improve his singing and it has obviously paid off as he nailed this song despite it being rather difficult. Can’t wait for this song to become a 10/10 when Shogo can nail all of his notes on final night.

Kuwana solo – 8/10

This song is so adorable and sweet, and I love it but Tomoya sounds so nervous during the song. He misses quite a few notes and when he does sing it well his voice has a lot of tension in it. His high notes and transitions are a bit flat. I hope as the show goes on he can relax and sing this song to the best of his ability, taking it up to a 10.

Ota Dokan solo – 7/10

This song is really fun and is about the workers moving the rocks for Edo castle around. The chorus is really fun. I don’t think Dokan’s actor has the best voice ever but the song is written in a more traditional style which I think compliments his voice and brings out the best from him. Very solid song that I liked.

Samidare Dokan duet – 5/10

I honestly don’t know if it’s the song writer not exactly getting it for this song or if it’s the singers but for most of this song it really does not sound great. Their voices do not harmonise well for the most part, except one harmony that was quite nice. Dokan’s actor really doesn’t sound good in this song and I think the main reason it made it to even 5/10 was because Shogo managed to hit some of hit notes very well. I really really hope this song improves for the final show.

Tenkai solo – 7/10

I really really enjoy the Buddhist chanting. I think it sounds really good with the song. Tenkai’s actor does not have a very good voice but he doesn’t sing too much in the song and the chanting covers for him a little.

Buzen Dokan duet – 4/10

This is a reprise of Dokan’s solo but with Buzen singing the first half of the song. I really don’t think Yuta sounds good singing in this style. I didn’t hear much tension from either of their voices for this song so I honestly don’t know if this song will improve, the song style just doesn’t seem to fit Yuta’s voice. While I still really enjoy the chorus, I don’t think either actor sang this well at all and I am just glad there weren’t any harmonies in this song.

Buzen solo – 8/10

Yuta really redeems himself in this song. His voice sounds really great and the emotion is definitely there. While not every note is perfect, it is worlds better than the previous song. He really nails the bits that require more projecting of his voice, mostly, and he has a nice contrast between rough and soft.

Kuwana solo reprise – 9/10

This song is much shorter, so he basically gets +2 for every line that he nails. His voice wavers a little on the first line hence why it is a 9/10 but definitely getting there for this song.

Kuwana Murakumo duet – 7/10

I do like this song, but it’s not terribly well sung by Tomoya and Seiichan has his moments as well. I really hope this is just due to it being the first night as I see a lot of promise in the song and am very excited to hear it with a little more hitting the notes.

Taira no Masakado solo reprise – 6/10

I think they wrote this song as a little too aggressive as with the shouting he has to do as part of this song his voice suffers a lot. While I get it has to be aggressive because he is attacking them and is now cursed/vengeful spirit/HRA but I feel like they could have managed the aggressiveness with the song actually sounding good a bit better.

Oodenta Sohayanotsurugi duet – 7/10

Pretty good song. Pretty solid singing from both of them. It’s very short so I don’t really have many notes.

Sohayanotsurugi Oodenta duet – 7/10

This was pretty difficult to rate. Masaki’s voice is not amazing in this song, but he carries the emotion it is meant to have, really well. Raita is doing amazingly as always, and their harmonies are good I just didn’t feel like I could put it above 7 because of Masaki’s voice.

Full cast song – 8/10

The song starts off with just Masakado and then the other humans join in then the swords too.

I think the beginning solo bit from Bishin is his best singing in the show, he manages to do the shouting but still sound really good and I love his voice in this song.

I think Tenkai and Dokan’s actors also sound incredible in this song for the most part.

There is a little bit in the middle where some of the humans and swords sing individually and like everyone missed their notes and harmonies which brought this song down from a 10 because it starts and ends beautifully with incredible singing and harmonies. They just need to tighten the bit in the middle and make sure everyone is nailing their parts.

At the very end of the song Suishinshi has a solo bit and I wasn’t quite sure if it was the same song or a different song, but I included it with this one for now. Seiya sounds really good and it ties up the song well with well sung solo parts at the beginning and end.

Suishinshi solo – 10/10

Sung beautifully. Pretty short but there are not faults with it.

All sword song/End of first half song – 7/10

This song is beautifully written. The vocals are very hit and miss though. When they hit the notes, they sound amazing, but when they don’t it is pretty dire. For the most part the harmonies are good and I hope they can just perfect the solo lines.

INTERVAL

(I’m guessing the song title) Revolution – 10/10

Very solid start to the idol section. The music and dancing slap so hard. This song is really fun and just so great.

Sohaya Oodenta idol duet – 10/10

Masaki sounds so much better and way more confident here. This song is really really good and just sounds amazing.

Kiyomaro and Suishinshi duet – 7/10

It kinda seems like Masaki and these two have reversed. Masaki sounds much better in the idol songs and these two sound worse. Their slightly off-pitch for a couple of notes. The chorus, which is so adorable, is absolutely perfect but some of their solo bits aren’t the best.

Gou4 song – 8/10

The beginning doesn’t have the strongest vocals and I don’t really like the way it seems to be meant to sound at the beginning, but I quite like the rest of the song. Again, Yuta gets the wrong pitch occasionally when he sings but does seem like he’s working on it and getting better.

1st 2nd layer song – 10/10

They have a dance break section at the beginning and the music slaps as does the music for the entire song. It has a very modern feel to it but then it adds some jazz instruments and then Raita, who is a professional beatboxer, does some beatboxing and it just sounds so good. This song is more spoken than sung but no complaints about the singing.

2nd 2nd layer song – 10/10

Another really fun song. Pretty solid singing from everyone. I can’t really fault anything.

3rd layer song – 9/10

I do really like this song and it is a really different 3rd layer song to most of the ones we’ve had before. For the dance thing in the performance. (previous shows have had like ribbons, blankets and spinning lights) They had all of the swords playing the taiko drums. I would have liked maybe something that he hadn’t seen before as we have taiko drums in every 3rd layer song normally, but it was very well done. Not every note was perfect, hence why it isn’t a 10 but once they can nail that it will be.

Touken Ranbu reprise – 10/10

Just as good as the first one. Still loving the new arrangement.

Direction: All the blocking and choreography stuff was very well done. I am a bit nervous about that this show is indicating for the future of Toumyu and if the story doesn’t follow through this show is gonna seem much worse in retrospect so I think the director should be very careful as he continues with the next few shows.

Other things:

This really feels like the start of the Toumyu story arc. Of course, we had already got hints of it in shows like Tsuwamono and Kishou Hongi, but this has really kicked it off in a big way. I think what they have done is quite dangerous and may possibly alienate some people from Toumyu as this show was very complicated and a lot of Japanese fans were also extremely confused. I really hope people stick with Toumyu and that this arc is handled well and that confusing shows like this don’t become the norm. I am positively apprehensive.

Honestly, I did really like this show and I thought it was interesting, but I wouldn’t like to see any other Toumyu shows quite as complicated as this. I think it was good as a once off but I think I would be a bit put off Toumyu if they kept doing shows like this.

