#carla literally loves her like its breathing

[dykespence]

Carla : lisa , you know I'd go to hell and back for you. but sometimes I just wish you'd stop going there

[radiantlyrey]

One of the things I really liked about The Church on Ruby Road as an episode was the intimacy of its scope and scale. Compared to RTD’s other Christmas specials, Ruby Road is downright quaint and homey. It’s literally about one person and her family; there’s no world-ending peril, or invasion that will spell the end of London.

And it’s such a breath of fresh air. After the high stakes of the 60th specials, it was so lovely to come down to Earth, as it were, and see a small story told with such love. Here’s a young woman whose life is fairly ordinary, but who has had such a profound and positive impact on the lives of so many other people. It’s about chance and coincidence, and how one little thing can set off a chain reaction of love across the years.

Carla wonders what she’d be without Ruby, and we get to see it—she would never have fostered 33 kids, would never have changed all those lives, would never have found real happiness with herself and her family.

Ruby has the biggest family on Earth, as the Doctor says, and that family only exists because she does. She is the butterfly whose wings set off a hurricane. She is the proof that one person truly can change the world, simply by existing.

The Church on Ruby Road is such a delightful episode, precisely because its scope is so limited. It’s not the sort of story I would have expected from RTD, but I’m so glad that he told it. And I hope we see more stories like this one when the show starts up again this spring.

[jjkeremika]

a bakers dozen (1/2)

mikasa ackerman x eren jaeger (eremika) — nsfw-leaning

twelve times eren gave mikasa a sweet treat

eren started baking as a hobby. at first it was an activity he shared with his mum, learning generational recipes and expert advice. but carla often chastised the poor boy for loose pours and inaccurate weights, and eren decided he preferred baking alone.

when he finally told mikasa and armin about his new passion, the quiet pretty girl said she’d love to try some, act like a taste-tester for the curious baker.

the hold her words had on his heart and mind were borderline embarrassing. eren spent the entire night searching through his mum’s recipe books and dog-earring sweets he thought mikasa might like, recounted everything he knew of her to decipher her favorites.

the simple stuff had to be first: cookies. the recipe was plain, a simple vanilla sugar cookie, but eren was confident—the only type he’d ever seen her pick from a tray while spoiled for choice.

as eren handed her the plate the next day, he second-guessed if maybe he should’ve decorated them, whipped up some icing and laced each biscuit with some dressage. he considered it all night—ultimately decided it definitely would be worse if he overwrought her sweet tooth, and left the icing for a future letter.

the lick of her lips after each bite caught and held eren’s attention. each crumb delicious enough to warrant its emergence. he felt himself holding his breath before she spoke, “i’m excited to try the next goodie,” with a pristine grin, her tongue still poking out.

the second recipe was a coffee streusel brownie, one gifted from mikasa’s mother for a holiday gathering. after two batches and a lifetime with ingredients on a scale, eren packed the product into a glass tupperware and dreamt of her tongue all night.

“hey, miks.” eren had a hearty smile, carried the brownies so elegantly. when he handed her the container, the way her lips pressed into an o at the dessert etched permanently into his brain.

he watched her take a bite, felt hot with his gaze fixed on her biting into the brownie, felt the restrictive hold over his chest as he intimately watched her mouth welcome the treat, noticed the way it sat so perfectly on her pink tongue. he swiped his tongue along his teeth, wanted to bite into her skin the way her pearly teeth sank into the treat.

she exclaimed in delight, covered her mouth with her palm to eren’s dismay, “eren! this is delicious!” her smile was unreal. “mum, dad, you have to try this!”

the third and fourth recipes were inspired by her fast approaching birthday. with armin planning a bash for the ages, eren was tasked with baking her cake. due to annie’s strong dislike of chocolate and armin’s strong like of annie, the party cake was designated a basic three-layer vanilla sponge cake. the text received a virtual and literal eye roll. armin was too amenable.

eren was less so, and opted to bake mikasa’s favorite cake instead: triple chocolate fudge cake. it was her birthday after all. while it was in the oven, melting chocolate coating his apron and decorating his arms, the guilt set in and eren started mixing the sponge cake too.

after spending hours stenciling birthday messages and test-writing in icing, when armin told him to hurry up, eren topped the sponge with a lavender message and prepared it for the party.

before she could eat the slice gifted by armin, eren pulled her to the side. “it’s not much, but.” he was nervous, his voice matching the shakiness of his hands as he held the chocolate cake. “happy birthday, miks.”

the love struck boy surprised her with the next dessert: red velvet cupcakes, buttercream frosting. it was under the guise of her mother’s birthday, but in reality eren was trying to see her.

he’d had a vision the entire time, of her biting into the cupcake, of the creamy frosting settling around her mouth and nose, of her licking her lips clean. eren debated putting some frosting on his neck, wondered if maybe she’d lick that spotless too.

the eager bounce of his cock against his restraining jeans once he witnessed her remove buttercream from her finger with a whimsy wrap of her tongue was rewarding enough. the sight provided a top tier memory reserve; a quick recall for when he was alone.

not much of a treat, but a sourdough dinner roll was perfectly suited for armin’s italian pasta night. eren spent two days preparing the best starter and dough for the occasion. the excitement on mikasa’s face when the rolls were unveiled paired better than the oils and dips.

the seventh treat earned a moan. one bite into the fluffy, airy croissant and a hearty, “m’oh, this is good,” eased out, matched with a delectable smile. she held the remaining croissant between delicate fingers, and eren watched with dilated pupils as she tilted her head back and closed her eyes.

with her neck on blatant display, eren’s mouth watered and he felt every tendon and ligament holding his muscles back, preventing himself from pouncing on her, caging his mouth from relentlessly exploring the soft flesh.

“eren,” her tone was questioning and soothing, the pronunciation of his name haunting the sound off anyone else’s lips, “do you remember those cookies you made? months and months ago?” he swallowed despite the dryness in his throat, couldn’t bring himself to vocalize his remembrance. “you should make those again.”

she never gave him a timeline, so eren assigned one himself. the next day. he was too excited to sleep. spent the whole night thinking of the crumbs sleeping on her thin bottom lip, wanted to be at the tip of her tongue when she evicted the remnants.

despite the drowsiness, he skipped the whole trail to her home. each sprite step furthering his gait, excitement and anticipation at seeing the beauty unraveling his stomach, eating away at the lining.

with her fingertips pristinely holding a sugar cookie, the other hand gently rubbing eren’s upper arm, she requested another baked good. “not to be your boss or anything,” she prefaced with a joke, poked the dimple as it appeared on his cheek, “but i would love if you made donuts.”

“sourdough?” the question was immediate. his brain already racing through previously-scanned pages of recipe books for an idea. anything she wanted of him, he’ll do. her giggle stretched his smile to both ears. he could feel the lighter wind around them.

there was more thought in dessert preparation this time. with armin’s birthday approaching and eren’s dislike of baking cake, donuts became the perfect alternative. eren shaped them into letters instead, small makeshift happy armin’s b-day donuts, with the leftovers molded into an m.

the donuts were a hit at the party, and eren waited until him and mikasa were alone to show her the remaining dough. “it’s an m… for mikasa,” he explained lamely, gesturing awkwardly, “for you.”

his torso was captured between her strong arms, hands clasping at his back to keep him in place. the warmth radiating onto his front, the gentle waft of lavender from her hair, the hollowness of her cheek against the rigid muscles of his shoulder.

“what else can i bake for you?” the words tickled her ear, the goosebumps prickling the nerves to life. she glanced up at him, pulled away slightly so she could really look at him. eren thought of kissing her.

she hummed, swayed lightly side to side, “hm, whatever your favorite treat is.” her raised eyebrows made her eyes seem rounder, more open to interpretation, more open to him. the sparkles in her grey irises were wanting, yearning flames. “i have a feeling i’ll like whatever you bake.”

he should’ve kissed her. but he closed his eyes, rested his chin on her forehead instead, her scent flooded his lungs, held it in until the organs were on fire, exhaled so slowly as to not disturb the thin, whimsical strands of black hair.

did he have a favorite treat? it’s been a while, but carla’s blueberry muffins—those were definitely his favorites.

once armin and mikasa arrived, the three of them dug into the muffins before even starting the movie. “ooph—eren!” mikasa moaned with a covered open smile, reached for his arm, “so good.” eren stretched his arm closer, tried to extend the duration of contact.

“yeah, ren, seriously,” armin muffled out through a full mouth, “you’re improving a lot.” eren blushed when he noticed mikasa’s unbreaking eye contact, still held firm on him even after he glanced to armin. “you should try baking savory pies too. beef and ale pie would be delicious.”

mikasa shaped her lips into a circle. “oo, good idea.” she pointed to their blond friend, then clapped her palms together. “next movie night.”

eren tapped his finger against the counter, invisibly pulled to mikasa’s hand inches away, like a magnet withheld from its faithful opposition. the smirk was small, like it was kept to himself, and he was already considering what dessert would pair well with her smile, what cookie crumb would cause her tongue to creep out.

the beef and ale pie was a hit, the leftovers eagerly eaten up by a starved carla and grisha after a fun night out. the crust was mikasa’s favorite part, even hand-feeding the baker part of her crust, her fingertips lingering on the tip of his tongue.

the action replayed in eren’s nightly dreams, and joined with the sensation of him in her arms, with the visual of licking buttercream off her lip—eren was reaching a limit he didn’t know he had, a boiling in a kettle he didn’t realize was on.

like a runner crossing a finish line, eren beat a personal record in inviting her over, to taste the lemon tart he baked during the lame afternoon and potentially start something new. something exciting.

“hey, eren,” mikasa greeted first, slipping her arms under his arms, around his waist, before eren could even close the door. eren hesitantly returned her hold, took even breaths to calm his formula one racing heart. eren wondered if she could hear his uneven heart beat, his stuttering breaths.

“thanks for coming.” the words were muffled by her hair, the temptation of a faint kiss to her hairline bordering irresistible. “i made a lemon tart.” his voice was foreign to his own ears, strained and focused, held back with a shrouded intent. “but i was thinking you could help me decide what to make next.”

she slipped her jacket off, exposed her tight, green long-sleeve shirt. the same dark green that she told eren he looked good in, the color that made his eyes pop.

“i already have a starter going, so i can make anything.” eren put his apron back on, tied it around his waist and pulled the sourdough starter out of the fridge. “so, really, it’s up to what you would you want to eat.”

“is this the tart?” her finger was pointing to the yellow dessert, where the whipped cream was starting to sink inside from being added prematurely. eren answered, and her finger swiped in the middle, popping it right into her mouth with a sweet hum. a sight for the ages. “delicious.”

the pink on his cheeks was pristine, and mikasa adored how no matter how many compliments she supplied him, he reacted as smitten and coyly as the first. eager to please, thrilled to know he has.

“do cinnamon buns sound okay?” the question caught her off guard, brought her out of her adoring trance. admiring eren was easy. finding herself lost in the admiration was easier. “i have a whole recipe book if you want something else. totally easy to change.” he was rambling, adjusting to projected unspoken objections. the flipping of the pages provided him adequate background noise. “so many recipes. like it’s so easy to pick something els—”

mikasa’s hand covered his, rubbed her thumb against the coarse skin. rough from regular handwashing between bakes and less regular moisturizing. “cinnamon buns sound great,” she murmured, “but i’d like to help you.” she stood up off the stool. eren immediately pictured her licking rogue frosting off her finger, off him. “can i have an apron too?”

[inabarbi3world]

Live Reaction to 6x11 In Another Life

starting off with maddie and her mom 🫡

aw jee loves flowers that’s so adorable

why are the buckley parents acting so weirdly nice i really am feeling like there’s something they’re not telling us

I knew it was coming but god MY FUCKING HEART BRO OUCH.

i-

“DO MORE”

EDDIE HUN… they shall try

WOWH HE’S AWAKE???? oh nvm. aint no way hes awake lol. WOAH DANIEL????? what in the fuck is happening?

i. so hes having one of THESE. the FUCKING COMA AU.

KIDS??????? I. HES A TEACHER???????? HELLO?????? Im lost. Huh? isn’t that… HUH?????? BRO. sorry y’all are just gonna get confusing ass reactions bc that’s how i feel, extremely confused.

…

Her dad is gonna be.

YOURE FUCKING JOKING.

nah y’all can fuck right off with that LMAO /srs

WHYYYYYYY ARE THEY DOING THIS TO US OMG (ik why but it isn’t gonna stop me from asking)

um. i’m SO excited to see buck realize/have to do something to “leave” this “other life” (idk if it’s sarcastic or not yet, tbd)

yup. great. still an abuser. it never stops.

i.

LMFAOOOO.

OH. SO NOW HE GETS TO SEE THINGS THAT REMIND HIM OF HIS TRAUMA THATS SOOOOOOOO COOL.

ofc buck thinks he needs to fix something in someone else’s life in order to get out of his OWN FUCKING COMA. LIKE BRO. this man literally cannot get it out of his head that it is his job to fix everyone else because that is literally what he was born TO do. fuck that.

i…

BOBBY’S DEAD HERE??????

BRO OMG STOPPPP YALL DOING WAY TOO MUCHHHHHHHH HE CANT FUCJING BREATHE?????

lol bobby is always gonna feel responsible- I- I SWEAR THAT WAS BEFORE ATHENA SAID IT.

“even the strong snap eventually”

lol buck will be fine he literally can’t die no one will watch the show LMFAO (sorry not sorry)

omg i’m gonna lose my mind.

HIS GRANDPARSNTS TOOK HIM?????

wait a goddamn minute.

so you’re telling me buck’s existence saved, at least so far, Maddie, Bobby, Eddie and Christopher????

Shocker. (sarcasm)

Him being himself saved Bobby from drinking himself into oblivion while he ALSO SAVED EDDIE AND CHRISTOPHER BC HE INTRODUCED HIM TO CARLA ARE YOU JOKING?

i’m gonna cry omg christopher thanks so much lol.

he’ll be fine AWW THEY SAID I LOVE YOU

it’s there bc trauma lol

what in the… y’all what’s going on?

i’m sorry dead bobby is so funny PLS.

