#and if we put the rest of that money into roads and schools and good food and clean water
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saul-goodboy · 2 months ago
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we need a wealth cap bruh how come jeff bezos’s hourly wage is more than some people’s lifetime income
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afyrian · 4 months ago
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hi!! i'm a big fan of your blog and your writing! i saw your event post recently and if it's possible could you do 🏠 and 🥐 with nishinoya? thank you and have a nice day!! :)
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world travelers  nishinoya yuu x gn!reader (fluff) m.list | wc: 640 | prompt: next door neighbors + 'just run away with you? just like that?' 
    you lay in your treehouse, tears trickling down the sides of your face. little bits of it fall into your hair and ears, your arms and legs outstretched. the wooden structure pricks at your legs, the wood not fully protected due to your father's forgetfulness. you close your eyes for a moment, hoping that when you open them, everything will have gone away.
  however, when you open your eyes only moments later, everything's the same. the same crack in the roof of the treehouse. the same moss that is making its way through the cut out window to your right. even the same battery powered lights that you bought from a dollar store, using what money you had left. 
  you feel your bottom lip tremble, even more tears following. it's all too much, your father, homework, every test you've had to take in the past three day period. it carries with you like a disease, looming over you until you find yourself in the treehouse, sobbing.
  "...y/n? you up there?"
  nishinoya’s voice echoes up the treehouse's ladder, making its way into the room. you want to shoo him away, letting your cries quiet down so that he'll just leave, "i know you're up there. i saw you climb up there.. was just giving you a chance to invite me up.."
  you bite your lip, bringing one of your hands up to wipe your tears, knowing that your eyes are already likely puffy. “yeah, yuu, there’s enough room for the two of us,” your voice sounds shaky, you can tell it sounds different from normal. 
  sitting up, your wrap your arms around your legs, chin resting on your knees. nishinoya makes his way up, a paper hat clinging to his hair, his typical smile missing. he’s always been able to tell when you’re upset. from disappearing into your treehouse, the strange tone in your voice, you calling him ‘yuu’ instead of ‘noya’. 
  “hey.. y/n,” his eyes traveling from your face to the floor, unsure what to say in his little ten year old mind, “i’m sorry, for whatever’s making you sad.”
  you look over at him, biting your lip, “thanks, my dad’s just acting like he always is. my mom is out of the house and it’s just a lot right now, this is the only place he won’t follow me to.”
  “you know, not all adults are like your dad. my mom’s pretty good,” nishinoya scoots closer to you, unsure where to put his hands or how to console you in such a way that makes you happy again.
  he means well, you always know that he means well. every word he says is spoken in such a way that feels comforting. however, when you hear the words ‘my mom’s pretty good’, you can’t help but hold a grudge, feel jealous. nishinoya has it all, leaving you with nothing. 
  giving him a shrug, you nod, “yeah i know, i just wish he would stop, that my mom would care-”
  “so let’s run away together, go out on the open road,” nishinoya grabs the paper hat from his head, setting it on yours, hoping it’ll brighten your mood some, “we can travel together, see all the places we’ve always wanted to see.”
  “just run away with you? just like that? what about finishing high school?”
  he shrugs as well, pursing his lips. he’s talked your ears off about skipping school and visiting the world. italy, australia, brazil, and just about every place he could name on the world map. “well then we’ll go after high school, i’ll wait for you.”
  “you’d wait for me?” you can feel tears prickling at the corners of your eyes, realizing that for once, someone is choosing you first. someone is loving you first. 
  “yeah of course, i couldn’t go without you y/n..”
a/n: thank you so much <33 i’m so happy you like my writing and i hope you like this fic as well!! i hope you have a nice day as well :D
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ellebakers · 2 years ago
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☆ Monster (Terrifier crossover)
Ethan landry x reader (terrifier)
it’s a request from @scream-girl-imagines i hope you like it <3
Summary : When ethan and his family set out their plan to avenge richie, they didn't expect y/n to be the daughter of a psychopath.
Warnings : Mention of death + blood + art the clown + language (+18) + SCREAM VI SPOILERS !
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Your life has not been easy, indeed three years ago you discovered that your father is a psychopath named art, more precisely art the clown if we stick to what the press said. And yes your father is famous but not for the right reasons, he killed a dozen people just for fun by dressing up as a clown. But you are not like him, you think you never even knew him so there is no chance that one day you will be like him.
But in your misfortune you found a little happiness, your best friend Anika was present when your mother told you the news. You graduated from high school, you joined the university of new york, very far from your mother. you have made new friends who have had their share of misfortune too and you even have a boyfriend, Ethan.
Of course, no one except Anika knows your father's identity.
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"Ethan stop. " you laughed as he tickled you.
He was on top of you, in his halloween costume which was kinda weird, but it made him even cuter.
"Come with us." he begged you.
You ran a hand through his hair as he rested his head on your chest.
"I have to go to bed early for tomorrow."
He growls at you "Don't leave me alone with chad."
You laughed softly, took his face in your hands and gently lifted it. ""One, you won't be alone with chad. Two, you need to get out and chill baby, that will do you good."
"But I'd rather chill with you."
You kissed him "We can do that tomorrow when I get home."
"Remind me why you have to leave." he asked you while staring at your lips.
You rolled your eyes, groaning. "My mom wants me to go see her, she told me it's super important."
"She knows texting exists right ?"
You passed a hand on your face while laughing slightly
"Yes, since she sent me one to tell me, and I quote."
You raised both hands to mimic quotation marks
"You have to come, it's urgent."
He laughed and was about to answer when Anika's voice was heard behind the door. "I don't hear any moans so I'm going to come in, watch out."
You clapped your hand to your forehead, laughing. Your best friend then entered.
"Ethan, we're going to be late if we don't leave now. the others are waiting for us."
He rolled his eyes then kissed you several times before heading for the exit. "Hum. Go ahead, I have to talk to y/n." Anika said.
He looked from the brunette to you then the opposite with a questioning look but he didn't argue and left.
She turned to you biting her lip
"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you tomorrow ?"
Tou smiled at her, her attention warmed your heart.
"It's really adorable but it'll be okay."
She walked towards you and sat cross-legged on your bed.
"It's about your father isn't it?"
You looked down at your hands. "I guess, she only calls me about two things, asking me for money and about my dad."
She put her hand on yours. "Hey it'll be fine, okay, whatever it is I know you're strong and you'll get through it."
You smiled at your best friend and got up to kiss her on the forehead. "Come on, now go have some fun and watch my boyfriend please."
She stood up and gave you a wink. "He's in good hands. As for you, I know you'll probably be on your way to your mom's when I get back so please watch out on the road."
"All right." she kissed the top of your head and left. as far as you are concerned, you double-locked the doors then fell asleep for a few hours before hitting the road.
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The days that followed were hell for you, when you had just arrived at your mother's, she told you that your father was looking for you, but that was not the worst, Anika sent you a text to tell you that ghostface was back, so you decided to go home to support your friends, but when you got there, you discovered anika's dead body in the driveway of Sam and Tara's apartment. your best friend, the only person who ever supported you, was just killed by that masked asshole.
It all got worse when you came face to face with not one, but three ghostfaces, in an old theater. one of them was detective bailey, the second was quinn, that you thought was dead, and when the third took off his mask, you clung to sam's arm so you wouldn't fall while ethan, your boyfriend, the person for whom uou would have given your life, appeared, a knife dripping with chad's blood, the mask of ghostface in one hand and an evil smile on his face.
"Surprise, baby."
You couldn't move, fear and shock had invaded your body.
It was unreal, mr bailey then explained why they had done that, it was a long story but basically, ethan and quinn were brother and sister, they had an older brother, richie, the famous richie who was one of ghostface from woodsboro last year. they held sam responsible for richie's death so they set up a plan to make her pay.
You weren't really listening, you were too busy watching your boyfriend, the boy you thought was so innocent, killed people. he had killed chad, you had seen him do it. you kept thinking about ghostface's victims trying to imagine him killing them, and then one particular person came to mind.
"Anika." you asked loudly, cutting off mr bailey. "Did you kill her ?" you looked Ethan straight in the eye asking him that question.
No emotions crossed his gaze. he closed his eyes and exhaled loudly. "It's your fault. You had to die for her. She was only supposed to die in the last act."
Hearing that, something inside you began to change. It's as if someone else was controlling you, you looked up at the seats above the room and that's when you saw him, sitting in one of the seats, a delighted expression on his face like he knew what was going to happen next.
Your father, Art, was there. He met your gaze and waved his hand as if to say "So, what are you waiting for ?"
You started to laugh, a hysterical laugh that you didn't know yourself. All eyes were on you.
"Why are you laughing bitch ?" Quinn yelled.
You continued to laugh harder and harder, which annoyed the redhead, she approached you pointing her knife at you "What the fuck is your problem ?"
"You seriously thought you'd get away with it."
"And why not ?"
"Because I'm going to kill you, first you and then your asshole brother."
This time, it was the killers who started laughing.
"What do you want to do ? Kill us. You little prude. you can't."
Quinn didn't realize it, but you approached Sam and reached behind her back to retrieve the knife of Billy Loomis.
Ethan stopped laughing and continued in place of his sister
"Baby, I know what you are capable of. You couldn't even hold a knife without killing you. I mean, Sam yeah she could, after all, she's the daughter of a serial killer."
"Me too."
He smiled slightly, not sure if he should believe you or not. "What are you talking about ?"
"I'm also the daughter of a serial killer."
Bailey snorted, "Let me guess. Roman Bridger."
You shook your head smiling maniacally "No, mine's not a ghostface. Mine's called Art."
"The clown." Quinn asked frowning.
You nodded, slowly approaching her. "And I'll tell you a little secret. I'm sick of playing the victim. I'd rather be the killer, bitch."
She gasped as you plunged Billy's knife into her stomach.
Your father got up from his seat clapping and laughing loudly.
Ethan and Bailey looked up at Art. "What the fuck is this."
Sam took the opportunity to retrieve Quinn's knife and attacked Richie's father. You turned to Tara. "Get out."
You dragged the knife to Quinn's throat, she spat blood in your face, but you didn't care, you liked the power you had over her.
Her lifeless body fell to the ground, and you turned to Ethan who was running after Tara.
He had her cornered in the corner of the room and was about to stab her when you grabbed him by the hair.
Tara seizes the opportunity to run away. Your boyfriend was writhing around trying to escape. He stuck his knife in your thigh, which made you let him go.
"I'm going to kill you Y/n. I'm going to kill you like I killed Anika."
Your breathing was getting faster and faster, not from pain but more from adrenaline.
"We'll see who hurts the other the most."
He advanced towards you raising his knife, but you were faster and planted yours right in his shoulder, he growled while standing where you had stabbed him.
"Slut." He yelled at you.
"I know you are but what am I."
"I'll fucking kill you."
you rolled your eyes "It's always the same with you, you talk but don't act much. Like when you fucked me."
He screamed and rushed at you. You stuck your knife in his throat, which made him stop. You pushed the knife deeper and deeper so that the tip of the blade stuck out the other end of his throat.
You approached his ear "This is for Anika, motherfucker."
Then suddenly you pulled on the handle of the knife to completely open his throat, the violence of your gesture made his eyes widen and he emptied his blood on you before dying.
After pushing his body to the ground, you got up and looked around the room. You watched Sam put an end to Detective Bailey's life with a sadistic smile, then you looked up at your father. He was smiling at you, so you leaned over to greet her like comedians do after a play. He got up and sent you a kiss with his hand before leaving.
After killing the last member of the Kirsch family, Samantha approached you and sat on the dais, you did the same before asking her "How do you feel ?"
"Better, now that I know I'm not the only one with a rather special father."
You exchanged a laugh with her then she took your hand. "And you ?"
You took a deep breath "It's strange but, I feel more alive than ever."
"I know that feeling. Sometimes it feels good to be the bad guy."
"You mean, monster."
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seat-safety-switch · 1 year ago
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When you know more about a thing, you’ll take more risks. Once you’ve owned enough unreliable cars, you can better sense when something is going to leave you on the side of the road. Maybe you let things slip a little bit, because you’ve gotten lucky so far. This explains why my doctor eats nothing but ground-up pork rinds and four bottles of Olde English 800 for lunch.
Those of you who are particularly attuned to reading the DSM-V for fun will notice this as a gambling impulse. Me, I only like to read DSM factory service manuals, which is also a good way to diagnose mental illness. Us humans want to play it risky, we want to pit our wits against the angry whims of nature. It makes the triumph so much sweeter, even if we had to go through hell to get there.
Let me give you a more concrete example: most cars need oil to run. However, oil is expensive, so having a car that burns it means that you are both spending a lot of money on oil, and also maybe a lot more on a new engine when life gets busy and you forget. Only a weirdo would go across country, constantly topping up their oil at every rest stop. Only an idiot would offset this by spooning leftover liquid oil out of the exhaust pipe and muffler, and feeding it back into the engine.