I will say I did not see the point in Oodenta and Sohayanotsurugi in this show. While both actors did very well, and their songs were for the most very enjoyable they played almost no part in the story. The only important role they had was one scene where Kiyomaro asks him about Mikazuki because they are both Tenka Goken but even if that he doesn’t really answer. I wouldn’t normally bring this up but since they had 8 people instead of 6, I felt like I should say this. I do think it was a bit of a mistake to go up to 8 for this show, especially as it was so complicated and so I think other things didn’t quite get the time they deserved because of Oodenta and Sohayanotsurugi being there.

Overall: Very good but also depends on where Toumyu goes from here.

#toumyu #kokoro oboe #musical touken ranbu #stage review #stage report

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yukiobeyme · 4 years

Note

Hi there! Just wondering if you could possibly write hcs for trans Beel or trans Satan? But if you can’t that’s fine.

I am supposed to doing my Civil Engineering HW? Yes.

I am coming back from the dead to answer this? Yes.

Can I talk about Trans!Beel and Trans!Satan all day? God Yes. Please ask me more talk to more about LGBTQIA+ and how it fits in Obey Me!

Thank you so much I hope I do this some justice. I am sorry how it got so long, but I got in the groove for this and I just came up with other ideas

Beel has some implied body issues, mention of top surgery and T-shots

So you more or less got Satan’s coming out story, I could have just written it as a fic and it would have probably been shorter and more concise. But I did add other headcanons as well and accidentally hc how Satan got his everyday outfit.

*Also disclaimer: Satan’s hc focus a lot on Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger being a gateway for him figuring out his identity. I have heard of it and seen both good and bad reviews. I recognize that some bad reviews implied that there are possibly inaccurate stereotypes but was a good starting point to introducing Trans Characters to fiction. I have never read it and can not confirm or deny what the reviews say.

Beelzebub:

From a young age he wondered why and how Belphegor were twins when he was a girl.

It caused a distaste in his mouth but more often than not he pushed it away.

It wasn’t until the Fall; did he finally act on it.

The first time he was called “sir” his heart almost burst out of his chest

He immediately told a sleepily Belphegor about it, he figured he wouldn’t remember in the morning

But boy was he wrong, it turns out Belphegor laid awake after Beel told him that. In the morning they talked about it again. Belphie offered his full support.

Belphie became Beel biggest piece in his support system. Like sure a lot of problems, he said maybe a nap or food would help. But it turns out he was right? (Well for the most part) but whenever Beel felt like everyone hated him and judging him, Belphie would wrap him up in the softest blanket in the house and they would take a nap together. Or when Beel seemed to be angry at everything and hated everyone, Belphie pulled him to the kitchen and made his favorite meal.

Randomly one day Belphie asked about how Beel felt about himself. “Like it doesn’t matter if you pass in someone else’s eyes or not, but do you like how you look?”

That’s when Beelz really got into bodybuilding and weightlifting

While he didn’t necessarily come out to the rest of the brothers, but none of them came out as cis so he wasn’t going to go out of his way and come out as trans

“working your legs naturally helps build more testosterone, so does eating eggs,” it was Satan that told him shyly behind a book if Beelz noticed that Satan was eating more eggs and even doing leg exercising he said nothing

Satan and Beel would have random conversations about gender and identity. Most times Belphie sat in on it. Asking questions or making comments.

Before he got top surgery, he would wear full-body binders, he had a standard black and white, but he also had an orange one. Completely confident to wear them by themselves.

After top surgery, he showed off (as he should)

Takes pride in his body and the work and effort he put into it. To make it his own.

· T shots doesn’t help with his appetite at all, the horror that went through the house when the avatar of gluttony appetite almost doubled. After a few weeks, it averaged out to be just a little more than pre-T but the brothers none the less both impressed and mortified

Belphie immediately opened his closet to Beel, like Beel occasionally stole clothes before, but this time Belphie made sure that Beel knew whatever he wanted he could take.

Asmo was definitely down to help Beel with shopping, but he turned him down. Favoring to go with Belphie

Faced little backlash, only some sports watchers had problems with it but were quickly shut down. Though even after all these centuries some people still have problems. But Beel has learned to keep his head high but knows he is allowed to be upset and hurt by their words. But he also knows he can go to any of his brothers for comfort and to regroup.

Beelz doesn’t get the same attention and attraction that Satan does, but he doesn’t mind. Though when he sees younger lgbtqia+ looking in awe at him at the gym, he usually swings by to see if they have any questions or need tips.

Okay, wait hear me out… Definitely created a club specifically for lgbtqia+ to have the gym and exercise together. Whether it was leading a class, he has gotten Asmo to lead a few yoga/ meditations or letting them break out into groups and giving them tips on stance or what exercises could build muscles to help them pass. But most importantly teaches/reminds everyone that their body is their own. That no matter what happened to them, their body is theirs. It can look however they want and even if it doesn’t look perfect, it is still is worthy of love and self-care. “The only opinions that matter is your own, it is your body. Claim and make it your own. No one can take it away from you”

Satan offered to let him borrow Parrotfish, Beel isn’t too interested but Belphie wanted to read it to him.

Overall Beel is confident and comfortable with his body and his identity. On his bad days, he knows he has endless support from Belphie and his other brothers.

Satan:

You know that feeling when something clicks and its that chilling calm that covers your body? Satan was reading a random book, Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger.

First came out to Asmodeus, because Satan knew Asmo would accept him and help him in whatever way Asmo could.

And of course, Satan was nervous because Asmo couldn’t go to the others not yet. Satan planned it out that Lucifer was on Earth and expected to be there for a week, so Satan had time to execute his plan.

Asmo was worried when Satan came to him all serious. Well, Satan is always serious but this time the nervousness and lack of confidence made Asmodeus sit still and hold his breath. Asmodeus was attentive as Satan slowly stumbled through his prepared speech, which mainly focused on talking about the book he had just finished.

Asmo didn’t understand until he saw how heartbroken and lost Satan looked. He was frantic in a sense and blurted out something along the lines of, “So, you wish you were a parrotfish?” while it wasn’t necessarily the best thing to say, the laugh it go out of Satan and the uncertainty in his smile was worth it.

Asmodeus took it upon himself to go shopping for Satan, getting him new more masculine clothes.

It was Levi that got Satan’s his first Binder, “A lot of cosplayers wear them, so you should be okay for some light exercising in it”

Soon all the brothers, well except Lucifer knew and the day Lucifer came back, Satan hid and avoided him.

Satan should have known better, but he was still surprised when Lucifer summoned for him

He was terrified.

When he entered the room, he couldn’t meet Lucifer’s eyes. But when he spared the glance, he saw the disappointment in Lucifer’s eye. Satan tried to swallow around the lump in his throat and ignore the burning in his eyes.

“What are you wearing?” Not exactly what Satan thought Lucifer was going to say first. “Was it Asmodeus?” “Ugh” Lucifer shook his head and strolled to his closet and threw the door open and went searching for something. “Ah, there it is,” Lucifer returned with a yellow sweater. “This would be more suiting for you,” Lucifer offered the sweater to Satan.

“You aren’t mad?”

“The only thing I’m relatively mad at is how offensive that outfit is,”

“I might have shoes too, but they might be a little big on you,”

Satan left wearing his new sweater and shoes on, laughing how he had to keep a black undershirt on, and the shoes flopped due to being too big. But he left with a lot of weight off his shoulders and high in spirits.

