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a-major-love · 2 months ago

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The Time Will Pass

Pairing - Darryl x Neutral!Reader

Summary - The future was coming faster than Darryl would have liked...

Word Count - 742

Warnings - no use of y/n, angst, comfort, established friendship, reader and darryl are 18

A/N - remember how I said this was going to be a fluff piece, well I'm a liar apparently.

1988

Clutter was strewn about all over your bedroom floor, narrowly missing the box with the word DONATE scribbled in thick, black marker on the front. From well loved books with their pages bent, to miscellaneous items of clothing that were hiding in the back of your closet for a year. A pile of notebooks sat on your desk, along with the game Isolation that had somehow lost its two pawns. The board game was now useless, and had a thin layer of dust settled over it. Darryl sat, on a worn out bean bag shoved in the corner of your room, soaking up the sliver of sun that was peaking through your curtains.

Then there was you, lounging on your bed, lazily flipping through an old Fangoria issue that had been haphazardly shoved in the back of your dresser for three months.

“I thought you were cleaning your room.”

“I am cleaning,” you said, not bothering to glance at him. “I’m inspecting this magazine, to see if it needs to be thrown away.”

Darryl scoffed, amused. “Your room looks like a tornado hit it.”

“Now you’re just being dramatic.”

He sighed, shaking his head. Yet affection swelled in his chest, quiet and overwhelming. Darryl stretched, reaching his arms toward the ceiling that was littered with blue prismatic star shaped stickers. He remembered one afternoon, walking in to find you balancing on a ladder. When he asked what you were doing, you glared over at him. “I can’t even see the stars from my window, Darryl,” you had complained. “It’s just nothingness, how sad is that?”

He then spent two hours that day helping you, dragging that ladder across your dull, carpeted floor. Darryl found that the longer he stared up at the stars now, the more he noticed the edges were beginning to peel and curl inwards.

Nothing gold can stay, right?

He stood up, and slowly approached your bed, feeling your gaze burn through him. The bed dipped beneath his weight as he sat by your outstretched legs. You peeked up at him, from behind the magazine, expectantly.

“You’re leaving this weekend,” he stated, fiddling with his thumbs.

You sighed, setting the magazine on your stomach. “Yeah, on Saturday.”

Darryl felt along the words in his mouth, how they sat heavy on his tongue, and contemplated swallowing them. “Are you excited for University?”

“Of course,” you said, “it’s my one chance to get out of Brooklyn, you know that.”

“Right,” he mumbled, staring at the floor. A long, stuffy silence hung in the air, as every unasked question between you two began to swell up.

“You’re headed for Princeton next week, Darryl,” you mentioned, leaning forward to catch his line of sight. “It’s all you talked about growing up, like it was the only University in the entire world. You can’t tell me you’re not excited either.”

In truth, Darryl was looking forward to attending Princeton. Years of late afternoons and nights spent hunched over textbooks, with notes and pencil shavings cluttering the surface of his desk had paid off. You were there for so many of those nights, a warm presence against his back, with your own nose stuffed in a book. The sound of your pen scratching against your notepad, as you would absentmindedly hum to Jody Watley playing from your headphones. All the while, he would be curled over his desk, muttering equations to himself like a madman.

He didn’t want to think about you not being there anymore, lounging on his bed as if it were your own, the mattress hugging your already imprinted shape.

“It’ll be different without you,” he admitted, shrugging as if he could somehow shake off years of your friendship.

“We’ll still talk, and see each other Darryl,” you said, approaching him. The bed dipped as you curled up beside him, placing your head on his shoulder. Blush rose to his cheeks as your familiar warmth rolled over him, quelling his thoughts. “Long distance isn’t the end of the world,” you assured, intertwining your fingers with his, the curve of your palm fitting perfectly over his own.

He faintly smiled, and pressed his cheek against the top of your head. Acutely aware of the familiarity coiling around in his stomach at the floral scent of your hairspray. Darryl bathed in the prolonged silence between you two, ignoring the sheer weight of memories pressing down on his hunched shoulders.

The world spun on.

#Michael jackson #michael Jackson x reader #michael jackson imagine #darryl x reader #Bad era

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itsmebytch001 · 2 years ago

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How about a yandere Morales family x reader who is friends with miles because they used ti go to school together that is very clearly neglected. Sometimes sleeping on the streets, never home, always eats a lot at their house yet still remains relatively malnourished and Jeffe finally decides after seeing some bruises on the reader to take matters into his own hands and use his position as police captain to “foster”(kidnap) the reader who is very not onboard.

Or if ur not comfortable with that then they genuinely start fostering the reader and they are not having a good time adjusting to present parents that make them eat 3 meals and be home at 9 stuff like that

You and Miles met at around 9 when your family moved to Brooklyn, he got on with you and once he started bringing you home it was instantly obvious to both Rio and Jeff that something was wrong, you were always messy and disheveled, wearing unwashed torn clothing with shoes with the soles beginning to come off You were 9 but could pass for 7 and barley knew how to use cutlery, and once they eventually met your Mom and Dad it became apparent that though they were not malicious of outwardly abusive, they were massively neglectful.

It became routine that you would come over every Friday, shower, and eat dinner, and take food home with you, Rio would hand you 3 tubber wear boxes full of all sorts of her cooking, and sometimes they would even give Miles old clothes. Jeff would always drive you back home since no 9 year old can be expected to trek it form one brough to another, and once he pulled up outside your building he would escort you back to your front door, and with the few gimpses he saw of your home, bugs crawling, a water collapsed ceiling tile, the brow carpet, not brown because it was brown, but the collected filth he knew that this place, and these people were not fit for a child to be raised.

Jeff entered his home, Miles had been put to sleep while Rio sat on the couch with a glass of wine.

Rio: "So how was it?"

Jeff sat down in a huff next to his wife.

Jeff: "That place looks like a trap house Rio, it had black mold" he rubbed his hands over his face.

Rio: "Is it possible you could just...take her?"

Jeff: "No, not yet not with out probable cause"

Rio: "Is a house with black mold and uncaring parents not enough?!"

