#and we had a whole stupid time with me trying so hard to not spoil things and us having some ocs transported into hope county

[telluricdog]

so @iisansvertigo and i played far cry 5 together recently...

[itsalwaysdark]

having a midlife crisis atm i think i might start reading [redacted] this is rly scary for me keep me in your thoughts

[fear-is-truth]

𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐎𝐎𝐋 — nicholas alexander chavez.

summary — 80’s au. nicholas alexander chavez is popular, rich, spoiled and… annoyingly hot. / wc: 1.7k

tags — f! reader. nothing explicit unfortunately

“You’re late,” Nicholas drawled, idly adjusting the Rolex on his wrist. He sat sprawled in his family’s oversized leather chair as if he owned the goddamn town—and in truth, he pretty much did. A big chunk of it, anyway. Draped in designer clothes, a pastel sweater tied around his neck, he gave you one of his signature smirk. You rolled your eyes and dropped your keys on the side table. “Relax, I had to wait for Cooper to show up,” you replied, nodding toward your best friend, lounged on the couch across from you. “He was running late.”

Cooper waved a hand lazily, one leg draped over the other as he lounged comfortably on the couch. “Blame the photographer for keeping me late,” he said, pushing his sunglasses up into his hair. He didn’t model for the paycheck—it was more of a hobby. The Koch family was just as loaded as the Chavez family. Nicholas let out a low whistle. “Maybe he was just hoping to get some?”

Cooper carefully selected out a piece of hard peppermint candy from the glass bowl and with a flick of his wrist, he tossed the candy at Nicholas, nailing him on the shoulder.

“Ow! What the fuck?” He yelped, rubbing the spot with exaggerated drama. Cooper just lowered his shades again, lips curling into a smirk. You leaned against the armrest, casting a glance at Nic, who hadn’t taken his eyes off you the whole time. He was always like this, soaking in attention like he was born to it. Girls practically fell at his feet wherever he went, but for some reason, he spent more time around you and Cooper than anyone else. Maybe it was because you weren’t interested in feeding his ego.

Or at least, that’s what you told yourself.

“So, what’s the plan?” Nicholas asked, unwrapping the piece of candy and popping it into his mouth. “How about we throw a pool party?”

You exchanged a glance with Cooper, who raised an eyebrow. The “pool parties” usually meant a crowd, loud music, and a bunch of people you could barely tolerate.

“Isn’t it kind of late for that?” you hinted, half-hoping he’d change his mind. Nic shrugged, “that’s the point.”

•••

The pool glittered under the soft yellow glow of string lights, and the evening was warm, the kind of perfect summer evening that made it hard to believe anything could go wrong. The air was filled with music, and a few groups of people were already mingling, laughing, and lounging by the poolside.

You stood off to the side, trying not to scowl as you watched Nicholas laughing with a few of the girls who had already gravitated toward him like moths to a flame. Your stomach twisted a little, watching them throw themselves at him, one of them resting a hand on his arm as she laughed at something he said. Nicholas, of course, ate it all up, flashing that blinding white smile that had made him the heartthrob of the town. It was stupid to feel jealous. It wasn’t like you had a claim on him. He was the kind of guy everyone wanted—hot, rich, athletic—practically born to be the centre of attention. But that didn’t make it any easier to watch as they tossed their hair, squeezed their boobs together, leaning in a little too close.

Part of you wished he’d notice you instead.

“Here,” a cold sensation jolted you out of your thoughts. Cooper pressed a chilled can of Cola against your cheek, his lips quirking into a small smile as you jumped.

“Hey!” you protested, swatting at his hand but unable to stop the smile that crept onto your face.

“You looked like you needed it,” he explained, the can still lingering near your face. “Before you set something on fire with that glare of yours.”

“Gee, thanks.” you muttered, wiping the condensation off your cheek, but the smile stayed. “and for your information, I wasn’t glaring.”

“Sure,” Cooper replied, popping open the can and offering the can to you. “If by ‘wasn’t glaring’ you mean staring daggers at those girls who won’t leave Nic alone.”

You sighed as you took a sip, your gaze drifting back to the scene. Nicholas looked like he was having the time of his life, head thrown back in laughter at something one of the girls said. He was always like this—playing up his charisma and humour, making everyone feel like they were the only person in the room, even when he was surrounded by half the town’s prettiest, snobbiest chicks.

“He enjoys the attention, you know,” Cooper said, his voice softer now, more serious. “But it doesn’t mean anything.”

“Doesn’t feel like it,” you mumbled, staring down at the Coke in your hands. The cold can had warmed up a little from the heat of your skin, much like the warmth creeping up your chest from the jealousy. You didn’t want to feel this way. You weren’t even sure when it had started—this weird tension whenever Nicholas was around, the way your heart did a stupid flip whenever he so much as looked at you. He was Nic. Your obnoxious best friend. And yet… it was hard to watch other people throw themselves at him, especially when he seemed to thrive off it.

Cooper glanced back at them, then back at you, shaking his head slightly. “Look, Nic’s… complicated. Okay fine, he can be of a dick sometimes. But when it comes down to it, who’s he spending most of his time with? Not them.” He jerked his head toward the pool, where the girls were practically circling around Nicholas like a bunch of hungry sharks. “You.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” you mumbled, watching as Nic cannonballed into the pool, causing a water to splash everywhere. He resurfaced with a grin, his hair slicked back, shaking his hair like a wet dog. The girls were in hysterics, of course. Like it was the most hilarious thing in the world. But even as he laughed, his eyes scanned the patio, searching the crowd. And when he spotted you, his grin softened, the playful, cocky expression slipping into something more genuine. He raised a hand, waved at you.

“You’re not still jealous, are you?” Cooper nudged your arm. “No,” you lied, trying to sound casual. But the way your chest tightened told a different story. “It’s just… whatever. I don’t care.”

“Sure, you don’t.” He gave you an “i-know-you-know” smile before heading off to join another group of friends, leaving you standing by the pool. Nicholas swam up to where you were standing and rested his arms on the edge, looking up at you with that infuriatingly charming smirk. Water dripped down his face and chest, tan skin catching the yellow garden lights.

“Having fun?” As if the prick hadn’t just been flirting with half the girls at the party a moment ago.“Sure. Looks like you’re having a great time.” Nicholas chuckled, lowering his voice. “If by ‘great,’ you mean having a bunch of people talk at me while I think about how bored I am, then yeah.”

“Right,” you said, not fully believing him. “Looked like you were really bored.” “Is someone jealous?” Your heart jumped—was it that obvious? But you quickly masked it with a dry laugh. “Of those girls? Please.”

“M’kay, cool. So… you planning on actually joining the party, or just standing there sulking?”

“I’m not sulking,” you bristled, trying to sound indifferent but failing miserably. He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really? Because it kind of looks like you are. Pouty, even.”

You knelt down by the edge of the pool, leaning just close enough to point at his nose. “I’m not sulking,”

“Uh-huh,” he hummed, amusement dancing in his eyes. “You know, you could’ve been in here with me this whole time.” His smirk softened into something more genuine, and for a split second, you forgot all about the other people around. It was just you and him, the water lapping gently against the poolside, the strum of the party fading into the background. Quick as a viper, his hand shot out, grabbing your wrist and yanking you forward. You tumbled into the pool with a splash, cool water engulfing you.

When you surfaced, spluttering and wiping the water from your eyes, you shot him a dirty look. “Asshole!”

He was laughing, eyes crinkling at the edges in that way that made it impossible to stay too mad. Before you could thump him on the shoulder, he pulled you closer, hands settling on your waist as the water swirled around you. “Told you you should’ve joined me,” with that, just as suddenly as he’d pulled you in, Nicholas leaned down and kissed you. His mouth moved against yours, tender yet insistent, his grip on your waist tightening, pulling you flush against his soaked body. You could feel the steady thrum of his heartbeat under your palm, as he kissed you like he had been waiting for this moment as long as you had.

Hands slid up your sides, fingers skimming along the curves of your waist before one hand moved to cradle the back of your neck, thumb brushing lightly against your skin. The kiss deepened, and he angled his head slightly. Your mind spun as he pushed forward, his tongue slipping into your mouth with a deliberate slowness, exploring every corner with a sensual, languid rhythm. There was nothing rushed about it—he wanted to take his time, savour the taste of you, to tease. His tongue brushed lightly against yours, coaxing a soft gasp from you as your fingers instinctively gripped his shoulders, trying to anchor yourself in the dizzying sensation of it all. Your first tongue kiss was with no one other than Nicholas Alexander Chavez.

When he finally pulled back, it wasn’t by much. His forehead rested against yours, both of you a bit breathless, eyes fluttering open to meet his.

“You’re really not mad, are you?”

part II here

MLIST.  fear-is-truth 2024 — all rights reserved. do not modify, repost, translate, or plagiarise my content.

[pierregazly]

i know places ꨄ charles leclerc smau

charles leclerc x fem!reader

or 4 times charles soft launched you, and the one time he hard launched you so hard it almost caused whiplash

charles_leclerc

liked by pierregasly, arthur_leclerc, joris__trouche, and 430,230 others

charles_leclerc happy summer break 😁

view all 3,400 comments

username ummm???

username that last photo im gonna throw up i never want him to post a photo dump again

username what about OUR family charles? ME, your wife? OUR imaginary kids?

joris__trouche i hope you paid your photographer

charles_leclerc she said it was a free trial

username there's literally no way charles 'i am stupid' leclerc knows how to soft launch this has to be a joke

username i hope this brings ferrari such awful luck... no man who soft launches like this deserves happiness

charles_leclerc

liked by arthur_leclerc, yourusername, landonorris, and 320,540 others

charles_leclerc new song releasing at midnight tonight on all platforms, we hope you'll like it 🎶

view all 2,340 comments

username i cant wait to be depressed for the rest of the week thank u charles

username im sorry... WE? who is WE?

username omg... is this a piano duet... between charles and his girlfriend???

joris__trouche i hope you're sharing the royalties

charles_leclerc nosy man

username the fact he's giving us literal crumbs like we have NOTHING to go off of

username he's just smarter than the rest of us, not letting us creep his girl

charles_leclerc

liked by pierregasly, mickschumacher, yourusername, and 650,392 others

charles_leclerc what an incredible weekend in singapore. honoured to have had all the people i love with me this weekend for this win. i can never do this without you.

view all 5,321 comments

username do u think he put 'i can never do this without you' in a whole different sentence because it's directed at HER

username idk if i should call u delulu or smart bc 👀

username i am so fed up with this soft launch, stop being a coward and show her to us!!!

username comments like these are prolly why he's only soft launching... he doesn't want crazy fans to pull what they did with lando and luisa lol

pierregasly je suppose que ton porte-bonheur fait son travail ��

charles_leclerc 🥰😁

charles_leclerc

liked by joris__trouche, pierregasly, landonorris and 692,941 others

charles_leclerc an extra special christmas, with an extra special person. joyeux noël to you all, may santa spoil you as much as he has spoiled me 🎅🏻

view all 4,523 comments

pierregasly joyeux noël from kika and i, looking forward to spending time with the both of you in the new year 🥂

joris__trouche impressive that this soft launch is still going, only ever seen you this dedicated about cars

username not joris saying exactly what we all have been thinking

username i cant believe no one has found her on anything

username charles hasn't given us anything to go off of, its like he's trying to make it difficult to find her

username omg y'all it HAS to be yourusername her story is them literally kissing!!!! im gonna scream!!!!!!

username she's followed by half the grid!!! kika has liked all her post over the last 2 YEARS omg

yourusername has posted a story

liked by charles_leclerc, francisca.cgomes, username, and 434 others

replies

charles_leclerc honoured to have been the one to kiss you for the last three christmases, hoping for hundreds more

charles_leclerc

tagged yourusername

liked by pierregasly, yourusername, arthur_leclerc, and 1,235,029 others

charles_leclerc apparently i forgot to introduce the world to my beautiful wife? joyeux anniversaire mon amour 💗

view all 6,421 comments

username your WHAT

username his WIFE?!

username there is no way mr 'i am stupid' has hidden a whole WIFE and a whole MARRIAGE from us

pierregasly merde i am so excited to finally post the photos from your wedding

yourusername honoured to have spent the last year as mrs. charles leclerc, hoping for so many more

charles_leclerc hoping for forever

username MRS CHARLES LECLERC PLS IM KSFJHK

username i am screaming and throwing up, not even crying i cant even be heartbroken????

landonorris emotionally im not okay

yourusername you were at the wedding??? landonorris i love love, shut up.

if you've already seen this i apologize lol, i think there was some formatting issues with the prev post which resulted in it not showing up in the tags :( so total apologies for that! i hope you enjoy!! (i dont want to retag everyone and be annoying as well) if you'd like to be added to my tag list please feel free to reach out

also my requests are open if you're interested!

[cherrysurf]

Tall blonde and evil! | Katsuki Bakugo x f!reader

chapter 6; eh your not bad.

