#We're finally gonna get some SPY stuff out of this boy

[milkibabe]

♥ family camping trip w/ kenny (headcanons) ♥

✢ summary: headcanons on going on a camping trip with Kenny’s family

✢ authors note: heyy since my first post blew up i'm deciding to do all of the boys ;p

✢ gender: reader is implied to be female <3

✢ warnings: nsfw, mentions of weed/smoking

Kenny HCs

𝒮𝐹𝒲

Begged you to go camping with him for months.

When you finally took some time off to go with him, he was ecstatic.

"We're gonna have so much fun"

Was confused why you packed so much stuff.

"What do you mean you still need to brush your teeth?"

Boy is an animal I swear, he can be so nasty.

You, Kenny, and Karen played 'I Spy' while in the car.

Kenny loves when you play with his little sister, it makes his heart melt.

"You'd make such a good mom"

Kenny just casually drops that while you're unpacking, like it isn't the sweetest thing you've ever heard.

You cannot escape his kisses, you've lost count of how many times he's kissed you.

You'll just be getting the fire wood ready for the campfire and he'll sneak up and kiss you on the neck from behind.

"There's my pretty girl"

Kenny is already rugged by nature, so camping is really his element.

When it's just you around he'll purposely be shirtless to get your attention.

Seeing him chop wood... while shirtless??? You nearly exploded at the sight.

"Whatcha lookin' at hm?"

He gives you a cocky grin that makes you roll your eyes.

Stupid, sexy Kenny.

He is a night owl. He prefers to do everything later at night with you.

He always sleeps through breakfast, so you always nag him to eat lunch.

"Only if I get to eat you for lunch" He grins at you.

You groan and push him away. Dude can be so cheesy.

Never lets you wear your own sweaters or jackets. He wants you to wear is giant, orange parka, always.

He saw you shiver and immediately draped it over your shoulders.

His parka smells like his cologne and weed.

You always tell him "Babe... you're gonna make my hair smell like weed.

Speaking of weed, boy is always offering you some.

"Babe, can we please smoke by the water?"

You look at your phone. "Kenny, it's like 3 am..."

You, of course, do it anyways. It's fun getting high with your hot, blonde stoner bf.

*Queue Moonlight by Kali Uchis*

He makes sure to bring plenty of water for the dry mouth and your favorite snackies when you get the munchies.

He loves to feed you the snacks himself, he loves spoiling you.

"I want to do this with you every night for the rest of my life"

𝓝𝓢𝓕𝓦

Everyone already knows Kenny is a horny ass man, so it was no surprise when you couldn't get him off of you.

Cannot fucking resist teasing you every second.

Would whisper in your ears in the car while you're just minding your own business.

"Can't wait to fuck your brains out"

The face you made when he whispered that satisfied him a lot.

Everywhere you went on that trip was a place to fuck.

The tent? Yep. Some random isolated place in the middle of the woods? Yup. The showers/bathroom? You betcha.

Asked you to go skinny dipping with him in the middle of the night.

You were freezing cold of course.

This dude has the audacity to say "Aw, you can come to me to conserve warmth"

Obviously, this whole thing was a ploy to hold you while you were naked.

He would instantly start to suck on your neck, while massaging your ass with both hands.

You dug your fingernails into his back and in response he bit your neck.

Your moans made him grin, he loved how easily you melted into his touch.

Turned you around so he could grind his cock between your ass.

Wrapped his arms around your shoulders and whispered into your ear while he grinded against you.

"You're fucking perfect"

When shit was getting super heated, he walked you over to an isolated rock so you could hold yourself up on it while he fucked you.

You held on to that rock for dear life while he pounded you.

He loved watching how your body looked under the moonlight.

His favorite thing about standing doggy style is being able to watch himself pull out all the way and slam back into you.

Always riles him up when you stroke his ego.

You whine out, "Ah, its too big Kenny!"

Kenny smirks and says "Aw, but you take me so well, baby"

He only fucks you harder when you whine and whimper.

Takes him forever to cum, you probably came three times by now.

That's fine by him, he enjoys overstimulating you.

You were losing your grip on the rock and your legs could no longer stand, so he has to hold you up.

Kenny knows his job is done when you are about to collapse.

"Fuck, I'm gonna cum"

He finally hits his climax and he pulls out to cum all over your ass.

"My favorite sight in the world"

He's proud of the work he's done but notices you about to pass out and quickly uses the water to wash you off.

"My sleepy little princess"

After drying you off with a towel, he puts his parka on you and carries you back to camp.

"Ooh, remind me to fuck you while you wear this next time"

Dude's always thinking of the next time he gets to fuck you smh.

#south park fanfiction #south park x reader #kenny mccormick x reader #kenny mccormick x reader smut #south park hcs #south park #south park smut #kenny mccormick

[4acoffee]

How the Mighty Fall

masterlist

synopsis. After a late night text ruins your chances of sleeping peacefully, you and your explosive classmate end up keeping each other company during a restless night.

pairing. bakugou x reader

word count. 1.3k words 

genres & warnings. fluff, swearing, aged-up slightly, sharing a bed, angst if you wear glasses

notes. I'm a liar, I'm a filthy fuckin liar I KNOWWW. We're not gonna talk abt how it's been months since my last fic😇 BUT!!! It's summer break!!! I have more time on my hands!!! We'll see!!! Glad I finally got this out out, it was sitting in my drafts for so long I was considering not posting it 🤫

Lord Mouldy Bread Dynosaur💥🍞🦖: I can't fucking sleep.

A couple days into your mission, Bakugou texts you in the middle of the night, just as you're body was getting ready to succumb to the sweet release of sleep after a long day. With a groan you promptly ignore it, tossing your phone to the side of the bed and choosing to snuggle further into the sheets and tucking the blanket tighter around you.

Bakugou is a big boy and you had a long day, he could handle one restless night.

Which is why it struck you as odd that he had chosen to text you. Between his absurdly meticulous schedule, adamantly self-reliant nature, and your tentative friendship, you couldn't wrap your head around what could be so serious about his lack of sleep that he would reach out to you.

The two of you were currently stuck on a scouting mission together, playing the part of roommates while spying on a nearby group who were suspected to be part of a underground organization of villains.

And let it be said that scouting missions were not the explosive hero's cup of tea. Days when you have to bide time at home include you lounging on the couch, watching every show you possibly could on Netflix, and Bakugou pacing around the house, cleaning like his life depended on it. Watching him turn the house spotless made you fidgety, and oftentimes you got dragged into helping him with a few chiding words and grumbles.

You figured the lack of work must be making him ill at ease, causing his inability to sleep, so with one last sigh, you dragged yourself out of bed and into the dark hallway way where you trudged to the kitchen. It was for the best that you at least put an effort into helping him get some rest, a pissy Bakugou would not be good for your nerves in the morning either.

Flicking one of the dim lights on, you make quick work of grabbing a couple snacks. Heating up a bowl of spicy instant ramen, pouring a glass of milk and tucking a box of sugar cookies for yourself under your arm.

Slowly, you make your way to Bakugou's room and knock a few times, stifling a yawn as you hear shuffling on the other side and waited for him to open the door.

The door cracks open enough for him to look down at you and narrow his eyes and the various snacks in your arms.

"The fuck do you w— Hey!"

You push past him to set your stuff down on the nightstand beside his bed and you plop yourself on his sheets, gesturing for him to do the same.

He follows you begrudgingly, eyeing you the whole time, and sits himself next you.

Wordlessly, you hand him the bowl of steaming ramen, which he accepts with another unnecessarily mean look at you, and you proceed to devour the sugar cookies you brought for yourself.

He grumbles about you spilling crumbs on his bed and you roll your eyes, making a point to brush the little crumbs on your lap onto the floor instead.

He pressed his lips together and shot you a glare in displeasure, but stayed silent nonetheless.

Which came as a surprise to you, because usually, at this point he would have been ready to hurl your untidy ass into outer space for making a mess in his room.

A closer look at him reveals the tired set of his brow and the frown etched on his face. Not an uncommon sight altogether, but still more apparent than usual. His hair is all tousled from the rolling he must of done in an effort to get any sleep and you you could see the beginnings of dark circles beginning to set under his eyes.

Curiosity and guilt begin to seep into your chest, wondering if it was really bad enough for his old man sleep schedule to fall apart, and how you didn't notice until now.

You figured he would tell you eventually if he wanted to, if he was comfortable enough to text you at this ungodly time in the night, it must mean that he feels your presence to be agreeable enough to share his thought with you.

Or, because your the only other person in the house.

Either way, for now your content with sitting in silence and waiting for Bakugou to reveal to you what's bothering him, or kick you out if said thing bothering him becomes you.

Still, the silence didn't last very long.

"Well, — aren't you gonna ask me?" Bakugou started in-between slurps of his noodles.

You paused halfway through your cookie to look at him, "Ask you what?"

He glared at you from under his upsettingly gorgeous and long lashes, " 'bout why I ain't sleeping. Aren't you gonna ask, dumbass?"

You blinked at him and shrugged, turning your attention back to your cookie, "I was just gonna let you tell me if you wanted to. I'm not getting told off for getting into your business if you don't want me to."

He doesn't really answer, but looks at you strangely and sets his half finished ramen in his lap. Bakugou stares down at the spicy noodles like the hold the answers to all his problems before he starts talking quietly, quickly, — like he was more talking to himself than you.

"Yunno why I work my ass off everyday? Because when I don't, I end up, — lost in my fuckin' head. Every time, I sleep —"

He runs a hand agitatedly through his already unkept hair, and you watch carefully at his increasingly anxious expression.

"It's always about the same shit, the villain attacks, the war, always cuz' of me."

His voice drops and you lean closer, "sometimes it's me, sometimes it's the people I know, but someone always ends up, fuckin, getting hurt, not makin' it."

He scoffs and shoots you a quick glance, "Know it's fuckin' stupid, I know it's not real but I hate that it could have been, — that it still could be."

He visibly deflates, "I don't fucking know".

You breathe sharply, that's already much more that you expected to hear from him.

You feel oddly proud that he seems to think he can trust you with his feeling, and you make a silent promise to not let that trust go to waste.

Setting your half finished cookie down back into it's box, you set it aside and turn to face Bakugou on the bad.

You're not sure exactly what he needs at the moment, but you figure that even the strongest, most amazing people in the world need the reassurance that everything will be ok. That they are doing their best. That they have the support of the people around them.

Which is what you tell him, in hushed whispers, a little awkwardly with the praise but you mean every word and you need him to understand that as well.

He listens to everything you say, gaze not faltering a moment, doesn't even interrupt him when you tell him he doesn't need to be so stubborn and hard-headed.

Eventually, as your sleep dazed consolation rant comes to a standstill, you think your attempt at reassurance was enough to almost lull him to sleep, or you at least bore him to death, because you notice the way his eyes start to droop and his body begins to slump towards the bed.

Just as the now, room-temperature bowl of ramen was threatening to slip from his fingers, you gently pry it from his grasp and place it out of the way on his nightstand.

He becomes a little more alert and makes a sleepy little sound at you that has you biting your lip to hold back a smile.

You clear your throat, "Ok Dynamight, I think it's time for you to get some sleep."

You pat him on the leg and move to get up from the bed, — only to be stopped by an arm reaching up to grasp yours.

"Where the hell are ya going." Bakugou says to you in a sleepy slur.

You purse your lips in surprise, "Um, back to bed, so you can get some rest, you look really tired now—."

"No". He interrupts.

You splutter as he gives your arm a small tug that has you falling into the bed again.

He doesn't meet your eyes but doesn't let go of your arm either when you look at him questioningly, "Jus', stay here tonight, — it's late".

An obvious excuse, your bedroom is just on the other side of the hallway, — but you know better than to argue with him, not to mention the promise of comfortable sleep seemed far too good to pass up.

So gently, without saying a word, you shuffle over to one side of his bed and snuggle into the mattress, pulling the covers over your body.

You watch as he does the same, brushing some spare crumbs of the sheets and rolling onto his side under your shared covers.

Bakugou doesn't tell you how much it matters to him that you were willing to let him take his time to tell you how he feels, he won't tell you that he is endlessly grateful you took the time out of your night to come check on him, to fill his head with words of reassurance instead of the brutal thoughts that usually haunt him, — but he does pull you closer to him, resting his chin on your head, letting the rise and fall of your body lull him to sleep.

You don't tell him that it was getting hard to breathe from in-between his huge ass arms and ridiculously built chest, but you wait till his breathing evens out to slowly turn around in his grip, snuggling back into him with a content sigh as you both finally get to slip into a well deserved sweet dream.

Masterlist

#bakugou x reader #bakugou katsuki x reader #katsuki bakugou #bnha x reader #mha x reader #katsuki x reader #bakugou x you #bakugou x gender neutral reader #mha #coffee's fics #bakugou fluff #bakugou drabble

[leverage-commentary]

Leverage Season 3, Episode 15, The Big Bang Job, Audio Commentary Transcript

Marc: Hello I'm Marc Roskin, director of this episode.

John: I am John Rogers, executive producer.

Geoff: I'm Geoff Thorne, I'm a co-writer of this episode.

Aldis: This is cookies, the good looking half of milk and cookies.

[All Laugh]

Christian: That's Aldis Hodge, I'm Christian Kane, and I play Eliot Spencer.

Aldis: That'd be milk.

Chris: [Laughs]

Christian: There you go.

Chris: And I'm Chris Downey, executive producer, co-writer of this episode: The Big Bang Job, part one of our explosive two part season finale. 

Geoff: Yay!

John: Yeah, I think this one is gonna go a little slower since we have the boys in here today, we're gonna keep—

[All Laugh]

John: Gonna keep hopping back and forth, that's why I broke out—usually Guinness, I broke out the Irish for this one. 

[Clinking Noise]

Marc: Ice in the glass, ice in the glass right there.

John: Okay, this is the big setup, we had to—we knew that at this point we were coming back after a break, so we had to do a big reset scene, and actually, this is pretty cut up. We had, at one point, a long sort of recap version of this scene to show you all the victims, the villains, and how they hooked up and how they connected, to remind you exactly, you know, how the season had built to this moment. This was a, this was a ton of—how'd we come up with this abduction/rescue?

Chris: Yeah, Geoff, I think this was, when we broke this-?

Geoff: I just think we needed a way in, we needed a victim, we—this show is very—this episode was very sort of James Bond-y movie-esque, and we didn't want to get too far away from what Leverage actually is, so we needed someone to bring the crew in, so we came up with Yasmin, and her—

Chris: Played by Ginger Williams.

Aldis: Yes.

Geoff: She did a lovely job, a lovely gal. And and this scene right now, is her being, sort of victimized, [laughs] but-

Aldis: Let me ask you something-

Marc: In the labs of Portland State University.

John: Yeah, this was great. Portland State was amazing.

Aldis: We actually, they got mad because we actually blew up a building. No, let me ask you something Geoff, I know that John and Chris write from personal experience of criminal history—

[All Laugh]

Aldis:—how many people have you abducted?

[All Laugh]

Geoff: No abductions, a little bit of grifting in my past.

John: Here, a little something for the red states: how many white women have you abducted in the past year and [drowned out by laughter].

Geoff: Uhhh, well they all came willingly, so is it an abduction? I dunno! If the victim comes along and they want to be there...

Aldis: So, so, how did that explosion happen?

Marc: Interactive light, and then we built some models and shot some models and put them in.

Christian: Man, don't give stuff like that away.

John: No, we, we actually... and unlike doing CG, we have found that models, which is the old school, actually looks best on explosions.

Christian: Yeah.

John: So we blow real stuff up.

Geoff: Practical.

John: And it's still pretty big, by the way, we have to build it in our parking lot.

Aldis: Basically part of their job is to build stuff just to destroy it.

Marc: And Christian, Christian actually wasn't in that scene, he was out doing bigger scenes.

Christian: Yeah, I was out doing-

Chris: That wasn’t you in the-?

John: Yeah, that was actually the reverse on you-

Christian: Yeah, that was- yeah.

Chris: You're kidding, really?

Christian: No, that wasn’t me.

Geoff: That's insane.

Marc: The reverse on Christain-

Christian: I was doing a bigger stunt that day.

Geoff: That later thing, ok.

Christian: I'll tell you where I was later on.

Marc: That was actually the last shot of the entire season.

Christian: Yeah, that's right.

John: Get out.

Christian: Me taking my mask off, that was it.

Marc: That was it.

Geoff: It was actually a lot more I-Spy-ish and we actually pared it down to make her more victim-ish.

John: Yeah.

Geoff: She was initially more…what would you say? She was more in the government. She had a gun in her desk, and she was, like, gonna pop off some shots.

Aldis: Ah.

Geoff: We were like, “Nah, she needs to be more victim-y.”

