#so i keep my mic muted the whole time to avoid that | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thefanficmonster · 3 years

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Corpse’s Girl

Corpse Husband x Reader (Female)

Warnings: Bullying, Swearing, Derogatory Terms

Genre: Angst, Fluff

Summary: Y/N’s life as a regular college student is forever stripped away from her when her relationship with the famous YouTuber Corpse Husband is accidentally revealed during an online class of hers. How will she cope with the sudden spotlight and the unwanted attention, some of which crosses into bullying?

Requested by my amazing Tumblr friend @itsminniekat 🥰 She’s been reading and liking my works since day one and I honestly couldn’t be more grateful. If you’re reading this, all I can say is thank you, darling. Thank you so much for sticking by my blog even when I posted some crappy fics. I’ll make sure this ain’t one of them. Love you with all my heart. ❤❤❤

P.S. - I named the mean character with my name so I hope no one who reads this has the same name. Wouldn’t want any of you feeling like the villain 😘

Who knew online class would be even more boring than being physically present for a lecture? Seriously, I find myself doing the weirdest of crap to entertain myself - like trying to balance a pen on the tip of my nose for example. I jot down some notes every now and then but that’s basically it. My mind can not fathom the concept on concentrating on whatever my professors are going on and on about. Well, full disclosure, I couldn’t concentrate even if I wanted to, especially with my boyfriend streaming in the other room.

He’s currently playing Among Us with his usual gaming squad. Listening to his input during the discussions, I can always tell when he’s lying. I honestly find it hilarious that his friends can’t pick up when he’s bullshitting them. I sometimes wonder if he has brainwashed them. And that’s one of the main reasons we don’t play Among Us together - he can’t lie to me. Not only do I pick up on his con with ease, but he always says he feels bad when he lies to me which is just the sweetest thing. Also, I refuse to play cause I’m shy. His friends are all well-known content creators and I’m a literal nobody. Every now and then I find myself wondering why Corpse is even with me. He’s always quick to push those thoughts out of my head and make sure they don’t return on a long notice, but they do interrupt my peace from time to time.

“Y/N, do you know?“ The sound of my professor saying my name takes me out of my eavesdropping of Corpse’s stream.

I panic, but quickly improvise, “Sorry, my internet is slow, you cut out for a second. What was the question?” I feel my face heating up, making me glad we are allowed to keep our cameras off.

“Question number 15 on page 82 in your textbook. Do you know the answer to it?“ My professor repeats himself, his tone annoyed.

I look down at the page that’s already opened in front of me. I let out a sigh of relief, seeing that the question is rather easy.

“Yeah, um, it’s...“ Suddenly, Corpse’s laugh reaches my room loud and clear. There’s no doubt my mic picked up the noise, especially since the door to my room is open.

The color drains from my face as I hurry to say the answer and remute myself. My eyes are wide as I stare at my screen, hoping no one will acknowledge that very recognizable laugh.

“OMG Y/N, are you watching a Corpse Husband stream in class?” One of the bitches in my class, Vy, speaks up, “Not a very goody-two-shoe move on your part, dear.”

I purposely unmute my mic to mumble a quick ‘Shut up, bitch’ that somehow manages to fly under my professor’s radar and the class continues. It’s the first time something like this has happened and I’m not sure if I handled it properly or not.

The class ends shortly after, allowing me a sigh of relief as I disconnect from the meeting.

“Fucking finally.“ I mumble to myself, leaning back in my desk chair. Tilting my head backwards, I see Corpse standing in the doorframe. I grin, not only because his presence itself makes me ten times happier, but also because he’s upside down from my viewpoint. “Well, hello there! How long have you been spying on me?“

He struts over to me, leaning his face over mine, “Long enough.” His lips linger above mine without any actual contact before he pulls away, allowing me to sit up straight and proper in the chair. “You still have classes?”

I nod my head while disappointedly rolling my eyes, “Yeah. One more. Shouldn’t be too bad since it’s English Lit. You’re done streaming?”

“Yeah, I just have some other things to do. I haven’t done a narration video in a while, I miss making that type of content.“ He plops down on my bed, running a hand through his messy black curls.

“Weren’t you recording some lines a few days ago?“ I frown as I try to recall if what I’m referring to actually happened or my brain is too fried to decipher reality from my bootleg perception of it. Online class, man - messes with your head like sleeping pills - makes you disoriented and exhausted with barely doing anything other than trying to wrap your brain around a lecture or two.

He hums affirmatively, “It’s not a finished project and I don’t even know if I’ll use those or rerecord them. I’ll have to listen to them again before I make a final decision.“

I tilt his chin upwards with my pointer finger, a gesture he has told me he finds very endearing, “I’m sure they’re great and you just refuse to be satisfied. Everything you do is great.“

He smiles a small, shy smile, his fingers gently wrapping around my wrist, holding my hand in place, “You’re biased. You like me too much to tell me when I do some bullshit.”

I scoff, “You know that isn’t true. If someone’s gonna kick your butt in formation, it’s gonna be me.“ I give him a quick kiss on the forehead before pulling away from him, “Go on, now. I have a class to attend. You distract me enough while you’re in the other room, I can only imagine how hard it’d be for me to focus if you were right by my side.“

He smirks, bowing a little as he makes his way out of the room, “You flatter me.”

I playfully roll my eyes, getting my headset back on as I tap the last class for the day. We have an assignment due to the start of the class which we’ll have to present if the professor approved of it. We basically had to write a psychoanalysis of a character from any book of our choice. I chose Heathcliff from ‘Wuthering Heights’ which is one of my favorite books of all time. I’m proud of what I wrote and the way I wrote it, but I’ve always barely scraped by with a B in this class, a B+ if I’m lucky, so I’ve never gotten any major credit, even when I put my 110% in the assignments and projects.

Well, color me surprised when the professor calls on me first to read my work, complimenting it on its detailed and specific nature. I get my printed assignment out in front of me and unmute myself.

“I wrote a psychoanalysis on for Heathcliff, a character from Emily Bronte’s novel ‘Wuthering Heights’.“ Just after I say this line, Corpse’s voice booms throughout the whole apartment, no doubt being picked up by my mic. It doesn’t sound like he’s actually talking, he can’t be that loud. I put two and two together when I recognize the lines he’s saying - the ones he recorded a few days ago. They’re coming from his computer speakers. He probably didn’t check the volume before playing back the recording.

I mute myself as quickly as possible, but it’s too late. The voice dies down as Corpse probably turned down the speakers.

My professor, who is already done with this lecture, just annoyedly remarks, her words overdosed with sarcasm: “Read your assignment and you can go back to whatever it is you are watching.”

“Wow, Y/N! Again?! Are you one of those crazy obsessed fans or something? Is Corpse Husband all you watch?“ This bitch is really poking a stick at me, huh? The only crazy obsessed fan here is her, and my friends but they are allowed. Little do all of them know, I am obsessed but not simply over a YouTuber. I’m obsessed with my boyfriend who just happens to be a YouTuber.

“No commentary, please.“ The professor scolds her, “Go on, Y/N.“

I finish reading without any other disturbances. The professor compliments my essay again when I’m done, the small incident at the beginning forgotten already. Well, not by everyone. One of my friends shot me a quick text to joke about it which only earned an eye roll from me.

My friends don’t know that I’m dating Corpse either. As I said, they are simping HARD over him while I act the most indifferent on the subject. Whenever they ask my opinion on him I either say ‘he’s OK’ or just avoid answering completely. I know saying anything more enthusiastic than that would turn into a snowball rolling down a snowy hill - I’d just keep babbling about how nice, amazing, wonderful and a gift to this world Corpse is, inevitably revealing our relationship in the process.

I’m afraid of revealing my relationship with Corpse in front of these people. They are all run on jealousy and selfishness and I can only imagine how mean they’d be about it. I’m already not too fond of them, it would only be worse if any of my personal life was exposed.

When the class finally ends I remove my headset, putting my forehead down on the desk, barely missing the keyboard. I groan in frustration and anger at myself for not fighting back. I could’ve and should’ve said something - ANYTHING. But what? That’s a question I can’t find the answer to.

“Hey...“ Corpse’s hesitant voice comes from behind me, “You ok?“

I straighten my posture, turning to him with a smile. “Yeah, but these people suck.”

I get up from my chair as he approaches me, basically falling in his arms. The comfort I feel radiating off of him makes me relax, forget the past hour or so. He has always had this effect on me. Like my own personal kryptonite to my anger and anxiety.

“Did I get you in any trouble because of that?“ His voice shows clear concern and guilt.

I wrap my arms around him tighter, burying my head in his chest. “No, don’t worry about it.“

And I really wasn’t in trouble. Not until now that the video is officially posted....

I can call these people dumb all I want but they sure put two and two together awfully fast. They recognized the lines they heard during class as the same ones from his new video that came out almost a week after the incident, aka two days ago. It’s safe to say I haven’t touched my phone or computer since.

“This is all my fault.“

Of all the horrible things I suspected would happen this has to be the worst - Corpse is blaming himself for it. I am prepared to take all the shit these people have to throw at me but seeing Corpse beating himself up over this is killing me. No amount of convincing can change his mind. Nothing I say helps.

“Please, stop doing this to yourself. Non of this is your fault, Corpse.“ I’ve repeated this sentence more than a thousand time these past forty eight hours, each time saying it more and more desperately.

“All of it is my fault, Y/N. I’m so sorry. I hate myself so much.“ Has been his reply single time.

I can’t watch him be so mean to himself. It’s the most conflicting thing when the person you love most is torturing themselves. It’s easy if it’s someone else doing it, you just kick their ass. But what are you supposed to do when the person you want to protect is the same one you need to protect them from.

Corpse has shut himself away in his recording room these past few hours and though he clearly needs to be alone, he still left the door open just a crack cause he knows I’ll be worried sick otherwise.

While I’m alone in the living room, I’ve finally managed to brace myself and build enough courage to power up my laptop. Last time it was on it was going mad with notifications.

“It’s digital. Only digital. It can’t hurt you too badly if it can’t touch you, right?“ I mumble to myself, already frustrated despite not having yet seen all the horrors that await me.

And horrors there were. Everywhere. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook.

My grades. Some pictures of me no one has ever seen. My school files. People from my class tweeting Corpse to ‘expose’ me for the ‘slut’ or ‘bitch’ I really am. Corpse hasn’t touched social media either and I plan on making sure it stays that way. God only knows how much worse he’ll get if he sees these claims.

And then, like a notification sent straight from hell, an email from my professor.

Practical lectures on Friday. Be here at 9 AM. Don’t forget your mask and gloves.

Good thing I opened my laptop when I did. Friday is tomorrow and I need to prepare for this day. Not only do I need to hit the books but I need to toughen up a bit. I can’t go there looking like I feel - like a mess.

Alright, time to put the brave face on. No more wallowing in it, at least not until tomorrow afternoon.

I make a study plan and hop in the shower. I feel the need to apologize to my hair for washing it so roughly, basically yanking at my strands from frustration that has been suppressed for too long.

I get our of the boiling hot shower, red as a lobster, and change into some clean comfortable clothes and put my ass in study mode. I remove all the scary expectations of the morning to come from my mind and let the information the textbooks has to offer seep into my brain.

* * *

I’m about to head out and, despite my put-together composure, I am a wreck inside. I actually put effort into my appearance, I mean - I even styled my hair. A pretty façade to hide a ruin.

I saw my friends’ texts last night, all three of them ending their friendship with me because they felt betrayed. I haven’t yet decided how to feel about that. Doesn’t matter at the moment, there are more important matters at hand, aka surviving the next three hours.

My college is within ten minutes walking distance from our apartment. That ten minute walk has never been so stressful, not even during exam season. The air feels a little harder to breathe, the path a little shorter to walk. And my moment of reckoning a little too close.

I feel eyes on me the second I start walking through the park of our campus. Sure, I could just be paranoid, but the feeling is too real to be just my imagination in overdrive. I’m glad I have my hair down and a mask on so the redness of my cheeks and neck isn’t on display. That’s a sign of weakness right now.

We have two an hour and a half long classes between which we have a snack break that’s half an hour. I usually enjoy that period but I’m dreading it now. These assholes can only be so mean in the presence of a professor, but during lunch break they can increase that tenfold.

“Well if it isn’t Corpse’s girl.“ I hear that a lot. The whispers are not so much whispers as intentionally loud enough for me to hear remarks. I’m not bothered by them, it’s the least they can do. If I let such a simple thing get to me, I’d be crumbling by the end of first period.

I hear some shuffling behind me and out of the corner of my eye I see, yeah you guessed it, THAT bitch. She’s standing as close to me as she can without violating Covid regulations. A mask is covering her face but the menacing look in her eyes tells me all I need to know about the interaction that’s about to go down.

“I’d ask how much he pays you for the hour.....“ her long nails tap the wooden desk, “but that’d be rude. I bet it’s tough being a maid. Do you just clean or are you a multipurpose lap dog? No offense, I’m genuinely curious.“

“Vy, would you be so kind as to give Y/N some room to breathe?“ The professor asks as he nonchalantly walks in.

Vy rolls her eyes, batting her eyelashes at me, “Talk to you later, sweetheart.” With a fake friendly wave she’s out of my hair, at least for now.

Remember what I said about these people not being as dumb as I pegged them to be? Yeah, scratch that. These fuckers actually tried getting away with taking pictures of me with flash in broad daylight. Like, HELLO! I have two functioning eyes and a brain, I’m onto you. Sadly, me having figured out their childish but hurtful methods of humiliating me doesn’t change much. They still posted the pics they took, using the most derogatory terms they could find in the English language, always making sure to tag Corpse and me both.

Needless to say, these were the longest three hours of my life.

* * *

Shutting the door to our apartment behind me causes relief of the highest levels. I feel like I’ve locked out all the bad shit I have had to deal with these past twenty four hours.

I’m tired. I’m fucking exhausted. I feel like a discarded piece of paper.

And it all starts crumbling. A wall is bound to start slowly falling apart after being hit over and over again, each time feeling the blows with a stronger intensity.

I slide down the door sitting down on the floor and slowly taking my shoes off. I put my bag beside me and wrap my arms around my knees, hiding my head in the space between them and my chest.

One tear slides down my cheek.

Another follows.

And another, this time accompanied by a choked sob.

A pair of arms wraps around the ball that my body has been shaped into. One of his hands comes up to stroke my hair gently, feeding me the comfort I have been longing for since I left the apartment this morning.

“I saw it. All of it. All the shit they talk about you. All the names they call you. And I’ve never wanted to beat so many people up simultaneously.“ His words make me raise my head from its low position, giving him a knowing look. “I wish I could. I would, but that would land me in jail. Which doesn’t even sound so bad cause I don’t like going out. Only problem is you wouldn’t be with me. I wouldn’t want you to be there with me, don’t get me wrong, I’d never want you to end up in jail. I-...” I cut him off by pressing my lips to his. A quick kiss that says so much but mainly shows the immeasurable gratitude for his support.

Seeing those awful tweets and comments had the complete opposite effect on him. He no longer blames himself but the people who actually deserve the blame - all those jerks from my college.

I pull away, giving him a small smile. “I would never let you go to jail.”

He smiles back at me, overjoyed that my mood is slowly being lifted, “Come on, I have a nice crowd that would like to meet you.”

I know exactly what he means. Felix, Sean, Rae, Dave, Sykkuno and the rest of his friends. The people I’ve been so shy and afraid to meet since day one. Being shy doesn’t really make sense now, seeing as how they know I exist and that I’m a part of Corpse’s life.

What do I have to lose?

“Guys, this is my girlfriend, Y/N.“ Corpse’s black avatar runs around my cyan one in the Among Us lobby.

I can’t help but giggle when I unmute my mic, “Hi everyone! It’s so nice to finally meet you.“ They each introduce themselves, expressing how happy they are to be meeting me too.

It’s the first time in what feels like a while that I’m truly having fun. These people are wonderful, each so unique and lovely. They never brought up the scandal nor acted as though they knew about it. I know they did and I am beyond grateful that they never mentioned it or treated me any differently because of it. Also, Corpse was streaming the whole time. I had my phone on his stream, my eyes nervously scanning the chat every now and then. I couldn’t believe it. Corpse’s real fans were just as wonderful as his friends - they were nothing but supportive and happy to have met me.

Now, I can either choose to believe these people were being so nice to me out of sympathy or I can believe they really like me and appreciate me for who I am and not for what happened to me.

I choose to believe the latter.

And while I’m still getting accustomed to this whole new spotlight, I know I’ll be able to handle it as long as I’m holding Corpse’s hand in the process. All I need is to have him beside me and I’m prepared to tackle anything.

“They love you.“ Corpse tells me once the stream is done and we’ve hopped out of the Discord call, “But I love you more.“

His arms wrap around my waist while mine instinctively find their way around his neck, “I love them, too. But they’re at the number 2 spot.”

He smirks at me, “I wonder who’s at number 1.”

I push up on my toes, putting my lips an inch away from his, “Hmm, I wonder...”

He doesn’t let me finish, silencing my teasing with a sweet, loving kiss.

@susceptible-but-siriusexual @simonsbluee @save-the-sky @hacker-ghost @bi-andready-tocry @imtiredaffff @jazzkaurtheglorious @hereforbeebo @fandomgirl17 @chrysanthykios @maehemscorpyus @loraleiix @letsloveimagines @annshit @i-cant-choose-a-username-help @enigmaticmaze @divine-artemis @waterlilypat

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whiteqnn · 3 years

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PURE [2] - Corpse Husband x Fem! Reader

Pairing: Corpse Husband x Fem!Reader

A/N: 443 notes?! THIS IS INSANE! Thank you guys so much for all the love under the first part of this, I was so shocked to see how many people enjoyed this story! I hope this one will be just as fun for you as the first one ^^

part 1

part 3

part 4

part 5

PURE [2]

Corpse stared at the red screen with the word IMPOSTOR written in the middle, his eyes widened, a small smile tugging at his lips.

“No way” he murmured into his microphone, no longer holding himself from breaking into laughter. “Do you guys see this? I wish I could see Y/N’s reaction.”

It took his audience just a second to respond, his chat being flooded with lots of comments about the said girl.

“SHES SHOOK” he managed to read one from the hundreds of comments, once again bursting into laughter. “Yeah, I can imagine.”

He decided to follow Lily for a while to make himself less suspicious. He probably didn’t need to do that this time, since the others usually suspected him when he was innocent. Ironically, each time he was the impostor, they seemed completely blind to every murder he committed.

They were both doing their tasks in O2 when the first body was reported.

“Woah, Y/N is fast” he mumbled, before unmuting himself.

“Okay,” Lily began speaking first “Corpse is 100% innocent, we were together this whole round, doing our tasks in O2. That’s all I have.”

“Yeah I saw you guys in there,” Felix said. “Where’s the body Sykkuno?”

“Um, so first of all I can also vouch for Dave and Y/N, we were hanging out all this time. So in the beginning, we were all in the upper engine, protecting each other like good friends that we are, and then we headed towards the medbay. And that’s where it gets interesting because I’m pretty sure I saw Poki leave medbay and run to the cafeteria.”

“You really think I would kill my best friend in the first round?”

“Yeah well, some people do” Sean scoffed, clearly referring to the last game when he was murdered by Felix. “Besides, I saw you guys when I was leaving Security so it looks like you were with her the entire round.”

“Wha- Okay, let me defend myself. I would never kill her if I was the impostor, which I’m not because she’d literally come barging into my room to murder me. She’d kill me for killing her first.”

Toast, who seemingly still held grudge against Corpse’s fellow impostor, decided to call Y/N out “Y’know, we all played with Rae before, so we all know how furious she gets after being killed first... but there’s one person who doesn’t know that.”

“Y/N/N?” Sean’s voice blared through their headphones “As much as I know how hard it would be for her to make the first kill, I can actually see that happening.”

“What?! Sykkuno vouched for me literally seconds ago, where the heck did you get that from Toast?” she asked in utter shock. Corpse glanced at his chat and leaned towards his mic, making sure that he was muted in the game.

“Y’know guys, if I didn’t know she’s the impostor, I’d believe in her every word. I mean, she’s so innocent, just listen to her.” he said with a smile, not expecting in the slightest how his audience will react.

“Aww, he goes soft for her ^^”

“The duo we need but don’t deserve”

“Y/N FOR THE BRIDE”

“What?” he almost stuttered, quickly going through the growing number of such comments. “I mean-”

“Ooh, someone’s getting angry. Where the heck? That’s aggressive, Y/N” Felix’s amused voice brought him back to reality, and even though Corpse didn’t use a webcam, he still tried to hide his pink-tinted cheeks in the material of his hoodie.

“It was not me! I swear! I was doing my tasks all this time, making sure that no one murders Sykkuno or Dave!”

“You’re pretty defensive for someone who claims to be innocent,” Toast said with a smirk hiding in his voice.

“Give her a break guys, she was literally with us all this time. I’m sure we would’ve noticed if she killed somebody” Dave stood up for her, but it seemed like all the attention was directed from Poki to Y/N.

“Well maybe the other impostor is either you or Sykkuno and you’re just trying to clear each other?”

“Um, if there were two impostors among the three of us, the third person would have to be a crewmate. I mean, it would be impossible for them to kill somebody without a crewmate seeing it.” Sykkuno pointed out, much to Corpses’ relief.

“I knew Sykkuno would vouch for her” he told his chat, before unmuting himself to defend Y/N as well “Haven’t we already established that Poki is sus as well? She was last seen near the body and has no alibi.”

“I didn’t do it. The only person that could vouch for me is dead, we were with each other the entire round. I leave her for a few seconds and somebody kills her, but it wasn’t me.”

“I don’t think she’s lying guys, I mean, if she killed Rae she’d probably be dead already” Felix chuckled “Let’s just skip this round, we don’t have enough evidence.”

“Alright, but Y/N,” Toast said, as everyone pressed the skip button “I have my eyes on you.”

Corpse could hear her sigh before everyone muted their mics.

“We’ve gotta get rid of Toast guys, he’s too suspicious. I don’t want him accusing my partner in crime, even though he’s right” he chuckled under his breath, following Toast’s character into Admin. “Alright, Felix is with us as well, good. If I just pretend I’m doing card swipe, they’re gonna both vouch for me since everyone knows I’m great at this task.” he shook his head with a deep laugh escaping his throat.

He could see the other two astronauts running around admin, before they both decided to leave, which gave Corpse a perfect opportunity to frame Toast. He killed the lights and chased his victim who, much to his joy, was now completely alone in comms.

“Hi, Felix. Bye, Felix.” Corpse snapped his neck before speeding out of the room and venting into Navigation.

That’s when someone fixed the lights. And Corpse jumped out of the vent, only to come face to face with none other than Toast.

“SHIT” he laughed in panic, seeing that he couldn’t use the kill function yet. “Shit, he must’ve seen me.”

And indeed, it took Toast just a split of second to run out of the room and speed towards the emergency button, Corpse hot on his tail, even though he knew he wouldn’t avoid getting ejected.

“I’m busted guys, there’s no way they’re gonna believe me” he told his audience, watching as Toast’s character approached the button. However, Corpse wasn’t sure if he was just seeing things, but he thought that he saw an outline of another character appear out of nowhere just mere seconds before Toast called the meeting...

“YES” he almost screamed, at the same time laughing hysterically, when he saw the red cross decorating Toast’s name.

“WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!” Sean yelled, similarly to every other player that remained alive. “HOW DID THAT HAPPENED?!”

“Oh my God.”

“But- I don’t get it. What just happened?” Y/N’s soft voice sounded out, making Corpse laugh even more.

“Someone killed Toast the moment he called the meeting.” Sykkuno explained, barely holding himself from laughing.

“Is that even possible?” she asked confused, her voice sounding so innocent and sweet that the other impostor couldn’t stop himself from grinning.

“Oh my god, she’s just- I can’t.” he chuckled deeply “She’s too precious guys, I swear I’m gonna do everything to keep her alive.”

“Yeah, that’s some big brain move. And since Toast is dead, there’s only one person with balls who could do it” Sean said, clearly very sure of his next words.

“CORPSE!” Lily chirped into her microphone, her voice soon being followed by others who eagerly agreed with her.

“Okay, I admit I saw them in admin where I was doing the card swipe, but then they both left and I haven’t seen them anymore.”

“Were you in admin this whole time?” Poki asked.

“Um- yeah, pretty much. I tried to beat my own record in failing a card swipe.” he replied, making everyone laugh. He thought of it as a good cover, unless someone entered the admin after he left...

“Sykkuno where are you?” Poki directed her next question to the lime astronaut.

“Why am I accused again?” he asked confused “I was with Sean in medbay, I think Y/N joined us for a moment to do the scan, then she left, and then Toast called the meeting.”

“So maybe it’s her?” Dave commented “I mean, medbay is right next to the cafeteria, so she had quite an easy access to the emergency button.”

“Yeah, that would actually make sense” Lily added.

“Oh no, they’re gonna vote her off...” Corpse mumbled under his breath, deciding that he had to intervene. She just saved his ass, he couldn’t possibly just watch her get ejected because of that.

“Guys, I didn’t even know it was possible to kill someone this way. Trust me, I played only a few times and Jack made sure not to reveal any of his big brain moves.” she scoffed at the last part, making Jack let out a loud laugh.

“How can we be sure you’re not just acting all innocent? I mean, you exposed Felix last game, being one of the last people to stay alive.”

“Y/N was with me when Toast called the meeting, she is innocent” Corpse decided to finally speak up. The silence settled among other players. “She found me in admin and made sure nobody killed me when I failed the fucking card swipe.”

“Why are you saying this just now, Corpse?”

“Cause he’s fallen for her god damn trap! I told you!” Sean argued.

“What trap?” Y/N asked confused.

“I mean, who wouldn’t? It’s like listening to an angel” Corpse said, before he could stop himself. Everyone on the call went wild, just like his chat did... He didn’t know why he said that, it just slipped before he really thought about it.

“Corpse, you do realize you’re simping only makes you even more suspicious?” Poki asked with a laugh, and Corpse felt the blush rising up his cheeks. Even more, when Y/N completely ignored this comment, deciding to suddenly stay quiet...

Did he make her uncomfortable with such comments?

“Seriously though, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t her. We watched each other’s back, so I’m also clean.”

“As much as I hate to do it, I have to agree with Corpse on this one” Sean suddenly said. “That she’s innocent, I mean. I’m sure Corpse just follows her around like a lost puppy and I didn’t see the two of them, but I doubt Y/N knew it’s possible to kill somebody like that. No offense kiddo.”

“See? Guys, it wasn’t me!” she exclaimed.

“Wait, why do you hate to agree with me?” Corpse asked in confusion.

“CAUSE YOU’RE KINDA SUS CORPSE”

“What? I just told you my alibi, weren’t you listening Jack?”

“We have twenty seconds left” Lily reminded, cause everyone seemed to forget about the voting time. “We don’t skip at 7, right?”

“Alright, I’m voting Corpse, I still think he’s sus even though I agreed with him.” Sean announced, much to Y/N’s dismay. She quickly objected, trying to defend her fellow impostor:

“It’s NOT him, I watched him fail that dang card swipe!”

“DANG?! NO NEED TO BE SO OFFENSIVE YOUNG LADY”

“I’m also voting Corpse, he must be one of them.” Lily agreed with Jack.

“Sykkuno, I hope you’re not doing what I think you’re doing” Y/N asked the lime astronaut, who was silent for the past few minutes.

“I um- I don’t know, they kinda have a point Y/N...”

“Sykkuno, listen to me.” she lowered her voice, trying to convince him “Corpse is not the impostor. You know you can trust me, right?”

“...”

“SYKKUNO GOD DAMN IT, DON’T LISTEN TO HER!”

“Sorry guys...”

Corpse burst out laughing, seeing that out of seven remaining players, five of them decided to skip.

“She’s too good” he chuckled, quickly running up Y/N’s character when they started the next round. He circled her white astronaut, and she seemed to get his message because she eagerly followed him into Electrical to fake the tasks and wait for someone to show up.

Soon enough two figures waltzed into the room, only to be simultaneously decapitated by the two impostors, who then swiftly vented into medbay and locked the door to their crime scene.

“That was smooth” Corpse smiled, happily running around Y/N’s character. “I love being impostors with Y/N, it’s so much fun. The best thing is that no one besides Toast really suspects her of doing something wrong.”

Corpse figured Y/N sabotaged the oxygen because the next thing he saw was Lily running past medbay to stop it from depleting.

“Ladies first, Y/N” he mumbled, and even though she couldn’t hear him, her small character sped up and left the medbay, chasing after Lily. He waited a few seconds, before bursting out laughing.

Victory.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Sean yelled in shock “Y/N?! EXPLAIN YOURSELF RIGHT NOW”

“Y/N HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!”

“That was... I would never guess it was you!”

“I’m sorry guys, I really didn’t want to kill any of you” she laughed apologetically, but Corpse could sense she was smiling “I just had no other choice...”

“Yeah, I’m sure you killed us by accident” Toast’s voice blared out, followed by loud laughter.

“What was that again? I didn’t even know you could kill someone this way?” Felix mocked in a high pitched voice, making them laugh hysterically. Corpse also found himself unable to catch a breath between his giggles.

“I told you guys they’d fuck us up.” Rae spoke up “But I was actually glad Y/N killed me first, watching her kill Toast was so much fun.”

“Ha ha, thanks, Rae!” Toast exclaimed ironically.

“Y/N and Corpse are just complete serial killers, I don’t know how else to comment that” Felix chuckled.

“Well...” Corpse mumbled, unmuting his microphone “I can’t disagree. She’s a perfect partner in crime.”

“NOT AGAIN WITH SIMPING CORPSE” he heard Sean’s response, and once again felt awkward when his all his friends laughed at him, and Y/N remained quiet.