Jeff: "No, not for awhile"

Rio: "Dios mío, well...the least we can do is keep her clean and fed huh?"

Jeff: "I guess"

Rio: "What about social services?"

Jeff: "That'll just mean to lose her to the system, we won't be able to keep an eye on her"

Rio: "Oh...I'll give Miles some extra lunches to pass on to her come Monday" She said gulping down a swig of red.

Jeff: "Good idea"

And it was because of their efforts to keep you fed that you finally grew, now you actually looked your age, and needless to say The Morales had brought you into their family not as a guest, but as a member. And for your 11th birthday since by this point you had turned up to school with solles shoes Rio brought you new trainers, while Jeff brought you a selection of new tops.

Of course you being uncustomed to such kindness you responded oddly.

Rio: "Happy birthday baby" She handed you a box, and once you opened it it revealed new shoes!

Y/n: "...are these for me?"

Jeff: "Of course there for you Y/n, it's your birthday!"

Y/n: "I'm not sure if I should take these, I'm very grateful I'm just not sure what my Mom will say"

Rio: "What do you mean?"

Of course you parents had noticed you putting on weight, coming home in new clothing and initally they were grateful to Rio and Jeff for helping out, but it felt more and more like they were taking you away, or like they were trying to replace them.

Miles had also reported you coming to school less at less by the time you were 12, your attendance got so out of hand that eventually Jeff came to do a house visit, he knocked on the door, Your Mom came to the door.

Jeff: "Hey Diana, uh I'm here to do a wellness check on your Y/n"

Diana: "Oh, Jefferson sure, I guess"

Jeff: "Can I come in?"

Diana: "Sure" And so your Mom escorted Jeff back to through your home, when you finally saw the extent of the condtions you were living in, and it was terrible. Opening the door to your room Jeff could see your mattress was on the floor with no sheet, all your clothing lived in pile since there was no wardrobe and you sat on the floor drawing in just a massive t shirt.

Diana: "See, she's well isn't she?" She sassed at him, all Jeff wanted in this moment was to snatch you up take you home and get you cleaned, and in some clothing that actually fit so you didn't look like just a head floating in fabric, but of course being a police capiatin made that legally impossible.

Y/n: "Oh, Hey Mr Morales"

Jeff: "Hey Y/n"

Y/n: "What are you doing here?"

Jeff: "just a wellness check"

Diana: "Your well aren't you Y/n?" She's not asking you, she's telling you.

Y/n: "...Yeah I'm fine"

Diana: "We good officer?"

To be honest, if he were social services he could take you but he simply did not have the authority, Jeff was hushed back into the hallway by Diana.

Jeff: "Diana, Y/n's been out of school for 2 weeks now, why hasn't she been in school?"

Diana: "She's been sick"

Jeff: "Well she looks fine"

Diana: "Then why are you here doing a wellness check?"

Jeff: "Ugh, Diana, If Y/n dosen't turn up to another day of school, I'll get CPS you under stand?"

Diana: "are you threating me?"

Jeff: "No, I'm doing my job" he said waving you goodbye as he exited the house.

Jeff and Rio sat with their son at the dinner table, Rio and Jeff had been cracking a plan to file for emergency custody of you for awhile now, but since you aren't blood they knew it wouldn't be easy, but they also thought it would be good as ask Miles what he thought about the idea of taking you in full time.

Rio: "hijo, what would you think about Y/n moving in with us?"

Jeff:" Full time"

Miles: "Like, forever?"

Jeff: "Yeah..."

Miles: "Is that possible?"

Rio: "It might be"

Miles: "I'd like that"

And so with Miles on board Rio and Jeff started the paper work process to file for emergency custody, and with the helps of CPS they finally had a case, but it wasn't enough, they needed proof of abuse not just neglect, and so they waited, 2 whole years for such proof to emerge.

You had come over on anther Friday for dinner as you often did and had been doing for the past 5 years now, but something was deeply off, you were quite, timid and apprehensive to speak, but the thing that really worried Rio was all the concealer you were wearing on your left eye, honestly it was strange that Jeff didn't notice since the makeup wasn't yours, it was yours Mom's the shade wasn't quite right and drew more attention to your eye, and what was underneath it.

She didn't want to adress it in front of everyone so she waited until later in the evening to confront you about it, while you wear in the bathroom, getting ready for your shower she knocked on the door, before you took off anything of course.

Rio: "Y/n...Can we talk for a sec?"

Y/n: "Uhh yeah I guess" You opened the door to her as she closed the door behind her.

Rio: "Baby, I can see your wearing a lot of makeup, especially round your eye, and I just wanted to check if everything was okay?"

Y/n: "Yeah Yeah...I was just trying to do come conclear"

Rio: "Uh huh...well, could you take it off for me please?"

Y/n: "...no"

Rio: "And why not"

Y/n: "I...I just want to shower Mrs Morales"

Rio: "Y/n we've been over this, You call me Tita, and really why won't you take off all that makeup?"

Y/n: "Tita...please I don't want to talk about it"

Rio:" So something is wrong, huh?"

Y/n: "...I don't want to talk about it"

Rio: "I don't care, your staying at my home I want to see whatever your hiding" she said sternly, handing you a makeup wipe.

And so you compiled begging to rub off all the makeup you had spent about half a hour applying, despite anticipating what she would see it still hurt her to see you with a black eye.

Rio: "Oh...Oh Y/n My poor baby"

Y/n: "Can...Can you please not tell Jeff"

Rio understood why, but this was the proof of abuse they needed.

Rio: "Was it your Mom?"

Y/n: "Yeah...but please don't tell Jeff"

Rio: "This is an assault, you need to tell Jeff he can help you"

Y/n: "I really don't want her arrested"

Rio: "I know... but if she's hitting you it's clearly worse than we thought"

Needless to say it wasn't a pleasant experiecne having to show your bruised face to Jefferson and Miles, though he obivoulsy wasn't happy that you were attacked but this was the proof they needed to push for custody, now all they needed was to report it and make a record of the incident, but it was so obvious you were tired and due to the circumstances, Jeff firmly belived the courts wouldn't to too upest if they kept you just one night.

