#also the lights on front do help make visibility way better at night because i cant see in the dark for shit

[trainz99]

The vehicle as of today, right before i left work

Streetmoth-02

It might be cringe but i love it and i keep doing it

[kaiser1ns]

#. PINK BOW, MY HEART GOES POW !

featuring 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝘅 𝗳𝗲𝗺!𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 ıllı. takiishi chika, endo yamato

fluff + slight suggestive. just you wrapping a pink ribbon bow around their bicep, the sight makes you insane.

TAKIISHI CHIKA

You have been dying to try this trend, even had a dream of your boyfriend being all adorned with cute little bows in his hair. But, now you sit in front of him with pleading hands and eyes, holding light pink lace as he just stares at you, a little blankly as he sits on the couch with his arms outstretched and the tank top he's wearing doesn't help at all. You try not to jump on top of him and start kissing and hugging him because he looks so hot, so incredibly hot.

"Please, please, please." you would never beg to a man, but right now your needs were getting the better of you, you had to do it and see it. It would look so cute, with him having a pink ribbon around his bicep. "I will let you do whatever you want, just please make my dreams come true!"

"Fine," he put one of his shoulders forward to you, not the first time you touched him there, nor would it be the last, but right now you just wanted to die. For some reason, you really loved his arms, especially at night when he was holding you close and couldn't let you go, nor did he want to. Once you enter his world, you can't leave. That was the golden rule in your relationship, as strange as it was at times.

You almost couldn't believe that he let you do such a thing, he is like a genie granting you the greatest wish in your whole life.  Quickly moving to sit beside him, unable to stop the squeaks and the giggles, you carefully placed the ribbon against his skin, smoothing it out as you started tying it into a bow. The sight of that pink ribbon on the muscles of his arms was so cute that you could hardly contain yourself.

He watched you, without any visible emotion on his face, as you fussed over getting the bow just right. To him, it was just a piece of fabric, nothing special. But to you, it was a symbol of how the most innocent and smallest things could make your heart swell with love for him.

“Oh my God, you look so cute!” you literally screamed, hands over your mouth, sitting back to admire your piece of art. Grabbing your phone immediately to start snapping pictures, capturing every moment from every possible angle. “Baby, you are just so adorable, I’m going to cry.”

He was so confused, just a ribbon can make you behave like a little kid with a sugar rush, obsessing over something as small as a bow.  “Why is this making you happy?” 

“You don’t get it, do you?” you teased, setting down your phone aside and leaning closer to him, heart beating so loud and so fast to the point it may burst at any given second. Poor Chika doesn't know that he can give his girlfriend a heart attack, just by being him. “It’s just my way of appreciating you and your beautiful and strong arms that keep me safe, day and night.”

“It’s just a bow, wrapped around my bicep.” he let out a sigh, shaking his head slightly, “It's nothing special, but if you say so.”

But you weren't paying attention to his words anymore, instead, you focused on how close you were to him now, just inches apart but you could feel the heat and the warmth radiating from his body. You wanted to do more than just look at him and without thinking, you sat on his lap, wrapping your arms around his neck, resting your head on his shoulder. You didn't miss seeing the tattoo, on the back of his arm as you smiled softly when you turned to look at his face now, the need to be close to him was overwhelming.

“Why don’t we just cuddle?” you whispered, looking him through your lashes, nibbling on his cheek. If he was cute, then he didn’t know what you were. “Just you and me, and that pink bow that ties us together.” 

What magic did you put on him to soften around you? The arm with the ribbon, wrapped around your waist as he relaxed. It ties us together, you say. He smirked, then he should also tie you later, to see what's so exciting about this lace, to show you how much he loves you too.

ENDO YAMATO

It was his idea for you to tie a ribbon to his bicep, and it's probably the best thing he has come up with. Endo didn't have such sculpted and tight muscles before, yes he was strong, but now... You were drooling at the sight of his buffy and tattooed arms. He knew what he was doing, he always did. Sitting on the kitchen counter, he was between your legs and you took a deep breath — you just had to tie two ribbons to both of his biceps. How easy is that, right? Wrong. It wasn't easy at all, especially the way he looked at you, so smitten like you were the only person in his world, knowing full well you weren’t but you sure took a large of his heart and mind.

“Doll, you just have to tie them, take a photo, and make it your new wallpaper,” he says like it's that simple, yes you're going to make the photo your new wallpaper, you can't help but do it. He smiled sweetly at you, a little playful even, and you took the two pink laces from his hands without hesitation. "I'll make the prettiest ribbons so you won't want to take them off."

"Your wish is my command," you first grabbed his left hand giving it a light squeeze before tying the lace into a cute ribbon. You met his eyes for just a moment and blushed slightly as you began tying a ribbon around his right bicep. "You have very gentle hands, you know that?"

Yes, of course, you do. ”Do I? Maybe I’m just extra careful because I don’t want to ruin this perfect canvas,” you replied, cheeks warming at his compliment, trying to focus on the ribbons and not how his muscles tensed beneath your touch.

Once you were done, he couldn't resist flexing his muscles again, and you could see the lase straining, almost ready to snap. “First, let me take a photo, then you can flex as much as you want,” you said, quickly grabbing your phone. You took a couple of photos, capturing the contrast of the delicate ribbons against his inked arms. But then you had another idea. “Yamato, hug me.”

He didn’t need to be told twice, wrapping his arms around you, the bows stood out even more. Only your face was visible, his was resting on your shoulder, but you smiled for the camera as you took a selfie. And just like that, you had your new wallpaper.

“You can let go now,” you teased, but Endo had no intention of letting go. Instead, he swept you off, lifting you in a bridal carry like you were some feather. “Wouldn't dream of it, sweets,” he murmured, eyes now telling you something else. “Now, how about I show you just how strong these really arms are?”

You were shocked by how easily he handled you, but you trusted him completely into letting him take the lead. His strength wasn't just physical—it was the way he could make you feel safe and excited all at once, just by telling you sweet nothings like it was his second nature. Your heart raced, cheeks getting ever redder as he carried you towards the bedroom, knowing full well that he was just getting started.

taglist :: @maruflix

©2024 kaiser1ns do not copy, repost or modify my work

[emkayewrites]

Lukola snippet from my imagination. One cold night, Nicola and Luke are rehearsing their most intimate Season 3 scenes in his trailer when they get a little carried away...

(Excerpt taken from my fanfiction 'Curtain Fall')

2nd November 2022 – Salisbury (UK)

Nicola stepped out of the make-up trailer and onto the sludge that had once been a green, well-kept field.  Several days of non-stop rain had not been kind to the grounds of Wilton House and wellies had become essential wear for the cast and crew.  It was a bitterly cold night with a bright moon hanging overhead. Nicola pulled the big brown fleece she was wearing more tightly around herself and made her way determinedly towards his trailer.

She was equal parts exhausted and frantic.  It was a strange way to feel.  It had been a very long day of filming so she should want to do nothing more than go to bed but her mind would not let her rest.

After all, she had spent several hours on set with Claudia, filming some very emotional scenes that occurred between their characters.  Several takes had been needed because of lighting problems and because Claudia was struggling with a chesty cough.  They had finished their night seated in front of their respective vanity mirrors as the make-up team helped them scrub off the layers of foundation and lipstick, and they had talked about how desperate they were for the warmth of their beds.  Nicola had not entirely lied; she was eager to be warm.  Yet, sleep was the last thing on her mind. 

In less than two days, she and Luke would be filming the most exposing and intimate of all their romantic scenes together.  For several weeks, they had been meeting discreetly in their trailers to rehearse kissing, touching and even tentatively exploring the idea of seeing each other naked.  This had been done without the knowledge or involvement of anyone else even though Lizzy had made it clear to them that the production team would not support the rehearsal of intimate scenes without a coordinator.  Regardless, Nicola had felt that their extra rehearsals were giving her confidence but as the big day approached, she had been losing sleep.  It did not help that since Ezra had arrived less than a week ago, she and Luke had had no time together to privately rehearse.  It also really did not help that she had not seen any part of Luke under his clothes until just a few days ago.  The sight of his tight abdominal muscles, the way his jeans hung just low enough for the revealing V-shape of his obliques to be visible – she shook her head as if to try and shake the image from her mind.

How am I going to have that body on top of me and act?  She thought.  It was not just his body.  It was the fact that she already found his personality attractive – so to find him physically appealing as well would be torturous.  She reasoned that exposure would help.  She was just overwhelmed at seeing him in such great shape for the first time but repeatedly seeing him would surely dull the effect.

So, she had been grateful for the exchange of texts that had happened between her and Luke as she was having her hair and make-up undone for the day.

Luke N: Plans for tonight?

Nicola C: Staring at my ceiling for four hours before my alarm goes off. You?

Luke N: Wow, same.

Nicola C: Rehearsal would probably be a good idea.

Luke N: Definitely.  When do you finish?

Nicola C: Being de-Peneloped in make-up right now.  Can be with you in 10?

Nicola stared at her phone.  She had sent him that message over half an hour ago and there had not been a response.  She tapped out a message as she approached his trailer door.

Nicola C: You better not have fallen asleep.

“BOO!”

She was so engrossed in her phone that when the noise came, she squealed and jumped several inches off the ground.  Her phone slipped from her hand and into the mud. 

Luke was stood behind her in a black button-down t-shirt, carrying a small Styrofoam takeaway box and laughing.

“Jaysus fucking Christ!” Nicola snapped, and immediately bent down to rescue her phone.

“Oh shit, is that your phone?” The smile disappeared from his face.  “Is it OK?”

Nicola peeled the phone off the ground using only the tips of her fingers.  It was completely covered.

“Why would you do that?” She glared at him.  The intensity of her own anger took her aback.  Perhaps it was the very long day of filming or maybe it was the heightened adrenaline she had been experiencing since Ezra had arrived – either way, she was not able to do what a well-rested, clear-minded Nicola would do: laugh.

“It looks alright.” Luke spoke softly and carefully, recognising that a line may have been crossed on his part. “See, the screen’s still lighting up and there’s no cracks…”

Nicola narrowed her eyes at him.  Before she was able to fully form a thought, she found herself thrusting forward, grabbing him by the arm and then smearing the gloopy mess that covered her phone across the cotton fabric of his top.  He let out a shocked yelp and jumped back, pulling his arm away from her but it was too late, the front of his shirt was completely covered.

This time, Nicola laughed.  He looked down at his clothes in disbelief and then at her.

“Happy now?” He sighed.

“No.” She replied, holding her phone up. “My phone is still disgusting.  You’ll have to do the recording tonight.” 

It was true, her phone did not look any cleaner, instead it looked like the mud had just been more evenly spread across the phone’s surface.

“Peace offering?” Luke gestured to the box in his hands. “I got us some chips.”

“You remembered the vinegar?”

“I would throw myself down in the mud right now if I hadn’t.” He attested, leading the way up his trailer steps and inside.

Nicola stepped inside and was hit with the blast of warm air from the space heater that stood by the paisley patterned sofa.  Opposite this was a small kitchenette area with a sink and work surface where Luke placed the box of chips. 

“Oh my God, I feel like I’m melting.”  Nicola sat down, pulling the fleece off herself to reveal a black vest underneath.

“That heater only has two settings – on or off.”  Luke apologized.  “It’s better on then off right now.”

She watched him as he pulled out his phone from his trouser pocket and started to stage it on the work surface before him.  He propped it up against a cup so that it was stood upright with the camera lens facing her on the sofa.

They had taken to filming their rehearsals so that they could watch them back together to see how their performance looked.

He started to unbutton his shirt, trying to avoid touching the dirt where possible.

Nicola watched him, hawk-eyed, as he pulled the shirt off his shoulders to reveal the very sight that she had not been able to get out of her mind.  

How did he still look that ripped at the end of a day?

“I’m sending you the dry-cleaning bill.” He joked, balling the shirt up and pushing it into a laundary bag.  He grabbed at a white t-shirt that was hanging off a hook behind him.

“No.  Keep it off.” She noticed herself gulp as she said the words.  He froze and looked at her.

“I mean… for the scene.” She continued.

“Right.” He let his arm drop away from the hook and he moved towards her. 

Why was her heart racing so fast?

Jesus, he was beautiful.

He has a girlfriend. You have almost got a boyfriend. A very hot boyfriend.  A boyfriend with abs. She repeated in her mind, trying to remind both her mind and body of the facts.

He sat inches from her and a mischievous smile spread across his lips. “If I remember right, we’re both topless in at least one of the scenes.”

Nicola laughed; she knew he was joking but she could not resist commenting: “These are coming out once and once only.  When I’m being paid a crap-ton of money for it.”

“Should I be charging for this?” Luke looked down at himself.

“I think you should be paying me for this.” She quipped and placed a hand on his chest.  She felt him shiver a little at the coldness of her touch, which amused her.  They both stayed in that position for a moment, sat on the sofa, leaning towards each other, her hand on his heart.  He felt warm and his heart was racing.  She looked at him in surprise.

“Nervous?” She found herself asking.

“With you?” He half-smiled. “Always.”

She was not sure how to take his words.  She was sure a look of confusion was spreading across her face.  His heart seemed to thud even faster under her hand.

I make him nervous?  She thought.

What happened next felt natural.  

He leaned forward and pressed his mouth against hers, one of his hands was on the back of her head, holding her face against his.  It was the epitome of a closed mouth acting kiss.  

They had gone through these very movements so many times, it would have been odd for it not to feel natural.  Yes, this was what regular rehearsal and being in your comfort zone with your costar felt like, she was sure of it.

She was not sure how other than the fact that every part of her mouth longed for it to happen but suddenly, her tongue was in his mouth.  Tentatively at first.  He did not pull back.  In fact, his tongue seemed to greet hers with glee.  His hand gripped the back of her head even tighter, and he wrapped his other arm around her waist, pulling her so close to himself that the hand she had placed on his chest was now squeezed between their two bodies.

Wait - what scene was this even?  The question swirled very faintly in some corner of her mind that was easy to ignore. 

All she cared about was how ferociously hungry he seemed to be for her.  He held her so tightly it was almost as if he was afraid to loosen his grip for fear that she might slip away.  His lips left hers so rarely that taking in oxygen was not the easiest thing.  She didn’t care.  Oxygen no longer mattered. Barely being able to breathe felt too good.     

She could hear his breathless panting as he pulled the strap of her vest down and she felt the warm air of the room against her naked breast.  It was the wake-up call she needed to come back into her own body.

What are we doing? 

You should not be enjoying this.

The voice in her head was louder now.

What scene is this even?!

She found herself prying her lips away from his, her hand still on his chest, his heart still beating furiously.

He pulled back, breathless and looked at her.

“I-um, I…” She was at a loss for words.  She knew what she wanted to say but she did not know how to say it.  She wanted to ask him what he was thinking.  She wanted to know what he was feeling.  She wanted to ask him if he felt as crazy as she did right now?  She did not say any of this. 

Instead, she took a breath and pulled her vest back over her breast.

“Boobies out, time to stop.” She gave a chuckle that came off nervous when she had wanted it to come across nonchalant.

“Sorry. I, uh, I got caught up in it…” He trailed off. 

