#bills are over $3000

[thegreenleavesofspringinsunlight]

My water and sewer charges are usually $90 together. This month they're $800 and $900 respectively. 🫠🫠🫠

[bptmus]

Ok I Made One More

[leadmeastraylittlefairy]

.

[ii-zi]

Good news is we knocked 639 kWh off our electricity consumption. Which means almost a hundred dollars less than last bimester's bill. Bad news is that it still means we owe over 220 dlls LMAO

[minmos]

while you're here:

i have been in contact with ghada alanqar @ghadaanqar11 for the past few months. she has been struggling to support her aging parents and 6 nieces and nephews throughout the genocide in ghaza.

they have been crowdfunding since the start of the genocide in an attempt to escape. they are over 60% there, but need this last push to make it to safety. please understand: the conditions are dire. every day they remain in ghaza, they risk death by starvation, disease, and bombing.

because food is not being allowed into ghaza, a massive famine is taking place, with the average person not being able to afford basic necessities such as flour. people continue to be killed even after the ceasefire was announced. being cut off from medical supplies and clean water means that diseases run rampant. waste has nowhere to go, and people are trapped living in sewage.

her campaign has been verified by gazavetters (#6 on the list). i have also personally been in contact with ghada for the past few months and i trust her completely. i have been worried sick after tumblr staff has deleted several of her accounts, wondering if i would ever hear from her again. i am very happy to know she's still alive, but heartbroken that her conditions have not improved.

please donate if you are able, and share her campaign to help save her family before it's too late.

tagging for reach below the cut:

@rickybabyboy @valtsv @komsomolka @prisonhannibal @hotvampireadjacent @r0zeclawz @marxism-transgenderism @teaboot @boobieteriat @chokulit @3000s @ot3 @90-ghost @apas-95 @pitbolshevik @punkitt-is-here @b0tster @vampiricvenus @ankle-beez @remindertoclick @dyrdeer @tamamita @omegaversereloaded @amygdalae @postanagramgenerator @memingursa @certifiedsexed @afro-elf @11thsense @spacebeyonce @neechees @beserkerjewel @beetledrink @spaghettioverdose @specialmouse @grox @minmos @slimetony @redbuddi @juney-blues @hollowtones @aflo @skunkes @wolfertinger666 @smoqueen

[signedkoko]

Could I get a Mammon, Vox and Husk with a S/O who gets harassed on the street and their reaction? You can have full creative control over what type of harassment!

I love your fics- if this isn’t getting the creative juices flowing just let me know and I’ll request something different <3

🦷 anon

Husk | Mammon | Vox [Romantic]

In which some loathsome idiot thinks they'll get away with harassing their beloved s/o.

One of your favourite date nights is spent bar hopping

Pop a drink or two in each one, sometimes sharing one cocktail, his wing draped around you, your head leant on his shoulder, humming to the music surrounding you

Both of you had a preference for the less popular spots, the kinds of places you got the weirdest combinations, where he could be inspired and you could give him thoughts

The plus side of the smaller joints was that the music was never too loud, drinks were cheaper, and there was always a few spots free at the bar

Downside was that most places had their regulars, the kind of people who couldn't get in anywhere else

The kind of desperation that builds and spreads like mold in the corner of a dark room next to a leaky pipe

On a few occasions, someone would harmlessly ask to buy you a drink and would turn tail when Husk gave them his usually 'fuck off' look

But this time, the guy would just not get the hint

" What? Already claimed dibs on the bitch? "

Yeah- no, that attitude towards you is not going to fly

Not even three seconds and there's a bottle smashed on the drunk demons head, and three cards flying back into Husk's hand

That's when the bleeding starts

You slap a 20 down for your bill and jump straight up, already being dragged by Husk out the door

Insists if he stayed there you would have both gotten banned anyways, and he likes that spot

You guys don't really go out so casually without a good reason, or just for old times sake

A sin and his spouse on a city street in greed was just asking for bad things to happen

But still, if you asked and he had nothing that day, Mammon would always rather get quality time with you and people watch

Thats most of your conversation, pointing out demons and joking about what you think they are like, what the do, how they speak

It's always a fun game, until some newcomer saw you laughing at him and marched right up, clearly on something and clearly ready to have a go at someone

The moment he reaches for your wrist, his thumb falls to the floor, a messy and jagged cut the only sign of attack besides one of Mammons spider legs now revealed

Before he can even realize the pain or what's happened, Mammon lets out a menacing laugh

" Every extra inch towards my broad is another finger. "

That demon was already screaming and running away, most the crowd on the street that was watching now hurrying in any direction opposite of you and Mammon

" I'm only worth one finger? "

" Nah. Just being generous for once. "

Not really a street guy, but unfortunately some press conferences and events require mingling and interacting with others, which he never liked

Thankfully, with you he has an excuse to stay away from others, or show you off

He usually goes for the latter

He's all 'Have you met my wife?' 'My wife loves x and y!' 'Isn't my wife absolutely gorgeous?'

You are the first topic he speaks of after his company; you'd be the first if he didn't have to waste so much time being a salesman, but that is how the cookie crumbles

Sometimes when there's specific press releases, he has to send you off for a moment, where you usually go and mingle with some of the others in his industry you befriended

During one such interview, he couldn't help but spot out the corner of his eye, some lousy business woman drape her arm around your waist and grab at your hip

" Sorry yeah, this interview is over. "

Literally shoves his way over, sparks and electricity flying, to rip you out of her arms

" Baaabe, is this a friend? Whatever the case, we really gotta get going! "

Jealousy 3000

He's glad he stepped in after he overhears that lady had a habit of harassing other attendees

New clause in every interview; they have to include you or provide security over you while he is busy

Author's Note - Tooth anon comes in for another PIPIN HOT request!! I actually feel so bad because every time I take a break form writing is on yoru request and that really makes it look bad I am so sorry 😩

[evilwickedme]

Help me, a disabled transmasc with no income, save my traumatized cat

Bug, who survived October 7th, is currently being hospitalized for liver failure and possibly blockage in his bile ducts and/or jaundice. The minimum cost of his hospitalization is 2000 USD, but since they told us that it's unlikely that we'll get him back in under 3 days the cost is closer to 3000 USD, and may go all the way up to 4000. My only income is my disability check, which goes to cover rent and utilities and leaves very little to use to cover such a huge and unexpected expense. Please if you can, donate to my ko-fi to help save my boy:

(if you're Israeli, DM me for details on how else you can send me money)

@not-the-blue is offering some commissions to people who've donated (minimum $10 donation). Contact her for details, she is a fantastic artist and I've commissioned her multiple times. Below the cut are some of my favorite pieces of hers & some of my commissions (including one I forgot to post oops) as well as more details about Bug's life so far

More Bug details:

My boyfriend and I adopted Bug last summer, with the hopes that having a friend would calm my other cat down a little. Originally I was going to call him Spike - my other cat's name is Buffy - but what we got was not the skinny boy he looked like in the pictures, but an overweight, tail-less creature that looked, well, kind of bug-like. Over the past ten months he has been slowly - SLOWLY - losing weight as he has been playing with Buffy and eating a steady healthy amount of food.

He came to us deeply traumatized, having been found locked in a room in the south on October 7th with shrapnel in his tail, necessitating its removal (there's not even a nub!). At first he was quite skittish, although over the past ten months he has warmed up to us steadily, and a few weeks ago he actually sat on me for the first time! Kind of hilariously and also tragically, he's afraid of the dark, and when we go to sleep he spends a good half hour every night crying at the top of his lungs, and guys - you've never heard a cat that sounds more like just straight up a baby, it can be so distressing to hear.

Over the past week he very suddenly started deteriorating fast. He started coughing, throwing up this green foam, stopped crying at night, spent most of the day hidden under the bed, wasn't eating as much and eventually at all. We took him to the vet the moment we could, and they said he needed to be taken to the ER to be hospitalized *now*. So we rushed him there, and were eventually told he's probably going to need several days of hospitalization. The itemized bill made me cry even harder than I was already crying - I can't afford to take care of my boy.

Buffy also got sick earlier this year, although in a much less serious manner, and she has an appointment that will probably result in most of her teeth getting taken out next month, in itself not a cheap process but nowhere near as expensive as this. And because of the war with Iran, my one source of income for this month was literally canceled - no public events when missiles could land at any moment.

We're already at over 25% of the goal reached, which means the world to me. Still, the goal is a minimum - it may very well end up being much, much more expensive. Your help has been so appreciated - I've gotten some very generous donations, but also just the people who've shared it and the kind words people have sent with their donations. Thank you thank you thank you

[mousedetective]

NEED HELP WITH CAR REPAIRS + BILLS + TRANSPORTATION!

PAYPAL | AMAZON WISHLIST | KOFI | GOFUNDME |PATREON | HOLIDAY WISHES LIST @ DREAMWIDTH

11/21/24 - Edited Post!

So we wracked up a $765 bill from our mover that, bless him, he's letting me pay off when I get he money. I also have car repairs (there's a few different things wrong with the car so we're aiming for $3000 to cover everything) and I'm in debt to PayPal by almost $600. I am also almost $1100 overdrawn due to loan payments and overdraft fees, so any help paying that down would be amazing.

We also have regular bills to cover, and while the medical taxis our insurance gets for us pick us up on time, we usually wait an hour or two to get home, which my mother absolutely cannot do if there's no place to sit, so I'd like to have money for Ubers to get us home from doctor appointments. I also need Ubers for shopping and taking care of non-medical stuff.