Jeff: "Y/n...We think its best if you stay with us for awhile"

Y/n: "Like...this weekend?"

Jeff: "Well, maybe a little while longer"

Y/n: "But my Mo-"

Jeff: "If your Mom is hitting, I can't just let you go back"

Y/n: "But what about my stuff?"

Jeff: "I can drive over tmorrow and pick you up whatever you need"

Y/n: "I can't...I can't just leave what if she-"

Jeff placed a hand on your shoulder.

Jeff: "Y/n, we will take care of it, you understand?"

Y/n: "...okay"

Rio: "I'll pull out the couch for you M'kay? I'll lend you a pair of my PJ's"

Y/n: "Okay, yeah please""

It was all so fast, you didn't realise in agreeing to stay the weekend in their minds you were agreeing to being their daughter...

To be continued...

Feel Free to give me Dad! Aaron or Morales Family suggestions!

#yandere spiderverse #yandere morales family #aaron davis x reader #uncle aaron #dad aaron davis #platonic yandere #yandere miles morales #aaron davis #yandere jeff morales #jefferson davis #jefferson morales #yandere rio morales #rio morales #rio morales x reader

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hozierandco · 2 years ago

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Callum Turner x Reader - The match-maker (Pt. 2)

AN: Second part to a fic I published yesterday in which Callum Turner and Reader meet through Austin Butler, a friend they have in common. Requested.

If you have any requests, feel free to send them to me xx

TW: none. Kinda fluffy, no smut.

If you're interested in pt. 3, lmk. Ok, byeee

Arriving in New York was a surreal experience for Y/N and she was glad to be met by Austin and Kaia. The two of them looked like lovebirds and it would have made Y/N sick with sentimentality if it had been anyone else than them. She was longing for a healthy and stable relationship and was only glad her best friend had found the one.

Y/N knew she had one shot of making things right and that she was not allowed any mistake during the Gala. Not only for her career but also for her friend’s reputation if she failed him. Austin knew that Y/N was capable of great things and only had to trust herself. If anything, the Gala was her baptism by fire and a great way to give his friend the confidence she had lost in herself.

Plus, he knew that she was about to meet Callum and was beyond thrilled to see them together. He was certain it would be a match.

“Alright, I need to prepare myself for the big day tomorrow”, Y/N declared after having spent most of the day in the city with Austin and Kaia. Together, they had been to the Guggenheim, Central Park and the Brooklyn Museum. It had been an exhausting but satisfying day and Y/N was now more ready than ever to craft her portfolio.

She woke up the next day wishing she could have slept longer but since it was Met Gala day, lots of things were to be done before the evening would arrive. Thank God, Austin had thought everything through to make her the most comfortable possible and had secured a spot for her in the first rows of the red carpet. She could then afford to arrive later at the Metropolitan Museum.

She fixed her many cameras, making sure she had battery and film rolls tidied up nice and clean in her bag when Austin texted her.

Her phone showed her what the guy she had saved as Orange County Boy in her contacts had to say:

7:21 am - “Ready 4 tonite?”

Him too had woken up early to get ready.

7:21 am - “Readier than everrrr. What about you two?”

7:24 am - “You bet we r! Kaia and I r having a party afterwards. You should come”

By sending that, Austin prayed everything he could pray on that she would accept as Callum had already let him know that he would join in.

7:32 am - “Yeah, sounds good. If I’m not dead with exhaustion or fangirling by then”

7:34 am - “Haha, even half-dead, you better get there!”

Once she had everything she needed sorted out, Y/N exited her Airbnb on the 11th Street to get some breakfast. In a few hours time, she was going to see all the celebrities she had dreamt of seeing. There would be Anna Wintour of course but she was mostly daydreaming of taking pictures of Jessica Chastain, Blake Lively and Alicia Keys. The fact that she would be first row was a golden opportunity.

By 2 pm, Y/N headed to the Metropolitan Museum and found her spot. She was escorted by people who were talking and acting as though she was the new Annie Leibovitz. Was it her Givenchy dress that she had borrowed from Kaia or her self-assured walk that gave the impression that she was famous? She could not have said but it sure felt good.

And then, in what seemed like the blink of an eye (though that was a couple hours in fact), the first people grazed the carpet. People from Vogue at first, and then a handful of random models before the A-list made their way.

Y/N noticed Vanessa Hudgens that she had known very well a few years back but had grown distant since. Vanessa reached out for her and greeted her amicably as she recognised her in the cloud of photographers which made a huge impression amongst Y/N’s peers.

When Austin and Kaia entered the scene, Y/N was beyond excited and could not stop taking pictures of them. The night followed that way and soon enough, all of her cameras were full. The batteries could not take any more picture which coincided with the end of the night.

The photographers were asked to leave and Y/N thought of getting a drink somewhere with some other photographers she had met while waiting for Austin and Kaia’s party to begin.

“Girl, you were on fire tonight!”, a 30-ish year-old woman told her as the photographers started debriefing about the evening and voting for the best-dressed celebrity.

“Yeah, who are you even working for?”, another guy around 25 asked.

“Uh, well, no one in fact. I’m trying to make my way up”

“And you got into the Met Gala? Damn, that’s impressive”

Y/N had made her promise to herself never to mention her friendship with Austin as a safety net towards her friend and because she did not wish to be known as the “friend of”. So she decided not to reply.

It was fun to be surrounded by peers who had so many anecdotes to tell about working in the industry. Y/N surprised herself laughing along with them and she made up her mind that Blake Lively was the best-dressed when she noticed it was 11:18 pm which meant the party had started about 20 minutes ago at Loeb Boathouse, a restaurant in Central Park that Austin and Kaia had privatised.

Y/N called it quits on the photographers and walked her way to the restaurant. She instantly regretted choosing the Givenchy dress Kaia suggested for her. Straight from the Spring collection of 2018, it was a long black dress with a wide collar and a bow in the back. It was absolutely magnificent but not the most practical thing to be wearing, especially at night and in a gigantic park.

She arrived by 11:30 at the party, much to Austin’s relief that was wearing a tuxedo and a large grin on his face, far too happy to be hosting both a party and a surprise for his best friend. She greeted him and his girl for the second time of the evening and was shown to a table where food had just been served.

