#pretty happy with this one although the posing took me far longer than it should have | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

softjeon · 4 years

Text

Anyroad

• Pairing: alice!jungkook x madhatter!taehyung ft. ot7 • Genre: fluff, tiny bit of angst | Rating: Teen and Up | AliceinWonderland!AU • Words: 11k | AO3 • Disclaimer: mentioning of an accident, loss of memory → Gifset Trailer

written with @cassiavioletblue

↳ “Does it have to make sense?” Taehyung came to a sudden halt which made Jungkook stumble right into him but he wasn’t fazed at all. He stood like a rock and it was Jungkook who had to hold onto him to keep his balance. “Stuff doesn’t have to make sense to be fun. If you really think about you’ll notice that senseless things often are more fun than things that make sense. [...]”

Pain ricocheted through his entire body and he fought to catch his breath when he landed on his arm. His head shot backward. And the pain was slicing through him, over and over. In the background, he heard the sound of screeching brakes. Shattered glass was grinding into his hip, more glass rained down around him.

Pain. Pain. Just so much goddamn pain. Like a fireball.

Far away, someone was screaming. Blue lights flickering on and off, shadows hushing over him while he tried to blink against the overwhelming darkness.

There were so many voices. He was getting lifted and a scream tore from him, but he wasn’t so sure if he actually screamed or if it was a silent one. Maybe no one heard him anymore. Maybe the darkness was too strong as it pulled him under. Too many voices, and blackness and then he woke up.

So suddenly, just as sudden as he had fallen into the darkness.

Sweating.

His fingers were digging into the bedsheets, eyes wide as he was panting. Jungkook’s gaze kept flickering around the room, blinking against the light, when his eyes just seemed so god damn sensitive.

There was a throbbing headache at the back of his head making him hiss in pain as he reached out for it, slowly and carefully sitting up. “H-hello?” His voice sounded croaky, like he hadn’t used it for quite a while. For how long had it been dark? Jungkook looked around, but the room was eerily quiet. White walls, white bed sheets. Not even a hint of color. Jungkook rubbed his eyes, trying to blink against the blurriness, to see more clearly when a shadow rushed by his window.

“Hello?” Jungkook asked again, groaning in pain, when he pushed himself up and waddled towards the hospital door. There must be a doctor somewhere close. Maybe they could explain what had happened. He stopped, breath coming in short pants, when he held onto the doorframe and noticed something from the corner of his eyes.

His face.

Bruised up and a cut lip, telling him that something had happened.

Something that Jungkook couldn’t remember.

“Excuse me,” Jungkook opened the door, to turn to the left where he had last seen the shadow vanish from the hallways.

Tae giggled. He had noticed the new presence almost immediately. Apparently it was a boy although you could never be sure in Wonderland. One could pose as a human and secretly be a mouse instead - but this one felt actually human.

He was a little damaged at the moment, but Tae was sure that a little while in here would make the new one forget his pain and join them happy and healthily. Ignoring the other’s polite request, he ran a little faster. Normally it was the white rabbit’s job to show the newcomers around but Yoongi hadn’t enjoyed his part, so he had given it to Tae who had lots of fun with it!

This time though his creativity had been blocked by the newcomer’s inability to open up.

They were in a hospital, a classic, standard, boring hospital - except maybe that the hallway was endless and tightly curled upwards. Tae was pretty sure that the boy would give up chasing him sooner or later and maybe, when he was out of breath and had time to sit and think he would see that he didn’t need to be in a hospital. That he could just use one of the doors to walk into a whole new world, waiting for him to be discovered.

“Oh, damn it,” Jungkook rubbed the side of his temple, as he tried to see in front of him. “Excuse me, is there…anyone?” The younger looked around, but it seemed too empty for a hospital. Where was everybody?

Jungkook stumbled ahead, right behind the shadow and where it was heading to, following his giggles. This just felt awfully strange. Something wasn’t right.

Panting heavily, Jungkook held onto the wall. “Could you wait, please?” He felt out of breath, leaning against a door. “I think I need some painkillers or something.” He could feel the view blur around him when he saw the shadow again. “Hey!” He called out, a little louder this time as he focused on the figure. Breathing heavily, Jungkook shook himself out of his dizziness, following the strange man further down the hallway. “I am talking to you!”

“But I am not talking to you!” yelled Tae gleefully before he frowned, realizing his mistake. As an answer he ran a little faster and, as the boy was getting slower, he dared to let the other see a little more from him, down to his shoes, as he danced a quick little step dance.

Jungkook furrowed his brows, confusion written all over his face when he saw the young doctor dancing. Was he even a doctor? He didn’t look like one. “How rude,” He mumbled, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he watched the man vanish again. Jungkook felt annoyed at him and because he didn’t want to play his games any longer, he turned on his heel. He would find someone else to talk to.

Someone who could actually help him.

Jungkook took the next best door to open it up. He was angrily mumbling to himself, something about how rude the other was while he walked on without looking, just following his urge to find someone to explain to him what had happened. As soon as he had walked through it the door slammed shut, making him startle and jump in surprise. His eyes widened, when all of a sudden the white door was in front of him again, standing in midst of a field surrounded by a large, green forest.

Jungkook rubbed his eyes again.

This was absolutely mad. It couldn’t be.

Jungkook gulped, before pushing the handle again, opening the door but the hospital was gone. Carefully, he held his hand out to try and see if something happened, but there was nothing. It was just a door in the middle of nowhere leading to more trees and grass. Jungkook felt like fainting.

“Ah, I see you stopped holding onto what you think should be reality. Isn’t it more fun like this? More free?” Tae stretched out his arms and spun in a circle to show how much more he enjoyed this setting. It was still pretty ‘normal’ but he preferred nature over hospital hallways. “Finally, I can get rid of this awful thing. Why did you think white would suit me? It’s stupid! And not colorful at all!” He didn’t care that he sounded whiny he hadn’t worn a monochromatic outfit since forever! And for good reason, it made him nervous! There was nothing his brain could hold onto, nothing to calm his nerves just awful, plain, one colored nothingness sucking him in. He stuffed the white doctor’s coat into the next best knothole (which required some pushing, but finally the tree was taking it from his hands) and there he stood, in his full multicolored glory.

Jungkook stood there, barely moving as he watched the young man twirl around, talking to him as if he knew him. “W-what,” He finally mumbled, shaking his head, rubbing his eyes before focusing on the man again. “We’re not in a hospital?” Jungkook furrowed his brows, eyes flickering around the forest. He’s never been here before, he would remember. Jungkook turned around swiftly - but where the door had been only seconds ago it was gone. A panic washed over him, when he turned back around, looking down on him, where he was definitely still wearing his hospital clothes. White pants, white shirt. This was crazy. This wasn’t real.

“I didn’t make you wear...that,” Jungkook cocked his head aside, walking closer to where the other had pushed in the white coat, before focusing back on Taehyung. “I thought you were a doctor. I’m not...I mean...we’re not in the hospital? Where are we? Who are you? Am I going crazy?” Jungkook groaned when the pain shot through his head as if a thousand needles were pushing into his skin, view getting blurry before. It took him a moment before he caught his breath again, looking up at the strange, colorful man. “Who are you?”

Tae proudly puffed out his chest as the other was looking at his psychedelic pants and velvet jacket. "I guess it all depends on your point of view. You might be going crazy if hospital rooms are what you think should be real. From my point of view though you were crazy before and are slowly getting back to how you should be now." As Jungkook kept staring at him he sighed deeply and took the other by the hand. The boy flinched a little as if he hadn't been sure if Tae was a hallucination and was now surprised to feel the other's firm, warm touch on him, "I'm your tour guide! So just tell me where you want to go, and I'll get you there!"

“M-my what?” Jungkook stumbled after him, trying to keep up with what he just told him. “But...but my headache? I was…” The younger tried to show what he meant, wanting to turn around and let the other see for himself that he had bruises all over but there was nothing. Not even his head hurt anymore. Jungkook looked at the other in disbelief, “My tour guide? But...how did I get here? This...is not making any sense.”

“Does it have to?” Taehyung came to a sudden halt which made Jungkook stumble right into him, but Taehyung wasn’t fazed at all. He stood like a rock and it was Jungkook who had to hold onto him to keep his balance. “Stuff doesn’t have to make sense to be fun. If you really think about you’ll notice that senseless things often are more fun than things that make sense. If this would make sense you’d get your headaches back. And I’m pretty sure headaches are no fun.”

“Sure,“ Jungkook mumbled, not understanding a word that the other was saying. But what choice did he have? The door was gone. He was in the middle of the forest with a man holding onto him that seemed rather odd, but friendly. And no idea where he was supposed to be or to go. Jungkook took a deep breath. “So, where does your tour lead me to, Mr…?” He asked, looking at the strange man with a smile.

Taehyung sighed deeply. “Didn’t you listen? I can’t lead you anywhere unless you tell me where you want to go! How should I know what there’ll be unless you imagine it? It’s not like this is...” He broke off, cocking his head “Do you think you’re dreaming? Or hallucinating? Is that why you’re so stiff?”

“Eh,” Jungkook cleared his throat, furrowing his brows, “I’m not sure? Am I? I’m just…confused. If this isn’t a dream then what is this? What do you mean I should tell you? I don’t even know where we are?” He rubbed the side of his temples, feeling the headache thumping behind his skull again and the dizziness making him lose his balance for a moment. “Shouldn’t a tour guide know where to go?”

“How can you not know where you are when it’s so obvious!” Tae pointed to the grass under their feet and then to the trees on their left side. “We’re standing on a meadow next to a forest.” He leaned in closely until their noses almost touched and stared right into Jungkook’s face. “Is there something wrong with your eyes? Is that why you’re rubbing them so much? Or are they bad because you are rubbing them so much?”

Jungkook startled, eyes doe-like as he stared back at the man’s face that was so up close and personal that it made him stumble back. “That’s not…” He groaned, before pulling his hand away from him and turning on his heel. He had enough. He could make fun of himself if he wanted to, he didn’t need anyone else to do that.

“No, stop, where are you going?” Tae stomped his foot on the ground. “I’m the tour guide! Yoongi gave the job to me, you can’t just steal it like that from me!” When Jungkook made no notion to turn back Taehyung ran after him, passing him by and then turning towards Jungkook while walking backwards so that he was in front of Jungkook while still looking where the younger was going.

“I don’t care who gave you what because you’re actually doing an awful job at being a guide.” Jungkook looked up with a raised eyebrow, “Do you even know what a tour guide does? Maybe you should let Yoongi do the job again. Because I told you numerous times that I don’t know where I am and as a guide…you should guide me.” He rolled his eyes, as he passed Taehyung who looked at him hurt, “Not say stupid riddles or do your …,” Jungkook turned towards him, waving his hands around, “Whatever you’re doi-“ His words cut off, when the breath got stuck in his lungs and Jungkook screamed out. He hadn’t looked where he was going.

One misstep. One thought about how he just wanted the world to swallow him whole, before he was plunging into darkness.

The earth had willingly fulfilled his wish and so Jungkook fell deeply, downward, and further downwards until … he realized that he wasn’t quite falling in the way he was used to. As if gravity behaved differently here. Was it because he was underground? He shook his head at that stupid thought and then tried to turn as he was still falling backwards. Somehow he was falling slow enough to get a good look at his surroundings and his pace kept steady as if he was swimming in a stream of air. That thought gave him another idea and so instead of wriggling around like a worm he made swimming motions to change his position and it worked! With his face turned towards the direction he was falling he didn’t feel as lost any more. Just as that feeling had settled in he saw that the darkness was finally ending and there was a piece of ground visible that he would reach in a few minutes. As he didn’t want to land harshly he pretended to swim upwards and actually got slower, so slow that when his feet came in contact with the ground it was the soft landing he had hoped for.

At first he could see nothing but the floor under his feet but when he blinked a few times the surroundings slowly became clearer as if his eyes had gotten used to the dark - just that there was no ‘darkness’ anymore. He was in a hexagonal room with a door in each wall. However, they all had different sizes and Jungkook would only fit through half of them, maybe four if he made himself really small. He wasn’t sure who would make doors like that (for who? Or where they simply decoration?) but he figured he would never know as there was no one else there except for him. And a small, blue table with a few tiny things on it. He crouched down to get a better look and saw that there was a tiny bottle with a label on its neck that he could barely read and a glass plate with cookies on it. All of the cookies had a different shape and color and he reached for one of them when a sudden crash made him jump.

Jungkook bumped into the table simultaneously as he grabbed his chest, while holding onto the cookie. “God damn it,” He sighed, when he saw the strange man had just landed next to him – on his bum. “Are you okay?” Jungkook asked carefully, but the other seemed fine when he got up, rubbing his bottom with a soft giggle. Shaking his head, Jungkook lifted up the cookie to smell it. “So, now what happened, huh and where do we go from here, Mr. Tourguide.” He chuckled, before opening his mouth to take a bite.

“No!” Taehyung ran towards him to snatch the cookie away and then threw himself over the table to quickly push all the cookies together with the vial into his many pockets while mumbling something like, “...not again! No growing, no shrinking this time! And definitely no sudden seas and tears, none of that!” Afterwards he turned as if nothing had happened, keeping his hands securely pressed against the pockets. “Now? We’ll unless you don’t want to stay here I’d say let's choose a door. It’s a pity you can only choose from three.” His hands pressed a little tighter against the cookie filled pockets.

“You’re weird, did someone tell you that before?” Jungkook shook his head but he was defenseless. He had tried to walk away, and he had only fallen into a hole. So, he could just see where it lead him next. “I take this one then,” Jungkook pointed at one of the doors, before getting on his knees to open it and crawling through it without any hesitation.

“Of course, you’d chose the one where we have to crawl - nothing is easy with you, did someone ever tell you that?” came some more barely audible murmuring from Tae as he followed Jungkook through the tiny door. Again, they were standing in a meadow, just a different kind this time. They were tiny in comparison to the massive blades of grass that were thick and growing big like a bamboo forest around them. Taehyung heard Jungkook gasp and chuckled gleefully. “What did you think that a tiny door would give you a world where you’d be normal sized? It leads to a world that makes you feel tiny of course!” The grass was growing so thick and densely that they could barely see a few feet, so Tae suggested, “Let’s find a mushroom and climb on it so that we see where we are going.”

“Yeah, of course…” Jungkook shook his head but he couldn’t keep from smiling at the same time. Maybe he could get used to it. It was just a dream. Just a weird, odd dream.

“Let’s just find a mushroom and climb on top of it. What else should we do, because my tour guide apparently still doesn’t know where we are going.” He boxed the other lightly, before laughing, “You haven’t even told me your name, yet.” Jungkook turned around, walking backwards just like the strange man had been doing before, “I’m Jungkook and you are?”

“I’m Taehyung. I’m glad we’re meeting, Jungkook.” Tae smiled as the boy in front of him visibly relaxed and finally even started to enjoy their adventure. Happy about that nice turn of events he put a little spring in his step and Jungkook followed until they were hopping along the way, both giggling like mad. It was gorgeous!

“Wait! There! I see one!” Finally, he had caught sight of a nice, big king oyster mushroom that would give them a great view. “Let’s try that one!”

It was easy for Jungkook to climb the mushroom. He was working out a lot and so it was even easier for him to just reach out for Taehyung and almost pulling him up all by himself (who really enjoyed being dragged up like this). He didn’t weight much – not to him at least.

“So, what are we looking for?” Jungkook asked before adding quickly, “Wait…you don’t know right? I probably need to know what I’m looking for.” He shrugged his shoulders, trying to come up with the stupidest of things he could think of at the top of his head. “I am looking for blue smoke coming from….,” Jungkook closed his eyes as he stretched out his arm, pointing somewhere randomly, “…there.” When he opened his eyes again, the laugh got stuck, as blue smoke was ascending further down the meadow. “You’re fucking kidding me, are you?”

“You got it, you got it!” cheered Tae as Jungkook confidently pointed somewhere. It wasn’t that far away so they could easily reach it. In his joy he completely overheard Jungkook’s curses and instead was kneeling a little closer to the edge to get a better look, shielding his eyes from the sun. “Oh, that must be Jin! Such a nice surprise, I can’t wait to visit him!”

“Jin?” Jungkook wanted to ask who he was talking about, when Taehyung was already slipping down the mushroom and back on the ground, waving him to do the same. At least his guide knew where to go now. “Is Jin one of your friends?” Jungkook caught up with Tae, as they were walking (or Tae rather skipping happily) beside one another. “Do you live here...are there more people like you? You talked about Yoongi before? The ‘real’ guide?” The younger was getting curious about the world he had stumbled into, walking a little faster to keep up with him.

Taehyung made a pout and crossed his arms over his chest. the little flower on his revers started to wilt. “Yoongi is not the ‘real’ guide. I am! And I’m trying so much harder than he did! With him you would have probably taken a nap in the very first meadow without ever falling down that hole to reach the door room or seeing the mushrooms or Jin. Not every white bunny likes to be a guide. He is so much happier now catching notes and pressing them on paper, so they become sheet music. You would think they would be too fast for him, whirring through the air like that but he can be really quick and precise when he wants to. Like a cat who normally doesn’t even move for a snack but then catches a fly out of thin air because it wants to.” He chuckles, his hurt pride already forgotten. “They are both my friends actually. If you want to meet him too we can go to the and visit him after seeing Jin?”

Jungkook agreed with a shrug of his shoulders. He had nothing else to do right now, so why not meet some new people. Maybe they could help him figure out where he was or maybe they were just as strange as Taehyung. Jungkook looked at him skipping ahead happily, finding himself smiling along with him. Although he was acting rather odd, he found Taehyung still endearing and kind.

He didn't seem like someone who could hurt anyone.

With Jungkook concentrating on their aim and knowing where they were going the walked easily ahead, the grass clearing here and there to let them through more easily. The cloud of smoke was an easy guide for direction and when they got closer they saw that it wasn’t so much a cloud as delicate figures that Jin blew into the air but dissolved at a certain height. Taehyung was curious as to what they would see when they were at Jin’s mushroom. He lived in that thing so it was often the biggest mushroom by far, with a nice, broad mushroom cap to keep his house from rain so that Jin could sit underneath it and keep smoking if he wanted to. Taehyung had actually never been inside Jin’s house, simply because of the “space issue” (he couldn’t turn into a caterpillar and therefore wasn’t flexible enough to cozily curl up in the stipe), but he had taken lots of peaks inside and found it to be really pretty.

When their surroundings changed a little, with more herbaceous plants and flowers at their sides and moss beneath their feet he knew that they were close. He took Jungkook’s hand again to spur him on. “Come! Come! We’re close! He’ll be there any second now!”

Jungkook could feel his heart beating fast. He didn’t know what would await him exactly, so he tried to see ahead and figure out who that Jin person was.

The first thing he saw was Jin’s back, as he laid on the top of a mushroom, taking a deep breath from… well, Jungkook wasn’t sure what it was but whenever he leaned his head back, blue smoke was starting to come from his lips as he blew it into the air. The second thing he noticed was his washed out pink hair and Jungkook instantly loved it as it stood in a beautiful contrast to the blue. It was just as beautifully odd as everything Taehyung wore on his body. The younger startled a little when Jin turned around, a smile appearing on his lips.

“Oh, I have visitors.” Jin sat up, rolling back his shoulders before he simply plopped down onto his stomach to look down at them. He cocked his head aside when he noticed the stranger and then looked back to Taehyung. “Did he notice my smoke?”

“Yes, he did!” Taehyung made a gesture towards the human, “His name is Jungkook and he just arrived here, from a hospital. We went through the room of the doors to get to you and our next step will be visiting Yoongi.”

“Well that sounds awfully nice!” Jin blew another breath of smoke into the air that turned from a cloud into a hospital corridor and then into a meadow of flowers before dissolving into nothingness. “How do you like your adventure so far, Jungkook?”

“Eh,” Jungkook had to tear his gaze away from the smoke, before answering. “It’s been...something else. I’m still not quite sure why I’m here but I’m figuring this out later so...I’m enjoying the ride.” He laughed softly, looking at Taehyung, “And you all seem pretty nice, although a little odd.” Jungkook couldn’t help it, he was always honest - but he didn’t mean it in a bad way. He liked the oddness about Taehyung. It was what made him far more interesting, than any of the people he ever met in his life.

Jin looked at him as if he wanted to figure out why he was here as well but when nothing happened he just turned his attention back to his pipe and his shaped clouds. “Thank you, that’s nice of you to say”, he answered, as if ‘odd’ was just as complimentary as ‘nice’. “Before I forget, I know where Yoongi will be; he received an invitation for tea. Do you want to participate in a tea party as well, Jungkook?”

Jungkook was just as confused as he was surprised from the sudden invitation. “A tea party sounds exactly like something you would do in a world like this.” He smiled brightly at Taehyung, feeling more and more accepting of this wonderful crazy world.

“How do we get to the tea party?” Jungkook gazed up at the handsome man on the mushroom again, “Will you come with us, too?”

“In a world like this?” Jin raised his eyebrows at him, “As far as I know tea parties are a thing everywhere and at any place. “I haven’t decided yet. Maybe later. However, you two you two should definitely go. A nice cup of tea makes everything better. It doesn’t matter how you get there, you could walk, swim, ride, fly, take the cat bus, jump from one tree to the other... though I must say I wouldn’t suggest this unless you can change your form into something more... light or flying squirrel shaped. Can you?”

“Not that I know of,” Jungkook shrugged his shoulders, pursing his lips as he thought of the best way to get to a tea party that he had no clue where it was. When he turned to Taehyung however, he quickly realized that he was waiting for an answer from him as well. Jungkook sighed.

Of course, Taehyung had absolutely no idea either, patiently waiting.

“Tae and I walk,” Jungkook used the nickname with a smile, when he took the others hand again just like they had done before. “We’re just going to follow all the signs leading us to the tea party, right?” He looked expectantly at Taehyung, as if he was the one making his suggestions come true in this world.

“Yeah, that sounds like fun! You never know what’s in the water and although being abducted by mermaids can be fun it’s very time consuming, so we better avoid that. And flying doesn’t really work with your size...“ Jin chimed in with an amused look on his face. Why don’t you use the magic cookies then to shrink and use a pigeon for transport?” But he only managed to say half the sentence before Taehyung's flapping hands and shushing noises made it difficult to understand him.

“I’m not doing that again! Being almost trampled to death is no fun and neither is looking for your human when she’s the size of an ant and running around the meadow. I like them in their normal sizes, thank you very much!” When he turned back to Jungkook he had the sweetest smile on his face again. “Where were we? Oh yes, we were talking about how awesome it is to walk. We should get going then, we don’t want to come too late now, do we?”

Jungkook waved Jin goodbye and in a way, he hoped to see the man again and that he would come to the tea party as well.

Swinging their hands back and forth, Jungkook was on the lookout for some signs that would show them the right direction. He found the first one hanging from a tree. Carved into some wood, there was a big arrow pointing to the left.

“To the tea party,” Jungkook read out loud, happy that his imagination had worked again. It didn’t take long to find a second arrow and a third. After the tenth arrow though, Jungkook felt like he was going in circles, but Taehyung seemed just as lively and happy to be walking ahead so the younger stopped wondering. Maybe even the arrows had their own odd way to show them to the right direction.

“Do you think we should dress a little more appropriate? Like for a tea party, shouldn’t you wear a little more formal clothes?” Jungkook stopped walking, drumming a finger against his chin as he looked Taehyung up and down and then himself.

“I’d like for us to wear something more…tea-party-ish.” Jungkook giggled, closing his eyes as he imagined Taehyung in a long, patterned coat and some striped pants that would look imperfectly perfect, highlighting his love for all kinds of colors. When he opened up his eyes, Jungkook gasped and a big smile appeared. “You look handsome, Tae!” He took Taehyung’s hand to twirl him once, giggling happily when he thought about something. “There’s something missing.” Jungkook said and closed his eyes again.

“Oh perfect, a hat! Finally,” Taehyung took the cylinder off to have a closer look at it and then hugged Jungkook all of a sudden, flinging his arms around the others neck for a second before letting go again. “Thank you so much! A hatter is never quite complete without a hat. If you hadn’t decided to give me one until the tea party I would have started to drop subtle little hints - or woven myself a hat from grass and leaves.” He giggled, “…but yours is definitely better. Now what will you wear? Do you want me to close my eyes?” He covered his face with his hands but made sure to very obviously peak through his fingers.

Jungkook walked up to Taehyung, softly placing his hands on his own, whispering, “No peeking,” before closing his eyes. He wasn’t so sure what he was imagining, but he had only a few ideas what a tea party in world like this could be like, so when he stepped away from the other, he was just as surprised what his mind had come up with.

“Oh, Jungkook, that looks beautiful on you! I didn’t knew you had such taste!” Taehyung made the boy turn around again and again until the other got dizzy and had to stop while his side ached from laughing too much. He wore white trousers that went down just below the knee where his black and white striped socks were showing until down to his black boots, that were laced up with satin ribbons. He wore a blouse with lace and tiny, mother-of-pearl buttons. It had a ruffled collar and cuffs and Jungkook liked how it looked, peeking out from underneath his blue jacket. It was tailored nicely, with rounded edges at the front while it ended in a swallowtail on his back. The jacket was hemmed with a dark blue velvet ribbon that was so soft to the touch that Jungkook loved to just rub his fingertips along it. All in all, he looked stunning.

