#THIS IS NOT MY FAULT

[kinardsevan]

wip Thursday

tagged by the effervescent @perfectlysunny02, and in the same vein as them, don't I have a million WIPs? Yes, yes I do. But also, I mentioned this idea last week. And... well... oops? (And it's entirely their fault because of the violence they chose with THEIR teaser today.)

Alas, I give you unnecessary, momentary, legendary (working title)

-

Tommy wasn’t supposed to be here. That’s all he could think about; he wasn’t supposed to be here. 

He’d had a full day of plans while Evan was on shift. He was supposed to stop by Harbor and pick up a package he’d had shipped there and forgot to bring home the night before. He was supposed to have lunch with Howie and Jee-Yun. He was supposed to swing by the 118 and swap keys with Evan because something was going on with the Rubicon’s engine. He was supposed to spend the afternoon figuring out if it was going to be an easy fix or not. Evan would be home before sunset. 

He wasn’t supposed to be here. 

Except, Evan was back at work after being down with a nasty virus for the past few days, and the only thing that had really been helping him feel better was the honey citrus tea from their favorite café. It wasn’t even a drink that his boyfriend cared for that much, but Tommy had introduced it to him the first time he’d gotten sick a few months into their relationship, and it had been a game changer for him. It wasn’t a cure by any means, but it definitely helped. 

He wasn’t supposed to be here. 

“Natalie?” He croaks out her name, leaning half up off of the tile floor, hand pressed into his abdomen next to his hip. He can’t see her behind the glass casing that contains the pastries, and she hasn’t said anything in a few minutes. The higher he tries to sit himself up, the more pain shoots down his side. “Nat!?” 

It takes more than a few seconds, but eventually—too long—he hears the sound of what he assumes is broken glass shifting on the floor. A small whimper. 

“T-Tommy?” 

“Nat?” He calls back, turning his head towards the back of the counter again. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” 

She doesn’t respond, but then he sees the familiar flurry of jello-red hair appear from behind the pastry case, and then she’s climbing over the counter, her combat boots crunching glass on the floor as she moves towards him. Tommy looks up at her, his paramedic skills immediately kicking in as he takes her in. 

She’s got a cut on her forehead and her hands are bleeding—he assumes from all the broken glass. There’s a slash across her forearm where the knife got her, bleeding pretty decently. His eyes trail down to the side of her apron, the stain spreading across it and her jeans. She’s bleeding from somewhere on her leg. His gaze drifts to the counter and the streak of blood coming across it where she crawled over. 

“N-Nat, we gotta call the cops,” he tells her warily. 

“What if he comes back,” she asks anxiously, her voice shaking as tears come down her face. She sinks to the ground next to him, ignorant of the glass on the ground around him. 

Tommy shakes his head at her, digging into his pocket with blood-coated fingers, fumbling his phone when his fingers come into contact with it. He pulls it out as he looks back up at her. 

“You gave him everything, right,” he asks her. “Didn’t fight?” 

“No,” she sobs, leaning over him. “God, Tommy, I’m so sorry.” 

He shakes his head at her, reaching for one of the napkin holders knocked onto the floor nearby. 

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” he tells her. He keeps flashing hot and cold, and he can feel himself getting clammy. He tries to focus his attention on his phone, dialing the number into it. 

“Tommy, you’re bleeding,” she cries. 

“I’m fi-…fine,” he stammers, slumping back against the floor. “We’re fine.” 

“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” 

“5943 Ventura Boulevard,” he rattles off. “This is off-duty Rescue 1701 out of Harbor Station, I need to be transferred to Maddie Buckley.” 

“Just a moment sir.” The line clicks off for all of ten seconds, and then clicks back on. 

“9-1-1, this is Maddie Buckley speaking,” her voice comes back. There’s just the slightest hitch of anxiety in her voice, like she knows being routed to personally isn’t normal. 

“Maddie,” he rasps, squeezing his eyes shut tightly, trying to get the tears out of them. 