NOOOOOOOO BUCKKKKKK YKU MATTER THERE FUCK YOU “if it matters to you how other people see you then you haven’t learned a damn thing” ty dead bobby!

ok buck this has been silly and goofy and all but the episode is nearly over so time to wake up now buck, thanks. bc ik you will.

oh shit. LMAO. YEAH. HELL YEAH ITS ENOUGH YOU FUCKING BITCH. YE YESYEYSYEYYSEYSYEYSYEYEYEYEYEYSEYYESYSYSYSYEYSSYSYEYSYSYSYEYSYESYSYWYEYSYSYSWYSYSYEYSS OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDD GELL YEHAHAGAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHSHAHAGAHAHAHAHAHSGAYRORIRIEYEIEUUROYOIREGOINGHOMEEEEEEEEEEEEEENOYOURENOTTTTTTTLEAVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEBYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEFUCKYALLSOBYE-

what the hell? girl… whyd the music stop? girl go away. ew shut up. THEY ARE NOTTTTTTTTTTTTTT HES FUCKING LYING, BUCK HES LYING- ok not about that. i. OH MY FUCKING GOD… BUCK WAKE THE FUCK UP

OHYMHOGMGOFNDODDNDODKDODKDODKDOEEHWUWHWIEHWHEYWYEYEYEYEYEYEYSYEYEYEYYEYEYEYEYEYEYEYEYEYEYESEYEYESYSUEDUSSYSYSYSYSYSSYSYSYSYYSSYSYSYEYSYSYSYDYDYDUSEUUDSHSUWHSIWJSIWJSJWUWJWOSKWOWM

SUCH A FANTASTIC FUCKING EPISODE BRO OMG PLEASE LET THE WRITERS CONTINUE ON THIS PATH BC THAT SHIT WAS SO FUCKING AMAZING YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY

LMAO, VISITORS? PLS. I love these people sm y’all have no idea.

sure he is. lol. ok he still doesn’t have to forgive him for literal decades of no relationship???

…

ok… good for chim but still fuck his dad!

ew.

omg.

they’re being NICEEEEEE THE PARENTS ARE BEING NICE EWWWWWWWWWW (yes i’m a bit bitter…) ANYWAY I LOVED THE EP IT WAS SO FUCKING WARM AND VERY GOOD FOR BUCK

[babydaddyleorio]

Hey! I first wanna say that I absolutely Love how you designed your blog, its so pretty and elegant! Do you think you could do some hc with joe and cherry from sk8 were they have a daughter with their black s/o? Thank you!

Thank you so much, and of course! <3

Joe

-Joe enjoys cooking with his daughter, and she’s just as happy to be beside him as she watches him work his magic in the kitchen.

-She has her own step stool so she can reach the counter and hand him the spices he needs, and even cleans the counter once her dad has finished with one thing which earns her a special head pat from Joe.

-The relationship that I Imagine between her and Joe would kind of be like how princess Tiana is with her dad, where your child asks Joe to taste test the dishes she creates for him making sure that it’s just right, and Joe happily opens his mouth for the spoon and gives her two thumbs up once he’s ate it.

-She also takes customer’s orders and will seat them in the restaurant and they think that she's so cute with the little uniform and big chef hat she has on.

-Joe plays tea party with her and struggles to sit down in her small chairs, a tiara stuck on his head. He has to talk to her stuffed animals and speak in an elegant accent. He turns to the bear beside him and is like “This tea is swell, right Mr.Wiggles?” while sipping from the tiny cup with his pinky poked out and your daughter bursts out laughing at him.

-Your daughter is already a pro at skateboarding by the age of 7, but safety first! Despite Joe always being reckless, he makes sure that she has a helmet on her head and knee/elbow pads on her body before they go anywhere. Then once he’s given her a high-five after seeing that she was well protected, her and Joe will get on their boards and skate together until you come back home.

-Joe also puts her on his shoulders if he notices that she’s too short to see something or if he just wants to walk around town with her, and your daughter points happily at the things she sees while Joe happily laughs with her.

-He’s the parent that comes to eat with his child at school and will talk to your daughter about her day while munching on the food that he brought for the both of them. Also if he can’t make it, he would make her lunch and leave special notes inside along with corny jokes that make your daughter roll her eyes but giggle slightly.

-Joe tends to read stories to your daughter at bedtime, and after a while you would wonder what happened to him.

-So you go into your daughter's room just to see Joe laid with his eyes closed and the book still open in his hands, while your daughter is fast asleep with her head resting on his shoulder.

Cherry

-Cherry is stuck watching toddler shows like Cocomelon and Sesame Street and he absolutely despises it. Yet you sometimes catch him singing the catchy songs under his breath whenever he’s cooking.

-Cherry also likes doing your daughter’s hair, especially since he’s watched a ton of videos to know what he’s doing now. He loves putting her hair in puff balls with barrettes clipped on the side, or in simple twists that have colorful hairballs dangling on the ends. Sometimes let’s your daughter do his hair as well, and when you come home you see his pink hair in pig tails with so many bows stuck in his scalp.

-Her and Carla are literally best friends and they sometimes play pranks on Cherry. And let’s just say that he is not amused in the slightest.

-Your daughter also bullies Joe, and Cherry is so proud of her. As soon as she finishes roasting Joe, Cherry will bend down and tell her that what she said wasn’t nice, but sneakily gives her a high five when he sees that no one is looking.

-Cherry hates to admit it, but your daughter has him wrapped around her finger. She is spoiled rotten and he has her whole room decked out as If she’s royalty with all the latest toys.

-She draws pictures of you guys as a family and although it may look like a bunch of scribbles and stick figures, Cherry still proudly hangs them up in his office.

-She’s picked up on Cherry’s sarcasm which means that they get into arguments a lot. You eventually have to come break it up and force the stubborn pair to apologize to each other once you’ve seen how sad they were at being upset with each other.

-When she gets older, your daughter is super smart and very tech savvy. She would follow in Cherry’s footsteps and have her own AI board and digital glasses that let’s her analyze everything around her, and all the kids at the playground think she’s so cool.

-Cherry is so proud of how much your daughter has grown, and sometimes you catch the tears that form in his eyes when he’s staring at her, but he quickly clears his throat and resumes his usual composure before you even have a chance to point it out.

[libraryofloveletters]

prompts 8 + 9 for Buck omgggg 🥲🥲🥲

Can’t Lose Him

Evan Buckley x Reader 

Warnings: fem!reader, mentions of hospitals and injuries, minimal swearing, mentions of pregnancy and Chim’s accident, big brother!Chim

Prompts: #8: “you promised me you wouldn't be reckless! You promised me!” #9: “Does he know about the baby?” 

Category: mix of angst and fluff

Word Count: 2.4k

Author’s Note: I loved writing this so thank you for requesting! :) 

---

Pacing the room, Hen reached out for your hand. “C’mon, your feet must hurt. Sit down” you sighed, once again you were in a hospital waiting room in the middle of the night with the team and Maddie because Buck’s idiotic self got himself hurt again. 

“I’m okay Hen, thank you” you gave her a slight smile. Bobby was talking to the doctors because you couldn't bring yourself to hear what he’s done this time. Bobby returned, Athena by his side now. “Oh honey,” she pulled you into a hug, you could feel yourself melting into her arms, she sat with you and her arm wrapped around your shoulder. Bobby sat to the other side of you. 

“The doctor said that the pressure of the block cracked a rib, which then punctured a lung. He also has a mild concussion but they say it shouldn't be too bad” 

“Is he out of surgery ?” 

“He is, but he’s in recovery now. It might be a little bit before we get to see him” Bobby gives your shoulder a squeeze, you nodded.

Taking a look around the waiting room, Chim held Maddie as she slept with her head on his shoulder. Eddie sat to the other side of them, on the phone with Carla and Christopher. Hen was now talking to Bobby about something. 

This wasn't an unusual scene but a familiar one. Regardless of what was going on or who it was, the 118 always shows for their own. 

A rather tall man came into the waiting room. “Buckley ?” he called out, everyone stood, the doctor seemed surprised to see so many people at 4 in the morning. Your hand was resting on your stomach, you could feel eyes burning into your side. Looking to the left, Chim’s eyes were fixed on your hand, you nodded in his direction with your brows furrowed. He shook his head, you didn’t think much of it. 

“We can take one person in if someone would like to go in now? He’s still asleep but he’s stable as of now” your heart sunk at the term “as of now”, shaking the feeling, you look over at Maddie. 

“Do you want to go in first ?” 

“You go ahead, I'll walk with you and then I'll see him after. I might take a lap, my back is killing me” she gave your hand a squeeze, the two of you followed the doctor to a room down the hall. 

She came in for a moment to kiss her brother’s head and then left you alone in the room with him. You sat at his bedside, your hand held onto his. His hand was cold, the monitor was still going and you could hear his heart beating through the deafening silence but it felt strange. 

Every time you found yourself back here, it felt odd. 

Buck was a warrior in every sense of the word, he pulled through, always. 

“Oh baby, what did you get yourself into” sighing and leaning back into the chair. Once again, your hand comes down to rest on your stomach, the other hand still holding Buck’s. His hand twitched slightly, he was starting to wake up. “Don’t move hun,” your hand rested on his chest softly, Buck’s brows furrowed. 

“Wh-who are you?” his head tilted slightly, your heart dropped. The panic started to set in but you knew better than to let him see it. 

He’ll come around, he’s just woozy from surgery. 

“Why are you here?” he asked once again, “I'm-” you started but was cut off by a little chuckle from Buck. “You ass!” you let out a breath, “god, you scared me”

“Sorry baby, I didn't mean to scare you” 

“Yeah? So why am I sitting in a hospital room while you’re all banged up” 

“We could bang if you wanted” he gave you one of his stupid wicked smiles

“Evan Buckley!” you scolded him, “now is not the time” your hand held onto his arm, your finger tracing over the tattoo on his bicep. “You really scared me, the whole punctured lung this isn't a cute look Buck” 

“Really ? And here I was thinking that I was pulling it off” 

Something flipped in you, you went from relief to anger in .2 of a second. “How could you?” hitting his shoulder, you stood up. “Ow! What did I do ? I'm just laying here” Buck whined, you know you didn't actually hurt him, he's just being dramatic. 

“I know it’s your job to run into burning buildings but would it kill you to be safe? You can't fucking save anyone if you’re dead Evan!” 

“Woah, calm down first of all, and why are you calling me Evan ?” 

“Is that not your frigging name ?!” 

You were starting to lose your patience. You loved Buck, any and everyone knew that but you couldn't deal with how stupid he could be sometimes. He’d run straight into danger to help others but not once would he stop to think of what could possibly happen to him. 

“Where is this coming from ?” he asked you, looking at you. He reached for your hand but you pulled away. You find yourself pacing again, trying to calm yourself before you strangle him with his IV line. “What do you mean ‘where is this coming from?’ you had a giant block of concrete on your chest Buck! If Eddie didn't find you, you'd be dead, you were on the verge of death as it is.” 

“You don-” 

“I don't know that ? I know you’re dumb enough to run into a collapsing building, especially after Bobby told you not to go back inside” you gave him a look, your back up against the wall. Buck’s face went pale, he looked as if he saw a ghost. 

“What? You thought Eddie wouldn't tell me about your little stunt ? You should know better than that.”

“Y/n, baby, I didn’t think anything would happen to me” 

“You never think Buck, that's the problem! You promised me you wouldn't be reckless! You promised me! but you never listen, you never do. One of these days, you're going to walk in and not walk back out.” storming out of the room, Buck sat on the bed, his mouth hung open and confused as to what brought on the fit of rage you just had. 

Maddie walks into the room, “where’s y/n?” she sits beside him. Buck rubs his forehead, “um- she just went for some air” 

--

It was around 5:30 in the morning, you sat outside on the hood of Buck’s jeep. You had dropped him off at work and taken the jeep for the day, hence why you had it right now. 

Peaceful.

That’s how you’d describe your surroundings. There was no one in the parking lot, you laid back on the hood as your hand came down to your stomach once again, staring aimlessly up into the sky. It wasn't dark but the sun hadn't fully come up yet. It was right before dawn, the world felt like it paused, not completely, but just enough for you to take in these few moments of peace. 

The weight shifted on the jeep, you opened your eyes to see Chim climbing up to sit beside you. “Hey, everyone’s looking for you” he says, laying back onto the hood beside you. “Yeah, I just needed some air” lying through your teeth, you give him as best of a smile that you could muster up. Chim’s eyes fixated on your hand once again, you watched him, practically hearing the turning in his head. 

“What's going on in there? The rebar taking its effect now?” you joke, he rolls his eyes. 

“Does he know about the baby?” he asks, you sit up and turn towards him. You hadn't told a soul. 

“How did-” 

“Maddie does it to- the hand on the belly thing. She's been doing it since before there was a bump. Just a motherly reflex I suppose” 

You stared off into space, Chim sat beside you quietly. “Does he know?” he asks once again, you shake your head. “I know it’s not my place,” he rests his hand on your shoulder, “but I think you should tell him. It might keep him from running into buildings without thinking.” 

“Did that work for you ?” 

“What do you mean ?” 

“When Maddie told you that she was pregnant, did you think twice before running into a burning building ?” 

“Honestly, at first it didn't. It didn't seem real until I saw the bump and heard the heartbeat. Then it all made sense ya know ? I couldn't risk getting hurt because I had something to live for, they were waiting for me to come home” 

“That's the thing, I don't want to lose him, Chim. I can’t lose him. I love him and I need him here, the baby needs him. There’s no way I can do this by myself” 

“You can, I know you would be able to do it by yourself but you shouldn’t have too. Buck’s an idiot but he loves you.”

Chim sat with you for a few more minutes, you considered everything he told you. How Buck might not change right away nor did you expect him too but if there was even a chance of him changing, you’d want him too. “Ready to go back in?” Chim slides off the hood, holding his hand out to you. You hold his hand and he helps you off the hood.

“We have a stop to make first” you walk in the opposite direction of Buck’s room. Chim follows you down to the gift shop, which was closed as it doesn’t open until 7.“Are you kidding me?” you groan, leaning back against the door. “We’ll figure something out,” Chim looks around. Eddie comes around the corner, “what are you guys doing here?” he walks over. 

“I needed something for Buck” 

“What did you need? Can’t it wait until they open?” 

“Eddie, I'm pregnant” you just blurt out, Eddie’s jaw drops, literally. 

“Congratulations!” he pulls you into a hug, “wait, you’re happy about it right?” he checks, you nod. 

“I need one of those stupid “world’s best dad” shirts for Buck but it's closed” 

Eddie looks at Chim and then looks around. “Are we gonna?” Chim points towards the door, looking at Eddie. “Yup” Eddie looks around once more, “lean your head towards me y/n” your face screws into a weird expression but abides anyways. Eddie pulls a bobby pin out of your hair, turning to the door and jams into the lock. He wiggles the pin around until the lock clicks open. 