Any help at all would be utterly amazing. Reblogs are also much appreciated!

$347/$6000

EDIT 1: My mom now owes PayPal $250 so until I can pay it I won't be able to receive any donations. We still need help with groceries and paying the movers, though, so please help us cover the debt?

EDIT 2: Thank you to everyone who helped me get the laundry supplies! For the moment, I have enough to finish the rest of the laundry that we brought over, but we still need the wet vac to keep our floors clean, if anyone would be able to help with that.

[bestanimal]

Round 3 - Reptilia - Galliformes

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

Our next order of birds are the ancient Galliformes, known collectively as “landfowl”. The order contains five families: Megapodiidae (megapodes), Cracidae (“curassows”, “guans”, and “chachalacas”), Odontophoridae (“New World quails”), Numididae (“guineafowl”), and Phasianidae (“pheasants”, “grouse”, “partridges”, “junglefowl”, “turkeys”, “Old World quail”, and “peafowl”).

Many gallinaceous species have rounded bodies and blunt wings. They are typically skilled runners and escape predators by running rather than flying, only using their wings to fly up to trees to roost or escape a predator when cornered. Galliforms are anisodactyl, with three toes that point forward and one that points backward, and some of the adult males also grow spurs that point backwards, which they use for fighting. They are usually omnivorous, feeding on fruits, seeds, leaves, shoots, flowers, tubers, roots, insects, snails, worms, lizards, snakes, small rodents, and eggs, depending on species. Galliforms are mainly nonmigratory. They can be found worldwide in a variety of habitats, including forests, deserts, and grasslands.

Galliforms have diverse mating strategies: some are monogamous, while others are polygamous or polygynandrous. Males of many galliform species are more colorful than the females, with often elaborate courtship behaviors that include strutting, fluffing of tail or head feathers, and vocal sounds. They breed seasonally in accordance with the climate and lay 3 to 16 eggs per year in nests built on the ground or in trees. Females usually brood the eggs, except for the megapodes.

Fossils of galliform-like birds originate in the Late Cretaceous. These ancestors of the galliformes were a niche group of dinosaurs that were toothless and ground-dwelling. When the asteroid impact killed off all non-avian dinosaurs, as well as the dominant birds, Enantiornithes, the ancestors of galliformes were small and lived in the ground which protected them from the blast and ensuing destruction, becoming the new dominant birds along with waterfowl. Modern galliformes originated in the Eocene, around 55 million years ago.

Propaganda under the cut:

The megapodes are unique among birds for their nesting behavior. Instead of sitting on their eggs, they build large mounds of decaying plant matter over them. The male will attend the mound, adding or removing litter to regulate the internal heat while the eggs develop. The Maleo (Macrocephalon maleo) (image 2) is most known for burying its eggs in a hole in the sand, allowing the eggs to be incubated by geothermal or solar energy heating up the sand. They leave the eggs once they are laid, and never return. Megapode chicks are the most precocial of all birds, digging their way out of the nest or ground with their powerful claws. They hatch fully feathered and active, already able to fly and live independently from their parents.

The Australian Brushturkey (Alectura lathami) is the largest living megapode. It is sometimes considered a pest, as it may take mulch for its nest or rake up gardens searching for food. However, it is fully protected in Queensland and New South Wales, and harming one of the unique birds can result in a fine of up to 3000 penalty units ($483,900), or two years imprisonment.

The endangered Horned Guan (Oreophasis derbianus) looks like this:

(source)

The critically endangered Blue-billed Curassow (Crax alberti) once used to range all across Northern Colombia, but is now reduced to small, fragmented populations, with the only known viable population existing in the Serranía de las Quinchas area in the Magdalena Valley. Its population is estimated to be fewer than 1,500 mature individuals. They are threatened due to habit loss, occurring from widespread use of herbicides by the Colombian government. Forests have also been cleared for agriculture, livestock, oil extraction, and mining. Around 98% to 99% of Blue-billed Curassow habitat has been lost. The birds are also hunted, and studied populations are not estimated to survive another 100 years if hunting continued. Thankfully, some reserves have been created and captive breeding has been successful. Now time will tell if the Blue-billed Curassow can be saved.

The iconic California Quail (Callipepla californica) (image 4) was selected as the state bird of California in 1931. They are highly social birds, gathering in small flocks known as "coveys". One of their daily communal activities is dust bathing.

One of the most well-known quails in North America, recognized by their characteristic whistling call, is the Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus). The Northern Bobwhite is considered near threatened, and their populations have declined by around 85% since 1966. One subspecies, the Masked Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus ridgwayi), is endangered, and have been extirpated from Arizona twice. The decline is mainly due to changes in how land is managed. Northern Bobwhites depend on early successional habitat, that requires fire or some other disturbance to be revitalized. These habitats have the forbs, legumes and insects that bobwhite need for food and the heavy or brushy cover for nesting, brooding and safety. To help reverse bobwhite declines, NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) is working with private landowners to manage their land for high-quality habitat in grasslands and pine savannas.

The Helmeted Guineafowl (Numida meleagris) was domesticated in Western Africa, and there is evidence that Domestic Guineafowl were present in Greece by the 5th century BC. The birds are kept for meat and eggs, but today are mostly kept for pest control, as they are avid eaters of ticks, wasps, and other insects. They are also kept as guard animals with other livestock, as they give a loud, shrill warning call when predators are seen. Feral populations descended from domestic flocks are now widely distributed and occur in the West Indies, North America, Australia, and Europe.

Unusually for galliforms, the Crested Partridge (Rollulus rouloul) will feed its young bill-to-bill, rather than teach it to peck at the ground, and both parents engage in this feeding behavior.

The Tragopans are also known as “horned pheasants”, due to the male’s courtship display in which he will inflate large, vividly colored horns on his head and a lappet on his chest.

The Himalayan Monal (Lophophorus impejanus) is the national bird of Nepal, and the males are one of the most colorful birds in the world, covered in patches of iridescent blue, purple, green, and red.

The Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus) is the state bird of Alaska and has gained recent internet notoriety for its “awebo” call. They are known for changing color from brown to white in the Winter, and have remained relatively unchanged since the Pleistocene.

The largest galliform is the Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) which may weigh as much as 14 kg (30.5 lb) and may exceed 120 cm (47 in).

The Western Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) is a large grouse species, and is extremely sexually dimorphic, with males being nearly twice the size of females. Males are known for their combative behavior during the breeding season, even challenging and chasing off humans who enter their territory.

The critically endangered Edwards's Pheasant (Lophura edwardsi) may be extinct in the wild. The pheasants declined due to deforestation and hunting, but a major blow to their population was the use of defoliant herbicides used during the Vietnam War. The herbicides were sprayed by the United States to deprive the Vietnam soldiers of food crops and/or hiding cover. They also deprived the pheasants of food and shelter. There have been no confirmed sightings of a living individual in the wild since 2000. In 2018, a photograph of a dead female Edwards's Pheasant was taken near Phong Điền Nature Reserve, providing evidence that the pheasants may persist in the wild on the reserve. Thankfully, the pheasants breed readily in human care, and assurance populations are being prepared for release back into the wild.

The Domestic Chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) was domesticated in Southeast Asia around 8,000 years ago, from the Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus). They are kept for meat, eggs, as pets, and for cockfighting. Their domestication has led to them being the most widespread and successful birds in the world, with a total population of 26.5 Billion as of 2023, and an annual production of more than 50 Billion birds.

The smallest galliform is the King Quail (Synoicus chinensis), which is around 12.7cm (5in) long and weighs 28–40 g (1–1.4 oz).

[remiratboi]

Trace

Masterlist

Yandere!UnknownMonsterXHumanGNFatReader

SFW

CW: stalking, yandere, obsession, fear, controlling obsession.

Repost of one of my incomplete monstober posts.

You dropped a crumpled wad of bills on the counter as the clerk eyed your driver’s license suspiciously. You cursed your own laziness at forgetting to change the age. You definitely could not pass for 49. You hadn’t been as thorough after your last place fell through.

The clerks eyes drifted from the ID to the too much money you’d dropped on the counter. You stepped away to pick up your luggage, making it clear you weren’t asking for change. The clerk squinted at you one more time before handing back your ID. He deftly made the money disappear, and a worn key with a motel keychain replaced it.

You nodded once, your mutual understanding a silent one. You had chosen this motel for exactly that reason. They were known for not looking too closely.

You made your way down the broken pavement from the main office back to your beat up Subaru. You didn’t even know what model it was. It had been cheap, and so far hadn’t broken down in over 3000 kms. Thats really all you could ask for.

You followed the tacky printed map the clerk had given you to the section you’d be staying in. It was one of those middle of nowhere, off the highway, motel “resorts”. The kind that boasted “cabins” but meant “run down, one room shacks”.

The outer screen door screeched as you pulled it open. You rolled your eyes. The shack was exactly what you expected; filthy, plain and dated. You didn’t care. It was just one more stop on your chaotic escape to nowhere.

You didn’t bother unpacking your bags. A lukewarm shower and a solid bed to sleep in would be enough. The mattress was hard when you tried to fall asleep that night.

***

You awoke, several hours later. The red, white and yellow of the motel sign flickered through slat blinds. You were cozy in your blankets and you drifted in and out drowsily. You wondered why you couldn’t seem to fully fall back asleep.

The air seemed to be sucked from the room as you woke fully and realized you weren’t alone. You still didn’t stir. You tried to even your breathing, but there was no point.

“Must we play this game, my love?” A deep, smooth voice spoke from nearby. You didn’t respond. “This place is filthy. Wouldn’t you rather come home with me, dove?”

