#Feel free to correct me in the notes if I got anything wrong

[angie-da-spoof]

Listen up

For anyone who is somehow not aware what is going on, or is, in Palestine, I want to inform or remind you with whatever knowledge I have. Right now Palestinians are being bombed, tortured, and misplaced from their families. They are without clean water and little food, and almost all houses have been destroyed. Israel is trying to paint the murder they committed as justifiable because Palestinians are "dangerous", and because they deserve their turn at a genocide too. Promised refuge and safety they fled to Gaza, only to be met with more death. They are STEALING the land away from Palestinians, forcing them bit by bit to either hand over $10,000 per person to evacuate, to resist and survive the best they can, or to die. More than 35,000 Palestinians have died, about 5,100 being children. 100 Palestinian journalists have been murdered in an attempt to silence them, so, if you are supporting companies that are funding the genocide against them, shame on you. If you think or say that speaking out against Israeli is "anti-semitic", shame on you. If you believe that because this doesn't affect you it doesn't matter, shame on you. If you are refraining from speaking out because you "don't know enough", shame on you. If you know what is happening and aren't doing anything, anything at all, Shame. On. You. As said by Elie Wiesel-an author who wrote many books on another very important and sickening genocide, the Holocaust- in his speech accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, "And then I explain to him how naive we were, that the world did know and remained silent. And that is why I swore never to be silent when and wherever human beings endure suf- fering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." Now, I'm asking you to think. Think reeeeaaalll hard about what's going on. Is it right to stay silent? Is it right, to just ignore everything as Palestinians are being bombed and murdered at this very moment? Is it right, to go to Starbucks because you can't go without your fucking vanilla latte? Even what I'm doing is not enough, and if you're wondering, "then what is?" I can tell you: Banding together and protesting, donating, speaking out, doing all of that, ENDING the genocide for fucks sake. That is what would be enough.

[sinecosinewheel]

ok so here's a bloodborne post. every dream or nightmare in bloodborne needs two things:

1. a host/dreamer

2. a being to create the dream

in the nightmare frontier/nightmare of mensis the dreamer is micolash and the creator is mergo.

we know for sure the nameless moon presence made the hunter's dream, and the obvious conclusion is gehrman is the dreamer. my personal pet theory is the doll is a second dreamer, the real host of the dream, because you find her sleeping in the old abandoned workshop

when you end a dream you have to kill both the host of the dream and the creator, ex, killing micolash then mergo, killing (freeing) gehrman and then the moon presence

so here where i get a little confusing okkkkk. the doll is the reason the game loops. the purpose of the hunter's dream is to keep hunters alive, at least when they start out hunting. hunters can leave the dream, like eileen and djura, but can they really? they reset when you start new game plus. everything resets. you are able to end the nightmare of beasts by ending the mensis ritual, but micolash was already long dead and a skeleton when he 'woke up', meaning gehrman would be as well. the doll, however, would just go back to sleep. she has an immortal doll body, if she wakes up there is no actual consequence. in the childhoods beginning ending you become the new creator of the dream, and the doll is the host, so gehrman is unnecessary. in the ending where you replace gehrman you are replacing his role as the surrogate child of the moon presence/collateral, and the doll is the host. in yharnam sunrise you 'leave' the dream, but you can't actually leave. the only thing left is new game plus. there is no way to permanently kill the doll in the game, and you need to kill both the dreamer and the maker of the dream to end it

i believe the moon presence created something unintendedly bigger than herself with the dream, it's become an endless self powering cycle that resets the entire world instead of just keeping a few hunters alive. the great ones are sympathetic in spirit, but she didn't really understand what laurence (and associates) was asking for because she can never actually die. so now no one can ever die! N that's my post

[tokutaiseichan]

Characters Awakening Lines Translations

After posting the lines for Jin and Rui, I felt like translating other characters too so here we are!

Please note that since I don’t have access to all of the characters’ lines, most of the raw lines are taken from the unofficial JP wiki. The texts are all there so if any of you notice any errors/mistranslations, feel free to correct me!

FROSTHEIM

Jin

Awakening: To think I'm receiving alms from my servant... Should I kneel in front of you? Fully Awakened: Trust is something that can be broken easily. Don't you dare come any closer than you already have.

Tohma

Awakening: This feeling… It appears that you want me to keep reaching out for the top. Is that how it is? Fully Awakened: With this power, we're one step closer to achieving our goal. And I'm* going to make sure we see it through the end. [*he's referring to himself as “ore” instead of his usual “”watashi” here]

Luca

Awakening: I devote myself to protecting the weak, for that is the path I have to take. Fully Awakened: I'll become stronger than anyone. I don't want to lose anything important to me一not anymore!

Kaito

Awakening: Could it be… even someone like me can get stronger too? Fully Awakened: You have done so much for me! This man, Kaito, will no longer run away!!

VAGASTORM

Alan

Awakening: This power is dangerous. Stay away from me. Fully Awakened: I don't really know what’s appropriate to say for this kind of thing, so… well… umm, thanks a lot.

Leo

Awakening: C'mere, Honor Roll~ I'll show you those guys’ ugly crying faces too~ Fully Awakened: Obviously. If I don't like someone, I’ll take matters into my own hands and create hell on earth just for them. There's no such thing as divine retribution, you know?

Sho

Awakening: Thanks for waiting. Well? What do you want me to do now? Say it clearly. Fully Awakened: Sure, okay. I got it. If it's your request, I'll make sure to at least listen to it through the end.

JABBERWOCK

Haru

Awakening: That sure hits the spot~ Now I don't even need those energy drinks! Fully Awakened: I'm going as far as this road is going to take me. I made a choice to walk down this path and it's not something I can just simply throw away.

Towa

Awakening: Heheh~ Did I get stronger? How interesti~ng. Fully Awakened: I wonder why humans are such foolish, whimsical, and pitiful creatures… yet they manage to still be so lovable?

Ren

Awakening: Doing something like this… Senpai, what are you planning? Fully Awakened: Geez! Even if you look at me with those expectant eyes, I know you'll just get tired of me right away…

SINOSTRA

Taiga

Awakening: Gyahahahaha! Aren't you one greedy little kitten~? But I don't hate that about you. Fully Awakened: A hasty greed and a sincere wish. There's no big difference between the two of them.

Romeo

Awakening: Come now. Is it really the time to be charmed by my beauty? Fully Awakened: I need to be perfect all the time一for that is my way of staying triumphant on this world.

Ritsu

Awakening: This will help in furthering my career. Fully Awakened: I definitely will become the best attorney in Japan, and then I shall ensure my father's name will be clear from all the alleged infamy he's received.

HOTARUBI

Subaru

Awakening: I’m so happy that you're right here beside me to watch me grow. Fully Awakened: “Ignorance is Bliss" and “Silence is Golden”. Don't you agree that it's unreasonable to try and break the admonitions we inherited from our predecessors?

Haku

Awakening: Oi oi oi. Don't expect too much from me, you hear? Fully Awakened: If our life were decided by the things we were born with, you bet I'd be the first one to kiss that kind of life goodbye.

Zenji

Awakening: It seems that my capability has bloomed yet again! Fully Awakened: I was wrong, my dear. As it turns out, dreams are not to be kept as just an idealized fantasy but something we should achieve with our own hands.

OBSCUARY

Edward

Awakening: Oh dearie me. If you whip my old bones any harder, I might actually die this time, you know? Fully Awakened: Sometimes a youthful folly can lead one into committing grave sins. So I hope that you keep this in mind一remain modest and cautious.

Rui

Awakening: Thanks a bunch for working hard for my sake~ I really mean it! Fully Awakened: It's fine if you ended up forgetting about me. I simply wish for you, of all people, to become happy.

Lyca

Awakening: Thanks. I want to show the current me to Neros soon. Fully Awakened: I’m going to work hard. I don't want to come back to those hellish days anymore.

MORTKRANKEN

Yuri

Awakening: This feeling! It stimulates my brain cells! Fully Awakened: I will pioneer the advanced road of genomic analysis for anomalies and establish myself as the best doctor in the world!

Jiro

Awakening: Thank you very much. I feel slightly better. Fully Awakened: I won't let you die. The reason I'm helping you? I don't really understand it myself either.

[prettieinpink]

CREATING A STUDY SCHEDULE/ROUTINE 

PLANNING/SCHEDULING

LIST YOUR ACADEMIC STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES. This is so you can allocate time accordingly and avoid wasting any time. 

PRIORITISE ANY SUBJECTS. These may be subjects that will help you in your future career or just a subject you especially want a good grade in. Anything for these subjects then becomes the most important on your to-do list.

DIVIDE TIME EACH DAY. Not all days you are going to be able to sit down at your desk at the same time. Instead, according to your energy levels and planned activities, divide your time.

E.g I have cheerleading after school and I'm going to be so tired, so I’ll do my studying in the morning instead. 

ESTABLISH BREAKS. Depending on how long you can study for, place a suitable break in between. This helps make studying more productive, but only if your breaks are. 

CREATING

USE YOUR TIMETABLE. On days you don’t have a specific subject, dedicate more time to that one. 

CONSIDER YOUR LEARNING STYLE. This helps to be a bit more specific when creating it, instead of winging it and just doing anything. Having a consistent way of studying helps us learn better. 

E.g I’m a visual learner, so I’ll watch animations. I'm an auditory learner so I’ll watch a video of someone explaining it. 

KNOW WHAT YOU WILL DO DURING STUDYING. Do not just wing studying, it’s unproductive and you’re more likely to waste time instead of using it.

 Before you start studying, write a to-do list of everything you need to do during that session and how you will do it. Less time time-consuming and allows you to use time productively. 

SAMPLE – this is Lanny’s daily study routine without any upcoming tests, as an early bird, kinesthetic learner and needs breaks to think with clarity.

Morning

Review my flashcards in preparation for any test. 

Write/note any flashcards I'm struggling with. 

 Afterschool

Check seqta/school website to access my courses, in which I’ll write down which subjects I had. 

Do a few quick blurts on paper of everything I learned in those subjects with prior reading. I only do this for HASS, math and science + any electives that require it. (blurting method)

Then I recheck my blurts, add in anything that I’ve missed and correct with a different coloured pen. 

After, I push those papers aside but I do not discard them. I’ll then complete my online science homework + class workbook. If I happen not to understand anything I’ll watch a video on it and then complete some questions on that. 

I’ll take a break around now because, on an estimate, it has been around 20-40 minutes since I started depending on how my science homework is. I usually eat something and then get back to it. 

Math is next. I’ll complete any math homework, then I’ll practice doing math questions on my own. What I like to do is watch a math video, pause the question without the answer then watch to see if I got it. Effective because they explain it and I can see where I went wrong without analysing my working out which is rather time-consuming. 

I take another break. Math stuff usually takes around 20-30 minutes. 

I then do HASS, which is the easiest. I usually read an article or watch a video on hass then apply that knowledge by answering questions OR doing assigned chapter work. 

I do not study English after school, but I usually read an assigned passage/book and then try to apply any techniques/knowledge by taking that paragraph apart and analysing it. Sometimes, I write my paragraphs using any taught techniques and then mark them. 

Then, I redo my blurtings again but without prior reading then recheck and correct. Then I am finished for the afternoon!!

Evening

Review flashcards then watch a video/read an article on what I was struggling with in the morning but I do not do anything to consolidate this knowledge. 

That is all, please feel free to ask me about any questions about studying as I don't really post much about it, I'll love to help out any fellow students! 

[sunvylovebug]

ur writing is so good!! would it be possible to request a part 2 to jin’s story but mayhaps with some more romance 🥹

The cold in his heart ❨Part 2/2❩

↬ Warnings: No warnings …⁠ᘛ⁠⁐̤⁠ᕐ⁠ᐷ

↬ Female!Reader and third person narration (⁠*⁠˘⁠︶⁠˘⁠*⁠)⁠.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡

↬ Author Note: Thank you so much for asking for the part 2! I had so much fun writing this. I'm so happy you like the stuff I write. I felt insecure to post things cause English is not my first language but here we are<3 Thanks Anon, I hope you will like this part too!

↬ Summary: A ball in Frostheim, Y/N will attend to it, will the Captain's feelings come to light?

↬ Word Count: 1,800 Words

Part One

One day Y/N was on her way to Frostheim. She needed to deliver a report cause there were some incorrect details in the previous one so, she kindly offered to take them to the Vice Captain. However, when looking for him, she couldn't find him anywhere. She had written a message that hadn't been read yet, Y/N assumed he would be busier than usual so she decided to head to the Captain's room.

The path was not complicated. She knew it well after having gone there so many times, fulfilling errands that Jin asked of her. At first all of them were really bossy, they felt like orders more than favors. She smiled at the thought of how the young man was now a little nicer to her.

The girl arrived at the room, knocked on the door and after hearing Jin's voice she entered. "I have some papers for you, there's a report that had data, it wasn't correct." She said gently. Jin looked at her, he had a cigarette in his hand and was lying on the luxurious couch of his room, a sight that was common to see.

"Ah... I see. Leave them there." Jin spoke looking at the desk. She nodded and put the papers on a free space on his desk. He looked at her hand, she had a bandage covering her palm. "Y/N, come here." He ordered, she walked towards him.

"Yes? Is there anything else you need?" Y/N didn't know what he had in mind.

"Sit."

"Okay okay, what's wrong? You're being weird-"

Her words were cut off as Jin gently held her hand, analyzing the bandage. He looked into Y/N's eyes, searching for an explanation. "Oh, that... it's nothing serious, just a slight cut I got while I was cleaning some pieces of glass."

Hearing what happened, he frowned, giving her palm a light caress. "What are you, a dumb kid? It's sharp and you shouldn't clean something like that with bare hands."

"I know I know, I was in a hurry but it's nothing, really. Jiro bandaged it for me." He kept frowning. "You look like an angry cat."

"Shut the fuck up."

Jin let her hand go, a little pissed off cause of her words, not as gently as he was holding it. She sighed, he could still be a bit rude from time to time. After a short silence he gently tapped the cigarette against the ashtray and looked at her. "There's going to be a dance tonight, are you planning to go?"

The girl chuckled at the question, earning a frown from the boy. "No, I'm definitely not going"

He raised an eyebrow and looking at her curiously. "And why is that?"

"Well you know, it's gonna be full of rich people, expensive outfits, they will be dancing..."

"Why would you care about what those bootlickers do, wear or think? You should go."

She smiled playfully. "Oh? What is it? Do you want me to go?"

"Yes. I want you to go."

That was unexpected, Y/N was joking but it was obvious he was being serious. Her cheeks felt a little warm after hearing what he'd said. "I don't have any clothes to wear to an event like that."

"Then I'll get you some. Will you go?" Those piercing ice-blue eyes looked at her with a certain sparkle, something she couldn't quite make out.

She sighed, it was a very kind gesture on his part and she was somewhat curious to see what one of these Frostheim activities was like. "Fine. I'll go. Thank you Jin, I appreciate it."

He had a slight, beautiful smile on his lips after hearing she was going. Soon after that he took care of getting the perfect outfit for her.

[ • • • ]

It was getting dark and Y/N was a little nervous, she didn't know how to dance at all and anyone could tell she had two left feet when dancing, it didn't really matter cause Jin wanted her there. Her heart was churning with a certain mixture of happiness and uncertainty at this, it was true that they were getting closer but, could that mean something more or was she just rushing to assume things that aren't true?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sight of one of Darkwick's many cats at the window. She let the cat in and it meowed happily, letting the package on the floor for her to grab. Y/N crouched down and gave the small animal some gentle strokes, its tail was wagging from side to side. "Thank you, you're such a good worker aren't you?"

The cat purred happily and after some more affection it needed to go. The cat jumped out and left. The girl's hands carefully opened the pretty package and she smiled as she saw the contents, there was a beautiful dress, a coat and a pair of shoes, also some jewelry. The fabric of the clothes was so soft and pleasant to the touch. It was obvious the high quality of it, she hoped it wasn't too expensive, of course Jin could get something like that a hundred times and not be bothered by the price, but she didn't feel so good when someone spent money on her.

There was still some time left but Y/N decided to prepare herself as best she could to look good. She wanted to feel pretty and she did a good job with it. Seeing her reflection in the mirror felt good, the dress fit her body shape in such a natural way, Jin had made a perfect choice.

Arriving at the Frostheim house, there was a certain warmth that was not so usual. The place was full of people, all of them looked elegant, glamours, they were people with a lot of money and power. Y/N couldn't help but feel out of place. Luckily no one was watching at her, she was blending in well.

"Here you are." She heard a voice behind her, it was Tohma. He greeted her with a slight bow of his head. "Good evening Y/N, the Captain is looking for you. Follow me."

Her heart began to race, she followed Tohma without objection, some people watched them pass by but she wasn't thinking about it. Then she saw him, a drink on his hand and wearing the Frostheim uniform. There's no denying that Jin looked incredibly attractive in it. "Look at that, not bad." He smirked when she appeared in front of him.

"Thank you Jin. You look good too." She smiled with her cheeks a little rosy.

Some students around them began to murmur about them, Jin sighed heavily. "That's why I hate these things. Y/N, come on, let's dance." He grabbed the girl's waist and guided her to the dance floor.

"Jin wait, I don't know how to-"

"Shhh don't worry, I'll guide you. Just follow me." He whispered to her, she felt shivers down her spine but only nodded at his words.

Jin guided Y/N's hands to put them in the correct place, getting a little closer to her and holding her waist with one hand. They started dancing slowly, maybe it was the adrenaline but she didn't feel it was as difficult as it seemed before, it was actually quite nice to do. There were a lot of people looking but neither of them cared at all. It was just the two of them and the background music.

They danced for a while, Jin looked at her tenderly, his cold eyes had warmth in them, Y/N had managed to melt the young man's cold heart and wrap it in warmth.

The third song ended and he gently pulled her off the dance floor. "You must be a little tired, let's go."

He started walking towards the stairs. "Oh? Wasn't I supposed to be getting tired?" She asked raising an eyebrow. Jin turned around to look at her.

"You're right." Before Y/N could realize it he was carrying her bridal style, she instinctively clung to his body, letting out a surprised gasp. The boy smirked.

"There was no need to do that, Jin."

"You're shy now? How cute." He teased.

He walked up the stairs while carrying her in his arms, the music was becoming less and less loud, she looked at his face. He was so handsome, his pale skin, blue eyes, silver hair with that subtle blue blur on the tips.

He put her back on her feet, but his hand travels to her waist. "I wasn't ready to see you look so stunning tonight." He says sincerely, his expression is not much different from usual but there is a slight warm glint in his eyes.

"Jin I-" Her words were interrupted by his index finger, gently resting on her lips.

"I wanna say something first." She nodded, a little shocked by his actions. "I'm in love with you, Y/N." For just a second she wanted to ask him if if was a joke, but seeing the way his eyes looked at her she knew he was being honest.

Y/N felt like her heart was going to jump out of her chest to go into his arms instead. "I feel the same way for you."