“Voila” he smiles as pushes the door open. The 3 of you walk in, Eddie stays by the door to make sure no one was coming. “Chim, find a pen and paper for me please ?” you walk away to find the shirt you were looking for. Picking up 4, you shove them into a bag form behind the counter. You toss $30 onto the counter and scribble a little note for the person that opens that read: 

Had an emergency, needed a few shirts. Hope this cash covers it. Thanks! :) 

Eddie relocked the door before heading to Buck’s room. Everyone was now in the room, scattered in different places. Bobby was leaned up against a wall, Athena stood beside him, leaning into his side. Hen sat on the little counter by the window and Maddie was still in the chair beside his bed. Eddie went over and joined Hen by the window, Chim stood behind Maddie, his hand coming up to her shoulder. 

“Y/n..” Buck whispers as you walk in, you take a seat on the end of the bed by his hips. “I’m sorry” he says, his hand reaching out for yours. 

“You’re an idiot but, I guess, I forgive you” you say and Buck smiles at you. “What’s in the bag ?” he asks, you rest the bag on your lap. “Something for you boys” The guys exchange looks, Eddie and Chim knew you needed something for Buck but what did you get for them? 

Pulling out the shirts, you handed one to Buck first. It was a plain blue t-shirt with big white bold letters that read “world’s best dad”. Buck looked down at the shirt and then back at you, he repeated that process a few times and after a couple minutes he finally asked you. 

“Are you ?” he whispers, the room is silent. 

“Am I?” you ask.

“Pregnant ?” he finishes the question and you smile. 

“Yeah, I am” your hand rests on his, he pulls you into his side for a hug. You hug him, trying not to squish him and hurt him even more. 

“Okay,” you sit up and toss another shirt that said the same thing to Eddie. He caught it and smiled, “because Christopher couldn't have a better dad than you” Eddie gives you a smile and whispers a thank you. 

The next shirt gets tossed to Chim, he laughs. “You got one for me too?” he asks, pulling the shirt on over his sweater. “Yeah because baby girl Buckley is gonna be one lucky baby, despite your not-so-funny dad jokes” Maddie laughs at the comment, Chim does too. 

The last shirt goes over to Bobby. He gives you a look, “what’s this for ?” he asks, “Because not only have you been amazing with May and Harry but you’ve got a fire station full of ‘children’ that rely on you. Just a thanks for bringing them home in one piece, well for the most part” you pat Buck’s side.

The room is filled with happiness and love, the 118 was together once again, not just as firefighters but as a family. 

-- 

taglist: @ssa-volturi @advicefromnixxxx @dralexreid @keenmarvellover

[markosmate]

lady

Pairing; Marko x Emerson!Reader

Summary; Moving to a different state with your younger brothers and mother just to live with your grandfather was hard enough, but falling in love with a vampire and then watching your brother do the same thing? Much different story.

Warnings; strong language

au://  Welp lovelies I had promised you a Marko series in February that I started writing while I was manic, then after writing a good five/six chapters I fell into a deep dark hole of depression and didn’t write anything but sad, worthless poetry about a boy I’m in love with who doesn’t love me back :) But now it’s May, a spark of inspiration and happiness has suddenly hit me and I’ve come back to this series to finally deliver it to you!! I hope y’all like it cause I literally stress cried over finishing it three different times :,)

I’d also like to point out that any kind of feedback at all is so so appreciated. Most of my inspiration comes from feeding off of people’s reactions to what I write. So if you enjoy it or have any recommendations or comments at all please please don’t be shy to send me an ask or DM or even comment to let me know :( Thank you and enjoy!!

Part 2

I wasn’t exactly mad about moving, there was nothing holding me in Phoenix that I would be particularly sad about leaving behind. The only thing that struck a nerve was that it was dumped out of nowhere on me. Suddenly Mom had divorced Dad, let him keep everything, and made plans with Grandpa for us to move into his place with him. A little prior warning would have been appreciated, but regardless when we were told it didn’t change the fact that everything we knew was changing. Sam wasn’t happy about it at all, leaving his friends, leaving Dad. Michael... well Michael didn’t really have an opinion. In my view, he was just indifferent. He didn’t really care where the hell we were as long as he had a motorcycle, a job, and some hot chicks to swoon over.

But here we were, packed into Mom’s truck and driving through a town that I’d most likely have memorized like the back of my hand in a good few days. As the three in the car argued over which station to keep on, I turned my head and leaned my forehead on the window of the car. I watched the beach as we drove along the road, and admired the waves hitting against the sand.

I was ready to drift off until we got to Grandpa’s house when a short, exited yell left Mom’s lips. “Oh!” She grinned happily as Sam landed on a station familiar to her. “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Oh, that’s from my era! Grooving on a Sunday afternoon!” She sung along with the song as Sam threw his head back and groaned in protest. I laughed at her antics, enjoying seeing my Mom acting so carefree and happy. 

“Alright, keep going, keep going.” Mom and Sam agreed with each other at the same time, Mom leaning over to continue skipping through the stations. Finally, the next station was agreed on and my pounding head thanked the universe for the quiet that I hadn’t been able to achieve the entire drive here. “Hey we’re almost there!”

“Ugh,” Sam scrunched his nose up in disgust after taking a deep breath. I leaned forward to wrap my arms around his head-rest and pull my face closer to the open window. The pungent smell hit me, and I recognized it immediately, low tide, but it wasn’t bad - anything to do with the beach was calming to me regardless. “What’s that smell?”

“Ah!” Mom breathed in deeply and turned to share a knowing grin with me, “That’s the ocean air!”

I turned to look at the welcoming sign, taking in the colors and faded lettering. “Smells like someone died.” Sam muttered as Mom tutted at him softly. 

“That’s likely.” I muttered to Michael, nudging his head in the direction of the back of the sign, where in big red spray-painted letters sat the phrase “Murder Capitol of the World.”

“Aw guys, I know the last year hasn’t been easy. But I do think you’re really going to enjoy living in Santa Carla.” Mom tried to remain happy about the situation, but a shared glance with Michael after we both read over the sign revealed there wasn’t much he was excited for.

The rest of the drive only increased my excitement. Hippies galore filled the streets, a large amusement park covered most of the boardwalk, and the rest was filled with small shops and food stands. We stopped for awhile so Mom could give some teenagers rummaging through garbage some money to eat and so Michael could unhinge his bike and ask around for job openings, but before I could even think to step out of the car and get a look around we were already heading into the backroads to get to Grandpa’s house.

Grandpa’s house was farther into the plains than expected, but still only a good fifteen to twenty minute drive away from town. Before Mom could ever fully park the car, I had already jumped out and was looking around the property. Michael pulled his bike up next to Mom’s car, and they all took a good few seconds to look around at all the wood carvings and chimes before turning their vehicles off. I took note of the horses grazing in one of the back fields before walking around the front of the truck and seeing a man laying on his back across the front porch steps.

Sam lead the way towards him before Mom cut in front and marched up the steps to squat beside him. “Dad?” She questioned gently. “Dad?” The three of us leaned closer to get a better look.

“Looks like he’s dead.” Michael remarked.

“Like... really dead.” I quipped in, raising an eyebrow at Mom.

“No, no. He’s just a deep sleeper.” She brushed our comments off.

“If he’s dead can we go back to Phoenix?” Sam remarked, earning a snort from me and a sharp look from Mom. 

Suddenly Grandpa sat up, a cocky smirk apparent on his face. “Playing dead. And from what I hear, doing a damn good job of it.”

Sam rolled his eyes in exasperation before Mom laughed faintly. “Oh, Dad!”

-

That night, Mom decided that it would be good for the four of us to leave the house after a night of unpacking and explore the boardwalk when it’s at its liveliest. I could admit it looked much more enjoyable now that it was dark and a little chilly, the sweaty people that had been occupying it earlier were now less sweaty and more stoned.

Almost as soon as Mom’s car and Michael’s bike were parked, Mom sent us off on our own so she could spend some time staking out a job in one of the family-owned shops. “Do you think she’ll be able to find one?” Sam questioned as the three of us weaved through crowds, trying to find our way to the beach concert. We could certainly hear it, we were just having a bit of trouble actually getting to it.

“One what? A job?” Michael scoffed as if it was hard to believe, still bitter over the fact there was no legal jobs for him to get hired in.

I laughed, elbowing him softly in the side, knowing that this place was exactly his vibe and in time he would most likely come to love living here. Sam was the only one I was actually worried about. “She’ll probably be able to find one. What, with all these missing people, there’s bound to be tons of job openings.”

“You’re telling me. It’s like there’s hundreds of bullet-boards around every corner with dozens of people missing. This place really is the Murder Capital.” Michael remarked as the concert finally came into our line of sight.

“Don’t say that!” Sam pleaded, shoving Michael’s shoulder with his eyebrows knitted tightly.

Michael just held his hand up in surrender and with one last shrug of his shoulders he turned to me. “You checking out the shops? We’ll find you once we get bored.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I agreed, turning sharply on my heel and blindly making my way back into the crowd. The concert was loud, sweaty, and crowded, and it wasn’t even my style of music - the last thing I wanted to do was spend my first night there. I figured it would be much more productive if I were to check out all the shops and stands running up and down the entire area, maybe find some new pieces of jewelry, or even a possible summer job opportunity.

Many places caught my eye, and I made a mental note to check them out the next time I had free money to spend, as it wouldn’t be wise for me to make an impulse-buy when I’m so close to being completely broke. Instead a small stand in the middle of the walkway drew me to it. A piercing stand. One person working on someone already sitting on the chair. There was a large wall selection of different studs, and many different kinds of disinfectants lined along the counter.

I walked closer to the wall, admiring all the different designs they had. I’d absolutely love to get a helix or orbital piercing, but I knew it wasn’t the wisest to spend money doing something like that at a small stand on a boardwalk in Santa Carla of all places. I was suddenly broken out of my thoughts when a voice spoke up directly behind me.

“It’s a scam, you know.” I jumped, hand flying to my chest, and whipping around to look at the owner. A teenage boy, my age, maybe a little older, with long curly blond hair and a grin that could have probably wooed me into his bed by the end of the night had he not literally just scared the shit out of me.

I laughed breathlessly, shaking my head. “What is?”

“The piercings. If you need one done, I could do it for you. But they use the guns instead of a needle which will definitely infect if you’re planning on doing a cartilage one.” He explained with a tilt of his head as he turned and began making his way towards the restaurants. I took that as an invite to follow, jogging to catch up and walking next to him.

“You know a lot about piercings?” I tried to make small talk, not wanting him to get away just yet.

He nodded with a confident smirk. “I did my own, and my friends. Someone had to learn.” I laughed a little at his mock-annoyed tone and shoved my hands into my pockets to appear to be doing something. He suddenly stopped and turned to me, holding out his hand. “Marko, by the way.”

“Ivory.” I accepted his hand and we both shook, hard and firm.

“You’re new.” He nodded as if finally understanding something that had been going on inside his own head. “I would’ve noticed you before if you’d been here all along.”

We dropped each other’s hand and I gave him a quizzical look. “What do you mean by that?”

He barked out a laugh and shook his head. “Nothing rude, you’re just too gorgeous to go unnoticed around here.” Before I could reply, another voice cut in from a few yards away.

“Marko! Marko, man, we’re supposed to meet David in ten!” I looked over to see another punk-looking dude calling out to Marko with his hands cupped around his mouth.

I laughed and look back towards the curly blond. “See you around?”

He nodded in confirmation, sending me one last crooked smile before turning to jog over to his other friend. I turned as well, making my way back into the crowd and away from the middle lane stands. I didn’t make it very far before the body of my youngest brother crashed into my side. I glanced down at him in bewilderment as we used each other to steady ourselves.

“Sam? Aren’t you supposed to be with Michael?” I laughed as he looked as though he’d just had the weirdest conversation of his life.

“Well, I was. Then he saw some girl at the concert and wandered after her so I went to check out the comic store.” He explained, shrugging before letting his eyes wander around once more in search of Michael. I rolled my eyes, of course Michael left Sam behind to go chase after some girl. It didn’t take long to find him, he was only a little further down the stretch of restaurants. He was more towards the end, walking out of the crowd near where the last building - a bar - sat in place.

We walked up behind him, and as soon as I was at his side I followed his eyes to a girl who was walking behind a small child, hand on his shoulder, and steering him in a certain direction. She was pretty - with big, curly hair and a beautiful smile that curled her lips up as her eyes grazed over all the lights of the carousel one last time for the night. I followed her line of sight, trying to place why Michael was following her instead of just walking up and introducing himself, but I immediately realized what the problem was.

She hoisted herself up onto the back of a motorcycle, accepting the help of the blond driver. He had a spiked mullet, dressed in all black, and when he realized Michael was staring at his girl, a cocky kind of smirk crossed his face. His friends parked next him all revved their engines to a start, and I tore my eyes from the platinum blond to see the others. I didn’t manage to catch a good look at two of them, because my eyes immediately looked onto those of the punk from earlier who’d started a conversation with me over pierced ears.

He was already looking at me, and when he realized my attention immediately locked onto him, a predatory look filled the black circles of his eyes and his lips formed into a boyish smirk directed exactly at me. He lifted his hand in a short wave, laughing along with the friend who called him away from me earlier as he shoved Marko’s shoulder in a teasing way. I lifted my hand in a small acknowledging wave back, but was knocked out of my small trance by Sam, who began teasing Michael.

“Come on, she stiffed ya!” Sam laughed harmlessly, gently punching Michael’s shoulder and turning to probably go and find Mom. I broke my gaze away from Marko immediately, turning to follow after Sam and not bothering to look back at all as I heard the bikes pull out and speed off down the road.

“Too bad she left with Mr. Mullet, she was pretty.” I tried to break the tension with Michael, I really didn’t want him to be upset over the lose of the girl, he still had all of Santa Carla’s teenage population of girls to meet.

He cracked a smile and nudged his shoulder into mine. “She really was.”

Once we made it home for the night, I separated from both my brothers and made my way into my own room. It was the smallest of all of ours, but that’s the main reason why I had chose it. It was cozy, and cute. I liked the way it came out once I had finished decorating it.

I couldn’t help but let my mind wander to those boys on the motorcycles from earlier that night. Marko seemed nice enough, even if I didn’t know whether or not I was brave enough to try to pursue a friendship with his more than intimidating friends. Just as I came to the conclusion that I should just get over myself and approach them, a sharp sting of anxiety wedged itself into my gut and nauseous filled my stomach and rose up in my throat. No. I didn’t need to become friends with those boys, there was something off, something I didn’t need to meddle in.

If I saw them again, I’d avoid eye contact and conversation completely. I was never able to understand my anxiety, but I always listened to it when it struck me.

