#I’ve been thinking of this quote since the hospital scene so yeah I needed other people to suffer with me

[theflagscene]

[timextoxhajima]

Not For Sale: Week 14

NOT FOR SALE CHAPTER NAVIGATION

Member: Heeseung + Jay [ft. Sunghoon and Jake]

Pairings: [fem] uni exchange student! reader x uni student! HS x uni student! Jay

Genres: Fluff | Slice of Life | Comedy | Angst | Teenage Romance | Thriller

Warnings: scenes in the hospital

Word Count: 3k

Synopsis/Quote: In which your oblivious ass cannot tell that a popular boy in your class has a big, fat crush on you | “It seems like the one who was ruined was me.”

Taglist: @hyunjaethereal @seasideheeseung @wooya1224 @gratefulmaria @sunshineshouchan @youreverydayzebra @fayqj @witheeseung @haechanhues @w-o-o-y-a-a @miingxuxi @reallysmolrenjun @hrrhmay-primaryblog @rosie112703 @ac-ewow @liliansun​​ [drop me a dm/ask/comment to be added!]

You’re staring at the project document blankly, the pages filled with words and tables of the work you’ve done with Heeseung in the last few weeks or so. The weekend felt like three weeks, even when it was just three days - simply because you were in the hospital watching Jay flit in and out of consciousness and Heeseung’s still in a comatose state. 

The seat next to you is empty and there is no other word to describe being alone on your last week of school than ‘sad’. 

The Uber that picked Jay and Heeseung up had just been in school compounds and the police had found a rig in the brakes - the Uber had been stopped by another car driving straight into it.

Heeseung was on the side the car was rammed into. It’s a miracle he’s even still alive. 

“y/n?” 

The call jolts you out of your dissociation.

“Hey,” The professor walks up the stairs, and only now do you realise everybody else had left the lecture hall besides you. “I had the others hand up their projects but I saw you zoning out and I couldn’t do it.”

“Sorry,” Mumbling under your breath, you give the folder a quick flip-through before handing him the document. “Here.”

With pursed lips, he takes the folder and glances through it, skimming through the contents and pausing on the last page where you and Heeseung had signed off on. 

“I’m sorry it happened.”

“I’m sorry the school had to go through so much to catch the idiot,” Through gritted teeth, you offer him a small wince. 

“Well, yeah, that too,” The professor pulls up the lecture table from the seat next to you and sits himself in the plastic grove. “But it’s not important now. He’s going to be charged for God knows how many felonies, but I just- I wanted to know how you’re holding up.”

The concerned question thrums chills through you. Heeseung would’ve asked that. Jay would’ve too.

Jake and Sunghoon have probably tried, but you’re too busy crying or zoning out at the hospital to process anything else even if they did try. 

“I’m fine,” You shake your head and stuff your iPad into your bag. “There’s nothing anybody can do to make him wake up faster.”

“I know that. It’s just... I don’t want a student ending her semester like this.”

The grumble of the zip as you close your bag is disgustingly loud in the empty lecture hall. You hug your bag, slowly looping your arm through one of the holes as you push the lecture table away. 

“I’ll be fine. I’m leaving next week anyway and Heeseung’s not dead, so.”

The professor goes quiet upon the declaration. 

“Thanks for the fun sem, Prof,” You give him a tiny, wretched smile that’s not genuine at all, lifting a leg over the backrest of the seat in front of you. “I’ll tell my dad to say hi to you every now and then.”

Finally on both your feet one row before him, he looks at you with sad, tired eyes. 

“It’s been a pleasure having you and Heeseung as students, y/n. Do come back to visit when you come visit your father.”

A bare nod shakes your head.

“Bye prof.”

The ceiling looks the same. The light dangling from the beige, crusty roof looks dusty.

The room looks the same - except the fact that 80% of it were in boxes now. The clock hung on the wall has the loudest ticking you’ve ever heard - had it been this loud since the start?

Bzzzzt. Bzzzzzzzt. Bzzz-

“Hello.”

“Jesus Christ, how many times do you want me to call you before you’d pick up?”

Maybe until Heeseung wakes up.

“You know what? Don’t answer that.”

A pause.

“How are you holding up?”

“Great. I mean the sem’s over. I’ve handed up almost every project I need to submit.”

“Fuck you, you know I don’t mean that.”

“What am I supposed to tell you? I’m great, while I wait for my two friends to recover in the hospital? One of them’s not even awake.”

“I don’t want to be that person but no matter how much you cry or pray that he wakes up, it’s going to take time, okay? Let him rest and recuperate and he’ll spring back to life like he wasn’t just in an accident.”

“I shouldn’t have let them take the Uber.”

“For crying out loud, it is not your fault. You told them your dad was coming to get you and Jay didn’t want to cancel it for the fee. It’s a normal reaction. Who was supposed to know the Uber was rigged?”

You blink. 

“Have you packed?”

You count the boxes in your room. “Mostly.”

“I’ll be at your place when you come home. We can bake cupcakes and cookies and you can tell me about the school there.”

Your ears are taking in her words but your eyes are on the paper bag on your desk. It’s the tumbler that Jay got you. 

“Hello? You there?”

“Byeol, what if they don’t wake up before I leave? I have 8 days.”

“Have some faith in them, would you? Jay’s already awake right? He’s just flitting in and out of consciousness and Heeseung... They haven’t said he’s in critical condition, right?”

“But he’s been in the ER and it’s been three days.”

“Sis, I could sleep for three days. He’ll be awake before you leave.”

“Hope so.”

“Not going to the hospital?”

“Nah,” You roll over onto your side and stare at yourself in the mirror on your wardrobe doors. “Their friends are swarming the wards. It’s fine, Jake and Hoon got me onto the special visitors’ list.”

“There’s a special visitors’ list?”

“It’s Jay and it’s an expensive hospital with classier management. So yeah, pretty much.”

“That’s nice.”

Silence - except the occasional crackling of the static on the phone. 

“They’ll do fine, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I have to go now. I’ll call you tonight or tomorrow, I’ll text you?”

“Sure.”

“Okay. Bye.”

“Bye bye.”

The car ride with your father is quiet, the gentle music from the stereo playing and you’re thinking about how your mother is back at home. She is a busy woman back home too so you hadn’t really had the time to call or text her.

For the first time in a long time, your father knows more about your life than she does. 

“I know you’re probably not in the mood to answer this but...” The car slows at a red light. “Have you started packing?”

You don’t turn. The trees outside are swaying gently in the light breeze on this sunny day. It reminds you of the day Heeseung brought you out to the beach for your picnic. 

“I’m about 80% done. The stuff left’s like my laptop and iPad and daily appliances.”

“That’s good,” You see him nod in the window’s reflection and glance at you. “Well, I’ll come by and hand you the documents for credit transfer later this week and I’ll send you to the bus terminal next Wednesday too, yeah?”

“Mhm,” Humming to yourself, the refracted red light turns green. “Sure.”

The car starts again. “Hun, I... I just wanted you to know that I know this sem has been difficult for you. I’m- I’m sorry that I suggested you come. Had I known that there was going to be a lunatic running on the loose, I would’ve stopped you from coming.”

“You wouldn’t have known,” You mumble, but still loud enough for him to hear. “It’s fine, it’s over.”

“And with what happened with Jay and Heeseung... I’m sorry. I really am.”

“They would’ve gotten caught up in this crazy shitfest with the psycho anyway, regardless of my presence,” Finally turning to look at your father, he side-eyes you while keeping his hands on the steering wheel. “It’s not anybody’s fault except that psycho’s that this happened.”

Your father remains quiet, unable to respond. The car drives into the sheltered drop-off point at the hospital and he watches you unbuckle the seat belt to let yourself out the car.

“Hey.”

You sling your bag over your shoulder and rest a hand on the car door. 

“They’ll be okay.”

A weak smile pulls your lips up your cheeks. 

“I hope so.”

By the time you’ve reached the floor where the wads were, you’ve run into a good number of their friends. Of course, there were one or two bad apples among the bunch, but most of them knew you were on a special visitors’ list and that’s why you came so late. 

It never gets easier though, the look on their faces when you know they want to tell you that they’ll be okay, but promises should not be made if they cannot be kept.

Walking into Jay’s ward, you see his mother helping to sponge his face while Jake and Sunghoon speak to a friend on the other side of the bed. 

You catch the room’s attention when you pull the plastic bag out from your bag and let the door shut behind you, Jay’s mother looking up and offering you a tired smile. 

“Oh, hey,” Jake grins and beckons you over. 

“Hi Mrs Park,” You gesture to Jake to wait before holding out the plastic bag to Jay’s mother. “It’s a box of tonic for you and Mr Park. Thought of getting fruits but I don’t think Jay can have them yet.”

“Gosh, you really didn’t have to,” She shakes her head and sets the cloth down by the bed. “Thank you. Are you sure you’re okay, coming to visit so often? You’re here everyday, aren’t you?”

You return her a tight, pursed smile. “Yeah, but it’s fine. I’m leaving to go home next week so I don’t have much time left to spend with them. I don’t mind.”

“Oh, honey,” She stands and takes the box from you, turning to set it down on the table behind her before returning you her attention. “I... I don’t know what to say. This must be all a lot for you.”

You break the eye contact first, knowing that you were probably going to cry if you hadn’t stopped looking at her.

“No, it’s fine,” You raise a palm and rub her upper arm. “All I want is to have a decent conversation with Jay before I leave, and I’ll be more than satisfied.”

“Oh!” She exclaims, nose crunching into a threatened crying mess. She holds her arms open and coerces you into her arms, patting the back of your head. “Of course. Of course, Jay will be fine by the time you need to go home. I promise.”

“I really do hope so,” You pull away first and smile weakly at her.

“By the way, Mr and Mrs Lee are with Heeseung in the ward next door,” She sniffles, anxiously rubbing her palms together.

“Oh, right- Do they know I’m on the-”

“Yes, of course they do, sweet heart,” She quickly rubs your arm to comfort you, then slides her hands down to yours to keep them in her palms. “Their parents are the sweetest couple ever and they’d be so grateful that Heeseung has a friend like you. How about I have Jake or Sunghoon bring you over to meet them?”

“Oh,” You watch as she waves to get one of the boys’ attention, Sunghoon quickly pulling away from the crowd to attend to you. 

“Would you do me a favour and bring her over to Heeseung’s ward? Introduce her to his parents.”

“Of course,” Sunghoon hurriedly nods and lowers his head out of respect. “Come on.”

“Thanks, Mrs Park,” You turn your feet to follow Sunghoon, but your hands are reluctant to leave hers. “I’ll come back later.”

“No, take your time, sweet.”

With a slight nod, you pull away and trail after Sunghoon out of the ward after leaving your bag with Jake.

The ward door closes with a soft hiss, then Sunghoon pauses right before you can come into view of Heeseung’s ward door, turning over his shoulder to look down at you. 

“I don’t mean to bring this up at a bad time but...”

“I know,” You nod. “I know I’ve been an ass the last few weeks. Honestly, I... I didn’t know who I wanted to be endgame either.”

Sunghoon gives your word one more second of thought before he turns around to face you. 

“It’s not my business but are you going to choose? Or... just go home next week?”

You frown and look down at your hands, reminiscing the warmth from Jay’s mother.

“I don’t know,” Your voice cracks. “I don’t think I can choose. Even if I do, I have 8 days, and neither of them are awake yet. I don’t... I don’t want to do that to them.”

He takes a deep breath and looks away, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“It’s Heeseung. Choose Heeseung,” He says without looking at you. “The night they got into a crash, Jay texted Jake to tell us that Heeseung kissed you, and that was the moment he decided he would give up.”

The statement tears you apart on the inside. 

“Jay’s a tough guy to hurt and he plays his cards fairly and maturely,” Sunghoon nods and finally looks at you. “Don’t feel bad you’re choosing Heeseung over him. He had a truce with Heeseung. About you. And he knows he lost fair and square, so don’t feel upset. Just pour your heart and soul into Heeseung for the rest of the time you’re here, and worry about committing anything else after you’ve gone home.”

You part your lips to breathe, as if it would help you understand any faster or better.

“Anyway, both Heeseung’s parents are in there and they already have an idea who you are so... Just be nice.”

He watches you nod, slightly zoned-out, then pushes the door open. 

His parents can tell you’re more preoccupied with the limp, breathing body on the bed than their presence, but they still take it with grace and greet you like they’ve known you your entire life.

The sight of Heeseung being bandaged up with a leg hanging in the air makes you feel like shit.

Who wouldn’t?

Later in the night, after Heeseung’s mother had gone home and his father had left to get coffee, you’re left alone with him and the occasional beeping from the Holter monitor. 

There was a bruise and scratch on his left cheek, and his neck, arms and right leg were in a cast. You think about how much he was going to miss dancing when he gets told he’ll need to be on a 6-month break from anything strenuous. 

Tired, you pull your earpieces out and plug it into your phone, laying it on the bed while you hover over him to fit the earbuds into his ears. Then you sit back down and scroll through your playlist, playing with the volume buttons to make sure it was softer than the volume you’d normally listen to your music at. 

You make your selection, then quietly lay on the mattress with the faint music drizzling the atmosphere’s noise. That’s how quiet the room was. 

His fingers were sticking out of his cast, so you play with them. His hair was in his shut eyes, so you gently push them out in case he were to open them. 

“One more time, Heeseung. Just one more time before I leave.”

Jay’s mother was sleeping by his bed when you walk in to check on them, bag hanging from your right shoulder and lids heavy from the terrible sleep schedule the past few days. 

“Hi.”

And a smile stretches your lips out when you can see him blink, offer you his bright grin, apart from the cut on his eyebrow.

“Hey,” You whisper, walking towards him on the other side of the bed. “How are you feeling?”

Jay clears his throat and blinks. “Had better days, but at least I’m alive.”

A snigger threatens to wake his mother up. “Good. Do you want me to wake your mom up? Maybe get a doctor in to give you a check up or something.”

He shakes his head, even managing a small wave in his fingers laying by his hip. “No, I’m good. I’m going back to sleep soon anyway.”

You lean over and adjust his pillow. “Well, then I shan’t disturb you. I’ll come by again tomorrow.”

“Sure,” He looks up at you and nods. Your gazes meet, for a split second, he can kind of know what you’re thinking of, and you know what he was. 

“Thank you for this sem, Jay. I really am.”

He shakes his head. “No, thank you. It was a fun sem because of you.”

“You call being in a hospital ward fun?”

Chuckling, he turns back to look at the ceiling for a second. “You will come back to visit us, won’t you? Zoom call us or something.”

“Of course. We could meet up during the summer break if anything.”

Satisfied, he nods again. “Good.”

“Get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow,” You shove your hands into your pockets. 

“Okay,” He quietly responds, watching you turn on your heels. “Oh, y/n.”

You turn and raise a brow.

“Heeseung. He’s the one for you, and... he’ll wake up for you. I know he will.”

With a slightly ached grin, you nod and look down at your feet. 

“Bye Jay.”

“Bye.”

[phantomrose96]

New BNHA, new liveblog, 0 miles today because the gyms are all closed. this is weird for me.

REALLY loving each and every one of the hand-wavy reasons Horikoshi gives for “fuck it i just wanted Aizawa (or maybe Mirio?) to adopt a kid”

Aizawa: “Look, the hospital kicked her out, her parents are MIA, her grandpa’s in a coma, and it’s not like Mirio is doing anything right now.” Mirio: “Haha yeah :DD”

“We worked for like 15 episodes to steal her, you think we’d just, what, give her BACK? Finders fucking keepers, Midoriya.”

Sometimes a family is an out-of-commission 18 year old, a really tired teacher, a traumatized little girl, and the ugliest godDAMN sweater on the planet

Dats gay

I really like the Wild Wild Pussycats casual clothes???

Their whole aesthetic is Your Three Lesbian Aunts And One Gay Uncle Visiting For Thanksgiving

Kota has... Deku’s Shoes... thats real fucking cute

SPEAKING of cute: Ragdoll is an absolute gem and I wish there was more of her in the Training Camp arc she’s a real cutie

I’m glad we’re finally learning how rankings work, considering the very concept of the ranking system has been absolutely core to the series since Day 1. Like 90-something episodes in and Horikoshi is finally like “oh i should explain how that works”

I’m a big fan of how, whenever something Thematically Relevant to Todoroki is said, they just have to pan to his blank face, because it’s not like he’d ever. you know. participate in the conversation. not his style. we only get the Meaningful Panning Shot.

Is that

Is that a

Is that a washing machine?

Is the #8 hero a washing machine?

Never mind

Wait is THAT man just named Crust?? Poor bastard is the #6 hero and his hero name is crust.

Like I KNOW it’s a japanese show and they can’t know all the impli--but i mean, but i

“Most Underappreciated Part of a Pizza Hero: Crust”

oh HELL YEAH

OH HELL YEAH

also btw i really like Edgeshot’s voice. especially during the Kamino arc. it’s like, hypnotically chill

its him... finally... the bastard of lore.... i’ve heard whispers of this fucker

oh like he’s an ASSHOLE-ASSHOLE

“Who are you trying to make happy with that statement? Stain?” O H SO like he’s an A S S H O L E

Mirko: “You’re an asshole. ...I LIKE that” 

how quick i am to stan two separate characters within 30 seconds of meeting them

what arrogance. what audacity. what flippant fucking disregard. i’d like TWELVE of him please.

Hawks: -speaks- Me:

you know whats great? you know whats fantastic? his whole wing motif. because it doesn’t matter that Endeavor’s like 6′5″, Hawks can still float above him and condescend to him 

hes looking down his fucking nose at this man. ICONIC.

Hawks: “Just so everyone knows, I have a higher approval rating than Endeavor, and I have more fans, and my hair is way better than his. Anyway, you wanted to microphone, Bitch Boi?”

REALLY vibing with Hawks’ sarcasti-clapping of Endeavor’s speech to a completely silent audience

ASJSAHJAS, AN ICON. #1 HERO OF MY HEART, HAWKS

“Shame” as a quirk is a hilarious concept. And also how do you discover this? “Little Timmy’s fly was open at school and he promptly took out a wall”

and Hawks just fucking DECKS him from behind. LOVE the bait and switch of Shame-Man being important.

Endeavor: “Is he... is he dead?” Hawks: “Hot pot!! :DD”

The stupidest looking dog. i LOVE it

Just jumping in front of a truck for NO narrative reason other to have Hawks’ feathers save it

while hawks is STILL TALKING ABOUT FOOD

I MEAN BITCH SAME, BITCH RELATABLE, BUT LIKE

CHEEKY. love his stupid bits of English.

the autograph signing scene was basically just the Talent Show episode of Spongebob where Squidward and Spongebob do exactly the same thing, Spongebob being met with uproarious applause and Squidward being met with dead silence.

me buying shit in a craft store i cannot possibly need nor use, but it was shiny and only $5

Hawks calls Tokoyami “Tsukuyomi”?? am i missing something there or did he straight up get the name wrong?

Hawks: “I tried to scout your son but turns out he’s a failure. Runs in the family? :D”

85% of the reason I’m loving Hawks is because he’s JUST here to make Endeavor’s life harder, and that’s something I support every day of the week.

Hawks: “I just want to complain about how nothing happened today and then go to bed”

That one’s not a joke thats a direct fucking quote and WOW BITCH SAME

Endeavor: “how do you know about these Nomu rumors?” Hawks: “I’m a nosy bitch who loves gossip and can’t mind my own business? How would I not know about this???”

I understand this is a serious and dramatic screenshot, but also I’m too caught up in the notion that - when experiencing some strong emotion - Todo can’t help but just Light Himself A Little On Fire

Deku: “Good morning Todoroki! Are you ready for our English test today? :D” Shouto: -catches fire- Shouto: “...Our what”

Lunchrush: “Hey there, what can I get you?” Shouto: “The cold soba” Lunchrush: “All out of cold soba, sorry” Shouto: -catches fire- “That’s fine. Just the ramen then.”

Endeavor: “Hey.. son... Shouto... I’ve been thinking... With all the steps I’ve made to be a better hero, don’t you think maybe it’s time you forgive me?” Shouto: -actively on fire. 100% encased in flame- “Let me think about it.”

[vivithefolle]

What are your favourite fanfic tropes/aus for romione?

(I’m gonna try to make my way through old asks I received AGES ago and never answered because I’m a procrastinating lump. Here’s betting I’m going to give up and play videogames all day instead.)

Oh my god, so many.

Okay so as a rule of thumb as long as it’s nice to Ron I’ll read it. I’ll read anything. I have been known to read Ron/Draco and even sacrificed my dignity and everything I stand for as a human being by reading some Ron/Snape stuff. Yes. I was THAT desperate. This is how low I’m willing to go because of sheer love for Ron.

Which means that when a fic will go “oh poor Hermione, poor Hermione who is waiting for Ron to grow up because She can see one day he could be worth it but for now he’s all dumb-dumb and inferior and doesn’t deserve Her perfection :(”, I will be judging. Judging very hard. I may not leave a comment but rest assured, my thoughts are loud enough for me. This is 2010s mentality. This is “haha I’m so like Hermione, not like other girls who throw themselves at boys, I’m so special and girl powery :)” Horribly Bad Feminism. Fuck that. We’re doing better now.

Speaking of doing better. Recently I read something about how Ron is, paraphrased, “the brute of the Trio”, spun in a positive way since he uses his strength to protect them but, but, still... please no? Just no! Just eff no with these takes about how Ron is a hypermasculine dudebro M For Manly™! No, no, fucking no! Just because he’s the Sulfur to Hermione’s Mercury and Sulfur represents the masculine component to Mercury’s feminine one, DOESN’T MEAN Ron is “the brute”! (”the” brute... seriously... who’s the more brutish one, the one who punches a racist in the face or the one who uses a torture curse as retribution for spitting on his fave teacher?)

The way I see him, Ron is a balance, a blend of feminine and masculine qualities intertwined close together. I LOVE that he can swear like a sailor but can only say “scarlet woman” or “cow” when it comes to insulting a woman. Some will probably see it as “hurr durr he sexist he doesnt think women can take it!!!!!!! >8C” but given that those are probably also the peeps who say “HE CALLE D HERMOANI A NIGHTMURRR!!!!!!! DDDDD8″ I’m gonna venture the idea that we don’t care about those folks’ biased, sexist opinions.

Where was I going with this... oh yes! Ok, so Ron can swear like a sailor yet couldn’t insult a girl to save his life. He’s strong physically but most of all he’s strong mentally (to put up with the way his friends treat him for years speaks a lot of his mental fortitude... and to top it off he comes back for more to boot! I’m not sure if that’s more mental fortitude or straight-up masochism though.) When he succeeds at things he gets a bit attention-whoreish but at the same time, you can see that when he’s being complimented he’s all unsure of himself and blushy and shy and you just, dude you can’t handle positive attention because you don’t know how to react to it I don’t know whether that’s adorable or the saddest thing I’ve seen in my life? He’s insecure but he’s always the first to cheer on Harry and Hermione when they’re doing something great, which speaks VOLUMES of Ron’s selflessness and of his actual character: to quote @peetamaellark​, Ron doesn’t think “Harry is great, therefore he sucks and I hate him”, he thinks “Harry is great, therefore I suck and I hate me”. THIS is Ron. THIS is why Ron will lash out, not because he hates Harry, but because internally he hates himself and you can’t keep that sort of feeling bottled up for too long before... you got it, you explode.

I. Want. More. Fics where Hermione isn’t this ~oh dear~ Victorian damsel in distress who cries and Ron is the Big Strong Man who holds her with one arm and is stony-faced and goes “I’ll protect you”, please no that was old before it existed, let us have nice, realistic depictions of Ron and Hermione please.

Like, Hermione is more than capable of kicking butt herself. She IS absolutely nervous and scared and cries easily and that’s a vulnerability we NEED, but the fact that she can be super scared and crying but still hex her opponent into oblivion? THAT’s good, THAT’s excellent. It’s a very important message for girls, I think. “You can cry, you can be sensitive, you can be emotional, AND you can still kick butt”. And as important as that message is for girls, it’s also a very important message to give boys, because boys are socialized to “never cry” and that’s super unhealthy. I love Ron’s admiration of Hermione. I love the way Ron hesitates, the way he can be cautious when he needs to as much as he can be reckless and impulsive. I love how he shows himself to be a big softie and a sweet soul. I don’t think that makes him an “emasculated doormat” (to quote a guest I once saw on FFN), on the contrary it makes him an even better man in my eyes. You know why I love the locket scene so much? Because Ron’s tears aren’t ridiculed. Ron gets to cry about the terrible ordeal he’s been put through, and while Harry “pretends he can’t see Ron cry” because it’s more comfortable for him personally, he doesn’t try to tell Ron to “man up” or anything. His reassurance is pretty lousy but he lets Ron cry, he lets his friend be upset, and he doesn’t try to invalidate Ron’s pain. (ok, the “I thought you knew” is kiiiiinda on the way there, but it stops at that and I’m grateful for it).

I like. Seeing Ron distressed. I like seeing Ron upset and be allowed to be upset. I like to see Ron’s pain treated with respect. So when Ron is having a shit day I like to see him get a cuddle. I like seeing Ron go through horrible ordeals and break down and for his breakdown to be properly acknowledged and not turned into insensitive comic relief (ISN’T THAT RIGHT, LATTER HALF OF THE SILVER DOE????). I mean seriously, just imagine GOF, Harry sitting in the hospital wing after Cedric’s death, Molly Weasley gives him a hug and it’s all very sad and angsty. And now picture Ginny running into the room screaming “HARRY JAMES POTTER” and punching him over and over and saying “PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER MAN, PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER” then after two pages of Harry “explaining” himself to Ginny she goes away saying “aight but if you do that shit again you’ll have to answer to me” then Harry’s friends are like “damn she’s spunky huh?” and Harry laughs and everyone laughs and this is how the book ends? How would it be funny? How would it be appropriate? How would it feel like “romance”? When Ron returns in The Silver Doe, he’s been psychologically tortured (”tortured” is the actual word JKR uses, please), we don’t need him to be hurting outside as well.

I want more accountability for Hermione. More “uh hey Hermione maybe don’t do that”. More “hey Hermione you know you think of yourself as a good person buuuut yeah actually if all good persons were like you I’d be very afraid”. More “Hermione please for the love of God educate yourself”. More “Hermione sweetie I love you, but you can’t actually learn everything from books”. CHARACTER. DEVELOPMENT. PLEASE. Don’t be afraid to punch Hermione down and tear her apart the way the best Ron fics maim and torture our poor boy. Just because Rowling treated Hermione with kiddy princess gloves doesn’t mean you have to mimic her.

