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songmingisthighs · 2 months

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Pitiful, You're Pitiful

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ch. ii

group : ateez

pairing : aged up!wooyoung × aged up!reader

genre : angst, mature

word count : 3 k

warning : adultery, cheating, medical condition (?), mentions of loss/miscarriage, negative depiction of wooyoung

a/n : happy valentine's <3

It had been two months since the night you were intimate with Wooyoung and it was still suffocating to think about.

It hurts a lot actually. But you can't let your sadness take over you, especially when Wooyoung hasn't shown any concrete signs that you should be worried other than your feelings. So you kept it to yourself, you kept your anxiety in and with every trip and team dinner or client meeting, you convinced yourself that he was doing what he said he was doing no matter how nauseated it made you feel. The stress must've gotten to you badly because the nausea was starting to become unbearable and even made you vomit almost every day. You figured it was psychosomatic but since it had affected your housework (aka Wooyoung complaining that you were up late several times, Dayoung grumbling under her breath about you not even caring to make her breakfast, and Woohyun refusing to go to kindergarten because he was worried over you).

Today started quite roughly.

"MOM!"

You barely held onto the countertop of your sink when you heard your daughter huffing from the other side of the door. The pain in your head and the discomfort from your stomach made your body sway slightly and the second round of angry knocks felt like a hammer to your head.

"Mom, seriously, I'm gonna be late!" Dayoung sighed sharply. You could just imagine the look on her face and while you love your children to bits, the way your body was practically shutting down on you, it felt like you wanted to scream back at her to give you a break. But you kept reminding yourself that you're the parent, she's an angsty teenager and you can't create a hostile environment for your youngest.

By whatever force that was working in your favour, you managed to walk yourself to the door and though your hands were cold, clammy, and trembling, you were able to open the door to see your daughter glaring at you. "S-sorry sweetie, mommy's not feeling well right now," you sighed, wiping the cold sweat off your forehead with your palm.

Dayoung hated the way you referred to yourself as if she was still a child or something and she let you know her disdain with a scoff and a roll of her eyes. "If you were so against me taking the bus in the morning, you could've at least made an effort to be punctual. I had to dress Woohyun, you know that? He and his milk-drenched chin almost ruined my cardigan and uniform. How is it that I'm doing things you're supposed to? Couldn't you have gotten drunk during the weekends or something?" she sneered, oblivious that it had been a while since you touched alcohol because when you tried to have a glass the week before, you ended up throwing up for some reason. The throbbing was coming back along with annoyance and you couldn't help the sharp exhale that you let out, "Can you not be like this right now? You being disrespectful won't make me move any faster." At least Dayoung had the decency to shut her mouth but from the corner of your eyes, you could see her fists clenching. "Where's your dad anyways? He knew I was not feeling well, he could've taken you and Woohyun to school." Although you were sighing and struggling to move without keeling over, you still forced your body to cooperate, determined to prioritize your motherly duties above letting sickness take over you completely. Dayoung only leaned on the wall while texting her friend, completely aware that you had almost fallen over a couple of times as you changed into your jeans, "I don't know, Daddy seemed to be in a rush this morning. He went out like an hour earlier than usual, humming and mumbling something about meeting someone for coffee before going to the academy."

The lighthearted tone Dayoung used didn't hide the heaviness of those words. You had been rather preoccupied as a mom to really follow up on your instinct so when you heard that, you felt a chill down your spine. For a moment, you couldn't help but wonder what or why you felt like that. As quick as that doubt came, you brushed the thought away as you grabbed your bag, rushed your children out the door, and loaded them into your car.

Being a parent was truly a wonder because for a moment, while focusing on your children, you felt like your body was mending itself. The headache was gone, your joints were not achy, and the bloated feeling in your stomach was relieved. Maybe it was stress, a psychosomatic symptom because you had a feeling that something was wrong with Wooyoung and because nothing did, your body directed the feeling towards your health. It's possible, the body is mysterious and things that make almost 0 sense can happen in a blink of an eye.

But once you found yourself all alone after taking Woohyun to his class, you slumped against the side of your car, clutching your head as the pain suddenly returned all at once. It was then and there that you realized that something was going on with you and you needed to get it checked out immediately.

On the way to the hospital, your mind was at war. It was plagued with scary scenarios like cancer one moment before the logical side of your brain reasoned that it could be something as simple as indigestion, acid reflux or even stomach flu. The anxiety didn't die down and you thought that at moments like this, you needed your partner, you needed your husband. Your husband who in the past had gone above and beyond to nurse you back to health even when it was just your allergy acting up. It was ironic that as you smiled and reminisced about the things your husband did for you in the past, your phone let out a long dial tone that let you know that you couldn't reach your husband for the 5th time. The anxiety bubbled up at the pit of your stomach as your fear went on automation, immediately associating Wooyoung not accepting your calls as a bad omen. One by one, your brain started ticking off possibilities such as stomach cancer, bowel obstruction, and kidney problems. Then your daughter's jabs started popping in your head, her jabs about how you drink a lot. It wasn't like you get drunk on wine twice a week like a ritual but it was never like that. You do enjoy the occasional glass but even then, it was slightly less than the amount people usually pour and it never surpassed you feeling tingly. But maybe you had accidentally subconsciously increased your intake and what you were experiencing was liver failure.

Out of all the diagnoses you were fearing, you honestly weren't expecting the doctor to tell you that you were pregnant.

As embarrassing as it was to admit, the moment the doctor revealed the diagnosis, it was like a punch to the gut and you vomited all over the ER floor. On the plus side, you no longer feel bloated.

"I can't be pregnant, there's no way. I haven't been intimate with my husband in a long while," you said after gulping down the water one of the nurses brought for you. "Blood tests are rarely wrong, ma'am," the doctor pulled her stool closer to you and sat down to look at you straight in the eyes, "When was the last time you were intimate with your husband?" It was both easy and hard for you to remember the last time you had sex with Wooyoung. You couldn't even call it making love because it wasn't. He fucked you to shut you up and left you alone like a washed-up carcass. The urge to scream and go crazy was high as it seemed like such a joke to get pregnant from that one time.

You wanted to laugh, scream, cry at how ironic the situation was. How when you tried so hard to grow your family with your husband, you were met with heartbreak. But now that things were verging on collapsing, you were suddenly blessed with a person you didn't even know you'd been waiting for. But your brain hadn't caught up to that point, still in disbelief and maybe even shock.

The doctor's voice was merely a murmur at that point. You couldn't focus, you couldn't really comprehend what she was saying because you were so deep in your thoughts, your bitter thoughts of the situation. You were worried because after what happened to your last pregnancy, it took you a long while to be okay again. There was even a period of time when Wooyoung was the only functioning parent, taking care of the role of both mom and dad while you recuperate. Of course, you weren't expecting to lose this pregnancy too. Who would do that? But the fear existed, the fear remained a part of you and as much as you want to shed it, it was so hard.

Nevertheless, you couldn't help but let your mind wander and suddenly flicker into hope. Hope that this baby will bring your husband back, bring him back to the way he was before the loss you both experienced. Hoping that his distance was because he was also waiting for this same little stranger.

"Hey, (y/n)!"

You turned around and saw Yunho jogging towards you, huffing.

When did you get out of the ER? You felt a buzz in your hand from your phone and frowned when you saw the message. When did you make an OB appointment?

Whatever the answer was, you immediately tried to shove your worries away and put on a smile, trying to appear normal or somewhat okay in front of your husband's friend.

Before you could greet him back, however, he cut you off, "I came as soon as I heard," he panted. "What?" you chuckled awkwardly, not understanding what he meant but slightly worried because you had thought someone saw you in the ER and heard what you and the doctor were talking about and informed other people. "How's Wooyoung? Was it really a heart attack? I heard he hit his head or something. Which room is he in?" It felt like you were the one who hit their head because you had no idea what Yunho was saying. You waved your hands in front of Yunho's face to stop his rants, "Whoah, Yunho, what are you talking about?" Now it was Yunho's turn to be confused. "I-I was informed by the academy's front desk that Wooyoung got hurt. They said they called Wooyoung in because he missed his special trainee class and they got information that he was hurt and that he was admitted here so I thought that he was with you."

In a flash, you turned and dashed to the information desk, Yunho hot on your tail. the both of you stayed close as you go up to the room Wooyoung was admitted in, worry evident in the way you both looked but it was definitely more prominent on you.

Once on the floor, you ran out first to the nurse's station before Yunho could even register that the elevator door had opened. Your hands accidentally slammed loudly on the hard surface of the counter, making Yunho and the nurses in the station to jump slightly in shock, "Hi, I-I'm looking for Jung Wooyoung, he was just admitted not too long ago," you were on the verge of crying because you were so worried and you felt and that you didn't even know your husband got hurt. The nurse checked her computer for a second before looking back at you, "He is on this floor but I'm afraid I can't let you visit him just yet. His wife is in there with him and considering the situation, we were instructed to let him get his rest first. Visitors are permitted once Mr Jung's doctor clears him and you will be notified by his wife." Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion and so did Yunho at the revelation, "That... That can't be right, I'm his wife," you said, surprising the nurse. She produced a guest sign-in form on a clipboard and muttered to herself, "I- well, there was this lady who came in with him and she told the doctor that they were in their bedroom when Mr Jung had the accident. She mentioned- I- I think she mentioned that she was his partner, s-so I just assumed she was his wife because of the ring on his finger," she meekly showed you the signature on the clipboard but it looked unfamiliar.

"Yeon Harin? That's our backup dancer," Yunho scoffed from behind you, "What's she doing here with Wooyoung?"

Dread washed over you like the water from a river in winter. The look on your face was enough to let not only the nurse who talked to you but the other nurses around know what was going on. Guilt gnawed at them when they saw your face paled and eyes glazed over as if they were the ones who committed such betrayal towards you. However, it took Yunho a moment to realize. His eyebrows furrowed and his eyes lingered on the name as his brain replayed the information he received. Dots connecting one by one, Yunho felt like he was being punched in the gut. "Oh fuck," he cussed under his breath, realizing what just happened. Realizing what his revelation of the identity did, "(y/n), a-"

Before he could ask if you were alright, you had pushed yourself away from the station, eye unfocused as if searching for a way to escape. "I... T-thank you... C-can, uh... Can I come back later with my hus- Wooyoung's things? W-what time is the cutoff time for visitors?" You did not notice it but your voice trembled, breaking slightly even as you tried communicating with the nurses in a voice so small, that they had to not breathe to hear you clearly. It was obvious that you were trying to hold yourself together, but it was also probably because you were processing the information. The head nurse pushed past from the back of the station and addressed you directly with a gentle, motherly smile, it was a shame you didn't see it. "Cut-off time is in 2 hours which will be at 12 pm and it will reopen at 6-8 pm. But for family members, there isn't really a cut-off time, I'll make sure Mr Jung's visitor is out of his room soon," at least someone had the decency to do what's right.

You didn't even remember if you told the nurses thank you because when your senses returned, you found yourself already walking back towards the elevator. "(y/n)? Hey, are you okay?" Yunho called out, making his presence and proximity obvious to you. You wanted to tell him that you were fine, but how could you? Your assumption was just confirmed in such a public place in a situation the same hour you found out you were pregnant in the same place you found out that your husband was hurt and you weren't there for him. Although his side piece was there and considering that he was with her when he was supposed to be at a very important class due to the account and his own ownership of account management, he must've prioritized her presence more. Yunho didn't press you for a reply though, he just wanted to make sure you were okay, he wanted to make sure he could give you what you needed which was tricky since he had no idea what to do. He too, was still processing the information and trying to make sense of things. Was his assumption even correct? Was his friend really that much of a monster? So when you hopped in the elevator, Yunho didn't know if he was supposed to let you go by yourself or jump in and drive you home. Were you even going home? Why were you even there if you didn't even know that Wooyoung was admitted?

When you finally spared Yunho a glance, the door was starting to close and with a smile that haunted him for weeks, you spoke, "Don't tell Wooyoung about this, okay?" and the door closed, leaving Yunho worried and conflicted because all he wanted to do was go into Wooyoung's room and demand an explanation but with what you said, he couldn't. Could he?

When you heard the door closed, your body slumped to the wall and you felt your legs turn to jelly. Your intuition was right, he was being unfaithful and his timing, as always, was just perfect because the day you found out the truth just had to be the same day you found out that you were pregnant with the baby he fucked into you so coldly. A wave of nausea bubbled up in your stomach and your chest burned. The moment the door of the elevator opened, you ran out and your legs took you to the parking lot where you vomited out the bile that was probably the physical form of your feeling. Though the pressure was relieved, you could still feel the sting and burn in your throat, the bitterness in your tongue, and the dread washing over you.

Hunched over the bushes, you found it hard to straighten up and walk. At that moment, you want everything to stop because it was too much, it was too much for you to bear to bear alone.

Mere realization was not enough because you were in denial, you wanted to believe that it was just a dream, that you were hallucinating, that your husband was not the asshole but you were for wanting him to be a monster so much that your brain had somehow warped reality and created this scenario for you to hold onto.

Honestly, you didn't know what to process first.

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tangledinink · 1 year

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raph fans come get y'all juice. chapter four of i'm sorry, teenage mutant what now? is up! read it on ao3 or below the cut!

[ prev ]

Okay, fine, he’d admit it. Dad was acting weird.

Like, weird weird, not regular weird. Their dad had always been weird, which Leo had always chalked up to 1.) him being their dad 2.) him spending time in Hollywood. But this? This was off, even for him.

Last night, he spaced out in the middle of one of Mikey’s stories, and Leo still wasn’t sure if he had literally fallen asleep with his eyes open or if he had just accidentally astral projected to the Twilight Zone or something. Of course, they had all then proceeded to say the most absolutely asinine, insane shit that they could think of in an attempt to goad a reaction until Mikey finally managed to snap him out of it by throwing some lentils at him. The day before that, he caught him rifling through that old shelf of weird knick-knacks that none of them were allowed to touch, muttering to himself the entire time like some crazy supervillain. Like, dude, had some ancient ninja ghost replaced their daddy, or what? ‘Cause this was getting freaky. He had kind of just thought Donnie was overreacting, but maybe he was onto something…

He hated it when Donnie was right. It happened annoyingly often and he could never admit it, lest he risk his twin’s ego becoming even larger. There’s only room for one egomaniac in this family.

“Think we can corner Dad on the train ride home and find out what’s happening? That way he won’t be able to run.” He said, casually, inviting himself into his twin brother’s room and tossing himself down on their bed.

Donnie pulled his eyes away from whatever robotics project he was currently tinkering with in order to glare at his brother, spinning around in his desk chair.

“Groan. Do we have to? That sounds unpleasant at best.”

“Hey, you started this in the first place. And you agreed to the plan,” he countered, pointing accusingly at the other. “You don’t get to back out now.”

“I’m not saying that I’m not worried, or that I don’t think someone should talk with him. I’m just saying that I don’t want to do it.” Donnie defended.

“Bummer. You’re participating.” Leo deadpanned. “Between you, me, and Raph, we might have half a chance. And if not… Well. We’ve got the big guns waiting at home.”

Donnie shuddered a bit. The Doctor.

“I don’t know. Based on historical data, there’s about a 76.4% chance that Dad will attempt to bodily throw himself out the window of a moving train if we try to talk to him about his feelings.”

“Do you think we can find a train car without windows?”

“I’ll do some research. I’m sure there are specs available online...” Donnie sighed, turning back around to face his desk and pulling out his phone.

Leo hummed softly, knowing that Donnie would, in fact, actually do that, whether or not it was realistic.

“I’m serious, Donnie. We actually have to talk to him.”

“I mean, yeah, sure. I am too. But what the hell are we gonna say?”

“Ugh. I don’t know! You’re the one with a therapist! And you’ve been seeing her for how long now? Shouldn’t you know how to do all the talky-feely shit by now?”

“I’m autistic.”

“So?”

“You should get a therapist.”

“Off-topic,” Leo muttered, rolling his eyes. “This is, like, weirder than he usually is. Like… Something is for real wrong. It’s kind of spooky.”

“It’s Mikey.”

Leo scoffed. “It’s not Mikey.”

“Yeah, it is. He started being weird right after Mikey lit himself on fire.”

“Mikey didn’t light himself on fire, Dee.”

“Well, he clearly did something . And Dad keeps looking at him like he thinks he’s gonna combust at any moment. There’s a very clear pattern of behavior, Leo.” He insisted. “Also, you don’t know what the hell Mikey did, either, because we both know he wasn’t just playing with matches in his room.”

“He might have been.” Leo huffed. “That kid is way more fucked up than we give him credit for. Remember in the fourth grade when someone destroyed his science fair project?”

Donnie shivered. “You don’t just forget something like that, Leo.”

“Exactly! Playing with lighters is totally within the realm of possibility.”

“There’s a difference between enacting violent but justified revenge and doing simply dangerous stuff just for the fun of it.” Donnie countered, glancing up at the other through half-lidded eyes. “Plus, he’s used to all of us doing dangerous stuff for the fun of it! Dad wouldn’t react this way if he was just worried Mikey was gonna hurt himself. He deals with worrying Mikey is gonna hurt himself all the time. Nor would he let Mikey get away with this with nary a punishment if that were truly the case. In the very least, Dad doesn’t think the event was the result of Mikey just ‘playing with lighters.’”

“Oh, so what? It’s magic? His notebook magically caught on fire?” Leo challenged dryly, giving his twin an unimpressed look.

“Of course not. I’m a man of science.” Donnie scoffed. “I’m sure there’s a logical explanation, but, admittedly, I haven’t been able to intuit exactly what the cause was just yet. My investigation is still ongoing.” He sighed. “... But maybe Dad thinks it was?”

Leo paused for a moment, rolling the thought around in his head, frowning a bit.

“You think Dad thinks Mikey magically caught his notebook on fire?” He questioned, raising one brow in doubt.

“It’s possible,” Donnie said, shrugging. “We know that he’s superstitious.”

Leo hummed softly, his hand automatically moving to spin the small silver bracelet on his wrist, running his fingertips across the smooth edges of the blue crystal in its center. One in a set of five. He supposed that that was technically true… ‘Superstitious’ wasn’t really the first word that would come to mind if he was trying to describe his father. It wouldn’t even be in the top ten. But slapping actual good-luck charms onto each of his children did kind of automatically sort him into that category, didn’t it?

He knew his dad had a small altar in his room, and they would occasionally celebrate, or at least acknowledge, Japanese holidays that he had grown up with. But they didn’t have any other charms or amulets in their home, at least not that Leo knew of, just old knick-knacks and trinkets that lived on shelves or in closets. They had never gone to a shrine or temple or church or anything of the like in their lives, and he had never heard his Dad pray before. But the bracelets? He had always been really invested in that. Leo literally couldn’t remember a time when they hadn’t all worn them. He had told them since they were small that they ‘kept them safe ,’ and it had been a hard rule their entire lives that they weren’t to be removed.

It was the kind of thing that Leo was pretty sure people would think was weird if he brought it up-- so he usually didn’t. He used to think it was weird, too, honestly, and kind of dumb. I mean, they were just bracelets, right? So what did it matter? But he remembered the one time he had tried to take it off when he was around seven. Even now it was absolutely vivid in his brain every time he thought about it.

He hadn’t been trying to rebel or make trouble or anything, he had just been bored. He forgot exactly where they were, but they were waiting in line for something at some building with lots of desks and people milling about, discussing boring things. And there wasn’t anything to do! He had exhausted all viable options for entertaining himself: Annoying his father. Annoying his brother. Annoying his other brother. Annoying his other other brother. So he had basically run out of ideas.

He hadn’t even taken the bracelet off. I mean, not all the way. He was just messing with it, kind of yanking it up and down his wrist, and seeing if he could wiggle it up his hand over his knuckles--

But god, he remembers the way his father’s voice sounded when he caught him, biting out his name like it was painful. He remembers the look on his face, and even now it makes him feel small.

Not because his dad was angry. But because he was scared.

He had never seen his dad look that way before in his entire life. Like he was about to watch the entire world crumble down around him.

It was scary. His dad was scared, so he got scared, too. He shivers a little bit at the memory, his frown deepening. They had left shortly after, and Dad had assured him at least twenty times that he wasn’t mad, and he was sorry for scaring him, and it was okay, but that he couldn’t take the bracelet off. It was important.

Leo and his brothers had kind of decided after that that it probably was important and that they really shouldn’t take them off. Leo wasn’t entirely sure if he completely believed now that they actually ‘kept them safe’ or whatever, but he had certainly believed it then. And besides that, clearly, their father believed it, and that alone was enough for him. It was too small to really get off now, anyway. They had grown enough that Leo doubted he could wriggle his way out of it even if he wanted to. It was a small miracle that Raph hadn’t busted his with how damn beefy he had grown, but hey, he wasn’t gonna look a gift horse in the mouth or anything.