That sweater is the famous one you still see him wear today. He wonders why Lucifer would have such a bright color and when he asked Lucifer just made a face and rolled his eyes as he replied with “Asmodeus thought I needed to brighten my wardrobe.”

Satan loves it, its soft and bright. It’s a little too low cut for his liking but an undershirt fixed that problem. And it doesn’t hug his chest and honestly, it’s his favorite piece of clothing

Parrotfish is a permanent book in his room and he reads it once a year. And has special scenes marked, so he can go back and read certain passages when needed

Once Satan came out to Barbatos and Diavolo they both requested to read the book and met with him for tea to talk about the book and life.

Lucifer even snagged the book for a bit. (He tried to be sneaky about it and Satan pretended not to notice)

Asmodeus and Mammon is chaotic with their support, it nice and needed but can also be overboard but he knows they do it out of love. Pride is a huge thing at the house and Asmo decided to do a gender reveal party for Satan

Beelzebub, Belphegor and Levi are supportive like they are ready to fight anyone who gives Satan any issues about his gender and gender identity, but they are as obnoxious as Asmo and Mammon. They will sit with him, talk to him, or just quietly listen. Most times they can’t offer help and admit they don’t know what to say other then they are here for him and willing to listen to whatever he needs to talk about.

Lucifer is quiet support. At first, Satan thought he didn’t approve but then Lucifer would make a random statement or ask for clarification that made Satan feel comfortable. Lucifer glared at anyone who even thought about giving Satan a weird look.

Satan’s go to binder color is a light grey and most times it just a crop top rather than a full-body one. Though he has an aqua blue one he wears occasionally. (I have a drawing of this somewhere lmao)

Satan tried to give himself his first haircut but Asmo had to come in and fix up the mess and disaster he created. Sure, his hair was way too short for his liking, but it wasn’t long anymore.

Over the years has learned the different meanings behind the looks he gets, whether it’s in disgust or that longing look that demons that aren’t out give him. He somehow occasionally becomes a dad to other trans! Demons. Whether it's long talks or if it's just quick tips that help him through the years.

Ironically enough, Lucifer is his biggest support or the one he relies on the most during days or moments when Satan feels terrible. Because Lucifer won’t be fussing all over him or beat around the bush about it. Sometimes he will state he too busy to talk but will leave and come back with hot tea and Satan’s favorite biscuits. Lucifer sometimes sends him away to grab his homework and they will just work in silence together. While Satan hates to admit how much he appreciates Lucifer for these moments, it helps a lot.

Last one! The first formal after Satan came out, he realized he didn’t have clothes for it. Out of all the styles and outfits he had gotten nothing formal ever came through. His brothers came through though. Asmo couldn’t convince him on any of his extra formal wear so he went around finding pieces that the other brothers weren’t using. Satan was only missing a jacket, but the outfit looked perfect. When he ran into Lucifer, Lucifer brought him to his room and offered him one of his simpler jackets and touch him how to pin it to tailor the sleeves to a better height.

#trans satan #trans beel #trans beelzbub #obey me #obey me satan #obey me beelzebub #yuki writes #Yuki Writes!#hiding this in tags but I thought about Autistic Satan and Autistic Levi

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babyspiderling · 4 years

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The Moonwalker and the Time-Traveler Prologue

California, 2020

“Ms. L/N, I suggest you wake up for my class if you want to pass this course.” I blink up at my professor, it seems that I fell asleep during history class again. “I’m sorry Professor Berkley, I was up all last night with my roommate tinkering all night.” At that he softens, a grandfatherly look in his eye. “Oh Y/N, I understand, but if you truly want to be a history major, you have to stay awake! I will not simply give you a free pass while trying to adjust, just please, try to stay awake in my class.” Standing, I nod. “Yes sir. I’ll do my best.” After this, I am dismissed and head back to my dorm room to hopefully catch a nap.

Kicking the door shut, I move to collapse onto my bed, but am blocked by whatever my engineering major roommate has built in the dorm for his latest project. “Seriously dude? Don’t you have a lab for this kind of stuff?” I kick off my shoes and do my best to move around it, finally, truly collapsing onto my bed. I fall asleep quickly, hopefully revisiting the dream I had during class.

Lord knows how much later, I wake up to my roommate continuing to tinker on his project. Grumbling under my pillow, “Danny, don’t you have a lab for this shit? Why do you have to do it here, I’m sleeping in classes because of this!” He sheepishly lifts his head up to respond. “Uh, well, I uh… It’satimemachine.” Snapping my head up, I question “It’s a what?” Once again he looks shy and guilty. “It’s a, uh, Time Machine. Or at least that’s what I’m wanting it to be. I’m still working on it.” Well, I’m definitely awake now. “So, like, what’s the problem?” Finally putting down his tools, Danny turns to me, “It should work. I ran the simulations and used the one that worked. It’s just… not connecting I guess.” Glancing at the clock, it’s getting late. “Look Danny, I’m going to clean up some of my stuff. Go get some food. I know you haven’t eaten yet.” With a defeated sigh, Danny agrees and leaves the room. I slip into a pair of shorts and an old David Bowie tour shirt I had found at a thrift store. Picking up things here and there, folding abandoned pieces of laundry, I hum and bop around the room, dancing along to “Working Day and Night”, practicing turns and isolations to the beat. Taking a deep breath I prep and spin as fast and as long as I can, but my foot slips out from under me. I tumble to the floor, tripping over some cord. Oh well, it’s probably Danny's “mood lighting”, I plug it in and decide to check out the “Time Machine”. “Ground Control to Major Tom! Prepare for lift-off!” I press random buttons, dicking around and typing 1984, then some other buttons. “Huh, sucks it really doesn’t work. It’d be cool if you really could time travel.” Once again I trip over Danny’s junk on the floor of the project and slam into one last button I had yet to press. On the way down I hit my head, and the world went black as a whirring sound filled my ears.

Waking up, I find myself in a room about the size of mine, decorated much like my side of the dorm, with a funky retro feeling to it. “Danny, this isn’t funny, I get it, I’m gullible for believing the machine was real. Now how the Hell did you change all this so quick… and get rid of the machine?” I continue searching the room for Danny, and realise that the sun had already risen hours ago. I may have been out for longer than I thought, and come crashing into a body. Awesome! Now I can really teach that boy a lesson for pulling that. “Hey, what are you doing in my dorm? Nice shirt by the way, I was at the Anaheim show a couple months ago. That’s where you got the shirt, right?” I blink at the guy my age, still processing the amount of denim and hair products he has decided to use for the day. “What? Oh, uh, my shirt. Wait, did you say you saw him in Anaheim a couple months ago? What year are you from?” He knits his brows together. “1984. Are you ok? Did you get a bad hit or something? Do I need to call someone for you?” I space myself from him, the stimulation of this whole situation too much. “No, no I’m ok. What’s today’s date?” His eyes are still filled with concern as he replies with January 26th 1984, and that I’m still at University of Redlands, just 36 years before I attend. “Wait, January 26th, why does that sound so familiar? I hear Beat It blare down the hall and I can practically see the light bulb above my head. “Do you know how to get to the Shrine Auditorium?”

