#Josie's whole everything was... a mess

[unsiredtribrid]

I actually think fans gravitate to Carolines, Katherines and Lizzies because they have muted personalities IRL and admire the personalities in those three. The more popular male characters are the exaggerated ones so girls are clinging to the female counterparts to be part of the fun.

this is valid

[bellaxgiornata]

If We're Being Honest [2/2]

Pairing: Matt Murdock x Fem!Reader Word Count: 6k [Part1]

Summary: It's been a couple of months since you drunkenly kissed Matt and you've been avoiding him ever since, but Matt realizes that your absence from his life afterwards pained him more than he ever could've imagined.

Warnings/Tags: Angst with a happy ending, confession of feelings (with a twist), delayed comfort, anxious/depressed inebriated Reader, fluff at the end

a/n: The second and final part of this little fic is finally here! Hopefully the comfort is satisfying enough after the angsty first part. You also get Matt's POV in the first half of this one. Feedback is always appreciated!

Matt Murdock One Shot Tag List: @pazii @shouldbestudying41 @kmc1989 @ebathory997 @mattkinsella @yeonalie @shiorimakibawrites @xxdrixx @wkndwlff @leikelle @pinkratts @lazyxsquirrel @1988-fiend @marvelcinematiquniverse @carstairswife @stilldreaming666 @kiwwia-wiwwia @willwork4dilfs @will-delete-this-later-probably @mattmurdocks6thscaleapartment @theetherealbloom @yarrystyleeza @dramaholic18 @ladywholikesreading @sleepysleepymom @tartbeanpuzzles @harleycao @sunflower-tia @lotrefcp @gamingfeline @juskonutoh @kezibear @ninacotte

Matt slid his desk chair back with a sigh, relieved the frustrating work day had finally come to an end. Standing up, his hands felt around his desk for the mess of papers he’d had scattered along it. He gathered them up, neatly stacking them together before he stuffed them back into the folder they'd initially been inside. Bending over, his back muscles protesting the movement from his previous night out as Daredevil, he picked up his briefcase that was leaning against his desk on the floor. Placing the briefcase on top of his desk, he packed the folder inside before closing it up and tossing the strap of the bag over his head, taking a moment to position it comfortably along his shoulder. 

Making his way around his desk afterwards, one of his hands absently grabbed his folded up cane from off of it as he headed towards the door of his office. He could already hear Karen and Foggy in the firm's main room, the pair of them clearly talking about wedding related things. As he stepped out of his office and into the room, he could feel the air shift minutely as both of them looked over in his direction.

“More wedding details, Fog?” Matt asked, walking over to where the pair were leaning against the front office desk.

“Did you know that absolutely everything is a detail?” Foggy complained. “Like napkins. Did you know napkins mattered? Because I didn't. They're literally meant to wipe your dirty face and hands on, why does it matter what they look like? Or what material it’s made out of? It's a napkin!”

“Don't let Marci hear you say that,” Karen teased.

Matt could hear the way her fingers were tapping away at the screen of her phone. Probably sending a text message from the sounds of it. 

“I just want a break from all the wedding planning,” Foggy grumbled. “I feel like half our place is currently storage for some binder or seating chart or wedding magazine or stack of business cards and pamphlets.”

“Well you'll get a bit of a break from it this weekend,” Karen assured him, setting her phone onto the desk beside her. “When we go wedding dress shopping with Marci on Saturday. She'll be talking all our ears off about the details for the whole day instead of yours.”

Foggy let out a dreamy sigh at the thought. “And I'll be relaxing at home by myself thinking about literally anything else while all you lovely bridesmaids, who I'm sure are vastly more interested in color schemes and table decor, discuss all of that,” he replied. 

At the mention of bridesmaids, Matt's mind immediately jumped to you. He hadn't seen you since the night he'd offered to walk you back to his place and let you sleep over after you'd had a little too much to drink at Josie’s. The same night you'd randomly kissed him and told him you'd had feelings for him–something that had come as a complete shock to Matt. 

You had actively avoided him ever since then. Ignoring his phone calls and texts. Never returning a single voice-mail he'd left asking to talk to you about what had happened that night. You'd stopped meeting up with everyone at Josie’s, only spending time with Karen and Marci over the past couple of months. Foggy even only ever saw you whenever you'd stopped by to see Marci at their apartment when helping with the wedding planning. 

Matt expected you to be embarrassed after the incident, especially because he could feel the way your body had reacted before you'd sprinted out of his apartment and back into the rain outside. He'd felt bad, wondering if he'd really done something wrong that night to accidentally lead you on. He hadn’t meant to, he’d just wanted to make sure you were alright. You’d seemed off all night to him, but you had no idea about his heightened senses, so it wasn’t as if he could ask you why your body was all over the place that night. It had been confusing, and the amount of beers you’d drank certainly hadn’t helped him get a read on you, either.

He thought he’d been doing the right thing that night. The fling with that woman wasn’t worth risking you walking home in the rain drunk–which he’d overheard you talking to yourself about doing. He hadn’t wanted to risk something happening to you, because Matt damn well knew what could happen to drunk women walking home alone at night in Hell’s Kitchen. He’d certainly rescued a few himself. But somehow you must’ve misread the entire situation and thought he’d been after more than that. Which was absurd because you’d always just been a great friend to him since he’d met you. A really close friend who he’d been sorely missing lately.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Matt said your name aloud, catching the attention of both Karen and Foggy. “Is she…going to be there this weekend, too?” he asked, trying to sound casual.

“Yeah, she’s one of the bridesmaids,” Karen answered. “So of course she’ll be there on Saturday.”

“I’m guessing she’s still not talking to you then, huh buddy?” Foggy asked him.

Matt sighed, shaking his head. He’d hated the silence from you and he had no idea how to fix things.

“No,” he replied. “She’s still very much ignoring me.”

“I don’t exactly blame her,” Karen cut in. “The whole situation sounded incredibly embarrassing and awkward when you told us why she was avoiding you. Especially considering how quiet she naturally is. For her to just kiss you and then to be rejected by you right after?” 

“Ouch,” Foggy muttered. “Yeah, she’s probably never speaking to you again, man. Sorry.”

Matt ran a hand across his mouth, his shoulders sagging in defeat. The thought of never spending time with you ever again physically hurt. He’d never again hear another one of your ridiculous jokes or have another surprise drop-in lunch visit at the office from you. You always somehow remembered his favorite sandwich from his favorite sandwich shop, too. He’d always thought it was sweet that you’d made a mental note of his particular order, considering you had no idea how delicate his palate was with his heightened senses. Though he supposed now knowing that you’d had feelings for him all along had that attention to detail making more sense.

Standing in the office, an uncomfortable feeling twisted his stomach into knots, his heart squirming in his chest as the realization that you might really be gone from his life fully hit him. He didn’t like it one bit.

“You okay, Matt?” Foggy asked him. “You sort of look like you’re going to be sick.”

Slowly, Matt shook his head. “I just wish I could fix things,” he confessed. “I wish she’d just talk to me again. I don't like this weirdness between us.”

He heard the way the air shifted in the room again. As if both Karen and Foggy had looked at each other. Matt’s eyes narrowed curiously behind his glasses, his head tilting to the side. Both of their heart rates had slightly elevated at almost the exact same moment when they’d done that. 

Why?

“So uh, you really miss her, huh?” Foggy asked.

“Of course,” Matt answered easily. “She’s one of my best friends.”

“Yeah?” Karen questioned.

Matt’s head canted curiously to the side at the odd tone in her voice. What were they getting at?

“Yeah,” Matt reiterated. “She’s been an important person in my life ever since the pair of you introduced us a while back. We always got along so well, and she always had such witty things to say. I miss talking to her. Josie’s just doesn’t feel the same without her anymore.” He ran a hand through his hair in growing aggravation. “I hate that I can’t just call her and hear her voice whenever I want anymore. And that she never randomly stops into the office just to say ‘hi.’. It–it hurts that she’s just gone now.”

The air shifted again as Karen and Foggy clearly exchanged a look with each other. Frustration began to fill Matt at whatever it was they weren’t saying.

“What?” Matt snapped. “You both keep looking at each other, I can feel it. What’s that about?”

Foggy cleared his throat, his attention returning to Matt. “It’s just…are you sure you just miss your friend?” he asked carefully. 

Matt pulled a face at the ridiculous question. “What? Of course I do,” he shot back.

“No,” Karen said, shaking her head. “He means, are you sure you miss her because she’s just a friend to you?”

“Yes, that’s what I’ve been trying to–”

Matt abruptly stopped short, his mouth hanging open for a second as Karen’s words suddenly registered in his mind. Lips pressing together seconds later, Matt’s hands landed on his hips as he shifted his weight on his feet.

“What’re you trying to say?” Matt asked the pair. “That you think I like her? As more than a friend?”

“Well, buddy,” Foggy began carefully, “you’ve been acting pretty moody lately. Ever since she stopped talking to you. And you haven’t been as interested in the ladies, either. We’ve both noticed you turning them down. I don’t think you’ve brought a single person back to your place since that night.”

Matt scoffed, shaking his head. “So? I just haven’t been interested in that exactly,” he replied stiffly. “That doesn’t have anything to do with her.”

“You perk up at her name every time she’s mentioned,” Karen added. “And for the past couple of months you always find some way to randomly ask how she’s doing or what she’s been up to.”

“And when we told you she’d gotten onto that dating app,” Foggy chimed in, “you were in a horrible mood the whole day afterwards. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so grumpy for no reason to quite that extent before. I mean,” he continued with a chuckle, “that was like a Matt Murdock record level of moody. And there was no reason for it that day except for, well, that .”

Matt licked his lips, his fingers digging into his hips through his dress clothes. He’d just been worried about the jerks you might meet on that site, that was all. And he’d been jealous that you were still talking to Foggy, Karen, and Marci but not him. That had been all it was.

Right?

Karen leaned up against the side of the desk, her arms crossing over her chest as she focused on Matt. He bristled under the attention, feeling like he was suddenly on the stand and she was about to interrogate him.

“Let me ask you something,” she began, “and I want you to be honest and really think. How’d you feel when she kissed you that night?”

Matt frowned in her direction. “I told you, it’d been a shock,” he answered. “I hadn’t anticipated her to do that. Then I was worried I’d given her the wrong impression and I felt horrible that I’d upset her.”

Karen was roughly shaking her head at him. “No, how did it make you feel Matt?” she asked again.

“I mean I–” he stopped short again, his mouth closing almost immediately.

In all honesty, with everything that had happened that night, he hadn’t really thought about that. He’d been afraid of you thinking he was trying to take advantage of you when you were drunk, something he’d never do. And then he’d been upset and worried about you running out of his place crying and trying to make it home that night. He couldn’t even follow after you because it wouldn’t make sense that a blind man could navigate his way down the stairwell after you like he knew he’d be able to. And he was certain if he’d called your name down in the lobby–because he shouldn't have been able to know you by the sound of your heartbeat and scent of your perfume–you’d only run out of the building and ignore him. Chasing after you hadn't been an option.