[soullesscoffee]

i think; therefore i am || part one

{ fem! witch reader x poly!the lost boys }

|| part two ||

part rating: teen

word count: 20716 (i am so sorry)

part summary: a nomadic witch running from her dark past (reader) finds her place after travelling the states on the shores of santa carla. in a way to make money she sets up a booth on the bustling boardwalk where she gives a few readings to a couple interesting characters for some loose change. this night she discovers she isn’t the only supernatural being.

warnings: mature language, mind manipulation, violence, use of tobacco, a cute familiar, nightmares, allusions to being burned alive, witch trials, hints to major character death, visions, and the lost boys being violent (mainly david.), this has not been proof read it has merely been skimmed.

“I promise I will be good. Please mother!” You yell towards the cloaked woman who looked at you with a disdained look on features. Features you once found comforting and like home turned on you in an instant. Those soft features are now rigid and gaunt from stress and aging, but the worse link to all the features was the cobalt blue eyes. Eyes that reflected the moon so sharply that it was almost mirrored. Eyes so sharp and focused as your mother shook her in disappointment, “No, you won’t,” her words were forthright showing no emotion behind it. How did someone who you called your mother betray you and not even take a second glance? “No, no! Wait! No, I promise!” You start to trash against the rope that is wrapped around your body, confining you to a large wooden pole. Stretching your body to its breaking point as the only color you could see was red. Then it was hot, burning, seething your skin away as one of your sisters lowers a torch at your feet. Your eyes connect to the moon as your throat lashes a blood-curdling scream into the starry clear night.

Gasping for the air you shoot up from your makeshift bed, sweating coating your skin in a glossy layer. Your lungs rapidly gasp for air as they burn from your fears that have your heart racing so much it punches your ribs. A shift in the bed causes your attention to shift. Your cat, a scruffy black devon rex steals his way up the side of your bed. His head tilting before making his own way into your lap a loud purr radiating off of your pet in his best attempts to calm you. You lift a shaky hand to plop it down on the cat’s back who tenses for a quick second before stretching his paws to your chest, reminding you to breathe. A slight smile comes to your lips, “I’m fine, Finn. Really,” you sigh and rub away the hair sticking on your face from the layer of sweat on your skin. “It’s always the same nightmare.” You admit to your furry friend who makes his way to the tail end of your bed. He stretched and tipped his nose upwards as his spine curled sniffing the air as if he was trying to investigate the surrounding area. With your heart rate slowed just the slightest you pull yourself from your bed and shuffle through the hallway that leads from your bedroom to your living space in the trailer you parked on the cliff overlooking the beach. The sun was setting, casting an orange hue in your trailer, the light catchers reflecting rainbows as they twirl mindlessly from the free breeze coming through the cracked window. Peace. That was a safe haven. However, with the sun setting you realize you have taken a nap when least expected. You must’ve needed it after the first night of working on the boardwalk. Who knew reading tarot, runes, and palms to tourists would take so much energy out of you.

A sigh escapes your lips as you attempt to step around Finn to get to your closet where you pick a black outfit with an ornate shawl to help you stand out. 

“Be good and protect the home,” you kneel down to scratch Finn under his chin after you have gathered your last-minute things and open the trailer door to have it close behind you. A quiet meow echoes from behind the door and your smirk at the small goodbye from your pet. It didn’t take you long to start up your old truck with a few hits and a couple pumps for the clutch to make your way down to the boardwalk parking lot.

The night was the same as before but this time a couple of well rounded security guards started to come up to the booth later on into the evening. The wind was a bit harsher and the waves crashed in rhythm of the music that was being played on the tiny radio next to your ankle. The boardwalk was filled with all strains of life. There were well rounded individuals taking their picture perfect families for a night out to teens dressed in all black with every inch of their face covered in piercing and colored hair. You preferred that crowd. Then again it didn’t help to get money from those picture perfect families who you only give half ass readings for. When the heavy boots of the literal rounded security officers approached your booth were you snapped from your thoughts. Looking them up and down you can instantly get a feel of their energy, they were hostile and annoyed by the night already. Yet the night was still so young. 

“Excuse me, do you have a permit to be setting up your booth here?” The officer with the mustache questions shifting his weight onto one leg jutting out his hip.

“Yeah, you need a vendor permit to even set up here on the boardwalk,” the skinnier one of the couple started before picking at the cloth of your booth, studying it with a devious smirk. “You tell fortunes? Tell me how we are going to kick you off the boardwalk.” The two chuckle at the joke yet in a calm manner you stand with your hands on the ornate cloth. 

“I do tell fortunes, but not those who tend hurt others because they have a flimsy gold badge on their breast,” you start and give a rather deceiving smile as you tilt your head. “I do not have a vendor’s permit to be out here. However, I am sure you know how hard it is to make a living during these times. Surely you can give me a pass.” You suggest and the fatter one with the mustache snickered at your suggestion. The two looked at one another but as they looked back at you they were met with purple hazed eyes and fingers that were pointed at them which radiated purple energy. “Now, I hope you will listen to me,” you begin this time your voice was an octave deeper as you displayed your abilities to them. It wasn’t hard to sink into their minds and be able to control such a feeble psyche, the purple illuminating from their eyes indicated you were in. You didn’t even need to chant a hex to even get them to repeat after you, “I will not approach this vendor anymore.” They repeat and a smirk quivers on the corner of your lips, “I will not terrorize anyone who I deem… different. I will walk away now and forget I ever saw this vendor.” Once they repeat you flick your wrist the two men turn on their heels and quite literally march away to whatever other duties they have. You grumble to yourself as you sit back down pushing the skirt under you so you can sit properly on the chair. 

As you adjust your trinkets and cards on the table you can hear from afar an excited young boy's voice, “Mike! Look! It’s a fortune teller. We have to do this!”

“No Sammy, we said we would go to the concert and meet mom back at the entrance. I am not stopping for some phoney fortune teller who just reads some useless cards to tell me literally nothing.” the older voice replies back with an annoyed tone and quite ready to walk in the opposite direction. You don’t look up to give the hint you are listening, in fact you lean back in your chair starting to shuffle your tarot deck because indeed you know the two will end up before you.

“Well too bad. I came here to have fun and you’re ruining it. Live a little Mike. You’ve been grumpy all day,” pouts the young blonde, “plus I didn’t say you needed to get a reading done. i got my own money.”

“How did you get money?”

“I stole it from your wallet!” The younger one laughs and charges his way over to the booth and you make eye contact with him, his grin was wide and full of innocence. Blue eyes that were striking amongst the moonlight, they glimmered with hope and curiosity. “Dammit Sam!” the older one whom you assumed to be the brother charges behind. “Hi, how can I help you today?” You asks in your kindest customer service voice. The young boy holds out the ten dollar bill, “I would like a reading if I could have one please. Mom always told us about her tarot card readings, but I would like one for myself.” He grins to the side as he looks over his shoulder to his older brother, a brunette with a strong build who seems to already be annoyed just standing next to this booth and his brother. “Why of course, thank you! Take a seat please.” You request and glance over to the older brother, “If you’d like a seat by all means sit.” He didn’t respond, only took a glance at you before looking away. He was skeptical and nervous. Of course he was. “Normally I don’t do readings for such young gentlemen like you, but I like you already, so I will do a general reading. Now before I get started, may I have your name?”

“Sam,”

“Nice to meet you Sam, I am Y/N. Thank you once again,” you grant a thanks and start to shuffle your cards. Normally with normal individuals the cards don’t have this much energy. You give a breathy chuckle and shuffle fiercely before a card flies from the deck. You plant it face down before looking young Sam in the eyes giving him a playful smirk at his eagerness. “You two have a lot of energy for you, that’s a good thing.” You compliment but the older brother just snickers and crosses his arm before another card flies out. It didn’t take long for the third to fly out. You align the cards, “Alright let’s see here, this card represents you. The page of cups,” You smile gingerly at the card before flipping it to show the boy. “You are filled with wonder, you love your family and have a curious nature to you.” You can see the boy is looking at the card with curious eyes. Take in the fancy man holding a golden chalice balance on one foot and his heel. He is dressed in quite jarring clothes like the boy sitting in front of you. “You also love to express yourself in ways that are creative, like your fashion, or music.” You not before hovering your hand over the next card. “This card represents the path you are on," you flip over the card to see the emperor standing sitting on his throne high and mighty, “the emperor. Now this card is quite powerful, one of my favorites. You are on the path of seeking how to defend yourself and those you love. How to become more powerful in the sense of trying to find structure and to grow in your sense of logic and practicality.” At this point you didn’t even notice the older brother has now sat down. Full attention on you and the cards. You give him a wink before turning your attention back to his younger brother, “It seems like you’re trying to find a father figure role within yourself or by others.” The boys' features soften from a grin to a saddened look, that must’ve struck a bit too close for home. “Let’s continue, shall we?” You ask and he slowly nods glancing over at his brother. You carefully flip over the last card, “This card represents your potential,” your eyes glance down at the justice card. The figure holds a sword and a scale in each hand, sitting on a chair with authority as a scarlet drape is behind them. “Justice. You know what it’s like to be wronged, treated unfairly, you will have to face the truth soon. Whatever that truth is, you have to see everything from each point of view. Going back to the Emperor, you need to be logical and work on that skill in order to find your Justice. You will generate peace and harmony to those who surround you.”

“Wow, thank you, that’s- that’s awesome,” Sam thanks you leaning back in the folded chair carefully eyeing his brother who was staring diligently at the card, studying them and seeming astounded. You lean forward and tap the table under his nose. “I can do a reading for you as well, free of charge. I like your little brother. However, I would like your name.”

The blue eyed brunette looked up at you with wide eyes, filled with wonder and trying to read your own eyes. “Michael. My name is Michael,” you smile at his name and gather the cards back into your pile. You shuffle in the bustling white noise of the  busy boardwalk. A card flies out and lands face down on the table. You shuffle until two more fall from the pile. “Alright Michael, let’s see who the cards say you are.” Your black painted fingers flip over the first card to be greeted by the figure of archangel Michael blowing on his trumpet as the words read ‘judgement’. “You are going through a new journey, a new beginning. You are starting anew. You also find comfort in sharing your struggles with others who relate and you want freedom from your own troubles. Then we have,” You start flipping over the second card, “the ten of swords.” You whisper and you glance up to see his worried eyes look at the pictured body stabbed by ten swords pinned to the ground. “Don’t overthink it.” You whisper ducking your head to make eye contact with him, trying your nest to make him feel safe. “You're going to be betrayed by someone you begin to trust. The pain inflicted runs deep not because what they have done is hurtful, but because you know deep down that this marks the end of your relationship as you know it with them. You will grieve the loss of the relationship. This card is about letting go and accepting your circumstances.” There was silence between the two, you could hear a pin drop if one was to.

“It’s a warning,” you say and clear your throat to ease the tension a bit. You flip over the last card to show the lovers card. “The lovers,” you smile longingly at the card, “you will be ready to establish your own beliefs and follow your heart in the end. You will find love for yourself but love will also find you. In every choice you make on your path, there is an equal amount of advantage and disadvantage, opportunity and challenge, positive and negative. I am excited for you to find your other half.” A warm smile comes to your lips but there was wary to the middle card, that card showed the journey he was going to begin was going to something dark. The clapping of a hand on someone’s back causes you to jump out of your trance. “Well gentlemen, I hope you got the answers you two were looking for. Thank you for stopping by, if you have any more questions or any more services, I will be here.”

The two respond with weary smiles and slowly get up from their chairs with soft thanks as they continue to make their way down the boardwalk. A twinkle of a smile was left on your lips as you watched them walk away. 

Hours later you find yourself with a tip jar that is half full and a bag that contained crumpled bills that were stale and some damp. A sigh leaves your lips as you clean up the station, cleaning up the scrying orb in its case and the tip jar in the bag full of bills. Just before you started to take down your sign you saw four shadows cascade from behind you. A low hum left your lips and you turned on your heel to see four men standing in front of you. Quite young looking, dressed in all black, a couple more than the others. A small smile peaked your lips. “How can I help you gentlemen?” You ask the stoic figures as they stare down at you, purely interested and emitting a strange energy. They’re energy was really strange but you couldn’t put your finger on it. 

“Well we were seeing if it wasn’t too late to get a couple of readings,” the one with the spiked platinum blonde hair responds. His head tilts as he looks into your eyes. For a second you had to look away from the piercing blue eyes because you felt your head go dizzy. 

“Of course, what are you looking for? I do tarot, palms, and even runes.” You inform as your make your way to your side of the booth. Your folding chair creaking as you sit on it, your posture upright and alert. 

“Well, Marko? Which one do you want? You begged to come over here before they closed.” The platinum spoke up again, you tried to get a read on him, by his upright body language he seemed to be the leader of the little posse. Though you were new to the boardwalk you never really saw them around. How did you miss them? Granted you were new to town, but only by a few weeks.

“I’ll go with a palm reading if it means the cutie gets to hold my hand.” The one name Marko pipes with a chuckle from his peers. You can only roll your eyes playfully to play along, “Well sit down, palm readings start at $10 for that comment.” You tease the curly haired man who skipped to your hair and held out his hands with a snicker following. The fingerless gloves covered most of his palm so you nod your head towards his hands, “May I?” You ask before he responds with a nod and cheesy grin. As you started to slip off his hands your eyes peered over his head to watch his friends behind him. You take in their appearances. The platinum blonde was starting to light a cigarette. The other wild haired blonde was walking forward to admire the trinkets on your booth. While the tall brunette was giving you a cold stare as he watched you take off his friends gloves. Each of them donned a single earring and a jacket that was different to their individuality. You clear your throat and look at Marko, “It is nice to meet you Marko. I hope you find this reading useful and beneficial to you for the future.” You start as you take his cool hand into yours. Overlapping his hand with yours you didn’t mind the cold hands, or think much about it, the night was quite chilly.

You roll your shoulders back and roll your neck to relax. As you did a shock was sent through your nerves and you gasped sharply. As did Marko who received the same energy suddenly, causing a pained groan to leave his throat. The energy surges up to your neck causing you to close your eyes tightly. A vision. Pain. Darkness. Betrayal. You can see through Marko’s eyes. He was in pain and bleeding everywhere. There were inhuman screeches all around him; his friends jolted around in him in disturbance and rage. Then you realized they were hanging upside down. Their faces looked like nothing that they did now. Features were contorted, eyes were bloodshot and yellow, and teeth sharp. Just as your vision ended you felt a stabbing in your chest just like the object in Marko’s chest. A pained yell left your throat. There was an echo of Marko yelling out in pain and incoherent yells of the boys behind him. 