Your skin crawled. Home

As if you shared one. He spoke like you were old lovers having a minor quarrel.

He sighed and you heard a step. He had moved closer.

“I’m getting tired of this. I’ve told you it’s useless to run.” The creature spoke softly, alluringly. Oh how easy it would be to give in. To give up.

“I will beat you.” You muttered from the bed. A human likely wouldn’t have been able to hear you. But he could. You knew he could.

He tsked and reached an arm forward. Your hair stood on end. You felt fluttering fingertips and just the slightest bite of claw down the side of your face. You still squeezed your eyes shut.

“It’s not a competition, dove.” He answered. Then you felt him lean down, lean close. His voice came from just above your face. “And if it was, it still wouldn’t be. You will never escape. I will always find you.” Danger filled his words. They teetered between a promise and a threat. “It doesn’t matter what you do, how far you run, how good of a job you do at erasing yourself. All I need is the barest trace. One single whisper of your scent on the air.” He took in a shuddering breath at the mention of your scent. “I. Will. Always. Find. You.” He growled the last words, punctuating each one.

He leaned forward and crushed your lips under his. It was passionate and desperate. His hand, claws, whatever, gripped both sides of your face and held you to him. Your eyes flew open and you were met with him, the creature. His face haunted your every moment, and here it was, pressed against yours.

Finally he pulled away and stared into your eyes. You could just barely make his out in the dim light. A fire blazed behind his horizontal pupils.

“You’re my mate. You’re mine.”

[athena-cat-wizard-official]

Hi everyone,

Unfortunately my car has been pretty badly damaged, and the repair costs are over $3000. I don't really have that sort of money, especially with phone bills and rent coming up.

I've never really made this sort of post before but I could use any financial help people are able to provide. Even a few hundred would help ease the cost.

My commissions are still open on Ko-fi but donations would be appreciated as well. I've added a Gofundme too, for just donations. I have an upcoming hospital placement that's going to be a 7 hour drive away in an area without public transport so I really can't afford to be without a car either.

Please help, even just reblogging a bunch would be appreciated! Prices are in AUD so it should be a little cheaper for US folks.

$420/3000

Thank you so much to everyone who donated

Ended up getting $420. This isn't enough to avoid wiping out all my savings but I was able to get a little extra from my parents, so I at least am not in debt. Hopefully with the money I got I can cover bills and groceries until my next pay period.

I'm leaving the go-fund-me up until I get all the money transferred to my account but then I'll close it. Please still feel free to ask for commissions on Ko-fi, as I could still use support to rebuild my savings.

Again, thank you so much everyone!!!

[lostbookmark]

MDNI 🔞

Main Masterlist here

WHISPERED VOWS MASTERLIST here

Summary: You thought planning your wedding was going to be a magical memory. You didn't realize that it might make you second guess everything.

Pairing: Fiancée Yoongi x Insecure F. Reader

Genre: Romance, Angst, Smut, Hurt-Comfort

Warnings: Explicit Sex, Toxic Family, Arguments, Sex Toys, Self Doubt, Over Thinking, Unprotected Sex, Yoongi Overworking, Reader Needs To Speak Up,

SMUT !

The smell that hit you as soon as you and Lisa walked into the flower shop earlier had hit you like a ton of bricks. It was a mix of sweet floral, citrus, a powdery smell that you couldn't identify, and damp earth that permeated through the main room that caused you to scrunch your nose in distaste. You think that flowers are pretty to look at, of course, but you prefer to do that from far away. You hate the smell of them, and all the different scents coming at you all at once are almost nauseating. You never understood why people always smell them or always give them as a gift. What better way to show someone you love them than buying them something that will eventually die. It just seems sad.

“How much do people usually spend on flowers?” You ask the florist who was walking around with you showing you the large varieties of blooms that she had in the store.

“Well, that's hard to say,” she says, looking at you with kind eyes. “It all depends on how many you want and what exactly you want to use them for. I would say a standard wedding will roughly cost about 3,000 dollars . If you want to add a grounded arch or have flowers that line your aisle. Are you going to have them as centerpieces at the reception? How many bouquets? Boutonnieres? All that will raise the price.”

You swallow thickly at her answer. For a 3,000 plus dollar estimate, they better last until your first anniversary and not be dead within the first week of buying them. The very few times that you have had flowers or plants for that matter, you have always forgotten to water them. They just ended up a brown wilted mess in a vase by a window that you would eventually throw away once you stopped being lazy.

Your stomach twists and turns anxiously as you look at the different bundles of flowers displayed in buckets and vases throughout the room as you contemplate the price that she told you. Walking around, you look at the roses in various colors, white orchids, pink peonies, rare flowers, and flowers flown in from different countries that you have never heard of. Why do they need flowers from different countries? They probably did it so they could charge more, and you also know people are more than willing to pay that price. It seems like such a waste, especially all for one day. All of this for just one day.

The pretty florist is staring at you with a patient smile, and you gently reach out to touch a hyacinth. It makes you tilt your head as you stare at them. Yeah, you don’t know how to pronounce that. You turn your attention back to her and give her an awkward smile. You can't tell her that you hate flowers and you definitely don't want to spend that much money on them. You don't want to offend anyone. She seems really nice.

“Yeah, so, thanks for your time. It was quite educational,” Lisa says cheerfully with a fake smile on her face. She plucks a card from the counter before waving goodbye. “We will be in touch. We have a lot to think about with all these beautiful options. Have a beautiful day!”

Linking your arm into hers, Lisa walks you out of the floral shop. You take a deep breath of the cold, crisp, fresh air that hits your face in hopes of calming the nerves inside of you. You can’t justify spending this much money on flowers. Do they know how many bills you can pay with 3000 dollars? How can people just throw away money like this? You dared not to even tell your mom about this trip. She probably would have wanted the flowers from a different country. She would have wanted them to be in crystal vases sitting at every table at the reception. She would have wanted whatever the ground arch was.

“You know,” Lisa says as she stops walking and stares at you over the hood of her car. “When I get married, I want roses. Hundreds of beautiful, deep red roses on every surface available, including my honeymoon suite, but that's just me…not you. You don't have to have flowers at all if you don't want them. Yoongi doesn't seem like a flower guy anyway.”

“What about the bouquets that we have to hold?” you ask. “Wouldn't it look weird if we weren't holding onto anything?”

“Sweets, we can make them with fake flowers. People probably wouldn't even be able to tell the difference,” Lisa answers. “With Pinterest and a hot glue gun, I can be unstoppable. I won't let you down.”

You start to laugh at her, finally feeling at ease, and she joins in. Thanks to Lisa, you think you can officially cross flowers off your list.

The noodles in the togo container from Yoongi's favorite restaurant are starting to burn your hands as you hurry down the hall to his studio. One of the things that has been worrying you is that Yoongi is not eating when he works like he does. He thinks it's okay to run on two hours of sleep a night, and a cup of coffee is enough fuel to get him through the day. As passive as you are trying to be at the moment, you can not let him do this to himself. You will not let him starve himself for the sake of his work.

Upon entering the familiar studio and kicking off your shoes, you see that he is asleep on his back with his arm thrown over his eyes on the couch as music faintly drifts from the abandoned headphones on his desk. You shut the door as slowly and quietly as you can without waking him up. The room is a bit darker than normal, so you move extra carefully so you don't knock into any equipment that was strewn around the floor. You place the noodles quietly on his small table in front of the couch and wave your burning fingers in the air, trying to soothe the slight burn. Looking around, you quickly find a piece of unused paper on his desk to leave a quick note for him. Your butt barely hits his chair when his voice makes you jump slightly.

“Baby?” his tired voice was deep and raspy.

“Sorry, I tried to be quiet. I brought you some food. It's noodles from your favorite restaurant,” you tell him with a sigh, putting the paper back where you found it. You no longer needed to leave him a note after failing your mission.

Yoongi doesn't answer. Instead, he holds his arms open, an invitation to join him. You climb over his body and onto the couch beside him. He situates himself onto his side, trapping you between his body and the back of the leather couch. Your face is buried in his chest with his arms wrapped around you, holding you close. You can feel the steady rhythmic rise and fall of his chest against your face. You wonder if he fell back to sleep, but you don't want to move to find out. Closing your eyes, you contemplate drifting off with him as you let your body relax.

“Thank you,” he says suddenly, kissing the top of your head. “Any wedding updates? More million dollar venues?” he jokes.

“No. Lisa and I went to a florist on my lunch break. I discovered that I really don't like the way flowers smell, and they are just as expensive as the venues,” you tell him, and you can feel his chest shake with laughter. “It's all just a lot of money to spend on one day.”

“Most people like the way they smell,” he informs you. “I told you not to stress out over the cost.”

“They stink, and I can’t help it,” you complain. “Are you okay if we skip the flowers?”

“That's perfectly fine,” he says as his hand runs through your hair. He opens one eye and looks down at you. “Are you doing okay?”

“Yeah,” you say quietly. “I…I don't want a lot of guests there either.”

“Me neither,” he admits. “I don't have to invite industry people. Your mom doesn't know what she is talking about.”

“So, maybe a venue that holds like…50?” You ask him hopefully. “I came across a small winery online. It looked really pretty and they have availability for our date.”

“Perfect,” he whispers, looking at you.

“How do you know it's perfect? You haven't even seen it,” you ask with a small smile.

“If you like it, then it's perfect,” he tells you.

