hug from behind hug from behind hug from behind hug from

The Dorm Leaders with a S/O who Burned themselves making Microwave Food

(This is definitely not something that just happened to me like 10 minutes ago but you should definitely like and subscribe and don’t forget to hit the Bell icon Cause seriously some parts of my hand Hurt like a B...Not that I burned myself or anything)

Riddle Rosehearts

• So Your feeling a Gosh dang HUNGER

• You’re too hungry to wait For Trey to bake anything So

• So Kennel Corn it is!

• In your HUNGER daze you threw the popcorn in carelessly and forget to Press the Popcorn Button and just pressed the 4 Button instead of the 3 Button like you meant to even though 3 PROBABLY would’ve Ruined Your Popcorn anyway

• You text Riddle to see if he’d wanna Share some Popcorn He said he would bring some Tarts he had just put in the oven So you waited...Thinking about Food...not noticing the disaster you were Setting into place

• Anyway you Open the Microwave Full of Hope like a Doe being born on a beautiful spring day then as soon as the black Popcorn started shooting out of your Microwave in Ramshackle you then had the same disappointment as a spring Doe who was just forced to watch Fox and the Hound Like Holy Heck that Movie gives me the Hecko Deppreso

• One Burning Kernel Hit your Cheek Just as you Wince Riddle Comes into your Kitchen With Wide eyes

• He Drags you out Picnic Basket with Tarts in Hand and Takes you to the Nurse’s Office and Asks for...whatever Burned people Need As He Patches you up you 2 Share a ~Moment~

“Riddle Honestly it’s not THAT big of a deal” You Chuckle Anxiously “Don’t be Ridiculous Y/N!” he keeps Patching you up “It Must Seriously Hurt..” He looks a little Sad and while looking sadly into your eyes he kisses your cheek where the Burn was you wince as He Quickly Spits an Apology you Chuckle “You can Kiss it better if you want~” he Looks away bright Red as you 2 Sit in the Nurse’s Office Sharing Tarts

Leona King Scholar

• “I can’t Hecking Cook!!!” you found yourself Exclaiming in the Savannaclaw Kitchen Ruffling your hair

• You see Poor F-Ing Ruggie Needs a Break that’s not a secret to anyone (# Please Stop Hyena Abuse # Please Edit A Garfield Comic Where Leona is Garfield and Ruggie is John) so you said you’d make Leona his Lunch

• why the Heck you said you’d do this you Adorable stupid Hecking Idiot you but hey you did dumb dumb

• So here you are looking in the Freezer and BINGO Big ole Meat Chunk!

• So you being A fanfic protagonist Put a giant mystery meat chunk in the microwave pressed some Buttons and said..”Eh Good enough” Guess your sex god heart throb Boyfriend Is rubbing off on you ok I see how it is Y/N OK I SEE HOW IT IS

• Anyway besides my needless aggression with my words You started to look for some utensils you found A Bento Box and a Spoon thank goodness but you figured you might Need some mittens Lunch was soon and The meat was long done but no mittens

• You take it out..and HOLY MOTHER GOD WHY DID YOU THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA YOUR PALMS MIGHT AS WELL BE ON FIRE

• Leona Nonchalantly Enters The scene cause Ruggie Told him you’d be making his Lunch and Lunch started like 15 Minutes ago

• He looks at the Scene before him and sighs and takes your hands like the sex god heartthrob he is and looks at your red palms almost Deadpanning

Your face a light red “Yeah...I know I massively Screwed up with your Lunch But I really wanted t-“ “I know And I appreciate it even though you are a massive screw up..But you keep trying I appreciate that about you” He starts to lick your Palms and your face Erupts into a Blush “What the Heck!?!” he looks up at you “It’s to cool your hands down but you ARE gonna go get me Food from the vending machine afterwards”

Azul Ashengrotto

• you slam your Hands Dramaticly on your Kitchen Table “I CANNOT ACCEPT ANYMORE FREEBIES FROM THE MONSTRO LOUNGE” You were sure Azul Would start making you pay if not Azul Jade for sure

• So time to start making Food for yourself!! You Quickly Head to a Convience store where a Certain Chaotic Neutral Eel Notices you Buying like 10 Frozen...PIECES OF FOOD

• You Dump like all off them on your Counter and Choose to make some Weird fish

• You Slap that Sorry Sucker in the Microwave and like the other Sorry Suckers in this Scenario you will Burn yourself and beautiful Bishounen Shenanigans will ensue but we’re not there yet

• You literally just bought a piece of not even normal looking fish Of course it didn’t come with a Time Recommendation So you while staring at it for like 10 minutes (Letting it thaw quite a bit but you didn’t notice) You threw it in for 7 And figured “eh 7’s a lucky number this’ll work” Didn’t you read Leona’s Scenario? What happened when THEY said Eh

• You Dumby You Dating a Merman Boughta Eat a fish Dumbo what do you have? Ears?

• Anyway Floyd and And Azul are Chatting well it’s more like Floyd is talking At Azul while he does paper work Yeah I totally Saw them Buying a bunch a Random Frozen Weird Massively Weird Right? Anyway So Apparently They Let you Mix ALL THE slushie is Flavors”

• Azul hearing this After finishing up some more Paperwork Decides to go Visit You and to his Shock he finds you Trying to hold a Basically at this point Charcoal Fish and when you drop It on your leg Leaving a SEXY weird fish shaped burn he’s Immediately on that

He puts a Hand to his Temple and sighs For a Moment before sweeping you off your feet before you could say a word..the you did say a word a few in fact “I’m Sorry Azul I know you can’t give me freebies forever but I’m a terrible cook” He Kisses your forehead and gives you a reassuring look “You’re my Beloved you can rely on me as much as you want I’ll get you some bandages when we’re back at the monstro lounge and Jade will make you something not made of Charcoal” and you bet he carried you all the way

Kalim Al Asim

• you both wanted to cook Something for Jamil...Okay this’ll go south fast.

• the road to Heck Is often Paved with Good intentions

• You Were tasked with picking out food and Kalim for Kitchen Prep

• Anyway Let’s get this poor Wreck Jamil’s gonna have to fix over with

• “I Picked out some Tofu! Smart people like tofu right?

• Kalim Tossed that And all sortsa Stuff Into the Microwave and Waved off all your concerns figuring it’ll be fine! come on Y/N you coward Your a fanfic Protag you don’t have to think Silly goose no thoughts head empty

• like 15 minutes later you 2 Hear Smoke while trying to make Pulpless Handsqueezed Orange Juice cause HECK PULP

• He Opened The Microwave and the only thing that Looked even Remotely salvageable was the tofu and because you 2 are the cutest most head empty Couple Apparently you didn’t Put a plate underneath so you braving all the danger reached into the Microwave...

“Ouch!” You teared up a little And were about to Put your finger in your mouth as you do Before Kalim put your finger in his Mouth You looked at him shell shocked after a couple seconds he started pressing light kisses on them “I’m so sorry! I should’ve thought this through more! I’ll nurse you back to health!” And For the rest of the day he essentially treated you like you were crippled he carried you he fed you everything don’t worry you slipped away for a little to clean up the mess in the kitchen before Jamil got back Kalim Babysitting is always an Experience to be Had for sure

Vil Schoenheit

• “Vil! I wanna Eat Carbs Heck you!!”

• if that’s not how Every story I do With Vil Starts I’ll be Gosh Danged

• “FINE EAT YOUR MAC AND CHEESE YOU’LL RUE THE DAY-“

• anyway after you stopped listening to him you looked him DEAD in the eyes and Shoved that frozen Mac and Cheese in the Microwave and slammed...Some Numbers In wow what a power move

• He Gasped and Power walked away

• You Laughing Manically Triumphantly

• But after awhile you felt kinda bad and decided to make some Carb free food for Vil as an Apology for Deliberatly and spitefully trying to make him Mad

• But that was the final nail in your microwaved coffin When you took out your Luckily not entirely burned Mac and Cheesies it was real hot like

• You were trying To get it to a plate Quickly And Spilled some on your Wrist Luckily Your Sexy mean Boyfriend was Here To save the day and wow he’s holding something”

“Sweet Potato?” He peeked through the Door and saw you Holding your Wrists in Pain he immediately walked in And Held them tenderly “I’m Sorry Sweet Potato things got heated I did get you a..Low Carb Meal at Olive Garden I Hope this Makes things up to you I know I can’t Control your life it’s just kinda my nature” You Smiled at him through the pain “It’s Fine Vil I got WAY too Mad I’m sorry I made you a salad” you both Enjoyed your food him feeding you yours then later he put some lotion on your Wrists

YES ITS BEST BOY-

Idia Shroud

• Omg it’s the best boy 🥺

• I mean I am not Partial to any character Do not worry I do not want to be in a Poly relationship with both Malleus and Idia

• So you wanted To Hang Out with your Boyfriend today he said sure but that he would be Busy doing raids with his Online friends you agreed and even said you’d bring snacks which you did

• Including Instant Ramen! My-I mean YOUR favorite

• you decided to show how reliable in the Kitchen you are to your boyfriend by making such a Delicacy for him while he doesn’t have the time to himself at the moment

• This is will work out Well

• You decide to do it in your kitchen and bring to him

• this will work out well

• You..ACTUALLY MAKE IT PERFECTLY

• You also Make it mostly towards his room before divine intervention Intervines and says That’s not the point of this fanfic idiot

• It probably mostly worked out for you cause you have the best taste tho so-

• Ortho Hears a Mighty Loud Catwerwhail (here’s hoping I spelled that right) and Comes to check whose outside the door

• “Big Sister/Brother?” He Quickly Runs some Water on your Shoulder and Bandages you Up And Leads you in Idia’s Room With the snacks in tow meanwhile he’s wondering if your Ok or not

“Idia Senpai!” You Sit next to him And he notices your Bandages “What Happened?” You look away a little Blushing a bit “I Spilled hot Instant Ramen on my shoulder Ortho parched me up though but! I brought the rest of the snacks though sor-“ Before you can apologize he Puts his Jacket on your shoulders “No I’m sorry for not noticing I would’ve...Tried to help” His sad expression turns into one of his Competitve smirks “I’ll Finish this Raid Boss so Quicker then you even Burned Yourself!” And He did cause he’s the best Gamer boy then you played Monoply With Him and Ortho cause he’s the best boy you have the best taste RAMEN TASTES SO GOOD-

Malleus Draconia

• My Second Love I mean nothing Let’s finish this I’ve been here since like 4 it’s 7 rn

• You invited Malleus to dinner And you wanted a Good Blanced Dinner!