“Okay. Fine.” Leo conceded. “So, Dad thinks Mikey has magic hands, or whatever. What do we do about it?”

---

The train ride over to the swim meet was relatively calm, filled with idle chatter and conversation. Leo, Donnie, and Raph had met their Dad at the station after school, and they spent the trip discussing the new leaf Donnie's Monstera was growing, the most recent viral street magic video Leo had seen, and the latest funny thing Raph's swim kids had done. Raph attempted, unsuccessfully, to prod their Dad into sharing as well, but the most he got was information about the latest reality show episode he had watched. Their Dad wasn't always the biggest sharer, but usually, they could at least get him to discuss the state of his Dojos, any new acting prospects, or celebrity gossip. He loved celebrity gossip! But not today-- the conversation stayed squarely focused on his three sons.

Still, it had been pleasant, even with the slight stirring of anxiety in Raph's stomach. They were all busy more often than they weren't, so it was always nice to get to spend any amount of time together. Their pops didn't always attend all their various sporting events, recitals, or other competitions-- it just wasn't realistic. There was only one of him, after all. But they were getting towards the end of the season at this point, which meant that all the 'important' events were beginning to crop up on their calendars. Their Dad hated to miss those-- even if they did go pretty much every year. He always said he wanted to ‘brag about how talented his children were.’

The sports center was just a short walk from the train station, and Raph glanced down at their father as they made their way into the bustling lobby. "You know where you're goin', pops?"

"Yes, yes, of course. I could give tours of this place." His father joked, his frame shaking with his laughter. "You boys know how to find me if you need me. Now, go and have fun. And also, kick some butt!" He encouraged with a toothy grin.

"You got it, pops!" Raph assured, smiling wide in response, herding his two younger brothers off to the locker room. Usually, they'd come here with the rest of their team. Rather than traveling with their Dad, they'd travel with the other kids and their coach. But this was the city-wide meet. Qualifiers only-- which thinned out the crowd. Raph knew there were other competitors from the Mad Dogs Swim Team around here somewhere, but until they could hunt them down, it was just the three of them. Luckily, this was far from their first rodeo.

"Dibs on Candy Locker!" Leo yelled.

"Leo, no one else wants Candy Locker," Donnie said.

"Do not touch the Candy Locker!" Raph shouted.

They did this every year.

The infamous Candy Locker.

Raph, Leo, and Donnie had been competing in swim since they were eight and seven, respectively. And every year since then, all three of them had qualified for city-wide. And every year, city-wide was held at the Aquatics Pavilion at the Ithaca College campus. And every year that they came here, since they discovered it their very first time, the Candy Locker remained.

It was basically a historical landmark at this point, and Raph was continuously baffled that it still persevered. There were rows and rows of shiny slate gray lockers in the changing rooms, free for whatever visiting athlete to use while they competed, just big enough that you could fit a swim bag in there if you really put some muscle into it, all labeled and neat. Typically, you would open a locker without a padlock, and there would be one of two things there. One: someone else's clothes and bag. Someone already took this locker, but is playing it fast and loose and trusts no one will steal their shit. That's cool. Stealing ain't the Mad Dog way. Two: An empty locker. Sweet, free locker. You can shove your shit in there. But at the Aquatics Pavilion, there was also a third option.

That option was a faded yellow pillowcase filled to the brim with about two pounds of Halloween candy.

The running theory was that someone had stashed it here ages ago, forgotten it, and it had just been there ever since, therefore transforming Locker 336 into ‘Candy Locker.’ Raph wasn't sure if the staff at the school truly just weren't aware of it, if they just didn't feel like dealing with it, or if they too respected it enough that they couldn't bring themselves to destroy it. All he knew was that Candy Locker was forever, and a fixture of the institution.

He also knew that every single year, without fail, Leo tried to sneak chocolate out of Candy Locker.

"You can't use Candy Locker. Leo! It's not open for use! It's Candy Locker, and it needs to be treated with respect!" Raph yelled, giving a low groan of annoyance as Leo just barely glanced back at him, just for a moment, this absolutely feral look of excitement in his eyes, and darted off, breaking away from their small group. Dammit.

All of Raph's little brothers were fast and small and nimble. Raph always felt a tiny bit awed when he watched how they moved-- weaving about obstacles like minnows swimming upstream, dancing and darting about in a way that always looked effortless. Raph was fast, too, and he was far more acrobatic than the average high schooler... Don't get it twisted, he was perfectly capable of back-flips and cartwheels. But small? Small he was not.

It was tough being a big guy sometimes. I mean, he didn't dislike it by any means! He loved being large enough that he could see over crowds and keep an eye on everything. He loved feeling strong and powerful enough that he could plant himself in between his family and any kind of danger, and feel like a wall-- an immovable object. He loved being strong, relished the rush of pinning his opponents to the ground beneath him without any effort and smashing his way through obstacles.

... But with size and strength comes responsibility. Wait, was that the quote? Something like that. The point was, if he ran after Leo, he'd mow half these kids down. And he didn't wanna hurt anyone or anything. He knew better than that.

"Raphael."

Raph's father knelt down next to him, his voice gentle, but nudging, demanding to be heard. It took Raph a few moments, but eventually, he glanced up at him, peeking shyly at his father from behind his hand and uncurling from the small ball he was rolled into just the tiniest bit.

"Raphael, did you hit Leonardo?"

He hesitated for a moment, and then nodded a tiny bit, sniffling loudly.

"And bite him?"

He nodded again, drawing his legs up to his chest and hiding his face in his knees.

His father sighed softly. "Red, we cannot--"

"He pushed me first!" He bit out, and he could feel his face burn even hotter than before, all muddy with shame and anger sloshed together. "H-he was being mean, and, and he wouldn't leave me alone! And I wanted him to stop!"

"I will talk to him, Red. But just because he pushes you does not mean you can push back. Or hit him, or bite him. You are bigger than him, Raphael." This brought a fresh sob tumbling through Raph's chest, despite his best efforts. His father sighed again before slowly sitting down, holding out his arms.

"Come here, my son."

Raphael rolled over onto his hands and knees, crawling into his dad's lap and burrowing his face into his chest. His dad's arms wrapped around him, squeezing him tight and rocking the two of them back and forth. And for a while, they just sat like that, quiet and still, hidden away in the hallway closet.

"Is Leo okay?" Raph eventually mumbled, not picking up his head.

"He will be alright," Dad confirmed. "But you did hurt him quite a bit, Raphael."

"Sorry." He whispered. He wiped at his face with balled-up fists, hiccuping a few times. His mouth tasted salty, now, from the tears, but it still tasted bitter from the blood, too.

"...You did a very good job coming to get me right away."

Raph hummed a tiny bit in response, but he didn't say anything beyond that. He wished he could fold himself up even tighter and hide. He wished he was so small he could fit in between the floorboards. He wished he could disappear.

"You know, your gym teacher is very impressed with you, Red." Dad eventually began to speak again. "He told me all about how wonderfully you do whenever he sees you. You're bigger and stronger than the other kids in your class," He continued, and then laughed. "And I think that is very cool! And it makes me very proud to hear about how well you have done."

Raph finally dared to peek up at his father again, wiping some of the tears off his cheeks.

"But I know it can be hard to be strong sometimes. It is a lot of work, being big and strong! You have to be careful with others around you, even if they're not careful with you back. That is very difficult!" He said, his hand moving in slow circles up and down his child's spine. "But I have seen you many, many times be big and strong to protect your brothers, and keep them safe, and to help them." He said, keeping quiet for a moment before exhaling slowly through his nose. "... Can I share a secret with you, Red?"

A secret? His eyes widened a bit, and he immediately nodded.

"I have been thinking that perhaps you boys might be ready to start learning proper martial arts at the dojo." Raph let out an audible gasp, his entire body perking up with excitement. Actual for real kung-fu and karate and stuff?! Not just blocks and poses!? "But I am a little worried that your brothers might hurt themselves, or fight with each other if I teach them."

Oh. Raph hadn't thought of that before. He frowned a bit, his brows suddenly pinched with worry. He hadn’t ever considered before that learning martial arts could actually be a bad idea. If he learned martial arts with his Dad, what if he just hurt his brothers worse?

"But I know how much you all want to learn. And I can already see how much potential you all have." He continued with a soft smile. "So I was hoping that you could help me. I don't like that you and Leo got into a fight, or that he got hurt... But now I know that you know what it feels like to hurt someone that you love. And that it doesn't feel very good, does it?"

No... It felt horrible. He furrowed his brows, frowning before nodding a bit.

"So I think that means that I can trust you to help me with teaching them how to be careful and strong at the same time, and keep them safe. Do you think you could handle that, Red?"

Raphael swallowed hard, feeling this wet lump form in his throat. All the tears from before welled up in his eyes again-- even though he didn't wanna live in the floorboards anymore. His dad still trusted him that much? Even now, after he messed up really bad? He tried to tell his father 'yes,' but his lips were wobbling too much for his tongue to work right, so he just nodded as hard as he could instead. Yes-- He wanted more than anything to help protect his little brothers, no matter what. ‘Cause even when they made him so, so angry... he still loved them so, so much.

"I thought so." Dad laughed, kissing the top of his son's head before ruffling his hair lightly. "And I know we will not have any more fighting like this. And no more biting , Raphael. We have talked about this. If you want to bite something, I will get you something else that is for biting. But it cannot be people! Understood?"

Hiccuping a bit, Raphael nodded again. Somehow, he wasn't even upset to be scolded this time. And he knew that he had said he wouldn't bite people before, but this time he really meant it.

"Good boy. Now, I am going to go check on your brothers. Do you want to stay here a little bit longer, or do you want to come with me?"

Raph took a long, deep breath, swallowing the lump in his throat so that he could find his voice again.

"I wanna see my brothers."

"GET BACK HERE, LEO. DON'T MAKE ME COME AFTER YOU." He shouted, and was completely ignored. "Donnie--"

"Not involved." Donnie immediately replied, not looking up from his phone.

Raph groaned, trying to pick up the pace without taking out any bystanders, muttering repeated, "Pardon me's," and "'Scuse me's," as he went.

Leo really wasn't that far ahead of them-- He wouldn't completely ditch them, but he did get far enough ahead that he was already breaking into Candy Locker by the time Raph rounded the corner, his face set into a deep scowl.

"Leo. Don't you dare."

"Look! Untouched and beautiful as ever!"

"Leo, do not eat the candy ."

"Wow, and they have all our favorites, too..."

"They are at least eight years old! At a minimum , Leo!"

"Oh, pshhh. As if I haven't seen you wolf down two-week-old leftovers before." Leo scoffed.

"Remember that time he ate beef jerky out of the trash?" Not helping, Donnie.

"It was right on top! Practically untouched!" Raph protested. "And that's completely different! Plus, eight years is, like, twelve times longer than two weeks is!"

"That math is not correct..." Donnie mumbled under his breath.

"Chillax! I'm not gonna eat any of the candy." Leo said, holding his hands up in mock surrender.

Oh, thank god.

"I just wanna have one. To like... put on a shelf or something. I bet Donnie could make a little pedestal for it."

Dammit.

"One year." Raph said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Just one year. I just want us to leave Candy Locker in peace... for one year . It's a sacred space, Leo!"

"Mmmm..." Leo pursed his lips, placing a hand on his hip. "Yeah, I mean. I see what you're saying, but... I'm pretty sure no one is gonna miss, like, one Tootsie Pop."

"Stop messing with him, Leo." Donnie chided, cracking open a locker nearby, tossing his bag down and shucking off his jacket.

"Okay, okay. Fine. Because I'm an amazing brother, I will refrain from interacting any further with Candy Locker until after the meet." Leo declared, slapping the locker shut again with a flick of his wrist and a satisfying metallic clack. "But know this, Raphael. This isn't over."

Raphael scoffed, rolling his eyes, glaring at Leo as he yanked open his own locker. He loved his brothers dearly-- he did. But they were really lucky sometimes that he didn't just snap their necks.

---

At this point, Yoshi had a pretty good handle on these types of events, and he knew well enough how to navigate. He knew exactly which corner bounced cheers and shouts about the least, knew just where all the vents, pumping in warm air to prevent all the swimmers from freezing their butts off, were hidden, so they could be avoided, and knew the best seating arrangement that allowed for minimal soreness the following day. Metal bleachers weren’t exactly easy on your back, after all! Armed with years of experience, (plus his cellphone and earbuds for when events did not feature his sons and he got bored,) he was fully committed to making it through the meet and focusing for the entirety of it. Had he made any progress on the whole Hamato Ninpo thing? Well, no, not exactly. Which was. Ah. Worrisome. But, now was not the time for that!

He was quite excited to watch his three eldest sons kick ass and take names, as per usual.

He said 'hello' to a few of the other parents that he knew and made some polite small talk, settling down to watch the meet. Warm-ups were already done by the time he was all seated, and he could see his boys and the rest of their team from where they sat across the pool; audience members sat on one side, and competitors on the other. He watched them doing much of the same-- making conversation with each other and their teammates, checking their phones, and cheering whenever anyone they knew was in the water.

All in all, everything was fairly normal and expected. Yoshi still struggled a bit to keep himself focused, and not think too deeply about all the worries in his head, but it wasn't as bad as it had been lately... It had been nearly a week now with no further incidents, no questioning from his children, and no spooky prophecies or visions from his ancestors or anything like that. So he was beginning to wonder, or perhaps more accurately, hope that maybe it had just been a fluke. Just a one-off event rather than the beginning of anything trying. Maybe his family was fine, their identity and secrets were safe, and nothing further was going to occur to jeopardize that-- they could just continue to live in peace just as they had been.

He watched the twins get up from the bench for their next event, shedding their hoodies and towels in favor of goggles, only to get waved over by an official. The two wandered over and joined him and what appeared to be another parent. He couldn't hear what they were saying from where he was, but the conversation soon became animated-- Donnie's arms crossed over his chest, Leo talking wildly with his hands, and worry immediately began to blossom in his chest. He had just gotten to his feet, beginning to make his way over to the group when the discussion seemed to dissolve, his two sons walking away visibly upset. Yoshi met them halfway.

"What is going on?" He immediately questioned, his brows knit together, forming wrinkled creases in his skin. He could see Raphael straining to see from his side of the pool, a similar expression on his own face.

"Ugh. It's nothing." Leo huffed, a scowl set on his face, his hands on his hips. "Some Karen or whatever is just mad that we're gonna ruin her kid's record or whatever, so she talked the officials into drug testing us."

"Which is obviously a complete waste of time and resources," Donnie added in, rolling his eyes.

"She's just gonna embarrass herself when it comes back negative. As if we need any steroids to clean up shop." Leo declared, a small, sly grin growing on his face, offering out a hand to high-five his brother like, ‘Sick burn, right, Dee?'

His brother accepted, slapping his palm firmly. "Indeed."

Yoshi had broken out into a cold sweat, feeling as though his entire body had turned into stone, freezing him in place.

"O-oh. A drug test. Yes, how silly..." He mumbled, forcing a grin on his face. "How. Uh. How exactly... Does that work? Is it going to take long? I would hate for the, uh, the meet to be held up...!"

"No, they're just doing a rapid test." Donnie hummed. "Obviously it's going to be a smaller panel than they could achieve with a proper lab test, and not achieve quite as accurate or varied of a data set, but it should only take five minutes or so. I understand they're fetching the technician now, and then it should be as simple as collecting a urine sample to use. It can only reveal a 'negative' or 'positive' result rather than any more detailed variations or anything of the like, but of course, this isn't a concern for us, since we already know neither of us is using any drugs. It's actually a very fascinating process--"

Yoshi wasn't listening anymore, because all he could hear in his ears was his own voice screaming TURTLE PISS TURTLE PISS TURTLE PISS.

Logically, the test did not have the capacity to give such information. Donatello had just said that there were only two possible test results, positive or negative, and his purplest son usually knew what he was talking about regarding such things. So, reasonably, he knew it could not possibly come back ‘Mutant Turtle’. And rationally, he knew that his family had been under further scrutiny in the past and come out on the other side just fine. This did not ease his panic. It never did.

Insurance cards? Check. Paperwork? Check. All four children? Check. He went over his list for the fifth time in his head, glancing down at his kids, two on either side of him, as they approached the office. Right... Yes. He had everything he needed.

So why didn't he feel even the least bit prepared?

He had gone to such lengths to ensure the success of this plan. He had accounted for every document that would need to be forged, had crafted an elaborate story to explain his disappearance, and had paid dearly for the five bracelets that concealed his and his sons' mutant identities. He prepared for every possible threat to their new identities, and did everything he could to allow the success of their new lives.

It wasn't like he didn't account for this. He knew that it would be an obstacle, and he knew that it would be one that they would have to face. That didn't stop it from being terrifying.

The doctor.

Despite all the paperwork he had fabricated, he knew that they wouldn't be able to avoid going to the doctor forever. Even if he falsified records indicating his sons were up to date on absolutely everything and in perfect health, this would only buy them a year or two before they would be due for a visit, or risk being barred from enrollment in public school. And even if he somehow avoided this, too, what if one of his children got sick? Or injured? Was he to simply keep them at home and deny them medical care?

No, no. He wanted his kids to have a normal life. He wanted them to be able to do things like go to school and play in parks and make friends with other children... and have proper medical care when it was needed. He wanted them to be vaccinated, to be screened for problems, to have regular check-ups and be able to go to the hospital when they were hurt. He desperately wanted this.

But jesus christ, this was terrifying.

"Are you ready, boys?" He asked, glancing down at his children once more. He was trying to keep his voice level and his body language calm, but he could tell that his sons could sense his anxiety. His heart broke a little when four pairs of big, horrified eyes looked up at him and they shook their heads.

"Ah, where are my brave boys?" He questioned, nudging them ever so slightly, beginning the walk into the office. He held Mikey and Donnie's hands tightly so that they wouldn't be able to tell he was shaking. "Do not worry. I promise that Dr. Davis is very nice. Nothing bad will happen." He assured.

The boys didn't seem too convinced. He wasn't either, truthfully, but he marched them inside anyway.

It had been over a decade since he had last been inside a doctor's office, and even longer than that since he had been to a pediatrician. Yet somehow, it felt like nothing had really changed. Colorful wires with wooden beads strung on them stuck out from a brightly-painted table in the middle of the room, in sharp contrast to the faded burgundy chairs lined along the walls. Children's books and Highlight magazines covered every available surface, which Donnie immediately took to reading. There were a few other parents with their children as well, but the Hamatos were in no mood to socialize. After speaking to the woman at the front desk, Yoshi got to work filling out a literal stack of papers. He was so nervous, he messed up at least three different forms, and had to sheepishly request new copies.

And then they waited.

The longer they sat, the more the collective anxiety seemed to mount. Yoshi couldn't help the scenarios running through his mind over and over, each one ending with a doctor or nurse shrieking in horror and calling Animal Control--

"Dad."

Yoshi blinked back into reality, looking down at his youngest son, pulling at his sleeve with tears in his eyes.

"Dad, I wanna go home," Mikey whispered, leaning in close to him and sniffling a bit. "I don't wanna see the doctor."

Quite frankly, Yoshi was inclined to agree with his kid, to pick them all up and walk out right this very minute. But he suppressed the urge.

"I know, Mikey. I do not like seeing the doctor either." He admitted, scooping up the preschooler to hold in his lap. "But I promise... Dr. Davis is very nice, and, ah, I will not let them do anything bad to you... I am sure everything will be fine...!"

Before he could continue his, quite frankly, horrible pep talk, a nurse poked her head into the room from the back.

"The Hamatos?"

"Yo. Dad. You good?"

Yoshi paused for a moment before he returned properly back to the present day, glancing over at his sons and giving a nervous laugh, which then dissolved into a cough.

"Ah! Yes, of course! I am perfectly fine! Why wouldn't I be!" He wheezed, and his sons exchanged looks.

"Papa, honestly, it's fine. This will take ten minutes tops, and again, I assure you that neither Leo nor myself are engaging in any kind of recreational substances." Donnie said.

"Yeah! All we gotta do is piss in a cup." Leo added in. "And then we'll be all set. It's just annoying. Here, why don't you sit down, watch some Netflix or something-- I know you like Netflix-- and we'll be back in a bit, okay? Just chill."

"Right. Of course. I am... very chill." Yoshi insisted, even though he could feel his hands trembling a bit. Gah! Stupid traitor hands! Stop it!

"Surrreeee," Donnie said, taking him by the arm and slowly leading him back to the bleachers, sitting him down and patting his shoulder. "We'll be right back, alright? Nothing to worry about."

---

"Alright, you should be all set." Dr. Davis hummed pleasantly, offering a gentle smile to her latest anxious parent. "Everyone looks great! Healthy weights, nothing scary going on... We'll send you home with some literature and referral information for Donatello. I would recommend considering getting in contact with them if you can, especially since he's gonna be starting school soon, but beyond that everything looks fantastic."