Coming back from the bar, Callum was trying to find an available seat when Austin reached out for him and indicated where he could sit. Right next to Y/N. He noticed a beautiful woman he thought he had seen somewhere before. He had to know more about her.

She was looking like a Celtic goddess, he thought with her hair descending and shimmering as the light crashed on it. With her classy black dress, he could only presume she was a celebrity too and he then tried to force his memory to remember a name, to no avail. The woman seated next to her was so splendid in fact that, though he was craving to talk to her, he felt himself blushing like a schoolboy. Being an actor and not knowing your pick-up line, you could not make it up!

Y/N made space for the man sitting next to her, recognising him in the blink of an eye to be Austin’s friend and colleague he had talked so much about. Though she never truly listened to Austin’s attempts to set the two up together, she was much obliged to admit that he might have been right to even try match-making.

Callum Turner was indeed a very elegant man besides being good-looking. His aquamarine eyes had something of a malicious air which made her imagine him to be a kind soul and considering he had become a good friend to Austin, he must have been this kind-hearted being. She felt immediately some comfort in his company, which she had not felt in ages while surrounded by men.

She did not feel intimidated by his 6’1 stature nor his assured walk as they were balanced by a gentle and wide smile on his face. She dared starting a conversation as she could catch a glimpse of him eyeing her.

“Hi, I’m Y/N. You must be Callum, right?”

“Hi, that’s right! So nice to meet you. You were in a film, weren’t you?”

Y/N chuckled at the idea of being an actress and even more so of giving the impression of being one. “Oh no, I would be a terrible actress. I’m a photographer and also a childhood friend to Austin”

Callum laughed along at the confusion “Gosh, I’m sorry. It’s just the dress and you look, well, drop dead gorgeous” And the blush appeared back on his cheeks and was soon followed by the same tint on Y/N’s. After having said that, he realised who she was and why she was so familiar. Austin had talked about her earlier and had even shown some pictures of them at prom and other moments of their early adulthood.

She was even more of a beauty than what the photographs made it to be, he thought.

“You’re not bad-looking yourself”, Y/N commented after a few seconds.

From afar, Austin looked at the two introducing themselves, knowing the deal was closed.

“So, tell me, what drove you to photography?”, Callum inquired while not being able to take his eyes off Y/N.

“I guess I’ve always wanted to show another version of nature and people than what could be seen in magazines. Having someone pose for you or waiting for a certain light to come up in a forest does not interest me. I want to capture what makes a person different from another or why a certain setting is going to move you or not. Well, tonight was a little different than usual but it was fun somehow”

“You took pictures tonight? What photographs did you -”, Callum stopped mid-sentence, connecting the dots between the after-party he was a part of and Y/N’s activity and had to ask as Y/N seemed to nod at him “No way! You were on the red carpet?”

Y/N nodded once more, still not down from the experience she had gone through that evening.

“Wow, that’s amazing! Congrats on that! How was the whole thing?”

“Exhausting”, Y/N admitted, which Callum could only relate to. Himself was not the biggest fan of red carpets, nor after-parties. But at this instant, he did not regret attending Austin and Kaia’s get-together and laughed along with her. How long had it been since he had not laughed and had genuine fun with a woman?

“But I guess you’ve got plenty of things to say about red carpets for yourself”, Y/N hinted. She loved his London accent which was music to her ears and her laugh was the purest thing she had heard in a while.

“Tell me about it! I’m a real mess when it comes to those. There was this one time I nearly tripped on Judi Dench at the Bafta ceremony. I was running late which is something I’m really good at. So I’m running for my life to get on that carpet, right. Well, I saw the cameras and all but I did not see Dame Judi Dench and I just lowkey rushed into her as she was getting in the theatre”

“Stop, you mean you had a pile-up with M from the James Bond films? How did she even react?”

“She was the nicest about it. Mind you, I was 24. It was one of my very first award shows. I think she just noticed just how silly I had been to even try running on a carpet. I was unable to stop apologising to her but she was an angel”

After having discussed for over 30 minutes, interrupted here and there by the dishes served, the guests were taken to another room without tables and with enough space to dance the night away.

A playlist made of Taylor Swift, Marina and KC and the Sunshine band started blasting in the room, soon enough filling it with dancing actors and singers. Callum suggested Y/N and he could enjoy the tunes too. He took her hand and the two of them got to dancing.

With the light emanating from the stroboscopes, Y/N was a shooting star. Her black dress twirled so nicely as she moved her body to the rhythm given. Callum could not stop looking at her while dancing along.

Callum had this look of having done that all his life. He moved so lightly on the floor, with a composed pace and glistening eyes.

“You look amazing when you dance”, Y/N whispered in Callum’s ear as the song ended, morphing into a new song.

“And you look amazing overall”, Callum replied. “You’re so beautiful I think I could kiss you right now”

Of course, it was mostly the alcohol speaking as Callum said that and he instantly regretted having said that outloud. As he was wishing she had not heard what he had just said, he felt a warmth on his lips. The warmth was a soft kiss placed with all the tenderness in the world.

After the shared kiss, the two of them went back to their dancing but this time, they got closer. Y/N’s sensual moves rushed Callum to grasp her waist and joining in, echoing her moves with his hands on her wiggling body. With the soft fabric of her dress under his hands, Callum felt like kissing her once more and in her ears said “I really want to kiss you right now, would that be okay?”

“Callum, we’ve just made out in front of everyone. Of course, I’m okay with that”

More kisses added up to the list and the song ended once more. “Let’s go somewhere more quiet”, Y/N suggested and the two of them got back to the first room where they had met.

In that room, Callum was all hands on Y/N, not being able to resist the tension anymore. “Would you like to see the pictures I took back to my place?”, Y/N questioned, feeling like the end of the night could well go somewhere unplanned but nice.