Yoongi reaches under your chin, tilting your face up to him. Leaning down, he presses his mouth firmly to yours. You internally sigh at the feeling of his lips against your own. You miss the kisses like these. Those lingering kisses that you never want to end. The ones that are filled with so much emotion that they make you weak in the knees. The ones that make you feel safe. The ones that make you remember how much you love him. How much you miss….him.

Yoongi changes position on his couch. Laying you back, he lays himself on top of you. His body presses you further into the cushions as he balances himself on his forearm. His free hand wanders down your leg that is clad in black tights that you wore under your skirt.

“Of all days that you had to wear these,” he says, pinching the black material and pulling them away from your leg only for them to snap back in place. “Can I take them off?”

“Yes,” you whisper, but your eyes glance to the door nervously. The embarrassment of last time still lingers in your mind. It would be just your luck. Jimin would walk in on you again or worse….Jungkook.

“No one else knows the code,” he chuckles, placing his face into your neck and licking a wet stripe up to your ear, making your breath hitch before lightly biting at your lobe. “We won't be interrupted.”

Sitting up on his knees between your legs, Yoongi's hands travel up under your skirt, grabbing the top of your tights. Lifting your hips, you help him out as he carefully pulls them over your ass and down your legs. He finishes by slipping them over your feet and tossing them on his table by the forgotten food container that you brought in for him. He turns his head back to look at you laid out before him and just drinks you in.

“Yoongi?” you question quietly.

“I'm just looking at my beautiful fiancée,” he whispers. “My future wife.”

He smiles at you and leans down, pressing his mouth against yours again. Your arms go around his shoulders, holding him close to you as his tongue slips into your mouth as it twists and twirls with your own. Pulling away from your mouth, Yoongi rests his head against your forehead. His eyes stare directly into yours.

“Let me just please you and….we will see what happens,” he says softly and looks away from you quickly. You think that he is embarrassed.

“We don't have to do anything,” you say, trying to comfort him. “I know you're tired. Your sleep is more important than this.”

“No, I miss this so much,” he says quietly and kisses you again desperately as his tongue delves in for another taste of your mouth. “I miss the way you feel,” he pulls away to plant a soft kiss on your cheek. “I miss the way you taste,” a kiss to your jaw. “God, I miss the way you sound,” a kiss to your neck. “Please, baby.”

You nod your head yes, and he finally slithers his way down, your body dropping to his knees on the floor with a light thump. Yoongi flips your skirt up and hooks his fingers into your underwear, pulling them down over your now bare legs, exposing you to his gaze. He stuffs the thin material into his back pocket and smirks at you. You don't even want to know what he will do with them if he doesn't give them back. The thought makes you blush a little bit.

“It will have to be quick,” you inform him with a teasing voice as he kisses the inner side of your knee. “My boss won't like me wasting company time.”

“I think he won’t care….at all,” he smirks at you and moves up to nip at your inner thigh. “In fact, I think that he just might even encourage this. Mandatory once a week now.”

Diving between your legs, Yoongi doesn't waste any time. Using his hand to spread you open, his tongue starts licking at your opening hungrily. His hot breath fans over your exposed core, making you squirm around on his couch. Yoongi places your legs over his shoulders and then slowly moves his hands up your body. He reaches up and gently grabs at your covered chest. Palming at your breasts the best he could over your clothes. You arch your chest up into his touch as you grab the back of your knees, bringing them up and closer to your body. Opening yourself up more for him.

“Oh, shit,” you whimper as his tongue finally pays attention to your bundle of nerves flicking it back and forth. “It feels g..go…good.” You stammer.

He moans around you as he sucks it into his mouth. You let go of your right knee to push his dark hair out of his eyes before pulling his head closer to your core despite the fact that he was already as close as he could get. You bite your bottom lip as he stares up at you. The look of undying love and adoration is still there in those lust blown brown orbs. Even though you want to question it at times, it's still there. Yoongi suddenly pulls away with a surprised and slightly dazed look on his face. You follow his line of sight as he looks down at himself. His sweatpants do nothing to hide the hardness that is there.

“Fuck, yeah,” he says with a pump of his fist.

You would have laughed at him, but you are just as excited as he is. Yoongi doesn't even bother to undress, so you stay exactly how you are as well. Instead, he opts to just pull his pants down to his knees and hike up his white t-shirt before positioning himself back on the couch between your spread legs. Taking himself in his hand he slaps his cock against your pussy that's still coated in his saliva a couple of times before he dips the head of his cock into you shallowly before pulling back out.

“Fuck, I have I neglected you that much?” he hisses at the tightness that he pulled away from. You don't bother answering because you both know the answer.

He licks his fingers before letting them gently enter you. Twisting and opening you up as he prepares you for his intrusion that you haven't had in so long. However, you needed him, and you didn't want to wait any longer. You reach for his hardness and gently pull him back to you. You push at his wrist and line him up as he removes his fingers. You stare up at him in anticipation, desperation in your eyes, chest moving up and down rapidly. He raises an eyebrow at you, and you nod your head at his silent question.

“It's okay,” you whisper and run your hand up and down the front of his body.

“Are you sure?” He asks breathlessly.

You bite your lower lip and nod your head. Yoongi groans, taking himself back in his hand, and pushes back into you slowly. Even in his neediest moments, he is gentle with you. You hear him take a deep breath and exhale slowly when he bottoms out in you. His eyes are closed tight, and his body feels quite tense. You experimentally roll your hips against his, and he gasps out. You think you might enjoy seeing him like this. Like he will come undone any single moment.

“Don't move yet,” he whispers brokenly. “I need a moment. I can't ever wait this long again.”

“Yoongi, it's okay,” you say again. Pulling him down, your lips meet his. Your tongue sneaks its way between his lips, making the kiss deeper, needier. You smile at him as you pull away. “Fuck me.” you whisper.

With a sharp inhale, Yoongi finally starts moving his hips against your own. His thrusts were hard and fast, unforgiving, acting on the wants and needs of his body. You grab a hold of his biceps and hold on firmly, trying to anchor yourself to him. The thrusting of his hips makes you slide a little further up the leather couch with each contact his body makes with you, making him have to pull you back down to meet him repeatedly. It was almost too distracting for you. You tap his arms, and he is immediately off you with a look of worry etched in his features.

“Are you okay?” he asks worriedly, thinking he hurt you. Without a word, you turn over to your knees and look back at him over your shoulder. “Fuck.” he whispers and gently pumps himself in his hand as he stares at you waiting for him. You teasingly sway your backside at him and he bites his lip, still watching you. “Fuck,” he whispers again.

“Yoongi,” you whimper.

“Yeah, shit,” he said, finally snapping out of his trance.

Moving your fallen skirt back up, Yoongi whips his shirt off and over his head to get it out of the way. His hands return to you as he places one hand on your hip to hold you steady and inserts himself back into you with the other. Moaning at the angle, you push your hips back against him until your bottom meets his pelvis. You press your own face and chest further into the cushions, making your back arch more, bringing him deeper into your burning core. Yoongi gasps. He grabs the front of your hips and pulls your ass up to meet his every thrust as he begins to move within you again. The tip of his cock kissing your sweet spot with every push of his hips.

“Yoongi,” you cry out in a broken sob as your body jostles around from his handling of you.

“That's it,” he rasps as the sound his hips smack against your ass fills his studio. Tingles start to spread over your body as your muscles start to tense. You feel your body suddenly drop, and Yoongi moves to hover over you further. His breath hits your cheek as his face drops down to yours. “I love you. So, fucking much.”

Reaching behind you with both hands, you grab a hold of the back of his bare thighs. Your nails dig into his pale flesh as you desperately try to hold onto him. Yoongi's lips press against your cheek as his hand dips under your skirt. HIs fingers press on your clit, drawing quick circles along it.

“YOONGI!” You cry out and cover your mouth with your hand. You are scared to be too loud even though you know his studio is soundproof.

“Let me hear you,” he grunts against the side of your face.

Your walls start to contract around as you begin to brokenly sob out his name, causing his own hips to stutter in response. You hear him groan out a couple of “oh fucks” in your ear as he stills as he emptied himself into you. His breathing is hard, warm breath puffing against your cheek as he tries to catch his breath. He turns his head and presses a gentle kiss to your cheek. Slowly, he pulls out of you after a moment and sits back laying his head against the back of the couch trying to calm down his fast beating heart. You close your legs tightly as you turn onto your back and try to catch his attention.

“Umm,” you say, your face starting to turn red. “It's leaking.”

Yoongi looks at you, then between your legs, and starts to laugh at you. Standing up, he pulls up his pants and grabs some tissues by his desk. Cleaning you up, he hands you your underwear and tights before he puts his own shirt back on. You shyly get dressed in front of him as he sits back and watches you with a half lidded expression of pure satisfaction. Straightening your skirt and smoothing it down, he holds his hand out to you once again. You grab a hold of it, and he gently pulls you onto his lap.

“I miss you so much, baby. I'm trying my hardest to finish this damn album so I can help you,” he says, and you nod and rest your head against his shoulder. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” you whisper and hold onto him just a little tighter. You don't ever want to let go.

“Well if that wasn't the longest lunch break in history,” Seungkwan says, giving you a side-eye as soon as you open the door. He knew damn well what you were up to.“

"Very funny,” you say, walking into your office and sitting at your desk across the room.

“Your phone has been going off nonstop,” he tells you.

You groan and throw your head back in exasperation. Picking your phone up, you see that your mom has, in fact, been nonstop calling you and has sent one text. Calling her back, you hold your breath. You have to be prepared for what could end up being a fight.