"Yes-- thank you," Yoshi said, forcing a smile, shakily accepting the new stack of papers that the doctor handed over.

Nothing had gone wrong.

Well, a few things had gone wrong. Mikey and Raphael had both cried when they got their shots. Donnie had a small meltdown after being repeatedly touched by people he didn't like. And Leo had punched a nurse in the gut for upsetting his brothers.

But their bill of health came back clean. No mentions of turtles, mutations, cold-bloodedness, or reptilian features of any kind.

They made it through. They would be okay.

"... And we'll see you back in about five weeks for their next booster series, okay? Jacklyn up front can get you all scheduled!"

Yoshi pursed his lips slightly, his mouth suddenly feeling rather dry.

"... Ah. Yes. Of course."

---

The concept of buoyancy was built upon that of displacement; the idea that two different forms of matter could not occupy the same space. Archimedes once theorized that water, a liquid, would be pushed aside by a solid mass, but an object of an appropriate weight, density, or shape could ensure that the displaced weight of the water was greater than the total weight of the object, therefore ensuring it to float. This is, of course, connected to the concept of forces. Gravity is a downward force that acts upon all objects; when an object is placed in a fluid, that fluid must supply a force equal in magnitude but opposite in direction to the gravitational force for the object to float. Scientifically speaking, it was all a matter of density and mass, and every action that one took in the water, as well as every action that the water had in response, could be explained through a series of formulas and equations.

... In a non-scientific sense, however, water was safe and soft and inviting. Water would make room for you, no matter who you were or what you were doing. Once you got in, it would change itself to make exactly enough space for your body. Water was fluid and changing, soft and gentle when you moved softly, hard and firm when you moved harshly. In the water, the way you move changes. The way you see and hear changes. Perception itself shifts.

God, Donatello loved swimming.

Even just swimming laps was great, but a race only heightened the experience, engaging every bit of his body and mind and encouraging him to push. From the moment the buzzer went off and he dived from the starting block, ( push off with your legs, you're going for distance, not for height, hands together, smooth entry point, ) to the lap down, ( head down, no breathing except for when you absolutely need to, arms go back and glide over the water-- imagine your fingertips skimming just over the surface, no unnecessary movement, just enough for the maximum propulsion forward with minimal effort, ), the turn at the wall, ( watch the floor, see the blue tile end and the white begin-- you know the math, count it out, at five you duck, chin to your chest, arms together, kick off the wall and get as much air off that sucker as you can, ) and the sprint back, ( kick from your hips, not your knees, no reserving energy, it's just a fifty, this is a ‘dash,’ so dash -- )

Every second of it he was engaged, and every second of it he adored the experience. He didn't even slow down when he approached the wall, ramming into it at full speed and using his outstretched hands to stop himself and trigger the timer that stopped the clock. They didn't have to worry about slowing down. They wouldn't run into anything. Their own hands and the water would catch them.

Sucking in ragged breaths, he looked to his left, and then he looked to his right. Leo was right behind him, but as he glanced up at the display board on the wall to check his time, he grinned widely. He had more than a five-second lead over him. More than enough to qualify for Regionals-- not that he had been worried. Leo was well within the range as well, just as expected. The three of them always went to Regionals. And Donnie was quite pleased to note that the kid from Lane 4, the child, he and Leo had deduced, of the woman who demanded they be tested, was significantly behind the two of them. Sure, his time was good enough to qualify for Regionals, too...

But it wasn't anywhere near as good as theirs. Haha. Suck it.

One by one, all of the racers joined him at the end of the lane, bobbing about in the water and holding onto the pool edge or the lane lines, everyone out of breath and filled with adrenaline. He shook the hands of his two lane neighbors, congratulating both of them on a race well run, and once the referee blew his whistle, he clambered out of the water, hoisting himself up back onto dry land and moving to rejoin his twin.

"Killed it." Leo said, though breathlessly, ("if you're not struggling to breathe by the end of a race, you're not doing it right," their coach often said,) offering a fistbump, which Donnie reciprocated.

"As expected." He said, grinning wide as the two of them made their way back to the bleachers.

"Leo! Donnie! Nice!" Raph called as they approached, tossing them each a towel to wrap around themselves, each beginning to dry themselves off, peeling goggles and swim caps off their heads. "Good time! But, uh, what was with the--?"

"Some lady made us do a drug test," Leo explained, waving a hand as if to dismiss Raph's concerns. "It was dumb, we both passed, it's all good now. Just annoying."

"A drug test?! Seriously?!" Raph said, scoffing loudly. And admittedly, Raphala was no stranger to similar situations. Donnie recalled he had been accused of taking steroids or faking his age more than once in his various sporting exploits, but it typically wasn't taken as far as to actually test him. Donnie thought, vaguely, that he was almost surprised that Raph wasn't subject to the same treatment as he and Leo were today, but he supposed it did make at least a bit of sense. Raph was big-- he was tall and visibly muscular and powerful. People looked at him and expected him to excel in athletics.

He and Leo? Not so much. Leo was only 5'5", and he himself barely passed 5'3" without his boots, much to his annoyance. They were both lean and clearly athletically inclined, sure, but they were both much smaller and slimmer than their older brother was. People looked at them and were often surprised by their respective sporting resumes. Especially him.

"Yes, yes, it was an unfortunate waste of everyone's time." Donnie agreed. "But to no one's surprise, it came back completely spotless, and we were able to proceed without issue and completely destroy absolutely everyone, in your face Karen, thank you very much."

"Is that why Dad's been freaking out?" Raph asked after a moment, raising a brow. Donnie followed his eyes to steal a glance over at their father on the other side of the pool, looking much better than he had before they received their test results, (both he and Leo offering him thumbs up from across the way once they had been cleared, and watching him sag with relief,) but still seemed a bit shaky.

"Yeah," Leo said, wrinkling his nose. "I thought he was gonna pass out for a second there when we told him. He was sweating so much, it was disgusting."

"He doesn't seriously think you guys' would come back positive or anything, does he?" Raph scoffed, frowning a bit, and Leo shook his head.

"Nah, I don't think so. But you know how scared he is of doctors."

---

Dad always got like this whenever they had an appointment.

'This' meaning, of course, 'Visibly and overwhelmingly anxious and frightened, absolutely filled with dread and horror.'

They were all kind of used to it by now.

When they were little, it would sort of freak them out, because every time they had to go to the doctor, he had to come with them, and he'd be in a state of near-panic the whole time. And if Dad was freaking out, then they should probably be freaking out too, right? Looking back, Leo recognized that he was always trying to hide it, but quite frankly, he did a pretty shit job at it. Now that they had gotten a bit older, however, collectively exiting elementary school years to enter junior high, they more-or-less recognized that Dad's doctor-induced panic was really more of a personal thing, and not necessarily something that they needed to worry about themselves. Leo still didn't really like the doctor, and he kind of doubted he ever would, but he wouldn't really categorize himself as 'afraid' any longer.

Their Dad? Not so much.

The four of them had been long aware of the little note on the calendar in the kitchen, the sacred piece of literature that controlled all their lives, dictating that at four o'clock on this date, their dear father would be summoned to the doctor's office. And they knew that, of course, like he did every time, he would totally freak out. And, just as predicted, he had been an anxious mess all day, pacing around the house, mumbling nonsense to himself, (something about them being ‘onto him’ and ‘rat blood’ and other completely meaningless jibber-jabber.)

But this time, they had a plan. They absolutely could not continue to watch him like this. Everyone was in place. Leo looked across the living room, nodding to Raph. Raph glanced at Donnie, who checked his watch, and likewise nodded an affirmative. Mikey put down his sketchbook, getting to his feet, and the four of them, following his cue, fell into step with each other and filed into the kitchen.

Mission: Save Daddy From the Horrors was a go.

"Hey Dad," Mikey began, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and leaning into him slightly. Raph, at the same time, got to work preparing a pot of tea-- Donnie fetched the cream, Leo was on sugar duty. "So, we were thinking. Maybe we could come with you this afternoon?"

Their father startled slightly, immediately moving to glare at Mikey with suspicious eyes. "What?! Come with me? Why would you want to come with me to a doctor's appointment?"

"Well, we were just thinking, it might be a nice, uh... family outing!" Raphael offered with a shrug, chuckling nervously and looking to the side. "And maybe we could, I dunno, get frozen yogurt on the way back?"

"And we could watch that game show you like on the way over. With the mystery shrimp?" Donnie suggested.

"Plus, I mean, I've been meaning to get some acting tips from you? Not that I need them, obviously, but..." Leo added, placing a cup into his father's hands as he narrowed his eyes.

"... You boys are... up to something..." Dad mumbled, looking between the four of them with a slight frown.

"Up to something? No! Of course not!" Raph insisted, and Mikey placed a hand on their father's shoulder.

"We just want to spend more quality time with you! As a family! Don't you want to spend time with us, your loving sons?" He questioned, batting his eyes. "Plus, we can get frozen yogurt! We know how much you love frozen yogurt, right?"

"Yeah, what they said," Donnie said.

"Pleaseeeee?" Leo went in for the kill, offering a dramatic pout, poking his lower lip out as far as it could possibly go. Mikey joined in shortly, combining their powers to reach near-dangerous levels of puppy-dog-eyes.

"... I suppose... If you really would like to..."

Score. They were in. Goal: minimize anxiety and get their dad home from the doctor's office in one piece for a change. And if they got some frozen yogurt in the process? What was the harm in that? As far as Leo was concerned, so long as they could manage to get their Dad through this appointment without totally freaking out, that'd be a win. And, if things went well, it would be that much easier to convince him to allow them to accompany him to future appointments, too.

---

The rest of the swim meet went about as expected. Donnie easily got the best times in every event he participated in, and all three of them, plus a couple of their teammates, made it into the upcoming Regionals. Trophies and ribbons were given out in the end, which they had all immediately passed on to their father, ‘cause he was more excited about them than they were and would surely figure out a way to find space for at least some of them at home. Raph physically wrestled an ancient Twix bar out of Leo's hands, and once his little brother finally cried for mercy and swore to leave Candy Locker alone for the remainder of the trip, he unpinned him from the ground and allowed him to get back up. Normal stuff.

It wasn't until the train ride home that things got kind of weird.

About fifteen minutes in Leo started giving him these looks. Looks that said, ' go on, say something.' So Raph started giving Leo ' no, you say something ' looks. After some back and forth, they both tried to give Donnie looks, but Donnie completely ignored them in every sense of the word, pointedly refusing to look up from his phone as he discussed the process of coding artificial intelligence to their dad, who clearly didn't understand anything they were saying, but to his credit, was doing his best to nod along.

After losing a silent game of rock-paper-scissors played at knee-level, just outside of their father's field of vision, Raph cleared his throat, leaning over slightly.

"Sooo, Pops... You been... sleeping okay?"

"Hm? Oh, yes! You know I am always out like a light after my before-bed snack!" Dad replied easily with a chuckle, and Raph frowned, ‘cause he could tell just by looking at him that that was a lie.

"Uh-huh. Right." Leo scoffed, not buying it. "That's crazy. Because, no offense, but you look kind of like garbage. And like you haven't so much as touched a pillow in, like... ever."

This immediately earned him a smack to his forehead.

"Garbage?! I will have you know that I was voted Hollywood's ‘Sexiest Action Film Star’ five years in a row! No respect!"

Leo whined loudly, rubbing his forehead and mumbling "ew," under his breath, but Raph knew it was all for show. Dad's infamous ‘Karate Chops’ never actually hurt. Though it could be that Leo was more hurting from the psychological damage of hearing their father refer to himself as ‘sexy’ than anything else...

"I concur-- ew. And as fascinating as this factoid that you've cursed us with is, father, it doesn't really address the fact that you've clearly not been sleeping." Donnie remarked, still not looking up from his phone screen. Raph knew he was listening, though. He wasn't typing, no video was playing. He was fully engaged with the conversation. Just needed his barrier.

"Yeah, if anyone is qualified to identify an insomniac, it's me!" Leo added in.

"What we're trying to say is," Raph jumped in, hands held out and a nervous smile on his face, "Is just, uh. That we're a little worried about you, Pops. I mean. You've seemed kind of, uh, out of it... since..."

"Since that thing with Mikey." Leo helpfully supplied, crossing his arms over his chest.

Raph noted the slight twitch in his Dad's left eye.

"What thing with Mikey?" Dad feigned.

"Uh, the thing where he started a fire in his room? That thing? Ringing any bells?" Leo pressed, with a tone and a look that said 'yeah, nice try.'

"Oh, yes. That." Their dad said, waving a hand dismissively. "We have already discussed this, boys. The important thing is that Mikey was not hurt, and Purple, I know you are upset because you are not allowed to start fires anymore--"

"It's not about Mikey, Dad," Raph interjected. "It's about you! You've just... you've been acting... weird! And it's been nearly a week now! And-- and if something's goin' on, we wanna know!"

"Nothing is going on." Their father immediately denied. "I already told you all. That was simply a freak accident, and it is not anything worth worrying about. I am fine! It is nothing you need to concern yourselves with."

"Dad, come on. There's obviously something bothering you!" Raph pushed a little harder, despite the anxiety bubbling up in his stomach, feeling like a soda can in a washing machine. "We just wanna help. Come on, don't you trust us--"

"Enough." This time it was Dad who interrupted, his voice harder now, firm and definite. Raph flinched slightly. "I already said it is none of your concern. I am fine. I am perfectly capable of handling this, and I do not want any of you involved!"

Raph opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but was surprised to find that there were no words. So he closed it again. He glanced over at Leo and Donnie, but they had about the same expressions on their faces as him.

"Please, Red." He heard the sigh in his father's voice, and he sounded softer now, tired even, and placed a hand on Raph’s shoulder. Raph glanced downwards, his eyes following all the knobs in his father’s fingers, the wrinkles in his knuckles. He didn't want to look at his face, because he knew that if he did, he would see him as an elderly man rather than Dad. He hated it when that happened, when he fell into that headspace... Just seeing people as people, just looking at them for exactly what they were, with all the familiarity and memories stripped away from them. "Just let me take care of this. I have everything under control."

Raph frowned a bit, not entirely sure if he believed him.

"We have a good life, Raphael. I need you to let me keep it that way." He said. "And to trust me enough not to get involved. Please."

He didn't look at Leo or Donnie this time. Something in his gut was screaming at him that this wasn't the move. The words Dad was picking here felt... off. But the way his voice sounded... He swallowed thickly, and then slowly nodded.

"Yeah. Okay, Dad. We trust you."

Far beneath the city, below the concrete, below the subways, below even the sewers, the world eventually became city again-- Hidden below the oblivious humans above. At the edge of this city, a small vine grew from the soil, slow and silent, just at the seam of a brick wall. Ever-so-carefully, the vine grew and expanded, pushing itself upward, dark and veiled in violet veins.

The vine pressed itself up against the stone wall, curling unnaturally upward, and a bit of stone cracked in response, falling away to the soil below.

The vine pushed further.

[ next ]

#sorrywhatnowau #sorrywhatnowaufic #fanfic #rottmnt #tmnt #rottmnt fanfic #rottmnt human au #tmnt human au #rise raph #rottmnt raph #turtle tots #fidgetwing

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chosos-mascara · 2 years

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Truth or Dare - Megumi Fushiguro

cw: stepbrother!megumi, light degradation, name calling

You find out your stepbrother Megumi has a kink his previous girlfriend left him over, and you're itching to know what it was.

minors+ageless dni. 2.9k words

It had always been you and your mum growing up. There was little room for anyone else; she'd worked two jobs while caring for her daughter, without much aid from others. Men didn't come into the picture too often, and when they did, they'd failed to stick around too long.

Toji Fushiguro was different, though. He'd immediately captivated your mother, and you'd had to admit, he was insanely charming; it was more than obvious to you how she'd become so infatuated with him. Their love bloomed quickly, and before long, he'd asked her to move in with him. At the age of 18, your mother let you decide whether or not you'd wanted to join her, or move out. Unfortunately though, you weren't financially capable of living in your own apartment, and renting with someone else had seemed redundant if you could just live with the two of them rent free.

Finding out Toji had a son was a bit of a shock. Your mother had found this amusing - silly her, forgetting to mention a major detail to your new living situation. Toji laughed it off too, his moody teenager joining yourself in the back of the moving van, your parents uniting in the front seats. This was your introduction to living with the Fushiguros.

Megumi had been a year older than you, but other than that, there wasn't much you'd actually known about him. He hadn't seemed to care much to talk to yourself or your mother, usually residing within the safety of his room, or occasionally staying with his friend Yuji. The young Fushiguro wasn't exactly typical to teenagers his age, with little social life, he was more than a little introverted. At dinner times he would simply eat, listening to the conversation around him, before returning upstairs. He was 19, what could your parents do? The man had a life of his own.

Everything followed the same dynamic each day, the two of you simply pretended the other didn't exist, went to work, returned, slept. But, a few weeks ago, you were let go of your job due to budget cuts, and Megumi's employers happened to be hiring. Your mother and Toji pushed you on to work with your step-brother, it was an easy enough job after all, a small games store a few blocks over.

The manager would put the pair of you on shifts together, calling you a 'duo', and as the store was so small, the pair of you would be left alone to run it. Megumi usually restocked the games, cards and figures, while you manned the till. If business was slow - which it had been, one of you would sit around the back, watching videos on your phones, or doom-scrolling social media.

You had a quiet routine with him, often silent gestures to one another, swapping one another for breaks with just a glance. There wasn't really a particular reason to your lack of chatter - probably just that neither of you were big talkers. Though, one shift, toward the end of the day, a male with pink hair entered, asking to see Megumi. You raised a brow, but complied with his request, walking to the doorway into the back. "Some guy with pink hair wants to talk to you?" The statement came out more of a question, but Megumi stood, silently following you around to the till.

"What is it?" Megumi asked, hands reaching to sit in his pockets as he faced the other male. "Hina mentioned you guys broke it off, are you okay man?" The male replied, genuine concern ridiculing his face. You'd assumed this was about a girlfriend the younger Fushiguro had, though you'd not heard about this previously. Of course, it made sense, the pair of you probably didn't even class each other as acquaintances, you'd probably be more in the reign of complete strangers.

"I'm fine, Yuji." He replied, sighing. "She said you wouldn't fuck her." The boy spoke quieter this time, though loud enough for you to hear. You'd tried not to laugh, of course introverted Megumi wouldn't be interested in that. He was probably more focused on his Pokemon card collection, or his computer. "Nah, I was too intense for her. She couldn't handle it and left." Megumi replied nonchalantly, as if what he said wasn't just completely bizarre.

You didn't have to giggle at his remark, because Yuji did it for you. "What the fuck, man?" He said between laughs. You knew the death glare Megumi was giving him even though you were looking at the back of his head. It was the same one he'd give to Toji after him asking his son to do a chore here and there. You didn't want to interject and kill the silent mutual agreement the two of you had, but you were so curious as to what Megumi was hiding - enough to push a girl away from him?

For the next few days, you'd looked at your step-brother differently. Every time he carried out the boxes to restock the shelves, or met your eyes at the dinner table, you wondered what he'd meant. Was it something as vanilla as hand-cuffs, or did he have a piss kink? Or, was he just more horny than she'd wanted him to be? He looked like he could be a creepy, incel-esque, guy if he'd wanted to be - though a lot more attractive than the average introvert. That was something his father and he had shared - they were insanely attractive. You'd not paid it much attention before, but now, with picturing him having sex so much, you began to fantasize that it was you beneath him, the butt of each degrading, or humiliating kink he could've had.

Friday evening, a week after the initial incident, you both returned home to a note on the fridge left by your mother.

'We're out for the night, staying in a hotel. Be back tomorrow around noon! Love you!'

You sighed, placing the note down on the side and throwing your bag down beside it. "What is it?" Megumi spoke, gesturing to the yellow sticky-note you'd just been reading. "They're out tonight." You replied, hoping he'd leave the conversation there. "Do you wanna order food?" He asked, and you'd thought for a moment before nodding. He pulled up an app on his phone, and you discussed your options before opting for a sushi place.

The conversation of food was probably the longest one the two of you had ever shared. Once the food was delivered the two of you went to the lounge to eat, placing out the small feast you'd managed to purchase out on the coffee table, putting on the TV to accompany the meal. Megumi had gone into the kitchen and grabbed you both a beer before returning to his usual behaviour of completely blanking you out.

But, one beer turned into two, and on the third, you broke the silence.

"Who's Hina?" You questioned, causing Megumi to turn his head, and actually looked at you. He shrugged, taking a sip of the beer he was holding. "My ex." He replied, eyes remaining on yours. "Oh, okay." You swallowed, unsure of why you'd actually brought it up. It wasn't like he was about to have an in depth conversation with a girl he'd never really spoken to before.