Just like he said the chauffeur arrived on time, with everything honestly it felt kinda nice to be spoiled by a man since your lack of male attention was little to none you basked in the moment even if it was from your shitty boss. I mean like you said before, rude,ignorant and yells a lot but treats the people who work for him with respect. Even if you two bicker constantly it became the norm it was comfortable and neither of you took it to heart thinking about it made a stupid smirk grow on your face “why am i smiling over this blonde bastard” you say in your head slapping your face to wake you up from this delusion, luckily you arrived to the mall finally bakugou's chauffeur said to call him when you were ready to be picked you, you politely thanked him and headed out into the mall. “mmh a red or black dress…” you say in your head looking over the vast amount of stores seeing what would catch your eye you passed by prada before you could find a store for a dress and decided to get the professional work outfit done and out of the way you walked in a bit nervous about the whole situation “hi how can i help?” a nice lady in her mid 40’s who still looked youthful as ever and looked like she carried herself very well approached you with a smile “hi yes my name is yn im here for an appointment” you say smiling back “ah yes your with me come come darling” she says guiding you to the back of the store and leading you into a room with many options of office like clothes that were all in the dark gray, black color pallets. Your eyes scanned the entire room to admire how beautifully decorated and secluded it was “here miss yn i’ve had a few already picked out for you, if you don’t like any of these or need an opinion im right here to assist you” she says “i’ll bring you some tea for right now while you get started on trying on outfits” she continues “thank you so much, i really appreciate it” you say smiling “my pleasure” she says with a small nod making her way out the room. The first two outfits didn’t look quite right on your figure, bakugou’s shopping assistant walks back in as you finish putting on the third outfit “wow that one looks stunning on you” she says in awe “you really think so? i think it’s really cute too” you say looking at yourself in the mirror “yes i do. We have it in white if you’d like to try it on?” she proposes “uhm do you think he’d mind if i wore white to the interview?” you ask nervously “not at all i think it would look even better, here let me go get it for you” she says “oh- okay thank you again” you say you weren’t entirely sure if bakugou would get upset at you for wearing something that wasn’t specifically laid out but it was just a color change and clearly he trusted her enough so why not take her advice, and oh boy was she right it looked absolutely beautiful on you “i think this is the one” you say feeling confident “i think so too. It’s perfect and professional, you can change and i’ll get that all set for you” she says “thank you so much for your help today i see why bakugou trusts you so much your choices are amazing” you say happy “thank you i’m glad he’s an amazing customer one of my top clients actually” she says “that’s something new i learned about him today i guess” you say “he’s a man of mystery at first but becomes really easy to read after a while” she says with a giggle “come darling let’s go to the front now” she says you collect your things and you both head to the front, you pay and thank her for everything and she bids you farewell.

“Okay dress and heels now let’s do this.” you say trying to hype yourself up but the hard truth was you only found a nice pair of manolo blanhink hangisi kitten-heel satin slingback pumps that were perfect but no dress at all. “why the fuck is it so hard to find a dress” you groan after hours of being at the mall then it suddenly hits you, that one crimson red dress that your mother left for you and told you to bring when you moved out to the city because “you never know when you need a nice formal dress” she said i guess she’s right all along you decided that you were done and over with today and called bakugou’s chauffeur to come pick you up to head home for a much needed nap.

hopefully this long chapter makes up for all the short ones bye guys

taglist; @kalulakunundrum @sweetadonisbutbetter @rednicotine @ikissfade @bakugouswh0r3 @allurearia @themultifandomgirl @junehasnotbeenfound @darhinadadragon @kodzubaby @harryzcherry @kholethecutie @s4ikooo1 @babylambdietcoke @lover-no-lover61 @sikuthealien @sahrii

[justagalwhowrites]

The Savage and the Sanctuary - Ch. 3: Parents

You and Joel try to figure each other out and you and Ellie navigate your new relationship while you get ready to go to LA. A continuation of The Savage and the Sanctuary, a no outbreak TLOU story, from the prologue through chapter 2 found on Tumblr here.

Pairing: Joel Miller x Female Reader

CW: Remembered negligence by a parent. No use of Y/N. Whole fic will be explicit so minors DNI, 18+ only.

Length: 7.5k

Fic Masterlist | Masterlist | AO3 | Prologue | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

“Again.” 

You threw a punch at the sparring mitt on Joel’s hand. 

He shook his head once, tightening his jaw. You weren’t landing the blows well, something was holding you back. 

“C’mon, you got more in you than that,” he said, almost taunting you. “Again.” 

You yelled then and really pulled your fist back before swinging forward yet again. This time, though, it actually forced his arm to move some, making him recenter his weight as he tried to keep position. 

“There you go,” he said. “Keep doin’ that, let’s go.” 

“Seriously?” You panted, dripping sweat, your sports bra clinging somehow even tighter to your skin than it was before the workout started, something Joel was desperate to not pay attention to. “I feel like I’m about to die.” 

“Gotta build up that muscle,” he said. “Come on, Siren -” he said your code name like the taunt it was. “Hit me.” 

You really went after him then, wailing on the sparring mitts and coming for him hard and fast enough that it forced him to step back. 

“Better,” he said eventually and you lowered your hands, your chest heaving. “See? Knew you could do it.” 

“Yeah, turns out all it took was remembering what a dick you are,” you said, a teasing edge to your voice. “Way easier to want to punch you then.” 

“Ma’am?” Esmo’s voice appeared at the door to the pool house. “The car will be here in an hour.” 

“Thanks,” you panted, shucking your gloves and looking to Joel. “You all packed and ready?” 

“I’m ready,” he said. “Won’t have to worry about me.”

“You say that,” you said, putting the gloves away and grabbing your water bottle, chugging from it as you caught your breath. “But we’ll see how you do once we actually get to L.A.” 

“Don’t think it’s gonna be much of a challenge,” he said, even though he knew you were right. He just wasn’t about to say it. “Just don’t do anything stupid, we’ll be fine.” 

“Aw, now where’s the fun in that?” You asked, starting back toward the house. “You OK to get the kid?” 

“What if I said no?” He asked. “I’m not a damn chauffeur, you know.” 

“Sure about that?” You asked. “Because you beg to drive often enough…” 

“I got the kid,” he said. “Go do whatever air-headed shit you gotta do before you get on a plane.” 

You mouthed his words mockingly back at him as you made your way to your room and Joel made his way to the kitchen to get water for himself. 

Things with you had fallen into an almost surprising cadence in the week since his birthday and the conversation in your kitchen. 

It wasn’t that he liked you or anything as extreme as that. He’d just learned how to see you more as a person and less as the specter who haunted the wall of his daughter’s bedroom. You were still spoiled and overly opinionated and frustrating to no end but you were also oddly kind, sharply observant and a dedicated parent to a child who wasn’t yours to begin with. 

Even though your love and care for her was obvious, Ellie seemed to want to tiptoe around you for a few days after she got suspended. She avoided staying anywhere you were for too long, but Joel saw how you’d perk up when she came in and then visibly deflate when she left without saying much of anything at all to you. You tried to pretend like it didn’t bother you, even as you spent hours on the phone with the school trying to convince them to let Ellie come back early without saying why she’d picked a fight with that asshole boy to begin with. He didn’t buy it. 

Eventually, you wore the school down, and Ellie only missed two full days of classes. She just didn’t seem all that eager to return when she climbed in the car for Joel to drop her off the morning she went back. 

“You ready for school?” He asked eventually, glancing her way, trying not to think of navigating conversations like this with Sarah. There were points in time where he could tell something was bothering her but prying would just make it worse so he asked the innocuous questions in hopes she’d give him something - anything - to work with. 

“I guess,” she shrugged, staring determinedly out the window. 

“Want to tell me what’s on your mind?” He asked eventually when she didn’t give him anything else to work with. 

She sighed heavily. 

“I just…” she looked at Joel, her small hands twisting around themselves on her lap. “I know that stupid fucking boy is going to keep saying that shit. What do I do? I know, I know, I can’t hit him. Even though I should be able to fucking hit him.” 

Joel tried not to laugh at that. He didn’t entirely disagree. 

“He scare easy, you think?” He asked, glancing over to Ellie. 

“He seems like a little bitch,” she replied. “So yeah, probably. Why?” 

He shrugged, coming up with a plan. Or a semblance of one, anyway. 

When he got to the school, he didn’t go to the drop off line. Instead, he parked and got out, Ellie frowning as he did. 

“Show me this kid,” he said, nodding for her to lead the way. 

She scanned the crowed for a second before she found him, leaning against the side of the building, looking like he was vaping before the day started. 

“There he is,” she narrowed her eyes at him. “Fucking asshole.” 

“C’mon,” he said, walking up the hill toward the school, keeping an eye out for any teachers or parents who might cause any trouble. “We’ll handle it.” 

Ellie kept up, her much smaller legs needing to almost jog to keep pace with his longer, purposeful stride. Thankfully, the kid was trying to stay out of sight, making Joel’s plan a lot easier. 

The kid was, as it happened, also cocky as hell. 

“Well look who’s back,” he said, shoving back off the wall and not seeming to care that Joel was there. The fog from the vape reeked of pot. “What, your whore mom get them to let you out of your cage early?” 

“You motherfucker!” Ellie lunged for him but Joel held her back. She looked up at him, indignant, but he focused on the kid in front of him. He barely came up to Joel’s chin, maybe 16 years old and suddenly seemingly aware that he’d picked a fight with someone who wasn’t smaller than him. Joel stepped closer, squaring his shoulders, letting himself tower over the kid. He gulped, almost comically so, and stepped back until he was against the wall again. 

“We got a problem here,” Joel said. 

“I.. I don’t…” the kid stammered, but Joel cut him off. 

“Don’t remember askin’ you a damn thing, you little shit,” he said. “I said, we got a problem here. And that problem is you. Now, see, I don’t take too kindly for assholes like you causin’ problems for my people and Ellie here is one of my people. You may not know it but it’s my job to make sure she don’t have problems so you being one… well, that’s an issue, ain’t it?” 

The kid was silent. 

“That was a question,” Joel said, staring him down. “Answer it.” 

“Yes sir,” he said quickly. 

“Good boy,” Joel said using the same tone he would a dog who’d misbehaved. “The way I look at it, we got two ways to handle a problem. We can remove it or we can resolve it. I got all kinds of ways I can remove a problem but resolving it is easier. I like easier. Which would you rather I do?” 

The kid was silent, his eyes darting. 

“Answer. The. Question.” 

“Re…resolve it,” he said, shrinking lower on the wall. 

“Good,” Joel said. “That means, you stop talking shit. You don’t look at her, you don’t talk to her, you don’t talk to anyone else about her, you understand?” 

“Yes sir.” 

“You’re gonna treat her and her family with respect,” Joel considered. “And you’re gonna keep your thoughts - and hands - to yourself. I hear about any other shit like that comin’ out of this school? I’m going to assume it’s coming from you and I’m going to assume you’re a problem that can’t be resolved. That means you’re one that needs to be removed. Do you want me to remove you?” 

“No sir.” 

“What was that?” Joel asked, even though he’d heard him perfectly fine. 

“No sir,” he said, a little louder that time. 

“Good,” he said again. “Now apologize to Ellie.” 

His eyes darted to Ellie and back to Joel. 

“But…” 

“This ain’t a debate,” Joel growled. “Apologize. Now.” 

“I’m sorry,” he said quickly to Ellie. “I didn’t… I didn’t mean any of it, I’m really sorry, I won’t say any of that shit again, I promise!” 

“Good,” Joel said. “Tell anyone about this and I’ll make sure they know about this little vaping habit of yours. Don’t think Texas takes too kindly to drug use, regardless of who your damn daddy is. Remember what I said about problems. Don’t become one and I won’t need to treat you like one. Do I make myself clear?” 

“Yes sir.” 

Joel gave him one final up and down, almost surprised to not find piss staining the front of his pants when he did. He looked back at Ellie. 

“Should get you to class,” he said. “C’mon.” 

He guided Ellie away from the kid and toward the sidewalk and she was smart enough to keep her mouth shut until they were out of earshot. 

“That was so fucking cool,” she was damn near beaming up at Joel. 

“He bothers you again, tell me,” he said, stopping to face her before she made her way to the front door of the school. “I’ll handle it.” 

“Would you beat him up?” She asked, her eyes lighting up. 

He made a face. 

“He’s a fuckin’ kid,” he said. “I don’t hurt kids. But he don’t need to know that. So let me know and don’t go trying to handle shit yourself again, OK kid?” 

“OK,” she said, giving him a firm nod. “Thanks, Joel.” 

He just gave her a nod back and watched her go into the school, staring down the kid still cowering against the wall as he made his way back to the car. 

Ellie started spending more and more time with Joel after that. He took her to and from school almost every day and it only took a few days for her to start talking to him. 

He didn’t invite it, not really, it just kind of happened. It started with her throwing her book bag in the back seat with a little too much force and sighing heavily and Joel’s latent fatherly instinct kicked in before he realized what he was doing. 

“Everything OK?” He asked, raising her brows and glancing toward her as he made his way around other cars picking up kids as the school day ended. She just looked at him, incredulous, until he shrugged. “Don’t take a genius to see something’s goin’ on. That kid give you more trouble?” 

“No,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. He was quiet, drumming his thumbs on the steering wheel, giving her room to sit in the silence. And then she sighed. “It was another kid. Said some shitty stuff.” 

“Shitty stuff like what.”

“Just stuff,” she said, clenching her jaw before deflating. “I just… I don’t think I want to talk about it yet.” 

“Well,” Joel said. “Here when you do. Know your aunt is, too.” 

“Yeah, I know,” she said, watching Joel for a moment. “Want to kill some shit when we get home?” 

“Assuming you’re talkin’ about in one of those damn games…” 

“Duh,” she said. “Don’t think I’m allowed to do it in real life even though some people fucking deserve it.” 

