#didn’t get to see Marty afterwards but that’s okay

[20000dollarnosebleed]

Last night in Denver was one of the best BLG shows I’ve been to all year. Which is saying a lot 😅

[moistmailman]

*At the back of Beacon’s library*

Pyrrha, sitting at a table by herself: *completely engrossed by something*

Jaune, sneaking up from behind:.........*grabs her by the hips* Whatchu’ doing back here young lady? *kisses her cheek*

Pyrrha: *squeaks loudly while nearly jumping out of her skin*

Jaune: *laughs*

Pyrrha, blushing and pouting: J-Jaune! D-don’t do that. You nearly gave me a heart attack.

Jaune, chuckling: My bad. It’s just that it’s not everyday you can get the drop on the Pyrrha Nikos. *pulls up chair* So what are you doing back here all by your little self anyway?

Pyrrha, awkwardly: O-oh, uhm...I uhm....

*Jaune looks a the table to see a figure of a car with other pieces near it and an instruction pamphlet*

Jaune, raising an eyebrow: Wait, are you building a model car?

Pyrrha, blushing: M-maybe. I-it’s uhm.....it’s a model from Back To the Future.

Jaune: Back to the future? That old movie franchise from the dinosaur ages?

Pyrrha, slightly defensively: It’s not that old, but yes, that franchise.

Jaune: Oh my god. I can’t believe my girlfriend is such a dork.

Pyrrha, blushing: H-hey. I-I’m not a d-dork!

Jaune, snorting: Relax, I’m only joking....partially. Being a dork can be cute nowadays. I mean, you should know. You’re dating me of all people.

Pyrrha: *cutely pouts at her boyfriend’s teasings*

Jaune: So you bought yourself figure from the movie?

Pyrrha, smiling embarrassed: Well I wasn’t really planning on buying it. It’s just kinda happened. My dad randomly sent me a link to this because it was on sale. Next thing I know it was already in my cart.

Jaune: You dad sent you it?

Pyrrha, smiling: Oh yes! My dad’s also a huge fan. He’s the one who got me in the franchise. He took me to see all of them in theater; you see, the movies were playing in my neighborhood’s theaters because of one of it’s anniversaries, and my dad wanted to see them again. Although he also had to watch me while my mother was away, and instead of hiring a baby sitter he decided to just take me along with him.

Jaune, nodding: Oh?

Pyrrha, smiling giddily: I remember the first time seeing it. I was amazed the entire time. They were so fantastic and magical to me. I loved them so much. I asked my dad so many times to go see them again afterwards, and each time he did, at least for a week that is, then he grew tired of it. He had to buy me the DVD set so he could get one free day to himself. *chuckles* He used to make jokes about it on how he “accidentally created a monster”. I was so happy when I got the DVDs though. I’ve watch them so many times. Every day after school for like a month straight. My mother used to call me her ‘little time traveler’ and I also liked to pretended that I was time traveling in my blanket forts. I also— Eh?

Jaune: *chuckling*

Pyrrha: What’s funny?

Jaune, chuckling: Nothing. It’s just that I’ve never really seen you talk about something you this passionate about. It’s really dorky, but in a cute way.

Pyrrha: *blushes*

Jaune: So anyway, this is the car they used in the movies? Looks kinda weird.

Pyrrha: Yeah. The car model they used wasn’t actually that popular at the times. It was lacking behind compared to the other cars. It’s only became popular because of the movie franchise in fact. The only reason they chose the DeLorean in the first place was because Doc thought it looked stylish.

Jaune, raising an eyebrow: Doc?

Pyrrha: One of the main characters. He’s the one who made the time machine. He got the idea when he hit his head on his toilet while putting up a clock. He then wrote down the idea for the flux capacitor so he wouldn’t forget it. OH! Which is this thing right here!

*Pyrrha shows Jaune a tiny metal box that has a glass case in it, a Y shape object being inside it*

Pyrrha, with stars in her eyes: This bad boy is the reason why the DeLereon can go back in time in the first place. In order for it to work the car has to reach a speed limit of 88 miles per hour and requires 1.21 gigawatts to activate.

Jaune: *smiles at his rambling girlfriend*

Pyrrha: Originally the car ran on plutonium, which the Doc has to steal from a group of terrorists, who in returned killed him, forcing Marty to flee back in time in order to escape. Marty then— OH! I forgot about the main protagonist! Marty is a friend’s of Doc. He’s a high schooler he hangs out with. They never explained how they met in the franchise so it’s kinda up to speculations. Anyway, Marty is kinda a rebel like character. He’s not afraid to talk back to authority and fight someone, unlike his father; whose the complete opposite of his son.

Jaune, internally: God she’s so cute.

Pyrrha: Anywho, Marty goes back in time which kickstarted the whole movie’s events. He accidentally messed with the timeline and nearly erased his whole existence until he got his parents to fall in love at the dance, OH, and he technically invented Jonnny B Goode during the dance. After Marty saved his existence he went back to the present when he finds out that Doc actually survived because he was wearing a bullet-proof vest since Marty told him abou— oh gosh! I forgot to mentioned that Marty met past Doc as well! You see, Marty didn’t have the means to go back to the present, so he went to Past Doc’s house to get help. Obviously he didn’t believe Marty at first when he told him about it, until the boy showed him— w-Wait, why are you laughing again?

Jaune, chuckling: Cause of your ramblings. It’s adorable, I swear. I’ve never seen you like this before. It’s precious.

Pyrrha, blushes again: I just really like this franchise is all.

Jaune, smiling: Look, instead of telling me about the movies, you wanna watch them together instead?

Pyrrha, eyes instantly sparking with joy: Really? You want to?

Jaune: Of course. Why not? Sounds great. You watched all of the lord of the rings with me, so it’s the least I could do.

Pyrrha, happily: Oh gosh! I can’t wait then! I can get my dad to send me my DVDs and we can watch them immediately! I can’t wait!

Jaune: That sounds great. *stands up* Anyway, I think I should allow you to finish this model of yours.

Pyrrha, confused: My mode— oh! I forgot about the model I’m building. *slightly laughs in embarrassment* S-So is next week good for you?

Jaune: It’d be perfect. See you later. *leaves*

Pyrrha, smiling and waving: Bye. Okay, now let me finish this thing finally. *goes back to building the DeLorean

[fruitcoops]

Accidental Family

Hey folks! This is one of two fics for the six month celebration of this blog! Woohoo! Blood on the Ice is one of the most popular series I've written, and expanding it into Josie’s (@prohibitionincurls ) Winging It world with her was unbelievably fun. Disclaimer: one of the OCs has ADHD and it is a central theme of the story--while Josie based some of his characteristics on her own experience, we both recognize that this is not a one-size-fits-all situation. Thank you again for six amazing months, and I hope you enjoy!

Lots of love,

Eve <3

TW for mentioned injury

“Oh my god, they’re gonna kill me,” the kid whispered in a wavering voice, sounding much younger than he actually was as he left the penalty box.

“They’re not going to kill you,” Bowie soothed, still watching the tunnel where Remus had disappeared mere minutes earlier. From what he saw, there had been a bit of blood, but the bruising didn’t look too bad. Then again, there had barely been enough time for anything to visibly swell before he was whisked away.

“Can I just stay in the box?” Felix cast a look toward the Lions bench and his voice cracked. “They can’t yell at me in the box, right?”

“Hey. Look at me, Marty.” Bowie took him by the shoulders and gave him a gentle shake. “The Lions are good guys. They’re not going to hurt you, but you did just fuck up one of their best friends. What would you do if someone hit me in the face?”

“Come on, man, I’m a terrible fighter. I don’t know how well I’d be able to defend your honor after something like that. It was an accident. Do you think they know it was an accident? Should I go tell them?”

“I know. They know. Loops definitely knows. But that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re a little cold at first.” He ruffled the rookie’s hair and turned back to the game; the Lions were moving fast and brutal, slicing right through their defense for yet another goal. Shit. Felix clearly felt bad enough already--losing the game wouldn’t make him feel any better. 

They ended up losing the game.

Bowie had figured it might happen; he would have had the same fire if it had been his teammate that got clocked like that. Hell, he used to have the same fire when he and Remus had played together, so he completely understood. 

That did not change the fact that once they got home, Felix was still borderline inconsolable. The 18-year-old wasn’t technically billeting with them, but the apartment he was renting just so happened to be in the same building, on the same floor, and right across the hall from his and Simon’s. This led to an informal adoption of the rookie and he was around their house at least five times a week, if not more. 

Felix Martin was a good kid, and that idea was confirmed when Kronk immediately took a liking to him; the cat loved nobody but the three of them. Bowie was grateful that he and Simon were there to quell some of the homesickness that came from moving out to a new city on his own for the first time. The transition was always tough, but they could provide a little support.

They parted ways from the team when the bus got back from the rink and drove to their building in silence. Once they made their way up the stairs and down the hall, Felix moved to go back to his apartment. 

“Nope,” Bowie said immediately, placing a hand on his shoulder and steering him through the door to his and Simon’s place. It wasn’t a good idea for Felix to be alone right now--there was nothing to do alone after a loss aside from beat himself up about it, and Bowie would be damned before he let that happen. 

Simon and Kronk were perched on the couch, but they both moved into the kitchen as soon as the door clicked closed. Simon took one look at the pair and carefully wrapped his arms around Felix; the kid practically melted. The three of them stood there for a moment until Simon pulled back a bit and tilted his head toward the living room. Felix nodded and Bowie followed the two, sharing the couch with Simon while the rookie curled up in the large armchair diagonal to them. 

He...well, if Bowie was being honest, Felix looked like hell. He chewed his lower lip like an anxious beaver and fiddled with the loose threads of the closest armrest; everything about him screamed discomfort. Bowie caught Simon’s worried glance in his periphery and let out a slow breath, trying to relieve at least a little of the tension in the room.

“You don’t have to relive it if you don’t want to. I saw the game. But if you want to talk about it…” Simon trailed off with a significant look.

Felix sighed and his shoulders caved in a bit. “It was just one of those moments. All of a sudden, I didn’t really have a grasp on what was going on, which feels like shit because I’ve been doing pretty well so far. I dunno. It was just...bad.” 

That was it. Bowie knew Felix had seemed a little off. When Felix mentioned he had ADHD at the start of the season during one of their ‘getting to know your neighbor’ chats, Bowie hadn’t thought much of it. But as they grew closer, he began to notice when Felix forgot to eat or drink, or got overwhelmingly excited about something, or when he suddenly spaced out. It wasn’t just Felix being Felix.

The whole team stepped up and became intensely protective, of course. They not only helped him remember meal times, but also scheduling, directions, and everything in between. Bowie felt especially responsible for reasons he didn’t entirely understand--there was just something about the kid’s sweet heart that struck a chord.

He also knew that Felix was highly emotionally intelligent, but had no concept of whether people liked him or not. He was someone who assumed the worst, all the time. So, Bowie decided to do the only thing he knew would work: after a few more beats of uncomfortable silence, he pulled his phone out, tapped a few buttons, and pressed ‘call’.

“Hey, Remus, are you alive?” 

An amused snort came from the speaker even as Felix blanched. “Hello to you, too, Bowie. Jeez, you’re worse than Sirius.  I’m one hundred percent alive, just a little swollen. Your rookie’s got a helluva shot, but maybe tell the kid to hit the puck and not my face next time.” 

Felix flushed red and put his face between his knees, though hearing the laughter in Remus’s voice and knowing that he was okay clearly took some of the weight off his shoulders. Bowie whooped internally and shot him a quick, reassuring smile.

“Yeah, the kid’s got spirit, but he’s also got ADHD. He’s great most of the time, but sometimes under extreme pressure he can’t figure out where the fuck he--or anything else around him--is. Something about focusing or neurons firing the wrong way, maybe? Either way, it’s why he’s a terrible fuckin’ driver.”

Felix flopped back against the chair with a groan. “How the hell am I supposed to know how far away the cars around me are based on the mirrors? And how am I supposed to park?!” 

Remus’s laugh echoed once again. “Don’t ask me, kid, I’m not allowed to drive, either. Not because I’m ADHD, but because I’m terrible at it.” 

“You can say that again!” a muffled voice called from behind Remus. 

“Please excuse my fiance,” Remus said politely. “He’s a jackass who’s trying to make me lay down again.”

Felix smiled, though it was a bit pained. “I didn’t get a chance to apologize earlier. That stick was totally on me. And--I mean, I heard some of the guys talking afterward and it sounded like you got pretty banged up, so I’m really sorry. Like, really sorry.”

“Hey, woah, you’re fine,” Remus soothed. Bowie recognized his ‘talking to newbies’ voice and hid a smile in the cuff of his hoodie. “It’s the name of the game, after all. Did Bowie ever tell you about the time I accidentally checked him into a wall? Or when I broke his visor with a puck? For context, this was when we were on the same team.”

“Or that time you kicked my legs out from under me and sent me sprawling across the ice during practice.”

“That one was on purpose.” 

Bowie glared at the phone, but Felix was snickering and his grin was genuine. It calmed him a bit. “Thanks, Loops.”

“No problem, kiddo.” Remus paused for a moment, then mumbled something inaudible to someone in the background before clearing his throat. “Bowie.”

“Yes?” Remus had never been a wild card, per se, but he certainly had a knack for asking strange questions out of the blue.

“Did you accidentally adopt a child or do my ears deceive me?”

Bowie was about to laugh at the absurdity of it, but then he took a moment to think, looking back and forth between Simon and Felix. “Fuckin’--maybe I did, Re, but he’s ours now. And if that’s the case, I’m going to formally request that you tell your fiance to quit being mean to my son.”

Remus laughed on the other end of the line. “Will do. Felix seems like a sweetheart, I’m glad he’s got you two.” 

Bowie nodded with a slight smile, even though Remus couldn’t see him. “So are we. I can practically sense Sirius hovering, so go let your boyfriend fuss over you for a little while.” 

An offended noise came from Remus’s side, followed by a lower laugh and the click of the call ending. 

Simon looked Felix dead in the eyes. “I’m seconding the ‘kid’ thing. You may just barely be a legal adult, but it doesn’t mean we can’t adopt you. Congrats on your new gay dads.” 

Felix’s bright laugh sent a wave of relief through Bowie. “You guys are only, like, eight years older than me.”

“Silence, spawn,” Simon said, pointing a playful finger at him as his grin widened into something sweet and lopsided. “Now both of you need to come eat something. I made cookies while you were getting pushed around for a living.”

Bowie was still worried about Remus’ face--he made a mental note to call the next day to check in--but all his concerns disappeared as Felix scooped the cat up for a snuggle and followed Simon into the kitchen. They may have lost the game, but he would lose a million Cups to keep that moment forever: his Simon fussing over them both, his cat purring in pure bliss, and his kid settling into place at last.