That was, however, until her soft voice effectively quietened everyone.

“It was.. an honor to murder my friends with you.”

Corpse never thought his face could hurt from smiling so much...

“Alright, who’s up for another game?” Felix asked after a few moments, and received a chorus of me’s from almost everyone.

“Unfortunately I have to go now, but it was so fun playing with you guys!” Y/N said, making everyone (Corpse included) object rather loudly:

“One more round, please? I want to see you kill someone again!”

“C’mon kid, what else do you have to do?”

“Stay with us Y/N, I need someone to protect me!”

“I’m sorry but I’m really tired. I’m sure I’d just fall asleep on my desk and Toast would come up behind my back to murder me.”

“Well, that was actually my plan...” the man in question replied with a chuckle.

“You sure you don’t wanna stay?” Corpse finally asked “Killing won’t be the same without you...”

“I know, and I’m sorry... But I was working the whole day and my eyes just hurt and I feel like I’m gonna faint” she replied.

“Alright, but just so you know, we’re playing again later this week, and I better see you entering the lobby on time” Felix said, trying to sound threatening, but failing at it. Y/N giggled to herself, the sound making Corpse smile almost unknowingly.

“I wouldn’t dare to miss a chance to murder my new friends!”

“Oh my god, she’s too adorable!”

Everyone said their goodbyes and soon Y/N left the call, her small astronaut disappearing from the lobby, much to Corpse’s disappointment. He wished she’d stay a little longer, playing with her was something he found incredibly fun and quite relaxing if he was completely honest. Or maybe aside from playing itself, listening to her voice was what kept bringing a smile to his face every time she spoke up.

“Guys, I think I’m also gonna call it a day, it was really fun.”

“What? It’s not even been over an hour!” Rae protested.

“Yeah, I um.. I know but-”

“Don’t push him guys, he can’t play without his partner in crime” Toast’s teasing voice made everyone burst out laughing, and Corpse just shook his head, glad that nobody could see how red his face became.

“Fuck you guys, okay?” he chuckled into the mic, before finally saying his goodbyes and leaving as well. He thanked his viewers for watching and promised to stay longer next time, before closing the discord.

He sat for a moment in his chair, staring at the black screen, a smile slowly widening on his lips. It was one of the best games he had ever played in Among Us, and he couldn’t wait to be Impostor with Y/N again.

“Perfect partner in crime... I’m such an idiot” he mumbled under his breath and felt himself blush, shaking his head at how awkward that must’ve sounded. He pulled his phone out and checked his Twitter, only for his eyes to widen once he saw the top trending hashtags.

#Y/NxCorpse

#Y/NfortheBride

#PerfectPartnerInCrime

“Oh my God...” Corpse yelped, covering his eyes with his hand as if it would make all those tweets disappear. “Why am I the way I am?”

He considered texting her, trying to maybe make things less awkward than they already were, but decided against it. He feared he’d make even more of an idiot out of himself...

Convinced that all those comments about simping and now those hashtags made her uncomfortable, it didn’t even cross his mind that Y/N might be looking at them at the exact same moment, with adorable blush tinting her cheeks, and her lips turning into a small, shy smile...

A/N: I think about writing 3rd part...

#corpse husband #corpse x reader #fanfiction #corpse husband x reader #corpse husband imagine #youtubers x reader #corpse husband imagines

3K notes · View notes

that-gt-and-vore-stuffs · 3 years

Text

Experiment 05SB

Alternatively titled “I’m sorry 2B don’t hate me please”

I hath given in to the M4dc0m brain rot at the cost of me now having written a 7k+ word fic because I’m not confident enough in my art skills to draw it at the moment. Here we go!

Oh, there’s also implied fatal in this (it’s of unnamed characters, plus this is M4dc0m, but I’ve gotta say it. I guess you could take it as reformation if you really wanted to.). Mentions of blood I guess?

As always, Vore under the cut :)

“Ey 2b? You there?” Deimos’s voice crackled to life through the plastic earpiece currently jammed into his left ear, yanking the hacker and unofficial ‘team medic’ as he was called once (much to his own confusion. Sure, he knew basic medical but by no means was he any sort of doctor) back into reality. A brief moment passed in the silence of his room, more often called ‘the lab’, of their base before everything came crashing back at once. Deimos, Sanford, and Hank were out raiding a A.A.H.W warehouse at his instruction. Meaning he was alone in their base, also known as a breaking down appartement they had taken shelter in. It had electricity and provided shelter from the harsh hell scape that had once been the state of Nevada. A dark red sunless sky overhead, vegetation and any ecosystems completely wiped out from what they’d seen, bandits and zeds equally ready to eat the nearest person if it meant living another day, the Agency hunting you down if they thought you’d possibly be working against them or with the infamous Hank J. Wimbleton, and having little to no essential resources for days at a time to top it all off like some twisted cherry on this sick cake. Home sweet fucking home.

“Doc? Helllloooo?” Shit, right. Deimos.

“Sorry, I’m here. What is it Deimos?”

“And the medic lives!” The small cheer was accompanied by laughter from the smallest member of the team. Jebus, how was he able to joke in even the most dire situations?

“Just get to the point, chucklehead.” 2b could hear Sanford add in over the static, the man’s laughter just barely making it to tired ears.

“Right right, sorry man. Anyway, if we wanted to get food on the way back would you say no?” Pardon? There was no way he was hearing that right. There were several reasons why he couldn’t be hearing that right. A. food wasn’t by any means the easiest thing to come by in this hellhole, B. restaurants weren’t really a common thing anymore so those were out of the picture, and C. there’s no way they could p- actually, scratch that last one. Robbing a corpse wouldn’t be the weirdest thing that those three had done. Not by a long shot. Still though, how was he supposed to respond to that request?

“…what?” Apparently by asking the first word on his mind.

“We saw that one hotdog vendor on the way here and we’re all starving. Can we or can we not get hotdogs on the way back?” Oh. That’s what Deimos ment. How on earth had that hotdog vendor not been killed yet?

“Is this a genuine ‘we’ or is it a ‘me’, Deimos?” That seemed like a more fair and answerable question.

“Hey I-!”

“It’s a genuine ‘we’ Doc,” Sanford’s voice chimed in. By the cursing in the background 2b could imagine that he had flipped up Deimos’s mic to temporarily mute him in the realm of their earpieces. “Pretty sure one of our stomachs gave us away to the last group of agents we had to take out. Not gonna point fingers but I’m pretty sure it was Hank- Ack! I’m just saying!”

“Thought we weren’t pointing fingers.” There was the third voice. Rough from years of fighting yet still all too recognizable as Hank. The same Hank J. Wimbleton on the wanted posters that scattered the walls of almost every nearby building, wanted dead by the Auditor and his whole agency. He must’ve smacked Sanford for his comment. Well at least he didn’t do worse, whether on purpose or accident.

“We aren’t. Now Cmon Doc, you never answered my question.” Hearing the other hacker’s voice ask for an answer again 2b sighed. Always eager, wasn’t he? How the man had seemingly endless energy on missions would forever remain a mystery to him, Jebus be damned.

“I don’t really care what you do on the way back so long as you all come back in one piece and with the stuff I sent you there for. Understood?”

“Aye aye, Captain Doc! Over and out!” And there they went. The earpiece went dead, leaving 2b on his own once again once he flicked up his own mic. Back to silence. Sweet sweet silence. It wasn’t often they got that in their shared apartment of a base. Someone was always awake, someone was always saying something. It was never really quiet unless you were lucky enough to be the only one awake. 2BDamned had seen plenty of those rare times, if only because he overworked himself and didn’t sleep. So maybe it was one of his less than desirable qualities, when living in a hellscape being ten steps ahead of the agency trying to kill you is always good. He had to keep that up, on top of keeping the others alive and well.

And then there was his little experiment. That also was taking a toll on how little he slept. Not all that long ago the trio had returned from a mission with the data he had requested and more. Specifically a duffel bag full of seemingly shrunken grunts and two only slightly bigger shrunken MAGs. Pft, how funny it was to say that. A shrunken MAG. Hell, he wouldn’t believe it if you told him with no proof. The idea seemed insane. Oh but it wasn't. Not by a long shot if the cages sitting on one of his tables said anything. Normally he’d call such a thing like keeping people in cages inhumane, not that there were many humane things in this hellhole to begin with. He’d expect keeping them in cages that probably used to be for pets to be a move pulled by the Agency, not himself, however he had to make do with what they could find and had access to. Also known as: not much at all. He wanted to study them after all. Letting them free was just not an option.

Now that probably sounds bad, studying living beings like himself, but one couldn’t blame 2b when you considered his situation (at least he hopes one couldn’t). Somehow the Agency found a way to shrink living beings. That’s power that could be used against him and the others to make everything turn for the worst, something which he wanted to avoid at all costs. However, if one of his teammates or himself were to be shrunken on a mission it would be possibly lifesaving to know how to reverse the effects. Plus, having the power to shrink enemies on their side could certainly prove useful. All that being said, he needed these few alive in order to try and figure out what caused them to be how they were. Hence the repurposed, beat up pet cages. Two of them to be exact. One held the grunts and the other for the two MAG agents. None of them had killed each other yet, so that was nice. A few simple experiments and a dissection of a grunt that had been dead upon arrival to him proved that they still functioned as they would if they were their normal size. Just on a smaller scale. He had sent Hank, Deimos, and Sanford out for supplies today, yes, though if they found any information regarding the shrinking of their little ‘guests’ then they were to bring it to him. With no information on that though, he had to continue his other work. Tired eyes met the screen through red goggles. Moments later his head found itself cushioned in the crook of one of his arms.

“What the hell.” 2b grumbled, a fresh headache slowly starting to pound against the inside of his skull. What the hell was up with him? He should be fine. This was only his second day without proper ‘longer-then-15-minutes’ sleep. He’d gone longer before, he should be able to function. Why was the screen giving him such a headache now of all times? He needed to get stuff done. He needed to finish up this…this……what was he working on again? Hold on, no, he should remember. This shouldn’t be slipping his mind like it is. Maybe if he just thought back a few minutes. It would come back to him, right?

“Ok right before Deimos called, what was I doing?” 2b thought out loud to himself, trying his hardest to recall what had happened prior to the call from his allies. ”I was sitting here…then Deimos called in. Wait, no. Go back. From the top. Since…however long ago I’ve been sitting here, working on…what was I working on before Deimos asked about getting food? I sent them on the raid, didn’t eat, got to work and- no. That’s not it. Why can’t I just-“

Gggnnnnnnrrrr…

Oh well fuck him. That’s why he couldn’t focus. 2b groaned, not bothering to hide the noise as of now. He was alone, no one would hear him or tease him. Unless you would count the shrunken men in the cages, however it wasn’t likely they’d say anything. When you’re the size of a rat, spare the MAGs who were more rabbit sized, to your captor pissing them off seemed like the worst thing one could do. Clearly the hacker wasn’t at all in the mood to deal with teasing, so their mouths remained shut. That left 2b alone to deal with his complaining stomach, a feat which proved easier said than done when one was going off a day and a half without properly sleeping. He couldn’t even remember the last time he ate something. It was all just fuzzing together at this point.

Pushing himself off his desk 2b flopped back into the worn chair he’d been sitting in for God knows how long. Relaxing into the backrest was certainly more comfortable than being hunched over a laptop screen typing away like he had been for the past day or two. A hand fell to rest over his stomach while the other removed his goggles. Those were not helping the blooming headache. A low growl from his stomach drew a small hiss through his teeth, the sound being accompanied by a familiar empty cramping.

“Oh you can shut up.” He grumbled at the organ half heartedly, “It’s not like I can eat anything right now. There’s a reason I sent Hank and the others out.” His stomach growled back, the empty sound ringing in the hacker’s ears. He needed to eat, that was undeniable. The problem was getting something to eat. He had few options, none of which he particularly liked. Option 1. going out to look for something even slightly edible on his own, option 2. wait and hope the others found and brought back food, or option 3. contact the others through his headset and ask them to get him something on the way back. The first option was clearly undesirable on its own and the other two weren’t much better. Sure, asking them to grab something for him would probably be easiest and most logical, however he was almost certain that they didn’t want to hear that out of the blue in the middle of a fight. That and he didn’t want to deal with any teasing that might come along with asking. He wasn’t about to take that chance when he had things to do. He couldn’t remember those things at the moment, sure, but they were still things he had to do! So asking was not an available option at the moment. That left waiting and hoping for the best.

Rrrrrrrnnngggggg….

“I know. I don’t like the idea either.” 2b sighed as he spun around in his chair, gently patting his stomach. He needed to get out of his chair, even if it was just a walk around his room. He needed something after a day and a half straight of sitting there hunched over staring at a screen. Maybe it’d help with the headache if he was lucky. Probably wouldn’t but hey a man could dream. With a small grunt of effort the hacker found himself on his feet, his balance wobbling and legs feeling like brittle pasta beneath him. Ah, that's what I wanted to do earlier. Go figure taking breaks gets ignored by my brain. “However, I do believe it’ll end with the best result. I’m sure they’ll be home soon anyway.”

They wouldn’t. That was a lie, to himself and to his stomach alike. He likely had a few more hours alone, maybe two at least. The A.A.H.W warehouse he’d sent them to was big and if you account for fighting delays and them stopping on the way back then the chance of them being back in the next two hours would be some sort of miracle. By the way his stomach reacted every time he brushed over the thought that the trio was getting food on the way back then he wasn’t going to be looking so hot by the time they arrived back. Oh he was going to get the short end of the stick no matter what he did, wasn’t he? Talk about luck. 2b sighed, running a hand up and through his hair as he walked along one of the walls of his small room. His stomach clearly wasn’t shutting up any time soon so the next best course of action would be to ignore it. Maybe that would help him wait it out. What could he focus on? There was work, he could clean up a little bit maybe, or he could focus on the rattling coming from the cages and-

Hold on.

That most certainly wasn’t right. 2b cocked an eyebrow, crossing the room to where the three cages were placed. Quite the interesting scene was playing out before him. From what he could see a few of the shrunken grunts were teaming up to try and break out of the cages. This wasn’t their first little escape attempt, no, but it interested him enough as he stood there watching and attempting to grab his tablet at the same time. Eventually he had succeeded, opening up a new document to scribble down a few notes.

Title: Log 073SB

Time: 6:34 pm, xx/xx/xx

Author: 2BDamned

Note: Grunts working together to attempt escape. MAG agent seems to be attempting to cause a distraction by rattling the wall of the cage. Or perhaps they just want out. Very annoying either way. None seem bothered by my presence.

Satisfied with his little note, 2b closed the tablet and set it down on the counter next to one of the cages. Whether it was him being too rough with setting the tablet down or the low grumble from his stomach that startled the cage of grunts was up for debate, but currently he couldn’t find it in himself to care. Right now he needed to have a chat with the little troublemakers. Without hesitation the unofficial medic reached forward, opening the little hinged door located on top of the cage with ease compared to what the grunts inside were attempting before. He didn’t think twice before he reached in and grabbed the two topmost grunts from the pile of attempted escapees before retracting his hand, repeating the process with his other hand, and finally closing the cage. Hands now full, each holding two fighting bodies, the hacker sighed.

“Escape huh? How many times have you already tried that and it didn’t work?” 2b asked, a less than impressed tone lacing his voice. Sure, he needed a distraction from his stomach but he didn’t want to have to deal with escape attempts left and right for the next however long. “What made you think it’d go any different this time?”

There was a moment of silence before a soft voice spoke up, one that clearly hadn’t been used recently. One of the grunts in his left hand. “W-we figured i-if we actually tried and w-worked together then maybe we’d b-be able to manage a successful…e-escape…”

“Really now? Interesting.” 2b mumbled, looking over the grunt in his hand. They were all so small. You’d think he’d have gotten used to their size by now but every time he held one it seemed to slap him in the face. Offing them if they got too rowdy wouldn’t be hard at all. Wouldn’t need to use anything to begin with. How crazy it was. “Though I’m not sure I can let this slide as I have with previous instances.”

“W-what?” His response seemed to temporarily stun the four in his hands, most likely because of how it was different from his previous comments on their attempted escapes. A shiver passed over them like a wave while the hacker only nodded.

“Your previous attempts at escape. While I can understand why one would try I’ve made it quite clear that successful escapes won’t be happening nor tolerated, correct? I need to prove my point here because you all clearly don’t understand words.” He shifted on his feet slightly, a new question wracking his brain. What could he do to show he wasn’t going to deal with constant escape attempts? It had to be something that stuck, seeing as they clearly didn’t understand his earlier comments about escape not being tolerated. Only a few moments of silence passed before his lips were moving again. “You four are going somewhere else. A stronger holding space. If any of the others try anything they’ll join you. Simple, yet effective.” Or it would be if he knew exactly where he planned to stick these four. What did he have that could serve as a stronger cell for them? The cages were already pretty secure in terms of what he could work with. He just needed something stronger, close to him, hard to escape, and threatening that held a sense of danger with it. But what could that be? His eyes darted around the makeshift lab, trying to find something.

Grrrrroowwwllll…

2b’s eyes slowly scanned down from his shaking captives to his stomach. For a moment he just stared, eyes lacking any readable emotion. Well now that was certainly an option. It fit his criteria. Almost too well. Strong, hard to escape, close to him, and it held a sense of danger. Under his mask his torn and scared lips quirked up into a little smirk. “Mmhm. That’ll do quite nicely, in fact~”

The final moments of peace were shattered as the meaning of his words collided with his captives like a well aimed punch to the gut. Hearts sunk to their feet like rocks in water, despair rearing it’s head in their struggles. Those fortunate enough to remain in the cages simply watched with a muted horror as the four bodies were tossed onto the table and held down with little to no effort. The hacker wasted no time removing the mask and bandages that usually covered his mouth, tossing the fabrics haphazardly beside his discarded tablet. Despite the word fresh being the last thing he’d use to describe the Nevada air, 2b knew he’d be lying if he said it wasn’t nice to just breathe the air in alone and not through the layers of fabric like he often did. With the temporary roadblock now gone his eyes drifted downward to the bodies pinned beneath his hand.

“Well, I believe that eliminates any preventable issues we could encounter here.” He hummed softly, plucking the grunt who was covered by his hand the least up into the air. It certainly was odd to watch the little body squirm and fight against him, all attacks on the two fingers holding it proving futile. Their only hope seemed to be 2b letting them go, something which proved less and less likely the longer they studied the look in the hackers eyes. It wasn’t a look one ever wanted to find themself on the receiving end of. The sight of sharp teeth, glimmering with saliva through grinning lips, certainly did not help to lower the grunt’s heart rate at all. 2b simply clicked his tongue. “Meaning stalling time is up. Stay still, won’t you?”

The grunt did not, in fact, stay still. It was impossible to do so as far as they knew when you had a spit soaked tongue dragging up every inch of your front, sharp daggers of teeth only millimeters from their face. A deafening silence washed over the others, only being broken by a small pleased hum from their normal sized captor.

“Not bad…” the man mumbled, dragging his tongue up the squirming grunt yet again. A small voice in the back of his mind, his voice of reason, yelled out the obvious loud and clear to him plenty of times: this was wrong. It wasn’t right to be doing what he was about to do. This was stooping down to the bandits level, something he never intended to do unless absolutely necessary. He shouldn’t be enjoying the taste of another living being like this. And yet…here he was. Ignoring any logic and reason in his mind to proceed with this. Thank goodness he was alone. 2b didn’t even want to think about what the others might say if they were to see him how he was now. Shaking his head softly he shoved away the thought, opening his jaw as far as the joint and scarred tissue that made up his cheeks would allow. He wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or concerned with how easily the small body slipped into his mouth.

Despite their best efforts to squirm free of their new confinement, the slippery surroundings of the unofficial doctor’s maw proved to have horrible traction. Saliva dropped onto the unfortunate grunt’s head from above while they desperately tried to crawl out of the dark cavern. Feet scrambled on the soaked surface of their predator’s tongue as the muscle moved and flipped them around as if they were some piece of candy, all while their hands desperately tried to keep as little of them between the axe like teeth. One bite and they were done for, a terrifying thought. Through it all only three sounds were ever heard from those lucky enough to not be in the current grunt’s position. The sickening sounds of soaked struggle, terrified yelps from the grunt stuck within 2b’s jaws, and the occasional hum from the man himself. The torture, as those watching from the cage would describe it, seemed to continue for hours and hours on end.

Glk

Glp~

Until it all stopped with two simple swallows and a collective gasp of horror from those watching. The relaxed posture of the man they all watched failed to help their situation.

“H….huhh…that was..” the uncertified medic breathed, breaking the silence. His free hand lazily felt down his throat, tracing where he could feel the squirming body slip further down by the second. It didn’t take a genius to decipher that the less angry sounding gurgle from the man’s stomach signaled the end of the unfortunate grunt’s descent. With eyes widened just beyond his natural look 2b gently pressed his stomach. How interesting it was, as morbid as it might sound, to feel something squirming around inside the organ. Before he could even stop to consider a better way to word his thoughts, he finished his sentence. Just not in the way the grunts wanted to hear. “…incredibly easy.”

The last thing any of the remaining grunts wanted to see was those eyes scan up slowly before locking on them as if they were some sort of dessert. The clearly out of place smile on the man’s face didn’t help the feeling of impending doom either. If anything it only made it worse as a rough hand plucked another grunt from the selected three that had remained under his hand. Down, beneath his newfound curiosity and odd urge to continue what he was doing, 2b knew he should have been more concerned about how easy this was coming to him. No sane person would take so calmly to swallowing living beings, especially not of his own kind. Yet here he was, smirking as he licked over his scarred lips with cold eyes locked onto the small shaking body like a cat would after spotting a mouse. Looking at their sizes in comparison to one another? The simile was scarily accurate. Through his whole little mental debate the hacker found it all too easy to slip the small body into his mouth, licking it over to draw out as much of that strangely addicting taste before slowly beginning to nudge it back. Just bit by bit until it was far enough.

Glrk

Grk~

“Two down…haahhh…two to go…” the hacker sighed as he traced the lump down his throat. There was a waiting period once more but it didn’t last long before the shiver inducing gurgle signified where the poor soul had ended up. How the man hadn’t gotten sick yet was beyond the understanding of those who witnessed the event and even the man himself. Surely he should feel at least a little nauseous with two rat sized bodies squirming within his stomach. Nausea and fullness were the two sensations he had expected by now and yet neither had shown their face yet. Deep within his mind, from an area he didn’t even know existed until it spoke, a voice urged him to test his limits. 2b had shaken that idea off nearly immediately. As….enticing as that idea was, he still needed a few of the shrunken grunts alive and well to continue his attempts to recreate and reverse however the Agency had shrunken them before. Four however….well that wasn’t the biggest loss in the world if something happened to go wrong. Leaning a little more heavily over the table he grabbed one of the last two grunts, shoving the struggling body into his mouth head first. Quite the sight it was to watch flailing legs be slurped into someone’s mouth like nothing more than wet noodles. Interesting and horrifying.

Glp

Glrk~

Though compared to seeing someone who had been beside you ten minutes ago disappear down your captor’s throat as nothing more than a barely visible lump would top it in the scarring scale. Nothing could compare to that sight. Good god was it terrifying. The reality that escape was impossible was all but cemented into the remaining grunts' brains now, as that had been what had gotten their companions into this situation in the first place. This was happening because their capturer wanted to prove his point that attempted escape would not be tolerated. At this point they were convinced they’d have to have a death wish to attempt escape now. Especially when their conditions weren’t horrible compared to what they could be in, something which hadn’t crossed their minds till now. Now don’t take their words wrong, by no means did they want to stay here. Especially not now. However, if it meant living another day and not ending up as lunch? Staying definitely was the preferable option.

“One to go. Damn.” The hacker's voice snapped all attention back to him. His position had changed, now leaning back on the table as he looked over the struggling form in his hands. The words seemed to flow from his mouth without too much thought needed behind them. They just felt…right. It was a feeling he never expected to experience in such a context that he was now, much less to have it almost piloting him as it felt now, but he was nearly willing to say he welcomed it. He wasn't well acquainted with the idea of eating living beings after all, so the subconscious help to ease the process along wasn’t something he’d push away. Not unless it were to cause an issue that is. However, nothing of the sort had happened yet, meaning he was going to keep letting his actions flow naturally.

Just as he had with the three before this one, 2b wasted little time starting towards his goal. Raising the grunt just above his head the man dangled the flailing body over his open mouth, a sight that he could assume would terrify anyone in the grunt’s position. All went smoothly as he lowered the small body in. That is until the grunt, having seen an opportunity and taken it, grabbed and yanked down his mic. While he tried to react as quickly as possible, he could only pray the microphone had not managed to pick up the gag he’d made after panic and shock had caused him to jolt forward and send the grunt to the back of his throat. He flipped up the mic as fast as he could, trying to determine the best course of action one could take with a squirming body halfway down their throat and a possibility of having just been ratted out to the others by their lunch. He was screwed were they to find out, what with how at least two of the three always seemed to be looking for teasing ammunition. That and this….well this wasn’t exactly normal, you know.

“Doc? Is everything ok over there?” Fuck. That wasn’t good. Ignoring the sinking feeling of dread in his chest the best he could, 2b took a deep breath and forced the fourth grunt down with a swallow that took a little more effort then he felt it should’ve. Flipping down the mic, he answered.

“Damnit- yes. I'm fine, Sanford. Don’t worry.” The sentence had to be his least convincing lie yet. Between his heavy breathing and dryness in his throat he could tell his voice wasn’t helping him in any way. Now he didn’t take his teammates for idiots, despite how it sure seemed like they were sometimes, but in the moment he found himself wishing they were.

“You sure? You don’t sound all that fine. Did something happen back at base?” The worry beginning to lace the man’s voice through the static filled earpiece only served to worsen the feeling of dread in 2b’s chest. He needed to get Sanford, and the others who were no doubt listening, off the idea something had happened. He needed to deal with the whole I-just-swallowed-four-people-alive thing before they came back, so them returning early was not in the plan.

“No, nothing happened.” He shot back, only realizing the speed in his voice wasn’t too reassuring after he said it. Ok, what was a believable excuse for why he sounded like he did? “I just…spilt coffee on my legs after burning my mouth. Must’ve knocked the mic down in the process.” With a hand to his chest the hacker forced a soft swallow, trying to at least get rid of the uncomfortable dryness that had settled in the back of his throat. Please say they believed that.

“Pft, really? Damn, wish I could’ve seen that. Think you looked like one of those old cartoons, Doc?” Phew, crisis averted.

“Real funny, Deimos. Get back to your mission.” 2b shook his head at the comment. At least they seemed to believe him. It was worth it, even if the mental image of those over exaggerated cartoon characters was now going to show up whenever he even slightly burnt his mouth on coffee. Oh well, some sacrifices must be made.

“Alright alright. We’re going.” The man on the other end laughed. Those idiots. Damn his heart caring for them, now he was attached. “See you when we get back. Over and out, Doc!” And there they went.

Fighting off his own soft laughter, 2b flipped up his mic. A soft sigh escaped him before he could even think to stop it. That could’ve been horrible. While one hand softly rubbed at his neck, sore from what he had to guess was the miniature disaster that just took place, the other gently laid itself over his stomach. The four inside never seemed to stop moving, constantly squirming and slipping about. There were a handful of reasons he could assume was the cause, though the most likely was that being shoved into a soaking wet moving sack with three of your colleagues provided little traction or ability to get comfortable. That and panic. Panic was probably a rather big factor in how they were feeling. 2b, on the other hand, had to be feeling the exact opposite of how they were. The warm weight of his four ‘victims’ was a welcome sensation within the previously empty pit of his stomach. As twisted as he knew it sounded, he would’ve been confident saying that what he was feeling was honestly satisfactory. Why having living beings stretch and actually round out his stomach in a barely noticeable way was causing this feeling was a mystery to him, but at the moment he couldn’t find it in himself to care. Not when it felt this nice.

“I hope I’ve made my point clear.” The unofficial medic hummed, looking over to the grunt filled cage. They had backed away from him by now, huddled in the back most corner of their confines. The sight drew a genuine laugh from the man they all seemed to fear ten times more than before. Well that was proof if he’d ever seen it. Looks like their escape wasn’t something he had to worry about any more. So maybe he sacrificed a little of his ‘I’m not going to hurt you’ act for this. It was worth it in his eyes. And besides, he was probably the most gentle with them out of his whole little gang. If they wanted to be left with one of the others then go ahead. Although being left with the mercenary who you were created to kill didn’t sound like the most fun time to him. Smirking, he collected his goggles, mask, and tablet from the table. “It seems I have. Glad we could have this little -hic!- chat. Heh.”

He gave the cage a pat, the rattling of the metal only serving to scare the grunts further back in the ball of bodies they’d curled into, before turning to walk back to his desk. He needed to sit down. Standing apparently became a lot harder when you had four people fighting against your insides. Thinking back, he didn’t know what he would have expected. Did he stumble a little bit trying to get back to his desk? Yes, he did. It was like he forgot how to walk in all honesty. Another reason he was glad he was alone in their base. Like most things though it proved worth it when he finally collapsed into the worn chair he used for work. Without thinking twice he opened his tablet and started a new log.

—————————

“Doc! We’re back!” The call rang out through the appartement, followed by three sets of footsteps marching their way in and the door slamming shut perhaps a little stronger than needed. As the hinges of the door stopped rattling the three expected to hear a displeased groan, followed by the ruffled form of 2b appearing in the hallway to scold them for being so aggressive or something like tracking blood into the base. Honestly, why he still bothered was a mystery to them, at least Sanford and Deimos for they had zero clue what went on in Hank’s head, for the most part. They were mercenaries, fighters, people looking to not end up with their brains splattered on the wall or something worse. They were going to be bloody upon returning, even if that blood wasn’t their own. It wasn’t like their floors were carpet or anything either. In the end though they never bothered to fight the scoldings. No use making the unofficial medic mad, especially if they needed help. The lack of disgruntled medic in the hallway or at least yelling when silence returned to the room was worrying. After a minute or two with nothing spoken and no ruffled hacker to be seen, Deimos tried again to call him.