Jin felt relieved, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. Her body pressed against his chest. She was surprised to notice that his heart was racing almost as fast as hers. "I love you."

"I love you too Jin." His grip on her loosened enough to look into her eyes again.

He moved one of his hands to gently hold her cheek. He brought his face closer to hers slowly, waiting to see what kind of reaction he was gonna get from her. Her cheeks got red, her eyes were closing, their faces came closer and that's when their lips touched softly, a delicate, gentle touch.

His thumb caressed her face, Jin didn't want to pull away, but they were running out of air after several seconds of kissing, he pulled away to let her breathe again, his forehead pressed against hers and a loving smile on his face.

"Y/N. Would you be my girlfriend?"

She couldn't believe what her ears were hearing, maybe this was a dream? "Of course! I want that... I wanna be your girlfriend."

He kissed her softly again, they kisses until they had a hard time breathing. Jin was fascinated with her, he couldn't stop it, his heart wanted to make her feel overwhelmed with love and feel the same in return too. It was definitely their perfect night.

In the eyes of others, Jin had regained some of his former charisma and warmth, all thanks to the fact that the king of Frostheim had found someone to give all of his love to.

[pollymorgan]

Ex-Husband Negan Part 3

Warnings: Defloration, but in a good way.

Tense, Negan looked back and forth between me and the hallway, towards Gracie's room. Then he ran his hand uneasily over his face.

"Fuck, sweetheart, correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't you the one who always said I shouldn't use sex as a power tool?" he asked, with a slight grin on his face.

Innocently, I shrugged, "I would rather call it an offer."

I could clearly see the struggle in his eyes. "Okay, here's a counterproposal. You go ahead and make yourself comfortable, maybe even take off all those unnecessary clothes you're wearing, and in the meantime, I'll take care of the thing in Gracie's room... Believe me, I'll be with you in no time."

Angry, I crossed my arms in front of my chest, "Forget it, Negan... Either now, or never!"

"Never?" he asked sarcastically, "Darling, we both know that's not true. You need me, just as I need you."

He took a step towards me, and I would have instinctively stepped back, but the stairs were behind me, so I inevitably stood still. Negan's right hand came closer to me, and he began lightly stroking my collarbone with his fingertips, following the movement with his gaze. Of course, he noticed how I almost forgot to breathe under his touch.

"How often do you close your eyes when Steve fucks you and pretend it's me, huh? Tell me, I won't tell anyone..." he whispered.

I shook my head almost imperceptibly and looked at him in disbelief, then he leaned in and whispered with a gentle, gruff voice directly into my ear, "... but it annoys you every time that it doesn't work, that he can't make you feel things, that he can't touch you like I do, right? My darling, I know you better than anyone ever could. I was the first man in you... I'm the only one who has impregnated you twice... And only I can make you come so many times, over and over again."

His words hit me hard, because they held up a mirror to me that I didn't want to see, but at the same time, they sent warm electric shocks through my whole body.

A light slap on my butt brought me back to the present. "Well, off to the damn bedroom," he said firmly.

I grabbed his hand and led him down the dark hallway. After opening the door and turning on the light, I turned expectantly towards him.

"There it is... The same beautiful, slightly nervous smile as our first time." he noted.

29 years ago

While the other girls in my class cut out snippets from fashion magazines and glued them to their walls, my room was wallpapered with posters of various rock bands, and as our classmates tried to get into clubs with fake IDs, my two best friends and I were already thinking of another excuse for our parents to go to the next concert.

For almost two months, I had my first steady boyfriend, and since then, every day was even more adventurous. Not only the fact itself was super exciting, but he was simply the most exciting boy I had ever met. When we first saw each other at a small club concert, I was immediately head over heels in love with this guy that everyone there seemed to know. I was even more surprised when he came straight to me to talk, among all the pretty, older girls. That same evening, we kissed while the band played my favorite song. It wasn't my first kiss, but it was so different from anything I had felt before.

Although he was an absolute chaos and troublemaker who constantly got into fights and arguments, he treated me like a princess from the first moment. There was not a moment in that time when he didn't carry me on his hands and do everything to prove how important I was to him. I knew he had had quite a few, more or less, 'girlfriends' before me and often felt the eyes of the other girls on us when we stood hand in hand at a concert. And that always made me extremely insecure, but he assured me that it was different with me, that I was special.

Since our first meeting, we spent all our free time together.

During the week, we were usually at his house. His family was never there, and we had our peace, while my friends covered for us in front of my parents. So we had enough time to make out, listen to music, and philosophize about everything possible. I had never met a person before who was interested in the chaos in my head. Yes, who even understood it and thought similarly. With each similarity, I fell even more in love with this guy, even though I thought every time that there couldn't possibly be more.

So we were lying together on his bed again. My head was nestled in his armpit, and I watched him smoke while he stared at the ceiling. The fact that he just lit up a cigarette in his room impressed my 16-year-old self immensely.

Suddenly, he looked at me and grinned unmistakably, "You're looking at me as if I were some damn alien or something."

I felt caught, "Not at all... well, maybe a little, you are my boyfriend after all."

I gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek. He then withdrew his arm from under my head to position himself sideways and prop himself up on his hand.

"Now you're looking..." I said defiantly, feeling my heart beating even faster.

"You are my girlfriend after all," he said amused and blew the last puff of his cigarette before rolling halfway over me to reach for the ashtray. His body was heavy on me, but I loved feeling him so close. In this position, he looked down at me and whispered softly, "And the most fascinating girl I know."

His gentle words and his strong body on mine evoked feelings in me that I had never experienced before. I wanted more of him.

His hand gently traced my waist, delicately stroking my breasts over my t-shirt. I loved it when he did that. My body trembled with excitement. Then he kissed me, a kiss that quickly intensified.

Suddenly, he rolled off me and pulled me with a swing. Now I was lying on top of him. We smiled at each other. Of course, I could feel how aroused he was by the situation, but I was too. After another kiss, I rested my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

"Can I ask you something?" he broke the silence after a while.

"Mhh..." I dreamily replied.

"Have you ever pleasured yourself?" he asked bluntly, and I was glad I could bury my face in his shirt so he couldn't see how my cheeks flushed.

"Yes... I mean, yes..." I stammered awkwardly.

"Hey, is it embarrassing for you to admit that in front of me?" he asked, poking me in the ribs with his index finger, making me jump.

I looked up and met his beautiful dark eyes, which meant everything to me. He gently held my chin, so I couldn't lower my gaze.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing in this damn world should be embarrassing for you in front of me, especially not that, understood?" he said so emphatically that I could only whisper an 'okay.'

Reflectively, I bit my lower lip and then said softly, "I... I imagine it's you touching me when I do it..."

His hands trailed down my back and then settled on my buttocks.

"Wow, that's so damn hot," he exclaimed excitedly.

My body trembled slightly as I sat up and decisively took off my top. Now I was just sitting on him in my bra. "I don't want to just imagine it anymore, Negan. I want to sleep with you."

I had imagined so many times what it would be like and every day I thought that something more would finally happen between us than just kissing and a little fooling around. But he never took another step, and I was always too shy. Sometimes I even started to doubt myself because I heard stories from all sides about who Negan had supposedly slept with before me. But the Negan I knew was totally different from all those stories circulating about him.

"Do you really want that?" he asked cautiously, but I nodded decisively and opened my bra.

Negan's eyes wandered between my naked breasts and my face. "Fuck, you're incredibly beautiful... I just don't know what I did to deserve you..."

I leaned in towards him, and as soon as our lips met, a wild, passionate kiss ensued.

Negan rolled over again, so I was lying beneath him, then he took off his t-shirt and continued kissing me. Slowly, he pulled away from me and looked deeply into my eyes, while our noses almost touched.

"Please tell me if you don't like something, promise me... I'll stop immediately if anything makes you uncomfortable," he said decisively, his lips wandering over my jaw, slowly moving to my neck.

I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling on my bare skin. I loved it and at the same time, I felt a little scared because I was about to have my first time. What if it changed everything between Negan and me? I wanted it more than anything, but at the same time, I had doubts about whether it might ruin everything.

His kisses moved tentatively to my right breast. For the first time, I felt his lips on my delicate skin, and it immediately gave me goosebumps. My nipples hardened, even though I was feeling incredibly warm. My lower body tens ed up, sending tingles throughout my entire body. Restrained, I moaned as his tongue touched my nipple. He circled it slowly, making it so hard that it almost hurt. Then he gently sucked on it. He repeated the same with my left breast, and my upper body arched towards him. He looked up at me happily, "Baby, hearing those sweet sounds from you catapults me straight to paradise; no one on this planet is even close to being as sexy as you."

At his words, I couldn't help but smile and relax a bit more. His fingers lightly trailed down my ribs, tickling me in some places, making me twitch. Eventually, he reached the waistband of my pants and pulled them down slightly. He looked at me questioningly, and I nodded decisively, lifting my hips so he could pull down my jeans and panties unhindered. Now it was time; I lay completely naked before him, my thighs pressed together nervously.

"My princess, to make it feel good for you, you need to relax," he said, gently guiding his fingers down my inner thigh and slightly pushing my legs apart, just enough for his hand to fit between them. My heart raced, and I felt the blood pumping through my veins.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of you, I promise! Just like I'll always take care of you," he said emphatically, looking into my eyes as his fingers gently touched my most intimate part. He ran his fingertips over it and then very lightly between my labia. Everything in me tingled like crazy, like the feeling of being in love, intensified a thousand times.

I closed my eyes, pushed my hips towards him, and at the same time, slightly spread my legs further apart.

Negan placed his large, warm hand on my lower abdomen while his right hand thoroughly explored my vulva. When he briefly touched my clitoris, I saw stars before my eyes; the feeling was incredible and incomparable. I felt one of his fingers circling around my entrance.

"Every inch of your body is perfect," he whispered, then slowly pushed his finger into me, kissing my knee, which was slightly trembling and bent next to him. When he added a second finger, I felt myself tightening around him.

"Does that feel good?" he asked confidently.

And my "Yes" came out louder than I had planned. I opened my eyes and saw him proudly grinning.

Unexpectedly, he leaned between my legs and placed a warm, wet kiss directly on my mound. Surprised, I reflexively closed my legs, holding his head. Only when the kiss ended did I relax again, and my boyfriend crawled over me to give me another kiss directly on my lips.

"You can tell me to stop at any time!" he said, looking deeply into my eyes as if searching for an answer.

"I trust you, Negan!" I replied, smiling at him somewhat unsure.

He immediately kissed my nose and then leaned over to the nightstand to get a condom. I didn't care that he had probably been with a hundred other girls in this bed; at that moment, I felt I was special to him. That everything was special. That we were special.

Negan took off his pants and boxers and positioned himself between my legs. I was so excited that I could barely look at his penis. Of course, I had seen male genitalia before; I knew what guys looked like down there. But in this situation, it was something completely different.

"You can touch it," Negan said amused, taking my hand to place it on his hard penis. My fingers gently stroked his hardness, and I watched as Negan followed each of my movements with his eyes.

After a short time, he took my hand and brought it to his mouth to place soft kisses on it. Then he placed it on his hip bone. "If anything is uncomfortable or goes too fast, just push me back... understood?"

I nodded nervously as he put on the condom. However, my hand on his hip wasn't even necessary. When he entered me, he was so gentle and patient that it just felt amazing. He leaned over me, placing soft kisses on my neck as he slid deeper into me. Then he whispered in my ear, telling me how beautiful I was and how good I felt.

When he was fully inside me, he paused in position, whispering so softly that I could barely hear, "I love you."

[lesbiandelgal]

Translated information regarding Flamela's squad, Part one

Decided to go through the pages on Flamela's squad from the complete adventurer's bible and translate them myself, since the ones I've seen floating around looked dubious at best. I've included transcriptions of (most of) the original text for anyone who would like to analyze it themselves. It's incredibly long, so I'm putting it under the cut.

Part two here.

Flamela

Name: Flamela of the house of Sorn Birthday/Age: September 23, 170 years old. Race/Gender: Elf, Female Family: Father, Mother, Younger brother Physique: Height approximately 140cm, BMI 22 Favorite food: Dumplings Dislikes: Roe Cause of first death: Poisoned by a basilisk

”真の王族の証”とされている、黒曜���の肌と銀髪をもつカナリアの副部長。女王の遠い血縁関係にあたるが、女王の養子となった双子の姉を亡くしていることもあり女王を一方的に嫌っている。引退したミルシルの後任としてカナリア隊の副長となるも、女王と血縁関係にある危険な現場からはそれとなく遠ざけられている。何かと沸点が低めで、とくに自分の身の回りの世話すらままならないミスルンが、カナリアの隊長に据えられていることには憤りを隠さない。

The vice-captain of the Canaries with obsidian skin and silver hair that is considered to be "proof of true royalty". While she is a distant blood relative to the queen, she has a one-sided hatred for the queen, as she lost (through death) her older twin sister, who was adopted by the queen*. She succeeded the retired Milsiril as vice-captain, but is obliquely kept away from dangerous sites due to her relation to the queen. She has a short temper**, and especially doesn't hide her resentment for the fact that Mithrun, who is unable to even take care of his daily needs, was assigned the position of Captain.

*this part was somewhat difficult to translate, just due to sentence structure being awkward for english. not entirely confident that i got the exact nuance down. feel free to send any corrections in my ask box if i got anything wrong! **this is just my best guess. let me know if it's inaccurate!

Erique and Misyl

フラメラの部隊に所属する隊員。エリケはフラメラの相棒を務める、刑期を終えた元囚人。カナリア隊が看守不足のため、スカウトされて看守になった。ミーシルはエリケが担当する囚人。たいした悪さはしていないが、隊員不足で採用される。自身も罪の意識は薄い。

Members of Flamela's squad. Erique, an ex-convict who finished* her prison term, serves as Flamela's partner. Because the canaries were short on wardens, she was scouted and made a warden. Misyl is the prisoner Erique is responsible for. She hasn't done anything particularly bad, but she was enlisted because the canaries were understaffed. Even she herself doesn't have much awareness of what she did wrong.

TL I've seen floating around says "she has no sense of guilt" in the last sentence, but there's a も in that sentence that wouldn't make much sense with a statement like that, as well as 罪 referring to "crime", rather than guilt. *The term translated as "finished" can also mean "to graduate" (in the non-academic sense), and considering Erique was pardoned, I think the intended meaning may be closer to the latter, but you also wouldn't say someone "graduated" a prison term, so I worded accordingly.

Organization structure

EDITOR'S NOTE 島の冒険者が畏怖を抱く存在、カナリア隊。その一端が垣間見える資料を公開。

EDITOR'S NOTE Feared* by the adventurers of the Island, the Canaries. This document that reveals a glimpse into its inner-workings is now revealed to the public.**

*could also be interpreted as "awe inspiring", but just based on context i'm guessing it's fear. **really an approximation of the general idea of this sentence, it doesn't translate very well.

*this originally was 草, and the only logical translation i came across was that it's an archaic term for "ninja", but In this case i feel like "spy" was a more apt translation. I could be totally off the mark though.

[howlsofbloodhounds]

What do you think happened during/after the fight Delta had with his Gaster(in the Final Ep. 1). What are your headcanons for it?

Apologies for the delay in response, I needed to both gain energy/motivation to reply and also to go rewatch Ultra/Vitaltale to refresh my memories.

And also the way the videos were sorted on creator’s YT channel was confusing my brain for some reason, so I just scrolled through their entire channel in order to find every piece on the AUs & put it into separate chronological order in a playlist of my own. Then I tried to rewatch all of it.

Which was hard, because I kept getting distracted and my attention kept drifting away. I will probably try to rewatch again soon, when I am capable of actually retaining the information in my mind accurately.

(Random side note because the thought just occurred to me; I find it very interesting how both Doggo and Papyrus demonstrate bravery when facing up against the unknown threat in Vitaltale Episode 1.4.

Whereas Sans, who will eventually absorb the SOUL of Bravery to become the Delta we know, is all for evacuating. Love how this Sans is not naturally brave in the typical way, even should he eventually come around to gaining the bravery soul in Vitaltale as he did in Ultra.)

Anyway. On to the actual question. My mind is a little wonky today so if I get anything wrong or confused about the question feel free to correct me.

So it’s to my understanding that Echo (Ultratale’s Gaster) calls Sans/Delta to the Ruins for a “chat” after Delta’s fight with Cross. Echo has information for Delta—a way to “fix” their mistakes, but he will not tell Delta unless he fights for it.

Delta calls the information “old,” and says he’s going to beat Echo into the ground anyhow. Gives me the impression that he’s possibly more fixated on his current task—protecting AUs—then trying to go back and fix the past.

Because Ultratale was ultimately rebooted into Vitaltale we obviously don’t know for sure how this battle ends and likely never will, but I personally HC that it has multiple endings.

1. Delta loses, Echo doesn’t give him the information. The two go on their separate ways and live their own lives.

2. Delta wins. Echo attempts to tell the information, but Delta stops him. Says he doesn’t want to know and just wants to move on with life. That it’s what Papyrus, Frisk, and the others would want them to do.

3. Delta wins, Echo tells him the information of how to go back and fix it all. Delta refuses.

4. Delta wins, gets the information, and he accepts. Perhaps this information leads into the formation of a variant AU—a reboot, that creates Vitaltale. Chara doesn’t absorb Frisk’s soul and therefore can’t prevent them from Resetting.

(Side note: perhaps, for a character defining moment, in every ending where Delta refuses to hear or accept this information, Echo always furiously protests against this. Maybe Echo is the voice encouraging Delta to go back, to fix it all and “fight for us,” whereas Beta is the voice encouraging Delta to keep moving forward.

Echo cannot let go of the past because he was shattered and wasn’t ready to leave it, but he is was always aware.

Beta never got to truly live either because they were murdered and kept in a jar, but they were not as aware of the world outside the jar and thus is able to move on easier. Because Beta’s life was over before they truly got to live it, whereas Echo/Gaster’s was cut off at its peak.

Delta is in the middle of this. Experienced with life, but still young. His life is just starting—he’s halfway out of that cage—whereas Beta realizes they are free and is just trying to convince Delta to join them, and Echo..the cage is open, he can step out now.

But he spends his time trying to coax Delta and Beta back inside instead, and to help him bring everyone else back in the cage where it’s safe and familiar.)

Delta, now just Sans and perhaps without any memory of the events of Ultratale, manages to convince Frisk to Reset near the end of a Genocide route and be better. However, the Determined Omega!Chara must still Erase this world—the culmination ending exactly as Ultratale did.

Omega!Chara absorbs Frisk’s Soul, prevents them from Resetting and goes on a Genocide to Erase this world once and for all. Sans attempts to prevent it, even by giving characters such as Doggo hints and tips to help them in combat against the unknown threat.

None of it matters. Sans’ attempts do nothing, it ends in Genocide and Sans absorbs the Bravery soul—going on to protect the rest of the Multiverse.