"Are you-" You began talking again, before processing who you'd been talking to. "seeing anyone else?" An innocent question, though a little odd. "Uh," Megumi was clearly confused as to why his step-sister was asking him about his dating life before asking him his favourite colour, but at least you'd skipped the first phase of small talk. "No, I'm not seeing anyone."

You'd started to find his lack of communication skills a little annoying. There was no way you'd find out anything about him like this. "A-are you?" Megumi asked awkwardly, at least making an attempt to reciprocate the interest you'd had, after seeing your face contort into a small frown after his lack of enthusiasm. "No, I haven't dated anyone for a while." You answered. He nodded, eyes darting back to the TV.

"Okay," You mustered up a little confidence. "Can we play a game or something? The silence is getting boring." Alcohol had of course greatly helped the boost in your attitude. He shrugged. "Like what?" Fushiguro questioned, placing the brown bottle down to the table before you, giving you his full attention.

"Truth or Dare?" You asked, a stupid game, but a great way to find out more about your step-brother. He exhaled, fighting the urge to roll his eyes at your stupid request, knowing it meant more to you than to him. "Okay, truth." He spoke, waiting for your question. "Uh," you thought for a few moments, trying to start off easy. "When was the last time you lied?" You asked.

Megumi furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "Earlier today, a customer asked if we had any figures out the back, and I said no." He replied, and you nodded, smiling. "That's very lazy of you." You laughed. "I guess I'll do truth too, then." "Okay, what's something you've never told anyone?" Megumi asked, and you shifted uncomfortably in your seat. "What sorta question is that?" You asked in reply, awkwardly trying to laugh it off. He shrugged, and you realised you'd just have to tell him something to get the game to continue on. "Uh," You paused. "When I was twelve, my mom dated this guy - I didn't like him. I went out and bought some lingerie, put it in his coat pocket. She found it and accused him of cheating. They broke up." You admitted, a little embarrassed. He nodded, swallowing. His lack of reaction was annoying. Why couldn't this man just express something?

Megumi had of course picked truth again, though already bored of this game. You'd decided your next question would just be straight to the point. You'd get your answers, and could fuck off upstairs away from the emotionless sociopath beside you.

"Why did Hina break up with you?" You asked. His eyes snapped to meet yours, a glare on his face. "You heard the conversation; I was too much for her." His tone was different now, you'd obviously struck a nerve. "You know, that's not what I'm asking, 'gumi." The nickname slipped out, but seeing his eyebrows furrow in annoyance, you were glad it had. "I asked her to do something and she found it weird, called me a freak and made me leave." He replied, laced with anger, his teeth almost clenching. "Happy now?"

But, you weren't done. "What did you ask her to do?" Curiosity gets the best of us; sometimes people ask things they don't really wanna know, or push in places they really shouldn't. Someone who would probably be legally related to you soon enough's sex life isn't something you should be asking about, but Megumi humored you anyway.

He leaned closer to you, vexed expression telling you to back off. But, you didn't. "You don't want to know, y/n." He replied. But, you pushed anyway. "I do though, 'gumi." You smirked.

"I asked her to pretend she was my step-sister."

Your mouth opened wide, a gasp leaving your lips. "Y-you're lying." You backed up a little, unable to believe what he'd just said. "I'm not, though." Megumi's mouth curled up into a smile as he made up for the space between you, edging closer than you'd wanted him to be right now.

"Don't act so high and mighty with your fake disgust. I've seen how you've looked at me the past few days, you've been so desperate to know what I'm into, huh?" Megumi reached out, placing a hand on your cheek, dragging it down to your chin. He gripped you with just his thumb and index finger, teeth gritted. "I bet you've pictured yourself under me, wanting to know how my dick feels between your legs?" He was right, but you'd never actually commit to doing it. It was morally wrong, but then again, the two of you weren't actually related.

You didn't reply as he traced down to your chest. Even with the two of you seated, he was still taller than you - able to dominate you. His fingers traced the baggy t-shirt you'd worn to lounge in, lifting it slowly upward. You allowed him to go as far as lifting the cotton above your chest, exposing your bare tits to him. You'd half expected him to pull it back down and call you a freak for showing him your chest, but he didn't, only silently moving his hand to cup your skin. He leaned forward, grazing his lips over a hardened nipple, softly moving his tongue over the sensitive bud. You groaned a little from the contact, tilting your head back. He kissed your chest , nibbling gently every now and then.

He pulled the shirt off completely, pushing you to lay down across the sofa, maneuvering to be hovering over you. Megumi planted kisses over your face and neck, before finally reaching your lips. He was a good kisser, you'd give him that. The way his tongue dipped in and out of your mouth, and the way his teeth would gently graze over your bottom lip, or his very strategically placed knee would press into your increasingly needy pussy to make your hips grind against him - Megumi was experienced.

He pressed his thigh back into you, and you rocked once more, shuddering at the feeling of his leg pressing against your folds. You stopped waiting for him to shift every now and then, instead just rubbing yourself on his leg, feeling the pressure build up between kisses and your own moans. "You're so needy for me, huh?" Megumi's deep voice erupted through kisses. You simply moaned in response, feeling close already. "You're gonna cum just from dry humping my leg, slut?" He didn't give you a change to reply, sticking his tongue back into your mouth, letting your jittery humps come to an end as you rode out a shaky orgasm against him, moaning against his lips.

You couldn't quite believed what you'd just done. You'd literally dry humped your step-brother, cumming while making out with him. But, Megumi didn't care. He pulled your pyjama bottoms off, exposing your sopping pussy. "I didn't know you were such a needy little slut, cumming so quickly too." Megumi laughed at you, spreading your thighs apart to look at you. He traced a finger down your folds, teasing a finger over your hole. You glanced over him, eyes stopping at the obvious erection in his trousers. It was big. You grew a little anxious just looking at it - was he going to put that inside you? There's no way -

Megumi stood, quickly walking over to the Tv stand, opening a drawer up, and rummaging through. He pulled out a wrapper, before coming back to where you were laying, pulling his trousers off. His cock sprung up, and you got a good look at the veins around it, the thick girth and length. He pulled the condom from the wrapper, pulling it over himself, before positioning himself at your entrance. He grabbed hold of each leg spreading you as wide as the sofa had allowed your legs to be, dipping into you. His head tilted back, a small fuck leaving his lips as he pushed deeper into you. You were glad you'd orgasmed first, your own cum being able to lubricate his dick, pussy relaxed enough to take him in.

Your back arched as he pushed in and out of you, tightening around him. "You feel s' good on my cock, baby." He panted, groaning. You had to admit, he felt so good, too. He filled your pussy out, and the sight of his pleasure was probably the most attractive thing you'd seen. Small slapping sounds had filled the room as his body had hit against yours, pain turning to pleasure as your body adjusted to accommodate his size. His hands squeezed your inner thighs, eyes remaining locked on your face, watching as you'd panted under him.

"Fuck, I can't believe you were keeping such a tight pussy from me." Megumi's eyes fluttered shut as his thrusts became messier, pushing deeper into you with a loud moan. He'd been picturing doing this to you for the past few months, sometimes imagining his ex as you, breathlessly moaning under his touch. He hadn't known why the fucked up kink had even crossed his mind - it was probably just how hot you'd been, but the risk had added to the pleasure he'd felt. "Gonna-" He didn't finish the sentence before cumming, loud moans escaping his lips, back arching as he bottomed out. Megumi kneeded at your legs, feral grunts leaving his lips as he filled the rubber with his seed. His eyes had glossed over, completely entranced by his climax. He hadn't had an orgasm as good as this in years, probably since he'd lost his virginity. There was something about the way you'd hugged him that had just sent him into a state, your glossy eyes watching him.

After a few moments, Megumi pulled out, quickly taking the used rubber off, throwing it on the floor to deal with later. You'd watched his sloppy movements as he dressed himself, regaining your breath.

#megumi fushiguro #megumi smut #fushiguro smut #megumi x reader #jjk x reader #jjk smut #jujutsu kaisen smut

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satirates · 8 months

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One thing I think we don't talk enough about Q!Forever is that he has a problem-solver personality.

I used to be like that and I struggled a lot when I was a teenager because of that, and I think it's give a pretty good explanation of where his character is going lore-wise and why he's doing it that way.

Firstly, we could see pretty easily that he's always trying to solve every problem he's facing on the server as fast as he could.

Bobby died and the eggs are in danger of the same? Ninho was ready in a few days

The code shows the players that the only way to access the Nether is to go by train? He built a gigantic contraption to bring everybody's there.

Foolish wanted an eternal banana? Say no more !

And there's a ton of more pertinent examples of that I'm sure

People has said in the past that q! Forever is impulsive, but for me, it's more that he can't just stand there when things are bad. He needs to find a solution, he NEEDS to act. This is part of who he is.

But the thing that can be annoying when you're constantly in problem-solving mode, it's that everybody around you aren't necessary like you. How many times has we seen q! Forever doing stuff hastily to makes things work when other players were in the backroom? A lot. And when you experience that on a daily basis, you may start to get frustrated.

(I just want to add that it isn't a way to bash other CC! Characters. Everybody has their own way to play and have fun on the server, and they are ALL VALID! I'm talking about the characters in role play only)

About Forever arc

I think a lot of is current arc has to do with that feeling. The feeling that he's doing too much and people are not appreciating it, not appreciating him, enough. But he can't stop. He can't just let things happen without trying to help. Because it's how he is. The problem solver. The helper. The good friend.

So, how do one manage in this kind of situation? By becoming even more controlling. People won't help him make a better Island? Then he will impose thing that help the resident. He will do everything he can to protect and help everybody, even against their will. Him getting the president job is actually an interesting thing for his character because it gave him the control he needed to feel like he's making positive changes. He can now try to solve every problem on the Island...

But, as someone that "been there, done that", I can tell you it willn't work. Tensions are going to continue to rise between him and other because being a problem-fixer usually made you forget something very important in life: Not everything need to be fixed.

It took me years to realize that. Something you just need to... let go. If you try to always carry everybody on your shoulder, you are just going to die of exhaustion. And fixing everything is impossible. So you are just becoming more and more exhausted. People around you are growing more distant because you are constantly trying to fix their life instead of just... being there for them.

I think this is where q!Forever is right now. His need to help his conflicting with other Islander needs to be imperfect and the constant conflict made him feel lonely and underappreciated.

This is so interesting in terms of role play because there are several routes he could take. Will he continue to hold, with his resentment growing deeper and deeper? Will he learn to let go and accept that thing sometimes suck, and it's okay to not take responsibility for it?

Will he succeed in making players enjoy the Island?

#Just some thought #maybe i'm projecting lol #But I love how gray the conflict between him and BBH is #and I think we could go deeper than “someone's right and someone's wrong”#This is trauma island and we love it #qsmp #q!forever #qsmp brasil #long post #qsmp character analysis #qsmp forever

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thewolvesof1998 · 4 months

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Created by @mostlyinthemorning

Day 12 pt. 2

Okay, so I thought I would do something special for the last day, here is a list of all of my favourite fics from all of my mutuals (I've read like 95% of these and others are highly anticipated!) I'm going to have to do this in two parts!

The Powder Room Plotby tinygiantsam @watchyourbuck

“Let me eat you out,” Eddie whispered, his voice dark. He gripped Buck's sides harder, rocking his hips up. Buck whimpered, inhaling sharply. The force made him bend over the sink, pushing himself farther against Eddie’s cock. “Eddie,” he said, warningly. “Please, Buck, let me eat you out,” he insisted, smelling the back of his head with his eyes closed. “No one’ll notice.”

Cow Eyes by theotherlucifer @theotherbuckley

Buck gets the call on a Saturday. He’s sat at the kitchen table, delving into some strange corner of the internet where he’s apparently discovered that seahorses hold each others' tails when they swim and that cows have best friends and that Eddie’s big brown gorgeous eyes remind him of cow eyes and maybe if they were cows then they’d still be best friends— And then he gets the call. His phone starts ringing just as he’s learning about polar bears giving each other nose boops. He reaches out and grabs the phone off the counter, still so lost in his deep dive that he doesn’t even check the number that’s calling. “Hello?” “Is this Evan Buckley?” A professional-sounding woman answers. It’s then that Buck promptly forgets whatever facts he just learnt and instead feels a familiar ache creeping its way into his chest. “That’s, uh— that’s me,” he manages to get out. “You’re listed as Eddie Diaz’ emergency contact, is that right?” (Or the 'Eddie's in hospital and Buck tries not to break down' fic except its actually just a cute silly little fic)

[Music Embedded] Burning Bright by Mangacat, with (wilfriede0815) @mangacat201

"The 118" is a secret tip still in the punk rock scene, but their manager Bobby Nash is determined to give them their Big Break soon. Right now, they're playing gigs wherever they can get them and working on a first album - with Buck trying to overcome songwriting insecurities, Eddie there to help, Chim and Ravi eager to enable and Hen despairing at the task of corralling that whole chaos clowncar by herself. Meanwhile, Christopher is working to outfox them all (in the name of love, of course).

right in front of your eyesby rainbow_nerds @rainbow-nerdss

He and Chris, and Buck. They work, they’re a unit. Why should it matter that he’s single? Buck is watching him, like he’s reading every thought on his face. “You’re already planning to lie about the date. Why don’t you just tell her you met someone yourself?” Eddie shrugs and tilts his head to the side, squinting in thought. “She won’t set me up on dates if she thinks I’ve got someone,” he muses. “But she’ll want to meet whoever it is.” “So... Introduce them?” Or: Buck offers to fake-date Eddie so Pepa will stop setting him up on dates.

I got a bed but I’d rather be in ours tonight by LongConvolutedSimiles @nmcggg

He’s close, he can’t believe he’s close already, from rubbing up against the mattress like a teenager having a wet dream. He could say it’s because he hasn’t done this in so long, spending night after night with Eddie by his side means he hasn’t had much privacy. But really he’s close because everything is just so overwhelmingly Eddie that it feels like he’s here, it feels like he’s watching him. “Buck?” Oh fuck, oh fuck, fuckfuckfuck. - Or Buck and Eddie have been sharing a bed for a couple of months now, but when Eddie is away on a date Buck decides to let off some steam. Eddie comes home early.

You don't know how much love it cost me to say goodbye by Feru_08 @pirrusstuff

It's día de muertos and Evan Buckley prepares to see Eddie once again

i'll keep you alive if you show me the way by rosebuddiekin @giddyupbuck

“I know you’re there. I believe in you.” Eddie knows he isn’t just talking to Buck anymore. He doesn’t care, though, not enough to stop himself from crying out to any higher power that might be out there. “I want to believe.” It’s the truth. Eddie wants to believe, because Buck does. “Just, not Buck. Okay?” He can feel the tears starting, but he can’t be bothered to let go of Buck’s hand to clear them. Or: Eddie pleads with the Universe to save Buck after the lightning strike.

i'll lie awake for you by diazbegins @evanbegins

Eddie’s brings his hand back up to squeeze Buck’s jaw affectionately, thumb prodding at the corner of his mouth with a glint of mischief and arousal in his eyes, “I think we already got pretty messy last night.” “Well, that was ‘cause we got married a week ago,” Buck makes up that excuse and kisses Eddie all sloppy, biting his pouty bottom lip and putting a bit more of his weight forward to try and get Eddie on his back. Eddie doesn’t let him, turning his head so their lips connect more comfortably on each kiss. “We had plenty of messy mornings at Big Bear,” Eddie says when they break away before surging back forward, a warm pit in his stomach getting more and more evident the longer they keep on kissing so sweetly. Buck rolls his eyes but lets a noise escape him when Eddie gives a sharp nip to his lip, big hand squeezing the meat of his thigh before resting on his hip with a firm grip, “We need messy mornings when we aren’t on a honeymoon.” Or: Buck and Eddie, newly-weds, spend their well-deserved time alone. (AKA buddie fucking for about 7.9k words)

I'm not afraid to change your name ('cause I'm crazy about you) by smilingbuckley @smilingbuckley

5 times Buck gets called by his new last name + 1 time he has another name change -- "Hmm," Eddie nuzzles his nose against Buck’s cheek, "God, I love you." Buck, whose eyes had closed at the feeling of Eddie being cute with him, opens his eyes. They turn wide. They hadn't said that yet. Not after they started dating. Before, sure, but they had been just best friends. "You do?" Buck asks, voice soft. Eddie takes a step back and turns Buck around so he can look at him, then he cups Buck’s face. "I am so hopelessly, painfully, endlessly in love with you, Evan Nash." Buck’s cheeks redden more, "I love you too."

pumpkin patch kinda love by browney3dgirl6 @hoodie-buck

“How much longer dad?” “I’m sure they’re almost ready. Why don’t you hang out with your friends until it’s time?” Christopher frowned. “Can you go ask dad, please?” Eddie would rather do anything else, thanks. But, when your kid was your world, and his big puppy dog eyes were looking up to you, well—he was only human. Eddie gave Chris’ shoulder a squeeze before looking around, spotting what looked to be a teacher. Well, they had a clipboard in their hands at least. Walking toward the teacher like person, Eddie stopped as he got closer, clearing his throat. “Um, excuse me, are you one of the teachers?” The teacher turned around to face him, Eddie suddenly a little short on words. “Oh yea, hi. I uh, I’m Mr. Buck.” Of course he was. —or— During the halloween season, Eddie is introduced to Christophers teacher, the one with pretty blue eyes that he just can’t seem to stop running into

you're where i stand, hearing the sea by Maira @carrierofthepaperclips

What could Eddie possibly say? Sorry I accidentally kissed you, my body followed my heart without my permission? Sorry that our first kiss was so absentminded, when it should’ve been filled with everything I have yet to find the words for? Sorry that I’ve wanted to kiss you for so long, I can’t remember a time when I haven’t had to fight the urge, and I clearly lost that fight a minute ago? ... or the one with the accidental kiss.

Play me like a fiddle by JamesPearce911 @jamespearce9-1-1

Eddie plays the French Horn for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and is told about the wonderful new cello soloist playing with them for this concert. He sounds like a pretentious asshole and Eddie vows not to like him. In walks Evan Buckley, cellist from New York and soloist for this concert. Eddie quickly realises he's in trouble as the man immediately casts a spell on him, turning Eddie into a blushing mess. Can he put aside his feelings for Buck long enough to remain a professional and get through this week without making any poor decisions? (Spoiler Alert: he cannot)

Buck's Coma vs. Real World Checklist by marcato @jeeyuns

Buck: When I wake up, and I mean like every single time, I have this checklist now that I run in my head, like a way to test that I'm really here. Maddie: So, what do you check?

Out Of Order, Still In Line by callmenewbie @callmenewbie

“Alright. So, how do you wanna do this?” “I don't know, I didn't think that far.” Buck closed his eyes for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts, which was a task harder than he expected. “I guess, just… talk to me.” “About what?” Oh, god. Fuck. Okay. They were in it now, so he might as well just… “Tell me what to do.” Buck half-expected Eddie to quip ‘you don't know how to jerk off?’ but instead there was a moment of pause, then: “Okay.” Or When Buck finally gets to the Clinic, the long awaited release doesn’t seem to come; cue Eddie to the rescue.

Say It All Out Loud by spacebabe17 @thosetwofirefighters

For a moment, he feels guilty about worrying—this is Tia Pepa, his favorite aunt, the one person who has always been on his side—but then he remembers what his parents—his father—had said when he’d tried having this conversation with them at nineteen. He knows Pepa and trusts her so much, but he’d trusted his parents too. or After his "date" with Vanessa, Eddie comes out to his aunt.

past the curses and cries (there's me and you) by MonsterRae1 @monsterrae1

“Welcome to Buckley’s magical apothecary,” The words died down on his throat as soon as he looked at who had walked through the doors. Eddie, Hen and Chim were walking towards the front desk; Hen and Chim were a couple of steps behind Eddie, staring at him with a worried expression, while Eddie looked completely tranquil, as he held on to a bracelet. On a surface level, Eddie looked like he did any other day, far too handsome in his uniform, with a small smile on his lips, and a teasing gleam on his eyes. But that wasn’t all, because all around him, Buck could see the lines of a curse taking hold of him. “What happened, what did you do?” Buck said instead of his usual greeting, walking to meet Eddie in the hallway, bumping his hip into his desk in the process, rattling the instruments he had left there. “What’s the curse?” Eddie rolled his eyes at him and said, “There isn’t one!” As Chim answered, “The bracelet is sending people to the hospital, near death experiences all of them” Or, Buck's a witch, Eddie's cursed, can I make it any more obvious?