“Tommy,” she replies, her voice suddenly flooded with panic. “What’s going on? Is Evan- a-are you- is Howie-…” 

“They’re fine,” he chokes out. “B-but, I need RA and police. S-Stabbing at the café.” 

His head drops back against the floor, and he can feel his vision getting fuzzy. He looks over at Natalie. She looks even more panicked than she did before. His gaze drifts down to where his other hand is. Blood is completely coated over his fingers. 

“N-Nat, I need you to use your apron to apply pressure,” he rasps. 

“Stabbing?! Tommy where are you,” Maddie cries from the other end of the line. Tommy rattles the address off to her again. 

“D-dont send Evan,” he rasps at her. “God, he can’t find me. You hear me, Maddie? Don’t send him. Do not let him see me like this.” 

She hiccups a cry on the other end of the line, and there are hushed voices clearly trying to get her off the line, but she speaks clearly enough that Tommy hears when she growls ‘no’ back at whoever is trying to get her to hand the call off. 

“You know I love him, right,” he continues. Natalie presses her apron into his side then and he can’t help the cry that falls out of his mouth. “F-fuck. M-Maddie?” 

“I know,” she cries. “Stay with me, Tommy. Don’t hang up on me.” 

He nods letting his head rest back against the floor. 

“No, come on, Tommy,” Natalie cries, pressing harder into his wounds. “Come on. Stay awake.” 

“Trying,” he murmurs, looking around the floor. “I-I, I want to marry him, you know,” he tells Maddie. “He just walked into my life like- like he was always supposed to be here. And I thought I’d lost out on my chance by taking too long to figure my shit out. Fuck, Nat. Yeah, that’s good, keep pushing down.” 

“He talks about you being it for him all the time,” Maddie replies. He can tell she’s crying. “Keeps telling me that he thinks you’ll be a great dad.” 

Tommy lets out a small laugh and then groans at the wave of pain that shoots across his abdomen and stomach. 

“I wasn’t sure, before him,” he replies, letting his eyes slip shut. The phone starts to sag in his hand, but the cry of Natalie’s voice and sudden, sharp pressure on his side has his eyes shooting open again. “Fuck, okay. Okay.” He swallows hard, taking a breath. “B-but if anyone could convince me that we could do it together, it’s him.” 

Maddie hiccups another sob. “I’ve watched him lose one relationship after another, think what he’s holding onto is the right one while knowing it isn’t. But I never said anything because I was just his sister, you know? And I know you said he walked into your life, but you spun into his with a literal hurricane and I’ve never seen him… I don’t even know, Tommy. This settled? Happy? Secure?” 

“H-he deserves it,” Tommy rasps, his head lolling back and eyes getting heavier. 

“Damn it, Tommy, come on,” Natalie cries. “Stay awake, please.” 

“s’getting harder,” Tommy slurs. “Maddie, I love him. So much more than I’ve ever loved anyone else. Want him more, dream about him more, choose him more. My life begins and ends at Evan Buckley.” The tears swimming in his eyes finally slip down the side of his face, his vision tight now, and extremely hazy. 

“Tommy, stay with me,” Maddie cries. Her voice seems farther away now. “The ambulance is so close. Please?” 

“Tell him I love him more than anything else,” he replies, coughing out another groan. “That I choose him. Every day, all the time. I pick him.” He pauses for a moment, his eyes too heavy to open back up. “I love you, Evan.” 

[tojirights]

LISTEN

WHAT IF SHE GOT BRUTALLY MURDERED ON THEIR WEDDING DAY

+ ALASTOR WAS MADLY IN LOVE WITH HER YEARS BEFORE HE EVEN PROPOSED, HE LITERALLY ADORED HER SM JUST TO HAVE HER RIPPED AWAY FROM THE SECOND HE GOT HER☹️

AND THEN HAD TO WAIT DECADES TO SEE HER AGAIN EVEN THO HE THOUGHT HE NEVER WOULD

This is all your fault😞🫵🏻

- 🦢 anon

AND THATS WHY HE STARTED KILLING PEOPLE BECAUSE HE WAS SO DISTRAUGHT THAT SOMEONE TOOK HIS DARLING LOVE AWAY FROM HIM THAT HE DECIDED THAT OTHERS DESERVED HIS PAIN

so then he gets sent to hell not knowing that his betrothed was in heaven :'))))

[red-room-studi0]

sorry...

but also not sorry lmfao-

[theartgremlin]

Okay, but hear me out…

[vup]

I'm sorry to bring more suffering to the side story readers. But I will not bear this cursed knowledge alone!

