#and his barking at everyone when hes near jimmy

[aggressivenesswhilecrying]

THEYRE THE BIG DOGS. ROUGHF RAUF

To sum up this session, we got:

- The mounders pounding

- Joel saying he likes to go down on [REDACTED]

- Etho getting people wet

- Skizz saying he's a bottom

- Skizz and Tango expanding their family

- Everyone wants Joel

- Why do the task force guys keep barking

- Skizz (talking about Tango): I need my top

To be added as I watch more POV's

[fanficimagery]

Joining the Biz.

When the hotels are all booked up, your cousin asks if a few friends can crash at your place. You accept, not knowing you'll be meeting some people who will become lifelong friends and get a shot at doing what you once loved. [Part Two of Three]

Words: 7.4K Author's Note: There's only a very brief Jey/Reader interaction in this. Oops. Just trying to set up Reader for part three, but at least there's some fluff that will make you smile. Hopefully..?

Over the next few days, your house becomes hang-out central. You even meet Liv, Finn, JD, and Carlito, but you don't click with them as you did the others.

It becomes obvious right away to everyone visiting your home that there's a connection between you and Jey, though the two of you dance around it. When he's not training at the arena or at the gym, he's snuggling you on the couch in the living room or just affectionately teasing you. Damian had volunteered to swap rooms with him, but you assured Damian that nothing overly intimate would be happening with Jey and explain your reasoning to him like you had explained to Jey's family. He understood and then dropped it, but you occasionally caught him smiling in sympathy at you when he saw you tucked into Jey's side.

Friday morning, your main three houseguests find you printing out a large picture of Roman. When asked why, you explained how Solo wanted you to crack Roman's serious facade, so you were going to sit ringside holding up a sign for him. And when they saw what you had written, they laughed, and Rhea took it upon herself to add red hearts around Roman's picture.

You drove to the arena early, flashing your backstage pass to be let in right away rather than wait in line. You had found your seat, which just so happened to be near the steel stairs leading up to the ring and took a moment to snap a few pics of the filling arena and post them. After posting them, you then had to clear out your friend requests yet again because the fans were interested in seeing who the woman that Jey, Roman, Jimmy, Dominik, Damian, and Rhea were posting about. Jey had posted about your workouts together, plus a few pics of your ass in your gear, but Dominik, Jimmy, and Rhea had posted your drunken dancing and Rhea's entrance stomp. Roman and Damian, however, posted group photos of all of you together or candids taken around your home and thanked you for opening up your home to their craziness.

And that, apparently, got their fans hella interested in you.

When the show starts, you keep your sign down by your feet until the perfect moment. Instead, you sit there cheering and booing as wrestlers come and go, snapping pics and video here and there. And when it's time for The Bloodline to come out, you boo Solo along with everyone else. However, when Solo notices you are booing him, his eyes squint as if he's trying to keep his mean mug in place and you're quick to form a heart with your hands and blow him a kiss. His lips purse as if to fight back a smile and you mentally cheer.

As The Bloodline talks, you grip your sign with one hand and prepare your phone with the other to take video. You boo as they talk and then scream when Roman's entrance song starts to play. Immediately you start to record on your phone.

Roman walks down the ramp, looking pissed off and intimidating as hell. You scream along with the fans, holding your sign out in front of you. As Roman nears, you cheer even louder and manage to garner his attention. He notices you first, keeping his expression neutral, but when his gaze darts to your sign and then back to your face, the wiggle of your eyebrows is his downfall. He barks out a laugh, realizes his mistake, and mouths I hate you while stomping up the steps. Half of your sign is a shirtless picture of him, but the other half reads Daddy's Home along with all the hearts Rhea had added.

As you watch The Bloodline and Roman argue back and forth, your phone vibrates with a text message.

From JeyBae: DID YOU JUST CRACK ROMAN ON LIVE TV?! To JeyBae: Yes. Yes, I did. Tell your baby brother I expect all my WWE shirts within the month. He'll know what I'm talking about.

Jey sends back laughing emojis and you send him the video of Roman when he reads your sign and cracks.

And when you get home later that night, you have a text from Roman promising to get you back for that.

You don't believe Roman until that same weekend, everyone's winding down at your house again after hours of shooting promos and having their pictures taken to refresh the web page. This time the guys are cooking, so you're free to lounge around and sunbathe with Rhea off to the side. However, just as you get comfortable, Solo and Roman take it upon themselves to grab you by the wrists and ankles. You scream as you hang between them, eyeing the pool with trepidation. Both men are laughing, bringing up how you made them crack on live tv, and no matter how much you say that it was all Solo's idea, the two Samoans swing you and then launch you into the pool.

Monday night has you attending Raw, ringside yet again, this time reppin' Jey with a Yeet sign and wearing his merch. You cheer and boo along with the crowd, surprising those around you when Dominik and Rey both break character when they spot you at different times. Dominik fist bumps you as he passes by, but your tio Rey takes a moment to pause and hug you before getting back into character. A few people around you ask why the Mysterio's are friendly with you, so you throw them a bone and admit that Rey's your uncle and Dominik your cousin. After that, they decide to leave you alone when they realize you're invested in the story telling going on in front of you.

When you get home, you're in high spirits. But then you realize that when Damian, Jey, and Rhea get back to your place, they'll have to pack and get some sleep before they have to wake up at four in the morning so you can drive them to the airport, and your mood plummets. And since you had eaten after leaving the arena, and the others had eaten at the arena, you decide to take a shower and crawl into bed.

Close to midnight, you feel yourself being moved and your eyes flutter open. You're curled on your side, and you see Damian and Rhea crawling into bed in front of you.

Rhea smiles, voice quiet. "One last sleepover."

A hand slides over your stomach, and you slide your own hand over it, sliding your fingers between Jey's. He's held you like this a few times, but you never touched his hand. Tonight, however, you'll allow yourself this moment. "I'm gonna really miss you guys."

"We're gonna miss you too," Damian says.

"Get some sleep, baby girl." A kiss is pressed to the back of your shoulder. "We still have a few hours before we gotta be on the road."

Though you're sad, you still manage to fall asleep while being cuddled by Jey.

Later, when their alarms go off, everyone's dragging their feet downstairs. You take the Range Rover, letting Damian drive. Rhea sits up front with him, and you sit in the back with Jey who refuses to let you sit far from him.

Damian parks at the airport so you can get off with them, and you help Rhea carry her bags inside.

When everyone gets to the point where you'll have to stay behind, they each take a moment to thank you.

Rhea goes first, dropping her bags and pulling you into a hug. "Thank you for this week. I didn't expect to find another family member when Dom suggested we stay at your house."

"You will always be welcomed here. Always." As you pull out of the hug, you wrinkle your nose when you feel your eyes stinging with tears already. Rhea laughs, her own eyes glassy as she steps back.

Damian steps up next, and you wetly laugh when your head barely meets the middle of his chest. "See you around, hermana."

"Don't be a stranger, Priest. You guys all have my number. Use it."

"I will." He squeezes you one last time before stepping back, he and Rhea starting to walk off. "We'll give you guys a moment."

As you turn, you're immediately engulfed by Jey. This hug is different than every one he's bestowed upon you since meeting you and you can't help but melt into him.

As your arms wrap tightly around his waist, you hide your face against the side of his neck and the two of you just stay there like that, not speaking. Then after a moment passes, you say, "This isn't fair."

"Right guy, wrong time, right?"

You huff a laugh. "Your brothers and cousin gossip too much."

"Nah. They just want to see us happy. You make me happy."

His words make your heart ache and your throat swell with emotion. "You make me happy too, but-"

"I know, baby girl. I know. It's like you said, this isn't fair." When you and Jey finally pull free from the hug, you can't meet his gaze. Not until he gently cups your face and makes you look up, pressing his forehead against yours. "We'll figure it out, yeah? It's only been a week, but already I know that whatever this is, it's different."

You sigh. "I can't do long distance."

"You will." Jey presses a kiss to your forehead and then steps back, smirking. "I'm not letting you go, baby. We're gonna text and Facetime so much that you're gonna be sick of me."

"You're ridiculous."

"And you're mine. Remember that."

You gulp, his possessive words stirring something within you, but you manage to squash it less he notices. Jey continues to walk backwards with his bag, smirking, and then turns to head to his gate.

As you walk out of the airport, you're filled with sadness and loneliness, but also hope for the future.

You've never had an issue sleeping alone, in fact you preferred it, but you have trouble getting used to an empty bed this time around. You manage to cope though, especially when your new friends keep their promise to check in with you every other day. And not to mention that you get to see their alter egos appear on Monday Night Raw and Friday Night Smackdown which gives you a reason to text them, making fun of their storylines.

In between of keeping in touch with Jey, you manage to focus on yourself and grow your business of IT work, having enough resources to hire a few individuals and purchase a few work vehicles so no one had to drive their personal vehicles to any locations. And though you hadn't realized it at the time, spreading out the work actually lifted the weight that had been on your shoulders.

On Raw, you can say your favorite storylines are the Terror Twins beating the shit out of Judgement Day any chance they get, and Jey stepping up to protect Damian and Rhea when they need it. You don't really have a favorite storyline on Smackdown, but you do watch for Roman and Solo, and their ongoing battle for Tribal Chief. You get annoyed with the Bloodline when they accept Nia Jax into their ranks, making their faction even stronger. And then during one brutal beatdown on Roman, Jimmy finally makes his grand return to the ring. Roman and Jimmy aren't enough to take on the Bloodline, so Jey surprises everyone by rushing to their rescue. It's a mini reunion of the old Bloodline, and the new Bloodline seems to think twice about attacking them before retreating.

It's when you're Facetiming with Jey, teasing him about when the Creative team is finally going to give every fan what they want- his date with Rhea to Waffle House- that you get a call from your Tio Rey. You make up an excuse to hang up with Jey, not wanting to clue him in about Rey randomly calling you, and then call your Tio back.

"Hey, Tio," you greet when Rey picks up. "What's going on?"

"Mija, how are you?"

"I'm good. Work is keeping me busy."

"That's good, that's good." Rey falls quiet for a moment before saying, "Listen, I know I spoke about you possibly joining the business, but I need to know how serious you are about it."

"I mean, I wouldn't mind," you say. "I miss it. Miss the training and everything, but let's be serious for a second, Tio. I'm in no shape to suddenly get into a ring."

"You're in great shape, mija. It wouldn't take much to get you fit for the ring."

You chuckle. "If only, huh." Rey says nothing. "Tio?"

"What if I told you I got you a zoom meeting with Paul? Would you listen to what he has to say?"

"Shit. Are you serious?" Your heart starts to beat double.

"Yes." He chuckles. "I remember how much you loved wrestling and since you've made so many new friends within the business…"

"I'll do it." The words are out before you can second guess yourself. "But I have conditions of my own, Tio. The storyline has to be pretty decent if I'm to agree."

"I'd expect nothing less. I'll text you the details."

"Alright, Tio. Thank you. I love you."

"Love you too, mija. I hope your meeting goes well."

You're a ball of nerves and anxiety when Rey texts you the information about your video call meeting with Paul "Triple H" Levesque, the meeting only being in a few days.

You keep the meeting a secret from your friends and tell your Tio not to tell Dominik because your cousin wouldn't be able to keep it from Rhea. And to distract yourself, you keep busy with work.

The video call with Paul comes and goes, and you end the call feeling like you're on cloud nine. The storyline they're looking to drop a newcomer into is that of a female presence alongside Roman Reigns, of all people. They want someone who can be serious, but also a little goofy since they're looking to tone down Roman's alter ego since he's become very likable once again.

You had explained to Paul that you would love to work with Roman as a female ready to kick any other female's ass who dares to lay a hand on him, but you're not looking for a romantic storyline. Against your better judgment, you admit to having a very personal relationship with Jey Uso, and you rather not make things weird by your alter ego getting it on with Roman's alter ego. Paul chuckled away your worry, especially when you went on to playfully ask when Jey and Rhea were going to get that Waffle House date because you were waiting for it just like every other fan.

Paul talks a bit more about how Roman will be treating this newcomer like a little sister and be protective of her as she will be of him, and you're liking the idea more and more. And when he sees your very obvious interest in wanting to be that person, he slyly admits that Raw and Smackdown wrestlers will be making appearances on each other's shows, so it'll be likely that you see Jey Uso more frequently.

When you finally admit you're seriously interested, Paul tells you that there will be more phone calls and a meeting in person to be had in the near future. Since this isn't the normal way to bring in a new wrestler, the higher ups will want to see you in action.

"Noted, sir. If I'm to wrestle in person so you can see my skills, there's only one female I want to go against, but she needs to swear to secrecy about not letting it slip that it's me she's meeting with."

"Who do you got in mind, kid?" He had asked.

"Ripley," you mused. "Her technique is right up my alley. Plus, she's a friend."

"Jesus. Don't tell me I'm gonna have two brutal forces on my hand."

You smirked at him through the camera. "Can you imagine a team-up with us? We'd tear your female roster up."

Paul had chuckled. "How are your mic skills?"

You shrugged. "Not sure, but I don't have stage fright. I'm good at talking shit, but I will have to remember to censor myself. I have a potty mouth when I'm pissed off."

"That's what the production team is for. They'll bleep if necessary."

"That's going to be a lot of bleeping."

"I'm sure it can be handled." There was a moment of silence as Paul looked at something off screen. "Well, so far I like what I see. You seem like you have a good head on your shoulders," he'd admitted. "Why don't we exchange numbers, so we don't have to go through the hassle of emailing. Then when I get everything set up for our face to face, we'll fly you out so we can see you in action."

"Yes, sir. Thank you so much for this opportunity."

And after a quick exchange of numbers, the video call was ended, and you texted your Tio the good news.

Over the next few weeks, you change up your routine to make more time to work out and even change your eating habits. You even call a mandatory meeting with your employees, telling them that you're taking on a second job that's unrelated to what you're currently doing. If they wish to walk away, they're more than welcome to do it with no bad blood between you, but if they wish to stick around then they'll be getting a pay raise since they'll also be taking on a fair bit more of the work. Your new hires have no problem with a pay raise and decide to stick around, learning their new schedule for when you'll be out of town.

When you finally fly out to meet with Paul, your Tio Rey, Rhea, and the higher ups, you're driven to a random gym to keep your presence a secret. You walk in with the hood of your hoodie pulled up and you watch Rhea warm up in the ring. For a moment you just watch her and then you head in.

As you approach the ring, Rhea takes notice of you. Smirking, you pull down your hood and her eyes widen in delight.

"Shut the fuck up!" She practically yells in elation. "You?! You're the new blood?"

Laughing, you hop onto the side of the ring and step through the ropes. "Hopefully."

Rhea embraces you with more laughter, squeezing you tight.

"Good. You've met already," Paul suddenly says. Stepping up to the side of the ring and looking up at the two of you. "So, here's how this is going to go.."

As Paul tells you what he and the other higher ups expect to see, you strip out of your hoodie and toss it aside. You pull your shirt off, leaving you in a sports bra and your leggings that are more than acceptable to fight in. You take the time to stretch, asking questions here and there to make sure you're on the same page of what they want to see. And when you begin, you and Rhea take the time to warm-up by running back and forth across the ring, bouncing off the ropes and dropping to the mat so the other could hop over whoever was down on the mat at the time.

Then when Paul tells you to fight, to feed off one another's energy and read each other's body language, you and Rhea lock in the middle. Each of you takes hits and kicks from the other, acting as if it were a real match and you were seriously injuring one another. You take turns climbing onto the ropes, but never properly get a moonsault in. You surprise everyone when you 6-1-9 Rhea, but Rhea ends your little session when she gives you the Riptide and pins you with her provocative pin.

Panting and heaving, you lay there on the mat as Rhea falls onto her own back, catching her breath as well.

There's a silence that follows before several rounds of applause break out.

"Atta girl, mija!" Rey cheers.

"That.. was impressive work for being rusty," Paul says. "How do you feel?"

"Honest answer?" You ask, breathing heavily.

"Yes."

"Rhea's pin kinda turned me on a little bit." Rhea and Paul bark out a laugh, and your Tio shakes his head in amusement at you. "But in all seriousness, I feel great. I haven't done that since I was a teenager and it.. it felt like coming home."

"I'm glad to hear that," Paul says. "We're all impressed, especially since you kept up with Rhea so well. You weren't joking that your technique was right up alley. I think with a few months of training, you'll be good enough to be introduced."

"Really?" You slowly smile, eyes turning misty.

"Yes. In the meantime, you need to make your presence known on social media. You have the option of keeping your private life private while making a new profile that's just for your public life as a wrestler, or you can start integrating your wrestling life into the profiles you currently have."

"Uh, I think I'll make some new profiles. I'll post some private life moments for the fans so they can get a peek behind the curtain in my life, but nothing too personal that they can track down where I live."

Paul nods, knocking his knuckles onto the mat. "Sounds good. And good work in the ring. I'm glad your uncle just wasn't all talk."

You grin. "Thank you for taking a chance on me, sir."

"Thank you for being an asskicker. Now, I'll be in contact. I'll get you a contract soon and we'll talk some more."

"Yes, sir. Thank you again."

Paul and the others take their leave, leaving Rey and Rhea with you. As they disappear, you can't help but burst into tears. Rhea laughs, rolling over on top of you and straddling your hips as she grabs your wrists and squeals. Rey joins the two of you in the ring, and you end up laughing as Rhea can't stop cursing and just being excited about you possibly working with her.