But he had wanted to. Something he hadn’t even thought about after the fact because he’d been so upset at you ignoring his calls and messages. All he'd been focused on was how much it hurt that he'd lost such a great friend. He hadn't really stopped to think about how he had wanted to follow you or how that surprise kiss had made him feel. 

Had he enjoyed it? It had been timid and hesitant, only a brief kiss, but it hadn't been horrible. He'd just…never thought about you like that before. Because you weren't the kind of woman who blatantly threw yourself at him, the type he'd bring back to his apartment for a fuck and then be content to never see again. 

You definitely deserved more than that. 

You were the type someone brought home to meet their parents, the type a guy planned dates for, wanted to spend holidays with. You were the long term, committed relationship type of woman. The type Matt avoided because the thought of something serious scared him, especially with how he spent most of his evenings. 

But he missed you. He missed the scent of your perfume you always wore, the smell sometimes even lingering on his clothes when he'd return home from Josie’s. He missed the way you'd try to fill awkward silences whenever you were with him, always saying whatever random thing was on your mind. He missed the way your heart usually jumped whenever you first spotted him–because he'd always known you were attracted to him but he'd never thought more of it than that. He missed the sound of your voice after a difficult day at work, on days like today. 

“Well?” Karen prompted, breaking through his thoughts. 

“I uh,” he began, pausing to clear his throat, “I guess I never really thought about her like that before. I've always avoided anything possibly serious, and I've always tried to keep her at a distance because she didn't know about Daredevil. So I never really gave it much thought. Especially since she'd always just been there before. But now that she's not…” Matt trailed off, aware of the strange and unfamiliar feeling growing in his chest. “I guess I miss her more than I think I even realized,” he finished softly. 

“So wait, let me get this straight,” Foggy began, excitedly waving his hands in front of himself. “You're just now realizing that maybe you really do like her? Like for real? As more than just a good friend?”

A small smile slid across Matt's lips as he thought of the sound of your laughter and how he wished he could hear it tonight after the shit day he’d had. His hands dropped from his hips, that stupid smile growing a little at the thought of you. “I suppose I am,” he admitted. 

Foggy pushed off the desk and crossed the few steps over towards Matt. Both of his hands flew forward, grabbing Matt's shoulders in a tight grip and lightly shaking him. Back by the desk, Karen tried to hide her laugh behind a hand.

“Then dammit, Murdock,” Foggy ordered, “Go tell her that!”

The smile grew wider on Matt's face, an idea forming in his mind already. If you weren't going to answer your phone, he'd find a way to make sure you couldn’t ignore him. 

Straightening up your kitchen now that you'd finished with dinner, you paused what you were doing when you heard your phone alert you to a notification. Turning around, you picked it up from where it had been sitting on the counter, curious to what the notification was about. 

Unlocking your phone, you noticed you'd received another message on the dating app you'd downloaded weeks ago. Leaning your back against the nearby counter, a smile drew itself across your lips. It was the first message you'd gotten this week and the sight immediately lifted your mood. The prospect of someone possibly being interested in you had your stomach excitedly jumping up into your chest.

You opened the message, beginning to excitedly read it over. Though the more you read, the faster your smile shifted into a frown. It was yet another sleazy sounding guy clearly trying to talk himself up in a way that sounded both fabricated and disrespectful. You cringed at the things he’d said about your photos–things he clearly thought were meant to be compliments but were vastly inappropriate and made you feel uncomfortable instead of flattered. Reaching the end of the brief message, you were shaking your head and closing out of the app before setting your phone back onto the counter with a roll of your eyes. It wasn't even worth your time responding back to the guy after a few of the things you'd read because he absolutely wasn't a match and you had no interest in ever meeting him.

With a sigh you made your way towards your fridge, your mind now focused on that unopened bottle of wine in there. It looked like you'd be having another night in with yourself tonight. But just as you'd opened the door to your fridge, your hand about to reach in and grab the bottle of red wine, there was a knock at your apartment door. 

You paused, half-bent in front of your fridge as your eyebrows drew together in confusion at the interruption. Assuming it might’ve been Karen or Marci stopping by to go over something for wedding dress shopping which was planned for Saturday, you gradually stood back up and closed the fridge door. You figured that bottle of wine could wait a few more minutes.

Making your way out of your kitchen, you cut through your living room and over towards your door. Unlocking it, you pulled the door wide open without even glancing through the peephole first. Expecting to see either blonde woman standing there, you were stunned to instead find Matt standing in your hallway with a small smile on his lips. 

Your heart lurched its way into your throat at the sight of him, your lips parting in surprise. Hand tightening around the handle of your door in a death grip, you fought your initial urge to just slam it in his face. What the hell was he doing here? Matt was the absolute last person you wanted to see standing at your door after your last interaction with him. It had been a few weeks since that nightmare of a night where you'd drunkenly kissed him and you still became insanely embarrassed at the memory of it. You certainly had no interest in talking to him about it further. You'd already apologized for just kissing him like you'd done, now all you wanted to do was never speak to him again. You figured he had to have gotten the hint already with how you’d been ignoring him.

So why was he suddenly at your apartment?

He said your name, that smile still on his mouth as he held up his right hand. Your face twisted into a look of confusion at the sight of a bouquet of beautiful flowers you hadn’t initially noticed he’d been holding. 

“Can I take you to dinner this Sunday night?” he asked.

Teeth gritting down hard together, your eyes narrowed back at him as anger quickly ignited within your gut. You immediately remembered drunkenly confessing to him that you couldn’t remember the last time a guy had brought you flowers or asked you on a date. Now here he was doing both after he’d just very obviously and clearly rejected you. Did he think this was some way to break the ice between you both after what had happened? Some sort of way to turn everything into a joke?

“Do you think that's funny?” you asked sharply. “Making fun of me like this? As if I don’t feel like an absolute dumbass already, now you come here rubbing it in my face? You don’t like me like that, I got the message loud and clear already, Matthew. I don’t remotely find this funny.”

Matt's expression quickly morphed into one of shock and surprise at your reaction. He shook his head quickly, a crease forming between his dark brows.

“No, that’s–that’s not what I’m doing at all!” he exclaimed earnestly. “I guess I shouldn’t have led with that. Can I just come in and talk to you? Explain everything? Please?”

You were about to tell him no, wanting to hide your hurt, disappointment, and embarrassment behind a wall of anger instead of crying over Matt yet again, especially in front of him once more, but the solemn and desperate look on his face gave you pause. Matt and you had your jokes, but even this would’ve been a bit ridiculous for him to have planned out as a way to smooth things over between the pair of you after what had happened. He’d never seemed callous like that in the past. But the only other thing that would make sense was him actually coming here to ask you on a real date. Which also seemed equally absurd since almost seven weeks ago he’d already told you that you were just a friend.

“I swear if you let me explain, this will seem far less confusing,” he assured you. “Just–just give me five minutes?”

With an irritated sigh, you stepped away from the door. “Fine,” you relented. “Five minutes, Matt.”

An almost nervous smile spread across his lips as he made his way through the doorway and into your apartment. You closed the door behind him, your body a confusing mix of emotions that you were struggling to make sense of right now. You were upset about seeing him again after that embarrassing moment, your anger quickly giving way to discomfort. It didn't help that the tiniest spark of hope had reappeared in your chest at the prospect of him truly being here to ask you out on a date, but you immediately reminded yourself of what happened the last time you’d stupidly thought there was a chance Matt had feelings for you. You didn’t want to wind up misreading things with him a second time.

Turning back towards him, you were met with the bouquet of flowers in his extended hand. It was a stunning mixture of dahlias and greenery that couldn't have been cheap now that you were really looking at it. 

“Dahlias are your favorite, if I’m not mistaken,” he said softly. “I remembered you mentioning that before at Josie’s when Marci had been talking about flowers for the wedding.”

Eyes darting up from the bouquet in his hands, they landed on his face. He still looked nervous and you weren’t entirely sure what to make of that. Matthew Murdock never outwardly got nervous. You also weren’t sure what to make of him remembering your favorite flower months after you’d brought it up around him just once. 

Not knowing how to really respond, the confusing mix of emotions in your body only growing, you hesitantly reached a hand out and accepted the flowers. “Thank you,” you murmured. 

In an attempt to keep your hands busy, and because you weren’t remotely interested in being the one to lead the conversation, you made your way back into your kitchen. You were aware of Matt following after you as you searched for the lone vase in one of your kitchen cabinets. Eventually you found it and began to fill it with water, impatient for Matt to say something as you kept your back to him. 

“About that night,” Matt began cautiously, “when I’d invited you to stay over and you kissed me?”

Turning off the kitchen faucet, your eyelids slowly lowered. Your body tensed, bracing yourself for whatever was coming next. Keeping your back to him, you knew you couldn’t bear to look at him right now with whatever he was about to say. The jumbled, drunken memory of that evening came flooding back to you and you were immediately hit with a wave of embarrassment, tears stinging at your eyes behind closed lids. You remained silent though, waiting for him to continue.

“I hadn’t anticipated that, if I’m being honest,” he finally continued, still speaking in a measured tone. “My intention had been to make sure you made it somewhere safe that evening because I knew you’d drank a bit more than usual. I couldn’t stand the thought of you walking home alone drunk at night in the rain. So I’m sorry if I was giving off signals to you that were other than that at the time because they weren’t intentional.” He paused, clearing his throat lightly. “And it–it wasn’t exactly until this afternoon that I realized maybe some of them were subconscious because I hadn’t quite realized what I actually felt until today.”

Your hands tightened around both the vase and the bouquet of flowers as you held your breath. That flicker of hope had grown just marginally in your chest without your permission, and now it was teetering on the edge of growing larger or diminishing itself entirely. You felt like you couldn’t take another breath as you waited for him to clarify what he meant.

“It’s been weeks since we’ve talked,” Matt said, pain in his voice. “Weeks since you’ve come to Josie’s or stopped by the office. Or answered one of my phone calls. And everyday has just felt off because of it. Because I miss you. And I thought for the longest time it was just because I was missing one of my best friends, but then Karen and Foggy apparently caught onto something that I hadn’t even noticed in myself.”

With shaking hands, you opened your eyes and slipped the bouquet of flowers into the filled vase. Nervously you turned around, reaching your hand out to set them onto the counter next to you before your gaze finally landed back on Matt. He was standing at the other end of your small kitchen now, and it was almost as if he knew your eyes were on him as a gentle smile began pulling up the corners of his lips.

“If we’re being honest,” Matt confessed, “I’ve always tried to avoid relationships. I haven’t had the best of luck with them, and well, there are things someone actually dating me would need to be made aware of–something I generally don’t open up about. But I think I’d be ready to discuss that with you after dinner Sunday night if you’d let me take you out.” 

He paused, shifting his weight back and forth on his feet as he gripped his cane tighter between both of his hands. Briefly you wondered what things he meant, but he was speaking again before you’d had long to contemplate that comment.

