#I made it a point to write down what you said Madeline liked in a woman

[victorluvsalice]

Happy Birthday Marie!

@offwithhxrhead You requested a story where Madeline meets someone who could potentially be a new romantic interest, and I hope I have delivered:

--

“WOOOOO!”

Madeline eagerly joined in the clapping and stomping of feet as The Pondcrossers finished up their set and departed from the stage. “Awesome show, huh?” a guy next to her said, eyes bright.

“You know it!” Madeline agreed with a beaming grin. “Best night out I’ve had in a while!” And I didn’t even need to get drunk or high off my ass to enjoy myself. Isn’t that a surprise.

“Oh, don’t start with that again,” the Queen of Hearts grumbled from a far corner of her mind. “I’m rather tired of that refrain.”

Yeah, yeah, sorry, Madeline thought back, shaking her head to dispel the negativity before it could take root. I know I’m doing a lot better these days. Been kind of a rough road to get here, sure, but – I’m out, I’m about, Mum and Dad trust me not to do anything stupid. That’s progress. She grinned back at the stage as the crowd began breaking up into smaller groups, friends chatting with friends. And that was a fucking great band! Why the hell they’re playing this place instead of living it up in Hollywood or – or Liverpool is beyond me.

“Liverpool?” the Queen asked, one eyebrow raised.

It was the first thing that came to mind! I don’t know the party towns of England! And asking Mum or Dad isn’t going to help, given the latter grew up in the ass end of nowhere and the former spent most of her life in a psychiatric hospital. Which you didn’t help with.

“Oh, shush and get us something to eat,” the Queen replied, rolling her eyes. “One gets peckish.”

Madeline’s stomach growled in answer. One does – might as well pick up a snack before we hit the road, she agreed, working her way toward the bar. If they serve food here, anyway...places like this always have peanuts or something, right? Eh, if they don’t, I’ll just swing past the nearest burger joint and –

Is that the bass guitarist?

Madeline stopped in her tracks. Perched on a stool at the very end of the bar was indeed The Pondcrossers’ second guitarist – Jean, if Madeline remembered correctly. Which she was pretty sure she did, as she’d spent a lot of the set watching Jean. The woman was exactly the type Madeline liked most – sporting wide hips, generous cleavage, long dark brown hair done up in a braid, and sparkling blue eyes. She’d handled her guitar like she’d been born with it in her hand, rocking in perfect beat with her bandmates and shooting the audience wide, come-hither grins every so often when the music allowed. Just the memory of that smile gave Madeline the shivers –

And now, she was almost within touching distance of the woman. Madeline stared at her, frozen. Holy shit, I didn’t realize...I mean, I guess it makes sense, singing like that is probably thirsty work, but...is it okay if I just – go up to her? I dunno if she’s cool with fans meeting her outside of sets or not...especially fans who might get a little...n-not that I’m gonna do anything but say I liked her music, but she is really fucking gorgeous and I’m on a dry spell and –

“And anyone who said your father’s influence in you is lacking should see you now.”

Cheshire appeared by her feet, winding around her ankles. “You seem stuck fast to the ground,” he observed with his trademark grin. “Purrhaps I should try to claw your feet up?”

“Loathe as I am to agree with that disrespectful creature, you should get moving,” the Queen of Hearts added, draping a tentacle over Madeline’s shoulders. “You are no mere pawn on the board – you are an ace in the pack. And you should act like it.”

Both of you be quiet before I start talking to you aloud! Madeline hissed, then bit her lip as she looked back at Jean. They did have a point – she was getting nowhere just standing there. In fact, she was probably starting to look a little bit creepy. And she did want to at least say “hi.” And tell her how awesome her band was. And if anything else happened...well, it happened. Madeline sucked in a steadying breath, then pried her feet off the floor and made her way over to the stool, trying to exude confidence. “Hi.”

Jean looked over. “Hi!” she said, all friendliness – that was one worry dispelled, at least. “Assuming you saw the show.”

“Yeah – you guys were amazing,” Madeline told her, smiling. “Best band I’ve heard in ages, trust me.” She offered a hand. “Madeline Van Dort.”

Jean took it, shooting her another dazzling smile. “Jean Carpenter. Pleasure to meet you.”

Madeline swallowed as their hands touched. Oh boy. Yup. Major crush. After one night. Gonna be hearing about this in Wonderland for months...worth it. “Pleasure is all mine.”

[catoswound]

could you elaborate on the canon thing irt mythology? i don't disagree, i would just love to hear what you think

hello! just a preface before i get into it, i'm not in this field at all as a student or professional so i'd take my own words with a grain of salt. if im getting anything wrong please do let me know!!!

im linking two posts i think are relevant by:

@/thoodledoo and @/what-even-is-thiss

and let's get on! the problem with saying something is an 'original' is that more often than not, you're going to be wrong about that. i get it! there are a number of retellings i don't like either, which narrate stories i care little for, but consider that myth is often a reflection of society and culture. people then and now ascribe stories to phenomenons and events to make sense of the world. like,

persephone's tale gives a mythological reason to why we have the change of seasons. now, imagine i said "in the original myth, persephone was an unwilling captive".

one, what myth am i saying is the "origin"? hesiod, because he was one of (if not) the first to write it down? do you see the problem here? does 'original' just mean the first instance of recording?

and then, two, does it make every adaptation of persephone's myth that came after that something 'fake'? are you going to beef with ovid for changing your 'original myth'?

it's absolutely alright (and id say encouraged!) to critique adaptations and retellings. this, however, should be done with the understanding that changing a myth isn't the crucial factor here - it's how it affects and reflects on us in this time. an example,

your reaction to a medusa retelling could be less "but in the original she wasn't a victim of rape! this is taking away from her girlbossness!", because what is the original??, and more "how does her backstory, given to her by this author, affect her character and how [x group of people] are represented in media" (or something like that).

essentially, like any other literature, how does this one impact anyone and anything at all?

back to homer, a lot of the time (i find) when someone says something like 'originally odysseus was assaulted by calypso' is that they mean a very specific source of myth - i.e. the odyssey. oral myth tradition predates written work by centuries. just because homer (not even sure about this, actually) wrote it down first, does not mean he is your og!! the odysseus in homer's two works don't even sound like the same person!

like hi! i love homer! but let's not pretend he was mr "came up with every myth about the trojan war under the sun".

making very obvious my point here, my critic of a book, like say, the song of achilles, isnt that madeline miller failed to copy the iliad plot for plot. it's fine that she changed it! in fact, it's great! it's a myth! it changes with time anyway! my critic is that girl you made patroclus literally the boringest blandest boy ever good god, (only sort of joking)

tldr; there is no real mythological canon. clarify, make it clear and say 'in homer's iliad' or something if you need to. don't brush a story off just because it doesn't fit within the version of the myth you know. and don't cheapen your criticism by saying it isn't original.

[lamuradex]

40K In 42 Days Update: Week Three

@the-wip-project

So, Week Three. We're about half way now. I've even made myself a little spreadsheet to keep track of everything at this point.

Anyway...

Wordcount Last Week: 17,995 Words - 44.9875%

Wordcount Today: 25,771 Words - 64.4275%

So I'm still moving along. The end of this book is also somewhat on the horizon, so I wonder which will come first. The end of this challenge or the end of the book. I've been adding in new chapters I didn't initially plan, but they've all been fun new ideas to explore so far.

So, yeah. Keeping it going. Good luck to everyone else out there doing this. You can make the goal. I believe in you.

And, as usual, here's a sample of what I've been writing. This time Gideon and Madeline have been captured and wake up in a basement. Enjoy!

Gideon woke up slowly.

The world gradually began to reassert itself.

Cold. A damp smell. A very sore neck. A headache like he couldn’t believe.

And finally, as his eyes geared up, memory rejoined the party. Unfortunately the sense to wake up first was the one that told him there was metal around his wrists. Handcuffs. They been kidnapped or at the least captured.

Gideon looked around. He was in a chair, his hands cuffed behind his back through the chair’s slats. Maddy was nearby, similarly bound, but still unconscious. And there was a third person in the room.

“Well, look who’s awake,” the leader of their attackers bragged. At least Gideon thought it was him. He now had a big red nose wrapped in bandages.

“I hit you that hard, did I?” Gideon said, his wit apparently waking up before his survival instincts.

“And you’ll pay for it,” the man sneered, Gideon silently deciding to start calling him Rudolph. “But we’ve got the diamonds, we’ve got both of you, and we’ve got all the time in the world.”

“To work out what to do with us? Your boss not answering?”

Rudolph glowered. “You’re lucky we don’t want you dead, buddy.”

“Funny that. I don’t feel lucky.” Gideon took a good jolt at wrenching himself free. All he did was lift the chair a couple inches.

“Now you two’ll wait here. And then… Well,” he said with a sinister edge.

“You’ll either murder us or give us to your boss,” Gideon rolled his eyes. “You’re not coy, and you’re not clever.”

Rudolph glowered in a more confused way. The gaze hardened. “Then again, maybe the boss won’t mind what we do to you two. Especially her.” He reached out to stroke Maddy’s cheek.

“You touch her and I’ll beat you to death with this chair. I’ll even still be sitting in it, I swear to god, you’ll be a bloody stain on the floor!” Gideon spat with such cold vitriol that Rudolph actually paused. His hand hesitated before retreating.

“It doesn’t matter. And you at least deserve to have her to talk to while you’re down here.” He walked away briefly, picked up a bucket, and threw the whole pail of freezing water over her.

“God!” Maddy gasped awake.

“Enjoy the time you’ve got left,” Rudolph smiled and then headed up and out of what was apparently a basement.

“Where… Where am I? Gideon?” Maddy called out.

“Behind you,” he said calmly.

“Where are we? What’s going on?”

“Where? I don’t know. But we’ve been kidnapped.”

“Kidnapped?!” Maddy’s voice quavered. “What are they going to do to us?”

“Calm down, Maddy. Take a breath. We’ll get out of this.”

“And how do you know? How often have you been kidnapped?”

“Twice,” Gideon said flatly. “I’ve been kidnapped twice.”

“What?”

“Look, it’s fine. We’ll get out. Just need to work out how.”

“We’re handcuffed, Gideon. Oh god, these people want us dead,” Maddy began to panic.

“They do not want us dead. They specifically have not killed us.”

“But what do they want with us? What are they going to do? Who are they?”

“I don’t know,” Gideon said, doing his best to calm her. “They’ve got a boss, that’s all I know.”

“But what do they want? They’re thieves, sure, but what are they going to do with us? They could be organ harvesters for all we know,” Maddy stressed, already spiralling. “And even if they’re not, they might still kill us just to stop us talking. Or just leave us here to rot. Or something else terrible! And what did we do to piss them off?”

“It is feeling very personal, isn’t it?” Gideon considered.

“They could be killers, they could be rapists, they could be… they could be…” She struggled. Then she stopped, her gathering tears forgotten. “They… could be absolute idiots,” she realised, trying to peer over her own shoulder.

She was handcuffed to the chair just like Gideon, a cuff around each wrist. Both of them. With a furrowed brow and bit of shuffling, she slipped off her prosthetic arm, which clattered to the floor, handcuff around its wrist. Maddy stretched her stump and stood. She was still handcuffed to the chair, technically, her prosthetic trapped on the other side of it, but it was a start.

“These idiots didn’t even notice my arm when they brought us down here? They know absolutely nothing about me, do they?” she said.

“Does seem to be the case,” Gideon agreed. “But they still targeted you at the gym for whatever reason?”

Maddy shook her head. “Who knows,” she sighed, then crouched and grabbed her prosthetic. She pinned it in one armpit and began to pull at the fingers. “I hate doing this. It always takes ages to get it to look right again.”

With it pinned and pulling at the fingertips, she pulled the fake skin sleeve off the arm, squeezed the skin through the cuff, and then twisted the hand off at its joint. Once separated, she let the cuff drop, fed the chain though the chair and stood liberated… albeit with a pair of closed cuffs hanging off her wrist.

She reassembled her arm and forced the fake skin over it again, tucking it back in at the end. She slotted it back on her limb and adjusted the wrist a bit.

“I should get these guys to pay for a new one, the bastards,” she swore.

“Before that, could you get me out?” Gideon prompted.

[naivesilver]

Crowsourced ideas for the EAH/OUAT crossover because I can't get it out of my fucking head apparently and I need to write them all down in a single place

Apple -> takes the place of baby Neal as Snow and Charming's second child, exacerbating Emma's bitterness because like, if you're a bit jealous that your parents are raising and doting on a baby like they couldn't go to you, that feeling must multiplicate tenfold if said baby is a little girl with blonde hair

Raven -> Regina's baby with Robin. Implies that Cora never dosed her daughter with an infertility spell and also that the whole Zelena pregnancy shebang was avoided somehow PLEASE I need this for my sanity. Has magic blood but ON GOD, Regina will bash Rumple on the head if he comes near her kid with weird power-teaching ideas

(when I made the first post about this I completely forgot that Sparrow Hood is a guy that exists in EAH, but it's fine, we can pretend he doesn't OR Regina can have twins - Raven and Sparrow are names that go so well together, after all! And the prospect is hysterical! Surely nothing could go wrong with those two in the same nursery!!!!!)