• Chicken From Panda Express

• McDonald’s Chocolate Milk

• Some Patties from Burger King

• Oh Yeah Veggies!

• Wait! Everything’s Closed now!!! Y/N I KEPT TELLING YOU TO STOP BEING DUM-

• Oh you have some frozen Vegetables? Okay Touché

• You Toss them in the Microwave for 6 Minutes and get ready

• You dress as Nicely as Possible in 10 Minutes cause you plan Things Horribly apparently...not that I relete having been here for like at least 2 hours

• He’s Here~ him being Also the best boy is already setting the table with Magic cause he’s just nice like that and even Enchanted the food to be set on the table and the milk in the Glasses

• But you INSISTED to present The Vegetables

• “Child of Man I really don’t min-“ “No! I got this really!!”

• Let’s see how well that turned out for you

You got the Vegetables Outta the Microwave in such a Haste you didn’t even notice how hot it was and dumped it on the plate it wasn’t horribly burnt but was Horribly Hot Malleus was Amazed though “So Man’s Growing Vegetables in Bags now?..” he Reached to touch but you smacked his hand away so fast your hand touched the food and burned you “Ouch! I’m sorry Mal But it’s really hot” He immediately Understood and Summoned some Magical Water as he do and your burn was gone “I love you Child of man even though us Fae Can’t burn you tried to shield me anyway my sweet gentle Child of man”...Did you know that I ain’t know that?

I have a Masterlist it has all my X reader fics And my Oc Stuff I will be Adding this in like a day or 2 probably now if you’ll excuse me I never Wanna Look at another word again except also I’m literally probably gonna go read fanfic

Lost and Found

Part Six

The next morning, Aiden woke up to an unfamiliar room. Instantly, her senses were on high alert as she looked around, then relaxed as she remembered where she was. She walked into the bathroom and found a new toothbrush waiting for her on the counter, along with toothpaste, a hairbrush, and some lotion. Aiden smiled, then noticed a little note left next to the items.

Ask F.R.I.D.A.Y. to take you to the 2nd floor for breakfast. We should all be down there until around 10:30, but if you wake up late that’s fine. You had a long night and need rest.

Love,

The Avengers

Aiden grinned at the note, then got ready with all the products they had left out. Checking the time, she saw that it was 9:30, meaning that everyone was still down there. Walking out of her room, Aiden asked F.R.I.D.A.Y. to take her to the 2nd floor, just like the note said. F.R.I.D.A.Y. gave her directions to the nearest elevator, then took her to the designated floor.

Stepping out into the living room, she was met with a… messy sight.

Someone had cooked pancakes (Aiden guessed Tony if the Iron Man shape was any clue), and while decorating them, things seemed to get out of hand. There was whipped cream in Sam and Bucky’s hair, maple syrup on Steve and Peter’s shirts, smoothie splatters all over Clint and Tony, and fresh fruit strewn across the room. The only ones who were relatively clean were Natasha, Wanda, and Vision, who were simply watching the situation with an amused look on their faces.

Steve was standing up from his spot on the ground when Sam thought it would be a good idea to throw a glob of whipped cream at him; he ducked, and it hit Aiden square in the face.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched as Aiden slowly wiped the whipped cream off. She looked down at the white substance in her hand, then up at Sam’s terrified gaze. Without a second thought, she charged.

--

One intense chasing around the building later, Aiden and everyone else had settled down enough to eat breakfast. Halfway through the meal, Aiden raised her head and asked, “So, what are we doing today? I know Petey over here can’t really do anything,” she stopped and nudged Peter, “but I really want to have a good training session today.”

Tony opened his mouth as if to say something, but Nat beat him to it. “I actually want to see you in action, and I’m sure all of these guys do too.” There was a chorus of murmurs and agreements. “Tell you what, train with me, at 2. The rest of them can watch. Then we can judge how advanced you truly are and maybe even what you can do for us.” With that, Nat put her finished plate of breakfast in the sink and walked away, leaving Aiden staring at her, eyes wide.

Finally, she sputtered out, “Wha- What does she mean do something for you guys? Someone! Give me answers!” She looked around the table as everyone just laughed and shook their heads.

“For such a smart girl, you really are an idiot,” Sam snickered, promptly causing Aiden to punch him.

The rest of the day until two in the afternoon went by too slowly for Aiden’s liking, so she decided to explore the tower, wandering around every floor. She quickly learned that every Avenger had an entire floor to themselves, even Peter. She had been staying on Wanda’s floor. The tower was separated into sections: Tony’s lab, Bruce’s lab, the medbay, the workshop, and all the “business” floors were at the bottom. Then came the common floor, where they had group movie nights and where the common kitchen was. After that started the floors housing the Avengers. Every floor had a huge master bedroom, an attached master bath (also huge), a smaller guest room, a kitchen, and a living room. Above all of the residential floors were the training floors, filled with gym equipment from treadmills to boxing cages.

Much to Aiden’s delight, she discovered a pool and jacuzzi on the roof, and that’s where she decided to spend the rest of the day. It had been a while since Aiden had spent a day at the pool, so with the accompaniment of a bunch of stolen snacks from the kitchen, she relaxed in the pool, letting the cool water soothe her body.

No one bothered her, making it the perfect time for her to think about everything that had happened in the last 12 hours. She had discovered Peter Parker, the shy boy next door, was Spider-Man, saved his life by stitching him up, met the Avengers, eaten breakfast with them, and is now going to train with them?! Her life had literally turned upside down overnight, and Aiden was happy for it to stay like that.

At around one, Aiden decided to get out of the pool and get ready for training. She quickly dried herself off and made her way to her room, showering and putting on a sports bra and some athletic shorts. She walked over to Wanda’s room next door and knocked, waiting until it swung open to reveal a pleasantly surprised face. Two, actually. Nat was lounging on the bed and looked up as Aiden walked in.

“I really need to talk to you guys,” Aiden started, and it was obvious that she was flustered. Wanda frowned and pulled her onto the bed. Taking a deep breath, she started, “I- I think I like someone. No, I know that I like someone.”

Wanda and Nat both exchanged a knowing look, then, at the same time, stated, “Peter.”

Aiden hung her head and nodded. Then, she looked up. Confused, she asked, “How did you guys know? I thought I hid it well?”

Nat and Wanda both laughed. “Girl, it’s obvious! He likes you too, and he’s probably talking to the guys about it right now. He trusted you with his life, Aiden. You mean a lot to him, and it’s obviously reciprocated. Just, give yourselves some time to figure everything out, okay? We don’t want to see either of you getting hurt because of some stupid miscommunication. Just be careful,” Nat told Aiden, reaching out and placing a hand on her shoulder to comfort the girl.

Aiden smiled. “Thanks, guys. We should probably get going to train now, huh?” Wanda and Nat smiled and nodded.

Making their way up to the main training floor, Aiden felt the nerves start to settle in. She felt her palms getting clammy and she started fidgeting with her hands. When Nat noticed and asked if she was okay, Aiden lied and said she was fine.

A few minutes and one hidden nervous breakdown later, they made it to the ring where they would be fighting each other. Aiden and Nat both started stretching before anyone else made it up to the room. Nat headed over to the punching bag and started warming up, while Aiden stood at the bar, deepening her stretching while watching Natasha’s fighting style.

Nat swung hard and fast, but her stances weren’t defensive. Aiden, on the other hand, was much more graceful, using her past experience as a ballerina and a gymnast to her full capacity.

Finally, everyone filed in and Nat and Aiden headed over to the ring, climbing in.

Suddenly, Aiden’s nerves disappeared and she calmed down, settling in her element. Peter noticed the shift and called out, “You’re going to do great Aiden!”

Looking over, she took her gaze off of Natasha, sliding it over to Peter. Nat took advantage of her distraction and threw a punch, saying, “Rule number one: Never take your eyes off your oppo-”

She was cut off by Aiden turning her gaze back to Nat and grabbing her fist. Aiden twisted it and flung Natasha to the ground, successfully pinning her arm down. Nat used her other hand to punch Aiden’s stomach, but Aiden rolled out of the way. Unfortunately, she let go of Natasha’s arm, and they both sprung back up, circling each other.

Again, Nat rushed towards her, attempting to push out the legs from under Aiden. Aiden backflipped, straightening her legs to kick Nat in the face, causing her to stumble back. Aiden landed in a crouch and immediately rushed forward, jumping on top of Nat’s shoulder and bringing her arms down on her head. Nat fell back onto the rings of the fighting cage, causing Aiden to tumble off of her. Natasha smirked and walked over, pinning her down.

Nat opened her mouth to say something, but Aiden grabbed her arm and flipped her over, throwing Nat onto her back.

Both of them simply lay there, breathing heavily, until they remembered that they had an audience. They sat up and looked out to the rest of the crowd; they were all staring at them with shocked faces.

Then, Tony stepped forward, slow clapping. “Holy- Steve, cover the kid’s ears- shit. That was incredible.” He turns to Aiden. “Kid, you got tons of potential. I mean, you managed to take out a trained assassin, and you’re what? 15? 16? That’s absolutely insane.” He pauses. “Tell you what, I want you to train with us. Who knows? Maybe one day you’ll come on missions with us. But I see the spark that’s in you; it’s the same that I see when I look at Peter. I’m not letting you screw this up for yourself.” He points to Natasha, Bucky, and Steve. “I want you three to train her, okay?” Then he points to Aiden. “Every day after school, I want you to come here with Peter. You can do homework and whatever shit here, I don’t care. But now? You’re part of the family Aiden. Enjoy it.” He finishes with a smirk, arms wide. Everyone stares at him in shock, including Aiden. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

Tony walks towards the door, then turns around as he grips the handle. “Oh, and by the way, we’re hosting a karaoke party tonight. Be ready by 8:30, there’s going to be a ton of celebrities there!” And with that, he’s gone.

Still in shock, Aiden turns to Natasha. “What in the fucking world just happened?!” Even Steve was too stunned to tell her to watch her language.

Nat just shrugs with a little smile on her face. She places a hand on Aiden’s shoulder. “That’s Tony for you, unpredictable as hell,” she smirks, then walks out of the room. Slowly, everyone trickles out until only Peter and Aiden are left in the room.

Aiden jumps down from the training cage and makes her way to Peter. He just grins like a madman and holds his arms out for her.

Still not thinking straight, Aiden walked into them and gripped him tightly, feeling him tense up at the movement. Her heart started beating fast and she placed her head in the crook of his neck. They stayed like that for a while, until they heard the click of a camera. Startled, they jump apart and turn around to find Thor, Scott, Sam, Wanda, and Natasha. Thor and Scott both have their phones out, pointing them in the kids’ direction.