“You are perfect!” Taehyung complimenting him again, before hesitating “Or, wait, almost perfect!” He quickly took down his hat again and rummaged through the decoration on it; the flowers, the fabric, the leaves, until he plucked a small bow from it with a few forget-me-nots in the center. “There you go..” Carefully he pinned the flower in Jungkook’s hair, right above his ear where it could hold his curly hair out of his face. “Now you’ll be the prettiest guest at the party for sure.”

The younger couldn’t help it when the blush appeared on his cheeks, the heat making him avert his gaze as he felt for the bow in his hair. “Thank you,” He mumbled shyly, pointing at the arrow to bring Taehyung’s attention from him to something else again. “I think we’re good to go now,” Jungkook didn’t even finish his sentence, when Taehyung intertwined their hands again skipping ahead and pulling him along with him. Jungkook was running, while the other was so happy jumping and greeting every tree and little animal they crossed with a bow, taking off his hat in a respectful manner. Taehyung looked really good in his outfit, Jungkook thought again, eyes stuck on him, when he didn’t notice at first that the forest was clearing itself. Only when soft, very irregular sounding music came to him, did Jungkook tear his gaze away from him.

“Oh, we’re there, we’re already there! You must be really thirsty for some tea!” He commented as a small clearing came in sight with a massive table on it. There was no house or car to suggest how the table had gotten here. It was just the table, a few chairs, and a few people around it that looked as odd as Tae even from afar.

And of course, the table was loaded with stuff. There were colorfully striped lollipops that were as big as a head and heaps of whipped cream. Jungkook could see strawberries - or what he thought looked exactly like strawberries except for their color which was anything but red. Maybe they had used food coloring on them?

There were a few cakes and cookies strewn across the table but each of them had something to it; there was a small layered cake that was more leaning than the tower of pisa, another one had small wooden toys stuck in them and another cake had clear bite marks that indicate someone had taken the cake and just bitten off pieces instead of cutting it properly. As he remembered Tae’s aversion to him eating cookies he skipped those, but the cupcakes looked really tasty. There weren’t any that were alike, it was as if there was a silent rule that each cupcake had to look entirely different from dough to frosting.

“Finally, took you long enough!” A voice squeaked, before jumping up from their chair, gracefully walking all over the table, leaving Jungkook wondering how he didn’t bump into anything, before falling into Taehyung’s arms for a tight hug. Little grey ears were peeking out from the young man’s hair and from this close Jungkook could make out little whiskers. “Who did you bring to the party, Tae?” The mouse asked, before pulling his friend ahead to bring him to his assigned seat.

He gently squeezed the mouse-person’s hand before turning towards his guest. “This is Jungkook. He is from a hospital.” Taehyung had a habit of telling others his name and story before Jungkook even had the chance to. “And Jungkook, this is Jimin, he is a dormouse. Without him a tea party can’t be called a real tea party. He is an expert on tea and teapots, and he can tell you really interesting facts about all kinds of tea. He used to live in a teapot, that’s why he knows so much about it.”

Jungkook waved at the mouse, who suddenly vanished under the tablecloth and reappeared on the other side of the table. “That’s good to know,” He smiled at Taehyung, following him to a seemingly empty chair to take a seat and reach for a cup of tea.

“Heh, not so fast little one – this is my chair!” The voice startled Jungkook effectively, making him jump around and almost falling over. He had been sure there was no one sitting on the chair (Jungkook had even looked thoroughly to not oversee a little person or animal that was just a smaller size). But where no one had been before, sat a man now, grinning at him with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Oh…oh I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to… I didn’t see you there…” Jungkook apologized, awkwardly moving around the tall man whose eyes kept following him until they stopped at Jimin who was peeking out from under the cloth. Jungkook looked at the mouse and back again, walking backwards until he hit the chair where Taehyung was sitting on. The man began to lick his teeth, showing off some sharp canines.

“Oh, a cat.” Jungkook whispered in awe.

“Not just a cat. Namjoon’s a cheshire cat!” said Taehyung as if that should mean anything to Jungkook. Taehyung seemed perfectly undisturbed by Jungkook almost sitting on his friend. “Don’t worry, he does this some time. I think he secretly enjoys scaring people. If you want to make sure he’s not around then look for a grin. He sometimes forgets his grin.” He bit heartedly into a muffin who seemed to have vegetable soup inside and then smiled at Jungkook with a face smeared full of green soup.

“He can just vanish like that. That’s awesome,” Jungkook suddenly couldn’t keep his eyes off the cat, who was taking bits from the cheese off a plate to hold it under the table. For a moment, he wondered what he was doing, but when he found Jimin missing, he knew the mouse had been hiding again. “He won’t hurt your friend, though, right?” Jungkook asked, walking around to sit on the other side of Taehyung on the only chair left.

“You mean Jimin? No, never! Not for real. He chases Jimin around sometimes but that’s just for show. The two are very close, they even sleep together, with Namjoon curled around him and Jimin even tinier in the middle. It’s awfully cute, but don’t tell them I said that, I think they still don’t know that everyone knows about their friendship.” Taehyung licked his finger clean from whipped cream. “Why are you asking?”

Jungkook hummed in response, trying to imagine the cat and the mouse cuddling up to one another. “In my world, cats like to eat little mice like Jimin a lot.” He shrugged his shoulders, “But I like this way more.” He pointed at the cat again, who was pouring some tea into a cup without even looking that the mouse was holding up for him to fill, while talking to someone.

“Am I too late?” A yawn followed the sudden question and Jungkook smiled, when he met the eyes of the bunny Taehyung had told him lots about. “Oh, the ex-tour guide,” He chuckled, but the bunny didn’t even really acknowledge him.

“I don’t like your world.” Taehyung shook his head, “People are wearing boring clothes and are eating one another. You can be glad that you’re here with us. Have you tried the cucumber jam?” He looked over to where Jungkook was looking and saw Yoongi leaning sleepily on the table. His jabot was hanging right into a heap of whipped cream but as they had both basically the same color it wasn’t that obvious. Yoongi was also wearing a hat through which his ears were peaking so at first look one couldn’t really say if the fluffy bunny ears came from his head or from his hat. “Yeah, that’s him. You don’t want him to finish the tour now...do you?” He asked carefully.

Jungkook shook his head, without even really thinking about it. He had come to terms with Taehyung being his guide, without really guiding him. “I am very happy with you,” He nudged the hatter’s side playfully. “And believe me, I don’t like my world that much either. I should stay here.” He took one of the cupcakes and took a bite, happy about the sweet jam inside.

“You can’t stay here,” Someone spoke up and Jungkook’s eyes widened when they met the gaze of a person dressed in only white, even their hair and lashes were. “Not until you speak to me that is,” Hoseok raised his (white) eyebrow, leaning over the table to take a good look at the human boy, leaving Jungkook confused about how the crown was still on his head as it had a weird tilt - but it seemed stuck.

“Who is this, Taehyung? Does he have an invitation?” The white king addressed Taehyung right away, not even bothering to ask Jungkook, when the other was telling everyone until now who the human boy was and where he came from.

Tae, who’s chest had been puffed out proudly since Jungkook had told him he could stay his guide seemed to be getting smaller under the gaze of the white king and he carefully avoided the other’s gaze.

“Uhm, not… not really?” He nervously began dissecting a cupcake. “Jin told us about the tea party and so I thought why not bring him along. He’s really sweet, he didn’t dream of one bad thing since we’re here; no monsters, no sickness, he just went along with it as soon as he figured it out and since then it has been a really fun journey. I wanted to show him the sea after that maybe and...” He got interrupted by Namjoon’s voice. “The sea of tears? Do you think that’s a good idea for someone as fragile as him?”

“Well he wouldn’t have known that it was made from tears, the sea water is supposed to be salty!” Taehyung spat back and only when the king cleared his throat did they both turn quickly around, Taehyung sitting straight on his chair while Namjoon curled his blue-violet striped tail neatly on the tablecloth.

“So, what you are telling me is that there is a lost human child without invitation and instead of telling me right away you took him along on a journey?” Tae sounded rueful when he answered, “I...yes, I did, but I would have told you, eventually. And you should have seen him! He was stuck in a hospital! There were only white walls and cold rooms and... how should one get better there! Isn’t it nicer to be among friends and drink some tea and eat some pickled raspberries?”

Jungkook felt as if he was suddenly at the wrong place, his heart beating fast in a nervous habit as he avoided the kings stare. Instead something else had caught his attention, so he turned to Taehyung, placing a hand on his arm to get his attention. “What do you mean… get better? So...I was at the hospital? I didn’t imagine it?” Jungkook furrowed his brows, as he spoke as quietly as he could but of course everyone was listening attentively. Even Jimin had peeked out from under the tablecloth again.

Taehyung opened his mouth but before he could explain anything Yoongi started talking. He was still leaned lazily across the table even though his jabot was whipped-cream-free by now (Namjoon might have helped him by licking it clean).

“Hatter basically abducted you, my sweet child. He has a thing for the lost and lonely. And it’s not like you were at the hospital - you probably still are there. Unless they decided to forgo all hope and let you die, then you can actually stay forever.”

“Yoongi!” Jimin shot out from under the table and pulled at one of the rabbits ears. “How can you say that to him! He’s right here!”

Jungkook blinked at the rabbit, then back at Taehyung. “Is that true? I’m….I’m just dreaming this? They forgot about me?” The young human looked at everyone around them, as sadness washed over him. He wasn’t even so sure who forgot about him. He couldn’t remember. But he had accepted this world, that it wasn’t a dream but something else, something more magical.

It was as if the moment, Jungkook let the dark thoughts cloud his mind, rain was starting to pour. “You said it’s not a dream.” He whispered, before getting up from the chair and excusing himself.

“It’s not! Jungkookie, don’t leave like that please!” Tae jumped up, running after Jungkook immediately while Jimin jumped on the table to catch all the rainwater in teacups before it fell onto the table. When he licked his lips, the rain tasted salty.

Taehyung hugged Jungkook from behind to keep him from walking any further, ignoring how the rain started to soak him. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. But I wanted to see you happy. And you were, weren’t you? If only for a while. Please don’t be sad! I would have brought you back, in the end, I promise! That is… if you wanted to go back. I like you. And I don’t like the thought of you leaving. Don’t you want to know what else there is out here? Oh, I can show you so much more than you could ever imagine! We can dance with the walrus or ride on a tortoise or sing duets with the pansies! We can slide down all of the rainbows and play chess with the frogs…wouldn’t you like that? You told me you didn’t like your world either! Please... can’t you stay here? Just forget about what Yoongi said and then we’ll hide from Hoseok until he can’t send you back anymore!”

Jungkook sighed, feeling the warmth that Taehyung’s hug brought making him feel secure and safe. And yet, it didn’t feel right.

“I don’t know.” Jungkook shook his head, looking over to the mouse, who has stopped catching raindrops but still holding onto his cups tightly as if any moment it could start pouring again. “I can’t remember anything from before,” He turned to Taehyung, slowly pulling the other away from him. “Isn’t there anyone waiting there for me? In my world? Do I belong here? I’m a human. What if I just imagine this…” Jungkook bit his lip, “Am I imagining you because I’m lonely?”

Taehyung shook his head. “No, this is not…” However, he was interrupted before he could finish speaking. “Enough!” Hoseok had stood up, standing at the table in his full, snow-white glory. Surprisingly nothing on him looked as if he had been just hit by rain a few seconds ago, it was as if nothing had happened - while the others at the table looked quite wet and miserable (Namjoon wouldn’t stop licking his tail and drying his ears). “Taehyung, you need to bring the human home. Right now. And then I expect you at my court to make amends.” Taehyung sighed deeply and his hold around Jungkook tightened just a little more. “Yes, my king.”

Jimin held out a plate where the whipped cream was running down like milky soup so that the cupcakes underneath became visible. “Do you want something for the way? Some cupcakes maybe?”

Jungkook shook his head, denying while averting the mouse’s gaze who was pushing the plate against his stomach a few times until he just took one cupcake to make him happy again. When he reached out for the cake, a small, blue butterfly landed on his hand and Jungkook stilled completely. Bringing his hand back, Jungkook looked at it, mesmerized by the beauty of its wings. A smile appeared on his lips and a painful ache in his chest told him that he loved this world a lot. It was so much brighter and more beautiful than the human one. He was about to let the butterfly fly again, it’s little wings flattering when out of a sudden and a small -poof- later, Jungkook got caught off guard when Jin landed in his arms making him stumble a little from the sudden weight shift.

“Did I miss anything?”

Jimin let out a squeak while Taehyung just helped Jungkook put Jin down. “Don’t do that! He might get a heart attack!”

Jin giggled. “Silly, you’re more dangerous to his heart than I am.” Then he went off to find a seat at the table, wiping off the water from a chair. “What happened here?” Namjoon leaned over to whisper in his ear while they both looked at Jungkook.

Jungkook bit his lip, feeling as if all eyes were on him (which they were, although everyone was trying too hard to seem as if they were doing something else). Jungkook took Taehyung’s hand again, when he noticed Hoseok’s gaze directly on him but although he felt like he should simply go, he couldn’t.

“Thank you for the invitation,” Jungkook spoke softly, looking at everyone but Hoseok. “I still had fun and…,” He took a deep breath, before addressing the king, “Please don’t be too mean to Taehyung. He was really kind to me, and I understand you want me to go….so I will. I won’t tell anyone about you.” He smiled at the little mouse who was hiding behind the cat’s tail, climbing onto its lap. Jin raised his eyebrow, looking at the king with a smile before he blew some smoke into the air. “I like the human. He’s…different than the ones before.” Leaning over to Namjoon, he chuckled, “That’s probably why the king doesn’t like him.”

“God forbid some chaos in wonderland!” Namjoon threw a hand of confetti in the air and when Hoseok gave him a sharp look he turned invisible, except for his ears, tail and grin.

“We should go…” Taehyung had leaned in and whispered into Jungkook’s ear, gently squeezing his hand in the process. They carefully sneaked away before Hoseok could say something else or the other’s shenanigans could get them into more trouble than they already had on them. When they were out of reach Taehyung addressed him again “Thank you, by the way. For speaking up for me in front of the king. So… you are not mad at me? For taking you with me?”

“No, not anymore at least.” Jungkook laughed, “When you first ran away from me I was mad, but I went with you willingly. You didn’t abduct me like Yoongi said. He was probably just grumpy because we woke him.” He leaned onto Taehyung to show him that he still trusted him, before making them both stop. “Will I see you again? I mean…,” Jungkook played with the hem of his shirt nervously, “I’m scared of what happened. I really liked it here and…I would love to visit you again.”

Taehyung’s eyes lit up like stars. “Oh, if you want that then we can definitely see each other again! Just keep your eyes open and I’ll be there, I promise! The only thing you have to do is stop doubting yourself. That’s all! Would you do that for me?” He took both of Jungkook’s hands in his, totally excited at the prospect of possibly seeing him again.

“Easier said than done,” Jungkook murmured, “But I will try.” His smile gave away that he meant it. If he could see Taehyung again and maybe even the other’s he would try. “How do we go back?” Jungkook asked, looking around, “Do we have to climb up the hole again?”

“Perfect!” Taehyung made a little happy dance, before breaking into laughter. “Climb up the hole again? No, of course not!” He turned and then ran beelines around some trees that were close while Jungkook watched him in confusion. Finally, Tae seemed to have found the right tree because he hugged it close, pressing his ear against the bark and then knocking gently against it.

“This is it!” He called out, as if Jungkook had any idea what he was talking about.

Taehyung climbed about two feet up before he reached a knothole and put his hand inside. His whole arm fit inside even though the tree was barely that broad. “Just.. a little.. I’ll have it in a second!” He proclaimed and then braced his feet against the tree so that he could use both hands to hold onto whatever it was that he had reached for in that knothole. “Let...go!” he demanded breathlessly while he continued to pull and yank at something with his full force. “It doesn’t suit you anyways, you look way more pretty in pink with your flowers!” As if that had persuaded the tree to let go Tae fell backwards, two pieces of cloth in his arms; a doctor’s coat and the shirt Jungkook had worn when he had woken up; a blue, oversized thing that only fit into a hospital.

Jungkook watched in awe, laughing when he saw the hatter tumbling on the ground, before jumping back up as if nothing had happened. It still made him sad, when he saw the ugly shirt, but he took it and pulled it over, nonetheless.

“White doesn’t suit you,” Jungkook announced when he saw Taehyung buttoning up his long coat. The sun was hiding beneath the grey clouds that hung low in the sky and Jungkook tried to keep his sadness at bay, but he knew he would miss the strange man.

A lot more than he maybe wanted to admit.

“I told you so!” came the answer proudly as if wearing white and looking good was an offense to Tae’s nature. “I like the blue on you.” He commented after watching Jungkook plucking on his blue hospital gown. “Just not.. like that. I should have made you a pretty hat while I had the chance. Although the bow is cute as well. you’re a really pretty human. And fun too. Don’t forget that please.” Taehyung sighed deeply, looking right behind Jungkook to something that hadn’t been there ten seconds ago. “There it is...” His voice sounded a little strained.

Jungkook looked over his shoulder to find a revolving door in midst of the meadow. Following the hatter, Jungkook kept close to him but unfortunately the spaces between didn’t give them enough room to walk through it together. “Promise me, we’ll see each other again.” Jungkook reached out for Taehyung.

“I can only visit you if you let me! But I promise you that I’ll do anything I can to see you again!” Taehyung leaned forward to give Jungkook one last quick hug before stepping back. “Have a safe trip!” He gave Jungkook’s compartment a light push. It was just the blink of an eye that the door separated them but when Jungkook could see again he was alone - and his surroundings weren’t a meadow anymore. He tried to slow the revolving door down so that he could see where he was or get out, but he couldn’t get it to stop for him or even slow down, instead it felt like it went faster!

“Taehyung?” There was no answer, just the quiet whooshing sound of the doors turning over and over again. Where Jungkook had thought he could see something else in between the slits of the swinging doors now there where only shadows sirring, something white that contrasted with the black of the doors. Black, white, black white.. like a chess board… just that the colors came quicker and quicker as the doors turned faster and faster…

Jungkook felt nauseous and sick. He couldn’t keep up anymore. He was blinking furiously to keep concentrating, to keep walking but the dizziness was getting stronger until his eyes rolled in the back of his head when the darkness pulled him under, making him faint as he stumbled out of the door.

A gasp fell from his lips, when his eyes shot wide open and bright light was piercing his eyes, making them burn. His heart was beating fast, a sound mimicking its state while Jungkook was panting, eyes flickering around the room to orientate himself. “T-taeh-taehyung,” He murmured when his blurred view sharpened and someone in a white coat approached him. Jungkook smiled.

“Well, hello there...“ A tall man in a white doctor‘s coat came over. He was wearing a stethoscope around his neck like a necklace and had a name tag above his pocket that was too small for Jungkook to read in his dizzy state. The man reached for a clipboard and looked at a few sheets of paper before getting right next to the bed. “It‘s nice to finally meet you, Jungkook. Do you remember what happened?“ He took out a small flashlight and pointed it at his eyes. “Could you please follow the light with your eyes? It‘s just a little test I have to do before we can concentrate fully on our conversation.“ He smiled at Jungkook as if talking to him would be the best part of his day. “So.. do you know where you are?“

Jungkook’s voice sounded raspy as if he hadn’t used it for days. “I don’t know…but I’m in a hospital, right?” He asked, turning his head away from the light, because it still hurt to look at it. Only slowly did his eyesight turn sharper again until he could make out the doctors face again and the sterile room he was in. Alone. There was no one around him. “Why am I here?”

“Yes, that is right.” The doctor smiled as if Jungkook had given the right answer to a quiz, “You’re at the Broadwater Health Clinic and you came here because you had an accident. You’ve been in a coma for a few days, so you got us a little worried there, buddy! However, your body is healing great and now that you’re awake you’ll be fine in no time!” Apparently he had expected Jungkook to be happier because when nothing happened he carefully placed a hand on Jungkook’s arm. “If you’re still feeling a little fuzzy that’s normal. Just give yourself time and don’t try to do everything at once. Be careful and try to get a feel for your body again. If anything feels wrong or if you need to talk to someone just press that button over here...” He pointed to a big, red button that was within Jungkook’s reach, “…and with these you can turn on the radio or change the position of your bed. There’s no TV allowed yet but if your test come back fine you can watch some in a few days.”

He listened attentively, trying to understand what kind of accident had happened. He looked down to where he saw his leg in a cast and to the wheelchair that stood at the corner of the room. Moving his arms carefully, Jungkook reached for his head, where he located some bruise that was aching badly, causing the dizziness he felt. He was about to lay back when he felt something else.

A bow.

Jungkook stiffened up, carefully plucking it from his hair as he looked at it. The doctor was about to turn around, when Jungkook held him back. “Where…where is this from? Did you see who gave it to me?” Jungkook’s heart was beating a little faster. He remembered the bow, the hatter and his friends. It couldn’t have been just a dream, right? But how could it be?

The doctor turned in surprise and when he saw what Jungkook was holding his smile became a little sheepish. “Ah, the bow? I’m sorry if you don’t like it. Normally our patients aren’t allowed to wear anything like that for safety reasons, but your friend insisted on it and that it was helping so as you weren’t moving anyways and he was really adamant we left it in your hair. Do you want me to give it back to him?”

“No, I like it,” Jungkook whispered, holding it close to his chest. “Is he still here? M-my friend?” He asked, feeling anxious if it was really Taehyung who had given him the bow. He couldn’t remember anyone else and it would still take a few days for the memories to come back fully. “Can I see him?”

“Yes, he’s a patient here as well so he won’t go anywhere soon.” The doctor hesitated a little before finally giving in, “I can tell him that you’re awake and that you’re allowed to make a quick trip across the hallway but only if he keeps you in your wheelchair and only if you promise that you’ll take it slow. You just woke up so please don’t overexert yourself.”

“Thank you,” Jungkook smiled at the doctor, who told him to stay where he was and that a nurse would help him up in a bit. He could feel his heart jump at the prospect of meeting his friend, or whoever it was that was here, when the words of the doctor sunk in. Taehyung was a patient, too. Maybe his little trip into wonderland, had been still a dream? Somehow it made him sad to think so. It had felt too real to be there. It couldn’t be just that.

Jungkook was left alone for a few minutes while the doctor went to search for his friend. However, he didn't need to wait for long.

Suddenly Taehyung came bursting into his room like a storm, hugging Jungkook short and tight before hurrying to get the wheelchair in front of him. "Oh, Jungkook, finally, finally you're awake! It was awful to wait for you to finish your beauty sleep, but I talk a hell of a lot to you while you were gone. And you woke just in time to get tea in the mensa! The others are waiting for you! Come one, we should go meet them!"

Jungkook felt dizzy from the sudden back and forth, letting Taehyung help him in his wheelchair. Before he could walk around to push him ahead, Jungkook reached for his hand, his heart skipping a beat at the sudden contact of skin. “You talked to me? And you gave me this?” He asked carefully, pointing at the bow in his head.

Taehyung stopped immediately, worry clear on his face. "Yeah, of course I did. Don't you remember? Are you not entirely back yet? Do you want us to wait until your memory comes back? Or..." Suddenly he smiled, but it was a sad one, "It's okay, the doctors said you might not even hear what I was telling you. Maybe I'm a stranger to you and that's...that is okay I guess...It will be. I can become your friend again. If you want to?" He looked nervous and it was obviously really important to him. "We could still go for tea...maybe you recognize one of the others?"

“You are my friend, Tae.” Jungkook smiled, heart beating fast as he looked up at him, holding onto his hand tightly, too scared that Tae might go. “How could I forget about my favorite guide.” Jungkook’s smile reached his ears, excitement blooming in his chest. “So, it was all true?” He asked, still a little wary, “Everyone is here?”

Taehyung’s smile turned big and boxy again. "So, you do remember! I knew it! I knew you wouldn't forget me - us!" He started to carefully push Jungkook's wheelchair further along the hallway. “And they are all here, in the canteen to finish our tea party. There's sadly not the same food and we have mostly crackers and cinnamon cookies but It's alright as long as we're together, isn't it?"

Jungkook looked over his shoulder, cheeks blushed, feeling slightly feverish but he wasn’t sure if it was because his body was still healing or because of the rush of endorphins in his body. “I could never forget you. I was just scared I wouldn’t find you so easily.” Jungkook bit his lip, looking ahead as they made their way to the hospital hallways. They looked familiar, only more crowded this time.

“Is the cat there, too? And Jimin?” Jungkook asked when they neared the canteen, “What about the caterpillar?”

“They are all here - though of course it wasn’t so easy. So, we all had to take a little defeat in our own way. You’ll see when we’re there.” He had a little trouble opening the door of the mensa and getting Jungkook through because he accidentally kept working against the door opening mechanism, but they managed anyways and then they were inside. At first glance it looked exactly like a typical hospital canteen, white and grey with a serving counter (that was closed at the moment) and something that one could think of as some hospital kiosk except that it didn’t really have the typical sugary stuff one could normally buy there. On the right corner, right at the wall was one big table (which at second glance turned out to be one small tables pushed together) where all of wonderland’s inhabitants were sitting around it; Namjoon, Jimin, even Hoseok was there.

Jungkook’s eyes widened when they fell on the white king and he immediately looked up. “Is he okay with being here?” He whispered, “You didn’t get punished for inviting me right? I thought he didn’t like humans?” Jungkook smiled, when he saw Jimin, waving the other happily.