So when Hermione does a genuinely shitty thing let her own up to it. When Ron is a victim let him be upset and angry, even if Hermione is the one treating him badly. Just because he loves her doesn’t mean he’s not allowed to be disappointed in her or that she’s entitled to his immediate forgiveness. Give Ron and Hermione equal consideration. If you’re brushing off Hermione’s actions but condemning Ron for the slightest mistake, I am sure to hate it.

Okay, uh, so, those aren’t really tropes. Those are more just, guidelines I presume.

Oh, yeah, a trope that annoys me! Ron saying “you’re mine”, “my Hermione” and stuff, and Hermione just swoons and says “yours” and shiz. Ok, once in a while, why not. Once in a while. BUTT. I WANT HERMIONE TO SAY IT TOO. “Mine”, “my Ron!” and Ron swoons and says “yours, absolutely yours”. DO IT YOU COWARDS. FUCKING TAKE THOSE GENDER ROLES AND PUNCH’EM IN THE FACE.

Oh, right, while we’re on the subject of gender roles! Dad!Ron is everything. SingleParent!Ron is mwaaah. Stay-at-home-Dad!Ron is ALKZLDSJDLQSKLFJ <3. AnimalLover!Ron is HHHHNNNGG. Remember, the small gestures, the tiniest, softest acts Ron does (helping Harry get dressed when his arm is deboned, giving Dobby his brand-new sweater, praising Ginny, Luna and Neville when they escaped Umbridge), those are often those unremarkable, unmistakeably kind and sweet actions that tell us who Ron really is at his core: not a guy who’d want power at all costs, not a guy who’d give it all for ambition, not a guy who sees people as possessions, but someone kind who wants to make others happy.

Ok, I was also asked for AUs, so, uh, pretty much every AU is game as long as Ron gets treated with respect? I mean I don’t really care for Mafia!AUs or such but if you can find a way to fit good Romione then go for it I guess. Royalty AU, yeah why not but I often see Ron being made a prince while Hermione is a poor wee servant girl and like. Uuum, we’re talking about the same characters here? Hermione the highly educated girl who keeps on walking over everyone’s toes and loudly talking about how things should be done and is definitely Nouveau Riche, Ron who is a country boy who lives on a farm and is lost in the constant shuffle of his brothers, you think she should be the peasant and he should be the royal? Whaddafack? Oh, and all the “Hermione is a Muggle, Ron is a wizard” AUs that start this way BUTT! Suddenly... Hermione... turns out... to be (wait for it!)... A WITCH! And a super powerful super talented very good one too!!!... yeah ok, yawn. It’s quite scary, actually, how often I’ve seen that plotline, but in the rare cases when it’s Muggle!Ron and Witch!Hermione, Ron never ever EVER (I mean, seriously, NEVER EVER) turns out to have been a wizard, not even a mediocre one, all along. No, when Ron is made a Muggle for the sake of AU he stays a Muggle. But when Hermione is made a Muggle she has to turn out TO HAVE BEEN A WITCH ALL ALONG OMYGAH. I can count on one hand the number of Mugglemione/Wizardron fics that actually stick to their Mugglemione premise till the end - and usually they’re one-shots. (Also I don’t mean “Ron mistakes Hermione for a Muggle because he meets her in the Muggle world and assumes he must hide his magic from her, oh wait she was actually a witch!” fics, I mean genuinely “Hermione has been raised a Muggle her whole life, never had weird things happen to her her whole life ever, then Ron comes in and is a wizard and he does magic and Hermione wonders what it’d be like to be a witch and oh surprise! Don’t worry Hermione, you won’t have to feel not-special or mundane for long, here comes the plot contrivance to tell you you really were in fact the specialest of them all!!” fics.) Fairytale!AU is cool. Very good. But honestly I like to see them swapped around. Ron cursed by a nasty fae to be a Beast and Hermione stumbling upon him? Neat, especially if you don’t go the boring route of “oh let’s just rehash the Disney/the original book with different names and call it a day”. But Hermione cursed by an asshole fae for, let’s say, not sharing books, turning into a Beast, and Ron stumbling upon her as she’s trying to survive in the woods (and not doing a very good job of it)? Yes, brava, chief’s kiss. Rapunzel AU where Hermione’s bushy hair turns into the most impractical, most suffocating improvised ladder ever for Ron? Hilarious. Rapunzel AU where Ron has A GIANT EFFING PONYTAIL OF THE GODS and is screaming “ow ow ow” as Hermione makes her way up to his window cringing and saying “sorry! sorry! sorry! (damn his hair smells good)” on every step? Equally hilarious. Go! Be creative! Please I beg of you

Creature!fics! Oh my god there’s not enough of those, at least that aren’t focused on a bullshit pairing! Soulmate AUs! Give me everything! I’ll even take A/B/O if you insist on making it Romione! That’s how far I’ve fallen from human decency I’ll take anything just give me some good Ron content please I beg of you (Ah and to those that are going to say “Alpha Ron Omega Hermione :)))” well yes, but actually no. “Beta Ron Beta Hermione”? “Beta Ron Alpha Hermione”? “Omega Ron Alpha Hermione”??? HELL YEAH NOW WE’RE TALKIN)

Oh dear god I’m still not finished and I haven’t gone through everything someone stop me.

AND NOW BE CAREFUL CHILDREN, BELOW WILL BE SMUT.

Okay I don’t know if it qualifies as a trope, but. But. A more realistic depiction of Ron is usually what I’m after. All those fanfics that have Ron be “the sexy experienced one ;)))” ravishing “naive virginal Hermione ;))” is just UGH. We spent all the 2000-2010 period having fics like this, mind adding a bit of EQUALITY to the mix???

It’s just... I hate it okay? So many fics read like they’re just projection, writers who are essentially making Ron their big strong sex toy stud who's so attentive and sweet and cherishing, and so it does indirectly ends up as "servant Ron is so devoted to his goddess Hermione, providing pleasure to her while she doesn’t have to lift a finger”. The Dom!SexGod!Ron thing honestly depresses me... Since it's Ron taking care of Hermione, AGAIN. Like, he spends his WHOLE LIFE doing that already. Can we give him a break for once?

In the endI feel that it's less "Romione smut" and more "self-inserting into Hermione smut". In "real" Romione smut I think Ron and Hermione would switch roles according to what they feel like. And honestly I ALWAYS picture Ron being super nervous during Dom stuff, like he spanks her once then immediately he goes "oh my god are you okay?? did that hurt, do you want to stop?", things like that. I cannot imagine it happening any other way. XD Ron is just... too caring, too sensitive to do stuff like hard BDSM and that kind of thing in my opinion. He’s too much of a caretaker. I understand if it’s your kink and you’re perfectly free to project and write the fic you want, I’m not the fun police, but it’s just... I don’t think that’s really what Ron would be like. I just want MORE realistic Ron.

Also I’m trying really really hard to not point fingers here but WHY is it that it’s always “Ron growled” while it’s always “Hermione whimpered” or “Hermione moaned”? Like... you know it’s okay for a man to moan or whimper in pleasure too, right?  You know Ron isn’t 110% muscles and testosterone? You know Hermione is allowed to be fierce too? Hermione can 100% “growl” and be dominant and pin Ron to the wall and reduce him to a puddle of goo if you’re brave enough?

(Honestly how sexy would Ron think that is? The woman he loves is half his size yet can pin him down and ravish him. DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG RON HAS WANTED TO BE RAVISHED AND CHERISHED DO YOU KNOW HE’S BEEN WANTING THIS ALL HIS LIFE)

Oooo-kay, so that’s... mostly it, I reckon. Oh also Ron has a gigantic penisraise kink (and a great penis too, but mostly a praise kink). That’s canon and that’s all.

[pastpatientlywaitingforimagines]

Cosmos | Spencer Reid x Reader Platonic

WC: 3484

A/N: This was titled in my WIP doc as “ANGRY SPENCER”. Also, I def almost cried writing this, I’m so sorry.

GALAXY MASTERLIST

Warnings: ANGST, hospitals, death, mentions of war, Sad Spencer, mentions of therapy, SPOILERS FOR Season 8 (The Lesson and Zugzwang)

Incessant knocking on your front door was enough to drag you away from the cringe-worthy reality TV on your screen and to your front hallway.

“I thought you had a date tonight,” you returned to your couch quickly when opening your door revealed your best friend. He stood awkwardly in the entryway, clutching a book in his hands while you sprawled on your couch.

“I cancelled.”

Normally you would have made a joke, a light jest, but clearly something was bothering Spencer.

“I thought Blake mom-talked you into it? Why’d you cancel?” you pulled your limbs in and patted the cushion next to you. He sat down and you noticed the way he practically melted into the piece of furniture.

“I thought her stalker was there so I called her and told her to go home.”

“Did you get a good look at him? I’ll call Garcia and we can watch traffic cams-” you started reaching for your phone, but Spencer grabbed your hand.

“It wasn’t him. I was just paranoid, and she probably is now, too. I’m never going to meet her.”

“Spencer,” your heart broke for your friend. You had only known he had been talking to Maeve for a few days, despite their relationship spanning months. You understood his reasoning for keeping it a secret, but now that you knew you were just happy that he was happy, “you’ll get another chance. There will be another date.”

He stood up and started pacing across your small living space, “you don’t understand.”

“I don’t understand half of what goes on in your head, but I do know you love her and that you’ll figure it out. You always do.”

“How do you know?” you didn’t really appreciate the sass from him, but you were too exhausted from the case you had just gotten back from to say anything about it.

“The same way I know almost anything else, I feel it. Intuition or instincts or whatever. What’s that thing you always tell me? Our instincts exist for a reason?”

He nodded, “I told Maeve the same thing before we left for the case, she said she knew deep down that her stalker was gone.”

“Spencer,” he stopped pacing and looked over at you, “your instincts exist for a reason too.”

“They were wrong. I was wrong,” he fumed. You stood up and padded to the kitchen, leaving him to his own devices for a minute.

“Is that from her?” you acknowledged the book in his hands when you came back and handed him a cup of tea. He seemed to have calmed down, although sometimes with Spencer it was hard to tell.

“Yeah, she wrote a quote inside it too,” he smiled sadly.

“Spencer Reid, if you do not call this girl and reschedule your date I will do it for you,” you told him, sipping at your own drink. The look of terror in his eyes as he glanced up at you was enough to make you laugh, which in turn made him laugh.

“Alright, I’ll do it, I promise.”

“Good. You deserve good things, Spence.”  

You kept repeating that phrase to yourself when you pulled up to the loft and watched your best friend walk inside without his vest or gun a few weeks later.

He deserves good things, he deserves good things, he deserves good things

A gunshot was fired and on Hotch’s command you went into the building, immediately noticing the way Spencer was clutching at his arm as he told you to stay back.

He deserves good things, he deserves good things, he deserves good things

As soon as the second shot was fired you were by Spencer’s side, collapsing on the floor and pulling him into your lap. Your heart was pounding, a combination of adrenaline and shock at the events that had just happened. You were acutely aware of the sobs coming from the man in your arms, as well as the blood from his arm seeping onto your shirt but you didn’t care. In all of your years of knowing Spencer Reid, you had never seen him this broken. Even when Emily had faked her death it was a different kind of hurt, one you both shared and could heal from together, but this… this was something new entirely.

You didn’t move when the rest of the team started working with SWAT and the crime scene unit to clean up the scene. You didn’t move when Diane’s body was taken away. You didn’t move when Hotch crouched next to you.

“We need to take care of her body,” you nodded, holding Spencer a little tighter. You wanted to ask the doctor how he wanted to proceed, but there was no evidence that his brain was functioning any higher than a pile of mush so you had to make the decision for him. He didn’t make a fuss when they moved Maeve’s body, so you knew that you had made the right choice.

The team didn’t bother you again until they were ready to leave, Alex and JJ approaching the two of you slowly. They didn’t have to speak, you knew what they were going to tell you.

Spencer’s heaving breaths had since slowed, but you could see the shine from the tears still running down his cheeks.

“Spencer,” you tried gently, “let’s go home.”

He gripped your arm tightly as you stood, still pressing himself into you much more than either of you usually preferred. You walked downstairs and were immediately directed to an ambulance that was still waiting. You sat on the back bumper as they treated his arm, not loosening your hold on the man.

The EMT went over to talk to Hotch after they were done bandaging Spencer’s arm, who in turn went to talk to JJ. JJ came to sit on your other side, a comforting hand placed on your shoulder.

“They want him to go to the hospital, don’t they?” you asked, already knowing what she was going to say.

“He needs fluids and an X-Ray, at least.”

“What do you think, Spencer?” you turned to your friend, feeling a little piece of your heart break off when you again saw how much he was hurting emotionally.

“Will you drive me?” his voice was small and feeble.

“Of course I will.”

Hotch let you take one of the SUVs. You flipped on the lights, but drove as carefully as you could towards the hospital. Spencer was silent the whole drive. You parked somewhere close to the emergency room entrance, but out of the way enough that the car would still be there when you were ready to leave.

You walked Spencer in, telling the reception nurse who you were and what had happened. They had been notified that you were coming and already had a private room ready.

Spencer tried to put up a fight when they took him to get an x-ray, though in his broken state it was just a desperate glance thrown in your direction.

“I’m not going anywhere,” you told him in reassurance as they wheeled him out of the room. While you waited you took the time to call Penelope, who was (as you predicted) extremely worried.

“Physically he’s fine, I should be able to bring him home tonight. Mentally though…” you trailed off.

“Keep our boy safe, ok?” she asked.

“I’m doing my best,” you sighed, giving her a quick goodbye and hanging up when Spencer was brought back into the room. You talked with his doctor who confirmed that you were able to bring him home, so you collected his belongings and slowly walked back to the SUV.

He was quiet when you drove to his apartment, and the silence continued when you walked up the stairs and into his dark home. At this point, you had done all you knew how to do and were waiting for any kind of indication from Spencer about how he wanted you to proceed.

“You should go home and get cleaned up,” he spoke for the first time since agreeing to go to the hospital.

“It’s just your blood, Spence. I’m fine.”

“I would really like to be left alone right now, would you please just go home?” he snapped.

“Ok,” you took a step back, holding your hands up in surrender, “I’ll go home, but I’m coming back tomorrow morning to check on you, ok?” Spencer wouldn’t look at you, even after a whole minute of silence, so you stepped out of his apartment. You hesitated at the top of the stairs, wondering if you had made the right move, and then you heard the click of the lock behind you.

You did as Spencer asked, you went home and showered your best friend’s blood off of you. It was the kind of horrific you never thought you’d experience. Curling up on your couch, you realized that what broke you most about the events of the night wasn’t watching two people get shot in the head in front of you, it was the way Spencer unraveled in your arms.

You fell asleep on the couch with all of the lights in your apartment still on.

True to your word, you showed up at Spencer’s apartment in the morning, getting breakfast for both of you on your way. You knocked on his door when you got there and waited, but he never answered. You knocked again, calling out “Spencer, it’s me,” but the door stayed shut. You tried the knob to find it still locked, so you pulled out your phone and called him.

“Hello. This is Spencer Reid. Please leave a message.”

“Spencer, it’s me. I brought food, just let me in so I know you’re ok,” you sighed, sitting down on the floor next to the door. You ate your breakfast, too hungry to wait for him. You had half a mind to try kicking down his door, but you decided waiting him out would be better. He knew you were there, he’d talk when he was ready.

“Hotchner,” your boss answered his phone when you called after four hours of silence in the hallway.

“Hey Hotch,” you realized you didn’t know what your goal was with this phone call.

“How’s Reid?”

“I don’t know. He made me go home last night and won’t let me back in. I’ve been outside his apartment all day.”

“He’ll be ok, he just needs time. Don’t forget to take care of yourself too.”

“I won’t, thanks Hotch,” you tossed your phone on the floor when the call ended. You couldn’t decide if you felt better after having the conversation with the older agent. He was right, Spencer needed time Another two hours passed before someone you recognized came up the steps, bearing a large basket.

“(y/n)?”

“Hey Penelope.”

“Have you been here all night? Where’s Reid?”

“He’s inside,” you nodded in the direction of the door dejectedly, “he kicked me out and hasn’t answered since I got back this morning.”

“Well,” she set down the basket she was holding by Spencer’s door, “I’m as worried about him as you are, but I can’t have two of you not taking care of yourselves. Come on,” she held a hand out to you.

“Where are we going?” you were hesitant to move.

“Rossi’s, to get you a real meal.”

“I can’t leave him here alone,” you argued.

“I’ll call Derek, he’ll understand,” as you stood, Penelope took out her phone. You located your own device, redialing Spencer’s number.

“Hello. This is Spencer Reid. Please leave a message.”

“Hey, Penelope’s making me go get some dinner. She, uh, she left a basket out here for you. I think Morgan’s going to come over, if you want to talk to him maybe. Call me if you need anything, ok?”

When you finished the call Penelope was looking at you with sad eyes. You held your hand out to her and let her walk you back down to the street and into her car.

Rossi wasn’t surprised to see you when he answered his door. Penelope must have called him while you were leaving the message for Spencer. As you stepped across his threshold, Penelope stayed on the steps.

“You’re not coming?”

“This is for you,” she said, giving you a hug and a sad smile before walking away. You closed the door and followed Rossi to the kitchen.

“What’s bothering you the most about what happened last night?” he got to work preparing dinner for you.

“I feel like I’ve lost him,” you told him as you leaned against the counter, “is it selfish to hurt more for him than for seeing two people die in front of me?”

“We’ve seen more than enough people die in front of us for one lifetime, kiddo, you and I especially. It’s different when it’s someone you love.”

“I just wish he would stop shutting me out. We’ve always been honest with each other. He knows I understand how he feels,” you growled.

“You do?” Rossi pressed carefully. Your hand instinctively went to the bracelet on your wrist.

“I had a…” you hesitated, “a friend, in my squadron. We were on a routine surveillance mission, something we had done a million times before. We got attacked out of nowhere… It should have been me, Rossi.”

“They weren’t just a friend, were they?”

“No,” you sighed, accepting the plate of food he slid in front of you and not making eye contact, “Spencer’s the only one that knows the whole story.”

“He’ll let you in when he’s ready. You need to make sure you’re ready to be there for him when he is.”

“You make it sound like that’s easy,” you told him with a tired smile, finally starting to eat.

Having dinner with Rossi cleared your head in a way that was helpful, though it wasn’t close to the kind of clarity you usually got from being with Spencer.

After a week of camping outside of Spencer’s apartment whenever you weren’t at work, he finally let you in.

“Thank God, I’m pretty sure Miss Cavanaugh was one trip outside from sicking her Pomeranian on me,” you said once he had closed the door. Spencer didn’t laugh at your joke. He looked like a mess, and his apartment reflected the state of his dishevelment.

You decided not to comment on his state of living, and instead let him control how he wanted you to help. You made yourself comfortable on his couch, waiting for his next move. He surprised you by curling up next to you and laying his head on your lap.

“Everyone’s been really worried about you,” you tried. He still didn’t say anything, “I’ve been really worried about you.”

“Why? You know what this is like.” he finally rasped, his voice so quiet it was barely a whisper.

“I do, that’s exactly why I’m worried.”

“When does it stop hurting?” he sounded so desperate, a very vulnerable form of the information-seeking Spencer you were familiar with.

“I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but it doesn’t really. I still think about them, and it hurts sometimes. The other day I saw a moth that they would have really liked. It hurt out of nowhere and they’ve been gone for almost six years.”

“When does it get better?”

“That’s up to you, Spence. It’s different for everyone. It got better for me once I started going to therapy, but I had other things that I was getting treated for at the same time which I think helped the process along. I was doing a pretty terrible job managing it on my own, I know that much. It’s ok to take your time to figure out what works for you, there’s really no rush.”

The man in your lap sighed, and you wondered what he would be like once he got to the other side of this. You had no doubts that he would rejoin society and come back to work, but at what cost to his sanity?

You sat in silence for a while, eventually realizing Spencer was asleep. You figured this was the first time he was actually able to sleep in a week. You fell asleep yourself, until he jolted awake.

“I’m here,” you mumbled, adjusting yourself on the couch and patting his head lightly until you were sure he was asleep again. You continued this pattern every few hours for the rest of the night. It was exhausting, but you didn’t really care how well you slept as long as you knew he was safe.

The last time you woke up, you could just barely see the streams of sunlight through his closed curtains and you realized you needed to be leaving his apartment if you were going to make it to work on time.

“Spencer,” you nudged him lightly.

“Hm?”

“It’s time for me to go to work. Will you be ok if I leave or do you want me to call Hotch?”

“No, you should go,” he sat up, blinking slowly.

“Do you want me to come back later?” Spencer shrugged.

“I’ll come back at the end of the day, but you don’t have to let me in if you don’t want to, ok? This is your healing process, I’m just here to help,” you waited for his nod of approval before you spoke again, grabbing your things and moving towards the door, “if you need anything please call me.”

You were only ten minutes late, but the team was already in the round table room.

“Sorry, sorry,” you apologized, rushing into your vacant seat.

“Are you ok?” Hotch had noticed the dark circles under your eyes.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You’re wearing the same thing you wore yesterday,” JJ noted.

“I was with Spencer and didn’t have time to go home,” you started flipping through the file in front of you. The rest of the team was silent, until finally Morgan spoke.

“You talked to him?” You cast a glance at Rossi and realized that you were going to have to answer their questions before they would get back to the case.

“A little bit, I did most of the talking really. He’s getting better but he’s still in pretty rough shape. I’m honestly not sure he’s going to let me in again when I go back there this afternoon,” you trailed off, not sure what else to say.

There was a pregnant pause before Hotch finally directed everyone’s attention to the case you were consulting on.

“I shouldn’t have left this morning,” you told JJ while you were eating lunch, “I tell him all the time I’m not going to leave him, but I straight up walked out of his front door.”

“I’m sure he understands. I can stop by after work if you want to go home,” you were about to decline her offer, until you heard an eerily Spencer-like voice in your head telling you about the benefits of homeownership.

“That would be great, Jayje. Thanks.”

As you predicted, Spencer’s door was locked and JJ was in the hallway when you made it back to his apartment. You didn’t see Spencer again until he showed up a week later at the police precinct, draped in a cardigan, to help with the case you were working on.  

You were surprised to see him, but glad that he had finally made it out of his apartment and back into the world. You wouldn’t have solved the case without him, and it felt good to have him around at work again even though he still kind of looked like a mess.

He even took the jet back with you all, seeming more normal as he joked with JJ. When he asked for help cleaning up his apartment, you could start to see some life returning to him.

“You’re still here,” he noticed your position on his couch after Morgan, JJ, and Penelope had left.

“Last time I left you locked me out for a week, I’m not taking any chances,” you teased, thumbing through the book in your hands, “and you really need to stop apologizing. I get it, Spencer. It’s ok,” you spoke quickly before he could finish getting his hundredth apology out.

He laughed, not as strong as usual but it was a laugh nonetheless.

“Hey, now that we can get to your chessboard safely, do you want to play? I bet I can win this time,” you grinned.

“You’ve never even come close to winning. Every time we play I could win in three,” he deadpanned, settling on one side of the board and resetting the pieces.

“Well maybe today will be my lucky day.”

“(y/n), chess has nothing to do with luck, it’s all strategy. We’ve played enough that you should know that.”

GALAXY MASTERLIST

[palettes-and-prompts]

25 Dialogue Prompts for Each Color of the Rainbow (Part 2)

Red 1) "How could anyone not like me? I'm perfect." 2) "Quick! They're coming, how do I look? Do I have anything in my teeth? Do I smell because I need to look perfect!" 3) "Wow, have you been working out, you look great!" 4) "Oh, this old thing? I just threw this on." 5) "You really think I'm beautiful?" 6) "I wasn't meant to be some little star. I was meant to be the sun." 7) "They haven't texted me since the date and it's been a week. What if they didn't like me? No, that's ridiculous, I'm wonderful. Something must've just happened to their phone." 8) "I'm going to die alone aren't I? Just me, some cats, and boxed wine. At least Real Housewives will always be there for me." 9) "They're obviously not looking for perfection because I'm right here." 10) "I'm not shopping at a thrift store, that's where poor people shop!" 11) "You had better change for the party because you're fucking high if you think I'm going to let you stand next to me while you wear that outfit." 12) "A gift? For me? Oh you shouldn't have! Oh...a book...wow...thanks. You, uh, really shouldn't have." 13) "Please be a loser somewhere else." 14) "I'm on a diet where I have to drink kale. If you value your life leave right now." 15) "I want this entire box of Kit Kats." "....the whole box." "NOW!" 16) "It's scary out there, I'm not coming with you to check out that noise." "Okay." "No! Wait, don't actually leave me alone." 17) "I am not a scaredy cat! I just don't like when things pop out at me or creep around in the dark or come within ten feet of me unless they're hot." 18) "I would never ever fall in love with you." "Okay, well, you're still holding onto me." "I just didn't want to get lost!" 19) "Wow, you're really strong. Like...really strong." "If you're that thirsty there's a water fountain right over there." 20) "God look at them. They look so good when they're sweaty. Oh fuck they're taking their jacket off." "You're drooling." 21) "Give me back the honey bun or I will scratch your eyes out." "You need to calm down." "You need to not tell me to calm down." 22) "Everyone keeps getting flowers and it's so annoying. Like, we have work to do, you shouldn't be worried about getting flowers. I hate flowers, I-" "I think there are some flowers on your desk." "Oh my god I love flowers! They're so pretty. Aww, I wonder who got them for me." " 23) "I think you're the most dramatic person I know." "That can't be true, I'm not dramatic." "You literally cried yesterday when no one noticed you got your hair trimmed like a centimeter." "It was a big difference from how it was!" "It was a centimeter!" 24) "My ideal home is one that's small but enough to have a family in." "They're such a fucking liar, their ideal home has to have mirrors everywhere, a double curved staircases so they can walk down dramatically, a maze in the backyard, a fountain in the front with a circular driveway, but then the road in is lined with trees because their dramatic and when you get to the gate it has their last initial on it." "Oh my god, you do listen to me!" "Unfortunately yes." 25) "Are you in love with me?" "What? No, I can't stand you." "You remember everything about me! You pay attention to everything I say and I can be very..." "Dramatic?" "Passionate about certain things. You hate it." "I don't hate it." "So you love it?" "We don't have to put a label on what I feel." "Yes we do. You love me!" "Fine, okay, I love you." "Really?" "Don't get all passionate right now." "I'm already planning our wedding in my mind."

