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#and when he gets back everyone agrees its the dumbest thing he could have done
lokh · 7 months
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WAIT SHUROS DAD SAID HE WANTED HIM TO BRING SOMETHING BACK INTERESTING.... AND WHO IS MORE INTERESTING THAN LAIOS....
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aughtpunk · 3 years
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BREAD BREAD BREAD BREAD BREAD
Toast always lands jelly-side-down around Crowley.
This does not seem to be a big deal at first. After all, even if you take into consideration the thousands upon thousands of meals he and Aziraphale shared it still wasn’t likely that any toast would fall during that time. Toast tended to stay put on the table. It’s toast. And, one might even argue, of course the toast is going to land jelly-side down. That side’s heavier. It only makes sense.
Which is what Aziraphale always thought until he held a piece of toast roughly a finger’s length over a plate and dropped it only for the bread to defy all laws of physics and land jelly-side-down anyway. He then went on to test it with jam, preserves, marmalades, compote, and even had one go with peanut butter. Every piece of toast landed spread-side-down no matter the height in which it was dropped. After he had ruined nearly half of a loaf worth of toast Aziraphale decided this was A Demon Thing and left it at that. 
***
Toast always lands butter-side-up around Aziraphale.
At first Crowley assumed this was An Angel Thing. It certainly sounded like an angel-thing. Forever blessed by Her Grace to protect her flock from ever having to wipe butter off the kitchen floor with a paper towel. Crowley had even went out of his way to see if the type of bread mattered. After making his way through the local bread aisle he went on to try bread-adjacent test subjects like bagels, croissants, muffins, scones, and even the most hellish breakfast item he could think of: an english muffin. All landed butter-side up. 
What Crowley didn’t know is that this wasn’t An Angel Thing. Why would it be? Aziraphale was the only angel who enjoyed eating enough to go out of his way to butter a slice of toast. In reality this was An Aziraphale Thing, as no bread or bread-adjacent food item wanted to hurt Aziraphale’s feelings by landing the wrong side down. Even breakfast items couldn’t stand to see him disappointed. It was for the best that Crowley didn’t know this. Being on the same emotional wavelength as bread would just be too much for his demonic heart to take. 
***
As always, it was the humans who mucked things up. 
Aziraphale and Crowley hadn’t meant to befriend the humans they met at the end of the world. Usually they did their best to keep away from humanity. Nothing personal, of course, it just never seemed worth a bother considering they would be dead before you really got to know them. Better to admire humans from afar and help/hinder any of the mayflies that wandered across their path. 
(Neither man would ever admit that the exact opposite was true. In fact, it was really easy to truly know a human inside and out in a short amount of time. Even easier to befriend them, or love them. But that was the problem, wasn’t it? The short amount of time. Both men carried a graveyard of memories in their hearts. And with every gravestone there would always be that promise--never again, keep them distant, it’s not worth it--only for them to dig burial plot when another human entered their lives. But enough about that. We’re here to talk about bread.)
They were prepared to leave the humans to their now-normal lives right up until the lot of them showed up at Aziraphale’s shop one morning demanding answers. Turns out that there was just enough non-humanity around them to trip up their brain’s instinct to forget everything that had happened. Every time one of their memories started to slip another person would clear their throat and loudly ask if anyone else was visited by aliens that day to make it all come crashing back. 
In the end it was decided they should all get together once a month for a nice cup of tea at Anathema’s place. Aziraphale agreed if only to make sure there were no odd side effects from Adam’s meddling. Crowley agreed simply because the other option was getting poked with a large silver pin over and over until he confessed his nipple amounts. They were both lying to themselves, but that was fine too.
(Don’t worry, we’re getting to the bread)
They were all having a nice conversation about how Crowley invented showing up fifteen minutes late with Starbucks to balance out Aziraphale’s invention of showing up fifteen minutes early with a dozen donuts when Adam lost his grip on his marmalade drenched scone and helplessly watched as it landed face-down with a large squelch. 
“That’s Crowley’s doing too,” Aziraphale said with a sigh, “toast landing jelly-side-down I mean.”
“Come on angel, it’s not like I’m doing it on purpose!” Crowley pointed accusingly at Aziraphale, “at least I’m not bending reality to keep butter from getting all over the carpet.”
“I’m sorry?” Anathema asked after the awkward silence went on a moment too long. 
“Toast always lands butter-side-up around my angel here,” Crowley said willfully ignoring the fact he said my angel, “go on, test it.”
Anathema took a scone, slathered the top with butter, held over the edge of the table and let go.
The scone landed butter-side-up. 
She picked the scone up, held it butter-side-down, and dropped it.
Butter-side-up.
She didn’t even see it flip around. 
“I don’t know why, but somehow that’s the weirdest thing that’s happened to us yet.” Said Madame Tracy. 
At that point both celestials and humans alike might have gone back to their tea and forgotten the whole toast-jam-butter thing ever happened, but Newt just had to ask a question. That’s what humans did after all. They got in trouble by asking questions. No wonder Aziraphale and Crowley liked them so much.
“So, wait, what happens if you spread butter and jam on the same side?”
Aziraphale and Crowley stared blankly at Newt. 
“You haven’t thought to try that?” Asked Madame Tracy. 
They turned to stare at each other. 
“Aren’t you like, thousands of years old?” Asked Adam.
For the first time in millennia the angel and demon were speechless.
Anathema waited to see if the odd moment would pass and, when it didn’t, quietly admitted that she had a fresh loaf of bread in the kitchen.
***
We are at the bread part.
***
Or, as it would be known, The Bread Incident.
***
“So do we drop it on it’s side?” Newt asked as he placed the buttered-and-jam-covered slice back on the plate. “Or like, spin it around first?”
Adam perked up, “What if you tossed it up in the air like a pizza?” 
“Do not.” Anathema said, not wanting to deal with her ceiling while she was already worrying about the state of the floor.
“Oh just shove it off the table!” Madam Tracy said, waving the butter-and-jam covered butter knife around. “More natural that way.”
Aziraphale nodded in agreement. “That does sound like the best approach. Ready, my dear?”
Crowley sighed. “This is it. This is the dumbest thing we’ve ever done.”
“Oh darling, I’m almost certain raising the wrong boy for eleven years was far more idiotic than this.”
“You did what now?” Anathema asked, only for her question to be forgotten by Adam pushing the plate experimental toast off the table. The ceramic plate landed on the kitchen floor with a gentle ting, its form unshattered by a well-timed miracle on Aziraphale’s part. Every eye--human and celestial alike--went from the plate to the piece of toast hanging nervously in the air.
Somehow this didn’t shock any of them. 
“I feel weird.” Adam said, finally breaking the silence. 
“Me too.” Said Newt.
“There’s a powerful feeling of ennui radiating off that toast.” Madam Tracy said. 
“We’ve done it,” Anathema said, “we’ve caused a slice of toast to have an existential crisis.”
“Perhaps it just needs a moment to think?” Asked Aziraphale.
“To think about what? It’s bread, angel!”
The toast exploded, sending bits of burnt jam-and-butter across the kitchen and across most of the guests. They stood there in silence, each looking to the other for some sort of explanation. Perhaps a bit of comfort. Newt was the first one to break, muttering about getting some wet cloths for everyone. 
“Angel.” Crowley finally said.
“Yes, my dear boy?”
“Let’s never speak of this again.”
“Yes, I think that is the best course of action, my dear.”
The group of humans and non-humans proceeded to test the butter-jam-bread a good dozen more times, each explosion as sticky as the last.
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makeste · 3 years
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BnHA Chapter 292: You Say Jeans
Previously on BnHA: Horikoshi was all “well anyway here’s that Touya reveal I foreshadowed like a million years ago, viva la 2020.” Dabi was all “hello world, I’ve killed 30 people and today I’m going to explain to you all why” before he proceeded to explain ABSOLUTELY NOTHING but everyone was so distracted by his tale of child abuse and hero conspiracies that they didn’t much seem to notice. Can’t Ya See-Kun’s Shark Friend was all “IS THIS THE END OF HERO SOCIETY AS WE KNOW IT”, and Horikoshi was all “STAY TUNED”, and then Dabi set himself on fire and leaped off of Machia’s back like the chaotic evil, I-just-bleached-all-my-brain-cells weird little fire man he is, ready to burn everyone to crispy bits before they could even react properly to his whole big revenge speech. Fortunately he did not succeed on account of THE RETURN OF THE JING, THE JOAT, BEST FUCKING JEANIST, back from the dead by popular demand in what critics are calling “the best fucking comeback since Jesus himself.”
Today on BnHA: Best Jeanist snatches up Machia and the rest of the League with his fiber steel cables before you can say “more like BEAST JEANIST amirite.” Dabi gets all worked up and lights Hadou on fire which is a real JERK MOVE, and is all “THIS RIGHT HERE IS ALSO ENDEAVOR’S FAULT”, which, NOT SUPER CONVINCED ON THAT, BUT OKAY. Anyway so then he burns up all the cables holding him which is crazeballs btw, and then he and Shouto start fighting, and so basically the whole thing is a literal hot mess and we’ll see how that goes. Meanwhile Tomura wakes up and summons some Noumus, and poor Jeanist has to deal with those on top of the still-attempting-to-rampage Gigantomachia, and everyone else is all “we can’t help you on account of we’re all half dead”, and so it’s looking really bad. And then -- and I can’t stress enough how much I don’t even have the faintest idea how to segue into this next part -- the chapter ends with Mirio!?! just sort of POPPING UP OUT OF THE GROUND all, “SURPRISE, BITCH”, and it literally was so surprising that I am still just kind of speechless. WELL-PLAYED, I GUESS, lol wtf.
lol okay so the first page in the RHA scan is just the “three musketeers” movie promo image that we all already saw a few days ago. but it does confirm that (a) it is indeed a movie, and (b) that it’s set for a summer 2021 release! how exciting
okay so now back to our special Dabi edition of Making a Murderer
“ray of hope” oh hell yes. SAVE US MR. JEANIST
I guess he had a TV in his private hero jet or something?
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gotta say, “dammit Dabi” does not even remotely sound like Authentic Best Jeanist Dialogue to me though. gonna need Caleb to see to this. well but what do you guys think? does Best Jeanist curse?? I personally feel like he’s one of those guys who NEVER EVER swears no matter what, except under the most hilariously trifling circumstances. like he’s eating an avocado one day and he accidentally stains the cuffs of his beloved jostume green and he’s all “FUCK”
btw how fucking rich is Best Jeanist though that he has his own fucking plane? the thought just suddenly occurred to me, you know? like even Endeavor, whose agency has its own on-site luxury apartment suites for all of his interns, still drives around in a dinky little car that Bakugou has declared to be too small. which, I guess we know why he felt that way now, seeing as the guy he previously interned with apparently gets around in Jeans Force One
anyway so back to the part where Jeanist shows up to save the day!! YEAH JEANIST WOOOOO
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ILU JEANIST YOU REALLY ARE THE BEST!! HUGS AND KISSES!!!
lmao we just saw Gigantomachia take out like a hundred guys not ten chapters ago. and Best Jeanist shows up and takes him down in like two seconds. HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES LEAGUE OF VILLAINS. BET YOU’RE WISHING YOU’D TAKEN HIS QUIRK NOW, AFO. GET FUCKED YOU OLD SPUD
KACCHAN IS SO HAPPY TO SEE HIM AWW
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SIDE NOTE, IIDA, YOU AND I ARE GONNA HAVE WORDS LATER ABOUT YOU ACTUALLY AGREEING TO PUT HIM BACK DOWN. YOU DO UNDERSTAND THAT THIS CHILD IS STILL DRIPPING BLOOD ALL OVER THE PLACE FROM HIS MULTIPLE STAB WOUNDS, RIGHT? WAY TO ASSERT YOUR AUTHORITY THERE. I THOUGHT YOU WERE THE CLASS PRESIDENT NOT THE CLASS CLOWN, COME ON NOW
LMAO DABI IS FRANTICALLY TRYING TO DO THE PLOT MATH
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SHOULDA CHECKED MORE CLOSELY MY GOOD MARK. LOOKS LIKE YOU MISSED THE “MADE IN CHINA” STICKER ON THE BOTTOM. YOU HAVE BEEN BAMBOOZLED. OR ACTUALLY, I GUESS THE MORE ACCURATE WORD HERE IS JAMBOOZLED, AHAHAHAHA. JEANS
HOLY SHIT DABI
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I legit almost thought that was Tomura for a second. you two look so alike now with the white hair and the crazy eyes
meanwhile, Shouto is still crying and it’s a lot to take, you guys. lotta feels
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ffff come on Jeanist you better do something awesome again here, the mood of the chapter is starting to slip now
YES, GOOD, THAT’LL WORK
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WELL YOU TELL ME, SPINNER. I GUESS THAT MEANS BEST JEANIST IS OFFICIALLY THE STRONGEST CHARACTER IN THE SERIES NOW. SORRY I DON’T MAKE THE RULES
ffff now Spinner is trying to wake Tomura back up. nah, how’s about we not do that
OH MY GOD HADOU YESSSS
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MY GIRL OUT HERE WITH THE “NO THANK YOU” BOUT TO CURBSTOMP THE BIG BAD WITH HER QUIRK KSFHLKLK WHO HERE HAD “HADOU SAVES THE DAY” ON YOUR WAR ARC BINGO CARDS, YOU LOVE TO SEE IT!!
HEY!!!!
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fucking son of a... fffkfkff... someone please reassure me that fire isn’t Hadou’s weakness. someone. anyone. also could someone please dial an ambulance and send them to Horikoshi’s house. but not just yet. first I’m gonna need you to wait about fifteen minutes or so while I take care of some things
well all right then, Dabi. so you wanna go on then and explain to us all how this, too, is somehow Endeavor’s fault?
oh I see, you’ve decided that since he’s responsible for “creating” you, everyone you hurt and kill is in truth really being hurt and killed by him! well now, that sure is convenient as fuck I guess
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(ETA: that’s a nice effect with the panel sides getting all warped by Dabi’s quirk though, just noticed that.)
amazing how quickly you used up that sympathy card my guy. Shouto please kick his ass, I’m fucking done lol, you can all sort out the rest in therapy later
CAN SOMEONE PLEASE DIAL BACK DEKU’S EMPATHY STATS JUST A LITTLE BIT, HOLY --
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“TODOROKI-KUN IS HURT THE MOST”, HE SAYS, WITH HIS ARM BONES SHATTERED INTO LITTLE TOOTHPICK-SIZED PIECES. I MEAN, HE’S PROBABLY TALKING MORE ABOUT MENTAL ANGUISH GIVEN THE CONTEXT HERE, BUT STILL. THAT’S ENOUGH HEROICS FROM YOU ALREADY FOR ONE DAY
NOOO JEANIST
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LOTS OF SMOKE IN THE AIR RIGHT ABOUT NOW AND MY BOY’S STILL DOWN A LUNG. GOD DAMMIT
“if the number one suffers a total loss here, this country will fall to pieces” well okay, real talk though, I think the “country falling to pieces” part is pretty much unavoidable at this juncture. you all are just gonna have to try your best to pick up those pieces after the fact and see what you can do with them. if I were you I’d be less worried about the number one’s reputation and more concerned with the half-dozen child soldier interns who are still on the field and very much at risk of being burned to death should you suffer that “total loss.” please try to keep it together here for them
OH FOR FUCK’S
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I really thought RockLockRock was gonna come into play here. USE YOUR QUIRK TO LOCK THE ROPES IN PLACE YOU DIP!! if he seriously just sits there and does nothing when his quirk could be the deciding factor I am cancelling his useless ass cute kid or no cute kid shfkjdls
(ETA: is he even there?? did he and Manual just hightail it out of there?? “well good luck, children.”)
also, we’ll put this aside for now to perhaps speculate about later, but what’s with Tomura remembering his dad’s house yet again in that far right panel?? and being itchy again?? I still have yet to fully work out the psychological mechanisms at work as far as his itchiness goes, so I’ll admit this is intriguing to me. it seemed like it was connected to his decay quirk, but then why is it acting up again now. what is this lol
yuh oh
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forgot about these guys. looks like these heroes aren’t having such a fun time
oh fucksticks
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excuse me ma’am but I don’t like this. you do know that my kids are all there, right. all burnt and impaled and broken-boned and the like. well except for Iida. he’s fine still. BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN I FEEL LIKE WATCHING HIM GET TORN APART BY FOUR HIGH ENDS, WTF
HORIKOSHI YOU MOTHERFUCKER I SWEAR TO GOD
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god fucking... okay look. Horikoshi. you win, okay!? congratulations, you win, this is your show and we’re all just sitting here at your mercy. fine. go ahead and just kill off everyone ever, then!! what am I even gonna do about it. stop reading?? fuck
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this whole thing really went from zero to fucked before I could even blink huh. I really thought this was gonna be a turning point chapter for the heroes. shows what I know I guess??
meanwhile this motherfucker is just SCREAMING
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ngl, if I wasn’t currently terrified on account of things suddenly taking such a drastic turn for the worse, this would be the coolest fucking thing I’ve ever seen. Jeanist my man, I hype you up like it’s my job because you are the greatest fucking meme character in the history of time, but make no mistake, you are also highkey WORTH ALL THE HYPE AND THEN SOME
seriously, though. don’t fucking mind him you guys, he’s just standing here in the coolest pose of all time taking on Gigantomachia all alone with one fucking lung because the substance pumping through his veins is COLD-BLOODED LIQUID DENIM, and DENIM FEELS NO FEAR
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Best Jeanist really needs to get his own theme song. -- oh my god I just finally thought of a title for this post. lmao and it’s the dumbest thing. omg
MEANWHILE THE TODOROKI BROS ARE OFF IN THEIR OWN DRAMATIC LITTLE FIRE WORLD
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which one do you think is the Mario and which is the Luigi. well, but I mean, Dabi clearly thinks that he’s the Luigi though and that’s why he’s so mad. nobody wants to be Luigi. what a life
THAT’S IT, SHOUTO!! POINT OUT ALL OF HIS HYPOCRITICAL BULLSHIT, I WANT ANSWERS
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JUST TO CLARIFY, IT’S THAT NATSU, NOT SOME OTHER NATSU!! SO WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF!!