#callum turner x reader #callum turner #fluff #fanfic #austin butler as side character #met gala 2022 #parallel universe #fiction

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doubledaybooks · 4 months ago

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Read an Excerpt from "Between Two Moons" by Aisha Abdel Gawad

Bay Ridge was about to fast for a whole month of fifteen-hour days. We would be one dry mouth, one rumbling belly, one pounding head. Mothers would wake at least an hour before dawn to make the suhoor meal, to scramble eggs and basturma in skillets. And when the children and the husbands finally woke up, usually with only a few minutes to spare, the mothers would stuff the mixture into pita halves so their families could eat more quickly, in time to perform wudu and pray with the sun. It was your last chance to eat and drink and smoke and fuck and curse and gossip and think unkind thoughts until the sun set again in the evening.

Baba shuffled after Mama like a bad dog. Lina stood up and yawned, letting out a long moan. Mama made us a breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, mashed fava beans, and sliced tomatoes. We sat around the kitchen table, shoveling food sleepily into our mouths, letting bits of egg dribble down our chins. After we’d eaten, Mama stood sentry over us and watched as we each downed three full glasses of water.

“I’m going back to bed,” Lina said after she’d finished.

“Haram, ya binti,” Mama said and grabbed the collar of her Wu-Tang T-shirt.

The sun was creeping up the horizon and we still needed to pray Fajr. Mama dragged the coffee table to the corner of the living room to clear space for the four of us to pray all lined up. Then she brought us a basket of delicate white prayer scarves with edges like doilies. Lina and I each slipped one on, and then Mama pointed to the bathroom. We zombie-shuffled over to it, purposefully knocking into each other as we went.

Lina and I stood side by side in front of the bathroom sink. Silently, we washed ourselves with cold New York City tap water. We were efficient and thorough. In the name of God, state your intent to perform wudu. Wash both hands up to the wrists. Rinse your mouth three times. Clean your nostrils, breathing in water and blowing it out three times. Rinse your face three times. Wash your arms up to the elbows three times. Slick your hair back like an Italian mobster, once. Wash your ears. Wash your feet. Do you feel cleansed? Are you ready?

After we had performed wudu, Mama wanted Baba, our patriarch, to stand in front and lead us in prayers, but he was annoyed about being late to the shop. Baba didn’t like to pray—sometimes, when he was feeling nostalgic about the old days in the old country, he would tell me about the time he was eighteen and he stormed out of his village masjid back in Egypt.

“That stupid imam, he tell me man come from ball of clay and clot of blood, and I tell him, What, are you stupid? Man, he come from monkey, not clay! So I leave and I go home and I tell my mama, Mama, I’m not praying anymore. And ever since that day, I never pray again.”

Except, of course, he did pray again. Countless times. But I think I know what he meant. He meant that he never really felt it again, never again believed that it would help him ace a test or publish the poems he wrote in the margins of his school notebooks. He prayed now like a man following orders, like a man too tired to put up a fight.

The clock on the mantel chimed. It was like a cuckoo clock, except instead of birds it opened to reveal a tiny golden Ka’ba that spun and played a recording of a famous muezzin from Egypt reciting the call to prayer. A robotic voice told us that prayer is better than sleep. There are no minarets in Brooklyn. God’s name does not echo across the buildings. There is nothing but a clock on the wall.

Baba was persuaded to stand in front of us, his womenfolk, and lead prayers. But he rushed through all his rakat, touching his forehead to the carpet for only a moment before standing up again. The rest of us were only halfway through when we heard the door close behind him.

When we had finished, Lina and I squeezed together in her bed. I tried to close my eyes and determine whether I felt any different on the first day of the holy month. The month when, a zillion years ago, the Prophet Muhammad received his first revelations up on that mountaintop. He thought he was just a poor illiterate orphan escaping to the mountain to rest his mind. But then the Angel Jibrail came down, and—bam—all of a sudden he was a prophet, the prophet.

For some that summer, the next thirty days would be filled with prayers and reflections and recitations. Bodies and minds would be purified. But for the rest of us, it would be thirty days of waiting for the sun to set so we could eat and drink without incurring the judgment of all the collective mothers and grandmothers and aunties of Bay Ridge, who with one wagging finger and one cluck of the tongue could banish us into a prison of guilt.

The waiting. Every Ramadan, people waited for Lina to change. To be struck with the spirit of Islam, to ditch her cutoffs and halter tops for a nice, modest abaya. To hang out after prayers with the good Muslim girls at the Starbucks on 3rd instead of drinking with the Mexicans in Sunset Park. And every Ramadan, Lina waited for people to go ahead and give up on her.

Baba waited for Mama to mellow, to hang up her abayas, put down her Qur’an, and become once again the quietly irreverent girl he had married.

Mama waited for us, her husband and daughters, to believe as we ought to.

They both waited for Sami, their boy, their firstborn, to come back to them.

I waited for something without a name. A jolt, a tingling, a filling up.

Ordinarily, I didn’t care much about Ramadan. But that summer, with our high-school graduation only days away, it felt momentous. Suddenly the things around me—tables, books, clouds—were imbued with meaning that I was supposed to be able to decipher but couldn’t. In September, I would go to college, and I was sure that by then I would be different. I would push and the world would stumble in response.

Lying next to Lina that first morning, I closed my eyes and tried to imagine the woman I was destined to become. I saw a glimmer of my own future arm, thinner, with a figure-eight tattoo curling around my wrist. I smiled to myself, but then I realized that I had stolen this wrist off the girl who served us pizza yesterday after school. It was her tattoo, her skin, her body. I had plagiarized my own imaginings of myself. So, eyes closed, I kept waiting for knowledge to strike me like an arrow in the heart.

These are the normal kinds of waiting that fill the long, dry-mouthed days of Ramadan. But this Ramadan, this particularly long and hot Ramadan, there was another kind of waiting that we all shared. It kept everyone in Bay Ridge strung together on a long, tenuous thread, knocking into one another like prayer beads.

#fiction #ramadan #books #debut fiction

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brooklynrugclean · 5 months ago

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#Brooklyn Carpet Cleaning #carpet cleaning #rug cleaning #upholstery #brooklyn #new your city

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masterrugcleaningandrepair · 1 day ago

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Refresh Your Carpets with Brooklyn Carpet Cleaning Service

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queen-tinsley · 1 year ago

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"And what do you want me to do about it?" Brooklyn asked a concern party go'er who'd just notified her that someone had of course spilled whatever concoction her cousin had whipped all over one of the houses carpets. When her cousin let her know that a party would be happening at the estate, she assumed it'd be something a little more intimate than the scene she'd walked into. "Go try to clean it yourself, or better yet, direct me to tonight's host."