He always fights Cross, he always fights Echo. He’s always given the choice—go back and try again and again, or accept what happened. Be brave, and move on. Do what Doggo and Papyrus did—brave in the face of impossible odds.

Anyway I guess my little HC is basically that Ultratale and Vitaltale are connected in-universe. Vitaltale is the story of how we got to Ultratale, and Delta must choose between the mortifying ordeal of the unknown and living with his mistakes & losses, or the comfort of a past that’ll end horribly in Ultratale; but at least he never lost anyone yet and no mistakes were ever made.

If he chooses to move on, he goes to the Omega Timeline where he meets Color, Epic, Core Frisk, Killer. Grows closer with Beta, Cross, XChara. Adopts a service/therapy dog he names Zorox (which is someone else’s HC, I don’t know if it’s okay or not with being tagged). Lives life, saving and protecting people.

Sans manages to escape the loop of Undertale only to find himself in another due to the rebooting nature of Ultra and Vitaltale. Only this time he has the ability to choose to escape it, he just has to be brave enough to attempt it—even though it seems impossible.

(Also how, despite the way his experiences could understandably lead him to Nihilism, helplessness and the belief that nothing he ever does or says will ever matter or change anything, he learns to be brave enough to keep trying anyway.)

Anyway. Sorry for the long rant that got horribly off topic at points. I had a lot more ideas about this by the time I was done than when I first read the question. Have Delta & Echo being silly and zesty respectively to make up for it:

[deansapplepie]

Till THE DEAD do us part | Chapter 2

A/N: This story will take place in all the seasons, but it’s not exactly a rewriting cause I’d have to re-watch everything to use the exactly lines of the characters, also I think it’s better if I tell a side story without changing the main facts of the story.

This story has a Female Reader, but I don’t describe her appearance, so anyone can identify with her.

Chapter 1 Chapter 3

Chapter 2: Anything that Reminds you of Me

Summary: In this chapter Y/N Grimes gets back something that she lost, discover some secrets and conflicts Shane.

Warnings: mentions of cheating, swearing, mentions of death, violence, Shane is an ass, Merle being Merle.

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Grimes!Reader (Rick’s sister)

Word Count: 3716

Extra notes: I proofread the text, but English is not my first language, so feel free to correct any mistakes, of course with love.

After that day you grew closer to Daryl, it was easy to be with him, you could stay a long moment silently and it would not feel awkward. Also, it was cute to watch his interactions with Luna. He started to interact more with her and sometimes even took her for a walk. But now, you needed to also deal with a super protective Shane that out of nowhere thought you were a little girl.

“Be careful. He’s not the right man for you.” You rolled your eyes at him, he always said the same damn thing and you were getting tired of it.

“Did you ever stop to think that maybe I don’t want the right one? Maybe I just want the wrong one?” You were tired, you would always tell he was just your friend, that you knew how to defend yourself, but he always came with the same judgmental words about Daryl and about you.

“Y/N…” That was it, you had enough.

“Shane, I’m no damsel in distress, and… you’re not Rick, okay?” You chose your words carefully almost saying ‘you’re not my brother’, but you considered him your brother, right? You tried change your words to not hurt him, but what you said… he understood what you said, he was not Rick which means he’s not your big bro to boss you.

“Fine.” He answered teeth greeted.

“Fine.” You throw back at him, leaving your side of camp followed by Luna.

A group was getting ready to do a run to get more food and any other thing that could be useful. You weren’t going this time, so you approached Glenn to give him a list of things you needed. He was the one with more experience on the runs, so he was the best person to have the list.

“Just that?” He asked looking at your very small list.

“Yeah, I don’t need much.” You scratched Luna’s ears while she got a lick from Glenn’s hand.

“Nothing special? A candy? Maybe some cookies?” He suggested, you never asked those kind of things to him, but he would always bring something to you. He was like that cute baby brother that everyone wanted to have.

“If you see anything that reminds you of me, you can bring it.” You simply answered, everything was almost ready for them to go. So you decided not to get on their way. “Be careful, ok?”

You left them finishing getting things done and went to the other side of the camp where a certain archer was also preparing his things to go hunting.

“Good morning” you said as you got close to him, Luna already attacking him with her tongue and paws.

“Morning”, he answered while petting the happy dog. “Luna, stop” he tried commanding the german shepherd when she wouldn’t let him finish what he was doing. “Stop” he said again.

Then she stopped looking at him, puppy eyes, tongue out and the tail going side to side. “Good girl” he scratched her ears. You smiled looking at both of them, they were too much cute to not smile at.

“Can I go hunting with you?” You finally talked.

“It’s better not, I’m planning on bringing something big this time and ya make much noise walking, no offense” he was not wrong, but you could use leaving the quarry for a while.

“Alright, do you want Luna to go with you?” You asked, you’d prefer Luna stayed with you, but you knew he also needed some company.

“Nah, I’m ok. She sometimes doesn’t obey me, I don’t wanna risk anything happening to her.” You sat on a beach chair that was close where he was preparing to head out, Luna on your feet.

“When you come back, you’ll teach me how to shoot the crossbow, right?” You had asked him the other day and he said he could help you, but then you never had the opportunity.

“Yeah, I’ll…” he stopped mid sentence watching Merle approach, he was going on the run, so why was him coming back?

“Want anything special lil bro?” He asked, then looked between you and Daryl with a smirk on his face. “Maybe, some condoms?” He knew he would get Daryl pissed, most of the time he would say this things just so he could see Daryl’s reaction.

“Shut the fuck up Merle!” His face burned and he was trying to hide his blushed cheeks. Your cheeks were also blushing and you had nowhere to hide.

“Don’t you have to go on that run Dixon?” He laughed and tried to pet Luna, but she barked to him making him jump.

“It’s okay love birds, I’ll leave you alone.” He said returning to the group that was almost going.

“Don’t mind him.” Daryl tried to apologize, he felt like he was always apologizing or making excuses for his brother.

“Don’t worry, it’s just Merle being himself, there’s not much you can do.” You stayed there with him until he was ready to leave to the woods, you wished him good luck and told him to take care. He gave you a little grunt that you interpreted as ‘thank you, take care too’.

The rest of the day was uneventful. You helped around camp, took care of the kids and also rested a little. It was getting late but nobody had came back from the run yet. You were starting to become worried.

“Any sign of them?” You asked Dale who was at his usual spot near the RV.

“No, not yet.” He answered and looked with his binoculars again.

“What if something bad happened?” Amy asked worried, Andrea, her sister, had gone with them and she was not used to go on these runs.

“I’m sure they are fine, maybe they run into some trouble, but they have T.Dog and Merle, they are strong. They’ll be fine.” You tried tranquilizing the younger woman.

Not longer after this conversation you heard a big noise, just like a car alarm. Down the road a red sports car came in a high speed and the noise of the alarm became higher and higher. Soon the car stopped in the entrance of the quarry and it was Glenn inside. Shane ran to stop the noise of the alarm and soon after a truck stopped behind the beautiful car. ‘They freaking stole a truck’, you thought admired. ‘What could possibly have happened?’

You saw T.Dog, Morales and Andrea coming from the truck. Amy was helping Andrea to walk, something had gone really wrong. Where was Merle? Suddenly you heard a commotion, you thought you heard Carl yelling the word ‘dad’ and it couldn’t be it. What were the chances? Luna ran from your side in the direction of the group and you had to follow her. “Luna, stop! You can’t go running like that!” You yelled at the dog, only stopping when she jumped on Lori, Carl and… Rick.

“Rick?” You didn’t even know if anyone could listen to you, you felt as if you were in one of those dreams where you want to talk, scream and you just can’t, but that wasn’t a dream. Rick was there in his uniform, hugging his family, tears in his eyes and he heard you, if it was another sad dream he’d have ignored you like in every other that you had. But he got up from where he was hugging Lori and Carl, and he walked in your direction, you ran the short distance between you, and threw your arms around him.

“It’s really you” tears were already coming from your eyes.

“It’s me, I’m here now.” He was alive and his heart was beating, he kissed the top of your head and you hugged him tightly.

“I thought you were dead, I- I should have gone and saw it for myself. I’m sorry, you were left alone… I’m so sorry.” Many feelings came to your mind at this moment, Shane told you he was dead, but he wasn’t. You were happy about having your brother back, but now you were infinitely angry at Shane.

“It’s ok, you couldn’t know. None of us are going to separate again, I promise.” After you departed from his embrace, you looked at Shane and for second he was scared. He knew you were mad, and he knew he had screwed everything. Your look meant many things and he was scared of what he could lose if you ever opened your mouth.

You were informed that they let Merle cuffed to a rooftop.

“Damn, I know he’s an asshole, but it’s not going to go well when Daryl get to hear about it. I’m not telling him, you guys tell, I’ll just be around in case he gets out of control.” You said. Fuck. You knew they probably had a good reason for that, but Daryl was his brother and he would get very upset about it. Actually, upset doesn’t really represent how he would be. And you couldn’t blame him, you were a young sibling too and if it was Rick… you’d be angry too. In fact, at this moment you were still mad about Rick being left in the hospital to die.

“What will you do? Are you gonna kiss the calm into him?” Shane mocked you up, good everything you needed.

“Fuck you Shane!” You showed him your middle finger and left, if it was any other time, it would become a playful moment between both of you. But right now, you couldn’t. There was too much on your mind.

You closed into yourself for a while, trying to calm yourself down and organize your thoughts, but it was almost impossible. You wanted to thank Glenn, for bringing your brother back to you, but with everything that happened you didn’t get the chance to thank him. When you told him to bring something that reminded of you, you were not expecting him to bring your brother that you thought was dead. You were so glad at Glenn for it, he could have ignored Rick and let him to die, but he helped him.

“We’re organizing to go get him by the morning” Rick sat by your side, concern in his eyes. “I know we shouldn’t have left him there, but things got out of control and T.Dog lost the key.” You know he was being honest, and you were happy they were going back to rescue him.

“Daryl is probably coming back tomorrow morning, maybe he’s able to go with you. I think he’d like to.” You felt Rick tense, you knew your brother, it was just like you could feel his energy. Shane already opened his mouth.

“This Daryl Dixon, what’s going on between you two?” There was the question you were waiting he would drop.

“Nothing, he’s my friend. I have no idea what Shane told you, but he’s an ass. He judges people without knowing them. Daryl is a good person and he was with me when I needed the most.” You gave him a brief explanation, omitting the part that you were crying over his cheating friend and wife, and telling it was because you missed him. Not completely a lie. “Trust me, he’ll probably hate you tomorrow, but you’ll get to know him and you’ll see who he really is.”

Rick tried to trust you, he knew you well and he also knew Shane’s temper, but he could not stop protecting you now that he was back.

The other day early in the morning Rick, Glenn and T.Dog already had a plan and were packing everything to rescue Merle and pick the guns Rick had lost. Everything was going just fine, till Daryl made his big entrance cursing a walker that ate the deer he was tracking.

‘Just good, he’s already moody. That helps a lot’, you thought. As soon as the news were told, Daryl jumped in Rick’s direction and you had to come between then.

“Hey! Hey! Daryl! Listen to me! Calm down.” You were in front of him, your back turned to Rick, hands up.

“Easy for ya to tell, yer brother is back from the dead while mine is handcuffed to a damn roof.” He looked at you and you could see anger, fear and despair in his eyes.

“I know. I have mine back and you need to rescue yours. They are going back to rescue him. Rick is really sorry, trust me.” You put your hands on his chest praying he would not flinch at your touch or take your hands away, but he didn’t move. “Now we can stay here, fighting each other while Merle is alone in that rooftop, or you can all work together and rescue him. I know right at this moment you wished Rick was dead, but I’d never wish it for Merle. Our brothers can do stupid things, but they don’t deserve to die.”

A long silence came and Daryl contemplated the possibilities, he trusted you, but he wanted to punch Rick’s face as much as he wanted to punch Shane for going around talking shit about his brother. He looked at you one last time and said “Fine. I’m going.”

After they went on the rescue mission the camp started to go back to normal. But it was not over to you, and you had something you needed to do. You walked large steps on Shane’s direction.

“Hey Shane!” You called, in the moment he turned to you, you were already close enough and in seconds your closed hand were making contact with his face.

“What the hell was that for? Because of your boyfriend?” He asked his hand touching the left side of his face.

“That was because of my brother, and you know why. All the reasons going on your mind right now, it’s because of them.” You know he understood, his angry face became a worried one in seconds.

“Y/N… I didn’t know. I swear, he was not breathing, his… his heart had stopped.” He tried to explain. Some people looked at you and other pretended to be minding their own businesses but you couldn’t care less.

“Well, then explain me this. Because I see two options, first you lied, or second we need to take Rick to the authorities immediately, because he’s the cure to all this shit.” You decided to go to the side of the camp where your tents were, you have had enough. The show was over.

“Aunt Y/N, why did you punch Shane?” Damn the kid saw it, Lori wasn’t going to like it.

“Shane said I needed to practice, so he asked me to practice on his face. Very dumb decision I’d say.” You gave the first excuse you could think to Carl, but then Lori came.

“You punched Shane?” She asked in low voice, everybody saw there was no secret about it.

“Yes, he deserved. You know he deserved, I was holding up since yesterday when Rick showed up.” You answered actually there was way more time that you wanted to this, but no way you were going to say Lori what you saw one and a half weeks ago.

She had nothing to say, she also was angry at Shane for making her think Rick was dead. Lori was angry at herself too, for getting involved with Shane, but now it was too late. After that you took some clothes and went to the lake to wash them with the other women, you also decided going at Daryl’s tent and took the clothes of him that you could find. After what happened that was the least you could do to him. You took Luna with you so she could play a little and experience the freedom. Most of the day was alright, the exception was the scene Ed cause ending with Shane punching the shit out of him, you hope he understood the message to not touch Carol again. Also, Jimmy had an insolation and were kind of having hallucinations forcing you to tie him to a tree.

Later that day, you were starting to get anxious about them not returning to the camp. You had just gotten your brother back and even though you knew he did the good thing going back to Atlanta, you were worried you’d lose him again. All of you were around the bonfire eating the delicious fish that Amy and Andrea had fished, you were not a fan of fish, but this was the apocalypse so you would eat whatever you needed to survive. Soon after Amy told she was going to use the bathroom and got up, you heard to her scream and from that moment everything went wrong on that night.

Zombies were attacking the camp, one had bitten Amy, but you didn’t had time to feel sorry for the younger girl that was so dear with everyone from the camp. Everyone got up and ran trying to pick something to defend against the dead. You always carried your gun and knife, so you took your knife and got ready to defend yourself and your family.

“Carl, Lori, Y/N, stay behind me, I’ll protect you.” Shane said, you just ignored him and started stabbing the dead on the head with your knife.

If you could fight, you would not stay behind any man hiding yourself. Rick and Shane didn’t teach you how to knock out a rapist so now you could hide away from the zombies, they were even easier to deal with than alive people. You started counting how many you killed, using it to concentrate and not let your mind wander, soon you had lost count of how many. While you killed your last one, another came on your direction falling on you making you go to the ground, the dead on top of you, you lost your knife, you put one arm between you and the neck of the zombie, trying to reach out for your gun, but before you could take it the dead fell to the side an arrow on his skull.

‘Thank God, they are back.’ You thought and when you looked Daryl was already in front of you offering his hand to pull yourself up.

“Thank you” you said trying to catch your breath from the tiring wrestle you had with the dead one.

“ ‘s nothing” He replied and then shoot another one from the spot you were. You looked around finding your knife on the ground not very far from where you were fighting for you life, but not so close that you could grab it at the time. You took your knife, but the camp was already under control.

The dead that were not lifeless on the ground were being killed by the others, so you allowed yourself to relax a little. You spotted Rick not very far with Lori and Carl, your eyes roamed through the quarry and you also saw T.Dog and Glenn, but where was Merle?

“Merle?” You threw the question at Daryl, but you couldn’t deny… you were afraid of his reaction and of his answer. He made a face and shook his head, you thought about the worst.

“Oh my god, Daryl… I’m sorry.” You said, but was almost cut off by him.

“He’s alive, the dumbass cut his own hand and scaped, we were hoping he was back to camp and worrying about what he’d do once he arrived here. He stoled our car.” Well, this was totally Merle, you were glad he was alive, but you couldn’t even imagine what would happen if he had came back to the camp.

“That’s what took you all so long to come back?” You wanted to say you were worried, not only about Rick, or Glenn that was your good friend or T.Dog, mostly about him, but you didn’t know how the words would sound to him, so you stopped yourself before you could say anything.

“That too, but we had other problems.” You were going to ask more about it, but just when you were going to open your mouth Rick came to you.

“Are you okay? Did you get hurt?” Rick asked holding your shoulders and scanning you over to see if you were hurt anywhere.

“I’m alright, despite what some people think I’m not useless and fragile.”

“That’s not what I meant, I was just worried” Rick took a deep breath and looked in your eyes. “I just got all of you back, I can’t lose you again.”

“I can’t lose you too, so stop doing stupid things.” You said and tugged his hat brim to cover his eyes playfully. When you looked to the side, you saw the archer in the distance, already close to his tent.

The night was turning into day and one new morning was starting, the camp was a mess. You had people to burry and walkers to burn. And to think that hallucinating Jimmy dug two graves the other day. You were so caught up in all the confusion that you forgot about Luna, and you didn’t see her anywhere. You started to call her name, until she came running to you from inside Dale’s RV. You were so relieved she was good and alive. You squatted and hugged her while she tried to lick your face. All the people you cared for were good and alive, and you couldn’t be more grateful for it, but you didn’t know what you would do now, the quarry didn’t seem to be safe anymore. The question was, where could you possibly go?

Final Note: Thanks for everyone reading, liking, reblogging and commenting, it’s really good to receive your feedback.

[the-light-hum-by-the-lonely-sun]

(cough cough everything here is my interpretation etc etc dont get mad at me)

The Mind Electric isn't really a diss track. I mean, it sort of is, but not really.

I think it would be far more applicable to call it a vent post. Mind, despite pretty much constantly trying to give off the impression that he is in control, kind of isn't ever, really? In Whole, he's left on the shelf, and during Cacophony he is the "Ruler of Everything", but doesn't really rule... anything?

Sure, he has a degree of control over Heart. To my understanding, he only has control of the Vessel through Heart. During Just Apathy, he tells Heart what to say, and Heart relays it through the Vessel's mouth. (Assuming that's why Mind is telling Heart to say things. It makes more sense than Mind 1984ing Heart.)

Even in his songs, he never gets anything across. Be Born is pretty much him pointing out Heart and Soul's faults, and neither of them listen. He immediately must cave to Soul's will during The Soul Eclectic, where Soul refers to himself as a "lord" over Heart and Mind.

He's also the one that most consistently brings up the issue of time. After Mucka Blucka, with the notable exceptions of The Bidding and Taken for a Ride, they largely don't acknowledge the Time Loop, with the exception of Mind. He brings that shit up constantly to the point where it's kind of funny? Look at his lines in TWW&Y.