"So, what's this about a faction I've been hearing about? Do you already know where you're going?"

As you wipe away your tears, you sniffle. "Yeah. There's a storyline that requires a female companion and Tio Rey told them I could possibly be a good fit."

"And I was right. You were magnificent, mija."

"But it's all still a secret, so Rhea, you can't say anything!"

"Got it, got it. My lips are sealed." She crawls off of you and you sit up, laughing at her smile. "This is awesome. I hope you come to Raw. You can be our tiny terror triplet."

You huff a laugh, shoulder checking her. "I thought Uso was the triplet?" She snorts. "Seriously, I'm banking on you and Jey finally getting to go to a Waffle House, only for Damian to obliviously be third wheeling. You should become a throuple. I'd ship it if no one else does."

Rhea laughs. "Shut up. Don't give them any ideas."

Rey finally helps you to your feet, making sure you're alright and that there are no injuries that need to be looked over. You want to spend more time with Rhea, but she's got to get back to the arena before anyone becomes suspicious. But before she leaves, she tells you to keep her in the loop about what you can and when you'll possibly be making your debut. You assure her you will and to keep a lookout for your new public social pages where you'll start off as inconspicuous as you can by posting about how you want to get back into shape and what not.

When it's just you and your Tio Rey left, you hang out in the ring to listen to all the pointers he has to offer. He works with you for a couple of hours before he buys you dinner and sends you back to your hotel.

For your contract signing, your Tio Rey sits in on the meeting with you to explain a few things here and there. You're aware that your public socials will mostly need to be posts as if your alter ego was posting or anything related to fan interactions/charities/upcoming shows, but that you can also have personal pics/videos so long as you explain you're posting as your real self and not your wrestling self. However, since your impending appearance on the show is being kept on the down low, you're only to post work out videos or get ready with me videos and show no inkling of you getting into the business.

The topic of body art comes up because when you're under contract, any tattoos need to be approved beforehand. You assure Paul that there's not really anything you plan to get at the moment and understand you need to run any future ideas by the higher ups.

When Paul and some of the Creative team spitball ideas about how to start showing your face associated with the business, you have an idea. They hear you out, and though the dynamic between Dom and Rey is overused, you ask them to bring it up again. You can start flying out to shows to watch your family do work, but then get upset one night when Judgement Day starts beating down on Rey. It'll give you the opportunity to jump the barricade and shield your Tio, only to get into an argument with Dominik in the ring, tearing down those he now calls his family. You suggest Liv and JD attacking you, and Finn and Carlito attacking Rey while Dom stands back, unsure of what to do.

As you were talking, you hadn't seen the team taking notes. Only when Paul chuckled and joked that you should take up a part time job as a writer, did you finally sign the contract. Rey was ecstatic and Paul welcomed you aboard, telling you to go home and continue doing what you were doing. They'd bring you in soon.

. . . .

When you get back home, you don't change anything in your routine. The only thing that changes is that you start posting videos on your breaks, videos that Rhea immediately starts following and hyping you up for.

It takes a few days, but eventually you notice an uptick of followers from those you made friends with within the WWE community. Your comment section is full of encouragement and playful flirtation, but it isn't long until the trolls find your page. Some shower you with compliments because of your affiliation with certain wrestlers while others troll you. But since you're under contract, you can't lash out at their pathetic criticism less you want to be reprimanded by the higher ups at WWE.

One day, you're really feeling yourself and decide to do a pole workout. You wear a pair of cheeky workout shorts and a very pretty workout bralette, and get to work. There are no provocative dance moves, instead you decide to show off the strength of your arms and legs by climbing, twirling, and going upside down on the pole. You even show off your flexibility, and when it's all over you post the video with the song Play Hard by David Guetta, Ne-Yo and Akon. Immediately, the likes and comments roll in. And ten minutes later, Jey has you on Facetime.

"Yessss," you drawl as you answer the video call with a grin.

"You really gonna do me like that, baby?" As you stare at Jey, you see he's in a locker room, towel draped over his shoulder. You chuckle at his pout. "I know you danced in the past, but I didn't know you were still able to do all that."

"Of course I can still do it. Pole dancing is quite the workout. And it's fun when the person you want to see sees it." You wink and Jey squints his eyes at you.

"You still in them little ass shorts?"

"What is it with you and my ass?" You laugh, heading towards the body length mirror you have in the hallway of your home. Standing in front of the mirror, you angle your body so your ass can be seen as you twist, aiming the camera over your shoulder. When you see the screen white out for a second, you freeze. "Did you- did you just take a screenshot?"

Jey smirks. "Yes, and? I miss my girl. I need this."

You blush, heading shaking in amusement before heading to your living room and falling onto your couch to relax. "You're ridiculous."

"You know it! But as much as I've missed seeing your face and booty, there's actually a reason I called. Big Uce needs a favor."

You roll your eyes. "How many times have I told you and everyone else that my house is your house? If someone needs a place to crash, my house is open."

"See! Told you, man. You could have just showed up and she'd let you right in." Jey is talking to someone off camera and then he's scooting over, making room for another person. Roman enters half the screen. "Hey YN, how are you?"

"I'm good, Rome," you say. "How are things with you?"

He shrugs. "Could be better. My shoulder's been acting up, so the boss wants me to take a month off to heal and prepare myself for some storyline they wanna start me in."

"And you wanna spend that month here?"

You chuckle as Roman turns sheepish. "If you don't mind? It's just at your place, I know I won't be bothered if I go for a swim or soak in the hot tub."

"Come on down, Rome. It'll be nice to have some noise back in this house."

"Thank you. Do you think you can pick me up from the airport or should I get a rental?"

"Send me the details of when you'll be landing, and I'll be there."

"Alright. I'll go book the flight right now and text you right after." Jey takes over the call once more, grinning.

"What's got you cheesin'?"

"You. It makes me happy to see you treat my family like your family."

"Yeah, well they make it easy."

Jey continues to smile before it turns rather wistful. "The next time I ain't booked for anythin', I'm coming down. We have a lot of time to make up for."

"I'll probably see you before you see me," you muse. At his arched eyebrow, you say, "Dom and Tio Rey want me to start coming to shows. I'll probably wait until Roman leaves so I don't leave him alone here, but I should be coming to a Raw show at least once a month from now on."

"When you do, don't book a hotel room. You can bunk with me."

"Sure thing, Uso. Now get back to work. I wanna see you yeet that lame ass Judgement Day soon."

He laughs. "Your cuz is in that lame ass Judgement Day."

"I said what I said."

He shakes his head in amusement. "I'll see what I can do. Talk to you later, baby girl."

"Bye, Jey."

When Roman gets to your house, you help him get situated in the room that he'll be taking over for the month. You hand him the keys to your Range Rover to use while he stays and tell him you have a friend that works at the local gym who can get him some private hours should he want it. He agrees to the private hours so long as you join him which ends up being the perfect excuse to work out alongside Roman and post those pictures and videos. After all, you'll be part of his faction when you start at WWE, so it'll be nice to have those pictures on standby after your affiliation is known.

You and Roman post serious pics of working out side by side, encouraging one another. Some videos are silly, though, especially the one Roman posts where he mentions that having a workout partner is actually fun. But when he pans to you, you're laid out on the floor, panting for breath, and giving him a shaky thumbs up that he laughs at. While you had a decent routine, Roman's was intense, and you cursed him the entire time he pushed you to your limit.

Monday and Friday nights are reserved for watching wrestling on your flatscreen, and Roman can't help but tease you when you get into it, especially where it concerns his cousins.

"When are you going to make it official?" Roman asks as he watches you watch Jey's match on screen.

"When I can travel along with you guys for a couple months at a time," you answer without missing a beat.

"What about your job?"

You wince as Jey is tossed from the top rope. "I can work from the road," you admit. "I have employees now that can do the house calls and I'll be available Monday through Friday, nine to five over the phone. The only thing keeping me from flying out is that I've yet to find a trustworthy house sitter for when I'm away."

The only sound that can be heard is the commentators announcing Jey's win before, "You really love him, don't you?"

You freeze and turn towards Roman. "Love is a.. strong word."

He rolls his eyes. "If you didn't love him, you wouldn't be finding a way to travel on the road with us. It's okay to have strong feelings for him. You can't help who you love, when or how it happens."

You turn sheepish, not wanting to talk about it anymore with Jey's cousin. Your feelings for Jey were strong and they had caught you off guard. You figured they'd diminish when he left, but you only missed him more, and those feelings grew every time you spoke on the phone. It also didn't help that all your mutual friends were rooting for the two of you to work things out.

Roman lets the conversation drop and the two of you continue cohabitating like normal, treating one another like the world's most annoying brother/sister.

When it's time for Roman to get back to work, you fly out with him to attend a showing of Smackdown. You wear his merch, even carrying a sign that proclaims Roman as THE tribal chief. Unknowingly, Solo and Nia add beef to your future interactions with them when Nia rips the sign from your hands and tears it in half. You merely smirk at her, however, earning a nod of approval from Roman and a few secret texts from Paul who's giddy that his wrestlers are unknowingly setting themselves up for your explosive introduction.

But before you can get to your introduction on Smackdown, you need to make appearances on Raw as the distraught family member who's tired of your Tio and cousin beating each other down.

. . . .

Paul gives you a total of three appearances on Raw, sitting ringside and shouting at your cousin when he takes things too far with his dad. Some fans start to suspect that you might join WWE, however briefly, since WWE usually pulls in a non-wrestling family members every now and then to spice things up. Unfortunately for those who don't know, you're very much into wrestling and know how to hold your own.

On the night of your so-called debut, you're sitting ringside yet again.

(Live on Raw)

Rey Mysterio walks out to an amped up crowd and when he spots you, he takes a moment to hug you and greet you with a kiss to your temple. As he slides into the ring to start warming up, the Judgement Day theme goes off. Dominik swaggers out with Liv hanging off his arm and your nose wrinkles as Liv openly laughs at you, mockingly wiggling her fingers in a wave when you try calling out to Dominik to stop this feud already.

He doesn't, and father and son go toe to toe.

Rey and Dominik trade blows back and forth, and even with the help of Liv… Dominik still loses the match. This enrages Judgement Day, and it isn't long until Finn, JD, and Carlito are running down the ramp to beat up on Rey.

From your side of the barrier, you're screaming at Dom to stop it. You ignore the camera crew when they film your reaction and when you see Finn pull out a chair to wrap around Rey's neck, you hop the barrier. The crowd cheers as you slide into the ring like it's something you've done all your life and you cover Rey's body, holding your arms out as you stare up at your cousin who's standing on the top rope, ready to jump on the chair around his dad's neck.

A microphone is slid to you, and you pick it up, pleading with Dom as you stand up. "Stop! Stop it, Dom. That's enough." Your voice cracks and you sniffle. "It's enough."

As Dom stares at you in shock, he slowly climbs down the rope and requests a mic as you remove the chair from Rey's neck and slide it behind you, glaring at Judgement Day surrounding you. "Prima, what the hell are you doin' in here?"

"What am I doing? What are you doing?" You ask in return. "This is your dad, Dom. Your blood! Cut the crap already and come home."

He's stunned silent before huffs, a cruel smile taking over. "Home? What home? And blood doesn't define family, cuz. You should know that. When was the last time you spoke to your old man, huh?"

Oof. Low blow, but part of the script. Paul did tell you to ad-lib the fight to get under each other's skin. Slowly, you stand, turning around in a circle and putting your back to the ropes rather than having someone stand behind you.

"Of course, I know blood doesn't define family, pendejo. But I seriously hope you don't mean to call this rag-tag team of cowards your family." The crowd laughs as those of the Judgement Day take offense to that. "You really think Judgement Day 2.0 cares about you?" You huff out a laugh. "You're delusional. The only one who cared about you in their own weird way was Rhea. She brought you in. She gave you a family. She kept you safe," you seethe at him as the crowd agrees with you. "Believe it or not, Rhea and Damian were the only loyal ones of Judgement Day, and you ruined a good thing when you betrayed them all for a Harley Quinn reject that has eyes for Finn when you're not paying attention."

The crowd ooh's.

"No! No that's not true," Liv screams when she rips the mic from Dom, shouldering her women's title as if it proves that she's the best. "I love my daddy Dom and he loves me. Rhea was toxic!"

"Toxic or not, she's clearly the better choice." The crowd cheers as you look Liv up and down, disgust evident in your features. "Have fun with Rhea's sloppy seconds."

You drop the mic, turning to help Rey up. However, Liv's scream of rage makes you pause, and you feel the weight of her championship belt connect with the back of your head. You fall forward and the crowd goes into an uproar. When kicks start connecting with your back, you curl up on your side and curl your arms around your head.

Liv gets in a few kicks before you take charge. Between one kick and the next, you roll onto your back and sweep Liv's legs out from beneath her. When she falls, you scramble onto your hands and knees and straddle the women's champion before grasping her hair in one hand and delivering blow after blow with the other.

The arena fills with screams and cheers, and then you're dragged off of Liv. As your arms are held behind you by JD, Finn and Carlito help Liv up. She attacks you with hits and kicks while Dominik watches from the corner, hands in his hair as he's torn between stopping the attack or not.

THIS IS MY BRUTALITY!

Rhea's theme song goes off, purple lights flashing, and the crowd is deafening as Rhea and Damian rush the ring. Judgement Day quickly abandons ship, and the Terror Twins stalk the ring back and forth, pointing and threatening the cowards as they run away.

You stand back, glancing warily between the Terror Twins and your Tio who's still laid out on the mat.

When they turn towards you, Rhea and Damian watch you with unsurety in their gazes. You're holding onto your stomach where Liv landed kick after kick, and when your Tio groans, you rush to help him to his feet. Damian beats you to it, however, and offers Rey a hand up much to the crowd's surprise.

There's another stare off before you say, "Thank you."

Damian's expression is kept neutral, but Rhea slowly smirks, licking her bottom lip in a rather seductive manner. You can feel your cheeks heating against your will, and she laughs before her and Damian are rolling out of the ring with a mock salute towards you and Rey.

After a moment, Rey heads for the stairs and you follow after him, the two of you leaning on one another as you make your way backstage.

(End of broadcast segment.)

The moment you make it behind the curtains and filming is cut, you're engulfed in a hug by Dominik.

"Prima, that was so good!"

Liv walks up beside you, squealing. "That was awesome. I hope I didn't hurt you. I felt a few of those kicks connect."

"Nah, girl, you're good." As you pull out of the hug with Dominik, you high five the blonde. "The more believable it is, the more people will wanna watch you."

She laughs, calls you crazy, and then steps aside. The rest of Judgement Day congratulate you on a great intro, and then Rhea and Damian are there putting you in the middle of their group hug.

"Mate, that was awesome. I'm so glad I don't have to keep this secret anymore!"

"What? You knew?!" Damian demands. Both you and Rhea laugh.

"Where do you think I was sneaking off to?" Rhea muses. "Paul wanted to see what YN was capable of, so I was her opponent for the trial matches. Needless to say, everyone was impressed."

"Damn. I wish I could have been there," he says.

"And ruin the surprise? Never."

After your friends release you, your Tio hugs you. "I'm proud of you, mija. You were meant for this life and I'm glad to be a part of it."

Rey's words make you a little emotional and you have to laugh less you start ugly crying. "Thank you, Tio. I'm looking forward to what's to come."

As soon as your Tio releases you, you're spun around and yanked into yet another hug. "Damn, baby girl. No head's up?" You laugh as you hug Jey, this hug being long overdue. "Does this mean you're going to be on Raw?"

You shrug as you step back, but Jey keeps you close by tucking you under his arm. "A contract is still in the works," you say, reluctantly lying to your friends. Your contract was already locked in, but they didn't know that. "At first I didn't want to fight, I just wanted to be what essentially is a hype man on the sidelines, but Paul thinks I'm destined for more. I was scared to step on the toes of the females still waiting to be called up to the main roster, but Paul says he saw something in me worth taking the risk."

"Damn right he did," Jey says. "You're ballsy."

You smile up at him, letting him press a kiss to your forehead. "But anyway, for now I'll be stuck in the middle of my cousin and Tio, playing the distraught family member. They wanna gauge everyone's reaction to me and if I'm liked enough, they'll plant me into a storyline either on Raw or Smackdown."

"Yeet," Jey says, clearly excited. "Everything's coming together, baby. Now let's go check that phone of yours. I'm sure Jimmy and Roman are blowing it up as we speak."

Author's Note: Reader is a little ass kicker. This is very self-indulgent, so don't just me haha. Let me have this.

Spanish translations: Hermana - Sister. Mija - Darling (term of endearment family mostly uses for younger girl). Prima/Primo - Cousin. Pendenja/Pendejo - Stupid girl/stupid boy.

[thegreatestloverofall]

@bambisturnioloalt 𝐧𝐨 𝐧𝐮𝐭 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞

𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨'𝐬

hello my lovley’s! This is my no nut November post for @bambisturnioloalt's November Calendar. Since it's Christmas in a month and a bit, I decided to make a cute little one shot. I took inspiration from a movie I watched when i was 7-8 years old and added a bit of fantasy into here. I hope you enjoy<3 (please re-blog and like if you liked the story!)

