#I know Lucy probably doesn’t celebrate but still

[rookieoneil]

Tim: are you going to your parents for thanksgiving?

Lucy: unfortunately

Tim: what are you gonna make?

Lucy: probably a scene

Tamara: girl

[wosoragebaiter69]

forgotten about you

barça femeni x teen!reader

request: here

A/N: i just know alexia turned off the tv during the game 😭

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

You wake up, today is what could be described as a neutral day but it’s still your birthday nonetheless. You didn’t want to leave your bed, but you had to. Your family never really celebrated your birthday, only really caring about your brother and his dreams.

Even if it wasn’t the best day for you, a small part of your mind hoped that someone would wish you a happy birthday, at least Alexia anyways. It’s not like you told them though, the Barça instagram page would probably announce it.

You go through your regular movements of the day, traffic is light and you make it just in time.

Walking through, the admin wishes you a happy birthday, you smile lightly saying thanks and continuing to walk into the change room. However when you’re there it’s the same as any old day, it breaks your heart a little but you wouldn’t tell anyone that.

You’re quieter than usual walking to your cubby, it isn’t much of a change considering you’ve been one of the quieter ones since you joined barca, preferring to only be loud late at night when blasting music in your car.

It’s when even Alexia comes in and doesn’t say Happy Birthday that you feel even more hurt than before, out of everyone who would know, you’d just hoped she would. It’s not her fault though, you didn’t tell anyone. Why would she?

Training seems to be a blur, you miss the looks your older teammates give you at certain points. You’ve essentially become someone with no emotions which has somehow made you have a great session. Which in all honesty did not mend your shattering heart, no matter the praises the coaches had given you.

You make an effort to miss everyone after training and head straight home, you didn’t shower and just got up and left ignoring your confused teammates. No matter how much of an introvert you were, you’d always make time to say goodbye. It was a sign to everyone else that something had happened.

You make way to your car and drive off straight away, inevitably you end up sobbing halfway through. Unable to keep your emotions inside.

- - - - -

In the locker room, when you were gone there was silence. A pondering in the air of sorts. Mapi breaks it.

“Is she ok? She’s usually quiet but this… she’d at least say something.” Her statement lingers in the air, no one knowing what to say.

“Oh shit.” The unmistakable voice of Lucy Bronze cuts through the tension.

“Qué?” Many voices say at once. Lucy turns her phone around and shows the birthday announcement from the Barcelona Instagram page.

“How did we not know? Why didn’t she say anything?” Alexia sounds heartbroken, she cares for you deeply and to miss something so important is heartbreaking.

“I’m not sure.” Ingrid’s voice cracks and it looks like she’s about to cry.

Alexia is quick to regain her composure.

“Ok, we messed up. But, we can make this right. In the time I go to her house, talk and get her to come out, you all should do something. Plan a party and we’ll be there in like 1-2 hours. Got it?” The girls nod, seemingly ready to organise something not too big but enough to make up for what they didn’t know.

“Ingrid do you want to come with me?” The captain asks the Norwegian who nods, saying farewell to her girlfriend and teammates. You were very close with her, she took you under her wing a lot and you looked up to her.

- - - - -

You’re crying on your couch when there’s a knock on the door, thinking it’s preachers you ignore it, hoping they’ll leave. Only, the noise gets louder so you wipe your tears and trudge slowly toward the door.

Upon opening, Alexia and Ingrid immediately wrap you in a bone-crushing hug.

“What’s this for?” You say, you thought they’d forgotten about you.

“Don’t act like you don’t know, we’re sorry we didn’t know it was your birthday. We’ll make it up to you.” At Alexia’s words you start crying again.

“No Ale, it’s fine. I shouldn’t have expected anything. I didn’t tell you guys.” You say, feeling slightly bad.

“Elskling, no matter what we should’ve known, were your teammates and we didn’t even do any digging to find it. We made no effort before when we should have. Don’t ever feel like you should dismiss it. It obviously means something.” At her rant, you seem to understand her words as they compute in your mind.

“We did bring you something though nena. One from me and one from Mapi and Ingrid. Then we are going for a drive, ok?” You nod gratefully and get ready for what the two are giving you.

“Here you go.” Ingrid is first, she gives you two small boxes. You open the first one and it’s the Miss Dior perfume you’ve wanted for ages but haven’t ended up getting because you were too busy.

“I- thanks Ingrid.” You beam, she smiles softly back and points to the other one, you open it up carefully revealing a Dior charms bracelet. Your mouth opens wide.

“This is… thank you so much!” You place it down wrapping Ingrid in a hug.

“I’m glad you like it, I heard you said Dior was your favourite designer so I just figured.” It seems your broken heart from before was sealing up because she remembered something you’d told her weeks ago.

Alexia watches the interaction, smiling and happy to see you happy. Not the shell of a person you were at training because they forgot.

Luckily for her and Ingrid, there was a mall on the way to your house with many shops which would definitely satisfy what they needed to get you.

After speaking to Ingrid, you turn to Alexia who is also grinning and hands you a box.

“Aquí.”

You unwrap it, it’s quite big and heavy. When seeing the contents your eyes widen.

“Is this…” She nods her head, smirking. It’s a PS5, Alexia had been pretty strict on no video game consoles considering she wanted you to have a healthy sleep schedule.

“I didn’t think you’d ever allow it- Thank you Ale.” You bring her into a hug before unwrapping it fully and staring at the three things you had received in awe.

“Come on, get dressed we have places to be.” Alexia pulls you from your staring, you get dressed pretty quickly and you’re out of the house in 15 minutes.

- - - - -

You arrived at Patri’s house a little later and walked inside. The rest of the team were there, balloons everywhere and most importantly a cake with 19 on it being brought over by Frido.

Everyone’s singing and your face heats up at all the attention, feeling warm because of the love you’re receiving at the current moment.

When the singing dies down the Swede whispers to you softly.

“Make a good wish kid, it’ll be great.” You nod blowing out the candles and get given a knife to cut down the middle. It’s a pretty plain cake, but if you’re going to be honest you always loved when cakes weren’t so detailed.

The rest of the evening went by in bliss, people apologising and overall having a great time. Yes, they might’ve forgotten. But, they knew their mistake and made this the best birthday you’d ever had.

—————————————————————————

Finally wrote this.. I took too long to write it i’m sorry anon

can you tell what designer i like? (miss dior smells so good i feel rich when wearing it)

anyways i literally need to stop eating original kebab, like it’s so good and taking too much of my money PLEASE

[luminique]

Imagine Lighter proposing to his s/o. He wants to be with his beloved for all eternity but he’s so afraid of ruining the proposal that he had to ask the girls, Big Daddy and Billy for help with the proposal.

Cue the most anxiety ridden and beautiful moment of Lighter’s life as he tries to propose to you (probably at Cheesetopia) while his team/family are helping him behind the scenes with everyone having earpieces. Everything was going smoothly until he can’t find the box. He’s shaking and losing his composure as he tries to find the box containing the engagement ring, he finds it but drops the box a few times with Billy having to distract his s/o from noticing that he dropped the box, and then he finally gets down on his knees to propose because Caesar and Lucy were screaming in his ear to just get down on his knees and tell his s/o that he wants to marry them.

Cue you looking at Lighter and seeing him propose to you. You’re seeing that ring, a beautiful ring with yours and his birthstones shaped into an infinity symbol, and the flashbacks of the first day you met him to the day you knew you were always going to be his are running through your mind. You knew the answer right away. You and Lighter were forever ride and die. Literally.

Now, cue the tears of joy down his face when you screamed “Yes!” and him twirling you around in pure joy as the Sons of Calydon are celebrating their Champion getting married. All that’s left is figuring out how to have a wedding.

THIS IS YUMMY ??!! I AM EATING IT UP !!

i fear i have a lot of difficulty writing prompts like these but this is so good on its own, i feel like i have nothing to add and will just share this to all the lighter enjoyers !!

hes so loveable boyfailure. i think that initially, he was just planning for a simple and quiet proposal but the SoC girls protested. a simple proposal FOR YOU ?? no. it HAS to be perfect. even the days leading up to it, he’s an absolute wreck that he could barely get a wink of sleep the nights before. what if you reject him? what if you’re not ready? what if it all goes wrong?

while he’s worrying about everything, you’re literally going about your day. i think the whole of blazewood would be in on the plan and you’re the only one who doesn’t know.

lighter had told you to meet up with him at cheesetopia, there was a new dish on the menu he wanted to try (he made up this excuse). so you get there and the exterior is decorated beautifully but no lighter in sight. he’s busy fumbling with the ring box while billy is just making some small talk. once billy gets the cue to leave, you’re still walking around a little, looking for lighter.

a tap on your shoulder, the sound of pebbles crunching under his shoes. you turn around and see lighter on one knee, he’s taking off his shades and pulling out the small box from his pocket. you could see the clear blush on his face and a little sweat glistening on his forehead from the anxiety of it all.

you knew the words that would come out of his mouth before he could even say it. the response came out faster than he anticipated, making a sigh of relief escape his lips. it takes him a moment to actually register your reply but once it did, it took no time for him to get up and give you the tightest hug before twirling you around in his arms.

everyone else were practically celebrating along with lighter. billy was already crying even before you said yes, burnice’s flamethrowers were acting up like fireworks, caesar and lucy were exhausted but looked proud, and piper was clapping to show her sleepy excitement. it was a momentous occasion for the SoC, and especially for you and lighter.

[2hoothoots]

saw this post in the tag earlier talking about how we never really get a detailed look inside Maligula’s mind, and it got me thinking about the themes of the game again so I’m gonna use it as a jumping-off point. because i agree, it’s very significant that we never get to really see Maligula/Lucrecia as she used to be! but i think that fact actually makes the game much stronger, especially on a thematic level.

Lucrecia’s presence haunts the narrative throughout Psychonauts 2. at first, we can only make her out through her absence. she’s the seventh stump around the campfire, the missing center of a torn photo. we see glimpses of her in the ruined fragments of Ford’s mind. in Helmut’s mind, she’s a looming specter, a shadow of the friend he once knew. in Gristol’s mind, she’s a celebrated war hero. and as the game goes on, we learn that everything in Psychonauts 1 – the Aquatos leaving Grulovia, the family ‘curse’, Raz running away to camp – all of that was set in motion because of her. she’s at the very center of the tragedy that PN2 revolves around.

and she does haunt the narrative, even if Nona is still alive. because the old Lucrecia – the real Lucrecia – we never get to meet her. she’s long gone.

the closest we come to actually interacting with Lucrecia, as she used to be, is in Cassie’s mind. while the rest of the Psychic 7 only have a few lines to share, paper Lucrecia has a full dialogue tree. this is probably one of my favourite moments in the whole game. there’s an awe in Raz’s face, getting to meet her, but also this palpable tension throughout the conversation.

(screenshots taken from here! if you don’t remember this conversation, or just want a refresher, i’d highly recommend going back to watch it.)

this dialogue tree is great. it’s funny, and subtle, and surprisingly moving. Raz is full of questions for Lucrecia, and Lucrecia isn’t giving much away, but we get glimpses of her story here that are so tantalising. it’s a fascinating window into the person she used to be: coy, and playful, and a little aloof.

but – this is also very clearly not Lucy. we hear Cassie’s own thoughts coming out of her mouth (“Cassie told us [hydraulic mining] was very bad for the environment, but nobody listened to her, as usual”), but her dialogue is also steeped in Cassie’s confusion, her struggle to understand what happened (“I don’t really know [why I murdered all those people]. I was the nicest person during my time at Green Needle Gulch”). this is the closest we ever get to seeing Lucrecia, face-to-face, but she’s still heavily filtered through someone else’s perception.

how much of this is the real Lucrecia, and how much of it is just how Cassie sees her? we’ll never know.

i think a crucial part of PN2’s themes is that perception – how you can be someone completely different to different people around you. everyone has their own version of the story to tell. the most obviously propagandistic is Gristol’s retelling, which comes as a shock twist at a climactic moment that throws the whole game on its head. here, we get to see the other side of the story, from someone who only ever knew Lucrecia as a protector, a general, a murderer – and thought she should stay that way.

(screenshots from here)

but as entrenched as he is in his narrative, Gristol doesn’t have all the answers, either. and Ford’s version of events, while probably more factually correct, is still steeped in his own biases. Ford was so dedicated to the memory of the woman he loved that he did terrible things for her; and when he tried to bury that memory, it was so deeply entrenched in his mind that it broke him.

(screenshot from here)

but note the wording, when he talks about using the Astralathe to “neutralise” the “problematic” parts of her mind. My Lucy.

something else that PN2 touches on is how experiences change you. after the battle against Maligula, the remaining members of the Psychic 7 become very different individuals. Cassie withdraws from the world, unable to return to normality after everything that happened; Compton becomes an anxious wreck without his support network. Bob is broken with grief after the loss of his husband, and Ford willingly shattered his mind because it was what he thought he had to do to keep Lucrecia safe. and throughout the game, Raz helps all of them – but he doesn’t fix them. he doesn’t undo everything they went through, because how could he? the things that happened will stay with each of them forever.

and it’s the same with Lucrecia. even after she lets go of the rage and grief and violence that Maligula carried with her, symbolically severing the threads that bind her to her past – she doesn’t just go back to her old self. because she’s someone different now, too. she’s a mother, and a grandmother, and she loves her family so truly and so deeply. she’s patched together a new life for herself. and that’s what she affirms to Raz, in the moments before the final fight.

and he loves her right back. even after everything he’s learned, she’s still his Nona.

i think sometimes a story is more satisfying for not giving you the easy answers. Psychonauts 2 leaves a lot of things unsaid. it gives you pieces of the puzzle, glimpses of Lucrecia’s story through other people’s eyes, and asks you to draw your own conclusions from that. and then it says: this is who she is now. this is what matters. and personally, i think it’s stronger for that.

[yoon-kooks]

paw prints & presents | jjk

⛓️pairing: hotnerd!jungkook x popular!reader

⛓️genre: smut, fluff, college!au

⛓️summary: You and Jungkook never discussed Valentine’s Day plans, but that doesn’t mean the night won’t include corny Valentine’s cards and you getting down on your hands and knees in pretty pink lingerie for him.

⛓️word count: 2.1k

⛓️warnings: catdilf!jk, dom!jk, sub!reader, daddy/kitten undertones, praise kink, dirty talk, oc is a horny lil brat, dry humping, sex on the couch, handjob, blowjob, face fucking, cumshot, she swallows, oc makes another ignorant comment about earl grey tea lol

⛓️p&p masterlist⛓️

a/n: here's a lil smutty drabble i wrote up for valentine's day! (you don't have to read the other p&p fics before reading this one)💖

You’ve been acting a little weird lately. Ever since February came around, you’ve been asking Jungkook about random shit like his favorite flower (lavender), his favorite romcom (none), his favorite day of the year (nonexistent), and his go-to boba order (you called him grandaddy for saying earl grey again). The most recent question was about his taste in lingerie (doesn’t matter because you’re hot regardless). 

But whenever he asks why you need to know these things, you just shrug your shoulders and pretend like you’re too busy playing with the cat to answer him. The way you always shush the kitten as soon as he enters the room leads him to believe the two of you are up to no good. 

It’s driving him mad.

At one point, he thought you might be sweetening him up for when you go behind his back and adopt another cat because “Lucy needs a friend” and “there’s a cute cow cat at the local shelter.” But something tells him you’ll save the cow cat shenanigans for another time. 

The thing is, he’s not completely clueless here. As much as he doesn’t want to think about it, he’s well aware that Valentine’s Day is around the corner. It’s not a day he typically celebrates, but he also doesn’t know how you feel about it yet. If it’s a big deal to you, he’d want to do something thoughtful to live up to whatever the fuck you’re secretly plotting. At the same time, the two of you still haven’t made it official, so perhaps you aren’t scheming anything related to the most romantic day of the year. Perhaps he’s just overthinking it…

…Or not.

A few days before Valentine’s Day, Jungkook comes home from class early and sees something he shouldn’t have seen. Your laptop is out in the open on his bed, but you’re nowhere to be seen—probably in the bathroom or something. He’s always been the kind of guy to respectfully look away from what’s on other people’s computers or phone screens. But it’s kind of hard to ignore the pink lingerie set you apparently just ordered. The lingerie you normally wear is a sexy black or a sophisticated neutral. But this baby pink one, with the tiny red hearts and bows, is way cuter than what he’s used to seeing you in. It’s giving submissive vibes, for sure.

The thought of you wearing that tiny thing on Valentine’s Day would automatically make February 14th Jeon Jungkook’s new favorite day of the year. And that alone is something to celebrate.

But how exactly is he supposed to celebrate? It seems you have your mind made up on surprising him with pretty pink lingerie, but what can he provide in return without being too cheesy? He’s terrible at shit like this. In fact, one of his exes broke up with him specifically because he wasn’t romantic enough. She wasn’t wrong, but it’s not like he’s going to rewire his entire brain to be romantic enough for someone else’s liking. Maybe that’s fucked up of him. Maybe a good partner would make sacrifices and force themself to change for the sake of the relationship if they truly cared. 

You’re different, though. With you, nothing feels forced. Rather, he gets an urge to do something nice for you, even if it goes against his natural tendencies. And right now, he wants to also surprise you with a little something on Valentine’s Day.

On the big day, he waits for you to leave for your afternoon class. That’ll give him plenty of time to put together the surprise. All he needs is some pink cardstock, markers, paint, ribbon, and a kitten.

As much as he hates cheesy Valentine’s cards, Jungkook finds himself pondering over what to write on the cardstock. Knowing you, it’s safe to go with something silly and funny. Thankfully, you’re an easy one when it comes to humor.

“Have a paw-esome Valentine’s Day, Mommy,” he writes in bold marker. You’ve been hesitant to call yourself the kitten’s mother despite raising her right alongside Jungkook. But it’s clear that you’re doing a good job. “Love, Lucy.”

He picks up the sleepy kitten, dips her paw pads into safe non-toxic paint, and adds her paw print to the bottom of the card like a signature. As the paint dries, he gives the kitty her first bath, blowdries her fur, and ties a pink little ribbon to her collar.

When the sun goes down, Jungkook rolls up the note and attaches it to the kitty’s ribbon like she’s some messenger pigeon. And then the two of them wait on the couch together, kitten loafing in the boy’s lap, for the door to open.

Five long minutes later, your keys jingle around as you unlock the front door.

“Go hide,” he whispers to the kitten who runs off into his room with a frisky tail in the air. She probably thinks he’s playing hide and seek with her like they normally do. Poor thing.