[zimms]

i guess this is kind of for @omgcpanniversaryweek day 4: free space

okay, omgcp princess bride au:

so bitty is buttercup and jack is wesley

but with the extra complication of jack being some prince from a far off land (maybe guilder?) that's run away from his responsibilities to be a farm boy for bitty and his family after his overdose

they slowly fall in love and jack realises that if they want to marry and gain the approval of bitty's parents, he'll need to actually make a name for himself or at least find the money to support them, as bitty's baking business won't be able to keep two adults afloat.

so he decides reluctantly to return to his parents' land and seek both their approval and their forgiveness for running away

but whilst he's sailing there, his ship is attacked by the dread pirate falconer and he's never seen again

a couple of years later, bitty is betrothed to marry kent parson, but thankfully he's kidnapped on his way to the wedding, by shitty, ransom and holster. shitty's using the business as an excuse to travel and search for his girlfriend, larissa, who's been missing for years. ransom is a swordsman from guilder who's trying to prove himself again after he was the one that failed to keep an eye on jack, the first time he disappeared (from his parents' lands), then holster's just there because he's good at his job (being a giant) and he just wants to stay with ransom.

as they're fleeing across the ocean, they're pursued, not just by the dread pirate falconer, but also his entire crew.

naturally ransom and the dread pirate falconer begin to sword fight. it's a close fought match because ransom and jack grew up together and ransom was the one that taught jack to swordfight (for the sake of this au ransom is older than jack)

also those two would have the politest sword fight ever. tell me otherwise.

"you seem a decent fellow; i hate to kill you."

"you seem a decent fellow; i hate to die."

when jack says that final sentence, ransom finally realises who it is and wraps him up in a hug and starts rambling on and on about how much he missed him and how worried he was.

(both of them shed a lot of tears in those few moments after the sword fight)

whilst jack was busy fighting ransom, the rest of the crew of the falconer have carried on ahead after shitty, bitty and holster

tater is taller than holster (the self-proclaimed giant), so he knocks him out in one hit

thirdy: dude, what the fuck? jack said no violence??? why would you do that?

tater, who's been looking for an excuse to try that for months: well, whoops, i guess i just didn't understand him? english is very difficult language, you know?

thirdy, pinching the bridge of his nose: jesus fucking christ

marty and poots pursue shitty and bitty, but they get so confused by his logic game that they decide to just wait for jack to get there?

poots: no i'm good at logic puzzles

marty: then can you explain why this guy keeps using the words "fucking beaut" every five seconds then?

poots:

marty: i thought so

jack finally gets there and shitty, being shitty, just goes "hey, i'm a big fan of your work. the whole dread pirate falconer thing is really cool, and i love what you've done since you fled your parents kingdom"

jack's very confused

"why would you set up a series of challenges for me and my men to get through if you just wanted to meet me?"

"well, it was more fun than just walking up to you and shaking your hand."

however, bitty's horrified by this entire interaction

his kidnappers and the man that murdered his boyfriend are getting along like a house on fire, whilst he's sat here with his hands tied together

he wriggles free and seizing his opportunity whilst everyone else is being buddy buddy, he pushes jack down the hill, cursing him out for being the man that killed jack

"aaaasssss yooooouuuuu wiiiiiissssshhhhhh"

oh fuck.

bitty rolls down the hill after him

and because the falcs, rans, shitty and holster are all utter fools. they also follow jack and bitty down the hill

(there's a footpath literally three paces to their left. none of them had to risk getting a concussion. but lardo isn't here and she is literally all of the core 6's impulse control. ditto for the falcs without george)

the fireswamp goes surprisingly well. the ROUSs do make an appearance, but shitty is surprisingly good at making them calm down, so somehow everyone escapes

unfortunately, having escaped the rats in the forest, they encounter an even bigger rat: kent parson himself.

kent's men surround the entirety of jack and bitty's group of friends, so bitty finally yields and accepts that he'll return to marry kent (wink, wink)

(there's a small sideplot here where kent and jack, being the princes of two neighbouring kingdoms, used to be good friends, but when jack ran away without warning, kent held a grudge for years. eventually, after jack's "death" at sea, he tracked down bitty and decided to marry him simply for the drama. he's not in love with bitty. he just kind of wanted revenge against jack.)

anyway, jack's captured by kent's men and sent to the Pit of Despair, by he's looked after by a really nice woman

"'sup, my name's lardo."

(jack fails to connect the dots between this lardo and the lardo that shitty says he's been looking for)

bitty, upon returning to the castle, demands that kent bring jack to see him. kent's pretty enraged by this, so instead he decides to go and shout at jack for an hour (basically a replay of the year 2 argument in canon) because he is the epitome of emotional maturity.

as this is happening, the others are wandering through the forest, trying to find jack.

they find him from the sounds of his sobbing afterwards

after comforting him, shitty and lardo have their romantic reunion

("oh, this is lardo?" "how many people do you think have the name lardo, dude?")

anyway, they carry onto the castle and rescue bitty.

tater takes a great deal of joy in lifting kent off the ground and shouting at him before they make their escape.

the end.

[incomingalbatross]

All right I have headcanons about the Doc Brown/Clara wedding now.

Clara didn’t get a white dress for the occasion, because she’s not that fancy, but either wore or acquired a more practically-colored Best Dress—I’m assuming purple, because that seems to be her color.

They had the wedding whenever the preacher was in town, although I am admittedly in favor of them managing to plan it for a Significant Date like November 5 or October 26/27 or even New Year’s Day (okay, okay, they probably didn’t take four whole months to get married).

It was a small ceremony in Clara’s home (that apparently was just sitting vacant waiting for the new schoolteacher? okay sure whatever), which the Doc moved into after their wedding because a garage workshop is not actually a great home.

There weren’t a lot of people there, because neither of them has many close friends in town and also they’re both private people, but they probably had some guests. The bartender was definitely there.

We don’t know enough about Clara or the townsfolk to know who she got as her bridesmaid, but I’m going to say she made a female friend who was up for it.

Doc asked Seamus to be his best man, because it was the closest he could get to having Marty.

At first Seamus was like “I’m flattered, but don’t you have closer friends?” but Doc explained that it was in memory of “Clint Eastwood,” because it seemed like he and Seamus really bonded and Doc would like that link to be there. So Seamus agreed.

...But then, the morning of the wedding, there was an unexpectedly familiar knock on Doc’s door as he was getting ready. And then Marty walked in.

He was older than he’d been when he left—early twenties, maybe?—and all he could explain was that he’d ended up in this time genuinely by accident, and then run into Seamus and found out what day it was. Seamus had told him he needed to come be best man, and...well, Marty was basically physically incapable of saying no to that. He couldn’t change anything big, but he was here for the day anyway, so...?

So, in the end, Marty filled his rightful place at his best friend’s side as Clara walked down the “aisle.” (Seamus and Maggie were seated with the other guests—Seamus extra happy, because the strange boy he’d half-adopted wasn’t dead after all, and that was really all he needed.)

The Doc definitely teared up at this point as Clara joined him in front of the preacher.

(Marty also teared up, because he’d spent enough time with their future selves by now to know exactly how happy they were going to be, and he couldn’t believe he was here for the beginning of it.)

Afterwards, there was a party of some description—an impromptu thing that was bigger than the wedding, with townsfolk chipping in to organize it and show their affection for the new Browns. There was celebration and joking and music and dancing and a general good time.

Marty stayed on the edges of the party, mostly, trying to keep a low profile. (The Doc had come up with some story to explain Marty’s disappearance and return to the wedding guests, and also to ask them to keep it to themselves. Amnesia and vengeful outlaws probably featured in some capacity.)

However, toward the end of the shindig, when things had started breaking up and most of the people had left, he drifted over to the musicians and asked one if he could maybe borrow his guitar for the rest of the night...

And that’s how Marty McFly got to play at his best friend’s wedding party, watching with a smile as the Doc and Clara danced one last dance to his music.

(Was it “Earth Angel”? ...I’m not saying it wasn’t.)

And then the party was over, and everyone drifted home. Marty was the last to leave, hugging the Doc goodbye and congratulating him and Clara one last time. (“Will we see you again?” the Doc asks worriedly. Marty pauses, thinking about it. “I...can’t guarantee that,” he says. Then he grins, and clasps his friend on the shoulder. “But you can.”)

The Doc and Clara couldn’t afford to take a honeymoon. So when the party was over, and everyone was gone...they went home, too.

[ayellowcurtain]

could you write about nico and his thoughts when Martino left their house? I can't imagine how much he will have suffered

I would like to know if you have some sort of talk between Luai and Nico in mind, maybe at Sana's during EID? or at the beach? about Marti perhaps?

Could you write something from the days when all the squads were camping (SkamIt) Preferably a Marti/Nicco fic

It was a long night. Stressed, anxious, and with little to no sleep. Nico opened Luai’s texts but didn’t have time to answer right away. Marti was all over him again, asking for the hundred time what was going on with Luai and they had another argument, Nico lost track of how many times they had one since the fight. Marti didn’t even look at him when he went to bed. He turned his back to Nico and stayed in that position the whole night, looking so small and tense. Nico was laying on his side, watching Marti’s back move as he breathed.

His phone made a noise on the nightstand and he turned over his shoulder to look, just then remembering about leaving Luai on read. Martino was dead asleep but Nico moved carefully anyway, grabbing his phone and going to the bathroom. Luai had sent him an audio. Hearing his voice so clearly and first thing in the morning felt different than when they talked at the party, over loud music, and with the others around them.

I’m sorry for the mess at the party, I didn’t know your boyfriend was jealous, guess I should have known better, having one myself. Anyway, I hope we can talk and get over that stupid fight. Let me know if you wanna meet up, maybe Martino can join…

Nico sat down on the edge of the bathtub, hearing it again, not really knowing what to say or how to say it. The knock on the door made him jolt, looking at the locked door in front of him.

“Nico?” He quickly typed a message as he walked to the door, hearing in Martino’s voice his uneasiness.

to Luai NEW: Hey, it’s okay, I’ll call you later and we’ll talk, ok?

He put his phone down on the counter and unlocked the door for Marti, looking even more tired than when he went to bed.

“What’s going on?” Nico could see as it’s his reflection in Marti’s face that he wasn’t hiding well how he was failing at coming up with an excuse. “Were you talking to someone?”

And Nico took a deep breath in, knowing what was coming as soon as he said he was talking to Luai. Martino wasn’t going to settle for just what they were talking about right now. He wanted the full story, even the details, and Nico wasn’t ready to give it to him yet. It was a part of his past he was still trying to figure out and come to terms with and he didn’t want to give Martino a story he didn’t fully understand himself. 

He tried to explain as much as he could without hurting himself in the process, but Martino had made up his mind. Seeing him shove a bunch of clothes inside his school bag made Nico panic, asking time and time again for them to sit down and talk, but Martino wasn’t listening. He slammed the door behind him, crying like Nico had never seen before and he was gone, Nico didn’t know for how long, but this wasn’t what he wanted.

He tried calling Marti, but he didn’t pick up so he did the second best thing.

to Gio: hey

Can you text me when Marti gets to school?

We had a fight and I just wanna make sure he’s ok

It takes almost two minutes for Gio to start typing, and Nico can’t stand still as he watches the bubbles load a couple of times on his screen.

to Nico: okay?

What happened? Is the guy from the party?

to Gio: He’s an old friend, but Marti won’t listen

to Nico: Are you sure about that?

to Gio: Yes

to Nico: okay

I’ll let you know

And Nico tries to wait patiently, even though he knows he’s outnumbered. Gio is Martino’s best friend and they’ll have each other’s back no matter what, but he hopes Gio will at least be able to tell him if he’s with Marti or not.

Two hours go by like a minute, Nico is still home, waiting for news. There’s no way Martino and Gio haven’t met, but there’s no text yet. Nico tried calling Marti a few more times, but his phone goes straight to voice mail every time.

to Nico: hey

sorry for the long wait

he’s with us now.

They all hate you now. You could have just told him what happened with Luai and this wouldn’t be happening.

Nico puts his phone down, looking at it, running his hands through his face, picking the skin of his dry bottom lip. There’s no easy way out of this mess. He picks his phone again and reads Gio’s texts one more time.

to Gio: Is he okay?

to Nico: No, but I think you know that…

He’s just overreacting, give him some time

And yourself too

to figure out...whatever is going on with Luai.

Nico sighs, closing his eyes and he slips on the couch, putting his head against the back, looking up, trying not to freak out. Gio knows, everybody already knows and they’re making their own conclusions with the little information they have. His phone shakes on his hand and Nico rushes to see if it’s Marti, but it’s Sana, making everything worst.

to Nico: hi, how are you?

I just saw Marti and I had to tell him what I knew

He’s freaking out, Nico, was crying like a baby in the doctor’s room

He has no answer to that so he drops his phone again, letting himself silently cry now that’s alone, for Marti and for himself for making this mess.

-

“Hey…” Luai comes to sit next to him on the sand and Nico has to really look around them. Marti is still with the boys getting more beer, but his eyes are on them, not as insecure or mad as before, but obviously not too happy about the scene, acting like it’s fine.

“Hi…”

Luai follows his eyes and probably sees Marti quickly looking away, pretending like he wasn’t staring.

“How are things between you two?” Nico sighs, trying to focus on this conversation, hoping Marti will hear him afterward.

“Not the same, but I’m hoping we can go back to that with time.” Luai gives him a sad smile, nodding his head quietly.

“I’m sorry...I shouldn’t have just appeared at the party like that.”

“It’s okay. We would have to talk at some point, no?” 

“I guess so. I hope so. But I get it, I had some explaining to do myself with my boyfriend.” Nico looks at Luai, and he shrugs. Nico puts his arms on top of his knees, resting his chin against his biceps as Luai explains himself.

“We had a conversation when we were getting to know each other months ago, I told him...what happened before I left Italy, but just the general context, not about who you were or any detail. He knows now, of course.” Luai laughs and Nico feels bad for how they both made an even bigger mess of something that happened years ago, feels like a whole lifetime ago.  

“And how did he react?”

“He wasn’t too happy that we were hanging out again, but he knew about me knowing someone before so I guess it could have been worst. We’re still together so that’s good!”

It’s his turn to give Luai a sad smile, not really knowing how to help. He thought Luai’s boyfriend was coming, as another “friend” of them.

“Why didn’t he come?”

Luai sighs, clearly upset. “He made sure to create any excuse not to come, but we’ll meet later and we’ll go on holiday together…”

“Is he mad?” Nico raises his eyebrows, trying to imagine his own situation happening with Luai. He takes a second to answer, sighing.

“I think so. He’s just jealous and grumpy.” Nico laughs, he knows how that feels like. But at least Marti is here.

“But did you tell him about Martino? I would imagine telling him I also have a boyfriend now would make things easier.”

“He knows because, you know, the fight, but don’t worry. It’ll pass, he’s just too stubborn to listen right now.”

Nico looks away, not knowing how to go about this. They needed to have a conversation but now feels out of place. The timing is not right, they were supposed to have this months ago. To talk about their past feelings or whatever it was months ago, to put an end to it when it ended - against their will or not -, not now, when both of them have moved on.