#chwstarter #( left open so any of the chadwell cousins could be behind the mess. )

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a-stubborn-little-fish · 6 months ago

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I miss being a little girl and putting my feet on top of my dad’s so he can walk while I hugged him. I miss that joy. I miss climbing on the rocks in Central Park and feeding the horses carrots. I miss the tulips in my neighbor’s yard and the caterpillars on the tomato plants and the pansies planted around the bird bath. I miss the sunflowers taller than me. I miss the intricate wrought iron railing with filigree. I miss the wooden chest with fish shaped brass handles that flipped up and down. I miss my giant, empty, carpeted room and scratchy blue heated blanket. I miss the sound of the motor humming and clicking from my favorite nightlight. I miss playing in the park next to the elementary school across from my house. I miss the frost on the steel bars that stung my skin. I miss the cold tile in the kitchen and the broken clock above the dining room table. I miss the corded phone that was always tangled and the screen door that never closed just right. I miss footy pajamas and sliding down the carpeted stairs on my butt and crashing into the coat closet at the bottom. I miss the scary basement. I miss watching the sun set over the Brooklyn bridge. I miss Fergus scratching up my legs when I’d get home. I miss sitting in the back of an airport terminal tram while the sun rises. I miss the bumps of a plane landing and the ding before a pilot’s announcement. I miss yawning to pop my ears during take off and that momentary feeling of falling when the plane wheels leave the runway. I miss the silent dark car rides home with only the glow of the buttons to light up the car’s interior. I miss the strange carpet in the Tampa International baggage claim with its rows and rows of empty carousels. I miss those little curled leaves that crunch when you step on them. I miss the feeling of my baby brother’s hand gripping my fingers. I miss how he always laughed hysterically every time I smiled at him. I miss building train tracks for him after school. I miss watching his favorite shows with him and his hugs when we’d pick him up from preschool. I miss mixing and heating up his baby bottles and cleaning his binkys. I miss his mouth breathing when he passed out in his car seat. I miss scrubbing the spaghetti stains off his high chair. I miss playing on the roots on the trees in Medard Park and running across the boardwalk to hear my feet thunk against the wood. I miss hiding my DS under my pillow so I could play Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. I miss playing with my bakugan and pretending they were empires at war. I miss sleeping in my closet just because I could. I miss the dark parking garages and dull beige walls at USF. I miss sitting with my mom in the campus library. I miss going to Busch Gardens every weekend and riding the sky ride over the habitats. I miss taking the train through the safari area and being lulled to sleep by the clacking of the wheels. I miss running across the rope bridges in Jungala and riding Air Grover with my little brother. I miss the smell of chlorine and the cold unfriendly YMCA changing rooms. I miss the rock wall and the hot concrete. I miss swimming in pools and being afraid of the robot cleaning the deep end. I miss feeding the ducks stale bread. I miss my 8th grade history teacher. I miss the cold dark mornings in the car. I miss sitting on my backpack outside the door of my first period class. I miss skipping lunch and hiding in the darkness backstage in the auditorium. I miss the library after school. I miss cleaning the fish tanks in the marine science room. I miss the smell of formaldehyde. I miss walking from the school to the local library and hunkering down in the corner to watch Hetalia on my laptop. I miss listening to music as I walked through fog to the bus stop just before sunrise. I miss the dew on the bus windows and the painfully cold mornings and blue faux leather seats always cracked and peeling. I miss the snails hiding in the cracks of the bricks. I miss the warm summer rain and the windy fall days. I miss hiding in the nurse’s room during pep rallies.

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lovelyprincessn64 · 1 day ago

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March madness request event

🌸 Welcome to the month of spring better known as March however March is a home for the greatest thing such as the anniversary of women's rights movement alongside of many great things and this year I'm making a special event all packed in one package, alongside of Mario Day cereal Barbie and many more that goes around in the month of March 🌸