“Y/N, where have you been? I've been calling you all afternoon,” your mother's voice came from the other end of the phone. “I called the venue with the mountains and gardens. I told them we were interested and I needed a date to tell her.”

“I….I’m going to be booking my own venue. It's at a small winery just out of town on August 1st, a black and white color theme, with no flowers,” you tell her in one breath. You did it. You told her, and there was no going back after this.

“WHAT?” She exclaimed so loudly that you had to pull the phone away from your ear.

“I have to work goodbye,” you say quickly before she can continue and turn your phone immediately off.

“No, flowers?” Seungkwan questioned you with a bewildered look. “You don't want flowers?”

“No, they are way too expensive, and I feel bad for spending that much,” you explain.

“My sister is a florist. Let me talk to her, and I will give her your number,” he said. “I'm sure that she will give you a discount.”

“You don't have to,” you say, shaking your head slightly. “I really don't care if I have flowers or not.”

“I want to, even if it's just your bouquet. That's what friends are for,” he says, giving you a soft smile before turning back to his computer and continuing his work.

You rest your head back against your seat, and your eyes look at the picture of you and Yoongi sitting on your desk by your computer monitor. It was a selfie that you took from the balcony of that beautiful Paris hotel room. You could see the Eiffel Tower lit up in the background as he held you in his arms while you stretched your arm out to take the picture. There’s a small pit in your stomach as you look at it, and you can't figure out what it is as you look at your smiling faces. You just hope that it goes away soon.

《Chapter Three》

A/N: Well, I've finally started chapter 7 of Vows. Updates will still come about every two weeks or so. Also, I wasn't sure about my tagged readers from SECRETS and if I was supposed to tag you in this new story. I guess I don't know the protocol.

Tagged Readers:

@svnbangtansworld, @futuristicenemychaos

[mrs-delaney]

Pursuit of Happiness | A Hide Short

Joe Burrow x Riley Carter (oc)

Word Count: 3.2k and some change

Author's Note: This is barely edited and I wrote it because I couldn't stop thinking about Lissie's cover of "Pursuit of Happiness" (linked above) and how Riley would absolutely pull something like this.

3000 words later and here we are. Hope you like it! I got one more I'm working on in this same vein.

Start here: my full masterlist

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Riley sat cross-legged on the couch in their rehearsal space, her Telecaster balanced across her knees, picking at random chord progressions while the guys debated their SiriusXM setlist.

"What about 'Flowers'?" Andy suggested, adjusting his guitar strap. "That's been everywhere lately."

"Everyone's covering that one," Daniel said from behind his kit.

Pete looked up from tuning his bass. "What about 'Kill Bill'? Could be cool stripped down."

"Or 'Vampire,'" Andy added, grinning. "Feels appropriate."

Riley let her fingers find a different progression, shifting away from what they'd been throwing around. "What if we did something older? Like... 'Pursuit of Happiness'?"

The room went quiet for a second.

Pete's eyebrows shot up first. "Kid Cudi? Isn't that—"

"Joe's favorite artist?" Andy finished, his grin turning absolutely wicked.

Riley kept playing, not looking up from her fretboard. "Maybe."

Daniel laughed, a low rumble from behind the drums. "Oh, you know exactly what you're doing."

"And honestly?" Pete said, walking over to plug in his bass, "I live for the messiness. Let's do it."

Andy looked up from his guitar. "So are we stripping this down? How do you want to play it?"

"Not stripped down," Riley said, finally looking up with that spark in her eyes they all knew meant trouble. "Big. Strip out all the electronic stuff, build it around guitar instead."

She played the progression again, this time with more bite. "Very guitar-driven, but keep that mood from the original."

Daniel started a simple kick pattern, feeling out the rhythm. Pete found a bassline that walked between moody and driving. Andy layered in rhythm guitar, and suddenly they were creating something completely new—taking Cudi's electronic soundscape and rebuilding it as rock.

"That's it," Riley said, her voice cutting over the instruments. She started singing the first verse, her voice carrying that rough edge her fans loved. The melody followed Cudi's original but became something entirely theirs.

They played through it twice before anyone spoke.

"This is going to break the internet," Pete said, unplugging his bass.

"Good," Riley replied, setting her guitar in its stand. "Let's work on it tomorrow. Really dial it in."

Andy shook his head, still grinning. "You're absolutely unhinged."

"And you love it," Riley shot back.

"We all do," Daniel said from behind the kit.

* * *

The SiriusXM studios buzzed with that familiar pre-show energy Riley loved. They followed Kasey down the hallway.

"So we've got you set up in here," Sarah was saying, badge bouncing as she walked. "You'll do the performance first, then we'll move into the interview portion with Madison."

"Sounds perfect," Pete said.

They'd been riding high since the album dropped. Salvage was doing numbers they'd only dreamed about, and every performance felt like a celebration. Riley could feel that good energy humming through all of them as they entered the studio.

Madison, their host from Alt Nation, was already in the studio adjusting her headphones, and she stood up with a grin when they walked in.

"Hey guys! Good to see you again." She hugged each of them. "I've been spinning Salvage non-stop. That album is incredible."

"Thanks," Riley said, settling into the familiar space. "Always good to be back."

They moved into sound check mode, each of them finding their spots. Riley plugged in her Telecaster, Andy settled in with his guitar, Pete got comfortable with his bass, and Daniel adjusted his kit.

"So what cover are you doing for us today?" Madison asked as the engineers worked.

"'Pursuit of Happiness,'" Pete answered easily, plucking a few bass notes. "We love the song."

Riley nodded, running through a quick chord progression. "Plus it's fun to take something people know and flip it completely."

"Can't wait to hear it," Madison said. "Ready when you are."

The engineer gave them a thumbs up from the booth. Riley looked around at her bandmates, caught Andy's excited grin, saw Daniel spinning his sticks in that way that meant he was ready to tear into something. Pete nodded at her.

"One, two, three, four," she counted off.

The first chord hit clean and sharp from Riley's Telecaster. Daniel's kick drum followed, steady and driving, while Pete's bass found the pocket underneath. This wasn't Kid Cudi's dreamy electronic landscape—this was rock and roll, built from the ground up.

Riley stepped closer to the mic, her fingers finding the progression they'd worked out in rehearsal. Andy joined in on rhythm guitar, adding texture and weight to the sound. She could feel Madison watching from behind the glass, could sense the engineers leaning forward in their chairs.

Riley started with the opening lines, her voice carrying that rough edge that made people stop whatever they were doing. The melody followed Cudi's original but felt entirely different in her mouth—more urgent, more personal.

Crush a bit, little bit

Roll it up, take a hit

Feeling lit, feeling right

Two AM, summer night, I don't care

Riley closed her eyes during the pre-chorus, letting herself sink into the words.

If I fall if I die

Know I lived it to the fullest

If I fall if I die

Know I lived and missed some bullets

Each line felt like it was pulling something from deep in her chest. When she opened her eyes again, she wasn't looking at Madison or the engineers—she was somewhere else entirely.

The chorus hit with full force, Riley's guitar driving the melody while her voice soared over the top. 

I'm on the pursuit of happiness and I know

Everything that shine ain't always gonna be gold, hey

I'll be fine once I get it, yeah, I'll be good

Daniel's drums built underneath, adding fills that weren't in the original but felt necessary, like the song had always been meant to sound this way.

Riley closed her eyes, letting herself sink into the words about night terrors and cold sweats. Each line felt like it was pulling something from deep in her chest. When she opened her eyes again, she wasn't looking at Madison or the engineers—she was somewhere else entirely.

Halfway through the second verse, Riley caught Andy's eye and nodded. He stepped back, giving her space for a guitar break that wasn't in any version they'd heard before. Her fingers found notes that cut straight through, bending strings until they sang with the kind of longing that couldn't be faked.

The bridge stripped down to just Riley's voice and guitar, intimate and raw.

Hands on the wheel, uh-huh, fuck that

Hands on the wheel, kick drum, hi-hat

Hands on the wheel, uh-huh, fuck that

Hands on the wheel

Her voice cracked slightly on 'gone,' just enough to remind everyone listening that this wasn't just a performance—this was confession.

When the full band came back in for the final chorus, the energy had shifted. Daniel was hitting harder, Pete's bass was more pronounced, and Andy's guitar work had gained an edge that hadn't been there before. Riley's voice climbed higher, pushing against the limits of what the song had been, turning it into something that belonged entirely to them.

The final chord rang out, sustaining longer than necessary before fading into silence. Riley kept her eyes closed for a moment longer, feeling the last vibrations die away in the studio.When she finally looked up, Madison was shaking her head with something like amazement.

"That was incredible," she said through the talkback. "Just... wow."

Riley exchanged glances with her bandmates, all of them breathing a little harder than usual. Pete was nodding, his bass still humming faintly. Andy had that satisfied grin he got when they nailed something special. Daniel spun his sticks once before setting them down.

Riley laughed, stepping back from the mic. "We definitely didn't rehearse it like that."

* * *

"That was absolutely incredible," Madison said as they settled in for the interview portion. "You guys completely transformed that song."

"Thanks," Riley said, still feeling the adrenaline from the performance. "It's fun to take something and make it yours, you know?"

Madison leaned forward in her chair. "Salvage has been doing amazing numbers. How does it feel to see the response?"

"Surreal," Pete answered. "We put everything into that album, so seeing people connect with it the way they have... it's everything we hoped for."

"We're about to start touring too," Andy added. "Can't wait to get these songs out there live."

