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whispersafterdusk · 4 years ago

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Lost in Time - ch 13

With the amount of blueprints, lists, material invoices, books, and samples sitting on his desk Xu felt just a bit buried and overwhelmed, but in a good way -- not only had Portia and Atara agreed to pledge funds for an expansion of the clinic but Walnut Groove, Tallsky, Lucien, Meidi, and Ethea had also decided to assist. What was going to be a single additional room had turned into two new floors with six rooms apiece to be added on to the side of the building along with a basement for Stewart's needed power and server storage. It was going to be an ambitious project and take a bit of time but inwardly he almost felt like he was vibrating with excitement.

And what timing too; his old master in Seesai had sent HIM a student. He hadn't seen his master in almost six years now but he could almost picture the old man jumping in excitement over the news of the facility and Stewart (his handwriting definitely portrayed his excitement well - Xu had only ever seen it this messy when he'd written about his granddaughter's wedding) and Xu himself was feeling quite flattered that his teacher had trusted him with the task of teaching. ((Continued below cut))

Of course, Xu would be learning right alongside his student but that didn't matter too much; there was still a lot Xu could teach even if Stewart and the facility hadn't been found.

He was trying to clear off his desk when the clinic door opened and in walked Eli; he caught a glimpse of darkness behind her - it seemed their appointment time was here...he'd lost all track of time and now he was unprepared. Drat.

"Good evening, Eli. I'll just need a moment to clear off a corner."

Eli skimmed his desk and gave him a small smile. "Don't tell me you're changing careers to architect?"

Xu chuckled as he stacked some of the books up on the floor near his feet. "Not at all - I have some exciting news to share, actually." With the books mostly out of the way it was easy to stack up the rest and he managed to get half the desk cleared as she came over and settled on her usual stool; there was a small notebook with a blue cover in her hand - it was good to see she'd brought it today. "Would you like something to drink?"

"No thank you. So what's all the clutter for?"

"Well!" he said as he dropped onto his own seat. "What I had intended to be just one additional room for the clinic has turned into a much bigger project -- Portia, Atara, Lucien, Walnut Groove, Tallsky, Meidi, AND Ethea have all pledged to send funds to turn it into a basement as well as two additional floors - to match the height of what's already here, of course. It seems Portia may become a center for medical knowledge here in the upcoming years!"

Eli's expression changed to one of surprise before shifting into a grin. "That's good news, doc. Didn't think you'd all move so quickly on those measurements I got you."

"I didn't either but once Gale had them in hand he immediately got on the telegraph to send out word. I imagine next we'll be figuring out arrangements for other doctors to come and study under Stewart -- and, speaking of that, my master in Seesai actually has already sent a student to me. He's at the Round Table getting dinner but I can't wait to introduce you two."

"Wow, lucky timing for this student."

"Isn't it?" Xu laughed. "I thought that myself. Oh, and uh - when you meet him, know that he and I already have laughed over -- well, you'll see. I don't want to spoil it."

She gave him a questioning look but he just smiled - it was such a funny happenstance, really.

"How long will it take to complete?" she asked instead.

"I'm not sure - that part is still being figured out, as well as which contracts are going to which builders."

Eli nodded, shifting so she could rest an ankle over her opposite knee; the notebook shifted along with the movement and was now balanced across her thigh. "Well, no rush. Stewart's server banks are UNDER his docking station, and that access door is sealed up tight. No clue how or when we're getting in there..."

"Can he not open the door?"

Eli huffed out a sigh. "Yes, and no. TECHNICALLY yes, he could. But apparently not only is that the floor where his server banks are but that area down there was connected to the secret project his programming is preventing him from telling us about. Because we aren't authorized to know about it he can't open the door for us, BUT, he did say he could turn a blind eye to any attempts to get inside due to enacting his Emergency Protocol programming. His logic, which is apparently good enough for his code, is if I survived all this time there might be more survivors down below, and he's not allowed to willfully allow someone to come to harm inside his facility. I'm...rather uncomfortable with even the remote chance that we'd find someone else down there but since Stewart isn't in any rush I think that's a good indicator that the chance, while not zero, is so small that we're not likely to find anything surprising lurking below."

Xu frowned as he searched across his desk for his clipboard and pen. "That sounds like a lot of needless extra effort and stress. I thought All Source AIs and living AIs were allowed some free will?"

"A human has free will but we all still tend to obey laws."

"Ah." That was a good point. He finally found his clipboard and pen, and then retrieved Eli's file from a desk drawer. "So...how have you been feeling lately?"

She leaned forward to hold out the notebook. "Mostly ok. It's still hard to see the buildings around here. I tried journaling like you suggested but I mostly ended up scribbling things. It's not as easy as it sounds to put thought to paper when you'd rather not be thinking at all."

Xu took the journal from her and thumbed through the first couple of pages - there were a couple of dated entries but as she'd said there were a lot of sketches in here; there were skyscrapers, some boats, something that was a cross between a plane and a truck, squat buildings, some mountainous areas... "These are nice. Were you an artist in school?"

"Not really. I can do buildings and landscapes but don't ask me to try drawing a person or animal. I struggle with plants a lot too."

Xu smiled and kept looking through. "I see a lot of precise things where scale matters, and not as many things where it doesn't. Would you say you enjoy neat and orderly aspects of life?"

"That's one way to put it, I guess."

Xu opened his mouth to continue but the clinic's door opened and in came Phyllis in a rush. She had a paper in her hand and she waved it at him as she hurried across the floor.

"It's done! I did it!"

"That's fantastic!" he replied, standing and almost being bowled over as Phyllis collided with him in a hug. "When will it be available for you to move in?"

"Two months from now," Phyllis answered. She pulled away and was grinning ear to ear.

"...congratulations?" came Eli's somewhat confused response.

Laughing, Xu turned toward her. "Phyllis has been trying to get the owner of a building in South Block to sell for months now. It seems they finally accepted her recent offer so now she'll have a clinic of her own to run here soon."

"Oh - definitely congratulations then," Eli said, nodding to her. "You can never have too many doctors."

"I can't wait," Phyllis laughed - a sound somewhere between elated and relieved.

Xu hadn't seen her so excited or happy in quite a while and it was infectious; he too was grinning as he sat back down. "After such exciting news in such a short period of time I hope we can focus properly."

"No worries, doctor," Eli chuckled. "Some days even just talking about the weather is a welcome interaction."

"Has there been any new troubles for you? You're still settling in well?"

"As well as I can be."

Phyllis folded up the paper and slid it into the pocket of her skirt and then, as she tended to do when she sat in on therapy sessions, quietly took a seat on a stool that was off to the side near one of the cabinets; the movement drew Xu's attention so when the clinic door opened yet again he didn't notice it until he saw Phyllis's head turn slightly to face that way.

Framed in the doorway, looking uncertain as to whether he should venture further inside, was his new student; the young man was named Harrison. His hair was a muddy brown that he kept clipped close to the skin and his eyes were a very dark shade of brown - they almost looked black. He stood at the same height as Xu but was just a tad bit thicker in the stomach area, and was wearing a short sleeved button up white shirt under an open black vest, black pants, and somewhat threadbare canvas shoes.

Xu gestured for him to come in. "Ah, there you are - Eli, I'd like you to meet Harrison."

The Dubei woman rotated around on the stool, looking Harrison up and down. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. I was briefly told about you and have been looking forward to meeting you all day."

At Eli's confused look Xu began to laugh quietly. She looked between the two and he managed to swallow down the laughter. "See? I told you we'd already laughed over it."

"That's not an act? He just...sounds exactly like you?"

Harrison flushed bright red to his ears. "I don't think it's EXACT, and it's not an act. I personally think it's a bit embarrassing but neither of us can help what we sound like."

Eli scratched just above an ear, blowing out a short huff. "All right then... I guess so long as I can see who's talking it ought to be fine." After a pause she smiled. "Maybe just add your name after every sentence."

Xu chuckled and again gestured for Harrison to come in from the doorway. "We'll figure something out. I wonder if my master even noticed anything."

"I don't think he did," Harrison said. Finally the man came in to stand at the corner of the desk. "At least, he never mentioned it. And I'm pretty sure he wasn't...I don't know, senile or anything. He seemed as sharp as ever." He paused, then gave Eli an awkward smile. "Said me, Harrison, and not Dr. Xu."

They all laughed at that, and once he'd gotten his breath back Xu looked to Eli. "Before we begin I'd like to ask - do you mind if Harrison sits in on your sessions, Eli? It's completely up to you and whatever you find comfortable."

She considered that for a moment, then nodded. "He can stay. Might as well start him off right with a heaping dose of trauma. If he can handle me he should be able to handle anything."

Xu nodded and leaned back in his chair. "All right. At any point if you want privacy I'm sure neither Phyllis nor Harrison would mind leaving the room." He looked to the two to confirm and got a pair of nods; Harrison went to sit on the floor in front of the cabinet beside Phyllis (Xu made a note to go buy at least one more stool for the clinic in the morning).

Then he looked back to Eli, and gave her a gentle nod. "When you're ready."

Eli was silent for a moment, then brushed the loose hair on top of her head to the left. "Well. Recently I've had an indirect problem with Lee."

------------------------------------------------

"Looks like Old Bob is back in town."

It was early morning and Isaac was currently winning his fifth game of Cross Five; Eli looked up from the game board and spied a familiar looking duster coat-clad man wandering up the path. "His name is Bob?"

"He says it is," Isaac answered. He paused and placed his next piece before continuing. "A retired teacher from Vega 5, if he's to be believed. Got tired of where he was and began to wander around. He drifts into Portia every spring and autumn - harmless fellow but hard to talk to."

"What'd he teach?" As Eli watched him the man slowed to a stop, slipped a hand into a pocket of his coat, then turned around and hurried off in the direction he'd come from.

"He's never said. He mumbles a lot - has his better moments, some days more than others. Those days when he's lucid he could talk your ear off."

Eli nodded and placed her next piece - she'd managed to line up four pieces eighteen times in this one game but it seemed entirely too easy for Isaac to block her from a win. "I ran into - well, passed him - the other day. Seemed friendly enough."

Four turns later and Isaac had again maneuvered his pieces so that he had two open ways of winning and Eli could only block one of them. She huffed and reached out to start sweeping her black pieces off the board and into the appropriate leather pouch that held them. "Never was all that great at board games. If we were playing card games our roles would probably be reversed."

Isaac laughed. "Need to learn how to strategize better, young one. Not likely time to squeeze in another game before school starts but if you ever want to hear more of Portia's and the world's history feel free to come by for another game or two."

"I definitely will be - thank you, Isaac."

She handed him the leather pouch of game pieces and stood, moving in the direction of the schoolhouse.

So the man's name was Old Bob and he was also from Vega 5... Merlin hailed from there too and had urged her, several times, to go visit the city someday soon; it was certainly something she had put on her incredibly long To Do list, if only because Merlin had mentioned that a lot of living AIs were still functional out there. Portia's only living - er, living living - AI was Ack and the robot was in need of repair...it baffled her that he hadn't tried to travel to Vega 5 to seek replacement parts since all AIs had self preservation coded into them as a standard. He was missing an original leg, was dinged up, rusted in places and scratched all to hell, and he had chunks of his outer metal shell missing on the top and back of his head -- she could tell that at some point someone had tried building him a replacement leg but the servos whined on cold or rainy days, and it didn't look like there'd been any attempt to fix the holes in his head beyond him adopting a metal pot as a hat. If Vega 5 had a large population of living AIs Eli was pretty certain there was a good chance they could clean, repair, and polish up Ack if he'd just go.

Maybe she could take the robot with her when she went...if someone was going with him it might convince him the trip was needed. She'd bring it up if she ever seriously considered traveling; as it stood she could probably fix him up herself - it just wouldn't be all that pretty. At the very least she should try to get those holes in his head fixed...she could only imagine how much rust might be INSIDE him at this point with such a large area where moisture could get in.

Soon enough the schoolhouse was in front of her and her train of thought regarding robot repairs was carefully set aside for later; the door was unlocked and Eli was greeted with the sight of a thin, dark haired woman sitting at the desk inside the door. She seemed a bit surprised to see Eli but stood to greet her as she walked in.

"Good morning," Eli said. "I won't keep you long - I wanted to ask if you had any history or wildlife books you wouldn't mind letting me borrow."

The woman (Eli was pretty sure her name was Lucy - she'd only ever talked to the woman twice before) nodded to her, clasping her hands in front of her stomach and glancing toward what Eli assumed was the classroom. "We have a few I'm not currently using during our lessons but they're fairly...elementary. Simple, I mean. Meant for younger children. I can order more advanced ones from Vega 5 or Atara, if you don't mind waiting. We'll be needing them in the upcoming years anyway."

"I wouldn't say no to any book, simple or not. I'm not looking to cause any trouble or extra effort though."

Lucy shook her head. "No, it's no problem at all. There's a bookshelf just inside the door there, and it's certainly no extra trouble to order books ahead of time. It may take several weeks though."

"No worries - it's not like I'm going anywhere," Eli replied.

Lucy smiled faintly at that and sat back down; Eli hurried in to the bookshelf and skimmed the titles, picking up two books - one was a history book, one was a children's "survival guide" style book with cartoony, colorful pictures of plants and animals. The information in it was written in very simple terms but it would serve as a decent starting point until she could get her hands on something more thorough. She gave Lucy a wave as she headed out the door with the books tucked under an arm; as she was heading up the street to return to Selene's she spied Adam jogging down the hill, and once he spotted her his path altered so he was running right at her.

"What's up?"

"We've got tracks," was the man's reply. "We didn't 'ear anything last night but there's footprints right outside the back of the tent - they go out to the east toward the river."

Eli frowned. "Great - another unwelcome visitor."

"Right. And with just me and Asher we can't split to go have a look. Arlo's waiting for you out at the camp. I'm going to find Sam and send her out too."

"I'll drop these off at home and head straight out," Eli said, waggling the books at him.

Adam nodded and quickly moved away, disappearing into town in search of Sam; Eli continued on but sped up to a jog and left the books sitting on her bedside table before heading out to the facility. As Adam had said Arlo was standing outside the tent with Asher and he waved at her as she came into view.

"What do we have, gentlemen?" she asked as she finally reached them.

Asher jerked his head toward the tent. "A tie came loose overnight - let in a pretty good draft. When I got up this morning and went to fix it I found some footprints. Can't exactly go traipsing off without some back up."

Eli nodded and headed around to the tent's backside; the tent was a big one and it was clear it was designed to be somewhat modular -- she could see where a middle section could be swapped out and the tent made shorter. The section was attached with heavy zippers on either end that had extra flaps of canvas that could be tied down over said zippers to keep the wind from blowing straight through.

And, as he'd said, there was a mess of footprints. The grass back here was a thick, tangled, fibrous mess - it was enough to keep the person from sinking too deeply into the mud beneath it (and thus avoid any noisy, wet, sucking sounds as they pulled their feet free) but while the grass had mostly sprung back from being trod on the grass blades were still visibly stained with mud, and it was plain to see how the tracks paced up and down the entire length of the back of the tent. Had someone tried getting inside?

"And neither of you heard anything?" she called out.

"Nope," came Asher's reply from the front. "Adam's sure he didn't hear a thing, and since he was out in front he didn't feel the draft. Heck, I didn't feel the draft until I woke up and was getting ready to cook and swap out with him. Came around and..."

As he was talking he'd circled around and was standing at the western edge of the tent; rather than speak further he simply gestured at the tracks and Eli bent down to stick her hand next to a somewhat clear one to get a rough measurement -- the footprint was rather petite so that was likely another reason why this person hadn't sunk into the mud too much even if you took the grass cover into consideration.

"Right...I'll head out and see where these lead." She straightened and looked back to Asher; Arlo was standing with him now too. "You two going to stay put until Adam and Sam get here?"

"I'll come with you," Arlo replied. "Sam can catch up."

She nodded and started to trek to the east; there was an easily followed trail heading away from the tent that skirted along the bottom of the bluffs - someone had obviously been focusing on approaching in a way that would make them especially hard to spot, but luckily for her and Arlo their muddied tracks were still plain and clear in the daylight.

"Isn't this where Mali and Maddie were checking the last time we had someone out here?" Eli asked.

"I believe so. They said they followed the land all the way out to the river - at that time there wasn't any sign that someone had climbed down."

"And when we found the man on the cliffs there wasn't any sign that there'd been a second person," she said after a pause. "If we're going to keep getting snoops from the north I might have to see if I can work up some trail cameras..."

"Some what?"

"Trail cameras. Recording devices you charge up, hide somewhere, and leave running to get candid pictures of wildlife, usually. They're triggered by motion only, to conserve battery life. Though I doubt I could manage anything that could transmit to a computer somewhere...will probably have to rig up a separate hard drive to store things on. BUT, point being, if we can get enough of those up in this area we could probably catch a glimpse of our little spies sneaking around up here. What's to the north?"

"Sandrock is to the immediate north. From what I've been hearing the town's fallen on some hard times and a lot of people have left to go seek their fortunes elsewhere so it's probably easy to go around the town without being seen. I'll see if Gale can send discrete word to the Mayor there and ask about any influxes of people going through the town that seem out of place. We've been seeing a lot of tourists lately because we've completed some roads over the last couple of years so we might not get any definitive answers though."

"It's a good enough place to start. What's further north than that?"

"Atara is to Sandrock's northwest, Lucien is to Atara's northwest, and Duvos is to Lucien's northwest. Highwind and Barnarock are to the northeast, and Ethea is almost directly north of Sandrock."

"And from what Isaac was telling me this morning about the Free Cities and historical politics I doubt we're getting spies from anywhere except Duvos," Eli said quietly. "Ask Gale if he can check in with Lucien and Atara, and...Highwind. Wait, no - Ethea. Or really, any place that's connected to any other place with established transportation. I hope it's not just Duvos that spies on everyone else?"

Arlo shrugged. "I've no idea. I'd certainly hope we've got eyes inside Duvos after our last war with them."

They trudged on in silence for a time; Eli was keeping a careful watch on the bluffs moreso than on the tracks they were trailing -- so far she'd not seen any sign of where a person may have been climbing around, and the cliffs were too tall for her to believe that someone could have just jumped from there (plus, even if they HAD jumped, they'd still need to get back up to wherever their camp may be).

There was no sign beyond the tracks until they finally walked all the way out to the waterfall.

"And there's where our visitor came from," Arlo growled.

The bluffs were still just as tall but there was a narrow shelf that was closer to the ground that extended out to the east and gradually widened right where the waterfall roared over the rocks. Pounded into the cliffside were iron...they looked like iron rods with a wide eye on the end, through which a rope was threaded. Hanging on either end of the line of rods were lengths of knotted rope to help someone scale up the rock face, and then the rope stretched across and under where the waterfall flowed to connect the two ends. The river that the waterfall fed into below them was a good fifty feet down; the steeply sloping rock that made up the sides of this ravine was surprisingly smooth and considering how much water was pouring into its narrow riverbed Eli suspected the current below would be dangerously strong.

"Pretty risky...a tumble from here would probably drown you, assuming you didn't break your skull against the cliffs on the way down," Eli muttered, letting her gaze trace over the rope and then trail down into the river - from up here she couldn't see anything in the river but that didn't mean there weren't rocks waiting beneath the surface either. "Not to mention how uncomfortable it'd be to get soaking wet - it's still pretty chilly."

"It's a long walk to go around to a safer place to cross," Arlo said. "And there's a lot of places out that way where someone could hole up and hide."

She stepped back from the edge of the ravine and eyed the rope-and-rod crossing. "I could easily sabotage that without anyone able to tell until they were using it but I'd rather not murder our spy...I want to catch and have a little chat with them."

"Should we just cut it down and take the rods with us?"

Eli considered that for a moment; it would clue in the spy that someone had definitely found their crossing point but unless they were dealing with a champion of cluelessness there's no way that this person couldn't have known that they'd leave tracks behind. Taking it down now would force them to use another way or to rebuild this spot...but even then there was a lot of territory out here to keep an eye on and not enough eyes to go around.

"Let's leave it for now. I think our best course of action would be to get some trail cameras made -- I can get the cameras and drives out of the computers in the dorm area, and then I'm sure Selene could whip up a case to hold all the pieces."

"Did all computers have cameras in them?"

"Yep," Eli answered. She headed back the way they'd come and heard Arlo following along. "How else would you call someone?"

"Why would you need a camera to call someone?"

"So you could see who you're talking to. Pretty simple to fake someone's voice with the right tech - it's a bit harder to fake someone's face across a video call since those programs were easily detected. Not impossible, but harder."

Arlo was quiet for a few steps. "-and I guess it was nicer to see the person you were talking to as well."

"Yep."

They walked back to the Pig's camp in silence then; Adam and Sam were nowhere to be seen but Asher said they'd arrived and then left not too long after she and Arlo had headed off but that they had chosen to climb up the cliffs and check things out up there.

"Beginning to think we need some backup..." Asher mused after they'd filled him in on the iron rods and rope guard rail. "We always worried that there were still Duvos agents listening in to our telegraphs... Mali got jumped once because of that," he added, looking to Eli. "Word must've made it back to the empire pretty quick about this place. Got a couple people out here spying, noticed that Mali and the others left, and now they're getting bolder."

"With the locking car door it shouldn't be too much of a problem," Eli said after a pause. "There's no way they could break or cut their way in without being noticed. My concern would be just HOW bold they get if they think there's only one of you guys out there."

Asher nodded, rubbing a finger over the scar across his nose. "I already know what it feels like to be considered an easy target, believe me."

"Why would they be so interested to get into a medical facility though?" Arlo asked. "That's not the sort of tech they tend to try and seize."

"Maybe they don't believe it's a medical facility and need to figure it out themselves?" Asher offered, shrugging. "Or maybe they just want to junk it all for parts. I can't begin to imagine how those people think." He looked between the tent and the elevator car. "Mali said she'd come back once the prisoner was delivered, convicted, and she got Greg and Maddie home. If we can catch her before her trip back here we can ask for a couple more hands -- but also if we don't even just having her here too would be a help."

Eli eyed the tent, then nodded to herself. "I can move out here for a bit."

"What, really? You don't have to," Asher said after a pause. "Adam and I've got this for now, no problem."

Arlo sighed, crossing his arms. "Maybe you do but only for people trying to get inside - you can't split up to follow anyone. It might be best if Eli, and maybe myself as well, come out here to help until Mali gets back."

"You sure?" Asher asked again. "It's rough living - we don't mind it but you two-"

"Let's head into town, talk to Gale, and discuss what we'll need to bring back out with us," Eli interrupted, looking to Arlo.

"Agreed. We'll be back in a bit," Arlo said with a nod to Asher. Asher sighed and threw up his hands in a sign of defeat and sat back down on a short stump of wood that was serving as a seat beside the firepit.

They had just reached the edge of the tree farm when Eli spied a figure moving toward them through the trees; she ducked around one and circled further to the west and spied Old Bob wandering toward them. The man had his head down and was tiptoeing through the grass - clearly trying to avoid the worst of the mud. She moved to join back up with Arlo, nodding her head toward the drifter.

"Kind of far out from town, aren't you?" she called toward him.

Bob's head jerked up and he stared around wildly until he finally caught sight of them; he visibly relaxed and offered them a half smile as they came within roughly fifteen feet of each other. "Yeah. Don't like towns after being cooped up in 'em. Seen the walls out there? Open sky. Like being closer to the stars."

"No stars out yet - you're a bit early," she replied.

"I know. Takes awhile to get there. Takes time. Taking my time, yeah?"

"Be on the lookout, Bob," Arlo said then. "We think a thief is hiding out in the marsh somewhere."

Bob flared his nostrils at them and came to a stomping halt. "Thieves. Bah. Nothing valuable on me. Bad business still."

"If you see anyone somewhere they shouldn't be let the Civil Corps know, all right?"

The man nodded his head vigorously. "Wouldn't know who belongs where but I'll try."

They kept walking; Eli turned around to walk backwards and watch Bob's meandering path as he headed toward the rear of the farm where she knew there were some ruins and a old stone wall that was mostly intact, if a bit segmented.

"Does that guy usually get the run of the town?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, does he just go wherever and no one stops him?"

Arlo nodded. "More or less. Of course, he doesn't trespass somewhere he shouldn't go. He sticks to the public areas, or wanders around in the fields -- I see him fishing a lot and scavenging on the beach for shells but he never hangs around for very long. And he's never tried to steal anything or hurt anyone."

"And he's been doing this for years?"

Arlo nodded again; Eli turned around and walked facing forward once she'd lost sight of the man among the trees. Knowing they had another unwanted visitor had her suddenly suspicious of the old man but it didn't take a genius to see how the man's large booted feet were much bigger than the size of the prints up near the tent. Rather than dwell on it she tried making a mental list of things she wanted to tote out to the camp; clothing and food supplies were easy enough but she wondered if Selene would mind if she borrowed a toolbox to keep onsite out there -- usually the builder carried it back and forth but it didn't seem logical for the woman to only have one set of tools.

"Meet you at the city hall," she said once they'd gotten down the road to Portia's gates. As Arlo headed up the hill toward the Civil Corps building Eli headed toward Selene's workshop; the lights were on and there was a steady plume of steam coming out of the exhaust pipe on the roof.

Oh. Along with asking to borrow tools she should also mention she'd eventually need some steel cases for some cobbled together trail cameras.

The roar of machines going full steam greeted her as she pushed the door to the workshop open. Selene was up to her elbows in the guts of a...well, Eli had no idea what that particular machine was but it was disconnected from the rest of the system in here and was in five dozen pieces across the floor.

"You uh...need a hand?"

"Nope! Just have to take the whole dang thing apart to replace a single cog..." came the irritated answer. "Did you need something?"

"A couple somethings but it can wait."

"I'll just be a few minutes more...want to get this thing out before I stop."

"Sure."

Eli shut the door behind her and leaned against the door frame, watching and listening as Selene grunted and griped and finally twisted something loose with an "AHA!" that Eli could just barely hear over the noise of the rest of the machinery running. She fiddled around with a few more metal pieces then chucked the aforementioned cog carelessly over a shoulder; Eli watched it as it hit the ground and bounced off into a corner, chuckling to herself.