We zip down the highway on Tyler’s motorcycle, making a trip down to L.A. He had me explain my whole ordeal to him before he just drove me to a random concert venue. It took a bit to convince him, but the second I pulled my smartphone out he was on board. He pulls off to a strip mall and helps me dismount. “Wait, why are we at a mall? I need to get to that venue before security secures it.” He just rolls his eyes. “If you want to get in and stay in without too much attention, you need to look a little bit different. Time to fit in.” He drags me into store after store, and I finally piece together a “Bad” inspired outfit. A black crop top slips off one shoulder, leather pants pull tight around my legs and hips, a blood red leather jacket drapes my shoulders, and matching leather boots clutch my feet. “Tyler, this is too much. I can’t even pay you back.” He rolls his eyes and pays for the clothes, letting me keep my own hoops and rings. “Look, just meeting a time traveler is cool, dressing one is even better. When you get back home and you still want to pay me back, we’ll figure it out. Let’s get you to the moonwalker himself.”

As we pull into the parking lot for the venue, there isn’t another soul in sight. “Hey, here’s my address, if you ever want to mail me, or just let me know that you’re doing ok.” He hands me a slip of paper, and I hug him tightly. “Thank you Tyler, I am forever in your debt. If you’re anywhere near the university in 2020, let me know.” With that, he rides back home into the sunset, and I sneak into the venue before security shows up.

It’s a good thing I like the song Billie Jean, because I have heard it about 72 times in the last hour. During sound check alone I almost lost my mind, with just the baseline intro playing for 30 minutes. As I hear the cue from the director that it is time to actually film the commercial. I hear “Take One!” in the distance and I ditch my jacket behind a stack of crates, my phone hidden in the pocket. I find the side entrance of the stage as take 3 is anounced. I crouch down in a runners position at take 5, launching myself at take 6. Michael nears the pyrotechnic and I slam my body into his as it goes off, now missing him by inches. There are screams of terror and shock as we fly through the air, now spun so that I land on my back, Michael on top of me. His brothers quickly help him up and off of me as I am seized by security, doing my best to put as little weight on my now injured ankle as possible. I raise my hands in surrender, trying to think my way out of this. “Look! Look, I can explain all of this, including how I knew that this take wasn’t going to go well. Let me explain and I will never try to contact any of you again!” Everyone around me exchanges glances, deciding whether to trust me or not. Tito steps forward, his eyes full of scrutiny. “Alright girl, explain.” I sigh and grimace in pain. “I can’t do it out here. Too many people. And my evidence of my claims are in my jacket backstage.” He glances back at Michael, nodding in response to his younger brother. I am escorted backstage, am allowed to sit down to relieve my ankle, and I start my story. “I’m from the future, 36 years in the future to be a bit more specific. I’m not crazy.” Michael crouches down in front of me, “If you’re really a time traveler I would love to talk about the future with you!” He’s nudged and given a look from his older brothers, and his smile is dimmed a bit. “But if you’re from the future, wouldn’t you know songs I haven’t released yet?” I nod my head, but I get hit with the issue of Thriller already being released and the “Bad” sessions not yet started for at least another 6 months, if not more. I flip through the collection of Michael songs I know by heart, trying to find one he’s recorded but not yet released. “Oh! I know about “Love never felt so good”! The one you recorded with Paul Anka! I can sing it for you!” I start at the chorus, my brain too frazzled to remember it’s entirety. Everyone else who knows about the song exchanges looks, one brother even shouting questions of how I knew it. “It’s on my phone, and I’m from the future. All your music’s been released. Well, almost all of it. There’s still tracks from your upcoming session that I have yet to find. Here, I can show you.” Lifting myself from my seat, I reach to retrieve my jacket from behind the crates. Everyone watches me with baited breath, wanting to see what the time traveler will pull out next. I pull out my phone and search for the Xscape album. I press play on the original track and Michael's voice rings out from the speaker. I switch it up to “Working Day and Night”, what I was listening to before I got here.

“Look, I can play you anything you’ve already recorded. I just can’t play you anything you haven’t done yet. Those are the rules.” Michael escorts me back to his dressing room to ask me questions about the future since I am no longer seen as crazy. “Are there flying cars ? What about people living in space? Are there aliens?” I giggle at his excitement. “Well, we do have people living in space, it isn’t commercialized yet, so you and I couldn’t go. We don’t have flying cars, but we do have self driving ones. And there are no known aliens yet. Music is accessible though. If I had any service in 1984, I could play you any song any time from anyone. I could listen to “Wanna be Startin Somethin’” for 3 days straight if I wanted to. All I’d have to do is type it in and press play.” His eyes sparkle in awe of the future. He opens his mouth to ask more questions, but Jermaine and another man enters the room before he can get a word out, “Come on Mike, we need to finish the commercial. This is an EMT we had on site, he’s here to fix her ankle.” As Michael leaves his seat, I grab his hand. “Please, don’t let them turn the pyrotechnics back on. Please.” He nods and pats my hand before leaving the room. The EMT removes my new boots and my ankle swells before my eyes, no longer constrained in the tight leather. We make small talk as he works until the commercial is done recording.

#80's imagine #michael jackson x reader #michael jackson #michael jackson imagine #80's x reader #series #80's series #80's fanfiction #time travel au

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ax100 · 4 years

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Ax’s Promare headcanons - Post-World Blaze (pt3)

Hello, I’m back again with more headcanons! I had fun writing this part because I ended up having to consult with an intellectual property lawyer in my family about how patents and royalties work lmao. What’s crazy is that this is not the first time I’ve had to consult a specialist for fic (I previously consulted with a friend of mine who has a degree in political science and another friend who’s a university professor for this same fic that these headcanons are for). The more you know!

If you are not familiar with what is happening, I’ve been writing a series of posts trying to figure out a more specific timeline / sequence of events before canon events in Promare. An expansion of the literal FIRST FIVE MINUTES of the film, if you will (check the timestamps in the movie, I’m not even kidding). This is the fourth post in the series, and you can read the others here!

Pre-World Blaze

Post-World Blaze (Years 1-10)

Post-World Blaze (Years 11-20, Loosening Grudges)

And here’s the masterpost, for easier access: Ax’s Promare Headcanons (masterpost)

This post zooms in on Promepolis and the rise of Kray Foresight into power. I have a few notes here and there on my interpretation of the character peppered throughout to help you guys understand why I wrote this part the way I did.

Do note that this is just my personal interpretation of things and I am in no way saying that this is actually what happened! Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

HISTORICAL CONTEXT (POST-WORLD BLAZE: YEARS 21-PRESENT, PROMEPOLIS AND KRAY FORESIGHT)

The news of the renowned Dr. Prometh’s death shook the world. Murder. Gunshot, straight to the heart. No evidence had been left; even the CCTV footage had been wiped. To make it even worse, all the data banks of the lab had been purged too. Whatever the professor had been working on was lost to time; he’d been notoriously secretive about his work during his lifetime, and never shared his research with anyone. The culprit was never caught, but the widely-held belief was that it was Mad Burnish’s doing—who else would want the professor dead? The trail eventually went cold, and the case would remain unsolved for the decade to come.