Ruby and Dorothy were implied to do some travelling together in the show, right? Maybe they could find the remains of a wolf pack like that of Ruby's mother, except all that's left is VERY mistrustful wolfblood young sisters Ramona and Cerise in severe need for adult intervention. Time for Red Kansas to become chaos moms and break some walls the girls have built, I guess

if Jefferson already has one daughter, there is no reason why he couldn't have TWO daughters! Enter Madeline/Maddie, AKA Grace's mad (honorific) little sis

Cinderella is already called Ashley in OUAT so I'd be loath to keep her daughter as Ashlynn but...Lynney? Lynette? Something? Anyway, a glorified Alexandra LMAO same for Hunter, though - for one, where would Graham get a son, and for two, would he name that son Hunter? Nope. Definitely not. Needs workshopping

other kids I have floating around are Briar (but Aurora is already pregnant in canon so whatever that's easy), Crystal (technically as the daughter of the Snow Queen she should come from Elsa or Ingrid's line, but that doesn't sound likely...maybe Anna and Kristoff instead?), Alistair Wonderland (probably Alice and Cyrus' offspring, but that would mean not interacting much with the rest of the crew), Lizzie Hearts (Cora has no right to a third daughter, so what's the closest thing to the Queen of Hearts? Anastasia the Red Queen? Idk??????) etc etc

and now the actual protagonist in my heart, Cedar Booth Wood

so because of Jojo's intervention, her backstory is established as such: she's the result of one of August's pre-canon flings that ends up in Storybrooke when she's quite young. That narrows the window of time where she could have been conceived before her dad was either wooden/a third grader/being a whole dumbass, but I wanted her to be about the same age as her friends and that means keeping her at about 5yo upon her arrival (timelines are wonky because OUAT's timeline IS wonky, but hardly anybody will even read so far, so ssssssh)

August is her nearest relation available, so that's why he gets a handful of child so suddenly. He is...a bit in shock, but he ends up loving her once the surprise wears off. Marco is OVER THE MOON because it's free granddaughter. Archie is just begging that at least ONE member of their family has a kid in a plain, normal way at some point in the future

then the angst kicks in because it turns out daddy's enchanted tree genes are just a little too strong and they resurface quite vehemently once Cedar steps foot in Storybrooke. Maybe she starts turning into wood, or has an averse reaction to lies, or both, I don't know I'd love it to be both, but I'm scared that I will get yelled at for torturing this child any further

the central point is - I was discussing this topic with @bewilderedmoth the other night and she had a STRONG hand in helping me reach the conclusion that a) this is probably the Blue Fairy's fault, so fuck her b) since Cedar is so young in this AU not only would August be desperate that she gets...cured? Un-cursed? Something, but he'd also realize that...shit. He wasn't much older than her when he got thrown into his personal hellscape. That's fucked up. Who thought it could be a healthy learning experience (see point a)? Unhand his kiddo RIGHT NOW or so help him

finally, this unreasonably funny concept from yours truly, to send you off on a lighter note

[alleyskywalker]

Yea, the in-world/Watsonian explanations for this do feel a little wonky. It would have worked better/made better sense if Armand had pretended to break with the coven later, when the play was almost finished and they needed someone closer to Louis/a way to bait Claudia and  Madeline into coming back/having a meet up with Louis and Armand so that the coven didn't need to go hunting for them. Armand being immediately sent to do this spy thing does seem like taking unnecessary risk if Louis notices that he's spending lots of time out, even if given that the coven had already done a lot of prep work by writing the play/stealing the needed materials/summoning Lestat. My guess is one way Armand covered up going to the theater was by saying he was out hunting – since Louis didn’t hunt people, or at least not often/nightly. (Also, in Armand’s confession scene Louis says something like “all those nights you spend over here you didn’t think to tell me,” the phrasing of which makes me feel like…maybe Armand wasn’t literally living with Louis but had – or said he had – his own place but then he came and stayed over X amount of nights.) But it is still a risk for sure.

The coven’s reasoning I buy for the coven as most likely is to a) have Armand as a spy with a dose of loyalty test, b) lull Louis into complacency/lure out Claudia, and c) make sure Louis doesn’t leave town. The thing is, Louis may have known that he was committed to Armand but I honestly don’t think Armand did. I don’t think he was lying when he said that he couldn’t trust in Louis love lasting at the time that he made his choice. To me that’s a big part of their tragedy – Louis for a long time couldn’t bring himself to commit to Armand, was sending signals that he wasn’t committing and was still not over his ex, ignored Armand’s warnings, ignored Armand telling him, essentially, “you’re putting me in danger”… Like there were a million reasons and cues that would have had Armand doubting Louis’ commitment. By the time Louis is ready to commit, Armand can’t trust it anymore.

As for the issue of not just going to accost Louis, Claudia and Madeline while they’re turning her… Well, first, they don’t know that’s what the trio is up to in that moment. Plus, they have to deal with Armand first. I really don’t think the confrontation was like: “Hey Armand, we’re done with your boyfriend’s shit, you gotta choose” and he’s immediately like “wow yea guys I’m choosing you, btw, they’re currently making another Vampire illegally and we should hurry to catch them while they’re busy.” I’m quite certain that Armand tried to resist the coup, or at least argue about wtf Louis needs to be tried, etc. They spend time throwing the evidence in his face (Claudia’s diaries, etc) and threatening/guilt-tripping him. Eventually, of course, Armand would agree to be on their side, but I don’t think he immediately told them about Madeline’s turning. They got it out of him one way or another eventually – perhaps snooping in his mind, perhaps Armand offers this up as something that’s already happened and says they left the city to try to buy time… We don’t know exactly how all this went down, but the point is, this would have all taken time. It doesn’t actually seem like turning a Vampire takes hours or anything, so most likely by the time the coven have Armand in hand, Claudia and Madeline may have already left the city.

Actually, I wonder if the whole “I broke with the coven” act was supposed to be short-term. Claudia spends lots of time with the coven but is often with Louis. They know where Madeline works(/lives?) but they don’t have tons of information about her schedule, plus she’s nocturnal now too, as a Vampire. It would be best/easiest for the coven to take them all together, or at least in a way that prevented them warning each other telepathically. The easiest way – with the added plus of punishment + loyalty test for Armand – would be for him to go to Louis, say he broke with them, get the whole gang together for a little outing/celebration of their freedom or whatever, and then tattle to the coven where they are/will be for the kidnapping. Except when Armand gets to Louis…turns out Claudia and Madeline have left town, and suddenly the thing was supposed to be only a 1-3 day rouse suddenly stretches out for a couple of months as they wait to lure Claudia and Madeline back in.

I mean, yea, the Doylist reasons to plot twists were the main driving force here, I agree, but there is in-universe reasoning there too.

Why would Armand go to the trouble of saying that he broke from the coven if he was just going to have Louis burnt alive? Like seriously, what was the purpose of that? It's not like Armand needed to get Louis into a vulnerable position so that the coven could take him; the coven clearly didn't need Armand for that. And if they wanted him to direct the play having him live with Louis doesn't make sense, as it would make it harder for Armand to secretly direct it. I genuinely can't think of an explanation that makes sense, unless you simply want to think Armand is cold hearted enough to want to share Louis' last days with him knowing that they're Louis' last days, which I just don't.

[goblinmatriarch]

Flufftober Day 7

So for Flufftober, for reasons that I cannot articulate, I’m only doing fandoms I don’t generally write, by which I basically mean no drarry. I’m literally just scrolling through netflix and my bookshelves going, “uhhh what do I know well enough to write about real quick” which is how we ended up here, a solid 14 years after the show ended, and even 6 years since the sequel aired (what? no! surely it has not been 6 years?), with some Rory/Paris pre-slash.

Gilmore Girls

Paris had to drive out to that ridiculous little nowheresville town with the fantastical name, again, because Louise’s house was under renovation, again, which at this point Paris was pretty sure was code for illegal activity, and Madeline had entirely ignored all hints and outright demands to offer her house. Paris’s house was certainly not an option; the very thought of perfect little Rory Gilmore seeing Paris’s immaculate home was enough to set her teeth on edge.

And then, of course, when she got there, Rory’s mother was all warm and friendly and insisted on making Paris feel “right at home”, like that was something to aim for.

And then, Louise had called to say she couldn’t make it, and she hadn’t even had the decency to speak to Paris directly so Paris could berate her into coming after all. Instead, she’d left a message with Rory Gilmore’s irritating mother, who delivered it casually, like it wasn’t a massive betrayal.

Madeline hadn’t even bothered to call with an excuse.

So that left Paris and Rory to do the project alone, which was fine, of course; Paris could put together an A-worthy group project in her sleep. Having Rory involved wasn’t even a hindrance, the way Madeline and Louise were. She contributed a few decent ideas to Paris’s overall vision, and she could be trusted to deliver her assigned duties appropriately, with little oversight. Paris usually ended up writing Madeline’s and Louise’s contributions over again anyway.

But then that meant that she and Rory finished early, and while Paris had absolutely no desire to linger in Magical Starry Land or whatever, she had even less desire to go home early. What if her mother was still there? What if her mother tried to talk to her?

That’s the only reason Paris lingered at the door, of course. She drew out their conversation about History class for so long that Rory started looking concerned, like she thought Paris might have suffered a head injury or something. Paris was just about to leave, really she was, when Rory’s grinning harridan of a mother practically forced her to stay.

“Oh gosh,” Lorelai said, in the most obviously fake way imaginable, “I just remembered I’ve got that thing tonight, Rory, so I can’t do our movie marathon!” She affected a disbelieving expression that made her look like a gaping fish.

Rory glanced sidelong at Paris and uneasily asked, “What thing, Mom?”

Lorelai waved a dismissive hand and doubled down on the very apparent lie. “The thing, Rory, just a thing. So anyway, I can’t make it, but” – here she tried to look as though she had been struck by an idea, which was obviously an unfamiliar expression for her – “maybe you and Paris could do it instead!”

She turned to Paris, beaming, like this was something everyone could be thrilled about, rather than a fate worse than death.

“What do you think, Paris? Fancy Marilyn Monroe and cross-dressing?” Lorelai did a weird little jig and looked very pleased with herself.

Paris weighed her options. On the one hand, more time spent with the insufferable Rory Gilmore in her happy, whimsical home, watching films that were most likely terrible and eating cheap garbage. On the other, a solitary meal prepared by the family cook, maybe some time with her book on the Ottoman Empire, and then early to bed.

It would probably be rude to refuse.

“Sounds…lovely, Miss Gilmore.” In vengeance for being coerced into staying against her will, Paris made sure to imply with her tone that it would not be lovely, at all, and also to put the slightest emphasis on ‘Miss’.

Lorelai seemed entirely undeterred. Probably she hadn’t even noticed; she didn’t seem like a woman who picked up on nuanced snubs. “Great,” she basically shouted, even as Rory gave her a desperate, pleading look. “You two have so much fun!” She grabbed her coat and strode briskly past them to her car, then turned over her shoulder and shouted, “Rory, there’s money on the table for snacks and takeout. The movies are next to the tv.” She got into her car – a Jeep, for pete’s sake, was anything in their lives practical? – and before she pulled out of the drive, she beeped the horn twice and yelled, “Have fun, you two!” out the window.

And then she was gone.

Rory turned reluctantly on her heel to face Paris. “So…” she began.

“I don’t want to be here any more than you,” Paris snapped hastily.

Rory blinked, and then those big, wet, doe eyes of hers sharpened. “Well it’s my house, Paris, so I actually do want to be here, but if you want to leave, I’m not keeping you.”

Paris looked down at the ground, then set her jaw forcefully and peered up at Rory. “Fine,” she said, “but I’m choosing the movies.”

She stalked past Rory back into the house. From behind her, she heard a sarcastic, “Be my guest.” Or it was probably supposed to be sarcastic, but in Rory’s Disney princess voice it came out all sweet and welcoming.

***

Two hours later, Paris had to admit that Rory and her mother might be onto something. Some Like it Hot was actually really interesting; much less vapid than she’d expected. And twizzlers were a revelation. Paris reached for another one.

Rory’s eyes flicked over to her, then back to the screen where Marilyn Monroe was playing the ukulele. “Those make a decent straw, you know,” she told the screen.

Paris crossed her eyes to look at the twizzler currently in her mouth, then looked back at Rory, wide-eyed.

Rory looked over again, then burst out laughing. Paris bristled, but Rory was already apologising. “Sorry, sorry, it’s just, you look so…” she giggled again.

Probably all the sugar had gone to Paris’s head. That, or she was suffering some kind of contact witlessness – maybe the air in Shooting Star Fairysville carried an airborne virus that reduced critical thinking. There had to be some explanation for the fact that she crossed her eyes again and waggled her head so the twizzler wobbled absurdly in front of her face. 

Rory’s laugh was bright and surprised, and Paris’s whole body flushed with an awful hot, nauseous sort of feeling that she did not care for at all. She scowled and ripped the twizzler out of her mouth.

“We already have straws, Gilmore; why would we need to use candy?”

Rory was still laughing. “Whatever, Paris,” she said. “You weirdo.”

Paris was aghast, but before she could protest the accusation, Rory flopped backwards onto the couch, pressing their shoulders together. Paris went very still. 

She could shove Rory off, she supposed, but she was technically in Rory’s home. On Rory’s couch. Probably it would be rude. She kept her eyes fixed on the screen and tried to follow the plot, which somehow kept eluding her. The credits rolled, and she was still unsure if Jack Lemmon’s character was going to marry that rich guy or not.

Rory yawned and stretched, losing even more structural integrity and drooping further, so she was practically in Paris’s lap; was propriety not even a thing here in Hollow Heads Full of Stars Town?

“D’you wanna watch another?” she slurred sleepily. She blinked up at Paris, and her eyes were just so blue it was ridiculous. “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is pretty good, and ‘Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend’ is iconic.”

Paris considered. Her parents would definitely be out for the evening by now. She could shake the dust of this podunk town off her shoes and be home in time for a book in her own bed.

Rory’s body was warm against hers. Paris couldn’t help noticing the way the light from the tv reflected off her eyes and mouth. 

“Fine,” she said, aiming for caustic and missing by a mile. “But I want more twizzlers.”

[madelineorionswan]

A Royal Queen: The journey of a young duchess.