“The truth is, I didn’t truly realize what you meant to me until you were no longer a constant in my life,” Matt admitted. “And I can’t stand not having you around. Not just because you’re my friend, but because I have feelings for you, too. Feelings that are more than friendly that I’d like to explore further if you’d still be willing to as well.” 

Heart skipping a beat entirely in your chest, you exhaled a quivering breath at the admission. Matt liked you. You . He’d really come here to bring you flowers and to ask you on a date, not to mock you or make light of your currently sad and lacking situation of a love life. You heard him let out a nervous laugh as your mind continued to race at everything he was saying.

“I uh, really wish you’d say absolutely anything right now,” he continued, “because your silence is scaring the hell out of me. I can’t tell if you’re still mad or just trying to process everything.”

Swallowing hard, you tried to find the words to express how you were feeling. You could barely understand your own mind right now after he’d dropped all that on you. You'd gone so long never believing he'd be interested in you like that, and then after what had happened weeks ago when he'd blatantly rejected you, you really figured you'd never be anything more to him. But now here he was telling you the opposite and you could hardly believe it.

“I’m still sort of processing,” you replied, voice just above a whisper. “I wasn’t exactly expecting to hear you ever say any of that. Certainly hadn’t been expecting to hear any of this tonight.”

A sheepish smile tugged at his lips just before he hung his head, nodding lightly. “Yeah, it sort of surprised me earlier, too,” he told you. “I’m shocked I wasn’t quite as aware of my own feelings as Karen and Foggy seemed to be, but uh…that probably has a little something to do with some other things going on in my life.”

Chewing your lip nervously, you continued to take in the sight of him standing across from you in your kitchen. He was still dressed in his dress clothes from work, clearly having finished late and having come straight here to see you afterwards. The nerves in your stomach gradually intensified as you took in the smile on his handsome face that you could somewhat make out despite the way he’d ducked his head. Seconds later his covered gaze rose up, falling back on you. You only gnawed on your bottom lip faster, something electric feeling like it was sparking between you both in the small space all the sudden. A feeling that hadn’t been there seconds ago.

“So I suppose now I’m curious to know if you’d let me take you to dinner Sunday night, since I know you’ve got plans for Saturday?” Matt asked hopefully. “Would that…be something you’d like?”

“Yes,” you whispered, nodding immediately.

Matt took a few steps forward, the smile that had been lighting up his face growing warmer. His hands reached up, removing the glasses from his face before he slipped them into the inside pocket of his suit coat as he continued to make his way towards you. You leaned further back into the counter behind you, your hands landing on either side of the countertop as you tried to steady yourself. You weren’t entirely sure what he was doing, but there was a glint in his eye that had your breath coming in sharper than usual.

“And in that case,” Matt continued, his voice dropping a few octaves to something sultry and soft, the sound increasing your pulse as he continued to close the gap between you both, “would it be alright if we had a redo of our first kiss? This time with both of us sober and actually anticipating it?”

Breath still coming in shallow, it was difficult for your brain to send the signal to your mouth to actually formulate a sentence. You’d managed a quiet noise in response as he came to a stop just in front of you, his body mere inches from yours as he set his cane to the side. You could practically feel something sparking between the pair of you as he just stood there, his eyes focused along your chin. His head tilted to the side as if in silent question when you hadn’t given him a verbal confirmation.

“I–yes,” you finally answered.

He leaned in, moving so painfully slow as he came to rest his forehead against yours. His hand was suddenly on your neck, delicately gliding his fingertips upwards until the palm of his hand cupped your cheek, cradling it in his warm hand. His thumb rested just beneath your jaw, somehow knowingly tilting your mouth up further towards his at just the right angle. You felt lightheaded beneath his touch and the close proximity, your body involuntarily sinking forward into his when the tip of his nose just barely brushed against yours.

Matt shifted just the slightest bit before you felt his lips finally land on yours. Your eyelids immediately fluttered shut, a faint sigh sneaking out of your throat at how soft his lips were–softer than you recalled them. With the way he carefully began to move them against yours, you felt your knees going weak. Hands releasing the grip you had on the countertop, they darted forward and grabbed fistfuls of his dress shirt, just beneath his suit coat. 

As you held onto him like a lifeline, his mouth pressed more firmly against yours. Fingers curling into his dress shirt, you pulled him roughly into your body. He stumbled forward into you, a rumbling growl coming from his chest in response. The delicious weight of him against the front of you only pressed you farther into the counter behind you as his other hand landed on your hip, gripping it tight.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that Matt gently broke away, his own breath heavy as he rested his forehead back to yours. Your tongue darted out, licking your damp lips as you tried to catch your breath. You could still taste him on you, the realization causing you to actively have to stop yourself from leaning forward and kissing him again. 

“Well there's–there's certainly something there,” Matt said with a breathy laugh. “But uh, maybe we should leave things there until after Sunday night?”

You nodded, though it was hard to fully agree when his hips were still pressing you back into your kitchen counter and his mouth was mere inches from yours. Especially knowing how damn good of a kisser he was now, you wondered what else he did well.

“Right,” you breathed out.

He shifted against you, burying his face against the crook of your neck as he wrapped his arms around you. You couldn't fight the smile on your face at how he clearly didn't want to pull away from you, instead getting closer to you. You'd never seen him this affectionate with anyone else before.

“I missed you,” he murmured against your neck. 

Tentatively your hands released their grip on his shirt, your own arms snaking their way around his waist and drawing him closer. You came to rest your forehead against his shoulder, eyes closing as you relaxed into him. 

“I missed you, too,” you admitted. “And I'm sorry for getting drunk and kissing you like an idiot and then ignoring you for weeks.”

“Well, I admit it wasn't great being ignored by you,” he said, his lips tickling you as he spoke. “But at the same time, if you hadn't done either of those, I might never have realized how I felt about the woman who'd always been right in front of me the whole time.”

Your smile grew, your arms holding him a bit tighter. “I suppose that makes me feel a little less embarrassed, then.”

Matt nuzzled his face further into your neck, the bit of stubble on his cheeks pleasantly tickling you. You couldn't fight the giggle that slipped out of you in response. Seconds later you swore you felt his mouth pulling into a smile against your skin. 

“So Sunday night,” Matt began slowly, “if I show up with flowers for you again, you're not going to yell at me, are you?”

You couldn’t resist the laugh that fell out of you. Burying your face further against his shoulder in slight embarrassment, you replied, “No, I'm definitely not going to yell at you for bringing me flowers again.”

“Good,” he said, amusement in his tone. “Because that was admittedly a terrifying experience.”

The pair of you fell into a fit of laughter in your kitchen, arms still wrapped around each other as you did. As the pleasant sound filled your apartment, the pair of you holding onto each other tightly like neither wanted to be the first to let the other go, you couldn't help but think about what a turn everything had taken all because you'd drunkenly misread a situation and kissed your friend.

[callahanisms]

hallows eve kiss

being on a bottoms kick means i rediscovered ruby cruz and hazel callahan. my true lesbian awakening and it's halloween! who doesn't like a good halloween kiss?

borders by @cafekitsune

hazel callahan x popular! reader

♡ popularity was a very strange phenomenon. it was weird to be one of the popular kids after the way they defeated huntington. and this explained why hazel was invited to so many halloween parties.

♡ she ultimately settled on going to isabel's gathering. in part because they were friends. but also because you were going to be there.

♡ you. her longtime crush. her crush of two years now. every opportunity she messed up by getting stuck in her head. and you, who was isabel's friend.

♡ hazel can't help but try looking for you first when she arrives with josie and pj. unceremoniously, she went as david mills, dressed in a button down and the coat. everything. she went thrifting and found the perfect pants and coat last week. besides, what was more halloween-y than a neo-noir david fincher protagonist?

♡ what she wasn't expecting was for you to approach her while she's getting herself a cherry coke from the fridge. "hey hazel."

♡ "ah! hi! (y/n)!" her whole body is tense and she flinches when the soda pops out of the can after she opened it. you're giggling because it's really adorable how tense she is.

♡ hazel takes in your costume. and she bites her lip. "let me guess...lestat de lioncourt?"

♡ "nice. no one hasn't gotten it yet." you tug at the intricate coat. "and...you are...a noir protagonist?" you were so close, based on the shaking of hazel's head. "crap. umm...isabel told me you like david fincher. so seven?"

♡ "yeah. and technically it's neo-noir." she says. it was only a small exchange, but it felt like hazel was being smooth. she got this.

♡ there were lots of people at the party, which strangely made it more intimate. it meant you and hazel got to have private conversations in the corner of a room, alone in your own little illuminated bubble.

♡ you guys end up migrating to a separate room that's shrouded in orange light, with little pumpkin fairy lights decorating the walls. it's really cute. and you both were high off of the intimacy between you two.

♡ "you know...i think it's really nice you guys made that self defense club." you say, leaning towards her. "really...really helped a lot of people stand up for themselves. isabel and brittany included."

♡ "it...it was nothing." hazel brushes it off. her eyes glance down at your lips. she wants to lean in. you smell so good. "really."

♡ "i read your notes. the club probably wouldn't have survived without them, you know. they're really thorough. and i like that you included diagrams." even if it started as stick figures at first. "you should dabble in art. think you'd make some great drawings. and maybe...you can start with me?"

♡ "oh..." hazel raises her eyebrows. her lips part slightly in shock. she was surprised. but...were you making a move on her?

♡ she's wanted to make a move on you for so long. maybe this was perfect, as the clock slowly shifts to 1:12am.

♡ when hazel's lips press against yours, your eyes widen. but you enjoy the kiss. you love the way her lips feel against yours. it feels like a missing puzzle piece finally finding its place among the picture. and you kiss back, pushing against her. hazel cups your face with a tenderness and her other hand rests on the side of your neck.

♡ you pull away after what feels like forever, your cheeks all warm from the blood in your face. and you chuckle. "you got some..." you use your thumb to wipe away some of your lipstick, which had transferred onto hazel's soft lips. "it's supposed to be transfer-proof."

♡ "so?" hazel lets out a small laugh. she pulls you back, kissing you again. she didn't care if the lipstick transferred. in fact, that's what she wanted. it'd just prove that she was yours.

