#To make this even better lets say Danny is also a Time Travel Baby | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

illicitlimerence-writes · 2 years

Text

princess peach | d. ricciardo

pairing: dad!daniel ricciardo x mom!reader word count: 2.2k words request: yes, by an anon: “soooooo we need a baby ric #2 announcement fic now dont we??? its onyl right.”prompt: running around barefoot + fresh fruits from this prompt list. warnings: fluff, kids, pregnancy, my dream of living on a big farm, language. a/n: i swear to god, at least one of y’all better get my ‘rugrats’ reference bc otherwise imma feel old. also, in this fic this whole mclaren fiasco isn’t happening. just because. danny boy needs a break.

my masterlist / summer of love masterlist / this is a part two of ‘baby ric’

“you want this one?” you asked, looking at henry as he inspected the yellow lemon. he nodded, “okay, give me your hand,” you grabbed his little hand, wrapping it around the fruit, you helped him tug until it separated from the branch. he squealed in surprise, and you laughed, kissing his temple. “great job, henry! can you help me put it in the basket?” you pointed at it, and your little boy tossed it in. “good boy, my love. now let’s get three more.” you instructed, even though you knew he couldn’t comprehend what you were saying, he was only one year old.

now that you finally had some free time, you traveled to the other side of the world, to the farm you’d been working on for years to build and grow. daniel loved america, and he loved spending his time off there, to disconnect from everything and bask in the silence, it was only natural that you decided to buy some land there and build the perfect getaway. the texas heat was unforgiving, but that day was one of the good ones, it was sunny and hot, but not too much.

as usual, henry was sporting a bucket hat. his collection started growing since his first -and only- visit to the f1 paddock, the other drivers, -the younger ones, specially- started gifting henry little hats from their own merch collections. that day’s hat was flower themed.

after picking up the lemons you moved on to the apple tree. it had huge roots and large branches, the leaves gave the spot the perfect amount of shade, which made it the perfect place to sit down and just enjoy the day.

“i think these might be too tall for us, mister,” you said as you stared at the three, holding henry’s hand as he took a few steps around you. since he started walking about two months ago you had to have your eyes on him at all times, “what do you say we go find daddy?” as he heard that last word he looked up at you, making you laugh, “you like that idea?” you asked, turning around so you could walk back to the house. you looked down at henry, watching his little chubby legs on the green grass. he didn’t have shoes on, because he loved feeling the different textures as he walked, his favorite was the wooden floors of the house there in the farm. “babe?” you called as you entered, placing the basket by the door. “call for daddy,” you told henry.

“da!” henry repeated. you let go of his hand, letting him walk wherever he wanted to as you followed him. “da, da,” he kept talking. since the first time he said it, it became his favorite word.

“i hear my mini man,” you turned to the side, watching daniel walking down the stairs that led to the second floor. he walked to you, wrapping an arm around your waist as you leaned into his side. it took henry one second to waddle to you, raising his arms, wanting to be picked up. you started leaning down when dan stopped you, “careful, i’ve got him,” he grabbed henry in his arms, kissing his cheek.

“i’m okay, you know? i’m pregnant, not sick or something,” you said, running your fingers through henry’s hair,

“still, you already do so much for us, you deserve a break.”

“i don’t need a break, i need your help getting apples from the tree, don’t we, henry?” you said, grabbing dan’s hand and leading him outside, grabbing the basket on your way out.

once you got back to the tree, henry started extending his arms, ready to pick the apples he wanted. you sat against the trunk of the tree, watching them toss the fruit into the basket.

“i didn’t mean to upset you,” daniel said, sitting in front of you, as henry played with the fruits he’d collected.

“you didn’t. i know you’re looking out for me, but you’re worse than you were when i was pregnant with henry,” you raised an eyebrow, a soft smile on your face. “i am still me, i can pick up my child if he needs me,” you said, and watched him open his mouth to speak, “she’s perfectly fine, she’s safe, i can still bend down, tie my shoes, play with henry. i’m six months pregnant, not eight and a half.”

“i just… i want you, all of you to be okay.”

“i know, and i love that you worry and care so much about us, but it’s all gonna be okay. we’ll be alright.” you leaned forward, lifting a hand to his cheek and pressing a quick kiss to his lips.

“i’m sorry,” he started, but you shook your head.

“no need. how about… you make it up to me by playing with your son, who’s missed you so much all week,” you grabbed henry by his middle and placed him in daniel’s arms, “while i go and was this up, make some lemonade, and cut these apples up,” it wasn’t much of a question, seeing as you stood up with the basket in your arms and started walking away as they got up.

through the kitchen window, you spotted them. daniel passed a plastic ball to henry, who tried to kick it, but lost his balance and fell on his bum. you paused cutting the apples, watching as henry started crying, but daniel helped him up, hugged him, and they started playing with the ball again. soon enough their loud chuckles invaded the whole farm.

after playing the entire afternoon, the three of you sat against the big apple tree. the shade was just perfect there, and the wind had started picking up. henry was currently holding your phone, too close to his face, daniel’s parents on the other side of the screen as they talked to their grandson. you laughed as dan took your phone from henry, moving it away from his face so he could see them, and so they could see something other than henry’s nose.

“somebody needs a diaper change,” dan said, noticing your baby boy’s focused face and his small frown.

“your turn, dad,” you said, he chuckled. after saying goodbye to his parents, your boys left you for a few minutes, coming back with two glasses of lemonade, and a sippy cup for henry.

“for you, my lady,” dan said, handing you one cup.

“thank you, love,” you smiled. you took a sip, and a few seconds later felt something weird in your belly. “looks like someone likes lemonade,” you placed a hand on your stomach, rubbing it, “come on, girl,” you whispered, wanting to feel her little kicks again.

“she’s kicking?” daniel asked, his eyes bright. you nodded, grabbing his hand and placing it where you felt her movements. “drink some more,” he suggested. after taking another sip you felt it again. “she’s got some powerful legs,” he laughed, you nodded. “come here, henry, feel this,” your baby boy stared at your hands, of course, he had no idea what was happening.

“look, henry, it’s your sister.” you said as daniel pressed henry’s hand on your belly. you drank some more lemonade, and henry looked at you both once his sister started moving. “say hi,”

“da,” henry said, making you laugh.

“say ‘hi, sis’,” daniel tried again.

“sis,” henry repeated. you gasped, since he started talking the only word he’d actually repeat was ‘da’. he’d make other noises, but when asked to talk, he’d just babble or say ‘da’.

“say that again,” you said, opening your camera app and starting recording. “say ‘hi sis’,”

“sis,” he said again, and this time you let out a loud squeal of joy.

“that was so good, henry!” daniel said, lifting him in his arms and kissing his cheek. “that’s your sister right there,” he said, placing henry’s hand back on your belly. “you two are gonna be the best of friends, i can already tell,” he continued speaking softly, you adjusted the camera to capture henry’s wide eyes as he felt his sister kicking, daniel’s bright smile, and the texas sunset of that august day.

��i must say i’m loving the attention,” you laughed, their hands on your belly felt warm, daniel was drawing invisible shapes as henry moved his hands wherever he felt the baby’s kicks.

“you deserve all of the attention, my love. your doing the most marvelous thing right now. i promise you, these next weeks we’re doing anything you want. whatever you feel like doing,”

“i just want to spend time with you. soon enough we won’t outnumber the kids in our house, i want to enjoy these weeks being just us three.”

the next morning, you woke up to an empty bed. neither dan nor henry were inside the house. you took a quick shower, figuring they must be outside, playing. once you changed into a large, flowy dress and skipped the shoes, you stepped outside. you walked to the area where you had all of the fruit trees and where the vegetables were growing, but they weren’t there, either. you grabbed your phone, calling daniel.

he didn’t pick up, didn’t need to, you heard the ringtone nearby. you walked that way, seeing them sitting a few meters away from the creek.

“good morning, you two,” you said as you walked to them, avoiding the muddy spots.

“da!” henry yelled as he saw you, you sat next to them, kissing henry’s cheek.

“what were you doing?” you asked, helping henry climb onto your lap.

“we picked up some peaches, came down here to wash them. he liked them,” dan smiled, you ran your hand through his hair, “we saved you some,” he pointed to the same basket you’d used yesterday, inside there sat some peaches and an apple.

“thank you,” you smiled, “this little miss and i are hungry, we skipped breakfast to come look for you boys,”

“aw, sweets,” daniel said, you shrugged. “henry and i were going to play tag for a bit, care to join us?” he asked, you shook your head.

“you boys go ahead, i’ll stay here a bit, yeah?” you passed henry to daniel, who leaned forward to kiss you. henry had enough of it, splitting the two of you apart, which made you laugh. “okay, mister. no need to be rude, you can go now.” you grabbed henry’s hand, and moved so he tapped daniel’s shoulder, “you’re it, dad. run, henry, go!” you cheered for your boy, who ran to the other side of the field, his bare feet guiding him away from his father, who chased after him.

you grabbed one of the peaches from the basket, taking a small bite. the baby liked it. you smiled as you grabbed your phone, taking a picture of the peach in your hand, and your belly.

you uploaded the picture to your instagram, which was filled with pictures of henry.

‘princess peach’ you captioned it.

the world knew you were pregnant, you’d been with daniel for the last race before break, in budapest, and you knew it was inevitable for pictures to come out. now they knew that you were having a baby girl coming in a few months.

after eating some of the fruit your had picked out for you, you lay down on the grass, looking up at the sky. it was so blue, and the clouds were so white, it was almost unreal.

“da, da,” you heard henry, you lifted your head, looking around for him.

“look what we found,” daniel said, helping you sit up. he handed something to henry, you extended your hand, and henry handed you a flower.

“oh, it’s so pretty! look, henry, it matches your shirt!” he was wearing a yellow button-up shirt, “here,” you placed the stem inside the little pocket, the petals sticking out. “you look so handsome, my darling boy.” you kissed his cheek, lying back down on the grass, placing henry next to you.

“what were you doing?” daniel asked as he imitated your position.

“finding shapes in the clouds,” you chuckled. “wanna play?” you asked, looking to your side, and noticed henry was falling asleep.

“the best one wins,”

“loser is on diaper duty for a week,” you grinned, raising your eyebrows.

“oh, it’s on. he ate so many peaches today, i do not want to clean that up,” you chuckled, and nodded. henry rolled to his side, and daniel placed him on top of him, moving so he was pressed up next to you. “that’s a dragon,” he pointed up to the sky, you nodded. looking around to look for another one.

“starting off strong, i like it. let’s see if you can keep it up,” you smirked, already spotting the perfect one. “that’s reptar.” you pointed to the dinosaur from one of your favorite childhood cartoons.

“holy shit,” dan said after a few seconds, spotting it. “it’s identical.”

“i know. can you beat that?”

you spent about fifteen minutes waiting for daniel to find something better than yours.

“have fun changing diapers, daddy. princess peach and i appreciate it,” you chuckled as you pecked his lips.

@idkiwantchocolatee @yeolsbubbles

804 notes · View notes

snackleggg · 3 years

Text

It wasn't hard, in that moment

~~~

Angsty one shot without a happy ending. Sometimes hate can blind you to the simplest things.

~~~

This couldn't be happening.

There was no way this was happening.

But the screen didn't change as Maddie and Jack Fenton stared at the news on their TV.

" -and with all this in mind the government has not only decided to revoke the Anti-ecto act but to also give ghosts and other ectoplasmic entities that fall under that category basic civil rights. The GIW and several other unethical ghost hunting organisations are being shut down as a result and the government will soon be moving onto the inspection of smaller groups and individuals that have shown excessive malice towards these beings-" The news reporter continued on but Maddie couldn't really listen to anything else they were saying.

She didn't think it would ever get this out of hand. At first it had been small things, the impressionable and naive children of Casper high supporting that menace Phantom. Then when word of ghosts being real spread to the rest of the world other groups supporting them and their rights as people started popping up.

Now the Anti-ecto laws were not only taken down but new laws protecting the scum were put up. How did this happen?

A growl escaped Maddie "Phantom".

Of course that evil menace had to be up to this. He and his ghost pals must have mind controlled government officials. Now Fenton works would undoubtedly be inspected and shut down considering the new Ectoplasmic Protection Act.

They had to work fast Maddie decided.

If they could destroy Phantom then whatever ghostly hold he had over the government would disappear and they would all come to their senses.

Maddie stood up and started stomping her way down the stairs. She didn't even notice Jack continuing to watch the news as they interviewed some ghosts on what they thought about the situation. She didn't even notice how Jazz was standing proudly at the top of the stairs or the suspicious look Jazz threw her way when she had left.

With her new urgency it wasn't hard for her to finish a project they had in the works for a while. Her and Jack had kept it top secret so that the scum couldn't somehow find out and destroy it like they did with some of their other brilliant inventions.

The Fenton Ghost Filter was about to get a test run on the local menace.

Unlike something like the Ghost Grabber or a Ghost Shield, the Ghost Filter didn't filter ghosts from an object or just force them away. It filtered them from existence. Separating all their ectoplasm down to the molecular bond, they would become nothing but air.

It wasn't hard to find the menace. He had just finished sucking another ghost into a Fenton Thermos, Maddie still couldn't figure out where he had got his hands on one. It wasn't hard to get his attention and expertly lie about her intentions, about seeing the news and understanding how wrong she had been, about how she wanted to speak to him and make a truce.

The words were bitter on her tongue and it took everything in her to keep her expression of friendliness up and not let any venom or disgust leak into her voice.

He was obviously still cautious when he approached her. He carried himself with the air of someone ready to bolt at the slightest sign of danger. Of course Maddie would never give him that chance.

The moment he was in close enough where she knew she wouldn't miss she pulled out her newest invention. She saw the moment he realised what she was about to do, the moment he realised she had lied and the moment he realised that even with his speed he wouldn't be able to dodge in time.

Maddie saw the fear in Phantom's acid green eyes.

She smiled.

She was proud to be the cause of that fear.

She pulled the trigger.

Time seemed to slow down after Phantom collapsed. Not in the good way either.

It wasn't the same kind of slow as when she was about to shoot him, when she was savouring that moment, that victory.

At first it was caused by confusion.

Why hadn't he been torn apart instantly? Maybe she had gotten something wrong in her rush to finish it? Maybe a calculation had been off?

Then white rings appeared around Phantom's waist and travelled up his body.

She was tense. Was this a new power? A new attack? Thanks to those damn new laws it would be seen as self defense if he attacked her now.

Then when the rings of white light disappeared her son was left there on the ground. He was screaming.

Over the years Maddie had learned to ignore the screams of ghosts, they were all just ploys to gain her sympathy of the emotionless creatures. The screams of ghosts had become white noise to her, nothing more than a passing irritation.

But infront of her right now was not a ghost but her son. Her baby boy. He was screaming. He was in pain.

The mother in her wanted to run over to her boy right then and try and make him feel better, comfort him and make his pain stop.

The ghost hunter in her, the part of her that had been driving her every action up until that point, whispered in her ear how this was a trap. Phantom was trying to trick her like always, trying to gain her sympathy by making himself look like her son.

The two sides were at war, and so Maddie was frozen.

Then time seemed to snap back into gear, moving fast now like a rushing river.

Someone ran past her, towards Danny (Phantomphantomphantom). It took her a moment to realise it was Jazz. She was quickly followed by Danny's two friends, Sam and Tucker.

They were all panicking. All calling out to Danny, asking what was wrong, asking what happened and what they should do. Reassuring him that everything was going to be okay, though it sounded like they were trying to convince themselves just as much as they were trying to convince him.

The entire time Maddie could barely hear them over the screams, over her son's (Phantom's) screams.

Then it all stopped.

The screams cut off abruptly, like the plug being pulled from a TV.

Danny (Phantom that's Phantom it's Phantom) fell limp.

Sam was crying, Maddie had never seen her cry before. She was always such a strong girl.

Tucker seemed to be franctically looking for a plus, both on Danny's wrist and neck.

Jazz was-

Maddie felt like she had been slapped when she looked at Jazz.

Jazz was staring at her- no, glaring.

There was so much in that glare.

Jazz had always expressed a lot of emotion through her eyes, she could never really hide what she was feeling if you looked her in the eyes.

There was rage, and sadness and- what Maddie didn't want to admit looked like hatred. Unshed tears sat in the corners of her eyes as she glared at Maddie like she had just taken everything from her.

Then her eyes trailed back to Danny's (Phantom's) limp form.

He wasn't breathing. He was still, too still.

His eyes closed from when they had been screwed shut in pain.

Tucker was now also crying, he had stopping looking for a pulse.

Maddie felt bile rise to the back of her throat as she replayed the events in her head.

Maddie saw the fear in Phantom's acid green eyes. (She didn't need to try hard to imagine those same eyes as blue- sky blue like the day the baby in her arms opened his eyes and she swore to always protect him)

She smiled. (That's the last thing he saw, her smiling. Smiling because she was about to kill hurt him)

She was proud to be the cause of that fear. (She caused that fear. Her own baby was afraid of her, and she had been proud of that)

She pulled the trigger. (She pulled the trigger, she shot him, she hurt him, she killed him)

"Tragedy struck today as Amity park's local ghostly hero Phantom, whose identity was revealed to be Damiel Fenton, was killed by none other than Madeline Fenton. It has been a common fact in the town of Amity for many years that the adult Fentons have harboured a, at times, unreasonable hatred to ghostly entities. While not all the details are yet known, the broader strokes of the story are that after the government's public declaration of the Ectoplasmic Protection Act yesterday Madeline Fenton decided to act out to destroy Phantom who she and her husband had claimed to be a menace multiple times. Taking a, as of yet unidentified, weapon and lulling Phantom into a false sense of security around her before she shot him and subsequently killed him. When he died his identity was revealed to be that of her own son who, we are told, after an accident involving their prized invention, the ghost portal, became part ghost and took personal responsibility for making sure that Amity park was safe from those who wished to harm it. Madeline Fenton is being charged with first degree murder and there is currently much debate on whether Jasmine Fenton should be removed from Jack Fenton's custody-" The news reporter went on.

Jack couldn't focuse on the TV anymore. His sobs having grown too loud to be able to hear what was being said.

His wife was going to be sent to prison.

His daughter hated them both.

His son was dead.

His son had died nearly two years ago and they hadn't noticed. They hadn't questioned his strange behaviour, the falling grades, the breaking curfew. They hadn't seen their son when they looked at Phantom, hadn't recognised him.

Then his son died again, by their invention again.

He was a terrible father.

He was a terrible person.

#danny phantom #danny phantom fic #angst #hurt no comfort #danny fenton #Maddie Fenton #jack fenton #jazz fenton #sam manson #tucker foley #dp fic #my writing

135 notes · View notes

kinglazrus · 3 years

Text

Not Your Danny – Ch 1. Moving Day

Phic Phight | Next | FFN | AO3

Submitted by @ecto-american: After Danny’s untimely death, his family and friends turn to Dani for comfort. She was so much like him in every single way. And she never felt more like a clone. A replacement for the “real” thing.

Summary: Maddie and Jack learn a lot of things about their son after his death: his powers, his secret life as the local hero, the truth behind his accident three years ago. And his clone who is so much like their boy. When Dani gets the offer to join their home, she thinks it's too good to be true. And she just might be right.

Word count: 2761

Two weeks after Danny dies, Danielle moves into his bedroom. It's a lacklustre affair. Dani has no belongings to bring with her, except the few trinkets stuffed in the pockets of her shorts. She only owns one pair of clothes, two of you want to be technically and count her ghost form. But that's tenuous at best when you consider the circumstances of her creation, and that her clothes were created withher, not given to her. She doesn't like to think about that too much, though.

Neither of Danny's parents are home for the occasion. Dani doesn't blame them. Her face time with Maddie and Jack Fenton over the past three years equals an hour at most—hour and a half if she really pushes it. And most of that time was with an ectogun between them. If she counts the times where she hasn't been staring down a glowing green barrel, then it's probably only five minutes, maybe less. And that only happened a few days ago.

Suffice to say, Dani and the Fentons don't have a good relationship, or a relationship of any kind. So she doesn't blame them for being out of the house when their dead son's clone, who they only recently found out about, takes over his bedroom. Although take over might be too strong of a phrase.

Dani floats next to Jazz, hovering in front of Danny's open bedroom door.

"Is it... okay?" Jazz asks.

Dani drifts inside, turning her head from side to side as she looks around. She likes the blue walls, and the open brick on the outer wall is kind of cool. The bed, covered in a purple bead spread, topped with a fluffy pillow, looks softer than anything she's ever slept on. The room is nice, if a bit messy with Danny's stuff still inside. Posters decorate the wall, some about space, others from some band called Dumpty Humpy. The shelves are stuffed full of books and model spaceships. His dirty clothes lie next to an open hamper in the corner of the room.

The sight surprises Dani more than anything.

"What are you gonna do with his stuff?" she asks. "Do people usually just," she gestures toward the room, "leave it like this?"

"What? No." Jazz shakes her head and quickly wipe her hand across her eyes. "When someone dies, their family or friends eventually pack their stuff away. Not always right away, though."

"Two weeks isn't long enough?"

Jazz's breath hitches. "Don't– don't say that. It's inconsiderate."

Dani's cheeks go hot at Jazz's admonishing tone. "Oh. Sorry." She floats further into the room, if only to escape the awkward air settling between them.

If Dani didn't know any better, she would guess that Danny had just stepped outside for a second and would be back any moment. Lowering herself to the floor, Dani settles on the carpet and walks toward the desk. A controller of some kind sits on the desk chair, its cord tangled with a headset. Dani picks the controller up and turns it over in her hand. She only vaguely recognizes the X logo in the middle of it; her travels over the past couple of years haven't exactly involved a lot of gaming. Or any.

There was a small handheld system she picked up at a garage sale once. She carried it for a few months but lost it somewhere along the way.

Dani tosses the controller onto the chair and turns back to Jazz. "So, now what?"

"Well, if you're not comfortable with Danny's things still being in here, we can get some boxes and start packing. I think we have some in the basement. If you want." Jazz tacks on the last three words with a soft voice.

"No, it's fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, course." It's just stuff, after all. Dani doesn't quite get it, which also means she doesn't care. If the Fentons don't want to move Danny's stuff yet, then it can stay. He was their son before he was Dani's cousin/DNA source.

"Okay. I guess I'll just... let you get settled, then. I have to work on some plans for the memorial, but Mom and Dad should be home in a couple hours. They said they wouldn't be gone long," Jazz says.

Dani nods. A few seconds of silence pass, and once it's obvious that neither of them is going to say anything more, Jazz turns and walks down the hall. Finally alone, Dani lets her ghost form fall away. The transformation rings prickle as their bright light ghosts over her skin, and when it fades, she's left in her typical shorts and hoodie. Dani rubs her arms until the prickling fades, then flops onto the bed.

Damn. It really is the softest thing she's ever lain on. And the blankets are warm. They smell like Danny, too. That's something Dani never thought she would think. She didn't even realize Danny had a smell, but it's hard to ignore now. It's not the most tangible smell. The best word Dani can find to describe it is crisp, like a cold day. She would bet her beanie that it was because of his ice powers, an ability they had never shared.

Dani shakes her head. Everything is weird enough right now. The last thing she needs to be contemplating is how Danny used to smell. It's also, like, a super creepy line of thought, yeah? Yeah.

As she stares up at the ceiling, a blur of movement catches her eye. Her gaze jumps toward it, in the corner of the bedroom closest to the door. A small brown lump clings to the ceiling. A bug, no doubt. Dani can't tell what kind, and she doesn’t care enough to find out. It's not too surprising, considering how messy Danny's room is. There's probably some old pizza hiding under his bed or something.

Dani rolls onto her side and closes her eyes. A little bug doesn't bother her, not after the places she's slept. And if the Fentons won't be home for a while, and Jazz is busy, she might as well take advantage of her new bed and the next few hours to get some shuteye. God knows she needs it.

—

Maddie feels sorry for Vlad's receptionist. She bears a striking resemblance to Maddie herself, with short auburn hair just a touch redder than Maddie's own, a curvy frame, and a sharp, pointed chin. She's even wearing blue, bless her heart. The girl is pretty, and young, and kind. Can't be too far out of high school, and hoping a job at the mayor's office will look good on her resume. Maddie hopes it pays off. The girl deserves it for putting up with Vlad daily. Working for him seems to be taking a toll on her, judging by the distressed look in her eyes when she looks up from Vlad's appointment book.

"I'm sorry, there's no appointment for you. I don't know if I can let you in," she says.

Maddie sighs. "Mr. Masters left me a message"—or several—"asking me to come in."

"I'm really sorry, but he didn't mention expecting you... oh no." The receptionist's eyes widen and she starts digging through papers on her desk. "Did I forget to write it down again? He got so upset last time."

Maddie reaches out and touches her shoulder, stopping the frantic search. "It's all right, dear. It's not your fault."

She suspected, when Vlad left numerous messages on her cellphone rather than calling the house, that something more was up. How Vlad even got her cellphone number she doesn't want to know. She will also be changing it very soon thanks to this incident.

"He's particular about his meetings," the receptionist says. "I really can't let you in."

"Just let him know I'm here, and I'll take care of the rest."