Scott gives them a little thumbs up and grins, calling out, “You’re doing great sweetie!”, causing both Peter and Aiden to double over in laughter. Natasha turns and gestures for everyone to leave. Right before she steps out and closes the door, she turns around and glares at Peter, giving him an If you hurt her I will murder you death stare while Aiden isn’t looking. Peter gulps and turns to Aiden.

“So, do you want to hang out until we have to get ready?” He asks.

Aiden nods, saying, “Sure, since we have to be ready by 8:30, I’ll probably have to start getting ready at around 5. Nat, Wanda, Pepper, and I are getting ready together so it’ll probably take a little longer.” Peter just nodded, pretending to know what she was talking about.

For the next few hours, they hung out and talked, feeling like two normal teenagers for once. Then, 5 rolled around, and Aiden left to go get ready.

A few hours later, everyone was ready. Aiden was dressed in a gorgeous red skater dress, with a bit of a plunging v neckline and a slit on one leg. She wore sneakers underneath, already too dressed up for her liking. Wanda had gone all out with Aiden’s makeup, making her look like a goddess. Pepper gave her a clutch that was small enough to put her phone in, but not much else. Natasha wore a small black dress that accentuated her curves, with Wanda wearing a small silver silk dress. Pepper wore a blue-grey strapless dress with a fitted waist and a flowy bottom. With that, they were all ready to go.

The party was in full swing by the time they got downstairs, and the boys were all sitting at the bar, drinking. Peter, of course, was drinking orange juice. Aiden smiled a little at the sight.

Tony was the first to notice them, letting out a whistle when he saw Pepper, practically drooling. The rest looked up, and Aiden saw Peter visibly suck in a breath when he saw her. She grinned at him, and he grinned back. The group of girls stuck together until they got to the bar, where Wanda left to go find Vision and Pepper wandered off to the dance floor with Tony.

Aiden walked over to Peter and sat next to him, asking for water from the bartender.

Peter looked flustered while he looked Aiden up and down and finally managed to stammer out, “You- uh, you look really nice! Really pretty, I mean.” Aiden smiled and pulled him into a hug, kissing him on the cheek.

“You look really pretty too, Peter,” she said, earning a laugh from Sam who had been eavesdropping. Aiden turned to him and flipped him off, before settling her gaze on Peter again. They talked for a while until Tony and Pepper came back with Wanda and Vision, insisting that it was time for them to eat and pulling them to a row of booths in the back of the room.

As they approached their reserved booth, Aiden caught the sight of someone in the one directly behind theirs. She froze, but when Peter noticed and asked if she was okay, she nodded and continued walking forward numbly.

Don’t notice him, Tony, don’t notice him, Tony, don’t notice him, Tony, she prayed. Of course, she never gets what she wants.

Tony spots the one person that Aiden prayed he never would have invited.

“Tom!” Tony calls out.

--

a/n - so I got a bit caught up in writing this chapter and it turned out to be super long but I just didn’t know when to cut it off, you know? Sorry for the cliffhanger but I had to, I think we all hate Tom for what he did oops. (Also, his face claim is Tony Revolori sorry not sorry).

Chapter 14

***I’m sorry this chapter ends weird. It was 6 pages, and if I ended it the way I wanted to it would’ve been 14 pages. Anyways, enjoy this!***

“You’ll be excited just to see me someday.”

---

The weekend passed in the blink of an eye, and before I knew it, it was Monday morning. I sat at the counter in our kitchen not dreading going to school for once in my life.

I was up before Mom since she had worked late last night. Thankfully she had a day off today so I would probably come home early and do something with her if she was up for it.

Rick hadn’t come home all weekend. Part of me knew I should be worried about my stepfather’s safety, but another part of me wanted to say “fuck it” for calling me a cockblock. It’s not like I ever interrupted anything between him and my mom, it was just that my mom didn’t want to sleep with him. Can’t say I blamed her; he had been a real dick lately.

I got up to get another glass of juice and start the coffee for Mom. For once in my life I had woken up before her, and rather than rub it in her face like I always assumed I would do if this were to happen, I decided to be a decent son and make the start of her day brighter.

I would rub it in after she had her coffee. I didn’t particularly want to die that morning.

I thought about making breakfast. It had been a while since my mom had had a good breakfast ever since she got this new job. I smiled to myself as I made the decision, and took the bread, eggs, cheese, butter, and bacon out of the fridge. I put some butter in a skillet and let it heat up. In the meantime, I found a circular cookie cutter in a cabinet and pressed it into some slices of bread.

I put the pieces of bread in the skillet and cracked an egg into each of the holes. It would take a couple minutes for the eggs to cook so I put the bacon on a baking sheet and placed it in the preheated oven. After checking the eggs one last time, I sat on the counter and scrolled through Twitter.

“I thought I smelled something good,” a voice said, startling me.

“Hey,” I said as they laughed at my reaction, “that was rude, and definitely not funny.”

“Oh, cheer up, sweetie,” my mom said, “it was very funny.”

“That’s it, no breakfast for you,” I mumbled loud enough for her to hear and chuckle at. She walked over to the stove to check on my meal.

“Are you making this for me?” she asked.

I shrugged. “I mean, if you wanna think of it like that.” She rolled her eyes and took the coffee off the pot.

“You couldn’t have made something fancier? Maybe some waffles or French toast?”

“This is literally all I know how to make, mother,” I replied with sass. “I’ll make a great husband someday, huh?”

“Kell, any man that loves you for your cooking loves you a whole lot, because sweetie, you can’t cook.”

I sat there with my mouth open at the sass my mom just threw back at me. She only winked and lowered the temperature of the stove before sipping her coffee.

My mom and I had the best relationship imaginable. For the longest time it was just the two of us, so we learned how to communicate with each other. I wasn’t scared to come out to her because we had joked about me being gay for a couple years before the fact. When I came out she simply hugged me and whispered “I knew it” with tears in her eyes.

“Whatever, you’re mean. No soup for you.”

“Save that for when I’m not making sure your food doesn’t burn.” She had a point.

“Whatever man,” I mumbled. Mom flipped the bread and opened the oven to check on the bacon.

“What’s going on after school?” she asked.

I shrugged. “I thought we could hang out if you wanted. We could get a bite. Your treat.”

Mom chuckled, as if she knew I was joking about the last part. “Sure hun,” she said, “but I do have some errands I need to run while you’re at school. Do you think you can come straight home and wait for the locksmith? I don’t think I’ll be home before the appointment.” I nodded.

Mom and I had talked about changing the locks this weekend. Since she and I were pretty much done with her husband’s bullshit, and he hadn’t even come home to apologize, we decided that we didn’t want him to come and go as he pleased. He’d have to earn his way back into the house.

“What time?” I asked.

“Three-thirty. Is that okay?”

I nodded again. “That’s fine.”

She smiled and took the skillet off the stove. I took the bacon out of the oven as she served up the bread nests. When everything was on the plates, she put them on the bar and sat next to me.

“Seriously, some hash browns would’ve been nice.”

I rolled my eyes and mumbled, “Shut up, Mom.”

***

I had no idea what to expect from the rest of my day, but if the feeling from this morning told me anything, it was that today was gonna be great. Or at least less shitty than usual.

I had gotten my new schedule that morning and was pleased to see that choir was my new second period. I loved that. I had gym second period because they couldn’t think of any other class to put me in, so I was excited to get out of wearing basketball shorts and embarrassing myself in front of the hotter half of the male student body.

My first day of choir went off without a hitch. Tyler and Mr. Urie talked me through the warm ups and gave me a lot of music to learn. I also learned about a musical that was gonna be put on in the spring. That was something I was looking forward to.

Now it was time for lunch. I was currently at my locker, putting the books I needed to take home on the top shelf so I would remember to grab them.

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite music appreciation partner,” a voice said from behind me.

“Since when was I your favorite anything?” I asked, not bothering to turn around.

“I was just being polite.” I rolled my eyes. “So listen, we can’t meet up tomorrow.”

I shut my locker and finally turned to look at Vic. “Why not?” I asked.

“My parents aren’t gonna be home – Dad has a doctor’s appointment or something – and they don’t like us having people over when they’re not there to supervise. Something about Mike burning the house down. Anyway, I was wondering if we could meet today?”

“I can’t,” I answered quickly.

“Wow, take some time to think about it, Quinn.”

“Sorry,” I said kind of sheepishly, “but I really can’t. My mom needs me home right after school. I’m supposed to be waiting for the locksmith.”

“Is she gonna be there?”

“No, but my mom trusts me at home by myself.”

“Sweet, then I guess she’ll trust you at home by yourself with me.”

I gave him a confused look, and not just because of that sentence structure. “Come again?”

“We’re meeting up at your place after school, got it?”

I furrowed my eyebrows together in an attempt to give him my most intimidating look.

“You can’t just invite yourself to someone’s house.”

“Hey, I did ask questions.”

“But none of them were ‘Can I come over?’” I said harshly. I expected him to shrug it off and give me a sly remark, but instead he did something I would have never expected.

He apologized.

“You’re right, I’m sorry. Can I come over so we can work on this project?”

I looked at him skeptically. Although his apology sounded somewhat sincere, I couldn’t help by keep my guard up. This was Vic Fuentes we were talking about. He used intimidation and manipulation to get his way.

“Alright,” I said slowly, “you can come over. But be there before three-thirty. I’ll text you the address.”

“Cool,” he said. “I’ll finally get to see how the other half lives.”

I shook my head at his comment as I walked into the cafeteria. What an idiot.

***

It took me until the last ten minutes of my last class of the day to realize that Vic and I had never exchanged phone numbers. In fact, we had never talked outside of school aside from working on our project at his house, so texting him my address would be impossible.

I groaned inwardly when I realized what I would have to do.

I would have to embarrass myself.

I would have to ask Vic for his number.

Kill me now.

“Uh, hey,” I whispered to him. Ms. Pope insisted on teaching until the bell, which was what she was currently doing, so whispering was the way to go. Plus I didn’t want the entire class to hear the question I was dreading asking.

Vic looked at me with the same bored and disinterred expression he was wearing while listening to the lecture. “Yeah?”

“Um,” I started, not sure how to ask.

He cocked an eyebrow. “What is it?”

I sighed. ��Nevermind.”

He bit on the corner of him lip before shrugging and looking back down at his desk. I hadn’t noticed that he was writing something in the last few minutes. I assumed they were notes so I shrugged it off.