“He thought a visit couldn’t hurt.” Taehyung whispered right back. That’s when Hoseok turned his face towards them. Flecks of his face were as white as his attire back in wonderland, with white lashes and discolored lips. “They call it vitiligo but they say he’s fine, he just accidentally got a sunburn because he didn’t knew he had to be more careful with his skin.” Most of the others looked the same - except that there were no ears or tails on them. Only Jimin had something like a bandage on his back and Namjoon had an inhaler by his side.

Jungkook gasped, “Are you all sick because you have to visit me here?” He whined quietly, not liking the idea of his new favorite people hurting because of him. Namjoon gave him a smile, shrugging his shoulders, as he carefully soothed over Jimin’s hair, “We don’t mind. We can go and leave whenever we want to. It’s just a form of us, just a version that we portray in this world, you see.” Jungkook nodded, taking the teacup Taehyung offered him with a smile. “How long have I been gone since I left?” He asked, “And where is Yoongi?”

“You weren’t gone for that long, about three days maybe. You’re not used to switching worlds like we are.” Explained Namjoon and then moved a little aside so that Jungkook could see Yoongi curled up on two chairs. “He’ll wake up in a bit. Narcolepsy. But we’re always there to catch him when he falls asleep again.”

“Oh,” Jungkook giggled when he saw the man curled up, snoring softly. “I’m so happy you came here,” He turned around to Hoseok, “I really am.” He whispered a small ‘thank you’ to the king, feeling honored that he had decided to come with them. “But next time, let’s do a tea party in your world again.” Jungkook said, reaching out for Taehyung’s hand as he intertwined their fingers under the table softly. “Those are way more fun.”

Jimin nodded enthusiastically, “What kind of flavor even is this? Fruit flavored tea? Who drinks that?” The mouse turned awkwardly stiff, as he tried to reach for his cup, when Namjoon ended up reaching for it and giving it to him. When Jungkook gave him a pitiful look, he quickly explained, “I guess humans don’t fit into small spaces.”

Taehyung gave him a pitiful look. “It’ll heal. And I’ve seen some amazing things on the internet of people who can fit in really tiny spaces by stretching and bending themselves into cool shapes! Maybe you could learn that too!” They were passing around the teapot when Jungkook gently nudged Taehyung’s side, motioning to the inhaler at Namjoon’s side. “So, what is this about then? Do cheshire cats breathe differently here?”

“Oh, that's not Namjoon’s,” Taehyung placed the teapot down and snatched a cinnamon cookie right from Yoongi’s plate. “It’s Jin’s. All that smoking apparently affects him here.”

“Where is he then?” Jungkook looked around but he wasn’t anywhere in sight. “Just stretching out his wings a little,” came the casual answer. As if to proof it a tiny blue butterfly landed on Jungkook’s nose, happily flapping his wings to show his joy about their second encounter.

So, maybe the human world wouldn’t have to be as ‘boring’ and more with a touch of magic in it.

A/N: We hope you enjoyed our little fairytale fics and loved our little trip to wonderland ;) I bet this won’t be the last fairytale au you’ll get from us, but now we’re working on a lot more other stories.........for example agust d inspired yoonkook story? hm? how about that? lmao THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING! Don’t forget to let us know how you liked it in the comments below!

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thewritingstar · 4 years

Text

Up in the Clouds

Fandom: The PowerPuff Girls

Pairing: Blossick (Brick and Blossom aka Reds)

I have been on a hype for the Reds lately and i have almost forgotten how much i love my og otp. This fic is kinda of all over and messy but its cute and i like it. A little out of character but i have a soft spot for the hc that the boys grew up and soon they all became closer, so the most unoriginal idea ever.

Hope you enjoy! I should prob right for the other pairings too lol.

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“For this assignment, you will be given an emotion at random and must write AND present about.” The class groaned as she handed out the papers. “You can look at it however you want. Whether its stating things that occur during emotion or what you personally feel, be creative. You’ll present at the end of the month.”

Brick took the papers and passed them back to the next student as the teacher came by and dropped a folded piece of paper on his desk.

“Also there will be no changes. You get what you get.” She stated and he rolled his eyes as he opened the small piece.

Love.

His hands crumbled the paper in his fist and he knew it would be pathetic to try and get someone to change. He could do this. All he needed to do was make up some sappy shit and piss on about it. He thought about talking about platonic love or family love. How even though his brothers made him want to smash their faces into walls until their blood flows down his hand, he still cared about them. It felt more like he was obligated too anyways.

“I got happiness, which is pretty vague. Hey Blossom? Which one did you get?” A fellow student, he thinks is named Alicia asked the pink puff.

“Oh I got sorrow.” She responded and everyone had gone into discussions about their ideas and assignments.

A guy turned to Brick to ask about his but he was already out the door as the bell rang.

The cafe welcomed him as the small bell chimed. His head had been a mess after the assignment was made and although he had seven drafts planned out, none of them seemed to work. He even asked Boomer about it and as he went into detail about a blue eyed, pig tailed super hero, Brick was already regretting asking him.

He ordered at the counter, just a simple soda and a crepe and turned to find a seat. He saw an empty table pressed against the wall to his left but as he turned to the right he saw another table. Occupied with a pink eyed, bow wearing superhero.

He was already at the table before he registered what was happening. She seemed to be alone and he took her by surprise as she looked up.

“Oh, Hi Brick.” She said and he gestured to the seat and she scooted a book out of the way before he plopped down.

“What are you doing here, its like eight o’clock on a school night.” He noticed that the sun was dying down.

She shrugged and pointed to her milkshake. “I had a craving, plus I have a late start period for school so I came here to clear my head. Plus Bubbles was being especially loud on the phone.” he already knew that she was referring to her and Boomer. They had been talking nonstop and not even a lamp thrown at his head would shut him up.

“What are you doing here?” She asked him and he mimicked the shrug and pointed to his crepe.

“Cravings. And needed some space, this English assignment is kicking my ass.” He didn’t know why he admitted to that and he saw her eyes perk up.

“The emotion one?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

That took him by surprise. She was the one who was always raving with emotion, this should be a breeze.

“What did you get?” She asked him. His eyes traveled to his plate were warm chocolate and fresh strawberries collided.

“Strawberry.”

She let out a small laugh and he furrowed his eyebrows.

“I meant for the project.”

oh.

He felt incredibly dumb at that moment and she bubbled out another laugh. That small sound was actually pleasant to hear and for some reason, he wanted to hear it again and again.

“Oh. Um I got love.” He didn’t know why he felt slightly embarrassed and he picked up his drink to chugged it down as she held a puzzling expression.

“Hmm that is a tough one. There’s all types of love.”

“That’s what i was thinking. Well, what about you?”

“Sorrow.”

“Well that’s easy, just pick something sad.”

She said nothing for a moment and instead went to her milkshake, which he noticed was also strawberry, not that it mattered.

“I don’t think its thats simple. Jeremy got sad and I got sorrow so i need to make sure it doesn’t sound similar.”

“But they are similar.”

“Well yes but-”

“Just talk about a loss you had as a superhero. What it feels like to not be able to save the day or something.” He was met with another round of silence.

Her eyes traveled outside the window. the sun was now in its sunset glow and the sky had become a mixture of purple and pink as it faded out the blue. From the cafe you could see the lines of the city skyscrapers blending into the sky. It was quiet on this side of town and he wondered what it would be like to float onto those clouds, careless and free.

And so they did. After she finished her milkshake and he his soda, he posed that they traveled to where only they could go. Why? He didn’t know and neither did she.

Her legs dangled off the cloud that hovered just above the ocean. Some would be afraid that they would fall through but they had used their powers to keep them up.

The cool air blew against their faces and he felt like he could breath better than on the ground.

“Have you ever been in love?” She asked out of the blue, her eyes were focused on the small waves rolling onto to the shore.

“No.” A simple answer that he wasn’t to sure of. he should of been certain. he didn’t know what love, a romantic connection felt like. He had dated girls before, all throughout middle and high school but never once did those words cross his mind.

“Me either.” She responded and he turned towards her.

It was almost as if he couldn’t breath. A swell inside his chest had taken hold and he wondered why she looked so...beautiful against the light. the soft glow of the sun setting made her hair more vibrant and her baby pink eyes sparkle. He wanted to scream at himself for thinking like that but when she turned and caught his eyes, he watched the blush spread slowly on her fair skin and that protest had been silenced.

They held each others gaze. He was right, he had never been in love before, but if he had then he would need a new word for what was happening to him now. His memory fled back to every girl he had ever dated and some how, somewhere, she was there in the background. During their fights or even civil conversations, she was the only one to catch his attention.

They had grown up together, viciously of course but after spending his adolescent wanted to rip her head off, he just wanted to pull her close. He never believed in fate or soulmates or what not but sometimes, even as a stupid kid, he wondered if that pink counterpart of a girl was actually made for him.

“Thats a shame.” He whispered and he leaned closer as she did the same.

“For the both of us.” But they barely beard her words as their lips connected.

Her lips were soft as the cloud they were on. The taste of strawberry was on her lips and her hands wrapped around his neck as his got lost in her long ginger locks. They had spent all their time avoiding each other when they both knew that they would always return to each other.

Every break up was about her. The girl getting mad at how he stared at her or made time to study but not for them. he didn’t realize it until now but that hatred he carried at the start of his creation had melted away slowly like an icicle at the end of winter.

They pulled away and it felt colder than it was before. Her eyes still locked to his. Pink and Red. Just like the sunset and sky. Just like the glow of a bright raging fire. Just like them.

it felt like eons had passed before she looked towards the city. That vibrant sunset was long gone as the sky had turned a deep black and was now painted with stars.

“i should go.” She said but it sounded forced as if she was saying she didn’t want to.

He nodded and they agreed that it was best to part separate since she lived on the other side. He helped her stand up, their feet sinking into the cloud and she turned to him with a soft smile. “Have a nice night Brick.” And soon the dark sky had a flash of pink that disappeared quickly under the stars.

Bricks mind was lost and he tapped his pencil to his desk quietly. the presentations had started for the week and so far happiness, anger, fear and sorrow were up. His mind finally came back to focus towards the end of Blossoms piece and he had cursed himself for barely hearing the first half.

“Its empty and cold, like an unforgiving stare. It haunts you in your dreams and leaves you feeling numb. It lingers and when you think that the pain and suffering is done, it washes over you again, taking and taking until the only sensation left is a hollow shell.

My sisters and I have felt this on multiple occasions. When you can’t save everyone and feel the pity and sadness within the air. But joy and laughter can bring the sadness to a end. The sorrowfulness lasts longer than you think. And it makes you believe that nothing matters anymore.” Blossom finished the last of her piece. Her eyes, along with others in the class had glazed over and she was sure her teacher had been brought to tears at her story and ending.

The applause from the class surrounded the room and she took a small bow before returning to her seat.

Maybe after class they could talk.

The bell sounded through the class and Blossom made her way out of the class. Another school day over.

“Hey.” She turned to see Brick. The students around them were bush trying to leave and get out quickly before a line at the parking lot formed.

“Hey” She returned softly and it dawned on them that they really didn’t know what was between them.

That night a few weeks ago had not be forgotten but was placed high up on a shelf, they almost forgot about it, almost. Its not like they were avoiding each other, no, school and work had overcome both of their lives, mostly hers of course.

“So do you maybe wanna go-” He started but the red pair was interrupted with a flash of blue between them.

“Hey Blossom! Hi Brick.” Bubbles smiled brightly. “Oh Bloss just to let ya know tonight is Sister Showdown.” Her smile held a evil glare and she turned and exited school.

“What the hell is Sister Showdown?” He asked and Blossom blew up her bangs.

“Its a competition thing between Bubbles and Buttercup. Last time one was held, we had to replace our roof so I’d rather not be there.” The hallways were no empty and it was just them. “So what were you saying?”

They ended up at the cafe for the third time that week. Every milkshake and crepe was finished with a trip to the clouds as they watched the sun set. They never spoke about what they were or the emotions, just enjoyed each others company and maybe left the night with a kiss or two.

They talked about anything and everything, sometimes just sitting quietly and counting the waves.

Her sisters would asked where shes been and she had the same studying excuse before humming to herself and falling asleep with a smile at her lips.

His brothers would hound on him, teasing him and slapping him until he would throw them off and the subject would be dropped, but they never missed the fact that he was in a better mood.

It was their secret. The clouds and them. He found it easier and easier to write his paper after watching endless movies, though in the back of his mind, the two main love interest were always replaced with a pair of redheads. Pink and red.

The end of the presentation days came and of course Brick was the last to go.

“That’s the thing about love. You think you know yourself as the days go by, that you recognize every moment as what they are. Love can’t blind you if you’re always aware. It won’t bother you as you keep it in line, making sure that you don’t slip up as you keep reminding yourself there’s no point.” He looked up and was met with a wide pair of eyes.

Pink. Bright pink.

“And then you jolt awake. It hits you faster than the speed of light and soon you are falling. Your lungs squeeze tight as you gasp for air and only when you admit to yourself is when you can breath. Love will force you to look at all the positives. It forces that other person onto a silver platter and a podium that is so small, only they can stand on it. They might not think they are perfect but your mind becomes numb and blind to the heart, its the only explanation. That’s the thing about love, right when you think you’ve fallen, you hit the ground.”

He hadn’t even looked at his paper as his eyes were still lined with hers. The applause in the room shook him to his core as he broke the gaze held with the fiery redheaded girl.

“And when you never think love will come towards you, you might find that its been there all along.”

He couldn’t tell you what the teacher said as he returned to his seat and his mouth was parted open slightly as it dawned on him what he had just done.

He wrote that for the assignment. Based off of shitty romance novels and movies. But in the end, it had been for her.

Always her.

She found him high up in the clouds that night. They hadn’t spoken since and every word he said had ran through his mind.

Their shoulders touched as she sat next to him. Both their eyes focused on the waves below. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable, it felt natural and good. Although the quiet night was peaceful, he was ridged and frozen in place.

Even with his blank expression, she could tell his mind was racing. He was choosing his words and mapping out the thoughts and scenarios one by one. And she was doing that too but there were times where planning and perfection weren’t always the best plans.

He turned towards her, his mouth open as if he were ready to speak but she had already decided that he had said enough. The next thing he knew, her lips were connected with his.

Its soft and sweet. Delicate but fragile. His eyes had closed and his hand gently rested on her cheek as she leaned into his touch. He could hear her heartbeat thumping at a fast pace and knew his was just the same. A small sound escaped her lips as he tilted his head and soon her arms were around his shoulders as they fell deeper into each other. She could feel the smirk on his lips as they pulled away.

Both breathing heavily for air as their foreheads rested against one another.

“Did-did you mean what you said.” She whispered and kissed the corner of his mouth. “Everything you said?”

He rested the urge to not pull her back into another breathtaking kiss but instead raised an eyebrow. “What if it wasn’t about you?” He teased but they both knew the truth. They couldn’t lie anymore, not to each other at least.

She smirked as she placed down between them before meeting his eyes. That motion alone had him spiraling as she leaned in closer, her lips brushing his. “Then I guess it would be a shame to say that I’ve fallen.”

“It would be a shame for the both of us.” He kissed her. “But I’ve been on the ground for a long time.”

“Good.”

---

I hope you liked it!!!

#blossom x brick #blossick #blossick fanfic #powerpuff girls #ppg x rrb #ppg #rrb #ppg fanfic #thewritingstar #reds #blossom ppg #brick rrb

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blog-sliverofjade · 4 years

Text

Hearth Fires 6: Animals

Pairing: Remi Denier x OFC

Summary: Lorel Maddox just wants to live as a human, run her bakery in peace, and forget. Unfortunately, the alpha of the local leopard pack has very different ideas.

Remi Denier doesn’t know what to make of the female Changeling who wants nothing to do with him or the RainFire pack. He does know that he has a driving need to protect her. Even if it’s from herself.

While they’re embroiled in a battle of wills, there’s a war brewing on the horizon. The outside threat could not only destroy everything they hold dear, but tear apart the fragile new bonds of the Trinity Accord, plunging the world into bloodshed to rival the Territorial Wars of centuries past.

Word count: 1691

Content warning: Racist cop

Hearth Fires Masterlist

Beta read by the matchless pandabearer

The officers eased up when they realized that Lorel was in 100% human form, which was a short and plump one, at that; someone had told her once that in her pretty dresses she looked about as dangerous as a cupcake. Appearances certainly were deceiving, after all, since she could probably do significant damage to the woman currently carrying on outside. While the thought was definitely tempting, she knew she wasn’t fast enough to get past four cops before they could take her down. That was her cat’s risk assessment, not hers. She was still frozen in shock.

Looking like they’d stepped into The Twilight Zone , they lowered their weapons. She felt the same way, her brain trying to wrap itself around the presence of Enforcement in her bakery for anything other than coffee and donuts.

One stepped forward to ask her some questions and she answered truthfully. The absurdity of the situation and their authoritative tone had her operating mostly on autopilot while she focused on keeping her ocelot under control. The cat bared its teeth at the intruders, wanting to drive them off its territory.

It quickly became obvious that the snotty woman had reported that Lorel had threatened and stalked her down the street. Naturally, she was more than happy to disabuse them of that falsehood.

“Would you like to see the camera footage?” she offered.

Three of the quartet followed her, the other went to question the other party. She only used the small office off the kitchen to meet customers with large custom designs like wedding cakes. Usually, she placed orders from her organizer while having tea or a bite to eat at one of the tables on the sidewalk out front, although that would probably change soon with the weather.

The portable device was perfectly capable of displaying the CCTV feed, but the screen in the back was larger. She slipped behind the desk and tried not to feel claustrophobic with the black-clad officers filling the rest of the tiny space between her and the door. Their scents filled the room, making it hard for her to breathe.

Lorel closed the sketches she’d been working on to bring up the video. There was no sound, but it was plain from their body language that the blonde was the aggressor. She’d been too shocked at the time to note the other woman’s belligerent stance and excessive gesticulations. As for herself, she looked like someone had smacked her across the face with a fish. She had only moved to grip the counter once the vile words had sunk in, trying to keep from leaping over the counter. Thankfully she never actually lunged for her throat.

The trio relaxed as they watched, alternately annoyed, exasperated, disgusted, and resigned. Not that much of their emotions showed on their faces; it was their scents that gave them away. A part of her brain filed that realization away to freak out over later.

Once the video caught up to when the cops entered, she hit pause. They asked more questions, most of which washed over her without fully registering in her mind. She was still reeling emotionally, and her cat was too on edge over the strange predators. A couple of lips pursed, and she thought she caught an eye roll when she got to the part that had been the last straw and she kicked the blonde out. Their obvious distaste at the false report had her cat easing down a bit, giving her room to breathe.

“Thank you, miss.”

Now that she was no longer fighting the all-encompassing urge to attack, she noted the name on his uniform. Sugiyama. They’d introduced themselves once they realized she wasn’t even armed with so much as a spatula, but she’d been too off-balance to absorb the information at the time.

“Maddox. Lorel Maddox.” They responded automatically to the ritual of etiquette when she offered a handshake. She smiled, careful to not flash any more teeth than absolutely necessary. While they appeared genial now, she still didn’t want to give them an excuse to think that she was threatening them in the enclosed space. Her cat didn’t like being crowded in there at all and she was afraid of how it’d react if subjected to any more stress. “Would ya’ll like a copy of the video?”

“No, I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” Sugiyama, apparently the senior officer since he’d been doing most of the speaking, shook his head. “The sheriff will want to speak with you, though.”

Moving out of sheer habit, she escorted them to the front where she plied them with samples and coffee. Her hands shook as she went through the motions. She knew that not all such interactions between Changelings and Enforcement went so peacefully. Was that what she’d intended? She thought she was going to be sick.

Her cat wanted to hunt her down and rip her throat out.

Invisible bugs crawled across Remi’s skin. He flexed his foot a little harder on the pedal and the vehicle responded readily with a burst of speed that pressed him back against the seat. He could have set it to autopilot once he’d reached the highway, but the safety protocols would’ve kept him at the speed limit and he didn’t have time for that. The clock on the dash told him that he’d received Chloe’s call merely eleven minutes ago, yet it felt like hours.

They’d thus far managed to squeak by without any run-ins with Enforcement, and now he had to intervene on behalf of someone who wasn’t even a packmember yet. Local Enforcement was almost purely human, with the odd Psy here and there. Most of the Psy brass from the Council days had been cleaned out. Rainfire hadn’t had enough dominants, even if they’d been interested, to spare to the force since they were no longer barred from the ranks.

After the abuses of the Psy under Silence, the human-dominated city Enforcement distrusted anyone who wasn’t entirely human. The fall-out of this encounter could impact racial relations in the area for years to come and it all hinged on a stubborn, unpredictable ocelot.

He pulled to a stop in front of the hardware store in record time. Cop cars clogged up the parking spaces in front of the bakery and yarn shop across the street.

“Jack’s just started questioning her,” Chloe called with a grimace from the alcove of her doorway. The way she wrapped her rainbow-coloured shawl tightly around herself made it sound more nefarious than a simple interview.

He grunted and nodded in thanks. He’d met the human woman a few times at her husband’s hardware store, so she knew he wasn’t considered chatty even on his more gregarious days and wasn’t likely to take offense at his response. But he had to get verbal. Fast.

Keeping to an easy stride (running headlong was only something hot-headed dominant juveniles did, he reminded himself), he focused on the voices drifting out the open door. He couldn’t remember the last time he was so grateful for his acute hearing.

“I just want to know what the problem is.” Sheriff Shank somehow managed to sound both friendly and patronizing. The ears of Remi’s leopard went flat against its head and it curled its upper lip in a sneer.

“She used a slur so I asked her to leave.” Lorel was clearly becoming exasperated. No cat tolerated condescension for long. Unfortunately, there were cops forming a loose cordon in front to block his way and he was not in the mood to play at being non-threatening.

“And what slur was that?”

“Animal.”

Remi had to stop and make nice with the cops when all he wanted to do was burst in there and crack la crâne de cette bibette.

“Don’t you people use that word? Talk about yourselves as cats and dogs?” The derision in his voice had claws shoving at Remi’s fingertips. It took every ounce of willpower to keep them in as he made small talk with the guards, working his way around to getting their version of the story.

“Wolves, there are no dog Changelings.” The drinks and treats in their hands had his leopard snorting; she’d all but tried to throw him out on his ear when he’d dropped by and then turned on the Southern belle grace full force when Enforcement descended. He wondered if she knew that he was loathe to see her hurt or if she didn't recognize the lethal threat he posed.

“So, what’s the difference between ‘animal’ and a specific animal?”

“Context. She accused me of taking jobs from humans.” It was nice to hear that icy tone directed at someone else instead of at him.

“You specifically?”

“Well, no, she-”

“So you kicked her out for expressing an opinion? Did you know her husband lost his job to one of you? Ever since ya’ll moved in work’s been hard to come by.” That was a load of shit. Some people had their panties in a twist because the timber industry was banned from RainFire lands, while conveniently ignoring the benefits to local businesses

“That’s no reason to call Enforcement, I certainly didn’t threaten her!”

The officers- Sugiyama, Norton, and Carter- made it plain that nothing had happened and that the sheriff was “just finishing up” with Lorelei.

“Predatory Changelings like you can be pretty scary.” Shank drew “pretty” out into nearly four syllables. “You should just be glad she wasn’t carrying. This is a stand-your-ground state.” It was all he could do to keep his eyes from going cat at the subtle threat.

“You’re saying a woman can come into my shop, scream and insult me, then shoot me if I look at her funny and it’s legal?”

“Sure, if she’s scared for her life.”

“But I didn’t do anything, I only asked her to leave!” From the corner of his eye, he saw her throw her hands in the air.

“See, that’s the problem with you folks, you’re just too aggressive.”

“Oh, you think this is aggressive?”

And that was his cue to enter stage right.

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raendown · 4 years

Link

Pairing: MadaraTobirama Word count: 5255 Chapter: 40/42 Summary: Not all wars are fought on the battlefield. Some are fought at the conference table, with whispers in the shadows, or even in the bedroom.

In a world where the Senju and Uchiha traditional lands were too far apart to have ever made them enemies, Butsuma and Tajima are the ones who come together and sign a treaty of peace. Madara isn’t happy to have his life signed away for him in a political marriage to strengthen the bond between their clans. He is even less happy to have Tobirama make assumptions of him from their very first night together. What follows from there is a journey of healing, of learning, and finding the places to belong in the places least expected.

Follow the link or read it under the cut!

KO-FI and commission info in the header!

Chapter 40

In the days following the Kyuubi attack things went back to normal at a surprisingly quick rate. With such fast response times a great majority of the injured were either home by the end of that same day or sometime during the next. Very few required longer to recover than a week of bed rest and many who were expected not to make it managed to pull through by some miracle. Hashirama surprised no one when he tearfully suggested their skilled medical staff receive some kind of commendation for their efforts.

A full two weeks afterwards Madara woke with the kind of lazy slowness only allowed when he didn’t have to get up at a specific time for work. While the rest of the village had been quietly nesting in their homes to recuperate, those who worked in the bureaucracy had been working double time to reorganize, revamp, and prepare. Madara would like to say that he was one of those who had worked the hardest.

