#& it’s got barrel surfing

[maiteo]

have you ever been barreled?

oooh beloved I am not that experienced when it comes to surfing😭 I’m still celebrating just being able to ride the lil waves and keep my balance on a board (shoutout to ballet)

I haven’t mastered tricks or anything like that yet….but I just know when I finally get barreled, I can die happy😌🫶🏽

[tulsa24]

shucked is just so cool 🌽

[qroier]

now that the olympics are officially over, i wanted to share some more of my favorite moments from the second week of these games:

Rebeca Andrade finally got her gold in floor!!!!

the kayak cross course in canoe slalom is wild, it starts with a huge drop into the water and ends with a required barrel roll

the entire men's pole vault final was awesome and had everything! Armand Duplantis of sweden broke the olympic record and his own world record while his fellow athletes cheered him on. Emmanouil Karalis won bronze for greece and gave Mondo (duplantis) a bandaid after he hurt his hand. Sam Kendricks, who won silver for the U.S., also cut his hand and wiped it off on his arm. Mondo's mom filmed his record breaking jump on an ipad. after making the jump, Mondo posed like Yusuf Dikeç (turkish shooter guy) and ran off to kiss his girlfriend. incredible. iconic. showstopping.

actually, posing like Yusuf Dikeç became the go-to pose for a bunch of athletes

Mijaín López from cuba won his 5th CONSECUTIVE gold medal in greco roman wrestling. that's 20 straight years of being the reigning olympic champion

Arisa Trew, the 14 year old aussie who won gold in women's park skateboarding, is getting a pet duck from her parents for winning

a whale decided it wanted to try its fin at surfing during the surfing semi-finals

UK's skateboarding team looked like a middle school field trip with the class' favorite math teacher, except that teacher just happened to be 51 year old skating legend Andy Macdonald. just to put it into perspective, Andy Macdonald is on the same legend level as Tony Hawk. they're close friends and used to compete in vert doubles together. Tony Hawk cheered him on from the stands with Snoop Dogg, and he got a huge ovation after his run. also shout out to Sky Brown, who's 16 and got bronze again this year, even with a recent dislocated shoulder injury.

Alice D'amato's reaction to winning gold on balance beam <3 the first gold women's gymnastics medal for italy

Tara Davis-Woodhall and her husband's reaction to her winning gold in long jump for the u.s.

there were so many proposals. sooooo many proposals

Guatemala and Botswana also won their first ever gold medals, with Adriana Ruano Oliva winning women's trap shooting and Letsile Tebogo winning men's 200m

and, of course, Imane Khelif winning gold after all the harassment against her

[what-we-do-in-santa-carla]

A Lost Boys Incorrect Quotes Post

Marko: Of course, I care about the planet and all of the little animals. Michael: And people, right? Marko: Meh. - Michael: I have a plan. Sam: You've got a plan? Okay, first of all, you're copying me from when I said I had a plan. Michael: I'm not copying you- I have a plan, that's not that unique of a thing to say. Sam: And secondly, I don't even think you have a plan. Michael: I have part of a plan. Edgar: What percentage of a plan do you have? Star: You don't get to ask questions after that nonsense you pulled in the cave! Edgar: I just saved you! Michael: We already established that stabbing Marko was not saving me! Edgar: When did we establish that? Michael: Like three seconds ago! Edgar: Well, I wasn't listening then, I was thinking of something else. Sam: She's right, you don't get an opinion... What percentage? Michael: I dunno... Twelve percent? Sam: Twelve percent? (starts laughing) Michael: That's a fake laugh. Sam: It's real! Michael: Totally fake! Sam: That is the most real, authentic, hysterical laugh of my entire life because THAT IS NOT A PLAN. Star: It's barely a concept. Michael: You're taking their side? Alan: It's better than eleven percent. Sam: So what 'it's better than eleven percent' what does that have to do with anything? Michael: Thank you, Alan, thank you. See? Alan's the only one of you here who has a clue. (Alan proceed to squirt holy water in his eye because he was pointing the barrel at his face) - Marko: So, what should we do about those teenagers drowning in the surf right now. David: Kill them and drink their blood. Michael: (pointing his UV flashlight at David) Try that one again. David: (hissing) Save them. Michael: Good. Good. - Star: Marko made me call the boys and tell them he was dead to see how they'd react. *earlier that day* Marko: Is he crying? Is he crying? Star: A little. *Marko snatches the phone* Marko: You should be wailing you stone-cold bitch. *hands phone back to Star* Marko: Now call my other boyfriend. - David: Oh, yuck, you aren't cute with the lights on. Star: You wanna play mean girl, David? Two can play that game. Let's talk about your fucking haircut. - David: Great, who are we killing? I won't do kids, that's a rule. David: But that rule's negotiable if the kid's a dick.

[minkshame]

Bringing tord back without the arm but the house is still gone? Ok lets make the continuity fluid, i like it. The boys exploded the house by accident trying to cook dinner. Or something. Awesome.

Bring tord back. You can Make him:

A clone

Completely silent antagonist

Voiced by a Norwegian VA

or voiced by Larsson himself, as they may in fact be in contact with him to have permission to use the character.

Those are the good options

Clearly he’s experimenting on something inside of the fluid. Clearly he got hurt by the experiment. It’s definitely related to the oil barrels from Surf and Turf. A retread of the zombie mutation barrel from Snogre.

We will see…!

[ofmdrecaps]

08/24/2024 - 08/25/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Rhys Darby; Gypsy Taylor; Kristian Nairn; Nathan Foad; Madeleine Sami; Nat Torres; Minnie Driver; Vico Ortiz; GalaxyCon San Jose Video; Adopt Our Crew Anniversary Notifs; Fan Spotlight; Cast Cards; Our Flag Means Fanfiction; Love Notes; Daily Darby/Today's Taika;

== Rhys Darby ==

So Rhys IS actually in the Rhett & Link Wonderhole episode-- as a narrator! You can check him out starting at 16:55 (Thank you @follows-the-bees for sharing the exact time for Rhys! <3)

== Gypsy Taylor ==

Great news!! Gypsy Taylor and Catherine Martin ended up winning the Best Costume Design For A Television Production Award with APDGuild! The cast and crew were so supportive in sending her love as well. Look at how proud she it <3 She deserves it!

Source: Gypsy Taylor's Instagram

== Kristian Nairn ==

Kristian added to his post on the Beyond The Crown Signing-- that he'll also be doing an event with Forbidden Plan in the UK!

Source: Kristian Nairn's Twitter

== Nathan Foad ==

Nathan out at the Monkey Barrel Comedy Club!

Source: Nathan Foad's Instagram Stories

== Madeleine Sami ==

More Double Parked BTS with Mads! and a silly vid of Mads and her costar Antonia Prebble on a plane-- heyyyy what show is that?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Antonia Prebble (@antonia_prebble)

Source: Livsparker Instagram

== Vico Ortiz ==

Vico is going to be joining the crew at The Republic Of Pirates on November 22-24 in Heathrow-- and they set out a very important question for everyone-- what pirate should they dress up as?

Source: Vico's Instagram Stories

Now, guess who happened to respond to Vico's question out on Twitter as well?

Source: Vico's Twitter

== Nat Torres ==

Nat was also posting some OFMD related content on their stories.

Source: Nat Torres Instagram

== Minnie Driver ==

Our dear Anne Bonny is done with surfing for a while <3

Source: Minnie Driver's Instagram Stories

== More GalaxyCon SanJose ==

@adoptourcrew was able to share some film of the OFMD Panel from GalaxyCon SanJose on their Instagram Reels! This is of the guest kid who was dressed as Izzy coming up on stage.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Adopt Our Crew (@adoptourcrew)

Source: Adopt Our Crew Instagram

== Adopt Our Crew Anniversary Notifs ==

I love that our friends over at @adoptourcrew are reminding us of some pretty iconic tweets from Chaos Dad.

Source: Adopt Our Crew Instagram

== Fan Spotlight ==

= Cast Cards =

Tonight's cast cards from the fabulous @melvisik are Ashlee Fidow one of the Stunt performers, and Kerrin Jackson, the Assistant Makeup Department Head!

Source: Melvisik's Twitter

= Our Flag Means FanFiction =

New episode of Our Flag Means Fanfiction! This time, they interview some of the fans who got to go to The Live Cryptid Factor Shows! Wanna check out the latest episode? Visit: OFMFF's Linktree!

Source: Our Flag Means Fanfiction Instagram

== Love Notes ==

Hey there Lovelies. I'm behind again, what's new? Life is hard sometimes and no matter how much we want to be able to be caught up with what we need to, it just doesn't always work out the way we plan. Society has told us for so long we have to be perfect. Society tells us there's no room for error. But you know what? Life is messy. I don't know what each and every one of you deals with in a day-- and vice versa. Life is complicated, and busy, and best laid plans barely ever go the way they should. Add children, or pets, or family into the mix and it's even messier.

I appreciate all your patience with me, and for all your patience with all the other things in your life that don't always go to plan. It's frustrating at times, but I know eventually things will slow down and look up, and I hope all that happens for you sooner rather than later. Life is messy, but wonderful regardless. I hope it treats you well this week, lovelies. Sending hugs <3

== Daily Darby / Today's Taika ==

I just really needed them today so here they are. Thank you as always to the gif-master @ofmd-ann <3

[link-posting]

Sand Seal Wipe Out

Hyrule looked down as he adjusted the harness around his waist, his eyes flicking nervously toward Wild. “Are you sure about this…?”

Wild let out a carefree laugh, patting Hyrule on the back as he clipped his harness to the leash of the sand seal in front of him. “Very sure! You’re going to love it,” he exclaimed confidently, sliding his boot into the strap of the shield he was using as a surfboard.

Hyrule quirked an eyebrow at Wild, looking apprehensive at best. Wild had that manic look in his eye he got before he tricked Hyrule into some dangerous (yet exhilarating) activity. He’d gone shield surfing once, but this wasn’t exactly the same thing. This time he was strapped to a beast that could swim through hot granules of rock hot enough to cause burns to the touch. One bad wipe out could turn out to be hell.

Despite his hesitance, he trusted Wild. He’d taken him on some amazing adventures, and no doubt this would be another one. Wild looked over at him, giving him a quick once-over to make sure he was clipped in right. “All set?” he asked, practically bouncing with excitement. Hyrule would be lying if he said it was anything other than infectious.

With a resigned sigh and a playful roll of his eyes, Hyrule stepped onto his shield. “Okay, I’m ready,” he said, bracing himself for what was to come.

Wild let out a loud whoop, and they were off. Hyrule let out a scream- terrified, at first, but quickly devolving into laughter. He held onto the rope attaching him to the sand seal, mostly for some sense of security as the beast pulled him along. He leaned to one side carefully, testing his ability to turn. He was still scared of wiping out, but he was starting to understand why Wild took him out on this ride.

Wild was having ten times more fun than Hyrule, and it showed. He had no apprehension or fear of sand surfing (or any other time, the Chain was convinced), so he had no reservations as he weaved through the sand, not bothering to hang on to the tether. Even if he overcorrected, Wild had taken enough sand to the face to know how to fall to minimize injuries. Sort of.

Hyrule was quick to let go of his initial nervousness. The longer the two raced through the Gerudo Desert the more comfortable he got on the shield. Soon enough he was zipping alongside Wild, laughing as the sun beat down on them, blindingly bright off the sand but so worth it. Wild had got him jewelry that would help resist the heat at least, but that didn’t help him when he nearly barreled straight into a Voltfruit Cactus. He yelped and overcorrected, getting flung off his shield and skidding through the sand.

“Rulie!” Wild yelled, quickly twisting on his own shield. He came up alongside him, pulling up in a way that allowed him to unclip his harness and jump off the shield, using the forward momentum to run up to his friend.

When he reached his friend’s side, he was surprised to see Rulie laying in the sand, laughing even as he sat up to shake sand from his hair. “I’m okay,” he said, waving his hand as Wild slid up beside him. “I might have a few scratches but I’m okay.”

Wild gave a relieved smile and held out his hand to help him up. “Good. You had me scared for a second. Eating sand can be pretty unpleasant,” he said, giving a little shudder of solidarity.

“Oh, it wasn’t pleasant. But I am okay,” he said, grinning and clapping a hand on Wild’s shoulder.

Wild chuckled and wrapped his arm around the Traveler. “I’m glad. Let’s get back to town, I’ll cook your favorite for dinner to get the taste of sand out of your mouth,” he laughed, ruffling Hyrule’s hand- causing the other to splutter as sand rained down into his face- including his mouth.

”You better throw some dessert onto that!” he said, sliding his foot back into the strap of his surf-shield.

”I would’ve thought you had enough of the desert!” Wild laughed, clipping himself back to his sand seal, letting out a whoop for it to take off as Hyrule let out a stream of threats and started chasing after him, the sun slowly setting behind them.

[ijustwanttoreadfanfiction]

Blue Crush

Billy Hargrove x AFAB! Reader

Reader: Nearly dies surfing. Billy: LOL do a flip.

