#’why don’t we all just go Waffle House? none of us like it so it’s neutral territory’

[saintslewis]

❝ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃 | 𝐅𝟏 ❞

pairing: f1 grid (not all) x black fem driver!reader

summary: in which reader takes the f1 pilots to experience her culture and the beautiful country that is South Africa.

warnings: south african slang, cussing, social media environment, mentions of food, borderline chaotic

saint’s team radio 🎀: you have no idea how excited i was to write this. i love my country so so much and to be able to share it with all of you is a blessing. thank you @exotic-iris13 for requesting this! side note, December is in summer so i hope i don’t confuse you! enjoy!

please like, comment and reblog! (i’m watching you)

fc: @/mbbaarrhliii on ig!

tags: @non-stop-imagines @perfecttrashface @mauvecherie-writes @purplelewlew @arshiyuh @yeea-nah @alika-4466 @louvrepool @sheluvsf1

imessage: THE OFFICE 🏎️

y/n: i just got my braids done losers

charlie w a ferrari: but the season’s over, we won’t see it :(

carlito: plus didn’t you already have them done last month?

landinhoooo: no guys december braids usually mean a vacation, so where are you going? 🤨

y/n: firstly, you know wayyyy too much about the braids thing 😭

honey badger: that was oddly specific i have to say, lan

yukibae: yeah that was weird

landinhoooo: wtv 🙄 where are you going, y/n!

y/n: my mother is requesting the presence of all of you so you’re all coming back home with me 🤭

carlito: mi vida, wouldn’t that be too soon? winter break just started

kika’s bf: also how would it work? accommodation, transport, all those things

y/n: are you saying no to an african mother?

lew <3: guys say yes, she’ll show up to your house and force you

alexander!: not to mention it’s summer that side (she kidnapped one of my cats, say yes)

princess george: okay, let’s say we all go. what is going to happen?

y/n: i’m just saying, you haven’t lived if you haven’t never experienced a South African summer

mad max: I don’t know, y/n. just please don’t guilt trip us

mickey schumi: i can already feel her frown from here

y/n: i was going to pay for everything but since none of you want to go, i’m saving money 🤭

landinho: wait

kika’s bf: wait hold on

charlie w a ferrari: why didn’t you say so in the first place?!

honey badger: now that you’ll be our sugar mommy, ofc we’ll all be there

princess george: that clears out so much

y/n: you guys are a bunch of IDIOTS

alexander!: there has to be a catch???

landinho: ALEX SHUT UP WE’RE GOING ON A FREE TRIP

carlito: we’ll even dance to that one music playlist of yours

y/n: all of you have to wear my merch next season and you’ll let me win two races back to back

mad max: now y/n-

y/n: uh oh! looks like max is paying for everything!

charlie w a ferrari: JUST SAY YES

mad max: okay, you’ll win two races and i’ll slow down

princess george: i just did some quick research and y/n, you’re seen as a national treasure??? and lewis is considered Nelson Mandela’s grandchild??

y/n: well, yes! don’t question my country, okay? 🫶🏽

yukibae: yes ma’am 🫡

oscahhh: i went for a run, what did i miss??

landinho: we’re going on a trip and y/n is paying 😝

honey badger: except max, he’s paying for his own things

mad max: i’m not??

y/n: three races and i’ll get you a new console

kika’s bf: CAN I HAVE ONE??

landinho: NOOO I NEED ONE, PLS Y/N

y/n: we all earn millions every race??? get it yourself????

kika’s bf: i’m going to tell kika you’re bullying me

y/n: she’s coming on the trip too along with all the other wags 🤭

yukibae: and where’s YOUR wag, y/n? 🤨

y/n: yuki shhh pls i’ll literally buy you an island

charlie w a ferrari: NUH UH YUKI TELL US

landinho: yuki what do you know

princess george: whoever isn’t y/n’s wag, say so RN

everyone: NOT ME

lew <3: damn

landinho: I KNEW ITTTTTT

honey badger: IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW AHHH

alexander!: I HAVE TO GO TELL LILY

oscahhh: have you guys never seen them interact in the media pen? it’s like they’ve been married for 27 years

logang: and how do YOU know that

oscahhh: mate, you told me

y/n: 🙄

y/n: go pack for this trip before i shave your eyebrows 🫶🏽

y/n’s instagram story

seen by kehlani, ferrari and 34,282,722 others

-

“There’s no way you got cars for all of us.” George and everyone else really couldn’t believe that the lengths you went through to make this trip as perfect as you could. “Not to mention booking out the Four Seasons!” Carmen interjected, walking next to her boyfriend.

You watched as everyone filed into the Mercedes vans waiting for them on the airport runway where the large jet had landed. You couldn’t believe you got everyone to come to South Africa in the first place but guilt tripping them had worked a charm, complaining that you don’t have a home race and that your mom would be pissed.

Very easy to fool these guys.

The skies of Johannesburg weren’t all too clear but you could tell that it was summer. Deciding to rather catch up with everyone at the hotel a bit later, you used a private exit to the airport so that you could visit your mom and sister before anything else. Plus you knew a big deal would’ve been made if you had announced that you were coming home so posting will do for now.

“Bathong, where are your friends? I thought you’d all come here.” Your mother said whilst setting up the extremely long table in her backyard so you were sat on a pool chair just watching her.

bathong - more of an expression of confusion or shock

“It was going to look suspicious if i came here with all these people with the same vans following each other.” You replied. “I booked the Four Seasons, it should be big enough for all of us.”

“Oh okay, that’s fancy. So where’s your boyfriend?” Your mom asked with a grin on her face that earned a head shake from you.

“Ukuphi uLerai?” Where’s Lerai? (younger sister)

“Usaseskholeni. Unfuna ukuyomlanda?” Your mom replied. She’s still at school. Do you want to go fetch her?

“Yeah, i want to surprise her. So let me go and I’ll see you later when I drop her off.” You stood up, saying goodbyes to her as your mom went about what she doing.

Hopping in one of your various cars that you kept in your mother’s garages, you quickly texted your boyfriend when an idea popped in your head.

imessages!

y/n: do you want to cause a bit of chaos

lew <3: sigh

lew <3: what kind?

y/n: i’ll pick you up rn and we’re going to pick my sister up from school 😝

lew <3: should i be scared?

y/n: slightly, see you in a few 😚

-

To say you caused a bit of chaos would be an understatement. You hadn’t realised that your sister’s school was huge and this whole time, you forgot what you and your boyfriend did for a living. Picture this: a Lamborghini Urus parked outside where many high school kids are obsessed with it, you and Lewis stepping out to call your little sister, kids recognise you two, you apologise to your sister with ice cream.

You end the day off with lounging in the room with your boyfriend, laughing at the reactions of your fans to the news of you being in the country. You had planned this whole visit out, wanting everyone to get their rentals tomorrow morning then taking them everywhere.

yourusername

liked by pierregasly, bellahadid and 937,728 others

yourusername home 🇿🇦

view comments

user there’s no fucking way, YOU’RE BACK??

yourusername and i’m with my FRIENDS 🤭

youryoungersister a facetime would be nice next time 🧍🏽‍♀️

yourusername well, no!

landonorris y/n, what is a kota?

yourusername if you’re up for it, we can get some today

georgerussell okay but what IS it

yourusername DON’T WORRY

georgerussell I’M WORRIED

carlossainz55 you didn’t say it was going to be this hot

charles_leclerc she warned us mate 😭

danielricciardo btw max is still hanging out with that cat he found at breakfast

lilymhe i’m obsessed with this place, i never want to leave

francisca.cgomes you’re still in the hotel room 🫤

alexandrasaintmleux i just googled gold reef city, CAN WE GOOO PLS

alex_albon WHATS THAT

loganseargent IT’S AN AMUSEMENT PARK

user i just drove in the four seasons driveway, guys there are so many cars lined up for them 😭

user she comes to the country when i decide to LEAVE??

dbngogo stfu you’re back? 🥹 come to Konka 🫵🏽

landonorris WHAT’S THAT

dbngogo it’s a nightclub 🤭

sza CAN I JOIN Y’ALL

yourusername ofc bae

lewishamilton there’s a flower bouquet that says Mandela’s grandchild for me 🧍‍♂️

user oh fuck he knows the joke

georgerussell told you

f1 y/n bring back our drivers 😣

yourusername bring back kyalami then we’ll talk

user oop-

-

SOWETO

south western township

Not wanting to waste any time, Y/n scooped up her friends to visit her hometown, where she grew up and dreamed of this very moment.

The convoy of extremely expensive cars that sped through the route to Soweto had caught the attention of many people, including the news that announced your arrival.

Briefing the boys (and the girls) on their menu choices of your favourite foods, they all equally decided that they’ll start training when they get back home. With the food place being right across a park with a large parking lot, it was convenient for you.

Being the host for this whole trip, you went ahead and ordered for everyone, speaking through the hole in the wall to specify orders and paying a hefty price including drinks. You watched as all your friends climbed out of their respective cars, leaning and sitting on the hoods of the cars as they all bonded. The vibrant atmosphere of your home country made everything feel like summertime.

Getting help carrying all that food to the group, everyone took their orders and observed them. “So, amagwinya are fat cakes, they’re very filling. A Kota is a uncut loaf of bread with stuff inside like hot chips, sausages and other things that you can specify for your Kota.” You explained, everyone immediately digging in and their faces said it all.

“And for you, Lew, you can have the fat cakes and the hot chips. I have to say, you’ll be full for the entire day.” You turned to your boyfriend who gave you a kiss before trying the food.

Later that day, dinner at your mother’s was a success, everyone finishing their plates and sharing different stories under the Johannesburg stars.

The next day was filled with fun activities, hitting up the amusement park Gold Reef City then late night karting, the friendship between everyone was growing as smiles never left their faces.

a week later

yourusername

liked by patooward, mclaren and 3,728,912 others

yourusername south africa my baby, it’s been amazing 🇿🇦

view comments

landonorris take me back (we’re checking out of Four Seasons)

danielricciardo and what about your gf that you met? 🤨

landonorris she’s coming to the next race 🫡

maxverstappen33 three wins and that’s it

yourusername do you want me to tell on you to my mom?

maxverstappen33 no 😨

charles_leclerc i need another kota

alexandrasaintmleux we’re actually shaking for one right now

yourusername askies 🤣 sorry

loganseargent never thought i’d ever be an avid lover of amapiano

user what multiverse are we in that Logan, the most american person to ever exist, is saying this

user it’s the South Africa effect baby 😝🇿🇦

lewishamilton can we come here every winter break?

carlossainz55 can we please? all my joy is at Gold Reef City

alex_albon i just want her mother’s cooking again, changed my life

f1 y/n, what did you do to our drivers

yourusername if you add kyalami to the calendar, you’ll know 😚

lilymhe someone gave me a painting of you and i will be hanging it in my home

francisca.cgomes to complete the shrine

landonorris to our Sugar Mother Y/n

yukitsunoda i got all the recipes, i’m ready

yourusername we need 20 kotas stat! 🫵🏽

oscarpiastri even your money looks so cool 😭

user if this is not the greatest representation of our country, i don’t know what it is

mercedesamgf1 can we join next time? 😔

yourusername no

tyla I LOVE YOU

yourusername I LOVE YOUUUU

-

saint’s notes: ahhhhhh hope y’all enjoyed! mwah 😝 i tried but it feels sorta rushed?? idk, let me know

[vodika-vibes]

Hi love, I already have a second request. Hehehe.

Anyhew.... Howzer, opal and summer please. Thank you. Love oo

Summer Love

Summary: An early morning at the beach reminds you of just how much you love Howzer.

Pairing: Captain Howzer x F!Reader

Word Count: 646

Prompt: Opal - Faithful Love

Warnings: None

Tagging: @trixie2023 @n0vqni

A/N: I hope you like this! I wanted to write Howzer, hence three stories today.

You wake to the sound of waves crashing against the shore. You release a groan and roll onto your side, intent to bury your face in Howzer’s chest and get some more sleep.

Only, as you roll over, you touch nothing by cool sheets.

Blearily you crack open your eyes and peer at his side of the bed. No Howzer. You drop your face into your pillow with a quiet huff, and then roll onto your back and kick the blankets off. 

You drag yourself out of bed, pausing only long enough to pull the shirt the Howzer was wearing the day before over your thin tank top, and then  you push open the bedroom door and, blindly, walk through the house.

He’s not in the kitchen. Or the living room. 

And you yawn widely as you slide open the glass door that leads to the back deck. And there he is, sitting at the table, sipping some caf, and chatting to your neighbor.

The moment you step onto the desk, the conversation stops and Howzer turns his gaze towards you, an adoring smile on his face, “Good morning, cyare.”

“Mor-” a wide yawn cracks your face, “-ning.”

He stands and pulls you into a hug, pressing a gentle kiss to your forehead, “Did I wake you?”

“Not really,” You press your face against his chest and inhale deeply, enjoying the scent of Howzer mixed when the subtle scent of salt water, “Did you go swimming this morning?”

“It felt more enjoyable than running.” He kisses your forehead once more, and then guides you over to the table and presses his mug into your hands. “You remember Irma?”

You peer at the other woman, her smile looks slightly strained, though you can’t possibly imagine why. “Yes, you told us about the seafood restaurant last night. We enjoyed it a lot.”

Her smile becomes a little more strained, “Well, that’s good.” Her gaze cuts towards Howzer, “but we were having a conversation that you interrupted.”

Howzer’s genial smile fades slightly, “She’s always welcome to join any conversation that I’m a part of.”

Ah.

She has a crush on your Howzer. You can’t blame her, your Howzer is gorgeous, after all.

He’s also completely faithful to you, and you to him.

Your gaze slides across the woman, and you smile gently, “We’re actually about to start breakfast-” 

Her face flushes a deep shade of red, “Well then, I’d better go.” She blurts as she stands suddenly, and flees from the deck.

Howzer glances at you, “You hate eating this early.” He says with a slow smile on his face.

“She doesn’t know that.” You reply with a light smile.

“Jealous, cyar’ika?” Howzer lightly tugs you onto his lap, his arms sliding securely around your waist as you bury your face in his neck.

You laugh softly, “Not even a little.” 

“Good.” He lightly pushes you back so he can catch your lips in the gentlest kiss, “Because I would choose you over anyone.”

“Anyone?”

“Anyone.”

“Hm…good.” You lightly play with the hair at the base of his head, “Because I would choose you over anyone too.”

His eyes sparkle with mischief, “Even Rex?”

“Rex who?” You reply with a teasing smile.

“Hm, good answer.” He catches your lips in a deep kiss, “I love you.”

“I love you more.”

“I don’t think that’s possible. I have a lot of love.” Howzer murmurs against your lips.

“And it’s all mine, lucky me.” You brush your thumb against the scar on his cheek, “Would you like me to make waffles for breakfast?”

“I would love that.” He replies as he stands with you in his arms, “And then we can go to that aquarium we saw the other day.”

“Sounds like a perfect day to me.” You say with a warm smile, as he carries you back into the house.

[catb-fics]

Hi, I’ve just recently joined the Catfish talk and now going through some of your asks. What exactly happened that made the band break up and why are Bondy and Benji I think you said, no longer part of it, now that a comeback is happening? (I’m sorry if this has been discussed before 🙈)

Hello ❤️ It’s so lovely to see new fans popping up and please don’t apologise, there’s been so much that’s happened over the last few years I think it’s even been a struggle for the longtime fans to keep up! I’m sure you don’t wanna wade through all my asks and I can’t find the summary post I made before so I’ll try my best to remember and give a quick breakdown. So… basically during covid someone noticed that Bob the drummer had resigned from the CATB live company on Companies House. We were all shocked as there was no word from the band. Then Bondy and Benji also resigned. There was talk of had the band split/was this just for tax reasons etc but the band was silent and we were all awaiting them headlining Reading festival in summer 2021 and playing a few other festivals. Anyway when we watched Reading which was televised it was quite obvious something was off, the lads have so much energy on stage and Van didn’t seem himself and there was no interaction between Van and Bondy AT ALL. They always have these little things they do like Van will say “This is Johnny Bond yeah!” before his solo. There was none of that 😢 We all put it down to nerves and they played 3 more shows seeming much more confident but Bondy looked like he was kind of switched off still. We were kinda worried but they announced a huge stadium gig with Stereophonics at Cardiff the day after their last gig at NBHD Weekender so that lifted our hopes. Cardiff was postponed later due to covid to June 2022 and Bob posted that he’d officially left the band in Sept 2021. Still zero communication with fans from the official band account so we assumed the others were still in.

Then… 2 weeks before Cardiff they pulled out, no band announcement at all, no word. Fans were in meltdown some had paid to travel from America and further to see them 😭 Absolute silence until Bondy (bless his heart) posted on his Instagram (check it out I’ll link below). Bondy had officially left in March 2021 before the summer shows and him and Bob had stepped in as session musicians. We will never know (I doubt they’ll tell us now) what went down but it’s quite obvious there’s a huge rift between Bondy and Van. So many rumours have been flying around since then.

I’m so sorry I wrote a lot and it’s probably all waffle I think you probably only wanted the juicy details of the breakup which no one knows unfortunately. Personally I think much as I love him Van’s not the easiest to work with, he talks about rows with record producers etc, he even wrote a song Fallout about falling out with an old manager. He has very strong ideas about the CATB sound and I think he probably needs a lot of control creatively, plus the guys toured relentlessly it must have taken its toll on them all, I think the cracks had started and when Covid hit the other guys realised they didn’t want it anymore. But… now we have CATB (Van and possibly Benji back) plus Bob and Bondy have their own bands now too so hopefully things have worked out for the best!