Joel tried to keep from smiling at that. The kid had a mouth on her. He shouldn’t encourage it, he knew that. He shouldn’t encourage her spending time with him, either. But something in him liked that she sought him out, that she felt like he was someone who was safe, someone she could confide in. 

“Sure,” he said. “We can kill some shit.” 

“Fuck yeah.” 

“Hey,” he said. “Language.” 

And he watched as she rolled her eyes good naturedly, a small smile tugging at her mouth. Knowing he made her feel a little better tugged at him, too. He tried to remind himself that he wasn’t supposed to care. You and her were a job, nothing more. Caring about either of you was stupid at best, a liability at worst. It was best to keep his distance. 

He played the video games, anyway. 

Joel watched as things softened with you and Ellie in the week that followed and then, eventually, as he was having coffee before taking Ellie to school and you were sitting at the breakfast bar in the kitchen, reading something on your iPad while eating avocado toast with a cup of coffee - because of course you ate fucking avocado toast - she sat next to you, plopping her backpack down on the open chair on the other side of her. 

You set the iPad down gently and gave yourself the excuse to do it by using both hands to pick up the toast, taking a small bite and chewing slowly before picking up your coffee with both hands next so the iPad wasn’t a distraction. 

“So,” Ellie said eventually. “You have that movie coming out soon, right?” 

“I do,” you said, looking over at her and smiling just a little. 

“Probably have to go do all that promotional shit soon, huh?” She asked, brows raised. 

You nodded. 

“Next week,” you said. “You’re going to go stay with your grandmother while I’m back in LA.” 

She nodded slowly. 

“Are you going to be doing the TV shows and shit?” She asked. 

“Some,” you said. “Doing a few days of interviews for different outlets and then I’ll be on Jimmy Kimmel the day before the premiere.” 

“Remember that time you were the voice of the cartoon duck when I was little?” She asked, smiling bigger. “You brought me and Mom to the premiere?” 

You laughed a little. 

“Yeah, you didn’t want to wear a skirt then either,” you said. “You were like seven and you insisted on wearing jeans on the red carpet.” 

Ellie laughed, too. 

“I liked that movie,” Ellie said. “It was good.” 

“I’m glad,” you smiled at her. “I made it for you.” 

She smiled tightly, the two of you watching each other for a moment. 

“Maybe we can watch it together when you get back?” She asked. “Haven’t seen it in a while.” 

“Yeah,” you smiled. “I’d like to that.”

“Cool,” she said as Esmo set a breakfast sandwich in front of her.

Esmo gave Joel a look, a death glare that told him to keep his mouth shut lest he disturb the delicate dance happening at the breakfast bar as the two of you ate side by side in silence, neither of you looking at the other but also not at any phone or tablet. 

Eventually, when Joel knew he was going to have to get Ellie loaded into the car, she broke the silence. 

“Hey Sissy?” She said, looking at you hesitantly. 

“What’s up kiddo?” You asked, watching her with a gentle smile on your face. 

“I…” Ellie paused, looking to the side for a moment and taking a deep breath before facing you again. “It really fucking sucked when my mom died. Even though we knew it was coming it still really, really, really fucking sucked. But as bad as it was… I know it would have been a whole lot worse if you weren’t here. I’m really glad I’m not doing this shit on my own.” 

Even from his place near the coffee maker, Joel could see you starting to tear up as you reached out and cupped her cheek. 

“I’ll always be here for you,” you said, voice wet. “You’ll never be on your own.” 

“I know,” she said. “I just… wanted you to know. That I know.” 

You smiled. 

“Thanks, kiddo,” you said. “Have a good day at school, OK?” 

“Thanks,” she smiled. “Have a good day doing… whatever it is famous people do.” 

You snorted and Joel got Ellie to school, the uncomfortable tension that had been in the air in the house since the day of the fight fading. 

It was a relief for Joel, too. He tried not to think about why, instead deciding that he was happy that he didn’t need to try and tiptoe around you and Ellie anymore. He’d felt oddly uncomfortable, knowing that you were hurting. He found himself trying to avoid picking at you the way he usually did, any small, cruel pleasure he took from it nowhere to be found when he knew you were actually miserable. 

He wasn’t sure why he cared. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know why he cared. Now, things could go back to normal. 

And they did. Mostly. 

You still did the exact opposite of what he asked you to do whenever possible. You still went for coffee at the local coffee shop at least once a week, the one you’d gone to so much that Joel was certain the girl behind the counter knew who you were. You still went grocery shopping yourself. One day, when you apparently wanted to send him into a blind rage, you drove to a public park and got out of the car without saying a word. 

“Hey!” Joel yelled, jogging to catch up to you as you stretched a little, jogging in place as you did. 

“Yes, Big Miller?” You asked, brows raised, that stupid baseball cap that you pretended like protected you from everything under the sun pulled low over your face. 

“What the hell do you think you’re doin’?” He asked, his hands on his hips, jaw squared. 

“Going for a run,” you said, as though this were the most typical thing in the world. 

Which, if you weren’t the most famous woman in the world, it would be. That just wasn't the case. Not with you. 

“Not out in public you ain’t,” he said. “Back in the car. Now.” 

“Back in the car. Now,” you said, puffing your cheeks out mockingly. “No, I don’t think so. I don’t feel like running on a treadmill today, it’s finally not 115 degrees outside, I’m going for a run in the park. Keep up if you want, sit in the car if you don’t, it’s really no skin off my back either way.” 

You started at a jog down the path before Joel had a chance to argue. He just growled, following along behind you, sweating through his t-shirt and jeans and wishing he was in his gym shoes instead of his fucking work boots. He glared as he passed other people on the trail, each of them looking at him like he was some kind of crazy person. 

“See, was that so bad?” You asked, panting for breath, your skin covered in a sheen of sweat as you made it back to the car. He snatched the keys from your hand and stalked to the driver’s door as you laughed. “God, you’re so sensitive! Such a baby…” 

So the next day - when you decided to go to fucking Target in the middle of the afternoon after going to the dentist - Joel had had just about enough. 

“No,” he said as you pulled into the parking lot. “Absolutely not.” 

“Well that’s unfortunate for you,” you said, ignoring him and getting out of the car, anyway. 

But Joel was ready for you this time, catching you as you came around the trunk of your SUV, making you jump. “What are you… Hey!” 

He ignored you, looping an arm around your waist and forcing you back as you beat uselessly at his chest. He wrestled the back door open and forced you unceremoniously into the back seat before he climbed in the driver’s seat and pushed the button to activate the child locks. 

“What the fuck!” You protested, pulling helplessly at the door handle. 

“Act like a fuckin’ child and I treat you like a fuckin’ child,” he said. “No reason for you to go to fucking Target. Already went to the store this week, don’t need any more of this shit from you.” 

“You realize that I pay you, right?” You snapped, leaning between the driver and passenger seats to scowl at him. “I’m literally your boss, you can’t just manhandle me into my own fucking car because you’re in a mood!” 

“Actually, pretty sure your manager signs the checks to my brother’s business,” Joel said, fighting the urge to smirk about it. “Studio, too. Think that makes them my boss, not you. Besides, I’m paid to worry about your safety which means I don’t gotta listen to you.

“You’ve been lucky that no one has really noticed that you live here yet but all it takes is one asshole with their goddamn cell phone camera out sharing your photo to one of those damn magazines and you’ll get swarmed everywhere you go,” he continued. “That what you want? These idiots following you everywhere? Following Ellie everywhere? You want your damn stalker showing up at your door?” 

You sat back in a huff, crossing your arms and glaring out the window. 

“Then maybe you should fucking listen to me,” he said. “Know what I’m talking about.” 

“Such an asshole,” you muttered and Joel smirked. 

This relationship with you he knew. This, he could handle. 

But he still found himself walking a strange line with you as the two of you worked on your fight skills together. Spending a few hours with you every day, showing you how to move your body, your body that was barely covered by those tight little gym outfits. He might loathe those as much as he loathed needing to be around you. 

Because, when all was said and done, he couldn’t ignore the fact that you were the most beautiful person he’d ever seen. It was disorienting, even after being around you as much as he was, to see you and recognize that you were real, that you really were just that beautiful. 

It wasn’t even that he was attracted to you, he told himself, the fact that you were beautiful was just a fact. Anyone could see it, even him in his deadened state. The fact that his heart beat faster when your hand brushed his skin was just biology. He was just a man, of course he’d have some sort of physical reaction around someone who looked like you. 

He tried not to think about needing to be in close quarters with you in new territory over the next few days, about what strange feeling he’d been sure was long dead would awaken in him then. 

At least he could still put you through your paces. 

Joel came home from picking up Ellie just as the car taking the two of you to the airport pulled up outside. Joel loaded his bags into the trunk of the car, waving off the pushy chauffeur as you herded Ellie to the car with all her bags. 

“And you have the charger for your Switch?” You asked, your arm around Ellie’s shoulders. 

“Yes,” Ellie rolled her eyes. 

“And your laptop for school?” You asked. “Because you can’t get out of homework just because you don’t have it…” 

“I have it,” she said. “And I have like 20 pairs of clean underwear and a toothbrush and…” 

“And your phone?” You asked. 

She looked at you, incredulous. 

“Duh.” 

You laughed and gave her a squeeze. 

“Alright,” you said. “Let’s get you dropped off so me and Big Miller can get out of here.” 

Ellie snorted. 

“Yeah, you and Big Miller need to go do movie star shit,” she said, getting in the back of the car with you, Esmo giving her bags to the chauffeur. “Don’t want to hold up such important things.” 

“Alright, Siren,” Joel said. “Let’s go.” 

The three of you went to Ellie’s grandmother’s house and she almost tackled her, you getting out and greeting her with a warm hug, too. 

“Hey Mom,” you smiled. “Thanks for taking our trouble maker here.” 

“Try and stop me from hanging out with my favorite granddaughter,” she smiled. 

“I’m your only granddaughter,” Ellie rolled her eyes but smiled all the same. 

“Have time to come in for a few?” She asked. “Introduce me to this tall, dark and handsome man you brought to my door? I’m Elise, by the way.” 

“Oh that’s just Big Miller,” Ellie said, smirking. 

“Big Miller?” She frowned down at her before looking at you. “What’s a Big Miller?” 

“He’s the security guard I mentioned before,” you said. “And I’m afraid we have a plane to catch.” 

“Don’t they wait for you these days?” She teased. 

“Not when you fly commercial,” you teased a little back. “But I’ll be back in a few days. Let me know if you need anything.” You turned your attention to Ellie. “Behave yourself, alright?” 

“She always behaves,” Elise said. “Which is why I get to load her up with sugar before she goes home.” 

“Hell yeah!” Ellie said before looking back to you. “I’ll be good, Sissy. Promise.” 

You seemed satisfied but were still slow to get back in the car, giving another final round of hugs before getting back in. 

“Directly to the airport, ma’am?” The chauffeur asked. 

“Please,” you said, watching out the window as Ellie and Elise headed into the house. 

Joel found himself checking on you in the rearview mirror as you made your way to Intercontinental in Houston, a recommendation of Joel’s you’d actually heeded. 

“It’s a bigger airport,” he’d said. “Less likely for people to notice you and, if they do, they got no reason to think you live in Austin. Extra layer of security.” 

You did your makeup - something he didn’t like noticing - and then kept mouthing words to yourself as you kept your nose buried in an iPad. 

“What are you doin’?” He asked eventually and you looked up, your eyes meeting his in the mirror and he tried to ignore how fucking pretty you were when your makeup was done. Didn’t seem possible that you could get any damn prettier but of course you found a way. 

“Trying to get off book for the chemistry reads I have tomorrow morning,” you said. 

Joel frowned and twisted around to face you. 

“The fuck does that mean.” 

You smiled a little and he felt a twinge in his chest, one he resented. 

“It means I want to have my lines memorized before I need to read them with some people who are kind of auditioning tomorrow,” you said. “It’s not required or expected but I like being able to really focus on the person I’m working with and be a good scene partner. There are a few up and comers, it can be intimidating being in a room and reading with someone like me. I want to make sure they’ve got everything I can give them to do well.” 

He just grunted, facing forward again as you got closer to the airport. He hated when you did shit like that, something that seemed kind and thoughtful. He didn’t want to think of you as that type of person, it made him uncomfortable and it was worse when he knew he was about to be closer than usual to you over the next few days. It was easier to keep his distance from you when you were a spoiled brat. When you were nice or observant or, heaven forbid, vulnerable, he was keenly aware of the effect you had on him, on the way he wanted to look at your too perfect face and feel your fingers on his skin. It was an effect he needed to get over. You were a job. Nothing more. 

There was a team of people waiting for you at the airport, half a dozen of them damn near swarming the car as the driver pulled up to the curb. 

“So it begins,” you said, an ominous note in your voice before you plastered a smile on your face as someone opened the door for you. 

The team ushered you through the process of getting you into the airport quickly, apparently desperate to avoid the disruption that would come with your presence if you were noticed. Your bags had been sent ahead earlier in the day and someone in a suit took your tote bag with your iPad and laptop and book and rushed it ahead to security as someone else finalized both you and Joel’s check in on the flight. 