Now as he fluttered his eyes open to stare muggily at the ceiling he felt a little bereft to realize that he was alone in the bed. Tobirama still had trouble sleeping in sometimes, he knew that well enough, but he much preferred the days when the man at least stayed in bed until they could greet each other with soft morning kisses. Without him the bed felt cold, uninviting. No good for lazing about. Madara grumbled as he rolled over and sat up to throw the blankets off. Before standing up he stretched, legs rising from the floor and arms reaching for the sky in a pose he would be mortified to get caught in, jaw stretched wide in a massive yawn. When he stood it was with half-mast lids and shuffling steps.

Once he’d rinsed his face with bracingly cold water he felt much more alert, awake enough to brave the stairs in search of his missing partner. Unfortunately Tobirama wasn’t to be found in the kitchen or the living room or even the study. It took until he was staring out the back door for his tired brain to wake up enough that he realized he was being stupid; there was a much easier way to search for the man.

He of course was not surprised to stretch his senses and find the one he was looking for in the Senju compound, although he was a little confused, and Madara decided that trailing after the other could wait at least until after a cup of coffee. No one was really expecting him anywhere until noon today when the polling stations quickly set up around the administration tower were due to be teeming with people. As he sat and drank his caffeine he thought about how strange it was, the direction his life had taken. Barely a couple of years before he had been living miles away on ancestral Uchiha grounds believing he would never be anything more to the world than the head of their clan someday. It had seemed to him then like a good life. Now his name was one of those being voted on to lead an entire village, a dozen and more clans from all across their nation, and he had a husband that he could never have dreamed of.

A husband he should go find. Madara left his cup unwashed in the sink and scampered back upstairs to get dressed. Then he marched out of their home with every intention of tracking Tobirama down to demand the morning kisses he had been so cruelly denied.

With how late he’d slept in the amount of people out on the streets was only to be expected. Madara reminded himself to keep his patience as he got stuck behind the fourth old lady in a row, inching along with their walkers and canes. Leaving the Uchiha district only made it worse, traffic congesting every street, so it felt as though he’d been walking for a hundred years by the time he finally made it to the heart of the Senju district instead. In reality it had probably only been a half hour but logical thinking could wait until he was less annoyed.

Thankfully his sharp knock was answered rather quickly, Touka’s face unsurprised as she took in the grumpy pout on her front stoop.

“He’s in the kitchen,” she grunted. “And he’s making a mess.”

“Nothing explosive, I hope?”

“Heh, no. Thank the fates. He’s just getting flour everywhere is all.” Amazingly she even managed to crack a smile for his half-serious joke, stepping back to allow him in.

Madara nodded to his hostess and inched around the space she had left him then made sure to toe off his sandals before going any farther. In all the time they had known each other he’d only had reason to be in this home once before, Hashirama usually being the one to host if they all gathered for dinner. Just as he had been the last time Madara found himself drawn to the artwork hanging on the wall in gorgeous mokuton frames. Most of the pieces were done in simple black graphite but one of them had obviously been drawn with different colored pencils and the results were enough to lift one of his eyebrows. Buying this must have cost her a pretty penny.

“I don’t suppose you remember the name of this artist?” he asked, footsteps slow to give himself time to admire the artwork. “I would be quite interested in commissioning a piece or two for myself. These are excellent quality.”

“Thank you.”

Shooting her an amused look, he clarified teasingly, “I wasn’t complimenting your taste.”

“No but you were complimenting my work.” Touka lifted her nose in to the air with a tight smirk and swept past him, leaving Madara standing there with his eyes bugging out.

“Wait!” he chased down the hall after her. “You drew all these!?”

“Tell anyone and I will feed you every tooth out of your own face one by one.” She entered the kitchen with all the bearing of a royal empress and lowered herself down at the table where a half-eaten meal sat waiting for her return. Given a hundred guesses Madara would never have chosen her as the hands behind such beautiful and expressive artwork, not when her most common facial expressions were ‘stern’ and ‘blank’. The idea that she even had that many emotions to express was mind boggling.

All thoughts of Touka fell away, however, as he looked up across the kitchen and took in the sight of Tobirama standing by the counter with his sleeves rolled up and a light green apron tied over his front. Spots of flour and baking soda dotted about his person even around the apron and the countertop itself was a riot of ingredients. From the way he was pounding at the dough Madara got the distinct impression that it had insulted him, quite possibly his family as well.

Very carefully he inched forward and did his level best to both safely announce his presence and also stay as quiet as possible, not wishing to disturb his husband in case he truly was in a bad mood. Once he’d made his way around in to the man’s field of view Tobirama’s eyes snapped over to look at him while his hands continued their work.

“You okay?” Madara ventured to ask.

“Fine,” Tobirama grunted. “I’m just bloody peachy.”

“Indeed, that sounds like you are very fine.”

The other snorted and pounded his dough again. Curious, Madara peeked down at the mess and cast his eye over all the things that looked like they had been used, trying to add them all together in his head to make some sort of recipe. Baking had never been one of his specialties. He was a decent cook but he’d always known that if he learned how to make sweets for himself he would balloon up like an Akimichi in barely a couple of months – and he certainly didn’t have their hereditary thick bone structure to help him carry so much weight at high speeds while in battle.

Eventually he realized that his nose already recognized what his eyes did not and couldn’t help but grin.

“Are you making gingerbread?” he asked.

“Perhaps.”

“Does it need to be beaten quite that much?” A curious peek up at the other revealed the answer even before Tobirama had a chance to speak, eyes averted and cheeks ever so faintly pink.

“Not exactly. But it makes me feel better so shut your trap.”

Madara hummed. “And here I thought you felt just peachy.”

If it wasn’t for years of training he would not have been quick enough to dodge the flour-dusted hand that came up to swat the back of his head. The two of them shared a secretive smile but it didn’t last long, interrupted when Touka stood back up from the kitchen table with a scraping of wood against tile.

“Right, I don’t think I’m hungry enough to sit here and watch the two of you flirting. What has my life come to? Fleeing from my own home so other people can make out or whatever.” She heaved a well over-exaggerated sigh as she carried her plate over to scrape the remains of her breakfast in to the garbage. Not even Madara was fooled.

He was, however, fascinated to see the unexpected warmth in her eyes. It was easy to remember the last time he’d been here, the suspicion with which she had looked at him, and it made his entire chest feel light to see how much things had changed for more people than just himself. During the uncertain period when he and Tobirama were making their first shaky steps towards not hating each other no one around them except for Hashirama seemed to approve of the opposite side very much. Touka had certainly been among those who obviously weren’t holding their breath for anything great to come out of this marriage. Now she looked at the two of them with approval, with happiness that her most precious person was so happy himself.

She did give them both a very pointed look on her way out, though, and he knew that no matter how glad she was that their relationship had gotten to this point she was also entirely joking about how okay she was with them making out in her kitchen. Madara tossed it back and forth in his mind whether or not he was going to heed that warning. It wasn’t like she would be here to monitor them. Nobody had to know if he felt a little overwhelmed by how cute his husband looked in that apron.

“We do know how to behave,” Tobirama mumbled in to his dough but Touka was already passing him by with an almost patronizing clap to the shoulder.

“Clean up after yourselves,” was all she said. Her hand lingered as she pulled away and Madara, well versed at this point in the Senju love language, concealed a smile to see how blatantly she showed her affection in front of him. Things truly had changed so much.

Murmuring something about coming back in half an hour, Touka slipped out the back door and they could both feel her chakra hopping across the yard to raid Hashirama's home instead. It really was convenient for the two of them to live so close and yet Madara couldn’t imagine allowing his own brother the same freedoms. If Izuna lived only one yard away he would be underfoot so often the two of them would never have any alone time and there would never have been enough space for any sort of peace to be made between him and Tobirama.

Izuna was far from what he had come here to think about, though. Madara shook his brother out of his head and used their new privacy to lean up for a quick kiss against his favorite tattoos.

“Does punching the poor ingredients actually make you feel any better?” he asked.

“Somewhat.”

“Mn. Is that why you’re over here making a mess in someone else’s kitchen or did you just have a craving for gingerbread and get angry about it?”

Again Tobirama’s cheeks pinked. “I needed something to hit and I remembered that Anija told me you enjoyed the last batch of gingerbread so I thought someone might as well benefit from my frustration.”

“You’re not still that upset about today?”

“Of course I am.” Tobirama sighed and reached out to pull a baking sheet towards himself, separating the overworked dough in to equal spheres. “I don’t actually believe that many people in the village would purposely put me in charge but the possibility is still cause for worry.”

Madara smiled faintly, unsurprised. He should have guessed that the vote happening at noon today would be the source of his partner’s turmoil. Knowing that his own name was on the ballot was a little nerve-wracking but Madara had been prepared for the idea of leadership since the day he was born, had always known that he would be in charge of his own people, so the chance of more people wasn’t too big of a change for him. If he were being honest he really didn’t think he was the right man for the job but if somehow it did fall to him he was prepared to do his best.

That wasn’t to say that Tobirama was unprepared to lead. As the second heir he too would have grown up knowing what his duties were. Madara wasn’t all that sure what the issue was now but all it took was leaning his head on the man’s arm for him to fall still and reveal his thoughts with no further prompting.

“It feels wrong,” he murmured.

“What does?”

“Being asked to step over my own brother as though all the work he’s put in means nothing. Or even being asked to step over you as though I am somehow your better. If anyone should lead it would be one of you. I am much better suited to running things behind the scenes like I always have; who would honestly want my face to represent them?” He frowned as his neat little rows of cookie dough. “I don’t even smile.”

Catching his jaw with one hand, Madara brought that beloved face around to meet his own. “You smile for me.”

“Hmph.”

“Don’t just hmph. You’re not stepping over either one of us, love. If the people vote for you – and they should – then they’re making a good choice because you are the right one for this job. I know you’re used to operating in the shadows but maybe it’s time for you to start taking credit for all the things you do, hm?” He lifted one brow pointedly, to which Tobirama scoffed.

“And what exactly do I do?”

“Too much,” Madara grumbled.

Startled, for a moment Tobirama did nothing but look at him. Eventually he said, “I do as much as is necessary.”

“Just because everything you do is necessary doesn’t mean it all needs to get done by the same person. Sometimes it would be a lot healthier for you to share the load, you know?” Madara grinned. “A moot point if you take the majority vote. Then you’ll have new duties and other people will be taking over the things you used to do anyway. Everyone will know if you’re overworking yourself and no one is going to stop me from dragging you home at a decent hour if I have to.”

“I come home at decent hours,” Tobirama protested.

“Most nights. But don’t think I don’t know when you’ve left a clone at the office to keep working. You have tells for when the memories hit you later.”

Pressing a kiss against those lips that so few were blessed to see curling up in the soft expressions he loved, Madara let go of Tobirama’s face and let him look away back to his cookies. Whatever thoughts were going through his mind were a mystery but it was obvious that he was thinking something and so Madara kept his silence.

After a couple minutes his partner finally ran out of dough to fiddle with and sighed.

“With how long it took your brother to see that I mean well how can I expect that an entire village would trust me to have their best interests in my heart?” As soon as he was finished speaking he snatched up one of the baking trays and marched over to the oven, leaving Madara behind with a stunned expression.

“Is that what’s wrong?”

“Madara–”

“No, wait. Is that actually what’s bothering you? The idea that you’re somehow not good enough for the people of Konoha?”

Once all the cookies were in the oven – and more likely to burn than anything with how overworked that dough had been – Tobirama had nowhere left to look but back at him. His features were all scrunched up with the distaste of talking about feelings, one of his least favorite things to do. His hands fiddled with an already dirty towel, running it between his fingers and scrubbing it over his palms, working as much gunk off of himself as possible without actually washing his hands, but his eyes never moved from where they’d been caught in Madara's gaze and the uncertain look in their depths was almost heartbreaking.

“I very nearly failed as a husband,” he said quietly. “You’re just one person and I almost failed you. The idea of so many people putting their trust in me is, quite frankly, slightly terrifying when I can’t seem to get that out of my head.”

“You did not nearly fail me,” Madara growled.

Tobirama gave him a doubtful look so he closed the distance between them again to poke that solid chest.

“Whatever problems we had at the beginning of this marriage were caused by both of us being utter morons. You can’t just carry all the fault on your own shoulders. I definitely said some very terrible things that night, things I should not have even thought, and you were right to be angry at me for that. Had either one of us stopped to actually communicate it would have solved all our problems but you’re not the only one who didn’t.” Folding the digit he’d been using to poke, Madara flattened that hand against his partner’s chest for a softer touch. “You’ve worked hard in this marriage. Just because I was too stupid to see it then does not make it untrue.”

“You have an alarming amount of faith in me for someone who once prayed for my untimely disappearance.” Tobirama shifted uncomfortably under such blatant praise.

“People are allowed to grow,” Madara told him loftily.

And if he meant that as a response and a pointed statement at the same time, well, he’d been fortunate enough to marry someone skilled at reading between the lines. Clearly the man understood what he was getting at judging by the harrumphing sounds Tobirama was making instead of actually refuting his words.

Because he couldn’t, really. There was no rebuttal available to him when Madara was right. Madara had always very much enjoyed being right.

“So in conclusion,” he continued with a toss of his hair, “you’re sulking in a kitchen that isn’t your own and making cookies that aren’t even going to turn out edible because we had a rocky start to our marriage that was only half your fault at best? I had to wake up without kisses because you don’t feel worthy?” One of his eyebrows lifted with mock judgement.

“When you sum it up like that I sound like a child,” Tobirama protested.

“If you don’t want me to call you a child then don’t act like one. Now, am I going to have to drag you out to the polls or will you come willingly?”

“They’re not for a couple of hours yet. Leaving now would only be inviting my cousin’s house to burn down. I’m not sure it’s even necessary for us to go, anyway; shouldn’t the candidates stay away so we don’t seem to be influencing anyone?”

Madara rolled his eyes, not fooled for a moment. “You’re not getting out of it that easily. Letting people see us there at the polls is supposed to be motivational or whatever. Hashirama was blathering on about it last night, something about letting them see our faces so they can be reminded that we care. I think. I wasn’t really listening to him.”

Again his husband harrumphed, foiled in his rather pathetic efforts to get out of attending the day’s events. It would have been annoying if it weren’t so darn cute. Since he seemed determined in his sour mood Madara graciously let him be for a short while, observing in silence while Tobirama puttered around cleaning up all the messes he had made. It was unlike him to be so inconsiderate of his environment but Madara supposed it was possible he’d made himself so untidy in an unconscious attempt to excuse himself from going out in public. Even a stoic man like him could indeed be childish at times.

It seemed to run in the family, honestly.

Unfortunately Tobirama’s efficiency was a trait all his own and it worked against him now. The kitchen was clean in what must have felt to him like no time at all. He looked a little lost in the aftermath, towel in hand as he swung his head from side to side, eyes longing for something else to focus on.

“You know, I sort of forgot that you could bake,” Madara said, throwing him a bone.

“Ah. Yes. It’s something that I usually save for when I need a non-violent stress reliever.”

“Mn, I don’t know, you were getting pretty violent with that dough.” His grin did nothing to deter those pretty red eyes from turning to narrow at him with annoyance.

Incredibly, no retribution came. Instead Tobirama only stared at him for a moment, turned back to contemplate his baking cookies, then returned to staring at Madara with a dangerous sort of light dawning in his eyes. Gears were turning in that wicked mind. Sometimes that could be a good thing but at the moment it could only be something suspicious. When one corner of his mouth turned up ever so slightly Madara knew he was right to be worried.

“How about you help distract me with some other entertainments, then? I can think of other ways we might get…violent.” His leer was a surprisingly well practiced expression from someone who typically preferred a more subtle invitation.

“Something tells me your cousin would not appreciate us violating her kitchen like that,” Madara grumbled, his cheeks already heating up.

He still wasn’t used to being as open with his sexuality as the other man – learning to be, but not quite there yet. There were still years upon years of being taught to suppress his urges to combat. He did still welcome his husband with open arms when Tobirama stepped up close to grant him the kisses he’d come all the way across the village to look for. A little embarrassed he might be but never let it be said that he would ever allow a bit of heat in his face to keep him from a good smooch.

Of course, he should have known better. Tobirama was a master at distracting him away from talking about feelings and he’d been as quick to learn weaknesses in this arena as he had been in any other. Before he knew it Madara found himself with his back to the counter and strong hands framing his hips. Lips hot against his own stole the breath from his lungs, gentle pressure rolling their bodies together, and if he were just a slightly weaker man he would have given in to the fog threatening to slip down over him. As it was his entire body protested when he used the flat of his palm to separate them, arousal stirring warm in his belly. He ignored it regretfully.

“What did I just say about your cousin?” The scolding tone he was aiming for came out only slightly marred by his lack of oxygen.

“I was trying to convince you to think of other things.” Tobirama sighed.

“Believe me, I am thinking of them,” Madara admitted. “I just think now is not the time. Later.”

“Promise?” his partner asked with an interested look.

With an exasperated chuckle he nodded. “I promise. Later. We’ll make it a celebration when you are inevitably voted in.”

Unsurprisingly that lost him the warmth of a willing body against his own but as it turned out that was a good thing as only after they separated did Madara notice the rather sizable problem in his trousers. Better to use what time they had left convincing that to go away before their hostess returned. Which, considering how he hadn’t at all been paying attention to the clock, could really be any minute.

He was not entirely wrong about that. Though she was merciful enough to give them slightly more than the offered half hour of privacy, Touka's return came only a handful of minutes after Madara finally convinced his body to calm down.

The first thing she did upon entering the home was shout down the hall to ask if they were decent. Only once they had confirmed that both of them were fully clothed did she kick off her sandals and wander in to the kitchen, eyes narrowed at the two of them suspiciously. Madara considered making some kind of comment about how clean the room was to assuage her worries but stopped himself as he realized that, were it him, he probably would have taken that to mean they’d been trying to cover up the evidence. Nothing else occurred to him to say so instead he bent down to hide his face by checking on the cookies.

Burnt to a crisp.

“Should we have taken these out of the oven?” he asked. Tobirama swung around to stare at him with wide eyes.

“I…yes. They were only supposed to cook for ten minutes. How did we not smell them burning!?”

The energy with which he leapt across the kitchen was impressive to say the least, the sort of rapid fire movement one typically didn’t see off of a battlefield. Touka was already howling with shameless laughter as she answered.

“You make so much nonsense downstairs and I got tired of the smells so I had Mito whip me up a few seals to keep that and the smoke out of my kitchen. That was back before she redid the new ones to keep you safe, I’d entirely forgotten they were there!” Crossing both hands over her middle she folded in half to belt her amusement at the floor in graceless barks. Standing with his tray of ruined cookies between oven-mittened hands, Tobirama clearly did not appreciate her display.

“Don’t you think the laughter is a little unnecessary?” he snapped.

“No!” she managed to choke out.

“Fine. Just for that, I’m not making another batch. The next cookies I bake will be prepared at home and you will not be offered any.” Turning away with his nose held high, Tobirama dropped the tray of burnt crispy circles on the countertop with a frankly hilarious amount of attitude.

All Madara could think was that the man had at least gotten what he wanted. He’d certainly gotten his distraction from thinking about the polls. That was the reasoning he used to justify not jumping in until Touka’s voice began to take on a familiar hissing quality. It was easy enough to distract her even with how little they knew one another, a simple question about how she had tightened security around the village in the past two weeks and Madara had her full attention. While Tobirama dealt with his ruined baking they chatted about all the subtle differences between how she organized her teams and the way he used to do it.

For all that he’d been enraged to have such an important role taken away from him when it happened Madara could see now that things had all worked out for the best in this, too. Heading the police force really was the best place for him to be. They might not have a finished headquarters yet but he was proud of everything his volunteer officers had managed to accomplish so far. In fact, he was rather proud of everything accomplished by all factions since their clans all came together. Apparently he was in a very reflective mood lately.

Eventually it was Touka who checked the clock and put an end to the time wasting.

“Polls are starting in about five minutes,” she said. “Think the two of you should get going?”

“Ugh,” Tobirama groaned.

“We really should.” Madara very carefully did not laugh at his partner’s reaction. When he cocked his head towards the door it was with both eyebrows raised in question.

Touka considered his offer for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah I guess I’ll come along. Might as well find out firsthand which one of you poor sods is getting stuck with this job, eh?”

Neither of them was the least bit surprised when Tobirama shoved her on his way by, though Madara had to silently admit that he was a bit staggered by how well the three of them all got along as they made their way out of the house to mosey through the streets at an easy pace. Tobirama’s steps might have dragged a little but if he had any new complaints he didn’t bother to voice them. He was well aware that no one would listen if he did.

As busy as the roads had been when Madara was on his way in to the Senju district they were twice as bad now but eventually their little group made it to the village square. It took them until then to realize the reason that so many people were just standing around was because they were actually in line for the polls and the only reason the three of them had been let by was because they obviously weren’t casting their own ballot today. Coming around the last corner to see the madness in front of them was like a peek in to the future and it had Madara smiling.

“Well, you’ve managed to evade it for this little bit longer,” he murmured. “Are you ready to go face the inevitable?”

“You are all enjoying this far too much,” was the only answer he got.

Then Tobirama lifted his chin to march forward with the air of a man walking to his doom and Madara wondered if he were stepping ahead so he didn’t have to see the two behind him shake with amusement at his expense. Whatever the reason, he managed to retain a modicum of dignity and Madara decided he was feeling merciful enough to let the man keep it. By the time he caught up to the other he had successfully repressed his laughter and lifted his own chin, proud as any Uchiha clan head should be, more than ready to see which of them would be the one to shape the future ahead.

#rae writes #madatobi #madara #tobirama #touka #fanfiction

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elbiotipo · 4 years

Text

Gordon Freeman Saved My Life!

City 17 wasn’t on its best shape before the Citadel exploded; now, the quaint European streets and brutalist apartment blocks were little more than random piles of concrete scattered around. Many people left already after the final defeat of the Combine and the liberation of Earth. Even if Dr. Kleiner insisted that the radiation left by the explosion was “harmless, by the most part”, in all common sense, there was little reason to stay there.

But the thing is, City 17 was inhabited by humans. And where some humans just see devastated ruins, others see things worth cherising, a place worth rebuilding.

“I think a couple greenhouses would look good up there in that roof. Plenty of sun, and the rest of the building seems mostly intact, it would look downright decent with a new coat of paint. A good place to start anew... many people would love something like that... What do you think, Doc?”

Alyx looked at Gordon, deep in his thought. Even such little dilemmas of (now) daily life put the gears on his mind to work. She didn’t really expect an answer; a verbal one at least, it was rare from him after all (though more common lately...). But she did know he would respond with action, as he always did. He scratched his beard -he was letting it grow lately- and fixed his glasses. Frankly, of all the crazy things she’d lived with Gordon, the most amazing one was the fact he didn’t lose his glasses once. Good thing, too; the optical industry was just barely being rebuilt.

Gordon nodded at Alyx. He went ahead and entered through the broken windowshop and climbed the stairs of the abandoned building, crowbar in one hand, the gravity gun on his hip. Ecological restoration was going on steadily, but headcrabs were still a nuisance in urban areas -as much as a jumping rotisserie chicken that can horribly zombify you can be called a ‘nuisance’- luckily, this building was clean. He got to the roof. He felt the wind on his sweat, the soft spring sun on his skin, and thought, after some brief calculations, that it was good.

So he took out the gravity gun and started his job. With the patience of a kid on his last coin in a crane machine, he unloaded the supplies from the boxes labeled “FOR EARTH RECONSTRUCTION - BLACK MESA SCIENCE TEAM”; metal beams, rolls of plastic, pipes, soil, planters, seedlings, and other materials to build greenhouses to feed the citizens of what was still one of the world’s largest cities; and then slowly started to bring them to the roof of the old 20th century building.

He was very good at theoretical physics, but he could had been a good engineer too. Or a farmer. Physical work suited him, Alyx thought. A lot.

Even if the gravity gun did most of the job.

Heh. Physicist, physical.

“You’re an eager worker antlion today, Gordon. You didn’t even wait for me, huh?” she teased from below.

“You were right, Alyx.”

Gordon, of course, seldom spoke, and when he did, it was always in a serious tone. Even when talking from the top of a building. Despite spending so much time together, it still caught Alyx off-guard sometimes; while she felt easy to talk to him most of the time, to answer him often made her blush and stammer, no matter the topic.

She should just spit it out one of these days and be done with it, she thought. Goddamn it, wasn’t it time already? How long would she wait?

“W-what do you mean?”

“The angle of the sun is excellent here. And the roof has good space. Perfect for a greenhouse. Good eye, Alyx.” he said, not taking his eye from his work, like always.

“Oh. Right. Yeah, you know...” she scratched the back of her head. “Anything to make the work of my worker antlion easier.”, and gave a thumbs up with a wink. Gordon smiled, and while he was a bit far away, she swore he blushed. Yep, cute names worked. The wink couldn’t have hurted either.

As she watched Dr. Gordon Freeman manipulate the laws of physics with the amazing power of science, she had a fun idea.

“Hey, hey, Gordon!”

He looked at her.

“Pick me up!”

Gordon lifted his eyebrows.

“With the gravity gun! Bring me up to the roof!”

Gordon looked away, thinking. He was unsure.

“Come on, it’ll be fun! I’ll help you out when I get up there, promise!”

Gordon sighed.

“I’ll be careful! Come on, antlion!”

‘It was him who needed to be careful!’, he worried.