Spring beginnings

2. National Women's Day

3. A four-leaf clover for my Daisy

4. Shamrock Shake

5. Cereal day

6. Mario Day

7. Rainbow Road Madness

8. St Patrick's Day

9. National Barbie day

10. Luigi's Mansion

11. Wowie zowie

12. PowerUp collector

13. Within the Odyssey

14. Here Comes Barbie

15. Spring cleaning

16. Jump up high

17. Year of the L

18. Pots of gold

19. Luigi's Day Out

20. Badass Ken

21. March birthdays

22. Welcome to the Mario Party

23. Bowser's Fury

24. If Bowser was a musician

25. See you in the next sequel

26. Super bad Mario

27. Shining with sunshine

28. So long King Bowser

29. Mario and Sonic Olympics

30. Woman up

31. They do not look like Ken at all

32. Possessed by Speed Demon

33. Growing up with Mario

34. Slug Barbie

35. Princess Peach Showtime

36. Gangster Mario

37. Mario creepypastas

38. Get out of my head

39. Yoshi equestrian

40. Peach's Garden

41. Shopping at Coconut Mall

42. Ice bride

43. Golfing in space

44. Sparks of Hope

45. Playing with melee

46. I want a Burger Mario!

47. Present from Mario

48. Beta Luigi

49. Don't call me angel

50. Dangerous woman

51. Woman of the year

52. Girls month

53. INFERNAL BOUT

54. Tribute to Akira Toriyama

55. Women's history

56. Fighting for the right to vote

57. Peach's Bakery

58. Galaxy Queen

59. Waluigi's taco stand

60. Penguin playground

61. Takara Barbie / Jenny

62. Sugar mommy Barbie

63. America's sweetheart

64. Dancing with leprechauns

65. Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs

66. Lucky Charms

67. Mario world

68. Hungry piranhas

69. All got is bad lack

70. Irish folklore

71. Care for some root beer

72. L is real

73. Magically delicious

74. Cookie tricks

75. Trix are for kids

76. Part of the complete breakfast

77. Flowercore

78. Mother Nature

79. Chocolate Chip Cookie Week

80. Learning about butterflies

81. Popcorn Lover’s Day

82. Wear a Hat Day

83. Girl Scout week

84. Dr. Seuss’s Birthday

85. Green eggs and ham

86. Cat in the Hat

87. Fan arts of Dr Seuss's series of any kind

88. Any type of March prompt / name your own prompt of theme

89. Spring break

90. Fruit Loops with Toucan Sam

91. Cinnamon versus apple

92. Misadventures of Captain Crunch

93. Discontinued cereal (show pictures of what this discontinued of the cereal looks like so I can draw it)

94. Irish American Heritage Month

95. Banana Cream Pie

96. Cheesecake day

97. White chocolate

98. Retro Gaming era

99. Black Forest cakes

100. Caramel like crazy

101. Banshee Blossoms

102. Super Mario RPG

103. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

104. Splashing with colors

105. Barbie and friends at a summer music festiva

106. Barbie's trip to Paris

107. Tennis tournament

108. Pounding cakes

109. Easter day

110. Animal Crossing bunny day

111. Bunny season

112. Egg decorations

113. Painting eggs

114. Good Friday

115. Easter face paint

116. Barbie art style

117. Wedding crasher

118. Speak now or forever hold your peace

119. Still collecting coins

120. Bunny girls / Bunny man

121. Royal club

122. Barbie's glamorous Hollywood red carpet moment

123. Choose your crown girl

124. Marie Day

125. Luigi Day

126. Curse of the music box

127. Tickets for the ice Empire please

128. Luigi as Ghostbuster

129. Farewell Charles Martinet

130. Heroes of Brooklyn

131. Haha you got the cat box

132. Mutation chocolate bunny

133. Easter with Eddsworld

134. Hi I'm Barbie

135. Summer Barbie

136. Mario vs Barbie

137. Shut up Barbie

138. The day that Mr Krabs fries

139. Greg the Goomba series

140. Bowser turns people into mystery box if they don't agree with him

141. Leprechaun horror

142. Goth Barbie

143. Your princess is in another Castle

144. Waluigi for smash

145. Secret history of Super Mario Bros

146. Walpeach

147. But I love Peaches

148. Mario as an artist

149. Yoshi's cookies

150. Dr Mario

151. Yarn Yoshi series

152. Captain Toad

153. Mario Golf

154. Mushroom disease

155. Princess of mushrooms

156. A night at boos Opera

157. Ninja disco

158. NO PARTY

159. Charlie Brown Easter special

160. You will never catch Zipper

161. Hot Springs

162. Wario land series

163. Mario working at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria

164. Creating Android Barbies

165. Too many Barbies to count

166. Doll trial

167. So many Kens to choose from

168. Dr monster leprechaun special

169. Warioware

170. Dr monster eggsecutioner

171. It hatched a cherry monster instead of a check

172. Marshmallow peeps

173. Easter morning

174. Irish luck

175. 28 years of Resident Evil (this a anniversary prompt for the game)

176. Leon's first day

177. Party at the bar (this is a Resident Evil prompt just to let everybody know)

178. Easter with Pokémon

179. Your character of choice as a Barbie doll

180. Killed by Nemesis

181. Is it really you Barry

182. Hang on sweetheart

183. Magical Metaphors

184. Green Dreams

185. Luck o’ the Pen

186. G virus or any Resident Evil virus of your choice

187. Resident Evil girls as cheerleaders

188. Resident Evil boys as football players

189. Magic of the Shamrock

190. Elza walker

191. Easter’s Hope in Modern Times

192. Raccoon City

193. The Symbols of Easter

194. No thanks bro

195. Egg Hunt

196. Chocolate Magic

197. Moushley

198. Bowser Jr annoys Bowser

199. Resident Evil costumes

200. Goodbye Merlin

201. Mario characters wearing Mexican style clothing

202. Surprise happy birthday Mario

203. Don't trust the flower

204. Mushroom that contains Yoshi DNA

205. One last kiss

206. Never eat the purple mushrooms

207. Yoshi Gumball

208. Sexy Ashley

209. Flashgitz Mario

210. Luigi's nightmare

211. Yoshizilla

212. Floweratouille

213. Mario Bros Fight Club

214. Only murders in the Mushroom Kingdom

215. Walock Holmes

216. Chainchomp Man

217. Donkey Kong Joonyer

218. Koopa family group photo

219. Fan arts of Resident Evil 4 remake Japanese commercial

220. Starman Slaughter

221. Devil Mario. Info about the character: https://villainsfanon.fandom.com/wiki/Devil_Mario_(Power_Star)

222. Koopa Dance

223. Being chase by MX

224. Rice Krispie treats

225. Your choice of cereal options / prompts

226. Reese's puffs

227. Mario Licca-Chan. info about the character: https://nintendosoup.com/super-mario-licca-chan-doll-announced-in-japan/