Orange 1) "You're really cool, we should hang out sometime. Maybe you could watch me skateboard." 2) "You're always stressing yourself out, why don't you let me help you unwind?" 3) "It's just you, me, and this goat you told me not to get." 4) "You think hiding your snacks is gonna stop me from eating them? I'm like a bloodhound, I will sniff them out!" 5) "What do you think would happen if I snorted Cheeto dust?" 6) "Remember when you told me not to try to reach into the vending machine when my chips got stuck because my arm would get stuck in there. Well, the good news is I got my chips. Bad news is I wont be home for a while." 7) "You know how Gaston ate four dozen eggs every morning to help him get large? Okay, so that's bullshit because when I was a kid I tried to do that and I barely ate a dozen before I threw up." 8) "Oh, I'm an idiot? Because I think I'm fucking styling in these diamond studded crocs while I ride my razor scooter!" 9) "Oh, I always get a perfect score on any test I take. Everyone always thinks I'm cheating but the doctors say I've got something called an photographic memory where I only look at things once and I just remember it. Anyway, wanna see how many ants I can eat?" 10) "One time I got stung by a bee on the tongue because I wanted to see what it felt like." "Did it feel good?" "It did not." 11) "I used to think Bronchitis meant I was growing broccoli inside my lungs." "It doesn't mean that. When did you find out that it didn't mean that?" "Oh, um, like... a few days ago." "A FEW DAYS AGO?!" 12) "So, I did something." "What did you do?" "I should preface by saying I am not smart." "What. Did. You. Do?" 13) "Just shaved a cat to look like a lion with a mane." "That's so stupid, why would you do that?" "Why don't you look at the results first?" 14) "I beat all of Super Mario World and found every single secret." "When's the last time you slept?" "Last time I what?" 15) "Why are you all twitchy?" "I just mixed every energy drink from the gas station with pixie sticks." "Jesus, we're going to the hospital." 16) "I know eating cheese makes you constipated and everything, but like, how much cheese? I don't want to be constipated so what's the maximum amount I can eat without that happening." 17) "Don't freak out, but I'm in jail." "JAIL?!" "It's all a big misunderstanding!" 18) "Can I tell you something without you getting mad?" "You always ask me this and I always get mad." "Yeah, but like, maybe this time you could just...not get mad?" 19) "You are the human equivalent of the smiley face emoji." "Aww! Thank you." "It wasn't a compliment." 20) "You look like you eat sunshine and shit rainbows." "Actually I eat Lucky Charms. Well, just the charms actually with like a little bit of the lucky bit." "You're so positive it sickens me." 21) "I love Thanksgiving." "Yikes. Why?" "Because I get to have dinner with all my friends and family. There's no pressure to buy gifts or anything. We all just come together and appreciate each other." "I could put everything you've ever said on a Hallmark card." 22) "Do you know how much I love you?" "You send me every heart emoji before bed and end it with a kissy face with the words 'I love you' every night. I think I get it." "I'll start doing it every morning just to be sure." 23) "You know how in Inside Out there's all the different little people that represent each emotion?" "Yeah, I love that movie!" "Yeah, I think your Joy emotion person killed your Sad emotion person." "What? No! She wouldn't do that!" " 24) "You have to stop crying every time this scene in the movie comes up." "He thinks she doesn't love him!" "It's just Shrek. You've seen how it ends, you can quote it for fuck's sake!" "I know but he doesn't know right now!" "Oh my god." 25) "I swallowed the key to Person A's car." "Oh my god why would you do that?" "I thought it'd be funny but now I'm worried about it." "Oh now you're worried about it?"

Yellow 1) "I heard everyone survived, is that true?" "Yes, everyone's fine." "Pity." 2) "If being classy means being mean to everyone who's considered to be beneath you then I must be the classiest bitch in the whole fucking world." 3) "I don't think you're beneath me, I know you are." 4) "A piece of advice I'll give to you for free. Stay out of my way unless you'd like to be crushed under my foot." 5) "Hmm, I wonder which shoes I should wear to stomp on the dreams of others today." 6) "Don't cry on me, this jacket is worth more than your car!" 7) "Oh no, I won. Aww! And you wanted it so bad, didn't you?" 8) "You know, in duos it's usually one's the beauty and one's the brains but in our case I guess I really lucked out, didn't I?" 9) "Don't think for a second I'm interested in you, I'm only speaking to you because I have to." 10) "They took something that was mine. And now I have to kill them." 11) "I was scheduled to ruin someone's life today, but I guess I can save that for another time. Let's hang out!" 12) "I know that person, their significant other made my friend cry so I slept with their boyfriend/girlfriend and made them fall in love with me. I can't wait to be there when they tell them they're leaving them for me." 13) "You need good friends, people who will watch out for you and help you handle your problems." 14) "Listen here, you little shit, I've worked hard to get this perfect so if you fuck it up I will destroy everything you love." 15) "Oh, how cute! You think you're a threat to me." 16) "Next time you try to threaten me remember who you're dealing with. Because I don't do threats, I make promises. And when I promised I'd ruin your life I intended to keep that promise." 17) "Oh my god, here comes that insufferable bitc-Hi! Oh my god, I haven't seen you in forever, you look so good!" 18) "Oh, gag me with a fucking spoon. If I have to listen to you idiots try to talk and breathe at the same time I'm going to jump in front of a fucking bus." 19) "Move! I'll handle it just like I handle everything, with grace and vague threats." 20) "What do you mean they're in love with me? Did they say that word for word? Because you know I'm in love with them so if this is a trick it's not funny and I'll fucking kill you. Did they say that word for word?" 21) "I only have strengths I don't have weaknesses." 22) "They called me heartless? I'm not heartless! I'm nice. I'm so fucking nice. I'm going to prove how fucking nice I am and then they're going to look like an idiot for saying that!" 23) "Stop crying. You look fucking pathetic and you're not pathetic because I don't have pathetic friends. So keep your head up, bury your feelings, and act like the goddamn champion you are." 24) "Don't speak, you could make the town idiot feel like a genius." 25) "Stop acting like a loser or you're not allowed to stand next to me anymore."

Green 1) "Well, look at that, we're all alone. So, anything you wanna say to me? Anything you wanna do to me?" 2) "Of course I have sex for money, you think I'd just give all this away for free?" 3) "What do you mean I can't wear this to the funeral? It's my mourning crop top." 4) "How's my outfit?" "Hideous. You should shred it and then burn it just to be safe." 5) "Ew, what do you want?"   6) "I'm gonna need you to not stand next to me at this party, I don't want anyone thinking we came together." 7) "Does this make me look slutty?" "Not at all, it's very modest for you actually." "Ew, okay, I'm gonna go change." 8) "Why are you putting on glitter? We're going to a toddler's birthday party." "Look, if you wanna look like that that's your choice. I plan on looking like I hunt mythical creatures for a living." 9) "The robbers took everything in my house." "Yeah, but they left your clothes so what do you think that says about them?" 10) "I thought you hated the thrift store." "I did, I thought it was a very sad little place, but then I started designing my own outfit with all the decent things they sell and so now I love the thrift store." 11) "They broke up with you? You?! No, I don't think so. Come with me, we're going to fix you and you're going to show them what they're missing." 12) "They might have more money than me but I'm the one who has clear skin and the ability to not look like trash." 13) "A choker can be something that says it all. It can say 'I'm fun and I love hanging out with my friends' but it can also say 'I only have rough sex' you know?" 14) "You're not my type." "You haven't even turned around to see me." "Didn't need to. I could smell that cheap cologne/perfume from a mile away." "What is your type?" "Rich." 15) "What are you doing?" "Eating take out and watching porn." "What kind of porn?" "Bondage porn." "Oh, that kind of day, huh? Should I come over?" "No, I'll just try to sleep wit you." "You do that even when you're not sad." "Okay, you can come over." 16) "Where are you going with my keys?" "I've got to kill someone." "Okay, make sure you don't get blood on my seats." 17) "No, highlight yellow and highlighter orange are not real colors. Okay? Are you a hunter trying not to get shot or a construction worker? No, you're not. You're trying to seduce someone. So lets get rid of this monstrosity and find something that'll make your eyes look pretty." 18) "I love you very much and it's because I love you that I can say this. Please don't wear that outfit or you will embarrass me." 19) "You just kissed me." "Yeah, I did." "Why? Did I seem like I was drowning or that I needed mouth to mouth? Were you trying to kill a bug with your lips? Why would you kiss me?" "I like you. A lot." "Hahaha...wait, seriously?" "Why's that so hard to believe?" "Because I'm me, people don't like me, they just like looking at me." "Well, I like you. A lot. And if you like me maybe we could get some dinner later or something." "Okay!" 20) "Oh my god, is that a skort? I think I might vomit. Skorts are for children, not adults. Once you hit eighteen you are legally banned from wearing skorts unless you play tennis or something. Do you play tennis? No. I didn't think so. Burn that." 21) "Camo is disgusting and if I ever catch any of you wearing it we are no longer friends." 22) "Your shorts are a little too short." "Yeah? You like it?" "You're attracting a lot of attention." "But am I attracting your attention?" 23) "Oh, wow, that's a bright shade of yellow. Um, why don't we try a few different outfits for fun before we decide on that one, okay?" 24) "Hey, I came as fast as I could, where's the body?" "Actually, I called you for a--you came here prepared to hide a body with me?" "Of course I did, you're my best friend." "Aww!" 25) "I only have sex for free when I like someone, and for you, honey? It'll cost triple what I normally charge."

Blue 1) "I heard the pet store got new puppies and kittens, wanna go see them with me?" 2) "We should go ice skating!" 3) "I love having picnics with you, you always bring my favorite foods." 4) "I love spending time with you." 5) "I think I wanna spend the rest of my life with you." 6) "Are you cold? You can wear my jacket if you want!" 7) "I don't want any of that stuff. I just want you. I've always wanted you." 8) "I wonder what it's like to hug a cloud." "Your hands would go right through it." "Yeah, but I've always wanted to touch one." 9) "Is it okay if we stay a little longer?" "We can stay until close if you'd like." "I just really like looking at the fish." "I know." 10) "Could you hug me for like an hour?" "Yeah, okay, wanna watch a movie while we do that or?" 11) "We have to leave right now. The Easter Bunny is at the store up the road and they're doing pictures." "You're an adult." "Please!!!" "Fine. We can go sit on the employee dressed in a rabbit suit's lap." "Yay! Thank you!" 12) "You can't eat that much cotton candy, you'll make yourself sick." "But it's good!" "You'll get a cavity." 13) "Can we go to the fair?" "We're not riding the toddler rides again. People gave us so many dirty looks last year." "But what about the teacups?" "We can ride the teacups, but none of the other kid ones." 14) "Can we shoot fireworks this year?" "You hate the ones with loud noises." "Yeah, but I like looking at them." "I'll buy earmuffs for you." 15) "Can we paint the side room." "Sure, what color?" "I was thinking like maybe a purple or green. Maybe all the colors." "Like a rainbow room? Why would we do the whole room?" "It'd be fun, it'd be cute for a side room or an office, maybe a baby room." "Baby room?" "Maybe. I mean, if you like that idea." "I think it's a great idea." 16) "Can we get a dog?" "You're an adult, if you want a dog you don't have to ask me." "Yeah, but it's your house too so..." "Yes, we can get a dog. We can go to the shelter tomorrow." 17) "So, I was thinking maybe we could have our wedding during the spring or maybe the summer." "You have bad allergies during those times." "Yeah, but I was thinking we could get fake flowers and I could take some allergy medication and it could still look like a spring or a summer wedding." "I'll start looking at fake flowers." "I'll check venues." 18) "Why are you up so early?" "Look outside! It's snowing!!!" "And you woke me up so we could play in it?" "Uh huh." "One hour and then you let me go back to sleep." "I'll go get my gloves!!" 19) "We have to go to the zoo." "You hate the zoo, you said you don't like seeing animals in cages." "I know but the goats just gave birth to baby goats and they're finally letting them out to be pet today!" 20) "I dream about flying all the time but I never thought I'd actually get to do it." 21) "Thanks for tonight, I had a really great time with you. I hope we can do it again soon." 22) "We should move in together. I mean, if you want." 23) "I don't want to lose you, and it took me a while to realize but I know what I want now. Will you marry me?" 24) "I wouldn't trade you for all the gold, silver, gems, or all the most expensive things in the world." 25) "You really are the love of my life."

Indigo 1) "They're obnoxious and loud and stupid and I can't believe I'm in love with them." 2) "You may be a star but you'll never be as big a star as VY Canis Majoris." 3) "The most fucked up thing I ever learned was that Luna moths don't have mouths or a digestive tract because their sole purpose is to mate. So they live for a week and then die because they starve to death." 4) "I think you have more outfits than you have IQ points." 5) "Can you just stop doing...whatever it is you're doing for like ten minutes." 6) "God you're so annoying, just stop breathing. Please? Just stop." 7) "I wish I were a plant, I wouldn't have to talk or think or do all this shit. I'd just have to soak up sunlight, soak up rain, and take in carbon dioxide. Being a plant really is the fucking dream." 8) "Hey, I heard Person A broke up with you. That sucks. So, um, do you think I could get my Chemistry book?" 9) "Are you still upset about your break up with Person A? You shouldn't be, I've seen their family members, they don't age well. But, um, that neighbor of yours, the cute one, their family looks pretty good. And with your genes you two would have some above average looking children." "Thank you?" "You're welcome." 10) "You know, you're terrible at giving advice." "Yeah, well, I'm not used to being around other humans." "Maybe just say people. Calling other people humans is kind of...weird." "Noted." 11) "Do you want to come to a party with me tonight?" "To what? Drink, embarrass myself, have to listen to terrible music, and interact with people I don't even like?" "Yes." "Pass. I'd rather be here studying plants." 12) "Would you like to go out sometime, on like a date?" "Sure, I guess. You just set up the blind date and I'll do my best. Though, maybe you could find me someone who at least can carry on a conversation with me." "No, I mean would you want to go out on a date with me?" "With you? Why would you want to date me? Don't you have plenty of other options?" "I like you." "We wouldn't work out. You and I are too different. You are good looking and nice and deserve someone who's like you. You don't want someone like me anyways. Besides I'd bore you to death before the appetizers came out." 13) "I care about you." "You? Thought you didn't care about anyone." "I don't. Usually. But I think the reason I care so much is because I like you." "You like me?" "Yeah, it's um... it's a new feeling for sure." 14) "What they said back there. You're not a robot." "No, I am. They're right. It's hard for me to be like the others. I didn't grow up having friends so I didn't know what it was like to care about anything other than school or projects." "You care about me. You said you care about me. Is that true." "Of course it's true." "Then you're not a robot." 15) "You kissed me back there. Why did you do that?" "I was testing a hypothesis." "Oh yeah? What was your hypothesis." "You would kiss me back if I kissed you." "And the results?" "Well, if worked the first time. But a good scientists always checks their work to be sure, right?" "That's correct, yes." 16) "Have you ever kissed anyone?" "I've done a lot of things." "Have you had sex?" "Yes, but it was purely for research. I wanted to know what certain things felt like and what certain things would do for others." "Only you could manage to make sex sound so boring." 17) "Hey, I was--are you watching porn?" "I'm researching for an experiment." "What kind? You gonna see what happens when you put your hand down your pants to that?" "No, I was studying to see if I could tell the difference between a real orgasm and a fake one." "If you wanted to study that you could have just asked me." 18) "Do you think I should socialize more?" "Since when do you care what I think? You're the one with a billion degrees." "Well, you're better with people than I am." 19) "You're hugging me." "Yeah. It's what friends do, they hug." "It's, um, nice. I think." 20) "Yesterday I felt the urge to hug the mailman. Isn't that weird?" "Did you hug the mailman?" "No." "Then it's not that weird. Probably just your body telling you it needs to be touched physically, you know?" "What?" "You crave physical touch." 21) "I think I'm lonely." "Yeah, I think you are too." "Should I start dating?" "Do you want to date?" "Not particularly." "Then maybe just try getting friends." 22) "If I have to spend another evening with that idiot I might lose it." "Is this because they thought photosynthesis had to do with photography?" "Don't remind me." 23) "We're having dinner with my friends tonight." "They hate me." "They don't hate you, you're just smarter than all of them combined." 24) "I can't talk to Person A, they tried to ask me about plant cells and actually thought that I was talking about a cellphone made of plants." "They're not very good at Science, but they like you a lot an they're trying to find ways to talk to you. It's cute. You should give them a chance. Take them to a Science museum." "Like, the ones for kids?" "Yeah. They'll love it." "Fine, but if it starts to go bad I'm texting you to call me and say there's an emergency so I can get out of it." "As long as you give it a try." 25) "They're in love with you, you know? Why do you ruin all your chances at love?" "Because sometimes I'm not sure I'm capable of feeling it."

Violet 1) "You smell like desperation. That a new cologne/perfume or is that just you?" 2) "I'm not here to play nice, I'm here to protect your ass because you couldn't follow simple instructions!" 3) "God, you are so annoying. I can't believe I have to put up with you for six months." 4) "Get your shit, we're getting out of here. I'm not leaving you in this hellhole, alright? Pack your stuff, you're coming with me." 5) "Are we gonna be a family?" "Let's not call it that, let's call it I'm taking care of you for a while alright?" "For how long?" "For as long as you want me to." 6) "Are you gonna be my mom/dad?" "WOAH! No. Absolutely not. I'll be your guardian, okay? And it's only temporary." 7) "Goddamn it, kid, wake up! You can't annoy the shit out of me for months and make me care about you just so you can die like this. I'm not allowing it. Come on, get up, kid. If you get up I'll take you to that Funland place you wanted to go. Anywhere you wanna go. I'll be better to you. I'll...fuck! I'll take care of you for the rest of your life. I'll teach you how to ride a bike and be there for you when you do Science fairs and shit. I'll be your mom/dad." 8) "You're stupid trying to save me like that. You can't swim." "You never taught me how to." "Yeah, well, I'm gonna teach you when we get out of here." 9) "You're evil and manipulative and you're mean and I kinda love that about you, kid. You remind me of me. If you want a place to sleep and food you don't have to dig out of the trash you can stay with me as long as you want." 10) "Can I get a motorcycle?" "Absolutely not, kid. As long as I'm alive the only two wheel thing you'll be riding on is a fucking bicycle." "Well, can I get a bicycle?" "Yeah, we can steal you one later." 11) "You might be the most annoying person I've ever met in the world but I'd die for you." 12) "If you ever come near me or my family I'll fucking kill you. I will bury you in a shallow grave and leave you as food for the worms. Do you understand me?" 13) "You're not going to die here because I'm gonna protect you." 14) "Hey, you trust me don't you?" "Yeah." "Good, you're going to have to disguise yourself. And whatever you do keep your head down, don't talk, and don't let go of me, okay?" 15) "Hey short stack." "You came for me?" "Course I did, did you really think I'd leave you behind?" 16) "I'm coming with you." "You're not." "I am and you can't stop me." "I can handcuff you to that bench over there and leave Person A the keys." "...well I would appreciate if you didn't do that." 17) "Hey there, stranger, haven't seen you in a while." "What the fuck are you doing here?" "Is that really how you greet your best friend?" 18) "Out of my way." "You'll die if you go in there." "And you'll die if I don't go in there." 19) "I'm always gonna be here for you, you know that? 20) "Woah, what's wrong, why are you crying?" "You'll be leaving after this." "Come here, I'm not leaving you after this. I'm staying here with you. Did you really think I'd leave you here all alone? You can barely make toast." 21) "Hey, you can't run off like that again, do you hear me?" "Yeah, whatever-" "No! No, you don't get to whatever me about this. You could have fucking died out there. So you look me in the eye and you promise me you're never going to do that again!" "I-I promise I'll never do it again!" 22) "Look, I'm not your parent so I'm not going to tell you what to do, but that kid you're hanging around is bad news. I've seen their arrest record, you shouldn't be hanging around them. I know they're nice right now but people like that take advantage of nice. I would know. I used to be like them." 23) "I love you. More than anything in the world and that's why I train so hard. I have to train harder because now I have to be stronger. Because now I finally have something worth fighting for." 24) "You can't come with me. You're staying here." "I want to fight!" "You're sick. You need to stay here with Person A, take some medicine, and get some rest." 25) "Hey, watch your mouth, no one talks like that in front of my kid!"

[kwrittink]

Check Your Messages

Pairing: Best Friend!Reader x Non Idol!Im JaeBeom

Genre: FTL, Smut (pwp with little plot tbh)

Warnings: language, mentions of cheating, explicit intercourse, fem!oral, unprotected intercourse

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You couldn't handle this anymore. Every aspect of it, of your relationship, you were hating it. But the worse part was, you didn't have any reason to, all of it was bordering perfect. The guy was sweet, treated you well, wasn't prone to cheating, loved you to bits. It just sucked to fall out of love, more to someone like that, so undeserving.

Well, you couldn't exactly say you fell out of love, since the feeling wasn't really present for your partner, unfortunately. You liked the dumbass that asked you out two years ago, but couldn't stand him anymore. And once you start hating the way someone breathes, that's a sign that you probably should leave them.

Before fantasies of making him stop breathing altogether became a reality.

Why were you dating him, again?

Oh, yeah. "Drunk again, huh?" The voice of your best friend JaeBeom dragged you out of your rage-filled mind, glare once trying to drill holes on the skull of your idiot lightweight of a boyfriend turning to the man that effectively held every piece of your sanity at that point. "What was it now? Him trying to match your pace?"

"He's barely conscious, mixed a ton of drinks because he was feeling petty and now I've got to make sure he doesn't choke on his own vomit." You rolled your eyes, crossed arms over your chest not budging even when JaeBeom sat next to you, arm pulling the opposite shoulder towards him, in a consoling gesture.

He snickered. "What he had to be petty about now?"

"Well for starters..." You were going to start rambling what you've already told your other friend. Well, you sent her a long audio message, for when she woke up while on the way to JaeBeom's place, the only person you knew would definitely be awake at that hour. Besides, I know where all the knives are in my own house, so it was the most sensible choice, you thought to yourself, even if that was a lie. You just wanted to go to your best friend's house, abusing his hospitality and knowing that he'd receive you even with a passed out boyfriend at tow.

"Yes?" As he nudged your shoulder you realized you had halted mid-sentence. You'd consumed your fair share of alcohol as well, though anger had sobered you up pretty quickly. By his side, that was ebbing away slowly. That was one of the reasons you couldn't even start listing reasons for the scene your boyfriend made today. It was all about him.

Licking your lips, you looked away from the man that had been the reason for the failure of that relationship, and every other to come, you'd bet. Because you were since god knows when madly in love for someone that has always considered you part of his family, a little sister, as once was put. "He was jealous." That was all you were willing to offer.

"Of me, again?" He countered, and you tensed up, not understanding how could he be so spot on. You'd never mentioned any of your boyfriend's - fair - jealous episodes to him, nor your partner has let it show in front of your best friend, that you knew of. So how could he come up with something like that?

"That's- Yeah I mean, there were other reasons and-" You mumbled in your astonishment, turning to look at the growing smirk on your friend's face, trying to ignore how that simple expression affected your whole body, even more when he was still holding you close.

"Sure... A guy's pride can get really hurt when the girl he loves tells him he'd never been able to satisfy her in two years," he quipped, and by that point you were livid. That was something you send to your friend, word for word. Or at least, you thought so.

"How would y-"

"Y/N," the whisper shushed you immediately, your mouth gaped as you stared at his smug face while he pulled his phone from the back pocket of his jeans, fingerprint unlocking the screen showing, to your surprise, a five-minute audio message on the display. Turns out you haven't sent the utterly frustrated audio to your friend, that was already tired of listening how much you've been head over heels over a man that you could never be with. You were pretty sure that furious and inebriated you had mentioned something like that in the message, along with other confessions you should have never uttered. "You should start paying attention to who you send some stuff." JaeBeom snickered, making all the blood run off your face. What have you done?

Getting up from the couch, you put some distance between both to think clearly. You wouldn't believe a single thing if he weren't showing you the receipt, cursing inwardly as you tried to avoid panicking. "Uhm, you know that... You weren't supposed to hear that," head between your hands you looked down to the floor, feeling even soberer than before. Any speck of alcohol had been burned with how embarrassed you were. "You know, I was drunk- I-I am drunk actually."

"You sound perfectly sober to me, Y/N." JaeBeom's voice was still in the same calm tone and you had to swallow before looking back up at him. "And remember I've known you my whole life - maybe not as well as I thought but - enough to know when you're serious. This is you as serious as the heart attack you're almost having." The playful teasing went completely over your head as you tried to find a way to deny the whole thing you've said. You didn't want to ruin your friendship with him like that, not over such a silly mistake.

But apparently JaeBeom didn't want to give you space to think. "And I hope he agonizes in his unconscious state, wondering if JaeBeom is fucking me the way he'd never be able to. That was harsh, never thought you could be so mean, babe." He kept going, quoting what you've slurred at the back of the car, the taxi driver even snickering quietly at your little speech. You squeezed your eyes shut, noticing how JaeBeom got up as well, stepping once to tower over you only when his body heat hit you and you could smell him again, the familiar perfume you loved on him and bought a bottle every year for his birthday. "That was good Y/N, but you wanna know what's my favorite part?"

Swallowing thickly, you looked up at his face, noticing even in the dim lights of his living room that his eyes weren't exactly trained on yours, rather lower. You were scared to think about the attention of his gaze. "What?" You answered breathlessly. His smile widened again, barely moving as he pressed play on the audio again, your voice echoing in the room.

'If only I had the chance to hop on JaeBeom I would use my time properly, by bouncing on that cock.' You tensed hearing that the last of your morals caring for the man laid on the neighbor couch you were previously sitting on, not wanting him to hear that and prove himself right.

"I'm sorry I... Sorry-" JaeBeom used his free hand to lift your chin, as you mentioned glancing away from his face, a little frown between his brows.

"Why, don't be sorry. I've been wanting to hear that since god knows when. And it was even better than I could have imagined it." You bit your lower lip at his declaration, unsure of what exactly he meant. You loved JaeBeom and if he was just lusting for you that moment you'd probably give in, but the whole thing would still break the friendship.

The fact that he was so close and barely touching you was also aggravating, which made you anxious, yearning. "JaeBeom, I-"

"I know. But I love you, and I know this is complicated for you right now. I just need you to know the feeling is the same. I won't try anything tho-" It felt like ages before you could move again and when you did, the first impulse was to throw your arms around his neck and crash your mouth on his with desperation, almost making JaeBeom fall back.

True to your word, you barely gave time for JaeBeom to prepare before you literally hopped on him, wrapping your legs around his waist and dragging a surprised sound from your friend. Hearing him say that, so sure and clear made something inside of you snap, whatever chain still weighing you down breaking in a million pieces. Morals be damned, you wouldn't let this opportunity escape.

Securing his stance, JaeBeom let his eyes fall shut and, the hands that once started unsure gripping your waist slid down to take a hold of your ass, lips violently capturing yours.

"You don't waste time, huh?" He panted, as soon as the need for air got urgent. Your fingers grasped the back of his head, lightly scratching his scalp and making JaeBeom shudder as you smiled, eyes still closed.