The choke hold Blue Crush still has on me, if you haven't watched it, please do, but also know the only relevance it has to this story is surfing. In honour of Blue Crush, reader does have the surname Chadwick, I hope that doesn't throw anyone. Apologies to any actual surfers out there, I can barely swim 20 metres, and I didn't really fancy reaching out to my ex (who was a surfer) for notes. The vast majority of terms are courtesy of Surf's Up. 🌊

Warnings: Explicit language, explicit descriptions of sex, vaginal fingering, p in v sex, the smallest slightest smidgen of anal play, soft! Billy, rough! Billy.

_______________________________________________

Huntington Beach, California - August 1984.

It’s a beautiful day, the sky a perfect light cobalt blue, completely cloudless, only a gentle breeze and blissfully warm sunshine.

Your bare toes sink into the soft golden sand as you make your way across the beach, surfboard held firmly to your side, enjoying the heat of the sun on your skin. 

“Hey Chadwick, quit posing, we've got some waves to ride girlie!” Your friend Danny hails you from further up the beach, you flip him the bed with a laugh, hoisting your board up and running the rest of the way.

“How’s it looking out there?” You say, pulling your top over your head, a new bikini on display.

“Fucking clean, Hargrove has already carved up a couple of sets.” Danny says, pointing to the back of your friend Billy, who is bobbing up and down on his board a few meters out. You push down your shorts, tying your hair up into a hair ponytail, practically vibrating with excitement; the waves calling you.

“Race ya!” You shout to Danny, laughing as you sprint to the shore, wasting no time in paddling out, duck diving under the breaking waves, relishing being out in the water.

“Look who finally decided to show up.” Billy calls to you, broad smirk on his face, sat astride his board looking perfect as usual.

“What’s the matter, you miss me or something?” You ask playfully.

“Always babe.” He says, you splash water at him to hide your blush.

 Danny was right, the waves are clean, set after perfect set. The three of you, taking it, mostly, in turns, Billy sometimes pulling you onto his board to purposely bomb into a wave. 

“Big set! Fucking huge set! Look at that!” Danny shouts pointing at the rolling waves heading your way.

“I’m taking it.” You say with determination, already paddling.

“You sure Chadwick, that’s gonna be one hell of a peak.” Billy warns, looking at the incoming wall of water. 

You don’t answer, catching the lip, and dropping in with an exhilarated yell. It’s just as the barrel starts to curl you realize it’s a massive close out, both sides of the tube collapsing in. “Shit.” You breath out, before sucking in a massive breath, the heavy weight of the wave breaking directly over your head, smashing down on you. You feel yourself being pulled by the undertow, your leash dragging you with your board, 30 seconds that’s all, just hold your breath for 30 seconds you tell yourself. The surface comes into view, your head emerging with a gasp, you hear a vague shout turning to see another huge wave breaking, you duck dive again grabbing the rails. The water pummels you as though you’re in a washer, you feel your ankle get tugged harshly, knowing your board has just snapped in two. The panic starts to set in, lungs burning, ears popping, something grips you around the middle and you rocket to the surface once more.

“Atta girl! I got you.” Billy pants, hoisting you onto his board, you cough furiously sucking down air. “Let’s get you in.” He says roughly, paddling with you towards the shore.

You drop heavily onto your back in the sand, still breathing hard, heart hammering, slightly dizzy, ankle bleeding from where your leash strap cut in. 

“You alright?” Billy asks worriedly, dropping beside you, visually checking for other injuries.

“I’m good.” You croak, throat sore from the saltwater.

“I told you not to go for it Chadwick!” He says hotly.

“I didn’t know it was gonna collapse like that” You say defensively, sitting up, feeling your back spasm. 

“You should’ve ditched!” He shouts. “You could've been killed!” His eyes are burning with anger and something else, fear?

“I’m fine.” You spit, standing up so quickly your head spins, of course Billy catches you before you can faceplant the sand, his warm arms tight around your back.

“Easy, easy.” He says, you press your hands to his still damp chest steadying yourself, you can feel his heart pounding almost as fast as yours. “You gotta be careful babe, I can’t - I’m not gonna be there every time.” He murmurs softly, pushing a strand of loose hair behind your ear.

You all but melt into his touch, moving to wrap your arms around him, your face buried in his neck.

“Thanks for getting me out, Hargrove.” You mumble against his skin.

_______________________________________________

The sun is just starting to sink below the horizon, the beach mostly quiet aside from a few stragglers, waves lapping gently against the shore, almost lulling you to sleep. You’re sitting between Billy’s legs, back to his chest, his sweatshirt covering your upper body. He had only let you surf baby waves for the rest of the afternoon, and you were glad of it, muscles aching from your wipe-out.

“Alright you two, I’m gonna jet.” Danny says hauling his board out of the sand, casting a knowing smile at you both.

“Have a good night man.”

“See ya Danny.”

“You wanna make a move?” Billy asks you quietly, moving your salt waved hair off your shoulder, placing a small kiss on your lightly tanned skin. You smile at the affectionate gesture, most people mistook you for boyfriend and girlfriend, but you’ve always been this way with each other; neither of you getting much love at home. You often wonder why Billy has never asked you to be his girlfriend, or why you have never asked him to be your boyfriend (it is 1984 after all, not 1884). You guess part of you is worried about ruining your friendship, but the other part is just plain scared to explore your feelings for him.

“Yeah I guess we should go.” You say a little reluctantly, the evening was so perfect, the weather, the view, the person. You get up, brushing the sand from your legs with a big stretch, noticing the way Billy eyes your exposed navel as the jumper rides up.

“...Or we could get some burgers, chill out in the car for a bit?” He suggests, which you answer with a vigorous nod, grinning from ear to ear.

  You’re both perched atop the bonnet of Billy’s Camaro, laughing as he recounts the story of when Danny knocked three teeth out trying to impress a girl. 

“It was the way he was trying to pick them back up from the sand without her noticing!” Billy laughs around a mouthful of fries.

“He was whistling like that fucking Gopher from Winnie The Pooh for a month.” You giggle, tears streaming down your face, sides hurting. Your laughter dies down slowly, Billy still intermittently chuckling, you look at him, the way his eyes crinkle when he smiles.

“I’m gonna miss this.” You say softly, sadness creeping into your voice.

“Babe, we agreed we weren’t going to talk about it.” Billy huffs, dropping his new handful of fries back into the container in exasperation. 

“No, you said you didn’t want to talk about it, I never agreed.” You mutter pedantically. “We have to talk about it, you’re moving to the other side of the country Billy!”

“Yeah I know I am, so stop fucking reminding me about it!” He snaps. 

You glare at him hoisting yourself off the bonnet, and throwing yourself in the back seat of the car, slamming the door for good measure.

“Did you seriously just throw a hissy fit by getting into my car?” He calls and you can hear the teasing tone of his voice.

“Piss off.” You grumble petulantly, kicking the front passenger seat for good measure with your bare foot, knowing the print would irritate him. The car rocks a little as he also gets off the bonnet, climbing in next to you with a heavy sigh.

"Hey."

"Hey."

“I’m sorry for shouting, Chadwick.” 

“I’m sorry for making you shout, Hargrove.” You mumble back with a small smile, he grabs you, bringing you in close and pretending to give you a noogie. You give his arm an immature lick in response, which sets you both into a mock wrestle, Billy successfully pining you in the cramped back seat, both breathing heavily. 

Without giving it much thought, you reach up and bring his lips to yours, you feel his neck tighten for the smallest second before he is on you kissing you with an intensity that has you gasping into his mouth.

Your nose is filled with the heady scent of salt, sunscreen and Aramis, it’s pure Billy and it makes your head spin, his hands grip your hips whilst you tangle yours in his curly hair.

“Fucking hell babe, where has this come from?” He asks in a low gravelly voice that has your thighs clenching. 

“Figured might as well shoot my shot, seeing as you won’t be around much longer.” You say breathlessly. Rather than respond, Billy kisses you hard again, teeth nipping at your bottom lip, tugging on the hem of his sweatshirt which still covers your body. 

“Off, now.” He commands roughly, sitting back to give you space, you haul the clothing over your head, slipping your bikini top off with it, nipples pebbling instantly. You see Billy’s eyes darken, strong hands gripping you tight pulling you over to straddle his lap, grinding you down onto his hard length, your skimpy bikini bottoms and his boardshorts are the only things separating you.

“Do you really want this?” Billy asks you, his chest heaving, hands running up and down your back. You nod, leaning in for another kiss but he pulls back. “Say it, say you want it.”

“I want this. Want you.” You whisper, tongue licking up his neck, tasting the salt, skin still warm from the sun.

He growls, pulling the tie-string on your bikini bottoms, balling up the fabric and tossing it into the front of the car, his fingers running roughly through your slick folds.

“Fuck, you’re so soft and wet.” He groans, latching his mouth on your breast, sucking hard on the nipple drawing a yelp from you.

“Billy.” You moan, feeling two of his fingers sink into your tight heat.

“Ride my fingers surfer girl.” He grins boyishly, landing a slap to your ass. “C’mon, give me a show.” You use his shoulders for leverage, fucking down onto his fingers, pussy working around the scissoring digits. “That’s it, babe. You’re so fucking tight, how am I gonna stuff my cock in there huh?” 

You’re a whimpering mess already, head rolled back, undulating on his hand, feeling your stomach tighten. 

“Ah! Billy I’m gonna - what the fuck Hargrove?” You hiss furiously, Billy having withdrawn his fingers at the last second.

“If you’re gonna cum, it’s going to be on my cock, understand?” He says hotly, yanking his shorts down, he spits into his hand fucking his fist, plundering your mouth with his tongue again. 

“Billy, please.” You plead softly, cunt feeling empty and deprived of release. 

He angles the thick head at your opening, the spit barely easing the sting as your pussy struggles with his size.

“Oh holy shit!” You whine, nails and teeth biting into his skin.

“Come on babe, you talk a big game, I know you can take it.” He huffs through gritted teeth, hands on your hips making you sink lower, taking inch after inch. You reach down and circle your clit with shaking fingers, feeling impossibly full. “That’s it, good girl, all the way down.” Billy coaxes, balls finally flush to your ass.

You’re both still for a moment, your legs quivering, pussy clamping tight around the welcome intrusion, Billy breathing hotly against your skin. You groan in unison when you start to move, sinful wet slaps filling the car, windows fogging with the force of your efforts. Billy holds you tight around your middle, hips piston his cock harder and deeper with each thrust, you’re wetter than you’ve ever been before, you can feel it gathering on his pubic hair, sliding down your ass. 

“So good, fuck!” You yelp, tits bouncing, body shaking, fingers playing with your swollen clit.

Billy grabs a handful of your ass, working you thoroughly over his dick, a single fingertip circling your tightest hole barely pressing in but it’s enough to send you hurtling over the edge.

“Fuck your cunt is so tight!” Billy growls, head thrown back against the headrest, cock pulsing deep within you, riding his orgasm out with deep spearing thrusts.

You’re both breathing heavily, tongues sliding together messily, little whimpers still escaping you, Billy’s fingers working knots out of your shoulders.

“When is it you’re moving away again Hargrove?” You ask quietly.

“October,” He asks shortly “why?”

“Good, so we can do this more than once.” You say with a teasing smile.

“I like the way you think Chadwick.” He grins.

_______________________________________________

Tagged: @bettyfrommars @rebelfell

[harringtonstilinski]

Always The Babysitter - Chapter Twenty-Four: The Bite

Author: @harringtonstilinski​ Characters: Steve Harrington x Olivia Henderson(OC) Word Count: 3,200 Warnings: angst, mention of el's leg, not-so-bathroom scene with steve & robin (you'll see what i mean, lol) Smut: no | yes; A/N: Hi, friends! The gang's back together!! If you like this chapter, please do not hesitate to reblog and give some feedback, whether it be in the reblogs, comments, or my inbox. As always, read at your own risk and enjoy 😊

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Somehow, we got Robin and Steve in the back of the cart, Dustin and Erica sitting up front while I drove. I guess I hit a turn too sharply because I heard Steve slur, “Jesus, babe, slow down.”

“Do you want to make it out of here alive or not?” I asked.

“What is this, like, the Indy 500?” Robin slurred.

I guess we’re gonna be hearing them slur from here on out.

“It’s the Indy 300,” Steve said.

“No, dingus, it’s 500,” Robin corrected.

“It’s 300!”

“Let’s say… a million.”

They both started laughing as I quickly closed my eyes with a sigh. Guess I was going to have to use some tactics on them like I did with Steve when he smoked.

“What is wrong with them?” Erica asked.

“I don’t know,” Dustin said.

“Best to say they were drugged with some… kind of drug,” I said, looking at my brother and Erica. “Fuck, I don’t know! I just want to get the hell out of here!”

“Olivia, watch out!” Erica said.