Jungkook makes himself comfortable on the couch again and pulls out his phone to look natural. Totally normal.

“Hi?” you say as soon as you open the door and see him sitting in the dark living room, his floating face illuminated by his phone screen. You hit the light switch as you kick your shoes off and look around for possible booby traps or jumpscares. It seems you’re very aware that the potential for a surprise is at an all-time high today. Then your eyes fall back on him. “Why do you look like that?”

“Like what?” He scratches the back of his head.

“Like this.” You do the awkward pose thing people do when they’re very clearly failing to act natural. How do you manage to make even the most awkward poses look cute? Maybe your little black dress has something to do with it. You weren’t wearing that earlier when you left for class.

“What do you mean? I’m just here, sitting on the couch with my phone.” Damn, is it really that obvious?

“Ah, so you were here waiting for me to get back from class like a dog?” you tease as you climb into his lap and set his phone aside. Your new perfume is a sensual lavender (no wonder you asked him about his favorite flower). And your dress is so short all he can feel is skin when he grabs hold of your ass. “Don’t worry, I missed you too.”

You snake your hands around the back of his neck and devour his lips, his tongue, his taste. He’ll never get over the moans you make just from kissing him like he’s the finest dessert you’ve ever tasted. Or the way your tongue just laps him up like a kitten—

“Wait,” he says after forcing himself to pull back from your lips. The urge to put his lips right back where they belong is incredible.

“No, Jungkook, I don’t have any homework that needs to get done before we…” Your words trail off as you kiss him some more and roll your hips against his crotch. You’ll never let it go that he’s “the biggest nerd in the world” for always making you finish your homework before sex. Thank god you don’t have any tonight. Because his hard cock is already past the point of no return.

The secret Valentine’s card still needs to be delivered, though. And the poor kitten is still waiting for her daddy to come find her.

“No seriously, wait a sec,” he chuckles, lifting you off of him before walking into his room to scoop up the kitten hiding behind the clothes hanging in his closet. When he rejoins you on the couch, he passes the fluffball to you.

“Ooh, did daddy give you a bath? You look so cute,” You sniff her orange fur and find the rolled-up note tied to her pink ribbon.

Your face quickly goes from curious to smiley as you unroll the note and read the silly message. Jungkook reads it right alongside you as if he wasn’t the one who wrote it.

“Congratulations, it seems Lucy has accepted you as her mother figure,” he says in the straightest face ever.

“Paw-esome?? Mommy??” you giggle, turning to the boy whilst cupping his chin. “Is that what you think of me?”

“It wasn’t me, it was Lucy,” he shrugs. “Right, Lucy?” She meows in agreement.

Then he pins you down against the couch cushions and leans in to whisper, “You’re my baby girl, remember?”

Your face is flushed with color as you nod up at him. You grab a handful of his t-shirt and pull him in. He finds your neck and leaves a trail of little marks as your body heats up beneath him.

“I love the card, by the way,” you manage to get out between breaths. “Thank you, Jungkook.”

“Like I said, it wasn’t from me.” His gives you a few more kisses while running his hands along your dress. As hot as you are in that dress, he’d love to get his hands on everything hiding beneath it. “I didn’t even know today was Valentine’s Day.”

“Liar. You suck, you know that.” You pout for half a second before your horny eyes are showing again. “Guess you don’t want to see the surprise I have for you.”

“What is it?” he asks a little too quickly. He must sound like such a simp.

You sit up, leaning your tits against his chest, and say, “Undress me.”

Jungkook lifts the dress up and over your head to reveal the same lingerie set he saw on your computer screen the other day. Except now it’s on your body. And boy does it look good on you. It doesn’t matter that he already had a sneak peek at it and plenty of time to mentally prepare himself for this. He still can’t take his eyes off of his baby girl looking all pretty in pink. And he forgets to speak.

“What do you think?” You drop to your knees on the carpet and situate yourself between his legs.

“Hot,” is all he can say before you unzip him and get your hands on his hard cock.

“Good.” You wet your lips with a sly tongue. Your hands start stroking his length up and down as you eye his tip. “It was an impulse buy the other day when I was feeling so horny for your cock.”

“Do you need my cock that badly?” he asks, his breath getting rougher. 

You nod, licking your lips again. He’d normally make you wait a little longer before letting you give head, but fuck it. It’s Valentine’s Day, and his cock is his gift to you. You’re always begging to suck it anyway.

With a firm hand, he angles your chin up until his erection is staring you in the face. You wrap your lips around him and take him in until he hits the back of your throat. Your cute little gag doesn’t stop you from going right back in, bobbing your head back and forth, up and down his length. He decides to help by thrusting in and out of your throat.

When you stop to catch your breath, his glaze runs down your mouth. You make sure he’s watching when you lick it up and swallow before sucking him more. One of your hands grips his cock while the other travels down into your thong. He watches the way you rub between your legs and rock your body back and forth to pleasure yourself and him at the same time. 

You savor each and every drop of him as if it’s the last. Your lips glisten and swell with pleasure as you’re hard at work with his cock. There’s no way anyone else can look this good while doing what you do to him.

“Fuck,” Jungkook groans, fucking your face faster. You moan something that sounds like his name, although it’s kind of hard to understand with a fat cock in your mouth.

At his breaking point, he pulls out and strokes his length until (most of) his cum sprays right into your mouth. You swallow it up while shooting him an awfully innocent smile. After catching his breath, he wipes up the bit of lust on your cheek and lets you suck it off his fingers. You’re such a good girl for him.

“You were so good, baby,” he praises you. You definitely need to be rewarded. “Should we watch one of those romcoms?”

“I thought you said you didn’t like romcoms.” You tilt your head. “We can find something else that we can watch togeth—”

“Pick your favorite romcom.” He shakes your suggestion off and lays you down on the couch so that you’re facing the TV. He hooks a finger on the strap of your thong and tears it off. With his lips just a kiss away from your wet pussy, he says, “I won’t be watching anyway.”

[clarisse0o]

Camp Wiegman-Part 26

Lucy Bronze x Ona Batlle

Alternative Universe : Military Universe

Words: 5k

TW: Violence

Masterlist

———————————————————————

 Wednesday, December 23; 8:00 PM - Home

A few days have passed since I returned to Barcelona. I’ve never enjoyed a vacation so much. There hasn't been a single moment of boredom. Mapi has practically been living at my place since I got back. As usual, her parents are off living their own lives without her, so she’s living hers without them. Sunday was fantastic. Joan was over the moon when we took him to the amusement park. He hadn’t realized I’d be staying for two whole weeks, so when he understood I’d be here longer than usual, he was ecstatic.

I haven’t told him yet that I’ll be leaving earlier for New Year’s, but he’ll probably be too busy to notice. As always, my mom and Marcus will take him to celebrate New Year’s with friends who have a child his age. In any case, I’ll make a resolution to keep in touch with him more regularly. He’s missed me so much that she hasn’t left our side even once. Not during our movie and TV marathon on Saturday, not during our day at the skate park the next day, and especially not when we went to the ice rink. Those were incredible days.

Today, we decided it would be a relaxation day. Joan is at a friend’s house, so we spent our morning at the beauty salon. We got waxed and had our nails done for Christmas Eve. My family will be coming over tomorrow. I usually take care of myself, but this time we wanted to be pampered. Well, it was mainly Mapi who was dying for it. She couldn’t let go of the idea. So, I sucked it up and wore clothes that didn’t require me to undress completely. She’s lucky I appreciate the results. We continued the day with lunch at a restaurant in town, and then we went to the pool. It was so much fun. It seems like it just opened, so there weren’t many people, and we could relax as we should.

Now, here we are, standing in line for the cinema. It must be around 8:00 PM. It’s a way to do something relaxing without being cooped up in my room. I found out while she was in the shower that she’s been harassed by Ana. Apparently, Ana is sorry and wants Mapi back. I was relieved to see she hadn’t responded to any of the texts, but also slightly hurt that she hadn’t told me. I respect her silence, though. I haven’t brought it up with her, afraid she might shut down. That doesn’t stop me from being a good friend. I noticed she’s been glancing at her phone whenever she gets the chance today. I sense she’s about to crack, so I’ve done everything in my power to keep her busy. It’s clear she’s not doing as well as she pretends, although I imagine our days full of activities help her not think about it.

It’s time to pay for our tickets. I don’t even know what movie we’re going to see. I let Mapi choose since I haven’t been keeping up with new releases while I was at Camp Wiegman. We have similar tastes, so I’m not worried. Mapi insists on stopping by the concession stand for some popcorn. I take the opportunity to grab a drink, which she ends up getting too. We then have our tickets validated and head into our theater. We’re half an hour early, so I’m not surprised to find the place empty. We settle in a corner at the top. Mapi is never quiet during a movie, no matter where we are. She has the annoying habit of commenting on every action. Needless to say, it annoys everyone around us. It used to irritate me too, but over time, I started commenting with her. We’ve gotten to the point where if we’re watching a movie at home, we pick one we’ve already seen to make sure we understand the content.

I still make the effort to go to the movies with her, thinking I can always rewatch the film online if it seems good. It reminds me that Lucy had offered to lend me some movies, but she never did. I doubt she remembers. That conversation must have been over a month ago. I feel a pang of guilt, realizing I haven’t written to her since returning to Miami. Then again, she hasn’t written to me either. After all, she’s just my supervisor; I shouldn’t worry. She’s made it clear more than once that we can’t be friends while I’m her student.

"Isn’t that Miller and Bryan down there?" Mapi asks me.

I scan the area, looking for two heads that could be our friends. I smile when I spot them a few rows below us, completely on the opposite side. It’s impossible for them to see us. I notice their little gestures of affection, which are so cute.

"Yeah, it looks like it."

"Should we call out to them? I mean, we could see them at the same time."

"They’re on a date, leave them alone. We’ll catch up with them after the movie."

Mapi nods in agreement. The lights dim shortly after. To be honest, I’m still having a hard time seeing them as a couple, but they’re so adorable. To think that a few years ago, it was us as a couple and them as best friends. At least Mapi and I were lucky not to lose each other. She clumsily apologized for kissing me spontaneously. I couldn’t blame her for needing affection. Few people manage to stay on good terms with their ex, but I’m glad we did. She was my rock back then, and I won’t forget what she did for me. My feelings were mixed when we first reconnected, but I quickly pushed them aside, realizing it wasn’t mutual anymore. I never knew if that was truly the case, but I guess she was just protecting herself.

The ads fade away, and the movie begins. As I predicted, Mapi comments on every action, but today it’s a bit different. She also starts complimenting the women in the film. She seems to find them beautiful and amazing She’s lucky I’m  lesbianand find some truth in her words; otherwise, I’d get bored quickly. I join in, telling her my preferences. I’ve always preferred brunettes, even dark-haired ones,I find them more attractive and mysterious.

“Tell me an actress you find hot.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Just because. Someone you’d want in your bed.”

“I don’t want anyone in my bed.”

“You know exactly what I mean! Like if you had the chance to go on a date with an actress... Or a celebrity, whatever. Who would you choose?”

“Your question is really dumb.”

“Come on, play along. Give me a name.”

I think about it, running my hand through my hair. I have no idea. I don’t have a favorite actress or anything like that.

“I don’t know. Mila Kunis?” I say randomly.

“Mila Kunis?” she repeats. “Hmm… Not bad, true. Does she look like Bronze?”

I roll my eyes. And there she goes again, bringing up the subject. I don’t know what’s gotten into her with Lucy lately, but she keeps asking me questions about her.

“No,” I shut down.

“Oh, sorry. It’s just that I wonder what she looks like. I have the right to be curious. Here, compare her to Mila Kunis so I can get an idea.”

I can’t believe it when she pulls up a picture of the actress on her phone. I already know she won’t leave me alone until she gets her answers. I sigh and look at the photo carefully to make a comparison.

“Lucy has a much finer nose and much fuller lips. As for her eyes, they’re almond-shaped and green, much more sparkling than the dark eyes Mila Kunis has in this picture. And her hair leans more towards a brown shade than black.”

Mapi nods seriously. She seems to be creating an image of my supervisor in her head. Her silence makes me wonder if I went too far with my details. I realize just how much I’ve observed her to know so much about her appearance. She finally turns to me with a small smile forming on her lips.

“She must be cute.”

“She is.”

“Is she taller than you?”

I think back, trying to recall moments that might give me an answer to this question. I nod eventually.

“Yeah. But only by a few centimeters.”

“So, you claim you’re not interested in her, but you can tell me details like that about her?”

A smug smile spreads across her face, and I realize my mistake. I knew it was a bad idea to tell her all that.

“You’re exasperating, Mapi.”

“And yet, I didn’t even point out that you called her Lucy. So that’s her little name?”

I groan at her teasing. I slowly run my hand over my face to avoid losing my temper.

“Where’s her part in her hair?”

“Mostly in the middle, but sometimes she moves it to the left side.”

The words slip out before I can hold them back. I’m surprised myself at how easily I answered. How did I retain such subtle information about her? Damn brain. Mapi mocks me without restraint.

“Just as I thought.”

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“Oh, no, not at all,” she smiles foolishly.

“Yeah, whatever,” I mumble. 

I sink into my seat, crossing my arms, clearly upset that my mind could betray me like that. How did I answer so instinctively? Lucy is my supervisor. Sure, she’s beautiful and attractive, but that doesn’t mean I’m interested.

Mapi tries to insist one more time, but she’s met with "shhhhht" sounds from all around. I think we’ve reached our chatter limit. It doesn’t seem to calm Mapi, who starts laughing at every scene that’s even slightly funny. No matter how much I ask her to calm down, it feels like she’s doing it on purpose to annoy our neighbors. They’re starting to get really angry, but fortunately, the movie is coming to an end. I wouldn’t have bet on our safety if it had lasted any longer. We hurry out of the theater as soon as the credits roll to avoid facing the hateful glares of the other viewers. Sometimes I wonder if we’re really civilized. Right now, I’d say no. I instantly regret our rush when we run into the one person we would’ve wanted to avoid on this earth. Mapi instinctively takes a defensive stance in front of me. Feli doesn’t take her eyes off me for a second, as if I’m the only one there.

- "Ona-..."

- "Don’t talk to her," Mapi interrupts in a sharp tone.

- "That’s not for you to decide."

- "Forget it. Let’s go, Mapi..."

I grab her arm, and I couldn’t say if it’s to pull her away with me or to stop her from doing something she might regret—or not. Mapi stays rooted to the spot, glaring daggers at my ex. I can understand her urge to tear her apart for what she did, right here and now. However, this is neither the time nor the place. All I want is to get out of here. I realize that’s not her intention when she violently shakes off my grip.

- "Get out of the way," she growls.

- "No," she says, stepping forward. "You know, Ona... I thought I’d see you again after what I injected you with."

A shiver runs down my spine as she admits this, never taking her eyes off me. No... I can’t believe it. She didn’t just say that.

- "I’m disappointed to see you in such a normal state..."

I feel myself wavering as she manages to slip past Mapi’s defenses to stroke my hand. Her gesture, which should be gentle, sends me spiraling back into a whirlpool of memories. I’m disconnected from my senses until Mapi’s fist slamming into Feli’s face brings me back to reality. Her punch is so powerful that she crashes to the ground, her mouth agape.

- "That’s for what you did to my best friend. And this is for sleeping with my girlfriend, you bitch!"

Her words are followed by a kick to her stomach. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mapi this angry. I’m so caught up in the scene that I jump when an arm wraps around my shoulders. I struggle against the unexpected contact, but calm down when I see Bryan by my side. Meanwhile, Miller is grabbing my best friend by the waist, pulling her away from Feli before the situation escalates further. Security has been called. They arrived just in time to restrain my ex, who was about to fight back. The guys managed to defuse the situation by announcing our departure. However, Mapi isn’t willing to leave it at that.

"Don't let her go!" she spits out. "She's gone mad, and she's stalking my friend. She even just admitted in front of everyone that she drugged her to get her back! You better not let her follow us, or I'll press charges against you!"

"Mapi, that's enough," says Miller, trying to calm her down.

"No, it's not enough! That bitch deserves what’s coming to her!"

"Let's just leave, please."

Bryan nods and leads me towards the exit. Thankfully, Miller is strong enough to drag Mapi out with us after apologizing to the officers. I'm struggling to process the whole encounter. It feels like I'm in shock. Mapi keeps cursing under her breath to vent her frustration, which isn't helping me pull myself together. If the guys hadn't intervened, things could've gone really wrong. It's only when we get outside that Mapi notices my state. She immediately pulls me into her arms.

"Are you okay?" she murmurs.

I want to answer her, but no words come out. I try to nod to reassure her, but it’s all lies. Feli drugged me. She really drugged me to make me relapse. How can I be okay? I can't even tell if she went further because I have no memory of it. For all I know... No, I don't even want to think about it.

"How about we forget this whole incident by grabbing a drink?" Miller suggests. "We wanted to catch up, so now's the time."

Mapi agrees without consulting me, so I have no choice but to go along. Miller drives us there in his car. Mapi and I are in the back. She's set her anger aside to try to lift my spirits. It's a lost cause, but I appreciate the effort. When we get to the bar, I wait just long enough to order a drink before excusing myself. I need to be alone and get some air. Mapi didn’t want to let me go out alone, but Miller convinced her. I couldn’t be more grateful. I sit on the curb once outside, burying my head in my arms to collect my thoughts. The evening has gone by too fast. I can't fully grasp everything that happened. After a while, I pull my phone out of my pocket and fidget with it, debating whether to call her or not. I realize I should've done it days ago. I muster up the courage to do it now. One ring... Two... Three... My heart stops when the beeping ends.

"Hello?"

Her voice echoes in my head. I can't find the words to speak. My lower lip trembles so much it affects me. I never thought hearing her voice would make me feel so relieved.

"Ona?" she presses, sensing my silence.

I let my head fall back into my arms as a sob escapes, one I can't hold back. Why do I always turn to her only when I’m not okay? She deserves so much better, even if she doesn’t want me as a friend.

"I'm sorry for calling so late..." I say between sniffles.

« It’s not late in Manchester " she replies calmly. "What's going on?"

"No... I—We’re halfway through the week... I- I should’ve called you much sooner," I murmur.

"It doesn’t matter, as long as you're okay. But you're not, are you?"

"I'm sorry for only talking to you when I need something," I say, choking up.

"Hey, that’s not true, and you know it."

"Yes, it is!" I cry out.