They talked about the writing process, about recording at SLB, the studio they built, about the difference between playing festivals and intimate venues. Riley found herself relaxing into the conversation, the familiar rhythm of talking about their music.

"So we've got time for one more song," Madison said after about fifteen minutes. "What are you thinking?"

Riley looked at the guys. "Ego?"

Daniel nodded from behind the kit. "Let's do it."

"Ego it is," Madison said. "This is one of my favorites from the album."

They moved back into performance mode, Riley's fingers finding the opening riff of "Ego" - darker, heavier than the cover they'd just done. This was pure Rambles, the kind of song that reminded everyone why Salvage had connected with so many people.

Riley's voice cut through the mix with an edge that was all hers, Pete's bass holding down the low end while Andy's guitar work painted textures around the melody. Daniel's drums hit with the kind of precision that came from months on the road together.

When they finished, Madison was grinning. "The Rambles, everyone. Salvage is out now, and these guys are touring through the fall."

"Thanks for having us," Riley said, unplugging her guitar.

"Always a pleasure," Madison replied. "That cover is going to be all over social media in about five minutes."

Riley exchanged a look with Pete, who just shrugged with a small smile. They all knew exactly what she meant.

* * *

Joe was halfway through his post-workout stretch when his phone buzzed against the PT table. His therapist was working with another patient across the room, giving him a rare moment to check messages.

Riley's name lit up his screen with a video attachment.

I did a thing for you hope you love it

Joe glanced around the facility. A few other patients were scattered across the main floor, but no one was paying attention to him. He slipped his earbuds in and hit play.

The video opened on Riley in what looked like a SiriusXM studio, her Telecaster slung across her body. The angle was slightly off-center, clearly someone's phone propped up to catch the performance. She counted off, and the first chord hit.

Joe's breath caught. He knew those opening notes, had heard them thousands of times, but not like this. Not with Riley's voice cutting through, not with her guitar transforming Kid Cudi's electronic landscape into something raw and immediate.

By the time she hit the chorus, Joe had forgotten where he was. This wasn't just a cover - this was Riley taking a song by his favorite artist and making it hers, taking something that meant so much to him and pouring herself into it. Her voice cracked slightly on certain words, her guitar work was different from anything he'd heard from her before, more desperate somehow.

When she got to the dreaming section, Joe felt something twist in his chest. Her voice carried a weight that hadn't been there in her other songs, something raw and honest that made the familiar lyrics feel completely new.

The final chord rang out and Joe sat there staring at his phone screen, his chest tight.

She had done this for him. Chosen his favorite artist, learned the song, transformed it completely, and recorded it to send to him first. Before anyone else heard it, before it went public, she wanted him to know - this was for him.

"Joe?" His therapist's voice cut through his thoughts. "You good, man? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Joe pulled out his earbuds, his phone still warm in his hands. "Yeah, I'm... yeah."

But he wasn't good. He was overwhelmed and grateful and terrified all at once. Because Riley had just told him she loved him in front of a room full of people, disguised it as a casual cover song, and somehow made it feel even more intimate than "Daylight" - the song she'd written about him that only he knew about.

Joe typed and deleted half a dozen responses before finally settling on something simple:

Incredible. Thank you.

It wasn't enough. Not even close. But it was all he could manage right now, sitting in a physical therapy clinic with his chest full of feelings he didn't have words for.

His phone was still in his hand, the video paused on Riley's face as she stepped back from the mic, that satisfied smile he knew so well.

For now, this was just theirs. But soon everyone would be talking about it.

* * *

Riley was back at her house, curled up on her couch, when her phone rang. Joe's name lit up her screen and she felt her stomach flip.

"Hey," she answered, trying to sound casual.

"Hey. Sorry I was in PT when you sent that video." Joe's voice was warm, more relaxed than his quick text had suggested. "I couldn't really talk."

"That's okay." Riley curled up on her couch, guitar forgotten. "I just wanted you to see it before it went live."

"I'm glad you did." There was a pause, and she could picture him choosing his words carefully. "Riley, that was... I don't even know what to say."

"It's just a cover," she said, but her voice betrayed her with that slight smile he'd probably hear right through.

"No, it's not." His voice was quiet but certain. "You took something that means a lot to me and made it yours. Made it ours."

Riley felt her chest tighten. "Did you like it?

"I couldn't stop thinking about it." Joe's voice was quiet. "Had to watch it again when I got home."

"I was nervous," Riley admitted. "I know everyone's going to know why I picked that song."

"Yeah, that's a thing now." His voice was resigned but not unhappy about it. "Everyone's going to know."

Riley pulled her knees up to her chest. "Joe..."

"I love you. And I'm okay with this." His voice was steady. "I know you were probably nervous about my reaction too."

She was quiet for a moment, absorbing the words she'd been wanting to hear him say so directly. "I missed you. I wanted to do something that would make you smile."

"It did more than that." She could hear the emotion in his voice now. "It reminded me why I fell for you in the first place. You're fearless, Riley. Even when you're scared."

"I'm not fearless. I'm terrified most of the time."

"But you do it anyway. That's what fearless means."

Riley laughed, feeling some of the nervous energy leave her body. "So you're really okay with everyone knowing I did that for you?"

"Baby, I'm proud of it," Joe said, and her heart skipped at the endearment. "You just told the world you love me using Kid Cudi. How could I not be proud of that?"

"When you put it like that, it sounds kind of ridiculous."

"It sounds like you." His voice was soft. "It sounds perfect."

They stayed on the phone for another twenty minutes, talking about everything and nothing, until Joe had to go to another appointment. But before he hung up, he said, "Thank you. For the song, for sending it to me first, for all of it."

"Thank you for getting it," Riley replied.

After they hung up, Riley sat on her couch with her phone still warm in her hand, smiling at the ceiling. In a few hours, the video would be everywhere and everyone would have opinions about what she'd done.

But right now, Joe loved her and he wasn't hiding it anymore. Everything else was just noise.

* * *

The video went live on SiriusXM's social accounts at 6 PM, and by 6:15, Riley's phone was buzzing non-stop.

X:

@RamblesUpdates: "RILEY JUST COVERED KID CUDI ON SIRIUS... EVERYONE KNOWS THAT'S JOE'S FAVORITE ARTIST I'M SCREAMING 😭😭😭"

@NFLTakes: "Joe Burrow's girlfriend covering his favorite artist is either the cutest thing ever or the most calculated move in sports girlfriend history. No in between."

@musicstan47: "okay but why does Riley's version of Pursuit of Happiness hit different though 🔥🔥🔥"

@BengalsFan2024: "She really said 'let me tell my boyfriend I love him on national radio but make it subtle' LMAOOO"

@CudiDaily: "Riley Carter just did what we've all been wanting to do... turn a Cudi song into a rock anthem"

Quote tweet from @SportsCenter's post: "The Rambles cover Kid Cudi's 'Pursuit of Happiness' on @SiriusXM" @FootballWife23: "We all see what you did there Riley 👀"

@SportsHot: "Riley Carter really turned a SiriusXM session into a Joe Burrow thirst trap. We see you girl 👀"

Instagram:

@theshaderoom posted the video with the caption: "Riley Carter of The Rambles covering Kid Cudi... y'all know Joe Burrow's favorite artist is Kid Cudi right? 👀 Thoughts?"

Top comments: "She said I love you in rock and roll 🎸" "This is actually fire though" "Girl really thought she was slick 💀" "The way she looks at the camera during the chorus... she KNOWS" "When your gf is more romantic than half these dudes out here"

@bengalsfanclub posted a split screen of Joe talking about Kid Cudi in an old interview next to Riley's cover: "THE PARALLELS. THE INTENTION. THE LOVE."

TikTok:

@musicgeek19 posted: "Breaking down why Riley Carter's Kid Cudi cover is actually genius" with 2.3M views already

@relationships_tok: "POV: your gf covers your favorite artist's song on national radio to tell you she loves you" - 890K likes

@dramaclub_: "Riley Carter really said 'I'm gonna be obvious but not TOO obvious' and honestly... respect"

The sound bite of Riley singing "I'm on the pursuit of happiness" was already being used in hundreds of videos.

Reddit:

r/nfl thread: "Riley Carter covers Joe Burrow's favorite artist - thoughts?"

Top comment: "Look I get that it's sweet but can we talk about how she absolutely killed that cover? Like genuinely good music regardless of the Joe connection."

Reply: "Right? Everyone's focused on the relationship angle but The Rambles just proved they can take any genre and make it their own."

Controversial comment: "Am I the only one who thinks this is kinda cringe? Like we get it, you're dating him." └ "You sound bitter. Let people be in love." └ "There's being in love and then there's performing it for clicks."

r/Music: "The Rambles - Pursuit of Happiness (Kid Cudi Cover) - Live at SiriusXM"

"This is actually fire. Never thought I needed a rock version of this song but here we are."

"Riley's voice on this hits different. The way she made it sound desperate and hopeful at the same time."

"Plot twist: what if she just genuinely loves the song and y'all are reading too much into it?"

And then the ultimate validation:

@KidCudi posted the video to his Instagram story with: "Yo this is incredible 🔥 Best cover I've ever heard. @rileycarter killed this"

He also tweeted: "Just heard @TheRambles cover of Pursuit of Happiness and I'm blown away. This is how you reimagine a song. Respect 🙏"

@RamblesUpdates: "CUDI HIMSELF JUST COSIGNED RILEY'S COVER IM DECEASED 😭😭😭"

@musicstan47: "When the original artist says your cover is the best he's ever heard... that's it. That's the tweet."

