#deleted and reposted as agreed with the family

[prisonhannibal]

this fundraiser is extremely low on funds and has only received one donation in two days

Amina is a 28 year old mother of three: Nasser (8), Bara (4) and Adam (2). She’s fundraising in hopes of saving her children from this genocide and getting the money to feed them and give them a safe future. They’ve already been displaced five times and are struggling very badly to find food and water and everything they need to survive, and even when they find it it’s extremely expensive. It’s every parents worst nightmare to see their children suffering but not have the means to give them food and get them to safety. These children deserve to live healthy and safe, not have to hear the sounds of bombs every day. Amina is not asking for much, only whatever you can give to save her children. If you have any money to give today, please consider helping Amina or at least share this post so it can reach people who will. They only have €2,288 raised, which is only 5% of their goal and have only received €5 in the past three days. we can change that!

DONATE HERE + VETTING (#19)

@tamamita @heritageposts @rhubarbspring @dirhwangdaseul @pikslasrce @anneemay @feluka @neechees @socalgal @finalgirlabigailhobbs @darthteeth @newporters @vampiricvenus @cuntylouis @loumandivorce @nashvillethotchicken @femmefitz @pitbolshevik

[shehungers]

LUCID

sleep paralysis demon x reader | 18+ | 3k

you're a chronic insomniac desperately searching for relief. your best friend and neurologist makes a suggestion to participate in a sleep study utilizing a new drug still in the testing phase. without any other options, you agree, and the first night of the study, you awaken in the middle of the night thinking it didn't work....

story warnings; dark content; dubcon; somnophilia, hair pulling, choking, "invisible hands", some culturally sensitive discussion, implications of unethical medical practice, mc is implied to have a messy past, details of insomnia, unsettling + dark imagery, detail heavy, probs inaccurate depictions of a sleep study, roughly proofread. I'm also aware that most "sleep doctors" are pulmonologists—fight me👊🏻

reposted from my deleted blog theoxenfree.

this is a concept piece for a larger project—incubus phenomenon. would appreciate it if you'd leave feedback + reblog!!

Children at your daycare liked to draw you fanciful pictures of the other lives they lived in their dreams during afternoon nap time. You were shown orange tabby cats with green eyes garbed in full-plates of knight’s armor, brandishing a fish sword against a foe to save the world.

Most often, they dreamed of their families and drew bright, brave versions of themselves holding hands with a parent, a sibling, a bipedal family dog with an electric collar. A few of the children never smiled in their self-portraits.

The proportions of everything were always silly: gigantic tree trunks with tiny, green bundles sitting atop of them, three enormous fruits supported by brittle vines and growth in bushes, cats and dogs with ears as tall as their bodies, Mom with purple skin instead of brown, Big Sis looking particularly volatile with a theratrically large snarl. Despite this, the children beamed in pride whenever yesterday's drawings would come down off the wall to be replaced with the new.

For some of these kids, this was their own equivalent of having art hung on a refrigerator; to you, it evoked dull, thready jealousy because they were in possession so simple, so biologically normal to them and everyone else around them that to be incapable of the same thing was, surely, a major defect.

Sleep was already a treasure you were seldom allotted the pleasure of greedily surrendering to, but to dream sounded like a terrifying experience to you altogether. It took work; a stringent routine of warm showers (hot and scalding water was forbidden), with an array of chalky, dissolvable tabs and shower gels and shampoos and moisturizers and essential oil dehumidifiers and soy candles and hot tea and special pillow sleep spray you’d seen in an online ad while thumbing through socials.

It took pajamas that were loose, soft but not silky, it took a satin bonnet and a satin eye covering (the kind with pockets for your eyelashes to move), comforters soused in lavender spray meant to magically work out the tightness in your shoulders and calves without the need of paying for a masseuse’s bony elbow. It took purchasing a battery-operated alarm clock to wake yourself for work so you could shut off your phone and leave it plugged into the wall downstairs.

You'd nearly forgotten—you couldn't have sugar after half past six, you had to stagger your water consumption after that time as well because the urge to piss would keep you awake for hours after the fact. The television needed to be off once you finished putting away dishes after dinner.

If you were lucky, this would work and you'd sleep a total of two or three hours uninterrupted—never fully tipping over the edge of wakefulness into deep sleep, but enough to keep yourself going during the day, grocery shop, wrangle the small children, scrape at a bar, get dicked down into your mattress every now and then, and visit Sujay for your usual appointments.

“How do you feel about trying something different?” he always gestured to one of the modern-looking armchairs upholstered in teal polyester before bringing you a tea of some sort. Today was a floral white tea with a spoonful of honey. “Ah, my friend, I worry for you. We've done so many studies, we've tried so many different things. Does none of it help? At all?”

“Not really.” you admitted after a sip, singing your tongue once and placing aside the cup and saucer pair. “I don't know if I can keep doing this until the day I die, Sujay. What do you recommend next?”

Dr. Sujay Patel was your neurologist, an utterly brilliant man, and a close friend from your early university days. Despite the rest of your friend group falling apart, pulled in separate directions by the strings of fate and temptation of money, you'd managed to stay in contact with Sujay throughout grad school. There'd been an intermission, probably a period of two years, where you'd forgotten he even existed.

You were out making a disaster of your life on sleepless, drunken benders because you hoped enough alcohol would either knock you out or kill you. The normal distractions came with it: your entire family dynamic corroding and combusting, an ex getting too big for their britches, and a roommate suspiciously eager to rally behind that ex.

Sujay came back into the picture following a nasty incident of alcohol poisoning that left you bedridden in the hospital for a week. You had decided then, in that uncomfortable bed with their starchy, crunchy white sheets and the bathroom being too far away to simply get up and walk to, that you'd abstain from alcohol forevermore.

He'd seen you in a state of soul-weary disarray not long after you were discharged and had decided to take you on as a patient.

“Now, you have a choice here, just remember that.” Sujay sat adjacent to you in the exact chair you were in. He wasn't daunted by the heat from his tea and took some time with it, whether to savor the subtle notes of it or to consider his words, you weren't sure. “But, a colleague of mine at a… pharmaceutical company has been working to get an experimental sedative into some studies. Testing periods, I guess you could say.”

You're convinced by his dedication to his tea to pick up yours again. “Does it work?”

“As of now, one-hundred percent of those who have participated have reported high-efficacy, or at least have claimed it to be effective in some manner.” His mustache moved as he sipped. You drank as well. “I think you should submit to the study and if you're accepted into one of the control groups—commit to it. We're running out of options otherwise. I don't want you to start mixing up your own cocktail of things. All it takes is the wrong thing once, y'know?”

The chair groaned while you adjusted your weight in it. You sighed. “Would that once be such a bad thing, though? At least I could sleep.”

“I'm a doctor,” Sujay looked over his square-rimmed glasses at you, forehead wrinkles enormous, whites of his eyes showing more than the hazel of his irises. “Behave yourself.”

“Fine.” Mesmerized by the stray tea leaves that had managed to escape the metal ball steeper, you said, “tell me what I need to do.”

Sujay had sent you away that day with a whole host of follow-up appointments and a glowing review to his colleague in hopes of skipping the line as much as possible. Sometimes, it was beneficial to have friends in high places, especially when that means you get a call two days later for preliminary, formal interviews and an offer to participate in said study once clearances came through and your blood work came back as desired.

A month to the day when Sujay first mentioned the possibility of a magical cure all to your relentless insomnia, you were brought into a minimally furnished room—the standard, bland cookie cutter type that hadn't an ounce of personality—dotted from head-to-toe in stickers for neuromonitoring, heart rhythm, and whatever else they fancied, you supposed.

It was only after you had changed into your soft, but not too soft, pajamas and covered in wires that you were handed a tiny purple pill. The color of it was obviously a dissolvable casing and food coloring, but what amazed you was the fact a drug this small was meant to induce the best sleep of your life.

“Take the pill, drink at least four ounces of water, and lie supine.” The technologists outside your room, speaking into an intercom, elaborated afterward that they wanted you to stay on your back while you slept. You didn't bother to point out that you weren't stupid—just tired. “We understand that not everyone finds this position comfortable, but to receive adequate results and to measure your vitals at all times, we ask that you try your best.”

You weren't going to hassle them about this and did precisely as they instructed. Shoved the pill down the back of your throat, drank the bottled water, and tried to get comfortable on your back.

You closed your eyes.

A part of you wondered why you had assented to Sujay’s suggestion so easily, especially where everything else had failed. He was one hell of a friend, and had always been that way for you, but as a doctor, you wondered if two years of cheating through medical school, so as to not royally piss off his parents and be disowned for failing, was finally catching up with him somewhat.

You recalled being startled when he told you he hadn’t married yet and didn't intend to as some deep-rooted act of spite against his family and the traditions they had held over his head all his life. Traditions that had been weaponized against him, rather than supplement his life as an extension of his history, of the things he loved, of a chance to explore more of himself.

You had listened wordlessly the entire time he spoke about it, still sipping on his tea, the results from your latest brain scan clamped to a clipboard on his lap—

This wasn't working.

This was so stupid.

You opened your eyes and sat up in the stiff bed, carefully maneuvering your fingers around your orbital bone to force away the puffiness and exhaustion still lingering behind them. It was only as you rubbed your eyes that you noticed your face was empty of cold stickers and a thousand wires. You didn't hear distant blips in the machine measuring your heart rate, nor track the voices of anyone outside your door.

The room was still the same—the outdated, bulky dresser with claw feet, a few gray chairs you could buy on display in a window somewhere, a low oval table, a bedside table for your glass of water and a crisp, neatly folded change of clothes for the next day.

It was only unusual that you were bare of the technologist’s monitoring equipment and sitting amid an unfaltering, deep silence that amplified the sounds of your very existence. Your slow breaths with a quickening heartbeat, blood pumping in your ears, and the coarse rustle of bedsheets as you shifted around the mattress to bring some sense to what was going on.

Would the technologists have come into the room and removed everything from your body without waking you? More miraculously, without you rousing and throwing your hands on them for touching you first?

“Maybe the drug worked?” you had to consider the possibility, even though it still felt as far-fetched as the holistic medicine practitioners online telling you that an herbal cleansing juice could regenerate organs entirely. “Did I actually sleep? I don't remember dreaming, though. Aren't I supposed to dream?”

You looked to the one, single-paned window across the bedroom to spy how far along the morning had progressed, but found yourself sucking in and holding in a breath instead.

There, standing in your view of the outside, was the silhouette of a tall man. Everything about him was indistinguishable aside from the depth of darkness that made him up. Within the confines of the dim room, alight by a single lamp with an amber bulb that seemed to weaken by the second, this man stood apart from the shadows as something deeper, blacker, but corporeal.

He was every bit a part of the dark as much as he wasn't. And you couldn't tell if he was fading you or turned to look out the window at the parking lot two stories below.

“Hi—hello. Are—are you one of the techs?” you had finally let out that breath, now focusing on gauging the guy’s level of sociability, and by extension, his friendliness and the likelihood of him lunging at you. “I, uh, just would've really appreciated it if someone had woken me up before taking off the stickers.”

You were able to see out the window from the gaps around his body, taking note that it was still dark. Very dark. Beyond that, nothing else was discernible from where you sat and what he blocked.

The study wouldn't have finished yet.

Those techs would've taken precaution to wake you up if something had happened.

“Am I asleep?” you asked the wordlese man. “Am I dreaming now? Are you a dream? Is that what it's like?

You never imagined that there could be so much lucidity within a dream, a level of consciousness so similar to a state of wakefulness. When you thought about moving, you could perfectly flex your fingers, curl your toes into the high-pile carpet underfoot, touch the airy fabric covering your body and feel it touching you in turn.

How normal was this really, though? No one had ever told you about dreams like this. Theirs were always fragmented and discombobulated, just like the kids in daycare who drew pictures of pig astronauts and flame extinguishing spatulas. You knew of a rare few in the population capable of controlling their dreams, steering the outcome in the direction they pleased, but even those people were overrode by their own brains.

This was something completely different.

You became especially convinced of this when you thought the stifled air suddenly shifted with a light breeze, a soft whoosh in your ear. A chill erupted over you, making your skin burst with goose flesh, your brain chasing a shiver down your spine as if cold fingers stroked you all the way down the length of it. Those same fingers stayed low, hovering across your lower back before pushing into you, arching you down onto the mattress.

That freedom you thought you had only moments ago was gone, stolen by this invisible hand on your body that was rounding to you and reaching for your chest. Until now, you thought this had simply been a part of the dream—something you had believed to be in control in when the reality was much different—but, as the buttons on your sleep shirt unfastened before your eyes, the thin layers opening you to the cold, inky air, you weren't sure what to think, to do.

Another hand joined the first with long, heavy fingers to knead at your body and take your pants off of your hips until you were fully exposed to the darkness and the thing still dwelling within the room. It hadn't moved an inch since you'd noticed it a while ago; it never became any clearer, any more defined in the clothes or wore, and trying to look upon its face only filled you with puzzlement and dread.

The large hands were so cold despite all their movement on your hot skin, all of the work they did to start riling you up and making you moan. One of them groped your chest, felt your throat, squeezed your jaw as though to force your gaze at one point in particular (the ceiling), pushed apart your lips to dip into your mouth and wet its fingers on your tongue.

You did so as it was the only thing you could do freely right now.

Those fingers, covered in your spit, caressed you between your legs, stroking you in motions neither gentle or harsh. The muscles in your thighs flinched, stomach tightening, your throat vibrating to produce a moan smothered by the second hand circling your throat, gripping firmly enough where you could breathe, but just barely.