Anyway feel free to come and chat about catb anytime lovely (even though I’ve probably put you off now writing all this) 😂😂

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[manicpixiedgoblin]

Nervous Young Inhumans

Masterpost

Chapter Twenty-Four.

If the accident hadn’t happened she wouldn’t have slept with Jess again - actually, she’d have slept with Saul that night, and continued refusing to acknowledge that her alleged friendship with Jess was just a thinly veiled cover for the fact she couldn’t picture life without him.

Though, admittedly, she couldn’t picture it with him either now.

Ellie had fallen asleep without taking any more pills, naked and content in Jesse’s arms. She woke up with the feeling she always had after things like this - the word shit and some vague satisfaction which remained despite the knowledge it was a bad idea.

She walked downstairs after quietly disentangling herself from Jesse’s arms - looked around for a coffee maker, but found only beer and lukewarm water. She drank the latter, disappointed. So coffee maker should be number one on her shopping list for him.

Why had she come over? He’d picked her up, right. The thing about benzos is memory turns to shit and is recalled like a dream had a few nights ago, in very dim light. She leaned against the counter as she drank and tried to remember everything, still only in her underwear and tank top. What had happened after they drove here? Had they planned to sleep together?

No, no - Walter had been here, right?

She was piecing this new element in with everything else when Jesse appeared at the door, something like relief flooding his features when he saw she was there.

“I thought you’d left,” his lips curled slightly upwards.

“No,” she smiled, “I, uh, you don’t have coffee.”

“No,” he smiled, walking up to her in his grey sweatpants, shirtless. “We can go to the Dunkin Donuts drive through, if you want.”

“Sure, yeah.”

“Or we could go to Waffle House?”

“Yeah, breakfast,” she looked at the gash on his head, back down at his eyes. “Let’s do that.”

Maybe over pancakes she could actually figure out the full picture of what had happened last night.

“I’ll get the keys and your pants,” he smiled, leaning forward and planting a kiss on her cheek. He walked out of the kitchen, actually half ran, and she stared behind him, her face shared between a smile and a concerned furrowed brow.

***

Over breakfast they were oddly quiet. Ellie’s eyes looked more aware than they had in days.

“So, uh,” Jesse said, “does anything hurt? Was I, um. I don’t know, I forgot-”

“It’s fine,” Ellie smiled a little tightly.

“Yeah, yeah. Good.”

They ate for a few seconds in silence.

“So I’m going to Mexico tomorrow,” he said after a while.

She tilted her head. She vaguely remembered the word Mexico, but the context was gone.

“Why?”

“What do you remember from last night?”

“Does Walter want you to kill someone else?”

“Uhh,” he gave a breathy laugh, “uh. That’s not why I’m going, it’s just - I’m teaching the cartel how to cook Mr. White’s recipe. For Fring.”

“Right.”

“To stop them from starting a fucking war.”

“Yeah. But you’ll be fine?”

“Mike’s coming with us.”

“How’s that reassuring?”

“It just is,” he shook his head.

They pushed their food around, had another awkward silence.

“I really am doing better, y’know,” Jesse looked up at her.

She looked into his eyes. She nodded.

“I know.”

“I, uh.. I was worried about you.”

“I know. I’m fine.”

“None of this should be your problem-”

“It is. I got involved. Regardless of you.”

“Well, no, if it weren’t for me-”

“Maybe then. But not now.”

“What does that mean?”

“It just is my problem now.”

There was another silence, which Ellie broke this time.

“Do you remember when we went to the aquarium on acid? In Santa Fe?”

“Course,” he half smiled.

“I hadn’t been back since the funeral, and I didn’t even think about it. We sat on the floor in front of the tank with the jellyfish, and I forgot my body and my past, and I remember thinking we were both leaving our selves and joining those bodies without organs, feeling the soft underwater movements and - what I’m trying to say is, all the things we think are relevant now, and all these times we’ve hurt, we forget them. We think we won’t every time, and then we do. Maybe it would mean more if we couldn’t get over it, but we always can,” she put her fork down and sat back, full, “which is to say, you’ll go to Mexico, and I’ll go back to work, and things probably won’t be fine. But we will be. We’ll be fine.”

***

She didn’t go back to work that day, and Jesse left.

But she cleaned her apartment up, put all the pills in a wicker basket under her sink and showered for the first time in days. She put on actual clothes instead of sweatpants or staying in her underwear, swept and mopped and cleaned the windows and put the ashtray outside.

Her phone had stayed in her apartment, charging the whole time. She texted Marie, Diane, Skylar and the hospital staff people back. She let her boss know she was doing better, could probably come back in a few days now.

She saw the texts from Saul.

“Can I come over?”

“I want to see you.”

“Are you alright?”

Three missed calls around eight. A couple more around ten, and five at eleven thirty.

She called him but he didn’t pick up.

While she was cleaning the rest of the place, he called her back.

“I’m on my way, I was with a client,” he said as soon as she picked up.

“On your way where? What?”

“Your place. We need to talk.”

She was confused. And a little guilty, honestly.

“About what?”

“About you disappearing last night after a week of xanax-induced dissociation!”

“I was sleeping, Saul.”

On his side of the line, driving his car, his face fell slack. He could tell by now she was putting distance between them when she called him Saul. Either that, or she was acknowledging he’d done something morally ambiguous enough to call him that.

“Well, okay. I’ll be there in ten,” he hung up.

He rang in nine. He was wearing a beige suit, a bright pink shirt and purple tie. His hair looked nice.

“Hi,” she opened.

“Hi,” he tried to kiss her but she pulled back.

“I need to tell you something,” she instantly blurted out.

He leaned his body backwards. After a moment, he sighed and walked in, shutting the door behind him and standing there.

“Is this about Pinkman?”

She nodded, making him look at the ground with a sigh.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why would you go back to that? Were-were you drunk? I dropped him off at his girlfriend’s house what, two days ago? And now he’s all-”

“I wasn’t sober, but that doesn’t matter. It happened.”

He stared at her.

“Is it going to happen again?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes it fucking matters,” he grabbed her arms, which were crossed beneath her chest. Her eyes watered a little but she didn’t know why.

“What difference does it make? I slept with him, if-if he found out about this after that-”

“So him finding out is the problem? Doesn’t that make you think? I’m the one you’re being honest with! Me! That says something!”

“It says you can fucking take it!”

“You not having to take care of me isn’t the only reason why!”

“You’re right, it’s not, but what can I do now?”

“What the fuck does that even mean?” he raised his hands and looked around, “what, you’re too guilty to stay away from him?”

“That’s not what happened, but-”

“I love you.”

She dropped her arms at her sides, her blood rushed to her face, she felt her stomach drop. She stared at him.

“I do,” he took a step towards her. “I love you, and it’s something I always say too late, but not this time. It’s not too late this time.”

She stared as he grabbed her arms.

“Maybe it is,” she whispered.

“I love you,” he repeated.

She swallowed. “I-“

“I love you.”

“Jimmy,” she shook her head.

“I love you, and I don’t want to give this up.”

“It won’t work.”

“Why not?”

“Because I love him too.”

“So what?”

“So what?”

“So what. You love him, but you also love me, so what.”

She stayed quiet. She thought about him in Mexico now, about how he’d come back and nothing would change. They wouldn’t be together, not properly, while everything in their lives remained the way it was. But she couldn’t be with either of them and live with herself. She couldn’t be with either of them, in both cases, because of what would happen with Jesse.

“Ellie?” he stared at her.

“I can’t. Not now.”

He sighed.

“I’ll call you,” he turned around opening the door. He grabbed from the hallway a flower bouquet. “I, uh, I bought these.”

He put them inside and with a weak smile closed the door behind him, leaving her staring at the flowers with her arms crossed, alone.

***

It’s fucked up to think they’d have still been together if it wasn’t for Jesse in more ways than one. The accident had happened because of him, as Jimmy was driving to her house. Her sleeping with him was the last element, but things had always been contingent to whatever he needed.

They’d met because of him, right?

Jimmy was thinking of all of this as he drove back to his office that day.

While Ellie was putting her apartment together, thinking of whether she should go back to work the next day or if she should let herself wallow and make some art.

What would she even make now?

***

By the time Jesse got back, she was working again.

He stopped by the hospital in his grey shirt and beat up face, looking for her in the waiting room next to the ER.

She met him there after Hugh let her know.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hi.”

“How’d your work trip go?”

“Uh, it went well, yeah,” he looked around. “Listen, I uh. I just wanted to let you know, y’know, I, uh. I’m seeing Andrea and Brock tonight.”

“Who?”

He didn’t answer but it only took her two seconds to recall who that was.

“Oh. Right.”

“I mean, she - you know the story, and her kid-”

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me,” her face became closed off, but she smiled, “anyways, is that why you came by? I’m not on break.”

“Ellie, I,” he broke himself off with a sigh.

“Totally fine, Jess. I get it.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah. We’re friends. We’re fine. It’s always how this goes, right?” she said the last part like a fuck you.

“El, no, that’s not-”

“Don’t fucking pull this shit again. Let’s just - we’re friends. It’s fine. It’s fucking fine.”

She turned around and walked away clenching her jaw. Fucking stupid asshole fucker. And here she was, putting him first every fucking time. While he pity fucked someone or got high with Jane and chose her only when there was no one else.

And she kept putting up not only with that, but with all he came with, all the shit they didn’t see, his fucking work, his fucking friends and - fuck no.

She knew Jimmy wouldn’t be any different - his job was just as messy, his life was just as chaotic. This wasn’t her realizing one of them was the healthy choice. This was her realizing she was apparently inherently attracted to men who were predetermined to make her life a mess.

Which was more about her than them she guessed.

***

The next day when Saul called her she replied with an “I’m taking a break from dating. I’m focusing on my work and also fuck the meth business,” to which he shushed and spoked over her so as not to compromise the line, “and fuck whatever you guys have going on. I need a normal life.”

It didn’t last. But for a few days, things were actually not an absolute mess in her life.

[eggcompany]

Jaskier and his Snuggly Wuggly Killing Machines Part 15

Spin-off of our story- Jaskier and the snuggly wuggly killing machines!!!! Valdo is throwing Jaskier a "Back to stage" Party. Geralt and Eskel wish to attend. Jaskier didn't expect them to be so... easy about it. He really didn't expect them to find friends so quickly. Geralt gets fed by a drunk guitarist and Eskel gets dougheyed for a pretty lady next to him.

“Oh! Valdo is throwing me a “Back to Stage'' party! I told him I was going to release a new song when I was ready to get back to work. What do you think, boys? It’s in a week at the Rosy Apple. That’s a pretty lowkey bar so there probably won't be that many people. Maybe Aunty can come over and babysit, puppysit rather. Would you boys mind that? If I went out for the night?” Jaskier said as he went through his emails on his laptop in the living room. 

The spring rain had been keeping the boys inside lately. Vesemir hadn’t been over in a few days since the weather change caused his joints to creek and ache far too much to get around. Aiden had become a regular face around the Pankratz residence. He often spent Monday through Saturday at the large home and only went home on Sundays to check in with his owner. Today however it was just Jaskier and his babies. Aiden was at his own home doing chores, and Vesemir had a vet over to look at his joints. 

Geralt and Eskel were just watching a show about the Amazon rainforest while playing with some sensory clay and Lambert was coloring in his favorite coloring book (Animal Alphabet, it was called) while sitting on the floor next to Jaskier. 

“Valdo is the man who came to the house and Geralt tried to eat him.” Eskel said absentmindedly while still watching his show. 

“I didn’t try to eat him. I was ‘tecting daddy. Eating people is bad, icky probably.” Geralt said to his brother, who hummed and nodded in response. Lambert perked up and looked at Jaskier. 

“I think you should go! Only Aunty has come over. We got to have Aiden and Papa, you haven’t got to see none of your friends. Do your��� Do your friends not like… witchers?” Lambert asked and said the last word as if it was a bad word. Jaskier felt touched by the kitty. Jaskier leaned down to be closer to Lambert’s ear. 

“I think my friends would love you guys, they’re just so nervous cause you’re so cute.” Jaskier whispered and Lambert looked down, blushing, his ears relaxed back a little bit. The other two boys turned so they were facing the human. 

“If they like us, why can’t we come? We’re good when you take us to the store and the park and the eating house.” Eskel says and Geralt nudges him. 

“Waffle house, Esk, Waffle house.” Geralt corrected him and Eskel nodded and looked at Jaskier. 

“We can just sit next to you. If we, if we meet your friends not in our space, maybe they can come in the house. Promise we’ll be good! Right, Bear?” Eskel said and pulled his pinky up to show Jaskier. Geralt was busy looking at his clay again. Eskel pulled the white haired cub’s hand up and Geralt caught on. 

“Yep! Promise. We can wear our pretty new shirts! The… the button ones. Um the button…” Geralt agreed and tried to think of what Jaskier had called the shirts. Then it clicked in his head. “Our new button ups!” Geralt smiled and Eskel nodded in agreement. 

Jaskier thought for a moment. He could do that. Let the boys get all dressed up in their new shirts and jeans and their nice shoes. They would have to wear their special bracelets though… Jaskier had recently bought them thick paracord bracelets with shiny brass tags that said their names, address, and Jaskier’s number. He also just bought them lovely flannel button ups. 

Jaskier was shaken by his thoughts by Lambert crudely poking his knee. Jaksier looked down at his pouting face. 

“I don’t wanna go meet people. I wanna stay home.” Lambert said plainly. Jaskier smiled and nodded, that’s understandable. 

“Okay how about this, Bear and Esk , you can come with me to the party. Lambert you can stay here with Aunty and we’ll ask if she can look after Aiden as well. Does that sound alright?” Jaskier asks and watches Eskel and Geralt smile and start wagging. Lambert nodded and went back to his coloring book. 

“Okay then! I’ll let everyone know and I’ll make sure to have everything we’ll need for a ‘Just-In-Case’ situation. Remember you can always change your mind if you want to.” Jaskier explained and the boys agreed and went back to their activities. 

_____________________________________________

“Valdo! You’re the only one who hasn't gotten back to me through email. Or text. Or call. I will march my fat ass up to your prissy little house and raise hell. Call me back.” Jaskier said into his phone. Again. The other singer hadn’t gotten back to him about bringing the babies. Well the big babies since they told him they didn’t want to be “pupped out” around anyone else yet. 

Jaskier pushed the cell phone back into the pocket of his shorts and leaned against the porch rail. The boys were whooping and hollering as they rolled and played in the mud. They were head to toe covered and Jaskier couldn’t help but laugh. They rastled and tackled each other in the thick substance. All the while Jaskier walked around the porch to check on his plants and talk with the elder witcher who was admiring the terrarium of lithops. 

“I might just hose them off out here. Would that be harsh? I mean I guess I could get gallons of warm water from the sinks to just rinse them off a bit before they come in the house. Little piggies.” Jaskier said as he neared Vesemir. Vesemir laughed from the wheelchair he had donned when the doctors had decided his knees needed a break sometimes. 

“They love the mud. I remember Geralt stripping down on the way to the springs. He would sit in the hot mud for hours. Said it felt nice on his neck! Silly pup, he was. Eskel rather preferred laying on warm rocks, he’d find a nice dry rock and lay out his boots and socks and under clothes. Naked as nature just laying out on the rocks. Lammy was too modest to strip and be with the other boys so he’d sneak an extra pair of under clothes and sit in the farthest and smallest pool. Now look at him! He’s gonna have mud packs in his tail!” Vesemir said and laughed as he watched the boys. Geralt and Eskel had tossed their own boxers off before diving into the rich dark mud but Lambert had kept on his briefs, which was much less than what Jaskier had thought he’d be wearing. Jaskier laughed too and leaned his hip against the rail. 

“Disasters. Absolute disasters. I’ll have to spend hours scrubbing them clean! Oh gods… Geralt’s hair! He is not going to be happy when I have to brush it out. He already is so… particular about his hair.” Jaskier said and groaned. Vesemir reached up and patted his back, laughing. 

“I’ll brush it. It’s the least I can do. I think we just ought to rinse them in the hose and then right into a hot bath. I’ll hose ‘em off and you go run a bath.” Vesemir said with a kind and tender voice. Jaskier relaxed and smiled as he hopped down to get the hose and toss it to Vesemir. The faucet was on the porch so the elder could get to it easily. Jaskier walked into the house with the sound of Vesemir whistling up the boys. 

_____________________________________________

“Alfredddddd~ you called me? Oh I’m so honored !” Came sarcastically through the cell phone speaker. Jaskier was elbow deep in mucky water attempting to unclog the bath drain. Jaskier sighed and rolled his eyes. The boys all tried to be quiet with their cackling because Daddy was getting even more soggy. 

“Valdo I am elbow deep in mud, you are on speaker. Keep it savory or I swear to...” Jaskier said as he yanked harder on the metal bit. If he could just pull the whole thing up he could rinse it. 

“Oh? Taking an afternoon swing in the mud? You dirty dog. I didn’t take you as an outdoor whor-” The other man said and Jaskier jumped to turn the speaker off. Successfully getting mud on his screen. Eskel handed him a towel but the other two just laughed harder. 

“I said keep it savory. I didn’t take a slog in the mud, the babies did. They’ve clogged the bath.” Jaskier said as he held the phone between his naked shoulder and ear. He stopped though to talk to the pups. “Did anyone have a rock? Did we get a rock stuck maybe? No? Alright, alright.” Jaskier said when everyone shook their heads. 