John: Well that's always the challenge when you do an off-speed episode, you have to make sure all the touch stones: the victim you care about, some sort of mystery to be solved. And this is a much more mystery oriented episode than usual.

Geoff: Yeah.

John: You know, we don't have our goal right up front, which is fun.

Chris: And also we’re trying to- ultimately we’re trying to prevent something which is typically not something we do.

John: Not ordinarily something we would do, exactly. Oh and here we are with Timothy Carhart, is that right?

Marc: That's correct.

John: Yeah playing the general, good job.

Geoff: Excellent job.

John: Looks exactly like a dude who was building rockets in the late 50’s to defeat the Soviets, thank you. And thank you to all the men out there who helped us defeat the Soviets.

Aldis: Has a fresh haircut right there.

Chris: Yeah, your eye goes right to that hair.

[Laughter]

John: That is some X-Men hair.

Aldis: It's just like boom!

Christian: He looks like that guy in Beverly Hills Cop II.

[Laughter]

John: He does.

Marc: That is the technical green color, as Dave Connel calls that.

John: Technical green?

Marc: Technical green.

John: [British Accent] “We need some technical green in here, mate.” Yeah. There you go. Yeah, look sciency!

[Laughter]

John: Which is an actual artistic term for that color.

Geoff: Sciency green.

Aldis: [Accent] “Sciencey!”

John: Yeah, this is a tricky as hell episode. We gotta meet the victim and then we have to set up the plot of the arriving bad guy. We have two bad guys, which is always difficult as hell.

Geoff: Right.

John: Always really tough to do. And it is an enormous amount of pipe. And there’s us towing a real plane.

Marc: Towing a real plane.

John: Lovely private airport.

Aldis: They allow us to do these things.

Christian: That's actually Timothy Hutton's plane.

[Laughter]

Marc: It came with another car.

John: That's right, that’s the plane he flies around to solve crime and woo authoresses in.

Chris: He has an interesting power like Elvis.

Geoff: It turns into an anime style mech suit to fight space battles in.

Marc: There’s Michael Rogers as a rival.

John: That's not Michael Rogers, Michael Rogers is the guy in the suit; that's a Portland actress. This is a lovely shot, looking up like this. Portland State has this great central staircase which we had scouted a bunch of times, and it always stuck in our heads and we finally shot the hell out of it when we did this.

Chris: Now how do you introduce the- there's a challenge here because we’ve never seen-

John: Always on his back.

Chris: We've never seen the big bad guy, and we've alluded to him the whole season, so how do you approach this?

Marc: Yeah, the idea was just to stay on his back the whole time, hear his voice, call him by name but never reveal his face until the proper moment.

John: Yeah, this is- in Inside Job I did that with Chamberlain, it's a very classic 1940’s way of- you know.

Marc: Well especially since this whole season has been building to this.

Geoff: Yeah.

John: We were very lucky to get Goran Visnjic who was amazing who doesn't normally do this kind of role and really enjoyed it.

Geoff: He did a great job.

Christian: Unbelievable.

Aldis: Yeah.

John: Yeah, this was a lot of fun setting up exactly the- oh by the way unfortunately cut was the fact that the battery is a xenon difluoride battery. The tech of this battery actually works.

Chris: The sound you hear right now is everyone listening falling asleep.

[Laughter]

John: No! No, no! They are fascinated by new battery tech! They’re on wikipedia now!

Aldis: You won't believe how many people are actually really truly fascinated by it, cause I get the questions all the time.

John: Yeah, exactly.

Geoff: Hey, the craziest thing about the show is we make up stuff that is less interesting than the stuff we grab from the news.

John: Yeah, almost everything you think ‘holy shit is that true?’ Yeah, that’s the true part. Particularly the horrible bits.

Geoff: Yeah, the most horrible is usually the truest thing.

Christian: You guys are a bunch of dorks, man. If I can't punch it, I don't care.

[Laughter]

Christian: If I can't punch it, it doesn't mean anything.

John: We give you shit to punch!

Christian: I know!

John: Is that how you read the scripts? “Blah, blah, blah, blah, Eliot hits a guy! Ahhh! Here we are.”

Chris: Punch!

Geoff: Spinning backfist!

Chris: It's true, he does enter here late after a lot of exposition is given.

John: He does, he does. As a matter of fact, he was scheduled to enter earlier-

Chris: What were you doing back there while all that- that exposition was happening? 

John: He was flirting with some extra back there.

[Laughter]

Geoff: Punching people!

Marc This is a great moment where Eliot is holding back something, and Hardison is the only one who is tapping into it.

Christian: Actually I think Sophie’s the only one that’s tapping into it.

Aldis: Well, wait for Hardison.

John: Yeah, she senses something, but Hardison gets it but he doesn't get it. I think Sophie's kinda figured it out by this point.

Aldis: Like I said man, see, right there, boom.

Christian: There you go.

Aldis: “Are you ok?” You see all the passion in the eyes? See the worry?

Geoff: Bromance, it's a bromance.

Aldis: Told you man, milk and cookies.

[Laughter]

Christian: I'm working off of it right here.

Aldis: Just saying. That just means we spend too much time together.

Christian: It does.

Aldis: Hardison needs to spend some special time with Parker.

John: We’ll see what we can do.

Aldis: Yeah.

John: This was a long act 1. And this was kinda fun actually, was hacking out exactly- and something we discovered going into the third act: audience likes to see process, they like to see you guys figure the stuff out, they like to see how you plan, not just the actual execution.

Aldis: How many pages was that?

Marc: And we love shooting five-handers.

John: And the directors love shooting five-handers. You got through that coverage in what, 48, 72 hours for one scene?

Marc: No, yeah.

Geoff: They sent us memos, can we have more than five-handers?

[Laughter]

John: But now you’re split up, split up into two and two, essentially, here.

Geoff: Can I just say how awesome a job Portland does, doubling every place else in the world?

John: Yeah, really fantastic.

Aldis: We got- yeah, who is that, Geoffrey Blake, right?

Marc: Geoffrey Blake playing Bixby. This was a fun beat, Tim played this really-

Chris: Lionel Whitney, by the way, his alias here, was a nod to Tenspeed and Brown Shoe.

[Laughter]

Marc: No way!

John: Nice, very nice.

Chris: Yes, that was the name of Jeff Goldblum's character from one of our beloved shows.

Geoff: Sweet.

John: What is the scientist Bixby's first name?

Geoff: Is it William?

John: It’s William, yeah. We-

Christian: Bill Bixby?

[Laughter]

John: Bill Bixby, we have a theory in another series that guy gets exposed to radiation.

Geoff: And all Hulk breaks loose.

John: And he becomes a non trademarked- he becomes the Incredible Bulk.

Chris: Or become a crime solving magician!

Geoff: Hey, I'm trying to get that show back.

John: Yeah, the crime solving magician who turns into a giant green monster when you cross him.

Christian: This was the second to the last shot right here.

Marc: Yeah it was.

Chris: Oh was it?

John: Yeah it was, Friday night.

Geoff: You’re kidding, really?

Christian: Before we wrapped the season. Was me and Hardison and then I jumped outside, that's right.

John: In the basement of the theater.

Aldis: Remember the soup you were supposed to taste?

Geoff: You guys don’t look tired or beat at all.

Christian: Yeah, I was supposed to say, “Taste the soup.”

Geoff: Eat it all.

Aldis: The soup was something.

Christian: [Weird Voice] “Just taste the soup”

Chris: Now there was a fight here, there was a fight here that got cut.

John: Yeah.

Aldis: Nice.

Chris: It involved the billfold; it was-

John: Yeah, it was a lot of fun, but then we looked at the rest of the script and realized, there’s enough action.

[Laughter]

Geoff: Yeah, there’s plenty of-

Chris: There's never enough action, come on!

Geoff: Ass-kickery is the proper term.

John: It actually- it was one of those things we did because we were actually scheduling stunt men and running into trouble with the big, giant act 4 sequence, which you’ve seen.

Christian: Yeah, right, right, right.

John: If you're watching this, you've seen it. And it turns out him just saying his name and that guy being scared shitless-

Chris: Yeah, it worked.

John: Works better. That's one of those times the dialogue works.

Chris: It worked well.

John: Also, nice freakout there, Aldis.

Aldis: Thanks.

John: Very good panic, freak out. And a good reset.

Aldis: Nice pat on my back, boom.

[Laughter]

John: Little something for you, there you go.

Aldis: Feel like my life is complete.

John: You look good in a suit, too.

Christian: Yeah, I guess they've already seen this. We can talk about other scenes, ‘cause at this point they've seen it.

Aldis: They’ve seen it, they’ve seen it, yeah.

John: Yeah, yeah they watch it all the way through and then they go back and watch the- yeah. Yeah, you can, absolutely. Also at the- we’ll skip over this, cause this is the standard spook a guy and take his wallet, we've done this a million times. 

Aldis: Yup.

John: Christain, the day you told me you were actually playing a certain beat, like a certain idea in your head when you- the whole sequence with Moreau when he gets thrown in the pool. What was the- it was trying to do the math of how far you could push it?

Christian: That was exactly it. I was- I'm counting the guys and I'm also counting exactly how long Hardison could make it where I could revive him; not only hold his breath, but where I can revive him.

[Laughter]

Chris: Like in the abyss.

Geoff: He can actually die, but I can get him back.

Christian: Yeah, exactly.

Chris: Part of the plan was to die.

John: So in your head you are Ed Harris and you're…?

Geoff: Mary Elizabeth.

[All talking over each other]

Marc: It would just be with compressions though.

Aldis: I actually counted it out, I could hold my breath for that long.

Marc: No mouth to mouth, just compressions?

Christian: Yeah absolutely, no mouth to mouth, just compressions. Listen, it's not my fault if he doesn't hack it - he got himself into that.

Aldis: I mean mouth to mouth- there’s enough ladies there to get him.

John: Yeah, but we actually timed the dialogue out so in theory you could have held your breath this long.

Aldis: Yeah, I got lungs of steel people. Asthma I got it yeah, but screw that.

Christian: Well hopefully when it gets to that part you can actually see that, because I am counting in my head while I'm having the conversation with Moreau to see how long that Hardison can be under.

Aldis: Look at his eyebrow twitch and you see, every time it twitches, that's a second.

John: It's a twitch of compassion.

[Laughter]

Geoff: Oh my god.

Aldis: It's not constipation, which most of you probably thought it was.

John: We’ll go back to this scene for a second, because it was tons of fun just coming up with the little con and heist-y stuff to do in that scene. The little three way game it's like tinkers [unintelligible]. It's a great little scene.

Chris: Yeah.

Marc So this pool has been out of commission for years.

Geoff: Really?

John: Yeah, tell us about this.

Marc: Totally, for years.

John: This was empty when we came.

Aldis: It felt like it, too.

Marc: This was the bottom of the Governor and we rebuilt it for the show.

John: Filled it.

Aldis: It was like the bottom of the arctic; it was supposed to be hot; it was cold!

Chris: So was it disease ridden or-?

John: No no, you were cold cause you got thrown in the water.

Marc: You were the only one who was cold.

John: Actually puked in the mens room because it was so hot in there.

Aldis: No, the pool itself was cold!

John: Oh yeah, yeah, but you were the only one going in.

Christian: Nobody’s mentioning the girls in the hot tub.

Aldis: By the way, ~sexual chocolate~!

John: Very good.

Aldis: I'm just saying every time, boom.

John: I don't think you have to mention it every time we see him.

Aldis: No, but the ladies were awesome.

John: We actually had to dub that giant section because when the girls all stood up- cause they were actually in the hot tub-

Aldis: It was splashing!

John: It sounded like a waterfall.

Christian: There it is, that's the reveal right there.

Marc: See that's why we held off the reveal till the right moment to see our baddie.

Geoff: Our nice James Bond villain.

John: That’s a nice reveal, it is.

Christian: He did such a great job in this role.

Chris: He's the devil coming out of basically hell.

Geoff: That's right.

Aldis: Now in the original version we had three naked women coming out after him, but I mean it's a family show, people.

John: It is a family show, we want your kids to be able to watch this.

Aldis: Exactly.

John: And that's a nice play, trying to figure out exactly what the hell is going on and catching up a little late.

Aldis: A little late?

John: Ah, the USB.

Aldis: The USB saves lives.

Marc: Everything.

John: It does. Well the thumb drive, the thumb drive is our friend on the show, thumb drive and cellphones.

Geoff: Best invention in the world. That and the cell phone.

John: This was also- I'm trying to remember where we came up with the last calls to figure out what exactly- who the next person should be. We just spent a lot of time in the writers room basically fucking around with cell phones trying to figure out what they can do. 

Geoff: Yeah.

John: GPS enabling and everything like that.

Geoff: Yeah, I saw something recently that's gonna be fun, hopefully, if we can work it in the next year that a cell phone can do.

John: Oh what is it?

Geoff: Holograms.

John: Ahh nice, holograms.

Geoff: They project a three dimensional light construct.

Aldis: Nice.

John: Cool. Tell visual effects now.

[Laughter]

John: Tim actually insisted on meeting Tim Carhart because they were shooting separately so he could imitate the voice properly.

Marc: Yes.

John: He actually rehearsed the voice.

Christian: That’s great.

Marc: He did, he made him a CD.

John: Nice. Also Derek Frederickson, the fifth Beatle, gave us all sorts of great graphics.

Chris: They all look fantastic.

Marc: Great graphics.

Geoff: God, those guys are great.

John: That exchange was actually one of my favorite bits in the script. “I'm not handcuffed to anything.” That just annoyed-

[Laughter]

John: Eliot's plan is working fine! Don't see what the-

Geoff: We’re on schedule man, chill.

John: I never realized how many characters I have in this show drink.

[Laughter]

John: Just looking at these now, I just put a glass in everybody's hand and-

Geoff: And they're kinda evil, dude.

Chris: This moment’s great too, here.

Aldis: All except for me; I can't get this glass.

John: Nope. And that was an improv too, that was-

Aldis: No love for me.

Christian: Makes him mad.

Chris: And shooting him a look like you-

Christian: It was in the script: Eliot does not look at Hardison when he goes in the pool. You know how hard that was to do, even though I knew I wasn't supposed to do it, but just not watch him go in the water right here.

John: Well also because it's your friend Aldis getting pushed in a pool.

Christian: It's my friend Aldis, exactly. And he's handcuffed to a chair! I mean he's really-

John: That is actually Aldis handcuffed to a chair going into a goddamn pool.

Aldis: I was handcuffed, I got kicked into the pool.

Chris: It was not a model of him.

Aldis: No, that was-

Chris: I know we talked a lot about models.

Aldis: No, this is not CG, people.

John: This is a dude handcuffed to a chair.

Geoff: That was really a money issue, though, I mean we could’ve built-

Marc: I saw Christain drawing up schematics of a bigger trailer if we knocked down the wall-

Christian: I can't wait till we get to the train.

John: Don't get me wrong, Christain liked the scene, it's just that-

Christian: No, I loved the scene.

John: Just, you know. No, this was an enormous- you got your underwater shot Chris.

Chris: I did.

John: Chris Downey has been waiting three years to do a shot underwater.

Geoff: Seaplane!

Aldis: And there it is, hold up, wait for it.

Chris: Oh yeah, here we go.

Aldis: And oh no, there I go.

John: Oh and that is Aldis Hodge going into the pool.

Aldis: That’s me.

Geoff: Oh no Mr. Hodge, I expected you to die.

Chris: Now what was that like, was that scary at all?

Aldis: To get kicked back wasn't scary at all, but to do- we had to do the takes over for the underwater shot of- alright standing up in the pool and then I had to sink down to the bottom and sit there for a minute, wait for the water to settle, and then they yell action and then I'm under there doing all that madness right there, yelling and all that screaming in the pool, that was terrifying.

Chris: That’s scary.

Aldis: Because you're sitting at the bottom of a pool like, “Alright, I'm waiting here.” And you know the chair is weighted down, so.

Chris: Did they call lunch?

Aldis: Like, ok guys.

Marc: Norbert wasn't scared at all.

Aldis: Actually you'll see my tie, I had to keep moving that thing out of the way right before we shot so I'm sitting there for a good 10, 15 seconds before they start rolling the camera.

Geoff: It looks great.

Christian: You did hold your breath for a really long time, man, I was impressed.

Aldis: It was fun man, it was fun.

Geoff: It was great, and ultimately all that matters is it looks great.

Aldis: It is.

Geoff: You guys breathing, surviving, you know.

John: No, they're great.

Chris: And it's a great-

John: Seven cameras, I think, in that room?

Marc: Seven cameras.

Christian: See, and there's the count and I'm counting right there.

Chris: You’re counting, I can see it.

Marc: Underwater cameras, you name it.

Aldis: At the same time, I also had a great stunt guy, Austin Priest, I've worked with him for years. He gave me-

John: He doubled you for part of this, right?