The thing couldn’t stop your thoughts, as much as it seemed to try, so it took to interrupting them—distracting you but squeezing your neck, yanking your head back into the pillow by your hair, adjusting itself to thrust multiple fingers into your body, burying them to the knuckle.

You tried to win this war of willpower by thinking about Sujay and his mustache and his stupid glasses. They were green, sometimes blue; seldom did he like the tortoiseshell look.

The thing lunged at your neck again, this time taking you underside the jaw and forced your head back into the pillow while it fucked you deeper on three fingers.

You wanted to make a sound; a moan, a scream, a torturous whimper or pleasure for the way your body was rocked on the bed, creaking with the weight of a pair combined and not just how it appeared. Your nostrils flared, heart rate at an uneasy high, breaths stuck in the column of your throat behind the hand holding it.

The pressure continued to stack higher and higher, building to such a point where you knew you were about to lose it, unravel, praying that this thing would grant you the kindness of fucking you out of your orgasm.

Your abdomen was wound tight, your groin ached terribly, and your thighs started to shake. Behind your eyes, the kaleidoscopic wheels of color intermingled with the darkness and it all slowly burned to white.

And then—

“Good morning!” you were being shaken awake by one of the technologists, a middle-aged woman with blue eyeliner. she didn't expect for you to jolt upright, stick straight, and launch the covers off of your body. “Oh—hey, honey, you alright? We’re done until tonight. How do you feel?”

You were slow to respond to her, occupied by the morning light filtering in through the window across the bedroom. She gave you some time to gather your bearings and took her time removing the stickers and wires from your skin, suggesting you spend some time really scrubbing in the shower later to get off all the adhesive.

“How about now, honey?” she pulled the last sticker and wire combination off of your shoulder. “You with us?”

You didn't know how to answer that, especially not with how damp you felt inside your thighs.

[hollywoodevilgossip]

Now we all can agree Chris Evans joined Instagram during pandemic for only time waste since he didn't had better to do he started dming following and liking in pandemic. Since he was bored. Now that's done he has no interest on Instagram anymore also his team doesn't handle his page at all it's only him that handles it he deletes deletes that's all he is doing and now he only secured himself from getting tagged by only selective people. Plus he didn't reposted or share materialistic the materialistic team tagged him and popped up on his timeline. Plus he won't get back to asp now since alot of people said lots of shit and Biden is out of office only trump is handling so ya that's done.

When both started something they were regularly posting on Instagram and now they are quiet.

Rebranding means he is married man but lonely and boring man at same time so people can take him seriously so he take down all his dogs, family, friends, fuckaboi pictures and videos. Or he archived. I don't get why he took down his family photos and especially his dog like that didn't made sense at all. But anyways he will keep deleting videos and pictures till he is done.

Now if his pr team was handling it they would be regularly posting his ads, work, promotions, commercials, posters, red carpet photos daily

But since it's not that means it's not handled by his team at all it's only personally handles by him.

He always hated joining the idea of social media but he did had Twitter but when Elon musk taken over and changed the name to x Chris was like nope I'm not gonna join that. Now with Instagram is easy but he doesn't like the idea of social media anymore. Only in pandemic he was fine with it now he is done.

So if yall see more of deleting that means he is doing it not his team not his family only him

Now Twitter was the only platforms for celebrities that time now its completely garbage with x

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for posting unspecified fetish content?

I'll try to keep the exposition short. I draw and post sweat fetish content on Twitter. My account has NSFW/"adult only" warnings and I block any minors that I see. Recently, I posted a drawing of two characters exercising together; there were no explicit genitals or anything, but it still had obvious kink elements. I don't usually tag my kink art with any content warnings as it was pretty run-of-the-mill for what I post on that account. Something worth nothing is I tend to draw for one main fandom. It's a family friendly media with a good chunk of it's online fanbase being kids. The characters I draw are adults.

When I checked my notifications a while after it was posted, I noticed one of my drawings got more interactions than usual. I usually get around 100-200 likes on my art, and this one had around 400 when i checked. I saw a lot of new accounts in my notifications, too. I went through the likes on the post and, unfortunately for me, the post had breached containment and entered normie territory. At first I thought it was funny, but as I looked a bit further I saw there were minors interacting and retweeting my art onto their main, SFW accounts. Obviously not good.

So, I posted about what happened in a NSFW fandom discord server in a sort of "this weird thing happened to me and I don't know how to feel about it" way. It ended up starting a bit of an argument in there, with some people laughing it off as normies just not knowing better and others viewing it as an oversight on my end.

Anyways, after a bit of back and forth (I was just kind of watching people talk about it), a server member K replied to my original message with a multiple paragraph long message saying that what I did was dangerous. He said that hiding fetishes in SFW art is a breach of consent (which, for the record, is a sentiment I generally agree with) and claimed that what I did is the same thing groomers do to desensitize kids to sexual content. I responded by saying that I posted my fetish content to a fetish account and one glance at my profile makes it clear my art is not meant to be viewed by kids. He responded to me saying that if I was truly worried about preventing grooming, I would've taken the post down. The argument stopped there because that's when the mods stepped in, asking people to take it to DMs. I did end up deleting and reposting the drawing, but not before I saw K vagueposting about fetish mining in the fandom we're both in.

Should I be more clear when it comes to posting fetish content that isn't explicitly sexual? I honestly feel like it's an overreaction on K's part, but I do understand the anxiety around being accused of grooming. And, unfortunately, trying to "trick" people into making fetish content isn't uncommon online either, so I do get where he's coming from there. Overall, I just want to make sure I didn't do anything predatory on accident.

What are these acronyms?

[goldenseresinretriever]

You Catch More Bees With Honey: Chapter 20

Pairing: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x Reader

Part of the San Diego Dogfighters universe

Summary: Bradley Bradshaw, blindsided by a team he trusted like family has been traded to the San Diego Dogfighters. Across the country from the place he calls home, Bradley feels lost and betrayed. Not to mention the familiar faces and ghosts from his past that he now has to face every day at work. Bradley’s caught between wanting to show his former team the mistake they made in double-crossing him and wondering if it’s time to hang up his skates after one final season. You’re living your dream as the PR representative for the Dogfighters. When Coach Maverick made a bid to bring his godson to the team, you hadn’t batted an eye. Bradley was a good teammate, and a good player. Unfortunately, the Bradley that shows up in San Diego is nothing like your research suggested. He’s moody, irritable, aggressive, and angry, throwing a wrench in all your careful planning. What’s caused such a drastic change in him? And can you figure out how to help him before he makes a mistake you can’t fix?

Series CW: 18+ ONLY, swearing, dead parents, drunkenness, alcohol consumption, violence, sports violence, blood probably, angst, fluff, eventual smut, age gap (28 and 38), enemies to lovers, suggestive language, hockey inaccuracies etc. There will be individual chapter warnings. No use of Y/N.

Word Count: 3.3k

A/N: This is a repost of my completed series, You Catch More Bees With Honey. It was originally posted in November-March 2023, and was lost when my blog was deleted.

Previous Chapter // Series Masterlist

That night Jake calls for a team outing and Bradley is surprisingly not begrudging as he agrees to tag along despite the fact that usually he’d point out that he’d rather spend the evening with you. There’s one more game on New Year's Eve but the coaches are cutting the guys some slack since it’s the holidays. That’s how you find yourself glaring at your boyfriend as you line up next to each other and you strongly consider accidentally dropping your bowling ball on his foot.

It’s boys versus girls in neighboring lanes and you and Bradley have been tied for the better part of the game. Sure, Jake’s ahead of him, but this competition between the two of you supersedes the overall game. You’d be playing better but Javy had implemented a rule that dictated that you take a shot if you land a gutter ball and you’re more tipsy than you’d like to admit. Bradley, despite his multiple gutter balls, is built like a brick wall and therefore the shots have had little to no impact on his game. You’re beyond arguing the skewed fairness of the game and you’ve descended into quiet rage. You still lead the girls but that means nothing to you if you can’t beat Bradley and as you watch every pin in the lane next to you clatter to the floor with a satisfying crack you’re wondering how good you’d be at shotput. He turns to you, a cocky smile on his lips that dares you to match him.

Sure you and Bradley have a softer relationship but you both have a natural competitive edge that comes from growing up in the world of sports. Yours manifests more often in the form of your stubbornness but when a game does happen to be on the line you’re determined to win. As you scowl at Bradley you catch sight of Mickey smirking behind him. He knows better than to goad you when you’re in competitive mode. You take a deep breath in a poor attempt at collecting yourself. The alcohol is starting to dull your senses so when you release the ball in your hand it veers left, just barely clipping the furthest pin and saving you from another shot.

“You can still spare,” Bradley remarks and you glare daggers into him as you line up again. The sound of his soft chuckle only makes you frown harder and Mickey calls out from behind him.

“Hit them with the trick shot!” You turn around, your attention now on him as you consider his words. The trick shot in question is something you coined back in college when you and Mickey were out with his team and someone challenged the group to a round of bowling with a catch. Every shot had to be embellished in some kind of ostentatious and ridiculous way. The game had quickly devolved into chaos but you’d patented what went on to become your signature move.

��Trick shot?!” Javy exclaims. “Now we have to see it!” Then there’s a chorus of drunk hockey players chanting at you to show off the trick shot and you roll your eyes before you step back and slide your bowling shoes over the slick floor, testing the resistance. You should be able to pull it off even though it’s been years. You take a deep breath and bring the bowling ball up to your chest as your friends start to cheer. Despite your intoxicated state, in college you mastered being able to keep alcohol from affecting your skating technique so as you push into the spin that’s almost a pirouette letting the weight of the ball steady your center of gravity before you slide forward on your shoes across the slippery ground, extending your arm clutching the ball in a ramrod straight position and releasing the ball. You watch as it takes the speed your spin charged it with and barrels straight down the center of the lane before colliding with a satisfying crack and you smirk as the pins tumble in a wave. Behind you, the guys are going crazy and the girls are cheering. You’re about to turn and rub it in Bradley’s face when he scoops you up from behind, burying his face in your neck as he whispers into your ear.

“That’s my girl,” and you feel your cheeks heat as you lean into his touch before leaning up to whisper back in his ear.

“Afraid you’re going to lose?” His laugh vibrates through his chest against your back.

“Challenge accepted, Honey. What do I get if I win?” You can hear the tease in his voice as it rumbles against the shell of your ear and you suppress a shudder.

“I’ll do whatever you want,” you say, voice saccharine sweet, batting your lashes up at him. “Of course, the same goes if I win.”

“Deal,” Bradley says before turning you in his arms so he can kiss you and you can taste the alcohol on his tongue. You hear wolf whistles from behind you that you’re sure are Javy and Mickey as your cheeks heat slightly. Bradley rolls his eyes and pulls you back so the next people can take their turns, not letting you out of his arms quite yet.

***

You smirk across the packed booth at Bradley where he’s sulking over a beer. You’d moved on to a local karaoke bar you’d been to with Mickey and Bob before after the bowling concluded. Jake won for the boys and you won for the girls, Bradley trailing you by a measly two points. He was currently soothing the loss with alcohol as the others excitedly made their karaoke selections. His ruddy cheeks tell you he’s made up for his lack of shots during bowling and you gaze at him fondly thinking of the last time you saw him drunk. You bring a hand up to rub at your long-since-healed jaw and you catch Bradley’s eye as he flushes deeper at the memory.

“Zam, what are you going to sing?” A drunk Mickey interrupts your moment, thrusting the list at you but Bradley plucks it from his grasp, scrawling down his suggestion as your eyes widen with surprise. He’s drunk enough to let his guard down. You’ve heard him sing before, of course, but that was in the privacy of his car and along with the radio. You never pegged Bradley as a performer when it comes to music but absently you remember the baby grand piano in his living room that you’d written off as merely ostentatious decoration. He gets to his feet without a second glance and takes the list back up to the front, ignoring Mickey’s protests that you haven’t signed up yet. He pushes over to where Jake and Javy are arguing over who’s going first and takes charge of the kiosk as they gape at him. You're all watching Bradley with varying degrees of surprise as the alcohol in his veins fuels this bout of confidence.

He grips the microphone, ascending the small stage next to the bar you danced on the last time you were here as the familiar opening guitar riff of “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” by Meatloaf fills the bar and he fixes a hard gaze on you as you realize what he has in mind and you smile, nodding at him.

“Well, I remember every little thing as if it only happened only yesterday,” your crowd of friends erupt into rowdy cheers as Bradley croons into the microphone. He reaches out to crook a finger at you and you bounce to your feet, reaching him just in time for him to lean down with the microphone so you can join the harmonies.

“Though it's cold and lonely in the deep dark night, I can see paradise by the dashboard light.” He reaches his free hand down to you to help you onto the stage before passing you the microphone.

“Ain't no doubt about it we were doubly blessed, 'cause we were barely seventeen and we were barely dressed.” You sing as he grabs the second microphone. You know it’s an almost nine-minute song but Bradley doesn’t show any signs of slowing as you join the performance, your friends going wild from the table.

Mickey brings you both a glass of water as the spoken interlude takes over and the two of you refresh before the next part of the song. You hand him back the glass just in time for you to take the lead.

“Stop right there! I gotta know right now! Before we go any further! Do you love me?” You meet Bradley’s eyes with a fiery gaze as you crow the lyrics. “Will you love me forever? Do you need me? Will you never leave me? Will you make me so happy for the rest of my life? Will you take me away and will you make me your wife?” You see something shift in his eyes through the alcohol-induced haze as you continue. “Do you love me!? Will you love me forever!? Do you need me!? Will you never leave me!? Will you make me happy for the rest of my life!? Will you take me away and will you make me your wife!? I gotta know right now. Before we go any further, do you love me!? Will you love me forever!?” You step up to him, getting into his face as a part of your performance as your friends lose their minds and the other patrons cheer. Bradley nods softly and it steals your breath as he takes over.