“Oh. Well whatever. Do they talk? I don’t think anyone would like it if they just chattered and grumbled the whole time. They’re big yeah, make sure to leash and muzzle them and make sure they have at least mits on. Clawing couture is like a felony ya know.” The snide man said. Jaskier had to take a breath before standing up and walking out the bathroom door. 

“I will beat you into a puddle if you ever say something like that again. It’s my party. If my babies want to eat the fucking tables, they very well can. Everyone else already agreed that it would be okay if they came. Without leashes, muzzles, mittens, or otherwise. I’ll have you know that you are the only one they’ve been aggressive with. Maybe they have six senses for bastards who can’t sing. Eat shit, they’re coming and they’ll be seated in chairs at my sides. Goodbye Valdo.” Jaskier growled into the phone before hanging up and coming back to the bathroom.  

“He was going to say whore.” Lambert said the second Jaskier stepped inside. It caused the other boys to laugh and Jaskier snickered. 

“Yes he was. Now who’s big and strong enough to pull that blasted drain out?” Jaskier asked and they scrambled to pull the bit up. 

‘Lords, I hope this party is okay…’ Jaskier told himself. 

_____________________________________________

“So Aiden is probably going to um… ‘entertain’ Lambert tonight so just ignore them and leave them alone till morning once they wash up. They’ll probably get up late or shower again in the morning. There’s plenty of puddings and candy and just doordash them a pizza or burgers or whatever they want. Um… yeah they kinda seclude themselves away in Lambert’s room. Okay I love you so much for this, Lammy, be good, Aiden don’t bite Aunty again.” Jaskier said and he kissed Yennefer, Lambert, and Aiden’s cheeks. Aiden and Lambert were both blushing and looking down, they of course were hand in hand. 

“Of course! And oh~ Handsome boys, handsome handsome. Make sure to have fun and eat as much as you want. Stay close to daddy, watch out for people who drink too much, watch out for daddy when he drinks too much. Jaskier when you absolutely get closet pissing drunk I’m sure one of your strapping young boys would happily carry you to the car. Geralt sweety, there's a sweater in the blue duffel bag. I think we’ll get you a bigger size next time, that button is just gonna pop!” Yennefer said and scratched at Eskel’s ears. Geralt was wearing his pretty new blue flannel shirt and a pair of nice black jeans that he had recently grown very fond of. The shirt however was probably a size too small because the third button down was straining to keep the pale flesh covered. 

“I wanna match Esky! Can… Can bubba also wear a sweater? Cause I’m not too comfy.” Geralt said and looked over at Eskel who was wearing a matched outfit only his flannel was a dark shade of blue, and it was a size bigger and it actually fit him. Eskel was crosseyed from having his ears scratched, but he nodded anyway. 

“Okay then, hurry though. We need to head out in seven minutes. I’ll go get your sweaters. Black and red, yes? Yenn please help them with buttons. Lammy, Aiden, Fantastic Beasts is pulled up in the playroom.” Jaskier said and made his way up the stairs as the two youngests made their way to the basement. 

_____________________________________________

Soon the boys were seated in the third row of the suburban that Valdo had sent to pick Jaskier up and send him home. They were wiggling around and giggling. Jaskier chatted lightly with the driver as they made their way to the small upscale bar. 

Jaskier had Geralt’s hand in his right and Eskel’s in his left as he walked into the darkened double doors. Cheers and hooraas rang out as he smiled and walked to the seat at the front. A little more than a baker's dozen of his friends and companions sat around at the few wooden tables. Jaskier happily hopped up to the table on the stage. There were three seats pulled up. Eskel and Geralt waited until Jaskier sat down to take their own seats. There was a smaller woman with blue streaked hair next to Geralt and a strong looking woman next to Eskel. 

“Yes, yes, I’m back from the dead. For anyone who hadn’t heard, I took time off to situate my home with my new pets. Three witchers! Two accompany me tonight, you can wave if you want Geralt. This is my sweet honey pie Geralt, and this is the eldest Eskel! I’m sure most of you know that witchers have a bad reputation. Don’t be afraid of them, they’re not mean or viscous or anything else. If anything Eskel might cuddle you to death and Geralt licks. Be friendly with them, show kindness and compassion to those more fortunate than you! They get to see this sexy face 24/7!” Jaskier announced and sat back down into his chair laughing. The room erupted in applause and laughter. People around the table started speaking. 

“Jaskier, Jaskier, coming back already? I heard you were out for good! Valdo spreads rumors like butter!” Said a man across from Geralt. Jaskier turned and started chatting to them. 

_____________________________________________

“Hello Geralt. Want some wine? We have a few bottles for the table.” Said a woman with blue streaks in her hair that was sitting next to Geralt. The cub lowered his ears and shook his head. 

“No thank you. Alcohol is icky. Jask said that we can have it but I think it’s gross.” Geralt said politely. He then leaned closer and whispered to the tipsy lady who was lipping at her wine glass. “I really want some potatoes but they’re over there and I don’t wanna be rude interrupting.” Geralt said and eyed the fancy crystal bowl full of mashed potatoes. Many bowls and trays floated around the room. Jaskier had said there would be so much food. There were hams and chickens and vegetables and cut fruit and all the food you could ever ask for. 

The lady laughed and waved her hand. She asked loudly for the bowl which was passed over to her. Geralt smiled and wagged his tail where it was slid through a gap in the chair back. His ears stood up tall. He reached for the bowl but the lady shook her head. 

“Allow me, dear. I’m Gwen by the way. Guitarist and lyrical queen. Let’s plate you up plenty , Big boys need to eat.” She said and scooped out at least two and half cups of the pale mush onto Geralt’s plate. Geralt sat still with his eyebrows high on his forehead. When the lady, Gwen, pulled back and set the bowl back onto the table Geralt smiled widely at her. He took up a spoon to eat but he halted when he heard her gasp. With wide yellow eyes, he looked up at her in confusion. 

“Oh wow, your teeth! How can you fit those inside your mouth? Can I touch them? My my they’re huge! Ferocious lookin’” Gwen exclaimed and moved her hands toward Geralt’s face. The cub looked up at Jaskier for a moment, just to make sure he was still safe, before leaning over and opening his mouth. The nearly inch and a half inch top fangs caught light. Gwen leaned in and looked at them in drunken wonder. 

“Wow… You look like you suck your thumb… Your top teeth are kinda worn. Do you chew on things you shouldn’t?” Gwen said and took a closer look at Geralt’s teeth. The cub sat back and closed his mouth and looked down embarrassed. Gwen laughed and leaned forward to rest on her head on her wrist, her wine glass close to her forehead. 

“You do. You’re a silly puppy, aren’t you. Witcher though…” Gwen says and looks skeptical. Geralt feels nervous and scoots away so he’s touching thighs with Jaskier under the table. 

Jaskier turns and absentmindedly rubs at the bottom of Geralt’s ear. He’s happily talking to the people across the table about music and house renovations.  Gwen leaned back and waved him to calm. 

“No, no, sweety. Not like that. I heard Witcher’s grow new teeth if they lose them. Is that true? Or will those get loose when you wear them down more?” Gwen said and forked a piece of steak, popping it into her mouth while watching the witcher. 

“They come back. I got my big teeth busted all the time when I was a kid, they just come back. I guess I could pull them out. They come back in like… a week? Five days?” Geralt explained and ran his tongue over his front teeth. They did feel a little worn down. Probably from always sucking on popsicles all summer, chewing on the wooden blocks even though daddy told him not too, and biting sticks in the yard. Gwen smiled and stuck another piece of steak onto her fork. 

“Hmm… I’m sure you could. Although they are quite cute, all small. Here, eat.” Gwen said and waved her fork over to Geralt who happily took the meat and chewed it up. He was having a very nice time. 

Gwen fed him more and more. Steak, salad, fruit, lots of fruit, etc. Geralt was smiley and happy and Gwen had scooted them so she could curl and play with his long white hair. Geralt purred quietly a few times, causing Gwen to squeal and clap happily. 

_____________________________________________

While Geralt had his time with Gwen Eskel was also having a time. 

Eskel sat down and looked down for a little while but a deep gentle voice forced him to look up. 

“Darling, why aren’t you eating? Do you want something different? I’ll go get you something different if you’d like.” Said a lady Eskel didn’t really notice until now. 

Eskel raised his eyes up to meet the person sitting next to him. Eskel was going to brush them off but Eskel just became pie-eyed when he looked up. The lady, dressed in a fine wine colored floor length dress, was so… pretty. She had beautiful brown eyes, warm russet colored hair that floated around her head like a halo that was perfectly picked, and a warm chocolate toned lipstick. Eskel stared at her for probably a rude amount of time. He took in her features, her strong jawline, wide nose, her delicate pink painted nails, her hands that looked rough and strong yet so… gentle. Eskel just sat staring with his mouth slightly open with his amber eyes flashing around the woman. The way the warm toned dress complimented her own warm toned skin so well she looked like art. It took more than a minute for the lady to let out a laugh. 

“Do you want wine? Or a cookie, baby?” The woman says, pulling Eskel from his lovey glazed daze. He indeed quickly and shook his head, his face heating up into a tomato shade. 

“N-no thank you, ma’am.” Eskel said which caused another deep giggle. 

“Ma’am is only used for old people, dear. I’m Rose. Now, why aren’t you eating?” Rose said and Eskel couldn’t help but nod along. His heart was swirling in his chest. This lady… was so… perfect. The energy around her seemed to shine and sparkle. 

“I don’t wanna accidentally drop something or embarrass daddy. You all look so fancy. Especially you. You look very fancy and very pretty.” Eskel says in a light quiet voice. The woman smiled and reached out to touch his forearm. Heat and sparks and magic it felt like floated up from that hand up to wrap and squeeze at his heart. 

“That’s so nice! You look very nice too. That sweater looks so comfy, it feels very nice. How about this, you can scoot over here a little and I can cut up some of this turkey (I’ve already way too much of it!) and I’ll feed it to you. Do you want some help, little puppy?” Rose says and Eskel nods. She can tell by the pup's eyes and relaxed stature that he trusts her. Eskel turns and hooks his feet in the bottom rungs of the woman’s seat and drags her closer. Causing the women to jump and smile, laughing. 

“Okay Miss Rose. But… But I’m not a little puppy! I’m a big boy. Witchers aren’t just one thing you know.” Eskel says and watches happily as the woman cuts up a large slab of hot turkey breast. Rose hummed and smiled over at him. 

“Really? What do you mean, not just one thing? I see one thing, a cutie wootie fella.” Rose said and that makes Eskel grin dumbly and smile. His ears flip back and he blushes shyly. 

“I’m mostly wolf but they mix up our genetics. Bear, wolf, cat, badger, all sorts of stuff. Geralt’s lot’s of stuff. Lammy’s mostly cat. He’s our younger brother, he stayed home.” Eskel chatted lightly until Rose lifted a cut piece of meat up to Eskel’s mouth. Eskel wiggled in his seat and smiled. ‘ This is so nice. Pretty lady feeding me!’ Eskel thinks as he eats bite after bite. 

“Hmm… Eskel, darling, do you think it’s about time to have something sweeter. It’s getting late. I think they’ll be bringing out desserts soon. Oh silly boy, come here.” Rose says and Eskel wags and leans forward, eyes closed. The lady gently wipes at his mouth. She cradles his face for a moment before lifting him back up. 

“I like dessert. I like cream things like cold whip and condensed milk. We get it out of cans!” Eskel said excitedly. Rose laughed loudly at the way the pup phrased it. Her laugh was deep and rich and it shook Eskel’s bones in the best way. 

“Well I’ll make sure to get you an extra piece of cheesecake. I’m sure you’ll like it. You ate everything else so gently. You have such manners, I’m sure Jask appreciates it.” Rose said and brushed Eskel’s hair out of his face and rubbed at his ears. His eyes crossed and slumped towards her, smiling. His tail was thumping against a table leg and his ears moved around slightly when she scratched a sensitive spot. 

_____________________________________________

Jaskier had a wonderful time. He talked with his table for a while before deciding he could walk around once he saw that Eskel was all mushy with Rosemary, his manager, and Geralt was getting fed by a quite drunk Gwen. He made his way table to table, taking pictures, joking around, talking, taking congratulations and welcome backs. He ate and tried not to drink too much but by the time he rounded back to his table for dessert he was wobble on his feet. He sat down and laughed bubbly at the sight. Geralt was talking to Gwen and her partner Alfie. Gwen was busying herself looking at Geralt’s large padded palms. Eskel, holding his head up by his palms while his elbows rested on the table,  was purring and speaking to people around the table while Rosemary stroked his ears and head. Jaskier rubbed his hands over each boy’s back reassuringly. 

Soon each boy was getting fed desserts. Gwen had become too drunk so Alfie had laughed and offered Geralt pieces of candy and chocolates. The white haired pet moaned and groaned happily at the sweet rich flavor. He purred loudly and wagged strong, his ears were laid back in relaxation. Eskel was just about sitting in Rose’s lap by the time she brought a bit of the second slice of cheesecake up to him. He was smiling and talking to others between bites. His leg was squished against the lady’s and he felt so happy. His ears were up in an alert, happy way as he spoke. Everyone could hear his purr rumbling below his voice. Rose smiled and with one hand she rubbed at the base of one of his soft ears and brought spoonfuls of dessert up to Eskel’s mouth. 

This was one of the best nights. Ever probably. Lambert should come to the next one.

<- Last Chapter Next Chapter ->

[lovesosweeet]

MAY THE BEST MAN WIN

competing for the best toast at their best friends' wedding, calum and tanner go from being pretend rivals to… something like friends. maybe a little more? may the best man win.

read on ao3

part seven

The morning of the wedding is as chaotic for Tanner as she expected. Valerie wakes her up at 6 am because she’s nervous and can’t go back to sleep, which is apparently Tanner’s problem. They watch their comfort movie, Uptown Girls, while they wait for the rest of the girls to wake up and for the rest of her family to arrive for the day.

Once the rest of the bridal party is awake and drinking mimosas, Tanner heads out to grab Waffle House. She tries to not be annoyed at the traffic on the way there or the fact that the employee on the phone acted as if it was their first day and Tanner had some kind of incomprehensible accent, but, an hour and a half after she had left the house, when she returns, she’s scowling out of frustration. 

She takes a deep breath when she sees that the photographers and videographers for the day have arrived, with Lou finally in attendance  — the whole team personally recommended and vetted by Tanner, of course — and tries her best to wipe away her visible stress. She doesn’t want to have resting bitch face in all the pictures they take of the getting ready process. 

As she walks up to the front porch, bags and boxes of food balanced in her arms, she stops in her tracks. 

None other than Calum Hood is sitting in a rocking chair, presumably waiting for her. On the table next to him sits a drink tray filled with coffees, which she doesn’t even notice. She’s more concerned with him simply being there, at the “bridal house” on the morning of the big day. 

“You gonna sit there and stare at me or are you going to help me up these steps with all this?” She teases, making him spring into action to take the nearly falling top layer of her high stacked boxes. Tanner huffs out a ‘thank you’ and nods while he opens the door for her. 

“A man is entering the house!” Tanner yells, earning a side eye from Calum who is following her lead to the kitchen. 

“Why is a man here?” Sarah yells from her seat in the living room where a hairstylist has begun to curl her hair. 

“Just helping Tanner with breakfast,” Calum says. He puts the food on the kitchen counter. “You look pissed,” he whispers. 

She glares.

“Hey, just stating the obvious, don’t get mad at me, please.” 

She sighs and begins to take everything out of the bags to form a makeshift buffet for everyone, Calum just doing what she is silently, careful not the poke the bear. 

“Why are you here?” She whispers to him, keenly aware to the pairs of ears that are nearby. 

“Oh, uh, I,” he stutters out, making Tanner stop what she’s doing to look at him with eyebrows raised. “You said the coffee at Waffle House was gross, and I… noticed while we were in Vegas that you don’t drink drip coffee anyway. So I pulled up your guys’ coffee orders that you sent me out to get while we were on the trip and got everyone what they ordered then. Figured you could use some fuel for the day.” 

It’s such an unexpected answer that she doesn’t know what to do. She settles on smiling. “That’s really sweet of you,” she says. “Thank you.” 

“Oh, that’s not even the best part,” Calum adds, grinning to himself. 

“Oh? It’s not?”

He laughs. “You’d asked for two different things on the different days I ran out for coffee, so I got both, since I didn’t know what kind of mood you’d be in.” 

“Well, thank you, and I hope the guys say thank you to you, too. You’re a great best man.” She means it, truly. 

He nearly snickers at her comment. “Oh, yeah, um, the guys are just getting random coffee shop drip coffee in a jug. They’re gonna water it down with whiskey and Bailey’s, so they really don’t give a shit about the actual coffee.” 

She shakes her head. “You’re an interesting creature, Allen.” 

Once they’ve put out all the food, they retreat back to the porch, where Tanner notices the tray of coffee that she had somehow missed before. She sees Valerie’s iced mocha with whipped cream, Sarah and Elle’s iced vanilla lattes, and Lauren’s iced dirty chai. Her strawberry matcha and oat milk cappuccino stand out amidst the other drinks and she doesn’t even know which she’d rather have right now. She also wonders why she didn’t think of stopping to get good coffee on her errand, but then remembers the traffic and less than stellar customer service at Waffle House. 

“You really didn’t need to get me two drinks,” she says.

Calum shrugs. “I actually got you three, but I drank the third myself because it looked really good. I wasn’t gonna tell you, though, because I knew you’d give me shit for it. Too late.”

“What was it?” 

“You’re gonna be mad.”

“What was it?” She repeats.