The receptionist nods. While she goes for the phone, Maddie steps away from the desk and turns back to the waiting area. It's empty besides her and the receptionist—not surprising this early on a Monday, and all the better for Maddie. She pulls her cellphone from her purse and checks the time; It's just after eight. Dani is due at Fenton Works soon, but Maddie and Jack won't be back until noon, at least. The reminder makes her wince.

Missing half of Dani's first day at home isn't ideal, but Maddie wants to get this meeting over with as fast as possible. They had other plans in the city, anyway, made before they invited Dani into their home. Better to get everything done at once.

Maddie eyes plush waiting room armchairs, wondering if there's any point in sitting down, when the receptionist calls out, "Mrs. Fenton?"

Maddie opens her mouth to answer, but her phone—still in her hand—buzzes at that moment. Jack's name stretches across the screen. "Excuse me." She steps toward the elevators on the far side of the room and turns her back to the receptionist, the closest semblance of privacy she can get, before answering her phone. "Hey, Jack. Is your meeting done already?"

"Not even close! How goes the shopping?"

"Fine so far. I forgot we didn't ask...." She tenses, feeling the receptionist's stare at her back. "We didn't ask what she might need, so I'm just grabbing the basics. Do you want me to pick something up for you? Are you waiting on the park board?"

"About that... I'm with them now, and—what day did we settle on for the memorial, again?"

Maddie shakes her head, but not out of annoyance. Jack forgetting the day hardly surprises her. He tends to forget the little details. If anything, it makes her feel grounded. The past two weeks have been a lot, to put it lightly. A lot of changes. A lot of revelations. But she can always rely on Jack to be his usual self.

"A month from today," she says.

"Thanks, baby! You're the best! See you later." The phone beeps as Jack hangs up. Maddie sighs while the corner of her lip twitches upwards. It's the closest she's come to smiling since Danny died. She holds like that for a moment, caught between the ache choking her heart and the desire for things to get better. They won't, not for a long time. She won't fool herself into thinking otherwise. But it's nice, for a moment, to pretend things might be okay.

"Leaving Jack alone with the DPR? I feel sorry for them." Vlad's slimy voice ruins the moment after the first syllable.

Maddie tenses, clutching her phone tighter, and turns to face him. "Vlad. It's bad business to ask for a meeting, then make your guest wait."

When Vlad smiles, his whitened teeth cut a bright slash across his cheeks. It's too wide, too sharp. Never reaches his eyes. Maddie remembers, long ago, when Vlad had a soft smile. He used it sparingly, doling it out to only the most deserved. She can't imagine him smiling like that now.

"Well, I don't mean to be presumptive, but when I phone a friend hoping for a visit, I expect them to stop by my house, not my work."

"Your mistake, then."

The receptionist's typing falters. Her have yet to stray from her screen, but Maddie already knows she's listening in. Vlad probably does, too.

"Natalie!" he snaps.

The receptionist jerks upright. "Yes, sir?"

Vlad rests a hand on Maddie's back and pushes her forward. She moves, if only to step out of his reach, and heads toward his office. Vlad reaches into his suit jacket as he walks. He pulls out his wallet and pinches a few random bills, tugging them out without looking. "Take a break. I'm sure you could use a coffee to perk you up."

He leans in front of Maddie to drop the bills on Natalie's desk. The contact makes Maddie grimace, and she hurries ahead into his office. When she turns, Vlad is already closing the door. The last thing Maddie sees of the waiting room is Natalie's frown as she glances at a paper cup sitting in plain view on her desk.

"Now, Maddie." Vlad turns. Rather than heading to his desk, he steps toward Maddie and touches her arm. "How are you doing?"

"You left me seven messages just so you could ask that?" Maddie brushes Vlad's hand off. In three long strides, she cuts across his office and takes one of the visitor's chairs. While the waiting room had plush armchairs, these are made of dark wood, armless, with firm leather cushions and straight backs. A deliberate choice, no doubt.

Vlad comes up beside her, his hand on the second chair. Before he can sit, Maddie swings her purse off her shoulder and drops it on the empty cushion. Vlad pauses, glances between her and the bag, but relents and takes his seat at the desk instead.

His chair sits considerably higher than Maddie's.

"I can imagine the pain you're going through right now," he says.

Maddie's fists clench. "Can you really?"

"Believe it or not, yes, I can." He pauses, giving her a chance to respond. But whatever question he wants her to ask, whatever game he wants to play, Maddie refuses to give in. She might have put up with him once, but after what he's done, he will be lucky if she willingly suffers his presence ever again after today.

She waits for Vlad to elaborate.

"I'm sure you've wondered, all this time, where Danny went whenever he disappeared for hours. Being our city's young hero explains a lot of it, yes, but to be honest, that wasn't everything." Vlad stops to take a deep breath, closing his eyes for a brief moment. It's quite the performance. "To tell you the truth, he was often with me."

Bullshit! Maddie wants to shout, but she bites it back. Her jaw aches from how hard she clenches her teeth.

"I discovered his secret a long time ago and gave him a safe place away from home. You know, when conversation at the dinner table got to be too much." Vlad pauses again, letting his words sink in.

Maddie hates that she knows exactly what he means. All those times she and Jack discussed their inventions, their plans for when they finally captured the ghost boy. Most of what Vlad is saying might be a lie, but the truth within it cuts her deeply. "Really?"

Vlad might think himself a great actor, but he's apparently ignorant to Maddie's own deception. He nods at her questioning tone, eyes low and mouth pressed into a grim line. "I understand this is hard to hear. I did my best to make him feel safe, and we actually became close. Over the years, I came to think of him as something of a son. And his death has affected me deeply."

He stands, trailing his hand along his desk as he walks around toward Maddie. His shoulders droop, as if Danny's absence weighs on him. It really is a good performance. Peering closer, Maddie sees that he even looks pallid, and purple bags rest under his eyes. A look easily accomplished with some pale foundation and smudged eyeshadow.

"It's like a piece of me is missing without him. I'm sure you feel the same. We need each other, Maddie. To make us whole again."

Vlad reaches toward her, but she ducks away from him, slipping out of her chair. His hand falls through the empty air and he stumbles, nearly falling into the chair.

Now he's being ridiculous, Maddie thinks. She could have fallen for the makeup and the sob story if she didn't know better, but the off balance act? The distressed look in his eye when she pulls away? She's insulted that he thinks she would fall for it.

"You're right Vlad. I'm in pain. Danny is gone and it feels like he took a piece of me with him when he died. But I have my family to help me through it." She grabs her purse off the other chair and heads for the door. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be."

"Madeline, please—"

"Vladimir!" Her shout tears at her throat. She turns on him, blinking to fight back the burn in her eyes. He stands frozen where she left him, crumpled pathetically against her empty chair, one hand still outstretched. Maddie swallows the lump in her throat. "Enough."

She leaves without another word.

#phic phight #phic phight 2021 #notyourdanny #nyd chapter one #phanfic #phicc #dp fanfiction #danny phantom #dani phantom #danielle phantom #hurt/comfort #family #danny phantom fanfiction #trans danny #trans danny fenton

71 notes · View notes

five-rivers · 4 years

Text

Stars Aligned Chapter 2

Here’s the thing. Danny knew this was a dumb decision. At least as dumb as stepping into the ghost portal (but at least he’d gotten some nifty powers out of that, hey?). Whatever reason his bio-dad had for chucking him out the door within days of his birth couldn’t be good. Putting himself within reach of the man… Yeah. Not his brightest thought.

(Not to mention the wizards. And witches. That was so weird, how they had two different names for essentially the same thing. Then again… actor, actress… Why were people so weird?)

On the other hand, twin brother. Twin brother who had to live with aforementioned baby-abandoning bio-dad. Twin brother who wasn’t allowed to visit America. Or, Danny suspected, a family of squibs.

Yeah.

So, here he was. Getting everything in order for a wizard passport and wizard international travel, because bio-family refused to even look at an airport.

Danny had a suspicion that, based on how they spelled the word and a few other comments in that particular letter, that they weren’t entirely clear on what an airport was.

Fun.

On the other hand, in comparison to the actual, normal, legal passport he’d gotten, just in case bio-family left him somewhere, wizard passports were much, much easier to get. The wait times were practically nonexistent. He could, in theory, get the passport on the same day he traveled. All that was needed was proof he was a wizard and his adoption papers.

Of course, ‘proof he was a wizard’ actually meant ‘wand.’ Wands being something they used as personal ID, despite the fact that they were a) sticks, and b) didn’t actually carry any personally identifiable information. Sure, Jack said that they were somehow connected to their owners, but unless there were, like, giant books of details about everyone’s wands at every place that would, conceivably, need ID, and had people trained to identify all those tiny little characteristics… Danny just couldn’t see how it would work.

Danny’s current theory was that all wizards were just insane, which meant that his twin would most likely fit right in with the rest of Danny’s family, right as soon as Danny figured out how to legally kidnap him.

(No, Danny didn’t have a ghostly Obsession, and it definitely wasn’t family related. He was only half-ghost, after all. Why do you ask?)

Anyway. Wizard passport. Wizard ID. Wizard sticks.

Wands.

Wands meant a nerve-wracking trip to the nearest wizarding town with Jack. Evidently, he’d lived there a couple of years after his parents sent him away from Britain when he was around fourteen because of ‘the war.’

Abruptly, many of Jack’s stories about his childhood made more sense.

(It had always been something of a joke between Jazz and Danny to try and figure out what ‘the war’ was supposed to be, and if Jack’s parents had just… Conned him into thinking he’d eaten horse meat. For some reason. Even if the Fentons hadn’t seemed like that kind of people, no matter how eccentric.)

(Also, evidently Jazz and Danny had never met Jack’s biological parents, who were not named Fenton, although his adopted mother was also a witch.)

(Why was everything so complicated?)

The “wizarding community” was a small town accessible only by a train line invisible to ‘no-majs.’ And also flying brooms. Which wizards used. Danny had seen the train before, not realizing that he wasn’t supposed to. Several times. Usually while flying to Wisconsin to deal with whatever Vlad had done that week.

If Danny was a wizard, was Vlad? Was being half-ghost somehow tied up in being magical? What did that mean for Dani?

(Hey, maybe this whole affair could be used to bring Dani into the family safely. Who was to say that he didn’t have a secret twin sister?)

Danny could admit that the town itself, which had almost a Ghost Zone vibe with how all the architecture seemed to be from fifty plus to a hundred years ago and also the physics breaking magic, was sort of cool. It was… cute, he guessed. He didn’t really like how everyone was staring at Jack, their clothes were just as weird, but it wasn’t a new thing. People always stared at Jack.

That’s what happened when you wore hazard-orange jumpsuits twenty-four seven.

The shops all had names out of a fantasy novel, and at one point they got turned around and wound up on a residential street where they had to ask for directions, but eventually they made it to ‘Willoughby’s Wand Emporium.’

The interior of Willoughby’s Wand Emporium reminded Danny strongly of a shoe store. The shelves were all lined with boxes of approximately that size, and the employees all carried measuring tape. It also smelled like a shoe store: musty and dry, with a hint of polish. Or maybe it was wood varnish? Or some kind of paint.

A young woman bounced up. “Hi, how can we help you today? Replacement wand?”

“First time, actually,” said Jack.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said the woman. “You’re just so tall for your age.”

“I’m fourteen,” said Danny.

The woman began to turn red.

“He was missed,” said Jack. “It happens.” He smiled, but it looked far more strained than usual.

“Oh,” said the woman. “Ahem. Well, if you’ll come right this way, I can start taking measurements, and start trying out wands. The wand chooses the wizard, they say!”

“Okay,” said Danny, shrugging. That was… interesting. Were the wands sentient? Did that somehow make them acceptable IDs?

Seemed really weird to keep sentient things stored in boxes.

… Said the kid who stored sentient beings in a soup thermos.

A really high-tech soup thermos.

Didn’t make it better.

Except he didn’t keep them in the thermos indefinitely. Except for Dan.

Danny didn’t know if the wizards kept the wands in boxes indefinitely, either. Maybe he should stop assuming things. That had gotten him in trouble with ghosts more than once.

The woman took her measuring tape from where it hung around her shoulders, held it out in front of herself, and promptly dropped it. It did not fall.

As basic as levitation was for ghosts, it was really weird to see a human do it. (Especially when it always took so much concentration for him to levitate things other than himself��Hence why he never really used the ability in battle.)

The measuring tape flitted around Danny’s head, shoulders, arms, and body, taking measurements. He had to sit on his reflexes hard to prevent himself from trying to catch it or knock it out of the air.

He was so nervous. Was it normal to be nervous?

The measuring tape snaked back through the air to the woman, who smiled. “Alright,” she said, “we can start with that. Uh, to explain the process, we usually start out with wands in the appropriate size range and try and zero in on the ones that respond best to you from there.” She flicked her own wand, and several thin boxes slid themselves off the shelves. “We use a wide variety of wand woods from a variety of wandmakers. Just about any tree that grows in North America is probably represented here.” She paused. “Except for palm trees.”

“That makes sense,” said Danny. Palm trees were quite different from other trees.

“Alright. Let’s start with pine. The core of this one is dragon heartstring—Harvested humanely, of course!”

“Core?” said Danny, latching on to the familiar word even as he regarded the wand itself dubiously.

“Yes. As with our woods, we also stock a wide range of wand cores. Each wand has a core made of a small part of a magical creature. Dragon heartstring, unicorn hair, and phoenix feather are the standard ones… But that standardization is rather British. We have a few others available. Thunderbird tail feather—Only taken during molt. Wampus cat hair. Dittany. Rougarou hair. Jackalope antler… Those are the more common ones, though we do have others. Even some kneazle whisker, although most people don’t want those.”

“Why not?”

“Ah, they tend not to be very strong. But sheer power isn’t everything. Some prefer control, need lower power output… or are worried about accidents while they’re learning. We do see some adult learners every now and then.”

That actually sounded sort of appealing to Danny, but he supposed he’d better go about this normally. At least at first.

He picked up the pine wand and immediately dropped it.

“Ow,” he said.

“Ow?” repeated the woman. “Oh,” she said, catching sight of the burn on his hand. “That’s… not supposed to happen.”

“Y’know,” said Danny, conversationally, “I’ve only held, like, two magical things in my life, and both of them have damaged my hands. Is this, like, a common thing, or am I just ridiculously unlucky.”

“Second one, I think,” said the woman. “Cynthia’s good at minor healing charms. I’m going to go get her. Okay? Okay.”

Shortly thereafter, phoenix feather wands were also eliminated as a possibility, not because they burned Danny, but because they seemed intent on burning everything else around him. Pine wands were also a definite no-go (“Don’t worry about the lifespan thing,” said the woman, “that’s a myth.”). As was everything but elder, apple, pear, hornbeam, thorn, and yew (this list got another mention of myths from the shop assistant).

At this point, the shop owner, Mrs. Willoughby, was drawn out from the back room to observe the mess Danny was making.

“My,” she said, “I haven’t seen anyone have this much trouble in a while. Heather, why don’t you go get some of the specialty cores.”

“I thought the unicorn was working well,” protested the woman who’d been helping Danny so far. She winced as Danny picked up a new wand and exploded a light. “Comparatively.”

“Yes, we could probably eventually find a unicorn hair wand that would work for him, but all things considered… I feel like we should explore other avenues.” She sniffed. “Nothing associated with fire. Perhaps kelpie mane?”

“I’ll check,” said Heather.

Kelpie mane, it turned out, did the same sort of thing as phoenix tail feather when it came to Danny. Only with a lot more water involved.

“I didn’t think that would work, anyway,” said Mrs. Willoughby.

“Then why,” said Danny, wringing water out of his shirt, “did you have me try it?”

“Oh, cases like you greatly improve our understanding of wandlore,” said Mrs. Willoughby. “You’re not likely to have noticed this yet, but the population of wizards and witches is so small compared to the no-maj population that everyone who gets very far in a profession has to be a bit of an innovator. I’m recording this for future reference, and I’ll be looking forward to seeing what you do in life. If anything. It would be very helpful to me if you became famous.”

“Hard pass on that,” said Danny.

“Or at least come back at some point.”

“I’ll consider it,” said Danny. “But, like, we were really hoping to do other things today, so maybe…” He made a circular motion with his hand. “Or at least, ugh, I don’t know. I feel like everything you give me is trying to kill me.”

It was a very familiar feeling, and a very unwelcome one, nonetheless.

“We really aren’t,” said Mrs. Willoughby. “But perhaps… from now on, we’ll limit to the woods to the Rosaceaes. The others tend to be called unlucky. Well, except for the hornbeam. Is there anything you’re singularly passionate about?”

Singularly passionate? “Not really,” said Danny, who did not think about ghosts or helping people or space. He shifted, uncomfortable, and squelched.

Screw it. He was supposedly a wizard, now, right?

He phased the water off himself.

“Oh my god!” shouted Heather. “Did you do that on purpose?”

“Uh,” said Danny. “No?”

“Calm down, Heather. Don’t act like you’ve never seen accidental magic before.”

“Not with a teenager doing it!”

They were now attracting a crowd. Yay.

“He’s not trained, yet,” said Mrs. Willoughby, unconcerned. “Don’t be rude.”

“Yeah, can we get back on track, here?”

After a few more tries, Mrs. Willoughby had determined that the wood that reacted the least badly to Danny was hawthorn. Then she sent Heather into the storage room to fetch more.

“I don’t know why we even have these,” said Heather, under her breath, carrying several boxes marked with stamps that read ‘THESTRAL.’

“Because some people have trauma, Heather.”

“He’s a teenager. I seriously doubt he has deep personal experiences with death.”

“Wow, way to assume, Heather,” said another shop assistant, who was passing by with a far-too-curious customer.

“Here,” said Mrs. Willoughby, handing Danny a box. “Try this one. It’s hawthorn.”

With some suspicion, Danny slid the cover off the box and gingerly picked up the wand inside.

It didn’t do anything like what the other wands had. Instead, the slender length of wood gave him a faint echo of the feeling he got when he was on an emotional high and engaging in either extreme mischief or obsession-adjacent activities (because he did not have a real, ghostly, capital-O Obsession).

Danny declined to hold it with all five fingers, lest he be overcome with mania.

Yes, he was paranoid. But when touching things can go as badly for you as they did for Danny, paranoia was justified.

“Oh, it looks like you’ve found your match,” said Mrs. Willoughby, clapping.

With the ease of practice, Danny did not let any trace of horror or unease show on his face. He ignored the surge of glee from the wand, and carefully placed it back in the box.

Yeah. He needed a wand for passport purposes, but there was no way he was going to use that. He’d just fake magic with ghost powers. It had been working out okay so far.

What was the worst that could happen?

A rather relieved Jack paid for the wand, and they made their way, slowly, to the government building.

“So,” said Jack. “You want to save getting those beginner magic manuals for another day?”

“Absolutely,” said Danny. He wondered if his twin had gone through anything even remotely like this and if it was really worth all this trouble to meet a person he would have basically nothing in common with other than blood.

Blood that likely meant less than usual, considering that his was diluted with ectoplasm. A fact he would have to hide. With no allies or back up. In England.

(Again, this whole endeavor was not his greatest idea.)

Draco supervised the house-elves as they cleaned out the room next to his own, feeling rather blank. He had campaigned vigorously for his twin to come, but now that he was…

The boy, for all that he was as much a Malfoy as Draco, was an American for all intents and purposes. What did Americans even like? What did they call their bastardized version of Quidditch? Would Deneb even know about wizard games? According to the woman from the agency, he’d been raised as a muggle by those squibs he’d been placed with.

Slowly but surely, Draco’s heart sank. He had no idea what his twin would be like. Deneb, despite being his brother, would essentially be a stranger.

He was beginning to understand why his mother was so angry at his father.

#danny phantom #dp/hp crossover #dp/hp twin au #stars aligned

136 notes · View notes

user-2-electric-boogaloo · 3 years

Text

A Comparison of RTD and Steven Moffat: Saving The Day

So for this analysis I’m going to compare when Moffat and RTD save the day well and when they save it poorly. There are a few bits of criteria I need to explain.

First I will only be including main series, no Torchwood, no spin-offs, and no mini episodes.

Second, I have to define what makes a good and a bad ending (my examples will come from episodes written by neither of them):

Bad endings include when the sonic saves the day (see The Power Of Three) (there are exceptions, see below), when a character spouts some useless technobabble that doesn’t make any scientific sense/when it doesn’t make logical sense in general, when the Doctor invents/presents a machine/equipment that miraculously stops the baddy and is never referred to again (see Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS), and any other ending I deem to be bad (see The Vampires of Venice)

Good endings include when the sonice activates a device that has been well established to save the day, when technobabble is used that actually makes some scientific sense, and just generally when the baddy is destroyed in what I deem to be a creative manner that makes sense with all the things that had been set up in that episode (see The Unquiet Dead).

There will also be cases where there isn’t really a day to be saved, however this happens more often with Moffat.

Let us begin (obviously there will be spoilers but the last episode in the list aired nearly 4 years ago so what you doing with your life).

RTD:

Rose: Bad

What even is anti-plastic?! Like seriously, he’s faced the Autons loads of times and has never thought to use it any other time.

The End Of The World: Bad

The Doctor just goes up to the appearance of the repeated meme (ha meme) and rips its arm off. He then just summons Cassandra back by twisting a knob which apparently everyone can do if “you’re very clever like me”.

Aliens Of London/World War Three: Good

Just nuking them all was a bit dodgy but I’ll give it to him purely because it had been set up earlier in the episode and it is a genuine option that could have been taken.

The Long Game: Good

The heating issue was set up within 2 minutes of the episode starting. It’s always good to see the Doctor using his enemies weakness against them.

Boom Town: Good

Only just. It’s technology that hadn’t been showcased ever before and came out of nowhere, but I’m allowing purely because it was setting up The Parting Of The Ways.

Bad Wolf/The Parting Of The Ways: Good

See above. It was set up the story before so it works.

The Christmas Invasion: Bad

This was so close to being good. If RTD had just let the Sycorax leader be honourable then everything would have been fine. Instead he had to let him be dishonourable and then the Doctor through the Satsuma at a random button that for no apparent reason caused a bit of floor to fall away.

New Earth: Bad

It only makes sense if you think about it for less than 10 seconds as just pouring every cure to every disease ever into a giant tub and then spraying said supercure onto them all, then having them hug each other to pass it on. That is suspending my disbelief just a bit too far.

Tooth And Claw: Good

Everything is set up in the episode so I’ll allow it but I fail to see how Prince Albert had the time to ensure that the diamond was cut perfectly.

Love And Monsters: Bad

It’s Love And Monsters. Need I say more?

Army of Ghosts/Doomsday: Good

It was very clearly set up throughout the episode.

The Runaway Bride: Bad

I don’t like how a few bombs can supposedly drain the entire Thames.

Smith And Jones: Good

All the events were well established

Gridlock: Good

It’s a fairly bland way to save the day, just opening the surface to all the drivers. But how else could he have done it?

Utopia/The Sound Of Drums/Last Of The Time Lords: Bad

As much as I like the idea that he tuned himself into the archangel network, he basically turned into Jesus. It is arguably the least convincing ending in modern Doctor Who history.

Voyage Of The Damned: Bad

Why was he the next highest authority? If he’s the highest authority in the universe why didn’t they default to him in the first place? If not then why not default to Midshipman Frame? And if he’s somehow in between them then why? Also Astrid killed herself for no reason when she easily could have jumped out of the forklift.

Partners In Crime: Good

It works in the context of the episode, but I don’t see why they needed two of the necklace things.

Midnight: Good

It’s human nature, you can’t get more well set up than that.

Turn Left: Good

It works logically

The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End: Bad

Donna just spouts a load of technobabble whilst pressing buttons and then the Daleks are magically incapacitated.

The Next Doctor: Bad

Why do the infostamps sever Hartigan’s connection with the Cyberking? As far as I remember it ain’t explained.

Planet Of The Dead (co-written with noted transphobe Gareth Roberts): Good

A good couple scenes are dedicated on getting the anti-gravs set up.

The Waters Of Mars (co-written with Phil Ford): N/A

The day isn’t really saved cause everyone still dies anyway.

The End Of Time: Good

Using a gun to destroy a machine is much better than using the sonic to destroy it.

Summary for RTD:

Out of 24 stories written by him, I deem 10 to be bad endings with 1 abstaining. That’s 41.7% of his episodes (43.5% if we don’t count any abstaining).

Steven Moffat:

The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances: Good

You’ll see this a lot with Moffat, he knows how to explain things without stupefying levels of technobabble. “Emailing the upgrade” is a perfect example of this.

The Girl In The Fireplace: Good

Some basic logic, the androids want to repair their ship, but they can’t return to it, they no longer have a function so they shut down.

Blink: Good

Always loved this one, getting the angels to look at each other, however they do look at each other sometimes earlier in the episode.

Silence In The Library/Forest Of The Dead: Bad

This is more of a problem with the setup of the episode, I don’t like that he can negotiate with the Vashta Nerada. I’d rather see them comprehensively beaten, but I guess it’s good for the scare factor that they can’t be escaped from.