Chapter I: The Abdication

Summary: Life was going great for Madeline as the Duchess of Rosewood from the country of Lornesse. But one signature made by Jacob on a piece of paper changes the entire course of her life.

Warning: Crying, mentions of horse racing accident, maybe some dark stuff? amateur writing of horse racing commentary, angst, swearing and blood.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. All of the characters in mention (Except the ones from history) are fictional. The relationships mentioned among these characters aren't real. I am not an expert on history and politics hence the mentions and portrayal of these two subjects are based on my imagination. Events that take place in this story are a work of fiction.

A/N: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! this is my Christmas gift for everyone. And boy was this painful to write. Hope everyone enjoys this.

"And off they go! Competing for the Yorkshire cup of 1980."

Madeline felt the adrenaline course through her veins as she took off with her horse Star Acer. All of the horses galloped through the race track; all riders were keen on winning.

Madeline whips her reins slightly, signalling Star Acer to gallop faster. In front of her, Madeline could see a fellow racer, Patrick slowing down slightly. This is my chance she thought and kicked the heels of her shoes on the sides of Star Acer who proceeded to close in on the other horse.

"Star Acer no.3 weighted by her Royal Highness, Duchess Madeline of Rosewood closes in on Zepher Breeze No.1 weighted by Sir Patrick Brown," the commentator, Murphy Mcnully announced.

Madeline and Patrick were now neck and neck in the race

"Looks like it's you and me Mads," Patrick yelled over to Madeline. She didn't care. She had known him long enough to know his guileful tricks to topple over other racers.

"I see you've decided to ignore me huh?" Patrick cocked, infuriating Madeline even more.

"Let's just keep to our own rides yeah?" Madeline said, smirking.

She kicked Star Acer's side and the horse strode forward. Cheers erupt from the crowd as Madeline crosses the halfway point.

She was in her zone, the only thing on her mind was the end of the race.

Suddenly there was a scream. Madeline whipped her head around for a second but couldn't make out what was happening. All she saw was Zephyr breeze on the ground

She didn't have to worry for long to find out though.

"Oh looks like a bad hit for sir Patrick Brown's ride Zephyr breeze No.1, there's an 87.9% chance that he won't make it." Murphy, the commentator announced.

Madeline, for a second, wanted to stop. You see, while she might have been competitive as hell, she was also a person who would risk her life to help someone.

"And he's DOWN ladies and gentlemen. Sir Patrick Brown and Zephyr breeze are out of the race." Murphy burst into the mic, startling Madeline slightly.

She returned to her senses and jolted the reins, gripping them tighter whilst Star Acer galloped against the wind.

"Looks like her Royal Highness Princess Anne is closing in on her fellow royal! There's a 78.56% chance that she'll be in the first place, but there's also an 89.7% chance her Royal Highness Duchess Madeline will end up in first place!" Murphy announced, almost literally bouncing on his wheelchair.

"Looks like it's you and me, Anne," Madeline smirked at Anne who mirrored her competitor's expression.

"We'll see who's on top, Orionswan," The young princess cocked back.

"Oh we shall see Windsor," Madeline muttered, still smirking.

"Oh, the pressure is ON. The two royals might be good friends but the competition between them is undeniable," Murphy announced. A lot of "whoops" and "oh"s were heard from the audience, whose eyes were glued to the intense race between the two ladies.

Madeline and Anne turned at the final curb, 250 metres away from the finishing post. Madeline narrowed her eyes and leaned forward slightly keen on winning the Yorkshire cup.

"They've crossed the 250 metres, mark ladies and gents! Looks like it's between these two ladies to win the Yorkshire Cup of 1980!"

Adrenaline coursed through her veins. Madeline could almost feel the tension between the stands and her fellow riders.

"They're almost there ladies and gents! Any second we'll know the winner!"

"Almost there buddy" Madeline grunted into her horse's ear, who snorted.

"Any second now..."

Through the corner of her eye, Madeline saw Anne getting closer to her. She focused on the finishing post, which was almost a feet away.

"3... 2... 1!!!"

Madeline and Star Acer blazed through the finishing line.

"AND she's done it, ladies and gents! The winner of this year's Yorkshire cup is Her Royal Highness Duchess Madeline of Rosewood! The princess Anne finishes closely behind at second place followed by third-place held by Sir Richards!" Murphy announced.

The crowd hadn't stopped cheering ever since Madeline and Star Acer crossed the finishing line. The moment the both of them came to a stop and Madeline realised that she had won, she let out a cheer, despite being quite worn out and breathless.

"Save some for the next race will you," Anne said raising her brow, a smirk on her face.

"And thank you to you too Anne," Madeline chuckled and she dismounted her horse. Anne trotted away with her own ride, possibly to her family.

"Gosh, you were BRILLIANT!!" Madeline turned around and saw a young lady smiling widely.

"DI!!!! you made it," Madeline let out a laugh as Diana, her cousin wrapped her tightly in a hug.

"Honestly, didn't think so myself but I had Sarah let me out for an hour and well, here I am!" Diana chuckled.

"You do know you need to stop doing little favours for Sarah right?" Madeline said and swung her arms across Diana's shoulder who smiled shyly.

They didn't have any more time to converse, unfortunately. The moment Madeline walked up to the stands a tsunami of photographers and members of different press companies swarmed her, all keen to know about her opinion about the victory, amongst other things.

"Wankers," Madeline muttered under her breath. Being a second-born daughter of the Lorneese royal family, who lead her own life, the press had always been an absolute pain to her.

"Madeline!" Diana gasped.

"Sorry, it's just... never mind. I'll talk to you soon." Madeline muttered to her younger cousin. She nodded and wedged herself out of the crowd.

Madeline didn't have any time to even breathe before cameras and mics were shoved her way.

"Sorry no comment," was the answer she gave to all of them Sometimes she had the urge to answer some of those questions, but she knew the consequences of a royal expressing their views in the open.

So she just kept her mouth shut.

Madeline finally managed to get out of the stadium without any major issues. When she came out she was met by a dark-haired bespeckled lady in a formal business uniform. She recognised this person as her secretary and best friend Rowan Khanna.

"There you are Madie! Congratulations on the win!" Rowan said smiling gleefully.

"Thanks, Ro!" Madie smiled. But before Madie could give Rowan a hug they both heard a bunch of screams and lots of footsteps.

Both the girls gave each other a slightly terrified look before breaking into a run.

"See this is why I told you to go out of the other gate!" Rowan whisper yelled.

"I didn't have any opportunity to!" Madeline retorted.

The girls turned sharply at a curb and ran into a dark and dingy street, momentarily throwing the paparazzi off track. Moments later they spotted Madeline's chauffer sitting in a black Mercedes.

The man spotted the ladies and 20 other people running after them with cameras and letter pads in their hands.

"Your royal highness, Ms Khanna, this way," the chauffer ushered the two girls inside the car just in the nick of time.

He pressed on the gas peddle and steered the car towards the left and the car dashed outside the alley. Madeline and Rowan looked through the window a few minutes later to see that they had left the paparazzi left to the dust. Both of them sighed in relief.

"Now, what's on the agenda today?" Madeline asked Rowan.

She turned to Rowan and saw that her face was crestfallen. A pit formed in Madeline's stomach as her eyes widened. She had never seen Rowan with such a serious expression.

Whatever was coming, was bad.

Jacob's POV

I nervously fiddled with the cuffs of my sleeve. It was finally happening. Despite everyone being against my decision, I was finally doing what I had wanted to do.

I was denouncing the throne.

"Your Majesty we're ready for you," Rakepick said.

I turned around and saw my secretary, Rakepick, The prime minister and my grandparents were all standing surrounding a desk.

I sighed and walked up to them. With a curt nod to all of them, I sat down.

"Your Majesty is well aware of the procedures and requirements," Rakepick asked me coldly. I'd never really like Rakepick.

I nodded. The Prime Minister sighed and looked at me grandfather Leonardo. The pair seemed to have a silent conversation before the Prime Minister handed me a long piece of paper.

"These are the abdication papers if his majesty wishes to abdicate..." the prime minister hesitated to continue,

I put up my hand to make him stop. It all felt too gruesome for me. Slowly all of the people, except my grandparents left although all of them still left lingering looks.

I sighed and picked up my pen. Scanning through the papers, I felt a hand on my shoulders. I looked up and saw my grandfather, an earnest look on his face.

"You're absolutely sure about this?" he asked me solemnly.

Suddenly the weight of this situation finally dawned on me. I stared at the papers; specifically at the end of the papers where I would be signing.

I sighed and nodded my head. I looked at my grandfather, who nodded in understanding.

I took a steadying breath and then signed my name in the papers. Finally, it was done. Both my grandparents went outside, probably talking about other business things.

Soon there was the loud booming of thunder. I looked up and saw the sky darken and rain pelted down. Then I was reminded of my baby sister. Well, not exactly baby but to me, she was still my baby sister.

I remembered; she'd be queen. The guilt started to chip its way through. I felt terrible about dumping the heavy burden of a country onto her shoulder, unprepared.

I shook my head dismissively, I knew that she would be a great Queen. I had always known about it. Anyways, I can't change my actions.

What was done is done.

Author's POV

The Eallesborough castle was eerily quiet. Darkness was filled in every single corridor. Rain was pelting on the windows.

Jacob was silently staring out of the window in his room, looking at the gardens, twirling a pen in his hand.

All of a sudden, He heard some commotion and a door bursting open with a loud bang. he whirled around and saw his sister, Madeline.

Madeline's face was flushed, her expression one of fury, her eyes glassy and brimming with unshed tears.

"How could you?" she almost growled to him.

"I-" Jacob looked dumbfounded.

"Did you have any fucking idea of what you were doing?" Madeline asked and grabbed a hold of her shirt collars tightly, pulling him down to her height.

Jacob's eyes widened as his sister glared at him. It would seem funny to some, but he was fucking TERRIFIED of his sister when she was mad. But he wasn't going down without a fight.

He freed himself from her grasp forcefully. Frowning he told her calmly, "I'm doing this for the monarchy."

Madeline scoffed, "you're just gonna fucking put that off like that?"

Jacob groaned and ran his hands through his hair in an exasperated manner.

He was about to reason with his sister, but she didn't give him a chance to reply.

"Jacob, do you have any basic fucking idea of what you did? Do you have any bloody idea about how you changed our lives, MY LIFE?" Madeline yelled, her voice threatening to break, but she continued.

"YOU'VE CHANGED MY ENTIRE BLOODY LIFE JACOB! FOR THE WORSE! DID YOU EVEN GIVE THAT A SINGLE FUCKING THOUGHT? NO! YOU JUST GO YOUR WAY AND WALTS INTO ROOM AND JUST DECIDE OUT OF NOWHERE THAT YOU WANT TO ABDICATE?!!?" she screeched, tears now falling freely from her eyes.

"Pip don't you bloody understand? This life is not for me!" Jacob tried to reason but Madeline just scoffed.

They both stared at each other for a few minutes, their minds blank but also full.

Finally, Madeline broke the silence by sighing deeply.

"Did you want it?" Madeline asked referring to his decision of abdicating.

Jacob sighed and nodded, " More than anything."

Madeline let out an inaudible gasp but nodded nonetheless. She took a breath and walked outside. Once she saw the coast was clear, she ran outside and entered the gardens.

She burst into a run in the gardens, not caring whether she was tripping on the bushes. Tears slid down her flushed pink cheeks as she ran. She didn't know what she was running from.

Her life? Her fate? Her family? Her name? Position?

Oh, she wanted to run from EVERYTHING. Her mind was clouded yet blank. The world seemed to be closing in on her.

She was too distracted to notice a stone Fountain in front of her. She blundered into the fountain, hitting her elbow on a marble statue.

Madeline shook her wet head, releasing her brown locks from her tight ponytail. She let out a strangled wail, not caring about who was hearing her. She was so distracted, she failed to notice, blood gauging off her injured arm, filling the pool with red liquid.

She felt numb. But what was she to do?

As Jacob had said,

What is done is done.

[o-wyrmlight]

Forgive me, this is mostly just venting out my frustrations. It's not a callout post or anything, just annoying.

By the way. A stunning argument. A smashing revelation. I may have to reconsider. /s

In all seriousness, this is the sort of person I was trying to reason with on Twitter. This person literally took a video I made and reposted from a couple of months ago and decided to use it to accuse me of supporting Abusive Espresso x Madeline.

'What is said video?', you may ask? Well. It's this one.

You may be wondering, 'Bill, where did this come from?' You may also be wondering 'Wait, but where is Espresso in the video?'

Well. To answer your questions.

The accusation seems to be intended to paint me as someone who supports rampant abuse ships. I'm guessing the kind of abuse ships where the audience seems to 'get off on the abuse' or 'romanticizes it', a la the fandom of Killing and Stalking. The implication is that they believe Cyril supports this when he said nothing of the sort.

Ironically, this particular reply chain started with me stating, in order:

A) You're allowed to not like a female character. That doesn't make you misogynistic.

B) Drawing characters with features that their biology commonly gives them isn't racist if it isn't used for the purpose of dehumanizing or shaming them.

C) Where the hell did you get 'Espresso' out of this? (The first image)

For context, the video itself takes place in my Crumbled Castles AU, which is an AU very much divergent from the canon timeline. Specifically, it revolves around a sideplot of the larger story, wherein Madeline is a byproduct of how he was raised and has to learn to disassociate himself from who he was in order to develop real connections with others. Said 'byproduct' is specifically about his constant need to compulsively lie and manipulate in an attempt to keep himself safe while he accomplishes his mission: Hence 'Manipulative Madeline'.

Not once is Espresso even mentioned, seen, or implied--and yet this person somehow saw 'Manipulative Madeline' and decided to associate it with 'Abusive Espresso x Madeline' rather than look into what the post was actually about.