“It was a Lucky Charms latte.”

Tanner’s eyes narrow. “I am mad.”

He giggles and shrugs. “I warned you!”

“Yeah, you did,” she huffs. “Well, despite your indiscretion, I am very thankful for you this morning. You’re welcome to stay for breakfast, if you’d like?” 

Calum shakes his head. “No, no, I should let you guys eat and get ready. But, I’ll see you in a bit, yeah? Text me if you have any maid of honor emergencies. You’ve done enough shit, so let me do my part if you need something, okay?” 

Tanner smiles. “Thank you, but hopefully everything will go smoothly from here on.”

“For some reason I don’t foresee that, but hey, maybe I’m wrong.”

They both laugh and they find themselves not really wanting to part ways, even though they have a big day ahead of both of them.

“Tanner!” Valerie’s mom screeches from inside, making the two wince.

“That’s my cue,” Tanner says, grabbing the drinks. “See ya later, Allen.”

[ofthehands]

I go back and forth on it tbh. There’s nothing textually that I feel confirms or denies that he could have been a killer (of people lol), but I think the first two movie’s canon does lean towards him not being one. While the brothers have run it down a lot, the Sawyers had a nice home and Grandpa held a steady job for a long time, and seemed to be appreciated by his community if Drayton’s speech in TCM2 is to be believed, which is far from the isolated, bizarre, and anti-social Sawyers we see by the time the movie takes place. He was also described by John Dugan in either TCM: A Family Portrait or TCM: The Shocking Truth (sorry, I don’t recall which) as being so old he was “embryonic”, and Dugan was told to immilate a baby nursing when he does that weird little movement when he’s drinking Sally’s blood. There’s a lot of removal of agency/ distancing from the rest of the family going on with Grandpa that seems kind of strange/ less necessary if he was a killer. Because, like, what does it matter if Grandpa doesn’t have the sense to know he’s there/ what’s going on if he would approve of it? 

On the other hand, I also don’t think the killings started with Drayton. He doesn’t like killing, and while he’s willing to do it himself and we all know how sadistic he can be- Nubbins mocks him for it, calling him “just the cook” a lot. Which, implies to me at least, that a standard has been set amongst the Sawyers of what a proper “killer” looks like, and that being one is a positive, and Drayton is failing to live up to it. With how erratic Drayton is, it’s totally possible he set the standard he doesn’t even meet then got mad at Nubbins for calling him on it, but when you combine the standard with Drayton’s fairly intense inner conflict and moral uncertainty, I think think it becomes more likely that some Sawyer before him set it, and that regardless of whether or not it was true about him, the younger Sawyers were lead to believe Grandpa perfectly encapsulated an ideal “killer”. It could be, in that case, that the mysterious Parent Sawyers started the antisocial cannibal streak in the family and made up the image of perfect killer Grandpa from whole cloth. It could also be that Grandpa was a killer, whose actual prowess was seriously embellished as a point of family pride. And technically it’s also possible that Grandpa really was just number 1 murder man lol. Again, none of this really proves or disproves that Grandpa was a killer, which is why I kind of waffle on it. 

Either way the real killer in this story is the profound ineptitude of the Muerto County Police. I think they were in a battle for the planet of the morons with the Sawyers for a long time no matter which Sawyer started  it. For years (enough to accumulate all those victim cars) the Sawyers were being cringefail murderers and covering it up with the grace of a landlord painting over a cockroach while the MCPD looked anywhere but the Sawyer family house like their lives depended on it. 

Anyways, regardless of all that, personality-wise, pre-embryonic state, I think Grandpa was probably abusive in some way, strict, and either erratic or sadistic. The abusive one is pretty simple, I think- the Sawyer family abuse/ unhealthy dynamic reads as generational to me, and it doesn’t feel like a stretch. I mean the first US child abuse laws weren’t even enacted until after this movie came out (CAPTA, 1974), so that kind of thing was rampant. I think he was strict- murderer or not- because of the quote from Chainsaw Confidential, where when Drayton’s feeling ashamed and thinks of what Grandpa might think of him, he gets scared of his own thoughts. Drayton’s not a particularly rational person throughout the films, but I still think it’s telling that considering Grandpa’s opinion makes him scared not just of his actions, but of what’s going on in his head too, which would imply to me Grandpa was a strict, and maybe domineering force when he was alive (Or complete opposite and he was the moral fiber holding the family together. Hm. Much to think about). Lastly, the erratic or sadistic bit comes from Drayton’s speech in TCM2, where he describes why exactly Grandpa quit which is… bizarre. Like if his quitting/ the family being booted from the slaughterhouse lead them to such intense and dire circumstances that they resulted to cannibalism because of it, then him quitting over the captive bolt pistol is kind of insane. Calling the captive bolt pistol full automation is quite the stretch. There’s two kinds of captive bolt stunners, penetrative and non-penetrative- the first involves a bolt going into the animal’s brain and will 100% of the time damage the brain tissue, and the second is meant to give the animal a concussion and render it unconscious, sometimes damaging the tissues. With the second one, you’ve still got to actually kill the animal, and that’s a whole thing, but from Nubbins and Franklin’s conversation it sounds like they’re concerned with the first- but with that you still need a team. It was especially messy in the 70’s- the absolute latest and most advanced guns Grandpa could have been working with- when the only actual air guns were just kind of modified nail guns. Though I would think he might have quit when the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act first started getting enforced in 1960- though if that’s when the Sawyers headed out then Nubbins would have been working as “the killer” at age 14? Who knows. Anyways, Grandpa quitting over the airgun because it’s ‘automation’ would imply to me he either A. didn’t think it through very thoroughly and ended up starving his family because of it or B. he just enjoyed killing animals more when they were concious/ before the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, which would make him either erratic (which I think is more likely) or sadistic, depending. 

This ended up longer than expected lol, I love to ramble. I ultimately think either interpretation could fit well within the established framework of TCM 1&2, and I would be very interested to see others interpretations of a non-murderous Grandpa Sawyer.  I tend to lean towards him being a killer more my own fanworks, generally, but there’s a wealth of untapped irony and depravity in him being molded into a real killer by his own blood now that he’s in such a fragile, infant-eqse state, much the way he molded them.

actually how do you all interpret tcm Grandpa...because I am positive the intent of the 1st movie was that he was just a normal slaughterhouse worker and the unspoken humor/horror in his grand kids feeding him human blood to keep him alive and making him bash people with hammers while describing him as the best killer (of “beeves,” plural form of beef) there ever was, all without his lucid knowledge, is the unseen fall from grace—that without him they can no longer meaningfully differentiate between human and not, their treasured anecdote of Grandpa at his slaughterhouse job equivalent with their abduction and murder of an innocent girl, a logic developed in increasing isolation that the cook expects Sally to accept.

The old ways, Grandpa as their figurehead, are obsolete, no longer apply to THEM, but they emulate memories of Normalcy (often distant) the best they can. The way he is now he can't tell them they're wrong.

This passage from Chainsaw Confidential about Drayton—

On the one hand he’s getting off on it, and then he becomes ashamed of himself, and he looks back to old Grandpa, and he gets afraid of his own thoughts, and he gets afraid of what old Grandpa is going to think of him; and Grandpa doesn’t have enough sense to, he doesn’t even know he’s there anyway.

—could be interpreted in a couple of ways, but juxtaposed with his shame of "getting off" on it, maybe there's a fear that Grandpa would think he's a bad person? Not for NOT killing her, but the opposite...

Nothing directly contradicts the idea that Grandpa is a killer (of humans, too), but if their serial murdering and cannibalism had only started since they lost their jobs due to the “airgun,” it would be not too long ago if Hitchhiker is about 25, long after Grandpa stopped working if he is in his 100s. I know most of the sequels have their own take on the Sawyers being a serial killing clan with Grandpa as the serial killing patriarch, and the game is 100% that way, but I never got the impression from the 1st movie that there ever was a "family business" before Drayton.

Grandpa being an authoritarian and abusive figure who taught the boys everything they know (and is thus responsible) was never suggested by the first (and 2nd?) movie—all we know is that they love and care for him—but it is accepted by fandom/the video game as an explanation for their current state, since by design we know absolutely nothing about these people and where they came from, and that makes the most sense. This I mostly agree with, imagining the Sawyers as having a history of domestic violence, inwardly directed violence, just not. a long history of murdering randoms, given how bad they are at it.

idk I like the dramatic irony in Grandpa, who I doubt the younger Sawyers ever got to know, being forced into crimes he's not aware of, especially if it was all inspired by his previous, Normalized cruelty (the Normal Socially Acceptable kind of abuse it takes to maintain a nuclear family). Still in the end it’s about imitating the violence they know and directing it on a more…plentiful resource.

[k-evans-reads]

Playing With Fire

Chapter 10

Summary: After a change of heart nearly ten years into her career as a pediatric intensive care unit nurse, Ellie Maxwell has moved back home and returned to her old job at the local bakery, where the regulars are the firefighters from down the street. When sparks begin to fly between Ellie and the guarded, closed-off Chris, will anything come of it?

Pairing: Firefighter!Chris Evans X OFC Elizabeth “Ellie” Maxwell

Word Count: 5,018

By: @k-evans-writes and @ourfinest-hour

We do NOT give permission for our works to be reuploaded, translated, or reposted on any other site. Our work is our own.

Warnings: None.

Previous | Main Masterlist | Playing With Fire Masterlist

The sight of the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree seemed to almost taunt Chris as he laid on the couch with Dodger. It was the end of Christmas Day and he couldn’t have felt more sad if he tried. Yesterday was filled with so much joy, taking Hazel out to play in the snow before going over to his mother’s house where his entire family gathered to celebrate Christmas Eve together. Hazel’s eyes were twinkling the entire time, loving every moment and that same twinkle was in her eyes when she jumped on his bed early this morning shouting that Santa had come and left them presents. 

He had such a huge smile on his face when they went downstairs and made a quick breakfast of waffles together before Ashlee came over, the two of them pushing away any differences they had to be able to both watch Hazel open her presents on Christmas morning. But when all the presents were opened and Hazel was getting buckled into Ashlee’s car so she could have her the rest of the day, that smile was long gone. He was able to distract himself by spending the rest of the day at his mother’s house, laughing with his family but by the time all the food was eaten, dishes washed, and evening had set, he couldn’t hold off the deep pain inside his chest at not being able to be with his daughter on the special day. 

Not being able to hold off his feelings, he hugged his family before leaving to go home early, which is where he was now, laying on the couch as he absentmindedly watched football, drinking a beer and trying to keep his tears at bay. He was so lost in his sadness that he jumped from surprise when his phone started ringing and he went to turn it off, not wanting to speak to anyone but he quickly changed his tune when he saw the name on the screen. 

“Hi honey, Merry Christmas!” Ellie’s voice carried cheerily through the phone, bringing a hint of a smile to his face. 

“Hey, Elles,” he murmured, moving a hand to turn the game down a bit as he leaned his head back against the couch. 

He could hear Ellie turn on her turn signal as she drove, Ellie telling him, “It started snowing like crazy so I’m headed home right now.” 

“Be careful, the roads are slick,” he instantly told her, glancing out the wide windows to watch the snow fall outside. He made a note to text Ashlee later, just to make sure they made it home from her mother’s in the city okay. 

“I will be,” Ellie promised him, and the turn signal turned off.  “How was your Christmas, baby?” 

He frowned, staring at Dodger’s brown fur before he said to her, “Fine, how was yours?” 

“Oh it was so great. It’s a good thing I’m not wearing jeans because I ate so much food I swear the button would have popped off!” Ellie laughed, and Chris knew there must have been a wide grin on her face. “We just had so much fun, but I’m sorry you couldn’t join us for dessert tonight. My family missed seeing you.” 

Chris sighed, his hand running through his messy hair. “Well I don’t think I would have been very good company,” he confessed quietly.

“Why do you say that?” 

“I’m just… missing Hazel,” he admitted, his eyes moving over the living room. What gifts Hazel couldn’t take with her - or fit in her backpack - were still under his tree, her blanket was thrown on the couch next to Dodger, her stocking was still under the TV, a few of her beloved stuffed animals were lined up next to the fireplace, and everywhere he looked, there was more Hazel throughout the room, house, and his life. And he missed her so much today that it hurt.

“Oh honey, of course you are,” Ellie’s voice was dripping with sympathy. “Do you want me to come by?” 

“No, I’m fine,” he tried to assure her, shaking his head even though she couldn’t see him. “Just being here with all her gifts under the tree from today is making me upset. Everything here is Hazel’s and I just hate that I can’t be with her.” 

She was quiet for several moments, enough that Chris nearly checked to make sure the call didn’t drop. “Chris, I really think I should stop by,” she told him quietly, in an almost timid way.

“No, don’t. I’m sorry Ellie, I shouldn’t have said all that,” he rushed to apologize and reassure her. “I’m okay, I really am. I don’t want to be a downer on Christmas.” 

“You’re allowed to have feelings you know?” 

“Yeah… I guess I’m just kind of ready for today to be over,” he admitted before he sighed and glanced back outside at the snow. “Will you text me when you get home so I know you got there safe?” 

“Of course. Goodnight Chris,” she told him, listening as he returned the farewell before she hung up the Bluetooth call.

But as Ellie kept driving along those snowy roads, she couldn’t help but keep thinking about what Chris had said. Her heart broke as she thought of him sitting at home alone with nothing but sadness around him. She knew that he told her not to come over, but Ellie thought it had been just about long enough that Chris had to look out for himself and decided to ignore what he said, showing up on his doorstep in the snow and telling him the moment that he opened that front door that, “You’re coming with me. Grab your coat and Dodger and come get in the car.” 

His face was still frozen in shock, so much so that it took him several long moments until he responded, “...Can I pack a bag? Or is that not allowed?” 

“I guess so,” Ellie laughed, shrugging a bit as Dodger circled her feet happily.

Silently, Chris shut the door behind her while he then turned to go up the stairs to his bedroom to throw some clothes in a bag as well as the couple other things he’d need. His brain still felt foggy from all the sadness as he walked back downstairs to find where Ellie was sitting on the floor scratching Dodger. She pushed herself off the floor, Chris watching the way she rested a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow as she looked at him quizzically. 

“Don’t I even get a kiss?” 

And in that moment, Chris felt all of his defenses he was so used to just completely drop. The weight seemed to fall off his shoulders while he dropped his bag to the floor, stalking over and holding Ellie against his chest as tight as possible while he kissed her so deep that both of them were seeing stars. She always could pull him out of whatever anxious thoughts were going through his brain and bring him back to reality… back to her. Never had he felt as loved as he did with her and the way she nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck once their lips parted and hugged him so warmly made him feel like he was going to melt into a puddle right then and there. 

“You’re coming home with me tonight,” Ellie told him decisively, her hand scratching through the short hair on the back of his head. “I even have some cookie dough mixed up in the fridge so we can pop some fresh cookies in the oven and just relax.” 

She felt his shoulders slump in relief, practically melting into her as he whispered, “God, Elles. You’re the best.”

After they put some food and a toy for Dodger in Chris’ bag, they headed into the snowy evening and drove the short distance to Ellie’s yellow house. Dodger settled in quickly on the fluffy rug in front of the fireplace - which Chris got a fire going in while Ellie turned the oven on - and then after both changed into some soft sweatpants, the pair settled in for a night of relaxing on the couch, listening to the crackle of the fire and smelling the cookies in the oven. 

“Okay before you get too comfortable, I have a little Christmas present for you,” Ellie told him, getting up and crouching in front of the Christmas tree, holding up a bulky wrapped gift for him.  

“Elles, that doesn’t look like a little present,” he nearly admonished, shaking his head with wide eyes. 

“Well maybe not little in the physical sense but it’s nothing grandiose or anything, it’s just… well just open it!” 

He shook his head, carefully tearing the wrapping paper, revealing a beautifully woven, white and gray blanket. “Baby…” he whispered, eyes moving over the handiwork. He had seen Ellie’s knitting supplies every time he’d visited her here in the past month, but while he was surprised at how intricately she’d been able to do the blanket, he should’ve never been surprised. Ellie was Ellie, and she never did things half-assed. “Did you make this?” 

“Yeah I knitted it and it’s one of those jumbo blankets so that there’s enough room for you and Hazel to snuggle under it,” Ellie explained, her thumb running back and forth along his knee over his sweatpants. “So see, it’s nothing grandiose in terms of value but it’s big in physical size.” 

“This has more value to me than anything you could have ever bought,” Chris murmured, his eyes still dancing over the blanket, able to imagine Hazel wrapped up in it and giggling like mad. “Thank you honey. I don’t even know what to say. This is just… so sweet.” 

She swallowed away the lump in her throat as she looked at how…. Relaxed he was now. Chris was obviously struggling without Hazel, and while he threw himself into his work as a way to cope with that, it was clear that that coping mechanism wasn’t sustainable  - for any of them. “I’m so glad you like it,” she whispered, leaning over to press a kiss to his cheek. 

He put the blanket over their laps, the knitted material a welcome weight on their laps. “If we’re doing presents now then you should reach into my bag because I have one for you in there,” he sighed playfully, leaning forwards and digging in his bag for Ellie’s gift. 

While it was considerably smaller than her own gift, she knew he was nothing if not sentimental, detail-oriented, and a perfectionist - and she almost couldn’t restrain herself from tearing into the perfectly wrapped present, only to reveal what the small box held beneath the tight corners. “You seriously are the best gift wrapper ever. I don’t even want to rip into this!” 

“Just do it, rip it,” Chris laughed, shaking his head as he leaned his side against the fluffy couch cushion.

