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makeitmingi · 6 months

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Cause Baby You're My Muse [Chapter 55]

Genre: Romance, Idol!AU, Music, Slight angst

Pairing: Mingi x Reader (y/n)

Characters: Producer!Reader, IdolLyricist!Mingi, IdolProducer!Hongjoong, Idol!Seonghwa, Idol!Yunho, Idol!Wooyoung, Idol!San, Idol!Yeosang, Idol!Jongho, cameo(s) by other celebrities

Summary: You always preferred producing underground, having an unknown face and governed by your own rules. But when you start freelancing for idol groups, you say goodbye to your lone wolf lifestyle as you learn to work with idol producers and lyricists.

Word count: 3.2K

"Tell us the truth about what?" Wooyoung opened the door, getting the attention of the 2 in the bedroom and the 5 in the living room.

"Tell us what? What truth?" Hongjoong stood up, heading to where Wooyoung was standing at the treshold between the bedroom and the hallway. Jongho looked at Seonghwa, who looked away, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Seonghwa... Jongho... What are you two hiding?" Hongjoong frowned. Jongho could practically see the internal debate that Seonghwa was having.

"Let's talk in the living room, hyungs." Jongho stood up, wiping his palms on his pants.

"Jongho..." Seonghwa spoke, his voice strained with confliction.

"They already know we're hiding something, Seonghwa hyung. There's no point hiding it anymore, they should know the truth." Jongho said, walking out of the room.

"Okay...?" Wooyoung frowned in confusion but followed behind Jongho, leaving Seonghwa and Hongjoong there.

When Seonghwa looked up, he saw the hurt and betrayal flash in Hongjoong's eyes. Hongjoong has never given Seonghwa that look before, making the oldest chew on his bottom lip. But the captain didn't say anything, pursing his lips and following the youngest to the living room.

"Hongjoong..." Seonghwa sighed. He stood up and walked out to the livinf room but didn't sit down with the others. He opted to stand beside the wall, leaning against it.

"Speak. What truth?" San said.

"Wait, before Jongho says anything, I need all of you to promise me something." Seonghwa spoke just as Jongho opened his mouth.

"Considering you two have been hiding things from us, should we really owe you promises now?" Hongjoong asked. The others nodded in agreement.

"It's not a promise to us. It's a promise to Indigo." Seonghwa crossed his arms.

"Okay, what?" Yunho asked.

"When you guys hear what we have to say, no going to CEO Kim, Eden or anyone. If you're going to do something, tell us. No going off on your own accord and plan. And no spamming Indigo's phone with calls and mesages." Seonghwa said seriously.

"We promise." Yeosang spoke for the group. They were confused as to what Seonghwa meant but agreed for Jongho to be able to tell them what he had to say.

"Indigo... was forced to leave. That's what CEO Kim meant with his last comment." Jongho said.

"Forced to leave? By who?" Wooyoung asked.

"Indigo, on her own, has been dealing with threats. These threats have been escalating. They were first letters and emails then packages. She was even stalked at her home." Jongho revealed.

"That night she called Mingi, having a panic attack, that's what really happened." Seonghwa informed.

"I found out because I saw she was acting differently with Mingi hyung. Seonghwa hyung saw one of the threatening emails pop up." Jongho explained.

"Eden hyung knows because he was there when she received a package with blood and a dead animal inside." Seonghwa continued.

"That's why she moved house. The stalker ripped up her old house, that's the only reason she filed a police report because the landlord told her to. The final straw that pushed her to the edge was when she was sent pictures of us and Haneul. Indigo felt that she had no choice but to leave to keep everyone safe." Jongho said.

"What was this person threatening her about? Was it because she's a producer with us or that someone saw her with us somewhere? Like a jealous fan?" San frowned.

"No. We believe it was someone inside KQ. Because the person found out she was dating Mingi and wanted her out." Seonghwa said.

"Mingi ah, breathe." Yunho reminded. Mingi didn't even know that he was holding his breath.

"She didn't want anyone else to know. The police offered to launch an internal investigation but she didn't want that to affect our comeback so she told our CEO that she was going to leave." Jongho said.

"That's why she moved out the country. That's why she made Mingi hate her."

"No... No..." Mingi shook his head. He felt like someone had just punched him in the stomach.

"She knew that by making Mingi hyung hate her, all of you would too so it would make her leaving easier." Seonghwa whispered, tears spilling down his cheeks as he thought about everything you went through on your own.

"Oh God..." Wooyoung sobbed. San pulled him in, letting the smaller cry against his shoulder.

"Why didn't you tell us?!" Hongjoong yelled and stood up with so much force that the side table fell to the ground with a crash.

"She made us promise not to tell you until she was settled in her new place. She didn't want to be called back. It was the least we could do after everything she's been through." Seonghwa reasoned.

"That's bullcrap!" Hongjoong said and stormed out of the dorm, letting the front door slam loudly.

"Indigo..." The immense guilt made Mingi's chest hurt so much. He doubled over.

"She didn't want you to know, Mingi hyung. She knew you would blame yourself if you knew so she tried her best to hide it." Jongho said with dismay.

"No..." After everything you've had to deal with on your own, Mingi still said all those hurtful things to you. It made him want to throw up. He ran to the toilet, emptying his stomach contents. Yunho was quick on his heels, rubbing his best friend's back. Mingi leaned on his hands, sobbing loudly.

"Mingi, you didn't know." Yunho comforted.

"Oh my gosh... I said all those terrible things to her... And she just stood there... And took it... I'm a horrible person... I asked her if she even loved me." Mingi cried.

"And she suffered so much on her own. She couldn't even tell me cause she was worried about me and I treated her like that."

"You know Indigo shoulders everything on her own. That's not on either of you." Yunho said.

Yunho took Mingi out of the bathroom to sit with the others. San was still comforting Wooyoung, Yeosang wasn't around but Yunho guessed that Yeosang went after Hongjoong.

"Why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you tell me? You just sat there and watched me let her go..." Mingi strained, asking Jongho and Seonghwa. The two suddenly seemed like an island on their own, separate from the others.

"It wasn't our place to tell, Mingi." Seonghwa said firmly. Jongho nodded his head sadly.

"But I had the right to know! I was her boyfriend for God's sake!" Mingi yelled. San let Wooyoung go to stand up between Seonghwa and Mingi, in case Mingi lunged at the oldest.

"You know she keeps everything in and shoulders everything on her own. Why would you keep the secret for her?" Mingi asked.

"You're her older brother right? You and Hongjoong hyung. You're supposed to protect her when I can't!"

"Mingi hyung, you know that's not fair. Seonghwa hyung tried his best, we all did, myself, Eden, even CEO Kim. But you know how Indigo is." Jongho defended.

"I couldn't protect her, I promised to keep her safe but she was anyhting but..." Mingi shook his head.

It was best the separate everyone now. While Yeosang and Hongjoong were still out, San brought Wooyoung away, Yunho brought Mingi to his own room and Jongho sat with Seonghwa in the Matz's room. The two hugged each other and cried, they saw it coming, they knew from the moment they kept your secret.

"Mingi's right... They didn't know but we did and we still couldn't help her." Seonghwa said.

"Hyung, you know Mingi hyung just said that out of anger and frustration, probably guilt too. He doesn't mean it so don't take it to heart." Jongho patted the oldest's shoulder.

"This is a mess, Jongho ah."

"It is. But we'll recover. We always do and always will." Jongho comforted.

Life in America has been good. Good in a sense that you've been so busy that you barely have time to mull over the events in Korea or miss Ateez, especially Mingi. Whatever free time you had was spent on Haneul.

"Haneul!" You went to pick her up from school. The company got you a small car so you could get to and from the office. At the same time, you could drop Haneul and pick her up after school.

"Unnie!" Haneul ran out, crashing into your arms. You chuckled as you hugged her, holding her hand.

"How was school?" You asked while walking with her to the car.

"It was good. I learnt a lot in English class today, I got a star for getting everything right in my spelling. My friends think you're cool because you make music." She informed.

"What?" You laughed. You guessed to kids, 'making music' was better and cooler than other jobs out there.

"But I'm glad you did well in spelling, especially in English. I say we go get ice cream sundaes?" You suggested. She nodded her head excitedly. She climbed into the backseat, obediently putting her seatbelt on. You began to drive to the ice cream parlour that you two always frequent.

"What did you do at work today, unnie?" Haneul asked as you drove. She always liked asking that after you ask her how school was, you appreciated that she did that.

"Well, I met with some other people who also make music. Then we talked about upcoming work." You informed.

"Are you meeting BTS?" Her eyes lit up.

"Baby, since when did you like BTS? I didn't even know that you knew who they were." You chuckled. You didn't particularly expose Haneul to Kpop so it wasn't from your influence for sure.

"My friends like them. They say BTS is really really famous, like Korean princes." She shrugged.

Wait until she realises how popular Ateez is. Bunny pancake oppa and bear oppa are also just like BTS, singers and performers.

"I see. Well, to answer your question, maybe. I'm not sure which singer I will be working with yet because I'm still new." You said to her, smiling at her through the rear view mirror. She held onto her bunny and giraffe stuffed toys that were in the backseat.

"We're here." You parked and both got out. You already knew what Haneul wanted so she went to table to wait for you to order. After you ordered and paid, you sat with her.

"Joong oppa!" Haneul suddenly squealed, pointing. You turned around in panic, did Ateez find you?

"And San oppa!" She continued to point. Only then, did you realise she was pointing at the television that was playing their music video.

"Oh... yeah..." You forced a laugh as you calmed yourself down.

"Here you go." The employee smiled as she set down the ice cream cups, laughing at the awe on Haneul's face. She obediently thanked the server before digging in.

"Unnie?" Haneul looked up at you as she ate a spoonful of ice cream. You hummed in acknowledgement.

"Will the oppas come visit us?" She asked.

"I don't know, baby. The oppas are busy so it's hard for them to take a break. We're pretty far away." You lied. Of course you felt bad for lying to her but there was no way you could tell her the truth. You took her and ran away to America so you would never have to see the Ateez boys again? Haneul might actually hate you.

"Oh..." She said, disappointed. If she was a puppy, her ears would be pressed to her head in sadness now. You smiled softly, reaching out to pat her head.

"Do you miss them?" You asked softly. She nodded her head.

"I'm sure they miss you too, baby." You told her. No, you didn't want to say you missed them too.

After ice cream, you took Haneul home. You gave her a bath and made a really simple dinner for the both of you. Before she slept, she wanted to have a call with Jongho.

"Hey, Indigo." Jongho greeted.

"Hi. I'm gonna hand the tablet to Haneul. She went to the bathroom." You informed. He nodded.

"Listen, Indigo. Actually there's something important I need to talk to you about." Jongho said. You would have said no but you saw the desperation on his face and in the tone of his voice.

"Alright but speak to Haneul first. I'll call you after she goes to bed." You told him just as Haneul ran into the room excitedly. She climbed onto the bed and you handed the tablet to her. You heard her greet Jongho happily as you left them to talk.

As you were doing the laundry and putting Haneul's clothes in the cupboard, you heard their conversation.

"BTS?! No, no no! I don't allow it. You can only like Ateez, little bear. Ateez only." You heard Jongho say. All of Ateez was possessive, not only Hongjoong it seems.

"Why?" Haneul tilted her head cutely.

"You love me, right?" Jongho asked. You couldn't help but snicker, knowing where this was going. Haneul nodded in reply.

"Then you can't love BTS. You can only love one group and if you love me, that means you love Ateez more." Jongho reasoned. Haneul frowned slightly, trying to understand his rational.

"You're funny, bear oppa. I can love everyone!" Haneul exclaimed as she burst into a fit of laughter.

"You're killing me, little bear." Jongho grunted.

You shook your head and went out to let them talk. You always did chores little by little so there wasn't much tidying around the house that you needed to do, thankfully. So while waiting for Haneul to finish, you laid on the couch with your laptop over your thighs, going through some work.

I go for that 타오른 채 불길 속에 욕망을 베어내 손댈 수 없이 커져만 가 huh I’m gonna keep it up, for that 커져가는 속삭임을 뒤로 숨길 수 없는 본능이 날 깨워 멈출 수가 없이 갈기 갈기 부딪쳐

Even hearing Mingi's voice on a track still made your heart lurch. Missing him was something you just had to continue to suppress until it was no longer there.

"Unnie?" Haneul poked her head out of the room. You sat up, putting the laptop aside as she ran to you.

"I'm done talking to bear oppa." She handed the tablet to you. You smiled and nodded your head, reaching out to pat her head. At least you had Haneul with you. Standing up, you held her hand to put her to bed since it was late.

"Sleep, baby." You whispered and tucked her in. Haneul wanted to try independently putting herself to sleep instead so this was something new you were both trying.

"Goodnight, unnie." She wished as you went to turn off the light, leaving the nightlight on.

"Goodnight, my love." You kissed her forehead and left the room, leaving the room door ajar just in case she needed you.

You grabbed yourself a coffee from the fridge, wanting the caffeine to curb the migraine you were starting to have. You peeked into the room and saw that Haneul was already asleep.

"Hi Jongho." You greeted, propping the phone up on your desk in your home studio.

"Indigo. Thanks for calling back and agreeing to speak with me." He said.

"It's fine. What did you want to tell me? Or talk to me about." You cut to the chase, already feeling that slight sinking feeling in your chest as you looked at him. Jongho was the person you spent the most time with before you left, you both shared a lot of good memories working in the studio together.

"Right. I thought you should know that the rest of Ateez know the truth behind your departure. By 'the truth', I mean, they know about the stalker, the death threats, all that." He informed.

"H-How...? I didn't want them to know yet. Not so quickly." You frowned at what he told you.

"I'm sorry, Indigo. A lot of things happened and it just came out. Admittedly, it was my fault... " Jongho sighed.

"The hyungs... They were falling apart, we were all falling apart. I wanted to tell them but Seonghwa hyung said no, we have to respect your wishes." He said.

"But I didn't know what other alternative there was. CEO Kim put us on early vacation and I was scared."

"I'm sorry, Jongho. I didn't mean to cause all that to happen." You shook your head, finally understanding why he said what he said.

"Hongjoong hyung was a mess, he barely came home anymore. Mingi hyung was a shell of himself, Yunho hyung was stressed trying to help him. Wooyoung hyung overheard Seonghwa hyung and I talking. Then it all just came out." Jongho explained.

"I understand. It's alright, Jongho. I know it's not your fault or Hwa's either. The truth was bound to come out sooner or later." You sighed, leaning back.

"No, Indigo. This isn't you fault, you have nothing to apologise for." Jongho denied.

"So what happened?" You gulped.

"Hongjoong hyung stormed out, Wooyoung hyung and Mingi hyung broke down. They're mad that Seonghwa hyung and I kept the secret from them. Expectedly, Mingi hyung is inconsolable."

"I shouldn't have implicated the two of you in the first place. It isn't on your guilt for keeping my secret, alright? Tell Hwa that too. It was all me." You said.

"I just... couldn't let them speak of you in such an ill way. When you didn't nothing wrong, you were just a victim. But they were making you to be the bad guy. It was fair, it wasn't right." Jongho shook his head as he began to cry. You softened, wanting to just hug him to comfort him.

"You and Hwa have been shouldering this all on your own, Jongho. I thank you for that. Especially since you've been maintaining this relationship with Haneul. She loves it." You bowed your head.

"Of course, she's my little bear. And compared to what you've been through, this is nothing." He said.

"But Indigo, do you think you'll come back?" He asked.

"I don't know. Maybe I will but not for a while. I've started the settle into a routine for myself here with Haneul. And work has been good." You told him.

"Can you at least tell me what company you signed to?"

"Big Hit... They gave me an offer and Eden thought it was good to accept, considering the circumstances as well. I'm in HYBE America's space but my projects mainly come from Big Hit in Korea."

"Wow... That IS a really good opportunity. I agree with Eden hyung, you'll only go up with your talent. I'm glad they recognises your talent. You deserve to be recognised for your talents and who better than the biggest entertainment company in Korea?" Jongho smiled.

"Thanks for saying that, Jongho. I-"

"Jongho?" Hearing another person's voice, you quickly hung up. You didn't know why you did that but you panicked and instinctively, ended the call.

You didn't even know who it was, you didn't have time to discern the voice. But on the off chance that Mingi was there, you didn't want anyone to hear you speaking to Jongho.

"Who are you talking to?" Wooyoung asked.

"Just a friend. What's up, hyung?" Jongho sat up, putting his phone aside when he noticed Wooyoung climbing into his bed.

"I know you talk to Indigo. I've heard you say hi to her before." Wooyoung said, hugging Jongho's pillow to his chest. Jongho didn't reply, neither admitting nor denying Wooyoung's words.

"Can you just tell me something?" Wooyoung looked up at the youngest. Jongho gave a nod.

"Can you be honest with me and tell me if she's okay?"

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thefandomcassandra · 3 months

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hallowed be thy unknown Ch5: Tokusatsu Haunting 1: Sea Bindweed and Sensitive Plant

Maya was getting a headache. Words swam in front of her eyes, black ants crawling across a white sand pit. She wanted to bury herself alive and sink into nothingness.

"Maya, c'mon now, answer me."

She groaned as Nick called to her, phasing through the kitchen table so he sort-of blocked her view of the offending textbook. "Why though?"

"Because you promised. We get through ten of these and you're free until lunchtime. You've got three more." He could cajole as much as he wanted, she wasn't going to like it any more even if he begged her.

"But it sucks and it's early and I've barely eaten and—"

"And this week's episode of Steel Samurai is on the DVR and if you finish this we can watch and you can explain to me why you like it after you've digested the story for an hour or so." Stubborn ass.

"Fine..." Maya blinked until the words on the paper resolved themselves into something readable. "So the difference between battery and assault is actually injuring someone or not. Assault is threatening, battery is attacking, but both can be charged as a felony if a firearm or other illegal weapon is used during the act."

"Larceny, burglary, and robbery?"

More terms. "Larceny is just theft—taking things from people. Grand or minor larceny based on how much was stolen, what have you. Burglary is forcing entry to a place and stealing, whether or not someone is there. Robbery is stealing using force, like mugging someone could be charged as either theft and assault or robbery depending on things, right?"

"If you're lucky and have a good defense or a bad prosecutor, yeah. It's usually charged as robbery since intent to harm while stealing is as good as causing harm while stealing. They don't differentiate between assault and battery where theft is concerned." Nick seemed amused that she had even thought about that. "One more and this one is easy: manslaughter and murder."

It sure was easy. "Murder requires intent to kill, whether planned or in the heat of the moment. Manslaughter is an act, violent or otherwise, that results in death, like a hit and run. Aren't they a little nebulous though?"

"Yeah. You can argue second-degree murder down to manslaughter, you can argue manslaughter caused through planned battery up to first-degree murder. It's all how you spin it and how the court views the actions taken. Self defense usually is manslaughter." He frowned as he thought something over. "But, again, it's a little wiggly, like you said."

"Which was bad for me and good for Prosecutor Edgeworth, not that he won..." Maya mumbled as she laid her head down on her arms. She could feel Nick's piercing gaze, the unspoken admonishment let to drift in the wind.

She'd done as was asked, hadn't she? Maya rolled her head so she could give Nick puppy-dog-eyes.

He snorted and floated down so he looked like he was sitting at the table with her. "That is all ten."

"So I can watch my taped episode?"

"Breakfast, dishes, then yes." Wow, thanks mom.

"I'm only doing this because you'll haunt me well into the night if I don't, mister incorporeal." Maya stood up and popped her back, sighing in amusement. Living with a ghost wasn't the most normal circumstances but after...everything, it was a welcome oddity. A comforting weirdness. Nick kept her in line, made sure she did all the proper adult things to keep up and running, and she kept him focused on the now with her company.

After the trial ended, it took a week or so before the Fey & Co. Law Office was cleared out and available as a working space again—after a very thorough cleaning courtesy of the state, of course. During that week or so, Maya tended to Mia's funeral and estate—nobody came to the former, she was the sole inheritor when it came to the latter. Getting access to Mia's apartment through her—Maya's now, really—landlord was a mess but she moved in as soon as she could and tried to not break down every time she opened a cabinet and saw Mia's coffee cups.

Barely a few days after everything was sorted and Maya had begun making the apartment more her living space than a museum to her sister, a call came in on the office line and Maya was summoned to testify in court in the case of the State v. Redd White.

Being on the witness stand was significantly different than being on the defendant's chair or in the defendant's bench. It was nerve-wracking, sure, but Prosecutor Edgeworth was somehow more tolerable when she wasn't the one in his crosshairs. It was almost amusing to watch the rich, well-to-do lawyer trip over their expensive brand name shoes to try and talk down the charges.

Maya's testimony, the pictures of her face taken after the trial, Gumshoe's corroboration, several anonymous (or redacted) reports of threats and blackmail, and April May's affidavit regarding her employment with Bluecorp and its inner working all dug him a one-way ticket to jail for life. If he was lucky, he'd never leave.

He looked defeated as they hauled him off to ship him from the center to the prison. Maya couldn't find it in herself to feel sorry for him.

Becoming an accredited defense attorney was the difficult part of the whole plan. Proving she had been homeschooled in what constituted as a traditional territory and providing proof of residency in Kurain was most of the legwork. With proof in hand, and permission from the Bar Association to take it out of season, the test was comically easy in comparison. Nobody needed to know she cheated, either! She was sworn in a few days ago and had even gone out and bought some new casual clothes to celebrate! She had real lawyer outfits that wouldn't get her stared at in the court!