After what felt like an eternity, the bell finally rang. I took my time getting my things together, trying to think of a way to ask Vic for his number. He must’ve noticed because by the time I had everything packed, the room was empty except for the two of us.

“Uh, hi,” I said awkwardly. He was sitting on my desk staring down at me.

“Hey,” he said with a smirk.

“Can I help you?”

“You’ve been acting weird? You still upset with me?”

“What if I was?” I asked as I straightened up and put my hands on my hips.

“Well, then I’d just have to fix it. Who knows , maybe I could do it later today. Say three-thirty?”

Was he flirting with me? No, right? No. I rolled my eyes at the thought.

“Anyway,” he continued, “I’m still waiting for that text.”

I groaned. The time had come.

“So I thought of something,” I started. He looked at me expectantly. I sighed and decided to stop overthinking it and go with the first thing that popped into my brain. “You wanna come home with me?”

Apparently it was that.

He smirked. “What?” he asked with amusement in his tone.

“It’s just that…it’s almost time…you know?” It was the lamest excuse, but at least it wasn’t a complete lie. It was 3:10, almost time for the locksmith to get there. It was also a ten minute drive to my house so we would have to leave soon.

“Sure, I guess that works,” he said. “Just give me a minute.” I watched as he walked out of the room without another word. Slightly annoyed, I followed him out into the hall. He walked down a few feet before opening someone’s locker. He pulled something out of his pocket and put it on one of the shelves before closing the door and turning the lock.

“What was that?” I asked. “Did you just plant drugs? Are you trying to frame a kid? Did they wrong you?”

“What? No. The fuck?” He pulled out his phone and started typing on the screen.

“Then what was that?”

He slipped his phone back into his pocket and looked up at me. “It was my car keys. That was Mike’s locker. I’m leaving him my keys since I was his ride.”

Oh.

I rubbed the back of my neck nervously. Way to go, Kellin.

“Anyway, it’s getting too close to when you should be home. Let’s go.” He started walking down the hall to the back of the school where the parking lot was. I found myself following behind him like a lost puppy.

“Do you have any idea where you’re going?” I asked him once we were in the lot.

He stopped in his tracks and looked around. “No,” was all he said.

I chuckled as I fished my keys out of my pocket and walked to my car. I pressed the button to unlock my vehicle and sat in the driver’s seat. I stared at my project partner through my windshield with a smug smirk on my face. That smirk didn’t leave my face as he sat in the passenger’s seat and we drove to my house.

“Shut up, Quinn,” Vic mumbled.

*Halloween* The Better Me. (Gerard Way x Reader)

Request: a user on Wattpad: 'Idk if it's too late but could you do a prompt 6, with Gerard Way, where the reader is an asocial bean apart from their only friend(Gerard) and doesn't go to parties . When Gerard wants to come and forcefully take her to a Halloween party he finds the always smiling and laughing girl self-harming. The rest is up to you ^.^ I hope it's not too late/Then, only where he wants to take her to a Halloween party and she doesn't want to.' 

Prompt 6: Grey/glum days 

Being asocial and having a friend like Gerard wasn't the easiest of things to live with. Understandably, due to your condition, you tended to avoid any kind of interaction with people that wasn't absolutely necessary. You were quite content with spending your days in solitary – holed up in your apartment with your favourite books and series. But with Gerard being your only friend, and him being a lively extrovert who's always at some or other social gathering, he would constantly try and get you to leave your house, something you despised about him.

Today was a day like any other; you were cooking up some pasta in the kitchen while Supernatural played in the background when Gerard strolled in, whistling joyfully as he shrugged off his jacket and blindly tossed it onto the sofa.

"Hey, (Y/N)!"

"No," you said, not even bothering to look up from the sauce you were stirring in the saucepan.

Gerard huffed in exasperation and furrowed his eyebrows as he threw his hands up sideways. "I didn't even suggest anything!"

"But you were about to," you raised an eyebrow, "and seeing as how we both know that my inevitable answer will be 'no', I figured I'd just save us both some time."

"Just hear me out," he pleaded, walking over to you and leaning against the counter next to you, "Please."

"Gerard," you sighed, stirring the sauce a final time before tapping the spoon to get rid of the excess liquid, placing it on a side plate and turning to face your friend, "I'm not going anywhere."

"Okay, but," he tried reasoning with you, "will you at least let me tell you what it is and then you can make your decision?"

Realising that he wasn't about to let this one go, you closed your eyes and nodded slowly, earning a huge grin from the singer.

"My friend Matt is throwing a Halloween costume party tomorrow night, and I thought it would be cool if you came with."

You stared blankly at Gerard for a few seconds before bursting into a fit of laughter, making him frown.

"Thats's funny," you giggled again and pointed at him, "You're funny, Gerard."

Gerard frowned as he darted his eyes to the side, trying to figure out what exactly he had said that caused you to laugh. "...I didn't say anything funny?"

"It's funny that you think I would go to a party."

Gerard groaned in aggravation. "Oh, come on! It'll be fun!" You shook your head, adamant that you wouldn't be leaving your house tomorrow evening. "Please," he begged, making his eyes wide at you and pouting, "for me."

"No, don't do that," you warned, jutting the spoon you had just picked up at your friend's chest, "Don't."

"Remember that time I saved you from falling off of the balcony," he started, staring off into space as if the memory was playing out in front of him.

"Gerard..."

"And you said that you owed me one?"

"Don't you dare."

"I'm cashing in that favor."

"You can't just-"

He held up a hand to silence you. "Yes, I can. And I just did. I was being nice by offering you the chance to agree to coming by your own free will, but now you have no choice."

"Fuck you, Gerard Way," you spat through clenched teeth.

"Maybe later," he winked.

~

You pinned the last piece of veil to your Corpse Bride costume, smoothing out the few creases that had formed in the skirt of your dress.

You look stupid; everyone's gonna be gossiping about you when you step into the party.

Squeezing your eyes shut, you shook your head in an attempt to get rid of that annoyingly menacing voice at the back of your head. You walked over to the full length mirror on the door of your wardrobe, holding up the hem of your dress so as not to trip, and examined yourself from head to toe. Your costume was great, even if you said so yourself. It was eerily realistic, and you were proud of yourself for putting it together in such a short space of time; thankfully, your time in art school had made doing the make-up considerably easier.

What are you doing? You don't go to parties - it's not your thing. You should just stay home, it'll save you the embarrassment of being cross-examined and most probably ridiculed by a huge crowd.

The voice had a point there. This entire thing was very unlike you, and you so much wanted to just ditch the party and cuddle up with your laptop and some junk food. You chewed on your bottom lip while readjusting the tiara on your head, brainstorming ways to get out of going. Many great ideas came to mind, but you knew that Gerard would see right through all of them, no matter how convincing they might be.

Sighing, you turned to grab your cell before calling an Uber, walking downstairs and climbing into the car a few minutes later. Murmuring a greeting to the driver, you confirmed the address and leaned back into the seat as he pulled away.

Staring solemnly out the window, you fixed your eyes on the swirling grey clouds above - remnants of today's glum and dreary weather; a perfect match to how you were feeling at the moment. How lovely.

You knew that there was no getting out of this - Gerard would literally come and drag you kicking and screaming if he had to - so you might as well get it over with. The party started at 21:30, so your plan was to show up, socialize (ew) for a little while, and then be back in your bed by 22:30. 23:00 for the latest. You had mentioned your plan to Gerard, and he was totally fine with it, happy to have accomplished getting you to come out and realizing that getting you to spend more than 10 minutes - let alone an hour - at a party was a miracle, and knowing not to push his luck.

Gerard's friend... Michael? Mickey? Mark? Whatever his name is' house came into view after a car ride which was miles too short in your opinion, and you swallowed the bitter taste forming in the back of your mouth. Quickly texting Gerard to let him know that you had arrived, you took a few notes out from the back of your phone case and payed the driver, thanking him and stepping out into the chilly night air.

You slowly stepped up the path as you waited for Gerard to open the front door, and when he did, you picked up the pace, the sound of heavy music and loud chatting filtering out from inside the house. The place was huge and judging from the amount of noise you were hearing, it was undoubtably packed to capacity. The thought caused a knot to form in your stomach.

"Hey, my love," Gerard - who was a vampire, obviously - greeted you with a warm smile, and even though you were as uneasy as ever at that moment, his smile still managed to calm you down, even making you smile back.

You stepped up to right in front of him, and extended your arms sideways, pursing your lips. "I'm here."

Gerard chuckled, leaning against the doorframe while his eyes raked over your body, taking in your appearance and given you an impressed look. "Yes, you are."

"I'm also terrified."

"Don't be," he placed a reassuring arm around your shoulders and gently guided you inside, "It'll be fine. And I'll be there the whole time."

Looking around at your surroundings as Gerard guided you through the crowded passages, you tried your hardest to not throw up from the nervousness of being around this many people in such close proximity. You breathed a happy breath once the two of you emerged in the less crowded kitchen, where Gerard guided you towards a group of three people standing around the island.

When the tall guy who was dressed as Mick Jagger, holding a glass of what looked like punch spotted the two of you, he said something to the other two - who nodded and dispersed - before turning to you and Gerard with a huge smile.

"Hey! You must be the famous (Y/N)!" he greeted, gesturing at you in a boisterous manner and smiling a ginormous smile. "I've heard so much about you! It's an absolute pleasure to meet you."

"Uh, likewise..."

"Matt."

"Matt," you nodded. Ah, so that's what it was.

"A quick disclaimer," he held up a finger and squinted a little, "I'm not as bad as Gerard's stories make me out to be. I promise."

You gave him a confused look, which made him frown.

"Wait," he turned to Gerard, offended, "you've never told her about me?"

"For good reason," Gerard scoffed, arm still around you, "you're a terrible influence."

"Hey, I'm not that bad!"

"Yeah," Gerard sucked on his teeth, nodding, "you kinda are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not and I can prove it to you!" Matt challenged, a devious smirk on his face, "I'll spend the rest of the night with you and (Y/N), and if the two of you are still fine at the end of the party, then it'll be clear that I'm not a bad influence at all. If the lovely lady is okay with having me around, that is."

Both men turned to look at you expectantly, and you felt your heart rate increase.

"Is that okay with you, (Y/N)?" Gerard asked, clearly concerned.

You gulped. You were nervous; you didn't know Matt. But at the same time, you didn't want to ruin the night. So you obliged. "Yeah, I guess."

"Rock 'n roll," Matt shot you a wink and clicked his tongue, "First things first..." he walked around to the fridge and opened it, "what can I get you to drink?"

~

Downing the last of the liquid in the cup, you tossed it to the side, letting it fall to the floor with a clunk.