She would either keep at it all afternoon or be dissapointed later. And Gordon never wanted to disapoint Alyx. So he carefully checked the settings, and finally pointed the gravity gun at her and engaged it.

The graviton particle beam of the Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator surrounded her and produced a sensation on her skin that could be best described as ‘tingly’. She slowly lifted from the ground and she couldn’t help but smile.

“Oh yeah, this rules!” She said, and struck a Superman pose, while humming the theme from an old movie, as she got higher. She was getting close to the roof.

“Higher, Gordon!” She said, as she did a loop in mid air. “Woo!”. Gordon couldn’t help but smile, despite the anxiety that seeing her floating in the air sensibly provoked.

She ‘flew’ right in front of him. They both smiled, face to face, although he was standing and she was resting on an invisible air couch. Alyx giggled.

“Hey, take me higher! I wanna see the city from above!”

Gordon was, on his mind, nervously calculating vectors, trajectories and forces so that Alyx didn’t fall down. Even her weight, though maybe it was a little rude. It wasn’t the first time he thought about Alyx’s body, though, as much as he wouldn’t admit it at all...

The beam was on a weird setting to begin with, and as she flew over him, he was worried on how much longer he could keep it up. She was too high, and the gravity gun wasn’t as reliable as one would like, and if she fell down she definitively could hurt herself, and after all it happened, it couldn’t be like that, and he had to do something!

“Alyx...”

“Wooo! What is it, Gordon?”

He was trying to bring her down, when the beam grew fainter and she started to fall, walking in midair. It was just as he feared. He dropped the gun and ran to her.

He catched her on his arms. He wasn’t wearing the HEV suit (fortunately it was needed less and less...) but his arms were strong enough to carry her.. like a princess, maybe? He wouldn’t say that to her face.

The both of them gasped and then exhaled. Alyx was smiling. It got a little scary at the end, sure, but she had worse. It was more of a thrill than anything.

And another thing that was thrilling right now was being princess-carried by the One Free Man.

“Wow.” She sighed. “Uh, t-thanks for the, the catch, Gordon...” She stammered. She looked at his face. She expected to see him blushing and looking away, like he did lately. Instead, he looked at her with worry, breathing heavily.

“Don’t worry, I’m OK, Gordon!” she said, as she climbed down from him -not that she wouldn’t have minded staying a little more like that, but even she was a bit shy sometimes...- and stretched her arms, now in safe ground once again. “Thanks to you, of course! Gordon Freeman saved my life! What a legend. Though I guess you’re used to hearing that, huh?”

He just stared and smiled akwardly. He was really worried. Oh no. Ugh, now she felt really bad. If only she could rewind back what she said...

“Hey, it’s fine, it’s fine. You got me at the nick of time. Don’t worry.”

Gordon nodded, but his face was still concerned.

“H-hey, how about I help you with the greenhouse like I said?”

He nodded. She grabbed her tools and they put their minds and hands to work.

...

“You know what we should plant? Chili peppers. There’s this guy down the street, he was from City 9, I mean, Mexico, before they sent him here... He makes damn good tacos. He would be so happy to get his ingredients from here. Pretty sure they could grow in the greenhouse. It’s a good thing so many people brought their recipes and such here. Now that we have lots of seeds once again, things here might get a lot more tasty...”

The spring sun was setting in the horizon. While the reconstructed building wasn’t very tall, most of the city could be seen from there. Scattered here and there, there were neighboroods -those that have been deemed safe- turning on their lights. Most houses had patches of green on their roofs; some parks and gardens were already having flowers. And beyond them, in the center, the twisted alien metal of the ruins of the Citadel still stood, mostly out of inertia, as nobody could be able to remove it. It was part of the city now, in a way.

Gordon and Alyx were sitting -at a safe distance from the edge- in the roof of the building, with a brand new greenhouse behind them. A couple of bottles of cold water, scattered tools, and some pigeons kept them company.

“...I mean, I didn’t have much to choose when I grew up, with, you know, the alien invasion and the Combine regime and all, but I miss some good ol’ homemade food every now and then, you know? I’m sure you have some favorite foods you miss from the old times, too.”

He just nodded, looking at the sunset.

Alyx looked at him, and then again at the city horizon.

She sighed.

“Are you still mad?” She finally asked, softly, looking at her feet.

Gordon took quite a while to answer. She wasn’t worried about that; he always did. What she was worried about was the answer.

“...I’m not mad...”

Well, off to a good start.

“...I was just worried you could get hurt. That’s all.”

“Sorry. I... I just wanted to have some fun. And I did! but... I Didn’t want to make you worry. Sorry. Won’t do it again.”

Gordon’s idea of fun was more about reading about new research or watching bad old sci-fi movies. But to be fair, making Alyx fly was a little fun, it really was!

But he still felt uneasy.

“You’re fine, after all. It was just a little scare. And it WAS a little fun.” He clarified, smiling. “It’s fine.” He said.

And then Gordon found her looking at him, her eyes drifting away from the sunset to him.

It was time for Alyx to think. She stayed silent for so long that Gordon became a little worried.

“I’m... I’m always fine with you.” She finally said, softly. “If I’m in danger, you always come to save me. And you can trust I’ll ALWAYS do the same for you, too. You’ve always saved me. And I’m so glad. I’m so gald you did. So I could be with you.” She looked away, blushing. It was as close as a confession she could get. Even if maybe it wasn’t the best time.

She glanced at Gordon for a second. He was blushing. She was sure he got what she meant. In a way, it only made her feel more embarrased.

Another silence.

“Alyx... I... Don’t want to save your life anymore.” What? Before she could say something, he continued. “That is not the life I want for you, or me. I want... to live my life with you.”

Alyx stared at him, her mouth open, her entire mind blank, only a soft, tingly warmth, one that she felt so many times, yet like never as before.

“Gordon...”

“I don’t mind a little adventure every now and then...” he uncharacteristically added. “But... I would like to live a quiet life right now.” He paused, as if couldn’t continue.

He was absolutely red.

She wanted to say so many things. In fact, she didn’t expect Gordon to say all of this, at once, even.

“I’ll... try to... give you less headaches, then.” she giggled. “But you better do your part too, I mean... I know you like jumping in portals and crawling in sewers, Doc. You aren’t as innocent as you look.” She giggled. It wasn’t even that funny. She just tried to make jokes to lighten the mood. And she was feeling extremely happy after all. “Sorry, stupid joke.” Gordon didn’t mind. He nodded and sighed, smiling.

“And I’m up for it every time. But I... Really want to live a nice life with you too. I think it’s time.” she finally said, her words becoming softer at the end.

She got closer to him and took his hand. It wasn’t the first time they held hands, but it often was in more dire circumstances. Today, there was just the spring breeze and the soft smell of garden earth.

Earth.

He held her hand back. Alyx got closer. And a little bold, again. As she liked.

She rested her head on his shoulder. Gordon was frozen. But still very warm.

“Hey. Dr. Freeman.” She whispered. “Do you mind if we kiss?”

She was surprised when he answered instantly.

“Not at all.”

They returned very late to Black Mesa East that night.

#half-life #hl #gordon freeman #alyx vance #freemance #cosas mias #romance #mirá lo que me puse a escribir en vez de mi tesis

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rkivepacks · 4 years

Text

TITLE: i’m good, i love you Series: why are you sorry? it’s not your fault you don’t love me [see previous work] Pairing: taekook/kookv/vkook (Kim Taehyung & Jeon Jungkook) Rating: PG13 Genre: angst but you’ll live Word Count: 2,029 Trigger Warning/s: swearing(?), one or two sentences of questioning self worth but not too graphic Cross-posted on: AO3/dtgloss

NOTES: ∟ banner by @rkivepacks ∟ request banner here ∟ request prompt/send commission here

∟ unbeta-ed ∟ the requests for a sequel for the first one was from a long time ago and im p sure when they said requests they were hoping for a fluff one but i wasnt in the mood for fluffy when i did this so...

Summary: the difference between want and have is you

his eyes roam the words carefully printed on the wall, on the lower left part of the painting. it is where the title, date and artist are usually placed.

a piece of me is always found right beside you it follows you wherever you go it’s lonely from what i see where i stay far from you

alone.

taehyung, these days, is alone.

he is used to it but routine never makes it okay to be alone.

his sadness should not be a routine but, oh well, it is.

he stays in his average house that’s one in the lined town houses in the village. the area itself is decongested, only the people habituating each house goes in and out of their little village and everyone is almost familiar, if not knows, each other.

his own house in particular looks lived on. more so on the side of used but not so worn out. maybe the walls are not as white and clean as they used to be, a few scratches and dirts that got on it as days pass by but no ceiling has started falling down unprompted and everything works how they’re assigned to function.

taehyung would like to think he’s more sad than alone. he still has friends anyway but friends cannot always live with you on your house guised under the cover of it being a sleepover that turns into days.

but friends just like him have their own personal matters and cannot always be with him. he understands when hoseok cannot stay for more than two days and has to leave just before lunch to meet up with a close friend of his, one from outside of their group of friends so taehyung can’t have the option to ask to come with. he understands when jimin cannot come on days he’s asking him to and sometimes comes on a saturday instead of his friday night invite.

when he’s so down, he thinks he’s not entitled to his friends times but they assure him it’s not the case.

so no, he is not alone.

he goes over to the next display, going over the sculpture itself and then to the artist description posed near the display. the sculpture itself is a form that resembles a man that is slightly haunched, although it takes more than a second to realize as the form only captures the head to chest of a human body, but considering that the back part of it protrudes slightly the way a man would when lax. the main body is that of charcoal color but it was designed to portray a visual effect of a dripping paint from its head, represented with different colors which are bright enough to contrast its dark body.

the display is almost familiar and it has been staring at him longer than he stared at it.

the title is printed in bold, a sinner

love is not a sin but my thoughts about you and the way i see the word love around you is

taehyung moves on to another display, it being a worn out stack of paper that looks as if it has 300 pages of a4’s binded by a clip. he steps closer to it to inspect, knowing displays are off limits and can only be appreciated through the eyes, he skims over the word of what he found out would be a script of some sort.

he reads,

i’m drunk, i love you

the difference between want and have is you

he walks over to the last one if its placement by the exit is anything to go by, just like the last one he’s looked over, it’s a display with a single ring in the middle.

all alone

and it sits there as if it has been assigned to mock him and the ring that sits on the very bottom and far end of a box full of things he doesn’t need but can’t seem to throw away.

he reads the title and wow, yes. it’s definitely mocking him. he had been giving it the benefit of the doubt but the title is the last straw. this whole exhibit is out to mock him.

taehyung thinks he’s being over dramatic. but he also thinks this last display is offensive to him, absolutely personal.

—

taehyung sits at home, eyes on the tv he has playing as he waits for night time news.

it seems like the words of the last display he went to see that day have been imprinted on his brain, on the wall in front of him, on the ceiling as he looks up, when he close his eyes.

—

Once you told me, your eyes are always on me.

And you did, you took care of me.

Because you are that kind of person.

You put me before you.

All the time.

Which is why you are the best.

To be honest, I would not even put me before me.

—

taehyungiehyungihyung,

have you been well? i hope you are. the longest time i’ve been away from you is now and still counting— the present. the second one would be during Christmas breaks because you and your family spend it on your relatives home alternately and don’t come back until after new years. anyway... is your hair longer now? i hope it is and i hope you dont cut it. i seem to have a lot of hopes.

im packing up for a trip to a long trail not too far from here. they said it was too pretty to pass up and you get to reach the clouds.

, jungkook

taehyung reads the letter. he received it yesterday late afternoon and it doesnt have a date. jungkook often forgets to write dates so he assumes they were written at least three days ago.

it wasnt the first letter he received. he doesnt keep count but he has a few kept behind his door where he puts his mails.

in the first letter, jungkook said its best to not have taehyung write back. he goes from one place to another, he said. so, taehyung merely reads them and keeps them.

in the first letter, he also said about his sudden departure. he wanted to be away for a while and he knows his best friend would need him for the wedding so he decided to do it after. he didnt even get to say goodbye and only got a whiff of the younger when the letter came that day.

jungkook didnt say why he left and where he went. he just did. right after taehyung’s wedding, he packed up and went away from taehyung’s vicinity as far as he could.

does he know? taehyung asks. does he know i’m not married anymore?

—

his divorce with minji was something that stemmed off a petty thing.

falling out of love is a petty thing.

but, he guesses, they both cannot trap themselves in a house they’re not happy in anymore.

it was sudden, the divorce.

minji told him that she doesnt feel the same anymore. they agreed to stay off the house and after more than a week of a cool off she said she doesnt feel anything at all.

in taehyung’s case, he did not feel it the same way minji did. he only noticed once minji told him she felt that way. it made him feel that the heaviness in the room when they’re both in it was a foreboding for something.

taehyung is a giving lover. the time away from minji made him think a lot. he knows he doesn’t have a choice but to agree on the separation. forbid his thoughts, but he doesn’t want the time to come when the both of them completely falls out of love and seeks warmth from another person and then go home at night to sleep in the same bed.

he texts minji, because as accepting as he is about the decision, he’s not too keen watching a soon to be ex wife pack up and leave.

both of them were gradually moving out their personal items from the house. properties they bought with their shared money will be sold as secondhand items and some are donated.

in between moving out and settling in to a new apartment, he’s had namjoon and jimin with him and if yoongi has extra time mostly at night, he helps sort out his things.

he knew there was a missing person. he wanted to tell jungkook about it.

but jungkook wasn’t there.

—

until one day, jungkook is back.

suddenly, he’s there attending the dinner party for jin’s birthday, sat beside hoseok.

he casted him wary glances throughout the night. at some point he was even referencing to taehyung like everything’s so normal, but taehyung knows it’s just a very jungkook way of letting him know ‘i’m here and i will talk to you and acknowledge your presence whether you like it or not’. taehyung isn’t one for being petty so he went along with it. thankfully, their friends don’t seem to give too much thought into their two other friends sat on the opposite sides of the table.

the next day, jungkook seems to have arrived in taehyung’s new home at the same time a delivery for taehyung came. it eased jungkook’s nerves that he doesn’t have to go through knocking and then purposefully being ignored.

“did you order anything?” jungkook asks just as the delivery person makes their leave.

“i went and bought some essential oils.” taehyung silently gestures for the other to come in and jungkook did, locking the door behind him.

“how are you, taehyungie?” jungkook was sat in front of taehyung in the living room. there’s only the makeshift coffee table and some mats on the floor to sit on since taehyung have yet to buy a sofa.

“tired these days. in between work and unpacking. i’m jealous of kids who do nothing when they’re moving into a new home because they get a free pass to not do things around.” taehyung pouts silently, looking at the soda in can at hand while he traces a finger on the lid.

jungkook chuckles at that and after, no one speaks until, “i’ve heard about it.”

when taehyung makes no motion to respond to it, jungkook continues, “jimin hyung mentioned it to me one time that they were helping you move out so i asked... sorry.”

“it’s okay. i had friends who helped me. i got by.” taehyung winces.

“i wasn’t.” jungkook says, the here that follows hangs in the air which they know would follow.

“you were busy.” taehyung says instead.

jungkook would retaliate but he knows there’s no point.

“i sent you an invite to my exhibit. you went?” jungkook asks, hopeful.

“i did.”

“you didn’t insist to text me or write. i kind of assumed you would once you see it, but it’s okay. at least you did go to it.” jungkook pats his own thigh lightly to distract him.

“i wouldn’t know what to say. at the wedding, and even before that. i would feel something but i didn’t want to be that person and assume. i could be seeing it wrong, i don’t know.” taehyung rambles. “but then the other boys would also drop a few comments here and then.” and it’s true. sometimes jin would say teasing words and taehyung only acts as if he doesn’t get it and sometimes, he acts as if he didn’t hear it at all.

“you were happy. i don’t have any excuse.” jungkook whispers.

“now-“

“now what?”

“i guess to some extent, i liked you back. but i didn’t see it until now so i’m not going to rush this and jump into a relationship with you right away. it’s not fair to the both of us.”

“i understand. after all, your divorce is not yet finalized. i’d be here for you but i’m not gonna distract you from it.” jungkook assures him and that’s all he needs. everything will be okay.

“i know it’s the last day of your exhibit today. wanna go together?” taehyung smiles at jungkook and indeed, everything’s okay.

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mst3kproject · 5 years

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622: Angels Revenge

I would pay folding money for a half-hour gag reel of all the times Mike swung too hard or in the wrong direction or the wind was wrong and he took off Crow’s head. It had to happen at least twice. MST3K was not known for the sturdiness or sophistication of their props and we love them for it.

A fourteen-year-old boy steals some stuff from a drug dealer who looks an awful lot like Ben Murphy. In revenge, Fake Ben Murphy and Actual Jack Palance beat the shit out of him. This upsets both the kid’s sister, an up-and-coming musician, and his schoolteacher, and they hatch a plot to destroy the drug depot. They recruit a few friends – a Hollywood stuntwoman, a karate teacher, a model, a cop, and one of the teacher’s students – and steal some ammo from a bunch of neo-Nazis, and then it’s on to beat up the druggies!

I guess the idea behind this movie is fairly sound – a group of women get together to do a job the men aren’t willing to do. The question of just why the men aren’t willing to do it is an open one. Do the drug dealers own the police or something? I dunno. At the time it came out, Angels Revenge was panned as a ripoff of Charlie’s Angels, which it most unquestionably is, but there’s a reason that was a successful formula: women enjoy movies in which women kick ass, and men enjoy looking at boobs. In the right hands, it would still have been a ripoff, but it could have been a much better ripoff. Unfortunately, the grubby hands it got into were those of Greydon Clark.

The opening of this movie is a series of annoying missteps. A group of women we do not know (we’re not even sure how many there are) invade a gas station in the middle of nowhere and start blowing stuff up. Their names are given in the opening shot but not in a way that makes them memorable. One character apparently dies, the others go on without her, and then she reappears to save the day. None of this makes much of an impression beyond ‘oh, look, tits’, but we can tell they’re trying to get into the main building. We get into it just enough that we want to see what’s inside, and then bam. Freeze-frame, narration.

The time for this would have been about five minutes earlier. Seriously, this ‘action opening’, obviously patterned after things like James Bond, goes on for five minutes at least in which we don’t really know what’s happening or who any of these characters are. If we had just one to focus on that might help, but we’re watching six or seven of them run around doing different things and we don’t even know what their plan is so we can’t tell if it’s going right or wrong. The whole sequence should have been either massively cut down to just enough to tell us action is happening before it goes into the flashback, or just moved in its entirety to its proper place later in the narrative.

Then when we finally do start meeting the characters, the first one we meet is not the one who began narrating a moment earlier! It’s the beat-up kid’s sister, the one who so-far looked like she was in charge. Finding out she’s secondary in the whole plot is a bit of whiplash, and as far as I can tell the main purpose of the Vegas sequence (besides showing us her midriff) is to give a cameo to Arthur Godfrey as himself.

From there the rest of the characters are introduced and we finally find out who the hell they all are and what they bring to the table. April, the teacher, is the mastermind. Michelle, the singer, is the backer. Terry, the stuntwoman, is their engineer. Keiko, the karate teacher, is the hand-to-hand fighter. Maria, the model, is a distraction. Elaine, the cop, is the tactician. And Trish, the student, is… uh… somebody wanted a kid in this movie. The point is, if you go back and watch the opening sequence after the bit where everybody’s introduced, it’s much more involving and makes infinitely more sense! They could have had five minutes of action, but they gave us five minutes of boredom just by putting it in the wrong spot!

After some of the movies I’ve see, incidentally, it is a point very much to this movie’s credit that I remember everybody’s names. Well done, Angels Revenge!

That does not, however, outweigh the many other things the movie does badly. The actresses are mere eye candy, hired for their looks and not for their talent. They stand around in ‘sexy’ poses without bras on, and recite their lines like they’re in an eighth-grade play. Even so, they’re better than the men, who are just as bad at acting but aren’t distractingly nice to look at. The best actor in the entire movie is Alan Hale Jr and he’s only got about three lines.

Then there are the bits where the movie tries to be funny. The Neo-Nazis are supposed to be funny, which I’m honestly okay with – Hitler hated being made fun of and so it’s the responsibility of all right-thinking citizens to mock him and his movement whenever possible. But they aren’t funny, just a bunch of fat clumsy guys with Hitler mustaches. I don’t know how people who make movies fail to understand that in order to be funny, characters have to do funny things. Both the Neo-Nazis and other ‘comic’ male characters in the movie are presented simply as ‘lol, men are oafs, right girls?’ without any attempt at an actual punchline.

Another running gag is April, who insists she’s a Very Organized Person, and her over-full purse. That’s not really funny, but I can’t argue with it. Two years ago I bought a bag big enough to hold my knitting and I haven’t seen the bottom of it since. Someday I’ll be rooting around for something, fall in, and end up in Narnia.

The sequence in which they rob the Nazis does provide some action and acts as a trial run to show us the women can work together successfully. But we already saw that in the out-of-place opening sequence, so it’s not really establishing anything we didn’t already know. The fact that we’ve also seen what comes after also tells us that they will succeed at this mission with nobody getting hurt (not that these idiots they’re robbing are in any way a threat), and sucks all the suspense out. Man, the longer I think about it, the more ways in which that opening makes the movie worse! Whose idea was that anyway?

The characters are stereotypes, boring at best and deeply offensive at worst. The black woman is six feet tall and works on vehicles, because black women are butch! The Asian girl knows martial arts and uses a katana, because she’s Asian (and although she’s said to be from Vietnam, she has a Japanese name… it’s possible to come up with a backstory for her that incorporates this, but that’s not my job as an audience member)! The white women are bitches and bimbos, more distinguishable by their hair than by their personalities. April is presented as ‘the mousy one’ simply by not wearing lipstick on a heist.

I guess by having tough women and weak men, the writers thought they were being feminist, or at least appealing to feminists, but that’s not how feminism works on any level. Strength and intelligence isn’t pizza – you getting an extra slice doesn’t mean I don’t get one. Portraying the male antagonists as buffoons is actually deeply misogynistic, because it suggest that women can’t even play unless the men are idiots. The point of feminism is that women are people just as much as men are, and deserve to be treated as such – by other women, by men, and by screenwriters.

Let me illustrate with an example from the opposite extreme: Elinor and Marianne Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility are sisters who each need to get married for the sake of their financial security. That might seem a very sexist premise for a story – and it is, but only because it takes place in a sexist culture. Elinor and Marianne have distinct personalities and different ideas of what makes a happy marriage, and they make decisions as individuals, not simply because they are ‘women’. Each makes her own mistakes and learns her own life lessons, and the narrative explores what society has taught them to expect out of life versus the less romantic reality. They are two human beings. The characters in Angels Revenge, by contrast, are a bunch of pretty props.

It would have been so easy to make something actually enjoyable out of Angels Revenge. As I noted above, it uses a successful formula and it really could have been a fun little piece of exploitation cinema. Every decision made along the way, however, seems designed to sabotage it. It’s badly-written, lifeless, cliched, racist, and based on a fundamental misunderstanding of feminism. They hired women with no acting experience to play the main characters, and can’t decide which of those characters is our heroine. And of course, they edited it together in the wrong order, confusing and boring us and undermining what should have been important and suspenseful scenes. This sort of thing just leaves me frustrated and annoyed. You’re making a movie, people! Could you not put a little fucking effort in?!

#mst3k #reviews #angels revenge #70s

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inyournightmares97 · 5 years

Text

The Studded Pants

You’re a professional photographer, so you’ll work with whatever you have. Even if all you have is Park Jinyoung.

Word Count: 7k+

Warnings: Language. Also, I don’t really know what this is. Is it fluff? Is it angst? Is it crack? I’m not sure. It’s more of a set of ramblings and admiration of Jinyoung than it is a real story, so read at your own risk.

(don’t own this photo: not sure if it’s like an official photo from the Allure photoshoot or someone’s screenshot of the video but like, if you want credits pls let me know)

In retrospect, you weren’t entirely sure why you had believed that you could rely on Bambam.

It was almost inevitable that he would blow you off. Bambam lived in the moment. While that was a nice philosophy that allowed him to go about his life happy and carefree, it often left the people who relied on him in the lurch.

You were left completely alone in the empty photography studio as the clock ticked. The lights were all set up, you had the cameras and the equipment ready. You had explained to Bambam a hundred times how important this photoshoot was to you. It was your one chance to finally shine and show off your creativity in front of your boss. Mr. Kim was a celebrity photographer; he covered rich people’s weddings and often even contracted his services out to magazines and fashion shows to help with photoshoots. But so far, you had only been allowed to assist him and follow him around while he did all the work.

“There’s a celebrity wedding in two months that clashes with the fashion show in Thailand,” Mr. Kim had mentioned to you lightly one evening. “They want us to do the pre-wedding photoshoot.”

You had glanced up from your laptop and blinked.

“Oh. How are we going to be in two places at once?”

“I’m thinking I’ll let you handle the pre-wedding shoot by yourself. With a team, of course,” Mr. Kim replied. He chuckled when your eyes widened in shock. “Don’t look at me like that. The hallway outside has been looking empty since we renovated it. Do a photoshoot-anything, using your own creativity- that I wouldn’t be ashamed to hang outside my photo studio and the celebrity wedding is yours.”

You beamed at him. “I will; I’ll do it!”

Mr. Kim smiled. “Well. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.”