The Eleventh Hour: Good

He convinced the best scientists all around the world to set every clock to 0 all in less than an hour. In the Doctor’s own words “Who da man!”

The Beast Below: Good

The crying child motif pretty much ended up saving the day (well for the star whale, life went on as normal for pretty much everyone else).

The Time Of Angels/Flesh And Stone: Good

The artificial gravity had briefly been set up earlier so I’ll allow it.

The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang: Good

Everything had been set up perfectly, the vortex manipulator, the Pandorica’s survival field thingy, the TARDIS exploding at every moment in history.

A Christmas Carol: Good

Literally the entire episode is the Doctor saving the day by convincing Kazran not to be a cock.

The Impossible Astronaut/Day Of The Moon: Good

The silence’s ability to influence people is their whole thing, so using it against them is a good Doctory thing to do.

A Good Man Goes To War: N/A

The day isn’t really saved, Melody is lost, but River shows up at the end so is all fine? I love the episode it’s just the day isn’t really truly saved (yes I know Amy was rescued but she still lost her baby).

Let’s Kill Hitler: N/A

There isn’t really a day to be saved. They all get out alive but no one is really saved other than maybe River but we all knew she was gonna live anyway.

The Wedding Of River Song: Good

Whilst opinion is divided on the episode, the ending still works. the Tesseracta was established in Let’s Kill Hitler, and the “touch River and time will move again” was established well in advance.

The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe: Bad

I don’t like how the lifeboat travels through the time vortex for no reason but to rescue the dad. It don’t make no sense and I don’t think it’s explained

Asylum Of The Daleks: Good

Oswin had access to the Dalek hive mind so of course she should be able to link into the controls and blow everything up.

The Angels Take Manhattan: Good

Paradoxes really do be something powerful, and they even acknowledge how nobody knows if it’d work so I’ll let it slide.

The Snowmen: Bad

Lots of people cry at Christmas, why are the Latimers anything special?

The Bells of Saint John: Good

The whole episode is about hacking so why shouldn’t the Doctor be able to hack the spoonheads

The Name Of The Doctor: Good

It was the story arc for the season pretty much, so of course it was explained well in advance.

The Day Of The Doctor: Good

Both the storing Gallifrey like a painting and the making everyone forget if they’re Human or Zygon works in the context of the episode.

The Time Of The Doctor: Bad

Since when were the Time Lords so easily negotiated with?

Deep Breath: Good

I like the dilemma over whether the half-face man was pushed or jumped.

Into The Dalek: Good

It’s set up well with this new Doctor’s persona of actually not being too nice of a guy (at first).

Listen: N/A

There isn’t a day to be saved. It’s just 45 minutes of the Doctor testing a hypothesis and I low-key love it.

Time Heist (co-written with Steven Thompson): Good

It works logically so I’ll allow it however it isn’t very well set up at all.

The Caretaker (co-written with noted shithead Gareth Roberts): Good

The machine to tell the Blitzer what to do was set up well in advance so I’ll allow it.

Dark Water/Death In Heaven: Good

The fact that Danny still cares even as a cyberman is set up fairly early on after his transformation.

Last Christmas: Good

He does use the sonic to wake up Clara but he convinces the others to wake up through talking so I’ll allow it.

The Magician’s Apprentice/The Witch’s Familiar: Good

It’s set up well with that little scene from actually inside the sewers.

The Girl Who Died (co-written with Jamie Mathieson): Good

IDK why the vikings would randomly keep electric eels but they’re set up well so I’ll ignore it.

The Zygon Inversion (co-written with Peter Harness): N/A

Not including this one as it’s only the second part and I’d argue the ending is most likely Harness’.

Heaven Sent/Hell Bent: N/A

Again there isn’t really a day to be saved, yes Heaven Sent really is amazing but it’s only the first part and, being completely honest, he dies several billion times before finally getting through the wall.

The Husbands Of River Song: N/A

Again there isn’t really a day to be saved here.

The Return Of Doctor Mysterio: Good

He gets Grant to catch the bomb which is good. But he does just sonic the gun out of Dr Sim’s hand and says UNIT is on its way which just sort of wraps it up very quickly.

The Pilot: N/A

No day to be saved here.

Extremis: Good

You could technically call it the sonic saving the day, I consider it to be the Doctor emailing the Doctor to warn him of the future.

The Pyramid At The End Of The World: Good

The fire sanitising everything makes sense and it’s in character for Bill to love the Doctor enough to cure his blindness in return for the world

World Enough And Time/The Doctor Falls: Good

Yes it is the sonic just blowing the cybermen up, but it’s blowing them up with well established pipelines so I’ll allow it (also the story is amazing).

Twice Upon A Time: N/A

No day to be saved here. Just Doctors 1 and 12 getting angsty about regenerating.

Summary for Steven Moffat:

Out of 39 stories written by him, I deemed 4 to be bad with 7 abstaining. That’s 10.3% of his episodes (12.5% if we don’t count any abstaining).

Conclusions:

Moffat was much better at saving the day than RTD

Moffat liked telling stories where the day didn’t actually need to be saved

I’ve spent way too long on this and I need to sleep

If I spent as much time on this as my coursework I’d probably pass

If you’re still reading this, you probably need to get a life

#doctor who #steven moffat #rtd #in case you can't tell I really don't like RTD #Remember the Superwholock days when everyone ripped the shit out of Moffat #what am I doing with my life #tardis #rose tyler #martha jones #donna noble #amy pond #rory pond #rory williams #river song #clara oswald #Bill Potts

56 notes · View notes

twoidiotwriters1 · 3 years

Text

Written In The Stars CXLIII (Harry Potter xF!Oc)

A/N: I knew ppl were going to drop my fic in this book bc I made things complicated but I don’t regret the plot— did it still made me sad? yes it sure did -Danny

Words: 5,256

Series’ Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Listen to: ‘No Control’ -by Dylan Reynolds

Chapter Five: The New Routine.

Dumbledore knocked on the door three times and Mrs Weasley's voice was quick to answer.

"Who's there? Declare yourself!"

"It is I, Dumbledore, bringing Harry. Mel and Erick are with us."

"Harry, dear!" Mrs Weasley opened the door at once, letting them in. "Mel! Erick! Gracious, Albus, you gave me a fright, you said not to expect you before morning!"

"We were lucky, Slughorn proved much more persuadable than I had expected. The children's doing, of course. Ah, hello, Nymphadora!"

"Hello, Professor... Wotcher, kids."

"Hi, Tonks."

Tonks was looking remarkably grim, Mel looked around the kitchen.

"Where's my mum?"

"I told her to go to bed," Mrs Weasley said sweetly, "it's almost midnight, the baby kept her up last night and she needed to sleep."

"I'd better be off," Tonks stood up. "Thanks for the tea and sympathy, Molly."

"Please don't leave on my account," said Dumbledore, "I cannot stay, I have urgent matters to discuss with Rufus Scrimgeour."

"No, no, I need to get going," She replied. "'Night —"

"Dear, why not come to dinner at the weekend, Remus and Mad-Eye are coming — ?"

"My uncle's coming?" Mel asked with excitement.

"No, really, Molly... thanks anyway..." Tonks said tensely. "Good night, everyone."

"Well, I shall see you at Hogwarts," Dumbledore told them. "Take care of yourself. Molly, your servant."

He and Tonks disapparated, Erick spoke up.

"You have a lovely house, Mrs Weasley."

"Oh dear, well, we do make an effort on making it cosy," Mrs Weasley smiled. "You're like Ron, all of you, you look as though you've had Stretching Jinxes put on you. I swear Ron's grown four inches since I last bought him school robes. Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, I am," said Harry.

"A bit," Erick agreed.

Mel sat down between them, she was quite pleased about Mrs Weasley's comment on her growth, even though hers was less noticeable than the boys' who now were five and seven inches taller than her.

Crookshanks and Grey quickly made their way to them. Grey didn't like Erick very much, though Mel didn't know why. Crookshanks, on the other hand, was a huge fan.

"So Hermione's here?" Harry asked as he watched the ginger cat ruin the impeccable set of clothes Erick was wearing.

"Oh yes, she arrived the day before yesterday. Everyone's in bed, of course, we didn't expect you for hours. Here you are — Bread, dears?"

"Thanks, Mrs Weasley."

"So you persuaded Horace Slughorn to take the job?"

"It wasn't hard," Mel smiled. "Professor Slughorn was eager to get to know us better."

"He taught Arthur and me. He was at Hogwarts for ages, started around the same time as Dumbledore, I think. Did you like him?"

Harry and Erick shrugged, Mel kept her attention on her plate.

"I know what you mean... Of course he can be charming when he wants to be, but Arthur's never liked him much. The Ministry's littered with Slughorn's old favorites, he was always good at giving leg ups, but he never had much time for Arthur — didn't seem to think he was enough of a highflier. Well, that just shows you, even Slughorn makes mistakes. I don't know whether Ron's told you in any of his letters — it's only just happened — but Arthur's been promoted!"

Harry made a funny noise, taken by surprise. Erick did a sort of delighted hum and Mel stopped eating, staring at her attentively.

"That's great!" Harry said.

"You are sweet... Yes, Rufus Scrimgeour has set up several new offices in response to the present situation, and Arthur's heading the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects. It's a big job, he's got ten people reporting to him now!"

"Sounds important," Erick smiled.

"What exactly — ?"

"Well, you see, in all the panic about You-Know-Who, odd things have been cropping up for sale everywhere, things that are supposed to guard against You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters. You can imagine the kind of thing — so-called protective potions that are really gravy with a bit of bubotuber pus added, or instructions for defensive jinxes that actually make your ears fall off..."

Mrs Weasley looked beyond proud as she told them all about her husband's new job. Mel was happy for him, she couldn't think of a man who deserved a promotion more than Mr Weasley.

"...So you see, it's a very important job, and I tell him it's just silly to miss dealing with spark plugs and toasters and all the rest of that Muggle rubbish."

"Well, the heart wants what it wants," Mel chuckled, she was unaware of the way both boys looked at her.

"Is Mr Weasley still at work?" Harry questioned.

"Yes, he is. As a matter of fact, he's a tiny bit late... He said he'd be back around midnight..."

Mel felt something awful crawling up her chest when she noticed all the tiny hands on the clock were now pointing at 'Mortal peril'.

"It's been like that for a while now," Mrs Weasley commented, "ever since You-Know-Who came back into the open. I suppose everybody's in mortal danger now... I don't think it can be just our family... but I don't know anyone else who's got a clock like this, so I can't check. Oh!"

Mr Weasley's was now currently pointing at 'travelling.'

"He's coming!" She got up, a second later there was a knock on the door. "Arthur, is that you?"

"Yes. But I would say that even if I were a Death Eater, dear. Ask the question!"

"Oh, honestly..."

"Molly!"

"All right, all right... What is your dearest ambition?"

"To find out how airplanes stay up."

Mel and Harry shared a look of amusement, she heard Erick mumbling 'How do they stay up?' Mrs Weasley tried to open the door but her husband kept it shut.

"Molly! I've got to ask you your question first!"

"Arthur, really, this is just silly..."

"What do you like me to call you when we're alone together?"

The group of teenagers froze.

"Mollywobbles," Mrs Weasley whispered to the tiny crack in the door.

Mel choked on the soup, Harry had to hide his face entirely to control his laughing fit after watching her almost die, Erick quickly patted her back.

"Correct," Mr Weasley said brightly. "Now you can let me in."

"I still don't see why we have to go through that every time you come home!" Mrs Weasley complained as the man walked in. "I mean, a Death Eater might have forced the answer out of you before impersonating you!"

"I know, dear, but it's Ministry procedure, and I have to set an example. Something smells good — onion soup? Kids! We didn't expect you until morning!"

They all greeted Mr Weasley, Mel finally able to breathe and Harry able to speak without cracking up.

"Thanks, Molly," He said when the woman set a plate for him. "It's been a tough night. Some idiot's started selling Metamorph-Medals. Just sling them around your neck and you'll be able to change your appearance at will. A hundred thousand disguises, all for ten Galleons!"

"And what really happens when you put them on?"

"Mostly you just turn a fairly unpleasant orange color, but a couple of people have also sprouted tentaclelike warts all over their bodies. As if St. Mungo's didn't have enough to do already!"

"It sounds like the sort of thing Fred and George would find funny," said Mrs Weasley with doubt. "Are you sure — ?"

"Of course I am! The boys wouldn't do anything like that now, not when people are desperate for protection!"

"So is that why you're late, Metamorph-Medals?"

"No, we got wind of a nasty backfiring jinx down in Elephant and Castle, but luckily the Magical Law Enforcement Squad had sorted it out by the time we got there..."

Harry yawned beside her, Mel was starting to feel weary herself after days of sleeping in the backseat of a car.

"Bed," said Mrs Weasley. "I've got Fred and George's room all ready for you, boys. Mel, you're sharing Ginny's bedroom but I don't want you to wake the girls up. Is it okay if you sleep with Erick and Harry tonight?"

"Yeah, it's fine," Mel yawned, too sleepy to care.

"Where are the twins?" Harry asked.

"Oh, they're in Diagon Alley, sleeping in the little flat over their joke shop as they're so busy," said Mrs Weasley, and Mel could tell there was a hint of pride in her voice. "I must say, I didn't approve at first, but they do seem to have a bit of a flair for business! Come on, dears, your trunks are already up there."

"'Night, Mr Weasley," said Harry.

"Thank you for letting us stay," Erick added.

"Have a goodnight!" Mel ended.

"G'night," said Mr Weasley.

Mel had been in the twins' room a couple of times through the years, it was startling when she walked in and couldn't recognize it. The smell of fireworks was still hanging in the air and there was a few boxes of their personal items laying around, but almost nothing left from their essence in the room, it made her feel homesick.

There were only two beds since they weren't expected until the next morning. Mrs Weasley quickly made a third bed appear with a flick of her wand, it was smaller than the other two, mostly blankets and cushions piled together. She apologized profusely, but Mel didn't mind, she would've slept on the floor considering how exhausted she was.

The boys insisted that she took one of their beds but Mel refused, when she came back from changing Erick was already tucked in her pile of blankets. Harry was grinning at the way his feet were hanging over the edge.

The following morning she was awoken by the door slamming open and a pair of feet stomping into the room. She hid her face between the pillows, Harry's mattress squeaked as he sat up, and fabric rustled as Erick pushed down his blankets.

"Wuzzgoinon?" Harry asked sleepily.

"We didn't know you were here already!" There was a soft thud coming from Harry's bed after Ron sat down on it.

"Ron, don't hit him!" Hermione sat on Mel's bed.

"Dear Merlin," She groaned, hiding under the covers. "I'm going to murder you two..."

"All right?" Ron asked.

"Never been better," said Harry, sounding a bit more awake. "You?"

"Not bad."

"I knew there was no way I'd have a quiet morning here," Erick grumbled. "Hi, 'Mione..."

"Hi!" She said brightly, then shook one of Mel's legs. "Wake up! I want to hear all you did during your mission!"

"When did you get here? Mum's only just told us!" Ron said.

"About one o'clock this morning," Harry replied, Mel turned around and squinted, trying to get used to the sunlight.

"Were the Muggles all right? Did they treat you okay?"

"Same as usual... they didn't talk to me much, but I like it better that way. How're you, Hermione?"

"Oh, I'm fine."

"What's the time? Have we missed breakfast?" Harry said.

"Don't worry about that, Mum's bringing you up a tray; she reckons you look underfed," said Ron.

"Well, he is," Mel replied, finally sitting up. "You should've seen my mum — almost forced the food down his throat once..."

Harry threw a pillow at her, but he missed by a considerable distance.

"So, what's been going on?" Ron asked eagerly.

"Nothing much, I've just been stuck at my aunt and uncle's, haven't I?"

"And we just had a road trip around some towns," Erick said, getting out of his covers only to sit down on Harry's bed.

"Come off it!" said Ron. "You've been off with Dumbledore!"

"It wasn't that exciting. He just wanted us to help him persuade this old teacher to come out of retirement. His name's Horace Slughorn."

"Oh... We thought —" Hermione hushed him, Ron was quick to correct his mistake. "— we thought it'd be something like that."

"You did?" Harry grinned.

"Yeah... yeah, now Umbridge has left, obviously we need a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, don't we? So, er, what's he like?"

"He looks a bit like a walrus, and he used to be Head of Slytherin," Harry shrugged, then he glanced back at their friend and raised a brow. "Something wrong, Hermione?"

The girl gave a start, straightening in her place.

"No, of course not! So, um, did Slughorn seem like he'll be a good teacher?"

"Well, he's got a sharp mind no doubt," Erick yawned, laying on the mattress.

"He can't be worse than Umbridge, can he?" added Harry, softly kicking Erick to move him away from his legs.

"I know someone who's worse than Umbridge," Ginny walked in sulking. "Hi, guys."

"What's up with you?" Ron questioned.

"It's her, she's driving me mad."

"What's she done now?" asked Hermione.

"It's the way she talks to me — you'd think I was about three!"

"I know, she's so full of herself..."

"You better not be talking about my mum," Mel joked.

"Can't you two lay off her for five seconds?" Ron scoffed.

"Oh, that's right, defend her! We all know you can't get enough of her," Ginny rolled her eyes.

Harry and Mel shared a confused look, and just when he was about to ask the door opened again. The boy pulled up his covers so fast that Erick fell to the floor.

"Oh," Mel said quietly, staring up at Fleur Delacour.

"Children," she said brightly. "Eet 'as been too long!"

Mrs Weasley walked in right after her, looking upset.

"There was no need to bring up the tray, I was just about to do it myself!"

"Eet was no trouble," Fleur left the tray floating between their beds and kissed her and Harry on both cheeks. Erick got up with a scowl, he shook Fleur's hand, not letting her touch him any further. "I 'ave been longing to see you. You remember my seester, Gabrielle? She never stops talking about 'Arry Potter. She will be delighted to see you again."

"Oh... is she here too?" Harry asked.

"No, no, silly boy," Fleur laughed, "I mean next summer, when we — but do you not know?"

"We hadn't got around to telling him yet," Mrs Weasley said grumpily.

"Bill and I are going to be married!"

"Oh," said Harry, looking back at Mel begging her to help him. "Wow. Er — congratulations!"

"That's brilliant," Mel was unsure of how to react, none of the other women in the room looked happy.

"Bill is very busy at ze moment, working very 'ard, and I only work part-time at Gringotts for my Eenglish, so he brought me 'ere for a few days to get to know 'is family properly. I was so pleased to 'ear you would be coming — zere isn't much to do 'ere, unless you like cooking and chickens! Well — enjoy your breakfast!"

She turned around and left the room with a joyous air, then Emily walked in, holding her son.

"Hi kids," She smiled.

Mel jumped out of bed and gave her mother a big hug. She took her baby brother and kissed him all over his small face. Mrs Weasley muttered something Mel could not hear, Ginny inched closer and started to play with Reggie's little fingers.

"Mum hates her," the girl told her, clearly talking about Fleur.

"I do not hate her! I just think they've hurried into this engagement, that's all!"

"Well, it's not like we all have time to spare, do we?" Emily asked carefully, brushing the hair away from Mel's forehead.

"They've known each other a year," said Ron crossly.

"Well, that's not very long! I know why it's happened, of course. It's all this uncertainty with You-Know-Who coming back, people think they might be dead tomorrow, so they're rushing all sorts of decisions they'd normally take time over. It was the same last time he was powerful, people eloping left, right, and center—"

"Including you and Dad," Ginny smirked.

"Yes, well, your father and I were made for each other, what was the point in waiting? Whereas Bill and Fleur... well... what have they really got in common? He's a hard-working, down-to-earth sort of person, whereas she's —"

"A cow," Ginny replied. "But Bill's not that down-to-earth. He's a Curse-Breaker, isn't he, he likes a bit of adventure, a bit of glamour... I expect that's why he's gone for Phlegm."

"That's exactly what people used to say about me and Matthew," Emily raised a brow. "Now they tell me we were the perfect couple! You see, time's all it takes to change one's opinion, I think we shouldn't talk about relationships that aren't ours."

"I think she's lovely," Mel shrugged, softly kissing her brother's cheek. "You guys are being too harsh on her. I mean, Ginny, you're beautiful —"

"I'm sorry, Mel, I have a boyfriend," She joked.

"— But that doesn't mean you're silly, does it?" Mel sat down on her bed. "Have you forgotten how nice she was to Ron after he helped her sister?"

Mrs Weasley left looking rather tired, Emily kissed Mel, Harry and Erick on the cheek before leaving, leaving Leon Regulus in the room.

"Don't you get used to her if she's staying in the same house?" Harry chuckled, staring at the way Ron was struggling to breathe.

"Well, you do... but if she jumps out at you unexpectedly, like then..."

"It's pathetic," said Hermione, without even asking she took Regulus out of Mel's hold, ignoring the girl's protests.

"I feel your pain, Ronnie, don't listen to them," Mel sighed, leaning back on the bed frame.

"You don't really want her around forever?" Ginny insisted. "Well, Mum's going to put a stop to it if she can, I bet you anything."

"She shouldn't!" Mel replied. "What would you feel if you were deeply in love with someone and everyone tried to keep you away from them? You're own family!"

"How's she going to manage that, anyway?" asked Harry.

"She keeps trying to get Tonks round for dinner. I think she's hoping Bill will fall for Tonks instead. I hope he does, I'd much rather have her in the family."

"Yeah, that'll work," Ron snorted. "Listen, no bloke in his right mind's going to fancy Tonks when Fleur's around. I mean, Tonks is okay-looking when she isn't doing stupid things to her hair and her nose, but —"

"She's a damn sight nicer than Phlegm,'' Ginny made a face of disgust.

"And she's more intelligent, she's an Auror!" said Hermione, Reggie cried a bit and Ginny took it away from Hermione.

"Fleur's not stupid, she was good enough to enter the Triwizard Tournament," Harry argued.

"Not you as well!" Hermione scowled.

"I suppose you like the way Phlegm says ' 'Arry,' do you?" Ginny huffed.

"No," said Harry, blushing a bit, "I was just saying, Phlegm — I mean, Fleur —"

"Oh, please," Mel snorted. "You're just upset because Bill is your favourite brother, Ginny — you're scared he'll stop hanging out here once he marries Fleur. Hermione, I know you're lying, you're not angry because she isn't smart enough for your standards."

Hermione blushed a deep shade of red.

"I don't know what you mean."

"Sure you don't," She grinned. "But you know she's not any of those things, I know you do. I mean, so what if she's confident, as long as she loves Bill like he deserves, right? Don't you want him to be happy?"

Ginny looked at Reggie for a long time, then she sighed heavily.

"I would like her to respect our way of handling the house, that's all..."

"That's understandable," Mel nodded. "But she's the one having to get used to the Weasleys, and if I may give my opinion, you guys are as peculiar as any French girl."

Ginny's face showed a small grin.

"In my opinion," Erick spoke casually, grabbing a toast from the tray. "Fleur's too ostentatious — but she knows how to use her charm, which means she's got a brain. Joseph told me she was a great conversationalist—"

"Can't you talk like a normal bloke?" Ron frowned. "Do you like her, yes or no?"

"I'm saying she's nice."

"Nice?" The redheaded boy asked in bewilderment.

"She's not my type," The older boy rolled his eyes.

"What's your type, then?" Ron demanded.

Erick threw a quick glance at Mel before replying.

"Friendly."

"Okay, maybe Mel's right," Ginny continued, Reggie started to get restless and she swayed him a bit from side to side. "But I still get along with Tonks better, at least she's a laugh..."

"Well, she can still come and hang out, but you can't force love."

"She hasn't been much of a laugh lately though," Ron pointed out. "Every time I've seen her she's looked more like Moaning Myrtle."

"That's not fair," Hermione frowned. "She still hasn't got over what happened... you know... I mean, he was her cousin!"

Harry quickly looked down and busied himself with a spoonful of eggs, Mel grabbed a cup of tea and drank half of it in one large sip.

"Tonks and Sirius barely knew each other! Sirius was in Azkaban half her life and before that their families never met —"

"That's not the point — She thinks it was her fault he died!"

"How does she work that one out?" Harry asked, his mouth half-full.

"Well, she was fighting Bellatrix Lestrange, wasn't she? I think she feels that if only she had finished her off, Bellatrix couldn't have killed Sirius."

Mel tried to remember, there was a huge part of that night she couldn't recall.

"That's stupid," said Ron.

"It's survivor's guilt. I know Lupin's tried to talk her round, but she's still really down. She's actually having trouble with her Metamorphosing!"

"With her — ?"

"She can't change her appearance like she used to. I think her powers must have been affected by shock, or something."

"I didn't know that could happen," said Harry.

"Nor did I, but I suppose if you're really depressed..."

Mel suddenly looked down at her hands and gulped. She hadn't tried to do any kind of magic ever since she'd come back from the Ministry, now a new fear was rising above everything else, the possibility of not being able to be as good as before because of her anguish.

"Ginny," Mrs Weasley walked in again, "come downstairs and help me with the lunch."

"I'm talking to this lot!" Ginny exclaimed, her attention quickly leaving Mel's brother.

"Now!"