OH, WELL IN THAT CASE
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BUT OF COURSE. THAT WOULD MAKE IT ALL WORTHWHILE, holy shit. okay I’m just gonna go ahead and say it, Dabi is a piece of work. I really thought this arc would make him more sympathetic at long last, but it seems like it’s doing just the opposite?? this is like an anti-redemption arc. I don’t relish the thought of venturing into the fandom tags once I finish reading this lol
(ETA: well folks, I’ve done it. and actually it was pretty interesting because there are apparently like ten different things that people are mad about, and so it’s like. each post is a new adventure lmao.)
so Shouto is all “BRUH HAVE YOU COMPLETELY LOST IT” and Dabi is all “YES”, basically? like, he says he’s completely lost his feeling for anything. omg. but you were so sweet. how does that even happen
“finally I can kill you” okay for real what the heck is your damage bro?? can we not. I like Shouto just the way he is, un-killed
oh shit and now the Noumus are here
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cue Bakugou diving in to save his mentor, STAB WOUNDS BE DAMNED!! actually it would make more sense for it to be Iida, but if Kacchan is really fixin’ to go full Shounen Dumbass here then he might as well go all out, y’know
-- unless of course, Deku decides to activate another quirk??
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“last I checked, the main character of this series was still me” OH? WELL I SUPPOSE THAT IS TRUE, SO PRAY TELL, WHAT HAVE YOU GOT LEFT UP YOUR SLEEVE YOU SUICIDAL BRUSSELS SPROUT
fucking love how he’s all “HAHAHA WITH MY NEW QUIRKS I CAN STILL DO STUPID SHIT EVEN WITH MY ARMS AND LEGS GROUND TO A FINE POWDER” btw. what can I say. Deku gonna Deku
FMMFHDKUHK W H A T
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HOLY SHIT. HOLY FUCKING SHIT. WHAT THE WHAT. QUE THE FUCK
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(ETA: okay look, all the love in the world to the brave scanlators who take time out of their lives to translate the leaks every week just so we can read the chapter a couple of days early like the addicts we are. that said, translating Mirio’s signature “POWER!!” -- which was already written in English in the original scan -- to “POG-CHAMP” is just a whole new level of wtfuckery from them lmao. is the Lida person back at it again?? amazing.)
MIRIO!?!?! SHOWS UP TO SAVE THE DAY?!?! POGS HIMSELF UP OUT THE GROUND TO BEAT THE NOUMUS LIKE IT AIN’T NO THING. JUST LIKE WE ALL PREDICTED!? I’M SORRY, DID YOU NOT SEE THAT COMING?? YOU MEAN TO TELL ME YOUR DAILY HOROSCOPE FROM ASTROLOGY DOT COM DIDN’T HAVE THAT ONE IN THE CARDS?? WAS IT NOT OBVIOUS?? TODOROKIS PLUS BEST JEANIST EQUALS MIRIO??
hot damn. Tintin really saw the writing on the wall with the impending Dabi Discourse and was all “NOT SO FAST” lmao. “HERE’S A BRAND NEW THING FOR YOU ALL TO DISCOURSE ABOUT” MIRIO YOU WILD CHILD. YOU GLORIOUS THUG
MEANWHILE LET’S NOT FORGET WHAT MIRIO HAVING HIS POWERS BACK ACTUALLY IMPLIES. HOLY SHIT. SUDDENLY WE CUT BACK TO ALL MIGHT’S OFFICE, ALL THE WAY BACK AT UA. ERI BRANDISHES HER TOKOYAMI-GIFTED BUSTER SWORD, A DETERMINED GLEAM IN HER EYE. “I HEARD YOU WERE TRYING TO HAVE A GIRL POWER ARC WITHOUT ME.” OH. MY. GOD
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glitxhwayventeen · 3 years
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Lonely Together
Jihoon: Chapter 1 (Perfect)
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Characters: Jihoon x female reader
Genre/Warnings: multi-member au (different scenarios), werewolf au, fantasy, smut, angst, fluff, potential blood mentions, genocide, runaways, domestic violence, child abuse, abandonment, homelessness, hunger, violence. Any others will be put as warnings when future chapters are thought up/written.
Author’s Note: I recommend listening to Perfect by Ed Sheeran before reading this. That’s the song I thought of while writing this because it makes me feel some type of way you know?
Please remember that all of these chapters and the content within them are a work of fiction! They’re just for fun/entertainment!
Bold= Dialogue Italics= Thoughts
🥀 & ☁️
Lonely Together Master List
Chapter 1: Perfect
It had been so long since you’d been around so many people. It made you antsy. You didn’t understand a lot of what was going on in the house. The constant noise scared you. It had you on such an edge that you nearly screamed everytime one of them coughed.
To be fair, before you had met them, you’d honestly jump at footsteps. Because footsteps meant humans, and humans meant danger. Not to mention that you were still not used to being in your human form. You preferred to stay a wolf, you were stronger when you walked on all four legs, and you weren’t as noticeable.
Your human appearance was… striking to most people to say the least. Your bright eyes and darker skin with salt and pepper curly hair made everyone around you always stare at you. You understood it somewhat, you didn’t match everyone else’s looks in Korea. But that didn’t mean you liked people watching you all the time, you hated being the center of attention. So to say you were still adjusting to being around people after having lived alone for centuries was a bit of an understatement. It was all so new to you. You had a new feeling now too. You just weren’t sure what it was…
At first, you thought maybe it was hope. You hadn’t hoped in such a long time, it would bring tears to even the most hardened criminal’s eyes. But you weren’t that good at trusting that human part of you. So you decided to go off of what you knew. And, even though you hadn’t been there long, two weeks at the most you thought, you learned a lot of things about them. You knew all but one of the wolves had a mate. You knew that two of the alphas butted heads on how to lead the pack a lot and that one just watched from the side and did everything behind the scenes without causing too much distress to the others. You knew they all loved each other, no matter what they said or how much they fought. You also knew that, being around them made you feel more alone than you’ve felt in decades.
When you were younger, you didn’t mind being alone. It meant that you didn’t have to rely on anyone, it meant you only had to look out for yourself. And as you got older, it just felt… right. But being around this house full to the brim with people, you started to realize just how much you missed being part of a big family. They treated you like you were one of them. Which was weird to you… because they didn’t really know you. I mean sure they saved you from imminent death, but they didn’t know you from Adam.
The more you thought about your current situation, the weirder the feeling got. The closer you got to each one of them, the stronger the feeling got. And when you got close to one of the quiet ones in particular, you swore it felt like your heart was singing to you. It was something you weren’t sure you’d ever get used to, but it wasn’t something you necessarily hated either. Whatever the feeling was, you’d figure it out eventually or it would go away on its own… right?
Still, You got to eat first with the other mates, well the mates minus Soonyoung. He may have been Seungcheol’s mate but 1.) he was a wolf unlike the other mates and 2.) he was a male wolf so he ate just as much as the other boys did. So they didn’t think it fair that he get to eat with all of you. Or them…. Or-whatever. You didn’t know, you just knew they offered you and the other girls food first and, considering you used to have to hunt for your food or you didn’t get to eat, you were definitely NOT complaining. Soonyoung though, you learned, had a tendency to whine about any and everything that he didn’t like.
“Aww come on again! No fair! (Y/N)’s just as much of a wolf as I am! Why does SHE get to eat first when I don’t??” Soonyoung decided to voice aloud, grabbing his plate with both hands and semi-patiently waiting for his turn to grab food.
You didn’t mind of course. You did think he had a point. It didn’t seem fair to him. Either he should be eating with the other mates, or you should be eating with the other wolves. So you agreed.
“He’s got a point. I should be eating with the other wolves. I eat more than the other girls after all” you shrugged matter of factly to the lead alpha, who was also his mate, who was hunched over the stove making said breakfast.
The thing is, Seungcheol did understand the argument. And he personally saw merit to the concerns, whether it was because it was a genuine point or whether it was just from months of his mate complaining about it, he didn’t know. Still, he saw it’s reasonings and thought they could be sound.
BUUUT, he also knew that SOMEBODY would definitely NOT be happy if you had to wait and fight the boys for food. It seemed everyone, wolves and mates alike, but you understood that Jihoon had imprinted on you already. Maybe you just didn’t know much about it, or maybe you knew and just decided you didn’t want to know, either way, it wasn’t for him to decide or judge.
So, as he looked over to the table of boys who were ACTUALLY patiently waiting their turn to dig in, his eyes landed on Jihoon, who shook his head and narrowed his eyes at the older wolf in return. Of course you didn’t notice this action, you were always more in your own head than you were in conversations.
“Sucks to suck kids. I make the rules and I say you eat with the mates. End of story. Sorry love!” he declared, once again moving his eyes ever so slightly to Jihoon, who nodded his head slightly as he smiled triumphantly.
He was NOT about to let his newfound mate eat the other mates leftovers with the other wolves. No. That was absolutely NOT happening. He may not have “officially” expressed that you were his mate, but he’d be damned if he wasn’t gonna do everything in his power to make sure you were happy, healthy, and well fed.
“But-” you argued, trying to bring your point’s validity up to him again.
“But nothing (Y/N). Sure you eat more than the other girls. But you DEFINITELY don’t eat as much as the boys do. Even if you are a wolf. Besides you’re one of-” he trailed off just as someone around the room hit the table slightly and coughed. Everyone but you realized where he was going with that sentence, and Jihoon wasn’t ready to face that just yet.
“-One of our guests.” Seungcheol thought after a moment, clearly lying his ass off but hoping he did a good enough job that you didn’t notice. Luckily for him, you weren’t all that great at social cues. “Therefore you shall not be eating whatever’s left, you’ll get first dibs with the other girls.” He said as he sat one of the plates of remaining food left from what the mates couldn’t eat down on the table, kissing his pouting mates forehead in the process.
“Don’t worry about Soonyoung. He’s just a baby. He’ll get over it. You deserve to be eating with the mates.” Spoke the smallest boy of the pack with a smile that seemed to light up as bright as a bonfire whenever you looked him in the eyes. He was the one that had your heart singing whenever you were in the same room. His little declaration made your cheeks heat up.
“O-Okay, I guess. I still don’t think I’ve done anything to deserve the special treatment… but thank you” you resolved with a polite smile back, doing your best to hide the pink covering your face. His heart rate sped up to jackrabbit speed as his inner wolf seemed to beamed at your answer.
“No (Y/N). Thank YOU.” Hansol retorted with a shit eating grin on his face. What he wanted to say was “thanks for helping one of the assholes in the group become juuuuust a little less of an asshole by being his mate,” but obviously he couldn’t do that without getting his ass beat.
“Thank me? Thank me for what?” You questioned, genuinely curious as to what he was thanking you for. You hadn’t done anything to warrant a thank you… had you?
“Oh nothing. Don’t worry about it. You’ll find out… eventually” He let out, looking at Jihoon, earning a smack from the older wolf and a small growl. Though he whined for a second, Hansol still began to laugh at his actions.
“…Okaaaay…” you said, trying your best to forget the conversation as a whole so you could eat the remains of your pancakes. Man these guys are weird.
-
Jihoon wasn’t sure exactly what he should do. He knew he couldn’t deny his instincts forever. But he wasn’t so sure about this whole “mate” thing. I mean, who was he kidding, he got along better on his own. He survived on his own for his entire life, at the orphanage, at school, even in his pack. For the most part, he kept to himself. He was SEVERELY independent, and he liked it that way. People just always managed to bring attachments and strings. Even still, He couldn’t cut off his pack. I mean don’t get him wrong, he loved those idiots and would do anything for them, but fuck, if they didn’t have the dumbest ideas and get themselves into the stupidest shit sometimes.
He knew his survival instinct told him to just ignore the feelings he had for you and act like nothing happened to protect himself. It’s not like you had noticed anyways. But the wolf part of him loved the idea of having a mate. For the longest time, he had to sit around and watch his brothers find their mates and fall in deep love. He watched Seungcheol find Soonyoung first a few months after he had met him. Then Joshua found his mate, Mina, after a few weeks of knowing him. Even little Channie imprinted on his mate, Somi, after just two days of Jihoon being acquainted with him.
Before he knew it, it was just him left without one. They always seemed so… happy and he just… wasn’t. He didn’t mind of course. He was glad his brothers found happiness. But he soon came to realize how lonely being alone truly was. He’d see his pack and their mates do cute things and, his heart was struck with a dull pain that never seemed to lessen, and at the time he didn’t understand why that was. But when he saw you, he knew the whole time he was yearning for you. When he saw you, for once he didn’t completely loathe the idea of taking care of or protecting another person. Even if it meant becoming one of the “lovey people.” He saw you and, one bat of your beautiful eyelashes and he knew, he would gladly lay his life down for you. How could he not?
You were caring and kind, even if you didn’t like to show it. You held yourself high, even if you were small. You were little, but you were mighty. You were smart, yet funny. You hardly spoke, but when you did, it was always something memorable. You never seemed to hold your true self back. He already knew that you were Perfect for him, even if he’d hardly spoken to you. He just couldn’t help the sane part of him that was very weary of the whole situation.
As Jihoon debated his true feelings for you over his breakfast, the other wolves went and conversed with each other. They tried to speak to you too, but you never really had a lot to say. You preferred to listen, which they weren’t all that surprised at. Jihoon was the quiet, calm, smart wolf, so it’s no surprise that his mate was the same way. You’d both always seem to get lost in thought almost simultaneously. You’d both come back to Earth at the same time too, always with very similar excuses.
Though everytime your eyes met, you’d both look away, trying your best to hide the blushes that spread across both your cheeks. It was kind of cute and the pack loved that their brother wouldn’t have to be all alone any longer. He’d no longer have to just sit on the side lines while they all had the time of their lives. He now had you, even if you didn’t realize it yet. You could both be Lonely Together.
Another Author’s Note: I know this chapter is relatively short compared to the others I’ve written so far, but honestly, your girls tired as fuck. I work a full time job, go to school full time, and take care of a lot of my family’s household. Let’s just be lucky I can write at all. Plus, I wrote Wonwoo’s story earlier today too. So let’s just call it a success and I’ll write a better chapter for him next time!
(Updated 9/6)
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dancingthesambaa · 3 years
Text
The Smell of Plum Blossom Tea Ch 2
Summary: Just like a butterfly wing, a single act of kindness can change the course of the future, it certainly did for MK as a black-furred monkey put out a hand towards him.
Rating: Teen and up
Chapter 2: What’s in a Name?
It was a week since Macaque had taken MK in and to the child it has been the best week of his life. When he woke up in the mornings he didn’t have to worry about there being no food as he smelt it as soon as he opened his eyes, he could play in the forest with all the monkeys as long as Mac was there and he even had clothes that fit him instead of the same stinky shirt on days end. Everything was just wonderful.
“MK, what should we do about school?”
Or at least it was, but as soon as the monkey demon asked that question, MK's whole body deflated. “Do I have to go to school?”
“Education is important shooting star,” he said as he diced up some plants. “It helps things we don’t know and things we want to know.”
“Okay, but it is really boring, I always lose all my stuff all the time, and the teacher always explains it so weirdly,” the child pouted.
“Everyone has a different method of teaching, so you may have a method of learning as well.”
“Oohh….what does method mean?”
“It’s just another word for way.”
“Oh okay,” MK then tilts his head, “so what are you doing anyways?”
“Well right now I’m cutting up some herbs so I can use to make medicine,” he explained in simple terms as he then picked up the diced up blue plant and placed it into a cauldron and began to stir it.
“I didn’t know you could make your own medicine from home!” He leaped up and tried to poke his head over the counter to watch, “I always thought that you get it at the doctor's office.”
“Well doctors actually get it from a lab where people make the medicine there, this space here is my own lab.” He gestured to the room that was filled with all types of different ingredients all placed in a package inside of one storage cabinet and in another was a cabinet filled with modern lab equipment.
“So you don’t have to be a doctor to make medicine?”
“Well for most yeah, but for me,” he grinned as he picks up MK with one hand and placed him on his hip as he continues to stir with his other “let’s just say that I have been doing this for a little over 500 years, so I have a tad bit more experience and knowledge than regular humans.”
“Can I try?!” He excitedly asked.
“Well I don’t know, sometimes it will be a bit too dangerous for you to even be In here, which by the way, do not enter this lab unless I am here,” he sternly told him.
“Okay, okay got it, but pleaseee.”
“I don’t know, think you can handle it,” he teased.
“I’m a big boy! I can handle anything!”
“Hmmmm,” he pretended to think before conceding, “Alright you persuaded me, so I’ll allow it this once,” he said as he put the spoon down, “so first we make sure we have our safety gear on.”
“Check! Check!” MK adjusted the goggles on his eyes and showed off his long sleeve jacket and gloves.
“Next, what you have to do is go slow and make large circles.”
“Slow and large circles, got it,” he then proceeded to pick up the spoon and do what he said as he stirred.
“Good job kiddo, but how bout we make that circle a little bit bigger,” he gently grabbed MK’s hand and made it a bit wider. Soon enough the medicine's previous light yellow had transformed into a dark green.
“Look, it changed colors!” MK pointed out.
“That’s the beauty of medicine kid,” Mac grinned as he set him down, “now all I have left to do is to let this simmer for a few hours and it will be ready to be bottled up.”
“That’s a lot of medicine, is that all for you?”
The demon shook his head, “no it’s actually for one of my regular clients. His students routinely injure themselves, sometimes in the dumbest of ways, so I usually make batches of this every month.” His ears then slightly twitch as he grinned, “speaking of students, MK come here. I have someone here for you to meet.”
“Who?” He tilted his head as the monkey put a lid on a pot, proceeded to put away both of their safety gear as they left the room.
“Hey old-timer, I know your hearing isn’t that bad!” A voice yelled from down below that MK could barely hear, “come grab me, I’m carrying too much shit to climb up!”
“Someone to help,” was all Macaque said before he leaped out of the open window and less than a few seconds later, returned with a short bluenette woman in his arms. “MK this is Yanyu,” he said. “Yanyu, this is MK.”
“Uhhh, he shuffled his feet awkwardly as he gave a slight wave, “hi.”
“Awww,” she cooed at him, “it’s nice to meet you MK. You're rocking a pretty cool shirt there.” She pointed to his solar system shirt, “it’s really far out man.”
There was a pause as MK stuttered out a thank you and Macaque put his face in his hands.
“That was terrible, I hope you know that,” he groaned.
“That’s what you say, I know my puns are rockin my world,” she smirked at the louder groans.
“Please stop, I beg you.”
“Then beg.”
“Are you human?” MK bluntly asked, which made the two pause.
“Strangely enough that isn’t the first time I was asked that, but yes I am fully human. Though a small percentage of me is most likely full of crazy,” she grinned widely.
“I think you have those backward,” he muttered and didn’t even flinch when she elbowed his stomach. “So your probably wondering why she’s here right?”
“Uhhh yeah,” he nodded.
“Well, I have come to the realization that despite my many years with humans, I have never actually taken care of a human child outside of giving them medication.”
“Which he means that he knows not a single thing about taking care of you tiny ones,” Yanyu butted in as she crossed her arms, “and this is where I come in.”