"Can't wait anymore." Was what you could muster, hearing him groan and press an open-mouthed kiss to the base of your throat, making you moan softly. As he parted to look at you, eyes dark with the lust ignited by your sounds, you realized that, despite the time he was willing to offer you, to get your bearings and do this the proper way, JaeBeom couldn't wait as well. How long have both of you suppressed those feelings? How long you've fooled yourself that you'd be able to get over that man when your heart was in his hands?  

In a swift motion, JaeBeom twisted around still holding you securely, getting back to the couch and placing your back against the cushions, his body topping yours in a tight press. You bit your lip as he made quick work of your dress and resumed attacking your neck, trying to suppress the sounds breaching your throat, a quick glance to the side at the still knocked out cold body nearby. Guilt pinched at your chest.

"JaeBeom-"

"You said you wanted him to agonize in his unconsciousness, right? Wondering if I'm fucking you the way he'd never be able to?" The lips once occupied sucking a bruise on the skin beneath your ear interrupted you to mutter those words in a sultry tone that had you shivering. Your mouth gaped at the once more repeated sentence and you wondered how many times had he listened to it to quote that so perfectly. "Want me to fulfill that wish?"

You nearly moaned loudly at the proposal, inner walls of your already damp core clenching as arousal filled you up further. At that moment you knew that as JaeBeom was your sanity, it was also your perdition. You nodded, knowing he'd understand that and felt him smirking against your skin, hands once chastely on your waist sliding back down to grip your now bare bottom, teeth sinking on the sensitive flesh of your neck before starting a new pace, lips traveling down to your chest.

"You're going to be good for me then, huh?" You thought he'd just get to work and wouldn't keep making the mush inside your head that once was a brain work, but there was JaeBeom expecting an answer with hovering a perky nipple, hot breath fanning over it. "Y/N?"

"Pl- Yeah Beom, I'll be good," wherever that came from, the meal turned into speech you had just uttered would make you think later that you were that desperate to be railed by the man that was eating up every sound you were making and gradually losing the grip of his self-control.

"Great. Then let us hear you, babe."

With maybe more strength he intended to, JaeBeom took hold of one breast and grunted before wrapping his lips around the bud, making you yelp loudly at the mix of pain and pleasure it caused. Swirling his tongue once he let your nipple go with a pop, only to rush and take the other one in his mouth, fingertips teasing the slick appendage and sending shockwaves straight to your core, while you tried to catch your breath. If he was being this intense already with only foreplay, you couldn't wait to feel JaeBeom once he got to be inside of you.

And if your expectations of him were high, he wasn't disappointing you, rather exceeding what you had in mind. Lips occupied by teasing your breasts didn't stop JaeBeom's free hand to nonchalantly slip inside your panties, fingers going straight to your slick folds and clit, thumb pressing against the sensitive nub and dragging a wanton moan from your throat, at last having someone other than you touching the poor neglected nerve ending.

As if it wasn't enough, two of his fingers prodded at your entrance, using the overflowing juices to slid them inside with ease and effectively knocked the air out of your lungs as you relished the pain and pleasure of being opened up so suddenly. "So tight and wet," he muttered, letting go of your boob and trailing downwards, peppering your torso with kisses as you writhed underneath him, moaning unrestrained. The presence of your future ex-boyfriend beside you completely ignored.

Too slow he reached the hem of your panties, retreating his fingers only to pop them into his mouth, groaning like he was entranced by your taste. Your face felt hot, either by never having experienced that sight or pure arousal, legs trying to close, and get friction again. Tuting, JaeBeom gripped the back of your knees and shoved them up and apart, exposing you completely to his hungry gaze.

"I can't wait to pound you just how you deserve, babe. But first," he started with a deep and breathy voice, eyeing you up and down like you were a full course meal he intended to enjoy thoroughly, so different from the soft stare your boyfriend gave you before his five-minute performance. JaeBeom looked at you like he was about to devour you. "I have to get you ready to take me, 'kay?" It didn't feel like a question at all so you just heaved, moving to grasp your thighs and keep yourself in place.

The wonders of a good oral were unknown to you, something that you'd only hear about. It wasn't that this other dude wouldn't go down on you, he just couldn't take any hints. He'd never made you cum, though at least you got enough spit on your pussy so his dick wouldn't get in so painfully. Your boyfriend had a great dick, just couldn't use it properly. In JaeBeom's case, you barely needed him to eat you out, already so wet he'd just slip in eas-

"JaeB- fuck!" Your thought process was cut completely as JaeBeom's mouth landed on your engorged clit, not even making an attempt of going slow, suckling at it hard while his tongue flicked at the nub. Your nails dug in your skin, eyes rolling to the back of your head as he did that for a solid thirty seconds and was enough to almost get you to cum. Almost being the keyword, since after the shock he pulled back, smirking pleased at your loud response to his ministrations, looking completely like a beast with his hair in front of his eyes.

"In a bit, babe. I want you to cum on my tongue first." Those were words you thought you'd only hear in your wildest fantasies, but there he was uttering them clearly and with purpose. You whimpered, wanting to reach out and push him back to your boiling core, knowing it wouldn't take long at all to get you to your climax if he kept going with that mouth of his. This time he went slowly, flattening his tongue to slide it across your whole sex, shudders rippling on your body at the feeling of the wet, warm muscle against your folds. The tip of his tongue swirled around your clit with care, flicking the throbbing nerve as he panted against it, hot breath making you twitch. You whined, urging him a little but JaeBeom, with his eyes closed, was too lost on savoring you and all you had to offer him to bother.

A kiss was placed on your mound before he moved again, once more wrapping the plush pillows around swollen flesh and you moaned at the increasing suction and tongue work, but almost screamed at the feeling of his fingers, once forgotten, returned to fill you partially, a come hither motion teasing your whole self into imploding. You weren't exactly sure what would happen but you were sure you'd come soon, and not just once. JaeBeom hummed against you, enjoying the moans that had turned into heavy breaths coming from your wide-open mouth, head thrown back.

Might have been a couple of minutes or mere seconds, but the knot in the pit of your belly snapped, electricity running through your body in waves as you spasmed deliciously around JaeBeom's fingers as he stuck them as deep as he could, working the abused and swollen bundle of nerves to the last of your orgasm. His name echoed in your ears, but maybe that was just you screaming it in the throes of bliss.

"That's it, breathe now babe," he soothed you exactly at the second you stopped clenching, breath heavy with the force of your climax. Fingers retreating, you only heard as he sucked your sweet essence from the digits, the smacking of his lips bringing heat to your whole body. "Breath a bit, tell me when you're ready."

Weakly, you looked at him, watching as he stripped, pulling the loose tee he was using over his head and exposed torso there for admiration. You'd seen the man without a shirt once, but the one in front of you, gleaming under the light with the little sweat on his chest, hair disheveled and stuck to his forehead somehow was closer to a beast than a human. A shiver ran through your whole body as you swallowed dryly, forcing your tongue to aid in the formation of words.

"P-Please Beom, I need you inside of me..." You mumbled, mouth dry and sticky. You watched as he smiled, biting his lower lip, admiring you being already so wrecked while he was just getting started. Hands dropped to his jeans, fingers doing quick work of the button and zipper. Your eyes dropped to observe eagerly, while your lower lip was worried between the teeth.

"I'd like to see your pretty mouth stuffed with my cock but," JaeBeom started, getting up to push the denim and underwear past his knees, one hand taking hold of the length that bobbed after being released. "Now I want you to do like you said, hm?" In the future, the smug expression of his face would probably infuriate you, because he'd know you'd be ready to jump him anytime. But at that moment the smirk only set more fire to your yearning core.

"Like I said?" You asked, taking the offered hand to stand on wobbly legs and giving way for him to sit. JaeBeom nodded, looking amused.

"Come bounce on my cock like you said you would, Y/N." The husky tone literally made your knees shake and you almost choked at the call out. But you said you would, and the opportunity was really presented.

Not wasting another second you straddled his waist, one hand holding his cheek to press your lips on his again, the other reaching between your bodies to grasp his hot girth and tease it on your still slick folds. JaeBeom throbbed, hands now firmly placed on your waist giving a small squeeze to your sides, urging you to put him inside.

"Fuck yeah," was what he grunted against your lips when only the tip was inside your warmth, tongue poking out to lick at your mouth as you panted, lowering yourself on his cock. As you predicted, it felt even better than his fingers, reached deliciously deeper, and made you lightheaded enough to tilt your head and rest it at his shoulder.

"Beom, you're so big inside," you teased, lips against his ear as you gave your hips an experimental swirl. Humming pleased he slid his palms to your ass, pressing down in encouragement to grind with him inside. You abided to the silent request, feeling his head drop by his side at your walls squeezing around him.

You continued the movement till your legs felt stronger, and tried bouncing a little at first, gasping at how his tip was hitting this perfect spot deep inside of you.

"Damn, you're so tight around me babe," He whispered, a lilt to his voice at the end that you perked up a bit to look at his face. Pushing yourself up again you dropped, causing a strained moan to escape, the corners of your lips tugging up at the realization that obviously, JaeBeom could be louder with a little push. It was only fair, he'd made you scream minutes prior, you'd make him feel as good as he was making you feel.

Having an objective in mind made you forget how your muscles were starting to ache, holding to JaeBeom's shoulders as leverage while you began to truly ride him, moaning at how he throbbed inside of you and egging JaeBeom to get vocal as well.

"Fuck babe," you hiccuped, kissing up his jaw just to get closer to his ear again. "F-Feels so good ins-side of me, you're gonna make me c-cum again..." you mumbled while bouncing hard on his lap, a stronger knot forming inside of you. The teasing had some effect, a louder strained grunt echoing on the ambient, his jaw jutted, hips jerking up to meet yours and palms never leaving their spot at your butt, pushing it down as aid. "JaeBeom-"

"Babe, shit! That's it, hmm fuck yourself on my cock like you want to," he went off, humming and hissing at how good you were squeezing him, nearing your orgasm like you vocalized, spasms getting tighter "Come around me like you're meant- I'm right behind you love."

You almost didn't have the strength to get yourself to cum, wasn't by JaeBeom's desperation to get there as well that made him pound up, making the job to only slide back down much easier. At that point, the room was filled with heavy breaths and strings of curses, the scent of impending highs stuck in the air.

"I'm going to cum babe, so close with you m-milking me like th-"

"Please cum inside of me, please!" Your voice was as desperate as you felt, so loud you'd ask yourself how the man sleeping on the couch didn't wake up. "Claim me as yours JaeBeom."

Didn't take him two pumps to start spilling inside of you, arms snaking around your waist to hold you down and take everything he had to give you, the pressure of his tip directly on your cervix, rocketing you immediately to your orgasm. You barely registered, as JaeBeom pressed his head on the crook of your neck, humming and stuttering curses as you went through wave after wave.

You didn't even noticed how JaeBeom had to grasp you firmly to avoid you tipping back, so lost in the bliss.

The only thing that pulled you back were his lips, peppering kisses all over your face until you got back to the real world. He snickered when you looked at him, sighing heavily and weary.

"Hi love, are you okay?" He asked, kissing your cheek tenderly. You hummed and nodded, a smile growing on your lips as you let yourself stay like that a little before you really had to get up and clean yourself.

You looked to the side, snickering upon meeting the drooling face of your still boyfriend, wondering if he'd mind at all you calling one of his friends to pick him up with a little note written that you were over.

Maybe it would be better than him seeing your wrecked state, bruises caused by JaeBeom marking your whole body. You had to have a little mercy left.

[orangeflavoryawp]

For readers of ‘From Instep to Heel’

I would like to preface this post with letting you all know that I am okay.  That being said, I did have to go to the ER three days ago.  I don’t think many of you know that I suffer from migraines, and while I’ve managed to live with them since I was first diagnosed, it’s been almost eight years since I’ve had one so severe that it sent me to the hospital.

With one of this severity, aside from excruciating pain, I usually get vomiting to the point of acute dehydration, dizziness and chills, blackouts, shaking and muscle spasms, inability to speak or string full sentences together, the whole shibang.  My coworkers took me to the ER, and I was put on morphine, reglan for vomiting, and a fluid drip, and then sent home when I could walk and speak again and the pain wasn’t ‘blackout’ levels.  There’s no cure for migraines, and no determined cause either.  The best I can do is manage the pain when it happens.  It can last up to 3 days (just like this one did), so I’ve taken a few days off from work and have just been medicating and sleeping.  Today was the first day I could look at a computer or phone screen for more than a few seconds, so here we are.

All this to say, I will be taking it easy the next few weeks.  I love writing this story and always have.  It’s never been a chore for me, but it is still an exhausting experience, because I try to put so much emotion into my work.  I can’t exactly take more time off work at the moment, so I need to make sure I’m giving myself a break in other aspects of life.  And after all, I still don’t know what triggered this particularly nasty migraine, but I’ve noticed my migraines have been more frequent these last few months, and even though my CT scan and bloodwork came back fine, the doctor did say the increase could very well be from stress or abnormal living/work factors, which, I think we can all agree, has been everyone’s normal 2020 at this point, lol.  Perhaps my body is finally catching up with all the stress I’ve brushed aside to stay afloat.  I don’t know.  Either way, health comes first.

But I would also like to assure you that I’ve an end in sight for this story already.  I will be posting one more chapter very shortly, because it’s practically done, and then I think I’m going to take more time for the last three (just my guessitmate here, don’t hard quote me on that number).  I was originally going to put more in this next chapter, but this one scene turned out to be exceptionally long and demanded it’s own chapter.  It felt right though, because Jon and Sansa have a lot to get through and say to each other, and I figured this would be like a breather for you all before we get into the finale, which will likely be back to back action and angst, so I think it best that I have as much of the last three chapters already written before posting, so that you guys aren’t waiting long between them.  So yeah, I’m saving you later by making you wait now, haha.  But I hope this next chapter lets you catch your breath.  It’s the jumping off point for Jon and Sansa facing their adversities together, as one, the culmination of all that’s brought them to this point, so I think it’ll be a good place to put a short hold before the remainder of the story.

And if it means anything, there is definitely some filthy fucking happening in this next chapter, lol.  I would not leave you all without.  ;)

If you’ve made it through this essay of a post, I thank you, haha.  And please, don’t stop coming into my inbox with your thoughts or questions about ‘From Instep to Heel’.  They make me so inarticulately happy, I honestly don’t even have the words to express it.  Knowing you’re looking forward to the next installment is probably what’s going to keep me afloat during this slow down.  Love you all to pieces.  This community has been nothing but amazing to me.  <3  

[heyyyharry]

Chapter 9: Forever Childhood

(from the My Girl Trilogy: Stay Mine)

…in which childhood is not forever, but it doesn’t have to end.

Word count: 8k

AU: actor!Harry, childhood best friends, older!Harry, younger!Y/N, (4-year age gap).

Wattpad link (Thea as Y/N)

What to expect from this chapter: Many flashback scenes and LOTS LOTS LOTS of fluff.

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“Knock knock.”

“Dad, you don’t have to say knock knock while actually knocking,” Y/N said without taking her eyes off the laptop screen. The door closed behind her as her dad walked in, squeezed her shoulders and kissed the top of her head twice.

“Why aren’t you with your friends in the backyard?”

“The treehouse’s gone; there’s nothing to do in the backyard,” she said, typing away. “And I’m sorry beforehand if Alice and Niall do something to Marcy’s flowers. Niall probably has never seen a garden as small as ours, and Alice is unpredictably crazy.”

“They’d make a good couple."

“Don’t tell Alice. She’d lose her mind,” Y/N said.

Feeling her dad peering at the screen, she tilted her head back to see his face. “What do you think?”

He leaned forward with both hands on the back of her chair, shaking his head. “A masterpiece. Shakespeare wished he’d come up with this.”

She snorted, leering at him. “From now on, all yours and Harry’s comments about my work are invalid.”

“We’re your biggest fans, Y/N.”

“That’s the problem. Love cancels honesty in this case.”

“Oh, God.”

Her dad spun her swivel chair around so they were face to face as he sat on the edge of her bed, his legs spread wide, elbows resting on his knees. He clasped his hands together in front and cocked his head. “Take a short break and talk to me, will you?”

She drummed her fingers on the armrests. “About my book?”

“Yeah, your book. And, well...boys.”

“Daaaad." She tossed her head back, groaning into her palms like an embarrassed teenager. “If this is about Blake and Harry–”

“Blake Roman,” her dad hissed as if the name was toxic. “I can’t believe you’re hanging out with him again. Is he still riding that stupid motorcycle from high school?”

“No. And Harry also owned a motorcycle, Dad.” He’d also crashed it and ended up in the hospital. There was no way she’d tell her dad about it.

“Well, I’m already biased, so Harry is good no matter what he does," her dad said. "I’m team Harry, by the way. That’s what you kids say, right? Team Edward. Team Jacob.”

Y/N dropped her face into her palms, shaking her head in defeat.

Her dad cleared his throat. “You and Harry are endgame, Y/N.”

“Oh my God, Dad!” She couldn’t help laughing as she looked up, smoothed her hair down and held it at her neck. “Marcy made you watch Riverdale again, didn’t she?”

“I kind of like it now,” he said thoughtfully. “It’s so dramatic. Everyone’s in love with everyone.”

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure the show writers are men your age.”

“That makes a lot more sense.”

“Anyway,” she giggled lightly. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’m team Harry, too; I can’t believe you made me say that.” She rolled her eyes, shaking her head. “Blake and I were a long time ago. I love Harry more than I can put into words.” She leaned back into her chair and puffed out her cheeks. “Though sometimes I feel like I can never be good enough. He’s just this wonderful person who does great things, and I’m just...I’m still trying to figure my life out.”

“And what’s wrong with that?”

She bit a nail. “People don’t think we’re compatible.”

“Do Marcy and I seem compatible to you?”

“You and Marcy are different.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. You just are.”

No couple was like her and Harry, which could be a good thing sometimes. Just not recently. Their conversation last night had made her feel more assured, but there was still this unsettling feeling she couldn’t seem to shake off. She’d told herself it only mattered what Harry thought of her; who cared about the others? As it turned out, she cared. More than she wanted to.

“Your feelings are normal, darling,” her dad said, rubbing the stubble on his chin. “To love is to set down your arrogance and allow yourself to be vulnerable. It proves that your love is worth it. Harry is worth it. And when something or someone is worth it, you have to hold onto them.”

“That’s beautiful, Dad," Y/N said, her eyebrows high. "Mind if I steal the quote for my book?”

“It’s not mine. It was your mother’s,” her dad answered.

A brief silence arose. The last time they’d talked about her mother had been a year ago. It wasn’t because they’d get awkward now that her dad had moved on; but because either one or both of them would get sad. She could deal with awkward. Sadness, however...

“I came to see her last night,” she said, pinching her lower lip.

“I know.”

“Harry told you?” When her dad nodded, a corner of her mouth turned up. “Are you like BFFs with my boyfriend now?”

Her dad let out a short breathy laugh as he rolled his shoulders. “I think I deserved to know when my adult daughter trespassed upon a cemetery.”

“I won’t do that again. Promise,” she said to her hands while picking at her nails. “I just...wanted to feel like a teenager again. Break the rules. Do crazy things without caring about the consequences. It’s dumb, I know. But being an adult has been hard lately.”

“Tell me about it,” he agreed with a growl, and they shared a laugh.

As silence sank in, her eyes darted to his face, considering his aging features. It wasn’t until today that she realised how much older he looked than he had when she moved to London; the wrinkles on his forehead and temples stood out much more; his eyes became wearier, his lips thinner. Those three years were evident on his kind face. It made her sad that he was growing old, and she hadn’t always been the best daughter to him since her mother had passed away.

She was getting older, too.

She pushed herself up, padded over to the bed, and sat down by his side. He folded her into his arms and pressed a kiss to her temple.

“It feels good to be home,” she whispered, cheek against his chest. “I wish I was still a little girl.”

“You are,” he said, stroking her hair. “You’re my little girl. Always.”

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“Dad, where’s Mum?”

“She’s with Anne in the backyard.”

“Oh,” Y/N mumbled, frozen at the kitchen door like a Sim stuck in a glitch. It felt weird that her family still hung out with Harry’s now that she and Harry were no longer friends.

She shook her head to put aside the thoughts. “Well, I’m going out now.”

“With Celine and Amala?”

Her dad’s question stopped her before she turned. She leaned against the doorframe, one hand fumbling with the doorknob. “Why does it matter who I hang out with?”

“It matters if it’s that biker boy. What’s his name again?”

“Blake.”

“Yes.” Her dad crossed his arms, his eyes squinted. “The other parents aren’t very fond of him. I’ve heard stories about what he’s done to those girls.”

Blake had a bad reputation with the parents, mainly because he’d broken their daughters’ hearts.

“Well, he hasn’t done anything to me.”

“Yet,” her dad stated, his brows pinched together.

Y/N lifted her shoulder in a half-shrug. “Maybe I’ll break his heart this time.”

“Y/N…”

“Bye!”

She zipped out of the kitchen just in time Blake’s motorcycle roared in the drive. He opened the visor, smiled at her with his eyes, and she mounted his vehicle and put on her helmet.

“As slow as you can,” she said, looking back at the house.

Her dad was watching from the living room window as the motorcycle rumbled to life and drove away.

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Y/N was helping Marcy in the kitchen when she looked out of the window and saw Blake’s car in front of their house. The doorbell rang. She cursed under her breath and told Marcy she’d be right back. As she scuttled out of the kitchen, her dad was heading to the front door. She slipped right past him and reached for the handle first.

"Hi, Y/N," Blake said as he greeted Y/N and her dad with a respectful smile. “Good morning, Mr Y/L/N.”

“It’s ‘sir’ to you.”

“Yes, sir.”

Y/N slapped her forehead as her dad gave Blake the firmest handshake she’d ever seen. If Blake had hands like Niall, he’d be in the hospital with broken fingers.

“What gave me the pleasure to finally see you on our doorsteps today?”

“Dad.”

Her dad ignored her when she nudged him with an elbow. “Funny how you’d dated my daughter for two years, and we’ve never had a proper conversation.”

“Forgive me, sir. I was a stupid teenager back then,” Blake said as he rubbed the back of his neck. It was only then that Y/N saw him holding a brown paper box in his left arm.

“Well, let’s put the past in the past,” her dad said, squeezing her shoulder as she shot him a glare.

Blake pointed to his car. “I’m going back to London now. I stopped by to see if Y/N needed a ride.”

Her dad pushed out his lower lip as he turned to her. “You’re going with Harry tonight, right?”

“Yes. But thank you for driving me home yesterday,” she said to Blake. “How’s your grandma?”

“Oh, she’s fine. Turned out she lied about being sick so I’d come home to see her,” he breathed out a laugh and cleared his throat as he held out the box. “She made cupcakes and asked me to bring some to you.”

Before Y/N could answer, her dad took the box and went back inside. She decided to ignore him.

“I can’t believe she remembers me,” she told Blake.

“You were the only girl I’ve brought to see her,” he said.

Not knowing how to reply, she shuffled from one foot to the other, hands clasped behind her back. Blake took it as a sign to end the conversation as he told her he’d see her in London, then returned to his car.

She waited until he started the engine to close the door and came back to the kitchen. Marcy was reorganising their fridge, while Y/N’s dad counted the cupcakes in the box.

“...ten, eleven, twelve.”

He picked one and looked at her. When she waved her hand for permission, he took a bite and released a satisfied hum. She knew Grandma Roman's cupcakes were good; she'd eaten them plenty of times before.

“Good morning!” Harry said like a game show host as he entered from their backdoor and grabbed her from behind. “Girlfriend.” He kissed her cheek before turning to her dad and Marcy. “Bradford. Marcy.”

“There’s my superstar!” Marcy said with a quick glance over her shoulder.

“Want one?” Y/N’s dad held the box toward Harry, who brightened like a kid in a candy store as he leaned forward to grab a cupcake.

“Blake just brought them here,” Y/N told him.

He froze for a second, then took a large bite and started chewing extravagantly. “I’ll eat all of these so you won’t get poisoned by another man's love," he said with his mouth full.

She looped an arm around his head from below and drew his face in so she could whisper in his ear, “Don’t be jealous. I swallow your love all the time.”

His hand instantly flew to her mouth to muffle her giggles when her dad stared at them questioningly. “What is it?”

“Y/N said a bad word," Harry said, his dimple growing.

Her dad jabbed at her with his finger, and she crossed her arms, scowling at Harry. “Teacher’s pet."

Once he finished the cupcake, she dragged him to the living room. Their mouths attached right as they were alone. She snogged him hungrily, back against the wall, fingers in his hair. His massive hands went under her velvet tennis skirt and caressed her arse, while his mouth trailed down her neck, sucking the sensitive spot below her ear. She loved when he paid attention to that spot; it made her toes tingle.

She could hear her dad talking to Marcy about building a birdhouse in their backyard. They’d spend at least an hour on any topic related to the garden, so Harry and Y/N could have sex right on the sofa in the middle of the living room without getting caught. She just didn’t want to risk it, even though that idea was pervertishly exciting.

“My room. Come on.”

“Can’t,” he groaned and held her back by the hips. Her fake shocked expression got him laughing as he kissed between her brows, the tip of her nose, her upper lip. “I miss you terribly, but I still need to talk to my mum.”

“You haven’t?”

“She’d gone out when I woke up,” he sighed and rubbed her pout with his thumb. “I’ll come back to play with you later. Promise.”

She stuck out her tongue, eyes rolled upward. As he kissed her neck and placed his hands on her bum, the sound of someone clearing their throat broke them apart. They saw Alice and Niall watching them judgingly from the kitchen door.

“I ate some of your Blake cupcakes. Hope you don’t mind,” Niall said with an apologetic grin.

“Told ya he was worse,” Y/N said to Harry, who arched his lips in a smirk and kissed her temple before he left. Niall raised his palm, expecting a high-five as Harry strutted by, but Harry high-fived Niall’s forehead instead and disappeared through the front door.

.

.

.

Harry’s mum was crying.

He didn’t know what had happened as he’d just woken up and gone to the kitchen. Gemma had spent the night at her best friend’s place, so there were just him and his mum.

His mum wiped her tears with the sleeve of her jumper and poured black coffee into the ‘No. 1 MUM’ mug – a gift from Gemma on Mother’s Day. Harry stood like a ghost in the doorway, picking at his nails while holding his breath. Like observing a squirrel from a distance, if he made a sound or came too close, it would run away and find a place to hide. His mum wouldn’t run and hide, but she'd fake a smile and act like nothing was wrong. There was nothing worse than wanting to cry but couldn’t.

“Why are you standing there, dork?”

Gemma’s voice made him jump, and his mum shot her head up, looking straight at him like a deer in headlights. Gemma stopped beside him, her mouth formed a silent ‘o’ as she finally caught on to what was happening.

Gemma wasn’t like him. She was straightforward.

“Mum, are you crying?”