“Okay, okay, oh my god what is it?” Ellie asked, her brows furrowing as she looked at the single card - one that almost resembled a debit card. 

“It’s a membership to that bookstore that’s down on the corner that you like,” Chris explained quietly, his eyebrows raised. “The lady said that the membership includes renting books, the book clubs they host and then you get uh, I think one or two books a month for free.” 

Her jaw dropped, Ellie almost dumbfounded before she told him, “Christopher Evans, this is the most thoughtful present.” 

Chris sat there while Ellie brought her hands on his bearded cheeks, leaning in to press her lips to his over and over again until they were interrupted by the oven beeping. She gave him one more long kiss before climbing off the couch and heading into the kitchen with Dodger getting up to trot right behind her. Chris grabbed the scraps of wrapping paper, balling them up and putting it next to the coffee table before he leaned back into the couch, relaxing as he pulled his brand new blanket over his lap, feeling warm from the inside out. 

He just listened to the crackle of the fire for a long moment before Ellie came back, climbing onto the couch cushion to sit right next to him. She had a napkin with a fresh cookie in each hand, balancing them carefully while he tucked her back underneath the blanket before she handed him the warm cookie. They sat quietly while eating their treat but once Ellie was finished and wrapping her arms around his middle as she curled up to him, he felt that warm smile cross his face. 

It was funny to him that less than an hour ago he was ready to cry alone on his couch but now he was here, sitting in front of a roaring fire feeling nothing but contentment inside of him, and it was thanks to that girl who was humming in the kitchen, who knitted him that blanket, in this house, and worked down in the bakery. It made him realize that all of his happiness in life couldn’t be wrapped up in Hazel only… and it didn’t have to be. Although he missed Hazel like crazy, right now he felt happy. He felt completely and utterly happy being here with Ellie. He had been so wrapped up in Hazel all of these years that he had never opened his heart to anyone else, but now that he did, it may have terrified him but also felt so good and he knew without a doubt that this was so right. 

“Merry Christmas, baby,” she told him as she sat back down on the couch and handed him a plate with some cookies, chocolate smeared on her cheek. 

“Ellie…” Chris trailed off, pausing as he hesitated, then decided to push through that last damn wall. “I love you.” 

Her face nearly fell, but her eyes were full of hope as she asked him quietly, “...You do?” 

“I do Ellie. I love you so much,” he confessed, giving her a tight and slightly watery smile as his eyes searched her own. 

“I’m so glad to hear you say that,” she said with a shaky voice, leaning forward to kiss him quickly, pulling away just as suddenly. “I love you too Chris. I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you. I know it sounds a little crazy because we haven’t been together very long but I know it’s true.” 

He nodded, a lump forming in his throat. He’d been feeling something for nearly three weeks now, knowing how different it felt - this felt - from any previous relationship. While he and Ashlee were never truly in love, they’d tried to force the concept in hopes of having a stable home for Hazel. But he never felt this way, never woke up thinking of someone else but Hazel, never cared for them in this way except as a father, or craved their touch nearly all hours of the day. He’d also never known what it felt like to be loved in this way - not as a son, brother, or father. He never saw the little smiles before he caught Ellie staring at him a few times, never knew what it felt like to have someone crave his touch in a way that verged on addicting. And he loved it. “I feel it Ellie. I know that you mean it,” he assured her with a grin. 

“In this season of my life there hasn’t been much of anything I’ve been sure of, but I’m sure about you,” she assured him back with a watery look, and Chris couldn’t help himself but lean forward and press several kisses to the center of her forehead, his eyelashes brushing against his cheeks as he held her. 

“I just feel so undeserving of it, Elles,” he breathed, pausing to smile as he felt her lips against his neck. “But I love you so much. It’s been so hard for me to open up but I know that I love you.” 

“I know you mean it, honey.” 

He nodded, burying his face in the wavy mess of her blonde hair. “The past few years I’ve basically just gone from being with Hazel to going to work and then repeating that every week. I just feel like you’ve opened up so much more to me,” he began slowly, confessing the things he’d barely begun to process himself in the recent days, nevertheless told anyone else. “You’ve shown me that a relationship and love can be… so good.” 

“It should be good,” Ellie told him in a sad voice, her hands tightening on his shoulders before they slipped through the neck of his shirt to rest on his bare skin. “There’s always hard times and arguments, but it should be a good thing and I’m sorry it wasn’t always something that was good in your life.” 

He nodded, kissing her head as he whispered, “But it is now, and that’s what matters.” 

“I love you Chris.” 

“I love you too,” He honestly spoke before adding, “And I couldn’t be happier to be right here with you tonight.” 

The fire kept roaring while Chris effortlessly scooted Ellie onto his lap, her arms wrapping around his shoulders while he hooked his own around her waist. Their lips met over and over again until Chris slowly laid back on the couch, Ellie following him down until they were laying on the couch cushions, arms around each other completely content as they started to fall asleep on the snowy Christmas evening. 

“I’m kind of nervous,” Ellie whispered, looking out the window as Chris carefully drove on the plowed roads. It was mid-morning on the day after Christmas, and they were off to a slow start - like many - but had finally gotten moving once Ellie had decided Chris was beginning to mope too much. While he certainly was allowed to miss Hazel - more than allowed, in fact - Ellie had begun to see Chris opening himself up to living his life even without the curly-haired girl by his side, and he’d acknowledged it the previous night to her.  

Chris glanced over to her with a slight frown, a single eyebrow raised before he quickly turned his eyes back to the road. “About what? Meeting my mom?” 

“Yeah,” she confessed with a shake of her head, moving her hands to smooth out her sweater nervously. “I mean, I know you guys are close and I want her to like me.”

“Elles, everyone likes you. Don’t worry,” Chris murmured back, trying to reassure her a bit. He reached a hand over to hold her own, squeezing it before he lowered them to rest on her thigh. 

But she couldn’t help but worry. Ellie knew she was a little bit of a perfectionist… okay maybe more than just a little bit, but she had already been nervous about the thought of meeting Lisa. She had heard so much about her from Chris, knowing that he was extremely close to her and with as much as Ellie loved Chris, she didn’t want to screw this up. It would have been terrifying enough already but this had sprung up at the last minute when Lisa called less than an hour ago to invite Chris to lunch, and subsequently Ellie when she found out they were together, the spur of the moment plans only made Ellie’s nerves on edge. 

When they pulled up to the restaurant, she felt her insides churning, biting her bottom lip incessantly as Chris took her hand, leading her inside to the small table near the windows where the blonde haired woman sat waiting. Ellie stood politely while Chris dropped her hand to wrap his arms around his short mother, squeezing her tightly before setting her sights on Ellie who she hugged with just as much warmth as she did her own son. 

“Ellie, I’m so happy to finally get to meet you,” Lisa told the younger woman excitedly, pulling back from Ellie to look between her son and his girlfriend. “Chris has told me so much about you already.” 

Ellie shot Chris an obviously suspicious look as they sat down, saying, “Hopefully only the good things.” 

His eyebrows shot up indignantly, almost offended at the implication of her words. “What bad is there to say?” Chris asked through laughter before a smirk spread across his lips. “Well I guess maybe that you’re absolute shit at ice skating.” 

“Chris!” Ellie laughed, feeling her cheeks blush but smiled when Lisa gave her a wink.

“What? It’s true,” he insisted.

Lisa groaned good-naturedly, shaking her head at her son’s antics. “Oh just ignore him. I heard from Scott and my daughter Carly that you make the absolute best pastries in town,” she told Ellie with a large smile, turning to face her fully. “Scott and Chris both told me that you make the best shortbread cookies so I’m going to have to stop in one day because they’re my favorite.” 

“I remember Chris mentioned that you liked them so I brought a few that I made yesterday,” Ellie confessed as she bit her lip, nodding her head towards her purse, which held a Ziploc bag filled with shortbread cookies - along with a few other cookies - for Lisa from the Maxwell family’s Christmas. 

“I have to have a bite of it now,” Lisa laughed, smiling wider when Ellie reached in and handed her a cookie. She practically melted as the sugary treat hit her taste buds, telling them, “Honey, Chris isn’t going to be able to keep himself fit with these kinds of treats around!” 

“I took Hazel to the bakery and Ellie let her frost a cookie in the kitchen so that’s pretty much Hazel’s favorite place now,” Chris told her with a grin as he leaned back in his chair, smiling as the waitress dropped some water off for them. 

“Just like her dad,” Lisa smiled, and the group paused to put in other drink orders and glance at the menu. 

As they looked over their options - Ellie deciding on a brie grilled cheese and tomato soup for herself - she mentioned, “I didn’t know that Carly came into the bakery but I did get to meet Scott a little while back when he came in with Chris.” 

“Oh I’m so sorry for you. Those two are trouble together!” Lisa laughed, shaking her head. 

“Well I think I was able to appease them with lemon squares and cookies,” Ellie smiled, squeezing Chris’ hand from under the table. 

“Hazel is really partial to Ellie’s cupcakes. She gave us some for the snow day and then when we were at dad’s house for our Christmas with him, he had some cupcakes and Hazel just said she didn’t want them because they didn’t taste like the ones that Ellie makes,” Lisa said casually, Chris nodding along with a small grin - the one he normally had when he had when someone spoke about Hazel. 

Hearing the statement caught Ellie a little by surprise, not realizing that his parents weren’t together anymore. As she thought about it farther, she recognized that Chris had mentioned seeing his mom and dad but never together, and the thought made her recognize how divorce had been such a big part of Chris’ life from his parents then to him. Some of the walls that he had up started making even a little more sense and made Ellie that much more thankful Chris was starting to work through some of them. 

But as they settled into conversation once their lunch was delivered to their table, Ellie was quick to recognize why Chris was so close to Lisa. She was so warm and enjoyable, someone that was so easy to talk to. Ellie loved not only getting to know her, but seeing how relaxed Chris was around her, all of his walls instantly gone while his loud laughter and slaps to his chest were coming out in full force. He had been wiping the tears from the edge of his eyes from how hard he had been laughing when he decided to excuse himself to the bathroom, leaving the two blonde haired women at the table alone for the first time. 

“Ellie, I didn’t get a chance to tell you that your sweater is so pretty,” Lisa told her quietly with that warm, happy look in her eyes - and she swore for a second she was looking at both Chris and Hazel. 

“Oh thank you,” Ellie replied, glancing down self-consciously. “I can never wear sweaters at work because of it shedding and the flour that just wants to stick to it, but I just love sweaters so much.” 

Lisa laughed, shaking her head as she admitted, “You and Chris really are meant to be together because I swear he lives in sweaters in the winter.” 

“Well if you think we’re meant to be together, that’s a pretty big compliment because he sure is incredible,” Ellie confessed, meaning every word. Nearly every day since meeting Chris nearly two months ago, she had been struck by the way he carried himself, cared for others, and put them first. And after meeting Lisa, she knew it was in part because of the woman sitting across from her. 

The woman gave her a slightly surprised and emotional smile, quietly saying, “After getting to spend time with you today, I think you’re pretty incredible too Ellie.” 

“Thank you Lisa,” Ellie whispered sheepishly, surprised by the compliment.

“No, Ellie I mean that,” Lisa insisted, face serious. “I know Chris has told you a little about his relationship with Ashlee and I don’t think it’s a secret that things between them weren’t great. And so for me, getting to see how kind you are to him and the way you look at him means more to me than you know.”

She felt emotional at the praise, swallowing away the lump in her throat. “Well I don’t know how incredible I am, but I love your son a lot,” Ellie laughed quietly once she felt she had a hold on herself, a slight smile on her face. 

“I know you do, and I know that Chris does too,” Lisa assured her, patting her hand against Ellie’s just as they saw Chris making his way back towards the table. He settled back into his chair with a small smile at Ellie, jumping back into the conversation with them when Lisa changed the subject to the bathroom renovation she was planning for her home. And as Chris’ hand blindly found her own under the table as they listened to his mother talk, she felt butterflies as she thought about their future, their lives together, in the coming new year.

A/N: We love these two so so so much. We loved writing this chapter and although some plans changed, we are so proud of it and looking forward to your feedback!

[theperfectlovestory]

When It Rains

Summary: Memories of the rainy days

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Reader

TW: None

Theme: fluff

Word Count: 2,074

A/N: Just pure fluff with Nat, take it easy on me I just got back from writers block 😣

. . . 

You slowly stir from your sleep, your surroundings clearing up to your senses. The soft pitter patter of the rain outside made you smile. You’ve always loved the rain, especially when you don’t have anywhere to be that day. Your eyes slowly open and the face of the woman you love so dearly welcomes you. Her relaxed state made your heart melt. Her soft, quiet breathing fanning your face, the way her lips twitch ever so lightly and the way her brows frown a little as her own eyes start to open from sensing your presence 

“Good morning, my love” you’d greet in a cheery but soft voice and she’ll immediately smile, looking over her shoulder to the window and noticing the rain. She’ll immediately know the reason for your morning energy

“Good morning, detka” she’ll answer, raising her hand and stretching it before engulfing you in a morning cuddle

“It’s raining” You’ll excitedly whisper and she’ll chuckle, her morning voice still lingering on her throat “I am aware, darling" 

"I'm so excited!" You said, pressing your head closer to her chest, she'll pull you closer

"We never do anything when it's raining" 

"That's why it's perfect!" You raised your head and your eyes met with hers "We're just beside each other, no danger, no drama, just us two" 

Comfortable silence once again fills the air as both your eyes close once more, relishing the comfort of the situation and each other. It didn’t take much for the two of you to fell back into sleep, limbs entangled with each other

It was late morning when you finally got up, the mood of the house was dark and moody, just the way it always is when it’s raining and while it may seem like a weird mood to be so happy, you are. You had every good thing in your life happen when it was raining, it gives you the absolute joy to hear it, even in most terrible of times

Going down from the bedroom, you washed your face in the kitchen sink, removing any sleep from your face and drying yourself up with the towel you left to dry last night. Moving seamlessly in the kitchen just like all the times you’ve done so, heating up water and preparing two mugs, one for tea and one for a hot chocolate. You open the fridge and took out the ingredients you need for the late breakfast, waffle, bacon and eggs

It wasn’t your favorite but Natasha loves the classic. Waffle is fancy, it was your addition to it. Although right now, easy is good, and appreciated. You cannot wait to seat by the window and read the latest novel book Natasha took home for you

Natasha came down to you cooking and humming a song she has never heard, and she’s assuming you haven’t too based on how you stopped and think for a few seconds every time the note hit a snag. Natasha’s smile will widen everytime you frown discontentedly at your lack of ideas to continue it but you will happily shrug and continue your cooking, never letting anything ruin your mood

She loves these types of days. She rarely gets one being a full time Avenger still while you decide to hit the sidelines earlier and work on other hobbies you didn’t get to while you were being experimented on with Wanda and Pietro. Natasha loved that idea, she wants you to get to know yourself better outside the fighting, and it keeps you safe as well

The beautiful paintings hanging on the walls of your house proves that it was a good decision anyway. Her favorite is the one with all the Avenger in it, like one big, happy family. Tony Stark offered to buy it for a hefty amount of money but you decided to just donate it to the compound, so everyone can see the symbolism of what they were fighting for

Family

You, Wanda and Pietro is a family. You weren’t related to them by blood but the bond between the three of you is unbreakable. They were your wall to lean on and motivation to keep fighting. You didn’t care about yourself, but when it comes to the twin, you will easily destroy anything and anyone that stands in the way of their safety. 

The first time Pietro was in danger, you lost control of your temper and your power. You saw it, the bullets slowly coming towards him to protect someone he barely knows. You scoffed at it but you did the same, saved Pietro, Hawkeye and the kid. You were branded a hero along the twins but you know you are far from one

Natasha knew it too. She noticed that you never cared about saving anyone else but the twins. It costs the team missions but she never mentioned it. Everyone soon became a family to you by bond seeing that they care about the three of you genuinely and the people you try to protect grew. That was when Natasha started to worry, that you readily threw yourself in danger to save your family. It was admirable, really, but she worry that there will be a time that you will be the one who needs saving 

The thought of you injured and even dying clenches the woman’s heart. Like a rope tied to her chest or a heavy rock that she can’t get out. She asked that you be pulled away on missions.

You were angry that you can’t go with the twins but they also agreed that it was for the best. They noticed the behavior too and they wanted you to know that you also mattered and until then, you were ban from missions

Natasha made sure you know that there are more things in life worth living for. She took you out on so many dates, adventures and even just hung out with you as much as she could. She was successful in making you see the world, but she also took your heart in the process. 

The day you confessed, it was raining. It was supposed to be a fun day just like any other. Natasha’s irritation is written on her face as rain poured down on her. She was damped and the little make up she had on was smeared. Her hair steady plastered on her head, the curl disappearing into a damp, messy version. Her black leather jacket dripping and her clothes clung to her body and the food basket she was holding now dripping as well

All curses and blames run on her mind for not checking the weather today but you were all smiles. You look the same as her, the effort of preparing for the day gone and you feel a bit tired from the attempt to seek shelter in the middle of the forest Natasha picked to wait for nightfall 

When she looked up at you, her frown deepened. Confused at the way you were smiling in such a bad weather

“Do you remember the day you saved me and the twins?” You asked and she nodded

“Yeah it was Nove-” You chuckled, shaking your head

“I don’t mean the date Natasha” You took the basket from her hand and put it on the ground, taking both her hand in yours “The day you saved us, was the first day I saw the sky” You smiled, looking at the cloudy, dark sky “And it was raining that day”

Natasha’s breath hitched at the sudden closeness of your bodies. She watched your expression soften as you looked at the sky and her body started to relax

“I didn’t know that” Natasha then look at the sky as well, thinking how it was such a shame that you were welcomed by such a gloomy weather

“Rain became my favorite weather” You looked back just in time for you to notice the shock in Natasha’s expression. You chuckled at her confused face “It was the first time I saw you, the genuine concern over us. I immediately knew that we are safe in your hands”

The two of you stared at each other “Natasha, all the good things happen to me when it was raining. The day I complete a mission on my own, the day I bought my first car, the day I take on painting. All were good things, memories that I will forever treasure” you stepped closer to her “So I want to see if today’s rain will also give me good luck” 

You closed the gap of your lips and slowly, Natasha responded and it was the best feeling you’ve ever felt…

. . . 