Kiss Me Before it's Over (If Only for a Minute) by Bob_loblaws_lawblog @buddierights

Evan Buckley is living out his childhood dream as the star hitter for the Philadelphia Phillies. He’s climbing the ranks, improving his stats with every single game – he’s unstoppable. That is, until the Los Angeles Angels get a new pitcher seemingly out of nowhere. Known for his strong arm and tricky curve balls, Eddie Diaz is one of the few pitchers in the nation who consistently makes Buck strike out, and its infuriating. Even from the sixty feet that separate them between the batter’s box and the pitcher’s mound, the weight of Diaz’s gaze is enough to make Buck’s blood boil. Because Buck doesn’t get nervous on game day, he never feels calmer than when he steps up to the plate with the bat in his hand – it’s where he belongs. But when he sees Eddie Diaz standing on that mound, his stomach flips and nerves spark across his skin. Because if there is one thing Buck knows for sure, it is that he hates Eddie Diaz. … Until he doesn’t.

tagging: @hippolotamus @exhuastedpigeon @steadfastsaturnsrings @monsterrae1 @pirrusstuff @spotsandsocks @buddierights @jamespearce9-1-1

#9-1-1 #buddie #eddie diaz #evan buckley #buddie fic #fic recs #thewolvesof1998 fic recs #12 days of fandom joy #ao3

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the-girl-wh0-cries-w0lf · 9 months

Note

Hiii!

I love your Wilson x peds story! I love how he's so in love with her... Would you be able to write how they met? I'd love to see his reaction to her ehehe

Sorry for any mistakes, English isn't my first language.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Let's establish first of all that James fell for peds first. Her first day on the job of Head of Paediatrics and it was lunch time and she was desperate for a sandwich. However, Cuddy hadn't gotten that far into the tour because of a 'House' emergency. So she plucked up the courage and tapped a doctor on the shoulder. He turned around and managed to lower his gaze to meet her bright eyes.

He was so overcome by her smile that he'd barely registered what she'd said.

"Pardon?" "Where's the cafeteria? I'm new see, Dr y/l/n head of peds." "James Wilson, head of oncology." They shook hands and he didn't want to ever let her go. But he eventually did when she'd registered the awkward length of the handshake.

This is when they met but they didn't actually have the joy of working together until 2 weeks into her stay.

Unfortunately, it was anything but joyful.

She had a patient, 6 year old girl, who was in for persistent headaches.

She'd done a CT scan and there had been something weird on the scan that she didn't understand, but as it was a mass she felt it safer to take it to Wilson.

He'd been so happy when she'd entered his office and suddenly became as nervous as a teenage boy. Going as far to try but fail to tidy up his desk for her. But this was all ruined when he saw the scan.

"Y/n, it's a brain tumour. It's malignant. I know that is the answer you feared. But that is what this is."

Y/n began to giggle uncomfortably as tears streamed down her cheeks. James is used to this sight now, knowing it is her way of coping. But the first time he saw it, his heart broke a little. Someone so strong and positive reduced to fragility.

In that moment he wanted nothing more than to gather her up in his arms but professionalism refrained him.

She went to leave his office, having to give the new diagnosis. But she faltered and turned back to him and her meek voice just managed to offer...

"Coul--could you c-come with me." "Of course."

And James stood right next to y/n as she delivered the news to the child's parents. Only offering a gentle touch on the shoulder when he saw her professionalism begin to crack upon hearing the wails of the mother.

After the worst was over and when she came off her shift after going through all the possible options with the girl and her parents, she once more ran into James who had sat waiting outside her office for 30 minutes.

He jumped up when he saw her. Seeing the glassy look in her eyes, he chose not to bother burdening her with the "Are you okay?" question.

Instead he chose to merely randomly shout "Pizza?".

She turned around laughing and waited for him to elaborate.

"Would you like to come round my flat for pizza and beer? Only if you want to of course, it's just that's what I like after days like today."

"I'd love that." She giggled. She grabbed her stuff from her office and joined him to walk out of the hospital.

"So does your wife take care of you with pizza and beer after rough days?"

"No, no wife. I don't usually have anyone on those nights."

"ah i see. Maybe I can return the favour next time." She winked up at him.

"I'd like that." They both found their fingers dancing towards the other and they felt the electricity bubbling in between their palms.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

a/n - sorry it's a little sad but unfortunately a peds doctor and an oncology doctor working together only means one type of case

Masterlist

Requests open - here

#dr james wilson #dr james wilson x reader #house md #james wilson #dr james wilson x peds!reader #house x wilson #dr house #dr house x reader #house x reader #james wilson x peds!reader #house x cameron #house x cuddy #house x stacy #dr gregory house #dr greg house #dr chase #dr cameron #dr foreman #dr wilson

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darbyallinsskateboard · 9 months

Note

Poly! Elite x wrestler reader?

Please I love anything poly elite

Elite's Princess (Poly! Elite x Feminine! Wrestler! Reader)

Warnings : Age Gaps (Reader is 25)

Ever since you were a child you had always loved wrestling, even leading up into your teenage years it was always a passion for you, when you were just 16 you started training, getting into NJPW at the age of 20, you encountered people you looked up to as a kid and that was definitely the highlight of your career.

All of that had led you up to this moment, you fasten the laces of your wrestling boots and tie them up in a neat little bow, you stood up and checked yourself out in the mirror, straightening your puffy skirt out and fixing up the frills on your gloves (The outfit would be something like Mizuki's).

Tonight you had your first championship match since joining the AEW, you had a match against Toni Storm and you were hellbent on taking the title off of her, as I'm straightening my long entrance robe out(Like Charlotte Flair), a swift knock on the door of your locker room door caught your attention and you walk over to the door "Who is it?" you question.

"Guess" you squealed and flung the door open "Kenny!" you pulled him down into a hug and looked past him to see the rest of the elite, you smile widely at them and let go of Kenny "Hey! what are you guys doing here?" "come to congratulate you! not every day someone gets a title shot angel face" Nick spoke up as the boys all came into the room "Thanks! I can't wait till I have the championship gold around my waist!"

"Look at the princess, all suited up" said Adam as he stepped over and stared at your robe, picking it up "Arm's up princess, want to see how you look in this" you follow his demand and he slips it onto you, the boys all stare and nod "You look too good to lose princess, now let's get you out there" you nod and make your way to the guerilla with the boys, waiting for your queue "And her Challenger hailing from (Wherever)! The Princess Of The Elite! (Y/R/N)!" your music suddenly starts up and you sashay your way out, doing little spins in your coat to show the fluff and frill.

The match was going as planned, the crowd was roaring and the cheers were getting louder, until the outcasts came out to ringside to 'spectate' it all went downhill, while Saraya distracted the referee Ruby handed Toni the title and she smashed me across the face with it, I was bent halfway in the ring and Toni ran over, hooking my head between her legs, and hitting me with a storm zero, I felt the air knocked out of my lungs as I struggled to keep my breath, Toni scurries over and pins me, but mid 2 count the lights go out and the ref has to stop the count.

You managed to get up and watched as the titan Tron managed to light up the arena, in a blue shine, your theme was playing as you saw four figures step out from behind the guerilla, it seemed to have all of the outcasts attention as Toni stepped towards the ropes opposite to me "turn around bitch!" I yelled and sprint towards her, hitting her with a V-trigger and watching as she collapses onto the ground, I watch as the Elite start making their way down the ramp but the outcasts block them.

I run to the other end of the ropes and flip over them, taking both Saraya and Ruby out, I look back and Toni got back up so I get myself back up onto the apron and spring board flip over, hitting her with a buckshot lariat, I lay over her as the ref starts counting "1....2.....3!" I scream as I crawl off of Toni, holding my head in shock, then slipping out of the ring, ripping my title from the table and lifting it up.

I back up into the elite with my title raised "I cant believe this! The Elite's Princess actually won the title!" came from the announcers desk, you didn't care who it was, you just cared you were a champion in the arms of your lovers as you made your way backstage.

I had sat down on my couch and immediately got pounced on by all the boys, I giggle as they all hug me "Our little champion, you did so good out there princess" you smile at Adam and peck his cheek "Thanks" all the boys were proud of you and all showed it in their own way, peppering kisses anywhere they could on your skin as they cuddled you into the couch.

"Now we should go out to dinner to celebrate then?" Kenny asks and I immediately smile widely "I CALL SHOTGUN!" everyone in the room laughs, and I couldn't be happier in this moment then with my boys

A/N I hope you like this because I had fun with this

#aew x reader #aew #aew fanfiction #the elite #the elite x reader #adam page #adam page x reader #nick jackson #nick jackson x reader #matt jackson #matt jackson x reader #young bucks #young bucks x reader

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decaying-enigma · 2 years

Text

DP Prompt #4

[Taking a different approach to Danny’s first meeting with Nocturne]

[Enjoy!]

______________________________________________________________

Danny was lost, very, very lost.

And not the kind where you can't find which aisle in the grocery store the fruity pebbles are in.

No, Danny was lost in the Ghost Zone, a dimension otherwise known as the Infinite Realm by its inhabitants, all by himself, without anything dead or alive in sight.

"I hate my life sometimes," Danny bemoaned, as he stiffened a long yawn into his hand.

He was exhausted and hadn't had a full, uninterrupted night of sleep in what seemed like forever. Which was all thanks to the ghosts, who didn't have the common decency to wreak havoc at a reasonable hour.

Was that really too much to ask?

As a result, Danny hadn't been able to have a restful night in weeks, no matter how many times he caught and threatened the ghosts.

They just kept coming back.

And now he was lost in the Ghost Zone.

It was all because one ghost managed to snag his thermos when he hadn't been paying attention, mostly due to lack of sleep, and flew off into the Ghost Zone.

Danny, of course, had chased the ghost and eventually got his thermos and some payback. The only problem was that he hadn't realized how far the chase had gone until he looked around and couldn't recognize anything.

Now, Danny was lost in another realm. He had only just begun to explore, which was especially difficult given that every time he came to the Zone, he was either chasing someone, being thrown in prison, being kidnapped, or fighting for his life.

Honestly, could this day get any worse.

"Are you lost, child?"

Danny spun around, ready for anything, only to freeze as he saw what had gotten the jump on him.

They were made of stars.

Bright, beautiful, fascinating, like the night sky, dark black with shining dots in it, cascading upwards into a looming figure. The being seemed as if their entire body held a galaxy within its skin.

Their head was a white porcelain mask, crowned with two curved purple horn-like appendages on either side, with ruby-red eyes, and they had a curved scar along the side of their face, going through their right eye.

The star-like being stared curiously, observing the young and tired halfa.

Shaking out of the trance, Danny narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?!" he demanded, eyes glowing a toxic green and similar rays of energy gathering in his fists.

Instinctively, Danny was already preparing for a fight.

But the beautiful, odd-looking ghost surprised him.

Instead of getting ready to fight, the star-like being calmly held out their hands in a calming gesture, "Peace, little one,"

Blinking in surprise, Danny almost listened before realizing what they had just said. "H-hey! I'm not a kid," Danny bristled, his face flashing a bright green. "I'm a whole-ass teenager. I even have chest hair to prove it!"

Technically, there was only one chest hair, but it was still there. That totally counts for something!

"A teen, you say," the star-being pondered before their eyes and smile widened ever so slightly. "Ahh-you are the hybrid child. Danny Phantom."

Their smile seemed excessively wide, but oddly enough, Danny didn't feel threatened by it. The being seemed almost happy to meet him.

Which was definitely weird.

No ghosts really liked to see him. Hell, there were even fewer humans that liked him, which was saying a lot. Whenever other ghosts knew who he was, they either wanted to pick a fight or straight up called him an abomination and declared he should be torn apart molecule by molecule.

How original.

As if Danny hadn't heard that same speech enough times from his parents every day.

The only ghosts that actually liked to see him were a select few that he could just barely count on one hand.

...Danny hadn’t realized the list was so small until now. That fact stung a little more than he was expecting it to.

"Nocturne."

"Huh?" he said, eloquently. He was too lost in his own depressing spiral to hear what they had just said.

Luckily, they repeated, "My name," Nocturne confirmed, introducing themselves with an elegant bow, the stars that made up their being shining brightly. "You may address me as Nocturne, Ghost of Dreams and Sleeping."

"Oh-umm, hi?" Danny stumbled, slightly caught off guard. "Y-o...I’m Danny, I guess."

Nocturne quirked an eyebrow when he didn't continue.

"And your title?" Nocturne asked, leaning in closer, as if they were looking for something.

Danny blinked, "Title? Do I have a title?" he asked, mostly to himself.

Danny knew Frostbite liked to call him a lot of things. But he wasn't sure that counted as an official title like Nocturne's seems to be. Maybe the protector of Amity Park or the boy-who-couldn't-even-die-correctly could work as a title. It certainly flowed right off the tongue.

Nocturne blinked, momentarily surprised, before shaking their head, "It's of no matter of importance then.”

"Alright?" Danny said, totally not unconcerned about what that was all about. "So did you need something from me or...?"

Danny didn’t want to be rude, but he really wanted to get home and reunite with his bed.

Nocturne hummed at the question before replying.

"I was merely curious, as an unfamiliar being had stumbled directly into my lair," Nocturne said, now looking pointedly at Danny.

Though, oddly, there was still no accusation in their voice that suggested they were angry. They still just seemed curious.

"Your lair? What do you mean? I don't see any-,"" Danny stopped mid-sentence, as he finally looked around at his surroundings.

Looming directly behind Nocturne was a gigantic castle that Danny could have sworn wasn't there just a second ago.

The castle was a gigantic structure, reminding Danny faintly of Pariah’s Keep, except for the fact that it seemed much more well taken care of and was colored with softer purples and light blues.

It was actually pretty pleasant to look at, something Danny never would’ve thought he'd say about a gigantic castle. But it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen stranger things before. Plus, he was still almost positive that it hadn’t been there a second

That, or maybe he was more sleep-deprived than he had originally thought.

"So?" Nocturne asked, still being weirdly nice to him.

Snapping out of his surprise once again, Danny shifted awkwardly, "My bad," he apologized sheepishly, self-consciously rubbing the back of his neck. "I got a little lost on my way home. I’ll leave right now. "

Danny turned to fly away, hoping to not embarrass himself anymore, but stopped when Nocturne called out.

"Wait," they said, an unreadable expression on their porcelain-like face.

A sinking feeling settled in Danny’s gut as he prepared for anything to happen.

"Yeah?" Danny cautiously asked, wondering if Nocturne did actually have a problem with him stumbling into their lair. It wouldn’t be the first time a ghost tried to fight him for doing so.

But Nocturne managed to surprise him once again.

"You haven’t been sleeping," Nocturne declared suddenly, looking at him with an honest-to-Clockwork disprovable in his eyes.

Danny blinked. "Wait. How do you-," he began, before slapping himself in the forehead for how obvious the answer was.

Nocturne had literally told him when they introduced themselves.

"Ghost of Sleeping. Got it."

Nocturne seemed amused, before another unreadable expression settled onto their face. For a moment, they did nothing but stare at Danny, as if they were still searching for something that only they could see.

It took a moment before they seemed to find it, as suddenly, Nocturne waved their hand and a twinkling sand-like substance was released, spreading itself over Danny before he had time to react.

"What was that?!" Danny coughed, wondering why the hell Nocturne just threw freaking sand at him.

Sadly, it wouldn’t be the first or even the 20th time someone had thrown something of questionable origin at him with the purpose of harm.

God, his life sucked sometimes.

Luckily, after a few moments, Danny realized that he wasn’t dying, at least not fully, and he didn’t feel poisoned. So, a small victory.

But the fact that sand had still been thrown at him was still a mystery.

Fortunately, Nocturne was willing to answer.

"That was my dream dust," Nocturne explained, a gentle smile on their face. "You shall fall into slumber peacefully tonight and feel refreshed once you awake."

Danny blinked in surprise. Then he blinked once more.

That actually sounded kind of nice.

"Thanks!" Danny exclaimed, actually surprising himself by how amazing getting a restful sleep sounded.

Nocturne shook their head, disregarding any thanks, "Think nothing of it, child,"

Because truly, it was nothing.

Nocturne was the Ghost of Dreams and Sleep, after all. This wasn’t even a gift worth mentioning considering how easily it could be accomplished. Furthermore, it would be wrong for a child, especially a half-ghost child, to be unable to sleep peacefully. Not if they had anything to say about it.

Danny gave Nocturne a genuine smile. "Well, I should go now. Thanks again, I hope I’ll see you around!" he called out, as he blasted away from Nocturne’s lair, almost giddy to collapse into his bed.

"Farewell, Danny Phantom," Nocturne said softly.

Then, like a switch had been flipped, Nocturne's friendly demeanor faded from view.

In it’s wake was an emotionless mask that settled as they stared off into the depths of the Infinite Realm. There was a sudden tangible weight, one shared by few other beings, that entered their gaze. Then, with absolute certainty in their voice, they declared.

"We shall meet once again."

It was a promise.

#dp prompt #dp #dp au #danny phantom #danny fenton #Nocturne #ectoberhaunt22 #dp fanfic

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stupidsagestars · 1 year

Text

𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝! 𝐔𝐤𝐚𝐢 who's having the time of his life. He decided to get a saturday job at the local pool and god is it the best. He pays attention to absolutely nothing, stupid kids who have fights,even strangling each other with inflatables. Those teenage girls who sneak looks at him,whispering their dirty fantasies, those mothers who cheer for their children 's shit swimming - the list could go on.

It was a normal day at the pool, with 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝! 𝐔𝐤𝐚𝐢 wearing a yellow cap and holding a huge reading book which hid a comic inside, all he needed now was a can of beer and he'd officially be in his golden age. Until he can hear someone aggressively banging on the legs of his chair.

"EXCUSE ME!!" You shout looking up at the confused blondie.

"Uh hello??" Ukai says, looking down at you, quickly closing both books.

"Do you mind coming down, I need to talk to you." You say and he nods quickly. When he gets down he realises that you were absolutely drenched. You were wearing a pretty yellow sundress and he was entranced in not just your clothing but beauty. Your eyes,your lips,your whole face was cute especially the annoyed expression you were giving him now.

"I don't want to cause a scene so I think we should go somewhere more private." You snap, struggling to not shout at him right then and there.

"Sure." He said casually, he led you to the lifeguards' changing room and sat on a bench.

"You must be wondering why I'm drenched. Well that's became you couldn't do your fucking job and instead left me to save my drowning brother." You pause to look at him. He seems unbothered, he's laying flat out on the bench, humming some stupid tune.

"And you're not even following the guidebook properly." You say shoving a tiny book in his face to which he immediately sits up.

"Where'd you get this?" He flicks through the pages but places it down immediately.

"At the kiosk for 5 bucks so you better not throw it in the bin."

"I'm actually kinda flattered, you bought me a book." Ukai says, smirking at you.

"Where are the towels." You ask, feeling the coldness of your dress extremely uncomfortable.

"To the left of you."

He continues on, " so you have a brother."

You sigh, "yeah, he wanted to go with his friends so me being the busy, working,tired daughter meant that I was the perfect one to go!"

"I assume from that you have siblings who do not work at home too."

"Yep 2 of them."

"Well that sucks." He says, not knowing how else to respond.

"Are you trying to change the subject." You say glaring at him.

"No of course not I enjoy you telling me what to do, in fact come here run through this guidebook with me."

Maybe it was the heat, the fact that your dress was stuck to you, your sheer boldness or Ukai's endlessly horny self that resulted in him currently fucking you into oblivion. Hands gripping your lower abdomen as he pushed his thick cock in and out of you. Your moans and mewls just pushed him to go faster.

He tuts at you, "You see, I'm not sure if this is a reward or punishment. I'm either taking care of you for being hard-working and a good sister or I'm punishing you for tryna boss me around, can't decide between the two."

You can formulate any words to snap back at him instead you're just left to continuously moan in response to this heavenly feeling.

" I think I've fucked you dumb and we're not even close to finishing yet." He teases, you manage to your roll eyes.

His thrusts become sloppier and you can hear his grunts more, he was definitely close.

"See, you're such a brat, r-rolling your eyes at me. How about I just breed you right then and there, make you my pretty housewife- might learn some fuckin' manners"

"Fuck do it- do it." You beg, the pleasure overriding your senses.

"Okay if you insist." He says sarcastically but the moan that comes out of his mouth just after he released his load into you can't be faked. He slowly takes some of the cum out and spreads it on your stomach,eyes glued to yours, a lewd smile plastered on his face.

"You wanna taste?" But before you can formulate an answer he's already shoving his veiny,long rough fingers into your mouth.

"Of course you do."

"Oh, I should tell you this, I'm not gonna get pregnant since I'm on birth control." You say resting your face on Ukai's abs.

He breathes out a sigh relief, "thank goodness." He mutters playing with your hair.

"are we gonna hang out after this?"

"duh and then we can make a kid in a few weeks." he mumbles.

"maybe not a few weeks more like a few months or years kei."

"I'll convince ya." He yawns, " I've got my own convenience store y'know. I can take ya there"

"that seems fun."

---★--- Ik this one was like 70% plot, 30% smut but I liked it, this isn't proofread so feel free to point out mistakes. Follow for more stories!!

