#and I saw 4 vinyls coming

[new-york-no-shoes]

Taylor swift owns my ass

[boy-armageddon]

Oh BOY I got 80 dollars you know what this means!!!!!! (blow most of it on blood brothers stuff)

[xan-izme]

Dubble Life 5 (ATSV x reader x Batfam)

Summary: Family time was a need at the moment. And it was time reader meet one more member of the family. But the meeting of the two wasn't really friendly.

(A/N: Hey, sorry. Imma keep this short. So, the reason I couldn't post was cuz me n a friend was playing around too much, and my laptop broke cuz she decided to go all WWE on my ass, and I forgot the password for this acc. But it's fixed now. So, this chapter will be a late X-mas gift from me)

Part 4, Part 6

Damian was getting rather attached to you.

You were nothing like him. To Damian, you were weak, silly and peaceful. You just seemed so peaceful. And satisfied with just the littlest things.

The air around you just seemed inviting. Safe even.

Damian must admit he didn't like you at first, you just always seemed off to him. The lying you were doing, the fake and empty words. He didn't trust you.

But that day Joker attacked. The He saw so much of you. The real you. He saw you sad at the album store, just for a moment. But it was long enough to see. And your laughter. Your laugh and smile before were very annoying to Damian. Only because you only would smirk and snicker at him out of mockery.

But the movie made you laugh. Really laugh, really smile. At him mostly- but it was real!

Damian, he won't admit it, but he liked it when you were being yourself. And there are times he has seen you far away. Like your body was present, but your mind and soul seemed to be elsewhere. Even if you were engaging into a conversation. It was like someone completely different was speaking. Not you.

So, to bring out the real you. Damian would come with excuse of being board and having nothing better to do, and watch movies with you. Just to see you laugh, sad, angry. Just to see you.

You stared at the box on your nightstand. What was it exactly? You wanted to open it. But what if it's something you won't like. Something that will upset you more than needed.

"What is that?" Damian spoke. The boy practically came out of nowhere. But your used to it at this point. The boy is like a ninja, always sneaking up on you.

You sighed and turned your chair to start your school work.

"A box. . ." Even with your back turned from the boy. You had the urge to remind Damian not to touch it. "A box that you will not open." You turned your head to see you were correct. You had a box cutter in his hand, ready to open the box up. How or where did he get that box cutter from? You don't know, nor do you want to know.

Damian plopped down on your bed and started to examine the box. "Who was it from?" Damian saw no name to whom had sent the box.

". . . an old college of mine." You answered nice and short. Already feeling angry at the thought of Jess even knocking on your uncle and aunt's door to give the box to them.

Damian hummed and set the box down. He got up and started to go through the crates of albums you had near your bookshelf. He picked one and walked over to the vinyl player that was close to the window, near you, and started to let it play.

You smiled to yourself as Damian walked back to your bed.

Damian was trying to know what was in the box. Shaking it, knowing the wight and try to think of something that was the same size and wight that could be in the box.

It wasn't long before he fell asleep.

You took a glance to check why Damian was so quiet.

You let out a sigh when you saw him passed out. You stood up and walked over to the bed and use a blanket to cover him. You took the box away and sit back down at your desk.

It was time you had to open it. You used your super strength to open the box with ease. Once you saw what was in the box. You let out a tired sigh and leaned back in your chair.

It was a watch. The one the society uses. You see a note besides the watch. You shook your head and opened up the note what was addressed to you.

Call if you need help.

-Miguel

You crumbled the note and threw it away. And cursed to the man.

"Hijo de puta. Vete al diablo."

Unknown to you. Damian was still awake. He watched you get angry at whatever that note said. And the boy isn't that fluent in Spanish, but he does know whoever it was, you're not fond of them. On top of that.

You're hiding something. And Damian wants to get down it.

The next day, you skipped happily to the kitchen to get your fourth cup of coffee. "Another cup I see, not sleeping well Lady Y/n?" Alfred spoke. You giggled and held the warm cup close to you.

"Just need a boost. Hey, Damian said something about a dinner with everyone. Is there a special occasion?" You asked.

"Ah, yes. There is someone you weren't able to meet. Master Jason. He is available for tonight's dinner to finally meet you."

"Oh, I see. Oh, Alfred can you tell Bruce that I'm going to be out with a friend. Do you think that's okay. I leave in half an hour." You gave him a sheepish smile.

Alfred gave you a soft smile and nods "I'll inform him."

You got to your room and dressed up. You put the watch on and tapped the screen. And information of an anomaly that has been causing trouble showed up.

You walked to your bathroom and opened the cabinet. You cracked open the stash you had behind the meds and other items. That was where you hid your suit.

Just looking at it. The patterns, colors, the memories. You quickly stuffed the suit back into the stash.

"I can't do this. I can't do this." You shut your eyes tight, gripping hard on the sink. You tried to focus on your breathing to try and calm yourself, but the more you focused on your breathing, the more you noticed how fast your breathing was, which caused you to panic.

"Please. . . No, no, no. Please!" Your felt tears well up. Causing you to panic more. You began gasping for air. Trying to breath. Trying to calm yourself. But the moment you exhaled. You began sobbing. Your sobbing caused you to be frustrated at yourself. Your frustration made you cry more. You threw the bag that had your suit against the wall.

Unknown to you, a Polaroid picture of your mother slipped out.

As you were having your moment in the bathroom. Bruce had entered your room. He knocked and called out for you. But you didn't respond. So, he entered your room and didn't see you in your room.

He was confused, because Alfred had told him you were in your room. Before Bruce left to check to check if you were elsewhere. He heard something from your bathroom.

it didn't take long for him to instantly hurry to your bathroom and enter.

And there, he saw you on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably with your hands covering your face. Worry took over him as he slowly approached you.

"Y/n?" He spoke softly. But a little too soft, you couldn't hear him due to your crying and desperate attempts to breath normally.

He took another slow step closer. And something on the ground caught his eye. At first, it was the bag, then, his eyes slowly made its way to the Polaroid picture of your mother. He picked it up. He stared at it, then stared at you.

And to him, he understood. He understood all too well.

"Y/n. you're okay. You're okay." He gently put his hand on your shoulder. You flinched away, when you look up to see Bruce, you were confused. But all he did was smile at you softly and sat right next toy on the bathroom floor.

"Just breath. Okay, breath." You kept eye contact with him as he said these words. He rubbed circles on your back as he began to have you follow his breathing.

And to your surprise, and relief, it was working. You felt so, venerable. Usually, you hated feeling that way. But with your father, you felt. . . safe, to be venerable.

No words were spoken for a long moment between you two. Until you whispered

"I'm sorry." You were apologizing for this situation you had caused. But all your father did was rub your back.

"I understand," Was all he said.

"I understand"

That small moment had brought you and Bruce closer. A somewhat mutual understanding. It honestly felt like an invisible vail had been lifted between you to.

It took you an hour or so to get it back together. You left to deal with the anomaly. Just without your suit. You had an all-black disguise on, Gotham was dark and gloomy, so it was easy to blend in.

Now you're in an abandoned school, fighting off a green goblin anomaly. He was small, and nasty. Got on your damn nerves that's for sure. Once you defeated the green goblin. You open the portal and just threw the anomaly in and closed the portal.

You let out a loud, exhausted sigh.

"I swear. I have bones of a 60-year-old- ack! Jusus. . ." You had stretched and it hurt badly. Mainly your bad and knee hurt.

Suddenly. Your Spidey senses spiked up. You quickly jumped to your left and glared into the dark corridor.

"That was interesting to Watch." A voice spoke from the dark corridor. A figure emerges from the dark.

Revealing a tall man with a very noticeable red helmet that looked more like a mask.

You frown underneath your own mask.

"And you are?" You spoke up.

The masteries man spoke again, more aggressively. But this time. You hear a clicking sound. A gun. Pointed right at you.

"This is my city. And I wanna know why your here, Spider-woman."

[the-avengers-not-the-nazis]

Bad moon rising II

Summary: After a nasty divorce, you and your family are forced to live with your Grandpa in the lovely notorious Santa Carla, California. Filled with punks, geeks, surfer nazis and apparently all kinds of creatures of the night.

Word count: 2.9k

Poly!lost boys x Emerson!reader

[1] [2] [3] [4]

A/n: I am gonna be 100% honest with all of yall, I have cried, yelled at myself, and threaten to throw my phone across the room. Because I had no idea how to get the reader and the boys to meet. So, this honestly will probably suck, but I have tried my hardest. Spent too many hours deleting and rewriting for this to be bad. So please enjoy if can

The board walk was unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. It was packed full of bustling people, everyone wanting to go through all the rides, shops and games that they had on display. 

Lights came from all around, aluminating your way through the crowd as you tried to decide what to do first on the boardwalk. Screams and laughter sounded from the rollar coaster ride, the bumps and spins tempted you, but you knew that you’d need to ease your way into everything. 

This would be the moment when you’d wish that Sam or Micheal had come with you, they would try to do everything at once. But, unfortunately, right as you three had arrived; the boys had caught wind of a concert, ditching you to go watch Timmy Cappello perform. 

Treacherous dicks. You called them, wishing that at least one of them would have stuck with you as you ventured where you’d be spending the remainder of your summer. 

You wiped your palms against the fabric of your shorts, the heat of the night air causing a faint sheen of sweat to coat your body. After you’d finished unpacking all the necessities from the car, you’d taken a quick shower and changed for a night out on the board walk.

And thankfully so, the gentle breeze against your bare legs cooled you down enough for you to actually enjoy the night out. 

Chimming bells suddenly grasped your attention, facing the noise, you saw a small shop that was isolated from the others. One of the stores windows was cracked, a piece of cardboard covered the inside to prevent the glass from falling out. 

It was a music shop. 

You remembered when your dad would take you as a kid, letting you pick out cassette tapes, and vinyl records for your room. The old record player would run all day from how many times you would listen to Elvis, Buck Owen’s, and The mamás & the papas. 

It was such a shame that you had to sell the record player and half of your vinyl collection to help out after the divorce. With such little money, you had to make sacrifices for your family. No matter how much you regretted it afterwards.

You glanced up at the sign above the door, a wooden guitar with the words Soundscape etched into the body, swayed against the gentle breeze.  A young couple walked out of the store, hand in hand, a paper bag with their purchase held tightly as they ambled away. 

Reaching into your pocket, you felt around for your wallet. The small leather bound material felt weighted as you pulled it out, the sudden urge to spend your money caused you to open the door of the shop. 

The bell rang above you, and a quick greeting sounded from the cashier. You politely greeted him back before wandering throughout the store. 

It was decently clean, a few stray cd’s littered the ground and a couple display posters were a bit too crooked. But, overall, it was perfect for you. 

You trailed your fingers over a couple of vinyls, picking up a few before putting them back in place. Not really looking for anything specific at the moment, you just tried to find something that would catch your eye. 

Stopping infront of the cassette tapes, you let yourself go through each row, the soft clicking as the cassettes bumped against each other drifted up towards your ears. That and the sound of Jeff Lynne’s voice singing Don’t bring me down, was the only noise that filtered throughout the store. 

Your finger graced an Elvis cassette, the image of him and his infamous guitar sat in the clear case. Picking up the tape, you flipped it over reading the listed songs that went with each side. It had a couple good ones; like Blue Suede Shoes, All Shook Up, Return To Sender, Burning Love and of course some others. 

It was his top greatest hits from each album. 

You tapped the plastic against your palm, debating if you should spend the money just to add to your Elvis collection. You actually had a lot of collections that you needed to complete, but, with this specific artist you only had small handful left to find. 

Kinda like Sam’s Batman comics that he’s been trying to find at every book store that you’d passed on the way down here. 

The bell suddenly rang once more, dragging your attention away from the shelf infront of you. A group of men walked in, each leather clad and mullet wearing. The smell of smoke drifted off of them, wafting through the store. It made you scrunch your nose in disgust. 

“Welcome to the SoundScape,” The Cashier told them, the rehearsed words falling easily out of his mouth. “If you need any help, please let me know.”

None of the guys acknowledged the worker, or, they did though they just didn’t pay him any mind. You watched as they each dispersed from one another, going to different displays around the store. Picking up random items before putting them back where they originally were. 

One of the guys walked down the same row you were on, his eyes trailing over the selection of cassettes. You returned your gaze back to your own tape, not wanting to be caught staring at the guy like a creep. 

Eyeing the rack infront of you, wondering if you should buy the Elvis tape or possibly another. If you’d had enough money on you. You kept your eye on a Boney M. cassette, the item practically calling your name. You reached forward fingers less than an inch away from the plastic when a sudden commotion caused you to freeze. 

BAM!

Your head instantly shot up, the sudden noise disturbing the once peaceful silence. It came from a guy in the leathered group, the small one with curly hair, he stood over a fallen display of cd’s. His hands held up in the air, a small smug grin tugging on his lips as he turned to the stores worker. 

“I’m sorry, man.” He told him, his apologie laced with sarcasm. “It just started falling.”

The cashier let out a deep sigh, his smile turning from genuine to forced as he eyed the scattered items. “It’s alright, accidents happen.”

You watched as the curly guy bent down and picked up the stand, purposely hitting the one right beside it as he did so. He let out another fake apology before the worker shooed him away, picking up everything himself before curly messed up the entire store. 

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw the movement of the blond beside you shove something in his pocket. You turned you head slightly, to get a better view, and you watched as he took another cassette from the shelf and put it on the inside of his jacket. 

You glanced between him and the other three guys that he came in with, noticing that with the worker busy they were taking items off of their display and stuffing them deep into their clothes. Hell, the curly guy was trying to fit a whole vinyl record in the front of his shirt. A very prominent square outlined for everyone to see. 

It was a diversion, knocking over enough stuff for the counter guy to get pissed and pick everything up himself. It was clever, but still wrong. 

With your attention kept on the tapes infront of you, you opened your mouth. Voice low enough so that only the blonde next to you could hear. “You shouldn’t do that.”

The man glanced up at you, not at all ashamed of what he was doing. “What’s that?”

“You shouldn’t steal.”

He let out a quiet laugh, leaning his upper body against the shelf. “Oh, really?” He asked, voice drawing out into a tease. “Wanna tell me why I shouldn’t, babe?”

You gestured to the store around you, eyes meeting his. “Because, its wrong. And, just because you and your friends can’t see that, doesn’t mean that it’s right.”

“Well, me and my friends seem to think it pretty damn fun.” He told you, pushing off the shelf as he took a few small steps towards you. “So, your reasoning is pretty much useless in this case.”

The guy stood a mere foot away from you, his eyes trailing across your face. His smile growing ever so slightly as he took you in. “So, watcha gonna do about it?” He asked, voice soft and teasing as he held a tape infront of you. 

“Put it back.”

“Why? There is no fun in doing the right thing.” He waved the item in your face. “Is there, babe?”

You snatched the cassette from his grasp, eyes not once leaving his as you placed it randomly on the shelf. “Put ‘em all back.” You scolded, voice rising ever so slightly. “It’s shitty and disrespectful for the ones that try to make a living working in places like this.”