"Ok! What'd you need?" Selene asked as she extricated herself from the machine's inner bits. She had oil smears from fingertips to halfway up to her elbow, and Eli could spy a scrape that was thankfully above the oil line but was oozing a bit of blood.

"-you want a second to clean yourself off and get that taken care of?" Eli asked after a moment.

Selene glanced down at the cut - by her expression Eli guessed the woman hadn't even noticed it until it had been pointed out. "Hrm...stupid thing. I knew I shouldn't have tried to increase the belt efficiency at the cost of making that one part that much harder to reach. Oh well! What were you needing?"

There was a sink (Selene called it the "slop sink" ) in the corner next to the control panels for the machinery; it was partially walled off to prevent any chances of water splashing onto anything it shouldn't. Selene beelined for it and started scrubbing the oil and grime off with a soap that looked like sand and smelled like lemons.

"I was wondering if I could borrow some tools to keep on hand out at the facility. I'll be staying out there at the Pig's camp for a couple days and figured I'd keep myself busy putting together a couple of projects -- and said projects will also need some containers to fit into."

"Oooh." Selene's voice echoed oddly in the sink area. "What're you making?"

"They're called trail cameras. You basically have a camera, battery, and hard drive in a box hidden out in the wilds with a motion trigger. It'll record for a set amount of time then turn itself back off. Pretty sure I can put together a couple."

"Neat," Selene replied. A few minutes later and she turned around, hands bright red from scrubbing but with all traces of the oil gone. "Take your pick of what's on the shelves there and if there's something I know I'll be needing immediately I'll let you know."

Eli nodded and moved over to the nearly floor-to-ceiling shelves that took up the lion's share of the northern wall; she'd need some cutters, screwdrivers, maybe a hammer or rubber mallet, a couple wrenches... She began to pick out tools and then jumped a bit when Selene appeared at her elbow.

"Give me the dimensions you'll need and I can work up the outer casings, no problem," the builder said. The woman reached passed Eli to grab an especially heavy metal clamp before moving back over to sit it on top of the disassembled machine. "What's so important about trail cameras that you need to stay out there to make them?" she called over a shoulder.

"Just didn't want to have to walk back and forth a ton," Eli answered. It wasn't technically a lie but it wasn't the full truth; until she and Arlo talked to Gale she wasn't certain she should be sharing any details of new Duvos spies being found in the area. Once she had an armload of things she thought she'd need she carried it over to Selene to let her inspect it all.

"I...think we're good," Selene said after a moment to take inventory of everything Eli was holding. "I don't have any spare boxes to let you borrow but I've got some sturdy bags, if that's ok?"

"Works for me. I'll get you the plans for the camera cases once I've seen how it all needs to fit together."

"Sounds good. Let's go get the bags."

Selene led the way out of the workshop and toward the house with Eli following in her wake. That had been a lot quicker than she'd expected - she was probably going to beat Arlo to city hall at this rate.

---------------------------------------------------

The plan was a simple one: Arlo and Eli would stay awake overnight, sitting at the back of the tent. The zipper had been undone but the upper ties left secured to hide that fact; it would take just one clean swipe with a sharp blade to sever the ties and allow them to come rushing out the back of the tent at any hint of someone snooping around. Asher and Adam continued their shifts as usual, and during the day Arlo and Eli were careful to remain out of sight as much as possible (which was easy considering most of the day they were sleeping anyhow). Tonight was the third night; it wasn't THE most boring vigil Arlo had ever taken but it was definitely dull to be sitting in the silence, in the dark, listening for anything out of the ordinary.

Eli at least had something to do; she was sketching out (in PEN and the flickering light of the campfire, no less) some sort of diagram for a case for those trail cameras she'd been working on in those few hours of the day where being silent wasn't required. The crate of parts she had to work with was sitting at the foot of her cot -- under Stewart's guidance Selene, Petra, and Merlin had cordoned off a section of a dorm floor and had taken apart personal computers there along with some gadgets out of the ceilings and walls. Arlo had a passing interest in Old World tech but didn't know much about it; to him it seemed like an awful lot of parts for what Eli had said would be a "few" cameras. Watching her work was fascinating but it didn't take an Old World expert to see how she had at least twenty of some of those parts - twenty was not something he would refer to as "a few" and thus far she hadn't tossed anything out as unserviceable either.

Maybe it was just overkill for the sake of not having to go back down and take more things apart... Eli had stated she wanted to leave as much of that facility intact as possible in the hopes they could, in the future, utilize it as it had once been (sort of) -- he supposed the less they fiddled with things, the fewer chances something would break.

He moved his attention away from Eli and Old World musings and stretched his legs out; sitting still for hours at a time wasn't something he was used to (or especially liked) and with him and Eli keeping a low profile out here they'd postponed their usual morning training sessions. There was a small concern that whoever was spying would notice the sudden change if they'd been watching the city too but there wasn't much that could be done about it; he wished something could be done for how restless he felt.

Well...he shouldn't be dwelling on THAT particular part of it. A couple days - maybe a week - without a morning run wouldn't kill him.

With a silent sigh Arlo leaned back and braced his hands against the floor behind him; the ground under the tent was lined with a thick, rubber-coated canvas and it squeaked quietly as he shifted and the flashlight in his back pocket rubbed against it. The tiny noise drew Eli's attention and he mouthed 'sorry' at her -- she nodded and went back to her sketching.

As he'd already done dozens of times tonight he closed his eyes and went through a mental tally of the "normal" noises: the sound of Eli's sketching (barely noticeable), the pop of the campfire out in front, the slight creaking of rope as the wind caused the tent to shift from time to time, the whistle of that same wind across the opening in the top of the tent that would let the smoke of any fires filter out (Asher said during winter the campfire had been INSIDE the tent for better warmth but it wasn't needed now). There was the sound of the grass against Asher's boots whenever the man got up and paced around; if he turned his head slightly to the right Arlo could hear the soft sounds of Adam breathing as he slept.

Everything seemed both too quiet and also too loud. It was honestly starting to drive him a bit crazy.

But then there was a...noise. Hardly more than a whisper of something against something else. It was so quiet Arlo couldn't identify what had caused it but it was different enough against the backdrop of sounds he'd grown so accustomed to over these last few nights that it stuck out as clearly as someone clapping their hands to get his attention.

Arlo opened his eyes and looked to Eli; she had her head tilted back, eyes toward the roof of the tent. He turned his head a bare fraction of an inch to his left and closed his eyes again -- there it was again. Something rasping against something. Grass on...on something. He still couldn't tell what it was.

Again he opened his eyes and glanced over to Eli; she was moving, ever so slowly, to put her notepad and pen down. The only thing moving were her hands - her head was still angled toward the roof. In the campfire's dim light Arlo noted her eyes flicking over to him; when the notepad was safely deposited on the floor she used her hands to lift her backside off the floor and then gingerly turned herself over so that she was on her hands and the balls of her feet. Arlo imitated the movement - there was no squeaking from the flashlight he had in his pocket this time.

Eli silently raised a hand and pointed a finger at him, two fingers toward her eyes, and then those same fingers at the unzipped section of the tent.

With a careful gesture he indicated the knife that was sitting within reach of both of them; she nodded to him, then pointed to herself, then to the front entrance of the tent, and then made a circle motion with her hand.

He understood all that as she wanted him to take the knife and watch the gap in the tent, and she was going to...circle around from the outside, he assumed.

Very, very carefully he stood and crossed the few feet between where he'd been sitting and the back "wall" of the tent; the rasping noise was slightly louder now and he felt it was coming from a point somewhere below his head -- that made sense, if this were footsteps he was hearing. He stopped a hair's breadth away from the canvas and waited, hardly daring to breathe but holding the knife at the ready; there was a tiny gap between the zippered ends of the canvas but it was so narrow he couldn't see a thing through it...but he was certain that if someone was out there and tried to mess with the ties again that he would see the fabric move and know that it was time to strike.

A very quick check showed that Eli was creeping out of the tent; he returned his attention to the zippered canvas and waited.

------------------------------------------------

Asher had seen her out of the corner of his eye; he looked surprised for a moment, then immediately concerned but to his credit he didn't say a word nor did he get up from where he was sitting on the stump beside the fire.

Eli gestured to him - he needed to stand up (QUIETLY), and go around the tent on the western side. He seemed to get the gist of it, much like Arlo had, from her silent hand movements. That was good. If they circled around at the same speed, even if they were heard coming, they'd catch whoever was back there between them. She was really hoping it wasn't a wild animal.

Thankfully around the front of the tent the grass had been trampled beyond recovery; it was too wet and too broken to make any noise as she moved across the tent's front side but once she reached the eastern corner she knew she'd be making noise as she moved.

It couldn't be helped, but it could be mitigated if she moved slowly enough.

Even at a snail's pace it didn't take long to get to the back corner of the tent; she was still out of sight, and still hadn't seen or heard any indication that whatever was behind here knew she was there.

She took a deep breath, counted to three in her head, then jumped out around the corner.

And...what--

She could see through to the other end of the tent but there was a-

Oh hell.

As Asher came around his corner there was a vaguely human-shaped area back here that was like trying to peer through a window smeared with petroleum jelly -- indistinct, blurry, almost impossible to see the outline of in the dark.

Eli rushed forward for the middle-most area of the blurry blob; whatever it was ducked her swung fist and for a brief instant disappeared against the backdrop of the landscape now that it wasn't directly between her and Asher.

"What in the world-"

Eli ignored Asher and hurried forward with her arms outstretched toward where she THOUGHT the cloaked figure had moved; something struck her arm hard and knocked it away, and the blur moved closer to the tent in response. In the same instant the back segment of the tent flew open and Arlo stepped out and the blur struck out at him. It clipped his ear and shoulder and instinctively he swung the knife -- to Eli's surprise it connected solidly.

So solidly in fact that it was yanked out of Arlo's hand and now she could see the handle of the blade seemingly floating in midair in the midst of the smear-shaped person; he'd stabbed their spy in the shoulder - upper arm, at least, judging by the height. Eli aimed a flurry of punches in the general direction of the knife's handle and the blur retreated rapidly and right into Asher who got his arms around part of them but then immediately took what Eli assumed was the back of the person's head to his nose and his grip loosened enough that the figure slipped out.

The handle went blurry for a moment and then was moving down and to the side - the cloaked figure had yanked it free and was now wielding it -- or, was, as almost as quickly as they'd pulled it free they launched it at Asher. Thankfully it hit him hilt-first but it was still a solid blow; Eli heard the sound of metal hitting what could only be teeth followed by Asher's grunt of pain, and the figure didn't pause before landing a solid (and nearly impossible to see coming) fist into Arlo's sternum.

As the figure then turned and rushed her Eli swung again; her knuckles grated against something plastic-feeling, ribbed and with tiny beading, and it was confirmation enough to determine that this person had somehow got their hands on an Active Camouflage Environmental Support Suit - or as they were sometimes called an "Access Suit." It was a jumpsuit covered in sensors, wires, and tiny projectors that could render someone more or less invisible to the naked eye and also contained a small generator that scrambled camera feeds to make them harder to spot there too. How the hell had one of these survived 300 years?

It clearly wasn't fully functioning since Eli could see the human-shaped blur but even then...just...how in the hell?

'It can't be an original. There's just no way,' was repeating over and over in her mind as she was bowled over by the figure.

As she hit the ground and rolled she reached to the small of her back; Selene had fashioned her two holsters for that revolver she'd taken off the first spy. One was a thigh holster that she planned to wear when warmer weather hit, and the other went at the small of her back which allowed her to hide the gun under her jacket. She really, really didn't want to take a pot shot at this spy -- she didn't want to have to shoot anyone at all since this world lacked the medical equipment needed to assure a high survival rate.

The problem in this immediate moment though was if Duvos had the plans for those things and equipped their soldiers with them it would be disastrous for the rest of the continent, but if this spy was a one-off and she took care of this right here, right now...

She drew and aimed for what she thought was the center of mass and then fired off all three rounds in the gun. For a moment she swore she saw the blur stagger but then it was too far out into the darkness to be visible.

They were gone.

Behind her Arlo was checking on Asher, and there was the brief sound of pounding feet as Adam care tearing around the edge of the tent barefoot and without his coat on.

"What the 'ell happened?!"

"We had a visitor," Eli sighed. "It's not good news."

Arlo helped Asher stand up, steadying him as he swayed; Asher tilted his head forward -- blood was pouring out of his mouth and nose both. He fumbled for a handkerchief and once he'd gotten it half out of his pocket Arlo snagged it and held it to the man's face.

"What even was that?" Arlo asked. "It was like trying to see the wind."

"That was an Access Suit. And it's not a good thing if Duvos has their hands on one and figures out how to make them."

Asher moved his head to the side to spit around the handkerchief - there was something small and white in it. "Great. So now our spies are invisible."

"Not ENTIRELY invisible. Which is the only silver lining here -- if you can see the person in the Access Suit it means its not working correctly. We shouldn't be able to see ANYTHING but we could see enough to sort of tell where they were." She flipped the cylinder out on the revolver and collected the casings - they could be reused and ammo was about to become a commodity - then slotted in three more bullets and clicked it closed again before returning it to the holster at her back. "Which also means the trail cameras are going to be useless because those suits are designed to mess with cameras too."

Adam looked at her, confused. "Invisible suits? Screwing with cameras?"

"Wouldn't tampering with a camera alert someone to your being there, though?" Arlo asked. He was still holding Asher steady; the blonde finally lifted his head to look ahead at Eli and flashed Arlo a thumbs up as he took over holding the handkerchief to his face.

"It does, but you still can't physically see the person in the suit and looking through a camera feed just gives you a general idea of where they are."

"So, sort of what we just saw but weren't supposed to see," Asher said. His voice was muffled and distorted - like a small child holding their nose to speak funny. He also had a slight whistle to his speech now and Eli assumed he'd either broken a tooth or had it knocked out of him entirely. "Just something blurry without much of a shape."

"Shouldn't we be chasing this spy?" Adam interrupted then. "They're getting away!"

Eli shook her head. "No point to chasing something we can't see." She turned to Asher and Arlo. "Head into town and get yourselves looked at by Dr. Xu. I can hold the fort down with Adam - I can't guarantee the spy won't come back tonight though. We know about their little secret now but they're still pretty hard to spot."

"I don't think I need Xu," Asher replied. "Just a bloody nose and chipped tooth."

"Does the tooth hurt?"

"No more than my nose does."

Eli let out a long sigh, turning to look after where the spy had run. "Well. Even still - whether you chipped down to the nerves or not it'll probably have to come out."

There was a quiet groan from behind her. "Damn it...gonna have to go all the way to Seesai to get a fake one, too."

As she turned around she saw Adam rolling his eyes at Asher. "You can get 'em in Ethea you uppity bucket head."

"Yeah but they aren't as real looking as the teeth that woman in Seesai makes, and they discolor a lot quicker than hers too. I don't want a random yellow tooth front and center in my mouth."

"Boys," Eli interrupted, smiling a bit. "Worry about your vanity later and get cleaned up."

The three headed around the western side of the tent; she heard a faint "at least this time you had your pants on" from Asher (probably - hopefully - aimed at Adam). Before she left she went and picked up the dropped knife -- it was a 6-inch long blade that folded into a heavy metal handle that was inlaid with wood pieces. She stuck it into her waistband and glanced out toward the marsh.

That spy, if they were smart, would lay low for a few days - especially if they had a stab wound to tend to.

Actually.

"Hey guys - I'm going to go talk to Xu," she called out as she rounded the corner of the tent.

Inside Adam was helping Arlo clean Asher's face up; they had poured a bottle of water into a bowl and were alternating between a wet cloth and a drier one as they dabbed off blood and assessed the damage to Asher's lips, nose, and teeth. When she poked her head through the flap only Adam looked up to her.

"What for?"

"Arlo managed to stab the bastard. If Xu has anyone coming in with a stab wound on their upper extremities anywhere..."

Now the man gave her a grin. "Then that'd be our bastard."

"Exactly. I'll be back in a bit."

---------------------------------------------

It was early morning; he wasn't used to being up this early yet - his master tended to spend the morning hours catching up on correspondences over a cup of hot tea so Harrison would get to sleep in until it was time for his lessons. Xu didn't respond to any letters that Harrison had seen yet, nor did he drink (or even like) tea, but he definitely shared the master's habit of getting up bright and early to get tasks done. It wasn't a habit Harrison had picked up from either of the two and it wasn't one he WANTED to pick up either but it didn't seem like he'd get a choice regarding it.

The last couple of days Xu had opened the clinic to let Harrison inside, then had let him mind the place for an hour or so while Xu went on a morning walk to pick fresh herbs; the next couple of hours afterward were spent learning the different ways of preparing the herbs into different remedies. Harrison's master (who was also Xu's master - so, their master?) had taught him a lot about teas, tinctures, salves, and other similar things but had mostly focused on the sorts of materials one would find in Seesai. Xu knew all about that and then some -- Portia had a surprising amount of wild-growing herbs all around the city and Harrison loved learning the name, the feel, and the smell of each new one.

Xu had seemed a bit distracted this morning when he'd let Harrison inside; there was a new pile of paperwork on the doctor's desk regarding the clinic expansion -- he hoped nothing had fallen through on those plans. Xu was so excited and so was he; the thought of studying medicine under a real living AI...it was more than he could have imagined.

A little bit scary too. Would the Church get mad at him? Surely they wouldn't begrudge knowledge that cured the sick and helped the injured.

His thoughts were interrupted when the clinic door opened; he actually jumped a bit at the sound -- who would be here this early? Xu had barely been gone ten minutes.

It was a slender, petite woman. She had damp black hair pulled up into a bun on the top of her head, big blue eyes, pale skin, and had a thick scarf on along with a jacket that she was only wearing on the right side of her with the left half of the jacket flapping free.

Her left lower arm was swaddled in a pale blue towel that had a slowly spreading bloodstain on it.

"Oh, dear - you're bleeding. Come in."

The woman nodded and scurried over to the desk; Harrison instead waved her over toward the hospital bed area where a rolling metal table sat then he quickly washed his hands before heading over himself. He carefully guided her arm over the table and began to peel the towel back.

"Good morning. I was on the beach and fell onto some driftwood and it uh...stuck."

Harrison gingerly pulled the towel free and winced when he revealed the stick of driftwood that had pierced cleanly through the outer edge of her arm. The ends had some scrape marks and had been clearly broken off on each end; it had probably been a much longer piece and she'd broken it down to size to get the towel around it. It was about as thick as his pinky finger and at first glance it looked to be just through the upper layers of fat and skin - it didn't seem deep enough to have knicked an artery or damaged muscle. "Can you move your fingers?"

She wiggled her fingers but it was clear it hurt to do so; he nodded and hurried over to a cabinet.

"That's good - let me get a few things to numb that so I can remove the stick."

"Ok. I'll be glad for some numbing - it hurts."

He came back with an armload of bottles and rolls of gauze, and the little leather-bound kit that held Xu's surgical tools. The woman was surprisingly calm as he set to injecting an anesthetic but a few moments later it was clear it was kicking in as she visibly relaxed; she wriggled a bit to let the jacket fall off her and into the floor.

Now he set to opening up the things he'd need and cutting a few lengths of gauze to have immediately at hand for when he got that branch free; with everything ready he paused to take a final, careful, close up look at what he was about to tackle.

As he'd already noticed the stick was about the width of his pinky; it seemed incredibly bad luck that the branch had penetrated rather than just snapped as it didn't seem all that strong. Without the ends of the stick he couldn't really tell which direction the stick had penetrated from - the best he could guess was it entered from the back of the arm and come out the top and the branch was a little lose inside its "hole" on the top of her arm - a bigger exit wound than entry.

Very carefully he tested how easily it could move; to his surprise it seemed very willing to slide out of place and soon he had the little eight inch long piece of wood in hand.

"Wow, that was easy."

He offered the woman a reassuring smile. "It sure was - you're lucky. Now to clean it up."

The edges of what he thought was the entry point of the injury were pretty neat and had an obvious ring of dirt around it. The bleeding had mostly stopped, which was a good sign; he pulled out a tiny penlight from Xu's surgical kit and had a quick look around the inner part of the entry wound and didn't see any immediate debris that might be stuck in there -- no splinters or anything like that. When he checked the bigger top hole though he could see dark slivers of polished-looking wood.

Clicking off the penlight he swapped it for a pair of tweezers and began plucking the splinters free. Once he'd gotten all that he could see he sanitized the edges of the wound (though he couldn't quite get all the dirt off from the entry point - maybe that was the start of bruising instead) and flushed saline through the entire puncture to clean out any dirt or sand that he couldn't see.

"All right...now-"

At that moment the clinic door opened; Harrison paused mid-sentence and looked up to see Dr. Xu framed in the doorway with a bundle of something leafy and green in one hand. At the sight of them Xu let the plants drop to the floor and hurried over.

"What happened?"

"She says she fell," Harrison answered.

The woman looked between them with clear confusion on her face. "Am I hearing double?"

"No, sorry," Xu replied. "We just sound alike. Funny coincidence."

The doctor came over and, to Harrison's surprise, didn't immediately take over from him; in fact he seemed more interested in gauging what Harrison had done thus far.

"Well at least you're not twins," the woman laughed.

Harrison managed a smile at that but went on with finishing cleaning out the wound. "As I was about to say, I can't stitch this up because there's a risk that if there's anything in there that the saline didn't get out it'll cause an infection. What you'll need to do is keep this clean, change the bandages several times a day - especially if they get wet, sweaty, or dirty - and let whatever drains out of there drain out. If it starts bleeding again or gets infected come right back and we'll see what else needs to be done."

As he talked to looked over to Xu; the man was nodding approvingly at him, and Harrison felt a small surge of pride before he turned his attention back to the woman.

"Ok. Can I buy some things for pain and also some bandages?"

"Of course," Xu answered before Harrison could. He left Harrison to finish up with the injury and went over to begin gathering what the woman would need.

She looked between them again and then leaned in toward Harrison. "So are you two...related, or something?"

Harrison shook his head and began to slather on an antibiotic cream. "Nope. He's my teacher."

"Oh. Wild. Are you both from here?"

"I'm from Lucien," Harrison replied. "I'm not sure about the doctor."

The woman grinned at him. "I'm from Lucien too. Small world."

Harrison paused to smile at her, then began to wind the bandage around her arm. "Way smaller than it used to be, that's for sure."

Xu came over then with a cloth bag; the woman visibly winced when Xu put a hand on her right shoulder and he was quick to yank it back.

"I'm sorry - I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It's ok. I think I uh, sprained my shoulder when I fell. I tried to catch myself but managed to flip myself over and really waggle this thing around when I did." She pointed at the length of wood taken out of her arm. "I probably made it a lot worse."

"It's really not that bad. I'm actually surprised." Harrison tied off the bandage and straightened, blowing out a sigh. "You got really lucky. It was a really clean wound."

"I guess so." The woman turned to Xu and eyed the bag. "How much is that."

"This should last you four or five days and it's 460 gols."

The woman held her good hand out for the bag then seemed to think better of it and began to dig in her pockets instead. "That's a lot less than I was expecting. I'll take it."

Harrison started cleaning up as Xu handled the money and final instructions for the wound care. When the woman had gone Xu then retrieved the bundle of herbs and came over to sit them on his desk.

"Quite a morning, it seems."

Harrison nodded as he swept the soiled gauze into the trash can and began to clean up blood spots. The section of driftwood was still on the table; he picked it up and turned it over in his hands, then found it easily snapped in two between his fingers. "What rotten luck to have fallen in just the right way to get this through your arm."

He threw it away on top of the gauze and went to wash his hands.

#Lost in Time #lit #Lost in Time - ch 13 #Arlo #Dr. Xu #Phyllis #My Time at Portia

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tracykestler · 5 years ago

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36 and what a world I have seen

Honestly I’ve been terrible at journalling lately. Love handwriting in quill and ink style, but my current life leaves me exhausted after work and most of my time spent in education. But currently the Covid-19 pandemic made me consider the important world events I have witnessed.

Born in 1984 I lived in a world of rapidly changing technology but still being forced outside to play. We always had an Apple computer in our house for as long as I can remember. Played the Oregon Trail in black and white, then in color. That was the standard computer game of my childhood. Mom got us Mario Teaches Typing, probably the only “video game” I ever played at that point. AOL was a thing. All those CDs in the mail with updates. I never really got into it, but my twin sister did.

Also a child of the Disney Golden Age of animation. Dramatically influenced my life to the point I went to work for Walt Disney World after college. Still a Disney fanatic to this day.

Apparently my family visited Yellowstone National park (age 4? too young to remember anyway) then not too long after the park had the fire.

Was alive though not conscious of world events when the Berlin Wall fell. Watch the birth of CNN during the first Desert Storm when my dad was there overseeing some of the first drone flights. The military required a pilot on hand for those flights. He told us later how some Iraqis would surrender to the drone plane, not that it was ever one of the ones he supervised. And according to my mom I frequently asked to NOT watch the 24 hour stream of news because it was too depressing and I knew that’s where dad was.

Really started to pay attention to news (not that l enjoyed it but that’s the timeline for how chidden develop) during the O.J. Simpson trial.

By that point I had lived on both coasts of the USA, crossed country twice, lived in many different environments from Washington’s cold wet seasons to California’s deserts California’s coast to landlocked suburbia of Georgia.

Where I learned to drive, had a single Nokia phone for me and my twin in our tiny Cabrio convertible (I hate convertibles). Got a personal computer for the first time, where before it was a single family computer. The iMacs were coming out right when we were heading to college. My sister got the desktop, I got the laptop and have never looked back. Still have my gumstick shuffle iPod floating around and it still works.

Got to watch the insanity of Indecision 2000 and appreciate political humor for the first time.

I’ve been to 9 different schools for 12 years of school, not including college. That would make it ten. Was a freshman in high school when the Columbine shootings happened. Some weeks later we had a pipe bomb threat at our school which forced all the students out to the football field. From the top of the bleachers we could see the bomb squad and their dogs entering the school. All I could think of was if someone really wanted to kill at lot of people, there on the bleachers would be the place to do it. Then at some point in my adult life someone did it at a movie theater showing The Dark Knight.