"She only wants me there so she doesn't have to be alone with Fleur! Emily's too tired all the time, mum doesn't let her do anything..." The girl got up to leave the room, but Mel stopped her.

"Hey, give that baby back!" She demanded. "I was holding him first!"

Ron stood up and took the baby, claiming no one ever allowed him to play with him. Ginny turned around swiftly, mocking the way Fleur would usually move, once she got to the door she looked over her shoulder one last time before leaving.

"You lot had better come down quickly too!"

Harry, Mel and Erick ate silently while Hermione examined some boxes, Ron was now playing with Reg.

"What's this?" Hermione held up a small telescope.

"Dunno, but if Fred and George've left it here, it's probably not ready for the joke shop yet, so be careful."

"Your mum said the shop's going well," Harry mentioned. "Said Fred and George have got a real flair for business."

"That's an understatement. They're raking in the Galleons! I can't wait to see the place, we haven't been to Diagon Alley yet, because Mum says Dad's got to be there for extra security and he's been really busy at work, but it sounds excellent."

"And what about Percy? Is he talking to your mum and dad again?"

"Nope."

"What a git," Erick muttered, drinking his tea while watching Hermione examine the telescope.

"But he knows your dad was right all along now about Voldemort being back —"

"Dumbledore says people find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right," said Hermione. "I heard him telling your mum, Ron."

"Sounds like the sort of mental thing Dumbledore would say," said Ron.

Mel didn't try to contradict him this time.

"He's going to be giving me private lessons this year," Harry said casually. "Mel already finished hers and he'll have time to teach me."

Hermione gasped, Erick merely looked up from his food.

"You kept that quiet!" Ron exclaimed, Mel's brother slipping from his hold without him noticing.

"I only just remembered. He told me last night in your broom shed."

"Blimey... private lessons with Dumbledore! And he said you're ready to go, Mel? I wonder why he's—?"

"Careful with Lee before you drop him flat on the floor!" Mel scowled. "I see why no one lets you hold him..."

"I don't know exactly why he's going to be giving me lessons, but I think it must be because of the prophecy," Harry continued to speak, eyes fixed on his food. "You know, the one they were trying to steal at the Ministry..."

Erick pulled out his wand and with a quick movement, his plate started to follow him around the room. He took Leon Regulus and mumbled something about the baby needing a nap and Ginny needing help back in the kitchen. Mel wished she could've left with him.

"Nobody knows what it said, though," said Hermione once the Slytherin was gone. "Mel broke it."

"Although the Prophet says —" Ron started.

"Shh!" Hermione interrupted.

"The Prophet's got it right," Harry forced himself to look up. "That glass ball Mel destroyed wasn't the only record of the prophecy. I heard the whole thing in Dumbledore's office, he was the one the prophecy was made to, so he could tell me. From what it said... it looks like I'm the one who's got to finish off Voldemort... At least, it said neither of us could live while the other survives."

She wished she could've spent at least one day without thinking about the prophecy, but Harry had to live knowing that he'd have to face Voldemort, so she couldn't complain.

BANG!

Hermione vanished behind a cloud of dark smoke.

"Hermione!" shouted the three of them.

The girl stood up, coughing.

"I squeezed it and it — it punched me!"

"Don't worry," said Ron biting his lip so he wouldn't laugh, "Mum'll fix that, she's good at healing minor injuries —"

"Oh well, never mind that now!" said Hermione, pushing it aside. "Harry, oh, Harry... We wondered, after we got back from the Ministry... Obviously, we didn't want to say anything to you, but from what Lucius Malfoy said about the prophecy, how it was about you and Voldemort, well, we thought it might be something like this... Oh, Harry... Are you scared?"

"Not as much as I was," Harry shrugged. "When I first heard it, I was... but now, it seems as though I always knew I'd have to face him in the end..."

"When we heard Dumbledore was collecting you in person, we thought he might be telling you something or showing you something to do with the prophecy. And we were kind of right, weren't we? He wouldn't be giving you lessons if he thought you were a goner, wouldn't waste his time — he must think you've got a chance!"

"Of course he does!" Mel got up, starting to pick up the pieces of the tray that had smashed when the boys ran to help Hermione. "Harry's a great wizard, we just need to teach him how to fight..."

Her friends looked at her with pity, they must've been thinking of her lifeline connection with Harry and how it could affect her, but Mel couldn't look afraid or else they wouldn't believe her words.

"Guys, we'll get through this..." Mel looked down a the tiny scars on her palm, rubbing them gently.

"That's true," said Hermione. "I wonder what he'll teach you, Harry? Really advanced defensive magic, probably... powerful countercurses... anti-jinxes... probably the same things he taught to Mel. And evasive enchantments generally— Well, at least you know one lesson you'll be having this year, that's one more than Ron and me. I wonder when our O.W.L. results will come?"

"Can't be long now, it's been a month," said Ron.

"Hang on, I think Dumbledore said our O.W.L. results would be arriving today!"

"Yeah, that's true!" Mel admitted, leaving the broken plates on the desk.

"Today? Today? But why didn't you — oh my God — you should have said —" Hermione squeaked. "I'm going to see whether any owls have come..."

Ron and Hermione left the room quickly, Harry and her were left alone, but this felt a thousand times less awkward than a year before.

"Thank you," Harry said, helping her fold the blankets.

"I didn't do anything. You know they're scared, even if they don't show it..."

"I'm thanking you because it must be hard for you as well, not to show it," He tilted his head. "Usually, you're an open book..."

"I used to be," She corrected. "My feelings are just mine, Harry, and no one else needs to know about them."

He frowned.

"Still, you know it's better not to hold things in, right?"

Mel stared at him.

"Look at you, teaching me about how to handle my emotions!"

The boy let out a chuckle and reached to hold her hand.

"It's going to be okay, Mellow."

She melted at the name, it'd been a long time since he'd called her that. She looked down again at her scarred hand, and that stirred her into talking. An idea started to take form in her mind.

"What if there's a chance you don't have to be the only chosen one?"

Harry blinked.

"What?"

"What if I am your backup?"

"H-How would that even..?"

"Think about it," Mel started. "I was there when he tried to kill you, and that's when our connection was created — it grows stronger when you inch closer to death... What if the reason we can feel each other's pain, is because it warns us about the incoming danger? What if the reason we're connected it's because I'm destined to take your place if you die?"

"But — but the prophecy said it was a boy —"

"Prophecies can change, you're not obliged to copy them exactly as they're told! Even Dumbledore thought I could be the child of the prophecy! What if, in a way, we both are?"

"It doesn't mean anything, Mel. I chose to be —"

"Who says I can't choose to help you?" She lifted her right hand. "I marked myself with the prophecy, see? If we do this together we'll have a real advantage. We even promised it back in the ministry, didn't we? If you die I take your place, if I die —"

"I make sure is not in vain," Harry had finally made up his mind. "D'you think Dumbledore knows? Do you think that's why he wants us to decide for ourselves what we'll do with our lifeline?"

"I have no idea," Mel responded sincerely. "But if we're doing this, we need to set the rules now."

Harry thought about it, then he grabbed her hands and squeezed them lightly.

"Let's talk."

Next Chapter —>

Taglist.

@dee123ksha @vampiregirl1797 @siriuslysirius1107 @stardusthigh @mikariell95 @vernon-dursley @thesuitelifeofafangirl @tomshollandz @reverse-hxlland @hamiltonwc @omiwashere @t-rexs-world @just-here-to-escape-from-reality @21bruhs @i-am-scared-and-useless-bisexual @dielgonacoffee @thelastpyle @cedricisnotdead @aconfusedslytherin

#twoidiots writing #hp fanfic #Harry Potter #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter xoc #WITT fic

17 notes · View notes

rip-a-dip-dip-you-potato-chip · 3 years

Text

what have I created?

idk if yall like this, but they just exist not i guess :/

ok the the first one is Royalty AU

first things first, when I say Royalty AU, I don't mean the classic shit we've all become accustomed to. Im talking about the good old Chinese royalty! And I want to emphasize that these guys will/should be dressed in century appropriate attire. As someone thats read a handful of 'marinette, princess of china' fics from the ML Fandom, I've noticed a common trend. Marinette wouldn't be in the culturally appropriate clothes, always ballgowns. Not that there's something wrong with it, its just most of if not all these fic are set in China, so I'd expect Chinese royalty to dress as THERE dress code calls for. And since this AU takes place far in the past like, it won't make sense for any of the characters to be in royal clothing that wasn't from there region. I'm not trying to white knight/gatekeeping. Im Guyanese not Chinese. But since JTTW and Monkie Kid take place in China, it's only right. In my opinion that it. You don't have to outright agree with me.

With out of the way, it's time for that good old AU crack

- Wukong is the king of the Flower Fruit kingdom(or a different one if you'd like, again I'm only familiar with what western culture has taught me, but I'll try my hardest)

- he’s single but rumor has it he used to/still is dating the Vigilante/thief The Six Eared Macaque

- *chants ShadowPeach violently*

- no one know whether it true or not

- On of his wanders around the kingdom he finds an abandoned baby in a basket.

- and no shit sherlock it's fucking baby Xiaotian

- I think we all know where this is going because i'm a simp for Monkey Dad & Monkie Son shenanigans

- Xiaotian becomes prince

Shit, ill be referring to Xiaotian as Mk from now on, I mentioned this before in a fic I wrote for lmk that Mk's a nickname for Xiaotian for some reason- wait i don't have to explain my self to you people!

- Sun loves his son

- MK is treated differently by staff and others because he's not blood related to the king

- no one mistreats MK per say, because there King loved his adopted son, but words are said behind his back

- Sometimes MK hears what’s said, and he feels as if he won't live up to his dad’s legacy.

- He meets Mei during a festival

- Mei is from a noble family, that wouldn't mind if they got a connection into the royal family.

- but it becomes hella clear to Mei’s family very fast that the two are just friends, and will always will be. but hey there daughter is bffs with the prince so that's a plus.

- the Demon Bull Family is rules a kingdom as well, I dont/am not creative enough to think of a name I leave that to you.

- It's a common misconception that DBK is a tyrant, when he’s not.

- most of the time...

- they have been at war with the Monkey King for some time now and settled for a peace agreement.

- that agreement being there sons to marry

- oooo original i know

- MK and Red Son are roughly the same age, Mk being 20 and RS 22

- RS is revolted/disgusted at the idea of being wed to the Monkey Kings child, even more so when he realizes MK is adopted,

- but, that all changes the second he meets MK while he meets him by accident when he gets kinda lost in the palace when he and his parents go to discuss the arrangements.

- the second he looks at MK, he's instantly in love. MK less so, he's nervous and honestly kinda bummed he's not marrying someone he loves but it's for the good of his ppl, and he'll do anything for them.

- RS isn't even aware that MK is Suns adopted son until MK walks him back to the meeting room.

"Oh There you are MK! I was about to have a servant go fetch you!" Sun Wukong says, gesturing for his boy to come sit with him.

"S-sorry for keeping you waiting I got caught up in my lessons with Mr. Tang" MK responds, sitting next to his father. Red Son looked gobsmacked. The beautiful young man he had bumped into, was the prince of this land? Damn, life truly blessed him. Or cursed him depending on how you looked at it.

- the two are left alone in a separate room for a while.

- And MK straight up tells RS why he's agreeing to this union.

"Look Red Son. I've dreamed about meeting my one true love for a while. And I would give almost anything for that dram to be real. But I wouldn't ever dare give up my people, for as there price they mean more to me. I'm doing this for them, no other reason" MK says, his back straight and hands folded neatly in his lap. The look in his eyes was a mix of sadness, but that was drowned out by loyalty and determination. It just made Red Son fall for him even harder. Clearing his throat Red spoke.

"I understand, for im doing this for the betterment of my people to. But I propose a wager"

"A wager?"

"Yes, if i can make you fall in love with me by years end, before our marriage, we can live together like in the fairy tales from far away. But if I fail, in a years time afterwards you will be permitted to find your own path in life" Red Son stated. MK took a moment to process what was happening.

"So, if you succeed in making me fall in love with you, before our marriage we can live happily ever after?" Red Son nodded in response, letting the younger continue.

"And if I shouldn't fall for you, in a years time after our union, im free to leave?" Red Son nodded once more.

"So, what do you say?"

...

"Deal"

In the end, your free to choose their fate, should Red Son win the hart of Mk? Will he fail? Or will he let him go, and let him travel the country, after all Mk's a free spirit and keeping him trapped in a big house is like keeping a cannery trapped in a cage only for its song, only for it to dul. Or will the unthinkable happen and will both boys find their freedom? together or appart? I don't know, because that's all up to you 😉

personally, I’m partial to where MK and Red Son both find freedom together. Like they straight up run away together to somewhere far away and just live out there lives together.

this could also be genderbent thing as well. MK or Red as their respective counterparts. Again it doesn't have to be, but it’s whatever bro. im just spitting out the idea.

Also, there is a main side plot that they fight the WBS throughout the year as well, along with other shenanigans you wanna throw in.

____

The second is a My Hero Academia/BNH/MHA AU

truth be told i'm not a big fan of MHA i think it to over hyped(this is also coming from the same person that’s a Fairy Tail fan lol), and the fandom i don't even know how to describe that mess, but I will admit not the whole of its toxic since every fandom has some toxic members, some even more so.

I just sometimes find myself enjoying MHA AUs like the Fullmetal Alchemist, Danny Phantom, Evil!Deuk AU and several others.

to make it clear I don't see this AU taking place the same time as the main plot of the actual Anime/Manga. This could be either like 6-10 years before or after the plot idk bro. But i’ll do this after the main story plot of MHA, so keep that in mind ya? another thing, the gang is still in China, the top hero school in the world just so happens to be in Japan, and it’s only ever mentioned by Sun wukong and other pro heros. So MK never attended AU. in short it’s only ever mention/ reference.

- Mk was considered Quirkless as a kid.

- he was just a late blumer, i swear

- Mai’s Quirk is called Dragon.

- it pretty much works the same way as it does in the show(duh)

- Tang’s got a knowledge Quirk,

- my man can retain information and he’s basically an archive of information drawback being his personality lol

- Piggsy is a Animal that gained a Quirk

- in cannon to my current knowledge, there are two other characters that can confirm animals can become sentient. the characters being Fumikage Tokoyami, & Nezu the principal at the school UA.

- Sandy is just Conner Kent, aka he like superman but can't fly, or shoot lasers from his eyes. And blue.

I have two scenarios for Macaque and Wukong

*- The first one is that, Sun Wukong & Macaque are brothers. twins to be exact.

- they where legit people, but have mutation quirks that made them too like monkeys.

- the added powers were just a boues.

- Sun and Mac are close growing up, like there brothers but also best friends.

- the draw back to there quirks could honestly be whatever you want bro idk, same with the others tbh. Personally I like to think Sun just has lack of motivation, and Macaque needs to draw on other people's energy.

- Sun is a hero, Monkey KIng and Mac is a villain Six Eared.

- Sun was always treated has the golden child in the family, Mac always resented that, but there shitty up bring didn’t stop the two from being good brothers to one another.

- soon tho the resentment became hatred when Sun was able to attend UA in Japan, while Mac didn't.

- Mac be angy

- so he became a villain, and joined the Chinese branch of the LOV(league of villains)

- Sun doesn't know this till he finds out during the all out war during the main story. and by that time he’s a full on hero with is own agency(The Flower Fruit agency)

- when the hero's ultimately win and Mac is arrested

- This ultimately hurts Sun a lot, his brother was in jail now, arrested for his involvement and wrong doings, he knew nothing about this! this brother, his blood. A bad guy? why? he hadn't seen his brother since he left for UA, he hadn’t seen him when he came home, and started his agency.

- this just puts Sun into a funk so he’s not as active as he used to be, and he starts thinking he might need a successor

*- The second one is that they were two separate people that had similar quirks and both attended UA but Sun ended up in the hero corse. so 1A.

- Both Macaque and Sun have similar quirks, Sun’s is obviously more light based while Macaque’s is more shadow based(this applies to the first one as well)

- Macaque was placed in class 1B, U.A.’s High's Heroics Department, I believe, you can correct me.

- In cannon Class 1A and 1B both went to the training camp. I can see the teachers pinning Sun and Macaque against each other to hone their skills.

- And because of that they become great friends

- In fact when they graduate they both co-found there hero agency together in China and are a duo.

- But due to Monkey King’s popularity and Six Eared's association with shadows(people sometimes saying he has more of a villains quirk than a heros) the public see’s Macaque as Sun’s sidekick when thats far from the truth.

- now it’s up to you whether you think that Wukong and Macaque would be in a relationship together, but knowing how cooked we all are, ShadowPeach is a thing here more than likely.

- If you do or don’t support/ like the ShadowPeach aspect, the two would be living together regardless since its more cost efficient.

- They my be heroes but living costs are expensive!

- I would imagine there would have been a huge fight/argument between the two in privet of course, at there home.(or in there shared office if you want the extra angst of the other people they work with hearing them fight)

- If the two are dating, then this would either lead to an out right breakup, or Macaque just up and leaving with Wukong thinking he’ll come back once he’s cooled off. But after a week, with no sign of his partner, or him answering texts or calls, not even coming into work. Wukong gets worried that something might have happened to him. so there wouldn't be a confirmation if they were still a thing or not.

- But Wukong remains hopeful, despite the nagging at the back of his head, and gut telling him to go find Macaque, or atleast make a public statement, or even just tell another pro hero about it.

- on the not so shippy side, Macaque and Wukong still have there argument, and much like the ShadowPeach esc side, Macaque up and leaves, and isn't seen for weeks. the only difference here is that when Wukong comes home one night to there flat, most if not all of Macaques stuff is gone.

- where as if this was the ShadowPeach side, Macaque leaves all of his possession in the flat he and wukong share. for the simple reason being, he still loves him and wants to go back, but Macaque being Macaque can’t bring himself to do it, especially after seeing just how hurt Wukong looked when he yelled at him just before he left.

- in other words, ANGST DIALED UP TO A 10 BABY

- in either case, its a news report that confirms Wukong's suspicions that he desperately didn’t want to believe, and that is Macaque turning into a villain.

- much like if the two were brothers, Wukong just can’t take it and is no longer as active as he once was, and is thinking about, either A) Retirement B) Saying, “Fuck Society, Be Gay Do Crime” and join Macaque as a villain himself, or C) find a successor, and a way to bring Macaque back to there side, but most importantly, back to him.

- also extra points if you're after people's hearts and want to make them suffer; - If there dating, Wukong curle’s up in the bed he and Macaque shared, holding/wearing something of great value to Macaque and just crying himself to sleep, where as Macaque is getting wasted on alcohol, as he stumbles out of the bar he’s in, he either see’s something that reminds him of Wukong or while he’s trying to put his wallet back into his pocket, a photo of them on their first date fall’s out. and Macaque just cries in a nearby alley way. And it’s there where he gets indoctrinated into the League.

- If there just friends, macaque heads to the nearest forest and just levels it, where as Wukong just gets engrossed into his work, trying not to think about it. you could add you own spin on this, again i'm just spitballing.

- NOW BACK TO MK! :D

- Obviously MK is a huge Monkey King fan

- at Twenty MK has come to terms he's quirkless (HE’S NOT)

-for ANGST reasons MKs fokes kicked him out at this realization at 13.

- he works at Piggsy's Noodle shop, and has been since he was 14.

- don't need a quirk to drive or cook!

- the boy lives a content life with his new family, till DBK happens :D

- DBK runs a Mafia(in conjunction with TLOV) and has been in jail for like 5 years thanks to Monkey King, PIF and RS brake him out one night when MK's out making a late night delivery since Piggsy had the bright idea to go 24/7 service!

- one thing leads to another and Mk somehow manifest what looks like the Monkey King's staff, but its not, it’s MKs powers, it just so happens to be the same power the Monkey King has. And it practically goes down the same way in the pilot.

- but unlike the pilot Mk and Mei go straight to the FF Agency, after making a panicked call to Pigsy and Tang.

- one way or another Mk are lead into Wukongs office. Mei being forced to stay in the lobby.

- they have there convo, butterfly monkey squishing included.

- "And so, I want you do be my success-" BOOM 💥

- from there they rush downstairs and see that the lobby has been infiltrated by the DB fam, and you know fight.

- once the DB family seems like there down, PIF wisks them away. Much to Monkey King’s displeasure.

From there stuff kind plays out like cannon, the calabash ep is just a conjoint quirk the Demon bros have. As for EP9, ill have to script that one out myself lol. I'll get onto it as soon as my will to commit stabs me in the face. Till then have a dancing Kermit the frog.

Now if you'll excuse me, am about to Kermit a felony :D

(For legal reasons thats a joke)

Psst @writingamongther0ses its done

#lego monkie kid #monkie kid #lego monkie kid au #rip a dip dip wrights

32 notes · View notes

imagine-jjba · 4 years

Text

dates with the jojos!

may or may not have started to get carried away at the end. i feel like it’s okay, though. you guys get the x reader content you deserve. my personal favorites are the josuke and jolyne ones. though, the jolyne one might just be because i am totally in love with the girl, haha.

anyway, requests are open! you can request me on anon (i think) if you’re too shy to turn it off. however, you will be tagged if you decide to turn off anon, so i guess that’s just what you’ll have to decide between? anyway, please send in asks, i love to write these little things. however, i won’t do part seven and eight characters. i don’t know enough about them to do that, sorry. ;;;

i hope you enjoy this!

jonathan ;

jonathan would love going on any date with you, honestly. he would love to go to anywhere with you, as long as you were having fun and staying safe.

he would most likely take you to the nearby river to swim in. or, you two would go to a traveling carnival that had come around.

he would also let you choose whatever dates you wanted to go to. if you wanted to do something, he would follow your lead and take you there!

during those dates, he would of course buy you a plethora of things. after all, he is a fairly rich gentleman. you would have so many gifts and trinkets that you wouldn’t know what to do with them!

of course, if you two decided to stay inside for a change of pace, he would totally do that. you’d most likely end up reading a book or teaching the lovely joestar how to cook.

he’s very shy when it comes to affection, so if you offered him some while in public, he would be very flustered. though, he would still accept it and offer you some back.

at the end of your dates, he would tell you how much he loves and treasures you, kissing your cheek and walking you home. at home, you would receive one last gift before parting ways.

after your dates, you could find him gushing over you in his room. though, he wouldn’t tell anyone what he was doing in there. he just finds you adorable and wants to make you feel special, but doesn’t have much of an idea about how to do that besides feeding you all the love and affection that he can put into his actions.

his favorite type of dates are the ones where you two can just relax and have fun together. most certainly, it would be where you two could have a picnic. you would bring a basket of food and utensils while he would bring the blankets and other things that were needed.

all of the food you packed as homemade and very nutritious! jonathan likes whatever you make and is always hungry, so he enjoys the food very much. he tries not to scarf down the food, but he has a hard time resisting to urge too. after all, how could someone be so good at cooking? plus, it was just a meal for the two of you, even better! he really loves the time you two spend together and enjoys every minute of it.

once you two are done eating, you sit outside and bird-watch. it’s something that jonathan actually enjoys. he loves watching the peaceful nature around him. it also reminds him of danny, who he didn’t bring along with him. it’s a bit weird not to see the cute puppy around your boyfriend, but you knew that it was probably for the better. after all, you wouldn’t want to risk him eating all your food, would you?

you both spot many birds and try to list out all the details of them. it’s very peaceful and relaxing, leading to some moments where you lean into his broad shoulders and get into a comfortable silence. nature really is something wonderful.

joseph ;

joseph doesn’t mind going on dates. in fact, he loves going on them. especially fun and chaotic dates where you two run around town.

when you first meet up for a date, he very happily takes your hand and starts dragging you around to the places that he was planning on showing you. of course, you love him so much that you don’t mind his actions. all you really want to do is just spend time with the big goof.

he ends up taking you to the higher-end stores that sell comics, as well as movies. he’s a geek and is obsessed with those sort of things, always raving about the newest comic. depending on your interests, he would also take you to places where it had a mix of your favorites.

though, if you want to choose a date, he would let you. even if it’s not his ideal type of fun, he’s always willing to give something a try. just as long as it doesn’t involve too much work. if it does involve a lot of work, he’ll playfully complain about it, but afterwards, he’ll get to it. he doesn’t want to be too childish around you, but he can’t help it sometimes.

he also goes with the flow of things. you two always seem to have so much fun together. especially when there’s so many fun things around to do. though, the 1930s didn’t have much available, at the time.

there were many competitions, like the dancing until you dropped ones. he would probably like to participate in one of those for the fun of it, but he also doesn’t want to put too much strain on you. so, instead, he takes you out to watch some of those. it’s entertaining, to say the least.

he would also most likely show you a bunch of weird tricks he could do on dates. he wants to impress you! there were challenges of swallowing goldfish whole, at the time, so that was probably something he would do. and then he would probably use his hamon to try and spit it back out, which would be gross, but funny all at the same time.

at the end of your dates, he would make sure that you’ll be okay walking home. if he thinks that it’s too dangerous to get home by yourself (though, you’re fairly strong, he just feels a sense of protection), he’ll walk you home.

jotaro ;

most likely, you two would be spending your time at one of your houses. or, if you really wanted to go out, he would reluctantly follow you around.