“Let me sleep on it. Baby, baby let me sleep on it. Let me sleep on it and I'll give you an answer in the morning. Let me sleep on it. Baby, baby let me sleep on it. Let me sleep on it and I'll give you an answer in the morning. Let me sleep on it baby, baby let me sleep on it. Let me sleep on it and I'll give you an answer in the morning.” The intensity in his eyes as he falls to his knees is at odds with the words he’s singing and you know he’s promising the opposite of his words as you continue to play your part, tossing the words from earlier back at him in a back and forth.

“Will you love me forever?” You demand.

“Let me sleep on it.” He begs.

“Will you love me forever!” You can’t keep the grin off your face.

Bradley gets off his knees and you feel your heart catch as he crows the next part, his voice blowing you away. “I couldn't take it any longer, Lord I was crazed. And when the feeling came upon me like a tidal wave, I started swearing to my god and on my mother's grave that I would love you to the end of time. I swore that I would love you to the end of time!” Your heart flutters at the sweet words falling from his lips as you watch him with awe and you wonder if this is the Bradley that Logan, Alex, and Wyatt knew in Philadelphia. “So now I'm praying for the end of time to hurry up and arrive 'cause if I gotta spend another minute with you I don't think that I can really survive. I'll never break my promise or forget my vow, but God only knows what I can do right now.” His amber eyes burn into you and you can’t help but simply stand in awe of him. “I'm praying for the end of time, it's all that I can do. Praying for the end of time, so I can end my time with you!” The crowd does wild and you join them before joining Bradley for the last few bars as the song faded away in true 70s fashion. The crowd in the bar roars as Bradley takes you in his arms and kisses you hard, dipping you in front of the crowd and the whoops and cheers echo off the walls. This feels like a beginning, a new chapter and you’re excited to see where it goes as your teammates storm the stage, tackling the two of you with hugs and more cheers. You laugh and you don’t remember the last time your heart felt so light. Looking over at Bradley you can see the same thing expressed in his eyes and you feel like you’re finally home.

***

“It’s PINK,” Bradley says for what must be the fifth time and you nod yet again. He’s gazing at the fabric spread out on the bed.

“Technically it’s salmon,” you point out and he just gapes at you. You shrug, not an ounce of mercy in your eyes. “A deal’s a deal, Brashaw.” You watch the fear grip his features before you push up on your toes to press a kiss to his cheek. “You’re going to look amazing.”

It’s New Year’s Eve and spirits are high at the arena. The boys are playing their last game of the year tonight and the locker room is buzzing. The boys have tomorrow off since the only game on New Year’s Day is the Winter Classic. You’re waiting patiently outside the locker room for Bradley. You hear a crow of pure delight from Javy on the other side of the door and you smirk as you imagine his reaction. A few moments later the door swings open and Javy’s wearing a feral smile as he wraps you in a hug.

“I love you, you know that right? It’s like Christmas all over again!” You roll your eyes as you hug him back. The door swings open again and Bradley appears, his cheeks ruddy and matching the salmon suit that makes him cut a dashing figure. His eyes widen as he sees that you’re dressed in a similar shade, the suit new, and you smile at him shyly.

“I thought we could match,” you say with a shrug and he smiles softly for the first time all night. He’s forgone a tie and his shirt is slightly open, exposing his throat and a sliver of his chest that makes your heart flutter in your chest. His curls are perfectly styled and his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides let you know he’s making an active effort to not run them through his hair. “You look so handsome,” you compliment him as you cross over to wrap your arms around him and his cheeks turn red for a different reason. His relaxes a little under your touch but you can tell he’s still uncomfortable. “I’m sorry you’re uncomfortable,” you whisper so just he can hear, guilt gnawing at your chest slightly even as you’re elated that he complied. After losing at bowling the other day, Bradley was at your mercy to do whatever you wanted. Likely he expected it to be something sexual as the two of you can barely keep your hands off each other these days, but you’d surprised him by asking him to let you choose his suit for their next game. You claimed it was retribution for how much he used to hate your suits, to which he reminded you was no longer his opinion on them.

He wraps his arms around you in return, burying his nose in your neck as he strokes your back gently. “Are you happy?” He asks and it’s genuine. You nod against him.

“Very,” you feel his lips tilt up into a smile against your skin.

“Then I’m okay.” He says and your heart aches. He pulls away and bumps your nose against his, gently. “Shall we go?” You nod, and the locker room door swings open and the other guys start filtering out in their suits. Jake’s eyes soften as he takes in the two of you.

“You guys look adorable,” he compliments, fishing out his phone to snap a picture and Bradley doesn’t argue.

“Oh my god, you guys!” Bugs exclaims as he comes around the corner, hearts in her eyes as she takes in your matching outfits.

“We have to do that sometime.” Jake agrees as he finishes with his pictures. Bugs agrees enthusiastically. “And you need to wear his jersey sometime,” Jake points out to you.

“Oh don’t worry, I have,” you say with a cheeky smile that makes Javy whoop with excitement even as Bradley squeezes your waist. The guys start moving to go get their photos taken before the pre-game press and you lean your head against Bradley’s shoulder. “Good luck, tonight.” You murmur and he leans to press a kiss to the top of your head.

“I have my good luck charm, I’ll be fine.” You giggle at that and he pulls you close.

***

Laughter and music are echoing off the walls of Jake’s house. The living room is full of teammates and their families with a combination of children and animals weaving between legs. After the game, everyone met up here to welcome the new year before they’ll eventually head out to enjoy having New Year's Day off. You’re standing in Bradley’s arms, listening to Bob explain the myth of Alaska having six months of darkness. You glance up and you can tell that Bradley’s far away so you gently tug on his sleeve and lead him out the back door to get some air. Jake’s backyard opens out onto a semi-private beach and you slip your hand into Bradley’s as the two of you make your way across the sand. You ditched your heels by the door ages ago and the sand feels cool under your feet. You can’t help but remember the last two times you and Bradley found yourself on the beach as you’re drawn towards the water.

The water is cold as it laps as your toes and you skirt back as Bradley stares wordlessly out at the sea. “Everything okay?” You ask softly as he turns at your words. There’s something you can’t place in his eyes and you’re about to push him gently for an answer when he drops to one knee and your eyes widen. “Bradley. Bradshaw.” Your voice is shaking as you admonish him. His eyes are soft as he squeezes your joined hands.

“I’m not proposing,” he assures you and you let out a shaky breath, “not yet.” He says with a brazen, boyish grin and it steals the breath from your lungs. “But I do want to make you a promise, because you’re it for me, Honey. There’s no one I’ve ever loved more than I love you and like I told you, you’re my family. I will always stand by you and protect you. You’re my everything, and one day I’m going to ask you to be my wife.” Your eyes are full of tears as this perfect man is once again on his knees for you, offering you the whole world. “There’s nothing in my life that’s more important to me. Not myself, not hockey. I don’t believe in fate, but I feel like our moms masterminded this and sent us to each other. I’ve never been so thankful, that I get to love you in this lifetime. A few months ago I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to live anymore and now I don’t think there’s anything I’d rather do than spend every single day I possibly can with you.” He lets go of your hand then, reaching down to shape the damp sand beside him and you smile through the tears cascading down your cheeks as he makes the little sandman, shaping the body and then scooping up twigs and fragments of shells to adorn it. The surf licks up, dampening his pants where he kneels but he’s undeterred. When he finally dusts off his hands after, he stands taking both your hands in his. “You’re my dream, Honey, and I think it’s going to be the sweetest one I’ve ever had.” You smile at him and as he kisses you, you think he might be right.

[phillesterlover]

Kinda scared to post this on Twitter but when will people realize that qrting and talking about something you don’t like brings more attention to it than just simply ignoring something you don’t like/blocking a user who makes you uncomfy. People are gonna act every kind of way it is what it is and everyone has a different opinion about rpf and sexual content/jokes. If you don’t agree with what someone’s doing or you’re worried DnP might see it and be uncomfortable…just ignore it. That’s the best way to make something go away. Any time I’ve seen explicit sexual content about dnp on my Twitter tl it has always been through a qrt or indirect. Seems like you’re inadvertently becoming the problem you’d like to stop.

Also - Dan and Phil have been doing this for a long, long time y’all. While it doesn’t say anything about whether it’s ethically right or not, they’ve been exposed to sexual content about themselves online for over a decade. They’ve sought out and read/viewed some of these things as entertainment. I think that there are lines that they definitely don’t want crossed, which to me is invasion/inclusion of their families/friends who are not content creators, privated/deleted videos/posts being reposted. Other than that, I think they’re grown, internet savvy and can accept the fact that people write smutty fanfic about them. The same people I’ve seen mad about this situation also have several tweets referencing their formspring posts, which I imagine make them more uncomfy than a tweet about them having sex in 2024.

Now if you don’t like accepting sexual content about real people, THAT IS OKAY AND VALID. Just ignore it. It would be different if DnP were to come out and say “hey, this thing actually makes us super uncomfortable and we’d like you to stop doing it.” THEN we can all become internet warriors defending their honor. But if anything they’ve been pretty clear that they don’t care. So I wouldn’t worry about it on behalf of them.

Now about the minors situation, even if an account is not a private account, if someone has “Minors DNI” or “18+” in their bio/username then that to me is an automatic warning that explicit/nsfw content is possible. And even then, as much as I don’t want minors exposed to sexual content, let’s all be real here. Most of us were 15-17 reading mature fics on AO3 unfazed. We watched DnP start the skinfic and knew EXACTLY where it was headed. You can put all the safeguards in place and minors will STILL be able to access explicit content if they look for it. We can’t make it fully safeguarded, so the only thing we can do is just be responsible about the content we put out there and hope that it’s tagged properly.

Sorry about the rant, it’s just getting so annoying seeing this drama continuously pop up. See something you don’t like? Ignore it. DnP don’t need you to be their internet police for them. Writing something explicit? Include 18+ in your bio, tag your fic appropriately. Also, have a mutual/friend who posted something you don’t like- you could always DM them and have a convo before deciding to put them on blast and create a hate campaign against them. This is just my opinion though, so if you disagree, feel free to reply/message to let me know your take.

[cursedimagesforthesoul]

Accidentally deleted the og so a repost lmao

The “shorter” story of Giulia my Prime Asset!

- height 6’6; built quite long/slim/ectomorph

- She has ocular coloboma in her left eye and ichthyosis Vulgaris that primarily affects her hands/forearms, her cheeks, feet/calves, shoulders, and around her eyes

- She is the handler for some of her crocs (her babies named Lottie, Dot, Rose, and Thelma notably [all female to avoid a potentially catastrophic event]) by which she has trained using primarily clicks of her tongue or a whistle.

- Her father was largely absent due to being in the military and despite having a love for his daughter in a purely paternal manner he didn’t *like her* and almost refused to believe she was his daughter so he in part often avoided her when he could.

- Her mother was obsessive of her especially after Giulia was put into school and was ostracized by her fellow students, seeking to protect her from everything despite her good intentions she did more harm than good taking Giulia out of school and away from everyone not allowing Giulia to go out even as she got older. When she turned 16 her mother offered to take her somewhere special and out to have a meal of her choosing and her of course trusting her mother agreed. What she didn’t know was that her mother had been drinking and was hoping to protect Giulia for the final time in the way she saw best. This world is a terrifying place especially for her darling sweet Giulia, she couldn’t bear to think about her own daughter one day being without her mother so she figured “why not go out together?” She saw this as the best gift she could give her daughter for them to be together forever. So as she reached a point she was happy with she accelerated, Giulia had started to beg her mom and try to get her to snap out of this moment but she had already made her mind up and so Giulia braced herself for the crash. The same crash had ended up killing her mother, leaving Giulia with traumatic injuries to her torso and neck a tree branch had broken through the passenger window empaling her mother. The same branch had clotheslined her cutting into her neck as well as her seatbelt and this had disrupted the nerves to her larynx fracturing it. After this she was hospitalized for weeks and put into a medically induced coma to allow her body a fighting chance having to amputate her pinky on her broken right hand, cracked ribs, tissue damage, fractured collarbone, internal bleeding, and various cuts to her face/neck and body. From here the distance between her and her father seemingly grew, as she came back home *different* she was quiet, was awake at odd hours, impassive, and avoidant sure he already avoided his own daughter when she sought his attention/approval but after the accident this was amplified. No one had seen them together even after, she didn’t even show to her mother’s funeral no one blamed her for that decision although her father may have resented her for it a bit. As they grew older he had to depend on her care due to a cancer that took up a home in his left lung that had spread to his thyroid, getting an honorable discharge from the marines to stay at home with his “daughter” she took well enough care of him even with how he had seemingly resented her for her whole life. As the days passed and he grew weaker, finding it harder to move due to the increasing pressure on his spine he had depended fully on her now, within the year he would die leaving her in the home by her lonesome at the age of 19 surrounded by a marsh with her true family

- Giulia had started to befriend the crocs when she was younger (around eight) after a particularly difficult day at school and then coming home being under a constant watchful gaze from her mother she snuck out of the house that night to go have a cry on the docks this was where she had her first real encounter with them through teary eyes she noticed them watching her first it was fear that crossed her mind but they hadn’t attempted to attack her when they had all the chances to. The other thing that had crossed her mind was a slight kindred feeling looking down to her hands and the reflection in the water she felt they were one and the same to some degree. This had started the beginning of a kinship between her and the crocodiles even to her feeding and caring for them when no one was around, seeking out road kill when possible for her new friends only growing the odd friendship further. This grew into an obsession for her she learned everything she could about them their vocalisations, non vocal communication, society, hierarchy, etc. it made her feel closer to them being able to differentiate what they were trying to communicate to her leading to experiments with attempting to communicate back this was more difficult after her larynx injury so she adapted to whistle training and so did they (although she can still do some vocalizations similar to bellows, hisses, and grunts)

- Due to proximity it’s no surprise she likely has met some mafia members of either Franco or his father (most of which probably became a light snack for her crocodiles) not that either of them are actually aware of that she just saw trespassers and dealt with them as she would have anyone else likely thinking they were hunters

- Actually the only reason Murkoff had eyes on her was due to them hunting for Franco and following leads of missing people which had association to Franco

- One of her original crocs at home was missing a large portion of its top jaw from some hunters this one she called Bellona after the Roman goddess of war (and yes she did have names for ALL of them) she took special care of this one with assisted feeding and ensuring that she wasn’t picked on by the others after she had passed away Giulia made her bottom jaw into her signature blade she uses to this day to keep her fighting spirit alive with her

[sebadztian]

Hi Seb, I was spending some time thinking about something in the kuroshitsuji community and I'd like to see if more people realize the same thing as me. As you are a very active and communicative person, I thought it would be a good idea to try it for you first. So, I'll get straight to the point and then introduce my point of view, so things move faster.