He glanced over the top rack, eyeing the worker with disinterest. “Yeah, but, it’s also disrespectful to have to work at a place like this.” He turned back to you. “So, if he gets fired then he’ll come and thank us.”

You opened your mouth to retaliate, wanting to tell him how much his point didn’t make since. When you notice how quiet the store had gotten, the music coming from the speakers and the worker picking up the cds were the only thing. Glancing around you couldn’t see the guys friends, all of them gone from where they originally were. 

“Yeah, Paul, put it back.” A voiced suddenly called from beside you, arm slinging itself across your shoulder. 

Peering beside you, you saw the curly haired guy, his eyes dancing between both you and Paul. You didn’t even hear him come up behind you, in fact you didn’t even know that he had moved from where he was across the store. 

You pushed off his arm, the feeling of his body pressed up against your own made your face heat up. Looking back at Paul, you noticed how his body seemed to get more ecstatic, smile forming into a friendly tease. “Oh, yeah? Why don’t you put up that vinyl of yours.” He tapped against the cardboard beneath the fabric. 

Curly swatted his hand away, pulling the vinyl from beneath his shirt and dropping it on the floor. You eyed the disc on the ground, annoyance seeping into your chest at the disregard of store. 

“Pick it up.” You told the smaller one, side stepping away from them both to give yourself some room. 

He tsked, eyes roaming your body up and down. “Well, aren’t you a bossy one.”

“I wouldn’t be bossy if you’d stop fucking-“

“Watch your mouth.” A different voice spoke up, stopping you from finishing your sentence. You glanced over at the voice, taking in his long overcoat and bleach blonde hair. “It’s not nice to treat strangers that way.”

You furrowed you eyebrows, “If your saying I’m being rude, than that’s really the last thing I care about right now.”

A few small snickers came from around you, causing you to look around at each men that surrounded you. The two blondes stood the closest to you, giving you just a foot of breathing room. Then there were the the bleach blonde and brunette. They stood the furthest from you, but their stares alone were enough to make you feel like they were everywhere at once. 

Your body felt like it was on fire underneath their gazes, that and your dignity slowly burning away as realized how much of a fool you must look like right now.  You quickly crouched down, picking up the vinyl and gently setting it on the shelf. Not really caring that it’s not where it belongs right now. 

Someone cleared their throat. You and the guys turned your attention towards the worker, who stood behind the counter with a wet rag. “We’re closing.” He told them, nodding toward the door with little patience. “If your gonna buy something, now is the time.”

You gave him a quick ‘ok’, forced smile gracing your features as you turned to face the men. You eyed them wearyingly, knowing that they could just easily walk out of here without doing at all what you’ve been asking. 

A soft chuckle came from the bleach blonde, a smug smirk playing on his lips as he placed a hand on Paul’s shoulder. “C’mon, Paul.” He said, turning to walk out of the store. “Put ‘em back, we got places to be.” 

You watched as he pulled out a cd, the front of the case covered in a band called Scorpion. He set it down on the shelf, his eyes not once leaving your own. “We’ll see you around.” He muttered, voice low and mesmerizing to hear as he spoke.

It was almost like a fly getting caught in honey. Alluring and sticky, but, it’s just a trap for the prey. 

You didn’t acknowledge his words, instead you just watched as he walked out, the others slowly trailing after him. The brunette hadn’t muttered a single word since entering the store, and apparently didn’t feel the need to as he stepped outside. 

Curly slowly wandered towards the door, turning swiftly to wave his fingers at you before disappearing behind the glass. A simple ‘Have a nice night’ spilling from his lips as he did so. Paul then turned to walked out, his arm resting across your shoulder slide off. Hand coming up to pinch your nose. “Yeah, we’ll be seeing ya around.” He told you, voice indicating that it wasn’t a suggestion, but more of a promise. 

Swatting his hand away from your face, you watched as he chuckled, walking away as he went to join his friends. Leaving you all alone in the isle, with nothing but your Elvis tape and flustered face. 

Engines revved outside as you walked up to the cashier, the sound of the fading bikes meeting your ears as you tossed the cassette on the counter. The worker rang you up, placed your item in a paper bag and thanked you for your purchase. You quietly wished him good night, before turning on your heal and walking outside. 

You were quickly met with the warm night air, the loud noises coming from the boardwalk surrounded you once more. You held on tightly to the paper bag, the cassette softly rattling inside as you quickly walked away from the Soundscape. 

You were still flustered from your interaction with the four boys. The feeling of their bodies pressed up against your own made the night heat all the more unbearable. What if I would have just left them alone? You thought, swerving through a group of people that waited patiently for the carousel. 

They still would have taken from the shop, and that guy would’ve probably lost his job from all the items missing. But, you wouldn’t have lost some of your dignity whilst doing so. 

A sigh left your lips, unoccupied hand going into your jacket pocket. Though instead of the feeling of the scratchy fabric, your fingers graced against a peice of cold plastic. You stopped walking, standing by your lonesome in the middle of the boardwalk as you pulled out whatever rested in your pocket. 

It was a Scorpion cd. The same one that you saw the bleach blonde pull from his coat. You hadn’t even felt him slip the item in your pocket, was it when you were getting on to him or when he was leaving? Was he even the one that slipped it in?

Stupid prick, you thought. Stuffing the disk into the paper bag with your Elvis one, there was no sense in returning it now. The shop was already closing up and how would you even explain that to the poor worker. 

You shook your head, the events of the night tiring you out. 

From a distance you could see both Sam and Micheal standing in the middle of the boardwalk, their attention caught on a girl and little boy. You made your way over to your brothers, the paper bag swaying in your hand as your feet picked up. 

Sam greeted you when you came near, his long over coat brushing against his shoes. “He’s been following her since the concert.” He told you, gesturing with his hand towards the pretty girl. 

“Mmh, hey, peeping Tom.” You tugged on Micheal sleeve, trying to pull him away. “I’m ready to go home.”

He didn’t acknowledge you, his eyes staring longingly at the back of the girls head. You pulled once more at his arm, barely getting him to move when the sudden loud noise of multiple vehicles rushed on the boardwalk. Glancing towards the disturbance, you watched as four familiar bodies stopped infront of the girl and boy. 

They each revved their engines, purposely scaring away anyone that too close. You watched as the little boy made his way over to one of the motorcycles, the brunette pulling him up to sit behind him. 

The girl placed her arm across the bleach blondes chest, hosting herself onto the back of the motorcycle. “C’mon, man, she played you.” Sam told his brother, pulling him away from his rooted spot on the deck. You stayed put for a second, slowly trailing after your brothers as the engines of the bikes faded from earshot. 

Your mind going to when exactly you’d be seeing them again. 

A/a/n: Like I said, this took so long to figure out how exactly the reader and the boys would meet each other. So, I honestly would understand if y'all don’t like this, but, trust me the other chapters are going to be a whole lot better.

[dilemmaontwolegs]

Hello can i ask a part 3 of crazy for you where you know about his dark tendencies but you can't and he won't let you leave him because your already pregnant (i know it takes time to figure out if your pregnant but let's just say Lando has a great sperm 🤭 and it's many weeks later) thanks 🫶

Crazy For The Three Of Us || LN4

Warnings: 18+ only, nsfw, gaslighting, dub/con, dark themes WC: 2k F1 Masterlist || Part One || Part Two || Part Three || Part Four (final)

It took Lando another couple of weeks to finally get you to move in with him, not that you spent much time apart. You practically lived together but shared the time between your apartments next door. His argument made sense in the end, there really was no need to be paying rent when you could move in with him. So, you handed in your notice and moved your belongings into his place.

“Did this really need to be boxed up to move ten metres down the hall?” Lando teased as he opened the last box and tipped it out. 

“Probably not,” you giggled as you helped fold the clothes and put them away. “What are we having for dinner?”

“Fridge is a bit empty, want takeaway or to go shopping?” You would always choose a home cooked meal and he knew it as he grabbed a hoodie and his keys. “Come on then, love.”

Determined to make the grocery run go faster, you sent Lando off to the chilled foods with his list and you made your way down the dried goods aisles. A familiar face stood in front of the sauces and you skipped up to him, touching his shoulder to get his attention.

“Hey Luke, how have you been? I haven’t heard from you in a while.”

“Hey,” he said weakly. He seemed wary as he took a step back, his eyes finding Lando as he walked down the aisle with a shopping trolley. “That’s probably for the best. I should get going.”

You frowned at his quickly retreating figure and wondered what you had done to offend him. It wasn’t like you had seen him anytime recently. Everytime plans were tried to line up, there was something already organised with Lando. Turning your back on him you saw Lando’s jaw clench as he stared at Luke’s back too.

“What’s that?” you asked as you nodded to his hands, his eyes softening as he broke away from his intense stare.

“I picked you up a test, love.” Lando held the little blue box up and shook it. “You’re a few days late.”

“How would you even know that?” You laughed as you took the box and started to place it on a random shelf you passed. “You wear condoms anyway, so stop being stupid.”

“Yeah, except when you practically raped me on the couch,” he snorted. “Please, Lando, just fuck me. You didn’t even give me a chance to get one.”

You stumbled and if you didn’t have a hand on the trolley you probably would have face planted on the vinyl floor. “No, tell me you’re joking, right?”

“Why would I joke about that?” He grabbed the test back and dropped it into the trolley as he continued on his way.

You rushed to catch up with him and grabbed his forearm. “Why are you not freaking out?”

“Why would I?” he asked calmly, his head tilting to the side as he saw the fear in your eyes. “I love you, we live together. Is it not the next step?”

“No, it’s not,” you corrected. “There’s a million steps between those things. There’s enjoying life, getting to know each other, getting married. I don’t even know if I want kids!”

He smiled and grabbed the back of your head to pull you into a crushing kiss. “You said kids, plural.”

“Lando, I’m trying to be calm right now. Please don’t make this worse.” You turned and stormed your way to the checkouts, tapping your foot impatiently as each item was scanned but it was the little blue box you kept your eyes fixed on. “It’s probably nothing anyway,” you muttered under your breath as you tried not to freak out. “It was one time.”

You couldn’t breathe as you stared at the little window that very clearly stated PREGNANT. It even had the audacity to tell you that you were 3-4 weeks along.

“It’s wrong, buy another one,” you said to Lando as you tossed the test in the trash.

He grabbed it out and stared at it, a little perplexed that it didn’t just have two little lines. “What do you mean?”

“Unless you can time travel, the test is wrong,” you growled as you ripped it from his hands and threw it back in the bin. “We had sex on your couch when I called in sick two weeks ago, so how can I be that far along? It’s faulty, go and buy another one.”

You gave him a push to the door before sinking onto the couch and dropping your head in your hands. You bolted back upright and narrowed your eyes at the seat, giving it a kick before heading to the kitchen instead. “Stupid fucking couch.”

By the time Lando returned, his hoodie pocket filled with half a dozen other brands of tests, you had cooked dinner and dessert and started baking some bread rolls for lunches as well. You kept your hands busy so you could distract yourself and it had worked until he dropped the boxes on the bench.

“There weren’t any more of those fancy ones but I got these,” he explained as he opened the boxes and pulled the tests out. “Have you drunk any water?”

You waved your empty bottle as you swiped them up and stalked back off to the bathroom, locking the door behind you.

“Baby, open up,” Lando said with a knock. “Let me in.”

“Just…give me a few minutes,” you begged as you sat on the toilet. “Please.”

“Okay, I’ll be out here when you’re ready.”

You heard his footsteps retreat and sighed as you closed your eyes to pray to anyone that would listen. “Please, please, please…”

Your prayers weren’t answered as every single test highlighted the reality of the situation. You were pregnant. You were pregnant. “Fuck.”

The alarm on your new phone blared that the baking was done and it spurred you to wash your hands and leave the room. You walked into the kitchen, feeling Lando’s eyes in you as you opened the oven and pulled out the tray from the oven. You didn’t feel the heat of the tray but Lando’s shout cut through the noise in your head before the pain flared on your palm. The tray clattered to the floor and you froze amongst the mess.

“Baby,” Lando whined as he grabbed your wrist and dragged you to the sink. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“I-I-I’m pregnant,” you whispered, still in a state of confusion as you stared at the ruined bread rolls. “I have a fucking bun in the oven.”

You were still in denial even as you watched the pulsing blob on the screen in front of you. Lando knew plenty of people around the city with his high profile and he had been able to get you a fast tracked appointment with an Obstetrician. You almost wished he would slow down but going fast was all he knew. 

“Woah,” he breathed as the doctor pointed to the dot.

“That’s it’s heartbeat, fast and strong. I would say from the measurements we are looking at just over 5 weeks gestation.” 

“Five! No, that can’t be right.”

“The measurements don’t lie,” he shrugged as he waved the wand to another angle to take a few more still shots. “But we go by your last known period, not the actual conception date if that helps.”

It didn’t. The dates still didn’t add up in your mind and you numbly accepted the print outs of the photos as you sat up. 

“We will have another scan at 12 weeks-”

You zoned out as you stared at the blob, no, not a blob - a baby, your baby. Your thumb stroked over the image and you tried to imagine how in less than eight months it would be a human being that you would be responsible for. A wet splotch landed on the paper and you gasped as you rushed to brush the teardrop away. “Shit,” you sniffled as you accepted the tissue Lando grabbed for you. 

“You’re going to be a great mother,” he said softly, taking the pictures away before you could ruin them further. “I can’t wait to tell our parents.”

You had barely been able to think about how you were reacting to the news but now you had to think about your parents as well. You had only ever briefly spoken to his parents and that was when they video called him on Christmas Day. The thought of telling them and your parents was almost enough to make you sick, and not the queasy kind you had felt waking each morning recently.

“Don’t you think we should wait?” you whispered as you sat in the passenger seat on the drive back to the apartment. “Most people wait until 12 weeks in case something happens.”

“You’re going to have the best care money can buy, baby, nothing’s going to happen.”

‘I thought we raised you better than that,’ your mother had sighed. ‘Unprotected sex is not an accident.’

‘What your mother means to say is, if you two are happy then we are happy for you,’ your father said as he placed a hand on his wife’s shoulder. ‘You are happy, right?’

Lando’s hand had warmed your leg as he ran his palm over your jeans, giving it a soft squeeze when you didn’t answer. “Uh, yeah, dad, I’m happy. It was just a shock is all. I think my brain is still trying to catch up with everything.”

You could hear the disappointment in your parent’s lacklustre congratulations before they bid you a goodnight. It weighed heavily on you as the video call ended and Lando slammed the lid of his laptop shut. His parents had been far more accepting of the information, but it wasn’t their first time being grandparents so it wasn’t such a change.

Lando went to the kitchen and boiled the kettle for your evening tea and you screwed up your face as he opened the new jar. “Can’t I have the chamomile? That one tastes better.”

As soon as the pregnancy test had come back positive he had thrown the sleep tea out, claiming it said it wasn’t suitable for pregnancy. It seemed absurd, but Lando wasn’t taking his chances and you were kind of endeared by how seriously he was taking his role as father-to-be.

“Come to bed with me,” you said as you slipped your arms around his waist while the tea steeped. His cologne made your mouth water and you buried your face in the back of this hoodie as you hugged him tighter. “These hormones are driving me crazy.”

