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cinnalock · 4 years

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TWST Mond Twin Headcanons

((A masterlist of all the random facts and trivia bits for the Mond twins. I may create separate posts of new things in the future, but those new bits will always be added/archived in this post! As with some of my other character lists/profiles, a “last edited” date will be posted to inform when the last addition was.

Diamond Crown Academy, Katherine’s school, is created by @phoenix-manga.

Last Edited: 5-15-2020, added DCA Festival headcanons, corrected an old headcanon, newly added headcanons are in bold font.))

GENERAL HEADCANONS: headcanons that don't necessarily fit into a specific category, mainly little general snippets about the twins.

The Mond twins are a...peculiar set of siblings. They're friendly enough at their own schools, but get them together and you'll likely never see one without the other. They're very attached and seem to only trust each other. Despite how nice they seem, there always seems to be the aura that you talking to them feels like you're intruding in their space and better play by their rules because of it.

There's a rumor that the twins aren't entirely human, if they're human at all. Some believe they're fae or fairy. The twins have never addressed these rumors themselves and, if confronted with them, tend to give vague answers that neither confirm nor deny. Some believe that in of itself confirms the rumors, but the Monds have been known to be mischievous and may simply get entertainment out of confusing their classmates.

Despite their cunning, secretive behavior, the twins aren't bad or evil. They're mainly mischievous and distrustful of others. They're neutral at their worst, just wanting to protect each other above all else. They might relish in the chaos of something like a prank, but destruction and devastation doesn't sit well with them. They're not above schmoozing and sweet-talking to get something like an extension on homework or the last tart in the lunch line, but they wouldn't betray a friend to serve themselves. Ultimately, it's better to be on their good side, but being on their bad side isn't much of an inconvenience, unless the situation is very, VERY bad.

In regards to the above headcanon, the twins mostly represent characters that appear to be on the villain’s side before ultimately abandoning or straight-up betraying them, or characters that you’re absolutely sure are the main villains before the actual villain’s plot comes to light and you realize they were working against the evil.

"Canonically" for TWST Katherine might not be part of NRC due to the "all-boys school" angle, but at the very least she'd visit a lot; if she was part of a NRC dorm, it would be Ignihyde like her brother despite everyone and their grandmother expecting her to be sorted into Pomefiore. In Ignihyde, she'd specialize in web design, but she'd also have a knack for engineering; seeing various pieces like a giant puzzle to put together to make things work. Many classmates would come to her for help with building their own PCs.

Thomas and Katherine share a bank account, but have their own cards attached to it. Both earn relatively the same amount of money in their side jobs. Thomas' payments might be more substantial in the moment, but Katherine is commissioned much more frequently, either through bulk orders of products made by her own hand or companies paying substantial amounts for the rights to various recipes they pay her to concoct.

As proud as Thomas is of his sister's accomplishments, Katherine sends him a hysterical amount of perfumed goods of her own creation, asking for critiques. He does what he can, but to reduce them overwhelming his dorm room, he usually does his initial "testing" with them once before leaving them in a box on Pomefiore's doorstep.

Katherine's animal companion at DCA is an orchid mantis named Lamarie; while normally only the companion's owners can hear them speak, Thomas can hear Lamarie talk as well.

Lamarie is a very conceited, boastful little bug to the point where Vil would describe her as "full of herself" if he could hear her speak. Despite her selfish attitude, she cares about Katherine dearly and will go to great lengths to protect her, even if the effort isn't always necessary.

The Monds use a similar fragrance mainly comprising of cloves and fresh rosemary. Thomas' cologne also contains hints spearmint and bergamot. Katherine's perfume also contains hints of lavender and patchouli. Their respective scents are present in various products made by Katherine, and they regularly bathe with the pure oil mixtures stirred into their bath water. This leaves their smells being particularly persistent (almost overwhelming) and while Katherine says there's no magic additives, non- or weak-magicked beings tend to find themselves being slowly entranced or even "hypnotized" by the smell after a certain period, weakening their resolve and rationality.

While their favorite food is chestnuts, both of the twins' favorite dish is chicken curry, though Katherine likes Indian-style curry while Thomas likes Japanese-style curry. While both enjoy a certain level of spiciness, they tend to exaggerate their ability to tolerate it, leading to some...interesting scenarios when the host/cook takes their word on such.

While curry is their favorite food, Katherine enjoys caviar tasting, though Thomas finds caviar gross. However, Thomas enjoys artisan cheeses while Katherine loathes it.

Both twins love boba drinks, particularly ones with lots of fancy toppings. Thomas eats the toppings out of the whip cream with a spoon before drinking, Katherine likes to drink the toppings through her straw as they sink into the drink.

The twins are relatively neutral when it comes to sweets, though once in a blue moon they get plagued by a ravenous sweet tooth. They prefer baked goods over candy when it comes to satisfying their sugar cravings. Thomas is a straightforward cake-lover, especially chocolate (god tier: chocolate lava cake); Katherine will say her favorite dessert is French macarons because of the aesthetic, but she'll sneak out at the crack of dawn to get donuts for the aforementioned sugar craving above.

Thomas is naturally gifted in herbology and plant-based magic. Katherine grew into it in her teens with lots of training and practice, but she had the terrible luck of frequently killing plants when she was a child. When Thomas discovered his affinity, he'd often revive the plants to keep Katherine from crying. Katherine's prized possession is a lamb's tail succulent Thomas gave her when they were kids that he guided her into keeping alive. Thomas doesn't have a passion for herbology, but he keeps a small potted lilac tree in his dorm, as Katherine gave it to him as the first plant she was able to successfully grow during her first year at DCA.

On the flip side, Thomas could burn cereal as a child. Like how he helped Katherine with gardening, Katherine has tried to help his cooking skills. He learned well enough, but without a dedicated cooking class at NRC (chemistry being the closest thing, which HAS surprisingly helped), his learning process has been slow. He's an okay cook now, and what he does make is at least edible if not enjoyable, but it's definitely not pretty. (Thomas: *standing casually in front of a collapsed cake* "Started making it. Had a breakdown. Bon appetite.")

While Thomas is in the board game club, if the club is cancelled or on the days it doesn't meet, he sometimes sits in on magical shift or track and field clubs to help get regular exercise in; he also helps in tutoring/instructing junior students in the clubs.

If the gardening research club doesn't meet, Katherine might show up to the greenhouse/club room to watch and fuss over the plants, even if she doesn't actually interfere with them because she wants to be a good gardener. Sometimes other clubs, usually the volleyball club, will drag her to their meetings to keep her from worrying.

Thomas is usually on the magical shift team for Ignihyde during the tournament, but he's willing to yield his position on the team if there's 7 players stronger than he is.

BACKSTORY HEADCANONS: headcanons relating to their backstory or explanations of how their origins affect other aspects of their life.

The twins were taught how to read, write, and most basic skills by Mim, including how to use magic. This was to her advantage so they could be independent enough to follow her orders (and not bother her when she had no tasks for them).

However, King Arthur adapted magic into his being over his long life, both by being tutored by Merlin for so long and then over the course of his main journeys and triumphs. Spending so much time with the twins as kits, he imbued them with a little of this magic and is the main reason they remember him so well despite how young they were.

In short, the twins had an adaptation to both good and black magic when they were young.

The twins can change between being human and being squirrels. They themselves have wondered if they could transform midway into a hybrid form, but they’re worried about getting “stuck” and haven’t tried. They also don’t want to try because being born as squirrels is a secret they’ve kept from their classmates (they believe it’s a secret to the teachers and staff as well, but both Crowley and Citrouille are well aware of this, despite not knowing full details of the twins’ origins).

Since Mim is an incredibly powerful sorcerer, the twins adapted a human lifespan once they were transformed by her. They were only a few months old as young squirrels when she transformed them and they had become children as humans, but they also started to age as humans as time went on.

The twins adore mainstream human cuisine, but they still have the tendency to snack on nuts and berries they pluck straight off the plant. They have to be careful of this habit because while they can digest certain things like fresh acorns, they have to be mindful that someone might notice them eating raw foods that would normally be poisonous to humans, such as uncooked acorns.

Naturally, the twins excel at Animal Linguistics. They have to be particularly careful about this because animals on campus risk revealing the twins’ secret to other students proficient in Animal Linguistics if they’re spotted transforming. They have to feign natural excellency at the subject as humans, but also not be found out when transforming into squirrels to use their natural forms to their advantage.

The twins don’t remember Merlin very well from the short time he was looking after them. While he seemed kind enough in wanting to save them from Mim, they’re not interested in reuniting with him because they don’t know his true intentions.

What they don’t know is that Merlin had managed to locate them when they started school, but has decided to leave them alone for the most part. His original agreement with Arthur’s son was to make sure they were released safely into the wild and he sees their current situation as a way to interpret it. He’s normally away, but sometimes he checks in, guiding them as a disembodied voice or animating objects to lead them in the right direction. The twins write this off as normal absurdity in their magic-filled schools and don’t realize it’s him.

The twins weren't sorted into Savanaclaw or Sagamore despite being animal-humans partially because they're not clear hybrids. Another, bigger reason is that their memories from being in nature are not pleasant ones (first being orphaned as kits and then living under Mim's hand) and they want to distance themselves from nature and their "origins" as much as possible.

They put a lot of effort into learning as much as they could about the modern world in such a short amount of time. Their knowledge is certainly passable, but they still slip up here and there. They prioritized learning alchemy for potions that could help them stay awake to study longer or help retain information a bit better. The same came with learning how to use computers as they noticed it was important in the current society. It was difficult for them when they were in hiding before they enrolled, but their fear possibly being enslaved by another witch encourage them to study hard and get stronger in both knowledge and resolve.

Lamarie knows they’re origins and the twins know she knows, but she keeps their secret to respect their wishes and protect Katherine, worried that the witch from their past might be trying to find them.

Lilia and Malleus are also highly aware that the twins aren't human, but they keep it to themselves.

One reason the twins use such strong fragrances in their products is because when they were still hiding at NRC, one persistent Savannaclaw student could pick up on their scent in rooms they were previously in during the night. Even if they were in human form in that room, the student specifically mentioned picking up on the scent of "squirrel" so it lead the twins to believe that even as humans their natural scent/musk smells animalistic. They threw the student off their literal scent before he could find them out by slipping a potion into his drinks and food to give him horrible allergies for the rest of his time at NRC, making him unable to smell clearly until he graduated.

IN-GAME HEADCANONS: headcanons regarding how the twins would work as canon characters in the actual game.

Thomas' unique magic is called "Found Your Weak Spot". He zeroes in on an opponent's weakness, whether it's physical, emotional, or magical and identifies how to exploit it; his attacks become critical.

Katherine's unique magic is called "Take a Deep Breath". A pleasant, but abundant fragrance overtakes her opponents, confusing their minds and slowing their movements, making their attacks much easier to dodge.

If they were in the game, they'd have an overblot boss battle as a special event. During the event, a side story would unfold where the player finds out about their past. The event would reward the player for participating by giving them rare cards where the twins unlock a human-squirrel hybrid form (similar to Savanaclaw students). The cards would depict stories of the twins trying to come to terms with being more open about their origins with their classmates, as well as trying to adjust to their hybrid forms.

CHARACTER RELATIONSHIP HEADCANONS: headcanons explaining how the twins, either separately or together, interact with canon or other OC characters.

During holidays where students can visit home, the twins stay at NRC, normally spending it having huge gaming marathons with Idia. While it took years of getting to know Thomas for Idia to open up to the idea, he enjoys how they're much more willing to venture out to restock on snacks and other supplies in his place. Ortho, unsurprisingly, has to be the voice of reason and makes sure the trio doesn't die from their diet of pizza and chocolate pretzels during this time.

Going back to how the twins have relatively normal diets, they will eat the most decadent, indulgent food concoctions (think burgers with jelly donuts as buns or hotdogs with s’more toppings) in front of Vil just to horrify him. Vil’s motions to have them banned from Pomefiore dorm and a restraining order from him personally have gone unapproved.

While not particularly kid-oriented, the twins are very good at interacting with Ortho. Thomas tries to look after him when Idia isn't around, particularly performing small maintenance on Ortho's suit (such as replacing worn wires or tightening bolts) when it wears a little from extensive use in the middle of the school day. Katherine has had less interaction with Ortho, but gives him little trinkets and souvenirs from DCA when she visits Thomas.

Cheka doesn't know the twins all that well, but he likes their long hair worn in braids (or, as he calls them, their "head-tails").

HOLIDAY HEADCANONS: headcanons specifically centered around how the twins celebrate the holidays.

During their first Christmas at NRC when they were hiding, they'd sneak into dorms and watch holiday movies any students were watching. They were enamored by gingerbread houses and managed to get a boxed kit each year to decorate, but now that they're older, they decide on a design and Katherine will bake the pieces herself when she visits NRC during the holiday break. Ortho typically joins them and has fun helping decorate the structure; he tries to get Idia to join, but the older Shroud tends to hyper fixate on one area to decorate and over-obsesses on how to make it "perfect" to not ruin the overall look of the gingerbread house. They're all glad Idia joins them, but they worry about whether or not he's actually having fun with it.

DCA FESTIVAL HEADCANONS: headcanons regarding the festival held by Diamond Crown Academy.

Katherine gives her bath products to be sold at the perfume booths by the alchemy students. She checks in occasionally to see if they need more of her products (and sometimes to man a stall for awhile so someone else can take a break), but she's normally involved in the more physically active attractions.

Katherine's duties for the festival rotates throughout the course of it. Since one of her strongest subjects is Obstacle Run (see: squirrel), she spends a good amount of time at the obstacle course being a potential challenger for the visiting students to race against.

Katherine is part of an idol group, but with rotating performances from different groups, she doesn't have to spend a lot of time on stage.

Despite not being a dorm leader, a lot of DCA students recognize Thomas as Katherine's brother (either as a formal acquaintance or just "hey, he looks exactly like the girl from Chateau Beastiale") so the native students are more open to approaching him out of familiarity. Some students even "drag" him to a certain booth or attraction to get his opinion on their hard work.

The first few years, Thomas was content to just wander around on his own. He tried hanging out with Rook during the festival for a bit, but the attention Rook tends to get got a little boring for Thomas to put up with. Now he just trades off who he hangs out with, if he hangs out with anyone at all while Katherine's busy.

Thomas doesn't realize it, but he has a bit of a "prince charming" reputation himself. This is because of his long hair and charming demeanor, but DCA students fawned over him at a distance one time while he was helping Katherine fix her hair before one of her performances, people swooning over his caring "older brother" instinct.

Aside from watching Katherine's group, Thomas tries to distance himself from the idol performances. Whether it comes from wanting to tease their colleague's brother or just wanting Thomas' attention, some groups will drag him on stage after their initial performance and encourage him to try and dance along to one of their songs. He goes along despite being embarrassed because he'd find it more embarrassing to "run away" or cause some sort of scene at Katherine's school by protesting.

Thomas usually spends his time trying out different foods, but he'll also find himself in the art gallery, trying to see if there's any pieces inspired by King Arthur or the twins' original home world. If there is, he purchases it immediately if he artist lets him, but given the unlimited points of inspiration in the world, he almost never sees any pieces.

He also spends a surprising amount of time at the Futterwacken dorm because the sentient tea sets stir a strange feeling of nostalgia in him. While he doesn't interact with Riddle too often, them both enjoying the tea parties at the festival allows them to catch up and have fun in familiar company, even if they don't usually hang out at NRC.

It's through the above that Thomas came into a possession of a very strange sugar bowl. The dish's enthusiasm humored him a great deal and when he asked about it, it brought attention to how nobody at DCA actually knew where that particular sugar bowl had come from and, with the staff's permission, they allowed Thomas to buy it and take it back to his dorm. The little bowl's antics still continue to amuse him, but he can't seem to make it understand that he doesn't want sugar in anything other than coffee or tea. He doesn't drink energy drinks or do his alchemy homework in his room anymore...

SPICY HEADCANONS: a link to general headcanons regarding NSFW headcanons about the twins. This set of headcanons will always linked at the bottom of the post. These headcanons will typically contain explict, sexual details so please do not read if you are not comfortable with such. (no link exists at this time)

#mond twins

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shieldsurf · 4 years

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nobody asked but i feel annoying when i infodump on my irl friends so heres my expert opinion on every single main series pokemon professor :)

professor oak: i dont like him sorry. its the blue stan in me. it also annoys me that pokemon is trying to make him a new mascot or whatever so they keep rolling out generic ass clones of him. i miss when spinoffs/supporting applications would get their own new professors

professor elm: i think hes sweet :) he seems like the nicest of all the professors but in a very subdued way. he's just kinda quiet and nervous but if you're having a rough day he'll invite you to his personal office for tea. he's like your gay english teacher that you stay to talk to after class every day. but i do think it's funny as fuck that he got robbed by a 12-13 year old and his immediate response was to call ANOTHER 12-13 year old

professor birch: big. dad. energy. the khakis the short sleeved t shirt the stubble. it's all there. he's probably the really goofy but surprisingly emotionally aware & insightful type. its also very funny how he got attacked by a wild dog and just ran around screaming for god knows how long until a random preteen showed up. in short i like him and i think he and brendan are sweet :) they probably go fishing together and birch helps him w his math homework at night

professor rowan: underrated!!!! has a very good theme!!!! i like him a lot he gives makes me think of like, a really stern and strict college professor who's actually really nice in his own grouchy, professional way. and like always has your back & goes and gets you fantastic internship opportunities without even telling you. but on the flipside his email responses are probably monosyllabic and he just does whatever the fuck he wants because he's tenured so his university can't do shit about it. like he just fucking gives u & barry rare starter pokemon in platinum because he feels like it! he doesnt even know you??? king

professor juniper: i loooove her 🥺 she also has a good theme song. she just seems like a really chill person. super go with the flow and fun, always trying to be positive and confident. probably listens to classic rock. but she also has big soccer mom energy, but like, a cool soccer mom, the one that brings the BEST team snacks to her 8 year old's saturday games and takes her out every friday like clockwork to get ice cream. and is like the neatest science teacher who schedules cool field trips for her rowdy class of 6th graders. i don't know why her dad is there but he's cool too i guess. he has a good theme song too and Cedric is a cool name. pretty fly for an old guy

professor sycamore: probably my favourite professor LMFAO has one of the best character themes of any pokemon character period. very few fans of him have Taste however. he's not some suave sexey smart guy get real he's like, a huge fucking mess, very book smart but otherwise an idiot, can't dress himself, gay as hell, pays his scientists well but he cant manage finances for shit so he ends up eating ramen every night. a literal trainwreck but every few years he'll publish some crazy research that blows everybodys tits into next tuesday so everyone respects him. chronic child adopter (first dexio and sina, then serena, calem, shauna, tierno, trevor.... jeez dude)

professor kukui: YEAH. YEAH!! he's just good!!!! i like him. outgoing eccentric dudebro who's actually really smart. he's funny, the whole masked royal thing is dumb as hell but i like it, also he and burnet are so CUTE as a gen 5 nut who bought all the weird spinoffs and minigames on my 3ds, it was AWESOME to see burnet back and with a man that treats her like a QUEEN. back to kukui he's the fun uncle type who takes you and your cousins out to do shit that your parents would kill him over but you love him so they can't do anything about it. he's actually crazy responsible though despite the fact that he lets his pets beat him up for funsies he would NEVER do anything that would put someone else in danger. also hes the only professor that's also a unbelievably talented trainer imo

professor magnolia: i thought a cool chill old lady professor would be cool but unfortunately with magnolia there's not a lot there :( she does seem like a cool grandma though. but i still would've liked an unassuming but secretly badass and no-nonsense old lady prof. as for the other magnolia, sonia, i think she's neat also but her arc could've been written better. instead it felt kinda forced :( she has a cute design tho its Unfortunate that a large portion of pokemon fans are weird nerd men in their mid to late 20s. i don't have a lot to say about these two they just got done really dirty compared to how cool and interesting a lot of the other swsh characters are

#pkmn #long post #shut up #txt #you can ask me more if u want!!!#nobody will but im Offering

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gossipchii · 4 years

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Silver linings

FF.net link: Here

AO3 link: Here

Characters: Motomiya Daisuke and Yagami Hikari (and Taichi)

Words: 1400+

Notes: Part of the #LockdownChallenge. I got Hikari and Daisuke and it came out more cheesy than I was expecting.

OH WELL! Enjoy!

He knew a quarantine was something serious he should never be celebrating. He also understood New York was in a very extreme situation exceeding the ten thousand cases of people infected by the virus named like a famous beer brand. Yet there he was, smiling as if he had won the lottery. Miyako would probably hit him if she knew he somehow felt lucky about the whole matter. But he didn’t care, not in that moment.

Daisuke was just starting to open his ramen franchise in places outside of Tokyo, and he had gone to New York specifically to do market research. It had been a complete coincidence that Hikari had been planning to visit Taichi at that same time. Yes. An accident.

And listen- he wasn’t as crazy about Hikari as he used to be when he was eleven, but he once had read that first loves were the only real ones and the rest were to forget, and Hikari had been his first love, it was nobody’s secret. Not even to Hikari herself, so they were chill. It had just been a friendly trip to New York City, to him it was for business and to Hikari it was leisure. And Daisuke enjoyed travelling in company rather than alone.

He also needed to stop justifying himself, but it had been a normal trip until it wasn’t. He was now in a government mandatory lockdown. It had been just his luck that he had rented an AirBnb for over two months while Hikari had preferred a hotel room. Her hotel, however, had just announced they would be closing due the lockdown. Daisuke, as nice as he was, suggested she could stay with him, since Taichi was working home office on confidential manners. Hikari didn’t want to get herself, or her brother, in trouble with the United Nations, so she agreed.

And there she was, just entering his temporary apartment. She was just carrying a small luggage and she looked scared. Hikari was very much about vibes, and it was nobody’s secret that New York looked eerie with pretty much no people on the streets. Daisuke and the younger Yagami had been through a lot, but before they had to fight Digimon, things they could see.

“It’s weird, isn’t it? Having an invisible enemy, we can’t fight with the power of our Digi-vices.” Daisuke smiled, he sometimes believed Hikari could read minds.

“I mean, this one we can fight staying inside and binge-watching Netflix so…” Hikari left her luggage in a small corner in the rather big apartment Daisuke had rented, as if she didn’t want to bother.

“Why am I not surprised at all,” she laughed, stepping into the kitchen just to see boxes of Oreo, chips, and of course, ramen all over the place.

“Don’t worry, I’m not a college student no more!” he defended himself. “There’s some vegetables on the fridge!” Hikari had a look on her face Daisuke hadn’t seen in a long time, sparkling eyes, even. “What?”

“Do you want to know what I did?” he nodded; the brunette ran straight to her purse to take out three toilet papers.

“Did you steal that from the hotel-“ he was speechless. “Who are you and what did you do to Yagami Hikari?”

“I heard the whole city was out of toilet paper! I lost control!” She could not stop laughing, Daisuke appreciated the sound of it.