Aldis: Yeah, he doubled for some of it; he gave me a break every now and then. I did a couple takes and then he ran down and did a few himself. Cause after a while I was like, “Oh, lord.”

John: Well, I mean, the trick is you gotta work the rest of the day.

Aldis: Yeah, right.

John: Can't have you just exhausted. I love this exit, love this exit.

Geoff: God.

Christian: It’s great.

John: This is very-

Geoff: He fixes his jacket!

[Laughter]

Christian: Fix the jacket, he's back!

Geoff: Like alright I'm smooth, I'm tripping, but I'm smooth, baby.

John: Just the kobayashi-

Aldis: Wait for it!

All: Yeah!

Christian: It’s a wet rag.

Geoff: With a wet-!

Chris: Classic handkerchief.

Geoff: Well done, my friend.

John: It was great. And then the accent. Where’d you come up with that man, just fucking around with the suit?

Aldis: The- what, the-

John: The napkin- the-

Aldis: Oh at first I asked- I was talking like, “Christain, dude you gotta have some napkins. Cause I'm gonna ask you for a napkin.” And we were like, where does he pull a napkin out of?

Christian: My jeans are too tight, dude.

[Laughter]

Aldis: Yeah, the great Nadine Haders was like, “hey, handkerchief.” I was like, throw one of those in the pocket and we’ll go from there.

John: That's actually the test onset is when Christain puts on jeans, you have to try to put shit in the front pockets.

[Laughter]

John: And if nothing fits then they are tight enough.

Aldis: Have you seen my jeans? One time I spent ten-

Christian: Yeah, that's right, you have tighter jeans than I do.

Aldis: I literally spent ten minutes jumping into a pair of jeans. I was like, c'mon, this ain't happening.

John: And just so you know, if you buy- the job of checking those pockets is actually part of the lottery on the DVD, so if you didn't get the slip in the DVD set to get that job, then you should go out and buy like four more.

Christian: Nice, that's exactly it, man.

Geoff: Oh wow.

Marc: We’re talking about, the guys-

Christian: And I'm really hoping a female gets that ticket.

Marc: Elisabetta on screen in a bikini.

Aldis: Well I was about to say just for that moment right there, hot dayum to all the bikinis in the room!

Geoff: Well done, Mr. Clooney.

Christian: George Clooney is a lucky man. [Transcriber note: George Clooney and Elisabetta Canalis were dating at this point in time.]

Aldis: Yes.

John: Well because she's a lovely person too, it's not just the bikini.

Christian: Yeah she's great.

Aldis: She has nice, straight teeth.

Marc: This is a fantastic scene.

John: This was a bear.

Marc: Everybody was up on their game here, and big reveals and brilliant acting.

Christian: This is the first time I think you've ever seen anything emotional come from Eliot in front of the crew; he's done some stuff before, but never anything like this. And to do it in front of the crew, man this was a tough day for me.

Chris: Now how did you approach that- to get that vulnerability?

Aldis: He cried a lot, he cried.

Christian: If you'll notice, I really worked off of Tim right here to be honest with you. Tim gave everything back to me every single time, so I really worked off of Tim right here. And he helped me out with this a lot. And he didn’t do anything, just gave me his eyes, man, and it was really- I let- I felt like I let Nate down in that and I really used that in this scene.

John: Well it's a little like the second season finale, the one where he snaps in the conference room, cause I know he was anchoring off you in that, when you were trying to calm him down.

Christian: Yeah, right.

John: And he had the total meltdown.

Christian: Yeah.

John: That's what's great about television is the actors work together, they learn how to work with each other, and you get stuff you won’t get in a movie.

Geoff: From a fan perspective, before I came on this year, I was just a person watching this show and every season, the end of the season, there's always a moment like this where you guys gather, the characters gather, and something big is released.

Christian: Yeah, yeah.

Geoff: And this is, even though this is darker than the other ones, it's just like a big, nice compliment to the other two seasons.

Marc: This is my favorite beat, here.

Aldis: Yeah.

John: This is a great moment.

Chris: Yeah, this.

Marc: Just a great piece of dialogue.

Aldis: Kinda begs the question: who is next in line for a mental breakdown?

John: Yeah, yeah.

Marc: Me.

[Laughter]

Geoff: I have to say, that line of dialogue was written by Mr. Chris Downey and not by me.

Aldis: Ahhh.

Chris: No, no, I don't believe so, I think Dean, maybe-

Marc: I think Dean wrote that.

Geoff: Oh really? Okay.

Chris: Dean actually pitched this beat.

John: Dean pitched that line.

Chris: Dean pitched this beat.

Christian: Yeah, Dean told me about it coming in.

Geoff: Well done, Mr. Devlin.

Christian: This was tough for me, this whole thing was tough for me.

Chris: And I got a question: were you working your head off of what that thing was? I mean, you don't have to say, but were you-

John: As a matter of fact don't say, ‘cause we’ve got something in mind.

Chris: Yeah, don’t say but what's in your process?

Christian: No, I won’t say but yeah, I did, I had something yeah. It was-

John: Yeah, cause you look pretty goddamn heartbroken there. 

Chris: Yeah.

Christian: Yeah.

John: Nice. And by the way, for those people listening that pay attention to the stuff we talk about on the other commentaries when we talk about writing, Hardison taking the iPad there is important. We use Hardison as the thermostat, the emotional thermostat for the audience. A lot of times the audience knows stuff is ok when Hardison acknowledges that it’s ok. And him accepting that beat allows you- is a subconscious cue that we’re ok to move past what Eliot’s done.

Christian: Right, right, right, I noticed that myself.

John: And the scene plays on. Even past the revelation which is nice, I mean this scene stays heavy all the way through, no break because this reminds- remember when we did the pilot in Chicago, the first time you go up to Nate - I'm talking to Christain - when Christain goes up to Tim and is like, “Hey, about your son, I'm sorry.”

Marc: At the pool table.

Christian: The pool table, yeah.

John: The pool table. You're like how do I play this? I was like you're two gunslingers who always respected each other and might not want to know who's better, but you're equals, you’re peers, and that's the vibe here.

Christian: It's a standoff.

John: They're playing a separate scene than sort of everybody else here.

Christian: And that helped me the most. Standing in front of Tim helped me the most on that. Cause, you know, I worked off of him and it was just- like I said, it was just four hours to film that and it was tough ‘cause I had to stay there the whole time. I went home and went to bed. I mean, I was tired.

Aldis: Not to mention, the distractions from the passers by on the street [high pitched voice] “Oh my god are you guys shooting a scene? Can we get a picture?”

Christian: Yeah, exactly.

[Laughter]

Aldis: “No, we’re filming!”

Chris: That always helps when you have those emotional scenes.

John: This by the way- that park ain’t empty. That’s all of us hiding behind trees.

[Laughter]

Geoff: That’s hysterical.

Christian: That’s true.

Marc Gary Camp with a steadicam.

Aldis: Remember they said action, and people scattered like roaches.

Marc: Give all the credit to the cameraman.

Christian: You have to.

Marc: But on this particular beat, all the actors have to hit their marks exactly or you're not gonna see them and you're not gonna timeout when they speak.

John: This actually is something we do in the writers room is we figure out one per, and then it makes the blocking easier. But there have been times we've kinda gamed this out in there.

Christian: I don't think people realize how difficult a shot the roundy-round is like this, when everyone’s got dialogue you gotta end up on every shot.

Aldis: Gary Camp kills this.

John: You see how Gary sped up that turn a little bit just to catch you 'cause he knew that dialogue?

Geoff: He's a maestro.

John: Probably the guy who knows the script- after you guys, he knows the script the best.

Aldis: Gary Camp, yeah.

Christian: Gary knows the script the best. I mean, he's unbelievable. We couldn't do it without him.

Geoff: I love the duality of these guys, too. The one that Eliot could have grown up to be versus what he ended up being.

John: And the fact that- that came late to the idea that “you got the job?” That they knew each other. We originally envisioned it as a different guy, a new guy who didn't know the reputation. But that- but having him know him and be jealous.

Christian: Yeah, anytime there's a past.

Geoff: It’s awesome.

John: Yeah, well also that guy is vaguely resentful he'll never live up to the Eliot Spencer legend.

Christian: Right, yeah, I mean he plays it very well, as an actor he chose that and he played it very well.

John: But then the ability to say, “I heard you'd gone soft.” He just- he sees a hink, this guy isn't the badass he thought he was, makes him feel better.

Christian: Yeah, exactly.

John: This was us, second unit, this was a fun day.

Chris: Yeah that’s right.

John: One camera, two actors banging the hell out of that.

Chris: That's right.

John: In the fine tradition of Marc Roskin, that’s the-

Marc There you go.

John: Keep talking, move fast.

Aldis: I actually drove past this set on my way to lunch.

Marc: The streets of downtown Portland.

Geoff: By the way, I'm from DC, this looks like DC, okay? It tripped me out.

John: I know, I know.

Marc: Paul Bernard's daughter.

John: Paul Bernard's daughter. And actually, unfortunately, we had a communication breakdown, we couldn’t talk- we were standing across the street shooting across the street, we couldn't talk to the actors because we had a problem with the radio, so I'm literally standing on a chair across the street going, “You love your daughter! Tell her you love her! Now hug her! Now go die!”

[Laughter]

Christian: Some of the locals that were on the stoop didn't know what to think about that.

John: And this was actually for those of you who were making your amateur films, those were Sony ex-1s bolted to the front of those cars. Perfectly good footage.

Marc: They come in handy.

Geoff: Oh, yeah.

John: And then the distraction, so he puts it into park so he doesnt go rolling away when his neck gets snapped, which was why we wrote this scene.

Christian: And he was great with this, too, he really trusted me.

John: Yeah, cause if the guy looks tense, it doesn't look good.

Christian: Yeah, and he really trusted me. I mean that's a tough thing to do, that's somebody's neck, man, and you gotta be really careful with that. It was a big safety issue, but he was great. He really sold it.

Geoff: Oh, you didn't actually kill him?

[Laughter]

John: No, the fact that he was found dead of a fall the next day is total coincidence.

Christian: No absolutely, absolutely.

John: That was his last scene and he went home.

Christian: Exactly, and it was weird how he fell in his trunk.

Geoff: [Laughing] He fell in his trunk!

John: People do that, they put tire irons and shit in his trunk and then ‘Oh! I've stumbled.’

Geoff: Lid comes down.

Chris: He was digging a shallow grave, it was weird. I wonder why he was doing that.

John: This was great, this was actually the morgue set from the hospital scene- the hospital the previous year, right?

Chris: In Order 23?

John: Oh no no, this was from a film that was shooting up there. This is a plug. That room is not a morgue; that room is a big empty classroom.

Geoff: You're kidding?

Marc: Big empty science room.

John: That we dropped those drawers halfway to cut it in half, and then Becca Molino and our fantastic production design propped it up and it looked gorgeous.

Christian: They do it every time, they do it, I'm surprised by how they do it.

Marc: I worship Becca, Becca is a genius.

Christian: It's an unbelievable crew that we’ve got.

John: I love the resentment, by the way, that Aldis is playing here. And it kinda ties into the resentment here that nobody quite understands how hard Hardison works.

[Laughter]

Geoff: Yeah, get a body.

John: Yeah, exactly. That’s just shit he does now.

Aldis: Get a body!

Geoff: It's not magic folks, it's not a magic trick.

John: There's the red wig. Which we almost had her do the entire second episode of this in.

Marc: Yes.

John: This was one of the ones where Gina said, “I wanna do it in a wig” and we’re like, “No” and she showed up in a wig and we said, “Damn, that’s hot.” And then we were worried that it would confuse the viewer coming in for the second set, so we just kept it for here. I love him reining her in like that, lovely. And then a little bit of pipe before we go to the fourth act. That's also crucial part of the script is reminding the audience, “Okay things have been moving very quickly, just to remind you this is what we’re gonna do in this act.”

Marc: Yes.

Aldis: Hot damn!

Christian: Yeah, that was a good day.

[Laughter]

Chris: What is he doing, playing online poker? 

John: What is Moreau doing online?

Chris: What is he- he’s got a strange business model.

John: He's doing his Facebook status update, “Going to kill dudes; gotta go now.”

Marc: Also we had to put CG water in that hot tub cause it wasn't-

Geoff: What?

John: Oh! It didn’t work, that's right.

Marc: It didn’t work, as I said, we remodeled this and it was leaking.

John: This had been closed- that was like a hundred year old basement or something, yeah.

Aldis: Yeah.

Geoff: That's insane.

John: Yeah, the hot tub leaked, that was badly designed, that was poorly thought out. Yup, a lot of fun with this, banged out in the- that’s the parking lot of the studio.

Marc: Parking lot of the stage.

Christian: Is it really?

John: This is also a reminder that Sophie ran the crew when Nate was in jail. One of those little things that when you look at the show this year, they are much more peers.

Marc: And if at all possible, you can avoid shooting in an elevator, I would recommend it.

John: Oh sweet Jesus.

Aldis: That elevator was a beast.

Chris: Was this the one where the elevator sucked the camera down?

John: Yes, no, the light.

Christian: I remember a really bad day in an elevator.

Aldis: This, by the way-

John: No, not the one where you were attacked by a box.

Christian: Yeah, exactly.

Aldis: This guy right here, his name is Kevin Champion, he’s been my stand in, a trooper since the pilot and he finally got his just desserts.

Chris: He did a great job.

John: And by the way, he did great - fantastic job.

Aldis: Now who did we have on set to slate for him?

Marc Charles Barkley!

Aldis: Sir Charles Barkley.

Chris: Oh that's right!

Christian: That’s right.

John: Charles Barkley was in town

Geoff: Where was I when all this was going on?

Christian: Charles Barkley was on set-

Chris: I missed Charles Barkley, I was in a warehouse with you!

Marc: His first time acting with us and all of it-

John: Barkley showed up.

Chris: I was at the shoot out. Man, Barkley

Aldis: Barkley was a great man.

John: He was in town doing a fundraiser, swung by the set.

Chris: By the way, Charles Barkley, big friend of TNT.

Marc: This was a fun little beat.

Aldis: Yeah, I met him, I met him and I told him to come on down, he had a good time.

John: Really charming guy.

Chris: We better have Barkley on season four.

Geoff: I don't get to see the special things.

John: You don't get to see Barkley, I'm sorry. Just the elevator thing, what had happened is, was we stopped the elevator, we had lights in there to light it, and then all of a sudden the elevator just restarted, the doors closed and it started flying downstairs, pulling the wires after it into the-

Christian: Oh my god.

Aldis: Yeah, the elevator had issues.

Chris: Oh, this is a great reveal.

John: Nice little flash of the lift. And we've never seen Parker do the front lift.

Geoff: Yeah.

John: He actually- Kevin did a great job.

Christian: Kevin did a great job.

Aldis: Yeah.

John: Very pleased. And by the way, there are ID’s that do this, that do the live tracking in the buildings.

Chris: Oh yeah.

John: Yeah, absolutely.

Marc: Technical green!

Christian: Technical green.

Aldis: [British Accent] “Technical green, mate.”

John: This was also a lab that was already there that we shot from the other room.

Marc: Already there.

Geoff: Wow.

John: Yeah we just built- yeah, all the equipment was there and we just built where the bomb had been, that was it. That was all we laid in there.

Geoff: You make this stuff up in the room, you hope for the best.

John: It’s- and you have talented people busting their ass to make it real.

Marc: The people at Portland State- that's a green screen back there.

Geoff: No way!

Chris: That’s right, that is terrific.

John: Yeah, that's not the airport.

Geoff: Get out of town!

Marc: That was a warehouse at a stage.

Christian: Yup.

John: Yeah, that's like a couple blocks from our stages, right? Yeah.

Christian: It’s weird- everything you see in there, though, it's the real deal.

Marc: Yeah, we got a lot of use out of this stage.

Christian: Yeah, I can't believe they let us use it with as many- we went 2500 rounds of a gunfight?

[Laughter]

John: 2500 rounds.

Christian: Inside a place with flammable material- I'm just saying!

John: On the list of stupid ideas.

Aldis: Now wasn't this also the day we found out that we got picked up?

Marc: That stores chemicals and paper rolls.

Christian: Exactly.

Chris: That's right.

John: Nothing can go wrong there.

Chris: And failed microbrew brands. I walked around there. It was like microbrews you never heard of.

Geoff: The opinions shared by the writers and actors are not necessarily shared by TNT or Electric Entertainment Company.

John: Or the insurance companies therein.

Aldis: The thing I love about this is usually when people do car scenes like this when they’re shooting out the back it’s a green screen, but this wasn't, we ran the traffic.

Chris: You can tell.

John: No. And all 200 pounds of me is folded up in the back of that thing.

Geoff: No!

John: I'm in the rear seat.

Aldis: John was literally in the trunk of that car.