The tea was forgotten as he turned and caught your chin in his warm hands, tipping your face back so he could claim your lips. “Crazy, huh?” he teased, taking a step and forcing you back until you were walking blindly to the bedroom. “I like it when you get a little crazy.”

Your knees hit the bed and you fell back amongst the blankets as he eyed you up hungrily. Need simmered in your core as he popped the button on your jeans and dragged them down your legs. Crawling up the bed, he groaned at the sight of your ass in the air and chuckled when you opened the bedside drawer. 

“Where’s the- oh- I guess we don’t need them now,” you chuckled as you found the condom box missing. “Guess there is one perk to this accident.”

Lando flipped you onto his back and you found he had already thrown his clothes off in eagerness. “There are no accidents, love, just miracles.”

Click here for the final part.

[fairyofshampgyu]

FAIRYOFSHAMPGYU’S TUMBLR WRAPPED ! ⋆⭒˚⋆ <3

saw some mooties do this so I thought it’d be fun to do a little one as well !! Anyway, thank you so much for the love on all my fics I’ve written this year !! I appreciate it so much, whether it’s an ask, comment or reblog or like 😭🫶 I find myself always going back to read feedback bc it makes me so happy !! Thank you to all my moots too !! I received sm love this year thank you I forever am grateful !! >_< 🌷 The way I only wrote about 4 fics in total this year (excluding thoughts I wrote) is an abomination 💀…but I had a very busy year and tbh I do love to take my sweet time writing fics. 😭 I also had quite bad writers block. It’s absolutely crazy how fast this year went, it still felt like it had just started…😟 time is my biggest enemy. Regardless, I feel like every year for me gets better and better and I had an amazing 2024. Will 2025 be able to top 🤔 ? I hope everyone has a great year too !! <3

TOP FIC OF 2024:

Me pegged ?! (first time pegging gyu) 1.94k notes !!

I did not expect this to be my most popular fic this year 😭 but I received so much feedback and love for this so tysmm !! <3💞 I just wrote this pretty fast after my exams finally finished and after having terrible pegging beomgyu brain rot and there not being enough fics of him getting pegged 😪 so I did not expect this to reach nearly 2k already but tbh I get it, beomgyu is very cute in this 🤧 so thank you so so muchhh

MY FAV FIC I WROTE IN 2024:

not as tough as you look ! (Sub emo vinyl store worker gyu x vinyl collector reader)

This was incredibly self indulgent 😭 and somewhat based on a true story (there was no fucking 😪) but this is one of my fav fics I’ve written tbh SUB EMO VINYL STORE WORKER GYU ??!! like I still reread this and get giddy as if I didn’t fucking write it myself 💀 was made by for me LMAO

FAV FICS I READ IN 2024:

I barely read this year bc I was so busy ☹️ so there’s not much, I still have a big to read list to catch up on so many fics but pls pls give me some recs. istg there were way more favs than this and I’m just pulling my hair trying to remember but there’s also a lot still on my to read list so yeah

Star studded baggage (yeonjun, Soobin, beomgyu x reader, reincarnation au, celebrity au, series, fluff) @hannie-dul-set

Not finished but I remember highly enjoying this, such a good unique plot, well written, funny and I’m a sucker for reincarnation aus tbh

What a loser ! (sub, brat stoner gyu) @hyewka

short but I remember I was gagged by this. Love the idea and bratty sub gyu eating you in a skate park 😩 smut was tew good

backrow theatre (subby gyu x dom taehyun x resder) @boba-beom

SUBBY GYU AND DOM TAEHYUN. Enough said. 😮‍💨

Mogi & Nabi (college au, childhood best friends beomgyu to lovers series, fluff) @hannie-dul-set

Loved, loved this fic very much. I wrote a lot about this when I reblogged it yesterday 😭

Divinity for the damned (fallen angel dom gyu, horror, smut) @koqabear

Such a unique plot, so so well written and I love how dark it is and the idea of fallen angel beomgyu

Heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I (sequel series to yamqn, reincarnation au, switch gyu, series,) @wildernessuntothemselves

another fic I very highly enjoyed reading this year also cried to when it ended lol. The whole entirety of this story and prequel is one of the most compelling stories I’ve seen on here it could literally be like a drama or book and I was so sad that it ended 😭 so well written I love the story.

sub gyu drabble (sub gyu, public, vibrator plug) @hyewka

THIS IS SO GOOD AND YUMMY 😩😩 still come back to this

hybrid puppy gyu thought @wildernessuntothemselves

Still come back to this too, just the love the idea I love puppy gyu

An Ironman (sexbot gyu, sub gyu) @niningtori

Beomgyu was so cute in this and unique plot again, enjoyed reading this v much !!

Violets are blue (beomgyu, hanahaki disease, angst) @niningtori

This was so good and sad when I first read this. I CANNOT handle angst 😭😭💔 everything I read of niningtori puts me into cardiac arrest bc theres so much angst 😭 buts it’s all good bc I love the pain

night lounge (jazz bar, dom beomgyu, bassist gyu) @beomie3

JAZZ BAR, BASSIST GYU SMUT ?? Sign me tf up. Love the idea very much. I wanted to make my own jazz bar smut fic for ages too so I love this great minds think alike

Switch to me (beomkai x reader smut, sub kai, dom gyu) @chyuuiung

I WAS GAGGED !! THE FIRST TIME I READ THIS I fucking love beomkai why aren’t there more beomkai x reader smuts I will literally eat them all up. This was hot

Pretty princess (time travel, royal au, princess reader, fluff series) @beomiracles

Been a while but all I remember was that I had an exam the next day but I binge read the entirety of this. It was very cute and beomgyu was so silly 😭 and I love the plot and enjoyed reading it all

MY GOALS IN 2025:

- write a fucking yeonjun fic 😭 I cannot believe I have never written one. I am a failure. I had one in the drafts this year but then another writer wrote something pretty similar to it and I didn’t want to seem like I was copying 😭 so I’ve let it go. But best believe, I will fucking write that yeonjun fic. 💪‼️ I just need some more ideas.

- in general, write more for txt members 😭 I’m sorry guys beomgyu is my muse and it comes so easy and enjoyable writing for him 😪 I am terrible at going out of my comfort zone. But I do have a drummer college au kai fic in my drafts !!!

- read more fics !! I didn’t get to read as much this year but I hope to read lots

- write a super long fic - literally all my fics are so short 😞 idk how you guys do it but I’m in awe

- interact more with moots - the way I’m not close with any of my moots 😭 ily all though I’m terrible at interacting and socialising I’m so sorry but I will try 💪 I want to get closer to more of you 💞

THAT’S A WRAP ! <3

[brokehorrorfan]

6 Things I Learned from the Lisa Frankenstein Commentary

We don’t get movies like Lisa Franeknstein often, which is a shame because it’s endlessly charming yet delightfully twisted. While it disappointed at the box office, it has "cult classic" written all over it.

The coming-of-age horror-comedy is out today on Blu-ray and DVD. Among the special features is an audio commentary by Zelda Williams. Here are 6 things I learned…

1. Catch Me If You Can inspired the opening credit sequence.

The opening credit sequence, which briefly depicts the Creature's love story from his previous life in the style of Victorian shadow box art, was inspired by Catch Me If You Can.

"We wanted to do something interesting with the credits in this bit. I was really inspired by Catch Me If You Can, which I thought the opening credits were particularly interesting and helped establish the story before we ever got to it. And because Creature doesn't speak this whole movie, I wanted an opportunity to show what his life would have been like."

2. The film was originally intended to be rated R.

Although Lisa Frankenstein pushes the PG-13 rating as far as it can go, it was originally intended to be a hard R. Williams cites the party scene, in which Lisa originally smoked a laced joint rather than drinking a PCP cocktail, as a difficult revision.

"This is where stuff got a little complicated when we were going from R-rated to PG-13. Originally there was a coated joint they were passing around. This is one of the only scenes that I'm not sure I'm as fond of in comparison to the joint stuff. Most of the rest of the changes were fine, but this one I find very strange. It's just a very different reaction and interaction than what used to be there. However, these are the things that happen when making a movie."

3. Creature is an homage to Day of the Dead's Bub.

Not only Lisa is seen watching George A. Romero's Day of the Dead in the film, but the Creature is an homage to its iconic zombie, Bub.

"Creature for me is definitely an homage to Buster Keaton, but he's also an homage to the zombie you just saw on screen, Bub, who was in Day of the Dead, a Romero movie that I'm very fond of. It was an incredibly emotive and a very intelligent zombie and ended up getting revenge against the asshole in the movie. It was one of my favorite monsters ever made, so when I could put that on screen during the movie, it made me very happy."

4. Zelda hid a tribute to her father, Robin Williams.

Williams is the daughter of Robin Williams, and she included his 1983 comedy album, Throbbing Python of Love, among the records scattered on the floor in Lisa's living room.

"Oh, there's Dad! We used one of Dad's vinyl albums because we had to scatter some across the floor." She refers to it as "a little, mini Easter Egg for me."

5. The police officers are named after John Waters.

The police officers in the film are Officer John (played by Walker Babington) and Officer Waters (Sylvia Grace Crim) — named on a whim in honor of cult filmmaker, John Waters.

"They asked me to name the cops, because obviously they needed to have name tags, so I named them Officer John and Officer Waters." She thought no one would notice since they're so small, but a viewer pointed it out at a test screening.

6. The film is sprinkled with movie references.

Williams wore her influences on her sleeve with her directorial debut, and she pointed out several references on the commentary:

A Trip to the Moon (clip featured in Lisa's surreal dream sequence)

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (stylistic inspiration on the dream sequence)

Weird Science (the party scene)

Suspiria (red lighting during drug sequence)

My Boyfriend's Back (camera shot from inside a grave looking up at characters)

Kill Bill (weapon point-of-view shot)

E.T. (a boy on a bike — played by Diablo Cody's son — at the end)

Notting Hill (reading together on a bench at the end)

Lisa Frankenstein is available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital via Universal.

[nonbinary-potatoes]

Jegumas day 4 - buying gifts @noblehouseofgay

Word count: 633

(Lowkey dk of I like this one but whatever)

Regulus had decided if there was one part of 'good' Christmas, as James so aptly called it, he hated - it was the shopping. Normally Regulus didn't mind shopping, he'd sometimes go with Remus and they'd leisurely browse book shops or stand around listening to vinyl in music shops, but with James it was like being dragged around hell. James demanded going into every shop 'just in case the perfect gift was there' and then would need major convincing not to buy everything that reminded him of the person he was buying for. It felt like a waste of a day off. 

"Come on Baby, it's perfect for Sirius" James gushed, holding up a needle felted black dog - Regulus was already stuck dragging around a bag with countless gifts for seemingly everyone James had ever spoken to for more than three seconds. Regulus rolled his eyes, in truth the sentiment was sweet but going shop to shop for the last several hours had drained Regulus' ability to feel sentimental; all that was left was hunger and exhaustion. 

James trotted off to the counter to pay for his array of nick knacks while Reglus fought the urge to just leave and go home. “Can we get lunch yet?” Regulus called across the shop, James had said they were going to get food an hour ago and had since seen several ‘perfect shops’ that excited him so much that he must have forgotten he was ever hungry in the first place.

“yes, yes sorry Reg” James said as he strode back across the shop bag in hand, pushing the door open to let in the biting cold air from outside. They were on some highstreet in London, not a particularly fancy one in the middle of central London like oxford street but it was nice nonetheless. James pulled Regulus into some sort of food hall, it was a huge space filled with different stalls selling differing things. “we both get something we like and meet back here in 5?” 

Regulus nodded and trotted off, perusing different stalls to find a choice that suited him well. Not all of them were food stalls either, some simply sold homemade items and there was signs saying there was more stalls downstairs - the place was like a maze and Regulus hardly managed to find his way back to James after purchasing a cheese toasty; some artisan one with French cheeses and sourdough bread there cost a ridiculous amount of muggle money but it looked too good for Regulus not to get. 

“We gotta go downstairs” Regulus declared, not even caring that he was being very undignified with the toasty and letting the cheese stretch as he took bites and craning his neck to see how far it would pull. Effectively refueled and with renewed curiosity Regulus dragged James down a narrow concrete staircase into a huge underground vintage market. It was a literal maze of stalls and racks, different signs hanging above each one saying what they sold and the brand name. 

“Remus would love this” James said through a mouthful of his food, earning a half hearted slap from Regulus. The pair worked their way through stalls, Regulus not even realising he had taken up the same penchant as James - buying everything he saw that reminded him of his friends. Vinyl for Remus, a new leather jacket for Sirius, band posters for Cas and Marlene - Regulus didn't even know Marlene that well but he'd seen her wear a slipknot shirt once and just picked the poster up automatically. 

By the time they got home that night, each of them was carrying at least four bags in each hand and their wallets were collectively much lighter. But Regulus had found a new sort of joy in finding gifts for people. 

(Based on bricklane vintage market / upmarket food hall in Shoreditch - if you get the chance definitely go I love it there).

[junocandraw]

JEFF THE KILLER REWRITE 2/4

Wow! You made it this far! You must really like staring at words!!

Incase you couldn’t tell, this isn’t the beginning. The first part is linked at the top of my page!

Maybe you should get another helping of popcorn, and clean the emo black eyeliner tears off of your face. Or get up and start your MCR vinyl back at the beginning because you continue to insist that sound technology hasn’t progressed past the year 1857.

Whats that? You want me to get out of your way with my intrusive paragraphs? Oh. I see how it is.

CONTINUE HERE ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

The Face Off

The nightmare Jeff had on Monday night lingered with him through the next morning. He wasn’t the type to let something as silly as a dream frighten him, but this one had something strange to it. Something he couldn’t quite place. He knew it had something to do with the ringing, and that lingering feeling of bloodlust that had gone dormant inside of him once again. He knew it had something to do with the new, strange feeling that he was being watched everywhere that he went.

On Tuesday at school, he got shoulder checked by Randy in the hallway on the way to his 6th period class. Jeff didn’t let this get to him. Instead, he redirected the fury to his competitive spirit, knowing what was coming for Randy in his first practice on Friday. He spent so much time thinking about every trick, every shot, and every opportunity he would have to embarrass his new found enemy. To ruin him.

Jeff had also been keeping a close eye on Liu. He began to notice how he wouldn’t speak on the car rides home from school. How he would shut his bedroom door and not come out until it was time for dinner. It was unusual for him, even with his introverted personality. Jeff wasn’t surprised that his ignorant parents didn’t notice Liu’s strange behavior, but he was still angry nonetheless.

At last, the week ended, and Saturday came. Jeff had packed his belongings the previous night, and hung his practice uniform on his bedroom door. He watched Wisconsin beat Notre Dame while he did his math homework just to prepare himself mentally. He woke up extra early for the 8:30 practice just to be certain that everything was ready.

Jeff parked his car outside of the gym and locked it with a cheerful beep, before striding up to the door. It was freezing cold outside, with mounds of plowed snow scattered across the student parking lot. He showed up around 30 minutes early to have adequate time to stretch and meet the coaches. Jeff was grateful for the heaters over the doors when he walked inside, his entire body being hit with a wave of warm air. The warmth disappeared through the second pair of doors that opened into the rink.