But overall, he's real goddamn frustrated. He *is* actually decently logical, but emotions run over. The guy that shot him, textually his only friend, vilifies him (NOTE: i don't think Heart is unjustified in this. It's pretty reasonable. It's just not the point right now), everyone is ignoring him. He is 100% ready to combine throughout the majority of Cacophony. Like, it's just towards the end of STAAS and most of TME that he isn't.

So yeah! He got pissed! He started flinging petty insults because that's what he thinks Heart is doing. He's basically yelling, "FINE! If this is how you want to treat me, I'll do it too." It isn't even completely petty! Towards the ends, he clearly calms down. He's still bitter, but like. He closes it out by saying that Heart almost murdered him and plays victim, that he too is necessary, and that despite being harsh he wants the best for everyone.

Okay. Essay over. I might read over this later after I'm fully done with my total analysis, but I think this is pretty alright. Feel free to correct me on anything I got blatantly wrong. Again, I don't think Heart is completely in the wrong or anything, it's just. This is about Mind, lmao.

[periwinkla]

1-4 ending JP -> ENG comparison

Keep in mind: -Notes are in small text -The / is meant to separate paragraphs (I'll use it when it gets too visually messy) Disclaimer : I only studied Japanese for a little while. AA dialogue is pretty simple though. Also English isn't my native language either. Feel free to correct me on anything wrong here. Also note that I'm not trying to make the translations sound natural, I'm mostly trying to explain what the words are saying, sometimes I'll be more literal than others. Translation =/= localization.

Phoenix 終わったな、御剣‥‥。 Owatta na, Mitsurugi... So, it's finally over, Edgeworth.

Edgeworth ‥‥‥‥‥‥ … 成歩堂。 Naruhodou. Wright.

Phoenix ん？ N? Yeah?

Edgeworth: ‥‥‥‥‥‥ … ‥‥その‥‥、 なんと言えばいいのか‥‥。 ...Sono... nan to ieba ii no ka... I… I'm not sure how to say this.

Maya そういうときはね。 “ありがとう”って言うんだよ！ Sou iu toki wa ne. "Arigatou" tte iun da yo! I know! I know! Try "thank you."

Edgeworth そ、そうなのか。 So, Sou na no ka. I… I see.

‥‥‥‥‥‥ …

あ、ありがとう、成歩堂。 A, Arigatou, Naruhodou. Th-thank you, Wright.

Phoenix ど、どういたしまして。 Do, douitashimashite. Y-you're welcome. They sound fairly stiff here. Phoenix's response isn't exactly formal by Japanese standards... I'd say it's casual/formal, but the stuttering makes it stiffer, I feel. Also compared to how they behave in 3-5, I think it's very different. Will elaborate in a future post when I get to analyze that dialogue.

Maya うーん‥‥イマイチ、 ハリアイがないなあ‥‥。 Uun... imaichi, hariai ga nai naa.. I think you could have done better than that!

Edgeworth ム‥‥スマン。 こういうの、ニガテで‥‥。 Mu... Suman. Kouiu no, nigate de... Oof! S-sorry… I'm not good at this sort of thing.

Maya もう！　ダメだなあ、御剣検事は。 Mou! Dame da naa, Mitsurugi Kenji wa. You got a lot to learn, Edgeworth!

Phoenix （‥‥やれやれ‥‥） (...Yareyare...) (Dear, dear…) (this is not at all important but I noticed it's an expression Phoenix uses a lot: yare yare...)

Gumshoe うおおおおおおおおおおおおおっ！ Uoooooooooooooh! Whoooooooooooooop!

さすがッス！　自分が見込んだ だけのコトはあったッス！ Sasuga ssu! Jibun ga mikonda dake no koto wa atta ssu! Amazing, pal! You pulled through just like I thought you would!

糸鋸　圭介。この恩は一生、 わすれないッス！ Itonoko Keisuke. Kono on wa isshou, wasurenai ssu! I'll never forget this! I owe you one, pal.

今夜は、パーッとやるッス！ 自分がゴチソウするッス！ Kon'ya wa, paa tto yaru ssu! Jibun ga gochisou suru ssu! And tonight, let's party! Dinner's on me!

今月から給料がちょっぴり 下がったッスが、気にしねッス！ Kongetsu kara kyuuryou ga choppiri sagatta ssu ga, ki ni shine ssu! Yeah, my salary went down a bit this month… But who cares!

Maya ほらほらほら、御剣検事。 イトノコ刑事を見ならうの！ Hora hora hora, Mitsurugi Kenji. Itonoko Keiji wo minarau no! See, Mr. Edgeworth? You should take a lesson from Detective Gumshoe!

あんな感じにやると、カンシャの キモチが伝わるんだよ！ Anna kanji ni yaru to, kansha no kimochi ga tsutawarun da yo! That's how you say "thank you"!

Edgeworth ‥‥ム。 な‥‥なるほど。 ...Mu. Na.... Naruhodo. Mmm. I… I see. Note how he basically says Wright's butchered JP name, which is a pun for the game (it means 'I see' / 'I understand') but it also means that the gap between them is somewhat getting narrower. It could just be for comic relief, but...note that when he attempts to thank him the first time, he calls out to him with 'Naruhodou', but now on his second attempt he says 'Naruhodo' before trying to thank him. Unfortunately the subtletly and ambiguity of this cannot be localized. By the way, he also uses 'Naruhodo' before the final trial in T&T, will elaborate on in at a later date. (I don't know whether there are other times other than these two, I haven't analyzed enough transcripts yet)

コホン。 Gohon. ahem

う、うおおおおおおおおおっ！ U, Uooooooooh! Whooooooooooooop! This is, and I'm completely serious here, one of my most favourite scenes. Note the difference between Edgeworth's and Gumshoe's shouts: in the JP, 4 'O's are missing in Edgeworth's shout, while in ENG, 1 'O' is missing - the localization was careful enough to add that tiny difference, and although I am not sure why they reduced it to one single 'O', it's still interesting they differentiated them all the same.

‥‥‥‥‥‥ …

ダメだ。‥‥ヤッパリ、 私なんか‥‥。 Dame da. ...Yappari, Watashi nanka... I… I feel foolish. literal translation: No, that's not right. As I thought, / someone like me... *'someone like me...' : the underlying message seems to be: 'As I thought, something like this/acting like this wouldn't fit someone like me'

Maya まあまあ、少しずつ 慣れていきましょうよ。 Maa maa, sukoshi zutsu narete ikimashou yo. Don't worry. Take it a little at a time. You'll get used to it.

more literal translation: Come on, come on, little by little / let's get used to it! It seems to me Maya says it in a way to mean something like they'll do it together, so he shouldn't worry - implying he's not alone (anymore), again Japanese can be subtle so I'm not sure, but considering Maya's empathic character, I'd say that's what she meant. In any case, she's trying to encourage him. Very sweet! Phoenix （こんなスナオな御剣を 　見るの、１５年ぶりだな‥‥） (Konna sunao na Mitsurugi o miru no, juugo-nen buri da na...) (It's been fifteen years since I've seen Edgeworth this… unguarded.)

more literal translation: It's been 15 years... since I've seen Edgeworth (act) this honest (with his feelings)... Phoenix is saying that it's been a long time since he's seen Edgeworth be honest/sincere with his feelings/upfront with his feelings. The localization gets the meaning across very nicely. Lotta おっ、いたいた！ O, ita ita! Hey, y'all!

Maya あ、ナツミさん！ A, Natsumi-san! Lotta!

Lotta いやー、アンタら。 カッコよかったでー。 Iya, antara. Kakkoyokatta de. Y'all were great in there!

Phoenix ありがとうございます。 Arigatou gozaimasu. Thank you!

Lotta おッ。ニイちゃん。 無罪、おめでと！ Oo, Niichan. Muzai, omedetou! Yo, Edgeworth! Congrats!

Edgeworth ム‥‥お、おおきに。 Mu... o, ookini. Er… thank y'all very much. ookini = 'thank you a lot' in Kansai dialect (which is the dialect Lotta uses) I find it adorably funny that first he tries to imitate Gumshoe to thank people and now he's trying Lotta's ways...

Lotta ウチには、最初から わかってたんやで！ Uchi ni wa, saisho kara wakattetan ya de! I knew you were innocent from the start, of course.

あんたが無罪だ、ってなあ！ Anta ga muzai da, tte naa! Just look at you! You wouldn't stick your hand in the cookie jar even if no one was there! The ENG adds a lot here which wasn't in the original. in the JP, she basically only says: 'From the start, / I knew! / That you were innocent!!' (I think this is mostly done to convey Lotta's character, since the dialect wouldn't have been enough here to convey that I believe)

Edgeworth ‥‥たしか、初日の 検察側の証人だったような‥‥。 ...Tashika, shonichi no kensatsu-gawa no shounin datta you na... You… were the witness on the first day of the trial, weren't you.

Lotta まま。まあまあ。 細かいこと、気にしなさんな！ Ma ma. Maa maa. Komakai koto, ki ni shinasan na! Yeah, well, let bygones be bygones, eh?

Phoenix そういえば、ナツミさん‥‥、 今は、何を‥‥？ Sou ieba, Natsumi-san..., Ima wa, nani o...? Speaking of which, what are you doing now, Lotta?

Lotta おー、今か？ 大学にもどったで。 Oo, ima ka? Daigaku ni modotta de. Who, me? Aww, I went back to college.

スクープカメラマンになる夢は、 もうオシマイや。 Sukūpu kameraman ni naru yume wa, mō oshimai ya. I gave up trying to be an investigative photographer pretty quick.

Phoenix そうなんですか‥‥。 Sou nan desu ka... Really? That's too bad.

Lotta あれ？ Are? Huh?

Phoenix ？ ?

Lotta あそこにいるの、公園の マンジュウ屋、ちゃうか？ Asoko ni iru no, kōen no manjū-ya, chau ka? Isn't that the hotdog guy from the park?

Phoenix ‥‥え？ ...E? Huh?

Larry ‥‥死ぬんだぁ‥‥。 ...Shinun daa... It's over, Nick! My life is over!

Phoenix な、なんでおまえが そんなカオしてるんだよ！ Na, nande omae ga sonna kao shiteru nda yo! Wh-why the sad face, Larry!? What happened now!?

Larry 成歩堂ぉ‥‥。 オレ、そろそろ死ぬからさぁ。 Naruhodouo... Ore, sorosoro shinu kara saa. Oh, Nick… I'm not long for this world. (Just funny how he drags Naruhodou's name out in a wail here.)

Phoenix い、いやいやいや。 I, iya iya iya. Uh… you don't look sick… literally like 'n, nonono' but meaning something more like 'wa, wait wait wait' - it sounds like he's about done with Larry's histrionics and possibly shaking his head in denial...

Larry カズミがよお‥‥パリ 暮らすって言い出して‥‥、 Kazumi ga yoo...Pari kurasu tte iidashite... It's Kiyance! Sh-she's goin' to live in Paris! Paris, Nick!

置いていかれちまったんだよぉぉ！ Oiteikarechimattan da yooo! She's leaving me behind!!!

Phoenix （‥‥やれやれ‥‥） (...Yare yare...) (Larry, Larry…) I noticed Phoenix uses this expression a lot. It's quite funny to me, reminds me of an old man that is about done with his youngings' shenanigans.

Larry お。御剣。いたのか。 O. Mitsurugi. Ita no ka. Yo, Edgey! There you are!

Edgeworth ム。そりゃまあ、いる。 Mu. Sorya maa, iru. Um, yes, here I am.

Larry おめでとうな、御剣。 ‥‥コレ、オレからのお祝い！ Omedetou na, Mitsurugi. ...Kore, ore kara no oiwai! Congrats, Edgey! Here… a little gift from me in celebration!

Edgeworth “お祝い”？　‥‥めずらしいな。 "Oiwai"? ...Mezurashii na. Celebration? That's unusual for you.

Gumshoe お。アンタも後で来るッス！ ゴチソウするッス！ O. Anta mo ato de kuru ssu! Gochisou suru ssu! Harry Butz! You come along tonight too! My treat, pal!

Larry は、はあ。 楽しみにしてます。 Ha, haa. Tanoshiminishitemasu. Huh? Uh… thanks! Looking forward to it! （オイ、成歩堂） (Oi, Naruhodou) (Yo, yo, Nick!)

（アイツ、オレを取り調べした 　刑事だぜ‥‥） (Aitsu, ore o toriirabeshita keiji da ze...) (That's the suit that questioned me!)

（ゴチソウって、まさか 　カツ丼じゃねえだろうな‥‥） (Gochisōtte, masaka katsudon ja nee darou na...) (When he says treat… that's not police-talk for prison food, right? Right?)

Phoenix そ、それはないと思うぞ。 So, sore wa nai to omou zo. Uh, I think you'll be fine, Larry.

Edgeworth ‥‥成歩堂。 ...Naruhodou. Wright…

Phoenix ん？　どうした？ N? Doushita? Yeah? What's up?

Edgeworth ‥‥金が入っているぞ。 矢張がくれた封筒。 ...Kane ga haitte iru zo. Yahari ga kureta fūtō. That envelope that Larry gave me. It's got money in it.

Phoenix そりゃそうだろ。 “お祝い”だからな。 Sorya sou daro. "Oiwai" dakara na. Well, yeah. That's not that strange. People give money away to celebrate sometimes.

Edgeworth ３８００円だ。 3800 en da. It's $38.00, Wright.

Phoenix ‥‥また、ずいぶんハンパな 金額だな‥‥。 ...Mata, zuibun hanpa na kingaku da na... Huh. What a weird amount. I mean, it's not a little, but it's not a lot either.

‥‥‥‥‥‥ …

３８００円？ 3800 en? $38.00 exactly?

Maya ‥‥ななな、なるほどくん！ ...Na na na, Naruhodo-kun! N-N-Nick!

小学校のころ、御剣検事が盗まれた 給食費って、たしか‥‥！ Shōgakkō no koro, Mitsurugi-Kenji ga nusumareta kyūshoku-hi tte, tashika...! Wasn't that exactly the amount of lunch money that was stolen from Mr. Edgeworth in school!?

Phoenix さ‥‥３８００円‥‥？ Sa... 3800 en...? $38…!

ままま、まさか‥‥ Ma ma ma, masaka.... No… (I think the shock-induced stuttering in this line might be meant to parallel Maya's previous one. Cute!)

‥‥‥‥まさかああああッ！ 矢張、お前ェェェェッ！ ...Masakaaaaa! Yahari, omaeeee! No!!! Larry, it was you!!! There is a fun pun lost in translation here. Larry's JP name, Yahari, means 'after all/as expected/as I thought' - so Larry's name can be intended both as a vocative and a figure of speech here. "After all, it was you!" = "Larry, it was you!" The phrases basically overlap in JP, as if he were saying them at the same time.

Edgeworth 何をイロめきたっている？ 成歩堂。 Nani o iromekitatte iru? Naruhodou. What are you so surprised about, Wright?

Phoenix え？ E? Huh?

Edgeworth たしかに矢張は、あの日 カゼで学校を休んでいた。 Tashika ni Yahari wa, ano hi Kaze de gakkou wo yasunde ita. Larry was absent that day from school, right?

だが、だからといって 犯人でないという理由にはならん。 Daga, dakara to itte hannin de nai to iu riyuu ni wa naran. But that doesn't automatically rule him out as a suspect.

Phoenix え！ What?

Edgeworth １５年前の、あの日。 15 nen mae no, ano hi. Think back to that day, fifteen years ago.

休んだはいいが、タイクツだった 矢張は、学校に来てみたのだろう。 Yasunda hai ga, taikutsu datta Yahari wa, gakkou ni kite mita no darou. Larry took the day off, but he was bored, he came in to school anyway.

そして、まあ‥‥、ちょっと 手が伸びてしまったんだろうな。 Soshite, maa..., chotto te ga nobite shimatta ndarou na. Then he saw the money lying there… and the rest is history.

Larry 伸びちまったんだろうねえ、 イヤハヤ、これが‥‥。 Nobichimattan darou nee, iyahaya, kore ga... I never was good at History! Heh… The joke is a bit different here, Edgeworth jokes that Larry's hand must have 'stretched out' , but I suppose 'slipped' is more apt. And Larry is like 'Yeah, guess it must have slipped!' The translation would be something like: Edgeworth: And, well, / his hand must have ended up slipping (must have slipped). Larry: Yeah, guess it must have slipped, / eheh, well...

Phoenix ‥‥‥‥‥‥ …

御剣‥‥まさかお前、 ‥‥知ってたのか？ Mitsurugi... Masaka omae, ...Shitteta no ka? Edgeworth… you didn't know, did you?

Edgeworth ‥‥アヤシイとは思っていた。 ...Ayashii to wa omotteita. I suspected.

literal translation: I thought it was suspicious. (I find it endearing that he suspected but didn't say anything - despite how he acts, Edgeworth is really a softie most times, even towards Larry who he has the rightful urge to murder more often than not) いつもの矢張なら、 お前をかばうのはオカシイ。 Itsumo no Yahari nara, Omae o kabau no wa okashii. I just couldn't picture Larry protecting you like he did that day.

みんなといっしょになって、 ここぞとばかり責めたてただろう。 Minna to issho ni natte, Kokozo to bakari semetate daro. Everyone else was saying you did it. The whole class was against you, remember?

Phoenix ‥‥うむむむむ。 ... Umumumumu. Yeah… too well. Phoenix's blabbering is hilarious here. He's in utter denial. Like he's nodding at what he's saying but he's refusing the knowledge to enter his brain.

Edgeworth 成歩堂。もしかしたら お前は知らないかもしれないが、 Naruhodou. Moshikashitara Omae wa shiranai kamoshirenai ga, Wright, you may not know this, but we used to have a saying back in school.

この男は、こう言われていたんだ。 “事件のカゲにヤッパリ矢張”と。 Kono otoko wa, kou iwarete ita nda. "Jiken no kage ni yappari Yabari" to. "When something smells, it's usually the Butz." The saying actually means : 'In the shadow of an incident/trouble, after all, there is Larry' There is the usual pun 'yappari Yahari' so I think the localization of the saying and his name was done very well to render the original meaning.

Phoenix そのコトバなら、イヤというほど 思い知らされてるよ！ Sono kotoba nara, iya to iu hodo omoishirasa reteru yo! I know, I know. I would translate this more to: 'If you're saying that, why didn't you tell me!'

Edgeworth ‥‥いやあ、成歩堂。まさか、 キミが気づいていなかったとは。 ...Iyaa, Naruhodou. Masaka, Kimi ga kizuite inakatta to wa. Really, Wright. I'm surprised you didn't figure it out! '...Why, Wright. It can't be, / you hadn't realized.' This is so funny to me, in both versions. In JP it sounds a bit more teasing and cocky, but still. It sounds like to Edgeworth, shouting objection and reprimanding his classmates and teacher as a 9 year old was no big deal. So he didn't care to mention, thought Phoenix would figure it out. If not, no big deal. To Phoenix, it was life-changing. Phoenix is having a (mid) life crisis.