“Oh well that’s good...I think?” MK didn’t exactly know what she meant, but since they said it’s a good thing, he feels like he doesn’t have any complaints.
“Oh trust me, it will be,” she said as she put down the bag and it was filled with books when she opened it up. “I may be a big sister of five, but even I can admit that I don’t know everything, so I brought some parenting books, nutrition, school, and a lot more.”
He couldn’t help but deflate slightly at the last word, which the bluenette noticed.
“Don’t like school?”
“Not really, it's just that I can’t stay focused sometimes,” he admitted as he lowered his head.
“Hey now,” Mac kneeled and ruffled his head, “you don’t have to feel shame for being distracted sometimes.”
“Hmm, well if you have troubles with traditional school classrooms, then how about you try online schooling?” Yanyu said.
“Online school?” MK tilted his head.
“I didn’t know it was also available for the younger grades, I thought it was only for the college classes like you had,” he admitted as he used his feet to pick up one of the parenting books.
“Nah, it was incorporated for all years a few years back. It certainly helped a lot of students out and one of them being me,” she proudly pointed a finger to herself, “let me tell you, kid, it was the second-best decision to do online school. Made my life so much easier.”
“What was the first?” He curiously asked.
Yanyu walked over to Macaque and patted him on the shoulder, “begging this ol doc here to take me on as a student. It was the cheapest and most informative learning I ever had since high school.”
“Student? You were a teacher!” MK's eyes widened as he looked at the monkey demon.
“Kinda, though I did question my sanity during those times,” he said as he flipped through the pages.
“Oh shut up, if it wasn’t for me you would still know squat about technology.”
“I wasn’t that bad.”
“You were still using the Jiaguwen system when I first met you.”
He winced, “okay yeah you got me there.”
“Anywho, it’s gonna be a right pleasure working with you MK,” she held out a fist bump to him, “we’re gonna see a lot of each other.”
MK looked at the outstretched fist and gave a little grin as he fist-bumped her hand.
“Boom,” Yanyu made an exploding sound as she opened her fist when the two parted.
He looked at her strangely.
“Don’t worry Starbright, she’s just weird like that,” Mac patted his head.
“Hey!”
A few months have passed and MK has taken to online schooling like a fish to water. He found it much better to concentrate and while there were still a few issues over understanding the problem itself, he had the help of both Macaque and Yanyu. The last one herself was helping him with his writing.
“The girl is walking to the market by the river to get milk for her mother,” MK repeated to himself as he finished writing.
“Congratulations kid, you have finally graduated from Yoda writing to a regular language,” she gave him a little applause.
“Thank you, thank you you're too kind,” he also jumped out of his seat to give a mock bow.
“But for real kid, you have really approved with your writing,” she gave him a high five, “nice job.”
“I couldn’t have done it without you both,” he scratched the back of his neck.
“I know that you would have been just fine even without our help and I know your dad would agree.”
“Really!” Then MK realized what she said and backtracked as he flailed his arms about, “Wait dad?! I mean dad is kinda a big word and he just adopted me, so he probably doesn’t even see me as a son, more like a responsibility he has to take care-,” he was stopped by a hand gently covering his mouth.
“Whoa there little monkey easy, I can’t keep up that fast,” she lightly teased as she put her hand down, “now you want to tell me what that was all about?”
“Well,” he sat down and kicked his feet, “I-its just-I don’t really-.”
“Take your time,” the bluenette said.
“Well,” he twisted his hands “is it okay if someone-and I don’t mean me just someone I know-don’t call mom and dad, well, mom and dad.”
“Yeah,” she said easily.
“Wait really?” He was a little more than shocked at how easy she said that.
“Really. You, or my bad that person you know, don’t feel comfortable or don’t want to call their parents so that they don’t have to.”
“But they gave birth to me-I mean that person and they raised them, so shouldn’t they have that name?” He tried to insist but was shut down by her shaking her head.
“They don’t keep that name if they harm the child, no parent ever deserves that kind of title if they purposely try to bring harm to their child. It is wrong,” she stated.
“Oh...and what about those that do?” He shyly said, both knowing what he was implying but not saying it out loud.
“Then you say it when your ready,” Yanyu simply said.
“I don’t think it’s that easy?”
“No, but what is?”
MK just shrugged his shoulders.
“Now how about we put away this stuff for ten more minutes before we get into history,” she pushed away from the materials and made sure the laptop was charged up.
“Yes!” He fist-bumped the air as he then spotted the pencil on the ground and tried to pick it up with his feet.
Yanyu had to press her lips together to fight against the bubbling laugh in her throat as she watched MK struggle to pick the pencil with the socks on his feet.
“Oi bastard I need a little help ova here!” A rough voice yelled out as it was followed by a loud bang, which led to the eight year old flailing off his bed.
“How many times have I told you to stop that?” He heard Macaque's familiar voice being annoyed.
“Too many times to count,” another softer voice replied.
“But you think that gunna sticka?” The third voice laughed out loud. “That’s a laugh!”
MK slowly opened his door and crept quietly to the living room as the voices got louder.
“I guess it is too much to ask you to be quiet for once?” The monkey deadpanned.
“Now why would I do that?” The first voice said.
It was at this point that MK managed to poke his head into the living room and saw three different demons, he knows they are demons this time, and his da-Macaque.
There was one whose skin was dark brown, but lighter above the shoulders. The more he looked, the more he could see that they were actually feathers all along the body, and instead of hands, they had clawed bird-like feet and two large black wings protruding from the back.
Another one was softly glowing a light blue hue that matched the pale blue skin as the creature was gently floating just a smidge above the ground. They had almost a mushroom-shaped hat covering their eyes and dozens of dark blue and purple strings attached all around the bottom of the hat as they hung just above the demon feet.
The final one is something that MK could clearly tell what it was as he had seen a bunny before, though this one was way larger than the other bunnies he had ever seen. The demon had pure gray fur and large white fluffy paws, if he wasn’t so nervous right now he would ask to pet them.
“Well I was hoping that you would have kept it down for the kid that is currently living with me right now,” he cracked a smirk at their frozen faces.
“Huh?” They all said in unison.
“Speaking of kids, you can come out MK. Don’t worry bout them too much, they ain’t harmful, just insane.”
At the prompting MK slowly shuffled into the living room and he saw three heads swivel towards him.
“Uhhh hi,” he gave a little wave.
“You have a kid?!?” They all shouted either loudly or softly.
“It’s not that big of a shock,” he grumbled as he walked over to the child and threaded his fingers through his hair. “Sorry, these knuckleheads woke you up.”
“I know I have not been gone that long for you to have a chick without me knowin!” The female bird demon squawked as her feathers puffed up in indignation.
“Nah, adopted him a few months back.”
“And you didn’t tell us?!” The bunny huffed as they thumped his foot in agitation.
“Nope,” he grinned as he watched their growing frustration.
“There are times where you are the best of us and times you are the worst of us, I don’t know which one this falls under,” the mushroom head demon groaned as one of the strings was massaging the top of his head.
“Are they your friends?” MK loudly whispered to the monkey demon.
“I don’t claim these lunatics,” he bluntly said.
“I think you mean to say that we are your amazing, wonderful, fantastic friends that you hold dear,” the bunny demon pointed out as they put an arm around his shoulder.
“I was forced into this,” Macaque said as a wing wrapped around the two of them.
“Ah just admit that you have a soft fuzzy heart for us,” the bird demon grinned.
“Not even when my bones decay away.”
MK just blinked at the unprompted scene as he saw the glowing blue demon approach him.
“Sorry about my companions, they can be a little much sometimes,” he smiled softly to him.
“It’s fine, you're not the only ones who make a loud entrance,” he thought back to the times Yanyu would kick the door open when she walked in.
“I suppose not,” the demon then held out one of his arms to the child, making sure his tentacles were out of the way, “my name is Bohai little one.”
“I’m MK,” he smiled back and shook his hand.
“Oh, we’re doing introductions?! Well, I’m Daiyu chicky,” the female demon grinned or at least that's what he thought she was doing with her scarred beak.
“I’m Minsheng,” the bunny demon twitched their nose and gave a toothy grin, “you're so small that you remind me of my siblings when they were born.”
“How many siblings do you have?” He curiously asked.
“Pfft older or younger? I stopped counting after we reached the 200s,” they laughed.
His eyes widened, “over 200! That’s a lot of brothers and sisters.”
“Well, you know how bunnies are.”
Before MK could question that he felt two furry hands cover his ears.
“How about we don’t talk about that to a kid who has probably never had a crush before,” Macaque hissed to the bunny who had their hands held up.
“He’ll learn eventually.”
“But I would rather have that explained to him by literally anyone but you.”
“Fair enough.”
“Anyways,” the monkey took his hands off MK’s ears, “what were you screeching about earlier?”
“Oh well I got a bit nicked with some of dem cretins after a territory dispute you know how it is and,” Daiyu turned around and showed her back...which had a few knives sticking out of it. “I got a bit scratched up in the tussle.”
“At least you had the sense not to take it out,” he couldn’t help but sigh. “You at least win?”
“Who do ya think your talkin to?” She proudly puffed up her feathers.
“And people say I have too much pride, you damn vultures take the cake,” Macaque rolled his eyes as the two of them walked towards the infirmary room.
“You say that as if you never met Flicker before,” she chortled.
“Well there’s a stark difference between you two.”
“Wha that?”
“He actually has a brain.”
“Hey!” She attempted to pull his dangling fur, but he ducked away in time.
“Can I stay up a little longer!” The seven year old asked before the door could shut.
“Only for a little bit, but when I get back it’s straight to bed.” He answered back and then the door closed.
“Thank you!” He called out regardless as he fully knew that he could hear him.
“And that’s the whole lot of us kid, we're only half as insane as curly made us out to be '' Minsheng joked.
“Almost all of us,” the jellyfish demon said.
“Who you? Ha! Hate to break it to you, but the last time you lost your patience was when they didn’t make your starfish the way you wanted and you paralyzed the entire cooking staff.”
“You didn’t have to bring that up, but no not me,” he waved one of his tendrils. “I meant Ahmed.”
“I didn’t include him in the first place because that man does not even classify as insane,” he bluntly said. “He has the patience of a monk to deal with our brand of insanity which, in hindsight, is insane itself.”
“Whose Ahmed?” MK asked, “is he another friend of d-Mac?”
The two looked at each other before Baiyu spoke, “yeah, he’s a friend of Macaque.”
“Ouch, that’s a low blow for poor Med,” they grinned then winced as a tendril shocked their arm. “What? You know I’m right.”
“You know as well as I do that he can still hear you.”
“I’ve been craving death anyways,” they then turned back to the kid, “so you want to hear some crazy stories about your old man.”
Needless to say that Mac had tackled the bunny demon to the ground, with two violet glowing escrima sticks in hand, in the middle of their story on how the fierce monkey demon had to dance his way across a road of hot coal as he tried to outrun an angry herd of demon pheasant while wearing a rather beautiful kimono.
Macaque was reading out on the patio when his ears twitched as he heard a soft whimpering coming from MK’s room. He put the book on the table when he walked in and safely crept his way over his room and like many times before MK was crying in his sleep from a nightmare once more.
“It’s okay shooting star,” he gently began to thread his fingers through MK’s hair, “it's just a bad dream. You will be fine.”
At first, it didn't have any effect, but the longer he talked the softer the whimpers began to die down and the kid's eyes softly began to blink open.
“W-what's goin on?” He hoarsely said as he rubbed his eyes as he realized that he wasn’t dreaming anymore.
“You just had a bad dream kid,” he hummed as he continued stroking his hair.
“Oh.”
“Want to talk about it?” He received a firm shake of his head, “that’s okay, do you want to lie back down, sing, water, or want me to give you a little shadow puppet show?”
“Shadow show please,” he muffled out as he gripped tighter onto the blanket.
“One show coming right up,” he used a shadow clone to bring back a lantern as the room began to softly glow. When all was set Macaque began his tale in a low voice, “There once was an old man who lived in a shack.” He used some of his shadows to show a picture of an elderly man and wooden shack, “he was nothing special, did nothing extraordinary, and his life was simply normal. Until one day he happens upon the most peculiar thing.”
He continued to tell the tale of the old man even when he, unknowingly, had wrapped his tail around his child’s hand and MK, who was slowly drifting off into a deep slumber, held a tight grip upon it.
MK was currently sitting on the edge of a large lake as he kicked his feet in the water. He was alone at the moment as the monkey demon was tending to the plants that he needs for various medicines. The lake itself was a beautiful view filled with lily pads, reeds standing tall in the crystal lake, fishes and herons swimming in the water. Though he was trying to guess what that large dark shape was, it was nothing he has ever seen before.
“Hmmm I don’t think it’s a fish...maybe a duck?” He leaned in to get a better look and noticed. “Or maybe a turtle!”
The shape shifted as it appeared to be getting bigger and bigger as MK now noticed that he had never seen a turtle with long arms and claws before. He then saw there was long string hair upon what he thinks is its head until suddenly it disappeared and was replaced with two beady eyes. His heart dropped when the creature opened its mouth to reveal countless rows of sharp, pointed teeth. Then it began to rapidly swim towards him.
MK, frightened, fell on his back as he tried to crawl away, but it failed as the creature burst out of the water and onto the ground merely a foot away from him.
He let out a piercing scream, “DDAAADDDDD!”
At the same time the creature, with his mouth wide, said “hi there human child!”
“What?” He abruptly stopped his screaming right as an ominous force suddenly filled up the area as MK then felt two familiar hands scoop him up and hold him close as the voice spoke almost lowly.
“What happe-oh it’s just you,” Macaque let the pressure go back to normal once he realized that there wasn’t a true threat that was trying to attack his kid.
“Bwahahaha,” the creature let out a bellowing laugh, “sorry sorry. I must have scared your youngin.”
“No!” MK instantly said, but then he wilted and nodded, “just a bit.”
“Sorry about that little child, I just get a bit excited when a new face comes around my lake and all,” the webbed creature gave a toothy grin. “I know I startled the pant off Minzhe when I first met him.”
“Your lake? You live here?” MK, after being let down, carefully tried to examine the waters closer.
“Right on the mark, since being a Shui Gui and all.”
“Shui Gui,” he drawled out as he thought about that familiar name.
“Or Kappa, our damn naming changes so often that at this point I just go with the flow.”
“Oh! I know what a Shui Gui is!” MK brightened as he began to tell what his...mom used to tell him. “Aren’t they vengeful demons that have drowned and are bent on dragging helpless victims underwater, drowning them and finally eating their...flesh to…to...” his face took on a look of horror as he realized what he just blurted out. “I am so sorry!”
Luckily though the two demons chuckled, or at least Macaque did as the Kappa was holding his stomach. Though this did make MK’s face flush in embarrassment, he should be glad that the demon wasn’t angry, but he didn’t find any humor in what he said.
“Well I’ll give you credit,” Kappa said as his laughter died down, “what you said was mostly true, except I’m not a demon, just a ghost.”
“And let’s be clear he hasn't eaten people since two-maybe three millenniums ago,” the monkey demon intruded as he knew what MK was gonna ask next.
“You humans have become much too stringy for my taste,” he joked, but it served the opposite purpose as the small child paled even further.
“And this is why your only friend is an adrenaline junkie who has a taste for his own death,” Mac deadpanned as he soothed MK down.
After his heart stopped thrumming in his ears the human managed to look up at his guardian and his eyes widened as he noticed that Macaque suddenly had three pairs of different colored ears: red, blue, and purple. “When did you get three ears?!”
“You just now noticed?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Did you have them all this time?!?!!”
“Not all the time, but I do when it’s quiet usually.”
“Cooolll!” He attempted to climb the monkey to get a better look, “Is this how you're able to hear things from so far away?”
“Yeah,” he lets him examine his ears as only his eye minuscule twitch when MK accidentally pulls it too hard. “Be careful now, only have three pairs of them you know.”
“Right, sorry.” He apologized as he became gentler with his touches. He couldn’t help but gently drag his fingers through the oddly pointed ears and he smiled, now he understood why some of Mac's clients called him the Six-Eared Macaque. He eventually got down and faced the spirit once more, who was just looking at the two of them with amusement. “I’m real sorry for screaming at you.”
“Water under the bridge young child,” he waved him off, “least you apologize for it. I know that half the ones in these woods won’t even say sorry for ramming into you.”
“There’s more of you?” He tried to look in the lake, but he was once again met with only fish and water.
“Me specifically no, but spirits, demons, and other whatnot. Oh yeah there's hundreds of them dwelling in this here forest.”
“Wowww,” his eyes sparkled, “so does that mean that we are all neighbors.”
It was stunned silence before the Shun Gui began laughing once more as he bends down, “PFFTHAHAHA!”
“Did I say something funny?” MK looked towards Mac who was pinching his nose once more.
“No, he’s just obnoxious, that’s all.”
“You know what I like you kid, yeah we’re all neighbors, man even Ping would get a laugh out of this,” the water spirit said after his laughter died down. “Welcome to the neighborhood MK!”
“Thanks...umm what’s your name again?” He embarrassedly asked as he realized that he never got a name throughout this whole interaction.
“Oh here we go,” Mac sighed as he got comfortable and plucked up a Ravenna grass and began to chew on it. He grimaced as he realized that he had plucked up a weed again.
“Eh, you can call me Kappa if you want, don’t care for the whole naming thing,” he shrugged as he got back in the lake and laid there.
“Why not?” He curiously followed him.
“Why should I?” He shot back with a grin.
“Huh?”
“Why should I care for my name? It’s my name and I can do whatever I want with it, so I just choose not to care.”
“But don’t you like your name,” he was very confused about how this conversation came about.
“Oh I do, but truth be told, most of the time I forget others' names, so one day I just thought ‘you know what, what if I just don't use my name all the time’ and I didn't,” he finger gunned at the blank face child.
“You're kinda weird,” he bluntly told Kappa.
“I’m sorry,” Mac spoke up in disbelief, “You met a trio of lunatic demons that are a hot mess in general, an insane human who likes to add too much ghost jalapeño to her food, one of my clients who have their organs outside of their body and this is where you draw the line of weird?”
“I just wanted to know his name!” He threw his hands up.
“Just whatever is fine,” he laughed.
“Well fine! Your name is Whatever now!” He said in a fit of frustration before he realized what he said, “wait! I didn’t mean-,”
“Pfthahaha!” The spirit once more threw his head back in laughter.
“...what is even happening,” MK deadpanned.
“Welcome to my life Starchild,” Mac said as he ruffled his hair.
“That’s an interesting one, alright Whatever it is then,” he gave him a toothy grin.
“Wha-no please no,” MK almost begged him. “I didn’t-,”
“Nope too late, I won’t respond to anything else but Whatever from you. Hope to see you around short stack, you really know how to bring a laugh to a vengeful spirit face,” he let out a bark of a laugh before diving down deep into the lake.