"Don’t raise your voice like that," she scolds me.

"S-sorry... I-I shouldn’t have."

She sighs long and hard, making me cry even harder. I feel so pathetic. I shouldn’t have called her now. I couldn’t even talk to Mapi, so there’s no way I’d be able to do it with Lucy either. I should've waited until I was more composed.

"Hey, Ona. I don’t know what’s going on, but you need to tell me something. Anything," she orders sternly.

"You don’t have the right to give me orders from afar," I say, managing a weak smile.

I joke to lighten the mood. I hear her laugh, which warms my heart. I wipe my cheeks with the back of my hand and tighten my jacket, remembering I’m wearing hers. I couldn't find one that suited me when we were at the mall. I guess it’s because I’m already too attached to this one.

"I have every right over you. Have you forgotten?"

"It seems I have," I murmur.

"Enough joking... You didn’t call for no reason, did you?"

I groan, shaking my head. I feel foolish now that she's voicing the truth. I would've hung up a long time ago if I were her.

"Come on, spill it. You wouldn’t have called if you didn’t need to."

I rest my head on my arm, thinking for a moment. I do need this, that’s for sure, but how do I say it without breaking down completely? A silence falls between us that neither of us breaks. She’s waiting for an answer.

"It’s her..." I finally whisper.

"Her? You’ll have to be clearer if you want me to understand anything," she chuckles.

"Feli, my ex, the junkie. S-she’s the one who drugged me the other night. W-We ran into her with Mapi, and she admitted it. I—"

"Hey, calm down. Why are you reacting like this? Isn’t this supposed to be good news?" she asks. "It proves it wasn’t you who did it. That’s what you wanted to know, right? I think it’s a good thing. You didn’t relapse on your own."

How does she manage to find something positive in this mess?! I’m tearing my hair out, tormented. I know she's trying to reassure me, but she’d change her tune if she knew how seeing him again affected me. She can't know because she doesn’t know what he put me through.

"Well... If you say so..."

"Come on, dry your tears. You look so much cuter with a smile on your face."

She’s really trying to cheer me up. I smile timidly and run my fingers under my eyes to wipe away the black streaks of makeup that have probably run.

"So, how’s your vacation going, besides all that?" she suddenly changes the subject.

"Good... I’m enjoying it like you advised me to. And you?"

"Same here. I’m seeing my family and leaving for Portugal early tomorrow morning for a few days."

"You’re so lucky. I wish I could go back there too..."

"I can imagine. How’s Mapi? Is she doing better?"

"Yeah, she’s okay. We’re spending all our days together."

"Do you already have plans for New Year’s?"

"Yeah, I’m heading back to Manchester early. Leah and Alessia are hosting a party at their place."

"Oh. So Mapi agreed then."

"Yeah, it’ll be good for her to get a change of scenery. It was either that or we’d spend the night alone at my place."

"I see," she laughs. "That wouldn’t be the worst thing either."

"For you, maybe, but definitely not for Mapi. She’s never experienced anything like that at home."

"That’s a shame. Do you already know where you’ll be staying before school starts again?"

I stay silent. Honestly, I haven’t thought about it. Lucy laughs heartily. I hide my smile, rubbing my cheeks against the sleeves of my jacket. Damn. I’ve missed hearing her laugh so much.

"You haven’t thought about it, have you?"

"Not really, no," I admit with flushed cheeks. "I guess I’ll try to negotiate a spot with the Leah and Alessia, and if they can’t put me up, I’ll get a hotel room."

"A hotel?" she scoffs. "Don’t be silly. If you really have nowhere to stay, let me know, okay?"

"Oh no, don’t worry. I’ll manage."

"I’m serious. I’m not going to let you stay on the streets. Knowing you, you’d get lost."

"Ha ha ha, very funny!" I laugh sarcastically.

"It’s true," she giggles. "By the way, where are you? I can hear cars passing by."

"In the street, outside," I say with a smile, knowing how she’ll react.

"Excuse me?"

I can picture her frowning with a stern look on her face. Why am I still smiling like an idiot? Lucy must have this effect on me.

"I’m in the street, outside a bar," I repeat.

My smile widens even more. She’s definitely going to scold me. I start an unconscious countdown in my head. I reach zero just as she raises her voice through the phone.

"You’ve got to be kidding me!"

"No."

"Oh, so let me get this straight. One bad moment, and you’re ready to get wasted? If that’s your plan, you’d better head home!"

"Relax, I’m not alone. Mapi’s with me."

"And that’s supposed to make me feel better?" she grumbles. "She was with you last time too!"

I laugh, realizing she’s right. That night, she left me for her girlfriend, and she wasn’t in any better shape than I was. I don’t think Lucy noticed when she had her on the phone. If she had, she wouldn’t have trusted her to get me home. One thing I know is that I did the right thing by calling her. Without her, I would’ve ended the night with a brain in pieces.

"I’m with two other friends. I don’t intend to drink. If I did, I wouldn’t be sitting on the curb talking to you. I’d be inside drinking."

"Hmm," she says, skeptical. "You’d better text me every five minutes to update me on your sobriety once this call is over."

"If you want," I say with a smile. "Aren’t you going out tonight?"

"No. I have to get up early, so I’m enjoying a quiet evening in my apartment."

"Oh, I’m bothering you then."

"Don’t be ridiculous. I’m happy to talk to you."

"Oh really...? Me too," I admit. "I never thought I’d miss your bossy attitude this much. I keep thinking about what you’d say when I’m in an awkward situation," I chuckle.

"It’s been a while since you’ve called me that. I hope you’re at least listening to that little voice if you’re hearing it."

I hold back a laugh. If she knew all the trouble Mapi has gotten me into... I’d end up doing more than just laps.

"Come on, you have to tell me all the nonsense you’ve been up to now."

I finally laugh softly. My long silence must have given me away.

"No, it’s better not to."

There’s a silver lining to the distance after all. She can’t reach me, let alone intimidate me with her eyes and gestures.

"I’m not kidding. If you come back as that little kid from the very beginning, you’re going to hear from me."

"Hey!" I exclaim, offended. "That girl is long gone."

"Hmm, she’d better be."

I jump when a hand lands on my shoulder. I look up to see that it’s just Mapi. She’s leaning her head to the side with a small smile. I relax my muscles and timidly return her smile.

"Feeling better? You seemed really upset when you came out."

"Yeah... I’m feeling better," I reassure her without taking the phone from my ear.

"Who’s on the phone? Is it the person who managed to bring that smile back to your face?"

"Hmm," I shrug. "It’s Bronze."

I instantly regret being honest when I see a dreamy smile appear on her lips. I’ve just fueled her imagination. Those mental movies of hers won’t be going away anytime soon

- "Hey, I thought I told you not to use my name anymore," comments Lucy through my phone with a hint of playfulness.

- "I'll call you whatever I want!"

- "What does your boss want?" asks Mapi.

- "Nothing. How's your hand?" I ask, noticing an ice pack on her fist.

- "Hurts, but it was worth it," she giggles.

Both of them start talking at the same time, as if they're having a conversation with each other even though they can't hear each other. I don't know where to turn my head. I can't even decipher their words. I groan as I run my hand over my eyes.

- "For heaven's sake, shut up!" I groan.

I open my eyes again when the silence finally falls. I glance at my best friend, who is staring at me with wide eyes.

- "Thank you," I sigh. "How's your hand?" I finally ask Mapi, noticing the ice pack on her fist again.

- "Hurts, but it was worth it," she giggles.

- "Thanks again..."

- "It's normal," she smiles softly. "Well, I'm going home. Don't stay out too late."

I nod as I watch her go back inside. I groan, massaging my temples. I hope she won't be too upset with me for raising my voice.

- "You guys just gave me a headache."

- "At least now you know how it feels when you drive me crazy," Lucy giggles.

- "Are you kidding? I've never yelled in your ears, and I'm not that crazy!"

- "Oh yes, you were! At least, you used to be," she giggles. "You still have your moments, but now I find it adorable as long as you don't overdo it."

- "Oh, come on," I mumble, hiding my blush.

- "The worst was during exam revision when you wouldn't let anyone say anything to you."

- "Hey! Sometimes it was worth it, I was right!"

- "It only happened once!"

- "Once, but that question was on the exam! Believe me, I answered it correctly."

- "Well, good for you, if you can remember things like that."

- "Yeah."

- "Okay, I'm going to let you go; you must be expected. Enjoy your evening, but not too much."

- "Already?"

I have a hard time hiding my disappointment. I would have preferred to spend the evening talking to her. Am I crazy for wanting that?

- "Yes," she laughs. "Enjoy your time with your friends. We'll have plenty of time to talk when you get back. And don't forget to moderate, or even avoid alcohol, okay?"

- "I'm twenty, Luce. I can moderate myself."

- "Hmm, you never know.The past proved me wrong."

- "Not here. Do you have Snapchat?"

- "Snapchat? Why are you asking?"

- "If you give it to me, I could send you pictures of my drinks to make sure I'm not drinking."

- "Of course," she laughs. "Even if you send me a picture of a soda, who’s to say you haven't mixed it with vodka? I'd need to smell the drink instead, don't you think?"

- "As far as I know, there's no app that can do that yet."

- "You're silly," she giggles. "Okay, I'm letting you go. Don't forget I want texts. I wouldn't want you to do something stupid again."

- "I promise. Goodnight, Lucy."

- "Goodnight to you too, Ona. Don't stay out too late."

I put away my phone after we hang up. Now that I'm alone again, all my thoughts come flooding back. I sigh as I stand up. I pat my jeans to get rid of any dirt that might have clung to them. My butt is cold now from sitting on the ground. That wasn't very smart of me. I look at my phone, which is already vibrating. I smile when I see the handle, which I guess is her Snapchat: LBronze22. Wow, I can't believe it! I didn't expect to get it. My request was just a joke. I could know her whole life if she posts stories regularly. Then again, it's not impossible that she might block me too. I add her immediately on the app, then I head back inside. They're talking about the couples that formed among the people who were with us in high school. The room goes quiet when I sit down.

- "Don't stop on my account," I say.

- "How are you feeling?" Miller asks me.

- "Better. I just needed to step out."

I catch Mapi's smug smile, which I quickly avoid. She can smile all she wants because I do feel better thanks to Lucy. Thinking of her, I decide to kick off the fun by sending her a picture of my glass of soda. I caption it saying it's my one and only drink. I also take the initiative to write her a message, as she asked me to do regularly. I force myself to join the conversation to reassure my friends. I ask about some people I liked back then. The evening continues here for another good hour. I kept texting Lucy discreetly so as not to attract Mapi's attention. We decide to leave the bar around half past midnight. When I told Lucy, she seemed happy that I was being reasonable for once. Our last message exchange happens just as Miller drops us off at my place. We wished each other goodnight. I didn't want to bother her any longer, and besides, I planned to go to bed once I was in my room. I go to the bathroom first, then I join Mapi. Unlike the past few nights, it's Mapi's turn to hold me as we sleep. That's why I adore her. I don't need to talk or pretend with her. She knows me too well for that. Luckily for me, sleep caught up with me before I reached the point of insomnia.

[pitchsidestories]

It only hurts this much right now II Hayley Raso x Reader

Word count: 872

Disclaimer: English is not our first language

As the final whistle blow and you knew you were going to the final but to the cost of your girlfriend’s team loosing, your eyes immediately started looking for Hayley and her signature piece the bow in the colour of her jersey. Before you could find her, you were hold back by two strong arms which belonged to Alanna Kennedy. The tall blonde defender whispered in your ear: “Let Hayley be alone for a moment; she just gave everything on this pitch.” “Okay but tell her I’d like to see her when she’s ready for me.”, you nodded understandingly. In a reassuring tone Alanna answered: “I promise, I will do that.” Quickly she added: “oh, congrats by the way for entering the final of the world cup.”  A sad smile appeared on your lips as you thanked her for her congratulation before you could stop yourself you thought out loud: “ I really wish this was the endgame. Even though I know the hurt would probably be even stronger but you Matildas would have deserved this.” Empathetically the Australian player padded your shoulders: “But it’s the semi. I’ll go see where Hayley is.”

Meanwhile Hayley felt the loss settling into her bones, her back was aching, all what she wanted to do right now was getting back into the hotel, covering herself in a blanket and shutting the world out. Despite that the midfielder still needed to do one thing, so with a hopeful glance in her eyes she turned to Alanna: “Lani, hi.. is she still here?” “Yes, waiting for you.”, the taller woman nodded to the direction Hayleys girlfriend was standing between her very cheerful teammates Keira Walsh and Lucy Bronze.

With a bright smile on her lips, Keira took your hand in hers, “Come on, time to celebrate.“ You stalled, looking over at the Matildas crowding around the coaching bench, „Go on. I’ll join you in a minute…“ Keira and Lucy shared a surprised look. “Fine then. But we won’t wait for you.“, Lucy shrugged. You shook your head, laughing, “I’ll catch up with you anyway. Sarina said you’re not allowed to jump or run.“ While you were still joking with your teammates, you didn’t notice Hayley walking up to you.

Her sad smile made your features soften immediately. “Hi, love.“ “Hi.“, she whispered. You lowered your gaze towards your toes and cleared your throat, “Sorry for kicking you out…“ “It’s not your fault. You were the better team. Do you still want to swap jerseys?“ Hayley was already pulling her shirt over her head. You nodded while following suit, “Of course I still want to.“ You took her shirt and pulled it over your head, “You can be so proud of yourself and your team. You have been amazing.“ Hayley took you in, standing in front of her in your sports bra and the sad smile tugged on the corners of her mouth again, “ Thank you. It just doesn’t feel like it at the moment.“ “I know.“

While answering you realized that Hayleys yellow bow had fallen to the ground. With a swift move, you picked it up and held in front of her face, “Your bow fell out.“ Wordlessly, your girlfriend turned around, so you could put it back into her ponytail like you have done a million times before. “Thank you.“ You couldn’t help but smile as you read your own name on your jersey that Hayley was now wearing, “You look really good with my name on your back.“ Finally, Hayley turned around with a real smile on her lips and let her gaze drift over you, “I like the Matildas shirt on you too.“

Impatiently Keira with a huge grin on her face shouted at you: “We gotta go now, it’s time for you to say goodbye to your girlfriend!”  You chose to ignore the shout of your teammate to ask in a hopeful voice: “See you later or tomorrow for a video call?” “Yes, see you. Oh and..”, Hayley stopped mid-sentence as you were about to leave.  Quickly you turned your head around to look at her: “Yes?” The Australian player swallowed hard before continuing: “ You were amazing tonight.” Your thanks came out in a whisper.

Quietly the brunette confessed: “I really hate losing. But there is no one I’d rather lose to than you.” “Trust me I love winning but winning against you felt terrible, so I think we’re equal upon this matter.”, you replied with a sad smile. Mumbling she agreed: “Looks like we are.” “Love you, Hayley.”, you said with a painful ache in your chest because these words might never felt as true and deep as they did in this Australian night. The love was mirrored in your girlfriends’ eyes: “I love you too. No one deserves to go to the final more than you so go celebrate with your girls.”

Hayley was still sad but there was something else pumping through her veins now a sense of excitement about what the future hold for you two in Madrid and all the adventures which lay ahead of you.

We hoped you enjoyed our first short imagine. Feel free to write us if you liked it.

[blainesebastian]

conclusion jumping (ccg universe)

words: 2,701 ship: austin butler x reader summary: (combined anon requests) “angst when reader sees a tabloid pic of Austin getting cozy with another girl + ccg and austin disagree on how to discipline luci“  warnings: none notes: thank you so much for reading! masterlist is here, along with a ccg universe dedicated masterlist here :)  tag list: @killerqueenfan, @karamelcoveredolicity, @elizabethrosecresswell, @gigisworldsstuff, @stylespresleyhearted

Admittedly, you know you shouldn’t even be following gossip instagrams for this exact reason. You know by now that what you see isn’t what it seems, always some sort of half truth mixed beneath the surface. You’re unsure of why you’d even let this get to you—you trust Austin, you do, it’s not about that. Maybe it’s about other people not creating boundaries with him and yet, you know that it’s always a balance, right? You’re not about to blame someone else completely? And still, that’s exactly what you want to do.

For your health and sanity, you unfollow the gossip celebrity Instagram that you’ve been following since before you and Austin met. It’s a lot less fun now that your name and your husband is plastered on it from time to time. This is probably exactly why Austin doesn’t keep much on social media, it’s a lot easier that way, even though you can’t imagine completely pulling the plug either.

You stare at the photo and try not to let your emotions completely swallow you whole—you don’t do conclusion jumping—

Austin is seated on a bar couch, out with his latest film family, having a good time. This is not like he hasn’t done this before with countless other movies he’s starred in, it’s not like he didn’t text you last night asking if you wanted to come (Jillian more than gladly would have watched Luci). So it’s not like this is a big secret being kept from you. It’s the fact that Austin has his arm stretched out along the back of the couch and his co-star who plays lead opposite of him, Melanie, is molded against his side and looking entirely too cozy.

You don’t even bother with the comments because you know they’re going to be a complete and utter circus. Some in support of you, some dragging you through the mud, and…even as you stand there making breakfast, you can’t even pinpoint who you’re mad at. Or about? A nasty, heated curl like a tendril in your stomach, reaching up and hooking onto your ribcage brings thoughts from deep down—

That you’re really mad at yourself because Austin was out having a good time last night and you were home playing housewife. Even though, distantly, you know that’s not…that makes no sense. You love being a wife, a mother—there are no regrets there. And Austin has never made you feel like that, so you’re not sure where those feelings are coming from. It has to be insecurities bubbling over, because you’re at a different point in your life right now and this co-star is where you were.

“This is so stupid,” You mumble under your breath as you flip pancakes, putting finished ones on a plate near the stove.

Stupid, sure. Ridiculous, maybe. And yet…you hate that you’re asking yourself what Austin did after that photo. Did he pull away? Or was it not that big of a deal?

You know exactly who Austin is, don’t you?

You hate that this stupid photo is driving you crazy into questioning that.

Glancing up at the sound of little feet, you smile a little as Luci comes rushing into the kitchen, tumbling herself right against your leg. For someone who’s two and tiny, she’s strong and knows how to throw her weight around.

“I think you grew overnight,” You tease, reaching your hand down to run through her hair, “Like a beanstalk.” You’ve read that book recently with her, so that definitely resonates.

She laughs and squeezes around your leg, her hair staticky from sleep, impressions of her pillow still warm on her cheek. “Pantates.”