“I can’t believe you actually did that. Now we can make sure we will survive this with the power of toilet paper and cookies.”

“Oh, everyone will be so jealous of our quarantine survivor kit,” Hikari took out her polaroid camera and took photos of the mountains of food Daisuke had bought. She was anxious about everything, but she was glad she was not spending it alone. Since she was a teacher, and her students were in vacations she was not homeworking like everyone else was, hence why she had decided to visit Taichi during that time.

She never expected for everything to go wild, it was not even safe for them to go back to Japan, considering New York was now one of the most affected cities in the world. Hikari didn’t want to put her parents in any kind of risk. It was better for her to just stay in New York, with her brother. With Daisuke.

“New York has always been the city that never sleeps, yet here it is. Sleeping.” The man stated, looking outside the window. The sun was setting, meaning it was probably chilly outside. Not that it mattered, since they had a heater inside.

“Did you trick me and are you actually Takeru in disguise?” she teased this time around.

“You would like that, wouldn’t you?” He stuck his tongue out to her, Hikari rolled her eyes.

“Daisuke! We are not eleven anymore!”

“I know, I know! And I promise I’m nowhere as salty as I was back then.” He stood up to boil some water for the ramen. They were nowhere as good as his, of course, but it was what they had for now. People had gone nuts in the streets with all the panic shopping, Americans were way more paranoid than they were in Japan.

“I’ll take a quick shower if that’s okay?”

“Hey, su casa es mi casa!”

“It’s supposed to be mi casa es tu casa…”

“Now I’m supposed to believe you’re bilingual.”

“I’ve learned some things from Miyako, the basics.”

“Ok booksmart, go take a shower because I can smell you from here!!” he yelled, she laughed; as she disappeared into the bathroom, leaving him in silence once again.

Their friendship had become stronger over the years, eleven-year-old Daisuke would have never imagined he would end up locked with Hikari Yagami. Adult Daisuke was, of course, over that crush. Sure, he would always love Hikari, but the romantic feelings were left behind, right?

Not many people knew this about the younger Yagami, but she loved horror movies. How would you ever guess that, considering she looked like an angel herself. So, after the ramen was done -and he improved them, if he could say so himself, he felt free to pick the newest horror film on Netflix, to Hiakri’s excitement.

“I was just thinking about watching this film! I tried to watch it with Taichi the other night but he’s such a chicken, oh and the ramen looks amazing!” She had her now longer hair still wet and wearing an oversized shirt. Daisuke tried to hide his blush; she was so naturally beautiful. “Perhaps I made the best decision by staying with you instead of my brother, God knows what he’s eating right now.”

“He works for the UN, I’m sure he is being taken care of.”

“You’ll be surprised…” she whispered for herself.

Not too long had passed when Hikari fell asleep while watching the film, which, by mere causality, was in Spanish. That made Daisuke laugh. Hikari’s phone began ringing to show it was Taichi himself who was calling, he felt free to answer.

“Have you not gone bald yet?”

“One more pandemic away to do that!” the older one laughed; it was refreshing to hear a joke after so much stress at the office. “Where is she?”

“Asleep,” he looked at her, breathing softly.

“Of course she is, girl can’t stay up after midnight no matter how hard she tries.” Taichi sighed, changing the tone of his voice. “Thank you for taking her in, I feel so guilty for not taking care of her while she was here…”

“You know how Hikari is, she never wants to bother.”

“She’s so lucky to have people like you in her life, and I mean, me too.” Daisuke smiled; he had an inexplicable amount of respect towards Taichi. “Thank you, really.”

“The Yagamis will always have a special place in my heart, you know it. Let us know when you take a break from saving the world so we can do FaceTime!”

“It’s a promise. And Daisuke?”

“Yes?”

“As soon as we’re done with this mess, I’ll introduce you to someone I know, he’s very interested in your business and would like to help you open your first branch here!”

Daisuke smiled big, the Yagamis really overdid themselves every single time. And even if his crush with Hikari never became anything more, he would always consider them part of his family.

#digimon #digimon adventure #digimon adventure 02 #daisuke motomiya #hikari yagami #taichi yagami #lockdownchallenge #fanfic #fanfiction

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siren1song · 5 years

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@impatentpending @reddstardust @sher-soc-the-famder @blazingstarininkydarkness @mariniacipher @theotherella @notveryglittery(peeps who wanted to be tagged in this! sorry cj idk why it won’t let me tag you)

Platonic roceit high school au where they start off as rivals that slowly turns into best friends because of a common enemy (the school board threatening to cut the theater program)

It starts off with Roman being his natural dramatic self on and off the stage and for some reason, Roman's loud, charismatic self just... grates on Deceit's nerves

Like God what does this pompous ass know about theater? What does he know about living for the role he's in, about inserting himself so deep into character that he becomes the character until he's off the stage.

What does Roman know and why the hell is he so much better? it just irritates the hell out of Deceit, the jealousy he feels

One day, when Roman is talking loudly with his friends who aren’t in theater but band (Patton), art club (Virgil), and the robotics club (Logan), Deceit makes a snide, passive aggressive remark about Roman being a traitor to the theater program by mingling outside of the group. it pisses Roman off and the rivalry starts hot and strong.

Over the months of lets say sophomore year they're always at each others throats, getting along only when their characters call for it on stage and it drives everyone else in the department nuts because during the rehearsals they're fighting, making crude comments and mean insults rather than practicing and the quality of their acting goes down because of it.

One day a representative of the board of directors watches their worst performance yet and... silence. deceit knows they were there, he heard the theater teacher talking about it with the principal in the hallway during his free period. roman doesn't and remains oblivious to the danger they're in.

Until Mr. Octavius (cause why not name October that) gathers the theater club together a week later and says, with a solemn look, that the club is getting cut from funding and the next year drama will no longer be available.

Deceit and Roman both are pretty heartbroken at the news, but Roman refuses to give up the idea of "saving" the club and it drives Deceit mad. what can they do to change the mind of the board of directors? They're just kids! and one day, after hearing Roman plot with his friends, he snaps the same question, going on about how it was all their fault because Roman was too arrogant to see past his rivalry to actually work together

roman ignores the indignant rage at having the blame pinned on him for a moment because deceit is crying and, though he knows he'll refuse to admit it, he wants to help

"Then lets both work together. Make this club so good, so amazing at what we do that the next time some board of whatsits member comes down to watch, they HAVE to keep the club."

Deceit is shocked into silence before quickly frowning. “What do you propose we do that will make them actually come and visit again, then?”

Roman shrugged, getting up and beaming at his rival. “First we’ve gotta improve our acting skills and working together skills before we worry about getting their attention again.”

Deceit, still shocked, just nods and Roman’s grin grows. Behind him, Deceit sees his friends roll their eyes affectionately at Roman’s determination.

It’s hard for them at first, Deceit wanting to try but struggling to because he’s so used to working against Roman that working with him was just... difficult.

But he did his best, barring the sassy insults because keeping Deceit from calling Roman the queen of the castle was like keeping an ostrich from trying to mate with humans. Necessary but difficult and not most bothered.

After a particularly nasty insult (that Deceit actually felt kind of bad for letting slip), Roman snapped.

“What is your issue, Hamlie! I’ve been doing my best to get along with you, trying to fix our mistake and yet you can’t seem to make the same effort!”

Deceit flinched at the nickname, scowling. “As if you’re blameless, Turkey,” he muttered, crossing his arms.

Roman gasped at that. “You take that back!”

Deceit blinked, his arms dropping to his sides.

“You understood that insult? I thought you were an idiot.”

Scoffing, it was Roman’s turn to cross his arms. “As if I haven’t studied various stories like that. Greek and Roman history and religion? My favorite things to research.”

Okay... maybe Deceit underestimated him just a tad.

“Alright, fine. I’ll... try harder to get along with you.”

Roman frowned. “You haven’t answered my question.”

“What question?”

“What is your issue, Nagini.”

Deceit sighed, looking out at the seats of the theater, both being on the school stage right now to practice extra for the next show.

“I’m...” Deceit grit his teeth, grinding them together, “I’m jealous. Of you.”

Roman was quiet, so he continued.

“You’re talented. Better than me at getting into character, figuring out how they would act and speak. You learn the character and then you become the character and I’m always just slightly to the left of where I need to be, never really sticking the landing of who I need to be and it’s infuriating because it doesn’t even look like you try.”

More silence.

“Well, it’s not like I don’t work it at... I try just as hard as everyone else.”

Deceit finally looked back to Roman to see him... blushing? and not looking at him.

“Listen you want my advice? It’s the little things that matter. I put a lot of thought in the characters I play. Where did they grow up? How did they grow up? What drives them, their goals? It’s... a lot of work. I usually practice with Patton a lot to get a better understanding of what they’re like.”

Deceit sighed, running a hand through his hair, his hat tossed to the side with his coat so he wouldn’t feel too hot under the stage lights.

“Alright, enough with the mushy stuff, let’s get back to work.”

Roman grinned and nodded.

After that they did work a lot better together, Deceit having a new respect for Roman after learning just how much effort he puts into his work.

It wasn’t long until the first performance where they actually worked together came and passed, the show being such a success they actually felt ready to talk to the principal about convincing the representative to come back and see them in action.

Skeptical, the principal agreed to try, but made no promises.

They did their best to practice for the next performance but the hope and dread that they had swirling in their heads was distracting.

One day when they were taking break in Roman’s room, Deceit spinning in Roman’s desk chair while Roman laid on his bed, Roman spoke up.

“What if they say no?”

Deceit stopped, raising an eyebrow at Roman. “What if they don’t?”

Roman raised up on his elbows, frowning at Deceit. “No, you don’t... Deceit what if they say no.”

Deceit tilted his head, fidgeting with his hands in his jacket pockets.

“Then we’ll petition for the drama club to be reopened next year.”

Roman sat up properly now so he could chew on a fingernail. “And if that doesn’t work?”

Deceit hummed. “We’ll keep trying. What’s wrong, Roman, you don’t seem the type to lose hope.”

Roman puffed up his chest. “I’m not! I just... I’m worried. Theater is what I want to do with my life, if I don’t have my high school years to refine my skill and get scholarships to a college with an amazing theater program, what am I going to do?”

Both brows raised, Deceit leaned forward to get a better look at Roman.

After a moment of silence, he nodded. “You’ll find another way. You’re a fighter Roman, I doubt you’ll stop until you’ve exhausted every option and then some.”

Roman stared at Deceit, brow furrowed before suddenly grinning.

“You’ve grown soft.”

Deceit glared, grabbing a pencil from the desk and throwing at a laughing Roman.

The Board of Directors agree to send another representative, and Roman hugs a blushing Deceit so hard at that news he lets out a squeak.

They practice together even more, Roman and Deceit both surprising the rest of the club when Roman breaks character to make Deceit actually start laughing (well, snickering is a more accurate descriptor).

After a nasty stumble of lines on Deceit’s end that sends Roman into a fit of laughter while Deceit can’t resist the grin at making the other laugh, he suddenly realizes that... shit he thinks of Roman as a friend now.

He enjoys Roman’s company, even seeking it out when he knows he’s not going to be with his other friends, loves to make the other laugh so hard he lets out an ugly snort.

It’s... nice to have a friend that isn’t Remus, honestly.

With that realization, Deceit works harder to get better, not only for the sake of the club but also to make his new friend proud of his progress.

They managed to put on the best performance they could have, and the school gets to keep the drama club.

Deceit is so happy, he actually laughs out loud in genuine joy, turning to Roman with a wide grin, having that same smile returned to him it’s... exhilarating.

#casper writes #platonic roceit #enemies to friends #highschool au #roman #deceit #mentions of the light side #probably mentions of remus #long post #god this is so long #but i wanted to get it done in one go #i totally coulda made this romantic #but i kinda like it as platonic just as much #i might make a second one that turns romantic if yall want

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cinnbar-bun · 5 years

Text

Gakuen Fantasy

A/n: Hi did you know I like making AU’s at 11 PM??? Also this was inspired by me playing too many otomes.

Edit: thank you Discord for helping me with Siegfriend, Lancey, and Seruel.

Welcome to Phantagrande High, where people of all shapes, sizes, and powers are invited to hone in their skills and talents. As the new Language Arts teacher recruited to the school, you must adjust to the hectic lifestyle of some of the most insane personalities you have ever met. Although...maybe you could learn a thing or two from those romantic stories you’ve been teaching and spice up your love life?

Romanceable Options~

The Wise and Calm Principal, Lucifer: The man who started this whole new mess for you. Ever the diplomat, he has a way with words and can seemingly diffuse any situation with one phrase alone. All the faculty and students respect him dearly, and in turn, he respects them as well. But he hasn’t been known to get too close to anyone romantically, perhaps you could change all that?

The Blunt and Fearless Vice-Principal, Sandalphon: Although he may act like he hates his job, he takes it quite seriously. Many students fear him for the simple fact he has such a short fuse and will blow up on anything. The faculty isn’t all too scared, knowing he’s just a sensitive guy on the inside (and they can’t help but make jabs at him after he took the coffee machine into his office). Ever the hard-head, he’s never experienced love before, and he sure as hell will never admit that aloud (even though it’s quite obvious). But that can change once he softens up with a bit of your love.

The Sadistic and Ruthless Biology Teacher, Lucilius: This man is one that EVERYONE fears. Even Lucifer has been trying to get him fired. Rumors spread around that he eats children who fail his class or dissects those who chew gum in his class. He has a fascination with the world around him and loves conducting research over everything he can get his hands on. He also gets a bit too excited over dissections. It also doesn’t help that he has a short temper and expects perfection from his students, who all cry at least three times in his class. He takes no shit and hands out insults like greetings, so if he tends to take a jab at you, ignore him. But what’s hiding under that cold front he puts up (answer: an even bigger asshole)

The Raunchy and Suave A&P Teacher, Belial: If shameless was ever a person, it would be Belial. He has no qualms about flirting with everything that breathes (DON’T WORRY HE’S NOT FLIRTING WITH THE CHILDREN!! HE HAS SOME BOUNDARIES OVER HERE!!) but he seems to have taken a liking to you. He’s quite popular with some of the female students (for some inexplicable reason) and he loves messing with the other three men on top. What’s the point of life without taking some risks? But are you prepared to handle this absolute demon of a man? Maybe you’ll find something worthy under the messy persona he plays up?

The Kind and Sweet Home Ec Teacher, Vane: This man is absolutely perfect, every girl (and guy) will admit. Although he’s not too bright, he makes up for it with his big heart (that really accentuates his chest) and warm smile. He’s very fair and forgiving, and every student that walks in walks out with a better understanding of how to manage day by day activities. He’s eager to become great friends with you, but maybe you could be something more?

The Bubbly and Clutzy Home Ec Teacher, Beatrix: One of the other Home Ec teachers who seems to have quite the reputation for being an adorable clutz. The male populous tends to take her class for an easy a but can’t help it when she drops things. The students think she’s very funny and sweet, and her food is great (when it actually is cooked). She usually complains about her ‘absolutely boring’ life in the teacher’s lounge and wishes for a day when she’s whisked off into a sweeping romance. You might not be a prince from another country, but you could give her the love she needs, right?

The Cold and Stern Economics Teacher, Aglovale: No one knows he’s also the CEO of a very popular business, and he knows economics like the back of his hand. The general consensus in him is a very respected one, and he makes sure to always keep a good light on him. He pretends he doesn’t care for the kids, but all the teachers know better. A very good bonus, he has glasses and his voice has been known to be extremely pleasing to the ears. He may act aloof around you, but do you think you have what it takes to melt his cold heart?

The Fiery and Hotheaded Math Teacher, Percival: The younger brother of Aglovale, who also helps him occasionally with running the business. He’s a lot more open than his brother and tends to give attitude back though. The students love him a lot and go absolutely nuts when he’s roasting a kid who likes to mouth off. He’s exceptionally by the book and has certain expectations he wishes of people. You may have caught his eye, newbie, but can you really keep its hold?

The Loud and Militaristic PE Teacher, Ilsa: A rather scary lady on the outside who takes her job as a PE teacher a bit too seriously. A lot of people will complain about how hard she is, but the athletes worship her like she’s their goddess. Seriously, they’ve never one as many times as they had until she’s come along. Her form of tough love tends to grate people the wrong way, but deep down, she’s really trying to find someone who will look past the ‘scary’ her.

The Hardworking yet Princely Engineering Teacher, Yurius: A man of many talents regarding creating anything, who tends to be more of a behind the scenes worker. He isn’t too flashy, and makes up for his more quiet behavior with cheeky jokes and genuine concern. Hopefully you make a good impression with him, and learn just how much a goof he really is inside.

The Thunderstruck and Loyal Physics Teacher, Albert: A man who’s best friends with Yurius, and happens to love teaching about electricity. Physics is practically coursing through his veins and he makes sure his students are all on the same page. Not that much of a surprise, but him and Yurius run the robotics club and they seem to always win. He may look rather cold, but he is a really nice guy and will gladly show you the ropes or give you the best advice on some of the students and faculty. Maybe you two could teach each other a thing or two about love?

The Seductive and Sweet Horticulture Teacher, Rosetta: This woman is the envy of all. Her sweet words can coax anyone to her beck and call. The greenhouse where she teaches at has become her new home, and many grow to love nature and plants due to her beautiful and poetic lessons and demonstrations. She can get quite flirty and beat around the bush, but know this, every rose has its thorns. If you mess with her, prepare for a life of hell. But otherwise, she’ll be a wonderful companion in your life if you manage to look deep inside and find the true beauty within her.

The Patient and Inspirational Music Teacher, Caro: A rather young man who has been with the academy since day one. He lives for the creative endeavors of his students and has no problems with helping them step by step. To him, the most beautiful thing ever is not gold or jewels, but the sounds people can create. He was really interested by your presence and wishes to get closer to you, although he is rather shy about doing so. The sound his heart makes when he’s around you makes him absolutely smitten, and he hopes to get closer to experience all of what love has to offer.

The Curious and Eccentric World Religions Teacher, Shiva: His appearance might startle some, but they quickly learn that he is passionate about his subject. He is always curious about what humans believe and how they go about their faith, and it makes him smile knowing the beauty of humanity. Some might call him a weirdo for being so in love with that, but he pays no mind. He is his own person, and he craves more and more. Although he hates being selfish, for some reason, he can’t help but want to know more about you. You’ve been a peculiar person, and he thinks he’d like to learn more.

The Lazy and Rowdy Chemistry Teacher, Elmott: A man who is a self proclaimed pyromanic, who takes far too much pleasure in setting things on fire. He is unafraid of speaking his mind and will let everyone know what he’s thinking, whether they’re a student or faculty member. He can get mouthy, but he truly cares about his students and their education, and is the first to defend them if something is wrong. He quickly earns the respect of his students and fellow teachers, even if he pretends he doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Trust us, he isn’t a bad guy, no matter what he says.

The Mysterious and Unknown Cryptid, Siegfried: A man who does... well know one really knows? Even Lucifer can’t give a straight answer. But it doesn’t matter since he tends to do the odd jobs or the ones no one really wants to do. Some kids claim he lives in a dungeon under the school. Others say the big shadow they saw trimming the bushes is secretly a lizard monster who is trying to infiltrate the government. Again, no one really knows. But the gentle giant who helped you with the copier machine certainly can’t be that bad, right?

The Helpful and Stressed Counselor, Lancelot: The most reliable counselor the school’s ever seen. The kids absolutely adore him, and his job ranges from settling disputes between the students to helping them with their college applications. This man has connections and could probably hook you up with something wonderful. Because he can never say ‘no’, he stresses himself beyond belief. Of course, his best buddy Vane is always there to help him remember to eat and not drown himself with alcohol. Maybe you could show him that he is capable of taking a break and not dying?

The Smartass and Stoic Librarian, Seruel: A man of culture who really hates noises. He gets a bad reputation for telling the louder kids to be quiet, but really, he’s just trying to do his job. A lot of kids think he’s kinda scary because of his face, but if you ask him for help locating a book or some information on a subject (because he’s a walking encyclopedia) he’d be more than happy to help. He tends to remember frequent library-goers and likes to discuss books with them and what they thought of it. He’s read way too many trashy romance novels recommended to him by some sophomores, but he’s more than ready to start a real romance with you. If you can get past the rude jabs at first.

A splendid array of options indeed. Are you ready to tackle your new job and try your luck at a love life?

#gakuen fantasy #Granblue Fantasy #Granblue fantasy imagines #granblue fantasy x reader #gbf #gbf x reader #au #writing #writing series #long post

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goliath-de-senfina-sango · 5 years

Link

Fights, both physical and verbal, abound! Local Science Boy Tired of Friends' Arguement. Local Astronaut Trying Real Hard not to die Here. Local Ghost Hunting Family Talk SCIENCE and Local Art Boy Does Research

Danny and Tucker sat in the vice principal’s office. On the wall next to the door was an array of monitors that showed security feeds. Across from it was a desk with a globe and the filing cabinet that Lancer was going through at the moment. If Danny had to guess the chairs were intentionally made to be uncomfortable. An added punishment for even being there.

“Tucker Foley,” Lancer droned. “Chronic tardiness. Talking in class. Repeated loitering by the girls’ locker room. Danny Fenton. 34 dropped beakers in the last month. Banned for life from handling all fragile school property, but no severe mischief before today. So, gentlemen, tell me.” Lancer set down the folders he was reading from on his desk and leaned forward to yell in their faces. “Why did the two of you conspire to destroy the school’s cafeteria?”

“Dash started it when he threw his mud pie into the back of my head!” Danny was going to need a thorough shower later, but for now, turning his head to display that he’d been hit in the head with mud was enough for him.

“He literally tried to make Danny eat the mud.” This is why Tucker was Danny’s best friend. He and Danny were on the same wavelength.

“Besides, destroy the cafeteria is pretty hyperbolic, don’t you think?” Please lighten up on us because I used a vocab word.

“Mr. Baxter, as well as everyone caught on camera participating in the food fight is going to be punished for it. You two, however, are taking the first of it with him.” Lancer stood and walked out the door. “I’m going to fully map out your punishments when I return. Mr. Baxter, make sure they don’t leave.”

“We gotta find Sam!” Tucker got up and went around Lancer’s desk. By the time Danny was next to him, Tucker was already going through the security files on Lancer’s computer. “Do not ask why I have his password or how. We don’t have time for that. Oh, thank gods, this place has security cameras in the weirdest places.” On the screen, Tucker tracked the meat sweep through the school until it settled in one place. “Directly below us. Got enough juice?”

Danny closed his eyes and reached inside, stretching into the void of cold winds and vast darkness, and dragged himself into it. It swept outward over his body in a flash and for a moment he had to reorient himself. Danny grabbed onto Tucker and intangibility filled them both. They fell through the floors and stopped right above the floor of the basement. “Is this… a meat locker under the school?”