KDJ's fragments all have the power of OD to maintain the universe(s).

It means LHH also had that power.

In the side story, all of his abandoned settings/drafts become reality.

Cult of Life, pattern of Dark Keeper, second black(random items) box…

Side story happened because in his unconscious, his OD part dreams about this world.

Just look back to the main story!!!! 

When we first met him.

When he first met YJH.

a legendary tale of those authors who mysteriously vanished from the world, only to triumphantly return with stunning epics in tow. The tale of incredible luck that only a select handful of writers are blessed with. Lee Hak-Hyeon realized what kind of a situation this was, and his shoulders began trembling. 'I-i-is this the chosen author cliché??' If all the webnovels he had read so far had some dose of reality in them, then that black coat-wearing man should take Lee Hak-Hyeon into the world of a novel. And then, he'd ask the latter to fix the conclusion written by another writer. The latter would utilize his brain honed by clichés to its fullest extent and go on to perform truly fantastical feats. "Yes, yes! I know how to do it! I shall change your world's future!"

[baremueran]

and i must say I've read all ghostroach fics on ao3 three weeks ago so its reasonable i feel empty everyday 💔🏳️

[qqueenofhades]

YOU FIX THAT KASTLE FICLET YOU JUST WROTE. COME BACK HERE RIGHT NOW. HOW DARE. I AM FRAGILE!!!

FUNNILY ENOUGH I WAS LITERALLY JUST OPENING TUMBLR LIKE "I WONDER IF MADS HAS SEEN THAT KASTLE PROMPT FILL YET. HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH."

SO IN OTHER WORDS, THIS PLEASES ME GREATLY.

[pooksbedamned]

[theresa-of-liechtenstein]

found something out that is going to fucking ruin my day (course required for graduation and only offered once a year conflicts with course required for graduation and only offered once a year)

[justnerdystuffs]

So. Imagine post reunion Hob is in the Dreaming library being shown around by Dream. We've been there, right? And thennnnnn. They run into the famous inhabitant of the Dreaming, and contributor to the library, William Shaxberd.

And Hob, who spent CENTURIES trying to get Dream's attention, approval, a measure of affection, hell even just his NAME. Hob, who was stood up in 1589 for this prick who clearly got some favour that Hob didn't deserve....

Who thought he was over his grudge against Shaxberd, he truly did, the man was long dead, we aren't jealous of the dead, turns to Dream, looks him in the eyes and just asks.

'Et tu, brute?'

[rowantown]

I’ve just been informed that Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit are two separate things (even though they’re set in the same universe but ok) and now I’ve disappointed my family in a whole new way.

[cookiecrumbconundrum]

i think my co-star wants my ass to do something

[rtz669]

I FUCKED UP ANOTHER CHEMISTRY TEST

KILLL YOURSELF NOWWWW!!!!!!!!

[snatching-ishidates-wig]

I cannot express how little I wanted this

[podcastwizard]

cashier: ok that'll be $20

me (visibly sweating): ah, yes, of course! a perfectly reasonable price for a grilled cheese and a small smoothie! that was exactly the price i expected you to say when i ordered a single grilled cheese and a smoothie and my vision is NOT getting blurry as we speak! i am a perfectly normal temperature and my speech patterns are natural and even because this is the countenance of an individual who expected to pay 20 american dollars for a single grilled cheese and a smoothie!

cashier: where's all that blood coming from

[lazylittledragon]

can't believe we're all adults being forced into the club penguin level of censorship in 2024