I wanted to see if I could do it, is my defence, and it turns out that I could. When I arrived on the other coast without having destroyed my (admittedly near-death) Soviet tractor small-block, I was overjoyed. The next morning, that engine was seized up and wouldn’t turn over. While I was sleeping in the back seat, the engine had cooled down overnight and reduced itself to a large chunk of useless iron in the vague shape of an engine. Did I lose? Not at all. I bought another ticket, and by which I mean I made sure to sleep outside the local U-Pick-It junkyard. Within an hour, I was already walking out the front door with some other atrocious piece of engineering that kinda sorta looked like it might fit into the engine bay. And now I’m back here, telling you my story.
The important thing is not to be afraid of taking dumb risks. Sure, there’s dumb dumb risks, but those are often done by people who don’t know what they are doing. In order to take smart dumb risks, you should spend your entire life accumulating knowledge of a niche field, so that you know what you can safely ignore, and what you can put off for another couple thousand miles to save thirty bucks, tops. And with that, I would like to congratulate this group of elementary school children for having graduated from grade six of Miss Maple’s class.
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chicaotaku-fanfics · 4 months ago
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There’s Three of You?!
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What if the Halstead Brothers had a baby sister?
No, no one asked me to write this. Yes, I thought about all this. Yes, I’m doing listening excersizes (just like in junior high aaaaaaalllllll over again) for the dialogues.
Warnings: foul language, might be some medical inconsistencies.
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CHAPTER 1
It had been a long day at the hospital. Lakeshore having no mercy on my ass with all the cases, consults, pop quizzes from the doctors, etc. Add to that the stress from the kind of asshole I had for an attending, Dr. Hobber… and it just becomes even crazzier. Anna Gorgon, a friend of mine from the hospital, recommended me to go and try Molly’s -a first responder’s bar owned by three firefighters from Firehouse 51: Hermann, Dawson and Otis-.
I agreed and she gave me an address, so I went back home, hopped in the shower, changed into some dark denim skinny jeans, a dark gray long-sleeved shirt, black leather jacket and black heeled boots. I got some light makeup, my earrings and matching heart necklace that Jay got me for my med school graduation, grabbed my purse with my keys, car keys, wallet, phone and headphones and left the apartment after locking the door on the way out.
I texted Jay to let him know I was on my way and see if we could catch up, but it went with no answer. Weird? No, that man was so dedicated to his job that I’d be surprised if he ever looked at his phone during office hours or while working on paperwork.
I drove to the bar, listening to my guilty pleasure when it comes to music: Reggeton, and parked a bit down the road, I quickly walked into the place to escape the night’s cold weather.
Upon entering, my eyes zeroed in on my older brother, but what I saw made me mad -the three owners were giving money to a big-sized man, who they had called Arthur-, but the worst part was hearing what that man said next.
“See uh… my man Jay here. He’s been assessing your business. We’ll talk numbers soon.” Son of a… he’s doing undercover jobs again! So that’s why our calls are practically seconds long and we have to text as business people. I thought as I heard the man speak and saw the owners faces darken, I knew I had to do something to save Jay. I sent a silent prayer to God and my mom to protect me, took a deep breath, walked up to him and started with my act.
“Hey Jay! What you doing here?” I asked him as I hug his shoulders from behind, Jay turned to look at me, first with surprise, and then with a «I’m-gonna-kill-you» face, I just continued with the act.
“Don’t look at me like that, I heard about this place from a friend at the hospital today and decided to come check it out.” I then turn to look at the bigger man. “Hi, I’m Marianne, Jay’s sister.” I extended my hand for him to shake, he did. “I understand that there’s an ongoing tension here…”, I then turned to look at the three people behind the bar. “You three own the place, don’t you?” The three of them nod, and I nod back to them.
Arthur seems confused, he looks between them and me. “Look, Arthur right?” He nods. “We don’t want any trouble, just like I’d like to think you don’t want any trouble… so, how about this? I put in the rest of the money for them tonight and you go on your merry way out of here? Sounds good?”
He seems to think about it and then smirks at me, from the corner of my eye I could see Jay mentally cursing me to hell and back. “Sounds good to me kiddo.” Said Arthur, so I smirked too. I let go of Jay’s shoulders for a minute, took out my wallet and gave him 500 dollars. Jay, and the firefighters looked surprised. “Hope this covers it.” I said, he took the money and smirked again towards me.
“It does… for now.” He said.
“Great! Have a good night.” I said with a sickly sweet tone of voice and a fake smile on my face.
As soon as the man is out of the bar, I turn to Jay, my expression is now serious, the three owners of the bar seem to have a mental whiplash, their expressions showing confusion and -in the case of the woman, Gaby if I’m not mistaken- betrayal, but in this precise moment I don’t care.
“Ok, he’s gone. I gotta talk to you mister. Right now.”
“The baby of the house and she thinks she can boss me around.” He said to the three firefighters.
“Now Jay.” I said, grabbing him from the neck of his shirt and pulling him towards the back corner of the bar which was empty, I could feel the eyes of the three members of Firehouse 51 on us, trying to eavesdrop into our conversation.
As soon as we make it to the corner, my Irish temper makes its appearance.
“You doing undercover gigs again? Are you shitting me Jay?” I whisper-yell to him.
“Why the hell’d you do that for? You do understand that man’s dangerous right?” his own temper making an apparition too.
“So what?” I give him an attitude.
“So you just introduced yourself to him as MY SISTER you dumbass? What were you thinking?!” he whisper-yells.
“I was thinking about saving your ungrateful ass from a hell of an uncomfortable situation.” I said, annoyed.
“That’s not the point Lilly! You just put yourself in unnecessary danger.” he said with his overprotective-big-brother voice.
“Please. Unnecessary danger? With you in charge? That’s like walking into the wolf’s den, with you being the Alpha of the pack.” I sassed him.
“I’m not in charge, Organized Crime is. And it is an unnecessary danger.” he said.
I start getting even more angry.
“Then why do you do it, huh? That’s, from what you’ve told me, Antonio’s sister. HE should be the one doing this gig, not you.” I said, my anger still showing.
“It’s not that simple. He’s in Intelligence, it’s not his case.” he explained.
“Yes it is!” I exclaimed, ignoring his second sentence.
“Look, I had to-” he started, I cut him off.
“You had to what Jay? Do it? No you didn’t and we both know it. You volunteered for this you… you self-sacrificing idiot.” I said to him.
Jay’s about to refute my statement, but I hug him, effectively shutting him up.
“Listen to me you knucklehead. You may be an Army vet, and a police detective… but first and foremost, you’re my brother Jay. That means that I’ll always worry about you, ok? I need you to understand that I can’t just be fine with you always putting yourself in these kind of situations.” I said, mad, but showing that I’m really worried.
I feel as all the fight leaves Jay’s body and he hugs me back.
“I’m sorry LilyBloom. I don’t want to worry you.” I sighed, and tightened my hold on him, he did the same.
“Want it or not, I’ll always worry about you Jay, you’re my big bro… it’s in the job description.” I said, with a soft and warm tone in my voice, my anger finally subsided.
“Just like it’s my job to worry about you baby sis.” he said with the same tone.
“Love you Jaybird.”
“Love you too LilyBloom.”
We separate and smile at each other, we feel the firefighters’ eyes on us, still trying to eavesdrop our conversation. With our smiles still in place, Jay wraps his arm around my shoulders, and I grab that hand with my own. We walk back to the bar and Jay gets some bills from his wallet and leaves them at the table, hugging me again as soon as he’s done.
“Sorry for whatever inconvenience that man has caused you… we promise to fix it. Right now we’ll get out of your hair.” I say, we both start making our way towards the door, but Dawson stops us.
“Wait! We cannot thank you enough for doing what you did for us just now.” she says to me.
I give them a small genuine smile, the kind that my brothers say makes me look cute.
“You can repay me by doing your very best everyday at 51.” I wink at them “Again. We’re sorry, we’ll be on our way.” I apologize again, Jay chuckles -he says I over apologize sometimes- and we leave.
“Wanna grab a drink at my place and stay the night? I kinda need my big bro with me tonight.” I say to him, he smiles and kisses my temple.
“Of course Lilypad, I’ll be delighted to have a sleepover with my baby sis at her apartment.” He says with a teasing smirk on his face and happiness in his voice, I lightly punch his side, he chuckles again. “I’ll escort you” He said, I nodded and we separated from our hug. We each got into our cars and Jay followed me all the way home.
Once there, we both changed into our pajamas, Jay started leaving some clothes in my apartment, and I started doing the same in his… mutual agreement between us, and sat down on the couch with our beers in hand. We ended up watching a movie and falling asleep cuddled on my livingroom’s couch.
Two months after the bar incident I received a call from Jay, asking me if I could help him out with something, I agreed… what I didn’t expect, was that I was gonna end up dressed in civilian clothes, with my brother’s bulletproof vest, my own gun -Jay had convinced me to buy and register to own one, as a way to «know-you’ll-be-able-to-protect-yourself-if-I’m-not-there» kinda deal for his peace of mind-, and my hospital bag (full of medical supplies, of course), hidden in the back room of Molly’s.
“If this doesn’t work, I’m gonna kill him.” I murmured to myself.
Just then, I heard the door to Molly’s open, I leaned into the window to take a peak, there stood Arthur, my brother and another lowlife thug. Arthur started talking to Gaby -yeah, we’re on a first name basis now-, taking a bottle of liquor and pouring it on the bar table, all while threatening her. Arthur then took out a lighter and threw it on the area where he had poured the alcohol, and it instantly caught fire, Gaby seemed scared, and then, Jay decided to play hero, hitting the man beside him, but not covering his six.
A shot was heard, I dropped my medical bag and opened the door, I knew I could get in trouble for I was about to say, but right now, Jay needed me.
“CPD drop your weapon!” I exclaimed, pointing my gun at Arthur, he turned to look at me with a shocked expression adorning his face.
“You said you were a doctor!” He said, confused. I smirk at him, allowing some arrogance to color my voice.
“And as you can very well guess… I lied.” I say, looking smug. Jay used my distraction to sneak up to Arthur and place the barrel of his gun on his temple.
“You’re under arrest.” Jay said calmly.
“Son of a bitch.” Arthur said, annoyed and angry at my brother.
“Drop the gun Arthur. Drop it or I swear I’m gonna make you eat it.” Jay said to Arthur, but the idiot refused to listen. Jay hits Arthur’s temple with the handle of his gun and the big man fell to the ground, stunned.
“You got my cuffs. Cuff him.” My brother orders, I nod and do as I was told. I ran back to the back room, grabbed my bag, and then to Jay, at the same time, I took out my phone and called 911.
“This is first year intern Dr. Lillian Halstead, I’m at Molly’s Bar. Shots fired at the police. My brother, Detective Jay Halstead, badge number 51163, is at the scene, he was shot on the shoulder, I’m starting first aid treatment. The suspects are down. I need two patrol cars for the arrest and an ambulance. Please, and hurry.”
I sat Jay down and carefully helped him remove his jacket and shirt, I started to treat his wound, Gaby came to us while I was checking for the bullet’s exit wound.
“You’re one lucky man Halstead. It’s a clean through and through. I’ll clean and patch it up, but you’ll need stitches, which I can’t do here, and a quick visit to the hospital.” Jay groaned at the mention of the hospital, I just rolled my eyes, taking out some gauze, disinfectant, and a patch. “Yeah, I know it’s not your favorite place, but it's for my peace of mind. Please.”
The police and ambulance arrived, Antonio leading the arrest, taking Arthur and the other man into custody, the other paramedics -I think the man’s name was Cesar, I’m not entirely sure- checked on Gaby and Jay once we were all outside. Antonio came to check what happened, and saw me wearing Jay’s vest. He kept his eyes on me for a minute, I immediately took it off. Just then, the man joined me in front of my brother.
“Since you completed the mission, you get to choose your next assignment.” Antonio said to my brother.
“Intelligence. I want Intelligence.” I shook my head, but just resigned to my fate of having my brother wanting to join not only the most elite unit in the police department, but also the one with the most dangerous missions.
“I’ll see what I can do.” Antonio said, before he left, I turned to him.
“Please do. He’ll make me go gray before my time otherwise.” I said, half joking, half being serious.
“Sure Lilly.” Dawson said to me with a small smile, ruffling my hair before he left.
Hermann, Mouch, Otis and Mills arrive just in time to see the police cars leave the premises.
“What happened here?” asked Hermann, we all turn to look at him.
“I saved your bar” Gaby said.
“She sure did.” Jay added, grabbed his jacket and got off the gurney, I grabbed his vest, my bag and just smiled at the firefighters. Now came the hard part of my job: convincing Jay to get his ass off to Lakeshore.