And then when I told them that their assumption was wrong, what did they do?

They just blew it off.

These are the kinds of people that are on Twitter. These are the kinds of people that see the tiniest grain of information and try to twist it against you. These are the kinds of people that lack the ability to see nuance and context and deliberately go out of their way to prevent context from being provided. (Forgive this one. I forgot to censor some names and had to re-take the screenshot from the Tumblr post editor.)

Wherein these are the two posts that they showed:

And this was their response when I pointed out that they didn't show the whole thread and deliberately cut it off?

'That is the whole thing.' 'We have already provided the whole thing.' 'Oh also writing abuse is wrong and harmful and he's sick for doing so.'

Oh, but, but, but--what is this that I see? In that post accusing me of shipping 'Abusive Espresso x Madeline'?

Excuse me??? So what is the problem, chief??? Do you not see the contradiction???

God, there is so much more than this that went on within the last... god, what, four, five hours? So forgive me if I'm a little bit miffed about this whole situation.

This isn't a callout post. This isn't a request for people to figure out who this person is. That is why I blocked out the names of everyone except myself.

Because unlike this nameless person, I don't have any intention of sending targeted harassment toward anyone. And I don't plan on dredging up pictures of them to post.

You know. Like they did with Cyril. When he was a minor. And what was their response when Cyril tried to call them out on it?

'You posted that yourself on a public account'.

Not 'I'll take it down'. Not 'Sorry, I didn't realize you weren't comfortable with your face being used while insulting you'. Just 'You posted that image yourself on a public account'.

This is in response to them being made aware that this picture was of Cyril when he was a minor.

By the way, this person wasn't responding to people at this time. They were silent for well over an hour before somebody was kind enough to send me a link to the tweet so I could tell them to take it down. But they were still online. And I know this because they took it down within five minutes of me tagging them in that post.

All of this to say: Before you believe any claims people make on Twitter--or on any social media website--please be aware that this kind of shit can happen. Information can be withheld. Information can be misconstrued. Context can be lost, contradictions can be ignored. Before you fall into the pit of believing discourse the moment you see it, ask yourself:

'Is this missing some sort of context? Does this persons' argument even make sense?'

Because they will try to make you believe that it makes sense. Oh, goodness, they will try. It's like talking to a brick wall. And they will have people blindly following in their wake to support their claims, but ultimately, it's up to you to sniff out bullshit when it happens.

If Cyril were accused of these things and indisputable evidence were given that would prove--without a shadow of a doubt--that he is any of these horrible things that this person and many others claim that he is, then I would not be so angry.

I have taken a look at the context that people have provided me. I have asked questions, I have seen screenshots and used my brain to think about the deeper meaning and find what was missing. If I genuinely felt that Cyril was guilty of these accusations, then I would have no problem backing down and letting whatever may happen happen.

But with all of the screenshots and evidence and context that I have been given, I don't believe it. If I were shown evidence that would prove to me that Cyril is guilty of anything he is accused of--or even that some of the stuff he is accused of is even wrong, in the case of shipping abusive ships because he enjoys the character dynamic and psychology--then I would admit I was wrong.

But with arguments like this? How can you expect to do anything but bully someone into believing you because it's easier?

I didn't believe people when I read that Twitter is a hellsite. I now know that I was wrong. This is the second time that something like this has happened within two or three months, and I am so tired and so frustrated by it all. It isn't fair to see creators suffer for things that they haven't done, and as fellow creators--as the audience for those creators--we have to be mindful of the libel we read.

That's sort of it, I guess. My inbox is open if you want me to elaborate on my opinions more. Thank you for reading, and sorry you had to suffer through this. I hope you have a better day than I've been having.

[pips-fics]

ask by @writercirrus / @sickiecirrus (be sure to check out her fantastic writing!) : Hi!! My favorite fic is the one where Han gets sick and calls Channie who runs over and helps him. Idk why but I keep rereading. Your stories are always well written!! I’ve never been like LET ME EDIT THIS PLZZZ like I do with most other fanfics!! I do have a request... Channie gets the stomach flu and doesn’t want to be babied or fussed over but finally gives in and lets his members take care of him (idk why but I feel like Channie would be like that)

big thanks to madeline once again for the lovely title! <3 and thank you to cirrus for the kind words and their request, it was a lot of fun to write :D

tw: vomiting, insomnia, overworking

take a rest, hyung –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

“you are not allowed to leave your bed today.” minho had taken one look at chan and decided to lay down the law. behind him, felix cackled.

“chan stay in bed challenge!”

chan groaned. that was the thing about these two: he couldn’t say no to either of them. felix because saying no to him felt like bullying a small child; minho because he already knew chan disagreed and clearly did not care. chan tried anyway.

“i’m fine. you’re both just overreacting.”

jisung poked his head through the doorway, looking skeptical. “who’s overreacting?”

hope blossomed in chan’s chest. jisung would understand. “sungie! i just want to work on that one b-side, just for a bit. non strenuous activity, y’know?”

“oh,” jisung said, giving chan a quick once-over. “no.”

“what?”

“yeah, hyung, you look like you’re going to pass out. don’t move.”

it took all of chan’s willpower not to throw something in a fit of rage when jisung came over to check his temperature with the back of his hand. or it would have, except chan did feel slightly like he might pass out, actually. jisung whistled, and chan pretended like his head didn’t feel like it was splitting down the middle.

“he’s pretty warm,” jisung said to minho, who nodded as if he already knew that.

“well he’s been working non-stop recently and hardly sleeping,” hyunjin said from the doorway, quickly catching on to the situation. he took about three strides and crossed the room to press a glass of cool water to chan’s lips. chan sputtered.

“what is wrong with you all? i’m not dying, i can take care of myself.”

hyunjin looked at him skeptically. “you literally can’t, that’s the point i just made.”

rather than respond to that, chan got up and pushed his way through the small crowd that had begun to encircle him. he walked to the kitchen and then, without preamble, vomited into the sink.

after three quick, powerful, and unpleasant expulsion of his stomach contents, chan wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and turned to see seungmin starring at him, open mouthed. across the room, jeongin choked on the water he’d been drinking. chan frowned.

“what? i feel better now,” he explained. seungmin’s mouth snapped shut, then opened again.

“what. the fuck.”

chan soon found himself being marched back to his bedroom by the two youngest members of stray kids.

he wasn’t stupid. chan understood that the other boys cared about him, and that they were just trying to help. he knew it would make them feel better, so he resigned himself to allowing their fussing - just temporarily.

chan would admit that the cool towels jisung kept putting on his forehead felt nice, and it was very sweet that the boys ensured someone was with him at all times - to prevent boredom, seungmin said. but then, that was the problem - chan wouldn’t be bored if they would just let him work, but as soon as he took his laptop out, minho confiscated it.

“this is so unfair,” chan complained. minho just smirked at him, seeming to take great pleasure in chan’s annoyance.

“you can thank me later.”

chan grumbled under his breath, but thought smugly that the joke was on minho, in the end. chan had his phone hidden under the covers, so he could work on writing lyrics using that. heck, he could even plug in his AirPods an work on producing with a mobile app, if he really wanted to. chan smiled slightly, feeling clever, and then sprinted to the bathroom.

despite minho’s annoying tough love, there was something soothing about having someone there to brush chan’s sweaty bangs away from his forehead as he emptied his stomach. this time the nausea didn’t pass quite a quickly, or as completely - even after a ten minute camp out filled with productive heaving, chan still felt woozy, and he couldn’t stop his hands from shaking. he hid them in his hoodie pockets as minho guided him back to the bedroom.

things were quieter after that. most of the younger guys were at the studio practicing the dance moves for their upcoming music video, and changbin, who chan hadn’t seen all day, was probably cooped up with jisung trying to pick up the slack from chan’s day off. chan was genuinely exhausted and was tempted to actually rest, but sleep didn’t come easily with guilt hanging over him. no matter how much he told himself it was better in the long run, the knowledge that someone had to do whatever he didn’t have time for was eating chan up inside.

so, after trying and failing to sleep for about ten minutes, chan slid under the covers and got to work on his phone. he tried to be kind to himself, but he wasn’t making much progress even while he was working on stuff.

when changbin barged in and suddenly threw chan’s covers off to snatch his phone out of his hands, chan was less than pleased.

“changbin! what the fuck!”

“hyung, you’re supposed to be sleeping!” changbin said, annoyance lining his voice.

“what, did jisung tell you that?” chan felt angry tears spring to his eyes and quickly wiped them away, but he saw changbin soften.

“of course he did,” changbin said. “he’s so worried about you that he can’t get a single thing done, hyung. so please, just rest? at least let your eyes take a break from your screens?”

in the corner of the room, minho checked his watch - or the place on his wrist where the would’ve been a watch, if he’d owned one. “welp, looks like my shift is up. changbin, babysitting duty is all yours.”

changbin frowned, but took minho’s place silently. chan refused to meet his eyes.

“hyung?”

“just leave me alone, changbin, please.”

it wasn’t anger, but it came off that way. it was shame.

the thought that chan had thrown jisung off, too, and now changbin was here taking care of him - chan hated it. they were all going to get in trouble for slacking at this rate, and it was chan’s fault about three times over. truthfully, chan felt like crying, but that would only make things worse, so instead he pulled out out a notebook. on accident, he met changbin’s disapproving gaze. chan’s voice came out sounding very small.

“bin, please.”

arms crossed, changbin breathed a sigh through his nose. he didn’t say anything, but his eyes slid away from chan and he clear didn’t intend to stop him.

the guilt settled heavier than ever in chan’s already upset stomach, but he hoped making some progress on work would help him feel better. unfortunately, it wasn’t that easy. with every minute that passed, chan felt worse. he jotted down some notes, just vague ideas but most of his energy was being expended just trying to keep his stomach contents in place. by the time he admitted to himself that he was fighting a losing battle, chan could hardly move without risking making a mess.

he set his notes aside, and put a trembling hand over his mouth. his attempt to get changbin’s attention was cut off before he could even say “bin,” and it was all chan could do to swallow the sick in his throat back down. he wasn’t entirely successful, but thankfully, changbin had sprung up and handed chan the plastic bowl minho had left by his bedside.

things still weren’t pretty. chan had held the sick in for so long that once he stopped fighting it, it spewed forth with so much force that it splattered the bed - and chan’s notes. changbin scrambled to save them, but chan waved him off.

“throw them out,” he said dejectedly, right before coughing himself into another vomiting spell. at this point, chan was beyond exhausted, and the room wouldn’t stop spinning before his eyes. when he squeezed them shut, he felt even sicker and retched hollowly until changbin forced him to drink some water that chan threw up again almost immediately. chills ran through him so viciously that chan worried he might lose his grip on the bowl, and was relieved when someone else’s hands appeared to keep it steady.

by the time he was done, chan wanted absolutely nothing more than a hug. when he looked up with tears in his eyes, chan found that jeongin was the one holding the bowl and froze.

“are you all back?” it was one thing, he thought, to inconvenience changbin alone - he and changbin had been through thick and thin together, and despite chan’s guilt, he knew changbin would brush this off soon enough. he wasn’t as sure about the other members of his team. “are you okay?” chan asked, on second thought.

jeongin scoffed. “hyung, can you please stop worrying about the rest of us for one second and worry about yourself? or better yet, just let us do the worrying for you, for once.”

chan sniffled, and felt tears prick his eyes. his boys had really matured. the realization took the breath out of him for a second, and the tension went with it. he flopped back onto his pillows and nodded.

“yeah, alright, innie, i’ll give it a go.”

after that, it was a flurry of activity. tasks, apparently, had been delegated by seungmin, so changbin cleaned out the bucket, hyunjin grabbed more water, minho put the blankets in the wash, jisung brought new blankets, jeongin cleaned chan up - and felix was on immediate snuggle duty. as the others finished their tasks, they joined, one by one, until the bed was a pile of the people chan treasured most.

in the end, it was easier than he’d thought, falling asleep surrounded by love.

——

a very quick reader survey (specific to this fic!) to make me smile and celebrate hyunjin <3

——

feel free to send more asks! / rules

[antiloreolympus]

8 Anti LO Asks

1. the thing is like even the poets we draw from get critiqued too. a lot of people thought hesiod was an evangelist with an agenda to push, homer (if they existed) was often lampooned for contradicting lines and spending too much time making lists than developing the story, aeschylus and euripides were both seen as biased and cynical and were often mocked, along with many more, and yet LO fans think their kiwi tumblr fave is somehow above all of them and shouldn't be critiqued? Get over yourselves

2. the problem with the 'make your own story" argument is that, assuming you try to retell hxp at least, youll have LO fans attacking you for "stealing" from rachel, who in turn never promotes or supports other retellings unless it adheres to her worldview (such as OSP). say what you will on punderworld or ficlets, but they always prop up lesser known creators with their platforms, meanwhile rachel when tasked with helping others (like Lets Play) she made it about herself. that speaks volumes.

3. a lot of LO fans think antis are just randomly haters but that's not true. Most of us were once devoted fans who couldn't ignore all the issues anymore and who still remember when it had promise and effort put into it, not the rushed husk it is now. It isnt just blindly hating it, it's being annoyed & disappointed of what could have been and how much the comic has declined and how the fans refuse to acknowledge its faults. How would we know how badly its gone down if we weren't fans once?

4. idk man i wouldnt tell people who dislike lo to make their own comics because those end up being way better. reylos did the same thing to disney over how badly they hated the last star wars movie and now their fanfics are becoming NYT bestsellers. just saying.

5. Maybe I'm dating myself here but one of the funniest parts of fandom used to be the most devoted fans calling out the bad stuff in what we liked and discussing it, because it was fan to pick it apart and clown on it. IDK why now LO fans and people like them are so convinced they can only mindlessly praise with no dissent and all critique is invalid. It's basic critical thinking skills that one can like something and still acknowledge the flaws. It's a bad look to admit you can't do so IMHO.