#ukai keishin #ukai smut #ukai x you #hq smut #haikyu x reader #haikyu smut #haikyuu #keishin ukai smut #keishin ukai x reader #haikyuu fanfiction #anime smut #anime au #anime fanfic #anime #haikyuu headcanons

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mylastresortiswriting · 7 months

Text

"Youngblood"

Eugene Roe x femReader

Hey @softguarnere, I was the person to write the short story for you.

I have to admit it was quite a challenge, but a fun one as it would turn out.

It is my first time writing something like this, so I hope you like it :)

PS: I am sorry, but it is a bit longer than 1,000 words, not including the song text.

PPS: If there are any mistakes, then please correct me, it is late night/really early morning right now for me and I had quite some trouble to coordinate everything here on Tumblr.

Warnings: mentions of past bullying

Remember the words you told me, "Love me 'til the day I die"

You know him since Middle School, he was the new kid, who came to your school.

Surrender my everything 'cause you made me believe you're mine

From the beginning on you disliked him, maybe even hated him, for something he is not to blame, but you only realize that a few years later.

Yeah, you used to call me baby, now, you're calling me by name (mmm)

You always seemed to notice him when no one else did, but you never realized why, certainly not because you were interested in him or so you thought.

Takes one to know one, yeah, you beat me at my own damn game

The reasons why you disliked him for almost all of Middle School were silly as you would realize later on.

You push and you push and I'm pulling away

Pulling away from you

He was bullied by three other kids from your grade and the rest, including you as well as the teachers, never stood up for him and simply ignored it.

I give and I give and I give and you take

Give and you take

The boy himself never stood up or said anything, trying to ignore it as best as he can, which was basically the reason why you hated him, silly and unreasonable as you now know.

Youngblood

Say you want me, say you want me out of your life

Once you got into High School you realized that the bullying stopped, since the three teenager went to another school, and that he actually slowly starts to talk to the others, but mostly only to the people he didn't know from Middle School.

Then I'm just a dead man walking tonight

But you need it, yeah, you need it all of the time

And around that time you look at him more and more until you are hit with the realization that you have a crush on him.

Yeah, ooh, ooh, ooh

Youngblood

Somehow you managed to befriend him and apologize as well and not much later you get together.

Say you want me, say you want me back in your life

Everything went well until it didn't.

So I'm just a dead man crawling tonight

'Cause I need it, yeah, I need it all of the time

Yeah, ooh, ooh, ooh

"[Y/N], is everything okay?", Bill, one of your best friends since Elementary School, asks, pulling you out of her thoughts,"You have been really silent today, that is quite unusual. Did something happen?"

Lately, our conversations end like it's the last goodbye

You try to wave it off:"No, everything is fine...", but your voice trailing of at the end of the sentence gives the lie away.

Then one of us gets too drunk and calls about a hundred times

Nix chimes in:"Don't lie, just tell us, it can't be that bad, I mean you didn't kill someone, did you?", having only listened and watched so far.

So, who you been calling baby? Nobody could take my place

"No, I didn't kill anyone.", you reply, annoyance lacing your voice.

When you're looking at those strangers, hope to God you see my face (ooh, ooh)

Nix and Bill roll their eyes as you don't continue and now it is Joe's, who just arrived after talking to Web, his boyfriend, about when they are going to meet up after school, turn to question you:"Hey, friends, how is it going? Now, what is going on with you, [Y/N]? Trouble in paradise?", this was a suggestion no one made so far and judging from your reaction he is right, which obviously gets their attention.

Youngblood

Say you want me, say you want me out of your life

"Seriously? Did Eugene did something? Just tell us, we can deal with it!", Bill says, anger visibly in his face, Nix and Lieb nod as all three of them cast a glance over to the table at which Eugene and Shifty are sitting, Eugene is currently explaining something to Shifty, who nods along, oblivious to the stares he just receives.

Then I'm just a dead man walking tonight

But you need it, yeah, you need it all of the time

"Probably feeling, but ignoring it. He told me, that he got quite good at that.", you think to yourself, following their gaze, before speaking up to clarify what is going on:"No, no, no, he didn't do anything, we just had kind of a disagreement...a argument...Well, I don't know what to call it, but don't worry, he will probably approach me to talk about it, he just needs some.time to cool off and get his thoughts sorted out."

Yeah, ooh, ooh, ooh

Youngblood

"That is a relief, but what exactly did you disagree about?", Nix further wants to know.

Say you want me, say you want me back in your life

You just shrug your shoulders:"I don't really know, I guess I said something, which hurt him....We will see, I will keep you posted. Now, doesn't everyone of us had to go to the next period, I don't think our teachers would appreciate us being too late again.", with that you signal, that for you the conversation is over now as you quickly pack everything up to get to your next lesson in time.

So I'm just a dead man crawling tonight

The rest of the day you are left wondering what exactly went wrong, not finding anything, so you hope that your boyfriend will explain it to you later, which he luckily does.

'Cause I need it, yeah, I need it all of the time

Yeah, ooh, ooh, ooh

It is already 9pm when your doorbell rings and for a moment you are left wondering who it could be, before you carefully sneak downstairs to see who it is without them seeing you as you are at home alone this night, your parents are at some stupid company party or so, like almost every second Friday.

You push and you push and I'm pulling away

Pulling away from you

Peaking outside you can see your boyfriend, who nervously stands in front of the door, waiting for you to open up, which after some debating with yourself you do.

I give and I give and I give and you take

Give and you take

"Can I talk.."

You're running around and I'm running away

"So what exactly is your problem..."

Running away from you

Both of you begin, interrupting the other one.

Mmm, from you

Youngblood

He motions you to go first, which you do, sounding slightly angry:"Well, for starters, I want to know what your problem with me exactly is!", realizing too late that it came out meaner than expected and according to Gene's body language he agrees with that.

Say you want me, say you want me out of your life

Getting himself together he quietly says:"That is exactly why I came here, to talk about it with you and to apologize and explain myself. Is that fine with you?"

Then I'm just a dead man walking tonight

But you need it, yeah, you need it all of the time

You need to think about that for a moment, not happy about his behavior towards you, but if it really was your fault, even by accident, then you would like to apologize as well.

Yeah, ooh, ooh, ooh

Youngblood

"Come on in."

Say you want me, say you want me back in your life

He follows you into the living room, sitting down on the other side of the couch, facing you.

So I'm just a dead man crawling tonight

Expectingly you wait for him to begin.

'Cause I need it, yeah, I need it all of the time

Yeah, ooh, ooh, ooh

Nervously, even more than before, he looks down at his fidgeting fingers, before quietly speaking up after clearing his throat:"Well,..I kind off have been taking my distance from you, because I wasn't sure, if you still want to be together with me..", before he can continue you interrupt him, nearly shouting:"What the fuck does that mean? Why shouldn't I want to be together with you? Give me one good reason!", which he provides, even more anxious than before.

You push and you push and I'm pulling away

Pulling away from you

"Yesterday you said to me, that you didn't want to be together with someone, who can't stand up for themselves or others...And as you know, I am not that good at standing up for myself...", his voice trails off, wanting to explain it some more, bit seemingly not finding the right words.

I give and I give and I give and you take

Give and you take

Shocked you realize what he means and letting out a breath you tell him:"Oh, sweet Jesus, oh my god, Gene. I am so sorry! I didn't really think about it when I said it.

Yes, it this important for me, but not the most important thing and only if someone does or doesn't do both of it.

And there is a reason why it is hard for you to stand up for yourself.

Still you always stand up for others, if you see that they aren't treated well.

So, there is no reason for me to not be together with you, you are the most important person in my life right now.

I love you so much, so never ever think less of yourself just because of something silly I said.

Next time just please talk about it with me immediately."

Youngblood

Say you want me, say you want me out of your life

"Really?", this simple question shatters your heart completely and tears start to appear in your eyes as you close the distance and hug him.

Then I'm just a dead man walking tonight

It takes him a second, before he hugs you back, patting your back, apologizing:"I am also sorry for not talking with you sorry and for hurting your feelings. I love you too."

For a minute there both of you just hold onto the each other and as soon as your calm down again you let go of each other and be look at you and with an amused look on his face he asks:"So now, that everything is okay, what are we going to do?"

"You want to stay here for the night? My parents are away and I have nothing to do. You?", you reply, asking him in return.

He shrugs his shoulders:"I have nothing against that, I also have nothing to do and my mom is okay with me staying over, probably expects me to do so honestly.", he lightly chuckles, making you grin.

Somehow this results in you break out into laughter.

Calming down you want to know:"What do we want to do?"

He thinks about that for a second:"What about doing a Star Wars movie marathon?", he stops, adding,"By the way, I have to be at 11am the lastest, I want to say goodbye to my brother, who is going back to college."

You nod in agreement:"Sounds good, why don't you turn on the TV and start the first movie, while I am getting a few snacks from the kitchen?"

He gives you thumbs up and soon as you stand up.

The next few hours, so basically the whole night, you spend watching the movies and talking about basically everything, at some point you completely stop watching the movies and instead only talk.

At some point you look up and see the clock over the TV, shocked at seeing the time, which you tell Gene:"Gene, it is five a.m."

"We talked basically all night?", he replies, just as surprised as you.

Looking at each you burst out into loud laughter, seeing that the other one looks just as funny as the other one.

#hbowarshort23 #band of brothers x reader #eugene roe x reader #fanfiction #band of brothers fanfiction

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magalidragon · 10 months

Note

I’m not proud! I want “hey” with a raspy voice. 😂

Sorry this took longer than I thought but naturally I got really into the actual plot when it should just be a Drabble, lol.

I hope you like it! It's set in a random universe not in any other current fic AUs.

“Hey.”

It’s said in a raspy voice, a simple word. “Hey.” Yet it causes her toes to curl, the hair on the back of her neck to stand on end, and her palms to sweat.

She swallows, glancing up over the top of her glasses. “Hey,” she replies, fumbling a little with the books and study guides, as he takes a seat across from her. He’s still in scrubs, his dark curls pulled back, and he’s tired, but manages a smile as he takes out his books. She shoves a packet of papers at him. “These are for you, I made you a copy.”

“Thanks.” The rasp is still there. He sometimes sounds like he smokes ten packs of cigarettes a day, but she knows it's just from fatigue and maybe the vape he sneaks when he thinks no one is looking. Then sheepishly admits to and says "I know I'm a doctor, but it's a bad habit."

She feels like a teenager around him, not a serious resident, preparing to take her boards. The sooner they were over, the sooner she could get back to focusing on her patients and not her study partner or the overwhelming threat of not getting board certified in her specialty of choice. Things like crushes were for children.

Also apparently her.

He looks up when the barista calls his name and gets back to his feet, rather wearily, trudging over to the bar, where he smiles politely. The barista looks like she's about to faint. He's absolutely clueless.

She's never met a man so oblivious to the effect he had on anyone around him, men, women, children, nothing. He just seems to go through life like a raspy-voiced, super sexy, slightly rumpled and incredibly kind saint. She has to wonder what lies beneath his perfect exterior. No one could be that perfect. There has to be a dark side. She's always wondered.

Her best friend insists he must have a secret family or he's a criminal on the run. Maybe he's gay, Missy had suggested, but then Dany remembers how a patient dumped a water cup on her shirt and his gaze had lingered just a second longer when she'd walked off to deal with the soaking white t-shirt she'd been wearing. Not gay, just extremely clueless.

They are the oldest in their residency class so they bonded a little over that. Fire and ice, their boss Olenna Tyrell had said on the first day. The tiny silver-haired pixie and the hard-as-steel dark-haired wolf. They've been working together for almost five years now; she in pediatric emergency medicine and he, in trauma medicine. They ended up bonding when he moved down to spend more time in the emergency room. Now, it's been months of prepping for the test that arrives in less than a week.

They'd be traveling together, she thinks, biting hard on the end of her pen, which is already chewed up. Saving money on that. The boards are taking place at a hotel in White Harbor. It's a five hour drive from Winterfell, Queen Alysanne's Memorial Hospital, where he's lived his entire life and she moved up from Dragonstone for her residency.

She thinks it may kill her.

Tension has been building for…well the first couple years she was lucky to have someone who just wasn’t out to stab her and betray her, residency was brutal like that. Then he became a friend and she feared ruining their friendship.

Now?

Now the crush consumes her, and each time he says “hey” with that raspy Northern accent she wants to jump his bones and give him mouth-to-mouth. Also to see if his arse is really as shapely as it appears even in scrubs, which should be criminal. No one should look good in scrubs. Yet he does. It’s so unfair.

He sits back down with his coffee, a massive cup that she knows is filled to the brim with steaming black tar, which is how he prefers it. He takes a long chug; coming off shift, no wonder he’s in need of the boost. “Alright,” he says, wiping the back of his hand over his mouth. He exhales hard. He flips to the part of their study materials they’d left off at and tugs his flashcards towards him. “Quiz me.”

Fuck me.

Her mind is horrific. She closes her eyes hard. “I can’t concentrate,” she mutters.

“It’s almost over Dany,” he says kindly, clueless to her angst. He pats her hand, his fingers lingering over her slightly upturned wrist, where she has three tiny dragons tattooed. “We’ll be real, official doctors once we pass these things.”

They sort of are “real official doctors” with medical degrees and white coats, but once they pass the boards, that’s when they get their license in their chosen field. It’s when they official end residency and become real life long coat doctors. Except she can’t think. She removes her hand from his and slams her books closed, taking a deep breath, her cheeks flaming, her brain fighting against this highly unnatural urge she has to just say it.

“Jon, I have something to tell you.”

He looks up, concerned, his dark brows furrowing. “Are you alright? Are you sick?”

“I just…I can’t concentrate on the boards on…on anything because…” She closes her eyes hard, and stutters out, fast and nervous: “Because I like you and it’s kind of killing me and I really just want to kiss you and I think once I kiss you, it will all go away and we can go back to being friends, forget everything, and then take these boards, and…and go back to normal.”

Normal, being whatever the seven hells it was between them once kissing was out of the way.

Once the crush went away.

He blinked at her, his lips parting slightly. She watched his gray irises widen around his pupils, before the pupil began to dilate. Attraction, her doctor brain began to tell her, going through the body’s biological response to sexual stimuli. Or maybe he was having a stroke.

Maybe she was having a stroke.

“A kiss?” he echoed. He waved his finger between them, swallowing hard. “You think…if we kiss…you can…you can end a crush you have on me and…and…then things…can go back to…normal?”

He’s piecing out the words, trying to fit it all together. She nods quickly. “Yes,” she blurts.

“Oh.”

They’re silent, and then he ducks his head. Oh gods. She’s truly ruined this. “Or,” she says, hurrying, and gathering her things, embarrassed, her face flaming hot, her palms sweating, and heart sinking. “We pretend that nothing ever happened and I go home and I jump off my roof and…”

Suddenly his hands are around her cheeks, scratchy palms on her soft skin, and his lips are over hers, and then she’s falling into him, and grabbing the front of his scrub shirt, before her fingers dive to his curls, pulling at them lightly. He’s gentle and mindful they’re in the middle of a bloody coffee shop, but she feels his tongue lightly brushing over her lower lip and she opens slightly to allow him to tease at hers, before they’re both pulling back, staring wide-eyed at each other.

And bloody hell.

The crush has now exploded into full on fucking love, she’s sure of it.

“Jon,” she breathes, holding onto his wrists.

He smiles, shy, and mumbles, “I’ve wanted to do that since the first day of residency, Dany.”

Now it’s her turn to be dumbfounded. “Oh.”

He nods and separates completely, hands dropping to their books. She does the same.

“Wanna’ get out of here?” they both blurt out at the same time.

“Yes,” they both reply.

Several hours later, as she stirs in his arms, waking from a lovely nap after finally discovering what truly lay under those scrubs– absolute perfection, of course– she hears a slight rasp in her ear.

“Hey.”

And she’s smiling, nuzzling closer, whispering, contentedly: “Hey.”

#jonerys #jonerys au #my fics #jonerys Drabble

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stanheightsimp · 1 month

Text

I wrote this quickly to distract myself from my burnout. Sorry, it's badly written and sloppy, a bit. There will surely be corrections in the future, when my mental health is better !

Group Therapy | Adam Stanheight x /Leon Kennedy

Adam must take part in group therapy. He meets a survivor of Raccoon City. Since Amanda and Leon are both in DBD, I'm obsessed with the idea of a Saw and Resident Evil crossover (and also because Leon and Adam are comfort characters). | 2478 words

Adam Stanheight stepped hesitantly into the overheated room, nervously fidgeting with the excessively long sleeves of his flannel shirt. He didn't want to do this. Fuck, he hated this kind of thing. Group therapy. For people suffering from PTSD. Great.

It was his therapist who'd sent him there "an indispensable step in his healing process". Supposedly, Adam was too self-focused on his suffering. Supposedly, it would do him good to find other people who had it as bad as he did. Blah, blah, blah. Fucking idiot therapist. As if he could understand what Adam was going through. As if anyone could understand what it felt like to wake up in a tub of dirty, cold water, seeing a person saw off his foot, , get shot by this person, and be left to die for seven days in the dark, without food or water. Adam decided he'd do the bare minimum, even put all the ill will in the world into it, so they'd leave him alone, or even, oh fuck, that was what he wanted, kick him out of group therapy for being unbearable.

He sat down grudgingly on one of the folding chairs arranged in a circle in the center of the room, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest, reluctant to cooperate. A few people were already there, people in his age bracket. At least, that was something. Adam didn't really like people from his parents' generation.

His gaze met that of a blond boy with hair like the lead singer of the Backstreet Boys (Adam hated the Backstreet Boys). Blue shirt open over a white T-shirt, sky-blue jeans, big clear eyes, and eyes rimmed as if he hadn't slept in days.

Leon Kennedy met Adam's gaze and wasn't sure whether he liked him or hated him. His old self of a few years ago would have liked him, probably. Leon liked people, trusted them without restraint. He believed in many things, was unfailingly optimistic, and managed to find beauty in everyone. Even when people were capable of the worst, he could find the best in them.

Well, that was then. Leon clung desperately to the ghost of the carefree, optimistic kid he'd been before Raccoon City.

"We have a new member," declared the group therapy organizer, and Adam rolled his eyes. "Adam, stand up, would you like to introduce yourself?"

No, fuck no, I don't want to introduce myself, I don't want to be there, I want to disappear.

Adam stood up with a sigh.

"My name's Adam. I'm twenty-five years old. And four months ago, I was a victim of Jigsaw. He locked me in the bathroom, and I almost died in there. And… that's it."

The assembly said a unanimous "hello Adam" which Adam felt was forced and hypocritical. Fuck, he hated group therapy. Everyone came not to support or listen to others, but to be supported and listened to by someone, to have someone sympathize. Basically, this kind of therapy was the most singularly selfish thing Adam had ever seen.

"Was there any particular reason he captured you?" asked a girl, older than Adam but not by much.

Are you fucking kidding me? You really think this asshole needs a reason? You're such an idiot! Adam tried to reply, but just shook his head.

"Actually, maybe there was a reason. I was suicidal, in a way."

"What do you mean, in a way? You either are or you aren't, there's no in-between." commented a teenager laconically.

"Shut the fuck up, I didn't fuckin' ask for your opinion." Adam replied, sitting back down.

The therapy organizer intervened, asking with forced enthusiasm and empathy, someone else to talk about him. At first, Adam couldn't help rolling his eyes as he listened to the other people's testimonials, and especially as he saw the sympathetic nods.

Leon didn't say much either. But he did listen. He listened a lot. He seemed to really listen to what others were saying. He didn't necessarily propose solutions, but offered a listening ear, a real listening ear.

Then Adam decided to speak up:

"Before the trap, I was… I was convinced I was nothing. I was alive, but I was nothing. I didn't even want to live. Today, I want to live, and I've realized it, but I'm just… too broken to live. I have nightmares every night. Horrible nightmares. I can't get into a bathtub without thinking about the trap. Everything brings me back to it."

He took a deep breath, holding back the rising tears. And it was Leon who came to his rescue by speaking up, diverting attention from the dozen or so curious faces scanning Adam, probably waiting for him to burst into tears.

"I was in Raccoon City when it happened. September 30, 1998… It's a day I'll never forget. Somehow, I made it out. But too many others...weren't so lucky. But deep down, I know that the cop inside me died that day. If I could just forget what happened that night, the pain—even for a second."

Leon swallowed his saliva with difficulty, his eyes moist and his fingers clutching the fabric of his jeans.

"Thank you for your testimony, Leon" said the organizer. With a wave of his arms, he invited the participants to repeat what he had just said, and there was a brouhaha of more or less sincere "thank you for your testimony, Leon".

The rest of the session passed laboriously, and when it was over and Adam had put on his jacket, Leon approached him. The room had already all but emptied.

"Hi. My name's Leon." "Adam" he replied in a formal, wary tone. "First session, huh?" "Yeah, and probably the last." Adam replied with a deeply jaded look.

