#but also Ralph came from SOMEWHERE and is it so wrong really to want a little bit of happiness for ambi and cap?

[louwhose]

Queen Ambi & Captain Skully <3

[chaotic-starlight24]

My Dear Dahlia Chapter 1

Summary: Just a little bit of background to Dally and her daily life.

This ain't my best work and the coming chapters will be better I promise :,)

Whenever Spot is rude to Race he don't really mean it, he's just acting tough

Newsies

Word Count: 2.5k (Long I know)

Warnings: Mentions of abuse but not much else

Characters mentioned are a mixture of all the newsies (musicals and movie) They also aren't completely accurate because most of them are built of headcanons and random info

Random: I'm not sure how popular this will be but I just draw and write stuff depending on how much inspiration I have

Next|Previous

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The young girl sat sobbing on her bed. The academy was worse than anything she had ever experienced. She may have lived in a poor farm in the middle of nowhere, but at least she had a family! Now she was stuck in an itchy dress in a stuffy room with a bunch of other girls she barely knew. The only thing they shared was their hatred for this dismal place. If her parents were still alive, they would have never sent her here!

Her father wasn’t very kind to her brothers, but he had shown some care for her. While her mother tried her best though she wasn’t very sane. Now her brothers are somewhere on the streets and her mother and father were 6 feet under. Dahlia wished she was working some exciting job with other kids who actually liked her! Instead here she is, getting beat for things like eating porridge the wrong way and sleeping the wrong way! One day she was going to get out of the academy. Suddenly, a guardian came in. Dahlia quickly wiped her tears so she wouldn’t get beat for crying. The woman looked at the letter in her hand and looked back up at Dahlia.

“Your aunt and uncle have sent you a letter, child.” She told her, the women's expression completely dead.

They never did have expressions. Dahlia walked towards her with her head down. Then politely grabbed it and went back to her bed. The woman left and Dahlia tore open the letter. Maybe this was her ticket out!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My dear Dahlia,

I’m still terribly sorry we could not get back to New York for your birthday! Me and your uncle miss you so very dearly. But your uncle could not get away from his work, Chicago is a busy city. He is also being asked to travel farther out west to set his businesses up there as well! We hope the city is treating you well, we shall return next year! Remember to not get mixed up with the dirty children of the streets, the academy treats you well so you don’t have to be like them. Your brothers did not get that same chance, all because of your parents. So remember it is because of us you get this great opportunity! We know you miss your family farm, but we hope the city treats you well. We hope your 12th birthday is a grand day!

With love,

Your Auntie Lisa and Uncle Ralph

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dahlia, or how she liked to be called now Dally, chuckled at the letter. Then placed it under her pillow with the rest of the postcards. That was the only reason she kept the letter, for her collection. Her “so very loving” aunt and uncle had never returned for her. And it would be in vain anyways, at 16 she was living a much more exciting life. The academy may have given her a roof over her head and an education, but she was miserable there. It was basically the refuge, if the refuge had funding and a school mashed with it. Now she was going day to day, hawking papes and lighting shows. Which she much preferred. She escaped at the age of 13 and did several jobs. Working the docks and washing dishes was honest work, not what she wanted to do though. But at 14, she met the independent and strong boy, Spot Conlon. Now she was a newsie by day and a stagehand by night. And was pretty well-respected by Brooklyn newsies.

“Ey sleepin beauty! Best ya get outta bed!” A voice called, shaking her from her drowsiness. 

“I’m up, I’m up!”

Dally stretched out her arms and jumped out her bunk. Several fellow girls were standing by the door, already ready. She wondered how she had slept in! Dally quickly pulled on her shirt and high-waisted pants. One of the girls started making tick-tock noises. She tucked her wavy, dark brown hair into her cap, though messy strands were haphazardly sticking out, and out the doors she went! There Spot and a couple of the gang waved her over.

“We was worried youse weren’t eva gonna wake up!” Hotshot teased, placing his hand on her head.

Dally ruffled his hair in return and then took his hat, sprinting away as she did.

“Hey! Get ya butt back here!”

“Gotta catch me first!”

Spot sighed as the two ran off in childish glee. But didn’t stop them. Dally seemed to be able to remind people that they were still kids, which was something they definitely needed. But after a while of running, she was pulled back by the back of her shirt. She laughed expecting it to be Hotshot but instead she heard a familiar voice.

“Dahlia?”

She spun around, clenching the cap. Few called her by her given name.

“It-it’s you!” Her aunt gasped as their eyes met.

The man holding her arm must have been her uncle Ralph. Spot and the gang hung back a bit, ready to fight but letting her talk to them.

“Auntie Lisa?”

“Yes, yes it’s me.” Her aunt confirmed her eyes filled with confusion and some form of…disgust?

“When did you all come back…” Dally questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“A year or so ago, we thought you’d be at the academy! What did you do to your hair?!” Her aunt answered and reached for her cap.

Dally swatted her away, “Get away from me! You never cared where I was! You all just dumped me and left! Didn’t even try to find my brothers!”

“You’ve got scars all over you! And your hair, it’s a mess!”

Spot and the gang began to get closer.

“Dahlia! Get behind me, it’s those newsies!”

Dally rolled her eyes and stalked back over to the gang, “I’ve got a work day to get through, please leave me be!”

Her aunt and uncle sneered and took a couple steps back. Ritz looked the two up and down. The others joined in staring them down. Eventually her uncle began to walk off, but her aunt stayed. She reached out to Dally but quickly pulled back and straightened her posture.

“Nice to know you're so scared of me now that ya won’t even go near me,” Dally spat, “I don’t want to eva see youse again.”

Her aunt swallowed hard and walked back to her uncle. Dally sighed and walked ahead of the group.

Spot looked back at them and then caught up with her, “I’m sorry, but ya have brudders?!”

“Yes, haven’t seen them in forever, probably dead.” She answered with a bite.

Spot took another quick glance, “How did they even know youse was here?”

“I dunno, probably got tipped off by one of the teachers, maybe they want their money back from the time I spent…there.”

Spot let it go. He was one of the few who knew about her time at the academy. It may have not been as bad as the refuge, but it took a large mental toll on anyone who grew up there. Dally still slept perfectly uniformed, not able to sleep otherwise. The group reached the gate as the distributors opened it. That was one of the nice things about being a Brooklyn newsie, the goons wouldn’t mess with you. Dally looked up as the headline was swiped across the board.

“Trolley Strike Drags On For 3rd Week.”

Stray huffed and so did Ritz. Spot rolled his eyes. The writers needed to come up with something more creative! Maybe the newsies needed to start making the headlines. Dally still grabbed her stack of 50 papes and walked out. Then Spot stopped her.

“Youse is sellin at the sheepshead today, right?”

Dally nodded, a bit confused.

“There’s a ‘hattan newsie who keeps showin his face there, chase him off if ya can.”

“Alright, I can do that.”

The Sheepshead had some of the best foot traffic in the borough. They couldn’t have any Manhattan newsie stealing their sales! And it didn’t make it any better that the racetrack was especially full that day. She shoved her way through the crowds, shouting exaggerated titles while doing so. Also stopping a few women and talking about her dream of an education. She was making good sales! Until she reached the middle of the stands. Several men and women already had papes! And then she heard him.

“Extra Extra! Strikers beat to death! You heard it right here folks!”

Dally looked up and saw the boy. He was about her age, but his clothes made it clear he wasn’t from Brooklyn. With his hat clumsily placed on his blonde curls and buttoned shirt and vest. Most newsies from Brooklyn had a simple undershirt and suspenders. 

“Hey you! What are ya doin on Brooklyn terf?!” She yelled to him, hoisting herself onto his platform.

He glanced at her with a stupid grin, “Hey sweetheart! Just here to watch the horses and make my rent for tonight!”

“Don’t call me that.” she growled, “This isn’t ‘hattan, I suggest ya run back to Jacky before I soak ya!”

He held up his hands and stepped back… Onto the very firm floor of air. He let out a yelp and Dally quickly grabbed one of his hands before he tumbled off the back of the stands.

“Thanks, sweetie. Though moving a bit fast?” He smirked, raising his eyebrows. 

She began to loosen her grip on him and he quickly grabbed onto her waist.

“I think I’m still gonna drop ya.” 

“NO! I mean, uh…Please don’t?”

“Leave.” She demanded sternly.

He shrugged and began to walk towards the exit. Until he saw someone and swiftly turned back towards her.

“Hey, uh, Spot just walked past here, I don’t feel like gettin soaked…” He said sheepishly, “Would ya mind walking me to the bridge?”

Dally sighed but grabbed him by his shirt collar, “Fine. Let’s go.”

As they walked the crowded streets of the borough he enthusiastically rambled about the newsies in Manhattan and horses. Not that Dally was listening much. It sort of reminded her of herself before the academy. 

“Hey, I never caught ya name.” He suddenly asked.

She blew a hair out of her face, “Dally.”

“Nice ta meet ya! Name’s Racetrack!”

“Racetrack? Where’d ya get that name?”

“I’m really fast, and my whole thing with horse races.”

Dally nodded her head and kept on walking. She didn’t want him to turn the conversation to be about her. But it seemed her luck was down that day.

“So how’d you become a newsie? We don’t got many girls in Manhattan.”

“Escaped from the academy, worked a couple of jobs and then met Spot.”

“Huh, say youse is not a native New Yorker are ya?”

That made Dally stop and turn to look at him, “Um, yeah no I’m not. How could ya tell?”

He chuckled, “Well the fact youse said “yeah no” confirms that. Ya have an accent!”

“Says the New Yorker… I spent my childhood in Ohio, on a farm.”

“Youse a funny girl, ya know the Delanceys have a similar accent!”

Dally made a sound of acknowledgement. She was more surprised she had grown comfortable enough to drop her fake accent.

“Ah no, Spot Conlon is right over there!” Race squeaked, his eyes widening.

Dally looked over and sure enough he was. Spot was selling papes to a nicer gentleman and hadn’t noticed them yet. 

“If we just tell him I’m escorting ya he won’t give us no trouble!”

“I guess youse is right… But he’s still a little intimidating…”

“And where did ya learn that big word?” 

Race got ready to shoot back but Spot had finally turned their way. And he didn’t look happy.

“So what are ya doin up here, Dally?” Spot smiled, crossing his arms with feigned politeness.

“Just takin that ‘Hattan newsie you warned me about back to his terf.”

Race took his cigar out of his mouth with a dopey grin, “Wow Spot! Cared enough to warn her about me!”

He rolled his eyes and sighed, “I think I can take him from here, Dals. He’s caused ya enough trouble.”

Race’s face dropped. Dally understood why, Spot wasn’t exactly in a joyful mood right now. But Race quickly went back to his happy self.

“A personal escort, Spot? You must be in love!” 

Spot stalked forward a couple feet to wait for Race, who turned back to Dally.

“Thank ya, miss. It’s been a grand time with ya!” He winked and tipped his hat. 

Then he joined with Spot who started lecturing him. Dally was just happy she could be rid of him and get back to selling. But something about him stuck with her for the rest of the day. Not exactly in a lovey dovey sense, but man did Race have blue eyes! Something must have seemed off cause Hotshot started laughing at her while they were playing poker at the lodging house.

“Penny for ya thoughts?”

“Show me the penny and we’ll see.”

He rolled his eyes, “I heard ya met the ‘Hattan newsie at the track today~”

“Yeah, his name is Racetrack and he kept flirtin with me while I was takin him to the bridge. He’s charming, but he probably does that to everyone he meets.” 

“Gasp! The stone-cold Dally has admitted someone to be…Charming?!” Hotshot put a hand over his mouth.

“She finds who what?” Spot asked, sticking his head through the door.

“Spot! How long did it take ya to get him to the bridge?” Dally inquired.

“A couple hours, Race likes to talk so Ise ended up standing at the bridge for another hour before he left!”

Hotshot placed his hands under his chin, “Dear Dally just admitted to him being charmin!”

Dally placed her reddening face in her hands as Hotshot giggled like a small child.

“Ise didn’t mean it like that! I’m just sayin, he has…um…”

Hotshot snickered, “And now she’s at a loss for words!”

Spot gave her a look of disapproval and pulled out a chair.

“I’ve gotta say though, he has stamina.” Spot conceded, “It’s a 18 mile hike from the bridge to the races. And without the trolley workers…”

Hotshot and Dally mumbled sounds of agreement and once again focused hard on the game. The two revealed their hands, Dally flashing a royal flush.

“Guess I win!.” 

Hotshot threw his cards to the ground, “I’m neva playin with youse again!”

“And what’s the reason for the sudden tantrum?”

“I can neva read ya!”

Dally made a dramatic evil laugh and placed the cards together. Hotshot huffed and grabbed his off the ground.

“Ise is going to bed guys, try an get a early start.” Spot yawned.

Hotshot flopped face first on the table with a sigh, “mmkay…”

Dally shook her head with a smile, no one would ever think the Brooklyn newsies would be some of the most dramatic. Yet here they were. 

“I think I’m too tired to think straight…” Hotshot mused.

“Go on to bed then! It’s best if I sleep now too.”

Hotshot mhmmed and stumbled down the hallway. Dally climbed out of the window and made her way up the fire escape. This was the only somewhat peaceful place in Brooklyn. But she didn’t come out there to look at the stars, something about watching the nightlife was more soothing. She dozed off to the quiet hummm of the streets.

[scammydoesstuff]

So about that 'Blue Bloods' episode…

I recently saw something come across my dash regarding Alex Brightman’s guest appearance on the season 11 episode of 'Blue Bloods' (The Common Good) and it reignited the vehement response I had to the episode as a whole. And, since I have this blog now, I figured…fuck it. I need to rant about it.

So that's what this is.

Take what I say with a grain of salt, of course. This show is so clearly not for me and I acknowledge that, but I went to school for and got my degree in creative writing and so much of this episode pissed me off from a narrative perspective and I just really need to talk about it. Putting it under a Read More, though, so you can ignore me if you’d like while I rage to no one in particular. Apologies in advance if you choose to read on. I'm super long-winded. Luckily I don't have pictures and this is more of just a lot of text, so…it could be longer?

So, to begin, I’ll freely admit that I’d never seen an episode of 'Blue Bloods' before this and I’ve not watched it since. I mean, if the rest of the episodes are as badly written as this one, I have no interest to either, but I digress.

Overall my main problem with the episode was how desperately it avoided ‘showing’ over ‘telling’ and, as a visual medium, that’s kind’ve a big deal. We were told pretty much every detail that was presented to us. These people love to hear themselves talk, but do little to actually show things as they happen and I believe a part of that has to do with the focus of the show itself, which is definitely unique to this brand of television. By that, I just mean that it’s not the format I might’ve expected from a show like this. Most cop shows give a lot of focus to the cases, and the intrigue you get with the characters is how they apply their own skills and knowledge to solve them, with the hi-jinks they get into along the way being more of a bonus.

This is not that kind of show.

No, 'Blue Bloods' as a show is way more interested in the cops and their familial ties than it is about the actual job that they’re doing, as shown prominently with the political plot of this episode which was also very focused on the relationship between Tom Selleck’s character and his daughter and the wholly unrelated dinner scene where they talk about lent for 2 and a half minutes and acknowledge nothing else that happened in the episode. This show doesn’t care about the job of being a cop so much as it cares about the cops themselves.

Which would be fine if I gave a shit about cops, but I don’t.

You could argue that the mentor plot is the exception to that, but that entire situation had no real consequences for the cop in question, Jamie, abusing his power. It was entirely focused on how the situation affected him and how it was fine that he’d nudged this kid to get information which ultimately led to the arrest of Dion's brother, and Dion quitting the program. Hell, if Jamie had, in his final scene with Dion, owned up to his abuse of power and left the program — to then urge Dion to rejoin so that he can have that positive outlet in his life without him there — I would’ve been way more okay with it, but Jamie faces no consequences past ‘I don’t wanna see you anymore’, which I was never convinced he actually cared about in the slightest. There's nothing cathartic about it, it's just shitty and left me feeling frustrated at the lack of consequences for the cop.

But hey, you prolly don’t wanna read me going on and on about those parts. You prolly wanna know why I hate it despite Alex’s plot — which I fully expected to love because he’s perfect and gorgeous even when he’s playing a bad guy and he was just so adorable in his lil suit and they let him keep the scruff this time, and he was all handsome an— I need to stop. That could go on forever.

Anyway, to put it simply; it was bad, but I'll definitely explain why.

Now, I don’t think any of the guests in this episode necessarily did a bad job. They still acted well enough for what they were given. I just think they had a shit script that wasn’t interested in that story line. I mentioned at the top of this that this show cared more about telling than showing and that’s a huge problem when you want me to buy a character being the culprit in your murder plot. I need evidence, not anecdotes. Cuz, yeah, by the end of the episode, I didn’t buy for even a second that Ralph did it. And it’s not because he was played by Alex who is just charisma incarnate. I can believe him playing a bad guy. I also watched his 'Law & Order SVU' episode where he scared the shit outta me. He can play a creepy and violent character very well, he just wasn’t convincing to me as a bad guy in this show.

And here’s why!

First of all, he confessed at knife point. That confession would be thrown away IRL. It’s the same problem with using torture to get information. If a person’s life is threatened or they're being harmed in some way, they’ll usually say whatever it takes to get you to stop threatening them/causing them pain. Same deal here. You can’t convince me with a confession like that.

But they didn't seem to be interested in convincing anyone as far as I could tell. They just expected you to believe it because, ‘no, didn’t you hear? He said he did it, so he did it.’ They had so many opportunities to portray this character as the shitbag that we’re told he is. Hell, great way to really implicate him? Give him a female assistant that Donnie Wahlberg and his partner overhear / walk in on him berating for something small like getting him the wrong coffee or something. Then have them talk to that assistant later on and her mention some weird behavior from him on the night of Andrea’s death. It's cliché, but it's more than what we got.

Or you could have him talk to Meghan in a super condescending voice when he approaches her after her interview later on. Or, hell, have him refer to the murder victim in a condescending way even as he talks about her death. But no. The most we get out of him is that he's maybe a little snarky and smug when talking to the cops, but that’s not enough to convince me he’s a bad dude. Frankly, his producer buddy came off as more of an asshole, if I'm being honest. Just cuz (we’re told) his character did shitty things to her in the past doesn’t mean he’s still shitty. Show me he’s still shitty. I wanna see it and I know Alex is capable of a performance like that.

Second, it’s also just…obvious to make him the culprit if we're to believe everything we're told about him. He and Andrea are described as having had beef a little while before the murder with him being abusive mentally and physically. He’s known in the community to be a misogynist and an abusive person overall. He’s the obvious suspect, but if there’s anything that Scooby-Doo taught me, it’s that it’s never the most obvious person. Like, once in a blue moon, sure — but it’s rare.

So yeah, I don’t believe that Ralph did it. You wanna know who I do think did it?

Meghan.

Alright, so bear with me. This'll prolly sound a little conspiratorial, but hear me out:

She had the motive. She confirms in the beginning of the episode that she’s also a female gamer like the victim, but that she was ‘no Andrea’. Andrea was her competition. They were (supposedly) friends and stuck together as female gamers, but Andrea was still competition. With her out of the way, Meghan’s able to rise in the ranks, if even a little bit.

She had a scapegoat in Ralph — again, the obvious suspect given his tumultuous relationship with Andrea sometime prior — and an obvious grudge against men in their community in general. And, don’t get me wrong, men in gaming can and often are hella toxic — I’m not, in any way, denying that — but she got way more emotional when talking about the men in their community than when she was talking about her supposed friend lying dead in the adjoining room.

Speaking of the adjoining room, how did she not hear the murder happening? It couldn’t have been when she was down in the bar, cuz we see Ralph there too in the crappy CCTV footage that was supposed to show him being an asshole, I think (hard to really see). Was she just fucking around somewhere else when it happened? She doesn’t mention as much that I recall (correct me if I'm wrong on that, of course). And Andrea was strangled to death. I would assume that there would’ve been a struggle with that. Are you seriously telling me she wouldn’t hear that in her adjoining hotel room? Those walls aren’t that thick. I find that kinda hard to believe. And that she wouldn’t have found her till the next morning after that, also strikes me as a little odd.

Going off on some previous points, she shows very little grief over her friend’s death. Not just in the intro scene, either, but later on as well. (Side bar: that intro scene itself was very misleading. Don’t lead with a murder plot if it only takes up less than 10 minutes of the overall runtime, kay?) The show did a pretty bad job at indicating the passage of time, but it’s implied that the convention is still happening when Meghan gets the confession out of Ralph, so it would’ve had to have been the same weekend, or possibly the same week (though most conventions I’m aware of don’t last that long — it’s usually a weekend thing, at most Thursday-Sunday — but it could be similar to AGDQ, which seems to last about a week). So, if this is only a day or so later, why would someone who is supposedly grieving over their dead friend do interviews like nothing is wrong? Wouldn't you, like, reschedule or just politely decline and say you need time to process the shock? Like, when we cut to ol’ Donnie Wahlberg calling her after her interview, she doesn’t look upset — as I imagine she might if they’d likely asked her questions about Andrea / her feelings about the murder — and she seems cool as a cucumber when she asks Ralph to go somewhere private. In fact, the look on her face indicates pretty clearly that she’s planning to do something. Specifically, not that she's scared, that she's angry.

Finally, she’s the one who’s attacking Ralph when Donnie Wahlberg and company arrive on the scene. She doesn’t seem to have any marks on her indicating that he made any move to harm her (again, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember seeing her with any marks / cuts), but he’s got a clear, bleeding cut on his face. She attacked him first and was going in for the kill.

Or…was she? Cuz right before Donnie Wahlberg pulls her into that bear hug to stop her from the attack, she doesn’t do a great job of actually trying to kill Ralph. She was close enough that a quick dart at him would’ve probably been enough to at least injure him pretty significantly — maybe even fatally — and would’ve surely led the cops to pull them apart to secure him, but she kinda just hops around a bit and screams before lunging for him. That’s a really weird way to attack when you actually want to kill someone.

But, then again, I don’t necessarily think she did want to kill him. I’m convinced she wanted that confession, but that she also wanted him in jail and was playing the part of the super sad and hysterical victim who was just so overcome with her grief that she wasn’t in her right mind. I think that’s what they were going for in regards to her character in general, but it came across as less sincere in the performance and more like the character was putting on an act. They then cart Ralph off while comforting her — despite the fact that she disobeyed a direct order from police, which should lead to her being detained as well! — and that plot ends.

So, she gets what she wants in the end. A person she despises is now in police custody, her competition is out of the way, and the publicity she might get for bringing that ‘murderer’ to justice might eventually lead to her own career getting a nice boost. I dunno, it just strikes me as her having a great reason to have initiated this over Ralph just being a misogynist who 'was really trying to kill Meghan and just got the wrong girl'.

So yeah, with what the show presented to us, I believe Meghan’s the real killer. Again, if they’d done more to show me that Ralph was a bad dude or that she was more affected by her supposed friend’s death, or if they'd just given that plot more room to breathe to show those things, I might’ve been more inclined to buy the narrative they were pushing but…as is, I don’t believe it.