Jeff walked alongside a faceoff spot and admired the condition that the rink was in. It was obvious that the school cared about athletics. When he came around the curve of the boards, he saw three men standing and chatting beside the bleachers. He recognized one of them as Mr. H. The men waved at him in unison, and Jeff waved back, picking up his walking pace to get to them quicker.

”Ah! You must be Jeffery!” One of the men greeted, his hand extended for a handshake, the other man and Mr. H following close behind him. The coach who led the group had white hair, and a white mustache. He looked to be in his mid 60s. His belly was round, and his face was red. He wore a red sweater with the school's hawk mascot over a black collared shirt. He also sported black dress pants with a shiny whistle around his neck. He was considerably shorter than Jeff.

“I am, but it’s just Jeff.” Jeff replied, firmly shaking the coach’s hand.

“I’m Coach Barkley, the head coach.” He chuckled, ignoring Jeff’s correction entirely. The man who looked like an assistant coach chuckled along with him. Jeff didn’t laugh. The only person who called him Jeffery was his father, and it always made him furious, “We’re so glad to have you here at ECU.” Jeff nodded, and politely extended his hand to the other coach,

“I’m Coach Carter. I coach JV, so you won’t be seeing me much.” Jeff gripped Coach Carter’s hand and gave it a firm shake. He had an anxious disposition about him that Jeff found a little creepy. He felt glad knowing he wouldn’t be spending much time with Coach Carter. As Jeff thought about this, Coach Barkley continued speaking,

“Considering this is your first day, we don’t expect you to join in the scrimmage if you don’t want to, but-“

”Scrimmage?” Jeff’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. He felt a smirk tug at the corners of his mouth. His timing was truly perfect.

”Um- Yes. We have scrimmages every Saturday.” The Coach seemed offended that Jeff had interrupted him.

”Oh, I’ll be in there.” Jeff nodded, knowing he wouldn’t miss this opportunity for the world.

“Told you he’s perfect.” Mr. H smiled, winking slightly at Jeff. Despite Mr. H’s compliment, Coach Barkley seemed only moderately pleased,

“Alright, considering that you play center, you might have some trouble with Randy. He’s very competitive, one of the best centers in the district.” Coach Barkley was cocky, but Jeff knew better,

‘How about the best in the state?’ Jeff thought, realizing that Coach Barkley was yet another obstacle that he would have to deal with.

“Jeff, why don’t you get your skates on, and meet some of the other players? Everyone else should already be in there.” Mr. H suggested, followed by passionate nodding from both of the coaches,

“Great idea, Mr. H. Jeffery, go ahead to the locker room.”

“It’s Jeff.” The teenager asserted coldly, narrowing his eyes at the head coach. He turned on his heel, and began to head towards the locker room. Once he was out of the adults’ lines of vision, Jeff shook his head and clutched his stick tighter. He used his free hand to open the door to the locker room.

Jeff felt 34 pairs of eyes fall directly on him, and heard all of the conversations die at once. His eyes landed on Randy elbowing Troy and Keith so that they could see what he saw. The room smelled like spray deodorant, and sweat. The atmosphere was so thick, you could cut it with a knife.

Jeff ignored them, and sat on an empty bench. He then unlaced his Converse and unzipped his bag to retrieve his practice uniform. He pulled his shirt off over his head, and tied his hair back into a low bun. Just as he was about to reach for his shoulder pads, one of the boys broke the silence,

“Are you the new kid?” Jeff turned to look up at him, noticing his striking green eyes. He nodded silently while adjusting his padding. Another kid with curly red hair asked,

“You’re from Milwaukee, right? Is it nice there?” Jeff chuckled at the underclassmen attempting to make conversation,

“Have you never been to Milwaukee?” The kid shook his head no, before Randy chimed in uninvited,

“Probably couldn’t afford it anyways.” A few of the other boys snickered at his cruelty. The freshman looked hurt at Randy’s words. Jeff stood up, and turned to face the tormentor. He had hit the peak of his rage, and began to spill his guts,

“What in the hell is your problem?” Jeff’s spat, his voice filled with venomous hatred, “Does bullying underclassmen get you off, or something?” The other boys in the locker room were shocked. They had never seen Randy get publicly stood up to before, and by the look on his face, Randy hadn’t either.

“What’d you just say? You wanna run that by me one more time, Jeffery?”

“What? Is Daddy’s job not getting enough playing time for you?” Jeff felt exhilarated as he watched his words seep into Randy’s skin.

”Why don't you pull up your pants and fight me? Or are you too pussy?” The tension between the two boys increased, rising over the boiling point,

Jeff silently shook his head, putting his blade guards on over his skates and slamming his locker behind him. He grabbed his stick and walked over to the door. Before he left, he turned to face his new team, “Don’t let this red-headed tool or his chicken-shit friends push you around.” He then turned all of his attention to Randy,

“If you have something to prove, let's see it in the barn.”

With that Jeff closed the door behind him, and walked back to the boards to begin stretching.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a few laps around the rink to get warmed up, Coach Barkley blew his whistle, calling the team to the center ice. The team gathered around the coaches, clapping in unison. When he blew his whistle again, the clapping ceased. Yet another adjustment for Jeff to make.

“Today’s practice is for an hour. We’ll only play for two periods, because I have a doctor’s appointment. Halfway through, you all get a ten minute break to hydrate and huddle with your teams.” Coach Barkley instructed, “Our team captains today are Randy…and…Jeff.” The whole team looked at Jeff, who’s eyes were locked on Coach Barkley.

Jeff and Randy skated in front of the group of boys, and began to pick teams. Randy went first,

”Keith.” Keith, a left wing player, skated to Randy’s side. It was Jeff’s turn. He realized that he was picking completely in the dark. He also realized that it was probably part of Coach Barkley’s plan to help Randy’s team win, and elevate his status with Mr. H,

“You.” Jeff pointed at the red-headed kid whom Randy had taunted in the locker room. The kid looked surprised, and even pointed at himself to make sure that he had really been selected. Jeff nodded, and the red-headed underclassman skated over, a wide grin on his face. Jeff could tell that he wasn’t used to being picked first. Jeff noticed Coach Barkley snickering with his other coach behind his clipboard, and Randy whispering to Keith. Jeff turned to the red headed freshman,

“Don’t look at them. One of those two will absolutely be a teen father before they graduate.” Jeff joked, trying to ease the kid’s nerves, “What’s your name?”

”Adam.” He answered sheepishly. His shy demeanor and quiet voice reminded Jeff a lot of Liu,

”Are you a freshman?” Jeff questioned, trying to gauge how old he was,

“Yeah.” He responded, turning back to the crowd to see who else Jeff could pick, “Get that short kid with the black hair.” Adam whispered to Jeff. It was the kid with the bright green eyes from the locker room who had asked Jeff if he was new,

“Jeffery? It’s your turn.” Coach Carter stared at Jeff from across the ice.

“You.” Jeff pointed at the green-eyed kid, who zoomed over, and gave Jeff a gloved high five, “And it’s Jeff, please.” Jeff began to grow annoyed at his coaches ignoring his corrections,

”I’m Thomas, call me Tom.” He smiled, “You should get Brady. He’s the blond kid, he plays right wing. He’s really good.”

“I’ll take Brady.” Randy called.

“Damn.” Tom whispered, “Oh! Get Will, he’s the other tall one. He plays awesome defense.” Adam nodded in agreement,

”You.” Jeff pointed at Will, who skated over to Jeff’s side. He was stoic, and stood at around 6’1. He had dark skin, and a purple mouth guard.

Soon enough all of the players had been selected and sorted onto their teams. Jeff had taken the advice of his new teammates as his only guidance in choosing. He hadn’t a clue if they were correct or not. Coach Barkley gave the two teams 5 minutes to huddle up and strategize. The players gathered around Jeff, who began to speak.

“For my starters I need Tom, Will, Eli…” Jeff thought for a moment, “And Adam.” The team seemed shocked at Jeff’s decision, but fearing the wrath he had shown Randy in the locker room, they remained silent,

“Listen. I know I’m new. I know I don’t know any of you, and you don’t know me, and because of that I’m not gonna order you around or be an asshole. I’m not that guy. If some new guy had come to NMHS and started ordering people around like that, we’d probably be a little annoyed. I know that this probably isn’t ideal for you guys, and I’m sorry. But you have to understand. I want to win. I really hate losing. It’s just who I am. I’m done talking now, you guys tell me what I need to know.” After his short speech, Jeff began to listen to his teammates talk about what positions they felt comfortable in, their strengths, and their weaknesses so that he could form a game plan.

When Jeff heard Coach Barkley’s whistle, he knew it was game time. He skated to the center of the rink, and got into the ready position just as he had been taught. He bit his yellow mouthguard as Randy and his team got into position. Coach Carter waited for the okay from Coach Barkley to drop the puck. Once he gave Coach Carter a thumbs up, Jeff felt his heart rate accelerate.

When the puck dropped, the fight for the puck was fierce. The clacking of sticks against the ice and each other was the only sound that could be heard. It felt like an eternity before Randy’s team finally managed to get a hold of the puck. The left wing player darted down the ice towards Jeff’s team’s goal.

Jeff was not going to let Randy get away with this, and used his incredible skating skills to close the gap between him and the left wing player. He angled his body to get the puck back. He executed a perfect poke check, and stole the puck for himself.

He took off in the opposite direction with the puck in his possession, every calculated move he made showcasing his love of the game. He skated past defenders and found himself approaching the net. The only thing that stood between him and the goal was the goalie. Jeff took an inhale, and exhaled on a powerful wrist shot that went sailing past the goalie’s glove into the top left corner of the net.

Jeff held his stick above his head as he glided behind the goal. Within the first moments of the game, he had already scored. He noticed Coach Barkley glaring down at him, and whispering to Coach Carter. Jeff was beginning to realize how much Coach Barkley was there to protect Randy.

As Jeff skated back to the middle of the ice for the next face-off, he took note of Adam playing goalie. His freckled face almost matched his hair in redness from the cold.

When Jeff got into the ready position, he looked up at Randy with a sly smirk. Randy’s face contorted with hatred for Jeff. He was embarrassed that someone like him could just show up, and make him look like a fool. As the pair waited for Coach Carter to retrieve the puck, Randy made a jab at Jeff,

“Your stick handling is shit.” He hissed, putting his mouth guard back into his mouth. Jeff just kept his composure, and prepared for the face off. Coach Carter skated between them with the puck. With a high pitched whistle from Coach Barkley, the game proceeded,

As the game went on, Jeff continued to have luck. His only goal was to destroy and embarrass Randy by every means possible, but he remembered his mentor, Stanley’s, wise words,

”Play with your head, not your heart.”

His heart was pained a bit, knowing Stanley was all the way back in Milwaukee, and it would be months before he got to see him again. He felt gritted determination in his soul, wanting very much for his mentor to be proud of him.

After 12 more minutes of playing, Adam had successfully blocked one of Randy’s shots into the goal, causing Jeff and the team to cheer with much vigor. This infuriated both Coach Barkley, and Randy to their cores.

As for Jeff, he had stolen the puck countless times from their weak offense, gotten a sneaky assist, and scored another goal. Jeff was glad to see that his gameplay alone was throwing Randy off. After a great hip check to one of Randy’s teammates, Jeff successfully got a hold of the puck and zoomed down towards Randy’s goal against the boards. He zoomed around a defensive player, and was almost to the attacking zone.

Just as he was about to execute a pass to one of his teammates, he felt a force shove him from behind and down to the ice. Jeff’s gloved hands were the first to hit the ice, then the rest of his body. It was a nasty fall, but nothing new to Jeff. When he looked up he saw Randy skating past him with the puck. Jeff waited for the whistle to be blown so that Randy would be put in the penalty box, and the game could continue. The sound never came. Jeff stood up, and looked up to Coach Barkley. It seemed that he hadn’t even noticed Randy’s misconduct. Jeff gritted his teeth, and got back on defense. He would let actions speak louder than words, unlike Randy, who couldn’t seem to stop chirping the entire game.

Jeff zoomed back to the defending zone, his frigid eyes locking on Randy Hayden. He was going in for the kill. He executed a perfect, yet aggressive, shoulder-to-shoulder body check, and stole the puck for his team. No sooner than he had begun to return to the attacking zone, he heard the blow of the whistle. Jeff came to a halt, and whipped around to look at Coach Barkley. He looked at Jeff, his arm extended to the side horizontally.

“WHAT?” Jeff exclaimed, “That was legal!” He asked, his face burning with animosity at the injustice he was facing.

“You checked from behind, Jeffery.” Coach Carter explained with a monotone voice, “Head to the penalty box.” Jeff turned to face Coach Carter and defend himself,

“It-It was shoulder to shoulder! If it were from behind, how would I have taken the puck?!”

“Just go get in the box, we’re all waiting on you.” Randy had a sly smile. Jeff’s helmeted head slowly turned towards Randy. He felt a pain in the side of his head. The anger that he was feeling was changing into something new. That intoxicating haze of hatred and bloodlust had returned. Jeff felt sick with his fury, wanting so desperately to get even with this privileged prick in front of him. His body was shaking, his left eye and hand were twitching, and he had reached the precipice of his emotions. This display of blatant favoritism towards Randy sickened him. It wasn’t fair. Jeff’s adrenaline soared. He didn’t notice, but the ringing in his ears had returned.

Jeff removed one of the gloves from his hand and threw it down onto the ice, unable to contain his emotions any longer. He lunged at Randy, and delivered a forceful punch to his jaw. Randy wasn’t going to let Jeff take advantage of him so easily, however, and grabbed Jeff’s hand when he attempted to deliver a second punch. As Jeff tried to fight through Randy’s grasp on his wrist, Randy removed his gloves, initiating their fight. After a bit of struggling and pulling on each other’s jerseys, Randy got a pretty good hit on Jeff’s helmet cage, causing Jeff to be stunned for a moment. He fell hard onto the ice, but grabbed the front of Randy’s jersey so that he’d go down with him. He ripped Randy’s helmet off, and got a forceful right hook in on Randy’s ear.

The Coaches had let Randy and Jeff fight, thinking it was all a part of the game. But when the punches and shouting never ceased, they had to intervene.

Jeff finally got control over Randy, pinning his arms down to the ice with his padded knees. He threw his fist as hard as he could into Randy’s eye. Randy growled in pain, before hitting Jeff with an uppercut that had come out of nowhere. Jeff tried to fight through the pain, but it almost seemed impossible. He could feel warm red blood trickling down his face. He gritted his teeth and licked his lips. His tongue tasted metallic fire. The ringing in his ears that he had managed to ignore all of this time became too loud. It was the same as his dream, and the same as the day he had fought his Dad.

Jeff’s rage had changed once more. The bloodlust that he was feeling had been a primarily violence-based emotion. When he was wrestling Randy, he found that there was some sadistic, evil pleasure that came with it. Watching the blood seep from his nose. Watching his eyes water, and blacken from a bruise. Listening to Randy’s pained screams and growls as he struggled beneath him. He was completely at Jeff’s mercy, and he loved it. He relished in it. The control, the power. It was intoxicating.