You shot Marko away from you with shadows of purple energy following him. The chair shot about six feet from under him and Marko rolled to a stop with the wild blonde following after him in concern. 

“What the hell was that?!” The leader booms rushing to your table, his hands grasping the table with a crushing grip. You could hear it crack as you try to catch your breath. The pain was unbearable. “What the hell are you?!” He interrogates again with a sharp tone. This time he threw the table to the side effortlessly. You gasp and stand in response. Your hands fly up in a contorted shape with purple shadows lingers around your fingers. The leader was stuck in his palace, grunting and struggling against your will. Pants leave your parted lips, brows furrowed and pained as you hold back the leader. Exposing your power.

The three other men kneel around their curly haired friend. Your eyes flicker to them, “There is one thing I can’t stand about vampires,” you croak, holding the leader in his place bringing him as you walk closer to the boys. The look on their faces when you announce your knowledge of their supernatural being, now that look was priceless. “They don’t know how to control their temper.” You choke out as purple energy hazed over your eyes. Their eyes widened at the energy around their leader and the shine from your eyes. All of them scramble to their feet. 

The brunette was first to act and you were faster to stop him mid run. He was now frozen under your spell. Energy outlining his shape as he looked around frantically. You wipe your hand causing him to fly straight through the railing and far out into the ocean with a purple orb pushing straight into his chest. Then with another flick of your wrist the leader went flying right after the brunette with another orb following to make him go further. Your purple eyes scanned towards the two blondes who looked hostile yet intimidated. Before they could even take a step you waved your arms and contorted hands in front of you, to each of their bodies, with a cross of your arms the two slam into one another with a crushing thud. You push the energy out with your arms and hands and the two blondes went flying far out into the ocean following their peers with purple orbs pushing into their chests. 

You were left there on the dark boardwalk, cascaded under orange street lamps, panting with purple shadows flowing around your eyes and glowing in your eyes. Your adrenaline pumping through your veins caused your breathing to become ragged. It took a beat for your breathing to return to normal. You slid your stance back to normal to show your calming nature. Your hands return to your sides no longer casting purple energy and your eyes are their normal color but still widened in fear. Behind you was your booth table broken in half, your items thrown all about wildly from the wind, and your scrying orb shattered near your feet. Dollar bills flying wildly wherever the ocean breeze takes them. 

Taking one last deep breath you tilt your head out towards the crashing onyx waves. The humid breeze thrashing your clothing all about. You press a clammy palm to your forehead as you curse quietly to yourself, “Shit.”

a/n: this is the first part of a series that i have been writing on and off for the past month. i’ve always wanted to incorporate a witch into the lost boys because it would be so interesting! this will be sort of slow burn poly!the lost boys kind of vibe. please let me know if you’d like more of this series. thank you so much for reading!! 🖤🖤🖤

[callmebrycelee]

9-1-1: LONE STAR REACTION

This reaction is for season 3, fourth episode “Push" which originally aired on January 31, 2022. The episode was written by Tim Minear and Rashad Raisani and directed by Marita Grabiak. Spoilers ahead!

We finally have the conclusion to our snowstorm saga and I’ve got so much to say! First off, let me just say that I really try to refrain from comparing Lone Star to its predecessor because I adore both shows for completely different reasons. However, I must admit that I have been much more entertained by Lone Star’s season 3 premiere than I was with the OG 9-1-1′s season 5 premiere. My mom and I have had discussions about why we feel sort of meh about the current season of 9-1-1 and I think what it boils down to is that everyone feels so separated. Maddie left. Then Chimney left. Carla is hardly around anymore (we both love her so much). Michael and David left. Eddie is contemplating leaving. I know that a lot of these departures are due in part to things going on behind the scenes but it feels like this family I’ve grown quite attached to is so fractured at the moment.

Lone Star feels the exact opposite. Even when the 126 was split apart last season, I felt like the family unit stayed together. This is why I enjoyed this episode in particular so much. That final scene where the 126′s house was being reinstated made me feel so many things all at once and I was like, yes - this is what I’ve been missing! But hey - I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s back up and start from the beginning.

Our sweet baby boy TK is still comatose after he dove into a frozen over pond to save a little boy a few episodes ago. Seeing Carlos grieve over TK is one of many heartbreaking moments in this episode. It is so apparent that Carlos still loves TK and thank God for his mom who stops by and convinces him to talk to TK and tell him how he really feels about him. Mrs. Reyes isn’t the only mother talking some sense into her son. Gwen, although not the actual Gwen, is giving TK a much deserved kick in the pants for how he treated Carlos. 

So, we finally got an explanation for why the two of them broke up and I liked that it wasn’t the cliché ‘TK cheated on Carlos’ or ‘TK and Carlos had a fight and TK relapsed’. Apparently TK and Carlos were planning on purchasing a home but TK wasn’t financially ready to take such a leap. Instead, Carlos went behind his back and got the home anyway which TK did not react to very well. Because of this, TK became the old TK and he shut Carlos out leading to them breaking up. As someone who has been in a similar situation before, I related to TK hardcore. Sometimes things can be so perfect that it can be scary - especially when you are a first responder who is used to seeing so many stories not have a happy ending.

Because the fandom couldn't possibly sustain another episode of seeing TK in a coma or TK and Carlos not together, TK finally emerged from his coma and Carlos was standing there right beside him. The moment where TK told Carlos to breathe literally made me well up because in that moment all animosity between the two of them was gone and the only thing that was left was there genuine love for each other.  

TK and Carlos are back together again and it feels so right. We learn that Carlos kept the home he had purchased and that while TK was recovering in the hospital, he went over to Owen and Mateo’s place to move out TK’s things so that he can bring them back to their new home. TK and Carlos are alright and I have a feeling they will be more than alright as the season progresses. And maybe, just maybe, we will hear wedding bells in the near future for one of our favorite 9-1-1 couples.

Next, let’s discuss one of my new favorite pairings on the show - Owen and Tommy. When it was announced last season that Gina Torres was joining the cast of Lone Star, I was pumped! I love her. I loved her on Firefly. I loved her in the Matrix films. I loved her on Suits. I think she is such a dynamic actress and while I also like Liv Tyler, I just didn’t like her character Iris. Tommy Vega brings a fire to this show that was missing in season one and when her and Owen share screen time, it’s pure magic! 

In this episode, Tommy is dealing with a tremendous amount of guilt. She feels guilty because she blames herself for TK’s current condition. I loved the moment where she and Owen are driving around looking for Grace and Billy and before she has a chance to apologize, Owen tells her that he doesn’t want to hear it and that she is not to blame for what happened to his TK. Just in case you’re keeping count, this was yet another moment in which my hyperactive tear ducts were working over time. 

Speaking of Owen, he finally, after two episodes, learns of what happened to TK and I was honestly heartbroken for him. Owen, like Tommy and like Judd and even Billy, has lost so much. After beating cancer and surviving the demise of his rekindled romance with his ex-wife due to her being pregnant with her ex’s baby, it almost seems cruel that he could potentially lose his only son whom he has come close to losing before. 

It’s truly a lot to take in but one of my favorite moments of the episode is when Owen finally admits that it wasn’t ego or pride that caused him to walk away from the 126 - it was fear. When the proverbial shit hit the fan last season, everyone was looking to him to fix it and he was unsure if he could fix things. So, he ran away. He now blames TK’s condition on his inability to lead his team when they needed him most. In order to atone for his sins, he decides he will go find Billy to sign the paper so he can get control of the 126 again. If he can’t save TK then maybe he can save his house. Cue more tears!

Speaking of more tears, our final major story of the episode involves our beloved Grace. When we last left off with Grace, she was stuck in her car, in the middle of the snowstorm, in labor, with Billy as her passenger! Now that is a lot to deal with! Grace continues to be stubborn by refusing any of the help that Billy is offering her. Billy eventually gets out the car and locates an RV that will be more conducive for giving birth than Grace’s sedan. The two of them walk the short distance - in the middle of the snowpocalypse - to the RV and when they arrive, and that is when Billy discovers the RV is out of gas and therefore cannot turn on. Grace is nervous about freezing to death so Billy sets out on foot (again) with a funnel and he uses it to siphon gas out of the abandoned cars. Shout out to Billy who up until this moment has been the villain of the series. He manages to get enough gas into the RV and then he hot wires it in just in the nick of time. The heat comes on and as he is telling Grace that it will only take a minute to heat up, he passes out I’m guessing from having potentially, accidentally ingested gasoline. 

Meanwhile, on their way to find Billy, Owen and Tommy arrive at Grace and Judd’s house to find no trace of either Grace or Billy. They call Judd who is shocked to find out that Grace is not at home. They quickly figure out that Grace is gone into labor and while Owen and Tommy go off to look for her, Judd commandeers a firetruck to do the same. They all arrive just in time for the arrival of the baby! More tears! Congratulations to Judd and Grace on the birth on their beautiful baby girl! Yay!

Now that the 126 is back together, they all show up to the demolition of their house looking like the X-Men. Seriously, me and my mom paused the screen and basically assigned X-Men to each of them. We both agreed that Judd would Cyclops, Tommy would be Jean Grey, Mateo is Jubilee, Paul is Bishop, TK is Iceman, Owen is Professor X and Nancy is Storm. They looked so badass walking in formation! Man, I have missed my squad! It’s so good to have the band back together! 

Even though Owen has finally come to his senses and regained control of his old house, it seems like it’s too late as a wrecking ball is literally about to smash in what is left of their former house. Then Marjan receives a notification that the GoFundMe she started for the 126 has reached their goal. They are all shocked ... well most of them are shocked. Paul isn’t shocked because he is the one who convinced the couple whose daughter he saved to donate the remaining funds. The 126 house has been saved! How convenient, hehehe.

So, we fast-forward to some months later and the 126 is officially rebuilt and back in operation. Perhaps my favorite moment of the episode was the ceremony where each member of the 126 rang a bell. I must admit that I got quite emotional watching as the 126 pushed their truck into the station just like many firehouses have down throughout history. It was very moving and again, I love seeing my squad - my family - back together again.

At the post-ceremony reception, we get to see Grace and Judd with their new baby - Charlie - who is named after Tommy’s late husband, Charles. What a moving tribute and you can tell that Tommy was truly touched by the gesture. I also thought it was such an olive branch that Grace and Judd let Billy hold their baby. It’s important to remember that despite everything that has happened, Judd and Billy have a shared tragedy. While Judd chose to keep going, Billy allowed resentment to settle in and fester and it manifested in him actively trying to destroy the very firehouse that was his home for so many years. I really hope that after all the bad blood between Billy and the 126 that he goes on to be their ally instead of their enemy. I actually like Billy (maybe it’s because I like Billy Burke) and I hope we get to see him rekindle his friendships with both Judd and Owen. The final scene does show some promise. I loved the visual of Owen and Billy looking at the wall with the photos of the fallen members of 126. Let’s hope that this marks a new beginning for everyone.

Well, that’s it for this episode! I must say, it ranks as one of my favorite 9-1-1 episodes. I thought season 2 had some incredible episodes but season 3 is shaping up to be the best season yet. So, what happens next? Grace and Judd are new parents! Isn’t that wild? TK and Carlos are reunited and it does feel so good. Hopefully they can sustain their romance and hopefully TK manages to stay out of harm’s way. The poor kid has been through enough! I wonder if they will give Owen a love interest. I’m also curious to see how Tommy navigates life as a single mom. I also want to see more of Nancy now that she has been elevated to main cast. Whatever Lone Star brings, I’m quite sure I will love it. Until next time ...

[dykespence]

The way Carla showed up absolutely smitten down bad horrendous in the gayest of outfits she could find just be called a friend ohhh the PAIN

[theyreonlynoodlesmike]

Hi! I was wondering what it would be like to date the lost boys if you had a little girl that you adopted? Who would be like hard no and who would be father of the year? Your writing is so great!

Okay, so- here's my take on how the boys would be if you had a kid. I'm making the age range around like 7-9, so just slightly younger than Laddie

Poly!Lost Boys x S/O with an Adopted Daughter

Some of the boys were a little hesitant at first, let's not sugarcoat this. They were turned when they were teenagers, and the sudden idea of that much responsibility being placed on their shoulders was a little daunting. It was similar to Laddie, but this time they wouldn't just be considered an older brother. They'd be considered a step-dad. Though, they were really into you, so they decided to give it a chance

Dwayne was completely fine with it. It was a bit of a shock, but a welcome surprise when you revealed you had an adopted daughter. The way he acts around her definitely makes you swoon. Dwayne will carry her around on his hip so she doesn't get lost in the Santa Carla crowds. He always checks in on her to ask if she's thirsty or hungry, and completely takes on the fathering role. Calls her his "little princess" and will sit down for tea-parties with her. Just his giant self in one of her tiny play-chairs holding an empty tea cup surrounded by her stuffed animals. Actually takes tea-time very seriously and learns all the names of her stuffed animals. He's actually really happy that Laddie has a playmate and the two of you will take them out to the boardwalk/take them on rides together. He tries to put her to sleep, but she's doing that kid thing where she won't let go. "Princess, you have to go to sleep." "But then you'll leave *puppy eyes*" Dwayne, under his breathe, "Ah, crap-" Ends up laying in her tiny bed until she falls asleep. She'll curl her fingers around his hair and he might end up falling asleep too. Will read to her to help her sleep. Definitely whipped and definitely a 10/10 dad

David doesn't hate kids. But he doesn't really like them either. But! He likes you so he tries his best. He can never remember the names of her stuffed animals, no matter how hard he tries. And no matter how many times she corrects him. Just imagine David holding a stuffed animal while a seven year old corrects him on its name and the way he just blankly stares down at the little girl as he tries to make it seem like he's listening. If David has to listen to the Speak-n-Spell one more time, he's gonna chuck it out a window. Is the king of going "oh, really?" Whenever she rambles on because you told him that he had to at least try to pay attention to her (because it's good for her development). Even though David isn't crazy about kids, kids probably love him because of his LOOK. Like your daughter probably wants to touch his hair and play with his earring and David just kinda sits there as a little girl squeezes his cheeks. Won't admit it, but be actually really took it to heart when your daughter called him "cool". Probably doesn't want her to call him dad and instead just has her call him David. Is Protective™ of her though, and you call him out for being soft because he has a habit of checking that she's at least holding onto one of them. Is probably the best disciplinarian just because he's probably the least effected by her puppy dog eyes. Is overall a 7/10 dad.