You had called up Bambam, a struggling model that you’d once befriended at a photo shoot, and begged him to pose for you. You had even promised to pay him a fee for helping you out. Bambam had made big promises and acted like he would do anything to help a friend out. But now the time had arrived and he wasn’t even responding to your messages.

You slumped down onto a chair.

You were pretty sure that this was an appropriate time to cry, really.

Your phone buzzed and you jumped. It was a text from Bambam and you opened it nervously, hands shaking.

Bambam: Hey! I can’t make it tonight. I’m kind of stuck in Busan, long story. You should hear it sometime. This buddy of mine is just CRAZY. We got into a car and just drove out without any plans, man. We’re so high right now.

You ran your hand over your face and groaned. Just as you had expected. You would have had better luck just picking a random person off the street and asking them to pose for you. What was the point of being friends with a professional model when he didn’t even turn up? You hoped Bambam was enjoying himself in Busan because you were miserable. You prepared to send him a picture of your middle finger when your phone buzzed again.

Bambam: Anyway, I’m sending over this dude I know. He’s an aspiring actor and he’s gorgeous. He’s on his way now so just text him the address of your studio, yeah?

The next message was an attachment; the contact file of somebody named Park Jinyoung.

You hesitated. You didn’t know who this Jinyoung person was. He wasn’t even a professional model; although you supposed that if he was an actor then he would at least be comfortable in front of the camera lens. You stood up, took a deep breath and calmed yourself down.

You could do this. You had to submit the results of the photoshoot to Mr. Kim by Monday.

You would just have to work with whatever you could get.

--------------------------------------------

Park Jinyoung appeared to be a rather no-nonsense sort of person.

You took a full five minutes to draft a polite and friendly message to the man, explaining how grateful you were that he was willing to help you out with this and giving him easy-to-understand directions to the photo studio. The reply you received was prompt and short.

Jinyoung: Will be there in fifteen.

Well. Perhaps not the friendliest of men but he seemed reliable. You jumped to your feet and hurried to make sure that all the lighting and the camera were still in place. It would probably take longer than usual since this guy wasn’t a professional model but you were prepared for the struggle. You had convinced crying babies to pose for you. Surely Park Jinyoung would not prove to be too difficult.

You were just setting up your laptop and the photo editing software, when you heard a soft knock at the entrance to the studio. It was late at night on a Saturday. All the other employees had locked up and gone home. This was the only time you’d been able to get the studio room to yourself since it was fully booked by paying customers during working hours.

You ran out to the front desk to let Park Jinyoung in.

“Hi, thank you so much for coming!” you began to chirp as you opened the door. You had expected Jinyoung to be handsome, (almost all of Bambam’s friends were), but you were completely unprepared for the beautiful man that stood on the other side of the door.

Park Jinyoung looked like he’d been ripped straight out of the pages of a glamour magazine.

“Hi. You’re the photographer who texted me?” Jinyoung asked. His voice was deep, yet smooth, and you found yourself unable to tear your eyes away from his plush lips when he spoke. His dark, piercing eyes looked down at you as he raised an eyebrow. “Hello?”

You cleared your throat. Oh god. Why was he so handsome? You had learnt to handle yourself around handsome men in your line of work and you’d met your fair share of celebrities too. But Park Jinyoung had this attractive, intimidating aura about him that made you feel like a shy schoolgirl. You tried not to let the blush creep up your cheeks as you noticed how handsome he looked in a simple dress shirt and slacks.

“Um, that’s right,” you mumbled. “Come in. The photo studio’s through there…”

Jinyoung nodded and stepped inside, walking past the front desk coolly. You paused to notice how perfectly built he was. Even the way he walked was masculine and yet, somehow, at the same time it was incredibly graceful. You ripped your eyes away from his perfect shoulders and hurried forward to show him the way to the photo studio.

“Thank you so much for coming,” you blurted out. “I didn’t think Bambam would bail on me last minute like this, I’ve just had everything planned for a while now and this photoshoot is really important to me…”

Jinyoung nodded. His eyes calmly scanned the studio, the lighting, and your equipment with mild interest.

“You clearly don’t know Bambam very well,” he muttered.

You let out a nervous laugh. “I suppose not. Still. Thank you for coming.”

Jinyoung simply sighed. He looked a little annoyed. “You’ve said that thrice already,” he pointed out. He gestured towards the simple backdrop. “How about you explain to me how this works, instead? Do you want me to just pose in front of the screen? Do you have any particular outfits you want me to model?”

You were a little surprised by his rudeness but you bit your tongue. It’s okay. He probably just doesn’t want to give up his Saturday night to be here. Let’s stay calm. Deciding that it was up to you to keep a professional attitude since you needed him more than he needed you, you forced a polite smile. You had a rack of clothes that you’d managed to procure from one of your contacts at a clothing brand; one you’d taken pictures for in the past.

“Uh, I have the outfits all ready here. I was thinking maybe we could do around five or six of them?” you asked hopefully. You picked up the first one and began showing it to him but Jinyoung had already grabbed another one and was staring at it. His dark eyes were widened in horror.

“What is this?”

You cleared your throat. It was a black leather jacket and a pink ribbed tank top underneath. But what Park Jinyoung seemed more concerned with was the heavily jewel-studded pants. They sparkled in the bright studio lights. He showed you the colorful jewels sewn onto the cloth and and stared at you in disbelief.

“This looks like my niece made it at her kindergarten art class,” Jinyoung informed you.

You didn’t know what to say.

“Uhh….” you rubbed the back of your neck, cheeks flushing red as you tried not to get flustered. “I mean, I guess I picked out the clothing with Bambam in mind, so…”

Jinyoung closed his eyes and inhaled sharply through his nose before nodding. He put the leather jacket-studded pants duo back on the shelf and reached for a more simple outfit; a white t-shirt and sport coat.

“Let’s start with this one for now,” he decided. You swallowed and nodded, pointing him towards the changing room. Jinyoung slammed the door shut behind him and you sank down onto a chair while you waited for him to change.

This was going to be a long night.

------------------

You gave yourself a little mental pep talk while Jinyoung changed into the outfit. It’s okay. You can do this. Jinyoung is gorgeous and he looks like he’d be crazy photogenic. That’s a good thing. You’ll never have to see him again after tonight. Let’s just put up with his rudeness and get the best out of this. All Mr. Kim cares about are the photos anyway.

Jinyoung finally emerged from the changing room.

The clothes looked amazing on him and you breathed a silent sigh of relief as you guided him to a chair and helped him apply a layer of basic makeup. You were lucky that Jinyoung didn’t need much; with his naturally handsome face it was probably better to go for a simple and elegant look.

“Is that all the makeup you’re going to use?” Jinyoung asked, glancing lightly a your makeup kit as you carefully powdered his face. His soft and flawless skin made you want to reach out and touch it. The only reason you were able to refrain from brushing your thumb across Jinyoung’s gorgeous lips was because his dark eyes were still glaring at you murderously.

You cleared your throat. “I think this much is enough.”

Jinyoung shrugged. “Okay, whatever you want.”

You leaned back and scanned his face. You’d smoothed out the few blemishes you could find and the lighting would achieve the rest. Unable to maintain eye contact and stare directly at Jinyoung’s handsome face for long, you gave him a small thumbs up and gestured for him to stand in front of the camera.

“You can pose however you like, any way that feels comfortable,” you coached him gently as he stood in front of the screen and blinked at all the lighting that was focused on him. You peeked at him through the camera lens. Wow. “Just make sure to keep your arms and legs relaxed and um, don’t open your eyes too wide. For men it’s better if you just keep them sort of half-lidded or you can even close them completely-”

Jinyoung cut you off before you could finish. “How’s this?”

He stood casually, rolling the sleeves of his sports coat up and leaning his weight on one leg. He kept his eyes lidded and looked slightly to the left of the camera. You blinked at him in surprise. He’s almost natural at this. You hurried to click the photo as Jinyoung casually shifted his weight to his other leg and assumed the same pose in the opposite direction.

“That’s- that’s great!” you encouraged him, hurrying to get as many shots as you could. “Wow, you’re really good at this. Have you modelled before?”

Jinyoung shrugged as he casually bent one arm to grab at the back of his neck and narrowed his dark eyes at the camera. You had to swallow at the intensity of his expression and you hurried to focus the camera on his sultry gaze.

“Not really. But I’ve seen idiots like Bambam do it, so how hard can it be?”

It’s definitely not as easy as you’re making it look, you thought to yourself silently.

“I’m gonna zoom in and take a few from the shoulders-up now,” you explained. You had originally planned to take full-body shots since Bambam’s main feature was his long and gorgeous legs, but you couldn’t resist the urge to want to get a perfect close-up of Jinyoung’s beautiful eyes and his soft eyelashes. “Can you tilt your head down and a little bit to the right-perfect. I’ll get a couple of these and then maybe you can change into another outfit and we’ll try a different pose? We can get you a stool to sit on or you can crouch.”

Jinyoung nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

Once you gave him a thumbs up, Jinyoung went into the changing room with a different outfit and you sat down in front of your laptop to load up the photos you’d already taken. They looked amazing on screen. They could have featured in a glamour magazine and nobody would know the difference. You smiled and leaned back, relieved.

Park Jinyoung was a little unpleasant to put up with, but at least he knew what he was doing.

You didn’t hear Jinyoung come back from the changing room. He’d put on the plain white sleeveless shirt that was on the rack and he came up behind you quietly, peeking into your laptop. You nearly jumped when his bare arm reached across you to tap at one of the keys on your laptop. The screen shifted back to the previous picture.

“I like this one,” Jinyoung told you calmly. His face was right next to yours and you felt your cheeks flush bright red as you realized that he was leaning over you. Jinyoung’s upper arms were toned and fit; the sleeveless shirt revealed his biceps wonderfully. “I like the focus on my eyes. Did the other ones come out like this too?”

You tried to concentrate, hyper-aware of the fact that you could smell Jinyoung’s soft, musky deodorant and that his lips were way too close to your ear.

“Y-yeah, they’re all pretty good,” you mumbled. You cleared your throat and scooted your chair back, forcing Jinyoung to move away from you. You couldn’t think when he was so close. You forced a smile. “Ready to go again, Jinyoung? Your arms look great in that. You must work out a lot.”

For the first time, the corner of Jinyoung’s lips twitched in a hint of a smirk.

“Let’s keep the focus on my eyes, yeah?”

You blushed and nodded. Jinyoung’s confidence seemed to increase with each picture you took and he didn’t hesitate to make his poses progressively more seductive. You nearly died when he brushed his thumb across his soft lips and parted them lightly. Every inch of Jinyoung’s face was perfection. His gaze gradually became bolder and more sultry; he began to direct his fuck-me eyes right at the camera lens and your heartbeat went wild. You had to hide behind the large camera to ensure Jinyoung couldn’t see your flushed cheeks.

By the time you’d come back to your senses, there was just one outfit left.

Jinyoung stared at the clothing rack and sighed, pressing his fingers to his temples. It was evident that he did not want to put on the sparkly pants and the pink tank top. You bit your lip and approached him.

“Just give it a try?” you asked hopefully. “I can delete them later if they look too bad, I swear-”

Jinyoung grabbed the outfit and glared at you. Then he took a deep breath.

“I’m an actor, I can do this. I just have to pretend I’m Bambam,” you heard him mumbling to himself as he snatched up the pants and then disappeared once more into the changing room. You bit back a smile and then settled down in front of your laptop to look at the latest set of photos. For all his glaring and huffing and puffing, Jinyoung had finally agreed to put on the pants after all.

You couldn’t help but wonder whether this gorgeous, seductive man was just a big child.

----------------

The pants weren’t working out.

They sparkled too much under the bright lights and you knew from the first few photographs that it wasn’t going to work. Jinyoung’s eyes had a natural and beautiful sparkle of their own, but the jewels and the pink tank top were overwhelming it tastelessly.

“This isn’t working,” Jinyoung pointed out with a sigh, as he posed with his hands in the pockets of the leather jacket. You frowned and nodded. It just looked too odd; those pants, the leather jacket, Jinyoung’s sultry eyes and this bright studio. You bit your lip and peeked at him over the camera.

“Can we… can we do something?”

Jinyoung raised an eyebrow as he stopped posing. “What?”

“I feel like the lights are the problem. Can we go somewhere with more natural light? I was thinking… maybe we can go up on the rooftop? It’s night and the whole outfit might go better with like a night sky background,” you admitted.

Jinyoung blinked at you for a long moment and then rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh. He looked tired and you felt bad for asking this of him, but he finally let out a reluctant nod.

“Fine. Let’s give it a try.”

You smiled gratefully and grabbed the camera and the tripod before leading the way to the rooftop. You had always loved the rooftop of the photo studio. It had a lovely view of the city. The night air was chilly, though, and you shivered as soon as you stepped outside. You pointed to the railing.

“Can you stand there? I’ll set up the camera here…”

Jinyoung nodded and stood where you wanted. He leaned his elbows against the railing as he waited for you to set up. Jinyoung’s head tilted upwards and the cold breeze gently floated through his hair. His eyes were closed and he looked relaxed as he enjoyed the feeling the wind on his cheeks.

You suddenly felt curious about Jinyoung. What was he thinking? Who was this mysterious, gorgeous man who you had so unexpectedly come across tonight? You felt a sudden, burning urge to know more about Park Jinyoung.

You silently pressed the button on the camera and got a candid snap of him with his eyes closed and head tilted back, before you called out to him.

“I’m ready!”

Jinyoung’s eyes snapped open and he turned to face you with a quick nod. “Okay. Let’s get this over with.”

You smiled at him. Under the night sky and with the cold breeze blowing through his hair, it didn’t matter that Park Jinyoung had never shown you a smile or that he didn’t want to be here. It didn’t matter that he hated the clothes he was wearing. It didn’t matter that he looked tired and that he had had a shitty day.

Something about Park Jinyoung was truly beautiful.

And you had a feeling that if you looked deep enough, you would discover that beauty not only in Jinyoung’s eyes, but also behind them.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Once you were done taking pictures, you finally shut off the camera and folded up the stand. You hadn’t realized how numb your fingers had become from being in the cold. You jumped slightly when you felt a soft weight on your shoulders and turned around; Jinyoung had placed the black leather jacket loosely over you.

“You’re freezing,” he told you, sounding a little annoyed. “Shouldn’t you have worn a jacket before coming up here?”

You blushed. “Uh, I forgot-”

He rolled his eyes in a condescending manner and wrapped his arms around himself with a small huff. Then he turned and began walking back indoors. He paused in the doorway and then turned to you with a small frown. “Aren’t you coming back in? I’m not standing in that cold for another second. I have an audition tomorrow and I don’t need to be coughing my way through it.”

You flushed and wrapped the jacket more tightly around your shoulders. “Right… I’m coming. Sorry.”

You went back down to the studio where you began to load the photos onto your laptop once more. Jinyoung wasted no time in changing out of the sparkly pants and back into his own clothes. He emerged from the changing room and when you looked up at him, he was pocketing his cellphone. He gave you a dull stare.

“Well, if we’re done then I’m gonna get out of here.”

You stood up and nodded, surprised that he was leaving so quickly. Then again, he had made it rather evident that he didn’t want to be here from the beginning. You hurriedly fumbled around in your pockets. “Oh. Thanks so much for doing this, really, I’m so grateful. Let me give you my business card before you leave-”

Jinyoung rolled his eyes. “No thanks. What would I do with that?”

Your fingers clasped around your set of business cards and you held one out to him limply, only to find that he was already walking away from you. You followed Jinyoung down the hallway and out towards the front desk, before attempting to thank him again.

“I’ll text you for your bank details so I can pay you tomorrow. Thanks so much for-”

“-doing this, yeah, I know,” Jinyoung replied with a sigh. He began to leave and then paused, turning back to frown at you for a moment. His dark eyes narrowed at you. “Don’t upload any of the pictures with the sparkly pants online, got it?”

You bit back a smile and nodded.

“Yeah, I got it.”

-------------------------------------------------------------

For all the trouble that Park Jinyoung had given you, he’d certainly done the job well.

Mr. Kim was delighted with the photoshoot. He complimented you on your ability to capture all of Jinyoung’s strong features perfectly and seemed even more impressed when you informed him that the man in the pictures wasn’t even a professional model, but an actor.

A few of the best shots- including, to your amusement, one featuring the sparkly pants and the black leather jacket- were printed out and put up in the hallway of the photo studio along with other significant photoshoots. It was a matter of pride to have a photo you’d taken put up in the hallways for all the customers to see, and you reveled in the admiration it received.

Still, you cracked a smile whenever you passed by it. You wondered how Park Jinyoung would react if he knew that the picture he hated so much was put up in the hallway of the studio.

He’d probably glare at you with those dark eyes.

“Mr. Lee here to see you!” the receptionist informed you chirpily over the telephone. “You have an appointment with him, remember?”

You’d been sitting cooped up in your office all day, preparing yourself for the celebrity pre-wedding photoshoot that you were going to be handling in a couple of weeks. It was no small task and you’d printed out hundreds of samples to look for inspiration and ideas. But still, normal work would have to keep going on. Mr. Lee was an important broker who often helped connect you to important people who wanted your services.

“I’m coming out to meet him,” you promised.

You cleaned up your desk a little and hurried out to meet Mr. Lee. The older man greeted you with a friendly handshake as you began to lead him to your office.

“The photoshoot you asked for last time is full and ready,” you explained as you walked him down the hallway. Mr. Lee hummed. He walked extremely slowly and you had to remind yourself to slow down and keep pace with him. He was looking around at the walls as you spoke. “And I can send you the digital files, or we have a few printouts ready if you want to look at them and suggest any changes-”

“I see you’ve remodelled,” Mr. Lee mused.

You blinked at him and then looked at the hallway. “Ah; yes, we had the hallway expanded.”

“These photos are nice,” he replied. He paused at the one of Jinyoung and raised an eyebrow. It was Jinyoung in his sparkly pants and pink tank top, his eyes staring seductively at the camera while the wind tousled his hair. Mr. Lee chuckled. “I like how that boy is handsome enough to even look manly in those pants.”

You giggled. “I took that picture. He’s not even a model; he’s an aspiring actor.”

Mr. Lee raised an eyebrow. “Really, now? Is he any good at acting?”

You shrugged. “Probably.”

“He has excellent proportions. I know a company that’s having a hard time casting somebody for their commercials. Do you think this boy would be interested in coming in for an audition?”

You blinked. “Uh…. I can give you his contact number, but that’s all I know about him.”

Mr. Lee nodded and finally looked away from the picture. “Sure. Send it to me before I leave today. Now, I meant to ask you about the portfolios I was talking about having you doing. There’s a change of plans, see, we need to reschedule…”

----------------------

You never really imagined that you would see Park Jinyoung again but you did, barely two weeks later.

You were sitting in the break room during lunch time and scarfing down sandwiches with the receptionist while you both watched some mundane daytime soap on the little television. It had been a long week and your celebrity bridal photoshoot was getting closer and closer. The soap opera cut off at the dramatic revelation of a pregnancy and you both sighed.

“I knew she was pregnant,” the receptionist muttered as the commercials started.

You chuckled. “What tipped you off? All the puking? Or the fact that she is literally the only female character left in this stupid series that hasn’t gotten pregnant yet?”

The receptionist giggled and turned back to the television. There was an ad playing for men’s deodorant; you had to resist the urge to roll your eyes as a leather jacketed-man rode by the streets on a motorbike and all the pretty woman swooned at his passing fragrance. You were about to take a huge bite of your sandwich when the man on screen stopped, removed his helmet and paused to introduce the product with a heart-stopping smile.

Oh my god.

“Hey; he looks really familiar!” the receptionist giggled. “Isn’t he the guy from your photo-shoot a couple weeks ago? The one with the sparkly pants? His photo’s in our hallway!”

You nearly choked. “Uh-uh, yeah.”

“Wow, he’s cute,” the receptionist pointed out. She giggled as Jinyoung on screen casually handed over a bottle of his deodorant to an open-mouthed guy who had just asked for his secret and gave him a friendly pat on the back. The receptionist glanced at you in surprise. “He has a gorgeous smile. Why didn’t you make him smile in your photoshoot?”

You gaped at Jinyoung’s charming smile and blinked. He had never once curved those lips upward during the entire photoshoot with you.

“I guess I didn’t dare,” you muttered. “Maybe it would have been worth it to have him kill me for asking?”

Wow.

--------------------------------------

Despite your better sense, you looked Jinyoung up online.

The commercial had been a huge success; well, about as successful as a commercial could be, really. There was a lot of talk about how the new guy they’d picked for the deodorant ad was unbelievably handsome and you saw a news article that mentioned he’d been casted for a supporting role in a primetime drama. There was no news about Jinyoung from before this, so you had to assume that this was the biggest thing he’d ever done.

Well. Somebody was having a nice time.

You, on the other hand, were struggling to figure out what to do about this celebrity bridal photoshoot. You had no ideas and it was driving you crazy. You sighed and rubbed your temples with your fingers when your desk phone rang.

“Hello?”

“You have a visitor!” the receptionist chirped.

You glanced at the clock. “I don’t have any appointments until after lunch And Mr. Kim is out.”

“Yeah, I know but it’s, uh…” she lowered her voice and hissed into the phone. “It’s him! The sparkly pants guy? Deodorant commercial? Him! Should i show him to your office?”

Your heart skipped a beat. Park Jinyoung was here? He was back? The man who hadn’t even cared enough to take your business card had suddenly come back to your studio and was asking to see you? You should have known better but your heart evidently did not. It thumped loudly, excited at the chance to see Park Jinyoung once more.

“Y-yeah. Let him in.”

You cleared your desk quickly and tried to make it look a little more presentable as you waited. It was almost a full minute before you heard a soft knock at the door and you called out, your voice squeaking a little bit.

“C-come in!”

Park Jinyoung stepped inside. He was dressed casually in a pair of jeans and a simple blue t-shirt, but he still looked as handsome as ever. You were surprised when the first thing he did was smile at you. Those beautiful plush lips curved into a gentle and shy smile. Jinyoung rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

“Uh, hi,” he greeted you. “I’m sorry for barging in here like this unannounced…”

You stared at him for a moment. This didn’t seem like the same Jinyoung you knew. Unfortunately, his present soft and gentle gaze unsettled you just as much as his dark and sultry one had. You cleared your throat and jumped to your feet.

“No! That’s all right, I wasn’t too busy. You should, um...here, take a seat.”

“Thanks,” Jinyoung replied quietly. He sat down and took a deep breath. “You’re sure I’m not interrupting?”

“Not at all. How are you?”

Jinyoung let out a small chuckle and then leaned back with a sigh. He shrugged his shoulders. “This might sound a little weird, but, uh, I’m actually doing better than I ever was. And I found out just today that apparently I have you to thank for that. I’m not sure if you saw this commercial I was in recently-”

“The deodorant,” you blurted out. Your cheeks flushed red as Jinyoung looked at you in surprise. “Um, yes. Yes, I saw it.”

“Right,” Jinyoung said. “Apparently whoever recommended me for it saw the picture of me that you put up in the hallway of your studio. Sparkly pants and all. It was honestly the first big break I’d ever had. And since the commercial blew up I’ve had a few offers from other places. I even accepted a supporting role in this primetime drama. It’s not a huge role, I only appear in about half of the episodes but I play the younger brother of the lead actress so it’s a big deal to me.”

You stared at Jinyoung. It was like you were seeing him in a brand new light. Away from the camera and the flashy clothes, he suddenly seemed so normal. He was still unbelievably handsome of course, but his shy smile and the way the corners of his eyes crinkled in a friendly way, and his earnest manner of speaking all had you stumped.

Who was this man?

“I’m really glad things are going well for you,” you told him kindly.

Jinyoung cleared his throat. “I’m sorry I was such an ass to you that day.”

You waved him off awkwardly. “No, that’s-”

“I was a huge ass,” Jinyoung replied. His smile had dropped but his eyes on you were still soft. “I know it’s not an excuse but day that was honestly one of the worst days of my life. I’d just failed a bunch of auditions and I was wondering if I’d have to give up my dreams and go back to my hometown. My manager was starting to give up on me. I really wanted to go back to my apartment and cry, so when I got the call from Bambam saying he was cashing in a favor from forever ago and I had to go help his friend…”

You winced. “That can’t have been pleasant.”

“It wasn’t,” Jinyoung muttered.

“But things are looking up for you now, right?”

“They really are. And I have you to thank for that. You were really patient with me that day and you recommended me to Mr. Lee despite how badly I behaved,” Jinyoung replied gently. He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t really know how to thank you, honestly…”

“You don’t need to, I didn’t do anything-”

“Can I take you out to lunch?”

You stared at him, unable to resist the blush from creeping up onto your cheeks. Park Jinyoung was looking at you earnestly and you found yourself feeling weak as you stared back into his gentle, hopeful eyes. You felt fuzzy inside. What is happening to me? “Uh… lunch?” you stammered out awkwardly. “I guess, yeah. We can go grab some lunch.”

Jinyoung gave you a charming smile.

“Great.”

----------------------------------------

You were shocked by how charming Jinyoung could be when he tried.

He took you to a small but quaint cafe that was a few blocks away from your studio. He’d been waiting tables there until a week ago, he admitted to you with a shy smile. Jinyoung had quit once he signed on to the primetime drama but he knew that the food and service there was amazing so he just had to take you there.