Then she realized that being a defense attorney was a lot of waiting for someone to call your office to ask you to help them, instead of the more active lie she'd been believing. So most of her days were spent studying the well-worn law books Mia had in her office while Nick quizzed her to make sure she was retaining what she read. It was boring, for sure, but it was a new type of boring.

(Maya kept expecting Aunt Himiko to call but she never did. Neither did Pearl, but that was less Pearl's fault and more likely Aunt Himiko being a little controlling. Sometimes she got nauseatingly homesick and would leave Japanese dramas on TV in the background for the simple comfort of hearing people talk in Japanese. Nick always looked uncomfortable, like he wasn't sure how to handle her when she got like that but she wasn't something that needed to be handled, she just...needed a moment.)

Maya shoveled a spoonful of cereal in her mouth as she watched the Steel Samurai fight the Jade Turtle in his underwater palace. Despite how much she had been looking forward to this episode, her brain was still leaking out her ears. She couldn't focus on anything, even the things she liked.

Frustrated, Maya stopped the recording and threw on the news while she washed the dishes so Nick didn't complain all day. The weather looked like it was gonna be sunny for this time of year. That's nice.

Getting old snuck up on you, Maya determined. She had been living independently for a little over two months and she already cared about things like the weather. Yuck. Adding on worrying about bills and the idea that she had a commute to work now and she was seconds away from rapidly aging to dust.

Without cases coming in, Maya had to think about eventual second jobs—if things continued the way they were, that is. Like before, retail and customer service might not be good fits but they'd be easy to get. If she was going to work for minimum wage and maximum emotional distress, she'd like to work somewhere she doesn't hate but apparently Eldoon's wasn't hiring anyone since it was family-owned and her usual burger joint didn't need any more waitresses or hostesses.

Elbows-deep in bubbly warm water, Maya was startled out of her reverie by someone on TV saying the phrase 'Steel Samurai'. She tuned in on what the anchors were saying and was very glad she wasn't holding anything when she realized what was going on or she might've broken one of the nicer bowls.

The actor who played the Steel Samurai was just arrested for the murder of his coworker, the guy who played the Evil Magistrate. This had to be fate.

"Nick?!" One of the benefits to living alone was that she could openly talk to her ghost friend without worrying about someone staring. It didn't mean that her shouting across the apartment didn't startle him, however. Judging by the speed at which he flew through the bedroom wall, he must've thought she'd hurt herself or broken something. A fair assumption.

"What?" His blank eyes were wide, searching for whatever trouble she was in.

Maya waved at the TV. "Do you know what I heard?" When he didn't respond immediately, she continued, bouncing in place. "They arrested the Steel Samurai."

"The...character?" Nick seemed confused.

"The guy who plays him! They arrested him for murder!"

"Is that why you shrieked like you were dying?" Cute.

"No! No but like, Nick—" Was he not understanding what this meant? "—Nick he's in a holding cell right now! He's gonna need a lawyer!"

"Wh—Maya, this isn't some kind of game." He folded his arms and tilted himself so he was looking down his nose at her, stern. The whole effect was ruined by how he was dressed and it was undercut by the sharp spike of frustration that tore through Maya at his accusation.

"What makes you think I think it's a game?"

"I know you like the Steel Samurai but you've only been studying for a little while and—"

"Nick, I'm not playing. I'm accredited, aren't I?" Legally, yes. The technicality didn't matter much when she and Nick were a unit—a single lawyer. "And we haven't had a single client for the last month."

"Mia's clients were pretty sparse too—"

"Nick, I'm not Mia, I'm me. And I want to take this case." Maya made eye-contact with him and held it, an act he knew was a challenge. "I like the Steel Samurai, yeah, but I also want to help him. Don't I have the right to choose my clients too?"

Nick sighed and floated down a little bit so he was looking straight at her. "You're certain you want to do this?"

"Very."

"This is a murder case, like yours was. Do you think you can handle that?" He was being firm with her. He was almost never this firm. He was worried.

Could she handle a murder? She handled being on the stand for Redd White well enough. She hadn't broken down or cried or anything, had she? But defending someone for murder...that was a different beast.

She wanted to help him like his show had helped her. She nodded at Nick, who seemed to roll his thoughts around a bit before speaking again.

"In the chance that your client is guilty, what are you going to do?"

She hadn't thought about that. If he was guilty...would she still want to defend him? No, that wasn't the question. The question was: if he was guilty, what would she do, not would she continue to defend him. "I would try and work out a plea that satisfies both my client and the prosecution."

"And in the case that your client is innocent and you find yourself incapable of defending them properly?"

"I would suggest a different attorney and give all of my findings and documents to them." Because if she couldn't defend her client, she wanted her work to be worth something.

Nick closed his eyes for what felt like an eternity before he spoke again. "Okay." Approval. Yes! Before Maya could say anything in her excitement, he continued on. "But promise me you're going to be smarter about this one. No mouthing off to dangerous people this time. Gumshoe won't always be around to save you."

"Isn't he a homicide detective? He should be around."

"That's not the point. C'mon now, please?"

"Okay, okay." She wasn't sure why he was being so touchy about this. It's not like Redd White was going to kill her or anything. He was being a worrywart. "I promise I'll be safe."

"I'm serious. I might be around but I can't help if the problem is physical." He was still upset about the whole thing with Redd White then.

"I know." She did, really. She didn't blame him for his inability to interact with the physical world. It was part and parcel of being a ghost, after all. The fact that he was still around as a fuyūrei was nothing short of miraculous but miracles only went so far. Fate hadn't seen fit to make him a poltergeist. "I'll be smart."

That got a laugh out of him. "Sure you will." Even as he said it, however sarcastically, Maya could feel him relax. "Well the detention center opens at nine. That means we have two hours before we can see your Steel Samurai. Wanna finish the dishes and explain why you like it better than, say, Rainbow Warriors?"

Maya puffed her cheeks at him, pouting. "Rainbow Warriors is a show for babies and I will not have you slander the good streets of Neo Olde Tokyo with your bad taste." Even so, she continued on as she went back to the dishes, the tension dissipating, leaving behind anticipation.

Her first real client (maybe)! Her first not-herself client (possibly)! And it was the Steel Samurai! That was something to be proud of! She was gonna do great!

"I'm sorry..." Will Powers—the Steel Samurai actor—hunched in on himself and stared at a spot on the floor. For a man easily twice Maya's size, he sure was meek.

"Like I said before: it's no big deal. You never really appeared in public without the costume on so it was a surprise, nothing more." Maya waved her hand, trying to assuage his fears. He just whined a bit and hunched more in on himself.

Will Powers was somewhat of a Cowardly Lion sort, really. Despite his large size and intimidating stature, he tried to take up as little space as possible. He didn't like making eye-contact with Maya and barely spoke above a mumble. He was also barely older than Nick was when he died, which was the biggest shock—Will Powers looked very much like a man in his thirties but he was in his early twenties.

"I don't know what I was expecting," Nick muttered to himself, "but this certainly wasn't it."

"Powers-san," straight to business, no messing about for ol' Maya the Actual Lawyer™, "we've gotten a bit off-topic."

"Right."

"So you've been formally charged with the murder of your coworker, Jack Hammer, correct?" Nick had made sure she knew what Will Powers had been arrested for before they arrived at the detention center. Turns out, rote memorization of law did, in fact, carry over to a better short term memory recall. Who knew?

Will Powers nodded, his eyes swimming with tears. "But I didn't do it! I was napping at the time of the murder!"

"The problem, Powers-san, is that you have no alibi past your word." In her peripheral, Nick nodded at her in agreement. "That, unfortunately, won't fly in court." Not with the way the legal system was currently structured, or so Nick said.

"I know." He sounded defeated before the trial had even begun. "What else do I even have to offer? Apparently someone saw me out and about, even though I was sleeping in my dressing room!"

"Well, if you accept my services, then I would go investigate the crime scene and collect evidence to prove your innocence." Will Powers hadn't quite hired Maya yet but she was hopeful. That's part of why she was trying so hard to sound professional about it. Nobody would hire some kid but if she sounded like she knew what she was doing, then her age wouldn't matter.

Will Powers mulled over her offer, his brow furrowing while he pondered. When your life was on the line, rash decisions were a bad idea and he seemed like he was a cautious man to begin with. She didn't expect him to have an answer immediately but the fact that he hadn't been too bothered by her age when he was told a lawyer was here for him did wonders for her ego.

"He says he was asleep but someone saw him? That's strange." Nick was already running over the facts aloud, sitting cross-legged in the air while they waited for Will Powers to come to a conclusion. "An eyewitness account is damning but also it's a movie and TV set, isn't it? Costumes can't be hard to get duplicates of and wear around to falsify someone's position, can they?"

The Steel Samurai costume was a heavy number with a full mask. Most actors didn't like or were incapable of properly moving in costumes like that without extensive training, which is why the fact that Will Powers and Jack Hammer did their own stunts and fights was so fascinating. Sure, someone could steal a costume and wear it, but it'd be a heavy and claustrophobic thing tailored for a man of Will Powers' build and strength.

"Okay."

Maya's focus snapped to Will Powers. Wait...had he—? "Huh?"

"I'll hire you. You - you came to me, chose to believe in me with no proof. That's...even if you are a fan that's, uh, that means a lot." Despite the fact that he seemed so sure of his decision, Will Powers was still mumbling and muttering, his speech soft and unclear. But he had! He was hiring her! "So I'll be, uh, taking your services...after...all..."

"You won't regret it, Powers-san!" Maya almost leapt out of her chair. The larger man flinched back and Maya withdrew a bit so she wasn't upsetting him and pulled the paperwork for representation out of her sash. "If you could sign this after reading, I'll file this with the court and get to investigating right away."

Will Powers looked over the paperwork and quickly signed on the dotted line, sliding it back to her through the slot in the glass. "Th-thank you for this."

"Of course!" Maya beamed. That bolstered his spirits, it seemed, as he responded with an equally bright grin. "I'll keep you updated and, in the chance that I'm unable to come by again before visiting hours are over, we can discuss the details before your trial tomorrow. It's gonna be fine, Powers-san, I promise."

The smile he gave her felt tired but sincere. "Is there anything else I can - I can help you with?"

"Could I have your memory of the day of the murder?" Making sure she knew what his alibi was, how he remembers things, would be the base on which she builds her defense for him.

"Well, um, Hammer and I did a run-through of some of the action sequences starting around ten in the morning 'till noon. The usual type of, uh, work. After that, there was lunch and I guess I was more tired than I thought because while there was a rehearsal at five, I woke up too late to attend." He fiddled with his jacket sleeve, picking at a loose thread as he tried to organize his thoughts. It's not like being on that side of the visitor's glass was easy. Maya would know. "When I walked out, tripping over myself to try and attend rehearsal, they just...arrested me. I didn't find out Hammer had been killed until questioning."

Maya watched as Will Powers' face went blotchy, tears spilling down his cheeks as he tried to fight his emotions. He scrubbed at his nose with his sleeve, sniffling hard. Her heart went out to him; this wasn't easy for anyone, let alone the defendant of a murder case. The accused.

"They probably weren't nice about it either, were they?" Could he tell she was sympathizing with him? Could he tell she had been in his place only a month before?

A loud, snotty inhale and weak nod. "They ac-accused me of stabbing him!" His breathing was shuddering and slow as he tried to get himself calmed.

Maya caught Nick's eye. "You should ask more about the victim." She should. Knowing that might shed light on motive—or lack thereof.

"What was your relationship with Jack Hammer?"

That seemed to touch a weird nerve. Will Powers flinched a little and went back to staring at the floor, sniffling as he tried to get his emotions under control. "Jack and I...we weren't friends but - but I didn't hate him. Nobody did. We - we all mostly felt bad for him, considering..."

"Considering?" What did celebrity gossip have to do with this murder case?

"Well, I mean, before his role as the Evil Magistrate, he was a big action hero." A starstruck smile split Will Powers' face as he recounted his coworker's portfolio. "He's always worked for Global Studios—he's the most senior person there aside from the producer—but he never seemed...happy with his role? I dunno why he stayed."

"And you didn't get along?" The important part was whether or not her client had a motive.

"No, we got along fine. We never - never really interacted outside of a professional setting, is all..."

Nick hummed in thought. "So no direct conflict."

"Was there anyone who might have had an issue with Jack Hammer?" Maya pressed.

"Not anyone who'd kill him! He was Global Studio's darling!" Will Powers was affronted, raising his voice for the first time since she'd started talking with him. He was angry, not on his behalf, but on the behalf of someone else. Hm...

"Just checking! Thanks for your time." She waved her hand, clearing the air a bit, and gave Will Powers a soft smile. "See you later, Powers-san."

"Yeah, uh, um, bye."

Paperwork in hand, Maya felt light as a feather. Her first case—first real case—and she was defending the Steel Samurai! What a rush!

"You seem in high spirits." Nick laughed from his spot above her shoulder.

"Ha ha," Maya replied under her breath. "Very funny."

"No, but really: you look excited. Ready to do an investigation out of cuffs?"

"I'm ready to prove it wasn't just a flash in a pan, yknow?" The thought put some pep in her step. "Murder case or otherwise."

"Thoughts?"

"He didn't do it."

"You sound sure of yourself."

Maya fixed him with a flat stare. "Nick, did you see him? He could barely talk to me and I'm five foot two. Solid foot shorter than him. I'm certain he couldn't hurt a fly, let alone kill a man he worked with."

Something weird crossed his face for a second but he didn't say anything else on the matter. Instead, he shrugged and asked, "So where to?"

"After I drop off this form? Global Studios. It should be closed to the public, right?" He confirmed with a soft nod so she continued. "Investigate the crime scene, talk to employees of Global Studios, try and see what the timeframe looked like, what have you. Unlike last time, we weren't there the day of the murder so we have to start from nothing." She was excited. It was like solving a puzzle.

"Don't get cocky."

"Me? Never." She laughed. He laughed too.

"You're so certain they'll let you investigate."

"Weren't you the one who taught me that, while the police don't work directly with the defense, all attorneys are afforded access to the crime scene? They can't tell me no." She paid attention to his lessons, no matter how much he insisted she didn't.

"Touché." He laughed again.

She was so excited. ——— "If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times: no lookie-loos allowed on the premises at this time! There's been an incident and everything is shut down for all the adults and that means you kids can't just waltz in here with your big ol' eyes all pouting and just say 'well I was told that I could—' no you weren't! I'm head of security and if you were told you could do this, that, or the other, I'd be the first one told. We've already got this place swarming with the force and I've run out of donuts but overall I just can't handle some third party being introduced just to cause me grief! After all, I'm already grieving my poor Hammer—"

"Ma'am!" Maya finally managed to get a word in edgewise. The old security woman huffed, breathing heavily as she glared at Maya but she didn't care. She just wanted to take advantage of the silence. "I have proof of representation. I'm asking to be allowed in because I'm Will Powers' lawyer."

The security woman held out a bony hand and Maya handed her a copy of the filed paperwork. Her eyes darted over the fine print and caught on Will Powers' signature, face twisting like she ate something off. "Hmph." The paper was unceremoniously shoved back into Maya's hands. "Why didn't ya just say so, girlie?"

"Because you wouldn't shut up."

Maya swallowed a giggle at Nick's comment and managed a very level, "I didn't have a chance to when I first arrived."

Global Studios was a moderately well-known film studio but it wasn't large by any means. The whole campus was composed of about three large buildings—two areas used for filming and one employee area that contained the prop and costume departments as well as the break rooms and dressing rooms—and was around an hour long round walk if you didn't sightsee. When Maya had gotten off the bus, the first thing she did was grab a pamphlet with the layout of the whole campus on it and study it, trying to mark her path of action. That's when the security woman—Oldbag, if her name-tag wasn't some kind of cruel joke—power-walked over and started scolding her.

She knew she looked young and all—she was only seventeen—but Maya had hoped her wardrobe upgrade would make people take her more seriously. She'd exchanged her kimono from Kurain for a dress blouse and a long skirt, keeping her sash so she could have extra storage space for evidence. Her tall traditional sandals were exchanged for cute flats that had thin leather straps she could tie like laces up her ankles. She even had swapped her three-quarters-sleeve shrug for a suit jacket in her favorite shade of lavender where she pinned her attorney's badge to the lapel! She looked the part of a lawyer now and yet...Oldbag had assumed she was some meddlesome kid.

"If it's any consolation, I think anyone younger than the dinosaurs is a kid to her." It wasn't a consolation but the mean little joke did make her feel a little better.

"Well you should learn to speak up!" Oldbag looked down her nose at Maya. "And get a name-tag or a sign or something so well-meaning people doing their job don't mistake you for a loitering hooligan!"

This woman, Maya realized, was going to be a bit of a headache to deal with in casual conversation. Heaven forbid she be put on the witness stand.

"Sorry, Oldbag-san." Maya bowed to her, more out of obligation than anything else. The older woman preened under her respectful manners. Nice to know she had an easy way to butter her up. "Before I go into the studio and look around, I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions about the incident and involved parties?"

"So we don't have to come back later, I assume?" Nick asked. Maya didn't need to answer him. He'd gotten it in one.

"Of course, ask away! Just make it quick."

Deep inhale, exhale. She's not even a witness. She's just a busy old woman. She's not that scary.

"What were you doing at the time of the murder?" Concise and simple, so Oldbag couldn't take it and run.

Oldbag scoffed. "My job of course!"

"Which is?"

"Is it a lawyer's job to ask stupid questions or is it just the job of the young ones? Maybe I'm in the wrong profession if you get paid big for bothering hardworking women like me." Thankfully this rant didn't go on too long. Oldbag sniffed and straightened her jumpsuit's collar, motioning with her hands as she talked. "I'm head of security. My job is to sit here and monitor who goes in and out, keep an eye on the cameras, and prevent snotty little brats from trying to get free photos or tours." On and on like a runaway train of thought.

"I'd bet whatever money that was in my pockets when I died that the age demographic for a B&E at Global Studios is an inverse bell graph." Nick snickered and, when Maya furrowed her brows to silently ask for an elaboration, added on, "Well, Steel Samurai is a children's show and Jack Hammer is an old action film star, not much someone in the teens-to-late-twenties age range would be into." Ah. That made Maya a statistical anomaly. Neat!

Maya tuned back in to the conversation in time to hear Oldbag finish her explanation with, "—and if I find one more candy wrapper in the woods I will personally turn whatever little shit that littered into a rubbish bin."

Maya nodded at Oldbag and gave her an appeasing, if not vapid, smile. "Thank you for telling me all that, Oldbag-san."

"You did ask." If she was pleased, it was hard to tell by tone alone. She had a very dry way of speaking and her volume and speed made it difficult to figure out if she was genuinely angry or just passionate. "Anything else or can I get back to it?"

"Uh..." What else? "You've been here a while? With Global Studios, I mean."

"Almost ten years, yeah." Oh wow. Oldbag must've seen the stars in her eyes because she smirked before continuing. "I've been here since the studio was doing the mid-stage Samurai films."

"That's dedicated." Genuinely, keeping a security gig—any job, really—for a decade wasn't anything to sneeze at. "You must've seen a lot of talent come and go."

"Oh more than you'd expect." The key to getting her to talk, it seemed, was buttering her up. Or just asking her the right questions. "I remember when Vasquez was a production assistant and Manella was a sweaty dork getting cease and desist paperwork from the local talent."

The idea of the lead show-writer Sal Manella being just some fan was actually fascinating but it wasn't a story Maya wanted to get from the long-winded Oldbag. "What's your thoughts on Will Powers?"

"Oh he's guilty for sure." Succinct. Maya took a breath to ask another question but Oldbag cut her off, continuing her once-complete thought. "I mean, really, the big lug is so ugly he can't even show his face in public and dear Hammer was always a handsome fella, even in his younger years. Powers was jealous, of course, and it's not like anyone had the raw acting talent of my Hammer but really, killing him? The man had seniority and you just stab him with a broken prop? What a petty boy. When I was his age I would've gotten my shit rocked if I so much as looked crossways at someone with more seniority than me at work, let alone attacked and or killed them. But really—"

"I'm starting to think Oldbag actually is her name, in some kind of horrible ironic twist." Maya grimaced in agreement as Nick started rifling through the security office to kill time. "Imagine growing up with the surname Oldbag and then you manage to hit your fifties and you are a certified old person. Like the oldest person to ever old person."

He really needed to stop talking while Oldbag was rambling. Maya had long-since lost track of what she was saying, silently praying for her to stop talking so she could press for info about Hammer, since she liked him so much.

"—anyway, that's neither here nor there." Finally. Finally she's finished.

Maya took a second to gather her thoughts before trying to talk again. The woman was a minefield of conversation. One misplaced word would set her off on a tirade. What did she absolutely need to know? What was worth braving the rapids to learn? Well, obviously it would be the victim. "One last thing, if you don't mind?" Please don't mind. Please, please don't mind.

"If that's really all, then sure."

"You said you're a huge fan of Jack Hammer, right? I used to watch his movies a lot—I think I have the collector's edition box set of the Samurai series, honestly. But what's your personal thoughts on the actor himself? You must've worked closely with him, right?" That was the right thing to ask about. Oldbag's face lit up and stars filled her eyes.

"Oh, poor dear Hammer." She sounded like a teenager talking about her prom date. "It's unfair, I tell you, what Global Studios was doing to him."

"Huh?" Even Nick seemed interested in what she had to say now.