Saw the images of the Oklahoma City bombing. Heard about the Unabomber. Watched the Waco Texas incident.

But my senior year was the time of 9/11. My math class was out in the hallway doing a math related science type experiment, can’t tell you what it was. But that day was the only day I have ever heard a school of nearly 5,000 students absolutely silent during class change. Thus Desert Storm part two happened.

Right before I headed off to college. So I wasn’t super savvy about applying to colleges. I only applied to one. Didn’t have a clue as to what I wanted to do with my life. I’ve done a wide variety of sports, been writing fiction since at least 10 years old, drew and painted fairly well, thought about doing animation or architecture (did a semester learning thing with a local firm, decided it wasn’t for me).

Ended up getting a degree in two foreign languages but not fluent in either. It did greatly improve my understanding of the English language. And I had the privilege of an exchange program for a school year to Japan, plus of study abroad summer to Germany. Would never regret any of that. Even if it didn’t get me a degree that got me a job.

Instead I went to Disney World as part of their internship program. Been in foods and hospitality for a significant portion of my life (thus far). Loved working there. Got to work with the Characters and it was fabulous. Even with the frustrations of all work environments.

But it couldn’t last. Minimum wage was raised, but the cost of living out stripped the earnings for a single person living alone. Prompting a move back home with parents to get another degree. Then the Housing bubble burst, loans defaulted, mortgage crisis, resulting in the Great Recession. It did get me a house in my name but basically an income property for my mom as her inheritance from my grandmother. All the while I’m going to school to be a nurse.

Now let’s not forget about the many weather crises I’ve witnessed via the news. Hurricanes Katrina, Sandy, Harvey, Maria to name the ones I easily remember. The Class 5 tornado that wiped out a midwestern town. The volcano in Iceland rerouting planes. The tsunami in Indonesia and Sumatra. The massive earthquake in Haiti. These are only the ones that easily come to mind without researching what happened during the years I’ve been alive.

Not to mention the diseases that I’ve seen via the news. First to mind was the Ebola outbreak while I was in nursing school. Saw the hype on the Swine Flue, SARS, Avian flu to name a few easily remembered. Those never reached me personally. Now it’s Covid-19 unfolding. Called SARS-CoV-19 now, but that later.

But its not all disasters. Went to the Atlanta Centennial Olympics still have the t-shirt. Was alive during the first black president.

Took part in the massive phenomena that was Harry Potter and still love it to this day. It showed me that fiction/fantasy could be a mainstream genre to write for. I started writing FanFiction at that time to fill in the long spaces between books. Started when fan fiction.net had the 7or 8 main characters to choose from for tagging. It was like the Wild West of figuring out what you were about to read. Learned about Slash, yaoi, lemons and such the hard way. But being exposed to it that way did open my eyes to what goes on in other people’s heads. Knew immediately that just because I didn’t like something didn't mean I had to hate on it. I left it alone once found and kept going. Really helped increase my tolerance to other cultures and thoughts.

Met my best friend on a role playing site and we wrote nonstop during our college years. Went to her wedding, have a lovely Renaissance style dress as a bridesmaid gift. Still am in touch with her. We don’t write together any more as we have moved in our lives with adulting. But I still have all those stories and hope to turn them into something.

Had my first camera cell phone in Japan as just a basic free phone. Was shocked to find cameras in the States were not standard. One of my friends in Japan kept doing selfies before they were called selfies. Blind positioning of the camera for pictures. Then came the iPhone and the world never looked back.

Joined Facebook when it required a college email. Used MSN messenger and Yahoo messenger to communicate with people around the world. Didn’t join the Twitter or Tumblr movement until after they became established. Saw the boom and bust of the Dot.Com bubble. Watched the Dow Jones numbers increase without the income to invest the way they said to.

Lived right above the poverty line during the Recession. Not knowing if I could make it the next month. Never being able to claim poverty on the tax forms. Caught in the income dead space of not being able to afford health insurance from the markets but in a state that didn’t allow for Medicaid expansion.

But I do not have the worry now thankfully.

Jobs wise I’ve been a telemarketer, dishwasher, a line cook, a hostess, server, janitor, assistant manager, and now I’m a nurse. I started on med/surg, ED, Cardiac, and ICU. In a small rural hospital getting smaller in a time when rural were shutting down because of no funding. They serve areas with a high rates of unemployment, uninsured, drug and alcohol abuse.

Worked at a busier hospital were no bed was left empty. Sicker patients. Work in a mid-size place. Some days super busy, some slower.

Covid-19 had the affect of somehow doing both. First few days was almost empty, now it fluctuates. Mostly rule outs. And the protocols are changing hourly which makes life frustrating for us. It’s the constant unspoken threat of going into work not knowing if you’ll have the right equipment to do the job. I’m not scared of the virus itself, not even of the collapse of the economy. I’m scared of the surge that will put my coworkers at risk.

I live alone (my little sister lives with me now) so very little contact with others. But they have kids and a much closer physical distance to their older parents. I know I will add days to my weeks if they have to stay out for any length of time.

So this is the first time a world event as truly affected me. It is a terrifying time which prompted this summary of my life so far.

I went into a restaurant and saw no one. I never thought I’d see that day. I don’t want people to loose their income, but if people were to go about their daily activities we would loose so many in one go. All I can do is my job.

The more I watch the more depressed and stressed. At work is worse.

I’m teaching myself a new craft because of this. I have taken up leather working to make masks. It helps the creativity outlet. I started drawing class early in 2020 and was set to continue drawing and add painting when the social distancing started. I admit it felt overblown in the beginning. Now the numbers are changing rapidly and we are really seeing what happens in close communities. Just keep working. It’s part of life now. No matter how much if feels like a movie plot line.

But back to other things I’ve seen.

LGTBQA and others coming into the forefront of society. Saw legalization of gay marriage. Quite thrilled with that.

Didn’t hear the term Asexual in reference to a sexual preference until my early 20s. Immediately recognized similar stories to me. Never had an interest in sex or having a partner. A name did make things more relatable, but I will never fully understand people who seem to base their entire existence on their sexual preference.

I’ve been call sir many times based on how I dress. I still sound like a female. Can’t fault anyone for using the appropriate pronoun for what they see in front of them. But that’s a culture that’s growing. Preferred pronouns. But I have to admit that an online friend referred to me as “they” despite a lady being in my username and it felt nice. So in honor of the Special Snowflake term that floated around, I’m an nonbinary aromantic asexual. Probably with a fem-romanitic leaning.

Saw the rise of the Millennials. I’m caught between Gen X and the Millennials. Now that all the Millennials are of age to vote, perhaps change is underway?

I’m back in college for my 3rd and then 4th degree. In nursing. Online. Watching the world combat a virus.

A US that is split down the middle politically. A world with more pollution problems than we can handle. Governments preferring to coverup mistakes and corruption than help their citizens. The term Public Servant is obviously not taken seriously in some places. See Flint, MI and their water. Lobbyists creating bills that benefit corporations rather than people. Politicians that never retire and keep getting lucrative reelection donations from those very corporations.

The rise of narcotic drug use, prescription drugs. Pill mills.

Sex scandals taking center stage in the news rather than things that actually affect daily life. Among things I will never understand is the fear of Transgender women in the women’s restrooms when it was always a straight conservative man who was the center of all these sex scandals.

Asexual brain at work. I simply do not understand. Conclusion: If you look like a certain gender, you’ll most often be treated as that gender.

What I do miss were the kid shows and cartoons in the 90s. They were super progressive with great literature themes. I knew the story of some of the greatest classic literature simply by the references in those shows.

Also the era of War on Drug commercials. Recycling promoted.

My favorite: Captain Planet. Not only was it pushing for a cleaner earth it had different nationalities. Stereotypical, but a far better representation than what I am seeing in kids shows today. It was diverse in that multiple skin tones were seen on screen together rather than specific skin tones marketed to that specific demographic. Now I do like how many more cultures are represented, I just want them shown in ways where color and culture is not the primary focus.

It also surged a desire to protect the planet. The knowledge that we need clean water and air. Educational shows like Magic School Bus and Bill Nye explained what is happening in the environment long before Global Warming became political. With the global shut in we see the world cleansing itself.

Now the marijuana legalization issue. No one has died from overdosing on weed. Unlike Alcohol. Yes smoke isn’t good for your health like cigarettes, but the complications are not as prevalent, well studied, or as life threatening with what is known. The disconnect of state legalization and national illegalities is mind blowing. I hope to see that break so we can study it.

Overall I know I have seen a lot of historical events and I hope to live another 36 plus years to see more. 3 decades, the change of a century and the change of the millennia. Y2K hysteria included.

The world is changing. The outcome is unknown. Peace be upon us all.

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joon-bugs · 6 years ago

Text

Saturday Nights

~Hi long time no see (this is Jo by the way) so I’m HELLA busy with school and such and this story might have been done for like two months and never thought to post it BUT I hope all my fellow wild kards like this BM story (ALSO all my stray kids lovers I got a Hyunjin story in the process but don’t wait up bc I might fuck around and not post it till June lol)~

Word count: 5000+

Pairing: BM (KARD)

Genre: uhhhh romanceangstsmut? Best friends turned lovers

Warnings: swearing, nipple play, oral f receiving, sex

“He was the only boy who could break you out of your shell, the only one you’d allow to play matchmaker out of all of your friends because he knew you better than anyone. Now your friendship had to thrive off of video calls, text messages, and social media. It had been quite a long time since he came home. But the boy you missed with every inch of your body was back from the place where he went to follow his dreams. He couldn't let his potential go to waste..and you wouldn't let him.”

~Hi there, I’m back so there’s a soundtrack to this story if you want to listen to the song while reading I’m going to insert them as you read (bolded and italicized)~

Saturday Nights- Khalid

The golden sunset was comfortably nestled into the trees lying before you. Another cloud of sour smoke billowed in and out of your lungs, as you passed the blunt to your best friend. He was finally back home. When you were little he’d always force you into two-person dance competitions and freestyle battles, although you were nowhere near a rapper, and dragged you to musical auditions and even the school dance.

He was the only boy who could break you out of your shell, the only one you’d allow to play matchmaker out of all of your friends because he knew you better than anyone. Now your friendship had to thrive off of video calls, text messages, and social media. It had been quite a long time since he came home. But the boy you missed with every inch of your body was back from the place where he went to follow his dreams. He couldn't let his potential go to waste..and you wouldn't let him. It was 2010 when he told you he finally decided to move. You thought he meant downtown LA, not South Korea. Trying to stop him wasn’t an option. When his mind was set it was set. The only regret you had was not following him when he gave you the option. He had plans of conquering the streets of Seoul with his best friend, that best friend being you. He suggested you could transfer to Kyung Hee University while he became a trainee. He even presented you with informational pamphlets and offered to pay half of your plane ticket. His persevering attitude ate away at you for weeks, you couldn’t blame him you’ve gone everywhere together since you were in diapers. Telling him no was the hardest thing you had done. You knew how bad he wanted this for you two, he was so determined to bring you along. But alas the king kard was back in the driver's seat of your old Jeep and at your favorite place. The lack of doors and the cloth top let the warm summer breeze take the smoke away. “What are thinking about Y/N,” Matthew asked you, his voice deep and smooth like a cup of French roast. “Just about how much of a hard working badass you are.” You said, exhaling smoke and passing the blunt. “This could be us but you’re playing.” He sang in response, using your hand as a microphone before grabbing the blunt. “Matthew you know why I didn't go with you.” The now red sun graced your face and you took your phone out to try to capture the moment. “Because this was something I had to do for myself and you needed to find your way here.” He mocked you using his fingers as quotation marks, the blunt still dangling in his right hand. “Don’t mock me, Kim, I happen to be extremely happy managing LACMA.” “Y/N you shouldn’t be managing it your art should be in it, but whatever makes you happy makes me happy kid.” The fond smile that split his cheeks made you follow behind him. His smiles could instantly make you happy, you loved that about him. It reminded you of the smile he had when he told you he was finally going to ask out the girl from his dance studio and how you went back to your aunt’s house later that day and cried for hours because you finally worked up the courage to tell him how you felt and now he’s fawning over some other girl. Luckily you weren’t still in love with him... well you didn’t think you were. Honesty- Pink Sweat$

“Matthew, what's your biggest fear?” “Not trying hard enough and you know… the dark. What about you?” “Loving someone and they don't reciprocate it.” You attempted to answer him nonchalantly while lighting another blunt. The taste of weed and blueberry from the cigarillo wrapper danced in your lungs before you exhaled. “There are so many people that love you. I mean what’s there not to love? Relationship wise just be patient.” Damn, you could say the same thing about him especially the ‘what’s there not to love part’ what did he mean by that? The familiar flutter in your stomach that you learned to ignore resurfaced. Everything you noticed about the way he’d grown just added more things to your list. The more you added the deeper you fell. “You’re not scared of falling too deep and the person you love doesn’t… it’s just I don’t even know it's scary.”

It’s quiet, you could tell what you had just said changed the atmosphere. With the two of you staring at the freshly changed night sky above you. The last time you were alone here together, Matthew was telling you goodbye as you cried into his chest. If he had known that you were crying because you were afraid to lose him, that you regret not saying something instead of crying just because you'll miss him things would probably be much different now. This shift didn’t necessarily feel bad your feelings definitely resurfaced. Maybe you’d tell him tonight. Matthew’s hand lazily landed on your knee as he studied the sky as if the answer was written in the stars.

“Thinking about it too much is all wrong, love happens on its own time.” You couldn’t tell if it was hopeful thinking or if you were making a mistake bringing this up. Maybe your high was making you blind right now, or there really was no doubt in your mind that you were going to tell him tonight. You reached for his hand, gripping it tight in your small one, hoping he wouldn’t pull away. You took your eyes off the sky and looked down to where you two are connected. Out the corner of your eye, you saw a smile dancing at his lips. Now’s the time, this is the time to finally tell him. One step towards Matthew, or maybe one away from your best friend. “Do you remember Alessandra from the dance studio?” You asked him, shattering the silence. “Yeah that girl was crazy I was so far gone for that girl I didn't even notice.” “I remember when you told me you were going to ask her out. You were so excited.” You threw the roach out of the jeep into the red gravel beneath the car. “You should’ve stopped my blind ass.” Little did he know. “You right… I should have.” Your eyes were now focused on scenery. You and Matthew ’s place was a cliff overlooking the city.

“Believe me I wanted to.” You mumbled the last part under your breath hoping he wouldn’t hear you. You tried to play it off by grabbing his Crooks and Castles hoodie from the back seat, putting it on and placing your hand back where it was. “What do you mean Y/N? You keeping secrets?” He asked you, never letting anything go unnoticed. He flipped his hand and interlocked your fingers with his. “After you told me about her I drove back to my aunt’s house and cried for hours because she finally convinced me to tell you I liked you. Shit, I still do... honestly I never stopped. I’m sorry if me saying this makes you feel weird, I’m sorry if I’m fucking us up but I just can’t keep ignoring the fact that I want more.” You could feel him looking at but you couldn’t quite read his expression without looking at him which was the very thing you didn't want to do. Your already red eyes began to water afraid of what he might say or how he might react. You had a little hope because his hand was still tangled with yours.

Get You- Danial Caesar ft. Kali Uchis “Really?” You closed your eyes to keep yourself from seeing his reaction, your first tear falling down your cheek. “I mean, yeah, I’ve dated a few guys but they never made me feel the way you do. And that’s coming from you just treating me as your best friend and I tried to ignore it so I wouldn’t mess us up but I just can’t anymore.” You threw your head back in distress, you now had a steady flow of tears. “Hey hey hey look at me. You’re fine it’s just me.” He said, and trying to calm you he pulled your hand up to his mouth and pushed gentle kisses into the back of it. “I know I’m just scared. I’ve been scared.” “Is that why you brought the fear thing up because you were afraid I wouldn’t love you back?” “Do you know how terrifying it is to be in love with your best friend? Fear has consumed me ever since you left. I didn’t want to lose you. I was afraid that you’d go over there fall in love with an idol and I’d have to show up to your wedding like I was fine. But I settled for friendship because I knew it was better to have that than nothing at all. But now I’m here looking like an idiot and confessing my love like a fucking Nicholas Sparks movie.” You wiped your face with the sleeve of his hoodie. “C’mere.” He replied, hopping out of the jeep and walking to the front, before sitting on the bumper. You followed him, standing sheepishly in front of him, his tall figure making you feel small. He pulled you in between his legs by the pockets of your hoodie and enveloped you in a hug. “Don’t ever worry about losing me.” He put his index finger under your chin so that you had to look up at him. “I’ve been about you and I always will be.” The sincerity in his voice comforted you. You finally looked in his eyes you could tell he was serious and it wasn’t his intoxication talking. His eyes flickered between your glossy eyes and your lips, his own hovering above yours. You felt the hesitation between the two of you, unable to read his next move. Your mind shifted to the butterflies you felt moving around unforgivably fast. You looked away unable to bear the intensity of this moment before he pulled you back into him by the hoodie strings. He bent down so his lips met yours. He kissed you slowly and passionately. The new feeling turned the butterflies into comforting electric shocks. He let go of the hoodie strings and pushed you by the small of your back bringing you further into his embrace, deepening the kiss. His phone vibrated against your leg interrupting your kiss.

“Ignore it” he moaned into your mouth. “No Matt answer it, it might be important.” You protested, pulling away from him. He yanked his phone out the pocket of his shorts. “Hey, Kenny what’s up?” “Big Matthewwwwwwwwwwww what’s up boy, what you doing?” “I’m with my girl what’s up?” His girl sounded better when you were the definition. “Kosta and I are throwing a party tonight stop by, we all miss yo cute ass.” “Bet we might swing by.” “Oh hey bring Y/N fine ass too.” Three beeps signaled that Kenny hung up.

“What does he mean,’ bring Y/N fine ass too’? What’s he want to see you for, you’re my fine ass now.” “C’mon let's make our first appearance as King and Queen KARD.” You demonstrate as if your hands were a billboard.

~2 hours later~ Sativa- Jhene Aiko ft. Swae Lee The night sky turned from indigo to black falling deeper into the night as you and Matthew walked from your house to Kosta’s. You could hear the music as you walked closer, the bass from the speakers mimicking the feeling of your heart. What would your friends say? How would they react? How would Kenny react considering the fact that he had a crush on you and every other girl he had made eye contact with? You walked past the wooden gate and into the backyard, a path you had taken throughout high school and college. The smell of weed, vape, and alcohol mixed together to the perfect harmony of the music. “Matthew, my boy you’re back!” Kenny and Kosta brought him into a handshake hug welcoming him back to his old stomping ground.

“Y/N sweetheart long time no see.” Kenny flirted. You offered back a sheepish wave.

“So Matthew where’s your girl? You bring her?” Kosta asked him, playfully nudging Matthew’s shoulder. You could smell Angry Orchard and Smirnoff sours on his breath. Now’s your time.

“That’d be me.” You stepped up and held Matthew’s hand in the air as if he just won a boxing match. “Y/N, baby, What about us?” Kenny whined. Kosta walked away shaking his head at Kenny. “Kenny, honey, there was never an us I've been about this one.” You answered, grabbing Matthew’s arm and holding it as if it was a trophy. “HOW BOUT SOME SHOTS FOR OUR NEW COUPLE!?” A very proud Kosta yelled, appearing with a bottle of Hennessy.

“Man just give me the bottle.” Matthew swooped it up and led you to a less crowded part of the party.

“Thanks for the bottle Kos!” You shouted to your friend over the music as you walked away.

“Three each?” Matthew asked before pouring a shots worth in his mouth. “Three each??? Three can get me drunk, three gets you, buzzed big guy.” You argued before taking down your first one. You kissed your teeth trying to suppress the burning sensation. No chaser, great. You were gonna be drunk as hell.

“Fine, I guess I’ll do five.” With every shot the more the alcohol consumed the both of you. Alcohol had always made you ten times more exaggerated than your normal personality but henny wasn't just alcohol. You stood up and led him to the patch of grass that had been determined as the ‘dance floor’. You began swaying your body to the music, living in the moment. Matthew grabbed your hips and began grinding against you painfully slow. It could’ve just been dancing but the Hennessy in your system made you more sensitive to his touch creating a dense cloud of sexual tension between you. You were relaxed in his hold, knowing that whatever happened you’d be safe with him. This behavior wasn’t anything new he had always danced with you at parties but tonight there was a possibility over a new outcome. Slowly and definitively you danced into him grabbing his neck to support you. In response, he ran his hands up and down your waist, your movements combining together blooming anticipation. Sensuously and almost animalistic you moved against him, matching the movement of his hips. For someone so tall he still fit your body perfectly, as if you were made for each other. You could feel the excitement between you causing the tension to thicken. He rhythmically added pressure to your ass from behind concentrating on you. He lowered himself so he could attack your neck with needy kisses leaving the potent smell of Hennessey. You spun around to meet his lips with yours but before you got the chance he stopped you. He was so close you could see the shadow he cast on your chest. You could hear his heavy breaths in your ear you could feel his heart beating against your shoulder. You danced like this for the next few songs, feeling as if it was just you and him. His hands slide down to rest on the back pockets of your short, his fingers playings with the loose fragments of denim from the distressed rips. He pulled you closer, your body fully flushed against him and you could feel the beginnings of an erection as he pressed against you. The music came to a dramatic stop and a drunken Kenny came over the speaker. “It was great seeing all of your beautiful faces but the cops are out front ya’ll gotta leave.”

Bodies shuffled back through the path and everyone was greeted with flashes of red and blue lights. The now cool wind hit you as you left the backyard.

“I don’t care where you go just get out of here.” A policeman yelled, pointing his flashlight in everyone's faces. You grabbed Matthew’s hand and pulled him towards the sidewalk to escape from the bright lights. Once you were finally away from the crowd of people you two were alone again. He held you tight like a prize he had won at the fair, forbidding you to walk normally. “Who knew today would end like this.” He whispered, his chin relaxed on your head. “I don’t know who you bought weed from but blame them.” You’d been high plenty of times before but it never made you reveal any secrets. “I don’t want this night to end.” He released you from his hold and spun you around so your chest met his. “The one place to go from here is up.” You told him, murmuring against his lips. “You’re gonna have to blame the henny for this.” Your teeth clashed into his, your breaths hot as they washed over your faces. Matthew tugged you into the bushes by your hands, pressing you deep into the foliage. He lay small pecks on your jawline, nipping every so often in between. His hands roamed up your bare legs and you shivered at the feeling. You had just begun to wrap your arms around his neck when a sharp twig stabbed you in the eye. ‘Ow!” You yelled, holding the injury. “What’s wrong? You good?” Matthew asked immediately, cradling your face to inspect the damage. His hands were large and warm and safe. You leaned into his touch, smiling. “Just a dumbass branch. I'm ok.” You looked up at him in reassurance. You put your fingers to his lips and gave a sly wink. “Now kiss me.” You tried to pull him closer but he pulled away with a grimace. “I’m not doing this in a bush Y/N. C’mon.” He yanked you free, keeping you near his side. After a few minutes, you couldn’t hold in your question. “Matthew, where the hell are we going? The buzz was wearing off and you were left feeling irritated and very very horny. He gave your hand a squeeze. “Back to your place. Don’t tell me you’re that trashed where you don’t remember where you live?” He chuckled and you blushed before flipping him off. “Screw you I’m not even drunk.”