“I got a firearm in that bag,” Joel said as someone took his luggage from him. He turned to someone in a suit next to him, one who was paying far more attention to you than to him. “Hey, that OK? They hear me about the gun? Really don’t want to get to fuckin’ California and not have my side arm…” 

“I’ll make sure there are no issues,” the man said, giving Joel a tight smile 

They moved both of you to the front of the TSA line, the check seeming more cursory than anything for you, at least. They still gave Joel a full pat down, one that strayed a little too close to his crotch than he was pleased with, giving the agent a death glare until they pulled their hand away. Then, in another flurry of people in suits, the two of you were ushered into one of the fancy fucking airport lounges Joel had always walked past but never even dreamed of going inside, tucking you away in a private corner with a reserved sign on the table, a server immediately rushing to take your order. The whole process took maybe 10 minutes, you with a glass of white wine as you folded yourself back into the corner of the couch, settling in with your iPad in your hand again. 

Joel scoffed derisively. This shit was almost heaven sent, a reminder of just how easy life was for someone like you. Exactly the thing he needed to remember that you weren’t just some pretty face, that it must be easy to be fucking nice when everyone was waiting on you hand and foot all the time. 

“Yes?” You asked, brows raised as you lowered the tablet. 

“It always that easy for you?” He asked. “Just everyone takin’ care of all the hard shit, no lines, no dealing with authorities, just stroll right on through?” 

You laughed a little, shaking your head. 

“It’s easy here because no one was looking for me,” you said. “Wait until we get to LAX, then we’ll talk.” 

“What makes you think it’ll bad?” He asked. 

“Well, someone on the flight is going to notice me,” you said. “They always do. They’ll tweet about it, probably with a picture they didn’t ask my permission to take, and then half the paparazzi in LA will show up, ready to catch me looking tired and cranky after a flight because I haven’t given them shit in months and, unfortunately, my picture sells.” 

“And it’s really gonna be that quick,” he said, skeptical, his brows raised. 

“Oh, definitely,” you said. “And it’ll be like that the whole time I’m in LA, there will always be a photographer right on my ass, all day every day. Quinn tipped them off to a few places I’ll be so they will hopefully calm down otherwise but yeah, it’ll get crazy. The good news is, the people in LA are used to it. They see movie stars every day. There will always be a few tourists or super fans who come up but it’s not too bad, just the photographers are rough.” 

He nodded slowly, processing. He’d worked closely with Tommy in the week leading up to this, coordinating with a security team in LA. You’d have a driver, other people besides him on hand in situations that might be dicey or where more people would know where you were but Joel was still going to be your body man. He just wasn’t sure exactly what to expect once he was on the ground. He’d never dealt with paparazzi, at least not in fucking Los Angeles. 

You finished working on your lines after a while, putting your iPad aside and just looking around the small parts of the lounge you could see from the corner where they’d put you. 

“Can I ask you somethin’?” Joel asked after a while, curiosity nagging at him. 

“Sure,” you shrugged, trying not to look taken aback. “What’s up?” 

“Ellie’s grandma,” he said slowly, trying to figure out how to word it. “Seems like you’re closer to her than your mother.” 

“That’s because I am,” you said. “And that wasn’t a question.” 

He gave you a look and you laughed once. 

“I guess I was just… I didn’t know why that was,” he said. “Was wondering.” 

You considered Joel for a moment. 

“This falls under your NDA,” you said. “Just so we’re clear.” 

“Course,” he said. 

“Do you know much about my career?” You asked, adjusting in your seat as you did. 

He shrugged. 

“A little. Know you’ve got an Oscar for some movie I never fuckin’ saw. Know that show you were on, Siren, of course.” 

You nodded slowly. 

“Well, I was ‘discovered’ when I was five,” you said. Joel’s brows shot up. “I was in line at the grocery store with my mother and a modeling agent saw me there. According to her, he practically signed me on the spot and I started working right away. I don’t remember it well. The work was just catalogue at first, nothing crazy. Then I started doing commercials… by the time I was seven I was on my first TV show.” 

Joel frowned at that. 

“What show?” 

“That sitcom Family Tree?” You said it like it was a question. “It aired in the 90s and the early 2000s, I was the precocious baby of the family. Cute, smart ass, that sort of thing.” 

“Oh shit,” Joel laughed. “That was you? Jesus, I remember watching that show with my parents…” 

You smiled a little. 

“Yeah, that was me,” you said. “My first big job. I met Elise and Anna, Ellie’s mom, on that job. Elise was the tutor for the kids on the show, we basically had our own little school with the five of us. She brought Anna to set one day and we hit it off… Anyway, the point of this is, my mother was my manager. I was on that show for 10 years and I was doing movies, too. My mother was in charge of all of it. She handled my contracts, publicity, all the money… that was the real problem.

“She stopped seeing me as her daughter pretty early, I think,” you continued. “Probably hard to see the person making you rich as your child, not when all you want is to get more money. More, more, more, she was never happy with it. She would throw me at any job that was offered as long as it paid, no real direction to my career for years, not until I started to be old enough to have some of my own damn artistic vision. But… well, she handled the money, every cent I made and boy did she handle it, handled it right out the door.” 

“Jesus,” Joel blinked back his shock. 

You shrugged. 

“I figured out what was going on when I was about 14,” you said. “By then, I’d been working almost 10 years and I didn’t have a damn penny to show for it. In fact, I owed the IRS a shit ton of money because she hadn’t paid taxes, either. It was a disaster because I was suddenly without a manager, penniless, in a legal shit show and I needed to find someone else to be my guardian because lord knew I couldn’t stay with my mother after that. I tried to make a go of it on my own - I thought it would have been easier, it felt like I’d been taking care of myself for long enough anyway - but, when I was through the worst of the financial stuff, I went to live with Elise.” 

You laughed a little and Joel wasn’t sure why, none of this shit was funny. 

“She was so pissed at first,” you said. “She didn’t say it at the time, of course, she didn’t tell me any of this until I was in my 20s but she was furious I hadn’t come to her right away. She’d already been looking out for me more than my mother ever did, she seemed to know that my mother wasn’t doing anything to take care of me. She had me spend the night with Anna all the time, she was always checking to make sure that I was safe on set - more than I can say for a lot of other kids who have worked in this industry, let me tell you. She was always there for me. I just was afraid that, if she took me in when I had nothing at all, she’d somehow end up on the hook for all the money my mother and I owed everyone. I did an action movie with some stupid, bloated budget when they needed some smart alec teenager to play the kid of the hero and waited for that check to clear. It was enough to cover almost everything I needed to pay back and then I felt like it was OK to go to her and tell her everything. So, as far as I’m concerned? Elise is my mom. The woman who gave birth to me just happens to share my DNA and not much else. I’ll take care of her, check in on her, make sure she has everything she needs for a comfortable life, but that’s it. She is not my mom.” 

Joel watched you for a moment, just processing. Without meaning to, he pictured Sarah at 14 - just a year before she’d died - and she was still a kid, just a kid. He pictured her trying to navigate a world that was cold and cruel and cared nothing for her safety without anyone to help her and his blood got hot, his fingers clenching a little tighter, his jaw setting a little firmer. 

You frowned at him, cocking your head at him as though he were a curiosity. 

“What?” 

“Nothin’,” he said eventually, sitting back in his chair and looking back out at the room, watching for potential threats against the shockingly human thing that was you. “Just didn’t expect that is all.” 

Someone came and got the two of you for the flight, when boarding was winding down and you wouldn’t need to stand there and wait with all the other mere mortals and Joel was able to tuck that odd feeling down low inside him again. It didn’t matter that you’d once been a vulnerable kid hung out to dry, you’d clearly done just fine for yourself. He didn’t need to think about you that way. It wouldn’t make a difference now, anyway. 

The two of you were seated in the front row and, for the first 20 minutes or so of the flight, Joel started to think that you might have been wrong. You’d kept your head down and folded yourself into the window seat as quickly as possible, not giving anyone much of a chance to look at your face. Maybe no one would really notice you, maybe you would be able to make it out of the airport on the other side with no one the wiser. 

And then some asshole heading back to his seat from the bathroom froze, his jaw dropping when he saw you. 

“Holy shit,” he breathed. 

You smiled a small, almost amused smile. 

“Hi,” you said. 

“You’re not…” he said, looking around the rest of first class like he might have been crazy. The man across the aisle for Joel leaned forward, peering around him as he frowned. 

“Afraid so,” you scrunched your nose in a way that Joel was sure was meant to cute and charming and probably was to everyone else but, to him, it was just enraging. 

“Holy shit,” he said again, stepping in front of Joel as if he wasn’t there at all. “I loved you in Fast Track! That one chase sequence where you were driving backwards was so cool, how did they do that? I read you did your own driving, is that true?” 

“I did some of my own driving,” you laughed lightly. “But I didn’t drive much there, we had a stunt driver that actually faced backwards in the car and drove when we were in reverse. I did drive the forward facing parts of that sequence, though. I’m glad you liked it.” 

“Can I get a selfie?” The guy asked, already pulling out his phone before you even had a chance to say no. “My best friend is in love with you, he’s going to freak out, he had your poster on the wall of our dorm freshman year.” 

Joel was about to tell him to fuck off but you were unbuckling your seat belt. 

“Sure,” you said, getting up and standing next to him so he could take the picture. You smiled and looked far more beautiful than anyone sitting on a plane had any right to be and Joel gritted his teeth. “What’s your name?” 

“Sean,” he said, still looking at you like he wasn’t sure you were real. 

“Lovely to meet you, Sean,” you said. “Tell your friend I said hi.” 

He went back to his seat and you sat back down and Joel couldn’t help but notice the way your fingers tightened on the end of the arm rest, as though you could dig your nails into the plastic if you just tried hard enough. It was the only indication that anything was wrong. If he hadn’t been around you so much over the last few weeks, he’d never have noticed but now, it seemed impossible not to. 

Sean, it seemed, opened the floodgates. People started cautiously approaching, all talking to you, all awed by you, all asking for selfies that you obliged with a smile. You answered questions patiently, signed napkins, took a video where you said hi to someone’s wife. All the while, Joel ground his teeth while people damn near sat on his lap while they waited to get a moment with you. 

Eventually, a flight attendant got fed up and made an announcement. 

“Everyone, we understand that we have a high profile passenger on board,” she said. “While I’m sure this is very exciting for some of you, we still need to maintain safe travel conditions while in route to Los Angeles. Please remain seated with your seatbelts fastened so flight attendants can do their jobs and you’re not hurt by unexpected turbulence. Thank you.” 

Joel could have kissed her as everyone reluctantly made their way back to their seats and you visibly relaxed, leaning your head back and closing your eyes, taking a deep breath as you did. 

“You alright?” Joel asked, keeping his voice low. 

You opened one eye, looking at him quizzically before closing it again. 

“Fine,” you said. “Just ready to get to LA.” 

Joel kept his eyes and ears open the rest of the flight, hearing your name come up in hushed whispers from all around them. He heard the snap of a cellphone camera shutter and looked around, glowering, for the culprit but never spotted them. Joel searched your name on Twitter. You were trending, pictures of you being rushed through airport security earlier and from the plane everywhere while everyone under the sun tried to figure out what the fuck you’d been doing in Houston, Texas, to begin with. 

When the plane landed, the flight attendant let you and Joel off first to avoid the threat of chaos as you made your way quickly toward arrivals. 

But you paused, just shy of the end of the secured area, staring it down the sliding doors as though they were an opponent. 

“We doin’ this or not?” Joel asked, probably gruffer than he should have. 

“We are,” you said, not looking at him. “I’m just… saying goodbye to the quiet life I’ve had the last few months. I’m going to miss it.” 

You didn’t wait for him to respond. Instead, you just made for the security doors, greeted by a sea of cameras as the chaos of your existence in Los Angeles welcomed you home. 

Next Chapter

A/N: Thank you for being patient with this series! I've started graduate school so everything I care about seems to get put on the back burner anymore. I hope you enjoyed it, anyway.

This LA arc I am SUPER excited for. Get ready to learn so so SO much more about Siren and Joel both as things ramp up in the City of Angels.

Also, sending some love to one of my besties (who does NOT read my fic but does know I write it) who answered the arbitrary questions I had about the Houston airports. She's the best.

Thank you for choosing to spend your time with my work! Love you!

Taglist: @christinamadsen @eff4freddie @brittmb115 @copperhalfcent @r3dheadedwitch @pedropascalsbbg @lovelyjess69 @yopossum @moel-jiller @picketniffler @lilyevanstan1325 @reluctanthalfwayoptimism @wintersquirrel @missladym1981 @mellymbee @canthinkof1user

[jaebeomsbitch]

Jealousy Jealousy Smut Ver (R.R.)

Summary: Roman getting jealous after a waiter "flirted" with you turns into something more...Inspired by the Grace x Roman phone scene.

Warnings: SMUT MINORS DNI, degradation, lots of cursing, male masturbation, insecurity, mention of his ED

“So you have fun tonight?” Roman asks, undoing his tie

“Seriously?” You scoff, turning to look at him while placing your heels on the floor. He looks back at you already annoyed. 

“No because you were being a huge asshole but hey, what’s new?” You shrug, turning away from him and unzipping your dress. 

“Oh fuck off, you had fun. Certainly had fun flirting with that waiter,” he says, taking his dress shirt off. 

“Fuck you,” you reply, getting increasingly annoyed. Roman had been incredibly rude to the waitstaff today, giving you the cold shoulder. He got jealous when you had a simple conversation with one of the waiters who asked how your day was going. There was no flirting but Roman let his insecurities get the better of him.

“Yeah you fucking wish,” he mutters. 

“No you wish… or do you? I don’t fucking know at this point,” you say putting on one of his oversized T-shirt. 

“Yeah yeah you want to suck my cock,” he shrugs, grabbing his sleep clothes. 

