#going - how bad does Thea want what she has and what will she do for it

[queer-lovebot]

You just said Kevin needs to completely step out of the raven mindset but Nora literally said Thea is loyal to the Ravens till the end 😭 After knowing the complete story of Kevin’s life in the nest her reaction according to the EC is literally “After all, Kevin’s playing again, so no harm no foul, right?”😭

Oh well ofc! My work around for this is simply not caring about the EC or what Nora says. I often see the EC as a major deus ex machina — anything not explicitly stated in the books is to be taken with a grain of salt.

I’ve brought it upon myself to pick up the heavy mantle of bringing actual characterization to Thea Muldani. And I do believe this is something she thinks and says like I believe it! I won’t ever take that away from her. But logically, she cannot continue thinking this way while having a young and impressionable daughter that she has to raise. So I think she does a lot or forced soul searching in that regard!

I’m not saying it comes immediately. It’s probably smthn she starts taking seriously when she actually realizes she’s pregnant. And she’ll still never be rid of the Ravens even then, but I think she’ll be divorcing herself as far as possible. That school is still her Alma mater and it was still the top collegiate Exy team for the longest time. In the same way I imagine Kevin mourns Riko — with awareness that that was a Fucked Up Situation but still with a sense of not-quite nostalgia

Edit: also rereading my first post I think that it’s also important that there’s no “I need saving/I’ll save you” dynamic (for lack of a better term) between Kevin and Thea the same way there is for the others! Which is Important to me personally

Uhh tldr: I do not take Nora too seriously especially not for characters she has snubbed in the og writing. We can all be a little more nuanced and explorative!

[deeppenguinstudent]

I don't care. I will ALWAYS defend Thea muldani. You guys talk about the age range between Kevin and Thea, which is so dumb because Kevin was 18 and Thea was 21. That is basically Jerejean's age range (22 and 19), which is 3 YEARS. And I don't see anyone talking about Jeanne's age range? (19 and 24).

To the people saying that got mad that she said, "Are you sure ur not up to ur old tricks again?" literally just what? Please, please read her wiki because the reason she said that was because she thought tetsuji was the one who beat him up, NOT riko.

She was the ONLY one so far that even questioned riko's authority and acknowledged he was a bastard (somewhat). She's not fucking blinded by the Nest. She's JUST Exy obsessed like Kevin!!

Also let's talk about this?

The rumours had gotten so bad that both the master and Kevin also believed Riko's words? How the hell was Thea supposed to know anything? She was a victim as well and it just annoys me so much when people use this to just completely stain her character and make her a huge bitch. She's literally a dark skinned woman. Even tetsuji told her that she has to work twice as hard because people wouldn't take her seriously. If she even had an inkling of an idea knowing what they did to him, she would fuck them up

Also the reason why no one batted their eyes was because the Ravens fucking eachother is completely normal. It's some sort of screwed up thing that's been going on for generations, even before Riko and Kevin had joined Evermore.

To the people who say Thea does not care about Jean I will literally chew your lungs BECAUSE HAVE WE BEEN READING THE SAME BOOK.

Do you guys not realise how close Jean and Thea truly were? Thea and Kevin were the only two that Jean actually had a good relationship with in the Nest. Just look at the text!! Thea is one of Jean's weaknesses because he trusts her so much, and we know that Jean always blurts out shit he's not supposed to when he's beside people he really trusts (Neil, Jeremy, Kevin)

Her little parisian duckling! He literally followed her everywhere 🙁🙁 Gosh they mean so much to me. (Also, the reference to Elodie's duck dress and Thea's way of calling him?)

Last bit. I just find their relationship is just watered down SOOOO much because people hate Thea for unconventional reasons. You can dislike her character for sure, but I feel like a lot of people have so many misconceptions about her so I just wanted to clear it up!!

Please Nora give us more Thea and Jean in TSC2 😔😔😔

Edit: Sexual grooming is the action or behavior used to establish an emotional connection with a minor under the age of consent and sometimes the child's family to lower the child's inhibitions with the objective of sexual abuse. This is the definition of grooming btw and it's confirmed that Thea dated two other people when Kevin was a minor and didn't think of him like that until he was a freshman in college ie 18 years old?? It's completely different because she wasn't even pursuing him at all??

[meetmymouth]

you, me, teddy, and baby

an extra from the series ‘theadora’. read everything here!

notes: talks of pregnancy/pregnancy tests. read the last part of theadora HERE !! 

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you… Happy birthday dear Teddy, happy birthday to you!

Harry lowers his phone just enough to call for Theadora. “Make a wish, T!”

“Harry, fix the candle,” she says, making Harry turn to her as Thea looks between her parents. “The ‘five’ looks crooked.”

This makes everyone in the room laugh, and Harry does what he’s told– but not before rolling his eyes.

She knows he doesn’t mean it, and she knows they’ve been really stressed recently, between Thea having problems at school and a couple of leaked songs from Harry’s old albums.

It’s been peaceful, though, being a family. She knows what everyone’s saying online– knows what they’re talking about, but she stopped caring a long time ago. As soon as she stopped looking her name up, or Harry’s, things have been a lot easier; life, together, as a family, has been easier.

They still have ups and downs, like most couples do, but they manage. She knows whatever happens, Harry has her back– their backs.