L$D- ASAP Rocky “Oh, I plan too.” He tossed a wink your way, effectively silencing you. The walk was thankfully short, as it was apparent the two of you couldn't wait any longer. You were currently trying to unlock your door as Matthew kissed the back of your neck. You scrambled to open the door and almost cried in relief when it did. Matthew took this as a signal to pick you up by the back of your knees. You wrapped your legs around his waist and attached your lips to his, moaning as he sucked on your tongue. You scrunched the fabric of his shirt feeling the material bunch under you. It was getting hot, too hot. You needed to get the stupid hoodie off of you. “I need you.” He moved from your mouth to your ear, licking the shell of it. “You already have me. But let me take care of you first.” You took in a shaky breath, the image turning you on beyond measure. You gyrated your hips, hoping this would get him to move faster. This seemed to do the trick. The two of you fumbled into your room, blind in the dark space. But it didn’t matter. Not when he was touching you like that. You were placed on a hard surface and you heard the crash of several things falling to the floor. You wondered briefly what it was when Matthew weaved his hands through your hair and tugged, baring your neck for his taking. His lips were scorching, sucking welts into your skin which made you squirm. Had it always felt this good before? You knew no one else had ignited something so wild inside of you. Leave it to your best friend to hold the key to your body. “Gonna make you feel so good.” Matthew hummed, the vibrations going straight to your crotch. You gasped, rubbing your thighs together to relieve the tension. A large hand parted them and grasped between them, cradling your heat. “Oh fuck.” “Shit Y/N.” He whispered, rubbing the area at a slow pace. You curled up into his touch, thrashing on the hard surface. “Bed. Now.” You grabbed the front of his pants, smiling when he choked. You were lifted off of the flat object and placed on the bed, the smell of dryer sheets filling your nostrils. You looked up at Matthew, the evening light providing enough illumination for you to see his heaving chest and tousled hair. You sat up, your legs touching his. You placed your hands hesitantly on the bottom edge of his shirt, your heart racing. Matthew nodded, letting you remove his top half. Of course, you had seen him shirtless before, but never in this context. Your mouth went dry at the sight, your fingers twisting nervously over one another. “Hey, hey. It's just me Y/N. Don’t have to be worried.” He leaned down to press a soft kiss to your temple, melting your anxiety. His kisses traveled around the sides of your face and on the sides of your neck, before coming to rest back on your lips. These kisses were slow...but deeper, more sensual. You soon found yourself trapped between Matthew and the mattress, becoming putty in his touches. His hands explored the curve of your waist, ending at the top of your shorts. He gazed at you, licking his lips. “Can I?” “Y-Yeah. Of course.” The scratchy denim was slid down your thighs in a flash, the sudden cool air bringing goosebumps. The textured pads of your best friend’s digits began to rub the underside of your foot, massaging the day's earlier stress away. You groaned, fisting the sheets tightly. “How does that feel?” He kissed each toe of each foot, venturing to your ankles. “So good..” Your eyes had fallen shut and you could focus on nothing but Matthew’s caresses. His touch traveled upward, closer to where you needed him most. You squirmed impatiently. “Gonna take all day big guy?” He paused, looking at you from lidded eyes. “My boys used to fuck with me talking about how fine you were and I never really noticed till I got back and now all this is in front of me and I have it all to myself.” His mouth slid along your outer thigh before stopping at the bottom of your underwear. “And I’m going to make every second of this unforgettable.” He breathed lightly, the air cooling the wetness between your thighs. You twitched at the sensation and huffed, dragging your nails down the sheets. “Matt-” You were cut off by the feeling of your bottom half being exposed completely. He took in a sharp breath. “Damn, Y/N.” He murmured, taking in the naked sight of you. The urge to cover yourself increased tenfold and you moved to do so, but Matthew was quicker. He pinned your arms above your head with one of his hands and shook his head at you. “Don't hide from me. Not when you look this gorgeous.” He ran a finger over your clit lightly and you jerked, not expecting the touch. “You're so sensitive..” He stroked the area again and you bit your lip, stifling a moan. “I'm gonna take good care of you.” He assured, wetting his lips before lowering his head and flicking his tongue out. “Shit.” You hissed, tossing your head to the side. The sensation had your toes curling, and you wondered if you might die right then and there. You thought you would when Matthew took the initiative and buried his face between your thighs, licking and sucking. Your hands freed themselves from his grasp and flew to grab at his hair, your nails digging into his scalp. Matthew winced and you relaxed a little, not wanting to hurt him. He lay on the bed and hooked your legs over his broad shoulders, before continuing to eat you out. You let out a string of moans, marveling at the skills the man below you possessed. You canted your hips into his mouth, the pleasure inside you rising. It had never happened this quickly before. The boys you had messed around with were laughable in the face of the cunnilingus master that was Matthew. Jesus this was what you had been missing. “Matthew, please. Touch me.” Without missing a beat, one of his hands came up to cup your breast under your sweatshirt, massaging the warm skin, as he used his thumb to stimulate your nipple. It sprang up in your bra after a moment and your head started swimming at the override of sensational rapture. You covered your hand over his, before deciding it was time to get rid of the rest of your clothing. You pulled the article over your head, jostling Matthew, who looked up at you in confusion, his chin glistening. “Let me.” He said, helping you with the rest of the clothing item. It thudded to the floor, leaving you in nothing but your bra. You rubbed your arms, the small hairs there rising in response to the cold. Matthew moved to kneel before you, towering over you even in this state. Using his knuckles he brushed the naked flesh of your shoulders and you took in a shaky breath when he kissed that same spot. His lips traveled south, leaving wet trails down to the top of your bra. He nipped at it, staring at you as he did so. Breathing had become much more difficult. “Are you still okay with this Y/N? We can stop if it's too much.” Matthew leaned back to give you space to think things over but you didn’t need it. There was no doubt in your mind that you wanted this. Wanted him. You reached around and unclasped your bra, letting it leave your body. Matthew’s eyes went wide and his mouth hung open at your boldness. You arched your back, giving him a full view of your chest. “Don’t back out on me now.” His mouth was suddenly attached to your nipple, as he sucked and teased. You pulled his head closer to you, closing your eyes and sighing in contentment. Matthew gave attention to the other nipple as well, until you were panting out needy pleas to him. He moved back onto his knees and unbuckled his belt, flinging it somewhere in the darkness. He yanked his jeans down and off, those adding to the pile of scattered clothing. You stared down at his manhood, gaping at the size of it. It seemed he had the same idea as you when it came to underwear that day. “I can see why they call you ‘Big Matthew’ now.” You let out a chuckle, the humor diffusing the sexual tension in the room. Matthew laughed along with you, grabbing his middle as he struggled to breathe. Once he had finished, he kissed the tip of your nose fondly and you lowered your hands to his erection in curiosity. It barely fit in your hand, but you held it as best as could, twisting your wrist experimentally. Matthew twitched, calling out your name in a whine. You smirked at his needy behavior and began to rub his shaft quickly until it was slick and red. Matthew’s head was thrown back, his Adam's apple bulging as he swallowed. After one hard tug, he swiveled his gaze to you, his eyes blown out. “Fuck, Y/N.” He scrambled off the bed and dug into his pant’s pockets, pulling out a packaged square. You raised an eyebrow at this and he shrugged. “Never know when you’ll need it. I’m not about to be a dad anytime soon.” He slid down the condom over himself before using his shoulders to push your body down as he licked the underside of your jaw. You reached up to bury your hands in his hair, opening your legs wider to accommodate him. He reached down to position himself and you took in a sharp breath. “Tell me if it hurts okay?” You gave a nod, bracing yourself. He eased himself inside you and you grit your teeth, feeling the stretch of your walls as they tried to take in the size of him. It hurt just as much as you expected, but that didn’t stop a noise of pain to blow past your lips. Matthew stilled inside you, his breathing deep. “You good?” “Yeah, yeah. Just give me a minute.” Matthew waited until you gave the okay then slowly thrust his hips, holding yours down to give himself more control. These movements soon picked up speed once you became adjusted and the bed squeaked as you two clung to each other. Sweat slicked the sheets and your skins, heated grunts the only sound in the room. Matthew suddenly pulled you up onto his lap, the angle hitting your g-spot. You clung to his shoulders, trying your best to meet his thrusts as he bucked up, cradling your head in the crook of his neck. “I love you Y/N.” He whispered into your ear. “I love you too. Always have.” You claimed his mouth this confession, feeling your inner muscles clench. Matthew reached down to flick your clit, and you screamed, having an orgasm so intense you saw white. You tugged at his scalp, riding out your high as he met his. His hips stuttered before he came, your name falling off his lips like a prayer. He collapsed on the bed, rolling you over so that you were nestled in his arms. Everything you have ever wanted but was always too scared to get was finally yours. His muscular arms felt as familiar as home but better.

Blessed- Daniel Caeser

You spent what felt like an endless night like this. Mexican food from your favorite taco truck around the block, driving to the cliff and watching the sunset, getting high and making brownies, and watching scary movies in the daytime with a pile of blankets because you were both too scared. Trying to avoid the inevitable was easy when you were with him. The feeling of happily ever after shown effortlessly through your smile spreading from ear to ear. Your thoughts were distracted by Matthew shuffling through a pile of clothes like a dog digging in the sand. “Hey Y/N do you know where my one blue dress shirt is I can’t find it.” He looked back at your sprawled out body on the bed. “I hung it up in my closet, what do you need it for I thought you didn’t have plans tonight?” “I need to start getting my clothes together I have to leave next week.” “What?” “I have to leave next week.” “I just don't get it.” You said, your head in the palms of your hands as your head shook in denial. “Don’t act like this you knew I had to leave.” The sound of hangers against the metal closet rang through the room. “You never told me when.” “You knew I couldn't stay forever what did you expect?” He snapped, twisting his body around so he could look you in the face. “I don’t know I’m just hurt… confused.” “I’m sorry if I knew you were going to confess your undying love maybe I would've stayed longer.” “So you regret it? Everything that happened? You regret it?” You rushed and got out of bed, standing in front of the closet. “I never said that. Why do you insist on putting words in my mouth?” “Take your fucking shirt.” You threw his blue dress shirt at in his face. It was the shirt he wore on your first real date. He took you to some fancy Japanese restaurant in downtown LA. You stormed out of the room, body consumed with anger. The plush beige carpet of your hallway pressed against your bare feet as you stomped into the kitchen. While rummaging through random cabinets in an attempt to clearly communicate your anger, you heard a loud slam coming from your bedroom. “Who’s shit are you slamming?” You yelled, walking back into the hallway “Jesus Y/N why do you have to start shit now?” “WHY DO I HAVE TO START SHIT? ME? IM THE ONE STARTING SHIT?!” “That’s what I said.” He said back throwing your cheap plastic laundry on the floor. “I’m not the one who can’t clearly communicate or realize what’s been in your face.” You argued back poking him in the chest with every syllable. “Y/N…. stop.” You continued antagonizing him. “You want me to stop because you regret us right. Or is it beca-” “STOP.” He finally gave in and raised his voice, shocking you when he firmly grasped your upper arms.

“Just fucking stop, I never said any of that shit Y/N.” “You were thinking it.” “You don’t know what I’ve been thinking. Have you even noticed? I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you for days Y/N, but I’m stuck. How do you tell the girl you love, your best friend, that hey I have to go back across the world come with me?” His hold on your arms relaxed.

“I can’t just say it like that.” “You want me to with you?” You looked up into his glossy brown eyes. “Yeah I’ve wanted you to go with me, I’ve wanted you over there with me since I left.” “Matthew I can’t just leave my job.” “You don’t even like it there Y/N they can replace you, you’ll be fine if you leave.” “What about all my stuff I can’t just leave my parents and my house.” “Y/N they’ll be fine they can sell the house and get a condo or something. You don’t need to be afraid of change I got you.” “I can’t stay in the dorm with you B.” “You can stay with Ashley, I can get you a job with Drew, I’ve had this figured out since you told me.” Tears began to roll down your cheek. Your forehead fell into his chest the feeling of instant comfort running through you. “Y/N you’re ok, you’ll be ok I got you.” “I’m so sorry Mathew, I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions, I’m sorry I’m scared of change I can’t help it.” Your confessed sobs interrupting each sentence. “Baby it’s ok just say the word and I’ll make this happen,” Matthew said, consuming you in his embrace.

~One week later~

Moon River- Frank Ocean

The coral and pink sky melted into white clouds. You peered out of the small cabin window as the flight ascended further into the sky. You uprooted the little life you did have and moved to Seoul with the love of your life. The thought caused you to clench your fist because regardless you were still scared. Matthews big hands caressed your balled fist easing your stress.

“Hey babe you're good we got this.” His deep voice soothed you as he delivered a kiss to your temple.

We have now reached cruising altitude, the refreshment cart will be around shortly.

Written by Jo

#kim matthew #bm #big matthew #kard #wild kard #king kard #bm smut #smut #kpop #ride on the wind #k.a.r.d #somin #jeon somin #jiwoo #jung jiwoo #kim taehyung #j.seph #kard smut

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rilojetty · 5 years ago

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a haunted man who can't out run his ghosts

Doe Madeira was the same as she had always been. Short, but loud. Hands on her hips, sunglasses perched atop her head. A girl on a mission, and it occurred to Rilo then and there, seeing her from across the venue, that he’d never really known her as anything other than Preston’s.

Why was she here? That was the real question. That was the child tugging the sleeve of his oversized sweatshirt, nagging him with a query he couldn’t answer.

She was tapping something out on her phone, blowing a pristine bubble with her gum that he could even see from where he was hovering in the wings of the stage. He did this before every single show. It didn’t matter how large or small the crowd was, the sheer fact that anybody would ever be here for him was enough to knock him on his ass.

But, for Doe to be here? Here in Santa Monica, when he knew for all too well of a fact that she was in college on the east coast? Why? What was her motive? Was she alone? Was he here, too?

Of course he wasn’t. Preston Raimi was nothing more than a ghost in his hallway at this point. A glimpse of a past life, a former Rilo that didn’t exist anymore. He wouldn’t dive under his sheets and find him waiting for him, not anymore. Not for a long time.

When he was younger, twenty and high on life, Preston was the harbor lights that he always found his way back to. Warm and comforting, like a much-needed embrace after a long day. Preston was eighteen, a freshman, and somehow he’d gotten it into his brain that he’d lucked out with getting Rilo to look his way. If only he could have realized how backwards he’d had it all.

It occurred to him, then, that he didn’t really know Doe. He knew the Doe from Preston’s stories. He knew the girl who had flashed her tenth grade English teacher so that Preston could slip late into class undetected. He knew her as Preston’s first kiss, first time, first love, really – even if Preston would never say those last few words out loud. And yet, just from looking at her, it was like he’d met her a thousand times before, a thousand lifetimes ago. Instead, he’d only met her once, right near the end of his and Preston’s romantic residency.

She’d surprised him with a visit, and Rilo was convinced in that moment that he could have been blind as shit and still been able to detect the magnetism that existed between the two of them. Doe wedged her way between the two of them, staking back her rightful claim as Preston’s person. Suddenly, she was the one adjusting his hair, the one dragging him this way and that way, and Rilo slipped back into the shadows of his apartment just long enough for them to get reacquainted.

It was during that time that he took another look at the offers he’d been getting in from record labels. Somewhere between Doe prattling onto Preston about how he had to transfer schools to save her before she dropped out and Preston shuffling awkwardly on his feet as his hand found its way to the small of her back when he didn’t catch Rilo looking his way, Rilo accepted the offer to record a demo with an indie label in Los Angeles.

After that, he and Preston were becoming two ships passing in the night rather than anything else. He could see the expiration date on their relationship even if Preston was trying to put a sticker over it. He saw the NYU tabs open on Preston’s phone before Preston could swipe away from them, Preston could see Rilo slipping away from them, spending more time in the studio and less time in the cramped twin-sized bed that was more comfortable than the queen mattress on Rilo’s apartment floor just because it was Preston’s.

“We’ll keep in touch,” Preston was promising against his mouth as April turned to May, as his room became stripped of his Hoodie Allen posters (yes, seriously) and his headphones and stacks of mixtapes that nobody besides Preston still made – replaced with boxes and boxes and more boxes. “I’ll spend the whole summer making tapes for my rock star boyfriend, writing you love letters and shit. It’ll be disgusting.”

Preston sounded so hopeful and sure of himself, sure of their chances, that Rilo almost believed him. Almost, but not quite.

The last time Rilo Jetty saw Preston Raimi was at LAX. Preston had a beanie of Rilo’s atop his head, damn near chewing a hole into is lip. Rilo wanted to hate Doe, wanted to hate her with every vein in his body, for taking Preston away from him, for being able to sweet talk Preston into a time zone three hours ahead of his own. He couldn’t, though, because it wasn’t her fault. Preston didn’t have to follow her. No. No, it wasn’t Preston’s fault, either. Maybe this was never supposed to be a permanent thing, only temporary. Rilo was a stamp in Preston’s passport and Preston was a chapter in Rilo’s life story. God, he wished he didn’t want him to be the whole book.

Preston’s hands slid up to rest on either side of Rilo’s cheeks, and Rilo reciprocated by hugging him tightly around the waist. “Tell New York to be good to you,” he murmured against Preston’s temple, pressing a kiss there shortly after.

“Tell LA I hate it for getting to have you,” Preston grumbled back, and Rilo could have kissed him a thousand times. Wished he’d taken him out of that airport and to the cocoon of his apartment. They could make it their apartment. He could get Preston signed to the label when he had enough seniority to make that sort of a move. Would’ve, could’ve, should’ve.

Preston slipped into airport security, and Rilo followed him until he lost him as the glass window turned to a wall, until he was out of sight.

His best friend, Darcy, would tell him it was just the latest of many fuck-ups he’d accomplished. Afterwards, she’d pour him a shot – or five – and they’d put on the same shitty Netflix movie they’d watched a thousand times before. Preston sent pictures from the plane, from the airport, from the ride to his new apartment that Rilo knew better than to ask with whom he’d be sharing it.

“You know, people do long distance relationships all the time and survive them,” Darcy pointed out, looking over at the kicked puppy staring down at his phone, brows furrowed. “Like, all the time. There’s, iMessage, and FaceTime, and even that dumbass app that lets you send your heartbeat to another person. Apple is tailor-made for LDRs.” She reached into the bowl of Lays, popping a few into her mouth and not waiting to keep going, her words coming through crunches. “You’ll be fine.” A beat later, and she was continuing. “And also, you’re, like, twenty-one. Calm down. Stop looking at apartments in New York,” she wrangled the phone away from his house, and he realized that she’d been kidding until she actually saw the tabs open on his phone.

A pat on her shoulder, a gentle, “Oh, buddy,” and then she was back to the movie staring ahead of him – sitting on his phone.

Anyway, that had been a long time ago. A whole ‘nother Rilo had lived through that first heartbreak than the Rilo standing backstage, looking at Doe Madeira in the crowd.

She wasn’t alone, he quickly noticed. She was with a tall blonde and a girl with short cropped hair, each of them nursing a glass and Doe peering around the stage like she expected to see somebody looking back at her.

He averted his gaze before she could get to his silhouette, the stage lights dimming a moment later and his guitar finding its rightful place around his shoulders. He was at the freaking El Rey Theatre, for crying out loud. He was celebrating a new album release tonight and doing a “hometown show” as his agent called it. LA wasn’t his hometown. His hometown was a small-town way up fucking north in Washington, where nobody ever visited. But this was the first big venue he’d ever booked, six years ago (six. years. ago.) so “in a way, it’s like going home again!”

Rilo wasn’t sure where home was anymore, but he went on that stage anyway. Eyes sparked with tears as soon as he heard the crowd waiting for him. It happened every time he went on stage, every time he was reminded of the fact that this was his life now. People actually gave a shit about him. People actually wanted to see him, hear him.

Everyone, that is, except the one person he wanted to be there.

He ignored the knot in his stomach, started strumming the chords to the first song that had ever gotten him anywhere. I Want to Write You a Song, the first thing he’d ever written for Preston. It was like, despite everything, he was here on stage with him after all.

✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤

Rilo had stopped doing stage doors a long time ago, once his team had decided it wasn’t really something he could safely get away with anymore, but tonight, he was making an exception. He signed every autograph, posed for every selfie and every boomerang and recorded video messages for moms and brothers and boyfriends. He was out there for well over two hours, he was getting to everyone. If nothing else, it was a good distraction from who’d been in the crowd tonight.

He tried really hard to not think about Preston more than he had to. It didn’t matter if he was the muse for every aching song he’d written in the past few years. Preston was someone he kept buried inside a mental filing cabinet. Preston was just for him. Not for the girl who was still fucking hovering alongside the brick wall, giggling with her friends and stealing glances Rilo’s way.

Why. Was she. Here?

Where was Preston? He could argue with himself that maybe Preston and Doe had fallen out of touch, but he would know just the same that that was absolutely not true – not only because they’d been friends since they were damn near in diapers, but because he’d… maybe looked Preston up on social media when he shouldn’t have. He still saw his life in the fragments that Preston chose to share with the world. He saw him in Union Square, had screen recorded a video of him flawlessly rapping Ice Ice Baby to his followers and another of him and Doe dancing to “It’s Tricky” by Run DMC at their friends’ wedding.

So, why wasn’t he here? Where was he? Did he know Doe was here? Here, in California, at his show… did he know?

He finished up with the last round of fans, telling them to get home safe as they dispersed down the side streets in every which way. He was turning back for the door, and then he heard her.

“Good show tonight, Jetty.”

He paused, hand hanging in the air from where it was reaching to head back inside. He turned to look at her, at Doe. Cute as shit, looking back at him expectantly. If he was a narcissist, he’d assume that she figured he didn’t remember her. But he knew that she knew he did.

And so, he didn’t play dumb, even though he was great at doing just that. “You’re pretty far from New York.”

Her eyebrows raised, impressed. “Long story,” she said dismissively, lifting her shoulders into a shrug. “I mean, I couldn’t miss the Rilo Jetty’s homecoming show.” A beat, and she was continuing. “Not because, like, I couldn’t, but because Tedster over here wouldn’t allow it.”

The tall blonde at her side was blushing, face breaking into a smile when Rilo met her gaze. “Big fan, bigger loser. Hi. Teddy.”

“Rilo,” he responded autonomously, and she gave him the most bewildered face in response. Of course you’re Rilo, he could hear her words bouncing around his mind without her having to say a word.

“We’re not actually in LA for your show,” she spilled out, blushing even under the streetlights. “Our friend’s getting married and taking her to Disneyland seemed like a safer bachelorette party than Vegas.”

“Because I’d never go to Vegas,” the third girl, the one with the short hair, crowed in an unmissable Irish accent, looking at her two friends in disbelief. He realized that she looked familiar, as did Teddy. Maybe they’d shown up in Preston’s Instagram posts – he knew he’d never really spent much time checking through Doe’s pages, only ever if he was too drunk, reflecting on the past too much. “I’m much more content with Chip and Dale than Chippendales.”

Doe scrunched up her nose. “As if anyone goes and watches Chippendales when Thunder from Down Under is right there.”

Rilo felt out of place in the conversation, smiling shyly back at them. “Well, congrats. Chip and Dale are…definitely the better option. You’ve got a point.” Doe rolled her eyes, smirking between the two of them. “You know, Cait, you should probably send him an invite.”

The girl, Cait, apparently, looked at Doe in shock. Her eyes flicked between Doe and Rilo in embarrassment.

“Obviously I wouldn’t send you a wedding invite,” she argued. Her blush went deeper. “Not that you don’t deserve…” she whipped back around to Doe. “Why would I invite Rilo Jetty to my wedding?”

Doe had a glint in her eyes, one of mischief, and her eyes flicked back over to Rilo. “He’s old friends with your groom.”

It pieced together, then. Why she looked familiar. Where he’d seen her. The last time he’d looked on Preston’s page had been a particular weak moment just after his birthday, just after Valentine’s Day. Her hair had been longer, then, and she’d been the focus of a film photo on Preston’s page, laughing at him, weakly holding her hand in front of her face like she didn’t want her picture taken.

He didn’t need to ask who the groom was. He knew.

Maybe he did hate Doe Madeira. Just a little.

#001

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paradisobound · 6 years ago

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2018 Fic Masterlist

I saw everyone else doing these so I thought I’d do one too! So here are all of the fics that I wrote in 2018 (completed or not)

24 Hours With an Angel: Chaptered (indefinite hiatus) - Dan was always doomed for hell, he knew that. So when his time came and he finally was free of his body, he wasn’t shocked to find that he did end up in the same fiery pits that he always imagined. But what he wasn’t expecting was to be on the right hand side of Satan himself...as a counsel member who looks at a list of names of souls all eternity. When one of the names poses an issue, an angel named Phil is sent to retrieve it from hell but there is only one problem: the soul isn’t there either. Now, Dan and Phil must go on an adventure and retrieve the soul in 24 hours but the only problem: Dan was ordered to bring the soul to hell and Phil was ordered to take it to heaven.

12 10 Days of Ficmas

A Royal Wedding: Oneshot - A chance encounter leads to a royal wedding.

As Told by Dan: Oneshot - Dan recounts to his friend Louise what his first time with Phil was like.

A Summer Beside You: Completed Chaptered - Dan Howell, a New York City native, suddenly finds his world turned upside down when he is told that his estranged father is wanting to spend the summer with him. Having not seen his father since he was young, he is reluctant to travel to this small little beach town to see him. Bringing his younger brother along with him, he boards a plane and heads south. Upon arriving, Dan goes to the boardwalk just down the beach and runs into a native by the name of Phil Lester. As Dan starts to spend more and more time with the native rich kid in town, he finds himself slowly falling in love. Through trips to the boardwalk and even just simple walks down the beach, Dan realizes that he doesn’t want to leave this town behind. But as the date of his departure edges closer and closer, he finds that his grasp on this small town and his love for Phil strengthen, leaving him to make the ultimate decision: Do I go back to NYC or do I stay here with my dad and Phil?

Birthday Misfortunes: Oneshot - It’s Phil’s 32nd birthday and he accidentally takes Viagra

Convergence: Chaptered (In Progress) - Daniel Howell had a one night stand in London when he was only eighteen years old. It was supposed to be a visit to London but instead, it led him into the bed of Phil Lester: Flat 311 to be exact. Now, three years later, Dan decides to seek out Phil in London but he's not alone...he has a three year old son.

Down by the River: Chaptered (Indefinite Hiatus) - Dan Howell was isolated from the world. Living in a small town, the population only 750 and being in a high school where everyone knew your name and your history, Dan hated it. He wanted out. Nothing is going where he wants to in life. That is until he meets Phil Lester by random chance at a grocery store and Phil begins to show him all of the happiness that life can actually bring.

Flashes of Innocence: Oneshot - Phil Lester was an aspiring photographer, trying to fine tune his skills in a black and white photography class. Cue Daniel Howell, the attractive male that walks in one day and captures Phil’s eyes. But Dan has a small secret, he needs help. He runs a Tumblr blog and he needs someone to shoot his photos for him. But there’s a catch that Phil doesn’t know right away. Dan runs a NSFW porn blog and he’s asking Phil to help him recreate authentic photos.

In Front of the Lights, Behind the Camera: Chaptered (In Progress) - When Dan Howell became a model as a teenager, he expected that his face would be used for clothing launches and runways. But suddenly, his once pristine appearance changes and he’s left with nowhere to go in the modeling industry. One night, he finds an application for something different–completely absurd really–and decides to take a shot. Not long after, he becomes well known adult film star James Colin and finds himself in front of the similar lights of those of a modeling shoot. But then he meets Phil Lester, who appears to be an arrogant cameraman with nothing better to do than snap at him. And slowly, Dan sees something that he wants a little bit more than the fame, money, and the attention.

Like a Bunny: Oneshot - Halloween is only a few days away and Dan is desperate for a Halloween Costume.

Light in the Dark: Completed Chaptered - Phil is the RA (Resident Advisor) for his local college where he manages the residents on the floor of his dorm building. But his junior year in college is about to take a turn when one of his residents, who’s named Dan, is blind. Soon, Phil develops a friendship with Dan as he soon discovers that they were meant for much more than just a platonic relationship. He just hopes that his Alpha abilities won’t scare away the timid Omega.

Scared to Be Lonely: Oneshot- Phil begins school at a new high school to avoid his past, however, he doesn’t intend for how much his life is going to change. He meets Dan, the one he’s first warned about, and develops a quick attraction for him. But when things begin to look up for Phil, someone else comes in and breaks the norm.

The Perfect Gift: Oneshot - Phil Lester didn't particularly like Secret Santa that his maths teacher did every year. He normally received just simple gifts and was always underwhelmed. But this year, his Secret Santa gives him the perfect gift and he's determined to find out who this person is. It also helps that his Secret Santa has a crush on him too.