You found yourself fascinated as Jinyoung let you into small glimpses of his life. You saw how friendly he was with the other staff; one waiter named Jackson in particular kept calling Jinyoung deodorant boy but he took it all in stride and laughed it off. He ordered his favorite dish for you and told you about all the foods he liked. He even ordered an extra dessert when he saw how much you’d enjoyed yours.

You felt like you were being wooed by this handsome, charming man and the feeling was surreal. When he walked you back to your office after lunch, you felt giddy.

“Is it obvious that I’m trying too hard?” Jinyoung wondered, hands in his pockets as he walked you down the studio hallway back to your office. He blinked at you through his dark eyes. “I just really didn’t want you to think that the rude guy who modelled for you that day is who I really am.”

You bit your lip and smiled. “I didn’t mind the rude guy from that night too much.”

“Oh?”

“He was kind of hot,” you admitted with a smile, and then you lowered your voice teasingly. You were approaching the now infamous picture with a smile. “And he looked great in sparkly pants.”

Jinyoung’s smile dropped. “You must think you’re very funny.”

You nudged him lightly and pointed to his frowning lips. “Oops. Looks like he’s slipping out once again. I’m sorry, Jinyoung. There’s nothing you can do. You’re just going to have to live with the fact that those sparkly pants are what gave you your big break. Maybe it’ll make for a funny story one day. Actually, it makes for a funny story now.”

Jinyoung rolled his eyes as he glanced at the photo. “There’s no chance you could take that picture down from the hallway?”

“But what if a movie director comes by? You could land a role on the big screen!” you joked.

Jinyoung pressed his lips together and inhaled sharply. His eyes turned a little dark. “Don’t joke around with me. You should know that I’m a very dangerous man. You have no idea what I’m capable of.”

You weren’t scared of Jinyoung anymore. “And what exactly are you capable of-”

Jinyoung stepped forward and gently grabbed both of your arms, steering you so that your back was against the wall. He placed one hand on the wall behind your head and trapped you in place with the other.

“I’m capable of a lot of things,” Jinyoung whispered as he leaned down closer to you. His warm breath tickled your face. “Do you want to know what I was thinking at the exact moment when that picture was taken? Do you want to know what was happening behind my eyes at that moment?”

Your breath hitched. “T-tell me.”

He glanced up at the photograph and smirked. “I was thinking about how this adorable little photographer was shivering in the cold in front of me, and all the different ways I’d have liked to warm her up.”

You couldn’t help it; your heartbeat was racing in excitement at the sight of Jinyoung’s lips mere inches away from yours. You reached up and wrapped your fingers around the neck of his t-shirt, begging him to come closer.

“How would you have warmed me up?” you whispered.

Jinyoung chuckled deeply. “It’s funny; the only ways I could think of were ways that involved taking clothes off instead of putting them on.”

You could feel his breath on your lips. “Jinyoung…”

You waited for his hot lips to come crashing down on yours, but they didn’t. Instead, Jinyoung changed track and leaned upwards instead. His lips pressed gently against your forehead and then he stepped back from you, chuckling at your flustered expression.

“Don’t you have to get back to work?” he asked you lightly.

You felt cold. “Ummm….”

Jinyoung gave you a warm smile and reached out to take your hand as he pulled you further down the hallway. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back for my photographer. In fact, I’d like to take an appointment for another photoshoot.”

You were confused. “Another-”

“How about Friday night? We can have dinner first and then go back to my apartment?” Jinyoung’s eyes darkened as he looked down at you. “We won’t be needing the outfits.”

--------------------------------------------

Epilogue

“You look gorgeous, babe.”

You smiled as you looked at yourself in the mirror. You had picked out a pretty blue dress for the occasion and you had to admit that it suited you rather well. You noticed Jinyoung approaching you from behind in the mirror, fully dressed in his suit.

“Hi, handsome,” you greeted him lightly. You turned to face Jinyoung and chuckled. “Your bow tie is a little crooked. Do you want help with that?”

He raised an eyebrow at you. “Well, it’s not going to straighten itself.”

“Pity,” you muttered as you straightened it carefully. Jinyoung’s dark eyes were fixed on you. “Crooked bow tie, crooked man. Maybe I should leave it as it is.”

“Nah, you’ll have to straighten it because I need to take a selfie before we leave,” Jinyoung told you with a small smile. He rolled his eyes as he stepped away from you and pulled out his phone. He lifted it in the air and angled it so that his best angle was captured and gave the shutter a sweet smile. “My manager’s been hounding me ass about updating my social media more often.”

“You should,” you told him as you watched him upload the photo. “You barely post anything.”

“It’s so mundane,” he mumbled. Jinyoung read out to you in a deadpan voice as he typed. “On my way to Eunhee-noona’s wedding. Pretty sure I’ll have a great time. Wishing happiness to the lovely couple!”

You smiled as he posted it. “See? You’re still alive.”

“Barely,” Jinyoung whined. “It’s so painful. Kiss me and make it better, please…”

You rolled your eyes and leaned up to kiss Jinyoung softly. You learned something new about him everyday. You learned how overdramatic he was when he wanted attention, you learned how passionate he was about the things he loved. You learned how the same eyes could look at you with soft, gentle love or dark, steaming lust.

Most importantly, you learned that he absolutely hated anything sparkly.

“You have the wedding gift ready?” you asked, once you’d torn your lips away from Jinyoung’s. You had successfully completed the pre-wedding photoshoot for the famous actress Eunhee last week and she had bestowed you with a wedding invitation along with her praises. She also happened to be the lead actress in Jinyoung’s drama, which was why you were both attending her wedding together.

“I put it on the table,” he told you.

You pushed him away. “Well, go get it. We have to leave.”

Jinyoung grumbled and stole one last kiss from you before going into his living room to get the wedding present. He returned with two gift-wrapped boxes, looking mildly confused.

“Baby, why are there two of these?”

You smiled. “One is the wedding present. The other is a gift I bought for you because today is our two-month anniversary. Remember?”

Jinyoung flushed. “I-I totally forgot. I’ve been too busy with filming schedules and auditions that I didn’t even think about stuff like that…”

You smiled and shrugged. “That’s okay. Open it.”

Jinyoung bit his lip. “Are you sure?”

“Yup. And be quick about it. We’re going to be late. I’m going to go find my heels…”

You headed for the exit of the bedroom just as Jinyoung began to rip the wrapping paper apart. You slipped out of sight; but not before a certain pair of jewel-studded pants emerged from the wrapping paper and landed in Jinyoung’s lap.

“What the fuck is this?” he demanded.

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#got7 #got7 scenarios #got7 scenario #got7 jinyoung #jinyoung scenario #jinyoung scenarios #got7 fluff #got7 angst #jinyoung fluff #jinyoung angst #got7 fanfiction #got7 drabble #got7 oneshot #jinyoung drabble

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sapphiresea · 5 years

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ECCC – The Wayhaught Experience

Hey guys! So a couple people asked that I write about my experience at Emerald City Comic Con, and I did! It’s a bit long, so it’s below a cut because I had a lot to say, but I also trimmed it down a bit for better fit. (Pictures included.)

Now, let me start by saying my plan for the weekend was really simple. I was getting Dom and Kat to each sign my group photo from last year, and on top of that, I was getting another autograph from Dom to use as my tattoo – asking her specifically to write “I’m here and I stay” for me. Then, I was going to get a selfie with each and a duo photo op. Yeah. Let’s not talk about how much extra money I dropped because I decided they were too amazing and wanted to capitalize on this convention as much as possible. But also, I definitely do not regret it.

So once I got my ticket, I headed straight to the building where they had autographs, photo ops, and main stage panels. Although her line was longer, I decided to see Dom first, then Kat, during their first autograph session of the con.

I wasn’t too far back in Dom’s line, which was cool, and it felt pretty fast to get to see her, even though she was chatting with everyone. Two people in front of me were trying to get a selfie and Dom was holding out the camera trying to position it so they were all in frame and it looked like a major struggle bus for someone short, so I offered to help. She immediately thrust the phone at me and very politely agreed and thanked me. So when I got to the front, she was like, “Hello again!”

She was confused by the instruction of her manager for what I wanted for the tattoo, but as soon as I said it, she knew immediately what I meant. She pulled a multicolor pen from her fanny pack, clicked the blue and said she would write it a couple of times to make sure I had what I wanted. The second time was perfect, though. I told her that last summer had been particularly hard and that I had lost a lot of people I cared about, and that Jolene had really helped me to get through some of those nights, and got me to five years clean (which received a “wow” from her). I said that listening to her talk about anxiety in the Black Badge podcast had very much helped inspire me to send in my grad school applications and that I had just been accepted into all the schools to which I applied, and she was really impressed. I can’t remember exactly what she said, but I do remember her saying, “Isn’t it amazing? You’re so afraid of doing something and there’s no reason for it! You got into every school!” She asked where I was planning to go, so I told her I picked York University in Toronto and she said that was awesome and “right around the corner from Kat!” She also asked what I was studying, so I told her quant psych/statistics, and I don’t think she connected as much with that, but she was still very sweet about it. I thanked her and got a really cute selfie before moving on to meet with Kat.

Kat was a completely different energy altogether! Dom was very mellow and sweet, like she really lives up to that hippie vibe, but Kat was much more intense, full eye contact, leaning forward, asking a bunch of questions.

I got up to her pretty quickly, as the lines weren’t long so early on Friday. I was having her sign my group photo from last year’s Calgary Comic Expo and she recognized it immediately and asked if that’s where I’m from. She was very excited when I said, “yes.” I said I had just flown in that morning before coming and that I was living off about 45 minutes of sleep. She was like, “Oh, so you’re here, but you’re like, I’M HERE BUT I’M A LITTLE BIT CRAZY!?” Which…yeah, pretty much!

I told her I was excited just to be there, though, because the trip was a graduation present and a celebration because I got into every grad school to which I applied. She was stunned and congratulated me and I replied that it was really cool because it was a highly competitive program and I didn’t think I would get in at all. She asked what I study and I told her quant psych, and that there’s only four schools in Canada that have that program and most only have a couple spots each per year. Her eyes went huge and she congratulated me again. She said she was sure I’d make the right choice of where to go, and when I said I had just accepted the offer from York, she asked if I meant the one in Toronto and was stoked when I said “yes.” She told me York was an amazing school and I would absolutely love it. She added that she had considered York for undergrad because they had a theater program there, and then had almost gone there for an MBA when she didn’t think acting would work out. I told her my best friend had just gotten her MBA from there and she was like, “See!? It’s an amazing school!” and started talking up Toronto and how much I would love it. That made me pretty jazzed, really. We actually ended up talking much more than I thought before taking two selfies (they’re pretty similar, so I only included my favorite) and I had to run for a photo op unrelated to Wynonna Earp.

Right, so…Here is where the impulsivity of con life kicked in. And let me start this by saying: I did a great job at not blowing a ton of money on impulse buys for stuff. So what I spent here was almost kinda-sorta balanced, maybe? Don’t overthink it. I bought individual photo ops for Dom on Friday and Kat on Sunday.

I met this guy, David, in line for Dom’s photos, and we were chatting the whole time. He was really fun, and we ended up hanging out after. Anyway, it came up that I didn’t have a ticket for Saturday’s show and his son wasn’t going to be using his. He offered to let me buy it off of him and was able to get it for me before the end of the day! Amazing. And as it turned out, Saturday was an incredible day, as well, so I am immensely grateful that I didn’t end up missing it.

Here’s my photo op individual with Dominique. We don’t get a lot of chance to really talk during photo ops, but of course I asked for my usual funny faces, and when we were done, she joked that she’s certain that it was going to turn out really sexy. She was right.

I changed my Sunday photo ops with Kat to be Saturday photo ops. I had chosen to wear a jacket I found a few months ago that was the same Waverly wore in season 2, and when I walked in, Kat exclaimed, “That looks familiar! Was it on the show?” I replied, “Yeah! Waverly had it.” And she was like, “Oh, Waverly had it! I remember that.”

I brought along fake moustaches to go along with her #SolidarityInStaches posts, and I didn’t even have to ask before she was like, “Can I pick whichever one?” Of course, yes, and she took the pink one. I picked a curly black one and pocketed the rest. She peeled off the sticker back to stick it to her face and gave a hilariously serious pose, while I just held mine up. As I left, she asked if she could keep it, and I said, “Definitely!”

I met up with my friend, Carole, after the live stage interview, and she was about to go see Dom and Kat again and in case no one’s picked up on a pattern yet, I’m weak, so I was like, “Cool, I’ll go have them sign my individual photo ops!” Plus, Kat was selling that photo of her and Bernie that was donating all of the proceeds went to Soi Dog, which is a great organization, so I decided to get an autograph for my best friend, who I got into Earper life a few months ago, who loves Kat.

This time, I saw Kat first, and I told her all about the friend she was signing for, because she recognized immediately that my name was not ‘Catherine.’ I told her I had tried for ages to get my friend into it and lure her in with great representation and storylines and humor… Finally I remembered a very important fact about my friend: her weakness is hot redheads. So I texted her a photo of Nicole and said, “Did I mention there’s a hot redhead lesbian?” and she immediately jumped at it. Kat thought that was hilarious and said my friend sounds awesome.

Since she was still signing, I spoke with her a bit about Pooched and she was so excited that I had watched the trailer and the live stream and enjoyed it. You can really tell how passionate she is about that project, and honestly guys, if you haven’t yet, you definitely should watch. I joked that my friends and I don’t have dogs, but we do treat our cats like that. She asked if my friends had ever thrown a birthday party for their cats and I told her I have one friend who did. I added that we’re honors students, which means we present almost every week in class and she will work her cat into every presentation. Sometimes it’s really creative. That really amused her.

She also mentioned that she loved the moustache photo we had taken and that she had kept the pink moustache and was planning to take a picture with it later. I have no idea if she really will or if she’s lost it or anything, but I was just happy that she enjoyed it! I told her I had found a box of fake moustaches randomly in my room and she was like, “Do you know why you had them?” and I said, “I just know my mom bought them for me years ago and they were just sitting there until you started your moustache thing!” She said it was meant to be, or something like that.

Dom’s table was completely empty when I was done with Kat, so I hopped right over there. As I was paying for autographs, she noticed immediately the outfit I was wearing and exclaimed, “You’re wearing the Waverly shirt!” I replied that I had thrifted it, too, which she thought was great. As she started to sign, I told her my name is Steph because she hadn’t had it written down yet, and the volunteer asked if it was a P-H or F-F and I said, P-H, which prompted Dom to sing the spelling of my name in a cute little tune of S-T-E-P-H. It was really adorable.

I asked if it was strange coming back to North America after so long in Brazil, and she said it was, especially since she had been in the amazon with tribes and small towns, which was extremely different from anything like this, but that it was nice to be back, too. She talked a little about the importance of travel, and that she would really recommend seeing Brazil, because it’s a whole other viewpoint and understanding of ways of doing things.

We started talking a bit about Start the Wave, and I asked about a post she made awhile back about being a no-waste traveler, since I find when I travel is when I become the most wasteful. She gave a few suggestions, like bringing your own bamboo utensils, water bottles, cups, etc. Apparently she had a whole other bag with “all that shit” which was a pain in the butt, but ultimately worthwhile. She said that she found you have to tell people right off the bat that you have your own things, so they won’t give you cups or straws or anything that will be wasted because you’re not using them. We also lamented the North American reliance on plastic water bottles a bit when I mentioned that, from how I had grown up, I used to rely almost entirely on bottled water until I switched to a good water bottle, and that my parents still just keep loads of bottled water in their fridge. She said her family does the same thing and it kind of drives her crazy when she opens the door and finds a whole bunch of bottled water.

I saw that some other people were coming and it was toward the end of the day, too, so I said it was great chatting with her and hopped off.

Sunday, I arrived extremely early for the Wayhaught panel to get good seats, which meant sitting through hours of 80′s music and the Stranger Things panel which came before, but that was actually pretty fun.

I wasn’t initially planning to ask a question, but I had finally come up with something funny that they’d never heard before, and I was like, screw it, and went up. I was the first person in line on the right side, so I was the second to ask a question. I just realized watching the video back that Dom waved at me and said, “Hi Stephanie,” in her sweet little British voice before I even introduced myself, so apparently she remembered and recognized me!? That’s actually really cool and I’m still trying to recover from it. I was super nervous, but they were really funny with their answers and I loved Dom’s fascination with the show. It was such a great atmosphere in there, and so much fun. It was really a bummer when the whole thing was over.

The next thing on my agenda was about an hour later for the duo photo ops. Side note: right before me, someone was doing a photo op with a lightsaber and Kat was playing with it. She was excited as heck that it made noises when she moved it.

I walked in and Kat’s eyes locked on my sweater before she noticed my face. My sweater was an oversized York University shirt, so she exclaimed, “Oh my god, are you Canadian!?” And then she looked up and before I could reply, about a split second later, she mentally face-palmed and was like, “I’m so sorry! We had a whole conversation about this! You’re going to York for grad school! I remember!” I told her it was alright, I wasn’t offended or anything, but she insisted she remembered. So that was pretty nice. Although I normally do fun photo ops, I asked if we could just do a group hug, and they were like, “Of course!” and pulled me in for one.

I’m not even going to pretend like I hadn’t already decided to go back for one last autograph session, but listen. I wasn’t the only one. The girls in line with me also went to every autograph session and they go to every convention with Dom and Kat, so I figured it’s fine. Plus, they were always really happy to see us. I will say, those line ups were really fun. Earpers really know how to make a line a good experience. And Dom’s line was long, so that was a very good thing.

My last meeting with Kat began with another apology for her question during the photo ops. Before I could even put down the picture I wanted her to sign, she looked me right in the eye and said, “I am so sorry, Steph! I do remember we had a whole conversation about York and grad school.” I replied that it’s perfectly okay and that honestly, I didn’t expect her to remember because I know she had met so many people over the weekend that I wouldn’t have been offended if she didn’t. She apologized and insisted again that she absolutely did (and given that she also addressed me by name multiple times without seeing it written down anywhere, I definitely believe her). It was really nice, though, even if it wasn’t necessary!

This was my moment to be a sap, though, and I told her that, although I’m sure she’s heard it a million times, it was really awesome to finally see a lesbian who’s alive and whose whole story doesn’t revolve around coming out and dealing with being gay as if it were the worst thing in the world or some obstacle to overcome or something, because it feels as if that’s all I’ve gotten to see. I told her that I’m only slightly younger than her (and then she asked my birthday, but I’m not sure why) and that it felt like my whole life I hadn’t really gotten to see representation like that. The first time I even heard the word ‘lesbian’ was as a derogatory term when Ellen Degeneres came out, and I was too young to even know what it meant.

She was so kind and listened to every word, and it was really nice. It also spurred a conversation about Ellen, who she exclaimed her love for (we all know, Kat; we all know). We talked about her a bit and I mentioned that I’m also a big fan of Portia de Rossi and she said she’s really great, too, so I asked if she had ever read her book. She answered that she hadn’t and said she would have to add it to her list. I told her it’s about Portia’s eating disorder and her experience coming out as a lesbian, so if she’s in a dark place or just wants something light and fluffy, maybe skip to the epilogue. She seemed really interested in it, though, and asked the title. When I told her, she replied, “Wow, that’s beautiful! I am definitely going to take your recommendation and check it out!” We then took the following selfie. I gave her the direction to do wide-eyed, open-mouthed excitement, and she was like, “Of course!” But you judge if that’s the look she actually made. I love them, though.

From there, it was on to Dom’s line, which, like I said was long. I got into it more than an hour before the convention was supposed to finish, and I was still in the overflow line when 5:00 PM passed. Kat still had a number of people in her line, as well, but not quite as many because she was going faster. Both of them insisted on staying for every fan, though, and even when Dom was being rushed and told to go faster with each of us, she made a point of apologizing that she couldn’t spend longer with a lot of people. It was very sweet. When Kat left, she waved to all of us to say goodbye and thank you for coming and that she hopes to see us at future conventions.

To be honest, since I had already seen her that weekend, had I not already stood in the line for two hours by that point and paid for another autograph/selfie combo while in the line, I would’ve left so Dom could have gone home sooner, but since I had, I just made a point to be fast when I got up there. I pretty much told her that I thought she was spot on about Earpers being an incredible community, like she said in the panel, and thanked her for the weekend. When we had taken the selfie, I asked if I could hug her and she said, “Of course,” so I did, but that was about the extent of the interaction because it was undoubtedly a long day for her and I didn’t want to make it longer.

That’s where my weekend experience ended with them, and honestly, you guys, it was really so awesome. I can’t quite tell you how awesome it was, or how energized I felt leaving. Earpers are amazing. Kat and Dom are incredible.I just love this whole fandom so much I could squeeze you all! But I’m done rambling for now.

#wayhaught #katherine barrell #kat barrell #dominique provost chalkley #wynonna earp cast #emerald city comic con #eccc #long post for ts

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cryptoriascollectiblog · 5 years

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Monster High doll collecting Questionnaire - answered

Finally had time to take photos for this thing. Hope it’s worth the wait!

1) Introduce yourself and tell us how long you’ve been collecting Monster High dolls! Hey y’all! My name’s Tori and I’ve been collecting Monster High since I think...either the end of 2014 or early 2015. Before S5 of the webisodes aired.

2) How many MH dolls do you have?

Can I just say “a lot” and leave it at that? I kid I kid. I have like 27 Monster High dolls. That may not seem like a lot but I swear I just had 13 like four dolls ago...fingers crossed I didn’t forget to count anyone. That’s a sign of too many dolls :’D I also have two vinyl MH figures (Frankie and Draculaura) and a Rock Candy Draculaura figure.

3) Is Monster High your favorite doll line? Why or why not? Yes. Yes it is. Forever and ever. Took me a little while to realize it but as I accumulated dolls I realized most of my passion for collecting (as well as creative inspiration) revolved almost entirely around Monster High. That line is perfect for me in every way: tied to/inspired by classic Monsters, bold and edgy gothic fashion, a unique art style...I can’t tell you how much I’ve evolved as a creative individual since embracing my love of Monster High.

4) Who’s your favorite MH ghoul?

I wish Cupid had stuck around in MH a little longer. I would’ve loved an elaborate dress (and makeup) for her!

5) Favorite Manster? My favorite Manster is actually Andy Beast from Skull Shores. Since he never reappeared in more than background shots and Mattel never produced a doll of him I’ll go with this guy:

6) Do you own any dolls of your favorite ghoul and/or manster? How many? I own one Deuce doll, his Boo York doll. He came with Cleo and I love Boo York Cleo so I had to get both. I actually hate how the writing team handled Deuce and their relationship in the movie: as far as I’m concerned it isn’t canon. (He fell so far from Ghouls Rule! Definitely the best part of that movie including his friendship with Frankie.)

I own many Frankie and Draculaura dolls. Stay tuned for pics~

7) Do you own any playsets? If so which one(s)? If not, is there a reason?

I found this at a thrift store. It didn’t have any accessories though. Still, I’m glad I own it <3 Considering I photograph Draculaura more than any of my other dolls. I do wish I had another playset--either the catacombs or the Deadlux high school: they’d make such great backdrops for photography! Sadly I have no space.

8) Of the original main ghouls (including Ghoulia, Spectra and Abbey) which is your favorite? Got any dolls of them?

TA~DA! I’d actually also love to add Ghouls Rule Frankie to my collection but she’s not an immediate must-have.

9) Favorite character with only one doll release?

I know there were technically two but they’re essentially the same doll so it doesn’t count.

10) Character with too many dolls (in your opinion?) Uh...Toralei honestly. I don’t like her, I’ve never liked her but she pops up a lot more than I expected. Is this so there’s a matching bully in some of these sets or is she that popular and I’m the odd one out?

11) Any character you would’ve liked to see in a doll line that didn’t make it? (i.e. Lagoona in Sweet Screams or Draculaura in Power Ghouls, etc) Apart from another C.A. Cupid doll in like Dawn of the Dance or Dot Dead Gorgeous (can you imagine??) I would’ve loved to see Draculaura in Freak du Chic. I’m aware she had a Scarnival doll but that’s not the same thing. I want a doll with a similar design to her circus mini. I also think adding Lagoona to the “Scarily Ever After” line would’ve been neat (a la Little Mermaid, of course.) I know we saw her as a Mermaid in Great Scarier Reef” but I would’ve loved to see one with a fairytale twist.

Also more Sweet Screams dolls. Best line ever <3

12) Any ideas you would’ve liked to see in a doll line? An eighties glam-rock n roll band stylized after Jem and the Holograms but with a gothic edge. I’m not talking Fierce Rockers, I mean all of the core ghouls (with Ghoulia as like the manager) along with a better-designed Clawdeen. I didn’t mind what we got but she wasn’t “outrageous” enough for me.

Also a “vintage-themed” line as an homage to the ghouls’ famous parents (including Operetta.)

13) Is there a “grail” MH doll for you? If so do you own it? I feel like my grail dolls keep changing. For a long time it was Collector Draculaura, then OG draculaura, then Dawn of the Dance Draculaura...then Ghouls Rule Frankie and the whole Sweet Screams crew. I guess I can’t make up my mind ^^; Truthfully I have most of these now so I’m pretty content with my collection. I still want a couple older dolls (CLAWDEEN and maybe OG Lagoona) as I’ve said and I must have all the Sweet Screams dolls. Beyond that I’m good.