Geoff: Oh my god!

John: Yelling through the backseat.

Aldis: Shouting out directions. We did it guerilla-style, people.

John: We stopped traffic, had a cop chase us through the streets.

Aldis: Now you see how wild she's driving. It was a bumpy ride for us and we were seated comfortably with seatbelts.

John: Yeah, I don't think we're gonna let Gina drive again, that's not good.

Aldis: John was back there, we gave him a pint of Guinness, he was alright.

Christian: She doesn't know what side of the street to drive on.

[Laughter]

John: That's what made it more exciting. This is a great- now the shadowy figures and we’re setting it up.

Marc: Shadowy figures.

John: This act is insane, this act really is crazy. It was tricky structuring it, each storyline had to have three acts in itself, so you had to be able to switch between development, execution, and aftermath in each plotline. No, this was a ton of fun. And shooting a real train.

Marc: A real train, just a neighborhood in Portland. And I don't know if you know this, but Portland is a huge biking community and we shut off-

Aldis: Yeah.

Chris: That's where I take my bike ride, spring break bike path.

Marc: Everybody takes their bike ride. They rerouted it, no one complained, everybody was gracious, it was nice.

John: That's where the camera truck drove, the camera truck drove on the bike path next to the train.

Aldis: People ride their bikes on the freeways there - it’s insane.

Geoff: Safely!

Chris: That’s true, in driving rain storms in ponchos.

John: That’s a nice moment there, that acting moment- this is the first time in a while we’ve heard Eliot go, “yeah, we’re fucked.”

Christian: Yeah, yeah.

John: It’s a nice beat. That's my actors on a bridge.

Aldis: Yeah.

Marc: And one of the busiest bridges in Portland.

John: Yeah, exactly. And that's the thing, I was not- I was at the other set while they were shooting this, so I was- a lot of times I was watching the dailies I was like, “Oh wow, those stunt doubles are great- wait that’s-”

[Laughter]

Christian: See that right there, I really wanna concentrate on that - you’ve never seen Eliot kill anyone. 

Geoff: Yeah, that’s true.

Christian: I just broke that guy's neck, he's dead. 

John: Yeah, that guy’s gone.

Christian: That's the first time you saw and, you know it's-

John: It escalates the stakes; you realize whatever’s gonna happen next is not gonna be the normal thing.

Christian: Yeah, exactly.

Marc: CG DC in the background there.

Aldis: Yup, DC.

John: Real train under my actors.

Aldis: I begged you guys for days to let me jump down.

[Laughter]

Geoff: You must be high, are you crazy?

Marc: What was it like writing Eliot’s first shootout?

Geoff: We talked about it in the room, we bounced it around a lot, we wanted it to be a little bit over the top frankly and kinda John Woo-ish because every one of the characters is so perfectly- they're like the perfect example of whatever their thing is. And throughout the show, Eliot generally fights opponents that are numerous, but they're really not on his level. So to really show him doing what he does- it's kinda like that first episode where he has the teacup and the room full of guys. We didn’t see that, we saw the outside of that. This is what happened inside, basically.

Chris: By the way, can I just say something about that acting moment there? I loved that moment of picking up the gun.

John: Well the look to Tim.

Chris: You played three different emotions in a row, just on your face, of kind of the resignation and then you became a different person.

Christian: Yeah, well that's the point is once he picks up this gun- how's he gonna be in season 4? Cause now it's a whole box he never wanted to open again. I'll tell you, this is my favorite thing I've ever filmed in my entire life. This is my favorite thing I've ever filmed in my entire life.

[Laughter]

John: Two days. Two straight days for that gunfight.

Christian: You guys usually only give me 3-4 hours to fight and I got two days on this one.

John: Great shot here.

Geoff: Boom!

Marc: And boom!

Aldis: I swear I wanted to jump down, but at least-

John: That's our stunties jumping, but that's you on top.

Aldis: We were allowed to run on top.

Chris: Look at you go!

Christian: Them on a train, man.

Geoff: Which really you should not have been allowed to do.

Chris: There you go.

Aldis: Probably shouldn't have been, but it was gonna happen.

Geoff: Oh my god.

Chris: That's you!

Christian: On a moving train, on a moving train.

Aldis: Moving train.

John: This is- by the way, they got so excited, they came over the next day and I said, “What’d you do yesterday?” And Beth said, “I ran on top of a moving train without any safety equipment-! Oh, shit,” I was like, “That’s right! From now on, say it out loud just once!”

[Laughter]

John: “And if you say oh shit at the end of the sentence, don’t do it!”

Geoff: That's right.

John: No, but honestly guys, we can’t thank you enough for doing that for the show. Not a lot of actors would come out of their trailer to watch that happen, nevermind actually do it.

Aldis: Beth was hardcore about it, too.

Marc: This scene was shot over a period of two days.

Chris: Yeah.

John: Yeah, this is crazy.

Christian: By the way, everybody needs to know, that’s me. That’s only me, no stunt double, that's it, always me.

John: No stunties. I always joke - your stunt double has the easiest job in Hollywood.

Geoff: No joke.

John: “What are you gonna do today?” “Oh I’ll just have a latte, watch him bust his ass, have a good day.”

Christian: Nice punch right there, by the way, nice form.

[Laughter]

Christian: I'm serious! I'm being honest!

Chris: Now how did you- how much experience did you have doing gunfights on screen? I mean, obviously this is-

Christian: I mean, not that much, but I mean honestly I'm from Oklahoma, so-

[Laughter]

John: This, by the way: not a train. A fake train car we built on the set that we had interns- pardon me not interns, PA’s actually shaking and rocking and then strobing light, poorman’s process,  through it.

Geoff: Poorman’s process.

Marc: Eric Bates built that bomb, he’s very proud of it.

Chris: There's a couple [unintelligible] on it.

Marc: This is my favorite-

Geoff: Love that! Love that!

Marc: Ohhh!

John: No look, no look it's fine.

Chris: Now here, oh!

Christian: That was so much fun right there man, that was so much fun.

John: What I love is the countermove by the guy in the back, actually.

Geoff: I would date this sequence if I was single.

[Laughter]

Marc: That's a shoutout on The Closer.

John: No that- oh The Closer, no they've never done a shootout like this.

Chris: Now how much of that is like you're 12 years old and you're in the backyard?

Christian: Oh all of it, all of it. This was my favorite thing I've ever done. This is the scene I came to Hollywood for and I'm not lying; I'm being dead serious.

Geoff: Hey!

Marc: Kevin Jackson worked so hard with you on this. It was great.

Geoff: Kevin is great.

Christian: Yeah.

Aldis: Yeah, Kevin Jackson, our stunt coordinator.

John: And we showed up, we showed up, we’d been shooting that other stuff and we showed up in that warehouse on, like, hour 16 and you had been doing the slide on the concrete floor like, “Again! Go again!” Like Jesus, boy!

Christian: Yup, yup.

Marc: Christain looked like an offensive lineman, you know.

[Laughter]

Marc: In an overtime game.

John: Soaked in sweat.

Christian: 2500 rounds man; 2500 rounds for the day.

Aldis: Jeez.

Christian: That's a lot for television, I'm telling you.

Aldis: Yeah.

Marc: And if a gun didn't fire, we added it.

Christian: Yeah.

Marc: There's a lot of-

Geoff: Oh really, you CG’ed in muzzle flashes?

Christian: Now this is- this was my idea, I brought this to Dean and John. This was my idea. I wanted to slide through the oil or the water or whatever you had, whatever it was.

John: Oh the sights, the double cock.

Christian: Double cock, I came up with that. I'd never seen it before, you never do it with your own guns because it ruins it, and I can't believe how cool it looks.

[Laughter]

John: Who cares if it's wrong, it looks cool!

Chris: Now how about that shot?

Marc: And Joe LoDuca’s music during this.

Chris: The push up here.

John: Slow push, yeah, that's a great shot, there you go.

Geoff: You are about to die.

John: Now I would also mention this was a wire assist at the end, but you did it without the wire the first time.

Christian: That's all me right there, that’s all me. I went- right there was as far as I went without wiring.

John: And you got a good- remember we were testing it that first day. And you're like, “I can do this!” And just banged it out and you got about 15, 20 feet even without the stuff on the floor.

Chris: By the way folks, even those of you in good shape, try and get- try and just get on your knees.

Geoff: Yeah, no joke.

Chris: On your knees and lean back like that. I did it on set.

John: It was not fun.

Christian: There's my Desperado shot; I had to have a little fun. John gave me that one.

Aldis: Dun-dun dun-dun.

John: And this is the CG explosion, little pop, and then a real explosion.

Geoff: Oh nice, oh man! I love that.

Marc That’s a model-

John: That’s what I mean, a model blow, a real blow.

Geoff: But bear in mind, also this is the end of the season, these guys have been jumping, getting punched, blown up, hiding for-

Christian: Oh I didn't walk for two days, man.

[Laughter]

Chris: That looked painful.

John: And this is where we pay off the taser.

Aldis: Paid off the taser!

John: We introduced the taser in episode one, do a runner throughout the whole season and this is what you've been waiting for, the moment to pay off why she's been carrying it. We totally planned that - that wasn't accidental at all.

Geoff: [Forceful Laugh]

Christian: No, absolutely not.

John: We didn't cook that up in a drunken stupor in the writers room one night.

Geoff: I meant to do that, I meant to do that.

Marc We’re actually driving cars on the bike path, removing fence.

John: And we did a blow.

Marc And blowing up trains.

Aldis: We did a blow.

John: Yeah, we actually did a blow in there. We video assisted it, but that was a real explosion.

Chris: Wait, that was a real blow on the train?

Christian: Yeah.

John: Yeah. We didn't take the door off, the door was added.

Christian: See if you can't tell that's a little hard getting up there on the knees. I'm not as young as Aldis, but-

Geoff: You're excused man, you did your job.

John: And this is the classic, this is really-

Geoff: Awesome!

John: I'm gonna say Johnny Toe instead of John Woo because that’s really more of a Johnny Toe shot. And the flame bar.

Chris: That's an iconic shot right there.

John: Yeah it is.

Chris: We’ll be seeing that shot in a lot of fan videos.

Geoff: That move, I love that.

Aldis: It’s clean.

John: Very clean, and he was worried he was too slow on the night, too.

Christian: I did, I was like, “Man, was it fast enough? Cause I'm tired.”

Geoff: Plenty fast enough, man.

John: But you had done-

Christian: This was important right here, I wanted to show that, you know, the guns are done, I still don't like ‘em.

Chris: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

John: But you practiced quickdraw on the other thing you did, what was it?

Christian: Oh man from Anywhere from Into The West to Crossfire Trail,  we were always out there. I got that actually from Emilio Esteves, who is a friend of mine, who directed me on Close To Home and he was telling me about how they used to go out there and they- when they were all doing Young Guns they used to practice quick draw against each other to see who was the fastest.

John: Well Geoff Blake, who played Bixby, was on Young Guns.

Geoff: He's really good.

Christian: That's right, oh my gosh, that's right.

Aldis: I got a question, as far as season 4 for Hardison and Parker, cause you know, she just did the pretzels thing, the people are expecting something.

Geoff: What are you trying to say?

John: A lot of shirtless you.

Aldis: I gotta do push ups? Jeez.

John: We’re gonna advance the relationship.

Chris: But we'll do it at our own pace.

Christian: You know I haven't seen this scene yet, man, I can't wait to see it.

John: You haven't seen this?

Christian: No.

John: Had you not seen the full edit of this?

Christian: No.

Geoff: It’s tasteful, it’s tasteful.

Christian: I've been on a radio tour, man.

[Laughter]

John: Oh that's true. Kinda the whole music career giant international thing. 

Christian: It’s- you know.

John: This was a ton of fun, and again, just a little bit of fun. It's tricky when you're showing the moves this fast, how to reset for each act just to make sure the audience knows at all times where you are, what's going on.

Christian: Again, Goran was always on his game, man. You couldn't have picked a better Moreau, he was great.

Aldis: Oh he was spot on, man.

John: Well it helps, he was physically intimidating too.

Christian: He’s like 6’6”! I didn’t realize how tall he was.

Aldis: Yeah, yeah.

John: He's like a paratrooper. And this was Dean’s idea to finally do, like, the threeway-

Marc: Do the triangle.

John: Do the triangle, yeah.

Christian: Just to let people know, when the gun goes off, one of the loads came out and hit Tim in the eye. We went down for about 20 minutes ‘cause it hit him right square in the eye.

Geoff: Wow!

Christian: And nothing against- it was just a weird shot, it wasn’t even pointed at him, it just- every once in a while- guns are unpredictable and it went off to the side.

John: That's why you have safety guys on set.

Geoff: And you don't do this at home, kids.

John: No, well I doubt they'd have the jet.

Christian: Right.

[Laughter]

Geoff: Some kids have a jet, you know.

Chris: Well they might have a bus up on cinder blocks in the backyard.

Christian: When I come running out here, you don't know how many times I hit my head on the bottom of this wing.

John: I know! I was counting, actually.

Christian: I hit my head four times on the bottom of this wing trying to get under it.

John: Every time you stood up, you didn't quite time it right.

Christian: I stood up early and damn near knocked myself out. It freaking hurt.

Geoff: So Marc, some of these shots are pretty complex-

Aldis: And there we go, Bonanno!

Geoff: What's the stuff that drives you most logistically, you’re like, how am I gonna do this, and you know-

Marc: A lot of it is where are we gonna shoot it, what we can get away with, and how much time we have. And this was tricky cause we had so many locations. We’re barely in HQ and in the finale, in 16, we are, but this ist a lot of locations. You’re in a train, you're in a fight.

John: You're losing light. The great thing about an outdoor set like this is you got that beautiful sky, the bad thing is the sun goes up, sun goes down.

Marc: Sun goes up, sun goes down.

Geoff: Right, no control.

Christian: We were working against the clock this day man, we were losing the sun.

Marc: But you know, you would think at the end of the season you would lose energy with the crew and with the actors.

John: Not at all.

Marc: And I think this is some of our best acting in these last two episodes.

Geoff: I agree, I agree.

Marc: And they're big emotional scenes, they're heavy page count, and we shot the hell out of it.

John: Yeah, this is three pages of Tim talking.

Marc: And it's not just tapping us on the back, most shows don't do coverage like we do, and spend the time to light it like we do, and have flashbacks and cutaways and special effects and greenscreens and CG, I mean.

John: We’re crazy.

Marc: We’re nuts!

John: Why the hell are we doing this?

Geoff: Rockwood.

John: By the way, I'd like to say: quick note because we just blew by it, Elisabetta, who had not acted a lot when she joined us in the first part of the season, the beat where she says, “You opened the envelope?” And she sounds actually kind of hurt? It's a really nice communicative beat.

Christian: Yeah it is.

John: She's really found her voice as an actor.

Aldis: Yeah, I liked that beat.

Geoff: She did a good job.

Chris: She was really great.

John: She really did a nice job. “Who are you?” And that is the best choice by Goran.

Christian: That is the best, I love that.

Marc: I just kept saying build, build, build, and it- just all the way to the end of 16.

Christian: You've never seen him not be in control, except that moment right there.

John: You never see him he's- he’s not out of control there, he's just impatient.

Christian: No, yeah.

John: That veneer is going.

Chris: Oh here we go.

Christian: Boom!

Geoff: You wiped out there?

Christian: Didn't do it that time.

John: He slammed his head. Look at his process right there, he's like how is this gonna go.

Marc: And I just love the little-

John: And the fuck you smile. That’s a great look from Goran. 

[Moment of Silence]

John: Sorry, we all got lost in the show there for a second.

[Laughter]

Christian: Yeah, sorry.

Chris: Sorry, yeah now we’re like-

John: No, she did great, she did a great shot, we got a lot of footage of this. And it was really convincing. And then a little something for the ladies cause you gotta stop the blood flow somehow.

Aldis: Ah, there he goes, boom.

John: There's a whole box of rags right stage left, I mean.

[Laughter]

Chris: There's a whole first aid kit.

Marc: Could you imagine if you were doing pushups?

Geoff: What is wrong with people?

John: I mean, by god.

Marc: And a real plane taxiing away.

Geoff: Jesus.

John: What the hell were we thinking?

Christian: Did you see that? You saw on my shoulder right there, that’s where Tim stopped me a couple times. It was that really ripped up and bruised cause he had to stop me running full speed.

John: This was nice, by the way. I actually prefer this coverage, it's tempting to go into closeups there when he asked him not to tell the others. This is a very British shot to do this in a medium, because it allows the shot to kinda sit for a second, rather than forcing it.

Marc: Yeah, so we just thought we'd do it on a crane.

[Laughter]

John: Well that too. But I'm saying I liked the shot. ‘Cause it allowed you to set up the other shot. Also I love this bit, the little hurt look that Nate has when he finds out she wouldn't have done that for him.