“See, this is the kinda stuff that Sam needs to get changed. Where they store their food, not what food groups are fed to us.” Tucker started walking, and Danny stood beside him.

“This is like the time she convinced our middle school teachers to hold a Sadie Hawkins dance when no one felt like doing a dance.” Danny rolled his eyes and looked around. “Except this time she’s the one who got kidnapped instead of her nabbing us. Also, repeated loitering by the girls’ locker room?”

“I figured that’d be a great place to meet someone to ask for a date.”

“How are you both a genius and a dumbass at the same time, Tuck?”

Before the geek could valiantly defend his honor, they heard a voice of strained cheer. “My dear child, meat is good for kids. It helps them grow and makes them smile.” The boys looked around the corner and saw Sam stuck in a pile of meat that was definitely inedible now. The Lunch Lady was floating in front of her, a fish and a chicken leg held up in either hand. “Why won’t you eat it?”

“We don’t need meat. That’s fact.” Sam never was one to back down when she was championing something. It was something that Danny admired about Sam. He never thought that food was the hill Sam was willing to literally die on though.

“Silence!” The ghost’s voice echoed and that wind picked up yet again. Danny wondered if he could call up special effects like that for Halloween. “You need discipline, manners, respect. You know where that comes from? Meat! Fish, or chicken?”

“Plus, most of the nutrients we need are in fish and chicken,” Tucker muttered. Or at least, he probably thought it was muttering. What it happened to be was loud enough for the ghost to hear them, eyes bright red eyes turned toward the boys.

“I’ll deal with the ghost, you get Sam out of that meat pile.” Danny ran as fast as he could. His fist reared back and collided with the ghost’s head harder than he expected it to. She was launched into the wall. Danny immediately followed up with a kick to the face. The Lunch Lady grabbed onto his ankle and held Danny up while floating upright.

“This is why you need meat! You’re skin and bones!” She then tossed Danny across the room, and at the last second, he phased through the wall. And the ground. It took a couple seconds of carefully making the tips of his gloves more - or less, it was still hard to tell - real to pull himself back up to the basement.

There, Danny found shish kabobs beings flung at him. Going completely on reflex, Danny separated his torso from his legs and the deadly food sank into the concrete behind him. There were even cracks in the wall. While Danny pulled himself back together, an enraged Lunch Lady ghost let out a furious roar, and all the meat in the storage locker rose up. Even the meat Tucker was pulling off of Sam in chunks rose up off of her and swirled around the ghost in a storm. Sam and Tucker got closer to Danny until they were in arm’s reach, and the 20-foot behemoth of meat with green torches for eyes roared down at them.

“Fuck no.” Danny grabbed his friends and the chill of invisibility and intangibility rushed through them all again. Danny pulled and snap the gravity tethering Danny and his friends to the Earth was undone, and Danny flew through the wall to the outside, flying faster when he heard a loud crash.

“Thanks, Danny, Tuck.” Sam shot them both a big grateful smile. “You must be exhausted, ghost boy. Fighting in ghost mode, yanking us through walls. Holy shit, Danny you’re flying!”

“What would give ya that idea?” Danny yawned in the middle of that sentence but felt it was irrelevant. But then, everything went dark as they tumbled into a heap on the grass. And then it went silent.

Tucker and Sam stare at each other. For a handful of moments, neither is entirely sure what they should do. Sam could've died. Her best friends could have died. How is a teenager even meant to process that? She wants to curl up on the ground and hide from everything in that moment, will all the nasty reality that is Ghosts away. But Tucker is bent over Danny, and Danny is out cold. So she packs away the emotions, cools her shit, and bends down. "You get his legs, I'll take his shoulders. FentonWorks?"

They get him there. Danny's parents are downstairs, working on something. They get Danny on his bed, and Sam slumps against the door. Tucker and Danny skipped a detention essentially and all three have skipped school. So Tucker goes down to erase the Fenton's voice mailbox and sends out a bug to his own. Sam has no clue why he has that ready but asks if he can do it with her folks' line. He asks for a few minutes. The silence passes, Tucker gets on Danny's laptop. He always fled to the tech when he needed somewhere safe. Eventually, he asks. "You ok? Today went to shit."

"No, I don't think I am. I’m pretty sure she was going to crush me to death under all that meat that should’ve been stored in a far more sanitary manner. I’ve got bruises and meat juice all over me and I need a nap and a shower, not in that order.” Sam checked Danny's closet and found something she'd left there a couple of months back. "I'm gonna do that actually. Keep an eye on him?" Tucker grunted in acknowledgment. That was the best she'd get so Sam grabbed a spare towel from the dresser and headed to the shower.

When Sam got back she looked over Tucker's shoulder. Images of old ladies in familiar-looking uniforms were all over the screen. "Looking her up?"

"If we know more about her then we can talk it out with her right?" Tucker's fingers paused over the keyboard. He stretched, looking over at her. "Right?"

"Probably. Looking to work that Foley Charm on her?" Sam elbowed him lightly in the ribs. Tucker clutched his chest as though he'd been broken. Thank gods for that smile on his face. "Tell me you aren't planning to flirt with her. Danny might get jealous." Tucker snorted.

"I don't think Danny is into old ladies who occasionally burst into flames." Tucker went back to typing and clicking, screen light glaring off his lenses. "So, my theory is that ghosts draw on ambient energy to sustain themselves. When we went into that fight my phone was on like… 50 percent. When we got here it was at 17. So maybe we should carry batteries on us?"

"And our wrist rays." Sam was never letting herself be helpless like that again. "what've you got on her so far?"

"She said the menu hasn't changed in 50 years and she wasn't kidding. So I'm looking back at people employed by Casper back when she was alive, and hoping I can recognize her facial structure."

"Impressive." Sam sighed and looked over at Danny.

He zipped up his suit. Sam made a face at him and pulled off the logo of his dad's face. "You can't go around with this on your chest." He agreed. If Danny ever met aliens of the extradimensional kind, he didn't want them to see his dad's face plastered on him. Danny walked into the tunnel that was his parents' ghost portal, looking all around it. The whispers of those other worlds called out in his head again. As he walked deeper into the portal, Danny saw nothing wrong. Not a nut or bolt out of place. He got to the end. It was dark. Too dark to see anything. Turning back, he kept a hand on the wall to steady himself. His foot hit a raised panel, and Danny leaned to the left for support. There was a click.

Danny opened his eyes and saw Sam looking down at him. Not unusual. The soreness in his muscles, however, was. Danny stopped mid-stretch and winced. "Oh. Right. 20-foot meat monster." Tucker was at his desk, turned around in the chair and giving him that frown he had when Dash had slammed Danny into a locker. "How long was I out for?"

"Four days." Tucker reached under Danny's bed and lifted up a bag of Nasty Burger.

"Four Days?!"

"Nah, like, 2 hours dude." Tuck chuckled and handed him a wrapped burger. "You need this dude, that fight took a shit ton outta you."

“Don’t I know it.” Danny unwrapped the burger and sank his teeth in. He'd been hungrier than he thought. It felt like a blink before the burger was gone. "Thanks, dude, I needed that. We basically skipped lunch, didn't we?" That thought had a horrible domino effect and Danny tore the burger wrapping in half. "Fuck, my parents are gonna kill me!"

"I erased the voicemail from your box, mine, and Sam's. Don't worry about that."

"Speaking of, how ya doin Sam?" Danny turned, looking his friend over and wincing at the bruises on her arms. “Fuck, the meat pile did that?”

“Yeah, turns out being grabbed up by a bunch of proceeded corpses can do some damage.” Sam shrugged. “It’s nothing I can’t fix with some concealer and sleeves.”

“It’s still warm though,” Danny said. “You good baking yourself?”

“The heaters in the school barely work, and it’s nearly October, Danny. Things have cooled down plenty.” Sam frowned and looked over to Tucker. “Do head injuries affect the perception of temperature?”

“I’m sure they can. If only someone hadn’t summoned up a meat-obsessed lunch lady with a menu change.” Tucker paused and raised a brow. “Actually, how in the hell did you even get them to change it? Nevermind the why.”

“The why, Tucker, is that schools need to promote healthier changes in the food we consume.” Sam had that fire in her eyes. Again. Danny let out a long sigh, which went ignored by his bickering friends.

“And removing an entire food group from the menu was your solution?”

“It’s one we don’t even need Tucker! Do you know how inefficient the transfer of calories from meat into our bodies is?”

“We need protein, Sam! If there’s anything that the Lunch Lady said truthfully it’s that! Look at Danny! He barely gets any protein, you can see how that’s turned out for him.”

“My dude, I’m not the only skinny person here.”

“And whether or not we have meat and protein isn’t your decision to make for us all, Sam!” Tucker glared balefully at the vegan and stood up from Danny’s chair. “You had to be an individual and have all your individual needs met over what anyone else wanted, didn’t you? No one but you even wanted this menu change!”

“The menu as it is now is far healthier for both us and the environment - and the ecosystems we tear down to sustain ourselves and animals that get butchered so people can enjoy the taste of their flesh don’t get a choice in what happens to them, so someone needs to make choices that help them out!”

“Oh, oh, so mud is healthier for me to eat than chicken? That’s fucking rich, Sam, that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever fucking heard!” Tucker was now agitated enough to start ranting in Mandarin, which was great. “Actually, no no, the most ridiculous thing is that we’re equating the right to a choice in what we eat to an animal’s right to chose anything. Are you insane?” Tucker opened the door so fast the knob banged against the wall. “I’m gonna make sure this shit doesn’t last the week!”

“We are no more innocent than those animals and they’re lives shouldn’t be put on the line for us needlessly! And don’t you think you can go undoing all my hard work!” Sam barged out as well, completely forgetting Danny as she slammed his door shut. And Danny stared at that door for a moment before groaning into his pillow.

“This is going to be a whole thing, isn’t it?” For several moments, Danny laid there and stared up at the constellations he’d put up on his ceiling in glow in the dark stickers. His stomach reminded him of its existence, and Danny groaned again. He still had some allowance left, so he went out and headed to the Nasty Burger. Considering Tucker’s words and how much he’d done that day, Danny ordered a full meal.

After he’d eaten and walked it off on the way home, Danny let what had happened that day go through his mind. Even as he fought off a small angry blob with his wrist ray, growling at it. “Ghosts aren’t mindlessly violent beings. I know that.” He needed to believe that. “So, that means that she can be calmed, somehow. She kept going on and on about the benefits of meat, and she died years ago…” An email notification popped up on Danny’s computer, and he sighed. “Right, homework assigned by Lancer. What would I do without Tuck?”

The next day, Danny pulled on one of his darker shirts - a gift from Sam with some constellation’s accurately displayed - and some jeans. His parents didn’t come up to join him and Jazz that morning, which was likely for the best. Danny didn’t need their ghost radar pointing at him before he could figure out how to break their biases. The second his cereal was finished, though, Danny pulled out his journal and attached pencil. “No,” Danny snapped when he heard Jazz take a familiar breath. “It’s not a diary, no you may not read it. For the 11th time, Spazz.” One weird benefit of super hearing - I can tell when she’s about to speak. Everyone had different rhythms for when they spoke and when they were thinking etcetera. Danny knew his sister’s patterns almost as well as Tucker and Sam’s.

Danny wrote into his journal a goal of recording his encounters with apparently sapient ghosts and how quickly he managed to pacify them. If only he could think of how to pacify this one.

Once the hybrid got to school - later than he would’ve been had those damned blobs not been so interested in fucking with him - Danny groaned as he was dragged to the Vice Principal’s office. There he found Tucker, who was glaring down at the desk in just the right angle to look like he was glaring directly ahead. A trick he’d developed for gathering valuable passwords while tricking Lancer and other authorities into thinking he was just a semi-rebellious teen. Danny couldn’t tell what Tucker could be trying to gather from the desk now, but he may have just been scowling. Tucker was complicated that way.

“Take a seat, Mr. Fenton.” Danny obeyed and took his seat, looking steadfastly at the space just behind Lancer’s head. “Tell me, gentlemen, how and why did you leave my office when both of you were already being punished for starting a food fight in the cafeteria?” Before either could come up with an answer, Lancer slammed his hand down hard on the desk, and Danny flinched. “What could possibly have possessed you two to skip school for the rest of the day?”

Danny squirmed a bit, while Tucker took even, obviously measured breaths. He then looked up at Lancer directly. “We were worried about Sam, sir. She hadn’t answered any of her texts, and she always answers even when we’re fighting to make sure we know she’s safe.” Not untrue, Sam wouldn’t have been able to answer a text if they tried that. Danny nodded along to Tucker’s story.

“We left out the window to find her, which took forever since she had gone to find a way to help organize something for the school.” Danny put on his most apologetic face. “We’re truly sorry about ditching you, Mr. Lancer, but we had to make sure our friend was safe, you see. We wanted to make sure none of the jocks or anyone had gone and done something horrible to her as revenge for getting the menu changed for a week.”

Lancer glared between the two of them for several seconds more, and Danny fought to keep himself still. “Fine,” Lancer finally allowed. “I will be following up with Ms. Manson to confirm all of this, but you won’t be receiving too harsh a punishment for looking out for your friend. For endangering yourselves by leaving through the window, however, and for leaving without simply telling me, you will be serving both lunch detention and after-school detention. Do you understand, boys?”

“Of course, Mr. Lancer.” It amazed Danny, at times, that he and Tucker could speak in unison. They were like twins.

“Dismissed. You two best not be late to my class.”

On the way to class, Danny brought up his thoughts on trying to appease the Lunch Lady. “Her name is Agatha,” Tuck said. “Agatha Reece. And maybe you could, I dunno, teach her about the health crisis in America? Help me organize the school to reform the menu the right way?”

“You want it changed too now? I thought you were gonna get it changed back early, or something?”

“Oh no, the food around here sucks either way.” Tucker rolled his eyes. “I just wish we had like, a better storage of better food in general. I could recommend my uncle and aunt’s farm for fresh, nearby food products.”

“If only we knew how Sam had convinced the school to do this whole ‘veggie week’ thing.” Danny shook his head. “That’s what really doesn’t make sense to me. We’ve only been in school for like, a month or so. How the hell did Sam ‘wear them down’ so quickly?”

“No clue,” Tucker growled. For a moment the hair on Danny’s nape stood on end at the sound. “But, I’m going to make a petition, and head around the school getting signatures for a better permanent change decided on by the students.”

Danny patted Tucker’s shoulder and nodded somberly. “Leave some printer paper for the rest of us at least?”

Tucker raised his nose, Danny now straining to hold in the laughter in front of the door. “Sorry Danny, but a man on a mission has to go to all lengths to complete his quest.”

Danny bowed at the waist. “Of course, Friar Tuck, how could I possibly forget?”

“You are forgiven, peasant Daniel.” Tucker laughed and pulled Danny into the classroom. Things would be alright. Danny just needed to weather the storm and make sure both of his friends were still friends by the end of it.

It proved far more difficult a task done than said. The three had most classes together, but Tucker was busily writing something down every few seconds in a second journal in his desk while he worked. Tuck had the most fascinating form of ambidextrousness. He barely paid any attention to Danny’s attempts to start a conversation and crumpled up any notes about Sam he slid over.

Similarly, Sam was ignoring him almost entirely. She took her notes, but every time she caught him whispering to Tucker, she glared and went cold on Danny himself. Am I not allowed to talk to both of my friends?

Lunch came around, Lancer had them eating in his room, and Danny had never been more grateful to Tucker’s mom than he had been when Tuck handed him an extra bagged lunch. “Tuck, you are the best.”

“I know it, dude.”

“Gentlemen! This is meant to be a time of quiet reflection upon your misdeeds.” Lancer glared at them until the teens went to silently eating, and Lancer went back to whatever he was doing on his computer. If Danny focused on the man’s headphones hard enough he could pick up the faint sound of… blasters? Weird.

At the end of the day, however, while the two were meant to be heading to detention, Tucker was going around and asking groups of friends who were lingering about something and holding up a clipboard that Danny was almost certain he stole from his dad’s office. Along with that pen. Never was Danny ever earlier than Tucker to something, but apparently, detention was one of those things. Sam, surprisingly, was also there.

“Lancer got you too?” Danny asked as he swept a bit nearer to the goth

“I was gone all day.” Sam shrugged, pushing the few remains of grass and mud into a pile and then grabbing a dustpan. “Plus I wanted to help clean it up anyway. We need this place to eat in after all.”

“Actually, I heard Jerry and Katelyn at least were eating on the theater stage.” The two scooped everything up into a trash bag with the dustpan. “They were inviting some other people to bring sandwiches and chips and stuff.”

“Oh wow,” Tucker called out from where Danny was very sure he shouldn’t have been able to hear them. “No one wanted to eat garbage right from the ground? I’m surprised, shocked even.”

“Had you actually been there to see, Tucker, there were plenty of people eating peacefully in the cafeteria today!” Sam looked downright murderous and stomped off to clean away from Tucker. Danny sighed a heavy sigh and shook his head.

The detention had gone on for an hour, but it’d felt like forever. Danny watched both his friends march off in different directions and groaned. Another friendless night for him. After a trip to the Nasty Burger, Danny did a little walk around the city. A few ghosts that he could see when the world lost focus skittered away from him or ignored him entirely. Some attacked, but his wrist ray had yet to run out of juice even though he forgot to charge it last night. “Maybe something to do with my other-self. Gonna have to ask mom and dad about that.” A shiver ran down Danny’s spine, a puff of mist coming out of his mouth and he looked around, letting his senses shift into that surreal state of his ghostly self. He saw nothing out of the ordinary. Relaxing, Danny sighed and headed home.

"Danny!" His dad, Jack Fenton, only seemed to speak in exclamation marks. Danny wondered if he'd ever had an inside voice. "C' mon, dinner's ready son!"

Danny raised a brow. "Who cooked?" He'd eaten his Nasty Burger meal and was pretty sure he got all he needed.

"I did!" On the other hand, more food that wasn't infected with ectoplasmic residue sounded nice. Danny set down his bag and headed into the kitchen, where his dad had set out chicken, mashed potatoes, garlic bread, and spinach. His mom and sister were already sitting and eating, and Danny gave them both a wave.

"Hi, Danny! Juice is in the fridge. Jazz reminded your father and I that we need to refresh our minds with some air now and then. I thought, why not a family dinner?" Mom shrugged as she picked up a chicken leg. "Jack insisted on cooking."

"Mom," Jazz said in her best calming voice, "Dad never mutates the food."

While Mom and Jazz debated who had the bigger mishaps with ectoplasm - Danny felt the Christmas turkey and Dad dragging them into a world of blinding perpetual light ranked as the biggest mishaps period - Danny grabbed himself a plate and fruit punch. Jazz clearly grabbed some groceries before telling their parents to surface.

Halfway through his meal, a thought struck Danny. "Hey Dad, Mom? How does ectoplasm interact with electricity in its rawest most natural form? The ectoplasm, not the electricity."

Jazz stared at him in betrayal, Why written in her expression. His parents, however, jumped on the thought of their son having an interest in their work. Danny had never seen his dad swallow food that fast.

"Ya see Danno, ectoplasm as it is when we retrieve it is naturally an energy thief. In relation to electromagnetic radiation, it soaks in any and all of it from the area with the exclusion of green visible light. That's why it feels so cold."

"If we can refine our engines properly we can utilize the flip side of that natural state," his mom added, "We could revolutionize energy efficiency in technology around the world!"

"It can store up a lot of power, but once it hits it's maximum?" Dad held his hands together then spread them out so fast he almost smacked Jazz and Danny. "It all comes out in an intense burn! Ectoplasm is either plasma hot or cold as space. When it's cold, it'd drain the power out of everything around it."

Danny nodded, letting the info process for a couple of moments while he ate. "So if, say, a ghost was to eat human food…?"

"Well," his mom twirled her fork around. "It likely wouldn't, but if it did the ghost would soak up all the energy that could be gotten out of the material in the food, leaving nothing but ashes."

Danny nodded, curiosity satisfied, and steered the conversation elsewhere. Once he was done clearing off his plate, Danny was struck with a realization. It was the sort of thing that happened all the time, when a thought lingered in his head, waiting to present itself. Usually, that was artistic inspiration. Now he knew exactly how to calm down Agatha. Up the stairs, he ran to his computer.

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three-houses-text-files · 5 years

Text

annette/byleth

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c-s support + paired endings + night of the ball

Annette: Hello, Professor. Do you have a moment?

>Of course.

>What do you need?

A: Well, I have this book of battle tactics that I borrowed from one of the knights. A: There's one part that I just don't understand. Do you think you could explain it to me?

>Leave it to me.

A: Great! Thank you so much! It's about this diagram here...

>I'm not sure I can.

A: Oh. Well, maybe we can figure it out together. It's about this diagram here...

A: I don't get why the knights are grouping up in that forest there. I just can't see the advantage to a formation like that. A: Yay! I finally get it! You really are a great teacher.

>I'm always happy to help.

A: I knew asking you was the right idea.

>You're the one who did the work.

A: No way. I couldn't have done it without you.

A: I just love learning new things. A: That's why I came to the Officers Academy. I want to learn magic, battle tactics, martial arts, and, and... Well, all kinds of stuff! A: I'm learning more now than I have in my whole entire life! A: Speaking of, I'd better go visit the library for some research before magic practice, which is just before sword training...

>Don't overdo it.

A: That's just not possible! I always find it's more tiring to laze around doing nothing. A: I've never been any good at that. I have to have something to do. A: Like, on my days off, I need to get up early and take care of the cleaning first, or I just...can't relax. Know what I mean?

>Not really.

A: But a day without accomplishments is completely wasted!

>I know the feeling.

A: Oh, I'm so glad you agree! You be surprised how rare it is to find people like us. A: Mercie never sets foot outside her room on her days off. I don't get that girl sometimes. A: Not to mention... Oh wait... Oh no! A: I was supposed to be on cooking duty today! I completely forgot! A: Sorry, Professor, but I have to run! Thanks again for your help!

>...

A: Argh! Who put this stupid barrel here?!

>...

——————————————————————————————

A: I'm so sorry, Professor... I somehow overslept and missed our training session. A: I didn't mean to cause you and the others so much trouble. A: Imagine if that had happened during one of our missions. It really is inexcusable! (pre-skip) A: Imagine if that had happened when I was needed in battle! It really is inexcusable. (post-skip)

>Don't worry about it.

>You need to rest more.

A: It's just...when I'm studying tactics, I lose track of time, and... A: Oh, who am I kidding? I've always been like this. A: Before I came to the Officers Academy, I was a student at the school of sorcery in Fhirdiad. A: Even back then, I was pulling all-nighters well before the exams. A: And I never even noticed I was harming myself. I'm just too focused on my goal. A: I know I've already told you this, but I really love to learn new things. A: It's a passion of sorts. I first realized I had the learning bug when I was about four or five years old. A: My father was so happy to see me using magic... A: Seeing him happy made me happy too, and that made me want to work even harder. A: If only things could have stayed like that...

>What do you mean?