For some time now I have noticed a huge amount of hypocrisy in the kuroshitsuji fandom, especially in ANTIS, like I see people who are anti Sebaciel, or anti proshipper, but who ship Ciel x Lizzy, which is incest and is included in this proshipper category, every time I question them about this I either get blocked or have my comments deleted, most of the time they use the excuse that incest between cousins ​​can or that at the time it could and that's why it's okay, but that's not really an argument that Do they hate it so much when it comes from a Sebaciel shipper?

Giving some context about myself here so as not to bring up any misunderstanding, I have nothing against anyone who likes these ships. I'm not a Sebaciel or Ciellizzy shipper, at most I like some Sebaciel AUs in which Ciel is an adult man, this comes because I have triggers and psychological traumas involving pedo and incest, on this account I have been introducing myself more into the community of kuroshitsuji and I've seen how difficult it is to build a healthy community here, it seems like everyone hates each other like... there are people I've never talked to or seen in my life who blocked me and I don't even know why, I would think that maybe this person was a anti and thought I was part of the Sebaciel community due to drawings that I repost, but in my bio and in my profile pin it is very clear that I just don't care about this ship thing.

And again this hypocrisy breaks me, I saw anti Sebaciel shipping Joanne and Sebastian while Joanne is also a minor, it seems that they are only defenders of young people when it suits them, it is really confusing trying to understand this fandom and at all times It's like I'm walking on eggshells talking here.

I hope the Google Translate translation wasn't confusing and strange, I don't speak English fluently and because of this it can often lead to misinterpretations. Making it very clear that I don't want war with anyone, I really wanted to build a community on my profile where everyone is welcome, and I was focusing on the people from kuroshitsuji because so many were super sweet and welcoming to me, but at the same time it has me created a headache.

I'm just an artist wanting to sell my daily bread, I don't need to be radical and be on side X or Y, as a professional I believe that my opinions should not influence my audience or separate them, I've always seen people from DNI is extremely privileged to be able to choose the audience they want to follow them. I just hope I can find more calm people here

Thank you for your attention and sorry for any inconvenience, kisses from Brazil

Hi, Deusa (hope it's alright to call you that)!

Since the answer is going to be quite long, I put them under the cut...

I'm going to share my own opinion with you in response to your view. Hope that's ok.

Yes, I agree that there are a lot of hypocrisy in the Kuro fandom, most especially among antis. They can't seem to decide what is it that they actually want. I've seen those who support CielLizzy, and those who are against this particular ship because of the incest thing.

To be fair, marriage between cousins (even first cousins) was very common back then in the Victorian era. Queen Victoria & Prince Albert were first cousins too and they got married. The reason why they did this is to keep the 'high blood' in the family and to strengthen their familial bond.

If Ciel & Lizzy get married, then the bond between the Phantomhives & the Midfords will only get stronger and they can keep everything (wealth, nobility, status, power) 'in the family', so to speak.

Even until today, marrying one's cousin is still allowed & legal in some places. Thus, this type of marriage might not be seen as strictly 'incestuous'.

Another reason why those antis are still somewhat okay with this pairing might be because of their age. Ciel & Lizzy are of the same age (Liz is a year older, but that's still considered as 'normal age gap'). And of course, Ciel & Lizzy are 'normal' couple (a man and a woman).

These factors might help them to justify this ship, even if they're techincally incest.

Things are very different when it comes to Sebaciel.

First, they're both males.

Second, there's the whole age gap & pedophilia thing (antis' most favourite argument). Seb is, well, we don't know how old he is, but we can safely assume that he's much, much older than Ciel and it doesn't help that he looks like an adult man. This age gap (in real life) is definitely seen as pedophilia (which I completely agree with).

And then, there's the whole Sebas is a demon who wants to eat Ciel's soul thingy - which is true, but they see Sebas as evil and they're all about 'protecting baby Ciel' because he's been abused. I'm not going to go into why this behaviour is not going to help Ciel because this answer is not about that.

About Harcourt and Sebastian shippers... Well, I can't say anything about this because this too baffles me. Harcourt is only 1 year older than Ciel (he's in second form) and I don't know why they're ok with Seb/Harcourt, but they'd burn Sebaciel at the stakes. I don't ship them, so I cannot find anything to justify/explain this. Whatever thing that Seb did to Ciel, he did it worse to Harcourt, imo, but at least, Ciel knows what kind of bastard Seb is. Seb even laced Harcourt's pie with laxatives, like... why would anyone ship them? Is it because Harcourt is seen as more... feminine & soft compared to Ciel? Shouldn't they worry about traumatizing this boy??

But I digress...

I'm sorry that you've been through such ridiculous thing and I agree that it's very difficult to find others who are neutral when it comes to shipping. In opposite of the antis, we also have the extreme shippers (Sebaciel or otherwise) and they too, are not too friendly towards non-shippers or other shippers.

I generally don't interact with antis because I've got my blog banned twice and I don't want to get a third ban, so I tend to play it safe and stick with the people that I know (either other Sebaciel shippers or the neutral/proship-safe space). Unfortunately, things are very divided in this fandom and you really have to be careful about whom you talk to/interact with.

I have my own 'limits' in the fandoms that I follow (not just Kuro). There are some pairings that I will never ship or headcanons that I will never entertain, but I try to be open until I decide that no, this is not for me.

For what it's worth, I think everyone is waaaaay too young for Sebas, even Tanaka. Some antis ship Sebagni. Agni is 31, so he's about 18 years older than Ciel. But compared to Sebas, he's still much, much too young. Yet, they don't seem to have any problem with shipping them. Maybe because they're both tall, adult men? I don't know... To be very clear, I'm not against Sebagni. It's not my cup of tea (because I think Agni's true soulmate is Soma), but if you ship them, that's cool wih me!

My point is, if you're talking about age gap, the only ones Sebas should be with are either Claude (whose existence I try to ignore/forget) or maybe one of the Reapers.

Sorry that I ended up rambling, but in summary, I agree with you.

Thanks for the ask!

[bumlets-appreciation-blog]

Duane Street December Day 5: Family

(Post Deletion Repost)

Jack never thought much of family. He couldn’t let himself think about family after Pop got arrested. It was too painful. Instead, he poured his heart into dreaming of Santa Fe and a fresh start. Dreaming of Santa Fe had kept him alive for nearly six years, had been his light in the darkness through two stints in the Refuge, multiple periods of homelessness, and more than a few nights without food in his stomach. Santa Fe had been everything to him and he couldn’t bring himself to want anything else.

Then he met the Jacobs siblings: David, who believed in doing the right thing and fighting for what you believed in, Les, who looked at him like he was a hero and made him want to be one, and Sarah, who asked him questions like he mattered and listened like she cared what he had to say. Then the strike happened, and then the failed rally, his arrest, and the Banner, and through it all, the boys stood by him and forgave him all too quickly for his betrayal. Roosevelt had told him, “Home and family is what you make of it, my boy. And I can’t help but think you already have that here,” and as Jack looked at the scene in front of him, he had to agree.

They hadn’t intended to meet at Duane Park. It wasn’t like it was the closest park to the lodging house and it certainly wasn’t the biggest. But as Jack led Dave, Sarah, and Les into the park, he found himself pelted in the face with a snowball courtesy of a cackling Dutchy. Biting back curses, Jack wiped the slush out of his eyes and looked around the park. Just about every resident of No. 9 Duane Street was scattered throughout, taking advantage of the snowfall that blanketed the ground.

Dutchy, the ass, was slumped against Specs while he laughed and Jack would’ve punched him if Sarah and Les hadn’t been with standing next to there (he’d made a promise to himself to be a good influence to the kid and that meant not punching people in front of girls, even if the guy deserved it). Behind them, Itey sat patiently while Snitch and Boots walked him through the process of building a snowman. It was Itey’s first winter in New York and they had all agreed to make it as nice as they could.

Other boys littered the scene, laughing and roughhousing and pelting each other with snowballs. It was a borderline picturesque scene and Jack was sure that if Denton had been there, he would’ve taken the photo himself. Of course, there was one thing missing, and Jack made sure to remedy it by pelting his own snowball back at Dutchy. He managed to dodge it but wasn’t expecting Sarah and Dave to throw snowballs of their own, and as everyone clambered to take sides, Jack felt a piece of his heart heal.

[enchantedchocolatebars]

Do you remember my headcanon that Lilith and Belos were once close until Belos realized that his mission was under threat?

So, recently I came up with an idea for AU. Instead of pushing Lilith away, Belos decides that he can help her atone for being a witch. He likes this girl, who is also a descendant of his brother.

So when the Golden Guard is killed (on mission or by Belos), Belos offers Lilith to take his place and become his right hand gal. She is surprised, but she is glad that she will be able to help her sworn uncle. She trains hard, receives a staff of artificial magic from Belos, while still retaining her palisman. She tries to be worthy of this position. She doesn't want to disgrace the memory of the previous Golden Guard.

Belos is pleased with her success. To some extent, he is glad that Lilith's parents did not pay attention to her. Belos gives her what she has been lacking - parental love and attention. He uses a completely new approach because Lilith is different from the grimwalkers. So if there was a best parent contest on the Boiling Isles, Belos would have taken first place. And Lilith thinks less and less about her parents, but does not forget about her sister.

She tells Belos everything she knew about that incident, fearing that he would not like her action, but he is not angry. He tells Lilith that she is not to blame, that she was guided by the best intentions, he encourages her in every possible way, and after the conversation he goes to the Collector. Because the symbol from the scroll, described and drawn by Lilith, was hard not to recognize. The Collector tells him how to get the Owl Beast out of Eda.

Soon Belos personally comes to the Owl House, puts Eda to sleep and brings her to the castle to cure her. He distracted Hooty with a bucket of bugs.

While Eda was sleeping, Belos used the portal and studied how the human realm had changed. Many things struck him, many things he found disgusting but tolerable, but on the whole he was delighted with the achievements of mankind. And he had to reconsider his plans to destroy the witches, which made him sad. But only magic could solve environmental problems, hunger problems and much more.

The first thing Eda sees when she wakes up is Lilith in the form of a Golden Guard without a mask. And she is shocked, because she could not even think that the new Golden Guard is her sister. And she is surprised that Lilith calls Belos uncle. Belos tells Eda that she no longer has the curse, and Eda is glad that mom will stop coming with her healing attempts. Her words shock Lilith, who hardly remembers the last time she saw her parents.

Belos shocks Eda once more by cheering Lilith on. Eda wants to figure everything out. Lilith is glad that now her sister will be able to become part of the Emperor coven, but Belos says that Eda needs to recover and decide her fate herself. But Eda agrees to think about joining the coven in order to understand why Lilith behaves like this to the Emperor. She will be shocked many times. And gradually, she will also become part of their little family.

As for Gwendolyn and Dell... Lilith doesn't want to have anything to do with them, because she has a cool uncle. Eda will share her sister's opinion. Gwendolyn and Dell will be morally broken, but they are glad that their children are doing well even if they do not want to see them.

So, what do you think?

Hi, Anon!

I think I do (I think that's the one I had to delete, screenshot, and repost without character tags because someone left a rude comment on it).

But anyway, this au idea is really interesting! 👀 👀 👀

[songbirdsofvesuvia]

Good Signs

(Part of my working my way through the Tarot, starting with one of my favorite cards the fool. Also was a part of Vesuviaweekly's prompt "Found Family Time". This is a repost after the sudden deletion of my old blog.)

Rating: PG

Pairing: Asra/Robin (Apprentice, He/Him)

Word count: 421

Song Inspiration: Snow Maybe Falling by the Sweeplings

Notes: This was inspired by winter in Venice where it can snow in January (rarely). Also, Robin and I, the author, share a birthday and I originally posted this on my birthday before my blog went poof.

...

“Happy Birthday!”

              Robin should have known. He had known that Lark and Sparrow were up to something, his big brother senses had been tingling. Even Asra had been just a bit more secretive as of late. Now looking around at the room filled with colorful decorations, a cake, and all his family and friends, Robin knew he should have trusted his intuition. He sighed deeply looking at his siblings. 

              “Now we know you don’t like a big fuss for your birthday,” Lark said, holding up his hands already in defense, “but after last year and all the craziness, we figured it only fair we celebrate you making it through another year bro.”

