#and my ankle is still fractured as heck

[unfortunate-songbird]

I’ve been so good I’ve been helpful and friendly I’ve been so good why am I feeling empty I’ve been so good I’ve been so good this year I’ve been so good but it’s still getting harder I’ve been so good where the heck is the karma I’ve been so good I’ve been so good this year why are you asking me why my days and nights are filled with disappointment fine oh no everything’s fine I’m not sure why I booked todays appointment chorus chorus I’m not typing that out again what am I normal or not am I crazier than other patients right I’ve done everything right so where’s the karma doc I’ve lost my patience I’ve been so good I’ve been working my ass off I’ve been so good still I’m lonely and stressed out I’ve been so good I’ve been so good this year more lyrics here time I know we’re out of time but what if bad thoughts come and I can’t stop it bye I don’t wanna say bye if only I could keep you in my pocket to give me some diagnosis of why I’m so hollow please give me instructions I promise I’ll follow I tripped on my ankle and fractured my elbow but doesn’t that mean that the tour’s gonna sell though I try to explain the good faith that’s been wasted but after an hour it sounds like complaining wait don’t go away can I lie here forever you say that I’m better why don’t I feel better the universe works in mysterious ways but I’m starting to think it ain’t working for me doctor should I be good should I be good this year

[terrence-silver]

I just cut my foot to the point I'm questioning that I might need to go to the the ER so if it wouldn't be a inconvenience to you Bea can you write some headcanons or a little story about how terry would take care of beloved with a foot or leg injury please. thanks!!!! Always and forever much love! your writing are the highlights of my days🥰❤️

---

― Personal care is taken that beloved's foot is looked over, checked, bandaged, cleaned, disinfected on the spot --- the wound in question meticulously stared at by Terry, like he has a private fascination with whatever injury beloved sustained, appearing a little like a frenzied, hungry animal when faced with the mishap. Thing is, even their hurt is beautiful, erotic and alluring to him, always --- heck, especially their hurt. Their blood. The cut. The fractured tender flesh. The inflammation. The swelling. The redness. All the ways they wince, limp and sweetly moan in pain, shying away when he touches them exactly in the right, or rather wrong places, making beloved so very responsive and sensitive, not realizing he is enjoying himself a little way too much, to a perverse degree. Getting a huge kick out of it. Getting a kick out of the way his finger ever so slightly squeezes the cut while he is micromanaging its healing purely so he can watch the blood ever so slightly leak under pressure, getting stuck under his nail. Terry is a sadist and his sadism is always there, even when he is genuinely helpful and employing ever technique he knows to fix the hurt.

― And fix it he does, singlehandedly, perfectionist that he is, having enough military training to know how to mend a wound all on his own, kneading and stretching the leg to check if it is functional; a ritual observed and well-repeated, upon his strictest insistence, daily, in the weeks to come and having a somewhat fetishized quality to him in spite of it being genuinely and ironically helpful --- in fact, he is somewhat determined on having the explicit pleasure of doing so on his own even though a private doctor (or even a team of them) is well on their way, Terry still doesn't wish over to hand over the pleasure and privilege of fixing you to a medical worker because this is private. It is intimate. This moment, and all moments  pertaining to beloved's distress, ache and pain belong solely to him as well as their pleasure, along with all the nuances and the in's and out's of their body. By the time whatever high-end doctors Terry employs arrive on the scene of the accident, the leg would've already been fixed and sanitized and they've nothing to do but, at best, prescribe antibiotics and the needed medications. Is Terry privately smug and content about it? Yes. Yes, he is. Of course he did a bang-up job with it.

― Is there also a slight jealousy, though? Or rather, huge concealed jealousy? Of the irrational, near delusional kind? Due to beloved sustaining an injury all on their own and the fact Terry didn't get to be the sole cause behind it, whether consensually or otherwise? The answer is also yes. Everything here is about ultimate and pathological amounts of control. Terry fixing the leg wound and doing a shockingly and frighteningly good job at it. Terry being bothered he wasn't the reason behind it, this, say, sprained ankle, and as such, its creator. ER? Going to the ER? Why? When he is right there. Terry being too territorial to hand this over to a professional. Terry the micromanager. Terry the devoted lover. Terry the sadist. Terry, the master of pain. Terry ensuring he utilizes this injury to significantly limit beloved's movements under the guise of rest and recovering. Terry the schemer. Terry intentionally overblowing the severity of the situation to have an excuse to control beloved. Terry in love. Terry in love to the maddening degree that he can't bear the idea of beloved merely having an accident and getting hurt entirely on their own without him somehow being involved in all of it.

― Which is why this injury must go poste-haste --- be annihilated, terminated, dealt with --- and it does, due to Terry viewing it as an intrusive, intolerable, enemy, alien presence on his beloved's body, which heals in no time at all under his meticulous care and, in fact, over-caring. Must've learned how to do that in Vietnam, huh? Must've learned that through the mere fact that he is a blackbelt martial artist, and thus, knows how to manage the tools of his trade; the human body. Limbs. The things he fights with. Except, a couple of months later, beloved mysteriously might just sustain another eerily similar injury on their foot. The exact same foot. On the exact same place. One Terry orchestrates and oversees under the guise of it being yet another an ''accident''. They could've tripped because he deliberately guided them somewhere they could trip. Maybe he '''bashfully''' ran into them. Options are endless. Of course, none of this is an accident, and this wound too, heals in no time at all, but that is hardly the point. This is something Terry gave to beloved. Something that originated from him and him alone even though beloved doesn't realize that, instead of it mere happenstance and uncontrollable conditions. Now, they have something he gifted them. He won't be outmaneuvered by unpredictable events.

There's a tactical upside to this, though --- pre-planned.

Beloved getting hurt for the second consecutive time. Tsk. Tsk

Clearly, they can't be left alone to mingle out and about, so prone to injury.

They have to stay put, overseen by Terry Silver. Always.

He wants the best for them, after all. He is the best for them.

[iheartsunset]

Papa Louie Emery Headcanons (Amii’s PL pre-gen for Utah and Nevada)

(I love Amii’s OC so much and I’m so glad they asked me to write about them! I also got some ideas from @freezeriafan and I love their analyses too!)

@maznanangy @amii

-Emery Young-Freeman (she keeps Freeman just to rub it in her ex’s new wife’s face) is the 42 year old mother (if you can even call her that) of Nevada and Utah. She works as a bitchy office manager for Travel Trout above Ivy, who Emery keeps investigating because she is “very suspicious”. Emery has unfortunately re-emerged back into her kids’ life and now they dread existence. I feel like Emery lives in a small Tastyville house where she is a menace to her neighbors and the townspeople. Utah and Nevada go by the surname “Mahelona” from their paternal grandparents to both honor their heritage and cut off any connection to Emery.

-Emery grew up in an upper middle class family as the oldest of 2 kids. Her brother, Wayne Jewell (Wayne is also a county in Utah), is about 14 years younger and lives in Starlight City with his wife and their 4 sons. Their parents indulged in her difficult behavior and clearly favored her over Wayne, which was probably why she’s so messed up now. Okalani also used to babysit them, so she’s Nevada’s godmother. Emery was head cheerleader and Clark was a football player who was extremely smart. She basically just charmed him into doing all her assignments for her and they got married immediately after graduating. It was no secret to Clark or their daughters that she was cheating on him with multiple men and women as well as her abusing illegal substances. She even dragged Clark into it, and he was so ashamed after a while that he divorced her and made her go with him to Starlight City to get help. They both essentially abandoned their children and forced a then 16 year old Nevada to become the mother figure to Utah. Emery doesn’t really care about her kids at all and her reason for coming back was just to basically terrorize her ex husband who was trying to make up with them.

-She was totally a high school mean girl, not even a charming one like Regina George, she was more like Courtney from Jawbreaker or Marianne from Easy A. She’s also a complete Karen, always complaining, being a hypocrite, and a is a huge pessimist. She lies about the people around her, but is obviously terrible at it. The only redeeming quality about her is that she’s a hard worker and genuinely cares about the company, but that’s it, she’s not even nice or anything. She’s also stubborn, always staying or persisting with something that should be left alone (you probably don’t wanna get too involved with Ivy, I’ll just put that out there). Emery also might be going through a midlife crisis and likes to act like a teenager outside of work, often stealing clothes from her daughters or showing up unannounced to where they are.

-She, Quinn, and Sue used to be a polyamorous sort of relationship. Sue was only in on it because dates took stress off of her and Quinn just wanted a rebound because of her and Timm’s falling out. Quinn ended it after she proposed to Timm and they made up and Sue left because she met Mary. Despite this, Emery is pretty homophobic and claims it wasn’t even a relationship. She just sucks.

-Her friend group consists of Quinn, Sue, Mayor Mallow, Prudence’s mom, Vicki, Rico, and Rhonda. And by “friends”, I mean they tolerate her at best, except for Prudence’s mom because she’s just as awful.

-Emery isn’t a typical Karen, as she knows that vaccines work, the earth is round, and that wearing a mask is a good health decision. But Facebook Karens who run MLM schemes and give their children essential oils are the only people who tolerate her, so she likes to pretend in order to keep her friends. Emery also despises Minion memes, but will occasionally tag Utah,Nevada, Clark, and Ari in them to piss them off. Her PTA mom personality type would be Carol.

-She is one of only 3 people who have been banned from every single one of Papa’s restaurants, the other two being Guy Mortadello and Radley Madish. Utah at the Pastaria and Timm from the Bakeria banned her because she’s a jerk, but she was banned from the other places for verbally abusing the staff on a constant basis. She mainly just gets her miscellaneous boyfriends and girlfriends to get her stuff from there. She also likes to crash workplace meetings at Papa’s house just to rub it in Timm’s face that she used to bang his wife.

-She likes to eat tropical fruits and seafood. Her favorite food would be shrimp tacos with mango salsa and her favorite drink is a Hurricane (typing the word Hurricane as a Floridian makes me shudder). Emery also like coconut shrimp and sometimes sends some to her family, who just give it to other people because they don’t care.

-Alberto and Gremmie are Utah’s best friends and so they absolutely hate Emery. Gremmie plays all sorts of pranks on her and Alberto likes to hit her soccer balls on “accident”. But that’s nothing compared to Cameo, hoo boy does he not like her. He’s physically attacked her before because his love for Nevada is that strong, but it’s like she’s made of steel and always ends up whooping his ass after. Okalani, Kahuna, and Gremmie’s dad are extremely passive aggressive towards her too. Chuck is the only one out of all of them that will probably kill her both provoked and unprovoked.

-She is banned from every holiday and celebration that the Calypso Fam holds. It’s like Clark, Nevada, and Utah can sense her from miles away and they just automatically know not to answer the door. If she comes in, they just say “get the hell out of here, Emery”.

-She talks loud on the phone when she’s in line, and the conversations are usually not suitable to have in public. You can also hear music coming out of her headphones and she snaps at you if you bring it to her attention. She also has no phone case or pop socket, it’s just a phone. A plain, bare phone.

-She knows Ivy’s secret regarding the strange existences of Hacky Zak, CJ Friskins, Sweetheart, and potentially others. Ivy knows that Emery’s been too nosy, but she’s okay with it because nobody likes Emery and don’t listen to her anyways. What is the secret, you ask? Maybe in a future Ivy headcanons post will the truth be known...

-She named her kids after old states because the only class she was good at (besides PE) was geography. Why she never chose a name like Arizona or Florida for Utah we’ll never know, she was probably just being extra petty.

-Chuck has shot her with the pineapple gun before. Pineapple hurts. Not even the cold steel of Emery could deflect it. These are facts.

-Totally orders the most awful combinations of food and gets pissed off when it doesn’t taste good. Then she calls and complains about it and demands free stuff.

[ahiddenpath]

Life Update

It me, yuh gurl.

Long personal post about...  Dealing with...  *Waves hands*  Everything.

Hey my boops, how ya doin?

I’m feeling sort of...  Hm, what’s the word?  Pensive?  Ruminative?  These days.  I guess I’m wondering: is my life where I want it to be?  If not, what do I want?  Stuff like that.  It’s a normal and common thing, I’m sure.

My life has been kind of wild since...  Actually, since I broke my foot in three places and nearly tore my ankle tendons in late 2017.  I spent about three months nonmobile, then another six in physical therapy to regain motion in my ankle/foot.  My grandmother passed in 2018 (while I was still in PT), and my family fractured after that (basically squabbling over her possessions, which weren’t valuable, but old grievances were involved, too).  I started therapy after that, and I spent over two years really focused on that- which I think is some of the hardest/most difficult work you can do, at least by choice.  The pandemic started while I was still in therapy, and I’m still trying to wrap my brain around the loss of over two years of my life???  Which is still ongoing????

So, uh, yeah, actually...  My sense of being displaced in time and my own life is making more sense, now that I wrote that out.

One of the big things on my mind recently is work.  I’m a researcher at a biotech, annnnnd our current capital will run out in Q4, based on our financial reports.  So, uh, under five months, and of course, they would have to close shop well before they hit $0 to take care of expenses (paying out vacation days to employees and paying any business debts, for example).  

Biotechs are volatile, they start and close all the time, and layoffs are common when big projects are dropped.  Our company projected income for the year from collaborations, and literally none of those deals have panned out.  It’s looking bad- but I’ve never been between jobs or unemployed since I was 16, so, um, a break would be amazing?  So I’m torn between applying to get ahead of it and taking it easy and letting the chips fall. 

I’ve always been focused on planning for my future, like...  For as long as I can remember.  My family is...  Well, I knew I’d have to support myself and be independent ASAP since I was a child.  I can’t go to my family for emotional support, advice, or a basic understanding and acknowledgement of who I am as a person.  I certainly can’t go to them for financial support; it just isn’t there.  My mom expected me to financially support her, in fact, and when she first saw the house I bought two years ago, she spent the whole visit insulting me because I told her she would not be moving in.  (My therapy session after that was a whole thing, lemme tell ya what).  It’s sad how much of my life has pointed directly towards achieving financial security, knowing that I have no place to land.  Every decision, every plan.  And, like, it worked, or at least it has so far, which is undeniably a good thing!  

But I need to figure out how to shift from “everything I do is strategized to promote economic security” to “uh hey babe, darling, sweetie pie, being happy and appreciating the moment is kind of what life is made of.”  And yet, here I am feeling hypocritical as heckin heck, because of course you need economic security to appreciate the moment!  You can’t be enjoying a croissant and a hot cocoa on your day off if you are stretching to afford a pound of spaghetti noodles for like $1.60, or whatever that costs with recent inflation- or if you’re working your second or third job on your day off.