The energy between them was weird.  She knew it and she knew he knew it too.  They had never discussed a line that could not be crossed in rehearsal.  They had only agreed to try to be comfortable with each other and to try to portray the intimacy of their characters with authenticity.  That was the problem though.  This felt too authentic for her.

He has a girlfriend.

He has a girlfriend.

“I actually – you know, the night is just hitting me.” She sounded like a bumbling fool, but it was the best she could do in that moment. “I think I should just go to bed.”

She saw a mixture of emotions cross his face; upset, surprise, concern. 

“OK.” He had settled on agreeing with her, although she could sense he had wanted to protest. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, just – exhausted.” She reassured him. “Are you?”

“I could keep rehearsing but… I didn’t have a ten-hour shoot day.” He gave her a smile. “I’ll walk you to yours.”

“It’s fine, Luke.” She was already on her feet with her fleece wrapped around her.  She stuck her mud-encrusted phone into her pocket.

As she headed to the door, she suddenly remembered his phone.  She turned and looked over at the work surface where it stood.

“Luke – I would delete this one.” She iterated to him.  He nodded. 

Moments later, she was back out into the night.  She was still exhausted.  And her mind was still racing.  In fact, it was worse now. 

I really fucking like him.

And that was a problem.

[hyunjilicious]

dog walkers [hwang hyunjin x reader]

Summary: it wasn't enough that Hyunjin already missed you beyond words, but then he also had to sit down with Felix and reminisce about one of your guys' best dates and make everything worse. (FLUFF) 2.2k + texts

Warnings: none except for hyunjin being absolutely adorable and this being completely self indulgent and not edited ❤️ (also pls ignore the fact that halfway through this I forgot how time zones work, just go with it. Thanks 😖)

"What's my ideal date…" Felix hummed, scrolling through one of the online quizzes his phone recommended. It was the middle of summer, the intolerable heat of Seoul's July forbidding any of the boys from leaving the house. 

"Yeah.." Hyunjin chimed in, his phone instantly falling down onto the couch they were both sitting on. "What is your ideal date? I never heard you talk about it before - about dates in general"

"Probably because I've never been on one," Felix shrugged. "I mean, I have… but just like.. casual dates. I've never actually been on a 'let me take you out' kind of date"

"Casual dates count too!"

"All we did was sit down and talk. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change that memory for the world, but now that I think about it, I kinda wanna go on crazy dates too. Like you and Y/n used to do"

Just the sound of your name brought a smile to Hyunjin's lips. The memories flashed before his eyes at lightning speed, from the first time he saw you, 3 years ago, to the last text you sent him, which had been that morning. "I miss those"

"Which was the best one?"

The enthusiasm in Felix's voice somehow made Hyunjin sad. "Urgh, don't make me do this. I already miss her so much"

"Don't pretend talking about Y/n is not your favorite thing to do"

Again, he couldn't help but smile. "Not when she's on the other side of the globe"

"You're just grumpy today" Felix shook his head. "Do you want me to show you a picture of her? Maybe it'll cheer you up"

"Pff, yeah right" Hyunjin threw an eye roll and pointed his phone in Felix's direction. On the lockscreen there was a picture of you two hugging in front of a blossoming tree. The sun was setting but the gentle and warm artificial light from the fairy lights made it so that both your wide smiles and the flowers around you were perfectly contoured and visible. "I have her as my wallpaper"

"Aww" Felix pouted, grabbing the phone and bringing it closer so he could examine the details a bit more easily. "And it's such a nice picture too."

"Yeah, it is"

"Come on, tell me about your best date. I know you're dying to talk about her"

He wanted to refuse. He knew he should've refused because just the thought of that night filled his heart with so much pain. It was now that he finally understood the true meaning of the word bittersweet. But it was too late, his heart rate already picked up and before he knew it, he was settling better against the cushions on his corner of the couch, feeding off of Felix's radiant and awaiting smile. 

"Ok, but I'd like to start by apologizing to all the other dates we've had, because I feel like an asshole just choosing one-"

"But you know exactly which one it is"

"Yes'' Hyunjin laughed with no hesitation. "Ok, so I don't know if I already told you about this date. I might have, it was the best day ever"

"I don't think so," Felix dreamily shook his head. "I think I'd remember"

"It was right after Y/n got accepted into the programme at work. The day I realized she's leaving. Like she's legit leaving. Like I knew she'd leave, there was no doubt in my mind she'd get accepted, she's the best at what she does, but reality hit me when she showed me the email"

"I remember the email," Felix laughed out loud. "You called me crying, remember?"

"Yeah…"

"One eye crying happy tears, one eye crying sad tears" 

"Leave me alone" Hyunjin exclaimed with a fit of giggles, knowing damn well there was no way to deny it. That whirlwind of emotions was still familiar to him, he was still going through it, one day so proud of you his heart could burst, and the next, so pained by your absence that he could just drop everything and hop on a plane. "I was going through something. That was what made us come up with these ideas for the dates. We always had fun staying indoors and doing absolutely nothing together, but when I realized she'd be leaving for two whole years I kinda freaked."

"Yeah, exactly! Like the other person being there is enough, but if you can do something different, why not do it?"

"Yes. And the first date we had after this was the best day of my life"

"I remember you made a list at one point? The planetarium, you wanted to go hiking, all that stuff-"

"Yeah, well, the first date wasn't so-" Hyunjin trailed off in search of the right word, "Date-y"

"What did you guys do?"

"We decided to walk dogs"

"That's such a Y/n thing, I love it!" Felix laughed, his head thrown back as he clapped his hands. "And no, you haven't told me about this one, I'm pretty sure"

"It means I was saving it for the right moment"

"How many dogs did you walk?"

"Yeah… about that. Y/n posted an ad somewhere, mostly as a joke. We didn't think anyone would actually ask us to walk their dogs, especially because it was on a Saturday. Like during the weekends people actually have time to do this… so we just said ok to every person that contacted us and before we knew it, it was Saturday morning and we had 9 dogs to pick up"

"9!?"

"Yes… I know"

"How did you-"

"Don't ask… please don't ask. They all pooped at least twice and it wasn't just small dogs… every one of them was pulling in different directions and ok, I'm totally used to sticking my hand in Kkami's mouth to take out whatever gross thing he found on the ground and decided to chew, but I wasn't familiar with all these other dogs! Other chihuahuas are fine, but any dog bigger than a beagle? Never doing that again"

"Jesus Christ" Felix was hardly able to contain his laughter, the mental picture being just what he needed. "Only you two could've had this happen"

"It was her idea!"

"I'd be surprised if you didn't jump up and down in excitement when you heard it"

"I might have, but still, I'm not the one who thought 9 was a reasonable number"

"How did you even get to the dog park?"

"We took the car, obviously."

"As if you and Y/n in a car alone with 9 dogs is so much better"

"Hey, we got it done, that's what matters"

"How is this your best date, I don't get it"

"Maybe it was the trauma we went through together. It brought us closer. No, I'm kidding. But it actually was very fun. Once we got to the park, I swear it was like heaven. They were so, so sweet and adorable. And we didn't even have to sweat. All we did was sit down on the grass while they chased each other and played around us. I've never had my face licked so much. We were literally covered in dogs. And at one point-" Hyunjin said with glee and sat up from the couch to exemplify. "- I'd just say turn around and they'd all turn around! Or sit, and they'd all sit. It was like a little dance, they were so happy. It was the best"

"Ok, I take it back. It actually sounds nice" Felix agreed. 

"But then we had to take them all back" Hyunjin sighed, his smile slowly fading off his face as he sat back down. With his legs now gathered to his chest, he continued to speak. "I was starting to get attached. And most of the people that asked us to walk their dogs were older people, you know. And when we brought the dogs back, they were so nice. We obviously didn't want to accept any money, but most of them refused to let us go just like that. One lady gave us flowers from her garden, and I actually painted them. I'd show it to you but I gave the painting to Y/n. And others also gave us pie, and fruits. And like you could tell some of them didn't have much, but they still wanted to share it with us"

A little frown settled on Felix's face as he blinked a few times, "I would've cried" he said sincerely, his eyes not showing even one glint of sarcasm. 

"Oh, we did," Hyunjin nodded with a giggle. "We cried on our way back. Not ugly cried, but we cried"

"It counts"

"Yeah.. and by the time we were done with the dogs, I don't remember what time it was exactly, afternoon anyway, we didn't really know what else to do. We initially planned to go to a restaurant and eat, but we were already full. So we settled for a walk, and we found online this garden in the center of the city - thought it would be nice to go check it out. But when we got there, there was a wedding going on"

"A wedding?"

"Yeah, and the problem was that we didn't realize it was a wedding.. we thought it was just busy so we just strolled in not even bothered by the fact that everyone was dressed in suits and fancy dresses. And so we went towards the back of the garden, where there weren't that many people. It was gorgeous, by the way. You have to see it too, it feels like a different world."

"So you crashed a wedding"

"Well… technically yes, but when we realized what was going on, the bride and groom were very nice about it. They hadn't rented the whole thing so we could've been there for a whole different reason. Like we could've just been there to eat or something but we didn't know. They offered to let us stay if we wanted to dance or something, which was probably just them being polite - we obviously didn't, but we did take some pictures! I mean their photographer took them for us-"

"Your lockscreen!"

"Yes, exactly. And then we left. We stayed there for like 10 minutes maybe? So it wasn't that big of a deal, but we interacted with so many nice people that day. Like, how often does that happen? I don't know, it filled me with joy"

"I can tell, it sounds like a really nice break. Especially since it was the first date like this"

"Yeah… it was very nice. After that we just did a little bit of shopping, went home, cooked together and went to sleep. Like, nothing major happened, but it's still one of the best days of my life. And Y/n was so happy. She didn't stop smiling the whole day. And until then she had been so stressed with work, but that day she was so relaxed, and I got a full day of Y/n just being herself around me, with literally no worries in the world. And I think that's what makes that day so special, because others have technically been more fun, but as time passed and the day she was supposed to leave started approaching, she stopped being so.. I don't know, free. Um… yeah, I don't know what I'm saying-" Hyunjin stopped himself to take a deep breath. "I'm rambling"

"No, I know what you mean," Felix reassured him. "I miss her too."

"What time is it?" Hyunjin asked but was also the one to tap his phone screen to check. When the picture of you two in the garden popped up, both of them smiled. "It's almost 5pm"

"Got any plans?"

"Yes, pester Y/n until she gives me attention. But she's usually working at his hour so I don't want to bother her… too much"

"Send her a selfie" Felix suggested, "It'll make her smile"

"No, I look horrendous. All I've done today was sweat"

"Come on, you could send her a picture of your pinky finger and she'll still find something nice to say about it"

"Yeah, she would," Hyunjin giggled, "somehow…"

"Just like you would, about her pinky"

"Hey, she has very nice hands. And I'm not just saying that"

"I know you're not"

Shortly after, the topic of conversation swiftly shifted. They left the couch in search of food, and neither of them refrained from complaining when they realized there was none left and they had to cook. It was a daily occurance, the complaining and the cooking, but today it was different. While Hyunjin did his part, he moved a bit slower, showed less enthusiasm and his usual jokes were at best delayed, but mostly absent. 

While they both knew the reason, they didn't want to address it. Felix knew his friend would come to him and speak up if he needed someone to listen to him, but he also knew that wasn't enough. Maybe that conversation really wasn't the best idea.

The day drained itself pretty slowly, especially because the only person he wanted to interact with was busy and on the other side of the globe. He wasn't in the mood for anything else and thought he'd go insane, so there was only one thing left for him to do. 

[rumbelleshowdown]

-

Author: apple jacks

Group: Final

Prompts: Baby milestones. Panic, expect, ambition, compact. Treasure.

-

French’s Bed and Breakfast

Belle was dozing on the couch, her head tipping over the book open in her lap.

It was easier to wait downstairs when someone was late for check-in; living on the third floor of the Victorian afforded her and Gideon the most privacy and neither one of them minded the stairs. They creaked something fierce, though, and she never wanted to chance waking the other guests.

Not that there were others right now to wake; they had reached the dead-zone of mid January, when the holidays were over and travel ceased. Coastal Maine didn’t have anything to recommend itself for a yearly tourist season, and Storybrooke, tucked away from any major city, was no exception.

They’d make do in the dead months of winter. They always had, her and Gideon.

This recent booking would help; a last minute reservation wasn’t the difference between life and death, but it would help keep the heat running.

Belle stirred as she heard the sound of footsteps on her porch, her hand reaching more out of instinct than thought for her bookmark. The following knock was sharp and impatient.

Opening the door, she was greeted by a man with not quite shoulder length hair in a long black coat, a single duffle bag slug around his shoulder. One of his hands was occupied by a gold topped cane. He had dark brown eyes and a long face that might have been handsome had it not been downturned in a truly impressive scowl.

“Are you going to stand there staring at me all night?” he snapped.

“Welcome to French’s Bed and Breakfast.” Belle pulled on a serene smile that would put Florence Nightingale to shame as she stepped aside to let him in.

"Save your pleasantries," the man said, the tap of his cane muffled by the rug as he made his way through the doorway.

Belle spared a glance outside—the shape of a dark car she didn’t recognize was parked at the end of her driveway, barely visible from the light of the house. At least he had parked in the right spot.

“Would you like help with your other bags?”

His scowl deepened as he surveyed the entranceway. “What I would like is to be pointed to my room.”

Belle suppressed a sigh and closed the door.

“Of course, sir,” she said in a mollifying tone. She side-stepped him to get to the table that acted as her front desk. Opening her laptop, she asked, “Can I have your name?”

“Gold.” It was said as if he’d thrown a plate on the floor.

Yup, there he was, an S. Gold, her guest for the next two weeks. Lucky her.

“Okay, we’ve put you into the Garden Room—”

“Ground floor.” It wasn’t quite a snarl, but Belle didn’t appreciate his curling lip.

“I’m sorry?”

“I requested a room on the ground floor.” 

Which is exactly what the Garden Room was; she’d seen the request when the booking website had made the reservation, and she was accommodating it.

She held out the room key, customer-service smile plastered over her face despite her tired annoyance. “And so it is. I’m afraid it’s too late for a full tour—”

“I wouldn’t be so late if you had better signage—”

“But if you follow me through here, I’ll show you to your room, and then we can both call it a night,” she finished. She breezed past, knowing he followed thanks to the soft tap of his cane. “Breakfast is served from seven to ten, join us or don’t.”

He entered his room, not acknowledging a word she said. Without even a look, he firmly shut the door in her face.

The bed and breakfast had seen worse guests, even if she couldn’t name any of them right then. At least he’d paid upfront. 

OO

The next day dawned bright and cold. Belle had some time before she had to get breakfast started, so she lay in bed enjoying the sunset as it peeked through her curtains. It was her favorite time of day, especially so because of the soft notes of the piano that rose to greet her.

Gideon liked to practice before he left for school; her son also liked to practice when he arrived home from school. Honestly, if he’d been able to play the piano in his sleep he’d have found the way to. It was a good thing his room was three floors away, or he really would be playing every moment he could. As such, the piano was currently set against the south wall of the study. Which was directly next to the Garden Room. Where she had put up Mr. Gold.