“2b?” He called out, peering down the hallway which led to their rooms. There wasn’t any blood on the walls, a good sign to start, and no bullet holes that weren’t there before. Unless the Agency suddenly learned how to do stealth missions, something he and he knew the other two were hoping wasn’t the case, he had hopes. Again, no response from the man. Gun still in his hand he took one glance back to the others, a silent ‘follow me’, before continuing down the hallway. Although Deimos had made it to the closed door first he’d been pushed past by the red goggle wearing giant as he reached for the doorknob. Hank had been the one to open the door to 2b’s room. He’d also been the first of the trio to feel the tension in his shoulders drop. It wasn’t long after he had relaxed that he was shoved into the room by two bodies trying to get in and see any damage that could’ve been done while they were gone. The sight of 2BDamned softly snoring away in his chair, nothing in the room seeming out of place, was most certainly a welcome one.

“Ah. So that’s why he isn’t barking us up a tree for your entrance, Dei.” Sanford hummed with a laugh, careful to watch his volume. If there was one thing he didn’t want to deal with after their mission it was a cranky Doc who got woken up by them. It wasn’t a secret he didn’t necessarily sleep after all and there was no way he could survive off coffee like he seemed to silently claim he could sometimes. They all had times when their sleep schedules were fucked.

“Oh shut up, ‘Ford.” Deimos shot back with a playful punch to the man’s bicep. “It’s not like I’m the one who slammed the door. That’s what he would’ve been on our asses about.”

“You slammed it open then yelled loud enough for all of Nevada to hear you. Don’t act like you’re innocent!”

As the two’s words morphed into friendly bickering Hank took it upon himself to deliver the bit of what they got that couldn’t stay in the duffle bag slung over his shoulder at the moment. Buried in the pocket of his jacket was a small object. Something he hadn’t expected to find, but had snagged nonetheless when it had been pointed out by Deimos. For a second as he walked over to the man a rough hand dug around fabric, fingers gripping plastic as he arrived at his destination. Without thinking he tossed the USB onto the hacker’s desk, eyes wandering over small things like the empty coffee mug or discarded goggles. Behind red-tinted goggles they landed on the man’s tablet, the screen now illuminated thanks to what he could assume had been the small drive hitting the desk. Prying wasn’t something he often did when it came to his teammates, respecting their privacy as they often did his, but after a certain word caught his eye he couldn’t help but read the log that had popped up.

Title: Experiment 05SB

Time: 7:42 pm, xx/xx/xx

Author: 2BDamned

Note: I…cannot believe I’m about to write this. This is update one of Experiment 05SB, an experiment started without much if any bit of a proper plan behind it. Phase I, I suppose you could call it, was a success. The shrunken grunts are, in fact, small enough to swallow whole and…alive. MAGs have not yet been confirmed to be the same way, though I’m sure that answer will show itself one day. I am unsure why I am able to keep four of them down without feeling nauseated, but I can. I will update at a later time when more information has presented itself.

The log ended there, eyes falling away from the screen as Hank’s mind worked to process the information it had just been given. According to what had been written before the man had fallen victim to sleep, it was not only possible to swallow the shrunken beings sitting in one of the cages behind him, but the unofficial doctor had done it himself. Four times to be exact. Curiosity grabbed control of his eyes, slowly panning them up to the cage of grunts who looked noticeably more terrified than they usually did. Had they seen the whole thing go down? His mind continued to wander, finding new questions like how on earth the hacker had managed to keep living and no doubt moving beings down like the log said he did. That is unless he’d spit them up before falling asleep. However that seemed highly unlikely-

“Snooping around Doc’s stuff, are we Hank~?” When Deimos had appeared behind him was beyond the mercenary, though the shock of hearing his voice out of the blue was enough to startle him into quickly powering off 2b’s tablet and whipping around to face the two that now stood across with him with far too smug looks on their faces for his liking.

“Woah there, big guy! We didn’t mean any trouble.” Sanford cooed, the fucking Chad cooed, holding his hands up as if he was under some sort of arrest. “Just wanted to know what you were reading over here is all~.”

“Yeah, exactly. I never expected to find you clicking through Doc’s diary.” Deimos added on nearly flawlessly. Sometimes he really hated how well they worked together. Namely when it was against him. “So, was it a love confession~?”

Hank sighed, glaring at the two through his goggles. He sure fucking hoped they could see the look on his face, despite most of it being covered by bandages and his mask. Because he was not amused and he wanted them to know it.

“No, not a love confession, you morons.” He groaned, shaking his head. Telling them straight off what it said would probably be horrible. At the moment he was still having a few difficulties understanding parts of what he read. Lying just seemed like the best choice overall. It wasn’t like he’d be the only one doing so, after all. It sure seemed like 2b did to them over the mic. Speaking of the man, Hank turned around to take a good look at him. At first glance he seemed like he normally did when he passed out in his chair from overworking himself like this. It was only when Hank took an extra second to look and let the information in his brain guide him did he see the slightly out of place softness around the sleeping hacker’s stomach. Unable to help himself Hank felt his ruined remaining lip quirk up into a small smirk under his mask as he turned around to shove the Dumbass Duo out of the room so 2b could sleep.

“Bunch’a nonsense, is all. Now move. I don’t wanna deal with him if you idiots wake him up and we still have shit to put away.”

#soft vore #mawedness combat #hahaha finally!#I’ve been waiting to use that tag #implied fatal #oopsie #it’s no named character so I guess it’s not bad #I mean this is in the M4dc0m universe so don’t expect my works with these fuckers to be as sunshine as some of my N3ws¡3s ones were #2b I do hope you won’t hate me for this if you can see it

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megatraven · 4 years

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Crazy idea that you might like because it has Alex but Among Us AU or whatever with Astoria cast. (This might be a bad idea but)

like an among us au where they play it together or like theyre in th situation of among us? EITHER WAY YES

and if u mean play it together ive 100% been thinking about it

hades would rarely ever play because he ALWAYS ends up dead first unless he’s a crewmate and alex and mc are the imposters. actually they would kill him too every now and again to throw people off their trail,,,,,

hydra: ok so i found a body in the med bay, i think it was hades

hades: WHAT? i was nowhere near the med bay, this is-

hydra: HM? HOW’D YOU KNOW THE BODY WAS IN THE MED BAY THEN?

hades: BECAUSE YOU SAID IT WAS IN THE MED BAY

astraeus: that’s pretty sus

hades: NO it’s not

medusa: it kind of is

cerberus, cracking up: you’re the god of the underworld, THAT’s pretty sus

chimera: agreed! :)

alex: ............. agreed

hades: oh come ON this is why i never play this thing. MC. please tell them i’m not sus.

mc:

hades: :^) please

mc: they’ve all already voted but hades was with me in electrical

hades: you see-

mc: and then he went towards the med bay so who knows

hades: GODS DAMMIT

*hades gets voted off*

Hades was not an imposter

*emergency meeting gets called*

hydra, sounding Very pleased with himself: my bad

ahem

ANYWAYS

SO YES IVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT IT A LOT

mc is th best imposter among them since she’s friends with everyone and is essentially the linchpin of the group and she’s weirdly good at having an excuse that clears her. hydra and alex are best at figuring out she’s the imposter, but mc can usually turn it onto someone else

cerberus forgets to mute his mic a lot and has gotten caught as imposter that way

medusa only focuses on her tasks, she doesn’t pay attention to anyone around her

chimera likes sabotaging stuff as a ghost and he absolutely doesn’t do his tasks until he’s the last person who needs to

astraeus has a bad habit of popping out of vents around other people and instead of killing them he pops back in

hydra likes trying to keep track of where everyone goes so he can figure out who the imposters are; he likes playing with cams on and just watches them the whole time

alex always stayed with another player in the hopes theyre not an imposter and they announce “IM WITH X SO IF I DIE ITS THEM”

mc really likes playing imposter, but as a crewmate she’s the most likely person to finish her tasks first, and she’s died RIGHT AS She presses the button for an emergency meeting a very unusual amount of times because she’s so good at avoiding other imposters long enough to make it there

hades never survives long but he’s just trying to do his tasks. he’s had the unfortunate luck to see someone kill another person and as he goes to report the body, other people catch him right by it and accuse him of being imposter

#among us #astoria #lovestruck #lovestruck voltage #hades #hydra #medusa #cerberus #astraeus #alex #chimera #afk mc

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justsimplypretty · 5 years

Text

Needy - (n.m.)

Storyline: The reader is officially over Nick being too busy for her lately, so she decides to take matters into her own hands.

Author’s Note: Okay so I got too carried away with this one. Not sure what got into me but I was obviously feeling some type of way. Nick just does it to me what can I say.

Warning: DEFINITE SMUT WARNING

Word count: 2k

It had been the most annoying past few weeks of you and Nick’s relationship. He was constantly busy with meetings, rehearsals, and studio sessions that it left little to no time for you. And after many cancelled plans and rescheduled alone time together, you were starting to become restless and in desperate need of his attention.

You woke up on the living room couch early in the morning after attempting to stay awake until Nick got home from the studio the night before. You had a huge blanket laid across you that you didn’t remember being there before. Meaning Nick had come in late and saw you snuggled up and proceeded to gently wrap you up in the blanket without disturbing you.

You got up from the tiny couch and wrapped the blanket tightly around yourself and set out to find him somewhere in your shared apartment. You were happy to find him in the bedroom, but were immediately met with disappointment once you saw him on the phone. He locked eyes with you as you stood in the doorway and a grin instantly crossed his face.

“Morning angel” Nick whispered, covering the phone mic as he walked toward you. “I’m on a conference call with the guys and some people from the management team but I won’t be long” he continued as he placed a kiss on your forehead. But you knew that phrase all too well. Whenever Nick said something “won’t be long”, it always ended up being longer than anticipated and running up until the time he had to do the next thing planned for the day. Hence, the reason you two had no time together lately.

“You always say that Nick but I need to be with you now” you said whining as you pouted your lips. But Nick continued his conversation as he walked to sit on the bed and proceeded to mouth a simple “just a minute” to you. You had officially had it. Being over constantly getting ignored by your boyfriend, you decided to take matters into your own hands. If he wasn’t going to give you the attention, then you’d just have to demand it yourself.

You dropped the blanket to the floor revealing your red laced thong covered by your oversized t-shirt. You crawled on the bed behind Nick who was sitting at the edge, and began prepping kisses all along his neck. He was mid sentence with his phone conversation when his voice came to halt at the feeling of your lips on his skin.

“Nick, you still there?” you heard Brandon say on the phone. “Yeah yeah I’m here just a quick sec” Nick said proceeding to cover the phone mic.

“Baby, I just said I won’t be long. Give me a second” Nick said in a stern tone. Something about the assertiveness in his voice only made you more turned on and want to continue pushing the limit.

Nick went on with the conversation, discussing future dates and venues for an upcoming concert. You continued your scandalous ways and began moving your hands down Nick’s chest and slowly to his boxers, where you began rubbing him from outside. You could feel he was already hard. You thought maybe it was from the sight of you in his favorite underwear of yours or maybe from the many marks you left on his neck. Either way, you continued moving your hand over his member, palming him ever so slightly.

“Y-yeah the ten-tenth of next month” Nick said stuttering over a couple of words. You took that as a sign that your plan was working and decided to go even further. You got off the bed, went over in between Nick’s legs, and immediately got on your knees. Before Nick could even say anything, you slid his boxers down and took him into your hand. A low groan came out of Nick’s mouth as he looked at you from above. His eyes were filled with both anger and lust. He covered the mic again as he grabbed your wrist and stopped your motions at once.

“You may enjoy teasing me now, but you’re going to regret it if you continue later” Nick said as he let go of your dainty wrist.

“Hm I don’t know Nick... maybe I wanna regret it later” you said as you slowly took the tip of him into your mouth. Nick clenched his jaw, and tried to carry on the conversation. But as you continued to take more and more of him in your mouth, the feeling was too good and he couldn’t control it anymore. He unintentionally let a low “fuck” escape from his mouth.

“You alright over there Nick?” Edwin questioned at the profanity coming from Nick’s line. “Yeah, just dropped something that’s all... just continue” Nick said trying to move the conversation forward. You giggled a little at the excuse Nick had told the boys, causing more sensation to be released onto him.

At this point, he was getting close. Out of breath and extremely in need of release, he was struggling to keep his noises in. But that didn’t stop you. You loved seeing him this way. Helpless and in need of release while still trying to carry on a conversation. Which is why it took you completely by surprise when Nick took himself out of your mouth and looked deep into your eyes.

“Strip. Now.” He said in a strict but silent tone to avoid anyone hearing. His voice was too sexy that you didn’t even care to question why he stopped you or what was to come next. All you wanted to do was listen to him. So you slid your shirt over your body exposing your bare chest and slowly slid the lace down your legs as Nick’s eyes watched your every move, never leaving you.

“Perfect... absolutely perfect” Nick said loud and clear. You couldn’t tell if he was referring to something said on his conference call or to your completely stripped body standing in front of him, but it made you a little more wet both ways. He signaled you towards him with his two fingers and began touching your body. He left kisses all over, causing you to tilt your head back in pleasure. He continued to place his free hand on your hip, as he guided you to sit down to where you were straddling his thigh. Nick held the phone as far away from his ear as possible as he began to whisper into yours.

“Make yourself cum on my thigh baby. I wanna see you struggle. And don’t dare let a single one of those pretty moans escape your mouth. Understood?” Nick said strictly. You gave a quick nod, in desperate need of wanting to feel some type of pleasure on your now sensitive area. Nick moved the phone back to his ear as he began helping you rock your hips.

“Sorry yes I’m still here, just had to quickly take care of something” Nick said continuing his conversation. Something about possibly getting caught by everyone on the phone made you feel more rebellious and turned on, causing you to continue moving faster. The feeling started to take you over, sending pleasure over your whole body as Nick’s eyes, for the second time that morning, watched your every move, never leaving you.

You could tell you were losing control, forgetting Nick was still on the phone and beginning to let out soft moans. Nick’s hand quickly began covering your mouth as he whispered into your ear.

“What did I say princess? Not a word” Nick said looking deep into your lustful eyes. He could sense you were close and weren’t gonna be able to hold it for much longer. “Does my baby want to cum for me? Huh?” Nick said as you eagerly nodded your head, hoping he’d give you permission to do so. But instead he picked you up, and quickly set your back down onto the bed.

“Hey I’m gonna have to put you guys on hold for a second. Something needs my attention is that cool?” Nick said on the phone. “Yeah man go ahead” Brandon said not knowing you were the something that was awaiting Nick’s attention.

Nick quickly put the phone on mute and set it on the nightstand. He got back on the bed to a super whiny you, in need of his touch.

“Nick please baby” you moaned trying to avoid touching yourself. You knew it would only cause Nick to leave you just like this. “Please what?” Nick said hovering over you. “I need to feel you inside of me baby please fuck me” you said being a complete mess under him.

“I don’t know if you deserve it princess after disobeying me earlier” Nick said teasing your entrance with his tip only causing you to go insane.

“I promise I’ll be good for you from now on just please Nick I can’t take it” you said. Nick decided you’d had enough suffering and continued to slowly inch himself into you. Your eyes rolled to the back of your head as you wrapped both hands around his neck, clawing at his back. “f-fuck” is all you could say. Even though you and Nick had done this plenty of times before, you could never get use to how big he was.

“You like that baby? Huh?” Nick said picking up the pace. “I-I love it... f-fuck me” you moaned completely losing feeling in your legs.

“Gladly” Nick said continuing to go faster and faster. Your screams and the sound of your bodies coming together were completely filling the room. At a time like this, you were definitely grateful for that mute button.

“Fuck I wish you could see how pretty you look falling apart underneath me baby...you’re a mess” Nick said as his strokes became less in sync, hinting he was close. “Tell me who it’s all for? Who that sweet pussy belongs to princess?” Nick continued.

“You baby it’s all for you... p-please can I cum?” you begged not being able to hold it in anymore.

“Not yet baby, hold it in for me understood?” Nick said awaiting your response. But you were in too much pleasure to even form words at this point, causing Nick to give you a slap on the thigh. “Understood?” Nick repeated himself.

“Y-yes daddy” you managed to say with the little energy you had left.

Hearing you call him this only made him go deeper than ever before. It was unexplainable at this point. How good Nick had you feeling. And the fact that there were people one button away from hearing it at all sent you over the edge.

“Fuck baby I’m gonna cum PLEASE” you screamed almost at your climax.

“Look at me and let go baby... open those pretty eyes for me... I wanna see your face when you cum on me” Nick said allowing you release all over him. Your screams continued to fill the room as your legs wrapped tightly around Nick’s waist, bringing him to his climax as well. “Just like that baby... fuck you’re making me cum for you” Nick said as he released.

You were completely out of breath as Nick got off the bed and grabbed a warm towel from the bathroom, gently wiping your sensitive area before picking up the phone.

“Yeah yeah sorry for the wait guys, but you’ll have to figure the rest out without me. I need to give this my attention for a whole lot longer” Nick said looking over at you and smiling.

He quickly hung up the phone before anyone could respond and climbed into bed with you. “You okay baby?” Nick asked like he usually does, always wanting you to be okay after you guys did anything. Though he was wild during sex, he was still a total sweetheart. Always making his girls wellbeing his number one priority. Always.

“Trust me, I’m much better now” you said snuggling into his chest. You spent the rest of the morning in his arms, finally having the alone time you’d been hopelessly craving.

#prettymuch #prettymuch smut #nick mara #zion kuwonu #brandon arreaga #edwin honoret #austin porter #nicksmut #nickmarasmut #nick mara imagines #pmwriting #prettymuch imagines

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cetaceans-pls · 4 years

Link

Fandom: Batman - All Media Types Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne

What are two good men meant to do when faced with an epidemic within a pandemic?

Bruce and Dick take to the steppes and ride across Inner Mongolia, bringing justice, mare's milk, and help in their wake.

Or, how Bruce and Dick try to show mutual care and respect in spite of: terrible communication skills; a global health crisis; a regional health crisis; tetchy horses; eyebrow gel; and coal-mining, set in endless, glorious Inner Mongolia.

I have never not been a horse girl, and that’s the extent of my justification for writing this. Pls enjoy, and if you hit me up with a good prompt I might once again end up with 15 tabs wide open in my quest to figure out what a cool Mongolian lady might be named ;9

Usually, Bruce is happy to delegate external work to external workers. He’s a one-man force for justice, full of vim and spite, but he’s also stuffed to the brim with barely-healed bones and a chronic shortage of sleep. Staking a claim to Gotham is so important exactly because it’s the only claim he can actually defend, and so he does it whole-heartedly. That’s the purpose of the Justice League, after all. It’s only by the grace of some god that he isn’t a meta-human, or he’d have the whole world under his sharp purview.

Bruce has toppled his fair share of terrible dictators, and looking at them is a little like looking in a mirror sometimes, so if there is a God maybe she’s got the right of it.

The thing with all the superpowers that make up the League is that while it’s brilliant in times of intergalactic or even international trouble, when a pandemic’s up and about, the Flash being able to run through every city on Earth in under a minute means that he’s potentially the world’s most super spreader, and Superman evacuating buildings needs to make damn sure he sanitises between rescues. Wonder Woman’s all lasso nowadays, because happily divine products are extremely anti-viral, but right now the things that make the strong strong also make them oddly, sharply weak.

They’re living in interesting times, all right.

So when a call comes through that there’s been a horrifying spike in pneumonia-like symptoms in children in Inner Mongolia, everyone's a little… stressed. Flyers are already up and about delivering things that need delivering, anyone with anything approaching healing powers have been dispatched to hotspots, and Bruce is pretty sure the last time he had a full night’s sleep was sometime in January. Here lies yet another problem with an uncertain cause, one that can’t be defeated with a punch or a meeting, and they’re already strung out to capacity.

When needs must, Bruce tries to rise to the occasion. He’s had pneumonia dozens of times before, he speaks Mandarin and Mongolian, and he’s the only one who has and knows how to run a one-man research lab in the middle of a field mission. He’s been trialling a bunch of vaccines on himself too, and he’s still up and kicking, so obviously he’s the best choice.

There’s the opposite of sound agreement during the League conference call.

“You tried how many what-nows?” somebody’s shouting, but Bruce hopes they know him well enough by now to know that when they’re on the BatZoom he blocks all their videos.

“Vaccines. Who else would I try them on? A sample size of one isn’t encouraging, but barring reinfection I do seem to have produced the antibodies, so obviously I am the best choice.”

There’s more raucous shouting that he ignores, but he doesn’t hang up because he knows that everyone on this call also likely had their last full night’s sleep in January.

“Hang on, B, we’re not letting you go into the wilds of Inner Mongolia to identify a new, potentially lethal disease by yourself.” That’s Clark, because he’s the only one who can be cajoling and gently condescending all at once. “I’ll admit the numbers are alarming, but the WHO are going to look into it-”

“Superman, if any organisation could manage the current health crisis, you wouldn’t be up to your shoulders in parts assembling ventilators in Brazil. This is just a courtesy call, not a debate. I’ll be departing ASAP with my equipment once I finish collating the health data.”

They all start arguing again, all at once, and they all make valid points. Bruce doesn’t actually know what he is and isn’t immune to at this point, and if it’s something new then that’s even more of an issue. By virtue of his relative uselessness, though, Bruce is the one in the best position to run recon for an extended period, as well as the one most likely to be able to self-quarantine without leaving thousands to die by his absence. Gotham’s in a good place, because the Bat coming after irresponsible citizens and lawmakers alike and Bruce Wayne coming after unfair labour practices are about 5000 times more effective than the federal government, so he can step up. He should step up.

He will step up.

So it’s a no-brainer.

All the voices shut out all of a sudden, which means one of the administrators has put everyone on mute. He didn’t do it, and Clark would likely sooner eat a bright red Super boot than be that rude to people, which leaves them only with the worrisome woman.

“All right, Batman, we’ll respect your wishes. I have informed Nightwing of your plans, as he’s requested that I share your more exotic missions with him. I’m sure he would love to discuss the situation with you.” Lord, her smug smile is excruciatingly evident in her tone.

Bruce mutes his own mic to groan long and loud and hard, and tries to will away the near-Pavlovian headache that tends to manifest when he finds himself saddled with one of his children for an awful case.

He unmutes his mic.

“Noted. Thank you for your concern, Wonder Woman. Batman over and out.”

If Dick has to travel up from Bludhaven, there’s a chance Bruce can be off and away before he gets here. That’s fine; a quick getaway is a skill he’s honed over a great many years. He just needs the time-lapse of the distribution of the illness to finish getting mapped against urban areas in the computer, and he can go-

The lights suddenly dim, down to the faint yellow that indicates that the main power and generators 2 through to 5 have been cut off, with just 6 up to keep the computer and general equipment working.

Generator 6 is not linked to the hangar doors, though, so there’s….that.

The desire to scream is almost overwhelming. He knows Diana keeps in contact with more people than his soft human mind can even comprehend, but to even recruit Alfred to her devilish ways…

Bruce groans again, and irritatedly starts packing the equipment he’ll need as he waits for the arrival of (one of) his prodigal son(s).

The lights come back on to full just as Dick launches himself over the handrail and down a 30-foot drop, because dramatics, if not genes, run in this entire damn family. He’s not even dressed as Nightwing, just as a devastating young man. This many years on, Bruce’s heart still stutters in that instant before Dick hits the ground, because what if this is the time he doesn’t stick the landing?

The Graysons’ terrible death sure did hit them both differently.

“Hey, B,” and it’s just Dick whole and complete, smiling brightly.

“Where’s your mask?” Bruce asks brusquely.

Dick looks startled, before he looks down at his jeans and sweatshirt. “I was going for a more casual look?”

Bruce rolls his eyes. “Not that mask.”

The implication lands, and Dick rolls his eyes like a late echo. “Already off and away in Alfred’s washer, ‘course. Not like I took the crowded way over, anyways. Roads are empty as all hell, and rooftops even emptier. But Bruce, don’t try to irritate me to distraction.” Dick wags his finger at him.

It’s a little sweet, because Dick clearly had been distracted before he’d pulled himself back into focus.

“What’s this I hear from Wonder Woman that you’re running off to Mongolia to try and miracle-cure a mystery sickness?”

Bruce is already hauling up the last rucksack he needs for the trip, though he doesn’t bother to pull up the cowl. “Likely exactly what Diana told you. She was wrong about my needing you or your support, though. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

Bruce brushes by him and heads towards the fully-loaded BatWing, banking on being enough of an unpleasant son-of-a-bitch that Dick sighs and gives up on him and goes home where an at least marginally better known disease is running rampant. It’s a technique that’s worked before, enough to have Dick rage at him and storm off and avoid him, and it’s unpleasant every time, but needs just really must sometimes.

The thing about Dick, though, specifically Dick more so than every other person Bruce has had the pleasure and displeasure to have ever met, is his unbelievable knack of having an endless capacity to forgive Bruce without taking any of his shit.

So Dick will be upset and he might leave, but he always finds it within himself to come back, and when he does, he always lets Bruce know all the places where he failed, and inadvertently explains all the ways Bruce could be just a little bit better. He will forgive and it damn well seems like he even forgets all these little injustices, and it’s maddening.

The concept of endangering one of the world’s best men on a dodgy medical mission out in the steppes? A goddamn laughable concept. Bruce would be delighted to bear a spot of wrath when he comes back instead.

Sometimes, though, the full arc of Dick’s mood after being brushed off goes from anger to acceptance so quickly that Bruce doesn’t get enough time to go off and do the damn-fool thing he’s about to do. Sometimes, like tonight, Bruce sweeps past Dick dramatically, and gets pulled up short by Dick grabbing the back of his cape and tugging.

He comes to a not-very-graceful halt, choked a little around the neck, and looks over his shoulder at Dick with tremendous affront. “Dick, what are you doing?”

Dick just smiles sharply, clearly out through the other side of the angry cycle. “I’m ignoring you being a complete asshole out of some misguided sense of heroism, B, and I’m letting you know that I know you’re trying to get me so annoyed I just leave you. Alfred’s got me full-up with good cheer, and I’m in a good mood, so you’re just shit out of luck.” His voice softens, goes a little sad and round in the edges. “Let me help, Bruce. None of us want you out there alone. You would never let any of us take a case like this alone, so just give in. Okay?”

Bruce knows there are ways out of this. Dick in his infinite trustingness would not expect a sedative dart to the neck, and Bruce could always fall back on his standard operating procedure from years long past and nuke this tentative moment by doubling down on how he doesn’t need anyone and how he doesn’t answer to Dick, who is still little more than a child. There’re a dozen ways Bruce could disentangle himself from this, and they both know this.

Dick still chooses to trust and believe, the way he inevitably always does, and Bruce is short on 3 months’ worth of sleep. All he wants is to take care of the people he needs to take care of.

Plus, vaccine trial #8 is giving him the sweats, and he feels uncharacteristically desperate to just… relent.

“Get your stuff and get in the Wing. I’m not waiting.”

Of course Dick takes so much longer than is reasonable to grab gear from his room, and of course Bruce sits in the Wing with the engine idling, like all beleaguered parents waiting in their vehicles worldwide.

With a final hurrah from Alfred who appears with enough packed food to have them camping in luxury for a week, they are finally, finally off.

Air traffic’s the quietest it’s been in decades. There’s something surreal about not needing to push the Wing to her upper height limits to stay invisible, instead cruising along like some, ah, passenger plane. They see geese, which is the highlight of their trip, before they finally go up and up and up to evade any hot nonsense Eastern Europe or Russia may be in the mood to throw at them.

At least, that’s Dick’s explanation of their trajectory, after Bruce wakes up from a drugged-scone-induced nap (courtesy of the enormously traitorous Alfred) just in time for them to discuss where to land. Still groggy but decidedly better rested than he was 6 hours ago, Bruce licks the cottonmouth out and intrepidly takes a sip of what he’s hoping isn’t knock-out tea as he looks at the map Dick’s pulled up on the windscreen.

Poison pastry or no, Bruce accepts that the reason why he’d actually stayed asleep is because his eldest is by far the best, most trustworthy driver in the family. It’s been so long since he’s been in a situation where Dick drove that he had forgotten that absolute fact.

“The most cases registered of an unconfirmed respiratory illness is in the capital, but accounting for population density, the pandemic, and the usual rates of pneumonia, it’s not where we need to focus on.” Bruce pulls up a map of the region, and the capital of Inner Mongolia lights up in glowing orange, ‘Hohhot’ written in Papyrus because Tim cannot be trusted with software updates.

At least it’s not Wing-dings.

“We should split up,” Bruce continues after glaring a touch too long at the hideous writing. “You try to get a read on how things are in the hospitals in Hohhot, and I’ll head out into the steppes to touch base with the more rural communities.”

He doesn’t sound excited with the plan, because he already knows he’s not getting away with it.

Dick doesn’t even have the decency to pretend to agree and defer, laughing instead as he starts plotting the course for a landing on a patch of grassland exactly like any other patch of grassland a ways’ way away from the bright city lights. “Yep, B, I definitely broke 15 different traffic laws to get to the Manor in time to stop you from going solo, just to let you ride off into the desert like the lone ranger.” There’s a gentle beep to warn them of some military surveillance equipment in their vicinity, and Dick smoothly drops the Wing into a pretty banked turn that takes them away with a gentleness that wouldn’t have turned even the most hungover tummy. “I took a look at your maps while you were out, and I figure if this thing’s worse for kids and we don’t know where to start, we should just go be pretend doctors and make a circuit of all the little community schools.”