"Well, y'know, my Hammer was a big star so many years ago. He's actually one of the oldest members of cast and crew here in Global Studio. Seniority aside, however, they're just not paying him like they used to—as if degrading him by making him act in that good-for-nothing children's nonsense as a villain no less and—"

"The main villain actor wasn't being paid well?" That was news. The Evil Magistrate was actually one of the favored villains in Steel Samurai—not Maya's, mind you, but that's because she had refined taste—and he was The Villain so why—?

Oldbag huffed and rolled her eyes. She seemed as incised as Maya was about the idea. "Not in the slightest! For some un-god-known reason, the bigwigs thought to reward his years of dedication with a costume that hides his pretty face and peanuts on the dollar, which means he was working doubles and triples and even picked up a second job to make ends meet and isn't that just so sad? That in this day and age, men of his talent are forced to scrape the ground for pennies? A shame, I tell you. A right shame!"

"That is weird." Brow furrowed, deep in thought, Maya rolled the concept around. A big name star paid pittance for a long running role in a company he's got seniority in. Who would kill a man like that? It's a reverse-motive, really. Anti-motive?

"In the end, how much he got paid doesn't matter now. They don't pay you in heaven." Tears shone in her eyes as she spoke fondly of the dead man. She really did actually miss him. Huh...

Maya bowed. "Thank you for your assistance, Oldbag-san. And for answering my questions."

"Hrmph. If every lawyer was as polite as you, I think the world would be a slightly better place!"

"If every lawyer was like Maya, she'd be out of a job. Dime-a-dozen attorneys don't get noticed." Nick's little comment got him a stern look, not that he seemed to mind much.

Maya sidled by Oldbag and entered onto the Global Studios campus proper, the pamphlet still clutched in her fist. Immediately there was a decision she had to make: go to the crime scene or visit the employee area. Try and find more information about the victim or verify her client's alibi.

Before she could actually make that decision, however, she heard someone jogging up alongside her. Heavy footsteps and heavy breathing. Nick hadn't said anything so they were likely someone they knew already; someone safe.

"Why am I not surprised you're takin' this case, pal?"

"Gumshoe!" Maya wheeled about and gave the detective a wide, genuine grin. He returned her smile with one of his own as she continued with, "Why am I not surprised you're here?"

"I am lead homicide detective for the precinct. It's kinda' my job and all." He scratched at the back of his head, bashful all of a sudden.

"He missed you, I'd assume," Nick offered. He was probably right. During the transition period, when she was handling Mia's estate, she had received a clumsily made bento and a card offering condolences from him. While he couldn't be there personally due to work hours picking up and his pay going down—which on the card was just written as 'extenuating circumstances'—he wanted to show her kindness the way most people did when it came to someone grieving a loss.

(The bento tasted great, even if it was mostly rice and hot dogs.)

"How goes the investigation?"

"You representin' Powers?" He asked a question instead of answering hers.

"Yeah? I mean...I am a defense attorney now. See?" Maya flashed the badge on her lapel, grinning up at him with all of her. It truly was a mark of pride. Like her sister, she was a bonafide lawyer!

Gumshoe leaned forward, squinting a bit, but the smile he gave her was proud and sincere and filled her chest with warmth. "Yeah! I heard. Prosecutor Edgeworth said his sister was furious about some girl from nowhere gettin' a cultural pass on the Bar. Said she was considerin' flyin' down from Germany to see what the fuss was about. From his side of the phone call, sounded like he warded her off, which is good coz just talkin' to her made him sweat. That made me worry."

Anyone who made Prosecutor Edgeworth uncomfortable was a friend of Maya's. She filed that information away for later.

"Sister?" Apparently Phoenix was unaware. Odd. He knew almost everything about the man, if his starry-eyed proselytization on the virtues of the Demon Prosecutor were anything to go by.

Because she didn't care about Prosecutor Edgeworth in the slightest, Maya chose to ignore the comment about him having a sister. "So how's the investigation going?"

Gumshoe sighed and picked at the bandage on his cheek. It was a new one, different from the last time she saw him, but was in the same place as before. Maybe he was just clumsy? "Could be better, could be worse. Nice to see you out and about without cuffs on. How's that feel?"

She beamed. "Feels way better than last time!" It really did. The cuffs didn't restrict her movement too much but being able to go places without an escort was nice. Freeing. She felt in control of things. "Plus I got to pick my clients. I chose Will Powers!"

"You like the Steel Samurai too, pal?"

"Too?"

Gumshoe covered his mouth and quickly looked anywhere but at Maya. As she tried to get him to focus on her again, she heard Nick full-body laughing about it. "Forget I said anything."

Oh, she won't be forgetting that any time soon, but she didn't want to make him sad. A sad Gumshoe wouldn't be any fun. So she placed her hand over her heart, her magatama cold beneath her fingers, and gave him a solemn nod. "Alright. My lips are sealed."

Gumshoe relaxed. Exhaled. Stood back upright. "Thanks." He seemed actually relieved. "Anyway, uh, what were we talkin' about again?"

"The investigation?"

"The investigation." He pursed his lips, the effort of organizing his thoughts obvious on his face. "It's lookin' pretty cut-and-dry. Only person unaccounted for was Powers, we got a picture of him goin' from the employee area to Studio One, the Samurai Spear was run through the poor victim, and that's that."

"My client says that, from around noon to five in the afternoon, he was asleep in the employee area." She did her best to reign in her bite. This was Gumshoe. He was nice. She didn't need to be aggressive with him.

"Your client was caught on camera, like I said." Gumshoe pointed over her shoulder at something. "There's security cameras that take still shots every time someone passes by. We got a copy of the one he's in." He rifled through his pockets and pulled out a black and white print with something written on the back, presenting it for Maya to take. "You can keep this one. I can get another, all I gotta do is ask nicely."

"I think Gumshoe might be one of the only good cops in existence."

"Thanks!" Maya gave the photo a quick look. It was the Steel Samurai, spear and all, wandering towards something. Judging by the camera angle, it wasn't the employee area, it was one of the studio lots. But it wasn't definitively Will Powers, it was just someone in the Steel Samurai costume.

Gumshoe must've seen the look on her face, the pensive way her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to figure out what the deal was, because he also pulled out a piece of paper from a different pocket. "Autopsy report too. Up to date this time." He had the decency to be embarrassed about that.

"Glad to hear it." The photo print was folded into simple quarters and shoved into her sash as she looked over the report.

Victim: Jack Hammer (37, Male) Time of death: 10/15 at 2:30 PM. Cause: Pierced through the chest by a spear.

"They're so sure of the murder weapon, aren't they?" Nick mused.

"The, uh, coroner is certain that the murder weapon is the Samurai Spear?" That was the right word for the person who does autopsies for the police, right? Coroner?

"It was in his body, if you'll mind the graphic description." As if he just remembered he was talking to someone her age, Gumshoe curbed his language a bit.

"The autopsy says 'pierced through the chest'. Talking about it won't make me upset." Maya puffed her cheeks and frowned up at Gumshoe, who broke eye-contact again. The power she wielded over this man is amazing. "Besides: I need to understand what's going on to properly represent my client, don't I?"

"Yeah...I guess you do."

"So there's a security camera up here," Nick called from where he was floating. He was by the welcome arch, studying the camera intently. "Number ST1-307, it looks like? That might be what we needed if we wanted to pull a copy of the photo ourselves. It's a good thing Gumshoe is so nice to us." Even in the middle of an investigation, Nick was already running his mouth. He forgets, or so he says, that Maya can hear him. He's too used to thinking aloud, apparently.

It's still comforting, even if it isn't always helpful. It meant someone was there. It reminded her that she wasn't alone.

"Well aside from the autopsy report and picture, I don't have much of any use to you I don't think. The security lady was more helpful than we thought but there were only a handful of employees there the day of, so we talked to 'em, looked around, and now we're takin' a comb to the woods on campus."

"Oldbag was helpful?" It's not like she was unhelpful when Maya talked to her, just...hard to talk to.

"She gave us donuts and coffee too! Which was good coz my wallet is gettin' a little empty." Poor Gumshoe. Apparently being a homicide detective didn't pay well. "But she gave us the photo, gave us her testimony, and even offered to come to court tomorrow!"

"Joy." She was going to have to cross-examine Oldbag. Yippee.

"Yeah, I think Prosecutor Edgeworth wasn't too keen on it neither."

"Of course he's prosecuting this one." He is a huge Steel Samurai fan, after all.

"He asked for it specifically, actually. That's the third one in so many months." Was that odd? Defense attorneys picked their cases for the most part. Was it different for prosecutors? "The first one was your case, the second was Mr. White, the third is this one. Usually he takes whatever Miss Chief Lana gives him or whatever his mentor thinks would look good. He doesn't have an opinion about cases so long as he gets his verdict, y'know?"

"I'm sure." If he—or Nick—heard her irritation, neither said a word about it. "I didn't know that was odd for prosecutors. Picking cases, I mean."

"It's not unheard of," Gumshoe clarified, "just unusual. Especially for him."

"Is Oldbag the only witness you have?"

"Now I can't tell you all Prosecutor Edgeworth's secrets, pal!" He laughed at her attempt to change the topic.

"Not even for me?" How far could she push him if she made the saddest face possible?

"You're an attorney, aren't you? Do attorney things! You're smart." Not very. Ah well, it was all in good fun. "Can't sell Prosecutor Edgeworth up the river or he'll dock my pay."

"Fair enough. Fair enough."

Nick had drifted over to what appeared to be a very large statue of a monkey with a top-knot that had fallen over and was busy inspecting that—but not so busy to not smile fondly about her antics.

"Studio One—the place where the murder took place—is technically closed off to everyone but the police but I left the door open for you. Don't tell Prosecutor Edgeworth though, okay pal?" That was becoming Gumshoe's catchphrase. Don't tell Prosecutor Edgeworth.

To be fair: she wasn't going to. It was really nice having someone on the inside. Made her feel powerful.

"You know I won't."

"Thanks, pal." Gumshoe scratched the back of his neck. "I, uh, gotta get back to work and all but hope your investigation goes well."

"Me too! Oh!" Her exclamation caused him to stop his slow, sheepish retreat towards the woods on campus. "Where do I go to give you back your bento box? It was really good."

Something strangely bright, like a child seeing a rainbow for the first time in their life, bloomed on his face. His hesitant expression was replaced with a bashful smile and he ducked his head down. "Oh, uh, you don't need to return the box or nuthin'. I have a million of 'em just sitting around from an old job I had. I'm just glad you liked it."

"It was really good food, Gumshoe. I needed that." It wasn't a tradition in Kurain but she knew the importance of it anyway, judging by how Nick had spent minutes staring at the bento like it was an offering on an altar. "I just don't want to keep the box if you don't have a lot. I've got enough myself."

"No, no, like I said: I got plenty, pal." Resolute and firm, Gumshoe refused a second time. "It's just a clear disposable container anyway. Nuthin' special."

Alright. "Okay then. Maybe we can get lunch or something after this case is done with. My treat?" She'd always wanted to say that.

He blanched and blushed, the colors rapidly cycling like Christmas lights. "I - I couldn't!"

"I insist."

"But—"

"Gumshoe, c'mon! Let me use my paycheck for something other than clothes and bills! Please? Being independent sucks because it's no fun!"

Gumshoe crumpled like a bad house of cards. "Fine. You got a place in mind?"

"Burger joint I'm a regular at. Me and Mia went every time I came around." Against all odds, mentioning Mia in this context didn't hurt. It's not as if the grief was any smaller, just that talking about her habits and little idiosyncrasies didn't feel like she was cracking her ribs open like an oyster shell.

(It was different compared to the mundane emptiness of missing her, the agonies of wanting to make a joke at her expense and her not being there. Telling people 'my sister did this or that' was a statement, a simple fact. Every inch of her apartment was a minefield but work, at a murder scene no less, was safe for some reason. Grief was a persistence predator. Work was a steady clip to keep her ahead. She'd go home and be caught in its jaws but for now she would take the yearning in place of vacuous loss.)

Gumshoe's expression softened. It was something between pity and understanding, sympathy and empathy. He had to be holding himself back from reaching out to comfort her. Otherwise, why would he look like that? "Sounds good."

She didn't try to keep him there, trapped in a conversation going nowhere. They were both adults! They both had jobs to do—even if it was a novel concept even now. "Good luck!"

Maya turned on her heels and walked to where Phoenix was poking around by the fork in the pathway, trying her best to not run away from the weird emotions nipping at her heels. To keep her hands busy, she folded Hammer's autopsy like she'd done to Mia's and put it in the inside breast pocket of her new jacket. Nick was inside the severed head of the monkey mascot, whatever he might have been saying echoing inside the plaster or concrete of the head.

Maya knocked her hand against the head, wincing at the flash of pain that spattered starbursts across her knuckles. Concrete. Ow. "Nick? Gumshoe left."

"Okay?" If she wasn't used to seeing him half-inside of objects, she might have lost it at the comedy of his head resting on top of the concrete—and probably rebar among other things—monkey head. "Get anything good?"

"Nothing you didn't see. Oh, but he did say that I had his permission to poke around the crime scene, so long as I didn't tell Prosecutor Edgeworth." She leaned against the monkey head. "So what'd you find out inside that?"

"Well, it's a clock, for one." Nick leaned forward, resting his elbows on the sign it's body was holding that directed people to the studio lots. "You wouldn't be able to tell unless it was working or if you were inside it."

"Please don't let this be the actual murder weapon." It was only a joke but, between what she'd learned about the Thinker clock and Mia's death, she wasn't taking any chances.

Nick might've understood what she was getting at but he still managed to sound almost put-off as he replied. "Unless the top-knot of this monkey is secretly a bladed weapon, I think we've finally broken our weird clock-as-murder-weapon streak. It's a digital clock, same as the Thinker, and also it looks too heavy for a person to lift without assistance."

Maya crouched, dug her fingers under the chin of the monkey, and tried to lift it.

When she gave up, face a brilliant scarlet, ears ringing for the effort, Nick was giggling. "Like I said."

"Okay, digital clock, super heavy, anything else?"

If he cared that she was pouting at him, he didn't show it. "Well it took out a tree and blocked this whole path here." He gestured with one hand at the pathway leading to Studio Two. The dense foliage and concrete monkey's head made it impossible for her to see farther down the pathway. Even the railings on either side of the paths were crumpled like tinfoil beneath the weight of them both. "So it's unlikely that anyone was going to or from that studio during the time it was down."

"Do you have a way to know when that was?"

"Ask Oldbag." Yeah, she was afraid of that.

"Anything else?" The way Nick was grinning at her made her think the answer was 'no'. "Guess we'll never know."

"Coward."

"I value my time." Maya looked at the sign directing people to the two studio lots. Studio One, where the murder took place. Studio Two, likely cut off from the rest of the campus by any conventional means. The employee area, where Will Powers was taking a nap. A photograph showing the Steel Samurai heading towards the studio lots from the employee area at two pm.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

She startled when he spoke, glaring daggers up at him. "I was thinking about the security photograph."

"What about it?"

"It was from that camera, right?" She indicated the camera he had been studying earlier, the one by the welcome arch. "But it's not definitive evidence, just someone in the Steel Samurai costume, with the Samurai Spear and everything, heading towards the studio lots. Everyone keeps saying Will Powers did it though."

Nick sighed through his teeth and floated down so he was standing next to Maya. "Welcome to law enforcement. With trials the way they are, it's guilty until proven innocent and first seen, first arrested. You've seen how biased and bad it can get, and White was an outlier. Not every trial has some secret mastermind behind them but almost every trial is going to be an uphill battle. It's just...how the law is right now."

"I've said it once and I'll say it again: this sucks." Maybe it was petulant but—

"You're right." Oh, yeah...Nick had been the defendant of a trial when he died, hadn't he? If anyone understood, it was him.

Maya pulled the photo print from her sash and unfolded it, studying it closely. It really was someone in the Steel Samurai costume walking on camera. It seemed almost staged, their hold on the Samurai Spear unnatural, their entire torso angled so the camera would see it all. On the back of the print it read: ST1-307 – Oct 15, 2:00 PM, Photo #2.

"Two?"

"It comes after one."

Maya shot him a flat, unamused glare. "No, I mean: this is the second photo?"

"I think the camera is motion activated. It probably grabs shots of everyone who passes it." It was a solid theory.

"But two?"

"Oh, like 'where is photo one'?"

"Yes."

"No clue." Super helpful, Nick. "But we can use that, I'm sure. If there were two photos taken, one before this one, then we can assume someone else wandered in and around. And in full view of the camera, so we can rule out someone sneaking around in the woods."

"They were doing action scenes early in the morning, then they were supposed to do the rehearsal in the afternoon. Between the action scenes and the murder, everyone should have been in the employee area, right?" She met Nick's eyes as she spoke, hoping he understood what she was getting at. Judging by the way he was gaping in surprise, he did. "That could be the real murder!"

"Or an unrelated and mysterious third party?"

"Who could be the murderer!" It's not like every murder was some kind of locked room nonsense. People could walk in and out of public areas—private areas too. Third party didn't mean unrelated, if April May and Redd White were anything to go by.

"Possibly." Nick frowned in thought. "So what next, Maya?"

"Uh..." They had two options, really. Either check out the employee area or the murder scene. Probably both. "Well it depends on what we should do first."

"First?"

"The thing before second." Turnabout is fair play.

"Ha ha." He was unamused. Sucks to suck. "What I was asking was: how many options do we have?"

"Two; the scene of the murder and the employee area."

"Then how about this: you go check out Studio One and I'll poke about in the employee area to see if I can find anything useful. In the off chance it's a physical piece of evidence or something we might want to...hold on to," steal for later, "I can tell you where it is so you don't waste your time rummaging through the garbage."

"Is looking in the trash a regular occurrence?"

Nick's face drew into a pitying grimace. "More than you'd expect but less than doing it for fun and profit."

"Weird." Maya tried to imagine her sister rummaging in the trash and couldn't. The two disparate ideas wouldn't reconcile into a single occurrence. "But that sounds good! I'm gonna try and be super thorough when I look at the crime scene so come to me when you're done, okay?"

He flashed her an 'okay' hand sign. "Will do. Don't die."

"I don't plan on it."

"Usually you don't." Even though his tone was light and airy, there was something tense and choking in his chest. She felt it slam into her own heart and wrap tendrils around it, squeezing and sharp.

Like the last time he said it, he wasn't joking. Not entirely.

People don't usually plan on dying.

Then they parted ways. ——— Studio One was a large warehouse-like building with a single entrance accessible by foot traffic. Maya was surprised to see that the door, while it had a card reader on it to prevent unauthorized entry, was propped open with a re-sealed can of brilliant jade high-gloss paint. That must've been what Gumshoe meant when he said 'I left the door open for you'. No wonder he didn't want Prosecutor Edgeworth finding out. If someone else had taken advantage of the open door, he'd be in massive trouble. As she entered the studio, she moved the paint can inside so nobody else could get in without a keycard.

Now nobody would know what Gumshoe'd done.

Normally, the idea of being inside the area where rehearsals and filming for Steel Samurai took place would have sent Maya into a hyperventilating spiral of delight but...

White tape outlined the place where a man had died. There was no blood—it's likely the costume absorbed all of it—but little white markers pointed to where the weapon had to have been. Cameras pointed towards a backdrop of Mt. Neo Fujiyama against the brilliant midday sky, framing the scene like the finale of the show in its entirety.

The Evil Magistrate was dead! All of Neo Olde Tokyo can rest easy! The Steel Samurai has done it!

He's dead! He's dead!

He's dead!

(She can't pull her wrists too far apart. The cold metal bites, the fangs of the law around her hands and she knows if she doesn't keep fighting she's going to be dragged to hell with words and money. Iron floods her nose and the raw skin on her cheek aches against the cold. She wants to cry but there's someone there, wailing for her, crying for all her own emotions are trapped in her chest.)

(Mia is laying there, slumped. Surrounding her is a puddle of blood, white tape framing her like rim-lighting, the glass from the light stand a shotgun impact mark. Her dead, sightless gaze catches Maya's own and she opens her mouth to admonish her, ask why she didn't save her, why she didn't show up sooner and—)

"—miss? Miss?! Are you—?"

(There are two ghosts holding on to Maya's hands, their grip steel and iron claws vicious and restricting. Her sister—her sister dead and gone and dead and not gone and she never channeled her but if she did she'd be so disappointed and Maya couldn't talk to her anyway and—screaming and wailing, her other hand phased into Maya's chest clutching and squeezing her heart to stop it in its tracks. The other is someone she doesn't know—Nick Nick Nick who is her friend her lifesaver an anchor to reality it's Nick look it's Nick he's here to help he's—and his sightless eyes bore holes in her head as his own agony amplifies her own.)

(Her sister is being attacked and she can't move her hands too far apart and she wants to help but everyone's eyes mark her as a killer. No one will help her but the dead. No one cares but the dead. All she has are the dead. She's dying she's dying she's—)

"—in, hold, out. C'mon now, Maya, breathe!"

(Eyes like flood-lamps, like spotlights, derision and judgment burning blisters against her skin. Paper crumpled in her fist as she spits bullets of black and white reasoning across a battlefield. Stop looking at me! Stop it! Please stop! I didn't do it!)

(She can't afford to be anything other than angry. If she stops being angry she'll crumple in on herself like a dying star. She can't rest until the killer is caught but he smiles at her like he's won and all she can see is white tape and blood and blank eyes and blood and blood and blood.)

(She wants him dead. She wants him to suffer.)

(She's suffering.)

"—there we go, slow and deep. You've got this."

"Do I need to get someone, miss?"