[bcolfanfic]

can u… can u say anything more about wyatt showing up to the bucks’ house…

me to rachel "jesus one young vets kid having a crisis at a time" lmao. but wyatt. geez. he wins god's little lamb most likely to be slaughtered by theee longest long shot. poor thing. to your actual point.

does very much just. show up. ran out of a *burning house* and has been running through rural wyoming on very shoddy memories of where he is at like 10pm. got very "lucky" in how horribly close that house actually was to the buck's in that it was close enough for him to even make it there on foot in the shape he was in, and alive.

he does end up collapsing on their front porch though. doesn't have the energy to ring the doorbell or knock but john is in the living room reading and hears the thud outside and is like !?!?. is a little freaked out at first, glances out the window, recognizes the kid's hair immediately and. then freaks out in a different way. just about rips the front door off the hinges opening it and the second he sees his face and knows for /sure/ that it's wyatt he starts yelling for gale. at this point he's been gone for about ten months, and no one wants to say it but the he might not be alive thoughts are. starting to spread 'through the camp' more.

as luck (?) would have it the kids aren't home, josie is at her own apartment and micah is at a friend's house. which is honestly for the better that night at least with how chaotic everything is. wyattt throws up in bucky's arms, has clearly been hurt horribly in a lot of different ways and both john and gale's minds are pretty much just alternating volumes of fuckfuckfuckwhathefuckwhatthefuck. can't get him to say much of anything, he's just crying and freaking out and it's. a mess. they do end up texting josie bc in the panic think maybe a familiar face that's not a big grown man would be less scary. give her very strict instructions to not tell micah yet and she speeds through every red light in sheridan getting to that damn house. she does help though. less scary to wyatt than the bucks are and is able to get him calmed down enough that they don't have to worry about him outright passing out in their living room.

they don't call ev until they're able to get him to the hospital and he has a bed and the whole mess is. at least a tiny degree less chaotic. in his panic at the house john almost calls him right away but gale is like ??? don't do that yet jesus christ, one thing at a time.

[andreal831]

something you'd never know if you just watched TO is how young Hayley is. she's like three years older than Davina. She's around Josh's age. Cami is older than her. it's so wild. she was 19/20 when she had Hope. it's like how you forget that Rebekah & Kol were turned as teenagers because the actors are clearly older. when i watched TVD after having seen most of TO (i watched out of order, thank you netflix recommended), i was shocked when s4 introduced her as Tyler's friend and in the age cohort of Matt, Caroline, etc. because TO frames her as an adult (maybe because she's pregnant) in contrast to Josh and Davina who are framed as teens. it's just jarring. sorry for all the asks in a row, i've been rewatching and listening to TVDU podcasts (if you have recommendations, i'd love to hear them) and it's got my brain buzzing.

unrelated but in an earlier meta you mentioned Hope in Legacies killing a wolf alpha and said he was a crescent and i wanted to clarify that he wasn't. he was the wolf alpha that worked for Triad. we see him die in a montage along with the witch who works for Triad. it's a whole thing

Lastly, (i swear i'm nearly done), i support all the Mikaelsons being allies when Hope inevitably came out. Based on some Legacies backstory lore, i like to imagine Hope came to Auntie Freya and Hayley to ask them about her crush on Josie.

Hope and her baby cousin should've interacted, i can't believe we never got to see them on screen together.

anyway i'm done, love your metas so much especially the ones on Esther & Lily (justice for these women in the face of the fandom's misogyny)

Hayley is a baby and I remind people of this as much as possible.

We see the image on the left as Hayley but really it's the image on the right who died in child birth and was dragged into the Mikaelson's world.

I even think TO attempts to make us forget how young she is. In Season 2, Mary guesses at her age, saying she's around 25, when in reality she would have only been like 21 or 22. They worked so hard to make us view her in the age range of Klaus, Elijah, and Cami. When, as you said, she was basically the same age as Josh. They do so much work to age her. Even Cami is only 24 but they act like she is older. Her brain isn't technically fully developed at the start of TO. She is only eight years older than Davina. But like I said not long ago, they go out of their way to make Davina seem like a child but Hayley and Cami like full grown adults when in reality they aren't that different in age.

People get mad at Hayley for making dumb decisions and I'm like, yeah, she's young and naïve. People judge 20 year old Hayley who is fighting for her life harsher than the 1000+ year old vamps who are making a mess of her life.

I do not have any podcast recs but if anyone else does, please let us know!

Thank you for explaining the Legacies thing. I've seen enough spoilers to generally know what happens but clearly I don't see everything.

I wish Hope would have had that support system. Or even have had a moment like that with Freya and Hayley. She was old enough and even admitted to having a crush on Josie so I like to imagine she did have that conversation. It was such a waste to talk about baby "Nik" but never introduce him or have Hope interact with him. Did they even meet??

Thank you so much for reading so many of my metas! I'm glad they resonate with people!

[rhaenizziettie]

Legacies 1x01 Rewatch

NO THE OPENING HAS TAKEN ME OUT. IT'S TOO SOON. HER LITTLE HERO AND VILLAIN SPEECH AND KNOWING ALL THAT COMES WITH THAT MOTIF LATER IS TOO MUCH.

She should've sprinkled a little "love and hate" in that speech honestly. The Hizzie edits would've slapped.

Everyday I wish we got more of Landon and Rafael's foster life. Like there was so much there to unpack and they never did.

Playing Halsey in the first five minutes. I was doomed to obsess over this show from the start.

The way we never got answers on whether that priest knew about werewolves and that's why he wanted to see him at the rise of the full moon or if it was coincidence or if that priest actually was a witch. Imagine if he came back.

HE USED TO SERVE ME MILKSHAKES I WAS NOT PREPARED I KNEW IT

"More like despair" 😭😭😭 Sorry but all her poking gets funnier on the rewatch knowing she had a crush on Hope the whole time

Truly wish we got to see more of the classes at this SCHOOL. Like we saw three??? And none of them had any substance???

"Before your hairier breatheren corrupted you" Sorry but I wanted the witches' distaste for the wolves to be addressed and honestly Tribrid Hope could've been the uniter of the kingdoms

"Talking about her gives her power." You say all that but then you bitch about people NOT talking about her later

Aww. I always forget when Josie used to just be a softy stoner witch. They should've kept that characterization.

Bisexually, we should've gotten to see Rafael throw that lawn mower through the patio doors

BABY HOPEG MY HEART IT THUMPS

"Take it from a guy named Alaric, I get it" 😭😭😭 Guarantee that Lizzie's "just be MG" speech from his tour was Alaric's "just be Ric" speech

You're telling me Landon worked at the Grill in MYSTIC FALLS and never encountered a vampire who tried to compel him before MG? I call bullshit.

"I'm not so good with small spaces" and all I'm thinking about is how he crawled through the air vents to save everyone in 1x11

Alyssa Chang made a broom fly in Physics. YEAH SHE DID.

"It's not a competition" I mean yeah that's fair because Josie was the only one competing in the competition in her mind but still ... she very much viewed it as a competition ...

"We don't mention her name anymore." Josie a week later:

"That was my inside voice" 😭😭😭 Now I'm dying imagining Caroline and Alaric telling Lizzie that sometimes, your thoughts are not meant to be spoken out loud because that is your inside voice after she insults someone on accident

"Hot, angry, damaged ..." So Hope Mikaelson? God the signs were there from the start and I MISSED them like a FOOL

"You're getting a little old for me to breaking your human bones." Don't worry, Hope. You do eventually.

"I don't have things" and meanwhile Jed is the only one in that school who didn't have a crush on Hope at some point. YOU may not have things, ma'am, but people definitely have things for you.

"I don't tell you to go out and fraternize with the human locals." ... isn't that LITERALLY what you tell them to do in the NEXT episode???

"Attempt to make an actual friend here and we can reevaluate" "I tried to be her friend and she never makes any effort" Oh yeah, "I want you to do anything for each other" is making so much sense now. The signs were all there.

ClEaN uP oN aIsLe L. Was it so hard to be like "Hey, my sister - your DAUGHTER - is having a mental health episode. Help?" Also, it's not like Hope doesn't know about her episodes. Josie already told the whole school five years ago.

Also I love that they put Josie immediately running to Alaric to help Lizzie in the very first episode and then have Josie claim she did everything to help and have Lizzie claim that Alaric wasn't around. LIKE YES MISS MIKAELSON, IT DOES DEPEND ON WHO IS TELLING THE STORY.

THE MOMENT I FELL IN LOVE WITH LIZZIE. I have long since gotten better with it, but I too used to want to destroy kitchens or [redacted] myself every time I messed up a social interaction and seeing that on screen absolutely blew my mind.

Throwback to the first time I watched Legacies and had NOT finished TVD or TO yet. Had no clue what Handon was talking about but I was still melting.

Why did we never see summoning spells come back up? Like?? That could've been so useful???

Josie out at a party while Lizzie sits inside recovering from her episode. Hmm. Tell me again which one Lizzie's disorder affects more.

Yeah, everyone's endings in 4x20 suck but RAFAEL'S EARLY ENDING IS CUTTING EXTRA DEEP WHEN ALL HE'S EVER TALKED ABOUT IS HOW MUCH HE BELONGS WITH LANDON AND AT THAT SCHOOL AND HOW BOTH GOT YANKED AWAY IN HIS "HEAVEN"

"I could just whip up a remedy with herbs from the bio lab" Wonder where she got the idea that there's a magic fix for her disorder from

"Do you think I'm broken?" 🥺🥺🥺 My baby girl

"Josie doesn't have freakouts." Don't worry, she does. She's just hiding them for now. She'll kill you one day though. Just for funsies. You're doing just fine, all things considered.

"She spends a lot of time worrying about other people's happiness." You mean how she can take it away or ...?

WHY DIDN'T WE EVER GET TO HEAR ABOUT THE ORIGINAL SALTZMAN CODEPENDENCY. LIKE NOT EVEN IN TVD?? WHAT DOES THAT LINE MEAN???

"I don't ever want to hurt anybody." "Maybe you'll finally understand if you have blood on your hands too." OHHHHHHH

HOPE AND LIZZIE MADE FRIENDS AND WE STILL NEVER SAW A GROUP TRAINING. I WAS ROBBED. ROBBED I SAY.

I TRIED TO BE HER FRIEND. God, they should just make a "Young Salvatore School" spin off. I'd watch all that play out between TO and Legacies.

"Everyone in here has lost something." WAIT BECAUSE I JUST REALIZED SHE'S NOT EVEN TALKING ABOUT HERSELF AND JOSIE. SHE'S TALKING ABOUT ALL THE OTHER STUDENTS NOT GETTING THE SAME SPECIAL TREATMENT DESPITE ALL OF THEM GOING THROUGH TRAUMA TO END UP THERE.

"Speak of the actual devil." Lizzie, haven't you met the ACTUAL actual devil??

"I'm missing a party??" THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING LIZZIE.

POSIE CRUMBS POSIE CRUMBS POSIE CRUMBS

The fact that MG stopped talking about vampire stories is so sad. He should've kept that with his comic obsession.

"I'm not saying that y'all should kill your moms because that's messed up." I'll say it: MG should've gotten to kill his mom. Actually, did none of that come up again??? She works for Triad and he just moves on????

The way Rafael was an athlete yet he never played in the football episodes ...

ACTUALLY THE WAY WE NEVER GOT A S3 OR S4 FOOTBALL EPISODE AFTER J*LIE SAID THERE'D BE ONE EVERY SEASON

"I care too much. It's kind of a problem." I mean technically she did not lie but she also did not mention that the caring in question was about herself and about what she thought everyone else owed her.