“I love Martino,” Nico says without any sure this is the right thing to say but it catches Luai’s attention, “You know how it was with Maddalena, you obviously know about how I felt about you...but he’s different. You’re getting the worst of him, I guess, but I promise, he’s the best.”

Luai laughs and nods his head.

“You don’t have to explain to me, you know that, right? We’re friends, Nico.” If this was another time, Luai would probably shove him away for being so dumb, but they lost the playfulness that they had at some point. Nico is okay with how they are right now, but it’s an awkward adjustment. 

“I know. I know, but I guess we never had a proper end to things, at least not one that was in our control.”

Luai moves his body to properly look at Nico. “We were both confused and just trying to find ourselves. And we were best friends, there was no other option, actually.”

“Yeah, we trusted each other, and maybe things...evolved. I’m sorry for everything that happened to you, I wish I had done more to not let it happen the way it did.”

Luai sits up straight, frowning a little, almost interrupting Nico, clearly uncomfortable.

“Nico, stop, it’s okay. It wasn’t your fault, it wasn’t mine and it’s in the past now, ok? Don’t waste your time thinking about it. You’re happy, I’m happy, forget about it.”

They silent lingers around them a little and Nico thinks about going to Marti, hugging him and kissing him and telling him hom much he misses and loves him, but he needs to make sure everything is okay with Luai. That whatever they needed to know from each other right now is answered.  

“And you? How are you now?” 

Luai looks at him, really looks at him and smiles. 

“I’m good, happy. I’m glad me and the boys could come, your friends are cool for inviting us.” 

“I’m almost sure Rami invited himself, but yeah, I’m sure they are all happy to have everyone together one last time before college.” Nico laughs and Luai does too. They both know Rami too well, he wouldn’t miss a chance of a whole weekend partying without being called out for. 

“And I talked to Martino a little at Rami’s, he’s cool. I’m sure we won’t get too close, but he does seem like a really nice guy, Nico. I’m happy for you.” 

Nico smiles, feeling his whole body that was starting to get too cold with the sun almost gone instantly warm up and relax just with the thought of Martino, his stubborn face as Gio shoved him to go talk to Luai. 

“He’s the best. I wish you two could be friends, but I understand. You know a thing or two about stubborn-jealous boyfriends. I’m happy, never thought I could be this happy. He makes me happy.” 

Luai smiles and winks at him, nodding his head back, pointing to where Marti was went they looked at him. 

“Go be with him then. I’m gonna go soon too, meet someone.” 

“I’m happy for you, really.” Nico says as he gets up, cleaning his legs from all the sand. Marti is sitting on the balcony floor, drinking and talking to the boys, all of them. Nico walks up to them and sits behind Marti, kissing his naked and warm shoulder blades, already sunburned. 

[nicolinocolino]

s4 thoughts

Okay so I’ve only watched the season once through and I’m sure I missed some stuff, but here’s my reaction for anyone who cares haha.

I’m going to start with Sana, obviously. Brilliant. Show stopping. Memorable. I never felt like the season was about anyone else, even with the side plots. I think this has a lot to do with the friendships, which skamit does really well. But this season was truly about her. And Bea did fantastic. 

I think the switch to make the Malik drama about Eva worked much better, as Eva is someone who’s kind of... swung from one guy to another and back. It just makes sense. I also loved how they toned down the drama and got rid of the cyber bullying all together. 

Sana’s voicemail on the roof explained it all... and it was so heartbreaking. Honestly, I could relate. I think that’s another big testament to the season — she’s relatable because she’s, you know, a person with feelings and expectations who doesn’t always make the right choices. I never felt like I wasn’t allowed to relate to her just because we come from different backgrounds. And isn’t that the point? Isn’t that the point of it all — to humanize her and not put her on a pedestal or be afraid of her? She hurt her friends who hurt her, and she let it all out. Sometimes we need that honesty to become closer to one another, and, in turn, understand each other better.

My favorite clip was the one of her and Malik talking about religion. The music? Her metaphor to the moon? God, she shone in this clip. I’m not a religious person, but I could feel the passion in her. I think it’s healthy to be challenged sometimes, too. I don’t think Malik saying that you can be a good person without religion is something I will forget.

Overall, her story was so good that I don’t really mind the other parts I was disappointed in. It was a fantastic final season. The music and editing and quality was incredible. She was the true star.

Okay, Marti and Nico. Because you know I love them a lot. And I’m sorry if I have more to say about them than Sana. I know it’s her season. But obviously Marti and Nico are my favorite and ALSO there’s just..... a lot to process regarding what we did get from them. I’m not the kind of person who can look at canon and be like, “I don’t like that so I’m going to forget it!” — no. I see it happen and my brain goes “make it make sense.” Which is what I’ve been trying to do because I really don’t want these two ruined for me. So:

First of all, I’m so, so thrilled that Nico’s “half a thing” long ago with Luai was the real deal. It had nothing to do with his mental illness and added depth to his back story that comes from a place of love and understanding. I cannot even imagine the guilt he must have felt at Virgilio after watching Luai get sent away. It must have been difficult to talk about, so keeping it from Marti (for so long!) is something I can kind of understand.

Which brings me to Marti’s reaction. I have mixed feelings. I definitely do understand Marti, in a way. When you piece together what he knew from Maddalena, that look between them he witnessed, Nico’s obvious lies... yeah. Maybe I’d go a bit out of my mind, too. Essentially, I can see this starting in ep 2 and building to ep7. That’s FIVE WEEKS of hardship on their relationship. FIVE WEEKS of Nico hiding the truth and Marti going insane pestering him. FIVE WEEKS of patience before Marti finally snapped. My big thing is I think Marti has gobs and gobs of patience. Without that real time format, it looks like he has none. But really? It was almost two whole months of... guessing and asking and getting nothing. Of course he was paranoid! Of course he was jealous! His patience, which I believe he had, wore thin. While I think some of what Marti did was out of character, some of it I can see. He gets angry, we’ve seen that. He withdraws, we’ve seen that too. Not saying this is the healthiest thing ever, but if you REALLY loved someone... you probably would be at least a little jealous. We villainize the feeling of jealousy so much — and it’s true that it’s not healthy in this amount — but it happens. And it happened to Marti. My big hangup is that I don’t really think that’s very in character for him, but in a way... I can see it. I think we can argue that what he did to Gio and Eva in season 1 was the result of some jealousy. Love makes you do all kinds of crazy things and feel all kinds of crazy ways. I half think that Marti “left” as a sort of final straw/ultimatum. Like, ‘ah, if I leave him maybe then he will tell me, since there is nothing left to lose.’ But then Nico didn’t, so he was left with that choice. I don’t think he really meant it, at least not for the long haul. If Nico were to text him the next day and say ‘yeah, you’re right, this is for the best’ Marti would be a giant mess. I can clearly see this was a situation of “well, I think he’s going to leave me for Luai, so maybe if I leave him first I can control the pain.” We literally see him reverting back to his old self in eps 7 and 8. He closes off. He doesn’t want to listen to his friends. At Silvia’s birthday, he was honestly being so loud and jokey and obnoxious. I truly think that was a mask. His “I have nothing to say to him” (referring to Nico) REALLY really got to me. That was not in character. But in hindsight, as I try to make sense of it, I think he said it because he wanted his friends to disagree with him. It’s more of a “I have nothing more to add” because, well, he tried. He tried for five weeks to get Nico to tell him the truth. He was left with his embarrassing mistake of leaving Nico, which he knew was wrong, and is embarrassed even more because everyone else knows it was wrong too. Somehow he has to crawl out of the hole that is his own stubbornness and pride. And in this super public space, he wanted everyone to think he was fine. But we know he’s not. We know he had a cliche low point eating ice cream on the floor. We know he’s hurting. In his mind, Nico possibly cheated and lied and might leave him and that hurts him. Because he loves him.

Which brings me to my next point. Marti you dumbass if you opened your eyes you could SEE how much Nico loves you. Everything from wanting to get coffee in the morning with him, wanting to pick him up from school, wanting to dance with him, wanting to help throw him a nice birthday, just the way Nico LOOKS at him... boy he LOVES you. And I bet that hurt Nico a lot to think Marti didn’t feel any of that. Nico shows his love, it pours out of him.

But also: Nico, my boy, why take so long to tell Marti the truth. If there’s nothing to hide, why does it matter that you had half a thing with some guy two years ago? I think what happened was that they didn’t have proper closure. Luai was essentially ripped away from Nico, horribly, in the middle of their half a thing. Did Nico even know that he was okay? And... the guilt? Oh my. I can only imagine Nico wanted to reconnect with him just to get that closure, and, in the process, because he never told Marti, it looked a lot like maybe something else was going on. Not only the night of the fight, but maybe after that there were some texts or phone calls, too. And then how do you tell your boyfriend that you want closure with your ex? How do you explain what you had, which never had a proper ending and, who knows, maybe would have grown or still have been going on if things were better and Luai never left? I think Marti could piece that together, too. He knows Nico learned the Koran for Luai. He remembers the talk in Nel Mio Letto. He knows how deeply Nico can feel. And, he knows that Nico’s feelings are real. Or, were real. And maybe had the possibility of becoming real again now that Luai was around again. 

The excuse that Nico didn’t tell Marti because Luai was engaged and wanted to keep it on the down-low doesn’t fly with me. Maybe it’s partly true, but I also think what I stated above was more of the cause. Nico didn’t know how to explain to Marti without sounding suspicious but needed closure. He tried to do both at the same time and failed. Because, duh. You have to be honest and hiding isn’t right and doesn’t work. I think it would hurt Marti to know Nico doesn’t trust him enough with that secret. So, in sum, they both need to trust each other more.

I was really excited for Nico’s clip and was left feeling kind of empty afterwards. I don’t like how Marti basically interrogated him. I think that if Marti wants that level of honesty with Nico, that’s valid. But there’s a fine line between that and pestering someone about phone calls. Which is what makes me think the thing with Luai was more than just the night of the fight. I think Nico was hiding a little more than a past. He was hiding his reconnecting to get closure. I mean, in the end, it’s a nice clip. The beach is beautiful and their kiss was cute and smiley. And that hug is god tier. I liked how we saw Nico’s meds in a short and respectful way even if just to give the audience some peace of mind. Maybe Marti only used his birthday as an excuse to be so nosy. I do think he was hurt by the lies — and Marti knows that lies can ruin things, he’s seen it happen — so he’s just on guard. I mean, I don’t think Nico’s lie was HUGE... it’s just the fact that it went on for so long even after Marti tried to tell Nico he wanted the full truth. So, even if I didn’t love the clip and am disappointed a bit in it, in the end it really just shows that they can and will work through everything.

So, like, did I want all of that drama? No. Is it realistic? I think so. I romanticize these two so much so it brought me down to earth a bit. Did I already KNOW they would be able to work through hard times? Well, yeah. I didn’t need to see it but in the end I’m glad I did. I truly believe they will face future hard times with the knowledge, now, that they need to do better. And honestly? I think Marti is 18 now and Nico is like 20? 21? And to be tested with something like this and work through it the way they did so young is a lot. Also, they’ve been together for over a year now. It takes about a year for that honeymoon phase to wear off. So in reality they are working through that right now too. Love is something they have to dedicate more time and effort to, and they did! They did do that and it’s nice to see that they’re willing to nurture this very very special thing they have instead of letting it fall away. And they made it out on the other side with, I think, more love and understanding for each other. I certainly love and understand them better now, too.

I might add on with more thoughts later, but this is what I have for now. Most of it is about Marti and Nico but, ya know. I love them dearly. Also, Sana’s stuff was just so good there’s really not much for me to work through with it. If you read this all, you’re a trooper lol

[skullrock]

For the headcanon thing- Steve is sweet and kind and protective with you around friends, but inside the bed room, he's totally different! He's also always wanted to play and insturment, but is too embarressed to show you because he think's he won't be any good. For Robin, she's got a really good sense of music and book style, but always hides the fact that she tries to be different and doesn't want anyone to know she listens to ABBA and has read The Princess Bride like 10 times!

(snaps fingers) Will I like the way you think

Steve in the bedroom:

Steve likes to put on a facade out in public

around your friends, he’s protective, an arm draped over you

he’s always nice and sweet, getting doors and carrying your things, despite your insistence that you do, in fact, have muscles in your arms

always coming to your aid and telling your friends to knock it off if they rag on you a little too hard - he’s good at being there for you

in the bedroom, Steve goes hard

like. metaphorically and literally

he usually starts out very slow and full of compliments

giggling galore babey

but once he starts, he really gets into it

he’s very good at dirty talk, as it’s his words that helped him with the ladies in the first place

you could be laughing one second and then moaning loudly the next

always likes to tell you how pretty you are for him, how good you are

and afterwards he would hold you close and kiss your temple, telling you how much he loves you

Steve x Instrument - a Concept

Steve has always wanted to play guitar

and seeing Marty McFly rock the fuck out at the end of Back to the Future when he was high off his ass only solidified this dream 

but he was always full of doubt because he didn’t think he was good at anything

and one night while ranting to you, he just lets it slip

“and I wish I could play guitar, I wish I could write songs and I wish I could prove to you and to everyone that I’ve got a chance in me”

and you’re like. girl why aren’t you taking lessons then

and he pauses and realizes he really is just assuming that he’s automatically not going to be good at it

but you remind him that he’s good at a whole lot of things AND he’s great with his fingers, too, so he’s certainly well qualified

and after that he uses his paychecks to save up for a blue electric guitar that sits in the local music store’s window

the first time he holds it in his hands as his, he feels like he is holding the sword of Excalibur 

it’s like heaven’s light is shining on him nahimsayin

he takes lessons twice a week because he’s just so excited

and, as expected, he’s very good at it

he does a local battle of the bands and he’s so nervous beforehand, literally shaking and sweating and his eyes dart everywhere in anxiety

and you remind him that he has literally beat the shit out of inter-dimensional monsters before - this is a fucking cake walk honey

and he gets up on stage and he just fuckin. he loses it

starts out very modestly but gets to his solo and he goes Apeshit, capital A

he starts to dance and spin and kick and shred and the audience goes Feral

when he comes off stage panting you wrap him in a huge hug and give him a kiss

“my little rockstar”

“uh, who gave you permission to kiss the rockstar?”

“shut the fuck up Steve”

Robin Is A Normie And She Hates It

you knew Robin was hiding some of her interests from you

because she owned 70 tapes and only let you listen to ten

you’ve also definitely seen her throw books under her bed when you come over

but one day you’ve simply had enough of the shenanigans and you reach under her bed as she jumps on your back to try to stop you

you pull out a VERY worn copy of the Princess Bride

you stare at her, mouth agape, and she groans

“Robin, I didn’t know you liked the mainstream stuff”

“shut up”

you go to her tape collection and actually look through it, gasping as you pull out ABBA and Toto

You hold them up, asking for an explanation with a look

“I like ABBA, okay? And I like ‘Africa’. alright?”

“and the book?”