He’s been off tour for a while, and they spent most of their time travelling as a family. They went to all the places Harry has been without them by his side, ‘I want to experience it with you two’, and when they came back to London last year, he finally asked her to move back in– officially. They renovated parts of his house, and Theadora got a new bed, and a whole different room. She picked what colour she wanted for her walls, her furniture, and after countless tantrums over rugs and chest of drawers, she couldn’t have been happier with her new bedroom.

“You Styles’ can’t go a day without glitter, can you?” Jenny laughs into her glass of wine, and Y/N turns her attention to her– she’s admiring the jumpsuit she’s got on.

She smiles. “I’m not a ‘Styles’, remember?”

“My bad,” Jenny grins. “Would be nice though, no?”

Y/N hums. “Maybe.”

She takes a sip from her own glass, but the taste suddenly feels too bitter on her tongue. Deciding against drinking more, she places it on the table behind her, and excuses herself to walk towards where Harry and Theadora are standing, surrounded by friends and family.

Thea is talking about her favourite friend in Year One, and Harry nods along, turning to the group around them with a proud smile.

“And,” Harry notes, “She got the trophy for lining up beautifully this week,” he adds, squeezing Thea’s cheeks with both hands.

The five-year-old grins, and Y/N doesn’t have the heart to correct Harry, ‘it’s for the whole class, H, not just Teddy’.

She joins the group, but Harry’s arm finds her before his eyes do, and he wraps his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him.

“Hi, baby,” he whispers, squeezing her hip. He presses a kiss on her temple, and she smiles.

“Hi,” she squeezes the hand on her hip, and her own hand finds the top of Thea’s head, ruffling the curls.

Thea looks up, and smiles, big teeth reminding her of Harry’s, and she matches her smile, squeezing her warm cheek.

“Hi, cutie.”

“Can I stay at auntie Gemma tomorrow?”

“It’s a school night, Teddy,” she smiles.

Thea’s smile falls. “But daddy said I could,” she mutters, lips pursing.

Y/N looks up at Harry, and she almost laughs at the face he’s pulling.

“Well,” she begins, squeezing Harry’s hip. “Daddy should’ve asked mummy as well, yeah? We’ll talk about it tomorrow after school, yeah?” She strokes the side of her face. “How’s that sound?”

.・゜

Tea. Lots of tea and fruit pastilles.

Harry watches from his side of the bed, glasses on– hand holding a novel. He looks puzzled, eyebrows raised and his mouth parted as she devours the last of her fruit pastilles.

“Y/N?” Harry calls, voice wavering between worried and amused.

She looks up, cross-legged on the edge of the bed. “Yes?”

“Fruit pastilles at eleven o’clock at night?”

A raise of her eyebrows, and he knows he’s fucked up.

“So?”

He clears his throat. “Are you okay?”

“What the fuck, Harry?”

“Babe, what–”

“Stop watching me– stop watching me eat and drink,” she throws the empty bag at him, and he dodges it even though it falls nowhere near him. “You’ve been watching me all night– watching my every move.”

“Babe,” he lets out a surprised laugh. “What? I haven’t been doing that…”

“Mhm,” a vigorous nod. “You have! Are you calling me fat?”

“Look,” Harry places his book on her side of the bed. “I’m sorry. I just– I know you don’t normally like eating stuff before bed, it makes you uncomfortable; that’s why I’ve– never mind. I would never, ever call you fat,” he shakes his head.

He walks over to her, arms wide open as he wraps them around her, and she lets out a sigh.

“I’m sorry,” she says, words ushered against his warm, naked chest. She places her hand where his heart is. “I’ve been really awful lately, I know.”

“You haven’t,” he whispers into her hair. He kisses below her ear, earning a giggle from her.

“You can be honest.”

“You haven’t been awful. Just…”

She looks up, eyebrows raised.

Harry continues. “Just… on edge?”

“Hm.”

“Come on,” he sighs, kissing her nose. “Let’s sleep.”

She nods. “Be back in a sec, need to pee.”

She watches him nod, and walk over to his side of the bed and open the duvet properly before getting in. He’s placing his book on his bedside table when she’s closing the door to the ensuite.

She doesn’t know what possesses her to reach the pregnancy tests at the bottom of the small storage box where she keeps her useless stuff in. She knows she was extremely moody and she ate things she wouldn’t normally eat when she was pregnant with Theadora.

Opening the package, she takes a deep breath, and sits on the toilet. It takes a few seconds to do her business, and she waits with the test in her hand before she can wash her hands.

Her period has been late, she knows, though it’s never been regular for her. Couple of days late meant nothing usually– at least for her.

The hidden tests have been on her mind since yesterday, though she hasn’t been up to it until tonight.

The test forgotten by the sink, she thinks of the possibility of being pregnant again. She knows Harry wouldn’t be upset, though she can’t help but feel anxious over the possibility of him not being ready, or even worse: what if he only wanted one?

She knows he loves Teddy, and she knows he loves children, but were they ready for it all over again? Especially now that things have been so good between them…

“Y/N?” Harry knocks on the door, and she jolts forward, as if someone’s pushed her into the sink.

It’s when she remembers the pregnancy test, and she grabs it, holds it up, and her eyes begin tearing up at the result.

Another knock, and the door is pushed open, revealing Harry.

“Are you okay? I was worried when you didn’t answer,” he murmurs, clearly sleepy.