“Yes,” You smirk, “Pancakes. You wanna go see if dad’s up?”

Austin came in late last night, you were barely awake when he crawled into bed, pulled you close. The scent of cologne and cigarette smoke were sticking to his skin—you remember turning into his chest and slipping as close as you could.

Luci, thrilled with having a task, turns on her heel and bolts out of the kitchen. You want to tell her not to run but at least she doesn’t have socks on, she shouldn’t be doing Risky Business sliding around. Shaking your head, you move on to making bacon and eggs, just something else to do with your hands as you consider how to ask Austin about this photo.

You’re actually not even sure you want to bring it up…maybe it’s best to just ignore it? You’re trying to decide what you can live with, what’s going to bother you later on. And then what if it happens again and you’re angry with yourself that you never tried to talk to him about it?

Turning your head as you hear another set of footsteps, heavier this time, you can’t help but smile as you see Austin walk into the kitchen looking the tiniest bit hungover, holding Luci against his chest. He’s got on a black t-shirt, black joggers, hair a mismatched mess even though he still manages to look incredibly handsome. Unfair really. His eyebrows are drawn together in such a way as Luci talks that you can tell he has a headache.

“Morning sleeping beauty,” You tease, leaning over to press a kiss to his cheek.

He grunts out a reply, turning his head to press a kiss to the corner of your mouth, “Coffee?” He manages to form that word at least and you muffle a bit of a chuckle. The eggs and bacon are fine to leave alone for a moment, getting a mug down for him to fill up with coffee from the pot.

“Savin’ my life.” He mumbles, taking the mug and having a long sip.

Must be bad if he’s not even putting in cream or sugar first.

Austin sets Luci down, who makes a sprinting for the living room as she says something about ‘cayons’—which, crayons,…you have no idea what she’s on about. Maybe she drew something for one of them? Or she’s just keeping herself busy until breakfast is ready.

Reaching up, you thread your fingers through his curls before finishing up the eggs and bacon, “Have fun last night?”

Austin hums, making his way to the fridge to grab the cream to fix his coffee, adding a bit more to the mug too, “Was a good time,” He glances over his shoulder at you, “Always more fun if you coulda made it.”

You know that’s supposed to be a compliment and you appreciate that sentiment, but something sour sits in the bottom of your stomach. Of course you would have loved to have been able to join him, just like any other past invite he’s extended to you. But your lives are a bit different now—while you could have dropped Luci off at Jillian’s place, that doesn’t mean you automatically should have? It doesn’t work like that.

Heat bubbles in your veins as you turn the stove off and you bite down on your lower lip, words pushing past your teeth, “Seems like you’re capable of having plenty of fun without me.”

You can feel Austin pause, setting his mug down slowly on the counter. But before he has a chance to unpack that, you move, unwilling to settle in the aftermath of your commentary. You walk into the living room to tell Luci that breakfast is ready, and your mouth opens but—

There, on the floor, your daughter is coloring directly on the wall with her crayons in full abandon—

"Luci!" You snap, more out of surprise and disbelief than anything else. You take a few steps towards her, eyes widening at the artwork on the pale green walls, "Since when do we draw on the walls? You know better than this."

It doesn't matter that…well, maybe she doesn't know better because you and Austin have never had to say anything to her, or that you're speaking to her as if she's run into traffic because she let go of your hands (has happened before), because she drops her crayons at the sound of your voice.

And starts crying.

You're not sure whether it's because you scared her or the tone of your voice but you suppose it doesn't matter, big fat tears are rolling down her cheeks regardless. You run a hand over your face, Austin walking past you to scoop your daughter up into his arms.

"Hey, hey," He coos, "It's alright, shhh." He bounces her on his hip a little, using his other hand to push her hair away from her face.

Any other time it might not dig under your skin, but— "It's not alright." You tell him and he kinda…glances over at you with this softly pinched, confused expression. He definitely doesn't understand where this is coming from, why you're so wound up and…

Even as you say the next set of words, it's like a car crash, a sputtering of emotions, you can't stop yourself, "We can't just let her do whatever she wants."

Austin soothes Luci with a hand moving up and down her back and you really try not to get yourself caught up in old feelings you've put to rest—how Luci tends to favor her dad, and maybe it's for these exact same moments. Good cop vs. bad.

"That's not what we're doin'."

Luci's definitely a bit calmer now against Austin's chest, soft hiccups, red cheeks and wet eyelashes and you hate that you've upset her like that. While you're not thrilled about the crayons all over the wall, it's not like it can't be painted over?

And yet your mouth is still running off, not completely connected to your brain, talking about actions having consequences. Distantly, you know that this has nothing to do with Luci and more to do with how you felt seeing your husband snuggled up on a bar couch with his co-star.

You can pinpoint the exact moment in which Austin can see right through you, "Okay, what then? What do you want to do?" He's not angry, exactly, but his voice is a bit tight, "Put her in time-out? Yell at her? Or do you want to yell at me—because that seems to be who you're really mad at."

Something heavy settles in the air, almost making it difficult for you to breathe. The words get stuck in your throat, nearly choking you—Austin waits, he's patient—always so patient. But when you don't say anything, his jaw works and he moves Luci from his one side to the other. He lets out a short sigh, looking down at her as he turns to go into the kitchen to get breakfast, giving a smile that's only reserved for her.

Leaving you with your thoughts.

--

It’s a day off for both you and Austin, a home day, which you usually love. Today it feels a bit suffocating, mostly because it's pouring outside—so there's no going to the park, no distraction from the small explosion in the living room and the awkwardly quiet breakfast that followed.

You find Luci in her bedroom after washing the dishes and apologize to her, sink to the floor, hold her little hands, try to explain even though she's moved on already—the sharp words from you a distant past. You say you're sorry anyways, draw her close, kiss her cheeks. She forgives you—she always forgives you. One day that won't easily be the case.

Wandering into the living room, you bring a selection of cleaning supplies with you from the kitchen. You're not sure where Austin is but you think you hear the shower running in your bathroom. Sitting down on the floor, you attempt to take the crayon off the wall...not much works. You sigh, running your thumb over Luci's drawing—it's grass and flowers and…cows. At least they seem to be cows? Maybe they're pandas.

When you hear footsteps approaching the living room, you look up to see Austin wandering in, freshly showered. His hair is a bit wet still, some slicked back, some in wild curls on his forehead. You swallow over an emotion in your throat you don't want to name, your husband moving to sit on the couch near where you are. He leans forward, elbows on his knees as he looks down at you.

Quiet, nothing for a few moments until he breaks the ice that's forming by touching your hair, brushing it over your shoulder. You close your eyes until he speaks, almost laughing when he asks,

"Is this about Melanie?"

You definitely hate yourself a little bit, putting down a washcloth that isn't working against the crayon, "I'm sorry—" You open your eyes, looking up at him, "I'm really sorry."

Austin nods softly, drawing his thumb along your cheek and jawline as he waits for you to continue.

"It's…" And you don't even want to mention trusting him, because you do? Utterly? You have no idea where these rush of feelings came from—jealousy, guilt, frustration? Just be honest.

"It's not as easy as before we had Luci, dropping everything and joining you out." You start, licking your lips. That within itself isn't a big deal, there will be plenty of times in the future that you do join him. "And I let myself get all wound up because I saw this picture of you and Melanie on a couch at the bar, and I didn't like it."

You swallow, almost afraid to look at him in that admittance. His hand gently tips your chin, his blue eyes meeting yours. You can tell he knows exactly what you’re talking about, his thumb tracing along your lower lip,

“You can tell me stuff like that, you know? I wasn’t exactly quiet about Ronald gettin’ too close to you on set.”

There’s a soft laugh that rumbles in your chest because…Ronald is harmless, a sound guy you’ve worked with a handful of times on movie sets, including the films you’ve written for. He’s definitely a little…overly friendly? But has always been incredibly respectful. Austin isn’t a fan because, in his opinion, regardless that Ronald is nice? He crosses boundaries—too nice. And while you don’t exactly see it, you respect how Austin feels. Just like he’s understanding you now, with Melanie.

“I’m sorry,” Austin says after a moment, “If I hurt you.” And it…it wasn’t him exactly, though you do appreciate that, appreciate him. “Lot of us got tipsy fast, Melanie was one of them. She’s uh…bit of a cuddly drunk.” You can definitely relate, “Despite what you might have seen, us on the couch, that’s the closest we were all night. I was mostly just makin’ sure she wasn’t gonna fall over.”

So basically Austin was being a decent guy, like you already know he is.

Inching towards him on the floor, you kneel so you’re situated between his legs, nuzzling your noses together for a moment. His forehead rests along yours, “I’ll talk to you next time, when something bothers me,” You promise. You got too caught up in emotions, needing to remember to take a step back, breathe. It’s hard within the moment.

Austin nods, pressing a kiss to the corner of your mouth.

“Not freak out about crayons,” You mumble with a soft eyeroll and your husband smirks.

He pulls back, cupping your cheek as he takes a look at the artwork on the walls. “I talked to her after she calmed down, I think she understands.” Austin tilts his head a little, “Though, seems like a shame to get rid of such nicely drawn…bears?”

“I think they’re cows. We should make her write an artist statement.”

Austin laughs but…then again.

A few days later, you buy this frame at a yard sale you just happen to pass on your way home, and you place it perfectly around her drawing in the living room. When Austin comes home and sees that, he almost loses it, eyes bright with amused laughter. You would be the parents to frame your daughter’s first coloring on the walls…

And help her write an artist statement to place on a small placard alongside it.

[bronx-bomber87]

Happy Tuesday Fandom! If that's a thing lol Officially half way through s3. Insane. I love this episode. It’s one giant married moment. They are at the height of their banter and marriage flow in this one. This episode is one big continuous work flirt that doesn’t stop. Idk why people didn’t like this ep when it first premiered. It’s Chenford gold. I remember loving this kind of ep for Castle too. It was split for that fandom as well. I think they’re hilarious snippets I enjoy them a lot. The looks alone in this one are primo. This one is more me analyzing their commentary on the case since everyone is segregated in this one. But lets get started.

3x07 True Crime

We start our ep off with Tim and Lucy being the ones called to Corey’s house. There was signs of blood and they enter the house and find a ton of it. Thus starts their amazing run of snippets in this episode. They are being interviewed since they were apart of the investigation. Tim is instantly surly with the director LOL Shock surprise eh? Last thing he wants to do is be here. To him they could be out on the streets instead of this. Lucy is the natural antithesis to him about this. Legit beaming and he is miserable.

The epitome of grumpy x sunshine in every single way. These interview pieces showcase that so well. It makes me giddy and happy haha Tim wants to get out of this ASAP. While Lucy is so excited to be there answering any and all questions. Even cuts him off in her excitement. She is bursting at the seams with elation. Then apologizes to Tim but still can't contain her glee by saying ‘This is fun.‘ Tim judges her some more I’m dying. The look on his face at the end of the second gif above. LMAO

This next section I like to call. ‘How to show you’re in love with someone without saying a word.’ By Timothy Bradford. He is all heart eyes in this scene. First one he's settling in to listen. When his girl speaks he listens, second is him agreeing wholeheartedly with her assessment and lastly is heart eye/admiration city. Doesn't take his eyes off her most of this scene. They’re talking about Corey Harris’s acting class. How he used them to start a bling ring to steal from celebrities. Tim goes on to say how anyone they caught wouldn’t flip on Corey. So he got away with it.

Lucy adds in her own portion. Explaining how Corey promised his students everything. Money, fame. This in turn inserted him in their lives even further. Basically convincing his students he could control their destinies. Saying he did this because he probably didn’t have any control over his own. Tim is just nodding along with a proud look on his face. Just admiring her take on it. 100 percent loving her analysis of him. You know he loves how her brain works. He is just sitting back and enjoying her breakdown of Corey. As transparent as a glass of water sir.

What comes next always has me rolling when I watch this ep. Gotta love the way Lucy tells him like it is no matter the situation. Keeps him in check. Tim is so cocky in his deliverance of his teacher line. Smug really and Lucy shoots that down instantly. He’s all smiles (love this man's smile btw it does things to me. mmm) then realizes how much she’s got him on this. He is dead to rights and has no comeback. You watch in the gifs above he goes from smug and smiley to straight up defeated LOL

He exhales with a ‘You win’ sigh. It’s fantastic. He thought he had this clever quip against Corey. Survey says no. Wifey shut you down lmao Her face through out the whole scene is so funny. Like this is her idiot and she can’t help but poke fun at him for his comment. This moment will always make me laugh. He’s being so ridiculous and she doesn’t let him live it down in the slightest. Her reaction in the final gif is the best. Can't believe he's being such a goober. The work flirt begins and does not stop. Be more married you two please.

They end up finding a script at one of their crime scenes. The director thinks this is an odd thing to stumble upon. Apparently it is a completely normal thing in LA according to Tim. Just another day on the job in this city ha Their polar opposite replies are so indicative of them as characters. The way Lucy is like well yeah when they’re asked if they’ve written one. Tim's is an instant and hard 'God, No' LMAO. These two. Opposites truly do attract.

Her face in the first gif what makes me laugh so hard. That sheepish embarrassment. Eric and Melissa are just pure gold in this one. Their looks alone are some of the best parts besides the banter. Tim can read her like a damn book. All he has to do is look over at her and see her answer. At first he’s waiting for her to say she hasn’t either. Expecting her to follow suit.

She does not…his body language while he’s waiting for her verbal answer is so funny. Like a slow realization. Then it’s judgy city after that. The way she weakly defends why she has is too damn funny. He is none too pleased she has written one. We all know how Tim feels about screen writers. His face says everything. God I love these two sfm.

Their looks in this one have me rolling the entire episode. Eric is the master when it comes to this in the first place. He crushes it in this one they both do. His reaction to her excitement as they get closer to the climax of this case is hilarious. The judgy side eye and furrowed brow he gives her above is extremely amusing.

Tim truly doesn’t understand why she’s enjoying this so damn much. He’s trying to just get through it and be done. His grumpy old man is showing extra hard in this moment. Her sunshine demeanor despite him is amazing. She is of course the opposite and doesn’t know why he doesn’t enjoy this whole thing more LOL Lucy is having a friggin blast. Its coming off her in waves every time it comes back to them.

I feel like Lucy owns Tim’s ass for most of this ep. He literally doesn’t stand a chance against her witty comebacks. Every time he tries to be cocky or make a joke she shuts him down so hard. His crack about a woman scorned. Lucy puts him in check real quick with that one. His soft tone when he says he’s not trivializing it....(but you are my love)

He doesn’t want her to be mad at him for his stupid comment. Then she takes him to school even further with her logical stats. He has nothing to say except 'Most...'' No leg to stand on Timothy haha. Lucy is proud of her self for this one. No one puts Tim Bradford in check better than Lucy Chen. We all LOVE it. (He does too let's be honest...) This episode is pure gold for their banter. Married idiots in this one for all to see.

The director then comments on how Lucy was the one who broke the case wide open. Lucy is beaming from ear to ear. Lights up like a Christmas tree at hearing this. She is so excited to be recognized. Tim isn’t so fast to heap on that particular praise. Now Tim doesn’t give praise out easily to begin with. Add in she just schooled him in front of the director, he’s gonna be extra salty haha The director then asks well if he wouldn't describe it as such how would he?

Tim takes a shot at her social media addiction as his answer. Then Lucy looks like she wants to punch him so hard. Like how very dare he say about her. Ha She is so affronted telling the director 'That’s hurtful' LOL (but a little true...) Side note. I can totally see them in bed. Tim falling asleep to her endless scrolling. It becoming a comfort thing for him. Her going till she is ready to sleep. Shortly after him I imagine. Tis a nice thought to think about now that they're together. But let's get back to the present ep at hand before I daydream any further hehe

The cute looks in that final gif though. Be still my heart. She is so exasperated with him and he’s soaking it up. No regrets whatsoever taking her praise and boiling it down to luck. The absolute shameless flirting going on between these two. It’s like they don’t even know they're putting on a show for this director LMAO It's truly delightful.

Lucy scrambles to defend herself. It’s pretty comical. Saying she was on her phone doing ‘research’ Tim shaking his head but enjoying this none the less. Says that she got a notification and that’s what drew her eye to Corey's video showing he's alive. Lucy says she still has the video on her phone. So ready to take Tim down a peg. She pulls it up and it’s her on her own page doing some sort of dance. I’m laughing so hard.

I want to see this video in its entirety. Read the comments. All of it. I don't know what’s funnier Lucy being mortified that came up or Tim wanting a peak at the video. He’s confused as hell but wanting to see what she was showing the director. If you need a pick me up episode this is it. This one doesn’t disappoint on so many levels.

His confused face is everything after she quickly hides her phone. There are facets to her personality that allude him completely. This is one of them. Alas Timothy this is the woman you’ve chosen to love hahaha I love her being a dork sfm though. It’s that light hearted dork that brings the best out in him as we see in s5.

Their final scene doesn’t disappoint. Lucy’s face during his rant LOL. Tim going off saying what a waste of time this is, he should be doing stuff more important. Said this before but that line from Aaron in S5 fits perfectly for this rant. He's the old dude from 'Up' Such a good line because its so true for him. I love him so much for his grumpiness though. You know Lucy does too. Loves every piece of this man.

Her face is like the wife letting her husband rant even though she thinks he’s wrong. Tim gets humbled one last time. The director tells him about his last project. The way Lucy watches him the entire scene is adorable. She loves her idiot. The look they share after he says ‘Oh. Alrighty then.’ The smirk on Lucy's face. I can not. He has grown so much btw to not to be continuously defensive after he's corrected. Just rolls with it in this last scene. Like Oh... Oops.

Tim gets the last laugh though. Lucy is beaming slash word vomiting her love of true crime while Tim rolls his eyes LOL Thanking the director for letting her be in this. She is exuding sunshine and happily looking at him. When she finishes up Tim pops her happy bubble. Tells her about the thing in her hair. They’re constantly trying to one up the other. Take each other down a peg. Competitiveness even in an interview. Unreal. Lucy has his number this entire episode. So it’s only fair Tim gets his shot in last minute.

I do love in the second gif he stops himself from getting said thing out of her hair though. You watch him reach for it then stop his hand before it makes the full journey. Lucy is so affronted she doesn’t even notice. Her arm is already up and blocking any attempt to grab it anyways. I do love his almost attempt though. It's the little things.