It wasn’t long after Prometh’s death that a local news story gained traction in Promepolis, one of the numerous city-states that had cropped up after the Great World Blaze. A young man by the name of Kray Foresight had saved a young boy from a house fire, losing an arm in the process. What made the story even better was that Foresight was an undergraduate engineering student, working on anti-Burnish tech. The press ate the sweet irony up, and regurgitated the information till it was all Promepolitans could talk about. That Foresight was such a darling too, such a kind-hearted soul—when interviewed about his stance on the Burnish, he was of the opinion that, while they were dangerous, they were victims of circumstance. His research was on anti-Burnish tech, to protect humans from the threat of Burnish fire, but he wanted to find a cure for the Burnish condition too. And wasn’t that a more sustainable solution for everyone involved? The young ones his age celebrated him—this is the kind of face their movement needed (compassion over retribution)—while the older ones, those who hated the Burnish but were charmed by this promising young man, started to think a little more.

Moved by these sentiments and impressed by his research, private and public entities alike lined up to invest in his tech. Almost overnight, Kray Foresight had become a billionaire. His research grew by leaps and bounds with the new lifeblood of steady funds, more money than a college student knew what to do with. Many companies tried to recruit him into their labs; others tried to buy the research from him. But he was steadfast in his refusal. The patents would not go to a corporation; of that, he had been adamant. Instead, a year later, right after his graduation (which had been publicized), he founded the Foresight Foundation, which became the holding entity for the patents of a slew of anti-Burnish tech that would soon become standard issue in all police forces and Counter-Terrorism Units around the world. The royalties from his inventions ensured a steady and impressive flow of funds, big portions of which were generously donated to the Promepolis City Government to fund their projects, while the Foundation worked on setting up its own network of schools, clinics, and social support programs for the citizens of Promepolis. All throughout this, the press kept reminding the public of what he had done in the past—the young man who had saved a boy from a fire, losing his arm in the process, was actively making the world a better place. He was poised for great things, and all eyes were on him for what he’d do next. They didn’t need to wait long. Only a little less than two years after the Foundation’s founding, Foresight made an unprecedented statement: he was going to run as Governor in the upcoming city elections.

There were concerns on Foresight’s intentions to run as Governor—one, he hadn’t served in public office previously, though he did have experience running a large foundation with a wide reach, which had also worked with the City Government closely in the past; and two, he was so damn young. His platform came heavily tinged with wide-eyed idealism, reflective of the new wave of thinking characteristic of the younger generation—“We in Promepolis protect our own, Burnish and human alike. The world has moved past the need for grudges; we must let go of the past and think of the future. At this point, we must strive, more than ever, to maintain peace,” he’d said in a campaign rally. No Promepolitan left behind was his battle cry; Burnish needed help, not anymore punishment, and he promised the establishment of a Burnish rehabilitation program, the first of the world would ever see. To all the Burnish in Promepolis, he’d promised, don’t worry, we’ll make sure you never hurt anyone ever again. And of Mad Burnish, which had largely lost its influence but still remained a thorn in everyone’s side, he promised that they would see their end during his term as Governor.

It made international news when Kray Foresight won as Governor of Promepolis by a landslide; even other city-states had a stake in it, after all. Promepolis was the first to establish a Burnish rehabilitation program in partnership with the Foresight Foundation, with many of the forward-thinking city-states investing huge amounts of money into the program as well. If proven to be a success, if the Foundation could really find a way to rid the world of the Burnish problem once and for all, they were all too happy to throw their money into the project.

(As viewers, ofc we all know this is a front. If Kray had the Parnassus Project in mind since the start, I don’t believe it would have been in his best interest to drive all the Burnish out of the city. So he pushed for a narrative that yes, the Burnish condition does make you violent and a threat to those around you, but we in Promepolis protect our own. We will help you, we will cure you. Many people voluntarily entered themselves or their family members into the program, even though Foresight said it could take years before they would be able to be released. This was fine, as long as they didn’t hurt anyone again. Many of them died, the lucky ones were busted out by Mad Burnish.)

(Any Burnish caught not submitting themselves to the rehabilitation program would be arrested on grounds of being a threat to public safety, and immediately put into the program. Those found complicit in the act of hiding the Burnish would also be arrested and subjected to appropriate jail time or conscripted community service.)

(The money that was being invested in the rehabilitation program was being used to fund the Parnassus, alongside the crazy big money the Foresight Foundation was making off the patents for anti-Burnish tech. The Financial Director of the Foresight Foundation was also the Administrator of the Department of Commerce, Industry, and Trade at the time—more on this in another post)

Kray Foresight was a firebrand of a politician. Promepolis’ Governors before him had largely been passive, but Foresight was a visionary. Though they had been few, being the darling of Promepolis and all, Foresight had shut the naysayers up quite swiftly. He not only proved to be competent in the role, but extraordinary, open to change and innovation in a way the previous Governors had not. With him and his appointed Council of Administrators, Promepolis began to change, developing in a way it could only hope to achieve previously. People attributed it to his age—maybe injecting youth into the politics of this city had been the right decision after all—and he proved to be popular with his constituents again and again, across all demographics. He would remain in his position for the better part of a decade, winning another term before his fall from grace. At his prime, he was seen as benevolent and compassionate, but capable of making hard decisions all the same.

(By the Second Great World Blaze, Kray would have been Governor of Promepolis for 7-8 years already.)

I personally headcanon Kray as someone who pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes. Competent people who are also nice enjoy an almost privileged position in with the general public, and I think he would have capitalized on that. Which means that, in a world where the Burnish are demonized, he would have used it to his advantage by playing the nice guy. Even to the people funding the Parnassus Project, I think he would have kept up that front-- “It is unfortunate, but we have no choice but to do this,” even if inwardly he was just. Really fuckin racist haha. A saint till the end, that Kray Foresight. Or so he would have wanted people to believe. (Support for this: it is apparently so far removed from his public image that he would do bad things to the Burnish that Galo’s immediate reaction to Lio telling him the truth was, “That’s a lie, the Governor would never do that.”)

Anyway, thanks for reading until the end of this post!

(Btw, I have an AO3 account! All these headcanons are going to be put to good use, eventually, in a fic, but I hope you check out what I have so far!)

NEXT UP: ???

#promare #プロメア #promare headcanons #promare analysis #promare meta #kray foresight #promare kray #deus prometh #burnish #promepolis #ax's promare headcanons #ax writes

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ashfountainfanfics · 5 years

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“This is ridiculous,” Mike sighs in exasperation, “my friends and I had nothing to do with any of this.”

The detective at the other end of the table doesn’t seem to accept this. She’s a recent transplant from another state. Most of the Derry police department leaves Mike be, summing up his interest in police matters as a side effect of his fascination with Derry history. She doesn’t seem to be interested in giving that same assumption.

“You keep saying that,” she pushes, “but I think it’s strange that you show up to all the crime scenes and that two of your friends harassed one of the victims. Not to mention that Henry Bowers was found dead under your place of residency.”

Mike is growing more and more frustrated. It was surreal when the police showed up at dinner last night. The Losers Club plus the small group of cops nearly overwhelmed the small Italian place they’d been enjoying.