I think I’ve been mourning things that are difficult to articulate these days, too.  I...  Don’t know if I’ll have children, that’s the big thing.  Listen, no shade to people who choose to reproduce- in fact, I admire hope in the face of adversity- but I don’t know if there will be a tenable planet for my theoretical kiddo within thirty years- or sooner.  I’m a biopharma research scientist, not a climate scientist, but I can interpret data, and my formal summary: that shit be scary.  And my country, the USA, is catapulting backwards in terms of rights and dignities.  Plus, you know, late stage capitalism hellscape, etc.  

And what about the loss of time since 2020?  I planned to spend my early 30s travelling- I am sadly an untravelled person- and now it’s heckin hard to even plan a domestic trip (fuel prices, pilot shortages, etc).  Like many people, I’ve spent the time since 2020 terrified of being sick and losing loved ones, stuck inside far more, and trying to navigate how to behave in the face of deadly unknowns- and incredibly frustrated by my country’s response.  It actually kind of reminds me of the Thanos snap.  Obviously, we didn’t, like, dematerialize, but as of this writing, there have been over a million recorded covid deaths in the states.  Lives came to a halt, and so many people lost so much- high schoolers missing out on activities and postponing college or opting for remote, babies and toddler missing periods of socialization, on and on and on.  And then, after a few weeks, we pushed on as normal, even though nothing was normal???

 So, yeah.  I feel like I’m passing my hands over my body and feeling holes that aren’t physically there.  They are there, but they can’t be seen or easily explained.  And I bet most people feel this way.  Global trauma, my guys.

I have exactly zero advice, except to be gentle with ourselves and each other.  I hope I’ll have the courage to focus on being happy, and not on how messed up the world is and wondering if the holes are expanding.  In the face of uncertainty, working harder and hoarding what we have and forgoing fun things in the name of security is...  The exact instinct of someone with an anxiety disorder who has focused on security all her life.  And I’m willing to bet you don’t need a mood disorder or a past of security-based insecurities to feel this way.

So...  Here I am, struggling to absorb everything that has been, everything that is, and a future that is more unsure than ever.  That’s it, really, even after that honkin’ wall of text.  I hope you’re hanging in there, and that you have fun things going on, even if they’re small- maybe especially if they’re small.  Much love to you, my dears.

[ren1327]

Sweet Survivor Ch.4

As soon as the door shut, Darius and Sammy sandwiched Ben into a hug, causing him to groan.

“Guys. Uh, Yaz looks like she needs some first aid.”

Kenji lifted her, eyes burning through Ben. “Lead the way.”

Ben limped forward, Brooklynn giving him a side hug and whispering, “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Ben led them to his room and Sammy and Brooklynn helped her recline on a bed.

“Oh, my gosh…it’s like a cloud!” She sighed happily.

Bumpy groaned happily as Yaz scratched under her chin.

“She’s so big now.” She hummed as Bumpy nuzzled her side.

“We should treat that as soon as—” He yelped when Kenji pulled him into a tight hug, his nose smooshed into his chest.

Kenji said nothing, just squeezed him one more time before taking off the fanny pack and holding it out to Ben, who held it with trembling hands.

“You kept it.” He said.

“I couldn’t…it really saved our butts against Toro.”

“What?!” He yelped before hearing Yaz hiss in pain. “Eh…later.”

Ben looked through the bags from the infirmary and found an ankle brace, bandages and some metal rods to make Yaz a cast. He knew how to do it.

But now he was worried if he should do it...

“Ben?” Sammy asked.

“I, uh. I can do it, but I’m scared I might do it wrong. It’s dislocated and you might have a fracture…”

“Ben.” Darius said. “You have first aid training, right?”

“Yeah.”

Kenji threw his hands up. “Paging Dr. Ben, Nurse Kenji is here to help.”

“Wh-What?” Ben asked.

Kenji sat next to him at Yaz’s feet. “Tell me what to do and I’ll do it. I got your back.”

Ben blushed and smiled, nodding.

“This is gonna hurt. Sammy?”

“On it.” The Tejana said.

Sammy sat behind Yaz, bracing her hips with her thighs and holding her hands for her to squeeze.

Yaz blushed as Darius gave her a leather phone case.

“Bite on it. We can’t be super loud yet.” He said.

She huffed and put it between her teeth. Brooklynn placed her arms across her remaining leg.

“Is this okay?” She asked, the athlete nodding.

“Okay, Darius, make sure we have some light.” Ben said.

Darius shined a lamp over them.

Ben took hold of Yaz’s socked foot.

“You got this, Ben.” Darius said, Kenji nodding and holding Yaz’s knee still.

“Okay. One…two…”

SNAP

Yaz shouted into the phone case, squeezing Sammy’s hands and thrashing.

“We got you. We got you.” Sammy said as Ben quickly wrapped it.

“Kenji, bring me that ottoman.” He said and wrapped cold packs onto Yaz, placing it gently on a pillow. “There we go. Keep it elevated.”

Yaz sniffed and Sammy wiped away her tears. “You did great!”

“Thanks.” She croaked.

“Here.” Darius said, giving her some pain medication and water.

“Okay, we’ll need to keep you stationary for a couple days.” Ben said.

“Not just me.” She said. “You think I don’t know the signs of a bruised tailbone? You’ve been standing as much as possible despite your shaking legs.”

“I’m okay.” He said, wincing when Bumpy bumped his hip.

“Yeah, no.” Kenji said and scooped him up bridal style.

“K-Kenji!” He stuttered.

“I claim adjoining room as guys room.” He said to the others.

“Um, actually…” Darius said. “I think we’d be better higher, for a better vantage point.”

“What about Bumpy?” Kenji asked. “And the Pteranodons?”

Ben shivered and Kenji held him tighter.

“There’s a second garden area overlooking the courtyard on the sixth floor.” Brooklynn said, pointing at a brochure. “Would that be okay?”

“It’s a part of the spa.” Darius said. “But…”

“There’s a maintenance elevator. For the ballrooms and upstairs kitchen.” Kenji said. “I’ll take Bumpy and Ben.”

Darius nodded and went into the hall to find a luggage cart. “We’ll get Yaz ready to be moved. Then we can gather up the supplies and make camp up there.”

Brooklynn giggled and Darius blushed. “Again.”

Kenji smirked as Darius gave them one of the universal keys and keycards.

“Be careful, Man.”

Kenji nodded.

“You too. Got precious cargo.” He said and started off towards the east lift. Ben wrapped his arms around Kenji’s neck, Bumpy following behind and stopping every so often to much on a fresh flower or two.

“Hey.” Kenji said.

“Y-yeah?”

“I’m sorry. I should’ve—”

“Stop.” Ben said, swaying as Kenji stilled. “You guys made the right call. I mean, it’s just me.”

“What the heck, Ben?!” Kenji snapped. “Just you?!”

He put him down on his feet.

“I…I was so…” Kenji sighed. “I was so scared you were dead!”

He hugged him close again.

“I thought you were gone…And…” He pulled away, holding Ben’s shoulders.

“I will never let you down again.”

Ben blinked up at him with almost owlish eyes.

“I…” He blushed and nodded. “I trust you.”

Kenji picked him up again. “Then let’s find the luxury apartment. Dad let me stay there when we visit. It’s got three rooms and is a few feet from the spa and garden. Not to mention the ballroom right down the hall.”

“You really spent a lot of time here, huh?”

“Yeah…Dad was always busy and Candy…it was kind of awkward.” Kenji said.

“How?”  Ben asked as they got to the lift, the doors opening for Bumpy to shuffle in. Kenji got in next to her, pressing the 6th floor button.

“Candy tried to be my mom, but she…she didn’t sign up for this. Who dates a guy and tries to be a parent to his rowdy kid when he wont even…She use to make these ugly burnt grilled cheese and lumpy banana milkshakes because she wanted to make me food herself?”

He laughed. “I always eat every bite.”

Kenji smiled, thinking of his stepmother and her pretty face and timid eyes.

“She would even trick my Dad into bringing me along on trips sometimes” He said. “But Dad wanted me to try out the camp. And…he wanted Candy to relax.”

“Is she busy too?” Ben asked as the lift dinged softly and they walked off.

“She has her own brand of natural and pure beauty products…” He said. “And she’s gonna have a baby soon.”

He paused in front of a large door. “Dad’s psyched.”

“Oh…I’m sorry.” Ben said.

He opened the door and Kenji propped it open, walking in and kicking open a sliding door to gently lay Ben down on his side.

“I’m gonna go help them bring stuff up.” He said as Bumpy settled in an open area to nap.

“Kenji.” Ben called.

He stopped and looked at Ben.

“I’m glad you came. To camp, I mean.”

Kenji smiled. “Me too.”

Ben flopped on his side as Kenji left, rubbing his cheeks to lessen his blush.

[nishiology]

as someone who is extremely clumsy and was always twisting their ankle back in middle school, i kinda felt this one. @bitweird1, i hope these are to your liking and i hope your foot gets better soon! 💙

Todoroki and Midoriya assisting their S/O with a foot injury

You were always a little clumsy... constantly running into people and knocking things over. You also had a really bad sense of direction.

Shouto tries his best to walk behind you and make sure that you don’t get seriously hurt - he’s like your personal GPS!

Unfortunately, he’s not always around to guide you. One day, when you were coming from the locker rooms after training, you stepped in a puddle. Your shoes didn’t have a lot of friction, and you slipped. You were prepared to brace yourself on your forearms... until your foot twisted inwards. A groan of anguish escaped your lips as you collided with the tile.

You had barely managed to hobble your way to Recovery Girl, who lightly chastised you for not watching where you stepped. She bandaged your swelling ankle and told you not to put too much pressure on it, and to try and put it on ice.

Later, after class ended, you slowly staggered your way to Shouto’s dorm, and smiled when he opened the door. 

He looked a little tired, but he seemed to perk up a little when he saw you. “Ah, Y/N. It’s good to see you,” he said with a small smile.

“It’s good to see you too, Sho!” you chimed, using the nickname you gave him when you first started dating. “So, look. I have a teeny, tiny favor to ask of you,” you spoke as he invited you into his room.

You hear a quiet huff escape his lips. “Alright? And what is this favor, hmm?” You turn to him, a grin on your face. “So, I was changing after training, and... wouldn't you know it, I stepped in a puddle! And I slipped... and twisted my ankle.” He sighs heavily, but you can see the hint of a smirk still on his face. “Goodness, will you always be this clumsy? Hmm... is there anything I can do to help?”

A smirk quickly grows on your face as you began to carefully kick off your shoes. “Well... Recovery Girl did say I needed to keep my ankle on ice.” He raised an eyebrow and chuckled, mumbling, “Well, if Recovery Girl said so...”

He sits you down on his bed and kneels down in front of you, carefully removing the bandages from your ankle. Taking your foot in his right hand, he gently wraps his fingers around your ankle and activates his quirk. You sigh in relief as the pain shooting through your foot begins to dissipate.

“I’m assuming that this is helping?” The smirk in his voice is evident even without looking at him. You hum softly. “Yes, thank you so much, Sho...”

One of his rare, bright smiles spreads across his face. “Anything for you, love.”

Izuku was never the most elegant person either, but with age comes grace... more or less. Sometimes he trips over his own feet, but never anything too bad.

That aforementioned lack of elegance tended to rub off on you, however. When you started dating, you always joked about how accident prone Izuku was... until you started tripping over things that weren’t there and bumping into bookshelves.

He jokes about you also being clumsy, but often worries that you’ll get seriously injured. You always tell him not to be so worrisome. “I’ll be fine, ‘Zuku! You don’t have to worry so much!” 

afternoon in particular, you were lounging in your dorm with Izuku. He was laid horizontally across your bed while you sat at your desk. Becoming bored with your attempts to study, you began spinning around in your swivel chair. You giggled in delight as everything in your room began to mesh into an amalgamation of colorful objects, including your frizzy haired boyfriend.

“Y/N, aren’t you gonna get dizzy doing that?” he laughed softly. You scoffed as you stuck your legs straight out and calling to him, “No way! I got this, babe, no worries-”

You were very abruptly cut off as your left ankle slammed into the side of your desk, sending a sharp, stinging pain through your entire leg. The sound of your foot colliding with the wooden desk startled Izuku, causing him to dart up into a sitting position. A loud yelp escaped your throat as you cradled your injured foot. “Ouch! God damn it, that fucking hurt!”

Izuku, now officially in panic mode, rolled off the bed and scrambled to your side. He’s on the floor, examining your ankle as carefully as he can with a frightened expression on his face. “Oh my God, are you okay?!” He’s just about ready to cry when he takes note of the grimace that covered your face. 

You attempt to stand up, but an even worse pain shoots through your ankle as you try to shift your weight off of your left side. “I-I... we need to get you to Recovery Girl. She’ll know what to do!” Izuku stammers as he scoops you into his arms and begins heading towards Recovery Girl’s office.

Once you arrived at Recovery Girl’s office, she conducted a quick examination of your entire foot, coming to the conclusion that you might have fractured your fibula. You look at her in bewilderment, wondering how you could’ve fractured a bone just by hitting it against a wooden desk. “It’s not even like... hardwood or anything, it’s just wood! What the heck...”

After she advises you to keep any and all pressure off of your left foot, Izuku helps you back to your dorm. He immediately sits you down on your bed and uses one of your many throw pillows to prop up your foot, keeping it in a position where you won’t feel too much pain. “Thanks, ‘Zuku. Maybe you were right... I’m too clumsy for my own good,” you giggled. With a small smile, he replied with a laugh. “I told you so, Y/N.”

[zorria]

I headcanon that Ban cleaned Meliodas’s wounds when they were in purgatory.

As soon as ban and Meliodas were reunited and were happily crying with joy after seeing each other after so long ban made sure to check over Meliodas as ban was fully aware of his injuries and knew Meliodas couldn’t help him however, this didn’t stop Meliodas from checking as he was very worried about Ban as Meliodas knows all to well of the environment in purgatory. After checking over ban and finding nothing Meliodas relaxes a bit. Ban on the other hand doesn’t as he was very worried about Meliodas as he didn’t know what Meliodas went through by himself in here. Meliodas noticed his worried expression and asked ban what was wrong? Ban replied: “Captain would be okay if I checked you over for injuries and stuff? I mean knowing how tough you are I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about but it would make me feel better if I did” of course after hearing how concerned Ban was with his well being he couldn’t say no. So Meliodas agreed.

Ban: okay captain lay down for me so I check you over

Mel: sure thing!