Larry 意外だねこりゃあ。 Igai da ne koryaa. Well, this is sure an unexpected turn of events, eh?

Phoenix ‥‥御剣。 ... Mitsurugi. Edgeworth…

Edgeworth ん？ N? Hmm?

Phoenix 言えよ！ Ieyo! You should have told me! Here it may look like a whole different thing but it's mostly that there is no other natural way to translate this. 'Ieyo' is just the imperative of the verb 'ieru', 'to tell'. It kinda gives the feeling of 'But (then) tell me, dammit!'

Maya まあまあ、なるほどくん。 もう１５年前のコトでしょ？ Maa maa, Naruhodo-kun. Mou juugo-nen mae no koto desho? Now, now, Nick. It was fifteen years ago!

これって“じこう”ってヤツ だよね？　御剣検事。 Kore tte "jikou" tte yatsu da yo ne? Mitsurugi Kenji. Don't you think the "statute of limitations" has run out, Mr. Edgeworth?

Edgeworth そういうこと、だな。 Souiu koto, da na. I'd say so, yes.

Larry そういうことだよ。 Souiu koto da yo. There you have it! In JP version, I found it funny how Larry parrots Edgeworth's words. 'Souiu koto' means 'it's like that'.

Phoenix ‥‥まったく‥‥。 ...Mattaku,,, Grr…

お前らにカンシャして弁護士に なったぼくの立場はどうなるんだ？ Omaera ni kansha shite bengoshi ni natta boku no tachiba wa dou narun da? Where does that leave me!? I became a defense attorney because of what you two did!

Edgeworth 感動的なまでのお人よし、 といったところだろうか。 Kandō-teki na made no o-hito yoshi, to itta tokoro darou ka. Well, I'd call you a goody-two-shoes to the extreme.

Larry とんだお調子モノ、とも 言えるよナ！ Tonda o-chōshimono, tomo ieru yo na! Yeah! And you get worked up too easily, too!

Phoenix し、死刑だ！ コイツを死刑にしてくれェッ！ Shi, shikei da! Koitsu o shikei ni shite kuree! D-death! The death sentence for both of you!

‥‥こんなことなら、 検事になりゃよかったあ！ ...Konna koto nara, kenji ni narya yokattaa! Man, if I only had known, I'd have become a prosecutor!

Edgeworth ‥‥それは私も同じだ。 ...Sore wa watashi mo onaji da. The same goes for me, only the other way around…

“もしかしたら、自分は父親を 撃ってしまったのかもしれない” "Moshikashitara, jibun wa chichioya o utte shimatta no kamoshirenai" For the longest time, I thought that I might have killed my own father. These are provided as literal phrases he thought: 'Could it be, I myself was the one that ended up shooting my father.'

“自分は罪人かもしれない” "Jibun wa zainin kamoshirenai" I thought I might be a criminal. "What if I'm a criminal, myself.'

‥‥私は、そういう自分を 罰する意味もあって検事になった。 …Watashi wa, sou iu jibun o batsu suru imi mo atte kenji ni natta. I became a prosecutor in part to punish myself.

Basically the same, but instead of saying 'in part' he says that was one of the reasons. He says he became a prosecutor for that reason as well (among others), the reason being that of punishing himself. ‥‥こんなことなら、 弁護士になりたかったよ。 ...Konna koto nara, bengoshi ni naritakatta yo. If I had known the truth, I might have become a defense attorney after all. 'If it were like this (if I had known), I would have wished to become a defense attorney.' The way he says it seems way more heartbreaking in Japanese. Naritakatta = wanted to become, which here becomes 'I would have wanted to become' because of context. I translated it as 'would have wished' because it seems more apt here. Naritakatta expresses a desire for something you had wanted in the past. 'I would have gone for being a defense attorney'... It indicates that someone wanted to become or achieve something at some point in the past, but for some reason, they were not able to fulfill that desire.

Phoenix ‥‥御剣。 ... Mitsurugi. Edgeworth…

Edgeworth かわるか、成歩堂。 Kawaru ka, Naruhodou. Want to switch, Wright? Says the same thing... and it sounds so resigned in both versions. It's curt, and their conversation ends just like that. Breaks my heart.

[luna-rainbow]

Do you think Bucky ever got any sleep during all his years of Hydra captivity? Or was it just wipe/kill/back in the freezer? I don't think cryostasis would be anything like normal restorative REM sleep.

Hello nonnie!! I have finally had a light-bulb moment for this ask (I'm sorry it's taken me like 7 months)

I've been going about it the wrong way, trying to research on sleep, when in actuality what I should have been researching is the brain under hypothermia. This is an observational study conducted in the 1980s looking at children undergoing induced hypothermia (lowering of body temperature) during cardiopulmonary bypass (sometimes required during major surgery). In summary, by the time the body temperature cooled to 18 degrees, all brain activity ceased. Sleep - consisting of non-REM and particularly REM - are associated with far more active brain waves. So nonnie, you are very correct in saying that Bucky, even with his super soldier abilities, unlikely ever got any "sleep" during cryostasis. (I'm sorry to all the ficcers that wrote Bucky dreaming during cryo but I think most people are happy to ignore this piece of science)

In terms of whether Bucky ever got "sleep", I think that is hard to say. Even normal soldiers might drive themselves to go without sleep for 36+ hours if required for a mission (heck, even hospital shifts go for 36 hours in some places). As a super soldier, Bucky might tolerate sleep deprivation for longer. This means missions like taking out the Starks - travelling from Russian and back - he might achieve in one sitting without sleeping in between (although I guess no one can stop him from dozing off on the plane).

I think one implied part of your question is "is it likely that Bucky was allowed out of the freezer for long enough periods at a time to need (and get) sleep"? I feel like that is unlikely, judging from the "he's been out of cryo for too long" line from CATWS. The timeline goes: day 1 Bucky makes assassination attempts daytime + night time against Fury / day 2 Steve makes a run down to Jersey arriving there at night / day 3 Bucky attacks Steve on the causeway and then we get the nighttime vault scene where Bucky is "unstable". Even if we add a day or two prior to allow for prepping, that still means Bucky becomes "unstable" and questions his identity within a bare week of being out of cryo.

Credit @lost-shoe (this post)

Now onto the angst...we know anaesthetics is not like restful sleep, so theoretically neither is cryostasis. While the science of cryostasis doesn't exist at the moment, we know from artificial hypothermia in surgical situations that it puts incredible stress on the body and all its organs. Looking at the laboratory derangements during hypothermia it looks like it pushes the body over to anaerobic metabolism and causes lactate to go up. You know when you go for a run and your muscles cramp up because you haven't warmed up enough? That's because your muscles have produced too much lactate from anaerobic metabolism. So...no wonder Bucky can't stand when he comes out of the cryo chamber. It also increases one's bleeding risk and reduces one's healing speed, so take of that what you will for your Whumptober prompts 😂

I also wonder whether, because the brain is not receiving any REM sleep during cryo, it means Bucky has been in a constant state of sleep deprivation for the last 70 years. The theory of "prefrontal vulnerability" in sleep deprivation proposes that functions like language, executive functions, divergent thinking, and creativity are particularly affected, so that can contribute to Bucky's inability to process/produce complex language and his slowness when it comes to working through complex problems. It also has significant effect on memory and attention: it's interesting to note that during sleep deprivation of more than 35 hours, they found that while free recall was affected, recognition was not. (Disclaimer for science: small sample size, opposite result for subjects with sleep deprivation ~24 h).

So yeah, I think there are practical reasons why Hydra would not allow Bucky to have restorative sleep between missions. Consolidation of long term memory (i.e. transferring them from short term storage into long term storage) usually happens during sleep which means it is quite likely Bucky remembers only broken bits of his time (if at all) in the last 7 decades.

[okaylorrainee]

her way of water

characters. neteyam & female metkayina reader. sully family. tsireya.

synopsis. neteyam and his family left their clan to seek uturu from yours. on their first night, neteyam wanders by the shore to clear his mind. he finds himself away from everyone’s marui pods and comes across you as you bathed - he couldn’t get you out of his mind since then.

contains. aged up characters but only by a few years. timeline and some parts of the plot of the movie may be ignored. sometimes out of character.

note. hello! welcome to my first avatar ff :)! this was supposed to be a one shot, but as i wrote it, i’ve decided one part isn’t enough. sorry if any parts of the story seem weird. i still have a lot to learn about the na’vi. do they even bathe? idk. english is not my first language so please feel free to correct me if i get anything wrong! also, this may be the first avatar ff i’ve ever written and published but it might not be the last so stay tuned!

Ch 01 [ masterlist . next ]

he tossed and turned, unable to sleep. a low grunt left his lips as he sat up in frustration. he looked around and his family was in deep slumber, perhaps due to exhaustion from all of the water training they’ve done all day. he wished he could be the same, then at least he’d silence the sadness he felt from leaving his home. 

neteyam didn’t want to voice it out too much. he knew it was harder for his parents, especially for his mother whose whole life was the forest. he refused to burden the family with his emotions, so he suppressed them, like the responsible eldest son he always was.

he sighed, making his way out of their family pod. he didn’t know where he was going at this time of the night, but he just allowed his feet to keep going. wherever he’d end up, he’d just make sure to find his way back again before the sun rises. because tomorrow was another day to learn the ways of the metkayina, to be one of them. 

neteyam uttered not a single word, and nothing but the sound of waves surrounded him. the breeze accompanied him as he walked, his hair flowing with the wind that the beads braided with them collided every now and then. he found the air relaxing, that every time he inhaled he felt like his lungs were being cleansed from how fresh it was.

awa’atlu was indeed a very beautiful place, but neteyam adored his clan’s forest more.

neteyam found himself by the edge of the shore. beside him stood the palm trees that formed the forest he has yet to explore. thinking he had gone too far away from the village, neteyam was about to turn and walk back, until he heard low humming come from his left, the parallel of the village’s front. 

curious, he carefully approached and followed the sound. the humming got louder as he got closer. and soon, a figure came into view in front of him. it was a silhouette of a metkayina na’vi, waist deep within the water, staring into the vast ocean in front of her.

neteyam hadn’t felt his eyes gape at the sight of her. she was undressed, nothing but her long hair covering parts no one but only her future mate should see. her skin was wet and the freckles all around her body made her glow. this kind of scene should not be new to him, after all, he too had freckles that glowed in the dark. but for some reason, neteyam seemed to be so mesmerized by her that he found it hard to look away. only when her whispers of singing reached his ears once more did he realize that he was staring at this naked na’vi woman. he immediately turned away and hid behind a palm tree.

neteyam’s cheek burned from embarrassment. just what was he doing? but actually, what was she doing? at this time of the night while the rest of the clan was asleep, she was here apparently bathing at the opposite side of the village’s island. for someone who spends so much time in the water, this metkayina woman had the thought of washing herself in the middle of the night - neteyam found it a bit odd.

however, he stood still from his spot. he didn’t want to walk away, he was curious as to what she might be up to. this wasn’t weird, right? it’s not like he was watching her. he was simply… waiting.

a couple of minutes passed but nothing else happened. she continued doing whatever it was she was doing by the water, creating small splashing sounds here and there while humming another song different from the previous one. this whole time, neteyam was leaning on the tree, staring at the sand and doing nothing. but he had to admit, instead of being bored out of his mind, he enjoyed his time listening to her voice.

soon enough another gentle splash came from behind him, it sounded different from the ones before, indicating that she might be leaving the water. neteyam felt a sudden wave of nervousness, worried she might find him. so without looking back, he quickly ran to the direction of the village, moving carefully to not alert her of his presence.

it had been long since then. hours had passed and the sun had risen. neteyam and his siblings were once again under the care of the olo’eyktan’s children to learn about metkayina customs. today, they were polishing their riding skills with ilus.

tsireya and her brother were watching the sullys from near the shore, both mounted on their ilu companions. ao’nung spent most of the time snickering as he watched lo’ak fail over and over, and tsireya would smack him to make him stop. she flashes a gentle smile to lo’ak when he peeks to look in her direction, and he nods at her trying to appear cool before getting thrown off once more for losing focus. she giggled, lo’ak appeared very cute to her.

tsireya shifted her eyes to the others. kiri and tuk, who were accompanied by ao’nung’s friend, rotxo, seemed to be doing better than their brother. tsireya noticed how kiri appeared to be a natural at everything they have taught them so far, and she thinks it may be because of the special kind of connection kiri had with nature. but tsireya didn’t comment on it any further, she had only met them yesterday.

meanwhile, neteyam was alone on the far right of the group. tsireya noted how neteyam was quick to adapt and learn, and that it wasn’t difficult to teach him. compared to his brother, neteyam took things slow at first and it made him grasp the idea of riding the ilus easily. 

tsireya hadn’t missed how distracted neteyam looked today. he was paused above the water, staring at it in deep thought as he held his ilu in place. tsireya wondered if something was wrong, so she motioned her ilu to swim to neteyam’s direction.

“hey, neteyam.” she said to catch his attention.

the said man lightly jolted before turning to her. “oh, tsireya, hey.”

her brows furrowed in worry. “is everything alright, neteyam? it seems like you are unable to concentrate today.”

neteyam’s cheeks flushed. “i am okay, tsireya. there is no need to worry.” 

she hummed, still not convinced. “well, alright. but if there is anything we can help you with, let us know.” she turned to swim away. but before she could get farther, neteyam called her.

“actually, tsireya, there is something that’s been on my mind for hours now.” he started. “but you must not let anyone know.”

curious, tsireya went closer to him. “what is it?”

he let out a deep breath before shooting her eyes a serious look. “last night as i was taking a walk by the shore, i came across a woman who was alone at the opposite side of the village.”

tsireya pulled away in shock and interest. “metkayina? what was she doing?”

neteyam nodded then gestured for her to lean closer again. he whispered, “she was bathing, i think.”

“bathing? that is strange.” she tilted her head in confusion. “did you approach her?”

neteyam shook his head. “no. i could not bring myself to interrupt her. she was undressed after all. how would she react if a man came to her while in such a state?”

tsireya nodded in thought, agreeing to what he said. “you are right. did you see what she looked like?”

neteyam sighed. “no, but i listened to her sing.” he spoke. “she has one of the most beautiful voices i have ever heard. her tone almost made me fall asleep from how relaxed i was, you see. and her skin,” he sighed once again, “tsireya, i had only caught a glimpse of it because i had to turn away. but i could not forget how divine she looked around the glow of the bioluminescence surrounding her.”

tsireya couldn’t hide the smirk that was growing from her lips as she listened to him talk. when she didn’t respond, neteyam turned away in embarrassment when he realized what he was saying. tsireya covered her lips and giggled. “so, you have developed a crush on this woman you saw last night. is that it, neteyam?”

“be quiet, tsireya! the others might hear you.” he scouted the surroundings and saw that everyone else was still busy with their training. “but… i don’t know for sure. i told you because i don’t know what she looks like, and i am hoping that you might know who she is.”

tsireya shook her head. “i am sorry, neteyam. i do not know who you are talking about.”

a slight frown becomes visible on his face. neteyam’s shoulders dropped in defeat. “oh. that’s okay.”

“but hey, do not worry.” she placed a hand on his arm as a gesture to comfort him. “i will help you look for her. there is not anyone in this village i am not familiar with. perhaps with more details, we can figure out who she is.”

neteyam gives her a small smile. “thank you, tsireya.”

she smiles back. 

loud laughter from everyone else in the group interrupted their conversation - lo’ak had fallen off his ilu once again because ao’nung had taunted him. tsireya and neteyam exchanged looks before heading to the commotion.

-

tsireya enjoyed spending time with the sullys. she thought they were a very fun bunch. when they arrived, her days became something she started to look more forward to.

because she believed this arrangement would be permanent from now on, she thought it would be important for an acquaintance of hers to be introduced to the sullys as well. it would happen eventually anyway since they would become fellow clan members soon. 

also, tsireya believed this acquaintance of hers would be a great addition to the sullys’ circle, especially from all the trouble her brother and his friends were bringing them. tsireya was sure that a kind and open-minded na’vi would make her new friends feel more welcome. that, and she needed another capable hand to help teach the sullys better.

“sister, are you here?” tsireya peeked inside the marui of her friend.

you turned your head to her direction, away from the new top you were working on. a smile appears on your face when you see your friend. “tsireya, it is nice to see you.”

©️ okaylorrainee 2023. please do not re-upload, translate my content anywhere without permission.

ch 01 [ masterlist . next ]

[thezombieprostitute]

Dandelion

A/N: Part 2 of this Ask; Reader is AFAB, Tall & Plus Size;

Word Count: ~2.7k (holy wah!)

Warnings: Ex-boyfriend angst, Insecure reader, Talk of body image issues. Please let me know if I missed any.

The next day, Hal joins you for lunch. You generally sit at your desk because there's no such thing as a work-free break. He grabs a chair and sits backwards on it, grinning at you as he sets his lunchbox on your desk.

“What are you doing, Hal?”

“What every straight man dreams of,” he says. “I'm having lunch with a pretty lady.”

“Please don't,” you whine. “I told you yesterday, I don't want your pity flirting.”

“And I told you, it ain't pity.”

“Then why are you eating at my desk?”

“Well, as I said, I was treating you differently because I wanted you to know I thought differently about you from all the other pretty faces. But my methods only made you think I wasn't interested. So now I'm doing something different.”

“And what if I don't want the attention?”

“If I'm genuinely making you uncomfortable I'll get up and go. But if you only want me to leave because you still think I'm feeling sorry for you, I'm sticking around and eating my lunch. Hopefully having a conversation with you as well.”

“How would you know the difference?”

His grin widens, “because you're a horrible liar, Dandelion.”

You roll your eyes, “fair. But if someone else shows up you're not interfering with my work.”

“Oh yes, I am,” he retorts. You give him your best glare but he doesn't back down. “You're at lunch. No one gets to ask you to do any work.”

“You do realize I'm not union?”

“We should fix that.”

The rest of your lunch passes with more back and forth. Every time someone starts approaching your desk Hal cheerfully states, “out for lunch! Come back later!” They leave before you can counter what Hal said.

After lunch, the two of you clean up and get back to work. Hal keeps it professional during work hours and you're grateful for that. You don't want to be mad at him, he's just trying to help you feel better. But the fact that he thinks fake flirting is “helpful” hurts you.

The next couple of weeks you find a small gift at your desk every morning. You receive some of your favorite candies, new pens in your favorite style, and even some cutesy post-it notes that you enjoy using. And every day you would thank Hal at lunch for the gift. As you got more comfortable around him he became more of a menace. It had started with him telling people you were at lunch and it escalated to a game of turning your monitor on and off. You wanted it on in case of important emails or notices but Hal insisted on turning it off because you’re supposed to not be working.

“You’re fighting a losing battle here, Dandelion,” he grins. “I have a major advantage in that I have no shame.”

“Yeah, I’ve picked up on that,” you groan. “So how about lunch away from my desk? Would that be okay?”