Their mum sighed. She gracefully slid into a chair, lifted the mug to her chapped lips with both hands, and blew into her coffee. Harry and Gemma exchanged worrying looks as they walked in. Harry sat on their mum’s left, Gemma on her right. Their mum put down her coffee without having taken a sip and wrapped each arm around each of them.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” she said, her voice too brittle, like it would break if she spoke any louder.

“Was it something Gemma did?” Harry asked, and Gemma swatted him on the arm.

“It’s ‘He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’,” she said.

Harry’s heart jumped a little, then he saw the distress on his mum's and Gemma’s face, and his mouth clamped shut before he blurted out something stupid.

Gemma hated their dad. When she was in a good mood, she called him Winton. The other times, she’d refer to him as ‘that man’, ‘You-Know-Who’, or ‘He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’; she was obsessed with Harry Potter.

Harry felt wrong to still call their dad Dad inside his head. In front of Gemma and their mum, he wouldn’t mention Dad at all. The last time he’d done it, his mum had cried. She didn’t hate his dad; she loved him, which was much worse.

“You two don’t have to worry about me,” she said, looking out of the window by the sink. The sky was grey and turning dark. “This kind of weather makes me tired and moody.” Then she asked Harry, “what would you like for breakfast?”

As he opened his mouth to answer, Gemma interjected, “Is he coming back? Is that why you’re upset? Let me know and I won’t let him come near our house, I–”

“Gemma,” their mother cut her off. “He’s not coming back. He’s never coming back.” Then she paused for an indecisive moment. “A friend of mine saw him in Manchester last night; he was with someone else. His new wife. Maybe his girlfriend. But he’s never coming back.”

Harry didn’t know why she could say something in a matter-of-fact tone and still make it sound so sad. It must have taken her years of practice to act like she was fine when she wasn't.

Before he knew it, a tear had escaped the corner of his eye. He quickly wiped it off his cheek so his mum and sister couldn’t see him cry. He didn’t want to make this moment about him.

Gemma wrapped her arms around their mum’s waist, and he did it too, his arms over Gemma's. They both rested their head against their mother's chest. Being on her left, he could hear the beating of her heart so clearly as if it was his own. If hugs could heal all types of wounds, his mum's hugs could bring a dead person back to life. He would never tell her, though; stuff like this was too dark for her liking.

“We don’t need him; we’re fine the way we are. Just the three of us,” Gemma said. She sounded like she was going to cry, but Harry knew she’d never cry. At least not in front of him.

The last time he’d seen her cry had been a few weeks ago. This boy named Eli had just broken up with her. She’d been in her room. The door had been left unlocked (she must have forgotten to lock it). He’d burst in to prank her with a plastic snake when she shot her head up, mascara running down her face. He’d been frozen when she marched over and slammed the door in his face. They’d never talked about that.

“Just the three of us,” their mum repeated, sounding more cheerful than before as she squeezed them a little tighter. “Now I’m going to make you some eggs, and after breakfast, we’ll grow some new plants in our garden, yeah?”

“Can I use the shovel this time?” Gemma asked.

“She always gets to use the shovel!” Harry objected.

After breakfast, their mum went to the shop and brought home a new shovel.

.

.

.

When Harry returned to the house, he found Gemma sitting with their mum in the kitchen.

With a twitch of her lips, which was meant to be a smile, his mother motioned to the chair beside her and told him to take a seat. His heart was losing its rhythm as he padded around the table to sit on her left.

“I’ve told her,” Gemma said right as he opened his mouth. Mouth still open, he glanced at his mum, who brought a hand to his face and cupped his cheek.

“You might think I’m angry at you, but I’m not, Harry,” she said. “I can’t stop you from wanting to take him back. He’s still your father.”

“He’s not our father. He’s Winton,” Gemma said, eyes piercing at Harry. “Tell her.”

He couldn’t. And his mum knew it. She batted Gemma’s request away with an easy wave of her hand and said, “Your brother is entitled to his own feelings, Gem. Besides, Winton–” it was the first time he’d heard her say that name “–has paid for our losses with his own. I don’t think I can ever forgive him for what he’s done to us, but I do feel sorry for him. And I think Harry has done the right thing by treating him and his daughter with kindness. And Gemma, you have also done the right thing by being protective of your brother.”

“I was protecting all three of us.” Gemma pouted like a little girl as she snuggled into their mother’s arm.

“It’s always gonna be the three of us, Gem,” their mother said, stroking their hair tenderly. “No matter who comes and goes in and out of our lives. We’re together forever. You’re always gonna be my babies. Nothing is going to change that.”

When Harry heard a sniffle, he almost didn’t pay attention, until he saw Gemma covering her eyes, her shoulders rising and falling unsteadily.

She was crying. What had happened? Was it because of him? Oh no, what had he done?

“Ashton broke up with me,” she muttered in sobs.

“Son of a bitch!” Harry half-shouted. Their mum shot him a disapproving glare, which he ignored as his hands squeezed into fists, clenching so hard his knuckles turned white. He felt like he could punch a hole in the wall or kick a chair to release his anger.

The last time he’d seen Gemma cry, she’d cried over an asshole. Now she was crying over another asshole. This time must be worse because she didn’t lock herself in a room. Her tears just came falling, and they didn’t stop.

Harry didn’t know much about Asher because Gemma barely talked about her relationships. But he’d always sensed something douchey about that rich bloke.

“Was he cheating on you?” he asked.

“No.” Gemma shook her head. “It’s nothing like that.” She kept her face down and rubbed her eyes with the heel of her palm. “It’s not an official break up. He asked for a short break…”

“Fucking asshole.” Harry exhaled sharply, his lip drawn back in a snarl. “Do you want me to talk to him?”

“No, Harry, please. I don’t want you to do anything. Just–” she halted to suck in a rapid breath “–I just want you to know. Please don’t do anything.”

His stomach twisted as he got up and wrapped his arms around his mum and Gemma. When he was small, he’d wished to be older and bigger, so he could hold them both at once and protect them from all the bad things in the world. Now that they fit so perfectly in his embrace, the best he could do was simply be their shoulder to cry on.

.

.

.

Isaac should have knocked.

Three sets of eyes fell on him like he’d committed a crime in broad daylight. He was about to apologise and return to the living room when he caught a glimpse of Gemma, and noticed the faint black smudges below her bottom lashes.

She’d been crying. Harry looked like he needed a punching bag. And Anne was staring blankly at her coffee cup.

It wasn’t because of Isaac, was it? Had Gemma told them what had happened that day outside the coffee shop? And yesterday in the car. And last night, when she brought him an extra blanket before bed. All they’d done was kiss, and yet he felt like he’d ruined her life. He wouldn’t be surprised if Harry tackled him to the floor right this instant.

It was Gemma who got up first. She blinked rapidly as if to hold back her tears and brushed past him out of the kitchen.

“There you are, Isaac,” Anne said as she pushed away from the table. “Sit. I’ll make you breakfast.”

“Thanks, Anne. You’re the best,” Isaac said and pulled up a seat across from Harry.

Isaac could see his snowball of lies rolling straight downhill at full speed, and right before it crashed down on him, Harry broke the silence.

“Did Gem say anything to you on the drive here?”

“No, she didn’t,” Isaac said. “Did something happen? Was she crying?”

Harry furiously raked his fingers through his hair. “That son of a bitch broke up with her.”

“Asher?”

“Yeah.”

“When?”

“Before she came here with you, I think. She didn’t say anything at all?”

“No.” Isaac shook his head, his right fist tightened on his knee under the table. They’d kissed three times, and she hadn’t bothered to tell him about the breakup.

At least now he knew the killer look on Harry’s face had been for Asher, not him. And only his first kiss with Gemma had been wrong; even when it had felt everything but.

“Mum, I’m going to Y/N’s,” Harry announced, then came to give Anne a kiss before he left.

.

.

.

Gemma knocked on the door of Harry’s dorm room, fingers clutching the hem of her shirt.

Maybe she should have let him know she’d come to London. She’d been afraid he’d say he was busy. She had to see him. Not to talk about her recent breakup, of course. Harry didn’t know about the guy because she never told him.

Her friends had warned her beforehand that this relationship was going to go sour, and as always, she hadn’t listened. She didn’t want to come to them and whine about it now; they’d punish her with endless I told you so’s.

When the door swung open, it wasn’t Harry.

A tall blond-haired lad asked Gemma whom she was looking for. He looked like a human Ken doll and smelt like a Calvin Klein holiday pop-up. Her mind stuttered for a whole second.

“Sorry, I must have come to the wrong room.”

“Wait. Gemma, right?” he asked, pointing a finger at her. “You’re Harry’s sister.”

“Does Harry live here?”

“Yes, I’m his roommate. Isaac.” He opened the door wider and nodded his head inside. “Come in. Harry will be back soon.”

She reluctantly entered. The room was neat and had a mild floral scent, which made her doubt her brother actually lived here; his room at home was always a pigsty. When she saw his guitar in the corner of the room, her shoulders rounded with relief.

Isaac sat on the bottom bunk and beckoned her over. She did as she was bid and took a seat in the chair across from him.

“He didn’t know you were coming?” he asked.

“No. I wanted to surprise him.” It didn’t matter if it wasn’t the truth. She barely knew this lad anyway.

Isaac looked away, his lips pressed together as he drummed his fingers on the mattress. The conversation turned sour. Neither knew what to say. Gemma scanned her eyes around the room, desperately wanting to find a topic to discuss so they wouldn’t have to stay silent until Harry returned. Fuck, she hated small talks.

“You’re a photographer?” she asked as soon as she spotted the expensive cameras displayed on the shelf by the bunk bed.

“I major in Photography.”

“Wicked.”

He chuckled at her awkward comment. His eyes were even bluer and clearer than the ocean. Was that a dimple she saw? Shit, had she been staring?

“What do you study, Gemma? You’re a student, right?”

“I major in Economics,” her voice was so soft it sounded like she was embarrassed by the answer. She wasn’t. This guy was just really attractive, and attractive people intimidated her.

“So you’re really smart,” he said, a line appeared between his perfectly even brows.

“People who do arts are really smart, too.”

“I never said we aren’t.” He lifted his shoulders. “But in my opinion, economists are up here on the 'really smart' scale.” He raised his hand above his head, which got her beaming. “I can’t deal with numbers. They make my head hurt,” he added. “Harry, on the other hand, is excellent at those sorts of things. And somehow he wants to become an actor.”

“I know right? I hate how almost perfect he is,” Gemma groaned. “But he’s a very messy person. Has he been a terrible roommate?”

“He’s actually pleasant to live with. My last roommate always had sex while I was in the room,” Isaac said with a look of disgust. “I used to have the upper bunk. One night I thought there was an earthquake until I heard them moaning.”

“Oh my God,” she exclaimed, covering her mouth and giggling lightly.

Isaac pretended to shiver with his whole body. “I get goosebumps just thinking about it. When I moved to this room, I went straight to the bottom one,” he said, patting the empty spot beside him.

Another moment of awkward silence passed by.

“I’m just thankful that Harry doesn’t bring girls back here," Isaac said. "Some nights he doesn’t come back at all, so it’s like I’ve got this room all to myself.”

Gemma rolled her eyes. “When he was at home, he always snuck out in the middle of the night. He was such a ladies man.”

“Still is.”

“Oh no!” Harry’s voice made their heads shoot to the door. “How long have you two been talking about me?”

“Not long enough,” Isaac answered as he pushed himself up and grabbed his black camera bag on the desk beside the bed. To Gemma, he said, “When we meet again, I expect more of his embarrassing stories.”

“Hurry the fuck up, Isaac.” Harry aggressively clapped his hands like Gordon Ramsay on those cooking shows. “Lindsey is waiting downstairs. And she told me to tell you to hurry the fuck up.”

Of course Isaac had a girlfriend. Gemma didn't expect anything and still, she was disappointed. She bet his girlfriend looked like a Barbie doll.

“Coming, coming.” Isaac threw the bag over his shoulder and saluted Gemma as he walked backwards toward the door. “Hope to see you again soon, Gemma,” he said, his little dimple popping again.

.

.

.

There must be something wrong with her. Gemma was sure of it.

She sat on her childhood bed, back against the headboard, chewing on her nail. Despite having stopped crying a while ago, her eyes still felt too heavy as more tears threatened to spill at any moment.

She heard a knock on the door, and assumed it was her mum because Harry never knocked (when he did, never so gently). Too bad, it wasn't her mum.

Isaac lifted a hand awkwardly to say hi when she opened the door, a boyish grin stretching his rosy lips. He had what she liked to call (in her head) ‘a secret dimple’. Hers and Harry’s dimples would go all out with only a slight twitch of their mouths, while Isaac’s dimple was reserved for certain people – those he cared a bit more than the others to smile a bit wider so his dimple became visible. It always was when he saw her.

She decided not to think too much about it.

“Your mum told me to tell you to come downstairs for breakfast,” he said.

Had anyone told him he looked like a Ken doll?

“I’ve already eaten with Harry this morning.” She rubbed her forearms while avoiding eye contact. “Anything else?”

God, she sounded like a bitch. It’d sounded less rude in her head.

“Are you okay?” he asked, unbothered by her obnoxious attitude. As she took too long to answer (she wasn’t going to, anyway), he went straight to the point. “Why didn’t you tell me that you and your boyfriend broke up?”

“We didn’t actually break up, he–” broke up with me “We took a short break.”

“After you’d told him about us?”

“No. I haven’t got a chance to.”

She couldn’t believe she was lying to Isaac. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise as she hadn’t been truthful to anyone since Winton had returned, not even to herself. She’d said she didn’t want to see him; she’d lied. She’d said she couldn’t understand why Harry could forgive Winton; she’d lied. She’d said she’d been in a happy relationship; she’d lied. She’d said she didn’t like Isaac, not like that; she’d lied.

She’d been lying so much it got easier and easier each time. Now it was impossible to stop.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Isaac repeated the question she’d tried to avoid.

“Didn’t feel like it was important,” she said to her feet.

“Wow, okay.”

She looked at him through her lashes. His secret dimple was gone. His jawline turned sharper as he tried not to frown.

“You know what? Forget it,” he sounded out of breath as he dropped his head and rubbed the corner of his eye with a finger. She pulled on his sleeve, and he backed away, still gazing at the floor.

“I’m done with whatever this is, Gem,” he said. “I’m tired of being somebody’s temporary something. Second choice, an opportunity, a rebound, whatever you call it.”

She knew what he meant. Y/N had chosen Harry over him. Gemma didn’t know much about his relationship with Emilia, but that girl had exploited Isaac’s kindness. He was too nice for everyone, especially Gemma.

“It’s me, Isaac. I’m the problem,” she said before he turned away, closing her eyes as it felt like she was talking to herself and not to him. “I think something’s wrong with me.”

“What are you saying?”

She allowed herself to look at him. His doll-like lips curved into a frown. All she could think about was how pretty he looked.

“I’m messed up,” she mumbled, pointing to the left side of her chest. “In here…

“I’ve spent my whole life chasing after men who reminded me of my dad. I throw myself into relationships in which I have to fight for a man’s love and attention. And when there’s someone who genuinely cares about me, I push him away because I don’t feel like I deserve it. I hurt people who love me and cry over the ones who don’t. And you’re the last person I want to hurt because…

“Because you’re the best of them all.”

After this, Isaac might never look at her the same way again. The last guy she’d opened up to had told her she’d had daddy issues and needed therapy, which wasn’t entirely wrong though he could have been nicer about it. Isaac, however, would never say such things.

“I also feel that way,” he said after a moment’s silence.

She nodded, biting her lower lip. She thought she knew what he meant, until he added, “You’re the best of them all, Gem.”

Her eyes shot at him, and his secret dimple reappeared. Before she could restart her brain, he took one large step, his long arms draped around her.

.

.

.

“Want some help with that?”

Harry’s head snapped up, his eyes widened at the man in his drive. He recognised the man right away. That was his neighbour. Y/N’s dad.

Harry had only talked to Y/N's mum because Y/N's dad – with a squared stern face and angry brows – reminded Harry of his Biology teacher. Mr Johnson hated Harry because Harry barely passed most of his exams. But Bradford barely knew Harry beside the fact that Harry lived next door and was friends with Y/N.

Harry shifted his eyes between his bicycle lying defeatedly on the lawn and back at Bradford, who was still waiting for an answer. Harry wanted to say he got this. But his hands were covered with the ‘black stuff’ from having spent the last hour trying to tighten the chain on his bicycle.

Bradford broke into a toothy smile – which changed his entire face (in a good way) – and walked across the yard toward Harry.

Harry stepped aside, hands in his trousers pockets as Bradford got down on one knee and observed the crime scene. Harry felt like he should report what had happened though it was obvious. “The chain is too loose. It keeps coming undone while I ride.”

“I see.” Bradford slapped his hands on his thighs and pushed himself upright. He mimicked Harry’s posture with both hands in his pockets as he cocked his head toward his house. “Bring it to my garage. I’ll fix it.”

Harry stumbled over the bicycle, picked it up and rolled it after Bradford.

Y/N had always complained about her dad and described him as somewhat apathetic and narcissistic. Now that Harry had interacted with Bradford, he thought Bradford was pretty cool. Probably because Harry didn’t know what it was like to have a dad who didn’t only fix his bicycle, but also taught him how to maintain and clean it.

He wished Bradford would play football with him and take him fishing, too.

“I admire you, Harry,” Bradford said as he sat on a tool and wiped his greasy hands with a tattered rag. “It’s Harry, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Call me Bradford.” Bradford smiled again. He looked like the Joker when he smiled. Not in a creepy way; his smile was just really wide and his teeth were really neat and white. Maybe he hated smiling because those teeth could blind people.

“I can’t. My mum would scold me.”

“You’re a good kid, Harry,” Bradford said as he clasped Harry’s bony shoulder with his large hand. “And I admire you because Y/N is really fond of you. It’s hard to get close to her, but you’re different. She never listens to me but would do anything you say.”

Bradford made it sound like Y/N was a little monster while she was the total opposite. When Harry thought of her, he thought of candy floss and daisies, and vanilla; she smelt like vanilla, and he loved vanilla.

“I really like Y/N,” he said, and when Bradford’s bright smile began to dim, Harry quickly added, “As a friend, sir. She’s like my little sister.”

To be honest, Harry didn’t think of Y/N as his little sister. She talked like a kid his age (only more naive), and he’d already got a sister. He and Gemma didn’t get along as well as he and Y/N did. He wasn’t sure what Y/N was to him. Definitely not a sister.

Bradford didn’t comment on what Harry had said. He patted Harry on the arm, got up and pointed to the bicycle. “If there’s any more problem, bring it to me.”

“Yes, sir,” Harry said, nodding quickly.

.

.

.

“I think it’s so cute that yours and Y/N’s family decided to build a gate between your backyards,” Alice said as soon as she saw Harry. She and Niall had brought the wooden chairs from the veranda outside to sit beside the tiny tree, which had grown about thirty centimetres since Harry’s mum had planted it.

Harry towered over to Niall and Alice while they sat like The Thinker, contemplating the plant as if it would grow legs and dance for them if they waited long enough.

“You really have nothing to do, huh?” he asked, holding back a laugh.

“Is this where you first met Y/N?” Alice asked him.

“Yeah.”

“You two should get married here,” Niall said.

“How tall will this tree be when you two finally get married?” Alice asked.

“Don’t know.”

“Ha!” Alice stabbed a finger at him. “You have thought about marrying Y/N.”

“Please let me know when you propose.”

Harry whipped around. It was a male voice so he didn’t know why his heart nearly burst through his chest thinking Y/N had heard the conversation.

Bradford stopped beside Harry and clasped Harry’s shoulder. “Got time? I need some help with the birdhouse.”

“Oh, you’re building it today?” Harry asked.

“Yup. You’re leaving tonight and I need help.”

They crossed the fence to the wooden shed in Bradford's backyard, which he’d built after the storm that had knocked down the tree.

There wasn’t a lot of work to do with the birdhouse. Harry had built one for an art project back in middle school; it was pretty simple. Bradford had only asked for his help so they’d finish quicker.

Harry cut the large piece of wood into different parts, and drilled holes into each of them so Bradford could sand the edges of the newly drilled holes.

“I can’t believe I used to fix your bicycle. Now you’re doing all the heavy work, and you’re dating my daughter," Bradford said.

“Dating Y/N is hard work, too, sir.”

“What?”

Harry stopped abruptly, his face pallid. “No, that was a joke, I–”

“Just messing with you.” Bradford laughed and motioned him to continue. “Y/N is hard work. So headstrong, just like her mother. But I think you’ll be fine with her. She’s different with you.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Stop calling me sir. It’s Bradford.”

“Bradford,” Harry said.

“Good.” Bradford flashed his Joker smile, his teeth still as bright as they’d always been.

“So how’s the thing with your dad?” he asked while they were assembling the pieces together. Harry raised his brows, taken aback. “You don’t have to answer, by the way,” Bradford added. “Y/N didn’t tell me. Niall Horan did.”

Harry snorted. “You don’t have to call him Niall Horan. Just Niall.”

“Marcy kept calling him Niall Horan because she’s obsessed with him. I can’t just call him Niall.” Bradford stood straight and started stretching, his back made a pop. “Anyway, forget that I asked.” He stepped back, hands on his hips as he admired their finished work. “What do you think?”

“We should paint it,” Harry said.

Bradford stuck out his lower lip, rubbing his chin like an artist in a gallery. “Yeah. Maybe tomorrow. Y/N would kill me if I kept you here for too long.”

“Where is she?”

“Bedroom. Serious writer mode.”

Harry nodded understandingly as he wiped his dusty hands with a cloth. “I just told my mum about him. My dad."

“How did it go?”

“Better than I expected. She was fine with him coming back into our lives. I don’t know if she was just saying that or…”

“I think she meant it,” Bradford said. “It’s been twenty years, hasn’t it? And Anne is one of the most forgiving and loving people I know. You and Gemma are adults now; it’s fair that you get to make up your own mind.”

Harry pursed his lips. “You’re probably right."

“Anyway.” Bradford waved dismissively. “Thanks for your help. Now go check on Y/N.” Then he jabbed at Harry, his face stern again. “I trust you not to follow her into a cemetery again.”

“Never again, sir,” Harry said, straightened like a soldier.

.

.

.

Y/N stirred awake when she felt a warm body snuggling her from behind. She didn’t have to look to know it was Harry; his ‘Harry’ scent, which she was shamelessly addicted to, couldn’t be mistaken with anything else.

He held her waist tighter, pressed his face into her hair and said in a raspy voice, “Hi, baby. Sleep well?”

“I can’t believe I fell asleep,” she groaned and flipped over to face him, slipping her hands under the pillow. “How long have you been watching me sleep, Edward?”

A corner of his lips rose at the Twilight reference. He rubbed her stomach and trailed his hand under her shirt. His warmth against her cool skin made her shiver.

“Actually, your dad told me to go check on you.”

“Hmm. Did he give you shit for taking me to the cemetery last night?”

“Psst. He knew you forced me to go.”

“You’re trying to steal my dad. Not cool, Harry.” She scrunched up her nose which made him laugh. He brushed her hair out of her face and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

“Been writing?”

“I pulled an allnighter.”

“I knew it,” he said, probably to himself. “Why do you keep working on the story, though? I thought it’d been finished and sent.”

“Sent to Laura, who sent it right back.”

“Why?”

“Because it wasn’t good enough.”

“She said it was good,” Harry said.

Y/N flipped onto her back and placed her arm over her forehead as he propped his head up in his hand. “Not good good. Not ready-to-publish good,” she said tiredly.

“It’s the story of us. It’s good good.”

She squinted her eyes at him. “If you’re suggesting that I use your name for PR–”

“What? No. Why do you always think the worst of me?”

“You tell me.”

He rolled his eyes and snorted at her pouty face. “What I meant was, it’s a story about us, so it's good the way you wrote it.”

She flipped onto her stomach, cheek in her hand as she blew out her cheeks. “After all the changes I've made, it’s not the story of us anymore.”

“Is it supposed to be a good thing.”

“If I get published. Yeah.”

“Why do you want to get published?”

“Because I want to become a real writer?” She looked at him funny. Did he really ask her that?

“You are a real writer, Bambi,” he said softly and tucked a strand behind her ear. “So when you get published, it should be your original story. Childhood doesn’t last forever, but in your world…” he poked at her chest “...it does…

“And our childhood was too beautiful to be contaminated by those commercialised inputs. I want our children to read it and see us. Not some fictional characters who are nothing like us.”

“Our children?” She wiggled her eyebrows.

“Our separate children because we’ll obviously marry other people,” he joked and she playfully shoved his head into the pillow.

She climbed on top of him to straddle his waist and brought his palm to her cheek. He stroked it with his thumb. “I love when you say things,” she said. “You should be a writer.”

“But I’m not.” He slipped his hand free to boop her nose. “You are. You’ve always been. And I’m your biggest fan.”

“You’ll have to compete with my dad for that position.”

“Oh?” He pretended to look worried. “Okay then, between you and me, I’m your biggest fan.”

.

.

.

Harry had fallen asleep with his head on Y/N's shoulder. He’d asked if he could stay and watch her write. “You look sexy when you momentarily forget I exist,” he’d joked. Fifteen minutes later, he was snoring.

She carefully propped his head on a pillow, put down her laptop, and slid out of bed, taking her phone with her. Once she was outside her room, she closed the door and called Laura.

“Yes, my favourite client of all time?” Laura said cheerfully. She always said that, but Y/N didn’t think she meant it.

“Hey, Laura. About my book, I...uhm...I was wondering if it’d be okay if we...you know...discuss the changes again? To be honest, I don’t feel comfortable with most of them.”

“Y/N,” Laura stressed the name like it was the hardest word in the dictionary. Y/N bit her lip as she braced herself for a long speech of ‘trust me, I’m your agent’. But then Laura said, “You’re the writer. I may have given you a bunch of notes, but they were just suggestions. You’re the decision-maker here. It’s your story, and it’s good. That’s why I wanted to work with you in the first place.”

Y/N’s heart leapt as she pressed a fist to her forehead.

“Send me an email of the changes you’d like to make. We’ll discuss when you get back to London, okay?”

“Thank you. Thank you so much!” Y/N brightened. She couldn’t wait to tell Harry and her dad. They would get so excited and smug and probably tell her, ‘I told you to believe in yourself’ or some cheesy shit like that.

She loved her goofy men.

“This is why you’re my favourite client, Y/N,” Laura said before they ended the call. “You always know what you want.”

[fluffykitty1999-blog]

Dog of the Military- Chapter 35

Chapter 35

A little bit of rest and relaxation for our favorite heroes, and some family bonding time fluff. 

Also- Mustang gets a little ribbing from Hughes and acknowledges that yeah, he’s a dad.

Roy ended up lacking the motivation to carry Ed up the stairs to his room. Or to make himself climb the stairs to get to his own bedroom. He ended up depositing Ed on the couch and flopping into his favorite recliner.