Meliodas goes to lay down on the ground but ban quickly moves his head onto his lap as he doesn’t want Meliodas to be uncomfortable that and he likes feeling Meliodas’s warm naked body on his own naked body. Having gotten Meliodas comfortable ban starts to check him over gently as ban doesn’t want to harm or further injure Meliodas’s precious skin

Ban: does it hurt when press down on your arm?

Mel: no it doesn’t it feels fine

Ban: alright how about on your left wrist does it hurt when I press down?

Mel *wincing a little bit*: a little bit yes but not like excruciating

Ban: hmm okay how would you rate it on a scale of 1-10 for pain?

Mel: like a 3 1/2

Ban: okay. Well it doesn’t feel broken or fractured so I’m guessing you just bruised it a little bit.

Mel: well that’s a relief especially sense it’s the hand I fight with!

Ban: well we wouldn’t you not to be Able to fight now would we?

Mel: heck no!

Ban: exactly! Now lay still again so I can finish so we can go find away out of this hell hole

Mel: okay!

Ban continues to exhaim Meliodas hovering his hands over every spot he can until he gets to Meliodas’s feet there he sees how bad they are hurt. His feet are badly burned all over (so much so it’s a miracle he was walking on them before without screaming in pain) along with being badly burned there was a few blisters on his ankles and frostbite on the tip of his toes. Ban knew how painful it was as he had encountered all of these problems with being in purgatory for so long so he knew his partner’s feet had to be in so much pain but of course Meliodas being Meliodas he would never admit to being in pain not if he could help it. He knew he had to help his partner but he Also knew In helping him he would cause Meliodas a lot amount of pain. Something he never wanted to do but he had to for Meliodas’s own good. So with a heavy sign ban explained to Meliodas what he discovered.

Ban: captain... your feet are badly injuried why didn’t you say anything to me?

Meliodas realizing ban noticed how badly his feet were hurt stays slient as he doesn’t want to talk about it as he knows he should’ve said something to ban when he first asked but he didn’t as he thought he could handle it himself... but clearly he couldn’t...

Ban: captain I know you don’t wanna talk right now as you know you’re in troubl-

meliodas suddenly slides done further trying to get away from ban as he doesn’t like it when ban is mad at him however ban stops Meliodas’s escape and to keep him from escaping he lays Meliodas in his arms with his legs laying down on his lap and his head being gradled in his arm. This new position gives ban better access to Meliodas’a feet which makes him happy as it will be easier to treat them faster Meliodas also notices this but chooses not to say anything as he still doesn’t wanna talk. Ban continues where he left off before Meliodas tried to escape.

Ban: look Meliodas (yeah he’s in deep trouble now) I know you don’t want me to treat those injuries but I have to little one. I know it’s going to hurt a lot but please understand I don’t wanna hurt you just as much as you don’t want it to hurt. But if I leave them it will only get worse for you I-I couldn’t handle having you be in horrible pain I can’t... it will break my heart too much so please, PLEASE let me treat them. It will feel so much better afterwards if you do and after it’s all done I’ll give you lots of kisses and snuggles what do you say?

Melidoas thinks about this for a minute as he doesn’t want ban to treat them as he still thinks he can handle it himself but after hearing what ban just said and the look of desperation and pleading in his beautiful red eyes he can’t say no it would hurt him to much and he doesn’t wanna hurt his lover. So he concedes and lets ban treat them.

Ban: thank you little one I promise I’ll try and be as quick as I can

Mel: thank you ban

Ban begins by first starting to heal the burns with the magic he aqured in purgatory. He gently lets it flow down to Mel’s burns. As soon as it touches them Meliodas flinches severely as it hurt but also scared him. Ban quickly calms him down and tells him what he’s doing. Meliodas calms down and lets ban continuing while digging his tiny nails into ban’s arm eveytime it hurts. Ban once again lets his magic flow down to the burns and once again Meliodas flinches but not because it scared him but because it hurt a lot. The pain is so much he starts to whimper in pain and tries to move his feet away from ban. But ban already expecting Meliodas to do this quickly grabs ahold of his feet again and holds them in his other hand while continuing the procedure. Meliodas continues to try and get away from ban’s hand but ban won’t let him go as he knows this needs to happen so it won’t hurt Meliodas in the long run. Everytime Meliodas whimpers, screams or cries out in pain ban gently shhs Meliodas and tells him that he’s doing good and that he’s almost done and then he will let Meliodas have a break after he’s done with the burns before moving on to the other injuries. Hearing this makes Meliodas calm down slightly but not a whole lot. Ban quickly finshes up with the burns and gently lets go of Meliodas’s feet naturally Meliodas tries to get up and move his feet but ban grabs a hold of him and scolds him saying he can’t move yet as he has to let his feet have a break just as much as he needs one after finishing the procedure. Meliodas understands and says he won’t move his feet again. Ban trusts him and gently lets go and moves his hands up to Meliodas’s hair and runs his fingers through his hair lovingly apologizing to his lover for hurting him so bad. Meliodas obviously forgives him instantly and tells ban he knows why he did what he did and isn’t mad at him for it. Hearing this makes Ban so Happy that he’s squeezes Meliodas’s hesd in his hands this makes Meliodas laugh and the two of them start goofying off and tickling each other and gently kissing one another. After about 5 minutes of messing around with each other ban gets back to work, working on Meliodas’s feet again he lets his magic flow to Meliodas’s toes and starts to get rid of the frostbite just like last time Meliodas starts to cry and scream in pain trying to get his feet away from ban but ban continues on but listening to his lover cry out in pain absolutely breaks his heart and almost makes him stop but he continues on knowing this will help his little lover in the long run. Finally after what felt like an eternity ban finshes with the frostbite and goes to comfort his poor lover with a onslot of kisses to Meliodas’s face and everywhere he can think of. This makes Meliodas really happy as he’s missed this and ban so much he didn’t think he was going to be able to make it any longer without seeing his blue haired lover again. Thinking about it brings tears to his eyes seeing Meliodas being to cry ban starts to freak out.

Ban: little one why are you crying did I do soemthing wrong? Are you in pain still? Please talk to me!!

Mel: no, no I’m fine really don’t worry I was just thinking about how I don’t think I could’ve lasted any longer in here without getting to see you again... ban I missed you so much... I missed your kisses and your laugh and EVERYTHING about you. I missed you so much not being able to have you here was maddening which probably is what caused me to turn into that dragon you saw. If I couldn’t see you again life wasn’t worth living... but then you CAME and saved me and made me feel loved again. Ban I can’t thank you enough for loving me like you do even with me being a demon I can’t thank you enough I love you!

After sayinf this they both hug each other again and just cry and just holding each other feeling the warmth of the other actvially confriming that yes the other was in deed still there and they weren’t going to leave each other anytime sooon. Meliodas from feeling the warmth of them both beings to dose off. Ban notices and starts to gently rock Meliodas back and forth Meliodas questions him about the blisters on his feet that still remain. Ban shhs him sayinf they can wait for a little bit as Meliodas takes a much needed nap. Meliodas laughs into ban’s shoulder but gets Lulled Again by ban’s rocking and eventually falls asleep in the arms of his lover for the first time in millions of year’s. Listening to Meliodas snoring slightly and having him breath down his neck makes ban also tried so he gently moves them down to the ground (as now to wake up his lover) and lays down with Meliodas on top of him. He gently kisses his lover on the forhead wishing him sweet dreams and eventually falls asleep as well with his arms wrapped around Meliodas pushing him closer to his chest. They stay like that for hours until they are interrupted by who? The beasts of purgatory They both don’t understand what is happening but they quickly get up and hide behind a rock trying to figure out what’s going and what they are going to do about clothes and Meliodas’s blisters. This excitement leaves them wondering where this adventure in purgatory will take them next. But hopefully wherever it is they are togther with each other and not separated again.

[repulsivepangolin7]

Fic: 31 days of whump (2/31)

A/N: Oh, what the heck, I might as well rapid-fire the first two or three.

Word count: 3 764

He knew a good portion of his character flaws. One was dyslexia, although he didn’t really consider it a flaw anymore. Another was what someone, sometime, had argued had to be ADHD, or at least ADD. He didn’t really care about that, he knew his attention span wasn’t the world greatest, but it was alright.

Some would call it a character flaw to be as tied up to his job as he was.

And there was a bunch more.

Eating like a medium sized industrial vacuum cleaner…

Maybe a bit more quick-tempered than one should be…

Right then and there, chasing a suspect, only one of those flaws he could come up with from the top of his head came back to bite him in the ass. -Or rather, the ankle.

He heard tires squeal against the hot asphalt. And quick reflexes was the only thing that saved him from being hit head on by the Mercedes-Benz star, but it wasn’t quite enough for him to avoid being hit by the car all together.

The first couple of seconds after he landed, he was in a sort of numb state where pain didn’t register yet. It was almost like a land of denial, as long as it didn’t hurt yet it couldn’t be that bad.

At the same time, he wasn’t sure if he could force himself to look towards his ankles.

The car that hit him didn’t stop, the next car didn’t either. But then again, it wasn’t even sure that the second car had seen what happened.

And then his right ankle started letting him know something was seriously wrong.

Tan came running up to him, and Luca managed to convince him to bolt after the suspect.

Next came Hondo.

SWATSWATSWAT

“Are you hurt?” Hondo asked as he kneeled down next to Luca, who was in the process of propping himself up on one elbow.

Luca blinked a few times and chanced a glance towards his legs.

“Luca, are you hurt?”

“My leg’s broken.” Luca answered with a 1000 yard stare.

“You think your leg is broken?” Hondo asked, “Which one?”

“No. My leg IS broken.” Luca swallowed.

Hondo frowned, “Which one?”

“Right one.”

“Lower leg? Upper leg?”

Luca swallowed hard, “My ankle’s toast. My lower leg in general feels wrong.”

Then random cars which had been further away, and had a better view of the whole accident started slowing down and stopping.

Hondo called in the accident, and Luca’s suspected injury. Agreeing that they needed an ambulance to come pick him up.

“Hey, I barely saw what happened…” A guy who had parked his truck came up to them, “Are you alright?”

“He likely broke his right leg.” Hondo answered for Luca, “Dispatch said the ambulance was ten minutes out.”

The guy nodded, “Anything I can do?”

Luca shook his head.

“No, nothing I can think of…” Hondo shrugged.

“We’re good here.” Luca ground out, “You can move on, no need in being parked on the side of the road and making LA traffic worse.”

The guy chuckled a bit, “Okay, alright. I wish you a speedy recovery.”

“Thanks.” Luca nodded, he was uncharacteristically pale by now.

The guy left.

Hondo looked back down at Luca, “How are you feeling?”

The blond shook his head.

“Still not a mind reader…” Hondo reminded him.

“My leg’s pounding.” Luca grimaced, “And I feel like I’m either going to pass out, or puke.”

“Well, please don’t do either…” Hondo smirked, hoping that he’d pull a short laugh from Luca. A short laugh from Luca would make it feel like everything was going to be alright.

“Man, it hurts.” Luca admitted through gritted teeth.

“I know…” Hondo nodded and placed a comforting hand on Luca’s shoulder, “Do you want me to start untying your boot? So that we can take a look at your ankle?”

Luca shook his head, “Nah. I think the ambulance people has more experience in that. Let them do it.”

Hondo nodded, “Okay, that’s alright.”

SWATSWATSWAT

After work they all went to visit Luca at the hospital.

He was basically just laying, waiting for swelling of his ankle and leg to go down enough for the surgeons to piece it back together.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Deacon asked as soon as he had stepped into the room.

“Been better.” Luca admitted, “But they give me enough painkillers to make laying here semi-comfortable…”

Deacon offered up a brief smile.

“So, what’s the damage report?” Street bumped in, nodding towards Luca’s leg, which was covered in a temporary cast and rested on a mountain of pillows.

“Definitely broke it.” Luca shook his head, “Don’t really remember the fancy explanation for it, but I broke my leg six inches above the ankle, straight across both the bones… And my ankle is in multiple pieces. No better way to put it.”

Street nodded slowly as he tried to imagine the fractures in his mind. “So you’ll be laid up for a while?”

Luca shrugged, “I don’t really know what’s going to happen. Except that I need surgery to give all that a chance to heal…”

“That sucks, man…”

Luca bobbed his head in a nod, “Sure does.”

“On the plus side, Tuana might come visit you…” Street teased.

“Tuana?” Tan asked, as Luca blushed bright red.

“Kelly’s mom…” Street answered with a shit eating grin.

“What?” Deacon’s eyebrows shot up, “Are you dating her?”

“No…” Luca shook his head, “N-”

“Not officially.” Street chuckled, “I’m really tired of the way the two of you are doing your best futile attempt at keeping it hidden.”

Luca shook his head, “Well, it’s not, -official-, yet.”

“Well, maybe you two can finally get a move on, now that you’re off duty.” Street shrugged, causing most of the other S.W.A.T members to laugh.

“Dude, stop it.”

“Never.” Street answered smugly, “Not unless you come over here and stop me.”

“You’re punching a man while he’s laying down.” Luca said as he gestured to his cast clad leg.

“Only unfair fight is the one you lose…” Tan chuckled, “Isn’t that what you said to the recruits last year?”

“Yeah. I also told them to not kill each other, because they weren’t in the streets.” Luca pointed out.

Right then there was a knock at the door, before it opened up and Kelly and her mother entered.

“Hey team!” Kelly beamed, she saw most of the team first, before she came far enough inside the room to see Luca, “Hey Luca. Mom said you got hurt.”

Her eyes went wide when she saw the cast on his leg.

“I did…” Luca nodded, “But I’m going to be alright. It’s just going to take some time.”

“Wow, hey…” Tuana nodded at the guys and Chris, “I should have known all of you’d be here…”

Hondo smirked, “Actually, we were just about to leave… But our boy here could use the company…”

Tuana blushed a bit, but recovered quickly. Then she looked over at Luca, “Hey there… How are you doing?”

Luca shrugged a little, “Gonna be a rough couple of months… But I’ll be okay.”

“You didn’t really answer my question, now did you?”

Luca chuckled, “Well, no. My leg hurts, and I have to have it elevated and completely still…”

Tuana smirked a little, “Can you actually lay, or sit, still?”

The whole team chuckled.

“She really called you out there…” Chris grinned.

“Well, my girl texted me that she would have dinner ready when I came home. So I gotta leave now.” Hondo said, looking at the other team members in a hope that they would take the hint.

“Yeah, and we have that thing at… At…” Chris rolled her hand in the air, like she was searching for the correct word.

“Oh, yeah…” Street nodded when he caught on, “Yeah, you, me and Tan are meeting Derek and his girl…”

“Exactly.” Chris nodded.