“Love, is the book okay?” Natasha asked as she walked closer to you, still in her pajamas. You smiled and nodded, pulling her closer in a hug by her waist

“It’s great, I love the fantasy dragons” Natasha chuckled, understanding your obsession with mythical animals 

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it”

Natasha put her hand on your head and started stroking your hair as you fell into her comfortable warmth

“Are you done with your reports?” You whispered on her stomach

“I am” you lifted your head to look at her “Want to watch a movie and cuddle then?” Natasha smiled and nodded 

“Sure love, let me heat up some popcorn” You let Natasha go after one more squeeze and a chuckle. Hopping down from the window seat and heading straight to the sofa to pick a movie

You ended up picking a romance that you haven’t seen yet and Natasha agreed with your choice, never actually minding what show you pick. She sat down by the end of the sofa handing you the bowl of popcorn

“Me Before You, a good choice” Natasha commented and you smiled

“You’ve seen it before?” she nodded

“Yeah, Wanda picked it for one of the movie nights. You had a mission with Sam and Bucky that time” you hummed

The movie played and you were focused on the film. Natasha fell into her usual habits of playing with your hair, braiding it while answering your questions or giving her own opinion of the situation in the film. She loved how frustrated you get when you disagree with the choices of the characters, showing how much you care about the little things

Time passed quickly, the bowl of popcorn empty by the end of the movie, having served its purpose of feeding Natasha and messing up from time to time to see her reaction. Your hair fully braided, earning Natasha a kiss on the cheeks as thank you and her showing you a beautiful wide smile after receiving it

After the movie ended and the credit scene rolled on the screen, you turned to Natasha and asked “Would you do the same if you were in his position?”

Natasha blinked, thinking of the right answer to that question. She looked at you, studying your features and remembering all the memories you had with her. Thinking if she can ever let you go, if being paralyzed is enough of a reason to let go of her life, and put you through a situation that will saddened you

“If I’m paralyzed my whole life, it will be hard for you” Natasha smiled softly as your face fell, sadness filling you at the thought she might decide to give up instead “But I don’t think I can ever let you go, as selfish as that sounds”

You looked back at her eyes, seeing the sincerity in it. The fear of losing you, she’s afraid of it and that shows how much she loves you

You straightened your position, looking at the window. The sky slowly cleared up and showed a bit of light from the setting sun. It’s color making your silhouette more breathtaking than ever in Natasha’s eyes

“It doesn’t matter if it’s selfish or not, I want you by my side forever Natasha” You smiled as she lean closer and pull your waist in a hug, setting her chin on your shoulders “I’ll take care of you as you would with me, no matter what” you turned around and put a hand on her chin, tilting it a bit to line up with yours 

“I love you, Y/n” Natasha whispered, her eyes drifting to your lips

“And I love you more, Natasha Romanoff” you answer, sealing it with a sweet and soft kiss...

[liesoverthec]

OG 911 Character Details from Canon Pt 2

Hi y’all I’m back! I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who reblogged the last details post - I sort of just thought people would like it and it would die, so to see it travel and hopefully reach more writers was so great so thank you again!

Details under the cut since I went a little crazy 😅 and if this is your first time seeing this, the first part, and any future parts, can be found under this tag here!

Quick note before I get to the details - always, ALWAYS take details from dialogue or plot over details from the set or props if they contradict each other. The writers have the ultimate say over what happens on the show/for the characters, so whatever they say goes, even if it goes against something props has already laid down (eg, Chim’s birthday, sorry Libra crew. He’s an Aries or a Pisces). So keep that in mind for the future in case some of these details I have which are from props/set are changed in the future, or if you’ve noticed something yourself!

Also if you have questions, I am MORE than happy to answer them, although if you leave them in the tags on this post I’m probably gonna lose them, so if it’s something you’d genuinely like an answer to, drop it in my inbox! Besides my standard “ask” tags, I’m also tagging asks about canon details with this tag here. Every time I make a big post like this, I’m going to link all the asks I’ve gotten since the last post, but if you’re looking for more info in the mean time, that’s the other spot to look!

Buck has a grill on his patio.

Eddie doesn’t hang Christopher’s art on the fridge - instead it is either hung on the corkboard in Chris’ room to the left of the door, or Eddie puts it in an actual frame and hangs it using a hammer/nails in Christopher’s room. All the Diaz family has on their fridge is a bunch of bendy people magnets. (I absolutely ADORE him putting all this effort into treating Christopher’s art like it’s something you’d buy from a professional artist).

Info on everyone’s ages can be found here. (Little more discussion of Chim’s situation here).

Albert has a bachelor’s degree! I don’t know in what though, except that it’s some field for which is a Master’s is useful.

Athena was in a sorority in college, Delta Sigma Theta. Their website describes them as “ ...a sisterhood comprised primarily of Black, college-educated women ... [that] considers the issues impacting the Black community and boldly confronts the challenges of African Americans and, hence, all Americans ”, which I love for Athena, and feel is very in-character for her at that time in her life!

Chim is an aviators dude. When he wears sunglasses, they’re always aviators.

Athena also wears nothing but aviators.

Bobby wears square aviators.

Eddie, on the other hand, always wears Wayfarers.

Buck either doesn’t really like sunglasses or he constantly forgets he owns them, since we’ve only seen him wear them once in 60 eps, in a move I’m pretty sure was ONLY for dramatic effect.

Hen’s sunglasses change style over the seasons like her regular glasses do, but she tends to like browline sunglasses.

Info on Christopher’s school can be found here!

There are two colors of dispatch polo, and there doesn’t seem to be any rhythm or reason for who wears what. Maroon - Maddie and Linda. Blue - Josh and May. Jamal has actually worn both maroon and blue, so it doesn’t seem to be TOTALLY set in stone although I’ve never seen anyone else switch. Sue is too badass to wear a dispatch shirt.

Both Bobby and Eddie drive 4 door pickups. Bobby’s is navy. Eddie specifically has a black, 2020 GMC Denali 1500 pickup truck (in case you want to specifically look up what the inside of it looks like or what features it has 😂)

Info on the 118’s medical certifications can be found here.

Correction to Eddie’s living situation from last post: no next door neighbors, but instead UPSTAIRS neighbors. (Pointed out by Abigail in this ask). Also since someone else was wondering the notes of the last post - no, there is absolutely no discussion on the show of whether or not Eddie rents the apartment or owns it. But based on the fact that it’s 1) LA and 2) an apartment, my guess would be he rents it.

When Maddie isn’t feeling like herself, she tends to straighten her hair rather than curl it. It seems to be more when she’s uncertain about her place in her own and other people’s lives, rather than just when she’s simply worried - eg it’s straight in 2B, when she’s uncertain if she wants to continue working as a dispatcher/is unsure about her relationship with Chim.

For work, Chim, Eddie and Buck all use black duffel bags with a LAFD patch on the top. Hen uses several different cute bags, and Bobby seems to have a plain black duffel bag.

Watches - Bobby, Athena, Chim, Hen and Buck all wear their watch on their left wrist (but Athena ONLY wears hers for work, she takes it off at home.) Eddie wears his on his right wrist, and Maddie doesn’t wear one.

Chim (and Maddie by default) literally still have the exact same couch as in the pilot. (Which means that Chim has cuddled Tatiana on that couch, AND Albert has had sex on it. TIME TO GET A NEW ONE, BUCKLEY-HANS 😂)

The 118 has five different rigs - the engine (E118), the ladder truck (T118), two ambulances and the captain’s truck. 95% of the time, when the team is chilling in the cab of a rig and chatting (eg the ‘stuck under a live telephone pole’ scene in Jinx), they’re in the engine, not the truck. (Which I personally learned recently are NOT interchangeable terms!)

Athena and Michael got married when Athena was 37.

If you’d like to give Maddie a full name beyond “Maddie”, you should use Madeline. (I know, I know, in 4x04 she says Maddie is the name on her birth certificate, and that you should never use props details if they contradict script details, but I always thought that was a super weird exchange in 4x04 which could be explained by Maddie getting a nickname since she was born when Margaret and Phillip, you know, actually loved their kids and showed it, so of course Buck doesn’t get one, and in 4x04, Maddie was trying to avoid the entire issue of why she got one and Buck didn’t. But! Do what you want, and use Madeline as the full version of Maddie if you’d like, since that’s what’s on the BOLO in 2x13 😂)

Athena’s call sign is 727 L30, but she doesn’t have a specific squad car - the number changes throughout the series.

Chim really likes chewing gum, but he’s the only one out of the entire family!

The station has an Xbox One S, and it’s white.

In the real LAFD, there are stations 1 through 114. To avoid confusion while filming on the streets (I’m assuming), our fictional LAFD never uses the number of a real station. So if you want another station for a fic, and you want something that would be real in OUR universe, use the numbers 115 and above. They’ve gone as high as 221 in our universe.

Battalions - station 118 is in Battalion 7, which is also not a battalion in real Los Angeles. The 118 has interacted w/ Battalion 1, which is a real battalion, but other ‘non-real which makes them more likely for our universe’ battalions include numbers: 3, 8, 13, 16, 19 and above.

S1 Buck knew the term Jedi, but based on context, didn’t understand AT ALL the context provided by Star Wars, so there’s another edge of his pop culture limits for you.

Chim is the most tech-savvy out of everyone, hands down.

Athena has a VERY active Twitter account.

Abuela’s house number is 8902. I don’t have a street name for you unfortunately though. :/

Athena’s favorite flowers are white roses. None of the other women are really flower people.

Michael likes to wear purple.

When they’re at a call, Buck does pretty much all of the stuff with the hammer and the saw. Eddie does all the work needed with the drill.

Harry goes to Meadowbrook Elementary.

Buck lives on the fourth floor of his apartment building, across the hall from Apt. 416. The lovely @lovelessmotel found this listing for what is more or less the apartment. What happened was: the set crew rented this apartment for the one episode at the end of s2 when Buck moved in, and then over the summer before s3 built their own set of it, and changed some things - eg giving him an island, and moving the sink to a second counter against the far wall, you can see the changes here in this amazing gif set by the awesome Austen, but the listing should let you click around a little more upstairs and figure out dimensions better than what the show provides!

When Athena and Hen go out to eat together, it’s always fast food burgers and fries.

Waffles are Athena’s favorite food, and tiramisu is her favorite dessert.

Every takeout we’ve seen Buck eat has always been in a Chinese food takeout container, and we know he likes Thai food the best. EXCEPT! The one time we see him eat takeout with Eddie and Christopher, they have pizza. So take from that what you will......

Eddie has a cell phone and a landline.

Chim is a shameless multiple texter.

Chim and Bobby sleep closest to the door in their respective bedrooms (both right side of the bed if you are standing at the foot, facing the headboard), and Athena and Maddie sleep furthest away from the door (left side).

Some canon last names for other firefighters at the station in case you wanna add more people to a fic - Mitchell, Sanchez, Serrano (woman), Porter, Meyers (woman), Maxwell, Voyta

Hen and Karen really love decorating their house with dark/red wood.

Karen is Mommy and Hen is Mama.

Bobby has a brother, and a grandmother, and that’s literally ALL we know about his family outside of Marcy and the kids.

Evidence points to Eddie being the oldest child in his family.

Karen has multiple brothers (no sisters), but no idea how many - just that one of them is named Trey, and one of them lives in LA and has kids. They might be the same brother and they might not be.

Both Hen and Athena are only children.

Athena has been on the police force for 30 years.

Christopher and Denny are the same age (born in 2011), and Harry is two years older than them.

Michael lives in apartment 308.

The bank in this universe is CalAm.

Hen and Karen have a picture of Denny, May and Harry on their fireplace mantel.

Eddie having a black thumb + a lot of plants in his living room = him buying fake plants bc he likes the aesthetic ™ or someone (cough Carla cough) is taking care of them for him.

The COVID timeline in OG’s universe is fucked up compared to the real world’s, so it shouldn’t be used as a way to measure time! They just throw it in wherever it makes sense for the story they want to tell (eg the vaccines in s4 ep 8), since s3 was both done before COVID hit but also airing while it was happening. It makes absolutely no sense for May to graduate in March nor for Chris to be going to what is specifically labeled summer camp, and the vaccine plotline was INCREDIBLY early, even for real life, so don’t use anything from that as a measure of time. I’ve found except in specific examples, eg the two tsunami episodes, it’s very safe to say every episode covers a week - fall holidays on the show line up with their real life counterparts, indicating about the same amount of time is passing for us and them.

On that note - Jee-Yun was born in late January, early February 2021. (Conceived in Pinned, which was end of March/beginning of April, meaning Maddie was around a month along at May’s graduation in May ➡ 42 weeks + 3 days from then = late Jan/early Feb. Which unfortunately means we most likely won’t see her birthday celebrated on screen. If we assume she was conceived on the date Pinned aired, aka the very sexy hotel scene, then January 21st or 22nd would be Jee’s birthday, depending on if she was born after midnight or not.

Buck has had at least one other Jeep between the one Maddie gave him, and the one he has now, which means that when he needs a new car, he is purposefully choosing Jeeps.

I hope this was all as interesting/enjoyable to you as it was to me! And just to repeat - I love answering questions so pls let me know if you have any at all ❤

🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

Tagging: @buckbuckley

[triptuckers]

Worth more than silver - Jesper Fahey

Request: nope Pairing: Jesper Fahey x reader Summary:  Matthias doesn’t understand why you’re so happy with every ring Jesper buys you, given that they’re not expensive and can be bought on the corner of every street Warnings: none! Word count:  1.2K A/N: first of all!! thank you so much for you love on my kaz brekker fic! :) I love him so much and it fills my heart with love that you like my work! hope you like this one as well, enjoy reading! :)

You absently twist the ring on your index finger. You had kind of taken over Jesper’s habit of fiddling with your rings. He did it when he was nervous, you did it when you were nervous, bored, listening to someone. All the time, really. You couldn’t help it. Your rings reminded you of Jesper, as he’d gifted you every single one of them.

When you first got together, you were always playing with his fingers and rings when you were tired. You’d absently twist the rings on his fingers and he’d shoot you a wink while continuing his conversation.

After a while, you started wearing his rings as well. He had quite the collection, and he couldn’t possible wear all of them at once. At first, you’d taken one. Putting it on, and smiling when you noticed how much you liked it on your own finger instead of his. But you were afraid he wouldn’t be okay with it, or that he would think you’d mean something with it. So, you put the ring back before Jesper could find out. 

But once you started stealing more and more of them, and wearing multiple of his rings at the same time, it didn’t take long for him to notice. 

One day, when you were walking back to the Slat after a quick job, he took your hand in his, as you always did when walking the streets together. 

Jesper had frowned and lifted your intertwined hands so he could look at them. Upon seeing a collection of his rings on your fingers, he turned to look at you and raised an eyebrow. You’d immediately launched into a ramble about how you didn’t mean anything by it, and you’d take them off, when he interrupted you with a kiss. When he pulled back, he shot you a beautiful grin, along with the words ‘Never take them off, sweetheart.’ After that, it became a habit.

Sometimes, you’d be met with a pouting Jesper in the morning. When you were wearing a ring he wanted to wear that day. Still, he never seemed to mind it a lot. It was a surprise when he came to you at the end of the day, telling you to hold out your hand. 

When you’d asked him why, eyeing him suspiciously, he repeated his question and told you to close your eyes. You rolled your eyes, but did so anyway. You felt him placing something in your hand and then he told you to open your eyes.

When you did, you found a ring sitting on the palm of your hand. It wasn’t one of his, you had never seen this one before. And it was smaller than his, but you recognised it anyway. It was one of the cheap rings you could by at every tourist stand. 

You looked from the ring in your hand to Jesper, who was smiling at you, just a little nervous. He told you he’d get you a real ring, a nice expensive one, but he didn’t have the money for it, given that he’d gambled it all away. You cut him off with a kiss and told him you loved the ring, and slipped it on your finger.

After that day, a tradition had formed. After every successful job, Jesper bought you a cheap ring. You wore them with pride, and as the months went by, your collection of rings was almost bigger than Jesper’s.

You smile when you think of it, and look at the rings you’re wearing today. One of his sits on your left index finger - the one you’d been fidgeting with. You had a colourful collection of cheap tourist rings on your left middle finger, and three fingers on your right hand. All of them gifts from Jesper. 

You’re suddenly pulled from your thoughts when you hear the door behind you open. You turn your head and smile when Jesper walks toward you. He grins at you and dramatically holds his hand out in front of you.

‘For you, my love.’ he says.

You smile widely and pluck the new ring from his palm. It’s the same one you already have, only in a different color. You slip it on one of your fingers and stand to kiss his cheek.

‘Thank you, Jesper, I love it!’ you say happily. ‘I was hoping you’d get me the blue one!’