I looked in front of me, screaming as I hit the brake while crashing into some metal barrels. Hearing groans coming from Steve and Robin behind me, I turned my head a little and asked, “You guys alright back there?”

All I received were groans in response. Turning back to Erica and Dustin, I frowned and said, “They’ll be fine,” before getting out of the vehicle. 

Erica, my brother and I rushed to the back, opening the back door, seeing Steve and Robin sitting against the grate. 

“Come on, let’s go,” I said, Erica and Dustin joining me in urging the two other teens out of the back of this thing.

Pulling Steve out first, I said to Dustin, “Take that keycard and unlock the elevator. See if it works.”

“Here goes nothing,” he said, a few seconds later.

“This sucks!” Steve said. 

“Yeah, well, you got drugged,” I said, putting his arm over my shoulders, struggling to keep him up. “God, how do I do this when you’re drunk?”

“You’re normally drunk with me,” he said, booping my nose.

Swatting his hand away, I muttered, “Stop that,” as I walked him inside the elevator. Once we got inside, I set Steve up on a table, urging the other three inside.

Dustin hit the button to go up, and I guess Robin and Steve decided it would be fun to surf on a rolling pallet.

“Hey! You look like you’re-” Robin started, Steve saying, “Surfing!” with her.

Erica tapped me on the shoulder, saying, “They seem drunk.”

“Why would they be drunk?” Dustin said.

“No, they’re not drunk,” I said, arms crossed over my chest.

“I’m a natural,” Steve said. “Babe, check this out!”

Robin pulled the pallet away from him, holding her hands out while chuckling, “Wipeout!”

They were both laughing while I bent down next to Steve, Dustin following my lead and putting his hand on Steve’s forehead before saying, “He’s burning up.”

“You’re burning up,” Steve retorted.

“Oh, my god,” I said. “Steve, shut up.”

“Check his eyes,” Dustin said. 

Sighing, I said, “I don’t need to check his eyes.”

“Why? His pupils are super dilated. Even I can see that from here.”

“Yeah, I saw his eyes after I cut the bonds, dumbass! Besides… they’re drugged.”

Steve put his fingertip to my nose, saying, “Boop.”

“Don’t boop my nose,” I said.

“Steve, are you drugged?” Dustin asked.

“How many times, Dad? I don’t do drugs. It’s only marijuana,” Steve said.

“Baby, this isn’t funny, okay,” I said. “We need to know what they did to you. I need to know if you’re going to die on me.”

Reaching up with his finger again, Steve booped my nose, laughing. 

“We all die, my awesome teenage friend,” Robin said. “It’s just a matter of how… and when.”

Looking from Robin back to Steve, I asked, “Where did you park your car? Because they’re going to be looking for us up there, and I don’t really feel like dying at 19, okay?”

“We’re 19?” Steve asked.

“Oh, for the love of god,” I breathed, dropping my chin to meet my chest.

“Can we make a pit stop at the food court?” Steve asked.

“I would kill for a hotdog on a stick,” Robin said.

“Ooh!” Steve uttered.

Picking my head up, I exclaimed, “Yes, we can make a freaking pit stop! But only if you tell me where your car is parked, high off his ass boyfriend of mine!”

“Uh-oh!”

“Uh-oh?” Dustin and I asked.

“The car’s off the board.”

“What?”

“They took the keys. The Russians, they took the keys,” Steve said, turning out his pockets. “Like, forever ago.”

I sighed, exasperatedly, while hanging my head again, Robin and Steve both laughing. Smiling at me, Steve said, “That’s a bummer, right?”

~~~

When the elevator made it back to its top stop and the door opened, we all piled out, the two high off their asses Scoops employees enjoying the outside air… while trying to eat it. 

“Steve, can you taste the air?” Robin asked.

“I taste it! I taste it!” he answered.

“Shit,” I said, spotting two more guards coming through a gate in front of us. Turning around, I ran for Steve, grabbing his hand while saying, “Come on!” and heading for the pair of doors to our left.

“Why are we running?” he asked, Robin laughing while Dustin and Erica ushered her in before they, too, were inside the back of the mall.

“Where are we going?” someone asked.

“Just trust me!” I said, spotting a door at the end of the hall. I stuck my head out, seeing we were in the theater part of the mall, pulling Steve in the hallway while gesturing for Dustin, Erica and Robin to follow, turning to my first left.

Steve grabbed a bag of discarded popcorn on our way in, Back to the Future playing on the screen.

“What did I tell you? 88 miles per hour!”

I groaned quietly, and turned towards Steve. “I wanna see this movie so bad! You’re bringing me when all this is over.”

“Come on,” Dustin said, leading us all down the aisle to two empty seats, where we sat Steve and Robin.

“For the love of god, don’t move,” I said.

“These seats blow,” Steve said.

“Then don’t watch it.”

“We wanna watch it,” Robin said.

“Then watch it!” Dustin said.

Some guy shushed us, so I shushed him right back.

“Sorry.”

“Whatever you do, do. not. move,” I repeated.

“Fine, mom,” Steve said.

I shook my head, moving down the front aisle to sit an empty seat. Dustin sat on the floor in front of me, Erica beside me. Tapping Dustin on the shoulder, I said, “Remind me to never have kids.”

“Not even with Steve?” he asked.

I thought about it for a moment before I leaned back in my seat. “This is so not how I wanted to watch this movie with Steve.”

“What are we doing here?” Erica asked, leaning closer to me.

“Laying low,” I said. “Cooling down.”

“Like Oswald,” Dustin added.

“Oswald was found dead in a theater and shot to death,” Erica said.

“Yeah,” I said. “A week later.”

“The point is, his plan didn’t work.”

“He was set up.”

“What?”

“He was just a patsy,” Dustin said.

“Tell me he’s joking,” Erica said.

“Shh!” 

“You shh!” Looking around, Erica said, “We need to get out of here.”

“Alright, Dusty, you watch Tweedledee and Tweedledum,” I said. “Make sure they don’t move.”

“Where are you two going?” Dustin asked.

“To find us a ride.”

“You sit, I’ll go,” he said, getting up and taking the walkie from Erica’s bag and walking off.

I looked down at Steve and Robin, the former munching on the popcorn. Michael J. Fox’s voice brought my eyes back to the screen. 

“Are you telling me you built a time machine… out of a DeLorean?”

~~~

A few minutes later, Dustin came back asking about Double A batteries. “Oh, my god,” I muttered. “What did we tell you about the batteries?”

“I guess we’ll have to go to Plan B.”

“What’s Plan B?” I asked.

“Liv.”

I looked down at Dustin, seeing him looking at Robin and Steve… who weren’t in their seats. “Where… are… they?”

“Shit,” I whispered, getting up from my seat, hearing their footsteps behind me. Once we reached the mall, I turned to them both and said, “We’re splitting up. I’ll check the bathrooms, you two check the food court.”

I didn’t wait for an answer as I ran towards the bathrooms, checking every single one before I stopped my hands from pushing open the ones we were standing by the entire time, hearing their voices.

“Have you ever been in love?” Robin asked.

“Yep. Twice,” Steve said.

“Who was the first?” 

“Nancy Wheeler,” he said. I closed my eyes, willing the tears to not make an appearance as he said, “First semester, Senior year.”

“Oh, my god. She’s such a priss.”

“Turns out, not really.” A single tear fell from my waterline as he slightly defended her.

“Are you still in love with Nancy?” 

“No.” “Why not?”

“Because I found someone better for me. Since Dustin’s been home, he’s been saying, you’ve found your Suzie, you’ve found your Suzie.”

“Wait, who’s Suzie?” Robin asked.

“Liv’s told me a little bit about her. It’s some girl from camp, I guess his girlfriend. To be honest with you, I’m not 100% sure she’s even real. But that’s not– that’s not really the point.”

“Who’s the second?”

It was silent for a moment before Steve said, “Olivia Frances Henderson. She’s amazing… been there for me since day one, knows all my secrets, knows how my homelife really is. There isn’t a single thing that she doesn’t know. Well, she doesn’t know one, but she will. Soon I hope. Once I became King of Hawkins High, we kind of… drifted apart for a while, but once we came back to each other, it was like… we never drifted. She was even there for me when Nancy broke up with me. She’s never once left my side since we… drifted back, I guess. 

“She hated my friends, but endured their presence for me. Especially Tommy H. and Carol. Liv always wanted to punch her in the face. I remember her being so excited for me when I was announced prom king, but flabbergasted when she won queen. She didn’t even want it.”

I smiled when Robin said, “Really?”

“Yeah,” Steve chuckled. “She hated being in the spotlight like that. Even when we walked the halls after…” He paused, not wanting to reveal the night he and I got together. He cleared his throat. “After Nance and I broke up. Liv and I were pretty quick to get together, but I think most people expected it because no one really talked about it. She’s always careful to say the word bullshit around me because of Nancy. 

“I never once compared her to Nance, not once. Liv’s everything she isn’t. Liv’s… been respectful these last eight months, she hasn’t rushed anything and we actually talk about things. It’s nice for a change. Like, I’m so in love with her, it’s ridiculous. I can see a future with her.

“And she’s freaking hilarious, always dropping dad jokes, saying the most random shit while we’re sitting in silence and it’s uncomfortable for her. I’ve laughed with her more than I have anyone else, besides you, of course. Liv’s way smarter than me, too. She used to help me with my homework. Because of her, I know what a hivemind is. She’s not anyone I’ve ever met before.”

I was full on silently sobbing at his words at this point. I didn’t know he felt that way. I mean, I felt the same way, but I wasn’t about to burst into the bathroom and tell him that. That was for a more intimate moment that I was dying to share with him.

Stepping back into the mall, I wiped my eyes, a smile on my face as I did so. Once this was all over, I was going to share that moment with Steve. I’ve been with one other guy, but it was only because of a stupid bet he had going with his buddies. Happened Sophomore year.

I turned around to make my way to the right when I crashed into a body that belonged to my little brother. 

Putting his hands on my shoulders, he asked, “Hey, you okay? Did you find Steve?”

Sniffling, I decided to lie to him. “No. I–I didn’t find them.”

Dustin went around me to the bathroom door, hearing Robin and Steve laughing about something. He, Erica and myself walked into the bathroom before Dustin said, “Okay. What the hell?”

“Damn, you sound like a parent,” I said. I went to the mirror to check my mascara, thanking the makeup gods that it didn’t smear. Seeing Steve approach behind me in the mirror, I smiled, turning to face him. Putting my arms around his neck, I breathed in deeply, feeling his arms go around my waist. “I love you,” I whispered.

“I love you, too,” he whispered back, leaning in to press his lips to mine in a sweet, loving kiss. 

“Hey, love birds!” Dustin said, breaking us apart. “You can suck face later. Right now, we have to blend in.” I rolled my eyes as he went to the door, slowly opening it, the four of us standing behind him before the five of us looked out of the door. “Okay. And… blend.”

We all walked out into the mall, Steve and I hand in hand, doing our best to blend in with the crowds that just came out of the theaters. 

“Well, shit that worked,” Erica said.

“ ‘Course it worked,” Dustin said. I could hear the smile on his face. “Now, we just have to get on the bus with the rest of these plebes, and home sweet home, here we come.”

“Uh, Hendersons?” Steve said.

“What?” Dustin and I said.

“Yeah, we might not wanna go to your house.”

Looking at Steve's profile, I asked, “What the hell did you do?”

“Well, I might’ve told them both of your full names.”

“What is wrong with you?” Dustin whisper-yelled.

“Dude, I was drugged.”

“So?”

“So?”

“Babe, you were supposed to resist,” I groaned.

“You tough it out,” Dustin said. “You tough it out like a man.”

“Oh, yeah, it’s easy for you to say,” Steve said. 

“You two fight like siblings,” I breathed.

“Guys?” Robin said after we rounded a corner, stopping us from walking any further.

We saw two Russian men talking with some people from the crowd, one of them looking in our direction. 

“Abort,” Dustin said, reaching back to grab my hand, the other man looking in our direction as well. “Abort. Abort.” We turned and started running back the way we came to the escalators, but they had that velvet thing in front of them, blocking anyone from using them.

“Shit,” I said. “Slide down the middle.”

Robin went first, then Erica, Dustin, myself and Steve at the end. Running toward Great Cookie, none of us stopped until we were all over the counter, hiding behind it. I tried quieting my breaths as I heard multiple guards, one of them saying something that I couldn’t understand.

It was quiet for about 15 or 30 seconds before we all jumped at the sound of the car alarm going off.  “Sweet shit,” I whispered, hearing the sound of the car crashing afterward.

Turning around, I placed my hands on the counter, pulling myself up and peaking over, seeing all the Russians dead on the floor, the hubcap spinning around until it ultimately stopped before we looked at where the car landed, the underside facing us.

Wanting to see how the car ended that way, I turned my head to the left, looking up and seeing El. Mike, Lucas, Max, Will, Nancy and Jonathan showing up behind her a few moments later.

“Fuck yes,” I whispered, a smile on a my face. 