Oh no.

Belle was out of bed, pulling on her robe and half-way down the hallway before she realized it. Gideon knew the rules about quiet hours, but he likely hadn’t thought to check the registration book––and who could blame him, the booking only came in the day before—their last guest left the seventh, nearly two weeks ago—she didn’t care if Gold was a guest, if he so much as looked at Gideon cross-eyed, she’d—

But as Belle’s feet hit the ground floor, she heard something surprising.

”—don’t need to worry about the black keys yet,” she heard Gideon say. “Now, can you find the C again?”

”Here, isn’t it?” 

Belle recognized the voice of Mr. Gold, but it was less sharp than it had been the night before.

“Yes, that’s right. So where are the F and G?”

Belle poked her head around the corner. Gideon was sitting at the bench, which was expected. Beside him was Mr. Gold, which was not.

“These two, yes? Next to each other.” His hand was pointed to the keyboard.

“That’s right.” Gideon positioned a finger over each key. “Play these together six times,” he said, going slow. “And then you move your left finger over, down to the E, and play both keys six more times.”

Gold nodded as Gideon kept playing, a present student.

“And then you’ll move both fingers to the D and B, like this. There’s a skip down to A and then B after four beats on the right finger, but then it’s to C for both, and then you move up the scale until you’re back to F and G, then you do it all again.”

“You make it look easy.” Gold’s voice was quiet, and Belle suspected Gideon couldn't hear the amusement.

”It is easy; it’s a song for babies.” Gideon took his hands away. “Here, you try it.”

Gold didn’t hesitate to replace her son’s fingers on the piano; he matched Gideon’s pace and carefully tapped the piano keys exactly how he’d been shown.

”Like that?”

”Yes, exactly. And that’s the first part.”

”You mean there’s more?”

”If you want to learn piano, you have to learn Chopsticks. Let’s do it again, it’s important to practice.”

”Good morning,” Belle said.

Gideon startled, fingers hitting the keys askew.

”Mom,” he said brightly, turning towards her and quickly removing his hands from the keys. “Morning.”

She raised her eyebrow, and his smile turned sheepish.

”He was already awake,” he mumbled.

Belle shot a glance to Mr. Gold, who didn’t look like he’d be lodging a noise complaint. His poker face was much better than her son’s, though.

”I’m going to get started on breakfast. Gideon, have you eaten?”

”Yeah, I had some cereal.” His eyes darted back to the piano, anxious to resume his impromptu lesson.

Belle looked towards her guest, catching his stare before he quickly looked away.

”How do you take your eggs?” she asked him.

He blinked, the question taking a few seconds to register in his head. ”However you make them is fine.”

Belle went to the kitchen, and the sound of carefully pressed keys followed. They had made it through the entirety of Chopsticks twice as she was reaching for the juice glasses. Then Gideon was calling out a goodbye, followed by the sound of the door.

She waited for Gold to appear at the table, but instead the piano music picked back up, and it was not the simple children’s song. Frowning, Belle turned back to the study.

She didn’t know what song he was playing; it was mellow and calm and somber and good for a gray winter morning. It was also definitely not on the sheet music that Gideon had left open on the music rack.

”A beginner, huh?”

Mr. Gold did not startle, nor did he stop playing. “Your son is a skilled teacher,” he said, voice carrying over the notes. 

Just who was this man? Showing up out of nowhere in his fine suits, reserving a room for two weeks with only a small bag. One moment he was a snapping dragon and the next happy to humor an excited child. Belle wondered what other facets he was hiding.

”How long has he been playing?”

His question broke her out of her scrutiny, and she realized she’d been staring rather rudely at his profile.

“He turned nine in November, so about that long.”

“A passionate lad.”

Her sound of agreement was covered by the ending notes. They hung in the air, even as Mr. Gold turned to face her. It seemed he wasn’t sure what to do when his hands weren’t occupied, and he looked at her, lost.

For this, she at least had the answer.

“Breakfast is in the kitchen. You want some coffee?”

Gold carefully stood from the bench, his cane in hand as he trailed after her.

”Please.”

She got him seated in front of her morning spread; eggs and bacon, a stack of toast and a bowl of fresh fruit, served family style, albeit paired down considerably.

”Anything else?” she asked as she set down his coffee.

“Aren’t you eating?” He gestured to the seat across him and the lack of a second place setting.

“I usually eat after guests.”

”Please don’t wait on my account.”

“You don’t mind the company?”

“No,” he was quick to assure her. “Not at all.”

Belle got herself a plate and a fork, sitting across from Mr. Gold at the table.

“What brings you to Storybrooke?” Belle asked, scooping some scrambled eggs onto her plate.

“Visiting family.”

“Distant relatives?” At his nonplussed look, she said, “I don’t know of any other Scottish people around here.”

The corner of his mouth quirked up. “I haven’t stepped foot in Scotland in decades. My son is quite American, unfortunately. I’m sure you relate.”

“Not all bad, these American kids,” Belle said, more amused than she was willing to admit. Not everyone clocked her own Australian accent, it having mellowed and flattened in all her years spent stateside.

“You’re visiting your son, then?” At his nod, she asked, “Special occasion?”

His crooked smirk immediately transformed to a wide smile, the happiness uncontainable on his sharp face.

“I’m a grandfather,” he said with pride. “My son and his wife had a baby, and I’m here to meet him.”

”A baby! Oh that’s wonderful.” She went through a mental list of everyone she knew who’d had one recently: it was very short. She could really only think of Ashley and Shawn, but Shawn’s father was very much already in town and very much not Scottish.

“Who’s your son?” Belle asked.

”Neal Cassidy,” he said with quiet reference. “His wife is—”

”Emma! Right! They’re quite new to town themselves—“ she cut herself off, realizing. “Henry is almost two, isn’t he? And you’re only meeting him now?”

It was as effective as having the door slammed in her face. Gold’s face shuttered, and just like that the man who’d checked in last night was sitting across from her. It was the first time she’d seen him all morning.

“Yes, well,” he said, starting to push out his chair. His breakfast was only half eaten.

”Wait.” Belle’s hand grabbed his, and the contact shocked him enough that he stopped his escape. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by that.”

Gold focused on their hands on the table, and she could feel the effort it took him to unclench.

“Neal and I have had our differences,” he said quietly. “He’s my treasure, the best thing that’s ever happened to me. And I ruined it. Completely.”

Belle squeezed his hand. She could only imagine what sort of rift had opened up between him and his son. If she were ever to become estranged from Gideon, that’d be it. She’d be nothing but dust.

”I may have missed some of Henry’s early milestones, but I’m here now.”

”You are,” Belle agreed, giving his hand another squeeze. “Neal invited you himself, didn’t he?” If he hadn’t, it was going to create problems that were way above Belle’s ability to solve.

“Aye, he did.”

”Well, there you go then.” With a nod, she pulled her hand back, picking up her coffee mug.

Gold stared at his hand, now alone on the table. “I don’t understand.”

”Family can be complicated, but it’s never too late to mend things. Neal wants you here, and wants you in Henry’s life. He wouldn’t have invited you otherwise.”

Gold moved the remains of his breakfast listlessly around his plate. He sighed, the weight of his past mistakes evident in the lines of his face. Belle watched him with curiosity, wondering about the stories he carried within him. She knew all too well the wounds that could fester over time if left unattended.

“You make it sound so simple,” he said finally.

“I know it’s not,” Belle assured him. “But it’s never too late to try to make things right.” She offered him a smile over her mug. “The first step is always the hardest. Always.”

“Here’s to an easier second step then,” Gold said, letting the smallest of smiles show on his face. Belle was right; he was handsome when he wasn’t scowling.

”Here’s to you enjoying your time in Storybrooke.”

-

[j2d3]

Mr. Loverman | Mad hatter/ Jefferson x reader | Pt 5

Picture this since before the curse you and Jefferson have been best friends, your character is the chesiare cat but a witch version ( NOT A FURY 💀) . This is staged during season one during the time of the curse, your memory is erased but he still remembers you. ( Also Jefferson doesn’t have a daughter in this!!!)

"Wakey, Wakey girl." I hear a kinda unhinged voice say, my eyes still closed but I can feel that he's right in front of me. As I open my eyes, I see him sitting criss cross on the floor spinning a card between his fingers.

"It's Y/n, ya know." I say, sitting up rubbing my eyes, the place gets a little less blurry after a few seconds. I hear the man mutter a yea yea, as he hops up from the grounds.

Stubbly I get up from the bed, trying my best to get out of tired state. Ok recap, last night I saw the guy playing with his hat or whatever, talked to him and then I got sucked into his portal to wonderland, slept in his house and now I'm here. Quite a weird night for a weekend I suppose, the man walks out the room and I follow him out.

"So when can I get home?" I teleport to his side, watching as his eyes widen in surprise to my magic, and a grin all of a sudden splattered on his face.

"Ah so you're a witch, makes sense, only a witch could follow me in this damned place." He grabs his hat off the rack, placing it on his head.

"Technically I fell in here I didn't follow you, but whatever rocks your boat." A chuckle escapes his lips and I'm not going to lie a smirk came onto my face, there's something quite amusing about a mad man, it's fun to figure them out.

"Well perhaps we shall be on our way, I have to do something first before you can go home, and seeing as you're a witch I could definitely use your assistance."

"And that is? What are we doing before I go home?"

"Steal some cookies from the queen of course, but oh they're not just any cookies, they're magical cookies." A scoff escapes my mouth, before a giggle joins in.

"Mkay." Whatever cookies they are they better be worth it.

Time skip ~

I observe the trimmed bushes standing right in front of me, the wonderland maze, this is going to be a trip or is it?

In an instance I'm levitating off the ground, flying I guess you could call it, observing the maze in the bottom of me, turning completely invisible.

"Jeez thanks for your help Y/n, you're very helpful." Jefferson yells, "Very helpful."

I appear beside Jefferson fully visible once again, a beaming closed smile on my face. I signal him to follow me, his face yells in confusing, his eyebrows raised and his head tilted to the side a bit but he still follows me.

"So how you memorize the whole maze in a couple of seconds, are you some type of special witch or something?"

"A memory spell, for longer lasting memory that I added on myself months ago, works so well." I say boringly, stopping for a second before taking a left.

"Uh huh wel-" before he can continue I cut him off, "Why could you possibly go to wonderland for magical cookies, what's so good about them?"

"Dark one's orders, the cookies make you grow to a giant size, he wants to add it to his collection of magical items." My brows rise, why would the Dark one send Jefferson to get the cookies when he can get himself, nevertheless I shall the not question the Dark one's orders.

"Huh Okay." Once again I stop, this time stopping at a dead end, quickly I fix the situation by taking a right.

"I should warn you, Wonderland is a dangerous place, ruled by a vicious queen. We're risking our lives to get those cookies as we are going against the queen." Jefferson states, this time I stop not because of this time it's not about the maze.

"So you want me to risk my life to get some cookies from the queen so I can get back to the enchanted forest?" A large doubt enters through me like a shock of lighting, but yet I feel like I have to do this. I mean what if they kill him and his blood is on my hands, I know I shouldn't care about the man I met last night but I feel obligated do to this.

"Correct."

"Uh huh, got it."

After 30 minutes or so me and him have finally escaped the long puzzled maze, I sigh of relief and so does he.

"So what's next?" I question Jefferson, my hands placed on my hips waiting for him to answer me, I could tell he's thinking of his next steps, I hope he has a plan.

"Next we blend in, so they don't know our faces. After that we sneak into the queen's castle, specifically the basement where the cookies are." Again I am in confusion with this man, he doesn't seem to be a warlock so how is he gonna blend us in unless he has clothes to make us blend in with the crow, actually he probably does. But I'm still confused how we are going to go smoothly in the castle's basement .

Jefferson pulls out fabrics and clothing out his bag, and quickly he put a scarf around my neck and it covers my head only my face popping out of it, but noticeably. He then "disguises" himself in multiple fabrics around himself, he's definitely getting recognized.

"So how are we getting to the castle's basement, wouldn't we easily get caught just walking in?" I am replied my Jefferson's mad laugh.

"We're not going to walk into the castle's entrance Y/n, I'm mad but not stupid. We're taking the wonderland caves, we'll have someone sneak us in through there to the basement." This time instead of confuses I'm curious, does this mad man have connections through all the realms?

-

"Clock? Clock? Are you there? I'm here, it's tea." Holding the torch in my hands cautiously and carefully, I quick catch on his use of the code names. It's pretty easy to detect a code, they're abnormal and out of the ordinary, sometimes they are used in words to describe a person. I can assume Jefferson's code name is tea because he likes tea, and the person's code name is clock cause they like to read the time?

Soon the caves echoes the door screeching open, quietly but easily, a man stands behind the door. only his head popping out, but he's like a human sized rabbit, that's definitely out of the ordinary but knowing how I have a talking insect in my land I don't seem to mind.

"Quick come in, can't have anyone noticing you" , "and your friend." Jefferson grabs my arm, bringing me quickly inside with him. The rabbit checked his watch shakily, his body anxiously shaking.

"Do you what you must but be quick!" Without warning the rabbit bolted out the room, leaving me and Jefferson in the basement, well what I can assume is the basement.

"Woah it was kinda easy getting in here." I exclaim looking around the room while Jefferson scans the room before searching it.

"Don't savor the moment, the queen of hearts is not to be underestimated. Now quick look for the cookies, if you see a jar of cookies that say eat me with a pink frosting there the ones."

"Okay..." I join Jefferson in searching the room, looking in every corner, trying to look for the small details even the ones that don't seem to matter.

"So who is the Queen of hearts?'

"An evil queen and witch, if we cross her she cuts off our heads even for the smallest misconceptions. Nevertheless why we shall quicken our pace my dear and look for this jar of cookies before our heads fly off our bodies." I nod in response, wondering about this queen of hearts.

A faint sound of footsteps catch my ear, all clattered at once. I look to Jefferson's direction to know if he can hear it, he doesn't at least not yet. I quicken my pace, teleporting while I'm at it.

The stomps get closer at each second, a wave of panic floods through my body yet also amusement, now Jefferson hears it. He panics looking through the the shelves, tables, and even the mess of the pile. I'm constantly teleporting, frantically searching for the jar of cookies.

3 soldiers storm in the room, Jefferson looks at the them with a hidden fear in his eyes, I stand my back to the wall. I'm invisible so they don't know I'm here, the slam of the door shutting makes 2 of the soldiers turn their backs, 1 still keeping an eye on Jefferson.

"What the hell was that?!?" One of them says, I quickly lock the door, before teleporting to the guy looking at Jefferson, knocking him out with one of the things I found while scattering the place.

Jefferson's grin reappears on his face as I make myself visible again, the two soldiers turn around, their eyes frozen for a second.

"Surprised?" In an instance I'm beside the second soldier, amused at the confusing and fear splattered on his face. Jefferson grabs the sword from the 1st soldier that got knocked out, looking at the soldier competitively.

"Ya know I've never seen gear as funny looking as yours in wonderland, your queen has set you up really." Jefferson says, eyeing the soldier in front of him. I on the other hand teleport in different places, scaring and confusing the soldier I'm battling. I've never really felt this joy in my life, I like this even though our lives are at risks right now.