“it’s a cute story!”

you tsk. “I didn’t know you were a normie, Robin”

and after that you torment her for not having super different tastes

i.e you choreograph a night in with Steve where you both sing ABBA at the top of your lungs until Robin joins in, using the remote as a microphone

and you melt inside, heart fluttering, because she sounds like an angel when she sings, even if it’s ABBA

and you assure her that you love her even if she likes what everyone else does, which makes her roll her eyes, but she kisses you nonetheless 

[rosedavid]

the ghc + amber, jonah, marty, tj and they go to an amusement park/carnival :) sorry i didn’t know how to do this before i’m new to tumblr lol

no worries!! :) welcome to tumblr 

Cyrus refuses to go on any rides except for the Ferris Wheel because he wants to pretend to reenact the scene from Love, Simon with TJ. TJ happily obliges, although it takes a turn for the worst when TJ suddenly remembers he’s scared of heights. “Don’t worry, it’s perfectly safe--” Cyrus reassures just as the ferris wheel makes an awful creaking noise, causing TJ to jolt. “Just tell me when it’s over!”

Buffy, Marty, and Jonah compete to see who can go on the Tilt-a-Whirl the most times in a row. Marty is the first to go out, but he cheers Buffy on from the sidelines. They eventually have to call a tie because neither of them can see straight after the 14th time in a row. 

TJ wants to go on a spinning ride with Cyrus, but of course Cyrus says no. TJ wonders why not, which leads to Cyrus recounting the shoe incident. “Wait, in your shoe?!” “It was the only place, okay?” 

Andi and Amber get matching face paint. 

For some reason, Cyrus is AMAZING at whack-a-mole. He wins every time that he plays, gifting TJ a big stuffed tiger by the end. 

TJ and Buffy have to compete in the basketball game, then proceed to call the game a hoax to the person running the stand when they both do terrible. Cyrus also happens to be really good at this game. // “Maybe I should join the basketball team next year!” // Buffy glares at him. 

Andi, Buffy, and Cyrus go on one of the roller coasters together and pose for the camera when it takes pictures. No matter how hard Cyrus tries, he always looks terrified. 

Marty gets an awful sunburn that Buffy teases him about relentlessly. 

Cyrus and Andi go on a bunch of kiddie rides together. 

Buffy and Marty go on the haunted house ride together, and neither of them will admit afterward that they were clinging to each other in fear the whole time. Meanwhile, Andi and Amber can be heard laughing throughout the whole thing. 

Cyrus buys a bunch of tater tots from different stands and critiques them compared to the baby taters from The Spoon (none are as good, of course). After eating all of the tater tots, Cyrus decides he probably shouldn’t go on anymore rides to be safe. TJ keeps him company. 

[artificialqueens]

The Goode Case, 3/14 - Juno

Chapter Summary: Jaida can’t sleep, thanks to her recurring nightmare, which prompts her to relive how Jackie revealed her own gift, and how she found out about Jaida’s, in an evening that Jaida, Jackie and Brita are unlikely to forget any time soon …

(A/N: I really appreciate your supportive comments, thank you! Hopefully I will have another update ready in the next couple of days on this monster of a story. For now though, here is part three.)

Sunday 29thOctober

4.13AM

Jaida sat up, drenched in sweat from the familiar nightmare.

She blinked, and she could still see her Papa in the corner, as she had that horrible night.

The nightmare was almost always just a replay of the experience. The first time she recalled seeing a spirit.

She and her parents had stayed in the room with her beloved Papa’s body in the coffin the night before his wake, when Jaida was just seven. She’d known her Papa was in the coffin, but suddenly his spectre was in the corner, pale and blank; she’d watched him walk from the corner of the room to Jaida, while Jaida lay paralysed with fear, unable to make a sound; and reach his hand towards her, bringing his face closer …

That was always the point that Jaida woke up, and today was no different. She waited for her eyes to focus in the dark, her breathing to calm, and she closed her eyes, counted to five, and when she opened them, Papa had disappeared as he always did.

But the memory didn’t fade. It never did.

Jaida had not had many close relatives die, but she remembered her friend Marty back in senior year of high school, seeing his mom behind him, reaching to shake his shoulder, but Jaida being the only person to see her. Marty had spun round at Jaida’s cry, not seeing his mom even though she was right there, clear as crystal, to Jaida’s eyes at least. He’d then avoided Jaida the rest of senior year when it had turned out his mother had had a fatal heart attack earlier that day.

And later at college. Laura stood on the bridge, looking down at the water, then at Jaida, then at the water again. A day before Jaida had found out that Laura had leapt from that same bridge three days ago.

Part of Jaida really hated the gift – or curse, as she thought privately – but without it, she and Jackie wouldn’t have become so close so quickly. Jackie’s telepathy, and subsequent mental bond that she’d formed with both Jaida and Brita, had been weird at first, but now Jackie was the only person who knew about Jaida’s ability.

Jackie referred to it as mediumship, while Jaida just called it a pain in the ass.

Jackie couldn’t see these spirits, just as Jaida couldn’t read minds, but at least Jackie knew that she wasn’t crazy, or lying. And as the oldest, the self-appointed ‘mom friend’ of the group, Jackie would often look after them at her own expense.

For instance, at this moment, Jaida knew that her nightmare, and seeing her Papa in her room, would have made Jackie wake up, sensing Jaida’s terror even from this distance, thanks to that psychic bond that Jaida had insisted on trying out with her. Jackie would now be online, waiting for Jaida to message her if she needed anything.

Sure enough, when Jaida picked up her phone, waiting for her eyes to focus, Jackie was the only person online, apart from that one girl from college who’d moved to London and was five hours ahead.

Springing from her memory, she remembered Jackie describing her telepathy to her and Brita, after they’d taken Jackie to Vanjie’s after her first week.

————————————

It was, oddly enough, Brita’s idea. Brita was not one to suggest a trip to the bar, normally being more inclined to rest at home in the evenings one of her hoards of books and a mug of hot chocolate; but the day Jackie joined back in June, that fateful Monday, Brita was dumped. By text, as well.

Brita had pulled Jaida into the bathroom at the end of the day, outwardly as always a tower of strength, professional and proud; to crumple into a heap over the sink, inconsolable, crying so desperately that it was all Jaida could do not to cry herself.

Luckily for Brita, her seemingly endless torrent of friends rang her phone off the hook the next few days, trying to persuade her to go out, telling her to forget him, sending her pictures of plenty of hot men and women to drool over. Brita had just chuckled, but Jaida knew she was feeling the love from all angles at this time.

That week she’d already been out with her friend Paul Mantione and his sister Jan on the Wednesday; and her two older sisters on the Thursday for food and plenty of red wine; but Friday she suggested to Jaida a trip to Vanjie’s after work, as Vanjie’s was for an LGBT+ crowd which suited them both. They’d invited Jackie mostly out of politeness, not sure how she would feel in a gay bar, but Jackie had accepted with such enthusiasm that it seemed to seal the deal.

Vanessa, the owner of Vanjie’s, and Brita had been joined at the hip through most of college, but Vanessa had bought the lease to the bar after winning big money on her spontaneous trip to Vegas that time, along with her on-again off-again partner Brooke. At that time, they were off-again, which meant Vanessa wanted everyone to enjoy themselves as much as possible, and that meant free shots.

So the tequila slammer was free, and that served to loosen the pockets for one more each. Tequila slammers were not Jackie’s strong suit, but Jaida could probably take three and be fine, and the three of them had ended up in a booth afterwards with some tall cocktails, heads feeling fuzzier and fuzzier.

After two slammers and a cocktail, Jackie’s tongue had loosened considerably. She had started finishing Jaida’s sentences, and then Brita’s too. It started to become a little annoying, Jaida had to admit.

But then Jackie was finishing sentences, and starting sentences that Jaida was only thinking.

“How are you doing that?” Jaida had asked Jackie, whose face was getting quite pink. She had leaned in towards Brita and Jaida, putting a finger to her lips.

“I can hear other peoples’ thoughts,” Jackie had whispered, laughing at her own remark.

Of all the things that Jaida might have expected Jackie to respond, that had been pretty low on the list. Jaida could only stare open-mouthed, and finally nod. “Okay, that’s cool.”

“Maybe you’ve had enough now, Jacks,” Brita had laughed uneasily.

“No, you don’t understand, it’s a gift, my mom says. Well, I didn’t ask for it, and it’s a bit strange, and sometimes I don’t know what it does, so it’s like, a perfect birthday gift from relatives,” Jackie had continued, still laughing.

“Child –“

“You’re joking, right?” Brita had asked in a low voice.

“No, Brita, it’s real,” Jackie had sighed. “Okay, think of something and I’ll tell you it.”

“Alright,” Brita had screwed up her face in concentration.

“Oh, come on, you have to think of something harder than that! You’re just thinking about your birthday. It’s September 16th. I thought you were going to test me!”

The smile fell from Brita’s face, and Jaida had felt her own stomach twist uncomfortably. Jackie had just snorted with laughter at both of them.

“Your faces! Oh my god! You didn’t believe me at first!” She’d placed a hand on Jaida’s forearm. “Do you believe me now?”

“What’s mine, then?” Jaida had asked, thinking of a random date.

But Jackie had cocked an eyebrow. “You’re thinking of July 10th, but you’re trying to throw me off. That’s not your actual birthday.”

“Wait, what?” Brita had looked stunned, her eyes wide, turning from Jackie to Jaida and back again.

Jaida had felt a strange lump in her throat. “That was the right date I was thinking, but it’s not actually my birthday. How – how did you know?”

Jackie had shrugged. “I hear almost everyone’s thoughts. Mostly just whispers. So if there’s a lot of people in a group, they all get confused, but if I’m just with one or two people, I can hear the whispers.”

“Can you hear, like anyone’s thoughts? Like, can you hear Lisa Rinna’s thoughts?” Brita had asked in awe.

But Jackie had shook her head. “No, I can only hear people who are nearby, like, not more than about two metres away. So I can hear your thoughts, just the whispers, but I can’t hear Vanessa’s at the bar. Only people who are nearby. Unless they’re someone I’ve connected with.”

“Connected with?” Jaida had asked.

“So if I form a mental connection with someone, I can also know when they’re feeling an extreme emotion, wherever they are in the world. When my mom was ill, I felt it every time she woke up in pain, or was in hospital, or thought she was dying, or was scared or like, really excited when she was getting better. She’s in Toronto.”

“Is she better now?”

“She’s much better, thank you.”

“Does that mean she can read your thoughts too?” Brita had whispered.

“I don’t think so. I don’t think anyone can. Unless you’re also psychic.” Jackie had hiccuped and then giggled. “Sorry, alcohol makes me chatty! But, I think everyone is a little bit psychic, maybe in different ways.”

And Jackie had turned to Jaida, looking straight in her eyes.

Could Jackie hear her own thoughts …

Jaida forced herself not to think about anything, to make her mind as blank as possible.

“SHOTS! Who ordered shots? Oh wait, it was me!” It was Vanessa who’d broken the spell, appearing at the corner of the booth, three more tequila shots and a plate of lemon and salt beside it. “Get some shots down your throats ladies, and maybe later get something else down your throats too!” Vanessa had cackled at her own joke.

Jaida had felt her shoulders relax a little. Jackie wasn’t a big drinker, and was a bit more drunk than she and Brita were, so Brita had taken two slammers leaving Jackie to just relax, and take a sip of the water on the table.

“Who do you have a connection with then?” Jaida had asked, wanting to change the subject.

“Whoever I choose,” Jackie had replied mysteriously, wriggling her fingers in both their directions before collapsing into giggles.

——————————————————

Jaida looked at her phone. Jackie was still online, and Jaida knew she wouldn’t log off without a prompt.

Jaida:I’m ok Jackie, thanks

Jackie: He can’t hurt you

Jaida:I know

Jackie always told Jaida this, every time Jaida had seen … someone. She wasn’t sure how Jackie had so much knowledge of all this psychic stuff, and she wasn’t even sure why Jackie was so open about it with people she had hardly met. Part of Jaida was convinced that Jackie found out about it from that night in Vanjie’s, although it wasn’t confirmed until … until that night at Jackie’s apartment.

She had a gnawing sense of regret at asking Jackie to do what she’d crudely titled “the connection thing” with her. Brita had been a bit more cautious as usual, but Jaida had wanted to know what it meant. And if it would make her know Jackie’s thoughts too.

——————————————————

In mid-July, Jackie invited them both to her apartment, as a bit of an attempt to get to know the two of them a little better. She had moved in with some girl who had so many jobs that she was never in, but left a whirlwind of clothes and bowls of cornflakes in her wake.

Jaida marvelled at the atmosphere that Jackie had managed to create. They rented, so they weren’t allowed to do major renovation, but a patterned shawl here and a plant or two there had given the plain magnolia walls some life. The living room led out to a tiny Juliet balcony with just enough room for the ashtray and a packet of menthols next to it, and a pair of dirty walking boots on the floor.

There were two bookshelves along the wall of the living area, a large oblong room with a dining table pushed against one wall. Jaida ran a finger along the titles, several French books among them too, and a small collection of Farsi books in the top left shelf.

“You got almost as many books as Brita!”

“I’ve got far more books than this!” Brita waved her hand dismissively.

“Some of these are my housemate’s as well.”

“Wait, you speak French?” Jaida pointed to one of the French titles.

“Sure. I’m Canadian, we had to take French at school.”

“And are these Farsi?”

Jackie nodded. “I’m bilingual in Farsi and English. I wish I got the chance to speak it more, normally I just chat to my mom or her siblings, when they call up. It’s easy to lose bits of it when you don’t speak it or use it too much.”

“And is this … oh, girl,” Jaida pulled the chess set out from one of the middle shelves, her eyes lighting up. “I haven’t played since seventh grade.”

“What? That’s when I started playing!” Brita exclaimed.

Jackie laughed. “You’ll both have to teach me again, I’m so bad at chess. But go ahead and play if you want, while I get the food ready.”

A beautiful smell was coming from the kitchen area. When Jackie had said she’d cook for them, Jaida had maybe expected frozen pizza, but Jackie had really put in an effort to impress them, running back and forth, chopping and blitzing noises filling the room. Jaida and Brita unpacked the chess pieces and started to play, but Brita kept calling to Jackie to see if she needed any help.

“Nope! It’s all under control!” Came Jackie’s chirpy reply each time.

In chess, Jaida had learned long ago to watch her opponent’s eyes to see where they was thinking of moving to and from, and sure enough Brita’s brown eyes flicking between the pieces gave away her every thought. Jaida liked to pride herself on having a much better poker face, letting her vision drift across the board, and trusting her instinct, even if her pieces started disappearing.

When Jackie finally came to sit in front of them, it was Brita’s move, and she was scratching her neck and licking her lips. Brita was one of those who took five minutes or more with each move, planning her strategy each time, always meticulous to take every single angle into account.

Jackie moved her gaze between them both, a small smile playing on her lips, not attempting to break the silence, just enjoying having their company in her home.

“You’re both really interesting to listen to, while you’re playing,” Jackie said finally, as Brita moved her bishop into place.