Leaping over the counter of Great Cookie, I made my way towards their group, immediately going to hug El as Dustin said, “You flung that thing like a Hot Wheel!”

Embracing El, I let my tears flow, happy to see her. “I’m so happy to see you!” I voiced. Pulling back, I smiled at her before wiping the blood from her nose, wiping it on my shorts. “That was awesome, El! I know that took a lot from you.”

Chuckling, she said, “It did. I’m happy to see you, too.”

“Ask them, it’s their fault,” Erica said, sassy as ever.

“Oh, yeah, blame it on us,” I said, keeping one arm on El, but turning to face Erica, the now twelve of us in a circle.

“It’s absolutely our fault,” Steve said.

“I don’t understand what happened to that car,” Robin said.

“El flung it with her mind,” I said, duh tone to my voice. “She has superpowers.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Superpowers,” Steve said. “She threw it with her mind. C’mon, catch up.”

“Basically what I just said,” I retorted. “And how long did it take for me to explain El to you last year?”

“That’s El?” Erica asked.

“Who’s El?” Robin asked.

“I’m sorry,” Nancy said. “Who are you?”

“No need to get snippy, Nance.” Me.

“I’m Robin, I work with Steve.” Robin.

“She cracked the top secret code.” Dustin.

“Which is how we found out about the Russians.” Steve.

“Russians?” Jonathan asked. “What Russians?”

Pointing behind us, I exclaimed, “The Russians!”

“Some of them,” Erica said.

“What are you talking about?” Lucas asked.

“Didn’t you hear our code red?” Dustin asked.

“Yeah.” Mike. “But I couldn’t understand half of what you were saying.”

“Goddamn low battery.”

“How many times do Liv and I have to tell you with the low battery?” Steve exclaimed.

“Yeah, well everything worked out, didn’t it?”

“We almost freaking died!” I exclaimed, feeling El move away from me.

“Yeah, but we didn’t.”

“But we almost did! It was pretty damn close.”

“Okay, Russians?” Lucas asked. “As in, they’re working for the Russian government?”

“What is it that you’re not comprehending?” Dustin asked.

“Is he not speaking English?” I asked.

“We have a full-blown Red Dawn situation.”

“So this has nothing to do with the gate?” Max asked.

“It’s got everything to do with the gate…,” I said, looking behind me at Eleven on the ground. “Holy shit.”

Mike was the first to jump into action, running to her and kneeling down by her side. 

“What’s wrong with her?” Erica asked.

“What’s wrong?” Mike asked, looking down at El.

“My leg, my leg,” El whimpered.

“Her leg, her leg, okay,” Jonathan said, taking the wrapped bandage from her leg.

Once her leg was visible, we all voiced our disgusts, tears springing to my eyes at seeing her leg looking like it was severely infected and… moving on the inside? It looked almost like a worm moving inside.

El screamed, and a tear slid down my cheek.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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~~~

A/N 2:  hi, friends! pls be kind and reblog! it really helps us content creators out <3

Additional Note: y'all ain't ready for next weeks chapter 😏

~~~

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Steve Harrington Taglist: @madaboutjoe

If you’re tagged and didn’t want to be, please let me know.

~~~

*Please don’t post my writing anywhere else without my consent. The author of this work will always and forever be @harringtonstilinski​.

All characters, story lines, and plot aside from y/n and her storyline & plot, are all of the work of The Duffer Brothers.

*These works contain material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited.

No part of these works may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.

Posted on April 9, 2024

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Mine Cart

Debut: Donkey Kong Country

What an important and influential box on wheels this is! It feels like everyone and their symbiotic Demodex mites have been putting mine cart levels in their games forever! We take them for granted like the air we breathe and also like the other stuff. It’s good we get to experience mine carts so much through games, since today’s youth and even today’s old people would rather use a SHOPPING CART and that is what is wrong with the modern world

Sorry. I fed the beginning of this post to the goats. I do not actually want to talk about the whole history of Mine Cart. Please just pretend I have just finished discussing all the appearances of Mine Cart between 1994 and 2010. Thank you.

Name: THIS Mine Cart

Debut: Donkey Kong Country Returns

Finally, in 2010, the Mine Cart was perfected! You can tell because it has a face now. The headlights are its eyes, and the grill is its toothy smile! It’s so happy! Happy to have a face. Now that the mine carts are little guys, I bet they have so much fun zooming along the tracks!

Mine Carts appear quite commonly in Cave levels, where they are seen often being ridden by mischievous mining moles! What rascally rodents! (moles are not rodents)

Upon being hypnotized by the Tikis, the Mole Miners fill the mine carts with copious amounts of bananas and- hey! HEY! These are different mine carts! What happened to my beloved gray grinner? The easy answer is “this is a different kind of cart made to be interlocked with others to form a train and we see this happen in the game”. But there is a better answer! In this game especially, bananas are shown to have magical properties, transforming empty wooden husks into real living Bad Guys. These bananas are, I assume, being transported to the factory for this very reason. But maybe these are the original mine carts! Maybe some of them, upon being full of bananas just right, spontaneously transformed into the happy, joyful vessel I am so convinced has feelings. Are you going to argue against that, in the world of this Magic Bananas Game? Punk?

Looks like THIS Mine Cart has struck it rich! It found and mined these crystals itself, fair and square. Good job! What’s it going to buy? None of our business! What is our business is that Donkey Kong cannot ride IN this one, but rather, surfs on top of it!

Honestly, what really made me so attached to Mine Cart like this was Tropical Freeze, where it has its own collectible figure! This was the first time I got to actually see its darling face, and to top it all off, it’s in the Kong Family section of the figure list! Mine Cart is part of the family! Back with 64 they seemed like they were stretching it by considering an orangutan part of the family, and here we are, with a Vehicle as part of the gang. It’s really quite nice, how it seems to imply that to the Kongs, as long as you help each other, you’re basically family!

Rocket Barrel is also part of the family. Rocket Barrel was in the Super Mario Bros. Movie! Mine Cart was not. But that is ok!

Mine Cart, this very Mine Cart with the darling face, is, as far as we know, planned to be the star of the mine cart roller coaster coming to Super Nintendo World! The one that’s supposed to feel like you are really jumping off of the track! I have been seeing a lot of excitement over the potential thrills, and I agree that it sounds really cool and fun! And best of all? All that fun and excitement, courtesy of my friend, DKCR Mine Cart. Everyone hyped for this roller coaster is, knowingly or not, hyped about Mine Cart (”character”)!

This is a Weird Mario Entity that is becoming real, and has quite a lot of hype about its introduction to reality. Just think about that. Isn’t the world beautiful?

[ya-boi-haru]

Rewatching Treasure Planet for the 1000 time so here are my brain brrr thoughts/ things i noticed...

• During the opening scene where Jim is freely Solar Surfing the area, the music that plays over it comes back again in different tones: when they take off from the spaceport, when escaping the supernova and when Jim saves them from the planets destruction and that's pretty poetic

• I was thinking "why are they the only humans" but then why is anyone one species. I dont think you see 2 of the same species around. It also makes sence since they own/work at an Inn and the movie takes place on other alien planets

• Amelia from the start clearly states she doesn't like the crew Delbert hired, yet she doesn't push for him to hire a new crew or anything. She maybe be the captain and a really good one, but in a way (despite what Delbert says) she does know who she's working for

• Amelia and Arrows' whole dynamic. "I said something rather good before coffee" (- Amliea) they're besties

• Doplers bulky suit runs on 3 AA type batteries 😂

• When Silver said to Jim "I have two new friends I'd like you to meet" before he revealed it was a joke to do chores, Jim looked genuinely interested in new people to meet. He's finally on a spacing adventure that is based on his favourite legend since childhood and he gets back to doing more things he was doing at the Benbow, so I think his disappointment is some what valid

• Silvers crew either severely sucked up and faked their resumes and/or took out any competition to get that job, which is why they got the job and not a better crew

• Jim built his first Solar Sufer when he was 8 and probably did it as a way to be closer to his dad (I think he was still around at that age)

• In the flashback of his dad leaving, Jim woke up startled and worried. It then cuts to his dad already walking away then his mother crying at the table, so they probably had a massive fight as he was leaving which woke Jim up. They probably fought a bit before hand as well

• Morph turned into a wrench to help Silver, so Morph can hold the weight/strength of things he shapeshifts into

• Its been pointed out that Jim's cloths are a symbolism of his development. He starts with a black shirt and jacket then a tan shirt and black jacket and by the end its just the tan shirt.

He gets the tan shirt and black jacket when they start the voyage, but loses the jacket part way through the "I'm still here" sequence. He wears it again after Arrows death then loses it again when Silvers true intentions are revealed to him.

• Jim and Silver did fasten their lifelines after being told to - during the supernova - but they had to undo them to get the sail at the front of the ship. So if Jim hadn't caught Silver when he fell, even his lifeline would t have helped him

• When bracing themselves for the last Migella in the Supernova, Silver holds Jim and the pole, looking down to make sure he's ok

• At the start of the movie Jim uses a Purp to sus out Silver, and its the same Purp barrel Jim is hiding in when he overhears what Silver says to the crew

- Jim using the purps to try and hint that he's onto Silver vs Scroop using the purp to emphasise that Silvers gone soft

• Treasure Planet was using drabooln currency before tiktok deemed it cool

• The parallels in Arrows and Scroops deaths.

Bonus cause:

Scroop: Do say hello to Mr Arrow

Jim: Tell him yourself!

• When trying to find the gate, the crew threaten to kill Jim but Silver looks worried. When he says "I suggest you get the gizmo going again and fast!" It was more a warning, cause he looks scared for Jim when they prepare to attack him...

• B.E.Ns eyes going from green to blue I think is a little clever bit of symbolism. They started green which was the colour of Treasure Planet (map, portal etc) and then when he got his memory circut back and could help them get out, they changed to blue

• Morph, Morphs into things around him, which is why he copies what people say, he's Morphing/copies their words

• When Silver is saying goodbye to Jim he smiles up at him, showing his non cyborg side

Hope you enjoyed, feel free to tell me your thoughts on this movie, that I feel normal about

[trashbag-baby666]

Out of Control-Clegan

Shoreline Redemption au

Summary: Gales hospital stay after the attack. Prequel to this!

WC: 8,400

C/W: Hurt/Comfort, mentions and themes of a shark attack.

mota masterlist! | ao3 link

Everything felt like a perfect dream state, one moment he'd be slightly crouched going through a barreled wave. On the other end he could see John smiling and cheering for him. Another moment it'd change over and he'd have his head in John's lap. Sand in his hair and Meatballs head on his stomach. He'd hear the angelic sounds of, "I love you." and "Gorgeous, gorgeous, boy." as John would pepper his face in kisses. 

The insistent beeping of the heart monitor and the compress of the blood pressure cuff had other plans. He felt John's voice growing more distant and he seemed to move backward in the barreled wave. John grew smaller and smaller till Gale's eyes flicked open, but in reality barely cracked and his eyelids hung low. His breathing pattern changed, alerting John from where he gazed down at Gale's hand in his own. 

He couldn't remember what happened but he knew where he was, he dug deep in his brain for the answers. He remembered being squashed into Curt's truck on the way to the cove, he remembered the surfing, he remembered the locked pressure on his left shoulder...He lazily pulled his hand from Johns and slung it over himself feeling for his other arm and then his shoulder. His eyes now really opened as he looked at the bulky bandages around his chest and over his shoulder where his arm should've been. 

"Gale, don't—" John started, but Gale had already touched the bandages, realizing the reality of his loss.

He closed his eyes again. He let his right hand fall back into his lap feeling the hot tears pinch through and wet his eyelashes. He couldn't form any words or make sense of John's voice as the other took his hand again. Why? Why him? 

He squeezed his eyes shut turning his head away from John and let his tears soak the uncomfortable, stiff pillow. It didn't take long for a nurse to come in and run some more morphine through his IV essentially knocking him back out.

Unfortunately, Gale knew what he was waking up to this time around. The dream wasn't pleasant like the last one, he had been out with John when he was tossed from his board by the roughing waves. When he came up to the surface the sunny day had turned into a dark, gray stormy day. He pulled himself back up onto his board and he looked around. He was now in the open ocean with the shore or John nowhere in sight. His heart began to pound at his chest, only worsening as he saw a bolt of lightning and heard a roll of thunder. 

He looked around for any chance of land and began paddling in what he was sure was back towards shore. But it seemed like he wasn't making any progress and he kept growing more and more fatigued. Through the fog he could begin to make out something floating in the water. As he got within a yard of it his heart dropped and his breath caught in his throat. It was a body...but it was John...he could never mistake those curls and those obnoxious bright yellow banana swim trunks. He stopped next to him and tried to pull him onto his board, complete dead weight. As a wave rolled in it flipped John's body over and he was locked with the sight of his blue, waterlogged skin and the haunting stare of his white, cloudy, and haunting eyes.