Painted Flowers: Oneshot- Flowers come in many shapes and sizes. Colors and types. But to Dan, they mean so much. From the young age of five, flowers begin to show up on his skin, and slowly as he ages, every Valentine’s Day, another flower paints over his flesh. They continue to grow into a beautiful garden until one day he meets Phil. And like the tale tells, once you meet your soulmate, a flower will no longer bloom on your skin every Valentine’s Day.

Pink or Blue?: Oneshot - Dan and Phil have a gender reveal party!

Wonders Never Cease: Oneshot - Dan and Phil were one of the 'it' couples at their high school until one day, Phil blindsides Dan with a break up. Hurting and seeking comfort, Dan befriends Tyler who helps him get through the first tough few months of the break up, mending his shattered heart. But Dan doesn't want to move on. He wants to be with Phil and maybe, just maybe, in the end, he'll still get to be.

#phanfic #phanfiction #fluff #smut #angst #masterlist #princesslexi763fics

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dreamwritesimagines · 3 years ago

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so, am i supposed to be studying for a psychology exam tomorrow….? yes. do i feel like it? absolutely not. so i will compromise and study for one theme, then read a chapter of once a year. chapter 6 let’s go!!!

right off the bat, smiling ben barnes. i already feel blessed! he has such a blinding smile, and the way his eyes crinkle when he’s smiling bright??? cute stuff

skittles is so repulsed by the mere thought of having to invest time and energy into planing a wedding and it is so funny. i just imagine her, slack-jawed scrolling down an endless document, with equal parts disgust and horror, getting more and more concerned. the imagery is *chef’s kiss*

her first reaction to her fiancé coming home is literally ‘i don’t care if it’s 11 in the morning, i’m getting shitfaced’ and honey if that doesn’t tell you all you need to know about who you should be spending the rest of your life with…..

skittles 🤝 me

being in awe of frank’s taste for women. that’s all. i love you karen.

‘i’m not trying to replace anybody’ oh my heart, she’s lovely. an angel amongst us mortals.

karen literally clocking everyone on their bullshit is that one friend we all need. the points at the ring and goes ‘so you’re literally engaged and you think only about your childhood best friend, who also has a girlfriend? not tryna tell you anything about yourself but kinda. open your eyes you blind bitch’

‘you should see us together, there’s nothing there’ BABES, SKITTLES DARLING, you’re so full of shit. you were literally ready to lick him up and down when he took off his shirt. stop lying to yourself.

skittles comparing her and billy’s relationship as annoying siblings and karen being like ‘you’re in love and lack communication skills, you imbecile. do you ever see siblings sabotaging eachother’s weddings???? no, i don’t think so’

the skittles story again omg, my heart is so full

mr. lewis’s little condescending and patronizing ass can rot in hell 🥰

HOLLY YOU MOTHERFUCKER 🤬 LEAVE SKITTLES ALONE YOU FUCKING SLUG FACED BITCH

‘i just threatened to disembowel someone’ you should’ve threatened to do much worse if you want my opinion but to each their own

‘i thought i’d meet you earlier, back there’ krista, you asshole, you’ll want to exile yourself to the other end of the world because skittles is gonna want to pull out every bone in your body to then whack you with them. just fyi.

skittles is ready to go to war, and she knows how to play. krista, you can’t compete with someone who has known billy for more than 10 years, not that you could either if you’d have known him for that long

many emotions make good distractions from school work hehe! love ya!

Omg honeeey, make sure to study though! ❤😂 I refuse to be like a bad influence or something😂

Skittles was so ready to just go to Las Vegas and Carter probably said no 😂

LOLLLL FRANK'S TASTE IN WOMEN 😂❤ Exactlyyy! Skittles is like "How does he even...?" 😂

Karen knew they were in love even before she spent time with them together 😂

She's so in ✨denial✨

Lolll she's new to threatening people after all 😂

"skittles is gonna want to pull out every bone in your body to then whack you with them" This is hilarious omg I'm dying😂😂

Skittles will have nooo mercy 😈😈😈

You're amazing honeeeey, thank you so much I LOVE THIS! ❤❤❤

1 note · View note

peanutbutterjelly-pie · 7 years ago

Text

Part 2/3 of my Masterlist, a compilation of AU stories - with special mentions of “High School”, “College”, “Coffee Shop”,etc.!!

Also watch out for the other two parts:

Canon!verse/Canon Divergence

Alternate Universe: Supernatural Elements

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE:

A Single Kiss by whelvenwings

>> So did you kiss him?

Cas read Anna’s text message with a sigh, standing next to his bed in his pyjamas, only just woken up. He should never, ever have allowed his sister even the slightest of glimpses into his meagre dating life.

(Words: 4k)

A Different Kind of Fairy Tale by lemonsorbae

The best part about Castiel’s day is going to work among the books.

That is, until the mechanic walks through the door.

(Words: 6k)

A Man May Change by Hekate1308

Sam wishes he didn't hate the person his brother has become. He really does.

(Words: 7k)

All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter by aileenrose

Sam's too busy to pick up Sarah's engagement ring from the jeweler's.

Enter Dean. He minds just a little, and then not at all.

(Words: 8k)

Every Dog Has Its Day by aileenrose

Dean's new to Sioux Falls. In between meeting the mysterious Cas Novak, and helping save a puppy whose name they can't agree on, he thinks this place can become something like home.

(Words: 12k)

After Midnight by Winglesss

"How can you know you don’t like guys if you never tried to sleep with one?"

Dean can't get Sam's words out of his head so he goes and picks up a guy. It doesn't take long before he realizes how extremely lucky he was to find someone like Castiel.

(Words: 13k)

Understanding That Reference by Carrieosity

Castiel loves working in the library, except for the boring parts. When a string of complicated and entertaining questions begin to flow into his email box, courtesy of the "Ask-A-Librarian" reference service, he finds his boredom vanishing and being replaced with an increasing curiosity to learn who's behind them.

(Words: 16k)

So Glad We Made It by Annie D (scaramouche)

At twelve years old, Dean makes a friend, who becomes his best friend, who will eventually become the love of his life.

(Words: 16k)

Only You by cylobaby27

After John's death, Dean moves out to Palo Alto to be closer to Sam, who is studying at Stanford. Despite their proximity, the brothers barely have time to see each other between Sam's studying and Dean's two jobs, leaving Dean feeling tired and lonely. However, when he meets a slightly awkward and completely serious graduate student named Castiel, all of that changes.

(Words: 17k)

Sharing the Rain Dog by almaasi

When some asshole hits a dog with his car and drives off, the first two people on the scene are Dean and Castiel. Castiel's an FBI agent with a plane to catch, and he doesn't have time to take the dog to the vet. Dean's a musician, and he doesn't have the money. An agreement is reached: Dean goes, Castiel pays, and they'll exchange details and meet again to work things out. But who gets the dog? Sooner or later they're going to realise that having shared custody of one pitbull isn't ideal. She needs one home, not two. One stable, loving home...

(Words: 20k)

Once Upon A Time in a Disney Store by noxsoulmate

When Castiel Novak gets sick and loses his voice for a few days, he comes up with a clever trick to explain his lost voice to the kids in the Disney Store he works at. One little Mary Winchester, however, takes his note too serious and promptly starts a quest for his prince. Will her charming uncle be able to break the curse and be his one true love?

(Words: 23k)

Shut Up (Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is) by kototyph

Dean's done some pretty stupid things, but getting drunk-hitched in Vegas to a colleague he barely knows might just take the cake. His surprise husband, Castiel, is a little weird but likable despite that, and Dean figures they’ll go back to Boston, get a quiet annulment, and go their separate ways. Six weeks later, he’s still married to one of the strangest, most genuine and definitely most dangerously lov-- likable guys he's ever known. Dean doesn't know why or really even how it’s happening, but it’s getting harder and harder to remember that he has divorce papers to file.

(Words: 24k)

Wide Open Spaces by bellacatbee

Dean is supposed to drive Sam across country to his new job but, driving late at night, Dean runs them off the road onto farmland and straight into the side of a barn. Dean is arrested for dangerous driving and sentenced to community service, fixing what he broke at the farm.

At first, Dean just wants to finish and get the hell out of town, but to his surprise he finds himself drawn to Castiel Novak, the farm’s owner.

Castiel is unlike anyone else Dean has ever met. Dean begins to fall for him and for the quiet country life Castiel leads.

(Words: 23k)

Life In Pink by youaresunlight

At just 33 years old, Dean Winchester is one of the most sought-after wedding planners in the city. He’s chased his dream ever since he was a kid and is now on the brink of making partner at his firm. But the wedding that’ll make or break his promotion? Is his best friend Dr. Castiel Novak’s. It’s going to be the event of the season - unlimited budget, no expense spared - and it’s the kind of task that Dean has been waiting for… except he’s hopelessly in love with Cas.

(Words: 25k)

Back the Way You Came by tellthenight

Dean Winchester knows he has a lot going right in his life–good family, friends–but he can’t seem to let go of one nagging regret. He should have left while he had the chance. Instead, he’s stuck in place wishing for someone he’ll never see again.

Cas Novak never thought he’d end up here– back in his mother’s house, taking care of her medical decisions. He planned to take care of everything as quickly as possible and get back home–until he runs into a former classmate who insists that he should go to their 10-year reunion that weekend. Cas refuses the offer until he hears that Dean Winchester will be there.

(Words: 25k)

Cars, Cats & an Idiot by Serisia

Who would’ve thought that helping your brother buy a car could change your whole life? Certainly not Dean Winchester, but that’s exactly what happens, when he accidentally makes the blue-eyed car-salesman run away.

(Words: 26k)

Your Favorite Hello by jupiter_james

Accounts Manager Dean Winchester and CPA Castiel Novak have been working at the same large company for several months, only interacting through office IM. Then a typo on an expense report leads to an unexpected phone call that results in a simmering crush on both ends of the line, despite neither knowing what the other looks like. Office romances typically never work out, especially when one of them has a slightly bad (though undeserved) reputation, and the other has a slightly bad track record with lovers. But their first face-to-face meeting at the company Christmas party makes them both willing to give it a go. Through a whirlwind romance, Dean wonders if they're moving too fast, and Castiel worries that he's opening himself up for another devastating heartbreak. Together, it turns out that sometimes good things do happen.

(Words: 28k)

The Inescapable Dean Winchester by gefhrlich

Castiel has been infatuated with Dean Winchester since he was fifteen years old. And despite the years that pass, he just can’t shake the man. Then again, he isn’t sure he wants to.

(Words: 30k)

Peanut Butter-Pumpkin Wedding Cake by Sparseparsley

Dean is a waiter in a strip club to put his kid brother through school. Castiel is dragged to the club as a part of his sister Anna's bachelorette party. Dean and Cas hit it off, but Dean thinks Cas is the one marrying Anna.

(Words: 31k)

Freebies and Oak Trees by violue

It’s just a joke. Dean adding Castiel Novak to his “Celebrity Freebie” list is just a joke. Dean has a girlfriend, and besides, it’s not like he’s ever going to meet Castiel, let alone sleep with him. Right?

(Words: 32k)

First Gentleman Wanted by youaresunlight

President of the United States Castiel Novak is popular, charismatic, and knee-deep in campaigning for a second term. He’d be the ideal candidate if it weren’t for the fact that he hasn’t dated once while in political office. With his opponent’s relentless PR team calling him incapable of emotional commitment, Castiel’s staff decides to remedy the situation by finding their boss a fake, picture-perfect boyfriend. And when Dean Winchester enters the scene, he and Cas become America’s new favorite couple, except they’ve got a whole lot of history between them and complicated feelings to resolve.

(Words: 32k)

Prosopagnosia by misseditallagain

“I could turn around right now and I wouldn’t be able to spot you out of a lineup. There is nothing remarkable about you I could identify and say: there, that is Dean.”

“So you mean I’m not just another pretty face?”

(Words: 33k)

Boys Will Be Boys by im_an_idjit

Since the age of ten, Dean Winchester has been the bane of Castiel's existence.

(Words: 37k)

Just for the Holidays by Fallen_Angel_Meg

After going through some tough times, Jess, Castiel's best friend, decides the best thing for him to do is to get away for Christmas. She secretly signs up their shared house on a home exchange website and it doesn't take long for them to get some interest. Castiel ends up trading houses with Sam Winchester, despite his hesitations to do so. So now Castiel has to spend his Christmas alone in Lawrence, Kansas. Which isn't so bad because Castiel is looking for some alone time right now, not wanting to get romantically involved with anyone. That is, until he meets Dean Winchester and things get complicated.

(Words: 42k)

Run Boy Run by DarcyDelaney

Cas likes to run. He likes that it’s something he can do alone whenever he wants, something to clear his head and decrease his anxiety. All that changes when his sister, Anna, volunteers him to be a guide for a blind runner who wants to participate in the Boston Marathon. Cas is completely, totally, 100% against this at first, but once he meets said runner, the snarky and (if Cas is being honest) ridiculously attractive Dean Winchester, he starts to have a change of heart. Maybe running with a partner won’t be so bad after all.

(Words: 42k)

Return to Sender by aileenrose

"He's going to let Cas do this thing for him--he's going to let Cas make him so fucking happy." In the first year after Dean loses his brother, Jess comes up with an idea. She wants to meet Cas Novak, the man who has Sam Winchester's heart in his chest.

(Words: 47k)

The Complete Works of Emmanuel Allen by violue

Dean Winchester, reluctant business owner, reluctant home owner, and reluctant cat owner, is striking up a very promising friendship with the author of his favorite book series.

And he has no idea.

(Words: 56k)

Strangers on a Bus by Terene

Castiel is flummoxed. This is a social situation he is not equipped to handle. What is the protocol when the stranger sitting next to you on a bus, whom you incidentally find very attractive, falls asleep with his head on your shoulder?

(Words: 60k)

Twenty First Century Blues by thepinupchemist

When John Winchester dies, Dean and Sam pack up their lives in Lawrence and make a new home in Sioux Falls. Despite a rough start, both brothers find love in unexpected places, and for once it feels like life might be going right for the Winchesters.

Then one of Sam's classmates turns up dead, and everything falls to pieces. The people of Sioux Falls start to suspect the new arrivals -- and as more bodies turn up, the suspicion only grows.

(Words: 62k)

Accidental First Date by Powerfulweak

Dean's date cancels on him at the last minute. Luckily, the stranger in the waiting area is willing to share a table with him.

(Words: 65k)

Forget-Me-Not Blues by noangelsinthegarrison

Sam and Jess are getting married and Dean couldn’t be any happier for them. Honestly, they’re kind of disgustingly perfect for each other and Dean’s pretty damn excited about staying with them the week before the wedding. He’s Sam’s best man, of course, and he doesn’t even mind that Jess has her own best man to share in all the organisational duties. The more the merrier, right?

Except Dean must have done something to epically piss off the universe because Jess’s best man just happens to be Castiel friggin’ Novak. He’s got even hotter since High School, but apparently no friendlier and if Cas wants to spend the week pretending like they’ve never met before? Fine. Two can play at that game.

(Words: 69k)

You're The Only Stranger I Need by lyndsie_l

When Castiel receives a text from a stranger, he finds himself engaging in conversations daily. He's drawn to the outgoing college student and longs to interact with the other man as often as he can. Slowly, he finds himself falling in love with the other and can't imagine ever meeting a more beautiful person.

The only problem?

He's never actually met this other man.

(Words: 70k)

Angel Cookies by noxsoulmate

“On Christmas Eve, if you eat Angel Cookies right before bed and then dream of your one true love, he will be your destiny.”

The Shurley clan sure believe their old family legend, but not Castiel James – not since he was a pudgy teenager, running down the church aisle on Christmas Day, trying to stop his very handsome and very straight teacher Dean Winchester from marrying someone else. He may be grown-up, well-toned, bestselling Young Adult’s book author “C. S. James” now, but Castiel will never forget that day. And he’ll never fall foolishly in love again, especially not for Dean Winchester.

But when the wish for a big family Christmas from his sick father brings him back home, Castiel has to confront his past. And not only that: a letter from a little fan from his home town is weighing heavy on his conscience. Reaching out to a troubled kid might endanger his secret identity. Adding to the problem is the shock of discovering that Dean is the little girl’s father – unattached and hotter than ever. Dean’s smile still makes Castiel melt, but Castiel knows that ship has sailed. The fact that Dean seems to be on board this time, however, doesn’t make it any easier for him.

(Words: 74k)

Never Not Fantastic by thestoryinsideme

When television star Dean Winchester makes a stop at the Rogue Wave Cafe, owner Castiel Novak initially takes notice - and exception to - the celebrity's presence in the all-but-forgotten beachside town where the age of the average resident is sixty-five.

(Words: 76k)

Should've Just Asked by Annie D (scaramouche)

Despite their age gap and differing social circles, Castiel has struck up a warm friendship with Mary Winchester, a wealthy widowed socialite. When Castiel needs a place to stay, Mary invites him into her house, where there’s loads of spare room. Castiel’s aware that they make an odd pair, but he doesn’t fully realize how things look to outsiders, especially to Mary’s eldest son. All Dean Winchester sees is that his mom has apparently hooked up with a hot young guy (who is totally Dean’s type) and that makes things… weird.

(Words: 78k)

Win A Date With Dean Winchester by FollowingButterflies

When Hollywood actor Dean Winchester gets caught up in a scandal that could threaten his career if exposed by the press his agent draws up a deal with the press. They won't expose the story if they can run a competition offering a date with Dean as the prize. Everything is fine until Dean meets the winner, Anna Milton, and her brother Castiel who Dean can't seem to stop staring at or thinking about despite the fact that Castiel clearly thinks Dean is a talentless moron.

(Words: 80k)

The Unwavering Heart of a Winchester by violue

There’s no point in mincing words. Sam is dead, and without him Dean is a drunken shell of who he used to be. When he finally pulls himself out of a growing pile of whiskey bottles, Dean finds it hard to go back to his life. With one flippant comment from a friend, Dean thinks he might finally have a way to make peace with the loss; Sam was an organ donor, and Dean’s going to find the recipients, talk to them, and see how their lives are better because of his little brother. For the first six stops on his road trip, things go mostly according to plan, and then he meets the man who has Sam’s heart. Dean had hoped he might find peace on this trip… he never expected to find love.

(Words: 87k)

The Way to a Man’s Heart is Through Chlamydia by violue

Dean doesn't expect to see his one night stand again, but then again he also doesn't expect to find out he has an STD. Sometimes life is hilarious like that.

(Words: 89k)

Imperfect Proposals by Fallen_Angel_Meg

Dean Winchester has a dream of being a successful architect- one that may or may not be out of his reach. So when he receives a promising job at Designs of Divinity, a reputable architectural firm, he is beyond happy. It's everything he could ask for. Sure, he may only be the assistant of Castiel Novak, a well known architect and project manager, but he doesn't even care. It's a start. It isn't until he starts working for Castiel that he realizes the guy isn't exactly who he thought he'd be, and his dream job turns into a living hell. Dean decides he's had enough when Castiel denies him time off to attend his brother's wedding. But just when Dean thinks it can't get any worse, he finds out that he's being forced to marry Castiel to keep him from being deported. Fan-friggin'-tastic.

(Words: 111k)

Clean Air by anactoria

Centuries after the surface of the earth was devastated by an unknown disaster, the remnants of humanity live in a series of vast underground silos, each unaware of the existence of the others.

For the inhabitants of Silo 34, the silo is the world, and the only world they know. Questions about the outside world are forbidden, and asking them is what got Dean Winchester's parents killed. He isn't even sure himself that they weren't crazy.

That all changes when he hears a voice on the radio -- a voice from another world.

(Words: 122k)

* * * *

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE: HIGH SCHOOL

Blackboard Painting in the Dead of Night by whelvenwings

Cas thinks that the school's latest idea of getting students to write their thoughts on a huge, public blackboard is... well, black-boring, until someone replies to his angry scribbling. Several bad puns and some Kant quotations later, Cas may finally meet the mysterious messenger who anonymously turned his life upside-down.

(Words: 4k)

Sometimes It Works Out by messtiels

Castiel Novak is your average teenager, with the exception of being casually brilliant. His longtime crush, Dean Winchester, is the attractive, charismatic, and overall popular guy in high school. As unexpected situations arise, Castiel is faced with the challenge of overcoming his self-doubt, and at the same time he is completely clueless.

(Words: 9k)

flour in your hair by cassiewrites

Dean and Cas are paired up for a project in Home Ec in which they have to take care of a "flour baby" for a week.

(Words: 10k)

It's Always the End of the World Somewhere by Annie D (scaramouche)

The status quo is this: Dean is the popular captain of the football team, and Castiel is the off-kilter nobody who doesn't so much as breathe the same air as Dean. Then senior year happens and the status quo is shot to smithereens.

(Words: 21k)

In This Secluded Spot I Respond As I Wouldn't Dare Elsewhere by RhymePhile

It's 1995, and Castiel's high school years are destined to be difficult: home-schooled until eighth grade, he is awkward, shy, and socially inept. The weird kid with the funny name would rather isolate himself and draw in his sketchbook than deal with the constant bullying he faces every day. Things only get worse in his junior year when he excels in home economics class, leading the captain of the baseball team, Alastair, to start taunting him for being gay.

Then new student Dean Winchester arrives at Flour Bluff High School, sharing many of Castiel's classes. Castiel has seen his type before -- handsome, athletic, arrogant, and sure to be the most popular kid in school. But Castiel eventually learns that he and Dean have more in common than he thought, and they form an unlikely friendship.

(Words: 34k)

Count On Me by swoopswoop

Castiel Novak is an unpopular kid at school, his brother’s reputation the only thing keeping him from a regular beating, but not the occasional shove. When one other person in the school helps him out, it inadvertently starts a marathon game of IOU.

(Words: 41k)

Exalted in the scene by zation

John decides that his boys needs some goddamn education and makes them settle down in a small town while he keeps on hunting. Dean is reluctant at first but then he meets school punching bag Castiel Novak and suddenly things are starting to look up.

Or,

The one where Dean tries desperately to save the one damsel in distress who turns out to be more than reluctant at the prospect of being saved.

(Words: 50k)

Look Right Through Me by darkforetold

It’s his senior year in high school and Dean cares about little else than what makes him feel good. When an unexpected tragedy strikes his family, it shatters his world. Heartache tears at him while guilt worms through the wounds—and only a second chance can set him on the road toward healing. As his world reshapes, Dean rediscovers the importance of family, transcends loss and chooses something he never expected to find: love.

(Words: 53k)

Suburban War by squeemonster

Moving to Lawrence with his family is the most significant event of Dean Winchester's life. It brings a stability he's never known, and the only thing to have more of a profound impact on him is Castiel Novak: the two boys become fast friends the day they meet. But as Dean grows older, he dreams for something beyond the monotony and constraints of suburbia, and he is haunted by the inexplicable feeling that he was born for something more than what this life offers. As he struggles to reconcile the person he yearns to be with what his family and friends expect of him, a fateful choice exposes just how fragile his life in the suburbs is, and possibly risks losing the best friend he's ever had.

(Words: 105k)

* * * *

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE: COLLEGE

Perfect Imperfections by youaresunlight

Castiel Novak is a graduate student teaching Intro to Calculus. He’s hard-working and awkward and shy, tends to avoid the gossip among his students, though he can’t help but pay attention when they bring up the assistant coach of the rugby team.

(Words: 3k)

Please Leave a Message by StarlightDragon

During his first semester of college, Dean Winchester slowly falls for a guy he’s never seen and never met, through a series of messages exchanged between the two of them on the whiteboard pinned to Castiel’s dorm room door.

(Words: 12k)

The Graveyard by amarillogrande

“Okay, look. You finish it, then you stick it up on top of the shelves. And then…well, the bottle is there to remind you. Hence the name—“ Dean spreads his arms, indicating the endless rows of glass. “The graveyard.”

Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak are best friends, living together for the past two years and about to graduate in the spring. It might take a visit from Dean's little brother to get them to realize just exactly how they feel about each other.

(Words: 19k)

TutorMate by faeryn

Sam leaves Dean's laptop logged in to some app called "TutorMate" and Dean meets his brother's tutor. Cas helps him with his own work and they strike up a friendship. Before long Dean finds himself growing attached to the cute, clever Cas and flirtatiously suggests they go on a date if he applies himself to his college work. Cas agrees, but Dean discovers his online friend is not quite what he expected.

(Or, in which Dean thinks he's met a cute girl and finds out he's actually met a cute boy.)

(Words: 21k)

Inevitable Homoeroticism in Spanish Romantic Heroes by prosopopeya

Dean is a grad student studying for his MA in Spanish literature, and he’s pretty content with his sexuality as it is -- that is, fairly undefined and also secret. His attraction to Castiel, a professor to the undergrads, doesn't seem like a big deal until it becomes a very big deal, and Dean scrambles to keep his head above water.

(Words: 42k)

Your Call Cannot Be Completed As Dialed by eBob, K_K_TiBal

AU in which Castiel accidentally sends a text message to the wrong number and befriends the person at the other end of the line. However, accidents don’t just happen accidentally, and sometimes two completely different people are exactly what the other needs.

(Words: 65k)

Free to Be You and Me by same_space

Coffee Shop!AU and University!AU rolled into one. Castiel Novak is the introverted English Literature major at the University of Kansas. Dean Winchester is the elusive cool guy who happens to work in Castiel's favourite coffee shop. This is how they meet, and this is how Anna and Crowley play cupid.

(Words: 70k)

All the Way by cadignan, Guu

Castiel spends the first two weeks of college in much the same way he spent the previous years: alone with his books. He’s fine with it—he enrolled in college to learn, after all. Then in his first chemistry lab, he has the bad luck of being paired with snide, good-for-nothing Ruby, and the further misfortune of sitting behind Dean Winchester, the world’s most beautiful distraction. Ruby catches Castiel staring at Dean and makes him an offer.

(Words: 81k)

Hear You Me by through_shadows_falling

Castiel is a college graduate stuck in two dead-end, part-time jobs. Oh, and he's Deaf...which to his oldest brother Michael makes him something to constantly fret over. It's not Castiel's fault that he doesn't know what he wants to do with his life, right? Not like it's Michael's business anyways.