Marko is the terrible influence type of dad. Your daughter suggests drawing on the walls and he's just like, "Y'know what would be cooler? Drawing on the ceiling." Will teach her curse words and how to curse colorfully. The first time she lets out the f-bomb he laughs so hard he nearly cries. Will win her a thousand stuffed animals. Marko is the one that lets it slip that they're vampires to your daughter and all of the boys are about to throttle him until she just says "cool!" He shows her what his vampire face looks like and let's her touch his fangs. Marko just yelling "I'm gonna get you" before chasing after your squealing daughter with his vampire face on. You're a little worried at first until you see that she's screaming from laughter because Marko is tickling her. Let's her play with his jacket all the time/inspect all the different patches he has. He kinda expects it because she's a kid and it has a lot of colors/things to touch. He really encourages her artistic side and buys steals her art supplies for all three of you to play with on your dates. Listens to all her stories and let's her drag him around the house as she talks. Holds her hand when they walk on the boardwalk and the two of you swing her- Cannot discipline her because he usually caused trouble with her. Overall, 8/10 dad

The second Paul finds out you have a kid, he starts calling himself a dilf. Paul is actually really good with your daughter, but only because they're basically the same mental age and have the same amount of energy. The two of them have long conversations and go on adventures together. Really, when Paul comes over you kind of become a third wheel rip- Paul tries his best not to curse around her but he always forgets. Tries to introduce her to some cool music and will also try to teach her how to play guitar. Will sing to her, but he hates that she constantly requests for kid songs. Takes it upon himself to teach her rock music so she'll ask for something else. Let's her braid his hair and even put some makeup on him/do his nails. Your daughter calls him pretty one (1) time and Paul will never forget it. Is a very affectionate type of dad and demands cheek kisses. Gives her lots of piggyback rides/carries her on his shoulders. Talks to her like she's an equal, and she really likes it. The two often just sit criss-cross on the floor rambling about different things while you and the others hang out in the background. She calls Paul stinky one (1) time and the boys won't let him forget it. He nearly cried. Also, cannot discipline her, but mainly because he's a big softie for her. Overall, 8/10 dad

All of the boys are Protective Dad's™ and will literally kill someone for your daughter. A group of older boys pick on her/pull on her hair? They are ready to beat the shit out of a couple of thirteen year olds

Overall, I wouldn't say any of them are truly against it or wouldn't date you for it. They all have their own parenting styles though and their own level of how well they can care for a kid, however. Either way! They love you and your daughter just the same

[hhawks]

Talk about EreMika!! :)

aot manga spoilers

as my number 2 kin of all time mikasa holds such a deep place in my heart. i quite honestly think she is the main character of snk, and nawt eren. why? because i think that she's the one the story revolves around. she created and ended the story. she's the one who ymir waited for, who ended ymir's bondage to king fritz. and she did it all out of love for eren.

i think that a lot of people are stumped by the apparent "sibling" dynamic that they have since mikasa was technically adopted into the jaeger family and while i do think it's true that carla and grisha (i literally forgot his name for like two minutes) definitely treated her like their own child, the relationship between the two of them is built on love and trust and companionship, and has never been a sibling dynamic. from the start eren killed to save mikasa. gave her his scarf, and she never took it off. everything she did revolved around him out of love and loyalty. but she also constantly kept him in check like defending armin. arumika is something i will get into another time i do not have time for that this is about eremika

eremika is just something so. pure to me. there's something about the way they would have given up their whole lives just for four years uninterrupted together. something about how eren sacrificed himself (and 80% of the human population) for mikasa, and yet still had that selfish inkling in him to want to be the only man in her life. something about mikasa dying and being buried in that scarf. something about how mikasa, out of love, killed him to stop the rampage that disrupted all their lives. she killed to save him, the same way he killed to save her.

i think that if two people were made for one another it's eren and mikasa. they're the same person; fiercely loyal to that which they love, strong and passionate in their own right. willing to die for, willing to kill. this ended up being a rant about what i think about eremika in the show and not actually eremika content so let me get that for u

i think eremika fuck slowly. gently. have you seen eremika 211? if u haven't go look at it. that's exactly what they're like, quiet in each other's mouths, so absorbed in one another. they hold each other like it's the last time they'll ever get to, you know? especially in the cabin, slowly, gently by the fire to keep warm. eren's hands are under her, holding her shoulderblades, cradling her close to his body while he sinks himself into her weeping pussy. i bet her moans are so pretty too, all whiney and gaspy and airy, begging for something but she doesnt know what. she never wants it to end, even when they're both spent and finished and exhausted in each other's arms. eren stays inside of her and they lie close together. they breathe the same air, swallow the same words. its his blood in her body, her thoughts in his brain. that theory that people were made with two heads, four arms and four legs. that's eremika. one and the same.

[vampiremeowny]

okay in the heights thoughts that no one asked for let’s go (spoilers ahoy)

THEY STRAIGHT UP KILLED NINA’S MOM FOR SOME REASON?? like sis was just GONE. which means they cut “Enough” which like. okay it’s not really that essential of a song but like they also had to change some plot points and some lyrics like in “Breathe” Nina couldn’t say “what will me parents say” because she only had. one parent. but yeah I think that really took away from the motif of family in the film??

speaking of Nina REALLY wasn’t in love with the way she was portrayed. I feel like the outfits they gave her didn’t reflect her character? I did think it was notable how in the first scene her hair was straight and in like every other scene it was in its natural state showing her return to her roots but like. I feel like her outfits didn’t match her narrative or her personality or her story

also this might be a cold take but I seriously was not in love with Nina’s voice. like Leslie Grace is a singer but it really didn’t show through in the film.

really really in love with Anthony Ramos as Usnavi!!! but that didn’t surprise me at all tbh, I’m v familiar with him and Lin always casts him perfectly

a lot of things in the movie reminded me of like. Edgar Wright type directing? like there were animations on screen for “When You’re Home” and “96,000″ that I thought were really neat! also cuts and scenes that show how the world lines up with the music, like people placing dominos down to the beat... they also like. had title cards with the temperature of the day which seemed very Edgar Wright to me

OKAY THEY DID WHEN YOU’RE HOME SO DIRTY. like it probably my second favorite song but in the movie there was like. too much instrumental background and the singing and the story really didn’t shine through, musical version of when you’re home was way better

OLGA MEREDIZ MA’AM YOUR PIPES. MA’AM!!!!!! 

okay but spoilers this movie tries to fake you out so many times. first they took “paciencia y fe” and had it be the song right before abuela’s death, and they don’t reveal abuela won the ticket so I was like ????? and putting it right before her death (and having her death during the blackout) changed like. the whole meaning of the song and it hit different which was interesting but I think I prefer the stage musical version where she doesn’t die at the end lol

because they killed abuela early they cut hundreds of stories :( we still got the US navy joke tho

they cut a good handful of songs actually? off the top of my head they cut inútil, sunrise (THEY CUT SUNRISE!!!!!!!), hundreds of stories, enough, everything I know, and the piragua reprise

okay but seriously can’t BELIEVE they cut sunrise ngl I was devastated for that one. although the opening notes of sunrise played in other parts of the movie, I think for the most part they wrote out the concept of Benny not being latino, I think this is because the movie tries to focus on Usnavi and Vanessa as the main couple, which I did appreciate

but yeah Benny and Nina’s roles were a little smaller than their roles in the musical? I did appreciate how they actually like. gave Nina a compelling reason to go back to college tho 

Sonny’s character was really well done!!! he was actually one of my favorites, really like that his personality and backstory shined through, and I think they really captured him well, especially when you consider they address current real life issues with his character

the movie: oh yeah Daniela and Carla are married me: I KNEW IT

Dani and Carla,,,,, are cute,,,,, just wives being together at the pool,,, dancing in the apartment,,,, playing bingo,,,, my heart is full

REALLY enjoyed that they made Vanessa like. a full person lmao like she had a REASON to go downtown and she was shown to like. have a personality (the bar is on the floor but still. I appreciated it)

okay but piraguero?? lin isn’t that bad of a singer actually? like he’s no Freddie Mercury but like. chill

my mom, during alabanza, five seconds after Usnavi explained what alabanza means: what’s alabanza????

really surprised by carnaval del barrio!! it was my least favorite song in the musical but the movie version was REALLY WELL DONE, the music and the choreography and the colors and the sense of community,,,, very good. dunno why people are getting on stephanie beatriz for her line delivery tho

in conclusion. very good. very well done transition from stage to screen. tells a story about the latino community that’s not a sob story or trauma p*rn. good job lin and jon. go see in the heights it’s literally so much better of a story and more meaningful of a story than hamilton lmao

[ladyseara]

Heartbeat

Fandom: Sk8 the Infinity

Pairing: Joe x Cherry Blossom

Tags: friends to something more (not stated what), thinking about vomiting, anxiety, panic attack, literal sleeping together, emotional hurt and comfort

It always starts at midnight.

Even if the previous day was fine and the upcoming is not going to be stressful, his demons were always awaken around midnight. Something indescribable crawled in his stomach, keeping him awake and aware of everything around him. Darkness, the flush of water outside, cicadas. Small, chaotic voices of night away from the city. He would like to think that this was the reason he cannot sleep – he’s in unfamiliar place, miles away from his home. But he knows better than this; something was not right, even if he could not name it properly. Something took away his breath and left him covered in sweat, shivering. Moreover, without his glasses he could not see clearly his surroundings, which pushed him over the edge. He clutched material on his chest, trying to breathe, yet his body was not listening. It seemed like his lung were closed, unable to work properly. He was going to suffocate-

“Kaoru?”, large, warm palm touched is back and massaged it. “It’s okay. Breathe. Slowly… You are fine, everything is fine. Breathe.”

This was not an order, not completely an advise. Just familiar voice, guarding him through the darkness. He wheezed, but was able to get some air into his lungs. The second breath was easier.

“You were having a nightmare. It was just a dream, Kaoru.”

“S-shut up”, he gasped. His heart was still racing, his mind foggy and disoriented. The panic was still inside his guts, crawling like a worm through his muscles. When the man beside him moved, he jerked. “Do-don’t leave”, he whispered.

“I’m just getting you some water. I’m still within few steps.”

“C-carla...”

“Plugged and asleep, not like you.”

He felt a movement on his right and then a glass of water was forced into his hand. He lifted it, splashing some on his clothes and sheets. It hit him; it was him, not the surrounding, who was shaking.

“Drink”, again, not an order, not an advice. “Just slowly.”

Someone’s large had helped him steady the glass. He lifted it to his mouth and drink slowly. He felt cold water sliding through his body, like a magic spell directed towards the demons in his stomach.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No”, he whispered, feeling slightly better. He was not  even sure about what happened. It was just his usual midnight crisis. Not the first one, definitely not the last one. But this time he was not alone. Usually he had only Carla with him, her programmed lullabies which calmed him down every night.

“Was it about the kids?”

“No.”

“Mhm”, Kojiro hummed.

“Sorry for waking you.”

“No problem at all. I guess this is the reason you didn’t want others to stay at the same room.”

“If you tell them, I swe-”

“Kaoru. You know me better than that.”

He knew. Somewhere deep inside he knew that Kaoru send kids and Shadow away because he did not want to be seen at this miserably state. No, that was not it. He probably did not want them to be worried. And they both knew they would be worried.

“Relax. Try to fall asleep again.”

“As if I can”, Kaoru snapped. He moved his fingers through his pink hair, making them even a bigger mess than they already were. The pain in his chest and stomach was still there. He was able to breathe, but he will not be able to fall asleep this night. Why in the name of God did he agree on Kojiro staying in the same room? Why did he not send him away, just like the others…? If he was alone at this moment, he could have turned on the lights and read until morning, until all his demons hide, afraid of the sunlight.

“I see you are pretty much used to this shit”, Kojiro states. “Yeah”, he was not in a mood to bicker with him. He wanted to throw up. To empty his stomach, as he often does at moments like this.

Kojiro did not ask about anything. The time for it will come. Sooner or later he discovers what is going on then force Kaoru to seek professional help. He will be there for him. He will stand by his side and support him, as he always does. He knows Kaoru is strong, beautiful and smart. But he is still a human, imperfect and hunted by unnamed troubles, which keep him awake at night. Seeing his pink-haired friend (who, to be honest, is probably the love of his life) in pain, hurt him too.

Kojiro laid down on his side and lifted his coverlet a bit.

“Come.”

Kaoru was shocked. He did not ask for this, he was not prepared for such an offer. Yet his treacherous body moved on its own. In a blink of an eye he found himself next to Kojiro’s big, hot body. The said man wrapped him in the coverlet and slowly moved his fingers through Kaoru’s hair. But that was not all. The most surprising was the fact that Kojiro started to hum quietly. Of course, he did not know any lullabies and Kaoru recognized some popular melody from an anime, but it worked its magic. The monsters seemed to be afraid of his companion. They crawled away, taking pain with them. Kaoru moved a bit closer and put his ear on Kojiro’s chest. Now he head not only deeper humming, but also Kojiro’s heartbeat. The combination of those two made him feel safe, the safest he had ever felt in his entire life. Kaoru felt his body loosening up, each breath coming without any trouble. He smelled Kojiro’s natural scent; some soap and aftershave cream. This fragrance, combined with the heat and humming, made him asleep even faster than he thought.

He had not had a chance to see small smile on Kojiro’s lips, when he kissed slightly his forehead.

“I will always protect you, my Cherry Blossom”, he promised.

[miscellaneousramblings]

The world is cruel and unfair. My thoughts about the end of SnK.

This is a post about my feelings re: the end of SnK. I try to mix a bit of analysis and express where, in my opinion, it went wrong.

I’ve only read the last chapter once for now. Managed to avoid every spoiler until the official release. What can I say? I think this ending is disappointing and unsatisfying, despite not being The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Read. It’s serviceable at best, which by default is underwhelming in a work that has almost always tried to go above what we usually see in comparable pieces of fiction. Over almost 140 chapters, SnK offered its readers genuine emotions, either positive or negative, and, until this final chapter, managed to stay true to its themes. But this final chapter is basically a 4/10 or 5/10 ending in an overall 9.5/10 story.

I hope that, after the initial shock of the ending, I’ll be able to look back on it, not fondly, but with a bit more appreciation for some of its (too few) genuinely good moments. I also hope it won’t sour the experience of reading SnK too much for me. Of course, I accept the ending, I accepted it literally the moment I read it even though I saw it go further and further from my expectations and understanding of the story by the second. And obviously, I respect Isayama as a writer and genuinely cherish some parts of this manga.

But I won’t ever think this ending was good, and am going to try to explain why.