‘Anything for you.’ says Jesper with a wink.  ‘Want to join us for a drink?’ you say, gesturing to Matthias, who you’d been talking to.

‘Can’t, love. Business calls, and by that I mean Kaz needs to torture me with maps of the city and another ridiculous plan of his for at least an hour.’ says Jesper. ‘Alright. I’ll see you tonight, then.’ you say. With a nod and a wink, Jesper takes off again.

You sit back down and admire the new ring on your finger.

‘Why are you so happy with all of those rings?’ asks Matthias. ‘They’re all so cheap, you can buy them on every street corner.’

You look up to the Fjerdan. ‘They might seem cheap to you, but to me they’re worth more than the finest silver.’ you say.

‘How so?’ asks Matthias, taking a sip from his drink.

‘Well.’ you say. ‘I wore a lot of Jesper’s rings, I still do. He wanted to buy me a ring, but couldn’t afford it-’ ‘Because of his gambling.’ says Matthias, interrupting you. You narrow your eyes at him. ‘Yes, because of his debts.’ you say. ‘So, when he couldn’t get me an expensive one, he got me a cheap one. I loved that he’d even want to buy me a ring in the first place, I couldn’t care less if it was silver or not. Ever since, he’s bought me these.’ 

‘Can’t he save up some kruge to get you a nice one?’ says Matthias. ‘These are nice!’ you protest, earning a rare chuckle from him. ‘If you like it, I’m sure it’s good enough for Jesper.’ says Matthias.

‘You should buy Nina a ring.’ you say. ‘Why would I?’ he asks, startled. ‘Women like jewellery.’ you say. ‘Some might deny it, but we all love it.’

‘It’s not-’ ‘Don’t say it’s not Fjerdan tradition.’ you say, knowing his answer was going to be about his culture. ‘If it’s not tradition, you can always buy her waffles. I bet she’d marry you on the spot, with or without a ring.’ you say.

Before Matthias can answer you, you get up from your spot, saying you’d check to see if Jesper needed saving from Kaz’ endless rambling and planning.

You walk toward the stairs and leave behind a slightly confused Matthias. While walking up the stairs, you run into Nina.

‘Hey Y/N!’ she says happily. ‘I saw Jesper earlier, did he get you another one?’ ‘He sure did.’ you say and you show her the new ring you got. ‘Wish Matthias bought me a ring from time to time.’ she says and you laugh. ‘He’ll buy you waffles instead.’ you say, and you continue your way to the top floor, ignoring Nina’s shout about the promise of waffles.

A/N: If you want to request something, make sure to read my house rules Here’s the list of characters I write for. Everything that I have written can be found on my masterlist. Please don’t repost my work, as I spend much time and effort on it!! Thank you for reading! Much love, Jo

[thiccchurro]

Trust Me

✦⋆⋇Anonymous said:⋇⋆✦

heyy could you write with shoto todoroki a scenario where him and his s/o are in a argument (for any reason it's up to you!), things got heat up and he says something that he regrets, like something really mean idk haha i crave for angst this times thank you

᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃

Thank you for the request luv! I’m not very experienced when it comes to angst, so i hope it turned out okay!

⚘ Pairing: Shouto Todoroki x reader

⚘ Warnings: angst

⚘ Summary: Todoroki has trouble displaying his emotions and you just want to comfort him.

⚘ A/n: UmM. I have a hate/love relationship with this fic. Didn't know how to end it.. :/

᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃

“Y/n, leave.”

“No Shou-”

“Y/n, I don’t need you to solve my problems. I can live without you, and I will deal with myself, myself. Stop being a whiny little brat and go.”

Shouto has these days.

He’ll come home from work, extremely on-edge, and push you away for the rest of the night.

He doesn’t even sleep in the bed, he stays on the couch.

And it breaks your heart, every, single, time.

Whenever you come home in an off mood, Shouto will sit you down, he’ll make some tea, and you’ll chat by the fireplace. He’ll let you just stare off into the flames while you list your problems one, by one. If you need it he’ll draw you into a hug, and whisper sweet nothings into your ear, while you sob into his shoulder.

But the problem with Shouto, was that he wasn’t you. He dealt with all his problems on his own, he closed himself off from everyone when he needed a shoulder to cry on. He closed himself off to you. And you were afraid he didn’t trust you, that maybe he never would.

So, as Shouto stomped into your room, and motioned for you to leave so he could have a minute, you decided it was time to put an end to this.

“Shouto, do you.. do you wanna come sit by the fire with me?”

He shot you a look as he loosened his tie and unbuttoned his dress shirt.

“The fire that I’ll have to start? I’ve had a long day love, why don’t you go work on dinner”

“But Shouto..”

You fidgeted with you hands, nervously, leaning your weight on one foot, then the other.

“You know you can talk to me right?”

“You know now is not the time for this, right?”

He moved to the bed to start slipping his shoes off.

“I’m serious, I can’t do this anymore.”

“Neither can I, that’s why you should go.”

“Stop! Stop pushing me out, I want to be there for you! Just let me be your S/o and for once in your life talk to me!” You could hear your voice crack and you desperately tried to hold back your tears.

Shouto gave you and cold look and nodded his head.

“Your raising your voice love, why don’t you go make dinner.”

“This is exactly what I’m talking about! I love you! Don’t you trust me?”

You mentally cursed at yourself as tears began to spill out of your eyes,

“When I come home you always make me talk to you, I don’t get a choice. You need to talk too! To be taken care of!”

“I’m sorry your the weaker one in this relationship.”

“Shouto! being able to bottle up your emotions is not a strength!”

“Being a clingy little leech who can’t go two seconds without suffocating someone isn’t a strength.”

“Shouto just talk to me.”

“Y/n, leave.”

“No Shout-”

“Y/n, I don’t need you to solve my problems. I can live without you, and I will deal with myself, myself. Stop being a whiny little brat and go.”

You sniffled a bit, and grabbed a fresh change of clothes.

“If that’s how you really feel, then I’ll go.”

You dragged yourself to the kitchen, reaching to grab the car keys. Unzipping your purse you dug around for your phone and wallet, just to double check.

“I’m ordering you some cold soba, then i’m going out!”

You ordered the soba and left, tears blurring your vision as you drove to the nearest hotel.

He really didn’t trust you.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

When Shouto groggily rubbed at his eyes, and rolled of the couch, he expected you to hear the noise and wake up.

He put his bowl from the night before in the sink, for you to scrub along with your own. But there were no other bowls there.

He couldn’t remember much from the previous night, but he assumed you hadn’t eaten, and where probably hungry. So, he made you some waffles.

He hummed a tune as he whipped up the batter, waffles always made you feel better.

He decided to tie on his ‘kiss the cook’ apron, witch you had given him for his last birthday, to make you smile, and tip-toed over to the room. He opened the door, careful to keep it from making a clicking sound.

“Rise and shin-”

He set the tray of food down when you weren’t in your bed.

“Y/n?”

He combed through the house, struggling to find you.

“Hey Siri. Where’s Y/n?”

“Y/n, is at a hotel ten miles from here. Would you like directions?”

Oh...

OH..

He tried to call you a few times, but they all went to voice mail. He remembered all the things he had said last night, about being a suffocating leech, about being a whiny little brat.

Thank God for Siri.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

You sniffled, burying your face further into the stuffy you had bought at a gas stop last night. You hadn’t been able to sleep a wink.

You where startled out of your thoughts by a man outside your door.

“Ma’am, there’s a pro-hero here to see you. We have to let him in, there may be vital evidence towards his err- investigation in here? I’m sorry.”

You grabbed your stuffy and sprinted into the bathroom, hiding in the corner just as the door unlocked.

You heard it close.

“Y/n?”

Shouto sighed when he found your hiding spot.

“I’m sorry for all the stuff i said..  None of it’s true.”

You stood up, and the half and half hero pulled you into himself, burying your face in his chest. He rested his head on yours and sighed, as you weakly attempted to pull away.

“sh-Shouto.” You sobbed “I need to comfort y-you!”

“I’m sorry, but right now you need to be comforted.”

You pushed away from his chest slightly, and looked up at him.

“N-no you don’t trus-ust me.”

“I know, I’m working on it.”

“I think we-we need to take a bre-break.”

“From hugging? Sorry, i didn’t mean to suf-”

“No, from us..”

Todoroki backed away. He didn’t say anything for a few minutes.

“Are you sure?”

You sniffed again and rubbed your nose on your sleeve.

“Yeah, I’ll come over to pack some stuff. I just n-need a break.”

[Unedited]

[gaegalsyd]

Tracing Footsteps in the Wind

summary: You are a peculiar who travels through different loops to help different ymbrynes in their loop and their children. But what will happen when you visit the loop of one ymbryne called Miss Peregrine. Will you find friendship, sorrow, or love?

Chapter 2: It doesn't matter where we take this road

1

The next morning, you decided to help Miss Kestrel make breakfast for the children so you made your way downstairs silently after changing from your sleepwear and fixing your hair. The smell of the waffles in the kitchen wafted in your nose, and the sizzle of the bacons was the only sound in the area. Miss Kestrel was there alone sipping her tea while making sure none of the food got burnt.

“Good morning Miss Kestrel, anything I can do to help?” the older woman acknowledged you by preparing another cup of tea for you “Good morning y/n you can set the table, and what’s your preference for your tea?” You took the plates and utensils before responding with a smile “the usual, miss.”

After setting the plates, one of the older children came down to help prepare for breakfast and after a while all of the children were seated at the table and were already eating.

While everyone is eating, the headmistress cleared her throat to catch everyone’s attention “children, Miss y/n will be leaving the loop after breakfast, I expect you would want to say a proper goodbye to her” the children looked at you in surprise and started asking questions like “will you come back?” “Can you send us photographs?” which you all answered easily.

After breakfast you gathered all your things and went downstairs and saw the children and Miss Kestrel waiting for you. The older woman patted your back while all the children gave you a hug. “Be careful out there y/n, you can send us a letter anytime you need anything” Miss Kestrel said while holding your arm.

You thanked her and everyone in the house, and once you’ve exited the loop you felt the vast difference in the atmosphere and time. Without looking back, you started your journey towards Cairnholm.

The travel from Brighton to Cairnholm would have been a lot easier without the war and trying not to get any attention for yourself. But while you are in the boat on the way to the island, you are starting to feel at ease and are already thinking of how the children are. And when you saw the shape of the island you noticed a bird flying, a peregrine falcon to be exact, you knew that there is a big chance that this is the ymbryne of the new place you’ll be calling home but you did not do anything to acknowledge it.

When the boat stopped, you immediately got off it and started walking around the island. You can feel that this island must have been through a lot just with the look of the houses with doors and windows closed, and with the people being in a hurry as if trying to get to their destinations to get out of the open area as soon as possible. The island is not that picturesque, not that you are expecting it to be picture perfect, the weather is gloomy and the air is a bit cold that matches the atmosphere of the island. Walking around, you did not see any hint of the loop or a place where the children may stay while they are on the island, that’s why you did not hesitate to enter the first pub you saw which is the Priest Hole.

“You there! You don’t look familiar, what brought you here? ``One of the men in a Welsh accent asked you, and when you were about to approach them, a woman asked “Are you here for the children?” which surprised you because surely they don’t know about peculiars or if they do then that could be troublesome, you thought. You said yes hoping that they did not notice the hesitancy in your voice, then one man approached you and placed a hand to your shoulder then said sorry for your loss. You sat on one of the chairs and took a drink, after listening and engaging to some of their conversations, you learned that the house was bombed and not one survived. “So the house was bombed but where is the entrance to the loop” you thought quietly, after a while you asked some questions in hopes that you’ll get some answer to where the entrance is but when you got nothing you just sighed and asked “Can you tell me the direction to their house?” after giving the directions the owner of the pub reminded you “The house was bombed just a few weeks ago, it might not be safe to wander too much and be careful of the bogs” You gathered your things and thanked the people “ I might leave as soon as I see the house, thank you for the directions”

The path towards the house is not an easy path, they must have stopped maintaining it after the house was bombed since it is the only house on that side of the island. And when you saw the home, your heart sank despite knowing that every occupant survived. The front part of the roof is completely shattered and some parts are just waiting to fall around, and it is reeking the smell of smoke and burnt woods but you walked closer. It was probably raining a few days after the bombs but you cannot bring yourself to come inside the home since from your inspection, the building is very unstable as of the moment and would need a few more weeks until anyone can safely come inside.

Assuming that the entrance of the loop must be close, you started to walk around the house until you felt a presence, then saw footsteps that ended just beside you. “Is someone there? I can feel you and you’re not so good in hiding” you pointed the footsteps, then you heard a sigh “You must be miss y/n, Miss Peregrine asked us to fetch you” you smiled towards the air where you think the voice came from and grinned “Why don’t you lead the way then” After saying those words, a girl with red hair and a leather gloves approached you from behind the trimmed bushes that you assume to be once a garden, with clothes in her hand which she handed to the invisible boy you were talking to “you were naked the whole time” you said in disbelief.

The girl with red hair giggled and said “ My name is Olive, that is Millard, and yes he was naked the whole time”

The only respond you had was an “Oh”

“My name is Bronwyn!” a little girl with brown curly hair said. You knelt in front of her “Hello Bronwyn, my name is y/n” you offered your hand to her which she accepted “I did not notice you immediately, young lady” you added and made Bronwyn giggle.

“Let’s go, Miss Peregrine would not appreciate not being on time” Olive said that prompted you to stand and follow her.

On the way to the entrance, you had small talks with the three of them while keeping track of every turn and step you took but you realized that you were approaching a cave near the beach. Realization hit you that if you were left on your devices to look for the entrance, it would take you so much time. After making sure that no one followed the three of you, you entered the loop and heard a ringing and a pop! That means you have successfully entered the loop. When you emerged from the small cave, you were surprised by the shift in the weather and atmosphere. It was sunny and everything was vibrant, there’s no sign of rain or fog, you could even hear the chirping of the birds and the laughter of the children as you neared the house. It was just a few weeks ago when this loop was made but this is perfect.

You saw the house in its glory and almost forgot what it looked like when you first saw it as a ruin. The sun had already set and lights were already lit but it did not make the grounds look less than perfect. When you stepped to the porch, the three children excused themselves to finish their chores, and when you were about to knock, the door swung open to reveal the silhouette of a woman about as tall as you with her hair done in an updo and she’s holding a pipe. The woman stepped outside and you finally saw what she looked like, and the first thought in your mind is that she’s beautiful and far from what you are expecting, her hair is dark with strands of dark blue which is probably a thing with the ymbrynes, her eyes are light blue reminding you of the sky and it is accentuated by her dark makeup around it, and her lips are rosy as if tempting you to kiss her. She took the pipe from her mouth and looked at you and you looked back at her and figured that comparing her eyes to the sky does not do her any justice for it also has some shade of green but can be mistaken for gray. But you still cannot remember where you first saw her.

“You must be Miss y/l/n. Alma Peregrine, delighted to meet you” she offered a hand which you accepted and the faster beating of your heart did not go unnoticed to you. “Yes, that would be me” the ymbryne looked from your head to your toe with a curious glint in her eyes before smiling widely “come in dear, welcome to our loop”

The smell of bread and vanilla inside the house was the first thing that reached your senses, you were welcomed by a house that gave you comfort and coziness.

“You have a very lovely loop Miss Peregrine” the woman smiled proudly and you thought that she looked even more beautiful when smiling “Thank you dear, and please call me Alma without the presence of the children”

“Then you can call me y/n” you smiled at her. She guided you to a room upstairs where you will be staying and before she left she placed a hand to your arm “The children are done for supper and I’ll bring some foods here, you may rest early if you wish”

You sat in the bed before responding to the woman “good night, Alma” then she smiled at you and closed the door. And you were sure that if she would smile at you often, you would already be a happy woman with that alone.

[mercurytrinemoon]

Me debunking astrology generalizations and misconceptions or smth idk...

Squares and oppositions aren't pure evil. 

I can't believe I have to say this because I thought ya'll have learnt the characteristics of every aspect but here we are. Nothing in astrology is black and white. And I saw some ridiculous statements (not necessary here on tumblr) that said things like "if your Venus squares someone's ascendant then you don't find that person attractive AT ALL". Or "Mars square Mercury people can't speak politely and have an annoying voice". Like????? First of all, that's ridiculous. Second of all, square in not "everything bad" just like trine is not "everything amazing". Squares bring tension, which leads to motivation, they’re stimulating; sometimes excitement or charisma; sometimes they can make you overdo things. I'm not saying they're oh-so-marvelous because the challenges are still there, but they're not as bad as people paint them to be. Squares happen between two signs that are in the same modality so they have a bunch of things in common. Besides, some of them (Sagi-Pisces and Gemini-Virgo) are ruled by the same planet so there's a special type of chemistry between those (especially when applied to synastry). Oppositions work in two ways, planets either meet in the middle - opposite signs usually complete each other and fuel each other up. And worse case scenario? Natally this means being pulled in two different directions; synastry-wise, you can completely miss each other like two passing cars - so there may be some misunderstandings but I don't think that's the end of the world... And, as per usual, may be mitigated by other positive aspects.

This is me debunking other people's attempts at debunking Sun sign compatibility. 

Sun IS very important but when people ask about compatibility and go with Suns... and then someone tries to be a smartass and debunk the "compatible-incompatible" and does the same thing without even realizing it. Like, "oh I actually see a lot of Aries and Pisces having amazing relationships because *insert someting that is a total stretch and refers to their Sun sign traits*"... But you seem to forget that they're neighbouring signs... which means they probably have personal planets in those neighbouring signs... which means they're compatible not because of some made-up stuff that you're trying to come up with but because their other planets are compatible with each other. But you're still feeding into the Sun sign compatibility talk. (So like, what I'm trying to also say, yes, the entire synastry chart comes into play; Also, side note, everyone can get along on some level if they’re mature enough).