Bev, Ben, and Eddie are sitting in the lobby while Richie and Bill are in cuffs. Mike is somewhere between the two options or so he figures. He’s not sure he likes those odds.

Detective Lopez fixes him with a look that lacks any hint of retreat or gentility. She’s a no nonsense kind of woman. Her curly, dark hair is cropped in a pixie cut and her face is bare and set in a deadpan expression. Her blouse is a gray button up and the lanyard of her badge is tucked under her collar.

“It’s a small town,” Mike responds, “coincidences are everywhere.”

“Nothing is ever just a coincidence. Did you know Mr. Bowers?”

Mike calmly explains how Henry Bowers was the resident bully when they were children. How often that bullying went past simple pranks and low grade violence. To stop at calling Henry a bully was like trying to call Ted Bundy just an unfortunate date.

“You can ask Ben about his scar, that should give you a clue.”

“I understand that Mr Bowers had a history of violence and mental illness-“

“Being an angry white boy is not a mental illness,” Mike points out.

“Agreed,” Detective Lopez says flatly, “but that isn’t my point. My point is that several children and a man named Adrian Melon are dead and the escape of Mr. Bowers does not correlate with those deaths.”

“It doesn’t correlate with the arrival of my friends either. They weren’t here.”

“But you were.”

Mike is taken aback by the remark. All this time he’s been keeping watch, dreading the day that Derry needed saving but looking to save it nonetheless. Not that this town ever gifted him much beyond tolerance. He has no adult friends here, no significant others, only a series of routine faces that note his presence. Derry, Maine isn’t friendly or good. It’s not even scenic but he wanted to save it anyway. His jaw tightens.

“Of course I was here. I live in Derry. I’ve lived here most of my life, where else would I be?”

“You didn’t know these kids. You didn’t know Adrian Melon. Why did you visit the crime scenes? What business did you have being there?”

Detective Lopez is standing over him now with her hands planted on the table. She does this all calmly with very direct body movements. She never lets her frustration get to her. She harnesses it into orderly conduct and in a way it’s terrifying.

But she’s an outsider without all the facts. You can tell she comes from a big city by her demeanor and her thought process. Often a crime is committed by someone close to the victim or someone that makes themselves close. Contrary to the movies, the person most likely to kill you is the one in plain sight and right next to you. Monsters that hide in the dark and stalk you like prey aren’t the norm.

Mike is glad that he and his friends got rid of that norm for Derry.

“Detective Lopez? Have you ever seen someone die-“

“Of course I have. I’m a homicide detective.”

“I wasn’t finished,” Mike insists, “I was asking if you’ve ever seen someone die when you were a child?”

This gives her pause. Her elbows soften the smallest amount and her hesitancy is plain to Mike. She doesn’t sit. There’s no way she’s backing down that quickly but it’s clear she’s listening.

“I can’t say I have, why?”

“If you take the time to look into me a bit more you’ll know that my parents died in a fire and I was in the other room. I was too little to help them. I couldn’t save them.”

Now Detective Lopez sits down. Her posture is unnaturally straight and her gaze is still unwavering. This is either the best she can do to convey being receptive or it’s the most she’s willing to give.

“Can you imagine the sort of impact that has? I couldn’t even put down a sheep on the farm I grew up on. The idea of causing harm to anyone or anything, indirect or necessary or otherwise, still makes me sick. So please, Detective Lopez, don’t insult me with what you’re trying to infer.”

“Be blunt then. What were you doing?”

“Trying to see if there was a way to stop it. If you look at our history, you’ll see there’s a pattern. Every 27 years since the town was formed, a stretch of terrible things happen. That’s longer than I’ve been alive. Longer than my family’s been in Derry.

I thought maybe if I could pay attention for the next phase I could find the connection. I could save them.”

Mike can see that she’s regarding him as an absolute looney but Mike hopes it’s the harmless kind. She can picture him tinfoil hat and all if it means she doesn’t see him as a murderer.

“And what did you find?”

Mike decides that this is as good a time as any to tell one last lie. It’s not like she’d understand the truth of the matter. She’s the type to only accept hard facts and indisputable evidence. There isn’t anything he can show her to back the truth. Nothing but a lot of rubble on Neibolt street.

“I found nothing. Whatever makes this town the way it is, it’s not for me to understand.”

It’s not entirely a lie. Pennywise was just a part of what made Derry the way it is. Its death isn’t going to cure Derry of its bigotry overnight. There will still be small minded people, violent people. Mike will never understand that.

“So you’re giving up? Just like that?”

“I almost died because a literal living relic of my past broke out of an insane asylum and tried to kill me. I think that’s a sufficient wake up call that I’ve wasted too much time on this town and my own baggage.”

Mike can’t tell if she’s buying it or not. Detective Lopez gives away nothing. She’s an absolute professional to the core. Mike respects that. Derry could use someone on the force who can’t be swayed.

“I may need you to call you back in to corroborate a few stories so don’t skip town,” she gives him a curt nod, “You’re free to go.”

Detective Lopez opens the door to Mike’s freedom. Mike has a feeling that the others have been given similar instructions or that they will be given them. He wonders briefly if they should have thought ahead to confirm a set story with each other but he thinks better of it. None of the Losers are crazy enough to tell the truth.

“Hanlon, wait,” the detective stops him as soon as he’s out of the door frame, “tell your comedian friend that making jokes isn’t going to work with me. It’s not endearing and he’s digging a much bigger hole for himself.”

“Ma’am, with all due respect, trying to get him to stop is a joke in and of itself.”

—-

“Her first name is Jennifer!” Richie shouts as if wounded, “Last name Lopez! What did you want me to do?”

Richie can tell that his lawyer is not amused. His voice sounds really far away and it is. He’s driving to Derry as fast as he can.

“Richie, this isn’t your usual legal trouble. This isn’t stolen material or a damaged room-“

“That was one time and I was still a baby! How was I supposed to know what ecstasy looks like? You’re about to see the podunk town I grew up in, man.”

“They’re talking homicide!”

“I still cry over Bambi, for fuck’s sake. Do you seriously think I’d kill anyone for fun?”

“Of course not.”

Roger Clemming has been Richie’s lawyer since the start of his career. He’s a cousin of his manager and normally Roger has no qualms about representing Richie. Most of his legal cases aren’t even his; the man doesn’t write his own stand up so he can’t exactly be held responsible if it’s stolen. Richie Tozier is an easy client.

“I didn’t even mean to kill him. He had Mike and it was clear that old Bowers was totally batshit. I reacted. I don’t know.”

“So we have a witness. That’s good. The more witnesses the better. I just wish you hadn’t pissed off the Detective.”

“Yeah yeah I’m an asshole but I didn’t say anything about the case. And I stayed away from ass jokes!”

“I’m sure that’s what will save you.”

The Derry police station is not a big place. The holding cell is visible to the front lobby and there’s only two private rooms; the sheriff’s office and an interrogation room. Richie can see Eddie, his arms crossed and his face looking like he bit into a lemon.

Stressed out, Eddie spaghetti? You’re not on this end of the station.

“Be honest with me, Roger, am I going to jail or not?” Richie clings to a rare moment of seriousness.

“You defended someone from an escaped convict. If you sit back and don’t make an ass out of yourself we may not even go to court.”