First, something quite subjective. I think the chapter lacked genuine emotion. I didn’t feel much of anything, except a crushing sentiment of sadness and a bit of anger when I saw Mikasa alone by Eren’s grave at the end. A lot of what happened felt either incomplete or forced, and often both. For example, I had imagined the moment the curse of Ymir broke would be the most beautiful moment in the manga, but instead it just... happened? This was supposed to be the peak of this story, the miracle that all these terrible sacrifices were made in the name of. I keep thinking about the moment the curse breaks at the end of Fruits Basket (a great read btw) and how genuinely emotional this chapter is even though the genre is different from SnK’s. Considering Isayama’s talent when portraying emotions, I can’t help but feel terribly underwhelmed by his version of this moment, which should have made us feel like everything was worth it, but didn’t.

Second, the pacing in this last arc (and especially post 123) was messy. I know it’s easy to criticize as a reader, but objectively, spending 7 chapters on the alliance going from point X to point Y and not giving the main character the spotlight he deserves is a major mistake. I kept holding hope that all of the buildup since chapter 130 was going to amount to the last 2-3 chapters slapping extremely hard (like, say, the Grisha-centered chapters in return to Shiganshina, or the Reiner-Eren conversation in Marley), but for the first time, Isayama disappointed me in that regard.

While mostly uninteresting fights got dragged out, some plot points were almost forgotten. Some setups never got a proper conclusion. Eren barely got the time to explain his motivations or what he saw. Historia’s conversation from chapter 130 never got an ending. The parasite and Ymir literally disappeared even though they were the focus of the last two chapters before this one. Some memory shards went unexplained. We never got to see Grisha’s death even when this panel exists?

Regardless of the actual things I don’t like in the ending, I think it would have been more palatable if this last stretch of chapters had been given time to breathe, if only to expand on the characters’ motivations or give us more interactions (for example, Eren’s talks with Annie, Reiner, Connie...).

Third, characterisation and themes. Oh boy. My favourite character is Eren, and my other favourites are Mikasa, Armin, Reiner and Zeke. I think that among these five, the only one who got a true, complete character arc was Armin (and arguably Zeke as well, though the lack of resolution between him and Eren is a hate crime towards me, specifically). Reiner had a great character arc overall but his last appearance in the manga was distateful and a regression. I won’t expand on it.

Mikasa... my poor girl. My most charitable take about her ending is that Isayama wanted to portray her inner strength, the fact she can always live on in the face of adversity and cherish her own life despite the setbacks while remembering those she loves. Well, I guess he succeeded. But in a weirdly unsatisfying way, because this renders her character arc entirely cyclical. Those qualities have characterised Mikasa since the start. It’s established since the very first arc that she’s prideful, brave, and that she has the inner strength to live without Eren if he ever disappears from this world. But the way Isayama made it happen? Having her kill him and then cry next to his grave in the final panels of the manga is what her arc amounted to? I had always hoped that Mikasa could actually save Eren from himself and show him how to live and share his burdens with him (all things that have been foreshadowed in the manga itself, btw). I thought her tattoo would hold some significance, either by

A/ being transmitted to her potential child with Eren were he to survive (didn’t happen)

B/ foreshadowing a future political role for her as a bridge between Hizuru and Paradis (didn’t happen, and furthermore she’s the only alliance member living in Shiganshina and is deliberately separated from the rest of them)

C/ having some kind of supernatural power that would allow her to change the game, were she to enter paths or reach the coordinate (didn’t happen).

So what? In the end, Mikasa’s Big Choice amounted to giving up on her love (but also not really because she’s never going to be able to move on and isn’t allowed to feel anything else but pain), resulting in her losing her family for the third time and never being able to welcome Eren home. This is horrifyingly sad. I’m also frankly disturbed by the sort of ~parallel Eren establishes in this chapter between Ymir and Mikasa, about the topic of love. So the message of SnK was that... love is a chain? Everything happened because Ymir was too attached to the King and couldn’t leave this world, so Mikasa had to show her that she could give up on love for the greater good by killing Eren? I wish I just misunderstood this but that’s what I got from the chapter and I hate it. Also, I really thought Isayama was above the traditional “female character who sacrifices everything and never reaches happiness but stays quiet and endures for the common good” trope. I was wrong.

Mikasa might have been the centerpiece of the story, but she got the short end of the stick. At this point, the writing pretty much does the opposite of what it is supposed to by inadvertently justifying the validity of Mikasa and Eren’s “selfish” dream in chapter 138. Initially, I thought that their dream was wrong and not something truly enviable because in it, they led a life of guilt and regret while knowing full well that Eren would end up dying anyway, leaving Mikasa behind, alone. Naively, I thought that surely choosing the responsible path would be more rewarding for Mikasa, one way or the other. But as it turns out, the path of selflessness also led her to a life of solitude, except now she carries her burdens all on her own without having tasted happiness. Amazing. I genuinely do not know how I am supposed to root for this.

Finally... Eren. Oh boy. Oh, good lord. I’ll admit I wanted him to live, but I was also ready to accept an ending where he dies. But... not like this. I already said I don’t like the fact Mikasa killed him, but what I like even less is the lack of general resolution his character received. He’s the MC for god’s sake! But post-chapter 123, he has received second, if not third-grade treatment, save from chapter 131, which was brilliant.

Overall, his motivations are a mess, which I get. Him getting confused because of all his powers and memories is understandable. Him having conflicting motivations is actually appealing to me. He wanted to save Eldia, but was also disappointed in the outside world (when he says “I would have done it anyway”, I thought about what he said to Ramzi and the "scenery” in 131) , and wished for his friends to become heroes. I get it, it’s fine.

But Isayama went too far with the tragic aspect of his character. As in, there is no catharsis, just crushing pain. Isayama deliberately went overkill by stating that Eren killed 80% of humanity (what the hell), and, even worse, actually drove Dina to Carla. I literally couldn’t believe this. I have seen people theorize about this months ago and immediately discarded it by thinking it was ridiculous and amount to character assassination. To make things clear, I’m not discussing Eren’s actions in the last arc from a moralistic point of view, because this would be another topic entirely, I’m talking about what makes sense in the narrative that has been presented to us since the Paths chapters started and Eren’s plan was revealed. For example, however awful the contents of the scene was, Eren manipulating Grisha to kill the Reiss family was not only amazingly written and drawn in chapter 121 but also narratively motivated by the fact he needed the Founding Titan’s power. This scene also had other functions, such as revealing the Attack Titan’s premonition powers or making Zeke interact with Grisha and understand the truth about his father. Compared to this, the “moment” we have in 139, this abrupt, absurd revelation about him indirectly killing his mother is rushed and nonsensical. Even if this was to kickstart the whole story by awakening his hatred for the titans, I can’t help but feel shaken by how... gratuitous a “plot-twist” it is. What does it say about the attachment Eren had to his mother and her words to him? (”because he was born into this world”). This nullifies one of the most impactful scenes of the manga, because the ending makes it clear that in the end, existing as a human being by the simple virtue of being born wasn’t enough for him. It just couldn’t be, for some reason that I’m yet to fully understand. Instead, he endured and endured, and never got to experience the simple, humane existence Carla wished for him. So were these beautiful words a lie all along? Why did Isayama go to such an extreme with Dina? The only conclusion I can come to is that it’s because he needed Eren to be absolutely, totally irredeemeable. Eren needed, storywise, to be this unstoppable extremist who would get burned to ashes by his uncontrollable desires.

Because yes, apparently, Eren had to die. There was no escape. Worst of all, Eren died a slave. A slave to his desire for freedom. A slave to the destiny he saw at age 15. A slave to his titan powers. This is what I truly can’t forgive about this ending. I won’t stand for the “but he chose this” answer, because it was a choice made out of despair, and all the alternatives are presented as non viable by the narrative (are they really though? or is it just a cope-out to justify the last arc of the manga unfolding as it did?). In short, Isayama justifies this “choice” that was forced on Eren by telling us: his life was destined to be short, he had a violent side he just wouldn’t repress, Mikasa didn’t give him the answer he wanted, he was overwhelmed by what he saw, and their enemies were zeroing in on them. Canonically, all of this made him start the Rumbling. Fine. But I always thought that, at the end of it all, even if Eren were to die, this narrative would be challenged. That Eren would at least have a big cathartic moment, and that he would make another choice upon realising that the freedom he looked for was illusory, and that he would fight to the bitter end for what was right, what he truly wanted, before finally either going to rest or living on with the burden of his actions but the support of his loved ones. I wished for the perfect blend of bitterness and hope. The tragedy of irredeemeable actions completed by the powerful liberation of free will. The idea that change is possible.

But what did we get instead? Eren reaffirming that the Rumbling would have happened anyway while feeling tremendous guilt, as usual (living a life with regrets, and consequently, a death with regrets), refusing the support Armin was ready to lend him (refusing to even try to defy what he thinks is his destiny and pushing others away again) and erasing the memories of all his friends after having manipulated them into ending him against their wishes (going against the most basic concept of freedom). And because we as readers and he as a character have to suffer until the very end, Eren finally clearly expressed his wish to live, to stay with Mikasa and his friends. Only to die 5 pages later, for good.

The main character of this story truly died as a disembodied head, in a titan’s mouth, killed by the person he loved the most before being buried in a nameless grave. One of his mottos was “fight”, but in the end, he didn’t. He let fate happen. In a story about freedom, this is unfathomable. This is beyond the realm of sadness for me, and I’m leaning more and more towards indignation. Where was his dignity as a character? I know that Mikasa, Armin and the others know “the truth about him” but I’m sorry, this isn’t enough. Now, if I ever get the strength to re-read SnK, I won’t be able to look at Eren without thinking about all the things he sacrificed: love, friendship, happiness, humanity, morals, principles, justice, freedom, the lives of countless others, the peace of mind of the person he loves, and his own life. A sacrifice so great should have gotten us a reward as great, if not greater. But we only got the end of the titan curse, without even an apparition or a word from Ymir, the one who actually started all of this, and now Paradis is ruled by the Yeagerists or something. The wings of freedom defaced by two rifles. How great. How satisfying.

In the end, I can’t really fathom what Isayama wanted to say with this chapter. The story itself, the 138 chapters that preceded it seemed clear to me. The world is cruel but also very beautiful. But after having read 139, I don’t know where the freedom the characters chased is. I don’t know why love was portrayed as something so precious but also something that in the end was predestined to be discarded. I don’t know why characters such as Mikasa went against fate only to be crushed by it further down the road.

I never thought that SnK would go into this almost grimdark direction, but it did. I can barely find the beauty in this chapter. Mikasa’s last panels are heartbreaking, but even the strength of her love can’t shine through the countless sacrifices the characters - and especially she and Eren - made, for the sake of a future that already seems extremely compromised. I guess that all in all, the world’s cruelty overshadows everything, and those who make the greatest sacrifices also are those who never get repaid. The world is unfair. I know that, but it was my naive wish that reading a piece of fiction would help me take my mind off this reality by showing me there is also more to it.

PS: the best moment in the chapter was those panels:

Finally, even if it was too little and too late, someone showed Eren he wasn’t alone, and didn’t need to be. RIP, my beautiful boy. You truly did deserve better than what this story allowed you to be.

[vannahfanfics]

Could I request hearts for Nalu please? ❤️😊

Here you are, dearest! I hope you enjoy! 

Strawberry-Lemon

Natsu’s nose twitched as a heavenly scent wafted up his nose, and, like a demon preparing to rob a baby from its cradle, he squatted on all fours in the frame of Lucy’s window, salivating shamelessly as she aroma drifted in through the entryway of her kitchen. If he had a tail, it would be wagging non-stop; whatever she was baking in the kitchen smelled absolutely delectable, and it was making him ravenous. The instant he had caught wind of it on the street, he knew he had to have it. Really, Lucy was all but inviting him in; why else would she leave the windows open and allow it to spill out into the cobblestoned streets? She would’ve known that Natsu would come pestering her on a Saturday; it was ritualistic at this point. Well, Natsu wasn’t about to refuse a downright open invitation for food, now was he?

Lithe as a jungle cat, he hopped down from the windowsill to prowl across the laminate floor of her apartment, swiping his tongue across his lower lip and taking a second to suck up some of the drool leaking from his grinning mouth. Lucy wouldn’t like it if he slobbered all over her floor like a hound dog. His stomach was twisting into knots at the anticipation; it was baying like a hound itself, and he put a hand over his belly, drawing his abs tight in a vain effort to silence its greedy howls. He had no idea what exactly she was making; he only had a clear view of the kitchen table from his perch, not the counters or oven, so he was literally vibrating in suspense. Natsu liked meat best, but sweets were a close second. Could she be making a cake? Cookies? Pastries? Ugh, he had to know and then sink his teeth into whatever it was!

His footfalls were silent as he snuck down the hallway. Just as he had arrived in the entryway, nearly panting like a dog with his pupils shrunk down in voracious desire, his belly gave a particularly adamant yowl of demand. He froze as the gurgling sound echoed in the quiet apartment, staring at Lucy as she jumped and whirled around. She was holding a plastic spatula coated with some pink batter, and it splattered across the countertop and floor with her sudden movement. Natsu’s face slowly turned the color of his hair as he gawked owlishly at her, one leg still hiked up in a tip-toe and his arms held out wide on either side to maintain his balance.

“You didn’t have to sneak in here, you know,” she said finally once she realized it was the dragon-slayer who had come calling. She jutted out a hip, resting her prim little hand on it as she puffed out her cheeks indignantly. “I left the window open for a reason! Jeez, you’re gonna give me a heart attack one of these days.”

A stupidly giddy smile split Natsu’s face at the fact that Lucy had indeed left the window open just for him. His foot fell down to the floor in a happy little scamper. He pranced like a baby deer up to her, green eyes alight with glee as he peeked into the bowl of pink batter she had been stirring before he startled her. His nostrils flared as he breathed in deep, his heightened senses allowing him to discern that the delicious scent he had been so enraptured with was strawberry. No wonder he had been gripped with an overwhelming need; strawberries reminded him of Lucy’s smell. Hers had a slight undertone of lemon, though, which made for an interesting combination that made Natsu’s tongue tingle a little bit every time he caught a whiff of her.

“What are you making?”

“Cupcakes!” she answered jovially with another twirl. She jabbed the spatula back into the bowl of batter to resume stirring it with gusto. “Valentine’s Day is coming up, and so I thought that I might make cupcakes for everyone at the guild.”

“That’s gonna be a lot of cupcakes,” he frowned thoughtfully as he tried to do the math in his head. It proved too daunting a task. It seemed he had arrived before any of the cupcakes were finished, so he walked over to her kitchen table to flip a chair around and straddle it, resting his crossed arms on the chair’s curved back and propping his chin down on the meat of his forearm.