6. lo fans really need to get off this high horse that lo is perfect and therefore can never be criticized. even the best pieces of work ever have actual things to critique within them, and lo is not somehow better than all of them  to not be critiqued as well. its an ever growing list of issues lo keeps adding up because of who is behind. sorry, rachel, if you want sole credit for the writing and art, you have to own all the critiques too, and the fans needs to accept it. 

7. sorry, LO fans, but we are allowed to critique a work that gets so much privleges that even other webtoon creators dont get (seriously, the majority stull have to live off commission work while working on a full time comic) meanwhile rachel gets away with bad writing, cliffhangers that aren’t resolved for years, worsening art, and her bad and entitled attitude all while the company constantly promotes her while the majority of their catalog doesn’t, she has a full team rushing work for her while she at best does sketches and the occasional banner art, and gets her a bunch of media deals that the rest won’t ever get even a scrap of, all while already being a well off, privileged white woman who cries to her thousands of fans when her ego is bruised because more and more people are noticing her shitty politics and morals put into her work and are rightfully calling it out. at the very least you’d think someone in such a high rank at one of the worlds biggest media houses would actually put in the effort to make the best product she can and respect the people and culture she’s making bank off of, but she’s not and frankly does not seem like she ever will. She quite literally said it’s HER story and she’s allowed to do what she wants with it, and has spoken over Greeks time and time again that their input doesn’t matter over her personal feelings and thoughts. you don’t see other people in her position who also made bank (such as Rick Riordan or Madeline Miller) treat Greece and it’s people so awfully as her, her fans, and her product do, yet she gets all the excuses in the world while the above mentioned and others work on their mistakes and try to always put their best products out there, all while respecting Greece and it’s stories and even giving platforms to the underrepresented, meanwhile Rachel herself can’t even keep colors in line or keep designs on model while her writing gets more and more nonsensical, with her status only going to enrich herself and her ego while the rest are clinging to survive. God willing, maybe another mythology webtoon will be picked up to give her some competition and actually force her to put in the work for the rewards she earned off the backs of others, and that can’t happen soon enough.

8. NGL, kinda funny that LO Stan defends it by claiming people who dislike it are just “hacks like the woman behind 50 shades” like … uh … you know LO is ripped off from 50 shades, right? Like quite literally, it’s almost point for point exactly the same as 50 shades, down to the CEO with mommy issues and BDSM mixed with weird obsessions over a college girl’s virginity and a jealous ex who is into it versus the pure MC. Rachel is literally the hack ripping off 50 shades that that stan is claiming antis are. Wild stuff.

Anyway both the 50 shades woman and Rachel owe Stephanie Meyers a lot of money Bc they both in turn just ripped off Twilight anyway lol

Based on this post:

https://alatismeni-theitsa.tumblr.com/post/663420719494053888/why-not-write-a-take-of-your-own-on-the-myths

[ryqoshay]

Putting on Hairs - Post Production: Pinkbeard and Maddy

Primary Pairing: NichoMaddy NicoMaki Also Starring: Halcyon Hanayo Rating: T? Words: ~2.1k AU: Theater Fandom: Love Live Parent Fic: Putting on Hairs - Post Production Time Frame: Sometime after the main story Event: Wake Up Challenger 2022 Event Source: Idol Fanfic Heaven channel on Discord Content Warning: Pirate stuff Challenge: 7

---------

Author’s Note: Challenge 7 was to write for a genre for which I had never written. And to be honest, this gave me far too much pause. But as I've been writing for far longer than just what I've posted to tumblr and AO3, I kept scanning through the list of possible examples provided by those running the event, and dismissing them one by one. Children's book? Yup, back in grade school. Time Travel? Literally one of my prior event entries. Horror? Check. Noir? Check. Coming-of-age? Yup. Religious? Did that too. Etc. Etc. Etc. (yes, did a musical of sorts as well, which is why I made that reference)

But somehow, I've managed to avoid pirates. So here we are. Or should I say Arrrr?

Summary: Two pirates come seeking Maddy's aid

---------

Maddy sighed as she stepped out of the infirmary. It had been a long, but ultimately boring day, and all she wanted to do was go home.

“Madeline Westfield?”

Maddy almost didn’t react, as she couldn’t remember the last time someone used her actual name. “Yes, that is me.” She said after a moment.

Two individuals closed in on her, one on either side. One pressed the muzzle of a pistol against her.

“We will need you to come with us.” The same individual who had said her name earlier spoke again. “If you scream or try to draw attention, I will be forced to shoot.”

Out of the corner of her vision, Maddy noted the individual on her right was slightly taller than her, sported a dark beard, and dark hair in a low ponytail that went down past his shoulders. And intense, ruby eyes.

“You know, with that angle, you’re not going to do much damage.” Maddy commented dryly as the three started walking.

“What?” The man asked, his voice rising in pitch strangely.

“Sure, it would hurt, and would give you time to escape, but I could easily patch myself up with what I have in my bag and come after you later. And believe me, I would.” Maddy paused for half a second to consider. “Well, actually I’d suppose I would more likely just put a bounty on your head and let someone else take care of you for me.”

“I…”

“If you intend to shoot me,” Maddy reached down to the man’s wrist.

“What are you…?”

“you should really point it here.” She reaimed the weapon. “Fired like this will at least puncture a lung, severely reducing my survival chances and thus my ability to seek revenge.”

“Do you not know the predicament you are in?”

“You’re abducting me, right?”

“Uhm… yeah.”

“You’re pirates, right?”

“… Yes.”

“Right, which means you’re either seeking my services or ransom from my family. So, which is it?”

“Services.”

Maddy sighed.

“What.” The man’s irritation was obviously mounting.

“Look, I’ll come with you this time, but next time, just bring your wounded to the infirmary. Crimson Cove is a free port and everyone here is fine doing business with pirates.”

“I… thought this place was under the control of the Navy?”

“They abandoned this island about a year ago. Something about no longer being strategically significant, or something.” Maddy shrugged. “Anyway, you should really update your map so you know you don’t have to abduct me.”

“You… say that like you’ve been abducted before.”

“A time or two, yes.”

“I suppose that explains your attitude…” The man grumbled.

“I actually moved out here to stop the abductions.” Maddy decided to ignore the jab. “I’ll take care of anyone so long as they can pay. You are paying, are you not?”

“O-of course. What do you take me for?”

“An idiot.”

“I’m not an idiot!” The man’s voice suddenly sounded… shrill?

The pirate on Maddy’s other side giggled. Maddy gave a glance toward her. Brunette. Glasses. Amethyst eyes, not all that unlike her own; maybe a shade lighter. And much softer features overall than Maddy would elsewise expect of a pirate. But who was she to judge?

“Anyway, how many wounded do you have aboard?” Maddy decided to ask.

“Forty-two.” The woman on her left stated.

“Yeah, I suppose that would be more than the average ship’s doctor could reasonably handle.”

“We… lost our doctor in the battle.”

“I see.”

“Carpenter too…”

“Well, for that many, I am going to need more than what I have on me.” Maddy held up the bag in her hand.

“We have supplies onboard.” The man stated, though his voice was different enough that Maddy was starting to wonder.

“Not the supplies I will need.” The doctor replied. “But my house is right over there. If you two don’t mind carrying some stuff, we should be able to get everything.”

“What other supplies do you need?” The man asked as the three approached the door.

“You came for my medical assistance and don’t know?”

“Uhm…”

“I’m not your ordinary surgeon.” Maddy explained, stepping into her house. “I’m a medical alchemist.”

“You mean like magic and stuff?”

Maddy sighed. “Just… carry this.” She grabbed a case and handed it to the man. “As for you…” She tossed in the general direction of the woman. She grabbed a sack and started roaming the large main room. “This… Yes…” She started filling the sack. “I’ll be bringing this, but you’d better hope I don’t need it.” She held up a tiny vial before slipping it into her pocket.

“Why?” The woman asked.

“I’d have to charge you about half the price of your ship.”

“Oh…”

“Yes, I realize I probably shouldn’t be pointing out expensive things to people who steal for a living.” Maddy acknowledged as she continued her tour along the filled shelves on the wall. “But it’s worthless if used incorrectly, and good luck finding a buyer who would even know what it is. Anyway, just one more thing.” She grabbed a rolled parchment and handed it to the woman. “A new map. Wouldn’t want you sailing into some port the Navy now controls.”

“Thank you.” The woman accepted politely.

“And that’s everything. Let’s go.”

Maddy started making her way back towards the door when she stopped, eyeing the man suspiciously.

“Do your boots have hidden pattens on them?” She asked the man.

“Uhm, no?” He replied.

“You know that as I am a doctor, I know my anatomy.” Maddy crossed her arms. “And while they are certainly cleverly concealed, there is definitely something adding to the thickness of you soles. Just how short are you, really?”

“I’m not short!” There was that shrillness again.

Maddy narrowed her eyes and stepped forward, stopping just in front of the man.

“Wh… what?”

Maddy reached up and grabbed the man’s beard.

“Hey! Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”

The man tried to hold in place what Maddy now realized was fake, but to no avail.

“Is this some kind of joke?” Maddy asked as she examined the beard she now held. “Just how old are you, kid?”

“I’m not a kid!” The supposed pirate protested.

“Nichole is actually older than me.” The woman offered.

“Halcyon…” The girl? whined.

“Oh, right… sorry, Captain.”

Captain? There’s no way… is there?

“Anyway, we need to get back to the ship.” The girl’s demeanor shifted to more serious. “My crew needs to be attended to.”

“Right.” Maddy and the woman replied, almost in unison before following the girl out the door.

“So, ‘Captain,’” Maddy spoke as the three made their way down toward the docks “what did you say your name was again? Can’t say I’m familiar with a Captain Nichole.”

“Pinkbeard.” The girl responded. “Captain Pinkbeard of the Smiling Sails.”

Maddy snorted.

“What?”

“You’ve got to be the least intimidating pirate I’ve ever encountered.”

Pinkbeard grumbled something Maddy was sure was a curse.

“Is that why you had to fight, because you weren’t intimidating enough?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t you pirates usually rely on subterfuge and such to avoid fighting?”

“Well yeah, obviously.”

“So were you unable to intimidate your prey?”

“No, we were ambushed by the Royal Navy.” Pinkbeard’s tone darkened.

“I see.”

“And not just any HMS ships, the Audrey and the Margaret.”

Maddy raised an eyebrow. “Both? At the same time?”

“Yes.”

“Just against your one ship?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, I will admit that is impressive.” Maddy nodded. “Captains Woadhyll and Endeison have arrested more than their share of pirates, and sunk many a ship that resisted.”

“And not only did we fend them off.” Pinkbeard suddenly puffed her chest out with pride. “But we made sure they’ll be spending a long time docked for repairs. And replacing crew.”

“Although we’ll need to do the same.” Halcyon… was that her pirate name or given name? pointed out.

“Right…” Pinkbeard deflated again. “Say, Ms. Westfield…”

“Maddy.” The doctor corrected.

“Do they call you that because you’re mad and grumpy all the time?”

“Do you want me to help you or not?”

“… Sor… I mean… Maddy, do you know of any good carpenters in the area?”

“Preferably not too far.” Halcyon chimed in. “We’re not actively taking on water any more, but I’m not sure how long my patchwork will last.”

“There are several here in Crimson Cove.” Maddy stated as the three boarded the rowboat and the two young women who had been standing guard there began to work the oars. “Honestly, if you play your cards right, you might even be able to convince one to join your crew to replace the one you lost.”

“And what about you?”

“Me?”

“We are also in need of a new ship’s surgeon.” Halcyon pointed out.

“Hrm…”

“You’re obviously fine working with pirates. And you get along well with the captain too.”

“I do?” Maddy balked.

“She does?” Pinkbeard asked, almost at the same time.

Halcyon smiled. Maddy raised an eyebrow. Pinkbeard furrowed her brow.

“Perhaps we can discuss it once we’re ready to sail again.” Halcyon said.

Maddy glanced back and forth between the captain and the woman she was beginning to assume was the quartermaster. She’d be lying if she said the idea of adventuring out on the high seas was completely unappealing. And she’d really only gone along her parent’s preferred profession for her because she happened to be good at it. They weren’t happy with her choice of living in what they considered a dangerous area, where she would potentially have to deal with pirates. But she had seen it as a lucrative opportunity, for that very reason. And she had been right.

But joining a pirate crew directly? That was vastly different than just treating those who came to her at port. And yet… it wasn’t completely unappealing…

“Maybe…” Maddy offered as the shadow of the Smiling Sails came into view.

---------

“And scene!” Kanata called from her seat in the house. “Good work, everyone.”

“Of course it was good work.” Nico said as she hopped over the side of the prop rowboat. “Maki-chan and I were involved.”

Maki rolled her eyes, but didn’t dispute her girlfriend’s claim.

“Doth the lady require aid?” Nico quipped, extending a hand toward the redhead.

“I’m fine.” Maki assured, pushing herself up from the bench. “But thanks anyway.”

“But as Captain, I gotta look out for our Dr. Maki-chan.”

“Like you did with the prior one?” Despite her words, Maki finally accepted Nico’s hand and stepped out of the boat.

Nico furrowed her brow. “That’s not my fault. I can’t be held responsible for stuff that happened before the plot began. Blame Yuu and Chika.” She named the writers of the script.

“Yeah, I’m still not sure why they were so insistent that I play a surgeon. Or medical alchemist. Or whatever.”

“’Cause Maki-chan just has the air of a doctor about her.”

“Because my uncle owns a hospital?”

“Nah, because you have the qualities of some famous TV docs. Highly intelligent, arrogant, proud and horrible bedside manners.”