"AND HIS NAME WAS..." you yelled out, standing atop the kitchen island.

"JOHN CENA!" Everyone else in the room finished, cheering and drinking while someone handed you another drink.

Gerard stood in the doorway, gawking at the sight of his extremely introverted friend, drinking up a storm and leading a hoard of intoxicated strangers in various chants and dances. "What the fuck... how the fuck... Matt!"

"Yup?" Matt popped up next to Gerard, taking a sip from his cup.

"I was gone for five minutes... Literally five, I counted. And I come back to this? What did you do?!"

Matt shrugged. "Hey, man, all I did was give her one wine cooler. The rest was all (Y/N)."

"That's impossible. She's the most introverted person I've ever met! There's no way..." Gerard trailed off, shaking his head, still not believing what was occurring right in front of his eyes.

"Clearly she's a different person when she has a couple drinks in her," Matt chuckled, the two guys watching you dance and sing your heart out to Bon Jovi.

"GERARD!" You called, waving him over excitedly. Gerard took a deep breath and made his way over to you. "Gerard, sing with me! You have a pretty voice!"

"Not tonight, my love," he said softly, gently pulling you down and tucking your hair behind your ear.

You pouted. "Why not?"

"Because you're not you right now, and I need to take you home so you can rest and get back to normal."

"I'm not me, I'm better!" You beamed at him, but when he didn't smile back, yours faltered. "Am I not better? Don't you like me like this? That's the only reason why I drank all those stuff," you waved a hand at the various bottles of alcohol around the room, "it makes me... not me... and I thought that's what you wanted," you shrugged.

Gerard's heart skipped a beat. "What?" He whispered, "Why would you think that?"

"Because you're always trying to get me to go out and stuff, and I never want to because it makes me feel weird. So I thought that if I was like this, and I could talk to people, that you'd like me better."

There's a lot of things Gerard had done that made him hate himself, but none of them made him hate himself quite as much as this did. It was then that he realized what he had done to you. He had forced you to do something that you weren't comfortable with, all because of selfish gain. He didn't stop to think about the consequences it might have on you, or just how much he was screwing with the way you saw yourself. Yet you went along with it. You were willing to put yourself into a situation you weren't at all comfortable with, do things you never would've done, and try and change yourself completely all because you thought it would make him like you better. But it didn't. He liked you just the way you were. He loved you just the way you were. And now he wished he had told you that sooner.

"(Y/N)..." he started, pulling you into his chest, "you don't have to change for me. You don't have to change for anyone. You're perfect, do you hear me? Perfect. Just the way you are. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you that sooner, and I'm so sorry I made you do all of this, but I promise that from here on out, we never have to leave your house ever again, okay?"

"Okay," you mumbled against his chest, "but Gerard?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we invite Matt over? He and I are friends now."

_______________________________

Thank you for reading x

Can a team of 25 Ichiros win the World Series?

If you were to build a team with nothing but clones of a single player, which player would you choose? The correct answer is Ichiro Suzuki, and Kofie Yeboah is going to prove it.

When people talk about MVP Baseball 2005, two words always come out of their mouths.

“Jon Dowd.”

Yes, the EA Sports counter to Barry Bonds turned into a cult icon for many years after the series ended. The character became something people can talk about at networking events and water coolers to prove that they, in fact, also had a childhood. The reason why the 40-year-old wasn’t in the game was due to the fact that Bonds decided to individually license his likeness, rather than work with the MLBPA. So instead of getting dude with an iconic cross earring and a batting stance that oozes swagger, we got a guy that you can’t pick out of an Imagine Dragons lineup with the most generic batting stance.

Seriously, it literally says generic.

I used to do this anyway.

If you ask me, the best player in the game was not Jon Dowd, but Ichiro Suzuki.

While there aren’t official overall rating numbers in this game, Ichiro is listed as the 13th best player in the game behind Jon Dowd, Vladimir Guerrero, Albert Pujols, Todd Helton, Manny Ramirez, Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, Scott Rolen, Pedro Martinez, Johan Santana, Adrian Beltre, Randy Johnson and David Ortiz.

It makes sense when you look at this on screen, but when you actually play the video game it’s clear that Ichiro is even better than his already high overall ranking.

To showcase Ichiro’s talents and abilities, I’ve decided to make a team comprised of Ichiro clones to see if they can win the World Series.

But before I do that, let’s take a closer look at the elements that make Ichiro an absolute nightmare for the other team.

Hitting

First, I want to address the hitting mechanics in MVP Baseball 2005. As is the case with many of today’s video games, hitting is separated into contact and power. A hitter with good contact and bad power can theoretically launch the ball into orbit if the pitch is juicy enough. A big power hitter with bad contact can launch many balls into space, but have a higher risk of pop ups and long fly ball outs.

This isn’t the case with Ichiro.

Ichiro is so good at contact hitting that he could also in turn hit for power. Against left-handed pitching, he was given a power rating of 69 and a contact rating of 99. Against right-handed pitching, he was given a power rating of 58 and a contact rating of 97.

The power rating doesn’t seem that impressive until you look at some of the other players in the game. Miguel Cabrera, a player with 33 home runs in 2004, was given a 74 power rating against lefties.

Adrian Beltre — who hit 48 home runs in 2004, but only six against left-handed pitching — was given a 71 overall power rating against lefties. This decent power rating paired with godlike contact skill allowed Ichiro to have a different play style in the video game. According to Baseball-Reference.com, Ichiro had a home run to fly ball ratio of 3.8%. Let’s compare that to Barry Bo … I mean Jon Dowd, whose ratio was 24.5% in that same season.

Ratings aside, you could hit many home runs with Ichiro if you wanted. Of all the hot and cold zone displays in the game, Ichiro is one of the few players with more than 9 total hot zones out of the 18 possible.

Of those few, most are all-stars or legends who have to be unlocked in the game, so that puts Ichiro in elite company. If you gave Ichiro a high 2-seam or 4-seam fastball, there was a good chance he would tag it out of the park.

Ichiro’s power potential isn’t far-fetched either. His longest homer in the Statcast era is 432 feet. There’s even a dope video from the YouTube channel Foolish Baseball that investigates Ichiro’s power-hitting potential.

However, doing so would be disrespectful to real life Ichiro, a player who once said, “chicks who dig home runs aren’t the ones who appeal to me. I think there’s sexiness in infield hits because they require technique.”

With this newfound power, Ichiro could also hit the ball over the outfielders, who would play shallow against him on certain occasions. This allowed for normal fly balls to drop in for a hit, and gave Ichiro another chance to showcase his speed. In his case, if a ball hit the wall, it was almost always a guaranteed triple. Depending on the dimensions of the ballpark, it could be an instant home run.

My favorite part of the game was choosing a retro ballpark with absolutely wonky dimensions and watching Ichiro just go to town with his speed. It was amazing to watch. Let’s look at the Polo Grounds as an example. You see how the center field fence is 483 feet away from home plate? Trust me, this will come up later.

To test Ichiro’s power potential, I put him against Albert Pujols in the home run showdown. Even thought he lost most of the showdowns, Ichiro would often hit the same number of home runs as Albert Pujols. Here is one of the attempts. Yes, Albert won, but it shouldn’t be this close. At all.

This result had me convinced that Ichiro could actually win.

So close.

19 POINTS?! OH COME ON!

It took over 20+ tries, but Ichiro finally beat Albert in a Home Run Showdown.

Even if you didn’t want to go for the long ball, you could still wreck all kinds of havoc on the diamond. Because at the end of the day ...

Ichiro is still fast as hell.

Ichiro’s speed rating is a 97, which is a freaking nightmare for catchers, pitchers and the entire defense at the same time. The only players faster than Ichiro in this game are:

Lou Brock, and that’s it. Power didn’t dominate MVP Baseball 2005. Speed did.

If you started a fantasy dynasty of fast players, such as Scott Podsednik, Rafael Furcal, Chone Figgins, Carl Crawford and Juan Pierre, you could construct the most irritating lineup of all time.

With players like these, you were damn near guaranteed to make it to second after bunting, making it to first and then stealing. If the catcher wasn’t a top-tier thrower, they were screwed. If the pitcher took a long time delivering the ball out of the stretch, they were out of luck.

To put his speed to the test, we had Ichiro attempt to steal 100 bases against the best-throwing catcher in the game, Ivan Rodriguez (Henry Blanco was also an option). Here’s what we found whenever Ichiro tried to steal second base against the best.

If you didn’t throw your hardest fastball or pitch out, you weren’t likely to catch Ichiro. Now, a 57% steal success rate seems pretty pedestrian. Ichiro’s career steal success rate was 81%, including a whopping 85% of his attempts of third base. However, keep in mind that all of this data involves the fastest, most accurate catchers arm in the game.

Imagine if I’d used Mike Piazza.

Let’s not forget about bunting, either

The MVP Baseball drag bunt animation was quick and came out of nowhere, so there really wasn’t any tip-off to what the speedster was up to. When you give that quick of an animation to a player with a bunting rating of 99 and a speed rating of 97, you’re going to see some serious shit. Just look at this.

When you pair Ichiro’s speed with his insane hitting power, he could make some incredible plays. He could bunt for a hit and get down the line so fast that the defender wouldn’t even bother making the throw. They just gave up.

Let’s talk defense.

When you have all that speed, that’s one thing. When you have speed and an arm chiseled personally by God, there’s nothing that can stop you. On April 11th, 2001, Ichiro threw a perfect strike from right field to put the entire league on notice.

Anyone who has seen this clip should know better than to challenge Ichiro, but for some reason people kept testing this man.

Here are Ichiro’s fielding stats.

Remember when I said the Polo Grounds center field fence was 483 feet away from home plate? Here’s Ichiro throwing to home from that exact spot like it’s no big deal.

I think this speaks for itself.

Now, I had the idea to make a team full of Ichiros and see how far I could take them. (The first initials are there because the game forced me to enter a first name, and I wanted to tell them apart for statistical purposes.)

This leaves one unanswered question.

What about pitching?

Can Ichiro pitch? He was a pitcher in high school, but what about the professional level? The answer is yes! Luckily I had two frames of reference.

There is the time he pitched in 2015.

And the time he pitched in the 1996 Japanese All-Star Game.

Ichiro mainly sticks with the simple fastball-changeup combination, but the occasional breaking ball shows up.

So we have a three-pitch arsenal that we’re going to have to stick with for 162+ games. While it’s serviceable, I’m not expecting any Barry Zito-level performances.

Are we ready? I’m ready. Let’s do this.

Dynasty Time!