Jeff was in the process of getting a hit in on Randy’s stomach, when without warning, his body tensed up. He couldn’t move his limbs, or his neck. His eyes darted around, trying to figure out what happened. Meanwhile, Randy was weakened from Jeff’s violent outburst. Every punch Jeff had expertly delivered was excruciating, and blood flowed from Randy’s nose, mouth, and bruises were beginning to form on his face.

Jeff was pulled off of Randy by Mr. H, and shoved to the ice away from him. Coach Barkley’s and Mr. H hovered over Jeff’s tense, trying to understand what was happening.

“BOYS! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON??” Coach Barkley demanded, his eyes moving back and forth between Randy and Jeff. He was interrupted by Jeff’s screeching in pain from the sudden tension in his muscles. This is when the spasms set in. Jeff’s body went completely limp for a short moment, before beginning to convulse and twitch sporadically. His eyes were wide open, almost like they were going to pop out of his head. Foamed spit emerged from the corners of his mouth, sliding down his cheeks and around his ears. The entire team were still in shock, including Troy, Keith, and Randy.

“Oh my Gosh! Call an ambulance! He’s having a seizure!” Mr. H exclaimed as Coach Carter got down to Jeff’s level to make sure he didn’t injure himself.

The worst part about his seizure was that the entire time it was happening, Jeff was conscious and aware. There wasn’t an inch in his body that wasn’t in horrible pain. The only one of his senses that didn’t work was his hearing. Everything around him was chaotic, but silent. His vision was blurry from tears that began to roll down his cheeks. As Jeff started to lose his consciousness, he felt relief wash over him as the pain finally began to fade. The last things he saw were his Coaches on the phone with 911, and the tall, faceless figure in a suit that stood behind the boards and watched him suffer.

The Mentor

It had been a long couple of days for Jeff. He had suffered a grand mal seizure while he was fighting with Randy. The hospital he was taken to had run every test, every exam, and every scan on the boy. Each one came back normal. Jeff was completely healthy. Seizures could happen at random and to anybody, but Jeff’s wasn’t typical. His seizure had lasted for far too long and was far too severe to be ordinary. Still, there was nothing that the staff could do, so they moved on.

When Jeff finally woke up, it had been a day and a half since his seizure had occurred. He first heard the buzzing of fluorescent lights over his head, and the steady beeping of a heart monitor. He could smell disinfectant within the air, giving the hospital a sterile scent. His body was covered by a thin, coarse blanket that hardly qualified as bedding. His feet were wrapped in socks, and his body in a green hospital gown. He had an IV in his arm, pumping fluids throughout his body. His eyes fluttered open, and a hazy voice called out to him,

”Jeff? Are you awake?” When he had finally shaken off the cobwebs of his unconscious state, he could see who had just spoken to him.

“Stanley?” Jeff breathed, raising his head barely above the pillow and rubbing his eyes with his free arm.

“Jeff! Oh, thank goodness you're awake! I need to call your brother and let him know you’re okay!” Jeff only registered half of what Stanley said. He laid back down, and watched as the suspended ceiling above him moved like a wave. All of the sudden, a nurse appeared above him and began to gently touch his arm. She too was speaking, but Jeff couldn’t understand. Everything sounded muffled. Everything looked muffled. This was until Jeff heard one word. Well, one name.

”So…Something apparently happened with some kid named…oh, what was it?” Stanley pondered, scratching the white stubble on his aged chin, “Ronald…Oh! It was Randy!” Jeff snapped, and sat up immediately. Both the nurse, and Stanley were surprised at this. The heart rate monitor next to Jeff’s bed began to quicken in pace. He was now fully awake and aware of his surroundings. Jeff’s crystal eyes were wide, and sick. They were not the eyes of a sane man.

“Woah! Lay back down, son. You’re gonna hurt yourself!” The nurse gently pushed Jeff’s chest, attempting to get him to lie back down. For a moment, Jeff didn’t budge. Stanley, in his wiseness, noticed Jeff’s right eye twitching slightly. He stood up, his left hand clutching his cane,

“Jeff, it’s okay. You’re okay. Lay back down so the doctor can check on you. You’re alright, I promise.” He hobbled over to Jeff, rested his hand on Jeff’s shoulder, and guided him back down into a lying position. The heart monitor’s beeps began to slow at Stanely’s touch.

“Sorry…” Jeff mumbled, stretching his arms out, “What happened?”

“You’re alright, don’t apologize. You had a seizure.” The polite nurse explained, “You’re a really tough kid Jeffery. We’re gonna run some tests later to see if we can find a cause. Can you take a deep breath in for me?”

“Please, call him Jeff.” Stanley smiled, and nodded at the nurse.

“Oh! I’m sorry, Jeff.” The nurse looked down at her patient, knowing he was too disoriented off of the painkillers he was prescribed to understand what was happening. Jeff complied with her instructions, and the nurse listened to his lungs.

She ran a few more short tests while Stanley had stepped out of the room to make a phone call to Liu, and Jeff’s parents. When the nurse left, she invited Stanley back to the room, who shut the door behind him after wishing her well.

Stanley Waterbury was an older man, in his late sixties. His dark, weathered skin showed the weight of the long years he had lived. He had dark eyes like pools of ink that looked especially beautiful when the sunlight hit them just right. His halo of short silver hair matched his beard, which was trimmed neatly. His glasses sat perched on his nose, right above his contagious, knowing smile. His hands were calloused, proof of his life of hard work.

He walked with a cane, as he suffered an ACL injury during his legendary hockey career that had put him out of the sport for good. Stanley had dedicated his life to hockey, and didn’t let this injury stop him from coaching the sport he loved so much.

Stanley sat on the rolling stool that the nurse had just been sitting on beside Jeff’s bed. He gave Jeff a one-sided hug as Jeff was too weak to move. He pushed Jeff’s bangs out of his face and tucked them behind his ear. Jeff looked up at him weakly,

“What hospital is this? Did you drive all the way from Milwaukee?” Jeff wondered, his voice quiet.

“You’re about an hour away from Elmerville, and an hour away from Milwaukee.” Stanley explained, “I came as soon as I heard. I’m sorry that this is happening to you, son.”

“I’m fine. It’s nothing.” Jeff tried to sit up in his bed, but realized that he couldn’t.

“Quit moving around, boy. You need to rest.” Stanley rested his hand on Jeff’s shoulder, and looked into his eyes with a pity filled expression. Jeff sighed, and closed his eyes.

“Where’s mom and dad?” He asked, already knowing the answer to his question. He stared up at the ceiling above him with tired eyes. Stanley hesitated, knowing it wasn’t his place to speak illy of Jeff’s parents,

”They…uh…couldn’t make it.” He answered, “Your father had work and your stepmother…” He trailed off, knowing he couldn’t properly excuse their absence. Jeff’s eyes burned, and tears formed in the inner corners.

”Couldn’t? Or wouldn't?” Jeff muttered, a tear rolling down his pale cheek. Stanley didn’t say anything, because his heart of hearts burned with the same animosity as Jeff’s. Stanley had known Jeff since he was in elementary school, and seeing him like this broke his heart. Jeff was like a son to him, and his wife.

“I’m so sorry. Liu is with Margret. They’re on the way, and should be here in an hour or so. I’m not sure how bad the traffic is heading this way.”

“When did you get here?” Jeff asked, turning his head back to Stanley, who wiped the tear off of Jeff’s cheek.

”Late last night. I got the call from the school because I’m on your emergency contact list. I came as soon as I heard.”

“You didn’t have to do that.” Jeff had a look of genuine concern on his face.

”It’s alright. Someone had to come and check on you, and fill out all that damned paperwork.” This comment was a slight jab at Jeff’s parents, as Stanley would never say that he didn’t like them out loud, “Do you want to talk about what happened?” He asked, the fluorescent light reflecting off of his gold wedding band. Jeff paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. He had a lot to say, but he wasn’t quite sure if he could,

“I…I’ve just been so angry.” Jeff chuckled limply to himself, “That’s not new, though.”

”I was gonna say.” Stanley gently pinched Jeff’s cheek. The teen sighed, preparing to speak his mind.

”Ever since we moved to Elmerville, I’ve been…angry. But, not regular-angry. I’ve been angry all the time. I haven’t had a moment of peace since I unpacked my stuff and moved in. I keep getting these…weird thoughts, and this ringing in my ear out of nowhere. I-I feel like I’m being watched all the time…” Jeff explained erratically, scratching around the IV in his arm,

“Moving can be tough.” Stanley changed the subject to try to improve Jeff’s move, ”Change is hard. I know how much you loved Milwaukee, and how much you wanted to stay. Your team misses you a lot, and when I go see them at the barn, they always ask how you’re doing. Have you been keeping up with them? That might help you feel better.”

”I chat with them every now and then. If I talk to them for too long, I just start to get sad.” Jeff sighed, yawning quietly.

“I see. And what about this fight you had?” Stanley’s demeanor changed to one of a frustrated parent,

”Yes. I’m sorry. I broke my promise.” Jeff mumbled, remembering the guarantee he had given to Stanley before he left, swearing to stay out of trouble.

“What fights have you been in? How many have you been in?” Stanley raised an eyebrow, his hands wrapping around his wooden cane. Stanley was the only person Jeff would be totally honest about this with, because he knew deep down that Stanley was there to help him. He would never judge Jeff, and often gave him great advice.

“My first fight was with my dad. I got physical, I guess, but it just happened so fast. He makes me so angry, Stanley, you know how it is.” Jeff vented.

“I do, son. I do.” Stanley shook his head, and muttered quietly about Jeff’s parents to himself. He then sighed, and continued “And the others? Who is this Randy kid?” Jeff felt his heart rate increase at the mention of his enemy’s name. The heart rate monitor mirrored Jeff’s anger, putting it on display. With this, Jeff’s demeanor changed. His regular, conversational self was replaced with something else. He sat up slowly, and the beeping began to accelerate once more, almost like an omen,

“He’s the athletic director’s son.” Jeff explained, “I actually liked Mr. H, even after his pathetic son and his friends had tried to intimidate me after school one day. The first time we fought was in that classroom. He-he was going to fight me, Stanley, I could just- I could…tell. Luckily, his Dad strolled in and broke it up. But at practice, things got…rough. He checked me from behind, and they-they didn’t call it. I was pissed, but I got back up and kept playing. After that, I shoulder checked him, and-and it was COMPLETELY LEGAL. But-but they called it! They called it Stanley! I was just so…mad. I just wanted to take my stick, break it in half, and gut him like a fish!!” Stanley’s eyes widened, concern washing over his face. Jeff had always been a fighter, but nothing like this. He decided to blame it on the painkillers, but his gut remained skeptical. There was something deeper going on here,

“And…that's when you had your seizure?”

“Yeah…But that wasn’t…Look, I saw this- this thing, Okay? It had- it was tall. Really tall. Like, a street lamp. It wears a suit, a-and it has no face. Its face is- it's gone. It’s got long arms, and it was watching me die. I was laying on the ice, having my seizure, and it was watching me die- he’s been following me. I’ve seen him before. He won’t stop following me, and-and watching me.” Jeff had a small fit of giggling before continuing to ramble about what he had seen. Alarms were going off in Stanley’s mind, especially when he noticed the deranged look in the young man’s eyes.

“Jeff, are you alright?” Stanley asked as Jeff continued to ramble incoherently without ceasing. As he asked this, a few doctors walked into the room. Jeff stopped talking when he saw the group of doctors that had made their way into the room, and instead looked down at his folding arms.

“Good afternoon, Jeffery.”

“It’s Jeff, please.” Stanley’s face was contorted with confusion as he corrected the doctors.

“Jeff, my apologies.” The doctor smiled down at Jeff, “I’m doctor Saia, and we’re here to run a couple tests on you.”

While the doctors were talking to Jeff, Stanley pulled one of the doctors aside to speak privately.

“Is there something I can help you with, Mr…”

“Waterbury. I’m Mr. Waterbury but you can call me Stanley.” He shook hands with the doctor, “Look, I think there’s something wrong with that boy…you know…in the head. I’ve known him since he was a very young man, and he’s never acted like that before. Could it have something to do with the medicine that he’s taking?”

“I see. Can you describe his behavior for me, Stanley?” The doctor asked with a click of his pen, taking a pad and paper out of his coat pocket.

“He was talking- no, rambling on and on. He’s not a quiet boy, but he’s always liked to keep how he’s feeling to himself. He got into a fight, as you know, and every time I say the name of the boy he got into a fight with, the beeping heart thing beside his bed goes bonkers!”

”I heard about the heart rate part from one of my coworkers.” The doctor added, scribbling notes down on his paper.

“That’s not all. He started talking about some…monster that he saw before he passed out at the rink. His eyes were wide, and crazy. He just…doesn’t seem okay.”

”A…monster?” The doctor seemed puzzled.

”Yes! He said it was tall, and had long arms, and a suit…or something like that. He’s really not one to believe in ghost stories. I guess it could have been the seizure, but I just don’t know, doctor…”

”He stopped taking painkillers for the muscle cramps around 10 hours ago, but I supposed there could be some lasting effects. They wouldn’t cause something as severe as what you explained, that is of course, if everything you told me was true.” The doctor thought out loud, “How about I give one of my colleagues at Lakewood State Hospital a call?”

“Lakewood?” Stanley asked with an anxiety riddled tone, “You think he’s crazy?”

“No sir, I don’t. I know a very skilled, and professional psychiatrist that deals with patients, like Jeff, who have endured challenging, or traumatic experiences. He can access Jeff’s mental health, and check on how he’s doing. I was actually going to suggest that anyways, considering what Mr. Hayden from ECU told us about Jeff’s recent history.” Stanley nodded solemnly, and a silence fell between the two.

”Oh, speaking of Mr. H,” Stanley sighed, “I need to tell him about his hockey team. That poor boy is gonna be heartbroken.”

“I would suggest waiting until. He isn’t in a good headspace to receive such bad news.” The doctor suggested, scribbling down a number on a piece of paper and handing it to Stanley, “This is my colleague, Dr. Harrington. Give him a call. He would be happy to book an appointment for Jeff.” Stanley ran his hand across the back of his head, his silver stubble scraping against his calloused palm.

”Alright. Thank you, doctor.”

“Anytime. If you have any more questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to ask.” With this, Stanley and the doctor came back into the hospital room where Jeff was lying down and answering the doctors’ questions.

Stanley didn’t know if it was because of Jeff’s behavior, his story, or the insane look in his eyes, but he had a bad feeling. He was worried about Jeff, and wondered what was yet to come.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the next 3 days, Jeff rotted in the hospital bed, and was asked the same redundant questions every day. They checked for tumors all throughout his body, they checked his family history, they ran ECGs, blood tests, toxicology screenings, and they drug tested him. Nothing. Not a single abnormality. Jeff was a completely normal boy. Once the doctors couldn’t find the answers they were looking for, Jeff was given various medications and told to drink lots of water. He was then discharged and sent back home.