Deacon smirked, “Well, I’ve got about an hour before I have to pick up the two youngest from kindergarten… That gives me a chance to grab a coffee and sit down in peace and quiet for a spell.”

The team members who weren’t confined to a hospital bed up and left, switching between goodbye hugs and fist-bumps on their way out the door.

SWATSWATSWAT

“Well, the team acted weird…?” Tuana shrugged after the team left.

Luca chuckled, “Yeah, you should’ve heard them before you guys came.”

“Oh yeah?”

Luca nodded, then he tried to shift a little in his bed, ending up with grimacing and groaning, fighting not to let out every four letter word he could think of.

After half a minute he pulled the pillow from below his head and placed it over his own face, finally allowing himself to whisper a silent ‘fuck’ into it, before removing it and placing it back under his head.

“-Are you alright?” Tuana asked, “Do you need anything?”

Luca shook his head, letting his right hand dart up to wipe away the remnants of smeared tears.

“I’m alright.” he choked out, “I just need my leg to stop aching so much.”

“You’re acting weird…” Kelly said with worry in her eyes.

“I’m sorry Kelly-girl…” Luca sighed, “It’s just that my leg hurts really bad. And I don’t want to… I don’t want to say bad words in front of you…”

“Like, Hell? Or, Damn?” Kelly asked, “Some kids at my old school cussed really much. Some kids at my new school says some bad words every now and then… It’s not like I haven’t heard it before?”

Luca chuckled, “Well, I’m trying to be a good role model here…”

Kelly chuckled, “Alright. Okay.”

Tuana chuckled, then she looked at Kelly, “Kelly, maybe you could go down to the lobby and buy yourself some snacks? Since we didn’t go home to eat before we got here…”

Kelly’s face lit up at that, as Tuana pulled out a few dollars to give to her. “And bring me back a coke.”

Kelly nodded before she headed out the door.

SWATSWATSWAT

“So, how are you really doing?” Tuana asked after the door closed.

“I’m a little freaked out…” Luca admitted, “But I know that’s mostly just because this hurts like a motherfucker right now.”

Tuana nodded.

“Wanna hear something funny?”

“What?”

“Street kinda mentioned that we had been seeing each other a bit more recently…” Luca admitted, “To the rest of the team… That’s why they acted weird…”

She smirked, “I kinda guessed it had to be something along those lines…”

“Yeah…” Luca nodded, “He’s getting impatient…”

“Well, he’s not completely alone…” Tuana winked, then stood up and stepped over to Luca’s bed, placing a hand on top of his.

“Maybe we should… Y’know…” Luca’s tongue darted out to wet his lower lip, “Maybe we should…”

“Make it official?”

Luca nodded.

“Maybe we should…” Tuana smirked and leaned down to place a kiss on Luca’s lips.

Luca met the kiss eagerly, running a hand through her dark hair.

“You had me worried.” She said as she pulled away a little, “I heard it on the news before I got your call.”

“I’m sorry…” Luca said, rubbing a calloused hand against her upper arm, “Someone left my phone on the other side of the room, with my clothes… And I didn’t exactly know where it was…”

“Not like that…” Tuana shook her head, “You were in great pain, of course your first thought wasn’t to call your secret girlfriend. And besides, I bet the doctors and nurses kept you occupied for a while…”

Luca nodded at that.

“I meant, I know I don’t want to lose you…” she admitted, “Actually, I’ve known that ever since you helped Kelly get into her new school…”

Luca’s lips curved at one side.

“But, I also want to be able to be proud of you in public.” She winked, “Not… Not real public, but… Amongst our friends…”

“Darling, it would make me so incredibly happy to just… -To just tell my friends that I’m with this amazing woman and mother…” Luca gave her arm a squeeze, “And to be Kelly’s… Kelly’s… Step-dad?”

Tuana chuckled, then nodded.

“About that…” Luca looked down at his lap for a bit, “I never asked, ‘cause it wasn’t my place earlier…”

She nodded slowly.

“But…” he looked back up, “Is Kelly’s dad still in the picture?”

She shook her head, “No, he’s dead.”

“I’m so sorry…”

“Relax.” Tuana rolled her eyes, “He’s never been in the picture… He left as soon as he heard I was knocked up. He died before Kelly was born.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Must’ve been rough on you…”

“It has made me cautious with men…” she chuckled, “You must’ve noticed.”

Luca couldn’t help but chuckle a bit, “And here I thought I was the one playing it safe…”

“We need to talk about your definition of ‘playing it safe’…” Tuana chuckled and jerked her head in the direction of his busted leg, “You’re more of a crash-test-dummy…”

Luca blushed a bit, “I deserved that one…”

She let her hand come down at his hairline, and brushed his hair back a few times before she leaned down to kiss him once again.

They got lost in it.

Lost in it, and they didn’t even notice Kelly opening the door and returning to the room.

Not before she let her presence be known with an audible squeal.

Luca and Tuana both froze, then Tuana stood back up.

“So you two ARE together!” Kelly grinned, “I knew it!”

Luca and Tuana both still had the deer in headlights look for a few seconds more before they simultaneously broke out laughing.

“How long have you been together?” Kelly wanted to know.

Luca shrugged, “A while.”

“Since my birthday…” Tuana clarified.

“That’s…” Kelly started counting on her fingers, “That’s four months!”

Tuana nodded.

“Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“-We wanted to know that it would work out between us first…” Tuana answered, “We were planning on telling you soon.”

Luca nodded, “I hope you’re not angry…”

“Why would I be angry?” Kelly frowned at the thought, “I’ve been wishing for this for almost a year!”

Tuana and Luca both visibly relaxed a bit more at that.

“Does the team know?”

“Not really…” Luca answered, “Street might have started to spread rumors, but they haven’t been confirmed yet. I was planning on telling them after we had told you.”

Kelly grinned.

“Well, now you know…” Tuana chuckled.

Kelly nodded. “So, are you going to move in together?”

The two grownups looked at each other for a moment, neither really knowing the answer.

“That’s something we haven’t talked about yet…” Luca said, scratching the side of his head.

Tuana nodded towards Luca, “Yeah, we should probably talk about that soon…”

“-Amongst other things…” Luca nodded back.

“Am I going to have siblings?”

Both Luca and Tuana froze once again.

“That’s also something we haven’t talked about yet…” Tuana answered.

Luca nodded.

“But is there a chance of it?” Kelly asked. Hope was audible in her voice.

Luca shrugged, “We haven’t talked about it yet. So we don’t know what to answer…”

“Can you talk to each other about that a little quick?” Kellie prompted in a voice only a girl in her pre-teens could manage, before realizing how she sounded and added “Please?”

“I think that’s something we have to talk about alone…” Luca thought out loud, and gave Tuana a questioning look.

Tuana nodded.

“If I went outside, could you talk about it now?” Kelly asked, still very excited about the idea.

The two grownups looked at each other, scanning each other’s expressions for what the other one thought.

Half a minute later Tuana nodded, “Sure.”

Kelly grinned, “I have my phone on me. Call me when you have an answer!”

Tuana nodded, and Kelly headed out the door again.

SWATSWATSWAT

“So…” Tuana started, pulling a chair over next to Luca’s bed, “Guess we have to talk…”

Luca nodded, “Yeah…”

“Do you want kids?” Tuana asked, tilting her head.

Luca trapped his lower lip in thought for a moment, then he looked over at Tuana. “Well, yeah… But as long as I get to be a father figure for Kelly, that’s enough. I mean, if you don’t want more kids…”

Tuana’s face softened, “But if I’m up for more kids?”

“Then yes. Definitely yes.” He winked.

“How many kids would you like?” Tuana followed up.

“I don’t know, never really thought about that…” Luca rubbed his neck, “Always figured I’d have to start with one anyway…”

Tuana laughed, “Think about it… Do you have a maximum limit?”

Luca thought, then chuckled, “Well, I guess it’s probably an idea to slow down if we’d have to drive two cars to go anywhere as a family.”

Tuana chuckled as well, “You’re probably right about that.”

“That being said, I can’t really come up with a number right now.” Luca shrugged, “What’s your number”`

“Well, growing up I always wanted a big family.” She answered, “But I guess two to four kids would do…”

“So, four’s your max?”

“I wouldn’t say that…” Tuana shrugged, “I guess my actual max is when I start feeling that I’m losing more grip than is okay.”

He chuckled, “That’s a nice max limit. Mind if I adopt it?”

She chuckled, “No, go ahead.”

“Then that’s my max as well, whether that means two or ten…”

“So, at least one sibling then.”

“As sure as we’re able to, yeah.” Luca nodded, “I mean, you’re obviously able to… You’ve got a real life proof of that walking around… I can’t exactly point to a definitive proof like that.”

Tuana shrugged, “Just because I have one kid, doesn’t mean it’s going to be just as easy to have a second one. Not this many years later at least.”

Luca nodded, “Well, at least we can have some fun trying.”

Tuana chuckled, “Yeah, after your leg is better.”

He nodded, “Yeah, there’s not going to be any ‘trying’ for AT LEAST a month. Maybe longer.”

She nodded, “I think you’re right about that…”

He nodded.

They both fell silent for a little while, then Luca cleared his voice, “About that other question…”

“What other question?”

“If we were going to move in together…”

Tuana nodded.

“What are we going to answer to that?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know…”

“I mean, there’s three possibilities I see.” He shrugged, and started counting them off on his fingers, “First one, I move in with you guys. Second, you guys move in with me… We might have to figure out something to do about Street then… Or the third option, we continue living in separate houses, but I sleep over at your place every now and then, and vice versa…”

Tuana nodded, “All three are valid options.”

Luca nodded.

“Just because we chose one for now, doesn’t mean that it has to stay that way…” she mentioned.

“That’s true.” he nodded.

“How about we go for option number three for now, and then we just roll with it? See what happens?”

Luca nodded.

“But of course, if you want option one or two…” she shrugged, “I mean, we could keep the other house and rent it out…”

Luca shrugged, “Whatever is fine by me. Sticking to status quo and just seeing where that leads us sounds good.”

She nodded, adding a reassuring smile.

He smiled.

“But maybe you’d like to stay with us for a little while now?” she asked, “I mean, Kelly and I are probably at home more often than Street, right?”

He nodded, then tried to shift ever so slightly. His right hand darted down towards his leg, and it took everything he had to not start sobbing. “Dammit.”

“Do you want me to go ask the doctor if you can get anything stronger?”

He shook his head, wiping at his eyes as salty tears rolled from them.

“Luca, you’re in pain…”

Once he was able to speak again, he looked at her, “Well, I can’t really have opioids.”

She tilted her head, “Have you had a problem in the past?”

He shook his head, knowing what she was thinking. “Not like that… I just have a really low tolerance for that stuff, it often makes me sick… And I don’t want to add ‘nausea’ or ‘throwing up’ to my list of troubles right now.”

“Oh, I’m sorry… I thought… That was dumb of me…”

“Don’t think about it… It was a bad choice of words on my part.” he chuckled.

“So, do you want to stay with us for a while when you’re discharged from this place?”

He nodded, “Could I borrow the guestroom? I’m pretty sure it’ll probably hurt too much to accidentally get bumped into… -And you move around a lot when you sleep…”

“Of course…” she nodded, then she glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall, “Maybe we should call Kelly now?”

He nodded, “We probably should, but I’d like to sneak a kiss from you first…”

She smiled, stood up and stepped over to make that happen.

SWATSWATSWAT

“Now? What did you decide?” Kelly asked, almost bouncing where she stood.

“What do you want to know the answer to first?” Tuana asked.

“Everything.” Kelly grinned, “But I guess it makes sense to start with if we’re all going to live together first.”

“We decided that we don’t know the final answer yet.” Luca shrugged, “But I’m going to stay with you guys for a while now that my leg is injured.”

Tuana nodded, “After that we’ll have to wait and see. We might decide to live like Theo’s parents. They don’t live together all of the time, but it seems like all three of them like the arrangement.”

Kelly nodded, “Theo’s parents fight less than most of the other parents, so that’s cool!”

Luca really liked Kelly’s way of reasoning.

“And babies?” she then quickly switched over to the next question on her list, “Am I going to be a big sister?”

Luca and Tuana laughed.

“Well…” Tuana started, “If everything works out well, then you are going to be one.”

Kelly’s grin grew wide, “Really?”

“Yeah.” Tuana nodded, “But we can’t make any promises before you actually have a brother or sister, you know that? Sometimes it can be really hard to get pregnant.”

Kelly nodded, her head going up and down at a comical speed. “But you want kids together?”

They both nodded.

“But if it doesn’t work out for us, you are enough.” Luca pointed out, “Remember that.”

Kelly smiled, “Thanks.”

[thenighttcat]

one of those sway days

This is an account of what happened today, which is, by far, one of the swayest days on record.

As with all sway days, it began with me oversleeping. Oversleeping is always a bad omen, and I should have seen it coming after the really bad bout of insomnia last night when I couldn’t sleep and ate that cold pizza that’s been lying for weeks in the fridge. It smelt pretty funky but I thought what the heck and ate it anyway. Now as I replay the scene in my mind, I seem to see on the edge of the crust some white stuff that might have been mould. But I didn’t take notice then, and it was to my detriment, for I woke up in the morning feeling terribly awful in my stomach and rushing for the toilet. What went on in there is not ethical to describe here, but it suffices to say that we’ll probably be getting a new toilet bowl, and perhaps a new toilet or even a new house if we can afford it. As I was sitting on the bowl, my intestines all scrunched up within me, my phone rang. It was my boss, and he didn’t sound pleased. I know, because he skipped the usual niceties and went straight to the point.

‘Hey Arnold,’ he said in a strained voice. ‘The profitability dashboard is down and the pitch to our investors is in one hour. I need you to fix it right away.’

The instant he completed his sentence, a loud untimely fart was released from me. If my boss heard it over the phone, he thankfully chose to ignore it.

‘Yes boss, I will work on it immediately,’ I said.

‘And where have you been all morning? I’ve been looking for you!’

My phone showed 16 missed calls. Oh shit.

‘Sorry boss, I will fix the dashboard asap.’

‘Alright.’ Rustling, then static.

I hastily finished up my business and reached for the toilet paper. There was none. Damn it. The last guy didn’t bother changing it again.

‘Jocelyn! Get me some toilet paper quick!’ I screamed. No answer. Shorts loose around my shins and poop on my butt, I hobbled out to the kitchen to get some from the cupboard. Somehow I expected that there will be none and I was right. Damn it, again. There were some leaves on the floor though, left behind my brother George, whose boots always brought the debris of nature into the house whenever he returned from outside. Desperate, I made do with the leaves, feeling its abrasiveness as they grated against my raw tender skin.