Alphonse had gotten a ride to the hospital at some point, and he puttered into the house behind them, with a bag full of prescriptions for both the other residents of the home.

Al seated himself calmly on the floor and started reading an issue of Cosmo as the Roy and Ed slept.

It was sunlight streaming through the window, the smell of coffee, and voices that woke him in the morning.

Roy blinked harshly, getting to his feet and checking the time. It was almost noon.

He'd thought he was doing good- but as he walked, he realized there was a jackhammer drilling behind his eyes and his headache came back as he became more awake.

Still, he trooped into the kitchen, intent on tracking down some of the coffee he'd been smelling.

He found Hawkeye sitting at his kitchen table, speaking quietly to Alphonse.

"Good morning Colonel!" Al said happily.

"Morning, Alphonse." Gosh, he felt like absolute garbage. Still, if He slammed some coffee and painkillers, he could probably get in a good half day at work, if the Lieutenant was kind enough to drive him. There was no way he'd be able to drive himself in his current dizzy state.

"Lieutenant- mind giving me a ride to work?"

Riza sipped from her mug of coffee, shaking her head. "No need. You've been given the day off. Edward, too."

"By who?"

"General Haruko himself, sir. He and the brass have enough to deal with, he wanted to congratulate you on catching Banks." her gaze flickered to Alphonse for a moment, and Roy knew he wasn't getting the whole story. Still, he knew that Riza must have a reason for keeping the truth from him, and he nodded, grabbing some bread from the breadbox and making himself some plain toast, pressing his palm to his pounding head.

"Take two of these, sir. Alphonse will give you more in an hour." Riza offered him something from a prescription bottle, and he downed both pills dry before nodding, grabbing his toast.

"What about Ed?" Roy asked, thinking of the boy still passed out on the couch. "Has he got anything he has to take?".

"I woke him and gave him his medication about an hour ago. My lunch is almost over, though, I have to get back to the office. One of the men from the office will bring by dinner, Alphonse will call and tell us what you want..."

Riza Hawkeye was, in fact, an angel in human form.

Ed was still out cold on the couch, and Roy took the opportunity to toss a blanket over him before sinking back into the recliner. He briefly considered reading the paper before electing not to, deciding today would be better spent being lazy. He hardly ever got days off like this- and neither did Ed. Might as well waste it sleeping while he could.

LINEBREAK LINEBREAK LINEBREAK LINEBREAK LINEBREAK

"Yeah- four cheese pizzas, with like, a bunch of shit on them. I don't even care, as long as those little fish aren't on it. Surprise me. I dunno- a soda. Something brightly colored. Yeah, he'll probably eat some too. No, he's not awake. You know what, throw some breadsticks in there too. They're really good. Yeah, he's alive, I totally checked like five minutes ago. Alright. See you soon. Thanks Havoc." Ed hung up the phone and plunked himself back on the couch, looking pleased with himself.

Roy opened his eyes.

"Oh good- you're awake." Alphonse said cheerily.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Bastard." Ed smirked. "You want anything for dinner? You weren't awake, but I can call back and order more..."

All Roy really wanted right now was some tea, and maybe a breadstick or two.

"No- I'll have some of whatever." his headache was still there, but not as intense as before. It was more a quiet sort of misery than a burning agony, now.

"Alphonse- do we have any tea?"

"Yes, we do! I'll go put on the kettle." Alphonse bounded to his feet, setting something off his lap and going into the kitchen. He was glad to be of help.

Roy looked down to see some sort of red yarn monstrosity nearly covering the floor of his living room.

"Alphonse taught himself how to knit today. I'd say that's lame, but all I've been doing is drinking juice boxes and complaining, so he did more than me." Ed spoke up from the couch.

"I tried to read something about the stone, but then I fell asleep again. These damn pills ruin everything." Ed complained, sitting up a little straighter.

Roy smirked. "That's not what you were saying at the ER last night. The pain medication made you act like a little kid."

"Shut up, I don't wanna hear it!"

"It was adorable. You came over and cuddled with me."

"Lalala!" Ed was covering his ears, now, and Roy laughed slightly. The only bad thing was that with Hughes in the hospital, he wouldn't have photographic evidence.

The doorbell rang just as Alphonse came back into the room with tea, and Ed jumped to his feet, excited. "Dinner!"

He came back with Havoc and several pizza boxes, settling himself down on the floor and starting to demolish an entire pizza by himself.

Havoc smirked. "Well. Glad to see the Chief wasn't too badly affected by everything. How are you, Boss?" Havoc looked over at Roy, who shrugged.

"I'll live." he sipped his tea and grabbed a bread stick from one of the take out containers. "How are they resolving this whole incident?"

Havoc shrugged. "I'm under orders not to talk about work with you. Hawkeye says you can get caught up on it yourself." Havoc shot a quick glance at Ed, who was still eating at an insane pace, and once again, Roy realized that there was something he didn't want to tell him in front of the boys. He'd find out soon enough when he went back to work again tomorrow, anyways.

"Hey Havoc- you wanna sign my cast!?" Ed held up his casted arm and continued to eat pizza with his other arm, and Havoc grinned, pulling out a sharpie from his pocket.

"Sure, Chief, let me see.".

LINEBREAK LINEBREAK LINEBREAK LINEBREAK LINEBREAK

The morning at work was quiet- Hughes had been discharged from the hospital yesterday, and Hawkeye told him he should go visit him friend immediately when he came in, despite the obvious stacks of paperwork on his desk. Roy complied without question- he'd known something was up since yesterday.

Fullmetal was occupied filling out his own share of paperwork about what'd happened, and getting people to sign his cast between forms.

He found it easy to duck out and stride into the investigation's branch, letting himself in and nodding to Scheska before he was knocking on the door to his friend's office excitedly.

Hughes was sitting sideways at his desk, his casted leg propped up on a chair set beside him. He gave a tired smile when he strode into the room.

"I was wondering how long before you showed up."

Roy snagged another chair and pulled it up, sitting down across from his friend.

"Well, I'm here. And I get the feeling something else has happened, but none of my team will say it outright. So tell me what it is. How are they resolving this case? Is Banks in custody?"

"No." Hughes frowned, sliding a manilla folder across the desktop.

"Banks was driving a car with two Drachmans in it and Ed in the passenger seat. They were tailed by a car driven by a single Drachman. Despite the crash, there was only one fatality. A Drachman in the car Ed was in- he was ejected and died on the scene. Everyone else survived the crash."

"So why aren't they in custody, then?" Roy said, not understanding.

"Open the file, Roy."

Roy obeyed. He found himself staring at the pieces of a destroyed car- the black car was upside down, the windows shattered, the front absolutely smashed... Roy found himself nauseas just looking at it, and he had to pull his eyes away.

"Ed... that was..." he could hardly put the words together.

Hughes nodded. "That was the car Ed rode in, yeah. He was the only one wearing a seat belt. He was also the only one uninjured enough to walk away from the crash. And it's a damn good thing he did."

"I don't understand. Ed said Banks was breathing when he left him, they were too injured to run away..."

"Someone else got there before the military, Roy." Hughes said gently. "Armstrong is processing the scene- he's the one who took these pictures. Shortly after Ed left, the wedding band killer surface from a nearby manhole."

Roy continued flipping through the folder- pictures, of a blood trail from bodies being dragged across the pavement, an open manhole cover...

"They were too injured to get away. The wedding band killer dragged every living man out of those cars and took them down into the sewers with him. He's having a hell of a lot of fun right now chopping them up- Armstrong has been able to confirm Banks is dead, though we're still looking for pieces of the other two. The corner is going to get back to me- let me know if we have enough body parts to account for three bodies. He left the dead man in the street- he only wanted the ones that were still alive."

Roy kept flipping through the photos. There were messages written in blood on the sewer walls. Cryptic warnings, some quotes of religious text, and for one, just a large smilie face drawn in blood.

"Are you okay?" Hughes asked, looking at Roy with concern.

Roy took a deep breath, closing the file folder when he was done. His heart was hammering in his chest. "I will be." he said finally, looking up. "I just... didn't expect them to all be dead. And like that..."

"Dragged into the sewers by a madman and tortured to death. Yeah, it's not exactly an ideal ending for anybody..."

"That could've been Edward."

"But it wasn't." Hughes said firmly. "Your staff all knows, but nobody has told Ed, and we're not planning to. All he needs to know is that they've been handled by the justice system."

"What kind of justice is that?" Roy looked down at the folder in disgust.

"Street justice. I know nobody deserves that, and it's horrific, but the one good thing that came out of all of this is that Ed is finally safe in Central again. That's what I tell myself, anyways."

"So- what does the brass think of all of this?"

Hughes sighed. "They have... mixed feelings on the matter. They're glad the whole Banks Fiasco has been dealt with. They're glad the Drachman issue is dealt with and was never publicized. And they're breathing down my neck trying to get me to catch the Wedding Band killer. I've already borrowed a couple of your men and called in as many favors as I could to help locate this guy. We're going to be starting to search the sewer systematically in teams next week." Hughes said simply.

"Enough of the official talk, though- what about the boys?"

"What about them?" Roy asked, looking puzzled. "I'm not planning on telling them about any of this. Now that the Drachmans and Banks are out of the picture, he'll probably start asking to travel again..."

"And what will you do?" Hughes asked, steepling his fingers and eyeing his friend carefully.

"I'll let him go." something painful in his chest tugged as he said those words, but he knew it was the right thing to do. Edward had goals to accomplish, leads to chase- and he wouldn't get anywhere standing still. "There's no reason to worry about him more than usual, now that things are dealt with. Besides, it's probably safer. It means I won't have to worry about him while I'm helping with the Mr. Fingers case. I'd rather have him out of the city while this is dealt with- he's already gotten too close to this killer for comfort a few times."

"Right. That's what I figured. How soon do you plan on letting him go out again?"

Roy paused for a moment, thinking. Ed did have a broken wrist- he was still sleeping more than usual, starting to recover...

"I'll keep him here for a week. Then he can go back out on his search."

"You sound disappointed." Hughes observed.

"It's... more lively with them around. But I'd only be hurting them if I kept them too close. I'm not the only one with goals, Hughes." he wondered about the day when Ed would return to Central city not with a suit of armor, but with Alphonse in the flesh. He realized he didn't know what Alphonse physically looked like- not even in pictures- and something fluttered in his chest at the thought of finally seeing the younger of the two boys for the first time.

"That's what being a parent is, you know. Knowing when to protect them and keep them close, and knowing when to let them go into the world on their own."

"I'm not their father, Hughes."

"No. You're not. But you're the closest thing they have. Ed's probably gonna be back here in two months, pissed and tired because he hasn't found anything. What'll you do then?"

"Tell the kid to go take a shower and let him crash upstairs. If he finds any alchemy that he needs my help with, he'll ask me about it."

"That's what a parent does. You're they're father, Roy, in all but name."

"Somethings are better left unsaid, Hughes. I'm climbing up the ladder- the less people know about who I care about, the better."

"And if Edward says it?"

"He already has."

"He has!?" Hughes eyes widened and his grin grew impossibly wide.

"Yes. He was drugged to high heaven in a hospital, but he's called me Dad."

"And did you correct him?"

"No."

"That's it. I'm starting a damn photo album." Hughes was rooting through his desk drawers.

Mustang sighed, standing and heading for the door. This was probably all the useful conversation he'd get with Hughes today.

"You had two damn kids and I didn't even get to come to your baby shower!"

"Shut up, Hughes!"

Obligatory ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/fluffykitty12 .

[aspiestvmusings]

ZEP ANALYSIS

POSSIBLE SPOILERS for “ZOEY’S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST” (NBC) 

This is my take on the shows storylines (episode 1-8), spoilers (for rest of s1), comments from the creators and cast...

This was originally inspired by many online comments from TeamMax vs Team Simon. I just wanted to analyze the show based on that. 

My take on the storyline: “The Love Triangle”

Good news for one team, perhaps not so good for the other team. 

Based on everything we’ve seen on the show (the storytelling, the promotional materials, the spoilers)... everything points to Max/Zoey being the endgame. I’ve seen many fans (both those who support Team M & those who support Team S), say that they get the same message from the storytelling. It does seem to be the clear message from the show...no matter how they get there..or when...

The “proof”: 

First: The actor who portrayes Max is billed higher (probably mostly cause he’s done more well-known musical projects before than the other actor), and he’s featured in much more promotional materials (promo pics, posters, promo videos...) and in more central role, than the other actor. The promotion is vastly focused on M/Z. They use those characters & actors... a lot...for promotion. That suggests only one thing. 

Second: They told us the premise of Zoey’s future relationships in the Pilot already via this Max/Zoey conversation:

Zoey: I have a long history of --- what do you call my past relationships again? --

Max: -- “Unnecessarily complicated, exhausting for everybody, the opposite of good”?

Zoey: Yeah. Those things. Which is why this time I'm just gonna take things slow, and wait for the right “in”

And with Zoey/Simon thing has been just a repeat of her past experiences which she claims she doesn’t want to re-live again, and this show is all about her growth as a character/person, this cannot be the endgame. Even if they’d reveal that S/J have broken up... all that’s already happened has followed this exact description (see Max’s quote)

Third: While Zoey sang her heart song to Max and they had a moment for themselves (though..let’s be honest...they get interrupted so much that others in the office must’ve overheard a lot by now...), the heartsong to Simon seemed to be more like a setup for having Max see it. And while both songs are about her deepest, secret feelings/desires... and there’s truth in both, then the way the scenes were set up makes it seem like she sang to her best friend to make him aware of how she really feels (what he said in the previous ep: he needs to know/get a respose from her...and this gave him that). But the other song was meant to be overheard by her best friend...and that was the goal of the song/scene (not the song itself, but that he saw). Again pointing to the show going for Max as the endgame. 

Fourth: The triangle is as follows: Both Max & Simon like Zoey, but she only really likes one of them. Both men sang heart songs to her (Max = I think I love you, Sucker, If I can’t have you, 500 miles), and she sang to both...but different songs. Simon sang “If you say that you are mine, I'll be here 'til the end of time” in 1x05, so it’s coming from his side. Zoey in 1x08 sang "I'm Yours” to Max (that her heart is his), but she sang “I want you to want me” to Simon (not that she wants him, but she wants him to want her). As her best friend explained it - one is about love, the other physical attraction. But... if you listen to the lyrics more closely then based on them she’s singing about how she saw S. crying & all alone (1x01) and how that affected her, compared to singing to M. how she’s “caught feelings”. So she’s only actually interested in Max, as her feelings for Simon are not mutual (beyond the grief bond). One is one-sided and more “superficial”, the other is mutual and more “serious”. 

Fifth: While we’ve seen that Zoey thinks she’s caught feelings for Simon (what she told her mom at the engagement party), and she hasn’t really admitted this to anyone besides her mom, she seems to not see it as a good thing. She also claims to both Max & Simon that she doesn’t really have feelings for Simon/wasn’t aware of her feelings and/or that she’s basically over it... so kinda “little white lies”. She seems to think they have a sort of connection and/or she seems to find him attractive...despite realizing that it cannot happen because he’s engaged. (and before Simon went and took the wrong step, he said the right thing - they leaned too much on each other about their grief, and they should just go back to co-workers, and that’s all. Sadly...that was changed because of the “glitch” that mislead...people). But... we also saw that she is fighting against having feelings for the morally questionable engaged man, cause she probably realizes it’s a bad idea. 

Sixth: All this time, but especially in the last episode, the show has tried to show the two men in her life differently, and show the differences in their “relationships” with Zoey. It’s a very classic “fairytale story” that follows often-used “clichees”. They’ve shown how the two are different, and how the connection between both “ships” is different. And everything points to them starting to make the difference even more clear. By now they all are aware of each others feelings...to some point... and both men are aware that they’re both competing for her interest. 

And she’s aware that she is interested in both... but in different ways, and for different reasons. And again they used Max to vocalize the choice before her - will she choose physical attraction without deeper connection or love and deeper emotional connection...AKA “new attractive co-worker who went through what shes going through VS her best friend, who is always there for her...no matter what. The options were made clear, now it’s her decision. And it’ll depend a lot on how each man will act from now on...at the most difficult time in her life (she’s now really going to lose her dad). 

If Simon will try to make advances based on the heart song she sang, which gave outmixed signals AND at the same time Max will continue being a good friend (as we saw in 1x08...despite their dispute) then that’ll make Z/S grow furher apart and Z/M grow closer. And since it’s all become too complicated and messy for everyone... then it’s very possible all this will get to Jessica, and break those two apart. But... that’s IMO gonna be the opposite from making the path clear for S/Z. To have Simon as a character grow they need to have him deal with his grief, and all that. The Simon vs Max thing is a lot like Leif/Tobin thing... where the peer reviews made one become sketchy and start playing games, and the other start working on bettering themselves. I expect similar differences of paths taken for S & M. Especially because we’ve not only seen Tobin 2.0, but also Max 2.0 (and we’ll see more of that..in coming eps)

Seventh: We ve heard spoilers than in the S1 finale there will be a “heart song” for/from/with one of the two and Zoey. From how the scene is decribed it sound more like something fitting to Max (Max/Zoey). Which fits with how the season and story has been built so far. That seems to also confirm where they’re taking it. Cause...they’ve established that just like on most shows the main character HAS TO have a love interest, and so far they’ve only introduced two  options. 

Other reasons why Zoey will most likely choose “love” over “physical attraction”:

We saw Zoey’s reaction when she found out that S. had a SO/was engaged - she ran. And though she might find him attractive (physically)...as she found out via her heart song in 1x08, and she might feel a connection to him (because of the heart song she heard him sing in 1x01), she hasn’t shown interest in actually being with him... because she knows he’s taken. And also because she’s not really in the right place to start a relationship. She/They may not realize it, but they don’t have much more in common than grief - that’s the center of their bond (for now). Despite her interest/attraction to him & her thinking she “likes” him... 

This is also why it’s easier for her to admit she has/had feelings for Simon, but she’s having trouble admitting...to herself (and Mo) & to Max that she may have feelings for her best friend. There’s nothing to lose with the first, but a lot to lose with the second. She’s afraid (and she varbalized it at the end of 1x07) that something could not go well... etc

While Max was not at all ready to meet his dates (Autumn) parents, because it’s a huge step and he just wan’t ready for it, he has met his best friends parents, and is welcome at their home. And there’s no feelings of meeting the parents being such “next level step”. We saw this when he brough her dad pudding to eat & when he helped carry the bed downstairs. It was also mentioned that he’s been part of the extended family for a while - welcome to family events (Christmas, barbeques..). Zoey’s father - the most important person in her life until now - is definitely on the man’s side, who brings him pudding (cause he’s paid attention that he can only eat soft food) and visits him & helps out. And her dad’s opinion is very important to Zoey, so... 

She is completely at easy with Max seeing her with a facemask on, eating take-out, alone, at home, but she hides it (the true self) from Simon. She wears “a mask” with Simon, but doesn’t with Max. Same with how she didn’t tell Simon about her dad in 1x08 (brushing it off: hospital = lollipop), while telling Max that her dad had an apointment that morning. And though it did take her time to find the courage to tell him about it all in detail, she did..in the end. But from the start she shared the main info even if she didn’t tell what exactly happened and how she feels about it. She didn’t completely brush it off with him...even if the news made her unable to process and share it...right away.

We saw how she resisted her personal heart songs to Leif/Joan & to Simon, while being completely at ease with singing them to her best friend (Max) and her dad (Mitch). Cause if we leave out the big dance numbers (Crazy, Pressure), then she tried stopping herself  from singing the others...the personal songs... and/or apologized for what’s to come...with Simon, too. But with Max (and her dad) the song just came to her...without the need to apologize or resist it. And afterwards she just tried to claim it didn’t mean as much, because she’s just in denial (and not really ready to start a relationship...because right now she is going through stages of grief). There’s a huge difference in both the heart songs she sang & HOW she sang them.

And we’ve seen that she really appreciates him as a friend, and as she told him - she can’t lose him as a friend...she needs him in her life. She cares about his feelings. She is afraid she gave him the wrong impression, she runs after him to explain things to him, because she knows that he got hurt. She actually cares about him...and is feelings (as a friend). And they’ve not shown the same reaction with Simon. And though the friends to one-sided to more-than-friends trope is “an overused clichee”, it isn’t necessarily bad. It can work well. Examples: Mondler on Friends, Peraltiago on B99...

Max may have the advantage of having known her longer, and knowing her better (because they’ve been friends for 5 years), and hence she’s more comfortable around him. And...that’s the reason why she let him in on her superpower secret, and why she tells him about...things. But... that’s precisely why she should and will choose Max over Simon. (He’s been there for her...always...and he continues to be there for her...through this hard time in her life.)

We saw how even though he was upset with her (for keeping secrets from him, from setting him up with someone  else when she knew about his feelings for her...just because she didn’t dare to be honest with him & communicate...and hearing her sing to another person, too...) he was still there for her. A shoulder to lean on...literally and figuratively. He came to her rescue when she put her job at risk (singing Pressure), he gave her her mom’s message and supportive advice regarding her dad... And though there’s a hint of competitiveness that he seems to feel after the 1x07 elevator end scene (where we saw that both men seem to think they’ll be the end choice), and him wanting some kind of response from her, the 1x07 end scene and other moments have shown us that he’s willing to wait til she’s ready.

Especially...since in 1x07 he felt like it’s unfair that she can see into his heart and knows how he feels about her, he doesn’t. But in 1x08 he got to see into her heart (because even though she’d promised to always be honest with him from now on... she wasn’t fully... for a bit... and the “glitch” made her break her promise...til the evening), and it’s more “fair”. He now isn’t as in the dark, and less uncertain. I think the glitch was good for him, because he now knows how she really feels. All he wanted was an honest answer. And though it’s undertandable that he’s a bit hurt by what he’s heard & seen lately... but in the end it was beneficial. As Mo put it... he deserves an answer...no matter what it is...

I get the feeling that by now Zoey’s actually aware that she has feelings for her best friend. She might’ve not been aware of it all until he sang the first heart song to her, but after that we’ve clearly seen that she has either started to realize she actually has feelings for him or that she’s started to have feelings for him. She showed signs of jealousy when he was with Autumn (seeing them talking at the coffee shop, dancing at the club...). She couldn’t stop staring at him when she walked in during the Mo’ Makeover...indicating clearly that she finds him also physically attractive. Not to mention the emotional connection, and friendship. All the looks she gives him, her song & dance during “I’m Yours”... all for him... 

And she cares about his feelings & not hurting him (running after him when he sees her heart song to Simon...) The look she has, when he brings her dad pudding & when she sees him with her dad or when  she hears him sing “500 miles”, or the looks and giggles when she sings her heart song to him.... While she’s in no place in a relationship at this time, I think she’s realized that despite her grief and emotional state she’s developing feelings for her best friend. And that... just like what’s going on with her dad, seems to scare her. 

MY PERSONAL TAKE/THOUGHTS:

As human as her feelings for Simon are (you can’t control who you find attractive...), and as much as this can happen IRL then Zoey/Simon is a no-no... simply because of his relationship status. Cheating storylines are not cool. Hence I cannot stand behind that “ship” or the possibility of accepting them as a viable possibility. IF he didnt have a fiancee, he’d be a candidate, but that’s not the case...he has a SO. Hence Team Simon cannot even be an option. No matter how much they try to promote it all as a love triangle & no matter how much they make Simon make bad decisions and wrong moves (going to her place & talking to her about his feelings, kissing her) seem “nothing serious”.... it’s wrong. It’s just as her best friend decribed it in 1x08. If things were different, yeah, but we’re not talking hypotheticals. 

So IMO there’s one clearly wrong choice netween these two. I mean... I would not care if they would have her stay single, or develop new interest (Tobin)...as long as it’s not “morally questionable”. Z/S would be like Joan/Leif... sketchy, and wrong. And hopefully having seen those two helps Zoey understand that.... see the parallels (she has a hint that one is playing the other) 

As for “Max is being too pushy”... here’s how that goes: he’s been in love with his best friend...for some time...and not said a thing. She accidentally finds out after she gets her superpower. And all the while his feelings seem to grow deeper. And now that she’s aware of his feelings, it seems she’s become more aware of her own (similar) feelings and/or she’s developed them. And sure...after his peer reviews (that “he doesn’t show initiative”) & seeing that his best friend is interested in someone else...who would be just another “not good option” similar to her past bad relationship decisions, ...and after getting mixed signals from her, he made more direct steps. 

He sang her his heart songs, but he didnt push her (no, “Hand picked” is not like a date, just “are you free to go and eat”). She only felt pushed because she could “read his mind”. Also... he didn’t sing to her while being in a relationship with someone else...he kept his distance. And at the same time she seems to have become more and more aware about her feelings for him, and she was giving him “wrong signals”. His response - the flash mob was a response to that. And he was just upset that she ran...without any real response (not interested, can’t right now...cause I’m too occupied with  dad thing). All he wanted was some sort of respose, and he told her so. She avoided telling him how she really feels (as Mo put it... he’ll understand if you say you don’t know, but you owe your friend an answer)...delaying it...as long as she could.  

Also... any rational person would be confused about hearing that someone has superpowers. Again...she avoided giving him an explanation, instead telling him “fairytales of superpowers”. And in the end he was okay with her answer - that she can’t give him an answer at the moment. Even though he was upset, we saw he was still gonna be her friend (even if keeping some distrance, and not doing the movie nights), and that he was sure that one day she’ll be ready (the 1x07 elevator end scene, where both men think she’ll choose them...in the end..when she’s ready)

And in the latest episode we saw that no matter how hurt his feelings were, he did not stop being her friend. As he said “he’ll be there...always...and be the shoulder to lean on”. And you could tell that a huge weight was lifted off his shoulder when he knew her real feelings. When she did what she promised in last episode...be 100% honest with him. Sure... it only happened because of the glitch, when she sang him the heart song, but nonetheless it made things more equal. As he said - it’s unfair that she knows how he feels & can see into his heart but he cannot see into hers. The glitch changed that. Gave him the opportunity to get the answers she “owed him”

 So... it’s undertandable that he felt hurt and confused when he saw her sing a heart song to someone else... right after finally giving him some answers. But...during he same conversation he processed it all, and also explained it to her - one song about love, the other about attraction. And he didn’t say “choose me”, he just explained the meanings to her (cause it was obvious she didn’t understand it herself), and told what his choice would be, while saying that he knows she’ll make her decision on her own....cause that ’s what she’s like. 