Two people, one familiar and one not, were talking to her. The familiar voice—Nick, it's Nick, and he sounded so worried for her? Why was he worried for her?—was instructing her to breathe. She followed his instructions, suddenly aware of how hard her heart was hammering and how much of her hearing was being consumed by a shrieking ringing noise.

The other voice, the unfamiliar one, was also worried for her but in a more impersonal way. "Uh, I don't know if we have anything that can help and they never trained me on this! Um...uh..."

She needed to assure this poor person that she wasn't dying, that she was going to be alright. Her mouth worked around the words, lungs filling with enough air she could say things again, and she managed to wheeze out, "Don't—" The rest of what she wanted to express—don't worry about me, I'll be fine—died on her tongue. She didn't have the energy yet. She needed a little bit longer.

"Oh!" Maya's vision swam, the blue of Mt. Neo Fujiyama leaving blurry streaks across the face of the other person. She couldn't make out details just yet. "You're okay! That's - that's great!" The poor person sounded like they were about to cry.

"In, hold, out." Nick hadn't stopped coaching Maya's breathing. He just continued on, uninterrupted. She focused on his words, closing her eyes, and breathed. And breathed. And breathed.

When she opened her eyes again, everything was back to normal.

Admittedly, she was on the ground—which was concerning, but her head didn't hurt so she probably didn't fall over—and her mouth was simultaneously dry as cotton and full of weirdly sweet and sticky spit, but she wasn't...whatever that was.

If grief was touching an active heating coil, whatever had just happened was sticking a fork into a toaster. Overall a terrible experience that sapped the strength from every part of her.

"Th—" Maya started to say. Her tongues stuck to the back of her teeth so she took a second and tried again. "Thanks."

"I'm just glad you're alright." The other person—the worried stranger—was crouching nearby, her eyes wide behind her large, round glasses. She looked maybe Maya's age, dressed in a striped shirt with a camo cargo vest on. Her fingers were covered in bandages of one kind or another but she didn't seem to be having issues in spite of that, like she was used to it. "You really worried me there."

"Didn't mean to." Maya was talking to both of them, Nick close enough she could feel the cool tingle of him against the nape of her neck. "I just...didn't expect to react like that."

The girl's expression twisted in sympathy and she fiddled with her ponytail. "Yeah. It's pretty bad. Or, was."

Maya took another moment before she tried to stand up, her legs threatening to give out under her. She leaned against a folding table for support and continued to meter her breathing. "Uh, sorry, I'm Maya. I'm Will Powers' attorney."

The girl's face lit up at that. "Oh! You're taking care of WP! That's good. I was worried." WP? "I'm Penny. Penny Nichols. I'm an assistant on Steel Samurai."

Maya considered bowing to her but Nick interjected. "Don't. You might pass out."

Instead she smiled and inclined her head. "Pleased to meet you Nichols-san."

Penny Nichols blushed so hard her freckles popped against her pink skin. "No no no, you don't have to be so polite! Like I said: I'm just an assistant. I make props and things! I'm just Penny!"

Whoops. Too formal. Time to diffuse the situation. "Okay, just Penny." Judging by the startled laugh that got out of the assistant, it was the right call. "Again: I'm really sorry about...that."

"It's fine!" Judging by the way her voice cracked, it was not fine in the slightest. Penny might've been close to joining her if she hadn't snapped out of it. "I thought something had happened or someone else had attacked you and I was about to call security."

Nobody wanted that, it seemed.

"I'm better now. Glad you held off, though." Going from that to Oldbag would've been...hell, probably. "Uh, anyway, do you mind if I ask you a few questions Penny?"

"Straight to work out of a panic attack." It was hard to tell if Nick was impressed or upset with her. Either could be true. She hoped he could tell from her expression that she was fine right now, stop worrying.

(Be Mia. Be Mia.)

"I already talked to the police but yeah! Anything for WP."

"You keep saying that. WP. Who is that?" Context clues probably should have keyed her in but her thoughts were still prickly around the edges so forgive her if she didn't put one and one together.

"Oh! WP is Will Powers. He's...," Penny tried to find the right words, fiddling with her vest zipper, "He's a sweetheart but 'Will Powers' is a mouthful. It's how he's registered in the actor's guild so I want to be polite and all, hence the abbreviation. He says it's fine." She stumbled over her words, tripping all the way to the conclusion. For someone who worked with stars, she sure didn't act like it.

Judging by the way he had reacted when Maya called him 'Powers-san', he was content with however people wanted to call him. "Oh, okay. That makes sense."

Penny nodded, her ponytail slapping her shoulder. "WP didn't do it. I know he didn't."

"Me too. That's why I took his case."

"I'm so glad! It's nice to know he has someone looking out for him, considering."

"Likewise." Wait, hold on. "Considering?"

Penny's eyes widened behind her glasses. "Oh! I don't mean—that is..."

"I'm not trying to pry." Maya tried to alleviate her discomfort. "That's just the second time someone has mentioned something about Will Powers and Jack Hammer, or something like it. I was just curious."

Penny's expression shuttered, her concern masked with stark disapproval. "Oh, I'll bet you heard that WP and Mr. Jack didn't like each other, didn't you? I've been trying to squash those rumors on the forums for months. It's such a mess."

Forums? Wait, was she big on the forums? Did she do official social media for Steel Samurai or was it a hobby thing? "Not quite, though I wouldn't expect you to be on the forums."

She hadn't meant to let that slip, judging by how flushed she got. Penny carded her fingers through her ponytail and stared through Nick—whom she didn't know was there—in an attempt to not look at Maya. "Oh, uh, I mean...look, it's not like it's official..."

"Do I look like a cop?" Wait, she was a lawyer. "Or a narc?"

"Where did you learn 'narc'?" That word choice apparently amused Phoenix to no end.

"No?"

Maya shrugged. "I took the case because I'm a fan myself. What you do with your time is your business and, unless it directly impacts my investigation or if it would harm or aid my cause, I'm not worried about it. Besides: it's a stupid rumor mill echo chamber anyway. Like the whole thing about the moon being an ancient ayakashi egg. It's the moon! There are sapient rabbits up there! There's no reason to also make it an ancient ayakashi egg! That'd be overkill and, for all that the show can be a bit much, that's too much."

That was the right thing to say, it seemed, because Penny immediately started nodding so hard Maya was worried her glasses would fall off. "Right?! Do they not understand that there's a rhyme and reason to the mythos of the show? Making the moon an ancient ayakashi egg would throw off the whole point of the Mutant Moon Rabbits and the Moon Rabbit Kingdom!"

Penny was like her! Penny was a huge nerd just like her! That more than made up for the panic attack she just had. They should exchange numbers to talk about Steel Samurai stuff.

"Earth to moon rabbit," Nick called out, pulling her away from her imaginary conversations with her new Steel Samurai fan friend. "The case?"

Right. The case. "Sorry, that was off-topic. Uh, right," Maya cleared her throat and tried to be Mia for a bit, "so what were you doing the day of the...murder?" She tried to keep from looking at the outline of the body so she didn't panic again. That shade of white made her itch.

Penny also tried to go back to being professional, though she was grinning a mile a minute. "Right, uh, that day. So I was doing set work, like usual. The action sequence run-through was for early in the morning so that there could be a break before rehearsals so I was mostly prepping the scenes."

"Just her?"

"Are you the only assistant Global Studios has?" Maya tried to not sound pitying but she apparently did a bad job, judging by how Penny flinched.

"The studio isn't doing...great. Don't get me wrong: Steel Samurai is more popular than ever, it's just...not enough to hire a lot of staff. I'm set assistant, prop department, and gaffer. I don't do active lighting all the time—we have programs for that—but there's very little on set I don't—or can't—do, so I'm busy most days. Especially shoot days." That explained the bandages on her fingers.

"Was everyone there for the action scenes or just Hammer, Powers, and the relevant staff?" Did they need the crowd and suit extras or just the Steel Samurai and the Evil Magistrate?

"Staff that day was WP, Mr. Jack, security, our producer, Sal, our cameraman, stunt coordinator, and myself." Penny ticked each person on her fingers as she talked. "Most of our extras had filmed their scenes for the next batch of episodes days before so we only needed the big players. Off record: there's been layoffs so the whole place is running on a skeleton crew, myself included. The pay is good because it's more hours than I'd normally get, but it's exhausting. Every time I close my eyes I see the sets I've painted."

"Yikes." What else could she say?

"Action run-through and then break, right?" Nick prompted. Right.

"So the action scenes in the morning, then lunch break while staff set up for the rehearsal, right?"

Penny nodded. "Everyone took lunch in the employee area. After lunch, WP went to his dressing room and I got super busy making sure markers were put down and everything looked good and was greased and ready to go for rehearsal. I was actually patching some of the bit-part suits and running laundry when they found the body." Busy bee.

"There's remnants of t-bone steak all over the employee area," Nick corroborated. "Global Studio seems to cater its meals on shoot days. They haven't cleaned them up, either, but that's probably on the police's orders. Don't touch anything, and all." Good information to have.

"You said Will Powers went to his dressing room after lunch?" Maya got a nod in response. "Did you see him any time after that?" That was a shake. "Did you check to see if he was asleep?"

That actually made Penny blush. "No! He's one of the big names, the important ones! I know he's pretty cool and all but you don't go busting into someone's personal dressing room like that! It's improper."

"To her credit, and his, there's a bed in the dressing room. It's small, barely a cot, but it's unmade and messy. He absolutely was sleeping after lunch." That was a relief.

"Understandable!" Maya laughed. "I think I'd've done the same. I'm just asking to make sure I have the facts straight."

"I understand." Penny went back to fiddling with her vest zipper. "I just...you know how it is."

"I really do." They were, after all, kindred spirits. "And you're certain nobody else was around during that time? The run-through and before the body was found?" Best to check for her mysterious unrelated third party.

Penny looked strangely on-edge when she asked that. She kept glancing between an open grate on the floor and Maya herself, chewing on her lower lip. When she finally spoke again, she seemed to be choosing her words carefully. "I didn't see anyone else but..."

"But?"

"Well, I...sensed? Someone?" She shifted in place a bit. "I know it sounds silly but there's only so many people here and you get used to their noise and presence and all—"

"Oh I get that, believe me." A village of people, everyone knowing everyone, and a manor with only three residents in it. Nightingale floorboards and the sounds of the forest outside. Screaming cicadas and crickets and owls. Wandering a mostly-empty street but knowing there's a tourist in town because the rhythm of everything was off. "You didn't see them, though?"

"Whoever it was kept out of sight." Penny actively looked at the grate this time. "We get, uh, kids coming in from time to time because, y'know." The Steel Samurai's demographic. The inverse bell graph. "But I don't recall seeing anyone, no."

"I assume that's what's up with the cops searching the woods? The whole...fans situation?"

"Couldn't tell you." Penny frowned. "Not that any of them would be here today. School day."

"Has that ever stopped a fan before?" Maya joked, knowing full well the answer.

"No." At least Penny got the joke.

Speaking of. "That grate—"

"Yeah." She sounded somewhat resigned. "Security keeps demanding I close it because it's a hazard and also the kids keep littering but Sal..."

"I assume he's telling you otherwise?" Maya hazarded.

Penny looked like she swallowed something sour. "'Free publicity,' he says." She plugged her nose and, probably imitating Sal Manella, continued, "'The kids tell their friends they saw the Steel Samurai fighting the new bad guy and more people watch. Even if we aren't making as much on tours, our numbers look great. Win-win.' I think he just is living out his childhood dreams vicariously through them."

Maya thought back to Oldbag mentioning Sal Manella and cease and desist orders. She grimaced. "Probably, but he's not wrong."

Even though it looked like it pained her to say it, Penny agreed. "He's not wrong. The problem is: I'm more scared of security than I am in agreement with Sal so...I'm boarding this up later today. I sure hope nobody gets too upset by it."

"You're just doing your job." Unfortunately for everyone, Maya had run out of questions to ask.

Penny seemed to pick up on that because she had a question for Maya. "Is he doing alright? WP, I mean."

"Oh, uh, I mean...he's okay?" He seemed nervous but that was likely just how he was. "The detention center isn't a great place to be but they're pretty...tolerable." It suddenly occurred to her that she really didn't want Penny to ask how she knew that. "He seemed...he was happy? Relieved? That I had taken his case—believed in him."

"Good." Penny's response was surprisingly firm. "WP needs people in his corner. He's a good guy."

"He didn't do it," Maya stated again. Penny nodded in agreement. "Besides, the Steel Samurai is a warrior of justice, not evil."

"Powers isn't the Steel Samurai," Nick pointed out. "You can't make judgment calls based on predisposed notions you have regarding someone's character. Especially if it's an actual character."

Maya chose to ignore him for now. "You want to exchange phone numbers? I'd love to chat about Steel Samurai if you have the time!"

"Sure!" Penny pulled out her phone and the two quickly sent an SMS to each other. She beamed at Maya, the happiness tinged with tired optimism. "Let me know how the trial goes? I won't be able to take off."

"I will." Wow, working a labor job sure seemed like it sucked. "Thanks for all the help! Sorry about freaking you out."

"It's good!" And somehow, Maya knew she meant that.

Leaving Studio One, Maya and Nick headed towards the front entrance so they could catch the next bus back to the Office to organize what information they had. Maya was thinking about the missing first picture and Will Powers' alibi and Oldbag and how people seemed to think Powers and Hammer actually disliked each other.

That's why she didn't hear Nick until he cleared his throat and repeated himself a little louder. "You can't just decide that your client is innocent based on your emotional leaning."

That seemed a little hypocritical. "What?"

"You equated Powers to his character, the Steel Samurai. Because the Steel Samurai is a noble warrior of justice, Powers can't have killed Hammer. That's a false equivalency. You can't do that in court. They'll rip you apart." He was trying to help her. She knew that. It's just—

"Aren't I supposed to trust my client? That's an emotional leaning!"

Nick flinched as if struck. "That's not the same thing."

"No, I know it's not, I'm just pointing out that I'm not...I don't actually think Will Powers is the Steel Samurai. I actually believe in him. I just also..." Shame curled around her ears and cheeks and nape, flushing her skin on contact.

"Yeah." Nick let out a long-suffering sigh. "All I meant was: remember to watch how you say things, especially in a high-profile case like this one. If the prosecution doesn't rip you to shreds, the media will. There won't be anything left over."

They both were kinda bad at talking to people, huh? Maya stifled an amused laugh with a cough. "I get it. I'll try and be smart in court tomorrow."

"That's all I'm asking." And wasn't that comforting? Knowing someone was there without strings attached, at her side every step of the way? "Do you think you're prepared?"

"I think I've got the basis of a good defense. Barring something truly heinous or, I don't know, Will Powers choosing to confess and plead guilty, I'll be fine. It's not my first rodeo."

"You're right." That teasing lilt returned to Nick's voice and he grinned at her. "It's your second."

"And I'm only getting stronger and more formidable every time!" They passed beneath the welcome arch, the feeling of the security camera taking a snapshot prickling against the back of her neck. "Prosecutor Edgeworth better watch himself."

"I think he's learned to not underestimate you already."

"And he's gonna learn I'm a certified powerhouse!" Maya cackled. "I can't wait."

"Just remember that this is about our client, not your grudge."

No, that was fair. She needed that reminder from time to time. "He's innocent and I'm gonna prove it."

"I can't wait." Neither could she.

#the sheepy writes fic #hallowed be thy unknown #ace attorney #gyakuten saiban #trials and tribulations spoilers #ace attorney spoilers #long post #celebrating the aj trilogy release with this chapter #wouldve been on here yesterday but i was la-zy #anyway pls enjoy turnabout samurai investigation 1 #samurai and serenade are the same types of case three unfortunately #interesting enough plot and twist but bad gameplay #anyway happy ajt day have some maya #i was rewarded for this chapter with fanart and i cried about it so im doing so good #tokusatsu haunting is maya bullying edgeworth the case #because she is a little sibling and she learned one (1) whole fact about him and is going to refuse to let it go #''oooooooo prosecutor edgeworth is a steel samurai fan? >:3c''

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crmsnmth · 23 days

Text

September Sky Chapter Four, part 4

That had been on Monday. Six days ago. It felt like it was a whole different time period, yet somehow that it just happened. Sitting here, in the early morning dark royal purples, time didn't matter. My heart finally caught up to itself and my breathing came easy. Soon enough I was asleep again.

* * * *

I had maybe an hour or so before Addison would be here. We had decided on some place I've never heard of called Atomic Cafe. I ended up making her pick where, because I don't know shit for vegan places. According to Addison, this place had a great menu, featuring vegan and omnivore foods. And although I was thankful it did have other options, I would've been fine with a place that just served vegan or vegetarian foods. i was so thankful she had picked something. I would've never figured it out.

I was out in the backyard, chain-smoking and pacing along the small and neglected lawn. Most of the gross was brown and dead, and soon the earth would reclaim its place, and this would all be dirt. It wasn't our fault. it was already crappy when we first moved in. And the landlord never tried to blame us for it. I guess we had a pretty good landlord. He wasn't a slumlord and if something went wrong, you better believe he be there.

A nervous, panicky energy was flowing through me, riding the highways of my veins. It made it impossible to sit still, for even just a second. Trust me, I tried. The power plant inside of me held me tight from the moment I woke up this morning. I tried every distraction I could, from playing video games to walking around the block. Nothing helped.

Not for the first time, I panicked and wanted to call her and cancel. Somehow I was working through it. I think knowing I couldn't fuck this chance up was more of a help then a hindrance. I was freaking out, yeah, that was true, but I was freaking out alone. Maybe I'd get it all out of my system. This, of course, was just wishful thinking.

I paced, making a trail in the dead grass. Back and forth, back and forth. I tossed a cigarette butt off into the alley behind the house. Tom usually parked back here, but he wasn't home.

It seemed I was looking at my phone every minute. At least that's what it felt like. In all reality, I don't think even a full minute would pass before I would check it again. I'd look at the screen in some word form of hope and desperation.

Anticipation plus high anxiety is like being made entirely of electricity. It wasn't really that horrible of a feeling. Actually, it was kind of nice. And oddly exhilarating. I couldn't tell you why though. I could almost feel the bolts in my fingertips. I looked around quick, making sure no was looking at me, or around. Then I tried to use Force lightning because I am geeky kid in a punk frame. It did not work, just in case you were wondering.

I stopped pacing, tossed my half full cigarette into the alley, and headed back inside. I headed through the house, moving fast to get to my room. Dennis's gunshots were bleeding into the hall, like normal. I checked to make sure I had everything I needed. I didn't really need all that much. My wallet, which I wore chained cause I won't let that image fade away, my phone, cigarettes, lighter and keys. That's it. Four things. I had already hit the ATM earlier in the day.

My laptop sat open on the bed. I dropped myself next to it, grabbing it and clicking on to Facebook, for the millionth time that day. I had nothing from anybody, so I just sat their scrolling and looking at the clock every few seconds. Chad suddenly was online.

CHRIS: What's up?

CHAD: Not much. Isn't today your date?

CHRIS: In about a half hour.

CHAD: Ah, that makes sense.

CHRIS: I'm a fucking ball of lightning right now. I even tried to use Force Lightning.

CHAD: Lol, for real? CHRIS: Yeah, in the backyard.

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stillheresanctuary · 2 months

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So. It's Been A While.

That last update was a bit prophetic, wasn't it.

Uhm, I guess I should give a sort of summary of the last... Two? Three years? For people that are still lingering.

I'll put the bulk of it under a read more, but TL;DR- Parks Department job has panned out really well, had to move out a second time due to Stuff, Dad had a second stroke and passed away from complications, my mom's dog passed away from a malignant tumor, and I'm currently doing a lot of juggling to help Mom and myself try to survive.

Could be better. Could be a lot worse.

For folks that want some more details, well-

I'll get the rough stuff out of the way first.

My dad died. It'll be two years this October. He had a second stroke, and went from slow but steady improvement to a rapid decline that ended with Mom and I mutually agreeing that his quality of life had degraded so badly it was basically torture forcing him to stay alive. He wasn't quite a vegetable at the end, but it was close. He couldn't talk. He couldn't articulate his needs. He couldn't take care of himself in any fashion.

I sat and waited in his hospice room, and saw when the final breath left his body. There is no possible means to describe the Certainty, and the Relief. Knowing he was gone, and that he was no longer suffering.

Neither Mom or I have really had the space to fully process it. His ashes have yet to be scattered, and we haven't be able to coordinate a wake for the extended family. I don't know if we'll ever have one at this rate, but we want to give him a send off for everyone to properly say their good byes.

Less than two months after Dad passed, Mom called me crying. Tali, our family dog for the last 16 years, hadn't been feeling very well for a while, and gave Mom a couple bad scares before she finally had to be rushed to an emergency vet. They found out that Tali had been developing a tumor, and while it wasn't metastasized or actively malignant, it had begun to interrupt body functions and after a sudden seizure, had caused internal bleeding so bad they weren't sure she would survive being sedated let alone surgical intervention.

We decided it would do her a disservice to force her through such an invasive procedure, with no guarantee of recovery, let alone good health.

Mom and I both held her as the doctors gave her a fatal dosage of anesthetic, and she passed away peacefully. Her ashes are also still with us, waiting for us to decide how to honor her life.

On to less miserable topics-

Moving house! Happened cause the roommates we moved in with ended up paranoid assholes who tried to get us evicted and/or arrested on falsified charges of theft! We had to call up the sheriff, police and the landlord, as well as a tenant-landlord lawyer, to get the roommates of our backs. We moved out as soon as we were able to keep their assholery from reoccurring and possibly resulting in legal actions.