-

Characters:

Linsey Sturniolo-youngest daughter

Chris Sturniolo-triplet

Matt Sturniolo-triplet

Nick Sturniolo-triplet

MaryLou-mom

Jimmy Sturniolo-dad

Justin Carey-oldest brother

-

It was a cold winter’s day, snow was falling, kids were laughing, and the Sturniolo family was sleeping peacefully when suddenly Trev, their adorable dog, started barking for an unknown reason. Linsey, a 16-year-old girl with undeniable sass and a sarcastic nature, rose from her bed in a lazy but annoyed manner, checking why Trevor was making such deafening noises at 9 a.m. “Trevor, what the fli—” Linsey whispered, not wanting to awake the sleeping triplets from their comfy bedrooms. Trevor, on the other hand, couldn’t give a damn about the moody triplets and kept making an alarming amount of noise. “Trevor, quiet down for God’s sake!” Linsey insisted, wanting the dog to shut up before she got blamed for everyone's sleepless morning. On the brink of insanity, Nick finally woke up, wondering why the small canine kept making Linsey upset.

“What’s happening here?” Nick mumbled to Linsey, still half-asleep.

“Your dog keeps making an alarming amount of noise for something so small—” Linsey complained as she turned the coffee machine on.

Nick sat down at the countertop, holding Trev protectively, like a mother would hold her child. “He needs to take a turd, you idiot—” Nick chuckled a bit. He stood up and headed to the doorway, grabbing his and Linsey’s jackets. “Come on, let’s go outside before Mom and Dad wake up. I wanna see the snow.”

Linsey rolled her eyes, reluctantly pulling on her jacket and beanie. The siblings put on their matching Uggs, unknowingly twinning, and headed out into the frosty morning.

The world outside looked like a Christmas card. Snow covered everything, icicles dangled from the rooftops, and the air smelled crisp and clean. Trev pranced happily in the snow as Nick breathed in the chilly air.

“Why are you so happy about this?” Linsey grumbled, pulling her beanie down over her ears.

“Because it’s Christmas Eve, and the snow makes everything feel festive,” Nick replied. “Maybe if you weren’t such a grinch, you’d get it.”

“I’m not a grinch. I’m just cold and tired,” Linsey shot back.

Before they could bicker further, Trev froze, his ears perking up as he stared toward the woods behind their house. Without warning, he bolted, yanking the leash out of Nick’s hand.

“Trev! Get back here!” Nick shouted, running after him.

Linsey groaned but followed, grumbling about how much she hated the cold. They chased the little dog through the snow until he stopped in front of a half-buried object near the woods. “What is it, boy?” Nick asked, crouching down. He brushed the snow away, revealing a small silver box with an intricate design etched onto the lid.

“Great. All this for some old box?” Linsey said, folding her arms.

“It looks cool,” Nick said, picking it up. “I wonder what’s inside.”

“Probably nothing. Let’s go back inside before my fingers fall off,” Linsey said.

Back in the warmth of the house, the rest of the family was awake and gathered in the kitchen. Chris and Matt were munching on Christmas cookies, Marylou was humming carols while making hot cocoa, and Jimmy was arranging presents under the tree.

“What’s that?” Chris asked when he noticed the box in Nick’s hands.

“Trev found it in the woods,” Nick said, placing it on the table. “It’s probably just junk,” Linsey added, grabbing a cookie. Jimmy picked up the box, examining it closely. “It doesn’t look like junk. This is old—really old.” Marylou leaned over to look at the box. “The design on top looks like a snowflake, but not like any I’ve ever seen. Maybe it’s an antique.”

“Open it!” Matt said eagerly.

Nick worked on the tiny latch, eventually prying it open with a paperclip. Inside, they found a folded piece of parchment and a small key. The parchment was faded, the words barely legible.

“Read it,” Chris said, leaning in. Nick held it up and began to read. “‘To whomever finds this: the key unlocks the door beneath the old oak tree. Inside lies a gift for those with pure hearts. Use it wisely, and may the magic of Christmas guide you.’” Everyone stared at the parchment in silence. “It’s gotta be a joke,” Linsey said, breaking the quiet.

“What if it’s not?” Matt asked, his eyes wide. “What if it’s, like, actual Christmas magic?” “Only one way to find out,” Nick said, grabbing his coat again.

The whole family bundled up and followed Nick and Linsey to the woods. Trev trotted along, wagging his tail as if he knew exactly where they were going. When they reached the old oak tree, Nick crouched down and cleared away the snow at its base. Sure enough, there was a small, hidden door embedded in the trunk. “No way,” Chris whispered. Nick fit the key into the lock and turned it. The door creaked open, revealing a small compartment. Inside was a beautifully wrapped present with a golden ribbon.

What’s in it?” Matt asked, barely able to contain his excitement. Nick carefully unwrapped the gift, revealing a small snow globe. Inside, a miniature version of their house was surrounded by tiny falling snowflakes.

“That’s...unexpected,” Linsey said, tilting her head. Jimmy picked up the snow globe, turning it over in his hands. “Look closer.” Inside the globe, the tiny figures of the Sturniolo family could be seen. They were laughing, exchanging gifts, and sitting around a crackling fire.

“That’s us,” Marylou said softly. As they stood there, a warm glow surrounded the globe, and a soft tinkling sound filled the air. For a moment, everyone felt a deep sense of joy and love, the kind that only came from being together at Christmas.

Linsey blinked, suddenly feeling less annoyed about the morning’s chaos. “Okay, maybe this is kind of magical.” The family returned home, placing the snow globe on the mantel above the fireplace. It became the centerpiece of their Christmas decorations and a reminder that the best gifts weren’t always the ones wrapped in shiny paper—they were the moments they shared with each other. And as they gathered around the tree that evening, sipping hot cocoa and laughing, Linsey couldn’t help but smile.

-

this story took so long to think of so sorry if its rushed at the end😭, if you liked PLEASEE reblog and like it, it helps a ton<3

taglist: @tillies33ssss@christhopersturniolo@klaus223492

[violetmuses]

Roman Reigns + Correspondent!Reader (Part 4) 🖤

Fandom: WWE

Character: Roman Reigns

@expert-texpert @persethegawd @episodes-ff @adriennegabriella @fearlesschimera @secretlifeoofmarpessa @mytribalnightmare @adoresmiles @blackgurlnhermoods @babybratzmaraj 🏷

====

2024

“Wait a minute. Are you serious? Where is she? I can't believe this.” Reading this script for another match, Joseph Anoa'i vented regarding backstage production and started looking for you.

Calling first, Joe rubbed down his face and noticed this beard, quietly wishing that your fingers could smooth along black-grey patterns.

“Hi, Joe! I'm not sure if anyone told you, but I'm stuck in traffic. I'll be there soon.” Despite offering happiness, your bad news remained.

“Oh, man. I'm sorry. Just come find me when you get here. It's important. Stay safe.” Keeping his composure, Joseph tried to settle before hanging up.

“All right! See you later.” Your sweet voice pulled through once to end the call.

When Joseph silenced his phone, staff members almost looked horrified as the writer's team chaired this room and sought his opinion.

____

“Change the ending right now.” Joseph shook his head.

Voices would mumble in all directions upon realization.

“Episodes are fake. What's wrong?” One leader spoke up.

“This isn't fair. We've had segments together for years and the draft tossed everything out like garbage.” Not even mentioning details while thinking of you, Joe then lifted stapled papers.

“Joseph…” The leader wanted to calm down emotions.

“Don't argue.” Joe defended his choice. “I've spent most of my career putting up with y'all and you still can't listen to me?”

Just before that writer could respond, knocking echoed from the hallway.

“Hello, everyone. Apologies.” Staying cordial, you updated this production team.

Employees welcomed you inside and you quickly sat down, given the script.

While staff offered you this beverage, the progress kicked off once more as leaders explained that upcoming episode.

While reviewing details as usual, you smiled toward Joseph and laughed sometimes, prompting his rare joy that stood off camera.

Yet, the final pages grounded your unexpected shock.

What the hell? You thought.

No matter what happens though, you can't walk away from this opportunity.

______

“You okay?” Joseph looked for you in the tunnel once that vital meeting ended.

“No. The ending won't even make sense.” You stood across from him because this story would change forever.

“Since that team won't listen, I'll handle it.” Joe made this promise before walking away, ready for the program.

******

Thousands of people cheered when Roman defeated another monster, but nearly ominous music would pick up to signal one entrance.

“Holy hell! Solo Sikoa has emerged with members of the New Bloodline. A fresh chapter will change history.” Commentators almost yelled around fans.

Yet before Solo could even open his mouth with that microphone, someone else loomed and veiled their eyes, standing feet from the ring.

Taking off the hat of one outfit, that stranger revealed themselves.

You arrived.

“Oh! Let's go. What the…yeah!” Jimmy and Jey Uso almost cursed while realizing your appearance.

“Write this down!” Fans chanted your longtime slogan.

“Solo. Aren't you part of the family?” Using another microphone, your moment began.

“He's supposed to care about us.” Jey quickly spoke up near you.

“Who are you?” Solo dared to turn nonsense over your presence and everyone lost their minds.

“What did you just say?” Roman stepped forward while towering Solo to defend you. Even cameras noticed silent rage.

“Don't worry. I'll deal with this.” You intervened before Roman could knock Solo out.

Even Sami Zayn folded both arms while observing this live movie.

“I'm in charge now. I'm the Tribal Chief!” Solo barked, yet no one flinched.

Your nearly manic laughter spooked him right back and you no longer veiled the truth of this unexpected personality. Fans cheered again.

“No one has ever pulled this much audacity before! You've lost your mind, Solo.” Your declaring words protected the only bloodline here.

“OTC!” Fans encouraged Roman over and over again.

Camera angles zoomed inward as you stepped back and prompted Roman to watch Solo's every move.

“If anything happens to her, I'll burn this place to the ground.” Reigns held nothing back and warned Sikoa. “You understand me?”

“I don't care.” Solo narrowed his eyes. “You can't run things anymore.”

When Jimmy and Jey safely escorted you out of that ring, Roman burned emotions and grounded the most diabolical Superman Punch for Solo!

“You scared? Huh? Don't get up.” Reigns worked trash talk once more. “Uh-uh! Don't get up now, Solo.”

Lifting two blurred middle fingers, you shouted almost incoherently while standing ringside as Jimmy and Jey viewed this hopeful win.

“My goodness! Will Roman Reigns keep his rightful place as Tribal Chief?” Announcers questioned so much to offer dramatics.

“Listen. Keep her name out of your mouth before we have some problems!“ Roman torched Solo and looked for you again.

“Get him, Uce!” Jey chanted for Roman when time ran down.

Crashing his iconic spear maneuver with Sikoa, Reigns pulled this much-needed victory.

“The reign continues. There is only one Tribal Chief standing upfront in WWE!” Commentators wailed to end the match.

____

Turning himself away from that large-scale ring, Joseph shattered the fourth wall and immediately headed in your direction, rasping his words.

“Look at me. I love you.��� Views of perfectly dark yet long hair fell around Joseph's chiseled face.

Even his bare sweat warmed near each of your stances.

“Joe…” Before you could turn away, Joseph raised your chin using his gloved finger.

“I love you…” Repeating the truth, his Southern accent toned this meaningful whisper.

Welcoming the true promise, you smiled against his lips in character while credits rolled to end another program.

*****

“Just warning everybody. I'm still fired up from our match, so be careful.” Joseph would still face media platforms once televised cameras stopped.

“Reports have already speculated that you were supposed to lose this match.” One person revealed their inquiry.

“I didn't.” Joe shrugged.

“We've also heard more rumors about the future your own storyline…” Questions moved to The Bloodline again, but Joseph couldn't overreact.

“We all put on a show. Everyone does. Leave it at that.” Joe knew better.

“One last question.” Your voice turned heads around the room.

“Excuse me. Before you start, Hey.” Offering this bright smile, Joseph truly aughed and colleagues almost swooned.

“Hi.” You grinned.

“Please go ahead.” Leaning back, Joseph welcomed the question, but his glare locked down and focused on you.

Even while hustling for media right now, You look absolutely gorgeous.

“What's next?” Your words quickly trembled this audience.

“Until somebody else can knock everything down and take power away from me, we'll just keep moving forward.” Joseph stood tall with the answer.

“Thank you, Sir.” You smiled to end the press conference.

“Sir?” Pulling that Big Dog character up, Joe messed with you while everyone silenced. “Baby Girl? This might be too hot for TV, but listen. Don't even pull this trigger unless you know what happens afterwards.”

“Uh-oh!” Other voices realized the dynamics of what Joe meant.

_____

Once media turned out of his way, Joseph nearly chased you down this tunnel and found one corner, hiding despite the surrounding public.

“You're a brat? Huh?” He smiled against your lips when you looked up to face his brown eyes.

“Maybe…” You would play his own games right back.

“I love you…” Joseph Anoa'i offered the truth one last time before looping his fight arm around your shoulder, grateful.

[es05l2k5sl]

5th slasher is Jimmy. A teddy bear brought to life with the blood of a serial killer, that torments the streets of Detroit.

James V. Cyrus.

DOB: 1962

DOD: 1993

Weapon of choice: retractable razor blade

Age: 31

Powers/Abilities: high resilience, playing dead, fast reflexes & movements,

Species: Human (former), supernaturally possessed teddy bear.

Status: Active

Bio:

In the streets of Detroit Michigan, there was a vicious serial killer known by many as the Brightmoor Butcher, others knew him as "Jimmy". Regardless of what name he had, at least everybody knew of his existence. With the very graphic messes he left behind in his wake, it was hard NOT to know him. Brightmoor already has enough crime & dangers on its plate & Cyrus was not helping make the case any better. He needed to be dealt with & fast. With how big the ghetto was, at least someone had to know or see something, so with that the police did some deep work searching & asking around, those that were willing to cooperate that is. Hope had started to shine through when they were pointed in the direction of a common thug just known as "Wybie". Typically associated in petty robberies & drug selling. Although some of his thefts did involve assault, Wybie has technically never killed anybody in his life. A bark & no bite street urchin. Yet apparently some of his victims have recently wound up dead. As according to some people, Wybie's been seen with another man lately. Sometimes with blood on him. After being tracked down & brought in by the police, Wybie is laid out his options & how things aren't looking too well for him especially with being an accomplice to a murderer. But they were able to strike a deal with him. They can minimize his time, give him parole & even protection if he helps them find Jimmy. Wybie not having other options (and just being an overall cowardly punk) he agreed. Starting with revealing Jimmy's full name: James V. Cyrus. Very later on, Wybie met up with Cyrus again, the latter unaware that he's now wearing a wire & currently being watched by the police. Wybie tried to act normal & unsuspicious, but Cyrus slowly started to catch on that something wasn't right. Ripping Wybie's shirt open, he confirmed his suspicion that he sold him out to the cops. Before he could attack his traitor, the cops swarmed in & chased the killer inside of a closed nearby mall. As the police split up to find him, Cyrus broke in & hid himself inside of a closed build-a-bear type store. Only to be found by one of the near cops that heard the noise. While looking inside for the killer, Jimmy ambushed the guard & attempted to kill him but during the fight, the 2 managed to get a hit on one another. Jimmy stabbing the cop & the cop shooting Jimmy. Both places being on their sides. While separated to cool off & regain energy. Jimmy states this'll be far from over for him & everybody else in Detroit & cursed him out before jumping out & lunging at the man only for Cyrus to be shot straight in the heart & die instantly. His body landing on & the stuffing machine, his blood leaking right into the stuffing. Later that morning as the place is being cleaned out, & taking in as much evidence as they can, the store's owner contacted the CEO who then orders everyone out as keeping his business going & controversial free was more important. Being a very rich man they had be rushed out. Including cleaning up & fixing the stuffing machine. Which looks clean. Until you notice the small blood soaked peace that was missed & buried under new stuffing that was soon used to create a brand new teddy bear for a little girl. Unaware of just how alive her new friend really is.

[ladylilithprime]

We Can Be Your Sword And Shield

Series: Fluffy Faerie Tales

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: Sastimmy/Jamstiel (Jimmy Novak/Sam Winchester/Castiel)

Rating: General to Teen and Up

Tags/Warnings: Half-Fae Sam Winchester, Half-Fae Dean Winchester, Jimmy and Castiel Are Twins, Selkie Jack Kline, Sam Winchester Is Jack Kline's Adopted Father, Overprotective Asshole Dean, Dragon Balthazar, Brief Mentions of Canon-Typical Violence, Alicorns Are Evil Flesh-Eating Unicorns, Hurt/Comfort, Never Insist An Employee Smile At You

Summary: The aftermath of a traumatic event is often difficult for everyone involved. Routines can help... most of the time.

For: @fluffyfebruary challenge!

Prompt: Day 8: Smile

Read on AO3

IT WAS ALMOST like those first five days, back when he and Jimmy had been working off their debt to Sam for the spell that cemented their existence as twins firmly in reality. There was even a similar underlying tension of feeling the need to do a perfect job that his efforts would balance the scales for the service Sam had done them, only somehow worse because this time it wasn't a spell that drained the half-faerie's magical energy, but actual blood and pain and injury sustained saving his and Jimmy's lives and protecting them from physical harm! He knew Jimmy felt similarly, even though it had been Cas who had been in most immediate danger of impalement by the attacking alicorn until Sam had intervened his body between them.

It made Cas grateful that he was usually allowed to hide in the kitchen as whenever the memories of that night pushed to the fore of his mind and his throat closed up he could take his helpless aggression out on a batch of bread dough or a bowl of cookie batter. Baking didn't require him to force words out, even properly scripted ones like he had practiced for general social interaction and basic customer service. Baking did require enough precision of measurement and repetitive motion that he could remain somewhat calm and focused on something other than trumpeting equine bellows, the sharp scents of blood, the flash of a glowing silver-blue blade, the squelch of metal against flesh, or the still-healing wound under the heavy dressing front and back on Sam's right side...