Marc: Yeah.

Chris: And a very matter of fact, no; it was reminiscent of the flashback when he was getting strangled, his fantasy sequence. She's very bored and matter of fact about things like that

John: It's really- the character really did exactly we wanted her to be, which was a 1960’s spy character who was transplanted into the show. And this is something we almost never do. We've only done it twice - tie together the episodes, even in the season finales they tend to just end and you have no idea what we're gonna do next.

Christian: Right, this was fun to do. This was so great waiting on the second script.

Aldis: Yeah.

John: Yeah the walk- oh that’s right, cause somebody didn't quite finish the second script by the time you were prepping this.

Christian: Oh, that's right.

[Laughter]

John: Somebody was writing the script in Portland, say.

Geoff: I don't know who that would be.

John: And then the crane up, pull away, and you're out. Now this is cinematic as hell. And that’s 3x15!

All: [Cheer!]

Geoff: Nice!

Christian: Awesome.

John: Thanks for tuning in, and stay tuned 3x16!

Chris: Stay tuned.

John: You know you wanna watch them back to back, coming right up.

Geoff: Oh hell yeah.

Aldis: C’mon, people!

#Leverage #Leverage TNT #Leverage Audio Commentary Transcripts #Audio Commentary #Transcripts #Parker #Alec Hardison #Elliot Spencer #Nate Ford #Sophie Devereaux #Season 3 #Episode 15 #Season 3 Episode 15 #The Big Bang Job

[art-i-know-yes]

*says to myself that i won't do commentary on every episode i watch and that'll I'll switch off each episode*

*Jimmy says the most shit ever*

*breathes deeply*

SPOILERS FOR JIMJAMS POV ON 24LSMP OR LIMOTED LIFE

idc if Grian and Jimmy are on the same team im going to watch both povs

"im going to finally have friends" this was the quote btw

he wants to be monolopy man

*GASP* THEYRE THE BROTHERS TEAM

you don't know this but i heavily headcannon them as brothers (Joel as Jimmy's brother in law)

Jimmy. Jimmy plz.

Scar first death on the server.

*flips paper* so. who else got bingo cards.

im using @shepscapades bingo

i love her stuff to an unhealthy amount

anyway

also most prepped everyone has been

Jimmy has corrupted my head slug

Does jimmy being a thief count as villain arc or are we talking about the villain arc

they are bad bois

pearl is always just out of sight

someone spedran

they are so stupid💖💖💖

did scar do it first

that would've been hilarious

oh. here's where the bad boys messed up

keep inventory is on. k. ok.

everyone was literally waiting for them

i think life hates me bc like i have work soon

bad boy hits rancher huge scandal

every idea they have

this is hell chaos

"i do but i hate the name"

"bc im a bad boy *loud screaming*"

"on a completely unrelated note do you have gravel"

"i think im scared?" "im not scared" "i think im worried?" "im not worried"

love the groups

plz dont

"i slipped off the roof"

"do you guys wanna dig straight down" *literally caused them both to lose an hour* "yeah"

Cleo death

diaaaaammmoooonndddsss

"i was a good boy back then!"

they are so silly

brother antics

does the collection of amethyst count as a aha reference

Jimmy finds diamonds?!?!?!? top story

omg Jimmy is doing so good

do you think my boss is going to make me work through a tornado... probably

ooooo Jimmy spying

"this is why I'm mom it's fine"

cleo dying laughing

"our crops bdubs our crops"

still a homewrecker at heart

*disappointed sighs*

they say as if Joel doesn't bully him on a daily basis

bdubs once again working under scar again

Jimmy making enemies with everyone

*sigh*

"it's scar! look at his face"

you should've learned Jimmy

but also it was totally martyn

sad bois Jimmy is very sad boi

"Oh! hello grian!"

cleo is very motherly

"look to your left"

"we're letting it burn are we???"

"you have to know what scar wants in life" "you do know"

is it obvious who i...favor together

it was scar

"spyglasses are so 2020"

Jimmy got that super sight

"he was in the cave with us grian!"

they're just fishing

"you know it's gonna be you"

"martyn just died" "WHO CARES THIS IS MORE INTENSE"

"*screams* easy"

sad, mad, bad bois

rad bois

this is getting very aha -esk-

i think it counts

I can't physically go through this again plz

i love them. they are such losers. and i love them so so so much. bad boys or as i might refer to them the brothers team. and i love T.I.E.S too. time to watch some solo-ers

#you could and should absolutely ignore this #mcyt #jimmy solidarity #limited life #limited life spoilers #life series #life series spoilers

[averagejoesolomon]

We’re back, ladies!  Matthew Morgan has returned, and he’s two years older that he was when we last saw him.  You can start from the beginning of Full Circle on Ao3.  Enjoy!

Chapter One

He’s got his headphones on, and the greater world doesn’t exist.

Instead, he is completely absorbed in a soundscape from half a world away.  Slavic mutterings blend easily with searing hot street pans, static-soaked rain, and a continuous strand of muffled, melodic folk songs.  His mind wanders back to the sights and smells—God, the smells—of Leningrad and his long evenings spent bargaining over peppers, and pickles, and potato soups worth waiting for.  He remembers the stone at his feet and every nuanced inch of dialect.  He remembers the stinging scent of iron statues after a long summer rain, and he remembers dancing well into the night.  His time spent studying in the Soviet Union returns to him in waves, triggered by the sound of heavy voices.

In comparison, Virginia seems pale and flat.  He spends his days in darkness, translating conversations that ain’t got much meaning.  He spends his nights split between a gym and a government assigned studio apartment that ain’t got much room.  While his stomach yearns for the comfort of a freshly prepared stroganoff, he’s absentmindedly downing M&Ms for lunch instead, bought from the nearby vending machine for the third day in a row.

He tells himself that the peanuts have protein, and does his best to ignore his mama’s voice lecturing him in the back of his mind.

Just as he begins to debate which song would sound best through his specially designed, Army funded headphones (a downright unbreakable tie held between Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now and Pink Floyd’s Welcome to the Machine), he catches a familiar voice through a bugged frequency.  He’ll auditorily observe the subject in question for another two hours or so as he continues to debate whether or not anyone can truly top Queen anyway.

He loses track of the time, dissolving into the looping, mindless effort of transmission and translation.  It could be one hour or it could be four, but eventually, he feels the tap of two fingers on his shoulder, yanking him back into uniformly measured time.  “You ready, son?”

Cooper seems to have aged five years in the past two.  This war, however quiet, grinds at his very bones.  “Yes sir,” is all Matt has to say before the two of them are on the move.

The rare break in his usually predictable afternoon is when he’s asked to take part in one of the half-dozen intelligence briefings that occupy the various conference rooms throughout the day.  They’re the kind of starkly boring meetings that are inevitably pushed back by the hour, as a result of the world’s decidedly unboring events—tension in the Middle East, or advances between the Koreas, or battle carriers crossing over into waters that ought not to be crossed into.  Before long, his 13:00 briefing becomes a 15:27 coffee break and he’s written all of his notes for nothing.

And sure enough, the room smells of a stale dark roast as Cooper leads them in.  He leaves Matt with a pat on the shoulder, then makes himself comfortable by the carafe.  “Gentlemen,” he says, pouring himself a cup.  “If y’all are ready.”

The general consensus of the room seems to be that, yes, they are ready and that, no, they will not be staying for very long.  It’s a handful of officers who rank well above him, each of them taking a seat around the great concrete table at the center of the room.  Matt distributes an armful of identical manila envelopes, dodging chairs as they lean and spin and scooch.  He lands at the head of the table in front of a chalkboard with long erased markings from a previous presentation.  There’s a headphone-fueled haze that still swims around his mind, so he sharpens up with a breath.

Finally, he flips open the first page of his folder and everyone else in the room follows suit.  “Gentlemen,” he says.  “If you’ll all join me on page three of the transcription report, I’d like to point out the suspected Soviet interference with the growing tension in Poland.”

The hardest part about these briefings is that no one asks any questions.  Everyone sitting before him knows more than he does, and any information he discovers is just one strand in a web that men far smarter than him are meant to decipher.  He is met with only the click of a pen.  The squeak of a chair.  Matt hasn’t got much time, so he doesn’t linger on the silence.

“You can find a detailed analysis on page thirty, should you need to reference it at a later time, but in summary: one of our bugs successfully picked up a poker game in Moscow that included, among others, two high-ranking Polish officials, a former member of the KGB, and the USSR defense minister.  Based on this conversation, it’s likely that the Polish People’s Republic will succumb to the rising anit-communist movement by late July—early September at the latest.”

Click, click, click.  Someone in the room favors fiddling with their pen, rather than writing with it.  Still, there is no comment, but Matt has learned that sometimes, the lack of critique can be a legitimate success.

“The Soviets are discussing the possibility of aid.  They’ll do whatever it takes to keep the unions out of power, and it’s likely we see a repeat of the 1970 strikes—”

“Who did your Polish?”

It’s another voice in the room and, more than that, it’s a question he doesn’t quite understand.  He’s usually so quick to respond, answers falling out of him, full of information that’s bursting at the seams.  But he’s never heard this voice before, and he doesn’t understand the question.  “Sorry?”

He looks up across the table, and lands on the man who holds his pen at eye level, thumb on the button.  His tag reads Smith and his free hand is split into a series of bookmarks throughout various pages of the report.  “There’s a few lines of Polish in the transcript,” he says.  “Who translated it?”

Smith is greying at his temples, but he doesn’t look old.  Just a pair of smile lines.  Some faint crows feet.  He doesn’t strike Matt as a simple man, but the question feels so far behind.  “I did, sir.”

This carves a little crease right in the center of Smith’s forehead.  Another wrinkle.  “My mistake,” he says.  “I thought you translated the Russian.”

Matt blinks.  “Yes, sir.”

At some point during the course of his military intelligence career, Matt has stopped encountering people who act impressed.  In Hay Springs, Nebraska, everything is impressive.  But in Army Intelligence, everyone has seen everything there is to see.  They know everything there is to know.  In a field run and operated by people who thrive on preemptive strategy, there just aren’t a whole lot of surprises.

Smith ain’t impressed.  But he could get there real soon.  “You translated this entire transcript?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I didn’t realize you were trained in both languages.”

It’s Cooper’s turn to talk now and when he does, he speaks with one of those wide smiles that tells everyone else he knows something that they don’t.  “He ain’t.”

With that, all eyes are back on Matt.  Intelligence officers from every branch of the military look on with an expectant glare, waiting.  There’s an explanation owed, definitely, but the answer to this particular question isn’t written out in his meticulously constructed manila folders.  “There were only nine lines of Polish, sir.”

It doesn’t change Smith’s stern expression.  “Which is significant because…?”

The silence feels louder than ever before.  He shuffles through his papers, checking his own facts as he speaks.  “This conversation took place over the course of four hours.  And the Polish is, frankly, insignificant.  Conversational.  It would have taken at least a week to get a formal Polish translation and all of the important parts are in Russian.  This is time-sensitive information and the most efficient means of obtaining it was if I just did it myself.”  He looks up.  “Sir.”

Smith studies him, in a way that Matt ain’t used to being studied.  “And where did you learn to speak Polish?”

There aren’t many urges that can break through Matt’s military mindset nowadays, but in this moment, it takes everything he has not to shrug.  “Spend eight hours a day with Slavs in your ear, you start to pick up on what they’re saying.”

People in this line of work are never impressed, but if they are, they might look a lot like Smith does in that moment.  “Sorry, you picked up Polish?”

“The two are very similar,” Matt says, and it occurs to him that Smith probably already knows this.  “Sir, is there a concern about the accuracy of the translation?  Because I can—”

“No concerns,” says Smith with a wave.  “It’s a spot on interpretation.  I was going to compliment your co-translator—some of these words don't have direct English translations.  The kombinować, as an example—”

“Yeah, I’m not sure that the connotation is correct there—”

“It is,” Smith says, leaning forward in his chair.  He sets his pen down, lets the report fall to a close, and crosses his hands atop the table.  “Nevertheless, it appears as though the person I should be complimenting is you, Mr…”

“Morgan,” he says.  “Matthew Morgan.”

“Right, Mr. Morgan,” he says with a smile.  “Any other languages we should know about before we proceed?”

He suspects that this question doesn’t truly require an answer, but Matt ain’t one to leave superior officers to linger.  “Well sir,” he says.  “My German is getting pretty good, but that one only just started to click a few months ago, so it’ll probably be another couple of weeks before I’m fluent.”

He’s not trying to be funny, but even so, both Smith and Cooper break out into a low chuckle.  It fills the tiny room from wall to wall, swallowing the silence whole.  It’s Smith who finally says, “Very good,” and Matt starts to feel a little lighter.  “Please, carry on with the brief.”

He follows the order and does so with his nose down, reviewing his outline of growing tensions across the world with the kind of strict professionalism his pops would be proud of.  There are no further questions from the room and each man takes notes as he sees fit.  They’re back to knowing everything about everything.

The gentleman from the Navy leaves first, somewhere amidst Matt’s coverage of Poland’s systemic food failures for the lower and middle class. Then, the officer from the Air Force checks his watch and takes a leave of his own.  Matt pays them no mind, knowing full well that he spends his busy days with even busier men and that none of it is to be taken personally.  They peel off one by one until he’s speaking to a room of two.

And by the way Smith looks at him, Matt reckons he ain’t doing much listening anyway.

He closes his folder and stands up straight again, presenting to a room that has stopped caring about what he has to say.  “Well, it looks like my time might be up,” he says.  “My direct line is listed in the report, should you have any questions.”

Smith is still smiling, a restful sort of glee in his eye, as though he’s Dr. Abraham Erskine and he’s just found his Steve Rogers.  His pen dances between his fingers—one, two, flip; one, two, flip—until it finally lands at the tip of his upper lip.  “That was very thorough, Mr. Morgan, thank you.”

Matt stands just a little taller.  “Thank you, sir,” he says.  “To tell you the truth, they don’t usually let me get that far.”

At this, Cooper huffs out a laugh, then turns toward Smith.  “You know how it is ‘round here,” he says.  “All these military men don’t know how to show up on time, but as soon as it’s time to leave, they’re suddenly bound by their watches.”

Smith nods, as though he knows all too well.  “I do remember those days,” he says.  Then, with a sly glance toward Cooper.  “And if I’m remembering correctly, Samuel, you were one of the worst offenders.”

Cooper waves his hand, stands from his chair.  “That don’t seem like the sorta thing we need to linger on.”

And Smith stands to join him, his copy of Matt’s report tucked under his elbow.  “Of course not,” he says, ever so graciously.  “Why linger on the truth?”

Matt feels as though he’s intruding, listening in on this conversation in the same way he might eavesdrop on a Russian poker game.  He’s gotten very good at hearing the undertones of a conversation, and there is an intimacy between the two of them that extends beyond colleagues.  If he had to name it, he’d say Smith reminds him a lot of Monty.

“Morgan,” Cooper says, changing the subject.  He reaches a hand out to Matt’s shoulder and guides him in close.  “This here is Alexander Smith.  He and I used to work SIGINT together.”

Smith holds out his hand, and Matt takes it with a firm shake.  “Used to, sir?”

“I’ve left my Army days behind me,” Smith says.  “If this were a proper introduction, it might include my current title: Director of Operations.”

“Oh?”

“For the CIA.”

“Oh.”

Matt’s met plenty of high ranking officials in his time.  Five-star generals and naval admirals.  Senators and ambassadors.  Hay Spring High’s class of ‘77 prom queen.  There’s not much left to intimidate him anymore, but something about those three little letters sparks an uneasy curiosity.

Smith has known Matt for all of ten minutes, and already he seems to have a perfect read on him.  “That was a pretty bold move, claiming your Polish translation like that,” he says.  “That kind of thing doesn’t usually fly around here—they’re real sticklers for procedure.  Rules, and the like.”

Matt does shrug this time, despite all of his military training against it.  “Well, sir, I never saw much good in lying after you’ve already been caught.”

This earns Matt an even wider smile than before.  “No, definitely not.” Smith leans in closer, his next words spoken in a low, conspiratorial tone.  “It only makes your next lie that much harder to tell.”

The sentiment of the statement sends a shock down Matt’s spine.  It aligns exactly with his impression of the CIA, yet it still catches him off guard.  Some part of him had always believed that the stories weren’t quite true.  He had thought that they were exaggerated—by the press, by the public, or maybe even by the agents themselves.  But Smith’s words give Matt a glimpse into a world that lives up to all of its legends and Matt realizes that the most disorienting thing about the CIA is that they’re exactly who they say they are, despite having every reason not to be.

Cooper’s voice is a comfort in a strange moment, which is not something Matt ever thought he would say about Cooper’s voice.  “I asked Alex to come meet you,” he said.  “Might be worth getting to know each other.”