He let out a small shriek as he sat forward in the hospital bed, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. The room dark except for the sliver of light from the window on the door. John had fallen asleep sometime earlier in the uncomfortable chair at Gales bedside. His shrieks pulling him from his rest, he was up in an instant gently laying Gale back against the pillows, "Hey, hey, I'm right here, Buck." John sat at the edge of his bed rubbing Gales back till his breathing steadied. 

"Do you want me to get a nurse?" John kept his voice below a whisper, his other hand tangled in Gale's. The blonde shook his head and gently nuzzled himself into John's neck. He kissed the top of Gale's head and held him close. 

—---------

The second day was somehow worse than the last. He was the slightest bit more coherent, the drugs still making him feel a little clouded in the brain. John had still been there in the morning, but he left to go get some shitty hospital coffee once Granddad and their neighbor, who had practically become Gale's mother figure, Nalani, arrived.

"Morning," Gale put on a smile for them as they came into the room, Nalani dawning another bouquet of plumeria. He hadn't been here a full two days and his room was stacked with flowers, cards, and balloons. Pretty much everyone knew the Clevens on the island because of his granddad's surf shop, then Gale's surfing success.

"Aloha kakahiaka, how are you feeling?" Nalani asked softly, placing the bouquet on the windowsill. Her eyes were full of concern, her presence calming and maternal.

"Like I got hit by a truck," Gale tried to joke, but his voice cracked, betraying his pain. "Thanks for coming."

"Of course, sweetheart. We're all here for you," she said, sitting on the chair next to his bed.

Terry stood at the foot of the bed, his expression stoic but his eyes betraying his worry. "You're a tough kid. You'll get through this."

"Thanks, Granddad," Gale said, trying to muster more strength in his voice.

John returned with the coffee, handing a cup to Terry and one to Nalani. He sat back down beside Gale, his presence a constant source of comfort. Gale leaned into him, closing his eyes and taking in the familiar scent of the ocean that clung to John's clothes.

 Nalani patted Gale's thigh gently. "You've got a lot of people who love you, Gale. And we're all here to help."

“I brought the paper, thought you’d wanna see this.” Terry pulled The Honolulu Star-Advertiser from his back pocket handing the folded newspaper to John. Gale leaned into John’s shoulder further to see a picture of him and John from last summer's under 18 surf championships after he had scored a perfect heat 20 and brought home a gold on the front page. In big black, bold letters it read: Local Champion Surfer Saved From Shark By Bestfriend.

The two both skimmed the article, Gale's eyebrows pinching into a furrow.

He didn't know how he felt about his business just being aired out. "Oh," Gale mumbled, leaning his head against John's shoulder, starting to feel a little more out of it again. He closed his eyes for a moment, taking in the steady pace of the heart monitor and the subtle beeping.

John's grip tightened on the paper, his jaw clenched. "'Best friend'? Really? That's what they call me? I saved your life, but they can't even call me your boyfriend. What a fuckin’ joke," he spat out, anger lacing his words.

Gale barely registered the comment, his mind foggy from the pain and medication. "Why do they have to air out my business like this?" he mumbled, more to himself than anyone else.

John sighed, his anger momentarily softened by Gale's evident exhaustion and distress. "Don't worry about it, Buck. They don't know anything," he said, kissing Gale's temple gently. "Just focus on getting better."

Gale nodded weakly, his eyes fluttering shut again, while John fumed silently, wishing the world could see their relationship for what it truly was. 

It didn’t take long before Gale fell back asleep, his body slumped against John’s. 

John had his arm around Gale kissing his head every once in a while to send him good dreams. He sat in silence with the other two, they watched over him together. 

—---------

The thunder rolled from the remnants of the recent storms, thick raindrops pattering against the grand picture window overlooking the bay. The house, tucked away from the rest of the neighborhood, felt like a fortress of solitude. Ken sat with his knees pulled to his chest, chin resting on them, his eyes fixated on the aggressive waves crashing against the cliffs.

Curt entered the open den with a cup of tea, its steam curling in the cool, damp air. Ken unfolded himself slightly, taking the cup and blowing on it. He knew what Curt would say today, just as he had before: You know Buck wants you there. The thought nagged at the back of his mind, refusing to leave.

“How’re ya feelin’, Kenny?” Curt asked, pressing a kiss to the top of Ken's head before sitting next to him.

Ken shrugged, unable to articulate the swirling emotions inside. His mind kept spiraling into dark what-ifs. What if Gale had bled out on the beach? What if he hadn’t made it to the hospital?

“Kenny?” Curt’s hand on his shoulder startled him, nearly sky rocketing him off the plush sofa.

“I’m sorry.” Ken set his tea down and shook his head, burying his face in his hands. A sob escaped, probably the five hundredth since the attack. He stepped away from where Curt now stood, tears streaming down his face.

“Hey, hey, sweet boy. You have nothing to be sorry about.” Curt’s voice was gentle as he rubbed Ken's back. “Talk to me, baby?”

Ken just shrugged, nestling into Curt’s side. “You think he’s mad at me?”

“Who? Gale?” Curt stroked Ken’s curls, pulling them back from his face. Ken nodded silently, the guilt gnawing at him.

“No, I promise you he isn’t mad.” Curt kissed the top of Ken’s head. He had visited Gale just a half-hour earlier; Gale had been barely coherent, unable to distinguish between John and Curt.

“You jus’ sayin’ that?” Ken whimpered into Curt’s hoodie sleeve.

“No, I’m not just sayin’ that, sugar. He wanted me to tell you that you can take as much time as you need.” Curt adjusted himself, pulling Ken into his lap. “He still loves you, no matter what.”

Ken felt the ache in his chest intensify, the guilt mixing with the exhaustion. “Do you still love me?”

Curt met Ken’s glazed-over green eyes and flushed cheeks. “Of course. Nothin’ could ever stop me from lovin’ you, Kenny.”

“Nothing?” Ken repeated, his voice barely a whisper.

“Nothin’.” Curt took one of Ken’s hands and kissed his knuckles. “You’re my heart, Kenny. Always will be.”

Ken nodded, snuggling closer into Curt’s embrace. The storm outside raged on, but inside, wrapped in Curt’s arms, he felt a glimmer of peace. They stayed like that, the sound of the rain and the warmth of each other’s presence offering a brief respite from the chaos within and without.

—---------

Gale's eyes fluttered open, the dim lighting of the hospital room slowly coming into focus. The steady beeping of the heart monitor and the occasional hiss of the IV drip were the only sounds, creating a surreal cocoon around him. He felt a dull, throbbing pain where his arm used to be, the medications making his thoughts hazy and slow.

John sat beside him, eyes dark with worry and exhaustion. He held a crumpled newspaper in his hand, the headline still glaring up at him.

“Hey,” Gale whispered, his voice raspy and weak.

John’s head snapped up, a forced smile spreading across his face. “Hey, babe. How’re you feeling?”

Gale blinked slowly, trying to gather his thoughts. “Everything hurts… but I’m here.” He glanced at the newspaper. “What’s that?”

John’s jaw tightened. “It’s the local paper. They did a story on what happened.”

John showed Gale the article, the blonde nodded as the memories came back from the previous day. The damned drugs we’re clouding his brain and his memory of the past few days were shaky. 

“You shouldn’t let them get under your skin, John. It’s just a stupid article.” Gale hoped his words made sense to John because they didn’t make sense to him as they came out of his mouth. He was beginning to feel his eyelids starting to get heavy again and the mouth full of cotton feeling. 

“I know, but people have been fighting for this for ag–” Gale batted his hand lazily at John.

“Shhhh,” he hushed him trying to bring his finger to John’s lips. John knew they must have given Gale plenty of morphine last time he complained of pain, “Can I tell you something?”

“Sure, what do you gotta tell me, baby?” He sat back in his chair and took Gale’s flimsy hand in his own hand before he poked John's eye out. 

“You know my dad left me, right?”

“Yes, baby.”

“I'm scared everyones gonna leave me too. Terry can’t afford these hospital bills, I can’t even work now. Maybe I could ask Ken about workin’ at the tourist center with him.”

“What’re you getting’ on about, Buck? No one is leaving you, including me and Terry. Frankly, you’ll have to cut off my legs and leave me somewhere if you ever wanted to leave me.” John giggled softly but stopped, “I’m sorry.” He mumbled against Gale's hand. The blonde boy dropped his head to the side a bit and gave him an eyes closed, doppy smirk. The open blinds casted shadows onto his face from the morning sunshine, John wanted to take a picture. He looked so happy. The past three days had been challenging for him and it was just nice to see him with a smile on his face.

“Goodnight John,” he rested his head back against the pillow.

“It’s only nine…” 

“Sh!” John gave into Gales commands and let the boy go back to sleep. It’d probably be better that way, he didn’t need to think about how he was going to pay for the hospital bills. Or how he’s scared everyones gonna leave him.

“I love you.” John mumbled against Gale's hand and gently set their intertwined hands back on the bed. 

Gale smiled up at the sun and fluffy white clouds, lying on his back on the board. He moved his hand back and forth in the water, feeling its pull. John lay next to him, eyes closed, head resting on his hands. Gale glanced back toward the shore, where Curt and Ken were relaxing on the blanket, Ken giggling at something Curt said. The two were still practically inseparable even after two years of living together in Ken’s parents' beach house. 

Gale closed his eyes for a moment feeling the sun sleepies taking over his body. He opened his eyes only moments later and the day had turned to a dark stormy sky, the thick raindrops pelting his body. He looked to his left where John had just been, instead seeing the large dorsal fin swimming towards him. 

He looked to the shore and saw the three leaving, “John!” Gale screamed just as he felt the glistening pressure and pain in his shoulder all over again. 

His eyes snapped open, and he looked around the dim room, disoriented. “Don’t leave. Don’t leave.” he whispered, tears streaming down his face.

John, had dozed off in the chair, woke up instantly. He moved to Gale’s side, taking his hand. “Hey, hey, I’m right here, Buck. I’m not going anywhere.”

Gale looked at him, his eyes filled with fear and pain. “You-you left… I was alone…”

John shook his head, his own eyes wet. “No, baby. I’m right here. I’ll always be here.”

Gale’s breathing was ragged, and he clung to John as if he might disappear. “Promise?”

“I promise,” John said firmly, pulling Gale into a gentle hug. “I’m not going anywhere.”

The tension in Gale’s body slowly eased, but the emotional pain lingered. “Why does everyone leave?” he whispered, more to himself than to John.

John held him tighter, wishing he could take away all the hurt. “I won’t leave you, baby. Not ever.”

Gale nodded, though the fear still lingered in his heart. The physical pain was one thing, but the emotional scars were deeper, harder to heal. He closed his eyes, trying to find some comfort in John’s presence.

As Gale drifted back into a fitful sleep, John stayed by his side, holding his hand.

—---------

The next two days were just like that, Gale slowly being weaned off the pain meds. Growing less and less loopy, he wasn’t sleeping as much as he had been. The other part of that meant that Gale was in discomforting pain and beginning to experience phantom pains. 

It was driving John crazy, he felt helpless and like he couldn’t fix this for Gale. He spent his time thinking over every scenario of how John could’ve prevented this all from happening. 

“Did you hear about the manhunt going on for the shark?” Curt took an armful of Palm leaves and tossed them into the back of the marina truck's bed. 

“The shark that bit Buck?” John furrowed his eyebrows and stopped trimming the areca palms. Truly he had been waiting to hear that…it’d give him a way to at least somewhat fix this…?

“Yeah, Greg was talkin’ about it. Said a bunch of locals came out this morning to take their boats out. To ‘get that son of a bitch shark.’” Curt’s gloved hands did air quotes as he did a somewhat alright impression of their boss.

“Should we join them?” John went back to trimming the palms, he hoped Curt would agree. 

Curt stopped and leaned against the truck taking a long drink from his water bottle. “I don’t know if you’re in it for the right reasons.”

John grunted and rolled his eyes, “Buck would be pissed…”

“Yeah, he would.” John could tell that Curt was leaning towards saying no but he didn’t want to give this up.

“You’re my best bud, Curt.” John rested his gloved hand on Curts shoulder. 

“Yeah, I guess. If you want, you know I’ll always follow your stupid.” Curt shrugged, tossing another heap of palm leaves into the truck bed. 

“My stupid? What about your stupid?” 

“Oh, don’t you mean you are stupid?”

“No, your stupid decisions!” John threw his hands up feeling blind aggression run through his body. Truly, he had no reason to be feeling that way and attacking Curt for making a dumb joke. 

“Bucky,” Curt breathed out looking at the taller man in clear, tiring stress. 

“Just forget it, Curt.” John waved his hand absently and picked up his hedge clippers. The palms get John’s anger and forceful snipping. 