A: When I was about 13, my father left home. A: He was a devout man, so I figured he'd gone to the monastery. A: That's why I went to the school of sorcery, so that I could eventually get accepted at the Officers Academy. A: I studied harder than ever, and sure enough, I finally earned a referral. A: Unfortunately, my passion for learning became more of an obsession. I got so focused, I kind of forgot how to relax. A: It feels like I've been running in circles ever since.

>Rest is just as important as work.

A: That's true. Just look at today. If my hard work stops me from working hard, what good is it?

>You're impressive just as you are.

A: No way! I still have such a long way to go.

A: Still, I guess I'm doing something wrong if I'm working so hard I can't even work hard anymore. A: OK, it's decided. From now on, I'll try my best not to try my best!

>You have my support.

A: Yay! With you on my side, I'm sure I'll succeed!

>That's confusing.

A: I'm sorry! All I meant is that I'll try... I mean, I'll slow down a bit.

A: From now on, if you see me going overboard, just let me know. I'm a new woman, after all!

——————————————————————————————

A: ... A: Oh. Hi, Professor.

>You look down.

>Did something happen?

A: Do you remember what we talked about before? About doing my best to not do my best? A: Well, I've been pretty busy recently, and despite my best efforts, I've been trying way too hard... A: I was busy all day yesterday with training and work. I just couldn't help myself! A: That's why I decided to take a day off today. It's just... A: Now that I have a day off, I don't know what to do with myself! A: Please, you have to help me! What should I do?

>Nothing.

A: I can't relax if I'm doing nothing! I need something to keep me occupied or I'll go nuts!

>Have a nap.

A: I tried that! I couldn't calm down enough to fall asleep.

A: I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm cut out for not doing my best... A: Oh! A: You're a professor! You must know some secret technique for deep relaxation, right? A: If you do, please teach me! I'm begging you! A: I'm at my wit's end!

>Have a cup of tea.

A: Got it! I'll try that right now!

>Have some sweets.

A: Mmm! This candy is so sweet and delicious! And it goes so well with piping hot tea!

A: Ooh, and speaking of the tea, your brewing skills are incredible! A: I'd love to be able to make such nice tea, but... A: Oh, Professor! Will you teach me how to brew tea like this? A: I'll do my best to learn, and then I'll make delicious tea for you as thanks!

>Is this doing your best...

A: Oh... Um, sorry. Back to my old tricks, it seems... A: Oh! Why is it so difficult to not do my best?! A: I try and try to not try, but it just doesn't work!

>Just be yourself.

A: Professor... A: You're right! Doing nothing is just not my style. A: To be myself, I've got to do my best every day!

>That's the spirit!

A: OK! Then you really must teach me how to make such delicious tea! A: You will, won't you? Please! Oh, and also... Well, thank you. A: You've listened to me and helped me face my troubles. A: Now I feel like I can talk to you about anything. A: Honestly, I wish we could go on drinking tea like this forever...

——————————————————————————————

A: There you are! Everybody's been looking for you. A: It must be hard being so popular. I bet it's a whole lot of work too... A: If I'm being honest, I'm a little bit envious.

>It's hard work.

A: Oh, but don't you enjoy keeping busy?

>I like to keep busy.

A: So do I! Like I said, I'm envious. A: After each battle, there's always more to do, so every day is exciting in its own way. A: Though it's true I haven't been able to relax for a while...no matter where I go or what I do. A: OK, so I finally realized why it is I feel this way. It's because...I need you.

>What do you mean?

A: When I'm with you, I feel like I can be myself. A: It's not a matter of doing my best or not doing my best... What really affects my happiness is whether I'm with you or not. A: Hehe! A: Um, actually, I've practiced what I'm going to say to you countless times... A: But of course, now that it's time to say it, I'm feeling shy. Terribly shy...

>I feel the same way.

A: You... You what?! A: Oh goodness! You really mean it!

>I love you, Annette. Marry me.

A: Oh! I...

>Yes?

A: I'm sorry! Why am I crying when I'm so happy? A: I've been so worried about this! I was thinking about what I'd do if...if...if you said no! A: But then...you asked me! I didn't even have to ask you! A: I'm just so relieved! A: I love you! So very, very much! A: We'll be together forever! And ever! I promise to make you happier than anyone's ever been, my darling!

——————————————————————————————

paired endings

After ascending the throne as the first leader of the United Kingdom of Fódlan, Byleth announced his marriage to Annette. His wife actively contributed to his endeavors, and it is said that her wisdom was heavily relied upon during Fódlan's restoration and development. Despite her lofty position, she was known to occasionally step in as a guest speaker at the Royal School of Sorcery, where she educated many renowned sages. Though her talents were widely respected, it is said she was always a bit accident-prone. Charming tales endure of her husband saving her from countless kitchen explosions, but it is unknown whether these are fact or purely fiction. (golden deer + church route)

After becoming the new archbishop of the Church of Seiros, Byleth announced his marriage to Annette. His wife actively contributed to his endeavors, and it is said that her wisdom was heavily relied upon during Fódlan's restoration and development. Despite her lofty position, she was known to occasionally step in as a guest speaker at the Royal School of Sorcery, where she educated many renowned sages. Though her talents were widely respected, it is said she was a bit accident-prone. Charming tales endure of her husband saving her from countless kitchen explosions, but it is unknown whether these are fact or purely fiction. (blue lions route)

When the fighting was over and the Officers Academy was reopened, Byleth was reinstated as a professor. His wife, Annette, took on a position alongside him teaching sorcery, and the couple spent many years educating and guiding generations of students. In their later years, they attempted to retire to a quiet life in a village near Annette's hometown. That quickly proved to be too quiet of a life for them, and so they opened up a local school and resumed teaching. They continued on as educators until the end of their long and happy lives. (black eagles route)

night of the ball

A: Professor! I'm happy to see you here. A: Everybody's been asking about you. You're really popular with the students.

>I had to escape.

>I'm worn out.

A: Oh, really? Huh. A: Uh, actually... I've been trying to find you too. A: But if you're not interested in dancing, that's OK. A: We are supposed to be at a ball though... If you're not going to dance tonight, when and where will you get another chance?

>Here.

>Now.

A: Wait...really? There isn't any music... A: But this is too special to pass up! Maybe...I could sing a little something. A: I may not look like it, but I'm a practiced singer. Though...people do tend to think my lyrics are a little odd. A: ♪Fry the food, it tastes so good... It fills up our hungry tummies...♪ A: Now I'm hungry.

>What an interesting song.

A: It's about this yummy stew one of the monks taught me to make a while back. A: Oh, I know! I'll make it for you! It really is just about the tastiest thing in the world. A: Um... If I'm bothering you, please tell me now and I'll leave you alone. A: ... A: Say, Professor... Did you know that if you make a wish here at the Goddess Tower, it will for sure come true? A: That why people usually meet up with someone they like here. For a rendezvous! A: And they make a wish that they'll stay together forever. A: So... Uh, I thought you might be waiting for a girl here. And that I'm messing it up.

>I've never heard about that tradition.

>Nothing of the sort.

A: Hehe, that's just what I'd expect you to say! A: But since we're already here, let's go ahead and make a wish together.

>What kind of wish?

>Sure.

A: I've already decided what it will be. A: Dearest Goddess... I wish for the professor and I to always be the best of friends! A: How's that sound? Can we wish for that?

>I'd be happy to.

A: Really? That makes me so happy!

>It's a little embarrassing...

A: Oh no! Actually, when I said it aloud, I could tell it was an embarrassing wish... Oops!

A: Well, I'd better be going now, and you should think about returning to the ball too. But make sure you save me a dance!

#fire emblem three houses spoilers #fe16 spoilers #fe3h spoilers #annette x byleth #byleth x annette

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thebigpapilio · 5 years

Text

Giving Across: My “Tradition” Prompt!

Tradition comes from the Latin words Trans and Dare, which come together to mean To Give & Across (not respectively). I tried, people...

It all started when Hawkmoth figured out Ladybug’s identity.

Adrien had been talking with one of his fencing partners - Kagami, he recalled - more often lately, and given his adoration for Ladybug, putting two and two together only took a little longer than it should have.

Gabriel knew it would be too suspicious to ask her up front, so he did some research. One of the world’s best young fencers? He knew that. Goes to Adrien’s collège, but comes from a rich family? Not too surprising, but understandable given the power she had been given. Not single? Tha-

Wait, she has a boyfriend?

Ah, Gabriel mused in front of his computer, that would explain why she turns down Chat Noir. That is rather useful information, isn’t it?

Already, he had a plan in mind.

He’d send out yet another akuma, kidnap this boyfriend and create an actually successful hostage situation! Chat Noir would be helpless from there, so securing the ring would be easy as well. One last question rose:

Who was this young man that captured Ladybug’s heart, whether he knew it or not?

Ms. Mendeleiev had snapped at some student and been eventually fired. Marinette didn’t care much for her (not that she’d say it out loud), and Ladybug liked the teacher as Numberater even less, but here she was, saving the day. The girl couldn’t help but notice something, however. For all the akumatized ex-teacher’s fury, she seemed to not attack much. Instead, she seemed to be scanning the crowd through the chaos.

Almost as if she was looking for someone.

Had Hawkmoth figured out her identity? Or maybe one of the others? Alya’s? Nino’s? Chloé’s? Miraculouses forbid it be whoever was behind Chat Noir’s costume…

But her fear level increased severely as she saw Numberater light up with a malicious grin. Following her grin, she spotted Luka hidden. Immediately, Numberater took off for the young musician on her Rainbow Road-esque trail of numbers, snatching the boy up in record time and taking off for… somewhere. Ladybug and Chat gave pursuit, but Ladybug, who was a good friend of Luka (and nothing more; she was dating Alya), was more worried than the Black Cat wielder.

When Numberater was cornered and confronted, the two heroes breathed a sigh of relief. They’d chased the evil educator all over the city, and she was surprisingly fast for her age, whether she had powers or not.

With Luka thrown to the side and chained up in a magical symbol, Numberater turned to Ladybug, with a grin that could have been called cocky on her if she were younger. Now, overweening might have been more fitting.

“Let’s see your Miraculous, Tsurugi,” the akuma cackled, “or your boyfriend gets a lesson in physiology!”

Chat Noir burst out laughing. “Her? Kagami? Are you nuts? No way! They may look and act similar, but just like me, my Lady is almost the complete opposite outside of the suit!”

The fact he knew was no surprise to anyone; they’d found each other out a month or two ago, and as Marinette was already taken, Adrien backed off and eventually ended up with Nino. Both groups were happy together.

Before Numberater could regather her voice, a different one spoke up, “Well, he is right; I am not Ladybug.” To the surprise of all parties involved, Kagami stood on the other side of the akuma, epee in hand. She must have slashed through the chains, as Luka was unbound.

“Let me speak to Hawkmoth,” Kagami said, “or Ladybug and Chat Noir will defeat her.”

“Then what? They don’t know where he is, do they?”

“All they have to do is follow the purified akuma, and it should lead them to him. Your call, noroma.”

Kagami was admittedly intimidated when the swarm of butterflies spewed out of Numberater’s mouth; nevertheless, she stood her ground when Hawkmoth’s head appeared in front of the 4 teens and the akuma detransformed, the teacher slumping to the ground unconscious.

“I’ll admit, Kagami, you have me cornered there. I suppose you’ll tell me to give up now?”

“I’m afraid it gets worse for you,” Kagami smiled, “as I also figured out your identity. Tell me, sir; would your wife be happy with you if you won?”

Hawkmoth paled. Ladybug just watched (Chat was taking the ex-akuma to a safer spot in town) as Kagami continued.

“You have attacked innocent teenagers and misused powers beyond your control; at best, she would be flattered and promptly divorce you afterwards if she wasn’t in fear of you. From what I understand, you should count your blessings; after all, even after all of that, you have a son who is willing to bend over backwards for you, a successful business, and quite the few fans and rich people in admiration of your work…” - Kagami sideyed Ladybug with the last statement - “I understand you miss her, but nevertheless it’s time you moved on; hasn’t it been two-ish years?”

Hawkmoth smiled at this, but it wasn’t one of his usual evil smiles; rather, it was one of pain and dolor.

“I don’t wish to bring her back, Mlle. Tsurugi. I wish to go back in time and prevent her from doing what she did entirely!”

“Then let Ladybug and Chat Noir help you.”

Ladybug took the silence Hawkmoth fell into again to speak up. “Hawkmoth, I don’t know who you are or why you do what you do, but if there is a bigger threat than you that you are trying to stop, then let’s actually discuss it instead of fighting each other; we can solve it together! Where do we go to meet you?”

“Don’t bother asking him, Kagami.”

Adrien had returned, and he looked like he’d been backstabbed. Tears streamed down his eyes as he shook in silent fury.

“I know exactly where to go.”

#thebigpapilio #Kagami Appreciation Week #We Are Miraculous #kagami tsurugi #tradition #lukagami

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just-come-baek · 6 years

Text

force of attraction

Pairing: Taehyung x Reader

Themes: smut | ghostbusters!au | ex lovers!au

Word count: 14.1k

Summary: Taehyung is a brilliant nut job, and along with Hoseok and Jin, these scaredy-cats, we bust ghost.

Warnings: a bit jealous and slightly possessive Taehyung, mentions of ghosts but not in a scary way, humor sprinkled with lame retorts, unprotected sex, literally a single smack, oral!receiving

Glossary: P.K.E. meter – a device designed specifically to locate Psychokinetic Energy in an area. CDI System – a way to set categories to types of supernatural phenomenon. Proton Pack – a weapon used to attack and confine ghosts.

Masterlist

“You wished to see us, dean?” Taehyung asked as he plopped down in the chair in front of the dean’s desk, his legs up on the top of the mahogany wooden surface, Jin and Hoseok trailing behind him, yet not daring to display such nonchalant and rude behavior toward their employer. Unlike Taehyung, they knew how to respect their boss. If it came to rules and regulations or even proper work etiquette, Taehyung perceived it more like clues, and not exactly like principles.

“Yeah, thanks for arriving at such short notice,” dean started, as he put down his fancy fountain pen, and entwined his fingers, staring at the doctors in front of him, “I am very sorry to announce that, but the university no longer can fund your scientific activities. The faculty council has decided to shut down your department, and move the funds over to the faculty of medicine.”

“Nah, you can’t be serious, Namjoon,” Taehyung spoke with the audacity to address the dean by his first name. “You can’t do this, not now, not when we’ve almost finished the prototype of the Proton Pack! It’s gonna be a breakthrough in our field. You can’t cancel our funds.”

“It doesn’t matter, you don’t have students, and we’re adjusting the programme to our students’ interests. You have no attendance.” Dean announced, and Hoseok and Jin exchanged meaningful glances.

“Recently, the attendance is remarkably high, sir,” Hoseok answered with utter respect, grinning sheepishly only for his smile to fade away as soon as Namjoon shot him a doubtful glare. As the dean, he knew the statistics, and he wasn’t the one to be fooled. Particularly not by these nut jobs. “My last lecture on cannibalistic rites of ancient New Guinea tribesmen was viewed by two students. And I may proudly add, no one slept through it.”

“Believe me, Hoseok; I’ve heard about such an occurrence,” Namjoon admitted truthfully, and Hoseok beamed brightly at his superior, “however, because of your passionate lecture I’m dealing with a lawsuit, do you want to talk about that in great detail?”

“It’s not my fault that some students are weak wusses,” Hoseok commented under his breath, and smiled at Namjoon who tried to decipher Hoseok’s remark.

“Namjoon, listen, you don’t want to do this,” Taehyung started, as he changed his previous position, now leaning forward, resting his upper body on his elbow, staring at the dean as if trying to intimidate him. In vain, though. Taehyung had been working for the university for two years now, and at this point, Namjoon knew how to deal with him. “We’re two, maybe three days away from the biggest discovery of the century. You can’t just sack us!”

“It has already been decided, sorry, but my hands are tied,” Namjoon said, sounding as cold as an automatic secretary, as he arranged documents on his desk.

“We’re not gonna give up,” Taehyung threatened before he and his co-workers exited the dean’s office.

“What are we going to do now?” Jin asked, as soon as Taehyung closed the doors. Amongst the three of them, Jin was the one who handled the issue the worst; it was the very first time when he didn’t have everything under control. How could Taehyung and Hoseok be so fucking calm? Jin was a nervous wreck; his pulse was rapid, his hands shaking. Fifteen minutes ago, he was an academic teacher and a parapsychological researcher at a prestigious university, and now, he was an unemployed scientist with a useless diploma.

The parapsychological field was a bitch when it came to employment; either you’re a respected scientist or a looked-down-to diviner who struggles to get by every month.

“Don’t worry boys, everything will be alright,” Taehyung assured them, although no one, not even Taehyung himself, was convinced. “Maybe it’s about time to take matters into our own hands? The Proton Pack is almost ready; we don’t need the university’s money, only our big heads. How difficult can it be?”

“For you? Probably insurmountably,” Jin snorted as he remembered how many times during their college days Taehyung had failed economics. In any other field, Taehyung was a genius; however, when he had been about to take the economics exam, he had been daft as a brush. When he had been a student, he had mastered parapsychology, psychology, physics, metallurgy, and whatnot! Only economics had managed to beat him for some reason.

“Spare me the attitude,” Taehyung barked back, not even trying to disguise his annoyance. He was just a human being; human beings are famous for their imperfections, and Taehyung’s only flaw seemed to be the incapability to learn basics of the economy.

“I guess we can try,” Hoseok spoke, and Taehyung and Jin looked at him as if they just realized Hoseok was a part of the conversation as well. “We’ve just got fired. I mean… it can’t get any worse, right?” He added, and his friends just couldn’t disagree.

“Okay, but he,” Jin pointed at Taehyung, “can’t go anywhere near the management. Leave it all up to me,” he added, and everyone silently approved.

“I don’t think a mortgage was a good idea,” Hoseok commented, as the three of them exited the bank.

“Don’t worry, nowadays everybody has at least three credits,” Taehyung spoke with a shrug, his eyes focused on the screen of his phone, as he scrolled through property offers, seeking for the most suitable location for their new company. “Once we commercialize our services, you’ll pay it back in a blink of an eye.”

“With twenty percent of interest rate? I may not be an expert, but it’s a total rip-off!” Hoseok asked and looked at Jin, hoping he would back up Taehyung’s statement. Unfortunately, Jin didn’t seem nearly as optimistic as Taehyung.

“If my calculations are right, after two years the interest rate alone will cost you over a fifty thousand.” Jin quietly muttered to himself, yet Hoseok managed to catch what interested him the most. Why the hell had he agreed to that? Why had he listened to Taehyung? Nothing good ever happens when he does, so why this time should be any different? Not only had he been sacked, but right now, he had a bank credit with a high chance of being unable to pay it back.

Fantastic!

“Don’t listen to him, everything will be alright,” Taehyung added, as he stopped in his tracks in the middle of the pedestrian crossing. “Guys, I think I found us a place, it’s the firehouse like three blocks away from here. Should I call the real estate agent?” Taehyung announced, showing them the picture of the spacious place that would be undoubtedly perfect for them, undeniably large enough to accommodate all of their private stuff and allow them to run as many experiments as they wished.

“Isn’t it too soon?” Hoseok asked, yet Taehyung already walked away, dialing the number of the real estate agency. They had no time to waste; if they wished to have an income, they had to start working as soon as it was possible. Even Taehyung knew that, and his sense of business was quite limited (if not retarded).

“Nonsense,” Taehyung replied nonchalantly, as he strolled down the pavement. “Once we get the place, we’ll be needing a secretary and a car. Any volunteers?”

“I’ll take care of the process of recruitment,” Jin chipped in with a smile on his face, “what? It has always fascinated me how people react to problematical questions; it’s a fine opportunity to run a small experiment.”

“Okay, fine, just don’t be too weird, starting a business with a lawsuit is not quite promising,” Taehyung warned Jin as if it wasn’t the first time such a situation was about to occur. “So, Hoseok, why don’t you take care of a vehicle?”

“I’ll check if we can lease one, it will be cheaper,” Hoseok replied, and Taehyung nodded his head, although he had no clue what Hoseok meant by that.

“Then I think we’re all set,” Taehyung admitted, rubbing his hands together. They had lots of work ahead of them, and Taehyung just couldn’t wait to start working. Funnily enough, just right after they all had got sacked, he felt a newfound source of energy that he could only burn through hard work. The first breeze of freedom was so energizing and refreshing that Taehyung, although in the past hadn’t complained, finally felt alive, so at this point, he wondered why they hadn’t left the university sooner.

Apparently, the job hunt is a long and complicated process, my friend warned me. If you want somebody to reply to your application, you should at least send out twenty curriculum vitae, she preached, and I only rolled my eyes at her, brushing the pessimistic thought away.

Although I lacked experience being fresh off college, my qualifications weren’t that bad.

That’s precisely why I wasn’t that astonished when I got a reply the next morning, considering I had only applied for one position and at this point, it was about time to prove her wrong.

The aforementioned reply was short and simple; my potential employer wanted to meet up for an interview, writing down the address where I could find the company and the time when he was available for the meeting.

Three academic professors sought for a secretary slash accountant for their newfound business, and although the job proposition seemed as if they had no clue how to recruit employees, the monthly payment was quite handsome when compared to the other offers on the market.

Instead of thinking further, I opened the window to write a short reply in which I mentioned the estimated hour of my arrival and a note showing my gratitude for the chance they had given me.

The most challenging part of the recruitment was already behind me, and the job was almost mine. All I had to was to dress up and chill; going to the job interview fidgety was the worst thing a candidate could do. I was confident about my skills, and I wasn’t afraid to show my future boss the best side of my character.

Quickly, I ran around my studio apartment looking for my daintiest clothes. Whoever claimed the looks don’t matter during the job interview had to be a complete idiot; the first good impression is the key to success, and right now, I was determined to triumph.

By half past three in the afternoon I showed up. At first, I thought I was erroneous but then I checked the address for the second time, and there could be no mistake. The office was a part of the old firehouse, and I wondered how on Earth it hadn’t collapsed yet.

There was no doorbell–not a surprise!

I firmly knocked, but no one replied within two minutes, so I placed my hand on the knob and pushed the doors open since they weren’t locked. It wasn’t a surprise, either. The building looked like a ruin; even the worst burglar wouldn’t try to break into it.

“Hello? Is anyone here?” I hollered but my echo was the only reply I heard. Hesitantly, I entered the building, my eyes roaming around the hall. Dust covered every surface inside, a thick layer of grime lying on every item. “I’m here for the job interview!” I cleared my throat, speaking up a notch.

Just when I was about to turn around and leave, a man emerged from another room, a few binders in his hand, white, cotton coat thrown over his shoulders. Though he looked exhausted with huge bags under his eyes and messy hair, he was still incredibly handsome; he was tall and lean, and everything else a woman could want in a man.