An hour later, the dashboard was still not fixed. My boss was livid now and I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. ‘Do you know how important this source of funds is to the company?’ he cried. I did, indeed I knew, but I needed time, and it didn’t help that every five minutes I was still running to the toilet. At around this time, Jocelyn came limping into the house supported with two crutches. I asked her what had happened, and she told me that she had fractured her left ankle while chasing the escaped kangaroos in our farm. ‘So by the way, you’re going to need to chase them down.’ I asked her how many had escaped. ‘All of them,’ was her reply.

Flustered at the rapidly deteriorating situation, I had a meltdown that lasted 5 minutes, after which I had to use the toilet again. While I was in the toilet, my boss called again for an update, and I told him again that it was still not fixed, and again he said a few angry words and hung up. Outside the toilet, Jocelyn badgered me to go hunt down the kangaroos before they got too far. It was a terribly stressful predicament I was in, and this basically went on for a few more hours until eventually things died down because a) I was fired with immediate effect following the failed pitch b) the kangaroos were seen entering the outback by our neighbour Mr Beige, and everyone knows it’s a lost cause once they enter the outback c) there was nothing left in my intestines to release.

Laying on the sofa and pondering the bleak future ahead of me, Jocelyn limped over to inform me that she was famished and that I ought to make her some vegemite toast. I told her to go away but then she started crying, wailing that as her brother I was leaving her to starve to death now that she was crippled. Helpless, I relented and made her the vegemite toast she wanted.

[bts5sosempire]

Yandere BTS Reaction: Death's Door

A/n: I was posting this up and idk what did Tumblr did to it. But sorry for dropping off from the face of the earth for 2 to nearly 3 weeks, things have been heck it. I'll continue to post like normal again.

Content: abuse, language, gore, and whole ton of fck up.

Prompt: “You can have the body when I'm gone, but you can't have the soul.”

Kim Seokjin:

As soon as you utter those words from your bleeding and cut lips, Jin's sadistic smile was instantly wiped off from his face. This time it's your turn to smile at him weakly with victory illuminating aura from you, even though it's dim as an ember. You can feel the life fading from your body as your breath got slower.

“No, you can't die on me!” He angrily sprouted out, unlatching the straps from your ankles and wrists. Jin carries you out of the torture chamber and to the medical room. Maybe he went a little far with you? But Jin wants you to know your place when you're with him.

Was this your plan all along, to push him far enough so he can end you? If it was, he wasn't about to let you go. You were clever enough to push his buttons where it hurts enough to where it leads you to the state that you want.

Min Yoongi:

He was enjoying carving the knife into your delicate skin. There were knife wounds everywhere on your body. You had to be like how he wanted, each knife wounds represent how much you had hurt him.

Blood soaked the white sheets and pillows turning them into a river of satin. The blood droplet fell from the tip of the knife onto the bed and it spreads and blooms like how a rose petal would.

You weakly gasp and whisper those words out to which stops him immediately. There was a little smile of grace on your lips once he looks up. Getting paler each passing time, Yoongi drops the knife and try to stop the bleeding from all over your body.

Anxiety coursed through him and it entered his veins and spread to his anxious heart. Thoughts of your death had dawned upon him. “Fuck! Why would you make me do this to you?!” There wasn't an answer from you besides the little smile you still wore.

Jung Hoseok:

The light seems to fade away each time you gasp for a breath of air. You had push Hoseok far enough to where you were laying on the floor next to a shattered vase, with fractured ribs and lungs. It was for the best since you can't escape this monster that had eaten whatever is left of you. The only thing you can save is your soul.

Hoseok grabs you by the hair harshly and pulls you to meet him face to face. There was a painful gurgle from your throat as blood slowly seeps out from your mouth.

“Do you like to make me this angry huh?!” He says with such anger that you don't have the strength to answer but you have to do it. You won't let him have the satisfaction of seeing you so vulnerable and weak.

With the words left your lips, Hoseok loosens his hold on your hair and his reaction morph to regret and desperate worrying. He didn't waste time to pick you up and run out of the apartment to get to the hospital. There's no way you're leaving him behind!

Kim Namjoon:

It took Namjoon a moment to really grasp what you're making him do to you. Lately, you have been pushing around to where he had knocked you unconscious. You were laying on the kitchen floor with a bleeding head.

Namjoon sits beside your body and just stare at the life leaving your body. The words you say to him before fading into black left a deep hook on him.

There's no way in hell he's going to let you die. He made sure to punish you after he's done taking care of your injuries. Namjoon pulls a phone out of his pocket. The phone dial before it went to an emergency number.

“This is 119 [or 911] what is your emergency?”

Namjoon tries to make himself sound pity in the phone as he fakes a cry. “Please help me, m-my wife is unconscious! She's barely breathing and her pulse is getting weaker!”

Park Jimin:

The words that you spoke entered his ears like a snake that slither inside him. He was shaken seeing you gasping for air as there was a pool of blood surrounding your dying form.

His hands start shaking before he let out a scream then it morphs into a cry. Jimin went into hysterical as there were tears streaming down his face, while he laughs like a madman. He made around the room, glancing every once or so at you before breaking down.

“You can't leave me! You can't leave me how everyone leaves me! I won't let you!” He shouts at your body before walking out of the room and came back with a knife in his hand. “If you die, I'll die with you too.” His mood shifted from a tidal wave into calming water.

Picking up your cold body, he lays it gently on the bed. Jimin got close and snuggle before tracing the knife to where his heart should beat. “Not even death could do us apart.”

Kim Taehyung:

Refusing to accept that you were gone, his lifeless eyes became duller than before. You did it, you finally did it. You were finally free from him. That simple sentence you said before leaving him was enough to send him into self-reflection.

Taehyung should've known you were going to pull something like this. He bitterly laughs to himself. He walks over to your neatly cleaned corpse and looks at that peaceful face you had. “Aren't you a one little smarty pants? You purposely push me to the edge where I became a murder rather than a lover to you. Great job, but don't think this will be the last time you'll see me. Wait for me at the gate and I'll surely meet you there.”

Pushing a button, a gush of cold air fan across your corpse and flood the room into a mist. Taehyung closes the capsule door to prevent any more cold air from escaping. “I'll see you tomorrow love.”

Jeon Jungkook:

He thought he knew you the best, in and out from heart to soul. But seeing you gasping for air and coughing up blood before stopping moving completely made his own heartbeat stop. Jungkook gently lay on his knees to caress your cheeks before closing your eyes.

Something stir from his chest as it eats him alive. What you said to Jungkook made quite an impact on him. It was true you'll be leaving your body behind for him and your soul will go into reincarnation. That's what bothers him.

Jungkook carries your body and walks outside of the small house he had to create for you both. He pops up the car trunk without much struggle and throws your body into the back. The remorse he felt fade away to indifference and pain.

Ignition his car into life he revs the engine before reversing it harshly and drives off his property onto the road. He is going to take you to his favorite place where no one will know what happened. And probably end himself with you too, while he's at it.

[journalistquinnfabray]

Tagging: @doveportcedes

Time frame: Post the accident 2/14

Location: Hospital 

Notes: Directly post accident. Mercedes feelings about it and Quinns feelings about her life/ seeing puck again. 

Quinn:  Quinn pulls her car up to the scene, the flashing lights making her unable to see how bad it is. She had gotten a text from her boss about a crash and how she had to go report on it for the morning. Grumpily, she left Oliver behind and drove to the scene. The closer she walks to the scene, the more is revealed, and Quinn feels like shes walking into a horror scene. She knows that car, the black four door car. Her heart sinks as she approaches, seeing blood and glass scattered across the asphalt. Shes startled when her phone rings, dropping her camera.

 "Hello?" Quinn answers. "Is this Lucy Fabray?" An unkown man asks. 

 Quinn almost forgets her own name for a moment. "n- Yes this is her" "You're Mercedes Jones' emergency contact, theres been an accident." 

 The rest of the call fades out into a blur as Quinn realises its true. This is one of her closest friends cars. Crushed like a can, sitting infront of her. She searches out for a body in the car before realising the flashing lights are getting further away. She runs back into her car, almost forgetting to pick up her camera before speeding off to the only hospital she knows.

Mercedes:  It had been hours before Mercedes had awoken. The room was dark and she knew it was early morning, it was just a feeling. For a moment, it was all a dream, for a moment she was in bed and the rest of the world had just witnessed her concert, she saved a cat and she was on top of the world. 

But then the pain started, her head, her body, her leg. She heard movement and noticed someone sitting across from her. Her eyes adjusted and she realized it was Quinn. "Q?" She said hoarsely and trying to sit up.

Quinn: Quinn was starting to drift off sitting on the couch. She was worried for her friend, and the anxiety had been eating her up inside, but shes had to wait hours and its getting kind of late. The doctor told her not to expect Mercedes to wake up anytime soon, and she doesnt feel bad if she takes a quick 20 minute power nap. Just as she starts drifting off she hears a hoarse voice. Sitting up quickly, she can see her friends eyes open, and shes struggling to sit up. Her heart blooms with happiness that her friend is alive. "Mercedes!" She almost yells in her excitement "Thank god! Here, let me help you" Quinn rushes over to help her friend sit up.

Mercedes:  Mercedes stared at Quinn and accepted her help sitting up. "Q what happened?" She ran her hands through her hair but stopped feeling a bandage on her forehead. "It wasn't a dream was it?" She swallowed remembering the accident. Her leg being crushed by the door and steering column. Connor telling her everything would be okay.

Quinn:  Quinn looks at her friend with pity as she watches the revelation come over her. "There was an accident. Some idiot ran a red light and crashed into you. It wasnt a dream." She holds her friends hand, hoping to be the support the girl needs.

Mercedes:  Mercedes felt tears come to her eyes. The averted down to her leg. She couldn't bare to look at it, to move it, if she lost it... She was about to ask Quinn about it when the door opened and the nurse walked in. 

 "Oh good you are awake I was just coming to check on you." She said softly. "I know you must have a ton of questions, I can get the doctor for you." 

 Mercedes just nodded, still trying to process it all. She looked at Quinn as the nurse stepped out and squeezed her hand. "You look tired Q, tell me you haven't been here all night?"

Quinn:  Quinn watched Mercedes with sad eyes. She wished she could take the pain away from her friend. "How could I leave you here? I didn't even know I was your emergency contact" Quinn sighs "I came to report and saw it was your car, and then I got the call" She rubbed circles into Mercedes hand. "I couldn't go home without seeing that you were okay, regardless of what the doctor said"

Mercedes:  Mercedes nodded. "Sorry Q I meant to tell you." she said softly. "I have you and San." She exhaled laying back for a moment. "I am so happy you are here,  I don't want to be alone. God Q i was so scared...I thought." She shook her head as she closed her eyes.

Quinn:  Quinns glad that Mercedes chose her to be an emergency contact. "Its okay, I know now. Thank you for picking me" Quinn looks down at the cast, worried about her leg. "You're okay, I promise. The doctors even think you'll get back most of your motion"

Mercedes:  "I might?" She couldn't believe this was happening.  She looked at her friend and forced a smile. She knew Quinn, knew she felt it all. "Hey, hey its okay, I am okay."

Quinn:  Quinn smiled at her friend, trying to force happiness for her. "The good news is that we have tons of time to catch up on brooklyn nine nine?" She says, it coming out as more of a question than a statement. She hugs her friend. "I'm really glad you're okay Mercy"

Mercedes:  Mercedes tried to smile widely but only got halfway. "For sure! The new Season started and I am so behind." She hugged her back. "Me too Q." The doctor walked in with a soft smile. 

 "Well nice to see you among the pand of the living Mercedes. Your dad would have my hide if anything happened to you."  

"Hi Dr. Carter." She said hoarsely.

 "So looks like you had a very bad accident. You suffered from whiplash which is normal and a minor head lack, but your leg is what we were worried about. Your femur bone was fractured from the crash, and you ankle was broken. Most femoral shaft fractures take 3 to 6 months to completely heal. You will need therapy but the worst of it is you need to stay off your leg for at least 8 weeks if not more." 

 "What!?!?!"

Quinn:  Quinn swallows. This is not good news. She worries for her friend, and she hopes her face hasn’t gone pale. “Mercedes, the most important thing is that you’re alive okay? You can overcome all this other stuff”

Mercedes:  She may have nodded at Quinn, but her mind was running rampant with thoughts of fear and loss. Her future, her life it was all gonna change. And she wasnt ready to face it. "Yeah you are right." She lied.

Quinn:  Quinn rubs more soothing circles into Mercedes hand "Anything you need, I'm here for you okay? I'll help you get better. Its only a few weeks and you'll be back to normal! You're so lucky"

Mercedes:  Mercedes sighed. "Thanks Q, I am so glad you are here. I dont know what I would do if I were alone." She squeezed Quinns hand.

Quinn:  Quinn softly smiles. "You know I'd always be here for you." Squeezing her hand once again "So, tell me all about how you felt at the concert!"

Mercedes:  Mercedes sighed closing her eyes. "I felt complete. Like, like that is what I should be doing every day of my life. I love my job I love my patients but Q, I belong on that stage." She looked down to her leg. "Or at least I did."

Quinn:  Quinn feels so much sadness for her friend. This was supposed to be the night of her life, and now here she is in the hospital. “You’ll get back there, I promise. You killed it on that stage”

Mercedes:  Mercedes shook her head. "This just proves that I need to stay put and not venture away from what I know."

Quinn:  "No!" Quinn states. "Mercedes, you cant let this stop you if its your dream. What if this is just the lord testing you? Maybe he wants you to fight for it"

Mercedes:  Mercedes stared at her. "How is this a test? Its devastating. My heart was so full and now im certain that I was never meant to do this." Could it really be a test? Could she really be happy not being on that stage again?"

Quinn:  "I don't know. We both know he works in weird ways. I know you were meant to do this. You were up on that stage, and you just looked so at home. You're supposed to do that 'Cedes. Dont let this stop you, let it make you stronger"

Mercedes:  Mercedes sighed with tears in her eyes. "Q what if I can't walk the same or stand the same? What if I can never do it again?"

Quinn:  Quinn doesnt know how to answer her friend. She can say the right thing, but it may not be true. "I don't know. You might not be able to. But that cant stop you, please don't let it stop you"

Mercedes:  Mercedes wiped her eyes before closing them. Her hands wrapped around Quinn's hand. She knew Quinn was right and maybe just maybe she could make it this time. "I won't."

Quinn:  Quinns glad her friend seems to listen. She'll follow up with it later. "I'm glad. How else have you been?"