Lucy is so mad he let that be in her hair the entire time. He did it because well it’s Tim. I adore these two so very much. He sighs heavily as she berates him on the way out. So exasperated by her it’s so funny. This is such a fun flirty light hearted episode for them. We got their banter in spades with side helping of heart eyes and flirtation. One of my fav eps of the season for them. Much needed levity after the intensity of the last two.

~~~~

Side notes- non Chenford

Not much. Was good to find out what happened to Sterling. Gino just disappeared last year without a trace. So having ending to them was nice to have.

Harper was hilarious during the interviews to always love me some Nyla Harper. ❤️

Forever Thank you to all who read these reviews and like, comment and reblog means the world :) see you all in 3x08

[spotsandsocks]

The Lost and The Found Chapter update!

Chapter 3

There’s something going on and whatever it is Buck’s excited about it. Bouncing around like an overexcited puppy. Bobby’s smiling at him indulgently and Hen and Chim are behaving like irritated siblings who have to endure their younger brother’s birthday celebrations. Even Lucy (who isn’t actually that bad once you get to know her and find out that Buck still wants to sit next to you despite pretty blondes hanging around) is smiling at his restlessness instead of teasing him.

It’s not Buck’s birthday, he knows that and he can’t think what else would have him so excited. He’s not planning any surprises for Chris at least not that he’s mentioned. Eddie can admit he’s a bit irritated at being kept in the dark. He can also admit that his mood might be a little bit to do with the time of month. 

It’s not escaped him that with each of the three months that have passed since the well incident the pull of a full moon has put him on edge. In the week leading up to it he’s been a little on edge, maybe a  little less rational and a bit, ok more than a bit short tempered. 

Not that that it means anything but this  month is number four and again he feels a little unsettled. Its a little like how he felt  after his injuries and discharge. Only worse. He really needs to find another witch, get the curse looked at again. Just to be sure. It’ll be fine but probably worth checking. Lost in thought Buck’s voice is a surprise that makes him jump.

“Hey Eds?”

“What?” 

The word is more of bark, a lot harsher than he intended and his regret is instant. It’s hardly his friend’s fault if he’s in a mood. The blue eyes looking down at him are uncertain now and Eddie hates it when Buck looks like that.  It’s worse today because he’s the one putting the expression on his face. A quick apology chases some of the look away. 

“Sorry just, you know…” which obviously explains nothing so there’s still an edge of wariness in Buck’s expression and he stutters a little,  “ I I was  just just gonna ask if you…you wanted a coffee?”

The remaining tightness around Buck’s eyes is matched by the careful tone of concern in his voice. Eddie tries to sweep it away with a smile and a significantly more cheerful response.

“Sure, thanks.”

Unfortunately his friend isn’t convinced by the breezy tone and it’s impossible not to be aware of the look he’s getting as Buck drifts off to get coffee for them. It’s Buck’s patented ‘what’s going on with you’ look but he holds back from saying anything for now. He doesn’t ask later and Eddie never gets to his coffee either. The alarm goes and they’re leaving for a call. Coffee behind left to go cold. Eddie makes sure he smiles and joins in with the chat in the cab the whole way there, clearly signposting to Buck that there’s “nothing to worry about.” 

It might have worked except the journey back has a very different feel. Probably to do with the fact that he spends most of the return journey staring silently out the window.  Buck then spends the rest of the shift avoiding him or maybe he’s just being paranoid, maybe it’s just a coincidence Buck isn’t anywhere to be found.

It’s a guilty conscience making him think thoughts like that. Eddie knows he was short tempered before the shout and while he tried on the way out to be cheerful unfortunately his mood got worse once they arrived at the scene. He took it out on Buck and earnt himself more sad puppy eyes from his friend and several frowns from Hen and even Chim at one point so he knows he must have been bad. It wasn’t his fault, not really, it was just that the three women at their emergency had been blatantly flirting with Buck, who had laughed and gone along with it. Eddie found it extremely unprofessional. Each smile and flutter of eyelashes Buck gave them irritated him a little more. He’s pretty sure Buck smiled more at one of them more than the rest. The red headed one. 

Unprofessional and annoying; he’s pretty sure the red head slipped Buck her number.  

He knows why he’s annoyed and he’s not proud of it. He’s jealous and it’s childish. Eddie’s allowed himself to get a little too dependent on Buck and that’s on him, not Buck. He’s the one who let Buck into his life so completely but he’s not really family, he’s not pack. Eddie doesn’t have that anymore and needs to learn to share his new best friend.  

Buck has a life outside of Eddie even if the reverse isn’t particularly true. 

Dating is bound to be a part of that. A wave of disgust hits him. God he’s pathetic, jealous of his best friend getting dates. Eddie tries hard not to consider what particular aspect of Buck getting dates it is that upsets him. 

Better not to think about that. Better not to wonder if he’s jealous of Buck dating or of people dating Buck.

head to ao3 for the rest Chapter 3

[likecastle]

Robin/Nancy makes the other cry. You decide if it is in an angsty or horny way!!

And we're back! This one is a stone cold bummer, I'm afraid! Enjoy!

Robin knocks on the doorframe of the guest room, and Nancy blinks up at her, taken aback. She genuinely hadn’t heard Robin coming—too wrapped up in her own thoughts, probably. “OK?” Robin asks.

Nancy dips her head. “Yeah, of course.”

“Feel like celebrating?” Robin holds out a can of beer. “Steve found some in the fridge in the garage. It’s probably like a year old at this point, but if expired beer is the thing that kills me after everything else that’s happened, so be it.” She shrugs.

Nancy accepts the can, but she doesn’t open it, just holds it in her hands. It’s the same brand they were drinking the night Barb was killed, she realizes with a pang. It’s only fitting, she thinks, that all of this would end in the same place it began—for her, at least. She traces the blue lines on the can with her thumb, thinking about how much has changed since then. Barb probably wouldn’t even recognize what’s left of Hawkins—or Nancy, for that matter.

“I’m not really much of a beer drinker, myself,” Robin says, sitting down on the bed beside Nancy. “But, I dunno, it seems like we ought to mark the occasion somehow.” Robin pops the tab on her can of beer and holds it out to toast Nancy. “To doing the thing!” she says in a falsely bright voice.

Nancy smiles despite herself, and taps Robin’s beer can with her own. “To doing the thing,” she echoes, with significantly less manufactured cheer.

Still, she can’t make herself open the can and take a drink. It wasn’t the first time she’d ever had a drink, that night at Steve’s house, but it was maybe the first time she’d been drunk, and it has never felt as good as that ever again. Not that she’s had all that many opportunities, but every other time she’s let herself get drunk, it’s turned on her somehow—at Tina’s awful Halloween party, finishing the last of Murray’s vodka with Jonathan the night before he left for California. It always manages to wend itself back to the first time, and she’s got enough memories flooding back around her as it is.

“It doesn’t even feel real,” she says quietly.

Robin nods solemnly. “Yeah, well, we’ve been here before, haven’t we? It’s a real Charlie Brown and Lucy situation, only in this case the football is saving the world I guess?” She mimes snatching away a football from an approaching kick. “Fool me once shame on you, fool me five times, shame on some evil psychic monster man, I guess.” She takes a deep swallow of her beer, and Nancy thinks that possibly this isn’t the first one she’s had. “But at least we know that if the end of the world does start all over again, we’ll probably be able to figure out a way to shut it down. Just, like, on average.”

On average, Nancy thinks, they’ve managed to forestall the end of the world four times, never actually to stop it. The jury’s still out on this round.

“Y’know,” Robin says in a small voice, “it’s all right if you’re not, y’know . . .”

Nancy shakes her head impatiently. “If I’m not what?”

“. . . feeling like celebrating,” Robin says. She hesitates, then adds, “If you’re not OK.”

“I know,” Nancy says, sharper than she means to. “I’m fine.”

Robin finishes her beer with a wince and says, “See, I just don’t think that’s true. And, I mean, it’s nothing personal. I don’t really think that could possibly true for any of us.”

“I’m fine,” Nancy hisses, hating the way Robin’s trying to push this touchy-feely bullshit on her. “Maybe you’re not dealing with things, but I’m handling it.”

Robin laughs. “Brava, Wheeler. Really convincing. A+. Where’d you study? The Lady Doth Protest Too Much School of Dramatic Denials?”

“Can you for once just give it a rest?” Nancy snaps. “For once in your life take a hint? No? Well, then, here, let me spell it out for you: I – don’t – want – to – talk – about – it. Not to you, not to anyone, got it? Is that OK with you? I came up here to enjoy a little peace and quiet and you insist on shoving in where you’re not wanted, just like you always do. Just leave me alone.”

She regrets it the moment she sees the look on Robin’s face—stung, eyes suddenly glossy with unshed tears. But Robin just smiles, this horrible thin twitch of her lips, and says, “Sure thing, Wheeler.”

“Robin, wait—” But Robin’s already out the door, disappearing down the dark hall.

[she-karev]

Mother's Day (Andrew DeLuca x Alex Karev's Sister Imagine)

Age Rating: 12+

Chapters: Two of Three

Fandom: Grey’s Anatomy

Ship: Andrew DeLuca and Amber Karev

Canon Episode: Season 20 Episode 7

AN: Happy Mother’s Day again guys so this is another chapter that focuses on Andrew DeLuca and Amber Karev on this special occasion. Now I don’t know the timeline of season 20 due to the production being held back a year because of last year’s writers�� protests but I imagine it’s still around 2023 so this is where the chapter is set.

Summary: Amber is worried about how she is going to tell her and DeLuca’s daughter about their extended and estranged family.

Words: 6579

May 11, 2023

Amber walks down the hallway of her house in her casual gray shirt, jeans and green utility jacket. She put her hair up in a bun and her makeup is done casual. She enters the kitchen ready to get some coffee when an unexpected surprise comes her way.

“Sorpresa!” Andrew DeLuca yells out from the kitchen table holding their 7-month-old daughter in his arms presenting a plate of crepes with a cup of coffee to the left and a bowl of fresh fruit on the right.

Amber chuckles in delight, “What is this? My half birthday was two months ago.” She sits across from them salivating at the delicious looking French pastry that is filled with whip cream and covered in blueberries.

“Well, it’s Mother’s Day today and we felt like celebrating your first with a gourmet breakfast and.” He hands her a pink construction paper that has hand prints painted over it with pink glitter spilled on in and an I Love You written above showing that Lucy made it with the help of daycare, “A Hallmark level card courtesy of our future artist here.”

Amber smiles at the paper, “Aww well thank you both, oh dang she really loves that pink glitter, doesn’t she?”

Andrew chuckles, “Yeah you gotta see what we’ve been working on for daycare.” He pulls out a large white poster from under the table and on it is a family tree that is normally done for an elementary school project, “We’re doing present your family and let me tell you our little girl really likes crafting especially when she gets to spill pink glitter all over a canvas.” Andrew smiles at Lucy who is eating Gerber puffs, “Hopefully they can read all about your family over the pink glitter bambina. They probably don’t need to since your whole family works at the hospital and everybody knows who is related to who.” Amber’s smile falls as she looks at the tree solemnly which Andrew catches, “What’s wrong?”

Amber inhales and composes herself grinning again, “Nothing I’m just anxious about these crepes you made and hope I don’t die from sugar crashing.” Amber puts the poster away and eats her breakfast with Andrew looking at her worried but goes back to feeding their baby.

Later

After checking Dorian Cardenas’s labs and telling him he is gonna move out of the ICU, DeLuca exits the room with Yasuda and Adams behind him. He goes to a nurse’s station to check his schedule for the day. He has two surgeries for today and he has to go to daycare and present the family tree with Amber and Lucy. He found her behavior after she saw the tree strange and is wondering how to ask her what the issue is. Like he summoned her he sees Amber walking toward him in her baby blue scrubs.

“Hey how’s it going?”

Amber groans, “Well my blissful morning took a disastrous turn when I saw that tree our daughter did.”

Andrew’s eyes widen at that, “Honey she’s not even one you can’t expect her to be Artemisia Gentileschi overnight. Besides I helped so it should be me you're criticizing.”

“No, it’s not about how the tree looked it’s about what was on it or wasn’t.”

Andrew raises an eyebrow still confused, “Amber your gonna have to help me out here.”

Amber sighs, “The only photos there are us, her aunts Carina, Maya, Jo, her uncle Alex and her cousins Luna and Liam. What are we supposed to say about the rest of her family?”

“Ah I see now.” Andrew finally understands and works to relief his wife’s stress, “We’ll just tell her the truth it’s not a big deal.”

Amber narrows her eyes at him, “Okay so do you want to be the one to tell her about her grandfather who killed four patients in a manic state, her grandmother who had a stroke. Oh, and you also can’t forget her other grandfather who died right here in this hospital withdrawing from hard drugs until a tired resident went crazy and butchered his heart in an OR.”

Andrew presses his lips at the dark reminder and looks at Yasuda and Adams behind him who look both shocked and horrified by their family history.

Yasuda clears her throat, “What happened to this crazy resident? Did he get suspended from the OR?” Amber and Andrew look on in annoyance at the interns butting in.

“A guy like that who killed the father of an attending I would think jail or psych ward.” Adams theorizes.

“Well you’re both wrong.” Andrew quickly informs them, “He got offered a job at a state of the art medical research facility out of the country.”

Adams and Yasuda look at them blankly over the cruel irony, “…How come he got that after killing your dad but we didn’t after trying to save a patient?”

The question by Adams pisses Amber off more who glares at him, “Because I wasn’t around to kick his ass or kill him which is what you all are gonna get if you interrupt my private family matter between me and my husband now hush!”

Andrew shakes his head at them and turns to Amber, “You're forgetting your mother.”

Amber chuckles at him darkly and stops abruptly with a frown, “No she does not count. She hasn’t even reached out when I told her about the pregnancy.”

“Maybe because you usually tell that news with a call and not a text to someone who still uses a home phone.” Andrew reminds her.

Yasuda speaks, “Wait you told your mother you were pregnant through a text?”

Amber glares at Mika who cowers in fear, “What are my rules?”

“Speak when you tell me to.” Yasuda repeats and shuts up.

Amber turns back to Andrew who has another suggestion, “What about your brother, the other brother Aaron?”

Amber raises an eyebrow, “You did not just say that.”

Andrew sighs, “Look it’s been over three years I think you’ve punished him and your mother enough. The both of them are alive, working on their mental health and sober by our family standards we got the golden ticket.”

“I’m pretty sure you don’t get a famous chocolate factory here.” Lucas quips.

Andrew glares at him, “Speak when your spoken to applies to you as well Adams.” Lucas quiets causing Andrew to focus back on Amber who looks sad at their family situation, “Every family tree has a few nuts in them babe.”

“Some more than others.” Yasuda mutters.

“Do you want a slap to the face Yasuda?” Amber asks viciously causing Mika to swallow.

“I-I’m so sorry my mouth speaks before my brain and I have a dark sense of humor and-”

Amber ignores her and focuses on Andrew, “My brother is out of the question he made it so after our wedding and hasn’t apologized for it since. No, he lost the right to get to know his niece.” Amber inhales deeply with Andrew looking concerned, “You know what it’s fine we’re fine. Lucy has so many people who love her more than the people cut from her life she’ll be fine.”

Andrew knows her too well to fall for that, “You’re doing that thing where you try to convince yourself everything is fine when it isn’t.”

“I didn’t have doting grandparents or uncles growing up, it sucked but Lucy has us and so many other family members within walking distance. It will soften the blow once we tell her about our Clive Barker horror family tales. We’ll flip a coin on who gets to tell her, I gotta go to the pit. I’ll see you later.” Amber walks away from Andrew who looks at her worried while Adams pitches in.

“She really told her mom she was gonna be a grandma in a text?”

“That’s my wife your judging Adams so watch it.” Andrew turns to the interns, “Transport Dorian to a patient room and monitor his vitals and I cannot stress this enough. If one of you ignores your duties again, I will have Amber DeLuca unleash her pent-up rage against her family on you and I think you learned from her brief history recap how brutal we can be especially on lazy interns.” Yasuda and Adams look scared but nod understanding, “Good now go.” The interns leave DeLuca to go inside Dorian’s room while he exhales still worrying about Amber.

Later

Amber gowns up at the pit to prepare for the incoming double trauma in front of Kwan and Millin who start to annoy her as Millin chants.

“Chest tube, chest tube, chest tube, chest tube. I have one left on my procedure log.”

Amber starts to walk out with them and Kwan converses with Millin, “Ah me too. Want to bet who finishes first?”

“Loser buys drinks at Joe’s?”

“You’re on.”

“Game faces people.” Amber reminds them as she approaches Hunt and Link when the blaring ambulances stop at the bay.

“I got this one, Link you got the other.”

“Okay Millin you’re with us, Kwan go with Link.” Amber orders and they separate. Millin follows Amber and Hunt to the ambulance when the doors open revealing a woman on a gurney with a collar on.

“What do we got?”

“Gillian Mendelson, 46. Status post MVC.” The paramedic explains while Hunt does a neuro exam, “GCS 15. Brief LOC. Small head lac. Complaints of headache.”

Gillian is awake and speaks, “I’d think it’s a migraine if I wasn’t just in a car accident.”

“Okay let’s get you inside to check you out.”

Gillian speaks stopping them, “Wait! I-I want to make sure Cassandra’s okay.” They look to their left at the ambulance next to them and see a woman coming out on a gurney in far less severe shape than Gillian. Amber notices her serene expression and glassy eyes, “Cass you okay babe?”

Cassandra responds in a loose voice, “Remember when the kids were at soccer camp and we tried those gummies?”

Amber answers for her, “I think she’s okay.”

“We got to make sure you are too. Let’s go.” Both teams wheel their patients into the pit.

Meanwhile

Andrew opens the door allowing Yasuda and Adams to wheel in Dorian into his new room.

Yasuda tries to hype him up, “Smells of antiseptic, doesn’t have a view, but…”

“It’s not the ICU.” Adams finishes, “And-”

“Surprise” A man and woman jump out of the bathroom smiling and holding a GET WELL SOON, D sign. Andrew smiles at the perfect timing as he helped them plan a surprise jump out for Dorian who needs a little happy in his life. It works because he’s smiling for the first time in a while.

“No way. James? Fiona?”

Andrew explains, “They reached out and insisted on being here. I hope that’s okay.

“More than okay. We’re in the same engineering program. Well, we were.”

“Don’t worry. We brought all your work from last semester so you can catch up.”

“No, we didn’t, jerk.” Fiona lightly pushes him, “We did bring a bunch of cards from people back at school though. Everybody misses you, D.”

“Not entirely sure why.”