The car ride home was painfully silent with apprehension. Jeff’s stepmother and father didn’t speak a word to him. They were obviously upset, but Jeff couldn’t understand why. Their son had been in the hospital for three days, and they didn’t even bother to call, let alone visit him. When they came to pick him up, they didn’t give him so much as a hug. Jeff wore a gray crew neck and scrub pants provided by the hospital, because his parents didn’t bother to bring him a change of clothes. The silence hung over the car like a dark rain cloud, until Jeff’s father broke it.

“This new town was supposed to be a fresh start for our family, and you and your brother have done nothing, but make it more painful.” His father snapped through gritted teeth. Then, his stepmother chimed in,

“You know, I wanted to make friends with some of the other families in our neighborhood, but we won’t be able to do that anymore, will we?” Jeff was floored by both of their statements, but he wasn’t surprised. If it wasn’t obvious that all his parents cared about were their images, it was now. But still, Jeff remained silent. He wanted to speak. He wanted to tell his parents everything that he felt about them, but he did. Some unseen force beckoned him to see what else they would share if he just stayed quiet,

“The medication was weird enough, but a shrink? I was backed into a corner to make an appointment with that Dr. Harrington by Stanley, and your doctors. Did you know that, Jeffery? You think I wanted to do that? What do you think everyone else in our neighborhood thinks about that, huh? That there’s a psychopath in town?” Jeff stayed silent, his rage very present, but quiet. It almost felt like his body was on autopilot, and he was watching everything he did, but not responding to it by his own volition. He was in the passenger's seat of his own body.

“Suspended from school your first week in. Ridiculous. Absolutely Ridiculous.” His stepmother shook her head in disappointment. This was news to Jeff. He sat up a bit, and looked at his father through the rear view mirror.

“Suspended?” He asked weakly.

“Ha! I wondered where you were! Yes, Jeffery. Suspended. No more school for two weeks.”

”Why?” Jeff questioned, as his stepmother sighed and shook her head more,

“You don’t remember assaulting Randy, Jeff? How you beat that boy nearly to death? Does that ring a bell? Mr. H’s job is on the line now because of that. Because of you, Jeff.”

“I assaulted him, huh?” Jeff thought, hugging his chest.

“Well, I suppose one good thing came from this. You got kicked from that stupid hockey team. Now you actually can do something productive with your free time.” Jeff’s world stopped entirely. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He shot up, his face contorted with vexation.

“WHAT?!” He demanded, his father chuckling and sighing out,

”Oh yeah. They don’t believe that you’re stable enough…you know…in the head.” His father gripped the steering wheel at 10 and 2, “Quite frankly, we agree.” He added. Jeff felt his soul shatter. The thing he loved, his passion, his escape, had been ripped from his hands just like that. It dawned on him that he now had no school, no friends, and no hockey.

“I think it’s time you let go of your silly dreams, Jeff.” His stepmother admitted, turning to face her son. That haze was back. That sick, twisted anger. That hatred and unadulterated rage, pure and sickening, “Your father and I think it would be best if…you shadowed at the firm.” Jeff’s jaw dropped. There was no way his parents were serious.

“Y-you’re joking, right?” Jeff begged, his father scoffing,

“Jeff, you know damn well that playing in the NHL isn’t a real job. Hockey is barely a real sport, its-its just a game. You should come with me to work, and try something new, son.” Jeff was at a loss for words. He felt hot tears welling up in his eyes. He aggressively wiped them away, as he would rather die before he gave his parents the satisfaction of seeing him cry.

“I…I can’t-“

”No. No Jeff. I’m sick of all of the damn games that we’ve been playing for the past 17 years. It’s time you get your head out of the clouds, and get a grip. It’s time that we become a real family. Whether you like it, or not, things are gonna change around here.” Jeff leaned back in the car seat, and felt defeated. Everything that he had worked for, sweat for, cried for, literally bled for. He was watching it all go down the drain.

He turned his body towards the car window to watch the treeline pass behind them. His father continued to ramble on about being a lawyer. Jeff wasn’t listening. He didn’t have the energy to fight. He fell into bitter silence for the rest of the car ride.

You’re still here? WHAT??? Thank you!! You’re halfway there!

[chosetherose]

We knew it all along 🍊🩵

Taylor released Sweeter Than Fiction exclusive to the Tangerine vinyl at Target. She said this about it:

“There you’ll stand ten feet tall, I will say ‘I knew it all along’ 🥲 This song has always made me think of my friend Jack. It was the first song we made together and watching him challenge himself and make beautiful art over the years has been the thrill of a lifetime. How can he be 6 years older than me and also somehow still be my precocious young son? We may never know. “Sweeter Than Fiction (My Version)” is now available exclusively at Target on Tangerine vinyl 🍊🩵”

I find this funny for a couple reasons:

1. She created an orange (tangerine) edition with an exclusive track that repeats the lyrics “this life is sweeter than fiction”.

Let it sink in. Orange, which we picked up on as a stunting color, is the only version that includes this song. She is saying her true love is sweeter than the fictitious love we see in stunts.

2. She used the 🍊 emoji. And for some reason this makes me feel we are seen. She is aware of the hijinks that go on around here. (Extra giggles: @spade-riddles regularly uses the 🎯 emoji).

Looking deeper, the lyrics to STF are especially 👀 to me.

3. If you read this through a Tumblr Kaylor lens does it not sound perfectly like a redemption story? (Please I know we are just silly little internet people in all this but hear me out).

The first verse is about coming undone, watching us fall, watching our colors fade with a pain we thought would last forever.

In the second verse after the chorus, all we have is our shattered hopes. Then, they never saw it coming, but we were on to something and hit the ground running. 

In the pre-chorus, the light comes on. We proved her right, them wrong. And it’s like we don’t remember when we thought the rain would last forever.

The chorus repeats including that we will stand tall, the rest is history.

The bridge says we’ll be one of many saying look at us now, you made us proud. Then goes into the sentiment of loving someone when they are down, like we’ve loved Kaylor’s true love in its deepest darkness.

4. Notably, Taylor highlighted “There you’ll stand ten feet tall, I will say ‘I knew it all along’”. This reminds me so much of this riddle from Spade.

♠️ My riddles aren’t chronological but they do foreshadow. Piece them together and see the picture. You’ve known all along so now, follow along. - 05/11/2019

And generally, highlighting those lyrics gives me vibes of change in the air.

Bonus:

Taylor described Jack as like her “precocious” young son. Ok but any adjective would have worked there. Why this one? Here is its definition:

Showing mental development or achievement much earlier than usual

It fits the theme of knowing something before others. 💅🏼

I’ll be dissecting this post for ages 😂

[boyinafandom]

Hitting The Curve

Notes;

Modern day au

Y/n is gender neutral

_________

Spencer, knew he liked you. It was only friendly of course. Your his coworker.

Why would he ever want to date you? Sure, you’re just as smart as him, listen to him rant on and on without getting bored. And-Oh- another thing, out of every one in and outside of the office he seems to be the only person you’re ever actually nice to.

So he didn’t really understand why he got this tingling all over his body and why his mind went blank and his face got hot when you simply leaned on his arm..ok maybe let me be more specific..

You, him and Derek, had been talking about how much you liked cd’s, he doesn’t really remember how you guys got here, because he was reading and only inserted himself into the conversation when you asked what kind of music he liked.

“Classical.”

He stated simply

(This is important for later)

After a few seconds to long of silence, he spoke up again

“Or opera”

He watched you nod, Not really caring what Derek had to say in this moment, that’s what was odd about how he felt about you. He craved you’re attention. He yearned for it.

But anyway. Back to the story.

“Uh huh..”

You nodded

“I don’t really listen to music though, I prefer vinyl’s in all honesty”

He did.

“Oh yes! That was the subject at hand.”

You lightened

“I prefer cd’s, I do use my phone for music, of course,it’s only natural this day In age. But I just like the feel of having a physical copy of things.”

“I should know, I’ve seen the atrocious amount of cd racks you have in your living room”

Derek chimed. Chuckling. But all Spencer could think about was that Derek Morgan. The womanizer, got himself into your house, and did what?

“Well duh. Everyone saw it.when I said “don’t mind the racks” I wasn’t talking about money. I literally meant racks. Like of CD’s.”

You rolled you’re eyes playfully, like it was some big inside joke he wasn’t apart of…

“Uh- if I may ask- what kind of music do you listen to?”

He felt like a kid, asking out the hottest girl in his freshmen class (who. For him, was like 4 years older then him. Not the point but also…kind of the point)

“You may”-you Plato-“I listen to a lot of stuff, it’s kind of hard to explain it, it really depends on my mood in the moment. But if I had to pinpoint a specific genre it would probably be /insert your favorite/ most listened to genre here/ but over all I listen to just about anything.”

You shrug, pleased with you’re explanation.like a content cat.

“I actually have a few on me right now”

You only really seemed happy when you talked about things you liked…you were happy when you talked to him…so by proxy,you liked him..

“Oh god..here we go…”

Derek practically groaned

He heard Rosie chuckle on the other side of the jet

You smile, and pull out a CD holder

“Oh that looks like a lot more then a few..”

Spencer says, kind of just staring at it, like he’s trying to find something interesting to say, but he just can’t, like, the words won’t come to him.

And then it’s like your brain sparks a wire

“What if I got you a CD? Any one you want, I’ll find one and get it for you? How does that sound?”

You say, leaning on his shoulder and smiling

“You don’t have to answer, I’m gonna get you one anyway…trust.”

And like that his heart was on fire.

That was the moment he realized he was in love with you, or, that it was leading to love, that It would get that far. That he liked you as much as he did, the way you smiled, and leaned against his arm in the jet seat, how you, looked at him. The boy genius. The man who’s only good trait was his brain.

Time froze. Thank god for his memory. Because he’s never gonna forget this moment. ever.

___

This is also on wattpad! So if you want to keep up with it easer the tag is “boyinafandomtumblr”

:3

Part 2

[dono-cho]

BRC headcannons ramble! 4 (finally)

I'm sorry Faux, you're punching above your weight. 😔

5. The big calamity that hit Amsterdam, be it flood or earthquake or nuclear meltdown or war or all of the above, it happened around 20~ years ago.

6. Faux was probably born very close before or even on D-Day (Romancing SaGa3 ahh plot point). Tryce and Bel all feel around that age as well, maybe a little older or younger.

Also gonna agree with @charisu's amazing headcannon that Tryce' s probably the judge's kid, or comes from a family like that. Bel gives off rich girl too, hell, they feel like rich kids childhood friend-playmates. But Tryce's family definitely try to make him grow up a little more tough, more responsible. BRC is like, them fucking around before getting that employment grind..

7. The big calamity hit Tryce and Bel's families, but they're okay and are wealthy enough to patch up the damage.

The Vogelaars, however, aren't too lucky. Mrs.Vogelaar probably knew she couldn't make it and handed her precious lemon-head baby to her husband while they're running out of a crumbling hospital together. Then a slab of concrete probably fell on her while they were running.

(Sorry for your loss, Lieutenant Vogelaar. 🙏Surely a strict but struggling single father from a military/police background and is always absent from home because of work wouldn't cause any unhealthy, attention-craving behaviour in his lonely, friendless, rebellious twink gay son--whoa! Who said that!)

8. The big calamity would have killed Felix's parents and grandparents, making him an orphan. They're all part of some cult, and Felix is the chosen success of for their next...thing, whatever/whoever it is. Have to wear that 6-eye mask at all times too.

The big calamity is something they 'divinated' and the sarcophagus is specially made for Felix. However, when it hit, his mother had a change of heart and told him to climb in that large sarcophagus. Nevermind the rest of them, as long as her precious son lives.

Felix doesn't feel fast enough to catch on what's going on anyways, so he climbs into the coffin and outlives everyone in the house. Climbing out of the coffin would feel like a brand new world to him. But ultimately he's alone.

9. Vinyl and DJ Cyber (they're siblings to me) doesn't feel like they're originally from The Netherlands, they probably came to Amsterdam with their parents for work-related business. Both of their parents aren't in town when the calamity struck, so they're OK.

But as for them, it struck when they're at home in an apartment, so they got crushed by the rubble. Vinyl came out okay, bloodied with injuries but she can still move and crawl out of the rubble. But she'll definitely hear her baby brother crying for help at the other side of the concrete and find him crushed. Body is alright, can move but both his arms are gone. No way of pulling him out of the rubble without amputation.

(Originally I thought that the hole of rubble where he's stuck in is only small enough to fit two children, so the only way to quickly rescue Cyber is to give the bonesaw to his older sister and...well, maybe it was too hardcore. But it's either Vinyl saws her own brother's arms off in a tiny hole, or a rescue worker does it)

Either ways their parents would madly rush back to a ruined Amsterdam, rushing into the hospital only to be greeted with the sight of their crying daughter and a very emotionless, armless little boy. From that day onwards they became too paranoid to leave or let them leave New Amsterdam on their own, unless they're there to always see their children.

Vinyl definitely feels like she'll rebel but Cyber quietly takes to it. Him leaving his highly-paid neuroscientist job and ignoring parental pressure to find a wife to become part-time writer, part-time DJ, full-time hanging out with Felix is probably the most exciting, rebellious thing he did. MAYBE second most exciting, next to killing Faux. 🥰

10. Cyber may have left his profession but I feel like it isn't because he hates neuroscience, hell, he probably loves it just as much as being a DJ. But he probably hates the whole "got to get this hypothesis funded, have to test for others" and rather do it himself.

But because of that, he ended up in a peculiar position of receiving under-the-table funds from his old connections to carry out research that would otherwise be rejected by the research institution. But that's fine to him, that's the stuff he's into anyways. That slightly dubious, "wait how about the patient's consent?" shit. Everything in the name of science.

He's DEFINITELY the "successful younger son" of the family, Vinyl had too many years of living in that shadow and being that older sister figure to stick around, so she left.

Community college, got some hands-on job like being a mechanic, rented a shithole with pizza-delivery-boy-college boyfriend Felix. They both met from an art course, and then they broke up after college 😔. Not her fault, the man's living like he's not there. (I really think he still loves her and keeps on going like this for like...5 more pathetic years. Just spending his 20s like a sad, big shaggy dog.)

11. Cyber and Felix met much later when Vinyl accidentally dropped the fact that her successful (overworked) younger brother is THE DJ Cyber and the man was so stoked, as if he ain't the most legendary writer of New Amsterdam himself. A legend has to meet a legend after all.

[floridaboiler]

What Is The Main Ingredient of WD-40?

Before you read to the end, does anybody know what the main ingredient of WD-40?

No Cheating.....

WD-40 ~ Who knew!

I had a neighbour who bought a new pickup.

I got up very early one Sunday morning and saw that someone had spray

painted red all around the sides of this beige truck (for some unknown

reason).

I went over, woke him up, and told him the bad news.

He was very upset and was trying to figure out what to do ....

probably nothing until Monday morning, since nothing was open.

Another neighbour came out and told him to get his WD-40 and clean it off.

It removed the unwanted paint beautifully and did not harm his paint

job that was on the truck. I was impressed!

WD-40 who knew?

"Water Displacement #40".

The product began from a search for a rust preventative solvent and

degreaser to protect missile parts.