“That’s a good idea.”

That has Dick turning in the pilot’s seat to look at Bruce, clearly shocked. “Wait, what were you planning on doing?”

“Break into the peoples’ homes at night and take samples from as many children I could get. If I get caught, I would be in costume, and therefore very likely to be mistaken as a nightmare, or potentially a demon.”

There’s peace and quiet for a few moments, and then Dick’s laughing again. It’s an insulting delight.

“Bruce!” Dick pleads, struggling for breath. “ Please say psyche. You cannot have seriously been planning to give every kid in Inner Mongolia nightmares while you steal blood from them!”

Time was short, and what Bruce had was the Batman costume and the general ability to be misconstrued as a demonic entity at first glance. “I would have needed more than just blood samples, to be thorough.”

The ground spreads out endlessly below them, the sky endlessly above. The grass is blown gently out of the way as the Wing drops into a perfect vertical landing, which is amazing considering Dick is actively wheezing at this point. “Wait till Alfie hears that this was your great plan.” The landing gear hits ground, and they have now made contact with gorgeous, gorgeous Inner Mongolia. “Seems pretty, uhm, intense even for you, B.”

Neither of them move to get up and get out; they’re both just slumped in the admittedly comfortable pilot seats of the Wing, looking out at the rolling hills and more stars than Gotham’s ever, ever seen.

“It’s been an intense time.”

Dick’s laughter softens, peters out as they just keep on sitting and looking out. The swaying grass and endless blank horizon is hugely different to the chaos and stale fear that’s blanketed Gotham and much of the world the past few months, and it’s such a helpless pleasure to not need to think about all of that, right now.

Eventually, Dick gets up and squeezes Bruce’s shoulder. “We’re still hours away from sunrise, B. C’mon, let’s get some sleep, we can start fresh and early.”

Bruce touches the hand on his shoulder, doesn’t dislodge it and doesn’t squeeze it. Just a touch on a touch. “You go first. I’ll be along in a minute.”

Dick relents and wishes him a good night. Bruce just sits there and stares and stares and stares.

Bruce is woken up by the smell of fresh coffee, and it’s a gentler wake-up call than an emergency klaxon or Alfred running down the steps shouting “Master Bruce!” on the 4 occasions they have prevented the apocalypse since February. It’s as disorientating as a slap to his face, and he blinks to a still starry sky as Dick comes up from behind him bearing gifts.

The thermos breathes out steam like a caffeinated dragon, and Bruce is also bestowed with a breakfast sandwich. Double-egg, buttered English muffin, and it’s a touch of classic Alfred magic that it tastes and feels this good after 12 hours and a blitz in the Wing’s ‘microwave’ that’s really a radiation vent for the nuclear engine.

He makes a happy little sound, and it’s echoed by Dick with his bowl of cereal and milk, matching mug of coffee wedged between folded calf and thigh. “Alfred packed like 8 types of cereal, and there’re like boxes and boxes of all sorts of food.” With his unencumbered leg, Dick prods Bruce’s arm with a socked foot. “Have you been up to no good again? This is classic stress cooking Alfred.”

It really is. Bruce knows with the force of religious fervour that if he digs around, he will find white chocolate and raspberry cookies. “It’s been a busy time with the League.” And the world. “I told him he didn’t need to worry.”

Dick snorts as he gulps down the disgusting dregs of cereal milk. “He worries when you worry and you’re always worrying so he’s always worried. It’s a cycle of whole-ass adults not knowing how to tell each other when you’re freaking out.” Dick prods his side again. “It’s sweet, but you also seriously need to keep him and us more updated, y’know.” The prodding escalates. “You can’t keep doing these things to yourself by yourself, B.”

Bruce catches an ankle, squeezes it lightly, and puts it aside. “It’s my job.”

Dick, when he snorts, can get awfully loud exclusively because when he decides to be undignified he goes extremely all out. Bruce’s ears might be ringing , and Dick doesn’t even look apologetic. “You don’t have a job, B, you’re a billionaire bachelor man. Everything you do in your life is an extracurricular activity. Batmanning, the Justice League, picking up orphans left and right, none of it’s your responsibility.” The long leg retracts, Dick now curled up like a half-measure spider, sipping his coffee like he hasn’t said anything insane at all. “So, y’know, just take it easy, let the rest of us carry our own weight.”

It’s madness. Bruce has been shot and been less shocked. Bruce has been proposed to by aliens on intergalactic missions and been less taken aback. “Dick, what do you mean , it isn’t my responsibility?” It’s been nothing less than an absolute honour, a literal privilege, to have been able to raise Dick, to give his children a home. Can one’s reason for living really be called an extra-curricular activity?

It’s the whole curricular, surely.

An alert pings! on the dashboard, and Dick doesn’t bother with a response for a point he feels he’s made plenty clear. “That’s our queue, big guy. The school by here opens in 3 hours, and it serves the entire district so we need to get there early if we want to get our cover story straight.”

“There’s a herdsman I made arrangements with already, 2 miles out form here. He’ll have horses ready for us.” Bruce polishes off the last of his breakfast and coffee, and neatly puts aside what Dick thinks he should and shouldn’t do for a more thorough look-over later. “How’s your Mongolian?”

“Horrible, I’m sure no Damian,” Dick says cheerfully. “But my Mandarin’s not too bad. You wanna be the local guide and I can be the cool doctor from a big city?”

It’s as good an idea as any; Bruce hadn’t exactly been worried about cover stories with his night terror plans. He gets to his feet, and tries to avoid brushing crumbs to the floor. “We’re going to need actual disguises.”

In a terrifying show of skill and disdain for normal human conduct, Dick just vaults over the back of his chair, cereal bowl in one hand and empty mug in the crook of an elbow. “I’ve heard the stories, B. Time to whip out the beard-wig?”

Walking like a much more reasonable person towards the kit he’d brought with him, Bruce rolls his eyes. “Beards prevent the correct application of a face mask, Dick.” He presses a button, and a 57-piece sfx makeup collection tailored for (literally) every occasion pops out of a locked chest. “And it’s culturally uncommon to have full beards here, so I’ll just make do.”

Dick doesn’t need much of a disguise; he’s a little ambiguous-looking at the best of times, and the force of his personality is such that generally people’s impression of him are just soft floppy hair and a killer smile.

Bruce, meanwhile, would need a full face of prosthetics just to stay under the radar. What he has is fake tan and eyebrow gel and dark brown contact lenses, but he’s done more with less, so.

At least by the time they reach the herder’s campsite and are welcomed by a smiling man built so strong and compactly that even with his affected stoop Bruce towers over him, Dick’s gotten used enough to the patched-together look to stop bursting into laughter every time Bruce turns to look at him.

Gantulga bullies them into his home for some tea when they arrive, provides a wonderful opportunity for Bruce to relearn the sounds he’s forgotten in his Mongolian, and cheerfully accepts that Bruce is an oddball guide originally from a nomadic tribe close to the Mongolian-Russian border, who found himself here of all places because he fell in love with a woman from Hohhot.

“It’s the same for me,” the man had said, grinning widely when his wife lightly smacks his shoulder. “And the land here knows no borders. Thank you for coming to look after our children.”

Dick is left out of the loop, because a shared language is a terribly powerful bond against present and conceptual oppressors, and Bruce tells Gantulga with as much seriousness as he can that, “It is my job to take care of you.”

They leave just a little past dawn on two horses, with two more carrying their equipment, and Gantulga waves them off with well wishes for both them and his horses before he returns to his herd and his work and his family. As the testy gelding picks a gait that means the wooden saddle will eventually physically castrate him, Bruce sets their course for the little wooden school building set close to the blossom of summer tents of nomadic herders, and thinks about the duty of care he imposes on himself.

In the fresh air, with his son whipping about on a stallion that has taken a liking to a kindred spirit, Bruce figures that for all his usual angst, protecting people that need protecting isn’t a burden that will ever get heavy enough to put down.

They ride.

Arriving at the school unannounced would ordinarily be a big problem, but these are unusual times. With some official-looking documents printed on the Wing and Dick’s ability to charm absolutely anything breathing, the stressed-out headmaster gives them his blessing to collect samples from all the children. The reach of a global pandemic has struggled to get out this far away from dense cities, but whatever’s in the air right now is doing a number on his kids and it’s clear the man needs a nap and a solution.

They can’t exactly provide him with either right now, but part of the reason the horses’ saddles are so heavy is because Bruce has brought along all the equipment and medication that he thought even had a chance of helping. Dropping cutting-edge miniaturised air filters in Inner Mongolia is a big risk given a government that’s infamous for loathing external intervention, but the equipment is designed to look cheap as all hell and break down irretrievably if a remote kill switch is tripped, so Batman’s covered his bases as best he can.

Even if he couldn’t, it wouldn’t exactly be the first or even the hundredth time he goes against the wishes of the authorities. If push came to shove and tomorrow he had to do a fly-by in a helicopter dropping nebulizers for 100,000 people, then that’s what he would do.

He’s startled out of his thoughts by Dick gently tapping him on the back. “C’mon, B, let’s get the kit set up. Kids are gonna be coming in soon, you don’t want to scare ‘em with your brooding.”

The little classroom doesn’t have an electrical outlet, and has no furniture that suits anybody over 5’5, but Dick still looks like he belongs in his neatly-pressed white coat and nitrile gloves. The plan is simple: get as many samples as possible. Dick’s already looking picture-perfect as a doctor literally anybody would trust, energetic and dependable.

Bruce is prepping the ‘gift bags’ full of therapeutic medication, bits of tech, and hyper-nutritious candy, ready to be given out to every patient. “Even fully dressed up I have never managed to scare a child, so I’m not worried,” he says, drawing wonky teddy bears and butterflies on the plastic wrapping with a BatSharpie. Honestly, Dick’s plan is genius. When he had been determined to go in as nightmare fuel, he had just planned to leave the care boxes at the front door with some official-looking stamp from the government and hope that people wouldn’t throw it away. Instead all the children who come to them get to go away with chocolate ration bars that only barely can’t resuscitate the dead and air filtration systems that NASA would fight bears for.

The testing equipment they left on the ship, because while it isn’t hard to look under-funded and hard-done-by when all you have on you is some cotton swabs and bits of tack, the PCR machine running on solar power would stand out significantly more. Dick’s disinfecting the ever-loving hell out of the chairs and tables when he hears Bruce’s response, and he’s quick to flash a smile. “It’s your BDE, I guess. It’s kinda amazing that it was switched on so strong even when I first saw you.”

Unwilling to admit that he has no idea what in the hell a BDE is, Bruce does a furtive Google search while pretending to go through the school registration list. It’s a strange revelation.

“What does the size of a dick have to do with anything?” He’s trying to sound normal while he wonders if he’d done anything inappropriate that night at the circus to deserve this.

“Close, B, but not quite. I meant Big Dad Energy.” In the distance, the sound of horses’ hooves comes closer and closer, heralding the arrival of the children. It’s almost time to start, and Dick takes a seat by his stash of needles. “It’s weird to think ‘bout it now, but I know that when kids see Batman they see somebody who’ll take care of them no matter what.”

There’s a slam! as the front door to the little wooden schoolhouse swings open, and the excited chatter of children filters through. Dick, however, is not done dealing body blows to the state of Bruce’s head, even if he sounds absent-minded as he does it. “I think I saw it too, that first time, even out of uniform. Funny, huh?”

The door to the classroom is pulled open by the harried headmaster while a gaggle of children stare curiously at them, and Bruce goes straight to one knee to address them at face level about what’ll be happening today. He doesn’t get to ask what’s so funny about Dick saying the single most inhumanly complimentary thing Bruce has ever heard, nor does he get to ask if Dick still sees the same thing now.

It’s yet another thing to ponder over later; for now, he just tells the children that he is Bat-Erdene (of course), and that he will help the doctor help them.

Getting stuck with a needle and losing a bit of blood is a novel experience for many of the kids, so Bruce lets them hold his hand while Dick does quick, neat work, and takes special care to wince or go ‘Ow!’ dramatically whenever a child squeezes him hard.

It ends up with the children (and Dick) laughing at him, and telling him kindly that Bat(-Erdene) is not a strong man but that’s all right because he gives them treats.

By the time they’re herded outside to have lunch along with the kids, they have 25 samples, and Dick has no less than 3 kids sitting on his lap as they draw horses and people in the dirt, babbling at each other in mutually-unintelligible languages through thin barriers of surgical masks.

Going by just temperature, nobody here has a fever, but half the kids complained furtively to Bat-Erdene that they cough a lot a lot in the early mornings, and their parents worry because something unpleasant is spreading across the world and what if it has spread to them?

It’s a lot to think about, but the absence of any signs of infection is… encouraging. Somewhat. There’s a lot that he can do if it’s an environmental hazard, after all.

For example,

“Doctor! That’s dangerous!”

Dick has the gall to just wink at him as he walks around on his hands, a horde of children screaming and laughing as they hang on to his fluttering legs. In the near distance, the loud, tired sigh of the headmaster is a feeling that Bruce can very deeply relate to.

The headmaster and five separate sets of parents offer them dinner and lodging for the night, and they beg off all of them with the excuse that they needed to ride hard to get to the next little school which is over a day’s riding away. They nevertheless are sent on their way with bottles and bottles of mare’s milk and a gentle lecture on how to brush down their horses properly, the whole school wishing them a safe journey as they disappear into the endless rolling hills that lie between them and their next destination.

Once they’re far away enough that a quick scan reveals them to be sufficiently isolated in the twilight, Bruce and Dick abruptly drop the mannerisms and postures that marked the Doctor and Bat-Erdene, with Dick unbuttoning the high collar of his jacket and Bruce coming out of his slouch. Camp is another hour’s ride away, where the BatWing will be waiting and the horses can be settled down for the night. So far, so successful, and Bruce is willing to admit to himself if to no one else that having company for this mission has made it actually, genuinely pleasant.

Dick breaks the silence first when he whistles at the moon rising from the open horizon, massive and solitary and quietly terrifying. “You don’t get a view like that in Gotham, do you?”

It is, indeed, a hell of a sight. With grasslands stretching out every which way, there’s nothing for the human eye to use for scale and context. It’s just this giant glowing thing that could be a mile or an eternity away, rising like a lamp under the blanket of night.

At the crest of a gentle hill they draw to a stop to let the sight sink in, two men and their four horses and this one mission. Dick looks over at Bruce, all aglow with a healthy tan developed after an afternoon’s worth of running after children while shouting in cheerful broken Mongolian, and he looks more like the embodiment of hope than any superhuman Bruce has ever met. “I’m glad you let me talk you into taking me along, B.”

The words are the wrong way around! Bruce is the one who’s glad that on the worst day of Dick’s life, he looked at Bruce and saw someone worth believing in! That just yesterday he looked into the depths of Bruce’s obstinacy and still decided to help!

Those words are old and awkward and heavy, though, so Bruce just slumps in his astonishingly uncomfortable saddle and tries not to smile too obviously. “There’s no one I’d rather have with me here, Dick,” he says quietly.

And then, less quietly because this is urgent and an ever-present danger for every parent with more than one child, “Don’t tell the others.”

Dick rolls his eyes, and nudges his horse into a quick trot. “I know, B, can’t let your favorite find out you just said that.”

He’s off, rolling into a hard full-out gallop as the pack horses clatter and bang after him with their lighter saddle bags, a wild thing into the moonlight, leaving Bruce to ponder over yet another mystery: who the hell is meant to be his favourite, and though he fundamentally does not have one, why would Dick assume it wasn’t him?

The mystery respiratory sickness had better be easier to uncover than whatever has Dick feeling like this, because Bruce is only one man and he’s not even a good one.

By the fourth school they get to, tales of their exploits have spread ahead of them on the wings of traveling herdsmen. This school’s in a proper town, with half a dozen summer gers dotting the grasslands just past the little road that has a grocery store and the one post office. There’s even a bit of a welcoming committee, kids on horseback racing out to meet them the minute they come within view.

Dick and their pack horses are pretty happy with the attention, breaking into little races, sprinting off this way and that while Bruce’s decidedly more stand-offish horse ignores all the cheer to keep stolidly plodding towards town. He spots yet more people on horseback, adults this time in bright dress, and rides up to meet them and introduce himself as the ‘local guide’.

Some of the faces even look familiar, which means that even with them both going at maximum speed, a bunch of people casually outraced them to get here and apparently organised this warm, warm welcome.

There’s a fearsome woman who stands on the ground but somehow manages to look about three times as imposing as the men on their horses around her, and at first sight Bruce’s brain registers matriarch as loudly as a scream in the ear. He’s willing to put money on ‘headmistress’, given the look of awe and trepidation of the younger horsemen around her, and makes haste to greet her.

Her name is Narantsetseg, tall and proud as the sunflower she’s named after, enduring like the fields and fields of the stuff that they’ve ridden through to get here, and she tells him that while he and the Doctor are greatly welcomed to their little town, they would need to do a little more than just test the children.

Bruce doesn’t let the unease show on his face, but he does move back slightly to maintain a sightline on Dick, who’s glancing over with false casualness. Is she connected to the government in some way, and she knows that they’ve been falsifying their credentials? Luckily, looking gruff and unmoved is his specialty as far as expressions go, and he just asks her to explain.

At an imperious wave of her hand the wall of horses part, and there is a line of red-cheeked young women in all their finery. As one, they all surreptitiously sneak a glance at Dick who is a juggling three water bottles while going at a fast trot, much to the delight of the children.

“We have heard that the Doctor is single, and in need of a wife,” Narantsetseg tells him. “You won’t find better women anywhere else, and none harder working.”

Somebody in the back pipes up, and his face is vaguely familiar to Bruce. “The Doctor doesn’t speak Mongolian, but he’s good with children! Askaa took a needle and he didn’t even cry afterwards!”

There’s a lot of impressed murmuring, and Bruce is left to wonder how badly dear Askaa usually takes to getting jabs, and how his father got to this town so quickly.

“I cannot speak for the Doctor,” he tells them, trying to barter for peace. “He’s from the city; I don’t know what he wants in his women. You know how these city-types are.”

Askaa’s father will not be stopped, though, and Bruce wants to smack him. “He also helped fix the engine of my truck, along with you, Bat-Erdene. His doctor hands got dirty, and he didn’t even mind! And he’s strong .” The man is really hitting his stride, and sounds alarmingly starry-eyed. “He lifted two of my sheep without blinking.”

The impressed murmuring gets louder, and while Bruce agrees with the sentiment (Dick is, indeed, a very good boy), he’s less fond of how much attention they’re getting. “I would be happy to translate for all of you, but he is on his doctoring mission and he can’t stay around for long-”

He’s cut off by a sharp scream that has him spinning around and dropping into a ready crouch, just in time to see a girl get unseated when her horse startles at a rabbit leaping out of its burrow. It’s not a long way to the ground, and Bruce already sees her righting herself to take the fall well, but that’s not what happens.

What happens is: Dick leaps off his stallion onto her horse in the blink of an eye, holding on to the bucking horse by thigh strength alone as he pivots in the saddle till he’s sticking out at a right angle, catching the girl by her waist in a brilliant show of skill and instinctive heroism.

The timing is wild; the chatter amongst the adults is at a fever-pitch, with some outright cheering and applauding, and Bruce is pretty sure that any hope of keeping a low profile here is now extremely low.

Narantsetseg steps towards Bruce, and a hush falls over the assembled adults. She touches him on the arm, expression serious and serene. “Bat-Erdene,” she calls him.

“Yes?” he answers helplessly.

“Let the Doctor know that I am a widow, and that I would be happy to welcome him into my home.”

And that is that on that.

The days progress in much the same chaotic, fond way; sometimes the distance they have to cross takes days by horse, and they can’t just use the Wing to zip around the whole time because the horses tend to spook if they had to fly for more than just a couple of hours. Fortunately, between the fresh air, ceaseless good company, and the frighteningly invigorating experience of being on a semi-wild horse that on a whim can and will try to kill you, time out in the steppes gives them plenty of opportunities to work out what they know so far.

Over 200 samples taken from a huge transect stretching from just outside of Hohhot to the actual literal godforsaken Gobi desert, and the picture’s become somewhat clearer. Two weeks in and they find that the bulk of the worst cases are focused in the Ordos desert, over a hundred miles away from where they first touched down. By this point both Dick and Bruce have ridden the most they ever have in their lives, their thighs might well have been cast from steel, and the sensation of a non-aching groin is a distant, distant dream.

Dick can literally snipe a rabbit from horseback with his stallion going at full gallop; he swears that he can do it while standing on the saddle, and for one crazed moment Bruce was extremely tempted to let Dick try. Common sense that sounds like Alfred stays his stupid tongue, but there’s plenty to be impressed with by the way Dick is on a horse and on a mission.

It doesn’t really remind Bruce of days long gone when it was just him and Alfred and the first Robin, because Dick isn’t a child anymore, has just grown better and better with time and it drives home again and again that whatever Bruce’s doubts about everything he has ever done in his entire life, Dick did become a spectacular adult and Bruce got the pleasure of being there and seeing it happen.

They’re riding towards the Wing now, with the last batch of another 15 samples from the last schoolhouse in Bruce’s saddlebag and another dozen bottles of mare’s milk clickety-clacketing on Black Thunder, their small pack horse who has never met a man he would not bite. His name is courtesy of the first time the small black horse had bitten Bruce’s knee, going for it so hard that Bruce’s pained cursing had thundered across the plains. Black Thunder is a blight on what would otherwise have been a very pleasant series of rides, and is the only one they have officially named because Bruce’s horse responds to ‘horse’, Dick’s responds to ‘baby’, and their other pack horse would sweetly come trotting up to them at ‘the nice one’.

Bruce is maneuvering closer to Dick to share the latest update on the air composition breakdown from all 200 odd filters, but he has to hold the data pad high up in the air when Black Thunder comes by for fear of losing yet another piece of him to the cursed thing. Fortunately, instead of almost-murder the terrible beast appears to just want some head scratches from Dick this time.

“B, if you keep scowling at him of course lil B’s gonna feel antagonised,” Dick tells him jovially as he leans down to pet the demon.

If Bruce had tried a similar move he would have lost all his fingers and maybe even a few toes, but he’s got too much dignity to do more than be a bit huffy about it. “I know a crazed villain when I see one, Dick,” is all he will say on that , thank you very much. “As I was saying, the sickness is pretty constrained to just the Ordos. Your bacterial and viral cultures didn’t yield any results, so I cross-referenced the early instances of respiratory distress against any recent human activity in the area; a new supermassive coal mine opened up just before the first cases started cropping up, and it’s our most likely culprit.”

Dick lets go of Black Thunder despite the sad little whinny, and pulls out a notepad from his breast pocket. His police training means that no amount of technology Bruce throws at him can stop Dick from writing down his thoughts, but fortunately Dick’s handwriting and concept of ‘helpful notes’ are literally illegible and indecipherable to anyone except for him, so it doesn’t leave much of a paper trail. The bigger question is how he manages to write at all while horseback-riding, but Bruce is a man who's learned how to accept miracles at face value.

“This area’s rich as hell in coal, what makes you think this specific mine’s the problem?” The fwip-fwip-fwip of pages on a spiral-bound notebook match the pace of his horse’s trot. “The filters haven’t logged a dangerously high level of carbon monoxide or coal waste products, and there’s been no record of increased smog.” He winces. “And B, you know I’m not exactly a Tim-level lab tech. Maybe you can re-do the cultures to double-check.”

“I would stake my life on the work you’ve done,” Bruce says sharply, as he’s found himself more and more wont to do every time Dick says anything that even slightly indicates that he regards himself as lacking in some wildly incorrect way. “Also, Oracle did some digging into this new company. It’s half a dozen shell companies away from Lex Corp, so it’s questionable that they’re actually mining coal, and even more questionable that they’re doing it with a care for the people living here.”

Aerosolised mystery kryptonite is clogging the air, potentially, and Bruce is so thankful that his general predisposition for lone-working and paranoia meant that it isn’t Superman or Kara who came zooming by to help in the area. He already wants to slap a mask on Dick and tell him to breathe less, and Dick’s absolutely built to last through worse things. They would need to do more testing to know for sure, but the air filters they’ve been handing out like candy are designed to extract any particulate matter so there’s hope yet that the things will help.

Pick up of the equipments' just become a lot more important though, if they have hundreds of traps out catching idle Kryptonite. Maybe this will be the perfect occasion for a ghoulish Bat to just burst into and out of gers, hmm.

In the distance, the shielding rolls off of the Wing because they’ve breached her perimeter and been recognised as themselves, glinting in the sunset as night overtakes day with startling quickness out here in the desert. In what has become tradition by now, Dick takes the last couple hundred yards at a dead gallop, Baby becoming a blur of glossy brown, and Bruce compels Horse to run after him, because at this point in their adventure few things ring as fundamentally true in the head as the sheer exhilarating joy of being a man on a horse with all six legs off the ground.

It’s a time for thoughts to rapidly arrange themselves, and by the time they come up to a halt right by the ship, Dick’s got his notebook tucked away and a look of sublime thoughtfulness on his face. “What’s the relationship like between Wayne Enterprise and the Chinese government, B?”

Bruce dismounts as soon as Horse comes to a halt, because he’ll never stop feeling faintly apologetic for being so heavy a man on so small a beast, and he’s just left to look up at Dick with the moon at his back. “You know I’ve always had a problem with authoritarian figures,” Bruce says with a bitchy little grin. The steppes encourage a type of wildness in him that’s very different to the stoops and cornices of Gotham; he feels a lot more teeth than shadow here.

Dick’s at home here in the grasslands the way he’s at home on the trapeze and at the Manor and at Bludhaven PD, along with the dozen little niches he’s sprouted roots in and made better. Dick’s always been all teeth, and it’s only usually a smile. “What do you say, up for a bit of breaking and entering, Mister Bat-Erdene?”

Bruce is already heading for the open loading bay, excited to get the sand out of his hair and cold cream on his thighs and Batman on him. “Thought you’d never ask, Doctor.”

The thigh guards barely fit now on Bruce, and the fabric stretching across Nightwing’s legs are pulled so taut over new muscle that it looks even more, ah, provocative than usual.

Bruce tries to convince Dick to wear Bruce’s larger under armour instead, but Dick ignores him as he takes a dozen pictures of his new-and-improved legs to share on the family group chat.

They leave the horses at their campsite, and over the duration of the flight to the facility, Bruce forcibly ignores no less than 15 pictures from both Jason and Damian doing squats with increasingly heavy weights in an effort to not be shown up.

Everyone comes together and admits that Cass probably takes it, when there’s a short video of her having Alfred on one shoulder and Steph on the other going down and coming back up without breaking into even the littlest bit of sweat.

It’s a weird but exceedingly pleasant reminder of the home to look forward to once they wrap up here, and it takes more will than it should’ve to not just send a bunch of missiles screaming into the accursed mine run by the accursed men. Instead, they land well before the perimeter alarms, and run over the plan.

“We’re going to verify what it is they’re mining, and then reconvene and plan our next step.” This is exclusively a recon mission, despite his personal feelings. Bruce doesn’t have the jurisdiction to wreck merry hell here, and if there is some important mineral vein down there, even if they shut down this mine they would just have to deal with another one. He can’t even just buy up all the land, because losing land to foreign entities isn’t the Done thing in these parts, and Bruce just has to unfortunately admit that his hands are extremely tied here.

Dick doesn’t seem so eager to go along with the plan. “If we just leave it as is, what’s going to stop them from ramping up production and taking out more kids, B? No, I say we just shut things down right here, right now.”

All teeth.

Bruce tries not to lose his stupid temper, but it’s hard going. “If we blow up the mine now, what stops them from coming back? What stops them from bringing in mercenaries and weapons and making the area a war zone to protect whatever it is they’re mining?” He scowls, but tries to keep his voice even. “Not doing anything means short-term losses and long-term gains. You need to listen to me, Nightwing.”

It’s not a popular opinion. Dick has got a scowl that looks out of place on his face, a snarl to the edge of a lip. “No, B, you need to listen to me . With everything else that’s going on in the world right now, no one’s got any resources to spare to check this place out. The only thing capping production is going to be Luthor’s goodwill, and there’s nothing good about that.”

They glare at each other, on the cusp of a fight, before Nightwing exhales and holds both hands up in a plea for some calm. “Look, I know I’m not exactly the genius strategist type or like, even in the top half of most-skilled-Bat-associates, but I’ve got a plan and can you just listen to it before you shoot me down and insult me?”

The kryptonite’s gone to Dick’s brain, that’s the only explanation. “There’s no ‘top half’, Nightwing,” Bruce says, voice rougher than he means it to be but it’s been gnawing at the back of his brain for weeks and weeks now that Dick somehow thinks he’s lesser. “You’re not less smart, you’re not less capable, you’re not less skilled; you are the one I trust the most.” It’s just tonnes of trust in Dick for all things, ranging from driving the BatWing responsibly to being the final word on decisions that need making while Bruce is indisposed.

Dick just smiles, but he doesn’t look particularly happy. “You say all these things to make a man feel good ‘bout himself, B, but if you trust me so much why the hell won’t you listen to what I have to say?”

Ah.

It comes with unpleasant clarity, squatting in a rock outcropping with the shadow of the mining facility looming in the distance, that if Dick has doubts in himself, how much of a hand did Bruce have in putting them there and letting the rot propagate?

He swallows, and chokes back that sense of perpetual righteousness that comes part and parcel with the cowl. It's one thing to be a controlling asshole in the League when he's the only unpowered human in a room of well-meaning dumbasses who could destroy the world if they woke up in a Mood one morning.

It’s another to be a controlling asshole to his son, who is twice the man he’ll ever be, whose primary character trait is a fundamental goodness that would put Superman to shame.

Dick’s not perfect, but he is damn, damn good, and Bruce won’t lose out to just listen.