“What’s wrong, Rome? Got a micro penis or something? Are you trying to hide some hideous deformation from me?” You taunt, anything to get him to just acknowledge the elephant in the room. Every time you tried to bring it up he’d just make a joke and try to change the topic.  You’d been dating for two years now, surely he’d be comfortable just talking about it. 

“I’ve got the most gorgeous cock. If you make a mold of it I guarantee Connor would buy one, better than fuckin’ Napoleon’s,” he quips, tugging on his sleep shirt. 

“I just want to see it,” you joke, looking up at him with a glint in your eyes.

“You’ve fuckin’ seen it, pretty sure you’ve got a whole folder of dick pics to blackmail me later with,” he laughs climbing into bed with you.

“That’s a photo, it doesn't count, the scale is off. Maybe put a quarter or something beside it next time. I’m not saying we have to fuck I just want to see it,” you say, turning to him and cuddling putting your hands under your head. 

“Just call your waiter if you want to see a cock. It might not be as impressionable as mine but it’ll make do in a pinch,” he nuzzles into the pillows, closing his eyes. 

“You know what… maybe I will,” you say reaching for your phone. His eyes whip open, watching your movements. He gapes as you turn your phone on then quickly yanking it out of your hand. 

“What the fuck?” You try to reach for it, he stretches his arm back. 

“No,” he simply says.

“No? Isn’t that what you wanted? You have a kink for being cucked or something? I’m just doing what you asked,” you shrug. 

“Oh fuck you! You know he’ll never be able to please you. You want to get fucked? Fine,” he says, unceremoniously detangling himself from the sheets, cursing under his breath. He climbs on top of you, pinning your hips down.

“Wait… Roman, are you a pervert? You want me to go fuck the waiter and tell you how much better his dick is?” You laugh, scanning his face. He stays quiet, he couldn’t stand the thought of someone else touching you. 

“Oh my god, you little fucking pervert. You’re disgusting,” your face turns a little more serious as his eyes turn half lidded. He seems almost dazed at your words… oh, he likes this. You break free from his grasp, grabbing his shoulders and pushing him down next to you. You straddle his hips now. 

“Look at you so fucking pathetic, you look so stupid right now,” you say looking down at him from the bridge of your nose. 

“Aww the spoiled little brat can’t even get his dick hard,” you taunt, hand on his chest as you lean forward. You get close to his face. 

“Is this what you want? Want to be treated like the piece of shit you are?” You ask, eyes flicking toward his lips. His chest rising faster in anticipation as he nods. You shift down his hips to give him more space until you feel the unexpected bulge in his sleep pants. This was entirely new.

“You’re already turned on? No doubt, since no one ever fucks you. Can’t find someone to give you want you want,” you say. 

“Take off your shirt,” you demand, leaning back on his thighs. 

“W-what?” He asks, he’d never taken his shirt off in front of you. Afraid you’d call him fat and he’d dive straight back into restricting his calories.

“Did I say you can talk? Disgusting perverts like you aren’t allowed to speak unless spoken to, understand?” You say, arms crossed. He tries to nod his head, his mind spinning at this new dynamic.

“I’m fucking talking to you idiot,” you lean forward, face centimeters away from his.

“Yes, yes I understand,” he stutters, reeling in the feeling of being out of control.

“Take it off,” you say, tugging at the bottom of his shirt. He hesitates, slowly sliding it up his torso before leaning up and yanking it off. He can’t even look at you, he shrinks into himself, arms across his torso trying to hide. You forcefully yank his arms to his side. 

“Fuck, Roman,” you say looking down at him. Scanning every piece of skin you see like it’s the most beautiful sunset you’ve ever seen. 

“What’s wrong?” He says, voice shaky.

“You’re so fucking pretty,” you peck him on the lips. He’s far from fucking gone. In all the reactions he imagined he’d received, this wasn’t one of them. 

“Good now, sit up and take your pants off,” you say, completely removing yourself from him. He misses your weight on him. He tries to ask why but you shut him down.

“God you’re not only a fucking sicko but you’re a moron too? Follow my fucking directions,” you say sitting down close to the edge of the bed. He scrambles to sit up, pulling at his pants off but keeping his boxers on. 

“Touch yourself,” you command, staring at him. You open his legs wider and sit in between his feet. You wanted to be close enough to see him but far enough so he can still have full control over the situation. If he said no you’d stop immediately but he slowly drops his palm to his bulge. Nudging at it like it’s something foreign. 

“Look at you, you’re so fucking disgusting. trying to hide your little cock from me. Put your hand in there, fucking pervert,” You hiss, gaining more comfortability in this dynamic. He looks up at you before sliding his hand in his boxers, sighing at the warmness of his hand. He only strokes himself with the tips of his fingers, head leaning back at the sensation. 

“You’re fucking pathetic, already whining and you haven’t even fully touched your cock. God you’re just a filthy little fucking pig,”you say, he’s panting as he finally grips himself. 

“You’re gonna finish in two seconds like a little virgin. You’re fucking revolting, look at you squirming like a worm. You’re just a disgusting little worm,” you say.

“Y-yeah, I am,” he says, maintaining eye contact. 

“What else are you, huh? A selfish spoiled little brat. A sick fucking pervert, you disgust me,” you sneer, his hips jolting as he’s feels the familiar feeling in his gut. 

“Yes, yes,” his voice breathier. Hand stroking faster as he’s practically fucking his hand.

“Cum in your fucking underwear, gonna make you sleep in ‘em. So you can be reminded all night how repulsive y’are, can’t even fuck your partner, gotta fuck your own hand like the fucking loser that you are” you finalize, his hips stuttering, eyes rolling to the back of his head. You can’t help but stare at the wet patch in his underwear. You take your time to study him, eyes roaming the expanse of his chest, the vein running up his neck after squeezing his jaw tight, and the way he pulls his hand out covered in his cum. 

You grab his hand, looking at the glistening cum on it and take a lick. He moans at the feeling of your warm tongue on his skin. It’s the first time you’ve touched him. 

“Finish it for me,” you hold his wrist to his bottom lip, smearing it with his cum. 

“Typical, always having me finish what you started,” he rolls his eyes, shuddering at your proximity before licking his hand clean, not taking his eyes off yours as you stare at his tongue working at his fingers.

“Good, let’s get to bed,” you say, crawling over your side of the bed. He looks at you dumbfounded. 

“What ‘bout you?” He slurs, tiredness catching up to him. 

“We’ll worry about me another day, c’mon” you motion for him to join you. 

He takes a second before getting under the sheets next to you. The pent up cum spilled all over his underwear, it sticks to his skin like glue, making a mess of himself. He snuggles into your chest pulling you close as he intertwines your legs. 

“Ugh, you’re disgusting. Your cum is getting all over my thigh,” you complain at the sticky feeling.

“Fuck off, you love it,” he sighs, nuzzling his head into your chest. He just knows he’s gonna have the best sleep of his life. You were the first person to understand Roman, you help him explore this new side of himself.

[somedayslater]

i didnt read the last chapters since i discovered it was the end (but i was spoiled by tumblr lol)... i didnt want to believe it... i want to still look forward to new chapters of No Home :(

For the last few years eunyung and haejoon have been my companions. I healed a little while following the story of eunyung, feeling like its ok to be angry and wanting revenge on your family and the society that continues to want to keep you in a "house" where you are mistreated. How the world isnt made for children at all, the absolute unfairness of it all. That you can choose to keep going, and if you do so its ok to keep your distance with what hurts you.

I healed too with haejoon, who came to terms with the fact that he will always be overcome with sadness and grief from time to time, and when that happens he can only let himself feel and wait for it to pass, and try to look forward to the next day.

Honestly this manwha was the best ever. I couldnt read this manhwa as a form of escapism because it was too real. It pulled strings in my heart i didnt know i had, made me question a lot of things about myself, about others, about my relationship with others. It made me have painful discussion with a few people. Following this manhwa, most of the time, was really unpleasant lol. I hated then loved eunyoung, I liked and then disliked haejoon (yeah sorry haejoon, i think you can be really cruel and stupid and i wanted to strangle you a few times in the last arcs (i would NOT be friend with that guy lol) -thats why this character is so amazing). But i felt so much while reading it i wouldnt trade it for anything. It was funny, it was dumb, it was deep, it was enraging and healing, but most of all it was sincere. The most sincere depiction of what being a person in a deeply flawed society is, and how there's happiness even while surviving.

It was so frustrating to see the manhwa go in a direction i didnt want it to go ! I wanted it to become my cozy refuge, where every problems are magically solved, where haejoon and eunyung ends up understanding and loving each other in a cliché way, where theres a new home with my *fave charas* and its a series of feel-good interactions. Instead the problems kept pilling up, most of them didnt have a satisfactory conclusion, eunyung and haejoon kept hurting each other and distancing themselves. Haejoon just cut contact with his father without knowing what were his nefarious motives or without this guy facing any consequences, we dont know if eunyung's parents will keep bothering eunyung unchecked, we dont know if they're going to be happy and rich, or if, realistically, as orphans without generational wealth and deep traumas, they're going to end up in a shitty life situation.

And i couldnt thank wanan enough for this. They didnt take the easy way, the feel-good way, the way that would have given them a probably bigger fandom so a bigger source of money. I'm amazed by how they managed to hold this whole story so perfectly. Not a single misstep. Everything they draw was where it should have been, every action from the characters were understandable (and frustrating lol), the fucking subtlety of the developing relationships, no deus ex machina and no miserabilism. I didnt always agree with wanan's ethic or what i perceived of it (i think stealing or being violent is ok depending on the context, i dont think working hard to earn money is a virtue) but i respect how they choose to present it. I didnt talk about the other characters because honestly they didnt move me as much (except marie), but i love them so much too. I felt sad that eunyung and haejoon didnt become best friend 5ever (or even lovers hehe) but honestly, understandable lol. If i was one of them i WOULDNT become close with the other at all, so its kinda amazing they could still find this level of mutual understanding.

In short, wanan is an amazing story teller.

And an amazing image-composist (have no idea how to say this in english). The artstyle doesnt look like much, but this gave wanan a wide graphic range to convey emotions that wouldnt have been possible with a more sophisticated style i think -how will i forget the red swirlings mixing with eunyung skin ? The expressions, the choice of colors, the choice in showing something in particular without giving a clear explanation on why (often haejoon's surprised or contemplative face, which made me re-read chapters a few times to try to understand what was happening in his big head). It didnt feel like wanan thought their readers were stupid, nor did they play the fake-deep style. It was perfectly balanced.

And so even if i didnt read it, i have no doubt the end will be the same. Im so sad they decided to end this manhwa, but i know prolonging it would have been greedy and that ultimately, the manhwa would have suffer for it. Some authors do that : they have a popular series going on, and for whatever reason they keep writing new chapters without a clear goal and so the story becomes diluted, messy, useless. I love when they do this, because i can say goodbye to a story progressively as my interest in it wans, without feeling sadness or loss. But it makes me not think of the story at all in the future, since everything that was good about it became buried in new shitty chapters. Because wanan didnt do that, i know that i would think of no home for a long while, maybe forever,

,like i really lost companions when no home ended actually. Because it really, really hurts, knowing i wont be seeing new faces of the no home characters anymore. I know it sounds probably stupid ; i feel genuine grief here lol. I want to know what will happen to them, if they are alright, if they found a place in the world... if there is something to look forward after all, and i really dread not having answers every monday anymore. and the fandom is so small i cant comfort myself by re-entering the no home world every week or whatever... does anyone else feel this way ToT ? maybe i should participate myself but well,, i wouldnt know where to begin...