              “And you can’t be upset with all these people here,” Sparrow continued, giving her brother a smile, “when everyone heard it was your birthday everyone wanted to come and celebrate you! Your favorite bread maker even made you your favorite apple spice cake!”

              Robin again sighed as he turned his eyes to Asra. “Et tu, Asra?”

              Asra smiled in a knowing way as he placed a golden paper crown on Robin’s head. “I agree with the two little birds. You deserve to be celebrated- “He leaned up and kissed Robin’s cheek. “-Just a little.”

              Robin felt a smile pull on his lips as he looked around the room at all the cheery faces of the people he cared about. Maybe a little fuss couldn’t hurt. “Pass me a piece of cake,” he said with a little laugh.”

              And so, the night went, with stories and laughter. It was strange as Robin hadn’t realized how big their little family had gotten until now. With Asra by his side Robin looked out at all the people there and he felt a feeling of warmth well up within him. The past year had been a bit crazy but given how it had turned out, Robin wasn’t complaining. It was then Lark’s voice spoke over the crowd:

              “Is it snowing?”

              Everyone shifted out onto the veranda and looked up. It was indeed snowing, not a lot, but there was indeed small flakes drifting down. The flurries drifted on the wind like fairies, dancing in the darkness of the winter night. One little flake drifted down and onto Robin’s nose as he gazed upwards.

              “A rare sign indeed,” Asra remarked softly, smiling as he linked his hand with Robin’s, “and on your birthday no less. I wonder what it could mean.”

              Robin smiled. “I think it means that we are going to be okay.”

[drawnaghht]

Yuichi Usagi + SRTUC reflist + overview

ok, so, REPOST, because the og post won't let me edit it..... (deleting the other post later) I've noticed some common ideas online abt Usagi and his show/world and thought I'd make a list of references for folks who haven't seen the show, but would maybe like to know more. Mostly this is like a small rundown of what happens in the series, but maybe this'll help also with writing/drawing the characters. lol this accidentally became too long again with over 3K words >___>;;

(you can visit my srtuc posts masterlist for other references and fun tidbits, observations, interview links etc)

More under the cut!

Yuichi Usagi is obsessed with becoming a samurai. He is shown reading a comic about his own ancestor, Miyamoto Usagi (the protagonist of the Usagi Yojimbo comic irl, which is what the show is loosely based on). We can assume there are more comics about his ancestor and other family lore.

He is a bit reckless and prone to accidents and distraction. He also fantasizes a lot about fighting and being a cool samurai.

Like his ancestor, he has a pet lizard, Spot! Spot looks a bit like a weird cross between a tiny dinosaur and a regular green lizard (like in the comics), but is basically Usagi's only friend to confide in at the farm. Spot acts a lot like a pet or dog would. Tokage (lit. lizards) are very common in this world.

Before his 16th birthday, Usagi lives with his auntie on their family farm, but after messing up a farmbotto and getting into an argument with her, he decides it's better to leave to Neo Edo, to become a real samurai.

He plans to do this by riding on his Ki-cycle, an energy-powered tri-wheeled motorbike (it has a battery-pack)

His auntie agrees, because even tho she has trained him in sword-fighting and combat, that's all she had and Usagi needs a real swordmaster, a true sensei who will teach him when to not use a sword. (boy is a little bit sword-happy)

Usagi's auntie has a missing left ear-half and left leg (from some unknown wars only mentioned in passing)

His auntie gives him her own sword, Edgewing, which she made with her own grandfather. It has a red scabbard and a purple pommel - a crystal with a butterfly inside it. She calls this the Omurasaki, a "family heirloom" from Miyamoto Usagi himself (this will become important later), citing that it has brough her good luck despite the missing ear and leg.

Arriving in the city, Usagi is completely awe-struck and foregoes all caution, showing us how distracted he gets and has to be saved by Spot from on-coming traffic. This is his first time seeing Ki-stone powered cars, trolleys or streets.

Usagi decides to visit the Ki-Stone temple, a place where he fantasizes the Ki-Stone will give him some sort sort of power (he is 16). This is a show-only element, but seems to be based on elements in Senso, a stand-alone book in UY, which predates the WhereWhen crossover with the IDW turtles, but happens after WhereWhen. No spoilers but the show lifts a few crucial ideas from this stand-alone comic.

Usagi is not a yokai, but he is obsessed with yokai, who in his world have been a myth and children's tales for 1000 years. Usagi is well-versed in many yokai myths because of his obsession with his "yokai hunter samurai ancestor" and can tell at a glance who or what a type of yokai is.

in truth, yokai were locked away by his ancestor from the Edo era, Miyamoto Usagi, who is a well-known traitor because of this incident, which involved. Usagi does not know this at first and the 1st season deals with him uncovering the reasons why his ancestor was branded a traitor.

Because of this, Usagi is immediately looked at with disdain or avoided, because he is the only white rabbit to appear in Neo Edo in a long time and that makes him stick out.

On his way to the Ki-Stone temple, he accidentally bothers and angers 3 people: Gen, Kitsune and Chizu. They all wanna beat him up for his transgressions but over the first 4 episodes, they bond over hi-jinks and become close friends after Usagi is arrested when exiting the Ki-Stone temple.

Him, Gen and Kitsune also anger the Mogura gang, styles to look sorta like 1970s yakuza, but also like 1950s greasers (they will show up in the series for a few more key moments). This is when Usagi shows his quick thinking by jamming Edgewing's end-cap into a crumbling ceiling and saving the group from the gang.

After this tunnel fight, Kitsune discovers a shiny green egg with metal scales and decides to keep it in hopes of earning some money with it (her puppet has been destroyed in the tunnel-slide caused by Usagi) This egg will come up again later.

Dropping the last name Usagi introduces himself as Usagi to Kitsune, but Gen is still mad at him and they give chase.

Somehow the three of them arrive at the Ki-Stone temple thru the tunnel network, angering Chizu, and the three newer characters gang up on Usagi until they're stopped by Tetsujin, guardian of the Ki-Stone, a Kaikishi warrior. (This will become an oft-used term in the show - we can assume, it's basically meant for all who become a guardian warrior of the Ki-Stone)

------------------------

Usagi gets distracted and even while Tetsujin is warning him, touches the Ki-Stone, showing us some foreshadowing for the next 19 episodes.

Because of his relation to Miyamoto Usagi, Usagi releases the yokai who have been trapped for 10 decades.

Unlike Tetsujin, Usagi does not become a ghost-like person, but he does sputter out for a moment while he sees his own ancestor and a bunch of other images ghost over his mind.

Usagi basically starts to have visions of Miyamoto Usagi each time he touches the Ki-Stone. Each time he comes in contact becomes gradually more painful.

Tetsujin "is transmuted into another state of being" - so he's basically a ghost, but science-reasons that he's just on another plane of existence now (which... is sorta what ghosts are lol)

The last to be released is Kagehito (lit. "shadow person"), who immediately clocks Usagi as his ancestor Miyamoto Usagi (this will become a common occurence in his life now) and proceeds to threaten him for the 1000-year imprisonment.

Realizing this is in-fact, some random rabbit and not the guy who trapped him, he throws Usagi from 3 stories or so and flies away through the hole on top of the Ki-Stone temple. Usagi survives this drop and calls the incident awesome.

Basically, this guy is really excited to fight yokai.

Over the next 3+ episodes, he learns that actually, yokai are not all bad and most of them are sorta benign, if not outwardly friendly. Over the show you will see the friend-crew and other citizens get used to these friendlier yokai.

The Ki-Stone gives Usagi a change at having a mystical weapon, only given to Kaikishi warriors like Tetsujin was.

Because he is distracted again, he picks a yoyo as it sticks out to him on the big shelf. No take-backsies from the Ki-Stone, she seals the shelf and he is left with this yoyo. Quickly recovering from this shock of not getting a sword, Usagi gets used to having a different weapon.

The yoyo is magnetic, and also glows and hovers a bit when near yokai. It can be used to capture or lead yokai.

Exiting to outside commotion, this group of 5 find that the shogun of Neo Edo, Lord Kogane, has come to arrest the trouble-maker (remember how the citizens looked all disappointed when he arrived in Neo Edo?)

Lord Kogane arrests him after Usagi proudly names himself the descendant of Miyamoto Usagi. Here Usagi also finds out his ancestor is a historically well-known traitor, even a 1000 years later.

These 3 strangers who wanted to clobber him, take pity and go to covertly save him from the jailhouse. Both Gen and Chizu surprised that the other 2 are also there. there's a lot of fun banter between them.

Meanwhile, Usagi gets told the tale about how his ancestor is not the hero he thought he was and killed the shogun from 1000 years ago. Usagi gets depressed and thinks he's gonna live in that jail in-definitely. Until he notices, the yoyo is magnetic, decides he's gonna clear his ancestors name (biggest Miyamoto Usagi defender alive lol) and escapes the jail through hi-jinks and beating up the cop.

Gen and Kitsune have located his cell, Gen breaks the wall as Usagi's just made his cell-escape and he immediately offers friendship and hugs.

Usagi finds more uses for the kaikishi yoyo, when fighting Karasu-Tengu (based on real myth yokai, the crow-headed demi-gods who sometimes trained samurai...) who also at first thinks he's Miyamoto Usagi. He survives the fight due to his auntie's teachings, some skill and sheer dumb luck, capturing her sword and releasing his new friends. She backs off because she has no beef with this new random rabbit.

The Shogun still wants to arrest them after saving his life from Karasu-Tengu, but they somehow extort him to become his Yokai fighters instead (he needed clean-up in his personal museum)

Chizu has an interesting backstory which is already apparent from her first appearance and is slowly uncovered and dissected over episodes 2-6. It's further expanded upon in season 2 as she becomes the leader of the Neko Ninja gang.

Lady Fuwa is the leader of the Neko Ninja crew, and also the person who kidnapped Chizu from an orphanage (although, it's only implied, so she could have also been kidnapped from a real home)

--------------

From episode 3 onwards, we get glimpses of Gen's backstory as well. We also meet Gen's twin little sister, Toshiko, who left to join the circus after their family home was taken by the shogun to be city property, turned into a "museum". A subplot of this is Toshiko buying the mansion back from Lord Kogane, and the Murakami estate becomes home for their group.

In the process of fighting yokai at the museum, Gen's horn gets cut off.

In episode 4, Usagi and Kitsune leave the mansion to find a replacement horn for Gen. Outside they discover a bounty has been put on Usagi's head and Usagi and Kitsune get knocked out by the Mogura gang thanks to Usagi's recklessness.

Chizu also arrives there, to scare off the Mogura.

However, another gang, The Bat Squadron, has also come to collect the bounty and the leader of the Mogura, Chikabuma, leaves his knife with Usagi, who fights the admiral of the bat squadron. (Chikabuma will feature again later on...)

Overwhelmed by the fight (there's only him and Kitsune, with Chizu flying around in a stolen hovercraft), they're saved by Gen busting the fight with some common sense (the bat squadron would also get arrested by the city police...)

Re-arrested by Lord Kogane, Usagi uncovers that the Shogun's hat was posessed, posessing the Lord in return, and makes a deal with the hat-yokai and the shogun and earns enough trust for people to believe that there are yokai out again.

Obsessed with not being a third-rate crew next to the other two, Chikabuma makes a deal with Kagehito, to help him uncover some lost craft or ship. Over the season, because they were chased away by the Bat Squadron the Mogura crew helps Kagehito.

Kitsune does not really have a backstory-proper like Gen and Chizu, so you can sort of give her your own version or headcanons. What we do know:

She's highly adept at puppeteering (she's introduced as a scammer-puppet-actor, with a dancing O-dokuro puppet)

She is very good at stealing (but still gets caught by Usagi twice)

She mostly uses her fans for self-defense

her S2 fans can disappear and re-appear at will.

Assuming it's more than a reference to comics-Kitsune, she probably can actually dance herself too

Before meeting the other three, she slept on the streets and is used to making traps to help her avoid capture.

Her and Chizu are both orphans. Gen and Usagi had parents, but lost them at some point before the series began.

She hates being alone, which can be seen how much she wants to be friends with Usagi, Chizu and Gen, but also has trust issues, with how she reacts to Chizu's betrayal.

She has some sort of queer undertones going on with Chizu, and seeing how there's an openly gay writer on the show team, it's not out of the question that these undertones and subtext are intentional. Go wild with this info!

—-----------------

In episode 5, Usagi has located Karasu-Tengu and challenged her to a spar because he wants the best sensei. Karasu-Tengu agrees to teach him if he captures 3 urban yokai. This has a really cool plot-line over the next 3-4 episodes which leads to Chizu and Usagi basically adopting a little sister, Hana ("flower").

Over the next 2-3 episodes, Usagi succeeds in capturing 2 of the urban yokai, Destruction and Distraction (also overcoming some of his own bad tendencies haha)

Gen and Kitsune take Usagi to the game arcade for the first time

Somehow they encounter Hakai, the desctruction yokai, posessing a construction-botto. Usagi has been trying to discourage the others from helping so far, so sure he could capture them on his own, but after getting battered and captured, agrees to their help.

Chizu tries to keep the crew away from the Ki-Stone temple to no avail (with an addition of, I'm sorry, but frankly hilarious haunting of Lady Fuwa as the full moon)

Usagi receives another vision, confirming that Miyamoto Usagi did kill the shogun then.

Chizu is revelead as a Neko Ninja spy, but betrays her ninja crew

Chizu has become really attached to Kitsune, Usagi and Gen, so she sees them as her true family now

She has a lot to make up for, especially to Kitsune, but they basically make up while Gen and Usagi are capturing Sakuran, the deception yokai.