Enter Dean Winchester. A chance encounter with the man has the power to change Castiel's life - and in the end, maybe, just maybe, it will help him finally understand and accept who he is and what he's meant to do.

(Words: 84k)

* * * *

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE: TEACHER

What is Love? by regardinglove

When Dean’s students ask him about what it means to be in love, he gets quite the awakening about his own feelings for a certain blue-eyed teacher.

(Words: 2k)

Chili Peppers by justanothersong

Dr. Winchester hears an off hand comment from one of his students and find himself browsing a website dedicated to rating university professors. He's not surprised by his rating -- but is a little miffed to see the department chair has an even better one. Clearly, something needs to be done about this.

(Words: 13k)

Before I Can Breathe Easy by ShastaFirecracker

Castiel Novak, anthropology professor and recent divorcee; a half-drunk hookup with the bartender from his brother's bachelor party; cue the morning after, with full attendant nudity, awkwardness, walking into doors, and running into one of his students at the worst possible time.

(Words: 14k)

Learning Curve by mtothedestiel

Dean is a pre-school teacher and Castiel Novak is his new student's intriguing guardian. They both know the sacrifices that come with caring for others, but, over time, they learn what it means to want something for themselves.

(Words: 38k)

Try-Something Tuesday by almaasi

Human AU. Dean Winchester teaches a third-grade class. He's new to this whole ‘bisexual’ thing - but by pure happenstance, he meets Castiel: a particularly dapper male librarian who moonlights as a substitute teacher. Dean's curious and Castiel is willing, so why the hell not?

Except, fate never intended it to be one-time-only...

(Words: 48k)

Easy Now, With My Heart by casfallsinlove

Dean Winchester is a kindergarten teacher. Castiel Milton is a writer slash works-in-a-coffee-shop. He also happens to be the extremely hot one-night stand that Dean never intended to see again other than in his own fantasies (he’s classy like that). But suddenly Cas is everywhere and Dean is convinced that Fate is out to get him. And maybe they do this thing backwards, but that doesn’t have to mean they can’t make it in the end, right?

(Words: 50k)

Crossroads State by Mercy

Castiel has a nice predictable structured life teaching high school, even if he happens to be overqualified for it. Then this guy moves in around the corner and literally knocks him on his ass.

(Words: 51k)

Like Real People by charvelle

Dean Winchester is a respected literature teacher at Lawrence's best private school, yet he feels like he's still a complete and utter travesty of a human being. Months after his father's death, he's yet to come to terms with the negative impact John Winchester had on his life. Though he's determined never to admit it, the only thing Dean's ever wanted was an Apple Pie Life: it's something that's been dangled in front of his face, though he's certain he could never deserve it.

While Dean struggles to come to terms with the isolated, lonely life he's made for himself, a disruption comes in the form of Castiel Novak, Lawrence Private's newest faculty member. Those blue eyes and raspy voice are things Dean can't ignore for long, and when he's forced to stop fighting his affections, Dean finds his lonely life turned upside down.

Is it possible he could deserve an Apple Pie Life after all?

(Words: 135k)

* * * *

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE: DOCTOR/NURSE

Recovery In Room 233 by eshcaine

Sam is in the hospital and a bored fidgety Dean means trouble for the nursing staff. Luckily, Balthazar has something that will keep Dean occupied.....

(Words: 11k)

Nothing to Moan About by Hippivickyx

Doctors Dean and Castiel don't get along, before tragedy forces mostly Castiel to reevaluate.

(Words: 12k)

Chasing Life by zerostumbleine33

Castiel is the perfusionist on call when a young college kid, Sam Winchester, is brought in with Acute Respiratory Distress and needs to be put on an emergent life support machine called ECMO. His brother Dean is there with him every day, and along the way he forms a surprising bond with Castiel.

Afraid of hospital rules and his own self doubts, Castiel keeps their relationship strictly in the friendship area, wary of losing his job as he falls hard for a patient’s family member, that he is pretty sure isn’t into men anyway. Either way, it’s against the rules and he’s not about to break them.

(Words: 18k)

It's Only Love We're Falling In by zeppx

Human AU. Castiel is a nurse. Dean isn’t a very pleasant person. Castiel and Dean don’t get along at first, then, naturally, like in most romantic comedies, things happen. Like unwillingly falling in love.

(Words: 19k)

Dean Goes to the Doctor by thatwriterlady

When Dean wakes up one morning feeling like he swallowed razor blades and his skin is on fire he figures he'd deal with it, but when he coughs up blood he makes the reluctant decision to head in to see his doctor, except his doctor has retired. The new doctor that has taken over his practice is the one and only Castiel Novak, and Dean finds the new doctor more interesting than he wants to, and somehow this doctor gets Dean to come in again. Shortly after meeting the new doctor he gets injured on the job and lands himself in the hospital in need of surgery. The handsome doctor comes to see him and sweet fluffiness ensues.

(Words: 21k)

The City Doctor by palominopup

Dr. Dean Winchester is on his way from LA to New York to start a new practice. He drives through a small town in Kansas and causes a traffic accident. The town sheriff serves him a citation and he has to appear in traffic court. The judge sentences him to six weeks of community service – helping the town’s elderly doctor. Culture shock ensues. Enter, Cas Novak, the town’s large animal vet.

(Words: 36k)

Preacher Comfort by almaasi

Dean Winchester works as a nurse at an after-hours medical clinic. He's a champion at what he does, but for him, professionalism has its pitfalls: good-looking patients make him flustered. Luckily, his fly-by-night infatuation evaporates within minutes, since most patients only swing by once. Castiel (fondly known as Bee Sting Guy around the clinic) is one of those iniquitously handsome fellows – and he keeps coming back. He's also a Catholic priest, 94% asexual, and in need of the tender love that happens to be Dean's speciality.

(Words: 43k)

What I Need by Jacqueline Albright-Beckett (xaandria)

A joking phrase commonly heard between a surgeon and his tech is "Give me what I need, not what I ask for." Dr. Novak and his tech Dean will soon learn the impact this phrase has on life outside the operating room.

(Words: 47k)

Your Very Own Doctor Sexy by words_reign_here

It's an easy and average life for Dean Winchester. He worked hard, helped Sam and Ruby through law school while helping Bobby expand his garage. There isn't much to want until a car crash changes Dean down to the very core of who he thought he was. Working closely with the Novak brothers, all doctors, changes his life in a way he can't account for.

(Words: 51k)

Vital Signs by emmy_award, hubrisandwax

The nurse grinned again and it did something odd to Castiel’s stomach. Too many Lucky Charms, he rationalized. Lucky Charms and pain meds don’t mix.

“I’m Dean. And I’ll be your nurse this evenin’.”

(Words: 67k)

Any Little Heartbreak by followthattardis

Dean Winchester knows everything there is to know about the human heart.

Well.

Anatomically speaking.

(Words: 77k)

Carried Away by charmedcas

Living in New York City, Dean Winchester's life consists of working as a pediatric nurse, leaving little room for free time. His best friend and roommate, Castiel Novak, happens to be a surgical resident at the same hospital that Dean works at. Even though they see a lot of each other, the two of them have learned to coexist with ease.

When the annual fundraising gala becomes the talk of the hospital, it only makes sense for both of them to pretend they're together to kill two birds with one stone. The gossip about them finally stops, and no one tries to set them up with a date for the gala. It's easy enough for Dean and Castiel to act like a couple at first. However, they each end up getting more than they signed up for as the line dividing what's fake and what's real between them blurs.

(Words: 82k)

Lead By Your Beating Heart by FollowingButterflies

After a night of celebrating (heavy drinking) with his brother surgical intern Dean Winchester discovers that his resident, talented Cardio surgeon Castiel Novak, is...well a huge douche bag...kind of hot but still a huge douche bag. A douche bag that he's stuck with for the rest of the year, that's if he survives the year without Castiel killing him and making it look like an accident. So why is it that an easy friendship forms between the two men that swiftly becomes something Dean never expected to find when he moved to Chicago.

(Words: 113k)

* * * *

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE: POLICE/FIREFIGHTER

Keep Calm by NuwandaSnicket

When Castiel's cat escapes up a tree, he has no choice but to call the fire department. Unfortunately for him, they send the sexiest fireman they have. Or is it fortunately?

(Words: 3k)

Burning Up for You, Baby by you_idjits

The Kansas City Police Department has always had a friendly rivalry with the Kansas City Fire Department, sure, but Castiel Novak has never been friendly. No, Castiel Novak is The Enemy.

“He has to be stopped,” Dean says, “and I have to be the one to do it.”

Or, the one where Dean is a policeman and Cas is a firefighter, and they get into a dangerous prank war.

(Words: 5k)

Follow You by youaresunlight

Detectives Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak are assigned to a stakeout that’ll confine them to a hotel room for ninety-six hours. And as if it isn’t hard enough being cooped up together that long, Dean has to be head over heels for Cas and can’t stop thinking about kissing him.

(Words: 5k)

Muted Angels by geckoholic

There's nothing worse than a case involving dead kids, at least in the book of Detective Dean Winchester. It's just his luck that his partner is the lieutenant's favorite, and she chooses to give them the high-profile murder case of a dead girl from the suburbs. More deaths follow, and the two of them get sucked into the world of religious cults and ritualistic murders. In the face of that, Dean's feelings for aforementioned partner are the least of his problems.

(Words: 14k)

Secondhand Angel by cylobaby27

Castiel Novak owns a small used bookstore in Lawrence, Kansas. He is content with the peace and quiet of his current life, and can't imagine allowing anything to change that. Then Dean Winchester enters his shop.

(Words: 24k)

At First Sight by MayaAodhan

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Blinded in the line of duty as a decorated police officer, Castiel Novak now teaches classes at Washington State University as an Associate Professor.

Detective Dean Winchester comes to find Castiel to tell him that a violent criminal he once arrested is now getting out on parole. Instantly attracted to Castiel, Dean finds himself in a difficult position when he must protect the very man he is falling in love with.

(Words: 24k)

Bratishka: Little Brother by Valinde (Valyria)

Dean thinks he knows pretty much everything there is to know about his best friend Castiel Novak - he's a smart, gorgeous DA who probably lets Dean get away with more than he should to see the bad guy locked up - but it turns out Cas is hiding some dark family secrets.

(Words: 33k)

Show Me Your Badge, And I'll Show You My Gun by avidffreader

Dean had become an officer at Lawrence KS Police Department, with kid brother Sam as a lawyer at the federal level. The motto on criminals was simple: Dean takes them out, Sam puts them away.

Not even the addition of a socially awkward blue-eyed evidence technician puts a dent in Dean's system. It all works fine and dandy, until the Morning Star Corporation starts trouble.

(Words: 60k)

* * * *

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE: KIDS

When Life Takes An Unexpected Turn by thatwriterlady

Dean is a single dad to three year old Ava and it's them against the world. Dean hasn't had much success in relationships as people aren't thrilled by the fact that he has a child. When he enrolls Ava in a toddler ballet class at the suggestion of Charlie he finds someone that just might be answers to his prayers.

(Words: 14k)

To Find a Family by linasane

When Dean's little brother gets taken away, he's expecting the fight that ensues. He's expecting the stress that comes from separation, expecting to do all he can to get Sammy back from whatever awful foster family he's been placed with. He's not expecting Castiel Novak.

(Castiel, in turn, isn't expecting his first foster child - five years old and angry - to be the one that leads him to the family he's always wanted, but life has a funny way of working itself out).

(Words: 26k)

In Three Days: A Memoir by Castiel Shurley by glassclosetcastiel

Family and parenting advice writer Castiel Shurley is on the verge of syndication with his weekly column, Fix My Family. The problem? His husband is dead and he can barely handle their three daughters alone.

When the four take a trip to Castiel’s childhood home in Rhode Island to spend a long weekend with the entire Shurley family, Castiel meets an intriguing, incredible man who could change everything. But when Castiel finds out who Dean really is, the family drama just gets worse.

The only way to overcome will be for Castiel to own up to his mistakes and take his own advice- listen to his daughters- and admit that maybe it is possible to fall in love in just three days.

(Words: 33k)

Daddy Needs a Date by caswinchesterbaby

Castiel Novak loves his daughter, Grace, with all his heart. When their dark past threatens to catch up with them, the pair is forced to make an escape from Boston and move to rural Lawrence, Kansas. Grace is enrolled in Mr. Dean Winchester’s second grade class, and things go smoothly. But are there surprises ahead of them? Can Cas keep his small family together? He sure hopes so.

(Words: 85k)

Say Something by JhanaMay

No matter how difficult he can be, Dean loves his son. Raising him alone after his mother died hasn't been easy, but with the support of his family and friends, Dean has made it work. Now that Ben is starting kindergarten, Dean hopes that he can finally relax a little, but the challenges Ben faces at school make Dean realize that their struggles are just beginning. When Ben is assigned a new support teacher, Dean finds that Ben isn't the only Winchester who has a problem dealing with change.

(Words: 250k)

* * * *

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE: COFFEE SHOP/BAKERY

Afternoon Delights by snarkymonkey

Castiel has just moved to Lawrence, Kansas and the nearby café has the strangest sign out front.

(Words: 2k)

Benny Doesn't Partake In Audience Participation by Niitza

In which Benny owns a coffee shop and has a pie addict as well as a weirdo in a trench-coat among his regulars.

(Words: 2k)

Coffee & Donuts by betts

“It’s not competition, Sam. That place sells overpriced coffee and tea, and calls it something fancy to justify the price. And they probably serve shitty, gluten-free, vegan-happy pastries that taste like sod, too. We sell doughnuts. That’s all there is to it.”

But that wasn’t all there was to it.

***

Wherein Dean and Sam Winchester inherit their father's donut shop, some tattooed hipster named Cas opens up a coffee joint across the street, and chaos ensues in the form of too many pastry-related puns.

(Words: 10k)

I Like You (Like Me) by Carmexgirl

Dean’s the owner of his own pretty successful coffee shop, and he’s absolutely, totally not in love with the hot accountant guy who comes in every day. He’s way out of his league. Isn’t he?

(Words: 11k)

Sweet Tooth by DarcyDelaney

Dean had just expected to tag along to Sam and Jess’ cake tasting for their wedding and get free food. That’s it. The last thing that he’d been prepared for was to meet a ridiculously attractive blue-eyed baker with messy hair and rusty people skills who he’d almost immediately start falling for, but sometimes those things just happen.

(Words: 14k)

Pie in the Sky by PrinceMalice

Pie is more than something sweet. Pie is home.

(Words: 14k)

Cooking with Gas by WinJennster

Castiel Novak has it all. He's rich, famous, has a top rated cooking show and restaurant, drives an expensive car and wears Armani.

His producer throws a contest to spend a day with Chef Novak, cooking and learning techniques. Castiel wants no part of it, but Balthazar insists and Castiel will do as expected.

What Castiel wasn't expecting was to fall head over heels for the winner.

Dean Winchester hasn't had a successful relationship in his 34 years on Earth. He's got a past he'd like to keep hidden, and his life rotates around his family and his business.

Winning a contest to spend a day with his favorite TV chef is a shock, but a welcome diversion from his day to day life...until he meets the guy, and he turns out to be a big jerk. Dean figures he should have expected that.

What he wasn't expecting was that same gorgeous blue-eyed man to sweep in and shake up his entire world.

(Words: 89k)

A Little Slice Of Heaven by onamelancholyhill

Jim Morrison once said, “The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are.” That was Castiel Novak’s motto in life, and the reason why he accepted his grandmother's inheritance and took the responsibility it implied.

Dean Winchester, a remarkable accountant at Sandover Bridge & Iron Inc., however, had other priorities. He lived to serve, hidden in a mask that didn’t allow him to be honest with himself, but lonesome and boring.

When destiny made their paths cross, in a less than promising way, with Dean as the instigator and Castiel as his victim, Dean’s mind started wandering, in between pies and cakes, coffees and muffins... What if Mr. Morrison was right?

After all, as the guy used to say, "there can’t be any large-scale revolution, until there’s a personal revolution first."

(Words: 112k)

Kiss the Baker by Ltleflrt

Jo is pregnant and craving something a little bit unusual. When she sends Dean on a mission to find her some chocolate cake donuts with bacon sprinkles, he's sure that he'll fail. Luckily his partner Benny comes to his rescue and introduces him to a quirky little bakery that sells all kinds of weird (and delicious!) baked goods. And they do special orders!

Dean finds excuses to keep going back, and Castiel finds excuses to keep giving him special treats.

(Words: 113k)

#destiel #fic rec #rec list #fanfic #au #alternate universe #high school au #college au #teacher au #doctor au #cop au #kid au #coffee shop au #masterlist #fics underneath the cut

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magnoliasinbloom · 8 years ago

Text

Someone to Stay - AU

Previous Chapters

Chapter 11

“Faster.”

“I can’t.”

“Dammit, Joe!” Claire slammed her fists on the dashboard.

“LJ, there’s a speed limit. Your plane isn’t leaving any earlier than scheduled. Calm down!”

Claire sighed and fumed, curling up in the passenger seat. She drummed her fingers against the window until another murderous look from Joe made her stop with a huff.

As soon as she had realized her mistake, she was on Joe’s phone, dialing Jamie from memory. But it had gone straight to voicemail. Joe had plucked his mobile from Claire’s hands before she could hurl it against the wall too.

He had dialed Jenny’s number instead, and put Claire on immediately.

“Jenny? Oh God, I’m an idiot, I’m so sorry—”

“It doesna matter. It will work out,” Jenny said gently. “Right now, though, I need ye to get on a plane to Edinburgh. I’ve left an open ticket for ye at Gatwick, so please come as soon as ye can. Jamie’s back since yesterday, and he’s a mess.”

“So am I,” Claire gulped.

“He needs ye, Claire. As I’m sure ye need him” Jenny’s voice had gone quiet, and Claire had snapped out of her funk, racing to her room to pack.

“I’m on my way.”

The stupid train was faster than driving, she reminded herself, as it sped across the Scottish countryside.

From Inverness, she called Jenny from her new burner phone to be picked up. Then to Lallybroch. And Jamie.

As the driver Jenny had sent parked in front of the manor house, Claire jumped out, feet pounding on the gravel. Jenny threw open the kitchen door and embraced her fiercely. With a simple, “Go!” Claire bolted up the stairs. Closer.

Heart pounding, Claire knocked on the door to Jamie’s room. She could hear the strumming of his guitar, which didn’t stop, and then his voice called out.

“Jenny, go away.” Dejected, forlorn.

Claire swallowed hard. “It isn’t Jenny. It’s me, Claire.”

The guitar twanged abruptly. Footsteps and a pause.

“Sassenach—”

“May I come in?”

A beat. Two beats.

Claire fully expected him to tell her to go away too. She turned to oblige before he could do so, heart in her mouth, tears stinging.

Then a flurry of activity, trampling sounds, a couple of shits thrown in for good measure. And finally, a click and twist and the door swung open.

His eyes were bright as he looked at her, fingers gripping the door. Claire looked up at him through her eyelashes, unsure of where to begin. But at the beginning seemed best.

“I’m sorry. I believe you. I saw the picture. Joe and Jenny and…” Claire sighed, frustrated with her incoherence. “I looked closer. I noticed the ring. I’m here.”

Without warning, she found herself crushed against Jamie’s chest, and her hands clutching at him equally as tight.

“Claire, mo nighean donn, I’m sorry too. When Murtagh showed me the paper, I flew back to London. I knew it would be a blow, despite the lie.” Jamie brought her into the room and shut the door behind them.

They still hadn’t released each other. Jamie stepped back briefly, brushing Claire’s wild curls away from her face as she shook her head and laughed in relief—sweet sweet relief that flooded through her and wiped away all doubts.

“Tha gaol agam ort?” she whispered, her own hands tangled in his hair.

Jamie smiled. “Always.”

“Thank you Edinburgh!” The answering clamor was deafening.

Claire grinned broadly from the wings, clapping her hands along with the crowd. The venue lights dimmed suddenly to blue. The backdrop of Edinburgh Castle was spectacular, the esplanade packed with fans all the way to the top tiers of the grandstands.

“Thank you, everyone.” Jamie took a seat on a stool and palmed a beautiful Gibson acoustic, with a tortoiseshell inlay that Claire had given him for his birthday. He laid it across his lap and touched the strings slowly. He managed to catch her eye and winked in his usual fashion – more like a nodding blink.

Claire laughed and blew him a kiss, as he turned to the audience and said, “This one is new. It goes out to the love of my life.”

He strummed out the intro chords, and sang.

Falling doesn’t come easy It all takes time To give someone your heart I saw the walls, began to climb

You only wanted someone to stay To be there for you To hold you close and say I won’t let go I promise I’ll be Someone to stay

Jamie rose suddenly as Willie took over with another guitar, keeping the same riff going over and over. Jamie walked purposefully towards Claire, and before she knew it, he had pulled her onstage in front of thousands of people.

“What are you doing?” she hissed, her face flaming crimson.

“Claire.” Her hands, which had been tugging his so she could get away, stilled at his tone. He was still wired to a mic, and her name reverberated over the grounds. She stared into the deep azure, made bluer by the artificial lights.

And then he went down on one knee.

The crowd went wild, but to Claire it sounded as though the roar came from underwater. Her eyes were on his and couldn’t look away. Not even as turned the palm of her hand so he could place the cabochon ruby ring into it.

“Claire… Sassenach… I want to be someone to stay. Will ye let me? Will ye marry me?”

The roiling of her stomach and whirling in her head had her racing for the bathroom in the small hours of the morning. The sounds of her retching and the splash in the toilet bowl had Jamie padding barefoot over to Claire as he held her hair back.

“Sassenach, I’m sorry you’re unwell.” He smoothed a hand across her forehead, which felt clammy and cold.

“Stupid bloody sushi. Let’s never—” Claire’s moans were cut off in a fresh wave of nausea.

“I’m throwing the takeout menu out. Dinna fash.” Jamie helped her up. She rinsed out her mouth and pressed a damp towel to her face.

“I have class today. I can’t make it, though.” Claire stumbled back to the bed, kicking the comforter away in her flushed state. “I’ll text Louise.” She groaned into the pillow, but felt mildly better after expelling the contents of her stomach.

“It isnae catching, love?” Jamie sat beside her and patted her back gently; she curled up on her side and took deep breaths.

“I don’t think so. You go on ahead. I’ll call you later.” The soothing motions of Jamie’s hand on her back had lulled her halfway to sleep again.

“I’ll call you,” he said, leaning in to kiss her forehead. “Rest easy, Sassenach. I love ye.”

“I love you more,” Claire mumbled into the bed.

It was only hours later when she woke up that she realized: she was sick in the mornings. She was sleepy all the time. She did some backwards counting and discovered she was also late.

After almost two years of trying, she needed a pregnancy test.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this congregation, to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony…”

Claire smiled at Jamie, who beamed back as they held hands. They could hear a murmur of approval behind them as their nearest and dearest were gathered behind them in the church pews to witness their union.

“To help, and comfort, that the one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity...”

All the band members were there with their families. Rupert and Geillis were there as a couple too, and all of Jenny and Ian’s bairns. The church was redolent with flowers, and flickering candlelight everywhere.

“With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow.”

Ian Murray stood as best man, and held a black velvet box with their rings in it. For Jamie, a simple white-gold band he could easily play guitar with. For Claire, a silver ring with an intricate Highland pattern of Scottish thistles.

They left the church amidst a shower of rice and a chorus of well-wishers, to a beautiful reception at Lallybroch and a Mediterranean honeymoon.

Claire waited anxiously in their bedroom as she heard the key turn in the lock. She heard Jamie close the door behind him and open the fridge. A clinking of bottles as he found the champagne.

“Sassenach?”

Claire stifled a giggle, but did not answer. She heard his footsteps head in her direction and then stop abruptly.

First, the Gibson guitar with a handwritten note on it that read “1979”. She had set it on the floor between the kitchen and the living room.

She fought the urge to peek. Jamie walked on, his tread easily recognizable. Then it stopped again, right outside their bedroom. Lying there was the stethoscope he had given her after she had passed her medical school finals. Alongside it was another note that read “1981”.

“Oh, God.” Jamie’s voice was muffled behind the door, and Claire couldn’t resist.

“Jamie?”

The door opened and finally, he saw her. Standing in the middle of the room, holding the last of the notes. This one had a purple question mark drawn on it, and “2018” printed beneath it.

“’Tis true?” Jamie’s smile was blinding as he knelt in front of Claire, reaching out to her. His arms went around her legs and his face pressed against her still-flat belly. Her own hands brushed back his hair, and she caught the trickle of a tear sliding down his cheek.

“Are you happy, Jamie?” A knot in her throat made the words come out in a whisper. Jamie raised his head to look up at her. His eyes were radiant, and he placed a kiss on her stomach.

“I’m verra happy, Sassenach.” He smoothed her blouse over the invisible bump reverently. “Och, lad—or lass—” he added, with a smile in his voice, “we canna wait to meet ye. I’m yer Da.” Jamie cleared his throat. “Ye ken yer mam already, I’m sure. She’s a lady of grace, a woman of strength, a doctor and an astonishing beauty. She’s yer mam, Claire Fraser.”

FIN

#outlander #outlander fanfic #outlander au #jamie and claire #someone to stay #thank you all for reading #i hope you enjoyed it #now getting ready for my own wedding :)

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yumiichu-blog · 8 years ago

Note

Sup b tis me ^ω^ and I have noticed you and I want you to answer every question. Enjoy!

oh gosh okay, thank you ;;

this gon be a long post

1.) what’s a song you depict with your childhood?

when i was younger i used to listen to I Would Do Anything for You by Foster the People so that.

2.) did you have a memorable childhood pet?

i was too young to remember her but we used to have a pet German Shepherd called Candy

3.) have you ever been drunk?

i wish.

4.) have you ever tried drugs?

nope

5.) have you ever completely regretted what you’ve said?

almost all the time

6.) have you ever made someone cry?

i hope not but probably.

7.) has someone ever made you cry?

yes. quite a lot of people, a lot of times.

8.) have you ever been in love? if so, describe the moment you knew it.

no i haven’t been in proper love. i’ve had crushes but they were just desperation.