These are our team goals. I think we’re going to win more than 2 Silver Slugger awards and score the most runs in baseball.

April 2005: 16-8 (first in A.L. West)

After one month of play, the Seattle Ichiros are 16-8. In 24 games, three Ichiro clones are hitting .400 or higher, and seven are batting over .300.

SEVEN OF THE TOP 11 players in the stolen base category are Ichiros. Another Ichiro is leading the team with six wins and two saves already. He’s also 7th in the league in strikeouts. WHAT.

The team has combined for 72 stolen bases and has been caught stealing only 6 times. GOOD LORD. As expected, the pitching staff is marginally mediocre.

For this team however, that’s more than good enough.

May: 19-8 (35-16 for the season, first in the A.L. West)

For some reason, the Seattle Ichiros have regressed into the 29th-best pitching team in the league, but thanks to incredible hitting and fielding, we are tied for the best record in baseball. Nine Ichiros are in the top 10 for stolen bases. Everything is going well, except for R. Ichiro. We also had a trade offer for Ray Durham. Do we make a deal?

Hell no. We’re the Seattle Ichiros. All or nothing.

June: 17-9 (52-25 for the season, first in the A.L. West)

The Seattle Ichiros have the best record in baseball at 52-25. Seven Ichiros are hitting over .300, and eight have over 20 stolen bases. The only other players in the league with more than 20 are Carl Crawford and Bobby Abreu.

The pitching has not produced a single shutout win the entire season so far, but it looks like what’s working is working. Score a lot of runs, tank pitching, win, repeat. My manager grade is also an A- which is weird because I’m not even watching the games. Maybe I should watch a game.

*The Ichiros won 11-5*

This is a baseball game unlike any I’ve seen before. I’ve never seen such aggressive baserunning spread all throughout the roster. The Ichiros stole 6 bases and never got caught. It’s like watching all the racers in Mario Kart with endless speed mushrooms. I wish real baseball was like this. Watching this team field is similar to watching superheroes do pedestrian tasks with their powers like it’s no big deal.

This is definitely a championship team. Can the Ichiros really bring Seattle their first World Series title ever?

July: 15-11 (67-36 for the season, second in the A.L. West and 1st in the Wild Card race)

So. Apparently the Angels are really freakin’ good. See what happens when you have good pitching? Wow.

Even still, the Ichiro collective is doing their best to rectify this with some solid hitting. By the way, nine Ichiros made the All-Star Team, which if I had to guess would be the first time that’s ever happened? Nine All-Stars and they’re not even leading the division. Incredible.

Meanwhile, don’t look now but Jon Dowd is going for a Triple Crown.

August: 17-11 (85-47 for the season, first in the A.L. West)

Jesus Christ, what happened to the Angels?

Even though the Ichiros didn’t have a weird surge, the Angels seem to be going through it. Seattle has opened up a seven-game lead on the Angels. Luckily, the Angels have a chance to make up ground in September, as they have six games against the Ichiros.

The Ichiros have scored 931 runs this season; the next closest team has 767. That’s wild. They also have six players with at least 15 home runs or more, which is of note because Ichiro’s season high in the real world is 15 home runs.

We have 30 games left.

(I’m very impressed with the fact that none of the Ichiros have sustained an injury yet. I’m lying I turned injuries off.)

September-October: 16-12 (102-60 for the season, first in the A.L. West)

Thanks to four head-to-head wins over the Angels, the Ichiros were able to clinch the division and finish with 102 wins and 1,135 runs scored — 4th-most in baseball history, and most since 1894. Did they win the most games this season? Nope, the Boston Red Sox netted 106 Ws thanks to a solid lineup and *cough* good pitching *cough*

Despite being walked 139 times. Jon Dowd hit for the Triple Crown. Thanks for putting a potential hole in my argument, EA.

One of the Ichiro clones finished with a whopping 70 stolen bases. The team as a whole combined for 452 stolen bases while being caught 101 times. That’s a whopping 82% success rate as a TEAM. These were the next teams that came close.

Two Ichiros had more 200 hits while everyone in the starting lineup hit more than 170. We also achieved two of the five team goals. The two realistic goals!

ONE OF THEM ALSO WON AMERICAN LEAGUE MVP!

PLAYOFFS, BABY! My only rule going into this is that all the elimination games will be a live gameplay sim.

ALDS: Ichiros vs. Yankees

Off-screen computer simulations:

Game 1: Yankees 13, Ichiros 11

Game 2: Yankees 14, Ichiros 11

On-screen simulations:

Game 3: Ichiros 14, Yankees 5

Game 4: Ichiros 12, Yankees 3

Game 5: Ichiros 11, Yankees 3

So, something of importance that I should note: there are two types of simulations in this game. There is the quick sim that doesn’t show any gameplay, and then there is the longer simulation that showcases gameplay. Now, the quick sim was for most of the regular season and held true to the ratings and what each player would theoretically do. However, the gameplay sims showcase a different element of all of these things. You get to see just how much chaos this team can cause. I also think this sim does a better job of highlighting just how many runs a team full of Ichiros can score on offense and prevent on defense. This is the main difference between the two types of simulations.

ALDS: Ichiros vs. Red Sox

This is going to be the toughest challenge yet for the Ichiros. Not only will they have to face the best-pitching team in the league, they also have to go up against some fearsome left-handed hitters. Since all the Ichiros throw right-handed, there is no way to neutralize David Ortiz, Johnny Damon or Trot Nixon.

Game 1: Ichiros 12, Red Sox 6

The Ichiros went to town on Curt Schilling in spurts and it got so bad that Bronson Arroyo had to relieve him in the 3rd inning. You hate to see it.

Game 2: Ichiros 18, Red Sox 2

Going up against David Wells was easy pickings for the Ichiros, who absolutely destroy left-handed pitching. The dimensions of Fenway are also advantageous to the Ichiros. Normal flyouts in other parks turn into off the wall doubles/triples.

David Wells only lasted 5 outs. These Ichiros do a great job getting out on these hot starts and then jumping all over the relief pitching. It’s a magical strategy.

Game 3: Ichiros 6, Red Sox 5

After the Sox take a 5-0 lead by the 3rd inning, the Ichiros face their first test of adversity in the series, but answer back with three runs in the 3rd and three more in the 6th. The Ichiros leaned on their mediocre pitching and great defense to move one win away from the World Series.

Game 4: Ichiros 13, Red Sox 8

After scoring EIGHT runs in the third inning, the Red Sox give up 13 unanswered runs thanks to Ichiro, Ichiro and Ichiro. The Ichiros hit three home runs and six triples to keep putting pressure on the Red Sox pitching staff. Honestly, if Boston hadn’t won the World Series in 2004, I would think this was some part of a curse or something.

This was an unreal fight from the Ichiros. It’s a shame we never got to see them face off against knuckleball god Tim Wakefield. But now the Ichiros are heading to the World Series to face off against. Jon Dowd and the Giants. THIS IS OCTOBER!

World Series: Ichiros vs. Giants

Here we go. A team full of Ichiros vs. Jon Dowd and friends. Statistically speaking, the Yankees and Red Sox were both better opponents, but the Giants are still ranked higher than the Mariners because of our team’s lack of pitching. However, the Giants are one of the slowest teams in the league. It’ll be interesting to see how this dynamic plays out.

Game 1: Ichiros 6, Giants 2

Jon Dowd went 0-4. YOU LOVE TO SEE IT.

Game 2: Ichiros 17, Giants 6

A Jon Dowd grand slam couldn’t stop the Ichiro task force, which hit 5 home runs.

Game 3: Ichiros 12, Giants 1

A Jon Dowd solo home run was nowhere close to enough to stop the flurry. I never thought I would say this, but get Jon Dowd some help!

Game 4: Ichiros 9, Giants 3

GO CRAZY SEATTLE! THE ICHIRO CLONES HAVE TAKEN HOME THE WORLD SERIES TITLE!

ABSOLUTE PLAYOFF DOMINATION!

Offseason

Because we won the World Series, I have been rewarded with a team budget increase of 3.6 million dollars. However, since I put every create-a-player on a one-year contract, nearly the entire team is asking for a new deal.

I really didn’t think this through. Let’s see if I can re-sign them all.

DYNASTY TIME BABY! We made it to spring training with all of the Ichiros intact. On that note, we will end our simulation. We’ve had a hell of a run, but now it’s time to conclude and debrief.

Conclusion

When we used the non-gameplay simulation, the game stayed true to the stats that Ichiro was capable of producing. Those stats added up and allowed us to win dependently. Now, the hitting side sounds believable to a sense. When you duplicate someone that possessed a league-leading .372 batting average, you’re in for a lot of baserunners and scoring opportunities.

The shakiest part of the non-gameplay simulation has to be the pitching. A team of Ichiros giving up only five runs a game doesn’t sound that believable to me, especially when other teams full of actual pitchers in the game gave up more runs. It’s hard to tell whether the defensive prowess of the Ichiros was accounted for in these simulations.

The gameplay simulations were a different story, however, as you can see just how dominant the Ichiro squad was on offense and defense. On offense, the Ichiros barely struck out and every single ball put in play looked like it could be a hit. The Ichiros preyed on slow outfielders like Jon Dowd and middle-tier arms like Johnny Damon. Using these two advantages, the Ichiro squad could turn doubles into triples whenever they wanted. Every time an Ichiro walked, a steal seemed imminent and there was little you could do to stop it.

Now, watching Ichiro pitch in real-time made me nervous, but he does just enough to mitigate the damage. When the pitchers were in a jam, they would often get bailed out by the amazing speed and glove of an Ichiro. It’s nice to have someone with 10 career gold gloves at every position on the field.

The gameplay sims took everything that Ichiro was good at on paper and amplified them to a point where they looked absolutely unbeatable. When they faced elimination against the Yankees, I switched gameplay simulations to “document the end” but I realized that these sims make the Ichiros seem like gods. I do wish that I had done gameplay simulations of the entire playoffs so that those two Yankees losses wouldn’t be there, but at least I switched over before it was too late.

If I had done real gameplay simulations for all 162 games in the regular season, I think that the Ichiros could have won 140+ games easily. There was no way I was going to do that because that would be way too much time put into this project. I barely watch real baseball right now, you think I was going to watch weeks of virtual baseball? Hell no.

The regular season simulation allowed us to make the playoffs and that’s all that mattered to me at the end of the day. The chance to have a chance.

Ichiro is one of the greatest players in baseball history, but he’s overshadowed by most video games he’s featured in. In MVP Baseball there’s Jon Dowd, in Backyard Baseball there’s Pablo Sanchez and Pete Wheeler. In The Bigs, it was basically every power hitter in the game.