A groan of pain is heard from the other soldier, Jefferson hurt him out, leaving him bleeding on the floor. Now it's us against the 3rd soldier, I knock him out but Jefferson finishes him off.

"Now I suppose we get going, don't you agree Y/nyy?"

"Definitely!" Jefferson throws the hat on the floor, slowly but quickly it opens up. Standing on top or in front of it, Jefferson holds my hand as we prepare to jump. Another stomps of soldiers fill the hallway, luckily the door is locked but that dosen't stop the banging on the door as they try to open it.

As the door swings open, me and Jefferson are already falling through the portal, holding hands tightly laughing.

Soon we fall on dirt and leaves, the hat falling and joining us on the floor too. My eyes meet Jefferson's, a look of amusement on both of our faces. Suddenly I remember something, the jar of cookies. We didn't get it, oh no what is the dark one going to do to Jefferson.

"Jefferson, the cookies!" He madly grins, laughing like I said something dumb. He then grabs something from his bag, a jar, the jar of cookies.

"I got it last minute, turns out it was hidden amongst the books.", "Ya know, You're not so bad for a partner Chesiare ." I sigh of relief, smiling back at him.

"Your not so bad yourself hatter."

As we both get off the ground helping each other up, a feeling waves through my mind. He's fun, I like him I think I wanna see him again after this. We dust the dirt and lint off our clothes, Jefferson lifting up his hat off the floor and placing it on head while I fix my dress.

As we both start to walk away from each other I stop in my tracks, turning back around.

"Jefferson." I call out to him, he then stops and looks my way.

"Can we meet again, maybe another task or something?"

"Yes we can be friends Chesiare if that's what your'e asking." I tilt my head but I accept his words knowing that's what I wanted, why I wanted to see him again. I give him a genuine smile and am received by his, I'm going to love being his friend. I walk away with a pleased feeling in my heart, for once in my life I like one of those guys from the pub.

______________________________________________________________

Authors note

Okay so I know I haven't finished the backstory yet but I didn't want to make this chapter too long, chapter 6 is going to be the last part of the backstory and then we're going back to the present. I promise not to make you guys wait too long :) I appreciate you readers and I'm thankful for all of you, have a good day/night!

[kreativewritin444]

judas kiss / t.s

part three of dishonest (mini series)

 authors note// hi thank you so much for your feedbacks, if i have anything unfinished yall really want another part too please lmk bc i literally have lots of ask/request or even things ive started up & forgot ab or have in my drafts. butt i am going through and finishing out some stuff, i just took a vacation and rlly needed some me time... BUT IM BACK BITCHES!!!

   also... holy shit a thousand something followers!!!! thank you guys seeing the endless love and support of my writings has boosted me into starting my own book series ... but thats for another spill. thank you again for following me on my journey of my shitty writings to my development.

i got this tip thing working, i do work full time & go to school so any tips are welcomed and appreciated but either way ty all.

anywhore here is the third part/ im thinking final part as well. let your imagination think of the end... unless too many of yall want more.

 tag list: @allie131313​ @casa-boiardi​

summary: lying about your identity, leads you face to face with the one and only thomas shelby. as chaos unravels much more surfaces as well.

  staring in the mirror, feeling the old, yet the familiar feeling of a silk night gown cascading down your body. remembering the time lasted only for a mere few years. years you weren’t happy. the bruises were faded mainly, except the slight pain in your ribs still.

 taking small pain killers help.

 the day has left you tired leaving the rest of the clothing in the corner of the room. laughing almost as you take in the fact; he really did get you some new clothes. as well as being kind of enough to grab some of your own from your apartment.

 which you were notified was absolutely trashed, yet hidden away you found a picture. one of you, your mum and sister. so young... so innocent. the memories of everything was building up.

 the gown fit you nicely though, the cloth was soft and comfortable. something you almost forgot what felt like, since being alone on the run . glancing over at the clock noticing it was getting late. 

biting your lip softly, things mule over in your head. how thomas was and if maybe, just maybe you two met under a different circumstance. hell even just a re-do of your meetings.

 ignoring it as your hair gets tucked behind your ear. deciding to leave this room and not be cooped up.

 as you step out, your eyes flicker down the hall. movements halting as your mind comes more clear. he was right there in that room.

 the room you’ve seen him enter a mere few times. the light flickers through the crack of the door. it was there. right in front of you. 

 hand never leaving the door knob, biting your lip in deep thought. happy he got you your clothes from home, as well as a few new items. must’ve gotten help from a lady because there’s no way he chose these alonesome. 

 shaking these thoughts your feet spring into action. hand beside you now as your focus was on where he was. fist raising to knock on the ajar door. it swings open wider, creaking slightly as thomas sets some papers down. 

 smoke still in hand as his eyes lift to yours, exhaling the smoke from his lips. he lifts it back up, inhaling again taking in the sight of you. in more different clothing than anything he has seen before. work uniform, one little outfit, and his clothing. you looked good, stunning in a way.

 he was as he usually was, expect a bit more exposed.

 the anger still present when your wounds become more visible, thankfully more faint now. he’s already sent john to deal with that particular matter, but now he had to deal with some stuff tonight.

 “got to look at the stuff, thank you.” giving him a small smiling, trying to make this attempt for a better start forward. needing time to plan future things as your mind hasn’t had a hint of peace.

 he nods licking his lips, ashing in the tray.

 “can’t have you walking around naked, can we?”

  the joke brought a smile small to your lips, as your head thinks about the picture. unaware if he knew it was there or if someone else did the work. his focus is back on the papers making you step in. taking in this private study he enchants himself too; felt like him.

 biting your lip softly, the sight of him before you has your mind in another place. he looks like something you saw only moments before. a mirror image of yourself. less battered and bruised on the outside though, yet he was tired. his eyes red, the bottle out in the open. he was more open, more vulnerable.

 “y/n?”

 you shake your head, a blush crosses your cheeks. “sorry. what ya’ say?” 

he holds back his emotion, but his attention is now yours. “i’ve gotta meeting tonight, tomorrow some more to do. until then just stay here, out of harms way for the love of god.”

 he stands up and stares at you. your lip ends up between your teeth, feeling a bit nervous. he didn’t sound so serious so fierce, he sounds exhausted. as you were to even fight back, which he noticed.

 “if you are up by the time i get home, we should talk.” your eyes narrow at his words, nodding slightly. hands coming up to brush your hair back once more.

 “just knock on my door when you get back, thomas.” 

 with that you open the cracked door wider, rushing out of the room. everything felt too tense too unsettling in there. only when his footsteps become noticeable, you realize he was following you.

 heart racing as you reach halfway down the hall, nearing the stairs. for a moment, your eyes flicker to the front door. 

 the thought crosses your mind. ignoring it as you continue to ‘your’ room desperate that he isn’t actually following. that he would walk himself down those stairs instead.

 as you reach the door his presence was there, the defeat leaves you. turning around to face him. his face was inches from yours. something deep in his eyes as he pushes the door open.

 “thomas?”

 the door closes behind you as he is now only standing in front of you, a heave in his chest almost. “their dead, alright? the men from that night, their gone.”

 your eyebrows furrow in confusion, “wh-why are ya’ tellin’ me this?” he comes forward cupping your cheek. the look in his eye is something you’ve seen before. loss.

 staying still in his embrace, “i-i don’t want ya’ scared of me... for some fuckin’ reason.”

 the confession made your mouth shut completely. “i don’t want ya’ scared at all.”  it didn’t feel exactly true but it what was easiest for him to say. 

that was until he pulls you onto his lips. hands landing on his chest, mouth moving with his out of instinct. pulling away as you push him back slightly. staring into the eyes of a loss man, knowing this could end terribly. 

your chest rises and falls quickly, “i- told ya-”

 “tell me to stop then, y/n.” the deep stare between you two leaves something rattling inside of you. 

 “i-i get your past. i know mines fucked, but i-...” you trail off biting the inside of your cheek for a moment. the internal debate ends with him pushing forward.

 lips on his he pulls you close, your hands around his neck as you both fall back on the bed straddling him. his hands push against your back, deepening the kiss. the hold on you wasn’t harsh, just tight possessive like. as if you were to disappear at any moment.

 pulling away for air, his lips trail from your cheek to your neck. the giggle escapes your lips involuntarily, and for a moment thomas sighs. not of boredom and displeasure but of relief.

 it made your heart swirl because you felt it too. the non-serious feeling of this. even though it wouldn’t last, it felt real for the moment.

 his hand slips down from your waist onto your thighs. eyes flickering back up at you. your hands tug at his shirt, him taking the hint to remove it. the bare chest was there and now you could really look at it.

“thomas.”

 his hand grips the back of your neck, pulling you into a kiss. he flips you over and he holds himself up against you. your back against the bed, other hand trailing between your thighs, you just as desperate for his touch.

 he lifts the gown up slowly, teasing you with his touch. his head drops into the crane of your neck, kissing it softly before tugging your panties down softly. a soft gasp escapes you and he whispers something in your ear.

 “so fuckin’ beautiful.”

 your eyes roll back as he swirls your clit, the sensation incredible. “fuck.”

 “taste good too.”

 he enters a finger before he slowly moves his body down. his motion was slow and you whine when he leaves you. looking down seeing him between your thighs now, inches from you. his eyes flicker up, the blue prominent.

“impatient ay’?” your hand flies into his hair. trying to ignore the urge to roll your eyes,

“did ya’ forget that already?”

 without another word his tongue swirls around you, a soft moan leaves you. he continues but slowly adding a finger. your calves press into his shoulders more, leaving his tongue to move slightly faster.

 “oh th-” he slides another finger in making your words cut short, back arching off the bed slightly. giving him access to push your gown up above your breast. his hand comes back down around your thighs, feeling them shake around him.

 unable to take it anymore your hand pushes at his head, but he holds it down instead. speeding up as your stomach drops, a moan leaving your throat. liquid coats his fingers and tongue as he stands up completely.

 “do ya’ love anyone y/n?” the question caught you off guard. your breathing uneven coming down from your high; his pants drop and your body felt even more turned on.

 “never really had a chance to experience love. probably doesn’t exist.” you confess the mere summary as you spread your shaky legs. his grip on them tightens, moving you closer to him.

 he stares down at you in a way that you truly didn’t understand. “i like ya’, ms.solomons.” he confesses as he spits down on you. the action so dirty, but the confession so clean.

 “just y/n, thomas.” the intent was known and he kisses your knee before moving. the feeling of him entering you slowly, made you grip his arm that held your waist. 

 “i sometimes-” you stutter out as he rocks against you slowly, fighting to keep your eyes open.

 “i sometimes like to believe it could be true.”

 he leans forward, the angle deeper than before as he kisses you deeply. his free hand coming to cup your jaw. his hips pick up speed leaving you a moaning mess in his mouth.

 he was gentle, taking in what you reacted too. this wasn’t your first time but he felt as if you were innocent in a way. your eyes flicker up to him before you tug your dress over your head.

 leaving you both completely exposed, “it’s true.” he confesses pulling away, turning holding you up against him as he lays down. your knees against the bed as he bucks up into him.

 “ya’ crazy mr.shelby.” he pushes your hips down even more leading to the familiar feeling arise again. your nails sink in his shoulder, biting your lip clinging to him.

 “say’s the one who’s dead.” you try to get a witty remark out but your orgasm spreads, feeling yourself starting to clench.

 “yet ya’ look so fucking alive around me.” the wetness spreads down your thighs as he doesn’t let you go. “m-maybe i feel alive- with ya’.” the deep moan leaves you, the feeling of your bare chest touching had you in a whirl.

 he’s buried deep in you as you cling to him, almost in tears overstimulated. you beg him. “tho-thomas. i-”

“so fuckin’ good.” his his shake slightly, as he leans back staring into your eyes. “do you trust me?” at how you were feeling you’d trust anything. your eyes flutter but you nod.

  he stutters into you as his releases inside you making your eyes widen. pulling back panting as his eyes connect with yours. two different looks.

 “wh-what did you do?”

 “do ya’ trust me?” the logic in the room was clearly not there because without a second thought you nod again. he kisses you softly, “be mine. stay alive and i promise ya’ everything you could need.”

 you pull yourself out of him, wincing at the feeling. your eyes stare into his, as the covers surround you,

“but you don’t love me.” 

 his eyes drop slightly, “i can see somethin’ in you. i need someone like ya’, think of this as something good.” you feel so exposed staring at him in disgust. “ya’-ya’ just came in me, who knows if i’ll get pregnant! thi-this is not gonna end well. what the fuck were ya’ thinking?”

 “what the fuck was i thinkin’? oh my go-”

 he sits up, “i’m thinking fuckin’ smart! ya’ know this shit, i am rising y/n, i need a wife and i need someone who can be that wife.” you stare at him and stop for a moment. it cut off your overthinking for a moment.

 it wouldn’t be real but it could be. yet either way you could be safe... you could be free of being on the run. you could be alive.

 “i need to think on it? i-i can have your answer tonight.” your words tremble slightly as you slip your gown on, facing away from him. “hey.” his hand lands on your shoulder. 

your flinch makes him wince, scooting closer to you. covered up with the sheets. “i haven’t asked just anyone this question. this is fuckin’ insane but i-i do like ya’. we can figure this shit out because you know it’s true.”

 “you need me just as much as i need you.” you mutter as a  small smile appears on your lips, “i need a shower for a fact and nap thomas. you have somewhere to be, should get going.”

 his hand leaves yours taking your hint, “i’ll knock on your door tonight. get some rest.”

after he redresses and the door closes behind him, the tears stream down your cheeks. you wanted him but you were so scared and conflicted.

 your answer was yes from the moment you realize he was as stubborn as you but you were now a ghost.

-

 you were laid down, the candles still lit allowing thomas to see your image. he walks closer but you were barely asleep. he sits down beside you and sighs heavily.

 he doesn’t know you’ve woken up, and his energy was strong. you figured thomas shelby out and for a man to keep you around long enough...

 you knew from the beginning you liked this man, but being ‘dead’ has made you believe any. any of that type of thing was impossible. slowly you turn over, facing the man who stares ahead.

 “eric is tryin’ to be a political man. if ya’ know alfie, imagine a sickenin’ no good bastard times a billion.... as him.” the words made thomas sit a bit straighter. you felt vulnerable now, half asleep tucked into a new home.

 you had to give a answer.

 “i’ve looked him up, he isn’t much and from what i’ve heard. alfie really doesn’t give two fucks for him.” the way he settles his sentence lets you know that eric is no threat. to you or himself in any aspect.

 “charlie’s mother, i-i won’t ask you to speak of her.” you sit up now, thomas takes in your sleepy appearance. “if i take on that boy as my own. i will love and teach him as my own, but you have to tell me about her so he can know his true mother.”

 your eyes swell up slightly. “she won’t be forgotten in your mind ever, i know that. so let me learn, let me be there for you so i don’t go crazy. so i-i can do better...”

 the words hit thomas and he only shifts to maintain his composure. you don’t notice since your emotional more so, but he knows he did right choosing you.