He’s been doing a lot of that as Bat-Erdene and neither he nor the children of Inner Mongolia have been led astray, so out in the prairie maybe he can afford to put his money where his mouth is and more aggressively demonstrate how much he believes in Dick.

So Bruce leans back a little, makes an effort to lower his hackles, and breathes deeply.

“I’m sorry,” he says and he means it for many, many things. “I’m listening.”

The plan is chaotic and flashy and buck-fucking-wild, which Bruce has come to realise is quite the done thing with a mission with Dick at the helm. Nightwing can go undercover with the best of them, but given an endless arsenal of makeshift weapons, Bruce would go for a needle, Jason would go for a hammer, and Dick would set fire to the barrel of firecrackers and laugh in the aftermath.

This is that. Late on a mid-pandemic night, the mine is empty of all but the barest security team on the surface. Sneaking past them and down the shaft into where the green veins glow like a ghastly dream isn’t particularly difficult, nor is planting the special bomb charges they’ve cobbled together from BatWing parts. This deep underground his communicator struggles to keep a line to Dick who’s working in the main office, but an emergency would be accompanied by dramatic explosions so things are going to plan, probably.

He sets up the 4th charge at the east side of the mineshaft, and starts making his way back up. He would feel a lot better about this if they had more charges, or just more resources in general, but on a shoestring budget Dick sure knows how to make a little plan look like a big one.

They’ve taken out as much from the energy cell of the Wing that they can while still having enough juice to get them home, and when life only gives you four radioactive bombs, you make do. They’re lucky to have caught on Luthor so quick; the mine’s still new enough and small enough to make a two-man operation feasible, but if they hadn’t caught wind of this when they did…

It doesn’t bear thinking about, so he puts it aside and scales the steep sides of the mine. With the black earth all around he’s more spectral than usual, so thoroughly a shadow that he even gets the drop on Dick when he climbs into the office, face smudged with dirt.

“Jesus, B, you look 175% more wraith-like than usual,” Dick says, hands flying across the keyboard. Trying to leave a fake digital trail of corporate espionage and malpractice stretching over several months over the course of a night is a steep ask, but it’s the same with the bombs and Bruce’s darkened eyebrows and ambiguous twang.

They only need the look of the thing to hold out just enough.

“I’ve planted the charges. Ready when you are.”

With a dramatic flourish Dick signs off on the final incriminating e-mail, and sends it off with a dramatic slam of the enter key. “All the guards have been sent off, and there's nobody here except for you and me. Give it to me straight, big guy; on a scale of 1 to 10, how likely is this gonna work out for us?”

Bruce pulls out the remote detonator he’d cobbled together using a spare burner phone and the gate key fob for the Manor, and hands it to Dick to do the honours. “Wherever we land on the scale, we can work with it.” It’s like the idea of a doctor-y masquerade; sometimes being out and loud is the best way to stay hidden, and it’s somehow a new lesson for this old Bat. “It’s a crazy plan, but it’s a good one.”

Dick beams at him, and even in the full Nightwing get-out, it’s easy to tell he’s genuinely pleased. “Then let’s go go go before we let this place blow baby, blow!”

Sometimes Dick opens his mouth and what comes out is a ghost of a leer, a popped collar, and gelled-back hair, a Cool Guy caricature who’s so earnest he goes from Cool to Uncool and then right back to Cool just by sheer force of personality.

Bruce can’t help snorting in slight amusement; by a deep pit in the ground, who’ll judge him?

They get back to the Wing, get the engines running nice and warm, and from a perch high up in the air, they watch things go ka-boom!

An explosive(!) story spreads at a speed significantly greater than one plane, two men, and four horses, and by the time they’ve done their final round of checks and have arrived at Gantulga’s ger to return his horses, even the herdsman is keen to let them in on the news.

At this point they’ve turned down dinner every single time they’ve been offered it, so when Gantulga insists that he wants to celebrate their safe return with some roast lamb and arkhi , the alcoholic version of thin, clear liquid cheese, they can't and don't want to say no. They sit around the fireplace, the air filter humming happily in the background as they all tuck into a spectacular dinner, while the man shares the news.

“I’m sure you have already heard, but a big coal mine in Muu-us exploded a few days ago. Natural gas accumulation, apparently, but my friend who lives there said the new mine was built on land it shouldn’t have been built on, so…” Gantulga shrugs, as though the outcome is obvious. Maybe it is. Mongolian spirits couldn’t be fans of Luthor if he was pumping out particles that were killing their children, after all.

Bruce nods politely, knocking back the liquor and telling himself that he enjoys the taste of powerful rancid yoghurt. “We were already heading back here, but we heard about it. Did anyone get hurt?”

Gantulga shakes his head. “No, no locals were hurt. Apparently the company in charge of it was a big foreign one, and the government found radiation there so now there’s a big international fight because the foreigners were secretly mining for things they shouldn't have.” The man cackles as he grabs a piece of lamb, peruses it and finds it to be of above-average quality, and drops it in his wife’s plate. “Good riddance to them. We have enough problems without outsiders interfering, eh, Bat-Erdene?”

“We certainly do have a lot of problems, but now at least there’s one less,” Bruce concedes diplomatically.

Most of the way through the meal, little Idree coughs a little, and as one all four adults turn to look at the toddler in alarm. Gantulga’s wife gently rubs her back, frowning lightly. “She has been a lot better since you and the Doctor came to see her,” Zayaa says, then looks a little surprised when Dick asks for Idree in pretty good Mongolian.

While Dick looks over the girl, listening to her breathing with the stethoscope that has had pride of place around his neck these past few weeks, Gantulga looks at Bruce with some surprise. “The Doctor speaks our language now?”

Dick tells Zayaa in atrocious grammar but a passable accent that the girl appears to have just choked on a little chunk of vegetable, calming down the tiny toddler with hands that have looked after many a younger brother and Mongolian child.

Gantulga grins at Bruce, smacks him heartily on the back. “Looks like the Doctor has learned the right words!”

Bruce doesn’t get a chance to reply, because Dick has turned and is beaming a million-watt smile directly into Gantulga’s face. “Of course,” Dick says, looking as at home in this warm, warm ger in the plains as he does in his police officer's uniform, as he does in a tux at the Manor, as he does leaping off a building to apprehend a bad man. He reaches over, and smacks Bruce even harder on the back. “I had a good, good teacher.”

And that, well beyond the alcohol and the company and the wellness of thousands of children and the thorn they’ve shoved right into Lex’s side, is what goes straight to Bruce’s head, and he goes bright bright red much to the absolute delight of absolutely everyone.

Dick raises his glass of arkhi, a shit-eating grin on his face. “To good health and Bat-Erdene!”

Bruce can’t have that, so he raises his glass and says with resolute calmness,

“To good health and better children.”

And that’s that on that, thank you very much.

---

T/N: I think a lot about what it’s like for Dick to grow up and gradually feel outclassed by increasingly outlandishly overpowered younger siblings and father figure, missing how the world runs less on existential angst and violence, and more on the willingness to be kind in the face of a lot of unkindness.

#nightwing #batman #bruce wayne #dick grayson #inner mongolia #god trying to figure out a viable solution to a conflict i created was so hard #saved by a fuckin breakfast mcmuffin #how many times did i mention dick's laugh or smile #u ain't discreet i say to myself #next up is batman vs something supernatural #fists up bruce wayne picks a fight with a cryptid and will NOT be stopped #hope everyone is taking care of themselves in these dank days!!#whale writing

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loveinthetimeofcorona · 4 years

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March 17

I woke up this morning feeling a bit better after sleeping for a full 8 hours and taking meds again. My cough is still persistent but doesn’t hurt as bad anymore, plus, a big bonus that my body doesn’t hurt *everywhere.* However, my nose is running like 45 away from his taxes so that’s been a pleasure to handle.

Bodies are a weird thing. For a long time I had an off-again, on-again relationship with my own around positivity, opinions from lovers, and projection & acceptance of it. I don’t have to tell you the extreme pressure of a woman’s body to be anatomically incorrect and hairless and thin, but in these times of needing to extra listen to your body for health and wellness, I am damn glad my biggest “problem” is my midsection. My arms work for petting cats and my legs function well for standing in the shower. My vision to look at my beautiful yard and my hearing to listen to my partner tell me he loves me is immeasurably valuable.

...which is why I was initially so sad to find a lump underneath my right armpit last night after taking the best hot shower in recent memory. However, before anyone panics, when I was sick in December from my URTI the doctor told me it was normal to have a blocked sweatgland as a side effect. Part of me feels relieved in a weird way to see this old friend again because I know what to do, but another part of me is like:

Toe-may-toe, to-mah-toe. Also, fun fact, while we’re oversharing, I stopped shaving my armpits in December when I got my first blocked sweatgland (you’ll always remember your first) because my doc said it may irritate the area. And I just didn’t pick it back up, 3 months later...

So, where are we in the healthcare game right now so I can tackle getting better? Well...here we go.

Monday:

I attempted to “get seen” by a doctor via virtual waiting room. This means scheduling a video call with a doctor so you can talk to them about what you’re feeling, and they put a visual on your symptoms. I’ve never done this before but considering all the precautions of the coronavirus, it seemed like a good idea (famous last words). Particularly if you think you have COVID-19, you should make arrangements with your health provider to get an initial screen via phone or video call first. If the symptoms persist, the nearest hospital will prep for your arrival. Because I don’t know if I have COVID-19 or a plain ol URTI again, I figured I’d give technology a shot and got my list of symptoms ready to talk with the doc about. But after having the UHC app open for 4+ hours and no bites, I closed it and attempted again this morning.

Tuesday:

Here was my schedule:

10:09am - get an email that “It’s time to join your Virtual Visit” - great! Pick up my phone to open the app and then...

10:10 - get a second email that says “A Teladoc provider was unable to reach you for your visit“ - for real? 60 seconds and then the doc bounced? Even Lyft has better waiting windows than this.

10:11-10:19 - bitch to coworkers about not being able to be seen, our healthcare system is in shambles, and I am running out of Kleenex.

10:20 - after making a cup of tea I re-join the app waiting room and decide to just keep my phone on, with the app open, for the forseeable future since I’m dealing with a REAL LIFE ONE MINUTE MAN (and subsequently go down a Missy Elliott video k-hole, which, always OK).

10:26 - get kicked out of the UHC app with a generic “we’ve experienced an error” in addition to getting completely logged out of the app somehow. At this point I am invested. I’ve been ignoring text messages and avoiding going on Instagram just to have this fucking app open. I log back in.

10:45 - the app still shows the "We apologize for the wait. You are still in the queue for the next available provider" banner. This banner is the Hoover Dam. 11:30 - the app is still showing the "We apologize for the wait. You are still in the queue for the next available provider" banner. I also realize the mic and video options on the app have been active this whole time. In a moment of WTF, I mute myself and position the camera to get a good view of the smoke detector on my ceiling. 12pm - I swap to FaceTime to catch up with a friend and lay out I may need to jump if UHC calls me back for the app appointment. It is good to see a face across the country that reminds me my friends are awesome. 12:45 - (in Morgan Freeman voice) "They, in fact, did not join the virtual waiting room." I take more meds in hopes my chest hurts less. I realize I'm out of Cepacol. I contemplate bum rushing Walmart and if my legs in a weakened state could make a run for it. 1:55 - I am going to murder the "We apologize for the wait. You are still in the queue for the next available provider" banner. I'm bummed that in five minutes, I will be attending a webinar called "Managing Isolation and Loneliness" and not "Managing Community Activism to Overthrow the Government and Rage." I still have my phone literally 6 inches away from my laptop, still open to the dumb app waiting for a human on the other end to validate me being sick. My husband asks me to put a blanket on my lap so I don't get cold. I tell him that if I burn the place down I will stay warm that way. I decide if I still don't get a bite by the end of this webinar, I will venture into no mans land - actually calling the patient support line for my health care provider.

6:43 - work takes precedence, and I tie up everything I can to close out my work day so I can talk to my brother. He describes his Mad Max journey heading back from Tahoe to the Bay Area with his girlfriend, which includes going to BFN for toilet paper and going on an epic search for eggs. After making my umpteenth cup of tea, I finally hunker down and call the 800 number on the back of my insurance card. I opt in for a call back and set a timer to see how long *this* process will take.

6:45 - someone calls me back. I silently yelp in surprise. What black magic is this that a phone call is faster than an app? I ask no questions. I describe my troubles to the admin: I’ve waited around in the app, I feel like shit, somehow the doc didn’t see me for my visit in the morning because I was too “slow” to log into the waiting room. While we talk an “Unknown” caller is on other side but I ignore it because I’m talking to a human. Then I get a text that a doc tried me again and I didn’t answer, so my virtual visit has now been canceled.

It took everything I had to not snap my phone in two and use it as a digital shank. I explain that to the admin who just says “Wow. Let’s just cancel this virtual visit and I’ll sign you up for a phone call consultation tomorrow.”

Hours wasted in an app to be seen: 8. Time on the phone to get scheduled: 3 minutes. Way to go, UHC. But hey! I have to keep remembering that there’s ice cream in the freezer and I don’t have a fever. And that I am flipping fortunate to actually have health insurance. Maybe tomorrow I will try my luck on day three of “I’d really like to know if Satan is going to take me away now.”

Five random thoughts for today:

The dye job for my roots I got 6 weeks ago is hanging on for dear life these days, but I urge all of you - DO NOT BOX DYE.

A friend on the East Coast FaceTimed me out of the blue yesterday, simply because I mentioned on my Instagram I wanted more human interaction. That inspired me to do more of that, too.

Last night when I took a hot shower it occurred to me this was the time I could touch my face *incessantly* without much consequence. It made me wonder if everyone’s skincare routine is gonna be next level lit and we’re all going to be just glowing in the summer.

My friends with kids who are having to stay home with them during this time are some of the fuckin MVPs of the century.

Keep track of when the last time you left the house was. For me, it was 4 days ago and I’ve figured out that is my breaking point. Because I’m sick my plan is to do a mini hike tomorrow far far away from anyone so I can at least feel fresh air.

#coronavirus #loveinthetimeofcorona

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lets-talk-appella · 5 years

Text

i’m nobody’s but yours

Chapter 21/25 - Chloe

Summary: Beca is straight as an arrow. 100%, totally, completely straight. Except for one problem that 100%, totally, completely changes everything: Chloe Beale.

Title borrowed from Calum Scott’s “If Our Love Is Wrong.”

Word Count: 3.5k

Rating: M (for dark themes, homophobia, masturbation, and eventual smut in later chapters)

AO3, FFN, and below.

Chloe stares at her laptop screen in shock.

Everything around her fades away; the music from the playlist Beca made for her, the occasional evening traffic sounds from outside, and even the muted voices of the Bellas downstairs. At this moment, the only thing that matters in the entire world is the email she received ten minutes ago.

Dear Ms. Beale:

Congratulations! Please consider this your formal acceptance to the Brooklyn Animal Care Veterinary Internship program!

We were impressed by your attention to detail in your application, as well as your optimistic attitude and record of community service. What most made you stand apart from other applicants was your impressive amount of leadership experience; we believe this experience makes you uniquely qualified for a potential Intern Manager position with our staff during the duration of your time here.

Though your training will not begin until September 1st, we had several other highly-qualified candidates and would appreciate notice of your acceptance or denial of our offer no later than August 8th.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out should you have any questions about the position or the hiring process.

Sincerely,

Brooklyn Animal Care Staff

She’s read it end-to-end seven times, the meaning sinking in slowly. She glances at the date in the corner of her laptop screen: August 4th. That gives her four days to decide.

It’s not like she really has to consider other offers. Though she’d applied all over the country, the Brooklyn program had been her top choice; their program is the best of those she applied to, and the idea of living in New York sends a thrill of excitement shooting through her. It’s novel and ensnaring and something she’s wanted for herself for a while.

The only thing that’s keeping her from immediately accepting is Beca. Or, more exactly, the relationship she has with Beca and how much it means to her.

Beca has heard back from exactly one of her many job applications so far. Two days ago, a music producer based in Houston, Texas, offered her a position with an acceptance deadline of August 10th.

How far away is Houston from New York? A thousand miles? More?

Chloe pulls up Maps online; the distance from Brooklyn to the center of Houston is 1,419 miles.

It’s too far.

Chloe pulls her lower lip between her teeth and opens a new internet tab: veterinary internships Houston TX. There are more than 60 results. She could do it. She could fill out an application right now.

Her hands twitch on the laptop keyboard, and for an instant, she seriously considers it. It wouldn't take long. She just has to copy and paste a lot of the information from her other applications.

Chloe leans forward with a groan to rest her head in her hands.

It would never work. Even with her application materials prepared, there’s no way she could complete multiple applications, the subsequent phone interviews, and hear back from them in the span of the four days she has to either accept or decline the position in Brooklyn.

Chloe groans again, frustrated. She’s fully aware that the rational thing to do in this situation is for her and Beca both to accept their offers, as long as no one else contacts either of them in the next few days. They need jobs, and their lease is about to end. The “adult” thing to do would be to say yes to the offers.

And yet.

They do still have some time before they have to decide, and it’s possible that they might actually manage to get offers from within the same city. Maybe. If the aca-gods are in their favor.

Chloe’s eyes prickle and sting. It’s not fair. They should have all the time in the world to be together, rather than potentially having to live across the country from one another. Chloe knows that in reality, Beca’s job prospects are much more limited than hers; every city needs veterinarians, and those veterinarians need internships. Big-name music production jobs are much less common. If she really doesn’t want to live apart from Beca, then it makes the most sense to follow Beca to wherever she goes.

It’s just. Brooklyn’s program is really the best, and Chloe knows Beca would want her to follow her dreams and go there.

They haven’t been dating long, but already, Chloe can’t imagine a future without Beca. She thinks it might have to do with how long they’ve known each other, or maybe even that she’d stayed at Barden all this time to be with Beca. Either way, she’d never liked the thought of leaving Beca, and now that Beca has made her into the happiest person in the world, the thought of separating from her is borderline unendurable.

The words “Beca” and “forever” are linked in her mind, no matter how impractical that may be this early in their dating relationship. Chloe knows it should probably scare her – being this dedicated to someone so soon – but it doesn’t.

It has all become alarmingly simple.

Chloe and Beca, Beca and Chloe, Chloe and Beca, Beca and Chloe.

***************

Telling Aubrey is probably the worst part about not graduating the second time.

“What do you mean you ‘failed again?’” Aubrey practically screams over Skype.

“It’s fine,” Chloe says, trying not to wince at Aubrey’s volume; if Aubrey senses weakness, she’ll pounce. “I’ll just try again next year.”

Aubrey groans, the computer mic distorting her voice and making it crackle. “Chloe. You can’t keep doing this to yourself.”

“I don’t –”

“Oh, don’t give me that,” Aubrey insists, looking at Chloe seriously through the camera. “You know exactly what you’re doing. You’re too smart to have actually failed anything, much less – what was it?”

“Russian Lit,” Chloe mumbles guiltily.

“Russian Lit?!” Aubrey repeats loudly. “Chloe, seriously? I know for a fact you have Anna Karenina almost memorized. Don’t pretend you don’t know what you’re doing.”

“I mean, Dr. Zhivago is really a hard novel to analyze –”

“You’ve read it three times,” Aubrey says, sounding exasperated. “Be honest. It’s the same reason as last year, isn’t it? The Bellas?”

“They’re my family, Bree,” admits Chloe, dropping all pretense. “I don’t want to leave her – them. Them,” she says firmly, kicking herself a little and hoping Aubrey won’t notice the slip-up.

Unfortunately, Aubrey always has been too astute; even through Skype, Chloe can see her eyebrows lift and expression turn satisfied.

“Mhmm. So how is the little goblin?”

“I’ve asked you not to call her that,” Chloe snaps, more defensively than she’d meant to.

It makes Aubrey’s sly grin widen, and Chloe knows she’s given herself away.

“But you still know who I mean, even when I call her things like that,” Aubrey replies with a dismissive shrug. “Does she know you’re purposely failing to stay with her?”

Chloe feels herself flush, and stutters out, “That’s not – I don’t – you’re –”

“Why don’t you move on, Chloe?” Aubrey interrupts, shifting at her desk to lean closer to her laptop. “She’s still with Jesse and – unless you haven’t told me something – she’s still straight.”

Chloe looks away from the screen, stung. She doesn’t need Aubrey to tell her these things. She already knows them, painfully well.

“I – you never know, okay?” she manages after a moment, still unable to look back at Aubrey.

“Chloe,” Aubrey sighs after a moment, her tone softening so that Chloe’s able to look at her again. “I – I’m sorry, but... you have to know how unhealthy this is. You do see that, right?” she speaks delicately, as if worried Chloe’s going to start yelling at her.

Chloe’s stomach plummets and she looks away again.

“I mean… you just… Chloe, if she’s straight, there’s no point in continuing to feel like this. It’s a little – well, it’s unfair to both of you, really.”

Chloe swallows hard, Aubrey’s unspoken words screaming in her ears. She can read between the lines. She knows Aubrey is calling her creepy and obsessive.

On Skype, Aubrey starts to backtrack. “Okay, maybe unhealthy was a little –”

“Let’s talk about something else,” interrupts Chloe, not really listening. “Have you heard anything from your dad?”

Aubrey stares at her disapprovingly at the blatant subject change but doesn’t comment on it. Chloe breathes a little sigh of relief when Aubrey goes along with it, albeit reluctantly, and starts detailing some of the last postcard she’d gotten from her father concerning probably confidential military operations.

As she half-listens, nodding and smiling in all the right places, Chloe tries very hard to ignore the faint stirring of guilt in her stomach.

Aubrey doesn’t need to know she’s already planning on graduating with Beca. She’d probably think that was totally crazy.

***************

Beca and Chloe forever. At least, that’s how Chloe sees it.

In a few days, though, separation might be their new reality.

A light knock on her door breaks her concentration. It’s okay, though; she can tell by the knock it’s Beca. Smile already spreading over her face, Chloe calls, “Come in!” As she does, though, she minimizes her email, not wanting to ruin Beca’s mood by bringing that whole mess up. She’ll tell Beca, just, not yet, at least if she can avoid it.

The door opens and Beca slips in, leaving it cracked open behind her. Chloe relaxes at the familiar sight of Beca’s crooked grin and giggles at the dramatic way she throws herself on Chloe’s bed, bouncing against the mattress before sitting upright.

“Hey,” Beca says, “you busy?”

“Not really,” Chloe shrugs, careful to keep her tone light and casual. “What’s up?”

“Not a lot. Just got off the phone with my dad,” Beca answers, rolling her eyes, but without menace. “He’s been taking every chance he gets to ask about you and – and us,” she adds, suddenly looking nervous.

“How’s that going?” Chloe asks tentatively.

Beca shrugs, looking up at the ceiling. “It’s… not bad,” she says slowly. “I mean, we’ve been talking for a little bit, since your parents came over, and he’s kinda getting it?” Beca says, her voice rising like it’s a question.

“That’s good, though, right?”

“Yeah. It’s – he’s been slowly getting better about it. He didn’t say anything totally offensive this time, anyway,” Beca huffs.

“That’s good. Uh, and…?” Chloe trails off, uncertain.

“Sheila?” Beca asks, and Chloe nods. A corner of Beca’s mouth lifts contemplatively. “I mean, she’s – radio silence,” she says grimly. “It’s like my dad said – she’s just kinda like that, and I’m not sure she’ll change. He’s trying to talk to her, though, a little at a time. We’ll see,” Beca finishes in a tone that tells Chloe she’s done talking about it.

“Okay,” Chloe says. “So, we’ll, uh, we’ll work with that.”

“Yep,” Beca says, tracing her fingers over Chloe’s bedspread. Chloe has to suppress a smile and ignore the natural swoop in her stomach at seeing Beca on her bed; Beca’s been spending most nights in her bed lately.

“But, anyway,” Beca clears her throat, and Chloe hauls her mind out of the gutter so she can listen. “Was also wondering if you wanted to come shopping with me,” Beca asks. “Just to the mall or something, maybe.”

“Did you have something in mind?” Chloe asks, pushing away from her desk and moving to sit next to Beca at the end of her bed. It’s not often that Beca willingly goes to a place involving large amounts of other people.

“Well,” Beca tilts her head and reclines back to an elbow, her torso twisted toward Chloe. “Mostly I want to check out what they have for, like, uh, parting gifts? I guess? For the Bellas.”

“... Oh my god.”

“Don’t make it weird.”

Chloe can’t stop the huge smile she feels spreading over her face. Chloe wants more than anything to tease Beca (and mercilessly) for being such a softie but decides to take pity on her pinkened cheeks and stubbornly set jaw.

“We can do that,” she says. “It’s a great idea. Did you have anything in mind?”

“Nah, I just want to see what they had, you know?”

“Oh, uh, okay, yeah, we can probably –”

“Are you okay?” Beca interrupts, leaning forward, her eyebrows drawing together in concern.

“Hmm?” Chloe feigns innocence while panicking internally.

Beca’s frown deepens and her eyes flick between both of Chloe’s intently. “You seem a little… I don’t know. Not quite here, I guess. Just kinda off.”

“I mean, it’s nothing.”

Beca shrugs. “If you don’t want to talk, it’s okay, I just want to make sure everything is, you know, chill, or whatever.”

“Oh, it’s okay, I just, um…” Chloe hesitates. She hadn’t planned on telling Beca quite like this, but she doesn’t like the idea of keeping anything a secret from her. “I’m… I was accepted to the Brooklyn internship,” she finally expels in a rush.

Beca’s eyes fly wide and her mouth pops open in what Chloe knows is excitement. “Dude, you got in!” she exclaims, bolting upright.

“Yeah,” Chloe says and grins despite herself.

“Dude! That’s awesome, congrats!”

Beca lunges forward, reaching for Chloe’s face, and pulls her into an excited and somewhat sloppy kiss. Through it, Chloe can tell Beca is genuinely happy for her, and that both invigorates and saddens her. It makes her decision that much harder.

Beca pulls back first, her hands still cupping Chloe’s cheeks.

“I’m so proud of you, Chlo,” she says sincerely.

“Thanks, it’s really… I’m excited,” Chloe says, then winces internally at the obvious strain in her tone.

Beca’s smile falls slowly and she pulls away, dropping her hands from Chloe’s face to she can study her more closely.

“Are you?” Beca asks, softly this time. “Excited, I mean?”

“Yeah, it’s just…” Chloe half-shrugs, and looks away from Beca and toward her desk, where her open laptop almost seems to mock her. “It’s kinda far from Houston.”

Beca stills next to her, and Chloe glances over to see her looking down at the bedspread between them.

“Why does that matter?” she asks carefully.

“Beca, you know why it matters,” Chloe says.

Beca’s hands twitch in her lap.

“I mean… it – yeah. Brooklyn kinda is far away from Houston, yeah,” Beca agrees after a second.

“I could turn it down, maybe try for something closer,” Chloe’s quick to say, but Beca’s already shaking her head seriously.

“No way, Chloe,” she says firmly. “No way. I thought you’d always wanted to go to that program, right? You said it has a super high vet school acceptance rate.”

“Yeah, it – it does…” Chloe admits slowly, grateful Beca had remembered that detail about her program search.

“Okay, so you should go there, right? So you can get into vet school later?”

“Beca –”

“Look,” Beca cuts her off gently, “Chlo, I don’t want to be that couple that holds each other back from doing what they really want to do.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Baby, I’m worried I would,” Beca says, staring down at her lap. “You’ve been talking about their program for a while. Isn’t it what you want?”

“Yeah, but I want you, too.”

“You can have both, Chlo.”

“Beca –”

“What if we were switched?” Beca asks suddenly, looking back up. “What if I had wanted to go to LA and gotten an offer there?”

Chloe refuses to look at her. “That’s not the same,” she says.

“Yes, it is.”

“I…” Chloe sighs and rubs a hand over her face. She knows exactly what Beca’s doing, and she knows she’s right. “I’d tell you to go,” she finally concedes.

“Yeah,” Beca nods, reaching for Chloe’s hand to pull into her lap. “So this is me, telling you that you should follow what you’ve been working for.”

Chloe pulls her lower lip into her mouth, worrying at it with her teeth. When she doesn’t say anything, Beca runs her thumb over the back of her hand.

“What is it?” she asks softly.

“I just...” Chloe starts, then has to pause to swallow the lump in her throat before she can continue. “It’s not fair.”

She knows it’s childish – life isn’t fair to anyone – but she wants to complain, at least a little bit.

“What isn’t fair?”

“This!” Chloe exclaims, finally looking up at Beca. “This whole stupid thing! We just got together and now we might be pulled apart! It’s not fair!” she finishes, her voice cracking.

Beca stares at her for a long moment, eyes wide. “I – yeah, I know,” she finally starts, and Chloe watches as determination take over her features. “It’s not fair. But, listen – having a long-distance relationship is not the end of the world.”

“I didn’t –”

“I know it’s not ideal, but it’s not the end of the world,” Beca repeats, speaking louder. “We don’t have to end just because we’re not living together, okay? There’s – there’s text, and calls, and Skype, and – we have options,” Beca says. “And, you know, lots of people make it work. We can too, okay, if we have to. And it won’t be forever.”

Chloe shrugs, then nods slowly. A trickle of hope moves into her chest.

“And,” Beca continues, “I still haven’t heard back from, like, a ton of jobs. I’m not gonna go to Houston if I can help it, okay?”

“Okay,” Chloe whispers, squeezing Beca’s hand.

She’s right. If anyone can do it, it’s them. It’s not ideal, but it wouldn’t be forever.

“Besides,” Beca adds a second later, her tone lighter as she nudges their shoulders together playfully, “Houston gets, like, super hot in the summer, and you know I don’t do well in the heat.”