“C’mon Jay. Get in the ambo.” I said, he turned to look at me with a confused expression on his face.
“What? Why?” He asked, and I wanted to slap him upside the head right then and there.
“Oh, just because I want you to. You got shot, you idiot, why else?” I asked, the first part dripping with sarcasm.
“I’m fine Lilly.” he tried to argue with me. I’ll kill you Jay, don’t try me I thought.
I could see, out of the corner of my eye, Mouch, Hermann, Mills, Otis, and Gabby turn to us.
“Like Hell you are, I heard you grunt when you took that bullet. Get in the ambo.” I ordered again.
“I can drive.” Is this idiot for real?! I thought while giving my brother a death-stare.
“Jay. Get. In. The. Ambulance.” I said, emphasizing every word as a command.
“I’m fine!” He exclaimed, my Irish temper came to life once again.
“Jason Joel Halstead I swear to God! Get in the ambulance, we’re going to Lakeshore to get that shoulder checked.” I ordered him again, Jay, honest to God, smirked at me.
“You really think that just because you’re using my full name it’ll have an effect on me, Lillian Marianne Haltead?” He challenged. The fuck you think you are? I’ll kill you Halstead.
“For the love of God Jay. Just get in the ambo. Stop being stubborn.” I said, frustrated and two seconds away from smacking the back of his head. Hard.
The paramedics, firefighters and even Antonio -the last one trying to do it discreetly, but failing tremendously- are all watching the entire exchange between us. As we argue, I can tell Jay is just holding back his laughter at this point, since getting a rise out of me -his baby sister- seems to be his favorite hobby.
Meanwhile, Heaven knows I’m trying my best not to strangle him where he stands.
“Are you even listening to me Jay? This is serious! I know you don’t like hospitals, but we need to get that checked.” I told him. He shook his head and gave me a small smile.
“Yes. Yes. Ok, let’s go.” He said. I had opened my mouth to argue again but close it with an audible click. I place the palm of my hand on his forehead, then on mine to compare our body temperatures.
“Are you sick? Or maybe the bullet did hit somewhere major?” I asked him, concerned and confused.
“No I’m not sick. Why?” He asked, a smirk on his face.
“You never listen to me.” I state matter-of-factly.
“Of course I do.” He says matter-of-factly, I snort, he gives me a confused look.
“I’ve known you since the day I was born Jay. No you don’t.” I say, grabbing my bag and his vest again, and making our way to the ambo, the snickers and giggles of everyone present watching our argument in the background.
They can laugh all they want, I’m still gonna worry about him.
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be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie · 2 years ago
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Things My Dad Says That Modern AU No War Jake Sully Would Also Say:
Jake Sully is canonically a skxawng. But he’s also a little bit smooth with it, and I think he’d do it a little bit on purpose to make Neytiri and also the kids laugh.
-Neytiri and Tuk (also Spider) are the ones who will always laugh at his insane jokes. Neytiri especially. Like she always laughs. They’ve been married for like twenty years now and she’s still laughing like what he said was a surprise. Kiri and Lo’ak are NOT LAUGHING it’s NOT FUNNY shut the fuck up, Dad, oh my god. 
-Jake when Neytiri comes home from work: Neytiri, come here, let’s kiss in front of the kids and make them uncomfortable. 
-Every time they stop to get gas on a road trip and they go into the rest stop to pee while Neytiri fills the car, Jake says “Guys, don’t worry, this definitely won’t be the time she decides she can do better and just gets in the car and finally leaves us here.”
-Jake, every time Neytiri is sick: Make sure you pick the right last words for your mother in case she doesn’t wake up.
Lo’ak, always refuses to laugh at Jake’s shit: Oh really, what are your last words?
Jake, in the middle of making Neytiri tea for her sore throat: Goodbye, asshole.
Neytiri: *laughing so hard it turns into coughs*
-Every time Jake buys groceries like the good retired-veteran-stay-at-home-husband he is, he sends Neytiri a picture of the flowers and says he didn’t buy them because he knows she’d rather spend the money on the kids, and it’s their shared money anyway. He’s joking and it’s supposed to make her laugh, but she knows he’s also serious. They have five kids including latchkey child Spider, and do have to pay attention to every penny. On her birthday and on Valentine’s Day, he actually buys the flowers and presents them to her and says he scrounged the money up from behind Lo’ak’s bed. (Lo’ak: HEY!) It makes her laugh every time. It’s their cute little thing, it means he’s thinking of her every time he goes to the store even if he doesn’t spend the money every time. (Lo’ak: those are my flowers then.)
-Jake, pointing at the screen every time they watch any movie: That’s actually how me and your mother met. 
It was most egregious when they were watching Titanic. 
Lo’ak, confrontational: Oh really? You’re dead dad? And mom is like 90 years old?
Jake: Oh my god, Lo’ak, you never comment on a woman's age.
Neytiri: *hysterical laughter from the kitchen*
-Sometimes Lo’ak will forget something he needs for school and sprint back into the house to go back for it, and every time Jake and Neytiri are sitting at the kitchen table finishing their breakfast watching him and Jake goes “How can we miss you if you just won’t leave?” Neteyam copies Jake a lot and he says that shit all the time when Lo’ak, Kiri, or Spider forget something, they hate it (secretly love it).
-Kiri, complaining about what a kid did at school: -and then she told the teacher I didn’t do any of the work. Isn’t that crazy?
Jake, nodding sagely: Mhm. Do you want me to go fight her?
Neytiri: *surprised laughter*
Kiri, trying not to laugh: *deep sigh* You can’t fight a teenage girl, Dad.
Jake, pretend hurt: You think I can’t beat a teenage girl?
-Neytiri works at the hospital with Ronal. Ronal is a doctor and Neytiri is a nurse. Jake likes to put on episodes of Grey’s Anatomy and then tell Neytiri they could’ve used a better nurse during almost every scene. 
-When the Sully’s and Tonowari’s family have their first big family dinner after Lo’ak and Tsireya start dating, Jake comes down the stairs in his underwear and his stained marines t-shirt and says “I’M READY TO GO!’ and Tuk and Neytiri die laughing while Lo’ak has an aneurysm. 
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ladyharlequinreaper1992 · 27 days ago
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Preview for Chapter 1 of 'Robbers and Roses'
Ok, since you guys have asked....here's the preview, I'm gonna warn you guys, it might look like crap...
'Ray POV:
A few days earlier….. I groaned, waking up to find I’m in the hospital, with monitors on me, first it was Marcus, then Bosco and finally Enson, I told Nick I wasn’t going to cuff up, go to jail, he shot me maybe 5 or 6 times before I collapsed on the ground, supposedly dead. My supposedly last thoughts were that I’d be reunited with my brothers for life, my GOD, was I wrong, why was I denied the opportunity to reunite with my fallen brothers? I needed to find out if at least Malia got her share of the money to take care of herself and Maloa. “Good, you’re awake…” I heard the doctor, a relative of Marcus’, say before coming in. “How long have I been out?” I asked before coughing hard from thirst, holy shit, my mouth was parched! “You’ve been out almost a month, Mr. Merrimen.” He explained, putting down a glass of water for me to drink. “You were brought here, barely dead, but we were able to get you back with some swift treatment, surgery and a lot of blood bags, you then were in a coma for a long while, but you were monitored closely.” He continued as I groaned, drinking my cup of water rolling my eyes before I looked to see if anything was lost or amputated, but to my relief, there wasn’t any damage, aside from bandages on my torso. I noticed him closing the door and shutting the blinds, as if wary of people watching us. “How are Enson’s girls doing? Did they get the money?” I asked, wondering if they were at least taken care of. “That’s…..that’s the problem, I’m afraid, no one got the money, in fact, all the police had found were bags of shredded money.” He solemnly informed me, warily looking at the heart monitor. “….What?!” I asked, shocked by what he told me. “You’re fucking kidding me, right?” I asked in an almost desperate tone, hoping that he was kidding, but when I noticed he was serious, it took everything I had to hold back my anger.'
'
Tessa POV:
Present day…
I eventually finished my food before throwing my stuff away in the trash and deciding to get some pastries from their bakery counter before I’d leave the store and hopefully head back home to rest and eventually sleep. I grabbed my stuff up and headed to the bakery counter to place my order for cookies to go, waiting in a line full of people as it was pretty much dinner hour, when people were either getting home from work or didn’t feel like cooking anything at their house. I walked up to the counter and ordered some sugar and chocolate chip cookies to-go before paying with my card, wondering where I’d be able to get at least a part-time job, if not full time, to keep me financially afloat. “Wonder if there’s a bookstore I’d be able to get a job in…” I mused to myself before I get the cookies and receipt and head along my way to the car to go back to the apartment. I got inside, put my things on the passenger seat and put my phone on the phone holder before turning the car on, looking to see who’s coming before driving off towards home, putting on some Within Temptation to go with the mood while being careful about the traffic. “I really hope I don’t end up bumping into some really cloggy traffic…” I fretted for a bit while driving along the road to my new home. I occasionally looked in my mirror to make sure nobody was following me so closely while listening to ‘Final Destination’ by Within Temptation, I had discovered them and Nightwish while I was in high school and still love both bands to this day! I stopped at a stoplight and looked at the numerous sights of what Los Angeles had to offer as a whole, wondering how my life was going to turn out for me as a new California resident, a number of things would have to be worked out, sure, but hopefully it wouldn’t be too tedious to do. “I wonder if I ought to go to a park or something over the weekend to get a better feel of the city.” I mused to myself, wondering what to do over the weekend as I knew I needed to get a California driver’s license and the like before I forgot about it completely.
@believeinthefireflies95
@keritaro
so, was this good or does it need some more WORK done???
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creepycrawliesanonymous · 2 years ago
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The call couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time.
You had just sat down for an episode of Community. Not even 3 minutes in, hand resting on top of an almost full bowl of potato chips, your phone lit up.
Lemon: pick us up
Lemon: now
Lemon: please
Lemon: <3 or whatever the fuck
If the other cars on the road could see smoke coming out of your ears, they wisely didn’t say anything. You pulled over in front of what was probably the grossest (yet cheapest) dive bar in all of London, which had recently gotten a new makeover to the tune of a smashed window and several broken seats both inside and outside the bar. And most notably, the two headaches that you call your roommates.
Lemon stuck his elbow into Tangerine’s ribs at the sight of your beat up Toyota Camry. With a certain amount of wincing from Tangerine, and sheepish-yet-still-angry glances from Lemon, they started to walk over to you. This was not the first time this had happened. The bar owner (a pre-calc classmate of yours from school that was held back a couple times, but that barely matters here) had stopped calling the police, knowing that the pair would be back the next day to put things in order for him. They may be heathens but they didn’t completely disregard the service industry.
Lemon opened the back door of your car and loaded up his companion into the seats, swiping away the various candy wrappers and assorted animal figurines you had floating around back there. Tangerine let out a low grumble, bringing a hand up to gingerly massage at his rib cage.
“Fucker threw me through a window.”
“I can fucking see that.”
Lemon climbed into the seat next to you, and you swiftly, while also obeying traffic laws, pulled away from the wreckage and started home.
“Honestly don’t know what he was thinking. He was being a prick the whole night. Would’ve thrown him out the window myself, to be honest.” Lemon was desperately trying to get into your good graces, but you kept your eyes focused squarely on the road in front of you.
“I can’t believe you two,” you huffed out. “Honestly, what the fuck.” You snuck a glance at Tangerine out of the rear view mirror, who was looking notably morose, yet still clearly a bit fired up from the whole ordeal. “Are you okay? You fucking idiot, don’t even think about lying to me.”
“Ribs.”
“I’ll look at them when we get home.”
Lemon moved to change the music playing, but you slapped his hand away.
“George Harrison stays on.”
He quieted down after that, seemingly content to listen to you quietly seethe. The track switched to “Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.” while Tangerine poked at his abdomen and quietly groaned. You knew in your heart of hearts that you were unequipped to properly treat whatever he had gone and done to himself. Tomorrow you would call your friend in med school to walk you through the motions, but tonight it was bandages and pain killers for him. Maybe an ice pack or two.
“I’ll get him inside,” Lemon nudged your forearm before leaving from beside you, hoisting his brother out of the car amidst various British-sounding curses (let’s be clear, from both of them, how typical). Giving them a moment, or more accurately giving yourself a moment, you leaned your forehead against the steering wheel and took some measured breaths. You knew once you properly cooled off, you’d be left with a rather embarrassing nervous vulnerability. Not to say you’d never gotten emotional in front of them, they saw you when you were a scraggly awkward teen and by some miracle that didn’t put them off, but now that you were all older you couldn’t help but become hyper aware of the growing differences between you and the two of them. You were wary with how you were finding scarier weapons in Tangerine’s room, or how Lemon started talking about gory ways to make extra money. You weren’t going to stop them, but goddamn it you were allowed to worry.