Mercedes:  Mercedes sighed. "Nothing really I have been so busy with work and the concert I dont think I've had a life."

Quinn: Quinn smiles, a thought coming to her head. "How about I tell you some stories from my fucked up life to distract you? The Quinn Fabray show always seems to have drama"

Mercedes:  Mercedes sighed moving slowly to make room for Quinn. "Come on lay down and tell Cedes everything."

Quinn:  Quinn lays beside Mercedes, tucking her head carefully onto the other girls shoulder. "Well, for one, you'll never guess who lives in this dumb town. Puck, as in, that Puck"

Mercedes:  Mercedes eyes widened. "No, Quinn no! Noah Puckerman is your "Puck?"

Quinn:  She expected Mercedes shock, heck, even she was shocked herself. "Yup, the one and only. I couldn't believe it! and to make matters worse, I literally ran into him on a beach when I was already trying to calm down"

Mercedes:  Mercedes knew about their history and knew how hard seeing him had to be for her. "Q, oh I am so sorry. What did he say?"

Quinn:  Quinn sighs. "It was a kind of awkward catch up. Did you know Sarahs pregnant? We're getting old. And he has heaps of tattoos now" Quinn sniffles, hes not the easiest topic to talk about.

Mercedes:  Mercedes leaned into her and took her hand. "Had I known... I am sorry you had to see him like that."

Quinn:  Quinn shakes her head. "You couldn't have known. I barely told you about him, its alright. It just bought up all those feelings about Lily that I thought I was over"

Mercedes:  "Q, you will never truly be over any feelings about Lily. Its not in you. He just brought them to the surface. I wanna punch him for hurting you."

Quinn:  "Don't punch him, you can't run away right now" Quinn chuckles, hoping its already an appropriate time to make jokes. "I had stopped thinking about her you know? I wasn't stuck in my head anymore about it. Yeah, I still think about her daily, but it wasn't torture. And now, its all back."

Mercedes:  Mercedes couldn't know the pain Quinn was feeling, but her heart broke for her best friend. "You did what you had to do. There is no need to feel tortured I know you can't help it but I wish you could see that."

Quinn:  Quinn sighs, she always feels so heartsick about it.  “I don’t know. He’s all mature, and adult now. I can’t help but think about what it would be like if we could’ve kept her. I know we made the best choice at the time, but we were kids who didn’t know better”

Mercedes:  "Trust me Noah Puckerman is not all Mature." She leaned against Quinn. "You gave Lily a life, you gave her a chance. And that was you being her mom."

Quinn:  Quinn nods, she tells herself those words all the time but shes not sure if she ever believes them. "He's much more mature than back then. He used to spend hours lecturing me on the different super Marios and why 2 was the best”

Mercedes:  "Okay he has grown up, yes I guess but he's still the ass who hurt you and I am not here for that."

Quinn:  "Please don't go fight Puck right now. Hes not worth it. The good news is, I think I might actually be getting over him"

Mercedes: "Why?" She whined but then smiled. "Getting over him?!?!? How whats up?" 

Quinn:  "Because you're literally injured Mercy. He'll still be there to fight when you heal up." Seeing Puck was a shock for sure, and it reminded Quinn of all her relationship fuck ups. "Well I think I was in love with him for a while back then, and then he you know, took off and ran, so I never really got closure. But seeing him, it kind of made me realise just how much he wouldn't fit into my life anymore."

Mercedes:  Mercedes sighed. "Fine." she whined. "Your life is so much better than it was and you are right he doesn't fit. And I am happy about that."

Quinn:  Quinn nudges her friend, looking up at her. “I love you, you know that? Today has reminded me just how grateful I am to have you in my life.”

Mercedes:  "Oh Q. You are my best friend. I am grateful for you too. And i know seeing him was hard, but I am so proud of how you handled all of that."

Quinn: Quinn presses a kiss to her friends cheek. "My life does seem to be an endless list of fuck ups doesnt it?" 

Mercedes:  "No." She assured her. "This is all about finding our way. Finding your way and you are already there."

Quinn:  “Ah, I dunno. I still have a lot of things I need to check off my adulting list” Quinn jokes.

Mercedes:  Mercedes laughed. "You and me both. But if anyone can reach their goals and check em all off its you." She sighed. "I don't know where I would be without you Q, thanks for being here with me."

[daysswithyou]

I. Young K - Promise

Characters: Young K x OC

Genre: fluff, slice of life

Words: 2.3k

Description: enemies to lovers! young k

A/N: Part I of the enemies to lovers series - featuring our reliable bassist! 

---

All he could see ahead was miles and miles of cars, their blinding red rear lights distorting his vision. The exhaust from other cars made it hard to breathe and in his mind, he was cursing and swearing at those with cigarettes hanging from the tip of their fingers outside of their car windows; he didn't need the second hand smoke to accelerate his death.

 His meeting was in 15 minutes and the cars in front of him were crawling forward at a snail's pace. Frustrated, he raved the engine of his motorcycle and tried to manoeuvre in the tight space between your vehicle and the car beside you. He moved forward at great speed but by the time he realised what was happening, it was too late. The front of his motorbike collided with the side of your car, the impact sending his bike sideways before he got thrown off his bike.

 Lying on the sidewalk, the pain in his hand and leg began to set it. Using his left hand to clutch onto his injured right hand, he hissed in pain as he shot you a glare but the sight of you left him in absolute disbelief. Instead of showing care and concern for someone that you injured (like he expected you too), he found you inspecting the dent in the side of your car. He was sure the furrow in your brows was due to the pain of having to pay the high price for the car repairs, and not out of worry for him.

"Hey! You right there!"

"What!"

You finally turned around only to snap at him, and his jaw dropped open further, letting out a scoff at your attitude.

"Lady, you've just injured someone and you're more concerned about your car than a living human being? You're amazing."

"Hey, it's not my fault that you came hurtling at my car out of nowhere so stop using that tone at me."

"Have you no sympathy in your heart for an injured man?"

"I have none for rude and irresponsible people like you."

Nonetheless, despite your sharp tongue, he could see you whip out your phone to dial for the ambulance before you came over to secure his bleeding arm for him.

--

When the ambulance came, two men rushed to him. Between their moving figures that blocked you from his view, he could make out your busy figure in the back of the ambulance as you set up the equipment to test his vitals.

"She's a nurse?"

"Who are you referring to?"

The young male with sharp angular features that was tending to his arm caught onto his question and was now staring at Young K with bright doe eyes, his hands working on the procedure that he's done repeatedly for years.

"I’m referring to that girl in the back of the van. She's a nurse too?"

"Y/N? Yea she's one of us, but she’s a doctor, what about it?"

"How did she even get to become a doctor?"

The young male (whom he now knew as Wonpil - courtesy of his nametag) was now staring at Brian as if he's grown an extra head.

"What has she ever done to you?"

"She? She's the reason that you're here right now! She knocked me down and she cared more about her car than me!"

"Well, I guess that means you're a pretty shitty person."

Wonpil then carried on with his work nonchalantly and all Brian could do was roll his eyes in response, both his arms immobilised.

Amidst the drawl of the traffic around them, your clear voice cut through the din to reach the trio.

“Wonpil-ah!”

“Yes?”

“Is he done?”

“I haven’t taken a look at his leg yet!”

“It’s ok. Load him into the van first. We got to clear the tunnel. I’ll deal with his leg, you drive. Dowoon, take my car please.”

Both boys nodded in understanding before Wonpil grabbed Brain by the arms and loaded him onto the stretcher and the van.

When the door slammed shut and you turned to face him with daggers shooting out of your eyes, Brian felt like a piece of meat ready to be devoured by the female tigress.

--

“I need you to sit back and relax.”

“Lady, you really expect me to when you’re looking at me like you want to murder me?”

“My job to save lives Mr Bigshot, not snuff them out, in case you haven’t realised.”

Again, you fixed him with your signature stare.

Still, he refused to and instead, crossed his arms as he fixed you with an equally hard stare.

This time round, you gritted your teeth and made sure to slam the bottle of saline solution hard to prove your point.

Seeing that you meant business, Brian slowly unfolded his arms and leaned back as he was told to before you proceeded to roll up his pants to inspect his leg.

He watched in silence as you went about cleaning his superficial wounds, occasionally letting out a hiss when you hit a fresh wound. He noticed how he pursed your lips tight whenever you got to a particularly nasty wound, and how your breath immediately slowed, almost as though you didn’t want to disturb the patient. He continued watching as your eyebrows furrowed before you stood to give him his diagnosis.

“Your calf and ankle are swelling rather badly, especially your ankle. We’ll need to get an X-ray on that.”

“How bad is it?”

“I can’t say for sure but it’s got at least be a hairline fracture.”

The van then skidded to a stop before the doors flew open and Brian was transferred into Wonpil’s reliable hands again.

“Get him into an X-ray room, I’ll be there once I’m dressed.”

And so Brian lay there waiting on the hard metallic table for 10 minutes before you finally showed up.

--

“Finally you’ve arrived Good Doctor, thy patient has died from excessive bleeding.”

“Oh stop being so dramatic you wimp, I was only gone for 10.”

Even through the thick black glass separating you and him, Brian could spot the scowl that was clearly drawn across your face as you aggressively punched buttons on the panel to get the machine working.

“Excuse me, I don’t think a patient should be left alone at any point in time?”

Before he could even fully crane his neck to look at you, you screeched at him through the speakers.

“Would you stop moving around? I can’t get a good scan of your leg!”

For the second time that day, Brian laid back and shut his mouth on your orders and from the corner of his eye, he could see Wonpil stifling his laughter behind his fingers.

--

As Wonpil was putting the cast around his leg, Brian decided to interrogate him again.

“Is she always like that? Crazily snapping at people?”

“No. She’s pretty ok on normal days.”

“But she snaps at me all the time?”

“See, this is why she snaps at you all the time. You ask too many stupid questions.”

Curse this redhead and the Lady. I got to make them pay.

Looking out of the window, he spotted your scratched up car and he knew just the thing to do.

--

Within the next hour, you were back in his room to check on his vitals and that’s when Brian breached the topic.

“Hey Lady… about your car…”

“I haven’t gotten a quote on how much insurance you need to pay me, we’ll talk about this another time.”

“I never said I was going to pay.”

“WHAT?”

Your pen slid past the entire page, leaving a thick, ugly line across the paper.

“You heard me. I never said I was going to pay.”

He then popped a grape into his mouth and sunk back into his pillow, his arms comfortably placed behind his back as he watched your livid facial expression with glee from beneath hooded eyelids.

“You can’t do that.”

“Well, if I don’t want to pay, what can you do about it?”

And he has a point. I can’t win this fight with brute force.

You did the mental math in your head and you decided that you needed him to pay. Buying that car had drained you of your savings and you couldn’t afford another thousand dollar repair. Besides, it was partly your fault too. You should have looked before swerving out.

“How about we strike a deal?”

“Excellent! That was exactly what I had in mind.”

“So what is your proposition?”

“Be at my beck and call for my 3 day stay in the hospital. I promise I’ll pay for the insurance after that.”

After 10 minutes of unsuccessful bargaining, you left the room with a newly printed chart and a verbal promise by Brian to pay for your car repairs.

--

True to his word, Brian kept you busy for the next 3 days.

Unless he was sleeping, you had to be the runner for all his errands.

By the end of the first day, you had already gotten him sashimi for lunch, and picked up his books from his friend, Jae, just so that he can read them all.

On the second day, he texted you for an Iced Americano for his morning breakfast and apart from accidently spilling it all over your white satin blouse, you had also sprained your ankles as you stumbled over the curb by the parking spot. So, apart from ruining your outfit, you had to spend money on 2 Iced Americanos.

“That took you long enough Lady.”

“Yea, yea I know. Here’s what you asked for.”

“Thank you. Eh? What’s with that brown stain on your coat?”

“Nothing. Does your leg still hurt?”

“No but-”

“Good. Can’t talk, I got other patients to attend to.”

Were his eyes playing tricks on him, or did he notice a hobble in your step and some redness around your ankles?

--

“Could you pass me a cookie Wonpil?”

“We ran out but you can have mine.”

“Thanks.” You took his Subway cookie and took a bite out of it before exhaling.

“Why are you so busy these past 2 days?”

“Got to…do…stuff…”

“Stuff like?”

“I’ve been running errands for Brian.”

“Is that why you have a stain on your favourite satin blouse and a swollen ankle?”

“Yes.”

“The heck Y/N. Why are you still doing it for him then?”

“We had a deal and I feel bad for injuring him.”

“Well, that’s his problem! He swerved into your lane.”

“Ah it’s ok Wonpil. He’s only going to be here till tomorrow anyways. I can last another 24 hours. Thanks for the cookie! By the way, aren’t you supposed to be at the children’s ward by now?”

“Oh yes. Catch you later! I’ll patch up that ankle of yours.”

“Thanks Wonpil.”

Just as Wonpil moved into his sight, Brian moved into the shadows and immediately dialled for his friend.

“Hey Jae. Do you think you can get me a new female blouse and a pair of slippers for me? And no, don’t ask me why, just do it, please.”

--

When you came hurtling into his room with a few strands of your hair astray, Brian had to stifle his laughter.

“Oh God, Brain, are you ok?”

“I’m fine!”

“What? Then why did you press the button for?”

When he smiled knowingly at you, you marched up to him as he put up his arm in defence.

“Woah Lady-”

“Kang. Young. Hyun. This button is not for you to play around with! It says “For Emergency Use Only” This isn’t an emergency!”

You snatched the red button out of his hands and slammed it down beside his bed before you proceeded to tuck a few strands of hair behind your ears.

“What do you want?”

“I just wanted to talk.”

“Just wanted to talk – pfft. I’m leaving.”

“No I’m serious, wait.”

Before you could take another step away from him, he caught onto the ends of your sleeve and you decided to grace him with just 5 minutes of your attention.

“You have 5 minutes. Shoot.”

“I heard your conversation with Wonpil today-”

“You mean you eavesdropped on us.”

“It was unintentional! I just happened to be wheeling myself along the corridors-”

“It’s fine, just carry on.” You had said as you waved him on with a flick of your wrist.

“That means I heard about your morning misadventures and I got you these as an apology. I’m sorry.”

“What are these?” You questioned as you peered into the bag.

“Just open it. You’ll see.”

You reached in and felt the smooth satin material against your fingers before you pulled out the blouse.

“I don’t think it’s the exact same one as the one you are wearing now but I hope it suffices. I also got you a pair of flats – thought it would be better for your ankle.”

“Thank…you. Anything else that I should know?”

“No – wait, actually yes.”

You raised your eyebrows, waiting for him to continue.