When she doesn’t answer, the stick hidden in her palm, Harry takes a step towards her, and he places his hand on her cheek.

“Baby?”

“Harry,” she murmurs, tears running down her cheeks. “Harry.”

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt– did you fall? I didn’t hear anything–”

“Harry.”

“What? What’s happening?” He looks around, then searches her face. “You’re scaring me.”

“Harry,” she says, for the final time. She places the test on the counter, and watches Harry’s gaze fall where it lays on the grey marble.

“What is that– is that...”

“Yes.”

He looks up, eyes glimmering. “What– you’re– when? What’s it say…” he whispers, but he doesn’t reach for it– perhaps, he’s scared, too.

Oh God, she thinks, he hates me.

“I–”

“Oh my fucking God, Y/N,” she looks up from her socked-feet, and watches Harry analyse the stick.

His eyes are wet, lips wobbly like the time Theadora fell and grazed her knee, but despite all of that, his green eyes are so shiny– they glint under the mellow light of their bathroom.

“Baby,” he looks up, trying to find her wavering gaze. “Baby, look at me– did you look? Did you see?”

“Harry…”

“What? What is it?”

She lets out a sob, the anxiety and the after-taste of the fruit pastilles becoming too much. “I’m pregnant.”

Harry lets out a choked laugh. “Why– why are you crying, oh my God.”

Oh my God.

“Are you angry?”

“What? Fuck– come here,” he places the test on the counter, and grabs her cheeks. He presses kisses all over her face. “Are you– are you upset?”

“I don’t know– you–” she shakes with another sob, but laughs at the same time.

“Y/N,” he places his hands on her shoulders. “Are you upset? Did you– do you not want this?”

“I do– I do. Fuck– I don’t even know why I’m crying!”

“Ah,��� Harry looks around. “I love you, I love you so much and I’m so, so happy about this. Baby, look at me– look,” he grabs her chin, and she looks up, meeting his gaze. “I’m so happy. You make me so fucking happy. And– whether you want this or not, it doesn’t change anything. I love you. I love our family.”

“Stop–” she pinches his hip. He screeches. “Stop saying shit like that!”

Harry laughs harder, and he hides his beautiful face into her neck. “Why,” he asks, another laughter bubbling in his chest. She likes the sound. “Why not– I’m so fucking happy, fuck…”

She looks up at him, hands wrapping around his waist. She holds him tight. “Are you?” She asks, voice small. “Are you, really? Do you– want this?”

“Fuck– of course, I do. Are you mad? Look at me,” fingers pressed to her chin, he makes her look up again, and their eyes meet. “I love you so much,” he whispers, lips touching with every syllable. I love you, love you, love love love you, he whispers.

She asks to go to bed, but Harry reaches for her hand, and intertwines their fingers. Just before they leave the ensuite, Harry falters, and grabs the pregnancy test, holding it tightly in his palm.

They sit on the bed, shoulders touching, and she leans into his warmth. “Can’t believe you’re holding that– like that,” she mumbles, voice muffled into his naked skin.

He turns to her, and lips touch her forehead. A kiss, then another one.

“Why– what’s wrong with that, that’s my child.”

“I peed on that thing, H.”

“Fuck,” he laughs, holding the stick up to inspect it. He lets out another laugh. “I don’t care.”

She shrugs, kissing his warm shoulder. “Plus,” she says, and grabs the stick, placing it on his bedside table. Harry watches intently, but his breath hitches when she grabs his big hand, and places it on her tummy. “Your child is in here, not in that bloody stick, you silly sausage…”

When she looks up to inspect his gaze, he’s got tears in his eyes. It’s as if he’s just hearing the fact that she’s carrying his child– his second child.

“This is crazy,” he whispers, though she thinks he’s thinking out loud more than anything. “You– they’re in here,” he rubs her belly, then looks up at her, eyes teary. “Wait, are you– do we need to take another one?”

She hums. “What?”

“Another pregnancy test? What if– what if that thing’s broken? I can’t– fuck, I want this so bad, I think I would be depressed if it turns out to be a scam.”

She lets out a laugh. “A scam? No– I don’t think– why would you say that now?”

“I’m sorry! Fuck, even if it’s not real–”

“–Oh my God, stop it, Harry.”

“I want this so much,” he whispers, and kisses the side of her neck. Another kiss, then he moves up to her chin. “I love you– I want this baby.”

“It’s like you’re the one pregnant and not me.”

He pouts. “You know what I mean.”

“Not really,” she whispers. “Can we get in,” she means the bed.

He nods.

They get in, but Harry can’t stop looking at the test on his bedside table. Just before she sighs and tries to cuddle into him, ready to start another conversation about the potential-pregnancy, Harry straightens up in bed, and grabs his phone off the charger.

She rolls her eyes. “What are you doing now?”

“Nothing,” he murmurs, though she hears the camera shutter going off.

She lets out a laugh. “Did you just take a photo of it?”

“Mhm.”

She smiles, and gets comfortable in bed. “Come here, you silly man,” she whispers, hand reaching to touch his naked hip. He moves easily into her hold, and lets her hold him close to her chest.

They look funny, she knows, Harry’s big body folded so he fits into her smaller hold. 

They kiss lazily, the kiss getting heated when she travels her hand down his toned chest, until it reaches his joggers. He’s hard– and bare underneath his joggers, so when he lets out a whine, she squeezes him harder over the material of his joggers.