“What was that?” Maki crossed her arms. “I don’t get it.”

“Maki-chan is also good at playing the piano.” Hanayo pointed out as she hopped out of the boat as well.

“So?”

“So you’d be good with your hands, for surgery and such.”

“Maybe, I guess.”

“And Nico makes a good Captain.” Nico suddenly decided to say as the three headed toward the wing of the stage.

“Now that I definitely don’t get.” Maki said. “And I think Maddy would agree.”

“There’s no rule against pirate captains being cute.” Nico stated. “They just gotta be voted in by the crew, which means they gotta be charismatic. And Nico is.”

“And a good battle tactician.”

“Nico could do that.”

“I’m not sure video game strategies count.”

“Whatever.” Nico dismissed with a wave. “But to prove my point, maybe we should have the audience vote on the best captain at the end of the play.”

“You think you’ll win against Yoshiko and Setsuna?”

“Of course!” Nico puffed her chest out with pride. “And Maki-chan will vote for Nico, right?”

“Maybe.”

“Maki-chan’s not being ho~nest.” Nico sang, grabbing the taller woman’s arm.

“Fine.” Maki relented, deciding not to point out that her vote would just be nullified by the votes of the other actors’ girlfriends.

“Anyway, let’s go find us some seats so we can watch the next group.” Nico said, already dragging her girlfriend along without awaiting an answer.

“Alright.” Maki replied as the couple made their way offstage and into the house.

---------

Author’s Note Continued: Spent wa~y too much time worldbuilding for something to which I've no idea when I will return. I would very much like to write YohaRiko and SetsuAyu's intros at some point - technically YuuAyuSetsu, but Yuu isn't an actor in the play - but by the gods has my queue been growing faster than I can find time to work on it. And I have more ideas for NichoMaddy NicoMaki as well. But at least this chapter was fun to write.

As for why I made this into a play for my PoH world instead of its own AU unto itself, there are three reasons, for now. The first is I wanted to make the joke about Maki having a doctor vibe. And the second involves Kanan's monster type. The third reason involves plans I have for Yohane in general, not just PoH's version thereof.

And finally, with this chapter, my entries for this event are complete.

Also finally, I was out of town when the event was coming to an end, so I just quickly posted this to AO3 with plans to post it here later. And then promptly forgot about it as I started working on the next chapter. Because heaven forbid any new thing I start remain as a true one-shot...

[captainenjolras]

Prompt:

Chabouillet getting really protective of Javert when he and Valjean started dating. Like maybe interrogating Valjean and such

Also love your fics they're so darn cute

Aww, thank you! I’ve been waiting to write something involving Javert and Chabouillet’s relationship!

Valjean meeting Chabouillet would either go down great or like the dinner scene from Shrek 2

⚠️TW: mentions of abuse, drunkness and suic*de⚠️

Fight Fire With Fire

It’s not that he wasn’t happy for him, he was just…less than thrilled.

Chabouillet had known Javert for years; since the boy was fifteen. He had found him running in the streets. Since that day, he’d taken him under his wing; he was the one who had given him shelter from a less than terrible home life, the one who had suggested making him a guard at the age of 17, the one who always looked out for him no matter where he was stationed.

He was also the one who had to listen to the boy’s rants about Madeline.

Never had he seen Javert so…distracted. So ditzy. Usually, he was a stern and hard working man; but upon being in Madeline’s presence, he was an absolute dork. He was the one who watched as the young Inspector fumbled over files hours after the interactions; and after the truth was revealed about the Mayor, he was the one who allowed a very drunk, upset and tearful Javert sleep in his spare room.

Maybe that’s why he was so tense about this situation; the whole Madeline incident had felt like a punch to the gut for Javert. Sure, Chabouillet was disappointed as well, but what made him more conflicted was the younger’s emotional distress over the whole thing.

But the past was in the past, and all that mattered was the present. Right?

“Le patron!”

“Javert, mon garçon!”

The Inspector came bounding at Chabouillet, wrapping him in a tight hug. Well! This was new! Once they broke apart, the Chief laid his eyes upon the other man. Valjean.

The man had a shy smile on his face as the oldest of the three surveyed him. He was quite tall, very muscular, had a head of curly hair and neat facial hair, was dressed quite well…

“Hello, Monsieur Chabouillet,” greeted Valjean, hand extended as if to shake the oldest’s own. Chabouillet simply nodded instead.

“Monsieur Valjean.”

The eye contact they held was less than comfortable for both parties, although Javert didn’t seem to notice. He stood in between them both, teeth bared in a wide smile. The height and size difference of the couple was as if a cat had just dragged home a bear.

After what felt like an eternity of awkward silence for the older two, Chabouillet eventually spoke up.

“Well, come inside!”

Valjean followed gingerly behind Javert, who entered the house as if it was his own. Jean remembered that in a way, it was. The man had practically adopted the Inspector. Did that mean this was their equivalent to “meeting the parents?”

That was exactly what this was going to be, wasn’t it?

“Make yourselves at home,” spoke Chabouillet, acknowledging the coat rack by the door.

——————————————————————————

The entire night, Chabouillet studied Javert and Valjean’s interactions. The two acted like lovesick teenagers, although he did notice Valjean eyeing him mistrustfully. He returned the favor. At one point, Jean had wrapped his arm around Javert’s waist. That was Chabouillet’s breaking point.

“Javert,” he interrupted, “I’m very sorry to ask you this right now, but there’s a case file upstairs that I forgot to give to you yesterday! Would you mind just going over it?”

For once, Javert seemed annoyed at having to work. What on earth? However, he agreed and went up to the study room. Once he was a good distance away, Chabouillet turned to Valjean. He looked him up and down, lips pressed in a thin line.

“Nice to finally me-“

“Talk to me, Jean.”

Chabouillet beckoned Valjean to follow him to the dining room. Once they were seated, he spoke again.

“What are your intentions?”

“I’m sorry?”

“What are your…intentions…with Javert?”

Oh, he could tell so much jokes right now.

He chose not to.

“If I have the correct understanding, then my intentions are to make him happy.”

Once again, Chabouillet stared deep into his soul. Well, this was terrifying.

“What do you do for a living, Jean?”

“W-well my good friend owns a shop that I co-own.”

“…How often do you see Javert?”

“We live together, Monsieur.”

“Well what do you two do on your spare time?”

“All sorts of things; we go on walks, read together, garden, watch TV- stuff we did before we were together! We just…do it together now.”

“And what about dates?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Where do you take him on dates?”

“I mean, usually we prefer to stay home; but otherwise we go out for dinner or stargazing- we actually went to this planetarium last week with a huge star dome-“

“Do you listen to him?”

“…I’m not sure I quite understand that-“

“Do you listen to him; does he talk to you? About work? Problems? Feelings?”

“Oh! Yes, actually!”

“Yes to what?”

“Er, all of the above?”

Valjean laughed nervously, face redder than the table cloth he tapped at anxiously.

“…Back to my original question,” grumbled Chabouillet, sitting up straighter than he already was, “what are your intentions with Javert?”

“I-I thought I answered that-“

“Not in the way I wanted you to. What are your plans for the future involving your…relationship; is this some sort of fling? Just casual dating? Serious? What, what is it?”

“I mean, I’d say it’s pretty serious.”

“You’d say it’s pretty serious…do you plan on marrying him?”

At that, Valjean began to choke on nothing. His eyes went wide and jaw dropped.

“I-I’m sorry?”

“Do you plan on marrying him, boy.”

“…I don’t know how you want me to answer that-“

“The way you would if anyone else asked!”

“Yes!”

The moment he said those words, Jean slammed his hand over his mouth. Both men peaked out of the room, hoping that Javert wasn’t anywhere near. Thankfully, he wasn’t.

“Yes,” whispered Jean, eyes refusing to meet the Chiefs, “I…I do plan on marrying him…if he wants to, that is.”

“What is that supposed to mean? You’ve never spoken about marriage?!”

“No, no we have- it’s just- we’ll I haven’t quite asked him yet. You know…asked him.”

Oh? Oh. Oooh, ok. He understood now.

Well now he had more of a right to threaten him over screwing this up.

“…I don’t know you, Jean. How am I supposed to know that you’re the right match for Javert?”

“Excuse me?”

“I mean- I just met the real you, not Madeline. Do you have any clue how much that whole stunt upset Javert? He loved you. Not just- not admiration love, he loved you; and then you go and pull that- god, I was so mad! If I could’ve gone out and found you myself I would have- and don’t think I won’t do the same now if you ever hurt him!”

“I don’t know how much clearer I could have made it,” started the younger, eyebrows furrowed in frustration, “but I don’t plan on hurting him or letting anyone hurt else hurt him. I…understand you’re skeptic of me, but please…he means the world to me.”

“And how do I know you’re not lying to me? Was it you that saved him from his abusive household? Was it you who took him in, put a roof over his head and clothes on his back? Was it me or you who made him hysterical sob after lying about who they really were?”

“Was it you or me who risked their freedom to make sure he was safe,” growled Valjean, standing now. “Is it your shoulder or my shoulder that he cries into every time he’s had enough? Was it you that sobbed for days because maybe, just maybe, you loved him back to; but you could never tell him! Was it you or me that pulled him out of the damn Seine in the middle of the fucking night-“

“Enough!”

Chabouillet slammed his palm to the table. Valjean, who had just been fuming, was now sitting down again, fear in his eyes.

“Enough, please…I can’t- don’t bring that up.”

The older of the two quietly sunk back down to his seat, mind racing. Perhaps they both went to far.

“…How does he like his coffee?”

Oh…that’s not what Valjean was expecting.

“…With so much sugar it’s a little scary.”

At that, both of them couldn’t help but laugh a bit. Once it died down, Chabouillet looked over at him.

“When he found out you were in the city, he wasn’t very happy. I’ll admit, I thought he was overreacting a bit. Then…after the protests…I don’t know, something seemed to change. When I heard it was you that saved him, I nearly didn’t believe it.”

A tear had fallen down his cheek, but the Chief didn’t seem to care.

“…Thank you,” he started again, “for saving him. He’s…like a son to me.”

“…I can tell from the way you care about him…Please, Monsieur, I apologize if my behavior was a bit rash; my only intentions with Javert are to make him happy. I hope you’d let me.”

Chabouillet went to open his mouth, but just as he did, Javert strutted into the room.

“One of your leads has been dead for years, Le patron. Are you sure she was the person in suspect?”

He really had no clue of the entire conversation that just went down.

——————————————————————————

The rest of the night went smoothly; the three of them swapped stories and debates over dinner. Around 9:00, Javert suggested they should head home.

As they were leaving, Chabouillet pulled Valjean aside.

“Monsieur,” started the younger, “I’d like to thank you-“

“It’s- it’s quite alright…You have my permission. And…my blessing.”

It took a moment for Jean to register what he was saying, but once it did, he wrapped the man in a tight embrace.

“Oh, thank you! Thank you- I shouldn’t be hugging you, should I?”

He pulled away, the same anxious smile on his face that was there moments ago.

“It’s…alright. Maybe not- I’d prefer to see how things play out in the future.”

“Understandable.”

“Valjean?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you for making him happy…truly happy.”

“…Thank you for making him the man he is today.”

For once, they both shared a less than awkward smile.

“Treat him well.”

“I will.”

Valjean turned to leave, only for Chabouillet to turn him around once again.

“Just know, that if you ever, and I mean EVER, hurt him, I won’t hesitate to find you and make your life a living nightmare.”

“…There’s the Chabouillet I know. Don’t worry, that won’t be necessary.”

“It’s a warning.”

“That won’t need to be enforced.”

“Valjean-“

“I know, I know; you’re just making sure I understand. I do, believe me. I have absolutely no plan on hurting him, or letting anything hurt him for that matter.”

“…Good man. Go, he’s probably wondering where you are.”

“Probably- thank you for dinner, Monsieur.”

“Anytime. Farewell, Valjean.”

“Farewell, Monsieur.”

Chabouillet watched as Jean made his way to the car, kissing Javert on the cheek once he was inside. He made sure they drove off safely before closing the door and turning in for the night.

——————————————————————————

It was good to know that the Chief didn’t think him unfit for Javert, although that was the last thought he had at the moment. Looking down, Valjean couldn’t help but smile at the sleeping man he held in his arms. Javert wore one of Jean’s own t-shirts, and had his cheek smudged against the older’s chest. God, he was beautiful.

Jean glanced over at the ring he held in the hand that wasn’t cradling Javert’s back. Soon, he hoped.

Soon.

[fandomspov]

ANGELS LIKE YOU ꒱ tom riddle

❝SUMMARY❞ you are Tom's girlfriend in 1944

❝WARNINGS❞ fluff; swearing

   YOU WERE talking with your best friend elizabeth about your charms essay "i've done only half of it, the teacher sucks how does he think we'll write that many pages just for an essay" she whined and you giggled "i’m almost done, i've been up all night just to finish It. i swear he doesn't care about us at all" you rolled your eyes and elizabeth agreed by nodding her head suddenly you felt a pair of arms wrap around your waist "sorry 'lizbeth but i'll steal her for a minute" he said and dragged you away, you watched as elizabeth laughed and went to her friends "what are you doing" you giggled as he stopped "what? i want to spend time with my girlfriend" he smiled putting a piece of your hair behind your ear. "well what do you wanna do then?" "go to the lake?" he suggested and you nodded "ok but we still have classes you know?"