As a friend he doesn’t want her to make the same mistakes she has in the past..hence him being “upset” with her. Cause to him it looks like she wasn’t completely honest (something she promised to be) with him - singing her heart feelings to him, and then to someone else. Claiming that she can’t lose him as a friend and that’s why she’s not ready to try being more than friends, when to an outsider it looks like the real reason is, as he put it - cause she’s confused about her feelings... for two people. All she’d have to tell him...from start... would just be honest and simply just say (more clearly) that she has to focus on her family & dad at this time, and ask for time. She kinda did at the end of 1x07, but because she’s not good with emotions and feelings...and she delayed her answer, she didn’t really let him in...and be the friend she needs at the time, it wasnt as clear as it could’ve been. 

So far all his “pushy” behaviour can be seen as being a good friend -  he’s trying to help her not start another overly complicated relationship...which she told him (in Pilot) is not what she wants anymore. He points out to her why Simon is not a good option - he’s taken. Yes, part of his “pushiness” seems to come from trying to be less what his peer reviews decribed him like & competitiveness (knowing Simon is kinda his competition). But from his POV... (before she told him about her superpowers& sang him her heart song)... she’d been shown more interest in him (checking him out, giving mixed signals) & at the same time he’s in a bit of hurry because if he doesn’t act soon she may make a move on the new guy/the new guy may make a move on her. So it makes sense that with all of that happening at the same time he seems...to some... to "push” her towards being more than friends... Cause unconciously he may realize that if he doesn’t make a move ...now... he may be too late. 

And though it all... he’s still there for her. He might be “mad at her... just a bit”, but he still goes to check on her, still gives her advice, and space... after he knows what’s really going on. (he “pushes” her to confont her feelings about her dad, and deal with it instead of running). He’s not looking for something in return. We saw that over and over in several episodes. He verbalized it in 1x06, and his face/look told it in the end of 1x07 elevator scene. 

Also... “Mr Nice Guy” is better than “Mr. Cheater”...any day... in my book. And it surprises me that there are those who think that “nice guy who goes after his best friend” is worse option & worse clichee than the “hot new guy, who is willing to cheat”. For me one is clearly wrong behaviour the other just depends on your preferences. 

To quote Mo : Max is funny, and funny always wins. Hence... being Team Max.

                  So... while up until things got overly complicated, both men could’ve been options, by now the show (writing etc) has made it pretty clear that they’re going for Z/M endgame. 

Though the showrunner/writers at times love to focus on the “love triangle” (I still don’t see it in the writing...I only hear it being described so by the showrunner etc), and how they want to continue with that...for a while... which makes it seem a bit like they’re seriously pro “cheating plots” and “human feelings are messy...hence we let the main character continue making bad choices” because “we love the love- triangle drama”, there’s still more evidence in them not really taking it further than the kiss. But yeah... at times the showrunners comments make it sound like he thinks more like the HIMYM creator did and less like Dawson’s Creek creator did. Too fixed in loving the “triangle drama” & not going for character growth... But... I truly hope that all that has just been misleading...and the storytelling is what tells us how it goes. 

They already let Simon make a bad move - the kiss. That should be the line over the line that they won’t cross again. He may continue pursuing her by singing songs to her, because he read her heartsong in the wrong way (because he doesn’t know why she did it, and what’s behind it), but if they follow the character growth path, and their current direction... they won’t let him/her go into the “cheating plot” territory again. 

    My “advice” to Zoey & Simon: 

IF I could talk to these fictional characters, then the advice I would have given them...weeks/months ago would have been: just talk to your family & friends...the important people in your life. That’s Jessica for Simon, and Max (Mo, her mom...) for Zoey. Luckily we finally saw Zoey do that in the latest episode. So far we haven’t seen her really share the specific details on her dads health & her feelings regarding it all, with him. She hasn’t really confonted her feelings about it...til now or really confided in anyone in her family...etc... until now/finally. But Simon doesn’t seem to be doing so (he kept it all inside for a long time...until he had a chance to talk to a stranger, Zoey), and even though he made a point to not talk to her about it all, there has been no indication that after the “smoked roses” incident he’s confided in the person he should, Jessica.

Because... it doesn’t take a shared experience to get the support you need. The other person doesn’t have to have lived through the same/doesn’t have to know what it feels like in person to be the right person to lean on. And that was beautifully showcased at the end of ep 1x08, when Max, after he had been told about her dad’s condition, and her feelings regarding it, was the emotional support she needed. It just takes one person - somone who knows you best/well... to help you nagivate your “grief”.

To elaborate: That moment, when she finally was completely honest with Max, and let him in on her dad’s situation, was very important. It was the step to right direction. It also showed Zoey & us that it doesnt take a person who has experienced the same to understand her, support her. It just takes one person, who knows you & is there for you no matter what. And we shan’t forget that since Max was also close with Mitch, he will be personally affected by her dad’s death. So a shared experience... shared grief. Max being “in” on the details means that they’ll lean on each other more on this (so less need fo Zoey to connect about grief with Simon...who doesn’t have a connection with her dad & who doesn’t really know her). It was a crucial moment: Zoey finally not running from it all & properly starting grieving (going through the stages). And she finally let someone really in (something Simon can’t/won’t do with his fiancee... both cause she doesn’t understand him & his not willing to let her in), so this will make their friendship stronger going forward. Meaning: she doesn’t need Simon fro grief bond - she can get that support from Max, too. 

And they really need to explore Simon’s character...and let him grow. Based on spoilers we know that were gonna get (finally) some more development and closer look into Max. But they need to look into S. (Is it just the grief? Is is something...more...)

wow ..this turned out way longer than I expected and planned. 

Also... no ship wars comments, please. Even though I stated why I prefer one of the options the show has introduced that does not mean this is an invite to start discussion which is better. This is not the purpose of this post. You’re allowed to have your preference. For me there simply is a (single) reason why I cannot support one, while am OK with the other. 

THE END 

[gothfoxx]

Love on a Dare pt.2

Prt1 Prt3

Warning for slight language and hinted child abuse

The rest of the day sucked a little less than the first half, Remus was big enough to admit that the thought of Patton’s giggles and cheery smile is what kept him from just giving up and ditching. His brothers and the guys had made fun of his quick change of tune as they boarded the bus back to the school, “Who knew De and Remus had the same tastes.” Virgil snickers making Logan roll his eyes and Deacon glare menacingly at the emo edgelord. “Aw come on babe, don’t insult Deacon like that. Logan has his charm...on occasion.” Roman counters. Remus doesn’t like the way they dismiss poor Pat like that, Virgil had been the loner kid before Roman had dragged him into their group and their dearest little brother had been coaxed out of his anti-social ways when Logan had engaged in a battle of philosophy when they were in middle school. “Hey lay off him. So what he’s different? I’m different and you guys love me!” Remus hisses out as the teacher does roll call. Roman makes a so-so gesture with his hand and the other laugh and nod, “Shut up, you would all be bored without me!” He huffs and lays across their laps earning a warning about behavior from the very tired teacher up front.

The rest of the trip home was filled with chatting about what they all endured that day and making plans for the upcoming weekend, that’s when the conversation circled back to Remus’ date. “Where do you plan to take Patton? A Starbucks or hipster coffee shop are not usually your ‘scene’” Logan asks using air quotes to emphasize the outdated slang. “Yeah! I can’t picture you in a sea of snobby preps or hipsters without your baseball bat or tire iron.” Pipes up Virgil who had been zoning out before, he seemed to really like messing with Remus today…probably because Remus was constantly teasing him about his early 2000 emo look. “Not like there’s pleanty of local mom and pop cafes or diners around town, you know perks of having a theme park near by and all.” Sasses Deacon as he combs his hand through Logon’s short (less than perfect now) hair. And wow Remus loved having a smart and amazing brother! Roman was great too but he didn’t have the same finesse with words and back talk that their younger brother did. “Fuck yeah De! He looks like the kind of guy that would love diners with that whole Mr dad vibe he has!” He cheers, but then Roman makes a ‘daddy’ joke and they end up forgetting the date again.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧.✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

After having to be slathered with aloe juice from all the spots he forgot to cover with sunscreen Remus was happy to just lay on his bed and scroll through his feed, liking and commenting on some epic monster effects makeups and a few grimdark aus before he got bored. He was going to text one of his graffiti buddies when his thumb stopped on Patton’s id, the memory of those giggles played again. Texting on the same day wasn’t that taboo was it? Pat wouldn’t have just played along and put in a fake number, right? Ugh no no he was sounding like Dancing! In the Panicroom, why should Remus care about taboo? His whole existence was centered around being a big middle finger to tradition. And if Pat gave him a fake number then that was his choice, it might suck but Remus had come over to hit on him unannounced. Remus clicked the id and shot off a text.

???: Some scientists classify me as "vulgaris", but I'm really sweet once you get to know me ;{)

Patty-cake🐙: Remus? Hehe your smiley has a mustache too!

Royal💚: you bet, it’s my signature look 👈👈 what’s it like being a sea creature on land all the time?

Patty-cake🐙: it’s nice but everyone’s humor seem pretty /dry/

Royal💚: that’s no “pun”, did I “wet” your appetite today?

Patty-cake🐙: your really good at this, like a duck to water

Royal💚: the goal IS to “quack” you up ;{)

Patty-cake🐙: lol =D

The rest of the evening was spent trading bad puns and telling even worse jokes, Remus kept it all pg-13 since he still wasn’t sure which way Peppermint Patter swung. It was getting close to 11 when Patton’s texts started to slow, Remus was kinda sad about it but heck even he was beginning to flag and he was used to staying up till 2 or 3. But the guy also legit worked at the crap-shoot, if he went through that every day with a hot suit on then of course Pat would get tired at old man hours. He felt bad for probably keeping the poor dude up but he could practically see that smile every time he sent a new play on words. Ah fuck, damn it all to the netherplains! Remus f’ing Cain Royal had a crush on Patton ‘Padre’ Seaver! Fuck!

Luigi: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Mario: Remus wtf?!

Luigi: hsvctsgdvhdhsbsgdgddhhd

Bowser: gay key smash? Hmm 🤔

Mario: wait wait I’ve heard you laughing through the walls why are you freaking out

Mario: who are you talking to!?!

Mario: Rein in the gay and tell us dreadful duke!

Luigi: aahshahhh I’d sell Satan my letf testical to make him smilrdhhdhdhhbsnsgdgnxj

Bowser: really PlainPat? You hardly know anything about him, you haven’t even been on your date yet and what? you’re going to do a dark ritualistic summoning for him? What kind of sorcery is this? Geez

Luigi: STFU hes an angel (҂｀ﾛ´)凸

Mario: and youre a fallen one, what a match

Bowser: ooh I see you just want to dirty him up eh?

Mario: aha yes that explains it, you want to break his halo as it were

Luigi: some support you guys are and after all the things I’ve done for you and yours :{P

Bowser: shit, fine I still owe you for hiding L in your closet when mom came home early :/

Bowser: just don’t get upset if he turns out to be a hety

Mario: and if he hurts you we’ll help hide the body

Bowser: or what’s left of it

Luigi: (Ɔ˘з˘)(ꈍヮꈍ)˘ε˘ C) there now I feel the love tonight

Bowser: ew

Mario: gross, go to sleep dirty duke

It might not have been the support he was looking for but at least he didn’t have to handle all these feelings alone, last time he tried that someone ended up in the hospital…ok so it was him, he didn’t take finding out about their dad’s affair or being threatened by said dad all that well. They made a rule after that, the three of them would shoulder shit like that together afoaofa style. Sure they might think Remus is chasing tail or whatever but they still had his back and that’s what he needed as he sent a goodnight text with a heart to Patton. A moment later he got one back. Yeah he was caught hook line and sinker.

Patty-cake🐙: sweet dreams 🍬

-tag list-

@jessibbb @alexa-lettuce @deceits-left-glove @dorkyduckling16 @lallyphant @newblue002 (if you want on or off the list let me know)

[purplesurveys]

1129

[created by: youvebeensurved - LiveJournal]

How often do you get fountain drinks from a gas station? I’ve actually never tried getting a drink from one of those fountains. I find them nasty, and the fact that gas stations aren’t the most hygienic of places certainly doesn’t help their case.

If you get online and look at graphics, what website(s) do you go to? I never find myself looking for graphics. The closest thing I search are vector icons, and for those I have an extension on Chrome that lets me look for icons to place on slides and such.

Who would you say your favorite celebrity is? At the moment it would be Rosamund Pike, but my all-time favorite would be Beyoncé.

Have you ever slept in your car? If so, explain. Sure, mostly when I took naps in between classes. There were also a few times I had late nights out and didn’t have a place to crash at, so I’d sleep in the car for the night before heading home in the morning.

If you were forced to murder one of your parents, which one would it be? This is a horrible question.

What song are you currently obsessed with? Find Me Here - Hayley Williams.

Explain your last run in with the police: Never happened.

Who was the last friend you hung out with, and what did you guys do? In terms of a physical get-together, I was with Angela, Hans, Pia, Kyelle, Al, Gab, and Sam and we had dinner and drinks at this gastropub that announced its impending permanent closure by the end of February. Virtually, I hung out with Andi, Peter, Carmel, Rita, Robin, Mik, and Elis to have a Jeopardy game night over Zoom.

What time do you usually go to bed and wake up? On weekdays I try to turn in anywhere between 9–11 PM and wake up by 6:30. On weekends, I try to stay up until midnight at the earliest, but I’m trying to make it a habit to stay up until like 2–3 AM just so I can catch up on my hobbies and shows. I wake up anywhere between 5–7 AM.

If you could have any job in the world, what would it be? What's stopping you? Lawyer, which is a route I seriously considered for a few years. I get extremely tense in arguments though so I doubt I’d be the best fit for that kind of career.

Do you have a friend that's in a horrible situation right now? Explain. Yeah, my college batchmate (who’s now also my co-worker) Aimee tested positive for COVID this week after being in and out of a fever over the last two weeks.

What was the last store you were in, and what did you buy? I suddenly needed plastic bags while I was packing groceries at the office the other week, so I went to the nearby convenience store to check if they had any. They didn’t, so I left without buying anything.

Who was the last person you texted, and what did this text say? I was texting some media friends to tell them some shoes we had ordered for them to try out are going to be delivered to their address within the day.

What is the reason for the last time you cried? A show I had been watching had an emotional scene.

Who is your favorite character in your favorite movie? Joanna, of course, mainly because that’s the character Audrey Hepburn plays.

What color did you last paint your nails? I can’t remember the color I chose the last time I had my nails painted 79472394348 years ago.

It's 112 degrees out today, describe your attire: A very thin tank top with airy shorts.

Do you have any friends that are currently in jail? Explain their situation. Not friends but I can think of a couple of relatives who’ve gotten ‘in conflict’ with the law. I won’t get into their cases but for both of them, it was because they got tricked by their respective abusive bosses, hence the quote marks.

Do you tend to take long or short surveys? I like taking those whose lengths are right in the middle - anywhere between 35-80 questions. Shorter ones look boring and I find the longer ones too time-consuming.

What do you currently desire? I changed my mind about La Creperie and will be going to Ramen Nagi instead since I just remembered they currently have a truffle ramen thing that’s only going to be around for a limited time, and I want to get my hands on it before they take it off the menu.

How often do you honk your horn? Depends on how stupid the people I’m driving with are on a given day.

For what reason were you last at a park? We don’t have too many parks here so there’s little opportunity to stay at one. I remember seeing one with Gab when we were at BGC a little over a year ago, but we only walked through it since it was part of the route we were taking to get to our actual destination.

What junk food can you never pass up? Salted egg chips and pizza.

If you're a girl, what is your favorite brand of feminine hygiene products? If you're a boy, what is your favorite brand of condoms? I don’t have a favorite.

Where was the last place you went on a walk to? Just around the neighborhood. I also wanted to make this morning’s route with Cooper a little longer so he could walk more, so we went to parts of the village we don’t normally reach.

How are you feeling today? I’m content :) It’s the weekend so I’m not too tense like I normally would be on weekdays. I also have plans to go out later today so I’m looking forward to that.

Do you ever make your own surveys? Never tried because I know I wouldn’t be able to come up with new and interesting questions.

How flexible are you? Not very. I can’t even reach my toes when I do stretches.

What is your favorite class? Any history elective. I also like biology, anthropology, and some aspects of political science.

What is your boyfriend's name? I don’t have one.

What is your favorite drink? Non-alcoholic, cold water. Alcoholic, Long Island Iced Tea for mixed drinks, and tequila.

Who is your best friend? Angela.

What time is it? 11:20 AM.

What is your middle name? My second name is Isabelle, but I’m not sharing my legal middle name.

What 3 websites do you visit daily? YouTube, Google Suite, and Twitter.

Where do you work? At home, haha. But under normal circumstances I’d be working in an office somewhere in Metro Manila.

What is your favorite band? Paramore.

How do you feel about abortion? Personally not a fan of the procedure for myself, but I am as pro-choice as it gets.

Do you want any kids? Very much so.

Have you ever microwaved soap? Nah, but I know what happens to it from watching YouTube videos hahaha. It’s so fun to see it gradually expand and become a pretty lil cloud.

Are there any new movies that you want to see? I Care A Lot, but I feel sooooooooo lazy about watching new movies. Idk if I’ll ever get around to it.

How many places have you lived? I’d say around five in total, including the house I currently reside in. I’ve lived in my parents’ apartment in Manila, then we briefly moved in with my dad’s parents, and then I spent most of my childhood in a duplex living with my mom’s side (and got to live in both houses), until we finally settled here when I was 10.

Do you have any health issues? Yeah, the main one I have to live with is scoliosis.

Are you texting anyone? Nope. And I don’t really text anymore, either. Most of my conversations take place on Messenger or Viber.

What do you drive? A Mitsubishi Mirage hatchback.

Have you ever had a crush on a teacher? Sure, both male and female ones.

Are you drinking or eating anything? Nope but I am starting to feel a bit hungry.

What color is your shirt? Yellow with some grey text.

Do you drink? Like...alcohol? Sure. I have the occasional soju night.

What year do/did you graduate? I graduated high school in 2016, and college in 2020.

Do you play any sports? Table tennis, though it’s been a while since I’ve had the chance to play. I got to take it as a PE elective on my last sem, but my time with it got cut off because of COVID :(

Do you pop your fingers? Yeah, I just cracked my knuckles a few minutes ago.

What is your shoe size? I can wear a size 6 or 7.

Have you ever had a UTI? Apparently I’ve had one, but all I got from it was a persisting high fever. I didn’t actually have any difficulties or felt pain in my urinary tract, though of course I felt scared to pee during that time because I thought it would hurt lol.

What was the last thing you baked? Cookies. A lifetime ago, since I don’t normally bake.

When was the last time you showered? Yesterday afternoon when I was finally able to clock out of work.

Would you rather go to the dentist or the doctor? Dentist. I actually find the procedures soothing. There’s a whole lot of issues that can be unpacked when you visit doctors, so I’m kinda scared of that.

Have you ever been in love? Yes. I miss the feeling and being able to act on it, but I’m liking being with myself too.

How do you feel about public speaking? I’m ok with it for the most part. I know I can speak well and generally have a good hold of my thoughts, so I don’t mind if I have to do it unless I have to talk about something I’m greatly unfamiliar with, like insurance or economics lmao. The latter situation is the only time I’d feel unprepared or scared of public speaking.

Do you see anything green? Yeah, since we have artificial plant accents on the coffee table.

What shoes do you usually wear? Sneakers or running shoes.

Do you take any birth control? Nope.

Who is the last person you talked to? My sister; I just asked her to turn the volume down on the TV.

Are there any fast food restaurants that you refuse to eat at? Just Tokyo Tokyo. I can take or leave Burger King but for the most part I find their burgers too plain.

Do you recycle? Whenever I can, yeah.

Do you know what you want to major in in college? I wanted to take up journalism. I suppose I don’t regret it, since I ended up wanting to be in a field that’s close enough to it anyway and I don’t feel like the skills I learned went to waste.

Have you ever snuck anyone in your room? Nah, I always let my mom know if I’m letting someone over since she doesn’t knock and would find out anyway.

Who was the last person in your bed besides you? Gabie.

Have you ever been in the hospital? Other than when I was born, yeah, at least once.

What's the last movie you watched? I watched Midsommar with Nina and some cousins last Christmas lol. We unknowingly downloaded the Director’s Cut, which we found out wasn’t as good as the main version since they added cheesy scenes to it, which ruined the suspenseful mood of the movie.

What's your favorite fruit? Avocado.

What do your bathroom walls look like? The bottom half has coral-ish tiles, while the top half is just a plain white wall. In the downstairs bathroom the setup is the same, but instead of coral tiles we have light blue wall tiles instead on the bottom half.

What do you spend most of your money on? At the moment, most of the money that I do take out of my account is the money I give to my parents every couple of weeks to help out with the bills. The next main thing I spend on is food, because I always have cravings I need satisfied haha.

Do you have any weird obsessions? Reading about serial killers and unsolved crimes isn’t really considered ‘weird’ anymore since a lot of other people have taken up the interest. But that’s probably the most out-there ~obsession that I have.

Do you bite your nails? I do but not obsessively.

What's the last color you dyed your hair? I’ve never tried dyeing my hair yet.

How do you feel about mustaches? Not my personal preference, but you do you.

Is there anyone that you really want to see in concert? Beyonceeeeeeeeeeeeee.

[ryqoshay]

So I just finished reading all of How to Handle a Nico and I absolutely fucking loved it, do you have any NicoMaki fanfic recommendations of your own?

I must offer my apologies for the delay in response. I did not forget you, Anon, despite answering two questions that came in after this one. However, I wanted to wait until I knew I had a good amount of time I could dedicate to making a proper list of recommendations worthy of my time in the LL/NicoMaki fandom, which is typically sometime during my weekend.

Also, please bear in mind that this list is not all-inclusive. NicoMaki has one of, if not the most extensive list of fanworks out of the various LL ships. If someone reading this list is a fan of, or the author of a given work not included, please do not take it personally, this is merely a sampling of my favorites. There are genres and tags that I tend to avoid for various reasons, and there are many perfectly good works with the NicoMaki ship tag that I haven’t read simply because they are not the primary focus. And due to current events, as well as those of last year, there is a sizable backlog of NicoMaki focused fics that I hope to get around to reading sometime soon.

And as I expect this to get long, I will put the list itself under a cut.

First and foremost, I must shamelessly shill an author whose first forays into NicoMaki fanfic are based on HtHaN. It’s been almost a year since the first one went up and I remain in awe that I was able to pay forward the inspiration given to me by other authors. For this list I will only be including said works based on HtHaN, though VNVdarkangel has written some other NicoMakis I haven’t read yet.  - Always there - Nico wakes up in the middle of the night. Some post-canon fluffy angst.  - On tracks to the heart - Takes place during the scene transition in Homecoming.  - Meet ‘n’ greet - Nico has a meet ‘n’ greet event and Maki shows up  - Part-time idol composer - Nico hires Riko to compose some idol music for Egao. Minor YohaRiko to keep up the casual connections between HtHaN and HL.  - Next steps... - A long, multi-chapter work that takes place after the numbered chapters of HtHaN. This work tells the story of NicoMaki as they take advantage of the research mentioned way back in Telling Mama. Yay science babies!  - Out of focus - Maki can’t focus on anything but Nico  - The door to dreams - Riko finds the piano from How to Celebrate a Maki and Maki finds Riko. More minor YohaRiko from HL.  - Idol trainer - A non-NicoMaki, RinPana honorable mention tied to HtHaN

Next, I must link a few things from jstonedd, whose works I can point to as being among those that helped cement NicoMaki as a my favorite ship.  - Buy Your Love - By the gods, I’ve honestly lost track of how many times I’ve reread this fic. It is also responsible for my headcanon that Tsubasa teaches Honoka how to skate, which I thusly include in Nico on Ice.  - Soldier Wars - If memory serves, this work earns its M rating less for lewd stuff and more for action movie depictions of violence, like an R rated Charlie’s Angels or something.  - After School Troublemakers - Earns its tag of Fluff and Crack.  - Babies Maybe - More Fluff and Crack I only skimmed the first few chapters of Otonokizaka Private Academy and it didn’t seem very NicoMaki focused or really much my cup of tea. But I’ve heard others like it, and it was finally completed a few years back, so there’s that.

One author with whom I’ve interacted moreso than any other - maybe not VNVdarkangel as of late, but... - is the creator of one of my favorite Fantasy AUs, which is often a genre I don’t read much as it so often leans on Harry Potter, of which I’m quite unfamiliar. Of course I say I often avoid Fantasy AUs despite now writing two... Anyway, we have a few differing headcanons and I must say it’s fun to have a civil discussion about them - as opposed to others that become heated and dissolve into ad hominum attacks like the one marked by Comment Deleted tombstones in the comments of HtHaN. Anyway, that train of thought derailed, so here are some of lonelypond’s works. Worth mentioning that most works take place in the U.S. instead of Japan, something that confused me for a few chapters when I first started reading, but have come to enjoy it, especially when places are mentioned that I know.  - Casual Lunacy - The aforementioned Fantasy AU as well as my introduction to this wonderful writer. Pulls in a quirky character from Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, an adorable anime I’ve been meaning to finish. Maki is a werewolf. And I really need to reread this one at some point.  - PhotoJazz - Maki is a photographer and Nico is an actress.  - AU Yeah August - A collection of short 1 Shots. I haven’t read all of them, e.g. the Harry Potter one, but those I have were adorable, e.g. Summer Camp, Fake Dating and FWB.  - Christmas Confections - A collection of amazing Christmas themed works that rank among my favorite gifts each year since I first started reading them. I’d link them each individually, but they’re all amazing so just read them all; you won’t be disappointed. Maki and Christmas just go together and lonelypond writes them well.  - Can’t Get Started - To quote the summary “Nishikino Maki is trying to make it in the piranha fishbowl of movies, music and Hollywood. Yazawa Nico already has. And they keep crashing into each other.” Literally. It’s quite amusing. I’ve heard good things from other readers about the 1Kiss series but have only skimmed a few; they are high on my To Read list. The Idol House series came out during my troubled 2019, so it also remains on my To Read list. The Moonlight series seems to focus on NozoEli, which is fine, but for better or worse lowers it position on my To Read list. It’s lonelypond, so I do intend to read it eventually, but there are more NicoMaki focused fics that I’d like to get to first.

Next up is Lucia Hunter, a case where I must separate author from work. To this day I remain uncertain as to the details of the issues between this author and the denizens of Sukutomo, but the animosity exists nonetheless. Still, the listed works below were part of my gateway drugs into the wonderful world of NicoMaki fanfics.  - The Diamond Princess’s Melancholy - How NicoMaki came together.  - Love marginal - My favorite portrayal of KotoHonoUmi. NicoMaki is a side pairing here, and remain so through the rest of the works, but they’re still worth reading, imho.  - Shiranai Love*Oshiete Love - RinPana focus but NicoMaki still plays their role.  - Garden of Glass - de de deee de de deee Obviously NozoEli focused.