“If I ever asked you out, would you say yes?”

“I’ll… consider.”

Watching your retreating back, he smiled softly as he thought to himself: At least she didn’t flatly reject me.

--

The next day, when you came back with his form of approval for discharge signed, Brian was already sitting by the edge of the bed, waiting for you.

Placing the form in front of him, you said, “Here you go Mr Bigshot. Hopefully I’ll never have to see you again.”

“Aww come on, don’t be so mean. Give me your hand.”

You opened your palm without hesitation and he placed a pink slip of paper in it.

“Do I read it now?”

“Go ahead.”

The front was a simple IOU of the car repairs but the essence of his message was written at the back, in which it said:

“Next Friday after you end work? I’ll pick you up here. Dinner’s on me; I promise I’ll pay!”

When you looked up, Brian was holding out his pinky figure towards you and you hooked onto it with your own tightly, an eyesmile forming on his face as you did so.

“Promise.”

[yuudetama]

Jhope - “I’m calling to cancel our date because I’m actually in the ER right now, sorry. …I mean, sure, I guess you can come down here, but… okay…” I'm looking forward

“Hey, where are you? Are you still at home?”

“Okay, don’t panic but…”

“Don’t panic? Why? What happened? Are you okay?”

“Babe, I just need you to stay calm and listen, alright? It’s nothing to worry about-”

“What do you mean, nothing to worry about? Now I'm seriously starting to get worried. I mean, I was already worried when you didn't show up on time or answer any of my calls but I figured the bus was just running a little late. Did something happen? Ohmygod did your bus get hit or something-”

“Hoseok. Hoseok. Stop talking and listen to me already. We're wasting minutes here.”

“Okay. Sorry, shutting up.”

“Thank you. Right. Anyways, I'm really sorry to tell you this so last minute, but I'm gonna have to cancel our date today. Something came up.”

“Why? What's going on? Babe, you're scaring me; are you hurt? Did you get into an accident? Where are you right now? Do you want me to come pick you up?”

“No no, it's really nothing to worry about-”

“Where are you?”

“... I'm at the emergency room.”

“Emergen- You're where?”

“The ER, I just said- you know what, nevermind. The important thing is, I'm safe and sound and only relatively injured, so you don't need to worry a single bit, yeah? Everything's fine.”

“I'll be there in ten.”

“No, you don't have to! I'm okay, really, I'm actually in very capable hands here-”

“What happened?”

“Yes, well… You know those black platform boots I really like wearing? The ones with the laces at the top and make me feel like Lady Gaga slash Hyuna reincarnated?”

“Yeah, what about them?”

“Well… I decided that today was a good day to wear them, because it's too rainy for flats and they're pretty good at keeping my feet dry and let's face it, my legs look freaking gorgeous in those things-”

“What does this have to do with anything?”

“Ah… So you know how it's a liiiiittle hard for me to keep a good balance in them, right? Because the platforms are slanted and all. Anyway, I was walking towards the bus stop when I passed by this girl and her dog. Well, I tried to pass them but the dog must have been the real friendly type, because he came up to me and we did that thing, you know, where he wags his tail and I tell him telepathically that he’s a good boy.”

“... Go on.”

“Yeah, he was definitely a good boy. Anyway, that’s when the bus came and I thought maybe I should run for it, because I didn’t want to keep my wonderful boyfriend waiting or anything. But I got distracted and I didn’t see where I was going, so I kind of lost my balance and ended up tripping over the dog’s leash, and now my ankle is broken. But! Before you say anything, in my defense it was drizzling and kinda dark and I didn’t see it there. It was like a death trap waiting to happen.”

“So let me get this straight. You broke your ankle-”

“It appears so, yes.”

“- because you tripped over a dog-”

“Not a dog, Hoseok, a dog’s leash; details matter-”

“- because you couldn't balance yourself properly on those skyscrapers you call shoes-”

“Hey, they're not even that bad! I bet your insoles are taller, if anything!”

“- and now you're at the emergency room, getting your broken ankle fitted into a cast.”

“Actually I’m still waiting for the doctor to call me, but you have the gist of it.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“When we get back home I’m throwing those monster shoes of yours out.”

“Oh hell no, Jung Hoseok, over my dead body. I paid for these in blood, and besides, you can’t really blame them for my- ah- predicament. It was the leash. Don’t think for a second that you can trust the leash.”

“That’s not- Nevermind. Okay, I’m leaving for the hospital now. I’ll call you when I get there, so try not to break anything else in the meantime.”

“Fine, if you insist. Oh but on your way do you mind dropping by my place and grabbing my sneakers? It’s my right ankle that’s fractured so just the left shoe is fine, I’m gonna need it for when we leave later. Or you know what, just bring the entire pair. Might as well change shoes while I’m at it.”

“Your platforms are starting to hurt, aren’t they.”

“... Maybe.”

“You have no idea how hard I’m judging you right now.”

-------

“You are unbelievable.”

“Unbelievably charming? Unbelievably good-looking?”  

“More like unbelievably stupid. Weren't you judging me earlier for tripping over that leash? How the heck did you end up in the same situation as me?”

“Hey, can you really blame me? You were right; the perils of a wildly shaking dog leash at your feet are no joke. I’m lucky I made it out alive.”

“At least I had a good excuse. You only broke your ankle because you stopped to pet that dog and ended up tripping over it. While standing. How is that even possible? I thought only Joon was capable of doing that kind of thing.”

“It’s because I was so overcome with worry for you that I lost control over my body. Love made me do it.”

“No.”

“And even as I lay on the ground, clutching at my foot in dear agony, the only thing I could think about was you and your shining face, so beautiful that I almost forgot about my blinding pain.”

“No.”

“Killjoy.”

“Stupid.”

“Hey, I broke my ankle for you. The least you could do is let me have my fun.”

“No.”

“So stubborn. Look, I know this isn’t the best situation but it’s not so bad. Hey, we can even go on that date now! How about it?”

“I don't think the two of us can go anywhere for the next month at least.”

“Oh hush, you know what I mean. The two of us here, all alone in this private room together. You know what I'm thinking?”

“We can't do Netflix and chill either; Jin won't let us use his account anymore after I laughed at that poem he wrote for his girlfriend. Besides, I'm not sure I want to Netflix and chill with you. Your taste in movies is so unsexy, I’d rather keep my pants on.”

“Stop, you're ruining the moment. You're worse than Yoongi, you know that? Why am I even dating you?”

“Because you love me? Because I give you joy and happiness unlike anything else? Because nobody else will and I’m doing the world a gracious favour?”

“... I want to break up.”

“No you don’t. Now hush and get your butt over here so we can cuddle. I’m tired, grumpy, and need at least one thing to make me feel good today.”

“Oh baby, I can definitely make you feel good-”

“No.”

// send me a prompt from here

[sophia-helix]

"you can only really be “friends” with Yuzuru if he’s winning" at whoever wrote this this line really makes sense. like my sister is similar, she is extremely competitive and hardworking in her field (she's a dancer tho), and she'd never intentionally sabotage someone to win but growing up with her i noticed she finds it hard to be chummy with people who can and do beat her. would make sense that yuzuru is similar since that part of him really reminds me of her.

I really do think competitive rivals being friends at all is impressive — and that’s honestly why they’ve always gotten so much media coverage, because everyone else is impressed too. It’s rare! I remember how much talk there was about Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer playing doubles in a friendly tournament last year, and they’ve been competing against each other for 15 years. They’ve certainly never had any kind of close friendship.

I agree with anon’s analysis. I think Yuzu is the type of person who you can be chummy with if he’s winning. Not to say he’s not friendly- he always is, but he makes no effort to hide his bitterness and desire to destroy the competition when he’s not first. It’s typical perfectionist behaviour, and can be an obstacle when forming close relationships. Makes me wonder if he’s like that in all aspects of his life, because perfectionism/competitiveness has definitely plagued me in all kinds of ways

I do think that’s a really interesting thing to consider, and something I’d like to explore in fiction. How has Yuzu’s competitive drive affected the rest of his life? I don’t think he has to be made out as arrogant or a jerk, but it must be distancing to some degree.

Honestly i feel like boston isn’t the turning point… i feel like yuzu won’t be that salty about him losing because he knows his ankle won’t be able to hold.. heck he even considered retirement because of how bad his injury is… geez he had a frickin lisfranc fracture and still compete like that ;_; and he was prepared that the requiem will be his last performance, so i honestly doubt that he’s salty towards Javi because of boston

I think by “Worlds” people mean Javi’s first title, in Shanghai.

[spectrumscribe]

and we keep on.

commissioned fic by @jointed-custody! some 2012 tmnt old donatello well down the line in his life, reminiscing about people he’s lost and the people he still has. 

sort of set in my Mecha Turtle fanfic universe, but generic enough to be read as a standalone.

Staring out across the wide lawn of the farmhouse, Donnie enjoys the momentary peace of his own company. In the dull heat of summer warmth, seeping through everything around him, the ache in his joints eases enough he can sigh softly, rotating his stiff ankles. Too many hours on his feet this week, and he’s far too old to be doing that.

Maybe if he were twenty years younger- heck, maybe even just ten, he’d be fine. But ninety years and some months is hard on a turtle, even a mutant one with enough knowledge to cure just about anything.

Can’t cure old age, though, much as he’s tried.

Cells break down, replication becomes flawed- bodies get old along with the mind, even if the soul remains strong and youthful. Donnie is no young soul, certainly not by this age, but he likes to think he’s still got some gutso in the tank, even if he can’t quite pull all-nighters anymore.

It doesn’t stop him from trying, as often as that results in him passing out at his desk. He’s scolded for doing that by nearly every person he’s close with, as if they have any room to talk.

Even if it’s not genetic, as Donnie has suspected for decades none of them are related that way- stubbornness is certainly a family trait. Stubbornness to admit defeat, stubbornness to take care of themselves properly. They’re all as equally bad as him, especially now days, with old age catching up with them and just how much they can do anymore shrinking down.

That doesn’t stop Donnie from doing his work, and it certainly hasn’t stopped any of his brothers or surviving friends. Hell, Raph is up in space at the moment, along with Casey, the nutball old men they are. Donnie at least has had the sense to stay on earth; his brother and friend are still out there in the wide open cosmic ocean, getting into who knows what kind of trouble. If they’re all lucky, Donnie won’t have to reattach any of Casey’s prosthetic limbs when he gets back, or recalibrate Raph’s implants, again.

Donnie might have become a bit of a homebody in his late years, but at least he’s one of the three members of his family that hasn’t had to replace a part of themselves to keep ticking along. Leo has the excuse of it being from their teen years, fixing that bum leg of his so he could still walk by himself; Raph and Casey are just reckless fools, even if they’re as wrinkly and liver spotted as Donnie is.

But Donnie thinks of the vastness of space, of the planets they all saw as teens, of the societies filled with people that barely even blinked at him and his brothers, years before earth accepted its mutant population as people and not monsters- of the adventures they had together, outside the race to find the black hole generator pieces before the Triceratons, where they bonded and laughed and were free, even just for a few hours- and he sighs, wistful and longing.

A part of Donnie admittedly wants to be up there, too. He’s old, sure, but he’s not so old he’s forgotten how it feels. The rush of adrenaline, the breathlessness of a fight- terror and exhilaration mixing together in a way that made him feel alive. His youthful years made him an unwilling adrenaline junkie, after repeated exposure to danger and adventure, and a part of him misses those years. The bizarrely mixed freedom and entrapment of being who he was in a society that just wasn’t ready for any of them.

It also was psychologically and emotionally scarring at times, not to mention so painfully isolated it left them all stunted and bent in important places that took years of therapy to even somewhat correct. The adrenaline rushes were great, yes, but the wars, the fighting, the losses… they’d just been kids; Donnie and his brothers and their friends. Dealing with all those things messed them up thoroughly, to the point Donnie still triple checks anyone’s background before letting them get anywhere close to his family.

They’d been heroes at times, been on top of the world and felt like gods- but they’d been so young, back then. So many enemies bearing down on them, so many fractures and wounds put between them by their own bad choices… it’s a wonder any of them lived past thirty, let alone nearly a hundred and still remained as tightly knit as they are.

A flock of birds passes overhead of the farmhouse’s porch, swooping in a swirling cloud of blue feathers. Donnie watches them with lazy attention, and hums to himself.

Tightly knit as they are now, it’s not to say they never had ups and downs. There were years in between the good ones and the great ones, where they hardly spoke at all. Even Mikey. Especially Mikey. There’d been a period of nearly five years where Mikey just… disappeared. No note, no hint of when he’d return. Just… gone, off into the universe with only his nunchucks.

That’d been triggered by Leatherhead’s passing, Donnie recalls with a soft pang of grief. Their first and most dependable mutant friend, and their second friend ever. Mikey’s best friend, even with the decades spent apart because of Dimension-X. Leatherhead had been old even while they were young adults; worn and scarred because of the war he’d fought on behalf of earth and them. When he’d finally passed… the old crocodile had gone quietly, lying down one day and never waking again.

Donnie remembers he and his family had been roughly in their late twenties at the time. That, as he recalls with a tired nostalgia, had been the worst of their budding recovery years.

After holding himself together through their father’s death, and the fracturing of their family following that… Donnie remembers seeing Mikey finally cracking somewhere. And that crack had spread through him, leaving Mikey veritable a spider’s web.

And so he’d run, from the loss, from the grief- from everything. Donnie still can feel the ache Mikey’s absence had left in all of them, even now. He’d very nearly lost his brother for good during those years, and Donnie… still doesn’t know if he’d have recovered from that.

Mikey had come back, of course, but Donnie knows it’d been hard for Mikey to do that. Out of all of them, Mikey has somehow always been the most dependant and yet independent member of their family. Dimension-X proved he could be on his own, as well as all the years he spent wandering; but the way he’d hugged them all upon returning proved he still very much needed his family, even if being in the city where they lost so many people hurt him deeply at times.

Donnie is lucky he’s never lost someone quite like Leatherhead. The people he’s closest to are still alive and healthy as anyone their age can be. Perhaps he should feel a deep stabbing grief for his father’s untimely death, like he knows Raph and Leo still sometimes do… but for whatever reason, Donnie doesn’t feel that.

Everyone Donnie loves is still here with him, spread out as they sometimes are. He’d never had the same relationship his elder brothers did with Splinter, and he’s old enough now to tell that’s likely why Splinter’s death didn’t gut him as much as it could of. Donnie misses his father, but not as much as he would miss any one of his brothers or friends, should they have been the ones who died.