He moans her name, eyes shut, but she reaches and presses an open-mouth kiss on his stubble-covered chin. She sucks the skin, and grabs the band of his joggers, pulling them down just enough so that his hard, leaking cock is out. The tip is a beautiful shade of pink, precum glistening the smooth, shiny skin of his tip. 

“Fuuuuuck.”

“I want you to come on my face,” she whispers, thumb swiping against the tip. She squeezes, and he groans, both at the request, and the way she’s squeezing his needy-tip.

“Suck me, then,” he says, teeth gritted. “Come on, baby, give me something.”

She moves her head down, and kisses the tip, licking the wetness before opening her mouth wider. She finally takes him into her mouth, his cock feeling hard and heavy– and so warm inside her mouth, and it makes Harry whine, hips bucking up when she licks the underside of his cock. Humming around his thickness, Harry grabs her by the back of her head, and supports her movement, helping her take more of him– just like she knows he likes.

“You’re so fuckin’ good,” Harry murmurs. “Taking me so good.”

She bobs her head up and down, the velvety walls of her mouth feeling snug, and so warm around his cock. She sucks him in her mouth, can feel him watching her every move as she places her other hand on his balls, squeezing them gently which earns her a throaty moan from Harry. She looks up, finding his gleaming eyes. 

It’s a silent conversation they have between them, and he knows. 

He does, because he begins moving his hips, fucking into her mouth ever-so-gently as his other hand, the one that’s not wrapped around her hair, travels down to her chest. He squeezes her boob over her t-shirt, then moves it under her chin, wanting to feel her warm skin against his palm rather than the feel of cotton. 

He squeezes hard, her nipple hardening under his touch, and she hums around him, which leads him to buck his hips in a more practiced manner, fucking her mouth harder than he was.

“I’m gonna cum,” he mutters, words tasting familiar, and she squeezes his balls once more, fondling them, playing with them before she goes deeper, feeling the tip touching the back of her warm throat. 

She sucks him harder and more determined than she was before, and when he tweaks the pebbled nipple between his thumb and index, she takes him out of her mouth, knowing he’s close.

Harry watches her like a hawk, “Want me to cum on your gorgeous face– make a mess?”

Her hand continues her slow strokes, and she nods, squeezing the tip exceptionally hard. 

“Fuck,” Harry chokes out, and he comes.

He holds himself at the base, their hands touching as white, sticky stripes coat her face–cheeks, lips, and chin–and she grins at his aim, tongue already peaking out to get a taste.

“Fuck me–”

She hums at the taste. “Love your cum.”

“Jesus– did you just suck me dry after peeing on a stick,” Harry laughs, chest rising up and down, trying to calm down after his high.

She laughs, and gets on her knees, walking backwards on the bed. 

“I guess,” she gets on her feet, and walks into the ensuite. 

She washes her face, and grabs two face cloths that she uses to take her makeup off. She wets them, and walks back into their bedroom, spotting him laid against the pillows, cock still out, soft against his thigh.

She laughs, and gets on the bed, Harry’s eyes finding hers. “You’re disgusting,” she says, wiping him in between hisses from him.

“Mmh, I love you, too.”

Y/N lets out another sigh, and kisses the top of his head. He looks up, eyes still shiny.

They find their old position in bed, Harry against her chest as they snuggle. Y/N lets out a content sigh, and kisses the top of his head. He looks up, eyes shiny.

“I’ll call Jane tomorrow,” he says, quietly, like he doesn’t want to disturb the stillness of the room. “To make an appointment.”

“Okay.”

“Are you– you’re happy, right?” He rubs the skin under her boobs from under her t-shirt.

“I… am. I’m a bit– you know, nervous,” she smiles, eyes closing, almost falling victim to sleep.

She feels him nod, his soft hair tickling the side of her neck. He hums then, “That’s normal, yeah? No matter what happens, you know you’ve me, right? And Teddy.”

“Yeah,” she murmurs. “I do. You, me, and Teddy.”

A silence falls over their tired bodies.

Harry breaks it. But not before travelling his right hand down to her tummy, stroking the warm skin there before he presses his face into her chest harder. She smiles, eyes still shut.

.・゜

Harry wakes up before her, and he smiles sleepily, nuzzling into the crook of her sleep-warm neck much like Thea would do. He hugs her body closer, and wonders what time it is– and if Thea is about to wake up. It can’t be that late, he thinks, judging by the light outside.

He’s sweaty– they both are, but Harry doesn’t care, and snuggles into her body more as if it’s possible, given their position.

He watches her sleep, eyebrows and jaw relaxed, her chest rising and falling peacefully. He attaches his lips to her clothed-chest, and kisses where her breast is. Totally innocent, and he knows she’s waking up– her breathing changes.

He smiles when he notices she’s refusing to open her eyes. A smile is threatening to appear on her beautiful face, though Harry doesn’t stop the way his hand is travelling down, until it reaches the bottom of her t-shirt. He lifts it up, revealing her naked stomach, and he moves his own body downwards, lips puckering to place a kiss where her belly button is.

“Psst,” he whispers into the skin of her stomach, and he smiles when he notices her muscles tighten– clearly trying not to move. “Anyone in there?”

In the dead silence of their bedroom, Harry strokes her skin, and taps his index finger just above her belly button. “Are you in there?”

“Harry…”

“Shh.”