MK blinked for a few moments before turning to Macaque, “is he really gonna-,”
“Oh yeah he is only gonna respond by that name,” he cut him off, “called him a Kappa once to his face and that slimy frog hasn’t let go since.”
“...I think I want to go back home dad,” said MK as he leaned into his fur. “I think I’m done for the day.”
Macaque’s breath hitched as he then gave him a gentle smile and scooped him up in his arms. “Yeah, I think I am as well.” And with that, the two mentally exhausted people made their way back to their warm home.
MK, who proudly turned nine as of a few months ago, was playing in an arcade as his dad was grocery shopping. He stuck out his tongue as he attempted to repeatedly punch the monster in Monkey Mech, but he keeps getting beaten right before he can land the final punch. He mused up his short ponytail out of frustration that was held by a red ribbon, “Oh man! I swear this guy cheats, alright seventeen times the charm.”
“I thought it was the third time the charm?” He turns around at the voice and sees a pigtail girl around his age looking at him.
“It is, but I lost sixteen other times, so this time I will win,” he confidently said as he put another token in, and just like before he lost. “I almost had it!”
“Move over,” the girl pushed him aside and took over the controls, “let me show you how to really play.”
MK's jaw dropped when the Winner title popped up after she managed to land the final triple axel uppercut to the enemy. “How’d you do that?!”
“Oh just a lot of practice, and searching online, to find the right moves to slain the beast,” she bragged.
He went down on his knees and bowed to her, “oh teach me your ways oh wise one.”
“You may refer to me as Master Mei,” she deepened her voice to sound elderly, “and who shall I call my young student.”
“Call me MK,” he followed along with glee, he hasn’t played with a kid his age in so long.
“Well then let me show you the ways of Monkey Mech,” and with that the two proceeded to play the game, playfully pushing each other as they double battled in a co-op mode. It wasn’t until a few hours had passed, and they had long passed Monkey Mech and went into all the different kinds of games in the arcade when MK noticed the digital clock behind the counter.
“Aww man, it’s getting late,” he pouted as he didn’t want to end, “I have to meet up with dad.”
“Awww,” Mei's shoulder slumped as they walked to the prize area, “that sucks.”
“Yeah,” he slumped his shoulder, as well as the two, looked through the prizes available, which did brighten the mood a bit as Mei left with a strange mutated stuffed dog that had three eyes, a few pieces of candy, and three bouncy balls, while MK was sucking on a swirly lollipop, pieces of chocolate in his pocket, and a sticky hand sling that he is slinging everywhere.
“So you like racing?” MK asked as they left the arcade, besides the Monkey Mech he noticed that Mei tended to go to the racing games more often.
“Yes! One day I will have my own motorcycle and I will be faster than anyone, even the Monkey King!” Mei declared.
“Even the Monkey King? Wow that is fast,” he said in awe, he read the story of the Journey to the West from the library. He was quickly enamored with the story the more he read and he soon began to idolize the great Monkey King. To think that such a being could ever exist in the first place was amazing! He did find it funny that the great Monkey King rival was named Macaque, it was hilarious to think that his dad could ever have powers to fight on equal standing with a god-like immortal. Grumpy? Sure! Easy annoyed? Oh yeah definitely, but scary? Ha! The scariest thing Dad has ever done was glare at his patients when they were being too noisy, but for some reason it always works as they shrink back in fear. He mentioned it to Yanyu and the demon gang one time and well-
“HAHAHAH/PFFTTTTT/SQUAK SQUAWK SQUAAAKK/SHEHEHEH,” Yanyu was rolling all over the floor as Minsheng was banging his feet, Daiyu was slamming the table with her wings, and Bohai was using all his tentacles to wrap himself.
-they burst out laughing when he mentioned this to them. He still hasn’t gotten a full answer for that one, all they told him was to wait.
“I wonder how far that can go?” Mei curiously asked as she watched the green sling attach itself on the top of the door that they were exiting.
“Not far, how high can your bouncy ball bounce?” He asked as he then watched her bounce the ball and saw it soar a bit high above their heads.
“Not that high either...how about we combine them,” she gave a mischievous grin as MK followed suit as he used his sticky sling and attached it to the ball.
“One,” Mei started.
“Two,” MK raised his hand in mid-air.
“Thr-”
“Ready to go kid.”
“AH!” They screamed and watched the sling and ball slip from his hand and instead of bouncing, it was thrown in Mac's face, who easily caught it.
“Not the first time I had something thrown at me,” he didn’t even blink at the outburst, though he did take a second glance at the other child next to his son, “though your new, made a friend Stardust.”
“Her name is Mei!” MK excitedly said though it didn’t look like Mei was paying attention to him at all as her focus was all on Macaque, or more specifically, his head.
“What?” The monkey demon raised an eyebrow.
“You have the longest hair I have ever seen,” her eyes sparkled as she instantly zoomed behind him and started to pull on his fur. “Can I braid it?!”
“It’s actually fur,” he corrected her.
“Can I still put it in a braid?”
“Sure.”
“Then I don’t care!” She happily proclaimed and pointed to one of the benches. “Sit.”
“...” he looked towards his kid who just shrugged his shoulders, “well I guess this is happening,” he sighed as he got a clone to take the rest of their groceries back home.
Needless to say that Mei very much enjoyed putting the demon fur in a messy, but still manageable, braid.
“You know if I had some Morning glories, they would look amazing in your hair,” she mused.
“You know their weeds right?” He pointed out.
“So? They look awesome.”
“You got me there.”
“There!” She proudly finished her creation with her green ribbon tied up at the end, “you have very fluffy hair.”
“Fur,” he once more corrected her.
“Eh fur, hair there the same thing,” she turned back from the monkey and to MK with a nervous smile, “you will definitely come back right? I haven’t finished playing all the arcade games with you.”
MK looks towards his dad with puppy dog eyes and Mei easily follows suit.
“You know those don’t work on me right,” he deadpanned and smirked at their hanging heads, “but yeah, I’ll drop him off from time to time.”
“Yes!” They both jump up in cheer, only for some of their candy to fall out and onto the floor.
“My babies!” MK rushed to pick up his pieces of semi-melted chocolate.
“Noooo!” Mei quickly began to grab as many of her jawbreakers as it rolled away.
Macaque watched them in amusement at their mad scramble to save their sugar fix.
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lsvdw-blog · 3 years
Note
hey hey hey! This week we're doing something different:
Not Yet Wed Questions
Note: Great Scott! This week, we are going back in time to MC’s intern year. Think of Ethan’s relationship with them at this point and answer the following questions accordingly. It is entirely up to you when in year 1 this takes place (pre/post Miami, pre/post CH 15, etc). Feel free to answer with dialogue or pictures or both :) Have fun!
No worries. All of this is off the record and HR will never know!
The setting for this answers is:
For Both
When I first saw them, I thought__________
What is your coworker's most used swear word?
Quick: What color are their eyes?
Three people at work your coworker hates?
What is your coworker’s strangest or most endearing quirk?
If they had a crush on anyone at work, who would that be?
(Bonus round! Feel free to skip.)
Never have I Ever:
come into work hungover
had a fistfight
been kicked out of a bar
gotten a tattoo
broken someone’s heart
been in love
For MC (Ethan is not there)
Where do you see him in five years (both professionally and in his personal life?)
What do you find the most impressive about him?
Last thing he texted you?
If he asked you out on a date, what would you say?
For Ethan (MC is not there)
Where do you see him in five years (both professionally and in his personal life?)
What specifically do you find attractive about her?
Last thing she texted you?
If she asked you out on a date, how would you respond?
Breeeeeeee 💖 Thank you for sending these and brightening up my week! You do so much for this fandom and I appreciate you 🥰💝
The setting: The Diagnostics Office. Set post chapter 15, (before things got complicated again and let's ignore the fact that they both technically aren't employed right now 😅) Serena may or may not have told Ethan that this was about the hospital and its intern competition to get him to agree.
It was too late for him to back out when they were sat down and mic'd up 😂 Ethan glares at her... she's gonna pay for this later if you know what I mean 😏
They try to keep this interview as professional as possible but they kinda fail
For Both
When I first saw them, I thought__________
What Serena says: "...I plead the fifth."
What Serena thinks: "Hot hot hot 🥵"
Ethan: "Oh look, yet another intern."
What is your coworker's most used swear word?
Serena: "I'm not sure if this counts as a swear word, but he does take the Lord's name in vain quite often: Jesus Christ. If he doesn't say that, you'll know he's displeased by literally everything else he does. The eye roll, pinching the bridge of his nose, his jaw tightening, the way—"
Ethan: "Are you done?"
Serena sticks her tongue out playfully at him and he can't help the tiny uptick of his lips at that.
Ethan: "Sh*t, among others, but this one the most. She has a dirty mouth."
Serena flips her hair over her shoulder casually at the innuendo and Ethan's eyes darken slightly. He clears his throat awkwardly.
Quick: What color are their eyes?
Serena: "Blue. Hard to miss when he's looking at you like you're the dumbest thing on the planet."
Ethan rolls his eyes. "I have no clue. I have more important matters to attend to on a daily basis." (He's lying. He knows what color her eyes are b/c he stared into them as he f***ed her brains out for hours)
Three people at work your coworker hates?
Serena scoffs. "Only three?"
"Rookie," Ethan warns.
Serena sighs. "Fine. I guess it's a good thing you only want three, or else we'd be here all week. Surgeons, except for Dr. Emery, interns, except for yours truly, and The Board. I gave groups because Ethan dislikes most everyone."
"You're about to be put back on that list," he grumbles. "Serena is friends with everyone, so I can't say she dislikes anyone. Mm, there is one soon-to-be previous intern."
Serena shoots him a quizzical look and they have a silent conversation with their eyes. Bree awkwardly sits there.
What is your coworker’s strangest or most endearing quirk?
Serena: "Whenever he starts to get tunnel-visioned in his focus on something, he always rolls his sleeves up to just below his elbows and this tiny little crease will appear between his brows as they furrow."
Ethan is taken aback that she's noticed this, but tries to hide it by clearing his throat. "If something amuses her, but it hasn't gotten her to fully laugh yet, she'll scrunch her nose."
Serena looks at him with wide eyes, shocked that he's observed this.
If they had a crush on anyone at work, who would that be?
Serena: "Uhm..."
Ethan: "I don't think—"
They start at the same time and whip their heads to look at one another. They lock eyes and it seems like everything else disappears. "Okaaaay..." Bree says under her breath.
(Bonus round! Feel free to skip.)
Never have I Ever (done with "I have" & "I haven't" paddles):
come into work hungover
They both raise their "I have" paddles.
Serena barks out a laugh. "Are you sure you're not confusing yourself with someone else?"
Ethan sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Interns," he grumbles.
had a fistfight
Ethan raises his "I have" paddle. "I used to be a bit of a... troublemaker."
Serena, on the outside: *Poker face*
Serena, internally: "Hot hot hot 🥵"
been kicked out of a bar
Serena raises her "I have" paddle.
Ethan: "Why am I not surprised?"
Serena: "Hey!"
Ethan: "I'm going to have to hear this story though."
Serena: "Maybe if you behave."
Ethan's Adam's apple bobs as he swallows.
gotten a tattoo
Serena raises her "I have" paddle and Ethan tries to hide his smirk b/c he's seen it as they f***ed.
broken someone’s heart
Serena raises her "I have not" paddle, while Ethan contemplates and regretfully raises his "I have" paddle. He looks guiltily at Serena from the corner of his eye.
been in love
Both raise their "I have not" paddles. They're both idiots b/c they've fallen in love with each other 🙄
For MC (Ethan is not there)
Where do you see him in five years (both professionally and in his personal life?)
"Professionally, literally wherever he wants to be. He's a genius - he could do whatever he wanted and is passionate about. I think maybe he'd step back a bit from the politics of a hospital and do more philanthropic work, with the WHO perhaps. Personally, I hope he's happy. Genuinely happy. However, and with whomever, he finds that.
What do you find the most impressive about him?
"What's not impressive about him? He's remarkably intelligent, cares so deeply, even if he has a hard exterior, and is so incredibly passionate about helping his patients, medicine as a whole, and bettering the entire field."
Last thing he texted you?
"The things you get me to agree to."
If he asked you out on a date, what would you say?
Serena smiles. "Yes. Absolutely yes."
For Ethan (MC is not there)
Where do you see her in five years (both professionally and in his personal life?)
"She will be at the top of our field and at the top of her game. She's going to be one of the most highly sought after doctors in the world, there's no doubt in my mind. As for her personal life," he trails off and thinks for a second. "I hope she's happy. In every sense of the word."
What specifically do you find attractive about her?
Ethan blinks at Bree for a few beats. "On the record? Her intelligence, drive, compassion. Off the record? Add to those things her smile, her laugh, the way she carries herself with such confidence and grace, how she can charm just about anyone." Ethan doesn't notice, but he's smiling at this point.
Last thing she texted you?
"Please?? 🥺🥺"
If she asked you out on a date, how would you respond?
Ethan, again, blinks at Bree for a few beats. "She would never do that. She's not the type... she's a bit old-fashioned that way. But, if she was feeling like pushing her comfort zone and beat me to it, I would agree. I do enjoy being in her company," he says, not realizing he'd said that last part out loud, with a gleam in his eyes.
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So I think you’ve talked about your Doc Ock a bit on here... but have you ever encountered any other Ocks in other dimensions? How do they match up to yours?
Yes, I have. Doctor Octopus might not be exactly a universal constant, but it's certainly a common enough title that I've crossed paths with a fair number of them. I'm going to give a short little rundown of each of them, and why they should go to hell. This is gonna be a salty list. If you didn't want that, you should've come to someone else.
The Otto Octavius of Earth-1512 was the first alternate Ock I ever encountered. Unlike most of the Ocks on this list, I don't know or care what his deal is--I just spent an hour in my first ever alternate universe before I saw a man in armored green and yellow throwing cars around with mechanical tentacles. He was also working with the Green Goblin and holding civilians hostage at the time, which in my opinion is reason enough to put him in the ICU like I did. I've never been back to this universe and never will, but presumably he's just doing the same shit every month or so.
The Otto Octavius of Earth-8363, colloquially called God Ock because I guess we can't fucking help but stroke his ego, was the Ock I met during my first outing with what'd eventually be the Cluster. He's a weird edge case. First we fought a robotic duplicate of him, then his actual self after he'd done the dumbest thing I've ever seen an Ock do and integrated an extradimensional energy source into his fucking body in a bid for omnipotence. I suspect he was already basically dead when Gwen ripped the Shard out, but he had a backup personality on a secret hard drive and so we've met his AI self. He agrees it wasn't his smartest move. Still, fuck this guy. He apparently stabbed my alternate self in the back so he deserves what he got.
Oliver Octavius, of Earth-42711a, isn't a doctor. I refuse to call him Doctor Octopus, but he's calling himself that because he claims to be the son of Otto Octavius. Knowing Otto, I'm more than a little skeptical of that claim, but that doesn't change the fact that in a bid to be just like Daddy he dropped out of college to become a supervillain. When Melly noted that this plan was less than stellar he interpreted that as a personal betrayal and has sworn revenge on her. He's temperamental, idolizing of a man he's never met, and has an ego more fragile than sugar glass--and he's not even good at villainy. I walked into his lair, kicked his ass, and walked out again in less than five minutes. Oliver's pathetic. And he knows it, because he's scrambling to compensate with a desperation that anyone with half a brain can see is going to kill him very, very soon.
The Otto Octavius of Earth-22701 needs to fucking leave Morgan alone. The Peter Parker of that universe died like a century ago, and that Otto's engineered a way to stop aging so he doesn't even need to fight superheroes anymore. But no, he reads about a kid in New Orleans with my powers and decides that that's obviously his dead enemy having, I dunno, reincarnated or something. Instead of being the result of the spider-related experiments that he funded. I don't have a lot of respect for this Otto's intelligence. I've only met him in-person once, when I was going on the warpath and beating up everyone who's ever tried to kill Morgan, but for some reason having an actual Peter Parker knock two of his teeth out wasn't enough to deter him from his theory about Morgan being me. I'll try again as soon as I get a chance.
Odyssia Octavius, the Ock of Earth-777, is probably the least scientist and most mad of all the mad scientists here. Also the one who leans the hardest into the Octopus aesthetic, because alone among the Ocks she's a marine biologist. Now, unlike certain counterparts of mine I could mention, I actually don't give a fuck about her decision to serve an eldritch sea monster for power. Nor am I opposed to her overall goal--obviously we gotta save the environment, and obviously we're gonna have to fuck up some industries to make that happen. That's fine. My problems with her are more related to her habit of painfully twisting people she's got a grudge on into horrific monsters and then siccing said monsters on the populace. Even if that wasn't fucking abominable and evil beyond all recompense, it doesn't exactly convey the green message she's trying to go for. Maybe the Writhing One is modifying her logic to suit its own ends, using her as a puppet to get what it wants. Maybe she just fucking sucks. I've only ever spoken to her through the Internet, but if we ever meet face to face I'll be sure to ask which one it is right after I kick her ass and rip off big handfuls of that magic tattoo.
October Otto, the Doctor Octopus of Earth-2, is the only person in this list who I'm not inclined to attack on sight. It took me a little while to get to that point--when the me of Earth-2, Pax, introduced us I was pretty suspicious. But out of all the Ocks I've ever met, this is the only one who's not...nefarious. They're a little eccentric, more than a little shy, but overall a very well-meaning and selfless biologist. I'm glad I met them, even if their tentacles make me a little nauseous to think about. They and I still communicate occasionally, and after what happened to Pax I've been checking in with them to ask about their progress on a cure. This is one of the few people with whom I've ever felt the need to share my files on the Oz virus. I hope it does them good.
With the exception of October, all of these people are fucking awful. But none of them are as dangerous or as detestable as the Otto Octavius of Earth-61610.
The Otto I know is an unrivalled genius. His entire existence is devoted to biorobotics, and over the years he's integrated man and machine on a level that makes the Iron Man armor look like a remote-controlled action figure. He's modified his tentacles to counter my super speed, he's designed and redesigned a zillion different personal helpers, he's made himself the center of a technological superpower controlled solely by his mind. And unlike a lot of Ocks, he's not being manipulated by his tentacles. Nor was he driven insane by the accident that fused them to his body. No, this is a perfectly sane, rational prosthesis engineer who got so frustrated with the bounds of the law that he decided he had the right to start snapping necks.