“Who are you?” he asked, confused. Instantly, he turned to look at me, his eyebrow cocked up in a questioning manner, as he didn’t expect me here. “Wait, what time is it? Is it already three thirty? Oh shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t think you would come,” the guy spoke in a single breath, and I barely understood him. “I mean… hi, I’ve been expecting you,” he corrected himself, put the binders away and stretched his arm, offering me a handshake.

“Nice to meet you… Seokjin,” I smiled at him, as I read the nametag that was attached to his coat.

“Everybody calls me Jin, actually,” he announced, and I nodded in comprehension. “So you’re here for the job interview,” he trailed off, looking around the room as if seeking something. “Why don’t we sit there and you tell me why you want to work here, hmm?” he mentioned, showing me the way to the room which was also dirty but compared to the main hall, it was remotely cleaner.

“Of course,” I replied as I followed behind him.

Once we sat down, Jin placed his hands on a desk, entwining his fingers together, his eyes focused on my frame in front of him. With a gentle smile on his face, he studied my features almost as if he was going to recruit me based on my reactions and not my replies.

“So why do you want to work for us? Do you have any experience?” Jin asked, and I smiled at him, almost excited to answer his easy questions. Why do I want to have a job? Must be because I don’t like to live on the streets. Do I have any experience? Not really, but how difficult that job can be?

The moment when I was about to open my mouth and make up a reasonable response, someone came through the doors, making the both of us lose our focus. “Jin, I’m almost finished with the P.K.E. meter prototype. Can you have a look at it? I don’t understand why it shows 350 when I go upstairs.”

“Be careful with that!” Jin reprimanded the other guy, as he stood up and approached him, yanking the device out of the latter’s hands. “You know it’s fragile!” he added, and I bit my bottom lip, patiently waiting for them to finish so Jin and I could continue our interview. “Hmm… thanks, interesting, it looks fine. Have you run other tests?”

“Yeah, I looked around wearing Ecto-Goggles but in vain. Do you think we’re dealing with our first target here? What are the odds?” the man asked excitedly, finally realizing my presence. “Oh, I had no idea you had a guest.”

“We’re actually in the middle of the job interview,” Jin explained, and I nodded, confirming his words.

“Really? A job interview? But we had only one application,” the guy spoke, and Jin quickly elbowed his side to shut him up. Oh, so I was their only candidate… it was quite assuring. “I mean… I wish you luck on your job interview.”

“What was that about?” I asked pointing at the doors through which the intruder walked out.

“It was Hoseok, but don’t worry that pretty head of yours. Everything is alright; it’s just a small bump in the road, no biggie.” Jin explained, and although he tried to look sincere, I wasn’t buying it. He seemed stiff, and he was stamping his foot on the floor as if he wanted to dash out to help Hoseok whatever the problem was. “Okay, so where were we?” Jin asked as he already forgot what we had been talking about.

“I haven’t got a chance to say anything before he barged in,” I stated truthfully, and Jin sent me an apologetic look for being so unprofessional about the job interview. “But to answer your previous questions, no, I don’t have any experience but I’m a business graduate, and I can get my mind wrapped around everything you want me to. Picking up the phone, accountancy, you name it!”

“Okay, you’re hired!” Jin hollered enthusiastically, “be here tomorrow by four o’clock. I’ll acquaint you with everything. I better go help Hoseok before he blows the whole place up.”

“You wanted to see me?” my friend asked as she walked inside of my studio apartment. “Oh, what’s the occasion?” she inquired with a cocked eyebrow the moment she noticed a bottle of cheap champagne in my hands.

“What can I say? I got the job,” I announced calmly, smiling at her in a victory. “In your face!” I screamed, fighting with the bottle, striving to open it.

“Really? I’m so happy for you,” Jennie cheered before she hugged me. “Okay, so tell me everything,” she urged as we sat down on the couch, pouring the champagne to slim glasses. “What is your boss like? Is he handsome?”

“Well… I don’t exactly know who’s the boss but I met two guys, and the both of them were ridiculously good-looking. The one who I had the job interview with was so my style; he was lean, and his shoulders were so broad. The other one was also attractive, he had such a warm smile, and I bet it can cure diseases!”

“Oh wow,” Jennie mused, downing her glass in one go, “but you’re not gonna date any of them, right? I mean… they’re your bosses; it’s kinda inappropriate.”

“I know, don’t worry,” I quickly agreed with her. Dating superiors or even co-workers wasn’t really my style. I had always thought that nothing good could stem from mixing private and business lives, so dating either of whom was obviously out of the question. “It’s not the way I roll anyway.”

“Yeah, I know,” Jennie nodded in understanding, “and now, tell me what their company does; their ad was pretty vague if you ask me.”

“Hmm… they are just as disorganized as the ad they posted online,” I stated truthfully, remembering the small incident which had happened during the job interview. “If they want to start making money, they really need my help.”

“That’s what happens when you start to run a business without knowing how to do that,” she commented, and I nodded in agreement. Having seen them, I knew that Jin and Hoseok had no clue how to wrap their minds around their business. Thankfully, they hired me, and I could show them how it’s done.

“Yeah, I’ll teach them a thing or two, but as for now, let’s celebrate!” I spoke as I refilled our glasses with more champagne. My shift didn’t start until four o’clock anyway.

As soon as I walked through the doors, I was met by Jin and Hoseok who were wearing worried expressions on their faces. “Hello?” I asked hesitantly and only smiled at me almost as if they were relieved about something.

“Hi, how are you feeling?” Jin asked me right away, while Hoseok stared at me, analyzing even the tiniest change in my behavior. “Have you been feeling nauseous or dizzy?” I shook my head firmly. “Or have you witnessed sudden changes in temperature or anything out of the ordinary?”

“No?” I answered unsurely, as I scrutinized their facial expressions with squinted eyes. What the hell was that about? Had they done something to me without me knowing? “Why?”

“Hmm… you see, we’ve been studying psychokinetic energy, and yesterday Hoseok discovered a faint trail of spook here but when he double-checked it was gone. And since psychokinetic energy doesn’t just disappear, we assumed it followed you.” Jin explained, but truthfully I didn’t understand anything what he tried to tell me. What psychokinetic energy?

“Okay… and now explain it to me, so I could comprehend it,” I asked, and Hoseok sighed.

“Jin is trying to say that there could be a ghost that right now is somehow attached to you,” Hoseok spoke, and the color of my face changed to a lighter shade even though I wasn’t the one to believe in ghosts. “And that’s weird because ghosts usually get attached to objects and not people.”

“What is it? Is it some kind of test that you want me to pass before you hire me because, trust me, it’s not funny.” I replied, not letting them fool me.

“Unfortunately not,” Jin spoke with a guilty smile, “do you mind if we run a couple control tests before we proceed with the initiation process? You know, just to be sure there isn’t any supernatural creature feeding off you.”

“And before you say anything,” Hoseok interjected, “ghosts are real.”

“Yeah, that’s true, and we’re literally this close to proving it to the rest of the world,” Jin added matter-of-factly, and I rolled my eyes, still unconvinced. “We’re like two days away from the breakthrough of the century.”

“I’m still skeptical about it, but I guess you can run a couple of tests if they’re not painful,” I replied, wanting to get this over with the quickest it was possible. Frankly, they were as freaky as they were good-looking, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they rejected my candidature because I refused to get examined.

“Oh no, they aren’t painful,” Hoseok reassured me, and Jin led me into another room where a lot of strange objects were scattered all over the wide wooden table. “Don’t worry it’ll take thirty minutes tops.”

“Yeah, and in the meantime, I’ll explain what we do here,” Jin added as he placed a helmet on my head. It was light and made of a thousand wires.

“I’m all ears,” I sighed, as I stole a glimpse of their computer that flared with colorful lights. Was it a good thing that it kept blinking like that?

“Okay, so we’re all parapsychology doctors, and a few days ago, our dean canceled our funds.” Jin started, and I nodded, registering the new information. I would never peg them for geniuses. “We’ve done some remarkable work regarding psychokinetic and nuclear energy, and after we got sacked, we decided to finish the work by ourselves.”

“According to our math, we’re a few days away from the greatest discovery of the century. If we’re right, we can actually find ghosts and capture them!” Hoseok finished, as he glued something to my temples.

“Hmm… so that’s what you do when I’m away,” a third voice chimed in, and I recognized it right away. It was low and raspy, and it could make every woman weak. It had definitely worked on me back in my college days.

Taehyung.

Hesitantly, I turned around, a bit afraid to look into his chocolate brown eyes. It was sudden and accidental, and judging by Taehyung’s expression, it was too soon. I had got over him, but he still seemed to loathe me with every fiber of his existence.

“What is she doing here?” Taehyung asked, and Jin and Hoseok exchanged confused looks, as they had no idea what had happened between Taehyung and I. It was understandable, our past ‘relationship’ wasn’t something I would brag either.

“What do you mean?” Jin asked, scratching his temple, trying to determine why Taehyung hated me so much. “She’s gonna work with us. Hopefully, with her help, we’ll make some profit,” he added, and if only a stare could kill, the three of us would already get burnt to ashes.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Taehyung complained, trying to disguise the real reason why he didn’t want me there. I couldn’t blame him, though. I’d probably do the same thing. “She doesn’t match our style.”

“It doesn’t really matter, she was the only candidate,” Jin spoke matter-of-factly, and Taehyung bit his bottom lip before he spun on his heel and walked away.

“What was that about?” Hoseok inquired, curious about mine history with Taehyung.

“I think it’s a topic for another conversation,” I answered, hoping they would understand that I didn’t want to talk about it now. Taehyung was still sensitive, and I didn’t want to anger him any further by conceding everything to Jin and Hoseok. “Are you done with the tests?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Yeah, I think we are,” Hoseok spoke, his eyes focused on the computer, as he read the data that was unreadable to me. “But I think one of us should check your apartment. The P.K.E. meter is reading very close to 303, and it can mean a ghost is trailing behind you. It’s better to be safe than sorry, am I right?”

“Okay, whatever,” I replied with a shrug, relieved that the examination was finally over. “So what are we going to do now? Can we draw a contract?”

“Naturally,” Jin smiled at me, probably glad that everything I had witnessed didn’t scare me away by now. Though it was a bit odd, people do worse for money. I was only working as a secretary for three nut jobs.

“Show her around, and I will be waiting here,” Hoseok added politely, eager to analyze every piece of information he had managed to collect from the examination.

“Do you want to tell us what has happened between you and our new secretary?” Hoseok asked casually, trying to make him talk.

“There isn’t much to talk about,” Taehyung shrugged, trying not to show any sign of anger which was evident nonetheless. “We were dating back in college, but it didn’t work out.”

“It doesn’t sound like it,” Hoseok commented, having a hunch that Taehyung wasn’t telling him the entire truth. However, he knew it wasn’t the right time to push him further. Taehyung would concede when he was ready, and Hoseok could wait a bit more. “Is she the reason why you avoided every economic subject you could?”

“Maybe,” he answered shortly, more than unwilling to have that conversation. “Hoseok, do we really need her here? I can do the secretary work until we find someone else, it can’t be that difficult,” he offered, but Hoseok firmly shook his head.

“Nah, she’s great,” he spoke casually, “besides she’s already involved. Yesterday, when she came for the job interview, I detected P.K.E. that was gone when she left. Right now, we have a theory the ghost got attached to her. One of us has to check her apartment; do you want to do that?”

“Why would I want to do that?” Taehyung spat, folding his arms across his chest.

“You could try to put your differences aside and make this cooperation work,” Hoseok proposed, hoping it was possible despite their history. “It looks like she has got over you, so why can’t you do the same, huh?”

“It’s not like that,” Taehyung trailed off, trying to choose right words to describe his feelings. “I am over her, but I still hate her for what she did.”

“Okay, I can check her apartment if you don’t want to.”

“I’ve never said that,” Taehyung remarked, and Hoseok smirked, raising the employment contract. “Just give me that, you and Jin must finish the Proton Pack anyway.”

It was seven o’clock when I heard loud knocking on my doors. Regardless of whom it was, undoubtedly deserved some nagging for waking me up at such unholy hour. Hoseok had warned me that one of them would pay me a visit, but I didn’t expect it to happen to at least noon.

Rubbing my eyes, I got up and lazily approached the doors.

“Oh, it’s you, I didn’t expect you to come,” I spoke when I opened the doors and saw Taehyung in front of me. He still looked handsome, but definitely more mature than I remembered him.

“I always show up when there is a damsel in distress,” he said nonchalantly, as he waltzed into my apartment, not even waiting for me to invite him inside. Confidently, he strolled around the room, studying the interior. “Hmm… you haven’t changed that much. You’ve always hated tidying,” he chimed in, as he looked around my apartment.

“You haven’t changed, either. Barging in here like you own the place,” I snickered, as I folded my arms across my chest, leaning against the doorframe, watching his every move. “And though it’s too early to argue; who’s a damsel in distress? It’s obviously not me. I don’t need your saving.” I carried on, but Taehyung ignored me, not even humming in response. “I’ve already told Jin that no paranormal activity was present here.”

“You may want to take that back, sweetheart,” Taehyung said cockily, as he pulled out that blinking device and started to roam around the apartment. “You won’t be saying that when a ghost tries to eat that cute butt of yours,” he added, and I just rolled my eyes at his stupid remark; he had always loved my butt. “Hmm… it seems that Hoseok and Jin were right after all. I think you’ve got yourself a class V ghost over here.”

“Doubt it. Don’t you think I’d know if there was a ghost at my place, huh?” I replied, still not convinced. “Seriously, you guys have to chill,” I added, thinking they would drop the topic if I repeated it a couple of times more.

“Do you think we’re joking?” Taehyung asked rhetorically, and I once again rolled my eyes because it was impossible to reason with him. “We don’t. Class V ghosts are very hard to get rid of, and as long as we haven’t finished the Proton Pack, we can’t help you. It would be the best if you could stay at our HQ. We could prepare a room in which you could stay. Don’t get me wrong but if the ghost got attached to you, it could as well get attached to someone else.”

“So you’re trying to tell me that ghosts are something like paranormal STDs? Sorry, but I’m not buying that, Taehyung.” I concluded, and Taehyung didn’t seem the tiniest bit amused by my reasoning. “Thanks for your concern, but I think I’ll just stay here,” I repeated myself, and Taehyung pinched the bridge of his nose, almost as if he tried to refrain himself from snapping.

“Can you stop being so stubborn for once and listen to me? I’m serious,” Taehyung spoke in a raised voice, as he looked at me. His stare was intense, drilling holes in my head. Damn, he really meant that. “Have you noticed anything strange?”

“Define strange.”

“Well… anything out of the ordinary.” Taehyung stated vaguely, and I didn’t say anything, waiting for him to elaborate. “Hmm… that could be, for example, sudden surges of cold, extraordinary cravings, unwanted sinister presence, moving or levitating objects, strange odor, unexplainable electricity cuts, or anything of sorts?”

“Hmm… you’re the only unwanted sinister presence here,” I retorted, but once again he didn’t find it funny. “Sorry,” I apologized when my laughter died down a bit, “but seriously; nothing strange is happening here.”

“Then how are you going to explain this?” Taehyung spoke angrily, as he shoved the blinking device right in front of my face. “The P.K.E. meter is going crazy!”

“Okay, fine, I guess I can stay at Jennie’s for a few days,” I mumbled, being mad at myself for giving in; they were probably having the time of their lives seeing me comply with their crazy request. “For your peace of mind, not because I believe you.”

“You’ll thanks us later,” Taehyung admitted confidently, smirking at me.

“Once again, doubt it,” I repeated myself, hoping that my statement would brush that cocky smirk off his beautiful face. Unfortunately, none of this happened, his stance was still as nonchalant and confident.

“So… you’re seeing anybody?” Taehyung asked casually and plopped down on the couch, turning his head sideways as if he tried to spot any sign of man presence.

“I don’t see how any of it is your business,” I smiled warmly, trying to be as polite as I could master. It was a sensitive topic to me, and frankly, Taehyung was the last person I wanted to discuss that with.

“It’s called a friendly chit-chat,” Taehyung explained, and I rolled my eyes. “So… have you already found your Mr. Right?”

“You’re being a dick right now,” I said instead of answering his question. Despite our history, he was my boss now, and that kind of inquiry was inappropriate and should remain unanswered.

Unexpectedly, guys happened to be right about the ghost issue at my apartment; three days after Taehyung’s visit they showed up with ready Proton Packs, or whatever they call it, and got rid of the unwanted creature. Of course, I insisted on accompanying them, and they unwillingly complied with my request. I was glad they did because when I saw the ghost with my own eyes, I realized how thick-skinned I was to disbelieve them.

However, the fact that I believed them didn’t change much, as people still deceived us as con-artists. The first month was rough although I busted my ass off building the company image. They’re brilliant people, but they had no idea how to run a business.

Within that month I got promoted from the secretary position to being their full-time manager who also had one-fourth of the company shares, and since the business was partially mine, I couldn’t let it sink before it even got to sail.

Thanks to my knowledge and connections, I had almost got everything covered: an official website, local advertisement channels, and even the uniforms. None of these helped as much as our first task which happened to be a turning point for the business.

A famous four-star hotel’s manager called us saying they had an issue in the restaurant zone. Our reaction was fast; within an hour guys packed their equipment and drove there, wanting to examine the situation.

After successfully busting the ghost, our business bloomed.

“I got a call from Australia; they’re holding a seminar, and they want you to give a lecture on your recent development,” I told Jin as soon as he slid down the fire pole. “Are you going to participate or not?”

“You’re for real?” Jin asked, as he brushed the dust off his coat and approached my desk. Smiling, I nodded, and Jin looked at the counter as if trying to see the papers, making sure I wasn’t pulling a prank on him. “But if we go, then who will take care of the city? We get more calls every day.”

“We can split,” I proposed, and Jin glanced at me curiously. “You can teach me how to use the gear, and I will stay behind with someone, or I can go to Australia with one of you. I’m a part of the team, after all.”

“Hmm… I don’t know… it’s gonna be difficult to convince them to stay behind because I’m certainly going.” Jin spoke, and I giggled at his honest response. I couldn’t blame him, though. How could one reject a free Australia trip offer?

“Discuss it with the guys, and let me know what you’ve come up with,” I replied sincerely, as I gazed at Jin. I admit it’d be great to go on a free trip. However, I wasn’t going to intrude if they wanted to go. After all, the scientists from all over the world wanted to meet with them because of their breakthrough in the parapsychological field.

“What are you two plotting?” Taehyung walked inside through the main doors, catching me and Jin off guard. Immediately, Jin leaned back, and spun on his heel, greeting Taehyung with a broad smile which he often used when he did something he shouldn’t have. It was strange because we didn’t do anything inappropriate.

“Nothing,” Jin answered dismissively and smiled at me, letting Taehyung know right away that we were up to something. “We were just talking, but I have a surprise for you and Hoseok,” he announced, and Taehyung cocked his eyebrow suspiciously.

“What’s going on?”

“I’ll explain everything later.”

“Okay, so tell us…what happened between you and Taehyung?” Hoseok asked straightforwardly, taking advantage of Taehyung’s absence. Taehyung was out to take care of some business that none of us dared to question, while the three of us was sitting around the table, unpacking the Styrofoam boxes full of palatable, steaming, Italian food.

“Yeah, what exactly happened? Taehyung mentioned that you two were dating, but he didn’t go into details.” Jin added matter-of-factly, as he distributed the napkins and plastic cutlery among us. “So…do you mind to elaborate?”

“There’s nothing to tell,” I stated casually, being focused on the box in front of me, my mouth watering when the delicious smell hit my nostrils. “We fooled around in college, but I wouldn’t call it dating. We were more like friends with benefits rather than lovers.”

“And I’m assuming you were the one to break things off. Am I right?” Jin guessed, and I heaved a sigh since the matter was much more difficult. It was safe to say that the blame had been lying on both sides of the conflict.

“You seem way cooler than Taehyung about it, so you had to be the one to break up with him.” Hoseok agreed with Jin, giving him a high-five.

“We weren’t an item, so it’s quite difficult to talk about a break-up.” I started before I stuffed my mouth with food. “I was going abroad for one semester, and Taehyung wasn’t happy about it. He didn’t want me to go, but I didn’t listen to him. And when I returned Taehyung had already graduated, so we never had a chance to talk about it. I thought he’s moved on, but apparently, I was wrong.”

My sincere confession got them speechless; neither of whom knew how to react to it, and I couldn’t blame them for the awkwardness that stemmed from it.

“Okay, so changing the subject; have you guys figured out what you want to do about that seminar? As far as I recall, I have to give them a reply by next Friday.” I said, knowing that it was the only way to dodge the unpleasant topic.

“You have no idea how much we fought about it,” Hoseok started with a cheeky smile, stabbing his food with a plastic knife, being probably already full.

“But we’ve come to an agreement,” Jin continued, pushing his half-empty box aside, giving me his undivided attention. “Generally, all of us want to go, and among of us Taehyung is the best public speaker,” Jin announced, and I nodded, understanding their way of thinking.

“But then again, he doesn’t trust either one of us to stay here with you alone,” Hoseok interjected, making me roll my eyes. It’s so typical of Taehyung; getting jealous without any cogent reason to. “Whatever that means.”

“Yeah, and furthermore, he doesn’t want to train you saying it would be too dangerous for you to deal with all the equipment which is complete bullshit because it’s not that difficult.”

“Jin’s right; you have to remember five ground rules and everything should be fine,” Hoseok added, backing up Jin’s statement. “I have no idea what’s happening under Taehyung’s skull, but I’ve never seen him being so overprotective.”

“Okay, stop. You’re confusing me. Can you just tell me who is going and who is staying here?” I asked, growing annoyed, as they didn’t let me get a word in the edgeways.

“Hoseok and I are going, but don’t worry; we’re gonna bring you a lot of gifts.” Jin declared quickly, and I sighed in relief. Drowning in uncertainty was the worst option; I’d rather know now, so I could mentally brace myself to spend the weekend with Taehyung.

“Actually, we already have a gift for you, just finish your dinner,” Hoseok added enthusiastically, smiling at me in a way that if I didn’t know him, I’d consider creepy.

“I think I’m done,” I quickly replied, as I pushed my box aside. I was already full, and I didn’t want to force myself to finish it, although it was absolutely delectable. I’d probably heat it up for supper. “Where is my gift?” I inquired when I wiped my mouth.

“She’s gonna love it,” Jin said casually, and Hoseok nodded his head, agreeing with the former. At this point, I had no idea what they were getting me, and I wasn’t sure whether I should be ecstatic or terrified.

“Just wait here, I’ll get it,” Hoseok proposed, and marched out of the room.

“What is it?” I questioned further in anticipation; it had to be something special if they were so excited about my reaction. Unfortunately, Jin’s lips were sealed, and no matter what I tried to open them, they remained airtight, spilling no secrets. “You’re no fun.”

“Oh, shut up!” Jin whined loudly, and I giggled because the look on his face was priceless.