“What?”

“I mean, your thoughts, your plans for the game. You’re both strategising. You’re both just thinking about your plans.”

“Oh, okay.” Jaida ignored Jackie and moved her rook past Brita’s bishop. “Check.”

“Wait, how?” Brita peered at the board. “Ah, shit,” she mumbled as she realised. “Shit, sis, I completely missed that.”

“Sorry,” Jackie whispered, getting up and moving back to the kitchen.

Brita reached to her. “No, wait, I didn’t mean it like that!” She got up and followed Jackie to the kitchen. Jaida glanced at the board, then sighed and got up.

A minute later, Brita measuring out rice, while Jackie handed Jaida some vegetables from the bottom drawer of the fridge. Brita had felt like she’d insulted Jackie, and had insisted they help with some food prep. Jaida had been volunteered for salad.

“What is it?” Jaida peered into the simmering pan. “Smells great.”

“Khoresh Bademjan. It’s Persian. You’ll like it, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t. And don’t worry, Jaida, I made it vegetarian.”

“Cool, thanks,” Jaida smiled.

The food was gorgeous, although Jackie kept glancing at them, as if looking for some kind of validation – but once they were all done, Brita immediately leapt from her chair and dragged Jaida to the sink to tackle the washing up. With Jaida drying and Brita washing, Jackie insisting on putting the dishes away, they settled into a comfortable silence between the three of them.

“Thanks for everything, Jackie.” Jaida passed her the last dish and cleared her throat. “Sorry I made you feel a bit – you know, weird. That was rude of me. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Jackie shook her head sadly. “I’m used to keeping it to myself, but it kind of feels nice to talk about it though.”

Jaida had to admit she’d only half-considered how Jackie was feeling about talking about it.

“Do lots of people know?” Brita asked her.

But Jackie shook her head. “My mom does, and one or two of my closest friends back home. And you guys, but we’re friends too, right?”

“Sure, we have each other’s backs!” Brita pulled Jackie into a one-armed hug, squeezing Jackie into her side.

“If you’re psychic, why can’t you just wash these dishes with your mind?”

They’d rarely heard Jackie laugh louder than at Jaida’s remark. “Jai, that’s telekinesis! I’m only telepathic! Well, I say only telepathic!” And she carried on laughing. “I only hear thoughts, nothing else, I can’t move things!”

“So you can hear our thoughts, but you have to, like, connect with someone to be able to have a mental bond?” Jaida asked. “I don’t quite get it.”

“I guess … people I have a bond with, I hear more clearly. People I don’t I just hear whispers, but anyone I have a bond with, I can hear what they’re thinking really clearly, and from a longer distance.”

“Who have you got a bond with then?”

“Oh, you know, not many people,” Jackie murmured.

“Family? Friends?” Brita badgered.

Jackie sighed. “Those kinds of people, yes. My mom, a couple of my friends. One ex.” Jackie shuddered. “Bad decision. Wouldn’t recommend it.”

“What about us? Would you do the connection thing with us? For work?”

Jaida hadn’t expected the words to come right out of her mouth, but now that they were, Jackie looked as if she was pondering it. Maybe Jaida had felt that she needed to make it up to Jackie for earlier. Maybe … it was a sort of morbid curiosity.

Jackie’s gaze had softened, and she’d shrugged.

“It’s not a bad idea,” Jackie mused, “if we’re working on any high profile cases together, and if anything happens to you, I would know.”

“And vice versa?” Jaida asked.

“I’m not sure,” Jackie muttered, “but nothing has really ever happened to me.”

“You can’t tempt fate, sis,” Brita chuckled darkly.

“Okay,” Jaida said, “it makes sense to do it. What do you do, to connect?”

“I’m not so sure about this,” Brita hesitated.

“Come on Brita, it does make sense. Especially in our line of work. Does it take long, Jackie?” Jaida asked.

“It probably won’t take longer than about fifteen seconds, and I just need some form of touch, and eye contact. And you need to be willing, of course.”

Jaida held out a hand on the bench, and Jackie gingerly took it, raising her eyes to meet Jaida’s.

“You sure you want to do this? You don’t want to back out?” Jackie’s voice was higher than usual, and a little bit timid, as if she were afraid to have any form of connection with them.

“Go ahead, Jackie,” Jaida tried to make her voice sound as stable as she could.

“Okay. And you have to keep eye contact, until the end. You’ll know when it’s the end.”

Jackie took a deep breath in and out, and Jaida did the same, feeling her body relax a little bit as she did so. At first Jaida felt nothing, but held Jackie’s eyes, both of them falling silent. She could see Brita shifting out of the corner of her eye, but she kept focused on Jackie, breathing steadily, normally.

The seconds passed, but nothing was happening. She could see Brita biting her lip, a little confused.

“Nothing’s happening,” Jaida opened her mouth to say, or at least she thought she did, but nothing came out of it, and she wasn’t even sure her mouth moved.

“What?” She tried to say, but her mouth definitely didn’t move that time.

Jackie was still staring into her, and it was becoming intrusive, unnerving, but Jaida found she couldn’t look away, she was becoming a little light-headed at the focus.

She felt an internal jerk, as if electricity had gone through her; felt her mind race, a whole rush of emotions and memories play back to her in her mind, some echoes of thoughts that weren’t her own; saw herself briefly through Jackie’s own eyes, felt her own hand in Jackie’s, heard herself thinking thoughts that were definitely not her …

Jackie pulled back, blinking and shaking her head wildly, and Jaida was finally freed, feeling as if she had been yanked backwards out of a vacuum. She rubbed her forehead, finding she was sweating.

“Woah,” Jaida whispered.

It was rare to see Brita scared. Her wide eyes flicked between Jaida and Jackie, her mouth agape, looking less and less sure she wanted to do this.

Jackie held out a hand to her. “Brita?”

Brita was no coward, Jaida knew this well from the various jobs she had seen Brita complete. She might have been frightened, but she nodded slowly, holding her own hand out, facing Jackie and locking eyes with her.

Jaida watched them both. Watched as Jackie’s face grew intense with concentration. Watched as Brita’s brow furrowed, as if she were in pain.

“Ow,” she breathed.

But Jackie didn’t relent.

“Oww,” Brita’s voice was weak, but she maintained focus.

They both flinched at the same moment, pain etched in the lines on their foreheads, but Jaida didn’t know what to do in this strange psychic battle. It seemed to be going on longer than she had done with Jackie, their stares so intense they could have burned through each other.

“Jackie, what’s happening?” She asked, but Jackie didn’t respond, nor Brita, both still intensely concentrated on each other.

“What’s –“ Jaida raised a hand, but they both jolted at that moment, breaking apart, Brita ripping her hand away, and Jackie looking down at the floor, biting her lip.

“Sorry,” she muttered, “it’s not meant to hurt so much. It never has with anyone else …”

But Brita, her eyes glassy, blinked twice and stumbled out of the room as if she hadn’t heard, making her way away to the bathroom.

“Brita?” Jaida started to move after her, but Jackie grabbed her forearm.

“Let her go, Jaida, I think she needs to be alone,” Jackie murmured, and Jaida stepped backwards, watching Brita’s dazed walk to the bathroom.

Jaida’s own mind was reeling at the contact. Her mind raced with questions.

Were she and Jackie now bonded to each other mentally?

Did that mean that Jackie knew about Jaida’s own sixth sense, the Bruce Willis cliché twist; that Jaida saw spirits that most others didn’t?

“Yes,” Jackie muttered. “And yes.”

Jaida saw Jackie watching her, her eyes full of something that Jaida thought was … pity.

————————————————————————

Jaida sighed at the memory. It had brought the three of them closer, that was for sure, but Jackie had refused to tell Brita what Jaida saw. Just as she had refused to tell Jaida what had happened with Brita too – she’d argued that they both needed to take charge themselves.

The clock said almost four thirty by now, and Jackie was still online, so Jaida turned her phone off. Jackie would go offline and back to sleep, as long as she knew Jaida was alright. The mom-friend, who wanted to save everyone in the world.

Jaida wondered if Jackie had craved that support, that care, when she was learning about her own telepathy; to make her offer herself so selflessly now.

She lay back down, pondering that warm July night.

And Brita … she and Brita knew so much about each other. Jaida had been the first person to whom Brita had confessed to being attracted to women as well as men, and Jaida had helped Brita plan her coming out to her sisters and parents. And when Silky had broken up with Jaida back in May, Brita had been at her house within half an hour, mopping up the tears that Jaida rarely let the world see, getting them both dressed and made up, and pulling both Jaida and Widow to a karaoke bar to belt out some tunes, Heidi hot on their heels.

Jaida smiled fondly at that memory. Jaida was a terrible singer, she knew that, and Widow was a bit too shy to sing, but Brita’s voice was fantastic. When Brita had hit the high note in Unbreak My Heart, Jaida had felt goose pimples run down her arms, before she was crying again and Widow had wrapped her up, not saying a word, simply letting Jaida unravel in her arms, while Heidi had stroked her back soothingly.

It was wrong that Brita still didn’t know what her gift was. Jackie was right – Jaida knew that she and Brita were keeping huge parts of themselves hidden from each other, even though they’d been friends for three years.

Enough was enough.

Jaida resolved to talk to Brita in the morning.

[welcometotheocverse]

🌟 for Elliot pls?

:D aaaah! I’ve had him in the brain a lot lately okay sorry this got long And also im rewatching rn so its sorta season 1ish.

Elliot is Rory’s younger twin. He was given Christopher’s middle name. He’s mostly grateful it was the middle name.

He and Rory are super close. It was just the two of them ( and then Lane) The Twins That Read A Lot. Because they had each other they didn’t have much incentive to make friends outside of each other ( Elliot more than Rory) and extrapolating from the Pilot where Rory doesn’t seem like she has a lot of friends ( or any sans Lane) and is lowkey scoffed at for reading the assignment I’m gonna go with “other kids weren’t that keen on making friends with them either”

Rory’s the talkative one, he’s the quiet one. This is a bit of Rory also being protective of him/noticing when he looks overwhelmed and just...talking up a storm as is her wont and subtly getting attention away from Elliot. For a lot of the early season they’re not seen one without the other ( keeping in mind their arch is to learn it’s okay to have different dreams and even go different places ) 

Sorta shy and a bit more introverted than Rory. Once you become his friend however he pretty much would die for you and his face absolutely lights up when he sees you as opposed to his usual reserved nature and he talks to you albeit not as much as his twin ( unless hes super excited or talking about something he finds interesting then the resemblance kicks in lmao but thats the exception)  its like a switch ( seen with Rory, Luke, and Lane in canon and Sophie/Paige in their xover)

Likes hanging out at Luke’s. They both sorta enjoy... being quiet around each other. Elliot thinks he has a really calming vibe …when Taylor’s not there.

Ms Kim doesn’t like him because he’s a boy so he’s not allowed at Lane’s like Rory is ( honestly the feeling’s mutual bc “I’m pretty  sure locking you up for days and keeping you from school falls under child abuse also wtf” and lowkey the girls are like “lets just keep you not in the house” Lane might be closer to Rory but they still talk music together. She’s part of the reason his music taste actually started deviating  from  Lorelai’s and Rory’s.)

He doesn’t like unfair treatment of other people. It really gets to him. Examples are Ms. Kim to Lane and his grandparents and father to his mom. Later examples are Mitchum Huntzberger, and Marty. ( he’s pretty unimpressed with Marty and how his feelings for Rory make him act in general tbh but what he does with Lucy is just...it really bothers him he’s adamant that  Rory should tell Lucy the truth.)

Highkey  he has about zero patience for bad/toxic parents partly bc of his own feelings about Christopher and to an extent his grandparents that he keeps minimizing so they get projected on...everyone else with bad parents lol.

 Logan’s still a bit amazed that this shy soft spoken kid he met in his junior year went off like “He’s not your fucking property” when Mitchum went on his “You’re available when i say you’re available” tirade ( Elliot was ngl intimidated/scared of Mitchum who pretty much went “Who the hell are you??!” but Logan’s his friend and that wasn’t okay and he kept eye contact with the asshole until Logan diverted his attention back to him/the fight they were having and made sure he at least told Logan afterwards because “but he shouldn’t..” and “he shouldn’t have” and “No! No..it’s not Okay. “)

But also like constantly “it’s not a big deal” when it comes to his aforementioned feelings about Christopher and pretty much anything he might be angry about. 

Lowkey spends a lot of time Rory goes through relationship drama between “????” and “wowww dodged a bullet” Rory throws pillows at him for the latter because “If I’m gonna rant at you El, you could at least give me sympathy.”

He does have some insecurities about his orientation born out of just..f.eeling othered due to isolation and also some stuff he’s heard his dad say.

He figures out he’s asexual before he figures out he’s aromantic and has to deal with a lot of “Are you sure?” and “is that..is that normal?” from some townsfolks before he figures out Luke can scare them off and he lowkey spends a lot of time at the dinner during this time. Luke smiles at him and gives him muffins tho he’ll deny deny deny if you mention it.

A bit more sensitive than Rory like on the pilot episode when he notices Lorelai is worried about Chilton/having to ask her parents for money he stops at the base of the stairs and asks “is...everything okay mom?” and is kinda just in tune with how the people he cares about are feeling/picks up on things like that.

He...doesn’t super like his grandparents because of how they treat his mother.  Emily already made him a bit anxious because of her passive  aggressive nature ( he’s giving me some anxiety vibes tbh) and the fact that he thought the fact that his mom kept them away sorta ominous.  A lot of season 1 is him looking down at his plate and tensing with every “your mother’s golf clubs are in the attic along with the rest of her potential” and Richard’s “he ( Christopher) always was a smart one that  boy, you two must take after  him” and “as a maid with all your brains and talents” and it sorta...yeah he spends a lot of time looking at his plate and swallowing resentment. There are times where it gets better but overall he’s never completely at ease around them. He’s very quiet but civil around them even as he grows some affection and builds bridges with them along Lorelai and Rory. And I haven’t even figured out the fallout with the thing they pull at the wedding.

Emily at least once asked off handedly why Elliot wasn’t seeing anyone and I’m still figuring out if she says something like “that’s not normal” before Lorelai or Rory intervene.