He does not succeed capturing the 3rd urban yokai "Deception", but instead find one of the Neko Ninja dojo trainees, Hana. Hana tells them that her friend Kana pretends to be her so she can avoid doing all the assassination and fighting training.

The 3rd yokai has befriended Hana and after hearing Hana's please, Usagi decides it is wrong to capture this one. They visit the Ki-Stone temple instead to show the kids the Ki-Stone and so that Usagi can say his goodbyes to Tetsujin.

The Murakami siblings discover that one of the yokai who has stayed behind, has posessed their old Ashi-basha, a fancier kind of car, which they associate with the better times with their family.

Chikabuma and his gang have helped Kagehito uncover his space-ship and he reveals his plan to wipe out all life

—---------------------------

Usagi takes Hana to live with his Auntie and having given up his samurai dream, asks to live there too. But wait!

Hana's friend Kana was actually Karasu-Tengu in disguise, tesing Usagi on his earnestness to learn, because the skills she teaches can become more than lethal (basically, Usagi would eventually have supernatural abilities in the sword, if he continues)

Because of the promise of everything being destroyed, Chikabuma goes to warn Usagi and his friends, who go looking for Usagi at his farm with the Ashi-basha.

Usagi receives his training and spends 2 seasons on a magical mountain where time passes weirdly and not at all. When he arrives back in Neo Edo, it's night-time, instead of evening.

His family and friends are fighting O-Dokuro, who's been spying for Usagi to leave (his mystic yoyo being the only thing able to stop O-Dokuro), and came to the farm looking for a fight because of his pride as a yokai warrior.

Because of this training Usagi now defeats the Bat Squadron with ease, with help from Chikabuma.

The rest of the orphan crew + auntie have arrived at the Ki-Stone temple, they fight the Neko Ninja, with Lady Fuwa gaining the upper hand with numbers.

Usagi arrives and defeats the Neko Ninja forces (ngl, I personally thought this fight scene could have been better, but, it also gets the point across pretty clearly that Usagi has become a cut above the rest now)

all the while, Kagehito and Tetsujin (juiced up by the Ki-Stone), have been having an all-out battle at the temple

Usagi and crew chase after Kagehito at the bottom of the temple stairs, letting Usagi take the reigns in capturing him, but Kagehito breaks Usagi's yoyo. Usagi gets sad about this and so...

Kagehito succeeds in his plan to attach the "Clavis" device onto the Ki-Stone and she opens up a big portal in the sky.

Kagehito is freed and reveals that he was under the control of the Makkine, which the sky butterfly is a harbinger of. When the portal opens, a big monster will first arrive, with hundrends of warbotto.

Usagi leaps at the Clavis, trying to remove it from the Ki-Stone and has another vision, of what really happened 1000 years ago.

Everyone else sees this vision too this time! Miyamoto Usagi's name is cleared.

Usagi notes that she must have shown this for a reason and needs a missing piece, which has been lost for a thousand years.

Usagi realizes that Omurasaki is actually the missing piece of the Ki-Stone, attached to Edgewing, which he gave to his auntie earlier after the Neko Ninja fight.

At Gen's mansion, Lady Fuwa has been stalking after Hana and auntie as well and when Usagi arrives, threatens Hana's life, but the yokai save her.

They stop the Clavis from further infecting the Ki-Stone and the big hole in the sky closes up, replaced by a bright energy-butterfly.

Usagi's yoyo is repaired by the Ki-Stone as thanks for saving her and he puts the dying Kagehito back in her in the hopes of saving him.

In the 2nd season, Gen, Chizu and Kitsune also get their own personal Kaikishi weapons!

A big butterfly looms over the temple for the rest of the 2nd season and everyone mostly hand-waves it as "solved problem"

The Ki-Stone is silent in S2 and doesn't speak to Tetsujin anymore.

The 2nd season it's mentioned a few times that the Ki-Stone always being "on" makes it really really bright in both day and night in N-E.

Usagi being as self-important as he sees himself after the season 1 finale, feels jealous of his friends getting cooler kaikishi weapons and decides, "he'll be their sensei". Hilarity ensues.

The Bat Squadron kidnaps the shogun, because they want him to shut down the Ki-Stone Usagi trusts his friends to fight properly with their new weapons.

After going to eat, Kitsune discovers that the small green egg she discovered in the mogura tunnels after meeting Usagi, is actually alive. she names it Kiyoko.

this egg becomes like an adopted sister and will feature a lot in this season (by namesake, she's basically a reference to comics-Kitsune's adopted sister, a young girl also trained as a thief by UY Kitsune)

It's revealed in ep 2 that Usagi's ears are at least partially prehensile??? (he can lift and move them separately to grasp and throw Kiyoko) I just thought this was a funny detail, but must have been fun to board for the pre-production crew.

The orphan crew take some time off playing at the arcade again, but are attacked again by O-dokuro, who wants to get rid of yokai fighters once and for all (lot of fun fights in this ep, Usagi's yoyo gets stuck in a gacha machine because of O-Dokuro)

After the fight and collecting all of O-Dokuro's bones besides his head, Usagi allows him to live with them

They basically domesticate him in skull-form 😂 he befriends the kids visiting at the Murakami residence and Kitsune starts to feel like it's a real family.

Chizu and Kitsune save the other Neko Ninja kids. (ep 3)

Chizu challenges Lady Fuwa to a duel, defeating her fair and square and becoming the next Lady of the dojo.

As a result of this, she shares her time between the dojo and Kaikishi warrior duties, so the team's attention is sorta split between no yokai to fight and some looming danger they don't know yet.

The makkine warbotto are back. They keep 3D-printing themselves at the Sakura part where Usagi and Karasu-Tengu sparred in S1.

The crew retrieve the orb where Kagehito's people are trapped in some form of forced stasis.

They find out the Clavis (the creepy red thing) is so attached to the Ki-Stone, they might as well be one

cutting the Clavis would cut the connection to the other dimension

The only thing that can cut the Ki-Stone is Miyamoto Usagi's own sword, which cut the piece (Omurasaki) 1000 years prior.

They retrieve Miyamoto Usagi's sword, Willow Branch (with no sign of Young Willow, his wakizashi). We're given a backstory about the sword being lost with a family servant, who went on to search for it his whole life after losing it in the midst of some battle.

The whole episode about retrieving the sowrd is fun, I rec it.

Kitsune gets to pilot a big mecha built by Tetsujin (a defensebotto)

Cutting the Clavis off would also mean losing the connection to Kagehito's people, so Usagi bides his time.

He meditates on the sword and meets his ancestor face-to-face, getting to actually speak to Miyamoto Usagi and learn from him (it's funny, plz watch it)

The Neko Ninja crew betrays Chizu, save for one (Fumiko), the rest joining back with Lady Fuwa

Fumiko also escapes the situation, and Chizu is left alone to fight Fuwa, but Fumiko returns with Kitsune and her giant botto, scaring away Fuwa and her ninja

Kiyoko is revealed to be a makkine warmachine, but as she puts it, she's a "learning machine" and learned so much from Kitsune and the others, she doesn't want to forma a super mega biomech with the other biomechs around Neo Edo.

roll out-on-town sibling sequence as Kitsune and Kiyoko go around town doing fun stuff and scaring the city folk (lol)

the makkine warbotto find the other warmachine eggs and we're shown that they can reset them (one of them had learned from Chikabuma's personality), Kiyoko gets upset at after accidentally hurting Kitsune and escapes the mansion crying, seeing how the others are afraid of her

She's caught by the warbotto and after a big fight, she is connected with the other biomechs, over-riding her personality

More makkine warbotto and wawrmachines start coming through because the bat-squadron decided to sap the Ki-Stone from energy…… the last 2 eps deal with Usagi and the orphan crew + the Bat Squadron and Mogura crew dealing with this outfall!

Kiyoko is revealed to have over-ridden the big bio-mechs personality herself, bc Kitsune's personality is basically too big to be over-ridden and she learned from her.

Dividing the teams into three, they defeat the aliens, save Kagehito's people and Usagi finally cuts the Clavis off the Ki-Stone for good. Fuwa and the Neko Ninja help a little too.

(Gen with Nochi and Kagehito going after the supreme commander through the dimension portal, Kitsune, Kiyoko, O-Dokuro and Karasu-Tengu defending the city from the warbotto and mega-biomechs and Usagi and Tetsujin + later Fuwa and Chizu at the temple)

they seemingly destroy the makkine for good (as evidenced by Kiyoko also dropping dead with the rest of the warmachines and warbotto + the big explosion in the sky)

they get to keep Kiyoko alive via Ki-Stone battery.

Although the Bats take the credit, the shogun agrees to shut down the city's lights for the night, revealing the night sky for the first time since the Ki-Stone was almost shut down by the Clavis in S1. Usagi spies on this ceremony, reacting to Admiral Nochi being awarded.

Despite this, he sits happily with his friends at the end of the episode, saying they've earned this and that this sky and his friends are all he needs. (leaving the series at a nice open but conclusive ending)

Hope this helps! Happy writing and drawing!

[kiss-cupid]

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[paperstorm]

i know you said you didn’t want to talk about this and you can delete this ask when you get it but speaking into the void here

i personally as an arab never expected ronen to give a both sides are bad let peace prevail kind of statement (im aware that is what he is posting now and has reiterated that palestinians aren’t responsible for hamas i haven’t ignored that)

fully acknowledge that this is painful for him given his personal family history and just the generational trauma jewish people have lived through and antisemitism raging in the states for the past few years and spiking drastically since the bombing started

so him sticking by israel no matter how much of a bitter taste it leaves in my mouth lmao i understand why but what genuinely hurt was him reposting videos from violently islamophobic and racist right wingers like nathan*el buzolic calling it “palestinian propaganda” and who dont care about jews or israel but in his eyes brown arabs are the devil and need to be gone (ronen could very well not know what that man stands for but doesn’t change that its who he’ll be associated with henceforth cuz everyone knows and noticed)

celebrating biden sending weapons to israel knowing full well who exactly its being used against and pushing the “human shield” bullshit to justify it all makes it hard to digest seeing babies pulled out of rubble and dying and never not once admitting that collective punishment isn’t right or mass starvation isn’t right

i dont think anybody is ignoring his sentiment of wanting peace between communities but compared to what he’s been pushing it makes it harder to acknowledge when the most hes said about palestinians is “oh life will be lost on both sides no can do” and not voicing support for a ceasefire and doubling down against people trying to kindly show him a more nuanced view and flat out blocking people

i’ve long since stopped caring about celebrities and their political opinions cuz they need woke points but since we’re all a part of the same fandom i guess its making rounds more

(and also a general thing, the fact that antisemitism and islamophobic hate crimes are spiking should push politicians to call for a ceasefire instead of doubling down on their money making tactics from defence contracts and stocks cuz as long as people see videos of palestinian parents losing their children and vice versa and weeping in the streets and IDF soldiers in uniform eating mcdonalds in a full face of makeup and acrylics its just going to keep getting worse cuz the disparity is getting more obvious)

It's not that I don't want to talk about it, it's that every time I do like clockwork about 30-45 minutes later the death threats and 'kys' anons roll in and that isn't easy to deal with. But I do think these things are massively important and I do want to talk about them.

And I agree with all of this. It feels so silly sometimes to care about him or what he's saying when there are babies buried under rubble from genocidal bombs dropped purposely on apartment buildings and bakeries and hospitals and funded by American taxpayers like ... he's a random C list celebrity and we aren't the victims here by any stretch of the imagination. But it still hurts. It seems to me like he is extremely misinformed. Uninformed, ignorant, uneducated, whatever adjective you want to use. If he's bought into the human shields propaganda then he's bought into all of it, and the US/Israeli propaganda machine is one of the strongest the world has ever seen (I mean you have a state indiscriminately slaughtering thousands of children and you have the whole Western world terrified to say "hey maybe don't do that", it would be impressive if it wasn't so horrible) so he isn't the only one who's fallen for it but it's ... sad. I dont' know, it's just sad. All of that and all of what you said is context for his response to this, but context doesn't make it hurt less. It sucks that we're going to have to do the heartbreaking work of separating him from TK in order to keep loving our show and not feel like we're de-facto supporting genocide. We're not the victims in this, especially those of us who are white and not Arab and not Jewish and are far less likely to face any consequences here, but it still sucks. I don't have any answers but I'm there with everyone who feels let down by him right now.

[goldenseresinretriever]

You Catch More Bees With Honey: Chapter 7

Pairing: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x Reader

Part of the San Diego Dogfighters universe

Summary: Bradley Bradshaw, blindsided by a team he trusted like family has been traded to the San Diego Dogfighters. Across the country from the place he calls home, Bradley feels lost and betrayed. Not to mention the familiar faces and ghosts from his past that he now has to face every day at work. Bradley’s caught between wanting to show his former team the mistake they made in double-crossing him and wondering if it’s time to hang up his skates after one final season. You’re living your dream as the PR representative for the Dogfighters. When Coach Maverick made a bid to bring his godson to the team, you hadn’t batted an eye. Bradley was a good teammate, and a good player. Unfortunately, the Bradley that shows up in San Diego is nothing like your research suggested. He’s moody, irritable, aggressive, and angry, throwing a wrench in all your careful planning. What’s caused such a drastic change in him? And can you figure out how to help him before he makes a mistake you can’t fix?

Series CW: 18+ ONLY, swearing, dead parents, drunkenness, alcohol consumption, violence, sports violence, blood probably, angst, fluff, eventual smut, age gap (28 and 38), enemies to lovers, suggestive language, hockey inaccuracies etc. There will be individual chapter warnings. No use of Y/N.

