#ALONE IN CHICAGO

[maladaptvs]

UM I MADE THIS POST ALREADY BUT TUMBLR KILLED IT- W H A T. WHAT. WHAT. WHAT. WHAT.

[imjustwritingg]

Never forget this kiss was unscripted.

[starry-bi-sky]

Part SEVEN of "Clone Danny"

Red Robin, Danny recognizes, steps away from him as he sits up. "My name is Phantom," he signs, blinking the exhaustion out of his eyes. (From Red Robin's perspective, it looks like he has no eyes. There lacks his signature green glow.) "I'm not a gang member, just an out-of-town vigilante."

Red Robin frowns at him, an uncertain grip on the bō in his other hand. "Phantom?" He repeats, no lacking amount of suspicion in his voice. "How can I believe that?"

Right. Yeah, okay, that's fair. Danny shrugs at him, and slumps against the wall. "Google search?" He gestures, he's been out in the daytime before and he's seen the news articles about him.

Red's eyes narrow at him and Danny simply draws his knees up and faceplants into them, half-listening to Red's murmurs into his comm while also trying to get some extra-shut eye.

("Oracle, can you pull up anything on a vigilante named Phantom? The guy here is claiming to be one." Tim says.

"On it."

"Is this Phantom wearing a white mask?" Bruce asks, his voice gruff like an aftershock. "There's a vigilante who shares the same name, but he resides in Illinois."

"Is this guy from that Amity city you visited ages ago?" Says Tim, before shaking his head. "Don't answer that. Yes, he's wearing some freaky mask. I said it reminded me of Hood's helmet for a reason."

"I've got something," Oracle interrupts, "Bats' right. as usual. The Phantom of Amity Park, not much stuff of this guy but he's only been out for over a year. Apparently, his rogues' gallery consists of ghosts."

"Oh great.")

"Look tell the Batman that I'm sorry for trespassing on his turf," He signs irritably when Red Robin eventually starts talking to (re: interrogating) him again. "It's not like I want to be here."

"How did you get in Gotham anyways?" Red Robin questions, batman was on his way to help deal with the situation but Tim doubted he wouldn't get caught up on the way with dealing with petty crime. "Your turf is nearly a thousand miles away from here."

"Two words." Danny deadpans, "Teleport ghost." (Red Robin winces sympathetically.) "I'm keeping this bastard in the thermos for a month for this alone."

(Danny was ignoring the slow-choking anxiety growing in his lungs over how he was gonna get home. He never takes his phone when he goes out, the risk of breaking it was too high. He had no way of contacting anyone to get him home.)

(He swallows the growing lump in his throat, and buries the feeling in the back of his mind.)

"Thermos?"

Danny unclips his Fenton Phantom Thermos off from his belt loop and shows it to Red Robin. "My ghost-catching device," He says with one hand, tilting it carefully for Red to inspect. "I wish I could say I made it, but its a FentonWorks invention."

(He wasn't sure if it was a smart idea to say who it belonged to, but saying it wasn't his probably loosened up any tracks on him, right?)

"Do you work with these Fentons, then?" Red asks, and something dark and shadowy flickers from the corner of Danny's eye. He glances over, and sees nothing, and his hackles raise.

(Either that was Batman, or a ghost, or Danny's mind playing tricks on him. He couldn't feel his ghost sense building in his throat, so he decided it was either the latter of the former.)

Danny snorts, quiet and gruff. "No." He clips his thermos to his belt again, stifling a smile on his face. "The Fentons hate me actually, I prevent them from catching ghosts themselves. Their son gives me their tech."

He had a cover story, so he might as well stick with it, right?

Batman shows up at that moment, appearing atop the little roof where the door is, and giving Danny a heart attack when he speaks in his low, rumbly voice like thunder rolling in, "Why would they hate you for that?"

Danny shoots up to his feet with a startled yell in his throat, clutching his chest as he whirls around and looks up. He nearly runs into Red Robin, and signs a few choice swears at the Bat.