My partner and I ended up staying with a mutual friend for a couple months while we hunted for a new place, and now we've been staying in a pretty nice duplex that we're currently hoping won't price us out come the next lease reup (there's consulting of tenant-landlord lawyers in the plan for negotiating with the landlord). Other than fretting over funds, we're pretty alright.

Job! Parks and Rec invited me back to a longer season, and I just recently got invited back again, and I may actually apply for a year round full time position. The people are great, I enjoy the work I do, the benefits are excellent, and I even have a supervisor who Gives A Shit for once.

Pretty sure the job kept me from a depression spiral when Dad and Tali passed away back to back.

Rapid fire what else- Got a new to me car, reconnected with a bunch of friends from old fandoms, made new friends in an entirely new fandom, started looking into possibly going back to school, helped my mom with buying a house and a car, got sick with Covid twice, got two cavities drilled and filled, played way too much Cult Of The Lamb...

I think that's it? At least, that's all I can remember anymore.

It's been A Lot.

What does this say for this project?

Well, I still want to put work into it. I want to reinvest myself and my interests into this world that I've created. Considering current Tumblr drama, I may end up seeing how much I can transition over to something less fragile, like Neocities. I haven't made a webpage in so long it's ridiculous, but it could be worth it to mirror all my Tumblr projects onto something that I can actually archive.

It's a bit up in the air, and I apologize in advance if I vanish again, since I'm going to be going back to work at the end of March and I'm not sure how much energy I'll have to juggle. Whatever happens-

Thank you all for participating in this experience with me. You all have made this silly little side project a true joy, and I'm thankful for everyone who has made it possible.

#stuff cell says #mun stuff

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daemonhxckergrrl · 8 months

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i think it should be illegal for landlords to have anything to do with home networking, nothing between tenants and their ISP. i had one landlord who, when we got fibre installed, added a network cable through the walls so we could plug our router in upstairs instead of in the downstairs entryway where the fibre connection came in. great! except he found some network cable that capped out at about 50Mbit/s over 15-20m or so. so about 5% of the gigabit plan we had.

i think it should be illegal for landlords. full stop. period.

all my utilities are included in rent (part of why i was able to afford this place back when i moved in), so it's my landlord's name on the internet bill. also i don't think we have any legal say in what type of smoke alarms are used (as long as the landlord ensures they meet regulations on the amount and placement), which means even if i did choose my ISP and set the router up myself i could still be forced to use all the smart home stuff if the landlord put nest smart alarms in the property. which they have. but they also sorted the networking. and the flat is rented as individual flats w/ communal areas (kitchen, bathrooms etc.) rather than a big flat w/ multiple bedrooms if that make sense and since the router is in the communal area (and would affect other tenants) i'm pretty sure touching it would be a breach of contract. so like there's multiple ways in which it's all fucked and you're so right. but it's not a situation that can be avoided or changed until i can move elsewhere :c

also that's fucked like obviously they picked the cheapest cable that had the right connectors on it and ignored the rated speed bc hey it's not their problem (though if you were paying for gigabit separate to your rent and an action on your landlord's part caused you to not get that full speed, there may have been recourse to challenge them about it ? depends on what was in your contract).

another thing our landlord did is whenever there's an issue that we report and they (eventually) fix, they then like to micromanage us as tenants for the next couple weeks. we got told one of the kitchen table was too messy (it had clean pots and pans on it bc of a lack of suitable storage space), given a week to move stuff off or it would all get chucked. they actually came in and took everything off that table. which i'm pretty sure is illegal. and then promised us new cupboards or something to help w/ the storage issue. and it's been months. no new cupboards. this shit only happens whenever they have to come fix a door hinge or the boiler etc. like some sort of punishment for telling them the flat we pay them to live in is falling apart. for having to do the one job they actually have. that they don't even have to do bc they call in contractors to do it.

anyway, yeah fuck landlord and fuck them controlling stuff in the property you're paying to live in. also i had no idea about all the smart home stuff until i moved in. it's not really pointed out during the viewing. and nest are especially bad bc those devices recently had some sort of voice command feature unlock, meaning they were built w/ microphones this whole time which was never disclosed until the voice command feature dropped.

rant over lmao i'm hoping to move in a year, maybe two years depending on what's available and for how much

#Anonymous #DATA_REQUESTS

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themculibrary · 3 months

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Domestic MJ/Peter Masterlist

Abundant (ao3) - arochill G, 1k

Summary: MJ kept her secrets close. It was time she let the biggest go.

blossoming alone (over you) (ao3) - seekrest M, 3k

Summary: “You sure you’re okay?” Peter whispers.

Michelle knows he’s talking about her steadily racing heart, feeling that it’s a little too late and she’s a little too out of it to have a proper conversation as she nods and says, “I’m okay.”

Peter hums like he doesn’t believe her but doesn’t push it, hearing his breathing start to slow and his grip on her to loosen just as he whispers, “Love you.”

Michelle smiles, forcing herself to be in the moment and not in the bad memories - wrapping her arm around his waist.

“Love you too.”

Falling out the Clouds (ao3) - abcd_em T, 9k

Summary: Five times Peter gave MJ flowers and one time MJ gave them to him.

i think i love you better now (ao3) - seekrest M, 7k

Summary: It’s been six months since she moved– six months of trying to catch each other on phone calls despite the distance, of staying up even later than he normally would just to hear her actual voice and not just a voicemail– and he finally has the chance to go and see her.

Of course the universe would have a different plan.

Peter’s thumbs hover over the text thread but he finds he can’t bring himself to do it. He won’t disappoint her, not in this way– not when there’s still a chance he’ll get to see her.

He slips his phone back in his pocket, readjusts his grip on his backpack and looks around– determined to make it to California today one way or another.

I've Heard Of 'The One' (And I Think It's You) (ao3) - Stressed_Depressed_Lemonzest G, 1k

Summary: MJ never believed in sappy romance stories, but Peter always had a way of proving her wrong.

Kissin’ Dynamite (ao3) - crime_fighting_spiderling G, 27k

Summary: “Maybe I shouldn’t go.” Peter spoke. MJ shoved a permission slip into his hand at his comment.

“You’re going.” She simply stated.

Where Peter and his class go on a field trip to Stark Tower.

mud and pollen (ao3) - Anonymous T, 18k

Summary: If Peter's an idiot for not telling anyone he's feeling a little under the weather (an understatement of the century), the Avengers must be pretty damn stupid for not realizing that Peter's spiraling mood is more than some "teen angst."

Peter thinks superheroes don't get sick. Tony is oblivious.

Senior Year (ao3) - Calliope29 T, 63k

Summary: Against all odds, Peter Parker is a senior in high school, along with his best friend, Ned Leeds, and his kind of scary girlfriend, MJ. Now he just has to survive the year and get into MIT without letting his extended family drive him crazy. The Avengers might be superheroes, but they're mostly super-sized pains in Peter's ass. Spoiler, he loves them anyway. Juggling school work, college applications, Tony Stark's 'how to be heir to a multibillion dollar company' boot camp (patent pending), and Spider-Man duties is harder than it looks.

spider-man: homewrecker (ao3) - watsonmj (divineauthor) M, 3k

Summary: Peter and MJ are married. MJ’s a famous actress. Peter’s still Spider-Man. People think Spider-Man and MJ are together. The problem? Everyone knows MJ is a married woman.

This Love is Ours (ao3) - abcd_em G, 1k

Summary: Early weekend mornings when she'd rather be in bed bring tough decisions for MJ:

Get the groceries they need or crawl back into bed.

It's a hard choice, but Peter makes it a little easier to decide.

three years (ao3) - zetermj G, 1k

Summary: in which peter and mj come to the realisation that they’ve been together for three years. (really short fluff)

Till Forever (ao3) - seekrest G, 2k

Summary: “So am I Mrs. Parker then? Or are we enlightened enough to hyphenate or whatever?” The switch from melancholy to joy is immediate, causing Michelle to break out into a smile that almost matches Peter's.

“You can call yourself whatever you want, MJ. But you’re in? For real?”

“Yeah you dork, I’m in. Let me know when the landlord wants to meet.”

Whatever Happens (You'll Be by My Side) (ao3) - SpideyFics T, 3k

Summary: Peter and MJ spend a quiet Hanukkah together.

when you hold my hand (do you wanna hold my heart) (ao3) - Hale13 T, 1k

Summary: Michelle likes playing with Peter’s hair.

You Are The Best Thing (That's Ever Been Mine) (ao3) - seekrest T, 4k

Summary: Michelle seems to consider what he’s saying, Peter hoping that he hasn’t said something to scare her off. It’d been awhile since he’d been on a date, wondering if this really qualified as one.

But Michelle was interesting, fascinating in a way that made him want to know all that he could about her - a draw towards her that he couldn’t really explain, considering he’d known her for less than an hour.

She seems to decide just as Peter thinks of speaking again, thankfully stopping him from embarrassing himself further when she says, “Yeah, that sounds great.”

Peter smiles. Michelle smiles back.

And Peter decided then and there that he’d do almost anything to keep seeing it.

#themculibrary #marvel #mcu #michelle jones #peter parker #spideychelle #domestic #domestic masterlist

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ledenews · 2 months

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Santorine: 'Please Explain to Me How That's Fair'

I’ve discovered those in favor of leaving our borders open and welcoming illegal invaders with open arms don’t understand the economic ramifications, which are expensive and will have long-lasting negative effects on our children and seniors. Let’s look at some very real scenarios: An illegal is working, falls, and breaks his wrist. He’s taken the hospital ER and racks up a $15,000 bill for diagnosis, plate, screws and surgery. He has no insurance and provided a fake name and address. It might look like the hospital will have to absorb the charges. They won’t. They will add them to your bill, or your grandparents' bill, which will cause your insurance to be more expensive, or Medicare to trim and ration services. Next … An Illegal family shows up with two school-age children who speak no English, and only knows a dialect spoken in the jungles of Venezuela. Of course, they know enough to call in an advocate who’s going to demand, knowing our laws better than we do, the school provide a translator and specific instruction. … The cost for this is not absorbed by the school. It is taken from an existing budget, likely a program for top performers (because they can fend for themselves), or, say the music department, who will now have to cut instruction and one concert for a number of years. Those two illegals had a huge negative impact on 25 students, and hobbled the education of our best and brightest, because bleeding hearts want to help the needy while stunting our future. Please explain to me how that’s fair. Two illegals convince a landlord to rent them an apartment and promise there will be only four of them in the small two-bedroom unit. One week later, 15 of their closest relatives move in, using heat and hot water like no tomorrow. Landlord evicts them. On their way out, they trash the apartment, partly because they have absolutely nothing to lose, and partly because they come from a society where they believe they are entitled to punish the rich. … Who pays for that? The next tenant in that apartment, and every other tenant that landlord has – tand it many cases, those other tenants are the people least able to afford it. The numbers and the effect are much more pronounced when you consider this at scale. Let’s say there was a dormitory that would have housed 250 students. The university it was attached to fails, and someone decides that five busloads of illegals should be sent to Wheeling to be housed, and to receive taxpayer assistance. When they are not committing “the crimes of idleness,” or perpetrating the same crimes they were plying in Venezuela, they may decide to seek work. They don’t have a driver’s license or workforce skills, but they know if they offer to work for less, they can find something to generate income. More often than not, they don’t care if they are displacing other workers. You can count on the fact they will be cutting our local workers who many agencies worked hard to get gainful employment and situated with housing. When they get that work, they will send a huge portion of what they make back to where they came from, a net economic drain on the economy. The issue, you see, is self-compounding. If I’m an ethical employer, and try not to hire illegals, I will be forced into it when my direct competitors do, and I’m faced with being non-competitive. So, like the unethical operators, I’ll dismiss my local help, and bring in the cut-rate illegal invaders. All this happens while they are driving unregistered or uninsured vehicles, having accidents with members of our community, initiating brawling, and just in general a drain on our local community. Their very presence will destroy our tourism business, and handicap everyone who depends on a safe, positive place to do business. Fast forward 20 years, and some politician will decide that since they were not in our Social Security system, but are of retirement age, that Social Security should pay them, and to do so, it means that people who paid into the system should take a little less. Is that what you want? I didn’t think so. Such is the problem of “sanctuary.” Just look at New York, NY, or Chicago. It can happen here if we let it. Read the full article

#belmontcounty #BrookeCounty #DolphSantorine #IllegalInvaders #MarshallCounty #ohiocounty #Sanctury #SocialSecurity #UpperOhioValley

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brokenfoxproductions · 8 months

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So, I have my housing inspection today and the head of my county's housing authority stated that there was no evidence that me or my family did anything wrong but at this point our landlords are so hell-bent on charging us money for stuff that we didn't do that it's just not safe for us to stay here. She even noticed how horrible our landlords were treating us during the inspection and personally apologize at one point for how long we've been putting up with this. I mentioned that I went as far as to contact the former tenants that lived here immediately before us as well as the people who lived here whenever our landlords bought the property, and that they had similar experiences of being extorted out of money for stuff that wasn't their fault and eventually threatened with eviction whenever the landlords realized that they couldn't get away with it anymore. I physically handed the director of our local housing authority the chewed up oven knob that we were told the day we moved in was caused by the former tenants' Pitbull mix (which he confirmed with us he actually paid for that oven to be replaced prior to us moving in because he admitted that his dog caused the damage). I explained to her all of the circumstances surrounding everything and all of the miscommunications that were going on, and we ended up on the same page and she seemed completely understanding that we weren't the bad guys in this situation. We are being scammed by people who think that being landlords is the same as being an actual feudal Lord.

My partner recorded the entire interaction, including the head of the housing authority telling us that our house looked perfectly fine and that our landlords were being unreasonable. During that conversation, though, my landlords were in the kitchen taking photos of the marks on the linoleum that were here before we moved in as well as a very small amount of spilled rice from my breakfast on the counter, as if a few grains of rice or something that we have documented was here before we moved in is going to be the catalyst in our eviction. My landlords are a couple in their 50s and I found it disturbing that the wife of this couple was making weird comments and fake laughing like a high school mean girl the entire time, and she took several photos and videos of me and my partner without asking or telling us beforehand. (We specifically told everyone who was coming into the home when they entered that we were recording for our own safety and so that housing would have a video of the entire interaction. Meanwhile I randomly looked down at one point and realized that my landlord was taking pictures of my crotch and butt and fake laughing while we were talking with her and the people from the housing authority.)

I reiterated to the head of the housing authority several times that I don't care if we have to move out, and I would prefer to move out at this point because my children and I don't feel safe, but our only concern is that we don't have the money to move without having a voucher for housing wherever we move to unless we become homeless again. I shouldn't have to choose between being harassed constantly or my family and I becoming homeless, and the head of the housing authority agrees, but she also acknowledged that that is the situation that our landlords are trying to force us into.

I also heard back from Pennsylvania psychiatric Institute and they somehow decided after all of the bullshit that they put me through that they messed up. They already discharged me from outpatient psychiatry but they acknowledge that that was the wrong thing to do so they're calling me next week to schedule a new appointment with a different doctor rather than making me wait 6 months to see a new psychiatrist there like they usually would for someone who was discharged. It's funny how it took several weeks of calling back and forth and showing up asking to talk to someone for this to happen. It's also funny how they came to this decision after I pointed out that I've had people DM me on here and contact me through the business email that I use for my YouTube channel stating that they had similar interactions and I told them that I was considering protesting outside with as many people as I could find who also had bad experiences.

Like I've said before, I'm really not sorry about the fact that I am strong-willed and I maintain my morals and stand My ground whenever I feel as though I or someone around me is being wronged, because even though it's stressful in the moment and causes a lot of drama, I found that in the long run I always end up vindicated and proven correct in whatever I was trying to do. And even whenever I don't end up "winning", I would still rather know that I stood up for myself and supported my morals rather than having allowed myself to do something that I wasn't okay with or be forced into a situation that I was not okay with.

I spent way too many years of my life being compliant and Silent towards my abusers and those around me who I know are causing harm to continue doing it as an adult. I'm too old to sit around and say nothing. I'm too tired and too fed up to keep doing nothing.

#life upd8 #life update #broken fox productions #pennsylvania psychiatric institute #central pennsylvania #Pennsylvania #mental health services #mental health #physical disability #landlord abuse #landlord tenant #capitalism #low income housing #systemic abuse #systemic oppression #systemic ableism #autism #ptsd #cptsd

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atlanticcanada · 1 year

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N.S. housing advocate calls for increased funding after swamped legal aid service cuts walk-ins

A community worker with the Dalhousie Legal Aid Service says the office is dealing with more tenancy cases than it can handle.

Joanne Hussey says the number of renters seeking out free legal help to deal with evictions has reached the point where the office has been forced to eliminate its walk-in service for the month of May.

“We’ve decided to pause our drop-in intakes, which usually happens twice a week,” says Hussey.

Hussey says the office normally sees about 10 drop-ins each time.

Part of the challenge, she says, is the sheer volume of cases she and the other community legal worker are handling.

“But also, we are a teaching clinic, so we have new students who are joining us at this point and so we’ll be spending some time training them,” Hussey adds. “We’ve generally been able to make it work during those student transitions, but this time we just felt we needed to take that break.”

Hussey says since September, Dalhousie Legal Aid has worked with 102 households facing eviction, compared with the 30 households the clinic assisted during the same period the previous year. She says where the clinic’s work was once equally divided between tenancy issues and income assistance cases, that has since shifted almost entirely to tenancies.

Hussey says that often takes a lot of time, as the complaints process with Nova Scotia Residential Tenancies can take months.

“I think it’s a whole lot of things that came together at the same time,” she says. “When (the federal pandemic emergency benefits) went away, that caused problems.”

“We saw rents increasing in Halifax at levels that we’ve never seen before, and we also have the rent cap, which has kept rents from increasing drastically while tenants had a lease, but it also meant if people have to move, they face a huge increase,” Hussey explains.

The chair of the Dartmouth chapter of ACORN, a grassroots advocacy group which works on affordable housing issues, says the loss of the drop-in service is a blow to the community.

“For low-income people,” says Lisa Hayhurst, “nobody can really afford legal services, (Dal Legal Aid) is basically who they turn to.”

She herself used the office’s walk-in service just a few weeks ago to ask a question about a letter she received from her landlord.

“With the housing crisis and renovictions going on,” she says, “tenants don’t really know where to go, so they have to turn to Dal to help them through the hearing.”

Dalhousie Legal Aid is a non-profit charity funded through donations and grants from the Law Foundation of Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Legal Aid, and Dalhousie’s Schulich School of Law.

Hayhurst says she would like to see more provincial funding for organizations like Dal Legal Aid.

“What we (at ACORN) want to do is call on the province of Nova Scotia to put more funding into tenant advocacy and legal resources so some of the stress will be taken off Dalhousie Legal Aid,” she says.

“There’s definitely a need for funding for all the services for people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness,” Hussey says, “I think really we need the government and the public to recognize there are a lot of people working really hard to make sure this situation that is already bad doesn’t get so much worse.”

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/fKHleSQ

#new brunswick #prince edward island #nova scotia #news #politics #canada #CTVAtlantic

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the-firebird69 · 1 year

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In Florida you have to get the landlord's permission to sublet your apartment and as far as We know John rewards has not done that and he is a little baby about it and he's very mean and he won't take no for an answer we're going over the math what he was saying today then we're going to have him arrested because he's a freaking huge fuming loser everyone has all these programs and stuff and this guy has nothing so everyone's going to go after him now

All over the world we heard it on the radio someone's going to go get that guy from here and the Max and their foreigners and their others like this and we're going to take him out he's saying this vulgar s*** all day long and still is about our son because he's going to the mall and other places and doesn't want to be near this piece of fat s*** who doesn't even know I'm amazed at how stupid this person is he doesn't want to be near this creep in whatever format he is a moronic homo and doesn't know anything so he's sitting there taunting our son earlier on the bus and her son said a lot of people come down here and they're full of s*** and her senile and do a lot of stupid things instead of getting paranoid and he said you mean me you just said the guys racing by and doesn't realize we're in some HP bus I mean what the hell is that supposed to do I'm faster than a handicap bus and he's like agreeing rapidly and he's crazy and that was it it's like you're not really getting it a son could not stand it so just challenging a bus come on it's freaking weird stuff, he's angry a bus is going slow is he born yesterday like born on date and time was yesterday at 5:00 a.m. I mean these people are stupid as hell you didn't say that but then he felt way too good and he was in three calls and tries to get rid of his people take money trying to do stupid things with money he's expecting to arm our son with AI and will follow the orders I'm looking for a stupid orders of his now and he won't be taking our son how do you flipped out they're talking to himself and started ranting so he's basically insane and he's assuming loser that's what people said on the radio huge pile of hate sarcasm and stupid things coming out of him so we're going to go after them for their dumb idea I'm going to take them out and they're going to be done as it is right now we are going after them with the sake right now and they are going to be finished soon.