“You’ve got alerts on your phone, don’t you?”

You sigh, “yeah. But it’ll only chime for notices that are actually marked as ‘important’ okay?”

“Hmm,” he licks his lips. “I suppose that’s enough of a compromise for now. But we’re going outside to eat, okay?”

“Sure,” you nod. “It’s a nice day outside.”

“And I’ll get to take off my shirt!”

“Wait, what?!”

He runs outside, with your lunch in hand, before you can stop him. 

Only a few minutes into the lunch and Hal can tell something’s wrong. You’re actively not looking at him, at least since he took off his shirt. 

“Am I making you uncomfortable,” he asks. “What’s going on with you?”

"Look, Hal, it's not a big deal," you plead. "Can you just let it go?"

"No, I need to know what I'm doing wrong," Hal argues. "Otherwise I'll keep doing it and it'll become a bigger issue."

"You're not doing anything wrong," you assure. "The fault is with me, not you. I'm the one who needs to do the correcting."

"Well maybe I can help. I just need you to tell me what's going on."

You take a deep breath and steady your nerves before confessing, "the reason I look away every time I see you without your shirt on is because it just reminds me of how much I need to work on my own body."

Unable to bring yourself to look at him, knowing there would be hurt in his eyes, you continue "I'm too big and I need to either slim down or 'get toned' or whatever the terms are. But every time I try nothing works. I just end up getting bigger so I give up. And seeing your perfectly toned body just reminds me of my own failures."

Taking a deep breath to try to keep from crying, you try to assuage Hal, "none of this is on you. It's entirely on me. I'm the one who needs to change. You worked hard for that body and you have every right to be proud of it, every right to be comfortable walking around without a shirt. I need to either not be so damn sensitive or to get off my ass and work it off."

“I’m happy to help you with either one,” he promises. “But I’ll only help you with ‘working your ass off’ if it’s something you genuinely want for yourself and not something you feel you have to do for others to acknowledge your prettiness.” You chuckle but it fades quickly when you see the seriousness in his face. “I know it ain’t as easy for others as it is for me. I also know one of the reasons these things fail is because people mix up their goals for what they want with the goals they actually want for themselves. I love your figure as it is, but if you want to work on it for you, I’m happy to help.”

“You’re gonna start taking me to the gym?”

“If that’s what you want, but we’re starting you out small. Another reason these things fail is because people push too hard too fast.”

“I promise I’ll think about it.”

“Just remember, you’re pretty as you are because of who you are.”

“You really need to stop that,” you sigh. “I get that you want to be more than work friends and you’re a good guy, but I still can’t believe you’re actually interested.”

Hal leans back and grins, “I’ll have to up my game, then, Dandelion.”

“I’m not even sure what you could do to convince me, Hal. How are you going to succeed when there’s no known means, methods, or benchmarks?”

“We’ll figure it out together,” he beams. 

“Or you could just give up and admit you’re not interested in me like that.”

“Not gonna happen. I’m no liar, Dandelion.”

You find yourself succumbing to Hal’s charms. You feel comfortable, even safe around him and look forward to your lunches together. You’re able to let some of your guards down and, while you’re not matching his energy, you’re able to return the playfulness he sends your way.

“You need to be careful, Hal,” you laugh during one of your lunches. 

“Why’s that, Dandelion?”

“Because at this rate you’re gonna see me at my…well, ‘Manic Pixie’ isn’t the right term but I hope it conveys what I’m trying to say.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time! I’d love nothing more than to see you let loose.”

“You say that now,” you shake your head. “It can be a lot for people.”

“People that don’t deserve your attention,” Hal comforts. “So, does this mean you’re ready to let me take you out on a date?”

“You know what, Hal? Yes. I trust you and you’ve been nothing but kind and patient with me this entire time.”

“YES! This Friday, I’ll take you out after work. Sound good?”

“Sounds perfect.”

Hal has been looking forward to a date with you for months now. When he first realized he had feelings for you unlike the other girls he met. And getting to know you even more only fueled his desire. He wants, needs, to make sure that you have a good time. He even breaks out his good button up shirt. He’ll put it on after work so as not to get it covered in sweat. He can’t remember the last time he was so nervous about a date.

When he met you for lunch he was awed by how you had dressed yourself up. A dress that showed off your legs and, given the cardigan you were wearing, showed plenty of cleavage. He asked for a peek but you giggled and told him he had to wait for the actual date to start. The giggly conversation warmed his heart and he wanted, so desperately, to kiss you. But he’d promised himself he’d let you lead on that front. You were the one who was healing and growing so he’d move at your pace.

He actually clocked out a little early because he wanted to clean up in the bathroom before getting you into his truck. It wasn’t anything fancy, but he knew that wouldn’t matter to you. It’s one of the things he really appreciated about you; you didn’t judge others based on looks or money. It’s why he was happy to help you learn to give yourself the same grace. 

You’re shutting down your computer as he walks up to you. You smile at him and, as soon as your computer is quiet, you stand up and unbutton your cardigan. Hal gives you an appreciative whistle as he sees you’re wearing a spaghetti strap, midi length dress that shows more skin than he’s ever seen you show before. You duck your head, feeling the heat on your face, but you’re smiling. You haven’t felt this hopeful about a date in a very long time.

Hal takes you to the local botanical garden. You delight at getting to see the beautiful flowers and trees in the twilight hours, the pink and purple sky enhancing the natural beauty. You’re practically running from garden plot to garden plot and Hal is loving every second of it. You’re not well read on flora but you appreciate their beauty and could spend hours looking at them. 

But the moment Hal’s been waiting for is coming soon. As the sun sets lower, he pulls you close and points to one of the grassy areas. It takes a few seconds but then you see the telltale glow of a firefly. Then another! And another! You’re jumping with joy and giddiness. 

You look at Hal to see if he’s enjoying this too but he’s only looking at you. Feeling a rush of courage, you pull him in for a kiss. He responds exactly how you hoped he would, leaning into it, with an eagerness you delight in. You giggle and it sparks a giggle from him as well. You break the kiss but you keep your face close to his. His steel blue eyes sparkling with happiness. 

The peace of the moment is broken by someone loudly complaining about everything. You freeze as you recognize the voice. Hal gives you a worried look and you whisper, “we need to get out of here. Please.” Not needing an explanation, Hal starts walking you back to his truck.

You hear the loud voice yell out your name, Hal does too. You try to ignore it and keep moving, though you know it won’t do any good. Lloyd is damned persistent and he catches up to you, smiling like he’s genuinely happy to see you. You know better. You’re just an old favorite toy of his. 

“What a pleasant surprise seeing you here, baby,” he grins wickedly. “And here I thought this place had nothing good to look at but, damn. How come you never wore anything like that when we were together?”

“Because every time I tried, you’d point out all of the flaws that those clothes would show off,” you say through gritted teeth. “And you didn’t want me embarrassing you in front of your friends.”

“Well I was definitely young and stupid because, holy hell you look tasty,” he licks his lips and you fight the urge to vomit. “Maybe I just wanted to keep that fat ass all to myself.”

“Lloyd, please leave me alone. We’ve been done for a long time and I have no interest in rekindling whatever the hell it was that we had.” You pull Hal’s hand, silently asking him to go with you and he does so. You’re in charge of the situation and he won’t step in unless he needs to. No matter how much he wants to punch the mustache off that smug asshole. 

“Hey, I’m being damn generous here, baby,” Lloyd yells. “I’m giving you compliments. Hell, I’m giving you my time! No way you’re gonna just walk away from me.” 

The second Lloyd touches your arm you and Hal turn. Hal punches him in the face while you stomp on his toes. Clearly not expecting the double attack Lloyd backs off, shouting obscenities. He looks at the both of you, his nose bloody and his blue eyes storming with rage.

“Fine! Be a bitch like that! We could’ve been something great,” Lloyd shouts before storming off. 

You and Hal turn back and head towards his truck. You’re shaking by the time you sit down, nearly in tears. Hal holds you, asking if there’s anything he can do, anything you need, anywhere you want to go. He’s got you, he’ll take care of you. Whatever you need, he’ll get it for you.

As much as you want to go home and cry, you’re not going to let Lloyd ruin the best date you’ve ever had. You take a few calming breaths and give Hal another kiss, even more intense than the last one. Again, he returns your enthusiasm. You feel his hands roaming and you moan, letting him know you’re enjoying what he’s doing. 

You whine when he breaks the kiss. “I’m not one to take advantage of a lady’s emotional state,” Hal explains. “If you still feel this way after some dinner, I will happily take you wherever and however you want. But I need to make sure you’re okay to do so.” Rubbing your hand against his cheek you whisper your thanks and tell him that dinner sounds like a very good idea.

The dinner is definitely restorative. Nothing fancy, just how you like it. Eating together in the bed of Hal’s truck, looking up at the stars. You feel a peace you’ve never felt before. You snuggle up to Hal and thank him for a wonderful night.

“Though, I do have to ask, why do you call me ‘Dandelion’?”

“Dandelions are some of the most resilient flowers,” he replies. “Everywhere there’s a chance they can grow, they do so. No matter how much people try to get rid of them, calling them weeds, they keep doing their thing. People think little of them but dandelions don’t give a damn what people think. They’re beautiful, strong and have a lot to give if you treat ‘em right.”

“You are too damn sweet, Hal.”

“Only for you.”

“Would you care to make the night last longer,” you ask cautiously.

“What are you thinking, Dandelion?”

“My place. I can make breakfast in the morning. Or afternoon, depending on when we wake up.”

He searches your face for any sign of hesitation or forcing yourself to do this and he finds none. Smiling, he says, “I’ll be the one to cook breakfast. Because by the time I’m done you won’t be able to walk.”

“Challenge accepted, Hal.”

Tagging @alicedopey and @icefrozendeadlyqueen because I promised I would

[theitgirlnetwork]

Better

Chapter 8: Future Stuff

Note: Hellooo! Thank you all once again so much for all of the love I'm getting on this story. Everyone is so sweet I could actually throw up so thank you. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. All of the reblogs, notes, comments, messages really motivate me, and I'm so thankful. It's so fun writing this. The only warnings are implied sexual content and strong language but MDNI fr fr. This story is not for the children. Alsooo, I think I figured out the tag list situation, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. So its down below, anyone else who would like to be added, please let me know <3

Taglist:

@th3h0nkz @yezzyyae@comeonatmebruh

Ian and Mickey stare forward at the TV as Lip continues to bounce his leg and blow a cloud of smoke into the air. Mickey irritably fans the air in front of him, cutting his eyes to Ian who silently pleads to him not to say anything. A few more seconds pass and the cheap couch continues to rattle and Mickey gets fed up.

“Fuck! Gallagher, go, don’t go, cheat, don’t cheat, we don’t fuckin’ care!” He yells, ignoring Ian’s glare. “I mean, I’ll fuckin’ tell the princess in a heartbeat, but you sittin’ hear, shittin’ your pants over a phone call is makin’ me wanna kill you.”

“Fuck off Mickey.”

Mickey turns to the blond, only to have his boyfriend place his hand on his chest, shoving him lightly into the other direction, gesturing for him to go upstairs. Ian huffs as Mickey flicks him off before storming up the steps to his room, taking his beer with him. 

The redhead sits back down next to his brother, sighing as he opens his own drink. “Are you gonna?”

Lip looks up, hand buried in his hair for probably the fiftieth time that night. “Gonna what?”

“Cheat. On Charlotte with that old bitch Helene.”

Lip shakes his head quietly, taking a drag from his blunt before passing it over to Ian. “No.” he sniffs. “And uh, Helene didn’t get me kicked out, alright?”

“Okay.” Ian shrugs, grabbing the blunt. “But she didn’t help.”

“Nah.” Lip nods, blue eyes surrounded by red, bloodshot from the lack of sleep he got over the past few days. “She didn’t. But uh, she didn’t say much on the phone. Just that she needs to talk to me. Figured I should see what it’s about. Not a big deal.”

“Is that why you’re pullin’ your hair out and hotboxin’ our living room?” Ian asks, releasing the smoke from his nose.  “Did you tell her?”

“No.” Lip sighs, scrubbing his hand down his face. He reaches over and snatches the blunt from Ian before he could take another pull. “And you won’t either, alright? It’s not a big deal and I’m just gonna tell her to fuck off. Don’t need to freak Bunny out for nothin’.”

Lip had been lamenting over Helene’s call for the past few days.He’d gone silent on the phone in shock when she confirmed it was her and was even more surprised when she asked to meet with him to discuss something. The last time he’d talked to her, she’d ended things and ignored him while he screamed and pleaded for her back outside of her house. It was fucking humiliating. He wanted to show her he was better now. He wanted to show he wasn’t some desperate loser and he didn’t fucking need her, her leaving didn’t fucking faze him. 

He knew he could do that and stay loyal to Charlotte. 

But apparently Ian and Mickey had no faith in him. He didn’t know why he fucking told them in the first place. 

Maybe because he’d hoped it would help get rid of the rock in his stomach he felt every time he spoke to Charlotte and didn’t tell her his sort’ve ex/professor had hit him up to meet.

Lip is used to the feeling of guilt and shame, it comes with the Gallagher territory. A low hum of those two feelings stay with them always. But this feeling was worse. It was loud and aggressive. It was pounding in his ears each time his girlfriend’s sweet voice came through the phone. So, he already felt like shit. He doesn’t need Ian and his cling-on fucking riding him.

“Doesn’t seem like it’s for nothin’ Seems like somethin’ she should know.” Ian shrugs, snatching it back.

“Yeah, just because you’re Mickey’s bitch, doesn’t mean I’m Charlotte’s. Alright? I’ve got it-”

“Fuck you.” Ian frowns, shoving his brother, looking affronted when he shoves him back. 

The two boys begin pushing and shoving at each other, standing from the couch to get into each other’s faces. Voices raising and carrying throughout the house. The front door swings open and a tired Fiona storms through, Liam in her arms, shoving between the two of them. “Uh uh, I just worked for 8 hours with no break while tryin’ to watch Liam. I do not come home to you fighting.” 

The older girl places Liam on the steps, patting his back and telling him to go upstairs and wait for her to tuck him in. She turns back to her other brothers, watching them glare at each other. “What the fuck is the issue?” Lip clenches his jaw irritably, looking away from his sister. He knows that Ian isn’t going to say anything and he does not feel like hearing Fiona bitch about Helene or make some smart ass comment about him already fucking up with Charlotte. “Fuck, fine, whatever. I don’t care what you have going on, Christmas is in two days, you’re not gonna fuck up the vibe in the house for Carl, Debbie and Liam. And make sure you have your shit together on the gift front.” 

Ian pushes past Lip, knocking his shoulder and heading toward the stairs, “I’ve got my shit covered.”

Fiona watches him go up the stairs before looking back to Lip with an expectant expression. “And you?”

The blond huffs out a breath, “I’m handling it.” 

And at the time, he really thought he was.

“It was really nice to see her.” Charlotte smiles, pouring water onto one of the plants on her parent’s patio before moving on to the next. The other side of the line is quiet and she pauses in her motion, pushing her phone closer to her ear. “Bub?”

“Huh?” there’s shuffling on the other end of the line for a few moments before the sound of her boyfriend returns. “That’s good, bunny.”

The woman rolls her eyes, setting down the watering can onto the table and pulling out a seat to sit in. “You’re not listening, Phillip.”

“Yeah I am.”

“Yeah? What’d I say.”

He hums for a moment before raising his voice lightly, attempting to mimic hers. “Phillip, I miss you so much, I can’t wait until I can see you again and climb on top of your big, hard-”

“Yeah, I don’t talk like that. That must be your other girlfriend.” She laughs. Charlotte waits to hear the deep chuckle that she’s grown to love and is only met with awkward silence. “Phillip?”

“Uh, yeah. I’ve actually got to go.”

“Oh.” Charlotte frowns, biting at her thumbnail nervously. She doesn’t like the sound of his voice. He’d been being weird for the last couple of days and she didn’t know where it was coming from. Was it because of that one phone call? Was it too much? Too little? Did she do something wrong? The reasonable side of her told her that the distance might be just getting to him. Their relationship had started with her leaving for an undetermined amount of time. They began with a goodbye, it definitely was wearing on her, it would be reasonable for it to be affecting Lip as well. “Okay, I’ll talk to you later? And um, please remember to get the presents I got for everyone out of my room at V’s okay? S’not much-”

“Okay, so uh, you’re definitely not gonna be back for Christmas?” he asks. 

Charlotte sighs, leaning her chin on her hand and toying with the fabric of her shirt. “I dunno. M’sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’ll call you later. Bye, baby.”

As the line goes dead Charlotte groans to herself. As much as she’s enjoyed being home with her parents, she was starting to get antsy. Putting aside how badly she misses Lip, she misses everyone else and her freedom too. Being back in her parents home made her feel like a child again, unable to make decisions about anything. What time to wake up, what to eat, what to wear. She needs a break from her break.

And honestly, she wants the chance to take her new relationship seriously. And she can’t do that while they’re however any miles apart. 

Settled into her new resolve, Charlotte pushes out of her seat and opens the screen door to her house. She looks around the lower level, finding that no one is there and heads up the stairs to look for her mother. She finds her mother in the office and knocks on the heavy wooden door before entering. “Hi, Mom.” 

Charlotte’s mother looks up from her laptop, pausing to push her glasses up on her nose. “Hi, honey, what’s up?”

“Um,” Charlotte shifts on her feet uneasily, running a finger along the paint on the door frame. “I need to talk to you about something.”

Lip takes a deep breath as he stands outside of the café, pocketing his phone as he weighs out the different ways this scenario can play out in his head. 

Best case scenario, he goes in there, Helene looks fuckin’ awful, he tells her where she can shove it and maybe throws in a picture of his new sexy ass girlfriend that he’s fucking obsessed with, conveniently leaving out that he’s unsure if she’s ever coming back to Chicago.

Worst case scenario, she looks amazing, he doesn’t even get to mention Charlotte and this was some kind of sick test that he failed by showing up. His girlfriend emerges from some back room or something and dumps him on the spot for even showing up to talk to his ex. And she…he doesn’t know, starts fucking Helene’s husband or something. 

That last part can’t happen. Lip is pretty sure he’d kill him.

Another minute passes by before he decides to finally go into the shop. Quiet, boring cafe music is softly playing and the smell of coffee fills his nostrils. 

“Lip, over here.” a voice calls over to him.

Lip follows the voice over to a table in the left corner of the restaurant and finds Helene, seated, already sipping a coffee, an untouched mug on the opposite side of the table. He makes his way over and slowly slides into the seat opposite of her. “Uh, hey.”

The older woman offers him a kind smile, drumming her fingers on her cup. Lip absently notices that her wedding ring is not on her finger. “Hi. How are you?”

He looks up, dragging his eyes away from her hand. “Fine, I uh, can’t complain. How have you been?”