 “i have a story, everything about how to make you ‘undead’ since your job at it wasn’t the best.” that made your eyes look up at him.  “i know ya’ can’t be her, but i do have some’ towards you.” 

his hand reaches out to cup your face. “she wanted some of the stuff you did as well...”

 the deep stare was all that was needed, you let this moment last. he was gone when he lost her. loosing her was loosing apart of himself. you accepted it because you truly knew love was not meant for you in this lifetime.

 slowly breaking the moment, lips almost trembling but your composure well gathered now. “if we do this- ya’ can’t treat or make me out to be some fool of a house wife. i-i’m more than that and i’ll be damned to be one of your puppets.”

 moving out of his reach makes you ache for it more yet thomas sees something within you. you were sorta like polly sometimes. strongly determined woman.

 “ya’ help me stay together, ya’ help me keep this household together... my family together and whatever ya’ want is yours.” flickering from each eye, he awaits your response and you nod.

 “i agree, to be your wife. i agree to hold your secrets, now for i wish to get rid of the jewish ways though... go back to the gypsie ways. please.” your desperation was without notice and he kisses you.

 kissing you felt like kissing grace.

kissing you felt like kissing grace.

-

  setting down the glass of whiskey, your eyes train along the inside courier. everything was simple, everything was different. charles was taken to bed not too long ago, you didn’t see much of him but it made you think.

 too take on this responsibility was what you were raised for. yet you ran from it because eric was a vile man... so is thomas. your heart aches though due to the surprising feeling erupting yourself; that you may just like the man ever so slightly.

 with your past and his it felt like you both being so fucked up, it could work? sighing heavily and grabbing the glass once more. the liquid slips down your throat as you enjoy the peace of true alone time.

 telling his maid, well lady of help to head to sleep since you were up. if charles was to awake you could handle it or if need be. get her up. charles really ponders through your mind, for you would be like a mother.

 you could be his mother, yet you would never wanna replace his true mother. what was she even like? what did she view or believe? what the hell did she see in thomas shelby?

 he said she was a bit like you, in what fucking way?

 you move and see her painting and you looked nothing of her. she looked of class and elegance, some real princess shit. you didn’t compare to that, so what motive was this?

 make me alive again, was this his plan? biting your lip you throw back the remaining liquor. rolling your eyes at the empty cup, you head towards the kitchen.

 smiling to yourself of the kindness that francis left out the bottle for you. moving forward you almost reach the counter but you were hit over the head. your body hit the ground harshly, the glass breaking surrounds you.

 it flashes back to the moments of your mothers death. yet before you could react you were hit again, and the darkness overtook you.

-

 you awoke in a moving vehicle, head pounding your face contorts in displeasure. trying to focus your vision, your eyes land on a priest as well as a few other men.

 “hello miss solomons.” the priest smiles wickedly and you stare back unfazed, or atleast as much as you could appear.

 “well you see, there’s so many ways this here can go. yet as of right now, you are actually of great use.” his tone menacing and your head was spinning.

 you try desperately to maintain eye contact with his. unsatisfied with your response of nothing; he nods as one of his men move forward. the hit makes your head sling to the side. blood literally splattering onto the window beside you.

 the taste of blood in your mouth has became a all too familiar feeling. as you let your head hang lowly, you over hear someone mutter. “we are almost there.”   

 moving your hand to wipe your chin, seeing the back of your hand covebloody finally angers you. not knowing where this was going, you finally look back up. “i think we might just have to use the boy instead.” 

your heart drops, distracted now. the boy? of course it had to be...

“what boy?” you finally speak, it slightly muffled due to your severe swollen lip. this gets the mans reaction. “she speaks!”

 “what boy?” you question again, feeling a sense of protectiveness all of a sudden. what is going on with you?

 “ahh, mr.shelby’s boy. ya’ see we have a deadline, and i do have orders with him. oh i spoke to your cousin mr.solomons... he does seem to have a keen interest of seeing you.”

 sitting back you take in everything, the deep wrenching pain in your chest over came you. ”didn’t mention if it meant alive or dead, though. dear.”

 tears fill your eyes, as you realize everything. this was all a lie, a pawn, a game.

 “yet your price is a wager, does thomas care more for your safety or does your cousin? or i could merely kill you now and just let you be what you so ‘desire’.”

 his words let everything truly settle now. you never escaped. you just switched paths.

 it almost could make you laugh, until it did. you looked crazy and stupid but you were laughing, hysterically almost. wincing at your lip throbbing, heaving out as your head pounds from the movement. you stare into the mans eyes dazed. he stares back at you in discomfort but looks away.

 thomas got his own kid into this shit. he better have this all figured out. dizzy from the amount of hits to the head you’ve taken. you look back over and see the man on your right snatching out two pills. eyes widening slightly as you try to move back.

 “what is that? wh-wha-no!” the men hold you down, your kicks and hits defenseless. the pills shoved in your mouth. water forced down your throat whilst your nose was plugged, left you choking on the water. forcing you to swallow.

 yet they continue it for a few seconds longer, leaving you to start choking horribly. knowing it was swallowed, you were let go finally. shaking and drenched in water, you wildly swing your fist forward. 

pure rage in hitting the man on the right. your leg kicks the other guy, before you hit the priest once. a strong hit leaves you slumped, mind swirling until you were no longer able to stay awake.

-

 a strong jerk makes your eyes flicker open. charles was crying softly, making you ignore your own pain. sitting up you look at the man holding him. out of it but desperate you plea.

 “give him to me. please, i-i was a mother, i know how to make him stop.” you lie out of instinct but the man seems irritated and hands charles over with ease. ignoring their looks as we come to a stop.

 pressing a soft kiss to his head, you hold him soft rocking him softly. your watch the men get out of the vehicle, it was dark out now and your head hurt so bad.

 keeping it together for the sake of charles, you try to stay focused. the priest man comes back and you clutch charles more tightly, charles surprisingly soothes down within your hold.

 “come on, lets go.” knowing what happen last time, you slowly move out the car, careful with charles the cold wind hits your skin for your only in a nightgown and light sweater. which was blood stained.

 the darkness led you to follow him, but soon a room with light appears. you sat down as instructed, feeling the light make your head hurt worse. you notice the two other guys didn’t follow through and he was now alone.

 trying not to move, you let charles sit beside you. oddly enough he gave charles something to eat while you stay silent. he looks up at you with a smile.

 “the deal is all taken care of, you will be taken care of soon.”

 this sick bastard. he gets up suddenly looking back at me, “stay here.” the tone was threatening and you nod softly. scared of what might happen, you sit quietly listening in hard. 

moments pass before you heard the words uttered, “please don’t shoot.” you fly up, feeling dizzy from the quickness, glancing back seeing if charles will be okay. 

moving forward grasping the wall beside you, as the spots slowly fade from your vision. following the way he took trying to listen in on where the sounds were coming from.

 moving quicker at the noise of grunting and painful sounds, ignoring your own pain. you round the corner, taking in the sight of the priest guy fighting a younger guy. 

 in the oddest moment you notice a hat, the familiar hat. the cap thomas had, a similar one on the ground.  “you know who your fucking messing with?” 

 he throws the guy against a bench, swinging on him. both hands wrap around his throat in such a swift motion. the look on his face reminded you of what yours probably looked like. without thinking you grab a nearby book.

“i’ll take the fuckin’ life from ya’.” you throw the book, it missing your goal hitting him in the back. “leave him the hell alone!” rushing forward, as he turns around one arm coming out. his elbow hits you harshly making you fly back.

 hitting the side of a bench, your ribs aching out from the movement. not even knowing what you hit, you stay on the floor. tears leave your eyes unwillingly from the pain.

 flying back the back of your head slams into a bench, rolling over sideways. in a slump, you barely were able to make out what was in front of you. all the damage to your head, you knew in nursing this was severe.

“both of ya’ gypsie bastards” without a second thought, the man slices the priest eye. him stumbling back in pain, as the younger man kept coming and coming at him.

 “melanie?” you call out as you swore you heard her voice. snapping out of it at the slam open of doors.

 two men emerge from a door, too much in pain to handle that situation. trying to push up, hearing the sound of charles cries. “charles.” you gasp out, completely remembering the boy. 

managing to get up shakily, moving forward only to stop momentarily. taking in the sight of the bloody mess of the once alive priest. the image locks you in, before you turn back. your were weak and slow but you reach charles.

collapsing beside him leaning back against a near wall. ignoring everything in the world, for it was too much to bare. how odd you found yourself near something of pure innocence; after the chaos you just endured.

 charles babbles as you softly sob, “oh charles.”

“it’s alright.” the mans voice spoke, stopping you momentarily. you went silent uncertain exactly anymore of anything. despite everything though you speak up.

 “thank ya’.” your tone hush as if you weren’t bold to speak loud. the man sighs out and you wince.

 “but ya’ gotta get th-thomas.” the words slip out weakly, eyes flutter as they gaze upon the boy. not even noticing he came around the corner. blood soaked and shaken up, trying desperate to stay focused.

 “i’m michael, i’m tommy’s cousin.”

 so simple, which was all that was needed. “y/n solomons.” he helps you up, you lean against the wall as he scoops charles up. “hold onto my arm, there is a car outside.”

 managing to get inside, but once settled your body slumps. you try to stay up, but the tiredness takes over.

 still out not noticing you arriving at the shop, or that michael already took charles inside to the rest of his family. he notified them of you. ada and polly knew for they were the ones who helped you get your clothing.

 thomas spoke of you to arthur once.

 michael ends up carrying your lifeless looking form inside. polly rushing out orders, ada making a place for you to lay. you were set down and polly pushes your hair out of the way examining you, but when she touches you.

 her heart sank. for no reason apparent it just did. 

 “someone call thomas.” and the cheerful glee of happiness of charles was apparent but the dark silent loom of your appearance was one of unease.

 “mum, sh-she helped save him.” he confessed out to polly, who let out a sigh. “well call the damn doctor as well, for christ sakes.”

 your eyes flutter open slowly, “charles?”

 polly grasp your hand, “he’s safe dear, your both safe now.”

 “n-no my head. i can’t my head.” you groan in agony, and your heart aches. “thomas?”

 the room went silent. “tho-thomas?” polly speaks up, “he’s on the way.” yet after those words your eyes roll back. “the doctors on the way!” ada calls out and polly sighs in worry for the girl.

[greydoesthearts]

Faulty Memory

A/N: decided to post more writing here again ^^ this is a pretty direct continuation of my first swap!AU story, The Beginning of the End!! Major spoilers for that so I'd suggest reading those three chapters first, but otherwise I hope you enjoy :3

AO3 link

Extra note because not everyone is familiar with my swaps but the character referred to as "Ace" in this is Anti :]

-

A trail of red, illuminated by moonlight and accompanied by muddy, scuffed footprints, was not something that Chase had thought he’d find on a night out on patrol, yet here he was, tailed close behind by Jameson whose mood was a complete 180 from Chase’s own.

While Chase was in awe of this mystery—after all, it was the first non-villain mystery he’d come to encounter and he’d been here several months—his buddy was… not so much. Still, Chase was convincing and was able to get Jameson to come along, as long as he agreed to the terms of letting Jameson be his senses, the lack of attention that Chase had the tendency of portraying being one of his bigger flaws in hero work.

The trail was long and twisting through this, undoubtedly well-off, neighbourhood they’d found their way into. They’d come across it originally, leading out of a small creek area and into the bunches of brick houses where families were probably sleeping about this time and wouldn’t want to be bothered by sounds of workers drawn to an emergency. But, oh well, Chase supposed. If someone was in trouble, it was up to him to save them!

And then Chase stopped. Jameson nearly collided into his back, the younger biting his lip and gesturing to the trail end on the ground in front of them and where it led.

The house was just like all of the others, but there was light peeking from behind the curtains, so whoever was home was probably also awake, and quite possibly the culprit, or victim, of whatever crime had been committed.

"CB," Jameson called quietly, keeping behind the fence surrounding the front of the property. "We shouldn't do this alone. Please."

Chase waved a hand. "Nonsense. We're just going to have a look around."

And he was certain that was all it would be, too. So, he slunk through the gate and walked up to the window, taking as good a look inside as he could without risking being seen.

"Grey carpets, no blood in sight. And, uh... an entryway with visible stairs to the second floor."

"Very well." Jameson stepped closer and pulled out a notepad to write down the findings. "Anyone in sight?"

"Hmm... doesn't look like it. The kitchen looks unused and dark, and there's nothing on the coffee table. They might have just forgotten to turn the light off before bed, to be honest. I'm gonna try to get another angle."

Jameson sighed, finally making his way through the gate to follow as Chase went out of sight. "This is trespassing, no matter if you find anything or not," he said matter-of-factly.

The hero didn't respond, leaving Jameson to follow the crunching of his footsteps through the dirt and sticks.

When he found him, Chase was peering through a dark window and Jameson panickedly approached and yanked him down. "You can't do that!"

Chase yelped quietly, falling on his ass. "There's someone in there, unconscious! We couldn't see this room from the front, I need to help them," he pleaded, giving Jameson a pout. "Please, help me open the window."

"No!" Jameson said immediately. "We can't do that! What we can do is phone the authorities and report suspicious activity. That's as far as I'm willing to put myself into this."

"Into what? Harm's way? You could beat the shit out of anybody any day, James! Come on--"

There was a sound above them suddenly, and Chase looked up to see a shadow at the window, tapping for their attention. The room was still dark, no light filtering out, yet the figure emitted a sort of light of its own that allowed them to see.

"Told you, James!" Chase said quietly.

He pulled himself out of Jameson's hold and stood back up to the window to get a better look at the figure inside. All he could make out was dark, streaked hair and dark eyes with bags, all on and surrounding a young man's face; he was scruffy and unkempt with freckles dotting about. The light seemed to be coming from below, but he couldn't bring his hands up to the window, tapping with the side of his head.

As he moved, Chase could see below the window ledge that bandages lined his neck.

"Are you hurt?" he asked, and the stranger in the window nodded with an even expression. "Trapped?"

Again, a nod, before Jameson found his way beside Chase. "I'm dialing for help," he said, holding his phone to the window. "Tell us your name and we'll sort this out, all right?"

"James, I don't think he can. He's got wraps on his neck, and they're bloody. He needs a medic more than anything."

"Yeah, they'll figure that out..." Jameson dismissed, letting himself back down as the call clicked through. "Hi, I believe a friend and I have stumbled upon a hostile kidnapping situation at--"

Chase tuned him out, looking back at the man. "Don't worry man, I'm sure you'll be okay as soon as the emergency services get here," he tried to soothe, but it just seemed to rile the man up, metal rattling against metal below the window. He mouthed words at Chase, but as much practice as he'd had at lipreading, the panic was too strong. "Slow down, slow down."

"They'll be here soon," Jameson said, but he could sense the panic coming from Chase. "Hey, come down and let's wait for help together."

But Chase wasn't listening to him. He watched the light die out from beneath the man and caught as he finally mouthed something clear to him, "GET DOWN. HIDE."

Chase listened to that clear as fay, dropping his grip from the window and pulling James to a bush beside the house nearby a path leading into the forest. He covered both of their mouths, as if Jameson would have the same impulse to speak, but he let it happen, listening to what was going on in the house.