@BengalsFan2024: "Riley really got blessed by Cudi himself. Joe's probably losing his mind rn

[idiomagic]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to give you a brief update, and a basic accounting of where all the money has gone.

SpyBoy is at the vet for his 24 hour monitoring. Hopefully this will be the last one, since it's $634 each time.

Jonathan is still waiting to hear from the recruiter about the job. It's not a great job...it's $20,000 per year less than he was making. But if it's offered, he'll take it while looking for something better. He has another interview tomorrow, for a different job.

We're on month four of no income, and we're hurting. All of you wonderful people have helped us get this far, and we would be lost without you.

We have currently received $9945. $6400 of that has gone to vet bills, plus the $634 we'll have to pay tomorrow for this monitoring session. $3000 has gone to mortgage payments...these have been partial payments, since the mortgage company is working with us through all of this. The other $500 has gone to making partial payments on bills, to keep the lights on and the internet going.

We're behind on everything. Our credit cards are maxed out, and we have those payments looming.

I am going to be listing another 40 or so books on my ebay over the next couple of days. First edition hardcovers of Anne Rice's vampire novels, Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar novels, and Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake novels, as well as two of the Hunger Games books. https://www.ebay.com/usr/featherinyourcapnola

I'm still taking commissions, if anyone wants something sparkly. I can make anything you like look like Faberge! I can do masks or skulls with what I have on hand. If you have an item you'd like blinged out, you can send it to me. Message me here, or at idiomagic at gmail.

February is a short month, and in only two weeks we'll have another mortgage payment due. I don't know what we're going to do. I'm so very afraid we will end up losing the house. The stress has been taking a serious toll on my health. I find myself less and less able to function, losing more mobility, and can't sleep.

Our gofundme is here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-spy-boy-urgent-medical-funds-needed SpyBoy has a wishlist. We have food stamps now, but they don't cover the things he and his sister Scout need.

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/BK56PZUL2A76?ref_=wl_share We are so grateful for everything you've done for us. My beloved SpyBoy is still here and alive because of you. Please keep sharing our links, and please help if you can. You've already done so much for us, but we don't have anywhere else to turn.

[kaccvcate]

For those who want to support my work, these are my bills.

Storage unit - $110 due August 8

Phone bill - $160 August 4 (for three months of servicel)

Medication - $80 August 1 (for three months of meds)

I do take commissions and I really appreciate the support of my audience. Thanks so much.

Cashapp: kaccvcate

Venmo: kaccvcate

paypal: redpanther418@gmail.com

My wish list:

a phone charger (I've been borrowing other people's for over a month) - $15

Deshedding brush for the doggy - $40

cloth and ribbon for a secret project - $40

Car - $3000 - $5000

[docholligay]

An Intercession for Lost Things

This is just more than 3000 words of me getting Hawkeye really drunk so I can write a shocking expose about how fucked up she is without doing a really bizarre internal dialogue thing. Because I haven't seen past Ep 18 of the original, a couple things:

Please don't spoil me for anything! This include anything about the manga or brotherhood

I am totally aware that I am just making shit up, it's fine, no one ever asks "was the making hsit up fun? Did you enjoy it?" just call this AU if you want man idk I'm playing dollies I don't care.

Sometimes you make peace with things to, well, keep the peace. She wasn’t sure how many times she’d told Hawkeye she could just call her Maria outside of work. But she’d had her fill of arguing with crazy people who weren’t going to listen to her anyway, so, Ross it was. 

There was a quick calculation Maria made, any time she saw Hawkeye at that tiny, dark ratskeller with the pool table under the dangling light, sweet tobacco hanging in the air, women laughing. And that calculation was: Which beer was she on? 

Hawkeye sidled up next to her in usual flat front slacks and button up shirt, rolled to the elbow. 

“Ross.” 

None or one. Okay. Easy mode. Hawkeye signaled the bartender, a pretty redhead with clean glasses and a filthy mouth. 

“Two whiskies. The October bottle. ” 

Maria may have miscalculated. 

“I gotcha, champ.” The bartender pushed off the bar and winked toward the two of them. 

In all the time Maria had been in the service, in all the time she had gone here, from the very first time she had seen Hawkeye here and they had exchanged an awkward head tilt, Hawkeye had never bought her a drink. She’d offered to buy Hawkeye one, after a pistols course where Maria’s soul was shaken but her aim vastly improved, and Hawkeye had told her to spend the money on practice ammo. 

A true wonder the woman was still single. 

The whiskies were set in front of them with a lean over the bar just far enough to reveal a peek of cleavage, and Hawkeye slipped a few bills across the bar. She raised her glass to Maria. 

“I heard you’ve finally joined the club.” She looked into the glass. ‘Fullmetal. Good luck.” 

She took a drink, and Maria joined her. It was good whiskey, even. Great. Maybe she should be worried about this job. 

But all she did was take a drink. “I guess I’m lucky Scar is making protecting an alchemist a career option again. I’ve always wanted to be an alchemist’s sentry. They never should have stopped the program.” 

“Circle or no circle.” Hawkeye swirled her glass. “Bullets work on alchemists. They always have. A bullet will work on Scar.” 

Maybe beer three. It was a weird night. 

“Did you recommend me?” 

She looked over at Maria with a look Maria struggled to quickly define. 

“I only mean that you’re a legend in the program and they would listen to you. I would say thank you, you know I wanted--I mean, there’s no one on earth who thinks Colonel Mustang should be alive right now.” 

That might have been a dumb thing to say. But whether it was an extra beer or the whiskey, Hawkeye just chuckled. 

“He keeps me busy.” 

Maria had not been trying to flatter her. It was a statement of fact. Lieutenant Hawkeye was a legend in her own right, at least among anyone who aspired to be a State Alchemist’s personal detail. Back in Ishbal, sentry work was a suicide mission at the luckiest. There were only a handful of them left, so far as Maria knew, and less still in the military. But Hawkeye had survived, and Mustang had survived, enemies both from Ishbal, and, it was said, from within. She’d wanted to really talk with Hawkeye since the day she took her oath. 

Hawkeye’s back was against the bar, looking around the place idly, glancing occasionally at the door. Maria smoothed her skirt and leaned up against the bar. The whiskey was smooth in her mouth, softly wheated and aged. She made a mental note to beg the bartender to tell her what price point she should be reciprocating in. 

“So, I guess, thank you.” 

“Oh,” Hawkeye waved a hand and picked up her whiskey, “Don’t thank me.” 

Maria laughed. “It’s….different. From any post I’ve ever had. I feel like I don’t understand him at all.” 

“It comes.” 

Maria took another sip. “My mother used to have a prayer: Protect me from what I want. I’ve thought about that more than once these past few days.” 

Hawkeye pushed away from the bar and sat down in a dark corner of the room, tilting her head to the chair beside her. “You don’t like it? You wanted it.” 

“It’s not that I don’t like it,” She sat across from Hakweye. “Major Elric is…frustrating. He’s so sure of himself. So sure he knows everything, and can do anything. And doesn’t have to listen to anyone” 

“He’s an alchemist “ Hawkeye took another drink. “Mine’s no better. They’re all like that.” she considered a moment. ‘Maybe not Armstrong.” 

“And they paired me with Brosch.” 

“Well, of course. You’re a woman.” Hawkeye ran her thumb over her glass. 

“Don’t remind me.” This was the moment she had imagined, when she met Hawkeye, that they would swap stories about the war behind the war, having to fight for respect as well as your country.  “You didn’t have a partner.”

“They couldn’t spare the people. By the time they could, I had proved out. And the Colonel didn’t want anyone else.” 

Hawkeye had never said this much to her. Even in that pistols course. It was as if this job was a key that opened something entirely new. 

“You need to work on your situational awareness if you’re going to protect him.” 

Behind the freshly opened door, there might be some of the same old thing. 

“What? I have never had a problem--”

“Ross, why is your back to the door?” Hawkeye took a deep drink. “You have to watch him, and you have to watch you. This is very basic.” 

“Well,” Maria realized she was growing pink. “I would put my back to the door and his in the corner.” 

“You trust him to see something before you do? That’s my point. It’s your job to see it.” Hawkeye stopped, folded her hands in her lap, and paused a moment. “I’m trying to help. That’s all.” 

Maria stood up and took the seat next to her, polished off her drink and looked over at Hawkeye. Fine. Torpedo it then. There was no satisfying this woman. Never meet your heroes. 

“Has anyone ever told you how critical you are? Because I’m going to start.” 

Hawkeye leveled a look at her, intense, searching, and Maria suddenly wondered if hawkeye was an ancestral name or somehow given to her out of observation and deference. 

Then, she smiled. “You aren’t the first.” She pushed out from the table and took Maria’s glass. “I’ll go buy another.” 

The second whiskey went down faster than the first. 

“So then Brosh is sitting there--they are bent over a table, they haven’t eaten, I can see sweat on their clothes, and I bring this up to Brosh and he just. Shrugs.” Maria scoffed. “Is he totally unaware there are more ways to be hurt than getting shot?” 

“No. Never send a man to be a nanny. It’s a sign of the short sightedness of the military that every alchemist minder isn’t a woman.” 

Maria touched the edge of her empty glass. ‘I don’t know if we’re nannies, exactly.” 

“You haven’t been doing this long enough,” She grinned over at Maria, “I spend more time making sure Mustang eats and keeps his calendar than anything else. Very glamorous.” 

“He asks you to do that?” 