9.) which came first the chicken or the egg?

i reckon the egg

10.) are you part of the lgbtq+ community? do you support them?

i indeed am and of course i do

11.) how many siblings do you have?

12.) have you ever been in love with someone you couldn’t love?

nope.

13.) are you a good cook?

i don’t even know how to cook..

14.) what is your favorite tv show?

i’d say House M.D but Freaks and Geeks i also really like

15.) what is the last movie you cried during?

i have a terrible memory but i think The Danish Girl???? i dunno

16.) what are songs you’ve cried to when you first heard them? (if any)

-How to Build a Girl by The Football Club

-Footscray Station by Camp Cope

17.) do you have a middle name?

nope

18.) have you been out of your country?

nope but i really want to

19.) are you a chocolate fan or not?

i have short periods where i live off chocolate

20.) how many people have you kissed?

21.) what is your favorite album?

currently More Scared Of You Than You Are Of Me by The Smith Street Band

22.) what is your dream car?

ummm probably a Nissan Skyline??? i dunno. i don’t know much about cars and i think the old ones look nice

23.) what is your lucky/favorite number?

it used to be the number 3 but now i don’t have one

24.) what is your favorite flower?

peony

25.) books or movies, why?

movies because i can’t sit and focus on a book. i mean i can’t focus on movies but at least i have something to look at

26.) have you ever been on a blind date?

nope. never been on a date.

27.) has one of your friends ever backstabbed you?

yep. so many “friends” have.

28.) have you ever backstabbed one of your friends?

i really hope not.

29.) what thing do you symbolize love with?

i dunno..

30.) do you have neat handwriting?

heck no, it’s so messy

31.) do you have a friend with benefits?

nope.

32.) do you want a friend with benefits?

never. a relationship like that doesn’t sound all that nice tbh.

33.) if you could be anything in the world, what would you be?

a cat. no responsibility and you’re loved

34.) have you ever been blackout drunk?

no, but sometimes i wish i was.

35.) have you ever met someone famous?

nah

36.) how many concerts have you been to?

none

37.) which concerts have you been to?

still none

38.) do you have a hidden talent?

not that i know of

39.) what do you do when you’re stressed?

cry and watch youtube videos

40.) do you think money can buy love?

no and if it can then that can’t be real love

41.) how old would you date?

the oldest i’d date would be 5 years older than me. no older than that

42.) have you ever done something illegal?

probably

43.) what is your biggest fear?

being alone.

44.) what is an unusual fear you have?

i have a fear of edges. a good example is if i’m in bed i stay away from the edge because, i’m not really sure why, i’m afraid a hand will come up and grab me? and pull me? not sure how it started since i’ve never had that done to me or watched anything with that or similar happen in it

45.) can you drive?

not yet, hopefully next year

46.) do you believe in supernatural creatures?

depends on the creature

47.) do you believe in karma?

nope

48.) what is one quality you need in your partner?

i’m not sure. i sort of just subconsciously look for specific qualities in people

49.) do looks matter?

i’d say that don’t

50.) does size matter?

i don’t reckon it does..

51.) who is the last person you forgave?

my best friend

52.) what is your favorite ice cream flavor?

vanilla, i’m generic and boring .-.

53.) what languages can you speak besides english?

i can partially speak Japanese. i’m still learning so i can’t say a whole lot yet

54.) ever been on a plane?

nope

55.) ever been on a boat?

yes, when i was very very lil

56.) is there anyone you’ve lost touch with that you wish you hadn’t?

nope. everyone i no longer speak to i cut out of my life because they were awful people.

57.) are there any friendships you regret?

OHHHHHHHH YES. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. EXCEPT MY BEST FRIEND. P.S LUV YOU

58.) are there any friendships you wish you could make?

yep but i’m too afraid to reach out to them/ask to be introduced to them..

59.) have you ever stayed awake for 24 (+) hours?

several times. longest i think was 36 hours and i went to school after being awake for 36 hours straight. very sleepy day

60.) have you ever walked outside after 12 am?

nope

61.) have you ever seen a sunrise completely through?

one day i might

62.) are you scared of rollercoasters?

sorta

63.) on a scale of 1-10 how stressed are you usually?

100,000/10

64.) do you have any plans this weekend?

other then sit on my butt, no

65.) do you miss anyone right now?

thankfully no.

66.) who do you wish you were talking to right now?

no one cause i’m already talking to her :3

67.) if you could have any superpower, what would it be?

invisibility cause i like sneaking around

68.) who is your favorite superhero?

deadpool, he a cool guy

69.) are you dirty minded?

*releases massive sigh* yes.......

70.) what is your favorite song from every decade starting at that 80’s?

i don’t have one favourite song but the first song that came to mind was Antmusic by Adam and the Ants

71.) how many kids, if any, do you want?

don’t want kids

72.) who is your biggest OTP?

i can’t remember but i used to have one

73.) what is your favorite food?

lasagna

74.) do you want to be married one day?

yeah. it’d be nice. wedding dresses are so pretty and i’d love to go look and pick one

75.) dogs or cats?

cats, they’re wonderful

76.) do you drink enough water daily?

i should but i don’t

77.) have you ever seen a shooting star?

only the memes

78.) if you had the opportunity to go to the moon, would you?

no that sounds cold and lonely and scary

79.) how many best friends do you have?

one. she’s also my only friend soooo

80.) when was the last time you cried?

yesterday

81.) have you ever laughed so hard you peed yourself?

yep. T_T

82.) have you ever made anyone laugh so hard they peed?

no and it’s staying that way. no peeing pants here

83.) if you could travel any where in the world, where would you go?

Japan and Norway and possibly Canada

84.) what are 3 words you would use to describe yourself?

trash, soft and sad.

85.) do you consider yourself a loyal person?

yeah, i try my best to be loyal

86.) what is your favorite season and why?

winter because i love the cold. i also can’t handle the heat and get frequent heat rashes..

87.) have you ever told anyone you loved them, and didn’t mean it?

never and never will

88.) do you know how to play any instruments?

no. i’m interested in guitar and drums but i don’t think i’ll ever learn either

89.) do like like falling asleep to music or not?

yes. just so long as there is something i can listen to it’s good

90.) what are you allergic to?

penicillin and nurofen. not sure if there is anything else

91.) have you ever wanted to be someone else for a day just so you could see what there life is like?

many a time

92.) if you could be any character from your favorite tv show would you, and if so, who would you be?

no i don’t think i would

93.) if you could be best friends with any celebrity who would it be and why?

Ryan Reynolds, he just seems like a really fun guy to hang around

94.) are you outgoing?

the complete opposite

95.) have you ever wanted to kiss someone, but weren’t brave enough to?

yeah but there was never any chance of me kissing them so it wasn’t because i wasn’t brave enough.

96.) are you a good flirt?

i don’t think so

97.) have you ever been turned down, or have you ever turned anyone down?

yes, 4 times, all last year. and yes, twice, they both stopped talking to me after i said no. :)

98.) which planet is your favorite?

i don’t really know much about planets :

99.) are you superstitious?

nope

100.) are you a good listener?

yeah

101.) are you a good kisser

i wouldn’t know

102.) would you kiss any of your friends?

probably, only if it wouldn’t be weird between us

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bellabooks · 8 years ago

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“Pretty Little Liars” recap S7 Ep20: Til death do us part

Pretty Little Readers, this is it. The last PLL recap I will ever write…until the inevitable reboot in 2032 that follows the adventures of teenage twins Lily and Grace DiLaurentis-Fields. But I’m getting ahead of myself. This was a two-hour finale with buckets of exposition, so let’s dive on in! I’m glad this show finally upped their budget and gave Jenna a pony We open on a deserted Rosewood street, where the Liars are all drinking coffee and bemoaning the drama-less state of their lives. It’s swelteringly hot, but all anyone can talk about is how boring everything is without any mysteries to solve. Oh, and Lucas tap dances by in a white tuxedo. And Jenna rides by in a decorated horse like she’s a circus performer. And then it starts snowing. Is that snow? NO IT’S COCAINE!!! The Liars look to the heavens, and the camera zooms out to reveal they were inside a snow globe, which was no joke my fantasy ending for this show. But who is holding the snow globe? Mona Vanderwaal, queen of the heavens, runner of the games, genius among geniuses. She’s locked up in Welby with only her snow globe, which she drops to the floor when she’s confronted by a black hoodie. She asks them if they are there to kill her, and she smiles that Mona smile. Then the opening credits run for the last time, and all the Liars do the “sshhhh” together. TOGETHER! For real though guys, who is in this coffin? We then cut to ONE YEAR LATER, and check in on the gang. Ezria is on the Warner Bros. lot (which is incidentally where they shoot the show- so meta!) because their book is being turned into a movie. They are also getting married in a week. Spencer is rescuing horses with Melissa and bonding with her, and Toby returns to town after a long Eat, Pray, Shave tour of the world. Spencer is rehabbing a cute pony named Bashful, who is skittish around everyone but her. Don’t worry, this will come back later in a big bad way. Emily and Ali are juggling twins, Lily and Grace. Also, Ali has the worst bangs and it’s so distracting I had to rewind this scene twice just to focus. Ali meets up with Pam Fields at the Radley, and they have a secret conversation about taking care of/loving Emily. Ali continues teaching English at Rosewood High, where she discusses literary endings (wink wink) with her class. She’s still teaching mini-bitch Addison, who disrupts the class and calls Ali a lesbo. Ali is in no mood, and grabs Addison after class. Addison isn’t scared of her, but she IS scared of Jenna Marshall, who is now a life skills teacher at Rosewood. What life skills is Jenna imparting to these children?! How to seduce men and women alike into doing your bidding? Firecracker dodging? I have so many questions, the first of which is, where do I sign up? Addison tries to sass Jenna by waving her hands in front of her blind face, but Jenna grabs her by the wrist like she’s Dare Devil and tells her that she while she can’t see, she can smell a bitch from a mile away. In a world where teachers can sleep with and marry their students without censure, I guess calling someone a bitch is small potatoes. BITCH CAN SMELL Meanwhile, things aren’t sunshine and lollipops with Hanna and Caleb. Mona is being discharged from Welby, and Hanna invited her to stay at the loft without running it by her husband. Caleb is upset that the woman who tried to push his wife out of a bell tower is now their new roommate, but Hanna knows that while husbands come and go, ride or die BFFs are forever. On cue, Mona shows up at their door and Hanna welcomes her. Mona seems fragile and forgetful, and tells them that with her new meds, she isn’t as sharp as she used to be. If this series ends with a neutered and sad Mona I will never forgive Marlene. Why is the wifi password Hanily?! The Liars and friends meet up at the newly renovated Lost Woods resort, which Spencer and Ali are re-launching. Everyone’s gathered for a surprise bachelor/bachelorette dinner for Aria and Ezra. There is wine and laughter and memories, and everyone is having a good time…except for Haleb, who can’t stop squabbling. Spying on them from the bushes is a black hoodie, who turns around to reveal MELISSA HASTINGS…or is it? Everyone is enjoying drinks by the fire pit, when Emily remembers that this is their first night without the babies and drags Ali to their room for some sexing. Then everyone else pairs off to hook up, except for Toby and Spencer who decide to play scrabble like a couple of nerds. We find out that Spencer is going to law school, working at her mom’s firm, and rebuilding her relationship with her family. Isn’t it nuts that we’re 25 and have two kids?! Tell it to my bangs: they’re already 45. While everyone else gets a lengthy sex scene, complete with saxophone music, Emily and Ali press their cheeks together and touch legs because that is how lesbians have sex on Freeform. At least, they are trying to…Ali is feeling all sentimental while Emily is trying to get it on. I feel like this would be a totally adequate sex scene by itself, but pairing it with Ezria’s lengthy romp only highlights the double standard when it comes to queer sex scenes. Nothing says sex scene like closed mouth kissing! Despite this disparate treatment, let’s all take a step back and marvel that this series is ending with a happy queer couple, where no one is dead or heartbroken. It’s 2017, but there is still something delightfully revolutionary about the awkward gay jock winning the heart of the most popular girl in school and living happily ever after. It’s kind of lovely until you remember what they did with Maya and Shana and Charlotte. In a less romantic sex scene across town, Hanna and Caleb are still fighting while Hanna sits with her legs up, trying to conceive. Yup, these two dummies are trying to have a baby. And in sadder fertility news, Aria gets a phone call from her doctor and finds out that she can’t have children. Why is everyone so baby crazy on this show?! Y’all are 25, settle down. Aria wants to call off the wedding, but the Liars convince her that Ezra won’t care. She tries to keep it a secret, but ends up telling him the next day, and he responds as he should: that it doesn’t matter, and there’s more than one way to make a family. Melissa watches the Liars comforting Aria from the bushes, and removes her mask to reveal MONA underneath. Dun Dun Dun! I would love it if A.D. turns out to be a Russian nesting doll of masks leading to an empty hoodie. Mona Facetimes with A.D. and demands to know who they are. You know what would really take this party up a notch? Jenna Marshall on a damn horse! The next night is Aria’s rehearsal dinner, and Hanna brings along Mona, which is rude as hell. You don’t just bring your crazy hyperadrenalized murderer BFF without RSVPing for her first! No one is more shocked than Ashley Marin, who separates from the Wine Moms to give Hanna a talking to about co-dependency and toxic friendships. The Wine Moms keep talking about that time they got locked in a basement, yet another spin-off show that we’ll never get from Marlene. A toast to the best parent on this show: Chardonnay! Emily sees Alison sneaking around with Pam and assumes that Ali is hiding something from her. She gives Ali the third degree until she reveals that Pam gave her the family engagement ring—she was planning to propose to Emily somewhere romantic, but instead she’s doing it right this second in her pug dog sweater. Ali thanks Emily for loving her unconditionally, even when she was a zombie bitch who communicated through stolen birds and old witches. Even when she was flying a plane in a Vivian Darkbloom wig. Emily says yes, and they kiss. If you can love me through these bangs, you can love me no matter what Meanwhile, Spencer goes back to Toby and they have a lengthy sex scene of their very own. Spencer steps out of the shower and finds Mona in a black hoodie in her room. Mona says “Déjà vu bitch!” and knocks her unconscious. Spencer wakes up in a prison cell, disoriented. She looks in the mirror and checks herself out, until the mirror Spencer starts moving on her own. Holy crap, Twincer is real! And British! Kudos to everyone who predicted this twist, I honestly thought it was going to be someone else. This British twin is Alex Drake, aka A.D. and she’s busted Mary Drake out of jail for a family reunion. Put some pants on, we need to talk about Spencer’s accent: it’s not just British. It’s Eliza Doolittle meets Burt the Chimney Sweep meets Mrs. Lovett from Sweeney Todd. It’s SO over the top and terrible and delightful. Just like this British evil twin conceit: soapy and ridiculous and I am so on board with this nonsense. ‘Ello Guvnah! I’m your twin I is! In a series of flashbacks, we get the sordid tale of Alex Drake: When Mary was in labor at Radley (in the 1940’s) she gave birth to Spencer, who was quickly whisked away by the Hastings family. So quickly in fact, that no one stuck around for Spencer’s twin sister Alex to be born. To buy her way out of Radley, Mary sells Alex to a fancy British family who raise her across the pond…until they realize that she is the baddest of bad seeds and dump her at an orphanage for evil geniuses. Flash forward, and teenage Alex is pulling pints in a bar where she runs into Wren. Wren can’t believe he’s found a British Spencer, and tells Alex of her true parentage. They fall in love (eww) and Wren arranges a meeting for Alex and Charlotte. Once the half sisters meet, they become thick as thieves, each finding the family they were searching so long for. Charlotte falls in love with Archer, and they proceed to double date their way around Europe. It’s like The Parent Trap, but with more wigs, murder, and asylum stays. This is my Sarah Manning cosplay…fancy a shag? But Charlotte can’t handle being away from the game, so she goes back to Rosewood to play with her dolls, where Mona murders her in the bell tower. Consumed by revenge, Alex sets out for Rosewood and picks up the game where Charlotte left off. In her quest to find out who murdered Charlotte, she gets a glimpse into the charmed life of Spencer Hastings, and wonders what could have been if she had that life. You know, that idyllic suburban experience where your father bangs every mom in town, you’re related to all your friends, and you spend your entire adolescence being terrorized by a maniac in athleisure wear. Ah, the stuff that dreams are made of! Alex starts cosplaying as Spencer and pops up in a series of flashbacks: Alex was the one who held Hanna when she was locked in that barn. Alex asked Toby for the goodbye kiss. Alex also banged Toby and fell for him. Soon enough, she decides she wants to be Spencer full-time, so she’s locked Spencer in her new dollhouse and takes over her life. She’s so into mirroring Spencer that she makes Wren shoot her in the shoulder so she has the same scar. She also uses Wren’s sperm to father Emily and Ali’s babies, before killing him and turning him into a diamond necklace. Which she wears around her neck. EVERYWHERE SHE GOES. I mean, it’s no bracelet made of teeth, but it’s still pretty bonkers. Does this seem like a lot of exposition? Because it’s an insane amount of exposition. Alex isn’t revealed until at least halfway through this 2-hour finale, and she hits the ground running, checking off every unsolved mystery this show ever made up. Bitch can summarize! Alex heads off to Aria’s wedding, where no one notices anything different about her. Aria comes out in her bridal gown, and it is some wacky vintage nonsense that only Aria could cook up. Frankly, I’m surprised it was missing her signature leopard print pattern. It’s the last ever Emily Fields cleavage appreciation post! Meanwhile, Mary tries to comfort Spencer by making her Peruvian chicken and assuring her that living life in a jail can be fun. Spencer begs Mary to release her, and Mary gives her a hug. Instead of bum rushing her birth mom out the door, Spencer cries in her arms. Once Mary locks the door, we see that Spencer has taken a bobby pin out of her hair. Someone is about to Nancy Drew her way out of this underground prison! Back at Wedding Central, Ezra still hasn’t shown up. Aria is crying Byron is threatening to beat up Ezra, and everyone is confused. Did Ezra have a crisis of conscience and decide not to marry the girl he seduced at 15? Of course not! Alex abducted him and threw him in a jail cell next to Spencer. Does Ezra help Spencer escape? Nope, he just mansplains lock picking to her with a pissy attitude. Back at Radley, the Liars are all sharing a room and consoling Aria. Alex climbs into bed and strokes Aria’s hair, telling her that they’ll be the closest of all. How did she find out about Team Sparia all the way in England?! Team Sparia for Life The next day, Alex meets Toby at the stables, where the horse starts freaking out because he knows she’s not Spencer. That, or she’s a vampire. Toby starts putting the pieces together. Later, Jenna meets with Alex and can tell just by smelling her that she’s not Spencer. Finally, Toby takes the book of French love poems Alex gave him, and realizes that it can’t be Spencer’s book because there aren’t any notes in the margins. Toby brings this information to the Liars, and everyone is like, “evil twin? Yup, sounds about right” and they go off in search of the real Spencer. YOU’RE NOT MY MOM! Back at the bunker, Spencer picks the lock and frees herself and Ezra. They try to escape from the bunker and run outside of the house…only to realize that they aren’t outside at all. The ceiling is painted to look like the sky, and there is fake grass and everything, but it’s just a dollhouse within a dollhouse. Mona confronts the Liars and tells them that Wren tried to kill her in Welby, but she convinced him she could help bust Mary out of prison. Mona has also tracked Spencer’s coordinates to Toby’s house, because she is in this damn game to win it. Here I am, explaining this game to you dum-dums one last time! The Liars bust their way into the bunker, where they stumble onto the classic twin face-off: Spencer and Alex wrestling, and trying to convince the Liars that they’re each the real Spencer Hastings. Oh, and Ezra hits his head on a rock. Toby grabs one of the twins and demands to know what their favorite poem is from the book, and the real Spencer (in classic Spencer fashion) starts reciting it in perfect French. The cops rush in and arrest Alex and Mary, and Spencer is reunited with her friends. I’m the right real Spencer, you barmy old chaps! The Ezria wedding gets a do-over, and everything goes smoothly, even Marlene King’s cameo as a photographer who didn’t turn off her cell phone. The Liars walk around the only square in Rosewood, and talk about how much they’ll miss Aria while she’s on her honeymoon. Spencer is back together with Toby, and Hanna reveals that she’s pregnant. They all hug and it’s very sweet. So long Rosewood…you’re the 6th bitch at this table! But what of Miss Vanderwaal? We find Mona living in Paris, selling antique dolls and making out with a beefy French dude. She steps into her backroom, where she has dollhouse decorated with two brunette dolls. The camera pulls back and we see Mary and Alex Drake imprisoned in a dollhouse of their very own. Looks like Mona won the game after all. Praise be to VanderJesus, for ever and ever, amen. Then the final scene is a rehash of the pilot opening, with Addison’s mean girls at a sleepover (with Maya’s cousin) waking up to find their queen bee missing. Nice try show, but I’m not spending another seven years with this hot nonsense. And that’s it: seven seasons of masks, wigs, doll parts, Grunwalds, and interchangeable white guys. Seven seasons of Shay Mitchell’s shiny pony-like hair and two facial expressions. Seven seasons of that same damn yellow top that Ali wore on the night she died a thousand times. I started this show the way most of us did, by reading Heather Hogan’s recaps and laughing along with the #BooRadleyVanCullen crew. I didn’t know then that I would go on to write recaps for Autostraddle and AfterEllen, nor did I know that AfterEllen would meet a cruel and untimely end. I didn’t know that I would meet my very own Twincer, Dana Piccoli, who would bring me here to the Bella Books blog to complete this ridiculous journey. To everyone who edited my work, gave me encouragement, and provided me with screengrabs (shout out to @PLLBigA) I want to say thank you. Bitch can appreciate! At its best, Pretty Little Liars was campy frothy fun with some serious heart. It gave the queers of the world Emily Fields and Paige McCullers and Alison DiLaurentis. It also gave us Ravenswood, Ezria, and oh so problematic treatment of Charlotte. Most importantly, it gave us an online community, a world of inside jokes and memes that bonded us nerdy, pop culture obsessed queer folks together. Visibility still matters, now more than ever. I will miss recapping this show, but more than that, I will miss the weekly check-in on Twitter, and laughing my face off at all your hilarious comments. I’m taking a break from recapping to work on my own writing, film my web series, learn how to fly a plane, assume an alias, speak to birds, and life-jack my twin. But just like Alison DiLaurentis, I’ll be back. I hope you’ve enjoyed these recaps over the past couple of years: I’ve enjoyed writing them and getting to know all you beautiful weirdos. Ending these recaps is a real mannequin leg to the heart. What else is there to say but…XOXO bitches! http://dlvr.it/PRGG7Q

#Television #PLL #Pretty Little Liars

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beowulfs-booty-call · 8 years ago

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Please, imagine with me, if you will, a new video game series, action / adventure oriented. Maybe similar to the Nathan Drake (Uncharted) series or something, but with a twist or two:

You take the role of a photographer, fresh from the schools of god knows wherever, but y’all got a big dream to make it big, you’ve made your first portfolio, and you’re hella nervous about potential jobs.

You claim you had experience, when a friend of yours (you did their remarriage pics, idea being they're a lot older than you, presumably that one teacher you always loved) comes to you with an offer you simply can't refuse.

The job is simple, go about the islands of Madagascar and others spots around the world for archeological digs and such for a random company that doesn’t seem on the market yet, just like you!

You take the job, assuming hopefully the best, as travel, hotel, and other expenses are paid for by the employers, you possibly feel blessed for this opportunity as your plane is flying over the tropical islands!

Suddenly, the next thing you know, you wash upon the beaches of an unmarked island, your plane destroyed and there are no survivors, yet, your camera still yet survives with you (Your excuse? Waterproof and paid extra for the bag you keep it in.)

Not one to let yourself down, you go about trying to find any hint of human contact throughout the island, while taking photography shots as well as taking up pieces of treasure as you follow clues along the way as you make your way back to civilization.

As it stems, the company believes that you, the photographer, is actually a world class treasure hunter / thief who’s done well to get on their ire, hoping to destroy you on their terms.

What they don’t realize, is that they have someone completely different on their hands who survives with only their wit and knack for optimistic point of views.

Your character has no combat experience. At all. Their punches are sloppy, their kicks mean nothing until you continually use them (They’re meant to grow along with the player?) but can use their camera to blind and other unexpected weapons to outwit and beat their foes (Tossing Camera Lens as projectile weapons, spritzing cleaner chemicals for an auto knockout, etc etc.)

They actually cannot die, they can get injured and can “walk it off”, but the only time the game ends is when their camera breaks in certain situations.

This makes it a bit tougher because those sweetly bad AI shooting accuracy? They can kill you.

2 Bad ends include (But are not limited to):

Death by camera breaking, the photographer easily gives up, and the company soon realizes their mistake as you grieve, sending you back on your way fully refurbished as their personal photographer for their magazines and cover photos. But that's not the cushy lifestyle a photographer needs, right?

Game over in which your editor receives your portfolio, but it’s all your old, boring pictures, and you, the player, realizes you spent the whole adventure taking photos without an SD CARD.

After sometime making their way through the undisclosed locations (And being able to swipe a few guns and treasure along the way...) the photographer is making headway through the company’s ire, they’ve nearly gotten away with both the treasure, and shots for their portfolio, all under the guise of the treasure hunter they are “assuming”.

The REAL Treasure hunter shows up, held captive later on, in an abandoned cathedral the photographer trailed towards, hoping to find any miraculous statues to photograph and possibly any ancient texts in the catacombs.

Once rescued, the Treasure hunter also becomes an optional love interest, but of course, nothing is forced, though you can both have seemingly platonic dates (Talking in a cafe, speaking together in a hotel you found while trailblazing in Brazil because y’all wanted some Rio De Janeiro pics, etc) but have packed dialogue which gives meaning instead of just a dating sim thing. Later dates includes, lying under the stars of Panama, cuddling; Talking about how you changed each other’s lives as you walk through the Louvre, and even perhaps just a simple movie night, with the chinese take out coming soon, as you discuss just the little things for the night, taking in each other’s presence. The main point is, the Treasure Hunter decides to work with you, not JUST to get back at the company, but also to help you out with your portfolio as they’ve been pretty sure you didn't deserve the whole wild goose chase you went on.