Chloe snorts at that, and a small smile grows on Beca’s face. Chloe doesn’t say anything, but Beca’s still watching her, her expression tender.

Reaching forward to push a strand of Chloe’s hair behind her ear, Beca says, “And, um, if you’re really not sure… think on it for a bit, maybe, and we’ll go from there? I might even hear back from some places by… when do you have to tell them?”

“The 8th.”

Beca’s eyebrows lift, but then her expression arranges itself into something more neutral.

“Okay, so, the 8th,” she says, and Chloe can tell she’s forcing her casual tone. “That’s… yeah. I still think you should do it, though, because it’s what you’ve been wanting for a while.”

It sounds so simple coming from her mouth. Chloe knows Beca is just as terrified by the looming moves as she is, but she sounds so confident and assured in that moment that Chloe instantly relaxes.

“Sounds good,” she breathes, some of the tension lifting from her chest.

“Good,” Beca says, then stands from the bed, still tugging on Chloe’s hand. “And, in the meantime, would you like to dance with me?”

“What?” Chloe blinks up at her, surprised.

Beca’s grin only widens. “We need to celebrate this, and I don’t have any cake with me, so… dance?”

“You’re so weird,” Chloe says, but then she allows Beca to pull her to her feet and into a quick kiss. Beca’s lips move languidly against her own, their familiar taste reminding Chloe of crackling campfires and warm movie nights and exhilarating performances and home.

After a moment, Chloe has to pull back, slightly breathless. “Do you have music?” she asks.

Beca tilts her head, mock offended. “Duh, who do you think I am?” she asks incredulously.

Chloe smiles as Beca waggles her eyebrows overdramatically and pulls her phone from her pocket. She scrolls for a second, then taps on the screen, turns up the volume, and La Roux’s “Bulletproof” fills the room.

Chloe’s lips lift at song choice – even though at one time, it had nearly torn the Bellas apart – and Beca sets down her phone face-down on Chloe’s desk so that the music can full the room. Beca takes both of Chloe’s hands in her own, and with one more crooked grin, Beca starts dancing.

She leads them in a kind of jerky swing dance that doesn’t really match the song, but Chloe doesn’t mind; all she can think about is Beca’s hands in hers, guiding her back and forth and side to side in the middle of the bedroom.

They take turns spinning each other, Chloe’s eyes following the trails Beca’s whirling hair makes in the air. Beca backs her into her bed once, and Chloe wobbles dangerously, but Beca tugs her back with a glint in her eye that tells Chloe it might not have been an accident, but an excuse to pull their bodies closer together. As the music ends, Chloe spins Beca one final time and tugs her close to rest their foreheads together, breath mingling and hearts beating in tandem. Beca’s hands slide up her arms to loop around her shoulders, and Chloe rests her hands around Beca’s waist.

Even though the music is over, they revolve slowly on the spot, Chloe’s mind calming and heart racing. Beca nudges forward to brush her lips against Chloe’s, even that barest touch between them sending sparks cascading through Chloe’s entire body. She hums into the kiss, pressing forward just enough to add pressure before easing away again.

“Say yes to New York, Chloe.”

It’s quiet, whispered against her lips, but it still shakes Chloe’s world.

“I’ll need a roommate,” she breathes back.

“Ask the group chat.”

It’s a smart idea. Most of their futures are so up in the air that one of the Bellas is bound to be willing to move to New York with her.

(She wishes it could be Beca. More than anything, she wants it to be Beca.)

But she has to think practically.

“Okay,” Chloe agrees. “I’ll ask them.”

“Okay,” Beca smiles, then pecks Chloe’s lips again. “So… about that shopping trip?”

“You got it,” Chloe whispers, and she lifts a hand to trace her thumb along Beca’s cheekbone before she (reluctantly) pulls from Beca’s arms to text the group chat and find her purse.

#bechloe #bechloe fic #my writing #beca mitchell #chloe beale #pitch perfect fanftic #i'm nobody's but yours #chapter twenty-one #we're so close to the end!!!#also this is being posted later today than usual sorry!

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williamjwatson · 4 years

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Production Bias and OWL 2020

There’s… admittedly… a lot the Overwatch League has to iron out and polish in how they run, produce, and broadcast the league if they want the league to live up to the vision that they believe is possible in the long term.

I could be here forever if I wanted to go into all of it, but I want to focus on an insidious problem that I don’t think the broadcast/production staff realize is hampering the full potential enjoyment a lot of fans could have watching the games. (As the majority of league viewers are based in North America, I will be focusing on the American, or the “main” broadcast stream and social media channels. I can’t comment on the other broadcast streams in other languages because none of them are in languages i am fluent in, so I won’t.)

That problem is Bias.

Bias emerges in many ways in OWL production.

There are overt examples:

Montecristo’s relentless dunking on the Houston Outlaws and insisting the team, its players, and its fans are trash during official broadcast and even as he is commentating Outlaws matches in a role he should be neutral in. The unified desk beating the “NYXL choking in all playoffs meme” to death while conveniently forgetting NYXL are the only two time back to back stage champions in league history, and even when the term “choking” technically isn’t relevant because they are simply being outclassed by a team that has consistently shown they can handily beat NYXL meanwhile few other teams get negative treatment as enduring Bren’s fervent backing of the Shanghai dragons, reason be damned Soe’s blatant favouritism of the Atlanta Reign in all situations because she simply loves that team more than any other.

Some of these examples can be entertaining as hell.

Others are annoying to have to be subjected to, especially if your team is the target.

There’s also much more subtle examples of bias, and these emerge more in the choice to include or omit things in production, the manner teams are discussed in desk segments, and with a whole season of footage and posts, clear patterns emerge:

The desk discussion about san francisco shock being notably more hype than discussion about vancouver titans despite both teams having the same trajectory and success over the season as a variation of above: framing every titans match as “who can defeat the titans???” meanwhile every san francisco match is “can the shock continue their streak of dominance?” as if one team inherently is a villain who must be beaten down and the other is a protagonist whose dominance is expected and accepted as the new normal as a caveat under this: being very respectful of super’s tears after stage 1 finals, and mocking bumper’s tears after stage 2 finals the desk’s respect and levity given to taimou’s mental struggles being a bench player in a meta that doesn’t cater to his skills and celebrating his return, while his teammate, EFFECT was not afforded the same respect when he had to go home for his mental health in season 1, and his return to season 2 was very much lukewarm in comparison trend towards mixed teams being lauded for performing well in a majority of their games, meanwhile full korean speaking teams get lukewarm responses even when they’re doing well, and downright mean responses when they don’t do well (there are exceptions because sometimes the records speak for themselves, ie: justice and mayhem) notable difference in how successes and failures are presented when discussing non-korean players and korean players the fact Montecristo keeps being scheduled to cast Houston Outlaws games despite his obvious and very vocal disdain for the team (this could be scheduling chance rather than choice, but even so, it makes it much harder than it needs to be for outlaws fans to enjoy watching their team play the game and the fact this isn’t seen as a problem is an unconscious issue) comparatively little or no footage of teams who don’t do comms in English being featured on the incredibly popular comms check videos, thereby hampering fan engagement and ability to relate to at least 1/3 the teams in the league (how hard is it to hire a translator to sift through footage and add subtitles?? the dragons and spark seem to do this with ease? and official broadcast shouldn’t be lacking in such resource??)

Generally, having bias isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Bren’s fervent belief in the dragons, even carried over as a meme from stage 1, is incredibly entertaining with the props and the ribbing, and in a way, Bren has his own redemption arc when the dragons really broke through that wall this season and won their first game, then kept winning until they won stage 3 entirely with stellar hardcore play.

The pre-show picks for the day are an entertaining segment, and gives the desk and analysts a chance to justify to the viewers and each other why their pick to win is the correct choice. Sometimes it gives fans insight into what past performance, play style, and analysis should be accounted for. Sometimes it’s just a blatant show of bias, and you know what, that’s fine. Sometimes it’s even entertaining as hell.

But sometimes Bias isn’t fun, and when the running joke about your team, or your favourite player keeps being featured even when the context is no longer there, or the talent who clearly doesn’t think much of your team keeps getting airtime to dunk on your team because some portion of viewers or production thinks it’s funny, the show stops being fun to watch.

The problem is amplified when it becomes apparent that you can’t avoid this bias if you intend to continue watching the league. As there is only one single official English stream, featuring the same rotation of commentators and analysts and desk talent, fans have no choice but to listen and go along with the flow that the main production has set up for them, or avoid tuning into pre-and post game coverage and discussion, and watch on mute, missing out on content and strategic analysis that allows them to engage with other fans, or better understand the game at an esport level and why results turned out the way they did. (Or watch Avast’s stream instead, which doesn’t show league footage and isn’t beholden to professional standards like official broadcast and also it’s not the OWL official broadcast which means fan disengagement.)

As an extension of that, with what the league chooses to post and broadcast, there’s also no way to access additional content the league chooses to omit to post unless your team takes the initiative to make that content themselves (Hangzhou Spark and Shanghai Dragons open mic are both treasures and official comms check is missing out by not including their footage, among other teams: where is mayhem? dynasty? NYXL?)

So why am I discussing this? OWL is doing okay, and you can’t please everyone, right? I obviously have my opinions, but otherwise it’s fine??

Well the thing is, OWL still very much has aspirations to grow.

I haven’t forgotten that 20 million dollar buy in.

Neither have the investors, I don’t think.

With the shift to a travelling rotating homestead schedule in four divisions next year to directly hit hometown markets and grow local communities, OWL clearly means to grow and get bigger, and that means attracting more fans and viewers and consumers, and keeping the existing fans they have.

Next year, leaving the Blizzard arena, bias no longer becomes an asset, it becomes an active, growing problem.

A significant portion of fans already find it very hard to watch and engage with pre-and post game coverage. Fans that no longer engage with desk talent centric content, and maybe even watch games on mute are very much on their way to disengagement from the league entirely.

Furthermore, it will be significantly harder to recruit fans to support teams if the official league broadcast makes a point to tell them, before they are even engaged, that their home city team is trash and they should feel bad for thinking of supporting them for x, y, and z reasons.

Additionally, with the shift next year to local market games, the attention on the league will be amplified, and with it will come an expectation of professionalism. There’s a clear lack of polish in this area, notably. What happens when the Outlaws Homestead happens and Monte is not only scheduled to cast, but spends the entire time dunking on the Outlaws? How does that look to local stakeholders? How are Outlaws fans gonna have a good time at their own homestead while the official broadcast does them dirty? How welcome does the broadcast feel to fans who don’t have means to attend their team’s homestands, and must engage via the official broadcast stream?

Given the single official broadcast in this language, and no announcement yet to expand the casting and desk talent cast, production needs to iron out their problems with bias, and that starts with stepping back and realizing they have a very obvious bias problem in the way they present narratives, decide what content is shown and promoted, and how often the talent team overtly supports certain teams while on air in an official capacity. Professionalism also needs to level up, because a recent debacle on air already received negative response in the twittersphere directly from team organization stakeholders.

If the overwatch league wants to reach out to more fans, and continue growing while retaining the fanbase they already have, broadcast needs to become far more neutral in how they present the esport with this singular official broadcast, or create local based versions of official broadcast. Unfortunately, option two is unfeasible because there is a lack of such experienced casters in the sport at this time to have the equally biased 20 local commentator broadcasts going at once.

With the singular official broadcast, this means neutral commentating without snide comments about teams casters obviously dislike. This means desk consciously making the effort to present equal narratives to teams with similar trajectory, or equally flipping back and forth over time so a “villain” narrative isn’t constantly only dumped on one team all season. This means hiring Korean and Chinese speaking editor or translator to help get equal team representation in fun quirky “get to know the team” segments like comms check in an official capacity instead of making the non-English speaking teams do extra work within their organization to pump their own versions of official content themselves. (Hangzhou and Shanghai may do their own open mics, but the point is they shouldn’t HAVE TO to get the same quirky fun coverage out that English speaking teams get to take for granted)

They’ve done a lot this year, expanding Danny and Emily’s roles beyond that of simply translator to give that extra interviewing representation to players who don’t feel confident speaking English, and giving them airtime to connect with their fans. This is already mitigating the interviewing bias of last year, and giving more screen time to players who don’t speak English primarily (the Diem Carpe segment comes to mind).

I think they can do more, and I believe they have to if they want the League to live up to what they want it to be, so every fan of every team can enjoy watching as much as they can.

Source: Production Bias and OWL 2020

#esports

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ibelieveinahappilyeverafter · 5 years

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Villainous Heroics - Chapter 9

Boy howdy has it been a long week. School started back up for me and I was not prepared for the ass kicking it delivered, but here we are with the next chapter! This also marks the halfway point for this fic, so halfway there, everyone!

Oh, a quick thing to clear up about the time line - this chapter marks the after effects of the USJ event. Aizawa and Mic first met sometime in the fall/winter months of the last school year, before our own class 1-A. The time line is a little bit different since I pushed the USJ event back as compared to canon, but we should be on track now - roughly. I'll still be vague, but we're still in our first semester of U.A. with the month being around mid to late April.

Enjoy!

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Summary: Eraserhead is an underground hero who is constantly busy and doesn’t have time to be dealing with new villains - even if they aren’t all that villainous and make the night interesting.

Present Mic is the latest up-and-coming villain in the world and he has a point to prove to everyone out there - as long as he doesn’t keep getting distracted by Eraserhead.

Aizawa Shota is someone who soon learns that there is more to someone than the mask they show to the world - especially when it comes to playing heroes and villains.

Yamada Hizashi learns that there is more to heroics and villainy than he could have ever thought - especially in a world where some heroes still care about those lost in the shadows.

(Inspired and dedicated to corndog-patrol’s Villain!Mic AU on Tumblr.)

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Chapter Nine

The soft beams of spring sunlight fell into his room in leafed patterns, a warm breeze blowing pale blue curtains back from the open window. Golden sunlight and the bright yellow gifts on the stand next to his bed were the only bright colors in the room, everything else in muted and dimmed shades that made him unable to completely relax. Shota never had liked hospitals, and his inability to move even the smallest amount had him wanting to get up more and more as the moments ticked by. The only reason he hadn’t tried, yet, was because there were half hourly checks from doctors and nurses who had come to know him too well.

A soft knock on the door let him know that it was time for another check. Shota fought to not roll his eyes, instead keeping his gaze straight ahead. If it was another nurse or doctor, he might throw something, or at least attempt to. He’d had enough talks and warnings about what had happened to him during the USJ attack.

Instead of a doctor, though, he heard a familiar voice calling out a soft, “How are you doing?” Familiar heels had him glancing over to see that Nemuri was dressed outside of her hero costume, a soft sweater dress and red shawl paired with simple glasses.

“Fine,” Shota replied after a moment, because, well, he was fine. He wasn’t at his best, but it could have been worse. He could have died instead of simply being rendered unconscious.

“If you say so,” Nemuri snorted, not sounding very believing. It was reassuring more than anything else that she wasn’t acting like he was on his deathbed like all his other visitors had been so far. Actually, now that Nemuri was here, he might finally get an answer to as to who had left the brightly colored gifts he had been staring at for the last few days.

“Who left these?” The bright yellow made him suspect All Might due to the man no doubt blaming himself for what had happened at USJ, but it didn’t quite seem like his style. The flowers were disgustingly yellow, after all.

“Don’t tell me you of all people can’t tell,” Nemuri laughed, quiet and bright, as she plucked the card off the stand and opened it up. The inside had a doodle of a screaming cat with hearts around it, the other side reflecting a message to get well soon.

“Idiot,” Shota muttered, turning away to attempt to hide the fact his face was no doubt looking as flushed as it felt. Even after he had said the worst he could and avoided his usual route to try and get ‘Present Mic’ to stop endangering himself, the man had still sent him flowers and a get-well card. Fuck, he was absolutely smitten.

“Mhm, and there’s more,” Nemuri half-sang, tone teasing as she shut the card and flipped it over to the back. “He managed to cram a lot of writing onto this thing, you know. He also has horrible handwriting.”

“Get to the point.” There was more? It was probably something sickeningly sweet - or worse. Maybe having Nemuri read it wasn’t a good idea. “Or set it down already.”

“Too late!” Nemuri chirped. “He wants you to know that he’ll be taking over your patrol route until you get better.” Present Mic what? “It seems he found out about this whole thing on the news. Oh, poor thing, he must have been distraught.”

“‘Poor thing?’ Since when did you get so fond of him?” Shota finally looked back to Nemuri, frowning a bit at the almost serious look on her face. “Nemuri.”

“Well, remember when you gave me your patrol and I told you nothing had happened? I might have lied just a teensy bit.” Nemuri gave a fake smile and Shota felt his heart plummet into his stomach.

“Nemuri. What did you do?” He had given his patrol over to Midnight because his presence only seemed to encourage Mic. He was trying to steer him away from doing any villainy, but maybe Midnight had been the wrong choice in hero.

“I just put him to sleep when he was causing trouble! I didn’t even take him to the police station or anything!” Nemuri defended, looking as if she was being accused of some great crime. “You said he had a voice quirk, but I didn’t take that to mean that he could level an entire city block-”

“He did what?” It wasn’t that Shota hadn’t realized how powerful Mic’s quirk was, but he had never really used it. There was no way he had the power to level a block, though.

“That was my reaction! I looked around the whole area and at least five buildings were completely destroyed down to the ground and the windows in a mile radius were shattered. He was waiting up on a roof near the epicenter for… Well, for you.”

Since it was only Nemuri in the room, Shota allowed himself to slump even further against his bed, groaning quietly. Of course Mic had done something like that just to get his attention. “He was trying to prove a point.” He had been trying to prove he could be a villain. “Did he say anything before you knocked him out?”

“He certainly put up a fight,” Nemuri huffed, crossing her arms and being careful not to bend the card. Shota was more thankful about that than he wanted to be. “He probably could have fought me off if he hadn’t realized what my quirk was too late.”

“Told you.” Mic was clever and he could keep up with Shota night after night. He had probably been taken by surprise where he hadn’t expected Midnight to show up. “So, you took him by surprise?”

“Of course. He was a bit of a dolt,” Nemuri said, a laugh to her words before she met Shota’s gaze. “He said to tell you that it wasn’t a game.” This time, Shota’s stomach felt like it was missing as much as All Might’s was. “Shota?”

“I think I made a mistake, Nemuri.” It had seemed logical. It was the most logical idea to force Mic to become aware of the truth and then remove himself from the situation entirely. It had been perfect. Present Mic would have died a quiet death and whoever he truly was would be free to find some avenue of life that didn’t end with pain and a mistake he could never come back from. This, though…

Mic had made a stand and proved that he wasn’t going to be pushed back into the role of a civilian who was forced to do nothing except to watch. He had attempted to make the world watch and had insisted that it all hadn’t been a game. To him, it probably wasn’t. Present Mic wasn’t an idiot. He had been trying to garner attention - and the easiest way to get attention these days was to be a hero, or… Shit.

“I’m sure you didn’t make a mistake you can’t fix,” Nemuri finally said, waving the card around. “I mean, he sent you flowers and a get-well card. Here, listen to his.” Nemuri flipped to the back of the card again, clearing her throat, “‘Someone has to watch out for the kids trapped in this place.’ See? He’s taking care of it all so you can have a rest. Like I said, he’s definitely a vigilante.”

Shota stared at Nemuri and the card before blinking slowly, trying to calmly sort out his thoughts and feelings before he gave a slow nod. “Nemuri.” The woman leaned to her right, looking ready to run for the door. “You were right.”

“Oh? Of course! Ah, but just to be certain, what was I right about this time?” Nemuri watched him and Shota couldn’t bring himself to do much more than to look over at the flowers. He was almost grateful for the bandages that covered his face and the no doubt sickening expression that was forming. “Oh- Oh! You really do have feelings for him!”

Nemuri’s cackling laughter was almost more reassuring than it was annoying, Shota sighing and watching the golden sunlight start to fade and make way for soft, cool blues. The bright yellow flowers and card seemed to warm his room just fine, though.

Shota stood by his decision to return to the school as quickly as possible, but unlike some people seemed to think, he wasn’t unaware of the limitations of his body, especially after all that had happened to it. His healing sessions with Recovery Girl were slow going and, with his insomnia and sleeping problems, only so much of his body could be healed at one time. The result was a constant state of exhaustion and pain that never seemed to leave.

He had taken to sleeping on the couch most nights, too tired and sore to make it to his bedroom. The only bright side was that falling asleep on the couch often meant he could catch snippets of Present Mic’s radio show when he had the energy to stay conscious. The weekly show was still midnight to five on Friday nights through the next morning on Saturday, but Shota caught bits and pieces of his voice throughout the weeknights, as if he couldn’t stop himself from being on the radio as much as possible.

He would have been a good radio host, Shota mused. There were so many stats and ratings and changing news on heroes and villains, Shota could easily see the need and use of a radio station designed for it all. Mic would have run it wonderfully, he was sure.

The one good thing about being confined to his apartment was that he had plenty of time to catch up on grading homework and work on his case files. The largest was, without a doubt, the open case on Trigger. There were multiple heroes and police officers working on it, but Shota seemed to have taken on the brunt of it.

Working while listening to Mic’s show, though, was what made him realize just who the ‘anonymous source’ was that was turning in the many dealers and users associated with Trigger. That man was turning out to be something else entirely. He also didn’t seem to know when to stop pushing himself.

“Sorry for that last interruption, dear listeners! It’s been a busy week for me, here, but I can promise that you’re not getting rid of me quite yet - although the police and heroes are welcome to try!” The expected cackle full of wild energy was instead a quiet, strained laugh that showed just how thin the man had been stretching himself. The USJ attack must have shaken him up as much as it did the rest of the world. Never before had children training to be heroes come so close to dying. “Alright, dear listeners, let’s take some requests and get your jam session for the night underway!”

Absently tapping his pencil against the edge of his work, Shota stared at his radio as he listened to Mic’s voice. He knew that he himself had a problem with wearing himself thin, but Mic sounded like he had passed that point long ago. Considering the news stories coming out about his own involvement in USJ, it was possible Mic thought that Eraserhead was dying.

“I suppose there’s nothing for it,” Shota sighed, scratching at Jelly’s head and smiling at her loud purrs. “The chocolates weren’t the worst thing, after all.”

It hadn’t been until the casts on his arms had come off that he had been able to open the gift left by Present Mic, but once he had, he had found a collection of dark chocolates that were filled with caffeine. They had been surprisingly good, and Shota supposed that deserved a small thank you, or at least, the knowledge that Shota was fine and Eraserhead would soon be back at work and kicking Mic’s ass during his ‘villainous attempts.’

Dialing up the number he had, regrettably, memorized, Shota waited until he heard the dual sound of Mic greeting him both on the radio and through the phone, “Yo, dear listener, you’re on with Present Mic! What’s your song request for the evening!” Ah. Right. Song request. Hm…

“Play that song you sang when you kidnapped me.” There was absolute silence from both phone and radio, Shota frowning as he pulled his phone back enough to check if the call was still going.

“Eraserhead!” There were the loud sounds of objects breaking and crashing to ground that was soon followed by Mic swearing loudly at the fact that it seemed his quirk has slipped. It was… cute- Shit. Nemuri listened to Mic’s shows, too, and she could recognize his voice. Nevermind the fact that Mic had just screamed his name over his show. “You’re alive! Holy shit, you’re actually alive and okay and not dead!”

“If you were a sanctioned broadcast you would have been shut down by now,” Shota drawled, pleased he didn’t have to hide his smile at the fact Mic was swearing and cursing over live air. “You’re also an idiot if you think I’m going to die from a few thugs with inflated egos.”

“You’re… actually okay.” The breath that Mic released sounded like it had carried weeks of tension. Shota found himself feeling bad for the stress he had caused the man - even if it was unintentional. “Wait, did you actually call in to request a song?”

“What other reason would I have to call in?” Shota hung up before he could say something incriminating, hating himself for the smile he could feel on his face at Mic’s laughter - wild and loud and bright and filling up every inch of his apartment.

“Well, listeners, next up is a requested song that I’m dedicating to my favorite listener. I expect to see you back out on the streets soon, hero.” The song that was imprinted across his memories started up and Shota relaxed back into the couch, gently scratching Jelly’s back as he sighed and closed his eyes for a moment.

He was in far too deep with Present Mic. It was almost a shame that he couldn’t even bring himself to regret one moment of it.

“Aw, come on, Eraser, you’re so grumpy tonight! I think we need to erase that bad attitude!” Fukukado Emi, better known as the hero Ms. Joke, burst into laughter that made Shota want to lose his hearing altogether. He could only be grateful that he didn’t need to waste his energy using his quirk to stop her own. Even she knew better than to use her quirk on him when they were out on an active patrol.

“You’re noisy,” Shota muttered, trailing along behind her as they walked the streets. He would usually take the rooftops, but Joke had never quite been able to keep up with him that way. The nights they and their agencies partnered together usually meant his feet stayed on the ground.

“C’mon, eraser! Just go on a date with me!” Weeks of recovery, days of arguing that he was ready, and long, tedious hours of reassuring Nemuri, and Shota had finally been allowed back on patrol. He was then chained to Joke because, he assumed, everyone hated him. “I know you’re not busy this weekend!”

“Drop it, Joke.” He wasn’t ‘busy’ because Nemuri was practically forcing him to take more breaks until his body fully recovered. He was feeling his exhaustion, now, but he had a feeling that was more to do with Joke than anything else.

“Oh, I see how it is, Eraserhead.” Head snapping up at the familiar voice, Shota startled as he saw Present Mic standing a few feet away from them. The man looked… wrong. His entire stance was closed off and his face was blank of emotion. What the hell had happened? He had been fine on his last radio show. “Just tell me… What does she have that I don’t?!”

Present Mic, it seemed, was an ugly crier. He was also an absolute idiot because he was now sobbing over, what Shota assumed, was the ‘fact’ that he and Joke of all people were in a relationship. He honestly felt like he was losing brain cells the longer he tried to wrap his head around that thought. Finally, though, he managed to say the first words he had spoken to Mic since the last time they had seen each other, “Well, brains, for a start.”

“Wait- Wait, wait, wait, this is Present Mic!” Joke was beaming, looking between the two before Shota saw an evil glint enter her eyes that reminded him far too much of Nemuri. “You’re the one Eraser is always talking about, right! The funny, cute one with the radio show?” Nemuri, that rat.

“I’m what?” Mic’s crying stopped at once, the man blinking at them with wide, startled eyes. Shota wished, with everything in him, that his quirk allowed him to sink into the earth and disappear.

“Yeah, yeah! Even I’ve heard a lot about you. Man, Eraser, no wonder you keep rejecting my date offers when you have your eye on this guy.”

“I do not-”

“You talk about me!” The smile… was so bright. Shota had always thought it ridiculous to describe people in comparison to objects or nature, but, well, looking at Mic’s smile was like looking at sunlight.

“I mention you,” Shota finally conceded, watching with detached horror as Mic and Joke proceeded to laugh, bond, and become the best of friends within ten minutes. It seemed that Joke had not only betrayed his trust, but that Shota would never be able to live this night down.

“Well then, hero, how goes the day?” It had taken a better part of the night, but Shota had finally managed to separate Mic and Joke from becoming blood siblings. He was still trying to figure out when exactly that had ended with him and Mic sitting on top of a roof, legs swung over the side.

“Shouldn’t it be night?” Shota raised an eyebrow, keeping a blank face at Mic’s quiet, soft laugh. It was harder than he would have thought to not smile. “I’m fine. Nobody’s yet to believe me when I say that, though.”

“For good reason, I’d think. You looked like a mummy the last time I saw you on the news. It… It didn’t look good, Eraser. The media has been having a field day about the attack at that U.A. training field.”

“I’m aware.” The media hadn’t spared any force when it came to ripping into the heroes for their inability to stop the attack before it happened. The world always had its eyes on the hero schools, and Japan had a spotlight on U.A. To see the children attacked and even All Might almost losing? It was a sobering reality. “We’ll recover.”

“You, Eraser, are too much of what a hero should be.” At the sharp, bitter laugh, Shota glanced over. Mic had removed his speaker and had his headphones resting around his neck, hearing aids clear to see with the way his hair was styled. Shota was still trying to figure out how the man could handle ear piercings when wearing hearing aids and headphones. “I’m not sure that’s a good thing.”

“There are some that would agree with you,” Shota finally said, looking back down to the streets below them. “What’s the point of having the power to help, though, if we don’t.”

“You’re something else, hero.” Twitching at the name a bit, Shota looked back to Mic and felt guilt clawing at him as it had been since he had heard about Mic’s encounter with Nemuri. “Oh? That’s not a good look. You know, you could give a guy the wrong-”

“I’m sorry.” Hm. It looked like he had finally found a way to shut Mic up. Of course it came at the expense of his pride, but, well… This was more important than pride. “I don’t regret the intent behind my words, but I do regret how I phrased them. I’m also sorry that it took so long to give you the apology you deserved.”

“Ah, jeez, I- No, you don’t have to-” Mic fumbled with his words for a moment, finally groaning as he rubbed at his eyes. “It’s not like anything you were saying was wrong.”

“Can you repeat that? I want to make sure you realize you just said you were wrong, and I was right.” There was a punch to his shoulder that had him giving a quiet huff of laughter, Mic perking up at the sound. “Still. What I said was cruel.”

“If it hadn’t been you then it would have been someone else, eventually. I’m willing to pretend it never happened if you are, though.” Mm. That seemed irresponsible. “That a yes?”

“Sure.” The two were quiet for a moment - something Shota still couldn’t believe Present Mic was capable of. Finally, though, he broke the silence with the question that had been on his mind since they saw each other earlier, “Are you going to tell me what’s still bothering you? You haven’t even made an attempt at causing trouble, tonight.”