(( Full disclosure Emily reminds me a bit too much of my own relationship with my mom and its really hard to write her favorably though I at least try to be fair. So Elliot is sometimes  a bit harsh on her and very in Lorelai’s corner when Emily and Richard are...less than nice. ))

Sort of a mamma’s boy. Rory and Lorelai have their special connection but so do Elliot and Lorelai. Rory was a bit more extroverted and would play/hang out with Lane while Elliot was perfectly content as a babie curling up with his mom and reading. It worried Lorelai a bit, how hard it was for him to reach out ( she never had that moment she had with Rory and Lane of “my kid has a friend” with him) but he always had Rory yknow so she calmed herself with that. Sometimes when Rory’s with Lane he’ll hang out at the Inn and work there. He somehow got in to Michel’s good graces ( “because you are quiet and unobtrusive”  and got him to teach him French 

Very tactile. When he’s getting nervous Rory will reach out and grab his hand or Lore will put her hands on his shoulder and he’ll calm down. He does the same when wanting to comfort friends or just wanting to show affection ( will lean on Finn and Colin a lot as he gets closer to them or accept that they’ll just throw an arm around him)

Meeting the LAD bridgade kids makes social events with his grandparents so much easier like ohmygod subparties with Logan Colin Finn and Rory  become lifesavers. ( its not so much the drinking as having someone you can laugh with while dodging your grandparents friends and the girl they told to look for you yknow)

He has more resentment towards Christopher than his sister and doesn’t see him with the rose colored glasses Rory sees him in their younger years. His absence hurts him a lot. He hides it well and is nice enough towards him because he loves Lorelai and Rory and wants them to be happy/have a good time but if you catch him on a bad day you might get a rant about how little Christopher knows about them and how little he was there  and “he just drops by, spends like a day with us and leaves yknow...it’s...and we’re supposed to be happy???” and the fact that he doesn’t wanna tell Rory or Lorelai bc he thinks it’ll upset them just  sorta...makes it worse.

And then at some point  Christopher pops off with “and how long are you gonna entertain this phase of his Lore, a boy his age should be dating” and while Rory’s making angry noises and Lorelai’s saying “Outside. Now” ( though they don’t know the twins are listening) he just gets...this thin unsurprised smile and...yeah it’s not great. 

Very supportive of people he loves. He’s constantly telling Rory through the Chilton years that she’s smart enough, more than smart enough to get through this and helps her study. He makes sure he tells Lorelai he loves her or hugs her if he can tell the dinners are a bit hard on her. Honestly a total cream puff. The resentment for his grandparents and father is mostly buried and comes out like when he’s upset/they do something that provokes it. Mostly he’s a really soft boy and kinda soft spoken, loves reading about science and space ( he balances out Rory’s preference for literature and history though they both like poetry and Elliot occasionally reads prose as Rory lets him infodump sometimes about science journals) and loves his friends so so dearly. Will get angry a la Beware The Nice Ones if you hurt them though the first thing he’ll do is comfort them/try to cheer them up.

He loves Stars Hollow but being the only aroace person he knows of there ( and fielding well intentioned “are you sures?” and “oh honey you’ll find someone someday”s and just..alot of early 2000s Star Hollow-ness ( “Hey kiddo you gonna bid on a basket this year?” “oh you’re getting handsome, gonna find yourself a girl for the starlight festival?” “is he..youknow?” is just...a lot? He wants to spread his wings and find his place/people like him/feel less isolated.

He still loves his town though as its his home and raised him his sister and in a way his mother. He visits while he’s at Yale ( the distance helps tremendously as does the ability to just...leave again) like Rory and says hi to Miss Patty and Gypsy and Andrew ( he loves Andrew omg. One of the few people who didn’t just assume he and Rory were always reading the same books) He helps the 30-Something gang find jobs/fine tune resumes  though im not including anything else form ayit and checks in how they’re doing bc..its still his town. They’re his family. “my nuts-o, extended...well meaning but sometimes overly invested and too-pushy-and-slightly-overbearing family.” even as he dreams of getting out a lot and once he does he...really likes it. He loves them

He goes to Yale because Rory goes to Yale (because again the whole Learning To Be Independent From Your Twin...kind of a slow process for him) and gets sibling-adopted by Finn and Colin  in a turn of events he’s pretty much confused over like im p sure they were like “hes ours now” and Elliot was like “im ...you’re...w..what?” and Logan who Knows Finn and Colin is like “don’t fight it” and lowkey adopted him too.

Im cutting myself off bc this got Long and im sorry lol

Thank you so much for the ask <3

send me a ✨ and i’ll tell you about a random OC

[bittysvalentines]

My Best Friend’s Breakup

From: @missweber

To: @pwoops

Tags: Snowy/Tater, Snowy/OFC, background Zimbits, background Parswoops, friends to lovers, fluff, mild angst, accidental marriage, deliberate marriage

Summary: Everyone says that Snowy and his girlfriend are perfect together. This bothers Tater, which makes sense given the crush he has on his best friend. But he’s not the only one who is disturbed by how perfect everyone says Snowy’s girlfriend is. (This is in the same verse as ‘Fourteen Weddings and a Kerfuffle,’ but can be read as a stand-alone story.’)

Alexei wasn’t sure if he loved or hated Family Skate.

Family Skate meant skating with his friends and not having coaches yell at him or some asshole on the other team pick a fight with him. And there was always lots of food. That part, he loved.

What he didn’t love was always showing up alone, with no wife, no girlfriend.

Or no boyfriend, which was an intriguing new way to feel alone.

He tried to be subtle about watching Zimmboni with his little B over by the boards, talking and laughing with Carrie and Snowy…

…and Laurel.

Another thing Alexei hated about Family Skate was that it made him dislike a woman who truly didn’t deserve it. But how could he not dislike Snowy’s girlfriend?

Without his notice or his permission, Alexei’s feelings towards Snowy had turned into something that wasn’t just friendship. It was probably inevitable, given how Snowy was his best friend and a very, very handsome man as well. 

Given that Alexei enjoyed men as much as he enjoyed women, he had been doomed from the start.

For the sake of his heart, Alexei had long ago accepted that nothing would come of his crush and he would enjoy the friendship for what it was. And what it was, was the best kind of friendship a man could hope for.

As for that little touch of melancholy that it would never be more than friendship? It eventually settled into something almost pleasurable, like the soreness after a hard workout, or the burn of vodka searing down his throat.

This was very Russian of him, he decided smugly.

Again, he glided past the little group by the boards, past Zimmboni’s hand on B’s back, past Snowy standing close to Laurel, past Laurel saying something about ‘anniversary.’ 

This time, the jolt of melancholy wasn’t remotely pleasurable.

Everyone said it was only a matter of time before Snowy proposed. Laurel was a sweet girl, a perfect hockey girlfriend who would be a perfect hockey wife. 

Marty had even started a betting pool about when Snowy would propose, and Alexei had been grumpy enough to put money on them breaking up before Easter, just to be an ass. 

His best friend was going to get married and Alexei would just have to learn to live with that and with the fact he had thrown good money away purely out of spite.

* * * 

Dustin sank into the oversized, overstuffed, and over-engineered chair with a groan. Tater’s new recliner wasn’t at all to his taste, what with the red leather and the cup holder, but he would be the first to admit that the vintage Bauhaus furniture in his own apartment was more suited to a fit of ennui than a wallow in self-pity.

“Breakups fucking suck,” he whined.

Tater made a sympathetic noise that abruptly morphed into a huh? 

Dustin side-eyed him and got a puzzled look in return. 

“I thought you break up with her?” Tater asked.

Another groan. Tater’s recliner welcomed him further into its womb-like depths. It was even uglier than Zimmermann’s god-awful running shoes, but damn it was comfortable. 

“Yeah. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck, because it’s not like I still don’t care about her, y’know?”

Tater grumbled with frustration, probably over Dustin’s tangle of negatives. 

Dustin took pity on him. “I broke her heart, and I feel like the worst person in the whole fucking world right now, okay? And Marty’s gonna slit my throat, because Gabby and Laurel are BFFs, and argh!” He screamed into his hands.

In so many ways, Laurel was perfect. Everyone said they were perfect together. She was hot, smart, funny, fun in bed, thoughtful, able to cope with all the bullshit that went with dating a hockey player…

“I made a big fucking mistake, didn’t I?” 

Thirdy had all but ordered him to lock that down, kid, at Family Skate two weeks ago. He had been weirdly insistent that the end of the regular season would be an awesome time to propose, but that wasn’t the important part.

The important part was that afterwards, things started going a bit… sideways with Laurel. Not bad. Just…

Sometimes, looking at something from a new angle made it look like a completely different thing.

Tater let out the long, rumbling hmmm that meant he was putting concepts together, taking them apart, and carefully reassembling them in a different language. 

While Tater pondered, Dustin thought about begging Laurel to take him back. He could say he was freaked out by the pressure of trying to secure a playoffs spot, and did something impulsive. She would take him back, right?

The certainty that she would knotted up his stomach more than he expected.

Tater got up and went to the kitchen. “This need pie,” he announced. 

Next came the crinkling of foil and the clink of plates being placed on the counter.

“B make blueberry pie, just for me.” Tater called from the kitchen. “When he hear about Laurel, he say I should share.”

The knot in Dustin’s stomach unfurled and bloomed into warmth. “I get Bittle pie? Aw, man, you really do love me.”

A long pause. An exasperated sigh.

“I only share little piece.” 

A few minutes later, Tater came back with two generous slices of pie, warmed up and garnished with a dab of sour cream. 

The first time Tater had served pie with sour cream, Dustin assumed it was a mistake, and that Tater meant to get whipped cream but read the packaging wrong. 

“Is not mistake,” Tater had retorted, testy at being corrected. “You see.”

The combination of hot, sweet fruit and cold, tangy sour cream was a revelation. In retrospect, it should have been obvious how perfect they’d be together.

Tater draped a napkin over Dustin’s lap with a flourish, then handed him the pie. Both plate and napkin were bright and fussy, like something Tater’s babushka might have bought. 

Again, not to Dustin’s taste, but you couldn’t serve sympathy pie on minimalist matte-black plates.

“Now we talk,” Tater said. “You sad because Laurel sad, yes?”

He nodded. He saw events play out as if they’d just happened. The expectant, eager look on Laurel’s face when he said he needed to talk to her, the way her smile just shattered when he said he didn’t want anything long-term, the sound she had made. The sudden nausea when he realized that their anniversary was in three days and she had been expecting will you marry me and not it’s not you it’s me.

“Yeah. Like I said, worst person in the world.” He pointed at himself with his fork. He might not want to spend the rest of his life with Laurel, but he still liked her. Loved her, even if not enough for forever. And he had hurt her. Badly.

“Imagine something for me,” Tater said after a minute, unusually serious. He leaned in and put a hand on Dustin’s shoulder. “Imagine she not sad at all. Okay, maybe little bit sad, but she say ‘You are right, Snowy. We should break up. Now I move to Vancouver and meet someone new.’ How you feel now?”

He thought. He thought about not having her around to go on dates with, to sleep with, to be around, to have fun with. She checked all the right boxes. 

She was the perfect girlfriend—

—for someone else. 

“I feel…”

Underneath the guilt and sadness, he felt the same peace he felt when he first realized he could just end things. He felt the absence of a dread that grew each time someone said something about how perfect they were together, or about locking that down.

He felt relief at avoiding something that was starting to seem inevitable.

Other things became clearer as well.

For example, how fucked up was it that he got more of a cozy domesticity fix from his best friend than he ever had from his girlfriend? Ex-girlfriend.

“I feel like I did the right thing.” 

Laurel could begin moving on instead of waiting for a proposal that would never come or that would turn into a disaster of a marriage. She could find someone who wanted to be with her forever.

“But I still feel like shit for breaking her heart. I wish I could fix that.”

“See? You good person.” Tater punctuated this with a sharp nod. “Not worst in world.”

“You’re a good friend, Tates. The best.” He sighed. “I guess marriage just isn’t my thing.”

Tater went silent and pensive for a moment. Probably thinking about his own lack of relationship success. At least that made two of them, now.

Dustin turned the chair’s massage settings from ‘Meditative Waves’ to ‘Angry Swedish Nurse.’ He deserved it, after all this emotional shit.

“No. I lied. I’m gonna marry this chair.”

Tater tsked. “No. You need time. You just break up, remember?” 

Dustin laughed. If it was shaky, he would blame the massage setting. “Where’d you get this thing anyway? And why?”

Tater muttered something vague about impulse buys and winning lots of money on some stupid bet, then showed Dustin how to turn on the seat warmer.

He could stay here forever.

Funny how that thought didn’t fill him with dread.

* * *

Alexei spent more time at B and Zimmboni’s place in the days after winning the Cup than he did at his own. It wasn’t exactly intentional, but Zimmboni had a couch that was long enough for him to stretch out his bad leg, and B loved having someone to fuss over. Besides, his apartment was just two floors down so he could go there any time he wanted. 

In theory.

“I’m surprised you aren’t spending more time with Snowy,” B said. It sounded like a question. Zimmboni shot him a look.

B ignored that and handed Alexei a slice of pecan pie. It had taken some coaching on B’s part, but Alexei could finally pronounce ‘pecan’ correctly. He would have to find an excuse to drop it into an interview at some point.

“Snowy live in building two blocks over, not two floors up,” he said between bites of pie. “And his furniture not comfortable.” He sketched out the shape of one of Snowy’s chairs in mid-air. It looked more like a geometry exercise than something you could sit in. “All metal and edges and… yuck!”

It was a reason, but it wasn’t the only reason.

“I see,” B said brightly. “And here I was all worried that something was wrong between you two.”

“Wrong? Nothing wrong! Why you think something wrong?”

It wasn’t really a lie if things were only wrong in his own head, right? Once he stopped dreaming about kissing Snowy after winning the Cup the way Zimmboni had kissed B, everything would be fine. Right?

“Oh, no reason,” B said, voice like sugar. “Just… you two normally spend all your free time together, but instead you’re here.”

Alexei smiled and held out his now-empty plate for a refill. “No. Everything fine!”

B took the plate, but did not head back to the kitchen. He looked down at Alexei. 

“Normally, I would never, ever be deliberately rude to a guest, especially an injured guest who knows how to properly appreciate a good slice of pie, or a half-dozen biscuits with gravy, or a whole pound of bacon, but you’ve got me wondering, hon—what’s Russian for ‘cock-blocking’?”

“Jesus, Bits…” Zimmboni groaned, but he was also laughing. “It’s not that we don’t love you Tater—”

“—but a little alone time would be kind of nice. Listen. Whyn’t you come up for breakfast tomorrow? You and Snowy both. I’ll make those blueberry pancakes you like so much.”

Before Tater could do anything but nod, B was on the phone with Snowy. “If you want to come over and retrieve your favorite Russian, that pie I promised is all ready for you… Mmm-hmm… Blackberry with crumb topping… Right… See you soon!” He hung up and his smile crinkled the corners of his eyes, showing that any irritation he had felt had melted away. “I think he’s missed you, the past few days.” 

It took less time than it should for Snowy to get to Zimmboni’s place. Maybe he was already on his way over when B called, and Alexei didn’t know what to do with that idea.

Maybe Snowy didn’t know, either, because instead of coming right in when B opened the door for him, he just stood there for a moment. 

“Hey, Tater,” he said, strangely quiet. B ignored any awkwardness, and handed Snowy a pie box before dragging Zimmboni down the hall towards the bedroom. Neither he nor Snowy said anything until they heard a door being shut firmly.

“Sorry if I’ve kind of been avoiding you the past couple days,” Snowy said. He ran a hand through his hair, pulling it all out of order. “I had to get my head around a couple of things.”