Richie sighs and he wishes he could telepathically share this news with Eddie. He stares down Eddie in the hopes that somehow they do share a psychic link. Eddie remains pissed at some very specific wall instead.

“And, uh, my friend? Bill?”

“I’m not sure a trial can be avoided on that, but as long as there’s no physical evidence then the best they’ve got is circumstantial with no real motive. They’ll be grasping at straws if they charge him. Dead kids do make for angry parents though and sometimes they’ll pull a guy to trial because they’ve got no one else to blame.”

“So 50/50 chance?”

“40/60 of an arrest being made and I can’t begin to estimate the odds on him being found guilty. That all comes down to the kind of town your Derry, Maine.”

“Fuuuuuuuuuuuck!” Richie groans and buries his face into his free hand.

“Watch it, Tozier,” the nearby cop warns him.

Richie apologizes and feigns composure.

“Sorry kid,” Roger’s using his turn signal given the soft ticking in the background, “I’ll do my best but I make no promises.”

Richie mutters a sentiment of gratitude before hanging up. It would still be the better part of a day and a half before his representation gets here. Technically he’s not even sure if Bill wants Roger to represent him but Richie figures it couldn’t hurt to arrange it. After all, do either of them really want to trust whatever a Derry lawyer looks like?

---

Bill settles in for the night. To be honest, he’s slept in far more uncomfortable places than a holding cell. He wasn’t always a big famous writer. He remembers when he had to sleep in his shitty, used Toyota back in the early days. Now he’s got two houses, a celebrity wife, and a second movie deal. None of which he’s particularly sure he wants anymore.

It’s startling how unconcerned Bill is about the charge against him. He’s been taken in on suspicion of murder but Bill knows damn well he didn’t kill that kid and Detective Lopez doesn’t have much of anything on him except that he was seen yelling at the child earlier at the day and had been spotted at the carnival.

Bill didn’t want to seem entirely unhelpful though despite knowing they were never going to catch what killed that boy. He offered an account of what he thought was an animal attack but it was difficult to make out. Richie’s lawyer probably won’t like that he talked without him present but Bill doesn’t really care.

Bill blamed the yelling on a mental breakdown. His hometown memories were complicated and a failing marriage and work pressure wasn’t helping. When he saw a kid about Georgie’s age living in his old house, he lost it. It was easy to sell this because it wasn’t really a lie. Detective Lopez did make a comment to Bill about how childhood trauma seems very convenient in this town but Bill didn’t know how to respond outside of confusion.

“All right, everyone,” a tired cop announces into the lobby, “Y’all should get yourselves to bed. Visiting hours are over.”

The other members of the Loser’s Club are essentially draped across each other in the lobby and half asleep already. Ben is in the middle like some sort of handsome centerpiece. He has an arm over Beverly and Mike is leaning on his free shoulder. Meanwhile, Eddie is sitting on the floor at Ben’s feet looking tense and irritated.

They gather themselves up except for Eddie who continues to sit on the floor.

“Eddie, honey,” Beverly says softy, “it’s time to go.”

“Richie and Bill didn’t do anything wrong. I will leave when they do.”

Bill chuckles a bit at this and looks over to Richie on the other side of the holding cell. The look on his face gives him pause because it’s not what he was expecting. Eddie looks genuinely frightened in here. He’s also watching Eddie as if looking at the last boat on a sinking ship; one that’s just too far out of reach. Bill isn’t sure what to make of that.

“They’ll be okay,” Mike assures the sulking man on the floor, “I know these cops. They’re decent.”

Eddie doesn’t respond.

“Sweetie,” Bev is getting a hint of irritation to her voice, “we can come back in the morning.”

“I refuse to get up. This is a protest.”

Bev sighs and looks to Ben.

“We’re going to have to force him.”

“Force him?” Ben asks back incredulously, “Force him how?”

“Ben, he weighs 90 pounds soaking wet, what do you think?”

“Oh Lord,” Mike immediately understands the implication.

Ben thinks about it for a second and it dawns on him the same exact time it dawns on Eddie. Ben is briefly horrified by the idea.

“You wouldn’t” Eddie challenges him.

Ben looks helplessly at Bev who shrugs as if to say that there’s no other way. Eddie recoils as Ben clearly accepts his orders and approaches Eddie with strong arms ready to lift him. His stance is that of someone attempting to capture a wild animal.

“Don’t touch me! Don’t you fucking touch me!” Eddie screams while rapidly kicking his legs to slide away.

Bill again turns to get Richie’s reaction to all this. He’s pleased to see Richie desperately stifling a chuckle. The cop stationed here for the evening seems to be frozen in disbelief as one grown man is trying to catch another and that other fully grown adult man is essentially crab scuttling his way to safety.

On reflex, Eddie sends a hard kick and gets Ben right in the shin. Ben stops his pursuit to cradle it.

“Eddie! What the hell!?” Bev scolds him.

“Now that’s enough!” the cop finally sees fit to reanimate, “I’ve seen some bull shit in my day but I won’t have a brawl in the station! Sort yourself out or I’ll put you in holding! Got it?”

Eddie gets up from the floor.

“Oh no,” Richie says quietly.

Bill’s confused but looks back to the scene playing out before him. Eddie looks apologetic and humbly confronts Ben.

“Sorry, Ben” he says meekly.

“It’s just my shin,” Ben responds, “It’ll bruise but it’s fine.”

“No, I’m sorry about this.”

Eddie uses his whole body to send a punch right into the side of Ben’s scruffy and very shocked face. Eddie’s fist retreats just as quickly as it had departed and he’s shaking out the pain of contact. Ben cups his cheek, obviously not very wounded. The man’s essentially built like a brick house for fuck’s sake. This does get the cop moving though.

Eddie is escorted into the holding cell with Bill and Richie. Richie looks in awe of Eddie either because he was so reckless or stupid Bill can’t figure which. He does have sneaking suspicion however that Eddie’s little stunt has more to do with Richie than with Bill himself.

Eddie is still pouting and sits square on the floor all over again.

“The little guy will be free to go after he cools down, unless you want to press charges,” the cop asks Ben.

“What? No. No… it’s fine.”

Mike quietly exits as quickly as possible. He’s clearly done with the nonsense that just played out. Bev and Ben stay behind a minute as Bev checks his cheek over again. Bill can make out the soft conversation they’re having but just barely. She’s apologizing for her plan, saying she didn’t think Eddie would fight that much.

“No no, it was a good idea,” Ben assures her.

Bill can see the way that comment washes over her. Ben was always full of a certain sincerity and purity that none of the other Losers ever really had. He’s soft and probably the only one of them that didn’t end up with a ridiculous amount of paranoia or cynicism. Bill doubts that Ben is unscathed but it looks like he at least had the good sense not to unleash his unknown trauma on anyone else.

Unlike Bill and his marriage to Audra.

It’s painfully clear to Bill right now just how much Audra looks like Beverly. They’ve got similar frames, similar facial structures and they’re both redheads. Granted, Audra’s red comes from a salon but it suits her as naturally as it does Bev. They could be sister’s.