Dorian chuckles at James joke as DeLuca inserts his IV, “All right, let’s get you settled here and hopefully you won’t be here for long.” Dorian exhales in relief as DeLuca gets to work.

Later

After they found out that their patient Gillian is married to someone else and that Cassandra is her mistress Owen requested that she get a CT to rule out any neuro injuries. Amber found the situation both amusing and sad, amusing because she had to hide Cassandra’s bra when Aaron walked in and sad because Aaron seemed like a guy who didn’t deserve to be in a situation like this where his wife is sleeping with her friend behind his back. It makes her think about how her own messy family life which brings her back to issue of her nuts in the family tree and how her daughter will handle it.

“How long does this take?” Gillian asks while she is inside the MRI with Hunt and Amber observing from the monitor room.

“It should be quick.”

“Well, I was hoping it would be longer. If my head wasn’t pounding, I’d just as soon stay.”

Amber presses the intercom, “Just try to relax Gillian, imagine you’re lying on a beach getting a suntan. It doesn’t feel like it but that what imagination is for.”

“You want to know how I got in this mess, don’t you?” Gillian asks in shame with Hunt saying no and Amber overlapping with a kind of causing her to explain, “Aaron and I got married right after law school. We had our kids; we did our jobs. And then the kids were older, and work was-Well, I do tax law, and all of it just got so boring. Uninspiring.” Amelia walks in to check the brain scan, “But then I met Cass at the PTA, and she made life not boring. So here I am with a giant headache. Literally and figuratively.

“Complicated.” Amber snaps out of it and turns to Amelia.

“Do you see a subarachnoid hemorrhage or maybe an epidural hematoma?”

“No, her scan’s clear. Situation’s a mess. Well, good luck.”

Amber purses her lips and nods while Shepherd leaves. She presses the intercom so Gillian doesn’t hear her, “No offense to Gillian but I would take boring any day of the week including Sunday. Chaos can be exhilarating but then the high dies and you end up in pain and innocent people suffer the consequences of your mistakes.”

Hunt turns to Amber with a worried look and decides to pry, “Is everything okay with DeLuca?”

“No, we’re fine I’m talking about my family as in the ones who don’t live here.” Hunt still looks confused and Amber sighs at his expression, “I have to figure out how to explain to my precious and innocent child that her grandparents are either dead, manic or schizophrenic. It’s a can of works that’s gonna make her seriously question her sanity and her parents for thinking it was a good idea to mix our time bomb genes together. And my brother who I would go to for this picked this week to go to Nebraska for a peds surgery.”

“Your side has schizophrenia and DeLuca’s is bipolar, those are conditions that can be monitored and treated with the right therapy and medication. And if it makes you feel better medicine is advancing constantly and when she reaches that age the medications, she can take could be more effective with little side effects than it has today.” Amber nods feeling a tiny bit better, “And as for when you tell her you just have to take it one step at a time. If she’s anything like you apart from looks she’ll be fine. Kids are tough and they adjust well to bad situations better than adults. You of all people can understand that.”

Amber looks back at Gillian, “One thing is for sure Gillian’s head is not the only thing that’s gonna blow up.”

Meanwhile

Andrew and Carina walk down the hall to talk about Amber’s concerns as he is also starting to let it sink in. He hadn’t really considered it but now that Amber brought it up, he can see why she was worried. It’s hard to give your child the sex talk when they reach teen hood but how do you explain the whole messy family history that involves murder, death and insanity.

“I tried to tell her it wasn’t a big deal but the more I think about it I start to realize she’s right.” Carina sips her coffee paying attention, “I mean it was bad enough for us with just papa but for Lucy she has papa and so many other family tales that will make her use a nightlight for the rest of her life.”

“It’s not that bad it could be worse.”

Andrew scoffs in disbelief and counts with his fingers as he recaps to her, “Junkie grandpa who was murdered, manic grandpa who killed four patients, grandma who died of a stroke and a schizophrenic grandma who probably doesn’t know she exists. Can you think of a family that’s worse than that? Maybe the Stark’s from Game of Thrones or the Lannister’s definitely the Targaryen’s.”

Carina sighs, “I swear you and Maya are alike sometimes. She told me she was worried her genes were gonna ruin the baby because of how her father treated her. It’s the hormones but I know it’s from a deep-rooted fear that you have as well. We’re not our parents Andrea and neither are our precious babies.”

“Aren’t you worried at all about how Liam is gonna take it when you tell him about his cruel grandfathers and his homophobic uncle living on the streets?”

“Of course, I am but the good thing about growing up the way we did is that we know how to help our children process very shocking information. We just have to remind them of the people who love them and that despite how we were raised we are not gonna do to them what our parents did to us.” Andrew nods processing her advice, “Lucy is gonna be okay and so is Liam you just have to be prepared for when they have questions and answer them as honestly and as gently as we can.”

Andrew nods thankful for having a wise sister, “Thanks, I needed to hear that…You know Liam is lucky to have a mom like you, he’s gonna grow up great.” Carina looks away bashful, “I know this because he’s not the first kid you raised. That was me.”

Carina grins at Andrew gratefully who grins back, “Thank you I needed to hear that too.” Her phone beeps and her grin fall, “911 from Jo I have to go.” Carina runs away leaving Andrew in the dust.

Later

After ruling out neuro injuries in CT, Hunt and Amber moves Gillian back to the pit and gave her an ice pack for the headache. Aaron was waiting for her and is agitated but the news they give him.

“What do you mean her scan is clear?”

“Aaron.”

Aaron persists, “You’re clearly in pain.”

Amber explains, “Her scans showed no obvious hematomas or hemorrhages but we’re gonna find out what’s causing the headaches.”

“We’re gonna keep her in for observation. This could be a concussion. She did hit her head pretty hard.”

Aaron looks confused at Hunts diagnosis, “You did?”

“It’s how she got the cut.” Amber explains as Gillian looks flustered clearly afraid of being exposed.

“Why didn’t the airbag inflate?”

“Oh, uh, it did. I-I hit the door.” Gillian lies, “Can we not talk about this now?”

“But the cut’s on the right side of your head.” Amber presses her lips at Aaron getting closer to the harsh truth with Hunt stepping in.

“Listen, the good thing is-”

Aaron interrupts and keeps pestering Gillian, “If you were driving, the door would be-”

Gillian groans, “Oh, my head is really pounding.”

Amber clears her throat, “Just keep the icepack on the head Gillian, Mr. Mendelson why don’t you take a walk while your wife recuperates, I think that would be-”

Aaron ignores her, “She hit you so hard that it flipped you in your seat? That woman should definitely not be driving our kids around. She’s irresponsible and-”

“WE’RE HAVING AN AFFAIR!” Gillian yells out so loud the whole pit hears her.

“And there’s the blow up.” Amber whispers to Hunt both of them feeling awkward as Gillian spills the dirty beans.

“What’d you say?” Aaron asks in shock.

“An affair! You know, sex? The thing you and I never have anymore. That’s what Cass and I were doing in the back seat, like we’ve been doing for two years. Two years! Any more questions?” Aaron looks at his wife hurt but doesn’t speak instead he leaves in pain with Hunt and Amber as a front row audience to the farce, “I felt a lot better yelling at him.”

Amber nods, “Well, sometimes getting it all out can be a huge relief to the psyche.”

“No, no, I-I feel awful now, but when I’m yelling…MY HEAD DOESN’T HURT!” Amber jumps in shock at the sudden outburst and looks at Hunt who is also confused by this new development.

Later

Amber walks into the lobby rubbing her ear with her finger after getting Gillian back into CT. Her patient was screaming the whole time because it made her head feel better. They were able to diagnose her and sent her to an O.R. before she damaged all of their ear canals. Amber spots Andrew charting by the station in his navy scrubs and navy-blue scrub cap with a constellation pattern on it.

Amber stands next to him leaning against the station on her elbows, “Hey.”

Andrew smiles at her, “Hey I heard about your patient who screamed in your face.”

Amber chuckles, “She didn’t scream at me she screamed so she could relieve her cranial pressure. We sent her up to neuro, it should be a simple procedure. I just hope she doesn’t scream while Shepherd is in her brain.”

“It would be an interesting sight.” Amber smiles at that when they hear a familiar voice yelling at someone behind them.

“Because he was shot!” Amber and Andrew quickly turn around to find Lucas Adams yelling at Dorian’s friends in the middle of the waiting room, “Three bullets went into his body. He’s been hanging on by a thread for weeks.”

Andrew looks on in shock and anger, “Damn it come on.” Amber and Andrew move towards Adams who keeps admonishing Fiona and James who look at him in hurt shock.

“And he’s already feeling disconnected enough not knowing how long he’ll be here. He doesn’t need to listen to stories about people he doesn’t know or graduations he won’t attend. He just needs to know that you’re actually here for him.”

Andrew reaches Adams and sternly orders him, “Adams take a walk right now.”

He ignores him and keeps going, “Maybe it’s for the better that you weren’t here. You obviously have no idea what he’s been through.”

Andrew grabs Adams elbow forcing him to face him as he glares at him in anger and disappointment, “Go find a dark corner somewhere while I clean up your mess again. Now.” Adams stands there with a pissed off look forcing DeLuca to yell, “Now!” Adams leaves in a huff. Amber follows him to get answers while her husband apologizes to the victims of Adams tirade.

She catches up to him in the towel room, “What the hell was that?! Are you out of your damn mind?!”

Adams quickly turns to face her, “Dorian’s been here for 51 days, and they waited till now to visit him?”

“He didn’t want them here!” Amber explains, “Post op day 15 his phone was blowing up with texts from them asking him where he was. He told me to text back that he was okay they didn’t even know about what happened until two weeks ago. But even if that wasn’t the case that doesn’t warrant you to verbally assault his friends, do you really think that’s how a doctor is supposed to talk to his patients loved ones?! You have disappointed me in a new way that I didn’t think even you were capable of.”

“And what are you gonna do huh? Cut me off like you cut your own mom and brother out of your life?”

“Adams watch it!” Amber registers Andrew behind her speaking in a protective tone.

“Can anybody live up to your standards?” Adams asks her in anger, “Are you really such a perfectionist that you toss your own blood in the garbage for what is no doubt a little mistake that you can’t overlook. You didn’t even tell them about your daughter you just assumed they would be fine with you deserting them.”

Andrew opens his mouth to speak but Amber beats him to it as she glares up at Adams in rage, “You have no right to think you know anything about me or my family! You don’t relive the memory of your mother chasing you around the house with a knife and watching your brothers hold her down and force her to swallow pills so she wouldn’t kill me. Or how after you married the love of your life you called your brother who told you that you were making the biggest mistake of your life and that you were gonna end up alone and beaten just like your mother. If you had even one moment in your life that amounts to that pain and excuses your outbursts, please tell me!” Adams looks at her blankly confirming her answer, “I thought so. Now if I hear you yelling at a patient or family member like that or hear this childish tantrum at another superior surgeon, I will personally see to it that you are suspended without pay!” Adams looks down on the floor, “Get out of my sight.” Lucas walks away still furious at both his bosses and Dorian’s friends. Amber pinches the bridge of her nose and turns to Andrew with a frustrated look, “I swear I am close to killing that kid if he keeps pissing me off.”

“We both know he’s gonna keep pissing you off.” Andrew steps closer to Amber and grips her shoulder to bring her back down to earth, “He’s an idiot and you shouldn’t take what he said to heart. You didn’t abandon your mom and brother you just have a relationship that works better long distance.”

Amber sniffles, “He…He raised me and he loved me, he is the reason I was standing when Alex left. God he was my cheerleader when I was a cynical, snarky as hell goth teenager, and let me tell you I was a walking nightmare.” Andrew smirks at that as Amber continues, “I would always tell him that he wasn’t like our mother after he was diagnosed. Whenever he would get depressed, I just reminded him that no matter what he was the same fun, kind, pain in the ass big brother I grew up with.” Amber’s eyes turn watery with Andrew looking down at her in pity, “But when I told him I was getting married to you he…he said I was repeating what our mother did. He said I was gonna end up like our mother, married to an abusive asshole who left me to raise the kids on my own.”

Andrew inhales at the memory of comforting Amber after her last call to Aaron that led her to cry on his shoulder as he rocked her in his lap. Amber chuckles lightly wiping a tear away, “I guess I have myself to blame for that. He, Alex and Jackson were the ones I turned to when things were bad between us. Hearing your sister crying about how everyone she loves goes crazy and attacks her makes you hate the person responsible for the rest of your life.”

“Hey, come on don’t do that.” Andrew tips her chin up with his finger so he can look into his eyes. He looks into her tear stained eyes and says earnestly, “Don’t blame yourself for turning to the people you love when you were at your lowest. A low that I put you at by the way. If you want to blame someone for your brother’s bad choice of words then blame me. Blame me for hurting you and making your brothers hate me so much they couldn’t tell they hurt you too.”

“You didn’t choose the mania.” Amber reminds him.

“No but I did choose to ignore your concerns and lashed out when you tried to help me. Maybe Aaron could have expressed his worries differently but he did what he did because he loves you and wants to protect you. I know that because it’s how I feel about my sister. You don’t have to forget what he said, you just have to find a way to move past this with him. I said a lot worse than him and we moved past it and we’re better than ever. If we can do that after the hell, we’ve endured then you and your brother can do the same.”

Amber looks at Andrew in awe as she cradles his stubbly cheek, “How did I get so lucky?”

“I ask myself the same thing every time I look at you.” Andrew grins and kisses Amber before pulling her in for a hug that she takes in feeling comfort in his warmth and kindness.

Later

After prepping her for surgery Amber assists Amelia in Gillian’s brain surgery to fix her Arnold-Chiari malformation. During the entire time Gillian was yelling because it was the only thing that could relieve her headache to Amber’s ire as her ears are still stinging from the close proximity. Amber is in the O.R. retracting as Amelia does the craniotomy.

Amber exhales in relief, “I swear I was close to doing the craniotomy myself in pre op just to get her to shut up.”

Amelia chuckles, “Like you’ve never yelled at anyone in this hospital until their ears bleed. Maybe you can consider this karma.”

“I only yell when someone deserves it. Like you nephew this afternoon.” Amelia looks up taken back and Amber explains, “He yelled at Dorian’s friends in the middle of the lobby and told them they were making things worse. I didn’t make that big of a scene when I was an intern and believe me I’ve had visitors in the waiting area that were actually making things hard for the patient.”

“Intern year is hard.” Amelia reminds Amber as she pulls a piece of the skull back, “And his friends are ignoring him and treating him like the plague so there’s that.”

“It doesn’t mean he has to take it out on James and Fiona or me for that matter and I am his chief resident. Maybe you can remind him that tonight with a smack to the head.”

“What did he say to you to warrant a smack?”

Amber keeps retracting with a frown, “He said I was a control freak who abandons her family the first mistake they make. Jackass. I mean look I know I can be a hardass on them but that’s only because it’s the only thing that can get through their thick skulls and actually be doctors. I’m just waiting for Adams to do that but no he makes it his mission to piss me off and integrate himself in my private family matter.”

“You mean about you not telling your mother your pregnant?” Amber looks up surprised that Amelia knows, “Word travels around fast and Adams is just angry right now and when me and his uncle got angry, we just pushed people away when really we wanted them to be there for us in our time of need.”

“And I thought me and Alex sucked in communication.” Amelia chuckles, “But he doesn’t have the right to think he knows why I haven’t actually told my mom the news. He didn’t live my life so he shouldn’t so quick to judge or take out his issues on me.”

Amelia nods, “Your absolutely right I will talk to him…so how come you haven’t told your mom about Lucy?” Amber raises an eyebrow at her, “I mean don’t get me wrong I have my own issues with my mother to the point where I didn’t tell her I had a brain tumor but that was because she missed my wedding. I guess you got a reason for not telling your mom she’s about to be a grandma.”

Amber chuckles bitterly, “How much time have you got?”

Amelia looks down at the exposed brain, “Well we’re waiting for the cranial pressure to swell down so I got time.”

Amber sighs before starting, “She was never really good with major events or minor ones for that matter. She couldn’t handle bad news at all, she would make it about herself and skip her meds. On the good days she would be in bed staring at nothing and the bad days she would be a human wrecking ball just destroying everything in her wake. My brothers basically had to raise me and hid me from her as best as they could. I know they did their best but she was beautiful so she didn’t have trouble finding a man. It was easy for her but horrible for her kids, especially her 8-year-old daughter. I would wake up and there would be some asshole of the month in the kitchen and my mom passed out in bed.” Amelia looks at Amber in pity, “I even had a routine where I would sneak out through my bedroom window and run away on my brothers 10 speed bike.”

Amelia frowns behind her mask, “Aww Amber that sounds awful.”

“Yeah, it was. Now you can see why I am reluctant to invite her into my daughter’s life. She’s just gonna make it about herself like she always does.”

“She might surprise you, mine did when I told her and my son gets a grandma about 5 times a year.”

Amber snorts, “She failed miserably as a mother I don’t think she’s gonna do well as a grandma.”

“Okay are there any moments of your childhood that weren’t straight from a horror story? Was your mom always so awful?”

Amber sighs, “…No she had one good year when I was a kid. She was a librarian so in that year we would hang out and play hide and seek in the stacks and she would let me read on top of her desk. It was the only year I felt like I had a mom and not a mental patient.”

“So, focus on that. Your mom is doing better now and she’s the person she was that year. She might have given you some pretty bad memories but she gave you some good ones too. Maybe this time she can give your kid more good than bad and thrive in grandmotherhood. Show your kid that even a messed up family like hers has love and joy.”

Amber looks at Amelia is thought before getting back to the surgery.

That Night

Amber sits on the king-sized bed with Lucy in her lap wearing black silk pajamas and Lucy in a pink onesie. On the bed beside them is an old converse shoe box with photos and other items inside it instead of her black converse that she wore out years ago. She decided to stroll down memory lane with Lucy so she can show her that even in a dark family like hers there’s still happy photo worthy moments in documentation.