on the days where you’d like to stay at your house, he would come over with (embarrassing for him, but cute to you) gifts. some of those gifts would be made by holly, as she sees you as someone reliable and good for her son. she also sort of forced him to give you the gifts, but he enjoys seeing your smile when you receive them.

eventually, when jotaro is settled down and you get some water for him, you start putting on the TV for some movies that you can watch. jotaro wants to try and be affectionate for you, but has no idea how to do that. when he tries to lean in to cuddle, you don’t really seem to get the hint. mainly, you’re just watching funny things on the TV and end up leaning forward in laughter.

eventually, he just wraps his arm around you, but he isn’t sure if that was the right move. you’re flustered, but lean not the touch with a gracious smile. you both watch TV until it gets boring. then, you bring out your small game collection you have.

that’s where the romantic moment ends, sadly. after you get out the games that you have, you start to teach him about the basic controls. it turns out that he doesn’t understand much of it, so you have to show him what the controls are with the game on.

eventually, he starts playing. he isn’t the best at it, but at least he’s not completely lost! you guide him around and help him figure out the controls to the game.

jotaro ends up getting frustrated, but doesn’t want to ask for help. he still has to at least appear somewhat cool to you, after all. so he’s determined to at least finish one level of the game to mak you proud. it takes a few rounds of losses before he finally understands the gist of it.

when he wins a round, you’re so proud of him that you end up grabbing his hand and raising it up, like how you sometimes see wrestlers doing in movies. you feel like a mama bird who just watched her baby bird grow up, at that point.

by that time, jotaro has to leave, so you clean up your things and give him a box of dinner to eat. it’s the least you can do to show your appreciation. at first, he doesn’t want it, but since you spent your time making it for him, you insist. eventually, he gives up and brings it home with him.

when he’s at home, he’s very grateful for the meal that you have made for him. holly’s glad that he found such a wonderful partner and is proud of him for having such a good day out. jotaro ends up eating the meal happily and is very appreciative of it.

josuke ;

when your friends finally leave you alone for the weekend, you two totally decide to plan a nice date together. before the date, you prepare a bunch of things for josuke, such as nice gifts you made yourself. after all, you’re a bit artsy yourself. josuke plans on paying for the meal since he doesn’t want you to use your hard earned money (though, he just steals his from his dad).

meeting up isn’t too tough, but since josuke has many friends around morioh, you end up seeing a lot of them. you even see your main group while walking down to the restaurant that josuke was taking you too. you end up getting a bit side-tracked and you all end up talking for a little while.

but once josuke remembers about the reservations, he makes sure to say goodbye to his friends before bringing you along. he’s very proud of himself for setting up this plan! you can see it on his face, the way he proudly marches forward with your hands intertwined together. it’s a very cute look on him.

you get to the restaurant and, what a surprise, it’s tonio’s restaurant! well, it’s not that much of a surprise, but you know it’s very delicious there. when you go inside, tonio greets you two and sets you down. he lightly mentions that the two of you must be on a date, which makes the both of you blush and laugh awkwardly.

josuke personally goes to the back of the kitchen and politely asks tonio to not use pearl jam in his cooking. he doesn’t really want one of those weird happenings with the meals, especially if the two of you are supposed to be on a nice date. tonio comes to an understanding, but he lets pearl jam help out in the kitchen, at least.

coming back to the table, while you wait for your food, he starts to give you his first gift. depending on your interests, he tailors it to that. if you’re an artist, he’ll give you a nice pen you’ve been wanting for a while now. if you’re interested in plants, he’ll give you a small plant friend to grow. going along with the plants idea, you name it after crazy diamond since josuke was so kind to you.

you end up giving him your gift as well. whatever it may be, josuke treasures it all the same. if it’s something for his hair, he’ll proudly put it on for you. if it’s something else that he enjoys, he’ll thank you endlessly for the precious gift.

after you talk for a while and exchange your first gifts, tonio brings in some food. like promised, pearl jam isn’t in the food, but you’re always a little wary of it. even if josuke is eating it just fine without any... reactions, you’re still paranoid. don’t worry, though, your boyfriend is right there to reassure you that he personally asked tonio to not have pearl jam inside the food. it calms you down and you’re able to eat your food in peace.

after eating, josuke pays tonio a generous amount, along with a nice big tip (courtesy of joseph’s wallet) to thank him for everything. he’s very appreciative of it! you don’t stay for ice cream since josuke thinks that you guys should walk and see the night sky. it’s romantic and cheesy in his head, sure, but he really wants you to enjoy yourself.

once you two get outside, you both start talking about whatever you’d like. if it were about the adventures that you two had, josuke would be very fond of it and the memories he shared with you and all of his friends. this would be the time where you could slip in a compliment or two, which would make him a bit flustered, but he’d compliment you back.

once you get to the ice cream parlor that he wanted to take you at, you get your own chance to pay for the ice cream. josuke would like to pay for that as well, but you keep your foot down and insist on paying.

after you et the ice cream, you both continue to walk until you finish your ice creams and throw the trash away. then, josuke walks you home, making sure you’re safe. he knows that the town that you live in is a dangerous, filled with many stand users that could possibly come into contact with you two. though, the threat of stand users never come and you two are safe. once you get to your doorstep, you give josuke a kiss on his cheek and a hug.

josuke gives you one last gift, a very nice bandana. it’s something that you weren’t expecting, but he thought it would look cute on you. you end up wearing it all the time after your date. josuke feels a sense of pride in getting you a gift that you used so often.

giorno ;

giorno is very kind and generous on your dates. he would love to spoil you in any way he could. of course, he already does that regularly. but even more so when you two find yourself in such a romantic and intimate setting.

he finds that he wants to give you the time of your life. so, he takes you to a place that he’s very fond of and that he’s hope you’d enjoy as well. of course, this is an art museum we’re talking about. he likes looking at all the paintings and interpreting them in his own means. he just hopes that you find the trip just as exciting and enrapturing.

you both have your duities to the bucciarati gang, considering that giorno is the don to passione now. however, he feels as though he should treat you right, no matter the circumstances. so, you end up going to the museum anyway.

as you enter the room, you can smell the distinct smell of luxury. it’s not something that you could describe to anyone, but it’s there in the air. you can also smell the hint of paint. but most of all, you can see the luxury all around you. how the large paintings on the wall were framed with golden, intricate frames. how the texture of the paints rose off of the canvas just slightly. it’s breathetaking, really.

you two walk around, holding hands and whispering to each other things about the paintings that you notice. there’s so many things about them that were so amazing, especially the paintings of portraits and scenaries. the experience of this is very intense.

giorno also makes sure to keep you close to him, not wanting you to get lost or anything in the giant space. when you start to drift apart from him, he’ll get a bit anxious. after all, every time you two go out together, even in a group setting, it’s always intense and nerve-wracking. people might be out there, trying tot ale down the leader of passione.

but you come to his side and reassure him that everything is okay and that you’re not hurt. you two have a special code, just in case something doesn’t seem right. if you don’t use it, then giorno relaxes himself and starts to have a better time viewing the paintings again.

you even see other art pieces, like glass sculptures and whatnot. they’re encased in a special glass, just so no one can touch them. but even from where you’re standing, you can appreciate the beauty.

as you walk through the museum, giorno looks at your face and how amazed you seem. he isn’t new to all of this. in fact, he’s probably been there before. but he does find it very interesting to see your face light up in awe and excitement.

at the end of the museum, he brings you back to the hideout that giorno stays in. you end up sleeping over, because you really don’t want to go back home. it’s very comfortable for you to stay there. you both cuddle there, wrapped up in each other’s arms. it’s very intimate and just a soft moment for each other. you’re both finally able to relax.

jolyne ;

this gal isn’t the type of gal to go on a date at a reasonable time. nope, not at all. she calls you at one am, telling you that she’s bored. of course, you tell her the obvious and that it’s one am, but she doesn’t seem to care. she just tells you to meet her at the movie theaters because she’s bored.

so, you meet her there, sneaking out of your house. this plan is rediculous, but you love her to bits and pieces, so you can’t deny her going to the movies for a nice date. at the theater, she’s already there, waiting for you on her phone. she’s wearing something really casual, just a simple outfit that’s comfortable. you, however, look stunning to her. even if you’re wearing your casual clothing as well, she thinks you look beautiful. she tells you as such, it makes you very flustered.

when you decide on a movie, you both find an action movie that seems really good. so, you end up buying tickets and getting popcorn. though, you don’t have to worry about other snacks, she’s snuck then in the pockets that she could easily hide them in. you don’t find it too bad to be sneaking in snacks, it’s not like the people there care, anyway.

once you sit down and the movie starts playing, you’re very attentive. jolyne also is, of course, but she’s switching between watching you and actually paying attention to the movie. at least she understands the plot of it.

by halfway through it, however, you end up falling asleep. it’s a weird position o be falling asleep in, especially in a cramped chair, but jolyne makes sure that you’re a bit comfortable by giving you a shoulder to lean on. idly, she finds her hands in your hair as she watches the rest of the film.

when it’s time to leave the theater, she shakes you awake and tells you that the movie is over. you wake yourself up before getting out. jolyne would take you home, but she’s also starving. you, in fact, are also a little hungry, so you both go into a small dine in restaurant that’s somehow still opened.

it’s a little dirty there, but that’s the joy of it. there’s other adults there, some older than you and some your age, all huddled in there small groups. it’s already almost theee am, though, so when you walk in, the people behind the counter seem to be a bit tired. no matter, however, you find yourself sitting down at a booth across from jolyne.

talking between the two of you is fun as you mention how you met up in the first place. of course, it was a nice meeting together. you’re very fond of the memories that you have together and jolyne thinks the same. she doesn’t mind bringing up those fond moments you have together. it’s very intimate, as well.

once your food comes in, you eat in a comfortable silence. there isn’t much to talk about, but you’re both fine with it. you and jolyne share a breakfast meal as well, coming in with whatever you’d like. she doesn’t mind, just as long as it’s something.

when you’re finishing eating, you start a conversation again, talking about if your friends were awake right now. some of them most likely were, but you didn’t want to call them and find out. after all, even if jolyne didn’t mention that it was a date, you hoped that it was just for the two of you.

at the end, when you’re walking back home and have to split ways (you don’t live too near each other, but close enough to where you can safely walk to your house), she ends up giving you a kiss on the cheek and a small joke. as you’re flustered, you find her laughing. it’s a very cute look on her, but you decide to keep that thought to yourself. however, you do wish that you could capture the moment.

276 notes · View notes

aboutcaseyaffleck · 3 years

Photo

Casey Affleck Gets Philosophical About Life, Time & The Whole Damn Thing

“Time,” reflects Casey Affleck, “is something I have been thinking about lately. It is ironic how the older you get, the better you are at being patient. With less time left, people become better at waiting. But this year, I feel much older and a lot less patient. I guess you’ve got to accept that time is never wasted? That doing is no different than not doing? That you can’t kill time no matter what you do, and that no matter what you do you can’t prevent the opposite from happening either? I don’t know. It’s a double-edged sword.”

It’s a Wednesday afternoon in early January, and Affleck and I are doing the Zoom thing, ostensibly to discuss his two new movies, the recently released indie Our Friend and the upcoming 19th-century period drama The World to Come. Yet our virtual tête-à-tête has become far more interesting, jumping wildly from his love of trains and travel to weightier topics like family, the future and the search for something more, something meaningful.

“I like the idea that time is an illusion. That past, present and future are all happening at once. I like it even though I can’t totally get my head around it. But either way, the me in the mirror gets older every day.”

Like most of us, he’s not only had plenty of time on his hands in recent months, housebound in L.A., but he’s tried to use his downtime wisely. “I tried to use this year of quarantine constructively,” the 45-year-old Oscar winner says. “I tried to see it as a winter season for shutting down and restoring something inside, but I just couldn’t. I’m not that evolved, I guess. I didn’t take up a new hobby or learn an instrument or get better at ‘self-care.’ If anything, I let my better habits and routines fall off. It was all I could do to keep my head above water and help buoy my friends and children when I could.”

As a guy with two teenagers at home — Indiana, 16, and Atticus, 13 — it hasn’t been easy, but he’s doing his best. He tried taking his sons on their annual camping road trip over the summer, but it was short-lived. Instead, he’s been focusing on making a happy home. “My kids don’t get to see their friends a lot, so I’m doing a lot more stuff with them, coming up with activities for the three of us, which they mostly hate, and I mostly let drop. And then I try again with the same outcome 90 percent of the time.”

While trying to create innovative plans to sustain his boys, he came up with one he thought might do some good, too. In June, he launched Stories from Tomorrow, a social-media initiative focused on creative writing by kids.

“At the beginning of all this last March, the first thing that occurred to me was that the quarantine would have a big impact on young people’s emotional well-being — the disruption they’re going to feel is really going to affect their mental health more than anyone else,” he says. “When I would sit down to write creatively, I felt better. But I couldn’t get my sons to journal or do creative writing much. I didn’t want to twist their arms about it. So I was like, ‘I’ll make a social media platform that inspires young people to write creatively, because it is such a good way of working out difficult feelings. And the way I will do that is have well-known people read the kids’ writing publicly.’ I knew that hearing your own writing read was exciting. I thought it would be really inspiring, that creative writing would be a great outlet for kids stuck at home.”

He enlisted some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Robert Redford, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Jon Hamm, Matthew Broderick, Kyle Chandler and Danny Glover, as well as two current costars, Vanessa Kirby and Jason Segel, and arranged for donations made through the program to go to children’s hunger nonprofit Feeding America and Room to Read, which supports female education. He reached out to schools in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Haiti, hoping to create a global community.

Affleck was excited to make progress, to have done some good, but the initiative didn’t take off as planned. “In the end, an Instagram account for creative writing by tweens just couldn’t possibly compete with the quintillion bytes of daily data generated online. I don’t know. But I tried! And anyway, since then lots of other organizations started doing basically the same thing, and they are more organized than I am, and they have done a better job. So be it.”

Yet, adults have been disrupted, too, including Affleck himself, who is aware that, relatively speaking, he has gotten through mostly unscathed. “Am I happy? I mean, I’m relatively okay. It’s been a hard time to find balance and to keep it. I would say it’s been a hard time in my life, but I know that it’s been harder for other folks. So far we haven’t lost anyone, and we haven’t lost our house. And I rediscovered that when you’re feeling bad, there’s nothing better to do than to try to help other people. Being of service not only helps others but is a great way of getting outside of yourself. Also — and I really believe this — I think this time will be remembered as one when our country made leaps and bounds in the right direction; we are changing and growing and it’s uncomfortable, but we will be much, much better. I wish I could see the next couple hundred years. It’s going to be amazing.”

At the end of the day, it’s family that’s keeping him going. “Having my kids around and being able to spend so much time with them has been amazing. It is the brightest silver lining in all of this. They are what gives me the most joy. They are funny and smart and interesting and interested. They are just the best company ever,” he says. “Anytime I try to parent out some ‘teaching moment,’ I find they are two steps ahead. They help me make sense of stuff just as much I help them, if not more. I don’t have any answers, but batting the questions around, back and forth, is a good way of coping.”

CALEB CASEY MCGUIRE AFFLECK-BOLDT feels he is luckier than most. Although he and many of his peers have gone jobless for a full year, he spent 2019 working hard. He had not one but three films done and dusted prior to the start of the pandemic; the last one wrapped a week before mandatory quarantine. Two of these have back-to-back release dates: the tearjerker indie Our Friend came out in January, and sweeping period drama The World to Come will be released February 12. Thriller Every Breath You Take is slated for later this year. “I am so, so, so glad I spent 2019 working that much. It is what kept us afloat all through 2020,” he says.

The films themselves are radically different, but there are a few common threads. In both of his winter releases, Affleck plays a man who has lost a family member and whose marriage is in shambles. In both, he is a man in pain.

In the LGBTQ masterpiece The World to Come, which revolves around the love that blossoms between two married women on the mid-19th-century American frontier, his character, Dyer, says very little but manages to convey a wealth of emotion with his eyes alone. He may seem stoic, but he is suffering.

“The World to Come is a story about a couple who have lost a baby. They’re dealing with the grief in totally different ways and having a very hard time coming together again,” he explains. “My character wants to heal that by having another, but his wife [played by Katherine Waterson] is coping in a different way. She is severing all emotional attachment to him because it triggers more and more grief. She [only] seems to come alive when she is with their neighbor, a woman on the next farm [played by Vanessa Kirby]. He wants his wife happy, but he also would like her to love him. To me, this is the story of how couples can have their relationship shattered by a sudden loss. And it’s definitely a beautiful story about two women who feel that they have to hide their love and find the courage to love each other anyway.”

Affleck likes layers. He himself has many, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he’s drawn to roles written as fully formed characters, not caricatures. With Dyer, that’s abundantly clear. “Crisis is fun to play, [and Dyer] is in an interesting crisis,” he says. “I think he’s a really good person — a really decent, solid, loving person — which is what I loved so much about playing him and what I love so much about the writing. It’s more interesting when there’s no bad guy, just a conflict of circumstances and feelings that get so complicated that it drives two people apart.”

In Our Friend, a different set of circumstances drives the leads apart. Affleck and Dakota Johnson take on the true story of Matthew and Nicole Teague, whose imperfect marriage was strained by his long absences and her affair, neither of which seem at all important when she’s diagnosed with terminal cancer.

“To me, Our Friend is really a story about how petty grievances between people can divide them and then be forgotten when a gigantic tragedy is dropped in their laps. [Matthew] was wronged, it’s true — his wife cheated on him. On the other hand, he wronged her in a bunch of ways; [they] were just more passive and not quite so salacious. He wasn’t around. Matt got to be a dad and he got to travel the world as a journalist. He left her to take care of the kids. She wanted to have a life too, she had dreams of her own — she wanted to be a singer, she wanted to work — but she didn’t get to do that. She just got to be a mom. She was left holding the bag, and it wasn’t fair.”

He spent a fair amount of time immersing himself in the journalist’s life while filming in Fairhope, Ala., in 2019. (The film’s title is taken from Teague’s award-winning Esquire essay, “The Friend: Love Is Not a Big Enough Word.” The friend in question — played by Jason Segel — is a man who puts his life on hold to help the family during their darkest days.) But he did not become Matt Teague, which is an important distinction. “[Director] Gabriella Cowperthwaite asked that we not portray the personality traits of the real people. No accents, no mannerisms. [But] I did steal his style, because I had never seen someone nail the dad look any better than Matt. I say that with affection.”

As for the dreams Nicole gave up for her family, Affleck says, “If you were to ask Matt, I’m sure he would acknowledge that he was neglecting his role. He was neglecting her dreams, and that is a part of marriage, supporting what the other person wants. Like all relationships, it was complicated.”

Like life itself, really. This is why he can identify with both sides. He understands Nicole’s pain about the deference of her dreams as well as Matt’s desire to escape through travel — especially now, when Affleck himself has been completely grounded. Since the age of 17 he’s taken 20 cross-country road trips. His love of driving is secondary only to his enthusiasm for trains: Amtrak is his jam. He even fantasizes about owning his own train car one day.

Immersing himself in each location — whether it’s the sleepy Alabama town of Fairhope or the more exotic locale of Romania, which served as a stand-in for the East Coast of the U.S. in The World to Come — is actually one of the most desirable parts of the acting life, he says. “One of the things I love about working as an actor is that you go to some brand-new place and the community invites you in in a way that they don’t usually if you’re a tourist,” he confides. “You get to see what it’s like to really be there and imagine yourself living there.”

And he has — over the past ten years he’s spent so much time in cities including his hometown of Boston; Vancouver, British Columbia, the location of Light of My Life; Atlanta, where he shot the 2016 action flick Triple 9; Argentina, where he made Gerry; Dallas, for A Ghost Story; Calgary, Alberta, where much of the epic western The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was filmed; Our Friend’s Fairhope set; Cincinnati, for The Old Man and the Gun; and Braddock, Pa., where he filmed the 2013 drama Out of the Furnace. “I have loved moving in and settling down and living a character’s life and then moving on. But I feel most at home in places that are struggling to get by. It reminds me of the neighborhood I grew up in. I feel lighter in those places, more relaxed. I feel like myself. I fit in.”

For him, the where is almost as important as the who — immersing himself in the place is imperative to understanding his character. This is part of what makes him such an accomplished actor — he and most of the parts he plays merge. I draw a crappy analogy about how the characters are like a coat, which he very obligingly works with. “You have to build the coat from all of the scraps and pieces of yourself; all these characters are made up of little pieces of me,” he says, noting, “Obviously, sometimes they can’t be. Sometimes I have no connection whatsoever, and those are the jobs I look back on and I either feel nothing for, or worse. But sometimes you have to take the job that is available, like most people in the world. You know? I don’t think my dad wanted to be a janitor. But he did it.”

He’s won an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Critics’ Choice Award, a Golden Globe and an Independent Spirit Award, among others, and appeared in films that run the gamut from box-office juggernauts like the Ocean’s 11 franchise and Tower Heist to indie darlings like brother Ben’s directorial debut Gone Baby Gone and Manchester by the Sea. He has even written and directed, most recently 2019’s Light of My Life, a bizarrely prescient movie about raising children in a pandemic. At this point in his career, he should have his pick of parts. “Not really,” he says. “There are a lot of people out there who have done good work, who are driven, and who have something to share. I have never been someone studios embraced as a ‘movie star,’ never knighted. I have always had to fight for the parts I have gotten. And you know what? That’s fine. Let me fight. It’s how I cut my teeth, and it is how I will keep them sharp. You can’t ask for more than a chance to be in the ring. Also, movies and TV aren’t all I care about. Sometimes I think, ‘Well, jeez, I have to work, and there are two jobs available to me, and the one that isn’t as good is the one that is close to home and I can see the kids, so I guess I am doing that.’ I love movies and really try hard to make them good. I really bust my ass every day when I get the chance to make one. I care more about my family than any movie. It’s not [always] the job I love, but this is the reality of my life. But maybe life will be long enough for a few more chapters.

The forward momentum of his future is an interesting topic. At the moment, he isn’t so much planning for the future as he is exploring it, because Affleck is not someone who likes to live with regret.

“I guess [at the end of the day], regret should be reframed as a reminder to be different,” he observes. And so, with this in mind, he embarked on a personal journey several years ago and decided to go back to college (at the Simon Fraser University in British Columbia). He had completed two years at Columbia University, but he never graduated — his film career kept getting in the way.

“I went back to school because I hadn’t finished, and I wanted to think about new things in a way that school can help you do,” he says. “I couldn’t go in person, so I found a strong online school and got started. You know, I’m 45, and I just thought, ’This is halftime. This is where you hit the locker room and think about how you want the rest of the game to go.’ You know what I mean? Like, ‘Okay, we went out, we played our best, we didn’t know what the other team was going to be like, we made some mistakes, we are in the game, so let’s adjust like this.’ Also, I’m not sure I want to be an actor forever. I had made a small pivot from acting into directing, and into producing more. And I like to direct movies. The most satisfying creative experience I’ve had in a long time was being a director. But ultimately it wasn’t quite enough. So I wanted to go study some of the things I was interested in. I wanted to do more with my life.”

Although he needed general credits to graduate, he found an unexpected passion for juvenile justice along the way, with a particular focus on alternative accountability programs. “I don’t know where this will lead me, or why I am so interested in it, but finding and implementing better systems for addressing harm and conflict among kids, adults too, but mostly young people, is something I care about. And the work that I have done so far has been fascinating and deeply rewarding.”

When I ask if this stems from his own experiences as a troubled kid growing up in Cambridge, Mass., with Christine, a single mom — his parents divorced when he was 9; his father, Timothy, an alcoholic tradesman, checked into a rehab facility in Indio, Calif., when Affleck was just 14 — he muses thoughtfully, “I love my parents and think they both did the very best they could and cared a lot. Period. Did I get into some trouble as a teenager? I got into some trouble when I was a kid, and I struggled a lot through high school with depression and substances, yes. Much of it I didn’t even know wasn’t normal. I don’t know if I was ‘troubled.’ Either way, as an adult, I’ve come to see that, regardless of how I compare to anyone else, I want less conflict in my life. That might be part of the reason why I’ve been so interested in learning about better ways of resolving conflicts, both with children and with grown-ups. It isn’t something they teach in school for some reason. Man, there is a lot they don’t teach you in school, huh? A lot you’ve got to learn on your own.”

And on this journey, mistakes will be made. That’s par for the course, and Affleck is no exception. “I have made so many mistakes, but life is the time for mistakes. I do believe people should hold themselves accountable and repair harm they have caused. That is important to me, and I try hard to do that whenever it is called for: apologize for mistakes and repair them,” he admits.

This is when our conversation, as such conversations are wont to do, comes full circle. Before we say goodbye, Affleck remarks, “You know, I heard Bono talking on Howard Stern’s show, and he said something about Frank Sinatra that was interesting. He said that he heard two versions of Frank singing ‘My Way.’ One version was recorded when Frank was young, and the other version was recorded when Frank was old. Each had the exact same words, same arrangement, same everything. But when Frank was young the line ‘I did it my way’ sounded proud, and when Frank was old it sounded humble. Whatever else time does to a person, I think it also does that.”