WD-40 was created in 1953, by three technicians at the San Diego

Rocket Chemical Company.

Its name comes from the project that was to find a 'Water

Displacement' Compound.

They were finally successful for a formulation, with their fortieth

attempt, thus WD-40. The 'Convair Company' bought it in bulk to

protect their atlas missile parts.

Ken East (one of the original founders) says there is nothing in WD-40

that would hurt you.

When you read the 'shower door' part, try it. It's the first thing

that has ever cleaned that spotty shower door. If yours is plastic,

it works just as well as on glass. It's a miracle!

Then try it on your stove-top.

It's now shinier than it's ever been.

You'll be amazed.

WD-40 Uses:

1. Protects silver from tarnishing.

2. Removes road tar and grime from cars.

3. Cleans and lubricates guitar strings.

4. Gives floor that 'just-waxed' sheen without making them slippery.

5. Keeps the flies off of Cows, Horses, and other Farm Critters.

6. Restores and cleans chalkboards.

7. Removes lipstick stains.

8. Loosens stubborn zippers.

9. Untangles jewellery chains.

10. Removes stains from stainless steel sinks.

11. Removes dirt and grime from the barbecue grill.

12. Keeps ceramic/terracotta garden pots from oxidising.

13. Removes tomato stains from clothing.

14. Keeps glass shower doors free of water spots.

15. Camouflages scratches in ceramic and marble floors.

16. Keeps scissors working smoothly.

17. Lubricates noisy door hinges on both home and vehicles doors.

18. It removes that nasty tar and scuff marks from the kitchen

flooring. It doesn't seem to harm the finish and you won't have to

scrub nearly as hard to get them off. Just remember to open some

windows if you have a lot of marks.

19. Remove those nasty bug guts that will eat away the finish

on your car if not removed quickly!

20. Gives a children's playground gym slide a shine for a super fast slide.

21. Lubricates gearshift and mower deck lever for ease of handling on

riding mowers.

22. Rids kids rocking chair and swings of squeaky noises.

23. Lubricates tracks in sticking home windows and makes them easier to open.

24. Spraying an umbrella stem makes it easier to open and close.

25. Restores and cleans padded leather dashboards in vehicles, as well

as vinyl bumpers.

26. Restores and cleans roof racks on vehicles.

27. Lubricates and stops squeaks in electric fans.

28. Lubricates wheel sprockets on tricycles, wagons and bicycles for

easy handling.

29. Lubricates fan belts on washers and dryers and keeps them running smoothly.

30. Keeps rust from forming on saws and saw blades, and other tools.

31. Removes grease splatters from stove-tops.

32. Keeps bathroom mirror from fogging.

33. Lubricates prosthetic limbs.

34. Keeps pigeons off the balcony (they hate the smell).

35. Removes all traces of duct tape.

36. Folks even spray it on their arms, hands, and knees to relieve

arthritis pain.

37. Florida 's favourite use is: 'cleans and removes love bugs from

grills and bumpers.'

38. The favourite use in the state of New York , it protects the Statue

of Liberty from the elements.

39. WD-40 attracts fish. Spray a little on live bait or lures and you

will be catching the big one in no time. Also, it's a lot cheaper than

the chemical attractants that are made for just that purpose. Keep

in mind though, using some chemical laced baits or lures for fishing

are not allowed in some states.

40. Use it for fire ant bites. It takes the sting away immediately and

stops the itch.

41. It is great for removing crayon from walls. Spray it on the marks

and wipe with a clean rag.

42. Also, if you've discovered that your teenage daughter has washed

and dried a tube of lipstick with a load of laundry, saturate the

lipstick spots with WD-40 and rewash. Presto! The lipstick is gone!

43. If you spray it inside a wet distributor cap, it will displace the

moisture, allowing the engine to start.

My discovery, Ants don't like it..................

P.S.

As for that Basic, Main Ingredient.......

Well.... it's FISH OIL....

Now This Is Definitely Worth SHARING!!

[sweetmariihs2]

Today I found and bought two new Sofia The First magazines in a magazine stand, in a town next to mine. (That's what the post is about) 🪻✨️💗

I live in a small town, I came to the neighboring city (a slightly bigger one; where there is a cinema, adequate medical care and clinics, things that are scarce in my town and everyone comes here when they need one of these things) to do an eyesight exam, because recebtly I've been feeling my vision getting worse. Going to the clinic, I found a magazine stand on the other street, and I asked my family (who were with me) if they could accompany me there later. I did the exam, and I'm still under the influence of the eye drops, so it's been torture to write this text, but I need to tell you what I found. You won't believe it: TWO DIFFERENT EDITIONS OF SOFIA THE FIRST MAGAZINES! THOSE THAT ARE NO LONGER PRODUCED! IN FACT, SEVERAL COPIES OF THEM! There were like, 7 magazines from the same edition, perfectly new, never touched, ON THE FLOOR. (And no, I'm not from Rio De Janeiro, there are a lot of sidewalks with this pattern here in Brazil)

A while ago, I think it was in January, I was wondering if I should also go to this city and look for Sofia The First merch, because in my small town I've already looked at all the stores and there's nothing left to see here (how many, about 4 ? 5? Yes, it really is a small city, I know all these places and you can visit them all in 1 or 2 hours at most, walking down the street, without a car). I found some stickers and birthday invitations, I posted them a while ago, I used them for journaling in my sketchbook.

(@shychick-52 do you see the Donald Duck magazines there?? When I saw them I immediately thought about you, they're on the bottom left of the pic and there's more in the top right. Pato Donald is Donald Duck, Tio Patinhas is Scrooge McDuck's name in Brazil. I don't know a thing about Ducktales, I'm sorry!)

I literally gasped. I was just going there for fun, as I like books, magazines and vintage products like records and CDs, so I really like physical media. Those places full of trinkets are extremely fun for me, and whenever I have the opportunity I like to look at everything, down to the smallest details. I love music and vinyl stores, stationery stores, party stores, haberdashery, so a magazine stand sounds amazing to me too! I hadn't been to one in years! (I never went thrifting in my life. It would be an amazing day to spend an evening)

There weren't only Sofia The First ones, you see, these kinds of magazines aren't produced anymore since kids don't have any interest in them. So most of the children's magazines there were dated around 2012-2016! You don't even have to look for the dates to know that, the Strawberry Shortcake ones, Frozen (FROZEN, DUDE! FROZEN!!!) (In one of my STF magazines there's even an ad of these Frozen magazines, they were produced during the same time), there were Disney Junior ones (If you look closely you can see the Lion Guard cover on that pic where I show you the pile of STF magazines, it's on top of them), Disney Princess, EVEN MONSTER HIGH. I didn't took a pic of this one, but as far as I know, you don't find these anywhere anymore. I felt like going back to 2015, when I was a kid those activity magazines and visiting the magazine stands were extremely fun, the themes on the children's magazines were exactly these, I remember the sticker albums, so many good memories. It makes sense, since they're the same ones, but they were never sold.

Besides the children magazines, they sell mangas, magazines, books, word search and activity books, cooking books, comic books/magazines (superhero themed or not- DC comics, Marvel, but also Disney and national works, for example our beloved Turma Da Mônica), and even toys and stuff.

So I figured maybe I'd find silly things here too, it's a bigger town but after all it's still small, it's just 40 mins away from mine, maybe I could find little birthday hats that I can cut out? Gift bags? Maybe stickers and coloring kits, silly things. Of course, knowing about the magazine stands there, something that my hometown NO LONGER has, inside of me had a small amount of hope that I could find something, but not much, as I live in the rural/interior part of Brazil and many products are bootleg, you know those princess books with wonky faces written "princess coloring book"? Stuff like that. But there was still a shred of hope, despite knowing that there probably wouldn't be anything interesting. I just went there because I have fun searching for little things.

AND WHEN I GOT THERE.... THE MAGAZINES WERE JUST THERE. AT THE ENTRANCE. ON THE ?!?!?!?!? FLOOR?!??!??! (You can see the pic up there) ON THE DIRTY SIDEWALK FULL OF DIRT AND DUST AND ALL KINDS OF NASTY THINGS?!??! HELL NAH

It was like they were just waiting for me to get them, they were the first things that I saw. I KNEW THAT I WOULD FIND SOMETHING. In fact, as I always hope to find cool things in these stores I frequent, I always expect something. I'm usually disappointed, but I always try to find it. AND THIS TIME I FOUND IT. NOT ONE, NOT TWO, BUT LIKE A DOZEN of STF magazines from the same edition, still packaged AND WITH THE GIFT. ALL OF THEM.

As my parents had work to do in our town and needed to return, I had to look at everything quickly. Luckily the magazine stand was small, so I was able to look at a few things, and while the attendant (who seemed bored (thankfully, the fact that she was very slow gave me time to look a little more)) served other customers (she was slow with them too, which gave me more time thank god), I continued looking at all sides of the stand, observing every small detail to look for treasures. If there were several copies of an issue of Sofia The First magazine still packed there, then there must have been more, hidden behind that enormous amount of information. I didn't had enough time because my parents needed to go back home, but I wish I could have saw the content from the Disney Junior magazines. I opened it and looked through the pages, only the last two pages were about Sofia The First, but I still had a lot to look so I put it back and went to search for more.

That's the one I got, the edition I mentioned

12 brazillian reais are worth around 2,50 dollars. For us, in talks about value, it would be like- 5 dollars? Not too cheap like literal 2 dollars, it's like, a cheap price, but not that much. For us, I mean. I don't know if you get what I mean, my explanation was terrible

Before, as we were late for the exam and the whole family was going (we all went to take the exam) I only took with me my cellphone and headphones, I didn't bring my money or even a purse or a backpack. My father bought me the magazine, I got so happy. Actually, he just let me have it and gave me the money, so I went to the attendant. The magazines had an elastic band around to secure them, as you can see in the pic, and I took them to the girl and asked for her help to get one out. As I'm used to being very friendly, and I was very happy, I approached the girl, asked for her help, and as she got them out of the elastic band, I kept talking "I can't believe I found this!! They are no longer produced, they are rare items, and I'm collecting them! I didn't think I would find anything like this here, it definitely made my day." I noticed that the attendant wasn't very friendly back, in fact she was very quiet and seemed a little bored, but I didn't care, I was too happy to worry about judgement looks from people I don't know, at least I was friendly and I did my part. My young brother later told me that when I turned my back she looked confused and shrugged, perhaps thinking "to each their own, right?". She went to serve the other customers and in the meantime I continued to look through the magazines, hoping to find more.

Important detail: I still had eye drops, my pupils were extremely dilated and I could see nearby objects blurred, so searching thoroughly was very difficult. Imagine looking at all that information without being able to see things closer than 1m from you. I'm still convinced I didn't manage to look at everything. I found more Disney Princess magazines (dated in 2014? 2015? somewhere around that) and that's when I saw it. I literally had to crouch down to look at the magazines in the lower sections of the shelf, they were stacked and they covered each other, and when I saw the Sofia The First logo I quickly grabbed it. IT WAS ANOTHER EDITION - A FLOATING PALACE THEMED ONE. Unfortunately this time it was out of the packaging, and I have no idea if someday there was even a gift with it, but I don't care, it was amazing to find this.

That's the Disney Princess magazines I was talking about! In that first pic I took, at the start of the post, you can see a Belle themed one. The Ariel themed magazine looks so old that the paint is stained and started to fade (it was in the front showcase while the other ones were carefully placed inside the stand), thankfully the STF ones were brand new. Well, almost.

Now that I'm home and I'm already seeing a little better, I'm gonna show you the magazines. Not all of them unfortunately, because a post only supports 10 pics and each magazine has 15/20+ pages so like... yeah. I wanna scan them and put them in a Google drive folder, or at least post a video about them in my YouTube channel, but that's more unlikely. If I had all of them, definitely, but I don't think it's worth recording a video if it's not with all the issues, don't you think? Anyway.

What's written in the first one: The Queen's Birthday Party! (This one came with the necklace)

In the second one: Sofia's vacation!

Let's take a closer look at the necklace

I'm fighting the urge to use it. I really want to use that tag in my sketchbook and the charm of the necklace in something like a keychain, but I cann'ttt bring myself to destroy something that is not produced anymoreeee😭😭😭

In the Floating Palace magazine, there is not even a single page where the sea monster is in. Not even a single one.

But in the "Queen's Birthday Party" one, there are three pages where Cedric is in! Yayy!!! They did him justice!!!

If anyone's curious about Miranda's birthday party, it's a comic and someone already posted it on Tumblr. Here is the link.

You know, that "Queen's Birthday Party" it's very exclusive, I don't remember the show having any episode like this, and the next activities in the magazine talk about the vacation they did in the comic and also the birthday party. Besides that, we have a lot of activities related to Tilly and family, and the main arts and crafts activity from this magazine is making a family tree. I believe that this magazine's topic is family.

I can't show you all the pages, but at least I can publish the pages Cedric is in and add more stuff to my Cedric merch masterlist (and personal research)

Well at least he's there. I have seen this art around like 20 times but they remembered that Cedric is a Sofia The First character so that's good I guess

They did him dirty here

AND THIS!!!! THIS ABSOLUTELY THIS!!! MY FAVORITE ONE!!!1!1!!!1!1!!1

YOU GUYS DON'T KNOW HOW LOUD I GASPED, WHEN I TELL YOU THAT I ALMOST STARTED JUMPING AND SCREAMING "YIPEE YIPEEE"

I'll translate it to you this time, so you can understand how I'm feeling right now

✨️Translation:✨️

Enchancia Castle

Title: Fraternal Bonds

Before leaving, Aunt Tilly gives her brother a big hug. Which pairs of siblings do you know from Sofia's world? Mark the correct pairs below.

THAT IS SO AAARRRGGGAGGAGAVVSGGSBBAVSGJ💖💖😭💗💞💗💞😭💞😭💗😭💞😭💖💗💖

I KNOW THAT CEDRIC AND SOFIA ARE THE WRONG OPTION, BUT I CAN'T. THAT IS SO CUTE I MIGHT EXPLODE I DON'T KNOW

that's what we had for today, I reached the 10 image per blog limit as always, no one's surprised

[heyftinally]

https://www.tumblr.com/heyftinally/748388217187958784/i-love-bitching-about-taylor-swift-and-im-glad?source=share

Hi I saw this on my dash and wanted to say I agree with your anon and your reply so much. The thing that annoys me the most isn't that she stays silent about x issues it's that she constantly claims to be a massive ally/activist for x groups/issues but when it's actually time to be an active ally she says NOTHING. It's clear in her doc she only said all that she did about being an ally and how actions speak louder than words to make herself look good bc people were calling her out, not bc she actually cared. What has she done since that doc was made in 2020? She hasn't done many actions and even with just words she's been mostly silent on things.

It's like her constantly claiming she is a massive feminist and cares about women's issues but when many women [along with trans men and NBs] had to deal with abortions being banded/illegal on a federal level in the USA she didn't say anything until after the decision was finalized why bc she's billionaire rich and worldwide famous so it wouldn't effect her. Her fans claim her speaking up before hand wouldn't have done anything and that is the dumbest shit I've heard given her fame and power status. She only cares about feminism or any women's issues when she gets to be at the center of it and she just uses it as a weapon so others can't hate on her.