His fault. Dean had said so, barked it sharply and loudly before Sam had snapped at him to mind his tongue or get the hell out before he left his bed to kick Dean's ass. Dean had left then, storming out with a slam of the door that rattled the windows and made Jack flinch and burrow tighter into where he was sitting on Cas's lap and clinging to him and Jimmy with both hands. The hard anger in Sam's face had slid away and he had sighed heavily, wincing in pain.

"It is regrettably the case that Dean has always been prone to lashing out in anger when he is afraid," he had said, slowly easing himself back into the pillow nest on the large, deep couch. "He takes after our father that way, more than he usually likes to admit. I promise you, John Castiel, James Constantine... my injury is not your fault."

Despite knowing that faeries couldn't lie, and so therefore Sam truly did not blame him or Jimmy for the injury, Cas still carried the weight of blame in his heart. Logically he knew that it was a perfectly normal reaction to the shock of sudden combat against a foe he was unprepared to face, plus a facet of survivor's guilt, the lingering fear over his own near-death, and the possibility that Sam could have died instead of merely being injured, which would have left Jack an orphan. As with most emotion-driven difficulties he encountered, logic brought him very little comfort.

Nor did having Sam back in the cafe at work only a week after the alicorn invasion, though he quite understood the half-faerie's discontent with being bedridden. Cas coped much the way he had during the previous week, by mixing up and baking mainly those breads and cookies that Sam had shown a preference for the most. Jimmy found Cas for the usual check-in, but spent most of his time carefully not hovering around their boyfriend and boss, trading off with Charlie to cover when Sam needed to sit down as his energy flagged. At one point, Jimmy even passed along a story Charlie had apparently told about Sam getting injured fighting a manticore and being back at work three days later, which did make Cas feel a little more secure in Sam's estimation of his own healing.

It was closing in on six when the alarm on Sam's phone reminded them that Jack was due at his karate lesson. Since Sam still wasn't cleared to drive yet, Cas and Jimmy held a quick but silent debate, and then Jimmy grabbed the car keys while Cas washed flour off his hands and changed into a clean apron.

"You up for this?" Charlie asked in an undertone when she saw him come out of the back. Cas held up his right hand, displaying the leather and beaded cuff bracelet there.

"I have an interaction script, and the bracelet you made is operating within the expected parameters," he assured her. "I can play Jimmy while Jimmy plays chauffeur for Jack."

He could, and the act of pretending to be his more socially competent twin also helped him focus more on the present than on the last week. His attempts at a pleasant and friendly expression were perhaps not as naturally open and engaging as Jimmy's, but Charlie assured him that so long as he wasn't scowling or using his "resting murder face" then he was fine. Sam jokingly informed him that his "resting murder face" was cute and kissed his cheek, which also improved his mood and ability to be visibly pleasant.

It was somewhat exhausting to try and maintain, however, and about forty-five minutes into his "playing Jimmy" shift Cas realized that Sam was wincing and listing more than usual.

"You promised Jimmy that you would take breaks when you need them," he reminded Sam in an undertone, crossing his arms over his chest.

"We have a line," Sam protested, his cheeks flushing slightly. "I didn't want to leave you and Charlie to handle the rush alone."

"Your health is more important than our discomfort, and most of our regular customers would agree," Cas argued. "Go take a break. If we really need you to come and curse someone, we will call you, and anyone looking for a blessing will be willing to wait."

"Go on, boss," Charlie chimed in, handing Sam a red bean cake and a mug that Cas suspected had peppermint and willow bark tea with honey in it. "Take a break, take your meds, we got this."

"We got this," Cas echoed firmly when Sam looked at him. "Go."

Sam went, and Cas and Charlie slotted into a rotation of taking and making orders. Several of their customers had heard about Sam's injury and were sympathetic and correspondingly patient. Balt came through looking for his usual and any updates on Sam's condition, and gave them a thumbs up when informed that Sam was on break.

The foreboding started when Charlie needed to duck into the back to restock the berry puree, leaving Cas to handle the front himself. He finished making a Raspberry Red Cap Mocha and called it out, handing it over to its recipient before stepping up to the register. "Welcome to Lighthouse CommodiTeas, what can I get started for you?"

The customer, a plump woman in a fussy pink blouse under her gray jacket and pencil skirt, looked up at him and frowned.

"Smile!" she said, sharp and demanding. For a moment, Cas wondered if there was a new special listed on the chalkboard that Charlie had snuck on as a joke, but a quick glance proved that to be incorrect. Which meant that the woman was saying "smile" at him as a directive.

"I am smiling," he told her. He wondered a little if his efforts at a pleasant expression like Jimmy usually had were falling somewhat short of the mark at the moment, but he was not going to say so to a customer. Especially not one who was pinging his "trouble radar".

"You're at work in a job that deals with the public!" the woman snapped with a disapproving frown. "You need to actually smile, not... this!"

Definitely short of the mark, then, but somehow Cas found it very difficult to care.

"Ma'am," he began with his best effort at patience. "My job is to bake the cookies, muffins and scones we sell here so that we can offer food without risking the safety of our human customers, and I have been here since four o'clock this morning. I am currently filling in at the front for the owner who was gored by an alicorn last week and needed to take a break after being on his feet too long. This is as much of a smile as I am capable of." He paused, assessing the expression on the customer's face, which had been getting steadily paler as he spoke, then added, "Do you have a drink order you would like to place?"

The customer floundered a little, opening and closing her mouth, and then finally just muttered, "Medium Siren Song blackberry tea."

"Six dollars," he informed her, ringing up the drink.

"Nicely done," Charlie whispered as she passed to call out the now-completed Unicorn Berry Latte before swapping places with him again.

Cas took a deep breath, let it out, and then went to make the Siren Song blackberry tea.

[an0nym0uscowboy]

I remade my head canons

My thoughts on the Cod empire 1/2

The Cod empire is the oldest civilizations in the entire continent, it has lived through thousands of monarchies, dynasties and hundreds of wars. It’s even rumoured they’re the first hybrids to ever to be created wepby the gods

It was home to millions of species of hybrid sea life, it lived in peace and prosperity until The Great War

The Great War was when the Gods fought against Eror and his corruption. It took several Gods lives but it took billions more on the mortal realm. The corruption had seeped through into the mortal realm it began to poison empires and governments, it made them blood thirsty

The Salmon, once allies, had become enemies; taking advantage of the situation they slaughtered millions, dying rivers and oceans in crimson red. The Great War ended with the sealing of Eror ending the blood soaked battle that lasted for 100 years.

The Cod empire had become 1/3 of its populations,thousands were orphaned, millions were dead,and hundreds were forever wounded, mentally and physically

The Cod empire was at the brink of collapsing when the Cod council rose, the council guided the Cod empire to stability and brought forth the Code Code

The cod Council are basically the fallen souls of legendary cod heros whose love for the empire had made them forever bounded to the empire to judge and protect the empire

Basically The Code Code is the Cod empires laws and regulations

Leaders of the Codempire are titled as CodFather/CodMother

Cods don’t have the typical hierarchy, they believe in age strafications the older the wiser, the younger the more innocent

Cods believe in community, Cods lives in communities that thrive because of everyone corporations and pitching in

There are three main communities in the empire; The Capital, The East and The West

Orphanages are the most prominent buildings in any community as Cods believe children are the most important part of their heritages survival

The Great War had left the empire small and poor but not weak, the Shields of the Cods are reputable to be the most dangerous soldiers out there, they are known to be the most strategic and adaptable

Cods are known to be the most compassionate but they hold grudges as its nobody’s business and the most competitive species out there

Cods have learnt to be adaptable and resourceful, recycling anything that has been washed ashore from other empires

Cods take tradition very seriously and are very traditional and are very strict with tradition as the dwindling population has many older cods fearing for they’re eventual institution

Cods live in huts made from mud and bark or trees, often they live near the water

Cods diets consist of fish, seaweed and any other digestible plant

Cods eggs have a 50/50 chance of hatching due to genetics

Cods life cycle starts at an egg then a pup then a codling then a full fledge cod

Pups are born in the water

Cods feed pups similarly to birds; by cewing or pound food into a pulp they feed to the pup for a few months until they open their eyes

Pups are born with their eye shut and it’s take a couple of months for them to even open their eyes

Cods are taught how to swim once they’re eyes are open so imagine those puppies who paddle with all four limbs yeah that a pup learning how to swim

Cods have various jobs but everyone pitches in in taking care of codlings, since communities are so tight knitted (“it take a village to raise a child” they take that quite seriously)

The average cods stands around 7’ft tall

Cods have a stronger immune system then any species due to environment(the swamp is full of germs okay)

Cod are buff, have u seen a professional swimmer??????

(This is one of few wha I have come up how jimmy become cod father In still deciding)

Jimmy become the Codfather after he had defended a group of codlings from a group of salmons, the community thankful for his help welcomed him into their community and as the years flew by and more people began to join the community, jimmy was the oldest person left he become a sort of icon and the community that he so treasured began asking for his guidance and he soon become the Codfather and established the Capital

[thevindicativevordan]

Why I Like Superman

This is a post I’ve been going over and over in my head, trying to suss out my feelings. The simple fact is I love Superman, and I have for as long as I can remember. I wore Superman pajamas as a kid. I watched cartoons like Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League, Legion of Superheroes, and was hyped as hell when he showed up on The Batman cartoon. I drew variations of the S-shield all over the sides of my school notebooks, and I tied a towel around my neck and pretended I could fly.

One of my favorite Xbox games to play was the Superman Returns tie-in game (remember those?), because it was the only game I could play that let me fly around, shooting off heat vision and freezing people with arctic breath. I still remember the opening that had you destroy asteroids, and being absolutely wowed as a kid by the big finale which had you slam into the largest asteroid at supersonic speed to destroy it. Took me forever to beat the Warworld arena level though because I didn’t know how to block.

Because there were no local comic shops near my home for me to go buy issues at (not that I even knew what a local comic shop was at the time), I kept up with his, and the rest of my favorite DC heroes adventures, via reading the DC wiki. I spent so much of my time waiting for my mom to get off the computer so I could go online and catch up that my parents installed parental blocks because they were worried about what I was doing.

In short he’s been a constant favorite of mine throughout childhood, through my teenage years, and straight on into adulthood. I never developed the dislike or distaste for him that some people did, and he never dropped out of the top spot for me like he did for others. There were times when he shared the top spot for me with Batman and Spider-Man, until One More Day wrecked my relationship with Spidey and I grew bored of the endless cycles of Batman being a dick to the Batfamily and then learning he needs them. But even throughout his lowest points (and God have there been so many of those in the last decade), he’s remained the top guy for me.

But why? I think it’s in part because of the type of genre he embodies. He is of course The Superhero, and he lives in the genre he founded, but he also lives in a type of optimistic science fiction genre that’s downright extinct nowadays. As a kid I was a massive science fiction fan, and my dad was friends with a guy who was also hugely into science fiction. This guy had a basement full of science fiction books written from the Golden Age of Science Fiction, up until the cyberpunk era kicked off in the 1980s. He was happy to hand novels off to me, and his private library beat the hell out of our public one. I devoured stories of fearless heroes in space exploring new worlds, first contact with alien races, mindbending new technologies that seemed like magic, about transcending our mortal flesh and becoming part of a universal, transcendental whole, stories that didn’t just talk about technology but about the human condition. Stories that while sometimes bleak, painted a positive picture of the human ability to overcome our inherent flaws and be a powerful force for good. And ultimately Superman speaks from the same source.

It’s not just about the powers, although those who completely dismiss their appeal are making a mistake I believe. It’s about humanity, about our ability to transcend our base natures, reflected in this Strange Visitor from Another Planet, who embodies our virtues and our vices, who is torn between the fear of doing too much and the fear of doing too little. Who hides his true self behind a pair of glasses because he craves the fellowship of humanity more than any amount of glory or riches. His no-kill rule a firm affirmation of the value of life, all life everywhere no matter it’s form. His greatest love, Lois Lane, is his co-worker and greatest rival as a reporter, who has everyone’s number in her phone, be they crime lord or living saint. His greatest friend, Jimmy Olsen, is the guy everyone else ignores or bosses around, but is a rich kid weirdo who gets up to all sorts of bizarre adventures that keep the Daily Planet afloat. His childhood friends are superheroes from the future, his home City of Metropolis is 10 years ahead of everyone else in terms of technology, his dog can shatter concrete via barking at it, his home den is a ice crystal castle situated at the North Pole, like Santa’s Workshop. In short his life is one where even the mundane corners hide fantastical attributes. By living among us, he helps to elevate us, to make our daily grind interesting by seeing through the lens of his life. As others have said, we walk our dogs around the block, he walks his around the solar system.

But it would be a mistake to assume that Superman doesn’t tackle the darker sides of life too. Even the most optimistic sci-fi novels that I read as a kid had dystopic elements in them, intended or not. His home planet of Krypton was our technological superior, yet ignored the warnings of it’s chief scientist, and died a victim of it’s own greed and arrogance with Kal-El as the Last Son. His birth parents died in the fires of self-perpetuated genocide, his adopted parents the Kents often fall to mundane heart diseases or accidents, which even his power can not save them from. His greatest enemy Lex Luthor, is the one person who can understand his loneliness, his need for the public’s approval and acceptance, and yet the shared enmity between the two has ruined any chance of them forming a friendship that could have been. The shining City of Metropolis venerates Luthor as well as Clark, reflecting the greed, selfishness, and callousness of it’s other favorite child. Suicide Slum stands as a testament to the limits of how much Superman can improve life. The Phantom Zone is a spinechilling example of the inhumane treatment of prisoners. His foes ran the gauntlet from greedy businessmen out for money at any cost, to victims who have suffered at humanity’s hands and seek revenge, to sociopaths who treat other peoples pain and lives as a source of amusement, to murderers who care not from where the blood flows, only that it does, to tyrants who seek to crush all resistance underneath their heel, to gods who wish the elimination of free will itself. Each of them force Superman to confront the fallibility of human nature and wrestle with whether or not his faith in both them and himself is justified.

In a sentence? I love Superman because he’s a character you can do almost anything with, from comedic hijinks, to serious dramas, to distributing horror stories, to exciting adventure stories. He reminds me of the best type of science fiction stories, ones that explore people and existence from all sorts of angles, that never lose sight of the emotional human core at the heart of all the high concept existential concepts. He’s made me laugh, cry, think, get motivated, get angry, and sometimes just get writing. He brings the big ideas and the human emotions that keep me reading comics throughout all the Big 2′s bullshit. He still believes in the human capacity for good, in spite of our flaws, in spite of how few of us seem to believe in that capacity ourselves, and he shows us that it’s still there by touching our hearts through his stories. That’s why I like Superman, and why he’s my favorite superhero.

[babbushka]

happy sinday!!! pale/flip being jealous??? please plsss

The world is a blur, when he’s on the court.

Heart racing, blood pumping, sweat beading down his nose his neck his hands as he grabs the ball, dribbles it once twice three times, passes it to Jimmy with open hands as he runs near the net. He’s their best bet, their best shot at scoring – he’s the tallest he’s the fastest he’s Flip fucking Zimmerman.

The lights are blinding but he searches through them for you, for your face in the crowd in the stands, always there to support him in all things. It’s the last game in the season of annual fundraisers, this time the proceeds benefit the children’s hospital and Flip just has to win, you’re watching, he has to show off for you, has to do well for you.

Jimmy passes the ball to Ron who passes the ball to Flip who shoots – three two one swish – nothing but net, and the crowd goes wild, cheering and stamping their feet with applause as the buzzer sounds, as the team rushes onto the court because they’ve just won the game, the Colorado Springs Police Department is the champion once again. A two year drought ended by the sound of your voice shouting and whistling and calling his name.

He searches for you, frantically, eyes wide with excitement, adrenaline skyrocketing through him because fuck he just won, he just won them the game against the fucking Fire Department, against the reigning champions two years in a row, those smug sons-of-bitches, and he wants nothing more than to wrap you up in his sweaty arms and kiss you tight in front of everyone.

But when he sees you, his blood runs cold, and his adrenaline spikes into a rush of rage, because one of them, one of the fire-rescue assholes, is blocking you repeatedly with an all too friendly smile on his face, trying to prevent you from getting to Flip.

“Hey!” He barks out, jealousy and possession ripping through his system.

His legs are long, and they carry him through the mass of people congratulating him and smacking his back and shaking his hand, with ease across the court, his sneakers squeaking high and loud as he claws his way to you.

The second you see him, you reach your arms out to him, try reaching around the huge body of the fireman, a guy named John Stanfield who’s always had too much of a thing for you. Flip grabs your hand and yanks you close to his chest, wraps you up and tucks your face under his chin.

“Flip – !” You immediately squeeze him tight, but he can’t even revel in the feeling of your affection, the sides of his vision going white white white with spotty anger. 

“Get away from her.” Flip’s chest is heaving as he stares John down, John who is rolling his eyes and brushing Flip’s glare away.

“Aw come on Zimmerman – ” He tries passing it off as being playful, as if Flip hadn’t been watching him eye you all night, as if there hadn’t been issues in the past of his gaze lingering too long, touches too friendly for a stranger.

“I said step the fuck away, Stanfield.” Flip isn’t having any of it, some primal urge in him wanting to rip the guy’s head off. This was his wife John was trying to fuck around with, how stupid could this guy be? “She doesn’t want to talk to you, do you honey?”