[source]

#casey affleck #interview #photoshoot #photo #quote

2 notes · View notes

inprogress-predicament · 4 years

Text

AU idea, that I will never write cause I am a bad writer

Defenders: Matt, Marci, Danny, Colleen, Misty, Trish, Malcolm, Vido and Gillian are the only ones from the “Super Circle” who survive the Snap.

Matt keeps Nelson and Murdock going, after a year or so of nonstop Daredeviling and borderline forgetting himself. But Matt gets it up and going again, provides help for anyone who lost everything in the Snap; kids who are funneled into the overflowing system, people who are loosing their businesses, those were reported snapped only to turn up a week later and now need to reclaim their lives. Marci was the one who pulled Matt out of the black hole. Marci had turned to the DA’s office after the Snap and would be a viable contender for election soon. Marci had seen enough of Matt’s angst over the years to know he’d need a life line. She passed him the cases the DA wouldn’t handle, and one by one, Matt returned to a 50/50 life. Matt tried to date once or twice, just to try normality, but after Elektra and Karen, Matt doesn’t think its safe for anyone to be close to him like that.

Danny and Colleen get married immediately, not just because they loved each other and there was just a cosmic sign that screamed “don’t waste your time with maybes”, but they saw a whole bunch of the world go to shit fast and they only trusted each other with their legacies. Colleen still patrolled Chinatown, but she also added in most of Manhattan to her usual route, because Misty was one-more-folder-in-her-pile away from breaking. Danny took to running the dojo, and it went form a safe haven during class, to a 24/7 shelter for street kids.

Malcolm and Gillian closed Alias for weeks after the snap, they both had things to handle. Once the door reopened, they had to instate a strict policy on missing persons. Any who hadn’t been seen since before the snap was not going to be looked for. Gillian pulled Vido from the system before he could get lost, his parent hadn’t been seen since the snap. She half forced Malcolm to let Vido live with him. Gillian had never been one to care to much for others, that’s why Jessica hired her, but Vido needed a home, and Malcolm’s apartment was a lot safer than hers.

The Raft didn’t hold for very long after the snap. With half the guards dead and no reinforcements coming, and no once sure who should be onboard and who shouldn’t be, Trish was off and back in New York in just under a month. When Trish couldn’t find Jessica anywhere, Malcolm’s apartment was empty, Alias was closed and there wasn’t a rooftop any with a familiar vigilantly on it, she retreated to the only safe place she could find. Eventually Malcolm came back to Alias, and had an unpleasant reaction to finding out Trish had been squatting in Jess’s bed. Trish kept up with only minor communication with Alias, instead she turned to doing what she had always wanted Jessica to do, clean up the streets. Neither Colleen nor Matt were fans of her initial willingness to kill, but for Jessica, Trish curbed her insticts. Because Trish knew Jessica wasn’t gone, she was just lost in the chaos of the snap, but Jess would be back and when she was, Trish wouldn't be able to look Jess in the eye if she was still killing.

Once Nelson and Murdock was back up, Matt wouldn’t change the name and legally there was no proof of Foggy’s death, even a year later sometimes someone who had been traveling would reappear in New York. Marci was the one who made sure that every single one of the Nelson kids who’d lost both parents and who’s few remaining Aunts and Uncles, ended up on her or Matt’s couch or with Sister Maggie, and saw their remaining family as much as possible. It was one of the older Nelson cousins who started nursing school and began running a triage center on the street in front of the shop. It didn’t take to long for the Nelson cousin and for Marci to realize what Matt was doing at night, but neither condemned him.

Danny reached out to Matt not long after he heard there was a Lawyer in Hell’s Kitchen keeping kids out of the system and with good people. Soon Matt and Colleen were running together and Danny’s students weren’t so worried about being ripped from homes every day or left on the street. The three remaining vigilantes of New York covered as much ground as possible, but even on their best days the world still felt empty.

Colleen fell into the habit of triple checking one everyone. She lost a third of her students, but she kept her best friend, her boyfriend/now husband, and Colleen was now doing more good for her city than ever before. It took years after the unsnapping for Colleen to stop triple checking on everyone, to stop waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Matt and Daredevil became borderline (very separate) public figures. Matt had stopped caring who saw him that first year, going out dressed up in broad daylight. Daredevil once dropped a guy off literally on the police station’s door step at 2:00 on a workday, but the new unspoken code of the police was something along the lines of “take all the help we can get”. When Marci was running for DA, three years after the snap, Daredevil wore Marci’s campaign Tshirts as joke, and Matt always claimed she owed Daredevil her election. Nelson and Murdock had such a far reaching effect on the city’s rebuilding and stabilization effort that Matt’s name was somewhere in a paper four or five times a week.

By the time the unsnap happens, Vido is interning at Nelson and Murdock, Matt didn’t mean for it to happen but Vido needed someone who could understand his situation, and Matt couldn’t say no. Marci and Matt have both tried to have a better relationship, and while they have never become close friends, they’ve come to rely on each other more than anyone else before. Malcolm has perfected how to comfort someone he knows will never see their loved one again. Gillian has moved on but keeps contact, she says its for the free PI. Trish is finally on speaking terms with Malcolm, she’s keeping clean but still depends on an outside voice to be her consciousness. Trish is dating again, but everything is slow and its more to fend off the loneliness than actually enjoying each others company. Marci has married her work, some have asked her out, she’s asked some out but its never passed beyond one night stands, not for lack of her trying but there are many people willing to put up with her as a person. Danny and Colleen have discussed starting their family, but its never seemed like the right time, Danny has increased his ownership of Rand just to make sure he still have a voice but has decreased time at the company in favor of the dojo. Colleen is going out every night and neither are willing to put a baby in danger just be living their lives. The kids at the dojo are more than enough.

The everyone is unsnapped and all the work they’ve done to heal and move on however unsuccessfully, is undone and their world is pure chaos and reopened wounds.

#defenders #sorry theres not a lot of LC in here #I have seen one episode #I wrote ALOT more here than I meant to #I have an exam tomorrow and I'm not studying.#matt murdock #marci stahl #daredevil #jessica jones #malcolm ducasse #gillian #vido arocho #the snap #the blip #why did anyone think it was a good idea to call it a blip #danny rand #colleen wing #iron fist #netflix marvel

20 notes · View notes

sweetingly · 5 years

Text

Bitter & Sweet

A Billy Hargrove Imagine (requested by @rachelcarroll1819 )

———

Y/N’s POV:

Fits of laughters fall from me as my boyfriend placed sloppy kisses on my neck. He was only doing it out of spite because he knew how much it tickled for me.

“Billy!” I squeal, trying my best to push him off, but my strength was no match, especially compared to his musclar arm.

I feel him smile against my neck as he continues, “You shouldn’t have teased me in the first place then you wouldn’t be in this mess.” He pauses for second before attacking me with kisses again.

More giggles escape from me, a few of the things on kitchen counter tumbling to the ground due to all the movement we were causing.

“Okay, okay!” I yell, breathless from all the giggling and he stops to make eye contact with me. “I am really sorry about what I said.”

“Said what?” He eggs on, one of his eyebrows going upward.

I send him an annoyed look, “Really? I’m not repeating it just for you to tickle me even more.”

He lets out a fake gasp, pretending to be hurt. “I’d never do that! Now, just tell me what you’re apologizing for and then we can get on with our lives.”

“Fine.” I huff, “I’m sorry for calling you a pea-brain.”

“See that wasn’t so hard, was it?” He teases, both of his hands giving my hips a little squeeze.

I shrug, “I guess not. However, I should be getting an apology too since you know I hate being tickled. You made me suffer for five whole minutes!”

“Awh come on, sweetheart.” He teases poking my sides, but I don’t give in as I cross my arms over my chest while fake pouting. “Can I get a kiss?”

I shake my head, “Nuh-uh.”

He tries to kiss me, but I dodge them perfectly causing him to let out a little whining noise. I wanted to laugh so bad, but I wasn’t going to give in so easily. Stopping him from failing to kiss me, I place my hand over his mouth and he pauses immediately.

“You shouldn’t have tickled me to death.” I simply state, the both of us eyeing each other.

Without even thinking, Billy swipes his tongue against my hand making me pull my hand away instantly. Taking that as his cue, he pressed his lips against mine. Me being purposefully stubborn I don’t kiss him back- just to mess with him.

That was only until he lifted me off the counter, giving my butt a tight squeeze and I ended up moving my lips along with his. I feel him smile into the kiss before he sets me back down on the counter, my legs wrapping around his waist to bring him closer.

“I’m bac- ah what the hell guys?!” Billy and I break away from the kiss once the voice of my brother was heard from the kitchen doorway.

“We’ve talked about doing the shimmy-sham in the kitchen- it’s not acceptable in this house or anyone else’s house.” Steve explains as he set the bag of groceries on the counter.

“Someone’s just upset because they don’t get head everyday like me.” Billy mutters, but it’s loud enough for Steve and I to hear which I slap his chest in response.

My mouth is agape for a moment after the comment since I didn’t expect him to say that. “Billy, be nice.” I warn.

“You know what Billy? At least my dic-“

“Okay, that’s enough guys.” I interrupt Steve from continuing the rest of his sentence, already knowing how it was gonna end. “Gosh, you two are like preschoolers who fight over toy trucks in the play area.”

“Sorry,” They say in unison, Billy kissing my cheek.

“It’s fine,” I sigh. “Steve, are we still on for tonight? Remember, the gang wanted to go to the arcade and dinner afterwards.”

Steve’s eyes widen, “Oh shit, I completely forgot- thank god you reminded me. But yes, as a matter of fact I’ll call Dustin to confirm the time on when we should pick them up.” With that, Steve leaves Billy and I alone in the kitchen again.

“You’re welcome to join us, babe.” I tell him once we make eye contact, my hands resting on his biceps. “It’ll be fun!”

Billy looks unsure for a second, “Uhh i’ll pass- I’ve got some errands to run anyway.”

My eyebrows furrow, “You have to get them done tonight?”

“Yes, they’re sort of important.” Is all he says and my face holds a slight frown, he immediately notices. “I’m sorry, I’ll join you all next time though.”

He had said that every time I invited him along to hangout with us, but I let it slide once more. Giving him a chaste kiss, I nod adding a smile so he wouldn’t feel bad.

———

Our plans for going out to the arcade then dinner had ended up changing to us doing puzzles and ordering pizza. We had all hosted our mini get togethers at each other’s houses besides Lucas and Max. Deciding we’d all go to Lucas’ since Max’s wasn’t the best idea as of right now- or forever.

“Will, I swear you keep putting those together thinking they’ll magically fit.” Mike tease as his friend concentrated on getting the same two pieces.

Will shrugged, “Maybe they will magically fit- you have to believe in me guys.” I laugh at his response, ruffling his hair. “Don’t worry, I have faith in you, Baby Byers.”

After about ten minutes, all of us give up on the puzzle since we weren’t even halfway at that point. The film Grease playing from the VHS as we all gathered on the family room.

“You know what?” Max spoke up, our attention turning towards her. “Y/N and Billy remind me of Sandy and Danny.”

“Yeah, but Y/N’s not as perky as Sandy. There are times where she can be a real bit-“

My eyes dart to Dustin and his mouth is agape. “I swear if you even continue that sentence then you won’t have front teeth again.” His mouth slowly shuts as the others let out a laugh.

“In conclusion,” Mike starts. “Billy and Y/N are the next Sandy and Danny- end of discussion.”

The doorbell rings before we could all get into watching the movie some more. I glance at the teens who glance between Steve and I.

“Did you guys order more pizza?” Steve questions, mostly asking the boys in particular.

El shakes her head, “Never. I wouldn’t let them do that again.” She says, referring to the incident from last time.

I get up for my comfy spot, “Look, I’ll get it since none of you dipshits are going.”

Walking out of the family room and towards the front door, I check the peephole noticing Billy standing out there. My brows furrow in confusion as I open the door.

“Hey babe,” I say causing a smile to arise on his face. “What are you doing here?”

He leans his body onto the doorframe, chewing on a piece of gum. “I came to get you, of course.”

I let out an awkward laugh. “Billy, you know I’m hanging out with the gang tonight.” I suddenly feel bad when his expression falters. “I invited you, but you said you had errands to run.” I put an emphasis on the word “errands”.

“I really did.” He defends and I cross my arms over my chest, sending him a warning look. “Okay, I didn’t.” He sighs in defeat.

“Yeah, I know. Why didn’t you just tell the truth?” I question.

He his clears throat, his body not leaning on the doorframe anymore. “Alright, I’m sorry, but I know how they are whenever I come around.” I send him a puzzled expression, but he continues. “Steve, Lucas, Mike, Will, Dustin, Eleven, and even my little sister, act like I’m some murderous criminal whenever I come around.”

My heart falls when he admits that to me, and I immediately pull him into a warming hug. “Billy...” I whisper, his eyes meeting mine when we pull apart. “I promise they want to get to know you. It’s just the whole demeanor you gave off when you and Max first moved here and that made them feel a bit iffy about you. Hell, I’ll even admit that you scared me a little before we started dating.” I tell him, light laughs falling from the both of us. “But every time we get together they’ll either ask me or Max why you don’t come along.”

A small smile appears on his face, “You’re not just telling me that to make me feel better?”

“I’d never lie to you, Billy.” I give him a smile of reassurance. “Now, come in and join us because we just started Grease.”

With further ado, I grab his hand and bring him inside, closing the door behind him. We both walk to the family room where the others sat watching the film still. However, all their attention breaks away from it once they notice Billy and I standing in the walkway.

“I hope you guys don’t mind, but Billy came to join us for tonight.“ I tell them, my hand letting go of his as my arm snakes around his waist.

Silence floats throughout the room, and I watch as Billy glances down at the carpet awkwardly.

“Fine by me as you guys don’t do the shimmy-sham.” Steve teases, and I’m glad that he finally broke the silence.

“Oh shut it, Harrington.” Billy jokes, chuckles traveling throughout the room.

Lucas and Max then slide over for Billy and I to join them on the couch. I allow Billy to sit beside Max, hoping that it’ll somehow help their awkward brother-sister relationship. And boy, was I right because the whole time they kept whispering and giggling about things to one another.

To be honest, Billy was a bitter person and it showed whenever he was around people he couldn’t stand. But I knew deep down that he was also just a sweet, ole’ cuddly teddy bear.

———

send in more requests for Billy or Steve because I run out of ideas easily lol!! <3 <3

273 notes · View notes

ghostsray · 4 years

Text

Ch5: Moon

(first - prev - next)

The siblings met on top a peeling billboard at the edge of town, which had become their sort of unofficial meeting place during Ellie's stay. Niel had suggested some other places nearer to human civilization, especially since Ellie continued to make him buy food for her, but Ellie had insisted that this was the perfect place because the lights were dim enough and they were high enough to see the stars--stars that were visible on this particular clear night.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" Ellie said, gazing up dreamily.

"Who is?" Niel asked.

"The moon, of course!" Ellie replied, gesturing widely at the sky. "Of course, the stars are beautiful too. Venus is shining especially bright today. That's a planet, but she still looks like a star from this distance, so whatever."

"You're really enthusiastic about space."

Ellie stared at him like he'd grown a second head and said, "You mean you aren't?"

Niel shrugged. "Dad tried getting me into astronomy for some reason, but it never caught my interest that much."

"And you're sure you're a clone of Danny?"

Niel frowned at the incredulous look Ellie was giving him. "Come on, an interest in astronomy can't be genetic, can it?"

"Maybe not, but it sure as hell is the core of being a Danny."

This wasn't the first time she described herself as a version of Danny. Paired with her old nickname, Niel wondered if she felt the opposite way he did about being a clone: she wanted to be like Danny. He couldn't for the half-life of him understand why, but that was how she acted.

Niel ignored her statement and instead looked down at the comic book in his lap. Just like she had promised, Ellie was trying to get him into Marvel by bringing him issues in exchange for the food. When he asked her if she stole these comics, she didn't reply. (She stole them.)

"This makes no sense," Niel said, referring to the comic. "Radioactivity doesn't give you superpowers, it just gives you cancer."

Ellie chuckled. "It's fiction, dude. It doesn't have to be accurate."

"But they're spreading misinformation! What if a new ghost forms because some kid decided taking a swim in a radioactive vat would be fun?"

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Nobody will swim in a radioactive vat. You're sounding like an overbearing boomer."

Niel gasped and clutched his chest. "You take that back."

Ellie hummed like she was mulling it over, then said, "Nope."

Niel hid his grin by bringing the comic up to his face. He squinted at the page and tilted it slightly, like that would help him understand it better. "Seriously, though, this doesn't make sense. Spiders don't have a "spider sense"."

"You're just a boring science nerd."

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying you're not, even though you like astronomy?"

"I am a nerd, and that's my point! What kind of nerd isn't interested in space?"

He shrugged. "I'm not saying space isn't cool, but studying it? Too much math."

A smirk formed on Ellie's face, and she swung her legs and said, "Speaking of math, how was school? Is it really true that you started a rumor about Vlad and Jack having an affair?"

Niel grimaced. "I didn't say anything," he said, then coughed into his fist and quickly muttered, "but I might have accidentally convinced the entire student body of that."

Ellie laughed and punched his shoulder. "Like I said: favorite brother."

"Even though I'm boring and don't like astronomy?"

"Hey, everyone has flaws."

A comfortable silence settled between them, broken only by the wind rustling the comic book's pages in Niel's lap. He took a break from reading Spider-Man to look up at the night sky. He had to admit, the moon did look beautiful.

"Vlad," he heard Ellie mutter contemptuously after a while. Then she whispered a string of insults that were much harsher than the names of English pastries.

Niel winced and fidgeted. "You know," he said hesitantly, "maybe...maybe Vlad might be able to change his mind about you." He shriveled under Ellie's glare, but he continued, "He told me he could fix unstable clones now."

"Really? Did he actually say he would fix any clone, or just you?"

"...Just me," he admitted.

The girl sighed. "Niel, you beautiful, naive baby brother--" baby brother?--"even if Vlad could change his mind, I won't. I'm much happier travelling around the world than being stuck inside some depressing mansion."

Niel glanced at her. The moonlight made her hair shine gray. He rubbed his neck and asked, "Don't you ever get tired from travelling? Or...lonely?"

Ellie turned her eyes away. She lowered her head and didn't speak. This time, the silence wasn't so comfortable.

Just as the tension between them was starting to become unbearable, Niel's breath suddenly misted over. Next to him, Ellie's breath was the same. They met eyes briefly, any hard feelings between them forgotten, then tensed their bodies and leapt to their feet.

"So this is where you've been?" a voice said. Niel turned and saw a metallic ghost with a flaming mohawk phase through the billboard.

Niel's jaw tightened. "Skulker," he greeted.

Ellie inched back. Skulker's attention turned toward her, and his steel features contorted into a grin.

"This is a pleasant surprise. I was sent by Vlad to find his kid, and instead, I find two."

"You brought him here?" Ellie breathed behind Niel. He turned around and saw her blue eyes wide and filled with horror and--betrayal. His heart squeezed.

"No! Of course not!" He faced Skulker and demanded, "What are you doing here?"

Skulker scoffed. "Did you really think your dear old dad wouldn't notice you sneaking off at night? He wanted to know what you were doing behind his back, and of course, he couldn't find anyone else to babysit you besides me." He snickered and said, "He was worried you might be sleeping in with that animal rights girl."

"He thought I was with Sam?" Niel said, blushing in spite of the situation.

"Oh, but this is much better. A family reunion?" His optics zoomed in on Ellie, who had backed up so far she stood on the edge of the billboard.

Niel placed himself between the ghost and Ellie and said, "I'll go back to Dad, but leave Ellie alone."

"Ellie? So the thing has a name now?" Skulker cackled. "No thanks. If I bring Plasmius two duplicates instead of one, maybe he'll pay me better."

"Why would a ghost even need money?"

Skulker's faceplate twisted into a scowl. "He pays me with materials. Do you think metal is easy to come by in the Ghost Zone?"

There was a flash of light from Ellie's direction, and Niel didn't need to turn around to know she had gone ghost. He didn't have time to. A net shot out of a compartment in Skulker's armor before Niel could blink.

In the span of one tense heartbeat, Niel lurched out his arm and blasted ectoplasm from his hand, shoving the net aside. It landed harmlessly out of range from Ellie.

Niel hadn't had much training in using his ghost powers in human form, and so his flesh felt like acid as his skin smoked where the blast was released. He bit back his pain and met Ellie's now-green eyes. Neither of them spoke, but a psychic message seemed to pass between them: Run.

Ellie pushed herself into the air and flew away. Niel yelped as Skulker's cold metallic hands wrapped around his neck and lifted him up.

"Not so fast," Skulker growled. "I've gotten close to catching the whelp many times--I'm sure I can mange to catch two knockoffs."

He held Niel to the side, where he dangled out of reach from Skulker's machinery. The ghost took aim at Ellie and released a missile. Niel shouted when he heard a small explosion go off and Ellie's cry as she was hit.

Ellie fell. Niel was certain she would descend all the way down to a painful impact with the ground, but apparently, Skulker hadn't run out of nets yet. He released another green mesh that snatched Ellie mid-air and reeled her in toward him. She wasn't struggling. She must have been unconscious (or dead--but Niel didn't want to think about that).

Niel thrashed in Skulker's grip. He tugged on his core and transformed into a ghost. Immediately, the pain in his hand receded. Skulker only had time to turn his face toward him before Niel fired an ectoblast right at his face.

Skulker yowled and let go. Niel hovered in the air with balled fists.

"What is wrong with you, you rip-off halfa?" Skulker snapped. "I'm working for your father."

"Let Ellie go," Niel demanded.

Skulker growled. "Don't let me go back on your father's orders and hurt you."

"I'd like to see you try," Niel taunted.

In retrospect, that probably wasn't the smartest thing to say. Yes, Niel trained everyday, but Skulker had existed far longer than him and was also the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter. Vlad wouldn't have hired him if he wasn't confident in the hunter's skills. Niel lasted about a third of a minute before he found himself tangled inside a net like Ellie's.

"Finally," Skulker grumbled. "You're as troublesome as the original ghost child."

The jetpacks in Skulker's armor fired up, and the ghost flew across the sky with two half-ghost clones in tow.

Niel tugged at the netting furiously. Of course, phase-proof. He glared at Skulker and shouted, "I'll tell Dad that you hurt me!"

"Oh, really? So you'd admit that you were unwilling to return to him?" Skulker replied. Niel hesitated. Skulker grinned and said, "I thought not."

Hopeless, Niel looked at the other net dangling beside him, where Ellie's form lay still. "I'm sorry," he whispered. Ellie did not respond.

#oh you thought that last chapter was lighthearted? yeah that was just a breather before the real angst starts #Danny Phantom #dannymay #dannymay2020 #niel masters #dani phantom #fic #fanfiction #writing #mine

12 notes · View notes

smolbeandrabbles · 5 years

Text

Lust: Good Woman - Danny Rayburn x Reader (Bloodline)

...You all knew this one was going last, right?

Obvious Sway tie in is Obvious. Sorry.

Here’s a little Florida Heat for December*

GIF CREDIT: X

Author’s Note: @waytoplantann you are a saint 🙏 I know you have waited so long for this one... 6 months, to be exact. I hope you enjoy! 💙💜 UGH-! SO much of this album is just so perfect for some of Ben’s characters. It just makes me happy I get to use a lot of it on my fics... I mean I could have chosen a whole bunch of songs, but I knew how I wanted this smut to play out - and this song is perfect ❤🙏 Although you won’t have to read ‘Sway’ at all to understand this... I just... I really like writing for them... And, y’know... Anything to fill in what I haven’t before... Things to know before you read: The tattoo to which Danny refers is a Psalm. Hence the joke.

Disclaimer: Bloodline plot / characters / etc not mine / lyrics not mine

Premise: Danny invites you to spend the weekend with him in Keys... and you will do anything to seduce him back to your room...

Words: 11,244

Warnings: Smut (If that wasn’t obvious) / Drinking / Swearing

_________ When you were young, there were some things You had planned out, a map of your dreams If some pull through, and if some fall away I promise to you, this one's gonna stay I'll sway like a tree when you need a change I'll travel the world or stay in one place I'll hold your hand when the storm's at the door 'Cause you got my back and I got yours You've got good love, a good woman Yeah, you've got good love, a good woman If you need my arms to hold you together They'll be right here to hold you forever Sometimes we won't know the road that we'll face But we'll get where we're going even if we're late I'll keep you warm beneath the sheets The weight of the world's got nothing on me...

--- noun

Lust is a psychological force producing intense wanting or longing for an object, or circumstance fulfilling the emotion.