Thor Freya Hera wishes to announce what's happening today hope she enjoys because this was terrible today and we're moving to rip out his people right now and a lot of them are in no but we are going to what what a jerk that guys is an infant too and a spaz and a crybaby everybody hates him no wonder

We have a lot of people amassing on Charlotte county sports every hour and then they they hit. Huge forces gathered in Canada from the Bering straits that were filled in about 10 mi across and they went 50 miles and took them half the night to do it and then they start traversing this morning early and took them all morning to fill up Canada and they're starting to a mess in Russian territory again the upper Northwest Northeast center about 4000 octillion not the same number as it has been last night and the night before in about 6,000 octane in Mexico and about 10,000 octillion I'm asking around the ships they're building or getting ready and this number will probably double today and my husband did calculation figure this is so many people here... Literally they leave come back looking for a fight you don't answer and it causes one but now they are about 8,000 and each location 05 the number is growing and already it's twice as much as yesterday so good luck to the spazzes I haven't gotten wiped out yet they'll start getting too many over there

Hera

It's accurate and timely even though he got to take a rest

Thor Freya

You need them to know now so publish it

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sokoloffweinstein · 2 years

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West Palm Beach Slip And Fall Attorneys

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loving-all-for-loki · 3 years

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How about a Loki x reader.. Tony moves his baby sister into the compound after something happens to her but he won’t tell anyone what. She refuses to leave her room until everyone is in bed. She comes out one night and is caught by Loki. She immediately apologizes and becomes so shaken up that she drops her things and breaks a glass. Then it hits him why she was secretly moved in. Tony had discovered his little sister living in a bad situation with her now ex and suffered years of abuse. Loki decides then to take his time to make her feel safe again and they eventually fall for each other.

A/N: I hope this works! I got really sappy at the end, but I also don’t know how to end these one shots. This is a bit of a lengthy one, so bear with me.

He’s Not Him

Summary: Tony Stark has enough of his sister’s ex and moves her into the Avengers Tower. After taking notice of her shy and timid behavior, Loki digs deep at her past, making him want to make her feel safe.

Pairing: Loki x Stark!reader, Tony Stark x Sister!Reader

Word Count: 2993

Warnings: fluff, angst, mentions of domestic abuse, language

Forever Tags: @mm2305

Y/E/N - your ex’s name

*If you or someone you know is being domestically abused, please reach out to 911 or call 800.799.SAFE (7233) for help. Love you all*

Tony storms into his sister's apartment. After standing outside of her door for a half hour, he bashed in the door at the the sound of a scream from inside. Frantically, he pushes his way around the furniture and bursts into your bedroom. His eyes go wide at the sight of you on the floor in a ball and your ex boyfriend above you with a fist out. Stark grabs your ex’s fist and rips him away from you, pushing him into your dresser.

“Get the fuck out!” Tony screams.

“Oh, the great Tony Stark is here. What are you going to do? Drop a bomb on me?”

You’ve never seen Tony’s skin turn so red. He storms forward and punches your ex square in the nose, sending him down on the ground. Tony unleashes all his energy until the man is left with a broken nose and multiple bruises.

“Get. Out.”

Your ex runs out of your room, without missing the chance to break a few things, and out of your apartment. You look up out of your ball to see Tony rushing to your side with panic in his eyes. He lifts up your head as you climb into his lap.

“Come here, darling. You’re okay. You’re safe now.” He coos.

You cry into the crook of his shoulder as he rocks you back and forth, his hand on your back.

“I’m getting you out of here,” He says, placing you on your bed, “I’m taking you to the tower with us.”

Tony leaves you on your bed as he gets a suitcase and packs your things. He gathers all of your clothes and some of your possessions like books, drawings, and others. You can feel the tears starting to dry on your skin as you stop crying. Tony doesn’t miss the way you start to uncurl and the bruises on your neck show up. His face drops to see the choking marks on your neck.

“I’m… so sorry, Y/N. I should have been here to protect you.”

You shake your head at him as he joins you on the bed. Tony reaches around your head to undo your ponytail and cover the bruises.

“There, now no one will ask you about them.”

You give him a gentle smile which eases him a little. He leans forward and kisses your forehead before taking your hand and helping you up. Tony and you walk out of your building and into the garage where Happy is in the car. He drops you off for five minutes to go talk to your landlord about you leaving.

“You’re going to be okay,” Happy reassures you.

“Thanks,” you manage to get out.

He gives you a warm smile. He has always made you smile throughout the years. Tony comes back, joins you in the car, and takes off to the tower.

Upon arrival, you look up at the large tower in awe. You’ve visited a couple of times, but that was a year ago since your ex didn’t allow you to see Tony much. It’s always been impressive. You were thankful for Tony letting you live on your own and make something of your own life instead of letting you mooch off of his fortune, but you do regret sometimes not letting him support you more. You were always so proud of him.

Tony carries your luggage as he leads you to the elevators. He looks down at you every so often, noticing the anxious way you bite your nails.

“You’re safe here. We have the best security and you’ll be surrounded by trained assassins and heroes. They’ll protect you, I promise.”

You nod your head at Tony’s words. As much as they help you, you don’t really want to see or talk to anyone. After having your ex break into your house every day for two weeks, you want to be alone except for the occasional visit from Tony.

The elevator doors open and reveal you and your brother to the Avengers who are all lounging in the living area. They turn to look at you with puzzled faces, making you nervous and hide behind Tony’s arm. He lets you stay behind him instead of forcing you to say hi as you exit the elevator.

“Everyone, this is my sister, Y/N. She’s going to stay here from now on so be nice to her,” Tony announces.

Everyone says hi to you but you stay silent behind Tony. He doesn’t question it even though the others look at one another in concern. Steve thinks to himself that you can’t be that rude, but given the way you look, everything must be very different to you from the rest of your life. You look shocked and scared.

Looking at the Avengers, you take in each and everyone’s appearance. Bucky and Nat look the scariest in your opinion and you make a mental note to stay away from them. Sam, Steve, and Clint look nice, but Wanda looks like the sweetest lady in the universe. She has a smile that warms your heart. Turning to your right, you see two very tall men standing and staring at you.

The taller one has blonde hair and a big grin on his face. He has a large stature, but he does not look intimidating. He has a golden retriever energy to him, but the man next to him is a different story. With his pitch black hair and powerful stand, the other man stares at you with daggers in his eyes. He sends shivers down your spine without saying anything.

You drag your eyes away from the intimidating man and follow Tony down the hallway. He leads you to your room where you get settled in, unpacking your clothes and putting away your things. Laying in the bed, you take a big nap which is needed. You feel as if you let out a breath you’ve been holding for days. The idea of being away from your ex finally settles in and you feel the wave of relief wash over your body, letting you drift away into sleep.

You’re woken up by Tony letting you know dinner is being served. He lets you know that you’re not being expected to come out and eat with everyone, which you appreciate. Ten minutes later, he comes by your room and slips a plate of food in your room as he opens the door, letting you eat alone.

Tony returns to the living room by the other Avengers eating and gathered around the couch. He takes his plate and sits next to Pepper who has her own food, smiling at him as he joins.

“So, your sister?” Sam asks.

“Don’t even think about it. She is not to date any of you.”

“Woah, I didn’t say that,” Sam laughs.

“But we know what you meant,” Steve chuckles, rolling his eyes, “She seems shy.”

“She is. You probably won’t get a lot out of her.”

“Can I ask why she’s staying her?”

“No.”

Steve shares a look with Bucky. The elevator door opens and Peter walks into the living room.

“You guys started dinner without me?” He asks, jokingly.

“Early birds get the worm,” Steve laughs.

The group chuckles and keeps eating their food.

“Is Y/N a new Avenger?” Steve asks.

Tony sighs and rolls his eyes at the question. Everyone notices the annoyance in Tony with talking about you and collectively decide to stop asking questions. It’s clear he doesn’t want to talk about you much.

“No, she’s not.”

“Who’s Y/N?” Peter asks.

“I’ll fill you in later,” Nat replies.

The day goes by fast and you find yourself staring out at New York in the moonlight. You have always enjoyed the night time. They say New York is the city that never sleeps, but you’ve always found peace and warmth in the New York night. Everyone goes out to party or to bed. It’s a time of joy and relaxment.

You hear the last door shut for the night, signally everyone going to bed. Looking outside of your door, you don’t spot anyone so you sprint outside to the kitchen with your empty dinner plate. Upon entering it, you search the walls for the light switch for about five minutes. There’s no other light than that except for the over. You finally find it and switch it on. As you turn around, you’re startled by the frightening black haired man standing there.

Scared, you drop your plate, shattering it on the tile floor. Your eyes go wide as you start to back up against the wall. Without saying anything, the man takes a step forward, scaring you half to death. Your mind plays tricks on you and all you can think about is your ex breaking into your home. You start to have a panic attack, sliding down against the wall, and curling up into a ball.

You miss the way Loki’s eyes go wide. He watches you descend into an anxiety attack and doesn’t know what to do, knowing he’s who caused it. Quickly, he rushes down the hallways and bangs on Tony’s doors.

“What do you want, Reindeer Games?” He groans.

“Your sister…”

Tony doesn’t wait for another word for following Loki down the corridor. He spots you panicking in the corner of the kitchen and grabs you, lifting you into his lap. You grab onto his neck and pull him close, crying into him. He lifts you up and carries you off to your room without saying a word to Loki, leaving him standing in the kitchen agape.

Not knowing what to do and unable to relax, Loki makes his way to his room and opens up an old laptop Thor had gotten him. After spending thirty minutes just to figure out how to work it, he starts googling things about you. He starts with your name and finds multiple articles on you and Tony, the Stark Industry Golden Children. You left when you were eighteen, wanting to make your own life and not follow in the family’s footsteps. He gives you credit for being yourself, something he had struggled with. He knows the feeling, not wanting to be your family.

Then a certain website catches his eye, Facebook. He finds a profile of you filled with photos and text. There are some of you with friends in the town, a couple of old coworkers wishing you a happy birthday, then there’s a photo of you with a man. There are no other photos of you with him other than this one a couple months ago. He keeps scrolling to find more photos of you with him, but they all stop after that first one. Clicking on something tagged in the caption, another profile pops up.

Y/E/N’s profile. Filled with photos of drunk nights at the club, shirtless gym time, and quotes from misogynistic authors, Loki finds himself despising this man he does not know. He scrolls through finding very little of you in his account, as if you don’t matter as much to him as he does to you. Closing his computer, Loki decided to go check on you. He’s frustrated by whoever this man is, not knowing whether he’s important or not.

Loki peeks into your room to see Tony laying next to you, brushing through your hair with his fingers. Tony looks up and meets him in the eyes. There’s slight anger, but Loki doesn’t feel pushed away. He takes a step in before Tony leans into your ear and whispers. You look up and over to Loki, but you don’t ask him to leave. Loki continues to walk into your bedroom quietly, but with a small gentle smile on his face.

“I’m sorry for scaring you earlier,” he says, “I didn’t mean to.”

“I know. Thanks,” you mutter.

Your voice is small and timid like a mouse. He can hear the hesitation in your voice, not knowing whether he should talk to you or not.

“Are… you okay?”

“Yes.”

Another awkward pregnant pause erupts between the two of you. Loki looks around your room as Tony continues to hold you. He whispers into your ear again before leaving.

“I’m going to go back to my room,” he says, “call me if you need me okay?”

“Thanks, Tony.”

“Of course, anything for my little sister.”

He kisses your forehead and heads out of your room, leaving you and Loki alone. You don’t mind his presence anymore. After Tony tells you that Loki isn’t your ex and you’re okay, you’ve accepted him.

“I have to ask… who is that man on Facebook?”

Loki gives you a quizzical look. You think for a moment about how Loki got on Facebook and what guy he’s talking about.

“His name is Y/E/N.”

Your body clenches at the sound of his name and Loki takes a step back, looking at you. He’s never seen anyone physically close up just from a name. It may be some Midgardians thing he doesn’t understand, but the way that you are shaking, he thinks otherwise. He sits down next to you and wraps his arms around your shoulders. You lean into his touch as you attempt to calm down.

He’s not here. I’m safe. He’s not here. I’m safe.

You keep repeating that in your head, reminding yourself that you’re safe in the tower like Tony said. Looking up at Loki, you see his concerned face. He cares. This man you barely know cares about you.

He’s not him. He’s not him. He’s not him.

“I don’t think I properly introduced myself. I’m being quite an ass asking you these questions without manners. I’m Loki.”

Loki, not Y/E/N. He’s not him. He’s not him.

“Well, L-Loki,” you say with a stutter, “He’s uh… my ex. Ex boyfriend.”

“Ah.”

He nods as he takes in the information at hand. Your ex, who makes you quiver in fear even over people who have done nothing to her, has no photos of you. He shares his lavish lifestyle that most would presume belongs to a single man. Loki looks back at your depressed ridden face. The color in your skin has drained from you and you’re staring blank cold at the wooden floors under your bed. Loki places a hand on your neck to move your hair and give you a light massage, but you flinch away from him before he is able.

Loki’s never seen so much fear and worry in someone’s eyes before. You jerk away from him muttering yourself, as if it were taking everything in you to not scream. He looks over you to see bruises along your neck where your hair had moved from when you moved. A wave of anger runs through his body, infuriating him. He did that to you. That’s why you’re so afraid of him.

“Did he-”

“Yes.”

Loki rises from your bed and clenches his fists. You see the anger pouring from him and rush to his side before he can storm off. You grab his arms and force him to look at you.

“Please, don’t… don’t do anything.”

“Why shouldn’t I? No man should ever do that to a woman, especially you.”

“Just let it be.”

He releases his fist but the fury in his eyes doesn't. You pull him towards you to make him sit again. Moving in closer, you lean into him. Loki wraps his arms around you and pulls you into his lap. The two of you lay down in your bed, you curled up on him as he held you, running his fingers in your hair.

For some reason, Loki feels as if he has to protect you. The way you ball up gives him this sense of innocence about you. You haven’t done anything to deserve those injuries, just live your life and try to find love. Loki always knew there was a good reason to hate Midgardians, not just for their stupidity and now he’s found it.

The two of you fall asleep without realizing it. The light from the sun peaking in the windows wakes you. Stirring in bed, you look up to see Loki under you, his arms holding you against him by your waist. You're cradled into his chest as his chin barely rests on the top of your head. Loki’s eyes flutter open at the feeling of you moving on top of him. He looks down at you and smiles.

The way the light shines on your face makes you look angelic. Your smile warms his heart and the warmth of your body against him makes his heart jump. You turn over to face him, leaning up on your shoulders over his head.

“Hi.”

“Hello, darling.”

“You slept here.”

“Both of us did, actually,” he laughs.

You drop your head laughing. Loki’s sweet laugh fills the room and blesses your ears. He’s not too bad to be around. He’s quite kind and sweet.

“Thank you for last night.”

“For what? If I remember correctly, I gave you a panic attack.”

“I mean the way you calmed me down and held me. It was needed.”

“Well, I’m glad I could do that for you.”

Loki means it when he says it. Looking at you now, there’s not much he wouldn’t do for you. You don’t deserve what the world gives you, especially that asshole Y/E/N. He would hold you for the rest of time if that meant keeping you safe.

You won’t lie either when you tell Loki he makes you feel safe. Every day before he sneaks off to his room so the others don’t know he spends the night with you, you tell him that he makes you safe. He never believes you. He’s shocked that anyone could feel safe with a monster like him, but after all to you, Loki is not him.

#loki x reader #loki fanfic #loki #loki x reader fluff #tony stark x sister!reader #tony stark x reader sister #loki x stark!reader #loki x reader stark #loki laufeyson #loki laufeyson fluff #marvel x reader #loki oneshot

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multistan-kpopwritings · 3 years

Text

Nightly Cuddles

➟ pairing(s): ChangBin x Reader

➟ genre(s): Fluff

➟ word count: 2032

➟ warnings: None

"How long are you going to be here," MinHo asked you again, setting your bags inside the dorm?

"I have no idea," you admitted. The pipes in your apartment ruptured causing the floors to be flooded with water. "I hope not long. I hate putting you guys out like this."

"Don't be silly," a voice chimed in, "You know we love having you around." Chan entered the room and quickly welcomed you.

"I really appreciate you letting me stay while my landlord fixes this stuff," you gratefully thanked him. "Where is everyone?" You didn't see any trace of the other 6 guys.

"They're trying to rearrange sleeping space for you," MinHo said. Your eyes grew.

"Oh, no. I'm fine on the sofa," you urged.

"Like we could let 'babe' sleep on the sofa," MinHo scoffed. You narrowed your eyes at him.

"She can stay with me," a voice said sternly. Smiling you saw your best friend, ChangBin, enter with everyone. "Is that ok with you," he asked? Taking your bags, he took them to the shared bedroom.

"Guess that settles that," you giggled.

ChangBin had been one of the first people you met when you moved to Korea. He knew you better than you knew you, so it wasn't a surprise he was still your best friend after 3 years. The surprise was that he was only your best friend. No matter how funny, attractive, or perfect one thought the other was, it never went past friends.

The first few nights at the dorm were the same. Dinner, showers, bed, and secret snacks. You were sure that Chan was ready to kick you out by the third night.

"Binnie," you whispered, tucking your head into his chest. Humming, he brushed your hair off your face with one hand and cradled your head with the other. "I can get used to this," you giggled. By now your legs were entangled with his, and your arm tracing circles on his back. Humming again he used his free hand to tilt your head to his, kissing the tip of your nose.

"Go to sleep," he whispered back. You wiggled a little in his arms and grunted softly. "Stop moving," he huffed. Whining a bit you shuffled your legs around his. "Seriously, stop," he said a little more stern.

"Binnie," you whined, "I can't sleep." If he could see you, he would have scoffed at your big doe eyes. "Binnie," you said softer and sweeter.

"You can't sleep because you haven't stopped moving or talking," he scolded you. "Now, go to sleep." He kissed your forehead and cradled your head against him again. A few minutes passed in complete silence, ChangBin thought he won the night.

"Binnie," you whined again. He didn't say a word to you, but there was no mistaking his annoyance. A quick slap sounded in the room.

"What was that," Felix cackled?

"Did you spank her," Chan teased?

"Yes," both you and ChangBin exclaimed!

"Keep it up and I'll bend you over my knee and do it again," he said from gritted teeth. Felix and Chan were in tears over the whole thing, you on the other hand pouted. "Sleep, now."

The following day you pouted anytime you had to share space with ChangBin. He tried his best to make you smile but to no avail. That night when you dressed for bed, you stared at ChangBin, hating that grin on his face.

"Come on, babe," ChangBin called to you, "Just get in bed. I'm tired." You chewed your lip and caught sight of Chan walking out of the bathroom, hair, and skin wet. Climbing the steps to the top bunk you sat on Chan's bed.

"Channie, hey," you said to him. He was putting on a shirt and drying his hair when he noticed you.

"Yes, honey," he said? "What do you want?"

"Binnie is being mean still," you pouted, "Can I stay with you tonight?" Chan looked between your pout and ChangBin's scowl. Scooting closer you leaned on his shoulder and fake sniffled. "Please? I promise I'll be good tonight." The scoff from under you caused Chan to laugh.

"Best behavior tonight, Honey," Chan called to you, "Or you will get bent over the knee." Rolling your eyes you threw yourself on his pillows. It only took 5 minutes before Chan regretted letting you stay. He took his job as big spoon seriously; however, you were the worst little spoon.

"Channie," you whispered, "Can you scratch my back?" He absentmindedly did as you asked. "Can you move your arm?" ChangBin smirked at the annoyed grunt from above. "Hey, Channie. I need to pee."

"Just go," he groaned. When you were out of earshot, he leaned over the edge of the bed. "How do you deal with her moving so much? She's exhausting!"

"Are you surprised she got spanked now," ChangBin asked? "Just play with her hair and she'll stop." He smiled to himself and turned in bed, away from Chan.

Before returning to the room, you stopped by the kitchen and grabbed a small bag of gummy fruit snacks. Almost down the hall, you quickly returned for a second bag. Just a habit you figured. You stood in the doorway and looked at the bunk bed, your best friend sleeping below and your Channie above. You smiled and knelt next to the bottom bunk, brushing ChangBin's hair from his forehead.

"Binnie," you whispered. "Binnie," you said again, a little louder, shaking his shoulder. He turned to you sleepily. "Move over," you pushed him, "Come on." He smiled and opened his arms. Like two pieces to a puzzle, you laid in his arms and wrapped your legs together.

"What happened to Chan," he chuckled? You nuzzled into his chest and smiled.

"His arms are too big," you admitted. "Too heavy. I like your's better." Humming his approval, he tilted your head and kissed your nose. "G'night Binnie."

"Hey babe," he said quietly. "I'm hungry." You giggled and told him to check your pockets, where you had a treat hidden.

A few nights later you sat brushing Felix's hair. Laughing he wrapped his arms around you. "So when are you spending the night with me?" He wiggled his eyebrows at you. "I like to cuddle too."

"Alright, Lee, me and you, tonight," you laughed. ChangBin walked in and eyed you.

"Leaving me again," he joked? "You'll be back. You can't resist this." He flexed his arms and you rolled your eyes. "Come on Felix, I get to be the big spoon."

The chatter between you and Felix was nonstop. Chan finally had enough and physically removed you from the bed.

"Hey," you protested, "you can't just do this." Without warning from Chan, you were tossed on the bed next to ChangBin, startling him awake.

"What the hell," he asked sleepily, focusing on your face.

"Deal with her," Chan growled before climbing back into his bed.

"Felix wouldn't stop talking," you lied. ChangBin rolled his eyes and mocked.

"Coming from you? Yeah, ok," he chuckled in disbelief. Just like the nights before, he opened his arms and you found your favorite spot against his chest. "Were the cuddles at least good," he asked softly, trying to not bother Chan?

"Nope," you popped the word on your lips. "Too skinny. I like this," you mumbled into his chest, "Feels good." Feeling the way his body shook, you knew he thought you were amusing. But in all honesty, you did like to cuddle with him the most.