   "i know" he placed his hand in yours and pulled you outside and towards the lake, he laid down on the grass and you laid next to him, your head on his arm. you admired his features like his perfectly structured jawline, or his dark curly hair that fell over the side of his face. "i know i'm perfect but it's rude to stare" he joked and you jokingly rolled your eyes. he turned his face towards you noticing the pink in your cheeks "aw is l/n blushing?" he mocked  "fuck off riddle" you smiled and hid your face in his chest he giggled and played with your hair "i love you too".

   in school everyone thought of tom as a monster and a bad person but they didn't give him a chance to get to know him. he was the sweetest boy you've ever met. he would always compliment you and bring you flowers, even after 2 years of dating you still give him butterflies which wasn't always happening in most relationships. being in your last year meant that you graduated in a short amount of time and you were scared to lose him. when it came to his point of view, he would get sad thinking that he would lose you after school but he didn't plan on letting you go "y/n?" he called, distracting you from your daydream "yeah?" "if i asked you to marry me, would you say yes?" You smiled "of course" he leaned in and crashed his lips on yours, you gladly returned the gesture, melting in his arms as he caressed your cheek with his thumb. "i love you.." you said noticing a slight tint of pink in his cheeks "i love you"

   "no no no this can't be happening" you told the nurse "i'm sorry miss l/n but you are pregnant" she gave you a small smile "i have to go" you made your way out of the hospital wing and to tom's dormitory. you knocked on his door, but avery opened it "where's tom?" you questioned "he's asleep , what's wrong you look like you've seen a ghost" you stepped in the dorm "i'm fine i need to talk to him right now, could you please give us a moment?" "sure" he pulled his friends outside with him and you closed the door behind them. you crawled besides Tom in his bed and snuggled into his side holding back your tears "y/n?" he said with a raspy voice "sorry I didn't mean to wake you up" his strong arm wrapped around you and you smiled, taking in his scent "what's wrong you seem sad" he said now fully awake, gently stroking your cheek. “we need to talk" "about?" he looked more worried than curious "did something happen?". "yeah, umm this morning i felt really sick and I went to the nurse. she told me that umm... i-i'm pregnant" you said

   he looked at you with a blank expression "look i understand if you don't want to raise it with me, i know we're too young and things like that but i can’t abort it, i don’t know why" his face softened "baby how could you say that, i'd never let you go through this all alone. i love you and i want to have a child with you. we're graduating in a few months and I'll be more than happy to have a house with you and a baby" he stated “i don't deserve you, you're too sweet" you smiled making him blush "are you kidding me? you're the only one who truly likes me in this school, besides my friends. you were always there for me trough thick and thin. you never judged me when I cried in your arms or when i was clingy around you, you are the kindest person i've ever met" he pulled you closer to him

   "i love soft tom" you pinched his cheek and pulled him into a deep kiss. he obviously returned the kiss "how should we name her if it's a girl?" he asked making you giggle "well..how about madeline? or alicia?" you said "i was thinking about eleanor" he looked down at your smiley face "that's beautiful" you looked up at him in his beautiful eyes as he stared in your sparkling ones "if it's a boy?" he asked

[ellatholmes]

Invitation to gush, accepted?! <3

It feels like all I do is talk about my WIP's so forgive me if I'm repeating myself, but I'm currently falling in love with my OC's Lizzy Hail and Andric Roche all over again.

Changeling is my romantic portal fantasy debut novel, and it has taken me longer to write than I expected it to, twice as long as my epic fantasy manuscript, 'Stolen', but I finally feel like I've gotten a handle on the plot and the character's voices, and their motivations.

A quick run down;

Lizzy, her best friend Booker, and her mother Madeline are all Fey from the realm of Arbaon.

When Madeline travels to the mortal realm, for what should have been a brief two week trip, and doesn't come back, she is declared "Missing, presumed dead." This is standard practice in Arbaon as the Court Ruling is that any fey taking the risk of travelling to the mortal realm is doing so at their own risk.

But Lizzy wants to find out what happened to her mum, and why she went there in the first place.

When Lizzy and Booker get to the Mortal Realm however, they find out that not only are there humans and vampires, but also rabid, monstrous versions of the vampires, poisoned by human blood, called kavians.

Their first encounter with a kavian brings them to the attention of Andric Roche and plot ensues...

My deadline for finishing the first draft of the manuscript, with the intent to publish next year is the end of this month, and I'm making super progress. I'm currently 32k into Nano, and 53k into the total manuscript.

But, the reason I'm falling in love with Lizzy and Andric all over again, and the reason I'm taking full advantage of your invitation to gush, is because my two darling idiots just went waaaaay off script.

I just wrote a scene last night that appears nowhere in my outline.

Even as I was writing it, I just kept thinking; "I'm going to have to figure out how to fit this scene in. I might have to move it to later in the story. Need to check how much plot they've skipped to get to this point in the outline."

And it's made Chapter 19 my biggest chapter in the entire book, but I really liked the end result.

So I finished the chapter. Went and looked at my outline to see what I needed to edit... only to find that my glorious idiots had, by going off-script, solved a plot hole that was about to appear 2 chapters along in my outline, that I hadn't noticed was a plot hole yet!

So I thought they might be moving a little fast, but it turns out I know nothing. At least my characters know what the hell is going on!

Chapter 19 Sneak Peek

Because I can't resist sharing. No impulse control. That's me <3

She was small, but there was an inner strength to Lizzy. He should have seen it that first night, when she'd recovered from her fear quickly enough to stand her ground and argue with him, but he'd dismissed it. Assumed it was due to shock, or the woman simply not knowing how much danger they'd been in.

But even now, even believing that she'd revealed a secret he could wield against her, even after breaking apart just a little, she stood with her chin raised.

Lizzy met his gaze and held it. She was terrified, it was hidden there in the darkest depths of her gaze, but she refused to flinch, and Andric smiled.

"I'm going to guard your vulnerabilities," he said gently, "as per the terms of my employment contract with you," he added, smile widening teasingly. "And maybe, if I'm very lucky, earn just a little of your trust."

"Why?" she asked, and Andric's smile dropped a little as he sighed.

"Because you're clever, funny, and you've got potential... and I don't think I was too far off the mark. Apart from your mum and Booker, do you have anyone back in Arbaon?"

She didn't flinch, or order him to be silent this time, but she went very still. Like an animal startled in the wild, but Andric waited, not pushing her and a second later her mouth tightened and she glanced away, shrugging one shoulder.

"Mia wasn't... wrong. Entirely," Lizzy muttered. "All female fey are supposed to have wings. The fact that I don't... well. Until Booker, I'd only ever had my mum. And now I only have Booker."

Arbaon was, as far as the stories went, a single realm with a small population, but Andric couldn't imagine living your whole life knowing that your entire world thought you lesser because of an accident of birth. That same urge from earlier rose up again, the desire to help, to guard, and to protect.

"Trust me?" he asked, letting just a hint of playful challenge enter his voice and hoping it rallied her stubbornness back to the surface. Instantly, her head whipped back around to study him, her eyes fluttering slightly as she considered his question, but eventually offered a tiny nod, and Andric let his lips curl into a smile.

"Your hands. At least one of them is bleeding," he said, holding out his own. "I can smell it," he added carefully, watching Lizzy swallow hard before she slowly put her hands back in his. Andric lifted them slightly, the motion tugging Lizzy close, just a step, as he inspected her palms, and he hummed.

"It's just the right," he told her, releasing her left hand and cradling her right in both of his, before lifting his eyes back to hers, and letting a smirk creep through his walls, hoping the challenge would keep her focus.

"Vampires have a venom in their teeth that can stop a wound from cotting and closing. It's how we used to feed on humans... but our saliva counteracts it, and encourages injuries to heal over at an advanced rate," he explained, pausing to give her a moment to absorb his words, before he grinned again. "Still trust me?"

"Not as much as before you grinned at me like that," Lizzy muttered, scowling at him, and Andric laughed, prompting her to roll her eyes in response. "But... enough," she added, despite the nervous swallow he caught sight of.

He didn't give her a chance to second guess her decision, or worry about what he planned to do. Instead brought the pad of his right thumb to his lips, and ran his tongue over it, before bringing it down to her hand.

His thumb swept gently across her palm, pressing featherlight across the four crescent shaped wounds where her nails had sliced into her hand, and Lizzy gasped. He hoped it was surprise and not fear, but he didn't look away from her hand, waiting until he could see the small cuts sealing up and leaving only faint red lines in their wake, before he released her.

"There. Good as new."

yoooo this sounds amazing 🤩🤩🤩

I love when scenes just come to you, especially when they prompt some sort of change or resolution of a plot problem 😁 that's so great!

[sfb123]

TRR Book 3, Chapter 6: A Retelling

Pairing: Liam x Riley

Warnings: None, tame fluff piece. Some allusion to 🍋 but noting even remotely racy.

Word Count: 1,316

Author’s Note: This is my first story ever. I had an idea to take the spa scene from TRR3 and re-tell it from the perspective of Maxwell, Drake, and Hana after Liam and Riley sneak off for some alone time. I hope you all enjoy it. Shout out to @bebepac for looking it over for me and providing some super helpful feedback!!!

The Tag list is just my Taste of Cordonia tag list, plus a couple of sweethearts who have been so kind and encouraged me to write (and who talked me off a ledge last night when I was panicking about posting this). If you want to be added or removed for future fics, just let me know!

Tag List: @txemrn, @kingliam2019, @anjanettexcordonia, @texaskitten30, @twinkleallnight, @mile9213, @kittypryde-bipride, @motorcitymademadame, @kat-tia801, @bebepac

It was an emotional day at Applewood Manor, seeing the orchards completely destroyed was like a punch in the stomach to everyone. They were able to make it through the press conference and tree planting without issue. The mood quickly turned for the better once they invited little Jiro and Camellia to join them for a game of soccer in the Manor’s Courtyard. A game that proved to be exhausting and strenuous, which led Maxwell to suggest returning to the spa they had visited after the barn raising. A little relaxation was absolutely needed, and that was exactly what they were going to get, especially considering Madeline turned down the invitation Maxwell felt obligated to extend with her standing there as they made the plans.

Once they arrived, they split off into the designated changing areas, and met back up in the co-ed room. They each entered the pool and grabbed a glass of the complimentary cider that had been set out for them. The realization soon hit them, that the cider was likely made with apples from the now defunct orchard, which brought the mood down, once again. In the sake of keeping things light, they quickly changed the subject with a toast to the orchard, the Cordonian citizens, and “the best friends in the whole world,” which led Riley and Maxwell into one of their signature bits about how loveable they were. Once the toast was completed, Liam effortlessly slid beside Riley. The two of them started whispering and making those eyes at each other. Soon after that, they climbed out of the pool and started heading out the door.

Maxwell caught them exiting out of the corner of his eye, “Hey, where are those two going?”

“Do you really have to ask?” Drake replied, as he finished off his glass of sparkling cider.

“But this is supposed to be friend time. No cliques!” Maxwell protested. He loved having this tight group of friends, and he knew once Riley and Liam got married, moments like this would be few and far between. Riley would be thrust into the role of Queen, which would give his best friend much less time for movie nights and karaoke parties. He thought the Unity Tour would give them one last hurrah as a group. That wasn’t going to happen if Liam and Riley kept sneaking away.

“Maxwell,” Hana turned to face him “They’re both going through a lot right now. I’m sure they just need a moment.” She laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“As much as all of this sucks for us, think of how it is for them. We all saw first hand how hard they had to fight to be together, the hell they both went through. They finally get that, and announce their engagement, and it gets overshadowed by these attacks.” Drake explains, matter of factly.

“On top of that, Liam hasn’t been King for that long, I can imagine he’s taking these attacks very personally, and doubting himself as a ruler.” Hana added.

“Exactly. Liam’s pretty comfortable turning off that King stuff with us, and just being himself. But since the attacks, I can see that the wall isn’t fully coming down. If anyone can change that, it’s Brooks. He needs this, they both do.”

“Yea, I guess you’re right. More pool space for the rest of us!” Maxwell hopped out of the pool and slowly backed up, a grin spreading across his face.

“Beaumont, don’t you--” before Drake could finish his warning, Maxwell charged full speed toward the pool.

“CANNONBALL!!!” Maxwell hugged his knees in and flew through the air. The water displaced and the huge splash completely drenched Drake and Hana.

Drake grimaced as he pushed the wet hair out of his face, Hana laughed and applauded Maxwell's less than graceful, dive. The three friends sat in the pool area a bit longer, joking and chatting and reminiscing about the good times they had all shared since Liam’s social season. Drake glanced up at the clock and realized how late it was getting.

“We should probably head out. They’re going to be closing soon.” Drake stepped out of the pool they had been relaxing in, and grabbed a towel. Maxwell and Hana agreed, drying themselves off and heading back towards the changing rooms.

As they walked down the hall, Hana asked “What about Riley and Liam? We don’t know where they went.”

Maxwell heard some muffled noises coming from one of the saunas, he slowed down and pressed his ear to the door. He paused, his eyes went wide and his face started to turn red.

“What happened, Maxwell? What’s going on?” Drake looked concerned, and sped up his pace to meet him at the door.

“I...uh...I think I found them.” Maxwell started to giggle.

As Drake’s ear hits the door, it is met with a deep groan from the other side. “Yup, that’s them alright.” He shook his head as he stepped away and continued walking.

Maxwell knocks on the door “Hey, get a room, you two!”

He and Hana giggled as they went on their way.

A few minutes later, Liam joined Drake and Maxwell in the men’s changing area. “Well, I’m feeling relaxed.”

“I’ll bet you are.” Drake replied, raising an eyebrow at his friend.

“Yes, sorry about that, we seem to have gotten a bit carried away.” Liam replied sheepishly.

“Meh, it’s not like it’s the first time we’ve heard that. You guys get carried away a lot.” Drake shrugged.

Liam looked up at his friends with an expression of shock and confusion.

“Yea, we went camping with you guys in France, remember?” Maxwell said, nudging Liam with his elbow.

“...and you assigned me to the room next to Brooks when we were in Applewood for your engagement tour.” Drake added.