Strong sexual desire

A very powerful feeling of wanting something

Danny strolled down the corridor of your apartment, humming to himself. You hadn’t left for work yet, but you were certainly dressed for it. “Good Morning, baby girl.” You were reading something on your kitchen island, but he watched the way the smirk spread across your face at the sound of his voice. You finished the paragraph and your eyes flicked up to meet his; “Mornin’ Darlin’…” you bit your lip gently; “Did you sleep well?” “…If I had my way, we wouldn’t have slept at all…” He folded his arms and his body followed his head tilt. You shook your head at him; “Shouldn’t try to sleep with me the night before I have an important work event then, should you?” “…TRY. Oh-! I didn’t realise I only tried.” You rolled your eyes, but couldn’t help but laugh as he sauntered over to you, grabbing your waist and pulling you into a kiss “It was a good try. You were very persuasive…” “I’m sure I was.” “But-! I do have to go to work…” You tried to pull yourself out of his grip; but he held you there “Danny-!” “No no…” He kisses you again gently; “I have a question baby girl, you can’t leave.” “Oh?” You smiled, reaching up to run a hand through his messy hair in an attempt in vain to neaten it; “…Which is…?”

He growled gently at the sensation of your fingers tangled in his curls again… Last night flooded back to him; the way you always did that… He could feel your nails digging into his biceps again and threatened to shudder. “I’m thinking of going down to the Keys again this weekend. Just make a little bit more. I mean, mom seems okay with it… John’s up for it… I guess they gotta persuade dad… But, what I wanted to ask is if I do go, do you wanna come with me?” You studied his face a little uncertainly; “…You want me to come down to the Keys?” “Yeah. Just… it’ll literally be Friday to Monday – if you need to stay to do work we’ll leave later, and return earlier… I just… Didn’t really want to be alone down there. And… was sure you wouldn’t want to be alone here.” You removed your fingers from his hair and raised an eyebrow, folding your arms to match the way he had seconds earlier; “Uh, if you’re working will I not be alone there?” “Ask your parents to come then… They’d do th-” “God, No. Can’t I have one weekend with my boyfriend where he was raised, alone!?” you smirked “I’m sure I’ll have you to myself at some point, right? Besides, I can busy myself with people I like in the Keys when you’re busy. I can just check you out when you work instead!” You winked and ducked out of his arms, picking up your bag and keys “Baby, I’m there.” You gave him a wink “How can I possibly miss out in watching you rake that beach? Considering how hot you look when you do it?” He had opened his mouth to say something, but he hadn’t got it out yet – figures he wouldn’t actually have protested…! You laughed, closing the door on him. “Later, babe!” “Y/N!!!”

*** You shared the drive down to the Keys in your truck, meaning you could fill the car with your playlist. It was a little unnerving to you how much he could remember; how much he had learned himself. But you were hardly going to complain as you both sang along. Even when belted into a car like this, you also better believe that you were both dancing. He took your hand often as he drove, and it was obvious he didn’t ever want to let go. Danny never did. He always held you like it might be the last time. Like if he dared let you go you would never come back. Obviously that was never going to be a reality as long as you could help it, but it made you wonder how many times it has happened before. Too many. You were willing to bet. Danny had lost too much because it just let go.

He took the truck as costal as he could, loving the feel of that sea air that always called him home. Home was with you now, but it wound its way through the streets of Miami all the same. So that analogy was still correct. Going home with you made it home. Not that it was home anymore... You had navigated out of Miami and it was his turn to lead you to Islamorada.

Sooner than expected you were up on the Overseas Highway and laughing. You both knew you’d made good time. Even with a break. And as Danny slowed the car down to take in the view you leant over and kissed his cheek. Making him chuckle and bite his lip; “Thank you.” “For driving? Baby girl... it’s no problem.” “Well, thank you for a lot of things... but yeah that too.” He pulled your car smoothly into the driveway; “I’d valet it but... I mean, I wanna drive you right up to your door.” “So you want to be my valet?” You smirked to accompany your raised eyebrow. But Danny cracked a grin and didn’t miss it; “Yes M’am!” He sent a wave to Manny and rolled the car around the back of the bungalows. “Aw. Shit.” You turned back to him with a laugh “What?” “Course. I was doing this to make life easier but I didn’t get the keys, did I... Hang on...” he blew out air, “...Well, you’re probably used to this. Just walk real slow!” He leant over to steal a kiss before you could ask what he was on about and opened the door, running for the house. You shook your head, looking after him, and removed the keys from this ignition.

You collected your bags from the back and strolled around to the front of the row of bungalows. But the time you got there he was sprinting out of the back of the house and across the sand, determined to reach the front door before you did. So you slowed down your walk, with a smile, each step taking no less than 5 seconds. Danny hopped up onto the porch with a laugh and placed his hand against the door, holding the keys out to you and trying not to breathe like it had been any more strenuous than an afternoon stroll. You looked around in mock disbelief “Well-! What do you know, I guess you got here before me…” He cracked up; “Well, you know...” he tried to compose himself “She deserves nothing less than the best!” You held his bag out; “Her boyfriend still makes her carry his things though.” For a second he looked disappointed in himself; “Well damn. He’s an idiot.” “Good thing he’s my idiot, really.” “Oh yeah...?” He unlocked the door and slid in “Why is that?” You studied the number carefully. Three?! Wasn’t that the one that consistently had problems? “Because I love him dearly... that’s why...” “Oh believe me, he’s glad of that…” Danny smiled, turning back to you and handing the keys out again; “These are yours.” You took them, “Do I have this one because no one else wanted it?” “What-!?” He placed his hands on his hips “What would make you think that!” “Three’s the one that always breaks, right?” He feigned ignorance “What are you talking about! This is the best one…” “DANNY!” “Okay…! Okay…! There are others available but this one is strategic. See, if there’s any problems I can come and fix them… I’m gonna be on a busy schedule I know that… so, you’re probably only going to get to see me morning or evening. And, because that’s just not fair on you, I bet there’s something broken that might take me a while to sort. And I’d need you here, of course, to tell me exactly what the problem was.” “Oh…” You raised an eyebrow; “You think your parents wouldn’t know your game?” “Hey, if it needs fixing it needs fixing!” He shrugged “Can they stop me from doing my job?!” Danny reached out, taking your wrist and pulling you to him; “Because I don’t think they can… Wouldn’t want bad reviews from you and your family name now… would they?” “Mmm… Guess not…” You murmured against his lips, now millimetres from yours. “Thata girl… you’re catching on…” He closed the non-existent gap. “So, you have until this afternoon to find a problem for me to fix…” He winked “I suggest you get on it.” *** Find problems you did, with Danny watching you with a smirk on his face. You were technically doing all the hard work for him. But he couldn’t help but think it was cute that the pout on your face only served to get bigger as you discovered everything was nearly in working condition. You came out of the bathroom, defeated “The tap, kinda, leaks.” He raised an eyebrow; “And that’s all?” “Yes.” “That’s unusual. I’m sure we’ll find something else… But… I’ll work on that tap.” He checked his watch “Baby girl, I make it lunch time, so let’s go… See if I can’t make us something…” Danny carried you all the way back to the house across the sand dunes; “Just, don’t make me do this when you walk through my raking again, would you?” You couldn’t help but laugh, clinging to his shoulders as he faked dropping you twice. “I SWEAR TO GOD DANNY RAYBURN!” “Swearing-!? To God-!? Blasphemy!” “Oh my God-!” He gasped “You did it again! Straight to hell, I tell ya!” Setting you down on the porch he smiled; “There. Guess I can also ferry you across the sand. How’s that?” “Oh?” You nuzzled against his face, “So what, I should call upon you whenever I need to move? Can I not touch sand now?” “You should call upon me whenever you need to…” He stepped from the dunes to the steps and laced your fingers with his; “Come on, I’ll fix you a drink too…!”

So you spent your lunch time sitting outside, hand in his, legs across his lap. He tried not to clock watch, but he knew he’d have to get up and start working eventually today. It was fairly calm; most guests had gone out for the day and Danny knew they wouldn’t be back until much later. The forecast dictated it to be fairly nice. The boat was also out, meaning he wouldn’t have to take any tours until at the very earliest, the time it got back… He stretched in his chair and looked back across to you; shades on and basking in the afternoon rays. At least that would mean he’d get to be in the vicinity of you today. “You got work to do…?” You indicated to your cell phone; “No… I’m on call. If they need me I can jump on the laptop but they know I’m here with you. I’ve answered an email or two but… I’m sure they can live without me for a few days.” “I bet not. Are you kidding?” He smiled, brushing his fingers across your legs “Lost. That’s what they’ll be.” In truth, he had seen you typing away on your phone as he drove. He would now assume that to be to work, rather than to your friends. You shuffled in your seat to give him more of your skin to touch; making him smirk. “Still can’t resist me, can ya?” You smirked gently yourself, turning your eyes back to him; “I wasn’t ever very good at it, Mr.Rayburn, I fear it’s only got worse!” He chuckled, allowing his fingertips to continue to dance over you in subtle patterns. “I’d say that was a good thing…” “Oh yeah?” You folded your arms; “Why’s that? This gap is agony.” He pushed his chair out a little way and tossed his head; “Get over here and I’ll show you!” You were only too glad to accept that invitation. *** Danny’s alarm was soft but it still woke you. “Nooo...” it was barely even a groan as you buried your face back in your pillow “I need to go...” He kissed your ear gently “Nooooo....” “I’m sorry darlin’....” He kissed your shoulder and attempted to untangle himself from the sheets. You endeavoured to tangle him with your body instead, but it was only half an effort... and he easily escaped your grip, kissing your fingertips; “Baby girl...” he said it softly “The sooner I leave, the sooner you can have me back...” “That’s no true! You’re working...” “Ahh-! But what about when all my jobs are done?” “Oh come on-! They’ll just find more for you to do...” You rolled onto your back to watch him walk into the bathroom, how the strong swimmers’ muscles in his back moved with him. And that twinge in his shoulder, that pained you and him so much, made him reach backward; “Did you bring your meds?” “Mmm hmmm...”

He flicked the light on and you heard him set about cleaning his teeth; “Good news!” He called back “The tap is significantly worse than it was last night-! I’ll come by and quick fix it!” You laughed “Oh yeah, that’s good news-!” He moved back through into the main room, throwing on a t-shirt and changing his pants quickly before picking up his keys and moving around to your side of the bed. As if to prove it to you, he set the orange bottle of pills down on your bedside table, and swallowed one with your glass of water. “Keep them safe for me okay?” “I will...” “Thank you...” He leant over, brushing his hands down your sides as he kissed you, tasting like toothpaste. “Mmmm... just come back...” “I can’t... Baby, I wish I could...” He kissed your forehead “I don’t have time to make breakfast either... you’re gonna be okay, yeah?” You only let his hand leave yours when you had no choice “Yeah...” you rolled onto your side. Though really you were going to be anything but. “Good, sleep a little longer okay?” Danny gave his best warm smile and a wink, “See you later!” With that he opened the door into the already strong sunlight and left you alone.

Your sigh was sorrowful, and you attempted to catch any more dreams in vain. 30 minutes later you were wide awake, and aware that if you didn’t get up you were going to miss the best part of the day. You dressed quick and set about making yourself breakfast, Danny still had you on his healthy straight and narrow. Making you smile gently as you blended ingredients into a smoothie mixture to pour into a mason jar. “Ah, I’m trend setting...” You laughed to no one in particular, and took you drink outside.

You were right, of course, and you had an undisturbed view of the beach and the endless blue sea stretching out before you. But the scenery wasn’t what you were interested in. Instead your eyes were held by the solitary man dragging a rake through the sand dunes. Neatening the beach for the many guests that would peruse it throughout the day.

You would be one of them, of course, but you decided to leave the beach unspoiled this morning and take your walk later, when your boyfriend would be out of sight. But certainly not out of mind... You stood taking slow sips - and couldn’t help but groan at the satisfaction of what you were seeing. Every so often as he stretched for a part of the beach just out of reach, his shirt would ride up exposing the small of his back and his stomach. Good Lord... What would it take for you to drag him back inside…?

He must have realised that someone was watching him as he twisted his body, and his eyes found you. He smirked; of course. And he knew by the look on your face how badly you wanted to pull him back into the bungalow and have your way with him... what this was doing to you. Danny wanted that almost as bad - but there was something oddly satisfying about watching you want what you couldn’t have. He leant on the rake and offered you a casual wave and a slow wink. The way your lips left your straw and you bit your lip - not even gently, but hard, seductive. But also seduced... - had him laughing to himself. Ohhhh.... This kind of teasing was almost better than sex itself. You took a deep breath, making your chest and shoulders rise; Damn, Y/N… you did good. Your boyfriend is hot AF… You shook your head at him, unimpressed – oh, he’d pay for that, and Danny knew it by the way he raised his eyebrows at you. Almost daring you to stalk across that sand and push him onto it. You didn’t – because a) you’d mess up his beautiful work and b) as much as he would plead the opposite, that was what he wanted. And if he was going to make you suffer, he had to suffer too. You sat out on the bungalow porch to watch him finish and set everything else up on the beach. He stood with his hands on his hips to admire all his handywork; before nodding to himself and walking back across to you. “OH! I’m honoured with a visit!” “I forgot a bunch of stuff…” “Oh. Figures…” He kissed your hair as he re-entered the bungalow; “…Sorry, Baby Girl… Oh-! I’m taking the boat out later so… I’ll be gone for a little while. You gonna be okay?” “Yeah, no problems, you got two brothers and an almost brother-in-law I can talk to.” His footsteps were hard across the floor and he swung around the door frame; “What?!” You laughed; “Oh I knew that’d get a reaction.” “John I kinda get, but fucking Kevin?! Really?!” “NO! What-!? Me!? Give me some credit.” Danny shouldered his bag and placed his hands either side of your chair; “I shouldn’t even give you a kiss goodbye for that.” “Surprised you’re not saying you already did.” He sighed gently, narrowing his eyes; “Ah-! She’s unforgiving today.” “You’re leaving me alone…” You pulled him closer by his shirt “That’s not what a good boyfriend would do.” “But at least he’s a working man too…” He took your face in his hands and kissed you; and kept kissing you. “No…No…Danny…” You pulled back, a little breathless “You have to work, go!” His hands lowered back to either side of you; “You’re gonna be here when I get back, yeah? So you can show me exactly what’s wrong with the tap.” “If you need help…” “Wouldn’t go amiss…” He smirked, kissing you once more “…Okay, you’re right. Work. Enjoy your day in the sunshine, baby girl, it’s gonna be nice…” “Oh, I aim to.” He shook his head at you as he waved back, waltzing back across the dunes like he didn’t have a care in the world, even though he had many. “Danny…” You sighed his name to yourself and smiled, wondering why you were bothering with all this back and forth when what both of you wanted was to stay in bed all day – asleep or not. It’d be worth the wait. At least you knew that for sure… *** “HEY!!!” You were coming back from your walk along the beach; slow and down by the water, lost in music but a lot quieter this time; just in case Danny so happened to call you. You liked the way the waves would lap gently over your feet and every so often tug you back; it was playful sure... but you liked the danger behind that calm... as much as you liked the feeling that maybe if you went with it, it could carry you anywhere in the world you wanted to go... Only with him... though... I’d only want to go with him... When you looked up it wasn’t Danny calling you, in fact it was Marco. Standing a little way up the beach and waving. Danny’s hard work looked like it’d already been broken in. Shame, though, all that effort... still; if you got to watch him work it (like a boss!) you didn’t see the harm. You waved enthusiastically back and wandered up to him; “Hey! Marco! It’s great to see you!!!” “And you! Hermanita!” You raised an eyebrow “Little sister? You got a reason for calling me that?” “Aw c’mon... you’re smaller, younger, I’m practically married to Meg... You’re practically married...” he stopped at the look on your face “You act like it! Look I haven’t interacted with Danny all that much, okay, but I know a wholesome relationship when I see it... you two have something real. It’s nice to see... so yeah, Hermanita... maybe one day in law.” You laughed; “Okay, maybe I’ll let it stick - shouldn’t you be working?” “I, uh, yeah maybe - but it’s Friday afternoon and we clocked out early. Meg is here... John will be here soon - enjoy my company! Why don’t ya! Where’s your boy...?” You looked around, “Your guess will be better than mine, detective...” “Oh, he’s working?” “Yeah.” “No vacation – well, I guess for you it is! Heck, if he’s gonna leave you alone then you really should come hang-!”

When you got inside John, indeed, was already there; “Hey!!! Y/N!!! Amazing! I didn’t realise you were down - you literally just missed Danny. And to think he didn’t say anything?!” He got up and hugged you; “It’s good to see you, girl, how have you been?” “Oh. Busy... when isn’t Miami busy...! But good, thank you!” You returned the hug and then hugged Meg. “Miami girl! We should put the music on and turn it waaaay way up tonight.” Then she gasped “Oh my god, why don’t we get Danny and Mom cooking and have like a family thing - huh? I’m game.” “Woah, don’t get too far ahead of the first drink!!” John meandered around to the back of the restaurant bar “Y/N - what’ll you have?” You sat on one of the bar stools and told him your order; “Nice! Well, don’t hold back-!” He grinned, pouring it for you; “She’s dating Danny, that is the ultimate in not holding back.” “I’ll drink to that.” John slid it over to you, even with the roll of your eyes you were still smiling at the exchange, and you all clinked glasses.

So for the next few hours you were all story swapping on what everyone had been up to since you’d last all been in a room together, possibly a few months back now. There was a good level of banter between the four of you, and you gave as good as you got. And Marco’s nickname did indeed stick without ever being questioned by the other two. You’d always known what John saw you as for Danny. You guessed every time he saw his older brother John would just pray that was still the case. Of course, with you and Marco able to converse in Spanish the other two quickly realised that some of the best banter was that they couldn’t understand, at the way you both laughed louder. “Oh come on guys! That’s not fair!” You almost couldn’t breathe for laughing; “Maybe not, but it is freakin’ hilarious!”

Time flew, and before you knew it it was hours later - and Danny came back into the restaurant; “Y/N!” And every single one of them watched the way your face lit up, and the tone of your voice, as you turned to see him; “Danny!!” You motioned him over but he jerked his head back outside; “C’mon, let’s get this leak fixed...” You suddenly remembered that you did indeed have a leaky tap; “...Oh yeah...” you were a little quiet as you turned to the other three “I’ll see you later!” “Uh huh! Oh- Danny!!” He was already out the door, and you had to almost run to keep up, but you heard his disembodied voice call back “Yeah-!?” “You up for preparing dinner tonight with mom-!?” There was a loud sigh; “As if I didn’t have enough fucking work!!” “Was that a yes?!” John couldn’t help but laugh “I’ll think about it - alright!” By the time he’d replied you were to him “Alright, let’s go...”

Danny let you walk in ahead of him and closed the door behind you. Your body was almost tingling with nervous anticipation. Surely this wasn’t just about the tap - surly he’d found time to make this work for both of you. “You look nice...” he eyed your sundress, “It’s pretty...” You looked down to it “Oh... thank you...” You wondered if that was some undisclosed command for you to take it off. But he moved straight through into the bathroom, flicking the light on; “Did you notice it get any worse?” “No...” “Then we should be okay with a famous Danny quick fix whilst we’re here... then someone should call actual maintenance...” You placed your hands on your hips for a second, “You... you mean you actually came here to fix the tap?” “Yeah I had a spare five minutes...” He unravelled a tiny tool kit and set to work “Oh.” “Oh?” Then he chuckled “Oh I get it... you thought we were gonna pick up where we left off...” he shook his head, but you could see that smirk “... Naughty girl. No. You said you wanted to spend some time with me though, so here’s your time. Spend it wisely.” “Well I was gonna!” You refuted his nickname though “I told you I’m working.” “Well, what do you need me for?!” “Your bungalow, your problem. Thought you’d wanna see me fix it.” You sunk onto the bed, half in disbelief; “I kinda hoped you’d fix something else...” “Not right now. And it looks like we’re getting roped into the family dinner. So, you don’t even get me to yourself tonight. How awful.” “Danny!!!” You whined as he grabbed another tool “I can’t do anything about it baby girl, I can’t say no..! Because John will suggest it to mom. And if I say I want a romantic dinner date with you - I’ll be asked to invite you...” He straightened to check something, “and if I say alone, I’ll get my arm twisted about it being family... so, we’re done. Tonight is out.” Your sigh was exasperated - and all too soon you heard him run the water; “Danny quick fix, done!” “WHAT?!” “I told you - quick. Go break something else, and hope we don’t ask you to pay for damages!” He winked across at you, “Would you like to check it yourself?” “No.” You pouted and folded your arms, he turned it off and gathered his things, crouching beside you; “Now come on baby girl, don’t be like that...” He brushed your hair out of your face and attempted to kiss your pout away; of course, he succeeded. But he wasn’t having any of it when you attempted to pull him on top of you by his shirt. “No.” “Danny—!” “No. I cant.” “But you’re here anyway.” “But I’ve got other things to do... baby...” he kissed you again and worked your fingers away from tangling in his shirt “I love you. So much. Truly I do. And if I could stay and have you every way I fucking wanted, I would. But I can’t...” he kept your hand in his “believe me, I’m aching for you right now but I just can’t do it. They’re keeping too close watch on me.” You opened your mouth and everything in you wanted to protest, but you knew you’d never get anywhere. They were his family, and Danny cared too much about that to essentially say Fuck it. *** The evening was nice enough, the way that he would constantly steal glances at you whilst he was cooking, how he’d slip his arms around your waist and kiss you as he moved about the kitchen to find ingredients. Good but not enough. Nowhere near enough. Eventually Danny tugged you over to help him out, so that he could constantly touch you, but... that didn’t help anything, it only made that longing to take each other’s clothes off even worse. At dinner he (obviously) refused to sit anywhere but next to you, and he kept his hand on your thigh the entire evening. Every so often he’d increase the pressure or he’d slip his hand an inch or so further up, and by the end of that you wanted to scream at him to just do something... but no. Why you weren’t sure; maybe he didn’t think you could control yourself. Or that he wouldn’t be able to control himself... The both of you volunteered to wash and dry up - apparently in silence - but there was a hell of a lot unspoken between you, because now he refused to put his hands anywhere near you. Maybe because pushing you up against a kitchen counter wasn’t a good idea when his family was here. So by the time you sat down with them all again it was not only late, but all you wanted to do was cuddle with him. But that wasn’t easy... so you just stayed as close to him as possible. Luckily for you, eventually his arm wound around you and he pulled you closer. You watched the way his father’s jaw tightened but he said nothing. No matter what, there would always be your parent’s friendship and apparent reputation, that meant Robert wouldn’t approve of this. (As if that was the only reason.) By the time you said goodbye to them and crossed the sand together you knew he was exhausted. “We can...” “Babe, look at you...” you shook your head and kissed him “If you have to be up that early again, I...” you ran your fingers through his hair “You need to rest if you’re gonna do your job the best you can.” “Oh!” He chuckled “Like you won’t be the same tomorrow?” “Trust me, I’m gonna spend as much time as I can trying to find something else for you to fix!” He grinned, leaning in for another kiss “I’m down with that...”

So again his alarm went off early, and this time he was almost disappointed that you let him slip through your fingers like that; “Surprised you’re not going to beg me to stay...” “You’re going to simply tell me you can’t...” “Aw, sometimes I like it when you whine...” You rolled your eyes at him and continued to watch him get ready. You knew he was at least in the mood for games, by the way he dressed slowly. Walking around without a shirt on for far longer than necessary. So eventually you groaned and gave him what he wanted. So he flashed you that smirk and stood gazing at you for a minute; his eyes skimmed down your body and he bit his lip with a hum; “Do you know how damn sexy you are?” “Danny...” “Fuck... Y/N...” “Don’t...” “Oh, damn do I wanna...” There was a weird juxtaposition in his actions; pulling his vest top over his head, he clambered back onto the bed and pressed himself into you; “Danny...” Now that’s how he wanted you to say his name “Go on, baby girl...” he kissed your neck, “Say it again...” “Danny...!” There was a little bit more of a mewl to that one. How much you wanted him, how much you needed him. His hand slipped under the sheets. Fingers grazing along your hips above your underwear and this time you whined again. Please... for the love of God... Daniel Rayburn... There was something slightly seductive to his chuckle “That’s it baby girl, don’t stop...” You realised he’d chosen those words specifically; because you wanted to say them to him. His lips grazed across yours as he moved to the other side of your neck, and his fingers ran an inch lower. “Danny-!” So loud it echoed; even though he still wasn’t touching you he was so close and you were so desperate. But he knew you wanted it too much, and why give if he couldn’t receive? Danny’s fingers moved again and he hovered - and it was agony, you would take anything right now; even accidental. This teasing was no longer fair, if it was ever fair to begin with. You whined again; just in case that was what he wanted. But instead he pulled back. And you didn’t think you’d ever been so mad at him. “What the Fu-! Will you just FINISH what you STARTED?!” He laughed - a full force beautiful laugh - at you, of course. “If only you knew how sexy you are mad at me.” Mad wasn’t the only thing you were of course and he knew that “Mad and turned on... you’re so red... but so fucking hot...” That only caused you to flush more and he bent down again to kiss you; “Now I gotta go... no doubt I’ll be seeing you later.” “DANNY!” “And paying for it-!” He chucked again - giving you one last kiss before he rolled off the bed, picked up his bag, turned to you with a wink; “Later, gorgeous.” And walked out the door “DANIEL RAYBURN YOU GET BACK HERE!!!!” All you heard for the next five minutes was the sound of his laugh carrying on the wind.