My first encounter with Rinforzando was a T rated cute and fluffy fic but they’ve done some pretty good NSFW works as well.  - Ten Years - Always enjoy a good adult NicoMaki fic. - Limbo - NSFW FWB NicoMaki - Caprice - NSFW 2nd Person post-canon NicoMaki. I’m not typically a fan of 2nd Person perspective, but this one was worth it.  - Cheers for Loving You - NicoMaki Secret Santa.

Hidekins is another author that has written a lot of NicoMaki I’ve enjoyed, but on a quick scan through the AO3 entries, few are jogging my memory with title and description alone. Perhaps I’ve read more here on tumblr? Perhaps I’ll come back and add more if I remember them better later.  - NicoMakisses - A set of five cute short NicoMaki stories about kisses.

Saberin writes a lot of 3rd year stuff, and that’s fine, but the NicoMaki collection is worth checking out.  - Prickly Love - As of writing this list, there are 10 chapters of cuteness

whoneedsapublisher writes a lot and I enjoy the style. Thus, when I see NicoMaki pop up on the account, I try to read.  - Couples Therapy - One of my favorite Maki headcanons is included here. Not explicit but earns its M rating and thus is NSFW.  - Subtle - Not particularly crazy about the Nico-taller-than-Maki, but that’s a minor complaint compared to the rest of this wonderful work.  - At Least Six Confessions - Presequel to the above work. Poor Nico had her work cut out for her with a romantically dense Maki.  - Keep Your Promises - Ten years later...  - Happy New Year - Sometimes stalemates must be broken by someone.  - Hidden Depth - Nico’s voice changes. And Maki likes it  - Pretending to Pretend - Not explicit, but earns its M rating so NSFW. One of my favorite examples of the Fake Dating trope.  - Merry Christmas Maki - I can’t think of a better present.  - No Lies Allowed - Truth of Dare, NicoMaki style.  - All Dressed Up - Based on a wonderful pic by noelclover  - Santa’s Stand-in - Guess who still believes...  - Switcheroo - Always love the idea of the girls trying to behave like the others. Makes me want to rewatch that episode.  - Tick, Tock - Some introspective Maki  - Insensitive - NicoMaki dating issues  - Tomatoes - Maki’s favorite food I’ve heard good things about Dazzling Warrior Nightshade, so it’s on my To Read List, but I must admit I can be picky about my Magical Girls stuff. Madoka set an... interesting bar for the genre for me and in most cases I’d prefer to watch it as an anime or read it as a manga/doujin. Still, the idea of Nico being a magic girl amuses me greatly, thus why the fic remains on my radar.

And here are some other random works I’ve enjoyed over the years.  - Smile, Nico Nico! - In which Nico drags Maki to the dentist  - Billiards - NSFW 2nd Person. Yes, I know I just said I’m not typically a fan, but this one was also good.  - Piano For Beginners - NSFW AU where Maki is assigned to teach Nico how to play the piano so as to be convincing for a film.  - critical rules for not-dating - NSFW FWB AU that I need to finish reading someday but was happy enough with what I’ve read that I’d still recommend it.  - 24 visits - Visits as in Nico the idol visiting Maki the doctor in the hospital.  - 24 dates - A NSFW followup to 24 visits

So yeah, that’s a fairly decent list to get one started in their AO3 NicoMaki delving. As mentioned above, this is not all-inclusive and there are a ton of NicoMaki works out there. I haven’t visited FFN in years, so there may still be some authors that post there exclusively and have written some amazing stuff, but I cannot recommend what I haven’t read, or at least skimmed. I also have some tumblr works bookmarked... somewhere, so if I find them I might compare them to this list and maybe add those missed.

Here’s hoping something here piques your interest and makes you fall a little more for the wonderful NicoMaki.

[veryrealimagination]

Whumptober 2020 - Days 4 and 5

No 4. RUNNING OUT OF TIME

Caged | Buried Alive | Collapsed Building

&

No 5. WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING?

On the Run | Failed Escape | Rescue

Fandom: Psych/MacGyver 2016 (Trust me, this wouldn't have been let out of my head if I could have avoided it.)

“Sandbox.”

The man in question raised his head from the computer he was watching over. The program that was copying relevant files from the company server was running. No one had stopped by the server room in eleven minutes since he managed to get in. Their person that sneaked into the guard position was halfway through a tour of the floor they were on. “Mastermind,” he said, taking a look outside.

“We’ve got a problem,” she said, voice tight.

Psych interrupted, “The guards don’t know anything. Everything’s good on this end.”

“Yeah, but one of their plans just got triggered.”

“Which one?”

“R and B.”

Psych smirked at the unintended joke. “I wouldn’t mind a change in music.”

“Hilarious, Psych,” Sandbox muttered.

“Keeping the mood up.”

“As much as I, quote unquote, love R and B, it’s the raze and burn they kept peppering into their ideas. They aren’t going with clean slate. Too risky.”

Sandbox double checked the computer. Nothing had interrupted it. The program was getting closer to completion. “Clean slate’s too risky?”

“The human factor. Someone could talk. Raze and burn is going to take out anyone connected to their project along with the computer work.”

Psych nodded to the guy at the computer monitors. New guy, it’s his first week. Out of sight, he took notice on how there were fewer guards than he remembered a few days ago. And how most were newer. “‘Mind, how was raze and burn going to work? Hit men coming in or accidents on their way home from work?”

There was tapping on the computer. “Shit.”

“Language.”

“English.”

“‘Mind, that joke got old the second time.”

She bypassed, “Raze and burn’s going to destroy the entire company. They have a layout on how to kill everyone. From the CEO to the maintenance guy and anyone on site when they perform this.”

Sandbox asked, “When’s this happening?”

“Today.”

Psych stopped in his walk. “What?”

“I think when we started copying the files, it alerted them to our presence. They’ve got a clean team heading to the building now. And something’s in the building. They already have it rigged.” She paused, and they heard her breathing on the other side to control a slight attack. “Sandbox, where’s the computer at?”

He turned back to the program. Downloading was complete, but it was running a virus scan. “I’m good on my end. Packing up and heading down.”

She nodded, knowing what he was going to do. “Psych, cover a fire alarm and pull the lever. Let’s see if we can’t evacuate and cause some chaos to keep them from killing on sight.”

The other man grabbed a plastic trash bag and found the closest fire alarm. Pulling, he saw the plastic be hit with blue dye. No alarms went off. “Mind, something’s going wrong.”

She didn’t answer, as the young woman in question was checking the alarm, which also should have sent a signal to the fire department. “Bad news, they disconnected the building. Pulling the alarm shut all outside system warnings off,” she said, switching gears. “Psych, go manual. Start warning people.”

“What do I use?”

“Go with the truth. Domestic terrorist about to descend on the building. Get them out and into the businesses around the area. One building goes down, horrible tragedy. Ten businesses get attacked, something’s suspicious and it brings attention.” Her fingers flew across the keyboard to get into a different document. “Sandbox, let me know when you’ve passed on the pack.”

Psych went back to the guy at the monitor. “Hey, I think we have a problem,” he said, “I saw someone unidentified going down one of the stairwells. He was talking to someone on the phone.”

The man looked up. “What about?”

“Making everyone here pay. Said it was going to be bigger…”

“Bigger than the Bath School Massacre.”

He didn’t go with that. No one remembered that and she needed to stop trying to make history lessons on the go. “Bigger than the recent shootings. More explosive.”

The newbie’s eyes widen. “Oh, not good. We need to evacuate everyone.”

Psych nodded, “Yeah, and the fire alarm has been disabled. I already tried that to get people out.” He held up the trash bag that he used to pull it and showed off the ink that covered it.

The guy had the whole shocked face going. “I better call the other floors. Will you start getting everyone off this floor and move to the other ones?”

Being on the top floor sucked for getting to the servers, but it made up in getting out easier. Now he had a legit excuse to get to the ground floor. “No problem.” He hurried out and started running around. “Mastermind, update?”

She was tapping on the other side for a moment. “The security on the other floors is also unusually light. The calls just getting through and they’re working on getting people up and out to the surrounding businesses. Sandbox is done. He dropped off the pack and is heading to the basement.”

Psych stopped in the middle of the floor he was vacating. “Wait, why is he going to the basement?”

“Because I’m a former EOD tech and I still know how to disable a bomb, Psych.” The man himself interrupted. “Mind’s directing me to the support columns that they’ll target to bring the place down. Get to her, grab the pack, and get to the Point.”

‘Are you kidding me?’ he mouthed before double timing himself on getting people out. Most were already up and heading out with company laptops and other items that normally they would leave behind. They were taking this seriously.

The place was cleared out as soon as he got to the ground floor. Or the regular people that would heed the warnings were getting out. The last people there were the security guards who were triple checking for stragglers and the supposed terrorist before leaving as well. One had gone down and was unlocking doors.

Psych found Mastermind in the small office that had been empty for months. The secondary pack was at her feet. “The team’s almost here,” she reported.

“Good, that’s means we’re leaving, right?”

“Not yet,” Sandbox stopped, “’Mind, who’s left in the building?”

She switched back over to the cameras. “Just us and a guard waiting at the main entrance.”

“Police here?”

“Not yet,” Psych said, “And if my lovely wife told me anything-“

“Taught.”

“No, told. If there’s a terrorist and a bomb threat, they’re sending out the big guns. We should expect SWAT and-“

“An bomb disposal unit. Yeah, Psych. I figured. Same field, remember?”

Mastermind interrupted them. “Great, except the cleaning team got here first.”

Psych looked over her shoulder. “They’re scanning the crowds, but they’re not attempting anything.”

“Yeah, but only because cops are right behind them. SWAT’s on the scene, Sandbox.”

“Bomb crew?”

“No, but the cops that are following behind just rushed the crew in.”

“Get yourselves out.” Psych shook his head and barricaded the door to their room, a cheap desk shoved under along with anything else he could reach. “You’re not leaving, are you?”

“Nope,” the other man proudly said, going to the other side and checking windows. They both jumped when something pounded on the door. After two minutes, the attempts to get in stopped.

Mastermind warily looked before switching to a camera feed. “Don’t look so happy, Psych, they're not giving up. Two are still out there.” She followed the other ones on the floor. One was in the lead, guiding them straight to a basement door. “Sandbox, they're coming down. How many devices?”

“I’ve seen two, but a place this size would need about four to six.”

“What a coincidence, there’s about four to six guys in the building. We’ve got two, and, I think three went down the stairs.” She switched the camera feeds to try and track the enemy. After about thirty seconds, her feeds started developing static. “Ummm.”

Psych was over her shoulder in a second. “Hey, Sandbox, someone’s messing with the cameras,” he said. After a minute, it cleared up, but ‘Mind was going through code to see what was happening.

“Do you think they belong to one of the companies?”

She continued tapping, trying to keep everything on track. “Doesn’t look like it, but they may have brought in a new player.”

For three minutes, they held a tense version of cat and mouse. The guys outside of the door hadn’t moved. Psych was watching in case they came through the window. Mastermind was waiting for someone to start attacking on the computer, but nothing was happening. Sandbox had managed to avoid the three people that was hunting him down.

In the middle of a defusal, someone managed to get the jump on him. Sandbox had to divert attention from it to take down the man. However, the bomb activated, giving them thirty seconds. Mastermind noticed. They didn’t. “Sandbox, get out, it’s a lost cause. Out, now!” she ordered, “Psych, grab the bag and get out the window. You know who to contact.” She quick slept her laptop and packed it up, gathering two other cords to throw over her shoulder and follow out the door.

The two on the outside had run off after being warned about a bomb going off. Unknown to them, the other triggers had been activated, set to go off at the same time as the partially de-armed one. Psych barely got out from the radius before the building let off a giant blast from its base. “Mastermind? Sandbox?” he hissed into the mic, “Guys!” Someone grabbed his shoulder and swung him around.

-

Sandbox woke quick. He was grateful to have thrown himself to protect his head. However, it didn’t save his lower half. A beam laid across his lower leg and he could feel something jammed into his back. He hoped that it wasn’t dangerous enough to need a hospital. They couldn’t enter one at the moment.

One of the guys that had been hunting him laid nearby. The beam nearby and a dented skull said that that guy wasn’t getting back up. He felt a little sorry for the guy, but not enough to feel horrible about it. He didn’t hear anything nearby, and he regulated the other two into a non-important status. The blast likely blocked them in other rooms, unless they had been killed as well. ‘Or if they ran out of the building.’

His two partners, he assumed got out. They had the evidence about what the company had been doing. Both knew where to go. He told him about his friends. They had the connections and the ability to do something if they couldn’t. However, Mastermind was determined to stay until he was done, and Psych would have stayed to help and protect her.

‘Mind was the one that warned me. She probably got caught up in the blast.’ That thought was enough to get him to start trying to move. Shifting around, the item in his back cause a spike of pain, and then he felt something coming out. “Fuck,” he moaned, double checking and groaning when he saw blood on his fingers. Someone groaned to the left of him. He swung his head around to look but couldn’t immediately see anything. “Fuck.”

-

Mastermind touched the side of her head, a trail of blood coming down. Pain that had been in the background radiated for a moment before fading to a thump. She glared at the drywall that had a bit of her blood on it. The floor she was on had multiple walls break down, including one that caught her off guard as she tried to make it to a secondary exit. The bag on her back saved her from a large piece of metal from impaling her. The metal got its revenge on the laptop instead. It didn’t stop a piece of drywall from ripping her arm open or another piece from slamming into her ribs.

“Okay, check yourself before moving again,” she muttered to herself. Her arm hurt. It was deep. It needed stitches and a booster shot. Prodding her lower chest resulted in sharp pain. Nothing was shifting, however. “Owww! Okay. Ribs, maybe. Umm.” What was the indications of internal bleeding? Bloating? Maybe? How was she supposed to check that?

A sound from the end of the hall snapped her neck to the right, making her wince at the new pain. Two people in black were coming forward. She couldn’t tell if they were from the company, but they may have been waiting outside out of the camera view. Guns weren’t out, but she was reading orders about capture and contain again.

“One of three found,” one of them reported.

“Shit.”

-

Psych was hustled over to a decidedly not SWAT vehicle. He was about to stave off help when the one that approached him tugged on the bag. “Ah, no, sorry, this bag stays with me,” he said, holding onto it with a fist.

“Shawn Spencer, husband of Julie Spencer, Chief Detective in Sacramento, you two just had a child,” the woman standing near the bumper listed. “You’ve been on the run with one of my operatives and another person. You’re coded Psych due to the former business you had in Santa Barbara.”

A woman in the cab mentioned ‘off-handedly,’ “Sandbox is a friend of ours.”

Sandbox. Okay. He was going to call them, but they came to them. Awesome. The guy that was trying to get the bag was allowed to take it so the woman in the cab could start working on it. “Sandbox was down in the basement, trying to disable the bombs set at certain pillars.”

“The third person, Mastermind?”

“Inside, ground floor. We were near an empty office by the back entrance.” The woman outside nodded to four people. They rushed in, weapons at the ready. Two found a staircase almost uninhibited from debris and went down. The other two started a sweep of the ground floor.

The ground floor was littered with walls and broken decorations. There were parts of the floor that were starting to sink into the basement, making it harder to get through. Weapons drawn, they were prepared to stop anyone in their way.

The area near the offices were splattered with office furniture and other small items. They didn’t hear anything, and there weren’t traces of anyone managing to get themselves up and out. About to report in negative, they heard someone shout in pain. Moving as quickly as safely possible, they turned the corner and saw nothing. Scanning, they saw blood on a wall and checked around.

A gunshot answered their heads showing. The two of them shot back, trying to hit the two men dragging the woman out a standing exit. One got hit in the arm, but they ducked out of sight before they could continue.

“Ma’am, exit on the east side. They have the girl,” one reported.

“Go after them.” She pointed to a spare agent to try and surround the small group. Psych waited anxiously for good news. Mastermind wasn’t law enforcement. He wasn’t either, but his experiences prepared him better than the young woman that was plucked from her boring existence. He and Sandbox silently figured that out within the first week of their captivity. They kept each other sane.

Good news turned to bad when one man came back with a cheap backpack that had a pole sticking through it. One drop of blood came off the end and splattered on the ground. “Fuck,” Psych hissed.

“The other two went down to help dig out MacGyver, ma’am,” he reported.

She nodded at the news. “Mr. Spencer, if you will get in the back with my agents, your wife and friend are waiting at our headquarters.” He frowned before clambering inside.

-

Sandbox woke up with a familiar ceiling above his head, but he didn’t remember what Phoenix mission he was on that got him injured. Until he remembered Masterminds voice, worry painted on her words, Psychs exactly the same. The ceiling caving above him and the dead hired hand that he saw later on. How am I back at Phoenix?

“You scared me, kid,” a voice interrupted. Confused, he turned to see Jack leaning up against the wall, where he could keep an eye on him and someone else. He turned to see Psych conked out in the only seat. “Maddie called me three days after you disappeared, when they realized it wasn’t normal.”

“When did you get here?” he asked, barely able to get the words out. Never mind why or how, the fact that Jack was here at all was a welcomed sight.

“Five days ago,” he said. “Been trying to figure out what the hell the three of you were doing. Psychie over there.” He waved to Shawn. “Told me about World War Three and some of the smartest people being forced to cause the damn thing. That you stopped them and were getting everything you could to bring these guys down.” He smiled, ruffling the younger man’s hair as he knew only he could get away with.

He groaned at the motion, hand slow to come up and stop him. “And what about Mastermind? Is she working with Riley?” He didn’t like the worry on his face. “Where’s Mastermind, Jack?” His mind jumped quickly to the worst possible conclusion.

“Alive, but we’re trying to find her,” he stopped, “The guys they sent recaptured her. The laptop was secured and Riley’s working on that.” The hand didn’t go on his head again, but on his uninjured shoulder. “It ain’t your fault, Mac.”

“Just bad luck,” he muttered, remembering one of Mind’s favorite sayings.

[gasstationshane]

I was driving to Los Angeles with my brother Mark, when my life changed forever. He had just graduated from high school, and accpted into the same college that I was going to. We with were on a road trip to Los Angeles so I could show him all the good spots for food and other needs as well as celebrating his graduation. Mark kept changing the radio or the music on the bluetooth speaker about a few hours or so after getting out of the Michigan border. At least it felt like a few hours, but it honesty could have been longer. Time flies when your driving.

At one point, we had to be bluetooth only for our road trip music, since the radio signal was so bad that all we were getting was nothing but fuzzy feedback. It's funny, you think with as advanced the way technology is these days, they'd have something to stop dead zones. But I guess people that make these things focus on one problem at a time. I wouldn't know exactly, despite me being a gamer and hopefully a graphic artist someday.

When we got even deeper into the woods that we were driving into, it started raining hard. Mark couldn't help but chuckle.

"You gonna be able to drive okay if it storms, or do I gotta take over?" He asked, teasing me about my fear of thunderstorms. I looked up through my window, and I was confused as hell. It was raining, pouring and a storm was about to hit. And yet, there was not a cloud in the sky. It was night time, but with all the stars shining, it was easy to tell. I sighed and shook my head.

"No I'll be fine, but I'll pull over the moment I feel like the storm is gonna effect my driving." I answered him in a slightly louder voice than usual, the rain hitting the car being loud. It's weird, even though thunderstorm's scare the living hell out of me, I enjoy the sound of rain hitting windows and cars. If the thunder is loud and hitting fast, like an elephant that just saw a mouse, I become filled with panic and freak out.

I heard thunder roll, and I sighed. It wasn't loud, but thunderstorms are like sloths. Slow and determined. I looked out the window once again, the starry night sky filled with dark clouds. Mark seemed to notice the difference between now and when it started raining.

"Are we ahead of the storm or something? How the hell did we get no clouds to a full on overcast?" He asked, just as confused as me. I shrugged.

"No idea. The rain more down south could be different than back home but who knows man." Suddenly, more thunder rolled. It was louder than before and I could feel it make the steering wheel vibrate. I pulled over, feeling my body already begining to shake. I hated how bad my fear of thunderstorms was. It was embarrassing that a 21 year old could stop doing anything instantly, just by hearing thunder. Mark reached over, rubbing the back of my shoulder gently.

"It's okay bro, I'll drive so you can get some rest." I nodded in response, getting ready to undo my seatbelt so we could switch seats. Mark already had his off. I took longer due to the shaking. My hands kept slipping and I almost had it when I saw a very bright light. I looked out through the windshield, seeing a semi truck. Once my eyes fully focused, I saw that the truck was swerving. My eyes widened. He was on the wrong side of the road.

My fear turned into a panic and my fight or flight mode, my body instantly honking the horn and trying to put the car in reverse so I could get us out of the way. The truck didn't go back to it's side of the road, and the car was moving slowly.

"Shit! Mark get out!" I shouted to my brother as I looked at him before going back to trying to get my seat belt off. It was stuck, making me growl in frustration as I desperately tugged at it. Suddenly, the truck hit us, making my body slam against the seat belt before violently pushing me back against the car seat. I squeezed my eyes shut out of fear. I heard a loud smack before hearing Mark cry out in pain, I looked towards him to see if he was okay, but the air bag went off, hitting my face without warning and knocking me out within seconds.

When I was awake again, I looked around. I was somehow still in my seat, the seat belt still clicked into the holder. I looked around the car, Mark no where to be found. Panic once again surged through my body, making finally get that damn seat belt off. I got out of the car, looking around for Mark and calling out his name.

When I found him, he was laying a foot or so away from the car. He had a bruised gash on his forehead that looked like he purposely slammed it onto a rock, a few shards of glass from what I could only assume was the windows or even the windshield scattered into his chest. I ran over to him, shaking him slightly.

"Mark! Wake up buddy. Come on we gotta get you to the hospital. Dad's gonna kill us, but it'll be okay." I said, trying to get him up. He didn't budge. I stared at him blankly, hoping like hell he'd show me some form of movement. But.. Nothing happened... Before I knew it, I was already crying. My brother was dead.. And it was all my fault.

I screamed in frustration, pulling my phone out of my pocket and dialing 911. I heard a beeping and looked at the screen. No signal.. "Shit!" I shouted, running down the road to try to find help as quick as possible. My emotions were really fucking me up on the inside... I could literally feel my stomach burning. After about a mile, I saw a gas station on the side of the road. Oh thank God! Maybe now I can actually get some help.

Before I could walk in, a huge raccoon jumped out of a bush in front of me, causing me to fall on my ass. I looked at the furry trash panda, confused. When I said he was huge, I didn't mean he was fat. This guy was so big that if he stood on his hind legs, he'd be three feet tall at least.

Something else strange that I noticed, as he came closer to me. He was carrying a small amount of what looked to be a couple dollar bills in his mouth. What.. The fuck? Why was a Raccoon carrying cash with him.. Don't they usually steal food or some shit? Before I could scare him away, he dropped the bills into my hand and got close to my face. He nuzzled me with a purr before heading back to the woods, leaving me there confused with bills in my hand that was dripping with raccoon drool.

Normally, I'd be grossed out at this point but I had more important things to worry about. I got up and walked into the gas station. "Hey, do you have a phone that actually works? I've been in a bad car accident and I need a ambulance. I'm pretty sure my brothers dead.." I explained, panting heavily from panic as I looked at the cashier. He looked to be about my age, but clearly needed a good nights sleep.

He had dark circles under his eyes that even made me feel tired after the shit I've been through. I saw the name tag on his shirt. His name was Jack. Jack... Why does that sound familiar? I shrugged it off as I got closer to the counter.

He looked up from the book he was reading before using a crutch to stand up against the cash register, sighing softly like I interrupted something important. He must've been at a good point in his book to have that reaction.

"If you wanna use the phone, it's twenty five cents a minute. Pay in advance, no exceptions." He said as he looked at me, seeming to think that I wasn't in a serious situation. So that explains why the raccoon gave me those bills earlier... But how did he know. There was a strange familiarity about the place. A guy named Jack that works at a gas station in what felt like the middle of nowhere, who also looked like the word sleep had absolutely no meaning in his vocab. A quote from a blog I read a while back came to my head.

'At the edge of town...' Then a bunch of details I couldn't remember at the moment "... Theres a shitty little gas station, open twenty four hours a day, seven days a week." I also remembered the blog mentioning something about a three foot tall raccoon named Rocco. Then it hit me. I wasn't at just a gas station. I was at THE gas station. The one that was talked about on a blog called 'tales from the gas station' by a guy known as gas station Jack. And that very Jack, was right in front of me. Well.. That explains the raccoon. That was Rocco.

"Holy shit!" I blurted out, unable to hide my fanboying. "Your gas station Jack! Author of tales from the gas station! Dude!" He looked back at me with a look of shock. This is the most awake he looked during our interaction. But now that I know who I was dealing with, the whole sleep deprivation look made sense. If I remember correctly from the blog, he had fatal familia insomnia. Meaning, he couldn't sleep. At all.

"You've read my blog?" He asked a bit confused. I nodded and smiled softly, ignoring my body shaking violently from the accident.

"Hell yeah! I've also listened to it being read by Mr. Creepy Pasta." I stated proudly, hoping he'd appreciate that detail. He sighed, crossing his arms. I was surprised at how well he was able to balance himself on his crutch.

"Are you sure your not making this up to get a free phone call? Because it's not gonna work. No exceptions. And no alternative forms of payment either." He said before repositioning himself so his arms were resting on the counter. I laughed and shook my head.

"Nah, I'm not the kind of guy that would use your Internet fame against you." I handed him both the dollar bills, not sure how long the call would be.

"Thankfully, Rocco gave me some cash before I came in here." I explained as he took the bills. He was gonna ask about Rocco, but decided against it once he remembered the situation I was in. He spun the egg timer and handed me the phone. Within in a matter of minutes, I had explained the accident I was in and was told that help was on the way.

I gave the phone back to Jack and thanked him, before heading back to the scene of the accident. They wouldn't let me ride in the ambulance with Mark, explaining that they needed room so the paramedics could start working on taking care of him. Instead, I rode in the passenger side of the cop car, with deputy Amelia O'Brien driving. I kept quiet, secretly happy that it was her that gave me the ride. She was another Character in Jack's blog. It was so cool to know that not everything he put in the blog was made up.

"He's gonna be fine." She started, snapping me out of my thoughts. "It looks like he hit his head on the dashboard. He's knocked out and possibly in a coma." I frowned, looking away. Maybe she was just trying to convince me that I wasn't responsible for my brothers death. A wave of guilt washed through me, the pain and burning I had felt in my stomach hours earlier had came back. I couldn't tell if I was gonna throw up all the stomach acid in my body, or explode. I was cringing and O'Brien had pulled over to the side of the road. I opened up the car door and fell out onto my knees. I felt like I had just gotten the worlds worst flu. I'm sure my body temperature exceeded one hundred, my hair and skin were already drenched in sweat. O'Brien stood next to me, calling in for another ambulance. And suddenly... I blacked out...

To be.. Continued..