Before I managed to anger Jin any further, Hoseok returned with a medium-sized, pink box in his hands. Now, I was intrigued. It definitely wasn’t an envelope with a plane ticket.

Carefully, Hoseok placed the box on my lap, urging me to unwrap the present, “come on, open up!” Smiling, they stared at me, almost giving me chills.

Slowly, I untied the ribbon, whereas Hoseok tapped his foot impatiently.

“Jesus Christ, hurry up,” Jin chipped in, prompting me to hasten.

Shaking my head, I opened the box and looked inside, its content getting me speechless. It was one of the Ghostbusters uniforms, only one shade more pink with my name written on the badge with silver and hot pink threads. I knew they considered me a part of the team, but right now, I was holding the evidence of membership in my hands.

“Guys, I love it,” I admitted from the bottom of my heart before I jumped off the chair and hugged them tightly. “Do you want me to try it on?” I asked once I broke the embrace.

“Naturally, but don’t be too eager, we also have a Proton Pack for you, and that damn thing is pretty weighty,” Hoseok warned me, but I just shrugged; they run around with Proton Packs all the time, it couldn’t be that bad as they wanted me to believe.

“You’re officially one of us,” Jin stated matter-of-factly, as he ruffled my hair, making me glare at him. That’s going too far! We were friends, but touching my hair was way too much.

“Don’t fuck it up.” Hoseok threatened me with his finger, sounding like a completely different person. “Taehyung is gonna kill us if anything happens to you.”

“If you know how to operate the machines, it’s obvious I can do that, too.” I snickered playfully, and Jin and Hoseok frowned, not finding it the tiniest bit funny.

The next day after Jin and Hoseok’s departure was peaceful compared to our standards; we only had three customers, while typically we were handling at least half a dozen. The first mission wasn’t scheduled until 4 p.m., yet I decided to show up at the office a bit early in hopes of catching up with the paperwork.

As always, it was dull, but no one would do it for me, so I had to suck it up.

“Hmm…I didn’t expect you to be here so early,” a voice mused from behind my back, and I quickly turned around in shock. “Oh, have you forgotten to put on a skirt?” Taehyung sneered, as he glanced at me from head to toe.

“Excuse you, but my skirt is where it should be. It’s pretty modest if you ask me.” I couldn’t let his comments get to me. At this point, I could consider his snarky remarks as sexual harassment; we were in the confines of work, and there was an ethic that he ought to follow. “And what are you doing here? I thought I wouldn’t see you until the first appointment.”

“You seriously think I’m gonna let you out there without proper training?!” Taehyung gasped, and I rolled my eyes. Jin and Hoseok had already shown me what I should know, so Taehyung’s additional guidance was superfluous. “You’re not leaving the firehouse until I tell you, you’re ready,” he added, as he took a few, slow steps towards me.

“Why are you doing this?” I inquired quietly, and Taehyung just smirked at me, as if he was surprised that I didn’t know his motive.

“Isn’t it obvious? I care about you; I don’t want you to get hurt.” Taehyung spoke in a firm tone, so unlike him. His eyes gleamed with sincerity, making it unable to tear my gaze away. With one single look, he had me enchanted. Only a few sweet words came out of his mouth, and I held my breath, my heart skipping a beat.

Right now, when we were alone, and no one could disturb us, he didn’t act like a brat. I felt as if we were back in college, carefree and so saccharine. He no longer was a man who tried to make me feel bad about my past choices, but he actually cared about my well-being.

It was a delightful change after countless arguments we had over the previous month.

“What? You look like as if you’ve seen a ghost. Is my care so surprising?” Taehyung joked, and I almost burst out laughing at his lame pun. Thankfully, I refrained myself from doing so.

“As a matter of fact, yes.” Yesterday, he had acted as if he wished for my ass to get eaten by a ghost, so what was different today? “I thought you hated me.”

“I could never,” Taehyung quickly admitted, smiling sheepishly.

Okay, what the hell is happening?

His sudden confession got me speechless. I didn’t expect him to concede to me. Who the hell was he, and where did the real Taehyung go?

“Well…if that’s what you really feel, I gotta admit you’re sending mixed signals.” I spoke truthfully, making Taehyung roll his eyes on me. Perhaps, I was nitpicking, but Taehyung was unbearable for the past month, and I couldn’t let it slide after a couple of sweet words. No, I remembered how coldly he had treated me, and if he wanted me to change my mind about him, he had to work hard for it.

“I admit I have never been good at romance,” said Taehyung, and I giggled when his words rang in my ears. Was he serious? Did he just call it ‘romance’? What romance?

“You can’t be serious,” I replied, pinching the bridge of my nose. So what now? Did he want to start over? With me? It didn’t make any sense! We had never even been a couple! “Okay, let’s get back to some real problems. What do I have to do to convince you that I’m ready to be one of the Ghostbusters?”

“Stubborn as always,” Taehyung commented under his breath, as he strolled toward me, sitting at the edge of my desk, holding my dangling hand. His grip was gentle, his skin was smooth, and at first, I wanted to yank my hand back. He was trying to mess with my head, but I was ready to prove that he didn’t have the effect that had used to work on me. I was stronger and smarter, and he couldn’t charm me as easily.

“So what is it that I have to know?” I urged him, and he slowly looked into my eyes, biting his bottom lip, swaying our entwined hands from side to side.

Whatever he had in mind to use on me was bound to fail. Right now, I focused on my career, and boyfriend drama (if he even sought a relationship) was the least of my worries.

“Where should I begin?”

Having sat through a two-hour long lecture (which pretty much helped me realize why they had got fired from the university and doubled everything Jin and Hoseok had told me before their departure), Taehyung let me pick up the equipment what I did with a roll of my eyes. Taehyung thought I had no clue how to operate the gear, but he was wrong; Jin and Hoseok had already shown me everything that I should have known.

Hesitantly, Taehyung let me tag along with him.

First two assignments happened to be false alarms; we arrived, and then Taehyung diagnosed the situation with the P.K.E. meter and Ecto-Goggles. I was relieved our customers weren’t in danger, but on the other hand, we weren’t earning money, and we were barely making both ends meet with the regular service. (The diagnosis fee constituted about 5% of actual ghost-busting service, and we probably wouldn’t live off it.)

“Thank God, you’re finally here,” a middle-aged woman ran out of the building and threw herself in Taehyung’s arm like a damsel in distress, even though he didn’t perceive her as one. “I was so scared,” she added, as she rubbed her cheek against Taehyung’s chest. He didn’t seem pleased with her behavior, but he was too well-bred that he didn’t try to push her off him right away.

“Calm down, what’s going on?” Taehyung asked worriedly, as he placed his large hands on her shoulders, making her face him. She looked terrified. “Everything’s under control now, but you have to tell us what’s going on,” Taehyung explained, and looked at me, the woman only noticing my presence when she followed Taehyung’s gaze.

“There’s a ghost on the tenth floor!” She shouted, turning around, raising her arm, pointing at the hotel behind her. “I’ve seen it! It was green, and it almost ate the cleaning trolley!” Taehyung furrowed his eyebrows, and I knew that something was up.

“Okay, please, stay here, and we’ll look around,” Taehyung spoke calmly.

Having sighed, I walked inside right after Taehyung.

“What was that look about?” I inquired, once we were climbing the stairs. The elevator was out of order, and we had to take the stairs. The Proton Pack felt twice as heavy, almost making me fall backward.

“What look?” Without turning to me, Taehyung asked, pretending to be clueless. Did he forget that we’ve known each other inside out, and I could tell straight away that something was off? Maybe, he could fool that woman, but not me.

“Don’t play coy,” I stated, as I took a short break to catch my breath. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

Abruptly, Taehyung stopped, and I was thankful that I wasn’t standing right behind him.

“It’s about what she said.” He started vaguely, and I didn’t say anything, waiting for him to elaborate. I knew how to use the equipment, but I had no idea how to identify the threat. Were we to deal with a powerful being? Was he scared? What was going on?

“And what did she say exactly?”

“I just have a bad feeling, okay?” Taehyung continued, though hesitantly. “But whatever happens there, I want you to stay behind, and leave everything to me. I can handle it myself.”

“Sure,” I replied, even when I didn’t really mean it. If Taehyung needed my help, I’d intervene in a heartbeat. It was foolish of him if he really thought I’d listen to him.

When we reached the tenth floor, my legs almost gave in under the gravity and the weight of the Proton Pack. I placed my hands on my knees and leaned in, trying to catch a breath. If we had to go any higher, I’d probably faint. Taehyung seemed in a better condition than I, but I still could hear him panting.

Pushing his fringe off his eyes, Taehyung pulled out the P.K.E. meter, and I looked at the device, trying to peek what kind of ghost we were to deal with.

“What does it mean?” I asked, when the P.K.E. meter showed 432, and I had no idea how to interpret the reading. Slowly, Taehyung turned toward me, his face a shade paler.

“It’s not as bad as it could get, but it could be easier,” Taehyung started, and I exhaled in relief. Before he spoke, I had no idea I was holding my breath. “We’re not dealing with a Biblical Proportions here, but I think it’s a class V apparition, and if there’s anything you should know, ghosts with a reading like this should not be easy to get rid of.”

“Okay…” I whispered, now doubting my qualifications. Not that I’d like to return to my desk and answer phone calls, but it would be better if my first real ghost-busting mission was simple.

“Get ready, the ghost can attack us anytime,” Taehyung mentioned, and I nodded my head, placing my hand on the Particle Thrower. “And remember what I’ve told you, never ever cross the streams.”

“How could I forget it? You guys use that line literally every day,” I muttered under my breath, and rolled my eyes, slightly lightening up the situation. Humor always works when there’s thick and uncomfortable tension, so why this time should be any different? “Maybe you should get it tattooed?”

“Ha-ha, very funny,” Taehyung laughed dryly, his eyes roaming around the corridor, being ready for the ghost to appear. Frankly, he looked handsome, so focused and professional.

“Can you tell me more about class V ghosts? Is it as bad as you make it look like?” I asked curiously, and Taehyung looked over his shoulder as if he was shocked I didn’t read Jin’s book about ghost classification system, CDI system for short.

“Maybe, you should wait in the car,” Taehyung stated, as he shook his head in disbelief that he actually let a newbie work with him. “I can handle it myself.”

“Don’t tell me if you don’t want to. Geez!” I retorted, and sighed, looking around, pretending I didn’t ask him that question. Maybe I should listen to him and let him do everything by himself if he really didn’t want my help.

“Class V ghosts are Ectoplasmic manifestations of definite but non-human form. They are formed from emotionally-charged events or as side effects from ritual summoning. And we need a shit tone of proton pack implementation to eradicate it.” Taehyung recited, and I nodded in comprehension, as I tried to remember as much information as I could.

“Do you hear that?” I asked when I heard a strange sound, familiar to chewing. The hotel’s owner had said that people had got evacuated, so what the hell was that?

“Stay back,” Taehyung mentioned before he moved forward, following the odd noise. Slowly, I copied his movements, the Particle Thrower in my grip. “Oh shit,” Taehyung cursed, as he looked around the corner, spotting the ghosts. Taehyung seemed scared, so I peeked, curiosity getting the better of me.

Behind the corner was a green, levitating ghost who was in the middle of its meal; with big, yellow teeth it was eating a cake, the chewed bites falling onto the ground, making the mess around it. Slowly, its fetor hit my nostrils, and I immediately covered my face in disgust.

“Ew! What the hell is that?” I asked, and Taehyung chuckled at my reaction.

“A ghost, really nasty one at that,” Taehyung mused, but I didn’t find it funny. “And apparently, it eats anything that’s not nailed down or on fire,” he added, when he took a glimpse of the green creature, which right now was consuming the metal tray where the cake used to be.

“Okay, so what’s the plan? A penny for your thoughts,” I questioned, waiting for him to explain our next move. We couldn’t just jump from behind the corner and shoot the ghost with the Particle Thrower.

Casually, Taehyung pulled out his phone and snapped a photo. Strangely enough, the ghost got caught on the snapshot, which was a rare occurrence. We stared attentively at the picture on Taehyung’s phone, not recognizing the moment when the ghost stopped chewing the cake. When I mentioned that fact, the green cloud of electrons, neutrons, and ectoplasm seeped through the wall and my body, leaving a very unpleasant taste on my tongue. The feeling was eerie, and I was on the verge of vomiting.

“Are you alright?” Taehyung asked me, although his eyes focused on the ghost behind me. I nodded my head, though it wasn’t an entire truth. “On the count of three, you’ll drop to your knees, okay?” He ordered as he reached for the Particle Thrower, ready to attack.

Slowly, Taehyung counted to three in a half-whisper, and I bent, sinking to my knees in front of Taehyung. When I was out of the stream range, Taehyung turned on the Proton Pack which immediately produced a bright, powerful stream of particles. He didn’t catch the ghost, though. It disappeared behind the wall.

“Get the Ghost Trap ready,” Taehyung mentioned, as he used the card key, and we entered the nearest room. “When I confine the ghost, you have to roll the trap under it, and stomp on the pedal, you got it?”

“Sure,” I confirmed, as I reached for the Ghost Trap.

“It’s fully charged, right?” Taehyung asked, and I nodded since I had made sure the battery was on 100% before we left the firehouse. Jin and Hoseok had told me the Ghost Trap could malfunction if not charged fully, and I wasn’t going to make that neophyte mistake. “And remember not to look into the trap. A glimpse can cause serious eye damage or even blindness, and we don’t want anything bad to happen to your pretty eyes.”

“Don’t worry, I know how to use it,” I replied, trying to ignore the weird compliment.

“Come out, Stinky!” Taehyung yelled as if he was some kind of ghosts-whisperer. “I have one delicious snack for you.” He shouted loudly to no one in particular, and I giggled, finding the scene happening in front of me ridiculous.

Taehyung and I exchanged glances, but he quickly ripped his gaze away when the similar fetor pervaded the room, boding the presence of a paranormal being. Once again, Taehyung turned on the Proton Pack, aiming at the source of the odor. Before the stream hit the ghost, the orange light burnt everything within its reach.

“What are you doing it? Catch him,” I urged Taehyung before he destroyed the room. The ghost was flying around the room, and he couldn’t capture him with the stream, looking like a newbie.

“I’m trying!” Taehyung defended himself, but I only rolled my eyes, and placed my hand on the Particle Thrower, wondering if I should help Taehyung. I was about to operate the Ghost Trap, but it’s pretty useless when the ghost’s on the loose.

Sighing, I pulled the Particle Thrower and aimed. For a brief second, Taehyung looked at me, fear visible in his eyes. He didn’t trust me with it, and I couldn’t blame him; it was a dangerous weapon, after all. Maybe it was reckless, but Taehyung wasn’t effective on his own, so I had to intervene.

When I pressed the button, the Proton-Gun generated raw nuclear energy which hit the ghost, making me stumble backward.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Taehyung yelled at me when he turned off his Proton Pack. The consequence of crossing the streams is so great that he didn’t want to risk it, especially when such an inexperienced person as me was using it. “Turn it off!” he screamed, but I ignored him, since the ghost was already captured, almost nullified by now. He had to be joking.

“Get the Ghost Trap ready,” I mentioned, as I gently kicked it toward him. The ghost was trying to wiggle out of the lasso of a positronic ionized stream of proton energy, but I firmly clenched the Particle Thrower in my hands, using 100% of its power.

“This is the first and last time I let you tag along!” Taehyung shouted, but prepared the Ghost Trap nonetheless. Skillfully, he untangled the wires and rolled the small device toward the ghost. “When I turn it on you gotta shut the Proton Pack down, you got it?”

“Yep,” I nodded quickly.

“On the count of three,” Taehyung exclaimed, and I focused deeply, trying to synchronize with him. When the last syllable rolled off his tongue, I took my finger off the trigger. Panting, I stared at the ghost who was being slowly consumed by the electromagnetic field. “Don’t look into the trap!” He yelled, but I was too engrossed in the scene in front of me.

“What?” I asked, not tearing my gaze away. You could see the ghost getting drawn into the trap, piece by piece utilized inside the small Ecto Containment Unit.

“Don’t fucking look into the trap!” Taehyung yelled again, this time much louder, and when I didn’t listen to him right away, he yanked me toward him, letting me fall into his chest, as he placed his hand on the back of my head, pulling me closer, pressing me against his frame. “You must start listening. You could lose your sight.” Taehyung warmed me, but he didn’t sound mad. If anything, I detected care and relief.

“Sorry,” I spoke, when I looked up at him, admiring his face from up close. With his arms wrapped around me, I could feel warmth emitting from him. Being in his embrace felt comfortable and secure, and although we had never put much attention to none sexual type of affection, I realized how much we had missed out on. “I won’t do that again.”

“Of course, you don’t,” Taehyung replied coldly, taking a step backward as if he grasped our interaction was inappropriate. “It was the last time I brought you with me. Do you have any idea how reckless that was?”

“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking,” I admitted, and Taehyung rolled his eyes at me.

Taehyung was silent during our ride back to the headquarters; he was reading something on his phone, whereas I was listening to the news flash on the radio, maneuvering the vehicle. The night was tranquil; the sky was in a beautiful shade of navy, even a couple of stars seen over the horizon. The scenery was breathtaking, but I couldn’t enjoy it as much as I wished since the recent dispute with Taehyung kept surfacing when I tried to focus on something, anything else.

When I stopped upon seeing the red light, my phone rang. Quickly, I reached into the glove compartment and pulled out the Bluetooth earpiece, putting it into my right ear.

“Hello?” I asked as soon as I answered the call. On the other end of the line, I heard a lot of background noise before Jin’s soft voice greeted me excitedly. “Oh, hi, what’s up?” I inquired, wondering what he wanted from me. If I were on a seminar abroad, calling home would be the last position on my priorities’ list.

“I’m just checking up on you,” Jin casually stated, and I smiled at the thought of Jin and Hoseok calling me to find out if Taehyung and I had already jumped at each other’s throats. “How is work with Taehyung? Is he a pain in the ass?”

“Hmm…I’d say bearable,” I replied unsurely. Taehyung had been nice, but then I had done something he hadn’t wanted me to, and then everything had gone downhill. I could use Jin to vent about Taehyung, but they were on a trip, and I couldn’t ruin it for them. “And what about you? Are you having fun?” I asked, changing the subject. Our conversation would be way more enjoyable if we changed the direction it was going; I’d much rather discuss their trip than another round of a passionate dispute between Taehyung and I.

“It’s a paradise. You can check out Hoseok’s Instagram updates. It’s nothing compared to the real feel, though. I wished you were here with us.” Jin simply said, and I smiled again, imagining what I’m missing out on.

“I wished I was with you, too,” I confessed genuinely, realizing that Taehyung’s eyes were on me, as he tried to decipher whom I was talking to. “But it’s okay; we’ll have more opportunities in the future, right?”

“Obviously,” Jin agreed swiftly, “we’re handing out our business cards just like you told us to. I think we’ll soon make it big.” He added, and I smiled brightly, not even trying to disguise how proud I was. “I gotta go now. Hoseok’s coming with our drinks. Talk to you later.”

“Don’t have too much fun without me.” I chimed in playfully, “and try not to miss me.”

“Who was that?” Taehyung asked, as soon as I hung up. Hesitantly, I looked at him upon seeing his upset cast.

“Jin, obviously. Who else?” I spoke, rolling my eyes. “He wanted to say hi, that’s all. Why?”

“Are you two screwing?” Taehyung accused, and I chucked. How the hell did he come up with it? It was a casual conversation without even a slimmer of flirtation, so it was bizarre how he read into that. I shook my head in denial, but Taehyung didn’t seem convinced. “It didn’t sound like it.”

“I mean…Jin’s handsome, I agree. Don’t worry, I know better than dating my co-workers. It’s strictly business,” I explained, but once again, Taehyung didn’t seem pleased with my response. “We’re friends, of course, but nothing more.”

Taehyung didn’t reply. He just nodded in acknowledgment and looked away, focusing on his phone again. Whatever he was seeking, it was more important than telling me why he had thrown all his accusations toward me. I wasn’t dating Jin, but it was none of his business, so why bothered asking?

Thankfully, we were almost on our driveway. I couldn’t wait to exit the car, change out of the Ghostbusters uniform and come back home. I had spent way too much time with Taehyung today, and I wished I could relax somewhere far away from him.

Taehyung was the first one to get out of the vehicle, and I followed right behind him.

“Thank you, Tae,” I spoke, and Taehyung stopped in his trucks, yet not turning around to face me. Maybe it’d be easier for me to admit to my fault if I didn’t have to look into his sharp eyes. “I know you told me not to look, and I’m sorry for ignoring your warnings. You said it’s my last mission, and I’m gonna respect your decision. Today was fun by the way.” I voiced my thoughts from the bottom of my heart, and I hoped Taehyung could feel the genuineness in my words.

Once again, Taehyung remained silent, completely ignoring my veracity. I couldn’t blame him; he was still mad at me, and a couple of kind words didn’t have the power to outweigh the consequences of my previous actions. He felt wronged, and if I were in his shoes, I wouldn’t get over it so quickly, either.

Slowly, I strolled toward him.

“I have no idea what could happen to me if we crossed the streams or stared longer into the trap, but I’m glad you kept me safe,” I added with a bittersweet smile on my face. Taehyung hated me, yet he had proven to be a bigger person who helped me notwithstanding our past discord.

Taehyung turned around, staring down at me. He didn’t say a word, yet his eyes were drilling holes in mine, the conveyed message as lucid. Right now, his anger was agitated with ease and solicitude.

“I’m truly thankful,” I mentioned honestly, smiling weakly at him. In the heat of the moment, I got on my toes, leaning to place a chaste peck on his lips. The kiss lasted a second tops, and when I pulled back, Taehyung grabbed my arm and yanked me back.

“You can’t walk away after what you’ve just done,” Taehyung spoke quietly, his eyes sparkling, searching mine. “You’re annoying, reckless, and irresponsible. Do you know that?” He added, and when I opened my mouth to answer his rhetorical question, he beat me to it, pressing his soft lips against mine, initiating another simple kiss.

We shouldn’t be doing it, but when his lips were on mine, and his hands holding me close, I couldn’t think straight, let alone push him away. His body emitted the familiar warmth, and with each passing second, I was becoming cozier and cozier.

Gradually, he tilted his head to the side, deepening the kiss, sucking on my bottom lip excitedly until I let out a hushed moan. It had been a while since I made out with anyone, and God, how much had I missed affection. And the fact of Taehyung being an excellent kisser didn’t help my situation, at all.

I ought to have fought with the temptation, but after a minute in Taehyung’s arms, I didn’t even want to. Despite the loud protests of my consciousness, I gave into the fascination, as I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. It didn’t make any sense, but I craved his intimacy.

“Did you mean it?” Taehyung asked as he withdrew a couple of centimeters to voice his doubts. His breath tickled my wet lips, as he waited for my reply. “You know…about dating your co-workers.”