A rapping at your window knocked you out of you spiraling. “You comin’ out?”
“Yeah, yeah.” You scrubbed at your cheeks and stepped out of the car. “He still cogent?”
Lemon huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, for now.” He paused, before pulling you into a hug. “Listen. I know shit’s difficult right now, and we’re both fucking idiots. We don’t like making you worry.”
You tucked your face into his shoulder, letting yourself be held for at least this small moment.
“I just need you two to be okay.”
You leaned back, swiping at any stray moisture that may or may not have collected under your eyes. He swung his arm around your shoulders, rubbing his knuckles into the top of your head, just like when you were 10. For now, that would be enough.
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saywhatjessie · 1 year ago
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Biscuits with the Bisexuals (plus Trent)
Day five of the Advent calendar! Using this list. Day 5: Holiday Baking. Fandom: Ted Lasso - Pairing: TedTrent & RoyJamie .7k[Ao3]
“It’s real nice for you to let us use your kitchen, Roy.”
Jamie heard Roy grunt as he led their guests into the kitchen. Ted Lasso’s smiling face appeared through the entryway, his wide American eyes staring unashamedly around Roy’s house. Trent Crimm followed with only fractionally less obvious curiosity.
“He’s letting you use his kitchen, darling,” Trent told Ted, pulling himself onto a barstool at the island. “I’m here to look pretty and heckle.”
“Oh, mint, me too!” Jamie said, hopping up next to him. “I usually sit on the counter, though.”
“Keep your arse off my counters,” Roy glared but Jamie just grinned back, sunnily. He huffed a breath, hiding his own smile (but Jamie still saw it. He always saw it.) before turning back to Ted. “And I’m not letting you use my kitchen, I’m putting you to work.”
Ted nodded, affably. “Well point the way and I’ll make like Riri, Roy-Roy.”
“No,” Roy said.
Jamie rolled his eyes, turning to Trent. “He’s just grumpy because he was left out of his family text thread on who was bringing what to the family biscuit exchange.”
“Biscuits aren’t even a Hanukkah tradition!” Roy shouted. “Fucking Christians, ruining everything.”
“He has to blame the Christians because it was Phoebe’s idea but he can’t ever blame Phoebe for anything.”
“The Christians got to her! She’s an impressionable child! Not her fault.”
Jamie gestured at Roy as if to say ‘see?’. Trent snorted.
“Well if you don’t wanna do cookies why are you so steamed you weren’t in the group chat?”
Roy grunted, turning away from them to bring out the stand mixer.
“He’s mad because it was only women in the group chat.” Jamie told them. “HIs sister Ruth was the one who told him about it, all confused because she doesn’t cook or nothing. Roy then made a big stink about gender essentialism and how he should have been given the option to contribute, even if he thinks a biscuit exchange is dumb.”
“It is dumb,” Roy grumbled, pulling our various measuring bowls.
“I know, babe,” Jamie told him, giving him a sympathetic put he couldn’t see. Trent snickered into his hand.
“Well, hey, Roy, that’s great! Standing up for gender equality.” Ted said, grinning. “You’re like that tall fella from High School Musical who wants to bake and play basketball. You won’t stick to this status quo.”
Jamie snorted. “Except Roy can’t bake. He’s dead good at cooking and that but he can’t make a biscuit for love or honey.”
“It’s love or money you twat.”
“Oi, is that any way to speak to your honey?”
Roy growled. Jamie winked at him.
“Well, Roy, I am happy to lend my expertise,” Ted chimed in. “Might be fun to coach on you something I actually know something about. Switch it up.”
Roy snorted but his mouth tilted into an almost smile which cheered everyone up.
Jamie leaned over the island. “Get us some tea, Roy?”
“Get it yourself,” Roy said but started the kettle himself anyway.
“So what are you baking biscuits for, Coach?” Jamie asked, crossing his arms on the counter.
“Well, Rebecca has praised me a bit too much in front of the rest of Nelson Road “ Ted winced. “So I’m making a super batch so everyone can get some. Little too much for my tiny kitchen.”
Jamie hummed. “Roy, can I try some of Coach’s biscuits?”
“No.”
Jamie whined. “Just one! While he’s here! If everyone’s gonna be talking about how lush they are, I wanna know how lush they are. Even if I can’t have more than one.”
“We can make him do squats to work it off,” Trent reasoned.
Roy snorted. “You know nothing about nutrition or fitness plans for athletes, Crimm. He’d do cardio, not muscle training.”
“Jumping jacks, then.” Trent shrugged. “I’m not picky.”
“You’re a freak, Crimm,” Roy told him, but he didn’t sound unhappy about it.
Ted and Jamie laughed.
“Well let’s get bakin’, Clay Aiken!’
“Perfect appropriate queer reference, Ted,”
“Thanks, sweetheart,”
“You’re insufferable.” Roy told them.
“So are we, though!” Jamie responded cheerfully.
“Do you think the oven’s preheated enough for me to put my head in?” Roy asked.
“Are you a biscuit?” Trent asked.
“More of a tart,” Jamie responded.
“No, Jamie, you’re the Tartt.”
“This was a mistake.” Roy said.
They made 12 dozen biscuits.
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delopsia · 1 year ago
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i don’t remember if we ever see rhett’s truck parked in with the rest of his family’s, but wouldn’t it be interesting* (*sad) that he parks so far away because growing up he used to just up and leave? like, go for drives whenever he wanted just around wabang or the surrounding rural roads and whatnot? maybe even to the next town or towns over if it was early enough and had free time? never too alarmingly far away, but just to get away because he finally could? he bought that truck fair and square with his own money and his own labor.
he made royal (specifically) and cecilia nervous with his coming and going.
he always got his work and his chores done, and was always (mostly) at school when he needed to be, so they didn’t really have grounds to punish him. but one day cecilia brought it up like “rhett we’d like you to stay in tonight, okay? no more driving around at all hours...”
rhett just kinda rolls his eyes and nods to humor her, like, i’m eighteen now, ma.
until he goes out that night because he can’t sleep and sees he’s been boxed in.
the visual of it at first is jarring because cecilia had been so calm in her request that he didn’t realize it was actually a demand? or maybe she didn’t trust him to listen so she had the rest of their family try to physically keep him there at home with them...
it took a little maneuvering; he hit perry’s truck behind him and just barely missed the front edge of the house, but he got out—and maybe he stayed out? maybe it was summer vacation and he stayed with a friend from school who was still around.
cecilia did worry about where her youngest was, while ultimately being preoccupied with amy—but royal? royal just realized how much harder it was going to be to keep rhett down.
Now this is a hell of a concept omg 🌷forgive me, I got...a little too carried away with the concept of Rhett running away from home 💃
There's a very, very brief instance in episode 5 when Cecelia catches Autumn snooping around in their house, where you can very briefly see Rhett's truck sitting next to Cecelia's. But I think that's the only time he parks near them? And it's the middle of the day, so he may not even be parked there for long.
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I only knew this because a while back, I spent a few hours trying to identify the make and year of his truck. General consensus: It's a 2nd Gen GMC Sierra 1500, made between 1999 and 2006. Regular cab with Indigo Blue Metallic paint.
Rhett just? Out? Wandering around in his truck? Finally, no longer restricted to the few miles his old horse and his own two feet can take him? 😭 Behind the wheel of his old new truck is the most amount of control he's ever had in his life; Royal isn't there to chastise him for small details, Cecelia isn't nervously breathing down his neck, doesn't have to worry about Perry reporting him to Royal. He's free to explore for the first time, venturing down roads just to see where they take him,
I like to think he was clever and made sure the vehicle was put in his name so that his parents couldn't take it and hold it over his head for punishment. And he's lucky he did it because Royal's grappling for control over him again, loading him down with extra work in hopes of tiring him into staying home, and Cecelia's of the 'you're up to no good if you're out past 8PM' mindset.
And now, all of a sudden, the ladies in her bible study are talking about how someone saw Rhett at the gas station at 11PM, saying how the devil is getting ahold of her youngest. And Cecelia's poor religious heart is so worried about what others think of her parenting that she tightens the reins on Rhett. But Rhett's always been one to resist, so while he's in the shower, the rest of the Abbotts play a game of car shuffle and box him in.
The problem is that they've literally raised their boys to use their heads to get out of a bind...and that morning, Cecelia walks into the kitchen to find Perry just "😑told you it wouldn't work." And a part of me thinks that Perry saw him leave, but this is one of his rare moments where he understands just how suffocating their parents can be, so he lets Rhett go. And at the end of the day, he's got a toddler to look after; he doesn't have the time nor the energy to police his grown-ass, little brother.
Omg, wait, wait, wait, Rhett, having a little summer adventure? 💃
I have this useless little headcanon that, because of Rhett having a June birthday, he was one of the youngest in his grade. He didn't turn eighteen until nearly a month after he'd graduated from high school, and that is the only reason he graduated in the first place. So maybe this gives him a big, "Well, I'm eighteen now. I can do whatever the hell I want!" moment.
As soon as he realized he was boxed in, he packed a bag and left with the intention of never coming back ❤ He crashes on a friend's couch for a few nights before wandering out into the world. Venturing down strange highways and into cities he's never seen before, and within a few weeks, makes a connection that gets him a job at a cattle ranch. Pays better than Royal ever did, and he makes a new friend that helps him sneak back to Wabang to nab his horse. There isn't a way in hell that he's leaving his baby back there for long.
He stays there for months, doing his own thing and feeling sore about how he left things back home. But he's enjoying himself. Taking late-night rides with new friends, exploring new places and things. He takes up steer wrestling, some old timer teaches him to play the harmonica, and he tries sushi for the first time.
Back at home, Cecelia reports him as missing because once he came back for his horse, it became very clear that he wasn't planning on coming back. Lying to the police isn't new for them, and they manage to construe a story that gets Wabang PD looking for Rhett.
Rodeo season is the only reason they find him because the one thing eighteen-year-old Rhett cannot give up is bull-riding. And who would have thought that a big News station would be covering one night and that he would wind up being broadcast on every television in the area? Once the police lead Royal to where Rhett's been hiding staying, it's all over.
And maybe the reason he sleeps in his truck is because he's clinging to that little taste of freedom he had when he just turned eighteen...
💃💃🏻💃🏼💃🏽💃🏾💃🏿
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miscfandomwrites · 10 months ago
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Academically Kickass: Chapter One
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Pairing: Avengers x Mafia! Student! Fem! Reader
Warnings: Language
Words: 1.7k
Location: Mavel > Wanda Maximoff > Series
Tagging: @tyler-t0t
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“Ms. (Y/N).” Clarke said as she saw me exit the building. 
I nodded to her, pausing and stepping beside her, letting the rest of the school flow out the doors.
That’s when I noticed Jack, who exited the door and made his way over to us.
He was following me. Godammit-I should have seen that. Fuck, here comes the lecture.
“Ms. (Y/N), did you notice I wa-”
I cut him off before the lecture started. “No, Jack. You’re supposed to let me know anyway, if I’m being followed. That is a rule.” I told him as I turned, heading down the walkway. 
Clarke kept pace with me, tugging on the leash for Roscoe. Meanwhile, Jack had to jog and dodge students to get to us. 
 I chuckled as I kept walking, taking the long way around the school to the teacher’s parking lot. 
Finally Jack caught up with us, and gave me a sour look and nothing more (thankfully).
Perks of being a Mafia Lord's Daughter: You get to park anywhere. And since my Father is a main donor of the school, I not only get top-tier classes and good academic results, but I am well known.
Oh please. I work my ass off for my grades-I made sure to explain that to the Board and to my teachers. Just because my Father has influence does NOT mean I get treated any differently. 
We headed to the parking lot, and I immediately knew which car they took to get here. 
The dodge challenger-black, as the majority of our cars were. It was beautiful, I’ll give you that. 
Money makes beauty. But money cannot be beauty-you actually need to work for that. 
We headed to the car, Clarke unleashing Roscoe who walked towards the car, sniffing around and under it. 
Clarke unlocked it, and opened the driver’s side door for me, and I got in. Roscoe got in the back with me, sitting on the passenger side. 
Clarke would be driving, and it seems Jack would be the passenger.
I opened my book again after putting my seatbelt on, and lost myself in it as we headed home. 
Thankfully the car was silent, which not only gave anxiety but took it away. 
How bad is it? With three of them now, it’s bound to be bad, yet it’s not bad enough where I needed to be taken out of class, much less have a bodyguard with me at all times. 
The drive back to the house took almost twenty minutes, and I spent most of it either reading or glancing at my phone now and again, awaiting a message from either my father or my brother, explaining things to me. Nothing. 