—---------

Gale sat in his bed with his chin resting on his knee as he held the book Nalani's husband, David had brought him. He was about half way through in his day and a half reading progress. He didn’t like the silence when no one was there, he couldn’t stand the beeping of the heart monitor anymore. Soon enough they’d take him off the IV and such but he had a couple more days to go. And another dreaded week at the hospital before he got to go home. Except this week he’d start seeing a psychologist and an occupational therapist. He just silently thanked the weekend for giving him at least two days off along with the occupational therapist’s. He still was getting around the clock care and even though he hated the silence, he hated when the nurses or doctors would come in and ask him how he was doing or how he was feeling. He felt bad earlier for snapping at his Grandpa earlier for asking him the same. 

He was feeling pent up like an animal locked in a cage, just having to watch other people live the freedom you once knew. He wanted to go outside and feel the hot sun on his face and run his fingers through the grass. He wanted to be on the beach and in the water, he wanted the sand under his toes. He knew if he asked his doctor, he’d probably be allowed outside. But he didn’t want people to look at him either, he hadn’t left his hospital room since he got there. He also requested they keep the blinds on the interior window closed when unnecessary. Yet he never closed the blinds to the outside, he could see the palms outside the ground level room he was in. The sun occasionally shined through onto him, if he really tuned out the hospital white noise of beeps and intercoms. He could imagine the sound of the seagulls chirping and the waves crashing, it made him feel like things were okay again for just a little bit.

There was a soft knock on the door, and then it opened slightly. Nalani poked her head in, her dark eyes warm and reassuring. "Hey there, Gale. Mind if we come in?"

Gale managed a small smile. "Of course not."

Nalani pushed the door open wider, revealing Keanu, who was holding a colorful handmade card. The boy’s face lit up with excitement when he saw Gale.

"Hey, Buck!" Keanu chirped, rushing over to the side of the bed. "I made you something!"

Gale's smile widened as he looked at the card Keanu handed him. It was covered in bright drawings of waves, surfboards, and a big sun with a smiley face. "Wow,this is awesome! Thank you."

Keanu beamed, climbing onto the chair beside his bed. "I knew you'd like it! I drew us surfing together. See? That's you, and that's me!"

Gale chuckled softly, the simple joy in Keanu's voice lifting his spirits. "It's perfect, buddy. We’ll have to go surfing together once I’m better."

Keanu nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! I can’t wait." He then looked at Gale with big, concerned eyes. "Does it hurt a lot?"

Gale hesitated for a moment, not wanting to worry or scare the boy, but he appreciated Keanu’s honesty. "It hurts a bit, but I'm getting better every day."

Keanu leaned in closer, as if sharing a secret. "You know, my mom says you're the strongest surfer ever. Even stronger than those big waves."

Gale's heart warmed at the boy's words. "Your mom is pretty smart. And you know what? She's right. I’m going to be back on my board in no time." At the same time he felt like he was lying to not ruin the boy's spirits. He knew he could probably find some way back to his board but it made his stomach hurt to think about. 

Keanu's eyes sparkled with excitement. "Can I help? Maybe I can bring you something or tell you stories. Mom says stories help when you’re not feeling good."

Gale smiled, feeling a sense of warmth spread through him that had been missing since the attack. "I’d like that, Keanu. I’d like that a lot."

Nalani stepped closer, placing a gentle hand on Gale’s shoulder. "We’re all here for you. Whenever you need us."

He looked up at her, feeling a lump form in his throat. "Thank you, Nalani. You guys being here means a lot to me."

Just then, the door creaked open again, and John stepped in, carrying a bag of snacks. His eyes lit up when he saw Keanu. "Hey, little dude!"

Keanu's face split into a huge grin. "John! You're here!" He jumped off the chair and ran over to John, wrapping his arms around his legs.

John ruffled Keanu's hair, grinning down at him. "Of course I'm here. Had to bring some goodies for Buck. You keeping him company?"

Keanu nodded vigorously. "Yeah! I made him a card and told him some stories."

John knelt down to Keanu's level, giving him a high-five. "That's awesome, man. You're the best."

Keanu's eyes shone with admiration. "You're the coolest, John! Can we go surfing together when Gale gets better?"

John chuckled, glancing over at Gale, who was watching the exchange with a fond smile. "Absolutely. We'll all hit the waves together."

Keanu beamed, bouncing on his toes with excitement. "I can't wait!"

John stood up and walked over to Gale, placing the bag on the bedside table. "How are you feeling, Buck?"

Gale gave a small nod. "Better. Thanks for the snacks."

John sat on the edge of the bed, his hand finding Gale's. "Anything for you."

Keanu climbed back onto the chair, looking at the two older boys with wide eyes. "You guys are like the best team ever."

Gale squeezed John's hand, feeling a surge of warmth and gratitude. "Thanks, Keanu. You’re a big part of our team too."

Nalani smiled, watching the interaction with a gentle expression. "Alright, Keanu, time to let Gale rest. We’ll come back tomorrow."

Keanu hopped off the chair and gave Gale another hug. "Get better soon, Gale. I’ll bring more stories tomorrow!"

Gale hugged him back, feeling a bit more hopeful. "I’ll be waiting, buddy."

As Nalani and Keanu left, John settled into the chair beside Gale’s bed, their hands still entwined.

 Gale kissed John gently, feeling the salty water on his lips and smelling the fresh saltwater air on him. “How was work?”

“Just fine,” John breathed into Gale’s lips and pressed another kiss to him. He sat down on the chair and took Gale's hand back in his own. He didn’t know if he should mention to Gale the discovery he had today…about the shark hunt. 

“What’d you do today?”

“Just trimmed some palms, washed some boats. Lots of people were out today.” 

“Was it as nice as it looks today?” Gale sighed resting his head against the pillow letting it drop slightly to his shoulder. 

“Yeah, but they were out on a hunt.” John looked back down at his lap and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. 

“For the shark?” Gale shifted his gaze back straight ahead to the turned off tv screen. 

“Yeah,” John breathed out and nodded. 

“Are you going out?”

“Was thinkin’ about it.” He ran his teeth over his bottom lip.

“Why, John? It’s just an animal.” He could see the blonde sink into the mattress, seemingly pressing his back into the mattress. He knew he’d be mad…part of him understood why Gale would be mad.

“Because! I can’t just sit here and stand seeing you like this! I need to fix this now! Or at least try my fuckin’ hardest to, i need to be part of that.” John finally snapped, standing up abruptly from his chair. “I can’t stand being powerless to do anything about it.”

Gale began to feel more groggy from the morphine in the drip. He looked up at John with heavy eyes. “What am I supposed to do, John? Just… magically grow my arm back?”

John’s frustration boiled over. “No, but I can’t just sit here and watch you suffer! I want to do something, anything, to fucking fix this! but I can’t and it’s killing me!”

Gale turned his head away, tears welling up. “I don’t need you to fix this. I just need you to be here.”

John stormed out of the room, unable to face Gale’s pain and his own helplessness. He power walked straight out of the hospital, the automatic sliding doors barely having time to sense him and open. He nearly collided into Curt as he came out of the doors, the shorter one basically catching the both of them. 

“Mother fucker. What did you do?” Curt grabbed John’s shoulders whilst the taller boy tried to shove him off. Curt let go and the two fumed in silence for a moment. Both their blue eyes narrowed at the other, Curt stepping up to John. “The hell you do this time, huh?” Curt whacked him upside the head pulling John’s attention out of the silence. “Huh? What’d you do? You leave him crying in there by himself again?”

“The fuck you want, Curt?” John shoved him back again and shoved his shoulder again. 

“Bucky, knock it off.” Curt snapped his fingers at the boy, he wasn’t sure what John was trying to achieve. He shoved his shoulder again and Curt caught his wrist in his hand.

“Come on, Curt. Have you been here day after day? You weren’t six inches away from him when it fuckin’ happened. My back aches from sleeping in that damn chair and your little puppy can’t even bother to come see him when he knows he needs him.” John barked at him, taking another step forward. Curt had, had enough of his shit and swung on him. His fist colliding right into John's nose, he faltered back grabbing his face. 

“Jesus, fuck.” He grunted folding forward a moment. 

“Don’t fuckin’ talk about him like that.” Curt sneered, knowing John knew exactly who he was talking about, “Come on.”

He began walking towards the doors motioning for John to follow him. He turned back and grabbed him by the collar of his t-shirt and pulled him into the hospital doors. The sickly, sterile smell tinging his  nostrils as they walked into the air conditioned building. 

Curt let go of John and kept his stride down the hall, around the corner, down the hall just a bit more. He creaked the door open slowly and poked his head in, “Hey.” 

Gale smiled weakly through his tears and turned to look at the orange and pink sunset. He continued picking at the blanket not wanting to meet Curt’s gaze, then he would know he had been crying. Gale listened to his footsteps come into the room followed by the familiar, heavy, trudging of John in his work boots. “How you feelin?” Curt rested his hand on Gale's knee giving it a small shake. Gale smiled softly at the small tickle just from his knee being touched.

“Better than yesterday,” Gale shrugged his good shoulder and flicked his eyes to John, who stood at the end of the bed. He sported a forming shiner between his eye and the bride of his nose. Somewhat swelled shut, he flicked his eyes to Curts knuckles. His left knuckles red and close to bruising as well.

He whipped his head to the door as his nurse walked in on her hourly rounds. She sighed seeing John’s black eye and the way Curt gripped his fist in his right hand. 

“John, come with me.” She motioned towards the door and looked at Curt. 

“He deserved it, ma’am.” He flashed her, his most charming, toothy smile.

“Probably,” Gale mumbled under his breath and continued picking at the loose thread on the blanket. 

“What’d that dumb, bastard say?” Curt leaned forward and rested his hands on his knees. He tilted his head slightly, Gale could make out the forming sunburn on Curt’s nose and cheeks. 

“Just about the shark hunt, said he needs to fix this.” Gale flicked up finger quotes and rested his head back on the propped up bed. 

“It’s my fault, ‘told him today at work about it. Tried tellin’ him it would be stupid to join in.”

“Yeah, well.” Gale shrugged his shoulder again and closed his eyes. He loved Curt and knew he meant well but he just wanted to sleep. He knew visitor hours would be done in half an hour, he didn’t know if John planned to spend the night again either. 

“Here,” John basically threw an ice pack at Curt as he came back into the room. An ice pack in his own hand, wrapped in a paper towel pressed to his eye. 

“Thanks.” Curt spoke bluntly and held the ice pack to his knuckles. Gale closed his eyes now, he didn’t want to look at either right now. Maybe they’d get the hint and leave him alone for a bit? But they didn’t and Gale had to put up with an awkward kiss to his cheek from John before nodding back off. 

—---------

He was relishing in his Sunday sun shining through the blinds, he felt better than he had but that positive also came with the weird tension between him and John. He had of course stayed with Gale through the night, he was glad he did though. He didn’t want to be left alone in the hospital room, he knew the pain medication would knock him out but he liked it better when he knew John was there. 

John had left for his shift and Gale remained staring out the window at the pristine conditions he could see out the window. He closed his eyes for a moment and imagined the sound of the waves crashing against the shore and the honk of the seagulls. He laid his hand flat against the bed and if he thought hard enough, he could feel the oceans pull. He flicked his eyes open before the imagination could turn into the day at the cove or the dark stormy sky nightmare. 

The knock against the door grounded him back to reality and he turned his head against the pillow, there he stood, with the golden brown, sunkissed curls. Ken smiled softly and pushed the door open, “Hey.”

“Hi,” Gale hoped whatever John had said to Curt wasn’t about Ken not coming to visit. He hoped that Ken didn’t get forced into coming here if he wasn’t yet ready. 

Ken’s heart did a small lurch when he saw Gale’s empty t-shirt sleeve but he ignored it, not wanting to make this worse than he probably already had. “I’m sorry I haven’t come to visit.”

“It’s okay.”

Ken nodded and rested a hand on the back of the chair next to Gale's bed, “Can I?”

He nodded and Ken slid into the seat, instinctively crossing a leg over the other. He folded his hands and rested them in his lap to give him something to stare at. Gale could probably tell he was uncomfortable but it wasn’t his fault. Hospitals just made him feel weird on top of it being his best friend in the hospital. He had felt so helpless that day on the beach, he couldn’t do anything for gale. Instead he just was on his hands and knees throwing up while Curt and John wrapped a towel around his shoulder and tourniqueted the wound with his surf leash. 

He just watched while his best friend nearly bled out.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Gale reached his hand out and gently squeezed Ken’s knee, “I’m glad you’re here but if you’re not ready…”

“No! No!” Ken sat back looking back up at Gale, “I’m fine.” 

He wasn’t. 

He took Gale's hand in his and blinked away a few tears, effortlessly trying to swallow the lump in his throat. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too, Curt and John have been keeping me company. But you’re not here because of yesterday, right?”

“Yesterday?” Ken’s eyebrows furrowed, his head tilting slightly.

“Oh, Curt punched John, not sure why. Assumed John ran his mouth or somethin’.” Gale shrugged his good shoulder. Ken's face fell into a small frown, he didn’t even notice any swelling or bruising on Curts knuckles. 

“Here?”