"Somebody was out there, weren't they?" a male voice accused in a tone rough with exhaustion. "Don't lie to me!"

The one-sided conversation took a pause before the clank of metal happened again but bigger; a body hitting some kind of grate? But as quickly as that had happened, there was the sound of sizzling and a loud shout of pain.

The voice cursed in german. "Least you aren't trying to knock me out anymore. You know where that leads you, eh?" he laughed.

Sirens interrupted the whole of Chase and Jameson's eavesdropping evening. Chase had been unsure about it before but now he couldn't bear to witness what was going to happen.

"Fuck..." the voice spoke unexpectedly. "You'd better get me out of here right now, Ace. Or so help me, I will make even your life in hell miserable."

A gunshot, then a flash of brilliant light erupted out of the house.

It was quiet for a moment with just the sounds of the emergency vehicles as they pulled up and covered the front street of the house. People in vests made their way in first, busting the door down based on the sound.

But eventually the house was deemed clear and the hostage was saved, dragged out on a stretcher with a blanket over him and minimal equipment despite the seemingly fatal neck wound.

That was all Jameson remembered from that night. He'd never gotten as good a look at the man as Chase had, but he would remember that black sweater he was wearing as he was rolled out of the house, clear as day now.

Now. Mere weeks after Chase had been shot and killed in action. By that exact man they had saved.

Now. In his little magic bubble as he tried to figure out how to go back in time to stop everything that he had caused. He hadn't remembered befire but now he did, and...

Oh god, what had he done.

[heystephen]

I went to a music festival in Greece to see Muse back in 2016. There weren't any seats, it was all standing room everywhere, and it was on concrete on the shore of the sea. The festival was happening late July, so it was also extremely hot. Drinks and food weren't allowed inside the venue, but there were many vendors all around where people could buy whatever they needed. The issue was that you had to bring cash or a card, buy festival tokens, and then use those to make purchases throughout the festival for everything except merch stands. Anyway, the vendors were giving the water bottles opened, they opened them in front of you and then handed them over, it was a security precaution in case someone threw one of the bottles toward the stage.

While it was really hot and crowded during the daytime, once the main headliners started performing in the evening/night, it got even hotter because even more people started arriving and crowding around the stage. The thing is, everyone was very friendly, because all the people there were gathered to see their favorite artists, so whenever someone needed a drink, they could hand some tokens or just cash to whoever was feeling up to it, who would go to the vendors and pick up something like half a dozen water bottles and bring them back for multiple people to have something to drink. I picked up water bottles for people at some point too. And this was at the very front too, where I was standing with complete strangers, as I decided to go see the show alone, traveling from a different country too. At one point I started feeling pretty light-headed due to the heat, so I left my spot and went all the way back to where the stage was still perfectly visible but there wasn't as big of a crowd, to get some relatively fresher air. Immediately, complete strangers gathered around me to check if I was okay, if I needed anything, or if I needed medical attention, the people were truly lovely and I felt better knowing I could get help if necessary.

So, whoever reads this and attends any sort of event where the weather is warmer, if you're feeling okay, check up on the people around you, see if they need anything, and if they're feeling okay. If you're not feeling okay, turn to literally anyone and ask them to come with you to a place where the crowds are smaller/to the medical tents/bathrooms, or whatever might be available at the venue. Don't worry too much about leaving your spot, it's more important for you to stay awake and alert to get through the show even if it's not from the perfect position on the ground, instead of feeling sick and not even remembering most of it because your body entered survival mode. You're there to have a good time, not to suffer. I know the venue and company are shitty when it comes to Rio, and it's been that way for a while from what I read, but if they're not looking out for you, you've got to look out for each other and yourselves at the very least. Please take care of yourselves because these capitalists obviously won't do it.

literally cannot stress the importance enough about looking after yourself and other concert goers around u!! really glad you had good people around you, anon. 💜

[firecaptainphoenix]

Ashes

I could hear the signs calling out from the bottom of the fireI am like a torch flickering in the wind as the saying goes

About: Jay wakes up and Phoenix gets the news of how things are looking for her. TW: injury tw, memory loss tw, death mention tw

It's been a long night, people groaning and moaning in pain at the station. They'd moved who had been able to be moved to the clinic overnight, for some it was also those willing. He's grateful for Knightley spending the night, as much as he wanted to send Jay over to the clinic, being away from the station was a non-starter. That and having her as well as Dodger in one place made him feel better.

He'd crashed hard in the chair next to his daughter's cot, head resting on Dodger’s shoulder. Exhaustion and stress had taken its toll, both physical and mental. Celia’s little brother’s face still flashed in his head, how broken they had looked sitting next to their partner. 

He hates what it reminds him of, hates how it had made him feel, grateful for the curtain giving some sense of privacy while he and Dodger sat with Jay. When he wakes up he grunts, more than likely to old now to be passing out in random chairs, even with Dodger to sleep on. 

Despite his best efforts it seems Dodger had also slipped into sleep, he knew he'd been awake most of the night. Gently talking Phoenix back to sleep each time he jerked awake. The image of being too late for Jay firing through his mind every time. Leaning over he pressed a light kiss to the other man’s forehead taking off his jacket to make him a makeshift pillow. 

Hearing rustling he's quick to turn when he sees Jay stirring with a groan. “Hey Jaybird, take it easy, you took a good hit to the old noggin,” he said grabbing his water bottle and holding it up for her. 

It's about half an hour for her to be fully coherent after some water. Dodger going to the house to grab her a change of clothes, Phoenix had caught the way her brow furrowed when they kissed before he left. He shrugged it off figuring she was still worried about him and Dodger from earlier. 

He pulls the curtain back seeing that a few people are also getting ready to head home or being reassessed for discharge or if they need to now go to the clinic. Spotting Felipe who'd been sleeping against Mo he motions for him to come over. 

The boy doesn't hesitate doing his best not to sprint through the people walking about. When Jay sees him she visibly brightens before Phoenix can't see her over Felipe hugging her gently. The relief is short lived; he'd been glancing away when Felipe kissed her, opting to give them their moment when he hears Jay make a noise of surprise. 

Her face is bright red, Phoenix's brow furrowing as he looks at her. It's not like she's never kissed Felipe in front of him, hell she's usually the one initiating. Still she looks both stunned and confused, stuttering as she asks what he's doing. 

Phoenix feels dread building in his chest, it must show on his face because when he catches Knightley’s gaze the man is rushing over. He's at Jay’s side giving her a reassessment, asking her a few questions here and there. 

“Do you remember what you dressed up as for the festival?”

“Yeah I went as Supergirl and Dad went as Clark Kent with a Superman shirt underneath.”

That's wrong. That had been last year's costume, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. Doing his best to keep his face neutral both for her sakes and Felipe’s who looked ready to be sick. 

“Do you know who I am?” He hears Knightley ask. 

“A doctor?” 

“Jay…” Felipe trails off rubbing at the back of his neck, “Come on…That's Knightley you-”

“I’m Doctor Knightley, but you can just call me Knightley. It's nice to meet you Jay,” Knightley said, cutting off Felipe and briefly shaking Jay’s hand. “I actually help his uncle, I've been giving him more medical training.”

Jay had been glancing at Felipe, the confusion still there before she's looking back at Knightley. Slowly nodding none of what he says seems to be sparking any recognition. “Once I get back on my feet, could I come? Most of what I got came from junior rangers and the fire station. Never hurts to learn more, right?”

“Of course, always more than welcome to,” it's only the fact he's learned how to smile that keeps Knightley from grimacing. They've had this talk before, had it at Celia's house when Mo had brought him by for a family dinner. She'd been more eager than Mo even, and now this. 

He's worked emergencies before, and had barely reacted to it all. Even now he's still fairly fine all things considered, able to compartmentalize. Still, with this, now he understands when people would scream that things weren't fair. 

It's a few more questions and another check up before Knightley is asking to speak to Phoenix alone while Felipe stays with Jay. 

“How bad?” The first words out of Phoenix's mouth as he does his best not to openly stare at his daughter. 

“She has a concussion, memory loss isn't uncommon with this. She'll also likely need some physical therapy for the arm, that glass was in there deep.” 

Phoenix rubs his mouth, nodding as the other man speaks before swallowing, “She'll get it back though, like it'll come back?”

Knightley wants to be optimistic, wants to not just for Phoenix but for Jay. “I don't want to give you a false promise, it is likely it'll come back slowly. She could wake up tomorrow with it all back or it could take a few months.”

Nodding Phoenix spares a glance at Jay seeing the way she's trying to talk to Felipe. Though they both seem to be avoiding meeting the other's gaze. 

“Is this my fault? If I had done something different would…” trailing off he shrugs and shakes his head glancing away. He'd asked the question without thinking and now he's almost afraid of the answer. 

“It was an earthquake, I doubt there's anything you could have done,” it's not often Knightley feels like he said the wrong thing, but he notices how Phoenix clenches his jaw. 

“Yeah. Heard that before,” Phoenix knows he sounds bitter, and maybe he is. At one point will he and his daughter get a damn break already? It was bad enough that she got hurt. But with an earthquake of all things, it feels like God is openly laughing in his face.   

Knightley hesitates, briefly glancing at Jay, “She's alive and stable, that's better than most.” He's been trying not to think about how declaring a young blonde woman dead made him feel, dragging Xander away from Minnie. Then going on to treat Jay, another young blonde, shaking his head to force that line of thought away again. 

Phoenix grimaced and slowly nodded, “Yeah you're right… Just fuck this town is just…”

“You want something to blame, even if it's you, but that's not going to do you any good,” running a hand through his hair Knightley shrugged, “She's going to be relying on you a lot. Based on her answers I'd say she's lost about a year’s worth of memories. It would be best to keep her with people she knew during that time and slowly reintroduce anyone new. Overwhelming her with too much information could send her into a panic.” 

Phoenix was nodding, gripping his wrist in his hand, he would have fidgeted with the necklace he usually wore. But that had been given to Jay something else he'd likely have to explain. “Fuck… Dodger he moved in… what do I?...” He's trailing off again, finding it harder to speak and hating himself for it.

“She knew Dodger a year ago, that wouldn't be a bad place to start,” Knightley offered him. 

Letting out a sigh of relief he nodded again, glancing at Jay then back at Knightley. He hates what he's about to ask but his options are limited. “Listen I know you're the commune doctor, but you wouldn't be opposed to a house call for her. I mean I'll pay you obviously.” 

Knightley blinked in surprise, “I'm not opposed to it, but isn't your brother a doctor as well?”

“Yeah but our other brother is already banged up good and under his care. Don't need him worrying about every Romero you know? Also a year ago she was still nervous to ask Hawk for anything, scared of bugging him cause he got an important job or whatever. His daughter also works at the clinic and fucking hell that's another thing.” 

“You know when I said don't overwhelm her with information that applies to you too. Just take it one day at a time, and I'll swing by to check on her.” 

The rest of the talk is just plans for when to meet up as well as who would be good to leave Jay alone with to catch her up. Waiving him off and by the time Phoenix is back with Jay, Felipe has gone back to his uncle who Knightley is also with, going over Eagan’s care. 

His brow furrowed when he noticed Jay tapping on her legs. “You feeling alright Jaybird?” 

Glancing up she shrugs tapping idly again, “I don't know, before he left Felipe was tapping on the bed. I'm trying to figure it out. It's not Morse code like you taught me, I feel like I remember. But it's just letters I think..”

Knock code. God it had been annoying but he's never been more grateful to see her tapping away. “Oh yeah what letters do you think it is?” 

“Um…” her cheeks flush red again and she glanced away, hands still tapping, “I think it's I-L-Y but that's probably not right. I'll just ask him about it later.”

[aliiok]

Chapter 6

Through the Stars

ao3

mando x reader

Summary: you're kind of a dick, stuff ensues

Warnings: angst? some light fluff at the end

Notes: maybe a change of pace? I promise this is actually leading somewhere lol. Also, chapters 4 & 5 aren't showing up on tumblr (prolly because they're not sfw) but they are posted on my ao3 :)

-

Last night’s encounter with the Mandalorian had left you a bit shaken, but also very frustrated. When you woke up the next morning, you weren’t sure what to expect. But, he didn’t say anything.

So, you got ready for the day, taking the child with you as you began to make yourself useful. You weren’t sure what all your new job entailed, so you just began to tidy up the ship. The cargo hold needed some major reorganization, more than what you had time for today. Instead, you decided to work with instead of against the organized chaos for now, keeping an eye on the kid as you went.

After a few hours, you decided to take a break and feed him. The child cooed happily as you gave him his food, but he was soon finished.

The silence made you uneasy, and you fidgeted with your hands, unsure of what to do. You had been on the ship for a few cycles now, but you still felt like an outsider.

The Mandalorian was standing to your left, his attention focused solely on the gadget he was toying with. He hadn't said a word to you this morning, and you were beginning to wonder if he ever would.

The child, on the other hand, was wide awake and squirming in your lap. You smiled at him, tickling him gently. He gurgled happily, his big brown eyes fixed on yours.

You couldn't help but wonder what was going on in Mando's head. He had entrusted you with the care of his son, yet he seemed to be keeping you at arm's length since last night. You wanted to get to know him better, to understand him. But he was making it difficult for you.

“Why don’t you ever take the helmet off?” you said softly, fingers absentmindedly rubbing circles over the child’s ear. You knew it was a mistake as soon as you saw Mando visibly stiffen. He was frozen, unmoving. Part of you wanted to reach out to him, but another part of you said differently. You were afraid he would shatter under your touch.

The child made a noise in your arms, and you looked down at him. His eyes met yours, and both of you shifted your gazes back to the form standing in front of you.

The Mandalorian finally moved, turning around to face you. You wished you could see his face in order to gauge his reaction. The question had popped into your mind so innocently. If he now trusted you enough to look after his son, to be intimate with you, then naturally you would want to see his face.

He broke the silence. “This is the Way,” he said sternly, walking past you towards the other side of the ship. You felt the air whish past you, and his cape grazed your arm as he moved. You turned, confusion evident on your face.

“What?” you turned your head to him, furrowing your eyebrows in confusion. He paused, and his visor pierced through you.

You’d never heard that phrase before. You had tried to remain humble in your career, but you also knew when to exhibit your knowledge. While you weren’t as well-versed as your previous professors on the subject, you could hold your own in academic circles. The child babbled, and you acknowledged him by patting his head gently.

You weren’t going to say anything else. But then, your curiosity got the better of you. You cleared your throat, and the Mandalorian turned to look at you.

"What does that mean?" you asked, trying to keep your tone casual.

Mando hesitated before he spoke. "It's a Mandalorian creed," he finally said. "A way of life. We follow the Way to survive and protect our own."

You nodded slowly, understanding beginning to dawn on you. "So... taking off the helmet goes against the Way?"

"Yes," he confirmed. "To let one see my face means I would no longer be Mandalorian."

You couldn't imagine what it must be like to never take off your helmet in front of another. It seemed so restrictive, so suffocating. But at the same time, you tried to respect his culture and his beliefs.

"I see," you said softly. "Thank you for explaining it to me."

The Mandalorian nodded, and you could feel his eyes on you even though you couldn't see his face. He took a few steps toward you, removing the child from your arms and beginning back towards the ladder.