“Where’s Happy?”

“He’s with Wendy and Carla. We were walkin’ and happened to run into ‘em, and they said they were going shopping, so he went with ‘em because Wendy promised to take him to the fish market.” Lucy laughed and said something along the lines of “sounds like him.” Natsu had stopped listening because he was enthralled with the way her body moved as she repeatedly swirled the thick batter around, her arms flexing with each turn. One wouldn’t think it when looking at her, but Lucy was toned; his keen green eyes flickered as he watched the tendons subtly stretch beneath the milky skin of her arms. Her hips bounced a little too as she dug into the batter, trying to eliminate any remaining chunks of powdery batter. Sexy… he thought absentmindedly.

Natsu’s face immediately blazed with a fiery blush again, and he hurriedly jerked his gaze away to the much less interesting bag of flour beside her. Natsu really didn’t know what to do when it came to Lucy. He liked Lucy, a lot; he probably even loved her. He just didn’t understand it all that well. He had never been in love before. He knew that platonic love and romantic love were supposed to be different, but he didn’t know how to act differently to express how he felt. He was handsy and made off-handed comments and such, thinking Lucy may get the hint, but so far it seemed to him that she thought they were really, really good friends. That was true, of course, but it was frustrating because Natsu wasn’t sure how to upgrade.

“There. That oughta do,” Lucy said to herself. He looked back to see her grab a nearby baking ban for heart-shaped cupcakes. With a small grunt, she hoisted the heavy bowl of batter up and began spooning it into the holes. She had clearly made double or even triple the recommended amount in order to feed the whole guild, because the bowl was nearly spilling over with the frothy pink stuff. Natsu’s eyebrows quirked as he noticed her arm begin to tremble violently with the strain of hefting it up, and she began to grow red-faced and out of breath. Wordlessly, he slung his leg over the chair to push himself up and tottered over, easily hooking his arm behind hers to push the bottom of the bowl up with the flat of his hand and reduce the strain on her. “Oh, thank you, Natsu!” she cried, throwing him a grateful, beaming smile. Natsu felt his heart constrict in his chest, and the twisting pain almost made him drop the bowl. God, he loved it when she smiled. It was so gorgeous that it was enough to make a man’s heart halt in his chest.

Lucy filled the pan and they eased the bowl back down onto the counter. Natsu had to try real hard not to stare at her behind as she walked over to the oven to slide the pan in. Natsu didn’t want to figure himself a pervert, but it was so hard when she bent over and it was just… right… there. Oh, God, now he wanted to slap it. Biting down on his knuckles hard enough to draw blood, Natsu whipped around so he wasn’t looking at her anymore, eyes shaking as he blushed hard enough to pop a blood vessel and get a nosebleed. God dammit, why did she have to be so stupidly gorgeous? If she ever got an inkling of the kinds of thoughts he had in his head, she would slap him silly.

“Natsu? You okay?” He nearly jumped a foot in the air as her innocent voice rang over his shoulder. He couldn’t look at her until his blush quieted down, so he just laughed nervously, zooming to the fridge to begin rifling through it without thinking of what he was pretending to look for.

“Yeah, um, I’m just, really thirsty!” he lied quickly as he grabbed random things that were definitely not made for drinking, like a bottle of ketchup and a jar of pickles. Lucy watched him with knitted eyebrows until he picked up a bottle of water and his frazzled brain successfully registered the fact that it was a beverage, in fact made for drinking. He slammed the fridge closed and bolted upright, laughing again before guzzling the entire bottle in about three huge gulps. “Ah, that’s better!” His voice was several octaves higher than normal due to his heightened anxiety. He tossed the bottle at the trashcan, thinking maybe he could look cool after a whole minute of looking like a freak, but it bounced off. He watched with big green eyes as it bounded across the floor only to land right back at his feet. “Goddammit,” he sighed and plucked it up to deliver it to the trashcan like a normal human. Lucy giggled, doing that thing where she held her hand up to her mouth, and Natsu thought he might die.

“Heehee, anyway, would you like to help me make the icing, Natsu?” She waited patiently with an expectant look as his fried brain struggled to process the question. “Yes,” “yes,” you want to say “yes,” Natsu, he reprimanded himself after a moment too long of consideration.

“Er, yeah, I’d love to!” he responded jovially. As she turned around, he shrunk back into himself, biting on his nails. Did he look too excited? It was just frosting, for crying out loud. Lucy didn’t say anything, so he sighed in relief, thinking that she must not be thinking anything of his excitable behavior. He walked back over to stand over her shoulder, watching with curious eyes as she piled the frosting ingredients into the bowl.

“Here! Stir this!” Natsu jumped back as she suddenly whirled around to shove the bowl and a whisk into his hands. He had been standing right behind her, close enough that his breath was puffing over her ear, and if it hadn’t been for his reflexes, the bowl would’ve tipped, and the stuff would’ve gone spilling all down his front. He grabbed the bowl in a white-knuckled grip and began whisking it, trying to keep his cheeks from turning pink again. For a second, he thought Lucy’s cheeks might be pink, too, but she spun around to go check on the rising cupcakes for him to be sure. “Mhmm, they smell so good,” she admired breathily.

“Yeah, I can’t wait to sink my teeth into ‘em,” Natsu growling in appreciation as he continued to lackadaisically swirl the frosting mixture. It was thickening rapidly into a white, gluey paste, requiring him to put a little more backbone than he would imagine putting into whisking frosting. Man, and Lucy does this a lot. This is hard work! He thought as she came over to peek into the bowl. He lowered it so she could inspect it properly.

“You’re doing good.” It was a light compliment but Natsu gushed like a teenage girl about it anyway. “By the way, you only get one! I want to make sure there’s enough for everyone,” she warned him firmly, waggling a finger in his face. He scowled slightly; one measly cupcake wasn’t enough to satiate his rapturous hunger, but he didn’t want to see Lucy upset after all the hard work she was putting in for everyone. “Promise me!”

“Yeah, yeah, I promise, sheesh,” he huffed as she took the bowl from him and set it on the counter. He poked out his lips in a childish pout. “But I’m starving, Lucyyyy…”

“I’ll make you dinner after this is done, okay?”

“Woohoo! You’re the best!” he howled in glee and threw up his arms into the air. She looked over her shoulder at him with a smile and an amused huff. By this time, the cupcakes had finished baking. Lucy removed them from the oven and set them on some potholders, allowing them to cool a bit before plucking them from the molds. They filled the pan with another batch and slipped it into the oven before returning to the next task, icing the cupcakes. Natsu kept fluttering around her, asking if they were ready yet, and she kept barking that if they didn’t cool enough the icing would melt all over the place. It was an agonizingly long time until she allowed him to pick up a butter knife and begin smoothing the creamy mixture over the rounded tops of the cupcakes. He found it a task that required more delicacy than he imagined, as he kept doing it sloppily and getting icing all over his fingers. Not that he cared, because that just meant he got to lick it off. Lucy made him wash his hands every time, though, saying that no one wanted to eat his spit.

After that she let him douse the cupcakes in pink sprinkles. Lucy showed him a neat trick where she filled a bowl with the sprinkles and dunked the cupcake into them, coating the icing evenly in sprinkles. Natsu marveled at her ingenuity, and she got all flustered when he called her a genius and lavished awe on her. After about an hour of repeating the process, Natsu was now salivating at a big red serving plate laden with their masterpieces.

“They all look so delicious… I don’t know which one I wanna eat,” he said as he crouched down so he was eye-level with the treats, inspecting each on critically with his eager fingers drumming on the table. Lucy laughed from where she was washing the dishes at the sink.

“Choose wisely, because that’s the only one you’re gonna get until tomorrow.” Natsu whined loudly at the impossible task before him. They all looked so perfect! After a few minutes of deliberation, he plucked one that looked particularly delicious and stood up, turning to her. She was just finishing, wiping her hands off on a dish towel.

“Here, Lucy. You try first!” he grinned and shoved the cupcake against her lips, smearing a little of the frosting on the underside of her nose.

“What? I thought you wanted to eat it!” she cried, voice muffled by the spongey cake smooshed against her lips.

“You worked so hard to make these! You deserve to get the first one!” he insisted. Natsu’s stomach was yowling and scratching at his insides in angry protest, but Natsu knew that was the right thing to do. Shyly, Lucy opened her mouth to take a dainty bite of the cupcake, chewing thoughtfully when she drew away.

“Yummy!” she beamed. “We make a great team!”

“What? We knew that already,” Natsu laughed and proceeded to pop the entire cupcake into his mouth. It made his cheeks bulge out like a chipmunk’s. He instantly melted into the chair he had been sitting in, the mute tang of strawberry mixing with the divine cream frosting making him ascend into blissful nirvana. “Ahhh… That’s so good,” he said as he smacked his lips and continued to work at the thick frosting coating his tongue. “Now I’m sad I only get one,” he moped with a longing look at the cupcakes.

“You should’ve savored it instead of eating it whole!”

“I was so hungry though,” he pouted, but he knew better than to test her ire by attempting to sneak another one. She enclosed the serving tray with the matching lid before picking it up and putting it on the counter to deliver to the guild the following day. He could tell she was beat by the way her shoulders sagged and she sighed every few minutes and her eyes drooped. Nonetheless, she was tying a new apron around herself and pulling out pots and pans.

“What do you want for dinner, Natsu?”

“… You don’t have to,” he refused suddenly. She looked up at him wide-eyed from her spot on the floor, half-way through pulling a skillet from her cabinet.

“What? I thought you were hungry.”

“Well, I am, but,” he scowled as he fought his ravenous belly, “you look so tired after baking all those cupcakes… All this cooking is hard work… It’s not cool of me to impose like that.”

“Oh, now you grow a conscience?” she laughed teasingly before standing up, skillet in hand. She flipped it around before plunking it down on the stove. “I don’t mind,” she told him gently, and the way her expression softened made him bolt upright in his seat. She was looking down at the empty skillet with an almost… loving expression. “Cooking for the people I care about isn’t a chore. I don’t mind at all, Natsu.” She flipped her head around, tossing her lovely blonde hair, and Natsu was hit with a wind of that lovely lemon-strawberry scent that made his nerves go wild. “You don’t have to answer. I’ve got a recipe I’ve been wanting to try out,” she chirped, turning her back to him again as she tried to reach up above the stove where her shelf of recipes sat. She pursed her lips as she accidently shoved it back, out of reach of her wiggling fingers. “Oh, dammit, let me get a chair.”

Natsu was behind her suddenly, with no recollection of even moving, reaching up to easily pluck the book she had been grasping for from the shelf. She tilted her head back to stare up at him as he lowered it into her waiting hands. “Oh… Thanks, Natsu.” She gawked at him as if expecting him to retreat. His body was caging her against the stove, his chest just barely pressing against her back, arms slowly reaching around to grip the stove on either side of her body. His nostrils were flaring as he drank in that scent of her, the tangy zest of lemon-strawberry, his nerves singing with every puff of it that wafted up his keen nose.

Natsu didn’t know what to do about Lucy, but his body did.

He was suddenly aware of how big he was compared to her when his hand slid underneath her chin, fingers stretching all the way to the undersides of her ears as he gently turned her face over her shoulder. Lucy did not resist; like a puppet to his will, her body folded for him, allowing him to maneuver her as he wished. He scanned her wide brown eyes for any sense of fear or discomfort as his face hovered over hers, only a few centimeters away. She didn’t seem scared; her eyes were blown wide, shaking, but Natsu could discern the unmistakable glimmer of excitement and anticipation brimming in the rich brown depths.

Still, he wanted to be sure.

“Can I kiss you, Lucy?” His voice was husky, raw with months of suppressed desire. Her eyelids twitched as if she were a doll suddenly springing to life. She blinked once, twice, before looking at him in mild surprise.

“Of course you can, Natsu.” She phrased it as if he should know, which made him flush lightly in embarrassment. Who knew how long she had been waiting for him to pull a move? He squirmed uncomfortably, all the confidence he had just had in the moment dissipating like it had drained out the soles of his feet. Lucy giggled that little giggle that made his soul light on fire and reached up to thread her fingers into his cotton candy-colored tufts of hair. “Kiss me,” she demanded in a breathy whisper. Natsu felt a pleasurable shiver sing up his spine. Dammit, she was sexy, looking at him through lidded eyes and ordering him around like that. Hot damn.

He didn’t keep her waiting any longer. With a wolfish smirk, he dove down to smooth his lips over her own. He relished the way her nails scratched along his scalp as soon as he made contact, and the contented hum that vibrated against his moving lips. His thick arms encircled her waist to tug her against his body, because it felt like she simply couldn’t be close enough to him. Their noses bumped a little as he passionately kissed her; it felt like his hunger for food had morphed into a hunger for her mouth, because he couldn’t get enough, not nearly enough. His tongue kitten-licked at her lips, begging for entry, and when she parted her lips for him and he got a taste of her he nearly collapsed on the spot. Strawberry cupcakes and icing and lemon-strawberry bliss, that’s what she tasted like. It might as well have been alcohol because he was drunk on it.

They separated but only just. Natsu’s eyes flickered down to watch the string of saliva snap between their moistened mouths. Hot damn. It made him want to kiss her once more so he could see it all over again. Her fingers were lovingly threading through his messy hair, and her head fell back against her shoulder as she opened up her eyes to gaze at him with a feeling so powerful that Natsu wanted to cry. “I love you, Natsu.”

“I love you too, Lucy.” He smiled and hugged her as he nuzzled his cheek against hers. She made a happy purring sound that had his veins humming with unbridled glee. He had never heard the sound before, but dammit if he didn’t want to hear it more, every day for the rest of their lives. She allowed him to hold her for a moment before she straightened up and began grabbing random implements to cook.

“Natsu, do you want dinner or not?”

“Yeah, but I don’t wanna let go,” he said as he buried her face into the crook of her neck and breathed deep. Lemon-strawberries tickled his nose alongside the fine blonde hairs. He had spent so long wishing to hold her like this; he was gonna get his time’s worth. Lucy exhaled deeply in resignation.

“All right, all right, but I have to go to the fridge,” she said. Natsu shuffled his body along with hers like a male penguin toting about its young. After a second, a thought occurred to him.

“Hey, Lucy.”

“Hmm?”

“Next time you should make lemon frosting.”

“Like strawberry lemonade cupcakes? Now that’s an idea,” she said, pausing from the chicken was slicing against the cutting board. Natsu grinned to himself, burying his face further into the warmth of her being.

No… Like Lucy.

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