Hawkeye shook her head. “He doesn’t ask me to do anything; we don’t ask each other anything. Unless he wants to hear himself talk.” 

“I always admired that.” She put her hand her chin, with a romantic smile. “The way an alchemist and his sentry don’t even have to speak sometimes. They just walk in step with each other. I used to see it, when I was younger, before I joined up. To know someone so well.” 

Hawkeye opened her mouth, and then closed it, finished her drink, and started again.   

“If you’re with Fullmetal long enough, walking in step will be nothing. You’ll begin to know he’s in trouble before he does. His tells: Tired, scared, sad, happy.  You’ll know when to let a mood pass. When to take hold of it. When he’s teasing, when he’s angry. How he fights. The mistakes he makes. I’ll tell you one for free--Elric lets his temper get the better of him. The colonel will always have him, as long as that’s true. He is very good at pissing people off.” 

“What mistake does Colonel Mustang make?” 

Hawkeye stood up. “Here’s another free lesson: Never tell anyone else how to hurt your alchemist. Even you. Even me. I’m getting us another drink.” 

Hawkeye leaned against the bar, more heavily now, her gazeless sharp as it drifted around the room. 

The redhead took a pull off a stubby beer bottle and smiled. “What’s your pleasure?” 

Hawkeye flipped through the bills in her wallet and just laid a stack of them on the bar. “Why don’t you just give me the bottle? Stop bothering you.” 

“That’s certainly a choice a human being can make.” She counted out the bills. “You sure?” 

“Oh, Hawkeye!” Maria turned around, “I haven’t even bought a round.” 

“My friends are always trying to tell me you make money to spend it.” She looked back to the bartender. “Is it a problem?” 

“If it is, it’s your problem now.” She went and grabbed the bottle, and put it on the counter. “I ain’t gonna stop you. Let me know if you want water. I got pretzels behind the bar.” 

Hawkeye picked up the bottle, poured two glasses, and set it down on the table. She looked over at Maria. 

“But he never eats breakfast. That’s a bad habit.” 

Maria raised her glass. She’d take it. 

They were laughing now, the hours pulling long into the night. Maria was unsure about how it had all happened, afraid to break the spell. She’d never seen Hawkeye so at ease, so talkative, a flush in her cheeks, a smile on her face. It was the whiskey and the dark and the night, and maria got the sense Hawkeye had never had the opportunity to tell anyone how to be this thing. What it was like to bind yourself to another person like this. Maria had read many reports and books on the subject, full of facts, but never had she heard things that were so true. 

“Elric accused me of slowing him down. I had known him for 23 seconds.” 

“I can do better,” Hawkeye popped back another shot, “The first time I met Mustang, he told me to try not to fall in love with him, and I thought, ‘It has to be against the rules to hit your alchemist. Surely.’” 

Maria laughed out loud, grabbing for her drink. “How did you not kill him?” 

“I’ve considered it. Several times. But,” she nodded and then shrugged,  “You get attached to them, they get attached to you. It’s a problem of the program. It’s the only way it works. Compromised loyalties, was the concern, I think. And he. He has his moments.”

“Like what? Come on.” Maria poured her some more, and then helped herself. 

“He got his insider in Information--”

“You mean Hughes? Aren’t they friends?” She recapped the bottle. 

“Of course Hughes. But he likes to tell it more dramatically.” She waved a hand. “His insider in information. When my birthday was.

And he bribed someone, or cajoled them, or lied--it’s him, who knows-- to get me a little cake. He was so proud of himself. As we’re sitting out there, he reveals to me he also stole a bottle of wine from the then Colonel Grand’s stash.” 

 Hawkeye looked up with a smile on her face. 

“We sat there and drank it, nearly got caught by military police, ran down this embankment--I had to pull him along, he’s laughing and trying not to lose the bittle of wine--God, we were so young. He trips and falls, rolls down the embankment but,” she laughed, “He did not lose a drop of that wine. He kept laughing about how were getting away with it, and I had to put my hand over his stupid mouth because we hadn’t gotten away with it yet.  Always has his priorities clearly in check. We laid out there and finished it. Just looking at the stars. I think it was the first birthday I really liked.” 

“So strange to imagine Colonel Mustang doing that.” 

“Well the young Major Mustang did all sorts of things like that, always laughing about it. I was constantly having to cover for him. My job would have been so much easier if he would have just been quiet half the time. Or followed the rules. He still talks too much. He’s still a pain in my ass. Even if he doesn’t quite laugh--well. He has his moments.” 

Maria tilted her head back in the sort of sudden irritation that can only be brought on whiskey and talk.  

“I wanted this job. I wanted this job so bad. And I don’t know if I can do it. I don’t know if I can put up with the--he doesn’t listen to me! He doesn’t take any of my advice, he purposely gets in my way, he tries to evade me. He’s a brat. He’s smart--” 

Hawkeye smiled and shook her head. “They’re all smart. And they all know it. That’s the problem. They’re smart and then the state comes and tells them how special they are. It makes them insufferable.” 

“How the fuck do you deal with that?” 

“You come to love them. You have to.” Hawkeye rolled the glass between her hands, looking off into the distance.” You have to love them. You have to love them so much your body moves on its own. You don’t think about giving your life. It gives itself.” 

Maria felt like she was, once again, peeking through a closed door, seeing something she wasn’t meant to see. Hawkeye set the glass down with a decisive thump, but did not look at Maria. 

“And no one will ever understand the way you love them. Love is…the only word you have, but it isn’t right either. I can’t ever say I love him, because people think something wrong.” 

Maria wanted to pour more into her glass, but she was afraid Hawkeye would realize how much she was talking. Not only that, but how much she was saying. That she was telling a secret.

 “They’ll put it into a way they understand. I heard ‘they’re brothers’ so many times--I, of course, got to be,” she gestured grandly, drunkenly, “dreaming of his kisses, I was not allowed to be a sister--they’ll say he’s a son to you. It’s all stupid. But you can’t explain what it is, only what it isn’t. So you shut up and let them say what they want.” 

It was then Maria realized that a strange shift had happened, in her mind, over the course of the last hours and however many drinks they’d had--the bottle was telling on them a little, the level low. Hawkeye was a human being. She had thought of her as an idea. A legend. Someone to admire. A statue. But now, Maria noticed, as Hawkeye poured out the last of the bottle, there was a thick scar on her hand, and her hair was falling out of its bun, and she was getting a little sloppy, and that she was just a woman. She was one of the most exceptional people Maria had ever known, and she was just a woman. 

“That’s so…” Maria found that, much like love, there was no word for the way Hawkeye’s confession made her feel. Scared, maybe, but not completely correct. Jealous, too, was correct and wrong. A thought broke through. Something she’d kept tucked away.

“What if they dont make it?” 

“To lose you is unfortunate.” Hawkeye laughed darkly. “To lose both, is a tragedy. For you to live and them to die? An unacceptable, catastrophic failure.” She punctuated it with the bottle, and leaned toward Maria, eyes blazing. “If they come home in a box, you should be in the box alongside it. The date behind the dash on the stone should match. There is no other end to the story.” 

Hawkeye leaned back and tucked a stand of hair behind her ear. 

“Anyway, that's how I was trained; I don’t know what they say now.” 

Maria’s mother used to tell her stories, every night, before bed. In one story, a brave toy soldier jumped into the fire where a tin ballerina had fallen. They both survived, but their bases were welded together, never to part. To be one strange thing, together. 

Maria was having a new appreciation of the story in this moment. It was a strange, drunken thing, a place that she was so happy to enter but felt so wrong, so off. She was Alice, trying to make sense of Wonderland, despite all her dreams of escape, a little afraid. That maybe she would become the thing she wanted to be since she was a young recruit. Protect me from what i want. 

“But the breakfast is the bigger issue.” Maria smiled brightly. “You’d think it wouldn’t be hard to get a grown man to eat an egg. At least mine has the excuse of being a boy.”

“It won’t get any better,” Hawkeye dipped merrily. “THey just grow from silly boys into sillier men with higher ranks.” 

Maria laughed, the light dancing like stars. “All the training, and they never mentioned I’d be making a sandwich and tucking him in at night.” 

“They don’t want to tell you this, but the secret is that the person you most have to keep from killing them is themselves.” A giggle. 

“Literally true for you, I heard.” 

She knew she’d done it the second it came out of her mouth and tumbled onto the table. Hawkeye stiffened, silent. The light and the curling, sweet smoke and the heavy application of whiskey could do nothing against the stupid, true thing Maria had said. 

Hawkeye picked up her glass, drained it, and set it heavily on the table. 

“I would kill Grand again, if I could. He tried to kill my alchemist. He tried to compel him to kill himself, with a series of tactical maneuvers, to avoid any kind of inquiry. He did…incalculable damage.” She looked at Maria, her eyes burning.  “But Colonel Mustang is alive. He could not do that. He could not take him. Not with me around. Not ever.” 

Hawkeye sighed and stood up. “I should go. It’s late.” 

“Thank you for the drinks.” Maria gave a weak gesture. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have--” 

“I didn’t.” Hawkeye pulled on her coat. 

“Didn’t what?”

“Recommend you. You’re very skilled. With dedication, you could be truly great. But back then, they looked for something specific in a sentry. I don’t think you have it.” 

“Gee, thanks.” 

“That’s not a criticism.” She buttoned her coat. “Goodnight, Ross. Work on your situational awareness.” 

She swayed out the door, the usual confidence of her stride no match for the sheer quantity of whiskey they’d both consumed.

Maria remembered that prayer: Protect me from what I want.