ROSIE SHOULD'VE HAPPENED AND I STAND BY THAT. THEY WERE NOT ENDGAME MATERIAL AND RAFAEL DESERVED BETTER BUT MY GOD I STILL WANTED TO SEE IT HAPPEN.

Legacies S1 aesthetics >>> any of the other seasons'

That wolf Hope and Landon in the woods scene is just 🤌🤌🤌

HANDON LIBRARY SCENE HANDON LIBRARY SCENE

"I'm a lot of things." "Care to elaborate?" "Bisexual."

I lowkey forgot about the Pizzie (Menelope? PenelopeG?) kiss

"I'm offering to rock your world right now." So like ... did Penelope actually like MG? Was she just looking to get laid? Was she doing it because she knows he likes Lizzie?

Sorry but PosieG might be rising as my second favorite throuple (sorry Fosie)

The S1 Penelope-kissing-MG and Josie-being-jealous-over-MG's-romances is just too good

"Last I checked you were more into girls." Yikes MG.

"I am an equal opportunity evil temptress." Bisexual Penelope for the win.

Wait - do you guys think Penelope was the one to help Josie figure out her sexuality? Do you think Josie was the one who helped Penelope?? Where's the fics, Posies???

"Your binary assumptions about sexuality are dated." And here's how MG's bi realization comes about because he knows he likes girls but he thinks because he likes girls, he can't like guys and then Ethan and -

Josie getting jealous seeing MG and Penelope kissing AND THE WAY IT COULD GO EITHER WAY.

"Klaus Mikaelson: The Great Evil." "He wasn't very popular around here." Look, Hope, I love you and I love your relationship with your dad BUT MY GOD IT WAS FOR A REASON. HE LITERALLY WAS EVIL.

"I try not to get close to people anymore." "We thought you hated us." "That's what we do when we're scared - we push people away." Mmm hmm. Just inject the good stuff straight into my veins.

A UNICORN. THE FACT THAT SHE GOT PANCAKES ON THEIR ANNIVERSARY AND NOT A STUFFED UNICORN IS ACTUALLY ILLEGAL.

"Forget about her. Focus on somebody new." Oh I need to use this in a Finsie edit real bad.

"I'm setting my sights on Rafael." LIZZIE YOU DON'T JUST PICK A GUY TO CRUSH ON BECAUSE HE'S THERE. THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE ATTRACTED TO MEN. BABY, IF YOU HAVE TO ARBITRARILY DECIDE TO CRUSH ON HIM, YOU'RE JUST NOT INTO HIM.

WE SHOULD'VE GOTTEN HANDON WATCHING THE STARS LATER TO PARALLEL THE CELLAR SCENE

"You are a really nice person, Hope Mikaelson." "Why were you so mean to me?" Oh the Handizzie ... I feel faint ...

"Is this the part where you run?" I just think Landon has a thing for girls who run away.

"I'm not going to remember any of this, am I?" "Probably not." AND IT'S NOT THE COMPULSION THAT MAKES HIM FORGET BUT HOPE JUMPING INTO MALIVORE THAT DOES. OH MY GOD.

"It's just not safe for you here." And then MG kills him and then he dies and then he dies and then he dies and then he dies and then he dies and then he dies and then he dies and then he dies AND THEN HE DIES FOR GOOD AND THEN HE'S THE GOD OF DEATH.

"All you gotta do is go home." MG ... sweetie ... he doesn't have a home ...

HOPE TOUCHING HER LIPS REMEMBERING THAT KISS OH I KNOW IT WAS SO GOOD FOR HER

"There's no way that the one time I get close to someone, they turned out to be a liar. It's not possible. I'm not that stupid." Let me give you a hug

I, for one, do not think they did enough plots about the threat of being exposed

"She puts those sex herbs in her weed, and I had a momentary lapse in judgement." No because I don't think we talk enough about MG straight up accusing Penelope of roofie-ing and assaulting him.

"Why does everyone find her so special?" Why do YOU find her so special Miss Saltzman? Hmm?

"She's not special. She's just ... available." OOF. I DID NOT REMEMBER MG SAYING THAT. THAT IS SO NASTY.

Maybe 1x01 MG and 4x20 MG ARE the same dude.

"Don't hate me, okay?" "What if I'm incapable of love?" Oh the good stuff could've been there.

Local Pyromaniac Lights Ex On Fire

"Are you blackmailing me?" Yes, she is.

Hope's little "sorry" to the mouse 🥺🥺🥺 You're telling me she's gonna become a killer someday? Hmm.

"Turns out, Landon isn't the hero of my story at all." Turns out, Hope's not the real villain in Lizzie's story.

"But when I hunt him down, I'm gonna be the villain of his." Hope, you were apologizing to a rat a few hours ago. I need you to be realistic in your goals.

[taylorhawkins]

“My music career started with women” - Taylor Hawkins (full interview)

My paternal grandmother, Josie Hawkins, grew up in the Great Depression and lived in Jackson, Mississippi. She’d throw us grandkids into the back of her old Buick while wearing giant sunglasses and listening to Kenny Rogers. She was a sweet woman who cooked amazing soul food. She didn’t know how to sit still. She lived almost to age 90 and was the matriarch of the Hawkins family.

My mum, Elizabeth Ann Hawkins, had her demons and a dark side. She was full of love, sweetness and tenderness and the total opposite of my dad [Terry]. She always believed in me. I would stand in front of her as a kid and sing, impersonate or dance for her. When I first got drums, she was the one who would watch me play. She was a big supporter and told me I’d make it. She counteracted Dad’s stony coldness, typical of a ’70s man.

I remember going to my first rock concert in 1982 to see Queen. I told Mum, “I’ll play that stadium one day.” She looked at me with eyes that matched my ambition. Mum was always there for me emotionally. She let me open up to her and showed me it was okay to have a gentle side.

Mum was a little absent sometimes because of her demons and my older sister Heather took up a lot of that slack. When dinner didn’t get finished because Mum had passed out on the couch, Heather was the one who made sure everything ran smoothly. My mum died from an aneurysm, nine months after Dad died in 2011 from emphysema. They loved each other, but for the last five years of his life it was Mum who took care of him. I saw this great release in Mum’s eyes after he died because she’d been carrying his oxygen tank everywhere they went. They were like best friends; they lived a full life. But there was tragedy, too.

Heather is the toughest member of our family. She’s the middle child and can still boss us all around. While my dad worried I’d live on his couch for his whole life because I was some loser musician, he never had to worry about Heather. My older brother, Jason, followed in Dad’s footsteps and became a businessman.

My celebrity crush was Olivia Newton-John. I noticed her in Grease, but even earlier than that I fell in love with her country songs. I was around three when I heard Have You Ever Been Mellow. There was something in her voice that I loved before I saw her.

My music career started with women; I first came to Australia playing in Alanis Morissette’s band – I owe so much to her. I recorded with many women on my most recent album with the Coattail Riders, Get the Money: Chrissie Hynde, LeAnn Rimes and Heart’s Nancy Wilson. I did ask Olivia Newton-John but her management never got back to me. Maybe one day.

I married Alison Hawkins in 2005. We have three children [Oliver, 13, Annabelle, 12, and Everleigh, 7]. There’s a song on Get the Money called I Really Blew It, which is for those men who think they can win an argument with their missus! I only speak for myself, but the man will always lose because the woman has the power.

I wrote a song about Annabelle called Middle Child. There’s a line, “you clean your mess up almost every night”, and she does. It’s tough being a middle child – but she is my twin and I love her so much.

[thevindicativevordan]

Comics this week? (Specially The Ultimates #4)

Anonymous asked: Comics this week ?

My Adventures With Superman #4 - I know the DCAU JLU Christmas episode is popular, but I've always been put off by it. I can't help seeing an air of condescension in how it treats Superman being a grown man who still believes in Santa, I get a "yes he's dumb and gullible, but isn't that wholesome?" takeaway from it all. Meanwhile I loved how Josie Campbell explored celebrating Christmas here as an expression of love and family. Ma and Pa adopted Clark as their son even though he wasn't blood, then the comic expands that to touch on how Lois and Jimmy have become "family" too. Even extends it right up to Amazo getting treated by Clark as a brother in a touching moment where Superman willingly shares his powers with Amazo so they both can kick Bloodsport and Deathstroke's asses, and Amazo tells Clark he thinks of Clark as family also. It's all very sweet right up until Deathstroke blows a hole in Amazo at the end. Bloodsport is the coolest he has ever been here, when he brings out the big guns I was hooting and hollering. I think this might be my favorite take on Amazo now too. I dug his DCAU incarnation but this is the first time I'm really invested in him as a character, and there's tension because he might not make it out alive.

Absolute Power #3 - Waid is trying to weave together the disparate threads of the past year into a cohesive whole, while simultaneously trying to shuffle the detritus of the past year off the board. End result is a mess of stitched together moments that don't work imo. Example of that is Nightwing "stepping up" as a leader, yet his push feeling hollow when his team failed to take the League's place. A number of other characters like Barda and Mid-Nite get written out of character so that Dick as the avatar of the Silver Age ethos can prove them wrong. Oh and if I have to read another issue of Waid going HEART is our REAL superpower, I think my eyes might be permanently stuck in a cycle of rolling.

Ultimates #4 - Ultimates #4 reminded me of reading Ruins. Exceptionally bleak from beginning to end, poor 6160 Reed. It avoids being nihilistic at least because there is a malicious bad actor in Maker who is making sure that everything turns out as bad as it possibly can, rather than it simply being the nature of the world. Sets up an Ultimate F4 book for sure, but given how Doom is outright skirting the edge of villainy with how he ominously says he’s adhering to Tony’s moral rules for now, I’m wondering if he won’t actually be a part of the team. Maybe he’s the one who gets captured and Tony creates an Ultimate F4 of entirely new people to go save him? Otherwise I see their failure to beat Hulk being the point at which Doom bails on the Ultimates team. I’d prefer Doom be part of the Ultimate F4 though, he’s simply too interesting as a Reed who is massively messed up but is trying to be a hero. If they do end up making him a villain that would be an utter waste of potential. Maker is already the broken Reed, Doom needs to be the Reed who is bent but not broken. Seeing him walk the tightrope is more interesting than seeing him fall off.

[josette-park]

Of Belgian Waffles and Second Chances

Summary: After learning about the Merge, Josie leaves the Salvatore Boarding School behind her and heads for Belgium.

Prompt: Canon Rewrite

Word Count: 773

---

“Josie?”

Josie turned to see her ex-girlfriend, Penelope Park. Penelope was shocked to see her, Josie could tell. It’s not surprising, Josie has shocked herself that she’s here. 

“Hey, Penelope,” Josie smiles.

“What are you doing here?” Penelope asks as she walks up to Josie.

Josie smiles tightly, “I did a lot of thinking after you left. My dad told me what the Merge is, and I came to a decision.”

Penelope’s face drops, “I’m sorry.”

“What for?” Josie asks, confused.