Finally, I peered up from my book and glanced around the car. Clarke was focused on the road, Jack was on his phone, messaging whoever, and Roscoe was facing forward, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. I raised my eyebrows before flipping my phone over and tucking my head back into my book.
~~
The gates opened automatically as we pulled into the driveway leading up to them, and we pulled around to the front of the house….
“What the hell is going on?” I asked out loud as I saw the new guards posted. Four out by the front doors, two holding rifles, and a quick glance at the roof had me seeing two men with long-range rifles posted up. “Jesus Christ…” I murmured as I got out of the car. Shouldering my bag and tucking my phone in my back pocket, I headed up the snow-encrusted steps. Only a light dusting, enough for the snowmelt to already start eating away at it. 
Jack opened the doors and we walked through. There were more guards, at the balconies and at the foot of the stairs. I saw more posted at the doors. Thankfully, my father and brother were already there. Along with a few other people I recognized, mostly as my father’s associates and ‘helping hands’.
I only took note of my surroundings, waiting for him to speak. 
“(Y/N), I’m glad you’re home.” Father spoke. I tilted my head in interest. I am usually called a pet name, such as darling, or babygirl, etc… for him to call me by my first name is when I knew it was serious. 
He didn’t bother to turn around before he raised his hand, dismissing his cadre. They filtered out to a side room and I turned my attention back to my father. 
“Why don’t you get changed and...dressed up so you can meet our associates?” 
I only nodded before taking off up the stairs, heading to my room. Jack took Roscoe and they stayed behind, while Clarke followed me into my room. 
I dumped my bag next to my desk and tossed my book on it, before starting to take off my outer layers of clothing. 
“Something nice, I suppose then?” I asked her as I hung my jacket on the back of my chair. 
“I suggest something feminine, perhaps a dress?” She said as I took my shoes into my closet. 
I hummed and started looking through the racks of clothes, before settling on a decent black dress. Paired with some gold or diamonds, some heels, and my knives, it’ll do nicely. 
I made sure to shave and wash my hair, but I tried to keep getting ready relatively quickly. 
No less than twenty minutes later, my hair styled down and my knives strapped on, I pulled on my heels and finished with my jewelry before heading downstairs. 
Clarke led me through the house and towards the back of it, where some of the main meeting rooms were. Through two sets of doors and two sets of guards, we arrived at the room where my father only met with his highest, and most important clientele. It wasn’t used often, so when I needed a quiet place to work I was often found here. 
The walls held various guns from various times, some dating back to the civil war and some as recent as last year’s newest chinese additions. All were in perfect working order, and well taken care of. And I’ve shot them all. I guess that’s one of the perks of being in my odd little family-being taught from a young age how to defend myself and those I love. 
But at the same point, I never got to really experience a decent childhood. I don’t remember a time my father and I spent any time together outside of my ‘training’ or dinners. 
Father stood at the head of the table, my brother to his left and Jacob, his second in command, to his right. There were the associates, along with three men and two women I didn’t recognize. There was an empty seat at the other head of the table, right in front of me. 
“(Y/N), I’m glad you could join us.” He said, motioning to the chair in front of me. We all sat down and I turned my attention to the strangers. 
The men, one dark skinned and with an eyepatch. Looked clean cut, with mostly leather and black accessories. The man to his right, a blonde white boy who was very well muscled and wearing a suit. Then the other man whom I recognized as Tony Stark, someone that I’ve seen only in mention and in passing. And the two women: Natasha Romanoff, an inspiration and one of the most notorious assassins. I’ve seen her only twice, both in dealings with my father. 
Why would she deal with him? She’s an assassin with her own goals, which were none of my business unless they directly affected me or my family. And the other one, someone I’ve seen only on television and heard about in conversations. Wanda Maximoff. 
“So, do you have an idea why you are here, Miss (L/N)?” The one with the eyepatch-Fury, if I can recall correctly-asked me. 
I leaned back into the chair, nodding my thanks to Clarke as she set a cup of coffee in front of me. I took it in my hands and quietly thanked her before I studied the man and took a sip of the warm drink. 
“If I did, why would you be asking me that?” I replied, raising my eyebrow. 
“You are being asked to join the Avengers Initiative.” 
I looked towards my father. Who sighed and sipped his bourbon. 
“Before we get into any details, does this explain the heightened security and three guard team assigned to me today, father?” I asked him. He nodded. 
“Our rivals decided to ban together. And as it seems, have joined forces with Hydra, their” He gestured to the group “Enemies as well. They know that our bloodline has...abilities. And all three of us, myself, your brother, and you are being searched for.” 
“Then why does the invitation not extend to my brother as well?” I asked. 
“Because I’ve already been tested, (F/N), and I don’t show any abilities. Neither does father.” He replied.
“And me?” 
“You have been tested and shown the aptitude. But you haven’t shown any outward signs yet, as far as abilities beyond advanced healing and a high IQ.” Father replied. I nodded and took another sip of my coffee before turning back to Fury.
“And why do you want me to join?” I questioned him. 
“Because you need training for your abilities as they come into play. And you would be a good ally to have.” Steve told me. 
I sighed and set my coffee down, looking towards my father. 
“And what about here? Do you need my assistance or are you willing to let me go and do this?” I asked him.
He ran a hand through his hair and tilted his head back. 
“Princesa, this is your decision. I can influence it but that wouldn’t be fair. This is your choice. I suggest you go. You’ll be surrounded by people like you, and you will be able to do good.” He finally said. I nodded.
“And the family?” 
“We can take care of ourselves. I will keep in contact, however.” He replied. 
I turned back towards Fury. 
The world needs me.
“When do I leave?”
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stesierra · 1 year ago
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Maybe you'd like to see the first chapter of a different fantasy book? A YA one? This MC is also depressed. Sorry, that's life.
School of Souls
Chapter One
Friday, September 15th, 2023
#
After the funeral, after we had all wept and railed and gushed about how wonderful Dad was, Mom drove me home by herself. Grandma and Grandpa had offered to take me if Mom needed to stop by the office. She’d missed enough work as is, staying home with me while I sobbed and snotted all over her. But she didn’t go in, although the other bigshot lawyers were probably wondering what the problem was. They certainly hadn’t shown up to lay Dad to rest. None of them would stay home with their thirteen-year-old just because somebody died.
I should be grateful Mom put me first. But I wasn’t. I said, as we got off the I-10 ramp, headed home, “If you’d tried harder, Dad wouldn’t have died.”
She slammed on the brakes, and it was a good thing we weren’t on the I-10 anymore, because we’d probably both have died. “Excuse me?”
I rubbed the back of my hand across my nose. “I said, it’s your fault Dad died.”
“Juniper,” she said, enunciating my name like it was a secret code she had to say perfectly to get through to me. “There’s nothing I could do about your dad’s heart. I helped him get on the transplant list. I stayed with him after the surgery. I picked up his immunosuppressants and antibiotics and made sure he took them. But his body rejected the heart, honey. It was nobody’s fault, not even the doctor’s.”
I said, my tone far below freezing, the way Phoenix, Arizona never was, “If you’d just tried, you could have found a sorcerer to heal Dad. And then he wouldn’t have died.”
:readmore:
We were sitting at a light, with people honking behind us, but Mom didn’t drive on home. “Juniper, that’s ridiculous. You’ve been spending too much time on social media.”
I glared at her through eyes that still stung from all the crying I’d done. “Sorcerers are in the news. Sorcerers are on TV. Half the students at my middle school want to be one when they grow up. Don’t tell me you didn’t even think of it. Don’t lie to me!”
“Magic isn’t reliable. And sorcerers aren’t as common as the magazines would have you believe. It really wasn’t that simple, sweetie.”
“Tell me you tried,” I said through gritted teeth. “Tell me you wrote to the Circle and begged for Dad’s life.”
Mom didn’t say anything. She just pushed down the gas pedal and eased us back onto the road. Her silence stretched between us as we rolled past palm trees and the beggars who stood on the street corners with their cardboard signs. Usually I insisted on giving them money. But today I was too knotted up inside myself to think of charity.
Mom didn’t say a thing, and neither did I until we pulled in our driveway, where Dad’s peace roses waited for him to deadhead them. He never would. The roses would shrivel up in the heat and fall off to rot. Nobody would water them, either, and that was a death sentence in the desert. They’d die. Just like Dad.
I said, when Mom turned off the engine, “I’m never going to forgive you. Willow.” And I got out of the car and fled before she could say a single word.
#
Sunday, August 11th, 2024
#
The last time I spoke to my mom, I was on the bus to the Seramia Boarding School, bumping up a dirt road outside of the foothills. Her face contorted in a guilty smile on my phone screen, and her voice came out as a tinny little squeak. “You’ll enjoy the chance to get out in nature, Juniper. Really you will.”
I put my deadest expression on and just stared at the phone.
She forged on, her tone forced brightness. “There’ll be lots of opportunities to hike in between classes. They say the Bighorn Mountains are stunning. You packed your binoculars, didn’t you?”
“I’m sure they are, Willow,” I said bitterly. That’s Mom’s name. When I was born, she kept the tree theme going.
“Call me Mom,” she pleaded. “The way you used to.”
The way I had before Dad died. I lied, “You’re breaking up. I can barely see you. Oh no—”
And I jammed the “End call” button and shoved my phone into the patched backpack that sat at my feet.
I wasn’t the only kid on the bus who was using the last opportunity to talk to family. The school had no cell phone signal, not up in the mountains. It said so clearly in the brightly colored brochure my mom had shoved under my nose. No internet, either. The only way to stay in touch was by magic. And I wasn’t a sorcerer. Nobody I knew was.
A boy near me tangled twiggy fingers in his long ginger hair and said, “Dad, you can’t be serious about sending me away for four years. You just can’t. A boarding school? What is this, the eighteen hundreds? Is there going to be a schoolmaster who beats us with a ruler, too? How about nuns? Are there nuns here?”
I slouched lower in my seat, trying to keep to myself. It wasn’t a religious school we were going to. Mom had reassured me about that, with the most earnest expression on her face. She wouldn’t send me off to some Christian camp that would drum traditional female roles into me, not when Mom was a proud atheist and feminist. The Seramia Boarding School made good kids out of bad ones, but not through religion. So they claimed.
I yanked the crumpled brochure out of my backpack. The front showed smiling teenagers, about my age, with perfectly brushed hair and smart blue uniforms and genuine joy in their eyes. Behind them, pine trees obscured most of the horizon, except where the naked peak of a mountain jutted up above the green.
The brochure said, “Guaranteed results! We take troubled teens and turn out model citizens! Does your son or daughter steal, lie, do drugs or bully others? At the Seramia Boarding School, they’ll find a new way of life. By their eighteenth birthday, they’ll be glad they came! And you’ll be glad you sent them.”
I wadded it back up until I couldn’t see those smiles any longer. Mom was already glad. She was tired of my defiance, tired of trying to deal with my problems, and she’d taken the easy way out. Some feminist she made.
Another girl slid onto my bench, adjusting the dozens of plastic bracelets that hung from her chunky arms. “Got a smoke?” she asked me, peering out from beneath long blonde bangs. “You look like a smoker.”
I shrugged bony shoulders. “Do I smell like one? Bug off.”
She nodded approvingly and pulled out a blunt from her little sequined purse. “Astrid,” she said. “You?” She lit the blunt with a neon-pink lighter and stuffed the edge into her mouth.
“Juniper,” I said, opening my window for fresh air. “What are your parents banishing you for?”
Astrid smiled mockingly. “Arson. You?”
“Pill-popping. What did you burn down?”
“My grandma’s barn. What do you pop?”
“None of your business. Go sit by yourself and inhale smoke until you die.”
She sprang up and blew in my face. “Suit yourself. No one’s going to want to be friends with you, you know. Dumb bitch. And there’s no pills in the mountains.” She flounced back to her seat, leaving me to stare out at the foothills as we bumped up Red Grade Road.
No pills in the mountains. I felt for the hard little pill bottle at the bottom of my bag. The precious contents wouldn’t last me very long. Not with how often I took them. And there were no pills in the mountains. Mom was counting on that, and I hated her for it.
#
The bus jounced and rattled up miles of dirt road, alternatively hemmed in by crowded lodge-pole pine trees and edged by open meadows. Then we trundled across an even bigger meadow and into a clearing in among the trees. A wooden sign declared, “Welcome to Seramia Boarding School! Your life changes today.” A beaming face smiled out at us, and I hated it immediately. But we didn’t stay to look at it. We rumbled on into the midst of what looked like a village from a hundred years ago. I didn’t see a single car or even a golf cart. Five big buildings circled a central lawn that was more weeds than grass. Smaller cabins trailed off into the woods, interspersed with more pine trees. The central buildings were too big to be called cabins—maybe lodge would be a better word—but everywhere I looked they were built out of smooth logs, stained reddish brown. The pointed roofs, made of tin, were colored the same red. A hand painted sign on the left building said Freshman. The other buildings were labeled Sophomore, Junior, Senior and Dining.