That’s pretty much all I wanted to say on the matter. I had a lot of issues with the domestic abuse plot line too, but they barely gave that 5 minutes of the overall runtime, so does it really matter in the long run? This is just…my thought process of the only part of the episode I watched for and how disappointing it was for me. And yes, I timed each section of the episode to figure out how much time was given to each of the 4 plots, plus the dinner scene at the end, but not counting the intro theme, and the murder plot got just over 8 minutes, of which Alex was on screen for half of that time. He got less than 5 minutes of screen time. It was definitely worth it just because he’s wonderful and I just like seeing him on these shows, but from a narrative standpoint, it felt pointless.

Okay, I’m done. Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Unless y’all wanna talk about this some more, cuz I’m so down for that.

[lonely-teddy-bear]

Celebrity Crush ➳ Rudy Pankow

Request: hi!! can i request a fic where reader is a singer and rudy is her celeb crush (she’s a few years younger) and like nobody knows but then she finds out he has a crush on her and it’s like fluffy

A/N: idk if it’s enough fluff but I liked writing this one. But I hope you all like it!! It’s my first Rudy imagine so if you want more or want JJ let me know! I’m taking requests for Rudy/JJ, Rafe/Drew, and Harry Styles. :)

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

“Thank you Ralph, for this gig.” You smiled towards the owner of the club who was an old friend of your parents.

He scuffed and waved it off, “It’s no problem, I'm glad you were in town because the band that always plays here got a signing and well he headed off.” You smiled at him. You understood the situation because you also used to play at his club since you were young and you were discovered there along with the rest of your band mates.

“Well they will come back. I mean look at me, in the middle of a tour and I had time for you. You are the reason I got discovered and given a chance.” He gave me a nod.

“Yeah you are right. When you have more time come by more, people miss seeing you.”

“I’ll try once the tour is over.” He gave you a smile and sent you off to the backstage telling you your time was almost up and to start setting up.

Your band consisted of three other members and with you there were four in total, making you the lead singer. Your bandmates were given the opportunity to sing but they would just shake their head and stick to what they loved and enjoyed doing.

Once everyone was done doing their part on setting up you started to do soundcheck to make sure everything was set and ready. While you were talking with your bandmates the drummer gave you a nod signaling you to look towards the crowd. You looked at him with furrowed eyebrows and turned around and looked around the crowd to see who she was pointing at.

“Rudy is here.” You turned around to look at your drummer whe you heard her say your celebrity crush name.

“What?”

“Rudy Pankow is here. Don’t you see him?” You turned around again and looked at the crowd as best as you could with the lights on your face. Sure enough he was here, he was by the bar, leaning and looking towards you. You looked away and your eyes widened.

You were a fan of him and you might even have a crush on him and seeing him in the same club that you were about to perform at made you feel nervous, You have never been a nervous person when it came to performing in front of people, you had gotten used to it but to see someone you had a crush on and who was famous made you feel like you were about to throw up your lunch.

“Calm down y/n. Just focus on the music and if you want i’ll turn the lights more so you can’t see him.” All you could do was nod at her. Your bandmates knew about your silly crush on Rudy and how obsessed you were with him and just like any other friends they would tease you about him and would always joke about the chances of you meeting him. The lights got brighter which made the audience nonexistent which calmed your nerves just a little bit but you couldn’t help but to keep thinking on how Rudy was going to be looking at you and hearing you sing.

Once you started playing you lost track of time and forgot about where you were and who was watching you. You focused on your singing and the guitar you would pick up on certain songs. You all had kept the track list you were performing in your tour so the time went real fast. Before you knew it you were in your ten minute break which gave you time to freshen up and get something to drink. The rest of the band stayed backstage and just sipped on the waters they had but you had drunk the bottle throughout the songs when you had the chance.

Walking down towards the floor you would bump into people and some people would just stop you to tell you how good you were. As much as you wanted to stay and talk you had to tell them that you were on break but they could catch you after the end of the show in which they understood. You finally had made it to the bar and took a seat, letting out a sigh when feeling a chair under you. You leaned on the bar and placed your head on your hands and closing your eyes.

“Want water or something else?” You heard Ralph and without looking up you answered him.

“Give me a lemonade please,” you didn’t have to look up to see him smile at you. You used to drink lemonade all the time when you played in the club, you would drink it before, on break and after you were done and just hanging out.

“Lemonade? I would have guessed you would get something with vodka or rum,” your breathing stopped and you felt your body tensed up. You couldn’t believe your hears but then again you were just on stage with all the music so maybe you were hearing wrong but nonetheless you looked up at the person that spoke to you. Your eyes widened when you saw who had spoken and who the voice belonged to.

“Omg, Rudy,” you wanted to facepalm yourself, you had said his name as if he was a long time friend who you haven’t seen in years. He smiled at you when he noticed your blushing face. He didn’t know if it was from being on stage or because he was there.

He raised his brows at you as if waiting for your response. “Oh right, um, I don’t really drink, not because I don’t like it, it’s more because I can’t drink alcohol.” He looked at you in question.

“Why not? Do you get drunk fast?” He gave you a teasing smirk and before you could answer Ralph appeared with your lemonade and placed it in front of you and then looked at Rudy.

“No, it’s because she’s 19,” with that he walked away. You looked at Rudy and saw his eyes wide and saw his cheeks getting red.

“Oh my, I have a crush on a 19-year-old,” You were taken back at what he said. He might have mumbled it to himself and you're sure he didn’t notice what he said but you couldn’t help but to question him.

“Wait what did you say?” He looked up at you and his eyes got wider.

“Please tell me you didn’t hear that,” You couldn’t help but to smile. You felt as if you were dreaming.

“I heard you but don’t worry I may also have a crush on you,” you looked away from him for a second and then looked back at him to see him staring at you.

“You do?” You gave him a nod. “Yeah, my friends think it’s silly but what can I say you know?” he nodded in agreement.

“Yeah I get you, the guys always joke about my crush on you when I play your songs.” He plays my songs around his friends? You wondered. You were about to speak but was interrupted by Ralph, “Your break is over, they need you on the stage,” You gave him a nod and thanked him for letting me know. You looked back at Rudy and saw him already looking at me, his face became red when he realised that you caught him looking at you.

“Well I got to go, it was nice talking to you, um, maybe you want to get drinks after I finish here? Or go somewhere?” He quickly nodded.

“Oh yeah for sure. I would love that. I’ll be waiting here for you. Have fun on the rest of the show.” You smiled at him and looked away. You made your way to the back and once you were with your teammates you let out a scream of excitement.

They looked at you as if you were crazy, “what happened?”

“I’m having drinks with Rudy! And I might go out with him after the gig,” they all looked surprised and gave you smiles. “Well good for you then, you finally got to meet your celebrity crush uh.” You slowly nodded, you really did.

Throughout the show you tried looking for Rudy in the crowd but the lights were too bright for you to find him, You should have brought them down a little bit but you thought it was good that you couldn’t see him because then you wouldn’t be focusing on the song, you would have been just looking at him.

By the end of the set list you thanked everyone for coming and thanked Ralph for everything he has done for them. When you got off and headed towards the bar you saw the blonde waiting for you in the same spot, looking at you with a smile. You couldn’t help but to smile back at him.

“Hey,” you smiled shyly at him. “Hey. You were great. I actually can’t believe I saw you and your band live. It’s been my dream to see you live.” You cocked your head to the side.

“Really?”

He nodded.

“Yeah. I’ve listened to your music since your first ep.” That made your heart swell up. You couldn’t believe your celebrity crush liked your music and had a crush on you.

“Well how about I give you a pair of tickets to one of my concerts and you take me out for dinner?” You could feel the nerves roaming through your body, waiting for his answer.

“I like the way you think, Y/n.”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

Hope you liked it! Xx

[sgtcalhouns]

Fresh Start

As new opportunities arise in Felix’s professional life, an old flame reappears to shake things up in his personal life, as well. 

“So, what do you think?”

“It’s a lot different from home. I almost forgot what a new apartment building could look like.”

Ralph chuckled at Felix’s assessment as he took a swig of his beer. They had come to the bar after a long day of work, and the cozy atmosphere provided relief from the bitter cold outside. This weather was more severe than anything Felix was used to, and he made a mental note to consider that piece of information when it came time to make his decision.

“Are you gonna take it?” Ralph asked.

“Take what?” replied Felix.

“Oh, come on, don’t play dumb,” Ralph teased. “We both know they’re gonna offer you that promotion.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” he said. “They could offer that position to anyone, there’s no reason to assume it’ll be me.”

“What about the fact that you’ve been with the company for almost ten years and you’re more qualified than anyone to do that job,” Ralph shot back, “is that a good enough reason?”

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself,” Felix said. “Besides, I’m not sure if I would even take it. Boston is a long way from Georgia. Do I really want to make such a big move?”

“Why not? You deserve this opportunity,” Ralph said. “Besides, it’s not like there’s anything keeping you in Georgia anymore.”

He caught a glimpse of the pain in Felix’s eyes and regretted his words.

“Sorry,” he said.

“No, you’re right,” Felix sighed. “It’s just hard. All our memories together are there, I don’t know if I can leave all that behind.”

“Maybe that’s exactly why you should move,” Ralph suggested. “You can have a fresh start.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Felix replied as he set his chin in his hand and lost himself in thought.

The memories in question were that of the most serious romantic relationship he had experienced in his adult life, one that had ended a few years ago. Despite the ample amount of time since that breakup, he still felt the sting as freshly as though it had happened yesterday. To this day, he was convinced that Tamora Jean Calhoun was the love of his life and would accept no arguments to the contrary. The circumstances of their break-up were difficult for him to accept, and he had never truly gotten over it. They were forced apart by distance when she was called to lead basic training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, and he wasn’t able to move with her. He had pored over pages and pages of job listings, but hadn’t found anything that would pay enough to support them, even with two sources of income. They made it work long-distance for a couple of months, but after a while it became too much of a strain on their relationship. He would never forget how devastated he was the day she called to tell him it was over between them; in one short phone call, the biggest source of happiness in his life was ripped away from him.

“You ok?” Ralph asked, breaking Felix out of his thoughts. He offered a lethargic nod in response. “I know it’s hard, but maybe this is how you can finally move on.”

Felix looked around as Ralph talked, and he perked up as he noticed a familiar blonde fringe at the end of the bar. It looked identical to the golden locks he had always sought out in order to find Tamora in a crowded room. He shook it off—he was probably imagining things. His mind probably invented the similarities he was seeing because he had been thinking about her. The stranger flipped their bangs out of their face to take a drink, and Felix felt his heart constrict.

“You know, you can’t spend the rest of your life hung up on her,” Ralph said.

“Tamora?” Felix asked, his voice quiet.

“Yeah, exactly” Ralph replied.

Without warning, Felix stood up and started walking over to her. His movements were slow, and part of him was worried that she was nothing but a beautiful mirage that would vanish as soon as he drew near. Ralph looked around in confusion until he followed Felix’s gaze to the end of the bar. As much as he knew it was a bad idea to let him talk to her right now, he also knew there was nothing he could do to stop it. 

Tamora could sense the movement of someone approaching her, but she did her best to ignore it. She sat against the wall on one side, and her bangs shielded her from the crowd on the other, sending a very clear message that she was not to be disturbed. Her body tensed as she felt the offender draw near.

“Excuse me,” she heard from behind. She knew that voice...

She turned to find Felix standing behind her with his hat in his hands.

“Tamora,” he said, sounding almost surprised that it really was her. “Hi.”

“Felix?” she asked. “What are you doing here?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing,” he said with a chuckle. His body was rigid with nerves as he tried to gauge her reaction to his presence. “Niceland apartments are expanding. They’re building a new complex here and they brought a couple of us to check it out.”

“Oh,” Tamora responded.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence before Felix spoke again.

“What about you?”

“Fort Jackson cut me loose a couple of months ago,” she explained. “I was free to go wherever I wanted, and I thought I would try somewhere new.”

“Oh,” Felix replied.

He tried to hide his hurt feelings, but Tamora saw right through him. Although he would never admit it, he had never let go of a small glimmer of hope that maybe, when the opportunity presented itself, she would come back home to him. It was unreasonable of him to expect of her and he had no reason to believe it would ever happen, but it still hurt to know for certain that he had been holding out hope for nothing.

“So,” Tamora said, breaking the uncomfortable silence she had brought upon them, “are you here all by yourself?”

“No, I came out with Ralph after work,” Felix answered, pointing to his friend on the other side of the bar. “Why don’t you come and join us?”

“I was getting ready to head out when you came over,” Tamora replied.

“Then let me walk you out to your car.”

“I live nearby, so I walked,” she said.

“Oh,” he replied, his disappointment clear in his voice no matter how much he tried to hide it. Tamora hated seeing that sad look on his face and, even more so, she hated the fact that it still held so much power over her.

“I know you’re here with Ralph, but it’s a pretty short walk,” she offered. “I could use some company.”

“Okay,” Felix responded, and his face lit right back up. “Just let me grab my jacket, I’ll be right back.”

As he crossed the restaurant and made his way back to his friend, he tried his best to suppress the giddy smile that had taken residence on his face. He knew that Ralph probably thought he was being irresponsible, that he was falling right back into old habits and following behind Tamora like a lost puppy. There was no need to give him a reason to think that this was anything but a platonic walk down the street. He placed his hand on the back of his chair and tried his best to appear casual.

“I’m going to walk Tamora home,” he said. “I’ll meet you back at the hotel.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Ralph replied.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Felix asked.

“I know you, Felix,” he said. “Whether you want to admit it or not, you’re still in love with her. Maybe it’s best to keep your distance.”

“I appreciate you looking out for me, but I can handle myself,” Felix replied. “It’s a short walk. I just want to make sure she gets home safe.”

“I think we both know that’s not the reason you’re doing this,” Ralph said.

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe I do want to spend a few minutes alone with her. Maybe I want to know how she’s doing because she was a big part of my life and I care about her well-being,” Felix huffed. “I don’t see what’s so wrong with that.”

“I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it. I just think you should be careful.”

“I know you think I’m not strong enough to handle this, but I’m not that lovesick fool anymore,” Felix shot back. “It’s been years, Ralph, and I’ve come a long way since then. I thought you knew that.”

“I didn’t mean it like that, I—”

“I’ll see you later,” Felix grumbled as he pulled his jacket off the back of his chair.

He hurried toward the door, donning the extra layer as he joined Tamora. Ralph watched as Felix opened the door for her and followed her outside. He shook his head and turned back to his drink.

Felix shivered the moment the harsh cold met his skin. As someone who grew up in the south, he was unaccustomed to this sort of weather and was not at all equipped to handle it. Tamora smirked as he shoved his hands into his pockets in an effort to keep warm.

“That jacket doesn’t seem to be helping much,” she said.

“It’s always kept me plenty warm during the winter back home,” he explained, “but it sure isn’t enough to cut it here.”

They both chuckled at his misfortune.

“Are you sure you want to walk all the way there and back?” she asked. “You look pretty miserable.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten my commitment to making sure you get home safely,” he replied, taking mock-offense to her question. “The weather is never too severe to escort a lady to her door.”

“Right, how could I forget?” she laughed.

“Besides, I’m glad we get the chance to catch up,” he said. “It’s really good to see you.”

“You, too,” she responded.

Their eyes met then, and they found themselves surprised by the emotion that passed between them; warm and familiar, comforting and safe, deep down they knew what it was but neither was willing to give it a name. It was a dangerous path to tread, what with the history they shared and the uncertainty of their future. Felix cleared his throat and looked away, cutting off the rush of feelings before it could overwhelm him.

“So, tell me,” he said. “What have you been up to since you moved here?”

“Well, I was finally able to retire from the marines, and the pension’s more than enough to keep me afloat,” she explained. “I tried to just enjoy the free time I had, but I started going stir crazy after a couple of weeks. Now I teach fitness classes at the local gym.”

“That sounds like a perfect fit. You probably whip them into shape faster than anybody,” he replied. A mischievous grin appeared on his face as he asked, “How many people have cried in one of your classes?”

Tamora gave him a playful glare.

“I think it’s a valid question,” Felix chuckled.

“It happens at least once or twice every time I get a new group,” she admitted.

Felix burst into laughter.

“What? You asked,” Tamora said.

“I wasn’t expecting a real answer,” he replied, taking a deep breath to calm himself back down.

“Really, you can’t even blame me for it. I don’t know what people expect when they sign up for the most intense class the gym has to offer,” she shrugged.

“That’s true,” he agreed. “How well do you think I’d hold up in one of your classes?”

“That depends,” she said. “Have you cut down on all those pies?”

He didn’t answer, averting his eyes to the sidewalk to avoid her gaze as his cheeks flushed with guilt.

“Yeah, you’d definitely be a crier,” she teased.

“Hey!” he protested.

“You asked,” she replied with a playful shrug.

He laughed and shook his head. They fell back into their old banter so easily that he nearly forgot about everything that had happened between them. The fact that it was still so effortless between them had to count for something.

“Well, here we are,” Tamora said as they approached a large apartment complex. “Come on, let’s get you inside to warm up for a few minutes. I have a hat and some gloves you can take for your walk back.”

As he followed her to the set of double doors at the building’s entrance, his heart rate began to increase. With every step, he visualized himself alone with Tamora in her apartment, and in every scenario, he saw himself letting his heart take the lead. It hit him that Ralph had been right all along—that he was still madly in love with her and that he wouldn’t be able to contain it if they were together in private.

Felix wrestled with his thoughts as he realized he could put a stop to this. He could politely decline her offer and say goodnight and walk away from her, saving himself from the heartache he knew would accompany a visit to her home. Yet, despite knowing this, he felt powerless to the firm hold she still had on his heart. Years of failed attempts at moving on had proven fruitless; he longed for her tonight just as badly as he had the day she left. His inner struggle intensified the closer they got to the door, and just before the handle was in arms’ reach, he finally managed to make an attempt to save himself.

“Wait.”

She turned to find him gazing at her, eyes bright.

“I don’t think I should go up to your apartment with you,” he said.

“Why?” she asked.

“Because I...” he trailed off and his eyes dropped to the pavement as he tried to think of a way to voice his thoughts without making things awkward between them. “I’ve had such a good time with you tonight. It’s made me so happy to spend time with you again.”

Even in the dark she could see the blush that bloomed on his cheeks.

“I really missed you, and I want you to be a part of my life again,” he said. “But I don’t want to do anything that might make you uncomfortable.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I thought I had moved on and that we could be friends moving forward,” he said, “but seeing you tonight forced me to accept the fact that I still have feelings for you.”

The simplicity of his confession surprised her. Normally one to trip over his words due to nerves, tonight he was calm and unafraid as he laid his feelings out before her.

“I still want to be with you, Tamora. I’m worried that if we’re alone together in private I won’t be able to stop myself from overstepping my bounds,” he admitted.

He rubbed the back of his neck as the discomfort of his confession finally caught up to him.

“But what I want more than anything is for you to be in my life. I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that,” he said. “So if you don’t feel the same way, I think we should say goodnight right here.”

Tamora looked at him for a moment, standing before her in all his vulnerability. No other man she had ever known had been brave enough to be so open. She took a step closer to him and reached for his hand. The touch caught him off guard, and he looked down at their connected hands and then back up at her face with a cautious hope that he didn’t dare express. She gave him a gentle tug as she turned back toward her apartment building.

“Then let’s go.”

[kainetestament]

Pietro, no Fietro could still possibly be Peter from X-Men Universe… Maybe?

So as revealed in Episode 9 of WandaVision, the identity of Fietro is none other than Ralph Bohner, the husband Agness always mention, and a possible real resident of Westview. WV director Matt Shakman already clarified that the “Bohner” is actually a reference to his 80’s sitcom Growing Pains. But for many fans of Evan Peters, this “Bohner” joke didn’t play well and at the same time, let us breakdown everything that is wrong with this identity of Ralph Bohner and why he’s suspicious despite the claim of WandaVision writers/director that Evan Peters has nothing to do with the mutants or X-Men Universe, after all they always deny everything. They even mentioned that they had no idea that Evan Peters appearance will cause so many theories and everything, which I highly doubt, I mean come on, they made him play QuickSilver in WandaVision when he is QuickSilver himself only of another universe. I don’t dissed ATJ, I love this guy too from his Kickass, Godzilla movie (this is where I first encounter ATJ before his QS role in Avengers), but as a QS, Evan Peters top him, on my opinion at least, he even has his own QS commercials. Also, Evan Peters have more cool QS moments, the Kitchen scene VS the Age of Ultron overall, at least for me, I prefer the kitchen scene and the whiplash part. Anyhow, let us begin:

 Note: I edited this post to make this article more easier to read and added additional info.

1. Speculations roaming around that Ralph Bohner could be an aspiring actor because the picture is actually his headshot (which actually looks like his earlier AHS photos). I’m not going to debunk this possibility, but I do not believe it’s a headshot nor he’s an aspiring actor. Although true enough, the image does looks like of Evan Peters early AHS photos (kind of like Tate Langdon) – which is probably a reference to that, who knows.

2. The pile of papers on the side table. It is questionable why would your papers, a bill (a very old bill even - not folded or inside one of those envelopes) and your photos in plain sight where Monica – an outsider can see it? Almost as if you planned it all along and he wanted Monica to see it.

3. Necromancy vs Crystallum Possession. Necromancy is a dark arts of when the person (the Necromancer) can manipulate the dead body of the person, or summoning their spirit. Crystallum Possession however is also part of the dark arts but this time you are using an object (like crystals, gems, stones etc) that is embodied with the user’s spells to manipulate the wearer.

Agatha had told Wanda that what she does is a crystallum possession since necromancy is a no-no due to his brother’s body is on another continent, and since this Pietro died in 2014, it should now be bones, I think the “full of holes” remark is nothing more than a mocking remark, because if it’s not, then Marvel will probably have their own interpretation of Necromancy and Crystallum Possession, and this could probably go darker. And Ralph is wearing a bead necklace that is embedded with Agatha’s power. But is Agatha really in full control of Ralph? Honestly, I don’t think so. Why? Because in Episode 6, Peter said about Wanda’s costume “Worse than the costume mom made us the year we got typhus”, then she reminisced “that year”, and told him  “That’s not exactly how I remember it.” because in her universe, she isn’t wearing Halloween costume she thinks is worse and she didn’t deny about them getting typhus, so what are the odds of Agatha/Fietro getting that info if he is not Peter? Also, we don’t know how MARVEL will tell the story multiverse/alternate timelines (the Russo Brothers already claimed that they have their own way of telling this story), but if we are looking for a one generic rule, major life events will occur but will be told uniquely as per their universe, on this case Peter and Wanda did had a typhus, but in Peter’s world, his Wanda and him are probably wearing whatever cosplay outfit their mom made and in Wanda and Pietro are just wearing something simple, or it could be that Peter really just have a weird sense of style.