He's a futurist, is the thing. A man with a grand vision of the technological utopia he could turn the world into, who thinks without a shadow of doubt that he knows what's best for the world and everyone in it, and who's decided that if you try to stop him from realizing that vision that the best thing to do is Remove you from the equation. Worse, he's written off massive swaths of the human race off as expendable--as little people whose lives are a perfectly acceptable sacrifice to bring about his future, who maybe even should be thanking him for the chance to finally mean something.
Every Octobot contains at least a few pieces of human brain. He kidnaps people, lobotomizes them, and integrates parts of their central nervous system into his systems to make his robots more adaptable and independent than purely mechanical systems could be. He's seeded mass-produced medicine with nanotech that hijacked the nervous system of the people who took it and turned them into unconscious parts of a worldwide neural network. On more than one occasion, he's tried to turn entire cities into his own personal laboratories, and everyone inside into lab rats.
Otto Octavius is a monster. No other Ock I've ever met even comes close.
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indimlights · 3 years
Text
This is my little surprise for all of you. I did a (not so) little drawble that I like to call "Woensdag 21:21 - A year after" I hope you enjoy it.
It has been long since the sun had set in the Ardennes region, the night had settled in and the moon was now visible in the sky. The sounds of nature surrounded the chalet with crickets, owls and leaves blowing in the wind making themselves heard in the silent of the November night. The wind was strong. Very strong in reality, blowing from the North carrying with it the sounds of a distant Antwerp, a place they all called home and that made the already cold night even colder.
The campfire was lit, sparks flying to the flow of the wind, and the fire was shining a deep orange light on every area surrounding it. The flames kept everyone around them warm, at least most of them but from time to time the wind tried to tame the fire turning the warm flame into a meaningless amount of orange embers.
Once this happened Senne would get up, crouch near the campfire, ask for help and after he got none he would light up the fire again as fast as he could even though he was the only one trying. But for some reason, when the fire went out at 21:21 he thought it might have been different.
"Anyone helping me out this time?" He said pretty convinced he would get no help as always but still asking because he had nothing to lose. Everyone was silent, some looking up at Senne after the comment, some not even doing so, busy with whatever they were doing.
"Okay I'll do this alone again because I'm apparently the only one that doesn't mind leaving my lover for the wellbeing of others" Senne added. He had clearly gotten anoyed after the third time he had had to light the fire the previous night but today he was finally letting everyone know how annoyed he was.
"He's right, Sander, Aaron, don't you help?" Zoë was obviously defending Senne but what she said made sense to even the dumbest people around, if he could leave her for a second, so could the others leave their loved ones.
"So? You say nothing" She added
"I can go but I'm-" Aaron didn't have time to finish the sentence as Sander was already up grabbing some more logs to light up the fire, Robbe was almost lost as he was leaning on Sander and almost fell over when he got up. He now waited for Sander to sit back down to rest his head on his boyfriend again. He had now lost the warmth of the fire and the warmth of Sanders body aswell and the cold was starting to settle in. He just looked around to everyone there, Zoë with her scarf sitting waiting for Senne to come back, Amber laying on Aarons legs on the exact same position he was in a few hours later. They were both covered with a blancket, something Robbe didn't have so the only thing he could do to fight the cold was to try and distract his mind. On his right, Jens was sitting down checking his phone and Luca, sitting next to him, was commenting how beautiful the place was and Robbe agreed, it was beautiful but a bit too cold for confort.
"Okay it's done, thanks Sander." The fire was up again and the orange light had came back to the area lighting up Robbes expression staring at it. Sander turned around away from the fire looking at his boyfriend and stopping a in his tracks as he saw how beautiful he was with the orange lit up face. On Robbes side the view was pretty good aswell, Sander was eyeing him and the fire behind him made him have an flame orange aura around his entire body. The smoke from the campfire made it even more perfect adding a grey mist to Sanders figure. Robbe let out a gentle smile inviting Sander to seat back with him with a simple gesture of his hand. Sander replyed with the same gesture to Robbe calling him to follow him away from the warmth of the flames. Robbe didn't understand why Sander would want them to go away from the others but he couldn't resist the urge to follow his boyfriend everywhere so he got up and did so.
"Where are we going?" Robbe said as they got further and further away from the crown. The ambient tuning dark being Sander the only visible shape in front of Robbes eyes. That's the only reason Robbe knew where to go, Sanders shape in the moonlight, that and the constant voice of Sander repeiting the words "Come" to him.
They stopped at a small open field downhill, the fire still visible behind them, now just glowing a small light in the distance that didn't help them face the cold. Sander seemed okay with his jacket and beanie but Robbe, with the same clothes, was freezing.
"Fuck it's cold" Robbe said rubbing his hands on his arms to try and warm himself a bit. Sander laughed after this words, a noise magic to Robbe but that didn't really make sense to him in that moment.
"You know Robbe, That's why I brought you here, to try and hear those words or something like them." Sander said, smiling wide to Robbe whose face was nothing but confused about what he was hearing.
"You said the same thing last year." Sander added still smiling. "You know that right?" Robbe thought for a bit, understanding something had happened, something he was sure he would know, something he was sure would come to him after a second of thinking. And it did. Robbes face changed as he understood what had happened, a shiver going through his spine, just like it did on that day, but now not from cold but from happiness and memories.
"That was last year? Seems like yesterday!" Robbe took some steps closer to Sander, a distance close enough to feel his warm breath contrasting to the freezing night around them. They locked eyes on eachother, totally forgetting about what was going on outside, this was their moment.
"Didn't you feel cold last year?" Robbe added widening his smile to Sander, the Moonlight being the only light iluminating them. Both of them.
"I did, I still do, I was shaking but I didn't want to let you know." Sander answered laughing a bit afterwards, never unlocking his eye contact with Robbe.
"Shaking? Not even I was that cold" Robbe took another step closer to Sander, their faces almost touching as the tension rose between them in the imminence of a kiss.
"Yes shaking, but not because of the cold. It was because I knew it was my only chance to kiss the prettiest person in the world and if I failed, I would regret it forever." Robbes face lit up with the sound of these words leaving Sanders lips, he was so scared that day, not knowing if he should or not jump in, should or not kiss Sander and now he knew Sander was scared aswell but not because he wasn't sure of what he wanted, he was scared because he knew he wanted Robbe and was scared to fail. That was enough for Robbe to finally break eye contact and lean in for the kiss. Sander did the same placing his hands on Robbes back and accepting Robbes kiss, a kiss he also wanted and could never get enough of.
Seconds passed, turning into minutes with the two boys holding each other as if nothing else mattered to them. Every kiss they shared was different and special in it's own way, because it was on a different day, hour, minute and on a different mood, environment and place but that one was special. It was the concretization of their love, exacly one year after their first kiss but now everything was different, Robbe was sure that was what he wanted and Sander was the only person for him and Sander didn't need to be scared anymore, he had made it, he had gotten that kiss the previous year and with it he had unlocked a future with Robbe, a person who understood him and was there for him, always.
Their kiss lasted for short minutes that sounded like hours until Robbe broke it, softly smiling at Sander. "You know what, I'm no longer cold, just like after the kiss last year."
Sander smiled back, nodding to Robbe, confirming he was feeling the same thing as him. That was their effect on each other, the heat of their kiss could keep the cold away and their arms served as a blanket that kept them cozy and safe from the rest of the world. Sander grabbed Robbes left hand with his right one while looking up to the sky.
"The stars are never far away, I used to think that was because I could see them at night but now I know its because I have one next to be everyday lighting up my life." Robbe didn't know how to react, those words were the biggest compliment he had ever heard from Sander and he was completely frozen trying to fully understand every word and letter his boyfriend had said. He just squeezed his hand, making Sander know he was there and that Sander was also his star in the dark, someone that had made him see his real self. The real Robbe that Robbe didn't even know existed before he found Sander.
"Look, Robbe." Robbe quickly lifted his head looking up to find a shooting star making it's way across the nightsky. "Make a wish" Sander added squeezing Robbes hand back with the same strenght and confort Robbe had squeezed his.
Robbe sighed looking at Sander whose eyes never left the sky. "I wish to have you with me forever, to never let you go, to never stop loving you with every part of me"
Sander turned his face to Robbe, a small glow in his eyes and a wide smile in his face. "Be carefull, you shouldn't say it out loud, it could not come true"
Robbe locked eyes with Sander again, grabing his other hand and holding Sanders hands in his.
"It will because I don't need a shooting star to know how much I love you and how much I want you forever! Happy one year anniversary baby. The first of all of them"
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sheeepdog · 3 years
Text
Let’s be honest
Neither party is in the right here.
Let’s kinda break down what happened today, and look at the flaws at both Tommy and Tubbo that led up to this moment of Tommy’s exile.
Tommy, yes, should not have griefed georges stupid little cottage core house. BUT, Dream obviously used this grief as an excuse to play puppeteer with Tubbo and L’manberg. Exile is such an overdramatic punishment for a crime that has been normalized, and done by virtually everyone on the entire server. It wasn’t a big enough crime to deserve the walls, probabtion, and definitely not exile.
Tommy has a hard time keeping his mouth shut. Since he’s so fueled by emotions; especially when he gets upset or angry, he dug this hole deeper than the small ditch it already was. Tommy struggles with his pride, and that’s obviously showing here. If he didn’t go off on a rant about spirit, things may possibly be better than they are now. (Although, I have never seen Tommy be so vague ? His whole breakdown in the meeting room was very strange and I wonder if there was any reasoning behind his behavior?)
Tubbo is trying to do his best as president of a nation that has just come out of a war, and is doing his best to restore peace. Tubbo is right when he is advocating for peace between nations because L’manberg CANT handle another war. He needs to keep the peace so that L’manberg doesn’t fall again, and so it can prosper as it always should have in the first place.
But Tubbo should never have exiled Tommy.
What everyone already knows is that Dream wanted Tommy exiled over such a small crime to seperate him and Tubbo. After seeing how Tubbo gave Tommy probation for a crime that didnt deserve that punishment, Dream knew that he could get away with a much more intense punishment if he pushed Tubbo a little. Which is what happened. Tubbo is just a war-ridden child ina suit that is two sizes too big pushed into power, who is doing what he thinks is best to avoid more conflict. It’s not his fault that he’s in power.
But exiling Tommy was probably the dumbest decision. Tommy is the glue that holds L’manberg together. Even when he says he knows L’manberg is in safe hands and that he can focus on his disks, Tommy will always flock back to L’manberg to fight for its glory if need be. He built the country, and as a founding father he will always defend it. He’s the guard dog. He always bears his teeth when threatened, and will run into battle head first to protect the place he loves. Getting rid of Tommy has left L’manberg defenseless, and even tho Tommy isn’t the best pvp’er, he is the one who gets everyone through each battle because of his leadership skills and determination. Without Tommy, Dream has his full grasp on L’manberg. Quackity was right when he argued with Tubbo saying that they should have never negotiated with Dream in the first place. Tubbo’s cabnit was submissive from the start. They see a green man in netherite and panic, which is exactly what Dream wants.
Tubbo is a hypocrite. I can’t express how angry it made me when he didn’t support Tommy’s plan of teaming with techno (which was a stupid fucking idea it was terrible and not thought out I’ll give Tubbo that) but then he immediately turns around after exiling Tommy and forming the butcher army? Tubbo yells that he wants peace and therefore Tommy needs to be exiled but then does a one-eighty and goes off with his cabnit and declares attack on techno? Who was - always upfront with his intentions and never lied about his allegiance? Hypocrite.
You can see tubbos horns beginning to grow. You can see Tubbo cutting off the connections that he’s had for lifetimes. His power is getting to his head, whether he knows it or not.
Tubbo getting angry at Tommy isnt completely unjustified. Tommy can be a loose canon, and at times is a liability. But Tubbo complied with Dream, and exiled his best friend. He just agreed with the man that they’ve been fighting against this entire time. He took Dreams side over Tommy.
I’m not sure of what’s going to come from this arc. How Tommy will interact with Tubbo after this, how he will return to L’manberg and the smp.
All I know is that ghostbur is doing his best to keep his promise to Tommy, and that’s to never leave his side. Ghostbur is doing his best to be there for Tommy, to understand what is happening and try to make Tommy feel better. It’s just like how it started. It’s just Wilbur and Tommy. Off together again, with Logsted.
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Text
A Semester Early
request: Pony goes on a winter walk, revisiting his hometown a year after college. He is happier now. 
-
I loved this prompt, and wish I had someone to credit it for, but it was sent anonymously. it was so much fun to write! of course, a one-shot about Ponyboy can’t be written without some angst in there, right? ;) 
ENJOY. let me know what you think!!! 
-
There’s something to be said for the feeling of outgrowing a place. I decided that was it. That was the feeling I’ve felt ever since returning home from college. I hadn’t been home for this long since I was eighteen years old. After graduating a semester early a few weeks ago, Darry managed to talk me into coming home for a few months. I hemmed and hawed about it - living in a city like New York has a way of liberating you in the same way that a small town in Oklahoma can make you feel too small - but finally conceded defeat and agreed to move back in with him and Soda before I found a job. 
It wasn’t the idea of seeing them that deterred me from returning home. Lord knows my arm doesn’t need to be twisted to find an excuse to see Sodapop, Darry, and the gang. It was the idea of not wanting to leave again. Of getting too comfortable for my own good, I guess. 
Before I could dwell too long on the irrational doom I’ve felt since I walked in the door, I had to admit that it was good to be back home. Where I was just Ponyboy. Where everyone knew embarrassing stories about me and knew how I liked my eggs cooked and I never had to remind them of anything about myself. I didn’t have to make myself look cool or nuanced in their presence. They knew who I was. They loved me for who I was.
Darry has all the Christmas decorations sitting in boxes scattered on the floor when I walk in. Him and Soda had refused to decorate without me the past few years. It was something we did together and a tradition that meant even more for him to continue since mom and dad were gone. 
Our mother loved Christmas. I try my best not to tear up when I notice that Darry has her Loretta Lynn Christmas album sitting on top of the record player, waiting for us to play it and sit in bittersweet silence like we’ve done every year. Decorating for Christmas reminds me of her the most, I’ve decided. 
I couldn’t believe this was almost the tenth Christmas without them. It feels like a lifetime.
When I set foot into my childhood bedroom, I was overwhelmed with nostalgia, like I always am. Nothing changes. Not that I expected it to, but it was like walking through a museum. Back at school, I felt like a nomad. I never really had a place to call my own in New York. I was in a different apartment every few months, and none of them were satisfactory, but I had learned to regard it as charm. Perhaps Sodapop knew this, because he always made sure to leave everything as I had it from the last time I had been there.
“I didn’t want to move anything,” Soda said, slinging an arm over my shoulder sweetly, though my height had finally crept beyond his. “I wanted to make sure you’d recognize the place when you finally came back.”
“I guess you guys really do love me,” I said with a chuckle. 
“Always, kiddo,” he said, messing with my hair. 
The gang - or what’s left of it - piles in our small kitchen for “family dinner”, as Two-Bit lovingly referred to it. Darry made us spaghetti - another favorite of mine. He had improved his cooking tenfold since I’ve been gone, I remark.
“It’s that girl of his,” Sodapop says with a sly smirk. I blush. Darry was secretive about his love life. More secretive than me, which was saying something. “She’s taught him a thing or two.”
“And not just in the kitchen,” Two-Bit adds with an immature, clownish smile on his face, never missing an opportunity for an impish euphemism. 
Darry shoots him a look that conveys pure annoyance and deadly threat. I knew that look all too well. I’m pretty sure Darry invented that look for me.
“What?” Two-Bit asks innocently. “She taught him how to clean, too.”
We all break into laughter. “Asshole,” Darry says under his breath.
“You didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend,” I say. 
“Don’t sweat it, Pone,” Soda says. “He didn’t tell me either. I picked up the phone one day when she called about a date with him. I just about dropped dead right then and there.”
I blush, sheepish at the thought of Darry caring about anyone else other than us. As charismatic as he is, Darry is sometimes more shy than I am about girls.  
We fall into our normal rhythm of camaraderie quickly at dinner. It never takes long for me to fall back in line with the gang, catching up on their stories and mine from the last time we were together. Though Tulsa no longer feels the way it used to for me, the gang has. I know they’re the only reason I’d ever come back to this place.
“Gee, Pony,” Two-Bit says while we’re cleaning up the table. “Every time you visit, you seem smarter.”
“Smarter?” I ask.
“‘Ya know… cooler. Different, in a good way.”
“I think the word he’s looking for is ’sophisticated’,” Darry says, slinging the dish towel over his shoulder. “A college scholar.” He smiles at me proudly.
“Thanks,” I say almost inaudibly. It’s surely a compliment, but it makes chills run up my spine. I’m not sure why. 
Before we begin decorating, I head towards the door, grabbing my coat. 
“Hey, I think I’m gonna go for a walk,” I say, reaching for the door knob. “To… clear my head.”
“You okay, kiddo?” Darry asks, puzzled. “It’s 8 o’clock at night.”
“I’m okay,” I say. “Just trying to take it all in.”
He looks at Sodapop, confused. “Do you want me to go with you, buddy?” Sodapop asks. 
I shake my head vehemently. “I’m fine, really,” I say. “I just want to walk around like I used to.” 
Darry shrugs. “Don’t be gone for too long. Soda can barely wait to put up the stockings.”
I chuckle, a bit emptily. “Roger that.”
The cold air fills my warm lungs with a shock. New York winters are much more brutal than in Oklahoma. The snow piles high, and it isn’t as picturesque as you see in the movies, either. Just a lot of brown and grey slush. One year, a few of my friends and I went Upstate to go skiing, and that was really nice, though.
I make my way down the sidewalk, not really believing that I’m actually home. I mean, I’ve been home multiple times before now. But it feels different now, because another stage of my life is finished, another chapter closed. And I didn’t think I would be living with my brothers forever or cooped up in Tulsa for the rest of my life, but I’m finally realizing that life is changing. I just can’t realize why I’m bothered so much by it. I think I realize things too late.  
I make my way around the block, lost in thought. I notice some of our neighbors have hung Christmas decorations outside their houses. They decorate the same exact way every year, as Darry does, and it makes me feel a bit nostalgic. Dad used to drive us around in his old truck to look at all the lights in our neighborhood. We never really had money to spend on visiting the light displays on the better side of town, but we wouldn’t have ever known it. This was just as fun.
I realize that the perpetual feeling of a broken heart during Christmastime doesn’t do much for my sadness right now. 
I stop at a forelorn house at the end of our street, on the corner. It’s a small yellow house, a bit less dilapidated than ours. Typically adorned with all types of big, ceramic lights this time of year, the house sits solemnly, vacant and dark. I stare at it a bit, the writer in me trying to make a metaphor out of its image.
“Mrs. Friedman died two months ago,” I hear a voice behind me. “Her house has been empty ever since.” 