She matches his tone. “What are you doing?” She whispers, hand resting on top of his head, messing with his already messy, sleep-tousled curls.

“Just, morning chat,” he bites his bottom lip, and presses his ear to her stomach.

He waits, and waits, until his eyes widen at the gurgling noise coming from inside.

He looks up, their eyes meeting.

“Don’t be stupid,” she cuts him off, when she notices him opening his mouth to get a word in. “I’m hungry, and probably need to poo.”

He laughs into her tummy, and kisses the beauty mark there. “You’re a disgusting woman.”

“Yeah,” she smiles, stretching.

“So,” he straightens up, and kisses her cheek. Then her nose, then her lips. “Morning.”

“Mmh,” another kiss. “Good morning.”

“Coffee and yoga before Teddy wakes up?” He asks, gaze hopeful.

“Ugh.”

He smiles, and opens his arms so she can snuggle into his body, clearly not wanting to get up yet.

“I’ll make you chocolate chip pancakes…”

She looks up. “And vanilla ice-cream?”

“Yes, baby.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

They kiss lazily as the coffee brews, both dressed in a soft jogger set, and she bites his bottom lip just before turning her attention back to their coffee. They drink, do some stretching and Harry guides her through some yoga moves, and they move to their spacious sofa. She places herself in front of him, leaning against his chest as they sip from their second cups.

It’s not long before Thea wakes up, and they prepare breakfast together, Harry cutting up fruit while she boils the egg. She makes a quick pancake batter mixed with veg for Thea, and Harry prepares their own breakfast, humming to an Eagles song coming from the speakers.

They eat, Harry records Thea while the five-year-old acts like she’s on MasterChef, and then, Y/N places their dishes into the dishwasher as Harry cleans their mess off the kitchen table.

“Jane messaged back,” Harry comes behind her, and snuggles into her, placing a kiss on the back of her neck.

Hours later, they’re inside the private clinic in East London, and Harry intertwines their fingers while they wait for Jane to see something.

They don’t understand what’s going on, and with every shape appearing on the screen, Harry holds his breath. He thinks this is it, this is our baby, and it makes Jane laugh, seeing the focused look on his face.

“You took the test yesterday?” Jane wants to confirm, as she clicks something on the keyboard.

Y/N hums. Harry squeezes her fingers.

“Well,” Jane presses one last key, and they both look up at her. “Congratulations,” she smiles, placing her hand on Y/N’s shoulder. “You’re five-weeks pregnant.”

Her bottom lip starts trembling, and she feels a sharp pain– clearly Harry squeezing the hell out of her fingers. She looks up, tears in her eyes, and it’s funny how they give each other the same look.

The same look they shared five years ago.

Jane leaves, and Harry sits next to her legs, hand never leaving hers.

“Baby,” he whispers, lips already puckered as he chases hers.

They kiss lazily, her hands around his neck, touching the hairs there before she pulls away, and Harry presses his forehead against hers.

“What’s wrong?” He says, voice laced with worry. He notices the look in her eyes. He knows it too well. “What’s wrong, baby– hey.”

“Harry…”

“What is it?”

“Please don’t leave us,” she whispers, shame and heartache clear in her voice. It’s timid, her touch on his chest, and Harry surges forward. He kisses her– hard.

“Never,” he whispers. “I’m never leaving, you hear me– look at me, Y/N,” he says, and she looks up, looks into his teary eyes. “I’m not leaving. I’m not. Never.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?” He nods, kissing her cheek before his hand drops to her sticky and cold stomach. He strokes the skin, and leans in to press a kiss where he thinks their baby is. “I love you– I love you so much, and I love Teddy so much,” he pauses, and looks up at her. Hand still on her stomach, he whispers, “And I love them.”

They pick Thea up from school, and she talks about her day, the drawing she made in Music because Mr Anderson is gone, I think he’s dead.

“I’m sure– I’m sure he’s not, sweetheart,” Harry says, voice trembling a little as he eyes Y/N. He mouths a what the fuck, and they hold their laughter while Thea goes on and on about her day.

They come home, Harry bathes Thea–more like they stay in the tub for a long time because they’re both kids who love to play with bubbles–and Y/N calls them downstairs when the food’s ready. It’s a simple pasta dish, because she knows Thea loves it.

“Did you give your book back to Mrs Bea, Teddy?”

Thea looks up at Y/N and nods. “Yes. She gave me another one. It’s about a zog. It’s really not fun.”

Harry chuckles, closing his mouth when he almost chokes. “Why, Teddy?”

“I don’t care about zogs, daddy. And,” she reaches for more warm bread. “This book is super easy. I can read it in two seconds. I can read harder books.”

“Two seconds, really?” Y/N asks, reaching to ruffle her damp curls.

“Mhm. Zion timed me. Two seconds. Maybe a bit more.”

“Okay, bunny.”

“I’m also thinking of sleeping in your bedroom, mummy. You and daddy and me,” she nods, clearly to herself, and Y/N shares a look with Harry.

Harry beats her to it, though. “Okay… why? Is everything okay in your room?” He asks, putting more pasta in his mouth.

Thea shrugs, turning her fork in the bowl. “Yes. I just feel lonely,” she looks at Y/N. “Mummy, you have daddy. Daddy you have mummy. And me,” she notes, tone higher. “I have no one to cuddle at night.”

“Oh,” Y/N chuckles.