Planet in a sign is NOT the same as planet in the house. 

There may be some overlaps in some of the sign-houses associations (like in the overall energy; like for example, it sort of makes sense that 3rd, 7th and 11th are referred to as “air houses” because they’re the most social) but in NO WAY there are similarities between planet house position and the "ruling" sign. That association started a few decades ago and some would say that NOT linking houses with signs is a purely traditional approach. But there’s plenty of professional modern astrologers with 20/30/40-year experience who still differentiate between sign/house position... because they know (and have learnt along the way) that there’s a huge difference.

I'll give you 3 quick examples: Gemini planets and 3rd house planets both may put emphasis on communication, mental stimulation and gathering data. But Geminis are often scattered in their approach, they may be easily distracted, may be indecisive, may be jack of all trades and talkative jokesters. They actually hate routines and dullness. "Spice it up" is probably a Gemini's philosophy. Now 3rd house planets may indicate you actually LIKE doing things on the regular - like running errands every other day in the mornings or going to that one specific coffee shop to pick up a snack. You may actually work in logistics or as a postman (especially if your chart ruler or MC ruler is in the 3rd). Planets in the 3rd talk about your siblings, neighbours or school experiences - like having Venus in the 3rd may point to positive experiences within those areas - something Gemini Venus has nothing in common.

Venus in the 9th can study at an art/beauty or fashion school (or even teach there if the MC is involved); can be very attached to spiritual and religious matters; can also find love in a foreign land. But imagine it being in Taurus - rather shy, needing those stable values to feel secure, being an exceptionally great student at that art school thanks to its domicile. Venus in Sagittarius on the other hand, likes adventure, things being shaken up from time to time, lightheartedness and exploration. But what if we flip the scenario and that Sag Venus is in the 2nd house. This can denote earing money through travelling and looking for ways to expand but in a financial matters.

Continuing with the Venus examples, having Venus in Aries is completely different than Venus in the 1st. What do people usually say about Venus in the 1st? That it makes the native charming, lovely, well-put together, with great manners, maybe beautiful, graceful, maybe a bit shallow. When in Aries? None of these characteristics fit, on top of that, it's in its detriment. Our poor gal Venus is uncomfortable and confused in Aries. She's like, "conquer? Swords? Selfishness? Obnoxiousness? Sparring? You're telling me to fight people? What am I doing here???" 

And I'll leave you here with that cause those examples weren’t that quick lol and in fact, I could give you a 100 of those. Besides, this actually inspired a 3-page rant that I've already posted not so long ago that you can read HERE.

There's no such thing as "more accurate" astrology. 

Both western and vedic are valid. Both can show you the same things. JUST KEEP THEM SEPARATE AND DON'T MIX THEM WITH EACH OTHER. And don't say things like "sidereal shows your soul" - omg I saw this statement soooo many times, who the hell even came up with this?! Actually, if anything, it's the modern western approach that "psychologized" (yea I just made up a word, you mad?) astrology while Jyotish still sticks to the very real "here and now", sometimes fatalistic predictions of how exactly your life is going to roll out... But hey, reach for hellenistic methods and they can tell you the same things, just with different tools. So no, they do not show different things, it's just their language is different.

If you say you don't identify with your chart then you're just reading it wrong.

This partially connects to the last one in some ways... Switching to a different astrology or different charts is not a solution. Learn how to read your natal. If you say it doesn’t describe you, I can guarantee you that you haven’t studied it properly. (Now this hasn't turned into a rant yet but I may actually do a whole-ass post on this because if I start elaborating on it now I'll end up with another 3-page essay).

Learn how and when to generalize. Also learn how to take generalizations. 

I understand that you have to pick up on every single thing separately in order to put everything together. It's like learning a new language: first you need to learn individual words and then you need to know the proper grammar to create a full sentence. This is 100% understandable and necessary, but it's important to take the entire thing into consideration. And this goes for all branches of astrology, but I guess it's especially annoying with synastry. This, again, comes down to the very black and white approach. You know, like when you see those long paragraphs where people elaborate on all the intricacies of Venus-Pluto aspects or whatever as if that one thing was determining the entire relationship between two people. (Side note, no shade but some of ya'll should start writing fiction or poetry cause the amount of fluffy speech and waffle that I see floating around here on tumblr is insane sometimes). Why are you wording everything as a make it or break it type of situation? And on the receiving end - learn how to take *properly phrased* generalizations constructively. Example: it IS a rule that Aries is a competitive one, maybe you're not one of them (for many reasons) but don't make a fuss about someone saying this. It IS a basic rule that energies of the same sign in two people are going to get along (well that depends on the planets involved but I digress), if that, for some other reasons, doesn't apply to you, don't go yelling that it's bullcrap because you hate people of the same sign. You know? Like, learn the difference.

DON'T SCARE PEOPLE WITH ASTROLOGY.

I had a mini-rant on this one a while ago, but I think this deserves a constant reminder (and refers to the last point), I don't want to see any more posts that would say things like "xxx house placements will bring you suffering" or "stay away from people with planets in your xxx house" or, even worse, making a (completely untrue btw) prediction based on one single thing like "someone with so-and-so aspect is going to harm you". And you're so casual about it??? You know there are sensitive people in the world. Learn some ethics. Learn some counseling skills. Don't be ignorant. Don't throw these random stuff at people just like that. And learn some actual astrology cause most of these aren't even closely describing that particual aspect. LIKE WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.

Ok now I'm pissed again.

Studying astrology and believing in free will doesn’t go well together.

It's not just psychological and spiritual. It's useful to know that western astrology made it like that because there were still people threatening astrologers for using it as a divination tool. So they moved away from the predictive/deterministic aspect of it. Now, I'm not here to change anyone's beliefs cause that's a very personal thing that everyone should develop on their own. But once you start diving deeper into astrology you'd notice that there's a heavy emphasis on fatedness and things being predetermined. That includes both the good and the bad stuff and you should learn to accept that. And with the bad things specifically, let's not excuse it with some "oh that was an opportunity for growth". Like yea, maybe, occasionally??? But just acknowledge that sometimes things happen not because there was a deeper meaning in them... but because you have a Pluto-Mars conjunction in the 6th that makes an applying square to your chart ruler and you were going through a profection year where Mars was your time lord and it transited that chart ruler while making a conjunction with Neptune so you were attacked by a baby crocodile while swimming and it bit off your toe and you got a nasty infection and that’s it (I just made that up btw, I don't actually know anyone who was attacted by a crocodile). So like, sometimes shit just happens and there's nothing psychological about it. Also, I bet your free will didn't want to be attacked by that croc.

[wasithard]

Percy wakes up on his seventeenth birthday in his own bed.

One year ago today, he’d woken up in a room at the Plaza Hotel from a vision of the Titan Lord Kronos planning his attack on Manhattan. One year ago today, he’d woken up in the middle of a war – and that’s not even the most recent war he’s fought.

Percy wakes up on his seventeenth birthday and immediately goes back to sleep.

**

His day goes like this: waking again to blue pancakes and waffles and eating them with his mom and Paul. Having a picnic lunch with Annabeth and Grover in Central Park, then driving with them to camp for dinner and a bonfire with their friends. Roasting marshmallows and singing songs and kissing Annabeth by the fire. Getting too lost in the way the firelight tinges her grey eyes red to notice the rest of the campers gathering around them before they pick them up and throw them in the lake, just like last year. Sitting around the dying embers of the fire, remembering the friends they lost in the war that ended one year ago today, the heavy silence of that moment burying itself in the middle of his chest, sitting there like a weight. Going to bed in his cabin, Tyson snoring in the bunk above him, wishing the love he’d felt from his friends that day would be enough to silence the voices in his head yelling it should’ve been me.

**

Percy wakes up on his nineteenth birthday, three years after the war.

He wakes up and wonders if he’ll ever stop thinking of it as the anniversary of the war instead of a celebration for another year he’s lived, or another year he’s spent with Annabeth.

Annabeth, who’s living on campus in the city they almost gave their lives defending three years ago now and comes over for breakfast that morning with Sally and Paul. He’s sitting at the table with them all, laughing and grateful to have them, but wondering if he should be worried that it’s been three years and he still wakes up on August 18th with a tightness in his chest at the thought of getting another year older than his friends who will never see another day. He knows they’re in Elysium. The thought should bring him peace.

Breakfast trickles into the afternoon and he and Annabeth go for a walk in Central Park before driving up to Camp. On the way there, Percy takes a detour to a small beach he’d scouted out a few weeks before and surprises his girlfriend with a picnic on the sand. He helps her build a sandcastle that’s almost taller than he is, holding the waves back so that they can use the hard, wet sand near the shoreline to make their castle stronger.

By the time they get to Camp they both smell of salt and seaweed and his spirits are high. It makes it worse, somehow, when they have their annual memorial to those they lost three years ago that he’s had such a nice day so far. Annabeth notices his change in mood, presses a kiss to his shoulder as she entwines their fingers.

After the campers start to trickle off to bed, Chiron catches his eye and Percy follows him to the Big House. They are sitting on the balcony, crickets chirping around them and a glass of cool blue Coke in Percy’s hand when Chiron fixes him with a stare that has seen countless tragedies and asks him if he still blames himself for being alive.

It’s jarring to hear someone so bluntly say out loud the thoughts he hasn’t dared to speak for so long. He swallows, can’t bring himself to hold Chiron’s gaze so flicks his eyes down to his feet instead, the only part of his body that doesn’t feel like it’s shaking. His fingers clench around the clear glass in his hand and he watches beads of water slide down the outside of it. Chiron doesn’t speak, but the silence is heavy and Percy feels like it’ll suffocate him if he doesn’t break it.

“I don’t– ” he clears his throat. It sounds too thick. “I don’t blame myself.”

He takes a sip of his Coke, swallowing it completely. “I don’t blame myself. I just don’t understand…”

He doesn’t want to finish the sentence, doesn’t want to say the words, I don’t understand why it wasn’t me, but when his eyes meet Chiron’s again he knows the centaur understands. How many other heroes has he seen feel the same way? Does he feel the same way?

“Percy,” Chiron says, his voice steady and deep with thousands of years of wisdom and loss and hope. “You help no one by holding on to guilt that isn’t yours.”

Percy exhales roughly, running a hand through his hair. In his head, he understands this. He just doesn’t believe it. If he had been a little bit better, in any sense of the word: faster, stronger, smarter. Maybe Charles wouldn’t have gotten caught in the engine room of the Princess Andromeda. Maybe Michael wouldn’t have been caught in the earthquake Percy had caused on the Williamsburg Bridge. Maybe Clarisse could have been convinced to fight in the war earlier, so Silena wouldn’t have had to impersonate her.

“Percy.” Chiron repeats, voice firmer. “You might be a hero, but you are also a person. And all a person can ever do is their best.”

Percy closes his eyes, bows his head. Chiron continues speaking. “The gods have done wonderful things, but they have also made many, many mistakes. More and far more devastating mistakes than the ones you have made in your short life. The benefit and curse of immortality is seeing how the actions of a moment can fade over time. How they can be made up for when a similar situation arises in the future. How it is not one’s past that defines them, but how they learn from it.”

Percy doesn’t want to look up at Chiron now, because there are tears in his eyes and it’s embarrassing, frankly. But he owes it to him.

He looks up. Chiron’s gaze is as steady as before, and Percy exhales one more time, releasing air all the way down to his belly. One tear slips down the side of his face and stops at his upper lip. He licks it away, using a hand to wipe his eyes as he turns his face to the now quiet camp. He can see the volleyball court, the rock climbing wall, the smoking embers of the campfire and the beginning of the circle of cabins. He sees his home: safe, intact. Filled with his friends, the survivors. He breathes it in.

“Thanks, Chiron.” He says, turning back to the centaur who gives him a soft, understanding smile in return.

Percy finishes off his drink and leaves the empty glass on the same wooden table he saw Chiron and Dionysus playing pinochle at when he first arrived at Camp, all those years ago. He stands up, wishes Chiron goodnight and starts walking back to the cabins.

Cabin 3 stands there: dark, alone and familiar. He feels tiredness tug at his eyelids and muscles but inside he still feels too wired to lay down just yet. He heads for the beach.

Annabeth is already there. Her legs are bent in front of her, arms tucked underneath them and chin resting on her knees. He sits silently beside her and they stay there, no sound between them except the gentle crash of the waves on the shore. After a few minutes she leans her head against his shoulder and he rests his atop hers, closes his eyes.

“Do you remember when we were in the Sea of Monsters and I wanted to hear the Sirens?” Annabeth asks, voice quiet. “I would’ve killed myself on those rocks swimming to their island but you dove into the ocean and pulled me out of their range, even though I was kicking and screaming at you to stop. We were thirteen.

“And remember in Mount St. Helen’s? I know you didn’t have a plan, but you made me get out anyway. You made sure that I was safe before even thinking about how you would survive.”

He feels her weight leave his shoulder then, glances over to see her sitting up and turning towards him, crossing her legs under her. The light of the full moon washes her in an ethereal glow, and her eyes are gleaming wide and bright as they lock onto his, pinning him in place. Annabeth is always beautiful, but when she’s determined – whether in battle or in convincing her boyfriend that he doesn’t deserve the pain he inflicts on himself – she has a face that could launch a thousand ships.

“And in Rome,” she says, her voice catching. “You wouldn’t let me face Tartarus unless we could face it together. I don’t know how many times you saved my life down there…” Percy sees her eyes begin to well with tears. “When we were fighting the arai…” She closes her eyes as a few tears escape them. Percy reaches forward and wipes a few away with his thumb. She opens her eyes into his again and gives him a small smile.

“My point is,” she continues, her voice thick. “Being a demigod is a high risk life that none of us asked for. An occupational hazard of us just being alive is death by monster attack. This is the first thing we learn when we find out who we are. All the friends we’ve lost over the years…they knew that too.

“And that doesn’t mean that their deaths were ok or justified or that we can forget about them, but I think that shouldering the burden of their deaths is stopping you from remembering the beauty of their lives. And it’s stopping you from remembering all the people who haven’t died because of you. Every single person in this camp owes their life to you, either directly or indirectly. Yes, a lot of people died on this day three years ago, but even more people were saved, and you had more to do with the last thing than the first.”

Percy’s getting teary again, but he doesn’t feel embarrassed this time. Annabeth shuffles closer to him on the sand and grabs both of his hands, squeezing them tightly, bringing them up and pressing her lips against them. “Percy Jackson, you have the purest heart of anyone I have ever met. It’s glaringly obvious to anyone who knows you – except yourself, apparently. I will spend the rest of my life trying to help you see it, but until then you’re just gonna have to trust me.”

Her face changes. It goes from open and pleading to playful, one eyebrow raised and a challenge in her eyes that makes his heart skip a beat, even when the rest of his system is in emotional overwhelm.

“Do you trust me, Percy?” Annabeth asks him.

He lets out a laugh, shaky from tears, and nods, “Yes, Annabeth. I trust you with my life.”

She beams at him, sitting up on her knees to bring her face closer to his, until it’s close enough that he can feel the warmth of her breath as she speaks, her eyes still locked onto his. “Then believe me when I tell you that you deserve forgiveness. And you need to give it to yourself.”

It’s too much. Percy swallows, jaw clenched and glances down. Annabeth releases one of his hands and grabs his chin, not letting him get away that easily.

“You. Deserve. Forgiveness. More than anyone in this world.”

He’s searching her eyes, frantically almost. It feels too easy. There has to be a catch.

“Ok?” Annabeth prompts, her voice still soft but firm, uncompromising.

He opens his mouth to speak but any words get caught in the knot at the base of his throat. Tears are leaking down his face and he can’t. He can’t. It can’t be that easy. It shouldn’t be.

Annabeth exhales, removing her hand from his chin and instead running it through his hair, stopping at the back of his head and bringing it forward until their foreheads touch. She doesn’t say anything else, just sits there with him.

With him, while he closes his eyes and thinks about the Minotaur choking his mom when he was twelve. Thinks about imaging Tyson drowning in the Sea of Monsters when he was thirteen. Thinks about losing Bianca di Angelo and Zoe Nightshade later that same year. He thinks about the campers that fell in the Battle of the Labyrinth whose names he didn’t know, and the campers that fell in the Battle of Manhattan whose names he made sure he did. He thinks of a Titan and a Giant at the Doors of Death, sacrificing themselves so that he and Annabeth could get to safety.

Percy sits on a beach at nineteen years old and thinks of all the death he’s seen in such a short time, all the death that’s been haunting him for years.

A cool breeze passes by him, coming from the water. As it brushes his skin, he comes back to the warmth of his best friend’s forehead pressed against his, her hands: one clutching his, the other tangled in his hair. He feels her soft exhale of breath and thinks about how she is alive, here, with him. Against all odds. He thinks of the campers asleep in the cabins just metres away: alive, here, with him. He thinks of his mom and Paul and Rachel, his friends from Camp Jupiter, all the people he cares about who are alive, here, with him. He thinks about the fact that they outnumber the dead, and realises he’s never really thought about that before.

Percy lifts his head and looks at Annabeth. She cups one side of his face with her hand, eyes still trained on his intently.

“I love you.” He says. “I’m so happy you’re alive.”

Her smile is small and bittersweet, her eyes wide grey pools of understanding.

“Me too,” is all she says.

It is enough.