“You followed me,” I say, more as a statement than a question.
“I could tell something was bothering you,” Sodapop says.
I laugh, a little curtly. “You can always tell.”
“Of course I can,” he smiles. "And I didn’t want you to be out here alone.”
“You didn’t tell me Mrs. Friedman died,” I say, a bit offended. “She cooked us meals every week after mom and dad died. She always gave us her son’s old clothes, too, remember?”
“I know,” Soda says. “Darry and I didn’t want to upset you.”
“You thought I’d be upset?”
Soda looks at me. “You’re a little bit more sentimental than the rest of us.”
I scoff. “She was our neighbor for years. Did you go to her funeral?”
“Of course,” Sodapop says. “'Woulda been silly for you to come all the way home for a 100-year-old woman’s funeral, though. Don’tcha think?”
“I guess."
We sit in silence for a few moments, and I focus on our breath in the air. It’s white, like cigarette smoke. I laugh a bit in my mind, reminiscing on the period of time where I couldn’t go more than fifteen minutes without smoking. It’s been nearly three years since I’ve quit.
“What’s up, Pone?” Soda finally asks. “What’s wrong?" I give him a look.
“What?” he says. “I can see right through you.”
I pause for a moment, trying to figure out what exactly it is.
“It’s just… I always had an excuse. I had New York. I had college. I knew I was leaving, but I always knew I would come back. And four years seemed so far away,” I say. “Now I’m not sure there’s a place for me here anymore. Do you understand what I mean?”
“Well… no,” Soda says. “Because that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard you say, Pone. There’s always gonna be a place for you here. This is your home. Don’t you know that?”
I roll my eyes. “I mean, it’s never going to be like it was. We’re never going to be living under the same roof as one another. Hell, I don’t even know where I’m going next. But it’ll never just be all of us together again. I feel like we’re losing another part of the gang for good, but that part is me. And it feels like….”
“It feels like Dal and Johnny all over again.” 
“Kinda.”
Sodapop pauses for a moment, thinking about this. Though he isn’t the most articulate, he’s certainly the most insightful. 
“Wanna know how I see it?” Sodapop asks.
I nod. “Of course.”
“You’re twenty-two years old. You graduated college at the top of your class. You have job offers all over the country. That’s something to be proud of, Pone. That doesn’t happen for just anyone. Hell, it didn’t happen for me and Darry. It won’t happen for Steve or Two-Bit. It didn’t happen for Dally or Johnny. You should be grateful you are where you are.”
“Oh, come on…” I say. “I didn’t mean it like that-"
“No, listen,” Sodapop says. "You think you should be feelin’ guilty about leaving, but you shouldn’t be. Me, Darry, the gang, even mom and dad would want you getting the hell out of this pokey ‘ol town,” he says with a laugh. “It’s all we’ve ever wanted for you.” 
“I know that. I’m thankful for that.”
“Hell of a way of showin’ it,” Soda says jokingly.
“I guess I never thought of it that way,” I say. “I always figured you and Darry would think I left you guys behind or somethin’. I never wanted you to think that.”
“C’mon, Pone. We’d never think that. We’ve worked so hard to help you make somethin’ of yourself. We’re real proud.”
“Thanks,” I say. “Thanks for knocking some sense into me.”
“You know, you’re afraid of changin’, but that’s one thing that will never change about you,” he says as we begin to walk back to the house. “You’ll always need your big brothers to help you see what’s right in front of you.”
“You’re right about that,” I say. 
“And don’t think you’ll never come back here to visit the gang,” he says. “We’ll drag you back here if it’s the last thing we do. You’ll know where to find us.”
“You’re right,” I say. “I���ll never be able to get away from you guys."
“Exactly,” he says. “Now, can we go back and decorate for Christmas? Please? I’m freezing my ass off out here.”
“Yeah,” I say with a chuckle. “Let’s go."
-
I really could’ve written this conversation forever, but I wanted to keep it short and sweet. Let me know what you think!!!
P.S. if you have any one-shot requests, my ask is always open. I love when you all send in your ideas :)
P.P.S. if you’d like to write a review, this one-shot (along with my other writing) is also posted to my fanfiction.net account, which is linked here 🖤
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coeurdastronaute · 4 years
Text
Essays in Existentialism: Boss
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Prompt.. Lexa and Clarke sleep together one night, the next morning Clarke comes in to start her new job and turns out Lexa will be her boss (basically how Meredith and Derek first meet in grey's anatomy) yeah cool...love your writing
The tiny townhouse on the corner of Grant and Lincoln was nearly unpacked, but still occupied the unfinished zone of moving in. The furniture was there, with boxes opened and in various states of emptied. Sheets were tossed on the bed, but it wasn’t made. Clothes were rooted through and half hung in the closet at the top of the stairs. The only things in the fridge were little Chinese take out boxes and a handful of sauce packets. 
But that didn’t mean a thing to the bodies on the couch. 
Well tired and sated, the two tangled torsos and limbs hung and clung to each other on the small area, not having much to discuss the night before, but rather making the other body too tired to hear and speak and think, and thus fell asleep in a knot. It wasn’t many hours of sleep between the bar and the sex and the moment one of the bodies shifted and the otehr fell to the floor with a thud. 
“Ow.” 
“What was--”
“Just my back. And hip. And… head,” the body on the floor wheezed slightly, wincing against the pain. 
“Oh shit, it’s daylight,” Clarke squinted toward the windows witn no curtains or blinds and realized how late it was. “Oh fuck!”
“Seems to be.” 
The body on the couch sat up and hopped over the back before snatching the blanket and carefully wrapping it around her naked body. 
“I have to go. I have work...um…”
“Lexa,” she sat up from the floor, propping herself up on her elbows and looking up over the cushions. 
Completely naked, the girl on the floor smiled and pushed away a mess of hair while Clarke looked at her and blushed and tried not to look, desperately. She wanted to look, but that would distract her from the process of getting ready, and Clarke had to get to work. It was her first day, after all, beautiful naked sex god be damned. 
“Right. Lexa. Nice to meet you, but I have to--”
“Yeah, of course,” she nodded, tugging a pillow in front of herself to shield as much nakedness as possible. “Do you live here?” 
“Just moved.” 
“Cool. From where.” 
“I really have to-- It was fun and all--”
A pair of blank panties were held up from the floor by hands attached to a mischievous hand oddly victorious grin. Clarke remembered the same smile somewhere between the whiskey and tequila, the smile nd the eyes and the intent way the stranger in the bar listened to her words. More importantly, she remembered the fragments of the sex and the things that mouth could do and that was the reason for the victory, and it was deserved. 
“But you have to go to work,” Lexa repeated. 
With a graceless motion, Clarke reached over the couch and snatched the offending lingerie before agreeing full-heartedly. 
“It was nice to meet you, Lexa,” Clarke promised. “But when I come back downstairs, you’ll be gone, and I’ll be on my way to work.” 
“Right. Work. I should, too. It was nice, to uh, do this. Maybe we can again--”
The offer was barely acknowledged as Clarke hopped up the stairs and toward the shower, leaving Lexa smiling somewhat, amused at the display before she looked down at herself and chuckled at what the past five minutes of her life looked like. 
XXXXXXXXXX
It was incredibly stupid. It was monumentally stupid. It was the dumbest thing she’d ever done, or at least very close to the top of the long list. But after three weeks of refusing to unpack the house and dealing with the question of employment, Clarke couldn’t handle it any longer, and joined the land of the living again. Perhaps a bit too hard, which was, above all else, stupid. Incredibly stupid. 
Clarke didn’t have too much time to think about anything else as she sprinted into the tall building that had its own distinct imprint on the city. Hair a mess and shirt sloppily in the process of being tucked in, she flashed her badge and rushed toward the elevators as she repeated how stupid it’d been to get absolutely drunk and hook up with a stranger on the couch, and then not setting an alarm, for her first day of her dream job. 
Again and with emphasis, Clarke was an incredibly stupid and gay individual. 
“Ms. Griffin,” the receptionist greeted her with a smile. “I’ve been instructed to ask that you wait right here until Ms. Moore is finished with her phonecall.” 
“Right, of course,” Clarke nodded as she attempted to underplay how extravagantly winded she was. 
Grateful for the moment to process, Clarke took a seat in the reception and processed what the past hour of her life looked like. She somehow woke up and kicked out a very naked woman from her house, that she could almost remember the name of somewhat. And she’d run across town and made it to work. On time, or at least on time enough for her boss. 
Only when she’d caught her breath did Clarke realize that she never got Le-- La-- Lara? Lena? Larry? Fuck. She never got the stranger’s number. 
“Hey, Clarke, thanks for your patience.” 
The woman who interviewed her twice finally walked out from behind the hallowed doors of Woods Publishing, and Clarke gave up trying to remember and prayed she did not smell like as much tequila as she’d inhaled the night before. 
“I’m so happy to be here, Ms. Moore,” she grinned and shook the outstretched hand. 
“Luna is fine. We’re the creatives,” she winked and led Clarke toward the door. “We get a little more freedom than the stuffed shirts in editing and sales.” 
As they moved down the hall, there was a minute smell of weed, and Clarke realized that this job was going to be better than she’d ever imagined. 
“I thought for your first day, I’d kind of get you set up, take you to our morning huddle and pitch meetings, and then after lunch make you meet everyone in a super awkward and invasive department bash.” 
“Bash?” 
“Yeah, well, people stop coming when I call them meetings and ice-breakers. I’ve decided to rename things different, more fun words to trick them into the same meetings.” 
“How’s it going so far?” 
“Amazingly well. Just wait until you see the turn out for your meet-and-greet… I mean bash.” 
Clarke couldn’t help but smile. Her boss was calm and cool, funny and approachable, and most importantly, she was clearly very into her job, which was a godsend. Hiring was often abou personality and camaraderie, as in how well a new personality would fit into a team, and Clarke already felt at home. 
The day went by easily enough, as all first days are known to do. She met her team and got her desk, got to feel out a little of how the day flowed with the promise of her assignments arrival soon enough. Luna passed her off around lunch to one of the teammates, and Clarke fell into enjoying her new coworkers with very light company gossip over not terrible sandwiches in the cafeteria. She learned all about the office romances and the merger, the new corporate structure and how great it was compared to other companies. She learned about the owner’s daughter who started a few months ago and was actually nice to work for, and more importantly, Clarke learned that there was a very lax policy when it came to punctuality. She breathed a sigh of relief. 
By the end of the day, Clarke felt like she would like it there, and was eager to help and work on drawing some of the projects. She was ready to work with the team and she was ready to finally be creative and produce something. 
“Thank you all again, for welcoming Clarke to our team,” Luna grinned and held up her glass as the rest of the team did the same. 
She was right, of course, that calling it a bash did something to make them all want to stay a few minutes later and mingle. 
“Enjoy the gift baskets sent from the studio for our last project, but within reason. And we’ll jump right in tomorrow.” 
“Thanks,” Clarke smiled and accepted a drink. 
“I’ll see you bright and early. We’ll get you started on part of our new programming and onto the new project.” 
“I can’t wait.”
Clarke found herself pulled into a conversation over artwork for the storyboard on the wall in the main rom, and even though it was technically about work, the other artists were more than eager to talk about their plans, even over drinks. 
And then she looked up and nearly spit out her drink before turning around very quickly so that her back was to the familiar green eyes and the person she’d kicked onto the floor that very morning. 
“Looks like the boss decided to make a stop. I’m going to finally ask her out,” one of the guys decided as he stood a little straighter and awkwardly fixed his hair. 
“There’s no way Lexa Woods gives you the time of day,” Raven scoffed, sipping her drink and sneaking a look at the grinning CEO. “I bet you twenty bucks she doesn’t even speak to you.” 
“She’s really nice.” 
“Oh, I know. But I bet she won’t even notice you.” 
Clarke felt the blood leave her face as she hurried to sneak another look to confirm that it was, in fact, hell freezing over. And sure enough, for some stranger reason, in a city of hundreds of thousands of people, she was in the same room as the stranger she drunkenly hooked up with sixteen hours beforehand. 
And that stranger was her boss’ boss’ boss’ boss. That stranger was Lexa Woods, CFO of Woods Publishing, daughter of the owner, inheritor to the castle. 
“What do you think, Clarke?” Raven turned toward her. Just five minutes ago, Clarke liked Raven, but now, she wanted to disappear and Raven was blocking the exit. “Think Dan here has a chance?” 
“I don’t really know anything about her,” Clarke shrugged and downed the rest of her drink, careful to stay turned around. 
She didn’t know anything about Lexa Woods, except how she tasted and the noises she made and this thing she did with her fingers that--
“She hasn’t been here long, but she’s actually not the worst, as far as suits go. She likes the creative floors. Her dad’s given her a few projects I’ve been on and I think we work pretty well together,” she explained, offering Clarke a refill. 
“Cool, cool, nice.” 
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Or you’re a very bad drinker.” 
“I, uh, had a few too many last night.” 
“Hair of the dog then,” Raven grinned and clinked their glasses. “I think I’m going to like having you around, Griffin. At least until you start asking for advanced tech and drive me crazy with your doodles. Oh shit, there he goes.” 
Despite herself, Clarke turned around and watched the illustrator move through the crowd. She looked immediately at Lexa and actually caught her eye. She held the look and she watched Lexa smile at her, though she couldn’t move to return it. Mortification was at the forefront of her brain. That and oddly proud of herself for pulling someone like Lexa Woods, even when she wasn’t on her A game. 
Only when Clarke saw Dan get close, did she look away and break the stupor she found herself stuck in. 
“I can’t believe he hasn’t figured out that she’s gay.” 
“What?”
“Dan has the worst gay-dar of all time,” Raven chuckled. “I almost feel bad taking his money. Almost.” 
Sure enough, as he walked up toward his boss’ boss’ boss, full of confidence and vim, Lexa didn’t even notice him, her eyes firmly locked on Clarke’s as she moved through the crowd, finally deciding to approach. It took a few steps before Clarke realized what was happening, and only then did she feel the two and a half drinks she’d had. 
She really didn’t like Raven. 
“I knew it.” 
Clarke didn’t say a word, but rather looked for a quick escape, though none existed and she already knew that. 
“Hey, I thought I’d come welcome you to the team personally. I’m Lexa Woods.” 
With a smile and her hand outstretched, the CEO stood there, as if she hadn’t gone down on her new employee on her couch. 
“Lexa Woods, as in…” 
“Yeah, that’s my name outside, but don’t hold it against me,” she grinned, holding the handshake a little bit longer. “It was Callie, right?” 
“Clarke.” 
“I’m sorry. Clarke.” 
“I didn’t expect to see you on my first day.” 
“Yeah,” Lexa chuckled. “I can imagine. I like hanging out down here more than upstairs. How are you, Ms. Reyes?” 
“Doing alright,” Raven nodded, appraising the scene before her. “Taking Clarke under my wing, as it were.” 
“I’d be careful,” the boss warned. “It was nice to meet you again, Clarke. I’ll see you guys later. I have a meeting I should try to get to ontime. Punctuality is key.”
Clarke burned red and nodded. 
“Nice to meet you, too, Ms. Woods.” 
“Lexa’s fine.”
“Yeah you are.” 
Lexa just smiled and waved again before disappearing. Dan joined the group a second later and passed a twenty to his friend. The boss left the room a moment later without a look back, and Clarke finally breathed. 
“So,” Raven furrowed. “When did you fuck our boss?” 
XXXXXXXXXX
For three weeks, Clarke managed to avoid all thoughts and ideas of Lexa Woods, CEO and absolute beauty. She didn’t avoid her social media, nor did she avoid much of the idle gossip about her at work, but for the most part, Clarke refused to think about her as much as possible, which amounted to about never. 
Sometimes at work, she was able to go for hours, focusing on her projects. Sometimes, Clarke found herself avoiding areas she suspected she might show up, and for three glorious weeks, she was fairly successful. 
Bent over her drawing board, Clarke found herself in a period of Lexa-less thoughts, happy to escape her life and all else, and instead find some sort of outlet for everything she’d been feeling over the past year. 
“These are very good.” 
“Fuck, you scared me,” Clarke breathed, turning around quickly. “I mean. Not fuck.”
“I’m sorry I haven’t followed up,” Lexa smiled softly, hands tied behind her back as she perused Clarke’s wall of sketches for the short they were doing. “I was out of town on business. How is your first month going, Ms. Griffin?” 
“Do you take such an interest in all of your employees, or just the ones you seduce?” 
“I believe you were the one seducing. I was drunk and adorable and you took advantage of me in my drunk and adorable state.” 
Clarke balked and grit her teeth before seeing that Lexa was making fun of her, which did nothing to calm her. 
“Someone who pins the other to their front door, is not being taken advantage of.” 
She smiled again and Clarke found it infuriating. And hot. But also infuriating a little more. 
“I did do that, didn’t I?” Lexa nodded. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to address that… trist.” 
“It was a fluke, and I think we should stay professional. Like we have.”
“I thought I was keeping it fairly professional.” 
“I just mean, you can’t-- we don’t have to talk about that… trist.” 
“Or we could?” she waited to gauge Clarke’s reaction. “Or not. Definitely not. Very professional. Just pretend it never happened.” 
“Exactly. Thank you for stopping by, Ms. Woods.” 
“Lexa is still fine. We’re going to be working together a bit. Everyone calls me Lexa.” 
“Professional,” Clarke repeated. 
“Casual, even. Professionally casual.” 
“Exactly.” 
XXXXXXXXX
“Professional,” Lexa nodded to herself and tried to catch her breath. The naked body beside her repeated the same thing with a sigh. 
“But we can’t do that again. We were just scratching an itch,” Clarke reasoned as Lexa agreed, humming along with the familiar song. 
If any of that were true, she wouldn’t have been naked in Clarke’s half-made bed, next to a full-naked girl. If she had anything to say about it, they’d be doing it much more and often and professionally. But she was the boss, and she wasn’t allowed to make that call. Clarke had to make it. And Lexa was very grateful that Clarke made it. 
It wasn’t Lexa’s fault that they enjoyed the same bar, or that they happened to notice each other, and it wasn’t her fault that she liked kissing Clarke. 
“I quite like scratching that itch with you.” 
Lexa turned her head and watched Clarke smile before regaining her composure. 
“Don’t sweet talk me, Woods. I’m your employee.” 
“Yeah, but like, only kind of.” 
Clarke turned and gave her a look before Lexa chuckled and rolled toward her, pressing her luck as she pressed against Clarke, kissing her shoulder and her neck. 
“What are we supposed to do?” Clarke turned over as well. “Go into HR and tell them we’re sleeping together?” 
“I could fire you?” 
“Lexa.”
“I could quit?” 
“Shut up.” 