He never was a cover athlete for MVP Baseball, Triple Play Baseball, MLB 2K, The Bigs, or MLB: The Show. He never got the recognition he deserved for being OP in multiple video games. So the next time you hear MVP Baseball 2005 and someone mentioning Jon Dowd, bring up Ichiro. Bring up this article that I spent way too much on to show a video game legend the respect he deserves.

Finally, as a reward for making it through this article, here is a wholesome picture of Ichiro smiling.

Getty Images

You’re welcome.

Day 1555555- Time Travel☸️ *Warning, this is a long post, as it was a very long day. But it is my last post, so enjoy!

Wowwww. I know time travel technically doesn’t exist but boy do I feel like Verb Ballets has accomplished it today. 28 hours ago, on Monday morning, we left our hotel in Taipei, and now we’re all finally home on a Monday evening! My body is so confused right now but hey, we made it! Most of us tried to stay up really late on our last night in Taipei to help us sleep on the plane the next day and flip our 12 hour time difference. I only slept for 2 hours so I think I was pretty successful–I’ve been tired all day! I got up at 5:45am, threw on my comfy flying clothes and set out for one last morning walk around the hotel. I grabbed coffee from 7/11 and sipped it while walking around Peace Park. I’m going to miss that enchanting place. The group met at 6:45am to say goodbye to Ming and Ping (they woke up so early to bid us farewell–so thoughtful!) and taxi to the airport. On our way out, we enjoyed the beautifully gloomy vistas of the industrially advanced city and surrounding picturesque mountains. Taipei sure does know how to look pretty. At the luggage checkpoint, I confirmed that the reason I had so much difficulty cramming everything into my suitcases was because I literally had too much stuff. My bag was several kilograms over the maximum, which meant that Michael and Kelly were each the lucky foster parents of a bag of Kate souvenirs. AKA their suitcases got even heavier thanks to me😬 Have I mentioned that I love both Michael and Kelly?  Thanks guys for saving me and all of my stuff! We made it through security mostly successfully (Kelly had to get her play sand she bought as a gift tested for illegal substances😧) and then we all went our separate ways to wait out the few hours before the flight took off. Unlike US airports, which are essentially expensive shopping malls, the strong sense of cultural pride is evident in Taiwanese airports, which I found out have mini history and art exhibitions in addition to shops and restaurants. I actually learned quite a bit about the various aboriginal groups in Taiwan while waiting for the plane. What a great use of airport waiting time! Another great use of waiting in an airpot time? Food! I went out in search of something savory and vegetarian for under $200 NTD (because that’s all I had left!) and had some trouble. Adorable pastries were everywhere, but I needed something of substance. The only option I could find was lasagna, so I decided to have my first ever breakfast lasagna. Unlike in the states, there was no to-go option (even though it was from a kiosk style cafe) so I had to wait 10 minutes. I had time to kill, so Lieneke and I sat down and chatted about growing up and learning more about yourself traveling and other philosophical things. It was quite the fulfilling pre-lasagna discussion🙃 The food came in a very hot casserole dish, so I let it cool down a bit. I was joking with Lieneke that it was my first meal in Taiwan served with a fork, and that it would have been difficult to eat lasagna with chopsticks. I had only finished about 2 bites when Lieneke said “Oh my gosh! They texted us to hurry back. They must have started boarding early!!” I didn’t want to leave my beautiful breakfast lasagna that I had spent my last NTDs on and waited a whole 10 minutes for, but I didn’t want to miss my flight back to America! I told Lieneke to run ahead and that I would be right there. I ran over to the lady at the kiosk and if she had a paper plate. She said she didn’t because they didn’t have a to-go option (us Americans and our obsession with eating food on the go). Losing hope, I started looking around but didn’t see any other cafes that had to-go options either. Then I saw paper cups behind the counter. “Could I use a cup?” I asked. The lady looked at me like I was seriously crazy as I scraped the lasagna from the casserole dish into the paper cup, repeatedly burning myself in the process. Then I took off running. Right as I was about to get to the gate, I saw Lieneke running towards me. For a split second I thought she was going to say that the plane left, but then I saw her smile. “Everyone is still there, they just told us to hurry back so that the group could move to a sitting area closer to the gate,” she said. We both broke down laughing with the ridiculousness of the situation–having lasagna for breakfast in Taiwan then Olympic sprinting through the airport with it sloppily shoved in a cup. The best part? I ended up having to eat the cup lasagna with chopsticks because I couldn’t find a plastic fork. That had to be one of the funniest breakfasts of my life! Also one of the most accomplished…I finished the whole veggie lasagna with chopsticks! Then came the longggg flight. Ugh. Verb Ballets had survived Taiwan successfully, but as soon as the plan crossed to international waters fecal matter started hitting the fan quickly (if ya know what I’m sayin’). Poor Stephaen spent the majority of the flight throwing up into shoddily designed puke bags that often did not do their job holding puke. So we all donated our blankets to the cause of containing said puke. That poor guy felt terrible the whole trip. Christina also had to deal with a minor cross-contamination flair-up with her egg allergy. Though it was a “minor” reaction (someone must have touched an egg then touched her food, so she didn’t actually eat egg) she was still doubled over in discomfort for the majority of our travels. The flight didn’t have working outlets or internet again, customs didn’t open for a half hour until after we landed, and the aircraft only had one working door to deplane, so we got to sit in our seats for a longgg time after landing from our delightful flight feeling especially wonderful😖 When we finally got off, we had to cross back through a passport checkpoint, customs, baggage claim, and security again before getting to our next gate en route to Denver. Needless to say, our suffering company members really had to dig deep to stand in the endless lines with all of their luggage. Lieneke was trying to be helpful and carry some of Stephaen’s things, but then she also felt dizzy and had to lie down. For those of you who know Lieneke, this lady has amazon strength so if she’s lying down you know she’s really not doing well. However, we all eventually got to the gate and had several hours to recuperate before our next flight. Unfortunately, Nathanael then realized that someone had gotten ahold of his credit card information while we were overseas, so he had to deal with all of that fun stuff during the layover. Wooo man! Verb Ballets was on a serious struggle bus! I felt slightly guilty that I wasn’t dealing with severe physical discomfort or financial distress, so I did my best to help those who were suffering however I could. Once everyone was relatively stable in a recovery position balled up or lying down, I decided to take an airport walk to relieve my swollen tight muscles. During my stroll, I discovered that the San Francisco airport has a yoga room free for all to use! I felt much better after stretching and rolling out in the yoga room. Every airport should jump on that yoga room bandwagon. Our next 2 flights went more smoothly. We had a fairly quick turnaround from Denver to Cleveland, and luckily no new problems arose. I slept through most of those flights, which will probably complicate my jet lag recovery later, but I was happy to sleep. I was exhausted! By a minor miracle, we all made it back to Cleveland conscious and upright (in a precarious mental state, but that’s beside the point😜) with all of our luggage. If it weren’t for some serious teamwork and a lot of nice flight attendants, we might have never made it back to the beloved “Mistake on the Lake” that we call home. Delirious but happy, we bused back to Verb so we could drive back to our respective apartments. I blasted out of the parking lot in hopes of making it to Whole Foods before they closed at 10. I had been craving a big crunchy salad with cottage cheese for weeks! And my apartment was foodless! Some very kind employees took pity on me and let me scurry to the salad bar at 10:01. Thank you so much Whole Foods on Cedar! You made a happy ending to a very very very long day (a 29+ hour day to be precise!). My big suitcase filled with dirty laundry was so heavy I could’t even get it up the stairs, so I decided to throw a bunch of laundry in the washer before even making it up to my apartment (my machines are in the basement). I can’t explain how excited I am to have clean laundry! I currently have a washed face, an empty bladder, and I am enjoying a crunchy Whole Foods salad. Life is great🤗. You really notice the little things after traveling for hours on end. It was a challenging day, but I’ll take that in exchange for a truly amazing tour. Thanks to everyone who followed me along on Verb’s travels! We all feel deeply humbled to have had this experience, and want to thank everyone who made it possible. Cleveland Foundation–You rock (even more than the Rock Hall…shhh!). None of this would have been possible without you. All donors who contributed–thank you thank you thank you! BodyEDT–well you know we are obsessed with you and absolutely can’t wait to have you come to our neck of the globe starting next week. Your company’s futuristic vision and generous heart inspired us the whole trip. I am so looking forward to performing with you again in a few short weeks at Cleveland Public Theater! On that note, the travel blog ends here. Time for me to return to real life of dancing all day and teaching all night! If you have enjoyed learning more about Verb and Body EDT, I recommend that you follow our Facebook pages to keep tabs on our future adventures. -Verb’s FB page is: https://www.facebook.com/verbballets/?ref=br_rs -And BodyEDT’s FB page is: https://www.facebook.com/BodyEDT/ If you ever have to the chance to go to Taipei, definitely do it! It is a marvelous place with some even more fabulous people. I will leave you with a list of things I will miss from Taiwan, and also a list of things I look forward to having again back home. Xièxiè, zàijiàn! 💖Kate Things I’ll miss about Taiwan:

-Chopsticks -Cute dogs and their even cuter haircuts -The happy, clean, efficient MRT and its calming music -Cartoons for everything -Guavas guavas everywhere -All dem oolong teas! -The young people–they’re so enthusiastic yet well behaved (I feel like an old lady saying that but it’s true guys!) -The hardworking and respectful culture. No room for “too cool for school” here -The emphasis on collectivism and benefitting the community over the individual -Bowing my head (I do get how that physically manifests respect) -Peace signin’ it up in pictures -Street dancing   -The wide variety and accessibility of fake meats -Having time to explore and stumble across new adventures -All of their exciting new flavors (taro mung bean pastry anyone?) -Affordable yet nutritious food -The endlessly generous, hardworking, and affectionate Taiwanese people Things I’m looking forward to in America:

-Consistent toilet paper and sitting toilets (squatty potties can get increasingly complicated if anything is going on beyond your basic pee) -Cottage cheese and Greek yogurt -Fresh veggies that I can clean and eat raw and crunchayyy! Nommm (their veggies were deliciously prepared but often with lotso oil) -Being in the same time zone as my friends and family -Literacy -Having the ability to express myself articulately and not feeling guilty for my horrifically pronounced Mandarin -A diverse looking poppulation -Peanut butter -My back massage chair -My bed -Seeing everyone I’ve missed! Kate Over and Out👋 

Meatballs

PART 2

a/n: This is a quick idea I had and needed to get out of my system, there will be a second part so dont worry too much

@beautifulramblingbrains @frecklefaceb @feminamortem @anditcametopass @dauntlessmetalmom @pathybo @mimigemrose @ag-delights @abfoster1s @sparklemichele @murmelinchen @jojuarez26 @purple-puddin @audreyfulquard @sharknadoslut [if you wanna be on the list hmu]

Warnings: Just Boomer getting a little too handsy, basically he goes to a dinner party and flirts with Luce, a girl he probably shouldn't be flirting with...