“Yes,” I admitted, and when my response rang in his ears, Taehyung quickly dropped his hands, which were holding my cheeks. With a disappointed sigh, he looked down at his feet. “I’ve never treated you like a co-worker, though,” I stated firmly, entwining my fingers with his. “You’ve always been something more, Taehyung,” I confessed, and Taehyung immediately lit up, smashing his lips against mine, his hands landing on my bottom, as he jerked me toward him.

“That’s all I need to know,” Taehyung whispered, barely lifting his lips off of mine. “Baby, I missed you so much,” he confessed, as he squeezed my left ass-cheek playfully. “It was a torture to see you every day and being unable to do anything.”

“Shut the hell up,” I murmured with a wide smile on my face, as I brushed my nose against his fondly before I sealed our lips together in a gentle, synchronized smooch. “Haven’t you heard that actions speak louder than words?” I remarked, rubbing my body against him, catching him off guard.

“We shouldn’t,” Taehyung breathed out, as he rested his forehead on mine, his eyes shut close.

“We shouldn’t do a lot of stuff,” I agreed with him casually, a smirk decorating my face when I ran my hand across his chest and shoulders. “It has never stopped us before, though,” I added, as I nipped his earlobe mischievously.

“You can’t talk to me like that!” Taehyung spoke loudly, taking a small step backward before he pulled down my uniform’s zipper. “You haven’t had clothes underneath that the whole time?” he questioned, although he already knew the answer. “Tsk, tsk,” he shook his head, pushing the uniform off my shoulders, letting it pool around my feet.

“Don’t stare at me like that! You’re creeping me out right now,” I whined, as I kicked off my shoes and discarded the bothersome uniform. His lingering stare was flattering, but when he didn’t put those large hands in action, I felt a little under-pampered.

Standing almost bare in front of him, I trembled, what didn’t go unnoticed by Taehyung. Instantly, he wrapped his arms around my waist, the heat radiating off him. “Maybe we should talk first,” Taehyung proposed but gulped when I touched his groin. “Okay, I tried.”

Abruptly, Taehyung picked me up and carried me to the break room. We had no time to waste, and he lastly understood that too. During our work together, we had been playing cat and mouse, but it was about time to bury the hatchet. We’re finally on the same team after years of the matchup.

“I wonder if you’re as sweet as you used to be,” Taehyung spoke, as he gently placed me down and got on his knees. “Your pussy was as sweet as your mouth was bitter,” he added before his long, slender fingers tugged my panties to the side, allowing him to touch my bare folds.

“Taehyung–

I moaned his name, as I squeezed my legs together when he started to touch my slit, making him smirk. Gently, he leaned forward and pressed his lips on my skin, drawing a trail of delicate pecks across my left thigh.

“It’s been a while since anyone treasured you the way you deserve it,” Taehyung concluded, his breath tickling my skin. “Let me remind you,” he added, and I leaned my back against the wall, knowing my legs wouldn’t be able to support my weight if Taehyung was to keep his promise. He had always known how to make me weak, and right now, I was sure he didn’t forget his moves.

“Please,” I breathed out, tilting my head backward when Taehyung’s fingers massaged my folds, his mouth already on my pelvis, slowly kissing his way down to my clit. “Oh God,” I shuddered, quickly reaching out to hold myself onto something.

“I’m seriously concerned, it has always taken forever for you to come,” Taehyung commented playfully, looking up at me. “And look at you right now, almost squirting on my fingers,” he added, and I bit my bottom lip, too embarrassed to admit how long it had been.

“Tae, please,” I begged when Taehyung pushed his long finger inside of me, his tongue teasing my clit, making me hold my breath, my teeth clenched. “Fuck,” I moaned; he added another finger, as he pumped in and out mercilessly, his mouth now sucking my most sensitive nub.

“Do you like it?” Taehyung pulled away to ask, but I only ran my hand through his hair, forcing him to return to eating me out. “You’ve always been needy,” he commented, as his free hand groped my bottom, squeezing it, making me jerk my hips forward.

“And you’ve never let me come without me begging,” I made a remark, but Taehyung only smirked. Lazily, he flicked his tongue what induced my legs to shake when he found the right spot, allowing me to feel very first sparks of pleasure.

“You know me too well,” Taehyung teased, and I rolled my eyes, not expecting him to take me any other way. I didn’t mind it, though. He was a pain in the ass, but he had always put my needs above his, making sure I was the first one to reach the blissful peak. Moreover, sex with him had never been monotonous, as he had tended to come with something new each time we were intimate.

“Mmm…” I purred through clenched teeth, when Taehyung’s fingers pumped inside of me swiftly, stretching me before he fucks me properly with his cock. “Taehyung…” his name rolled off my tongue, and I knew how much my cries of excitement kept him going.

“What is it, baby?” he asked, as he looked at me. His eyes were shining with its unwavering spark, his reddened lips glistening with his saliva and my juices. “Do you want me to stop?” I looked at him, my eyes hooded, observing his infamous smirk of pride.

“What do you think?” I dismissed his question, breathing heavily. His ministrations turned me on, making me a complete mess under the power of his touch, though I wasn’t going to admit that and stroke his ego anymore. It was already big, and I barely could handle his cocky attitude.

“I don’t know, you tell me,” he spoke as he licked his lips, humming in delight. “God, you’re delicious, as always.”

“Please, Taehyung, touch me, I missed your fingers,” I whined much to Taehyung’s enjoyment. He knew how he made me feel, and he shamelessly used it to his advantage. “I bet you can make me come around them,” I challenged him, and his eyes brightened with confidence.

“If you keep talking like that, I may not be able to control myself any longer,” Taehyung confessed, and I realized he was aching for my affection too. He was on his knees, caressing me as if I was made of china, fulfilling my every wish, whereas I didn’t even touch him yet. Still, in his uniform, his cock was restrained underneath a thick layer of clothing.

“Let me take care of you, Tae,” I whispered when I brushed my hand against his cheek. Instantly, he looked me in the eyes, slowly standing up, his gaze focused on my lips. “Please,” I started when I reached to his zipper, pulling it down. Unlike me, he wore regular clothes under the uniform. It wasn’t problematic, though. With my help, we quickly got rid of the annoying fabric.

“Look what you do to me,” said Taehyung when I pulled down his boxers, releasing his hard cock. Gently, he grabbed his length and gave it a couple of strokes. I had seen him jerk off million times before, but when I observed him right now, it turned me on as much as when he had his fingers shoved inside of me. “Help me,” he whispered, as he reached out for my hand, guiding it to his cock.

Smirking, I grabbed his member around its base, caressing it annoyingly slowly, knowing he favored going fast. Usually, I wouldn’t tease him like that, but it was the payback, and he got what he deserved. My hand sensually rubbed the precum into his length, making him throw his head back and shut his eyes under my touch.

“Somebody’s excited,” I taunted him as soon as I felt him twitch in my hand. Taehyung couldn’t wait for more, and he didn’t even have to voice his needs; his body showed me exactly what he yearned.

Slowly, yet steadily picking up my pace, I blew my hair off my face and looked into Taehyung’s dark eyes as if trying to figure out what was going on inside his head.

“Tell me what you want, Tae,” I whispered, licking his earlobe. “And I may give you just that,” I added, letting my breath tickle his wet skin. Gently, I brushed my nose against his neck, waiting for his reply. His heart was beating rapidly, and I heard him swallowing hard before he could formulate his answer.

“I’ve got one hell of a list actually,” Taehyung said after a moment of thinking. He seriously seemed deep in his thoughts, and considering the playful smirk that appeared on his face, he meant it. “We won’t cross everything out at once, that’s for sure.”

“I don’t reckon it as a onetime thing,” I admitted, and Taehyung grinned at me in relief.

“I don’t either,” Taehyung confirmed, planting a chaste kiss on my lips. “I’m so glad that we’re on the same page for once,” he added seductively, blowing at the wet spot on my neck where a hickey was slowly forming. How the hell am I going to explain that when Jin and Hoseok come back? “You know what? Fuck it; I can’t wait,” he spoke, turning me around, pushing me over the desk, which sat on the other side of the room.

“Ahh…” I moaned when Taehyung spanked me. “Taehyung–” I purred, as his large hand began massaging my butt before it even started to sting.

“What is it, baby?” Taehyung asked in concern, as he leaned forward, and I arched my back, meeting him halfway, playfully biting his bottom lip. “Do you like it like that?” Taehyung inquired when I released his lips. His length was poking me, and I barely could stand that.

“You know I do,” I answered through clenched teeth, as Taehyung grabbed his cock, teasing me with its tip sliding up and down my soaked folds. I was ready to take him, but he wouldn’t let me feel the pleasure yet. When it came to sex, Taehyung sometimes could be a sadist, especially when I did him wrong. “Please,” I howled, sticking up my butt, rubbing it against his erection.

“I can’t keep you waiting when you’re begging me like this,” Taehyung admitted, spinning me around, sitting me on the desk. Quickly, I spread my legs, letting Taehyung between them. “Do you have a condom?” he asked, and I shook my head. Lack of protection wouldn’t stop me now, though. I wanted it too much to stop in the middle.

“Just pull out when you think you’re close,” I replied, and Taehyung sighed. “You’ve always loved coming on my tits; that hasn’t changed, has it?” I teased him, and Taehyung agreed with a sly smirk.

“No, it hasn’t,” he confirmed, and I gasped when he pushed his cock inside of me without any warning. It didn’t hurt because he had stretched me well, but I still didn’t expect him to enter me so desperately. “You’re so warm,” he moaned, as he trusted his hips back and forth inside of me.

The melody of my hushed moans and Taehyung throaty gasps played in my ears, with each thrust my voice going louder. His hips moved swiftly, but his hands traveled across my skin agonizingly slowly, making me wrap my legs around him, pulling him close as it was possible.

“Tae–“ I cried out, biting my bottom lip. Taehyung was making me feel heavenly, and until now, I didn’t realize how sex-deprived I had been. Thankfully, the dry spell’s over. “Please, go faster,” I begged, as I propped myself on my right hand, rubbing my clit with the other one.

My orgasm was near, and I would be pissed if Taehyung denied me of it. (It had always been a kink of his, and I learned it the hard way.)

Exactly how I told him to, Taehyung quickened his pace, making me choke on air.

“Oh, baby,” he rasped in his low voice, as he leaned forward, his lips smashing against my neck, trailing wet kisses down to my collarbones, marking me again. I gulped in pleasure when his mouth sucked on my skin, and although I hated love marks, this time I didn’t mind them at all. “You’re mine, you’re mine,” Taehyung repeated desperately, and I just nodded, kissing in his confirmation.

“I’m yours,” I moaned, arching my back when he finally found the most sensitive bud. I was only a couple of strokes away from my high, and all I needed was Taehyung to maintain his pace. “I’m yours,” I hissed when my walls started to pulse and tighten around him.

“You better come soon. I’m close, too,” Taehyung warned me, and I rolled my eyes at him. He would have to be really stupid if he seriously thought I’d deny my orgasm.

“Yes, yes, yes, just like that,” I whispered, raking my fingertips across his back, scratching it. I was on the verge, and I needed something to hold on. “Taehyung, I’m almost there,” I closed my eyes, giving myself into the embrace of a sweet peak, flavored with Taehyung’s raspy voice and musky smell.

The second I felt the paradise, a faint noise of the landline filled the space, killing the mood. My walls squeezed around Taehyung’s throbbing cock, coating it with my juices.

“Fuck, Tae,” I screamed, as Taehyung kept pounding his hips, helping me ride out my orgasm.

“Whoever is on the line is fucking persistent,” Taehyung commented, shaking his head, as he couldn’t believe that anyone would call them at such unholy hour. “Shit, I want to come inside you so fucking much,” he announced, as he pulled out his cock. Quickly, he started to pump it up and down with his hand, and I just watched him with my legs spread, my teeth biting the bottom lip.

“I wouldn’t really mind if you did,” I replied, but it was too late. My words triggered him, and with a couple of strokes, he came all over my stomach and breasts.

“You’re fucking amazing,” he breathed out, as he looked at me from underneath his sticky fringe. Taehyung’s satisfied and exhausted demeanor looked handsome on him, and unless I sat on the desk, it would sweep me off my feet. “I mean it,” he added, leaning to place a pack on my lips.

Then the phone rang again.

Taehyung growled in annoyance, but walked toward the landline, and picked up the phone. “Ghostbusters; how can I help you?” Taehyung answered the call politely, but his gaze was still on me as if he was enchanted. And frankly, I felt the same way about him. I couldn’t wait for him to hang up and come back to me, so we could properly celebrate our ceasefire.

“Of course, I’m on my way,” he answered, and I shook my head since there was no way I would be joining him on another mission.

I’d rather stay in and warm up the bed for him, hoping that everything turns up easier this time around.

#taehyung smut #v smut #bts smut #bangtan smut #bts fluff #taehyung fluff #ghostbusters

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nemossubmarine · 7 years

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DnD/OC ask meme: 9, 17, 25

Thank you! :) You didn’t specify which of the two characters I take questions on you wanted, so I’ll answer for both of them. And it looks like we’re off to a great start with a real kicker, ahaha, my characters are saaad. (mainly Cahair)

9. Who has, for better or worse, had the most impact on your character’s life?Cahair: Harralan Teravest, a member of his clan and a scouting partner, Cahair’s first love and the person responsible for the slaughtering of half of his clan (including his best friend and mother). Cahair was deeply unhappy teen, who desperately wanted to run away from his clan, but that wasn’t really a decision he could make, he had to keep his culture alive and that meant staying. Harralan was very outspoken on his pride of the elven culture and his anger towards humans. Cahair fell in love with him (partly because he had to find an excuse not to leave), and clung onto that love as something that would keep him in place.

And then the incident happened, and Cahair made it out, but Harralan died, and Cahair couldn’t find another reason to stay (not to mention the clan was pretty much in pieces after this), so he left. What remained in Cahair was Harralan’s anger and pride, tampered with feelings of betrayed love and fear of what that anger and pride might cause.

Konstantine: Ser Thomas was a templar in Konstantine’s tower. He and Konstantine became close when Konstantine started researching magic to keep himself alive, and later when such a method was found, Ser Thomas taught him swordfighting. The friendship between the two was really important for Konstantine, who didn’t make friends easily, plus Thomas’ respect for Konstantine’s bodily autonomy was life-changing, Konstantine knew he was allowed to ask for respect, even if he was technically a prisoner. Oh, and Thomas’ untimely death due to his lyrium addiction was one of the things that pushed Konstantine to become critical of the Circle institution, not only for its treatment of mages but of templars as well.

17. Soup or Salad? Cahair: Soup, because if you live out in the woods in basically carts and tents all year around, nothing is greater than some warm soup.

Konstantine: Soup as well, he’s cold and achy a lot of the time, so soup helps.

25. What does this character mean to you?Cahair: Cahair is my first roleplaying character I ever got to actually play. That’s a pretty big thing. I’ve spent so much time in his headspace that sometimes it drives me nuts, because he’s got all of these emotions and nowhere to put them and I don’t handle that very well. He’s often a pain in the ass to play, and I’ve often said that next time (if there is one) I get to make a PC, I’ll make an easier one (granted, we didn’t know when we started the first campaign that that would involve a lot of death for him). But still, I love him from the bottom of my heart and I am way invested in him getting a happy(ish?) ending. For better and worse, there will never be a character like Cahair in my life.

Konstantine: Konstantine is the first NPC I created I really fell in love with. I originally created him because one of PCs needed a mage teacher and I wanted an NPC I could talk magic theory through, bc while I am relatively well-versed in DA magic-lore, Cahair is not. He’s also a lot calmer than Cahair, a lot more peaceful, which makes him easier to play. And other players seem to like him too (don’t quote me on that, though! :D). He’s become a lot more than just magic-fact-spouting NPC than he started as.

#nemo replies #ikchen #thanks dear #this got me thinking is there other npcs i love as much as konstantine #criteria being that i'd totally play as them as pcs #there's only two #adam and lir from kons #for lir it's at least 45% his voice #and for adam a lot has to do with his relationship growth with jeff #and his tragic backstory #gotta have them tragic backstories #cahair teravest #konstantine holzer

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afishtrap · 7 years

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This article examines how the Dragon Princess, one of the most celebrated characters in the Lotus Sutra, is represented in the noh drama Ama and the Heike Nōkyō sutra set. By doing so, it debunks the prevailing consensus in understanding the Dragon Princess and her episode in the sutra, and illustrates a hitherto unnoticed intrinsic affinity between medieval Japanese engi stories and Buddhist scriptural narratives.

Ryūichi Abé. "Revisiting the Dragon Princess: Her Role in Medieval Engi Stories and Their Implications in Reading the Lotus Sutra." Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Vol. 42, No. 1, Engi: Forging Accounts ofSacred Origins (2015), pp. 27-70.

As Tokuda Kazuo (2013, 11-12) has pointed out, the terms engi and innen were often used interchangeably in medieval Japanese society; furthermore, in the context of proselytizing, innen meant metaphorical and didactic tales such as hiyu, sekkyõ, and setsuwa. Tokuda has gone on to argue that the simplest way to understand the word engi in the medieval Japanese context is to see it as a type of monogatari or storytelling that has something to do with the past origins of things and that is relevant to the worship of Buddhist and indigenous Japanese divinities. Compared to previous research, Tokudas interpretation thus brings the term engi much closer to the sense of nidãna , thereby relating it to narrative categories within the Buddhist scriptural tradition. In fact, in the world of popular medieval religious culture, the word engi had little to do with the philosophical concept of dependent co-origination; instead, it was closely tied to engi and innen accounts from the scriptures. In other words, those who took part in creating and expanding the genre of medieval engi literature exerted themselves as raconteurs, not philosophers.

[...]

What is of particular interest in this article is the element of reigen, miraculous manifestations, as a lens through which the sacred histories of divinities, their home grounds, or temples and shrines that support their worship are revealed. The significance of reigen has already been noted by Sakurai (1975, 459-63). Here I wish to call attention to the fact that reigen episodes frequently involve the death, revival, and resurrection of protagonists, thereby acquainting their audiences with characters' past lives in both human and nonhuman realms. In this respect, two crucial elements highlight the intertextuality of medieval engi stories and scriptural nidãna accounts. First, the narratives traverse the cycle of transmigration by moving back and forth between past and present births and deaths; second, these stories result in the recovery of lost memory or sacred knowledge from the distant past. Thus, a careful reading of scriptural narratives can provide a key to better understand medieval Japanese origin stories, and vice versa.

[...]

The episode featuring the eight-year-old daughter of the Dragon King Sāgara is one of the most celebrated stories in the Lotus Sutra and occurs in the "Devadatta" chapter, which is chapter 12 in Kumārajīvas translation.3 During annual lectures on the eight fascicles of the Lotus Sutra ( hokke hakkõ Heian courtiers celebrated as particularly auspicious the day of the fifth fascicle ( gokan no hi) (Imanari 1994). This is an index of the importance of the "Devadatta" chapter as an illustration of the power of the sutra: although the Taishõ canon places the chapter in the fourth fascicle of the sutra, Heian manuscripts place it at the beginning of the fifth (Nara Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan 1979, 63, 121).

The "Devadatta" chapter consists of two parts. The first is a startling revelation by Śakyamuni Buddha that Devadatta, the Buddha's evil cousin, is in fact the Buddha's good friend and teacher. In a former life, the Buddha had been a king who sought the highest teaching of the Dharma, which a holy man living in the mountains had mastered in the form of the Lotus Sutra . The holy man promised the king to teach it to him if he would agree to serve as his servant. The king accepted, and for many years he gathered firewood, collected wild fruits and nuts, brought stream water, and prepared meals for the holy man. In the end, the holy man, who was in fact Devadatta in a former life, taught the king the Lotus Sutra's teaching of the ekayãna (One Unifying Vehicle, Ch. yicheng; Jp. ichijõ). The king was reborn, eventually becoming Śakyamuni, who expounds the sutra's teaching on Eagle Peak before his final extinction. In recognition of Devadattas contribution in a former life, the Buddha grants him a prophecy: Devadatta is destined to attain Buddhahood in a future world (t 9-34b-35a).

The episode of the Dragon Princess immediately follows this prophecy. It begins as Manjuśri engages in a conversation with the bodhisattva Accumulated Wisdom, one of the attendants of the Tathāgata Many Treasures, who has come from a cosmic system in the east to visit Śakyamuni Buddha's assembly on Eagle Peak. Manjuśri tells the assembly that during a short stay in the Dragon King's undersea palace, whence he has just returned, he guided innumerable dragon beings into the path of the Mahayana. As soon as he finishes speaking, a countless number of dragon bodhisattvas emerge out of the ocean palace riding on flying lotus seats and gather in the sky over Eagle Peak. When Accumulated Wisdom praises Manjuśns great act of guiding these beings to the bodhisattva path, Manjuśri explains that throughout his stay in the Dragon King's ocean palace, he preached only the Lotus Sutra . Accumulated Wisdom then questions Manjuśri: "This sutra is extremely profound, excellent and subtle. It is the treasure among all sutras. I wonder if you found any being among your students there who diligently applied effort to practice this sutra's teaching and reached Buddhahood swiftly."4 Manjuśrfs answer is crucial for understanding the characterization of the Dragon Princess in the sutra:

"Yes there is one! She is the Dragon King Sāgara's daughter, who is merely eight years old. Yet she is sharp in her capacity of wisdom and observes well how karmie deeds play out in sentient beings' senses. She has mastered dhāraņī ; has excelled in upholding the profoundest of the teaching of all the Buddhas, their secret treasury; has entered into deep meditation; has thoroughly understood the nature of all things. In an instant she gave rise to the mind of enlightenment and reached the stage of non-retrogression. Her eloquence is limitless. She loves sentient beings as if they were her own infant children. She is perfectly endowed with merit. Whatever she thinks in her mind and utters through her mouth is sublime, grand, compassionate, and kind. With her gentle and elegant nature, she succeeded in reaching Bodhi."

[...]

Therefore, in the larger context of the sutra's narrative, the conversation between Manjuśrl and Accumulated Wisdom regarding the Dragon Princess' enlightenment is an exchange between the one who remembers and the other who forgot. Manjuśrl is fully cognizant of events of the distant past -the "engi" in which characters' previous life existences intertwine through the progress of spiritual training. In contrast, Accumulated Wisdom is devoid of such memory: he cannot even begin to imagine the engi -- the story of the Dragon Princess's previous lives -- that must have enabled her to make such great accomplishments in her current life. Grounding himself in insight into practitioners' spiritual progress in their past lives, Manjuśn chooses the Dragon Princess as the most advanced bodhisattva, one who has already attained perfect enlightenment. Accumulated Wisdom's objection derives from his ignorance and should therefore be understood as a rhetorical question. When he asks, "How then is it possible for me to believe that this girl realized the perfect unsurpassed enlightenment of the Buddha in such a short period of time?," he actually confirms that the princess is a very special practitioner who has realized the perfect unsurpassed enlightenment of the Buddha. For that reason, Manjuśn does not even need to answer Accumulated Wisdom. The Dragon Princess suddenly manifests herself before the Buddha. Having prostrated herself in reverence to him, and then having seated herself in a corner of the assembly, she praises him with a gãthã and expresses her resolve to save living beings.