‘Why can’t you be how I want you to be?’ Bill remembers saying to Audra not long before he took off to Derry. He’s disgusted with the comment now. He’s disgusted with the fact that he kissed Beverly and it meant more to him than his entire marriage. He’s disgusted with himself.

“See you in the morning, boys,” Bev waves to everyone in holding.

She doesn’t give Bill any special treatment. No lingering eye contact or wistful gaze. It’s as if she never had a crush on him at all, as if they’ve never shared anything. Before it always felt as if she was looking to Bill and now she’s looking at Ben.

Despite a sense of heartbreak, Bill takes comfort in that difference.

---

There’s only two beds in the holding cell. One of which is already taken up by Bill who is sound asleep. Eddie is still sitting on the floor and up against the wall. He watches for the cop to doze off. Sure enough, he’s starting to snore in his chair.

Eddie quietly and carefully scootches over to Richie. Richie’s been lying on other cot, entertaining himself with some sort of impromptu, silent puppet show. He breaks from it as he notices Eddie encroaching on his personal bubble.

“Hey,” Eddie whispers.

“Hi…” Richie answers.

Eddie isn’t sure of how to move forward. Originally he had mapped out exactly what to say after the gang’s celebratory dinner. He was going to apologize for kissing Richie, explain again that he had panicked. He would ask that they move forward from this and go back to normal. He wanted to reassure him that he is very alive and not going to die anytime soon too. He wanted to know how much it meant to him that Richie cared so much. He never knew he was that important to anyone.

Eddie did not plan on embracing his inner chaos and landing himself in a cell for the night. He still isn’t entirely sure what came over him in that moment. The idea of leaving just hit so hard and quickly that he couldn’t do it.

“I went to jail for you,” he glares at Richie.

Well that’s not a good start, Eddie mentally notes.

“I see this. I’ll file it under your list of uncharacteristically brave fuckery.”

“I mean that I want to talk. We need to talk.”

“Oh.”

There’s a pause between them. That pause grows into a prolonged period. That period slinks into awkward silence. Eddie is aware since he brought up the conversation that he should actually start it but his head is empty. All he can think about is how the stab wound in his cheek hurts and how flustered Richie looks.

“Look, man,” Richie gives in, “We don’t have to talk. I get it. You panicked. Case closed. Mystery solved. We both deserve a Scooby snack for that epic conclusion.”

Eddie realizes for the first time that Richie is hiding behind his humor. He feels like an idiot for not noticing sooner but his eyes are a dead give away. Richie is making more eye contact now than usual. It’s like he’s forcing himself to present a put together facade. He’s watching Eddie to make sure he believes it.

Eddie wonders if it might be prudent to look at Richie in a different light. In childhood, he was always just that asshole friend. He liked to pick on him but never past annoyance. You’d think trying to steer clear of Henry Bowers would have made Eddie resistant to a friendship built on teasing. In retrospect, Eddie’s not sure what did open him up to it. By all logical accounts, Richie shouldn’t mean much of anything to Eddie and vice versa.

“Why do you do that?” he decides to approach it directly.

“I’m a comedian, Eds. Cracking a bad joke is as natural to me as breaking wind.”

Eddie could easily feed into this but he doesn’t want to. He physically sits up straighter and takes a calm breath in. It’s tempting to write Richie off as immature and continue down the rabbit hole of humor at Eddie’s expense but he refuses. Richie is keeping a secret of some kind which seems painfully obvious to Eddie now. If he’s ever going to move forward from recent events he’ll need to know what it is.

“What are hiding?” he leans in close.

Richie’s face loses all color. He stammers for a moment and Eddie is secretly pleased with himself. He’s so used to Richie getting at him that it is deeply satisfying for the tables to turn. Eddie tries not to stay in that mentality though. He wants answers not revenge.

“Bill’s the one with the stutter,” Eddie points out, “fess up. You’re hiding something from me and you’re using your crap jokes to do it. I won’t go to sleep until you tell me what’s going on.”

It seems a little overkill but Eddie is feeling the dramatics today. They saved each other’s lives earlier. They should be able to talk. Eddie debates their closeness as he waits for an answer. Sometimes it felt like they were the closest two people in the room and other times they were the furthest. Eddie wants to know why.

“I- uh,” Richie is sweating at the forehead, “I want to say first that- shit no. Okay, growing up I- fuck no that’s going to take forever.”

Eddie continues to glare down his friend. It’s not that he wants to force the truth out of him but rather his concern is growing. Showing Richie his soft side doesn’t come naturally though. So here he is trying to be a good friend but acting like a displeased asshole.

“Okay, here goes,” Richie takes in a breath of confidence, “Dinner.”

“...dinner?”

“Yes.”

“What about… dinner?” Eddie says bewildered before getting accusatory, “I swear to God, Rich, if this is a set up to a mom joke I’ll-“

“Dinner!” Richie says again a bit too loud.

The guard stirs. The two men freeze. A few seconds later a loud snore emerges. Eddie sighs in relief. He’s done just enough to end up in here. He doesn’t want to get in enough trouble to stay.

“You and me. Dinner. Us. Dinner. Together. Y’know, dinner?”

Eddie rolls his eyes and relaxes his shoulders. So it’s not a joke about his mom but a joke nonetheless.

“Oh. I get it. Ha ha, very funny. Like a date,” Eddie comments sarcastically.

“Yes.”

Richie isn’t grinning. He not casually avoiding eye contact either as he does with a usual set up. Instead he’s looking directly at Eddie with everything he’s got. It’s the ‘please believe me’ look from before but in an entirely different context. It’s sincere.

Jesus Christ, I think he fucking means it, Eddie panics.

“Okay,” he finds himself saying even as confused internal screaming fills his insides.

“Shit. Really?” Richie is as shocked as Eddie is.

“Yeah.”

“You’re going on a date.”

“Yes.”

“With me.”

“I guess.”

This is all on the premise that Richie is released in time for a date. He may end up in real jail. Then what would they do? A prison dinner date doesn’t have the most enticing ring to it.

Eddie feels like a part of him has detached from his own brain. Whatever his body is doing is past his control now. The surrealism of this unexpected direction broke him.

“Move over,” Eddie demands quietly.

Richie backs up as far as can, looking absolutely befuddled. Eddie climbs into the small space left on the cot. He’s tired. There’s only two cots and one is taken. It makes direct sense to share at least when you’re not entirely in your own body anyway.

Eddie remembers briefly about how the two of them would often share the hammock as kids. Eddie unceremoniously plopped himself in and fought for space so often that it became customary. He never did it to anyone but Richie though. He was the only one.

Richie braves putting an arm around Eddie and at first Eddie’s spine goes rigid. He’s not ready to think about this, not even sure if acting on it is right yet. He still feels far away from all this even as he Richie’s body heat cradles him.

Something about the way Richie’s hand cups the small of his stomach feels...good. Eddie’s body relaxes and he realizes how fucking exhausted he is. It’s been an exceptionally long 48 hours. A little shut eye and a cuddle isn’t so ludicrous. Even if it is with Richie Trashmouth Tozier.

“Just keep it in your pants,” Eddie yawns before falling asleep.

#it chapter 3 ff #ich3-2 #i really wanted to mimick the scene where richie sets eddie's arm in chapter 1 #like I love that chaotic energy #billverly #light #reddie #benverley

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