Word Count: 5.4k

A/N: This is a repost of my completed series, You Catch More Bees With Honey. It was originally posted in November-March 2023, and was lost when my blog was deleted.

Previous Chapter // Series Masterlist // Next Chapter

Bradley’s kept his promise to you so far. He’s stayed out of the box and been playing excellently. After your tears had stopped in the hallway earlier, Bradley had taken you to Bugs and she’d confirmed that your ankle was sprained. As a former figure skater, this isn’t your first rodeo so you’d spent the majority of the game seated when you could, even after swapping out your signature heels for the backup sneakers that you keep in your office for emergencies. Your eyes are on the rink as you do your best to ignore the fact that Cyclone’s sitting a few rows back from you.

Your jaw tightens as a Jets defenseman gets a hit on Mickey, slamming him into the boards. A frustrated growl escapes your lips and you feel eyes on you as you glance slightly over to catch Bradley’s gaze as he watches your face silently from where he’s currently sitting on the bench in front of you. Mickey and Reuben hop the boards as they swap out their line and Bugs moves to inspect Mickey’s face where his cheek had met the boards. You usually keep to yourself during games to keep the boys’ concentration on the game but you call to Mickey and he turns, reading the worried expression on your face and flashing a thumbs up, your mutually agreed-on signal that says he’s okay. He reaches a closed fist to you and you bump it with your own, letting out a breath at the realization that he’s okay. Bugs finishes her inspection and steps away to sit next to you.

“That cheek is going to bruise something fierce but other than that, he's fine.” You murmur your thanks and she squeezes your hand, reassuringly.

You look back at the game in time to see Bradley smash the same defensemen into the boards and your mouth goes dry. The poor guy didn’t see the attack coming at all especially given that he hadn’t even touched the puck. You wince at the thought of Bradley’s huge form slamming full-force into the smaller player. You sigh as the ref stops play and calls the boarding penalty on Bradley but you can’t find it in your heart to feel angry as you watch Bradley get led to the box. Sure he’d gone against your specific instructions, but you know this is different. Where Bradley’s usual penalties have been earned by his uncontrolled rage at the world in general, this time it’s clear that he’s retaliating against a player for a hit on his teammate. It’s an improvement if a subtle one, and it brings a faint smile to your lips.

***

You’re waiting in your office for Bradley to come to get you so you can head to game night together. Post-game interviews had run smoothly and now you tabbed through various sites waiting for articles to start popping up for your perusal. A knock sounds at your door and you call for Bradley to come in. You’ve got your feet propped up on your desk since Bugs had recommended keeping your ankle elevated if possible. That leaves them directly in Bradley’s eye line when he comes in, scowling at them.

“You have got to be kidding me.” He mutters and you look up from what you’re doing.

“What?” You follow his gaze to your sparkly silver sneakers with ribbons for laces.

“You can’t seriously be wearing those shoes.” He crosses his arms across his chest and you roll your eyes.

“They’re my backup sneakers if you must know, and I think they're cute.”

“They’re cute all right.” His mocking tone makes you scowl back at him.

“They’re neutral, go with everything, and have some spunky flair, not that I need to explain myself to you.”

“How is that your idea of neutral?” He looks disgusted and you roll your eyes.

“I’m not taking fashion advice from the guy whose wardrobe consists exclusively of t-shirts, Hawaiian shirts, and flannels. You push yourself up in your chair, swinging your feet back down to the ground, making to stand when Bradley moves to help. You hold up a hand to stop him, chin raised defiantly. “You made fun of my shoes, you’re not helping. I can walk by myself, thank you very much.”

He glares at you and you glare right back until he finally moves out of the way as you pull yourself up and limp past him. You catch his hands flexing at his side like he’s actively fighting the urge to carry you again. You collect your belongings and Bradley takes each item from your hands as you pick them up. You glare at him but he simply continues until he’s carrying not only his duffle bag but your purse and laptop bag, holding your coat out in a silent request for you to slip your arms into the sleeves. You do so, grumpily knowing that the night is likely chilly now that the sun is long gone.

The parking garage is deserted except for the Bronco and you climb in as Bradley places your combined belongings into the back seat. A comfortable silence fills the car once again soundtracked by the 80s station as Bradley drives the two of you to his apartment complex. You were a lot more pissed off last time so this time you have to keep from gaping as you pull into the parking garage of the luxury apartment. He grabs his bag and you follow him into a tiny atrium that houses the elevators. You resist the urge to roll your eyes as he presses one of the two special golden buttons indicating the penthouse floors. The two of you watch the numbers climb to 21 until they open onto a small common area surrounded by a few doors. You follow Bradley to the one marked 2114.

“Mom, I’m home,” Bradley calls out and you freeze the entryway. But his mother’s dead? Bradley offers no explanation as he slides open a door on your right and drops off his gym bag before continuing down the hallway that’s lined with various shut doors. No one calls back to him so you timidly limp after him. The hallway opens onto an expansive combined kitchen, dining, and living space. You turn around to examine the space as you enter. Your eyes catch on a table just to the left of where you came in. A large vase of fresh daisies occupies most of it with a framed photograph standing in front of it. It’s of a young couple and as you examine it closely you recognize Nick Bradshaw’s smiling face next to a blonde woman holding a little boy in his arms that you can only assume is Bradley. Next to it is a collage frame of photos of Bradley and the blonde woman you now know to be his mother through the years of his youth. “You done ogling?” You jump at Bradley’s voice.

“Yeah, yeah… sorry.” You murmur awkwardly, embarrassed at being caught staring. “Nice to know you get your curls from your mom, though.” Bradley’s hard expression softens almost imperceptibly as he rolls his eyes and gives you a stern look that’s only half serious. “I’m going to change, try not to set anything on fire.” You roll your eyes back at him, sticking your tongue out. Bradley sighs deeply before heading back down the hallway. You’re left alone in the living room, and you take another moment to stare at the photographs before you hear the click of a door shutting and you let the words slip.

“Thank you, you did a good job with him even if he doesn’t like to show it.” Your lips curl into a soft smile as you finally turn from the photos to snoop around the rest of the room. Both of the outward-facing walls are floor-to-ceiling windows that open onto a wrap-around balcony. Curious, you approach the door, letting yourself out into the night air. Straight ahead of you is a view of the dark smudge of San Diego Bay that you’re sure is breathtaking in the daylight. You let your feet carry you around the corner to where you can see a clear view of Petco Park. Baseball season is long over but you’re sure this is a great spot to watch the games from with the right pair of binoculars.

You keep walking down the balcony, admiring the enviable view and you lose track of the windows behind you until you reach the end of the balcony, turning to make your way back to the door when you come face to face with Bradley Bradshaw’s mostly-naked body. You’re looking through a glass door that opens onto what must be his bedroom. He’s facing away from you, sorting through several shirts he’s laid on the bed, having shed his suit already. He’s left in nothing but a pair of fitted briefs that hug his muscular thighs. Your eyes catch on his backside and you suppress a groan. Now THAT is a hockey butt. The butt turns and you’re face to face with the sizable bulge in front. Your mouth dries. You knew Bradley was a big guy but now you know it extends to other parts of him. You’re so distracted with staring at the bulge that you don’t realize what being able to see it so clearly implies, especially as it gets closer.

“Can I help you?” Bradley deadpans and you jump in surprise, your eyes snapping away from his lower half to his face that’s no longer separated from you by the door that’s now propped open as he leans against the frame. Your face is an inferno of heat as embarrassment and mortification wash over you at being caught.

“I-I-I… I was just checking out the balcony and I didn’t realize it went this far and I-“

“Looks like you were checking out more than the balcony, Honey.” His voice is low as he practically purrs the pet name and it sends a shiver down your spine.

“I didn’t mean to…”

His lip curls into a smirk you’ve never been privy to as he leans in to growl into your ear. “I don’t mind if you watch, Honey, but I’d take a picture if I were you. I wonder how much TMZ would pay for those?” The crude accusation snaps you back to your right mind and you push at his chest firmly, stumbling back until your back hits the balcony railing, face flaming.

“You’re a pig, Bradshaw.”

“And you’re a pervert, I guess that makes us even.” He leans back against the doorframe still smirking. “I’m going to finish changing so you can either come join me in here or you can get back to the living room.” You flip him off, scowling as you limp back towards the living room, his deep laughter chasing after you.

When you’re finally back inside you let your eyes fall closed, the memory of the rolling sound of Bradley’s laugh replaying in your mind. First, you saw him smile yesterday and now today he’s smirked and laughed at you. Your mind is reeling as you unwrap more and more of the “real” Bradley and you find yourself increasingly concerned that you’re in over your head with him. You think back to your conversation with Javy this morning. His accusations about Bradley and yourself. You can’t hide the way your body reacted to the sight of his. Could Javy have been right after all? Were you catching feelings for Bradley? Or were you just horny? You turn Javy’s proposed solution to your problems over and over in your mind, the idea becoming more and more tempting the less you think about it.

“You ready to go, Honey?” Bradley enters the living room clad in a blue Hawaiian shirt that you recognize from the family photo as his father’s over a faded pair of jeans.

“Yeah, I’m ready.” You climb off the couch, making your way over to where he’s waiting for you.

***

The driveway to the Casa de Floycia, as the boys refer to it, is a lot more packed this time around. You recognize Jake’s truck on the far left, parked next to Javy’s Landrover that’s once again man-spreading across a space that could easily house both the SUV AND Bradley’s Bronco. The two of you scowl at the bang-up parking job until you turn to him. “Wait here.” You unbuckle yourself and storm up the driveway as fast as you can while limping. You pluck your spare key out of the pocket of your coat and let yourself in before you holler down the entryway. “JAVY MACHADO COME AND MOVE YOUR FUCKING CAR OR SO HELP ME GOD, I WILL HAVE IT TOWED!” You don’t wait for a response heading back out, making sure to slam the door behind you. You swing back into the passenger seat of the Bronco and Bradley raises a single eyebrow in question but you don’t respond, crossing your arms across your chest and scowling at the door. A few seconds later, Javy strolls out, twirling his keys as he takes his time to walk to his car, slowly unlocking it, and pausing to waggle his fingers at the two of you in a playful wave. You flip him off and he blows you a kiss. You lean over Bradley to lean on the car horn until Bradley physically pulls you off of it.

He glares down at you. “Behave.” The command has a tingle running down your spine even as you stick your tongue out at him. You crawl back over to your side of the car as Javy reparks his car to make room for the two of you. Bradley pulls into the vacant spot and you launch out as soon as he puts the car into park. Javy’s waiting for the two of you on the porch, a smirk on his face. You stick a finger in his face as you scowl at him.

“How did you pass your driving test?” You spit. He gives a casual shrug.

“With flying colors. Good to see you too, sweetheart.” He slides an arm around your shoulders as Bradley joins the two of you, his eyes falling on Javy’s arm around you. Javy clocks his gaze and pulls you closer to him, tucking you under his arm. “Bradshaw, glad you could make it, man.” He sticks his free hand out to Bradley and he hesitates before taking it and shaking.

“Well as much as I’m enjoying this testosterone fest, I want to change so I’m going in.” You duck out from under Javy’s arm, shooting him a flare before you push your way into the house, beelining up the stairs for the guest room as you hear the cheerful ruckus coming from the living room.

You grab a pair of pajama bottoms before ducking into Mickey’s room to steal a t-shirt. Disappearing into the bathroom you come face to face with your reflection. Your mother’s face stares back at you and you turn away, grabbing recklessly at your hair to try and dislodge the pins. The crown falls from your head and you thrust your fingers into the braids, untangling them until your hair is completely down and this time when you look in the mirror you see yourself even if she still lingers in your periphery. You change into Mickey’s Star Trek t-shirt over your pajama pants before heading downstairs, smoothing your hair down as you assess the scene in the living room.

Everyone’s sitting on the floor, crowded around the coffee table. Bugs is in Jake’s lap, and Dragon is half in Bob’s. “Hey, isn’t that my shirt?!” Mickey exclaims and you shrug, unbothered.

“Isn’t that mine?” You arch a skeptical eyebrow as Mickey looks down to examine the faded University of Wisconsin figure skating shirt.

“Fuck, yeah I guess it is.” He gives you a guilty grin. “Charges dropped.” He holds his hands up in surrender and you roll your eyes playfully.

You’re about to make your way to your usual spot between Mickey and Bob when Javy catches the edge of your pajama pants, tugging just enough to upset your balance with your sprained ankle and you tumble into his lap, guided by his arms. “Hey sweetheart, why don’t you be my partner this week?” He waggles his eyebrows at you but Natasha interjects as she walks in from the kitchen with a can of sparkling water before you can roll your eyes in return, squirming to get free of his grasp. You broke eye contact with him to see that Bradley’s hard gaze was fixed on you, his jaw clenched tightly.

“Fuck you, Machado, little backstabber.”

“Don’t take it personally, Nat, I’m an equal opportunity stabber.” He winks at you and now you roll your eyes.

“Absolutely not, Javy. Unlike you, I came here to win.” You clamber out of his grip and go to squeeze into your spot when Dragon pipes up from the other side of Bob.

“Nuh-uh, there’s no way we’re letting you and Mickey team up again, it’s so unfair!” She pouts at the two of you annoyingly as the others chime in with similar complaints. Mickey gives you a placating shrug.

“Zam get over here, I hereby declare this a girl’s team!” You grin and clamber back over to sit between Nat and Bradley.

“Mutiny! Betrayal!” Javy calls out in response from the other side of Nat. Nat sticks her tongue out at Javy.

“You started it, Machado. You’ve made your bed, so lay in it.”