"wow you're scarier in person, asshole."

"you didn't answer my question."

"Of course I didn't, you scared me." and Danny takes a trembling step back when the Batman jumps down and lands on the roof in front of him. He's faced ghosts before, but somehow the living is always scarier.

"But, um, the reason is a bit.. complicated, I guess." He says, fingers beginning to shake as his adrenaline wears off. God is he tired. He wants to go home. "The Fentons are the local ghost hunters and local crazies. I don't know if I can call them mad scientists because they're harmless to the living."

"But they're extremely anti-ghost. I've heard from their son multiple times the very unethical things they would do to ghosts if they got their hands on one."

Danny 'talks' a little more before calling it quits, even telling Batman that he can't tell him more without putting his identity at risk.

Plus, its getting harder and harder to hide his bone-deep exhaustion and his growing fear of being stranded in the most dangerous city in America with no way home.

"I would love to tell you more, believe me I'm dying to." Danny signs, shaky sarcasm dripping from his fingers. His hands are visibly trembling and he's withholding a slowly growing panic attack. "But I would like nothing more than to figure out a way to get home."

"Do you have no one to contact?"

"Sort of. But only one of them could probably come get me and get me back to Amity by sunrise. And I have no phone."

That one person being Ellie.

=====

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 4.5 (Dani interlude) Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 7.5 (Dan Interlude) Part 8

Taglist: @the-navistar-carol @thought-u-said-dragon-queen @gin2212 @youracearocroatneighbour @luckybyrdrobyn @deeplyconfusedbear @epilepticnerd @beautifulmomenttodrawblank @sara0055 @blusunkhild @letmesayfuxk (?) @latheevening226 @tkiesai @rosedasy @meira-3919

[aro-acebillcipher]

A little louder

Chicago x reverse falls thing

[littlecibby7]

Tired of gaming who should I play next 😝

[thena0315]

I only watched Home Alone 4 (2002) once as a kid and had no idea that the rebooted Peter McCallister was Jason Beghe

Imagine my surprise to see Voight 👀

[sailingfireshipz]

OH.... 💔❤️‍🩹

[desire-for-madness]

Can we please stop making long hair (for men, short hair for women) and glasses an "ugly" trope, cuz honestly long hair is hot, and glasses are a necessity (and also hot).

I keep seeing media and shows and even people use it as a "pre-glow up" trait, but honestly long hair often shows more personality, it is just about maintenence and the cut!

And glasses the same, you can't change your eyes! But you can find some that suit you!

Let's start doing actual glow-ups of people working on their posture, finding the right products for their skin, things ppl can actually change fairly easily, on confidence~

It's so rare I get a long hair in shows, please let me have this

[gregorygerwitz]

Moustead + Hollywood AU

Jay Halstead had lost count of the number of dangerous stunts he'd done. He'd actually lost count of the number of movies he'd worked on to begin with, and then multiplied by the number of stunts he'd done for each one... well, he hadn't gotten into the business because he was good at math, that was for sure. He did it because he was good at it. He did it because he enjoyed it. He did it because the rush of adrenaline that came with it was almost as good as the connections he made doing it.

He'd been working with Thelma Gerwitz and her productions company for years without a single bump in the road. He was in every standard contract that Elliot Knox's agent drew up after the actor's big break - the fastest growing name in Hollywood had to have the best stuntman in the business for every role, of course. It meant Jay had steady work for as long as Elliot did, and as each contract was signed, he learned more and more about the production company that seemed to be bankrolling the star's entire rise to fame.

"Halstead! Get over here!" "Is there something you need from me, Thelma?" "Show Greg around the set, will you?" "Aren't there PAs for that? They get paid to deal with visitors." "Don't be ridiculous, Halstead. Greg isn't a visitor. My son will be working with the director this week as the liaison with your stunt coordinator. You aren't too busy to give him a tour, are you?" "No, ma'am."