And saying that ! I'm almost never on this blog, i dont really have socmed accounts, i dont participate in fandoms at all. But I spent a looot of time reading and watching people who does -without being connected or interacting with posts or fanfics at all. AND i really want to thank you all for giving me so much material to chew, posts that made me think, fics that made me smile, drawings that inspired me, witnessing interactions that made me laugh. I was and i probably will continue to be a ghost on socmed, but i really want you to know that you had an impact on me and i was looking forward to your new posts (and will continue to!).

the "every no home chapter is a test of my willingness to Not blow my own brains out" and explosion eunhae monday of @skiptoyuri

the regular nohome posters which makes me happy to check tumblr regularly @shimamitsulover @lesbianpegbar @luckyswamps @tomoyoo @cloudbends @t0a2ter @solcarow @dragon-of-timeless-blue

the awesome artists who keep producing bangers nohome art @gohaejoon @maxsolosur @jjd5426 @bnnuycafe @ct-bunny @lentl-soup @fartaycat @jjd5426 @prokkoli @moxymaxing @ginangtan

the nohome posters that i enjoyed running into @pleuvoire @homolobotomized @podoro-vines @fmet @welpuu @revertrate @obstinaterixatrix @kulluto

the artists that made me interested in checking no home @cienfll @craysmo @ant-eaters @idledee @fruiitlins @froqpi-art @201918b @tinfishmeal @ohrsoh @30mingirlfriend

thanks @ditherslam for the awesome fanfics, obviously i read them all and they're some of my favourites. youre an amazing writer and i cant wait for the next chap of "your atoms"!!

thanks @homeless202 for being an insatiable nohome poster for a while (and @grannykombucha !)

im forgetting a lot of others but i really wanted to thank you all for your time, energy, work. i never interacted with your posts or with you but i really want to convey how cool it is that you all contribute to make no home a more well-known manhwa and the fandom alive

thank youuuu (hope the @ are ok tell me if its bothersome ill delete it)

and really, really, thank you wanan ! waaaa i want to cry

[omegalomania]

OKAY SO for the record store listening parties there was some prerecorded commentary by patrick and i don't remember all of what he said but i'm gonna try and list everything i can remember for those who didn't/couldn't make it! there will be NO ALBUM SPOILERS in this post other than to say it's really really really fucking good and i can't wait to shove the whole thing down my facehole properly when it comes out next week.

it wasn't a track by track commentary but there were a couple breaks between songs for him to talk and this is what i recall best:

when introducing the album patrick did the whole "so like, i know we're supposed to say we're proud of it. but we ARE. it was a group effort and i hope you guys like it :)"

before "hold me like a grudge" he said went on a big long ramble about "okay so i KNOW i said that other side was the last song we wrote before the record was done but that was actually wrong. this song was the last one to be added because i was driving home and i got a text of some lyrics from pete and i started writing the song at stoplights DONT DO THIS BY THE WAY and by the time i got home the song was done in my head DO NOT DO THIS DO NOT WRITE WHILE YOU DRIVE and then i called neal and said can we please please please add this one please and he said sure"

he kept punctuating this story with "DON'T FUCKING DO THIS I SHOULD NOT HAVE DONE THIS DONT WRITE WHILE YOU DRIVE PLEASE"

the point is that hold me like a grudge was the last song to make the album though

there was one track, i won't spoil which one, where he said he worked super hard to play all the brass parts in the studio and then after he got done doing that they got an Actual Orchestra to play the brass parts and it was like professionals doing this at their studio and patrick was like "well. all right then!!!!"

another track (again, not saying which) had a piano part that he played and was really nervous about but he said neal got the best possible performance out of him!

there was one track he called his baby that he fought extra hard to keep on the record and i DON'T remember which one EDIT: It was "what a time to be alive"!!

during one song (i can't recall which) he talks about how andy had to switch drumkits mid-song specifically to go harder on certain sections

there was one song where he talked about how it was written before the pandemic but it ended up being weirdly clairvoyant lyrically. only he says that it was very "prescient" and then stumbles over the word "prescient" and confesses he doesn't know how it's pronounced because he's only seen and read it in print.

after the record was done he was like "so that was the record! and i hope you guys liked it. and if you didn't then um we have other records that you can listen to. instead. if you want to."

also a long ramble about how grateful he was for the fans and how it means the world that they can inspire anyone at all. he said that pete says it all the time but it's still true that the fans are everything to them. he mentioned not ever getting used to being a real big band like this and if he can do it then anyone can. "if my stupid face can make it on a teen magazine then so can yours!"

anyway bottom line patrick is a fucking nerd and it was so so so endearing to hear him talk about this record

if anyone remembers anything else that he said that i left out feel free to add but please no spoilers for the album itself! you can make your own posts for that and i just wanted to give a rundown for people who weren't able to attend a listening party <3

[oneforthemunny]

A song that reminds you of each of your Eddie's + reader- and GO!

ooh wait this is a fun one. ok i had to think about this one but i think i've found them:

boxer!eddie and reader remind me of somethin' stupid by frank sinatra and nancy sinatra. two little black cats in love, and the chorus "and have a drink or two, and then i go and spoil it all by saying somethin' stupid like, "i love you". i can see it in your eyes that you despise the same old lies you heard the night before. and though it's just a line to you, for me it's true and never seemed so right before."

rockstar!eddie and nepobaby!reader will forever remind me of faithfully by journey. i mean, "and lovin' a music man ain't always what it's supposed to be. oh, girl, you stand by me. circus life under the big-top world. we all need the clowns to make us smile. through space and time, always another show. wonderin' where I am lost without you. i'm forever yours, faithfully."

this one is going to be so fucking corny and idgaf!!! but for modern!eddie and mean girl, idk why true love by p!nk always comes to mind. "at the same time, i wanna hug you, i wanna wrap my hands around your neck. you're the only love i've ever known. but i hate you, i really hate you, so much i think it must be true love. just once try to wrap your little brain around my feelings, just once please try no to be so mean."

cowboy!eddie and sweet girl have always and will forever remind me of love is like a butterfly by the one and mother fucking only dolly parton our lord and savior. "love makes your heart feel strange inside, it flutters like soft wings in flight. love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing. i feel it when you kiss me, it happens when you're with me, that rare and gentle feelin' that i feel inside. everyday is springtime, and i am only happy when you are by my side." tbh i could quote the whole goddam song.

bouncer!eddie and bartender!reader this is another corny as fuck on so hold on, but it's you shook me all night long by acdc lmaooo. sexual chemistry through the roof, so much that it's shocking and appalling?? "she was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean. she was the best damn woman that I ever seen. she's one of a kind, she's just mine, all mine." idk it's silly and slutty and fun just like them!

for janitor!eddie and teacher!reader i've always felt like forever by the beach boys is their song. super sappy and romantic and devoted and that's how they are to each other <3 "if every word i said could make you laugh, i'd talk forever. i asked the sky just what we had, it shone forever. let the love i have for you, live in your heart and be forever. forever, i've been so happy loving you."

older!eddie and reader, this one was hard bc i felt like there was so many to chose from, but ultimately i went with the one song that always takes me back to them and that's chemtrails over the country club by lana. the more i listen, the more it's their song bc "go to the market, the kids' swimming pools. me and my sister just playing it cool, under the chemtrails over the country club. meet you for coffee at the elementary schools. we laugh about nothing as the summer gets cool. it's beautiful how this deep normality settles down over me. i'm not bored or unhappy, i'm still so strange and wild. washing my hair, doing the laundry. late-night tv, i want you only. it's never too late, baby, so don't give up."domestic and sweet.

this is also so silly and sweet and the best thing ever but for hockey!eddie and reader i fucking love the song hello, hello by elton john (yes from gnomeo and juliet lmaoooo). "never gonna find anything to change my mind, famous last lines of a fool. hello, hello. my, my, my, what have we here? sniffing all the flowers, running through an autumn shower, compare it to someone else like me." so fucking silly and so romantic like it's them. happy and silly and in love.

and i know you guys are making fun of me and i don't give one fuck bc i know you're about to do it again with this one bc it's coming completely out of left fucking field for these two!! for mafia!eddie and reader... babe i'm saying it, it's i see the light from tangled yes it fucking is. "all that time never even knowing, just how blind i've been. now i'm here, blinking in the starlight. and it's warm and real and bright, and the world has somehow shifted. all at once everything looks different, now that i see you. all those years living in a blur. if she's here, it's crystal clear, i'm where i'm meant to go." and listen, i could write a goddam essay on how this is them, both of them. living their lives before, thinking they're content, until they met the other and now they're confused how they were ever without the other. real ride or die shit.

for dom!eddie and sub!reader, i always think of i don't want to miss a thing by aerosmith lol. really bc they're a little chaotic but they really do love each other sm. true soulmate shit. "i could spend my life in this sweet surrender, where a moment with you is a moment i treasure. i don't wanna miss one smile, i don't wanna miss one kiss. i just wanna be with you, right her with you, just like this. and i just wanna hold you close, feel your heart so close to mine, and just stay here in this moment for all the rest of time." overly passionate and lovey and dramatic which is just their style.

[blackloveangel13]

So, this is my first ever fanfiction. And English is not my first language, so I’m very sorry for any mistakes. But I still hope you like it.

It takes place after they graduated Hogwarts, no real mentioning of the war.

Warning; Teasing gone too far, fluff

Lemon Drops

Sirius x Reader!sister Remus

You looked at the colourful displays in the candy shop. Your bag already full with some of it. You just needed some chocolate bars for Remus, it was his birthday today. You knew he was just as bad about candys as you were.

When you heard a mellow clearing of throat right behind you. As you turned around you came face to face with Sirius Black.

“Black? What are you doing here?” Of course, you had to run into him. You never got along good, never liked the pranks he and James pulled in School. Now after Hogwarts you all joined the Order of Pheonix, and still, you couldn’t help but keep a distant between you and him.

Sirius grinned. “Well, would you look at this, meeting Remus little sister in a candy shop who would have thought that.” The sarcasm was literally dripping from his voice.

“Very funny. I’m buying some sweets as Remus birthday presents.”

“Let me guess you going to stock up his chocolate. Maybe I can help you with that, I mean we are already buying for the same person.”

“Why would you help me? Is this some kind of joke?” you looked at him with scepticism.

Sirius smirked, flashing you a mischievous grin. “Oh, come on, I haven´t messed with you in years. Give me a chance.”

“I don’t know. I know you since my first year in Hogwarts, you were never one to behave.”

You watched Sirius frowned slightly at your words.

His smirk disappeared.

“Look I know I used to .. act out back in school. But that was a long time ago, and I’ve changed. We both are a member of the Order now, that has to help convince you that I´ve matured!”

“It doesn´t convince me one bit. I know you and James for far too long for that.” I chuckled drily.

“Come on.” His voice was pleading. “For today, as a present for Remus birthday!”

“For Remus! I still believe its impossible for a marauder to not do something for a whole day” You laugh, this time genuinely.

Sirius couldn´t help laughing as well.

“Cut me some slack, at least give me a chance to prove it.”

“Ok, pinkie promise then!” you extend you hand pinkie, “Nothing stupid for today!”

Sirius smiled, locking his pinkie around yours tightly, as a promise to you.

Holding tighter on his finger. “If you break your promise, you have to go skinny dipping in the lake behind our house tonight.”

His smirk dropped in an instant.

“Fine, but if I go a whole day trough its you turn for the lake.”

Letting go of his finger you couldn’t help but smile. It seemed for the first time you and him got along.

“Now lets go get that chocolate for Remus. But I warn you don’t get mad at me when I happen to poke fun at your taste of sweets along the way.”

Offended you nudged his shoulder with yours.

“My taste in sweets is perfectly normal, thank you very much.”

He took a bag of lemon drops out of your basket. “Oh really? I mean lemon drops? How old are you granny?”

Taking the bag out of his hand you pout a bit.

“If you don’t look out this granny might just going to hex you!” You glare at him as if to dare him.

“So is that whole basket for your brother? You really spoil him.”

You gasped. “No way he is getting any of those sweets, those are for me and I will make sure to hide them well. I learned that the hard way, when Remus wants something sweet nothing is safe from him.”

Sirius laughed, “Remus the sugar thief, sounds about right. But now I know how to get a reaction out of you.”

“Thin ice Black, and you promised nothing stupid today. Trying to steal my candy is pretty stupid!”

He laughed loudly. “Oh trust me, that would be my last try. I know what happened the last time I took some of Moonys sweets. I’m happy I’m still alive.”

“True. You might end up a strand of your pretty hair.” I laugh with him.

Truth be told it was the nicest conversation you ever had with Sirius. And you wondered, maybe he did grow up after all. Maybe he wasn’t the same as he was in Hogwarts.

“No not the hair!” he joined the fun.

“No girl would ever look at you again.” You grabbed a chocolate bar from the shelve before you.

“That’s a good one. I still have my undeniable Charme. Admit if I really wanted to I could even Charme you!” the grinned cocky at you.

“Oh please.” You snort at him.

You hesitated a second to look at him. He couldn´t know that he hit right where it hurt.

The crush you had on him for quite some time was stupid after all. You would never work out. He would play with you for some time and find someone else.

Sirius noticed your reaction. His smirk widens, his eyes twinkling with mischievous.

“Oh, am I touching a sore spot perhaps? Is there a slight chance of the ice queen could be charmed after all?”

“Leave it alone!” you warned him with a slight waver in your voice.

But he didn’t. He just had to tease you a little more knowing he got under your skin.

“Is someone a bit embarrassed about their secret feelings?”

That was enough. Your eyes started to water with tears. He was still the worst, why did you even think he could be serious for once.

“You’re the worst Black.” With that you turned around and ran out of the store. Leaving him and you basket of sweets behind.

Sirius was surprised by your reaction. He didn’t think he had pushed you that far. A part of him was tempted to call after you, but he had a feeling he´d just make things worse by doing so.

Looking at your basket of sweets he got an idea thought.

You went straight back home. You were mad at Sirius, but mostly at yourself.

The truth was he was right, you were embarrassed about your crush. It was just so typical. The little sister falling for the troublemaker friend of her older brother.

The worst thought, tonight Remus was throwing a party for his birthday. There was no way Sirius would miss it. So, your plan was simple. Go down for bit and as soon as Sirius would show up you would lock yourself upstairs in your bedroom and hide. That would be for the best.

As the party started you joined in for a bit. And you were more than relieved when you didn’t see Sirius anywhere. Just as you were about to head into the kitchen for a drink, you walked right into the one person you hoped you could avoid.

Sirius walked out of the kitchen and you both stood there frozen. He had thought about how you would react to him after what happened earlier. But now with you standing before him he was at lost of words to say.

He couldn’t help but stare at you, not sure what to say. But he was willing to take the risk.

“Come!” he took your hand and pulled you upstairs and into your bedroom for a quiet conversation.

“I just wanted to talk to you…” he started.

“To make even more fun about me? No thanks.” You didn’t look at him.

Sirius felt the icy temperature in the room.

“No. I don’t want to make fun of you. In fact, I want to apologize to you. I know it might´ve upset you…”

“You hurt me! And I don’t think an apology will fix this.”

Sirius felt his world turn upside down. Did he really hurt you this much. His heart dropped at your words.