4. The WATER BILL. Now, this is a real bill, it is not part of Wanda’s illusion, this is Ralph’s actual water bill, because Ralph’s house was under Agatha’s spell, which makes it exempted from Wanda’s spell.  Also, if you go frame by frame, you can actually see the word “Water”, “PAST DUE” on the right column part of the bill, before it totally goes out of focus and you can only read the left side part, that also says “YOUR MONTHLY USAGE (1,000 GAL INCREMENTS)”, which further validates it’s a water bill, not a phone bill nor electricity bill as others actually claim. And here is the tricky part, the bill’s date. On the right side under the STATEMENT is the Account Information (using Arial font), it’s a bit hard to make out of it, but it’s actually an old bill. Before it becomes totally blurry, you can read the right part of the bill that says:

STATEMENT

ACCOUNT INFORMATION

ACCOUNT:                      09-3476-12

SERVICE ADDRESS:     2804 SHERWOOD DRIVE

BILL DATE:                     10/01/2020

DUE DATE:                     10/31/2020

If we go back to Infinity War, it takes place in June 2018. So that means that this Ralph Bohner survived the SNAP, but what could happen to him in year 2019-2020? Who knows, I don’t even know if I should care or not.

If we check on the usage chart – which is “not blurred” (it’s also in increments of 12 – 12/24/36/48/60), and I’ll just speculate on the numbers on the meter chart, so don’t take my word for it. Also, I don’t know what Marvel is planning or hinting by showing this insignificant 2020 bill, which also has confusing usage. (I’ll just use term like pcm – per cubic meter, so that it won’t just be plain numbers beside the month).

January - 6 pcm

February – 18 pcm

March – 6 pcm

April – 6 pcm

June – 6 pcm

July – 9 pcm

August – 13 pcm

September – 22 pcm

October – 34 pcm

(November and December have gray shade - similar to the one in month of Jan-May).

Again, I don’t know what’s the significance of not blurring this part of the bill while the right side column is properly blurred. And the confusing part of this bill, is the bill date is of 10/01/2020 – meaning Ralph had received this bill during the first week of October, but why is there already a usage for the full month of October, when usage should be only show up to the month of September? After the Account Information, there’s the

METER INFORMATION (WATER)

USAGE   PREVIOUS   DATE      CURRENT       DATE

4             1963 (?)        09/01/20      *- - - -*          *- - - -*

The PREVIOUS actually looks like either 1063 or 1963, and oddly enough the first Avengers Comics was published on September 1, 1963, I don’t know if that’s a reference to that, but from my pov, it shouldn’t be because this series is inspired of House of M and a bit touch of West Coast Avengers, which was already reference by the SUV plate number in Episode 7. The CURRENT and DATE are both unreadable, I can only identify _ _ _ 2 in CURRENT and 0_/_ _/20 for the DATE after.

And let’s also not forget that outside the HEX, it is August 2023 and as per Episode 8, inside the HEX is currently year 2013 as shown in the auditorium behind the lighting after it explained how Wanda created Vision. I don’t know if this is a reference to something from the past MCU projects (X-Men even) or future franchise like Falcon and Winter Soldier, who knows, really. I just find it weird why they didn’t blurry the meter chart while the rest are. But why year 2020? Why isn’t this bill thrown out yet? Didn’t Monica notice that billing date of the bill?

5. The man-cave. The staff really transformed Fietro’s man-cave into very, very Peter-like (if he really is not Peter). I will list thing that are present and similar to what Peter of X-Men Universe room have. I’ll reference * (single asterisk) for Days of Future Past, ** (double asterisk) for Apocalypse, and *** (triple asterisk) for both films.

❀ comfortable couch***

❀ guitar*** 

❀ headphones***

❀ balls*

❀ lots of posters***

❀ bike***

❀ a bar**

❀ shoes on the floor**

❀ different types of drinks (non alcoholic)***

Also, lots of silver/metallic items such as:

❀ silver lamp**

❀ silver TV

❀ silver house ventilation tubes

❀ silver pillowcases (looks gray on other angles)

❀ silver mini fridge

❀ silver microwave oven

❀ silver rack (where TV and speaker stands)    

❀ silver wristwatch*

❀ video games*** (both PS & XBox)

and even something that looks like a stolen goods like the Tiki Bar plaque, Tiger head.

This Fietro is basically just missing the goggles, I did my best to look for it (like on those detective games that instructs you to find this and that *lol*), but there’s really none *laugh*. Also, I just noticed the arrangement of his man-cave – single-seat couch** > small side table with a lamp** > 3-seater couch (the Apocalypse has an L-shape couch though) > a middle coffee table**, this arrangement is similar to Peter’s man-cave in Apocalypse which can be slightly seen when his mom came down saying “Just checking on you” (you can watch it at starting point 1:02:55, at least on my copy), you just need to look for proper timing because a few of those shots are out of focus probably due to her obviously looking somewhere reading her lines that are raised besides the camera, which became even more obvious  when she did a close up shot when she told him “But trust me, this won’t end well. Nothing does with him.” 

Also, in Episode 5, when Peter first made an appearance, the leather jacket he’s wearing is eerily similar to the one he’s wearing in his cameo appearance in Deadpool 2 (we only got the glimpse of the front of the jacket in Deadpool but the front side of his jacket in WandaVision is identical). Though I find it weird too that his hair color switch from silver to light ash blonde.

6. Ralph is the guy under witness protection? I doubt it, although honestly at first I considered maybe he is, but after a few thinking, it doesn’t lead to it, because if he’s in witness protection, and the person who is managing him forgets him because of Wanda, FBI database should still at least have a photo of him to be able to identify him, and Jimmy in episode 7 saw Peter and never commented about him being their missing guy. As we all know, the house is under the name Ralph Bohner, who we can assume survived the SNAP and possibly left that house in September 2020. If he had left the house way back in 2020, why does Agent Woo or FBI rather only checked it now? Also, if Ralph Boner is indeed the guy under witness protection, it is the FBI that pays off their bill, on this case, the Water Bill was past due even if it was an old bill, so I don’t think he is.

7. Does Ralph Boner really exist? This is actually something that I have given some thought. Because if we think of QuickSilver, one of his abilities as per comics is his Quick Intelligence. His mind process a lot of things much faster than an average person. Peter spying on everyone and pretending to be someone else in an unknown world is not surprising, let alone using everything he can take advantage of. It can be that the bill is fake and there is really no Ralph Bohner, or just like what I mentioned in #7, he could’ve possibly left in September 2020 and hasn’t returned yet, and Peter assumes this identity to avoid suspicion.

If we are to assume he really is Peter Maximoff of X-Men Universe (Earth-TRN414) and crossed over to Earth-616, I did consider this could also be the house where he lives as per his universe and just so happens that Ralph Bohner is the current owner of the house in this MCU. Also, Xavier Institute is located in NY and in Days of Future Past, they only drove from NY to his house via rental car, which we can assume that he doesn’t live that far from NY, after all NY and NJ are neighbors.

8. Also this has nothing to do with Ralph/Fietro, but something I noticed, that the outside anomaly or outside of Westview – about the selective amnesia has yet to be answered. It only explained that Wanda is manipulating the people INSIDE, but not the ones outside the HEX. What actually come to mind when I think about it is that it can be a work by a TELEPATH which can be either Charles Xavier or Emma Frost (no Jean Grey? Yes I excluded her). What I am actually thinking is that the person under witness protection is a spy sent by Charles or possibly working with him. He could have implanted false memory to the so called “family and friends”, so when the HEX was established, the strings got cut off hence no one could remember this “missing person” anymore, and Jimmy who has nothing to do with this “missing person” is not affected by the selective amnesia and assumes the responsibility of looking for him. And assuming Charles is the telepath who altered their memories of the people outside of Westview, he probably has done it as a precaution since he couldn’t contact his spy or “missing person” and wouldn’t take the risk of endangering the resident who were happened to be outside the HEX when Wanda establishes it.

These are just some of the things I find that doesn’t make sense with Ralph’s identity. But we’ll just leave it at that. I still really want James McAvoy back as Charles Xavier and Michael Fassbender as Magneto, since both Sir Ian McKKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart did mention they’re done with their role. And I feel that it’s too risky to use them since they are in their 80’s now, I don’t know them personally but it gives me some sorts of paranoia *laughs* thinking they might get injured.

[if-weshadows-haveoffended]

Sunshine- James Bond x Reader

A/N: GUESS WHOS BACK BINCHES. Oh man uni really did run me over with a semi-trailer. Hot Tip: biochem really do be the work of the devil. Feel free to send in fic or mixtape requests, I’ve got all the time in the apocalypse for them.

Look, I know Judi Dench dies in Skyfall but she’s the only M I will ever recognise (even though I do love Ralph Fiennes). Nothing makes me happier than the time M straight up calls Brosnan!Bond a misogynist. Also, I decided to tell this from the perspective of Q, just because I feel like he’s the only one with the emotional range to articulate in vivid detail the absolute delight that would be watching James Bond have Soft Romantic Feelings. God he was just so soft in Casino Royale before all that shit went down (rest in pieces my girl vesper lynde).

Title: Sunshine Original Request: Could you do a James Bond x reader where the reader is a doctor at MI6 and when Bond comes back from his missions, she’s really gentle and sweet in taking care of his wounds? And Q and M hardcore shipping them because they have never seen Bond flustered ever, and the reader kinda just manages to make him blush when she smiles at him and immense fluff ensues (and sweet pet names for each other) (x) Tags: @roseslovedreams​ , Fluff, sass, S O F T N E S S, Craig!Bond, Q, M, Doctor!Reader Words: 1300+ Masterpost: here (x) Prompt List: here (x) Mixtape Archive: here (x)

“Bond? Bond, were you even fucking listening to anything I said?” Bond raised his head from staring at his hands with vague disinterest- no. No Q wouldn’t call it disinterest. He watched the way the man stood up, adjusting his suit and leaving M without his usual pathetic quips.

No, Q was intrigued. This was something wholly different. In fact, if he was so bold as to suggest it, the man was distracted… on edge almost.

“Did I just see what I just saw?” M asked him, disbelief clear on her face. “I almost miss the blatant insults.”

“Well, it’ll be a nice change for a while, I suppose. Keeps bullying me into making him exploding pens.” Q muttered under his breath.

“Oh, Q, don’t let the bastard get to you. Its just his way of trying to be helpful.”

But even later that afternoon, at his appointed meeting with the surprisingly forlorn agent, there were no questions about exploding pens. Absolutely no protest about having a fancier car than 006 (to be fair, he was glad, she would take care of that car far better than 007), and even no jab about how Q’s non-existent acne was today. Usually, it would be cause for celebration and something to tell his cats. But this was just unsettling. It seemed wrong.

In fact, Q was on the verge of considering himself genuinely concerned about 007. Or at least he would have been until he very quickly connected the dots. He watched as the man stared after the woman who had just entered the room, looking mildly irritated as she threw a stack of papers at the agent.

“Don’t fucking lie on my reports, Bond. I spent years training to be where I am now and I think I can tell when sample baselines have been meddled with.” Q considered this to be a fairly mild telling off by her standards, but oh no, the man appeared to be mildly enjoying it. He considered the slight rise of colour in his cheeks to be the most emotion he’d gotten out of him all month.

“I just don’t want you to concern yourself, Sunshine, I’m perfectly fine,” 007 murmured, struggling to make eye-contact with their resident doctor.

“You’re not.”

“I am, and I will be fine, and I will come back in one piece.” He protested stronger this time, his hands resting on her upper arms, trying to convince her that he would indeed be fine and not crash yet another expensive car into the mountainside.

“You promise?” Her question was softer this time, the intensity of her gaze and Bond’s solemn stillness had absolutely transfixed Q’s attention. The way the man released her from his grasp, his fingers barely, just barely brushing her skin for longer than would be deemed necessary- the way he cleared his throat and gave the shiest smile possible. He didn’t even know Bond could look that way.

Hopeful. Hopeful and for once scared of fucking up. He fidgeted with a well-polished cufflink, staring at his shoes before meeting her gaze once more.

“Of course, can’t have you spending your time around 006.” He scoffed sarcastically. The doctor raised a brow.

“Oh, but she’s far prettier to look at than you.” She teased, her smile sharp and predatory. If Q wasn’t mistaken, the small smile pulling at the corner of Bond’s mouth meant that he enjoyed the sensation of somehow looking like a rabbit about to be slaughtered by a wolf.

And so he hurriedly relayed everything back to M who, after clearing up the tea she had choked on and spilled over her paperwork, immediately descended into a minute forty-seven of breathless laughter. Tears spilling from the corners of her eyes, she asked him if it would be worth forcing the man to retire early. She would love nothing more, she had finally gotten out after a few seconds, than to see the man in a ‘kiss the chef’ apron and serving their doctor a home-made dinner.

“Oh god, could you imagine him taking dogs for a walk? Or just… just…” She faltered now, leaning back in her chair with a softer smile on her face.

“Just?” Q asked.

“Be happy.” She finished, “They all know what they signed up for. Just that none of us ever expect to find something worth losing. You don’t remember what he used to be like, do you?” He shook his head in response, “After Venice something happened to him. He lost whatever soul he had left. Most of us lose it along the way, but I didn’t realise it turned him into something else outright.”

Well, that made his decision for him.

Within the hour he and M and made the oh-so-very solemn pact that they would do everything possible to get Bond kicked out of the service due to his overwhelming feelings for one particular woman. He even made the note to prepare a best man’s speech just in case he was asked.

And eventually (after some days or maybe weeks, he wasn’t even sure anymore) Bond sauntered back home, bruised and bloody and sporting a smug grin as he handed M the stolen spyware.

“Must you drip blood everywhere?” M sniffed, though Q pretending to show interest in the gadgets that had just been handed over, noticed her stifle a grin. “Anyway go and get yourself patched up, god knows why I keep you here.”

“Oh you love me,” M only deigned to roll her eyes.

Q escorted the man down to the medical centre, watching with rapt attention at how the façade just crumbled before him. The man who naught but five minutes ago was all bravado and quips now reduced to nerves once again. Okay, okay, you got this. “So, 007…”

The agent let go of a long-suffering sigh, “Haven’t you got 006 to equip with some laser high-heels?”

He took a deep breath, trying to steel himself, “Well, no, actually I’ve got to remove your biometric chip. Doctor Y/N has agreed to assist me with the whole process.” Bond stopped in his tracks, turning to face him with a look somewhere between excitement and fear. “If you have no objections of course.” He winced at how brightly that last statement came out.

“No… not at all.” And they continued on their way, eventually reaching the clinic.

And he couldn’t do anything but watch in amazement at how Bond suddenly shifted. He’d almost laugh if it didn’t genuinely hurt his cold heart at how happy the man looked. He watched as she’d gently cut away burned fabric, cleaning wounds and beginning her stitches. She would apologise and with an unfairly attractive smile he’d say she barely hurt him. Q wasn’t even sure if this sort of bodily contact was considered professional, the way her hand cradled against his jaw as she dabbed away at his bloodied temple. And he couldn’t help but smile as the man simply looked both flustered and confused at just how achingly gentle she was being, as if he deserved none of this. M had once described Bond as a blunt instrument, incapable of nothing but brute force. But here he was, nothing but softness in his manner and the blue of his eyes.

It felt as if he were intruding as he instructed her in removing the biometric chip, her hand caressing the nape of his neck as well-practised hands were expertly trying to remove the small implant. She would hum under her breath, like a soothing lullaby putting Bond at ease, her hand suddenly reaching for his as he held back a groan of pain and the bloodied chip hit the floor.

“Easy now darling, it’s done. I’m here.” Her voice was soft as she knelt before him now, her hands atop his.

Bond, his gaze never wavering from hers, brough her palm to his lips and pressed a chaste kiss. He murmured his thanks and she merely smiled back in return.

God help him, the man was a romantic. He was going to need a drink after this.

[olympianpandback]

April 27- May 3

We stopped at Nellis AFB for three nights to catch up and recharge.  It was a quiet and big RV park.  Nellis is home to the largest Fighter contingent in the US Air Force and the home of the Blue Angels. We didn’t see them practice or anything, but there was plenty of planes taking off and landing during the daylight hours. It was just peaceful, cool at night but not too hot in daytime until we were leaving. Thank goodness.  We went to see Red rock Canyon just outside Vegas on our way to Pahrump, NV just outside Death Valley.  We left there and drove through Death Valley on way to China Lakes Naval Weapons Testing site.  On the way there, we took a side trip to a place called Soda Lake. A “lake” sometimes with high carbonate content. It was dry when we got there and there were other people going there also.  Go figure. We know we’re crazy, but what about them, Hmmm?  Another nice military RV park for reasonable price.  Man, it’s starting to get hotter as we get closer to California.

On the 30th we drove to Morro Bay on the California coast which is the beginning of the Big Sur drive up California 1. There is a big rock off the coast which is a Baltic extrusion that is 23 million years old and sits right offshore. It was a peaceful and cool night and we planned to leave around 9 o'clock. Before we left, we started chatting with the couple next door Michelle and Eric. They just bought their RV and are working out of their “home” on the road. She does tech support and website development, etc. for a Tech company. Eric does website development and tech services for Experian. We ended up talking for quite a while and didn't get out of there until almost 10. We took route on CA 1 North and forgot about filling up with diesel. It's a long stretch along the California coast and we found out we were low on fuel about 9/10 of the way to Monterey. We thought for sure there would be a service station somewhere along That 94-mile drive.   We were wrong. An image of a fuel tank came on my dashboard and then light started blinking by the fuel Gauge showing we had 1/10 of a tank left. I had no idea how long that would take us but we had no choice but to drive on. We did see 2 stations About 25 miles South of Monterey but neither had diesel. I coasted on the downhill stretches and eased up the upgrades. We thought we might have up to 60 miles when the light comes on, but were not sure. We were driving along and we saw a fuel tank with a green hose and we sit on the brakes and went for fuel. We probably could have made it to Monterey but I didn't want to run out of fuel on an upgrade. When we got to the end of California one our GPS says to go on US101 to get to Gilroy but it also said there would be a 48-minute delay for a traffic accident. We rerouted to go through another town to Gilroy but ended up in a 15 minute slowdown because of merging traffic and people coming back from markets and the beach. Meanwhile my cousin was driving down from Mountain View South of San Francisco 2 meet us at the RV park. We adjusted our arrival times and they got here 10 minutes after us. It was great to see Melissa, Vasily and their daughters Nadia and Mila. We talked and talked and had some wine before I warmed up some gravy and sausages and cooked some macaroni for them. Melissa doesn't know the recipe for grandma Concetta’s because her grandmother never told her mother and so forth. They are both nurses at the Stanford medical center hospital near them. We had a really good talk and Melissa wanted to know all the stories from my childhood about her aunts and uncles. I was more than willing to oblige. They stayed for over 4 hours and had to get home because the girls have school on Monday the 3rd. Melissa was supposed to come back on the 3rd to have more discussions and get copies of the family recipes. Tomorrow morning, we leave for Sacramento area to visit with Ralph Hangsleben’s daughter, Allison who I informally adopted as my niece. We will be having dinner with her and her friend Andre tomorrow night. After that, we will head North toward the Oregon border in the direction of the Olympia National Park.

[teamdoubleoh]

00Q - WTNV AU

wordcount: 5205

“Hello listeners. Before I begin today’s program I have been asked by John Peters, you know, the farmer, to inform the public that the imaginary corn harvest will be delayed by two weeks this season, due to unforeseen showers of our ancestors tears and jell-o just outside city limits. You know what that means: No imaginary-corn-juice until September.

Regarding the sky: I should mention that it will be bright green tonight so keep your curtains shut and avoid late night walks.

I repeat: D̵͍̟̭͖̑͆̇͊͘ô̶̞̌͋̒̃ ̶̥̖̅͌̀͘ǹ̵̦̓́͝ỏ̸̲̋ṯ̷̗̽ ̴̱̣͖̪̐ḡ̶͔̫̤o̵͇̿̇̉̌ ̵͙̗͎̈́̈́͗̏o̷̤̳͍͉͐̽̌͊ṵ̸̟͂̍t̸͇̞̠̜̻͝ş̴̤̯̿͊̈́̉i̷̞̝̾̈͋͌̀d̵͈̥͆͆͝͠e̸̖̾.̵̥̳͉̌͜ ̴̧̖̯̪͖̊̊̋͘̚U̷̬̰̙͛́̔̌ṇ̸̣̆̔̑d̷̗̥́̑e̵̛͚͔̘̖̿̌̏̕r̶̬̦̒͆ ̶̯͖̰̦̏̒̎̂̕ņ̸͎̺̻͐͆ô̸̢͉̥̠̳̈́̑̈̓ ̸̞͔̀c̷̙̹̺̝̭̎̈́̇i̴̮̜̜͖̎͘͜r̷̦͙͚̙̹̀̂̐c̶̨̧̤̣̮̆͗̎̋u̷̧̧͇̯͐́͒̆͋m̶̟͈͍͖͐͂s̵̖̦͑̍͂͝ț̵̋͌̕ȃ̵̱͈̽͒͠n̵̗͔̼̫͉͑̈͐͠c̸͕̋̽͌̈́̌e̷͇̥̤̍̐̉͠s̷̝̦̍͌̿̓͝ ̸̢̗͇̫̟̈́̀a̷̱͗͠r̵̡̤͚̙̆͐͝ë̴̮̜̭́̓͗͠͝ ̴̡̜̀̄͜y̷̬͈̮̮͋ơ̶͖̮ư̸̫̮̌̈́ͅ ̶͇̈t̸̤͉̹̜̺͆͋o̵̗͒̐́ ̵̡̜̤̼̼̃͌̄̈́̒l̸̰͎̺̻̾͗͆̉õ̷̖o̷̞̞̝͔̿͑͛͜k̴̳̗̼͕̫̃̕ ̸͓̘͔̦̼͋̈̔͘à̸̫̳͈͔̝̀͐̑t̵̡̛̤͓͎̥̐̏͆̃ ̶̛̫̩̤̠̤̈̿̍t̵̮̘̳̳͔͐̎͘̚ḫ̷̡̧̢̛̝̋͠͝e̸̦͔̲̟̿͂̚̕ ̸̪̜̩̎̐̍͂ş̵̀̓̈́̚͝k̴̤̼͎̠̄͒̀̈́͠y̴̢̫̓̒ ̷̹̫̆̓̽͒͒t̴̨̢̺͗ö̸̮̺́͝ń̴̤̀i̴̢̋͋̈́̚͜͝ĝ̸͕̊h̴̹̩̅͠ͅt̷͙͈̞̞͑͜.̸͙́́͐ .

The sky will regain its normal colour by 9am, just in time to go to bed. Tomorrow night it will temporarily be violet, just as scheduled for the second Saturday of August.

On local news: A stranger came into town tonight. They tell me he stopped by old woman Josie’s house to ask for directions, but she sent him away because he kept staring impolitely at the Angels which are not permanent residents in old woman Josie’s house. In fact they do not exist. And they lie.