“Not really, sorry.” You say sheepishly from where you’re kissing the underside of Flip’s chin, a small soothing action to try and calm him down, but it only makes him more angry, because fuck you’re so good, so nice.

“No ketsl you don’t apologize, you didn’t do anything wrong.” He assures you, glaring daggers, his whole mood sour even though he should be celebrating, he should be getting lifted up on his teammate’s shoulders paraded around the court.

“All I was saying was – ” John starts but Flip shakes his head.

“I don’t give a shit, she doesn’t want to hear it.” He interrupts, causing John to huff and puff, his ego hurt. 

“Man fuck you.” He spits out, annoyance written all over his face in a way that makes Flip preen, because he knows he’s lost.

“Go be a sore loser somewhere else, before I charge you with harassment.” Flip stares the fireman down until he leaves, until he’s sulking with his tail between his legs across the court, back to his team that’s all getting ready to suck each other’s dicks to try and get back some of their pride after losing for the first time in a while. Flip only sniffs and puffs his chest out with a muttered, “Yeah that’s what I thought.”

“Thank you honey.” You say, smile big on your face as you lean back enough to look him in the eye.

He cups your cheeks in his hands and kisses you long and deep, kisses you so long that the team is whistling and cheering and hooting and hollering about it, but neither of you really care. It’s a special occasion, and he did so well.

“Did you see me?” Flip asks, eager, that happy adrenaline from being the champ flooding his system once again now that John had been taken care of. He’s bright eyed and he can’t stop smiling as he squishes your cheeks in his hands, kisses you over and over, “I won the game, did you see it?”

“I saw it honey, my man the champion!” You laugh against his lips, before winking and trying to be coy when you say, “I think this calls for a celebration tonight, don’t you think – Phil!”

You can’t finish your sentence though, because he’s hoisting you up over his shoulder, parading you through the court to go pick up the championship trophy for the team. He makes sure to look the fire department straight on when he accepts it, when he dips you down low to kiss you, when he leads the CSPD out of the court, a prize in either hand.

[broken-clover]

AU-gust Day 16- Treasure Hunters

Hmph. I was so sure I’d be able to finish yesterday, but after being stuck in a car so long I guess I was just too tired.

This one isn’t especially long, and I’m not sure if it really counts, either? I mean, treasure hunting is involved, but I mostly wanted to do something with my GG Persona AU. Then again, what, am I going to go to jail if I don’t do all the prompts perfectly?...well, maybe.

(Also this one has a smidge of Sinbed because self-indulgence. Sorry not sorry)

For a guy who wore an eyepatch, Sin had pretty good eyesight, at least when it came to scouting. The good new about that was he made for an excellent finder of treasure chests hidden at the end of dungeon hallways, and seeing how their ragtag ‘Investigation Team’ was made up entirely of schoolkids with shaky paychecks on the best of days, they appreciated any shiny trinkets they could sell off for healing items and weapon upgrades.

The biggest downside was that, though he was an excellent chest-finder, he wasn’t quite as good as noticing the shadows guarding it until it was too late.

“Dammit, it was guarded?” He hissed, recoiling as the dark sludge formed into a trio of Principality.

“And they’re decently strong ones, too! But it doesn’t look like there’s a good way to evade them, we can’t run!” Said Potemkin, balling his large hands into fists. “Should we try and call the rest of the team? I’m not sure if they’re too far away to hear, but-”

“It doesn’t matter!” Elphelt shouted, pulling out Miss Travallier to shoot her card and summon Anteros. “Just don’t let your guard down!”

They didn’t have any major tricks up their sleeve, but between Potemkin’s physical skills, Elphelt’s healing spells, Ram’s fire, and his own pool of Personas on-hand, Sin couldn’t find it in him to be especially worried.

Elphelt boosted everyone’s defense with Marakukaja before taking a step back. Potemkin lunged forward to attack head-on, and Sin summoned Perseus to fire up a Mazionga. They seemed off to a strong start, with the two victims of their attacks taking a decent chunk of their health off before they could even attack. If they kept up the quick attacks, then they had a pretty good chance to make it out unscathed, right? He was feeling confident about that.

...At least until a flurry of cards tangled around Elphelt, and she suddenly collapsed to the ground like a marionette with snipped strings.

“El?!” He shouted, falling back halfway through another lightning strike. Sin dug through his pockets for a revival bead while Perseus took a thankfully nonlethal blow. “Guys, be careful! At least one of them has an instant-kill spell!”

They still had a few beads on-hand, but as soon as he felt Elphelt stir, he heard Potemkin shout in pain and felt the vibration of him collapsing. “S-shit! El! Get up! We’re taking hits!”

“I am injured.” Ramlethal’s voice managed to carry over the other sounds of the firefight, with a definite tinge of concern to her usually-neutral tone. Nike was fast, but she still struggled to dodge the attacks of three enemies all at once, all the while with Ram trying to find a revival item for Potemkin.

The three shadows managed to get lucky with instant-kill spells remarkably often, leaving the remaining members scrambling to use whatever revival items they had while avoiding more potshots, and any hits they could actually land were quickly healed.

“Dammit! My SP is almost gone! Do we have anything for that?!” Sin barked, as Perseus fired a flimsy bolt of lightning that barely nicked one of the Principality.

“I-I think Ram just drank our last coffee…” El stammered in reply, trying to revive Potemkin yet again while only hobbling by on a handful of HP, herself. “I have enough for a few more healing spells, but we’ve only got the one bead left. Are you sure we can’t run?”

At every opportunity, they had tried, only for the shadows to intercept them. He liked being an optimist, but Sin knew that things had gone horribly downhill. When he tried to conjure more electricity, all it got him in return was a hard smack that knocked his Persona to the ground.

“Shit, brace yourselves- !”

“Did someone need assistance?”

A familiar silver-and-purple gundam skated into the room, throwing up a barrier wall to catch a couple of magic blasts.

“Finally! There you are, we’ve been looking for you!” An echoing voice came from the large machine, but its mouth didn’t move. “Good think you make such a racket.”

“Bedman! About time!” Sin felt himself grinning.

“Looks like you’re all in rough shape. Good thing I brought backup.”

The shadows were still too distracted by the new barrier to care much about the newcomers who ran into the treasure room right under their noses. Ariadne and Thalassa carried Bridget and May in their respective free arms, while Zappa ran along behind. The mechanical Persona began releasing purple smoke from its head-pipes, and a glimmering veil surrounded both it and the second half of the Investigation Team.

“Get ready for an overclock!” The echoing voice shouted. “You're buffed! May, you’re on healer duty, but just focus on knocking out those shadows!”

“Roger!” Bridget hopped off of Ariadne, and began barraging the Principality with physical attacks as soon as the barrier wall began to fragment. Zappa trailed behind with curse spells as Mania dangled over him limply. May did as instructed, throwing on a few mild healing spells, but the evasion buffs made it so it was less necessary than usual.

Following the initial difficulty, the battle swiftly shifted sides. The enemies finally burst back into piles of darkness and faded away, leaving behind nothing but a small pile of money.

“Oh, god, finally…” Sin sat on the ground and tried to catch his breath. “Nearly thought we were goners for a second.”

“Don’t run off like that next time!” May chided him. “How did you even get stuck in here in the first place, it’s a dead end!”

He pointed over his shoulder. “I saw a chest! I thought there’d be something valuable in it.”

“Well, if we cleared this room out, more shadows shouldn’t appear for a while, right?” Asked Elphelt, as she wandered toward the unattended box on a pedestal. “And since that almost got us into some hot water, it’d better be something good.”

“Yeah!” Sin managed to spring back up, following after her. “I’ve got the picks, let’s see what we got!”

Everyone else trailed behind, more than a little interested in whatever shiny trinket was so interesting that it nearly got half their team killed. Sin easily jimmied the lock open, pried the creaky lid back, and...

“Uh...looks like a cheap gemstone...and a piece of armor we already have.”

A collective groan went through the group, plus a few muffled curses and less-than-polite gestures. Sin still pocketed the small gem, but he was in the same boat as the rest of them. “Well, I guess you win some, you lose some. Let’s head back to the safe room to take a break. Bedman, think you can carry Pot? I don’t think we’ll have any luck trying it ourselves.”

The mecha nodded, scooping the unconscious man up like a sack of potatoes. “Everyone can hop on if they don’t feel like walking.”

A few took him up on the offer, and they all headed back. Maybe it was just imaginary, but the safe room felt far warmer and cozier than the rest of the dungeon. At least they knew no more shadows would be popping out to take them by surprise.

“Must be nice having a Persona you can ride in, Bedman.” Bridget said, sliding off the machine’s arm. “Ariadne can barely carry me!”

“Morpheus is remarkably comfortable on the inside, though I can admit it was frightening the first time I was dragged into him. For all I knew, he could have been trying to eat me.”

“I’ve got sandwiches!” Zappa chirped, hoisting up a makeshift lunchbox for everyone to see. “The boss lets me take the ready-made ones once they’re passed the sell-by date, but I promise they’re still good!”

“Ah, damn, that sounds perfect right now.” Sin went up to grab half of a turkey sandwich and begin munching on it.

After being revived, Potemkin found a place to sit near his much smaller leader. “I’m glad you were able to figure something out in the end. But next time, let’s be more careful. Treasure rooms are often more dangerous than one would expect.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right.” Replied Sin, between bites of sandwich. “How’s Kratos?”

“Perfectly fine, I just don’t summon him unless I need him.” Potemkin reached across the table to pull out an egg sandwich, which looked positively miniscule in his large hands. ���I’m not sure why you leave yours out so much when we aren’t in battle.”

Sin tilted his head. “Huh? What do you mean? He isn’t out now.”

The man gave him an odd look back. “What do you mean? He’s up there.”

When he looked up to where Potemkin was pointing, Sin was surprised to see that he was right. Perseus hadn’t dissipated, instead he sat on Morpheus’s shoulder, apparently perfectly comfortable where he was. He’d never realized how large Morpheus was, especially odd considering the respective sizes of their owners, but there was plenty of space for his Persona to sit and relax on his teammate.

“Huh?” The girls seemed to notice his staring. “What’s Perseus doing…?”

“I dunno, El. I didn’t make him do that.” He shrugged back. “Why does it even matter?”

“Hmm…” Despite herself, Elphelt had to side-eye the rather affectionate way Perseus cuddled up on his teammate, wrapping an arm around one of his pipe-horns. Hey, weren’t Personas supposed to be a manifestation of their owners...? “Hey, Sin, can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, what?”

“Do you...have a crush on anyone?”

Sin balked. “The heck? What does that have to do with anything? What made you ask?”

Behind him, Perseus’ gloved hand stroked Morpheus’ sleek metal head, before he went back to cuddling his horn.

Elphelt glanced away, resisting the urge to blush. “No reason. Just wondering.”

[canumoveurseatup-no]

Survive- Where it all Started

summary: no one knows how it began, all they know is that it’s here.

pairings: tony x OC!daughter; later on tony x black!reader

warnings: familial death, zombies, blood, guns.

a/n: i’m excited for this series, i hope i do it justice. keep in mind though, if you’ve ever seen/ played TLOU, not everything will be the exact same. please like and reblog! If you want to be tagged, let me know!

————

“Steve! Steve listen to me, he’s- he’s the contractor okay? I can’t lose this job,”

Sarah stirred in her sleep on the couch, she had fallen asleep waiting for her dad to get home- she always stayed up, just to make sure he made it home safe

“I understand- let’s talk about it in the morning, okay? Alright... goodnight”

Sarah yawned, sitting up on the couch, noticing her dad was on the phone.

“Hey,”

“Scoot,” Tony grunts, moving his hand for her to move over so he could finally rest his feet after being on them all day.

“Fun day at work, huh?,” Sarah curls up on the couch, making conversation, this was the only time she could really talk to him as he had early mornings and late nights.

Tony sighs, running a hand over his face, “What are you still doing up? It’s late,”

Sarah gasps, “Oh crud, what time is it?!,” she turns quickly to look up at the close on the wall

Tony hated for Sarah to wait up for him, she was young, she needed all the sleep she could get.

“It’s way past your bed time,”

“But it’s still today,” she shakes her head in a teasing manner. She crawls off the couch and reaches under it to grab something but Tony thinks she just wants to joke and play around.

“Honey, please not right now. I do not have the energy for this,” Tony was exhausted. This job was killing him, but it paid well and kept him and his daughter fed with a good home. Sarah hands him a box and he looks at her as if she grew two heads.

“What’s this?,”

“Your birthday,” is all she says. Tony opens the box and is surprised by what’s inside. A watch, a brand new on at that.

“You were complaining that your other one was broken, so I figured.... ya know,” Sarah was nervous, she was always nervous about getting people presents, afraid they wouldn’t like them.

Tony immediately takes it out the box and puts it on.

“Ya like it?,” she wore a big smile on her face, absolutely hopeful.

Tony stares at the watch and frowns, “H-honey this is...,” he holds it up to his ear

“What?,” her smile dropped and she leaned in to see what was wrong

“It’s nice but I- I think it’s stuck... it’s not..,”

“What?,” her eyes go wide and she snatched his wrist to look at the watch, “No no no no,”

She stops and realizes the watch is working just fine, she pushes his arm away and rolls her eyes, sitting back in her spot, “Oh, ha haa,”

Tony laughs to himself and shakes his head, “Where did you get the money for this?,

She lies back down and shrugs, “Drugs... I sell hardcore drugs,”

“Oh good, you can start helping me with the mortgage then,” he leans forward for the remote and turns the tv on for them both to watch.

“Mtch,” she scoffs, “You wish,”

They both watch the tv for awhile until Sarah’s eyes get heavy and she’s back in a deep slumber. Tony makes sure she’s asleep all the way before picking her up and moving her to her room where she can comfortably sleep in her own bed.

“Goodnight, baby girl,” Tony plants a kiss on her head and lets her rest.

————

Sarah woke back up to the phone ringing, it’d been ringing for a while but it just now seeped its way into Sarah’s subconscious later waking her up. Trudging to the house phone she answers it to hear her frantic uncle.

“Hello?,”

“Sarah, honey. I need you to get your daddy on the phone,” he kept it short and simple.

“Uncle Steve? What time is it?,” she runs the sleep from her eyes wondering why her uncle is calling at a time like this

“I need to talk to your dad now. There’s someth-,”

Before Steve could finish, the line went dead and it left Sarah confused.

“Uncle Steve? Hello!,” she looks at the phone weird before just hanging up and putting it back on the dock.

“What was that all about?,” she mutters to herself, “Dad? Dad? You here?,” she roams the housebij search for Tony. She goes to his room expecting to find him there only to find it empty, but with the tv on, on the news.

“It appears that what we initially reported as riots seem to be somehow connected to the nationwide pandemic.,” the reporter states but Sarah has no idea what she’s talking about.

“Where the heck are you?,” talking to herself yet again, she stops to watch the report.

“We've received reports that victims afflicted with the infection show signs of increased aggression and--“

“That’s nearby,” she realizes.

A cop’s voice breaks into the feed, “We need to get everybody out of here now, there’s a gas leak,” —- “Hey, move!,”

“There’s some commotion coming from behi-,” the reporter continues speaking, not realizing the cop is talking to her.

“Get out of here!- lady, get the hell outta here right-,” An explosion. That’s what Sarah heard- not only on the tv but right out the window- she could see it right from the window.

“Uh- what was that?,” realizing she’s alone, Sarah begins to worry.

“Dad??,” she shouts, leaving his room to look throughout the house, “Dad?? What is going on?,” She wasn’t sure what to do. She heard a faint vibrating when she heads downstairs, realizing it’s Tony’s phone.

“There’s his phone,” she picks it up, “8 missed calls?,” She opens his phone to see frantic messages from her uncle.

“Where the hell are you? Call me!," — "On my way"... she reads to herself.

All she can hear is her neighbor’s dog barking and car alarms. She heads to her dad’s den and sees him rush in from the sliding glass door.

“There you are!,” she sighs in relief.

“Sarah, you okay?,”

“Yeah?”

“Has anyone come in here?,” her dad’s behaviornis throwing her off.

Tony begins to go through his drawers to look for his gun. Finding the box and taking it out to load it. Ready for anything to come.

“No? Why would anyone come in here?,”

“Don’t go near the doors! J-just stay back there,”

“Dad, you’re kind of freaking me out,” Sarah’s voice begins to tremble- what the hell is going on? Why is everyone so frantic?

“It’s the Coopers. S-Something isn’t right with them. I think they’re sick,”

But why would them being sick warrant a gun?

“What kind of sick?,”

Before Tony can answer his daughter, Jimmy Cooper bangs on the door, startling the two.

“Jesus!,”

“Dad?,”

“Jimmy!,”

Sarah hears the clicks of her dad’s gun. Something isn’t right.

“Honey, c’mere, c’mere,” Tony puts Sarah behind him.

“It’s okay,” she whispers to herself.

Jimmy keeps banging on the glass door until the glass gives and he runs inside. Her dad was right, he was sick. But what kind of sickness could cause him to act like this?

“J-Jimmy just stay back! Jimmy I’m warning you!!,”

“Oh my God,” Sarah backs further away.

Jimmy begins to run toward Tony and Tony shoots him, he had not other choice.

“Oh God!,” Sarah screams.

“Go. Go!!,”

Tony has to drag Sarah away from the scene.