A boy with dreadlocks the same color as his dark skin leaned against the window and said, “They won’t let us mingle? This place is going to suck.”
The bus ground to a halt, and the doors opened with a screech. I rose from my seat and grabbed my backpack. “You thought a place that only lets you bring one bag—and won’t let you leave—would be great? You’re not an A student, are you?”
He glowered at me and tossed a dreadlock over his shoulder. “They don’t send A students to shitholes like this.”
That wasn’t entirely true. I’d been an A student once. Before my dad died and I started sleeping through class. Before the pills. But I didn’t say that. I tromped down the stairs and off the bus before any of the others could beat me to it.
Cool air struck me immediately; this place was twenty degrees colder than the prairie that surrounded the mountains. My shorts and t-shirt wouldn’t keep me warm once the sun went down. I hadn’t even packed winter clothes. They’d be provided, Mom had told me. I rubbed my arms as the other teens disembarked and managed to squish a mosquito. It left a smear of blood on my palm. Wonderful. And Mom thought I would enjoy nature.
From the bus window, the place had looked abandoned. But the door to the senior building swung open, and ten teenagers marched out in perfect single file. They lined up in front of us. Despite their rainbow of skin colors and different heights and noses, they looked identical: athletic, in matching blue uniform pants and shirts and with welcoming smiles on their faces.
I took a glance at the other new arrivals. There were ten of us, half male, half female, all a mixture of different races, and we didn’t look anything alike. Half the girls wore tight leggings or jeans, and the rest wore short skirts. I was the only one in shorts, and they were khaki boy’s shorts that came down to my knees. Not fashionable at all, but what my mom liked to buy for me.
The boys wore a mix of khakis and jeans, both long and short, and half of them didn’t fit right. Half the boys had longer hair than I did. I looked back at the seniors. The boys all had buzz cuts, like soldiers, and the girls had their hair neatly trimmed at the shoulders.
A senior stepped forward. The bridge of her hawklike nose tilted sideways from an old break, and a tattoo of leopard spots marked the line of her throat. If she’d worn leather, I’d have called her a bruiser, maybe a biker chick. But her voice matched her uniform and smile perfectly. “Welcome to Seramia Boarding School! I’m Ember Saint James, the senior valedictorian. We’re so happy to have you here. I hope your journey wasn’t too long.”
All us new arrivals stared at her. Astrid said, “Are you kidding? You bused us into the middle of frigging nowhere. I came all the way from Oregon.”
I nodded. They had bused me in a thousand miles from Phoenix, Arizona, where it’d been 105 F. This mountain was frigid in comparison.
Ember’s smile didn’t fade. “Then I’m sure you’re looking forward to seeing your new cabins and getting a nap. You’ll pick your classes tomorrow, so for today you can just get settled in.”
“We get to pick?” the boy with long ginger hair said, screwing up eyebrows that looked like caterpillars. He paced a few steps. “I thought my dad decided all that. You know, before he shipped me here.”
The senior cocked her head. “Do you think you’ll be more motivated to become a model student if you’re given a choice?”
The boy grimaced. “I guess. I don’t really plan on becoming a model for anyone.” He fidgeted with the straps of his backpack. Since I first saw him, he hadn’t held still.
“What’s your name?” Ember asked.
Astrid said sourly, “Aren’t we all on a list somewhere?”
“You are, but it’s polite to ask.”
The ginger boy rocked back on his heels and said, “I’m Kye Wells. What’s your accommodation policy here?”
“Accommodations? What do you need accommodation for?” Astrid asked, grinning at him. “Are you an idiot? Is that why your parents didn’t want you around anymore?”
Kye’s freckled face turned tomato red. “Nothing! Just—Never mind. Forget it.”
Ember’s smile turned sympathetic. “The teachers work with each student as needed. I promise, whatever problem your parents felt they couldn’t solve, it’ll disappear by junior year.” She looked around at the rest of us. “And that goes for all of you. The founder of this place promises it. To you, and to your parents.”
The brochure in my backpack said Beatrix Seramia had founded the Seramia Boarding School thirty years ago, to help troubled youth. “What did you do wrong to get sent here?” I asked Ember, folding my arms across my Gila monster t-shirt. “What was your problem?”
“I was a graffiti artist hooked on crack,” she said, still smiling that perfect smile. “But my parents knew this place could help me. Just like it’ll help you.”
“Bullshit,” one of the new boys said. He towered above the rest of us, and his nose could’ve sliced bread. “You can’t just fix people like that. There’s no way you’ll get rid of my problems without me becoming a totally new person.”
Ember’s smile broadened. “Then maybe you’ll become a new person. But don’t worry. It won’t hurt much.”
But it sounded like a lie.
#
The seniors split us freshmen up and directed us to the smaller cabins. I was in the obnoxiously named Jackalope Cabin, on the far left of the campus, near the trees. As I trudged towards my new home, a whisper of sound intruded in my gloom. It grew louder and louder until I realized a noisy stream rushed by right behind my cabin. The sound of it would lull me to sleep at night. But I refused to be pleased or grateful. Mom had banished me to this place to get rid of me, and one nice feature didn’t make up for it.
The stairs that led to the porch creaked as I tromped up them. Four rustic rocking chairs sat at the corners of the porch. I guessed I was going to share the place with three people. I kicked a chair. We were teenagers, modern teenagers, and our parents thought we’d be willing to live without internet or phone service or television? They thought we’d be fixed if we just sat in old-timey chairs and rocked, like stereotypical grannies? They were nuts. The whole lot of them. Mom especially.
A wooden jackalope leered at me from between the two doors. Its antlers were twice the length of its long ears. I grabbed the handle of the rightmost door and yanked it open.
The hinges squealed as I yanked open the door. A monster lay in the middle of the floor, bat-like wings spread.
I screamed and stumbled back. But the monster didn’t leap up to pursue me. Its long tongue stuck out between its fangs, motionless.
“Hey, it’s dead,” a deep voice said. “I killed it.”
I looked up and came face to face with a boy two years older than me. He was trim and athletic, with the muscle of a runner. He crossed long arms and smirked at me. His hair was a buzz cut, just like the seniors, and he wore the same blue uniform. Were we all going to dress like that?
I took another look at the monster, and the shape of its head and four legs registered. “Is that a cow?” It was definitely dead, now that I looked closer. Its brown eyes stood open, dulled and unfocused, and blood stained its muzzle and dripped onto the wooden floor.
“It was,” the boy said. “Before the heal-transformers got to it.”
I staggered into the room and plopped down on one of the small beds that framed the freakish winged cow. My legs wouldn’t hold me up anymore. “What’s a heal-transformer, and why would anyone do that to a cow?” Its fangs better fit a sabertooth tiger, and its wings belonged on a dragon.
He shrugged and took a seat on the other bed. A door led to the other half of the cabin, but it was closed. “The students who pick healing and transformation as their focus. They’ll transform anything. How else are they going to practice?”
“Their focus?” I said, my voice too shrill. “You’re talking about magic? Are you telling me this is a magic school?”
He gave a lopsided smile. “Didn’t it say that in the brochure?”
I jabbed a shaking finger towards him. “No! The brochure went on about how this place was going to fix us all. It said nothing about making us real sorcerers!” Mom would never let me study to become a sorceress.
“Surprise,” he said.
I took a deep breath, trying to shove down excitement. “You mean tomorrow, when I pick my classes, I’m going to choose classes on magic?” This sounded too good to be true. It probably was.
He laughed at me. “Nope. They’ll mostly be ordinary high school classes. Math, history, etcetera.”
I grabbed that mostly with both hands. “But some of them will be magic?”
“Some of them will prepare you for magic,” he corrected. “You won’t learn to use actual spells until you’re a junior, like me.”
I glared at him, feeling the thrill I’d felt at the idea of becoming a sorceress—which was admittedly partly to spite my mother—drain out of me. “That’s stupid. I want to start now.”
He shook his head and grabbed the flying cow by one wing. “You’re, what, fourteen? You don’t know enough. If you want to break the laws of physics, you have to know what they are. If you want to heal, you need to know anatomy and cells and DNA. Not that I know much about that. I’m not a heal-transformer.” He tried to drag the cow towards the door, but the wing stretched out and the cow didn’t budge. “Help me with this, will you?”
I stared at him. I hadn’t seen a whole dead cow in my life. I didn’t even eat hamburger because the thought of eating something with soulful brown eyes made me sick to my stomach. “Where are you taking it?”
He grinned at me. “The kitchen. Don’t you want steak?”
I lifted my chin. “I’m a vegetarian. I don’t believe in killing animals to eat them.”
The boy tilted his head. “What about killing them to save your life?”
“You mean if I was starving? Maybe if I had to.” People justified all sorts of things when they were starving. Even cannibalism.
His lopsided smile reappeared. “I guess that’s one way to look at it. But help me move the cow, even if you won’t eat it.”
Gingerly, I rose from the bed and grabbed the cow’s other wing. It felt nothing like leather; it was soft and furry and still warm. When I hauled on it with all my strength, it stretched out, revealing a membrane so thin I could see the floor through it. “If you’re not a heal-transformer, what are you?”
He hauled on his wing and I hauled on mine, and slowly we dragged the cow towards the door. He said, “I’m an entroper. Violating the laws of physics is my specialty.”
“And your name?”
We got the cow out onto the porch and began bumping it down the stairs. “Declan Finch,” he said. “You’re my new freshman roommate. I assume you have a name, but no one told me what it was.”
“Juniper Fellows,” I said. “Are you my only roommate?”
“There’s a sophomore and a senior in the other room, but you’ll be bunking with me. I hope you’re not shy.” The words could’ve come out lecherous, but instead, they just sounded like a friendly joke.
I glared at him anyway as we dragged the cow towards the dining hall. “The school expects me to share a room with a boy? How do I know you’re not a sex offender? Maybe that’s why you got banished here.”
Declan’s regal face grew serious. “Every freshman gets placed with a junior or senior roommate, and I’m afraid there’s no extra girl to put you with. And don’t worry. Even if I had been a sex offender, which I wasn’t, I’m a junior. Whatever problems I had as a frosh are long gone.”
I bit out, “You’re claiming you’re perfect? That you’re totally fixed? A brand new person, like that brochure promised? Fat chance. You’re probably a pervert who’s gotten better at faking it.”
I won a grin from him. “I am a brand new person. You’re right. Soon you’ll be a brand new person, too. Are you excited?”
I dropped the wing of the cow and said coldly, “Take your kill the rest of the way on your own. And leave me the hell alone. I’m going to sleep.”
His elegant brow furrowed. “It’s three in the afternoon.”
“I don’t care.” I turned on my heel and marched back to Jackalope Cabin. Once I reached it, I threw my bag down on the bed that wasn’t covered with a boy’s pajamas and fumbled in the bottom for my pill bottle.
I shook four zolpidem into my hand—four times the prescribed dose, but one pill didn’t put me to sleep anymore—and dry swallowed them. They tasted bitter going down.
“I hate you, Mom,” I said to nobody as I counted how many pills I had left. Enough for a month, maybe. When Mom wasn’t looking, I’d gotten multiple prescriptions filled at different pharmacies.
I tucked the bottle away, careful with its precious contents, and threw myself down on the bed before the zolpidem could make the world dizzy and unreal. I don’t remember falling asleep. With a high enough dose, I never remember anything.
@anonymousfoz
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farshootingstar · 1 year ago
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Sorry this took so long! Had the playlist itself ready for a good while, but hadn't gotten to the cover art.
Oh, boy. I thought I had things to explain before, but I went absolute clown mode on this one. I'm pretty glad I have things to say about this list, since John can feel a bit overlooked despite being just as interesting of a character as the rest. It's probably a mixture of him being the outdoorsy guy and his backstory, buuut...
Here's the John playlist for all the sunny sweethearts! Expect some bumps in the road, though. There's also some long songs in this one, including one I mentally wrestled over for a good while before even putting this list together (the opera one, in case anyone's curious).
Wellerman, covered by The Longest Johns, is my choice for the first song. John's listed favorite genres are sea shanties and celtic music, so it had to be one or the other. I guess it was sort of a good thing people lost their minds during the pandemic and returned to sea shanties (actually the pandemic was genuinely terrible, even if the shanties were fine). I think that this is the only a capella song in the playlists.
The second song is Mountain Sound by Of Monsters and Men. I wanted something kind of upbeat and I liked the theme of running from your past, for reasons. If you know, you know. Spoiler cut below for Picture Perfect Boyfriend's bonus word doc, as well as Picture Perfect Boyfriend REBOOT.
Bust Your Knee Caps by Pomplamoose is an option I was mentally eyeballing for a while for John's old identity, Max. That dude has major gangster vibes, so I had to put this in. He almost beats the player with brass knuckles, so I feel secure in this assessment.