“You can sleep with us tonight, Teddy,” Harry agrees, his hand finds Y/N’s thigh under the table. He squeezes gently.

When they’re settled in bed, the three of them, Harry reads her a few pages of Five Minutes’ Peace, and they snuggle under the duvet.

Harry turns to Y/N, looking at her over Theadora’s head of curls. They have a silent conversation before Harry clears his throat. He closes the book, and places it on his bedside table.

She gets it.

“Teddy,” she whispers, stroking her cheek.

She looks up.

“Your dad and I want to tell you something,” she says, watching the child nod.

Harry turns to his side, and kisses her forehead, waiting for Y/N to continue.

“What do you think about having a little brother or sister?” She asks, and Harry knows she’s nervous.

He is, as well.

Theadora hums.

“Now?” She asks, folding her arms over the duvet. She looks cute, lips pursed in thought.

She doesn’t sound upset, or angry.

Harry smiles at the question.

Y/N looks up at him, though he lets her do this on her own.

“Yeah– would you want that?”

“I think so… when is she coming here?” Theadora asks, eyes on Y/N.

“Um, nine months,” she says, smiling at the way she’s referring to the baby as ‘she’.

“Wow,” Theadora whispers, the time-frame sounding like an eternity. “Is she in your belly, now?”

She clears her throat, not expecting the question, nor the look she’s giving her. She’s looking down at her stomach, and Harry’s hand finds Theadora’s curls, stroking the side of her face.

“Yeah,” Y/N whispers. She nods.

“Wow.”

Harry can’t wait any longer. “How does that make you feel, Teddy?”

“I guess,” she says, biting her pinky into her mouth. Y/N watches with her lip trapped between her teeth. “I guess I want her to be here now. Maybe this week. I can’t wait that long,” she huffs, making them both laugh.

Y/N looks up with tears in her eyes, meeting Harry’s gaze.

“They need to stay inside mummy’s tummy so that they’re healthy when they’re born, T!” Harry laughs, kissing her cheek.

“They? Are there two?”

Y/N smiles. “One, but we don’t know if it’s a girl, or a boy.”

“I want a girl.”

“You want a sister?” Harry blows a raspberry into her neck, earning a shrill scream from her.

“Oh my Gosh,” the small child exclaims. “If baby is a girl, I can give her my dresses. And,” she gets one leg out of the duvet, clearly feeling hot. She turns to Harry, hands finding both his cheeks as she squeezes his face. “I can teach her your songs.”

Harry smiles, tears welling up in his eyes. “Of course.”

Y/N laughs, having always loved seeing Harry and Teddy interact.

“Maybe she can come to your concerts and watch you with me,” Thea thinks out loud, hands now playing with Harry’s cross necklace.

“Well,” Y/N chuckles. “She’s going to come wherever we go, Teddy,” she smiles, stroking her back. She presses a kiss on her neck.

Thea turns to her, and snuggles into her body, hand still around Harry’s necklace. “Everywhere?”

“Yeah. She’s going to be your little sister. Like best friends.”

“Okay… she’s coming to Nana’s, too? And Grammy’s?”

“Yes, Teddy.”

“Okay, well, I need to talk to Nana and Grammy,” Thea murmurs, sleep clearly taking over.

“Oh?” Harry smiles, kissing her nose. He fixes the duvet around her, and watches Y/N press her own ‘goodnight’ kiss to her chubby cheek.

It’s silent after that, and they both watch Theadora sleep, before Harry’s hand finds Y/N’s tummy under the duvet.

He rubs her tummy for a while before she places her hand over his, and they share a look.

“I guess she’s happy?” She whispers.

“I think? Though,” Harry gets comfortable, now laying on his back. “The last comment had me worried,” he laughs quietly.

“Which one?”

“How she wanted to ask my mum and your step-mum about the baby.”

She lets out a gasp. “I need to call them first thing in the morning,” she whispers, turning to her side. She strokes Thea’s arm, and finds Harry’s loving gaze. “She’s such a gossip, she’d tell them before we did.”

“I love you,” Harry smiles.

“I love you, too.”

“Thank you,” he closes his eyes.

She lets out a snort. “Stop thanking me for silly things,” she pinches his hand, and he smiles harder, eyes still shut. “I love you so much, you’re such a great dad.”

He opens his eyes at that. “Am I?”

It’s a constant worry for him, she knows.

“You are,” she says, hand cupping his cheek as he leans into the touch.

They stay like that for a while, and the last thing she remembers before falling asleep is Harry’s warm hand finding her tummy once again.

[afurtivecake]

I was asked about the needlessly elaborate and completely made up Thea headcanon I have, so here it is.

It all started because I was thinking "What kind of people do the Ravens recruit?" And then I thought about Thea and then it spiralled from there.

The background I've invented for Thea:

Had she started college later (i.e. after the Foxes became a thing) she might have had a running chance at qualifying for the Foxes. Lots of siblings/step-siblings and absent parents (not physically abusive but wasn't very good at staying on top of taking care of their large family). Constant money issues meant her parents worked a lot and pushed a lot of the household responsibilities onto her which she hated and wore her down. She hated taking care of her family and hated her life and was glad to get away.