“Ok, ok, so we haven’t been quite as discreet as we thought we were. You’ve made that point very clear. Thank you.” Liam’s face was bright red, as he turned to his locker and took his clothes out to change.

Maxwell and Drake continued to give him a hard time as they finished getting their things together, and soon they headed out of the changing area to meet up with Riley and Hana, who were already in the lobby waiting for them. As soon as Riley saw the three men walking towards them her cheeks turned pink and her eyes fell to the floor.

“Brooks.” Drake nodded.

“Blossom,” Maxwell winked and nudged Riley’s shoulder.

“Hey guys.” Riley mumbled, barely above a whisper, clasping her hands behind her back.

Hana followed Drake and Maxwell to the door, Liam stepped up to Riley and put his arm around her shoulders, as they started to walk towards the exit.

“Are you alright, love?” Liam inquired, rubbing his hand up and down her arm to soothe her.

“Liam, they HEARD us. It’s so embarrassing!” she looked up at him, and the horror in her eyes made Liam chuckle.

“I don’t know if this will make you feel better or worse, but apparently, this wasn’t the first time.” He pulled her closer.

“I know! Hana said that every time we go missing the guys place bets on which one of us comes back more disheveled. And by the way...worse, it definitely makes me feel worse.” Riley grumbled with a deep sigh.

“Would you like to stop sneaking away from events? It’s certainly not my preferred solution, but I will do whatever makes you happy.” He stopped walking and turned to face her.

“No! Of course not! Sneaking away is my favorite part of events! Maybe we could just try to put a little more emphasis on the sneaking part.” Riley suggested with a shy smile.

“As you wish, my Queen.” Liam kissed her forehead, and took her hand in his before continuing out the door.

[itstheimpossibledream]

Merry Christmas Pal

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year all the things! This fic was written specifically for @writethelifeyouwant as part of the SPN secret santa gift exchange but I hope we can all enjoy a little bit of smut this holiday! They said I had the freedom to write whatever I choose so enjoy this slightly wincestiel project! Also shout out to @negans-lucille-tblr for suggesting this great idea!

Word Count: 2,649

"Dean?"Cas called out as he grappled with the seatbelt. They had just pulled up to Madeline's house, Dean was already practically up the stairs, Sam stopped short and helped Castiel from the Impala. The street was decorated neatly for the holidays and Madeline’s small house specifically was lit to perfection.The boys quickly hurried behind Dean,reaching your steps just in time to pick an unassumingly provocative pose as you opened the door.  

The men were dimly lit by the lantern on your porch but you were not at all surprised by the rag-tag group the night had brought in. You had often opened your home to fellow hunters but, very few marked as memorable as the Winchesters. 

"Who's the friend?" you ask calmly motioning toward the trench coat. 

"Hi. I'm Castiel" the man stepped forward with him arm outstretched. Your eyes bounced from Dean to Sam and then back to Dean again. 

"Come in." you say turning your back to them and moving through the doorway into your home. 

"We really didn't mean to barge in on you like this Mads. We just had the craziest couple of days and really need a place to crash."

The boys looked like they had been through hell. It had been a while since the last time you saw them, and if we're being honest you were doing your best to contain the excitement. The last time the boys were here you had all stayed up drinking, and reminiscing which had led to a confusing yet thrilling three-way in the middle of your living room. 

Infact, everytime a Winchester had stayed in your home an encounter was bound to happen. Years ago when John had visited you for the second time, after hunting down a particular ghoul was the first night with a Winchester for you. God, just thinking of John's deep silky voice now makes your toes curl. The way he'd emphasized the slowness of that night. you must've had sex for hours and it still hadn't seemed like enough. John was brilliant at dragging out your orgasm, building it in you until you called out his name. That night he had you pressed up against your fridge, jeans around your ankles as he slammed into you, asking you over and over again 'who's your daddy?'. You didn't peg him for liking the daddy kink. I mean, he so obviously was one but, most hunters tended not to go for the obvious bent. You had found most hunters wanted to cry, make love and play house for a few hours before returning to their sad motels and continuing with their even sadder lives usually in a quest for revenge and usually you never saw them again. But John was different , John would visit you often and when his boys began looking for him , your address was a prominent stop in the state. Apparently, he had left behind proof that the two of you had been together.Strangely sentimental for a very mature man who's surety of himself caused him to remain a mystery. He was a good amount older than you but that never seemed to matter.The few minutes of reminiscing had caused a wetness to pool in your panties and you already felt yourself gearing up for whatever the younger Winchesters could possibly have in store. But, what was this third man doing here?

You had invited the men to sit in the living room while you heated up leftovers and prepared drinks. The new one preferred not to eat but he drank in time with the boys. As you served Dean he wrapped an arm around your waist,Sam was overflowing with compliments of your food but,Cas sat there nodding lightly as Sam and Dean filled you in on their latest hunts. As the night wore on, after your fourth or fifth trip to the fridge to freshen someone's beer you sat down next Castiel. He seemed so nervous and cold. When Sam and Dean excused themselves to bring in bags from the car and lock up the Impala for the night you found yourself unable to sit in the sullen silence anymore. You found yourself standing in front of the sink, washing dishes and looking for the right words. 

"So Castiel?" you asked, turning all your attention toward him as he helped you finish with the dishes. "How did the boys talk you into spending your holiday here?"

"Well, Dean says your food makes it the best place to stay, especially around christmas time. And I think he's also hoping you will decide to have sex with me."

You whirled from the sink to face him setting your mug on the counter. 

"And what makes him think that?"

"No idea, I told him I haven't had much luck with human women." he shrugged completely unembarrassed.

" And why do you think that is ?" you said more sarcastic than interested

" Because I'm a virgin, and Dean says no man should die a virgin.And also it's apparently great after a hunt." he sighed, shaking his head. At this moment Dean and Sam came back through the door carrying bags, one small pink gift bag caused your eyebrows to crease. Dean dropped the bags by the door as Sam came over to you with the small one. 

"A token of our gratitude for allowing us to spend the holidays with you." You looked quizzically from Sam to Dean, then to Cas.

" I promise it's not truck stop food." Cas said. That caught you by surprise that you laughed out loud at one of his jokes. It was an evergreen candle. Basic but, it was nice to know that the boys were thinking of you. "Thank you guys." you smiled as Sam stepped in for a hug. He was obviously the one who had picked out the candle. You came down from the hug and you turned to Dean to ask "So, what's this about Cas coming to my house to lose his virginity?" Dean turned to look at Cas, Sam's jaw dropped open. 

"You told her?" Dean was obviously frustrated with his friend, I guess he was nervous it would make you not want to hook up at all. 

"Well I was going to have to find out at some point right ?" you laugh trying to lift the mood.

"Dean wasn't trying to make you uncomfortable" Sam quickly jumped to the rescue "We just want Cas to have an interaction with a woman he can trust you know when we're working anyone could be a demon or a monster it's not a popular line of work and - and-" 

"I didn't say I wouldn't do it ." You reply looking directly at Cas " If I'm being honest it's always been a bit of a kink of mine to be someone's first."

Now it was Dean's turn to have his mouth hang open. 

"Great! So should we go upstairs?" Cas exclaimed. 

"Wait Cas, are you sure that like- you're ready now?" Sam's face was so earnest 

"Yup!" Cas said making his way towards the stairs. You stepped towards him.

"Hold on" you said, reaching for the lapels of his jacket. He allowed you to slide it off of his shoulders. the boys watched in silence as you draped the coat over the bannister and slowly undid his tie. You added his tie to the bannister and stepped in closer, sharing the air with him. He immediately leaned in and kissed you. You were slightly stunned by the confidence but also intrigued. He was a sweet kisser, smooth and calm, his tongue moved, calculated. A hand lightly caressed the curve of your lower back into your butt. You could tell it wasn't Cas's hand,this hand was larger and rougher. The hand moved to the front of your body and you could feel it working it's way toward your core. As nervous as you were, you couldn't get over the excitement of having multiple men at once. 

"Get on your knees" the man behind you was definitely Dean,you do as he says. You situate yourself on the floor as Dean reaches over you and undoes Cas's pants. His cock spills out and you watch as Dean slowly jerks him. You turn your head to find Sam sitting in the living room a few steps away with his pants around his ankles, watching. His strokes were different from Dean's; they were long, slow strokes. He catches you staring at him and smiles.

"I think you're supposed to be focused on Cas." Sam says smoothly , you turn your head back to face Cas."Open your mouth." Dean directs, Cas lays himself lightly on your tongue .

"She's so pretty like this Dean." Cas says staring down at you. You close your lips around him and begin to suck him off, he moans loudly.

"Even better than you thought it would be huh?" Sam laughs. You look up to see Dean kissing Cas above you and are instantly more turned on than you expected to be. You didn't know Dean was even remotely interested in men. Something about being completely unaware of his preferences made you so intrigued, he was like his father, unknowable but, in this way you knew more about him than any other hunter. You sped up on Cas's member and he moaned into Dean's lips. He couldn't take the pressure anymore, he explodes into your mouth with cries of "I'm cumming". Dean smiles at him but directs you to “stand up. I wanna taste him.” You get up and Dean immediately whirls you around shoving his tongue down your throat.He pulls away saying  "Give Cas sometime to recover sweetheart, go ride Sammy's dick." he smacks you on the ass as you saunter towards Sam. By this point he has completely undressed on your couch, he extends a hand towards you and helps you settle yourself on top of him. He runs a hand up your thigh and you see his eyes widen. 

" You're so wet from sucking Cas. Why is that?" he smiles, slowly narrowing his eyes. 

"Because she's a slut" Dean says as Sam sinks two fingers into you. Your breath hitches in your throat as you stare at Sam. 

"Is that what it is?" he asks, pulling his fingers out and lightly smacking your pussy."Are you a little slut?" He smacks again, harder this time." Yes-yes I'm little slut ." you voice says shakily, betraying you. "Come here." he motions, lowering you onto him. He gasps as you ride him, his fingers digging in deeper into your hips. You press down,staring into his eyes. He flips some hair from his face, and begins pushing into you faster. He brings a hand up to your face "You feel so good....wow." That was enough to send you over the edge, into spasm on Sam’s dick. 

"Can't keep it all to yourself Sammy." Dean growled from behind you. "Sam grabbed your hair, bringing your face closer to his "Say you want more." You moaned and nodded in response. "I said it." he pressed, you managed to get more of a grasp on your voice and said "I want more!" 

"Come here sweetheart." Dean called out from across the room, Sam pumped into you once more as hard as he could and then lifted you off of him, your legs were so wobbly you could barely stand. And you could fill the mix of the two of you sliding down your thighs. Dean must've noticed your unsteadiness and said "Don't walk''. You froze, looking up at him.Trying to follow the rules but, also knowing the need for your next orgasm would outweigh the want of the command especially, with the added bonus of bucking against Dean's dominance. His eyes looked from Sam, sweaty and spread out on the couch to Cas,who had barely managed to get himself back together after his last orgasm.

"See that's why I always liked you baby. You let the boys have their fun but, you know who's always gonna give you what you want." Your pupils blow out at that praise.He sets his eyes on you with a cold gaze.

”Crawl." he commands clear as day. Your body wanted to go to the floor anyway. You settle on your hands and knees and move slowly towards Dean. Placing one hand in front of the other, your knees dragging on the hardwood as you pass the skirt of your own christmas tree. "See that ass moving Sammy.That's why we love Mads, Cas. That's why."  You reached the space in front of Dean "Turn around."

You did as you were told so that your hands were laying flat on your rug on all fours, and you could feel as he got on his knees behind you and entered. You cried out immediately, his hand curled around your throat and as he lifted your chin Cas's dick came into view.Cas got on his knees in front of you Dean used his other hand to steady you and pull your hair turning your face up to meet Cas. "Kiss his it sweetheart" you lightly lay a peck on Cas's member, knowing it would immediately cause a rise in Dean. "Put your mouth around his pretty cock"he says lightly. You do as he says, Cas holding the back of your head as he pushes himself down your throat. "O you take him so good sweetheart. Swallow him.” he breathed“ You're such a good girl." You saw Sam's tall body come into frame,next to Cas."You're so good babygirl, you're taking me so well" he cooes. You can feel your core tightening and you worried that if you come another time you might break. Dean is fucking you hard now, strong , lustfilled pumps. "Cas come here." Dean calls"I want to watch you inside her.Dean pulls out of you only to be immediately replaced by Castiel's slow, agonizing strokes. Sam is smiling down on you and taking in the expanse of his naked body is enough to send you over the edge. You feel yourself clamping down on Cas and you cry out telling Dean that you can’t hold it any longer. "Cum for me baby." he commands "Come all over Cass, show him how much you like it." You scream out shivering over Cas's cock. The men give you a moment to recover then you feel Dean pulling you up. "Sit on your knees baby." his voice has softened now. "We're gonna come on you okay? Be a good girl and play with your tits for us. You follow his directions and before you know it all three are springing thick ropes of cum from their cocks, moaning in unison and screaming your name. The room falls quiet for a moment and all you can see are the warm lights of the christmas tree,your body immobilized and your brain flooding with serotonin. Dean gathers you in his arms and sits there holding you, telling you what a beautiful girl you are. Eventually, Sam emerges from your bathroom with a towel and both Sam and Cas clean you up wiping the sticky liquid from your body. Sam and Cas laid sprawled out on the floor, you curled in Dean's arms. Sam was propped against the foot of the couch, his hands in his hair as he stared up at the ceiling painting, Cas laid closer to you, his stomach facing the floor and his arms wrapped around a pillow as he looked up at Dean.  "Hey Cas." Dean gruffs looking in the direction of the floor.``Yeah?" Cas asks "Merry Christmas pal" Dean says extending an arm to slap Cas on the ass.  The room immediately erupts in laughter. I guess this really was all any of you had wished for.