Word got around the dorm quick that you were playing musical beds to annoy ChangBin, and everyone wanted a turn. Night after night you teased your friend about needing a new sleeping partner, but night after night you still ended up in his arms, legs wrapped together and a kiss on the nose.

It was little things like Hyunjin yelling nonsense while you tried to sleep, ChangBin normally talked in his sleep but it never woke you. Han was a classic stage 5 clinger, as you like to call him, so he wrapped around your body and it was just too hot to deal with him. MinHo on the other hand was the complete opposite, you couldn't seem to get close to him without him moving. It was too cold for that nonsense anyway. SeungMin tried to snuggle you the way ChangBin did, but it didn't feel right to you. Almost forced, it didn't feel natural.

It wasn't until you laid next to I.N that someone asked the right question. "Noona," he whispered to you, turning to face you. He could tell that you hadn't fallen asleep yet and that soon you would sneak out to lay in his Hyung's bed. "Why do you keep going back to ChangBin Hyung?

"I don't know," you confessed a little embarrassed. "Maybe I like the way it feels. It's familiar and, um, well," you trailed off.

"Safe," he finished for you? "I get it. That's how I feel when you're around." You cooed and brushed his hair back. "I think he likes it too. I like you two."

"We like you too," you assured him. In the faint light, you could see him shake his head.

"No. No. I like you two," he stressed, "together. It's what I think happiness should be." You thought about what he said and realized he was right. Nothing felt right without ChangBin and no one made you feel like he did. "Goodnight, Noona," he said, turning away from you. You laid still for a little longer before I.N nudged you closer to the edge of the bed.

Throwing yourself on the sofa you turned on the television. The sound was almost muted, but the light glowed around the room. You couldn't stop thinking about what I.N said. Did ChangBin really feel that way, or was it just habit and comfortable actions that kept his doing it? Drifting in and out of sleep you let memories crowd your mind. Small things that you may have overlooked. Friendly gestures or unrequited love? A hoarse, sleepy voice called your name.

"What are you doing up at this time," ChangBin demanded, rubbing his eyes. "Do you know how late it is?" You hummed but didn't really answer. He rounded the sofa and lifted your legs to lay across his lap. "Why aren't you sleeping?" His voice was soft and soothing now.

"Thinking," you replied. He nodded his head, waiting for more of an answer. Staring at the television, you chewed on your fingers. He reached and pulled your fingers from your mouth and held them in his hands.

"Thinking about what," he inquired? He knew by the way you avoided his gaze that it was something really bothering you. "Come on, talk to me." He moved closer to you and pulled you onto his lap. "Something has you up this late. You can talk to me." Something about his voice and the way he held you made you let go.

"I talked to I.N tonight," you stated simply. "Why do you think I keep coming back to you?" He tilted his head and grinned.

"Cause I'm cute," he quipped. You let out a small laugh and slapped his chest.

"I'm serious. This isn't what normal friends do, Binnie," you continued. Taking a deep breath you leaned into his body, finding pleasure in his warmth and gentle thud of his heart.

"You're not normal, babe," he joked again. You grumbled, still not entertained.

"Friends don't call each other in the middle of the night, just to say hi. They don't crawl into each other's bed for cuddling," you let the words spill from your mouth. "I keep telling myself it might be nothing." You looked into his eyes, searching for something, anything.

"No," he held your gaze, "It's not nothing." You felt his heart begin to race. He tilted your head the same sweet way he did every night and kissed your nose, only this time tilting your head a little more toward his lips. "I know you feel it too." His breath fanned across your face as he held near to your lips. "Say it."

"I love you, too."

#skz scenarios #skz fluff #skz x reader #skz #changbin #skz changbin #skz changbin x reader #stray kids #changbin fanfic #changbin scenarios #changbin x reader #seo changbin

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alpacaparkaseok · 3 years

Text

Make a Move

➣ Pairing/genre: roommate!Hobi x reader

➣ Premise: You thought ‘Hope’ was a girl, but looking at the hot dude currently claiming to be your roommate, you might be wrong.

➣ warnings/tags: pure fluff, reader gets a lil sick for a minute

➣ word count: 4.6k

➣ a/n: this was a commission by @hobi-gif for Army for AAPI! Thank you so much for commissioning this, I hope you enjoy it! You guys, check out ways to get involved in this awesome cause by clicking the link!

You look down at the application, and back up at the person standing in front of you. Down, then up.

Twice more, just to wrap your mind around the dumbest mistake you’ve ever made.

“Umm…Hope?”

The man fidgeting nervously before you manages a bright smile. “Yep. That’s me!”

Again, you stare down at the application. “I…you’re the one moving in?”

Hoisting the heavy-looking box higher in his arms, the man – Hope if he’s to be believed, offers a strained nod. “Yeah, it’s sort of a nickname…Hoseok. I’m Hoseok.” He looks around, poking his head through the doorway to your small apartment. “Mind if I set this down? It’s kinda heavy…”

You step aside in a daze, watching as Hoseok sweeps inside and sets the box down with a thud on the counter. A moment later another head is peeking inside before carrying in another box.

“Hey, I’m assuming you’re one of the roommates?” The newcomer asks, sweeping some of his ashen-blond hair off his forehead and extending a hand out to you. You take it with some trepidation.

“I am. And you’re Hoseok’s friend?”

“Namjoon. Just stopping in with a few of his things. Oh,” Namjoon waits until Hoseok walks back outside before continuing, speaking to you in a hushed tone. “I just wanted to say thank you. You know, for letting him move in. Ever since our landlord found out we had seven people instead of six, it’s been hard trying to find a place but Hoseok was adamant he be the one to move out. Did want to separate the others-”

“Wait, woah,” you hold up a hand, effectively cutting him off. “Seven? Seven people living in one tiny apartment?”

Namjoon tilts his head to one side, brows furrowed. “He didn’t tell you? That’s why he moved out; someone had to. Our apartment has a six person limit, so once our landlord found out Hoseok volunteered to be the one to move out.”

It appears that Hoseok hasn’t told you a lot of things.

“I…no, he didn’t mention that.”

Namjoon moves on, unphased. “Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you for taking him on. It’s nearly impossible to find a place this time of year, and we weren’t sure if you would be chill with having a male roommate, but it really means the world. This way he can stay close to us-”

“Close?”

“Yeah, we live just a few blocks away. He didn’t say that?”

At that moment Hoseok walks through the door, still wearing that sheepish smile that he directs at you.

“No. He must have forgotten to mention that, too.”

Once Namjoon has left and Hoseok gets into organizing all of his things, you set up camp on the couch. Book in hand, you can’t help but assess your new roommate.

A part of you wants to get rid of him, but another part of you is interested to see what might unfold from this strange situation. You’ve never had a male roommate before, and if Namjoon is any representative for what this man’s friends look like…

You suppose it’s not too much of a pain to allow Jung Hoseok to stick around for a little while.

Hoseok hums to himself, occasionally making little sound effects as he puts a bowl away or opens a cupboard. Every once in a while he’ll ask you a question, like, “Is this spot free to use?” or “Are you allergic to anything?”

You’re nearly heading to bed when Hoseok knocks softly on your door. Your rooms are on opposite ends of the apartment, something you find yourself being extremely grateful for tonight. The knowledge that a stranger is chilling in your apartment is enough to have you feeling a little worried.

It’s simple. Sure, Hoseok seems nice enough. Friendly even. But he’s too attractive to be normal.

“What’s up?” You ask, opening your bedroom door to see Hoseok with his arms full of shampoo and other shower items.

Despite the large bottle of Pantene blocking his chest, it’s easy to tell that he doesn’t have a shirt on beneath his robe.

Indeed, the sight before you is enough to have you clutching the doorframe until your knuckles are white in an effort to not gape.

Wearing nothing but basketball shorts and fluffy white robe, Hoseok shuffles from one foot to the other. “Oh, I was just wondering if you had any preference about where I put my things in the bathroom. You know, if the left side is specifically yours or something like that.”

“Huh?” You shake your head, forcing yourself to only look at his eyes. That turns out to be even worse, in some weird twisted way. “Oh, yeah. Well, I tend to put most of my stuff on the left side of the vanity. But you can put your stuff wherever. I’m not worried about that.”

Hoseok nods, taking a step back. He bids you a quiet goodnight before retreating back down the hallway.

A few seconds pass as you remain in your doorway, thinking hard.

No, you’re not worried about sharing a drawer in the bathroom or putting the A/C on a lower setting, as he asked you about earlier.

You’re just worried about the fact that you’ve never found a pair of basketball shorts more attractive than just now.

Basketball shorts paired with nothing but a robe?

“This is gonna be great,” you mumble to yourself, closing your door and leaning against it. Only when you hear the sound of the shower going do you allow yourself to relax. “I’m gonna die.”

2 weeks in

“I’m headed to the store, you need anything?”

You pause, assessing the contents of the fridge. “Um…eggs?”

It’s not very often the two of you are in the apartment at the same time, your schedule being polar opposites. However, it’s always relatively friendly. Still a little awkward, but always cordial.

Hoseok – or Hobi, as he’s repeatedly invited you to call him – scans his little list. “Already on the list. Anything else?”

“You already put eggs on the list? Like, for me?” The two of you by no means share groceries.

Hobi shrugs. “Yeah. I figured you were nearly out since you eat them like every morning.”

“Hey, not every morning-”

“Every weekday morning.” He wiggles his eyebrows at you. “Tell me I’m wrong. I’ll wait.”

You groan. “Yah, just go. I’ll text you if I need anything.” Turning back to the fridge, you utter out, “Annoying little-”

“What was that?”

“Nothing!”

You wait until you hear the door close to let out a sigh. “Huh.” You didn’t even realize that he would notice those kinds of things. It’s a strange feeling, having someone notice even the most mundane parts of your routine.

You…like it?

Opening up a few of the cupboards, you realize that you’re nearly out of bread. You grab your phone, pulling up Hobi’s contact and calling him. He picks up after a couple of rings.

“Hey, did you remember something else?”

“Yeah, would you mind picking up some bread, too?”

“Oh, good one. Um…” you can hear him moving around, and you swear you hear the click of a pen before he speaks up again. “Wheat, right?”

Again, that strange feeling stirs in your chest. “Right.”

2 months in

“I’ve never met anyone as obsessed with skincare as you.”

Hobi chuckles darkly, beginning to apply his night mask to the other side of his face. “I doubt you’ve ever met anyone with such oily skin before, either.”

You lean up against the doorframe, resting your head against the side of the door. Hobi continues applying the crème, looking utterly focused on the task. His forehead scrunches up in little lines as he looks up, rubbing underneath his eyes.

If you’re being completely honest, it’s adorable.

To put the icing on the cake, he begins humming to himself and leaning in closer to the mirror, making you chew on the inside of your cheek. It’s horrible enough that he has to be wildly endearing, but does he really have to be so cute?

It’s exhausting.

“It smells good,” you sigh out, eyes drifting shut. Hobi’s good looks isn’t the only thing that’s been exhausting to you lately. School is trying its best to wreck you and you hate to admit that it’s doing a great job of it.

“You want some?”

Eyes fluttering open at his question, you furrow your brows. Hobi is looking at you in the mirror, chewing on the inside of his cheek. He squeezes out a bit of the night mask onto his finger, turning to you.

“You already washed your face, right?”

“Mm.”

“Good,” he nods more to himself than to you. “Close your eyes.”

Giving him a distrustful look, you realize that you’re too tired to bother bickering with him at the moment. Instead, you close your eyes and hold your breath.

A moment later the cool feeling of Hobi’s fingers dabbing the cream on the tip of your nose. He repeats the action all over your face, his other hand coming to cup your chin as his thumb absentmindedly traces your jaw.

You suddenly feel extremely off balance, swaying on your feet. Hands shooting out to steady yourself, you instinctively cling to the front of Hobi’s sweatshirt. He chuckles lowly, making you tighten your grip.

“Don’t fall over,” he mumbles, beginning to rub the night mask into your skin.

You don’t say anything, settling for an annoyed huff. After a moment, Hobi takes up humming the same tune he was before. The two of you settle into a comfortable daze, your shoulders relaxing as the seconds tick by.

“You know,” Hobi muses as he switches to your right cheek. “We’re pretty good roommates. Don’t you think?”

“Mm. I’m still angry you put ‘Hope’ on your application, though. That was a dirty move.”

Hobi’s laughter has you opening your eyes just to catch the expression of happiness he’s sure to be wearing. Sure enough, his head is thrown back and his heart-shaped smile in on display, the sight tugging at the corners of your lips.

Catching your eye, Hobi smirks. “How can I ever make it up to you?”

You purse your lips, melting a little at the concentrated pout that forms as Hobi resumes applying the night mask. He’s moved up to your forehead now, making your eyes drift shut again.

“I vote you make me French Toast one of these weekends.”

“Oh, and that’ll solve it?”

“No, but it’s a start.”

He chuckles quietly, pausing and then tapping lightly against your cheek. “All done.”

Opening your eyes, you see the slightly confused look in Hobi’s eyes as he squints down at you. “What?”

He blinks. “What?”

You nod at him, “You look confused or something.”

“Oh.”

When he doesn’t answer after a long moment, you step back into the hallway. “Alright…I’m heading to bed. Thanks, Hobi.”

His brows are furrowed as he turns back to the mirror, the confusion only growing. “Night.”

3 months in

You’ve quickly come to learn that there are pros and cons to having Hoseok as your roommate.

One very strong pro is the fact that he’s a clean freak. You swear you haven’t had to worry about vacuuming for the past three months, he always beats you to it.

“What are you doing?”

He pauses mid-fold, eyes wide as he looks up at you. “…folding.”

“My laundry?”

He glances down at the shirt in his hands as though just realizing that these are your clothes. “I…yeah. Yeah, I am. It’s just, you left your basket out here by the couch so I figured I might as well fold it and put it away if you’re gonna leave it out here.”

The passive aggressive tone in his voice rolls off your shoulders, knowing that he didn’t intend it that way. It’s obvious to tell that something is on his mind as he continues to you’re your shirt and place it atop a neat pile beside him.

You find yourself sitting cross-legged across from him and silently joining in on the impromptu folding party. Once you finish, Hobi clears his throat and avoids eye contact with you.

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that he accidentally grabbed the same pair of lacy black underwear at the same time as you, which ensued in an awkward match of tug-of-war that you quickly won once he realized what he was holding.

“So, the guys are doing a thing tonight.”

You blink, pulling the folded laundry toward you and getting up. “…ok.”

Hobi’s face lights up in a grin, and he jumps to his feet. “Really? You’ll come?”

Perhaps it’s the utter joy you see in his eyes or the way he’s currently shaking your shoulders and causing the socks on the top of your pile to tumble to the ground, but you burst out laughing.

“Hoseok!” You shout through your laughter. “You didn’t even invite me!”

He immediately stops shaking you after that, scrambling for some form of a response. Swiping one of the pairs of socks that slipped to the ground, he kneels down on one knee and looks up at you with a giddy grin.

“Would you do me the honor of accompanying me to visit my friends tonight?” With no shortage of sound effects, he offers up the socks as though proposing to you with a priceless diamond ring.

“You’re an idiot.”

Hoseok’s smile only grows. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Hobi’s light knock on your door goes unnoticed as you slumber on, completely dead to the world. After you had put your laundry away, you felt a wave of exhaustion overtake you.

He knocks again, and this time you rouse just enough to grunt out something incoherent. He slowly opens the door, poking his head inside.

“You still gonna come with me, sleepyhead?”

His chipper voice makes you wince, your head pounding. “Mm, jus gimme…” you close your eyes again as the dull light filtering in through your blinds is enough to send you spinning. “…a sec.”

It’s quiet for a moment, and you think that Hobi must have left. A second later, however, you hear him padding across your floor.

“Are you sick?” He answers his own question as he places his hand against your forehead. “Oh, jagiya, you’re burning up.”

The pet name has your temperature rising a bit more. “Mm fine.”

Hobi chuckles softly, taking care to be quiet. “Have you eaten? Where’s your water bottle?” They’re all rhetorical questions apparently, because moments later he’s scooping your water bottle off the floor and tiptoeing back out of your room.

After what feels like hours later, Hobi sidles back into your room with a full water bottle, some soup he must have microwaved, and another glass of liquid. It’s steaming, the scent making you scrunch up your nose in distaste.

“What…” you can hardly muster up the energy to finish your sentence. Hobi perches on the edge of your bed, carefully placing everything on your nightstand.

“It’s medicine. Drink it, and it’ll help. But first you need to sit up.”

Easier said than done. Your body is exhausted, and your arms shake a bit as you attempt to scoot back against the headboard. Cheeks burning a brighter red, Hobi thankfully doesn’t comment on it. He just patiently readjusts your pillows and tucks your hair behind your ears with meticulous movements that have you smiling softly.

“Ok,” he sighs out once that’s been taken care of. “Now, eat some soup…” his words trail off as he hands the bowl off to you. He watches as you bring the spoon to your lips, mumbling, “Blow, it’s hot.”

Fighting the urge to roll your eyes, you follow his instructions. Once you’ve eaten over half of the soup and feel too full to continue, he hands you the steaming cup that has you scrunching your nose up all over again.

“C’mon,” he urges, “my mom used to give this stuff to me all the time when I was a kid. It works like a charm, promise.”

“Mhm.”

“What?” He crosses his arms, frowning. “You don’t believe me?”

You shrug, mindful of the full contents of the glass. “It’s just easier said than done, that’s all.”

“Here, I’ll take a sip to show you that’s it’s not bad!” Reaching for the cup, you burst out into a fit of laughter as Hobi stares down at the liquid with unabashed terror. He clears his throat and squares his shoulders. “Right…just one sip…”

Blowing across the surface carefully, he sacrifices his tastebuds. The instant he swallows, he thrusts the cup back into your hands and dives off the bed. “Ach!” He rushes out of the room, no doubt heading for the kitchen. Indeed, a moment later you hear the faucet running and wonder if he just decided to shove his head under the running water instead of wasting time on grabbing a cup from the cupboard.

With your water bottle on hand, you attempt to chug the medicine. It’s horrid, making you gag, but you continue until the contents are drained. You’ve just managed to drink some water to rid yourself of the lingering taste when you hear Hobi’s phone ring.

“Hey hyung,” he’s still in the kitchen, but you can hear him clearly. “Oh, yeah…I don’t think we’re gonna make it. No, it’s not that, she said she’d come.”

You freeze, holding the still-warm cup close to your chest. For some reason, your stomach does a little flip when you hear the way Hobi’s tone changes as he speaks about you. It’s infinitely softer, something you don’t recall hearing before.

“She took a nap and woke up with a fever-” he pauses. “Yeah, I just gave her medicine. But she needs to rest. She’s exhausted. What? Ugh, really Jin? I’m not-” The sound of Hobi shuffling about has you leaning closer to the open door, trying to hear what he’s saying. His voice is much quieter when he speaks next, but you can still hear bits and pieces of what he’s saying. “I can’t just make a move on her while she’s sick, that’s unethical!”

Clapping a hand over your mouth before he can hear you snort, your eyes widen. Make a move?

On you?

“Yah, quit it. Tell everyone I say hey, I’ve gotta go.” Again there’s a pause, quickly followed by an annoyed hiss. “See, this is why I never tell you anything.”

He quickly says his goodbyes after that, and you scramble to appear normal despite your pounding heart. You hear Hobi’s sigh from the kitchen, and you wish you could know what he was thinking.

“Alright,” Hobi calls, heading back into your room. The second he enters you feel as though you’re seeing him for the first time. “Let’s get it- oh, you already finished it?”

You blink, suddenly blinded by the sight of his adoring smile. As he settles down on the edge of your bed, you manage a feeble nod.

“Jagi,” again with the pet name, “you look exhausted. Let me take the dishes and how about you go back to sleep?”

Despite the fact that you literally live in the same apartment, the thought of Hobi leaving you alone in your room has you stalling. “Uh, who called?”

There’s a flicker of panic that’s quickly replaced with an easy smile. “Jin hyung, he was wondering where we were. Don’t worry, I told him we weren’t gonna be able to make it.”

You’ve heard plenty about Jin – truthfully about all of Hobi’s friends. You were excited to meet them tonight, after hearing so many stories.

“I’m sorry,” you frown, still clinging to your glass. “You can still go, if you want.”

Hobi looks at you like you’ve grown a second head. “Why would I…? No, I’ll stay here with you. Can’t leave a sickie on their own, you know that.”

Groaning, roll your eyes. “I feel like an idiot.”

“If you’re an idiot, I’m an idiot.”

You snort, setting your glass down before you cause an accident. “Isn’t it, ‘if you’re a bird, I’m a bird’?”

Hoseok shrugs, a smile playing on his lips. “Close enough.”

He holds your gaze for a few seconds too long, but neither one of you look away first. Instead you bunch up your blankets in your fists and offer him a crooked smile. “Thanks, Hobi.”

His eyes linger on your smile, his lips mirroring it. “Anytime.”

4 months in

Nothing has changed, and yet everything has.

Ever since you fell ill, you’ve been jumpy. Anytime Hobi accidentally brushes up against you as he reaches for something in the kitchen, whenever he knocks on your door, even when he calls you from the grocery store. It all makes you jump and sends your heart racing.

“You’re so dramatic.”

You look up at Yuri, your most brutally honest friend. “…ouch?”

She shakes her head, sinking down lower in her seat across from you. You keep boxing up your leftover food to take home, wondering if Hobi would like it.

“I mean it. You’ve been freaking out about this guy for over a month now without doing anything about it.”

You pause, looking at Yuri with wide, pleading eyes. “What am I supposed to do? He’s my roommate!”