Each and Every One is a song I decided to add in for the Glory version of Lily, someone that Max held a flame for. Needless to say, she couldn't bear how miserable things had become around him and I think this is a good song to reflect that. While Max did seem to have a soft spot for her, he doesn't seem adept at hiding his general nature and low opinion of other people around him.
This next song is like 12 minutes long and I can't believe I'm subjecting you guys to this. You have to understand, though: At heart, I'm old-school Final Fantasy garbage. So, yeah, we have a Distant Worlds concert recording of Opera "Maria and Draco" (from Final Fantasy VI). If there was a trimmed down version, maybe I could have gone for that. I chose this for the Lily, Eislied, and Max love triangle (who, in the song, would be Maria the mezzo-soprano, Draco the tenor, and Ralse the baritone, respectively). It seemed like Max would have taken losing a tad more gracefully (like Ralse respecting the results of the duel) if not for Lily's tragically young death, which leads us to...
Bitch Better Have My Money by Rihanna and I'd pretty self-explanitory, with how Max extorted Vincent's father. While Max had gotten worse to people after Lily left him, taking it out on everyone under him more and more, I get the feeling something well and truly snapped when she died. Maybe he could have learned to cope in time (not that it would be any consolation to the people he tormented), but I doubt he saw any value in self-improvement once Lily was gone. Really foolish, since his vile behavior was what pushed her away in the first place, but grief's not always rational.
Oak & Ash & Thorn is the transition between the absurdly cruel Max to the gentle protector John. That amnesia was practically like a spell on him. The Morning Dew is next and that one's some classic celtic music to chill or dance to.
Next up is Apple Green by Mother Earth because I have to inflict acid jazz upon everyone once again. I think it's safe to say that John wasn't some type of nature enjoyer in his previous life as Max, but that's behind him now. He definitely appreciates the beauty and color of the world around him now and I wanted to put this song in to reflect that.
The Mariner's Revenge Song by The Decemberists is also pretty long, so I'm feeling kind of silly in retrospect for worrying about song length back in Ashton's playlist. Then again, both the opera song and this one are both story songs, so I find it a bit easier to justify their lengths. This is a special choice, in that there's a side story (the word doc I mentioned before) about Vincent first meeting John and realizing right away that this was Max with amnesia.
Autumn's Song is here to represent John's favorite season. The nostalgic nature of it can hint at those old memories simmering inside of him, something that he understandably fears.
I wouldn't blame you guys if you clowned the hell out of me for this next one, but I chose Rainbow Connection by Kermit, from The Muppet Movie. It's just such a simple and sweet song. I feel like it really fits in with John being a kind and romantic person, seeing beauty and mystery in life when he hadn't before. I imagine John's flights of fancy also probably irritate Ashino a bit, which is funny with him having a crush on Kadsey. Wildflower Jigs is another song in here for the good vibes. Who doesn't enjoy a good jig, right? It kind of makes me miss ren fairs, since I haven't been to any since the pandemic.
Blackbird/Yesterday is an interesting Beatles mashup that was made for the Cirque du Soleil show, Love, and I think the sentiments of both songs really fit with John in general. Yesterday, the song that the lyrics are from, is a classic about the pain of being left behind by an important woman while Blackbird, which the guitar is taken from, is a song that's a little more abstract (to a degree) but always feels to me like moving past the pain life can bring. Both of the songs Stardust (Vocal Version) by Hoagy Carmichael and Happy to Be Here by Wookiefoot are for John's recovered memories. I feel like a crooner song fits Max (or at least his old-timey gangster vibes, since it's hard for me to imagine Max actually enjoying any particular genre) more while something somewhat more contemporary fits John, at least in that John is the here and now. In general, John seems like a very "happy to be here" sort of guy, even if things can be tough.
Bonny Portmore by Loreena McKennitt and In the Woods Somewhere by Hozier are to reflect the danger to the woods that John has called home for a while and the animals he's resolved to protect. If it weren't for that and Vincent's troubles, I have a feeling that John would've willfully stayed in the dark about his past for longer. I was also wondering while listening to In the Woods Somewhere if John ever has small recollections of being murdered, though he didn't really have time to process what happened. This leads us into Hello My Old Heart by The Oh Hellos, where John finally admits aloud that he's Max. I like the theme of this song, that you can't grow if you hide your heart away.
Remember when I chose a song in Vincent's playlist to acknowledge the yandere ends? Here's round 2: electric-boogaloo with the song Honeybee by Steam Powered Giraffe. Harmonizing singing groups (like barbershop quartets and such) seem like something that John could really appreciate. Also, very convenient title, considering one of the consistent particular details between the yandere ends. Again, I have speculations about what that all means and those make me pretty pleased that this recording is also an ensemble sort of song instead of a solo. I think it's a solo when played live, but I'll admit that I've never seen these guys perform despite some overlap in convention visits.
Thus Always To Tyrants feels like a good song for acknowledging that Max is John's past, but it's not who he needs to be in every way despite reclaiming that identity. That's kind of a given, but I feel for him and his fear to never become such a horrendous person again. Now that I think about it, he and Ashton could make a support group. Maybe they could drag Ashino in early, too, to save us all some grief.
Closing things off with the classic John Denver song Take Me Home, Country Roads. While John has to fit into his old life to some extent, he's taking all that he's become with him and being a better person for it. That's another great ending that I hope can stick.
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skyward-floored · 2 years ago
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A piece of paper with most of a coffee ring on it reads in smudged writing: “One of the boys uses their power to quietly save a civilian?”
I had the hardest time picking which boy to do lol, but I finally wrote something out for this :)
———
Wind walked at the back of the group with Four beside him, the two looking around as they followed the rest of their family out of the shopping center.
Wind didn’t like shopping much. Especially since despite how his parents tried to hide it he knew money was a little tight. But several of them had needed new school supplies for the year, so here they were.
In the boring shopping center.
Wind sighed. At least they were finally finished and going home now. They’d been here for what felt like ages and he’d looked at way too many pairs of shoes. At least his parents seemed happy with what they’d got.
“If one more person says how cute we are I’m gonna scream,” Four said grumpily from next to him, and Wind giggled, then shrugged.
“I don’t know, I think it’s nice. At least if they’re staring at us they’re leaving Wild alone,” he pointed out. Somebody always asked their brother him what happened with his scars, and he hated that.
Four folded his arms. “Yeah... I guess. Still, I’m five! That’s too old to be cute,” he said crossly, blowing some hair out of his face.
Wind just shrugged. Four was a cute kid no matter how much it bothered him, but Wind didn’t want to argue with him over the point. For being only five, he sure was good at winning arguments.
He turned his attention to the parking lot then, dutifully sticking by his parents’ sides when they crossed the road. Four held Twilight’s hand, and Wind found his attention drawn to farther down the street, where a woman had just exited a different store.
She had a huge pile of shopping bags in her arms, barely balancing them all as she walked down the sidewalk, and if that wasn’t enough, she was also digging through her purse and barely watching where she was going.
Wind watched her, a little amused at her absentmindedness, then frowned as he realized she was headed straight for a street corner. And still not paying any attention to where she was going, despite the heavy traffic. Wind looked around for any way to make the woman look up, but she probably wouldn’t hear him if he yelled, and nobody else walking by her seemed to notice just how distracted she was.
Four tugged on his sleeve and pointed, having noticed her as well, and Wind nodded, still looking around for some way to help as the woman stepped onto the street. Nothing jumped out at him, and a car came barreling around the corner right towards the woman, definitely going too fast to stop in time.
Four gasped and Wind didn’t even glance around to make sure nobody was looking as he thrust his hands out.
A gust of wind rushed towards the woman and thre her and her bags forward, just barely getting her out of the way of the car.
The woman fell to the ground, bags spilling everywhere, and her face was shocked as she finally looked up and realized how close she’d just come to being hit by the car. A few people who’d seen what had happened helped her up and started to gather her bags, and Wind sighed in relief as the woman stood up, looking shaken, but unhurt.
That had been really close.
“Nice job,” Four whispered, and Wind returned the smile he gave him, glancing anxiously around the parking lot. There were a lot of people around, but he was pretty sure nobody had seen him.
At least, he really hoped so.
“Did anyone see me?” he asked his brother, still looking furtively around.
“Don’t think so. Nobody’s pointing at you or yelling anyway,” Four said as he also looked around. “Good thing too. Mom and dad would kill you if they’d seen.”
Wind sighed in relief, and he and Four caught up to the rest of their family as they put their bags into the back of their car. The woman was safe, nobody had seen him, and he hadn’t accidentally exposed himself and forced their family to move again.
Wind looked up as his father walked past him to the driver’s seat, then froze when he looked him directly in the eye, a stern look on his face.
Oh no, he’d seen!
But then Time gave him just a hint of a proud smile, and Wind relaxed, returning it with a smile of his own.
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roseofdarknessblog · 2 years ago
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By the Sea (Marcel Galliard x Reader)
Word count: 2 620
Disclaimer: english is not my first language, I apologize in advance for any mistakes
A/N: My anxiety is through the roof since yesterday and I really needed to distract myself somehow. So here... have some nice Marcel fluff for a better day and take care ❤️
Summary: Sometimes all you need is a picture-perfect day at the beach. Clear blue skies, a good book, and the company of your beloved boyfriend, the one and only Marcel Galliard.
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By the Sea
A light breeze kissed your cheeks and woke you up from an unexpected nap. With eyes still heavy with sleep, you blinked a few times trying to make out your surroundings. You were at the beach, of course – laying on your favorite blanket, your tote bag comfortably folded under your head, and a nearly empty picnic basket just a few feet away. Marcel got the idea of taking a short drive to the nearest beach out of nowhere, and you weren′t objecting. It was way too long since the two of you spent the day like this. Somewhere nice and just relaxing. Not thinking about work, school, or any other responsibility.
„You okay?“ Marcel asked while you were still sleepily looking up at the bright blue sky. Only a handful of puffy white clouds were seen scattered around randomly. You could hear seagulls somewhere in the distance, while the slowly coming and going sea waves were creating one of your favorite sounds ever. The weather was absolutely perfect, warm and sunny, with only a slight breeze that made the heat more bearable.
„Yeah, just... how long was I asleep?“ you asked, only then noticing that your still open book way laying on your chest.
Reading was your favorite form of escaping reality. Especially, when you picked up a book you′ve read in the past and loved dearly. Just like this morning, when you decided to start Howl′s Moving Castle for like a fifth time. But it was your first time reading the special edition Marcel got you last Christmas. He knew how much you loved the story, and despite you already owning the whole trilogy, he didn′t hesitate even for a second, when he saw this edition at the bookstore while searching for a perfect gift for you – his beloved girlfriend. He knew you would love it. And he was right, just like always, when it came to your favorite things.
„Not too long, maybe thirty minutes. Didn′t want to wake you up, you really need to rest after the last few months.“ You smiled, closed your book, and rolled over to your side so you could be closer to Marcel. He immediately put his phone down, where he was looking for some summer vacation options, and turned his attention to you. „What do you think about Venice, Bologna, Rome, Florence, or Palermo? Would you like to go there?“
„You wanna go to Italy?“
He shrugged. „Maybe, it looks amazing there. The scenery, all that architecture, and apparently brilliant food. We could go road-tripping around the country if you′d like. So we can see as many places as we want.“
It really did sound appealing. Spending a week or two together, exploring a new country none of you visited before. Marcel had seen many places around the world before the two of you started dating and was more than happy when there was a chance to travel somewhere. Especially with you as his most precious and loving travel buddy. He also loved showing you photos and videos of all the places he visited, while promising to one day go back there with you. Especially to the locations that caught your eyes the most. Places like Iceland, Switzerland, Greece, Ireland, Canada or Hawaii.
„Do we have enough money for something like that? I mean... I would like to go, it sounds absolutely amazing, but I′m not sure we can afford it this summer. We just moved to the new apartment, I have to pay for my car and...“ You loved when Marcel shut you up with a gentle but passionate kiss. Mostly in moments like these, when your need to overanalyze every little detail started to ruin the magic of the present moment.
„What did we agree on before coming here? No overthinking, overanalyzing, or worrying about anything,“ Marcel said, his lips still just mere inches from your mouth. With another smile he kissed the tip of your nose, pulling you into a tight hug. „It′s not like we have to pay for everything right now at this moment. We have time to think it through. It was just a suggestion.“
„I know, sorry,“ you said, burying your face into his chest.
He spent a lot of time at work these last few weeks. And with you trying to balance university and a part-time job, there were days when the two of you hardly saw each other. Mostly just early in the morning or in the evening, when it was finally time to sleep. You missed him terribly every single day and knew, he missed you too. Texting each other throughout the day just wasn't the same.