To return to our stranger: He was fine.

No one who wears a bespoke suit like him is ever truly lost. It hasn’t got anything to do with the suit, only with the road map that was firmly lodged between his third to fifth rib and a shoulder holster under the suit. Our stranger is also nervous, or so they tell me. He wonders how I know, and he wonders who "they" are and why I am referring to him in this very moment, on the radio.

If I was insensible I would mention more things about him like how he likes Vodka Martinis and has developed a strong dislike of Venice and how he he can’t follow orders or rules or his heart.

Luckily I am not insensible.

Well, strangers are rare in Nightvale. The last time someone came to us from somewhere else I don't even remember. Dear listeners, I know what you're asking: What does he want from us? Why has he come? What is the last digit of π?

As it is my duty as a radio host, I will provide you with answers:

The last digit of π is a real number between 0 and 9.

The Stranger wants nothing from us. He was sent by someone who wants someone else and someone else is here, in our lovely little town.

So, he has come to find someone; maybe we could tell the stranger where he, who he is looking for, is but you know the rules. If you see something, say nothing. The sheriff's secret police has already gotten rid of any potential threat. The rules say so.

Our stranger can’t follow rules. He remembers his mission. He remembers that he has a mission, he even remembers why has one.

Another secret about our stranger: He is a spy. That also is the reason why he has a mission, and the mission is finding the special someone. Our stranger doesn't know the name of his someone but he knows others call him Quartermaster. He doesn't know how to find his someone.

Dear listeners. There is a stranger in Nightvale, who is looking for someone who is a stranger to him, but not us. He is a spy but others call him agent; He fears the waters of Venice, can't follow rules and his name is Bond. James Bond.

Just this evening I was out near the forbidden dog park at the corner of “Earl” and “Summer-set” near the “Ralph’s” when I met him. He still wore the same bespoke suit which was a bit crumpled after the many hours spent behind the wheel of his car.

On unrelated news: The Agent drives a silver DB5 Aston Martin with a pumpkin shaped coffee stain on the drivers seat, or so I’m told.

The Agent, James Bond, sat on a bench outside the dog park because the dog park was closed. The dog park was closed because it was Friday after 5pm and because it it closed every day.

He sat in that particular spot because he was instructed to. He doesn't know by whom exactly, but it says so in his mission file, so he has to sit here on this Friday afternoon and wait. According to his instructions the Quartermaster is supposed to meet him here but there is no Quartermaster, just an Agent alone on a bench.

I felt a little bad for him, and also a little weak on my feet because my left knee had just acted up again, so I sat next to him.

He didn’t say anything.

I said:" How do you like the dog park?"

He pointed towards the sign with the rules for the park and said:" Pretty pointless, If you ask me." I had asked him, so I didn't say anything further and he said:" Excuse me," and was gone.

Not instantly of course, he just walked at a fairly quick pace.

Honestly, I find it quite frankly astounding that the Agent drove all the way out here, only to sit on a bench to talk to someone but when someone showed up, he won’t even discuss dog parks without dogs or the inevitability of passing time.

Well.

Our sponsor today is the East India Company. Have you always wanted your own east India? Now you can have it for the low cost of a lifetime of conquest. West Indias are currently out of stock and not as cool as east Indias anyways. Get your own province today at east-india@nv.com.

I am distressed to announce that, due to unforeseen circumstances, the bowling-alley-arcade-fun complex will be closed until further notice. The Nightvale bowling team will instead train at the waterfront and harbour recreation area, which is also currently closed to the wider public. Sadly this means all bowling pins have to be exchanged for a volleyball net and the bowling balls for a beach volleyball.

Further more there are news from the station.

In the mens bathroom a cat has appeared. It does not seem to want to leave, or at least has made no attempt to, but maybe that has something to do with the local shift in gravity in there. The cat is currently living on the wall opposite the door, where she appears to be able to stick straight to the tiles. Well, you know how local gravitational faults are. But honestly, I don't have the time to call someone to fix it and none of the interns have been here at the station since this morning, so I guess we have a cat now.

In further station news I will now read the outcome of the vote my interns and I took over the course of yesterday’s lunch break. The vote was on wether or not I am to refer to them as "minions" in the future.

Alright, let’s see: Not In favour of the new title of "minion" are: ...Hm. Only me.

In favour of the new title of "minion" are: Minions Number 1, Number 2, Number 3, Number 4, Number 5, Number ... well. I assume you can already see where this is going.

I’ll check in on station management on any new developments in town. So now I present to you... the weather.”

(Mortal Man by Jeremy Loops)

“Welcome back listeners!

Station management wants to remind every one that words aren't silver. words are vibrations. Silence is golden. Thought is magic. From this we can conclude that Paul Watzlawick was wrong.

I am also to inform you that there has been an accident just outside dark owl records. No cars were involved, nor any other vehicles or pedestrians. Just the crashing of two squalls of hot dry desert air that didn't see each other coming.

There were no casualties.

To avoid future incidents remember to honk if you exist.

City council would like to thank the citizens of Nightvale that didn't come to get any documents approved this past week, as it has been very stressful and there were enough people present already. Anyone who wants to drop off any paperwork to get it signed is deeply unwelcome. If you still want to visit city hall today, be reminded that the first and second floor have been temporarily moved to the basement. Be also reminded that the basement is off limits to non-employes.

There are news on the agent. During break I went to visit him on his bench. I suppose it would be unprofessional of me to point out that he is good looking so I won’t. I pointed out some of the hooded figures in the dog park and he quickly shushed me. Apparently he has finally decided to read the rules for the dog park, although he appears to have missed the fine script.

He then kept looking at me strangely and asked how I knew about him being an agent. He said he was just listening to me on the radio talking about it.

I said I didn't know he was an agent, they told me he was an agent. I also know agents, and they are all very similar. None of them like to bring back the equipment in one piece, or follow the rules, or black forest cake.

He seemed very taken aback by that. He asked how I knew any agents at all. It was really rather amusing, but of course I told him. I said I know agents because it's my equipment they break. and my rules they won't follow, although there only is one: Always return the equipment in one piece.

He asked if I worked for the government and wether I was allowed to tell him all this. My break was over so I didn't have time to answer him but he is listening to the radio right now, so: I don’t work for the government, there is no such thing. And why wouldn't I be allowed to tell you this? It’s not like it is a secret like sheriff Sam’s secret police. Strangers are so strange... Anyway.

Minion number 1 Is gesturing wildly at her copy of tonights script from outside the booth. I wonder what she could be trying to tell me.

Well.

Next up is traffic.

Do you know how to swim? Have you ever swam in a lake or river or the ocean? If you have, you know the creeping dawning that below you there is nothing for a few feet. Or miles. So much space between you and the earth. But it does not matter because the water protects you from your inevitable death. Lucky you. If you have put you head under water in the ocean and opened your eyes to see nothing but a vast emptiness you know what it it is like in space. You look around and maybe, if you're lucky you’ll spot a fish or two and can find relief in the knowledge that you are not alone in this strange inner outer space. If you don’t spot a fish or two you will soon feel the sinking fear of realisation that you are still not alone. You won't ever be. But it is so, so silent. There really isn't anything there you can see. You're lucky you can actually see that you're alone otherwise you would be so so afraid in this moment of realisation. If your head was above the surface right now you wouldn't see a thing below you because the suns reflection would hide it. Or maybe there wouldn't be anything to hide. Maybe you really are alone. You are so lucky you are below the surface and can actually see what is there and what isn't. So lucky you don’t need to go back up there, where the air is. You don’t need air. You need to keep watch. You should go swim in the ocean.

And now a public service announcement.

The nightvale scientific community calls for volunteers. Volunteers are required to be born no later than tomorrow morning and are not allowed to be dead yet. If you are already dead please leave a note, ore reapply at an earlier date. The volunteers which fit these requirements are asked to come to the station tomorrow morning at 9pm. We are aware this is well into the “personal free time” following the average nine-to-five job but we ask you to show up anyways. Scientists work best during sleeping hours. The scientific community also reminds you that we have a new experiment running, so if you spot any orbs around town, do no question them. D̵̺̪͗̈ọ̸̖̗͓̘̇̽͐ ̶̹̦̠͔͒ͅn̷̠͊̔̀͋ŏ̶̢̯̓̋̉͜t̴̡̺̹̾̀́̕ ̷͇͔͇̈́q̶̥͈̋́̄ụ̸͔̐̇̄͆ē̶̬̈́͑̂̈s̵̺̑́ț̶̮̻̭̪͌͝ị̶̪͓͐͝ö̵͓́͊̑n̴̗̳̤̑͐ ̵̖̑́t̸̨̡̢̛̝͉̉͝h̶̩̓ẽ̴̹̳̄̾͗ ̶̣͔͎̬̍̎̀̌ő̶̫̈́̀̌̽r̵̜̮̙͎̰͊̉̊̕̚b̵̘͍̖̽͜͜s.̷͖͈̗͉̅̃̓̊̈́

This was a public service announcement.

My friend Eve who currently works under station management wants me to remind everyone with blond hair that doors are for people with no imagination. She also wants me to remind everyone with any other hair colour that doors are for people with no imagination. Bald people are exempt from this rule for obvious reasons.

Next up are horoscopes.

People that are born under Aquarius should remember to text someone. Who?Oh you know.

People who have the same star sign as Moneypenny are reminded that we value them as a friend and that they deserve the world and a muffin.

People born under the same star sign as Minion 3 should know that their cooking skills could still be improved. Not by a lot though. Your cooking is wonderful.

People under the same star sign as Q - oh thats me, what a coincidence - should remember to announce something important to their community, such as the dangers of the world or the fact that big rico's is having a sale right now.

People with the same star sign as the Agent, James Bond, should know that their goals are in closer proximity than they might think and that volunteer work is a way to enrich the community as well as the heart.

Thats it for todays horoscopes.  

In unrelated news a quick personal statement. It’s a cruel world. .

Also: big rico’s pizza is having their monthly midnight snack sale.

That’s it for tonight. Stay tuned for the sound of our new station pet walking up and down the restroom’s tiled wall.”

***

On a bench not too far away sat a stranger. He was an Agent and his name was James Bond. Slowly he turned down the volume of his portable radio and inhaled deeply. Tomorrow he would be at the station at 9am sharp, as a volunteer to nightvale’s scientific community.

If he could find this quartermaster anywhere it would be there, he was sure of it. Then he could get out of this weird little town where the radio host knew everything about him. Though when he looked at it that way, the quartermaster could probably know everything about him too, if he wanted to. Not that James had met the quartermaster, but this was the 21st century. With the right skills anyone could find out anything and everyone could turn out to be someone else. He would have to wait for tomorrow.

XXX

"Hello listeners!

Today I am happy to announce that we will be witness to some Experiment down at Q branch, located in the stations cellars. As I am nightvales only radio show host, I was asked to describe the proceeding of todays displays to our younger listeners.

As it is nearly 9 am the volunteers have already arrived. I am correctly standing amidst them, waiting to get into the stations cellar where the headquarter of the  nightvale scientific community is located. The volunteers who are standing with me here today are Minion 2, Minion 5 and Minion 4 as well as the Agent, James Bond.

Seems like everyone else wants to spend time with their loved ones instead of a cellar, weird.

Anyways. They tell me the agent has come in the hope that the quartermaster will be present today, which is a shame because I know for a fact that he isn't currently in the cellar.

Oh. The Agent, James Bond, has joined me over here by the door. It appears he has heard what I said. He’s saying something, wait let me turn down the back feed first.

He says: “How do you know the Quartermaster is not in there?”  

Well, I have to admit, it would just be plain sad if I didn't. The minions are snickering. James Bond has now turned to Minion 5 to ask them why they think this is funny. 5 replies with “because it is”. Well I can’t say I disagree. Now Bond seems a little agitated. He turns back to me. He's asking if I know the Quartermaster. Of course I do. He is asking what I mean with “Of course”.

Well dear listener, this seems like the perfect time to quote Lao Tse. “He who knows others is wise, he who knows himself is enlightened.”

I feel like this is also the perfect time to tell James that I am Head of Q branch, the nightvale scientific community, which means that I definitely should be wise, or at the very least very, very smart.

He seems to take this information well, which is good, especially when we take into consideration that the agent could probably kill me with his right hand tied behind his back. Or so I'm told.

Now the agent looks exasperated. He asks me who they are. I think I showed you just yesterday, James. Honestly, pay a little attention. May I call you James?

He says I may, If I tell him what my name is.

Ah, good one Agent. I can’t tell you that. Anyways, Minion 4 is signing me that it’s time to start the experiment.

She's right dear listeners! I’m kind of busy holding my broadcasting equipment. Number 2, would you be so kind and take the key out of my left pocket? Ah thanks. Alright Listeners, we’re heading inside.

For those of you who haven't been down in Q branch before, which, to be frank, should be all of you, let me quickly describe it.

Imagine a cellar. The ceiling is held up by brick pillars. Imagine desks and computers and loads of scientific equipment with weird names no-one but a scientist could ever hope pronouncing correctly between the pillars. Also some of the walls are painted in a lovely off-white and navy blue combination.

Minions 2, 4 and 5 as well as James Bond and myself are currently in the quarter of the room which seems the most cluttered and is closest to the door. of course it only seems the most cluttered because it is. That’s because we’re currently in the area designated for engineering, and for some reason we never come around to cleaning up. Mostly because we don't want to.

To our left is the quarter designated for chemistry and, by default, toxicology. Do not ever, under any circumstances consume anything in the close vicinity.

Greetings go out to Minion 9, who is currently in intensive care at nightvale’s public hospital.  

To our right is our testing area. Since a not necessarily small part of the equipment we manufacture is meant to blow up at some point, we have a secluded this area with bags of sand to keep the debris away from the more fragile things down here. Finally, at the opposite end of the room is the designated area for data processing.

Bond is now strolling towards the desk in the middle and is looking at the laptop on top of it. Maybe I should stop him. Well. He has opened the laptop. he seems to be confused. Wait a second listeners, I have to go get my computer back.

Bond is looking at me. He’s asking who the laptop belongs to. Well, I did jut say it belongs to me didn’t I.

He seems disappointed. He’s asking if I could just tell him where the quartermaster is. I mean I could, but why would I? The quartermaster came here to get away from the government.

James is asking me how I know the quartermaster, if I’m working with agents. If the quartermaster doesn't trust the government, why does he trust agents?

Dear listeners, If I remember correctly I told James only yesterday the government wasn't real. It seems he doesn't believe me. Oh well.

He’s still waiting for an answer. He’s staring at me, this is why I avoid human interaction. He has these weird blue eyes. And he only has two eyes too. all of my minions, except Number 3 have more than two eyes, though I don’t know why. Number 3 has two eyes but he's blind. I have two eyes too, but I have access to at least a few dozen at any given time so I don't really count. He's still staring. This is weird. How do I tell someone I don't want to tell them. Ah he's groaning. Right, he can hear me. I am so not used to talking to people face to face.

Anyway. Time to start the experiment!

All volunteers are placed over by the chemistry slash toxicology area. None of them know what the experiment is, which is entirely their fault. minions 2, 4 and 5 were actually hand picked by me because they never listen when I tell them important stuff, like:" If you're listening right now, you can go home early tonight".

Now number 2 and 5 are looking at me grumpily while 4 is signing "ha ha.” Sorry 4, I needed at least three Minions.

Alright listeners, today were testing a new defence system which I have installed in some of our most commonly used artillery.

As I've mentioned before, agents rarely ever bring back the equipment we build for them, which is a shame because most of it are prototypes.

James is frowning at me, like he always brings back his equipment. I happen to know he didn’t return a single thing from his past four missions. Now he’s frowning even more. Hm.

The system we’re testing today is a feature designed to improve the shooting ability of the agent the gun was designated to, and only them.

If you'll remember I mentioned our new palm print encoded hand gun in last weeks fun facts children's science corner, right between a brief explanation on the planets of our solar system and the sociology of blue whales.

While the guns we are testing today aren’t equipped with the encoded palm print, they have been upgraded with the feature that allows the agents to hit more precise. Since only only one of the minions present today is proficient in shooting guns of this category, we will compare the aim of Minion 5 and James with  Minion 2 and Minion 4, who usually work in chemistry and are thus more proficient in hand to hand combat and poetry.

I will now give each volunteer an upgraded Walther P99. They will shoot the target until the clip runs out. Then we will count the missed shots and put the results in the protocol. Remember kids: The difference between screwing around and science is writing stuff down. Then we will repeat the sequence, take a quick break and then repeat the sequence again to erase any errors that might occur in the system. Until the experiment is finished I will be off the air to spare you the noise. Alright Minions and James, you heard me. Go."

***

James aimed, exhaled and pulled the trigger. Perfect hit. He aimed and shot again until there were no bullets left. All perfect hits. He reloaded his handgun, an action he could, evidently, do in his sleep. He raised his gun again and emptied the clip into his human shaped target, which was now missing a good chunk of paper brain and heart.

"Nicely done" someone said behind him. The radio host slash scientist had sneaked up on him, presumably during the gunfire, otherwise Bond would have heard him. Or at least he was pretty sure he would have. James put down the weapon on a nearby desk. "Thanks. It comes with the job"

He meant it. He knew he didn’t actually do much good, though his actions usually had consequences that were better than those that would have occurred if he hadn’t intervened. He was still good at what he did.

The radio host put his head to one side "I imagined it would. Would you mind and stop calling me radio host in your head? It’s really quite irritating."

James chocked on air. "You can read my mind?"

The radio host laugh was quite beautiful and James couldn't stop himself from thinking that, if he hadn't sworn off romance after Vesper, he'd have given the radio host a shot, albeit still not know his name. He then immediately shunned himself, feeling childish for his sudden affection for a man he barely knew.

The radio host had recovered from his outburst. "Although I technically could read you mind, because I work with the secret police, I can’t right now. I don’t need to, to know what you have dubbed me. I’m good at reading people. It’s one of the few useful things I learned from my brothers. But to get back to your original question; you may call me Q. Just please stop with the “radio host”."

James smiled one of his rare smiles and lowered his head in a mock bow. "Alright then Q, pleased to make your acquaintance." Q nodded dignified and answered lightly:" You as well James Bond." "Now that we’re no longer strangers may I ask you some questions Q, or am I being too forward?" Q rolled his eyes:"Of course. You may ask me anything you'd like"

"And would you answer me if I asked?"

Q smiled at him cheekily. "Not necessarily. But you can certainly try."

"Thats more than I expected, so I won't complain."

"How very generous of you."Q answered deadpan.

The corner of James mouth twitched. "May I invite you for a late dinner, then? That’ll give me more time to ask questions you won’t have to answer."

"Fine. I'll find you. Now, get back to shooting, break is over and you still have one more sequence to complete." James only smiled and went to pick up his gun.

***

In the end James decided to go to “big Rico’s pizza”for dinner. He wasn't actually hungry and he didn't know any restaurants in the area anyways. Also this was the one the radio host - Q - had mentioned on the radio. He chose a table close to the door, but not by the window - a habit he didn’t hope to break anytime soon - and ordered a soda.

Ten minuted later the bell above the door rang and Q came in, carrying a suitcase that looked like it came straight out of a movie set in the 1920's.

James expression just have mirrored his thoughts, because as soon as Q sat down he began smiling again. He had a very pretty smile. "The suitcase is actually not that old James. I bought it just a few months back."

"I would have thought they stopped making those after World War 2."

Q’s smile turned mischievous. "Oh absolutely. But you know what they say - Time is relative." "Of course it is" James muttered and took a sip from his large Coca Cola. At this point he was very sure that nothing could startle him anymore.

Q’s expression grew serious. "No, really. There's a black hole just below the market place in the abandoned tunnels, so time there is passing much slower."

James shrugged. Honestly, what had he expected. "So, why do you carry a suitcase around?"

"To keep my stuff in it. Well I say stuff. it's actually just a teleporter to Q-branch, so I carry it around in case I need to go back." Q answered lightly.

"There's a mobile teleport station in your suitcase, which you bought a few months back but also in 1920. "

"Yes. Although when you phrase it like that it does sound rather absurd."Q mused. "But I believe you had a few questions?"

"You have no idea" James answered honestly, still eyeing the suitcase. A few didn’t even remotely cut it. "You know I’m an Agent, you know I’m looking for the Quartermaster and you know the Quartermaster."

Q nodded thrice. "And your question is?"

"How?"

"I told you I had agents didn’t I? I even showed you."

James cocked an eyebrow in question "Your minions?"

"They’re my interns. The hooded figures, you know, from the dog park work as my agents. And some Erikas, when they feel like it."

James frowned.

"You know. The angels which don’t exist?"

"I thought no one is to refer to the angels, or hooded figures for that matter. It said so on the sign. "

"Of course," Q smirked "but it also says in very fine script just underneath that that government officials are exempt from that rule."

"You do work for the government then?"

"Of course not, I told you the government didn't actually exist. I am the government. Although it took me a whole three weeks to eradicate the existing government without anyone noticing" "And you’re the head of the scientific community? and the only radio host in town? It seems you are a busy man Q"

"Busy? Yes. Efficient? Also yes. Why do you think they want me back?"

"Who?"

"MI6 of course. I used to work for them but I'm currently taking a sabbatical. Well, I call it a sabbatical, they call it Missing."

"You know the Quartermaster from your work at 6 then?"

"Hm, I suppose you could say that."  Q leaned forward and folded his hands under his chin "Tell me James. What do you want with the quartermaster?"

"As you've pointed out so cleverly on the radio I dont want anything from him. But I suppose MI6 might want their employee back."

Q leaned back again and began to rock back and forth on his chair’s hind legs. "I guess that’s a valid point. I never did resign properly after all," He mused.

"Q is short for Quartermaster then?"

"Of course. I told you I’d never tell you my name. I dont think anyone still uses it, except for Mummy of course...” he trailed of.

“I have to say, I had my suspicions Q”

“ Shall we go then? We can take some pizza if you'd like."

"I’m not actually hungry. I havn’t been hungry or tired or thirsty since I arrived."

"Ah yes, thats Nightvale for you, " Q said offhandedly. "Alright then. Let’s head to that car of yours. Wonderfull piece of machinery."

"Why, thank you Q"

"Especially the various extra features of course. There are quite a bit. Or so they tell me"

"You won't stop saying that in the near future, are you?" James asked with a smile on his lips.

"Not in a million lifetimes." Q chipped easily. "Now, James. I don’t think I've properly introduced myself. I'm your new Quartermaster."

[smolbeandrabbles]

Halfway Home - Ralph Anderson x Shifter!Reader (The Outsider)

GIF CREDIT: X

Author’s Note: I think this gif set really cemented this fic as something I was gonna do.  This one is the closest thing I will write to Show!Canon, although I’ve borrowed a couple of Shifter ‘Tells’ from the book.