Leo nearly died, years before Splinter actually did, and because of that Donnie knows for certain. His father’s MIA status during those months didn’t affect him nearly as much as Leo’s coma. In the end, it seems the people Donnie did and still does cherish most are his brothers, and the two humans who stuck with them through everything.

April and Casey. Donnie doesn’t know where he and his brothers would have ended up without them. Never mind all the times the two humans bailed Donnie’s family out of trouble at the last second- without April, it’s likely that the world wouldn’t be what it is now. If the Kraang had gotten a hold of April, used her for the terraforming invasion they’d planned… Donnie nearly shudders at the thought. Everyone would be dead or enslaved if they hadn’t rescued April that night, and if she hadn’t taken the hanging threat over her life and spat on it.

Really, if April O’Neil hadn’t been the woman she became, Donnie doesn’t doubt things could have gone so much worse.

He could’ve done without the possession and temporary death, though. That had been… less than enjoyable. Za’naron gave everyone nightmares for months afterwards, most of all Donnie and April. They’ve long since moved past that night, grown out of the strain it’d put on their relationship… but some nights it still comes to him, same as every trauma Donnie has ever been through. He knows April suffers the same way, however little she’s ever spoken about it.

They’re still close, regardless of any fissure put between them before. Regardless of the years their entire family ended up drifting apart, miring in their own griefs and regrets and wanderlust to do and see more than fighting… he and April are still dear friends. Living together, sharing their kitchen and workspace and living room, is proof of how dear they are to each other.

Maybe not how his younger self imagined, but… Donnie is more than content with that. That crush became genuine affection over time, and that genuine affection grew into steady, true love. Again, not the sort his teenage self ever thought would happen, but Donnie as an old and aging turtle likes it just fine. It’s the sort that lasts, that keeps on through decades. The sort that April shares with all of Donnie’s siblings, and Casey, too. The sort that brought them all back together, in the end, and has kept them closely linked ever since.

He’s old, and he’s sentimental, and that’s probably why he’s sitting on a porch by himself and thinking cheesy thoughts about his family when he could be working.

Still, it’s good to come back to this scene ever once in a while. Though it had at first been a place of grief and time spent waiting for miracles… the farmhouse became a staple to them all in years passed. It was the first place Donnie and his brothers could walk freely under the sun, and that’s not something any of them would ever forget in a hurry.

It’s a place his entire family can come back to, and be together like they used to. A place where the world seems distant and there is only warmth and long summer days to be had.

Donnie chuckles to himself. He really is getting old, thinking things like that.

His hearing might be going, too, seeing as a hand is gently laid on his shoulder, and he heard no footsteps approaching.

“I was wondering where you got off to,” says Donnie’s very first best friend, and he turns his head to look up at her.

April smiles, crinkling the few crow’s feet that line her eyes. “Your assistant told me you threw quite the fit at the board of directors today,” She smirks, just as amused as she always is when this happens. “Would you mind telling me why you’re skulking in here, while there are important meetings to be had?”

Donnie looks at his friend, and feels the surge of nostalgia that’s been sweeping him the past few minutes. April has nearly pure white hair now, wrinkles beautifully lining parts of her face. She’s old as he is, and yet…

Donnie knows some of it is makeup, to ease the suspicion that she isn’t quite human. Donnie knows he and his brothers have a few decades yet before their mutant bodies really begin to breakdown, but April?

April was designed to conquer worlds, and what scientist would build a weapon that truly aged?

He suspects April, who walks with a straight back and steely gaze even now, will be around to terrorize rival companies for a long while yet.

“I’m ninety, April,” Donnie says, smirking back at her. “I’m allowed to have moments of elderly madness.”

She rolls her eyes. “Would you mind avoiding tossing papers into employee’s faces? They’re high-strung as it is.”

“Hm, I’ll try my best, but no promises. Old men tend to forget things, you know.”

She swats him. Donnie laughs, giving in and rising from his seat. “Alright, I’ll go apologize to the plebeians. But if they make another try at getting me to retire, I’m firing someone.”

“Not before I do,” April says, clicking her tongue. “I’ve already had three of them this year encourage me to start looking for a proper heir. Money grubbing fiends.”

“Shall we show them we still got it, then?” Donnie offers, holding up an elbow.

“Agreed,” April says, taking the offered arm. The simulation of the farmhouse ends as they turn away from the summery scene, leaving a single bench where Donnie had been sitting.

Exiting the holo room in the experimental testing wing, his droves of personally picked scientists and engineers scurry out of their CEO’s way. April’s little heels click on the floor as they do, sharp clacks like whips as they stroll through the hallways. Her ninja skills haven’t dulled at all over the years, including the art of intimidation.

Donnie is content to simply be a looming and wizened figure, a tad on the scary side thanks to his scars and severe looks when he gets in a mood. Leave it to April to actively play up the intimidation factor.

She doesn’t really need to, being the most powerful known psychic in twenty galaxies, but Donnie supposes a ninety year old woman needs to get her kicks somehow.

They nod briefly at the people exiting the elevator as they get in, and Donnie hits the button for the middling upper levels. As the elevator ascends the height of O’Neil Technologies, Donnie feels a pleased little smile tugging at his lips.

Their teen and young adult years had been brutal, and the decades it’d taken to fully integrate mutant, alien, and human society together had been harsh. But now he’s standing in a polished elevator with his best friend and fellow CEO of the most powerful technology company in the world. His brothers and friends are all still alive and causing the chaos they always have.

Mikey, on the ground levels of New York, free to make any friends he pleases and wandering without a care in the world- Leo, off with Karai and Shinigami, tittering to themselves as Karai’s adopted daughter tries to run the Foot Clan with her uncle and mothers leaning over her shoulder and making comments on things- Raph, up in space and still a roughhousing curmudgeon, even with ocular implants he needs to see and old man bones- Casey, the only fully human member of their family, down half his original limbs and still insistent that he’s fit as he was at fifty and just as reckless as he’s always been about danger.

And April, at Donnie’s side, just as lovely and terrifying as she’d been at twenty, as the two of them continue to build and shape earth’s future with technological advancements, and strong-arming the government officials into not being power hungry idiots.

They’ve lost so much, and yet, gained plenty to make for that. And that is why Donnie can smile, and feel content with the life he’s lived, and will keep living.

Commission info & Kofi link.

[tylerhoechlin]

Back from the brink, Dylan O'Brien is ready to prove he's an action hero

or the past year, Dylan O’Brien has been in hiding. He spent most of his time inside his home in Sherman Oaks, wondering if he’d ever be the same person he was before the accident. Not just emotionally, but physically too: After major reconstructive surgery that left him with four metal plates holding one side of his face together, he feared he’d never look the same again.

“It’s a miracle, what they’ve done,” O’Brien says, placing his hand on his cheek. Indeed, the actor’s team of doctors must have done some incredible work, given the fact that he looks almost exactly as he always has — the boyish teen heartthrob who has amassed an army of young female fans since he began working on MTV’s “Teen Wolf” at age 18.

Of course, he’s 26 now, so he’s filled out a bit, and there’s also a hint of patchy scruff on his face. He had enough gravitas to him that the producers of “American Assassin,” which opens nationwide Friday, felt confident casting him as the grizzled action-hero Mitch Rapp — even though the character in Vince Flynn’s bestselling books was widely believed by readers to be in his 40s.

“American Assassin” is the reason O’Brien emerged from his self-imposed exile. He’d signed onto the film just a few weeks before he began work on “Maze Runner: The Death Cure,” the third and final installment in 20th Century Fox’s post-apocalyptic young-adult franchise. He was hoping “Assassin” would mark the beginning of a new period in his career. In 2017, after six seasons, “Teen Wolf” would come to an end, as would the “Maze Runner” series.

“I’ve never looked at myself as this pop candy type,” O’Brien says, peppering his speech with more colorful language. “I felt like I was more real than that, so I would get mad when someone would say [I was a teen heartthrob]. I’d be like, ‘I’m 19! I’m a stoner!’ I really resented that.”

He was so excited to begin work on “Assassin” that he fielded calls from director Michael Cuesta just as production began in Vancouver, Canada, on the final “Maze Runner” film. Together, they discussed how O’Brien would approach the character, a 23-year-old who is recruited by the CIA to hunt down terrorists after he witnesses his girlfriend’s murder at the hands of Muslim radicals.

“I spoke with him on a Saturday when he had just started ‘Maze Runner,’ addressing his notes and concerns about the character,” Cuesta recalls. “He was really excited and seemed like, ‘Yeah, I’m ready to do this.’ I was like, ‘Pace yourself, dude. Take it slow. We’ll talk when you’re off this project.’ That was Saturday, and on Wednesday, I got a text from my agent telling me that this awful thing had happened to him.”

On the third day of production in Canada, O’Brien was performing a stunt that required him to be harnessed to the top of a moving vehicle; reports claim he was accidentally pulled off that vehicle midstunt and hit by another vehicle. As a result, he suffered “a concussion, facial fracture and lacerations,” according to a report from WorkSafeBC.

Fox put production on hold in March 2016, and O'Brien ultimately returned to set a year later — after he'd shot "Assassin." “Death Cure,” which was originally scheduled to open in February of this year, is now set for release Jan. 26, 2018.

“I didn’t really wake up or become cognizant, in a way, for a good six-to-eight weeks after it happened,” O’Brien explains. “And then I entered a really difficult phase. I just wasn’t the same person. Things happen to you after something like that that you just don’t have any control of. Your body is designed to react in a way to protect itself if you have a severe trauma to your brain.”

The actor is sitting at a hotel bar in late August, publicly discussing his accident for the first time. He’s been anticipating this day for months. He knew how it would go, meeting reporters at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, where he’s done press a handful of times before. Even though he was supposed to be talking about “American Assassin,” he’d also have to talk about what had happened to him.

“I hid for a long time, obviously. I was going through a lot and didn’t want anybody to see me going through that, I guess,” he explains. “But I’ve gotten to an OK place of talking about it all. I’ve had to come to terms with people asking me about what happened.”

In a way, he admits, he regrets being so private about what happened to him, given the rash of recent on-set stunt-related injuries and deaths. Last month, stuntwoman Joi Harris was killed while riding a motorcycle on the set of “Deadpool 2.” In July, a stuntman on AMC’s “The Walking Dead” died after falling and suffering massive head injuries. And actors have been harmed too: Tom Cruise broke his ankle while attempting a jump from one building to another on the set of “Mission: Impossible 6,” and filming had to be halted in August. And on the sets of two different comedies this summer, Rebel Wilson suffered a concussion and Ike Barinholtz fell from a high platform, fracturing two cervical vertebrae in his neck.

“It’s really disappointing, and I think things like that should really wake the industry up,” says O’Brien. “It’s really easy, sometimes, to get comfortable on a set and get into the groove and think it’s all make-believe so nothing bad can happen. As an actor, you blindly put your trust in experts — and if they tell you something’s safe, you don’t fully vet it yourself. If you’re young and inexperienced, that’s just what you’re taught to do.”

While he never felt like a “gun was to [his] head,” O’Brien admits he always felt responsible for performing his own stunts. He’d get upset any time he had to be replaced by a stuntman. When he’d watch one of the first two “Maze Runner” films and catch a shot of his double, he was irritated.

“It bugs you,” he explains. “You see it and you’re like, ‘Ugh, what the [heck]? How do people not notice that’s not me?’”

But if he knew if he was going to move forward with “American Assassin,” he’d have to approach his action sequences with far more caution than he ever had before. Once he decided to stay with the project — and CBS Films, the production company behind the movie, agreed to wait for him to fully recover — he began working extensively with action coordinator Roger Yuan to ready himself for the movie’s hand-to-hand combat scenes.

Not surprisingly, O’Brien says, there were strict parameters set in place by the film’s insurance company that dictated just how much he could do himself in the wake of his accident. But he was still eager to do the fight scenes himself, so he rehearsed them extensively — to the point, he says, where he literally could do the choreography blindfolded.

“You just want to know it to that extent so that everybody knows what they’re doing on that day,” he says. “And then when you get to that day and somebody says, ‘Wait, can we just change this?’ You say ‘No.’ Things like that, you’ve gotta stand up for. I’ve understood more of where my voice can exist. When I was younger, I used to just want to please everybody and not want to be an issue or not be considered a diva. I’ve just grown up and realized you have to look out for yourself and stick up for yourself and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Other protections were built into the production to make O’Brien feel more at ease too: His father, a veteran below-the-line staffer, was hired as a camera operator so he could be there if needed for his son. And “on the days we were putting Dylan in a situation that might make him uncomfortable, we took longer than we might normally take because we didn’t want to rush it,” says producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. “We were acutely conscious of not putting him in a situation where he could have an adverse reaction — a stunt that might rekindle something.”

O’Brien had also spent time readying himself mentally for the return to set even before production began, visiting with a therapist two times a week. It was there that he realized the similarities he now shared with Mitch Rapp, a character struggling to contain his anger in the wake of a serious trauma.

“It felt like this version of me at the time, always trying to hide from people,” he says. “I was in a really dark place. Obviously, I didn’t experience what he goes through, but that summer when I was in recovery, I was going through a lot. Funny enough, I felt so deeply connected to the dude, and I don’t think I would have known how to play him if this hadn’t happened.”

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen whether “American Assassin” will be the role to catapult O’Brien into adult leading-man territory. His young female fans are still ravenous, anyway: On set in Rome, they once became so intense that the actor was forced to move to a different hotel.

“I saw some fans outside afterward, and three of their moms gave me the finger,” says Cuesta with a laugh. “They hated me because I was keeping Dylan from them.”

The producers of “Assassin” are hoping the film does well enough at the box office this weekend to launch a new action franchise. O’Brien knew that was a possibility, and says he’d be happy to play Mitch Rapp again. But he’s also looking forward to doing something smaller — “finding the new generation of filmmakers and taking risks on guys who don’t have a 25-year résumé.” The idea of acting in a Marvel superhero film, he says, makes him shudder.

“It just seems like too much,” he says. “I don’t think I’m a person who could handle being that face, that star who has to be on every talk show every year. It gives you a lot of flexibility and freedom in things that you do want to do, but it also takes a lot of your time away. And just artistically, it must be hard to keep suiting up and be the same character again over and over all year long in a bunch of different movies. I would like to have a lower profile and career, in a way, but still do things that mean something to me.”

He’s proud of his work in “Assassin,” he says, but he almost doesn’t look at it as a movie.

“It was everything but, in a way,” he acknowledges. “Look, I was angry for a long time. But at this point, that’s not going to do anything. I have to process what happened and move beyond it, and I have. It was the worst thing that ever happened to me, but it’s provided me with a lot of growth and insight that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.”

[source: LA Times]