It’s another one of those undertones.  He’s picking up on unsaid words and translating them before he can even register the process.  This ain’t an introduction, so much as it’s an invitation and for reasons he might never know, Don’t Stop Me Now is stuck on a loop in his head.

Smith crosses his arms across his chest and gives Matt one final look over.  “How about I buy you dinner tonight?” he says.  It’s phrased like a question, but Matt knows better.  “You and I can have a conversation about how you want to serve this country.”

It's starting to seem like Matt is destined to have this same conversation with different men every couple of years.  And while he’s honored to be asked, it all strikes him as more trouble than it’s worth.  He’s only just started to feel confident with where he’s at.

But his stomach grumbles, because the truth of the matter is that even the Peanut M&Ms don’t make for much of a meal.  Whatever the Director has in mind, it’s probably better than the grilled chicken waiting for him in the back of his fridge.  “I’ll be working late tonight,” Matt says.  “We just got the latest transcripts in from the Kiev carrier and—”

“I’ll wait,” Smith says, without so much as a flinch.  He pulls a small white card out of his pocket and holds it out.  “I’ve got nowhere else to be except right here, talking to you.  You just call me when you’re done for the night and I’ll send a car.”

It seems counterintuitive for the Director of Operations of the Central Intelligence Agency to have a business card, but it’s all right there, written out across cardstock just above his name and phone number.   Matt runs the edges across the pads of his fingers.  He runs his thumb over the seal.  

By the time he looks back up, Smith and Cooper are already gone, and Matt is finally down to a room with no one else in it.

#Full Circle #I'm SO EXCITED #We're finally gonna get some SPY stuff out of this boy #and #a little secret for you #The Cameron Sisters are going to be showing up REAL soon #so keep an eye out

[bakubub]

In which Racer!Kuroo is your roommate and you finally learn more about him...

Warnings: Mentions of loss of loved one, disregard for own life, swearing, innuendos and implied nsfw (but sfw overall), fem!reader with she/her pronouns.

A/N: Idek what this is. Its literally a 4.6 k mixture of fluff, angst and comfort... I rewrote this like 4 times :,) being a perfectionist is so,,, tiring.

This takes part shortly after this, you can definitely read this without reading the 'part 1' if you will, since they don't depend on one another.

Art belongs to @aikk00 ,, and yes I am still in love with it :D

I stumble out of the lecture hall, my eyes so heavy I bump into about 3 other students and mumble my apologies until I fully wake up and snap out of my daze.

Walking down the stairs and making my way to the bus stop, I watch in horror as the bus I was supposed to be in drives off, going fast for once in its damn life as if mocking me.

Inhaling sharply through my nose, I manage to keep my composure and sit down at the bus stop, telling myself the next bus will be here in a bit.

It's fine. It's fine. I slept through the lecture, and I still have to catch up on 4 subjects and make dinner, but at least the house is clean and I'm caught up in that one subject I picked up for this exact reason.

It's fine. It's going to be just fi-

The rumble of a loud engine breaks my shitty but somewhat effective self-reassurance motto and I open my eyes to see a black and red sports car going 60 km/h in a 30 zone, effectively getting mine and everyone else's attention.

I watched in horror for the second time today as this time it stopped right in front of the bus stop. No, no, no, no.

No.

Please no.

He rolls down the passenger window with that ridiculous hair and a shit-eating grin, as he nods towards the seat, revving his engine.

I look away, pretending he's not looking directly at me and that I don't live with the guy, which I immediately regretted when he beeped the fucking horn.

What did I do to deserve this humiliation?

I hastily put my head down as he beeped it again, giving up and rushing towards his insufferable car, getting into the passenger seat and slumping in my seat to keep my head down low.

"What is wrong with you? What are you even doing here?" I hiss, my glaring up at him from my awkward, folded position.

He laughs, and when I hear the sound of a photo being taken in the split second I looked away to readjust my bag, I sit up straight, watching him continue speeding as he stuffs his phone into his pocket.

"Are. You. Trying. To. Kill. Me?!" I ask, my voice little less than a screech as I slap his arm with each word.

"Ow, ow, I just came to pick my roomie up! I sensed you needed a ride, and this is the thanks I get?" he asks, that smirk I have come to hate returning to grace his features.

I glare at him, but a small, sleep-deprived part of my brain is distracted by his appearance. A tight black tee adorning his built figure, his biceps are on display as he drives with one hand, the other resting on the gear shift. The air from his rolled down window is ruffling his hair this way and that, and I find myself wanting to run my hands through the raven strands, just as I had when I washed his hair that one time...

"Wait- how the fuck did you know I didn't have a ride?" I ask incredulously, my reaction time clearly delayed but here nonetheless.

I narrow my eyes as he hesitates before he answers, "I just knew, ok? It's not like it’s astrodynamics, not that I can't figure that out too."

"Kuroo, what the hell is astrodynamics? Are you like, spying on me or something?" I ask, pretending to look out the window so as to not get distracted by his appearance once more.

"What do you common folk call it? Rocket science?" He says, once again exceeding the speed limit.

"If I'm a commoner, does that make you a peasant? Also, stop going so fast, I feel sick and I do not feel like dying today."

He rolls his eyes in response as he slows down by a smidgen, the speed meter barely even moving. "Seriously, you may have no consideration for yourself, but I still have a lot of things to achieve with my damn life so slow the fuck down." My words finally reach the rational part in him and he slows down considerably, now going within the speed limit.

Taking a deep breath, I rest my elbow on my door and look out the window, my mind flooding with thoughts about Kuroo's reckless driving and how it can all go sour with one delayed reaction.

Before I know it, we're rolling up to our apartment building, driving into his private garage only the penthouse owners get to use.

"I'm sorry," he mutters, filling the silence in the car.

"It's ok. I just... I want you to be safe. I know its hard, but... just try," I say quietly, unable to look at him.

"That's what he said," he says hastily before rushing out of the car before I can hit him.

Getting out of the vehicle myself, I send a murderous look his way and run after his retreating form.

A small part of me is grateful that he's acting like his usual unbearable self again, but the rest of me is just mad at his relentless sex jokes.

He hits the elevator button before I can get there and I watch the doors close, his smirk practically shining through the crack of the closing doors. I jam my foot in the middle at the last possible second, and smile victoriously as I get into the metal box and slap his arm once again.

"Ooh, do it harder," he practically moans, and my eyes just about pop out of their sockets in embarrassment as my face flushes a deep red.

"Oh shut up," I mutter, turning around and waiting patiently for the doors to open on the top floor. I hear him snicker and then the sound of a photo being taken, turning around sharply. I yell in defiance and throw my bag on the floor as I jump onto him in an attempt to grab his phone out of his hand and delete the probably unflattering photo.

I straddle his back and reach for the phone he easily holds out of my reach. Leaning across his shoulder in a feeble attempt to reach it, my feet are hooked around his chest and my other hand is using his shoulder as a brace. He's laughing hard at this point, and I'm screaming at him to give me the damn phone. Neither of us notice the elevator doors opening nor the small woman standing at the threshold staring at us in shock and amusement.

"Kuroo Tetsuro! You let that poor girl down this instant, young man!"

We both froze at the authoritative voice, slowly turning to look at a small dark haired woman with a straight shoulder length cut and narrow gold eyes that were glaring at the man under me.

"MUM!" He exclaims, setting me down and running to hug and kiss the woman, his mum apparently. "What are you doing here?" I hear him ask as I straighten myself out, fixing my jumper and tucking my hair behind my ears, picking up my bag off the floor and quickly following them out of the elevator.

"What, a mother needs an excuse to come visit her boys? Where's Kenma?" She asks, looking in the elevator again as if to check if she missed him.

"Oh, he's at his own place. Apparently he has a booked in session with this famous gamer today. Did he say he'd be here?" Kuroo asks, letting go of the woman and leaning on the wall.

"No, I didn't tell anyone I was coming to visit. Never mind that, who's this pretty young lady here, hmm?" She asks, raising a perfectly shaped brow as she walks towards me, the click of her heels echoing in the lobby of the penthouse.

I smiled down at her, since she was considerably shorter than even me, and introduced myself. "It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Kuroo." I say, bowing.

"Oh no, no, none of that. You can call me mum too, hmm?" She says, gesturing me up from my bow and pulling me down for a tight hug.

"Oh, um, actually, me and Kuroo aren't-"

"We’ll talk more comfortably inside, no? Tetsuro, is your plan to let me stand here all day?” She asks, letting me go and turning around to look at Kuroo.

Kuroo leaps into action, taking his mum's bag and unlocking the door, helping her out of her heels and leading her into the spotless penthouse.

It was all I could do to nod in response, closing the door behind us and walking down into the kitchen to prepare a meal.

It’s crazy how much I don’t know about this guy. He’d never mentioned his mother before, and briefly mentioned that he has a sister, whether older or younger I have no idea. Kenma, however, I know well. The guy was here all the time when I first started living here, but recently I've seen him less and less. Which is a shame, considering we actually got along quite well, with sharing eye rolls and bonding over our mutual love of Minecraft.

I don't notice silent footsteps following me until Kuroo's Mother says "now, why's a beautiful girl like yourself slaving away in the kitchen? Does that boy make u do all the cooking and cleaning like some mid-century housewife?"

I poke my head out of the fridge, smiling at her fair assumptions, "no, no, it's not like that at all. I actually-"

"Uh, mum! You know I'm incompetent with this stuff. This place would be a mess if she wasn't here to run things! Plus, she loves to cook and finds cleaning therapeutic. Hey, her words not mine," Kuroo quickly jumps in, putting his hands up defensively when she looks at him with a raised brow.

Looks like he doesn't want his mother to know of our little arrangement.

"Right. He's just so hopeless, I can't trust him to do anything," I add on, sending her a smile as I prepare the fish he likes.

"You're making grilled mackerel for dinner?! Oh that's gonna hit the fu- the fun spot," he says, saving himself at the last second.

I hold back a snort as I take out a pan, "open the window, fish boy. It's about to stink here and I can't be bothered with Mrs. Suzuki coming all the way upstairs just to complain about the fish smell, and then complaining that she had to come up here in the first place. God, I hope she isn't sitting on the balcony today," I ramble, trying to see her balcony from outside the window, but fail because of the private location.

Damn these amazing architects.

I hear his mum chuckle at my rambling as she begins to take out ingredients for a salad. "Oh, you don't have to help, please sit and make yourself comfortable," I say, moving towards her to take the lettuce out of her hands.

"No, no, I'd like to pitch in. Now what kind of mother-in-law would I be to let you do everything yourself?" She asks, holding the lettuce away from me and walking over to the sink.

I stare at the back of her head, a flush creeping up my neck, "m-mother-in-law?!" I ask incredulously, glancing over at Kuroo who looked suspiciously... Smug. I look away quickly when he meets my eyes, and I hastily hyper-focus on the fish in front of me, placing it on the heated pan, causing sizzling and popping to fill the awkward silence.

"I'm sorry darling, I don't mean to be overbearing. Tetsuro introduced you as his girlfriend, so I thought things were getting serious since he actually allowed us to meet one another. You see, he’s never introduced me to a girl before, so you can imagine my excitement. I can stop if you're uncomfortable-"

I cut her off, feeling even more embarrassed as I realise the role I am to play in Kuroo's life when his mother is around. I mean, it makes sense, he can't exactly just admit he took a random girl into his house.

"I, um, no really it's fine, I understand" I say, my voice small as I flip the fish.

She lets out a delighted laugh and pulls me down into a hug once more. The smile on my face is genuine as my embarrassment melts away, the bright smile of this woman comforting me.

"So, how did you guys meet?" She asks, chopping up the ingredients for her salad on the bench while I'm at the stove, Kuroo leaning on his elbows on the bench.

"At uni," I answer at the same time as Kuroo states, "at a party."

We both look at each other with wide eyes, and I clear my throat to clarify, "at a uni party. A classmate of ours hosted one and we met each other there."

"I see, so the old boozed up one night stand turned into quite a domestic relationship hmm?" she suggests, wiggling her eyebrows at Kuroo.

"What? No, no, I would never! A one night stand? Booze? Please, what kind of man do you take me for?" Kuroo complains, looking offended.

I turn around towards the stove and roll my eyes. I've heard the rumours around campus, practically every girl in my lecture hall can testify to at least making out with the man. He really puts up a façade for his mum.

I hear the doorbell ring, and quickly take the fish off the stove to go answer it as Kuroo bickers with his mother about how innocent he really is.

"Hello? Who is it?" I ask, pressing the buzzer.

"Uh, hello? Is this Tetsu's place?" A deep voice answers. I look at the camera, seeing Kenma and a bunch of men about Kuroo's age looking confused. The one who answered is a guy with a blond mohawk and piercings adorning both ears.

"Yes, just give me a second," I reply. "Kuroo, I think Kenma and the rest of your friends are here? Should I let 'em up?" I shout out.

"Yeah let 'em in," he calls back. I press another button, letting them into the lobby.

I need to make more food.

Quickly taking out my frozen dumplings I stocked up for emergency dinners for days I couldn't be bothered to make anything better, I whip up a quick sauce, thinking I could split the fish and put it in the middle of the table so everyone can take their share.

"I do apologise darling, I let my Kenma know that I came to visit and he must have told the boys. I think they've all come to see me," Kuroo's mum confesses.

"You must be a very loved woman if they came all this way to see you. And it's no worries really, I'm always prepared for guests," I say, putting her at ease.

She beams at me as the door is banged loudly.

Kuroo mutters something about “rude assholes'' as he goes to open the door, a group of tall men making their way through the threshold.

"Hiya cap'ain," the mohawk guy says, patting Kuroo on the back. A tall, light brown haired man was next to greet him, then proceeded to exclaim "MUMMA KOZUME!!" and practically jumped onto the poor woman.

Wait, did he just say Kozume? Isn't Kenma's surname Kozume?

"Hey mum," Kenma greets, kneeling down to hug Kuroo's mum.

Who's mum is this lady?! I swear to god I'm going to go crazy.

"Hello hello everyone," A massive grey haired guy says, kissing Kuroo's mum on the cheek and hugging Kuroo.

The last guy to greet them is a tan guy with a buzz cut, and he does the same as his friend before.

"So Kuroo, when di'ja get yourself a girl, huh?" The grey haired guy asks, looking offended that he didn't know before now.

I raise my eyebrows as Kuroo just smiles guiltily. He introduces me to his friends and I wave hello, as they all begin to introduce themselves.

The grey haired guy says his name is Lev and that he's half Russian. A weird detail to include but interesting I guess.

The light brown haired man introduces himself as Yaku, and says that he was Kuroo's senpai back in high school.

"Yeah a demon senpai," Kuroo mutters in reply. My smile quickly turns into a grimace as Yaku jumps on him and they both start brawling on the floor, making a loud ruckus. A loud thumping can be heard from downstairs as Mrs. Suzuki starts to lose her mind and continues to bang the handle of her broom to her ceiling.

"Ugh, you morons upset Mrs. Suzuki! She's going to talk my ear off next time I see her..." I complain, grabbing a cushion and throwing it at the boys.

They flinch at my anger and quickly get up, muttering a quick apology. My glare softens as mohawk introduces himself as Yamamoto, and the tan guy says his name is Kai whilst vigorously shaking my hand.

"It's very nice meeting all of you. Dinner will be ready in a bit so please just make yourselves comfortable," I announce, making my way back into the kitchen.

The boys, all sporting grins, make their way to the living room and sit on the couches, man-spreading and slouching all over the place, one person taking up the usual spot for two.

I sigh, focusing on the dumplings in front of me.

I stiffen as I feel large hands on my waist, and a presence behind me. Visibly relaxing once I realise it's Kuroo, I turn around, his hands still resting on my hips, and his face nestled in the crook of my neck.

"Please just go along with it. We have to act like a couple if they're going to believe us," he mutters, his hot breath causing shivers to run up my spine.

I simply nod, instinctively placing my arms around his neck and running my fingers through his hair, something I've wanted to do since that day.

He groans into my neck, and I find myself holding my breath as I continue my hand movements.

"OI LOVEBIRDS! MUM SAYS THE DUMPLINGS ARE GONNA FUCKIN' STICK! Ow! Oh, sorry," I snatched my hands back from Kuroo, pushing his chest, my cheeks flushing in embarrassment.

What the fuck am I doing?!

I turn around back to the stove, mixing the dumplings in the boiling water as my thoughts race.

That felt too real, too much like a real relationship.

And way too addicting, apparently, since I already miss his close proximity.

The warmth on my waist disappears as I hear Kuroo running back into the living room.

"SHUT UP YOU MORON, THE DUMPLINGS ARE FINE!" I hear him scream, and then a loud thud as he presumably tackles whoever yelled at us to the ground.