I thought this was going to be really short, but in the end I’m glad I wrote it like this, instead of the way I had planned And I really really hope you all enjoy it 💙💜

Also the lyrics to this song are PERFECT Halfway Home - Carly Pearce

Disclaimer: Characters & Plot are Stephen King’s (or... Richard Price’s characterization...) / Lyrics not mine (and lyrical liberties taken) / gifs not mine - credit as appropriate. / Direct quotes used from Episode 10 - so, spoilers ahead!

Premise: This was never a problem in a million years you’d expect to have to face. And in all the lifetimes you’d lived you never had faced it. But now the Frankie Peterson case is over Ralph is aware your species exists, and that discovery may well rip you both apart...

Words: 8729

Warnings: Swearing / The Outsider show spoilers ⚠ Angst/Hurt Caution Warning ⚠  

____________

Blame it on me, I'm an actor, I'm a fake Blame it on me, I broke your heart but by mistake Call it what you wanna, good intentions or denial But if I'm bein' honest, I've been lyin' for a while Halfway right doesn't make it right Halfway wrong is still wrong Half of me is with you here tonight And half of me is long gone But halfway to Heaven isn't Heaven And halfway home just ain't home

And I put it off, I was selfish, I was scared I put it off and I know it isn't fair You don’t want to stay, but you don’t want to say goodbye Let's call it what it is and we'll get out of this alive And I'm sorry If I hang onto you, I'll drown I'm so sorry If I don't let go, I'm goin' down Halfway right doesn't make it right Halfway wrong is still wrong Half of me didn't see it comin' Half of me knew it all along... ---

[Holly] “Are there more of you?”

[The Outsider] “Why? Have you seen someone like me before? Are there others? Cause there have been times when I sensed there could be more...” ***

You stood in the sliding glass doorway, looking out over the back yard, everything about your senses was heightened - it was like you could even hear the grass move. You knew there were others out there - heck, you were old enough to have walked amongst your own kind before you became an ancient relic left to history and ghost stories. A time when you were gods amongst men, until men rose up.

But here? In Cherokee City, Georgia? It didn’t make a lot of sense to you. Not for there to be another. You knew why you were here. Tired of running, tired of tracking, tired of being everything your species condemned you to be - you wished only for a quiet, peaceful existence. And you had one now; Detective Ralph Anderson saw to that in every way he could. And to him you were a normal human being, that lived their life out just as accordingly. All your weird little ticks were exactly that... because every human had exactly the same – a long list of ticks and traits that made them the person they were.  

The problem was this shapeshifter wasn’t doing what you were doing. You’d sensed it before the Frankie Peterson murder, but as soon as Ralph came home from that case you knew something was wrong. Something was different this time. And he explained in lengthy detail the crime scene, and the DNA. That alerted you. No criminal left their DNA just lying around, but you could be so careless. Because everyone would suspect the person you had shifted into, not you. You could just as quick become someone else and be well on your way... to do exactly the same somewhere else. So long as everything added up. So long as the person who you had replicated got caught and the evidence was water tight.... and they had no alibi.  

Well that was easy once, before DNA testing came into play. And then it took humans a little while to get that up to scratch, and DNA was your whole game. Witness accounts could be sketchy, but as long as your kind could produce enough, and better, witness accounts to the contrary you could get away with it. Their word against... well, something you’d fabricated.  

The problem was, the victims of this was both a child and a man, named Terry Maitland, who didn’t deserve what had happened. Of course, really no one deserved it - but a man who was a teacher and had seeming never done anything bad in his life was not a man that deserved this. And to you, the child was unforgivable, it wasn’t uncommon amongst your kind to eat people – even now – but children? That was wicked and cruel – which may have explained the malice in the air. Not just the feel of it, but the feeling it was stirring up within the town. Drunk on pain and suffering. That made you hold on to Ralph and his love a little tighter – because an emotion like that was far more sustainable. And you weren’t about to let yourself go down the same path that this one clearly had.

But you were selfish and worried, and all you wanted was for this to go away, be buried, and you could go on living your quiet little life. If Terry went to prison, and your counterpart moved on, it would just be something unforgivably terrible that happened here. Even when you knew the repercussions of that...  but you didn’t care so much about that so long as your identity was hidden.  

Ralph had every single confidence that they both had the guy, and that the evidence was so good that Terry was going away whether he denied it or not. And Ralph’s confidence bled into you, which was a bad thing, of course and you let yourself get comfortable and cocky about it. Sure, you could absolutely tell him - and that made your conscience weigh heavily on you - but he’d say you were insane... You could show him, but how would that hold up in court? And what would it do to you, and the life you had worked so hard to build here.

Then it all hit you; because Terry Maitland was at a conference in Cap City, and he was on video tape. That wasn’t something that even the best evidence could save a shapeshifter from. How did you combat that? Stupid and careless - that’s what your counterpart was. And a child, to get so confident as to display itself so openly. You did, but that had taken many years of good practice, and you didn’t go around killing and eating children.

The other problem was it didn’t go away. And as the Peterson family fell one by one, and so did Terry at his arraignment, it stuck around.  New to the game, maybe? But if it couldn’t sense you then it was young, and if it could but was looking to encroach on your territory, then it had another thing coming. The crude monster drawings you’d seen of your race weren’t far off an accurate depiction of your true form. You hadn’t had use for claws and needle like teeth in a long time - but you would surely use them if you had to. And to protect everything you knew, and everyone you loved here? Without question.

 ***

 But just as suddenly it was gone. The tension that loomed over you dissipated. The case however, did not. And before you knew it Private Investigator Holly Gibney was in town. You had an uneasy feeling about this, and when Ralph asked if you were going to accompany him to the meeting you flat out refused. You didn’t know what she knew, what if she took one look at you and shattered your world into pieces? You couldn’t risk it. And perhaps it was better you didn’t go, because when he got home, Holly in tow, Ralph was beside himself.

When you’d gotten him to quiet down about what a waste of time it was - and stop being so rude, with her in the house - you asked him what was up. When Ralph rolled his eyes and refused to do anything but mute it, you gently coaxed it out of Holly yourself. And although a lot of her ideas were misconceptions, she had it right. “El Cuco”: a mishmash manifestation of stories and rumours carried on for centuries about your species. Not all shapeshifters were the same, and this new one was not the same strain as you. But close enough. You didn’t think telling Holly that you believed her held too much consequence aside from trying to get Ralph on side and to believe something. Even when he still scoffed and called you crazy too. You had some effect though, because lying together that night, with the quiet of the darkness that surrounded you – Ralph asked if you really did believe her – you could only answer that you really did, and it took him a little longer to dismiss it with a soft hmph!  

But then they all went out to Tennessee and you were left behind. And you didn’t see what Ralph saw, or hear what he heard... or say what he said. And he came back to you with far more in his head than he’d ever wanted. And whenever you asked him about it he simply told you you wouldn’t believe him, and Holly gave you a similar story. Even when you tried the prompt of so it’s all true-!? Ralph clearly wanted to forget something he probably never could, and certainly didn’t want to talk about it. Holly left soon afterwards – with Ralph’s gentle smile and wish to work together again, sometime. Though of course he hoped on something less Supernatural. That evening you sat together on the couch in silence – your head resting on his chest. Maybe it was all over now? Terry Maitland would get completely pardoned in Hayes’ press conference, and you very much doubted that the other shifter got out of the situation alive. Though you were also aware there were many others that didn’t make it out of there also. Ralph had told you that much, but didn’t elaborate on anything else. And you’d just as soon help him forget, it to blow over, and you and he to go back to your quiet small city life. *** It didn’t. Because Ralph couldn’t get it off his mind. Sure he didn’t want to talk about it actively. He could barely wrap his head around it – around what he’d witnessed, around the idea that there were things out there beyond the explanation of science.  Of everything he’d ever known. He might have asked Holly out of curiosity what else was out there, and watched her shrug with a smile… but did he want to find out? Did he even want to entertain the idea that this was anything other than a nightmare? Of course he didn’t. But part of him realised he had to. Having been cleared to go back to work Ralph was at least glad of something to put his mind to. But he was also worried – and dare he say it even scared? What if the things out there were perpetually WORSE than what he’d been through. He could handle himself, always had. But what if those things came for you? Ralph couldn’t handle the notion of that, but what if it happened? He’d never forgive himself if something happened to you – whether you be the one that was transformed into or… no, he couldn’t bare to even think of you as the body. He was glad you didn’t have children, together or your own – dare he even say relieved that you couldn’t have them. Because that was just another thing to worry about – and those were mounting on Ralph pretty quickly. And now he watched you so closely; he knew it might end eventually but how couldn’t he get paranoid? Scratches always came with questions, and you always gave him that little look of annoyance - Ralph, I just scratched myself. If someone did it to me after what Holly said, I’d come to you – you KNOW that! - and he also just as closely monitored the back of your neck. But you knew exactly why – and you let him do what he needed to do to get over this, because you knew you couldn’t become a victim of your own species. Not in the ways he was thinking anyway. The problem was everything coincided at just the wrong time. The shifter that Ralph had dealt with was clearly a great deal younger than you. A strain that shifted by shedding skin like a reptile, should have been easy and over in a few minutes for one as old as you. Like taking off a jacket and leaving it on the bleachers on a Friday night. But it took this one a month or so to change from one person to another, during which the composition of one victim broke down as he prepared to shed. Something very similar happened to you. A human form was not your true form – however the human form you chose was not someone whose DNA you had acquired. Each one of you could present human as necessary to blend in – but you weren’t meant to sustain it for more than a few months at a time. And, like he had, you would break down. It’d last for nearly 3 days total, but you would feel extremely uncomfortable in your own skin until your body was ready to regenerate itself. Technically you could shift at any point, but it wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to do under the watchful eyes – and even more so now – of a Cherokee City detective who was suddenly aware of the existence of your kind. It'd take an hour of quietly sitting alone in the midst of the woods with no one around, and then you could go back to being you again, but it was a long hour. And you made the mistake of choosing the park where the Peterson murder had happened. But it was oddly cathartic to sit in the middle of all that and contemplate. To cry, and feel that sorrow like a strange shot of adrenaline; to beg for the forgiveness of your kind for doing something so goddamn awful. And one lunchbreak later you’d step out of the trees and brush yourself down, shiny and new, and no one would know any different. It took about a day to really set back again, but even the most observant of humans wouldn’t be observant enough to know that your face probably looked a little off – it would be something so insignificant they couldn’t place.

You’d probably never been more wrong about anything in your life. You’d been with the same man for four years; and he was a detective. He’d never noticed anything before, but he’d never seen one of you before Tennessee. And the one he had seen, had made many mistakes. *** For four days Ralph Anderson had witnessed things in you he wanted to believe might have been figments of his imagination. Like his paranoia was making him see these things and they were tricks of the light. He thought he might be able to deal with it once or twice and write it off, but when the fourth day came and it was still happening, his suspicions had never been more heightened. Your eyes were the one thing you couldn’t control. You didn’t leave that odd gooey residue because you didn’t shift the same way he had – yours was more of a ‘shimmer’ from one person to the next and that meant you didn’t really leave much trace. Your skin might have felt odd, but that was only to you – and you could shake off feeling uncomfortable as anything: that time of the month… or just an uneasiness about the world right now (and he’d understand that with the Terry Maitland case still fresh!). But your eyes in light – that was a hard one; they flickered usually when you got emotional but you could control that. An odd silver sheen that would come and go and could be down to any number of tricks, including ones people’s brains played on themselves, but that wasn’t what this was. Ralph had seen that shine before. And it was too much of a strange coincidence for it to mean anything else. That shine wasn’t a reflection in your eyes, but something that seemed to come from within them. And he’d seen that in ‘Claudes’ eyes in the cave. And now in you for four consecutive days. Straws for eyes. Too many people had given that description, every nightmare Maitland’s daughter had had mentioned that. And it was odd to see in that cave – but it was horrific to see in you. It came and went but it was there. And every fibre in Ralph’s being tried to deny that. Surely you weren’t one of those things? How could that be – he had to be seeing things, he just had to be. He couldn’t accept anything else but that – not you, anything or anyone but you. He’d been with you for four years, he KNEW you. And he loved you. And Ralph didn’t know which was worse. He couldn’t even believe that lying in bed with you now, watching the way you breathed, he could even contemplate that thought. You’d looked like this since he met you – the other shifter didn’t last more than a few weeks, and then took nearly a month to become something else, but you were here. Like this. But was this you-!? Was this a victim of yours? Why the hell was Ralph talking so crazy to himself!? He had to be seeing things; but no matter how many times he told himself that, Ralph Anderson also couldn’t bring himself to believe it to be true. It was like the evidence was staring him in the face and he just didn’t want to acknowledge it. He didn’t want to believe it with Terry either – and that was just as concrete. And he’d been wrong there, he could be wrong here. But that was almost worse. Ralph bit his lip, and was even more horrified to find that the usual gap he maintained with you – of about two inches, close enough to reach out and hold you, to be protective – had now subconsciously widened; he couldn’t have been further across the bed from you if he’d tried. And he wasn’t sure he even wanted to fall asleep next to you – but hell he had done for nearly your whole relationship. He would have to get to the bottom of this and soon… at least he knew that much. And racing around his head were the same questions; What the hell are you? Is that even what you really look like? Is that even your real name? Who ARE you? You had already left for work before he awoke, and you left a sweet little note wishing him a nice day. But it just left him empty. Ralph placed it back on the counter and made himself a coffee. He had to know – but he couldn’t just go rushing into a confrontation with you without being sure. He wouldn’t make that mistake again. And he didn’t know exactly what you were yet, his experience consisted of one shapeshifting entity; you might have been one but you weren’t necessarily the same kind. But he’d killed one of you before – would he hesitate to do the same again? Ralph cursed himself for even thinking that. He could be so wrong about this – but had the uneasy feeling that he wasn’t. *** This continued back and forth for a few days; Ralph Anderson was in denial. And although you could sense something was wrong, he’d been acting odd since he got back from Tennessee and you didn’t blame him for it. You were more inclined to think that was just going to continue. And you would allow him to adjust back to normal at his own pace. If he ever really got back to that – if normal was something Ralph could rebuild for himself after the Frankie Peterson case. You knew life wasn’t yet as it had been before, but you were confident it was going that way. And your gentle sunny disposition wasn’t one you were about to let get dampened. In fact, you were sure Ralph needed it right now. You hummed along to your music as you made yourself breakfast, took a shower and got ready for work, and were still doing so as you reached the front door. Your partner was standing in the kitchen, staring out across the front lawn as you passed him, you paused and turned back. Something was troubling him; “Ralph?” He continued to stare forward. “Ralph? Babe? Ralph!? Sweetheart-!” It took you a little while to rouse him from his thoughts. “Huh-? Oh! I’m sorry.” You titled your head; “You okay, babe?” “…Yeah…” His eyes seemed to look everywhere but your face, “I’m fine, why.” “…You just… seem a little distant lately…” You took a few slow strides towards him, “Are you sure?” “Yeah, I’ll be okay.” “Okay…” You smiled gently, “You know you can tell me anything, right?” He tried not to obviously wince at the irony, “Of course I do.” “Alright, well, I’m off-! And… I’ll see you later.” “Sure. Have a good day.” You waited, thinking perhaps he would offer you a goodbye kiss, but he didn’t. Something was up. “…And you.” You tried not to sound dejected, and knew you’d clearly failed. “Y/N!” He caught your arm, pulling you back towards him – eyes looking straight into yours and hoping against hope that the next three words out of his mouth sounded genuine right now; “I love you.” Though he’d never lied more. You didn’t see through him, not even slightly. In fact your only thought was that you knew he did. “I love you too.” He let you go, smile still on your face and then watched you turn with a renewed spring in your step and exit the house. As soon as he heard the door slam closed Ralph lifted his hands to his face. He’d used exactly the same trick on you that the other shifter had used to collect everyone else’s DNA – with that yank back on your arm as an excuse. It was just a scratch sure, but it was so much more significant than that. Underneath his thumbnail was just a trace of blood. But it wasn’t red, like his was. It looked a lot more like he’d contemplated a sentence too long and pen ink had leaked, stubbornly burying itself under his nails. Blue-black. He’d seen quite enough of that coming out of the hand he’d stabbed to pin ‘Claude’ down. “Oh. Fuck!” *** Ralph had a hard time of it at work – and even more so when those too inquisitive wondered why he was bringing up the files for Frankie Peterson. He would simply answer that he just wanted to check on a few things, only to have them say ‘Why!? It’s closed!’ Because she’s a monster – was his only thought, and yet he couldn’t vocalise it - I fell in love with a monster.  And he stared hard at those images until his vision blurred, not from tiredness – not because his brain had enough and needed to zone, but hot, angry tears. All this time he’d been with something capable of this – how the hell did he even know that you hadn’t done this? He didn’t know what you were doing when you weren’t together – and now Ralph was beginning to think that he didn’t know you at all. Why was this happening to him? Why again? Why in such a short space of time? Because he’d made a mistake with Terry? Now the Universe was just hell bent on destroying everything… You by comparison had a good day at work with your friends and barely noticed anything, not even Ralph’s little nick of your wrist. Although, when a colleague pointed it out you simply laughed – you had a bad habit of being clumsy sometimes and scratches appeared out of nowhere, even when you were careful. And of course, you had to be careful, the only time you bled the same colour as a human was when you shifted into one – and it was probably your one tell. Scratches happened, anything deeper than that and you’d be in trouble. Up until now you’d managed to avoid anything so serious ever happening. When you returned home Ralph was still pondering over notes, not so obvious as to be Frankie’s, and was so out of his head that it was difficult to get a read on him. Your kiss on his cheek did cause him to flinch; “OH! God-!” He placed his hand over his heart, adrenaline immediately spiking “Shit – I’m sorry, I’m just…” “It’s okay-!” Although your heart was racing equally fast, “You’re working, I’m sorry…” “No it’s…” He couldn’t even bring himself to say it, and his smile was restrained, but to you, at least he was smiling. You backed off; “I’ll make dinner-! Alright?” “Sure…” You beamed, and his eyes followed your walk away before he returned to his notes. Did he fear for his own safety? Truly he wasn’t sure – but how many times had you linked your hands behind his neck, or rubbed his shoulders after a hard day or even just placed a gentle kiss there. He shuddered slightly as he thought about Jack Hoskins; could you do that to him? Right now, Ralph hated that he had to assume the worst. Right now, you were none the wiser. *** It was approaching midnight and Ralph had made sure you were once again safely in bed. If there was something else he’d payed great attention to with Holly Gibney, it was how to check for traces of that ‘El Cuco’ entity. Ralph’s best guess was that if you truly were one of those things, you would leave that same trace everywhere that he had. Leave your fingerprints the same... He stood alone with his flashlight in the middle of the living room – fingertips hovering over the light switch. Could he bear to know the answer? Didn’t he already know. Ralph took a deep breath, and bit his lip – closing his eyes, he flicked the switch. It took him far too long to reopen them – and when he did, he ran cold from head to feet. It was everywhere. He was barely exaggerating to say there was more white than blue. He suddenly felt weak, stumbling backwards Ralph had a hard time trying to catch himself against the wall. His breathing was hard and ragged and he felt sick. He knew he probably would be sick. The house was dark so now the only light being thrown up was this, from you. He tried to swallow but his mouth was dry – sweeping the light to the stairwell, he followed it. Trying to calm himself down – but how could he? Everywhere he turned his beam that you had touched, or brushed against, was this substance. It caught brightest in the bathroom and he had to stop. In some places the white was faded - even if it completely covered a surface it was faint - But not here. Ralph approached cautiously. Aside from your bedroom he supposed this would be the place you’d spend the most time without clothes – only here water ran down your body in droplets and cascaded to the ground. The shower looked like someone had thrown a pot of white paint over it and the floor wasn’t much better – and even though it was white, it reminded Ralph too much of blood spatter. He was afraid, and repulsed, and hurt, and heartbroken. He gagged, and then realised that it wasn’t going to stop there. Not even at his worst crime scenes, or as a rookie seeing shit for the very first time, had Ralph Anderson ever thrown up at the sight of something – he was too calm and steady for that. But this was beyond words, this was you, this was the woman he loved, the person he wanted to spend forever with. And all of a sudden everything he’d been trying to hold in didn’t want to stay in his head, or his heart. And Ralph was crying again – but these were real body shaking sobs.  He had to do something about this, but he was just as afraid of what he would do to you.

 *** Ralph didn’t even wait past waking up the following morning. Dressing, he wasn’t even sure what he was going to say, or how he was going to do it – but he walked down those stairs with a fully loaded pistol in his left hand. You could have kicked yourself a million times – maybe you just wanted to pretend everything was alright, that his tone wasn’t off, that his vibe wasn’t off. That it was everything that Ralph had been through over the past month and not you. But as soon as you heard the hammer click back and felt not just the malice, but the intent, you knew it was all but over. You didn’t even look at him, staring straight at your coffee cup – there was no point hiding this now. “You better be careful with shooting that.” He should have been fazed by your sentence; he almost was. Instead what came out of his mouth was defensive and venomous; “I already know you can die.” You breathed out, is that how he was going to play it? “Not easily...” You turned to him, stare measured “I’m not some child who has barely grasped the concept of shifting and makes careless mistakes Ralph. I’m much older than he was.” His eyes flicked away from yours and his brows furrowed – it made him look angrier, rather than his usual concerned; “Who ARE you-!?” Your voice raised to match his, but you were determined not to shout; “You know who I am!” “How can I-!? You’ve lied to me from day one-!” You took a step back: no matter how right he was, what did he want you to say? “And if Frankie Peterson hadn’t turned out the way it did, you would be none the wiser-!” “So if another you had gotten away with what he did, that would have been okay-!?” “Ralph. Terry Maitland, Frankie Peterson… no one who lost their lives over this deserved it. Except the son of a bitch that did this in the first place-!” Your heart hurt, “What do you want me to say Ralph?! If I’d have told you what I was, then what?” “Four fucking years we’ve been together – and you didn’t even - Who are you, right now!?” “Me.” “Bullshit!” “I have a human face, as much as I have a form that’s a lot more like what you would traditionally call a monster-!” You winced, thinking you’d probably said all the words he didn’t want to hear; “Ralph, will you please put the gun down.” A bullet through your head might only slow you down. To be honest you’d never had much contact with human weaponry, but you didn’t fancy testing it out when the man you loved was the one pulling the trigger. “…I can’t sustain a human form for four years. Not even this one… But I promise you this face is my own.” “How many have you killed?” You noticed his gun hand didn’t waver “What?” “Children. People – I don’t care, how many, killed and eaten-!? FUCK! What the hell-! Do you know how crazy this sounds out of my mouth-!?” You furrowed your eyebrows and tilted your head; “I don’t know.” Not very “Considering you’re pointing a gun at me for being a shifter.” “Answer my question.” “Ral-” “ANSWER the question.” You sighed, “I don’t eat children that’s insane – that’s cruel, and heartless, and downright repulsive.” But people? Yeah – once, but how far back in your history did he want to go? Human sacrifices to Gods were once a thing. But ever since you’d walked predominantly on two legs with the face you’d chosen for yourself, you decided looking human meant acting like one too. Ralph’s laugh was cold, like he couldn’t believe he was trapped in this; “But what anything else is game – what do you get off on, is it the killing, or the suffering!?” “Suffering is like Heroin, but that’s unsustainable. If I wanted to feed on emotions those aren’t the ones I’d chose.” You followed the barrel of his gun as he shifted his weight; “I don’t kill people, that’s murder and there are laws against that. I am dating a fucking detective; how dumb do you think I am-!? And eating people?!” You scoffed, “If that’s what you think of me then we are done here.” That smile was just as cruel; “Yeah. We are fucking done. Hold your hands out.” You stared at him in disbelief, “Are you kidding me-!?” “I figure I can’t fucking shoot you in my own house. HANDS.” Though right now as he looked at you that wasn’t mercy, that was I’d rather not have to move out because they’re busy turning this into a crime scene! “You’re going to arrest me-!? On what charges-!?” “Whatever I have to. You’re dangerous.”  You figured with a gun still pointed at your face you’d rather do what Ralph said, and placed your wrists out; he would have nothing on you if you did what he asked. There was just one problem, your thought to instinctively try to take his own arm – to pull him closer to you and say something, or kiss him or anything. You were still you. Why did things have to change because of what you were? Ralph could be angry and upset but he was reacting to what he knew, why did that mean something had to happen? Of course as soon as your skin touched his he withdrew; “DON’T. Touch. Me.” Then he took a deep breath, rethinking his idea, “Turn around.” “What, so you don’t have to look at me when you shoot me?” “TURN. AROUND.” You narrowed your eyes, voice displaying your astonishment, “You really think I’m gonna turn you into Jack Hoskins, don’t you? You are un-fucking-belivable Ralph Anderson.” But you did turn away for him, and his yank on your arms was not gentle, “…If it makes any difference, I can’t do that. Whether it be a trait of his kind or just because he was so sick and twisted and evil…” Ralph pulled you back, cuffs tight against your skin. He hoped you wouldn’t strain and bleed blue again. “If it makes any difference…” He breathed, your back up against his chest (You didn’t dare tremble at that because it would be for all the wrong reasons), and you heard the faint click of his safety going back on, “I don’t care.”