When the Dragon Princess has announced in her verse to the Buddha her vow to engage in salvific acts that benefit living beings, it is Šāriputra who now opposes her. He says that he is not able to accept her enlightenment because he believes that a woman's body is soiled and thus cannot serve as a vessel to advance the Mahayana. Šāriputra supports his point by referring to "five obstructions" (Sk . panca-āvaraņa; Ch. wuzhang ; Jp. goshõ) for women: that they are unable to become Brahmā, Indra, Māra, a cakravartin , or a Buddha.6 The Dragon Princess presents a rejoinder to both Accumulated Wisdom and Šāriputra through not words but action. She offers to the Buddha her legendary jewel whose worth is equal to the entire universe system, and he immediately accepts it. Having seen the Buddha receive her jewel, the Dragon Princess turns to Accumulated Wisdom and Šāriputra and asks whether or not the manner in which the Buddha accepted the jewel was swift. They answer her in unison: "It was very swift." Her act of offering the jewel and the Buddha's acceptance of it create a crucial moment of transition, after which the episode moves into its finale. The significance of this vignette will be further discussed in relationship to the Heike nõkyõ frontispiece in the last section of this article.

[...]

Šāriputra's role in this part of the Lotus Sutra narrative closely resembles the one he plays in the goddess episode of the Vimalakīriti Sutra (t no. 475, 15.547C-548C; Paul 1985, 221-32). In the Vimalakīrti Sutra , Šāriputra, the proud leader of the celibate male clergy, is unable to understand that the Goddess, who had been studying under the householder Vimalakīrti for many years, is a very advanced bodhisattva with a fine grasp of the nature of emptiness as nonduality. In order to guide Šāriputra, the Goddess manifests a vision in which her body and Śariputras body are switched. Having seen himself as female and the Goddess in the form of himself, Śariputra finally frees himself from his androcentric bias, accepts her as his teacher, and is able to enter into the dharma gate of nonduality. At the end of the episode, Vimalakīrti tells Śariputra that the Goddess in her previous lives trained herself under ninety-two million Buddhas. Just like the Dragon Princess, she has already reached the bodhisattva stage of nonretrogression (t 15.548c). Here, too, Śariputra plays the role of a foil to bring to the fore the exceptional spiritual quality of the female protagonist.

#japan #east asia #buddhism #noh #anthropology #research #jstor

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braincoins · 7 years

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Title: Controversiae et Circenses Fandom: “Voltron: Legendary Defender” Summary: Mr. Shirogane and Ms. Fala are taking their own damn sweet time asking each other out. Time for the Voltron High Debate Club to step in and handle things. Ships: Shallura Warnings: Barely-edited Author’s Notes: High School Teacher AU for @milkteamiku! Happy Valentine’s Day from your seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeecret valentine! I hope you like it. ^_^; (3,947 words - also on AO3)

“Okay, we can’t let this go on much longer.”

“Yeah. It’s getting kind of pathetic.”

“How’re things on your end? Get anything good?”

“Oh, definitely! I think we’re go for launch.”

“You’re sure?”

“As sure as I can be without blowing my cover.”

“Okay, cool. So, here’s how we proceed…”

At the bell, Keith ran from his last class to his locker, tossed his unneeded stuff in, and slammed it shut. He was already texting Lance one-handed as he bolted for the stairs. [OMW]

His phone was lighting up with the others responding similarly. Keith shoved his way up the stairs as everyone else tried to go down. People gave him dirty looks, but he ignored them. This was important.

Mr. Shirogane – “Shiro” to most everyone – was one of the best teachers in the school. He was tough but fair and he had ways of making the most boring periods of history interesting. He was also the secondary sponsor of the Debate Club, and most of them had joined just because Shiro was such a cool guy to hang out with (and, as they’d all come to realize, they liked arguing).

But there was a problem. And that problem was the Debate Club’s primary sponsor: Ms. Fala. She was a civics teacher, even stricter than Shiro was. She took her job of educating future citizens on their rights and responsibilities very seriously, and her class was a graduation requirement. She was the bane of nearly every student’s existence. But, more importantly, Shiro clearly had the world’s biggest crush on her.

Most of the time, he could hide it pretty well, but there were times when she smiled at him or when the sunlight coming in the windows hit her hair just right or, hell, whenever she touched his hand or something, when Mr. Shirogane would look like his brain had just been wiped. It would take him a bit to “reboot.” It was funny at first, but it was starting to get annoying.

So, the club had done their research. Allura Fala was only a year or two older than Takashi Shirogane was, she was unmarried and, near as anyone could tell, not seeing anyone. She had pet mice. Shiro didn’t claim to have a fear of rodents, nor did he own a cat; so far, so good. Most importantly, the research indicated there was the hint of a possibility that she might like Shiro in return. Pidge reported a 5% increase in touching and nearly a whopping 10% increase in smiling when she was around him. (Pidge was in Ms. Fala’s class this semester, so she was able to study the subject more closely.)

Subtle hints to Shiro that he should ask Ms. Fala out had failed. Telling Shiro straight out that he should ask her out had failed. The students of Voltron High Debate Club were taking matters into their own hands now. And today was the day.

He slowed down as he approached Shiro’s last period classroom. Fortunately, it wasn’t the same one the Debate Club met in. “Hey, Shiro!” he called as he saw him emerge.

“Keith,” he said with a smile. “I’ll be over to the room in a minute.”

[He’s wearing a tie today] Keith texted surreptitiously. At least he hoped that was what he texted; it was harder when he wasn’t looking. “I actually had some questions, if that’s okay?”

“Of course it is. Walk with me over to the office; we can talk about it while I drop my stuff off.”

“Sure,” Keith said, keeping a straight face. He let Shiro go first and whipped up his phone to send off a thumbs-up emoji.

“Keith’s got him distracted and he says he’s dressed up a bit. At least, I think that’s what that means,” Lance reported. “Is Pidge in position?”

“Uh, yeah? She has her class last,” Hunk reminded him. “She’s been ‘in position’ for the last fifty minutes.”

“You’re taking all the joy out of this, Hunk.”

“Less talking, more working.”

“…but voter turnout is a constant problem,” Pidge was saying. “If you can’t get asses to the polls…”

“Language,” Ms. Fala warned.

“Sorry, but it’s the same sort of ‘butts in the seats’ thing that businesses worry about, isn’t it?”

“Yes, in a sense, though I would argue civic engagement is more pressing than even economic participation, all the moreso because it’s voluntary. People have to buy certain goods and services, but they don’t have to take part in their communities.”

“Exactly, but then how do we get higher voter turnout? I mean, that’s why I’m saying like… I dunno, give a tax credit to voters who show up at the polls or something.”

“You don’t want to have to bribe your citizens into doing their civic duty.”

“No, you don’t want to, but the voter turnout for the last election…” Shiro, you better appreciate the sacrifice I’m making here, Pidge thought. And you better take advantage of it.

“So, it’s actually four different memoirs?” Keith asked.

“Yes, and each with a distinct purpose. Initially, Lady Hyegyong was writing more for herself, but she increasingly directed her memoirs to the public. She was trying to bear witness to history about the treatment of her family members.”

“Like her husband.”

“Yes, but also her father, her uncle, her brother, herself. It’s a great chronicle of the Korean court, written at a time when monarchs were held to be unquestionably moral, almost divine. She showed the human side to them, with all the flaws that entailed. It’s an incredible primary source for the Joseon Dynasty.”

Keith nodded and tried to still look interested. I’m dying here; hurry up, guys. “And it talks about her husband going nuts and being killed, too, right?”

Shiro snorted. “Yes, her memoirs talk about Crown Prince Sado’s descent into madness. That’s all anyone ever wants to read about.”

“Well, sorry, but can you blame me? I mean, that sounds really cool! They should make a movie about it.”

“They have.”

“But not in English, I’m guessing?”

“Correct.”

Keith groaned and Shiro looked at the wall clock. “Hey, we should get to the room. The others are probably wondering where we are.”

Keith glanced at his phone. He hadn’t gotten the all-clear yet. “Do you have any of the movies?”

“What?”

“About Lady whatshername.”

“Hyegyong, and no, I don’t but I thought you didn’t want to watch subtitled movies anyway.”

“Well, I mean, I don’t need subtitles for the bits where the guy is being a nutjob.”

Shiro frowned at him. “Show a little respect. He wasn’t a nutjob. He had a mental illness.”

“Okay, but he did kill people, right?”

Shiro sighed. “Yes, according to his wife, anyway. In the 1805 Memoir, she says…”

“Are we done?”

Lance looked around the room and nodded. “I think we’re good.” He whipped out his phone. “Text Pidge; I got Keith.”

Hunk snorted. “Yeah, like at lunch time? I saw you two sneak off to the bathroom together.”

Lance grinned. “Hey, ain’t nothing wrong with my love life. Let’s focus up.”

Pidge pulled out her phone when it buzzed at her. “Oh, hey,” she said, seeing Hunk’s thumbs-up, “we should probably get to Debate Club.”

Ms. Fala looked at the clock. “Oh, goodness! We did get a bit carried away, didn’t we?” She gathered up her things. Pidge led the way out of the room and waited for her to lock up.

“Uh, actually, I have to go to the bathroom real quick. See you over there!”

Ms. Fala nodded and strode off towards the room.

Keith’s phone pinged at him. “Oh, hey,” he said, “they’re wondering where we are.” In reality, his text from Lance read [Ready for Romance? The room is anyway! LOL XOXO] with a bunch of kissy emojis. Horndog. But he suppressed a grin.

“Yeah, I’m not surprised. C’mon.”

Keith let Shiro lead the way out of the History office. He waited for him to lock up and walked a little ways with him.

“Hey, y’know, I’ve gotta take a pit stop. I’ll catch up.”

“Okay. Don’t take all day in there; we’ve got a meet this weekend to prep for.”

“We’ll be fine. We’ve got this.”

Shiro grinned. “Lance is rubbing off on you.”

Keith grinned back. “You have no idea.”

“Yeah, okay, way more than I needed to hear. Just go already.” Shiro made shooing motions with his hands and headed for the room.

“Huh?” Allura looked around the room. Most of the desks had been pushed up against the wall, except for four pushed together to make a table of sorts (still with their attached chairs). A white tablecloth had been draped over them, and a small votive candle in a glass jar was sitting in the center next to a vase with a red silk rose in it. Gold colored napkins and actual, non-plastic flatware marked two place settings. The lights were off but twinkling white Christmas lights had been strung up around the room and wrapped in pink see-through gauze to soften the light further. There was an iPod and some speakers on the teacher’s desk, quietly playing piano music.

The Debate Club was nowhere to be seen.

“What’s going on here?” Shiro’s voice asked from behind her.

She turned to him and shrugged. “Honestly, I haven’t the first clue.”

Shiro was standing in the doorway. Backlit by the hall lights, he looked like he was glowing. More importantly, he was staring at her, lips parted just faintly. She wasn’t sure if he was even breathing.

She licked her lips, aware of her face heating and hoping the darkness of the room would hide it. “Is… is something wrong?” she asked him, hoping she didn’t have lipstick on her teeth or something.

“You look… luminescent,” he breathed, voice barely above a whisper. Then he cleared his throat and turned his head, rubbing the back of his neck. She could make out the blush in his cheeks, but then he had the lights of the rest of the school behind him. There was still hope he couldn’t see hers, even if her own face had gotten redder (and she was almost certain it had). “Sorry, I…”

“No, it’s okay. I mean, you don’t have to apologize.”

“Table for 2?” She looked past Shiro, who had turned around, and saw Lance standing there in a suit, with a white cloth draped over one arm, and a ridiculously long and thin mustache on his face. He was speaking in an overdone and bad attempt at a French accent. “Wee wee, come weeth me, right zees way.”

Allura snorted a little and tried to turn it into a cough. Lance just pushed past Shiro and “escorted” him to the “table.” “Right here, monsieur and mademoiselle,” he said. He couldn’t pull chairs out for them because they were bolted to the “table,” but he did gesture quite grandly.

“Lance, what are you doing?” she asked him.

“Showeeng you to your table, mademoiselle,” he insisted, repeating his gesture.

“Oh, for goodness’s sake.” But she took a seat, setting her briefcase down beside her.

Shiro shook his head and sat down opposite her, and she jumped as his foot hit hers. “Oh, sorry, I…”

“These desks are…”

“Yeah, sorry.”

“No, I understand.”

Lance smiled at them and then clapped twice in a very imperious manner. Pidge and Keith, both wearing suits and aprons, came running in. Pidge had a basket of bread that she set in the center of the table and Keith had a bottle and two champagne flutes.

“You do not have alcohol on school grounds,” Allura said with a frown.

“Mademoiselle!” Lance gasped in outrage. “Eet ees our very finest sparkleeng grape juice, I weell have you know!” He scoffed.

Shiro dropped his head into one of his hands. His shoulders were shaking with suppressed laughter. Keith just set down the glasses and was about to unscrew the top when Lance grabbed the bottle from him. “I weell do zat! Go on, shoo shoo!”

Keith frowned at him and rolled his eyes but left with Pidge. Lance unscrewed the bottle – releasing the telltale hiss of carbonation – and offered the screw-off top to Shiro to smell. Shiro looked up at him and shook his head. “Lance, what are you doing?”

“Eet has a lovely bouquet, sir, eef you would like to…”

“No,” Allura put in, “What Are You DOING? All of you. What is this?”

“I have a terrible feeling I know exactly what this is,” Shiro groaned.

“Well, I would appreciate an explanation,” she told him.

“Ah!” Lance declared. “May wee! But of course!” He poured the champagne flutes full of sparkling white grape juice, set the bottle down, and then declared, “I weell go and check on zee status of your meal!” and practically ran out of the room. He closed the door behind him.

Allura just looked at Shiro expectantly. He cleared his throat. He had quite definitely stopped laughing. “Well?” she asked.

“The, uh…” His blush was clearly visible; that probably meant he’d seen her blushing earlier, but she couldn’t do anything about that now, and she was too curious to care. “…the Club is trying to get us to date.”

“What?” Oops, she was blushing again now. She wished she knew a way to get that to stop. “Why?”

Shiro’s face got redder. “They’ve been after me to ask you out for weeks now.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” she pointed out.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “No, it doesn’t,” he admitted.

“Well?” she prompted again. He cleared his throat again and picked up his flute, downing half of the grape juice at one go. “Shiro.” She used his nickname after school, because it was simply easier than constantly referring to him as “Mr. Shirogane,” as she did during school hours.

“I wish this actually were alcoholic.” He grabbed the bottle and topped off his glass.

“Shiro, do you…?” But her question was interrupted.

The door opened to Pidge and Keith – under Lance’s watchful eye – bringing in plates of pasta. “Zees ees one of our chef’s specialties!” Lance informed them.

“Oh my GOD, Lance, stop it with the accent,” Pidge grumbled.

“Insolent pig-dog!” he yelled at her. “Do not eensult zee French! Eet ees zee language of L’AMORE.”

“I think he just slipped into Italian,” Pidge muttered.

“He took Spanish because it’s an easy A for him,” Keith told her. “He wouldn’t know French if it bit him on the a-…”

“Keith,” Shiro and Allura said together.

All three of them grinned at that. The plates of pasta were set in front of them. “Our chef has worked very hard on zees especially for you two! Enjoy!” Pidge and Keith left, but Lance went to the iPod to turn it up just a little bit. Then down a little. Then up a little more. Keith finally popped back in to grab Lance by the collar and haul him out of the room. The door practically slammed shut.

“Well, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hungry.” Shiro pulled his napkin out and set it on his lap.

“Or you’re trying to get out of a full explanation by keeping your mouth full,” Allura charged, but she also draped her napkin over her lap.

“Well, they went to all this trouble. I’ve heard Hunk is a great cook.”

“Shiro,” she said again.

“Using your teacher voice on me doesn’t work,” he reminded her, picking up his fork and knife. “I’m one, too.”

“Why would the Club want you to ask me out?”

“Because they want us to date.”

“And they want us to date… why, exactly?”

But it was too late: he’d already shoveled some pasta into his mouth. Quite a bit of it, actually. She sighed and sipped her grape juice, then helped herself to a piece of bread. “If you won’t tell me, I’ll have to conjecture,” she warned him. He just gestured to his mouth full of food and shrugged. “Very well then.

“So, the known facts are this: the Club has set up this classroom to look like a nice restaurant. They have tried to create a classically ‘romantic’ atmosphere, including Italian food, a wine substitute, soft lighting, and music. If I believe you, they want us to date. Also, by your statements, they have been pressuring you to ask me out. They have not, however, pressured me to do the same.”

She took a bite of her bread and chewed thoughtfully. “Thinking back on it, Pidge has been asking me a number of questions lately about my personal life. And all of them have asked me my opinion on you numerous times.”

“What did you say?” Shiro asked immediately.

“Oh, so now you can speak.” He winced and scooped up some more pasta to fill his mouth with. She narrowed her eyes at him, but grinned. “Well, then, to return to my conjecturing: their… curiosity about me and about my opinion of you lends weight to the supposition that they want us to date. I have no reason not to trust your word, so I must therefore also believe they have been urging you to ask me out. The fact that they have not asked me to ask you out speaks to either outdated modes of thinking as regards gender equality OR, more likely, they believe your attraction to me is greater than mine to you. Perhaps even that this is more about making you happy than it is about ‘our’ happiness in any larger sense.”

He looked aggrieved at that. She reached across the table and patted his hand twice. “You’re their favorite, Shiro. I take my job as a teacher very seriously, and I know that doesn’t make me the warmest person in their eyes. It’s hardly surprising.”

He blushed at the touch, but couldn’t say anything still. She used her bread and fork to scoop up some pasta and mm’ed appreciatively.

He cleared his mouth first. “If anyone ever doubted your qualifications to serve as Debate Club sponsor…” He drank more of his grape juice, but then thought of something. “Wait a second, are you saying I don’t take my job seriously?”

She swallowed hurriedly. “No, no, not at all! We have… different teaching styles, that’s all.”

“Uh-huh. ‘Cause it sounded like you were saying…”

“You’re changing the subject.”

“…Maybe,” he admitted.

“Do you want to ask me out, Shiro?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “We’re colleagues.”

“We’re allowed to date if we want to.”

“I just don’t want things to be …weird. Awkward.”

“Well, it’s a little late for that now, after all of this.” She gestured with one hand to the room around them, then picked up her champagne flute. “Will you feel emasculated if I ask you out?”

“No!” he said immediately. “N-not at all! But, I didn’t think you’d… be interested in me.”

She was sipping her fake-champagne when he said that and she nearly choked on it. He started to rise to come help her, but she waved him back into his seat. “Honestly, Shiro.”

“What?”

“Do you not know there’s a betting pool going on about which of the single teachers will ‘net’ you first?”

His blush deepened. “Uh, no. No, I did not know that.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, now you know. I’ll split the pot with you, don’t worry.”

“Gee, thanks. Now it sounds like you’re only interested in me for the money.”

She chuckled. “You’re handsome, smart, and sweet. Winning the pot is an added bonus. Besides, I’m far more interested in showing up Romelle down in the Science department than I am in the money.”

“Don’t lie; you’re a teacher. I know your salary.”

They both laughed.

“They’re laughing,” Lance said. “I think that’s a good sign.”

“Are they saying anything about the food?” Hunk asked.

“Hunk,” Pidge hissed.

“What? I worked hard on that! A cook likes to know his work is appreciated!”

“Shhhh!” Keith warned them. “They’ll hear us.”

“Like they don’t know we’re out here listening in,” Pidge pointed out. “Or that at least Lance is.”

“Hey!”

“So, you are interested in me,” Shiro confirmed.

She nodded; her mouth was the one full of pasta this time.

He smiled in relief. “You’d think that’d make this easier, but now I just worry that if I ask you out on a boring date, I’ll blow my chance.”

She smiled and swallowed her food. “You know, technically, you haven’t told me that you’re interested in me. I conjectured that.”

“Oh!” He blushed deeper. “I’m… yes, I’m interested in you. In dating you. I…” He sighed and closed his eyes. “Hold on, let me start this over again so I sound less like one of our students.” She laughed and he opened his eyes again. “Your laugh is beautiful.” She blushed, and he continued. “Your smile is captivating. You’re so brilliant, so passionate about your work and your beliefs, so dedicated. It’d be hard not to be attracted to you, even if you weren’t heart-stoppingly gorgeous.” His face felt like it was going to combust, but he’d finally gotten it all out.

“Oh, now you’re overstating it,” she protested lightly.

“Not by much,” he insisted. “I’d give you that golden apple every time, and who cares what the other goddesses think?”

She laughed again. “Didn’t that nonsense start a war?”

“You’d be worth it.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“I do.”

“Shiro…”

“Takashi.”

She smiled. “Only if you’ll call me ‘Allura’ and never start a war over me.”

He reached across the table to rest his hand on hers. “I promise, Allura.”

“So, uh, how long do you think they’re going to be in there?” Pidge asked.

Keith opened his mouth to reply but then the door opened. Ms. Fala was standing there, arms folded, frowning at them. The room lights clicked on behind her, and the music shut off. “Well, there’s our meddlers. You can all come in and help us put the room back the way it needs to be. And then we are doing our meet prep for the weekend,” she informed them.

“Did you like the pasta?” Hunk asked weakly.

She smiled. “It was very good, Hunk; thank you. I hope you didn’t make too much of a mess making it?”

“I already cleaned up the home ec station I used,” he told her. “A good chef doesn’t leave their area messy.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” She stepped away from the doorway to let them in.

Shiro had blown out the votive candle and was disassembling the table. The dishes had been moved to the teacher’s desk.

“So, uh… how’d it go then?” Keith asked.

Shiro and Ms. Fala both looked at him, and he feared for his life suddenly, but then they looked at each other and smiled faintly. “We have plans,” Shiro told him. “That’s all you need to know.”

Lance whooped and started passing out high-fives until Ms. Fala grabbed him by the ear. “And so you have no further need to involve yourselves in other peoples’ personal lives, Correct?”

“Ow, yes, sorry, never again!” he yelped. She let go.

“Glad to hear it.”

“Hey, uh, Shiro?” Pidge asked. “Are you wearing lipstick?”

He blushed and wiped at his mouth. Ms. Fala just cleared her throat. “Let’s get the room squared away,” she ordered as if she weren’t an interesting shade of red herself. “And then I want to hear the argument you wrote on voucher systems for charter schools, Hunk.”

Keith grinned at his co-conspirators. Mission Accomplished. “You heard the lady, guys. Let’s get to work.”

#Socks writes Voltron fanfic #milkteamiku #Secret Valentine #shallura #writing #fic

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