“Ah, you’re too smart for me, Eraserhead,” Mic sighed, loud and dramatic. He was hiding, but Shota didn’t know what - yet. “That attack… The USJ attack they’re calling it?”

“Unoriginal, but accurate,” Shota snorted, giving a nod. “What about it? I already told you I was fine. The kids are, too.”

“No, it’s not… Someone approached me right before the attack. He said he wanted me to join a ‘party’ he and his friends throwing. He then implied that there was a way to bring down All Might… I don’t know if they were working with that Trigger dealer, but they know the same circles.”

“How could you tell?” This was serious, then. If there was overlap between all these groups, then what was the common thread? It had to be more than just a spike in villain activity.

“‘A league onto their own.’ A familiar phrase, right?” It was the phrase that dealer had said over Mic’s show. “The dealer and this guy both phrased it exactly like that.”

“There’s an organization to it all, then.” That meant more work, and it also meant more danger. Gangs and groups were one thing, but organized villainy to the extent of what happened at USJ… Shota couldn’t help but feel that those villains he had seen in the center of it all had something to do with it. The man covered in hands and the monster that had almost defeated All Might.

“I should have accepted that offer.” That had him startling, Mic’s voice flat and serious, “I should have accepted so I could have been there. I could have- Shit, I could have done something. There’s a chance you wouldn’t have been hurt so bad if I was there-”

“And there’s a chance that nothing would have changed,” Shota said, cutting him off before he could spiral into whatever dark thoughts were picking away at him. “Your appearance could have made a difference, but then you’d be in a jail cell for longer than a week. Besides, I’m fine.”

The movement was slow and cautious, but Shota still found himself unable to react as Mic’s hand settled on his cheek, a rough and calloused thumb brushing against the scar that was now under his right eye. “You, my hero, are in no way fine,” Mic said softly, voice quiet and wrecked. “You could have died.”

“I…” He had done his best not to think about it. Shota had been doing his absolute best not to think about it, but… he really could have. It was nothing short of a miracle and his own stubbornness that he was still here. “And leave you to run rampant? I’d be a poor hero, in that case.”

“Mm. I suppose we can’t have that.” The thumb pressed against the scar for a moment, Mic’s skin dragging against his own and causing a new, unfamiliar feeling that had Shota shuddering with a hitch of his breath. “You’ll be the end of me, hero.”

Mic’s voice was as soft and warm as his touch, bright green eyes staring at him with something that Shota was too afraid to even begin to name. As he stared at this man who had called himself a villain and yet proved himself the opposite, Shota couldn’t help but realize the truth.

Maybe he would be the end of Mic, but he knew without a doubt that this man would be the end of him.

#bnha #boku no hero academia #mha #my hero academia #erasermic #corndog-patrol #villain!mic #villainous heroics

8 notes · View notes

hellomelusine · 6 years

Note

it's time to think outside of the box -spacedarcy

This is from the fluff/angst prompt list. I’m only about 2 months late in finishing this, and I’m not super sure it meets either, but maybe falls somewhere on the mildly sexy flangst scale.

This felt like equal parts prompt and threat. So thanks, @spacedarcy, I hope you like it!

“There’s no way this is actually going to work.” Finn’s voice crackles through her earpiece and she frowns, leaning out of position to look at him where he sips on a martini fifteen feet away from her.

“This was your idea Finn!” Rose hisses back and Rey scans the casino floor until she finds her playing blackjack.

“The boss said it was time to think outside of the box, and I didn’t see any of you coming up with any better ideas, let alone ideas at all. Plus, we get to pretend we’re spies!” Finn teases, and Rey rolls her eyes when she watches him down his drink. If he has many more he’s going to be a risk to finishing their objective.

“Can it you two, does anyone have eyes on our guy?” Poe interjects, amid a cacophony of background trills and music, before Rose and Finn can have another lengthy argument over earpieces. Rey finds Poe looking harried near the slot machines where an older woman is poking at him with her cane, large cup of quarters secured in her arm and can’t stop her grin at the sight.

There’s a chorus of ‘no’s’ that filter through the comms and Rey sighs, shifting in her too high heels and too short dress. She’s been standing at the upstairs bar for almost an hour now while fending off advances with little more than a scowl. She has a job to do and it doesn’t involve entertaining sloppy drunks.

All of this fuss over a bet between their bosses, the only catch was, the two of them couldn’t participate any further than laying out the parameters of the bet. No bodily injuries, no arrests, no outside help. Whatever team got their item first, with proof won, winning team picks the location of their next ‘team building conference’ which was just a fancy way for Han and Leia to treat them all to a long weekend vacation, at the close of fiscal year, while drunkenly going through teamwork exercises from google. Rey wasn’t sure that it helped their company’s profit at all, but it was at least good for morale. So here they were in a damn casino, of all places, trying to track down Kylo Ren, because he was the one from Han’s team that had the item they needed, while Rose had theirs.

“This is so stupid,” Rey grumbles, curling the edge of the napkin under her drink, “how do we even know he’s going to be here, and actually alone.”

“Leia might have mentioned, a few weeks ago, before the bet even started, that her son came here once a month to play in the high stakes room,” Finn slurs before hiccuping.

“Come on, Finn, seriously?” Rose again, quickly closing out at the table.

“I’m nervous, I just really want to win, and they are making these martinis way stronger than they should be,” he grouses, leaning more heavily against the ballistraude to pout. Poe snickers from the ground floor and Rey waves down the bartender, ordering a water.

“Here, drink this,” she tells him, shoving the glass under his nose after striding up to stand next to him. Finn grunts in thanks and turns to smile down at her as he drank. “All of it, we still need to get you home after this, when did you become such a lightweight?” she laughs, punching him lightly in the arm, making him spill water down his chin.

“Rey, rude,” Finn pouts, but Rey isn’t paying attention to him anymore, because she has found their mark.

“I’ll be right back,” she mumbles, eyes catching Finn’s one last time before she moves to follow him, muting her mic. The good thing about Kylo, is that he’s stupidly tall, which made him easy to follow, the bad thing is, he’s stupidly tall, so he has long legs and travels pretty fast. Rey curses her decision to wear the heels tonight as she pushes through the crowd, following a dark, maddingly glorious head of hair. Not that she ever thought about it, much, or complained with Rose that hair that nice was wasted on a man, no matter how good looking. At least he hadn’t been equally as blessed with enviable eyelashes, and what the fuck what she doing right now.

He turns down a hall and Rey edges around a throng of people talking and makes the same turn. She’s taken maybe five steps before a hand shoots out from an alcove and she yelps as she’s pulled into it.

“Rey?” he asks, seeming shocked to find her in front of him. “You’re following me.” He frowns now, and Rey huffs a little, wriggling in the small space.

“Do you make it a habit of pulling people you suspect of following you into small spaces like this?” She peers up at him, and realizes they’ve never actually been this close before and this was probably not the best plan based on the way her pulse is now racing.

“Sorry.” He’s so tall, and looks so abashed that Rey can’t help but smile. “You were following me though, what are you even doing - hang on, this is about the bet, isn’t it?”

“What are you talking about? I love coming to the casino when the mood strikes. I was just leaving the bar when I thought I saw you, and, you know,” she waves a hand at him, accidentally backhanding him in the chest as she rambles “friendly face, thought we could maybe play a few rounds together.” She’s attempting to burn a hole through his shirt with her eyes, just to avoid lying straight to his face.

“You came here alone?” he asks, shifting his stance and drawing his arms up to cross them right in front of her line of sight. There is only one problem: they’re standing so close he definitely brushes against her front and she glares up at him, ignoring the way her nipples readily jump to attention at the touch. “Sorry,” he mumbles, and she thinks he might be blushing.

“I’m not here alone. Girls night.”

“Liar,” he smirks, and Rey fleetingly thinks he should probably do that more often, because he looks really good with the hint of a smile dancing at the corners of his eyes. “The whole team is here, aren’t they?” he asks, and Rey quickly shakes her head no, but it displaces her hair just enough that he can see the earpiece and he laughs. “I believe, my dear, you have been caught.”

Rey doesn’t care that it’s clearly sarcasm, his choice of phrase does something to her, a riot of butterflies suddenly fluttering within her. She rests her head back against the wall ignoring the sudden uptick in chatter in her ear as Poe and Rose realize she’s wandered off while Finn just keeps slurring ‘it’s fine’ at them. “Maybe that the was plan,” she drops her voice a register, trying for sultry, and watching his eyebrows pinch together. Rey has completely abandoned the original plan, but this one, she hopes fleetingly, will work out better in the long run. She shifts again, deliberately brushing her breasts against his crossed arms as she stands to her full height in her heels and hears him suck in a sharp breath at the contact. “Would you like to hear the rest of the plan, you know, since I’ve been caught and all.” Her fingers dance towards the belt loops on his pants and he tries to flinch away from her, but there’s nowhere to go, except flat against the wall.

“Rey,” his voice caught somewhere between a gasp and a groan, “we can’t - what are you -”

Her hands find their mark, index fingers looping through and pulling tight as his arms relax and unfold to settle at her hips. She hardly has to move, just a slight push up onto her toes and her lips just barely brush his. She smiles against his mouth when his fingers clench around her and she delights in the small noise he releases when she catches his lower lip with her teeth. “Kiss me,” she breathes, takes a moment to pull away to look him in the eye while she whispers, “Ben.” Rey shouldn’t be surprised when he does exactly that, but she is, and she feels the rumble of his laugh through his chest at the noise she makes when she’s the one suddenly back against the wall.

Three years, it had been three years since Leia hired her, and introduced Rey to her son, Ben (but don’t tell him, I told you his real name, that idiot son of mine is running around calling himself Kylo Ren, and that’s fine by me, as long as he’s back home) and Rey found herself with an inappropriate interoffice crush. She knew he wasn’t stupid, saw the way she looked at him sometimes, the same way Rey caught him looking at her. They were idiots for not doing something before now.

It’s desperate and hungry and messy and when he wedges his thigh between her legs Rey can’t stop the moan that builds low in her throat. He drags his mouth away from hers, leaving wet sloppy kisses against the line of her jaw as her left hand lifts and she cards her fingers through his hair while he works his way to her throat and then it’s his turn to moan when Rey shifts against him, letting her weight fall onto his leg, pressing into him, body warm and wanting for more as her other hand curls carefully around his back. Why had they waited so long, she thinks hazily, jolting when his teeth sink in where neck meets shoulder and sucks hard for a moment. Rey trembles against him as his tongue laves against the spot, soothing what she knew would be quite the mark.

“I’m waiting,” Ben hums against her skin, one hand drifting below the hem of her dress to find purchase on the bare skin of her thigh.

“Yeah, I’ve been waiting too,” she says breathlessly, cheek pressing against his ear as his mouth continues to work on her exposed skin. His laugh is a tickle of air across her shoulder and she jolts, realizing what he actually means. “Oh - oh, the plan,” she moans when he deliberately shifts his thigh beneath her, the pressure and friction causing a jolt of pleasure to shoot through her body. She pulls away, chest heaving. “Got it.” There, held between her middle and ring fingers of her right hand is Han’s business card. A loud cheer from somewhere down the hall, overlaid by the sounds of the slot machines half a hall and a balcony away jolts Rey back into awareness of just where they are. Through the earpiece she can hear Rose fussing over Finn, who still kept assuring them it was fine and she could hear Poe grunt as he smothered a laugh. Right, they were totally in public right now.

“What - when?” His pupils blown wide and Rey smiles softly at him, tugging gently on the hair that she was still running her fingers through before kissing the corner of his mouth.

“Before the kiss, actually,” she tells him, moving to tuck the card down the front of her dress, watching as his eyes darken further. She runs her hand up his chest, winding it around his neck to meet her other before pulling him even closer still. “I beleive that means we’ve won.” Rey laughs at the disappointed groan Ben releases and she shifts her hips closer to his, finally bumping against the erection that tented his pants, making Ben moan as she shifts again. “Don’t be such a spoilsport, it doesn’t suit you,” she teases.

“I didn’t even feel you take it,” he grumbles, moving away from her gently before adjusting himself in his pants while looking out of the alcove to make sure no one was watching them.

Rey rights her dress and smiles up at him, “A story for another time, but I wouldn’t be much of a pickpocket if you had felt me take it. Now,” she runs her fingers through her hair as she watches him fidget and try not to show his surprise, “let me let everyone know I’m fine.”

“And that you won.”

“And that I won,” Rey laughs lightly, switching on her mic once more. “Rogue squadron, this is Scavenger reporting.” She frowns at Ben when he snorts before she shrugs, flicking at his bicep in retaliation.

“Jesus, Rey, where have you been?!” Poe nearly shouts into the ear piece, making Rey wince.

“Oh, so we aren’t using the dumb names you came up with now? Even though I’ve completed the mission?”

“Yes we aren’t using the - you did what?” he is still yelling and Rey reaches for Ben’s hand, gripping it tightly before stomping back through the hall and the crowd to where she had left Finn, and sure enough, the rest of the team is there, fussing and anxious.

“I got the card,” Rey growls, plucking it from where it’s tucked against her chest and waving it at Poe.

“Girl, you definitely got more than just the card.” Rose drawls with a wink, leaning against the railing as Finn leaned against her. “Lips like that, I want to hear everything about it.”

Ben coughs from behind Rey, “Need I remind you, that I am your superior, Tico?”

“Meh, laterally,” Rose brushes him off, “but please feel free to let your mom know exactly why you’re throwing your weight around trying to get me fired. Honestly, you’d have a better time if you were throwing your weight against Rey, if you know what I’m saying.”

“Everyone knows what your saying, Rose, that was the least subtle thing I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth,” Poe groans, pinching at his nose as he takes several steps away from Finn and Rose, “how many drinks have you had?”

“None! I was counting cards!” she defends, kicking out at Poe.

“Shit, Rose, say that louder,” Rey hisses, taking a step away from the loud cheater, only to bump into Ben, who steadies her with a hand on her hip, while looking like he’s fighting a laugh.

“Please, they can afford to lose the money, it’s a goddamn casino. Odds are stacked for the house to win.” Her eyes dancing in delight as she took in her two kiss-mussed coworkers. “Alright, Finn, lets get you home.”

“It’s Bond, James Bond.” He slurs at them all, leaning forward a bit too far and stumbling, but Rose and Poe are ready to catch him.

“You’re a mess, buddy,” Poe sighs, slinging an arm around Finn.

“They were strong martinis!” Finn defends, letting himself be dragged forward and towards the elevator.

“See you kids on Monday!” Poe calls over his shoulder.

“You’re barely two months older than I am, Poe!” Ben shouts back.

“Counts!”

Ben lifts a middle finger to Poe’s back and Rey laughs before stopping abruptly when Ben turns to look at her. “I should go,” she chirps, “Finn told us your mom said you actually come here to play, and I’m sure -” Ben’s mouth met hers again, quick and hard. “Oh,” she sighs when he pulls away.

“I have two questions,” Ben says, leading them to stand in the space Rose and Finn had vacated, “one, what kind of terrible location are you guys picking? Two, would you like to get dinner with me?”

“What, now?” Rey asks, she didn’t know what time it was, but it had to be nearly ten.

“Yes, now.”

“Uhhh, okay, sure, yes. I would love to.”

“Perfect, there’s a restaurant downstairs I think you’ll love. Now, about the location.”

“Sure, there’s this lake not far from here, and we’re renting cabins,” she says with an impish grin, ignoring his groan as he presses the down button for the elevator. Rey turns into him, leaning up to put her mouth against his ear to whisper, “don’t worry, Solo, you play your cards right, and I’ll let you bunk with me.”

#spacedarcy #tag meme #this got wildly out of hand #reylo #reylo fic #stuff I write #rffa writers #no one @ me about basically putting them back in two pseudo boxes in this story #I know what I did #I apologize for this taking so long #I had most of it done #and then that rffa fic deadline....#reylo modern au

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localwebmgmt · 3 years

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Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 328

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Click on the video above to watch Episode 328 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.

Announcement

All right, welcome everybody to Hump Day Hangouts. This is Episode 328. It is the 24th of February 2021. Now we got some really important date information out of the way we can get into saying hi to everybody. And then get into your questions. We do have a couple quick announcements, but we will get to those shortly. So let’s see. Gonna go around the circle here and start with Chris. How you doing today?

Excellent. Here, I noticed your shirt. And

when this mic coming over, I kind of like go for like, fair enough. Yeah, we got to get one door set up. So yeah, I pulled this one out. I forgot I had it. This thing’s in like mint condition. It was hiding in the back of my closet. So I haven’t got that’s why it’s looking so neat. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So Oh, anyways, Marco, how you doing today?

Oh, you’re muted.

Hello, there we go.

Gaming now.

I was gonna say,

Oh, I was going to, if I go too much into the window, then I start disappearing off into the light. I’m being called into the light. It’s not a fake background. It is what it is. I’ve been showing it. In fact, for over a year now. The plan was to show it for a year, every Wednesday night. so that people could see this is Costa Rica, no matter what. What let you never see me in a sweater. Ever, ever. I don’t need it. I mean, this is what it is. It’s beautiful. My Fortress of Solitude. We talk about TOEFL all the time, right? Like, what’s your, what are you going to define as your bow? This is part of mine. This is what this is where I choose to live is where I choose to be. I don’t have to be here. Many people are stuck in a place where they have to be where they have no choice. I tell people get away from it get away from not having a choice. And the way to give yourself the choices that you want or that you need are to follow the path to po foo position of fuck you where you can just decide what you’re going to do how you’re going to do and nobody I mean, nobody tells you what to do, or how to do it.

No, I think what we might have to do is get like get someone to go through the videos and put together a flipbook of you for all the Wednesday so we’ll just have someone you need someone to go on Monday. I shot Yeah.

Hernan you are you there? I’m here, man. How’s it going? Good. They didn’t let you in. For some reason. It’s not like I’m getting drunk in the middle of a bunch of ruckus. I don’t know, man. Are you bouncer at the door? Now? I’m wondering if you’re getting drunk in the middle of the day? Yeah, no, I’m not I sort of got the bouncer at the door. The door slammed me and now I’m good man. I’m happy to be back. Last week, I was traveling and was visiting clients consulting a little bit and it was good. Happy to be back. Back home back in the routine. I was craving for some routine even a week, you know, completely bust my productivity. But we get we get go. Alright. And last but not least Bradley, how you doing today? Good. I’m good, busy. And it’s like, almost 70 degrees here in Virginia in the middle of February, when just like three days ago, it was like 22 degrees, you know, in the middle of the afternoon. So it’s really weird. But it’s warm up here. And by the way, my Semantic Mastery shirts awfully worn Look at that.

Like you can get through its paces for a few years. Yeah, I’ve I’ve gotten my use out of this one. That’s for sure. So I need a new shirt just like you, Adam. All right, well, we gotta get that set up, then I’ll get the ball rolling on that we’ve had a few people pinging us about getting some shirts or some like a baseball cap. So we’re gonna get that stuff set up. And once we do, we’ll let everyone know about it. Obviously, it’s a setup. So before we get into the questions, just wanted to say first of all, thanks for watching. We knew a lot of people check it out. Not everybody’s able to attend live and whether you’re live or watching the replay on YouTube, we appreciate it. Let us know you’re watching. Say hi. You don’t have to ask a question. If you don’t want to. We know some people just like coming by seeing what’s being answered and kind of picking up the knowledge they can. So that’s fine to just say hi or leave a comment. And if you’re new to semantic mastery, or mgib best place for you to start is the SEO shield calm. That’s the word de and then Seo field.com. Right, find out how to shield your site, you don’t worry about algorithm updates. Again, it’s free training, just go check it out. And that way, you’ll also know what the hell we’re talking about when we say SEO killed, which is very good, and it’s gonna be very good for you down the road. So go check that out. If you’re looking for something more in line with kind of a bigger overview as far as what we do in terms of SEO results, check out the battle plan. You can get that at battle plan dot semantic mastery.com. And then next, we get people asking us a lot of times about hey, I’m either a small agency owner or consultant, I want to get more clients I want to grow my revenue and I want to scale my team. So if you can answer yes to any of those two x your agency is what you want to

Check out that’s just 2xyouragency.com. You can find out more about that. And then last but certainly not least, you want to grow your digital marketing business, although we do have some some business owners in this group as well. But the mastermind is really where you want to be. If you want to experience community and fast access to real world info, then go check it out mastermind dot semantic mastery.com.

And also, we mentioned brother I just mentioned that SEO shield not too long ago, you can find out about the SEO shield syndication networks, the link building press releases all this done for you stuff we talked about over at mgyb.co. And we talk about that a lot, because it’s services we use as well. And we’d recommend you do too, we understand sometimes you got more time than money when you’re getting started. And you got to put in the time build it yourself. But especially if you’re doing client work, you should be outsourcing this or training someone to build that stuff for you. So either go through the trading, or get stuff done at Mt ye save yourself time and allow yourself to grow that way.

Alright guys, that’s it. on my end. Is there anything else we need to talk about before we dive into questions? One last thing, charity webinars?

We just got finished on Monday it I mean, we outdid ourselves. I know I’m I’m biased. But but that’s what people are saying. I’m seeing it on my page, I’m seeing it in our groups. That it was it was just, it was massive was I gave away the farm. Basically, if people know what to look for, if people were paying attention that people understand what it is that they got. Alright.

But that’s the whole point understand it. So during the last webinar, what we did was put it together.

So that this kind of what do you call a plan of attack, a way to go and and get results. Because we got just massive information, Bradley gave the farm away, he gave a whole course away, you gave a whole course during the first webinar fantastic. Then comes Dixon Jones content and entities and comes Jordan with how to brand yourself how to create that brand and how to hook it up with the idea how to deliver the message properly. And then we got Brian cattle showing how entities work in images and how we can spam Google with images and get our entity more recognition. And then the last one is we put it all together. And so it just because they’re finished doesn’t mean that people can’t access that they can donate, just go donate you follow the instructions, send proof of the donation to the Gmail that I’ve been sharing. And then you’ll get access to the recordings. Because the last one will be uploaded probably today or tomorrow. It needs to it needed a little bit of editing.

Sweet, awesome. And Marco, you got the instructions on the hump day hangouts page for people. I will drop it in there. Awesome.

Cool. Let’s check out the questions. All right. I’m good to screen.

Would It Be Beneficial To Make A Subdomain To Target A Product Subtopic?

Okay, yeah, we’re zoomed in. So it looks like we’re starting with ChazB today. He says, Hey, guys, thanks for answering my question. Last week, I have another and not a hypothetical one. I’m building out a site at the moment, the subject or main keyword is like Google, and I’m targeting a product subtopic but a very original specific name given to a certain product line that is related to the brand. For the sake of this question, I’ll call it F Google. My question is in regards to subdomains, would it be beneficial to make a subdomain for example, Google dot brand domain.com slash f Google. I know I can make a subfolder for Google, but I’m thinking of keeping the hops to a minimum. From what I’ve been told in Jeffrey Smith SEO Bootcamp course Google reads and takes keywords for this left priority per se, by the way, a great course for you guys have recommended for the last few years. So he’s talking about Jeffrey Smith’s SEO Bootcamp, which is a fabulous course. And that is a question that I honestly, am not sure how to answer. Marco, that is definitely one for you.

I’m not sure. What do you what he’s looking to do? Because why have a subdomain with somebody else’s brand? Is that was that what he’s saying? Because he could just go subfolder if you if what you’re looking at for power. And to avoid additional half, instead of being in the subdomain, just move it into a subfolder.

Okay, so to me, that’s a misinterpretation. I miss interpretation of what Geoffrey Smith is teaching because he’s going thinking that the URL structure should keep the I see what it means. That should keep that subdomain name to the lessons that include the keyword, but no proper URL structure would be your brand. And then the subfolder Yeah, so that’s what the bottom two stands right. So so the way

And just to kind of reiterate what you said, but maybe in a different way. And I would agree that I would rather have my brand name first the root domain, and then in this example, Google as the primary topic or a category, and then F Google as a subcategory. Is that what you’re saying? Absolutely, yeah. Okay.

So there you go. Hopefully, that answers your question about a category, or he can even I mean, insert, which is if you don’t want to go sub subdomain if you want to bring the subdomain, something like a subdomain to the root domain, then what you do is you install a subfolder. But again, yes, you’re right, you don’t need that. But you need to simply a category that’s titled, f Google and work from there that the top-level category and try to rank that, and you’re going to see that you start ranking for all the low hanging fruit when you try to deliver all that power to that top-level category. Yep.

Yeah, cuz the way he’s got this, it’s almost like it’s two different sites, there’s the brand because he’s talking about installing it on a subfolder or subdomain. So that would be like a separate site. So I’m not sure what the configuration why you would do that.

But what Marco is saying is that it’s better to go as a subfolder than it is a subdomain. And years ago, we taught, you know that, and I did it myself, I used to always use subdomains for just about everything. So for example, for a multi-location local business, or lead generation, whatever, I would have the root domain, but then for each additional location, so each additional GMB location, essentially, I would have a subdomain that was named after that city. So it would be city dot brand domain.com. And I would have separate WordPress installs for each one. And that, you know, that worked, in part because Google would treat a subdomain as a standalone domain as opposed to like, so for example, if any one of the locations were to catch a penalty, it wouldn’t affect the other locations, and it wouldn’t affect the root domain. Whereas if we had put them on subfolders, so they each had, or, or just built one site, and then did everything through categories, and perhaps tags, which is the way that I do it. Now, then, if any one of those locations were to catch a penalty, then it would affect the route because it was all built on the root domain if that makes sense. So I used to segregate or separate everything, keep them separate for that reason. But you know, over the years now, since really Marco and started developing, like the entity-based SEO and Semantic Web, SEO, and all that kind of stuff, I haven’t had any problems with any of my locations. So I stopped doing sub-domains and started building everything out now on just the root domain. And using standard category, taxonomy, and tags now for location silos. And I do all that on the root domain, as opposed to having multiple subdomains or multiple subfolders. And it just makes it so much easier to manage a brand and multiple location projects. So I’m just speaking on that because I think it’s similar to what it is that you’re doing. If you use the types of methods that we’ve been teaching, you shouldn’t have to worry about catching a penalty to your root domain at all. So it’s better for SEO to do and also easier to manage if you can keep it all under one WordPress install. But if you needed a second WordPress install, then it’s recommended. Now if I correct me if I’m wrong, Marco, but to do that as a subfolder, as opposed to a subdomain, is that correct? We go so far that people have to understand even dub dub dub. is a subdomain whatever. You’ve seen a dub dub dub, however, many dubs you want, dub dub, dub dub to they’re all subdomain, the root is anything after the so. If you want to power up the root, yeah, we go into sub-domains, and you install that subdomain, excuse me, but subfolders and install as many as you want. Because you are not going to smash those subfolders. And not like we used to, we used to beat up the subdomain, where, you know, we did it that way, because we’d expect to catch a penalty. And then we could just disconnect that subdomain. But I mean, we protect the money sites so much, that isn’t necessary anymore like you said, I mean, that’s, that’s what we look to do now. Because we see the power that the drive stacks have with the expansions, right? We’ve seen the power that develops over time. And so from seeing that we understand that installing everything on the root domain is where all the power should accrue so that you can deliver it any way you want.

Does Having More Backlinks Give You A Better Chance Of Outranking Local Service Business Competitors?

Sweet All right, thank you for that. So rocket blasters up he say the more backlinks the better chance I have at outranking my competitors for a local service business already purchased some SEO shield now. Not necessarily.

It’s not about the quantity it’s about relevancy, right quality relevancy and also, you

Again, the way that we teach is building all to this SEO shield as opposed to the money site. So I don’t know how Margo, how would you answer this one?

No, that’s not it’s me. And even john Mueller came out and had something to say on this. It’s not the number of backlinks we’ve been saying this for years now. Yeah. It’s not the amount, but the quality of the back activity, relevance trust, and authority in accordance with the distance graph algorithm and the distance graph patent with which measures how far you are, are away from a trusted source.

We did this presentation on Monday, guys, go and Donate to the charity and understand why an orphan website with a backlink will not have the power that a relevant website that’s related to an entity has to go, we explained it, we showed it. We did. Rob did the relational comparison between the Google relational database and the way that we approach entity building, and how you can mimic that to the greatest effect. Taking advantage of the distance graph, which measures hops away from authority, authoritative, and trusted sources. I’m not talking Moz, I am not talking about any third-party vanity metrics. I’m talking about the Google patent the algorithms that matter, which is Google’s and nobody else’s. And if nobody else has to know because they won’t give it up. But understanding how these algorithms work, meaning that we are as close to the belly of the beast as possible, there is no more trusted and authoritative source on the web than Google. We all know that. The second most trusted and authoritative source on the web is Wikipedia. Google trained, its AI Empire on Wikipedia, you start understanding this and applying it and putting it all together, then you then you’ll know the answer to this question.

I mean, we do a million backlinks, they work perfectly well, but dedhia categorizes, right, his web 2.0 profiles, so that they’re relevant. And they provide further relevance. And they’re going into our drive secondary site, which is Google. And so that’s trust and authority there. So we’re taking full advantage of activity, relevance, trust, and authority so that we don’t have to master 2000 something ranking factors, positive and negative. We don’t have to know that. All we have to know his activity, relevance, trust and authority, and everything. In these over 2000 ranking factors fall under one of that category.

Can You Continue Buying More Links And Point Them Back To Existing Links In The SEO Shields To Create Tiered Links?

Sweet. Alright, so the next part of that was once I receive my backlinks, can I continue to buy some and point them at the previous backlinks to create tiered links, you can. However, when you order the links, you can order tiered links. And that’s what we recommend if you order some of the link building packages that are kind of pre-created, or you can create your own and you can always add additional layers to that link building order. So

I’ll just tell you how I do it. I don’t take the link building. So when we get link building gig has been delivered, right? We get a Google Sheet that has all the tier one links, and then the second tab has all the tier two links.