One set tour and one week of his performance being run by another set of eyes for approval is all he'd signed up for. When that turned into three movies in a row, and then a brief stint on some show marketed to teenagers, and half a dozen more movies... Jay saw more of Greg than he even saw of Elliot. That might have had something to do with how much time they spent in Jay's trailer. Liaising. About stunts. And definitely not making out against every surface they could find.

He was just getting tired of that - sneaking around, hiding under the bed or in the cramped trailer closet when someone needed Greg's attention - when it all went wrong.

Elliot was throwing one of his usual fits, something about Jay's jawline showing up too much in a shot and taking the attention away from him. He acted as if anyone even knew Jay was there, as if he didn't brag in every single interview about doing his own stunts. But that was just what the job was - doing the dangerous stuff that no one else wanted to do, and letting Elliot take the credit for it. That was what he expected to do on a daily basis. At least it was a good paycheck.

What he didn't expect was a miscalculation, a rig that wasn't checked thoroughly enough, a harness that wasn't quite up to holding his weight. He was supposed to be caught in the middle of the fall, stop in midair so that the footage could be cut in with a take of Elliot hitting an airbag and continuing with the scene. Instead, the rope just kept slipping through the rig, and it was Jay who was filmed at the end of the fall, but there was no bag to catch him. So, when he fell, he hit solid ground, and the crack that filled his ears at the impact was quickly replaced with the ringing coming from inside them.

A fall like that was more than enough to end any stuntman's career, no matter how much of a recovery he would make. That was a fact that Greg had known before he knew he wanted to work on movies at all. He followed his mother to sets through his childhood, watched movies get made, watched stunts performed by professionals to make for perfect shots. When he brought up the idea of directing a movie of his own, she encouraged that dream, with the stipulation that he learned the ins and outs of it all before he did it on his own.

Greg liked working with the stunt teams almost more than he liked working with the stars. He knew what to ask them to get just the right shot for the final product, knew how Erin, the stunt coordinator on most of his mother's films, liked to communicate with her team. He fit in better with the nobodies, as Elliot liked to call them, than the people who had cameras pointed at them beyond their ten hour filming days.

Specifically, he really liked Jay.

He really liked the privacy of trailers, and getting time alone with someone who didn't want his attention just to get on his mother's good side. He really liked talking about his work, and the directorial decisions he helped make on set every day, even if his name was what had gotten him in that position in the first place. He really liked kissing the man who cared about his input where they couldn't be interrupted or judged by anyone who wanted to insert themselves into his life.

Watching the fall that ended his boyf- best friend's career was a moment he would never forget. It had felt like slow motion, like a bad dream that he was going to wake up from at any moment. But he never did.

Instead, Greg pushed through the worst of his fears and anxiety and stopped by the hospital once a week. He never made it past the elevator, sometimes staring at the hallway that led to where he knew Jay was, but never stepping out of the protective cage. If he did, he might get the ground ripped out from under him, as if he was the one who had fallen, not wanting that feeling back of his stomach in his throat. Maybe he was. Maybe he had fallen even before the malfunctioning rig had taken so much from him.

He got glimpses of Will, the brother he'd seen pictures of but never met. He got quiet updates during lunch breaks on set from Erin. Jay was going to be fine. He was expected to make a full recovery, after more time than anyone would like him to spend in a hospital and a strict physical therapy schedule. But he had his family to get him through that, and Greg knew from the start that he'd never had a chance at being part of that inner circle.

He let himself be swayed by his mother, pushed his focus back to his career and the stunts that had to be filmed for each project. After two years, he could forget about Jay when he was awake, put all of his attention to what needed to be done in a work day, and those eyes would only haunt him in his dreams. It was good for him, or so his mother liked to tell him, not letting himself worry about something he couldn't change. He could gain his own reputation in the industry, start signing onto his own projects, and take on the task of directing a movie from the start of the process to the end.