I sigh as I hear Mrs. Suzuki's muffled thuds from downstairs in record time.

"You know I'm going to have to make Mrs. Suzuki some kind of apology cake because you boys can't sit down and act like adults," I complained, my arms crossed and an unimpressed expression on my face.

Lev and Yamamoto are on the floor playing some kind of Connect 4 game I've never seen before, while Kai looks to be having a deep conversation with Kuroo's mum, who is perched on the single arm chair like the queen she is.

Kenma is hogging the tv playing some kind of video game on Kuroo's ps5 (which I've hogged on more than one occasion), and Kuroo on the other hand has Yaku in a headlock.

He immediately lets go and apologises, and so does Yaku, who even bows in his regret.

I roll my eyes and shake my head at his mum, who just laughs, and I make my way back into the kitchen, setting food on the table and calling them in to eat.

After dinner, I find myself showered in compliments and not a bite of dinner leftover for tomorrow's lunch. Damn I'm good.

I served up cake I had already prepared from earlier along with fruits I washed and set on plates, and watched as that was eaten and finished before I even sat down. Kuroo's mum scolded the boys for poor manners, and they all apologised. Well, all except Kuroo, who just wiggled his pierced brows and winked at me.

I sit down on the floor next to the couch, since it was all occupied, and hear a dissatisfied sound coming from Kuroo's mum.

"Now, now, sweetheart. You don't have to be shy around me, just go on and take your usual seat next to Tetsuro," she says, nudging her head in Kuroo's direction, where the only vacant spot was literally his lap.

I look at her with wide eyes, even Kuroo seems taken aback by her suggestion, and all the boys are immaturely ‘oohing’ loudly as they laugh and make fun of us.

Kuroo makes a gesture for me to come next to him, so I hold back my heavy sigh, try my best to hide the flush on my face, and walk towards him, awkwardly perching on his knee.

He chuckles as he grabs my waist and pulls me flush towards his chest, my butt in the corner of the couch and my legs resting diagonally over his, so that my head is directly in the crook of his neck.

I hate to say it, but this is actually really damn comfortable.

Conversation has started up again, but it becomes secondary to the beat of his heart right under my ear, and my eyes start to get heavy as his scent and warmth lull me to a comfort that is beyond being awake and alert.

---

Kuroo's POV

"What a cute girl she is, Tetsu. I'm so glad you've found her. And now that you've got her, you better. Not. Let. Go." She says, slapping me on the arm with each word of her last sentence.

What is it with women and slapping me?

"Ok, ok, I know mum, I won't stuff this up. I promise," I respond, smiling at her.

"Ok, well, I'm staying over at Kenma's house. Ah, no objections. You've already got your hands full, and I don't want to be in the way of young love. Plus, I'd rather listen to Kenma's midnight streams than you two in the middle of the night," she says, not accepting my objections and giving me a knowing look. My face warms to what she's insinuating, and I mutter a quick, "it's not like that," as I duck my head into Y/n's shoulder.

By this time the boys have all left, Kenma's downstairs waiting in his car for his mum to come, but she insisted on staying back for a few minutes to talk to me.

Y/n fell asleep a while ago now, still nestled on my lap, her head on my shoulder and her figure keeping me warm.

"I know exactly how it is, my darling. I've seen how you two act, pretending to be in a relationship just so we don't ask any uncomfortable questions. I won't meddle in your life, I never did, Tetsuro. But I will give you advice I expect you to consider. Don't let her go. Neither of you were pretending about your feelings towards each other, let me tell you that much." She says, knowingly looking at me.

I look up in alarm, which quickly morphs into a nervous laugh. She's good, I'll give her that much.

But, can Y/n really mirror my feelings?

"Ok darling, better not leave Kenma waiting any longer. I'll visit again tomorrow, or you can come over to Kenma's, whichever you prefer as long as she comes along too. I want to get to know my future daughter-in-law better!!"

With that, the woman who took me in and treated me like her own left my home.

I look down at my roommate, taking in the way her lashes are long enough to brush against her face, the way her brows are just a tad bit asymmetrical, the stroke of her nose and the bend of her cupid's bow.

I can't help but bring my hand up to caress the side of her face, content to stay here forever.

Mum would've loved her.

This thought broke the dam that held back my tears since middle school, and as they fell down my face I couldn't help but think of my own mother, coming in and hugging her, making her famous pie that I can't remember the taste of anymore. A sob racks my figure and I all of a sudden find a pair of e/c eyes staring up at me, my tears having dampened some parts of her face.

Wordlessly, she straightens herself and wraps her arms around my neck, running her fingers through the back of my head, stroking down towards my nape and up again. I cry into her shoulder, tears that I've bottled up, emotions I've ignored because I've had my dad, my grandparents and the Kozume's. Later, I even had the team, and they all followed me to the racing gig, a place where I can express my emotions through the reckless driving that could claim my life any second. I should have been grateful. Instead, the pain of her absence never ceased.

I clutch the back of her sweatshirt as I cry and cry and cry, eventually tiring myself out and running out of tears.

With dry sobs still racking my body every few minutes, she finally leans back, cupping my face in her gentle hands.

"What's the matter, Kuroo?" She whispers, looking up at me with tears shining in her own eyes. "You can tell me anything, or you can say nothing at all. Either way, I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you," she says, touching her forehead to mine and closing her eyes. She stays here for a moment before moving to get up and drag me up too.

"Come on, let's get you into your pjs and into bed. It's getting late."

---

Your POV

Now in his usual shorts and singlet, I drag him to his massive bed, opening the neatly made bed and gently sit him down.

His hazel eyes follow me as I go to close the curtains, his lashes still wet from the countless tears he shed, his body still hiccupping with dry sobs.

Once I've put his blankets around him, I go to leave, muttering a goodnight as I leave.

"Y/n," I hear before I close the door. I peek my head in, "please stay."

Without a pause to think about his request, and already in my own pyjamas, I go next to him and crawl into his open arm as if I've been doing it every night, snuggling into his shoulder once more and wrapping my arm around his chest.

After a few moments of silence, he begins to speak in a raspy tone, "she's not my real mum. She's Kenma's mum, and I've... I've called her mum since I was around 7," he takes a deep breath before continuing. "I moved in with my dad and grandparents next door to the Kozumes when I was 6. I was nervous and shy back then. You wouldn't even recognise me because of the 180 turn my personality's taken. Kenma was even more social than I was. He was my first friend, and when I got him into volleyball and we met Coach Nekomata. That man inspired me to be the man I am today, and was the main reason why I joined the volleyball team in high school, and made friends with the guys. He did what my mum should've, supported me and gave me the confidence to live my life," he says, his voice cracking with the last word. I hug him tighter, knowing not to say anything as of yet.

"I just wish... I wish she didn't go. I wish she could've met you, Y/n. She would've loved you even more than Kenma's mum does," he confesses with a chuckle, sniffling and turning towards me to look me in the eyes.

"She would've seen the way I was around you. The different man I become. You make me a better person, Y/n. I find myself wanting to be better for you. I could never thank you enough for that. Please, never leave. Just stay with me, and I'll always be here for you," he says, repeating the same words I said to him earlier.

I can't help the smile from taking over my features and I lean in to kiss his nose, his eyes, his cheeks and finally I press my lips against his, something I have been wanting to do for a very long time.

"I will, Kuroo Tetsuro. I'll always stay with you."

A/n: So, I don't actually know if his mum passed away or if she left them, so I kind of just,, did both ?

Taglist: @3daa & @itsgiorgiaz

Notes, interactions and reblogs are highly appreciated <3

#racer!kuroo #haikyuu x reader #haikyufics #kuroo tetsuro scenarios #haikyuu!! #haikyu imagines #kuroo x you #kuroo tetsuro x you #kuroo tetsurou #haikyu angst #haikyuu drabbles #haikyu x reader #haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu au #kuroo angst #kuroo comfort #kuroo fluff #kuroo au

[mmilkbreadd]

—oh my god, they were roommates—

Previous | Masterlist

╰┈➤ no longer looking for a roommate.

╰┈➤ someone help me, please.

╰┈➤ i think i like them.

[part two]

note: this the second part of a short fic series. it’s not really necessary to read part one, but i do recommend reading it before this one.

word count: 1.5k

Moving in was not a pleasant experience, per se. You had to carry all of your things from the tiny hotel to the normal-sized apartment, walking twenty blocks without any help.

You didn't have any friends there yet, and Tsukishima barely knew you —including he hadn't a very attentive spirit as well—, so no one was there to help you with your luggage. You were all alone in a city you had only been for a few weeks, carrying half your own weight on both hands.

“You are a strong and independent person, (Y/N). You can do this!" you thought as you walked the block number fifteen. "That's what Grandma always said... God, I hope she was right.”

Sendai was a pretty small city compared to Tokyo, but it still had a very enchanting environment. The population was not nearly half of the one your hometown had, so you weren't very used to this type of atmosphere.

Tall buildings surrounded you. Most of them were museums, and you questioned which one of them was the one your roommate worked in. He had affirmed something about working in one about Natural Sciences, yet you couldn't really recall its specialization.

Maybe you could visit it one day, who knows.

The traffic was not as bad as you thought, but, of course, people stared at you, pondering how only a crazy person would walk with that much stuff in their hands when rain was almost arising. You weren't mad though, you were just trying to start a brand new life in a brand new place with a brand new —and handsome— roommate. Who will spend these next months beside you.

And share a bathroom with you as well. Yikes.

Forty minutes later, you arrived at the craved destination. Sweating and longing for a glass of water, you rang the bell of apartment number 11. You couldn't hear anything coming from the inside, so you prayed someone was there.

Someone, anyone, slowly walking to open the door, with twelve gallons of water in their hands and a pillow for your head.

Yeah, that didn't happen. The sound of silence was never this loud.

Quick and tiny drops started to hit your luggage. The only thing covering you was the small roof above, but your stuff didn't have the same luck as you did. So there was only one option left.

Sitting on one of your trunks and crying until someone rescued you.

I did say strong and independent, right?

“Stupid Tsukishima, he told me to come today,” you angrily stated out loud. “I'm gonna- I will- Gah! It hasn't been one day living with him, and I already hate this guy's guts!”

“Hello there,” said a voice near you. Tsukishima appeared out of nowhere with a green umbrella in one hand and a bag of groceries in the other. “I just went out to buy some food.”

Your gaze immediately turned to him, cheeks flushed. Clumsily, you stood up and tried to come up with an explanation to save yourself from further embarrassment. The blond stared at you, raising an eyebrow.

'Cute,' he thought, wanting to have some fun by mocking you.

“I'm sorry, haha,” you said, forming an ashamed smile on your lips. “It's been a long day, and I'm so tired of walking. I just want to rest, okay?”

Tsukishima smirked and grabbed a set of keys from his pocket.

“First the rain, and now the long day,” he articulated, opening the door. “You're full of excuses, aren't you?”

He then made a signal with his head indicating you to follow him. Therefore you grabbed all of your stuff —which felt even heavier than before—, and entered the building.

Tsukishima walked through a corridor and stopped at door number 11. He then proceeded to take out the set of keys again and unlocked the apartment.

“You could help me, you know?” you remarked, struggling to keep up. “When you see a friend in need, you should help them. Hasn't your mother taught you that?”

“Well, I would,” he answered, turning around to see you. Tsukishima left out a single laugh as he saw you almost letting everything fall off. “But we're not friends, remember? You said you hated me back there.”

“I will hate you more if you don't help me right now.”

“I think I can live with that,” said Tsukishima leaving the groceries on a table and then closing his bedroom door.

Minimalistic, empty, and neat.

Those were your first thoughts when you examined the apartment once your room was settled.

You had finally relaxed from your exhausting day, so you decided to inspect your new home, trying to find out more about the guy who now lived with you, though roaming around the house made you feel a bit out of place.

The house looked too tidy in your preference. The walls were white, and a few paintings adorned the entire area. There was at least one plant in each room, though you weren't sure if there was one in Tsukishima's room, as you haven't entered there yet.

Some magazines about Volleyball laid on the tea table, where you could see an orange-haired boy on the front page. It looked like he was chosen to be part of the National Team for the coming Olympics.

Your search resulted in you glancing at one of the hundreds of books about dinosaurs. When you were looking at one about Tyrannosaurus, a picture fell from inside. The same orange-haired boy you saw before in the magazine appeared in it, smiling in front of a younger Tsukishima. There were two other boys and one blonde girl in the middle as well.

You noticed all of them were wearing a Volleyball uniform, but before you could look into it a bit more, a hand pressed your shoulder.

“It's not nice to spy on other's things,” said Tsukishima, smirking and taking the photo from your hands. “You are a really awful roommate, (Y/N). And it's only been like two hours, at best.”

You watched him walking towards the kitchen, disappearing from your sight again. He startled you when he appeared. It was the second time today he had done something similar.

Was he always sneaky like that? You hoped not, because your stay here wouldn't be so good if he was.

And also, how long did he stare at you before actually stepping in?

Dismissing your thoughts, you followed where Tsukishima went. You found him studying —with a rather gloomy demeanor— the picture he took from you.

“Didn't take you from someone who had feelings,” this time, you were the one who surprised him. “And also didn't know you were a volleyball player.”

Tsukishima quickly changed his attitude and put the image inside his pocket. He crossed his arms and reclined in the kitchen furniture.

“You never asked,” he answered, trying to act uninterested. “Though I don't know why you care.”

“Well, we live together now," you said after a sigh. “The only thing we have left is getting to know each other.”

“Even if you hate me?” Tsukishima snarked with a cocky smile, making you remember how handsome he was.

His blond hair was messy, and his bright and tired eyes examined every inch of you. Tsukishima liked reading people like a book. And he was good at it too. Waiting for your answer, he started to recall the day that he met you.

Now you weren't soaking wet, and you weren't freezing because of it, but the weather was still the same. The rain hit the window nonstop, thunder and lightning appearing from time to time. Your face shone with the kitchen lights, making Tsukishima a little flustered. His attraction to you growing bigger every time you spoke, and the distance between the two being only two meters.

If Tsukishima made only one step, he would be able to touch your face. However, he stood there, expecting you to do it instead of him.

But you didn't.

“Yeah. Even if I hate you, I want to get to—” you giggled, but before you could finish, the lights went off. “Oh, crap!”

Tsukishima took only a few seconds before remembering where the candles were. Opening one of the cabinets nearby him, he found them.

“(Y/N), where are you?” he whispered, trying to light the candles on.

“I'm here,” you murmured back. “Also, why are we whispering?”

Tsukishima followed your voice and irradiated your face. You had a tiny smile brightening your appearance. Your eyes sparkled like two stars in a dark night, making the moon beside you fall deeply in love, but at the same time, earning jealousy of your glow.

Tsukishima wished for the electricity to never come back, so the stars shining in his life never faded.

But as we all know by now, stars never shine forever... And neither could these.

#tsukishima #tsukishima x reader #tsukishima kei #tsukishima kei x reader #tsukki #tsukki x reader #haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu!! #hq boys #hq x reader #haikyuucafe #hqcorenet

[awkward-uwu]

A Royal Journey pt.4

Previous//Next

Genre: Fluff, Fantasy

Pairings: Female Reader x Felix || WooChan (Woojin x Chan)

Word count: 4,186

Warnings: Blood and Violence

Summary: Finally getting somwhere.

The next morning you wake up with a blinding headache and you can't remember much from last night. You use lesser restoration on yourself which takes away your headache pretty fast and you also start remembering more of last night. You remember dancing with Felix, you remember the way he smiled at you, and you can't help but to smile to yourself while you get ready for the day. Once you're almost fully dressed you hear a knock on your door, “Y/n, Jeongin is still out.”

“Aw, ok, I'll be in there in a minute, I'm still getting dressed.” You quickly finish up and make your way a door down to the boy's room and knock on the door. It opens and you see Jeongin lying on one of the two beds in the most uncomfortable position you've ever seen and you just laugh, Felix is sitting on the edge of the other bed putting his armor on, when he sees you come in he smiles brightly. You start tapping on his shoulder, “Jeongin… hello?” You cast the same spell as you did earlier on him and he starts waking up, he blinks his eyes and looks up at you, “An angel…?” You laugh, “No Jeongin, just me,”

He sits up, “Eh, close enough.”

“Sure,” you laugh.

“Whoa, I feel way better!”

“Well yeah, I used a pretty good spell on you.” Chan laughs, “Ok Jeongin, now that you're up hurry and get ready, we're leaving right when Changbin gets here.”

“Ok ok I'm moving, but I can't get dressed when she's in here,” Jeongin points at you.

“Oh! Right! I'll go over to the pub and order breakfast. Should I bring it back here?”

“Nah, we'll be there in a little bit,” Chan says holding the door. You nod and leave. When you enter the pub you see Han and Minho at the bar eating, you sit down next to them and order your food. “Oh Y/n!” Han smiles brightly.