(I thought maybe the Ravens are kind of the reverse image of the Foxes? Maybe the kind of people they recruit are quite similar; the kind of person who feels like they nothing to live for but exy, the kind of person who already feels alienated from people in their lives, who doesn't have much they can't walk away from? Someone like that would be vulnerable and malleable. But instead of being given the opportunity of freedom and companionship on their own terms, they're put through the Ravens' brainwashing program to create team synergy and made to believe that cutting out their old lives and becoming a Raven is what freedom looks like. Maybe the Ravens recruits have higher socioeconomic status than the average Fox recruit, but the mental profile might be similar? And they're not like Wymack, actively trying to divine whether a recruit has kindness underneath so they get some nasty people.)

The way she sees it, getting into exy was what saved her. Something like, maybe she had been about to give up, quit highschool and just try to get a job and help out with her family. That seemed to be what was expected of her being the eldest daughter. Maybe she even had a loser highschool senior boyfriend who was all like, "Hey...don't worry, baby! I'll take care of you!" Maybe she could so clearly see her future laid out ahead of her: dropping out of school to move in with her loser boyfriend where they'll work minimum wage jobs and then marry him when they accidentally get pregnant, never leaving town, be stuck taking care of children and working until the day she dies. And so when the coach says, "Why don't you try out for the team?" she does. Exy becomes an escape for her. Being on the court feels like being free.

And then Edgar Allan offers her a full sports scholarship that would give her a place to live for the next five years, pay for her equipment and all living expenses. Her parents, who weren't supportive of her playing exy, didn't want her to go but she decided she was going to take the opportunity, however selfish and uncaring that made her.

The Ravens become her family. They're brutal and not accepting of her at first and she has to prove herself every step of the way, but it feels rewarding. She grows to be very loyal to her Ravens. Like, won't hear a bad word about them from outsiders.

I imagine Thea as a similar kind of instinctive player as Neil. She has an almost innate sense of her striker marks' weak points and knows how to mark them to control their movement and how to destabilize them at crucial moments. She doesn't adhere as strictly to Raven techniques as others but she's still bloody effective with a "go right for the throat" kind of play style. Oh and she hits fucking hard.

Only after she gets her freshman partner does she slowly start to realize that she doesn't actually hate taking care of people. she never did. What she hated was being crushed by was the weight of adult responsibilities and the lack of freedom to pursue her own dreams. She realizes that she's missed having younger siblings around to care for.

So when Jean, this kid who's so much younger than her and bratty as anything, come along and looks at her with admiration, she takes him under her wing. She teases him when he loses his temper, mocks him when he's being dramatic. She gives him tips on playing defense when he does her favours.

Those tips are more her personal tips rather than the logical, Raven-approved techniques. (Kevin gets mad at her when he realizes that Jean's trying to copy her playing style. Kinda like, "that's not how you're supposed to do it in this situation. stop teaching him bad habits.")

She gets on Kevin's nerves being an instinctive type because he finds her harder to predict. She'll use different moves to handle what appears to be the identical situations and it'll drive him a bit nuts because he can't work out why she would choose to change it up and why it worked both times.

And because Kevin's a technical player whose moves are like clockwork (and because he's just Like That), she finds him not terribly difficult to throw off his game. She'll be able to disrupt his playing with well-timed forceful checks. I imagine Kevin Day, who's spent his entire life perfecting precision, would not know what hit him. He'd just be thinking, "wtf just happened," and then immediately followed by, "do that again." (He practices obsessively until he can deal with her. She's secretly kind of flattered to be thought of as such a threat.)

She doesn't like self-important, privileged assholes who think they can tell everyone what to do just because they think they know best. So she probably enjoys any chance to knock Kevin down a peg. She's rude to him and doesn't hold back on criticism. Maybe because she's used to feeling a bit sidelined early on, she can recognize that Kevin's also been subtly sidelined? Even though supposedly, he's second only to Riko and dishes out commands like he was born to it, it feels like he's purposely contained? Like he's somehow still only just barely meeting the expectations. Maybe that's what intrigues her and softens her to him a bit?

Oh and I imagine her to have a scathing and sarcastic, almost rude sense of humour that works well among the Ravens. She probably finds Kevin's insults kind of amusing, secretly (she'd never admit to it.)

[thesovereignsring-if]

How would the ROs take care of sick MC? I wonder how the brothers and Empress would take care of MC too, considering they already spoil MC even if MC is not sick lol

Lmaoo

ROs:

Finny & Linnet: The Brynhildrs think the best way to get rid of illness is to sweat it out on the training field 😭 It won't matter if the MC feels like shit, they'll train the hell out of them until the illness goes away. It'd be hell.

Thea: She'd quietly spend sit next to the MC to keep them company. Read lots of books, hold their hand, feed them soup, and hover over the doctor during check ups. Probably the most normal reaction of out all the ROs. She'd be very clingy.

Medea and Helios: They'd feed the MC weird potions and shit to get better. Helios is more likely to steal medicine, while Medea is more likely to brew it herself. It'd be the gross bubbling shit that looks hella sus. Are you curious about what's inside? Yeah. But do you really want to know? Uhh...maybe not. Maybe it's just better to trust them and drink it, right?

Eirik: Eirik would be sooo annoying. He'd pay to get the best doctors, but he'd give the MC shit for getting sick in the first place. Then he'd nag the MC every time they do something that could get them sick months and weeks afterwards. I'm emotionally and mentally exhausted just thinking about it.