Some might argue that the teams are a mess but that’s normal for game night. Since there’s always too many people for individual teams for Catan, everyone split into pairs, usually the two couples, Nat and Javy because he didn’t take the game seriously enough, and you and Mickey because, while platonic, you’re basically a couple. While you’ll miss the familiar comfort that comes from being paired with Mickey, half of you is glad that the typical duos have been mixed up so Bradley doesn’t feel like the odd man out. Everyone settles into place as Mickey takes it upon himself to teach Bradley the rules and you’re off.

***

You glance worriedly at the hard set of Bradley’s jaw. While he picked up the rules fairly quickly, Bradley was having a rough go of it. Javy had suddenly decided to take the game seriously tonight and for some reason, he and hell-bent on messing with Bradley and it was pissing you off. From blatantly denying Bradley’s trades to cutting him off with roads, you’ve watched Bradley clench his jaw more times in the last hour and a half than throughout the entire hockey game earlier. As Jake and Dragon get into an argument about calculating who had the longest road, you take the opportunity to sneakily bump your fingers against Bradley’s where his hand was resting on the floor next to yours. He turns to look at you, surprised, and you’re not sure where you get the courage but you run your thumb gently along the side of his, doing your best to distract him from the anger that’s plaguing his tense frame. Tonight is about fostering bonds with his teammates, not driving a deeper wedge between them.

It’s the least you can do after he held you earlier today. You’d been a wreck when you’d finally escaped Cyclone’s office to find Bradley leaning against the wall outside, seemingly waiting for you. You hadn’t even hesitated to fall into his arms, seeking solace in his embrace despite never having been there before. Nonetheless, your body had been drawn to him like a moth to a flame and he hadn’t hesitated for a second, simply pulling you close and holding you together as you fell apart. It was like your body knew you could trust him even if your mind was still torn on the matter. He didn’t even say a word as you sobbed, he simply held you, a silent shoulder to cry on. Maybe he didn’t know what to say to you, but more likely he knew that words wouldn’t help, that they weren’t what you needed.

If this is the least you can do to repay that debt, you’re more than willing to oblige. You’re surprised when his thumb curls around yours and you feel your breath catch in your throat at the confidence in his touch. It sweeps across your skin in broad strokes and suddenly you can’t focus on the game anymore and you’re glad that Natasha doesn’t seem to mind taking the reigns.

***

When the evening wraps up, Bob and Dragon have secured the win, and you stand with a stretch. You’re ready to retire upstairs but you know you need to actually go home tonight since everyone has to be on the tarmac first thing in the morning for an early flight to Denver. The boys play the Avalanche on Monday night so you’ve got a busy couple of days ahead of you. Bradley’s gotten up too, and you glance at him, awkwardly, unsure how to ask him for a ride home when he just walks over, fingers brushing the small of your back, “Ready to go, Honey?” And you’re saved from asking as you nod and follow him to the door. Mickey calls out behind you and he catches you at the door.

“You two heading out?” He asks the two of you and Bradley gives him a curt nod as you give him a big hug.

“Yup, wish I could stay but I need to get home and pack for tomorrow.” Mickey gives you a nod as he turns to Bradley and gives him a rueful smile.

“Thanks for today, I mean it. That was really cool of you.” Bradley squirms under Mickey’s gratitude and you have to fight the urge to giggle at his apparent discomfort.

“Not a problem.” His response is terse and gruff but it’s a start. Mickey turns to return to his other guests and Bradley leads you out to the Bronco. You climb back into the passenger seat, entering your address into Bradley’s navigation.

“Thanks for taking me home.” You murmur as the sound of the 80s station fills up the silence between the two of you.

“Feels fair given that you drove me home the other night.” Bradley points out matter-of-factly. You shrug.

“You drove me home last night.”

“I drove you to Mickey’s, that’s not home.”

“It’s as good as home.” You sigh and look out the window, watching the streetlights pass by. The two of you fall into a comfortable silence as Billy Joel croons.

“If you said goodbye to me tonight, there would still be music left to write. What else could I do? I'm so inspired by you. That hasn't happened for the longest time.” A soft smile touches your lips at the familiar lyrics. “Once I thought my innocence was gone, now I know that happiness goes on. That's where you found me, when you put your arms around me. I haven't been there for the longest time.” You hum along as you think back yet again to the feel of Bradley’s arms around you earlier. You hear Javy’s voice in your head again, claiming that Bradley had feelings for you. Could he possibly?

“I'm that voice you're hearing in the hall. And the greatest miracle of all is how I need you and how you needed me too. That hasn't happened for the longest time. Maybe this won't last very long, but you feel so right. And I could be wrong, maybe I've been hoping too hard, but I've gone this far and it's more than I hoped for.”

You shake your head to clear it just as a new voice joins Billy Joel’s and you sneak a glance to your left to see Bradley’s lips moving. His voice is low with a gravelly undertone that sends shivers down your spine. “Who knows how much further we'll go on? Maybe I'll be sorry when you're gone. I'll take my chances, I forgot how nice romance is. I haven't been there for the longest time.”

You’re unabashedly staring now as Bradley keeps singing, louder now, like he’s forgotten that you’re in the car. It’s the most relaxed you’ve ever seen him and you feel yourself relax at the soothing tone in his voice.

“I had second thoughts at the start. I said to myself, hold on to your heart. Now I know the woman that you are, you're wonderful so far and it's more than I hoped for. I don't care what consequence it brings. I have been a fool for lesser things. I want you so bad, I think you ought to know that I intend to hold you for the longest time.” You know he’s just singing along with the words of the song but you can’t help the way your heart aches at the sweet words passing through his lips. You may not be sure if Javy was right about Bradley but you’re quickly realizing that he may have been right about you. You find yourself longing for Bradley to pull you into his arms again because as much as you hate to admit it, it’s the first place you’ve felt truly safe in years. Like he’s big enough and strong enough to fight off every one of your demons and the monsters that lurk in the dark. It’s different from the way Mickey holds you. When he holds you it feels like he’s standing beside you in battle, two souls becoming one unstoppable force. When Bradley holds you it feels like he’s an impenetrable wall standing between you and the world, keeping you safe and secure.

You take a shaking breath as the full force of your feelings hits you as Bradley pulls up to the driveway of your apartment building. You’re doing your best to hide the trembling threatening to take over you as you unbuckle your seatbelt. You’re about to hop out of the Bronco when Bradley’s hand on your arm stops you. His fingers close over your upper arm, half his fingers splayed over the soft fabric of Mickey’s shirt and half burning into your soft skin. You turn, your hair swishing as you look at him, a timid question in your eyes.

“Honey? You okay?” His voice is concerned as his eyes rake over you and you’re terrified that he’ll see right through your crumbling facade and see the turbulence in your head and heart. You nod, hurriedly, not trusting your words but knowing he’s going to need to hear them.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Goodnight, Bradley, drive safe.” You pull your arm from his grip and all but flee into the building, not daring to look back.

***

The next morning you’re exhausted. Your dreams were plagued with your mother and Cyclone. You’ve decided to change up your wardrobe this morning, trading your pantsuits for a suit dress that looks like a baby blue trench coat with delicate sheer sleeves. You’re wearing flesh-colored tights underneath in preparation for the fall weather in Denver and you arrive at the airport dragging your signature pink suitcase and sporting sunglasses and a purse that matches your dress along with a thick garment bag. The boys look exhausted and half-awake as they crowd the tarmac in their pajamas, hockey gear, and suitcases in tow, garment bags slung over their shoulders. Your phone buzzes in your purse and you groan, your brain not quite awake yet as you struggle to readjust the various things in your arms as you try to reach your phone. Just as you’re about to give up and drop some things, a large hand closes over the handle of your garment bag right above yours, lifting it from your shoulder and you straighten at the loss of weight. You fish your phone out of your purse to see the hotel confirmation for the next two days showing up. You put your phone away, turning to thank the person who helped you only to come face to face with Bradley. He’s wearing one of those hideous Hawaiian shirts and jeans, a far cry from the rest of the guys except maybe Reuben, who’s also wearing jeans but paired with a dad sweater. At least he’s dressed for the weather.

“You know we’re going to Denver, not Dallas, right?” You ask in a way of greeting. He grunts, rolling his eyes.

“Good morning to you too, Honey.” He replies and you go to take the garment bag back but he steps away from your reach, shaking his head. “How many outfits did you pack, Honey? You know we’re only on the road for a week, don’t you?” You scowl up at him, crossing your arms even as you ignore the way your heart jumps at the nickname.

“Not all of us can get away with dressing like we’re on vacation. By the way? Jimmy Buffett called, he wants his wardrobe back.” Bradley scowls back at you as his gaze scans your face before his eyebrows draw together.

“Did you sleep last night?” You curse your concealer for clearly not doing its job this morning as you shake your head. No use in denying it.

“Not really, kept having dreams.” You don’t specify that they were bad but you know he can tell. Bradley just nods and you’re surprised to see Cyclone approach the group. You’re even more surprised when he comes straight over to you and you tense, raising your guard. Bradley shifts almost imperceptibly to place you slightly behind him.

“Zam, Bradley, glad you’re already here. I wanted to talk to the two of you. Given everything that’s been going on, I want the two of you to stay together.” You feel your stomach drop in anticipation of what Cyclone’s about to say. “I’ve asked Dare and Mav to rearrange the hotel rooms so you’ll be staying together. Bradley, if you go out anywhere that isn’t practice, Zam’s going with you. We cannot afford any more negative media coverage. This is the best solution that I can come up with right now, so that’s what it’s going to be.”

“You have GOT to be kidding me.” Maybe you should have added an extra shot of espresso to your coffee this morning because you’re livid. You're a PR rep, not a babysitter. “You realize I have a job aside from babysitting your players? Maybe you should come and do it yourself. I have press conferences and interviews to set up.” Your hands are on your hips and you’re glaring daggers at Cyclone.

“Katarina, I don’t have time for this.” The use of your mom’s name knocks the wind from your lungs, and Cyclone’s eyes widen as he realizes his mistake even as Bradley growls, low in his throat, a warning. You scoff, letting out an exhausted and exasperated laugh.

“LISTEN to me, because I’m only going to say this once. I may look like my mother, but I am not her. And that means you don’t get to walk all over me because I’m not going to let you.” Cyclone pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Zam, I’m not asking for your opinion, my decision is final. I asked you to fix Bradshaw’s behavior and I’ve yet to see any change so I’ve been forced to take more drastic measures. Have a safe trip.” Before you can fire back, he turns on his heel and stalks back to wherever he came from.

“Is he always that rude to you?” Bradley’s voice is hard as he stares after Cyclone and you snort.

“That’s probably the nicest he’s been to me, actually, at least recently.” Bradley turns back to you in barely concealed shock as the doors to the plane open and the players start lining up to board. The two of you board the plane in silence and he takes a seat next to you which you don’t have the energy to protest.

Once you’re seated comfortably he speaks again. “I’m sorry, Honey. I know I’m probably not the only reason he’s been rude to you, but I’m sorry for whatever trouble I’ve caused.” You sigh deeply, fighting a yawn as you slump into your seat.

“It’s not your fault he’s an asshole, Bradley.” You say after a moment. “Just try to stay out of trouble, okay?” You add the last part quietly and Bradley nods silently before reaching over to gently guide your head against his shoulder. You open your mouth to protest but he cuts you off.

“Just sleep, Honey. I’ll wake you up when we get there.” You let your lids fall shut, lashes brushing your cheek as the sleep that eluded you all night comes to pull you under.

[thelonesomequeen]

Is 🦎 around? I would like to know her opinion too ☺️

I’m here I’m here!

My personal opinion, and I could be wrong, is that a lot of it has to do with fandom behavior. I know that aggravates some people to hear, but we also can’t pretend like people out there aren’t acting completely unhinged, either. I would occasionally scroll his name from time to time on Twitter to see what would pop up, and there was a good amount of hate directed towards him. Even using his @ and not just his name. If we think back even a year ago before a relationship was confirmed, he was constantly called the internet’s boyfriend. He was thirsted over heavily. He couldn’t make a single post on twitter without the responses being “YES KING” or “that’s my captain!” or “😍” and other similar statements from fans. Then as soon as the relationship was confirmed he started receiving the exact opposite. It was constantly dragging and hate in the replies to the point where he stopped posting so others couldn’t reply (why he didn’t just change his settings I’ll never understand). But that didn’t stop people from still @ ing him. And when the app is on your phone, it’s hard to resist picking it up and scrolling. I think watching fan behavior go from loving you to hating you so severely (it was never even this bad in the Jenny days) can do a number on how someone is feeling and it’s easier to avoid all of that by just getting rid of social media.

And fan behavior on instagram isn’t much better either. He barely posts as is, but even posts with Dodger that used to get a ton of love and traction in the fandom stopped doing well, too. He stuck to stories mostly to avoid comments (my guess). But it hasn’t stopped fans from going after his friends and family either. Notice how many have shifted to private or started weeding out people they don’t know from following. There are people constantly tagging him in posts with wild conspiracy theories and even constant reposts of screenshots from Alba’s shower video. Regardless of whether you think she posted that shower video intentionally or not, I think we can all agree that people who create accounts to share it again, and then make a new account when it gets deleted to share it again are going way too far. If you don’t agree, you should probably strong consider joining Chris on that social media break.

Again, maybe that’s wrong. It’s just an opinion. But I’m not entirely convinced fan behavior isn’t part of the reason he’s gone from social media. I think it was an experience that went from fun to unbearable pretty quickly. A lot of us have observed this shift happening and have been predicting it would eventually cause him to delete social media for a while now. 🦎