“Hi guys” you smile.

“You and Felix did great at the dance last night! You're such a cute couple!”

“Oh, uh, we're, not a couple…”

“Uh huh… so that means you're available?” Han smirks. “I, uh, well technically I guess…” Minho flicks him in the back of the head again, “Ow! I said stop hitting me!”

“Then stop making her uncomfortable!” At this point the other three walk in as the bartender brings you your food, you all go sit down at a table. After eating for about ten minutes Changbin walks in, he sets two scrolls on the table in front of Jeongin, “What are these?”

“Spell scrolls we found in the bosses stuff, figured you could use them” Jeongin's face lights up, “No way!! I'll definitely use these! Thank you!” He then spends the rest of the time you're in the pub reading over the spells and copying them to his spellbook. You spend another twenty minutes eating and then all four of you leave the pub, but as you're leaving you hear someone shout behind you, “Wait!!” Han and Minho run up to you, “Can we come with? It doesn't matter where you're going, we're just wandering around anyways, having people other than Han to talk to would be great…”

“Rude.”

You look at the rest of them and they just shrug. “Sure why not, as long as you're aware there's possible fighting, and you might get hurt,” you say with a somewhat serious face. The two of them look at each other and then look back, “I think we can handle it” Han smirks. You all then leave the town together and head back to Ironwind. You actually get there in one day this time due to no issues popping up, but it's beginning to get pretty late at this point. The guards stop you at the gate until they see Felix, “Ah your highness, you've returned much sooner than expected.” The guards bow. “Yes, but I'm not staying long, I just need to speak to my mother, and it's important, may we borrow some horses?”

“Of course your highness, but we only have five, so a few of you will have to share,”

“That's fine, thank you.” Five horses get brought out to you, Han and Minho share one and you get on with Felix. At first you don't hold on very tight because you've never been that close to him and you're a little nervous, “Y/n, hold on, I don't want you falling off.”

“Uh, ok…” you wrap your arms around his waist, as he kicks and the horses take off. They go much faster than you were expecting and you let out a small squeak and shut your eyes tightly as you wrap your arms around him tighter trying not to fall off. Felix on the other hand is a smiling blushing mess, which he's very happy no one can see. After a moment you open your eyes and watch the houses speed past you and you're hands slowly start slipping from his waist. Once he notices he reaches down with one hand and pulls you up to hold on better, “You ok?” He glances back at you. “Yeah, I'm fine,” you readjust yourself and tighten your grip on his waist as he moves his hand from yours. After you get used to the speed you realize just just how close to him you are, you heart rate begins to speed up and you start grinning to yourself.

You make it to the castle far sooner than you would have liked. Felix jumps off before you and then reaches up with both hands to help you down, you hop into his arms and he lowers you to the ground. You're faces are very close at this point and Felix takes a quick step back, “I'm going in with Chan and Changbin, you four stay here,” You nod and sit down on the benches by the doors as they go in. They walk into the throne room but the queen isn't there, Felix sees two guards, “Excuse me, where's my mother?”

“Oh your highness, she's in her study.”

“Thank you!” He grabs Chan and Changbin’s hands and runs off. They stop in front of a large door on the second floor and Felix knocks. “Yes?”

“Mother? It's me.”

“Felix?” There's some shuffling behind the door before it opens. “What are you doing back so soon…?”

“I have something important to talk to you about.”

“Oh… alright, come in.” The three of them walk in and the queen sits down in a chair in front of a desk, “Now, what is it dear?”

“Have you ever heard the name Tema?” Felix asks as he sits down in a chair next to the door. The queens eye go wide, “Where did you hear that name?!”

“I- um, from Changbin…”

“Who's that?”

“Oh right! This is Changbin, we met him in the forest, he used to be a bandit, but now he's not, we helped him beat up his old boss.”

“I see, it's a pleasure to meet you,” she smiles and nods towards Changbin as he bows. “Now Changbin, where did you learn that name? No one should know it, that name, and it's owner have been dead for years...”

“Well, your majesty, with all due respect, you're wrong, for the name at least. Because my group was working under her, she was having us spy on the city, and she doesn't like you or your family at all…”

“But that's impossible, she died, he killed her… She's gone! You must be mistaken!” She stands up and walks over to the window on the left side of the desk. “Mom…” Felix stands up, “Who is- or was she…?”

“She was a good friend, an ally… but, she changed, her mind got twisted, she started messing with things she didn't understand, she put the kingdom in danger… she put you in danger… and she shouldn't be alive! You father sacrificed himself to kill her… he trapped her in her lab, he caused it to explode with both of them in it… she shouldn't be alive…” They stand in silence for a moment, “Mom… why have you never told me this?? Isn't this a little important??”

“I was going to! I just never found the right time… I'm sorry.” Felix thinks for a moment, “We need to kill her. If she really is still alive we need to kill her.”

“Felix no, she's too dangerous, I can't lose you too…”

“Mom, I'll have friends with me, we'll practice, please, let me do this for father…” Felix has an extremely determined look on his face. “You're majesty, take it from me, we can handle this, we even have two more people with us willing to help.” Changbin speaks up. “I just- I don't know…”

“Mother. Please.” She sits there thinking silently for a while, “Alright… but if you don't come back I won't forgive you.” Felix runs up and hugs her, “Don't worry, I'll be back, I promise.”

They smile at each other, “I love you Felix, and I'll never stop.”

“I love you too mom,” Felix smiles brightly and the three of them leave. The queen sits down at her desk and puts her head in her hands. They make it back out to the rest of you and explain everything. “Wait, so we're gonna fight some possibly super strong crazy woman who killed your Dad?” Jeongin asks. “Essentially, yes.” Felix responds.

��Awesome!”

“Jeongin, you sound way too excited to possibly die,” you laugh.

“Well when you put it that way it sounds worse…” the rest of you laugh. “Ok, since we'll be leaving in the morning why don't you three come stay at the temple? We have extra rooms.” You say looking at Han, Minho and Changbin. “That's a good idea, Felix, why don't you go with them, I'm gonna go talk to the guard about getting a cart so we don't have to walk.” Chan says as he mounts his horse and leaves. The rest of you nod and mount your horses as well and head to the temple. You show the three of them around and explain to the other clerics what's going on. They get them settled in and you and Felix take Jeongin to his place by the garden, after he goes inside you speak up, “Hey Felix?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you take me with? Couldn't you have dropped Jeongin off by yourself?”

“Well, yeah… but I wanted to show you something.”

“Oh, alright,” you smile as Felix gets off the horse and starts leading it with you on it. “Close your eyes.”

“Ok…?” You say with a small smile. You walk for a small while before you stop, “Ok, open your eyes.” As you open your eyes gasp, you see the pond in the middle of the garden and you see a full moon and all the stars due to the clear night. “Felix… this is beautiful…” you sit in awe. “I knew you'd like it, this is my favorite place to come when I need to think.” He smiles softly. He helps you down again and he walks you down a bridge leading to the small island in the middle of the pond. You sit down on the small bench and stare at the stars and moon, “This is just so beautiful… I-” you turn to look at Felix who is smiling at you. “I-... Um…” you look away down to the other side.

“Y/n?”

“Hm?” You look back up.

“I've known you for years now,” You look down at your hands in your lap. “and ever since that first day you helped me the temple, I've always thought you were the most beautiful girl I've ever met...” At this point your heart is beating so fast it feels like it might pop out of your chest, you want to say something but your mouth won't move.

Felix continues, “I've known from that moment that I've liked you, I just haven't had the guts to tell you… I understand if you don't like me back, I just needed you to kno-” before he can say anything else you're grabbing the sides of his face and are crashing your lips into his. He freezes for a second before he moves his hands to your waist and kisses you back. It's like fireworks are going off in your head, the world almost seems to spin as he slowly moves his lips with yours.

You slowly pull apart and just stare into each other's eyes almost in a dase, “Hey Felix?”

“Yeah?”

“I definitely like you back,” He chuckles before kissing you again pulling you closer as you slowly run your hands through his hair.

You two lie down in the grass and watch the stars together holding hands, you point out constellations you've learned and how the stars look like his freckles. You stay like this for about half an hour before he stands up, “Come on, we should really get going, we've got a lot to prepare for.” He gives you his hand and helps you up, once you're up he laces his fingers with yours and walks you back to the horse. He takes you back to the temple and walks you up to the door before he softly caresses your cheek with his thumb and leans in to kiss you one last time, which you you gladly return smiling.

“I'll see you tomorrow,” he smiles as he gets back on the horse and leaves for the castle. You go inside grinning like an idiot and lean your back up against the door as you shut it. “Fun night?” You just about jump out of your skin as you see Han, Minho and Changbin all sitting on the couches in front room of the temple.

“I- uh-” They all just laugh, “Calm down, you don't have to tell us anything,”

You sigh, “You guys scared the crap out of me, why are you still up??”

“We were waiting for you.” Changbin says still laughing a bit.

“Why…?” They all just shrug and you roll your eyes, “Nevermind, it doesn't matter, but we do need to go to bed, we have a lot to get ready for.” They all whine and get up and go to the guest rooms near the back and you go to your room. As you lay in your bed you just stare up at the ceiling, “Did that really… just happen…?” You touch your lips and smile. As you fall asleep the only thing on your mind is Felix's face.

The next morning you wake up just before sunrise and before the boys wake up to make breakfast. Which the smell of food wakes them up pretty quickly. After eating for a few minutes there's a knock at the door, you go and open it to find Chan, Felix and Jeongin with a cart drawn by two horses. When you see Felix you can't help but smile and blush a little remembering last night, and Chan definitely notices. You run off and finish getting ready as the boys finish up eating and do the same. Once you're all ready you pile into the cart and Chan gets in the front to drive and Changbin sits up there with him. The cart is definitely faster than walking, but not by much, it's definitely easier than walking.

You make it to and through most of the forest in about half a day, once you make it to the crossroads again Changbin speaks up, “We should go to Silvermire, that's the way Tema’s goons go every time they report back to her,” Chan nods and you go left this time.

You make it to Silvermire in about an hour, at this point it's a few hours after middy. The town is on the very edge of the forest and is in much better condition and much larger than Deepwood. It once again has a wall around it but it's much taller, and it has an actual gate, but it is open. It's a very busy bustling town with people selling things from carts and people getting off work going home or to the local pubs.

You make your way through the town and make it to a larger inn with a pub in the downstairs. You all go in and it's just starting to get active. Chan goes up to the bar and buys three rooms, “Hey is there a place we can keep our horses?” He asks. “Oh yes, we have a public stable near the gardens. Just go follow the main road for a while and you'll see it.” She smiles as she hands Chan the keys for the room. Chan smiles, “Thank you,” he turns to leave and stops, “Oh wait! One more thing, do you know anything about a lady named Tema?” She thinks for a moment, “Hmm it sounds familiar… you know who might know? The druid who helps with the gardens, lots of people like to hang out there so he knows almost everyone, he's very friendly.” Chan smiles and thanks her again before giving everyone their keys, one to you, one to Han, Minho and Changbin, and the last one stays with Chan because he's sharing with Felix and Jeongin. “We gotta get more girls in this group, bunking by myself is sorta lonely…” you whine as the rest of them laugh.

“I'm gonna go find a place to leave the horses, and also possibly learn some about Tema. Who wants to join me?”

“I will!” You all say almost in unison. You all start laughing. “Well ok then, I guess this'll be a group thing.” Chan chuckles as you all start making your way to the gardens. Due to how large the town is it takes about ten minutes to get there. It's a very large garden, maybe about half the size of the castle’s, which is saying a lot, the castle garden is very large. You easily find the stables and Chan pulls up to it, a young man comes out and helps tie the horses up and parks the cart behind the building, Chan pays him a few gold. You all make your way to the garden, which is beautiful, it has all sorts of different plants and trees, there are bright flowers everywhere, and multiple pathways throughout it with a small house in the center. The house has a stone path leading up to it, and on one side of the house is a small koi pond, and a chicken coop on the other. As you walk up to the door and Chan knocks you ask, “Hey Chan? Who is this person anyway?”

“Some druid, apparently he might know about Tema, he's probably some old man-" An attractive younger man, not much older than Chan opens the door. He's wearing loose dark brown and green clothes and has a small silver circlet with little flowers on it on his head. “Can I help you?” He asks softly. “I- um- uh-” Chan stumbles over his words as Felix pushes him out of the way, “We're looking for someone, we were told you might know something.”

“Oh alright, why don't you you come in? I just made tea,” the man smiles softly gestures inside. “Alright, thank you.” Felix smiles and goes inside with the man and the rest of the boys, except Chan who's still standing in the same place as before, staring where the man was in the doorway. “Chan? Chaaan,” you wave your hands in his face, “Chan!” You snap your fingers at him. “Ah! What? Huh?” You laugh, “Great first impression,”

“Y/n…” he grabs your shoulders, “This guy is way too pretty, what do I do??” He whispers in a panic. You start laughing harder than before, “Oh my gosh Chan, calm down, just be normal ok? Try not to freak out.” You state calmly. “Ok ok…” Chan takes a deep breath.

“You ready?”

“Nope, but I'm going in anyway.” He says as he goes inside. You simply chuckle and follow him in. The inside is full of plants and vines climbing up the walls, there's an orange tabby cat in the window and a hot kettle of tea on the table, it's a very warm comfortable house. You and Chan sit down at the table with the rest of the boys. “I'm happy you came, I haven't had many visitors recently,” he starts pouring everyone tea, “My name's Woojin, I take care of this garden.” He smiles softly as he sits down. “It's a pleasure to meet you,” Felix smiles, “I'm Felix, and this is Y/n, Chan, Jeongin, Changbin, Han and Minho.” You all nod and smile as he says your names. Woojin and Chan make eye contact for a split second and Woojin smiles a little brighter, and Chan can swear his heart explodes. “Wonderful,” Woojin smiles, “Now, you said you were looking for someone right?”

“Yes, we're looking for a woman named Tema, do you know anything?” Felix asks.

“Hm, Tema… that sounds familiar…” Woojin thinks for a moment, “Oh! I do know that name! She came by about a month ago looking for some very poisonous plants, which I obviously don't have, she got very mad that I didn't and burnt down some of my plants and killed a few of my chickens… it was horrid…”

“That sounds about right… do you know where she might have gone..?” Felix asks.

“I think she mentioned something about Everbell… it's a town in the mountains, it's very far, and very dangerous…” You all sit there thinking for a moment, “I guess we're going there next,” you shrug. “Wait, you guys can't go there by yourselves, there are some crazy elementals, giants and harpies up there, you'll never make back alive if you don't have someone who knows how to navigate the mountains with you.”

“Well where would we find someone who can do that?” Felix sighs. “I mean, I used to live up there…” Woojin states. “Oh! So would you be able to come with?”

“Well… I could, I do have someone who could watch the gardens for me…” he sits there for a moment thinking it over, “Sure! Why not? I haven't been out of this town in a while.”

“Great! Would tomorrow be ok for you?”

“Sure! I'll be ready in the morning!” He smiles brightly.

You all stand up and make your way out of his house, at this point it's beginning to get dark and you see people lighting the lanterns throughout town, you all walk back to the inn, and om the way there you almost go over to hold Felix's hand but stop yourself since no one else knows yet.The pub in the bottom of the inn is bustling and lot's of people are talking and laughing, the boys want to stay in the pub and hangout, but you're exhausted and are ready to sleep, so you head up to your room as the guys order a round. After they all finish their first beer Felix speaks up, “Ya know, I'm actually pretty tired also, I'm gonna go up to the room, can I have the key?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, here,” Chan hands Felix the key and he heads upstairs, but he doesn't go to his room. He instead knocks on your door, which you answer pretty quickly since you weren't asleep yet, as you open the door you smile. “Hey,” Felix grins and you let him in. Almost immediately he has his hands on your hips and turns you around and up against the door as he presses his lips to yours. You slowly move your hands up is body and to his hair as he tilts his head into the kiss. You part and he sighs as he presses his forehead to yours, “I've waited all day for that…”

“Why can't we just tell the guys so we don't have to hide this?” You move your hands to his back.

“Because, they'll tease us.” You pout, “But I wanna hold your hand and stuff in front of them… and I don't wanna have to wait to kiss you…” He sighs, “I know… me too… I'll tell them in the morning, ok?”

You smile and peck him on the lips, he then pulls you into a deeper kiss and you giggle into the kiss which makes him smile and you two end up just laughing with each other. As he pulls away he takes your cheeks in his hands and squishes your face, “Wow… how are you so cute?” He kisses the tip of your nose and you blush and hide your face in your hands. He chuckles and lets go of you, “I should go before Chan comes looking for me…” he kisses you one last time before he quickly leaves. You sit there grinning at the door for a minute before you lay down and go to sleep.

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