Leon could see through Adam's game. He knew that Adam's cynical, sarcastic attitude was just a mask. Just as Leon had closed in on himself like a shell, Adam was trying to repel others.

They stared at each other for a long, long time. Soon, the room was completely empty.

"Shall I walk you back to the parking lot?" offered Leon to Adam. "Why not" the dark-haired man conceded.

Five minutes later, they were in the men's bathroom, Leon pinning Adam against the wall, pressing his body against his and greedily exploring his mouth, Adam's arms around Leon's neck and Leon's hands on Adam's hips.

"Is this how you welcome newcomers?" sneered Adam against the blond's lips, as he slid his knee between his legs. "Just you. Only you." moaned Leon in his ear, before disengaging himself from the brunet's embrace and wiping his lips. "See you at the next session, Stanheight?" "Wait, all this so I can continue your bullshit therapy?"

Leon gave him a mischievous smile, placed a tender kiss on his cheek, and exited the restroom. Just before, he turned back to Adam and whispered in a soft voice:

"It's a date, yes." "Shit."

And so it was that Adam Stanheight didn't miss a single session of group therapy.

#saw #saw 2004 #adam radford #adam faulkner #adam faulkner stanheight #adam stanheight #leon kennedy #leon kennedy x adam stanheight #adam stanheight x leon kennedy #leon scott kennedy #leon s kennedy #dead by daylight #dbd

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mosinterlude · 2 years

Text

━━ BRUTAL ✦ complete joke

suggested tracks: brutal - olivia rodrigo. teen idle - marina. are you satisfied? - marina

As soon as Y/N turned on the Vlive, it was flooded with viewers. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Behind the setup sitting in front of her, out of camera’s view, sat Apollo, Kio, Fae, and their managers, Yoo Sooha and Jeon Joshua. While Sooha scolded at her, her frown causing wrinkles to crease her skin, Joshua gave her a thumbs up with a reassuring smile. Inhaling deeply, she smiles, waving cutely at the camera.

“Hi guys! Wow, there’s so many of you already. I hope you're all doing well.” She glances behind the camera to see Kio holding up his phone with a message; Deny Deny Deny. “I know why you’re all here, and I have other things planned for this live, but I should address some things first.”

To be honest, Y/N didn’t actually know if she liked Hanni. She had meant to tweet it on her private account on a whim, just to see what it felt like saying. She didn’t even know her that well, as an idol or person. She was stunning, sure, but she didn’t even know her. She met her briefly and Hanni didn’t even say hi to her. What was worse was that her album would be coming out later that night, meaning promotions would start not long after. What was so bad about this is that with NEWJEAN’S very recent debut, they would be sharing the idol stage for more than a few days.

“As you know, there was a tweet released on the official account concerning romantic feelings for someone from another group, a girl group.” She glances up at Sooha, who’s scold is prominent as ever. It reminds her of the face Jihyo from twice made once when they had gone to eat together. “I wanted to come here and say now that that tweet was a complete joke.” Fae makes a confused face, and Joshua follows, furrowing his eyebrows. Kio on the other hand gives her the thumbs up, urging her to continue.

“Uh yeah. It was a little joke between the Sian members. It was originally going to be about Han Jisung, from Stray Kids,” (‘Please understand and forgive me Han.’) “But then Kio said I should make it about Hanni instead. You see, the four of us kinda wanted to stir up a bit of trouble on Twitter, so we decided to make a little tweet about having feelings for someone.” Kio looks at her, offended, as if he d

“See as how this kinda threw both Visis and Newjeans fans into a frenzy, I wanted to come on here and clarify that little thing. Nobody in Elysian is in a relationship whatsoever, currently or before. It was meant to be a funny harmless little joke, and I'm sorry about worrying you guys.” Finally, the deep frown on Sooha’s face disappears, and all that’s left is a blank emotionless expression; Sooha was rather, well, unreadable. She was quiet and deadpan and kind of boring. She often clashed with Joshua, who was loud and hyper and exciting.

The pair often reminded Y/N of Akaashi and Bokuto from Haikyuu!, although the two rarely worked well together. Joshua was insistent on the four members to go out and be kids, do fun things without cameras following them. Sooha felt it was better for them to always wear their idols' personas, focusing on their choreography or their school, insistent that they do well and finish so they could focus on their careers. While Apollo somehow adored her, both Kio and Y/N had a differing opinion.

Sooha stood up, grabbing her stuff and heading for the door. Joshua grabbed his things, smiling and pushing a container of sushi he had brought for Y/N closer to them, smiling sheepishly, as if he was apologizing for Sooha, before running after her. She visibly relaxed once the both of them left, before looking at the camera, smiling. The comments were filled with words of support, love and excitement about the album. She grinned.

“Anyways, I came on here to talk a bit about my album, just writing it and what it's about.”

✿ * 𓈀 synopsis :: God, being a teenager is brutal. Of course, it's even more torture when you're in the spotlight; every move you make is documented and recorded to be used or held against you at a later date. And while most of the time it's justified, for seventeen year old idol Y/N L/N, it's a pain in the ass. especially when she ends up tweeting on the wrong account about her dumb little crush on newly debuted idol Hanni Phạm. And of course it comes right around the time that theyre ready to drop her solo debut album, aligning with NEWJEANS's debut. God, it's brutal out here.

prev. masterlist. next.

ꗃ : ˖ ۫ ◖ 𓂃 mo's interlude :: AYYY WE BACK😍 bro i love this fic so much im never gonna let it go i just needed a bit of a break thats all

ꗃ : ˖ ۫ ◖ 𓂃 taglists: brutal taglist. @coffeewon @myinzu @starzzns @sarcasmhadachild @luv4vernon @luvhyun3 @strwberrydinosaur @nomniki perm taglist. @jangwonie @bigtoewinwin

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sherrachan · 2 months

Text

My Honest Review of the Netflix ATLA Live-Action

I've seen a lot of negativity around Netflix's new ATLA live action, so as someone who has been both a fan of the animated series since it first aired, but also found a lot to love in the live action despite its flaws, I wanted to write a few (hahaha) words showcasing a non-indignant review from that perspective. I've decided to highlight three categories: what I thought it got right, what I'm neutral or biased about, and what it did not do well. And just to be VERY clear, I absolutely support anyone's right to like or dislike whatever they please for whatever their reasons are. However, if you are going around harassing, threatening, or body-shaming CHILD actors, who are in fact actual people and not fictional, please do everyone in the world a favor and remove yourself from the internet. There is literally no show on Earth bad enough to justify that kind of behavior.

For anyone not interested in reading the full review, my overall rating: 6.9/10

Let's start with what went right...

Zuko

I. Love. Dallas. Liu. This is not to remotely downplay the fact that I also love Dante Basco. From what I've gleaned from interviews, it seems they had even collaborated on his performance via Zoom calls, which I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for. I've noticed a lot of blind reactors to the animated series initially find Zuko annoying and one-dimensional for most of the first season. Though this is not entirely in line with my own opinion, I can't deny that his extra depth in season 2 came a bit out of left field even to me back when I watched the series as it aired between 2005-2007. Dante himself has said he was not given any foresight into his character and thought he was playing a straight villain at first, so he accordingly acted a straight villain. Thus, contrary to some other naysaying I've seen, I don't think it was a bad decision at all to showcase Zuko's more vulnerable side sooner. Speaking of that vulnerable side, Dallas I believe has an amazing career ahead of him. In spite of some clunky writing, he manages to both sell most of his lines in an intense way I completely buy, and also he just has this amazing ability to telegraph whole paragraphs with tiny fractional changes to his facial expression even when he's not speaking any dialogue. That my friends, is called good acting. I felt his scream of rage at Zhao during episode 8 through my entire body. He has a way of capturing both Zuko's petulant teenage angst and the still-a-child energy of being stupid and needing a guiding hand from his uncle. His and Iroh's chemistry and bond was probably the single biggest highlight of the series for me. Perhaps only rivaled by the extra bit of interaction between him and Aang in episode 6, which quite literally had me sobbing and smiling at the same time, and between him and Ozai where he was banished, which just had me sobbing. I cannot emphasize enough just how well his anguish is translated on his face without a single spoken word.

Dallas is also a skilled martial artist who did most of his own stunts, and visually, it is a treat to watch him perform in that aspect as well. The Aang/Zuko spar in episode 3 had some big Jackie Chan energy and I was smiling ear to ear the entire fight.

Iroh

This I know will be a less popular opinion, but Paul Sun-Hyung Lee I think brought a very nuanced performance to Iroh. While nothing can ever replace Mako's place on the most beloved character performance pedestal, I think it would be disrespectful to attempt to only replicate that performance and would come off as a caricature. Dallas and Paul had not met in person until the day they began shooting, so it takes an episode or two for them to shine as a duo, but shine they do very early on. The same clunky writing that plagues everyone's performances here and there finds no exception with Iroh, but I disagree with opinions I've seen of him being stiff and/or fake.

I feel his stiffness is being intentionally leaned into in a way that's supposed to highlight the idea that maybe Iroh is using his jovial nature to mask his pain over losing his son and worry for Zuko. It makes sense in the darker context of the live action, as we see even more clearly that he could very well have been as much of a butcher as that one Earth Kingdom soldier said he was. There's a scene in episode 4 of him while captured by the Earth Kingdom soldiers where this soldier singles him out over personal vendetta for killing his brother during his siege. While holding a massive rock over his head in rage over Iroh's seemingly uncaring attitude towards his atrocities, it is my interpretation of that pointed stare-down between the two that Iroh was trying to play the part of the villain that guy so desperately wanted to see in him. You could see Iroh's actual pain break through on his face immediately after everyone's back was turned. Thus begins the first of a series of flashbacks that ruin absolutely everyone's tear ducts, where Paul showcases just how sincere his Iroh can be. The added scenes between him and Zuko and Ozai peppered throughout I think make this series worth a watch by themselves. In my head, I've already adopted them into canon. As for where our truly laid back Uncle Iroh is to be found, though his narration in episode 6 about the "mask being who you truly are" was directed toward Zuko, I tend to think that will eventually pay off as true for himself, too.

Ozai/Azula/Zhao

Speaking of Mr. Fire Lord and family, Ozai has become a lot more interesting as a character to me when he's given a shred of humanity. Though we don't yet have the full picture of his motivations, you see that tiny grimace of regret as he burns Zuko's face after their Agni Kai, and I am intrigued. Again, this is not to downplay Mark Hamil's incredible performance in animated, but from a writing perspective, I've always found Ozai rather a cartoon cutout (pun intended) of an evily evil man who just wants to rule the world. Watching the cogs spin behind the scenes at the palace this early on has really added some extra layers for me. Azula benefits from this as well, as you see Ozai pitting the siblings against each other to see who will emerge the "better" heir. Zuko's motivation may subconsciously be geared more toward regaining that shred of humanity from his father moreso than his approval, in spite of what he says to himself and the viewers. But Azula is most definitely going for that approval, and I think beautifully sets up her eventual downfall into paranoia and gives them an even more tangible dichotomy in my opinion.

Ken Leung plays Zhao as a slimy little bastard in this version and clearly loved doing so. Though I was initially sort of raising an eyebrow at it, I've since decided that I am 120% in. Watching him claw his way to the top with Azula's help and piss all over anyone in his way has been extremely entertaining. I'm not even going to pretend Jason Issacs wouldn't ham it up that much, because we all know he would. In all seriousness, I think he strikes an impressive tightrope walk of being over-the-top without being too over-the-top, though I'm sure that is partially a matter of taste. I'd love to capture even half of his energy and doll it out to some of the rest of the cast, to be honest.

Omashu, Bumi, and Colliding Plots

Though I am well aware the way multiple animated show episodes' plots were smushed together was done to save limited runtime, I actually think this was very well executed in Omashu. Everyone still retained core aspects to their characters and they played nicely off each other to make one bigger plot that spanned 2 episodes. It comes down to a trade-off in either making the world feel bigger by having more side quests, or making Omashu feel more important. Though I am still undecided on if that trade-off was worth it, I can't deny that for what was done here, it played out very well. Not as well in the episode 5/6 attempt, but as episode 6 is my overall favorite episode starting at the Blue Spirit stuff, I'll leave the rest in the neutral category. Bumi's characterization specifically I know is controversial here. What I will say is that I've seen an equal number of blind reactors to the animated show who are utterly put off by his attitude as there are those that completely loved him, and literally nothing in the middle, so at least it's consistent in that regard. Personally, I find his more jaded (pun intended again) attitude suited for the tone the live action series is going for. That is to say, I think he works in the context of this version of the story, and neither would fit in if swapped. Fighting the same war and being responsible for all the lives affected by it for 100 years would damage anyone's mental health. While I personally think by the end of episode 4 that they are setting him up to tee towards a more positive outlook reminiscent of his original counterpart, I still find his attitude in the live action justifiable. I never personally found Bumi all that compelling in the animated series when he was first introduced, though I grew to love him as the story progressed and they gave him just a bit more serious dialogue. I will get into my reasoning on that later, in a more general sense.

I loved the incorporation of elements from the other media. I was incredibly shocked when The Mother of Faces name was dropped, and then again when I recognized facets from Korra, other comics, and the novels. I also loved the early focus on some of the other Avatars besides Roku, though I do tend to think Roku himself got a bit shafted, at least as it stands now. While it remains to be seen if he eventually gets the attention he deserves, seeing more of Kiyoshi and Kuruk really added to the depth of the lore for me. One of the biggest arguments I see against the live action is that it doesn't add anything to the story, to which I can only disagree. There would be no point to watching purely a 1:1 remake, and I feel that all of what I'm remarking on in this positives category is proof that I did take away many new things, some of which I treasure dearly now.

Koizilla and Yue

One of my biggest peeves with blind reactors to the animated series is them, more often that not, not grasping the significance of Aang merging with the Ocean Spirit, if they even recognize that is what happens in the first place. You'd be surprised just how many are unclear to this fact and just think it's Aang being a badass, or even that he's the one who drags Zhao under the water, in spite of the fact that you can see La set Aang down before doing this. It happens so often, I can't write it off simply as all these different people being unobservant. Whether you want to blame the writers, or Nick's censorship, or the runtime, or whatever else, it just isn't conveyed clearly enough in the animation. Though with little to back up my theories, I was always under the impression that this merge was involuntary on Aang's part, and he was not in control, which is partly why he was so terrified of the Avatar State going into season 2. Going by the live action's take, I have to walk that back a tiny bit in the sense that it is explained Aang offered himself up, but I admit to feeling vindicated with the rest.

I think the live action did better justice to this merge overall. I know I will get dragged for that, but between the added emotional weight, the screentime and (clearly most of their) budget for Koizilla, and giving Yue more of a personality, I'm happy we clearly understand what's going on and her sacrifice. Granted, her dialogue is perhaps overly exposition-y, and yet I cannot complain because evidently there was not enough exposition in the animated series to drive it home the way it did here. In a personal anecdote, my husband who watched the animated series with me but remembers nothing of it because that's just how he is, liked this final battle the best out of any episode for most of these reasons.

Speaking of Yue, Amber Midthunder did an amazing job with what she was given. No, her writing (once again my main complaint) was not the best. Her wig was wigging. I still didn't quite buy her and Sokka's attraction. But through sheer force of the actress' charisma, Yue as a standalone character transformed into someone I actually gave a shit about, which is not something I can claim of either of her previous portrayals. I like that she had more agency for herself, I like that Han wasn't just an unlovable moron there to make her sad, I liked her being a Waterbender and using all that power to make ice cream (I sure would,) I liked her dying with a tearful smile on her face. So sue me.

Onto the neutral...

Sokka

NOTE: I won't be mentioning Ian's controversy surrounding his heritage here, simply because nothing has been proven one way or another and I'd rather just not get into it with only speculation to go on.

Sokka overall I think does the heavy lifting for the Gaang in this version. As mentioned several times by now, everyone suffers here and there from questionable scripting, but as with Yue, Ian Ousley's natural personality shines through plenty enough to sell it. I KNOW people love Jack De Sena and his humor and comedy delivery, heck, I love these in Jack De Sena too. I don't think it would work nearly as well in this version of the world without being total and utter tonal whiplash. Ian brings a grounded quality to Sokka while maintaining a biting sarcasm that I think still earns his place. Additionally, I found myself getting emotional at a number of his scenes, and can personally really relate to his anxieties about not being able to shoulder all his responsibility. Hence why this goes into the neutral category, I can't deny some personal bias here because of that connection.

When talking about episode 2 specifically, and the removal of his overt sexism, I have to be biased again. For the same reasons as I mentioned in Bumi's bit that are coming up, I never found this aspect to be anything other than cringey. From a storytelling standpoint, after episode 4 of the animated series, it ceases to even really be an overt thing anymore, bringing it instead to the level where it is in the live action, so I don't even think it's really that significant of a change. As to what I mean by where it is in the live action, Sokka's arc still tackles internalized misogyny, I think. Toxic masculinity can harm the bearer of it just as much as it can harm those externally affected by it. For anyone wanting to argue me on this point, I have been a firsthand witness to both my husband and multiple male-identifying friends who have been irrevocably harmed by it, so I really don't want to downplay the fact that this is still a significant character flaw. How well it was executed by the writers is definitely debatable, but as with Bumi, there's merit in the concept. There's a running theme of Sokka learning he doesn't have to be a strong warrior to still protect those he loves, and letting go of the shadow left by his father when Sokka was put in such a demanding leadership position at such a young age. It was a big loss not putting him in full Kiyoshi gear though, I will give you that.

Aang and the Overall Story

I'm torn on Aang, because though I miss a lot of his playfulness in the live action, it is also true that I often felt, especially in season 1 of the animated show, that it never seemed like all the horrific things that happened to his people affected him as much as it should have. Again, this is all up to debate on how much Nick interfered with the creative process of the animated series, or the writing, or the runtime, etc. But, in general, it just never felt like emotional scenes were lingered on quite long enough to really let them sink in a lot of the time. This is not to say it always felt that way, but after multiple rewatches over my life, I find myself more and more unsatisfied when it does feel like that. I know showing the genocide of the Air Nomads is a hot button topic, but it at least can be said that it set what to expect for the tone of the live action. I personally felt nothing but horror and sadness while watching that scene, and I think that is the intended response by the creators. Though I think the pendulum was swung a bit too far on Aang's characterization, I did appreciate him feeling more gravity towards his circumstances. I also do understand them going for "coming to terms with the present" as his arc for this season, even if I think they dragged it out a bit too long for my liking. As a side note, it should be mentioned that Gordon Cormier is also a talented martial artist who did most of his own stunts as well. Watching some of the behind-the-scenes footage of him was a real delight. And this is where I have to own up to the disclaimer I've been alluding to...I was 19 when ATLA first started airing in 2005, and thus was quite a bit beyond the target demographic at the time, so I recognize this show was not written for people my age. Regardless of its universal appeal and overall amazing execution, there are always going to be some things about the animated series I find childish or stupid that I cannot gloss over with nostalgia the same way people who were younger can. I am certainly guilty of doing so for things that were relevant during my more formative years (hello, Sailor Moon.)

Conversely, you also could say that I am more open to criticizing the parts of the animated series I don't think hold up so well, as few in number as those things are. I will say for anyone who wasn't around at the time, you are very lucky to not have been exposed to the constant fights and protest campaigns with Nickelodeon to even continue/finish the series, the annoying ways they kept sabotaging the syndication, the toxic forum threads fighting over the stupidest little nitpicks, or the equally toxic ship wars (okay, maybe still those.) You'd honestly be very surprised how nostalgic all the negativity over the live action has been, because it's practically a mirror image to the negativity over animated at the time, only now with the extra punch-shyness of having the Movie That Shall Not Be Named casting a shadow over everything.

All that being said, at last we are now on to the negative...

The Writing/Pacing

While I still hold that there are gems to be had in the live action series, this is where the show starts deducting the big points from my score. There is no doubt by most that there exists a significant writing problem on this adaptation. Most especially when it comes to dialogue, which often is clunky, exposition-heavy, rushed, or very canned-sounding. I honestly cannot place the blame on the actors themselves, as I think it is more apt to lay this at the feet of the showrunners. I'm sure there's a lengthy list of excuses, many valid, as to what happened exactly: Child acting labor laws, COVID separation, Netflix's overlords, budget, timing, etc. The fact remains that there were definitely some scenes I cringed my way through, Katara's interactions and fight with Pakku spring to mind most readily. ...Katara in general, to be honest, who got did pretty dirty in her characterization. When I see interviews with Kiawentiio where she's simply being herself, I see the energy I was looking for, so I don't think she was miscast at all. Everything has a heavier tone in the live action, so I understand where they're coming from with her starting out subdued and somewhat repressed. I appreciated the fact that they were very forthright about what happened to her mom in ways the animated show couldn't be. All that being said though, I just cannot justify why they didn't start breaking Katara out of her shell sooner or why they kept so many badly-read takes (not just with her, to be fair.) They can absolutely still keep the tone grounded while still allowing her inner fire to come through, and perhaps we will see that yet to come. I'm hesitant to blame the youngest among the cast for any perceived lack of acting skill because A) I'd sooner blame the writers and B) Yo, they're kids, and kid actors need time to develop skill.