14) Thoughts on the cancelled Ever After High crossover? Okay so I will be forever annoyed Mattel didn’t wait to reboot everything until after the crossover. That said what I saw in the storyboards and posts floating around didn’t really impress me. There’s so much potential here and I feel like Mattel took the easiest route possible with it. If you’re going to crossover these two lines a) go ALL out with the designs and b) INVOLVE C.A. CUPID. Plus we’ll never know now if Astra Nova is the blue fairy/her daughter.

15) Thoughts on the 2016 reboot faces?

Why Mattel. Why was this necessary.

With Vampirina and now Super Monsters you really should’ve stuck with your older audience. Or saved the “Monster Family” line exclusively for said younger audience and just scaled down the original line to remind your older crowd, collectors included, why we love this line.

Heck, at this point I’d be happy with detailed collector-only lines released on like Amazon. A limited line is better than no Monster High at all, especially if it’s highly detailed and exceptionally spooky.

16) Thoughts on the 2016 “Monster Family” line?

So I like the idea behind this line but loathe the articulation. I held off buying Alivia and Kelpie for a long time because I hoped for better quality with later releases. Whoops. All of this said there was potential here to attract a younger crowd exclusively with a brighter and less-articulated family line. Siblings or not they could’ve avoided directly crossing over by merely mentioning the OG ghouls, instead focusing on friendships and relationships with their parents. That’s what I’d have done at least.

17) How bout the SDCC exclusives? What was your favorite? Do you own any? No and I wish I did ;-; While I wasn’t as impressed with them as the Ever After High exclusives I would’ve loved a Hexiciah doll. He’s actually my favorite “manster.” (Heck! You could’ve incorporated him into the crossover, being as he’s half fairy!) I should check ebay...

18) How about Amazon exclusives? I have two! The amazing and unique Draculaura who as far as I’m concerned is the best MH doll ever released and Zomby Gaga. The others never impressed me or lived up to the same quality promised in the first exclusive. I just couldn’t pass up a Lady Gaga monster!

19) Favorite Frankie Stein doll?

Aaah this is tough. All the Frankies I own are my favorite ^^; Sweet Screams, Freaky Fusion, her classroom doll I turned into a fearleading one, and while I don’t own her original doll (mine is the 2014 release) I love that one two. I also like Wave 2 Frankie and as I said Ghouls Rule. (Honestly though I thiiiiink Sweet Screams is number one...which is funny because I did not want her when I first started collecting. For whatever reason I thought I’d be happy with one doll of each character. Again I say: whoops)

20) Favorite Draculaura doll?

21) Favorite Clawdeen Wolf doll? Freak du Chic, her OG doll and I think Boo York. I’m so mad her outfit isn’t more stylish. Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth it to buy her and like one of her fashion packs...but that’s actually more expensive on Amazon than her original doll!

22) Favorite Cleo de Nile doll?

Originally Dawn of the Dance wasn’t a favorite but now that I own the doll I realize just how much she stands out (why wasn’t purple lipstick used more often???)

23) Favorite Lagoona Blue doll? Skull Shores, her OG doll and I think Dawn of the Dance. I’m not a big fan of the mohawk but I appreciate the detail in her outfit...plus I love blue makeup.

24) Favorite Ghoulia Yelps doll?

I also like Sweet Screams (although she’s my least favorite of the line) and Dawn of the Dance. Honestly maybe I should’ve set my sights on that whole line XD Except I’m not the biggest fan of the Clawdeen and Frankie.

25) Favorite Spectra Vondergeist doll? I’m not as familiar with Spectra’s dolls but I think either Dot Dead Goregeous or Ghouls Night Out.

26) Favorite Abbey Bombinable doll? Sweet Screams <3

27) Favorite Venus McFlytrapp doll? Zombie Shake

28) Favorite Rochelle Goyle doll? Zombie Shake

29) Favorite Operetta doll? Either or OG doll or Scaritage (the latter kind of reminds me of Lucille Ball for whatever reason)

30) Favorite Toralei Stripe doll? I’m really not a fan of her dolls (Orange is such a hard color to compliment correctly) but I do kind of like the stark design in her Fierce Rockers doll.

31) Favorite Jinafire Long doll? I’m not a big fan of her dolls either (I feel the same way about Green that I do Orange) so I’ll say her “New Scaremester” doll.

32) Favorite Skelita Calaveras doll? Scarnival! I’m still half-tempted to purchase this doll one day...provided I can find her!

33) Favorite Howleen Wolf doll? Her original doll. I wish she hadn’t switched to straight/pink hair! The orange stood out in a good way. Someday I hope I find her in a thrift store...

34) Favorite Twyla Bogeyman doll? Freak du Chic

35) What do you do with your dolls? (Display them, take photos of them, etc) I display them, sometimes change their poses and I take photos! I’m still an amateur at that but I’m learning as I go and I think I’ve improved!

36) Is Monster High the only doll line you collect? Why or why not? Sort of? It’s the only line I primarily collect now. I keep my eye on a couple others in case something catches my eye but like I said I’m low on space. Some of my other collections include: Ever After High (complete with maybe the exception of TriCastleon Lizzie Hearts one day) Super Heroes (this also includes high quality collectibles. One day I’d like Mystique but she’s only available on ebay and out of my price range right now. Plus I’ve found the production condition of each varies...) Disney Princesses/Frozen (sometimes I tell myself I should get Mulan for varying reasons but I’ve only taken photos of my Elsa doll so what does that tell you) Vampirina + Hotel Transylvania (This includes toys as well. HT seems to have wrapped up for the time being and as I’ve stated numerous times I’m fickle with Vampirina merchandise. Nonetheless both of these are technically ongoing) Equestria Girls (Done unless Hasbro releases a new Adagio Dazzle doll. Also fashion packs or a dAYDREAM SHIMMER DOLL COME ON--ahem-- I’m still planning to get rid of most of my older dolls.) I tried getting into Disney’s “Attractionistas�� but only acquired two before they stopped selling in the parks. To be honest the quality dropped anyway and they’ve only got basic articulation. I’m not sure I’m going to keep the ones I have...we’ll see.

37) Do you still collect Monster High dolls? (i.e. scour the internet and/or secondhand stores?) Technically? I got three for Christmas and still poke my head in thrift stores now and then. For the most part though I’m essentially finished, I only say I keep going because there are a few older dolls I will definitely have someday.

38) There’s a lot of new Monster doll/toy lines out now: thoughts if any? H’okay so here’s the Earth--

jk jk I’m old XD

I make it a point to investigate new Monster lines: monsters are my life, nothing gives me greater creative fuel so it is my duty!

Right now there are technically three others out there although like I said, Hotel Transylvania seems to be out of stores. Don’t know if it’s still available on Amazon. The other two are Vampirina and Super Monsters. I’ve talked about them before--they’re largely for a much younger crowd, even younger than the MH reboot audience but there are some highlights for us older collectors if you love monsters as much as I do. I’m a big fan of world building and the spooky aesthetic: I love seeing how different franchises approach this. Character designs too: it can be a little tricky in the “family friendly monster” genre: a successful one balances spooky with well...friendly. I think Vampirina is most successful in this department. Super Monsters leans more towards the cutesy side. That said, I actually prefer their world set up over Vampirina. As well as the approach to being a monster which isn’t surprising since Vampirina is essentially one giant whimsical metaphor.

Super Monsters has only just joined the merchandise department which I know I’ve said before. I look forward to seeing how it evolves. Vampirina too: most of the toys, while cute, are more “toy” than doll and I’m not a big fan of gimmicks so I haven’t bought any of the singing dolls. Fingers crossed we get something a little more...elaborate? Even if it’s just a limited release (I do love the one figure/doll I have though! Best of the merchandise released so far <3)

Going back quickly to Hotel Transylvania...I maintain Jazware’s wasn’t the best choice of manufacturer. So many little things that needed a touch more thought. Although I will give them points for clothing quality and faceup!

39) And finally, what’s your favorite thing about Monster High? Can be past or present!

I think I’ve covered why I love it throughout this questionnaire: Monster High inspires me. It came into the world fresh and with a lot of creative power behind it. It turned so many heads and shook up the doll world as we know it. It brought monsters back into the light and that’s never gone away. If anything it’s blown up even more: that may not have happened without Monster High. Was the writing great? No. But the theme songs, the designs and especially the original lessons taught stood out on their own: Be yourself. Be unique. Be a monster.

Hell yeah, Monster High <3

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aquilamage · 5 years

Text

guess! who! wrote! fic!

So this is a random snippet of a ‘scene’ I had floating around in my head and really liked, so wrote it out. It’s an au in a scenario where some events congruent to canon happened, but I haven’t thought out every little detail. Basically they’re all late teens and grew up in the same area.

will end up being posted on my actual fic sites when I give it another lookthrough and a title, but I’m pretty happy with this as is so:

“So, are you finally going to tell me what it is we’re doing on the side of the road in the middle of the woods, at dusk?”

Kay’s hair whirled around her as she turned, the brightness of her grin barely visible as a flash of a reflection of the fading light. “We’re enacting a sacred tradition, and since we’re friends now, it only seemed fair to invite you along.”

“And I am all for bonding, but could it not be a bit less…this?” Klavier spread his arms out to encompass the expanse of trees, the mud they were definitely already tracking around, the background of insect noises which had only just begun in full force.

“I told you to wear sturdy shoes.” She shrugged, stomping one of her heavy boots on the edge of the asphalt in emphasis.

He had, or at least an older pair of sneakers that he had decided we alright potentially being ruined when they had told him to be ready for an “excursion”. But that wasn’t really the point. The point was that whatever this was supposed to be, it seemed to him that it could at least have happened under slightly less suspicious circumstances. A small grin, and then, “you aren’t planning on hazing me, are you?”

Kay gasped, a hand clutching the fabric of her shirt, although her eyes held the same warmth as before. “Of course not. Right?” Gaze shooting to a spot behind him, she winked.

“Yeah. Hazing would suggest that our friendship is congru- contingent on you doing this. Which it isn’t.” Shoving his hands into the pocket of his hoodie, Sebastian kicked at some loose stones. “You can leave if you want. We just thought you might enjoy being a part of it.” Shaking his head to move his bangs out of his face, he added, “It’s getting into trouble, but we’re not breaking any rules or anything.”

“Yeah,” Kay waved it off, verbally and physically as she flapped a hand through the air. “Nothing like where there’d be real consequences. Honestly, this has to be one of the least messy kinds of trouble I ever get into.” She flashed another grin before jumping from where she stood, bounding over the ditch that separated the road from the trees. Her landing was signaled by only the barest rustle of leaves, despite the mid-autumn carpet of dry ones everywhere. “Probably why my dads let me keep doing it even with the complaints.”

“Now that hardly makes you sound reassuring, Fraulein.”

She shrugged. “It’s only because we’re annoying people who are irritated by us merely existing. Trust me, they kind of deserve it.”

“Very well.” Casting about for a safe spot to cross, he noticed that he was now the only one on that side. At the frown he made, the other two burst into laughter.

“It’s not actually that far. Or so deep you can’t walk through it. Someone’s just a show-off.”

Kay stuck her tongue out at him.

When Sebastian did an exaggerated version of her pose, Klavier mentally shook his head and ignored them, at least for long enough to pick his way across the gap with the minimum amount of getting mud or grass on his pants as possible. At that point, he was greeted with the sight of his friends trading increasingly obnoxious faces. He looked between the two of them. Seeing this type of childishly familiar interaction still continued to confound him; he had known Sebastian, albeit not that well until recently, for several years, so he knew that Kay had only met him a little under a year ago. And even with that, he still had to occasionally remind himself that they weren’t actually fraternal siblings.

He stood there watching them for a bit. But quickly realizing that they weren’t responding to his mere presence, he stepped between them, breaking the line of sight. “So, where to now?” He gave one of his dazzling smiles.

Kay was the first to recover. “This way.” She gave a sweep of the arm, bowing deeply.

There followed a good ten minutes of tromping through the woods until Sebastian called them to a halt, switching off the flashlights they had brought. Ahead, the trees quickly thinned out into a clearing.

Poking his head forward in the space between the other two, Klavier stared out into the darkness. As his eyes adjusted, he could make out a sizeable expanse of land that gave way to the back side of a massive house. Other than a few windows, the main source of illumination came from a light attached to the roof that was pointed mostly towards the far-left side. While it almost cast more shadows than anything else, it seemed to show that the main portion of the back yard was covered in a network of gardens and some combination of benches and or statues.

“Is that a waterfall?” Klavier pointed at the edge of the pool of light, where a sizeable pond sat, the surface disturbed by a cascade of water coming from a hill to one shore.

Kay snorted. “I know, right? You’re not even allowed to swim in there. It’s reserved for ‘spiritual cleansing’ and ‘meditation training’ and junk like that.” She made finger quotes as she spoke, rolling her eyes.

“The head of household is super stuffy, if you’d believe it.”

“Never would have guessed,” he drawled as he scanned the area for anything he might have missed. “And we are here for what, exactly?”

At this, Kay brightened even more, were it possible. “We,” she placed her hands on her hips, legs firmly planted, “are on a mission.” Her voice dropped lower than it usually was. “A rescue mission. Within the walls of this manor lives the grandest princess in all the land, condemned to waste her life away, alone, by those who have cruelly imprisoned her. But!” Stepping sideways and dramatically throwing out an arm to point in the direction of the house, she gave a smirk. “No longer! For the Great Thief has come to steal this lovely maiden away, flying off without a trace into the dark sky of the evening!”

“…We’re sneaking her girlfriend out of the house to visit for the weekend,” Sebastian supplied, barely concealing a grin at Klavier’s bemusement.

Kay wilted. “Seb, no.” She crossed her arms, settling her weight more on her back leg as she regarded him. “The Great Thief has recruited a pair of bards to assist her on this most perilous mission, to share in the glory and sing in her accolades, and this is the thanks they give her? Such betrayal.” Clutching at her heart with both hands, she fell to her knees in a mock expression of agony.

Now standing over her as she literally sprawled out on the ground, Klavier spared Kay a glance longer before he turned to Sebastian. He raised an eyebrow. “And you don’t enjoy this? It seems like fun enough.”

He shrugged, staring off into the distance. “Oh, I do. I just don’t need a fantasy version to make it interesting” The biggest mischievous grin Klavier had seen bloomed on his face. “Even though her mother is completely fine with her being with us, it’s just because her aunt’s technically in charge when she’s gone and doesn’t like us. I mean, she almost never cares about what Maya does otherwise; she gets so upset about this specifically though, it’s great.”

Klavier didn’t notice that he had been staring for a moment, until Kay, who had sprung back up, clapped him on the back and motioned for them to follow her. He was glad to have the guidance, since even in the light there was, they had to keep their gaze down to avoid stepping off the stone pathways and tripping over something or another. Finally, they stopped behind a larger bush situated just next to the house itself.

Kay pointed at a second-floor window just to the side of where they stood. “That’s our target. See the bench over there? We drag that over and you guys give me a boost from there. I climb in the window, retrieve the lady, and off we go. Ready?”

Despite its heavy appearance, the bench moved with relatively little fuss by the three of them, although they did have to take care not to scrape it against any of the stepping stones embedded in the grass. Once it was positioned below the window, Kay directed the boys to step up before climbing up in the middle.

“So,” she said, seemingly unfazed by being practically squashed between the two of them, “if you can just get me up high enough to reach that ledge thingy, I’ll fly up the rest of the way! Stay out of sight until I get back, and we’ll be out in no time.”

It took a bit of maneuvering and a last-second aversion of an accident, but finally Kay was pushing off of them. Regaining his balance after the sudden loss of weight on him, Klavier looked up to see that she was true to her word, climbing the bumpy surface with only slightly more apparent difficulty than most people would a ladder.

“A woman of many talents, ja?”

Sebastian shook his head, smiling. “Something like that. Here, help me move this back.” As they picked up the bench, he added, “She practices rock climbing a lot. And on other buildings. She climbed through my window in the middle of the night a lot after she found out I was having trouble sleeping. Mr. Edgeworth actually gave her a house key to try to get her to stop, but she still does it some of the time.”

As they returned to their initial spot by the side of the house, Klavier gave him a soft smile. “Good.” When he received a confused tilt of the head and an otherwise mostly blank expression, he added, “That she wants to help you. I-“ A hand went up to run through his hair. He suddenly wished he’d brought his sunglasses after all (which he hadn’t because it was dark out when they left and that would just be ridiculous, even for him).

“I feel bad about not being as much a friend as I should have been, in the past, and…” A sigh. “At least now you have other people too, ja?”

“I guess.” He raised his shoulders as he spoke, accompanied by a shake of the head that it seemed unclear whether he was aware of. “But there’s nothing for you to apologize for. I mean, I was, well…you know. I wouldn’t blame you guys if you never wanted anything to do with me.”

Klavier paused his instinctual motion to comfort halfway there. “May I?” he ventured. When he received a nod, he gently placed a hand over one of Sebastian’s. “Those were quite different circumstances. And nothing changes the fact that you deserve to have good people in your life.” In a lighter tone, he added, “Besides, would we be here doing this now if we didn’t want to be your friends?”

A sniffle. “I guess not, huh?” Sebastian ducked his head, but the tension in his body had lessened significantly.

Satisfied, he smiled to himself and opened his mouth to add something else, but was interrupted by a shriek.

---

Kay pulled herself up the final few inches to be level with the window. A quick pattern of taps against the glass, and it slid open almost instantly. Climbing inside, she sat against the windowsill. “Well, I appreciate the assistance. But,” she struck a pose, staring down the standing girl in the middle of the room, “I do hope you realize you just let in a thief.”

“You’re lost then. The exhibit area’s downstairs.”

She flipped her scarf over her shoulder. “Oh, but I am here to steal something far more valuable than that. I am here for...your heart!”

At this, Maya’s serious expression broke. “And that’s where you’re wrong again.” Arms crossed over her chest, she grinned. “You can’t steal what’s freely given.”

Kay started. Stumbling forward as she tripped over her own legs, she finally made her way over the other, flushed and stuttering.

Maya giggled. “You’re adorable,” she said, stepping up on her toes to press a kiss to Kay’s cheek.

“Yeah, well, so are you,” she mumbled under her breath. Then, after a minute of looking around to compose herself, she added, much more audibly, “Where’s Pearly?”

“Not coming this time. Said she had too much to work on, and Athena’s…” She trailed off as she struggled not to burst into laughter as Kay had immediately started to search for the girl, first by opening the wardrobe, and then by crawling under the bed.

Kay dragged herself out, beaming as she stood back up and made her way over to her girlfriend. She wrapped her arms around her, tilting her chin so that her head rested on top of Maya’s. A content sigh as she melted into the embrace.

They both probably would have stayed there for hours, quiet revelry in each other’s warmth and the way they could rest against each other so comfortably, all that time spent figuring out the exact way to hold each other so they fitted together perfectly paying off more than they could have imagined. Kay had just reached a hand up to run fingers through Maya’s hair, though, when she caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye.

She let out a squeak, turning sharply to face what turned out to be the door, open enough of a crack to show the form of a woman frozen halfway inside.

“Hi…sis…” Maya’s voice came out muffled. With a little effort, she extricated herself from her still-shocked girlfriend’s grasp enough so that her face wasn’t pressed into her. “What are you…”

Mia lifted an arm to show what she had been carrying. “You left your jacket downstairs, and it would hardly be responsible of me to let you go out tonight without one.” Pushing the door shut with only the softest of clicks, she made her way over to the two of them. “I know you’re quite attached, but if I may borrow my sister for a moment.”

Kay stared at her before realizing that she still had her arms firmly around Maya’s waist. “Right!” She released her and took a good couple of steps back, to give them space.

Holding up the jacket, Mia nodded her head. As Maya lifted her arms, she went about the motions of sliding the jacket on over her pajamas, a warm smile appearing in her eyes. She tugged down on the edges before carefully zipping it up.

“Sis, I’m plenty old enough to do this by myself,” she groaned, staring off at a spot on the wall.

Giving the zipper a final tug, she chuckled. Putting a hand each on the sides of Maya’s face, she held her still long enough to kiss her forehead. “Exactly. You’re growing up so fast. It’s like yesterday you were a baby and now I’m here embarrassing you in front of your girlfriend.”

Maya’s only response was to stick her tongue out and yank the hood of her jacket up over the top of her face.

As if remembering her presence, she took that opportunity to levy a glance in Kay’s direction. “And I can be confident that she will take care of my baby sister, correct?”

Mia was only an inch or two taller than her sister, but her stare still made Kay feel as though she was the one having to look up to make eye contact. Her mouth seemed to have stopped working, so she settled for vigorously nodding instead.

“Good.” She fluffed up Maya’s hair with one hand. “I can handle Aunt Morgan as long as you’re back by-“

“MOTHER!”

“Aw shit,” Kay breathed, lunging for the bag that sat by the edge of the bed. “Time to go.” Sticking her head out the window, she cringed as she noticed a figure in white dashing away from the area under the window.

“Busted?” The whisper came from behind her as Maya attempted to get a view as well.

“Dahlia.”

She slapped her hands on the windowsill. “Ugh.” Wriggling her way so she was also partially out the window, she cupped her hands around her mouth. “Time to go, boys!” She tried to wave at the two as they appeared from behind a bush, but found that the spot was just a little to tight to let her actually move from how she was.

A sigh from inside the room. “You’re going to get stuck if you keep that up, and I’m not going to be able to delay them that long.” With a gentle but firm grip, Mia tugged the two of them out from the frame. “Go on,” she waved at Kay.

She gave a single nod. The bag was unceremoniously dropped out the window seconds before she began climbing out of it herself.

Mia gave her sister one last hug before making her way to the other side of the door. “Have fun, be good. Chair under the handle, I can stall easier that way.” A smile, and then she was gone.

Wasting no time in doing so, Maya dashed back to the window, under which the other three were standing. She managed to maneuver her way out and hanging off the ledge with only a little trouble, and at Kay’s signal, let herself drop down.

The landing wasn’t as comfortable as it could have been, finding herself in a tangle of limbs, mostly on Sebastian with Kay still half-hanging on to where she’d caught her legs, but nothing broken, nothing bruised. She grinned at the unfamiliar blonde half-crouched to one side of them. “Hi!”

He simply frowned, looking over at something behind them. “Nice to meet you, Fraulein, but perhaps later? It seems we have some attention.”

There were in fact a lot of lights on in the house now, and shouts could be heard from inside.

Kay took Maya’s hand and pulled her up, starting at a run as soon as she was on her feet. Both of them be laughing as they went, picking their way back through the maze of landscaping.

Behind them, Klavier hesitated as he scanned the grounds. The girls had retreated enough in the moments longer it had taken him to get to his feet that he couldn’t quite follow their movements, and there were so many winding paths of garden, even with the lights from inside he-

His problem was easily solved as Sebastian skidded to a halt close enough to almost knock into him. “May I?” He held out his hand.

Klavier began to hesitantly raise his own to take it when there was a much louder exclamation. A woman appeared from the side of the house, holding up a flashlight and shouting Maya’s name, among other things that his mind wasn’t bothering to process right now, apparently.

At this point, Sebastian grabbed onto his arm and began absolutely booking it towards the trees. Practiced motions wound through the obstacles with ease even in the dark, accompanied by a pace that had them out on open grass in minutes.

It was hardly fair, Klavier thought, that even though he was barely shorter he was still being pulled along behind Sebastian a little, adrenaline being the main factor that had him keeping pace. Well, that and the little breathless laughs that he could occasionally hear over the rustle of leaves and the girls’ laughs and whoops ahead of them.

They skidded to a halt just inside the tree line. Klavier had just slid his arm out of Sebastian’s grip in time to dodge away from Kay barreling towards him.

She let out an “I’m gonna hug you ok,” so fast the words mushed together. A second’s pause right in front of him with her arms held out. When he nodded, she practically flung herself at him, the force of it lifting him off his feet. Kay went with it though, using the motion to spin Sebastian around. “That was awesome!”

“Yeah!” Maya’s volume was a little too high for comfort considering she was almost right next to Klavier, who was still trying to recover. She gave him as good a look-over as she could in the near-complete darkness. “You want burgers? I could go for a burger right now wow I am out of it right now. I’m Maya, by the way.” She held out a hand for a high-five.

“Klavier.”

Her flat hand managed to shift to a firm grip as she shook his hand when he moved to high-five her. “Nice.” Letting go, she circled behind the other two to retrieve her bag from where it had been dropped.

“Well then,” Kay, who had finally put Sebastian down, slung her arm over Klavier’s shoulder. “You have fun?”

He looked at her, grinning wildly and sweaty to the touch. Then over to Maya, dirt streaked across her face and hands (he faintly recalled seeing her stumble before). And Sebastian, looking ruffled but more importantly with another of those genuine smiles which Klavier was pretty sure he’d seen more of during this evening than ever before. They were debating about going out versus heading back to Kay’s, but exhaustion setting in kept him from really paying it much mind. He took a breath, his heartbeat only just settling down from something he could actively feel and the fall chill starting to register again.

“Ja,” He turned back to Kay, a mirror of her smile blooming on his own face. “I did.”

#Ace Attorney #Kay Faraday #Maya Fey #Sebastian Debeste #Klavier Gavin #farafey #i think that's what their pairing name is but its so rare someone please correct me if its not #also brief appearances by/mentions of most of the rest of the Feys #fanfiction #my writing #also in case readmore doesn't work on whatever format #long post

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