And I just send those to an indexing service. And I don’t even send my the second-tier links in from the Google Sheet to an indexing service, because it’s typically 10s of 1000s of them. But I’ll do the first-tier links, right? I’ll send those to an indexing service. And then that’s pretty much it, I might run it through an indexing service again at a later date. But other than that, I’ll just buy additional link-building packages to power up. The SEO shield properties or syndication network properties are specific post URLs from the syndication network or whatever, right? So essentially, just depending on what it is that I’m trying to target, but I don’t. And again, maybe there is some benefit to building links to the previously built backlinks. But I don’t do that just because I’m constantly powering up different URL sets from my tier one entity assets if that makes sense. Because I ordered tiered link building when I ordered a link building gig, it’s already tiered. So I don’t then build additional links to those links. I just continue to build links to different URL sets from my tier one entity assets.

I hope that was clear. Does anybody want to comment on that? No, that was perfect. But it could make sense to run a tiered link building gig into a tiered link building gig for better indexing. That’s true. I’ve seen many times that when you do that you get better indexing not only the on the previous tier.

The building set, but also like into the syndication networks and into drive. But that’s simply a matter. And we’ve shared this before of pushing the further tiers further in the more activity, relevance, trust, activity, relevance, trust and authority, or the art of art that takes place in the outer tears, the further that they come in. Now, you can imagine this as tears on a cake, where I mean, you put your finger on the lowest tier, and then you go up to the next tier, and the next one. And the next one. I mean, that’s actually what you’re doing, you’re moving up in tears, or think of electrons moving closer, right, moving closer in the house or jumping in hybrid is that you want to look at this activity, relevance, trust, and authority brings the outer tears in so that there’s better indexing suite.

Is There A Way To Bulk Mirror Location Pages From The Money Site To The GSite With The Same URL Structure?

Okay, so the next question is from Jackson, he says, Is there a way we can bulk mirror location pages from the money site into the G site with the same URL structure rather than manually creating all the pages? insights.google.com. And, Marco’s, that one’s for you? Because I still, we still might my team still does it manually. So.

Alright, so Bob, mirror location? No, it’s manual.

Okay. Give me a second. Let me just see what he’s talking about location pages from the money signed into the D site with the knot, you can’t do it with the same URL structure?

You can’t? How can you do the same URL structure when your domain is your brand.com. And the Google site is sites.google.com dot one dot whatever unless you mean that you want the same set of keywords that are in the original URL, and that are in the original URL into this. And the only way I know how to do this in an automated way is through the software that we use. And that’s never getting out of in Haskell, we paid a whole lot of money for that. A whole lot of time went into development. just crazy hours into doing that. And that’s never seen the light of day. I’m sorry. Now, this is a question I’m asking. Because I’m curious Marco.

Now, like something like you bought studio doesn’t work well with G sites, does it?

I’ve never tried it. You bought studio, we had that really bad experience with a US studio, one of the top guys in there. And then I just never tried it might have been the guy it might not have anything to do with you bought studio, but it left a really bad taste in my mouth. And I don’t want to ever go through that again. Yeah, and I’ve never tried to, you know, build out anything like that. I was just curious if because I know that you and the team had tried to build out. And I know we’ve got something on the back end that we use for automating some stuff. But almost everything that we do is still manual. So I was just curious if you’ve never had any experience trying to automate anything like that with you, but because I don’t know if it could be done or not with you. But we did it. I mean, that’s how we create the expansion stacks. That’s how we expand them, right? We can add whatever we want into the URL structure. And we can copy the drive Second, the G site that that’s all software, that again, guys, I can’t give you that. I mean, you can go and buy it from us. You’re more than welcome to that. But we spent a ton of money. And not only the money that we spent, and are still paying to this day but the hours that I spent on that and the hours that developers spent on that and what do you call it Cesar? and Rob ridiculous hours? No, I can’t give that away. You. You’re welcome to use it. We made it available in our mgyb.co store. You can order expansion stacks all day long. But I mean, we came up with it. And that’s the service that we provide not the How to.

There you go. Yeah. And I remember you and your team working on that for months and months. And so yeah, I can understand not wanting to reveal that for sure. All right.

Does Using GSuite Offer SEO Benefits Than Using Zoho Mail?

ninjas up, says, Hey, guys, when you come to using email providers, do you see any SEO or other benefit of using G Suite versus something like Zoho mail. Zoho suite has a huge number of apps that make life much easier for running a business with all totals under all tools, excuse me under one roof. I’ve been trying to integrate G Suite mail with Zoho, but at this point, I’m not sure it is worth my effort. Thanks for the input, okay. I have no experience with Zoho whatsoever. I use. It was formerly G Suite. But now it’s Google workspace or workspaces. I think it’s a workspace. Anyway, that’s what I use and I have been now for a couple of years.

For cold email contact and prospecting. But I’m also using a high level, which is an app that will allow me to automate and turn Google workspace and email through SMTP into an automated emailing platform. Now, it’s not technically designed for that. Like they recommend inside a high level to use mailshake, which is an SMT provider as well, or excuse me, not mailshake, they recommend in high level to use mailgun which integrates with high level and I don’t like that though. So I’m still using G Suite, but I’m also doing prospecting, cold prospecting. So sending out cold emails, I’m doing low volume, so much more targeted type emails, instead of doing mass emails. So I can’t comment on Zoho because I’ve never used it. I like using Google stuff, Google domains, or Google workspace, excuse me for emailing for a number of reasons. Number one, it’s Google, I’m familiar with it. I’m used to using you know, I built my entire business on Google Apps. My entire business is really built to optimize Google stuff for clients, you know, so I’m just comfortable with that, number one, number two, it integrates with high level, which is my chosen platform for marketing automation. And in number three, is it’s a Google property. So by buying a domain, and paying Google like that, instantly, add some authority and validation entity validation for whatever brand it is that I’m using it for. So there’s a couple of reasons or several reasons why I can’t choose to use Google workspace. Now, that all said,

I just launched a new agency, and just started prospecting last Monday. So it’s, we’re about a week and a half in and getting really, really good results already. I’ll be talking a lot more about this kind of stuff in the mastermind. But I took a really, really good inexpensive cold email course, that I just got. It attracted me from a Facebook ad. But anyway, it’s called cold email mastery.

And it’s on gumroad. And I can’t remember the guys’ name. But if I pull it up, it’ll probably look like, here it is this one right here. And the only reason why I’m pulling this up guys is that first of all, it’s only 125 bucks. And it’s an outstanding cold email course for prospecting, right for using cold emails to get your foot in the door or to open up a conversation with your target prospects. It’s outstanding. It’s real short to the point. It’s no fluff, it’s all actionable stuff. I love the guy style. He’s, he’s a much like Marco in that he cusses in his trip, money, it’s he’s real to the point like there’s no fluff, no Polish nothing. So it’s a really good course I would recommend it. And he talks about using mailshake as the best emailing platform, now I haven’t used it, I think I may start to try that at some point as my prospecting volume increases for my new agency. If I get to a point where I feel like I’m reaching the limits that a G Suite or Google workspace account should be doing for cold emails, then I will, then that will be the app that I test, which is mailshake. But that’s only because again, I thought this course was outstanding, and that’s what he recommends. So I can’t speak on Zoho. But I personally still to this day, even for my new agency, I’m cold prospecting right now, and I’m using Google workspace. But I’m using a high level to automate it. But as I said, if I needed to upgrade to something that is more designed for cold email marketing, then it’s likely I will go with mailshake. And by the way, again, I highly recommend anybody that’s doing cold emailing for prospecting, check this course out, it’s fabulous. Any comments on that? How long ago did did did I write the ROI is a black book about three, four years ago? Yeah, at least. And didn’t we talk about paying Google extra drive space, G Suite, back then whatever it is. Now, whatever iteration it is, did we mention that and we talked about it, and we spoke why we were talking entities back then now it’s the big thing. Four years ago, when this was done when our academy was released. over five years ago, we went and said, focus on your entity, make sure it’s not a known entity. But make sure Google knows and understands that you are a real person with a credit card and that you become a customer rather than a leech, rather than someone who uses the free resources and only the free resources. And what that does is it’s not going to necessarily directly is that cause and effect and how it will affect your rankings. It’s there’s a correlation though, between paying Google and IBM being safer, being able to get away with more.

And the way that I see this is they have your credit card on file or your debit card or whatever it is that you’re paying them.

They know that it’s a customer and they can make money from you. So it’s unlikely that they’re going to mess with someone that’s making them money. So I think, and again, this is one of the only times that I’ll share theory, my theory is that the bot will move elsewhere before coming back to you and checking, or whatever it is that you’re doing. So it’s just a way to provide extra protection for whatever it is that you’re doing.

Yeah, and as I said, I’ve been using Google domains. Oh, and that’s, again, I’m not even gonna get into that. But some, I mean, just some amazing stuff that was taught in this course, about like, even using Google domains to purchase your domain, on through a G Suite account, because now you’re registering a domain through Google domains, under like through an existing Google workspace account, and will automatically set up a Google workspace on the new domain with the SPF records, your DKM records, all of that stuff is all done instantly. And it’s three bucks more than it costs to buy a domain from Google domains than it is from Namecheap. And so I don’t know, I picked up a lot of really good tips from this course. And as I said, I’ve been using Google domains now for I don’t know, like the last three are Google workspace excuse me G Suite for emails. For like, the last maybe three years, might only be two, but two or three years and it’s definitely hands down my preferred method. So for any new project that I start, that’s the first thing I do is I go set up a Google workspace now I’m going to start buying them through Google domains likely buy domains through Google domains, but usually, I buy domains from Namecheap. And then I would instantly go set up a G Suite account for that new project, or a Google workspace account. So yeah, I’m a big fan of Google workspace for email.

Okay, that’s a great question. By the way.

Does User Intent Prevail Domain Authority And Page Authority All Together?

A next is BB with multiple questions, as always, he goes, number one is does user intent prevail over I guess, over domain authority and page authority altogether? In my opinion, yes. And that’s just because that’s, again, the methods that, you know, we’ve been teaching about activity, relevance, trust, and authority. And I stopped caring about third-party metrics.

Several years ago, probably four or five years ago. And we’ve really focused on relevancy and user intent, right, which is, it’s huge. We’ve proven that activity, relevance, trust, and authority. So if you’re getting traffic, especially from a relevant audience, especially from unknown relevance or relevant audience by Google, so a defined audience by Google, can move the needle, even for SEO. So you know, just those engagement signals from an audience that Google understands or knows, have an interest in that right that that’s a great ranking signal. So Marco can answer this better as far as the metric side of things, because, but I can tell you, I stopped giving a shit about third-party metrics, four or five years ago, and I have not looked back since I honestly just don’t care about them. I care more about relevancy. Ever since we started talking about activity, relevance, trust, and authority, the art of art, domain authority and page authority are Moz metrics.

What’s the other trust flow citation flow? Yeah, that’s Yes, majestic, then we have whatever, ah, I think is a is Ahref. Domain rank, I think, whatever algorithm it is that they’re developed, none of those are Google. And the distance map none. Now that might have a lot of smart people and might have a lot of former Google people, they might have a lot of engineers and smart people and I get it. And we all have access to the math, and we can all do the math. But only Google knows how the algorithm works.

Having said that, we’ve seen time and again, how someone coming in and providing insight user intent is the activity of that user on your website, what that user doesn’t on your website. So does the user come in, spend time on your website, watch your videos, scroll via images, and then give you the information, fill out fill out the form or if the if the goal that you said is to watch a video, or if the goal that you set is for a phone call, are the users doing that because if they’re not, then the final goal isn’t being accomplished, and Google will send them elsewhere. Where they can fulfill whatever it is that that search query was looking to. It also depends on a search query, what it is that person is expected to do on the website. This is all AI now that’s watching all of this flow and watching for the for that whatever the completion is, has the customer been fulfilled? Or do they go elsewhere? and look for something else that and do they take action there? Well, then that gets a better signal than whatever you did, or did they do a comparison and come back to your website? That’s even better. So they went a little

They looked at others as comparison shopping, they come back to you, and they give you the information boom, cinched. I mean, that activity, not user intent, but activity, Trumps anything on the web, I don’t care what it is, you can talk about speed, speed, and all this other shit that Google’s coming up with to try to trick people into doing things other than what they’re supposed to be doing, which is focusing on that entity and getting that person to complete the goal that you set for them on that page.

Have You Experienced Getting Into The First Page Within 1-2 Months For Semi Easy Or Semi-Tough Keywords?

There you go. So question number two of many is, have you ever experienced fast rankings on the first page, let’s say one to two months on a regular domain, non G site? for easier semi-easy or semi tough keywords? Yeah, I mean, many times, although I haven’t experienced that lately. But I haven’t really been set to start a whole lot of new domain projects. But yeah, I mean, in the past, I’ve absolutely done that. more so with GMB stuff, but yeah, I mean, sometimes. And it’s interesting, I did a test this was years ago, probably five or six years ago, but it was a test inspired by Terry Kyle. But it was about testing different domains just to see sometimes, like, sometimes even a new domain that has never been previously registered for some reason, just it’s like it gets it goes into a sandbox and just doesn’t, it just won’t rank, right, or it just doesn’t respond well to anything. And so I did a test it to kind of, and Terry Kyle had a blog post about this many years ago, where he said that he had a hypothesis that, you know, it was some sort of random, random chaos or something like that, I forget what he called it, but he had a name for it. And he was saying that, like, if you were to take, you know, buy five new note five domains that have never been previously registered, and pretty much optimized them with the same sort of content, you know, they would, they’d have to be different, but the same sort of content, and you just send them out there like to be indexed. And then just track to see where they would initially index right to see where they initially index, he says, you know, out of those five, even if they’re all like gibberish type content, or whatever, you’ll see that usually, one or two of them will be terrible, like, they won’t, though index, maybe that’s many, many pages back or you know, whatever. And then maybe one of them out of those five will end up indexing quite well. And there’s really no rhyme or reason, random, I can’t remember what he called, he had a specific term for it. But I thought it was a really interesting test. And I did it myself for and I remember, I did a case study for this mastermind, and I guarantee they’re still in the archives, but we’re talking about from like, 2014, or 15 timeframes. But I did that with plumbing domains, I bought several different plumbing domains, they were all-new, never been registered. And I tested that. And sure enough, one of them ended up like landing on-page, you know, two or whatever, when an indexed, and it was like, all the other ones were, you know, several pages back. And for whatever reason, there was no way for me to determine which one of those domains was going to rank better. But that was the one that I chose to end up building a client project on, because it ranked well, initially right out of the bat with nothing being done to it other than just being indexed. And so I thought that was a really interesting test that, you know,

I’m not saying every time you go to start a new project that you go out and, you know, register five domains and see which one ranks best and then build a project on that, although that’s not a bad idea. That’s a lot of additional work. I just thought it was an interesting test. So have I done it before? Yes. I haven’t seen it more recently, but it would GMB is I have if you optimize the GMB correctly, and it’s in a lower competition area, then sometimes that GMB will pop right into the three-pack for you know, a search within its immediate local area. And that’s that that happens. Again, if it’s if I haven’t seen it lately, but I have done it in the past. And I’ve even done GMB ranking in the three pack within the first month within, you know, the last year. So I’ve done that. So yes, I’ve seen it. Mark, do you want to comment on that? didn’t call it the randomness factor? Yeah. Random ranking factor, maybe that was it? Something, something? Something like that, where it just won’t index or for whatever, it’ll go into the sandbox, and Google will just refuse to rank it? Yeah, random ranking. I think it was a random factor. Yeah. It’s just that the algorithm burps it’s so complex, that that there’s constant degradation, right. I mean, I talked about this.

Last night, the mini mastermind, we talked about random algorithmic degradation. We talked about algorithmic bias we talked about, I mean, just a whole bunch of things that are taking place. While all of these algorithms are thinking about millions of lines of code, the algorithm degrades over time. And if you’re trying to predict behavior, it degrades even faster, trying to predict that behavior. And so all of these training models are degrading and these people are having to go and update these things constantly. It’s not that Okay. What is the image that we have of Google? It’s like an overseer, all-powerful, all-knowing us that seeing everything and all it is, is a set of servers with a set of code with a whole bunch of people working on the code.

It can’t be anything else. That’s what it’s not. Yeah, they do come on a manual, when they come out on a manual is someone in a computer coming and looking over your website through their computer? It’s all it is. It’s not magic. I tell him it’s not magically delicious. This ain’t Lucky Charms, man. That’s not what it is. And so with all of these factors and things taking place in the algorithm, it’s just going to burp from time to time. And then when that happens, no matter what you do, you can’t get it to wreck. Yeah. I remember calling that the alpha Ric alpha algorithmic anomaly. And that’s, that’s what it is. And just really quick, this, this, I just did a search on that term, random terrico random ranking factor and it pops in a blurb from diggity marketing. And he talks about, you need to expect the random ranking factor. This is a random ranking factor is a phenomenon, phenomenon coined by SEO, Terry Kyle. So that’s exactly what I’m talking about. So this would probably be a good article just to read through if nothing else.

So there you go.

Okay, cool.

Can You Automate Money Site Post Creation For Content Kingpin?

Next, let’s see is another one from BB. He says, Is there an automation content kingpin for money site, post creation? No, all of my bloggers, which I’ve only got two now on staff, do everything manually. And, and we’ve always done it that way. Because, first of all, the content. I mean, there there is one tool that I could say, you could probably get away with automating curating content. And that would be Damon, Nelson’s RSS master technology. I don’t personally use that, again, my team still does everything manually.

Like, for example, Esther, my best blogger, she’s my primary blogger, she uses Feedly. And we build-out, we add content feeds to feed the, but then we also add content to what’s called content boards. So we can set up different categories, and subcategories and all that kind of stuff and add content to content boards. And so whenever she goes to blog, she just goes in and pulls open a content board finds articles that will complement a topic that she’s trying to blog about, in other words, sometimes it’ll reinforce an idea that she’s trying to convey, sometimes there will be opposing opinions that she so it’s kind of like an argumentative essay if you took, you know, college English classes, you’ve probably had to do that my point has, like, all the content that we could ever need is in Feedly, that’s our content library that then she uses to create, to curate posts for clients. And she’s very, very efficient at it. And very good. Her posts are outstanding. She’s been working for me for five, probably longer six or seven years, maybe even longer than that. And she’s really, really skilled at it. So we do everything manually. But I think if there was a tool that could automate that, and again, I’m not sure if there are other tools out there that may be able to do this, but I know Damon, Nelson’s RSS mashup technology would likely be able to automate curated posts to a degree. And you could set up some sort of a function where, you know, it creates an RSS feed from the RSS master technology that Then could you could trigger publishing posts to your money site.

Again, I still prefer it manually just because we have more control over everything. But I think if you were going to try to automate it, that would be a good tool to attempt it with, although I’ve not done it myself. Any comment on that guy, we’re using Jordan’s method that taught him that he taught him powerful, which is using the software as a service to tune the content, I mean, razor-sharp, tune it for the bot, tune the entity. And so what you get is a template, more or less or a guideline on what it is that you’re supposed to write. Now once you have that you can just go and like maybe FAQ, but you shouldn’t be doing you should have a VA that’s doing all of this train your VA on how to do it our VA my VA no knows how to go into the different software build it from the two software that we use, pull the schema because they will give you the additional schema that you should have with that. And then from that, she will write the content that’s now focused on the entity that we’re trying to push up in the ranking. It works fantastically well. You can do the same with curated content by the way the Dixon Jones for men links which is one of the SAS products that we use just wrote a great blog on on on how to use curated content as how you take our Content Kingpin. Have you run it through the different software? And it’ll come out a tune? I don’t know what you mean, you can do it automated. But why would you when you can have something that’s hyper-focused, hyper-tuned for the entity, and whatever else is related to the entity because all of the AI told you how to create those relationships, it works incredibly well?

Yeah.

What Is A Solid Local Business Directory To Find Business Contracts For Architects & Home Builders?

So the next one is from Nigel. By the way, we got awesome charity webinars, so comment on that. But Nigel asks, What is a solid local business directory to find business contacts? Like, for example, business adjacent to real estate?

With contact information? I’m not sure I understand the question. Goal, I want to find all architects and Home Builders by geography with some solid information that can be used for targeting not spamming. Okay?

If you’re talking by geography, okay, so what I would say, so you’re looking to find specific contacts that’s in a specific industry, but also by location. So first and foremost, I would just go to Google and do searches for industry, whatever that is. Business Directory, right. So in my case, like tree service, business directory, right, or tree contractor business directory, or something like that, right, and just start collecting the URLs of those industry or niche-specific directories. That’s number one.

Number two, look at industry publications. So like associations, you know, member associations, for example, you know, like TCI, a tree care industry of America or something like that, right. So you can usually find industry publications, or membership organizations, associations, those types of things that are industry-specific. And oftentimes, they will have business directories or professional directories for, you know, companies and professionals in that industry. So look for association or industry, you know, publications, membership groups, that kind of stuff, that that’s another great source for that kind of thing.

So those are two that I would recommend right off the bat. Another one would be and I just started testing more like literally today, I just started testing some more, I’ve got them open and some of my browser tabs, in fact, but started testing for LinkedIn, LinkedIn might be also another good opportunity for you to find your specific target prospect. And you can, you know, I’m still using the free LinkedIn account right now. But I’ve been in the past, I’ve used Sales Navigator, and Sales Navigator opens up a shit ton of additional filtering options and a lot of additional contact options. So you can get a lot of Intel from that. I am, I just started testing what’s called octopus CRM. That’s this one right here. It’s, it’s a LinkedIn tool. I just start again, I just signed up for this today. And I’m going to start testing this. But this in conjunction with something like LinkedIn Sales Navigator will give you a ton of data. And you can create messaging sequences and automated follow-up sequences and all kinds of stuff with this kind of a tool. So and even LinkedIn funnels, which is really cool. That’s part of the reason I signed up for this one. So like, you can, you know, set up automation, and funnels and stuff all within LinkedIn, which is really cool. So again, I would recommend those three things. Go to Google, do an industry, Business Directory search, right, so you can start collecting industry directories specific to your niche or topic or chosen industry. Number two, look for associations, memberships, organizations, things like that, likely, you’ll be able to find some and oftentimes they will have their own professional directories. And then lastly, I would also encourage you to check out LinkedIn because even tree contractors, which I was really surprised free contractors are not the type that would typically be on LinkedIn, but a lot of them are even if they’re not active on LinkedIn, they still have profiles. So it’s worth attempting outreach on LinkedIn as well. So again, I would highly encourage you to check that out. Anybody else?

Is There A Specific MGYB Done For You Service For Real Estate Leads?

Okay, next, the next question is a second question if I could any good real estate leads advice. And best MGYB done for you services that can be used specifically for local real estate leads with some context. Real Estate leads advice, I guess it would depend Nigel on what you’re trying to, like. Who are you targeting? are you targeting residential homebuyers? are you targeting residential home sellers? are you targeting investors? are you targeting realtors and real estate agents? Like I’m not sure what it is.

If you want to clarify since you’re commenting, Nigel. Do you want to clarify what type of targeting I might be able to provide some insight, you know, I have a real estate business, I buy and sell vacant land. So, you know, as an investor, I’m just a marketer. Like, I’m not actually a real estate investor, I’m an I’m marketer in the real estate industry, right. And, and so I know how to generate leads for that business. But that’s, again, for my own business. So I’m not sure you know, what your, who you’re trying to target that’s going to determine or that will determine what the best answer is, if that makes sense. So I’ll move on, and I’ll come back to this. Marco, he’s asking all of the above for mortgage broker, okay.

Yeah, well, then, I mean, again, I would start targeting different aspects of different segments of the broad real estate market. So you’re gonna have specific messaging targeting buyers, right? You’re gonna have specific messaging targeting sellers. If it’s a mortgage broker, well, I guess sellers are probably going to need a loan to buy a new home anyway. Right. So So yeah, I could see that. But, so, again, it’s going to depend on what market segments you’re targeting, because you’re gonna have different messaging to different segments of the market. And they also congregate, right? Those you’ll find those market segments in different places too, right. So again, if you’re talking about wanting to target real estate professionals, LinkedIn, a great source for that Zillow, you know, realtor.com, like you can find realtors in specific locations or areas on those types of sites and scrape that and I know that there’s, there are tools out there that will scrape stuff like that. You might want to look at Phantom Buster comm they have a lot of really good scraping tools, LinkedIn included, but probably Zillow, scrapers, and everything else, I’m sure.

But you know, targeting homebuyers that you know that they’re going to be in a different place than perhaps some sellers would be. So you have to kind of figure out where your target audiences are. And then develop messaging, and ad copy or content, or what, however, you’re going to be targeting them that fits in where they’re already located, like the medium that they’re frequenting. Right? And and and target them that way. So I don’t know if that was helpful, but that’s, again, you know, real estate is so broad, you really have to fine-tune your message based upon the segment that you’re targeting. Hopefully, that makes some sense.

As far as the question about MGYB stuff, let me go back to that Marco, maybe you can answer this he says, and best mgyb.co done for you services that can be used specifically for local real estate leads with some context.

Ah.

So the first thing that comes to mind is proper keyword research, sellers and buyers, right? Because of its mortgage brokerage, you’re going to need that.

And then it’s going to need doesn’t matter what it is the entity is going to need, the SEO shield is going to need to be, you’re going to need to establish the footprint.

Everything that we teach is is a process, a method a system to like repeating myself, it’s a system that systematizes how everything gets done. It’s a process, the way that we set up the niche is irrelevant, the niche doesn’t matter. Because the process takes care of it. As long as everything is set up the right way. We set it up so that it’s successful, no matter what it is, I mean, the content production has to be done. Has the homepage has to be right. The schema has to be right. I mean, in everything that we do, you’d probably benefit from the heavy hitter club.

That’s where you probably find the most benefit because that’s how we show you how you can best make use of your entity and how you can take that entity approach for anything that you’re doing. You’ll never hear me talking about how to go after a specific niche. Because the process is always the same. It’s the procedural process by the Department of redundancy department, right? Yeah. I love that. The Department of the Department of redundancy department I love that. Um, so I just did a quick Google search for Zilla scraper. I thought Phantom Buster might have one but it doesn’t look like they do.

But this is neat. They’ve got some really powerful tools but I just did a quick search for Zillow web scraper because I know like you know Zillow is a wealth of information if you’re in the real estate industry. And I know it pisses a lot of realtors off because and even investors because Zillow is kind of like they took that they actually entered like the realty market themselves as well as they’re also buying up properties that are listed on Zillow for discounts, you know that kind of stuff. So they’re also like acting as a real estate investment, trust type thing, all kinds of stuff. It’s crazy. So Zillow is a powerhouse in the real estate industry and even though a lot of people.

You’re mad at them. Like I mean, you can’t fault them for just being really good at what they do. Anyways, Zillow web scraper. I just clicked on this one down here because it shows December 10 2020, which seems to be the most recent on page one.

And there you go, like, I mean, I haven’t tested any of these. But you might want to look into doing something like using a Zillow web scraper to extract real estate professionals because remember, you’re gonna find listing agents, as well as buyer’s agents on Zillow, and maybe even mortgage stuff I don’t know because I don’t typically look as I do in cash based real estate business without loans and stuff. So I don’t deal with mortgage loan lenders, but you might be able to find mortgage information on Zillow, like, you know, lender information that are advertising in such on Zillow, if that makes sense. So and that’s just one of many guys remember, there’s realtor.com is Trulia. Redfin, there’s a bunch of other websites that are specific to real estate, that you could probably get a shit ton of information from building a really good prospect list. Okay.

That’s a good question, though.

All right. We’re almost out of time. Let’s see. Yeah, they hate Zillow. Yeah, you’re right. And I know because I was just at a real estate investors meeting last night, and we did it once a month. And there were realtors that come in that want to either start their own investing, like investing side to their business, or they want to work the realtors that want to work with investors. And it’s funny, but you’re right. realtors, they really hate Zillow. I like Zillow because it helps me in my business as an investor because it’s just the data that I pulled from Zillow. It’s invaluable the data that I get from Zillow, and so I like Zillow for that reason. Anyway,

If The SEO Shield Was Created With Incorrect Keywords, Should You Just Let It Sit And Order A New One?

let’s see. The last thing is J. Duggal says if a shield was created, this is a great question. By the way, I read this one earlier. If a shield was created with incorrect keywords he didn’t fully comprehend at the time of ordering and provided keyword plus location etc. Instead of the top-level brand. Should I just let the seal the shield sit in order a new one or what would be the best move forward, I’m gonna tell you what I would do and, you know, but Marco’s advice is going to be probably the best. What I would do in that situation is probably just set it to not public in order a new one. The only other thing you could do would be to manually go in and change everything, which I certainly wouldn’t want to do if I had somebody on my team that knew how to do all that maybe I would have them do it. But I might just set it to not public and then go order a new one. But that’s me, Margaret, what would you do?

I don’t want to do all that manual work. I don’t want to. I know we’re going in there and trying to correct it. But I’m like I’m not seeing it. Like that would be a problem where he did keyword press location.

I mean, if he got the keyword research right now it was okay. It was created with incorrect keywords. Yeah, order it again. Because you have ambiguous your entity set everything that you have to the public. Now anything else that was created the syndication network, and everything else will have to be updated. And you’ll have to write to support at mgyb.co. To see it whether it be we don’t really provide that service but I mean, we could have someone go in and update it for you with the new keyword research with the new keywords for the brand. I will try to set up a one-off payment. I don’t see why not.

Sweet. Good question. All right, everybody. Thank you for being here. Thanks for the awesome questions, Nigel, and thanks for participating. That appreciates that and I’m glad it was helpful. So we’ll see you guys next week.

Source: Semantic Mastery Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 328 published first on your-t1-blog-url

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