“So what? Your lease is up in a few weeks, isn’t it? If it backfires, just move out.”

You snort. “Easier said than done. I can’t just up and move whenever I like, you know.”

“You can’t or you don’t want to?”

“Shut up.”

“I refuse. Now,” Yuri checks the time on her phone. “tell me what you like about him.”

“I never said-” you sputter, but Yuri holds up a hand and cuts you off.

“Actions speak louder than words. He’s literally your background on your home screen.”

Ok, that sounds like a bit much. It’s true, though. A week ago Hobi finally got to take you out to meet his friends. Together you went on a midnight hike (something you’d honestly never do again) and found a breathtaking view at the top. His friends, specifically Jimin and Taehyung, had practically shoved the two of you together for an impromptu photoshoot under the night sky.

The photos are a little blurry and dark, but you love them. Enough to add one as your background. “But you can’t actually see us in the picture, it’s just pretty-”

“Sure it is. You two make a cute couple.”

“W-we do?”

Yuri jumps up, clapping her hands and startling a couple just a few tables down. “Aha! See, you do have feelings for him!”

“Ok, ok,” you hold up your hands in surrender. “Just sit down.”

Once she’s taken her seat again and apologized loud enough for the couple she scared to hear her, you lean in close over the table. She rubs her hands together, looking every bit the scheming friend she is.

“Alright, let’s plot, shall we?”

Hobi checks the window for the eighth time in under five minutes, brushing the curtains aside to see if your car is in the lot yet. It’s not.

“C’mon Jung,” he rolls his neck, bouncing on his feet. “Calm down. Keep it chill. Everything’s fine.”

Everything is not fine.

Things haven’t been fine for months now, something he’s been able to deny to an impressive level. Last weeks, however, the lie came to an end.

His friends loved you. Like, ranted and raved about how funny and cool you were until he was worried he needed to organize an intervention. Then, the icing on the cake.

Yoongi had grabbed him while you were hiking back down, sandwiched between Jin and Jungkook. He nodded down at you, turning a knowing eye to Hobi.

“So…when’s that gonna happen?”

Hobi played dumb, frowning at Yoongi. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Hoseok, c’mon.”

You laughed at Taehyung, who jogged up ahead. He was quickly joined by Jungkook. Hobi’s pretty sure his heart stopped beating as you turned around, searching for him. Once your eyes found his, your smile widened.

Yoongi laughed at his side. “You’re whipped, and you don’t even realize it.”

Indeed he was. Dangerously so, if he was going off of the amount of times he’s knocked on your door to ask you out only to change his story at the very last moment to ask you something stupid instead. You never seemed to mind, just laughing at his strange questions and teasing him mercilessly.

“Ok,” Hobi whispers to himself, still bouncing on the balls of his feet. “You’ve got this. Just rip it off like a Band-Aid. Quick and to the point.” He tilts his head to one side. “But not the painful part. No pain.”

He’s in the middle of his pep talk when the sound of your key in the lock alerts him to your return. Hobi is standing in the middle of the living room, looking like an idiot. Naturally, he shoves his hands in his pockets. Yeah, that makes him look less like an idiot.

The second the door opens and you step into the apartment, every thought eddies out of Hobi’s mind.

You freeze, not expecting Hobi to be standing in the middle of the living room impersonating a lamp when you got home.

“Hi…?” Hobi swallows at the sound of your voice, watching your every move as you slowly lift up the bag of leftovers. “I brought home leftovers if you want some…”

“I need you to go out with me.”

Now you’re really frozen, staring up at Hobi as his eyes widen at his own words.

“What? What for?”

“For me.”

You slowly close the door behind you, setting the food down on the counter before turning to face Hobi again. “For you?”

He nods, a panicked look in his eyes. “Yes. For me.”

“Hobi, I don’t understand. Do you need a plus one or something for an event? Is that what it is?”

Removing his hands from his pockets and taking a step towards you, Hobi shakes his head. “What? No, I need- I need you.”

It’s a good thing you already set the food down. “Me?” You squeak out, looking your roommate up and down as he takes another step.

“Us.”

Clearly there’s been a communication error. Hobi brushes his hair back from his face, chewing on his bottom lip before coming to a stop before you.

“Us,” he repeats, voice low. “I need us to be a thing.”

“O-oh.” That’s all you can manage as you try to recall if Hobi has ever looked at you like this before. It’s hard to contain yourself when you realize that he has, however he’s always been quick to mask it with something else. Or, more often than not, a silly question.

“Will- can you…” he stops, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. Without his gaze on you, you gain a bit of courage and raise a hand to cup his cheek. His eyes fly open, and he offers you a shy smile. “Do you want to go out with me? On a date?”

Craning your neck, you hold your breath and plant a kiss on his cheek. You delight in the way he instantly flushes, garnering more courage by the second.

“Yes.” Then you arch a brow. “I have one condition, though.”

Hobi’s eyes are half closed as he looks down at you, appearing as though he’s slipped into some euphoric realm. “Hmm, anything.”

“I demand French Toast.”

Dissolving into a fit of laughter, Hobi sinks to the ground, taking you down with him. You protest, but not too much. Holding you tightly, Hobi subsides in his laughter enough to wink down at you. “French Toast it is.”

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#hobi x reader #hobi oneshot #bts x reader #bts sickfic #hobi sickfic #bts roommate au #hobi roommate au #jhope x reader #bts as your roommates #hobi as your roommates #armyadvocatesaapi #armywriterssupport

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julemmaes · 3 years

Text

Payback

Rowaelin Month, Day Five

A/N: Yall I'm dying. I didn't even wanna write today and I kinda forced myself to and I'm not proud of myself for this but I just wanted you to have something so yep. Tomorrow's will be a lot angstier and sadder than this one, so soak up the very light fluff I'm giving you till you can

Signing off, goodnight yall

Word count: 3,614

Aelin hated the underground car park reserved for the residents of her building. It was dark, so narrow that you had to do at least a hundred swerves to avoid taking any corner and scratching off half your car, and it was impossible to find a spot when everyone came home in the evening after hours and hours in the office and parked as they saw fit while still thinking about the thousands of pieces of paperwork that would be waiting for them at their desks only nine hours later, sometimes taking up more than two spots at once.

The only reason she still tried to park down there was that there was a flock of pigeons in the trees just outside their block of flats, on the main road, which had made a nasty habit of shitting on anything - or anyone, on some unpleasant occasion - that stopped for more than five minutes under the thick branches. A perfect hiding place for birds, that no one had thought to warn her about when she had moved in only a few months earlier.

She had deemed herself lucky the night before, when she had returned before anyone else and found the lot completely empty. She'd been so happy that she'd driven around a bit down there just for the hell of it. She'd pulled up next to the exit, thinking it would be easier to get out the next morning.

She hadn't anticipated the three assholes who had parked so as to block her path in every conceivable way.

She grunted, banging her fist against the steering wheel when she realised she still wasn't clear, and put the car into reverse for the twelfth time, before changing gear and driving three inches forward. And so on, and on, and on, until she managed to steer the face of the car towards the exit and let out a satisfied howl.

She started up the slope towards the road, taking her eyes off the driveway and distracting herself for a moment to choose which radio to listen to, when the car hit something and the dull sound of the bang echoed throughout her body, propelling her forward.

Aelin squealed, hitting the brakes hard enough to cause a high-pitched squeal, and soon the smell of burnt plastic filled her nostrils.

The car shut off and she pulled the handbrake vehemently, getting out of the car and trying to figure out which wall she had hit, already cursing every deity that had ever existed. She didn't have enough money to afford a repair, and she knew perfectly well that the dent would be there for months before she let any of her friends help her.

She wrinkled her brow, noticing how no side of the car was touching walls or columns.

"What the..."

And then she heard it, a grunt of pain.

She opened her eyes wide, running around the car and finding a man on the ground.

To the view of a head full of stark white hair, the fear she’d just ran over one of the oldies that lived on her floor stuck her. But then the person got up on their elbows and she let go of a sigh of relief.

But still, she had just runapartment someone over. She hurried his way.

"Oh, fuck." said Aelin, approaching the stranger. The man pulled himself up to sit, bringing a hand to his face, on his cheek, where a cut was bleeding profusely on his shirt.

"Holy shit." muttered the guy, looking up at her, "That hurt."

Aelin was frozen in time, her hands to her gaping mouth, looking for the right words.

When he tried to stand, swaying a little, she pushed through the fog in her mind and truly looked at him, searching other injuries, but not failing to notice his sheer handsomeness.

The man looked like he’d been made in heaven.

She shook her head, mentally reprimanding herself – now was not the time – and started talking.

“I’m so so so sorry. I didn’t see you there and- oh god, you’re bleeding. You need me to rush you to the hospital? Fuck, you think you broke something?” the words just kept flowing and flowing. “Where were you even going? Why didn’t you just got out of the main entrance? This fucking parking lot. I swear we have to call the landlord and have him put some lights down here. Your shirt,” she grimaced, eyeing the blood standing out on the white fabric. Aelin looked him in the eye, “I have a very similar one upstairs? You want me to go fetch it for you, I could-”

“Jesus Christ!” he yelled, putting his hands in between them, forcing her to step back, “Shut the fuck up!”

Aelin’s mouth closed shut and her eyebrows raised so high she felt her skin pull on her temples. She crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes popping out.

This man. Sure, she’d just ran him over, but no one had ever talked to her like that.

“I’m fine.” he grumbled, “And I live in this building, I’ll go take my own shirt, thank you.” He took a deep breath, brushing off his trousers and bending to gather his stuff that had scattered around during his fall. When he lifted his head again, he gave her a tight smile and his piercing green eyes stared at her with an intensity that had Aelin’s toes curling in her shoes.

“Have a nice day.”

He then proceeded to walk away, leaving Aelin alone in the darkish driveway.

She looked around, hoping to see someone who could confirm that it had just been a figment of her imagination, but there was no one.

Getting back in her car, Aelin started the engine and drove up to the street, chewing on her lips, “What the fuck just happened?”

***

Aelin had thought all day about the mysterious man. She hadn’t been able to focus during her meetings and hadn’t even finished one of her projects. Something that she sure as fuck knew her boss would make her notice and work her ass off to make up for once word got to him.

Her day had started off so bad she knew it couldn’t get any worse, but she’d been wrong.

Her assistant had spilled coffee over her only finished drawing and herself. One of her coworkers had decided today was the perfect day to quit her job and pile her projects on Aelin’s desk. Then she’d gone out for lunch with some of her friends and it had started raining so heavily she’d been forced to stay in the office, only eye-eating the mouth-watering dishes her friends had posted on their instagram stories. They’d made it to the diner just before the sky cracked open.

And, the cherry on top, someone had keyed her car.

She’d been on the verge of tears when she’d spotted the red stains of her neighbor’s blood on the parking lot floor when she got back home, but she didn’t let any fall.

She had a date.

And she wouldn’t let all these little things get to her and ruin what could possibly be the best night of her life.

One of her life-long best friends had set her up on a blind date with one of her boyfriend’s best friends. She’d promised the man was the perfect match, someone Elide thought would keep her on her toes and match her overflowing personality.

Aelin had been hesitant at first when Elide hadn’t wanted to give her a name, or show her a picture, claiming she’d go all FBI style on him and ruin their first meeting, but she’d also promised Aelin she’d met the guy a few times and he’d been nothing but a gentleman.

And she had heard so much of him she felt like she’d known him her whole life.

Some of the things Elide had told her, she’d liked better if she’d found directly from him, but Aelin was a picky woman and she wasn’t risking another date with a creeper.

She pulled up in the restaurant’s parking lot where Elide had reserved the four of them a table and turned off her car, clutching the wheel. She took a deep breath. And another.

She was still a little worked up and all the pent-up emotions of the day were threatening to spill over the surface any minute, but she could make it past dinner and then have her little monthly breakdown in the peace and quiet of her apartment.

She fixed her lipstick, tightened up her ponytail and let two strands of hair cascade on the side of her face. She blew herself a kiss in the mirror, “You can do it.” she whispered as a short pet talk.

She got off the car, pulled out her phone to check if Elide was already inside and she was so focused on the screen she failed to notice someone backing up right in front of her until it was too late.

The car only bumped into her hip, but it was enough to make her lose her balance.

Aelin merely had time to register what was happening that she found herself lying in a puddle of rain and mud. She closed her eyes at the dull pain on the back of her head, but she knew for a fact the hit hadn’t been that bad.

She lifted her arms up, looking down at the wet spots on her dress, darkening by the second. Her seventy euros purse soaking up the water all around her.

The tension behind her eyes just increased when she heard the driver’s door open and someone step out of the car. She couldn’t have stopped the sobs even if she wanted to.

“Miss? Oh god, I’m so sorry. Are you alright?”

Strong arms circled her waist and pulled her up in a standing position. She brought her hands to her face, her body now racked by her crying as she tried to get a handle of herself.

“Miss?” the voice called again, now nearer. “Are you hurt? I didn’t-” the man talking stopped suddenly and Aelin looked up, not seeing anything through the tears. “You.”

And then it hit her.

That voice.

She knew that voice.

She ran her hand over her face, rubbing her eyes and staring right back at the man she had ran over that same morning.

Her mouth fell open.

He was looking at her with an amused expression and Aelin couldn’t find the words once again.

What was it with this man and his ability to take her ability to talk by just showing up?

He had a transparent band-aid on his cheek, his cut far less severe than she had thought, and his eyes were glistening with mirth. He was wearing a simple black pair of jeans and a dark green t-shirt, but he was even more handsome than in his work clothes.

Aelin was taking rushed, trembling breaths, and she was about to kill this man with her bare hands. Shred his skin off his bones and have him beg-

“I guess we’re even now, uh?”

His attempt of a joke flew over her head and she charged at him, a scream lodged in her throat.

His eyes widened and he took a step back when she flung her arm at him, trying to hit him. His hands closed around her wrists, blocking her from causing him more harm that she’d already done.

“You asshole!” she was screaming at the top of her lungs. “You ruined my dress!”

Aelin lifted a leg, more than convinced to kneel his balls, but he managed to block her blow again, infuriating her even more.

“I was about to meet the love of my life and ruined my fucking dress!”

He tried to push her away from him, still squeezing her wrists, and his brow furrowed.

“He’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of. He’s a pediatrician! He loves children! And he has a cute fucking dog my friend said I would love and cuddle the shit out of! Her name is Fleetfoot and she’s a golden retriever and Elide knows I fucking love goldens. And he’s from Orynth, just. Like. Me!” she got louder and louder with every word she spit out. “And he’s tall, and handsome and he’s the perfect match! And I deserved this one night!”

The man was now looking at her with a dumbfounded expression, his hold slightly loosening.

“I’m so done with this dating thing and I’d finally found him and you!” she shoved a finger in his chest, making him retreat a few steps. “You wanted your payback so bad you ran me over with your car!

“And now he’s gonna take one look at me and think I’m a fucking psycho! I bet my hair are the most disgusting thing he’s ever seen and my make up. Oh fuck, I must look like a panda.” Aelin started crying harder, laying her hands flat on the man’s torso, pushing her head to his chest. “I look like a fucking panda.”

She tried to speak again but her mind just couldn’t form any coherent thought, until she felt the man’s arms closing around her shoulders. He stepped closer, running his hand up and down her back, whispering something she couldn’t really hear over her crying.

Aelin didn’t know how much time she spent in the stranger’s embrace, but when the gravity of the scene she’d just made in front of him downed on her, she felt her body flare up in embarrassment.

That was her life now?

Having mental breakdowns in a dark parking lot after someone she’d ran over with her car had returned the gesture and then making them console her?

She detached herself from the man and for a second she thought she’d felt him hesitate before he took a step back. And another, leaving her standing her in her soaking wet dress and her puffy, surely-red eyes. He bent down, picking up her purse and handing it to her.

She lowered her gaze, not even daring looking at his shoes and closed her eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

The man made a sound of surprise, “Why would you be sorry?”

Aelin wished she could die on the spot. Evaporate out of existence.

“For hitting you. Or at least trying. And crying all over you.” she said and then grimaced. She ran a hand over her face. “I just had a very hard day and I wasn’t even sure I wanted to come, but this guy seriously seems like he could be the missing piece to whatever the fuck my puzzle-life is. I didn’t want to take a raincheck and have him thinking I’m not serious about this.”

A beat of silence, “I’m sure he would have understood.”

She shook her head, keeping on talking as if he hadn’t even been there, “And now I can’t go in like this.” she passed her hands on her dress, the tears building up again in her eyes. “Plus, Elide didn’t tell me what he looks like, cause she thinks he’s a real snack and wanted to see my face when I saw him for the first time.” she was bordering on pouting, “That means he’s gotta be smoking hot or I’ll be so pissed at her.”

The man snorted loudly, “A snack.” he hummed, “Maybe I should meet your friend and thank her.”

Aelin’s head snapped up, “Oh no, she’s taken.” she shook her head vehemently, “Like so freaking taken. I swear she and her boyfriend have been together for a whole of three months and they already act like a married couple.”

He nodded, a lopsided smile on his face, “I know the kind.”

She’d been so absorbed by her talking that she hadn’t noticed she’d stopped crying.

She breathed through her nose and clasped her hands together, before reaching one out towards him, “I think introductions are needed. I’m Aelin.” she offered a tentative smile.

His hand engulfed hers, shaking it with impressive gentleness. His smile grew even larger if possible and Aelin was starting to think she was about to het murdered.

But then he said his name and the world ceased existing around them.

Their hands still moving up and down between them.

She tilted her head forward, “I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

He licked his lower lip, “I’m Rowan.”

Aelin closed her eyes, holding her breath.

She squeezed his hand before releasing it. She took a step back, wishing for the ground beneath her feet to crack open and just eat her whole.

“I’m gonna go kill myself now, if you’ll excuse me.”

His laugh reached her ears with painful speed.

Rowan.

She couldn’t believe it.

Well, she could. The man laughing his heart out at her expense was probably the most handsome person she’d ever seen in her entire life.

At least Elide hadn’t lied about that.

“A tad dramatic, if you ask me,” he said as his laugh died down. He pointed at the restaurant behind him, “You want me to go fetch the married couple so we can go back at the appartment and you can change? I’m not against you walking in there with this outfit at all,” he gave a pointed look, matched by a shit-eating grin that seemed to be etched in his lips, “I’m not gonna think you’re a psycho, not for this at least, and I’m ready to fight everyone who looks at you the wrong way. But you look like you could use the comfort of a warm house.”

Aelin looked up at him with a questioning look, trying to understand if this man she’d just tried to maul was seriously offering her options, letting her choose after everything that had gone down so far between the two of them. As if still giving her a chance.

Rowan arched a brow, looking around and glancing back at her, “Aelin?”

Oh, fuck.

She had been oh so not ready o hear her name from his lips.

She nodded and he smiled, leaning down a bit.

She could smell his cologne from here.

“Yes to what? Me calling Lorcan and Elide or getting inside even if you dripping wet?”

Holy fucking shit, this man shouldn’t have been allowed to say the words dripping wet.

She stilled herself.

What the hell was she thinking? She brought her hands to her face, “Please call them and let’s head home. I’m so fucking tired.” a yawn broke her sentence, as to prove her words, “And I’m freezing in this skimpy dress.”

Rowan rushed to her side, “Oh, god, sorry for not offering sooner, here,” he opened the trunk of his car and pulled out a huge blue sweater. Without even waiting for an answer he snatched her purse from her hands and shoved her head in his sweater.

Aelin felt better right away and gave him a big smile.

Rowan answered with one of his own and of course he had to be this perfect and more.

“I’m sorry for ruining your dress, I’ll make sure they wash it carefully when I take it to the laundry. If you’d let me.”

She nodded faintly, exhaling the panty-dropping smell of his sweater.

“And I’m hoping to see you wear it again once we finally get to go on a proper date.” he smirked, “I bet you looked amazing before I went and ran you over.”

Aelin chuckled, shaking her head, “You truly are a gentleman. Elide wasn’t exaggerating.”

Rowan’s demeanor changed completely and Aelin feared she’d said something wrong, but he averted his gaze as if he was embarassed.

“I’m sorry for this morning,” he said. Aelin almost tripped on her feet. He was sorry? “I shouldn’t have talked to you like that but I was just coming back from the hospital and Elide was right saying I work with kids, but I’m not a pediatrician, I’m a pediatric surgeon.”

His gaze grew dark as he looked over her shoulder, avoiding meeting her eyes at all costs.

“Yesterday night we lost a eight years old and I wasn’t really there when you hit me with your car. I didn’t mean to yell at you like I did, it was just-”

Rowan couldn’t finish his sentence that Aelin lunged for him, hugging him as tight as he’d held her a few minutes before, hoping she could relieve some of the pain that was surely clutching his heart. She felt him sag in her arms and hold her in turn.

She was glad she could offer some kind of support.

“It must be hard.” she whispered against his chest.

Rowan nodded, hitting her head with his chin, “It is, but it’s part of the job. The only way you can live with something like that in your baggage is knowing you did everything you could to save them.”

Aelin could feel the emotion lacing his every word and tightened her arms for a moment before freeing him of her embrace. He silently thanked her and told her he’d be right back with their friends.

The second he was gone she realized she couldn’t wait for when he’d be back and they could keep talking.

She’d never felt this way before. Not this fast at least.

Sure, she had loved all her exes, but this. This was different.

There was something there, a connection.

And while he walked back to her, Lorcan and Elide in tow, a bright smile on his handsome face, she couldn’t help but think she was ready to find out all about it.

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