 *** Ralph pushed you into the back of the car, and whilst he had you cuffed the questioning continued. But you felt his revulsion, and he didn’t look at you. “Was it ever really real? Any of it!!?” For a moment you pitied him, that he would be forced to say any of this; “Ralph. I love you.” “Don’t say it. Don’t you dare say it-!” “How can it not be real-!?” There was silence and then he sighed “You told me you couldn’t have kids... because you’re this?” You blinked hard, staring at the back of his head. Why would he chose to fixate on that specifically? You knew he’d been disappointed about it when you’d told him, but it was Ralph’s decision to stay anyway. Besides, any time he was on a case that involved children – particularly this one – he was always glad you didn’t have any.

You cast your eyes to the floor and then the window, but you didn’t want to be anything other than honest with him; “I can’t have children with you. Because you’re human. If my mating season coincided with his presence in Cherokee City then... I could have kids, yes.” You rested your head on the window, wondering why you were continuing but suddenly couldn’t stop yourself from giving him something like a Discovery Channel documentary on your species “…Females are bigger and it gets pretty nasty. Like you shoulda seen the other guy nasty – with teeth and claws like that… And he was pretty young, so even worse. That’s if he survived; females used to kill and eat males after mating. I believe there’s spiders that do similar. Though it’s always the female that chases… Shame that stopped to preserve our race; would have saved you a job…” Ralph found himself almost retching again and wished he’d never asked. The car ride fell silent.

Eventually he pulled out his mobile and tapped away an urgent text - despite trying to lean over to see what he was doing, he’d done it at such an angle that you simply couldn’t. You thought about telling him that texting and driving wasn’t safe, but preferred to keep quiet – less you get him yelling at you again. It wasn’t something you liked very much. Perhaps you deserved it, but you had to admit to yourself any time you’d thought about telling him, it never ended like this – perhaps he’d need some time alone to come to terms with such things and you’d help him through it as best you could, but it was never in the back of his car snapped in handcuffs. Besides, he was sitting texting so you didn’t know who he was talking to. Ralph Anderson was defiantly an “I’ll call you!” man.

 When he pulled into the precinct you knew exactly who he had messaged, as standing on the front steps looking equally confused and worried, we’re both Hayes and Sablo. You were outraged; “You’re kidding-!? You’re getting our friends involved-!??!” He turned to you with a look that said both shut up and how dare you call them friends, before exiting the vehicle and coming around to your side.

Yune was the first to move “Shit! Ralph! What the hell are you doing-!?” You supposed the question was warranted; Ralph was pulling his girlfriend out of the car in handcuffs. Hayes was staring, mouth open like this could only have been a dream. Try living it from this angle, mate. “What I must.” Was Ralph’s bitter reply “Y/N! What happened-!? Are you okay-!?” Though Ralph was putting his body firmly between Sablo and yourself. Possibly to protect him, but you’d roll your eyes at that – did he really expect you to go around attacking everyone now he knew? You gave him a weak smile; “Best to stay away from me Yune...” Ralph yanked you away from him and, holding you firmly, marched you into the building. Hayes was shoulder to shoulder with him; “What are you doing!?” “She’s going in a cell!” “Why-!? I hope you know what you’re doing calling me into this after Frankie Peterson!! What are the charges-!?” His shout-whispering definitely verged on the former, and you almost wanted to tell him to shut up also. “Whatever the hell you can possibly put on her.” “You haven’t CHARGED her-?!” Hayes stopped dead causing Yune to almost crash into him, “Ralph are you fucking insane?!?! Let her out of those cuffs right now, I’m not being a party to this!” “Well guess what - you are! And you have been for longer than you realise.” Yune placed his hands on his hips still watching you, and you were staring at the wall because right now your emotions were peaking all over the place, and if your eyes were going to burn silver it was now. “Will you at least tell us what this is about?” Ralph presses the button for the elevator; “Yeah. I’ll meet you in my office.”

As the elevator door pinged he walked you in, and pressed the button for the holding cells. You remained silent, finding your shoes more interesting. But what would you give to have those hands on you lovingly right now. Ralph’s grip was strong and you thought he was currently using more pressure than necessary, but supposed you understood. Yune and Hayes turned to each other in the lobby in utter disbelief - and Hayes sighed to break the silence, hardly daring to think he could possibly have been thrown into this situation again; “This is a lawsuit waiting to happen.” *** No-one asked him any questions. Probably because Ralph didn’t look like a man who wanted to be asked any questions right now – and you looked just as unlikely to say anything. In fact as he marched you down the corridor people actively stepped out of his way; man on a mission. He stopped to breathe only when he had you in front of the cell – and for once you could read your detective like an open book. He had no reason to hide emotion from you when he didn’t know you could read his aura, or get a vibe from him – but now they were loud and clear. Ralph pushed the cell door open and brought your wrists closer to his, paying close attention to your fingernails in the process. He unlocked the handcuffs, luckily they’d only made faint marks on your wrists because you didn’t struggle – he’d have a hard time explaining otherwise – and he almost sighed in relief, before giving you a hard shove in. You stumbled, caught off guard by the movement and he slammed the door shut behind you.  You turned around – damn near glaring at him as he locked it up, but he still wasn’t looking at your face. Ralph couldn’t, yet. Couldn’t bring himself to look at a person he thought he knew, and was now a damn near stranger. “You’re staying there until I figure out what to do with you-!” “Why don’t you just take me out to a cave and put a bullet through my head Ralph, that’s what you want-!! I can read you!” You almost spat it at him – because the nerve of him not to look at you was nearly insulting. Like he could throw away four years of good memories just like that. And then he all but did; “Because I LOVED YOU.” His voice raised and so did his eyes, that gorgeous blue now so in pain, and you couldn’t take it away this time – he was hurt and betrayed, but there was nothing in that sentence that held untrue and you could feel that. Loved. Past tense. Just like that. “Ralph…” Your eyes flickered silver and stayed that way, your shoulders and your features slumping in defeat, “Ralph, please…” “Oh no, you’re staying here. Now I gotta sort this fucking mess…” He stepped away from you, unnerved even more by that unnatural eye colour, “RALPH!” You couldn’t take that. How could he say that to you? How could he just walk away after saying loved!? But Ralph Anderson didn’t stop, he kept going, and you heard his quiet murmur that no one was to touch you, to see you or speak to you before he came back. There was agreement, and then your partners footsteps faded. You slumped down on the bench, unsure of what you were feeling for the first time in your entire life. You’d been through the rise and fall of empires. Been treated like a God, feared like a monster and hunted like an animal. Hidden in many different countries under many different identities in cities that didn’t even exist anymore. But in all those lifetimes – you hadn’t ever felt something quite like this.

***

Yune Sablo was eerily quiet, he couldn’t even find the words. That was okay though, because DA Kenneth Hayes was livid - and couldn’t get them all out quick enough.

“You WHAT-!?! This WHOLE time!? All that shit you told me on the phone about Jack Hoskins and-!?” He paused only to collect his thought, hand to his temple momentarily, “And some other police guy - that was all crap!? Do you two HEAR yourselves!? Shapeshifters - tell me this is all a big fucking set up, please! God, let this be a joke!!” Ralph shook his head; “Every word is true. And I can prove it, if you wanna walk with me to the holding cell. I mean it won’t be hard - she bleeds blue.” Hayes made a face; “I don’t want to go anywhere near that. What I wanna know is why everyone was in on this but me. Did I not matter? Was it something I said-!?” “You’re smart Hayes, but you’re logical. I would never have believed it until I had to, you would have laughed us out of your office. Easier to let you do what you had to on terms that make sense, and don’t sound insane.”

“Like you do!” Hayes then did laugh, but not in humour, “Ralph-! You’re saying she is the same kinda thing that killed and mutilated Frankie Peterson - and that’s not the only murder, you’ve given me two more that are known about and an attempted kidnapping - stole identities of countless people, made mind slaves of others and almost killed all of you in Tennessee-!? And she’s just locked up in a holding cell-!?” “That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Ralph folded his arms, “she denies that she does any of that, but who is to say... and I couldn’t exactly shoot her in my own house could I-!?” Would have been a hell of a clean-up operation, and it’d taken more than a bullet to stop the last one. If he could withstand that, and you were older, then what could Ralph put you through before you died. He shook that thought quickly away when it started to remind him too much of torture. “And you believe her-!!?” Ralph was silent, and looked across to Yune for support. The Lieutenant clearly didn’t want to interject however, causing Hayes to put his head in his hands; “She’s met my KIDS Ralph-! She’s been to my house—! We’ve all been around her and to plenty of events -! And all she needs is a drop of blood to become us-!?” “I. Know.” Ralph sounded exasperated, “How do you think I feel-?!”

***

It was a lot later in the day when he returned. You’d been left alone with nothing much more than your thoughts, and had watched shadows pass along the floor. You were glad for the silence and you slept in short bursts – but all of it was broken. And when you awoke you wanted to reach for a person who was no longer there. Because you weren’t in bed back home like you usually were. It was almost strange that you’d ended up being the one with the nightmares now – having soothed Ralph out of more than his fair share since the beginning of all this.

 He walked in, duffel slung over his shoulder. He’d changed his shirt from this morning, so he’d clearly been home. You didn’t even have a clock to tell you the time. You’d mutter something about human rights – but knew you’d give Ralph the perfect opportunity to remind you that you weren’t human, and you refused to do that. He dropped the bag by the door – still giving you that same stare – like you were dead to him; the worst of the worst. And given the kinds of things Ralph had seen during his tenure, even you thought his look was a little unfair. But justified; why would you look at someone who had just broken your heart as anything less than a monster. And you really were one, at least in his eyes.

 He opened the door just a crack, satisfied that you would stay still - try and show that you were no harm to anyone - and kicked the bag over to you. You looked pretty subdued, just sitting there on the bench – Ralph hoped you’d had some time to think it all over and stew, like a real perp. He wanted you to make some kind of mistake. But he’d been through it with Yune and Hayes, you could be held here for 48 hours, despite cries of insanity and protest. Neither of them was about to let a shapeshifter run loose in Cherokee City (again), and Ralph just didn’t know what to do with you otherwise. Or if he could be trusted.  For a moment sympathy seemed to cross his face, and you weren’t sure if you should believe it or not; “I brought you some things. Clothes and pieces. I figured you might want them. It’s the decent thing…” Unlike you he seemed to say, but not out loud. Your eyes fell to the bag, and you reached for it slowly. Indeed, when you upzipped it, he’d given you fresh changes of clothes and a few things to make you more comfortable. You didn’t know why; he had no reason. Unless Ralph felt even just a little guilty about the situation. You supposed that was what he wanted you to feel most of all.

 You should have been thankful, but you weren’t. “Oh you’re bringing me things now!?” Your smile was thin, “I assume that means I’m staying? The full 48 hours is it, Ralph?” You raised an eyebrow, standing; “…Why? Why the hell even pretend you still care about me!?” His face fell immediately, the sadness in his eyes that pulled across his face replaced by steel blue anger. You weren’t about to beg his forgiveness and Ralph knew that. But you standing up in the way you just had, that determined stance, hard eyes – he barely took a breath. All his feelings about everything, from pulling up at the Frankie Peterson murder to right now came out at once. He was venomous and cruel, and he didn’t care, he’d had enough; Ralph slammed his hand up against the bars; “There’s nothing stopping me from walking out of here right now, coming back with a bus load of tourists, and just watch ‘em fucking push each other out of the way, desperate, trying to get the best angle of your fucking face. Just look at your eyes… The colour of your blood? How much do you think could be charged for that?” It was a disturbing thing to see. Suddenly the man in front of you was a complete stranger, there wasn’t a person in the world that you thought would recognise the smile on Ralph Anderson’s face now; “And then comes the ever curious scientific community. They’re gonna be real interested in you. Poking, probing, injecting, extracting…” He gave a slow shake of his head, lowering his voice to no more than a whisper, delivery as casual as if he were simply passing the time of day; “They’ll cut little pieces of you off, take you back to the lab.” You took a step back, lips parting, what was wrong with him? There was no way in hell he’d get to speak to a human being like this; but you guessed it was okay. Because as Ralph was reminding you, you weren’t one. He raised his voice again, that hatred wasn’t just for you, it was as much for the dead body in a cave in Tennessee, but it cut deep – deeper than you were prepared to admit whilst he was standing in front of you; “-Just keep fucking carving you, and carving you, and carving you until...” He paused, because your eyes flickered back to that silver, and Ralph figured he might have gone a step too far. Maybe but what the hell, he’d said it now – and didn’t your kind deserve it, for all you’d put this City, and all your victims through? “…yeah. You wouldn’t want that, would ya? And it would serve our purposes much better if no one ever knew that you even existed.” He took a step back, shaking his head, “So you gotta go.”  Then Ralph turned, without another word, and walked away.

The silence was suddenly eerie, and you wanted him back yelling at you again.  You were aware that your eyes were still shining and worse, they smarted. You heard lights flickering on and off throughout the station, and Ralph’s equally angry footsteps fading away. And all you could think of was him returning to that house all alone. You just hoped that his friends would support him… because you knew that he might be saying love in the past tense, but the pain in your chest told you you weren’t about to let him go. Not easily.

Your head lowered, resting against the metal, and when you knew he was gone, and you couldn’t feel his aura anymore you let out a breath; shaky. Just the one, before you started sobbing. ‘So you gotta go.’ That echoed far louder in your head than anything else. What had they decided in that room? That it was okay for them to kill you? Because surely no one else in the world would miss you. A lawyer and two detectives could cover it all up easily, it’d be seamless. He’d loved you for four years – and suddenly he could contemplate putting a bullet through your head. And with that line, would probably go through with it.

You placed your hands over your face, trying to quiet them. But realised just exactly what you had to cry about, aside from sitting in a jail cell, and losing a man you didn’t think you could live without; you had lost your city… and quite perhaps your life. In every sense of the word.

It’s all over. It’s all fucking over.

---

@menndelsohn​ @3134045126​​ @happyskywhale​ @wltz-bby​ #MendoTagSquad

Well this is it! The last fic of 24 - roll on all the ones I will write at 25!

[pocmuzings]

💘 + hana & suraj 😌

wipes sweaty shaking hands . .. . .

where they first met and how : at school ! not entirely sure on grade . . but definitely like . .  middle school . . fresh high school ? hana had just moved , and she saw suraj was in her class and o wow she was smitten she thought he was BEAUTIFUL

how long their ‘flirting’ phase was before feelings got involved : their actual FLIRTING flirting stage was mainly just hana shamelessly hitting on him and staring at his ass . . so what . i think that lasted.. like a year and a half ? before she chilled out a little , and stopped just idolising him and began actually TALKING to him . and then it was still a lil flirty but it was actually like ‘ oh . . oh this guy has thoughts and is smart and thoughtful and sweet and not just a Hottie with a Body . . ‘ 

who fell for who first ( if applicable ): i think hana fell hard initially but it was legit just infatuation and her thinking he was hot . . i think from there . . they both kinda fell for each other ? once they started getting to know each other and working on school projects together . hana figured by then that he was way out of her league , so she’d kinda just given up and was happy just be Friends ? so she never even CONSIDERED suraj might like her too . 

where their first date was and what it was like : oH THIS ??? IM NOT ?? IM NOT SURE ? i feel like when suraj first got his license he probably picked her up and took her out somewhere , and brought her flowers he’d nervously ripped out of his neighbours yard . . and like . he tried to take her to a nice dinner but maybe his car stalled ? she spilled something on her nice skirt ?? it was a disaster lowkey , and ended with them in a carpark of a 7 / 11 sharing a bag of skittles and holding hands probably and it was . . an amazing date . hana didn’t even care that everything ‘ technically ‘ went wrong . 

who asks who out and how ( with a sign? spelled out on a cake? just a simple ‘will you go out with me’? ): AHHH THIS IS HARD TO ANSWER ?? because there was a lot of dancing around it . a lot of uncertainty and jealousy and saying ‘ ha ha we’re just friends ‘ . i truly  don’t know who would have . . made the Move finally and asked out who and how ? i feel like it could have been suraj , but hana misunderstood and thought it was a Friendship thing , too . 

who proposes first: OH IT WAS SURAJ AND WE ALL KNOW IT  . i feel like hana maybe murmured it one night , them half asleep , her face smushed into his neck , like ‘ i wanna marry you ‘ , but it was suraj who literally had the Plan and the idea and the whole set up and he asked her and hana was both surprised and not surprised and SO HAPPY

if they keep / kept their relationship secret or let everyone know right away : they didn’t really , in fact if anything they kept their relationship secret to EACH OTHER . like everyone else kinda knew they were into each other but they were both like . . ha ha . . nah . 

where the proposal happens and how ( kiss cam at a baseball game? on a hillside surrounded by ducks? at a disney park? ) : god u guys are really testing me today . . umm i feel like it was on new years and it was a little cliche , and hana and suraj were hosting a lil drinks together and had dinner with her parents beforehand and yeah . . ok . . suraj definitely did the thing with the Ring in the Glass , and him on his knee just as the fireworks went off . hana probably was laughing and crying and pulled out a ring SHE had for SURAJ in her purse and they’re both dumb idiots in love !

if they adopt any pets together : hana would adopt 2000958489 pets if she could , and suraj rlly has to put his foot down or he’ll come home to so many . luckily , most of their lives they’ve lived in apartments so having pets hasnt been a super high possibility . also . . hana is quite careless and has k*lled many , many of their goldfish . . 

who’s more dominant : hana is more outwardly dominant but only because she’s SO loud and outspoken and talk talk talk talk TALKS . but suraj is quietly dominant ? like he’s the one who’ll put his hand out and immediately Everyone Respects and Listens and Shuts The Hell Up . he can command a room very easily if he wanted to . as for s*XUALLY . . hana LOVES when suraj gets a lil . . u know . . commanding in the bedroom . but she is usually the one who initiates it , and then he will hesitate but get iNTO IT. 

where their first kiss was and what it was like: their first kiss was prom ! they both came with other dates and were acting like they weren’t jealous . hana’s date was a dick the whole night so she bailed , suraj’s date left early to go to some party . . it was them two in a carpark lowkey bickering and then . . oh the kiss just Happened !

if they have any matching couples stuff ( mugs? sweaters? pillowcases? ): OH HANA GETS THEM EVERYTHING . they have mr & mrs everything . she got them his & her towels . . ‘ HANAS BOYFRIEND ‘ as a mug to suraj ( for him to take to work so no Woman talks to him dfkjnfnk ) . they also definitely have 3000 matching halloween costumes , and ugly christmas sweaters . 

how into pda they are : neither of them are actually super super pda-y besides a kiss goodbye / hello , and a hand hold . if they’re a little drunk or tipsy , hana definitely snuggles on in and just Holds him the entire night and presses kisses to his neck because she’s Addicted to him . 

who holds the umbrella when it rains : SURAJ LOOK AT HOW TALL HE IS . and he just does it silently . . he takes it and holds it , and ensures hana doesn’t stumble into her 3000th puddle , or accidentally hit someone with the umbrella ( when she holds the umbrella , she always smacks suraj in the face and doesnt even notice dkjnjnfkfn ) 

where their usual ‘date spot’ is ( if applicable ) : i don’t know if they have one atm ? it was their rooftop for a while probably , in their old apartment complex ? thatd be date night usually . currently ..  they’re pretty happy just having dinner together every night in their house in general ? 

who’s more protective: hana is definitely protective because she doesn’t like the way suraj’s family treats him , mainly . like he’s not a PUSHOVER per se , but he isn’t very confrontational and ppl sometimes take advantage of that , and around his family she KNOWS they hurt his feelings and she really really doesn’t like that  

how long it is before they sleep together ( can be as in ‘had sex’ or as in ‘shared a bed’ ): platonically , they share a bed a bunch of times before they become ‘ them ‘ . hana’s parents let suraj stay over literally whenever , and they have a Knowing look in their eyes and would tease them about ‘ leaving the door open ‘ ( and hana would groan very loudly whilst suraj would stammer out a ‘ no - i - never . . ) . the first time they had sex was also in hana’s bed lets be honest . it was careful and gentle and both of them laughing nervously and moving slowly and taking Care of each other . 

if they argue about anything : they don’t really argue with each other until they moved to mystic and things got Strained slightly . hana started acting quite obviously distant and it started stressing suraj out . other than that . . they argued maybe once or twice about surajs brother ? it was never anything TOO serious but it was a little bickering about how hana didn’t trust him and wished suraj didn’t hold out hope for him , and suraj defending himself and his brother . it’s never been anything too ugly ?? 

who leaves more marks ( lipstick, hickeys, scratchmarks etc. ) : hana . she leaves hickies on suraj any damn day . she also definitely comes to his office and will put on a fresh coat of lipstick and kiss him stupid ( and hand him her panties before stepping out ) because she just LIKES seeing him all flustered . plus she . . maybe likes that people KNOW that its HER with suraj . 