“Overall I’ve been well.” Lip nods quietly at her response and starts scanning the room, looking everywhere but her. He hadn’t accounted for this being so weird. A couple beats pass before she speaks again. “Okay, well I think we’re a little too familiar for this to be so uncomfortable. That coffee is for you by the way. It’s black with no sugar the way you like it.”

“Actually,” Lip cuts in, glancing down at the cup. “I don’t take it like that anymore. I, uh, like it sweeter now.” 

Helene’s eyebrows shoot up, “Oh. Okay, we could send it back-”

“Nah, I’ll drink it.” He shrugs, trying to hide his grimace as the bitter liquid fills his mouth, briefly wondering how he used to chug this shit when he was with her. 

“Okay.” Helene shifts in her seat a little, leaning forward. “Tell me what else has changed since we last spoke.”

Lip licks his lips, looking around before letting his blue eyes land back on her. “I uh, left school, or they kicked me out for something…unrelated. So yeah, I’m working. Moved back to Southside.”

“Do you like what you do?” 

“It helps pay bills. Nothing in my field but, it works.” he shrugs again. “Are you, uh back at the school?”

Helene smoothes her left hand over her hair, and his eyes drift back to her empty ring finger. “Yes, I’ve returned as an adjunct, but they’re keeping a close watch on me so you can understand that’s a little bit awkward. But um, I’ve been working through some things since the last time I spoke to you-”

“Right, that was a contingency for you to get your job back, right? The therapy?” Lip bites. He doesn’t know where the comment comes from but he shocks himself and Helene.

“Yes…it was. And I think I owe you an apology.” she says softly.

Lip sits up straighter in his seat. “Okay.”

“I’m sorry, I should have spoken to you, and allowed you to explain what happened. I requested for you to communicate and exhibit maturity throughout our relationship and didn’t extend the same respect to you.” Helene waits for Lip to react, to accept, say something, but all he offers her is another quiet nod. “I’ve learned I have a habit of having high expectations for what people should do for me and very low tolerance for error. It’s likely what caused this relationship to fail and certainly what ruined my marriage.”

The blond looks up at that, immediately alerted by the news she’d snuck into the conversation. She’s divorced. She’d gotten divorced. Despite the fact that he was refusing to acknowledge it, back when they were together he used to dream about it. The day she said fuck her husband and left him completely, chose him entirely. On darker days when he would watch her climb out of bed to go find her spouse, or see them kiss especially intimately in front of him, or she would leave to shower with him just after she and Lip had sex, he would think about how happy he’d be if the older man just disappeared. Went missing. Dropped dead, he didn’t fucking care. 

But the knowledge now that Helene was single brought Lip no feeling at all. He’s shocked at how numb he is to the news. “I’m uh, sorry.” he offers awkwardly. 

“I’ve made my peace with it. Now, I’m trying to make my peace with you.” she smiles, placing her hand on top of Lip’s across the table, smoothing her thumb on his knuckles. 

“Oh, shit-” he jolts, taking his hand back and feeling himself turn red as the table rattles at his jerky movement. “I actually have a girlfriend. And we’re…monogamous.” 

“Oh.” Helene sits back, seemingly startled by his very large reaction before adjusting herself. “I’m sorry, well congratulations. Who is it? That mousy girl who is fascinated with posting pictures of other people’s naked forms?” 

Lip doesn’t bother offering her a fake laugh, instead choosing to open his phone and show her his favorite picture of him and Charlotte together. It’s one that Ian had taken at the Alibi when Lip had been pretending to teach her how to play pool to both get close to her and piss off Kev as the girl bent over the table in front of him. The picture perfectly captures Charlotte’s pretty smile and reminds him of when she was close enough to touch. He holds his phone up for Helene to see and watches the woman’s expression. “This is Charlotte.”

Her face is unmoving as she looks at the girl. “Well, I suppose it’s double congratulations. She’s gorgeous. Is she in school?”

“Um,” Lip takes the phone back and pockets it, “No, she just moved here. She’s working at a restaurant for now, saving up money. I’d have brought her with me but she’s visiting family back where she’s from.”

“And where’s that?”

“Virginia.”

Helene hums, lifting her coffee to take a sip. “That’s far.”

“772 miles.” Lip sniffs, leaning back in his chair. “But she’ll be back.” As he says it his brain wonders if he’s telling Helene or reminding himself.

“I see. And it’s serious?” 

That question gives Lip pause. Because is it serious? He can acknowledge that when he first saw Charlotte he hadn’t hoped for much more than getting her prissy ass into bed and then doubling back once in a while, but not frequently enough for her to get attached. Her stubbornness and Mandy’s existence put a little wrench in his plans but he’d always liked a challenge. But after a while, it was more than that. He’d fucked around and learned things about her. Charlotte is sweet, kind, and funny. She makes him relax and feel less fucking irritated all of the time. She makes him feel needed without making him feel trapped. She cared about his interests, making him happy. His family. She’d made his life better in such a short period of time. 

“To me.” 

Helene nods, offering him a soft smile. “I can tell. It’s the look in your eyes. It’s different now. A good different.” she lets out a sigh and places her cup down again. “Well, I’m happy for you. Though I came here to tell you I miss you and apologize, I also wanted to make up for the part I played in your education ending early.”

“It was unrelated.”

“Well, I certainly didn’t help.” It’s good that she knows that, he thinks. “I want to offer you an internship, not with me, but with a research center I collaborate with. They were looking for someone with an interest and background in science and technology and I immediately thought of you.”

“You didn’t think of one of the hundreds of people majoring in that at the university?” Lip scoffs.

“I didn’t used to sleep with them.” she jokes, rolling her eyes when Lip appears unamused. “I’m kidding. I truly believe you’d be a good fit for this.” 

“Look um, like I told Youens, I can’t really afford to work for free right now, I understand you guys say it’ll lead to something-”

“It’s a paid internship, Lip.” Helene cuts in. She observes the young man, watching as the wheels turn in his brain as he tries to think up more excuses as to why he can’t accept this opportunity. She grabs her purse from where it is hanging on the back of her chair and pulls out a card, placing it down on the table. “Look, I have another meeting to get to, but this is a really good opportunity, if I were you I’d take it. Work in your field and make some decent money. Serious relationships aren’t as free as we’d like them to be, you know.” she says, nodding her head toward the pocket where he’d placed his phone. Helene stands, walking past, briefly placing her hand on Lip’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, you’d only have to see me around sometimes, we’d be in different departments.”

“I wasn’t worried about that.” He says, grabbing the card.

“Good. Give my regards to Charlotte will you?”

Lip sits quietly as the older woman leaves the cafe, attempting to process what just happened. He looks down at the card one more time before shoving it in his pocket and standing to leave himself, mumbling under his breath, “‘Give my regards’ to my fuckin’ girlfriend. Like hell I will.”

“Okay, Liam, open this one next.”

Lip stands with his arm around Fiona as they watch Debbie help Liam open her present with a bright smile on her face. It’s tradition in the Gallagher household. For the whole month of December, the older three kids hide all of their money that they earn, same as usual, and put it toward the rent and bills. They work extra shifts at their jobs so that Carl and Debbie don’t have to chip in for the month, that way they can get each other and Liam presents. The older three also use anything they have left over to get each younger kid an additional gift. Finally, being the two older siblings they are, sometimes Fiona and Lip scrape together a little something extra to try and get something for Ian. This year, Mickey was here.

At first Lip had found the male Milkovich’s damn near constant presence in their home irritating, but he made Ian happy, and more stable so he tolerated it. As more time went by, Mickey became part of their routine, helping out, hanging out, pitching in money, and then Lip didn’t mind him. But now, watching the fucking thug who’d threatened to bash both his and Ian’s faces in not long ago for one reason or another roll his eyes and pretend to be in different as he offers a messily wrapped army knife to Lip’s younger brother, blushing as Ian pulls him into a brief kiss, Lip thinks he might not hate having him around. Maybe even likes it. 

“Who wants eggnog?” V calls as she carries the pitcher into the room, balancing a stack of empty cups in her other hand. 

“Me!” Carl calls trying to snatch a cup, groaning when the woman pulls it away. 

“Sorry, who’s grown and wants spiked eggnog?”

“Fuckin’ me.” Lip grunts, pouring a glass full and taking a long swig. He’d been in a shit mood all day. Watching his younger siblings open their gifts made him feel a little better, but he’d been hoping that Charlotte would be home by now. It’d been weeks since she’d left and he was starting (had been the whole fucking time) to worry that she wasn’t coming back. He couldn’t imagine that the short time they’d gotten together before she left was all he was gonna get. But then again, that was just his luck.

Fiona’s eyes land on V, a small smile on her face as she widens her eyes in silent communication. Her friend rolls her own in response, nodding exasperated, and nudges Kev. “Huh? Oh.” the man leans down and takes Liam from Debbie and lifts the boy’s bottom to his nose, sniffing his nose. “Um…Lip, man, I think Liam took a shit.”

The blond’s brows furrow as he takes another sip of eggnog. “So change him?”

“He’s uh, not my brother.”

“Oh, for christ sake,” Fiona snatches Liam back, smiling at the little boy’s giggle and shoving him into Lip’s arms. “Go change him will you?” 

Lip narrows his eyes at his sister before sighing out a ‘whatever’ and taking the boy, blowing raspberries against Liam’s cheek as he makes his way to the steps. 

As they get to Liam, Carl and Ian’s room Lip starts undoing Liam’s diaper, holding the clean one under his arm. “You having a good Christmas buddy? Huh? Is it fun? Should we play in the snow later?”

“Lip!” the boy claps, kicking his legs, antsy. 

Lip frowns in confusion as he finds a completely empty and clean diaper as he looks down at his brother. “The hell? What’re they talkin’ about? I knew you didn’t stink to me. Maybe it’s Kev, huh?” he coos, buttoning his brother back up. “Maybe he’s the one who took the shit.”

The blond fumbles around in his pocket and pulls out his phone, figuring hearing his girlfriend’s voice might put him in a better mood. “Should we call Charlotte? We miss her, don’t we buddy.”

“Lottie!” Liam screams, kicking more, giggling loudly. 

“Alright alright, keep your pants on, she’s my girlfriend, kid.” He jokes, dialing her number. The phone rings once before going to voicemail. “And I guess she’s busy. That’s okay, buddy, she’s probably just enjoying Christmas with her parents.” Lip reassures, unsure if it’s for Liam or himself. He grows even more irritated at the painful ache that forms in his chest at the thought that he won’t be hearing from her at all today. He’d called twice earlier too, only to be sent to voicemail twice. 

Hoisting the little boy up, Lip jogs back down the stairs, bouncing his brother as he goes, slowing to a halt when he enters the room and everyone seems like they just rushed back to their seat. “Why the fuck are you all being so weird? And he didn’t shit.” He says placing his little brother into Carl’s arms and going to sit again.

“Wait!” Fiona calls out, fighting back a grin. “Don’t sit down, you have to get your present now.”

“The fuck? You got me a present? Why? We could’ve used that on one of the kids-” Guilt floods him as he thinks about the fact that he hadn’t gotten Fiona anything.

“Will you stop being such a prick and go get your present? We left it in the kitchen.” Ian interrupts, kicking at Lip’s leg. “Go.” 

“What would you even get me-” Lip pauses as a thought crosses his mind. But no. No, that’s not it. It’s no fuckin’ way. He lets his eyes trail over to V who offers him a small shrug before nodding her head in the direction of the kitchen. “No fuckin’ way.” 

Lip all but sprints into the kitchen, ignoring his family’s laughter when he trips a little over the leg of the coffee table and again on one of Liam’s singing toys as he swings into the room.

“Hi, boyfriend.”

And there she is. In the flesh. Bouncing excitedly on her feet once, twice before squealing and jumping into Lip’s arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. Lip catches her easily, wrapping his own arms around her waist and squeezing tightly as he buries his face in her neck, inhaling her scent. “Are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me? Charlotte, what the fuck?”

“Merry Christmas.” she chirps, putting her legs down and pulling back slightly, Lip follows suit, holding his arms around her loosely but refusing to fully let go.

“Yeah it fuckin’ is.” he breathes, tugging her forward into a kiss. He feels like his eyes could fucking roll back in his head. It feels so good. Touching her. Feeling her touch him. Kissing her soft lips. When he finally lets her up for air he leans his forehead against hers, matching her smile with his own. “Merry Christmas, Bunny. Uh, thanks for coming back.”

“What?” the girl scoffs, reaching up and tugging the hair at the back of his head lightly, “Are you joking? I had to.” she leans forward, rubbing her nose against his. “You’re here.”

“Fuckin’ missed you, baby.” Lip connects their lips again, hand cupping her cheek to guide her into a deeper kiss as he walks them until her lower back hits the counter.

“Alright, lovebirds, enough of that, I only promised Fiona I’d give you two minutes, it’s been five and a quarter.” Kev calls from the other room. 

Lip pulls back again, letting Charlotte walk ahead of him as he rests his hands on her shoulders following not far behind as they re-enter the room. He watches as she greets all of his siblings, hugging Debbie tightly and kissing Carl on the cheek. Tickling Liam and placing him on her lap as she leans into an embrace from Ian before Mickey reaches over and pinches her cheek. 

She’s back. She’s actually back. Lip didn’t realize how little hope he’d had that she’d come back to him until she’d actually done it. She was here, in his living room, with his family. With him. And the room feels like it has oxygen in it again. He only lets the thought of how scary it is that he feels like he’s breathing for the first time in weeks pass through the front of his head for a moment, though it still rings pretty loudly as he pushes it to his subconscious. 

Hours later the two older Gallagher siblings are cleaning up after the holiday mess. Charlotte had offered to help the younger kids to get ready for bed while Ian and Mickey went to spend some time with Mandy so she wasn’t by herself on Christmas. Kev and V returned home after being over all day, Charlotte promising to spend all day the next day with them, and them giving in with very minimal complaint when she and Lip asserted that they’d be spending the night together. 

Fiona eyes her brother as she scrubs a dish clean, watching as he continuously looks over his shoulder up the stairs. “Just go. I’ve got it.”

“Huh?”

“Go be with her, I can handle clean up, if anything you’re slowing me down, checkin’ every two seconds to see if she’s comin’ down.” She laughs, wiping hair out of her face with her forearm. 

Lip chuckles too, putting down the drying towel and squeezing his sister;s shoulder. “Thanks, Fi.”

“Yeah yeah, don’t be loud, I don’t need any of the littles gettin’ traumatized on Christmas.” She says, placing a clean plate on the rack. Fiona turns to catch her brother before he heads up the steps. “Hey, she’s a good one. And this…this looks good on you so…don’t Gallagher it up.” 

Lip pauses, thinking back to the card in his jacket pocket and the call he’d made earlier that morning. “I won’t.”

Charlotte turns as the door to Lip’s room creaks open, a wide smile spreading across her face as her boyfriend enters the room. “Hi.” she whispers.

“Hey.” he repeats back softly, closing the door quietly so as to not stir his younger siblings. Lip glances down on the floor at the discarded clothes and mess, and tries to kick it aside as he makes his way over to where Charlotte is standing. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

“Neither can I, if it was up to my dad I would’ve never come back out here, but Mom took my side.” she meets him the rest of the way, wrapping her arms around his neck as he pulls her in by her waist. “Missed you. But, it was good to see them. Any updates here?”

Lip has to force himself to look away from her big, brown, expectant eyes. He absently thinks to himself that he’d forgotten how hard it is to be a piece of shit when she’s aiming her soft, affectionate looks at him, as if he was something good. But despite the fact that this surprise was literally all that he’d wished for, he hadn’t had time to prepare to tell Charlotte about Helene or the job. He could already picture the doubt that would form on her face as he told her that he’d be working in somewhat proximity to his professor that he’d fucked for several months, convinced himself he was in love with, and briefly attempted to stalk. He can’t even picture admitting to her he’d gone to get coffee with her.

But the alternative isn’t much better. Having Charlotte look up at him with that wide-eyed, starry look, rose petal lips smiling brightly at him. Showing him that fuckin’ dimple. And all of that being fake? Lying to her face? He couldn’t imagine being able to sleep, sure he can lie on the phone, but holding her afterward is a whole different ball game. 

So Lip chose the only intelligent option. 

Half stories and fuckin’ deny, deny, deny.

“I uh, got a new job, a paid internship. I’ll get to work in science which is cool.” he says dismissively, moving down to kiss her when she stops him.

“What?” she squeaks, smile spreading even wider. “Phillip! That’s so great! M’so happy for you, bubba!” she says bouncing where she stands and clapping her hands together. “We have to celebrate! We…we should go out some night this week. Like, get dinner or go to a bar or…” Charlotte pauses, the look on her face changing. 

“Or…?”

The woman leans forward then, kissing Lip’s nose, cheek, and jaw before dragging her way to his neck. Lip groans, mumbling a ‘fuck’ under his breath as Charlotte presses open mouthed kisses down his neck, tugging aside the collar of his shirt as she moves to the top of his chest, rubbing her hands along his abs. 

It feels good. So good, her soft hands pushing his shirt out of the way. Her lips dragging along his skin. He was immediately hard, clenching his jaw in focus as he watches his sweet girl drop to her knees in front of him, looking up at him through her long dark lashes as she began to pull his belt from its buckle.

Lip’s dreamed of this shit. Hell, he came to this thought for almost all of the nights she’d been gone. 

But there’s this fucking nagging thought in his brain. Fucking telling him over and over how he doesn’t deserve this. He doesn’t deserve his beautiful, sexy, kind, loving girlfriend. He doesn’t deserve her using her money she saved from her job to take him to the fucking Chicago Sciene Institute Museum. He doesn’t deserve her begging her parents to let her come back to this shithole so they can give their relationship a real try. He doesn’t deserve the way she looks at him. 

He damn sure does not deserve to have his dick that he used to put where the fuck ever in her mouth.

“Baby, baby, wait-fuck-” he hisses as her hand pauses as it wraps around him in his boxers. “Shit, um, I don’t think we should do this right now.”

Charlotte immediately retracts her hand from him, placing them both in her lap as she sits on the floor looking at him. “Oh. Okay, did I hurt you…or like…do something you didn’t like?”

“No, no you’re” Lip joins her on the ground, bringing her hands to his lips and kissing her palms repeatedly. “Perfect. You’re perfect. It’s me, I’m just…” he hesitates, wracking his brain for an excuse and also cursing himself for quite literally talking his way out of getting his dick wet. “Don’t wanna traumatize the kids on Christmas you know? Plus uh, we should probably wait for a time Carl isn’t home. Did you know he has a crush on you?”

Releasing a nervous breath Charlotte relaxes again, giggling. “Oh yeah, I kinda got that when I was walking up the street one day and he tried to get me to ride on the handlebars of his bike. He tried to push up on his tip toes and whisper ‘wait for me, baby girl’  in my ear.”

Lip chuckles, moving to sit on his butt slowly, silently willing his erection to go down and leaving his arms open for Charlotte to sit in his lap. “He’s a Gallagher, it comes with charm.” he pokes the dimple in her cheek, jolting her in his lap lightly when she snorts. “What you don’t think so?”