“We’re almost there,” Mando said to him, and you watched endearingly at their interaction. He began up the ladder, and you smiled softly.

You watched him go, still thinking about the weight of his words. This was the Way. It wasn't just a phrase or a creed, it was a way of life for him. And you had just stumbled into a world that was so different from your own.

As you watched the Mandalorian climb up the ladder and disappear, you couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment. You had been so close to learning more about him, yet he had shut you down with only a little explanation. It wasn't the first time he had done that either.

You had always been fascinated by Mandalorian culture, studying it extensively during your academic years. However, your education had clearly never touched on this. You had never heard of whatever religious group that this Mandalorian belonged to. You tried to come up with another possible explanation, but your thoughts only went to the splinter groups of Mandalorians that used to dwell on Mandalore’s moon, Concordia.

You wondered what else you didn't know about him. It was frustrating not being able to understand him fully, to be able to comprehend why he lived his life the way he did.

But then again, maybe that was part of the appeal. The mystery and intrigue surrounding him were what drew you in, like a moth to a flame.

You shook your head, trying to clear your thoughts. You couldn't afford to get too invested in someone who clearly didn't want to let you in. But the way his eyes had lingered on you before he left... maybe there was hope for a future conversation about his people. You figured the only way this would happen was if you were to initiate it again.

For now, you had a more pressing matter to attend to. With a deep breath, you climbed up the ladder and into the cockpit, ready to face whatever lay ahead.

-

The stop for fuel was brief. You couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to your earlier conversation than he was letting on. While Mando was fueling it, you didn’t leave the ship, and he was back aboard after a few minutes. You had never heard of this planet, anyway.

You sat behind the pilot’s chair. Your mind briefly went to the events of last night that took place in that very seat, until your thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

“Only a few more days in hyperspace until our destination. We’ll have one stop between to fuel up again.” You hadn’t noticed the Mandalorian until now. He didn’t bring the child up here with him.

You clasped your hands in your lap, and nodded to show that you understood. Wherever this destination is, it’s sure as hell the farthest possible place from the Mandalore system. If Mando noticed your uneasiness, he didn’t say anything. You couldn’t help but feel your emotions start to simmer.

After a few more minutes of nothing, you couldn’t take it anymore. Maybe it was his general evasiveness, or even the fact that he’d barely said anything to you after how things were left the previous night, but something in you snapped.

"You're telling me that you'd rather live your life according to some code than experience the world around you?" you had asked, incredulous at his rigid adherence. The Mandalorian responded almost immediately.

"You don't understand," he replied, his voice clipped and defensive. "The code has kept me alive this long. It's the only way I know." He sat down in the pilot’s chair, but turned it so he was facing you.

"But you're missing out on so much," you countered, feeling frustrated with his stubbornness. You challenged him. "How can you truly experience life if you're always hiding behind that helmet and refusing to engage with others?"

"I don't have time for attachments," he shot back. "I have a mission to complete, and I can't afford to be held back by distractions."

The silence that came after was deafening as he turned the chair back around. You couldn't help but feel angry with him. You weren’t even sure why you decided to pick a fight.

The ship rose into the air, and within seconds it was out of this world’s atmosphere and into the never ending abyss of space. The planet was behind you, and the only light in the cockpit illuminated it dimly. Minutes ticked by, and the tension in the small room was becoming more and more suffocating.

Even though you sat there stewing for a bit, you couldn't help but admire the way the stars reflected in his helmet, making it look like a constellation all its own. For a moment, you forgot all about the argument and just sat there, taking in the beauty of the moment.

Then, it dawned on you. Heat rose up to your neck, and you felt a pang of guilt in your stomach. It almost surprised you how intolerant of his “Way” you had been. If you wanted to learn more about his way of life, that sure was the wrong way to go about it.

Yeah, his words stung. But you were going to have to apologize.

Taking a deep breath, you spoke again. When you did, his head turned sideways. "Look, I'm sorry," you said, your voice softening. "I didn't mean to be so critical of it. It's just that, as an archaeologist, I've always been fascinated by different cultures and ways of life. And yours is something I've never encountered before."

The Mandalorian didn't reply, but you could feel his eye on you, even though you couldn't see his face behind the helmet. "I know it's not my place to judge," you continued. "And I don't want to disrespect your traditions. I just...I want to understand them better. And I went the wrong way about it." The words just spilled out, and you feared he wouldn’t accept your apology. Anxiety riled your stomach, but you tried to keep your breathing even and your body still.

There was a long pause, and you thought for a moment that he wasn't going to say anything at all. But then he spoke, his voice surprisingly gentle. "I understand," he said. "But it's not easily explained.”

You nodded, feeling chastened. "I get that," you said. "And about the last thing, I-”

“No,” he cut you off. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Okay,” you said quietly, unsure of what to say next.

The Mandalorian nodded, and then turned back to the controls.

You felt a sense of relief wash over you. The tension in the cockpit had dissipated, and while there was still so much you still didn't understand about the Mandalorian, you knew that you might have the chance to learn more.

A silence settled over the two of you, but this time it was more comfortable. Mando eventually activated the hyperdrive, and the world outside of the ship went from darkness to being streaked with different shades of blue.

You watched for a while. Having never left your home planet until a few years ago, you didn’t think you could ever get used to space travel. Especially traveling faster than the speed of light. And now, after accompanying a bounty hunter and his son on their ship, you only felt more out of place while aboard a ship.

It was so silent, actually, that you didn’t realize you were beginning to fall asleep. You rested your cheek against the chair, and after just a few minutes, nodded off.

-

You awoke to being laid onto your cot by a pair of strong arms. When you opened your eyes, it was pitch black in your small room.

Then, you heard a small hiss, and the sound of something being placed on the floor.

You stirred, alerting the Mandalorian of your consciousness.

He didn’t say anything, but by his movement you could tell he was somewhere to your left.

Your heart squeezed in your chest at the thought of him carrying you to bed. You kicked off your shoes, trying to get more comfortable.

A hand, you guessed, grazed over your cheek and to the side of your face. You noticed, though, it was ungloved. You soaked up the feeling of the pads of his fingers grazing over your skin.

You reached your hand up to feel his face, and he let you. His skin was smooth, until it met rough scruff that covered his jaw. You tried to map it out, remembering every detail, but you knew whatever picture you came up with in your mind would be inaccurate. Finally, your thumb grazed over his lips. You made another mental note of the mustache there, and then he leaned down to kiss you.

Your heart soared. His plush lips met yours without a sense of urgency or expectation, and you returned his slow movements with ease. It was gentle, and didn’t go any further. You stayed like this for a few seconds, but the moment was soon over. An apology, you thought.

He pulled away, and you felt his breath on your face. You silently said your goodbye with a squeeze to his shoulder, and he sat up. You heard him shuffling, the hiss of his helmet again, and the door slid open.

The dim light from the entry room poured in, and you winced a little. The Mandalorian was standing now, facing away from your cot. His body projected a large shadow across the room.

“Goodnight,” he said, his voice filtering through the vocoder. In an instant, he was gone. The door shut, and you were left in the darkness, replaying the events of the last couple days in your mind.

[residentshitcunt]

Ahh this fucking post crossed my dash again, I really had better do a thing about it.

Unless you are living in an area with a very large bat colony nearby, this is a fucking terrible idea, and fails to take into account the very negative effects to human safety that widespread adoption is likely to have. So, let's go over some whys of it all.

First off, sodium vs. cool white LEDs. Basically, the reason that high pressure sodium lamps have been the standard for so long is because once they're burning they're really fucking bright, and really fucking efficient. The big problem with them is human vision. We physically don't see the same in daytime as we do at night. In the day, under photopic (well lit) lighting, our vision is very sensitive to the light spectrum that HPS lighting outputs, but at night under scotopic lighting conditions, our vision is much less sensitive to those kinds of red/orange wavelengths and is much more sensitive to blue wavelengths, which makes sense when you remember that moonlight is significantly cooler than sunlight. So, to achieve the same equivalent illumination, you have to use much brighter HPS lighting than is actually required, to account for the reduced sensitivity of our eyes during the night. Blue-white LEDs can thus be much less bright, but achieve the same equivalent illumination, all while increasing actual visibility and lowering maintainence and replacement costs.

Secondly, DID YOU HEAR WHAT I SAID ABOUT LOW SENSITIVITY TO RED LIGHT AT NIGHT?? Public lighting is a public safety concern. There's no point in having it if you can't use it to fucking see. Like I know enough people that don't feel comfortable walking at night at the best of times, but turning everything into a low contrast blurr is beyond a joke. Also, people still drive, and while that is still the case, you have to think about the safety of human-car interactions. Car headlights are bad at side illumination, street lighting helps with this massively. This is very important in urban settings, reducing the visibility of pedestrians is dangerous. People will most likely be killed because they could not be seen.

Also, LEDs like those are near monochromatic. God forbid someone wears anything other than maximum red clothing and they just vanish into low res background movement, not materially distinguishable from the leaves in the trees.

These red lights do have real uses, but it's much more limited. Generally, they're installed where a bat flightpath crosses a bit of human infrastructure like a highway, and they're only used for stretches in the tens of metres, where it's not going to materially impact safety. Widespread adoption, however, would be a massive swing in the wrong direction.

Overlighting and light pollution are massive issues with cities and towns generally. One of the easiest ways to reduce it (while maintaining safer streets and helping bats too) is super simple: constrain light sources. You know those lights which are just like a big white ball on the end of a pole? Yeah, don't do that. Bats fly, so you make the lights not directly visible from the sky, I.e. with a light cone of less than 180° (ideally around 100°-120°), you'll massively reduce the amount of light spill, while still adequately lighting roadways and footpaths.

Overlighting is a big issue, which essentially just boils down to "we put lights in too many places where we really don't need them to be". Those illuminated signs for businesses that aren't open at night? Get rid of them. Does your local castle/old library/government building/palace really need to be lit up at night? Are you sure?

And here's an idea: if your park/side street/ alleyway isn't heavily trafficked, you don't need to have the lights on all the time (they also don't need to shine into everybody's front windows). It wouldn't be that difficult to install motion or vehicle magnetic sensors into roadways to trigger light usage. You could even put like, a button? So that when you press it, a block of lights goes on for a while, and then just turns off.

All of these are good for wildlife, all of these are food for liveability, and all have their own issues with cost, maintainence, public opposition, cranky business owners etc, but they're also not making it materially more dangerous to go outside at night. Like you notice that both of those photos of the red lighting were taken while there was still vestiges of daylight around because taking them when it's actually dark shows that they're not kind on your eyes. Harsh blue-white lighting also helps keep drivers more alert, increasing road safety. It's about balancing factors, not making sweeping changes based on one fairly small one.

perhaps some will disagree, but i think the world got worse when we changed the colour of the night

[dayinthelifeofadragon]

Day 1 Part 3. Not a dream.

I finished my impromptu dinner. It wasn't exactly a 3 star meal but I couldn't complain considering the situation I was in. The sun had begun to set and I still had no idea where I was, only that this was called the Abandoned Forest.

Oh Voice of God, I could really use some help here...

"Voice of God is unable to respond to this command." Sigh. Of course not, that would be too easy. A thought came into my head as I pondered. Since I discovered that I was able to see the statuses of other creatures, maybe I can see my own?

I closed my eyes and thought about the box I had seen real hard. When I opened them a little display was in front of me. Nameless, Race: Dragon. Stats: 10\15 HP 10\10 MP. Str 12, Agi 12, Int 10, Wis 10. Abilities: Bite, Fire Breath.

I could see it! It seems I had taken some damage in that fight, but it may have been more from the tumble then anything. What stuck out to me the most was the ability Fire Breath. So I really could breath fire, huh? My stats were low, but that's how any RPG started out.

I nodded to myself, a new found determination began to swell in me. RPG's were my forte back when I was human, as long as I could grind levels, I could live an easy life! I started through the forest, walking to the beat of my own drum. That is until I realized I was losing vision to the night.

Maybe I should have gone back to where I hatched. Taking a look behind me, I couldn't see a thing. Oh boy, it was way too late to go back, I have no idea where I ended up after that scramble. My thirst hadn't been quenched yet. I could hardly eat that Lynx, not only because of how little meat it carried on it, but also due the fact that it was really gross.

Don't tell me I'm gonna have to drink my own pee like that television survivalist... That's the last thing I wanted to do. I don't even know if that really worked or not. I guess before it comes to that, let's try to make a fire. There was no way I was going to find water in this visibility.

Scouring around my little area, I gathered as many sticks and leaves as I could. Ok, come on Fire Breath! Opening my jaws wide I tried to imagine the fire like I did with the view status menu, but it seems like this was a bit different then that. I was beginning to get nervous, especially with how quiet the forest sounded. Every now and then you could hear animals howling or barking.

Please, please work. Continuing to push out air through my mouth I could feel my breath getting hotter. Eventually a few sparks came out. It's working! With new found motivation I continued my effort. One of the sparks hit the pine needles that I had gathered and a small flame started to dance.

Placing my arms around the makeshift campfire I started blowing air onto the flame. It grew almost immediately and created a full fledged fire. I couldn't help but stand up on my hind legs and let out a yelp of victory. I couldn't speak English anymore, but that's okay, I could still celebrate. I curled my tiny Dragon body close to the fire and shut my eyes. They felt heavy but with every noise and crack that I heard, they startled right back open. This was going to be a long night.

At some point I must have passed out completely, because morning had begun flooding my eyes with light. The fire was completely extinguished. I survived the night and worst of all, this wasn't a dream. I guess this was my new reality. I could feel myself well up, but nothing spilled out. I had to move forward, I couldn't let myself be swallowed up by sadness. I just couldn't help but think about how good I used to have it.

| Thanks for visiting my page. I'm trying to get better at being more descriptive and using more flavor words. |

[bobateaboo]

saw this post by @feralmoonlight and it gave me a bunch of inspiration!! I'm also posting it here on ao3 if you'd rather look at it there! Enjoy!!

It had taken an embarrassingly long time to realize that your new roommate wasn’t human.

Like, ok, how freakishly tall and thin he was and with the amount he covered up, you’d think it’d be obvious, but when you’d asked he’d explained he had a few genetic conditions and wasn’t exactly comfortable going more in depth about them. And what kind of asshole roommate would push him on that??

It did mean, though, that last night you had strolled into his room to ask if he wanted to do a movie night, to find him hunched up over his own arm, muttering, exposed wires and circuitboards visible through a panel of removed metal, making him twitch in what looked like pain as he sautered a broken wire back together.

You had left before he had seen you.

Which may have been a mistake because now you’re really not sure how to bring it up.

I mean, how do you start that conversation?? “Hey, I saw you broke your arm and not in the normal way”? “Hey I keep finding loose screws in the living room and I think you need them”? “I kind of know how to fix a stalled engine if you need help”???

You sighed, gently bonking your forehead to the countertop. You had finished the dishes an hour ago, but you were still here in the kitchen, having an internal debate as rain battered against the windows.

Do you handle it like you do when you know someone’s gay?? Can you safely ��Not to say you’re a robot but I would still care about and love you the same if you were” without giving yourself away??