“Or you could agree to go on an actual date with me, and promise not to take your clothes off.” 
“You’re the one that takes them off of me!” 
Despite her wiggling, Clarke let Lexa pull her closer. She ran her fingertips along Lexa’s cheek, squishing her cheeks together so she was making fish lips and smiled at the display, amused at herself and how Lexa let her do that. 
“I zwant tovee hrofeshinal widzth you. Vutd I sink I alike you.” 
“You sound ridiculous.” 
Lexa sighed until Clarke let go of her cheeks, unable to keep the smile there. Instead she held her chin now, between her forefinger and thumb, keeping her steady and there. Fingertips moved up and down her back. 
“I think we can do this without messing up work.” 
“How?” 
“We just don’t work together. I’ll stay off of your projects. Luna has complete control over personnel and who is on what.” 
“If it goes bad?” 
“Then I’ll definitely quit. Sell the company probably. Move to Zurich,” she decided. 
“That plan developed quickly.” 
“It’s always in my back pocket in case a beautiful girl who works for me creates a problem. I will not be caught unprepared again.” 
“Again?” 
“It’s an expression.” 
“Mmm,” Clarke smiled and nodded. 
She didn’t waste a moment. She leaned forward and kissed Lexa because she had to be certain, and she had to find some kind of bravery. She should think about it more, and she should have made a pros and cons list, but something about this moment, this person, Clarke just felt alive, and she’d been chasing it for so long. 
“Did I get the job?”
“You got a date. One date.” 
“I can work with that.”
309 notes · View notes
beifongsss · 4 years
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birthday [sero]
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Pairing: Sero x reader
Requested?: Yes! a lovely anon said: “Ahh im so happy to hear you're taking bnha requests!!! So recently it was resident tape boys birthday,,, i was wondering if you could do something where it leads into the two slow dancing in his room?? Thank you so much, i really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to crank out amazing works 🥺🥺”
Summary: (late birthday post for this boy) You try to get the Bakusquad to help you set up a small birthday celebration for Sero. It seems to be going as planned but little do you know, Mina’s main goal is to get the two of you to confess your feelings.
w.c.~ 1.7k
.masterlist. taglist form.
my first time writing for bnha so i’m sorry if it’s not that good! also idk if i’d write for sero again bc it was low key hard 
~
It had been an exhausting day, with you running around trying to keep the Bakusquad under control.
You had been planning Sero’s surprise birthday party and the hardest part about it was making sure that everyone acted as though you had forgotten that there was something to celebrate. There had been many close calls, with Kaminari almost asking him what flavor cake he wanted and Kirishima almost shouting a loud ‘happy birthday!’ when Sero first walked into class.
You had been quick to jump over his desk, slapping your hand across his mouth and earning yourself multiple confused looks as you tried to explain that it was a new game you and Kirishima were playing. It was the dumbest excuse ever and you could hear Bakugou cackling in the background but Sero hadn’t commented, instead choosing to give you a worried nod before slipping into his chair. 
As soon as the bell had rung, you had sprinted out of the classroom, pulling Bakugou along behind you as you motioned for Kirishima and Kaminari to distract Sero. Even though Bakugou muttered multiple profanities under his breath as he followed you, he dutifully helped you pick out the materials you needed, claiming that if he was being forced to attend some shitty party he was going to make sure that it wouldn’t be a bad one. 
Sneaking back into the dorms was the hardest part and you could faintly hear Sero in the common room as he asked Mina where you were. Truth be told, he was pretty upset. He had been waiting for this day for months, ever since you promised him that you would spend his birthday with him doing whatever he wanted. Now that the day had arrived, you were nowhere to be found and he was wondering why you had told him that and then gone back on your word. 
You rushed into the kitchen to check on Sato, who had happily agreed to bake a cake for Sero, before sneaking into the elevator. Once you had reached Sero’s floor, you managed to sneak into his room, knowing that he always left it unlocked because he hated carrying his key around. Even with Bakugou’s condescending comments, the two of you managed to set up pretty quickly. Balloons were floating around the room, some covering the ground along with some confetti. There were streamers hung up all around the room, a sparkly banner positioned right above his bed displaying the two words you were yet to tell your crush friend. 
Once you were done with the set up, you stepped back, brushing your hands off as you looked around in wonder. 
“Thanks, Bakugou,” you said, smiling at the grumpy boy. “This is gonna be great, I can already tell.”
Bakugou simply scoffed before throwing himself onto Sero’s bed. Shaking your head, you went back down to the kitchen, grabbing Mina’s attention beforehand. She joined you in the kitchen, the two of you praising Sato for his amazing work on Sero’s birthday cake. After handing the cake over to Mina, she went up to his room and you went into the common room. Kaminari and Kirishima exchanged a subtle glance as you nodded at them and they quickly said their goodbyes to Sero before heading up to his room as well. You sighed softly as you plopped down onto the couch, leaning your head on Sero’s shoulder. He glanced down at you, smiling softly when you reached up to scratch the tip of your nose.
“Don’t think I’ve forgotten,” you said, breaking the silence first. Sero’s heart swelled at your words before shrinking back down again when you continued speaking. “We have that quiz tomorrow and you haven’t studied.”
Sero’s smile dropped in annoyance and you had to stop yourself before you could apologize and tell him that you did indeed remember his birthday. You shuffled off the couch, heading to the elevator before turning around. “You coming? We can study in your room. I’ll even let you pick the music!”
He trailed after you quietly, trying to hide his disappointment as the elevator ascended. When you reached his room, you stood behind him, earning you a confused glance because he knew that you knew that his room was unlocked. So why weren’t you opening it?
“Surprise!”
Sero stumbled back slightly as he looked around his room. Bakugou was still on his bed, a scowl on his face as he scrolled through his phone. Kaminari and Kirishima were wearing party hats, party horns being held between their lips as they made a racket. Mina was standing in the middle of the room, a large smile on her face as she held a delicious-looking cake. The rest of your classmates were also there, each of them holding a gift and chanting ‘happy birthday!’. 
“Happy birthday, tape boy,” you said softly, wrapping your arms around him from behind. You were smiling widely, happy that things had gone according to plan no matter how many times your friends had almost ruined the surprise. Sero turned around and hugged you tightly, his heart leaping into his throat as he realized you had done this all for him. 
“Thank you,” he whispered, grinning widely before turning to face his friends. 
The party went well, both you and Sero flitting from group to group but never quite spending any time together. Everyone was aware of the lingering glances you would send to each other and as day turned into evening, everyone began to make excuses and leave, making sure to wish Sero a final ‘happy birthday’ before they left. Eventually, it was only the Bakusquad left and you had fun filming a silly unwrapping video of each of Sero’s gifts. After that was done, Bakugou was the first to leave, stating that it was way too late and that he needed to sleep. Kaminari was the next to go, saying that Yaoyorozu had agreed to give him a late night review session for the upcoming test. 
After a few more minutes, Mina let out a fake yawn and tugged Kirishima off of the ground. She sent you a sly smile, pausing at the door and turning to face Sero. 
“Well it’s getting late, we should go,” she said, smiling sweetly before turning back to you. “See you tomorrow (Y/N/N) don’t forget to tell Sero that thing you mentioned. Bye!”
The door shut before either of you could react and you laughed nervously before turning to face Sero. He was looking at you, eyebrows furrowed in confusion as you drifted back into his room. 
“What was she talking about?”
“N-Nothing!” you squeaked, turning away from him and flopping onto his bed. “We really should do some studying though.”
Sero hummed, not replying to you before he turned and opened up his laptop. He connected to his speakers before turning his chair to face you. “So what do you wanna listen to?”
“Whatever you want,” you replied, glad that he was choosing to ignore Mina’s words. ��I told you I’d let you pick the music!”
You pulled out your notebook, smiling as you heard Sero mutter to himself. After a few seconds of silence, he let out a sound of approval and you perked up as you heard soft music fill the room.
“Well that’s a bit different from your usual music choices,” you teased, frowning slightly when Sero didn’t reply. You turned around, seeing him standing a few inches away from you and causing you to jump. “Geez, Sero. Give me a little warning next time!”
Wordlessly, Sero held his hand out and you took it, giving him a questioning gaze. He pulled you forward and you stumbled slightly, falling into his chest as he led you to the center of the room. He chuckled at you before placing your hands around his neck and putting his own around your waist. You hesitantly laid your head on his shoulder, your heart pounding as the two of you started swaying softly to the music. 
“Thank you,” Sero said softly, his voice barely louder than the music.
“What for?” you replied. 
“Everything.”
“It’s your birthday, silly,” you said. “I wouldn’t have forgotten it. You deserve to be celebrated.”
Sero was glad that you couldn’t see his face as he broke into a bright blush. Still holdin you close, he cleared his throat before speaking again. “Not just for that. I mean for everything, (Y/N). You do so much for me. But yes, thank you for today as well.”
You pulled back slightly, smiling up at Sero. “You do so much for me too, Sero. I love you.”
The music faded for a few seconds as the previous song ended and the new one began. The silence was overwhelming and you felt yourself flush under Sero’s gaze as you realized what you had just said. Before you could fully pull away and run to your room to hide, Sero carefully cupped your cheek and leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to your lips before nudging your head back to its spot on his shoulder. 
“Is that what Mina wanted you to tell me?” he asked, laughing softly when you nodded. “I love you too.”
“Happy birthday, Sero,” you said, closing your eyes as you enjoyed the moment. 
“Happy birthday to me indeed.”
~
A few hours later, Mina Ashido was rushing through the dorms when she realized that she didn’t have her phone. She didn’t bother to knock as she burst into Sero’s room, immediately locating the device and placing it in her pocket. 
“Sorry for just bursting..” Mina began, turning to face Sero but trailing off when she saw the two of you curled up in his bed sound asleep. “In.”
Smiling, she fished her phone out of her pocket and snapped a few pictures before sprinting out of the room to locate Kirishima and Kaminari, making sure to close the door quietly as she left. She couldn’t help but giggle wildly as she showed everyone the picture, knowing that when you awoke the next morning you would be pissed. But she could deal with that. 
She was just happy that her two friends had finally gotten together. 
152 notes · View notes
be-compromised · 3 years
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Secret Santa 2020 Masterlist
Thank you to everyone who’s taken in this year’s holiday exchange, from gift creators to beta readers and volunteers and cheerleaders! All gift creators have now been revealed on the individual posts and in the masterlist below, so you’re now free to post, share, and link to your gifts wherever you like. If you could in some way link back to this exchange or the comm to direct people to all the other wonderful fics as well that would be great :) For AO3 users, there's an AO3 collection HERE for @be-compromised Secret Santa 2020 and ‘Community: be_compromised’ is available as an AO3 tag. Secret Santa 2020 Masterlist All I Want For Christmas (Gen) by @huntress79 for @quietlyimplode Summary/Prompt: 1. Whump leading to a happy christmas of being all together and happy. She finally was back home, at least physically. But her mind is still in that old factory building, trapping her in a dark place she can’t seem to escape. Good thing she has two very determined boyfriends, who would move Heaven and Earth for her. Add a pinch of the Magic of Christmas, and the Avengers might get their very own Christmas Miracle. Clint Barton, Disaster Bi (Teen & Up) by @inkvoices for @cassiesinsanity Summary/Prompt: Clint’s done worse things than let Natasha know that she's hot and turns him on via emojis. Like agreeing to the rule 'no romantic feelings' when they started sleeping together, which is the dumbest thing Clint has ever done in his life. Except he sends the message to Bucky by mistake. Falling into Focus (Teen) by @cassiesinsanity for @paperairplanesopenwindows Summary/Prompt: "OT3 person of your choice is a travel writer/blogger who keeps running into Nat and Clint at various exotic destinations.” Five Times Clint "Proposed" to Natasha at Christmas (and One Time She Proposed to Him) by @paperairplanesopenwindows for @huntress79 Summary/Prompt: Christmas proposal (with or without the other Avengers around; and I also leave it up to the gifter who's popping the question ;) Go nuts! listen, there's a hell of a good universe next door (M) by @quidnunc-life for @cloud--atlas Summary/Prompt: "Listen: there’s a hell of a good universe next door; let’s go." – e. e. cummings, plus a bit of "this friends with benefits situation was not supposed to develop feelings" and "(774): i just walked into a room at this party and someone yelled "dibs!"" Oh my god, they were roommates (in 2012)! (M) by @hawksandspiders for @alphaflyer Summary/Prompt: SHIELD believes in being economical with its funds when it comes to on-base accommodations. Clint Barton believes in fucking with the system at any given opportunity. Natasha Romanoff believes - actually Nat's just done with everybody's shit. (Prompts: "Respect the classics: go for the tropiest tropes" and "Write like it's 2012!") Oh, What A Shame That You Came Here With Someone by @lostemotion for @closetedboggart Summary/Prompt: Die Young by Kesha (aka Clubbing but make it OT3) Outrun the Night (NC17) by @quietlyimplode for @lostemotion Summary/Prompt: All except the 1920s Pins and Needles (Teen) by @alphaflyer for @hawksandspiders Summary/Prompt: “Thwarted timely acquisition of seasonal gifts or failing to even pick one.” ‘Barton!!!’ booms Tony Stark’s voice, triggered by a mechanism buried in the spine of the card. ‘Pepper says I should invite you to my party. Against my better judgment, I am. Bring a date, if you can find someone willing - or subdue someone who’s not. And wear a clean t-shirt. Be there or be square!’ There's only one issue with that invitation: Natasha might be there. Safe Harbour (Teen) by @cloud--atlas for @quidnunc-life Summary/Prompt: Lighthouse AU Some things you will remember (T) by @closetedboggart for @inkvoices Summary/Prompt: Natasha Romanoff is Steve Rogers' best friend. Natalia Romanova is the Winter Soldier, fist of HYDRA and mentor to the Black Widow, James Barnes. But when the Black Widow defects to join SHIELD, it sets these two personas-- and two men from her past-- on a collision course. (for the prompt: "AU: James Barnes is the Russian assassin Clint Barton brings in from the cold and into SHIELD. Natasha Romanoff is the Winter Soldier. (This could be gen, any pairing, or threesome!)" and also "Everyone lives in the Tower fic or team!family fic." because I couldn't help myself) You’re also more than welcome to use your Secret Santa banner elsewhere (credit to @inkvoices). The html code to add an image is: <img src="IMAGE LINK HERE" height="100%" width="100%" /> Image links: All I Want For Christmas: https://i.imgur.com/H77XCRF.png Clint Barton, Disaster Bi: https://i.imgur.com/lhfw0c2.png Falling into Focus: https://i.imgur.com/aYDjUor.png Five Times: https://i.imgur.com/fx93IcK.png listen, there's a hell of a good universe next door: https://i.imgur.com/Sa2wg81.png Oh my god, they were roommates (in 2012)!: https://i.imgur.com/zLWXa6u.png Oh, what a shame that you came here with someone: https://i.imgur.com/7ZXkZOI.png Outrun the Night: https://i.imgur.com/AFaqdD1.png Pins and Needles: https://i.imgur.com/mJJ0bR6.png Safe Harbour: https://i.imgur.com/WeiUCDw.png Some things you will remember: https://i.imgur.com/rpJ8h5P.png And a little note from your mods: It’s been a hell of a year and, for us, being part of this corner of fandom has been a big part of getting through it. It’s been a delight spending time with all of you lovely lot. Your creativity, enthusiasm, and kindness is what makes this community what it is and we can’t thank you enough for that <3 We hope we’ve managed to brighten up your year, even if just a little, with comm events. While there’s light at the end of the tunnel, we’re not quite there yet, so we plan to keep the pace up if we can. At the moment ideas include something in the new year (maybe a Zoom or discord gathering?) and a Valentine’s Mini Promptathon. Please do comment or message us with any ideas and thoughts on what you’d like to do! For now, we hope you have a happy, healthy holiday season and wish you all the best for New Year 2021. @inkvoices & @cloud--atlas
42 notes · View notes
mismashedsocks · 4 years
Text
 so riordan made a half assed lame excuse on his lazy/racist writing on piper yesterday and on top of that he made another one on samirah and i’m muslim so i am going to talk about it
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damn i’m so sorry these people have been pushing you past your comfort zone about your wildly popular racist caricatures of minorities that have great impact on your young, impressionable target audience. while its fine that if he takes a break for his mental health he still needs to deal with these problems you can’t just take a break and hope they go away.
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why does he think everyone is bullying him. if they talked in all caps, cussed at you, or didn’t stop bothering you, i’m sorry they’re just trying to get you to realize how racist your books are, which you keep refusing to believe. i can believe that a few of them were doing it for attention, but it couldn’t be the majority. and my god, god forbid people want you to write your books the way you preferred, without racist stereotypes. 🙈
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you can set your boundaries but you keep ignoring the people, you don’t listen. like you put yourself out there as a writer you are open to criticism
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why does he keep doing this to seem like the good guy. you give excuses and don’t do anything and just say that its up to you, you can think whatever you want 🥰🥰. like its such an obvious excuse not to take any action.
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i’m sorry but no matter how many muslims you’ve interacted with you haven’t gotten the full experience and last time i checked teachers aren’t the kids best friends soo uhm. anyways the rest of it is just him telling his experience with muslimah students so its just there.
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so uhm you just said your students ‘unwillingly’ become an ambassador to everyone she knew’. and then you went to talk to them about islam to make sure you were TEACHING THEM YOUR SOURCE MATERIAL CORRECTLY. i’m sorry imagine. these are kids not some scholars you go to consult. there are so many muslims all over the internet and youtube sharing their experiences for you to access on how to ‘represent their experience’ correctly. you’re the teacher here. picture this:as a muslilm, i teach at a public school and while teaching about Christianity in class, no i would double check or some dumb shit with the students. like educate yourself i’m sorry. anyways apparently he blames his mistakes on himself then goes on to deny he ever made any mistakes i can’t.
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so this is a blatant lie. 99% of muslims i’ve met have never read all of sahih bukhari and sahih muslim. usually only scholars do that when they are studying islam for YEARS. and FIVE different interpretations of the quran on top of that. ok so sahih bukhari is 9 books that are over 300 pages each and sahih musilm is 7 volumes with also about 300+ pages each. and then the english versions of the quran are 600 pages. and he claims he read five of them. i’m so sorry but no he didn’t. he writes books so fast and he released mcga around the time toa was being released almost one book per year so he did not have a lot of spare time. the rest ig i can let slide. also and if he did do all of that why does he make so many mistakes in writing samirah. and even IF you accept his excuses reading ALL of this source material is great for teaching your class or whatever but not for writing a modern day muslim. you don’t need to lie to us rick ❤️
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most of this is just describing what she’s like but his writing did also add in the model minority, smart kid trope. like no they don’t have to be a terrorist or a A+ student who is the best at everything. there is a middle ground to their personality. 