“I never intended to hurt you. I just meant to tease you a little. I feel horrible about what I said, and if I could I would take it back. I really messed up, didn´t I?” He looked at you sincere.

“I was having fun talking to you, and I wasn’t thinking straight. But it was wrong from me to take it that far. And I am really sorry for that.”

“Just leave it. I always knew I would get hurt because of those stupid feelings for you!” You just wanted him to go away. You could feel yourself tearing up again.

“If I had known I would never have messed with you like that. Today when we meet, I was actually happy, cause I really like you too.”

You didn’t let him finish, “Please, don’t mess with me. Don’t you think you already did enough damage today?”

Sirius saw the distrust in your eyes, and he was getting frustrated.

He had to find a way to get you to trust him and prove to you that he meant every word. Then it hit him.

“Your right! After all I broke my promise. So, it is time to pay my depts!” With that he left you back in your room.

You wanted to lock the door after him and just stay in your room. But you wanted to know what his plan was to convince you. So, you followed him out of the house and to the lake right next to it.

He started to take off his coat and shoes.

“If you don’t believe my words maybe you believe my acts of despair!”

Remus and James had seen you both run out of the house and decided to follow you.

“What the hell is going on?” Remus asked to Sirius who kept undressing himself.

Now shirtless he told your brother. “I’m proofing to your sister that I’m serious. And that I’m sorry for so many things I did wrong!”

Remus looked at you a silent question to explain this madness to him.

But you couldn’t speak. Was he really doing that just to proof something to you?

With a playful grin Sirius turned around and then dived straight into the lake.

You gasped loudly, that absolute madman. That idiotic man, and you couldn’t help but smile lightly. That men you fell for hopelessly.

Sirius hoped you where still there when he came back to the surface. His pants no soaked and clinging to him uncomfortable. He looked at over to you to see your reaction.

And that little smile on your lips made him forget the cold water.

“Come out you proved whatever point there was!” James called out to his best friend.

“Only if Y/N tells me she believes me. Until then I stay inside here even if that means catching hypothermia! So, what do you say grandma?” he couldn’t help but tease you even now.

“You stupid men! Come out right now!” you shout at him. Couldn’t stop a warm feeling from creeping up inside you. He really proved himself to you.

“You promise not to change you mind and push me back?”

“I promise only to do that if you do something really stupid again!” you laughed.

You picked up his coat and when he came out of the water you gently laid it over his shoulders to shield him a bit from the cold.

“You are really something else.” Then you pulled him towards you and closed the gap to kiss him.

Sirius felt like he was floating. He pulled you closer to him and deepen the kiss. Getting your wet from his clothes too.

“Now I think you should both get inside and into dry clothes. And maybe than you could explain what just happened to us!” James laughed and interrupted your kiss.

You smiled at Sirius. You already knew you got yourself in a messy relationship no matter what happened. But you also knew now, you never had to question him. Because that action right now proofed, he would always hold his promises.

“Let’s get inside.” You took his hand and pulled him with you to the house.

“I think I can make you smile even more! I bought the candys you left behind. And don’t you worry not even a single lemon drop is missing!”

[radioactivepeasant]

Fic Prompts: Free Day Thursday

Adopted Dadmas universe, set a few weeks after Damas called Samos out for harassing Jak. Keira has started questioning her upbringing for the first time, and is seeing some of her past interactions with Jak in a way she doesn't like. Warnings for past Samos being, well, typical game-characterization-Samos and being nasty to children.

"You're awful quiet," Tess observed. She put down her angle grinder for a moment and observed the younger girl seated at her workbench.

"Hey. You okay, sugar?"

Keira stared off into space for several seconds before remembering to inhale. She turned a guilty face to Tess and said, "I think I'm a bad person."

Tess’s hands stilled on the prototype.

"Oh," she sighed, "this is about y'all's messed-up childhood again, right?"

"He made Daxter sleep outside! He would pretend he couldn't understand Jak until Jak did exactly what he wanted!" Keira burst out, "How could I have ever thought that was normal?!"

Tess’s lips narrowed, and she imagined the bolt she was twisting was the sage's neck. "Well, because people like that work hard to convince kids that their behavior is normal when they're too young to know better. Gives 'em the control they're so desperate for. It wasn't your fault, Kiki."

"But I knew he was being mean!" Keira cried, throwing down her blueprint. "I knew everyone treated Daxter like dirt. I knew they made Jak and Daxter do too many of their chores! But they were so nice to me and I- I- argh!"

She shoved her bench back and paced the room angrily.

"Was I weak? Or just a- a brat!? A spoiled, selfish, mean little brat!"

Tess left the table to grab Keira by the shoulders. "Hey, whoa! Whoa whoa whoa! That's my friend you're talking about, there!"

Keira tried to shove Tess away, but Tess had an uncanny strength that belied her appearance.

"Hey. Look at me, sugar. I get it. Feels like revenge, right? Revenge on yourself? Like "how dare you feel good about yourself when your friends were so badly abused right under your nose". But baby, what does that accomplish, really? No, look at me. How does you calling yourself names help Daxter and Jak now?"

Keira dashed a hand across her eyes and shrugged sullenly. "Maybe it doesn't. Maybe it only helps me."

Tess scowled. "So Samos chooses to hurt those boys again and again and instead of holding him accountable the reasonable thing to do is hurt you? Put yourself down so you can feel as bad as they did? Girl, I love you, but how does that help?"

Keira didn't have an answer.

"I'm...I'm not trying to have a pity party," she finally admitted. "I'm not the victim here. I know I'm not- I'm like, the opposite of the victim. I'm complicit, Tess! How do we come back from that? How do I fix this? I can fix everything else? Why can't I just..."

She made a frustrated groan and let Tess pull her into a tight hug. "I'm so mad, Tess. At Daddy, at myself, at this whole stupid city. And I don't know where to put that anger."

Tess grimaced, but squeezed her friend tight. "Well. That puts you a little closer to understanding how Jak feels a lot, doesn't it?"

"I've been like. The worst friend."

"Doesn't mean you can't start being a better one," Tess countered.

For a few breaths, Keira was silent. It was hard not to give in to the recriminating thoughts. She had been the unwitting accomplice to so much harm, kept sheltered with blinders on as a tool to enforce a sense of normality on a "hero" who should've had the same childhood she did. And then even when free from Samos's influence for two years, she'd found herself gravitating towards people who manipulated her in the exact same way. And she'd taken Errol's side in a fight. The side of the very man who had caused all the traits she'd criticized in Jak. Thinking about it now made her want to vomit. How had she fallen under the sway of such people for so long? And how could she ensure it would never happen again?

"Tess," Keira sniffled, pulling back from the hug, "Can...can I ask a favor?"

"Of course, Kiki," Tess answered warmly, "What's up?"

A feeling of resolve hardened in Keira's chest as she took a deep breath. "You're a spy. You know how to read people like a book. Can...could you maybe teach me? How to tell when people are, are lying, or being manipulative? Stuff like that?"

She looked away. "I want to help the guys. And if I want to do that...I need to help me, too."

Tess’s sympathetic expression stretched into a wide grin. To anyone who knew her well, it would have been an ominous sight.

"Sugar, I thought you'd never ask."

_________________________________________

And meanwhile, the absolute Mood Whiplash of what's happening just outside the city, in the mountains

_________________________________________

"I miss our dog."

"Your dog," Daxter corrected, without bothering to open his eyes.

"That's cold, Dax," Jak whispered, "How can you just disown our boy like that?!"

"Remember when he pooped in my kitchen??" Daxter asked incredulously.

"He's just a baby! He can't help it!" Jak hissed back. He rolled over on his cot to poke at Daxter's hammock. "C'mon. Don't tell me you and Tess aren't gonna have pets when all this is over. You aren't fooling anyone."

Daxter leaned out of the hammock to swat at Jak's hand. "Oy! Decent folks is tryin ta sleep, here! And for your information, we're gonna have a cabbit hutch! And a butterfly garden! And Chopper is not allowed to eat my butterflies!"

"You don't know that he would!"

Jak sat up, about to further argue the merits of the dog he'd left with Tess, when a sound akin to a growl rose from the other side of the tent. Both boys quailed and settled back into their beds.

"Jak started it!" Daxter tattled, then pulled his blankets up to his nose.

"Sorry, Pa." Jak smirked and ducked under his own woven blanket.

Damas flung his arm over his eyes and grunted disapprovingly.

"We're on the move at dawn," he reminded them, "I suggest you use the remaining hours wisely. The clan rendezvous point is a four hour hike, so for the record, depriving your father of sleep is not a wise choice."

The little scoff of laughter he heard on the other side of the tent did not sound particularly like a pair of teenagers about to heed common sense. But as it could just as easily have been Jak still delighting in the novelty of someone deliberately claiming the title of his father, Damas could let it go. For now. If they didn't quiet down, though, they were both going to be walking down the mountain while he rode in the commandeered hellcat.

[subway-boss-jericho]

(Art anon… hammer anon? This is going to be funny when I inevitably post that art (I am actively making sketches help))

Oooo I freaking. Love it when one delves into the Implications. Like- both parties agreed to this, but neither knew what it would actually Be Like and now they are just showing their Whole Soul to another person and it can be absolutely Terrifying! But they are going to communicate anyway. Because they care about each other enough to. Because the other person is Worth It.

(also love that Emmet asked ingo if he wanted to fuse so they could never be apart again and ingo said Yes. This means so much to me. I don’t even have words I’m just. *gestures franticly*)

(I am Very Incredibly Normal about Diamond Crossing. So Normal)

I love this. Shaking coupled (uncoupled) so hard now. I think it’s actually Really Cool how a lot of the people in this fandom are like “yes the twins have a good relationship but that’s because they Talk with one another and seek to Understand each other” fusion is just another Fantastic way to symbolize that! (And ough I would Love to see more less acknowledged emotions and relationships there too. It’s So Much Fun to play around with)

not! Asking you to spoil the whole plot! I’d freaking Love to read whatever fic you write about it =D

feel free to continue to use my asks to Absolutely Go Off. it is verrry fun to read!

Yep (nodding my head) they DEFINITELY communicate with eachother. That definitely happens and nothing goes wrong. Trust /lh

Read: They Get There Eventually.

My favorite part about Coupled (Uncoupled) is that fusion is not the magical cure-all to Emmet's anxieties that he wanted it to be. It makes the story much more nuanced and fun to explore, although it does also make it much more sad and upsetting before it eventually gets a lot brighter. And like I mentioned on the master post, he is Not stuck like that. Yknow. Forever :]

(Rest of the Jericho-typical ramble continued below!)

(insert crying emoji that isn't on tumblr) Yeah. It means a lot to me too. The thing that hurts most about the story, which I will ""spoil,"" is that Emmet does kinda blame himself for things "going wrong" (read: not being how he expected), and by extension in his upset + anxiety, he forgets that Ingo explicitly agreed to try it with him. The first + second major arcs in coupled uncoupled are the hard emotional parts that make the later resolutions feel all the more powerful and unshakable, but even in the beginning, Ingo had always agreed to at least try. Even before things are resolved, the core emotional foundation of this domino effect chain was still always trust and love.

High fives in So Normal About Diamond Crossing. we're so normal.

You inadvertently inspiring me to ramble about Coupled (Uncoupled) has had the accidental effect of making me think about it a Lot. I'm so fucking glad someone else is shaking them besides me (and again, the few close friends I talk about my AUs with,) because holy SHIT I want to talk about them + share their story + make their story + draw them all the time so bad it makes me look STUPID but I have also failed to talk about them Anywhere online before this point. It's one of the stories I'm the most tight-lipped about since I actually Want To Write It, downside of that is that I, by extension, never get to talk about it Or, never got to before now :D thank you again! infinitely! forever!

Accidental side effect: rip to Steady Tracks, I have not added any more words to the document for several days. Because I have been staring at my computer and being so ill about coupled (uncoupled). I WILL be back to it very soon though, I refuse to let my attention... waver :p

Anyways, yeah, while I love a good "we fit perfectly together" pair like Ingo and Emmet, I also really really love it even more when that intensely strong bond is build on a firm, realistic foundation of mutual care, support, and communication. So a lot of my AUs exist because of me wanting to stress-test that devotion/appreciation/commitment to work out problems, which makes things Extremely Fun to write but also oooohhh.... so goddamn complicated...... This is why I consider myself a "Hurt/Comfort" writer, because I almost universally find stories most compelling if they drop to very low points, dark moments, or genuine, heart-breaking struggles, only to show that this earnest and wholly compassionate care does and will always prevail in the end. That (a relationship) is not about never having problems, but about learning to solve them and being committed to recovery/change after the fact.

Gonna move on before I sob about them. I care them SO much, and coupled (uncoupled) is one of the strongest examples of this in my writing. They have gone, are going, and will continue to go the distance for eachother, thick and thin.

Minor side-tangent based on the last thing about other relationships/dynamics in fusion-

(Edit: After writing a lot more I realized quickly that this was, in fact, not a minor side tangent. It is in fact a major and worthwhile extrapolation on how i feel, however might also be mildly uncomfortable to discuss, and that's okay. If you don't want to hear me talk about my frustration with how our society bastardizes close platonic relationships, you can stop reading at any time or skip to the bottom 👍)

One of the other reasons I haven't talked about Coupled (Uncoupled) online yet is because I get really nervous about it. Fusion is very frequently connoted as romantic, and the coupled twins themselves are very physically affectionate with eachother (yknow, before & after the Horrors™) and so internally I've always been a little worried that people will think I am being weird/creepy/portraying them in a way that is 'too far' for some people, or just generally that people will misinterpret them having a good and healthy relationship with them having an unhealthy and uncool 'relationship.' you get my drift.