In the matter of time, I think the series would have benefitted enormously from just a bit more of it. Ideally, like 2 more episodes to round out the main cast. I'd even take 5-10 minutes here and there per episode. One of the biggest flaws aside from the dialogue I see is a lack of interaction between our current main trio, which is where the heart of the Gaang lies. I know they CAN do it, the Fire Nation crew certainly was elevated by all the little touches here and there. I don't know why the main cast couldn't get the same treatment. This one also goes in the pile of "hope for the future," because if we do get a continuation (and I do actually hope for this,) one would expect a lot of these issues to be ironed out and for the cast to have even more experience and chemistry together to work with.

Additionally, there are a number of places where even my permanently blank-slate husband could tell things had been condensed to a point of feeling rushed. As I mentioned, though 6 is overall my favorite episode beyond this, there is no denying that Roku and the Fire Temple scene in general got shafted by pacing. It is sort of ironic that in animated I often felt that emotional scenes were rushed, but in the live action I just as frequently find myself wishing some of the slower moments of levity got their due as well. There is middle ground to be had somewhere, and once again I find myself hoping that this is another major area where we see improvement.

The negatives seem like a short section compared to the positives, but that's only because I have a harder time dissecting the parts that I can't even actively remember even after 2 rewatches. Nothing really made me actively angry at the live action enough to ramble on about at length, there were just a significant enough amount of forgettable or flawed parts of it that it hurt my overall impression. And really, calling a scene forgettable is maybe worse than calling it stupid or bad, because you can at least have a good time making fun of those.

Conclusion

One thing I hope people take away from this, if they bother to read this novel of a review at all, is that nothing will ever replace my love of the animated series. It's not going anywhere, and nothing can tear it down from its pedestal as proved quite decisively by Shyamalan. If I'd give animated a 9.5/10, then comparatively a 6.9/10 for the live action seems like a big downgrade, but I don't necessarily believe things have to be perfect to be worthwhile. I mean, I grew up on fantasy movies from the 80s and 90s, so I am a master at suspending expectations, trust me. It's an above-average score, simply because the things I took away from it and loved outweighed the things I didn't love. It made me ugly cry about 5-6 times, and I think that counts for something. My husband tells me he gives it a 9/10 and that he quite enjoyed himself. It is often difficult for me to get him interested in any media, because he has the attention span of a cabbage, so for him to actively ask when we were watching more was rather impressive. For these reasons, I pointedly reject the idea that the live action has no heart whatsoever, and I have reasonable hope that we will both get another season and that it will do better. EDIT: Turns out they greenlit seasons 2 and 3 the day after I wrote this. Woo!

Since he's a big WWE of the 90s fan, after the last episode, we had a fantasy casting roll for The Boulder, and that was the most we'd laughed together in months. It's a nice note to end on, don't you think?

#avatar the last airbender #atla #avatar live action #atla live action #atla netflix #discussion

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stilespeters · 1 year

Text

SALVATION (series)

(part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4) (part 5) (part 6)

pairing: colin zabel x reader

words: 3843

A/N: i'm gonna stop saying i'm gonna make chapters shorter because they are getting longer and longer

summary: after comforting your sister, you go to Cordelia’s bar and serve a certain detective

warnings: Tate Langdon

part 3: cocktails and solving a murder

It was 5pm and you were zapping through netflix. You had nothing to watch, and after what felt like hours, you just gave up, so you sank back further into the couch and groaned. In about thirty minutes you had to go to the Supreme Dominion, the bar Cordelia owned. You wanted to keep your mind busy like Vincent advised.

Then there was a knock on the door. You groaned again and after five whole seconds of contemplation, you stood up from your seat and walked to the door.

You were ready to send away any salesman or journalist. If it was Lana Winters again, you’d seriously file a restraining order. She had been bugging you back in the day after Kai’s death, and she just couldn't seem to take no for an answer. Luckily it had been quiet for a few years after she realized you weren't gonna talk, but a few weeks ago she appeared again outside of Cordelia’s bar. She wanted to know what you felt about the recent killings, and you had to hide behind a dumpster to get rid of her.

You hated reporters.

When you opened the door however you came face to face with a blonde boy with a rose in his hands. The one thing that stood out was that the rose was black.

“Hi?” You greeted and you tilted your head a bit to take in his full form. You had never seen this boy before in your whole life. He must be the boy Zoe was talking about. He didn't look like a reporter or a salesman. He looked like a lost puppy.

He looked a bit young. It was definitely not something you expected from what Zoe told you.

“Hey, you must be Y/n.” he gave you a shy smile.

“Yeah, uhm Zoe isn’t her right now.”

“I’m here for Violet actually.” You suddenly began to get more interested and you crossed your arms over each other as you yelled back inside the house. “Violet!”

A groan was heard from upstairs and you immediately knew the girl rolled her eyes without even seeing her. “There is a boy at the front door for you!”

“Tell it to crawl back from whatever hole it came from.” she yelled back.

You sighed and gave an apologetic look at the blonde. He closed his eyes for a few seconds before biting his lip.

“What was your name?”

“Tate.”

“His name is Tate!” You yelled and after a few seconds you saw Violet scrambled at the top of the staircase. This Tate guy must be someone important, otherwise Violet wouldn't of have rushed so quickly. You looked amused at the sight.

“Tate?”

You raised your eyebrows while glancing at the boy in front of you and the girl at the stairs, and you gestured for Tate to come in.

The boy went upstairs and you couldn't help but worry. Sure, he seemed sweet and the fact he brought Violet a black rose was absolutely adorable. But something within you said to check it out, and so you tip-toed up the stairs and stood there for a while. You never went further, and as you focussed on the voices inside of the room, it sounded muffled. The door was closed and you couldn't exactly hear what they were saying. All you heard was one sentence.

“I would never let anybody, or anything hurt you.”

You softened in your spot and bit your lip. Teenage love was something you never really got to experience, and you envied them. You chose to not get into relationships. At the time, you were mainly focused on dealing with your grief. It was a hard road, but you managed to give some of your trauma space. Now it was only a matter of moving on. You may not get the chance to experience teenage love, but you still have a chance at love.

You felt like you were intruding, and so you stepped back. You trusted Violet, she was a smart girl and you knew that she could handle herself.

You turned around to walk downstairs to the kitchen, but you stopped when you suddenly heard screaming.

“No, don’t do this!”

“Go away Tate.”

“You’re all I want, you’re all I have!”

You came into action and rushed upstairs to the door, something had to have gone wrong. You could hear it in her trembling voice. Whatever it was, you wanted the boy out of the house.

“Go away!”

“AAAA!”

You barged into the room and immediately scanned everything. Violet was standing next to the bed, and Tate was standing in front of her. When they heard the door open, they both turned to look at you, and you saw that Tate and Violet were both crying.

“What is going on?!”

Violet crossed her arms and she looked at her feet, Tate just kept staring at you with wide eyes, and you raised your eyebrow.

“Tate, I think it’s time to leave.” He clenched his jaw and looked at Violet one more time before he walked past you and walked out of the room. You sighed one last time before walking after him, and you opened the front door for him while eyeing him up and down. He didn't say a word and avoided eye contact as he walked out.

You stood there for a minute before walking upstairs to Violet, and you could faintly hear her sniffle through the door she had closed after you. Maybe it was best to just leave her for a moment, but you knew who Violet was. It didn't matter how tough she acted, she was still vulnerable. You knew that she didn't want to be alone right now.

And so you opened the door and saw Violet on her bed with her knees to her chest. Her eyes were red and she didn't make eye contact with you when you walked towards her.

“Were you skipping school to see a certain blonde boy?” you asked her and you puzzled the pieces together. Violet was too young to buy cigarettes, and so you figured Tate must have bought them for her. She never mentioned any friends, so Violet was probably with Tate. You weren't dumb.

Violet stayed silent and you scooted her over so you could sit on the bed with her.

“I don’t know what is going on between you and him, but know that if you ever feel like you want to talk about it, I’ll be here. I’ll always be here,” she didn't answer still, and you grabbed her hands that were in her lap. She blinked away her tears and kept looking down.

“I know I may have asked a lot from you these past couple of weeks. But I am still your sister, and that’s not gonna change. I will protect you no matter what because I care about you, even if I’m annoying sometimes. I know you can handle yourself, like I said, you’re a smart girl. But know that if anyone tries to hurt you in any shape or form, I will unleash hellfire upon them.”

She tried to hold in a sob, but it failed and she bit her lip while you tried to break down the wall he built in front of you. “We're not biologically related, but I still love you as much as a blood related family member would.”

Even though she was still quiet, you knew your words had affected her. You could see it in her eyes. Hell, it even affected you. Her head looked up a bit as her shoulders were slumped down, and her bottom lip trembled.

“Come here,” you opened your arms for her, and even though she seemed hesitant, she scooted closer to you and rested her head against your chest. You wrapped your arms around her body in a comforting hug and your fingers ran through her scalp. She closed her eyes as she sank into the warm feeling.

“I hate it here, I hate everyone with their bullshit.” She whispered and you shushed her.

“I know love, I know.”

Moments like these made you appreciate the fact that you were welcomed into the Goode family with open arms. Violet was 8 at the time and Zoe was 10 when you moved in, and even though they were very young at the time, they immediately accepted you as their older sister. It was scary for you to attach yourself to a new family, especially at the age of 17, but you quickly adapted, and you were grateful for them.

You held her close, and after a few minutes she sighed. “What I told you this afternoon… About you not being my real sister-”

“It’s fine,” you interjected and you gave her a comforting smile. You knew she didn't mean it and even though it hurt you, you were happy that he acknowledged it.

The two of you stayed like that for a while and Violet closed her eyes. “I… I think I like him, even though he is kind of an asshole,” she whispered and you chuckled. “I saw that, the way you looked at him after you practically ran as fast as the flash when I mentioned his name.”

She turned a bit red and you were happy that she talked to you about it. You knew that she didn't have any girl friends to talk to, and even her and Zoe didn't talk about stuff like this. Zoe was 17 and Violet was 15, there wasn't that big of an age gap yet it still felt like Zoe was in an entirely different world. It didn’t mean that Zoe didn’t try. She had tried to pry Violet open, just like you had. Violet was just one tough cookie to crack.

“Do me a favor.” Violet looked up at you and you closed your eyes. “Don’t get pregnant.”

You chuckled while saying it but you were serious. Violet rolled her eyes and she turned red again.

“You don't have to worry about that.”

“Have a life before you create a life,” Violet groaned and you started laughing. “No, I’m serious, I don’t want little demons running around this soon. You and Tate would probably make the antichrist.” she slapped your shoulder and scoffed. “You’re mean,”

“I’m right.”

“Still mean.”

After you left Violet alone because you had to go to the Supreme Dominion, you were standing behind the bar with Chris, the barman. When Cordelia adopted you, she showed you several tricks. You had a knack for making cocktails and you enjoyed it and so you stood behind the bar several times.

It was getting late in the evening and you and Chris were making drinks. Luckily, it wasn't that busy so everything was relaxed. You were pouring down drinks occasionally, and when there were no customers, you were chatting with Chris.

“An Aunt Roberta please,” Someone said. It was a boy and you recognized the blonde girl next to him who was impatiently tapping her heel on the ground. It was one of Zoe’s friends. You saw her once or twice when she and Zoe would watch a movie downstairs. “And an alcohol free drink for the lady.” She huffed and the boy looked back at you. “A virgin on the beach.”

You nodded and started making the drinks. The girl was a year older than Zoe, but she was still not able to drink legally. You had slipped a drink for Zoe and her a few times at home, but in the bar you couldn’t do that. You didn’t want the police to walk in and find out you had been serving alcohol illegally.

“It’s too hot, my freaking vagina is sweating.”

You snorted lightly when you had your back turned towards the pair, and you placed their orders on the table. The boy handed you money.

You saw it in the blink of an eye, but it was something that could go unnoticed if you hadn't paid attention to him. He dropped a white pill in the drink of the girl, and your mind immediately went to alert. This was not good news.

As he grabbed the drink to offer it to the blonde, you stepped forward and pushed his shoulders, making him yelp and bump forward. He spilled everything onto the girl and she gasped as the liquid stained her dress. She breathed heavily as she glared at the boy but he tried to blame it on you, that you had pushed him but the girl simply stormed away.

The boy looked back at you with irritation and anger. You however shrugged, “I never pushed anyone.”

“You’re a bitch, I want my money back.” You leaned forward until your elbows met the wooden bar, and smiled.

“If I see you here again I will kick you so hard in the crotch that whatever you have in your pants won’t ever work again. And if I hear that you try that shit again anywhere else, I won’t hesitate to do that same thing. Words spread faster than your legs, pal.”

“You’re crazy.”

“So I’ve been told.”

“You fucking bitch.” He barked before he walked away.

Chris had his eyebrows raised at you while he looked amused and he shook his head while chuckling. You grabbed a glass on the counter and started to dry it.

“Well, he deserved that,” someone spoke from the other side and you noticed the voice. It was the detective. He sat near the corner of the bar, and he had watched the encounter you had with the boy who stormed away. You walked towards him, and leaned against the bar that was in between.

“Well hello there, Detective Zabel,” you began and he smiled. “What brings you here on a lovely Thursday night.”

“Just trying to get my mind off of… things, I really needed a drink.”

You could see that his eyes stood tired. He radiated exhaustion. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, it’s just… the case,” he pinched his nose bridge. “I reviewed CCTV footage, and know what I found? Nothing. Somehow there is nothing about the night Marie and Bernard got killed. All I got is a description of a clown and the sighting of an ice cream truck,” he buried his face in his hands. “I then tried to search for a different lead, and finally I had it in my grasp. But the Chief said it's too weak to build a case. I know for 99% that it has something to do with the murders. I just need to get it together and find a solution.”

“That sounds rough,” you hissed and gave him a comforting smile. “A drink will cheer you up, what drink did you want?”

“The strongest you have, please.”

You nodded, grabbed all the ingredients you needed put it in a shaker and as you shook it, he looked at you. You tried to hide a smirk, but the way you shook your hands up and down on the shaker while he watched, was way too funny to you. You just couldn’t help it. The man turned pink and he kissed the back of his teeth while raising his eyebrows. He chuckled with an amusing expression on his face, and when you were done, you poured it into a glass. You knew what he was thinking, and the corners of your lips curled upwards in a knowing smirk.

“It's on the house.”

“Won't your manager, like, get mad at you or something?”

“I am the manager,” you dried your hands and crossed your arms. “Consider this a thank you for saving my life this afternoon, Hero detective.” You winked at him and he bit his lip.

Colin thought you looked really beautiful. You wore a black turtleneck and your hair was in a ponytail. Your loop earrings were not too big, but it fit your outfit perfectly. The way you smiled at him made him stop breathing for a moment. The pink and blue lighting from the lights behind you made your features even stand out more, and he tried not to stare too obvious at you. “Thank you.”

“So, how long have you been the manager here?” He started with small talk.

“Oh it’s Cordelia’s bar. I come here and sometimes make cocktails. She’s In France now, she opened a school and pursued her dreams; Miss Robichaux Academy of Exceptional Young Ladies.” Colin frowned and took a sip of his drink. “That’s a mouthful, it sounds prestigious.”

“Yeah, she came up with the name. While she is there, me and my sisters are in charge. I often like to keep my mind busy making cocktails.”

He took another sip of his drink. “You do make great cocktails.”

“Hey that’s an insult, I make the best cocktails in Brookfield Heights.” You joked and he chuckled - You weren’t actually joking though. “Yeah, that’s why I came here. Out of all the other bars, they told me that this one had the best drinks.”

“Who advised this place to you?”

“A police officer at the station, name’s Peter.”

“Maximoff?” You questioned and Colin nodded. You knew Peter because he was a regular here. He once helped you when you were robbed, and you and he became friends after that. He literally chased the guy for 5 blocks, and his speed didn’t falter for a second. The man who robbed your purse had given up once he reached a dead end, and Peter ran back to you to give you your purse back.

“I should come here more often. It’s so heavenly,” he took another sip. “It’s literally an orgasm in my mouth.”

Colin immediately regretted saying it, but luckily you snorted and chuckled.

“An orgasm in your mouth? That’s an interesting way to say you enjoy my drinks. It could be a really good name for a new cocktail though,” you looked up and closed your eyes. “A mouthorgasm, it actually has a nice ring to it.”

He looked down and laughed, and you scanned his face. You really thought he looked handsome like this. His hair was short, but it stood playful and his eyes were like diamonds in the sunlight. He wore a plain black shirt, yet it stood mysterious on him. He had charisma even though he acted awkward at times.

The two of you were talking for the next couple of hours. Chris took all the orders when he saw that you were talking to Colin, and he often glanced at you and gave you a knowing smirk. You simply rolled your eyes playfully while trying to ignore him, and you continued the conversation with Colin. He was a genuinely nice person.

“So, what is that you want,” you leaned against the bar again, and made straight eye contact. Colin felt like he was drowning in your irises. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’re here for the case right?" he nodded. “But what is it that you actually want?”

He bit the inside of his cheek and squinted his eyes. No one has ever asked him that question before, no one had really shown interest like that, and so he had to think long and hard.

“I honestly don’t know,” he played with the straw that was in his now empty drink. It was his second refill and he sighed. “It’s a great question, but at the moment I don’t have an answer for it.” he bit his lip and leaned in. “Ask me again after a week?”

It was a subtle way in letting you know that he wanted to talk to you more. Colin was usually very clumsy and very awkward, but somehow talking to you came naturally to him. Ever since he saved you this afternoon, his mind often wandered towards you whilst he was in his office at the station.

“What about you?” you bit the inside of your cheek.

“I guess I just want peace. I want to sleep, knowing that I put everything behind me. I want to be able to forget everything that happened when Kai Anderson destroyed my life,” you sighed and leaned against the pillar next to you.

“Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel the world?” Colin nodded and he looked at your eyes while you were lost in your thoughts. “To just let go of everything and see the beauty of the world. No murder, no violence, no sadness, no reminders of your past,” you thought back to your hallucinations of Kai and your smile faded. “I’ve worried way too much about death to know what living feels like. I guess I just want to see the world and just… live.”

“That sounds lovely,” he said in amazement. “What’s holding you back?”

“I don't know,” you hadn't realized that Colin leaned on his elbows on the bar, and his face was close to yours. You could smell his cologne. “It’s just… I might go on a trip later, but I don’t want to go alone. Violet and Zoe are still in school so I have no one to go with.”

He nodded and played with his glass. “Where would you wanna go?”

“Europe. When Cordelia moved to France I was contemplating whether or not to go with her. But I chose to stay for Violet and Zoe. I guess I just want to go to places like Spain. I want to wake up hearing the sounds of the waves crashing against the shore. I want to learn how to ski in Austria or Switzerland, I want to see the northern lights in Norway, visit cute little villages in Italy,” you paused. “And smoke weed in Amsterdam.”

Colin laughed for what it felt like the hundredth time tonight. He was happy that he listened to Peter for a drink.

“It’s not that money is a problem. My parents owned a hotel, it was named the Hotel Nixon. They had a household name here in Brookfield Heights. After they… died, I got ownership. With pain in my heart, I sold the Hotel to a business magnate, James March. Once we made the deal and the papers were signed, I got the money and he got the hotel. He started renovating everything somewhere in 2019. This afternoon I got an invitation to the opening of the hotel, but I don’t think I’m going, I don't want to sit there with rich elites. Besides, I haven't stepped foot inside of the hotel in years.”

You saw Colin squint his eyes as he looked at you and it seemed like he was thinking long and hard about something. “I’m sorry, you probably don't care-”

“-Do you mean the Hotel Cortez? Your parents owned the Hotel Cortez previously called the Hotel Nixon?” you nodded and his eyes went wide.

“That’s the lead.”

“What?”

“The solution… You are the solution.”

“I’m not following.”

It looked like a lightbulb appeared above his head. “I have a suspicion that the murders of Marie, Bernard and the others are linked to the Hotel Cortez, but I don’t have enough evidence for a warrant. It’s an elite exclusive opening, there is no way to be there at the opening without an invitation. I need to be there to find evidence that links him to the crime scene." He gave you a hopeful look and everything clicked in your head

“Wait, are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“Well that depends on what you think I’m saying.”

You sucked the back of your teeth and thought about it. You did want to see what the hotel turned out like, but you didn't want to go alone. “Are you free on Saturday evening?” You asked and he nodded. “Yeah, why?”

“Great, then it’s settled.” He raised his eyebrows and you continued. “I'm going to the opening of the Hotel Cortez.”

"And you will be tagging along as my date."

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