“What do we have in here? What can mommy show you?” Amber gasps as she pulls out a photo of her at 15 wearing a Sandy Dee Summer’s Night costume for her high school production of Grease, “Wow look at this Lucy this is your mommy back when she was in theater.” Amber sings the famous song, “Summer loving happened so fast. I met a girl crazy for me.” Amber giggles at the memory, “Let’s hope you get my vocals instead of your dad’s.”

“Hey, come on I’m not John Travolta but I can rock the leather jacket and gelled back hair.” Amber sees Andrew outside the door grinning at them in his black tank top and gray pajama bottoms before hopping in and sitting beside his family. He digs into the shoebox, “Let’s see what else we can make fun of your mommy for.”

“Oh, don’t be so sure buddy because I got some pretty embarrassing pictures of you courtesy of Zia Carina.” Amber pulls out a photo of a young Andrew smiling and covered in marinara sauce causing them to laugh, “She told me how you spilled two jars of tomato sauce on yourself when you tried to reach a high shelf.”

“Yeah, your daddy was a little clumsy as a kid Lucy.” He looks at his daughter in Amber’s lap who holds a photo looking at it inquisitively, “Hopefully you don’t get that from me.”

“Oh, look at this.” Amber shows Lucy a photo of Aaron in his high school baseball uniform, “You know your uncle was so bad at baseball that he asked me to let him play in the sandlot with me and the other neighborhood boys. I tried telling him no because I knew he would embarrass me but he was persistent. He said he wanted to beat the rival baseball team but really, he just wanted to impress the girls in his class. Worked his way up to MVP though.” Lucy reaches out and touches the photo of her uncle Aaron, “That’s your uncle Aaron in a nutshell, loved to prove me wrong.”

Andrew smiles at her and pulls out a small and worn-out Matilda book from the box, “Your mom was a massive bookworm when she was little like you. She used to hang out at the library with your grandma and just scour the shelves for the next read.”

Amber grins and holds the book, “Yeah, your grandma Helen used to read me this during bedtime when I was little. She always liked to read me books about smart girls because that’s how girls are supposed to be written.” Lucy babbles and Amber pulls out a photo of herself at 8 years old in a hospital bed with white gauze wrapped around her head. Despite this she is smiling wide in the picture with Alex next to her grinning his cool guy grin, “That’s when mommy had a crush on Ryan Sheckler and thought she could do an ollie on her board just like him. But a visit to the ER and 12 stitches on the cranium proved me wrong. Don’t let the ‘I’m cool’ grin fool you; your uncle Alex was a mess before we took this photo. He badgered the doctors and the nurses and told them to run tests for any neuro injuries.” Amber grins at that memory, “He acts tough but he’s as soft as a marshmallow once you get past the crusty shell. You’ll see that just like I did.” Amber kisses Lucy’s head while Andrew grins at the sight holding Lucy’s tiny hand that is holding a photo. Amber digs into her box, “I don’t think we have a picture of your grandma in here…how about we call her and ask her for one?” Amber looks at Andrew who is taken back by this turn but stays supportive.

“Are you sure you want to call her?”

Amber inhales and looks at Lucy who holds a tiny mushroom plush, “Yeah why not. Let’s call her.” Amber pulls her phone out while Andrew moves Lucy from her lap to his as he watches Amber dialing the number and holding the phone to her ear, “It’s ringing…hey mom it’s me.” Andrew stays quiet as he observes hoping it goes well, “Yeah it has been a long time. I don’t know if you got my last text…” Amber chuckle sheepishly and scratches her head, “No I didn’t think you did, you rely on your home phone more than cell.” Andrew purses his lips at his theory being proven right while Amber talks to her mom on the phone, “Well listen that text was to tell you that me and Andrew were pregnant…no I’m not pregnant now I was about a year ago and seven months ago we had a baby. A little girl…I can imagine it’s shocking hearing about this just now sorry…her name is Lucia, we named her after Andrew’s mom.” Andrew grins at that kissing the top of Lucy’s head, “We’re calling her Lucy…Do you want to talk to your granddaughter? I can put her on for you if you want…okay.”

Andrew looks down at Lucy who looks at Amber blankly, “Do you want to talk to grandma?”

Amber moves the phone next to Lucy’s ear and smiles at her, “Say hi to grandma bambina.” Lucy babbles over the phone Amber is holding and her parents look at each other with grins on their faces over Lucy finally meeting her grandma.

[lonelyfanboy48]

Canadian Freedom Or Hibernation Heartsick Chapters 1-3

Chapter 1 Grizz’s Solidarity Forthcoming

Panda and Ice Bear took Grizz to one spot of the San Francisco forest after he put on his blindfold from home. They’ve been hiding the surprise from his brother for days, preventing him from anywhere in the forest especially San Francisco ever since they released all the bears from Agent Trout. A lot has changed since bears were fully accepted in society and it wasn’t easy for them to set up the surprise for their brother.

“Are we almost there?” Grizz asked.

“Yes, just keep walking.” Panda smiled.

“Still can’t believe I haven’t spent days in the forest.”

“Trust us, it’ll be worth it.”

“Ice Bear doesn’t mess with surprises.” Ice Bear commented.

They made their way to their destination where a fire took place. In no time, Panda and Ice Bear stopped Grizz in place as Ice Bear untied the blindfold.

“SURPRISE!!!” Chloe, her parents, Darrell, his wife Sofia, Lucy, her brother and boyfriend Clifford and Kale, Ranger Tabes, The Poppy Rangers, Griff, Tom, Isaac, Amanda, Samantha, Kazumi, and Karla shouted, catching Grizz by surprise.

“Wow!” Grizz reacted.

“Happy Bear Solidarity Day!” Panda cheered as the bears, small and big, jumped out of the brushes. They walked up to Grizz and they roared softly, not loud to disturb him.

“Happy Bear Solidarity Day?”

“It’s a holiday Panda and Ice Bear made back in San Francisco a week ago.” Chloe smiled.

“They’re celebrating the holiday over there, but it’s way better doing it here.” Ranger Tabes added.

Grizz teared up from the sight itself. His friends, brothers, and bears are celebrating a holiday they earned. “This is awesome!”

“You bet!” Griff and Kale replied.

Grizz and his brothers sat down next to the fireplace while the other bears sat next to the other humans. “I never thought we would get our very own holiday!”

“Believe me, it wasn’t easy to make it a holiday.” Panda giggled.

“It’s a long story.” Lucy replied.

“I’m still surprised you managed to get a holiday thanks to a heroic rescue.” Karla commented. “I wasn’t there when you three came back.”

“Surprised you didn’t see it on TV.” Darrell turned to her. “Everyone saw it.”

“I was out of the city.”

“Ohh, that’s right.” Grizz remembered. “You took a trip to Los Angeles for a week.”

“It was the closest place I could take a vacation.”

This gave Grizz a thought when it came to him and his brothers escaping even if it was anything but a vacation. “If you had to escape a corrupt government agent, you would probably have to go far away from California.” Sofia added.

“The bears did tell me their story and about Agent Trout, it’s just it was my first vacation in almost a decade.”

“Not that we blame you, it’s Trout we’ve been worrying about.” Panda replied.

The bear cubs hid behind Amanda’s leg in fear, still remembering how intimidating Agent Trout was. The panda girl picked one of them up, hugging to give it comfort from fear. “We all have a lot to think about but all that matters is that he's arrested and he’s not gonna be released from jail anytime soon.” She nuzzled on the cub.

“I still can’t believe you almost went to Canada.” Clifford replied. “Even if it wasn’t by choice.”

Grizz did tell them why they couldn’t go to Canada, but he didn’t plan out what their new life would’ve been. He wasn’t sure if they were safe, but in the current duration, he and his brothers were far from harm. “I only glorified the idea of going to Canada with my brothers. But we never stepped foot in the land because we did not have passports.”

“Ice Bear never experienced Royal Canadian Mounted Police.” Ice Bear commented.

“Not to mention there’s more bears there from what I saw online.” Chloe replied.

This gave Karla a thought, knowing how Canada has a variety of bears in the high north. She sat by the bears, taking them by notice. “Do you want to go to Canada?” She asked. “Even after everything that happened?”

Grizz and his brothers looked at the bears all wanting to know their answer. “If we had passports…” Soon everyone paid attention to Grizz. “...we still don’t know what life is like there.”

“Life in Canada looks good from the outside.” Diaz replied. “On the inside…”

“It’s a wonderful world to explore.” Murphy added.

The Poppy Rangers loved the idea of going to Canada, but Ranger Tabes still feels unsure. “It is but do you know what adventure it would be like?” She pointed at the bears.

“That’s a great question.” Kale commented.

“You went through a lot.” Tom added. “Everywhere you go, something happens.”

“There’s no avoiding it.” Samantha added.

The bears remembered their journeys, endless and endless journeys even from their house alone. But in a new environment like Canada, they don’t even know what the unexpected would be like.

“I guess we could try giving it a shot but we still need time.” Grizz answered.

“Adventure or experience, we need to plan out before…obviously.” Panda still remembers the whole passport problem.

“Ice Bear qualifies blueprint odyssey.” Ice Bear spoked.

“That’s fine.” Lucy smiled. “Just remind us when you're ready.”

“We'll come if you do, even if it requires passports.” Griff replied.

“Isaac all the way.” Isaac added.

The bears and friends returned to their holiday as they ate marshmallows, heating them over the fireplace. Soon the other bears allowed The Poppy Rangers, Chloe, and Clifford to ride on their backs along with cubs in the front and back. Bear Solidarity Day put the bros back in the mood, hanging out with their friends and how the changed society improved their lives. When it comes to their plans, they get back to that when they head back to their home.

Chapter 2 Mom App In Motion

When everyone left the forest, the bears returned back to their home. When Charlie came over, Grizz, Panda, and Ice Bear sat together on their sofa, thinking about their plan after telling Charlie their time with their friends.

“Canada?” Charlie blinked. “You three want to go there?”

“Yes, but we still need to plan this out.” Panda answered. “Passports are the first goal.”

“And taking people along.” Grizz remembered. “We really need to work out some of their schedules.”

Ice Bear knew he would take Chloe along, but there’s one person he wanted to bring, knowing it’ll take weeks until he reunites with her. He made a promise to himself to show her to his brothers but he didn’t know when the time was right.

“Ice Bear?” Grizz taped on Ice Bear’s shoulder. “Thinking of someone to bring along?”

Ice Bear nodded. “Ice Bear will show you tonight.”

Charlie crossed his arms, while looking at the ground. He wanted to come along, but at the same time, he still hasn’t got over his fear of being around humans. “Aren’t you gonna miss me if you do go?”

“Charlie, even if you do come along, you haven’t met all of our friends.” Grizz spoked.

“I was with a few of them when you came back.”

“Yeah up until you headed back to the forest.” Panda recalled.

“I didn’t have anything to do, even when you’re accepted in society, I just wanted to keep my distance from humans. I can’t let go of my fear.”

The bears wanted to help Charlie, but they’re aware how sensitive he is. Aside from Ranger Tabes, they still feel unsure about helping him meet their friends one by one. “We will miss you.” Grizz replied.

“Sorry bears, if only I can figure out a way to work out my problem.”

“It’s not like you couldn’t control your fear.” Panda replied. “I had fears I couldn’t let go.” As they got back to their Canada plan, there was only one way to resolve their passport problem. “Do you think we need someone to help us?”

“What do you mean?” Grizz asked.

“Like having someone to help out with the passports? Not to mention getting us in Canada? Our friends may be willing to come but if they can’t get their own passports on their own, we won’t be able to have our Canada adventure.”

“Ice Bear can’t get through the massive barrier.” Ice Bear commented.

Grizz couldn’t disagree. After the journey he and his brothers went through after being forced to leave San Francisco, they didn’t want the same set back to ruin everything all over again. Then an idea came to Grizz. “Panda, do you still have that Mom App?”

Panda blinked from the idea, he took out his phone while looking at the apps until the one his brother just mentioned. “Yes.” He responded. “I forgot to delete it.”

Grizz took the phone from Panda while pressing the Mom App. “We picked three moms while having one mom…get punished since we couldn’t cancel her.”

“You couldn’t cancel her?” Charlie asked.

“We called her mother, but it had nothing to do with cancel culture.” Panda answered.

When Grizz looked through the section of moms up until the one he picked last time. “This could work.” Grizz showing his brothers a picture of Gayle. “She could take care of not only our passports, but some of our friends too.”

“Wait, should we think about this? You know she embarrassed us and she’ll have to come with us.”

“It’ll be the only way to get to Canada. We can at least reason with her, she can be more than a mom.”

Panda and Ice Bear wanted to believe him, but they wished there’s another way. If they had the choice of picking a different mom, they would get themselves into the same predicament as before. But they agree that out of the three moms they picked, Gayle was the best.

“Okay, but there’s no going back.” Panda sighed.

“Ice Bear prays he doesn’t take violin lessons.” Ice Bear said, taking the risk.

“Charlie, you need to leave right now, the moment we press the button, she’ll be right at the front door.” Grizz pointed at the door.

“Okay.” Charlie makes his way to the back door of the house. “Good luck with your trip to Canada.”

“We'll find something to give you when we get back.”

Charlie felt a little better from their gesture before he headed out, finding a different route to prevent getting attention. Grizz pressed the button on the phone and in no time, Gayle knocked on their door. Like before, they walked up to the door as Grizz opened it, revealing Gayle.

“Oh it's you boys again.” She cheered. “Let’s throw a party to celebrate-”

“No! No! No! No!” Both Grizz and Panda shouted.

Ice Bear pulled Gayle inside while closing the door, placing her on the sofa. “Whoa! Then we can play party video games!”

“Maybe later, but please don’t do anything!” Grizz walked in front of Gayle.

“We support your supportiveness, but do it when we need it.” Panda added. “Even though…that’s not why we wanted you.”

Gayle felt confused after listening to the honesty from the bears. “Then what do you really want from me?”

Grizz sighed while telling the truth. “We want you to help us and our friends…to get passports to Canada.”

Gayle remained silent from the answer she received. She wasn’t happy, but she wasn’t mad either. All she wanted to do is support her boys with her part of the family, while in actuality, she’s only part of an app for services. “Do you love your mom?”

The bears looked at each other, not wanting to hurt her feelings. “Yes.”

“We’re doing activities in Canada. If you help us, we'll do anything to prove to you we love you.” Panda replied.

“Ice Bear won’t keep moms in the dark.” Ice Bear said.

“Well it’s not that I don’t like Canada, it’s just doing passports is the last thing I would want to do.” Gayle speaking honestly. “What kind of trip would it be like in Canada?”

“It’ll…be an adventure!” Grizz coming up for the solution. “We’re maybe separated in groups, but you will have a great adventure.”

“You can hang out with our friends. They’re really fun to be around.” Panda said.

Gayle found the idea appealing, especially with the surprises coming her way. Even a mother who takes their pride seriously, it still wouldn’t hurt to make friends if she helps coming along. She got up from the sofa, walked towards the bears while giving them a big hug.

“I love seeing my boys have their adventures!” She cheered. “Even if I’m not gonna be around for all of you three, you can still tell me everything that happened.”

“So you’re gonna help us with the passports?” Grizz wondered.

“You bet I am!”

“Great, we’re sending you to Ranger Tabes and The Poppy Rangers to help them out, after we play party video games!”

“Oh!”

As Grizz turned on his video game system, he gave Gayle her controller and so did Panda. Just when he’s about to give Ice Bear his controller, he made his way to the kitchen. “Ice Bear, it won’t be family without you.”

Ice Bear turned around before heading into the kitchen. “Ice Bear needs an important item before Ice Bear forgets.”

“Oh that’s right, we don’t want to leave a single friend out from the adventure.”

“We’re waiting for y'all.” Panda added.

Ice Bear entered the kitchen while opening the refrigerator. He’s thankful Grizz and Panda didn’t find out soon but his time ran out when the unexpected happened. He took out the necklace, from someone who they forgot to bring, and Ice Bear kept it to himself since. He however doesn’t know if Grizz and Panda will catch on if they meet the person, especially Chloe, who he wanted to tell her about it. He’s lucky enough to get the person’s phone number the last time he crossed paths, but he’s unsure if the person’s willing to accept the trip to Canada.

Chapter 3 Icy B’s Undercover Ally

Later in the night, Ice Bear took Grizz, Panda, Isaac and Chloe to the destination he usually goes during nighttime. Unlike him and Isaac, Grizz, Panda, and Chloe were too tired, planning to go to sleep. They never bothered Ice Bear’s daily nights out, but they were never those types. When they tried to follow him, they couldn’t keep up with Ice Bear riding on Roomba.

“Icy B.” Grizz yarned. “I appreciate you getting your closest friend to come along, but is it really necessary to do it this late?”

Ice Bear turned around while maintaining his balance on Roomba. “Yes.” He responded.

“I have to go to bed, Ice Bear.” Chloe trying to keep her eyes open. “I also need to work out my problem of heading to Canada too.”

“We still have time, but can we not do this at night?” Panda added.

Ice Bear and his group entered the hidden ally only he went to from time to time. He got off Roomba as he knocked on the door but no one responded like last time. He expected the bouncer to answer but after ten seconds, it felt like he wasn’t by the door.

“Hm!” Ice Bear reacted.

“Isaac senses no one’s taking the job as bouncer.” Isaac commented.

Ice Bear looked at the door while eavesdropping on it. He didn’t hear everything from the other side, as if no one’s inside. Then he decided to push the door as it opened, learning it was unlocked the whole time. They all entered inside with all the lights off. Ice Bear clapped twice to have Roomba turn on its flashlight capability.

“I don’t think anyone’s here.” Chloe looked around.

“Are those computers?” Panda pointed.

“And a coffee bar?” Grizz added.

Ice Bear went to the electric switches, turned off when the employees usually keep them on. He turned them on as the red leon lights of the word Coffee lit up. The green lights turned on around the bar, while the computers slowly turned on, taking everyone by surprise.

“So what is the person you wanted us to meet?” Grizz asked.

“Yana.” He responded.

“Who’s Yana?” Panda asked.

Ice Bear then opened the necklace, showing his bros and friends the picture of her and their parents. He pointed at her underneath, her father as they looked at her closely. “How old is that picture?” Chloe asked.

“Twenty years old.” Ice Bear answered.

“Really? How do you know what she looks like now?”

Then they heard the door being pushed open, taking their attention and so did Ice Bear as he closed the necklace. When she saw Ice Bear in person, she wasn’t fazed at all, especially his group with two bears. “Ice Bear never forgets human faces.”

Isaac took notice from the lady with purple highlights in her black hair with a tattoo on her arm. When she walked up to the group, she looked down at Chloe, taking her by surprise. “You must be Yana right?” She backed away a little.

“You catch on quick from him, huh?” Yana smirked.

Ice Bear then walked up to her while handing her the necklace. “Ice Bear kept personal belongings.”

“You had my necklace this whole time?” She took her necklace from him. “I thought I lost it.” She opened it, and witnessed her photo of two parents.