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i actually used to love his rep in sam. that’s how i got into the series. i saw a hijabi girl on his website. i got excited and read all of his books. i loved piper, leo, hazel, percy, annabeth, sadie, carter, nico, everyone. now that i look back i was younger and didn’t see anything wrong with it back then. its great that he tried to portray minorities but he did it so badly and now is just denying the faults that his now older readers are trying to tell him.
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hey, uhm didn’t you read all of sahih bukhari and muslim? hmm i didn’t think so. anyways the way he dealt with it honestly wasn’t that bad. but the whole ‘whoops’. like why does he keep portraying himself as the innocent old white man just trying his best.
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honestly how he wrote samirah as a hijabi was the dumbest thing i’ve ever read. its is totally fine if she wasn’t hijabi, many muslim girls aren’t, and that is their choice. but he decided to make her like a weird middle ground. it was so lazy and inconsistent. in the first book she says she wears it when she needs to, like in situations like going to the masjid. this was fine, since many muslim girls do that. then in the next books she wears it all the time except when she’s in valhalla for some reason. hijabi girls take of their scarves when they’re at home or with family, but making her claim the entirety of vallhalla as her family. that was just demeaning and stupid to me. it takes away its value. and i fucking hated that last sentence. for hijabis, their hijab is important and not a toy or weapon or a MAGIC ITEM. and then on top of that she would have to take it of to hide. he could’ve made it anything else. her hijab isn’t some token item istg.
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i love how he admits that they are a big problem and abusive and usually engage with child marriages. i’m relatively he doesn’t understand what the people even meant by it. the practice is a problem that isn’t supposed to be seen in a nice light. the only possible way it could be slightly ok is that if ADULTS agree they 100% do not want to choose who they want to get married to and let their parents choose, and both sides agree. samirah was a child and he decided to make her wedding life decided since the age of 12. and it was ok because amir was conventionally attractive and she loved him. WHAT IF SHE DIDNT. this literally is a dangerous arranged marriage. and arranged marriages are not ok, and mostly perpetuated by victims of it who will end up passing it down their family lines. my parents got an arranged marriage and I HAVE NEVER SEEN THEM DISPLAY ANY SIGNS OF AFFECTION. arranged marriages are not a trope that your can turn around to be a quirky personality trait for your characters.
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i’m sorry that’s not how arranged marriages work. most likely if she said something her grandparents would have shut her done and continued with the marriage, as that is what you usually happens. do not portray the small amount of consented, ‘happy’ arranged marriages as the majority. it is a huge problem that many desi/middle eastern cultures are trying to erase. even on top of that he writes situations where she’s going to be in trouble for acting up and ‘jeopardizing the marriage agreement’ and that her grandparents think she’s ‘lucky that she could get the fadlan family to agree to marry their son to her’. these statements are often used in forced and dangerous marriages, so don’t try and justify your actions. if you wanted to show traditional customs in a positive light, there are so many richer parts of samirah’s culture you could’ve focused on and you chose arranged marriage. 😻 all you’ve done is given parents and authority figures a westernized resource to justify arranged and forced marriages, especially with the minimal explanation on how the marriage isn’t forced in the actual books. and yes, your books do condone child marriage samirah is clearly deemed into this marriage ever since the young age of 12. she lived her life knowing she would marry amir. no one has only one crush throughout their life. imagine how she would’ve grown up. sorry you only consider opinions that align with those in you mind.
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i’m going to be honest i did like that one scene it was written nicely and accurately but the explanation he gives just ruins the entire thing. the way he just if this strikes you as islamophobic, or samirah as a hurtful, uhm no explanation i just disagree 😽. the way you wrote her is a hurtful stereotype sorry you can’t see it.
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oops, you did. too bad you don’t want to do anything about it.
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why do you think people are painting you in a negative light, so many of your characters are written on hurtful and negative stereotypes. people aren’t painting it that way, you need to calm down w your ego and listen. dang i’m sorry your best is giving half-assed excuses and not actually doing anything. i’m even more sorry people are mad that a highly privileged author that has a lot of influence is done talking about his racist depictions of minorities in his books. 
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dang must be lucky to take a break from the social media, imagine what all the minorities you wrote about have to go with everyday weather they are on social media or not. people aren’t bullying you this is valid criticism you refuse to listen to.
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fuck you
obviously these are my opinions do not judge every muslim based on what i’ve said come to me if you have a problem with it
anyways support jewish, muslim, black, brown, asian, hispanic, indigenous, lgbtq+, disabled, and other minority authors and creators.
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aotopmha · 4 years
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Notes on chapter 132, based on translations that are out.
-I like how Annie is written out on the character level. The chapter goes into detail considering her character motivations so far and why she decides to stay behind.
One thing I've noticed is people reducing Annie's character to her relationship with Armin now that it exists at all. It's like a knee-jerk reaction every time a female character ends up having a relationship with a male character. I understand it, stories tend to do that and I feel like the romantic element for Annie's and Armin's relationship is kind of out of nowhere myself, but this and the previous chapter clearly explore that Annie is tired of fighting after all of the fighting she has done and I think it makes sense for her as an individual character. It has nothing to do with Armin. Her main scenes in this chapter were actually with Mikasa and Reiner. It's a strange hyper-focus to me, I guess. It happens with Mikasa, too. You've got basically a good chunk of an arc focusing on the relationship between her and Armin with Eren doing his own thing (both Trost and Shiganshina), but she still only cares about Eren, I guess.
This is actually the first time Annie has considered her feelings and what she wants and that's good progress for a character that hates herself.
That said, having her back after 90 or so chapters and not having her actions matter that much here is wierd. The most I see as her plot importance right now is knocking sense into Reiner. I've seen people write the ship crew off already, but I can't help but feel they still might end up having more time and relevance because of paths or some other unforeseen circumstances. I think Gabi and Falco are in a similar situation, as well. If they don't, I think I will have a problem with Annie's involvement in the plot, but I think on a character level she's been handled just fine, even really solidly.
-I like that Floch dies with strong convictions and good intentions in mind. This is the most interesting aspect of Eren and the Yeagerists to me. They are doing this because they want to protect their country and people they love.
While people generally consider fascism as completely evil because of it's horrible methodology (as we also see in this series), the reason why it catches on during times of crisis is because it provides a clear and well-defined perspective within the chaos of the crisis and part of that is the element of saving the people (country) you love. This is a really important element of fascism and the reason why I'd rather not Eren be reduced to the standard villain, but still retain his nuance by the end. Evil is just as human and comes from just as human places as good and for us to not make the same mistakes, it is best to understand the mistakes on a human level and then learn from them, not just brush them off.
-I like Hange's death. It incorporates elements from both, Erwin's and Armin's, sacrifice. She went out there to make all of the deaths mean something and dedicated her heart one last time, which carried on Erwin's will till the end. The final scene of her among everyone is a wonderful callback to the soldiers who have followed the Survey Corps commanders around on their journey, from Erwin standing on the corpses of his comerades to both Erwin and Hange looking at their faces. It's good pathos in my eyes.
I think her farewell scene with Levi was really good for just how well it conveyed their relationship in a couple of gestures.
I've seen the final scene actually considered real and not symbolic of a job well done for Hange for the situation she was handed (which is what I think its narrative purpose was), which I personally think is one of the dumbest ideas I've seen around about the chapter because I think this is a pretty typical trope in war stories and AoT itself has used this stuff before at various points, with, as said, all the scenes with Erwin and Hange seeing their comerades.
But we also see stuff like Jean imagining him and the group of trainees being eaten by Titans before joining the Survey Corps just to convey a state of mind.
Erwin was not actually standing on those corpses, folks. It's all thematic imagery just like all of the animal stuff here and there. Hell, the people Hange knows less even have their backs turned to her.
If it is meant to be literal, it is extremely uncharacteristic of the story, but I feel if you know anything about visual storytelling and visual storytelling tropes, this is pretty typical.
I know there is also contention about Hange being the one to go out there and delay the Titans, but I don't think any of them would be able to do as much as Hange did alone here.
Onyakapon is obviously needed to fly the plane.
Reiner and Pieck would be pretty much useless in their Titan forms and we don't even know if Pieck can actually use the 3DMG, which is the more smarter option here to use over her tiny Titan form.
Connie and Jean going out there has nothing to do with their position in the story and their character arcs, while Hange is the one carrying the weight of the responsibility. Can you also really imagine Connie or Jean having the same competency taking down Titans as Hange, someone who has been doing it far longer than any of them?
Maybe Armin and Mikasa could. But that might leave the possibility of getting through to Eren off the table. I think what people also forget is that Eren still felt guilty when fighting them. Everyone Eren knows facing him might actually be a tactical advantage.
Hange does have a connection with Eren, but most of the group has a much stronger one with him than her.
Finally, there is Levi, who can't even stand up properly. I don't think he is fit enough to even hold off one Titan and as a result they would all be dead.
Outside of this group is also Annie, Yelena, Kiyomi and the two kids and only Annie feels the one equipped enough to take the distraction role.
But ultimately I think it's a thing of principle and character perspective.
Reiner and Annie can use the 3DMG in fairly skilled ways (they are higher ranked among the 104th), they have regenerative abilities and they are in a fairly good physical condition (though also probably much more exhausted than Hange). I think you could spin their character stories to fit this situation if you really wanted. Either of them could've gone to sacrifice themselves for the group to get away.
But Hange is the leader so she thinks she should take the responsibility. She straight-up says that she hasn't been a very efficent leader, so she views this as a redemption of sorts. Armin even offers to go instead of her.
You could paint it as plot convinience and be done with it, but just like Levi's decision to not inject Erwin, I think it makes sense on a character level and what Hange's character struggle has been about in this arc, even if it's not the most "logical" decision.
The other element that has contention related to Hange is that she passed the position of commander over to Armin.
In any other position, I would agree it to be Jean, but considering the context of going to fight Eren, I think Armin is fine and this to me is supported by the reasons Hange gives to appoint Armin as the commander.
Hange says that she appoints Armin because of his insight and courage.
The small detail that even if he's falling to pieces emotionally, he never actually runs away might be useful in the confrontation with Eren. Maybe he'll be overwhelmed and indecisive at points, which is why Jean could be more fitting, but ultimately he ends up at least facing the issue throughout however much turmoil.
While his ability to see the world through a more nuanced light and willingness to cooperate is not only a thematic way to contrast Eren and Armin (the former being stuck in his own perspective and the latter being willing to talk), his reasonings and wake-up calls might get through to Eren much more strongly because they have done so before, in Trost and in Shiganshina.
In any other situation I'd pick Jean, but here I think Armin is better or at the very least also a good option. It's not completely unreasonable.
I do not think this means any of the arcs of the characters are thrown under the bus. I feel everyone on the plane will get closure to their arcs. I think Jean's leadership ability will become relevant. I think Reiner's desire to be a hero will become relevant. I think Pieck's desire to fulfill her responsibility as a warrior will become relevant. I even think Connie's desire to kill Zeke will become relevant and finally so will Armin's and Mikasa's connection with Eren.
I'm much more worried about Zeke and Historia.
I think Historia is essential to make the thematic backbone of the story work. She's the first one among the Reiss to step up and break it. Why would she attempt to break the cycle by playing into it? I think Historia got another perspective of whatever Eren saw and might be working against that. Sadly it probably still involved letting Eren start the rumbling, but perhaps she found a way for it not to go all the way.
We know the oath of the First King is not actually a thing now because Ymir refused to comply, so who says Historia and paths Ymir can't have an encounter.
As a final note, I like the moment with Mikasa and Annie from Mikasa's perspective. The story opted to have Mikasa gain a more healthy perspective on Eren rather than complete independence from him and that can happen. You can go the independence route, but I think this works, too.
Relationships can change for the better and they can change for the worse.
All of this said, I think most of the content was nicely substantial and made sense, but that isn't the main issue I have with this chapter.
I think it has a pacing problem. Some scenes are just fine, but I feel some are a little too quick to have as much impact as I'd like them to have. Mainly Floch's and Hange's death scenes. The point behind them is good, but I think just a couple more pages of breathing room would've made this good chapter a great one.
I do think the anime giving this chapter just a little bit more time could definitely make it great and improve on the other ones where pace bothers me.
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newtafterdark · 3 years
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Title: A Beautiful Mess - Chapter 2
AO3 LINK
Summary: Beauty sits down Freeman, Feetman and Freemind to introduce himself to them... and to let them know about Gorgeous’ boundaries.
- - -
Beauty had dealt with the chaotic man that was Gorgeous Freeman for many years at this point. They had met when they both had just started working at Black Mesa, quickly becoming a duo that was both loved and despised at the same time by many of their coworkers.
But now, leaning against a wall in front of several alternate universe versions of the man he knew... well, it was something else.
He had watched the one he had kept from getting bludgeoned by Gorgeous' crowbar entering the room. The guy glared right back at him with his one good eye, the side of his mouth pulling up into a slight snarl. Ah, one of those men. Beauty made a mental note.
Thankfully, Gorgeous had mentioned their nicknames, pronouns & basic descriptions to him before he sent the big guy to get some rest.
So, as he watched the men argue among each other, Beauty was able to add their faces to the basic information he had gotten on them so far-
Freeman was trying his best to soothe whatever Freemind and Feetman were bickering about. Hm, maybe Freemind had already mentioned the earlier incident to the others.
Wanting them to let out their need for chatting before explaining himself and Gorgeous to him, Beauty looked around the room, catching a glimpse at the people outside the glass door.
A few of them had similar features to the men in front of him; some reminded him of people he knew back home; a handful mirrored his looks to some degree... and there were also a bunch of others he did not recognize at all.
Several of them were looking right back at him, so he opted to just giving them a nod and a hopefully calming smile back, before focusing on the three men in front of him. Still bickering. Alright then.
"Are ya'll done? Or do ya want me to go outside to the other people? They seem to be interested in what I have to say, I think."
That instantly made both Freemind and Feetman shut up instantly. Freeman let out a relieved sigh.
[Thank you], he signed at Beauty, not really thinking about if the man could read sign language.
"You're welcome, doc.", he replied, smiling at the man.
Freeman looked surprised-
[You know ASL?], he signed, careful to make slow clear signs.
"Yeah, of course! Gorgeous taught me a bunch of signs back when we got to know each other. And until he came back... well, I had time to learn more, is all. The big guy has his non-verbal days but still likes to chat. It's perfect for us, really.", Beauty explained.
"He... gets non-verbal.", Freemind added, less of a question and more as a note to himself.
"The guy's been with you guys for weeks now and you haven't noticed? Well, he's dense. It doesn't actually surprise me that his alternate selves are as well.", Beauty said with a smirk, already enjoying the angry red that was slowly creeping up Freemind's neck. He was starting to understand why Gorgeous mentioned that it was fun to rile the smaller man up.
"Anyway-", Beauty started once more before Freemind could get a word in.
"Let me give you boys the basics. You can call me Beauty Calhoun-"
Feetman almost spat out the water he was starting to sip, leading to him coughing and getting two well-meaning pats on the back from Freeman.
"- and I think you already put together that Gorgeous and I are from the same place."
Beauty could feel Freemind eyeing him up, so he added-
"We can do the whole Speed-Dating thing later on, boys. Trust me, we'll have the time to.", he said with a smirk and a wink, enjoying the slight blushes on the men in front of him.
Suddenly and without a warning, the whole room felt several degrees colder, a thick heaviness in the air, as Beauty's flirty tone was replaced with a seriousness that didn't allow for even the most lighthearted joke.
"The main thing I need you all to internalize, is that you must not joke about the Resonance Cascade around Gorgeous. Don't even ask about how he experienced our version of it.
If you do not care about his well-being, you should at least care about your own physical one. I doubt he allowed himself to use most of his powers around any of you... so let me assure you: He could crush you. Easily. The HEV suit means nothing to him once he's all powered-up. You will be crushed like a soda can, if you trigger his memories of the Resonance Cascade by asking him about it. Not "might be" crushed. You will be. It's a sealed fate."
The room returned to its normal state as Beauty walked over to sit on a nearby crate, letting out an exhausted sigh as he put his face in his hands, elbows resting on his thighs.
"Look, I don't know how much you know about Gorgeous. Don't get me wrong - he is a selfish, rude motherfucker... and I love him for it. Hell, he intentionally makes himself look like a damn action hero on any mission he gets send on and makes the dumbest one-liners! Just... he's still human, alright? Don't... Don't make him act like he isn't."
When he finally raised his head, he was met with surprisingly understanding looks. Freeman especially looked at him... in a slightly knowing way. He decided to not unpack that here and now.
Feetman had taken off his glasses, forcefully brushing away a tear. Beauty could tell that he had possibly hit a bit too close to home with what he had said about Gorgeous.
And then there was Freemind. The man looked positively torn... but no doubt close to entering the denial phase. Beauty decided to add clarification.
"I am not saying you all stop interacting with the man how you have been. By all means, bully the bastard as much as you like. But know that there is a line you shouldn't cross. If not for his sake... then at least for your own. I can't be around all the time to pull him back if the gets into a violent dissociative state."
When everyone, including Freemind, nodded at that, Beauty let out a relieved sigh and leaned back slightly, resting one of his legs on the other. He let the men digest his info dump for a while, finally taking the time to unzip his tight collar, letting himself breathe deeply the moment his chest wasn't restrained by the tight Combine jacket anymore.
When he once again felt eyes on him, he focused on the men through his own half-lidded ones.
"I suppose... we can do a short round of you boys asking me questions you don't have the patience to wait for?", he almost whispered, leaning forward a bit, well aware of how much that movement pulled attention to his now more visible chest.
Feetman averted his eyes almost instantly, Freemind simply stared for a second before hiding in his leather jacket... while Freeman let out a soft amused chuckle at the whole situation.
[I think those questions can wait until tomorrow, after all.], Freeman signed and shook his head in amusement as Beauty winked at him.
"A pity, but completely understandable.", Beauty replied, hopping off the crate, walking past the men towards the door.
"I'll go check up on the big guy. Meanwhile-"
The three Gordons froze, as Beauty turned to look back at them, his teal eyes glowing faintly in the shadow of his face-
"- you internalize what I told you and make sure everyone who can be trusted knows about it as well."
They quickly nodded in affirmation, prompting a big grin from Beauty.
"Alright then~ Goodnight, boys! Don't let the bed bugs bite~!"
...
Feetman was the first to speak up, once Beauty had left the room.
"Guys, I-I don't know what scares me more... knowing that we now have another chaotic man with superhuman strength on our team... or that said man is Gorgeous' best friend."
"Both?", Freemind offered.
[Both.], Freeman agreed.
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