“I understand.” The daydream about kissing Snowy started up in the back of his mind. He had no idea how to stop it playing. Also, hadn’t he been the one avoiding Snowy? “Is okay, now?”

Snowy nodded sharply. “Yeah. I’ve been thinking about things since I broke up with Laurel, and also since…” He nodded down the hallway. It was quiet for now, but it wouldn’t be much longer. “Things have changed, or no… it’s not that they’ve changed. I’m just seeing them differently. Anyhow, I’m not making a whole lot of sense, so let me just get to it—can I take you out to dinner?”

Alexei looked at Snowy. At the way Snowy looked at him. “That sound like date,” he said cautiously.

“It can be.” Snowy paused, so nervous it broke Alexei’s heart. “If you want, that is.”

“I do. I do want. For long, long time.”

* * *

Two years later, or at least close enough to the two-year-anniversary of being more-than-friends, Dustin and Tater woke up in a Las Vegas hotel room that made Tater’s apartment look starkly minimalist by comparison.

Tater frowned at the ring on his left hand. Dustin had a matching one. “Not again…” Tater groaned.

“Viva Las Vegas,” Dustin muttered. It was about time he got accidentally married in Vegas, like so many other Falcs had. Tater had been through it twice already with Parson and Seguin (they really needed to not have the NHL awards in Vegas). “So, you know what to do about this?” 

“Da. We take care of before practice, easy-peasy.” 

Or not so easy-peasy, as it happened. The Aces’ lawyer, a fussy, grumpy little man, glared at them through big, round spectacles as he explained why—given that they freely admitted to engaging in intimate relations over the past two years—a nice, speedy annulment was not an option.

“It will have to be a divorce, which will take longer, which means more of my time that will be billed to the Falconers. Most teams have it set up so the fees can be deducted from your paycheck. Please note that I bill five hundred dollars hourly, and that—”

“No,” Dustin blurted out. In the silence that followed, he wondered what the hell had possessed him.

“No?” The lawyer’s gaze could have impaled butterflies to a mounting board. 

“No?” Tater just looked confused. And also a little sad. “But you always say you not want marriage, nyet? Is why you break up with Laurel. So we divorce.”

“Yeah, you’re right. No! Not about the divorce!” he said quickly, before Tater could look any more sad. “I mean about Laurel and why I broke up with her.”

The lawyer cleared his throat. “While these soap opera dramatics are entertaining, gentlemen, I do have other business today…”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Look, it took me a couple of years, but I finally figured it out.”

Tater raised an eyebrow. He looked as if he didn’t trust himself to speak. 

“It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be married. What I didn’t want was to be married to someone who isn’t my best friend. Who isn’t you.”

Tater’s smile started small, then bloomed across his face. He turned to the lawyer. “Never mind! We go!”

“Yes, yes, fine.” He shooed them off with a flick of his fingers. “Congratulations and so on, but please refrain from any celebratory fornication until you are off the premises.”

They hurried out past the line of other happy couples waiting to have their marriages annulled. Tater paused to fist-bump Bogrov, his good buddy on the Aces, who apparently had accidentally married one of the linesmen instead of his girlfriend. They also nodded hello to Marty and Guy, and said they’d tell the coach they might be a little late to practice.

“So, when do you want to tell the guys?” Dustin asked. 

Tater looked guilty. “I already tell them about accidental marriage.”

“What?!” 

“Not that we decide we stay married,” Tater hurried to explained, “but Parson tell Zimmboni about tradition Aces have—”

They entered the locker room just then, and Dustin learned the hard way that the Aces glitter-bombed players who got drunk-married for the first time.

He was still finding glitter in awkward places later that night, when he and most of the other Falcs were at Kent Parson and Jeff Troy’s place for a sudden but not-so-accidental wedding.

He enjoyed the ceremony, even though both grooms had crashed his net a total of four times during last night’s game and they were all in the middle of the goddamn Stanley Cup Finals. He would always remember how for a few blissful hours under the desert sky, it didn’t matter that they’d played a vicious game last night and would play another one tomorrow night. 

What he would remember most of all, though, was the way Parson and Troy couldn’t stop gazing into each other’s eyes as they recited their vows. It left him awestruck and reaching for Tater’s hand. From the way Tater squeezed his hand in return, Dustin knew he felt it, too. 

If that’s how he and Tater looked at each other, then why the hell had they taken so long to get their act together?

“Wanna join in?” he whispered to Tater. A number of other couples were taking advantage of Nevada’s marriage laws and the presence of an ordained Elvis impersonator to tie the knot or to renew their vows. “It kind of sucks that our friends weren’t at our first wedding, huh?”

Dustin wasn’t sure what he expected when Tater told the group that they were staying married and renewing their vows. Congratulations, for sure. Also chirping. Marty might take in and dole out cash as people collected and paid off wagers on their wedding. There might even be tears.

What he was not expecting was slack-jawed silence followed by “Wait, WHAT?”

“Uh, I don’t see what’s so surprising, guys. We’ve been dating for like two y—”

“You’re dating?!”

“TWO YEARS??”

As for poor Jack, he looked like someone had shorted his circuits.

“I think we forget to tell them,” Tater whispered.

“Whoops?”

The only one not surprised was Bitty, who gave the rest of the Falcs a gentle bless your hearts before turning back to him and Tater. 

“I think what they all meant to say is ‘congratulations.’ I don’t know why they’re so surprised. After all, anyone can see that the two of you are perfect together,” Bitty said. 

Other people had said that to him once, and it had felt like a life sentence. Now, though, it felt like freedom.

“Yeah,” he said. Dustin leaned up to peck his husband on the cheek. “It just took some of us longer to see that than others.”

[azozzoni]

An Elippo Thing for a Thursday

*

It happens before Elia even realizes it, and he definitely doesn’t mean to, but when Filippo shows up outside his first Uni class with a box filled with cannoli, unashamedly Elia’s favorite dessert, it just happens.

“God, I love you,” Elia says as he seizes the box from Filippo’s hands. For a second, it’s like the whole world freezes, at least for Elia it does as what he’s just said trickles into his brain. Fuck.

Filippo blinks at Elia, and Elia feels something squeezing his chest, like a hand around his heart, and he can feel every beat of his pulse.

Then Filippo rolls his eyes and ruffles Elia’s hair. “Fucker,” he says, and Elia has to exhale.

It isn’t that he doesn’t mean it--it’s been a year together, a year longer than Elia has ever been with anyone--he’s just never said it before. He’s never wanted to say it to anyone before.

The moment passes, though, and Elia swallows as Filippo slides an arm over his shoulder and asks about his class and doesn’t mention what Elia just said again.

*

Elia thinks about saying it again, when they’re sitting on Filippo’s couch watching old black-and-white movies that Elia insists are super boring, but he secretly enjoys because they make Filippo tear up and the subsequent teasing usually leads to sex.

He stops himself from saying it when he’s this close to coming, wrapped up in Filippo, panting into his neck, skin slick and overheated, his brain going blank when Filippo kisses him like he needs to feel him.

Elia swallows down the words afterward with Filippo’s fingers tracing aimless shapes on his shoulder, everything warm and quiet, like the don’t even need to speak.

“Are you okay?” Filippo asks as they lie there, and Elia feels him shift, and he glances over.

Filippo’s hair, once pink, has faded back to blond, the roots starting to grow out again. Filippo’s eyes are on him, fingers tapping thoughtfully at Elia’s bare shoulder.

Making a face, Elia shrugs. “Fine. Why?”

“You’ve been quiet lately, which is strange for you,” Filippo said with a slight smile. “Usually I can’t get you to shut up.”

It’s because Elia is too afraid he’s going to say it again, let the words slip out when he doesn’t mean to, fuck up everything. Filippo isn’t likely to ignore it a second time.

“You know one way to shut me up,” Elia says, climbing on top of Filippo, straddling his hips, hands sliding up his chest, and Filippo’s eyebrow goes up.

“Who said I wanted to?” Filippo asks, tilting his head to the side, setting his palms on Elia’s thighs. For a second, he face goes unusually serious, and Elia’s chest tightens. He’s going to bring it up, what Elia said, ask what the hell he’d been thinking. “Uni’s going okay? The first year can be hard.”

Relieved, Elia shakes his head, leaning in to kiss Filippo, long and lingering as Filippo’s fingers curl into his hair.

“It’s good,” Elia murmurs when he moved back a centimeter to gaze at Filippo’s lips. “We’re good.”

He sees the way Filippo’s mouth quirks, unsure, but Filippo nods, licking his lips and pulling Elia back in.

“Okay,” he says, and Elia bites down the words forming on his tongue as Filippo drags their mouths together one more time.

*

“I think I fucked up,” Elia says as he stops the ball Gio kicks his way. It’s a beautiful fall day on the hill, the grass turning yellow and waving in the breeze that sweeps past them.

To his credit, Gio barely reacts, smiling at Elia instead. “What’d you do?”

Elia can’t even argue with Gio’s assumption that he did something wrong. He doesn’t even try, rolling the ball under his foot instead and sighing.

“I accidentally said ‘I love you’ to Filo.”

Gio doesn’t react except to smile slightly. “During sex?”

“No.” Elia shakes his head, kicking the ball back to Gio. He’s not that stupid, although he might be.

“That’s not so bad,” Gio says easily, and Elia wants to be reassured, but he can’t. “What did he say?”

“Nothing,” Elia admits, batting away a fly buzzing nearby. “He kind of just laughed it off.”

Gio nods slowly. “Okay, so then how is that fucking things up?”

Elia doesn’t know how to answer that, doesn’t know how to explain all the feelings swirling inside his head, feelings he can’t seem to make heads or tails of.

He shakes his head as Gio watches him, eyebrows raised as if he doesn’t understand. Elia doesn’t understand either.

“I don’t know,” he says finally. “I just…” Elia doesn’t know how to explain. If he could do that, he wouldn’t be having this problem, this new constant anxiety that has settled in his chest every time he thinks about Filippo.

Gio leaves the ball by the tree, stepping over to Elia, that same look on his face he used to get when he suspected Martino was keeping secrets.

“Elia,” he says slowly. “Is it because he laughed it off?”

“No,” Elia says, but he doesn’t know. Maybe it is. Maybe it’s that Filippo didn’t take it seriously and Elia wanted him to. Maybe it’s that Filippo hasn’t brought it up since then. “I don’t know.”

“But you do love him, don’t you?” Gio asks, and Elia frowns.

“I…” he says slowly, jerking his shoulders as though that’s an answer.

“If you can’t tell me, how are you supposed to tell him?”

“I don’t want to tell him--that’s the point,” Elia says, annoyed. He already said it once and look where it’s gotten him?

Gio’s mouth curls into a smile, as though he knows Elia is lying. “I’ve been exactly where you are, Eli.”

“You haven’t,” Elia argues. “It’s only been a year and the first six months were mostly sex. I’ve finally started to figure shit out with Filo, like a real relationship where he doesn’t think I’m some immature idiot. If I tell him that, he’s going to think I’m--”

“Stupid?” Gio interrupts, but he’s still smiling, as though Elia’s predicament is amusing. Elia admits, if this was happening to Marti or Luchino, it might be funny, but it’s not funny when it’s him and his relationship on the line. Gio shakes his head, laughing slightly, and Elia kind of feels like punching him. “Bro, that’s how relationships work. You say stupid shit and hope the other person likes you enough to say it back.”

“And what if they don’t?” Elia asks, challenging, and he almost doesn’t want to know the answer. He knows the answer is going to hurt, and Gio’s smile falls slightly. He sets a hand on Elia’s shoulder, firm and reassuring.

“It’s a risk you have to take when you like someone,” Gio admits. “That’s the scary part of relationships.”

Elia doesn’t say that he’s not scared because it would be a flat-out lie and Gio would know it. He’s never gotten this far with anyone, never felt what he feels when Filippo is around, as if he’d be content to do whatever Filippo wanted forever, even if it meant dressing up for pride or watching old movies that made him cry or making a mess in the kitchen and letting Eleonora yell at them for not cleaning up.

Chewing on his lip, Elia doesn’t reply to Gio, gazing down at the grass under his feet, trampled and brown.

Gio squeezes his shoulder before letting go. “Love is about taking risks and hoping you don’t fall on your face, bro.”

Unimpressed, Elia rolls his eyes. “I don’t know how you get any girl to go out with you.”

“Handsome good looks,” Gio says simply, and Elia has to give him that. “But seriously, if you want to tell him, you should do it. And not accidentally.”

Elia knows. He knows Gio is right, but that doesn’t mean he has to like it. He just doesn’t want to screw up everything between him and Filippo. Things have been going so well the past few months, and ‘I love you’ seems like such a big step somehow, even if they’re just words. Just three words that can change everything.

His anxiety isn’t appeased as Gio goes to retrieve the ball, but he knows what he has to do, even if he so doesn’t want to do it.

*

“The quiet thing is starting to get weird,” Filippo says from the other end of the couch, setting down his drink and scooting closer to where Elia has been sitting for the past half an hour, wracking his brain for the right words, beating down the way his heart is pounding in his chest. “If there’s something going on, you can tell me.”

Elia could say he’s just been watching the movie, but he’s already seen this one. He knows how it ends, with the guy riding off into the sunset and the girl left behind on the farm, heart-broken and alone.

“Hey,” Filippo says, hands on Elia’s jaw, turning Elia to face him, voice soft, almost concerned. “I can tell there’s something you’re not saying. Whatever it is, I won’t get mad. Did you meet someone new at school? Did your parents find out?”

Elia shakes his head, staring into Filippo’s eyes, the deep brown of his irises, and he swallows, nervous. “It’s nothing like that.”

Filo doesn’t look relieved, frowning at Elia. “I’m starting to think it’s me,” he says, with only half a laugh, searching Elia’s face.

This is it, Elia thinks, and he wishes, just for a moment, that he was more eloquent, like Nico, who always seems to know the right words to say. Instead, Elia bites down on his tongue a second before the words spill out of his mouth, filling the silence between them and lingering in the air.

“I love you.”

For a second, Filippo doesn’t react, and Elia feels his stomach sinking, like a rock at the bottom of the ocean. He can feel the fear creeping up the back of his neck as he watches Filippo’s face.

“Filo?” he asks finally, cautiously. He fucked it up. He’s sure of it. Filippo is thinking that he’s gone way too fast, is thinking of all the escape routes in the room.

“You love me like you love cannolis?” Filippo says finally, and the bubble in Elia’s chest bursts and he exhales, shaking his head.

“No. I mean, yes, but no,” he says, and he’s sure Filippo can feel the way his pulse is pumping nervously against his Adam’s apple, Filippo’s hands resting on either side of his neck. “I didn’t mean to say it then, but I did. Mean it.”

It’s pure relief when Filippo smiles finally. “So that’s why you’ve been weird. You’ve been freaking out.”

“No.” Elia scowls, but Filippo’s eyebrow raise makes him sigh. “Maybe. But you didn’t say anything.”

Filippo’s fingers push into Elia’s hair and he shakes his head. “What was I supposed to say? You’re welcome for the cannolis. I love you too?”