By that analogy, maybe it was better to let him come out on his own terms probably? But oh no, what if he’s doing something super uncomfortable to hide because he thinks you’ll be mad at him?

You groan, sliding back across the cupboards. You were never made to make adult descisions. At least the thunder was comforting. You’d be lucky if the power didn’t go out.

“Um, Sunshine? I can’t help but notice you’ve been in here for a while, are you feeling ok…?”

You resist the urge to climb into the cabinet under the sink at the sound of Sun’s voice, instead dragging one hand over your face and giving an exhausted thumbs up. “Mhmmmmmmnnnn”

In hindsight, with Sun’s mama bird tendencies, it probably would have been smarter to go for the cabinet. In less time than would be possible in anything other than his long strides, Sun was in front of you, lifting you up by the armpits to set you on your feet, checking your forehead.

“Oh dear! Do you have a headache? Fever? Migraine? Do you need me to make you soup??”

“Sun- Sun, I’m Fine-” you bat at his hands as he tries to check your face over like you’re an injured little kid or something. “Seriously, I-”

The lights flicker.

Underneath his hood and the scarf wrapped around his head, you can see Sun’s eyes shrink to pinpricks. 

All of a sudden he’s gone from filling your sphere of vision to stumbling back as if he’d been burnt, nearly tripping over his own feet in the process.

“Sun? What-”

Thunder crashed.

And the lights went out.

With the dim streetlights filtering through the windows, there logically had to have been enough light to see by, if not just barely. But in that moment your senses were swarmed by the clang of metal on metal as Sun backed into the trash can, the clunking of gears, and most of all the scream that pierced through the air as Sun clutched his face as if it was scalding him, lowering in pitch and dying out as you stepped back, red light filling your vision.

And zeroing in on you.

“Hidey… Hide Away…..”

Layers of fabric you’d never seen Sun without were pulled free, dropping to the floor like discarded toys. You could barely make out the silhouette, but it was too thin. Almost skeletal, if you ignored the blatant space in the torso where ribs would not have covered. You could hear the cricking as whatever was in Sun’s place moved its fingers, almost experimentally. Red irises focused in on you, like a camera lens focusing.

And then they were closer.

You yelped, tumbling back. The thing bending at odd angles to crouch around you, encompassing you, one hand on the ground above your head, the other held closer to his chest with metallic claws clinting in the dim light.

“It’s past your bedtime…”

The free hand was starting to reach for you. You were panicking. This thing was Sun, or at least it was in Sun’s place. What would get through to Sun??

“Myheadhurts!!!”

The thing paused.

A metallic crik crik crik filled the air as it flexed its fingers, otherwise frozen in place, head spinning around like a dinner plate.

“M-my head hurts. I don’t feel well.” you spoke more slowly this time, a shake plaguing your voice. “I-I need to get rest.”

And suddenly you were up, much higher off the ground than you’d prefer to be, held in the arms of Not-Sun as it whisked to your room, swiftly tucking you in so tight you could barely move.

It chuckled as it left your room, scuttling backwards like some sort of demented spider.

“Nighty Night….”

….

…You weren’t going to get any sleep tonight.

[hertzwritings]

Stable connections

A/N: Here it is, the final part to this lil’, cute story! This has been really fun and sweet to write, so I hope you guys love it as much as me. This was born from the sweet @thorinoakenshieldfan and her reqeuest!

Feedback feeds the soul, my love, and requests are always open!

MASTERLIST

HENRY CAVILL + CHARACTERS MASTERLIST

ASK ME ANYTHING/REQUESTS

Part 1 and part 2

Stable connections

Three years later

“Darling, have you seen my…?” You held your hand out, a tie dangling from your finger and gave him a smile. He grinned and quickly grabbed the tie, slinging it around his neck and started tying it into a knot. You watched his fingers nimbly dance over the silk.

It had been a whirlwind since the night, he had showed up in front of your door with a smile and flowers. Every moment he wasn’t filming, he was at your place - or you were at his. You’d helped him build his computer, ordering parts for him when he went away for filming, and he always came back with something he had found that reminded him of you.

The first time he’d told you he loved you, it was at night, between damp sheets and the moon casting silver-light on his face. He had smiled widely and his eyes had held the world for you as you stumbled over the words, surprised at his admission.

When he had asked you to move in with him, he had done it casually over his computer. He had been tinking with some small part that had annoyed him - he had damned his fingers, which you had been very vocal about not doing, and took over for him as he sat down in a plush chair in his office, petting Kal. As you got the little piece in place and beamed at him, he’d asked casually, like he was asking what you wanted for dinner. You had squealed, dropping the tiny screwdriver from your hands and turning to him. He had grinned in that way, that made your heart flutter and simply raised an eyebrow at you, silently waiting for your answer.

Of course, you’d said yes.

And here you were, three years and some odd days later tying his tie. “Have I told you how much I love you today?” he asked as you patted the tie down to his chest, smoothing it over once. “Maybe.” You said with a grin. He bent down, grabbing your chin and lifting it until you met his lips in a soft, tender kiss that took your breath away.

“I love the both of you.” he murmured against your lips, his hand falling on your stomach and caressing it gently. You chuckled and rested your hand over his, looking down at the soft swell. “You better, or I’ll lose my shit.” You said sternly. He grinned. “What are you going to do, make me go get blue slush ice at three AM again?” “Or green apples. Good luck finding those in february.” He chuckled and kissed you again before stepping away slightly and looked at you fully. He smiled proudly and his eyes glinted - you’d learned pretty quickly that Henry had something reminiscent of a breeding kink, and the fact that you were visibly pregnant made him, well, lose all sense of inhibitions with you. Not that you complained.

“You look stunning, love.” He complimented warmly. You wiggled a little and laughed before glancing down on yourself. “I feel like I need lube to get out of this dress.” You mumbled as you followed him down the stairs and out to the car. He laughed and opened the door for you. You slid inside the backseat with a grunt, your stomach getting slightly in the way - especially in this goddamn dress.

You sat in comfortable silence as you drove to the event, his hand firmly in yours, a soft song playing on the speakers.

“Are you sure you want to do it?” He asked softly, eyes on yours. You bit your lip.

At first it had been the plan to keep the pregnancy under wraps - both of you enjoyed private life too much to let anyone in on it, but it was becoming increasingly harder to hide the pregnancy from paparazzi, but there had also been some close calls with Henry, who was too excited to keep it completely hidden; many fans had already begun speculating because he kept dropping hints.

You sighed and rubbed the top of your stomach. “Yeah. You know, we won’t be able to hide it forever, I’ll get huge and at some point within the next 4 months, we’ll have a kid. That’ll be stupidly hard to hide.” You grinned. “Besides, I really, really want the world to know. I hate hiding things and this…” You laid his hand on your stomach, small flutters against his hand. He smiled lovingly.

“This is not to be hidden away.” He smiled at the small kicks against the palm of his hand. “No, it isn’t.”

The car stopped and you glanced at the crowd outside, alit under flashing lights and felt your stomach turn with nerves.

“Ready?” He asked. “As I’ll ever be.”You replied nervously. He nodded as the car door opened and stepped out, extending his hand to you - as soon as the door had opened, a roar of screaming voices flooded your ears like a wave. You grabbed his hand shakily and got out, his arm instantly wrapping around your waist, a proud smile on his face as you walked to the carpet under flashing lights.

You paused in front of several cameras, smiling nervously. He leaned into you, his lips brushing against your ear. “Have I told you how wonderful you look tonight? I’m regretting ever leaving the house, my love.” His voice was sultry and sent shivers down your spine as a shy smile reached your lips. He chuckled lightly.

“Come on, all we need is the short interviews, watch the first episode and then we’ll go home.” He waved out to the cameras and you shot them a quick smile and a wave, following him, safely in his arms. The cameras clicked wildly as soon as you stepped into the middle of the carpet, turning slightly sideways, displaying your stomach - as soon as Henry’s hand landed on it protectively,the roar of the crowd was insurmountable.

His name was being shouted from everywhere, a symphony of voices and clicks of cameras - he was courteous and smiling politely as he led you from the carpet to a little area to the side, where a bunch of interviewers stood with microphones ready and smiles plastered on their faces. “Henry, I’m so happy to see you again!” The woman’s voice was chipper and her eyes quickly went to you, nodding quickly and turned to start the interview - but then she turned back to you, her eyes wide at your stomach. “Uh, oh, wow.” She didn’t know what to say, simply pointing in between you and Henry. Henry laughed. Yeah, I’ve gained a few pounds.” You said with a grin. She finally got herself together and smiled at you and Henry. “Well, I guess congratulations are in order!” She said happily. Henry nodded and kissed the top of your head. “You’ve been keeping that on the low down for a while, huh?” She grinned at you. “Yeah, well…” He said. “So, how long… I’m sorry, how far along are you?” SHe asked. You sighed happily and smiled at Henry. “Oh, just passed the six month mark.” you smiled. “Anyway, this isn’t about me.” You gestured to Henry. “Right, sorry. How are you feeling? Third season of The Witcher already!” Henry nodded with a polite smile. “Yes, it’s great. We’ve really been looking forward to showing the fans what we’ve done this season.” “How’s it been to be so far from home?” You chuckled. “Oh, not too bad. Home came with me.” He winked at you and you grinned back at him. “I’d never been to Scotland, so this seemed like a good opportunity.” “Well, and that’s where we realised we might need a bigger home.” He said, his hand on your stomach.

The night had drawn out with all the people who wanted to talk to you and Henry - and congratulate you - and you felt too tired for more. The drive home was quiet, your head resting on his shoulder as you dozed off, his arm around your shoulder, drawing circles on your bare arm.

“Baby, we’re home.” his voice was hushed, not wanting to break the silence. You hummed and he chuckled, and gently let your head rest against the back of the seat, scooting out of the seat and quickly went to your side before opening the door next to you, wrapping his arms around you and picking you up like you weighed nothing more than a feather.

He put you gently in the bed and quickly undid your zipper, pulling the dress off of you, covering you with the blanket.

He stripped down and laid next to you, his fingers dancing on your face. “I love you.” You whispered sleepily.

“I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close.” He answered, his voice soft and choked up. You found his hand and weaved your fingers between his.

And with that, you fell asleep the way you fell in love with him: softly, and then all at once.

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

TAGLIST:

@acaceta @summersong69 @luclittlepond @keiva1000

@a-skov @thatonechickhere @themanfromu

@spookyboogyuniverse @one-sweet-gubler @timetraveller4

@angelmather1 @kebabgirl67 @yourlocalhoney

@fionnthebandersnacc @herroyalbubbliness @thelastpyle

[a-captions-blog]

[Image description: A comic featuring the Pokémon MewTwo and a comic version of OP. Long description follows.

MewTwo sits on the front steps of a house with its knees drawn up to its chest. Behind it, the house door opens, and a human shadow is visible in the doorway. The human, a feminine person with long brown hair half dyed purple, comes and joins it, wrapping an arm around its shoulder and saying, ‘Hey.’ MewTwo says, ‘. . . I’m sorry.’ The human says, ‘I know, it’s alright.’

Gesturing with its hands, MewTwo says, ‘Look, I . . . it’s not like I don’t know that a new name would be better, even liberating in a way . . . but I’ve been known as “MewTwo” for so long. It isn’t just what I am, it’s who I am. I’ve accepted that long ago and it’s what I’ve been known by for so many years . . . so if I were to just change it now . . would I still feel like myself going forward?’ The human says, ‘. . . Now what kind of stupid talk just came outta you?’ MewTwo says, ‘Beg pardon?’ and leans over to listen as the human goes on, ‘Two, your name doesn’t define who you are. You do. You as a person, your personality, your spirit, your heart is what makes you who you are. A new name wouldn’t change that.’

The human looks up at the moon and says, ‘Ya know, I’ve actually thought up a name for you some time ago, back when we first talked about it, but because were adamant about not changing your name, I never mentioned it.’ MewTwo asks, ‘Really? . . . What was it?’ The human says, ‘ِJericho.’

Eyes narrowed slightly, MewTwo asks, ‘Jerico . . . You want to name me after a biblical city?’ The human says, ‘Yes, yes, it’s the name of a city, but that’s not my reasoning. You know, they also call Jericho “The City of the Moon.” The meaning of the cit’ys name is related to the Hebrew word for “moon.”’

Their speech bubbles appear around the moon as the human goes on, ‘When you and I were still getting to know each other, you would always compare yourself to it. Being invisible by day and oncly appearing at night, a shadow, a reflection of the sun’s radiance. Metaphorical. To being a copy of a natural born creature, like Mew.’ MewTwo says, ‘I remember . . . What are you getting at?’ The human says, ‘Well, I never saw you that way. I’ve always seen you as a beacon of light. Someone who shines brightest when things seem the most dark. The moon’s craters represent all the pain and struggles you’ve been through and the impact they left on you, but despite that, your perseverance and determination continue to shine through. You’ve overcome your darkness.’

MewTwo’s eyes are wide as it asks, ‘You . . You mean all that . . . truly?’ The human’s eyes are closed as she replies, ‘Mhm, that’s why I think the name Jericho suits you.’ Shrugging, she adds, ‘But ya know, it’s alright if you don’t like it, we can always look into—‘ MewTwo reaches out to touch her arm and says, ‘No! . . . No I would be honored to receive thath name from you. I . . . I truly would. Than you, Lakota. . .’

MewTwo repeats, ‘Jericho’ a few times, turning its gaze to the moon shining in the sky.

Back inside, the two walk through a doorway as MewTwo asks, ‘So you’ve been holding on to that name for me for a while now, huh? Sorry I made you wait.’ Lakota replies, ‘I understand though. ‘I’m just glad things worked themselves out, and–’ She cuts herself off as the two enter the room. ‘And uh, what’s going on in here?’

Inside the living room, a scarred MewTwo sits on the floor with a book, and a smaller MewTwo and a Skitty lounge on a chair by the wall. The smaller one says, ‘Hey Dad!’ as the scarred one says, ‘Ah, there you two are. Amber was just helping me pick out a name.’

The first MewTwo, Jericho, says, ‘So, you’re actually going through with changing your name then?’ The scarred MewTwo answers, ‘I am.’ The human asks, ‘Found any good ones yet?’ She leans over the smaller MewTwo’s shoulder as it scrolls on a phone and says, ‘OK so, we narrowed it down to three: Deyanira, Sivth and Esmeray, but we’re leaning more towards Sivth.’ The scarred MewTwo says, ‘I like it because it’s short and doesn’t sound too complex.’

The smaller one leans towards the scarred MewTwo, who grins. The smaller one says, ‘Don’t forget pretty! Also I can call you Aunti Siv!’ The scarred one says, ‘Aunti Siv, I love that!’ The human says, ‘Sounds like a good choice to me.’

Siv looks up at Jericho and says, ‘And MewTwo . . . I apologize for what I said earlier, I didn’t—’ Jericho holds up a hand and says, ‘It’s Jericho now.’ Siv looks up with a soft expression and says, ‘. . . I see.’ The four of them smile in silence in the last panel. \End descriptions]

Previous Part Here

And there ya go! They can start being called by their new names now! ^^