228. Gruesome discoveries

229. Itchy, tasty

230. Rookie mistake

231. You got 7 minutes

232. I wanna meet the Grim Reaper

233. Mr X gon give it to ya

234. Code Veronica

235. What the Hell Hunk!?

236. William Birkin searching for Sherry

237. Infected Annette Birkin

238. I thought I was going to save a cute mouse

239. Cocoa Pebbles or Fruity Pebbles

240. Doobus Goobus (Some Mario stuff or art style)

241. Cereal addict

242. Psycho chainsaw man

243. Thalassophobia

244. Killer piano

245. Leon can't spell. Base off of this: https://youtu.be/TWTZ2_v8gtc?si=h972W-V5VKQlQrAY

246. Easter on an Alien Planet

247. Concept Rosalina

248. Alcoholic or drunk Leon (your choice of scenario to pick)

249. Angelic Witness

250. Bunny's Wrong Turn

251. The first woman to...

252. Kaede Akamatsu's Birthday

253. Basket full of Easter goodies

254. Far from alive

255. Last night I just dreamed that I walking the dead

256. Got no more STARS in ours sights

257. Easter miracle

258. Sour Patch Kids cereal taste like abomination

259. Redfield bloodline

260. Lady Dimitrescu

261. Attractive daughters

262. Playboy bunny suit

263. Colors of herbs

264. Don't die on me Jill

265. Pastel Palette of Memories

266. The candy comparison

267. Chocolate Egg Haven

268. Bunny Business

269. Barbenheimer meme

270. SMG4 Mario

271. Shadow-Shana Mario or Princess Peach

272. Painting with Yoshi

273. Zombie Barbie outbreak

274. Barbie are you at home?

275. Fire flower for you

276. Possessed by boos

277. King of bombs

278. Robot Chicken Barbie / Robot Chicken Mario

279. Congratulations Chris Pratt

280. Mario food doodles

281. Tyrant Barbie

282. Girls sleepover party

283. I am the strongest woman in the world

284. Japanese schoolgirl Barbie

285. Soda Barbies

286. Build-A-Bear X Mario

287. Baby Mario screens mama

288. Trying to fight evil out of me

289. Astronaut Ken

290. Ashley annoys Leon

291. Which tofu to eat

292. Fighting against a tyrant

293. Castle knight Ashley

294. Ada with lingerie

295. Handsome Dr Leon

296. Ada celebrates Lunar New Year

297. Abandoned Hospital

298. Ooze creature

299. Ghost Princess

300. Prince Haru (he is from the Super Mario movie that never left outside of Japan and for some odd reason he's the boyfriend of Princess Peach but was never mentioned again and cannon as well)

301. Flower bat Rouge

302. Spending Easter with Billy Hatcher

303. Skunky with cereal theme pajamas

304. Part of a complete breakfast

305. Zombie Forest (in the Japanese version of the DualShock director's cut I think you have a chance of encountering forest but as a zombie rather than just a corpse that does nothing)

306. Jill wears a kimono / French outfit

307. Infected with las plagas

308. Las plagas King Leon

309. Giant infected alligator

310. Easter Festival

311. Horror Daisy

312. Coronation Day Peach

313. Grand Dad

314. Tanooki.EXE

315. Ultra M

316. Golden Land

317. Somari

318. Turmoil

319. Sandy Cheeks teach Ashley about karate

320. Welcome to the family

321. Nobody's experiment

322. Left to die

323. Infected

324. Mansion of Horrors

325. Mercenaries

326. Metal bug that controls Jill

327. Cliffhanger

328. Hold your fire I'm a human

329. Chief irons

330. Got out of Raccoon City

331. Babysitting Sherry

332. Zombie dogs are not man's best friend

333. Gambling with Luigi

334. S.T.A.R.S vs The Forces of Resident Evil

335. Zom and Jill

336. You want Stars I'll give you Stars

337. Resident evil vs Kirby

338. Ashley the terrible

339. Jill with chocolates

340. Ashley hates horror games

341. If Ashley was gen z

342. Leon Kennedy is bad at video games

343. Jill's first kiss ruined by Nemesis

344. Leon Kennedy's honeymoon ruined

345. Fighting against Mother Nature

346. Don't mess with nature

347. Enjoying a day out with some tea

348. Working at the Garden

349. Leon as ghost face

350. Blowing some dandelions

351. Farmcore

352. Barbiecore

353. Raccoon Zoo

354. Moon's Donuts

355. Leon's vlog

356. Florist

357. Your Resident Evil OCs

358. Licker

359. Wheelchair zombie (he's a scrapped Resident Evil character)

360. Zombie Wildcat (it was originally going to be a Resident Evil 3 enemy but got scrapped)

361. Your Barbie OCS

362. Two-Face Ada

363. AUs of your choice

364. Hook man (he's a scrapped Resident Evil 4 character that Leon would have to face through hallucinations also don't forget to send me images of what he looks like so I know what he looks like)

365. Plant Zombies

367. Resident Evil characters for smash Brothers

368. Yoshi gets eaten alive (this is a reference to Robot Chicken where Yoshi goes to Raccoon City but ends up being eaten by zombies)

369. Hungry for tofus

370. Characters cross playing Resident Evil characters or cross playing Mario or Barbie

371. Easter specials

372. It hatched a cherry monster rather than a chick

373. Your Mario OCs

374. Spring themed dessert

375. Easter themed dessert

376. Animal Crossing bunny day

377. Zodiac of March

378. B.O.W

379. Greek Leon (this is a scrapped Resident Evil costume that never made it into the games)

380. There's a zombie on your lawn

381. Green Aesthetics

382. Statue of Liberty

383. Nature can be cruel

384. Shirtless Leon

385. Re4Remake gang as Scooby-Doo gang

386. Cleopatra

387. Splatoon 3 Spilngfest Splatfest

388. Cereals as lattes

389. Yoshi commits tax fraud

390. Rosalina with two bangs

391. Mario characters as elephants

392. Denzel Crocker Day

393. Ryota Kajiki's birthday

394. Jim as a Alligator hunter or Crocodile Hunter or both depending on your choice of scenario

395. Jim Crocodile Cook's birthday

396. Villain Rumi Usagiyama

397. Rumi dressed as in bunny girl Playboy outfit

398. Deuce Gorgon's birthday

399. Toughest Deuce

400. Rumi Usagiyama's birthday

401. National Prom Day

402. Nintendo Princess Daisy blowing out her birthday candles

403. The 7 heavenly virtues

404. My hero Academia Midnight's Birthday

405. Queen of Midnight

406. Villain Midnight

407. Chinese prom dress

408. Bless those bright little souls

409. Hinamatsuri

410. Spring Equinox

411. March Equinox

412. Billy Hatcher

413. Sailor moon under cherry blossom trees

414. Bunny Maloney

415. Spring in Paris

416. Hope lantern corps

417. The Phantom Stranger (he's a DC character from comics and TV)

418. Life lantern corps

Disclaimer: Unlike normal requests you can only request of the theme of the name along with the prompts however if it doesn't it just you there are other request events or just send a normal request.

Also I'm accepting suggestions for prompts to add on the quest event feel free to request some to have a chance to be added to the event.

One more thing read the rules before requesting:

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