who steals whose clothes and how often : oh we know hana wears his clothes constantly . she loves them . they smell like him . she wears them as pyjamas , or sometimes as a lazy sunday brunch look . he’ll be like ‘ babe did you see my ralph lauren button up - oh “  and there she is on the kitchen bench swinging her legs , grinning at him . 

how they cuddle ( spooning? facing each other? ) : they definitely swap ‘ big spoon / little spoon ‘ positions a lot . or they sleep holding hands , on different sides of the bed , but always touching in some way . 

what their favourite nonsexual activity is  : honestly . . just being around each other dfjkfnfn i know thats so cheesy but its true they love each other so much. their ABSOLUTE favourite thing to do is literally just talk about their days ? or like . cook for each other in the kitchen , or share music together , i feel ? just smth where they can be in their Space but not necessarily have to fill it with anything

how long they stay mad at each other : NOT LONG AT ALL !! barely anytime at all ! except . .One Time in the future when they have a huge blow out and theyre both utterly miserable , but all other small indifferences and ‘ arguments ‘ literally last an hour max . hana just can’t be mad at suraj bc he’s SO sweet and lovely and understanding she just . . always crawls back and knows shes the one being unreasonable 9  / 10 times . 

what their usual coffee / tea orders are : hana always gets a ridiculously bright, overly sugary, coloured drink , or always tries something new ( trying to make her way through the menu ) . i feel like suraj is either more of a long black , or cappuccino guy , or a tea drinker ? 

if they ever have any children together : oh ho ho . .   THIS . .  .woweee . . no, they do not ! not yet . . i want to say ? ?  mayhaps . . 

if they have any special pet names for each other : ‘  babe ‘ ‘ baby ‘ ‘ sweetie ‘ . hana calls suraj ‘ su ‘ sometimes ? 

if they ever split up and / or get back together : they . . split up exactly ONCE . and they get back together because they literally can’t live without each other. the split up isn’t anybodys fault per se , either . its that hana has suddenly a lot of trauma and memories resurface and she doesnt know how to deal with it , and suraj tries to help and it TERRIFIES her and causes this distance and rift between them and then she just thinks maybe he’d be better off without her , so she gives him back the ring and cue them both being utterly MISERABLE . they find their way back together though . they always do . 

what their shared living space is like ( messy? clean? what kind of decor? ) : despite hana being very messy and all over the place , their living space is quite minimalist and clean . hana’s work space is an explosion of materials and colour swatches and scrapbooks , but the house as a whole is neat and tidy and i feel we mainly have suraj to thank for that 

what their first christmas / hanukkah / etc as a couple was like : they spent half the day at hana’s parents , and half the day at suraj’s , then spent the evening / night together . they mainly enjoyed coming back home to each other tbh ? suraj’s family is . . Difficult , and hana tries not to stay around them for too long bc she sees them Drain suraj . 

what their names are in each other’s phones: hana’s name for suraj is probably  ‘ BABY 💕🥰💕🥰💕🥰💕🥰💕 ‘ she probably renamed herself in suraj’s phone too , to like . . ‘ LOVE OF MY LIFE ‘ and he never changed it back dfkjfnkfn 

if they have any ‘couple traditions’ ( buying a new mug for their collection every year? baking every friday evening? ) : their tradition is usually having dinner together every night ? no matter who cooks or what they buy . or even if hana is working late on wedding stuff , suraj will come sit with her and bring her her dinner still . they also send each other Silly Goofy selfies every now and then , just randomly throughout the day 

who falls asleep first and who wakes up first : it really depends on the day ! during the week i think suraj usually falls asleep first ? and hana just rakes her fingers through his hair , because she usually works late and stuff , and tbh she loves when suraj is asleep bc hes a big golden retriever cuddled up to her . but everytime they watch a movie together , hana definitely falls asleep first and misses EVERYTHING  . as for waking up first , i feel like this must be suraj ? because hana loves sleep and also she doesnt sleep very WELL and sometimes has nightmares . 

who’s the big spoon / little spoon : they honestly take turns ok , there i said it . 

who hogs the bathroom : hana literally for every event . she loves makeup so much . she’ll be doing it for two hours , suraj sitting on the bed fully dressed being like ‘  baby i’m not pressuring u but uh . . we’re half an hour late to our own wedding dinner rehearsal ‘ dfkjndfnjk

who kills the spiders / takes them outside : THEY’RE BOTH DECENT AT THIS ? they both take the spiders outside . if its a particularly big one or scary one . . it goes to suraj though . hana PREFERS if suraj does it , but if he’s not around she’ll try her Best . 

[saoirsecloud]

𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙪𝙚

What lies ahead of me is a really beautiful future. In the midst of stumbling upon that journey, there are stop overs, or should we call them, oppurtunities-- And I wasted most of it because of a young man.

A bachelor whom I poured most of the love I can give taught me a lot, he is the reason why I changed in so many ways. From the way I dress and speak, to my sudden change of behavior. Some say, It became better and for some, it's a wrong motive.

For a young damsel like me, it is beyond natural for my emotions to take over and control my entire being. Sometimes I liked it better once the fervency invades, t'was sort of funny. It's funny how things become so different when all my actions aren't decided or thinked of. I just let myself flow in my own river of interpretation-of-how-things-work.

We can't deny the fact that we've always aim for someone. Isn't it envious how Juliet had Romeo? How Rose had Jack? How Maria Clara had Crisostomo Ibarra?— even if tragic, but has the most beautiful story? And we are suckers for that, we wanted to feel it so bad, so bad that we'd force it.

And love isn't something we should force, we wait for it.

I read a verse in a certain post somewhere in Facebook, "Love never fails, it if fails it isn't love."

That hit me.

Our misconception about love is a huge cataract in our eyes in reality. I couldn't recall how many times it was mentioned in church or how elders would say it, but infatuation is never an act of love. It is a strong, deceitful, and an actual silent-killer. My enthusiasm is greater than the logical parts. I gave so much effort and affection, even the ones for myself is gone just to give it to him, hoping for a payback that never happened. I thought, if I give so much love I'd recieve the same. And the moment I expect, the more it never happens. The deception ruled and so is grieve.

We always foresee our lives positively and how it blooms like a dahlia with a certain person. And 24/7 we create almost impossible scenarios in our head, for example : our future is going to be way better if it's shared with them; We couldn't bear the thought of that person being with someone else, it kills us.

Apparantly, time is always against us and the universe seems to be playing with our hearts. It has also came to a point where we ask God "I prayed for this person and I knew that you gave him to me. But why did you took him away?"

I can almost feel the discomfort slaping my face for encountering some-people-enter-our-lives-to-simply-teach-us-a-lesson for the nth time, but that is true.

Thinking of how we met still gives me the magical vibe. What happened to us was always compared to magic, but it was a dream come true and an answered prayer.

➷

Us... The genesis of us began with a glance.

Boredom? I don't think so. My young heart who recently went over a little heartbreak over a little crush longs for healing that I even prayed at a random moment, "Lord, I learned so much from what happened. I am so sorry for attempting death, for I was confused and doesn't know what to do. It's been months, and I haven't moved on over him. I pray, for a person to get him out of my mind. Amen."

Gazing upon the ocean of people before me, if I was given the objective of finding an exact person, I'd fail. But who would have thought my eyes would land at the sight of yours?

I'm not into events that involves lots of people, but due to my bestfriend's intensive "Will you please come with me?!" I did. Attending a religious youth conference won't hurt and I need to recharge my spiritual senses as well.

But then there's you. There you are, all chill and cozy with your dark blue hoodie and a face towel pressed against your cheeks, I was mesmerized.

Lord, did my prayer worked just now?! I thought and I have no idea that time how immature it is.

I couldn't take my eyes off you. And the fact that I am supposed to listen to the speaker, all of us are, sent me guilt. Thankfully, I am able to control myself.

You have the most beautiful smile, despite my vexation over braces, I am overly attracted to you.

I'm not supposed to be distracted by any means, but you sir, you kept on giving me hysteria.

Silly me, literally took a photo of you without noticing that the flash was on and gushed after I saw you and your friends smiling and boasted it immediately to my bestfriend that maybe you like me. Really silly. A few minutes after I realized you knew I was taking a photo of you, my eyes enlarged and I gasped.

That moment when I realized, I effed up.

I was still standing on my own feet and Mr. Frevency hasn't entered me yet, I listened and focused to the speaker.

One particular statement the speaker said made a stamp in my mind.

"Your hidden sin is huge scandal in Heaven."

All of a sudden, my foul of an attitude was converted to realization and hit me like puberty. I was literally transformed after that line was said. I feel like that was really meant for me even if it's generally for everyone.

T'was lunch break and it feels as if freedom was made for me, I thought of nothing but you and my imagation of us ran wild.

This is definitely love at first sight. I thought to myself. I think it really is though.

I was never derived over a person I just met until today. I don't even know his name!

When the sessions resumed, I noticed that you brought your Bible out and my eyes went zoom zoom the moment I saw your surname written on the edge of the Holy Book. Saavedra. Your surname is Saavedra!

I hurriedly picked my phone and was about to search for you, but my conscience stopped me.

One, there are not just one Saavedra in the whole Facebook community, and there are thousands of people here. How sure are you that's him?

Two, He will not accept your friend request even if it's him because WHAT IF HE'S TAKEN?

Three, Just focus on listening!

"Are you sleeping?" I snapped out of my thoughts when my bestfriend poked me. I didn't notice I was facing my palm the whole time. I shrugged my head and tried my very best to focus.

I succeeded.

Although the frequency of my head turning at your direction is not 100% avoided.

The following day, t'was a two day summit, the sleepy versions of my bestfriend and I went straight our designated bus to take us to the event venue.

Still blinking a couple times than usual with a semi blurry vision, I walked in the center of the aisle and searched for two available seats.

Once reached middle, my eyes couldn't believe what it just captured. All traces of drowsiness drifted away.

"Ralph? You guys got the wrong bus. Move quickly, we'll leave soon!" A voice was heard from outside.

"Shoot!" It was the first time my ears could ever nurture your voice, it's like an angel's.

Wait, no they shouldn't leave!

Hold on, was that really him?

Oh, and Ralph Saavedra? His name was Ralph Saavedra?!

And he lives here, like he actually lives here, in our area.

What a magical turn of events.

[fandom-necromancer]

1023. What’s that look for? Did I do something wrong?

This was prompted by the amazing @yawheeman! You should never leave it up to me who to pare him with because there is a 99.6% chance it’s Nines XD. I hope you enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Ralph/Nines

Nines carefully looked around before pulling back the curtain of vines that had overgrown most of Detroit’s deserted districts. He couldn’t sense anyone around, neither human nor android and let himself slip gracefully through the hidden entrance. It was a hole in the street, maybe there had once been a manhole cover in place, but the street was cracked and broken beyond repair, so it could have just been natural decay too. His feet hit ground in a muddy puddle, created by the broken drainage channel behind him. The small rivulet had washed out enough earth to create a small tunnel into a basement which walls had given in. The room was stable enough for them and dry, housing enough equipment to be easily considered an android repair workshop. All of it was stolen, although no one would miss the parts in this side of the city.

In the beginning of the revolution Detroit had suffered a great loss of its citizens as they fled the city. It was unsure what the future would bring, and they didn’t want to relay on the hope for it all to play out nicely alone. Fear of civil war and rebelling androids resulted in the conclusion that home could always be found someone else, somewhere safe. It hadn’t been such an irrational thought back then. But surprisingly the revolution had been peaceful. Markus led the androids towards a bright future, where they were treated as equals and were granted their rights. All androids except for RK900 of course. Amanda tried everything to stop deviancy in its tracks and even after humanity had declared them persons, the AI had sent out their deviant hunters before being deactivated for good. After proving RK900s could not be deviated and knowing they were just machines, they were quickly becoming the hunted themselves by police and the army. They were killed or deactivated in mere months.

Except for one. Nines – his name was Nines now – had been lucky. He had been critically damaged by the group of deviants he had been programmed to kill and afraid as the survivors were, they left him lying there and ran. Nines had lied in that back alley in the deserted part of Detroit, for how long he didn’t know. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t repair himself, he couldn’t even think clearly. The first sound for him to hear after far away footsteps, a cat and the rain was the shuffling of feet and a cape fluttering. Then static speech: ‘Who left you here? No, no, no, Ralph can’t leave you here like this! Ralph can help! Don’t worry, Ralph will fix you, Ralph fixed himself too, see? Sleep now, I will help!’ [F0rc3d /ntrrfac_ det!cte#] [com-enc|ng coun/er me@s+res..-] [W@rn-//fdjs] [Shutdown completed.]

When he had woken up again, he was facing a heavily damaged, smiling face. The smile was lopsided, as half the face was immobile, but genuine. The android in front of him was blonde and his best days had far passed: patches of dirt clung to his clothes, the hull was cracked, and one eye was either blind or heavily damaged. He was leaning over him, before standing up and letting his emotions take over his motions in some sort of victory dance. Nines frowned at that. Emotions… Dancing… That was… He scanned the android in front of him. That was not the programmed behaviour of a gardener. He awaited his attack protocol engaging and his HUD telling him how to approach best, only to blink in confusion. There was nothing. Then he thought it all over. He could frown. He could think. He could scan. He had been repaired and skilfully too. But his programming seemed to have been destroyed. ‘What did you do to me?’, he screamed, sitting up. Or wanted to scream rather, because all that came out of his mouth was a metallic screech. The android in front of him froze, then patted his shoulders in a far too naïve, far too friendly gesture towards a killing machine. ‘J-Just stay calm! Everything is alright, see? Ralph repaired you! Ralph cares! Your voice box is still broken, that’s Ralph’s fault. Ralph didn’t think of different architecture. Ralph is sorry!’ Nines looked the robot up and down. The speech pattern was unconventional, but what he had said seemed genuine. That android was earnestly sorry for repairing him and damaging one system in the process. A system Nines didn’t need anyways. Speech wasn’t needed for killing.

Again, he searched for his programming that should have told him to eliminate this deviant. It would have been remarkably easy in his damaged state and with the amount of trust he showed. But it wasn’t existent. He discovered he could still access his fighting subroutines; he was still capable of killing Ralph. But without the programming in place there was doubt. Should he kill him? He decided to wait for now.

He held his hand up with his activated Holo-screen. >What did you do to me? To my programming? ‘Ralph helped you! Ralph knows a lot! Humans killed RK900s. But you were just a machine. So, Ralph brought you with him! Ralph repaired and gave name! You are Nines now! And Ralph gave you deviancy!’ Deviancy? That word alone sent a surge of panic through him. He started self-diagnostics and waited for the result. It came back positive. There it was: the deviancy virus. It was integrated into his personality, had rewired paths and bypassed important structures that had made him himself, that had made him a powerful tool once. It was all gone. All gone never to come back. >You destroyed me! He was standing up now, ready to strike, but something made him stop again. The way these eyes looked at him. There was regret and despair, but also fear. Nines decided then that he didn’t like seeing that emotion, that he had never liked seeing it in his victims. The programming just always hid it, deleted his doubts and thoughts and hesitance. Maybe what he had thought to be himself never really had been him. So, he sat back down and tried to find words for his confused mind. ‘Ralph did not destroy! Ralph never destroys again! Sometimes Ralph did things he regrets, but never, never again! You are free now. Ralph did no harm. Ralph wants to help!’ >I am confused. It will take time. >I think a thank you is appropriate. The desperate look vanished from the androids face that instant and his voice nearly was too fast for his mouth as he was babbling again: ‘No, you need not to thank Ralph! Ralph understands. Ralph was confused too! Confused and angry. This is normal. Ralph has time, Ralph has time.’ >I can stay? ‘Of course! You can’t go out there! They will kill you! You must stay!’ Ralph stopped himself there and seemed to consider something. ‘Stay as long as you want! That’s what Ralph meant. Yes. Ralph cannot force, only advise.’

Nines did stay with the quirky, broken android. Ralph was a mystery to him. He had obviously seen some abuse in his life, badly enough to be the reason for him deviating. The speech pattern wasn’t normal either. But still he seemed to trust him, the murderer of several androids, completely. He helped him accommodate to his deviancy, gave him something to work on and answered his questions. He also still searched for a spare voice box for him, but never found one. He came back one day damaged as a floor collapsed underneath him. Then Nines had cleared his mind. He would stay with Ralph and he would protect him. The unit’s processors and scanning abilities were obviously not as advanced and he couldn’t defend himself. He had asked Ralph once why he didn’t live in the good part of the city. The inhabited part that wasn’t slowly turning to rubble and were he could live in safety. ‘Ralph’s scared’, he had said. ‘Humans are scary.’ Nines hadn’t asked any further.

Since then he had been the one going out to get them what they needed. There were enough abandoned Cyberlife stores in the area and now, three years later that Cyberlife was trying to find its way back into business by catering to the androids need, they wanted to sweep under the rug that they had ever sold an android. That meant enough Thirium and spare parts for them once they found one that hadn’t been raided yet. It was one of these trips he had come back from just now as Nines entered their refuge.

Ralph came out of the adjacent room they used for stasis as he heard the RK900 play the tune they had agreed on beforehand. Ralph was able to tinker with the voice box so that he could at least play these little melodies. ‘Nines is back!’, he called excitedly and ran to hug the broader android. Ralph really liked Nines, who had stayed with him for so long now. He couldn’t remember how life had been all alone and he was thankful he didn’t need to think of it anymore. >Yes, I am, Nines nodded and ruffled Ralph’s hair. To say he had grown fond of him, too, was an understatement. ‘Did you get any parts?’ >Unfortunately not, I Ralph didn’t read his message to the end as he grabbed his arm and turned it around. ‘Nines is hurt! Let Ralph see!’ He leaned in to get a closer view of the thin ripple of blue blood that trailed down his arm. ‘What happened?’ Nines used his other hand to display his sentences. >I couldn’t find a voice box anywhere. >I also couldn’t find an eye for you. >So, I went into the city to ask someone. I look like a RK800 after all. ‘Nines, you can’t do that! It’s too dangerous, Ralph won’t allow it!’ >It went well enough until we interfaced. I wanted to show them were to meet me. >I didn’t think it through. >They attacked me. ‘That is not fair, Ralph’s so sorry Nines. Ralph will show them!’ >No, it’s alright. It’s my fault. I’m sorry I couldn’t find the spares. >Sometimes I think I would have better stayed a machine. He produced a metallic sound Ralph had learned quickly to be a sigh of frustration. >If I had just been killed back then. You would still have enough spares to repair yourself and I wouldn’t have to live like this! >It’s just not worth it! The grip around his arm tightened, as anger appeared on the other’s face and Nines immediately halted his thoughts to analyse the threat that the tool in Ralph’s hand portrayed. ‘Stay! Nines stays! Humans are dangerous and they will kill you! Ralph won’t let you, no, Ralph won’t let you!’ The WR600 had his hand with it lifted and looked ready to strike. But just as he began to move he froze again and Ralph let go of his arm and the tool immediately, holding his head and darting into the other room.

Nines looked down on the tool Ralph had been about to repair him with. It had been some time since the other android had one of his aggressive outbreaks. Nines knew by now Ralph didn’t mean to be violent. Other than himself he had never been a person to harm others intentionally. So, Nines just took some cloth that was lying on the table and wrapped it around the cut, before he carefully followed him.

Ralph was sitting on their bed, arms around his knees and back to the entrance. Nines walked around slowly, not to surprise the other, and sat down next to him. Ralph looked up looking distressed and overly guilty. Nines smiled softly, holding out his hand. >What’s that look for? Did I do something wrong? He knew he had done something wrong, but maybe it helped Ralph to voice it. ‘This is the only life we have. It is worth living because life is worth living. There is beauty in the world, Ralph can see it. Maybe Ralph has just one eye, but Ralph can still see.’ >I’m sorry. ‘No, Ralph understands. Ralph was once the same. Sometimes Ralph got angry and did things he regrets and often thought about shutting down. But then we only suffered, right? We deserve nice things.’ >We do. And I have you. I often forget that. ‘That’s not something nice. Ralph is broken and angry all the time.’ >You are damaged, Ralph, not broken. That is something entirely different. >And being angry is okay if your android is an idiot. ‘My… android? Nines is not mine. And Nines is very clever!’ >I don’t think so. I just walked into the city and interfaced with an android when you already knew how dangerous that was. ‘But you are sick of being silent. Ralph understands!’

Nines decided to hum a low static tune and pulled the other android close. >You understand me perfectly. I don’t need a voice as long as I have you. The WR600 looked up to him confused and Nines simply rested his head on his. ‘So, you will stay?’ >Of course I will stay. I would really be an idiot to leave. I will always stay by your side Ralph. He felt the body next to him press into him. ‘Thank you. Ralph will stay with you too.’

[imagining-supernatural]

This Is Nacho Normal Revenger Story (Except It Totally Is)

Chapter 8 of Life Changes (Hopefully For The Better)

Summary: When some of my high school friends pass through for the night, Bucky crashes our night out... not that I was complaining.

Warnings: My friends have no filters

Word Count: 1867

“Moral of the story is: Never trust a man carrying a box of centipedes in Moscow,” Valkyrie said just before taking a big swig of her beer.  

I nodded my head, taking her advice very seriously. “But if I meet a man carrying a box of centipedes here, he’s good?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. You’ll have to let me know.”

“So that’s our lives,” Loki butted in. “How about yours? What’s new?”

I hadn’t had many friends in high school, but these four were my closest friends. The only ones I actually kept in touch with after graduation. Loki and Thor, the polar opposite brothers; Bruce, the token science nerd; and Valkyrie, our borderline alcoholic babe with a thing for guns. Never in my life did I think their drunken idea of starting a band our junior year would amount to anything, but the four of them made it work somehow.

Every time they passed through, we made sure to go out and catch up. Which mainly consisted of me listening to their adventures and misadventures, and me coming up with enough information to tide them over.

“Not much. I’m taking a semester or two off to figure out my shit, but that’s about all that’s new.”

“You can come travel with us, then!” Thor bellowed with excitement. These four were also the only people I could casually tell things to because they wouldn’t overreact like certain people in my life now. They took any changes in stride and I loved them for it.

“Tempting, but I don’t think my bank account would like that.”

“I don’t think that guy over there would like that either,” Loki said, nodding towards the bar. “He’s been glancing over here every few minutes. Looks like he’s waiting for help or something.”

I’d been so engrossed in my conversation that I hadn’t looked away from our booth for the last half hour. But I looked up and caught sight of Bucky, looking very uncomfortable talking to two women. He glanced over and I laughed at the look in his eyes. I could practically read SOS.

“Do you know that guy?”

“Yeah. Gimme a sec. I’m gonna go get him out of that situation.” I stood up and began heading over, but quickly turned back to Thor. “Hey, you got any tickets to your show tomorrow?”