*** So you spent your morning sunbathing, slightly grumpy, slightly turned on. Danny passed you often, but as unpredictable as he usually was, his routine today was the most obvious thing you’d ever seen him do. If he had to tour people, he’d take them passed where you were sunbathing. Finding this was the perfect place to stop and explain things... and when he was getting the boat ready, he would walk slow as he put one thing on the boat at a time, instead of taking it all at once. By that was okay; you got to admire all of him. But you noticed you weren’t the only one doing the staring; and how his eyes ran over you; even when he was walking back to the boat he’d turn around, just to look at you for a little longer. True; you might on purpose be sunbathing stretched out like you were to expose as much of your body to him as possible, and you might have chosen the most revealing bikini you could. But still classy. You were his. HIS not this other series of boys (and they were - out here looking like college spring breakers...) that kept passing by you. That was why Danny had to stop, of course because he saw them too.

But he watched you whilst packing the boat up too; checking inventory in the stacked boxes on the pier... He bit his lip, “Fuck this...” only he couldn’t. He had to work, “Why-!? Fuck having to work!!” Danny blew out a breath to calm himself down. He’d much rather stalk over to you on the beach, pin you down on that sunbed and love on you instead - whether the rest of the beach was present or not. He hummed, enjoying the thought at least...

He was just about ready to go; standing at the end of the pier where he’d asked the participants to meet him... and taking his time to once again drink you in. He liked watching you talk to the other guests; and occasionally to his mom. The way you smiled - and the way he knew, by which smile was on your face, when you were talking about him. Maybe you were telling them you were together... maybe you were just simply telling them you had a boyfriend... or that Danny would be your recommended go to for asking questions, or going on these boat trips. Whatever it was, when he saw you smile like that, he really didn’t care.

What Danny did love; and make him almost smirk at as he watched you, was seeing the initial around your neck glint in the sun. Even if you didn’t directly refer to him as your other half, the ‘D’ around your neck should lead to them putting two and two together. And he loved it; because it could make him possessive of you without him outwardly showing it. Which, honestly, he never really did. Boys tended to back off when they saw him anyway - because he didn’t look like someone you’d mess with. So he never had to say you were with him. And you chose to wear that necklace. What’s more, you chose to never take it off. The next shadow to pass over you was, yet again, Danny’s. This time he did look completely ready to go. You pushed your shades back up into your hair; “Oh, you really are leaving me this time…” “ …‘Fraid so.” “For good?” “On a boat babe, yeah. Good riddance.” You smacked his thigh, causing him to wince; “Now, that was just uncalled for.” “I hope you get a nice red mark-!” “I’ll show you nice red marks-” That caused you to hit him again “Gezz-! OW! Y/N! I get it!” He held out his mobile “Look after this.” “What? Why?” “Because…! What if I lose it!” “What if you need help!?” “You think a cell phone is going to work in the middle of the ocean? C’mon!” You shot him a look and he took a step back, “What if your other love affair texts you?” “I don’t…” he narrowed his eyes at you, “You’re one to talk.” “No I told you, I don’t text any of my love affairs…” “Damn, what the hell am I?” “I hope you ask yourself that often, I do…” You grinned and looked at his mobile, still unlocked “Well you’ve been doing something…” “Taking pictures.” You stared at it for a minute and then looked slowly back to him, “…I’m your phone background!?!?!” “Of course you are…! Why?!” “Awww-! Danny!” You look back at the picture, of both of you, down somewhere on the Miami strip. You could barely remember it being taken, but it was sweet. You liked it. “…Don’t make me feel bad.” “What-!?” “…Oh… You’re just…” “I’M NOT YOUR BACKGROUND!?!” He sounded appropriately outraged; “No!” “Who the hell is!?” “No one…” You brought it up – he recognized the sunset view over the ocean immediately, as someone who’d seen that exact view with you before. “Oh. Well I understand that you think I can’t live up to that but… honestly!” “You can live up to the sunset! I just didn’t realize we were doing that!” “What?!” he cried in anguish again, causing people who hadn’t turned to see what the fuss was about to do so now; “Danny-! Stop it! I’m sorry!” “Sorry!?” You knew your cheeks were red by now; “You’re causing a scene.” “Damn right!” He placed his hands on his hips as you looked to him apologetically “I’m not your phone background!? You’re unbelievable!”

** When you saw the boat on the horizon line you wriggled back into your sun dress and pushed your shades into your hair, collecting your things together. By the time you were finished it was back moored in the pier and excited families were disembarking. Danny was left behind to clear away, but you loved seeing them all say thank you, and how kind his smile back was. You walked over to him slowly, arms folded; admiring the way his wetsuit still stuck to him and the way his hair darkened in the salt water. You should have gone with him.

“Hey!” His smile was nearly as bright as the sunshine as he turned towards you, and you could tell he’d had a good time; “Baby girl, how’s your day going...?” You stepped a little closer, with a smile “Good... thank you... how was the trip?” “Incredible..!” The way Danny looked compelled you to close that gap, to run your fingers through his still wet hair; he looked great. How could you resist that? He let you do it; even though his smile was amused- and he said softly “Babe... I’m at work…” You scoffed, like him giving a lecture of unprofessionalism here would be as well placed as the kind of thing you were used to hearing coming out of his mouth at Viva Caputa – how he would reproach Javi for spending a few extra minutes outside with Amanda; “And you! Stop making out with your girl in the parking lot! It’s SO unprofessional-! You’d never catch me doing that!” with a cheeky wink that made Javi punch his arm. Still, to appease him you took a step back, with a sweet smile; “I know...and there’s still a leak please take a look.” “Really?” He raised an eyebrow, “There is one, or you made one.” “Is one.” There wasn’t but what the hell, he didn’t have to know that. “Okay...” he sighed, “Doesn’t surprise me. Obviously my little broken bungalow joke backfired. Let me get dressed and I’ll come over and check it okay..?” “Okay...” This time he gathered you to him, running his lips over yours quickly “I’ll just put this stuff away, go wait for me alright?” You nodded; a little disbelieving that this might actually work. And couldn’t help smirking as you turned away from him to walk down the pier.

I’m gonna get what I want Daniel Rayburn. If it kills you. *** He turned up about 20 minutes later, dressed, with a tool kit and his bag slung over his shoulder – his hair by now was dry, and he’d slid his own shades into it. “I’ve got so much to do… But okay, fine, I’ll take a look.” You stood in the doorway, in your sundress biting your lip through your smile. The sunlight was hitting him just right, as it had when he’d walked across the sand – fixing you with that look, because he damn well knew what was coming the second he got here, the playful fight you’d been having for nearly 2 straight days. But you focused back on what the light was doing now, hitting his eyes and his skin just-so… His freckles were on full display and that just made you smile even more; you wondered if you’d get to see more of them once you got to taking his clothes off… It was seductive, he’d give you that – everything from the way you were looking at him to the way you were standing. Danny sighed, and repeated his favourite phrase; “I got work to do.” But he leant in and kissed you, “So let me take a look, but I can’t stay…” He dropped his things to one side and flicked on the bathroom light scanning around for anything that looked broken purposefully… or just broken… Then wondered if he was looking in the wrong place and turned to look at the kitchen. Also intact. He turned back to you; the way your arms stretched across the doorframe like that. He traced his eyes back over your body with a I-just-figured-it-all-out hum. “…I think you’re alright.” “Don’t you think you should check again…?” You took a couple of steps inside and shut the door behind you. Yes. Definitely baring him in. He smiled – your attempts to get him to stay were just all too cute. He had to give you credit for that. Danny turned back, and flexed his muscles out to give you something to look at (not that you weren’t already looking) his eyes flicked around the bathroom for a minute, and he raised an eyebrow. Nothing looked particularly wrong with it. His quick fix from the day before seemed to be in place still, you weren’t fooling him there. “Y/N… I mean… I really don’t see what the problem is---” Danny let out a gentle gasp as your hands ran up his chest – how your body pressed into his back… Your lips on his neck; “Maybe there isn’t anything wrong…” “I’m supposed to be working…” This time that attempted excuse sounded futile, “Your family doesn’t know there’s nothing wrong, do they baby…” “What are you trying to…” He groaned again as your hands made their way under his shirt – and every so often your nails would gently scrape his skin. Danny thought to earlier in the day, and even to the day previous; the way you’d watched him rake the beach – you’d called it sexy before and he had no doubt you meant it – how you’d stood in the doorway of the bungalow yesterday morning in that dress that clung to you in all the ways Danny liked, your arms folded and biting your lip – those gorgeous eyes of yours filled with longing, how you’d run your eyes over him the way he usually did you as he walked over to help with the fix… And you’d barred the door the second he said he only had five minutes… He had to bite back another groan as his thoughts flicked to the way you’d been sunbathing and pretending you didn’t have a slight pout as he took the first boat out for the day. Well, now he wanted to kiss every inch of your skin the way the sun had. “…I’m still convinced that tattoo of yours is ironic…” His voice was at a nice raspy growl, as if the rush of heat pooling in your stomach didn’t already feel good enough. “Now…” You bit down gently on his neck, causing him to shiver and groan again “…Why would you say something like that.” “…Well here you are again… Sinning…” “Maybe I’m just not a good little Southern Catholic Girl, Danny…” “You need confessional for sure…” “Oh… No… My secrets are between you, me, and the sheets…” “Oh? Are they now…?” he chuckled “Any sheets in particular…” You removed your hands from his shirt and began to relieve him of his button up; “Right now? These ones…” You ran your hands up his back over his vest top and across his shoulders; still so careful of his left; “Which ones?” There was a distinct shake in his voice, and you knew he wouldn’t leave now… You had him right where you wanted him. You pulled his right hand so he turned to face you and then gathered his left to the opening of your dress in encouragement. Leading him backwards towards the bed. Your voice was barely above a whisper as you leant into another kiss. Hands back up his shirt, you could feel his heartbeat – it was clear he didn’t need any more persuading to get into bed with you. His hands pushed your dress off your shoulders and he continued the walk backwards towards the bed. Danny, Danny…! And you say you don’t have time… You broke the kiss momentarily to push his shirt over his head. Forgetting his shades, which clattered to the floor. Danny didn’t even look back at them, instead growling and claiming your lips again; and as he kissed down your neck; “If they’re broken, you’re paying for them.” “Ha-! Like that’s the first thing you care about.” You pulled him again and you hit the sheets, and it wasn’t long before his weight was on you either. There’s something about him that is protecting; it’s a weight you want – a warmth you want, that you know you’ll never be able to get enough of. “I’ll have you know,” he stated, with a wink “those shades are very important!” He placed his hands either side of you and surveyed your body for a minute, and you watched the way he smiled, and the way his eyes changed; “What?” You traced your hands up his arms, shoulders, neck and into his curls – you could feel the tackiness left behind by the waves, and bit your lip gently as Danny raised his eyes back to yours; “Sometimes I just like to think…” “About what?” Danny gave something akin to a shrug “How beautiful you are…” he breathed it, like he was revealing an intimate secret, and he leant slowly into the next kiss as you continued to tangle your fingers in his hair. “I love you.” “You don’t need to tell me that…” He kissed the side of your face, and then pressed one into your shoulder for good measure before he sat back, pinning your legs down with his own. There was a cheeky bite to his lip this time and he rubbed his hands together. “Y/N… Y/N… Y/N… Now you’re just making this too easy for me!” The giggle rose in your chest, by the look on his face alone. “Didn’t want you thinking you could get out of it by making it too hard, Danny.” “Heh, who’d wanna leave…?” He leant forward, his fingers pulling gently at the strings of your bikini. One side and then the other – “Not even double bows? Bad girl, this is far too easy…” He moved up your body and kissed you again as he pulled at your top; “I like to keep it simple…” You whispered against his lips, winding your arms around him again as he slid the fabric from between you. “I dunno, I like a challenge…” You hummed at the travel of his fingertips down your abdomen and across your hips. He chuckled, removing your final item of clothing; “…And I’m more than willing to give you one…” You weren’t sure you wanted to hear that or not, moving your hand to the waistband of his pants as he balanced himself back on his hands to watch you; this time when he bent to kiss you it was to place his lips on every inch of skin that he could. And Danny was right; he wasn’t going to make it easy for you to remove his clothes. Apparently you hadn’t done enough hard work just getting him here; “Danny-!” The problem was with the elation he was making you feel just by the way he was kissing you – not to mention the way he was touching you – is that you couldn’t sound mad. So what he did instead was close the gap between you; and the grind of his hips into yours wasn’t subtle at all. It was a loud gasp; followed by a whine that he paid for by the way your nails raked across his skin. But he liked that, so he did it again. “DANNY!” Your cry was louder and more urgent. Heck, he already knew how bad you had it, all he was intent on doing was dragging that out as long as possible. “Please…” He nearly broke at that alone, he at least groaned at an audible level. There was a need in that word that reverberated through you and into him. So as he created enough of a gap – whilst still kissing your skin, for you to undo his pants – his hand joined yours to assist. Which almost made you smirk and did make you lean up to kiss his neck; he couldn’t resist either – both of you needed this, whether for the same reason or not. With all clothing safely nestled on the floor Danny allowed you to wrap around him, and sighed at the feel of your body against his. You’d been sunbathing all day, and although you’d been inside now for a little while the warmth hadn’t let left your skin. And he enjoyed that feeling against his own – the tingle of sunlight that had covered you was now covering him. The ocean air gently washing over you left the taste of salt on every part of you he was kissing. And that, mixed with your scent and the sound of your euphoria was heaven. He snaked his hand gently between you again as he let you kiss him. He imagined he’d be a little cooler, having been out in open water for so long; but maybe he’d taste the same to you – the salt coming directly from the sea itself. Danny caressed you, it wasn’t rough – and he traced the same lines over and over – like even committing you to memory wouldn’t be enough for him. Like you had to be burned into his very soul. Eventually his fingertips trailed low enough for you to give a shudder of anticipation – and there was a sensual curiosity in his eyes; “How long have you been waiting for this?” Your skin tingled as the feel of his breathing; “It’s all mixed up now. Since we arrived?! At least since yesterday – Danny---!” You knew he was stalling. For some reason he wanted to keep you on the edge of this and not tip you. But why not? He always liked the way you sounded when he did. Danny noticed the way your nails were now digging into his arm, and he ran his index finger a little lower until you gasped; the sharp intake of breath made you close your eyes. “Y/N. Let my arm go.” “Danny-!” “Let me go.” You wouldn’t have been stopping him, but he didn’t feel like he needed you to guide him where you wanted him to be. Danny had a pretty good measure of that. You released your grip but didn’t let him go completely, opting instead to wind your arms and legs around him. He didn’t wait nearly as long as you expected him too, and as his fingers brushed against you – your body gave a lurch, pressing up into his. Which was a bad idea all around, because it increased his pressure on your sweet-spot. “D----ny--!” It was barely his name, breathless. Your eyes shut as your body shuddered. Tsk. She wants me so bad… Danny shook his head with a smirk and ran his fingers lower. SO bad… FUCK! Your legs tightened around his, and you moaned at the feel of his fingertips as he ran them back. “Danny-!” He chuckled; “I’d ask why you didn’t say something… but I know you did…” His lips found your neck again, this time his kisses were a little rougher – and he grazed his teeth over your sun-kissed skin. “But if I’d even assumed you wanted me this bad? Then baby girl, you would have had me yesterday…” You wondered if it was that bad – waiting for this. Afterall, there was nothing he could possibly do wrong now; everything would fulfil what you wanted from him. Your body did all it could to create points of contact between you and him as he circled you. They were slow and lazy circles; as if he was doing nothing but passing the time of day – and his lips eventually fell back on yours. The kisses were just as lazy; sweet and sinful as what he was doing to you – you became locked in a slow and passionate makeout session you had no intention of stopping. And neither did he. Danny switched positions; allowing his thumb to brush against you in delicately sketched circular motions as he moved his fingers inside you. He didn’t need to wait for one at a time with you like this. And the moan you let out against his mouth was exquisite. “Say my name…” Not that you hadn’t enough, he just liked to hear the way it rolled off your lips when you were like this… “Danny…” He couldn’t help but chuckle; “Good girl…” his kisses moved from your lips to your throat as his free hand travelled your body. His skin was smooth against yours; if he’d bothered having a 5 minute shower before he came over it was going to be a waste of time – if he hadn’t, you were both going to need one… But again he was affording you touches just where you wanted them – like he was so in tune with your body and your mind that it was instinctive – he knew exactly where to go. It only built you up more; you weren’t sure your high could get any higher, but apparently it could. And you’d given up caring to be quiet. He’d done this to you – he could pay for it, if people were around. And Danny could tell, by the breaths you were taking and the fact that your whining was incoherent, that if he wasn’t careful he’d push you too far. No no, baby girl, not yet… Where would be the fun in finishing you so early anyway? So he slowed down – and you realised this. “Danny-!” oh, yes, he liked how whiney that was, “You think I’d finish you that quick?” He smirked “No… Y/N… don’t misunderstand me here, you waited a long time for me… Wouldn’t it be equally more fun for you if I dragged this out as long as I could, hm?” Not really, you didn’t like being on the edge like this knowing full well that he was going to let no one but himself control this “Danny, please.” Although, that was more frustrated begging than pleading with him, and he wasn’t sure he liked that tone from you all that much. “No.” Danny forced you back, removing his fingers from you he pinned your hands above your head to another sharp whine. His lips were back on yours before you could make any verbal protests and when he was sure you were still on that high level (but maybe a little less mad) he let you go to have your fingers tangle in his hair. Danny’s hands worked back down your body, pulling your legs around his – he held your hips steady. Fine. He wants it that way. You gasp into the kiss was warranted; as was the tone of your voice at your next call of his name. He groaned gently as he moved in you, adjusting his weight distribution around your body. “…God… Y/N…” Now it was your name in that breathless, sighing, voice he got on occasion. You knew it, he was just as desperate for this as you were. He needed this, like respite from his family. And you’d allow him to wrap that all up in you. You ran your hands into his hair, framing his face, until he opened those gorgeous blue eyes to you. He took a deep breath, because he needed to, and kissed you gently again. “I know…” You whispered against his lips “Danny I know…” You sighed again, against the gentle rock of his hips into yours – how he fit you perfectly. “…Danny…” You continued to tangle your fingers in his hair; keeping your eyes on his. You knew what was happening, how you breathed in unison, this was so familiar now. He knew you so well, but he gave you so much to know him just the same. His body might as well have been yours. And yours his. But every sigh was quiet now. And his movement, every one of which you met, threading your legs with his, relaxed, tender. This was love. This was what love was. And you’d never loved anyone the way you loved him. And although your focus was him, those ocean blue eyes, this room, his breath, the way his sweat began to glisten on his skin, the deeper he pushed into you and every brush of contact between your skin. You realised that there was another rhythm all together happening outside. Just audible over the soft sounds you were both eliciting. Waves. Despite everything that had happened in the lead up to this, this was romance. And that backing track you were making love to was romantic enough to almost make you laugh. “What…?” “Listen to that…” There was a strange silence for a minute, but you knew he’d focused on it by the way he smiled. “Oh…” Then he pressed his tongue to his cheek “There’s nothing stopping us from moving this outside…” You pulled him to you to trap him there, maybe a little too rough, and you both moaned at the feel of the motion. “D-Don’t do that again.” His voice was strained, but you were panting; “Then… don’t say something so stupid!” “Oh-!” He laughed, untangling himself from you again, but now close enough for you to feel his breath on your skin; “…It would be my fault…” You couldn’t help but smile as you pulled him back into a kiss, arms looped around his neck “… At least you know it…” Soon enough he let his body melt back into yours – and this time he matched the motion of the waves for himself – running his hands over your body. “…You’re… so beautiful…” “Danny…” “Y/N…” His kisses were delicate as they too, trailed over your skin and he breathed your name that way. Sex was always good with him; this was a man who knew more than just what he was doing. Sometimes you wished you’d moved slower – to savour moments where he didn’t know all of you yet. But how could you think such a way when he was loving you like this? It was soft and beautiful – and getting him as close to you like this, and alone, truly alone; meant more to you than anything else in the world. And more than you could ever express. You caught those clear blue eyes of his; “…You’re beautiful…” *** Even with him this close and holding you tight you could tell there was strain on his shoulder. And the way he was trying to politely ignore it. Wrapping yourself around him didn’t necessarily alleviate the situation either; in the attempt to take his body weight off his shoulders - especially that left one... But he winced. And it was visible even though he tried not to make it so. And you didn’t want to put him in pain in the effort to make love to you, so you pushed him gently - with enough force that he tumbled into the sheets instead of hitting them, you now on top of him; “Y/N...” Danny whispered it; maybe a little in confusion. But you pressed a tender kiss to his lips to silence him. “Baby, let me take care of you... it’s okay...” you took his hands in yours - again as delicately as possible, and made sure to position yourselves comfortably as you guided him to your hips; “Danny, baby, tell me what you want...” He opened his mouth but as you moved like that, rolling your hips over his, all that escaped was a groan; “Y/N... I...” You smirked gently; “It’s okay... Danny... I got ya...” “Y/N…” “Hush…” You dipped to brush your lips to his, not enough, by the whine he gave you. Danny, whining? That was a nice change. You liked that. But to suit the current mood, you wouldn’t be telling him that right now. Running your hands up his chest you built back into the gentle rhythm he’d started; and in dragging your fingertips back down you let your nails elicit a growl from him; and this time his body rose to meet yours. Seemed like you’d done more than just flipped him over. You couldn’t hide that smirk; and the look in his eyes told you nothing more than to enjoy it. Moving his hands from your hips he pulled them up your spine as far as he could make them reach – and for a moment he held you there, doing nothing but watching you. Even loving him slow didn’t mean you didn’t know when you were close though. And you took your hands in his and placed them back on your hips, threading your fingers with his. “Danny…” He knew the way you breathed then, and the feel of you. That moment was something he was used to, yes, but not something he ever adequately prepared for. And you knew by the dig of his own nails into your hips and the way he ground into you that you would finish together. He growled again to try and fight it, but you weren’t going to let him get away with that and you pushed against him a little harder; “FUCK-!” He bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut; “I hate you.” “…In your dreams, Danny Rayburn…” you were panting again, “There’s only one way you get to finish me…” Those eyes of his opened and fixed on yours; that bright blue darkened as much as it highlighted in the euphoria you were both on the edge of. For a moment that blue became the only thing that didn’t blur as your body received a shot that hit like fireworks. Oxytocin… Endorphins… You breathed out heavily and almost giggled to yourself. Which was soon joined by the laugh rising in his chest. “What? What’s so funny?” – if he was going to tell you he was laughing at your laughing… “Nothing…” “Oh, I can already take bets on your little brain stage biology class.” “…You started it…” You leant back over his body to claim his lips; and his arms wound around you. “Well. Endorphins are good for you!” He grinned “Don’t get me started on oxytocin.” “I’m sure that’s all you remember from high school biology.” “Yeah well. It’s the only bit that mattered…” Danny ran his hands through your hair, and could feel your heartbeat against his skin, and the gentle shiver running over your skin as your high unwound itself; “…I love you… You know that, right?” “...Why wouldn’t I?” “I’m sorry I made you wait…” You shook your head, that was nothing to be sorry for. You knew he had to work, no matter how bad you wanted him. “Oh trust me…” You cuddled into him, closing your eyes “It was more than just worth the wait…” *** You lay in his arms in the gentle silence, the sound of the waves gently rolling in the background far more prominent now. Your fingertips caressed his skin as he ran his own over your shoulders; tracing unfathomable patterns. It was so familiar, so comfortable, that nothing could possibly make you want to be anywhere but here. Either of you. He chuckled gently “Well. Guess I must have fixed one hell of a leak...!” You shook your head gently and kissed his chest; “Well... I won’t deny you fixed something...” Danny at least made out that he agreed with that. “Guess I should stay...” “Oh?” You teased, and began to trail your kisses down his stomach; “You mean you don’t have other jobs to do?” “Kickin’ me out of bed, baby girl...?”

He ran a hand gently through your hair; with a groan as you continued to run your kisses lower; “No...” you murmured into his skin, “why would I want a thing like that? I only just got you here!” “That’s my job... looking after you…” “Oh, you’ve done your job....” You pulled your body over Danny’s, your kisses now on his hips. “...Now let me look after you, babe...”

--- * credit @sufferthesea with that one 🙊WE ARE DONE!!! 7 SINS! 7 VIRTUES!🙊 Thank you everyone for requesting! 😘❤ GIF SOURCE: X

As if you needed any more ways he might be looking at Ms.Reader throughout this fic...

@dennismitchell @happyskywhale @wltz-bby

#MendoTagSquad.

#Liliana you're meant to be the... oh wait...#Danny Rayburn x Reader #Danny you will always be my 1st. BB Boi.#Danny Rayburn #Bloodline #Ben Mendelsohn #Sway #Sway tie-in #Good Woman #Ahhh Maren your new album just sums him up perfectly #or at least his feeling when in a relationship with anyone #Liliana #90!#Danny is both fic 90 A N D the beginning of December!#7DS #7 Deadly Sins #Lust #Linzi Writes Requests #Linzi Writes

40 notes · View notes