Let's not even get started how she's the appitmy of "white feminism" [or how I see it caring about feminism only when it benefits herself] bc she screams feminism but I didn't see her saying anything when a poor innocent young woc was getting racist death threats from HER fanbase bc of a tweet SHE made. Wasn't the actresses fault that one line joke was made blame the writers of that netflix show! This situation alone tells me she hasn't "changed/learned" like she claimed in her doc.

She's the exact same as she was back in the day when she was silent on the fact white supremist groups idolized her and claimed her as "one of them". She was silent for years on the matter and only said something when she changed from typical southern country gal to liberal pop girlie and her older pop fanbase was like umm what is this? I honestly don't understand how ANYONE over looks the ws group situation. It's very alarming. She's not a kind of done some questionable things person it's VERY red flag things she has done or in this case not done.

When it comes to the music portion it's just like you said if she wasn't shoved down our throats 24/7 and treated like the greatest artist who ever lived we wouldn't care so much her music is average and her latest album was awful. All the lyrics I've seen on SM are so wtf? Who wrote this? THIS is the "greatest writer of our generation"? Outing her ex as someone with mental health issues and how you just wanted him to "easily get better" so you could love him? Outing yourself as awful [yet again] by saying the things your other ex did was just "bad jokes" and you thougut you could fix him bc racism, misogyny and SAing workers on stage at your concerts are just "bad jokes". Romanticizing 1800s America. Acting like you had a lower class upbringing with many bills to pay when really you had a rich upbringing and your daddy bought your way into the music industry.

Also her putting out 20+ versions of one damn album so she can make as much money as possible and have as many streams as possible is so 😵‍💫. It was such a cash grab when she had the backs of midnight vinyls be a puzzle picture that forced fans to buy 4 vinyl copies of 1 damn album or it just looked like an incomplete shelf piece for fans.

Lastly it's just like you said most of us who dislike her don't dislike her because she's a women it's bc she's an awful person who uses x issues and people to further her own agenda and only really cares about herself and will step on anyone just to make herself look better and more of a victim. The only victim thing she has actually dealt with was her music being bought from under her BUT now she owns her own music and found a way to make it a huge cash grab for herself so she could get that billionaire status. 🤩 She needs to stop using feminism as a means to try and stop people from calling her ass out for being problematic!!!

The post anon is referring to is here, for those wondering

Anon, you are so very, very right, and I personally want to give you a round of applause: 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

One thing I want to elaborate on (because I find it endlessly funny/ironic), is where you said "She was silent for years on the matter and only said something when she changed from typical southern country gal to liberal pop girlie..."

Taylor Swift was *never* a "southern country gal". She's from Pennsylvania. A big white McMansion with a swimming pool in Pennsylvania. All those old songs about summer nights in the country? The cowboy boots? Sweet Tea (referenced in an unreleased song)? Yeah, lies. She painted the image of a good ol' Tennessee princess pretty darn well, didn't she? I'll admit, she fooled me for a while on that, too. But no, she built her career on fraud from day one.

The rest of your ask I'm going to hit point by point, because it's beautiful and made my day and you deserve it.

Performative is her middle name. I about choked when she - a self proclaimed LGBTQ+ ally (side note: you don't get to just decide you're an ally, it's not that easy) - got up on stage in a known LGBTQ+ safe state to make a statement about queer rights, and somehow left queer people out of the statement. It was all "it's so hard for us as friends, family, and allies to see our loved ones face such hatred". As if being an ally is harder than being the queer person actively afraid of getting hate crimed???????? She somehow managed to center herself even when actively talking about an oppressed minority group she has nothing to do with unless she can profit off of us. And she can't even put us at the center of our own oppression. If I hadn't stripped her of her ally status before, that would have done it.

If Taylor Swift can make the impact that she does on economies, the environment, and social trends, she could absolutely speak up about human rights and make a positive change in the world. But she doesn't. Her feral mob loves to brag about how much power they have, but they/their hive mind leader never uses it for anything good. They're just her minions to go bully whoever she's decided deserves her high school mean girl nastiness next. So many artists with ⅛ the reach she does make positive change every day, and she can't be bothered to pay someone to tweet her fake support for oppressed minorities or to stand against a genocide. And it's because she cares about money above all else. Her fans accept the bare minimum of scraps, so she's able to play both sides - before it was the white supremacists and people who weren't raging bigot trash, and now it's homophobes/racists/genocide supporters and people who don't see those things as bad enough to stop supporting someone who happily aligns herself with bigots. It's pure self serving greed.

Is her music shit? Yes. Has it been shit for a while? Yes. But there's alose a lot of music I don't like, for one reason or another. I've never been a fan of "Hey There Delilah" even though it was a MAJORLY popular song. I'm not much of a fan of Maroon 5, or Post Malone, or Yungblood. But unlike those bands, if I turn on the radio at any point, I *will* hear a Taylor Swift song withing twenty minutes. And another one twenty minutes after that. Despite having her blocked/filtered on every social media possible, I see more about her than artists I actively follow the personal accounts of. That's a PROBLEM. Because it's not just that I think both she as a person and her music suck - I'd ignore her as much as I could if that were the case - it's that despite ACTIVELY trying to avoid her, I'm forcibly subjected to her shitty music and shitty actions daily. And her shitty actions aren't just annoying! As a queer person who has queer, black, and disabled friends, her bullshit actively impacts our lives. One of my disabled friends was totally blindsided by this recent "asylum" bullshit, and was so shocked and hurt because, in a different time, they would have been sent to an asylum. They're physically disabled with a degenerative condition. They would have been sent away, drugged up, and forcibly given electroshock and brain surgeries until they died/were murdered. And Taylor Swift is using that aesthetic - disabled people being exploited, abused, tortured, neglected, and murdered - to be "edgy". In turn, she's minimizing just HOW bad that abuse was. That waters down disabled history, and considering disabled people still have to fight SO hard just for basic respect, nevermind access rights and fair treatment, it's an overall thoughtless and disgusting thing for someone with so much money and access to feedback to do.

The multiple releases of albums is nothing short of a scam that her fans keep falling for. I've never in my life heard of an artist doing such a thing. Sometimes you'll get a platinum or deluxe edition if they hit a milestone with that album, which usually has 4-6 new songs and some new art/bonus pictures/a mini poster/etc inside. And that's it, that's the only "duplicate" album we got. Meanwhile, Taylor Swift will release the same album five times in one day, each with one different song and a different cover. She's actively preying on consumerism to line her already fat pockets. At least donate the money to charity! Pick an album = pick a charity? Nope, because she's incapable of not scamming her fans. Case in point: all the Eras merch that requires a masters in chemistry to wash without destroying you $60+ shirt.

She truly has such a huge victim complex that it might ACTUALLY be bigger than her ego. She's no feminist - she'll tear a woman to shreds as soon as it serves her purposes. Hell, she'll tear ANYONE apart just because she's bored. Whether it's siccing her fans on an actress for reading a script she didn't like or basic her ex (AGAIN) for the "crime" of having a mental illness, all she cares about is how other people effect her. She's incapable of compassion, yet weaponizes is and cries big white woman crocodile tears any time her conniving bullshit comes back to bite her in the ass. Then she begs for all the compassion she never shows anyone else. Hell, remember the fan that DIED at her Brazil show? Yeah, that poor girl's family had to CROWD FUND to afford to bring their daughter's *dead body* home for the funeral. Taylor Swift posted a half assed "thoughts and prayers" on her Instagram story - gone forever in 24hrs. But as soon as she gets called out for dating a known racist who gets off to abuse porn? She has every defense in the book as to why "poor little Taylor" doesn't deserve all that mean ol' accountability for her actions. And if she doesn't have the defense? Doesn't matter, her fans can - and have, and will - justify everything up to and including racist harassment, stalking, and death threats!

Genuinely, my dislike of Taylor Swift can be summed up in this: she's a shit person with shit music who uses her disgusting amount of power and money to do nothing but serve herself, regardless of who she hurts in the process. And the rest of us are forced to watch it happen because if you don't worship the chair she farted on people act like you're either stupid, a piece of shit, or both. And then those same people will go on tumblr and post "eat the rich" and "be trans, throw hands" memes as if they didn't just give $300 to a billionaire who couldn't give less of a fuck about any minority to ever exist.

Anyway, thank you again for this, anon. You cleared my skin, watered my crops, and gave me a small amount of faith in humanity back.

[soleilceirinen]

Renaissance | teacher!Cillian Murphy x fem!Reader - Part 4

Summary: you are an Art History student in your last year at university. Cillian is your teacher. A/N: in this story Cillian is about 20 years older than the reader. Everything happens in an alternative universe where he is not an actor or famous, he doesn't have a wife or kids like in real life. Also, English is not my first language, so sorry for any mistake! Part 3 - Part 5 - Cillian Murphy Masterlist

As he said, Cillian texted you less than fifteen minutes later telling you that he was outside of your building. You grabbed the tote bag you had filled with a few things and waited at your door, trying to hear any sound. The last thing you wanted to happen was opening the door and finding Brad waiting in the dark. 

Only silence.

You opened the door carefully to avoid making a sound and rushed to the apartment door. Once in the street you looked around for Cillian, he saw you first and got out of his car. He was wearing a plain shirt and a pair of comfy pants, his hair was dishevelled. 

When you were close enough you couldn’t help snuggling against his chest, leaning your cheek on the soft cotton fabric of his shirt. Cillian hugged you tight and let you cry in silence while he stroked your hair and whispered words to calm you down. He cradled your head with his warm hands and made you look at him, he inspected your face and wiped your tears with his thumbs. 

“It’s over now, don’t worry. Are you better?” he whispered. You gave a thumbs up gesture, doubting that your voice didn’t sound like a hoarse duck. 

He put his arm on your shoulders and led you to his car. You just let him do it, because deep inside you knew that he wouldn’t hurt you. Cillian drove in silence, keeping an eye on you from time to time and occasionally humming the lyrics of the soft music that played on the car radio. 

He lived in an expensive neighbourhood, with the kind of apartments that made you wonder how they would be on the inside every time you walked by. You followed him, at the building entrance was a reception desk with a doorman reading a book. The man looked up and wished you goodnight when you passed by his side before returning to his book. 

Cillian and you got into the elevator after waiting for a few seconds. The inside was covered by a huge mirror so you took the opportunity to look at your reflection. Your eyes and nose were red due to the crying but other than that, you looked as always. You catched Cillian’s eyes on you through the mirror, he cleared his throat and stepped out of the elevator when the doors opened. 

While he opened the door of his apartment you heard soft noises coming from the other side of the wooden door. 

“Shh, Scout. It’s just me, calm down” he said, talking to his dog. “Come inside Y/N.”

The black dog seemed utterly excited to see you, even though it was the first time. He sniffed you with his wet snout, tickling your legs. 

“Sorry” said CIllian, gesturing to the dog.

“Oh no, it’s fine. He is the cutest thing I’ve seen in a long time” you smiled, scratching Scout’s head. He wagged his tail happily. 

Cillian smiled too. “He seems to like you.”

“What an honor.” 

After that, Cillian gave you a little tour of his apartment, with Scout following the two of you everywhere. You loved the place, it had plenty of books and vinyl records in every corner as well as little mementos from all over the world, from his travels. 

“This is the guest room, you can stay here” he pointed to a door at the end of the hall “and that’s the bathroom, if you need it.”

“Sure.” 

He turned around to leave you alone but you stopped him by grabbing his hand. 

“I don’t know how to tell you how grateful I am for what you did tonight, Cillian. You didn’t have to. To be honest, I feel like a burden.”

He squeezed your hand tenderly. 

“Did I ever say that you were a burden?”

You shook your head. “No, but maybe you think it and you don’t say it out of politeness.”

He rolled his eyes and gave you another squeeze in the hand.

“Really, Y/N? I thought you were smarter than that. Try to sleep a bit, yes? We’ll talk tomorrow, for now make yourself at home. And stop thanking me.” 

“Good night, Cillian.”

After putting your bag on a dresser next to the window, you got into the bed and tried to sleep following Cillian’s advice.

Unfortunately, you couldn't stop thinking about how your friendship with Brad had been shattered in a moment. It made you a little sad, you had shared secrets with him, even considered him one of your best friends and now he was nothing more than a stranger, someone who you didn’t trust anymore. The thought formed a few tears but you didn’t let them fall from your eyes, you wouldn’t shed more tears for a wanker like him. 

Then, you heard the door opening slowly followed by the sound of paws approaching you. Yor relaxed the moment a warm tongue started licking your hand. It made you giggle lightly, you needed it.

“Hi, Scout. You are such a lovely boy, you know?” You could hear his tail hitting the ground. The dog gave you a last lick and laid on the floor at the side of your bed, like a guardian to keep you safe through the night. 

The next morning you woke up feeling disoriented, not recognising the room. Like a flood, the memories from last night invaded your mind. You kind of wished it all were a bad dream. 

You got out of bed and went to the toilet that CIllian indicated last night, it was very clean and smelled of air freshener. You fixed yourself up a bit before heading to the kitchen, where a series of noises and a delicious smell came from. There, you found Cillian cooking something with Scout at his feet. 

“Good morning” you greeted them sheepishly. 

Cillian turned around and smiled at you. “I’m making pancakes, hope you like them.” Then, he pointed to a kettle. “There’s hot water if you want a cup of tea. Or do you prefer coffee?”

“Tea is fine, and your pancakes smell delicious, by the way. Hi, you.” 

Scout was trying to put his paws around your waist in a weird attempt of a hug, it made you laugh. Cillian sight at the scene.

“I swear, you are his new favourite person.”

“He slept in my room last night, it was great. I always wanted a dog but my parents never let me have one.” You petted Scout’s black fur. 

Cillian put a plate of pancakes in front of you. 

“Do you want to talk about what happened last night?” he asked, sitting in front of you with two streaming mugs.

You shook your head while grabbing one of the mugs. “I don’t even want to think about it.”

“But you need to think about what you are going to do, you could find another place to live.”

“I can’t afford moving right now, I started living with Brad because it was cheaper” you confessed at what Cillian frowned.

“What about your parents? Maybe they can help you…”

You tapped on the table, thinking about your family. 

“No, my parents are not an option. They wanted me to become a lawyer but I chose to study History of Art instead, so now I am a big disappointment for them. I’m lucky though, I get a scholarship every year without which I couldn’t have studied.”

Cillian hummed.

“I started studying law but it was disastrous so I changed my degree” he said, playing with a piece of pancake. “ At least you were sincere with your ideas and followed your real passion, without letting your parents control your life. Don’t let others put you down, I’m sure that in your life you will achieve everything you set your mind to, because you are a hard working young woman. And in regards to your flatmate, you’ll find a way to fix it, you’re not alone after all.” 

“Thank you, Cillian. I really appreciate your words.”

“It’s the truth” he said, shrugging without taking his eyes off your face. 

You felt like crying but this time not out of sadness.

Instead, a warm feeling started flowing from your chest. It was the first time someone had complimented you sincerely, encouraging you to follow your dreams and truly believing in them.