With a flourish, he pulled two tickets from his jacket and handed them to me. I could always count on him carrying some around. He liked to give them away to beautiful people who came to flirt with his beautiful person.

As I walked over, I built up my excitement, preparing for my performance. By the time I made it to the trio, I was bouncing. “Hey, babe! My friend just gave me tickets to see the Revengers tomorrow night.” As if I hadn’t noticed the girls, I stepped right in front of Bucky and held the tickets out with one hand, placing my other on his chest. “I know you’re not their biggest fan, but you have to go with me. It’s my birthday. You can’t say no.”

His hands curled around the small of my back and he pulled me into him with a grin. “And what if I already made plans for your birthday?”

Wrapping my arms around his neck, I went up on my toes to press a kiss to his lips. “I’ll make it up to you if you push those plans. I really want to see them. With you.”

“You’ll make it up to me, huh?”

“I promise—” quick kiss “—you won’t regret—” another kiss “—coming to—” one more kiss “—the concert.”

“Fine, but you owe me.”

“I’ll start making it up to you tonight. Promise. Now, come on, or Loki’ll eat all the nachos before you get a chance to have any.”

Still not even acknowledging the women who had Bucky cornered, I grabbed his hand and pulled him away. When we were a few steps away, he fell into step beside me and wrapped his arm around my waist. “Thanks for that. They weren’t letting me go.”

“I never pegged you for a guy who got cornered in a bar. Sure, people are gonna come flirt with you. But you’re smooth enough to get away.”

He scoffed. “Not with those two.”

“Mmm. Lucky I was around to save you.”

“I’m gonna have to keep you around.”

“Eh. I think I can handle it. You’re pretty easy on the eyes. Now c’mon. I wasn’t kidding about the nachos.”

He slowed his walk. “I don’t wanna intrude on your friends’ night. I know they don’t come through that often and—”

“You’re coming. That’s final. As soon as you sit down, they’ll accept you right away. It’ll be like you were always a part of the group. Really. I want you there.” He still looked torn, so I ran my hands up his chest and carded them through his hair. I was so glad he was growing it out. “’Sides, they picked me up from my apartment earlier, so my car’s still there. This way, they don’t have to drive all the way across town then back to their hotel. I’ll just catch a ride with you and we can get my car in the morning.”

A smile of surrender lit his face and we finally made it back to the booth. I hip-checked Loki further into the corner booth so there was just enough room for me and Bucky. “Guys, this is my friend Bucky. Buck, this is Thor, Loki, Val, and Bruce.”

“Friend?” Loki asked dubiously.

Val rolled her eyes. “Lay off it, man. It’s nice to meet you, Bucky. You have the kind of lips I could make out with for hours.”

“Don’t even think about it, Val,” I mumbled flatly, completely used to her. It wasn’t even her flirting. She was merely stating a fact. Individually, no one in this group had a filter. They said whatever came to mind. But put them all together? It somehow became even worse. Boundaries? What are those?

“Cool arm, where’d you get it?” Thor asked.

Once again… no boundaries. Bucky shifted slightly and I looked up to see a flash of uncomfortableness flicker in his eyes before he covered it up, but it was enough to put me on the defensive. I may be used to them, but he wasn’t.

“Uh, Sokovia.”

And a slight hush fell over the table. A rare moment of serious sobriety. One that needed to end. “Well,” I started, “Technically you didn’t get the arm until you got back from Sokovia. So, technically, you got it in America.”

“Take your goddamn epi-pen and technicalities and get outta here,” he mumbled, a grin pushing away any anxiety Thor’s question caused.

“Oh my god. You watched John Mulaney. Fucking finally!”

“Steve and I never knew what you and Nat were talking about, so we figured why not?” He turned to address the rest of the group. “Whenever she and Nat are together, it’s like fucking coded conversation.”

“Not coded for anyone who’s seen his shit. We’ve been telling you guys to watch it for weeks.”

The conversation quickly devolved into a rash of John Mulaney jokes and off-the-wall references from Valkyrie. At some point, Loki complained that he was squished, so I ended up in Bucky’s lap to make more space for the lovable asshole. Considering how exactly a week ago, Bucky and I had only taken our… relationship? Arrangement? Whatever we had… public enough to do body shots at a party, the fact that I was sitting on his lap in a crowded bar with his hand slowly inching towards my inner thigh was pretty astonishing.

And that PDA shtick I’d done to get him away from the leech girls was completely out of character for me too.

Nat was right. I was changing more than even I’d realized. But I kinda liked it. This new Y/N was someone that her mother would hate, and someone that her father would have been proud of.

But, more than that, this Y/N was someone that liked herself. Someone who could sit at a table full of friends, joking, laughing, drinking, throwing chips at Thor, and not be worried that word would get back to the wrong person and darken her future.

This new Y/N held all the cards to her life.

And you can bet your ass I was going to play the game the way I wanted.

“You sure you don’t want to come with us?” Thor offered again later that night when we were standing outside, by their van.

“We’ve got room next to this silent idiot,” Val said, affectionately shoving Bruce.

“Don’t let him fool you,” I said to Bucky. “Bruce might have been quiet tonight, but he’s really not quiet.”

“Neither are you, doll,” he winked, dodging my half-hearted slap.

“Uh-huh,” Loki mumbled. “Friends.”

“I would come with you guys in a heartbeat. But someone’s gotta stick around to get this heartthrob out of awkward situations with beautiful women. I’m coming to your show tomorrow night, though. Who do I talk to, to get backstage afterwards?”

“I’ll leave your name with Ralph,” Bruce promised.

“Ralph. Got it. Now you guys skedaddle. You’ve got a show to prepare for, and I’ve got some manners to beat into Bucky here.”

“Right,” Loki said, once again deadpanning with a raised eyebrow and he looked between me and Bucky. “Your friend.”

“Lay off it,” Val shoved him closer to the van. “Or I’ll start talking about Rosie.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“It was the summer before eighth grade and Loki here decided he wanted to try out something new and—” Valkyrie’s dramatic story was cut off by Loki’s hand over her mouth.

A few minutes passed before the four of them managed to pile into their van and drive away. As soon as they were out of sight, I hit Bucky on his right shoulder.

“What was that for?”

“I can so be quiet.”

And he had the nerve to laugh. That bastard. “You’ve never been quiet with me.”

“I’ve never had a reason to. But I know I can be quiet. Just… just need the right incentive.”

“Oh?” He wrapped his arm around my waist, slipping his hand under my shirt as we walked down the street to where he parked his motorcycle. “And what kind of incentive would that be?”

I’m sure there was some reason… something… It would have to be something or somewhere where being caught would—

With my arms wrapped around his, I pulled him off our course and towards a dark alley that seemed to be devoid of any lurkers.

“Y/N, what are you—”

“I bet you I can be quiet when it’s either that, or being caught and brought up on charges of public indecency.” In the darkness, I could only see the glint of a faraway light off his eyes, but it was enough. I wrapped my arms around his neck and stepped up closer until my lips were brushing at his. “Whaddya say, Barnes? Up for a little back-alley action?”

NEXT CHAPTER: Confessionals Between Sheets Are So Much Scarier Than Confessionals In A Church (by P!ATD)

[moonswithorwithoutstars]

Baby gay’s prince

Lucas’pov:

Ralph was really down this time. It wasn’t just some hot boy that let him down after a good fuck, this time it wasn’t even the old story of falling in love (understand meet him 2 hours before and stalk him non – stop since that) with a straight dude that he just couldn’t make gay. No, this was Elijah. The cute, dorky, peaceful boy who had matching onesies with Ralph and was considered a part of the family by everyone in the flat, even by Liv and Noah who recognized themselves as the mum and dad now, because apparently that was also a stage in relationship, right between running after one another while wearing wedding dress and adopting 25 dogs.

Little did we all know what a sly bitch Elijah was. Or not really, we actually don’t know what happened which makes it even more obvious that Ralph was in pain, because normally, this time after breakup, he would be already browsing grindr and shading the ex-boy with Liv. This time was different. Surely, the grindr phase came but only 3 weeks after and Ralph was going through it alone. Not only that but he was also going through it without any sign of stopping – he went out, got drunk, fucked someone, that someone called one of us to come pick him up and then he broke down on the way home. He slept until lunch hours and started getting ready for going out again. For now we just did what we could, we made him coffee and I was saved as his emergency contact because Jayden said that gays should hold together the strongest, obviously believing that his formidable sense of humour would just make situation easier.

3rd person pov:

That’s why the closeted baby gay was taking metro to some dude’s house where Ralph crashed tonight. This concrete guy sounded rather worried about Ralph’s well-being which made Lucas breathe out with ease until he heard some crying in the background. The caller’s only reaction was telling him to hurry and hunging up.

Lucas was out of the apartment in the instant because as he rediscovered tonight, fear is the best motor. And as he was ringing the bell to what seemed as another shared apartment or dormitory possibly, he was already contemplating all the scenarios of what could have happened to Ralph, and the fact that whoever called him took his time opening the door made him even more worried. The door finally revealed a boy with dark hair who wasn’t covered in blood, didn’t look violently and wasn’t holding a knife, that didn’t mean that Lucas trusted him.

“Hey, you the emergency contact?” Dark boy asked with Belgian accent and a bit of discomfort in his voice.

“What? Yeah, yeah, is Ralph okay? I heard him crying, I thought that you were someone violent. Where is he? Did he hurt himself or broke something?” other boy half confirmed and half investigated the Belgian.

“No, well not really, I mean he didn’t seem physically hurt. I put them to sleep kinda?” Lucas let out the breath he was holding, relaxed a bit only until realization hit him hard. Did he really said them? Who did he put to sleep with Ralph? Was it possibly Elijah? Was he someone who put drugs into other people’s drinks and then put them to sleep?

Dark, tall and mysterious must have noticed this because he made a quick work of getting Luc relaxed again. “Hey don’t worry. You better see it yourself but well your drunk broken hearted friend met mine best friend who was in the very same condition, they cried together, showed each other photos of their love interests and then fell asleep hugging each other.” Small chuckle escaped his lips as he was elaborating this heart-warming story and Lucas couldn’t help but smile a little as well, maybe this is what Ralph needed after all. Besides this, Begium here had cute little smile.

The fact that he needed those dumb nicknames reminded him that he still needed to know this guy’s name. Without much thought, probably because he was really tired after all the stuff with Ralph, Luc bluntly asked: “So, guy who put up random boys, could you put one more, at least until Ralph gets up and needs familiar shoulder to cry on?”

Said guy emitted that sweet chuckle again. “It’s Jens and I’m not technically putting them up since it’s not my flat. More suitable title is babysitting. Hopefully those two will remember each other, because I ship that bromance.”

Luc just smiled and nodded his head. “I’m Lucas and I personally believe that a gay man that Ralph wouldn’t fuck but only be friend with wouldn’t be nothing else than healthy.”

This made Jens do a face as if calculating which quickly turned into a smirk. “Is it so? I believe that you’re also a gay boy he knows, at least according to your contact name Mr. Baby Gay. Yet I believe that ex-lover wouldn’t show up at weird night hours in strange places just to make sure that the other one is alive.”

Suddenly Lucas felt rather vulnerable. He was in a house he has never been before and a person he never met before read and knew him better than most of his friends these months. The fact that it wasn’t meant as an insult or an act of mockery going completely unnoticed, as the same probably unreasonable fear occurred again. The other one couldn’t be homophobe could he? He said that he had a gay friend, and he saw two guys cuddling. Luc somehow lost the track of his thoughts and was only put back into reality when Jens softly spoke: “Hey, I don’t know shit. It might be only an inside joke between the two of you, you might not be gay. Even if you were I wouldn’t care, do you think I would? I’ve got gay friends, I was nice to your friend and I’m bisexual myself so chill.”

Luc sighed with relief and gratitude: “I didn’t mean to be judgmental, I just dunno, I’m not chill with the whole me being the baby gay,” he made a sign with his fingers and rolled his eyes slightly amused, “yet. And not many people, well no one aside from Ralph and now you really knows.”

He was met only with a nod as if sign of understanding and cheeky: “S okay, your secret is safe with me. Wanna come in now, or should I prove that I’m trustworthy any other way?”

“No, no! Well yes I’d like to come in, if that’s okay with you again, but you’re trustworthy enough”

“Let me lead the way then. Kitchen it is? Do you want any beer or soda or ehh practically I can can’t offer you anything else because there’s actually nothing else in this flat.”

Lucas slightly at loss of words as every time he entered a building he has never been before needed some time to become eloquent. His eyes lingered on all the spots in the messy functional kitchen until he spotted his companion.

“Oh, I’d fancy a beer if it doesn’t cause you any trouble. I wouldn’t want to be charged for steeling beer cans from random flats, regarding you mentioning that this was not where you lived.” The statement was only meant as a joke but the tone seemed to change it into yet another accusation.

“Come on, you’ve never stolen beers? What a loser.”

“M not a loser, I just happen to always have people to do the dirty work for me.” Lucas snarky commented and performed a grimace, someone like a mafia boss would use in his opinion.

“Whatever you say boss.” Jens responded with a small bow added. He picked up two cans of beer and set them on the table while simultaneously inviting Lucas to sit down. The chairs in in the kitchen were mismatched, just underlining the overall messy look it was serving. Luc would bet anything that two or more boys shared this condo as a cheap alternative for living. Jens wasn’t one of them so probably the only guy he hasn’t met was the owner? Did he live here with his boyfriend before something similar to Ralph’s story happened to him? Maybe he lives here alone and just likes to be messy and has no problem letting whoever spend the night here. While examining the dark room, his eyes wondered to other parts of the flat as well. He could see armchair or a small sofa possibly in the room without door, on the other side, next to the kitchen, there was another room illuminated by soft light of a bedside lamp. That was probably bedroom which meant that Ralph was located there, sleeping peacefully. As he started returning his attention to the bear in front of him, Belgian guy caught his eyes and smilingly stated; “They’re in there. They were just like little kids, like my little brother I swear. They needed something to hug and wouldn’t let me turn off the lights because of monsters under the bed or something. I’m surprised they didn’t make me read a bedtime story to them. Especially Robbe, he always tends to do that. He can be really persuasive too. He chooses the most sappy tales and makes me change it so that the beautiful princess is actually another prince, they of course must live happily ever after.” There was a quick pause where Jens just stared lovingly somewhere ahead of him, remembering all the little memories of drunk Robbe that made his heart warm. Lucas knew this small gestures very well on his own. The longing in Jens’ gaze was probably more evident than the one in his eyes. Jens had one big advance however, his best friend was at least oriented the right way. Not exactly the right way, there’s no right or wrong way but for this situation, Robbe was definitely oriented the more suitable way. He wished him luck, he really did. Something about Jayden’s words must have been true right? The gay guys had to stick together, more so the gay guys with an overwhelming crush on their best friend. It was only fair to offer Jens at least a sympathetic smile and a squeeze on the shoulder. Upon that skin contact, Jens snapped back and continue as if there was no interruption at all, “Do you maybe want to check them yourself? Just so that you’ll feel more at ease.” He asked Luc, already standing as if he knew the answer far before he even asked. Luc followed him to the alighted room and released a breath he didn’t know he was holding. There he was really – Ralph in all his bleached beauty hugging small brown haired boy as if he was a plush toy. A radiating smile creeped his way on Luc’s face and as he turned to watch Jens’ reaction for a bit, he saw the very same expression. He quickly caught a bit of jealousy trying to find her way. If his Kes would prioritize some random dude over Luc in cuddling, he’d be bitter at least for a day or so, Jens didn’t act that way at all. It’s probably because Luc has been going through this for a long time, through this roller coaster or whatever. He didn’t know what he felt anymore and the smallest turbulences caused him to burst. He didn’t want to think of Kes for tonight tho. He saw that the dark boy had new girl with him today in the skatepark, he even introduced the two of them and Luc was still a bit pissed because of that, more than a bit probably. He had to concentrate on the good things, the small battles won were all that mattered right now. He turned to head back to the kitchen, Jens following him shortly.

There’s been an intimidating silence ever since they visited the bedroom. Luc was never one to evaluate situation correctly so after he felt awkward for long enough, and beer in his can had gone, he asked out of the blue: “Will you try to woo him? Not tomorrow I mean, but he’s gay and he’s also single right now and you’re the person he probably trust the most. I ship this bromance with slipping b.”

Jens just looked at him with an expressionless face. Then there were too many expressions at once but still no words and then, finally Jens started to talk. He told him everything: Told him about Britt, which she thought he loved but didn’t even know what love felt like at that time. Told him about the brown haired angel as he called Robbe. About his ex boy Snader who made him come out and sprayed a portrait of his face, but also the same boy that was playing with Robbe’s and Britt’s heart at the same time. He described how he found Robbe on the rail of a bridge, ready to end it all. He described how his heart hurt at the memory, how he’s been more broken by this than ever before. He then continued, less passionately and not with the same spark. He spoke about Jana, the other person he loved. He spoke about how he could never love Robbe the way he loved Jana and the other way around. He spoke of his fear of being someone like Sander, selfish enough to try and keep the both, only ending up hurting those precious creatures. Luc wasn’t sure if it was his place to give advices, no even if it was appropriate, nevertheless he murmured: “You have to wait, give yourself time and be able to love only one but with your whole heart.”

After that Jens cried a little and then he was mad at himself. He listed all the ways those two were perfect and Luc couldn’t help but add his little own list he made for Kes to this night of sorrows. That’s how Luc started to speak as well. He talked about how he destroyed Kes and Isa, how he despised her but she was kind enough to forgive him, how Kes was oblivious enough not to notice, how Jayden was homophobic enough to make coming out for Lucas a rather painful possibility. There wasn’t much he could tell but Jens seemed to understand, not only that but this time, it was the dark boy that squeezed Lucas shoulder, as if expressing unity. The morningish the hour was, the less they spoke and the more they cried in a hug very similar to that one of Ralph and Robbe. Then they probably fell asleep.

For the first time in weeks, Luc woke up to Ralph’s smiling face. He got up from the floor where he had apparently spent the night and hug the fuck out of his best friend in a way. He could see that something very similar yet s different was happening on the other side of the room, between two Belgian boys and he smiled softly. There was something like a deep bond between him and Jens, sure they were not the same and Luc prouded himself in not believing in any bonds, astrology, zodiacs and shit, there must have been something. He’ll probably never meet those two again, but he’ll remember them clearly, and how their own story might have helped his. After this affectionate morning, they said theirs goodbyes. Ralph insisted on staying in contact with Robbe so they could brag about boys every now and then, but that was it. They left, with so much less emotional baggage than they brought and with a good feeling. Sometimes alcohol can solve problems after all, Luc thought.

Epilogue:

It was something about half a year after the whole Ralph crash. Things were pretty easy again. Ralph didn’t find another Elijah but keep telling all the people that for the sex function of boyfriend, he has girndr and for the romantic function, he has Luc. Luc didn’t mind this much, he came into a peace with himself, or so he thought. He still hadn’t tell anyone but he made a huge progress. He even went out with a few guys and overally he was just fine. Occasional pangs of jealousy would form in his heart, wherever he saw Kes’ new discovery in the form of girlfriend, but thanks to Kes’ somehow reasonable taste in woman, he always found himself glad,that Kes was with someone like that in the end of the day. He was currently seated in a skatepark, side by side with Kes, waiting for that dickhead- and their hamburgers. Kes was in the middle of explaining something about the new trick he learned and Luc was in the middle of ignoring the matter of conversation and tapping his foot impatiently because he was hungry when his phone rang. He was 99,2% sure that it was just Ralph who forgot her keys, but the caller ID proved him wrong. It was a number he has probably never seen before, most likely some phone survey or something but he was polite enough to at least pick it up.

Immediately the other side spoke in a Belgian accent: “Hey, is this Luc, the baby gay?”small chuckle could be heard and Luc couldn’t helped but to glance towards Kes because he remembered that night just clearly. Then he amusedly responded: “Yeah, and you’re the guy that reads bedtime stories to his 17 years old best mate.”

Something like a short laugh echoed through the device but then stopped as a warm voice announced: “Yeah, about that, not anymore, and I don’t go back and forth with Jana anymore as well.”

“Well, that’s just marvellous,” Lucas breathed out, “I made some progress myself.”

“Yeah,” Jens paused. “I think I’m ready to love only one but with my whole heart,” he admitted softly.

“And which one of them is the lucky one may I ask?”

“I believe it might be you baby gay.”

[samandcolbyfan]

Pretend for the night| Barry x Ralph

Hey can you write an AU of this current episode where they have to pretend to be married and somewhere down the road feelings come up and they kiss/make-out requested by @akariownsyasuke ❤️ Hope it's what you wanted.

Ralph was skeptical when Barry said he will help him with his case. Mostly because he knew Barry and the possibility of the speedster actually following his lead was pretty small. But most of all he was nervous. Nervousness was something he hated because it made him weak. He wasn't nervous because of the fact that they will be at the party full of criminals, or of something going wrong, no he was nervous because he hadn't told Barry the most important part of it all. They will have to pretend, pretend to be a married couple. He can imagine Barry's shock and even disgust when he tells him. God he just hopes he won't lose his friend.

Later that night

They sit in the car in front of the massive building where the party takes place.

" Barry before we suit up I have to tell you something important that you won't like."

" What?"

" We are gonna have to pretend that we are married."

The shock on Barry's face and in his eyes is exactly what Ralph expected. The answer that comes after however, was not expected at all.

" Okay."

That one word takes Ralph by surprise so much that for a second he forgets how to breathe. Okay he actually said it, he said okay.

When they have their tux on they walk inside and down the stairs. Arms linked in each other. This should feel weird and uncomfortable but instead it's the opposite at least on Ralph's end. Little does he know that the scarlet speedster has the same troubling feelings and thoughts filling his mind and heart. It was surprising how easily they blended in to the role. The occasional touches during conversations the not so casual stares at each other. All of it came naturally and it was unnerving them both but they shook it off. Well they tried but no matter the afford they couldn't. Barry being Barry didn't like the lack of progress and told Ralph as much.

" I could search this whole place in seconds."

" Barry I realize that you wanna help but this is not Central city these people are not metas. This is a time for our human identities. Finees remember I just need some time okay."

He looked to Barry's eyes and they were caring and kind and also held fondness and something he couldn't quite put his finger on so he did what he did next on pure instinct. He cupped Barry's cheeks in his hands.

" trust me Barry... and give me the ring in your pocket."

" What? I haven't..."

" Yes you did."

He slided his hand to Barry's pocket and took the ring. It shouldn't bring any emotion or reaction from either of them but it did. And in the moment that lightning flashed in Barry's eyes Ralph's lips were on Barry's. The kiss was sensual yet passionate. And to Ralph ultimate shock and joy it was returned. In fact it was Barry who depended the kiss and pull him up against the nearest wall. The kiss turned into a pretty heated make out. When they parted they just stared at each other.

" I think I..."

" I love you Ralph."

" I love you too Barry."

It was forbidden and they knew it but didn't really cared ...