“Y-you shot him,” tears welled in her eyes. She couldn’t comprehend anything right now. She has no idea what the hell was going on. She was scared, beyond scared.

“Sarah,”

“I just saw him this morning!,”

“Listen to me. Something bad is going on,” he hold her shoulders so she can pay attention to him, “We have got to get out of here. Do you understand me?,”

Sarah didn’t argue, she didn’t fight it. Whatever was happening she wanted to get away from it... now.

“Yeah,”

Tony notices headlights as a car pulls into his driveway.

“Steve,” whispering to himself, “C’mon honey,”

They rush outside and Steve gets out, “Where the hell have you been? You have any idea what’s going on out there?,”

He rushes to get Sarah in the car, “I got some notion. C’mon baby, get in the car,”

Sarah was trembling. Safety. That’s all she wanted.

“Holy shit, you got blood all over you,” Steve points out.

“It’s not mine,” Tony grunts, “Lets just get outta here,”

Steve gets back in the truck, “They're saying half the people in the city have lost their minds.”

Tony didn’t want to hear it. He just wanted to get out of there, “Can we just please go?,”

Steve wouldn’t shut up, he wouldn’t just shut up, hearing what he was saying worked Sarah up even more, “Some sort of parasite or somethin'. You gonna tell me what happened?,”

“Later.”

Steve begins to pull out of the driveway, “Hey Sarah. How ya holding up, honey?,”

“I’m fine,” she swallows thickly. She wasn’t fine, she was far from fine. “Can we hear what’s on the radio?,”

“Yeah, sure thing,” Steve begins to drive away from the house but little did anyone know that they’d never see it again. Life how it was an hour ago would never be like that ever again.

Steve tried to find a steady station but it’s all just static. Tony has no signal. They were fucked.

“No cellphone. No radio. Yeah, we're doin' great” Tony scoffs.

“A minute ago the news man wouldn’t shut up,”

“Did they say where to go?,”

Steve thinks, recalling the specific details and instructions, “He said, ah... Army's puttin' up roadblocks on the highway. No gettin' into Travis County,”

“That’s means we need to get the hell out. Take 71,”

“S’where I’m headed,”

Sarah had so many questions she wasn’t sure where to start. She sees and hears a bunch of cop cars with their sirens on, speeding in the opposite direction of where they were going.

“Did they say how many are dead?,” she was curious but she wasn’t sure if she really wanted to know.

“Probably a lot,” Steve answers, “Found this one family all mangled inside their house,”

“Steve,” Tony scolds. Sarah didn’t need to hear all that right now.

“Fuck,” Tony couldn’t believe everything went to shit so fast, “How the hell did this happen?,”

Steve sighs and shrugs, foot heavy on the gas, “They got no clue. But we ain't the only town. At first they were saying it was just the South. Now they're going on about the East Coast, the West Coast... Holy hell,”

They were passing many homes and buildings that were on fire. Sarah worries if they’d make it out safely.

“Are we sick too? Like... Jimmy!,”

“No. No of course not,” Tony wasn’t sure if he was doing a good job convincing her but he couldn’t have her freaking out right now even if he was unsure.

“How do you know?,”

“They uh,” Steve needed a recovery, “They said it's just ah, people in the city. We're good,”

“Didn't Jimmy work in the city?,”

Tony couldn’t admit all her questions were making him anxious. He just wanted silence but he did what he had to do to calm her.

“That's right, he did,”

“We're fine. Trust me,” Steve reassures

“A- Alright,”

Steve notices some people on the side of the road and slows down

“Let’s see what they need,”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?,” Tony’s eyes were wide, “keep driving!,”

Tony had survival instinct. As bad as it seems you can stop for just anyone in these predicaments.

“They got a kid, Tony,”

“So do we!,”

“But we have room,” Sarah butts in

“Hey!!,” the passerby is waving their arms back and forth to get Steve to stop.

“Keep driving, Steve,”

“Heeey! Stop stop, please!!,”

Steve reluctantly kept driving and Tony is relieved that he didn’t make the stupid decision to stop.

“You haven’t seen what I seen. Someone else will come along,”

“We should have helped them,” Sarah felt bad. She wasn’t sure what she’d do if that was them in the spot of those people back there.

Steve makes it into the city, only to find a traffic jam on 71. Everyone else and their mother had the same damn idea.

“Oh this is bad,” Steve slams his hands o the steering wheel.

“Well.. we could backtrack and-,”

“Hey, what the fuck man, let’s go!!,” a man gets out of his car, yelling at those ahead of him. More of the sick people come running out of nowhere and attack him. His screams echo in Sarah’s ears but she couldn’t look away.

What is wrong with these people? What sickness, what parasite could cause this?!?! They’re tearing him apart!!

“Holy shit,” Steve swears

“oh my God,” that’s all Sarah can say. She’s seen too many things in such a short time span.

“Get away!!,”

“Turn us around, Steve. Steve!!,” Tony has to snap Steve out of it.

“Holy shit,” Steve repeats himself. The sick begin to run to the truck and Steve quickly puts it in reverse to get away. Sarah screams as the car stalls while Steve puts it back and drive and the sick bangs on the window.

“What the fuck just happened?!,” Steve shouts, “did you see that?,”

“Yes. I saw it,” Tony couldn’t find it in himself to shout about what just played out in front of his eyes. His goal was to get as far away as possible.

“Turn here, turn here,” Tony instructs. They turn onto a side street to find it flooded with people trying to run away. Everything up in flames.

“Come on people, move!,” Steve lays it down on his horn.

“What are they running from?” Sarah questions. But her question is ignored.

“Get us outta here, Steve,”

“Can’t you see I’m trying!,”

Sarah couldn’t handle their bickering. All of this was too much for her but she couldn’t bring herself to cry, not now, no.

“We can’t stop here, Steve,”

“Well I can’t fuckin’ drive through em all, Tony!,”

“Well back the hell up then,”

“They’re behind me too!!,” So many people running everywhere. So many screams. Too much noise of glass breaking and things exploding. Sarah wasn’t sure what to focus on.

“There,” Tony points, “There! There!,”

“Hold on!,” Steve warns

“Go!,”

Steve gets around the motor home that was blocking the passage.

Sarah gasps loudly as she sees an oncoming car ready to t-bone them,

“Look out!!,”

———

Sarah wakes up to the cries and grunts of the sick. Tony still knocked out in the front seat as she’s surround by broken glass

“Dad?” Sarah calls, “Hey, hey,” shaking him awake.

“What?,” he sees one of the sick, thrashing as its trapped in a car, “get back, baby. Get back, look, I’m okay,”

Tony gets himself out by stomping the windshield out. Before he can straighten himself up to get Sarah out, one of the sick attacks him and he’s doing his best to fight it off but Steve comes and bashes it’s head in

“Dad!,” Sarah calls out

“I’m here, baby,” Tony opens the door to get her out, “I’m here. C’mone gimme your hand,”

He helps her out and notices she’s limping

“What is it?,”

“My leg hurts,” she whines, trying to keep herself together but the pain in her leg was a pain she’s never felt before.

“How bad?,”

“Pretty bad,”

“Guys,” Steve gets their attention as he scopes out the area, “We’re gonna need to run,”

“Oh God,” Tony sighs, he hands his gun to Steve and picks Sarah up. It’s the only option, “Keep us, safe,”

“Hold on tight, Sarah,”

“Okay,” she buries herself into his chest, “I’m scared, dad,”

Tony couldn’t let her know he was too. He had to be strong for his babygirl. He had to get her out of there.

“Tony watch out!,”

“Sarah, keep your eyes closed, honey!,”

Whether she kept her eyes closed or not, it didn’t help the sound of the screams. Blood-curdling, terrified screams, she was experiencing a horror movie first hand. She hears more screams as yet another blast goes off

“Keep running!!,” Steve shouts over all the commotion.

“Those people are on fire, dad,” her eyes have never seen such terror before today.

“Don’t look baby, just keep looking at me,”

“Okay,”

“Over there!,”

Tony follows Steve towards an exit but see that there’s a pileup that’s preventing them from getting through.

“We’re gonna get out of this, honey. I promise,” he whispers to Sarah.

“There’s to many of them,” Steve huffs, clearly out of breath, “this way! Through the alley, go!,”

Just when they were about to turn a corner, one of the sick jumps out and tries to attack Tony, he nearly drops Sarah trying to keep it away but Steve comes and kills it with a single gunshot. The sound makes Sarah jump.

They continue to run, Sarah had no idea where but as long as it gets them away, “We’re almost there. We’re almost to safety, honey,” They get to a bar and in through the back door but more of the sick are coming and Steve has to hold em off.

“Go! Get to the highway!,” Steve shouts over the growls of the sick

“What?,”

“You got Sarah! I can outrun em,”

“Uncle Steve!!,”

“I’ll meet you there,”

Tony would bring Steve back to life just to kill him again if he didn’t make it. Tony continues to run, despite Sarah’s protests of not wanting to leave him.

“He’s gonna be alright. He’s gonna make it. We’re almost there,”

Sarah can hear the sick people getting closer, and there’s more, “they’re getting closer, dad!,”

Gunshots ring through the air and she hears no more noise of the sick. A bright light shines in their faces and they see it’s a soldier. This calms both of their nerves as they feel safe. He would lead them to safety. Right?

“Hey! We need help,” Tony steps closer only for the soldier to keep his gun raised

“Stop!,” the soldier is visibly shaking.

“Please!,” Tony begs, “It’s my daughter. I think her leg is broken,”

“Stop right there!,” the soldier was adamant.

Sarah was confused. Aren’t the soldiers there to help?

The soldier picks up his radio and Tony watches closely.

“Got a couple of civilians in the outer perimeter. Please advise.”

“Dad, what about uncle Steve?,”

“We’re gonna get you safe first and go back for him okay?,”

“Sir... there’s a little girl,”

The soldier’s tone didn’t sit well with Tony. Whoever was on the other side of that radio had no plans to save them.

“But... yes, sir”

“Listen, buddy. We’ve just been through hell. Okay we just nee-,”

The soldier cocks his gun, ready to shoot them. Tony tries to slowly back away, “Oh shit,”

He fires rounds, making Tony fall back down the hill they just came from and Sarah screams. The soldier runs after them and shines his light in Tony’s face. Barrel of the gun at point blank range.

“Please don’t!” Tony’s hands are reached out in front of his face. But before the soldier could pull the trigger, more shots sound off and he falls dead.

Steve comes out the woodwork and and runs up to them but before he can get anything out, the cries of Sarah are heard and that stops everyone in their tracks.

“Oh no,” Steve mumbles.

Tony rushing over to here and sees her holding her stomach.

“Sarah! Okay honey, move your hands, baby”

Sarah squeals in pain. It’s a seering sensation and it’s hard for her to breathe. She grabbed hold of his neck with one hand and held herself with the other.

Tony sees that she was hit. Tony feels sick to his stomach. His voice is quivering, he doesn’t know what to do. All this time he was being strong for her but now he’s scared. Actually scared.

“I know baby, I know,” he can feel his throat tightening as he tries to hold back tears.

All he can think to do is add pressure to her wound but she just screams in pain. Her sobbing is uncontrollable and she can feel her grip on what she knew as life to be loosening.

“Listen to me, I know this hurts, baby. You're gonna be okay, baby. Stay with me!,” he was losing faith. Her hiccuping and clawing at his hands made chills run down his spine, “Alright, I'm gonna pick you up. I know, baby. I know it hurts. Come on, baby, please. I know, baby. I know”

He was pleading with her and Steve could only stand there and watch. He knew his niece wasn’t going to make it but he couldn’t just say that. Steve himself had to turn away as tears welled in his eyes.

Tony looks to Steve for help when Sarah’s cries finally cease. No hiccuping, no squeals, no thrashing, nothing.

He looks back to her to see her just staring up at him, “Sarah!,” he calls for her, “Baby,” he wheezes for air as he realizes what’s happened. But he doesn’t want to believe it, “don’t do this to me baby,”

He was rocking her back and forth, he couldn’t let her go. There’s no way he’s just let her go. His voice was trembling and finally he lets himself cry. Tony was willing to give any and everything just to have her back, just to have her breathing in his arms again.

“Come on... No, no... Oh no, no, no... Please. Oh, God. Please, please, don't do this. Please, God...”

——————

well I hope y’all enjoyed the first chapter of Survive!!!

Please reblog and comment!! it means so much

Tags: @mbaku-babygirl @blackreaders-assemble @yournonlocalpoc @vozit @veryhellshdia @hisxblackxqueen @dumbchick @warmchick @unicornslothfish @homeorbust @babybubastis @blackmissfrizzle @retroxvailles @spideys-wife @xye-weirdo @here-for-your-bullshit @valynsia @valkyriesnymph @chonisberonica @crawlingnightmares @valentinevirgo @hail-meezus @pastelastronomy24

[archangelgabriellives]

Lost and Found

for @for-the-love-of-gabriel who wanted angst with a happy ending in a high school/college setting. I went with the college one. and made sam super responsible and he is the RA in his dorm. i love the idea of gabriel and loki being twins, like castiel and jimmy. ill probably use it again in the future.

also, i feel that the speed and ease in which sam can tell the difference between Loki and Gabriel in this fic is very telling. ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿

anyway, enjoy!  

word count: 1.1k

Like my writing?

~~

Sam had just about finished his first cup of coffee when there was a hurried knock at his dorm room door. He winced, the lingering traces of his hangover still pulsing behind his eyes. But Sam was nothing if not a good RA, so he swallowed the last grainy drink of cheap coffee and tried to compose himself as he made his way over to open his door.

“Loki,” Sam said curiously, not expecting the one person who never asked him for anything standing in the hallway. “What are you- I mean, what can I do for you?” 

The normally stoic and sometimes vulgar freshman looked haggard, his normally cold eyes now filled with worry and his hands wringing together. 

“I can't find Gabriel.” 

Sam nodded, and held his door open wider so Loki could press past and pace in the small room. Everyone knew that Loki and Gabriel, The Trickster Twins as they had come to be known during their short time on campus, were never separated from each other for too long. Where one went the other was not far behind. So if Loki was acting this distressed, Sam knew to take his fear seriously.

“Did he come back here with you last night?” Loki blurted out. 

“What?” The question threw Sam off for a moment, stuttering out some nonsense before he could resettle his blush. “No. No, Gabriel didn't come here. We were talking for a while at the party yesterday. He said he needed another drink, and then I didn't see him again all night.”

Loki cringed, obviously not getting the answer he was hoping for. “The last time I saw Gabriel he was walking out the back door of the frat house. I thought...I thought he was with you, so I went back to our room. But this morning he was still gone. No text, no calls." Raking shaky fingers through his disheveled hair, Loki's breathing was starting to catch in his throat. "He's not answering me and I'm freaking out a little here, Sam."

"Hey, hey." Sam placed a strong hand on Loki's shoulder, doing his best to keep his voice calm. "We'll find him. Let’s call campus security, go back to the house and start asking around."

Loki nodded, a wet sheen in his eyes as he looked up to lock his gaze with Sam's, a nervous sigh pushing out from his lungs.

"Everything's gonna be fine."

***

A slow, steady beeping drew Gabriel out of the darkness. He felt sluggish. Trying to move his body only resulted in a deep ache and a wish that he’d never have to get up again. But the beeping continued, drew him out of his empty sleep and into the harsh white of wherever he was. Gabriel’s eyes fluttered open, slamming shut just a quickly as he whimpered through the harsh pang of a headache.

“Hey,” a voice called to him, “you better wake up or your brother is gonna go off on me again.”

Gabriel groaned, raising his heavy limbs to shield his eyes from the light.  After a few clearing blinks, the blurry figure next to him became clear. “Sam?” 

Sam gave a sweet smile and handed Gabriel a cup of water and helped him take a sip. “Welcome back, Gabriel.”

“Where am I?” Gabriel asked after he took a sip, his voice still rough. 

The smile slipped from Sam’s face. He dreaded this conversation. “You’re, um, this is a hospital.”

“A hospital?” Gabriel's eyes went wide, fear and panic creeping into his voice. "W-where's My brother?" 

"He's fine." Without hesitation, Sam took Gabriel's hand in comfort. "He just went to get something to eat downstairs." 

Gabriel's hand in his squeezed back, and Sam could feel the slight tremors rolling through his skin.

"Sam...how did I get here?"

"Well," Sam let out a sigh, "what do you remember?"

"Um...last thing I can remember is talking with you at that party."

"Gabriel," Sam said sadly, rubbing his thumb over Gabriel's knuckles, "that was four days ago."

Gabriel froze, his whole body tensing up and his free hand grasping at the crisp hospital bedding. 

"...What?"

"Yeah. Loki couldn't get a hold of you and came to me for help. We looked all over for you, it took us almost the whole day to find you. When Loki found you beat to hell and unconscious in the woods, he damn near lost it.”

“It’s been four days?!” Gabriel gasped after a few dread filled breaths.

Nodding solemnly, Sam pulled gently on Gabriel’s hand, and carefully avoiding the various tubes and bandages that surrounded him, drew Gabriel into a tight hug. “I’m sorry.”

He held Gabriel for a few moments, rubbing a comforting hand up and down Gabriel’s back and still squeezing his hand. When they pulled apart, Gabriel was quietly crying, and Sam tenderly wiped away a tear with his thumb. 

“Gabriel,” Sam uttered, waiting until the other man looked back at him, “Loki said he saw you leave the party with a guy. He thought it was me, so he went home. Do you remember who it was?”