“Maybe,” Elia admits. He doesn’t know how any of this is supposed to go.

Filippo sighs, pressing a kiss to Elia’s lips, gentle and reassuring. “I didn’t know if you meant to say it, and I didn’t want to freak you out.”

Elia laughs. “I did that fine on my own.”

He feels stupid, that he let himself obsess so much over this. That’s not what he does.

Leaning into Filippo, he closes his eyes, burying his face in Filippo’s shoulder, relieved as Filippo’s hands slide around his back instead.

“Elia,” Filippo says after a minute, and Elia makes a noise instead of pulling away. He just wants to hide from his embarrassment for a little while longer. Filippo doesn’t let him, pulling his shoulders back, brushing Elia’s hair back as Elia sighs. He doesn’t think he can take any more anxiety. “I love you too, you idiot.”

It doesn’t feel like Elia thought it would, hearing those words, warmer and softer and mushier instead, and Elia can’t hide his smile as he leans into Filippo’s mouth, barely a kiss.

“Yeah?” he asks, and he can almost see Filippo roll his eyes, feels the way Filippo’s hand tightens over the back of his neck.

“Yeah,” Filippo replies, kissing Elia easily. “So are you going to go back to talking my ear off?”

Elia grins, wrapping his arms around Filippo’s neck. “You can’t stop me.”

“I do know one way,” Filippo says, and Elia laughs as Filippo hauls him into his lap.

As Filippo presses kisses to Elia’s neck, Elia only sighs, holding on tightly. Maybe he should accidentally say what he’s thinking all the time. Maybe that would be okay.

[glenncoco4]

Something Real

A/N: Chapter 2 of Meant to Be. 

XXXX

He doesn’t get nervous. Why is he so nervous? Taking a deep breath he knocks on the door. He hears some rustling and then her call through the door. 

The door opens and he’s speechless. He’s pretty sure she’s the most beautiful creature he’s ever seen. Tight blue jeans clinging to her legs, a loose black blouse, hair down wavy but that’s not what gets him. What gets him is the bright smile that graces her face. That beautiful smile that sends sparks throughout his body.  “Wow. You look beautiful. Then again, you always do.”

The heat rises to her cheeks. She doesn’t know what it is about this man that has her feeling like a giddy teenager. Deciding to try and not think about it too much, she takes his offered arm, closes the door and they make their way to what something deep inside her says will be her last first date. 

XXXX

They’ve been in the car for about fifteen minutes now, a comfortable silence throughout the cab of the truck. “So where are we going?”

As they pull up to a red light, he turns to look at her, giving her his full attention. “Well there’s a movie showing at the park tonight and I may or may not have packed a picnic for us.”

 When he turns to look at her his smile does something to her. It’s so infectious that she can’t help but smile herself. “That sounds nice. What movie are we seeing?”

“Now that’s a surprise.” Sending her a wink before turning his attention back to the road.

XXXX

They step out of the truck at the same time. She stands there and watches as he grabs the basket and blanket out of the backseat and walks over to her. 

There’s that damn smile again. If she isn’t careful, she’ll end up running into a tree it’s so mesmerizing to her. 

“Ready?”

“Here let me help you.” Before he can refute her, she grabs the blanket and holds it in her arms waiting for him to take the lead.

Once they find a spot and get settled on the blanket, Marty grabs the basket containing their dinner.

She watches as he takes out the items one by one, smiling at how thoughtful he is. She’s never experienced a man going through this amount of effort before and she finds herself really liking it. 

“We got some chicken salad sandwiches.”

The smile that’s been plastered on her face ever since she opened her front door still shining through. 

“Fresh strawberries and grapes.”

“Mmmmm.”

The last item he pulls out makes her mouth water and his smile grow wider at her reaction. “And a little birdie told me you like chocolates so….”

“Are those….” She stops when he lifts the lid revealing the decadent chocolates.

“Raspberry truffles from Compartes.”

Her pearly whites shine bright, loving that this date has been the best date she’s ever had and it’s barely even started. “So, now will you tell me what we’re watching?”

He sighs dramatically. “I guess.” This is make it or break it, oh god, what if he screwed this up? “How do you feel about Leonardo DiCaprio?”

“Are you? Are we? We’re watching Titanic?!”

He’s not really sure if she’s exited but when she leans forward and brings her lips to his for a quick peck he’s all but certain he didn’t screw up. 

She sees the shock written across his face and the heat rise to his cheeks, making her blush all the same. She honestly doesn’t know what came over her. “Sorry, I-“

“No, I was just worried that you wouldn’t like the movie and I screwed up and you just….” He places his hand over hers that’s resting on the blanket. “I’d really like to try that again.”

Without giving it a second thought she’s leaning forward as he brings his hand up, cradling her face in his palm. His calloused thumb rubbing back and forth across her smooth skin. Their lips touch, once, twice and break apart as they rest their foreheads together. “Wow.”

“Yeah.”

They eat their food as the sunlight starts dissipating and are finished by the time the opening scene comes on and the large ship come into view. Making themselves comfortable, they sit side by side, hands resting next to one another, close enough to where just their pinkies touch. Some how just the slightest touch sending an electric current through their bodies. 

About a third of the way through the movie he decides to try and make a “move” so to speak. Spreading his legs open, he reaches for her arm to get her attention. She looks at him questioningly, but get the message when he nods his head for her to come over.

He sees the soft smile that graces her face in the light and can’t help but smile himself at the fact that she gladly accepted his offer.

She can’t believe she’s already this comfortable with him. So comfortable that she’s willingly cuddled up against him. As Jack and Rose make their way through the steam room, she relaxes a little more and leans back into his embrace.

He can’t help but inhale as her hair is just inches from his nose with their new positions. Is that lavender? 

XXXX

Their kiss deepens as he back her up against her front door. Once they part because air has become scarce they share a heated look. Both taking a deep breath they realize where they’re headed if they don’t set some boundaries first. 

“Look, Marty, I want us to wait.”

“I want us to be in love before we go any further.”

They say it at the same time, heat rising to their cheeks when they realize that they’re on the same page. 

There’s a beat of silence before the spark in his eye returns. Placing his hands on her waist, pulling her into him, he gives her that smirk again.

Their lips are a breath apart, inching closer and closer. “Doesn’t mean we still can’t do this.” Tongues begin to duel, moans escaping their mouths as hands begin to wander. 

“Marty.”

He knows she said it as a warning, but his ears didn’t hear it that way. Using all the strength he has, he pulls his body away from hers.

Her heart does things when she sees his lips and the look in his eyes. “That’s a good color on you.”

Thinking she’s talking about his blue shirt, he points towards it questioningly. “What this?”

“No.” She brings her hand up, her fingers ghosting over his lips. “This, red.” The fact that he kissed her so hard that her lipstick is now mostly on him is something she never thought would send a tingling feeling to her heat but it does, oh it does. 

The heat spreads throughout his body when her fingers land on his lips and paired with the look in her eyes, he knows he better leave before he does something to break their promise. “On that note, I’d better head out before I really can’t stop.”

Her heart does a funny little skip that she’s never experienced before at the sound of his words. “Goodnight, Marty.” She wants to kiss his lips but that’ll just set them off again so she settles for a lingering kiss on the cheek.

His heart feels like it’s about to explode. This woman is something special, his heart and head agree. “Goodnight, Kens.” 

He watches her open her door and before she can close it he has to tell her one last thing. “Oh and, Kens.”

“Yeah?”

“I had a really great time tonight.”

“I did, too, Marty. A really great time.” 

“Talk to you tomorrow?”

She smiles, nodding her head. “Tomorrow.”

XXXX

Later that night just as she’s about to crawl into bed, her phone goes off.

What are the rules on asking someone out on a second date on the same day as the first? - Marty

I don’t know, but you seem like you play by your own rules. ;) - Kensi

Okay then. What are you doing tomorrow? - Marty

She hesitates, remembering a promise she made a certain someone tomorrow. Moving her fingers around, she tries to figure out what she’s gonna say when three dots appear and message follows. 

I thought maybe you and Chloe would like to go to the beach with me in the morning and then go get some pizza afterwards. - Marty

That’s when it hits her. He’s not like the others. One of the dozen or so guys that say they’re okay with her having a kid but when it came to spending time with Chloe they always passed or got mad that she took up most of the tall brunette’s time. 

Yeah, we would love that. Night, Marty. - Kensi

Awesome! I’ll pick you guys up around 9. Goodnight, Kensi. Sweet dreams. - Marty

Crawling under the covers, she thinks about today and the great time she had with him, hoping that it’s the first of many. Her eyes grow heavy, a smile gracing her face as she drifts off into dreamland thinking about a certain someone with shaggy blonde hair. 

[siriuslyarrogant]

Three things Jack Zimmermann is

Jack Zimmermann is a anxious mess. He always has been. It's shows how terrible his life is if he can't remember a time when he didn't second guess his words or replay half his actions in his head.

Before his overdose, he knows he didn't let anyone in , if Kent tried - and he did the best he could - Jack got self defensive and would start repeating their stats from their latest game or analysing what the Habs chances at winning the cup based on their last game was. After, Jack got better at talking he had to. First his parents (mostly his mum but he could finally talk hockey with his dad without wanting to cry afterwards), then his therapist and once he got to Samwell, Shitty.

Other members of the team were also let in by Jack but the next notable person was, Bitty. At first Jack never thought that this blonde, fast player that could barely survive a game would be anything but a teammate but he was mistaken. So fucking mistaken.

Bitty was his best friend first and foremost. It happened awhile after Jack ran across the campus to find Bitty and kiss him. Jack managed to get trapped in the circle of thoughts in his head. His therapist would absolutely want him to call her. Jack somehow simultaneously made the best and worst decision of his life.

Jack Zimmermann is a selfish person. He is selfish and terrible and sometimes he tries to use his anxiety to defend himself. When he realised he liked Bitty, he didn't think it fully through. Its like when he sees a opportunity to get a goal but it wasn't part of play. He kissed Bitty then had to deal with it.

He had deal with telling Bitty he couldn't tell anyone -Bitty understood (because of course he did , he's a great person).

Jack knew that Bitty found it difficult - Bitty is out, he tells everything to his friends, he is proud of himself at school - but Jack also found it difficult.

He didn't think he would.

Jack listened to Thirdy and Marty talk about their wives and wished he could do that about Bitty.

Jack saw the photo of George and her wife in her office and wished he became a history professor and could that with Bitty.

Jack felt relief and panic and a million a pen other emotions when Snowy took Tater's phone and chirped him for texting his boyfriend. Jack wished his last name wasn't Zimmermann and that he could be chirped about his boyfriend openly.

Jack is selfish because he likes Bitty, he wants to marry Bitty and own a dozen little dogs with him, he wants to play a game with 'Bittle' on his back however he also wishes he never does. He doesn't want to deal with the panic and questions and assumptions about himself that the press has. He doesn't want to come out. And he knows that unfair to Bitty.

Jack Zimmermann however is also caring and loved his boyfriend with all his heart. So when Bitty starts crying on the voicemail , Jack gets his car and heads all the way to Samwell without a second thought. Jack is the one that decides they should tell their friends and he's okay with that for now.

Jack is also the one decide that Bitty should kiss him after the cup. He does however think that through. It doesn't seem like it but he has spent at least one minute day - since they came out to the group - thinking that there are positives to opening himself to more people.

Jack comes out and it's not the end of the world for him.

He just hopes that one day he won't regret that most of his life has been taken over by panic and circles of thoughts that still have the potential to destroy him.

[aka-willow]

Making My Name

gif

Words: 701

Characters: Willow Wren, Nedward and Boxer Joe

Prompt/Tag:

“nothing can hurt me now.”

“bro… that’s so… not cool…”

Summary: Willow takes out a ninth ex-Facility member and celebrates afterward to forget

Timeline: January 2016

Song: Paper Planes - MIA

A/N: thank you again to everyone who’s been leaving comments and kudos!!!!! <3

—————————————————————————–

Daniel Royer. He was the ninth ex-Facility member I took out. Or was it the tenth? I was losing count. He lived in a farmhouse in upstate New York. We fought. He got knocked out. Someone left the gas on his stove. The wind blew the wrong way. His house burned.

I decided to celebrate back at the base since I didn’t know how else I should feel. Mostly tired. Annoyed, at first. Daniel wasn’t able to give me anything useful.

On the roof, outside my tent, bundled up in my winter coat, I cranked the heater and opened up the flaps. Nedward and Boxer Joe seemed especially happy to see me, mostly because I brought snacks back from Daniel Royer’s house before it burned down. Music cranked and my cheap string lights flashing, I danced around the roof, sipping at what I think was rum, also from the house. It wasn’t very good, but it made me feel cool.

My phone buzzed and I saw texts from Peter and Ned, asking if I had done the homework for Spanish yet. I sighed and muted the conversation, not wanting to think about school. When I first moved to this rooftop, I thought of it was temporary, and then I thought of this mission to seek out HYDRA agents as only temporary. I had told myself that I would reconnect with my friends “when it was all over,” that I would get my grades up “when this is all over,” that I would clean up the trail of destruction I was leaving behind “when this is all over.” But as the weeks stretched into months, it started to feel normal. Go to school. Come home. Sleep. Work on my mission. Party with the rats. Go to school and repeat. Add a few detentions here and there, as well as some marathon homework sessions, and that was what my life had become.

“Nothing can hurt me now!” I exclaimed to Nedward and Boxer Joe that night, my eyes still glowing with images from the fire. “Look at me! Absolutely unstoppable!” It didn’t matter that the wind whipped around me or that my hands would not stop shaking, or that horrible images wouldn’t stop running through my head uninvited. It didn’t matter. I was winning. Whatever this was, I was winning.

My one-person dance party was interrupted as I saw Nedward chewing through the bag of carrots I had placed down to open for them. “Bro… that’s so… not cool…” I pulled the bag from his little hands and opened it up for him. “See?” I said. “Isn’t that easier?”

I sat down next to them and opened up my laptop, going back through Marty’s USB drive for what felt like the hundredth time. I had opened the willow folder, but it was fairly sparse, only containing a list of cities. Was he trying to figure out which city I was born in?

I had no clue myself, only vague memories from when I was living with my adoptive dads. It was near mountains, cold. The only time I left the fire station was when they took me skiing in the winter. We’d go at night, driving out in the late afternoon and arriving at sunset. The bulky snowsuit hid any chance of the wings being seen. I forgot how much I liked skiing. Back then, it was the closest I’d get to flying. I remember changing into pajamas on the ride home, late at night, and falling asleep to the same radio station. I used to be really happy. Before HYDRA, I was really happy.

The Lab Rats and I had run through all the possibilities for how we ended up mutants in the first place, even before Project Rebirth got off the ground or HYDRA tracked us down and experimented on us. We were okay not having answers for that. What always haunted me was the why. Why us? I could have been content living in the firehouse, skiing at night, watching people walk by on the street below, understanding that I could never be a part of that world, and being okay with it. Why did it have to be us?