“I should have told you what the Merge was, but I just couldn’t. I couldn’t be the one to tell you it was between you and Lizzie,” Penelope explains.

Josie looks down at her hands, “It wasn’t on you to tell me. I should have known all along. My parents never should have hidden this from us.”

Penelope nods in agreement, but she says nothing else. Josie isn’t sure where to take the conversation. She should probably explain why she’s in Belgium at Penelope’s new school.

“Um, so anyways,” Josie says, “I decided I needed to be away from my family. My parents lied to me, and knowing what we are going to have to go through, I just can’t face Lizzie right now.”

“That’s understandable.”

“Yeah, I thought so,” Josie takes a deep breath before she says in a rush, “I enrolled here.”

Penelope’s eyes widened, “Here?”

Josie nods, “Yes, I just wanted to get away from Mystic Falls, and this was the first place that came to my mind.”

Penelope smirks, “Oh, and what attracted you to Belgium?”

Josie returns her look and shrugs her shoulders, “There was someone that I wanted to see again.”

They stand there for a while, just smiling at each other. It had been a while since the two of them could just be. There was no other drama, nothing pulling them away from each other. Everything was out in the open now.

A student coughing brings them out of their haze and Penelope offers her arm, “Let me show you around.”

Josie links their arms and Penelope shows her the campus. It isn’t as big as the Salvatore School, but it’s catered to witches. Josie had looked at her schedule, and she is excited to learn so much more about her powers and her heritage.

“Do you like it here?” Josie asks Penelope as they walk.

Penelope smiles, “I’m liking it a lot more, now.”

Josie turns her face to hide her blush. Penelope was the only one who could bring this reaction out of her. This is what Josie wanted, some time to focus on herself, to figure out what she wanted. She wanted to learn to be a little bit selfish, and she knew who she wanted to teach her.

“A noble quest,” Penelope smiles, “I shall take my role with the utmost sincerity, I promise you, Josette.”

“You know,” Penelope says, “There’s a great place that has the best waffles. Josie, you need a true Belgian waffle now that you are in Belgium. Please tell me that you haven’t had one yet, I want to be there for your first one.”

“You’re in luck, I haven’t been anywhere yet,” Josie says, “My mom picked me up at the airport and dropped me off here. That’s all I’ve seen of Belgium so far. You’ll have to be my guide.”

They continue to walk with their arms linked and Josie asks, “Is this an all-girls school?” She has only seen female students walking around the campus.

Penelope throws Josie a look, “Did you do any research on this place before you jumped on the plane?”

“It had everything I was looking for,” Josie shrugs. Penelope still doesn’t seem to understand, so Josie clarifies, “You.”

Penelope pauses in her steps, “You really came all the way here just for me?”

Josie looks away. There is no other place she wanted to be, but she wasn’t sure where she and Penelope stood, “Yeah. After the whole mess, you’re the person I wanted to see.” Admitting it was hard, but she needed to do it. Lies had messed up her life for too long, she needed everything to be out in the open.

“Well,” Penelope muses, “then I guess our waffle excursion might be a date.”

“I was hoping it would be,” Josie blushes.

An honest smile shines across Penelope’s face as she confirms, “It’s a date.”

“Perfect,” Josie says as she uses her hands to draw Penelope in. The kiss feels like coming home. Nothing in her life has made sense since she found out about the Merge, but now it all clicks into place.

[jaceofbass]

JASON 'JACE' EVAN AARONS.

         #grumpyoldman.

NICKNAMES: jace. not even a nickname, just call him jace. AGE: 43. DOB: october 23. GENDER: male PRONOUNS: he/him JOB: jace is a formerly classified three star chef, but after a pretty gnarly mental breakdown, he lost his prized restaurant in the diamond district, and now runs one of the resident food trucks in the plant, the rock lobster. with only his sisters at his side in the tiny little truck, it might be driving him crazier than the restaurant did.

personality:

+TRAITS: loyal, careful, protective, pensive -TRAITS: closed off, defeated, willfully ignorant, negative emotional IQ FEARS: messing josie up with his own bullshit, never having his own restaurant again, never cleaning his reputation up, being alone, the feeling of having wasted his life, dying suddenly, nightmares of his parents, bad reviews. HOBBIES: cooking, gardening herbs on his porch, reading, rating coffee shops all over the boroughs, going to parties and standing at the edge of the crowd and acting like he isn't having fun, being """mindful,""" avoiding his friends, belting 90s girl rock in the comfort of his own home, hanging with his cat (scallop.) HABITS: smoking cigarettes, spending too much time at the truck, isolating, chewing on straws, journaling in secret, reorganizing other peoples' kitchens without noticing, giving advice where it might not be wanted, ignoring things he doesn't want to hear/see.

the history with josie and whatnot:

jace has always been an incredibly caring person. he was one of the popular kids from elementary school - college, but the pedestal his classmates put him on never went to his head. jace was kind, and he was humble. he was willing to help anyone that needed it. he was a star soccer player at New Zeppelin University, and a beloved member of his frat house - he was convinced, at the time, that he was with the love of his life, miss townes adler. everything was right on track for jace to go overseas to play with the greats: it was a life that anyone would've dreamed of. who knew his parents would throw a wrench in the plan by having a baby in their near-retirement, right?

some might say that jace's heart was too big - how could he throw away his whole life for a kid that wasn't even his? but when he learned that his parents planned to leave her with a nanny while they travelled the world themselves, jace felt like he had no other choice. josie was his little sister. if the rest of his family was going to choose to traipse across the globe, then he'd make sure that she'd have as normal of a childhood as he could emulate... not that being a literal baby tagging along to frat parties, and hanging with a bunch of idiots was exactly normal, but! ce le vie! frat baby was well taken care of, and is an honorary Kappa Tau for life!

of course, their parents were still their parents. it's not like they so much abandoned josie as left jace to be her long-term babysitter - like besides the other babysitter that gave Jace a break to go to class, and whatever - but it was always a pretty safe bet that the kid would be nearby. good thing he got so much practice, too, when their parents up and died while josie was in middle school.

it's not like jace couldn't afford the house they left him, but he figured they'd be better off renting the place out - the more money he could save up for josie the better, right? besides, he wanted to give both him and his little sister a fresh start, and townes had been talking up port manteau for years.

they've been living in port manteau since their parents died, and though jace has always been her main father figure, the pressure of being her sole care-giver has always made him a little anxious. he loves josie more than almost anything - he doesn't know how to process the fact that he might be hurting her with his own bullshit!!!

the chef thing & subsequent mental breakdown to food truck pipeline:

tw: mental breakdown, suicide attempt

after jace let soccer go as an long-term life option, he figured he had to pivot somewhere... and he had always liked cooking for his parents! and the ladies! sure, the degree he left school with had nothing to do with the culinary arts, but with the connections he had made in his frat - thank god for greek life - jace got the opportunity to hone his craft in one of the most famous restaurants in new zeppelin.

he worked his ass off, and graduated from dishwasher, to saucier, to commis chef, to sous - and eventually he was wanted in kitchens all over the city. jace leveraged his talent into acquiring loans from a team of investors who helped him open his extremely successful restuarant: 'josie's.'

jace's cooking catapulted the restaurant to renown - and right into three michelin stars. he rode on a high of his own success, and for years he ran the kitchen like a pirate captains' tightest ship.

of course, the kitchen was stressful - what kitchen wasn't! but after a series of bad reviews, as well as a messy break up with his longtime partner, townes, jace began to crumble.

on one packed night in the restaurant, jace blew up at his sous chef. it ended in a public, bloody fistfight - news enough that it circled vine, and lingered on yikyak for weeks - and in a desperate move to save their investment, the rest of the 'josie's' investors voted to have jace take a leave of absence from the kitchen.

the night they told jace, he disappeared. to this day, he isn't exactly sure what happened - it's all negative space to him - but josie says he showed up on her doorstep in the worst shape of his life nearly three days later. his loved ones all thought it was a fluke: this all wasn't like him! but when josie came home to jace near-death on the carpet, it became a little more clear that jace wasn't going to just snap out of it.

he spent months in the hospital, establishing routines, and trying to work through the issues... he's stable now! but with a belly full of regret from ruining his life, worried stares from everyone he loves, and the absolute guilt of scarring josie for what he assumes will be life, he's become a different man.

the aarons kids had enough money to keep jace going without work for a while - to focus on himself! but in an effort to get him back on his game, josie got the wheels turning (pun intended) on jace's brand new venture, 'the rock lobster!'

both of jace's sisters work with him at the truck, he thinks more to keep an eye on him than anything. more often than not, it just reminds him that he's not off running his own kitchen somewhere. that 'josie's', his life's work, is carrying on without him. ( and yeah, the parallel of his near-daughter doing that one day too wasn't lost on him. ) but it's not the worst thing in the world. sometimes, it's even kinda nice.

the ugly:

mr. aarons gets grumpy, so don't be surprised if he snaps at you a lil <<3

he's a pretty charming guy when he's not being a complete freak!!! and his love language is food...if u get to see this side, and he starts feeding you for free, ur usually in!!! but making new friends nowadays is pretty hard! and if ur an old friend, things might be kinda tense! too many people worry about him nowadays, and he's been doing his best to avoid them as much as possible, rip.

jace isn't like,,, usually violent, but he definitely will throw a punch if he needs to!!!

beyond violence, he's like v playful with the other boys,,,like he was a pretty stereotypical kinda frat bro??? so like he'll shove around and playfight and whatnot. he's a firm believer sometimes that bros need to just punch each other in the gut sometimes to get over something... obviously it's gotten him into trouble!!! but it does work most times. he swears.

baby boy has bad days, and panic attacks and whatnot :((( so sometimes he's quiet, or leaves parties early, or stays in his house for a while!!! honestly don't draw attention to it, he's like an outdoor cat, he'll come to you when he's ready

[queeniecook]

May 6

I was out early this beautiful morning. It’s just the right temperature for me, which is rare lately. The birds were singing and things were quiet and peaceful.

Best of all, I finally knitted a onsie!! Now hopefully the baby is able to wear it someday…

I arrived back home, excited to tell Caleb about my accomplishment but I wasn’t expecting to see Apollo. He and Caleb decided to surprise me! I got to spend the whole day with my little brother.

First I had to take Josie to the vet clinic for a checkup. Everything is fine, given her age. She has a few teeth that need cleaned but it’s too dangerous to do dentals on her anymore. Trying to brush her teeth is the next best thing. She hates it though, most cats do.

Apollo and I decided to drive out of town to Copperdale. Neither one of have been to the town before so we decided to check it out.

Apollo bet me 20 dollars that I wouldn’t get up in front of everyone and sing. Pfft.

After that we strolled around. It is a pretty town, I’ll have to stop in again sometime.

“I think it’s twins!” Apollo stated, feeling my stomach.

I stood frozen at that idea. I wasn’t sure if I was prepared mentally or physically for twins. “Shut up.”

He chuckled “I was just messing with you. You’d be bigger if it was twins.”