“Please, Ian and Liam are carrying the family name on their god damned backs.” she jokes, leaning her head back on his shoulder. “Mm and Fiona, she’s got game too. Pretty sexy.”

“Yeah? You think my sister’s hot, why don’t you go downstairs and sit on her lap, huh?” 

Charlotte turns a little to look at him, raising an eyebrow. “You think she’ll let me?”

Lip’s mouth falls open for a moment before he lets out a breathy laugh of disbelief. “Fuckin’ brat, okay, up you go.” he grabs Charlotte at her middle, pushing off of the floor and putting her over his shoulder before dropping her softly on to the bed, climbing over her and pinning her to it. “Went to Virginia and lost your fuckin’ mind. It’s funny?” he says lowly at her giggles, leaning down closer to her face. “You know what’s funny, Bunny? I still have your Christmas gift.”

Brown eyes go wide and immediately Charlotte is giggling out apologies. “Wait, wait, stop, m’sorryyy.” she hiccups as she continues to laugh, Lip’s fingers tickling her sides. “I want my gift!”

“Ask your girlfriend.” Lip jokes.

“She’s busy-” she whimpers, yelping when he intensifies his fingers movements. “You’re my boyfriend! Sorry! Please!” she laughs, kicking her legs. “Pleaseee” she pouts up at him between unhinged squeals and laughter. 

Lip stares down at the beautiful girl beneath him and can’t help put give her what she asks. Placing his hand loosely around her neck, he pulls her up to meet him halfway, pressing their lips together in a deep, brief kiss. “Need to remember who you belong to, brat.” 

He grunts as he pushes off of the bed and goes to his larger dresser, easily pushing the heavy furniture slightly away from the wall and opening what looked to be a small door to a non-functioning vent. Charlotte sits up on the bed, brows furrowing as she watches her boyfriend pull a huge jar from the opening in the wall behind his dresser, miscellaneous pieces of money, change and what appeared to be checks at the bottom. The jar wasn’t very full, only making it to the first little ridge at the bottom of the jar. As he moves closer, a serious look on his face, Charlotte immediately begins shaking her head. “Phillip you better not be trying to give me money.”

Lip places the jar on the floor in front of her before taking a deep breath and sitting next to her on the bed. “No, I’m not. Or, not really. You remember how my family has the Squirrel Fund that we hide from Frank, so we can pay our bills and eat and shit.”

“Yeah,” Charlotte says softly, eyeing the jar. “I told you before I left that I think I should kick some money in if I’m gonna sleep over.”

“Yeah, over my dead fuckin’ body.” He dismisses. “This is…uh, shit this is embarrassing. I didn’t think about that part, it’s fuckin’ stupid.”

Charlotte watches as her beautiful boyfriend turns a pretty shade of pink as he stares at the floor. She slides her arm under his, intertwining their fingers and grinning when he brings his always intense blue eyes up to her face. “Go ahead, bub, I’m not laughing.”

“Shit, fuck it, okay.” he sighs. “This is the Bunny Bank.”

Charlotte’s mouth opens and closes again as she struggles to follow. “Bunny like me, Bunny?”

“Uh, yeah. I um, started to set aside money to put in this jar I fuckin’ found when you started talking to me again after that Mandy shit because, I dunno, you said we’d start hanging out and I started thinkin’ I wanted to take you to nice places. You deserve to go to nice places.”

“You,” Charlotte tilts her head to look at him better. “You started saving money to take me on dates when I was still friendzoning you?”

“Yeah?” Lip shrugs, laughing to himself softly. “I knew that I was gonna keep trying and I guess I wanted to be ready when it started working. But uh, you beat me to the first date thing, huh?” he says, smoothing his thumb over her cheek.

“You deserve to go to nice places too.” she says in a small voice, leaning into his hand.

“Well, I started putting more in there over time, and uh, you know, one day I’m gonna fill it. And we can use it on dates. Or get you a nice gift like I dunno, a purse or somethin. Or we could…” Lip looks at her intently, scanning her face. “We could save it. Put it toward, you know, future stuff.”

He damn near cringes as he waits for her to pull away. Lip fully expects for Charlotte to recoil away from him, for her to wake up the second he mentions the future and remember that she’s way too fucking good for him. Hell, he’s never even thought beyond fucking a girl for a couple months outside of Karen, and even then, what he felt was nothing like this. She was like a toxic friend that he was sexually attracted to. And even with her he didn’t plan. She was satisfied with a couple of free beers and a quick fuck in the bathroom at the school. Lip knows that shit isn’t good enough for Charlotte. And he’s learned in his time with her that he wouldn’t want her to settle for that. 

He wants to be able to provide things for her, beyond a decent date once every couple of months. That’s why he started the pseudo bank and that’s why he has to lie to her so he can take this job. It’s for her. 

But he knows this is fast. Just because he can see a future with her and his feelings hit him like a fucking truck doesn’t mean she feels this way. She has a nice home away from here. She’s accustomed to nice things and guys who don’t have to take a chunk of their check and save it up to give them to her months later. She should know that she can do better, laugh at his pathetic attempt at romance and walk away. Tell him she’s not some chick from the hood he can impress with a free popsicle, his quick wit and good looks.

Lip is fully prepared to backtrack what he said, saying that any mention he made of the future was a fucking joke and distracting her by eating her out or something. But he doesn’t get the chance. 

He watches in awe as Charlotte reaches down her own shirt, digging in her own bra and producing what appeared to be two twenty dollar bills, folded up and warm from her skin. Manicured hands drop the money into the jar before the girl places her hand back in his, leaning in and pressing a kiss to his cheek. Charlotte nudges Lip’s arm with her own, and looks at him as if he fucking hung the moon and stars. “I like the last thing. Let’s save it. For future stuff.”

Lip doesn’t even get a chance to stop it. He doesn’t know if it's the confirmation that she sees a future with him too, now matter how long that is. Or maybe it’s the pretty way she’s staring up at him or him still reeling from the fact that she’s here. Or the fact that his pretty little prissy thing literally just produced forty dollars from her bra for them to save as a couple. Hell, he thinks it's probably all of it. But it comes out like fuckin word vomit.

“I love you.” 

[trash-king18]

M pt. 1

disclaimer: before i say anything else, this was inspired by another persons post and i have been trying desperately to find it to ask for permission to post this. so if the creator finds this or someone knows what i’m talking about please tell me so i can tag them for credit or take it down if they want. Part 1 is almost entirely inspired by what i read but the rest is my work.

summary: reader is 26 and puerto rican from Brooklyn on her earth, she and Miguel are coworkers and they have an intense working relationship. plot takes place a couple months before the events of Across the Spider Verse

cw: 18+ minors dni, swearing, suggestive, angst, miguel is seemingly not in his right mind because of the spider dna and gets a little rough.

note: reader is spanish speaking, translations in italics under any and all spanish. however i picked up my spanish from puerto rican girls i played volleyball with in highschool and am trying to learn (because i’m going to be a tia soon!! and i want to make sure mis sobrinos y sobrinas grow up with the language) so if you’re fluent and things are wrong lo siento/sorry and feel free to correct me

2619 words

this is my first time writing or posting anything, be nice🫶🏼

————

you and Miguel always had a different connection than everyone else at HQ. in the endless universes a surprising few spider people spoke spanish or were even not white. you were often spotted bickering ~en español~, and you enjoyed being the only one he allowed to talk back to him. you wouldn’t say you were friends, Miguel didn’t have friends, but you had more leeway with him than everyone else.. except probably lyla 

everyone thought he was just broody but to you he was a broody overgrown man child with a superiority complex and you never failed to take an opportunity to tell him off. 

—

“déjalo ya”

knock it off

he rolls his eyes turning his head away from you in every direction like a toddler that doesn’t want to eat the food on the spoon. 

he gets cranky on extraction days

“do i need to do the airplane”

he scowls at you 

right now you’re in the exam room in the back of your lab, there’s nothing much in there just the exam chair and the specialized vials you use for extracting and storing his venom. it was soundproofed and locked from the inside, per miguel’s request. 

he was a very private person. when he brought you onto the team to create an injection to help keep him.. subdued he was very specific that it be kept between you two 

“you’re extra grumpy today, what’s wrong jefe”

boss

“no te preocupa”

it doesnt concern you 

you turn to look at him skeptically but his eyes are hard set and while he allows you to tease him within these four walls, emphasis on allows, you know better than to push especially when he hasn’t had an injection in a while

“ahora vamos, let’s get this over with”

cmon now

“do we have to do this today i’m really very busy”

“si! now open”

you push the viles up towards his face hoping he’ll just cooperate. but as per usual, no such luck 

he pushes your hands away over and over 

you sigh in exasperation 

“seriously?”

you feel like you’re trying to get your nephew to eat his peas 

he just looks at you smirking slightly, he thinks he’s won. 

“eso es suficiente por hoy.”

that’s enough for today

he starts to get up, but if there’s one thing that always works when your sobrinos are acting up it’s letting your inner tia out 

“Miguel O’hara! usted no es un bebé, así que deja de actuar como uno! ahora siéntate.”

you are not a baby so stop acting like one, now sit 

he stops in his tracks and sits back down. he looks sort of shocked, you’ve never actually yelled at him, you don’t think anyone’s yelled at him in years, but he is particularly frustrating today. 

he grumbles under his breath like a boy who got scolded by his mama 

“lo siento” 

im sorry

you turn around to put gloves on since your sure he’s going to make you do this the hard way. you expect you’ll have to hold them in place so he doesn’t try and take them out early 

“eres insoportable”

you’re unbearable 

“what was that?”

you breath out. 

“nothing”

your back is still turned so you can’t see his bemused half smile

you turn back around with the viles in your hand again and he’s no longer smiling. you can never tell if he hates doing this because its uncomfortable, it wounds his pride, or he hated being vulnerable but you assumed all the above. but he’s a grown man, a very large very attractive, grown man. who also happens to be the most disagreeable person you’ve ever met. 

“you gonna cooperate now?”

“i make no promises”

he smirks 

you scowl and it drops off his face immediately 

apologetic was a new look on him, it was sort of hot. 

too bad it didn’t last.

“seriously though, Y/N, i have a lot to do right now I really don’t have time for this”

“well if you’d actually do it yourself like i asked we wouldn’t have to do this”

he looks at you unimpressed. he knows and you know that as soon as he wants to get up he will and there’s nothing you can do. but he has one bottle of the suppressant left and he’s not the only one feeling stubborn today. 

as soon as you try to get him to bite the vials again he starts resisting you.

“Y/N stop”

you ignore him 

“Y/N.” he warns you 

“just sit still”

“No! will you—“

you cut him off by climbing on top of him and trying to force his hand off to the sides. it worked.. for a second 

until he grabs your wrists and just stares at you in shock. 

“really?”

“I-“ you stutter his red eyes are staring into you 

his hands still gripping your wrists but you steady yourself

“abrir”

open up 

“no.”

you put on your best tia voice again

“~Miguel~”

he raised his brow at you 

he relents and let’s go of your hands 

but he doesn’t open his mouth 

you wait expectantly but he turns his head away again

you give him an annoyed look he looks at you out of the corner of his eye but doesn’t turn back 

“don’t make me pry your mouth open”

“id like to see you try”

“you know what spider boy i’ve had enough of your attitude today”

you start to climb off 

“just get out of my chair”

but your surprised when he stops you, you feel his hands on your hips. 

you look back at him and practically growl 

“what now”

now it’s his turn to be surprised. he doesn’t let go of you but you feel his hands loosen. 

“I- im sorry”

never in a million years did you think you’d hear  miguel o’hara apologize to anyone but he seems genuine. 

“i just.. i don’t- i don’t like-” 

“save it. i don’t care about your feelings and i’m not here to help you work through your emotional constipation i just want to get this done.”

he stares at you and you fully expect him to just pick you up off him and leave… but he just starts laughing. another thing you didn’t expect to hear. it’s a full laugh leaving his fangs exposed 

you just sit there staring at him confused 

“guess i’m not the only grumpy one today huh”

but instead of making a sarcastic quip you took the opportunity and leaned forward with one gloved hand and peal his upper lip up and put the viles on his fangs before he can react. 

he mumbles trying to talk with the viles in his mouth 

“que diablos!”

what the hell

he tried to pull your arm away from his face but you swat his hand away 

he grumbles a series of curses but you hold the viles in place 

“cállate.”

shut up

you use your thumb to tug his lower lip down slightly to make sure his lower fangs are in good condition. he finally sits still but you can feel his hot breath, you know he’s not happy. 

but you couldn’t care less. 

as you wait for the venom to finish dripping from his fangs you become aware of how compromising a position the two of you are in. his hands are resting on your thighs and youve propped yourself on his chest with your hands 

not to mention the lowlights in the room because of his headaches. 

his eyes are closed, he refuses to look at you. 

the tension is thick and you desperately want to get off but you don’t trust him not to pull the viles off so you pretend to check the wrest of his teeth.. which are perfect of course. 

he shifts under you and you can’t help but notice the creases in his forehead. you almost feel bad. 

he’s not like the other spider people, he’s literally half spider. which gives him heightened senses and insane reflexes, but sometimes it also means his emotions and actions can get out of his control. that’s what the suppressor was for, helped him keep hold of the reigns but you know he didn’t like having to do it this way. 

unfortunately for him, his venom was the base for it and you couldn’t make it without it. 

finally the vials were filled and you go to take them off. he cracks his jaw while you seal them. you place them in the pocket of your lab coat. 

“now. was that so bad?”

he rolls his eyes

you sense that you may have pushed too far this time so you move to get up but he holds you in place. 

“just so we’re clear—“

his eyes darken 

“don’t. do that again”

your breath catches. you nod and start to shift but he holds you in place 

“and Y/N”

you look at him warily 

he grabs your chin and leans in so his mouth is right next to your ear

“never call me spider boy”

you say nothing 

he smiles against your ear 

“comprendida?”

understand 

you let out a shaky breath 

“si”

he holds you like that

“miguel?”

“shhh”

he hushes you as he slowly moves down and ghosts over the skin of your neck with his lips 

he opens his mouth and gently runs his fangs over your skin 

you let out a light breathy moan before you can stop yourself 

your face flushes but he doesn’t let go 

“are you going to bite me… spider boy”

he growls against your skin 

you know it’s stupid but even after seeing him at his worst and most untamed you have a hard time believing he would hurt you intentionally 

but still you shouldn’t have teased you were just in shock that this was actually happening. 

“i told you—“

“not to call you that? you may be my boss miguel o’hara but i will not let you tell me what to do”

his grip on your chin tightens slightly but it’s not bruising  

his hand holds the crease of your thigh 

he chuckles deeply 

“would you like to test that”

he pulls back to look at you 

“niña bonita”

pretty girl 

he looks at you through his eyelashes with those scarlet eyes his hair falling into his face and fangs just slightly peaking out over his lips 

he starts to question himself internally 

but you just whisper 

“eres tan hermoso Miguel”

you’re so beautiful 

now he’d never admit it but hearing you say his name always made him feel some type of way. like he wanted to hear you say it.. over and over

and the entire time you we’re on top of him he was fighting to keep his breathing under control 

he’s still holding your chin 

he holds the scowl on his face

inside though he’s just fighting to keep control 

he can smell everything, your vanilla perfume, the sanitizer, the latex, but underneath everything he just smells you. your scent is intoxicating right now,  he had grown used to it, you had been physically close before. but not like this, not when he was like this. 

his brow furrowed in frustration. he hasn’t gone this long without an injection in a long time and it was starting to cloud his head. 

You search his eyes, but they’re closed off as ever. his breath is slowly getting heavier 

you snap him out of it suddenly when he hears his name the second time 

you had spoken softly at first but even though he was looking right at you he didn’t seem to hear you 

“Miguel?… i’m going to get an injection ready..ok?”

you look over him warily 

he just keeps looking at you but he slowly comes back to himself. and you finally notice a tiny spark of something under the annoyance and frustration. 

he’s nervous. 

you knew he hated when he couldn’t control himself, it was the whole reason you had this job. But you had never actually seen it manifest as anything other than a sour attitude. 

“O’hara puedes oírme?”

can you hear me

he blinks hard and drops your face. he clears his throat abruptly 

“si”

“i’m gonna get an injection”

he catches your wrist, it’s quick but gentle 

“no”

he’s staring into your eyes intensely 

“save it until the new batch is ready, i’m going to need it.”

“you need it now”

“ay will you just listen to me for once for once por favor”

he holds your wrist and moves so that you have to look at his eyes. you know he’s right, which is infuriating 

you huff 

“fine.”

his lip quirked slightly, satisfied that you actually listened for once

you sit there for a moment in awkward silence before he finally drops his soft hold on your wrist and you awkwardly clamber off, a difficult task considering how… large he was. 

you go to the counter and start to get the viles ready. 

he doesn’t move from the chair  just watches you work. 

you can feel his eyes on you. 

“uhm i’ll have the next round ready by tomorrow morning, so you’re good to go.”

you don’t hear him get up, of course. you never understood, half spider or not, how such a large man could move without being seen or heard. 

you just feel his presence behind you. 

he doesn’t say anything. 

“seriously o’hara out of my lab”

he could tell you were frustrated with him, which wasn’t unusual but now it lacked the usual playfulness. 

he finally speaks. 

“it’s late.”

“i’m aware”

he sighs in frustration 

“i mean— it’s late. you should go home.”

“im good.”

you know as frustrating as you insist on being i am  still your boss and i am telling you to go home. this can wait until the tomorrow.

you turn around

“that’s not up to you.”

“oh it’s not?”

“no. you brought me here to develop this serum but you also did it because deep down you don’t trust yourself not to do something you’ll regret”

he grabs you again and snarls in your face. 

too far. 

and yet today you don’t care something, maybe not an entirely innocent something, just wanted to egg him on more than usual. 

“see?”

“no trates de decirme por qué hago lo que hago”

do not try to tell me why i do what i do 

you just stand there inches away from one another. he towers over you. you don’t back down and he doesn’t let go. he’s seething, you’re done with his bullshit 

but you’re trapped. not just by his body but his eyes. you feel like a bug caught in his web. 

your eyes dart to his lips and back. 

he notices, you know he can feel your heartbeat quicken, he can probably sense the flush on your kneck. 

and your certain he feels the chills creep down your spine as he leans in closer. 

you whisper 

“que estás haciendo?”

what are you doing 

he leans in more so your lips are almost touching before answering 

“no lo sé”

i don’t know 

you lean into it just enough that your lips ghost over one another. your arm slips up so your hand can grab the back of his neck. 

your lips chase one another gently but never quite touch. 

you’re so close. it’s taking every last ounce of restraint not to just pick you up and indulge every thought racing through his mind. but he knows he can’t, not right now, not like this. 

he pulls back so suddenly you almost fall over 

“go home, you can finish tomorrow.”

“i- wha- o’hara what the fuck?”

he storms out of your lab without another word leaving you breathless and confused.