“I-I don’t…” Somewhere in his mind, a few dots got connected in Gabriel’s mind, and all the color drain from his face. “Sam,” he groaned, voice cracked and so broken, “was I…”

“No.” Sam’s voice was firm. “No, Gabriel. You’re safe.”

Suddenly, the door to the room slammed open, Loki rushing in and heading straight for his brother. 

“Lo! Oh, god…" Gabriel collapsed into his twin’s arms, openly sobbing into Loki’s chest. 

“Gabe.” Loki clutched at his brother, a few tears falling down his cheeks. “Thank god you're awake!” He pulled away, cradling Gabriel’s bruised face in his hands. “You scared the shit out of me, you bastard.”

Gabriel barked out a wet laugh, sniffling as he kept a tight grip on Loki’s arms. “Sorry.”

“Stop it,” Loki whispered, “you didn't do anything wrong.” Another hug and a few more tears fell before the brothers broke apart again. “We waited so long for you to wake up. Never left your side, brother.”

“We?” Gabriel turned, cheeks red from crying and now embarrassment as he looked to Sam, who had taken a step back to let the brothers have their moment. “You, Sam?”

“Yeah,” Sam said as he took the few steps back to Gabriel’s bed. “I just couldn't leave you like that.” As if it belonged there, Sam’s hand found Gabriel’s again, intertwining their fingers together and sweetly caressing Gabriel’s skin. “I, um, I get the feeling you might have been flirting with me at the frat party.” 

For a second, Gabriel was at a loss for words, taken aback by the bright smile on Sam’s face. “Oh,” he stuttered, losing himself in the depths of the beautiful eyes staring at him. “Sam,” he said as he gathered himself again, “that wasn't the first time I’ve been flirting with you, but thanks for finally noticing.” 

~~

well this prompt turned into a real fic instead of a drabble, so imma add the tags

Sabriel tags

@bloody-destiel-sabriel @little-boyking i @howaboutnotcaring @thetricksterarchangel @sabbycorgs @amywyn13 @nnegann @ajcza @digi-doubles @midnightstar789 @forgot-to-care-again @imbiowaresbitch @destielandsabrielshipper2017 @team-gabriel @destielhoneybee @trickster-archangel @thislumpoffuckicallabrain @scrollingkingfisher @eleanor-hargreeves-official @just-another-rp-nerd @petrichoravellichor

Everything tags

@doctor-zyre @ourloveisforthelovely @authoressskr @superwhoavengelocketc-blog @sumara62 @mscrazycatbitch @emmii4 @redberrysweets @space-time-paradox @tgpanther @anxietywontmakethewordsgo @I4life @l4life @acarpouschimerical @warlockwriter

[silentauroriamthereal]

So. I met Benedict Cumberbatch the other night. 

I’m still processing, honestly, and the big thing that I need to write is another letter to him, one which I assume going in that he will never read (I can’t even imagine the volume of fanmail he must receive!), but I’ll still write it because I need to say it, even if it’s never read. In this post I want to talk about some of the stuff I want to say there, so I’m just kind of working through my thoughts here. 

This is going to be long, and a little emotional, so I’m putting it behind a cut to spare your dashes (among other things!). 

I have a few different things to say about the entire thing. First, let me just go through the evening as it unfolded: 

I managed to buy a ticket to the New York debut of Letters Live. I’ve adored the concept of this event since the first time they held it and when I found out they were doing one in New York right during the tiny window of when I was going to be there, I jumped at the opportunity, though the tickets were uncomfortably expensive for me. There is literally no other living person that I would have been more excited to see perform and potentially have a tiny chance to meet, though, and the timing seemed almost foreordained, so I did it. 

The event was phenomenal. A gigantic wall of a human was seated in front of me - an unpleasant man who was approximately 10 metres tall and 5 metres wide, and I’m 5′4, so... yeah. I waited until after the first act and managed to slip into a much better seat, hahaha! The performance was so well-planned, I thought. The selection of letters was specially curated for an American audience, with most of the content written by Americans. To hear Rose McGowan read her own letter to the Hollywood higher-ups was chillingly powerful, as was hearing Toni Morrison’s letter to Barack Obama. There were several letters funny enough to make me cry with laughter, and to my pleased surprise one of these was read by another well-loved actor of mine, Tom Hollander (who I keep feeling so sorry for these days - people must confuse him with Tom Holland all the time, and they’re not remotely similar, lol). Benedict’s first letter was an absolutely hilarious one that just went around facebook about a month ago, written by a Canadian man apologizing for having absolutely trashed, via a flock of seagulls, his hotel room in Victoria eighteen years ago. He also read one of the Chris Barker/Bessie Moore exchanges with Loo Brealey, and finished the evening with Stewart Stern’s incredibly stirring and moving letter to the family of James Dean following his death. 

Listen: seeing Benedict perform live, with my own two naked eyes, breathing the same air as him - it may sound ridiculous, but that alone was profoundly moving to me. Just seeing him, period. Then seeing him perform - breathtaking. And then hearing him read this particular letter was just - it’s hard to even put it into words. I felt a little as though I was hearing him read what could be his own epitaph. Listen to these words: 

A star goes wild in the places beyond air — a dark star born of coldness and invisible. It hits the upper edges of our atmosphere and look! It is seen! It flames and arcs and dazzles. It goes out in ash and memory. But its after-image remains in our eyes to be looked at again and again. For it was rare. And it was beautiful. And we thank God and nature for sending it in front of our eyes. So few things blaze. So little is beautiful. Our world doesn't seem equipped to contain its brilliance too long. Ecstasy is only recognizable when one has experienced pain. Beauty only exists when set against ugliness. Peace is not appreciated without war ahead of it. How we wish that life could support only the good. But it vanishes when its opposite no longer exists as a setting. It is a white marble on unmelting snow. And Jimmy stands clear and unique in a world where much is synthetic and dishonest and drab. He came and rearranged our molecules.

I mean, this is exactly how I already feel about the nature of Ben’s talent, the privilege I feel at being allowed to experience it in any way, in any medium. He has a talent that lights up the cosmos and I’m just so grateful to the universe that this talent exists and has been given a place to be seen and witnessed by the rest of us. His talent blazes, and my life is the richer for being able to experience it. 

I tried really, really, really hard not to hope too much to have a chance to meet him at the stage door after. It’s kind of impossible not to hope, but I told myself sternly that I already never thought I would have the chance to see him perform in person, and it really would have been enough. I’d joked to my friends before leaving for New York that if he so much as laid his own two beautiful eyes on me and actually saw me, heard my voice, any of that, that I could die in peace. I’ve never expected that, though, to have any sort of fleeting brush of contact like that. It’s not the nature of the way a person like him relates to a person like me. In fact, allow me a tangential paragraph here: 

Being a fan can feel one-sided. I know everything that a person can possibly know about a person whom I have never met. I can guarantee that I have seen, read, or listened to every interview he’s done, ever, with very, very few exceptions. ALL of the press junkets. I could have written his imdb page. Like many of us! I know every line on his beautiful face. I know the freckles on his skin, the tendons of his forearms and calves. I know every part of his physicality that’s ever been shown to the public, and with him, that’s a fair bit! His voice is my ringtone (it’s a clip of Sherlock saying “it’s a text alert; it means I’ve got a text”) and his voice is more dearly familiar to me than most of the people I know personally. I know his facial expressions, though he’s constantly reinventing the way the muscles of his face can move for every new role he plays. I’ve analyzed his accents from a phonetics standpoint. In short, I know everything that’s possible for someone like me to know about someone like him. And he knows nothing about me - not my name, not what I do, not what I eat, not my voice or my talents or my eyes or fingernails or passions or pet peeves - not of my existence, full stop. But that doesn’t mean that our relationship - and bear with me on that word - is one-sided. This is how it works: he gives. He gives and gives and gives. Benedict doesn’t phone it in. He BLAZES. He burned through so much energy playing Hamlet (any wonder, have you seen him in it???) in the summer of 2016 that one of the reasons Dr. Strange had to push back its filming schedule was to give him the chance to bulk up again after the play’s run. Benedict commits, and like the aforementioned star analogy, he radiates energy to every possible point of contact around him. THIS is his side of the relationship: he blazes out his talent/energy/love/passion/commitment, and we receive it, and the appreciation and love and passion we feel in return for it is something that we share with each other, not with him. That’s how fandom works: it’s not a direct thing. Not in the standard, interpersonal way. He shines; we turn to each other rather than to him, to talk about how it made us feel, how it moved us, how it excited us and made us laugh and inspired us. Somehow, this entire experience crystallized this for me perfectly. 

Now, back to the stage door: there was an absolute CRUSH of people at the barricades. I don’t want to talk about this part too much because it was extremely unpleasant. We had to wait for a long time. I would have stayed until he left the building, no matter how long it took, unless it would have made me look like a total creep, because that’s not something I ever want to do to someone I admire. He did come out eventually, and that’s when the pushing and screaming started. I once said that I would never scream at a celebrity, and I didn’t. The crowd, unfortunately, was a mix of three groups of people: 1. aggressive paparazzi 2. aggressive fanboys who had brought comic book shit for Ben to sign so that they could sell it on ebay 3. genuine fans. Guess which group was not at all problematic?? Turns out I was standing right in a knot of #2′s, and because they were hollering at him, like screaming at him to get over there and sign their shit, Ben went over to the other side of the barricade to sign stuff there. He told off one of the paps and said he was there to be with the “real people”, which I appreciated. He did come back near us, and I had the briefest of moments to talk to him. I thanked him for not having become a lawyer, and he laughed. Everyone was thrusting stuff in his face and yelling. I just had my little ticket from the show, and the comic book manchildren kept putting their stuff on top of mine. Ben finally said he was going back inside, that his wife was there waiting for him, but he turned back toward me and I managed to ask (possibly plead) if he would sign my ticket. He looked me in the eye then, smiled, and said, “Of course”. 

I stammered out a congratulations on Patrick Melrose and he smiled again and said thank you, while he was signing. But that one moment of eye contact is all I wanted. He looked at me, and he saw me. And I made him laugh. 

I was literally almost suffocated by the awful people around me, none of which were: a) female, or b) actual fans. I’ve thought sometimes, while watching videos of Benedict on the red carpet, with all of those media folk screaming at him to turn this way, smile into their camera, all of that, that it feels very much like harassment. I know that people in his position know that it comes with the job, that the fame and riches are supposed to be the offset of having no privacy, of being followed by media and fans alike, quite literally, of being shrieked and barked at like they’re trained performing animals (which I don’t like, either!). I know he knows that, but it doesn’t mean that it’s pleasant in any way. He handles it like a pro, because he is in every way a consummate professional. But it can’t be pleasant for him. He’s incredibly, extraordinarily generous with his time. As a performer myself, I know how I feel when I’ve just finished a solo concert or an opera - I feel like taking off my heels and fancy dress, putting on pyjama pants and relaxing every muscle I have on a couch somewhere, preferably with a tall drink in hand. Performing Hamlet is considered one of the most demanding male roles in the English theatrical repertoire, yet Benedict would not only perform it a stunning eight times per week, but then sometimes spend up to THREE HOURS signing autographs and taking selfies after. If he chooses to limit how long he gets screamed at by aggressive, even violent paps and shitheads who just want to use his signature for money, good for him! I respect that, even if I felt incredibly sorry for the people further back who didn’t get to have that, one brief moment of contact with this person we all admire so very, very deeply. And so, because of this, because of seeing firsthand how gross people are to him and just the sheer volume of what he puts up with for our sake, so that some of us, at least, can have that tiny moment, I don’t think I would do it again, if only to reduce that volume by one teeny tiny amount. I got my one, deeply, deeply hoped-for, fleeting, searing moment of contact. It’s all that I could have asked for. He saw me, and I had the chance to say some tiny part of my gratitude to him for what he gives of himself to all of us. That’s all I wanted. 

The wait, the near-suffocation, all of that, was worth it, to win that one precious moment. I clutched my precious ticket and fought my way out of the crowd and wandered dazedly off toward the subway, through late Friday night Times Square crowds, feeling so much that I didn’t even know how to process it. I felt like I was about to burst into tears and I couldn’t have even said why or whether I was happy or sad or possibly a cornucopia of every human emotion ever. I felt - and still feel - a bit like I just had a brush with an actual, blazing sun. It was shattering, and I will be forever changed by it. I am so grateful. 

[overwatch-xoxo]

low tide

reaper x fem reader | platonic sombra action | beach fanfiction | 1500 words

send me requests!

You’d expected the Talon beach trip to be a bit more, well, populated.  It had been your idea, after all - there was a moment of downtime, and it might be good for unwinding, or team bonding, or something equally as intangible.  Mostly, you missed what it was like to feel hugged by the sunlight and the humid beach air on a summer day. You had imagined collecting seashells with your closest teammates, trading them.  It was childish, in hindsight.  Why would the people you typically fought beside want to have a day or two of relaxation when so much was at stake?

Regardless, everyone had come up with some kind of excuse to use their day off for something more productive.  Everyone - except for one.

Sombra lounged on the beach chair beside you, nursing a popsicle that was melting more quickly than she cared to notice, sprawling out her legs in a way that must have seemed most beneficial for a suntan.  It had been late afternoon when you arrived. Now it was nearly sunset, and she was trying to get every minute in that she could.  You had brought a book along, which was currently on your lap, thus far untouched.  Sombra lolled her head lazily toward you. She gave you a look over her sunglasses that indicated you were ruining her vacation.

“You can’t think about it too much, amiga.  At least we get a day at the seashore.  Everyone else will be jealous of our sun-kissed skins when we get back, and then they’ll never say no again.  You’ll see.”

Shifting uncomfortably, you toyed with a string on your bikini.  “I had at least hoped that – I don’t know – maybe, that – that at least Gabriel would show up.”  

Sombra threw her head back, barking a short laugh.  “Oh, honey, I’d like to see that big crybaby on the beach, in all his black clothes, grumbling about how hot he is.”  She peered at you sideways, deviousness quirking her lips.  “What, you think you’d like to see him in a swimsuit?”

You scoffed a haughty chuckle, fingering the pages of your novel, and struggled to come up with a response.  It wasn’t like there had been meaningful glances between you and Reaper in the halls of the Talon compound, because his eyes were always hidden behind a mask.  But each time you accidentally brushed against him, or he corrected your aim with a firm hand, you couldn’t help but feel the electric shock that made your head buzz for hours.  And his voice made you shudder - in a way that wasn’t full of fear, as it had once been.

Sombra let out an exuberant hoot at your silence, nudging you with her arm, sticky with tanning oil and sweat.  “Ooh, have I hit a sensitive spot?  Is there something you want to tell me?”

You shrugged and buried your nose in your book, using it to shield your face which was red, although perhaps only because the heat was finally getting to you. Ever since the incident last week, when Reaper had been caught holding a piece of paper outside your door that he promptly tore to shreds, you’d been the butt of all sorts of teasing from your teammates. Sure, you’d thought about it. Even now, you had a hard time focusing on the words on the page, your mind drifting to the idea of having warm hands grip your waist with a roughness, biting mysterious lips from underneath a mask —

“Well, if you don’t wanna talk anymore, I’m going down to the water.” Sombra wedged her popsicle stick in the sand so it was sticking straight up, and she slinked down toward the seafoam collecting on the shore. You could see her poking at the tiny fiddler crabs scattering at her feet, and you smiled a bit. She was a good friend, if a terrible gossip.

No matter how you tried, you still couldn’t focus on your book, so after the fifth time of scanning the same sentence you threw it down on the beach chair and moved towards the water as well. You needed to clear your head. “I’m going for a walk,” you called to Sombra. She nodded in acknowledgement, up to her knees in the water and even deeper in thought.

“I’m going back to the hotel soon, I’ll grab your things,” she called back as you strode away. Sunset was rather nigh, you realized — it wouldn’t be long before it was dark all along the beach. So you focused on your walk, tasting the briny air, kicking up the water as you went along. You watched the sunset alone, scrunching your toes into the mud just near the lapping waves, your feet sinking incrementally deeper into the sand with each push and pull of the tide. Becoming one with the ocean.

You felt him first. Cool tendrils of darkness chilled the air, giving you goosebumps moments before the sun slid below the horizon, leaving a dusky purple in its wake. A little afraid to look, your gaze slid to your left, then over your shoulder to look at Reaper. He looked a little pissed off - but then, didn’t he always?

“Where’s Sombra?” he hissed, the last remnants of his shadowstep dissolving as he took on a more corporeal form.

You shrugged. “About a half mile that way, I guess. I think she went back to our hotel room.”

He clenched and unclenched his fists, debating what to say next. “You shouldn’t be out here alone.” His words sounded choked, strained.

“I can take care of myself,” you said, crossing your arms indignantly. Any relaxation you might have earned from your few moments alone were instantly gone, your shoulders tense, your jaw set.

“You’re a member of Talon now — just being out in public puts you in danger.”

“And why do you care what kind of danger I’m in?”

He stopped at this question, glanced over his shoulder, clenched and unclenched his hands again. The silence was, at first, thoughtful - and then it was uncomfortably long. He was stuck. Softening, you sighed and let down your guard. “Reaper—”

A loud beat plays from a bar up the shore, surprising both of you, causing you to jump. It’s a live artist, playing a bad cover of a Jimmy Buffet song. A giggle bubbles up in your chest. Reaper cocks his head quizzically at your outburst of laughter. You step closer to him, arms outstretched in an offer, a truce. “Want to dance?”

“What?”