“You’re a jerk.” I told him, swatting at him. Yes, I’d love another baby no matter what but I think one is a good start.

Our next stop was Windenburg. We always think of our Mom anytime either one of us passes through the town. I really wish Mom and Dad were here to meet my baby but life is never picture perfect.

Apollo talked me into going to a dance club. We awkwardly danced, scaring away fellow patrons, no doubt. Let me tell you, trying to bust a move while eight months pregnant is a workout.

Then things got plain weird and creepy. Asa showed up and I left with my brother once I spotted him. I know he saw me but thankfully didn’t try to approach me. I always get suspicious when I see James or one of his group out in public. Maybe he was just there, it’s not a place I go to often or ever really. I still don’t trust Asa though, he tried to kill me.

[runningandraisingmyheathens]

The past 48ish hours have been something else. Mariah’s birthday was yesterday. All she wanted was to see her sister and her nanny. So, I made it happen. We got there Saturday night. Stayed at an airbnb close to nanny’s. We didn’t get in until 7, didn’t get to nanny’s until 7:45. We ate dinner and hung out. I got everyone back and to bed by 9:30.

We were all startled awake at 1:30 to the terrifying pierce of the fire alarm. I panicked. Couldn’t find my glasses. I’m running around and screaming ‘get up, get out of the house!’ Of course, it stopped once I actually was at the door. Kai was the only one who also was there. Mariah and Josie never got of bed. We’d all have died if there had been a real fire. Anyway, I’m too jacked up and on alert to ever get fully back to sleep.

I drag myself out of bed at 6:30 to go run five miles before having Mariah open gifts. We walked the dogs and went straight back to nanny’s. We then drove to where Madison lives. Madison’s new family held Mariah’s birthday party there. They did everything, all we had to do was show up.

It was a very busy time with swimming and water slides. And Josie being a complete poot because they were jealous of Mariah. Josie was also upset because they felt like the other kids left them. So I spent a lot of time soothing that whole situation out. As it was time to leave, Mariah didn’t want to leave Madison. So, we decided she could stay the night there. Then it was a huge mess with Noah, Josie, and Renna crying because they couldn’t stay. Noah’s was the saddest thing. He just clung to her. So, it was decided Madison would stay with us instead.

Fast forward to bedtime. Mariah wants Madison to sleep with her. Josie doesn’t want to let her. Noah and renn also want to sleep with Madison. Josie starts having literal hysterics. Renna starts screaming that she hates me. Madison has an anxiety attack because Renn’s screaming. Noah is freaking out cause Madison’s having an anxiety attack. I get Madison calm. I finally get renn to sleep by saying she could sleep with me to pacify her. The Josie starts going again. I put them in my bed where they hyperventilate for the next hour. Renn leaves because she’s tired of listening. She goes to sleep in the living room where I wanted her to sleep anyway. Josie finally calms down and goes to sleep. Kai meanwhile has been quietly in her bed sleeping the whole time. She said this morning ‘God, I just sat there thinking ‘shut up, all of you!’

Got up early and we packed up. Madison got picked up. Noah and Mariah wouldn’t let her go. Madison’s lip was quivering the whole time. It was absolutely heart breaking. I hate knowing they all hurt that much. It’s not fair. I wish I had tried harder to keep them all together.

It was the same when we went and said goodbye to nanny. Noah has been very quiet since we came home. I know he’s sad. I asked if he wanted to talk. He just wants to be alone for awhile. Mariah is overly chipper. It’s so hard watching your children hurt and not being able to do anything to fix it.

After we got home around 5:30, I didn’t stop moving until 9, when I finally got to sit down and eat dinner. I’ve cried several times. I got a text saying Madison is back in the hospital after saying she wanted to die. I thought something was up when she kept giving Mariah all her stuff.

So. That was my weekend! It’s been a lot, and I could do with a good night’s sleep and about a week of therapy.

(Also someone should tell Keith that after knowing all this, he was stupid to bring up packing and moving to me today of all days)

[dreamwritesimagines]

It’s CMA-

Sorry for my relative absence, I was finishing finals last week lol. Anyway I’m back and ready to read the new chapter!

As a younger sibling, I love seeing Colin roast the shit out of benedict lmao

Ooh perceptive Josie! I was wondering when she’d catch on!

I love how Anthony so clearly thinks that family is #1 in his life and can’t comprehend anyone else thinking differently. I wonder if Ben will lean on him and if he’ll learn about clover’s family, and how he would react. I think it would explain a lot about her to him.

Also the only reason I think Anthony in particular would be involved is because I feel like clover’s parents will try to extort her and Ben in some way, probably financially, in which case they’d probably need to disclose it to Anthony and/or bring him in to consult on how to legally get rid of them.

Also going back to the Anthony and family thing: he so clearly has a set definition of what family means and what you would do for them, and how you would treat them even. It’s very black and white- either your family or you’re not, in which case he’s not going to really care about you. The one exception I can think of to that rule would be Charlie.

I mean, thinking back to the duel with Simon, he so clearly is willing to turn on him in a moments notice as soon as he thought that Simon was hurting his family.

It’s a fascinating dynamic- how far would he go for his family, and how much he would take for them. It’s like the very definition of he would burn down the whole world just to see them safe.

And seeing this with clover is especially interesting because she started very much as an outsider and he considered her basically a hostile threat to be controlled, and then almost immediately after she became family, he’s suddenly expecting everything to be good between them.

Idk idk just a lot of thoughts (I didn’t even read clover’s response, just the first line of Anthony saying “better terms? We’re family.” Lol so idk if what continues will completely invalidate everything I just wrote or not lolololol)

I love how clover kind of bulldozes over Anthony and doesn’t really ever let him speak. She does this a lot but so does he, so it’s interesting to see him be on the receiving end for once. They’re so similar it’s crazy.

(Their dynamic also a really interesting case study of how one instance of severe emotional trauma has significantly different effects than severe, prolonged physical, verbal, and emotional trauma, but also how trauma fucks you up in an overarching way that is similar/apparent to anyone paying attention)

Lmfao clover just asserting to Anthony that his most strongly kept secret is so obvious to her. Love to see it (also yes anthony get off your dumb ass)

THE DUEL IS THE DUEL IN THIS CHAPTER?!!???!!!???!!?? IS EVERYONE GOING TO GET SUPER INSPIRED TO GET OFF THEIR ASSES?!!??!!??!!??!!????

HES NOT EVEN FUCKING GOING TO TELL HER HES GOING TO BE AT A DUEL?!!??!!??!!?!!!

damn I know he’s protecting her because she’ll probably have a panic attack when she realizes, but she’s going to be so fucking pissed and probably still have a panic attack anyway when she finds out. Ben what happened to always being honest with her 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 they were finally having such a nice, emotionally vulnerable, sober moment together too!!!!!!!!

Also at least we know that Anthony is going to get off his ass for Charlie finally. Thanks to clover for inspiring him and everything. Damn, if clover isn’t the maid of honor/best woman at the wedding, then Anthony will have really fucked up. He owes her BIG time.

Damn clover is going to have a crisis about nearly getting what she wanted. Holy fuck, my god, Ben you’re such a dumbass

The duel ended and Ben didn’t even come home!!! Oh my god how could Ben let Lottie be the one to tell her!!!!!!! Oh my fucking god Ben you dumbass!!!

(I know it’s fair because he’s been doing everything perfectly so far and he was bound to mess up at some point, plus I know he’s doing it with the best intentions but still!!!!!!! Ben you can’t do this to her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Wait who was Simon’s second?

Damn for Lottie’s sake, I almost hope she leaves because clover is going to be a fucking Hurricane and I’m worried who she’ll hurt along the way.

Also anthony was so close to having a decent relationship with clover and he just totally wrecked it for the foreseeable future.

Mostly she’s going to be mad at Ben, obviously because they’re the closest, but she’s going to be really pissed at everyone involved. Including Colin because he knew and didn’t tell her; I could see at least some damage being done to their relationship, which is sad because they had such a cute friendship.

Will lady bridgerton know about the duel? Will Eloise? I’d like clover to have at least one person to talk to, though I suppose she could always talk to Josie and Bess and her aunt and everyone.

I wonder if clover will stay in her house with Ben, or if she’ll be angry enough to stay somewhere else for a while. This is already going to wreck Ben, if she stays somewhere else it might break him.

Going back to the Anthony/family thing, this is such an interesting view of how all of the bridgertons are that way for one another and can’t imagine seeing things any differently. It wasn’t just Anthony that took that risk, it was his brothers as well, and daphne by riding out there in the middle of it.

It’s also a really interesting look at how Anthony didn’t even question if Ben and Colin would support him; he assumed they would, he counted on it. It’s a really interesting look at when being dependable goes too far.

I’m not entirely sure if they would count as being an enmeshed family, but I kind of feel like they would be. They’ve got very few boundaries with one another and rely on each other for everything, not even considering personal cost when it comes to the well being of their family. It’s great and amazing until it goes too far; there’s a reason why personal boundaries exist and are important, even within a well meaning tightly knit community like theirs.

Are we going to get any peeks at Ben’s POV for the last portion of the chapter, and/or if he left a letter or anything for her?

I also wonder how much this will damage her relationship with not just the bridgerton boys, but also daphne and Simon as well. I definitely feel like she’s going to resent them for what happened, even though that in doing so she would be a total hypocrite considering what happened between her and Ben.

If Ben hadn’t been so noble, quick on his feet, and willing to save her, they might’ve ended up in a not dissimilar situation to daphne and Simon, though I doubt clover would be willing to think about that.

It’s also so interesting how even though I talked about Anthony’s relationship with his family as a contrast to clover, they’re actually really similar. Anthony just uses the biological definition of family while clover has her chosen family.

It’s really interesting to consider what happens when two people who are willing to burn the whole world down to protect their family end up clashing. (Enemies to lovers clover and Anthony when? Lmaooo)

Clover’s definition of family is so flexible; she can add people and cut them off in an instant, while Anthony’s definition is very fixed: if you’re family, you’re family for life, end of sentence.

In order to protect his world, Anthony was willing to burn down clover’s, and that’s never going to be okay with her.

I wonder if Anthony even really thought about the fact that he’d be sacrificing part of his own world (his brothers) to protect another (daphne), or if he just expected them to be okay with it.

I feel like Josie is finally going to hear the truth about everything because clover’s going to be too mad to keep it a secret. When it was just her life at stake (when their fake relationship began), she was willing to take her suffering to the grave, but now that someone she loves is in danger, everyone is going to know how much pain she’s in.

Wow I know I keep saying this, but Anthony and clover are so similar. Both willing to suffer silently (and needlessly) for themselves, but they’re immediately sounding every alarm the moment they perceive their family as being in trouble.

They are both trying to control everything around them to make sure that their families stay safe. Their control issues show up every time the two of them fight: both fighting for control to make their own family the priority, even if it’s just a conversation.