It was long enough after the incident that he didn't think about it when he was planning a scene with Erin. He didn't even think about it when the new stunt guy on his set took a turn on the track too fast and ruined the shot by bumping into the camera. He didn't think about it while he marched across the set to give the apparent rookie a piece of his mind. He didn't think about it while the car's door was pushed off and landed on the ground - the model was completely totaled, so he was quietly glad that the rest of the run went flawlessly, even the way the vehicle flipped across the tarmac, and the VFX team could fix the botched angle.

He didn't think about it until the familiar body straightened up, and for the first time in years, he was looking at Jay Halstead again.

"I thought you always said you were going to leave it to Elliot to make the dramatic entrances." "This entrance wasn't dramatic." "You showed up on my set, Jay. Two years of radio silence and then you just showed up without so much as a hello before you busted a camera." "I told Erin that the track was-" "I don't care. Last I checked, you were out of the stunt game completely. Get off my set and leave it to my real crew." "Your real crew? Sorry, I was under the impression that you asked for me specifically." "After you never texted me back or returned my calls? Why would I ever want to see you again?"

[thoughtfulchaos773]

Sydney & Carmy -Make you happy.

I love this episode soooo much and I know it's been mentioned before. But I just need to say why I love it. It's because I adore the last song- To Make You Happy by Tommy Mcgee. It's just the perfect song beside Strange Currencies to tell us of Carmy's perspective.

Carmy's quote in Al-anon.

"I think when I was a kid, anything that would give me any sort of excitement or amusement or enjoyment always got kind of fucked..I don't think they did it on purpose; sometimes, they'd try too hard or make promises they wouldn't be able to keep.

Carmy is in the role of his family. Although he wants to provide for Sydney, his search for amusement leaves Sydney in disappointment and sadness at his broken promise.

It's a time when she's deep in thought, alone at a place representing happiness and nostalgia. It is a chapter in her life where she should feel joy, but Carmy's absence leaves her downhearted.

What makes Sydney happy is Carmy. If only Carmy realized he was enough. I hope he sees the meaning behind the desire to see a smile on her face, the same smile when they first met, and when she decided to stay by his side.

That means I love you

and all I wanna do is make you happy...

[blujayonthewing]

pitched battle inside my brain between the part of me that's desperately shaking myself by the shoulders going "YOU HAVE GOT TO ACTUALLY LIVE THE KIND OF LIFE YOU IMAGINE INSTEAD OF JUST SITTING AROUND IMAGINING IT UNTIL YOU DIE!!" and the part of me that's clutching my face going "is this allowed? is this allowed?? is this allowed???"

[korshrimpski]

5598 as cats :3

[pandora-books]

"On South State Street are many rooms, and in each one somebody lives. Someone who sells razor blades to live, or who works in a button factory, or who dances in a burlesque house. The mulatto girl lives in such a room, three flights up and two doors to the rear. There is no running water here, and in summer the smells hang in the air all down the winding staircase. She walks up slowly, her hands on her hips, counting the steps as she walks. I think that when she reaches the top she pauses and thinks, I am alone in this city now, and all about me are the alone men."

Nelson Algren, "Within the City," in Entrapment and Other Writings

[stellarfire]

i’m gonna need at LEAST 3-5 business days to process the stellaride content from tonight’s episode NOBODY TOUCH ME

[spiridakos]

fragile things (15865 words) by bookishgypsy Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Chicago PD (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Jay Halstead/Hailey Upton, Jay Halstead & Hailey Upton Characters: Hailey Upton, Jay Halstead, Trudy Platt Summary:

She tries to get by without him, but he's everywhere. No matter where she looks, all she sees is him and them and their entire relationship flash before her eyes. She tries to hold on to all the good memories she has of him to get her through the months without him, but she's starting to doubt if that hope she's holding on to is enough for him to come home.

[quinnmil]