I’m debating if it should be hilariously similar the photographer AND the treasure hunter, or rather, they’re completely different. I would like to have it where the Treasure Hunter is known only by a name they made themselves (I.E: El Lobo Más Fuerte) and as such, there was no way for the enemies (Besides high tier employees of the company) to know who or what the Photographer was. They just assume the photographer “Fits” the description considering they have this person going about taking out their armed men with ease.

Should you hit up that Treasure Hunter, you’re both gay. Sorry, but I make the rules. Y’all are both fucking gay and it shows. Debating if I should have the photographer as Bi, in the sense of background dialogue (I.E: “My boyfriend was never exactly as... wonderful, like this...” for the girl Photographer, and she will check her phone time to time to find some drunk text from “Crazy Ex” crying to get her back. It doesn’t work, of course, because not only did he emotionally abuse her, but now that she’s on her way to success, he thinks he can crawl back. She took up Photography because her teacher in high school thought it was a good idea to express herself. That teacher is who gets her the job on accident. Boy photographer reveals he’s done photos for his ex’s wedding to her husband, he’s slightly jealous that the husband was his bully back in college / high school, but he’s more focused on using photography to improve himself. I want some difference between the guy and girl so there’s more... Immersion than just fitting into someone else’s shoes.) But yah, fam, you choose dude photogger, you get boy treasure hunter who’s “ruggedly handsome.”

Choose girl photogger, you get irresistible girl treasure hunter who’s “like a fire opal. Beautiful and lively.”

You can, however, choose not to fall in love with the treasure hunter, though, they still quickly become your best friend as you go about dashing the nefarious company’s plans to nearly dominate the world with sacred ancestral treasures, as they hope to recreate the world as H.P Lovecraft would have it and becomes existential gods of the universe.

More to come along the way, maybe even designs?

#Game ideas #Me stuff #thoughts

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ecotone99 · 5 years ago

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[SP] Twins are best separate

This happened months ago but a psychologist (Benjamin Waltham) who had recently died had volumes of VCR tapes and other recordings of twins which he and his twin brother who was a medical doctor had deliberately separated at birth. It started back in the late 1950's and ended in 1978. In 1978 the medical doctor (Joel Waltham) was found in his office dead of a gunshot wound and it wasn't until forty years later that the truth came out. I might add that these two brothers weren't separated at birth. This adoption ring was nation wide.

There was also a third person involved who is still living (her name is Lillian Green) but will not be prosecuted as she's well into her 90's. She is the older sister of the two men and basically was the ring leader of this.

When you do something like this you never know what the consequences would be or how far reaching. In my case, the story that I'm about to tell is so unbelievable that if the parties involved hadn't documented what they did, I wouldn't have believed it.

My twin sister and I were born in California in 1962. Our biological parents were poor and lived out of a car. They were told that we had died. Both of us were originally adopted by an actress who couldn't have children. This actress and her husband relationship was very unstable and violent. We were only two months old when Lillian Green got unto their property, took us from our cribs upstairs and was able to get out undetected. There were too busy throwing things at each other and yelling and screaming at each other to notice.

We were the only twins who were actually put together briefly. The others were separated at birth and went to different parts of the country. California and Maine. Washington State and Florida.

There was one case when one twin was taken but the other one stayed. I'll get to that story later as it intertwines with this entire story.

Police were called and a man hunt went on for several days. The actress had never met Lillian Green, so she knew nothing about her nor did she suspect that the twin medical professionals were in on this.

Lillian Green talked about this on her video. She had a very good memory, wrote things down and told police what they had done.

"I did this to protect these children who would have suffered horribly if they stayed with this couple. I had no idea how terrible this couple was. A week after I took the twins from their cribs, both of them died in a car accident. I didn't shed one tear. Joy and Heather if you are watching this, you need to be grateful for me doing this. You would have had a horrible life with these people."

She was right about us having a horrible life with these people. Both were very unstable people.

Lillian Green went by car to Kansas City Missouri and dropped off my twin sister whose name is Joy. She didn't wanted to risk getting caught. It took several days to get there. After dropping Joy off, she got on a plane to Florida and I was dropped off in Tampa. It was a private adoption as was my twin sister. Our adoptive parents were told that our biological parents died in a car accident and that there was no other family. There weren't told about a twin.

It turned out we were identical twins. I grew up in a upper income family in the Tampa Areas. I had piano lessons, ballet lessons and went to a private school. I graduated from high school when I was 16 years old (turned 17 three days later).. My parents wanted me to wait a year to go to college as I had skipped a grade and they didn't feel I was mature enough to go to college. I went to college that fall as I talked them them into letting me go.

I joined a sorority and we often went out to the nightclubs. It was fun. I dated some but nothing really serious. We were to one of the after parties and I met Brian Cessini who was very attractive. This was the first time I've seen him at a gig. He told me that he had been in the marine for three years and had gotten out in January. He wasn't famous yet but would be soon. He said that he recognized me from a gig he had in Kansas City. He asked about my boyfriend.

"I've never been to Kansas City."

"Well, maybe your related to this woman."

"I don't think so. I was born in California, was in foster care for two months and then adopted by a couple who lives in Tampa."

The concert was very memorable to me because Brian sang and played a song which he dedicated to his twin brother Timothy who had died shortly after birth. The date was May 5, 1961. The concert was on May 5, 1984, 23 years to the day. They were born in Tampa.

"My mother has never accepted the fact that he died. She thinks someone kidnapped him. My dad was in the waiting room and he only heard me cry. One baby crying. Timothy was silent. My mother still dreams about him. This was a factor in the breakup of their marriage 5 years later. My dad told me it was bad the first year. Really bad. You know what was so weird about that gig was that this woman's boyfriend when I sang that song started bawling. Couldn't understand why. Interesting enough his name was Timothy and he was born on the same day that I was. I didn't dare mention it to my mom because she would believe that this guy was him and start looking for him."

You can imagine everyone's shock when a video recording of our conversation in 1984 turned up on youtube in 2018. This wasn't all. Lillian Green owned the property that the concerts and after parties were and had contacted Brian asking him if he wanted to be in a band. She knew he played the guitar.

She had actually met him at Tampa General. Brian had been stationed in Lebanon and was nearby when the Barricks blew up. He was cleaning a nearby barracks and was on break and happened to see the whole thing. It was something he rarely talked about. A buddy of his had survived but was in very bad shape. He was home but had some complications from the injuries he received and had to be hospitalized. In February of 1984, his buddy died. His buddy didn't have any close family. Brian was with him when he died. Brian with the help of Lillian made all the funeral arrangements.

I was surprised that Brian opened up to me as he barely knew me. He asked me for my phone number. I gave it to him never expecting to hear from his again. I graduated from college on May 20, 1984. We got married on July 7th (we eloped) much to my parent's dismay. We actually got married in Lillian's home. She had moved to Florida shortly after she kidnapped us. I barely knew Brian. . I became pregnant right away and gave birth nine months to the day on April 7th, 1985 to a healthy baby girl and baby boy. We named them Victoria and Vincent.

"This is exactly to plan. How wonderful Ben. Too bad Joel wasn't here to see this. Our experiment worked. Both couples met and got married the same day. I have a newspaper clipping on their wedding."

Sadly the marriage lasted about 3 years. We divorced in an amicable manner. When Brian became famous, I was forgotten about which was fine. Remarried and had another child, a son. My second husband was a defense lawyer in private practice.

Both my parents came from prim and proper backgrounds. I must say when they met Brian's dad Vinnie and his girlfriend Louann, Brian's mother Marie and her husband Joey shortly after we were married, it was almost like they were in culture shock, well not really. Vinnie and his girlfriend Louann owned a tavern, Marie worked at the betting gate for the horse races and Joey was a bail bondsman. Everyone got along. The conversation was interesting. All of these individuals grew up in a mostly working class neighborhood in Tampa.

When we were divorced, my parents were friends with everyone. My father especially liked Joey as he had lived an interesting life. This was a guy who could mingle with those from the top to the bottom socially. My father worked at an insurance company doing stats which were quite morbid. How many people get into accidents at certain intersections. Which intersections in Tampa were the most dangerous. You get the idea.

It was actually Joey who set up a blind date with my second husband. He was good at reading people and knowing who was good and who was bad.

After birth, Timothy was taken to Kansas City, Missouri and was adopted. Interesting enough, they grew up in the same neighborhood went to the same school, same college. They knew each other most of their lives. The doctors had set it up that way as an experiment. Timothy looked nothing like Brian. They were twins but no identical.

They got married the same day we did July 7th, 1984 and had twins a year later to the day April 7, 1986. The twins were girls but weren't identical. Timothy and Joy stayed married.

Timothy had majored in music and played several instruments. He liked jazz and classical music more than he liked rock. He was a band director at a local high school in Kansas City.

Had the person who murdered Dr. Joel Waltham hadn't come forward, the adoption ring would have never come to light. It took a while before it did. This person Judy West was the niece of the actor who had adopted us. She was about 16 years old when her uncle died in the car accident. She felt like someone was involved with the kidnapping. In 1977 she did an investigation and found out that Joel did our adoption. What she didn't know was that Lillian kept all the adoption records. She became furious when he wouldn't give her any information and shot him dead. She then ransacked his office and found nothing. She then tried to set the place on fire but it only burned an empty bookcase. She had no idea that he had a brother who was involved in this. She only knew of one player.

I can tell you that this Lillian was scared. Very scared.

"I had no idea who killed him as we had covered our tracks. I was scared for over a year. No one suspected any of us of being involved in an adoption ring. We had made enough money that we closed shop of this one. " she said of the Video.

Several months earlier before the murderer of Joel Waltham is caught

"Brian, I will give you my consent to do this and hopefully this will be closure to all of us." said Vinnie.

A couple of days later Brian called his father and told him that the casket was empty. Vinnie almost fainted when he heard the news. "He's out there somewhere."

Our daughter Victoria was an investigative reporter who did the story. She interviewed her grandmother Marie first and then her grandfather Vinnie separately. She then interviewed her father.

"Your grandmother Marie had dreams about Timothy, about him playing in an orchestra, playing on a marching field, very strange. She told anyone that would listen about this, but even I didn't believe that he was alive, especially since dad said that he only heard me cry."

Brian talked briefly about how after returning from Lebanon and seeing his buddy die in the hospital, that he started having dreams about him. Then he talked about his PTSD which started at the same time. It was shortly after this that I left him.

"I would have flashbacks about what happened in Lebanon. Thankfully Joey took the bullets out of the guns because I went outside and was hiding in the bushes armed. One night your mother thought that there was an intruder and called Joey. He picked her up and she went to her parents with the twins. I was taken to a mental health facility and treated. Joey understood what I was going thru as he was in Korea and had seen the horrors of war. A couple of men he knew committed suicide. Other just went off the deep end. Others like me tried to block it out but then something often triggers it. With me it was the death of my buddy. I was okay after that but the stress of it took its tool on both me and Heather. We were very young when we got married, she was 21 years old and I was 23 years old."

Shortly after the program was over, Timothy called in. The long lost brother had been found.

Judy West also came forward after the broadcast saying that she was the one who killed Dr. Joel Waltham.

"I did what I felt was best. Twins don't need to be together. They need to be apart because they are more stable."

These were some of the comments that the Waltham brothers and Lillian Green made but they made no sense. The brother weren't separated at birth but because their families were wealthy, it was okay. They really looked down on people who were poor and advocated that they be sterilized or done away with by giving them diseases and illnesses. Sick individuals.

After giving birth, Brian's mother was sterilized and didn't find out about it for years. It was only when Marie and Joey wanted to have kids, that they found out that Marie had been sterilized at the age of 18. Marie's first marriage was a have to marriage due to pregnancy.

Joey and Marie were in their late 20's at the time. Joey had two daughters from a previous marriage and ex-husband Vinnie had two more children with Louann his second wife. Marie had a good relationship with his daughters, so they became her daughters.

I will never forget Brian watching the TV screen and just shaking his head in disgust when Lillian said, "Brian, Timothy, I did this for you. Your mother was too young to have children. The state didn't want to support more children.

Victoria was also watching the clip. "Your grandparents were very young when I was born, but that is not a valid reason to sterilize someone. Not a valid reason. Your brother took my mother's fertility due to twisted beliefs which originate in Nazi ideology. Well, Lillian Green if you are listening to this, karma has a way of coming back on you. My mom used to say that in the end you will get your just reward. You thought once you died that you would get away with this. Well, you aren't going to and when it's your time, you will have to answer to God for what you have done."

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paradisobound · 8 years ago

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Phan Masterlist

This is my Phan masterlist that is compiled only of my stories that I have posted with Dan and Phil. This list is being continuously updated as I post more stories so stay updated and organized here!

A Summer Beside You: 36.5k Words- Rated Explicit-Dan Howell, a New York City native, suddenly finds his world turned upside down when he is told that his estranged father is wanting to spend the summer with him. Having not seen his father since he was young, he is reluctant to travel to this small little beach town to see him. Bringing his younger brother along with him, he boards a plane and heads south. Upon arriving, Dan goes to the boardwalk just down the beach and runs into a native by the name of Phil Lester. As Dan starts to spend more and more time with the native rich kid in town, he finds himself slowly falling in love. Through trips to the boardwalk and even just simple walks down the beach, Dan realizes that he doesn’t want to leave this town behind. But as the date of his departure edges closer and closer, he finds that his grasp on this small town and his love for Phil strengthen, leaving him to make the ultimate decision: Do I go back to NYC or do I stay here with my dad and Phil?

A Picture is Worth: 4,441 Words- Rated Explicit- Dan is a student photographer who finds comfort in taking photos. Phil is the older man who is finally confronting Dan on why he’s trespassing on his dock.

A Royal Wedding: 997 Words- Rated Teen-A chance encounter leads to a royal wedding.

As Told By Dan: 1,500 Words- Rated Mature- Dan recounts to his friend Louise what his first time with Phil was like.

30 Day's of NSFW Challenge

Be Alright: 3.3k Words- Rated Explicit- Warning: unhappy ending- There is a darker side behind the hiatus and the ending of Dan and Phil games…one that Dan and Phil never showed.

Behind Hazel Eyes: chaptered work- Rated Explicit- Dan’s known Lucas since college and he’s never been so convinced that two people are meant to be together. He loves Lucas more than anything. But when news report of a serial killer striking around the town, Dan begins to notice signs in Lucas that leave him nervous. With the help of his newfound friend Phil, Dan pieces together the parts of Lucas that he somehow missed before anyone else loses their lives–and before Dan loses his own.

**BINGO 2019 Masterlist**

Buy You A Drink: 1.1k words- Rated Explicit- Dan’s lonely…and bored. He also has nothing to drink in his flat. So as he’s swiping on Tinder and he matches with a random guy, he decides to play it up a bit. So he asks the guy to bring him a drink to his flat–in exchange for a blow job.

Car Sex Can Be Romantic!: 2,656 Words- Rated Explicit- Dan and Phil have their first time in the back of a car. Trust me, it’s more romantic than it sounds!

Convergence: Part I, Part II, Part III- Rated Explicit- Daniel Howell had a one night stand in London when he was only eighteen years old. It was supposed to be a visit to London but instead, it led him into the bed of Phil Lester: Flat 311 to be exact. Now, three years later, Dan decides to seek out Phil in London but he’s not alone…he has a three year old son.

Dear Diary...Signed Daniel Howell: 3,551 Words- Rated Explicit- The Diary Entries of Daniel Howell. Warnings: Rape and non/con elements!

Dorm Room Antics: 1,877 Words-Rated Explicit-Dan and Phil have sex in Dan’s dorm room the day he moves into college.

Down By The River: Chaptered Work- Rated Explicit- Dan Howell was isolated from the world. Living in a small town, the population only 750 and being in a high school where everyone knew your name and your history, Dan hated it. He wanted out. Nothing is going where he wants to in life. That is until he meets Phil Lester by random chance at a grocery store and Phil begins to show him all of the happiness that life can actually bring.

Dreams Can be Deceiving: 2k Words- Rated Teen and Up- Phil has a nightmare one night that Dan is pregnant. The dream causes Phil to freak out and freak out Dan in the process. However, the dream leads to some thoughts and Phil begins to see what the future may look like.

Flashes of Innocence: 5,600 Words- Rated Explicit- Phil Lester was an aspiring photographer, trying to fine tune his skills in a black and white photography class. Cue Daniel Howell, the attractive male that walks in one day and captures Phil’s eyes. But Dan has a small secret, he needs help. He runs a Tumblr blog and he needs someone to shoot his photos for him. But there’s a catch that Phil doesn’t know right away. Dan runs a NSFW porn blog and he’s asking Phil to help him recreate authentic photos.

Forever the One: Chaptered Work- Rated M- When Omega Dan is of age, he is told by his father that he will be sold off to find an Alpha mate. Cue, Alpha Phil. Alpha Phil is in desperate need for a mate, and although Phil is only a few years older than Dan, he holds a reasoning behind why he needs a mate so quickly. When secrets are revealed that give up why Phil needed a mate, this story may not have a happy ending.

*Forever the One Masterlist!*

In Front of the Lights, Behind the Camera: Part 1, 2, 3, 4: Rated Explicit- When Dan Howell became a model as a teenager, he expected that his face would be used for clothing launches and runways. But suddenly, his once pristine appearance changes and he’s left with nowhere to go in the modeling industry. One night, he finds an application for something different–completely absurd really–and decides to take a shot. Not long after, he becomes well known adult film star James Colin and finds himself in front of the similar lights of those of a modeling shoot. But then he meets Phil Lester, who appears to be an arrogant cameraman with nothing better to do than snap at him. And slowly, Dan sees something that he wants a little bit more of than the fame, money, and the attention.

Innocence: 2,206 Words- Rated Explicit- Dan was always adamant about not having sex before marriage. But one day he decides he wants to try it with his boyfriend, Phil. But he has one condition: he doesn’t want to see Phil’s dick during sex.

**I Want It, I Got It Masterlist**

I Want It, I Got It: Chaptered Work- Rated Mature- Phil Lester was a worker for the BBC in London. Working in the advertising department, he was content being alongside his friend and fellow coworker PJ during every shift. However, the BBC is temporarily being used as a film set for a new movie staring Hollywood ‘It’ star, Daniel Howell. Being stuck as an extra on the set, Phil finds it’s hard to ignore the famous star. And maybe, just maybe, Dan finds it hard to ignore Phil as well.

Japan 2.0: 1.1k words- Rated Teen and Up- Phil decides to plan a trip to Japan for Dan because he wants to propose to him.

Keep My Head Above Water- 7.8k words- Rated Teen and Up- Dan is the captain of his high school swim team and the sport means more than anything to him. He hopes to be recruited into college so he can continue to swim, however, his plan changes when he fails English. Being tutored by Phil, Dan soon sees that even though he still wants more than anything to continue to swim, he may also want something else too.

*Light in the Dark Masterlist*

Light in the Dark: This is a chaptered work- Rated Mature- Warnings: Medical disabilities (blindness)- Phil is the RA (Resident Advisor) for his local college where he manages the residents in his dorm building. But his junior year in college is about to take a turn when one of his residents, who’s named Dan, is blind. Soon, Phil develops a friendship with Dan as he soon discovers that they were meant for much more than just a platonic relationship. He just hopes that his Alpha abilities won’t scare away the timid Omega

Let’s Party!: 1,738 Words- Rated Explicit- A party that Phil doesn’t want to go to? check. A night of surprises? also check. And finding unexpected feelings for a friend? Triple check.

Lets Get Lost: 4.4k words- Rated Mature- Sometimes a drive going nowhere is all that one needs

Love Thy Neighbor: 3,063 Words- Rated Explicit- Phil is the son of Assembly of God pastor who begins to fall for the son of the rivaling Methodist church across the road. A quick friendship quickly picks up speed into a sexual relationship that neither one of them can avoid. Finding solace in one another, they gain a newfound love that they never knew could have existed.

Moving Too Fast: 986 Words- Rated Mature- A small one-shot based upon this post that I laughed at for a solid twenty minutes.

Painted Flowers: 1,764 Words- Rated Mature- Flowers come in many shapes and sizes. Colors and types. But to Dan, they mean so much. From the young age of five, flowers begin to show up on his skin, and slowly as he ages, every Valentine’s Day, another flower paints over his flesh. They continue to grow into a beautiful garden until one day he meets Phil. And like the tale tells, once you meet your soulmate, a flower will no longer bloom on your skin every Valentine’s Day.

Perfect Night for Wishes: 1.6k Words- Rated Teen and Up- Dan hasn’t been nervous for a date in nearly 10 years. But now that Phil suddenly wants to go out for Valentine’s Day, he finds himself nervous for their date

Piecing Together My Mind: 10,763 Words- Rated Mature- TW- hospitals, mentions of injuries, surgery- When Dan is the victim of a terrible car accident, he suffers unbelievable trauma to his brain. As a result, only a few doctors in the world can perform the operation that is needed for him to recover: one the doctors being Phil Lester from America. Through the surgery and his recovery, Phil is there for him every step of the way, leading them into a spiral of love no one can predict, which eventually gains attention and popularity through a book written by Dan.

**Sail Away With Me Masterlist**

Sail Away With Me: Chaptered Fic (In progress--on temporary hiatus)- Rated Explicit- It was a fluke. Dan shouldn’t have ever gone with Sam to a party on a yacht. He shouldn’t have trusted her to go. But in a chance encounter, he ends up in bed with Phil Lester, a billionaire CEO of a luxury clothing company. When he thinks he’s screwed up enough, he realizes he’s in way too deep. Because Phil Lester has fallen in love with him. The catch: Dan gave Phil a fake name and all Phil has to remember Dan by is the tattoo on his hip and the necklace he left behind.

Scared to be Lonely: 15,700 Words- Rated Mature-Tw:Signs of a toxic relationship, mentions of dubious consent, mpreg, sexual mentions, and light smut-Phil begins school at a new high school to avoid his past, however, he doesn’t intend for how much his life is going to change. He meets Dan, the one he’s first warned about, and develops a quick attraction for him. But when things begin to look up for Phil, someone else comes in and breaks the norm.

Skittles Grow on Trees: 2k Words - Rated G- Phil tells his and Dan's son a little white lie that Skittles grow on trees in an attempt to stop buying him them. However, their son gets excited about the idea and thus, Skittles Trees are born

Social Interactions of the Drunken Kind- 2.1k words- Rated G- Dan gets drunk and confesses to Phil that he likes boys. But now that that is out in the open, where does that leave them to go from here?

Starry Eyes: 1.6k Words- Rated Explicit- It’s a night under the stars and what’s a more perfect way to look at them than in the bed of Phil’s truck.

Starstruck: 3.6k words- Rated Mature- Phil attends all of Dan Howell’s concerts. In fact, he makes it a rule to even record every one he goes to. You could say he was in love with Dan Howell and in fact, that wouldn’t be a lie because he’s actually Dan’s fiancé. Too bad Dan’s fans see him as the creepy guy at Dan’s concerts.

They’ll Tear Us Apart (If You Give Them The Chance)- 7.3k words- Rated Teen and Up- Dan was just a fairy in his little village of Vixedeler when a mermaid invades the waters and sends the village into a frenzy. A thousand year old rivalry is resurfaced and Dan is left in the middle of his village while also feeding his new connection with the mermaid, Phil. As tensions rise, and Dan falls deeply for Phil, a Romeo and Julietlove story begins.

The Christmas Fic || 2017: 1,995 Words- Rated G- How Christmas 2017 should have went

The Flowers Are For You: 1.9k words- Rated Teen and Up- It’s Dan and Phil’s one month “anniversary” and Phil wants to get Dan flowers. The only catch is he has no idea what flowers to get Dan, or even if Dan will like them.

The Glory Hole Incident: 2,281 Words- Rated Explicit- Phil is pressured to go to a glory hole to relax, who would have thought it would lead to more?

The Moments that Shape Us: 4,547 Words- Rated Explicit- TW-non con elements and mentions of rape!- A timeline through the tough times that Dan has to go through following a traumatizing experience and how he eventually goes back to the way he should be.

The Notion of Us: 2,742 Words- Rated T- Five Times Phil wanted to propose, and the one time he actually succeeded

The Perfect Gift: 3.4k Words- Rated Explicit- Phil Lester didn't particularly like Secret Santa that his maths teacher did every year. He normally received just simple gifts and was always underwhelmed. But this year, his Secret Santa gives him the perfect gift and he's determined to find out who this person is. It also helps that his Secret Santa has a crush on him too.

The Photoshoot: 1,266 Words- Rated PG- Dan wants to do a couples shoot and it goes better than expected.

The Valentine’s Day Fic: 2,057 Words- Rated T- It’s Valentine’s Day, and things go a little differently for Dan

Unexpected Trip: 1k words- Rated G- While Dan and Phil are in the USA for Vidcon, they go with Cat to an animal shelter and Dan falls in love with Holly, a 7 year old corgi mix.

Uncertainty: 10,317 Words- Rated M- It was all started with a fight…I mean, when you looked at our relationship in the public eye, everything seemed perfect. We were loving to each other, he was always holding my hand in public, showing me affection, just making sure I was comfortable in every sense of the world. I really did love him. I still do…Dan Howell and Phil Lester were the couple everyone thought of them to be–or so everyone thought. That was until a fight between them nearly collapsed all they had known…and left them in a situation neither one ever wanted to be in.

Wonders Never Cease: 10,300 Words- Rated Explicit- Dan and Phil were one of the ‘it’ couples at their high school until one day, Phil blindsides Dan with a break up. Hurting and seeking comfort, Dan befriends Tyler who helps him get through the first tough few months of the break up, mending his shattered heart. But Dan doesn’t want to move on. He wants to be with Phil and maybe, just maybe, in the end, he’ll still get to be.

Young and In Love: 9,148 Words- Rated T- When the coffee shop in the basement of Dan’s university is suddenly closed one evening, he uses his phone to track the next closest one. But who was to know that his life would change entirely when he stepped inside? A story of love, heartbreak, and everything in-between, we follow Dan through the journey of growth and acceptance.

#princesslexi763fic #princesslexi763fics

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