“Wow, an undercover dude.” Grizz commented. “That’s an interesting friend you have, Icy B.”

Ice Bear didn’t want to retort to his brother, but he knew he won’t get the real truth from what his night outs are like. “Ice Bear, brothers, and friends are going to Canada. Ice Bear wants to know if you want to come.” He offered.

“Canada?” Yana responded. “Seems an odd place to go after the many places we went.”

“You went to different places?” Chloe took notice.

“Yes. Places all over the globe, Tokyo, just to name one of them.”

“Tokyo!?” Panda reacted. “Why didn’t you tell us Ice Bear!?”

“Okay, let’s not get over our heads.” Grizz pulling Panda away. “But still, you didn’t tell us about this?”

“Ice Bear wants to be a solo adventurer.” Ice Bear responded.

“Isaac was overthrown by a world traveling bear.” Issac replied.

Yana laughed from Ice Bear’s bros. “I have to say your bros are kind of funny. Not to mention your friend there seems to qualify for missions.” She stared at Isaac. “As for your offer, I’ll take it. Besides from how our troubles got last time, it’s better to go somewhere that isn’t a deathtrap.”

This caused Ice Bear to place his paws on his face, causing his brothers to take notice. “On second thought, it’s better if you never told us what you’ve been doing over night.” Panda awkwardly grinned.

“Why is this coffee place closed with the door unlocked?” Grizz asked.

“I had to quit my job and the people who used to work here abandoned this place due to…Barry finding out where I work.” Yana sighed. “Granted I wish he and his goons would leave me alone, but I knew it would just get uglier.”

“Just hearing the name Barry is someone I really don’t want to meet, just like how I met Agent Trout.” Chloe commented which caused Yana to lean down.

“I’ve heard of him and I saw Ice Bear on TV when I was at a bar. Haven’t heard of him since you came back.” She looked up at Ice Bear while back at Chloe. “If you saw me and him together, we would make an unstoppable team.”

Chloe looked back to Ice Bear, from time to time, they’ve done so much together but when it comes to missions, she looked at Roomba. She wished she experienced what Ice Bear accomplished, but living on the verge of danger is the last thing she wanted. But her attention was turned to Yana’s necklace, remembering her parents. “Do you remember the last time you met your parents?”

“Not much, life was different when I was with them and it changed when I came here.”

“It’s sad that your mom and dad aren’t gonna be in Canada.” Grizz spoked. “I believe it would make your time there.”

“It’s not like I was expecting more. If there's a will there’s a way of getting away from Barry.”

When Ice Bear looked at Roomba, he planned on bringing it along, but was having second thoughts. If Barry is still in San Francisco, he could find his home and rob it. But if he does bring it, he could encounter him with him being a step ahead of him. However with Yana by his side, she’s right about him and her being an unstoppable team. And with Isaac by his side, he has no problem telling him everything.

“Ice Bear makes sure our trip is harm free.” He responded.

“I’ll pack up and I’ll come when you’re ready.” Yana smiled. Just when she’s about to head out, she turned around. “By the way, I found your little kid my favorite.” As she headed out, it caused Chloe to smile a bit.

“Looks like I’m gonna be making a friend in Canada.” Chloe replied. “If I can still resolve to go to Canada.”

“We’re still working it out.” Grizz looked at Chloe. “Do you need to convince your college principals your trip to Canada is important?”

“They wanted me to do research in Canada, but I turned it down. Too much work for me to handle nor have fun.”

“You could write a story about your experiences in Canada.”

“Yeah, it’s still an adventure and it’s also your adventure.” Panda added.

“Ice Bear’s happy to read Chloe’s Canada adventure.” Ice Bear replied.

“Okay, I’ll tell them that.” Chloe smiled. “That’s something I would have fun to do.”

“I do want you to meet someone tomorrow. Ranger Tabes, Griff, and Karla are gonna come also. If he wants to come, that is.” Grizz placed his paws on his body. “I still can’t believe you haven’t heard of him yet.”

“Isaac is aware of celebrity animals, but never knew them personally.” Isaac commented.

“I can tell he won’t like Ranger Tabes at all.”

“I’m still looking forward to meeting him. Especially since I might make a friend with someone we just met.” Chloe said.

“Trust us, he’s not gonna be like Yana.” Panda replied. “Anyway, we should head home. Me, Lucy, Clifford, Kale, Kazumi, and Tom are gonna go to Amanda’s house first thing in the morning.”

The Bears and two humans left the coffee building as Ice Bear took Chloe home, the same way he did after the camping day he had not too long ago. The moment he arrives in Canada with Yana by his side, he’ll be prepared if any foe similar to Barry or Trout gets in his way.

[creepypastalover97]

K time for another creepypasta au headcannon

Today’s headcannon is going to be about

Clockwork

Ok time for the headcannon

. Honestly?

She didn't go to Slender for protection, Slender went to her.

. Her first encounter with the Pastas was when her and Masky got into a " little " scuffle that resulted in Tim having multiple stab wounds on his torso, and Natalie with a bruised, empty eye socket. This was before they had introduced themselves. - She was pissed that she had to get a new clock.

. Slender came to her multiple times, although she refused. That is, until he took her by force with he help of Jeffery, the Proxies, and Eyeless Jack.

. She hates all of them. Masky and Jeff especially. Except toby. She loves toby.

. She's incredibly reckless with almost anything she does. The first few times she went on missions, she had to be watched to make sure the cops didn't show up, and that she didn't decide to have a death match with them.

.Aggressive as fuck, she loves to argue and debate and is super competitive too. She has no boundaries or filters when arguing and doesn’t care if you cry, sorry

. This girl is straight up Doja Cat Tia Tamara vibes. She don’t give a fuck about nobody! Except Toby. She does care about him.

. She swears way too much. She owes too much to the swear jar.

. Other than in fights she’s pretty chill though and she has a fantastic laugh, it’s deep, loud, throaty, and super contagious

. Natalie while she enjoyed drawing and such before eveyrthing happened, she never really wanted a career out of it

It’s more of a hobby, something too pass the time rather then something she practices

. Janey Janey Janey Janey—

They are best friends :>

They are so freaking loud together omfg. They scream laugh and run laps in the mansion when one of them tells a joke. It’s ridiculous.

. She doesn’t really get along with Circe , but she’s doesn’t hate her in any sense. They have a few quarrels here and there, but they are never enough to damage their relationship

. Her and Toby have thought about getting married and settling down. They aren’t too sure yet, though. Even though they’ve been together for 6+ years now. Speaking of which, yall have been together for 6+ years and yall STILL yell at each other and accuse each other of farting in the bed?? 🧐 seems sus but okay

. Her face got really infected from the eye and the stitches, so EJ helped her out. Now she owes him like $100 still. 😬

. She had the clock taken out since it kept getting infected and had it replaced with a glass eye

. Somehow she has managed to evade all pop culture knowledge. You could say ‘oh look! There’s Chris Hemsworth!’ and she’d have no idea what you are talking about. The only celebrity she knows and respects is our lord and savior, Bill Nye.

. She is always the first to lose at monopoly. She’s also the one who throws the board at the end of the game

. She likes the forest and goes on walks a lot. She collects pretty flowers and presses them in between pages in her sketchbook

. She got a new giraffe plushie. She sleeps with it :)

. She hates smoking, and she hates all alcohol except ice-cold vodka.

. Clock absolutely has washboard abs, my girl is ripped as fuck and could probably tear a phone book in half if she wanted to

. really good at card games and gambling, though half the time she is confused sure if the other pastas even know what they’re playing the same game, Circe on the other hand just rolls with it

Circe, setting down a card: Ace of spades

Ben, pulling out an Uno card: +4

Toby, pulling out a Pokémon card: Jolteon, I choose you

Natalie, extremely fucking confused: What are we playing?!

. she has a german shepherd dog named Luci

. Bitch needs to drink some water, she’s surviving off of monster and 7/11 coffee

. She’s interested in shooting or knife throwing, learning something long ranged but ya know, no depth perception

. Lactose intolerant, but still has dairy anyways

Whenever she gets sick it’s 50/50- too much to drink or she chugged milk earlier that day

. Is a huge twilight fan. Owns all the moves and books. When she found out about Circe’s love for her books and book collection, well it went like this:

“Wow,circe really like books”- clockwork

“ Yes, she sure does”- slenderman

“do you think she read twilight?”-clockwork

“Oh god!clockwork don’t!”-slenderman

Circe throws bible at clockwork

“I’m not trashy enough for that shit”- Circe

. Owns a motorcycle with a side car for toby

. She, like Brian, has a few stick and poke tattoos from when she was younger

. Has a few piercings too, is scared too get more after the piercing gun she got online got stuck and wouldn’t unclamp from around her ear

. Collects dream catchers

. She doesn’t go by Natalie anymore.

Overall clockwork is a bad bitch,with a heart♥️

P.s none of this is canon, so don’t take seriously if you don’t want to, so don’t hate,if you do take it somewhere else. Thank you, bye 👋🏻

P.s.s. Go check out Circe’s origin story on archive of our own. It’s called rabbits are not what they seen.

[motownfiction]

pomp and circumstance

Graduation at St. Catherine’s looks just like it did when Roy turned his tassel in ‘66. Boys still wear blue gowns, and girls are still forced to wear white. As he weaves his way through the crowd with Maggie and Mike, he hears Lucy complaining loudly to Sadie about the ridiculous double standard.

“Some of us have children, you know,” Lucy says. “We see through their metaphor, and it doesn’t apply.”

“It applies to some of us,” Sadie says.

Roy moves along, pretending like he didn’t hear that. It’s not his to hear. He catches a glimpse of Maggie’s expression, and she’s a little too proud.

“That’s my girl,” she says.

Of course. Roy should have known. Everything is Maggie’s to hear. It’s been that way since before he was ever born. He remembers when they were little, and she’d walk up to the adult table at family dinners and try to recall as much of the adult conversation as she possibly could. It always came out sounding broken, but Roy only recognized that in retrospect. Back then, everything sounded like a gossip rag. Back then, Maggie was a hero.

“You know, Mags, maybe you should have worked for one of those entertainment magazines,” Roy says.

Maggie chuckles.

“Where did that come from?” she asks.

Roy can’t help but blush a little bit. Sometimes, he forgets that his brain works faster than his speech. He shrugs and says, “Ah, just thinking about careers we could have been good at. You would have been good at writing about celebrities.”

Maggie nods.

“Not sure whether that’s a compliment,” she says, “but I’ll take it.”

They make their way to their seats, but before any of them can sit down, Charlie turns to his mother with a question in his eyes.

“Mom, do you think I could sit in the row in front of you guys?” he asks.

“I don’t know, hon,” Maggie says. “Don’t you want to sit with us? Sadie and Sam’s graduation is kind of a family affair.”

“Yeah, kid,” Mike says, “don’t wanna go the way of Buffy and Jody.”

Charlie stares at him blankly. Roy shakes his head. This is what happens when you don’t let your kid watch television until all his homework is done (or all his concertos are memorized, whichever his mother thinks is more important that day).

“I know,” he says, “but Carrie’s coming, and I know you don’t always like her to sit …”

“That’s fine,” Maggie says. “Why is Carrie coming?”

“She wants to, I guess.”

Maggie doesn’t say anything about that. Roy stands back and folds his arms across his chest. He’s been at his sister’s place for almost a full day now, and he’s heard all manner of things about Sam’s girlfriend. Her name is Steph, she’s short, she’s blonde, she loves to paint, she’s going to Central in the fall, and she gets all the lyrics wrong to every song, even the ones she’s heard a million times. Hell, he even had dinner with Sadie’s boyfriend last night. But if you asked him last night whether or not Charlie had a girlfriend, Roy would have gotten the answer wrong. Completely wrong.

He’s not sure what that should reveal.

“Well, you can sit in a pew with her,” Maggie says. “But make sure it’s in front of us, so I can keep an eye on you.”

“You sure about that?” Mike asks.

“Yes. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, he is six-five. Don’t you want to be able to see the kids graduate?”

Maggie thinks about that for a moment. She doesn’t say anything, so Mike ends up clapping Charlie on the shoulder.

“Sit behind us,” Mike says. “No big deal.”

Charlie nods and takes his seat behind the rest of the family. Roy tries to lock eyes with him on his way back, but it’s like he forgets that anyone else exists.

Maggie sits in the middle of Mike and Roy. Really, it’s the only place for her to sit, and Roy knows why.

“When are Mom and Dad getting here?” he asks.

Maggie shrugs.

“Probably three minutes before the band plays ‘Pomp and Circumstance,’” she says. “You know how they are. Never on time for anything.”

“You’re not still mad at them for walking in late to Anything Goes, are you?”

“No. But you’ll remember they weren’t late when you were Danny Zuko.”

Roy sighs. He tries to forget about his time in the school plays. It was a fun time. He likes to dance, likes the feeling of hot spotlights on his face, even likes putting thick pancake makeup on his face. But that was a long time ago. He became a writer so he could play all the parts, even the ones that didn’t look a thing like him. It’s hard to spend your life reciting words other people wrote. Roy never understood why Maggie wanted – hell, needed – to do it so badly. But maybe he gets it. The reason he joined the school’s theater troupe was so they’d have something in common again.

That, and he really did have an awful crush on Sherry Plinkett.

“It doesn’t feel like it should be time for Sadie and Sam to graduate,” Mike says. “I mean, I remember lining up outside the church like … well, like yesterday. Sorry about the clichés, Roy, man.”

“No need,” Roy says. “I’m coming around to clichés. Comfortable and all that.”

“I remember our graduation, too,” Maggie says to Mike. “You know, I thought you were going to propose to me that night.”

“Maggie!”

“What?”

“We were eighteen!”

“So? Lucy and Will are eighteen, and they’ve been married for two years.”

“To be clear,” Roy interjects, “you are comparing yourself to your kids’ two best friends who only got married because one of ‘em was pregnant? That’s something you’re doing in church?”

Maggie rolls her eyes.

“It’s not a real Mass,” she says, as though it makes any difference. “Anyway, I really did think Mike was going to propose. Honey, if you’ll remember, you were acting so jumpy that whole week beforehand.”

“Well, it’s not like I had no surprise planned for you,” Mike says. “Roy remembers.”

Roy nods. How could he forget? After graduation, they all got in the car and drove to New York City, just to be there, just for three days. Maggie, Mike, a couple of their friends they don’t know anymore, and Roy. Mike didn’t hesitate before inviting Roy, and Maggie – ever trying to look good in front of her new-ish boyfriend – went along with it. They heard some of the best music and ate some of the best pizza in those three days, but Maggie didn’t enjoy any of it. All because Roy was there. She didn’t say it, but he knew. By then, they didn’t have to speak.

By then, they didn’t want to.

“Well, if Daniel has a surprise road trip planned for Sadie, I hope he doesn’t invite Sam along,” Maggie says. “Wouldn’t be very romantic.”

Roy doesn’t mean to ask it.

“What if he invited Charlie?”

Maggie doesn’t answer.

Roy cranes his neck, looking around the church for anything else. Charlie’s still behind the rest of them, now with a shy-looking brunette. Carrie, Roy assumes. Whoever that might be. He looks around like he’s going to see someone he knows, but he’s pretty sure he won’t. Even when he was in high school, he didn’t know people from high school. Everyone in this room could recognize him, and he wouldn’t have a clue who they were. Roy wasn’t trying to be too good for St. Catherine’s. He didn’t even think he was. There’s just … something about people like him. They weren’t meant for high school. Graduation is sacred for people like that.

He remembers his graduation. Sherry Plinkett had broken up with him again, and he had a scholarship to Michigan burning a hole in his pocket. He wasn’t really going anywhere, but it felt like it. Not going back to St. Catherine’s … burning his school uniform … that felt like everything. Freedom and independence and control.

God, he hopes Sam feels that way, too.

He turns his head again. This time, he sees a couple people he really does know.

His parents are walking right toward them.

[comrademango]

icl i’m still super disappointed by salah’s lack of advocacy for palestine rn. his video asking for humanitarian aid into gaza simply wasn’t enough. those kinda statements are an easy way to check off ✅ saying something. he didn’t even use the word PALESTINE in the video, let alone mention ethnic cleansing or genocide. i rly thought he’d say something over international break like that algerian player did. if the argument is that the prem or liverpool fc won’t allow him, why not use the international break as an opportunity? besides, i don’t even buy that excuse cos if there’s anyone who can get away w it at liverpool, it’s mo; he’s vital and big enough to need not fear repercussions. i know some people will say he doesn’t owe us anything and ask why i even care that this one person hasn’t spoken up, but i think it’s valid to have higher expectations from literally the biggest public figure in the arab world…

having said this, i do try to remind myself that i have no idea what i’d do in his situation; if my greatest passion, career, livelihood and family’s safety could put at risk by speaking out.

what do you think?

i have no idea if the fa's rules also apply to pl players during international break but i do agree that if anyone's relatively safe from getting harsh punishment or suspension by the club they're in, it's mo, because suspending him will be self-sabotage for lfc both on and off the pitch. whether lfc will defend him (or will be able to do so) from higher regulatory bodies is something i also have no idea about. perhaps he is still wary considering what happened to özil before, but i don't remember well enough if özil was as vital to arsenal at that time as salah is right now to liverpool.

i think mo's got a few people advising him on what he can say and i sort of understand that but i also can't help but be disappointed at the silence after his video. i wouldn't presume to know what to do in such a situation but i also don't have to because i'm not a well-known figure anywhere and don't have much online reach. i myself am active online but more careful irl (due to reasons i won't get into) so i guess i know about having a real threat of harm or financial ruin to me and my family loom over my head, but i don't think my situation is that comparable to mo's. i don't think we should try and think about "what would you do if you were in x's position" because we simply aren't. and i agree that we can't expect much from people with some celebrity status nowadays and the parasocial element when it comes to sports probably makes this a bit harder, i guess. idk. but there's also something to be said about how the issue at hand is a genocide and what you mentioned about mo being a different sort of public figure, and also about how football regulatory bodies are consistently shit about human rights. it's worth noting, however, that a few women's football players have expressed some support for a ceasefire (leah williamson and lucy bronze, i believe, among the english players). idk if wsl/england wnt are not under the same fa rulings as the pl, and if they aren't, it's funny and stupid in different ways.

all that shit i typed to basically say idk the circumstances surrounding his silence but i don't think we're wrong for feeling disappointed.