“Outside, John stormed out. Ten minutes later the two returned, John’s eye swollen shut. My nurse brought them both ice packs.” Gale let his tension fall off his shoulders in an effort to make Ken smile. 

“Who’s the patient here now?” Ken let the remark pull the two into a small fit of laughter, something both of them needed. 

“With the way John’s been acting, I'm expecting him to go awol soon.” And he accidentally brought the mood back down. John was going awol already. He wasn’t even the one stuck in the hospital bed but Gale could tell the closed in four walls of the room was driving him up the wall. Probably the same amount Gale was feeling too if it wasn’t for all the medications he had been pumped full of the past week. He didn’t know how he felt about being one day out from the one week anniversary of losing his arm. He didn’t want to think about it, “Think the tourist center will hire me? Not sure how much help I’ll be around the surf shop.”

“Yeah, you tell me when and I’ll put in a good word.” 

A moment of silence passed the two of them, “What have you been up to?”

“Nothin’ really. My parents let me take off a couple days from school. Just been sleeping a lot.” Ken stumbled over his words.

“I miss school,” Gale ran a hand down his face, “Can’t believe I’m sayin’ that.”

“Did the doctors say when you could go back?” 

“Four weeks I think? I don’t know?” Gale didn’t know when he would be mentally ready to go back to school. He couldn’t even think about it right now…he was struggling with the grasps of even being discharged in a week's time. The silence fell back over them, their line of sight flipping back to their respective laps. They remained quiet for a handful of minutes when Ken's small sob pierced through the air. 

“I’m sorry,” he quickly apologized and reached for a tissue off the side table. 

“It’s okay,” Gale rubbed his palm over Ken’s knee while he tried to collect himself. 

“I just... I couldn't stop seeing it, you know? Every time I closed my eyes, I saw you lying there, and I felt so helpless.”

Gale reached out with his hand and took Ken's trembling hand in his. "You saved me, Ken. You and Curt got me to the hospital. You did everything you could."

Ken looked down, tears spilling onto his cheeks. "I just... I wish I could have done more."

"You being here now means everything to me," Gale said softly, his thumb tracing over his hand, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

—---------

Gale’s hip pressed into John’s with no intention of moving away from the boy next to him. Well, that was until they were joined by Gale’s all too cheerful occupational therapist. 

“Gale Cleven, right?” The shorter woman with a smoothed over jet black bob held her hand out to shake his. 

“Yeah,” He shook her hand and continued to try and ignore the different antiseptic aroma in this space. Although, he was glad for a change of scenery in the hospital. Today, it was the occupational therapy center on the other side of the building. On a positive note the room had floor to ceiling windows that provided the morning sun a place to peek in and kiss Gale’s skin. 

“I’m doctor Charey, how’re you feeling this morning?” She crossed her legs and stood with her clipboard over her knees, her brown eyes fixated on him. 

He forced a smile on his face and pressed himself impossibly closer to John upon hearing her question. “As good as I can be, I guess?”

She nodded empathetically. "I know this is tough, but we’re going to take it one step at a time. Today, we’re going to focus on some basic tasks—things you used to do without thinking but now might find kinda challenging. Sound good, kiddo?”

Gale’s heart momentarily leapt into his throat, he swallowed hard and his hand began to blindly try to find John’s. “Okay,” his voice meak, weak, showing he didn’t know if he truly did believe in himself? 

She brought over a button down shirt that’d fit over his clothes, handing it to him. “Let’s just start easy, okay? Can you get this on yourself?”

Gale felt a sense of dread as he had to drop John’s hand and actually let him move away from him. He took the floral button down and slid it onto his arm with somewhat no issue. He could see out of the corner of his eye as John wanted to reach out to help him. He sucked in another deep breath trying to avoid every clunky feeling and movement that came as he tried to get the shirt just over his other shoulder. The fabric pulling tight and seeming to resist at every turn and reach, he didn’t even fathom how daunting this would be. John had just been dressing him once he’d been allowed out of the wretched hospital gown. But he knew he couldn’t rely on John to do everything for him forever. 

“Take your time, there's no rush.” Doctor Charey encouraged him gently. 

Finally, he had beat his first mountain and got the shirt over his shoulder and realized the next part. He felt like some freak show on display as some other doctors and nurses filed in for their shifts. Gale clenched his teeth in frustration, his hand shaking as he got the first button through the first hole. He wanted to hate himself so badly right now, he couldn’t even think how John felt right now watching him. 

As soon as all the buttons were fastened Doctor Charey was congratulating him for something as simple as dressing himself. He was leaning back in the chair letting his arm hang at his side. He let out a frustrated groan and wiped his brow; however, getting the shirt off was easier. . He didn’t know it was going to be this daunting. Just when he thought maybe the hardest part was over she then set a jar in front of him. 

He eye’d John from where he sat at the table almost waiting for the lid just to open itself. He reached for the table and took the plastic jar. Gale eyed the jar, feeling the sting of tears at the back of his eyes. He gripped it with his hand and tried to twist the lid off. The jar slipped in his grasp, and the lid refused to budge. His frustration grew, but instead he just moved the jar between his knees to unscrew the lid. Part of him felt witty, but maybe that was a trick and he was supposed to do it a different way? “You’re a natural at this,” Doctor Charey smiled, embracing Gales shoulder in a small assuring squeeze. 

After Gale’s session was over he and John began their walk back to the other side of the hospital. The two remained silent as John swung their hands, but on the inside Gale wanted to scream. He wanted to run from John and out the front of the hospital, he knew he could do it too. Plead insanity when John would come tearing after him yelling something inexplicable. He missed sitting out with Meatball on the beach, watching the husky roll in the sand and damn Gale a bath to give him. He didn’t even want to think about how he’d probably not be able to give Meatball a bath now. He didn’t have a second arm anymore to hold the collar on the dog and rinse him down. 

He scoffed at just the thought of his own incompetence. 

“What’re you thinking about?” John squeezed the blonde's hand, still he tried to reach out his olive branch. 

“Nothin’” Gale’s golden sea of locks fell into his face as his head dropped to stare at the tiled floor below him. 

“Sure don’t look like nothing,” John sucked in through his teeth. 

It wasn’t nothing but it wasn’t the kind of thing Gale wanted to talk about right now. He just spent the last hour laying out just how vulnerable he now is and John expects him to be emotionally vulnerable now too?

“Well I just don’t wanna talk about it, okay?” Gale’s pace quickened and his hand tangled free of John’s. Gale stomped off and away from him, he half wanted to go elsewhere. He wanted to run from the forced proximity of the four walls of the hospital room. 

He just wanted to feel something that wasn’t grief with a side of self pity. 

The day Gale was being discharged came way too fast for his liking. He felt like a wounded animal about to be left vulnerable for the predators. 

His leg bounced against the hospital floor as his grandpa filled out his discharge papers. His whole world was actually about to be ripped down for real now. The hazy white veil protecting his line of vision from the unknown was really ready to fall now. Any moment he’d be walking out the door with Grandpa and John and he’d just have to put on a smile. 

He didn’t want any part of this, really. His story has been heard across the globe now. It picked up media attention and John had told him about the news vans that had swarmed his grandpa's beach front property. 

“Do you think they’re gonna be there?” Gale’s line of vision stayed staring straight ahead at the fussy, cloudy November day on the island. 

“Who?” John furrowed his eyebrows.

“The journalist you told me about.” Gale swallowed and balled up his hand in the bed sheets really conveying the waves of crashing anxiety over him. 

“Well, if they are I’ll tell them to piss right the fuck off…unless you wanna talk to them.”

“No.” Gale dead panned. 

“Alright kiddo.” Grandpa returned in the doorway, “You ready to sleep in your own bed?”

“Yeah,” Gale nodded with a long sigh as he pushed himself up from the bed. 

John grabbed the duffle and the now stuffed full reusable grocery bag of cards and notes people had written him and followed after the two. 

The​​ three stepped out of the hospital and Gale took in a sharp breath seeing the stormy clouds above them that just so closely reflected his own inner feelings. He tries to direct his steps with precise motions but he just feels like a baby giraffe. It suddenly felt like the moment he crossed the threshold of the hospital he just could no longer function.

“Buck?” John stopped his quick paces next to the boy, everyone coming to a halt. 

“No I’m…uh…I’m fine.” Gale stammered out, his breath hitching, but he forced himself to keep moving, not wanting to draw more attention to the uncertainty gnawing at him. As soon as the familiar rusted yellow truck came into view Gale stopped dead in his tracks. Parked just beyond were a few news trucks, journalists out with their cameras and microphones. 

“Hey, come on, let's get in the truck.” John slung his free arm around Gale and protectively pulled him into his side. The two’s pace quickened towards the truck as the small crowd of reporters came closer.  

Gale whimpered into John and he could feel the other tense in anger, “Fuck off! He doesn’t wanna talk to you.” John barked at the crowd, Gale’s grandpa following up his statement. 

“Let the boy be, show him some respect.” 

John had Gale in the truck in an instant, throwing his duffle into the bed and shoving the other bag onto the floor. “You okay, babe?”

Gale just nodded but he felt just even more shaken up, he just wanted to go home. 

—---------

Gale’s shoulder finally began to relax. No news vans, no reporters—just the comforting sight of the ocean in the distance. For a brief moment, he allowed himself to believe that things might be okay. Yet he couldn’t get out fast enough, he needed to see his dog. He barely let John reach over to unbuckle him before he was freeing himself. 

Gale could hear his barks and yips through the door whilst his grandfather fumbled his keys into the door. Meatball barely gave the man time to open it before he nearly toppled over everyone to reach Gale. 

“Hey, boy.” Gale put his hand down to let the dog sniff him and guide him back inside. Meatball yipped in excitement and bounded around Gale. He sat down on his knees in the kitchen and let Meatball completely lick the ever loving shit out of him. After he kept whining and pressing his head into his chest, sensing something off and upset about Gale's demeanor. 

“I know, I know, boy. Thing’s are a little bit different now.” Gale tried redirecting Meatball from where he tried to lick his bandaged stump. 

“Come here, boy.” John held open the back door trying to get Meatball off Gale. The husky jumped up and went bounding out the back door, causing gale to frown.

“John, he was fine!” Gale stood up from the floor walking towards the back now.

“He hasn’t been out all day,” John huffed. 

“Yeah, I was gonna let him out when he was done.” He pulled the back door open and went after Meatball. 

Gale sat on the deck, the sun beginning to peak at the afternoon high, casting a hot glow over the island. Meatball lay beside him, his head resting on Gale’s thigh, the steady rise and fall of his breathing a comforting rhythm. Gale absentmindedly stroked the dog’s fur, his mind drifting to the events of the past week.

He thought about John, about the way he’d tried so hard to be there, to help. But no matter what John did, there was always this undercurrent of tension between them now, a barrier that hadn’t been there before. Gale knew it wasn’t John’s fault, but it didn’t make it any easier.

He replayed their conversations in his mind, the way John’s voice would tighten when he tried to talk about the future, the way Gale would shut down, unable to face the reality of his new life. It wasn’t fair to John—Gale knew that. But it wasn’t fair to him either.

Gale sighed, leaning back against the deck chair. He wasn’t sure how to fix things between them, wasn’t even sure if he could. But as he looked out at the ocean, the waves crashing against the shore, he knew he had to try. He couldn’t keep pushing John away, not when John was the only thing keeping him from drowning in his own fear and despair.

Meatball nuzzled closer, as if sensing Gale’s turmoil. Gale smiled faintly, his hand stilling on the dog’s fur. He didn’t have all the answers, and didn't know how to make things right between him and John. 

[leglesstv]

A TALE OF TWO BOARDS AND ONE WAVE

This is not a design article or surf trip story, but rather a combination of words that came to me after a recent trip overseas.

After 6 weeks of traveling throughout Europe and no surfing apart from a few 6” body surfing waves in the Mediterranean Sea off Italy, we arrived in Bali. I didn’t have any boards with me, but I had an old favorite stashed at my good friend, Captain Peter Fletcher’s house near Canggu.

Peter passed away nearly a year to the day that Karen and I arrived in Bali. His wife, Lia, graciously let me get my old board and also one that I had shaped for Peter a couple of years ago.

Packing up the boards to go to G-Land, it really hit me how lucky we are to be able to still go surfing even as getting older limits our options and the surf is getting more crowded all the time. Peter and I had made tentative plans last year to meet up in G-Land late season last year, but his sudden illness and passing put an end to that.

As it was, Peter’s board was the exact same dimensions as mine but a completely different shape and volume. Mine was a 6ft, 4 fin swallow fish tail and basically the same board that I have been taking to G-Land and Indo for years - tried and proven. Peter’s was a 6ft tri-fin arrow pin tail but more voluminous even though the same length, width, and thickness.

Anyway, arriving in G-Land after 6 weeks of no surfing and enjoying the food and drink of Europe, the waves were 6 to 8ft and pretty good. I surfed my trusty fishtail the first day and felt back at home on it, even though pretty unfit surfways.