„It′s fine, don't apologize,“ he whispered, planting a kiss on the top of your head. „I was thinking that maybe we could go as a little group. You know... us two, and Porco with Pieck. If you don't mind, of course.“
„Why would I? Your brother is always good company and Pieck is my best friend since kindergarten. I′m happy to spend time with her.“ Not to mention that it was thanks to you, that she and Marcel′s baby brother, as he liked to address Porco to make him mad, started dating in the first place. „And speaking of couples... did you hear about Annie and Bert? She sent me a picture this morning when you were in the shower... and then I somehow forgot to tell you.“
„I heard, of course. He called me and Reiner with him when he went to buy the engagement ring. Said he picked out a few different options but wasn′t sure which one to get, so he needed someone else′s opinion.“
„Why didn't you tell me?“ you asked surprised, pulling away slightly to look at him. Gosh, he was so effortlessly beautiful, when the light breeze was playing with strands of his hair. The way the sunlight made his eyes look like dark pools of honey always took your breath away. „How long did you know that he′s going to propose to her?“
„Why? Because you and Annie are together all the time and I didn′t want to risk you accidentally telling her.“ You rolled your eyes at him. Marcel laughed, lovingly tugging a few strands of hair behind your ear. The tips of his fingers brushed against your cheek just a moment before he pressed his lips to the exact same spot. „Do you like the ring we picked out?“
You nodded excitedly, remembering the photo Annie sent you this morning. „It′s really beautiful. Simple and elegant, it matches Annie and her style perfectly. Bert really knows what suits her the best.“ The two of them were dating since high school, so it was only natural, that they knew each other more than perfectly.
And it was thanks to them, you got to know Marcel. Since Pieck, Annie, and you were classmates in high school, you knew Bertholdt for a pretty long time as well. But it was just shortly before graduation, that he introduced you to his neighbor and one of his best friends – Marcel Galliard. For you, it was love at first sight. Just like in all of those books and movies you′ve read and seen. And now, almost five years later, you couldn′t be happier. With Marcel by your side, you had absolutely everything in the whole wide world.
„Would you like a similar one?“ Marcel asked suddenly, visibly enjoying the panic that made your cheeks turn red.
„What... what do... what do you mean?“ you stuttered, burying your face into his chest once again while laughing nervously. „I hate how you always make me flustered when I expect it the least,“ you mumbled into his shirt, while Marcel laughed at your reaction wholeheartedly.
„It was just an innocent question, nothing more. It′s not like I′m gonna kneel before you and pop out a ring from my pocket. But if you′d like that...“
Even more shocked, you once again looked into his face, finding a cheeky grin on his lips. His eyes were so visibly filled with happiness and love. It almost made your heart burst from the realization that it′s because of you.
It was you, who made him this happy.
You and only you.
„Are you trying to tell me that you bought me an engagement ring as well?“ Marcel shrugged, rolling over to his back with you still in his embrace. He made himself more comfortable, one hand running up and down your back, while you rested on his broad chest.
„Maybe I saw one that I really liked. Just maybe...“
With a quiet laugh, you kissed the warm skin on his neck, closing your eyes for a short while. Was this really happening? At that moment... was that really your life? Suddenly everything seemed so easy and beautiful. So simple and calm. When the two of you were joking around like that, you truly had hope for the future. In everything that was about to come your way. With Marcel by your side, it was truly effortless to imagine the rest of your life. All you saw was never-ending happiness. Not necessarily without a few hard or unpleasant days, they were a part of everyone's life, but still... with him, even the darkest moments would pass much quicker.
„Marcel...“
„What? I′m just planning ahead a little. Can you blame me?“ Looking down at you, his eyes studied your face for a short while. The perfect quiet moment between the two of you was only disturbed by the calming sounds of the sea. „I love you so much,“ he finally said, grabbing your chin gently and bringing your face closer for a little kiss. His lips always tasted like the sweetest flavors of love one could imagine.
„I love you too,“ you said, kissing him once more and running your hand through his hair. It was so thick and soft, you just loved to play with it at every given chance. Mostly in bed, when the two of you were cuddled up next to each other.
Marcel loved to fall asleep while you were playing with his hair and reading to him at the same time. Listening to your voice, as you read him a few pages from your current read always helped him relax, even after the most stressful day. Because when he was there, curled up in your arms and listening to your every word very carefully, he felt safe and loved. And you? You were so grateful for the boy slowly falling asleep right there next to you, that sometimes tears started to pool in your eyes, while your lips were smiling and your whole chest was full of the warmest and nicest feelings possible.
„Coming here was a good idea, we should do it more often. All the problems seem miles away when the sea is at hands reach.“
„I collected some seashells while you were sleeping. A couple of kids ran by, ranting about how many they found over there by those big rocks, so I went to check it out.“ Without you asking to see them, Marcel reached over to the picnic basket and pulled out the now-empty container, that had your favorite fruit salad inside before. Now it was filled with colorful seashells of various shapes and sizes. „You always loved putting them on display at home. And I owe you a few new ones for those I accidentally destroyed last time.“
It was a funny story, actually. Marcel had a few days off, so he decided to help you out with some work around the new apartment. Cleaning was never his favorite activity to pass time, even though you tried to convince him, that moping the floor, doing laundry, or washing the dishes made him look absolutely irresistible. After all... it wasn′t a complete lie.
On that unfortunate day, Marcel was trying to be nice and clean the apartment before you got home from school. What he wasn't planning on doing, was knocking down one of your favorite display bowls from your bookshelf, which was filled with many different seashells the two of you found during your trips to the beach. The bowl was shattered beyond repair and many of the seashells as well, especially the more fragile ones.
It made you upset at first, but seeing how sorry Marcel was... You didn′t have the heart to stay mad at him for long. One delicious home-cooked dinner was enough to make you forgive him. It was no secret, that Marcel knew his way around the kitchen. Your friends loved coming over for lunch or dinner when he was the one cooking or baking. His chocolate-chip banana bread was to die for, not to mention the best poppy seed and lemon muffins under the sun.  
„They are adorable,“ you said, while looking through the seashells Marcel picked up. „Just try not to break them this time.“ Leaning closer, you kissed his cheek, resting your forehead against his. „Thank you.“
There was nowhere to hurry. Not today. The two of you could stay for as long, as you like. So you suggested waiting until sunset, even though it was many hours away. But Marcel didn't mind. Not when you picked up your book once again and started reading out loud. He liked Howl and Sophie′s story as well, his favorite character being the Fire demon Calcifer himself.
While you were reading, he was sorting through the seashells, admiring them one by one, and ultimately used some of them to decorate a cute little sand castle he put together at the edge of the blanket. He said it was his own version of Howl′s castle from the story.
The rest of the day was spent simply relaxing, fooling around in the pleasantly cool water, and taking some photos. You loved to capture simple moments like these, just to have the option to look back at them, when you needed it the most.
„About that engagement ring...“ Marcel said unexpectedly with his head in your lap, while the sky high above you seemed like it was on fire. Rich orange and golden hues transformed the beach around you into a scenery that seemed straight out of a fantasy novel. „Would you like something simple like Annie, or something more extra?“
„You know my style, so I think you′re perfectly capable of choosing the right one.“ To be honest, you never thought about how your engagement ring should look like. After all, it wasn′t up to you. „I don't like showing off.“
„It′s not about showing off. More about...“ He thought for a second, his hands playing with your fingers. „I don′t know, I just want to be sure, that everything is going to be perfect. I want you to remember that moment forever.“
„It′s going to be perfect because it will be you, with who I′ll share the moment,“ you assured him, leaning down and gently kissing his lips. „I can′t wait to spend the rest of my life with you, Marcel.“ The tips of your fingers were tracing along his jaw and chin.
„We′ll make the best of it. I can assure you.“
Little did you know, that on that day the two of you visited the beach as boyfriend and girlfriend for the very last time. All that talk about engagement rings wasn′t just to fill in the quiet moments. Marcel really did buy a ring you absolutely adored from the second you saw it, when he knelt in front of you with love and hope in his beautiful brown eyes.
So the next time you visited your favorite beach, you went there as Marcel′s fiancee and future Mrs. Galliard.
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matchayogitea · 1 year ago
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Suspicious Minds - part 2
Part 1
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"Are we lost?"
Silence.
"Maybe we should turn around."
More silence.
"Steve..." 
He let out a soft sigh, finally acknowledging what you had been suspecting for half an hour now. "I guess we are lost."
You lowered the map you were looking at and gave him a smile, as he pulled over to the side of the road. "It's ok, Steve. It's not like we had reservations or anything."
"I know, but... I really wanted to get to California before evening."
"It's only four, we might still make it," you sensibly pointed out. "What's all the rush anyway? I thought you were enjoying this trip."
Steve turned to look at you and leaned closer, placing a hand on your cheek, stroking it tenderly. "I am enjoying the trip, very much. But..." his eyes lowered to your lips for a second, before looking up at you again. "I wanted to get there early, be well rested for tomorrow... and finally do it."
You blinked, feeling yourself flush. "You mean... getting married?"
He nodded, getting closer, kissing you gently. "Yeah, I thought you'd actually cave when we were in Vegas and saw that hot Elvis impersonator and ask him to marry us-"
"Oh my God, I never said he was hot-"
"-but I know no matter how much you love his music, you really want to get married on a beach."
"I do..." you conceded, folding the map slowly, looking down. You felt a bit embarrassed and you weren't sure why. "But... are you sure that's what you want, too? We both need to like the place, you know."
Steve grinned and tried to kiss you again, but you stopped him. "Answer the question first."
"Yes, ma'am!" he joked, with an adorable grin on his face. "Of course that's I want. I would have married you even in a parking lot in Hawkins, that's how much I want to do it. Obviously it's good we are waiting so we can find a nicer place, though," he hastened to add, grabbing the map from your hands.
You and Steve had left Hawkins a week after your high school graduation. You both had some money saved, and you had packed everything in his car before saying goodbye to your families and friends. Of course your parents tried to make you change your mind, but you wouldn't listen - you didn't have a good relationship with them, and you couldn't wait to get out of that place. Both your home and Hawkins. And the same went for Steve.
You were taking a year off so you could work and save money for college, while you and Steve settled down somewhere. There was no way around it, really, and you kept repeating yourself that you would absolutely start college the following year, that this was only temporary (your mother's words still echoed in your mind, You are never going to college if you don't start in the fall, you won't have the will to do it next year if you put it off). You were absolutely going to prove her wrong.
You loved beaches and mild climates, so it was kind of obvious that your destination would be California. You knew it was so far from Indiana, but that was all for the better. You and Steve had made a few stops on the way, including Las Vegas the previous night, where you both had to restrain yourselves from gambling and playing. You definitely couldn't afford to lose money. But you had still had a nice time and after a couple of hours wandering around you both had decided that Vegas wasn't that interesting, anyway.
You had woken up late in the morning and had started the drive to California where you hopefully would finally find a nice town to settle in for the time being.
And to get married.
"Ok, maybe we should turn around and ask someone in that town we saw on the way..." Steve muttered, as he studied the impossibly confusing map, running a hand through his flawless hair. How it looked flawless all the time, you didn't know. 
You didn't say anything. You got lost in thought as you stared at him pensively, and he noticed. "What's wrong, sweetheart?"
"I was just thinking... I can't believe we're really doing this," you admitted with a small smile, taking his hand and squeezing it. 
Steve didn't reply, choosing on a kiss instead.
"This place is so beautiful!"
Steve laughed at your enthusiasm. You'd been repeating the same thing ever since you'd finally made it to a small town in Southern California and had dropped your baggage in the first motel you could find, so you could finally walk around and stretch your legs after all the driving. 
It was a little past seven and it was still bright outside, allowing you to take in all the sights and views so different from Hawkins. 
The people in this town seemed friendly, smiling at you as you walked around, although maybe it had to do with the fact that you looked so excited to be there, like a child in a toy shop. "Let's walk around the beach! Please?" you asked Steve, tugging on his hand. 
"As you wish, my love," he replied, looking at you with adoration. That made you blush. Even if you'd been with Steve for almost two years, he still had that effect on you. And that made you happy. 
You took off your shoes and headed toward the shore. The water felt cool and refreshing on your feet, the sun was just starting to set, painting the sky with beautiful hues of orange and purple, and as you closed your eyes and inhaled the salty ocean fragrance you smiled. 
This was it. 
This was the perfect place to get married.
You opened your eyes again. Steve was taking it all in, a bright smile on his face, the wind messing his hair just enough to make him look even more attractive. 
You got closer to him, placing a tender kiss on his collarbone, then his neck. Then his lips. "So, what do you think of this place?"
"It's perfect." He kissed you, gently at first, then passionately. When you parted, he pressed his forehead against yours and whispered: "Tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow," you agreed, knowing time would go by excruciatingly slow until the moment came.
Part 3 coming soon!
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