Digger “Captain Boomerang” Harkness X OFC // Suicide Squad

word count: 2,163

1. The Party

"Finally," Anita sighed as Luce pushed through the screen door, her arms full with a bag of groceries.

"I bought all the spaghetti they had at the store," Luce stated as she set the shopping bag on the table. She reached into the brown paper, pulling out a large can of Guinness and crossed to the living room, handing it off to her uncle who occupied the recliner in the corner, his old hound dog curled up at his feet. He was a bitter old man but the one thing that made him smile without fail, was a cold beer.

"You're a God send," he stated, cracking the seal and taking a drink.

"No problem, Manny," Luce replied with a smile. Though she referred to the man as her uncle they were not technically related. "Guess who I ran into on the way back," she began, returning to the kitchen to empty the rest of the shopping bag's contents.

"Big Foot," Her sister-in-law replied. It was obvious by Anita's tone that she had no patience for Luce, preoccupied with slicing tomatoes.

"Remember last week, Eddie was talking about meeting that guy from Australia at the bar?" Luce leaned against the counter as she spoke, "I met them on my way home."

She had been walking out of the shop, trying to balance the shopping bag in one hand as a gust of wind blew her hair into her face when she ran into them. Quite literally, she walked directed into the broad chest of the stranger, who caught her elbow, keeping her from falling on her ass.

"Careful, Luce," the other guy said, helping her to find her balance. Turning her head, she wasn't surprised to see one of her older brother's friends. Eddie was a regular guest at the house, often showing up randomly for drinks in the evening.

"Sorry about that," she mumbled, adjusting her grip around the bag.

"This is my new friend, the one from down under," Eddie started making introductions with a gesture, "His name's Digger." Lucy looked up at the man she had run into. Her first thoughts were that he was big and hairy as she studied his broad shoulders and overgrown muttonchops. From the mess of curls on his head all the way down to his ducttaped boots, everything about him screamed that he was a bad decision and yet she found it hard to look away.

"Sorry about that," she apologised. "I'm Lucy by the way."

"The pleasure's mine," he smirked, holding her gaze for a moment.

She was the one to break the connection as she looked to the other man, "We're doing a big dinner tonight, you two should come."

"I wouldn't want to impose," Digger responded quickly, being uncharacteristically courteous. Digger was never one to turn down a meal, but something about the way she smiled drew the polite reply out of him.

"Oh you wouldn't! We always make extra, expecting more people than we invite," she explained as she stepped to the side, ready to continue on her way. "I'll see you two there. I'll save you a plate."

The men waved before continuing down the sidewalk, back to Eddie's place.

"She's cute," Digger stated with a smirk, thinking of the short girl with dark hair he'd just met.

"Don't even try, man," Eddie chuckled. Sure, he completely agreed that Luce had gotten very cute in the past few years, but he knew better. "You want to stay away from her, trust me."

"What?" Digger challenged. "She some man-eater in a sundress?"

"Nah," Eddie scoffed, "It's her brother. He pretty much raised her, like he literally adopted her when she was 10, since their mom was a drunk. He won't let any guy near her. I'm sure if he had his way she'd be a nun," he laughed and Digger found himself more enticed than before, and suddenly excited for spaghetti.

"There's my favorite girls," John's voice boomed through the kitchen as he kicked off his work boots. Reaching out first he hugged Luce, placing an affectionate kiss on her forehead before crossing to Anita who stood by the stove. "How was your day, my love?" he asked kissing her as Luce rolled her eyes, gathering the stack of plates to put on the table.

John was only Luce's half brother but he had readily taken on the mantle of guardian when she needed it, which she would always be grateful for. Though they both looked alike, sharing their mother's bottle green eyes, they could not be more different in personality. John was social and thrived at the center of attention, he hated being alone and always had at least one friend in tow wherever he went. Luce on the other hand liked to keep to herself, usually avoiding the parties John threw, reading in her room instead.

The sauce was just about finished when people started to arrive. One after another, John's friends filed through the door, each making the same excited sound as they were greeted by the smell of tomatoes that filled the air. Usually there would be one or two girlfriends tagging along, but tonight was a sausage fest leaving all the prep work up to Luce and Anita, they knew better than to expect any of the guys to help.

As he arrived with Eddie, Digger was quick to spot Luce. She stood across the kitchen, working at grating down a large block of cheese. Digger chose to bide his time, joining the other men in the living room, cheering over the hockey game.

"Alright!" Anita called, banging the wooden spoon on a metal pot cover, using it as a makeshift gong. "Food's ready!" Luce finished slicing the garlic bread, placing the still warm loaf at the end of the counter as the guys lined up eagerly with plates in hand.

"Looks delicious," someone commented as each of the group served themselves before moving to sit around the large dining room table. After bringing a plate to Uncle Manny, who stayed in his recliner, Luce took a seat in the corner, preferring to sit back and watch the others rather than get involved in their conversations. Slurping at her spaghetti, Luce couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her. Lifting her eyes she scanned the room, noticing only one other who was not paying attention to the ruckus around the table. In the opposite corner she noticed the newcomer.

The Aussie stood with his plate in one hand, mopping up the excess sauce with a slice of bread as he grinned at the girl, holding her gaze through the crowd. Blushing under his scrutiny, Luce turned her head, looking away. She tried to ignore him but every time she'd let her attention drift to where he stood, she found he was still staring, watching her for the rest of the meal.

It wasn't long before the men had inhaled everything edible placed in front of them and returned to the living room. Luce gathered the discarded dishes that were scattered across the oak table as she listened to them cheering on their team.

"You don't have to worry about clean up," Luce said as she sat the plates on the counter, noticing Antia was pulling on her rubber gloves. "You did most of the cooking, I'll take care of washing."

"You sure?" Anita asked, as Luce nodded. "Alright I'm going to watch the game," she smiled handing off the yellow gloves and topping off her glass of wine before leaving the kitchen. Turning on the tap, Luce let the water warm as she scrolled through the music on her phone, looking for something to play. Choosing a favorite album, she propped up the phone on the window sill in front of her and settled in to work, humming along as she started to scour the pans.

Not paying attention to her surroundings, Luce nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt someone place their hand in the middle of her back.

"Sorry, darl'," an unfamiliar voice spoke, though she could guess who it was by the accent. "I wasn't trying to scare ya."

"It's fine," she replied, looking up with a smile, "You need something?"

"Yeah, where's the loo?" he asked, "I need ta drain the snake."

"Down the hall on the left," Luce gestured towards the archway across the kitchen, while trying to stifle her laughter at his language.

"Cheers, luv," he replied, resting his hand on her shoulder as he crossed behind her, his touch lingering longer that it needed to.

Returning her attention to the dishes in the sink, Luce began rinsing off the suds. It wasn't a moment later that Digger returned, nonchalantly leaning on his hip against the counter next to her, watching her clean. She could feel the warmth of the blood rushing to her cheeks as he stood there, sipping his beer.

"I'm sure the game in the other room is more entertaining," she stated, looking at him from the corner of her eye, trying to break the awkward silence while she scrubbed at the scraps of pasta and sauce.

"Nah," he smiled lifting his half empty bottle. "I'm good here," Digger took a swig of his drink, smirking to himself as he watched her blush harder. "This is much more entertaining."

With an exasperated scoff, Luce turned away from him, grabbing a rag off the oven door's handle. "If you're going to stick around you might as well be useful," she suggested as she pulled the beer from his grasp and replaced it with the dish towel.

Looking him square in the eye she brought the drink to her lips and quickly drained the rest of the contents. Setting down the now empty bottle, Luce turned waiting for his reaction. It seemed that he had conceded as he stepped closer, reaching towards the dishes in the sink. Then, before she could notice, he shifted his hand away from the plates, scooping up a handful of water and tossing it towards her.

Luce responded instinctively, turning to brace her arms against further splashes as she yelped with a laugh, "Cut it out! You're getting me all wet!" Digger, recognizing her light and teasing tone, took full advantage of the moment. Quickly he leaned in closer, allowing his facial hair to just barely tickle the shell of her ear as he placed his palm flat on the small of her back.

"Trust me, I know better ways to get you wet," he teased, letting his warm breath dance across the skin of her neck. Luce could feel her reaction instantly, the goosebumps trailing down her spine as he moved closer, his slightly musky scent of cinnamon and tobacco drowning out the smell of the kitchen. Surprised by his words, she felt a drop in her stomach, not dissimilar to feeling of missing a step while climbing the stairs in the dark. She failed to respond as he smirked to himself, noticing her obvious interest in him. Sliding his hand further down, across her bottom he quickly tensed his fingers, squeezing her cheek. Luce turned, eyeing him as she bit her lip, very interested in what he was doing as he tightly grabbed again at the flesh of her ass through her jeans. She hummed quietly, leaning in as his arm guided her towards him and her eyes fluttered shut. While she was enjoying the heat of his broad hand cupping her bottom, he hunched forward slowly bringing his face closer to her's.

"The hell you think you're doing?" Immediately, Luce was jerked back to reality by the sound of her brother's voice as John stomped across the room, pushing at Digger's shoulders.

"I'm just flirting with ya sistah, mate," Digger replied, holding his hands up as if he was innocent while taking a step closer to John. "What's it look like?" Luce groaned, annoyed with both men's reactions.

"Eddie!" John hollered, obviously trying to keep himself from punching Digger square in the jaw. A second later their mutual friend was in the doorway to the kitchen, quickly having to take in the scene before him. "Get this scumbag outta here," John ordered as Eddie crossed the room to Digger, pushing him towards the exit.

"I told ya man," he stated, leading the Aussie down the wooden steps of the side porch as the screen door to the kitchen slammed shut behind them, "I told you not to try."

Digger just huffed in response, dissatisfied with the way things had panned out. Meanwhile Luce was in the kitchen swatting at her brother's arm, "The fuck is your problem!"

"I don't want guys like him around you," John responded, still breathing heavy with anger.

"You don't want any guys around me! But guess what! I'm old enough to drink, I'm old enough to vote, I'm old enough talk to guys!" before storming off to the sanctuary of her bedroom.

PART 2