The next day started off a bit smaller, so I took the pintail out to the top of the reef where the waves had more face and walls so as to get a feel for it. I could tell it had too much foam for me, but it did catch waves well, and I managed to jag a few nice long steep waves but not barrels. As the morning wore on, the swell came up, and after getting a long wave to the bottom end of the reef, I decided to sit with the crowd and try to get a real G-Land barrel.

I'm not particularly spiritual, but after waiting for a good hour, it seemed like I got a message to slowly drift out and sit next to a boil that started to appear just as the tide was dropping. After sitting there for about 15 minutes and simply enjoying the ambience of looking back to the jungle with the sun shining, wind blowing offshore, and swells rolling, I felt in a real happy place. Especially when there was no one sitting anywhere near me, and I caught a glimpse of what looked like the biggest set of the day on the way.

All it took was to sit tight and wait for it – a big perfect set wave aimed straight for me. Everyone else was either too deep inside or too far away to get out to me. The accompanying video shows what happened, and this is where the "One Wave, Two Boards" headline is associated. Pete’s board was so different from mine, but it still handled the wave no problem, except for when my knee slipped off halfway through the ride. Probably because of the extra volume and different fin location and set-up, I was not quite at home on the board but trusted it to make it to the other end. As can be seen, it was a bit of a rodeo ride!

As I turned off the wave, I again thought how lucky I was to be surfing and how we should not dwell on the negatives of crowded surf spots, onshore, wrong tides, flat spells, etc., but rather be appreciative of the gift that surfing is.

In my head, I said, "Thanks, Captain Pete," for the wave as I reckon it was him who guided me into it. And I dedicated the buzz I got from that ride to him.

RIP old friend Captain Peter - I'm sure you are sailing fair seas somewhere.

Words & Surfing: David Parkes

[acceleracers-baby]

Acceleracers HC’s! Core Memories! Teku Edition!

Teku

(Nolo Pasaro, Vert Wheeler, Shirako Takamoto, Kurt Wylde & Karma Eiss)

————

Teku

Nolo Pasaro - Baby’s first car meet!!! For real though, one of Nolo’s favorite core memories is the first time Tone lets him tag along to a street take over. If he didn’t love racing before, he certainly did after that. Between the music, the adrenaline, and the fact that Tone actually let him be in the car during a race, he had an absolute blast. One of his favorite parts was when the cops eventually showed up to shut everything down and Nolo practically had to dive into the passenger seat so that Tone could peel out and get them back home without getting busted. He keeps a polaroid from that night in his wallet.

Vert Wheeler - Watching Surf’s Up (2007). I’m kidding… mostly. A few summers ago, back before the World Race on Highway 35, Vert road what he refers to as the perfect wave. Before his mom’s passing, the Wheelers used to visit the beach every weekend. At the time, Vert was just starting to get the hang of standing up on the board while surfing. It was towards the end of the day, and Jack was calling him out of the water when Vert felt the pull of a decent sized wave forming up behind him. He’d been wiping out all day, but because it was his last run for the night, he figured he might as well give it a shot. That was the first time he ever surfed inside the barrel of a wave. The way the setting sun lit up the water on the inside of the curl still brings a smile to his face.

Shirako Takamoto - Shirako is 100% an audiophile. Before he had an IPod, or an MP3, or even a portable CD player, he had a shitty hand me down Walkman that his dad pawned from a local shop. It was for his birthday and he got it carefully wrapped up in some old newspapers. His mom would always let him borrow a few of their cassettes as long as he had done all of his schoolwork. Eventually, he got into making mixtapes when he saved up enough money to afford a dual cassette tape recorder. He’d stay up all night just to get some of his favorite songs from the radio recorded onto his newest mix. He still has that Walkman lying on his desk for when he needs a hit of nostalgia.

Kurt Wylde - I like to think that Kurt’s dad was who got both of the Wylde brothers into racing. Maybe he was a Grand Prix driver like Kurt was or maybe he was just a big car buff. Nevertheless, that’s how the boys bonded with their father. Everyday after school Kurt would either be working at his part time mechanic gig, fixing up his project car, or out pushing said project car to its limits on the track. He’ll never forget the first race he won. He’d driven a perfect line, and had only won by a hair, but the roar of his engine had drowned out the world. It was just him and the track. Every nerve ending was lit like a live wire as he crossed the finish line. By the time he realized he won, he was so tense he could have passed out, but he didn’t care. He’d won.

Karma Eiss - Karma always strives for perfection. It’s what makes her who she is. Unfortunately, that sharp edge she keeps also keeps people away. At best, she seemed unapproachable. At worst, people would assume that she was rude and judgmental. So, the day that Tone approaches her at a car meet and offers her a spot on his crew, she wasn’t exactly sure how to react. At first, she was apprehensive to the idea. She didn’t like hand outs, and she felt there was no reason to join his team. However, when he challenged her to a race promising her his car if he lost, she couldn’t help but accept. The only stipulation was that if he won, she would have to at least consider joining his crew. Tone wins the race after pulling a move Karma still believes should have ended up in a crash. She the Teku a week later.

——— Thanks for Reading! ———

[canneddamage]

Beach day

Chapter 3 of this post

For once in your life you managed to get Faust of all people to get out of his comfort zone. Well.. you and 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 did. Out of everything you managed to make him do, you got him to go to the beach with you! How lovely… you hope. You pack up everything you and Faust would need, ensuring you do not miss anything. You know how 𝘔𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘴 Faust is, and missing something at ALL will make him want to go and get it, much to your dismay. You make it in time, seeing that Slayer and his wife Sharon are already comfortable on the beach.

After spending a concerning amount of time in the changing room, Faust finally emerges. You stare in awe at the man's physique, a little stunned and flustered. Despite being lanky, he has quite the amount of meat on his bones. His chest is very nicely toned and his arms show a bit of muscle. You smile, seeing that his shorts are themed the same way as his usual suit. Your smile turns into a bit of a frown, seeing that Faust kept his paper bag on. You ponder out of all days, why today? You stroll up to the tall doctor, his mannerisms changing a bit as he sees you.

“Faust… why did you keep your paper bag on?” you ask, hoping to get an answer. Faust looks down at you, a comically sized red blush on his paper bag. “Well, I felt like the sunlight would be a bit… much for my eyes. Anyway, let's not keep Slayer and his wife waiting!” with a swoop of his arm, he grabs your hand and barrels the both of you towards the water. Faust stops at the edge of the sand, kicking up a good amount of dust as he screeches to a halt. You yelp, your hair coming dangerously close to the water as you nearly tip over. Faust pulls you back, letting you get your bearings before releasing you. He digs into his pocket, pulling out an umbrella and two beach towels. You stare in a bit of disbelief, knowing that he could do this, but it's jarring every time. After setting everything up, Faust digs in his pocket once again, handing you your favorite flavor of popsicle.

“Thanks, Faust.” you say with joy in your voice, getting up with a play shovel and a bucket to build a sandcastle. Faust digs into his pockets once more, pulling out a few mini-fausts to help you. They march in a line, waddling up to the foundation of your sandcastle. They squeak as they use their adorably small hands to help you build. You hold your toy shovel in one hand and your ice cream in the other, enjoying your time in the sun. Faust looks out at the ocean, seeing Slayer doing tricks on a surfboard while Sharon gives him scores.

On Faust’s side of things, he's never felt so nervous in his life! Look at how pretty and cute you look in your swimsuit! He's been less shaky when doing 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴! So why is he so nervous with you? He ponders, watching mini-fausts make sandcastles with you. He feels something in his heart, a feeling of warmth and something else he can't quite make out. He decides to relax a bit, taking some deep breaths and drinking some water. Despite wanting to join you, something in him stops him. Is he really this nervous? He wonders to himself. He puffs out his chest, He's a man after all! No silly nervousness should deter him from being able to spend time with you!

“H-Hey there y/n. Could I ask you something?” Faust says nervously, catching your attention. He crouches down to meet your gaze, not wanting to intimidate you. “Yeah, what's up?” you reply, your sandcastle slowly turning into a sand hospital because of the mini Fausts. Faust gulps nervously, a bit of sweat coming down his neck. He holds his hand in yours, making you blush a little. Your hands are so small compared to his, adding to his mounting nervousness. “Do you want to surf with me?” Faust asks, making you nearly burst into laughter. Here you were expecting him to ask or tell you something important, and you get this. “Of course, I’d love to surf with you, Faust.”

Oh, how wonderful! You're a saint, accepting him like this! Faust digs into his pocket, somehow fitting two surfboards inside. In some capacity, this isn't the weirdest thing you've seen him pull out of his pockets. You stare nervously at the surfboards, having never surfed before. You watch as Slayer emerges from the water with his wife, both laughing about something. You wave for them to come over, and they do. “What's the mat’er? Nervous about surfing?” The dandy vampire asks, Sharon behind him with a curious face. “Yeah… I'm pretty sure we both don't know what we’re doing.” You say with a nervous chuckle, looking down at the sand. Slayer walks forward, putting a hand on your shoulder. “Don't worry, me and ‘m wife ‘ill help you.” Slayer assures, helping the two of you stand comfortably on your surfboards. Soon, the two of you are standing up, the wind blowing through your (y/h/c) hair. You look over at Faust a determined glare shining from inside the hole in his paper bag.

Unbeknownst to you, however, he’s more determined to 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 more than anything. “You're both doin’ good! Just catch the wave!” Slayer instructs, Sharon cheering you and Faust on. You wobble a bit before catching your bearings, catching and riding the wave. Faust tails right behind you, his arms out in a T position. The wind rides along his paper bag, and by some goofy logic not blowing off at all. After a long minute of riding this wave, it fizzles out, leading you and Faust to the beach. Sharon claps happily, and Slayer nods approvingly, delighted that the two of you made it out safely. “You two did wonderful. But it's gettin’ a bit late now. We should set up somethin’ to eat.” Slayer says with his usual dignified tone, Sharon nodding along with him. “Yeah, we really should get something to eat.” You agree, seeing that there’s an open grill nearby. Slayer initially agrees to grill for all of you, but Faust steps up instead, insisting that he make the food tonight. After all, he knows about food-borne illnesses and what certain foods need to be cooked to. You leave for a moment to pick up some grillable food, letting Faust do his magic. He gives Slayer a steak, cooked blue rare and bloody. He serves up some pork chops and kebabs, sticking the kebab stick under his paper bag and pulling it out clean.

After a nice day at the beach, Slayer and Sharon bid farewell to you and Faust before deciding to go home, leaving you and Faust alone. You and Faust sit on the beach alone, looking at the stars together. Faust turns to you, happy that you could join him today. “Hey, y/n… thanks for being with me.” Faust says quietly, making you look over at him. “Huh? What was that?” You ask, making Faust blush. “T-Thanks for being here with me today! I had lots of fun. Y’know… spending time with you makes me want to take more breaks from being a doctor more often.” Faust says without his usual goofiness, instead taking on a softer voice. You smile, resting your hand on his. “I think I'd like that. But you should still spend more time with doctor things than with me. It's your business after all.” You assure, swearing that you see the man smiling from under his bag. You spend a few more minutes silently looking up at the stars with him, wishing today would never end. Just as the tender moment comes to a close, the Mini Fausts from before rush in front of you and squeak, making you wonder what they want.

“They want you to come and see something. I wonder what they want to show you.” Faust translates, making you get up while holding his hand. He momentarily looks away nervously before following you. You stand with your mouth slightly agape, seeing that they built a whole sand hospital facility. They squeak curiously, pushing your legs closer. “They want your approval, y/n.” Faust explains, making you smile more. You get on your knees, seeing how meticulously they made it. You put your hand on their heads, chuckling a bit “You all did well. How’s about a picture to commemorate?” You say playfully, hearing the tiny Fausts squeak in a happy and satisfied manner. You and the mini Fausts pose in front of the sand-made marvel, letting Faust take a picture of you and mini hims. He looks at the picture, treasuring it already.

“Thanks Faust, I had a wonderful time.”

“I did too, y/n”

And just like that, the day fizzles out with a heartwarming moment. And you best believe that somewhere in Faust's house, 𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺.

[naha-division]

Round 2 - Talent Show

Contestant: Kyō Sakuma

Division: Naha

"A talent show?! why no one told me there's gonna be a talent show in this round! aww geez...I'm not sure myself if I got any talent plus, I never had anything to show off to anyone hahaha....wait now that I think about it many of my friends praised me a lot when I went surfing at the beach and everyone were amazed so maybe surfing is my talent?"

"Well technically it's not my talent per se, it's sort of a hobby. I enjoy surfing the most as I can do some cool tricks like flips, barrel, vertical and so on. Ah! nice timing! I've heard the weather right now is gonna be windy and it's a good opportunity there will be huge waves coming. I'll get my surfing board, just seat back and enjoy the show!"

*Mun: my apologies, Tumblr is being a b*** for not letting me post here bcuz my video is too large so instead, you can watch this in drive