Weirdly, clover almost has better personal boundaries, even if it’s because she’s practicing self preservation and being overly defensive, because when Anthony tried to walk all over her, she immediately put him in his place, but Anthony pretty much considers himself a martyr for the betterment of his family and would let anything happen to himself in order to let them be happy.

This is kind of interesting because I feel like clover sees herself as a martyr too because she was one for so long. She sacrificed herself over and over again to protect teddy, to the point where she basically burned out. So now every time she gets anywhere near that ledge, she immediately tries to flee.

But she clearly doesn’t realize this because she for so long clearly planned to sacrifice her own life by marrying an old, abusive man and keep it quiet to protect teddy and her family from the truth, and to protect herself in what little ways she could. But again, the moment she thought that that could be a reality, she had a panic attack and ran. (I believe this is in the chapter at the opera house)

Okay going back to this chapter: I’m so mad because Ben and clover are clearly just in a super sucky situation all around, and both trying the best they can to protect each other, only it backfires miserably in this case.

Honestly I’m mad at Anthony on behalf of clover. Like daphne and Simon are annoying, but ultimately they didn’t do anything that clover and Ben didn’t already do, so it’s not as condemnable, but Anthony so clearly is trying to protect his family by sacrificing everyone else, which is admirable in theory but so not cool in practice.

Idk a lot of thoughts, as always. Ugh this cliffhanger is killing me and it hasn’t even been an hour lmao.

Damn this season is fucking wild for the bridgertons lmao I love it

Omg omg CMA honeeeey! ❤️ I have so many thoughts about this! 😱❤️

Aw I hope your finals went well! 🥰

Colin will never stop roasting both Benedict and Anthony 😂 He loves it😁

Josie had her thoughts ever since that dinner...😏

I totally agree with you on the Anthony thing! ❤️ Like, for him family is the most important thing, that's also why he never even implied his feelings for Charlie because he thought Benedict had feelings for her, and he is so used to sacrificing himself for his family that he didn't even consider doing anything else ❤️

He would do anything for Charlie as well🥰😍

And seeing this with clover is especially interesting because she started very much as an outsider and he considered her basically a hostile threat to be controlled, and then almost immediately after she became family, he’s suddenly expecting everything to be good between them. Absolutely! This is such a good point! ❤️

Like, Anthony made up his mind about Clover before even bothering to get to know her, and he was incredibly angry because he thought she somehow caused Lottie's heartbreak😁 But now he knows that's not the case😏

And also, the minute Clover married Benedict, she became family ❤️ So like at this point, Anthony would do anything for her as well because she's a part of his family, regardless of their earlier arguments or future ones😁

They really are so similar😏

Omg different types of trauma for them both, exactly! 😱

Yessss Benedict didn't even tell her he was going to a duel❤️ Like, he was ready to die for Anthony and the only thing he told her was that he loved her 😭

Oh yeah, Anthony definitely confessed his love for Lottie 😏❤️ After years! ❤️

I know it’s fair because he’s been doing everything perfectly so far and he was bound to mess up at some point, plus I know he’s doing it with the best intentions but still Funny you should mention that darling, because when the actual angst hits and Benedict messing up happens... 😈

You're absolutely right, she is a hurricaneeee😈

She will be incredibly angry at Anthony as well for putting Benedict in danger but mostly Benedict for putting himself in danger like that 😏

She will stay in the house but their dynamic...😏 It'll be different!

I don't think they will know about the duel actually! 😱 Because that would lead to them knowing the real reason behind that wedding 😏

That whole family is so ready to die for each other! 😂 No questions asked whatsoever 😁

Oh Benedict didn't leave her any letters or anything 😈

If Ben hadn’t been so noble, quick on his feet, and willing to save her, they might’ve ended up in a not dissimilar situation to daphne and Simon, though I doubt clover would be willing to think about that. Definitely! ❤️ Their situations are so so similar to each other! ❤️

Enemies to lovers clover and Anthony when? I HAVE SO MANY IDEAS FOR THAT AU HELP😁

In order to protect his world, Anthony was willing to burn down clover’s, and that’s never going to be okay with her. I LOVE THIS SENTENCE SO MUCH😍😭 It's so good! ❤️

Both Anthony and Clover get feral when it comes to their family being in any kind of danger and yessss they both have control issues! ❤️ That's also why they clashed that much from the first minute they started talking to each other 😁

She sacrificed herself over and over again to protect teddy, to the point where she basically burned out. So now every time she gets anywhere near that ledge, she immediately tries to flee. Absolutely! ❤️ She is terrified of it and that's also why she is so much in denial about her feelings for Benedict and their marriage ❤️

Both Anthony and Clover would totally die for their families, no hesitation ❤️ Totally martyrs! ❤️

I am very excited for the next chapter 😈❤️

Darling, thank you so much, this is so good! ❤️ You're amazing, ILYSM! ❤️

[bcolfanfic]

always up for more hcs about naomi and josie, sweet girls <3

the sweetessst girls ever. re: wyatt's awful horrible lore, rip to his mental health but i really do like the idea of their relationship getting as serious as it does while he's missing. micah is understandably a *mess*, and josie being so protective of him can more or less feel his emotions herself. so she has a really hard time with everything too and it's good for her to have naomi during all that. they get in a little spat at some point because naomi worries she's just using her as a distraction, but it isn't that at all. josie truly does love her to death, and is grateful that she has that safe place in her when everything else is a mess.

when wyatt does pop back up and is in the hospital in wyoming for quite a while (he also stays with the bucks/micah for a while after which i might make its own posts bc whew that goes to hell fast lmfao- but at that point josie has her own place) i think naomi takes a week off from college (josie is already outta school, naomi's a senior) to go be with her. sits with her in the waiting room when they're waiting to be able to see wyatt, drives them around to go get food and distract themselves. just couldn't stomach *not* being there knowing how hectic everything became literally overnight. makes wyatt crack a laugh a little too seeing them together in that it feels like he went missing and their whole little 2nd gen group turned into love island while he was gone lmao. naomi and josie, jj and meadow, his little brother he still sees as a baby sawyer and ollie (i still need to make a post abt him but he's jamie's nephew that him/benny has custody of).

[official-kenralie-fanbase]

i meant that Josie's adoptive mom is a pyrokinetic, for that exact drama reason. Oralie having to deal with the fact that a pyrokentic not only raised her daughter. but that Josie doesn't have a fear of fire but a respect for it, and will use it when fighting if she can.

but now you got me thinking how interesting it would be to have Josie be a Pyrokenetic, atm she’s got almost identical abilities to Sophie, expect that She’s a Memser not an Enhancer.

and her memering is enhanced and that’s on top of my Memser headcannon. which is that when memsers are controlling people they go into a trance where everything happening around them doesn’t feel real, and they don’t realize that what they are making people do in their minds is actually happening in reality. so it would be very difficult for her to control.

i’m going for a science experiment gone wrong vibe with her, and because of Rex and Lex we know that abilities aren’t always the same for identical twins, if she only had a few abilities (compared to Sophie) and they where not the same ones it would actually work in cannonicly…wait they removed all the pyrokinetc genes from Sophie’s DNA Josie can’t be a pyrokinetic.

i could make her have less abilities, i was already going to have her be barley able to teleport because she has less ailcorn DNA than Sophie (her one blue eye reflects that) or not be able to teleport at all, i mean Telepath, Memser and Inflictor are really the only ones i have effecting the story.

and i was going to have her inflicting messed up BAD, like it works more like electricity. when she’s upset she’s like charged up with her inflicting if people touch her they will get a static of inflicting. (also this weird red vein thing that hurts her that part is still just an idea)

the whole point is she’s the broken moonlark, the accident, she’s not supposed to exist, but she does, and her abilites should probably reflect that

i’m just thinking out loud into your ask box please let me know your thoughts on this/ ability suggestions? (i’m now kinda debating shade just because it’s my favorite, and it would be interesting)

Oh okay that makes sense! Maybe I'm biased because pyrokinetic is one of my favorite abilities, but I do think it would be really cool to have Josie as a pyrokinetic if there was a way that would work. Her adoptive mom could also be one, and maybe that's why she was placed with her, so she could learn how to control her abilities.

But oohh I also love the Mesmer idea! Maybe since she's kind of an experiment gone wrong, she has different elements of different abilities? Like maybe she has just a hint of pyrokinesis, where she could control fire if someone else summons it, but can't summon it herself. I like the idea of weak teleporting and messed up inflicting, maybe she has really glitchy abilities? I can picture something like her using telepathy just fine and then all of a sudden it just stops working.

Those are my thoughts, but of course you can write it however you want! And feel free to think out loud into my ask box at any time. :)

[chronically-sawyer-pilled]

TCSM Sissy x OC

"Sweet Sugar" Part 10 (Final part)

Part 1

18+, Minors BEGONE (DNI)

Warnings for whole story: NSFW, Murder, Cannibalism, Drugging, Coercion, Slight noncon, Unwanted touching, Abuse, Blood, Knifeplay, Bondage, Kidnapping, Sweat stuff, human faces being worn, pet names (sweetie, sugar, sunshine) general horror themes. This is a work of pure fiction, pure horror fiction - the actions in this story are not to be taken as positive depictions of affection.

After pulling away from her lips, she made her way down Josie's skin, shuffling her face between her thighs. She kissed, bit and licked down her legs, teasing Josie with every movement. "Sissy please…" "Beg for me." Sissy demanded "What?" "Beg. Beg me to touch you. Beg for me to make you mine. I won't touch you until you do." "Please Sissy… Please make me yours." "You aint beggin hard enough~" "Please! Please!!" Josie screamed, tears welling in her eyes "Cry for me sunshine, sweat for me, show me you want me!" "I don't know if I can beg any harder, please!" Josie whined, after flashing her a quick smile, Sissy made her move.

Gentle was the last thing you would describe her as, each thrust of her fingers was faster than the last, deeper than the last, her tongue lapped desperately, suckling at whatever she could find - she'd done this before. At first she used one finger, then two, then three, she enjoyed feeling her stretch out around her, enjoyed her desperate pleas, enjoyed the way her body shook like jolts of electricity had burned through her. Sissy went from massaging her deepest parts to licking and suckling at whichever hole she landed on first, she went from fingerfucking Josie relentlessly to teasing her clit, all suddenly without any seeming pattern - she was feral - fucking Josie like her life depended on it. She didn't know how many times she'd made her cum, Sissy didn't stop, she was relentless, laughing every time she felt her body shake, every time she felt her twitch.

Everything was a blur, she was overstimulated and so high she couldn't focus on anything but overstimulation - her mind was mush, it was nothing, every orgasm Sissy brought only dumbed her down more, leaving her nothing but a moaning, babbling mess lying in a puddle of her own juices. Maybe this was exactly what she wanted - to make her the perfect little girlfriend, to keep around to suit her needs, a brainless little princess just for her. A princess who never fought back, who never said no, who never stopped loving her. As her mind numbed, she began to think maybe that's what she wants too - after all, if Sissy wants it, she should want it. She'll be perfect for her.

She'll be hers.