“Dancing. It’s something people do together, sometimes.” You grinned, and you took a bold move closer to him, placing his clawed hands on your waist, looping your arms over his shoulders. You laughed again, shaking your head. “I can’t believe you came to the beach in full gear.”

“I was… busy today.” He began to sway with you, and something tense in him eased up at the movement, as though this was easy, this was familiar.

“You don’t have to be busy anymore,” you said, gazing up at his mask where his eyes would be. Maybe you’d been this close to him during training, but this was gentler. For a moment, the two of you danced in silence, to the echo of the music, the rhythm of the ocean moving with you, rolling in and out.

Something about it felt right. On tiptoes you angled yourself, and softly brushed your lips against his mask, all the while keeping your eyes open. Your heart was pounding, but you weren’t scared. This was a different feeling. Reaper stopped swaying.

“Promise me you aren’t afraid,” he said. His voice was shaking.

“I’m not,” you said.

Slowly, he took his hand off your waist, and with his fingertips cradled the edge of his mask. He hesitated. Then he angled it upward, revealing a mouth that seemed to be partially shrouded in something darker, a face which had features that resembled old photos of Gabriel Reyes, but more gaunt, and eyes that burned with a fire that flipped your stomach.

This time, he leaned down to meet you. His kiss was slow, warm, and deep. That same fire burned in your chest, curled in your stomach, awakened every inch of you. You had never felt more alive than you did now, in the embrace of a half-dead man. Before you were finished, he broke away, caressing your face with a gloved hand.

“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that,” he growled, something possessive in him awoken.

You smirked, returning his softness by stroking his own cheek, not allowing him to recoil from your touch. When you gazed at him, it all clicked together. "And I can’t wait to do it again,” you said, once more closing the distance.

[chelsfic]

Orc OC/Human OFC Bright fanfic Part 3/?

Part One | Part Two

A/N: Did you ever set out to write smut and end up getting caught up in a whole bunch of plot instead? What gives? More plot! More angst! Mentions drinking and drugs.

You were understandably downtrodden as you stood outside the club the following night waiting to be let in by the bouncer. You couldn’t get Ray’s cruel words out of your head.

Andrea saw the faraway look in your sad eyes and intervened, “Girl! What are you worrying about? We’re here to have fun, remember? Do you remember what ‘fun’ is?”

She could always make you smile even when you were still feeling like shit from being demeaned by your crush. You filled her in on what happened with Ray as you waited.

“Hmm…” she looked thoughtful. “So...first he comes on to you--No, don’t argue, he was coming on to you with that stroking your arm business, come on!--then he tells you to stay away from the party and that you don’t belong...Tricky.”

“Not really,” you frown. “He hates me.”

The club is dark and noisy when you finally make it inside. But you’re relieved to see a couple familiar faces from your building and from the clinic. It really did seem like the entire neighborhood had turned out. You were glad Andrea forced you to come. You flashed her a grateful smile, determining to enjoy yourself and forget about Ray.

Your first stop was the bar located in the back furthest from a low stage where an orcish band was performing before a heaving mosh pit. You shouted your drink orders at the young human bartender and scanned the crowd. There were several hulking orcs wearing clan colors moving toward the bar but you didn’t see Ray. Not that you were looking for him. Because you had determined to forget about him and his mean words for the evening.

Andrea poked you in the ribs, “I know what you’re doing! Forget about him for a while and have fun.”

You laughed and accepted your vodka tonic from the bartender, taking a sip from the skinny straw.

“You’re right,” you conceded, adding with a tinge of your trademark social anxiety, “Let’s mingle.”

***

Ray was *not* looking for Georgia. He was just keeping an eye on things like he always did. As one of Dorghu’s enforcers it was his responsibility to make sure no one got out of line at the block party. He could have fun himself, as evidenced by the frosty beer in his hand, but he had to stay alert for trouble. That’s why he was studying the face of every human who happened to wander near him, not because he was waiting for his annoying neighbor to show up.

He stationed himself on a low couch with his buddies, Raz and Jimmy. Raz was pretty high and not saying much. Jimmy was getting a lewd lap dance from an orc chick. So Ray was free to scan the crowd without interruption. When he finally spotted her she was standing not far away with another female and a couple of human guys who looked like assholes. He watched as she laughed at something one of them said and felt a hot wave of irritation go through him. Without making a conscious decision he got up and moved over to them.

***

Not long after you moved off from the bar Andrea bumped into a couple of guys she’d met here before. You formed a little group standing in relative safety on the outskirts of the pit. The guys were kind of boring and you found yourself continually distracted from their conversation, preferring to people watch. The party was so loud you had to shout to be heard over the music, but you found that the chaos gave you a nice sense of anonymity. You rolled with it, laughing when you were supposed to laugh and otherwise letting Andrea steer the conversation.

You were distracted again, staring at the bodies writhing violently in the mosh pit and wondering how that was fun. A shadow fell over you from behind. You turned to find yourself facing a broad orcish chest clad in the black and orange colors of a Fogteeth jersey. You craned your neck back and saw Ray’s narrowed, molten eyes staring down at you with his usual glare. He was standing so close you could feel the heat of his body on your skin. He towered over you and you felt trapped, yet again, in his gaze. You were starting to become addicted to this feeling of being under his sway.

“Um...hi, Ray,” you said, cool as always.

The conversation around you stuttered to a halt at his arrival. You could feel Andrea’s eyes boring like laser beams through your skull but you refused to look over at her for fear that this spell would break.

Ray cleared his throat before asking, “Buy you a drink?”

You had the distinct sensation that your butt had fallen off. A thrill of nervous excitement blossomed in your belly and you finally allowed yourself a glance to Andrea, asking with your eyes if it was cool to abandon the group for a while. She nodded so violently you thought her head might snap off.

You turned back to Ray and nodded in agreement, suddenly too shy for words. He led you back to the bar with a huge hand just brushing the small of your back. People made way before him and you wondered how high up he actually was in the clan. Even other orcs lowered their gaze respectfully to him. Once at the bar he ordered you another vodka tonic and a beer for himself.

“So,” he had to lean down with his tusked mouth inches from your ear to be heard over the racket. “What do you think of the party?”

The question sounded like a challenge and you stared at him for a few seconds trying to gauge what he was looking for before just responding truthfully, “It’s...loud!”

He let out a bark of laughter at your answer and took a swig of beer, “Come on.”

He led you back to a couch along the opposite wall. This spot was a little less crowded than the rest of the club. You took a seat on the end and he sat down next to you, his weight collapsing the cushions around him so that you rolled into his side. You laughed nervously and wiggled away a bit, but left your thigh brushing up against his. Your cheeks flushed a bright red at the closeness and you clutched your drink like a life preserver.

Ray seemed to be enjoying your discomfort, which escalated exponentially when you glanced behind him and saw that the other couple on the couch was engaged in a pretty explicit make out session. You snapped your gaze back to Ray and found him smirking at you.

“What!?” you demanded.

He smiled and it made him look so young and pure, “You. You’re so shocked. It’s hilarious. This is not where you belong.”

His words, though spoken in a light tone, knocked you down a bit as you recalled the way he’d spoken to you the night before.

“Yeah,” you answered, eyes downcast. “You said that before…”

***

Ray scented the girl’s sadness and closed his eyes for a moment in frustration. He couldn’t get things right with this human for some reason. He leaned down close to her face to make sure she could hear him over the music. Human hearing (along with their other senses) was so dull. This close he could feel her scent envelope him in an intoxicating cloud.

“Georgia, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. I just meant that there are a lot of rough people here tonight and you seem so...fucking innocent.”

It took something from his pride to admit this, but he couldn’t stand her sadness. When he’d first met her he figured her for another human snob hoping to raise her own opinion of herself by slumming in an orc neighborhood. Now he knew her to be disarmingly sincere and he was starting to find her cheerfulness endearing rather than annoying. She was like this little precious flower that he couldn’t bear to watch being trampled even as he saw the shadow of a foot block out the sun above her.

His words seemed to calm her and he felt her lean into him again as she finished the last few drops of her drink. She smiled up at him, her eyes glittering, and he wondered how much of a head for alcohol she had.

***

The night went on and you were so happy. Ray didn’t hate you! You sat, perched almost in his lap with one arm looped over his shoulder. Never in a million years would you be so forward and daring but for the bravery you’d purchased with alcohol. Two drinks was enough to get you tipsy and when Andrea appeared holding tequila shots you were well and truly on your way to being drunk. But it didn’t matter because Ray liked you!

When you were drunk you found everything hilarious. You were regaling Andrea with the story of the Night of the Cookies, periodically nudging Ray to weigh in on his perspective, when the atmosphere of the club shifted suddenly. It was difficult to describe, like the weird silence before your ears popped in high elevation. There was a lull and everyone’s mood turned serious and then a man was lunging at you with a knife. It all happened so fast. He smashed into you full force, grabbing you around the waist and tossing you to the ground. He was clearly targeting Ray, but in the process he’d managed to gauge his knife into your forearm and slice through the delicate skin. You howled in pain as you fell to the floor.

Three orcs came out of nowhere and descended on the guy before he could get his knife into Ray. In no time at all the man was pinned to the floor next to you with a heavy orcish knee jammed into his upper back to keep him in place. You watched it all happen in a state of shock, clutching your bleeding arm to your chest and starting to shake. Dimly you could hear Andrea’s voice calling your name, but she sounded far away.

[ritacaroline]

In The Light        Jimmy Page Fan Fiction            Part 38

Part 38  Wednesday Afternoon

“Jill ?” Jimmy called from the other room. “Angel ? Where are you ?”

“I’m in the kitchen. ” she answered. It was Wednesday morning and Jill was pouring coffee and doing a few things in there. He walked in and put his arm around her waist and kissed her on the lips. He smoothed out her hair with both hands and said, “Is today the day your friend’s having lunch with you ?”

“Yeah,” she said. “It should be fun. I really like her company, Nell, that is. She’s also very smart and nice to be around.”

“Oh yeah, I wanted to mention, the guys are coming here tonight. We have to talk out some dates for the future for the band. Also, I had some ideas for new music, which I’ve been messing with and I need to run it by them. See if we can develop it into something, ya know. I told Robert he could bring his dog Strider and also, Bonz heard that and requested to bring the Dachshund along too. So of course I said yes. Let’s see how this goes !” he laughed. He said it mainly because neither he nor Jill had ever had dogs before. Jimmy just wanted to be accommodating toward his friends. They loved their dogs and liked bringing them around different places.

Jill had invited Nell, the next door neighbor, over for lunch today. At about noon, Nell came over on her own, leaving Benny home with the nanny. He always had fun with the nanny and was in good hands.

At Jill’s, Mrs. Kelly had set them up with a really nice lunch and tea with home baked lemon scones. They were delicious and the two really enjoyed them.

Part way through their afternoon together, Nell asked Jill, “I need to ask you a huge favor. My baby is going to be born soon and as I’ve mentioned, I don’t live near any of my family. George’s family is over an hour away. His parents will be staying with Ben while I’m in the hospital, and staying a few days more also, to help me out. The question is, when I go into labor, is there a chance you would allow Benny to stay with you for a few hours, or maybe over one night ?  Just until George’s parent’s can get here ?”

“Sure, Nell, I’d be glad to. Sounds like an interesting experience. I love kids. He seems like a sweet one.”

“Yeah, he told me he likes you, and his personality is pretty easy going, as far as difficulty goes. I think he’ll be fine for just a few hours or for an over night. I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with him. Thanks very much. Do you think Jimmy will be ok with it ?” said Nell.

“Yeah. I’m sure he’ll be fine. It’s not a big deal. I’ll tell him about it later. Don’t worry about a thing.” A few minutes later, Jimmy came up from the studio, which was on the lower level of the house.  He knew the neighbor was over for lunch with Jill.   Jim came into the kitchen and Jill said, “Oh Jimmy, this is Nell, she lives next door. A really nice person.  Nell, this is Jimmy.”

He came right over and took her hand firmly and said, “Oh, great to meet you Nell. We should have met long ago, probably.” with a sincere warm smile on his face. Nell held his hand and said, “Yes, Jim, wonderful meeting you, as well. I’m happy to get to know you both. We’ll have to have you over for a dinner once the baby is born.”

“Oh, beautiful, congratulations.  When do you expect the baby ?” he asked.

“Anytime now. We’re on the alert !” Nell said. “We have a 5 year old son, also, so I’ve been through this before. We’re all ready.”

Jimmy replied, “Well best of luck. Keep our number on hand in case you need us.”

“Will do, thank you.” Nell answered.

“Jim, want to eat lunch with us ?  Mrs. Kelly made us some sandwiches and other things here.” said Jill.

“No, honey, you two should have some privacy and I’ll eat later, but thanks. I’m not hungry just now. I’ll grab a drink, though. You have fun.” as he stroked her hair, then kissed the side of her head.

“And Nell, beautiful to meet you, I’m sure we’ll be seeing you again soon, ok ?” he said.

“Yes, we will, thanks.” said Nell. And they held each other’s hand for a brief moment.  Jimmy smoothed his hair back, away from his face, then grabbed a drink from the fridge and walked out to another part of the house.

Nell said, “He’s really sweet. And a very calm person.”

“Yes, thanks. Those things are true about him, he’s a great guy.” said Jill.

Evening came around pretty quickly and after dinner, the bell rang. Jones was there along with Bonz and Clare and the Dachshund. “Where’s Maureen tonight ?” asked Jill. John Paul answered, “Oh, she decided to stay with the kids tonight. They had homework to get to, she felt they needed her help. She’s been along to so many of these get togethers, she probably could use to miss a few.” he said. Clare and Jill hugged and kissed and were so glad to be together again. Jill hugged John Paul also, and John too. The bell rang again and Peter Grant was there along with a woman he’d been seeing a lot of lately, Alison. Next, Robert arrived with Linda and Strider, also. The house was set up for guests with lots of different types of foods all around, which Mrs. Kelly had made. Mostly hot appetizers and also several desserts. It smelled great in there.  Jimmy told Jill the guys all were headed downstairs to the studio for now. And when they were done, in a few hours probably, they’d be all up to socialize for a couple hours.  Then he pulled her to himself and gave her a few kisses and then the men all filed downstairs to the studio. Jimmy carried with him some drinks and a plate of snacks for the guys.

Jill was really glad to have some time together with the women. She loved their companionship and comedy. Felt to her, that it was an evening for her to enjoy herself with the girls. Which was great.  At first, they all congregated in the kitchen seated at the big table in there. It was warm and cozy and perfect for a good visit with them. They had music playing softly in the background, not Zeppelin, but calmer softer relaxing music.

Linda had brought with her the ingredients for Pina Coladas. So, Jill pulled out the blender and a tropical fiesta began. Linda had brought pineapple wedges and cherries to decorate the drinks. The blender started whirling and snacks were everywhere. Somehow a discussion came about regarding things they did as teenagers in the various towns in which they grew up. Linda was talking about a country fair that occurred in her town as a kid, every Autumn. She spoke about the unusual food you’d have there and beautiful animals on display there. She said, “There would be rides like carousels, and a wind up organ playing. Also, I always would make use of this attraction,..I forget what they called it…maybe one of you will know. But, it was a metal sort of piece of furniture thing that you would sit on, then you would put your feet into these metal holder type things, and….    Jill interrupted, “Gynecologist ?”

Oh my God, they all started laughing like mad. Linda shouted, “No !! not gynecologist !!!” But laughing anyway. She said, “It massages your tired feet by vibrating them and massaging them, and it costs about a quarter to use it. It’s great ! So relaxing. You need to try it at your town fairs next time.”

Alison was usually super quiet, but tonight after a couple tropical drinks, she loosened up a little and was telling jokes.  The ladies were having a blast. Time flew by.

Meanwhile downstairs, music was being worked on and being turned into masterpieces. Business was discussed, compromises and policies were formed. Dates for practices were set up and tentative plans for touring were plotted. Afterward, the guys all came marching up the stairs again. They felt great because a lot had been accomplished.  The two friends dogs had been separated, one was kept downstairs and one upstairs.  But when they were just now confronted with each other’s presence, barking and anger broke out. The bigger dog seemed about to attack the Dachshund. John picked him up, out of the way of the other dog. Jill commented, “John, you better hold on tight to your wiener !”

Everyone started cracking up, especially John (Bonz). Jimmy was standing sort of behind Jill and said to her, as a result of her wiseguy remark, “Hey ! Yes you.  Back that sass up, and over here.” She found that wording hysterical and laughed and did back up to him. He stood behind her and surrounded her with his arms. And he pushed her long hair away and kissed her neck and nibbled at her earlobe from behind her, while laughing. She was still holding the Pina Colada drink in her hand and it was delicious.  As she was squirming and laughing with Jimmy kissing her neck, she said to him, “Babe, would you like to try a taste of this drink ? It’s great.”

Jim answered, “No, but I wouldn’t mind having a taste of you.“   That remark totally caught her off guard.  She was feeling all warm and sensual against his body now, held tightly in his arms.  And the alcohol swirling about in her blood didn’t do much to cool things down, either. It was a loud crazy fun night. After the guests had all left, the two of them went up to their room and got into their bed with a fire blazing in the fireplace. She and Jimmy had a spectacular night of intense pleasure with a lot of kissing, caressing and nuzzling and words of endearment and making love to each other.    

Next Part 39 : https://ritacaroline.tumblr.com/post/179582525996/in-the-light-jimmy-page-fan

Chapter Index :

https://ritacaroline.tumblr.com/Fan%20Fiction