On the scale from Aro/Ace-to-Allo I am so fucking far into the side of Not Experiencing Romantic or Sexual Feelings Of Any Kind that I often fear my very firm and active appreciation + inclusion of platonic affection will be taken the wrong way in. Yknow. The twins' familial context.

If it helps put it in perspective, nothing I ever write the twins doing is stuff that I wouldn't also do with close friends and family. I like platonic hand holding. I like platonic cuddles. I like being tangled in a platonic knot of limbs on the couch. I like platonic forehead kisses sometimes. Hell, I got to have a friend over for thanksgiving and I recently got a really comfortable but also large bed, and instead of banishing them to the couch I gave them a spot next to me. (it's a big fuckin bed??? it's a BIG bed. Styled to look like a couch. Very cool and much needed QoL upgrade for me) and it was probably the best and easiest night of sleep I've had in actual months. I bonk foreheads with my little brother, I hug my dad as closely to my chest as I can. So while my relationship with affection and how to show it physically is perhaps pushing the normal societally accepted expectations, it brings me a lot of joy.

And I want my art/writing to be able to express that through the twins without it having some kind of fetishized romantic connotation, because it bothers me a lot when the level of affection that I view as healthy and appropriate within platonic boundaries is Forced to be coded as romantic. (shipping family members together in general just, really makes me violently uncomfortable beyond a way i can put into words. I'm not going to go into it but there was a point in time after I had been on the internet long enough to know that it has bad/uncomfortable sides that I started distancing myself from my family IRL, and only recently started to open up again)

aw shit that ended up being long and serious. well uh, sorry. Probably not the ramble you were hoping for ;^; I care a lot about the coupled twins, and especially how close they are, so by extension it also takes me a lot of vulnerability to post about them online when I know the internet can warp and twist the things i love into something disturbing and upsetting to me. Here's to hoping that doesn't happen, but I can't really control what other people will think, say, or do. I just hope they don't get me involved :[

So, while not spoiling the "whole plot," I think it's easy for me to say that Coupled (Uncoupled) is built on an intense, unconditional love. The whole story is about love. The whole story is about how loving people is hard, about how loving someone means putting in the work to understand and know eachother. About how love can hurt you, but how real, strong love built on a foundation of trust and compassion will heal you far more than it can ever hurt you. there's a reason why the AU is named how it is.

cool I'm gonna go explode into tears about them now 🥺 im real fucked up about Coupled (Uncoupled).

(Actually I do want to note, you accidentally encouraging me to ramble about them is Also why I didn't immediately answer this ask and the next one. Because I was thinking about them so hard I couldn't actually think straight long enough to write the reply I wanted to yesterday.)

As always, thank you for the ask! 🤍 It is appreciated beyond words. Although I feel like the sheer number of words I use to answer them are pretty clear indicators of how much fun I'm having + how much this means to me

[Emmet-Black sketchbook doodle; The first time they fuse.]

Coupled (Uncoupled)Masterpost

[microsuedemouse]

I think I’ve figured out what’s bugging me about season two of vmars, which I’m a little over halfway through

(as a disclaimer - I am spoiled for most of, if not all, the major plot beats. I know who the big bad of the season will be and why, I know the timeline of Veronica and Logan’s ons and offs, I knew what was coming with Duncan… I genuinely don’t know if the suspense would have me more engaged if that weren’t the case. it’s hard to say!)

and I think it’s. hm. to put it all under one descriptor, I feel like this season is all just… waiting to earn back the payoff we got from season one.

there are a few parts to that. for one, I feel like a major theme in s1 is that Veronica starts out as an outcast and pariah, with people she likes well enough (see: her pilot interaction with Corny), but no actual friends. and throughout the season we get to see her grow closer with several people. she’s still guarded, and for good reason, but she’s connecting with people! she and Wallace become best friends, she and Weevil develop a very fun dynamic, she and Mac become friends, she and Meg develop some really wonderful sisterhood. she and Duncan slowly return to speaking terms and start to trust each other again. and, obviously, she and Logan go from former-friends-now-bitter-enemies to cautiously-allies to stupid-in-love. a lot of those relationships have serious bumps, largely due to who Veronica is as a person, but by the end she has several great friends and a deeply adoring boyfriend (though that last bit is admittedly complicated in the last episode).

and that’s a great payoff for the season. The Veronica/Logan especially so, since their chemistry clearly became a huge focal point for the show, and their romance a big draw for viewers. season two puts them… back to square one. she and Logan have broken up and clearly both are bitter about it. she returns to Duncan and their romance is very sweet - and, arguably, important for Veronica’s personal development, because she gets closure on their relationship this time - but it also lacks a lot of what makes her and Logan compelling. (so much so that Duncan soon leaves the show!) meanwhile her friendship with Weevil is strained, Meg hates her then falls into a coma and they only barely make up before she dies, and Wallace straight up bails out of the entire show for several episodes. in general I feel like there’s a lot less of the great character dynamic work the first season had, whether for Veronica or even amongst the other characters. (season one saw some great Logan + Duncan and Logan + Weevil, for instance.) even Veronica’s relationship with her father, which is major in s1 and was one of my favourite elements of the show when I started it, feels like it’s fallen to the wayside by mid-s2.

it makes sense, in some ways. especially, again, with Veronica and Logan - two thoroughly damaged, extremely headstrong teenagers. no matter how in love they are, yeah, of course they’d have issues. but breaking them up between seasons and taking the whole of s2 to get them back to where they were in the last few eps of s1? when the build-up of their relationship was so well-paced and so effective the first time? it feels rude! in s1 it was payoff; now it feels like I’m just waiting to get back the thing I waited so long for in the first place. and even friendship ups and downs make perfect sense in this kind of character-driven work, especially when - again - it’s about teenagers, but sending Veronica back to being lonely and ostracized (if to a slightly lesser extent) is just… mean. we’ve done this before. let’s move forward, not just repeat.

the other thing is in relation to the season’s overarching mystery. in s1, Veronica is trying to solve her best friend’s murder - obviously extremely personal. as a secondary running plotline, we have her searching for her missing mother, which is also really personal. and eventually she also investigates her own rape, which… jesus. it’s easy to get invested, because she’s invested. she’s connected. every secret she uncovers, every step closer she gets to the answer, is a revelation that affects her directly: secrets kept by Lilly, by Lianne, those have real impacts on Veronica. on how she understands her life and the people around her.

the s2 mystery is a lot less personal. yes, Veronica should have been on that bus, and yes, it’s heartbreaking what happens to Meg… but the bus crash is much less intrinsically linked to Veronica than the big plots from s1. she doesn’t get her foundations rocked with every new discovery. now, again, because of the spoilers I’ve seen, I know that the endgame of this mystery does link back to her in a very personal way, but there’s no real suggestion of that throughout the season as a whole. a couple times she worries that there is, that she was the target, but they find out before long that that’s not necessarily the case. so like… I am kind of waiting for the character-level payoff she’ll get at the end of the season, which will be gratifying, but I wouldn’t know it was coming if I hadn’t been spoiled.

to be clear: I’m still enjoying the show. there’s a lot to love. but I think all of its greatest strengths are lacking in s2, and I suspect I was right when I guessed, upon finishing s1, that that would be its best season. season one really tells an entire story, in a way that’s difficult to effectively replicate a second time around.

[foxgloveinspace]

hi hi hi!!

i feel like it’s been so long since i’ve stopped by

i am here to share that i have been blessed with the stupidest possible dreams with the sleepy t boys lately

1) glad to have them back in my brain like this it’s always fun and 2) wtf brain could we not do the dumbest situations?

the first one was from today and omg. so i dreamt that i went home to visit my dad and his family was down because it was christmas? guess i’m looking forward to the holidays lol. anyways my dad somehow found a documentary on sleep token on tv and put it on because “hey my kid likes them” and for some reason it was filmed/presented like a true crime doc? and straight up exposed all the boys. names, faces, interviews. and my whole family made fun of me the whole time because i tried so hard to not have their identities spoiled even with this stupid documentary on 😂 and i succeeded! somehow! although i do remember this- iv’s accent was so fucking bizarre i’m not sure i could ever tell you where my brain pulled it from. and someone was named nat but i have no idea who lmaooo

the other dream was that the band for some reason came to my city? (idk why, this place is ass and we have no venue big enough for them) and for some reason i was tasked with like, showing them around and helping them acclimate to the city. so what’s the first thing dream-exie does? take them to buy weed and go to their favourite local bar for a show 😂 we got absolutely blitzed outside the bar and then went in and had an absolute rager to some local bands. and now i want that to be real so bad… (and also shotgunning the joint with iii🙈… iii was a menace and dream me was all too willing to encourage. lmao i feel so weird admitting that my brain made that up because it feels too horny lmao)

anyways. that’s what my head has been up to! other than aura migraines lmao. i hope you’ve been well!!! 🩶🩶🩶

Exie!!! I thought I answered this, I'm sorry!! Thank you for telling me about these dreams, they are so great, lol. I really haven't even had any memorable dreams, much less sleep token ones. Would love to have a sleep token dream again. I wonder if your one with the documentary was inspired by the recent Instagram vids lmao, those crack me up??? found footage sleep token, lmao. I also love that you got to show them around to your favorite places. (no comment on the shotgunning besides like, what I would be like irl, which is a big thumbs up, lmao)

This next bit got... long. Sorry for my ADHD fingers and ramblings about migraines, I only realized I've had them my whole life last May, so. I give all my tips lol.

Sorry to hear about your migraines, I actually had one when you sent me this ask off. I read your post about it, I've only had mine completely block my vision once, but it was because of some bad smells. I completely lost my vision, but it was still purple, not all black??? My visual impairments/visual aura's are splotches of neon purple and green, moving in my vision like waves. sometimes they can be gold and black, but it's usually the green and purple.

I find fast acting/extra strength Tylenol works really good for migraines. I also keep liquid IV in my bag, cause that helps too (if you have a migraine you want to avoid artificial sweeteners, and liquid IV has cane sugar in it, while most other electrolyte drink mixes do not.)

I find that using a wet washcloth on my forehead/point of pain works way better then an ice pack cause you can keep flipping the washcloth over and the side not against your skin will keep cooling off, where an ice pack will melt.

I have seen some videos/read about putting your feet in hot water when you have one, and that supposedly helps??? I have yet to try it, but it sounds soothing.

Sorry this became me info dumping about migraine stuff. Just don't want you too be in pain/I have tips. Mine have been pretty bad this year, tbh. I had one for 2 weeks back in March, and I probably should have gone to the doctor, but I realized I just.... can't binge video games anymore after it was gone, oof.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Jojolands 20: Money for Nothing

Excellent return after the month break! Jodio and Bobby Jean take a little time to finish up their fight and we actually move on pretty quick to wrap up this hospital arc with the bulk of the chapter. I'm going to be honest, I don't think I fully get what Jodio pulled here with November Rain. I get that he was able to shield himself, deflect the bullets pretty well with it. But he has standing on a toilet in a bathroom stall, Glory Days broke the commode, then as Bobby Jean approached...Jodio did something with the water spewing out to finish him off?

Gonna be honest, stuff like this is why I tend to like the Jojos anime a little better. The way these stand battles go can make it hard to follow in black and white. I'm glad we didn't waste more time on the fight because it's been plenty long as-is...but if someone wants to take a crack at explaining it a little better I'd be thankful. The important thing is Jodio beat Bobby Jean, this panicked Lulu enough her Bags Groove stopped attacking the rest of the gang, and during the clash Jean reveals that Howler already knows about the Lava Rock. Which is a concept we'll get back to.

On the way though, we get this bit of charming stupidity from Usagi. He's down bad for Dragona and let's be honest, most of us are. Damn decidedly less charming Charmingman spoiling the mood. I do think it's pretty interesting how quickly everyone snaps back to normal and Usagi especially makes sense for not really knowing what was going on because he's been out of it.

Where this picks up though is with Paco recovering from getting hit by Glory Days. The clash creates an interesting dynamic because now there are a bunch of cops here and the gang isn't entirely sure how much of a problem that poses for them. Luckily though Usagi's ability can take care of the security cameras. If we look at Paco's recovery scene too, it kinda seems like the official story is some crazed gunman started shooting up the hospital. Which...hate to say but as an American it's not exactly an everyday thing but it is pretty believable that workers there might not be so quick to dismiss the idea some nutjob just woke up today to do that.

What this really leads to though is the mysterious workings of the Lava Rock. Pulling everything together by putting Paco in the same room as the guy from the bank. Which means the gang is now in possession of all the documents he had trying to seize the land.

Now...this isn't the Wild West. Simply holding the documents won't exactly allow some scruffy young adults to just claim the $38mil debt from Howler. They already got pretty lucky with the congressman's laptop and being able to sign off on the investigation. But the rock seems to be pretty wise. The key thing was making sure that gets started before the bank starts their own proceedings. Because then it all gets tied up in slow-moving court proceedings.

That said...Jodio is not the type of person who'd understand all that. But he does realize the best move is to get all these swiped docs to Meryl Mei. Including swiping the banker as well. When they're already taking Lulu with them. Which to me just sounds hilarious. Absconding with two whole people will surely go over smoothly.