Family:

Alberich: He'd be very kind and gentle with the MC. If he was away, he'd come back to the Capital to look after them and take his work with him. He'd entertain them will whatever news and books he has on hand and make sure the MC has all their favourite foods to eat after they get better.

Sieghardt: If he's away from home, he'd feel bad for not being there and send a lot of letters to keep them entertained. He's not a good writer, but at least it'll give the MC something to do while they're in bed. On the rare occasion that he's at home, he'd overexert himself to make the MC comfortable. He'd get extra fluffy pillows, extra blankets, he'd cook the MC's meals himself and make sure they're taking their medicine and everything. Honestly the maids would be better off taking the week off because Sieg would be running the show. That being said, he wouldn't spend a lot of alone time with the MC. He'd just...stand there.

The Empress: In their childhood years, the empress would have the MC moved to her chambers so she could keep an eye on them while she works. Honestly she'd probably have an extra bed for the MC in her chambers for this very reason. She'd be involved and make sure the doctors keep her informed every few hours and go out of her way to spend time with the MC if they're awake. As the MC gets older, she does coddle them less, but she'll definitely make sure she knows exactly whats going on with the MC.

[e-adlirez]

In the Shattered Pacifist AU, what happened that made Violet leave the academy?

Oh she didn't leave the academy-- she got kicked out :)

Context below the cut :D

(also for the record this version of SP!Vi is uh, not exactly canon to the main SP universe? It's kind of an angst AU thing for myself-maybe, an edgelord McGee AU where the angst is shoved to the max, y'know? Not necessarily canon, but it is something)

TW: blackmail, manipulation, defamation

So as we all know SP!Thea is... SP!Thea, being very sketchy and all that, and we know that she has five very intelligent, very curious, and very nosy children she's adopted and mentored for a while <3

Sooo in this scenario, through some sketchiness and extra work and research, SP!Vi found out about the Stilton fam's sketchiness, particularly Thea's, and went to confront her about it.

It does not go well, and Thea ends up blackmailing her into silence, basically threatening to ruin her reputation to hell and back if she dares say a word to anyone about what happened.

Now, Vi for me is the type of person who would think of a million possible situations for something and a million possible actions, and uh she just had her hero ruined for her forever, more or less. So what do?

She could stay silent, bite back, or tell the girls anyway, trusting them enough to be able to keep a secret, which if their history is anything to go off of, they a hundred percent can be trusted.

So she tells the girls and asks them to keep this a secret, and the girls... they dunno what to do :D they just got told by one of their closest friends that their mentor and idol is a bad person-- like-- what do you say to that :D

Now the girls are torn between keeping their promise to keep it a secret, or to ask Thea what the hell is going on. Now the girls at this point have been seeing little tensions bubbling up between the two. They dunno what the hell happened, but something clearly happened for things to get this way, and they're being caught in the crossfire, and now they... kinda have to choose a side. In this scenario, the girls turn to ask Thea about what the hell is going on between her and Vi, and if they can maybe hear both sides of the argument because holy crap Vi made some insane allegations like "being a negligent parent", among a loooootttt of others.

SP!Thea being SP!Thea and knowing what Vi did (because who else would've snitched right) then fulfills the promise she made where she ruins the living crap out of Violet's reputation, and that brings us to the present.

She's now expelled from the academy, deported to and stuck in NMC, and she doesn't have anything besides what she was able to carry with her.

Oh and uh, now everyone and their mother in Mouse Island hates her, due to that one article published by the Rodent's Gazette about a star student of Mouseford potentially soliciting Cat Head to attempt taking Thea's life that one time. There's no real evidence to dispel or prove this rumor (and thus no real reason for the NMC police department to get involved), but eh, it's from the Rodent's Gazette and we all know how legit the Rodent's Gazette is, so it's good as fact. You can say just enough and twist the timeline of events just enough for the people to believe what you want them to believe, especially if you are able to call up the name of a reputed source. Who cares if it's from the gossip column that was only added in the Gazette very recently and was its debut article, right? The Gazette's the ol' reliable! You can always trust the Rodent's Gazette to spit cold, hard facts!

So you may be wondering, "where are the Thea Sisters and Vi's family in all this?"

And to that I say they're mostly fine. Ever since Vi's expulsion and the publish of the article, they've been trying their damndest to contact her, but strangely enough she's not responding. She's never online on any of her social medias, she doesn't respond to texts, messages or emails, and when you try to call her, your phone just says immediately that the number cannot be reached. Strange...

[thebisexualdogdad]

Thea Queen x Red Hood male reader headcannons?

Thea Queen x Male!reader

● after the whole dying and coming back to life thing you decided to leave Gotham and start fresh somewhere new

● you heard about the arrow and his team and thought you'd head out west to check out what they were all about

● you met Thea when jumping in to assist them in a fight and immediately started flirting with her

● "Who the hell are you?"

● "I'm whoever you want me to be sweetheart and can I just say red looks even better on you than it does on me"

● "I hate him already"

● except after only two missions with the team you were already sleeping together

● you weren't allowed to tell anyone that you were hooking up

● felicity was the only one who figured out what was happening

● Felicity "I wonder when they are going to tell us they are hooking up"

● Diggle "what are you talking about? They aren't hooking up they hate each other"

● "they are definitely hooking up, I think arguing is a kink for them"

● the day finally comes when you're arguing about you being too reckless

● "why do you even care so much Thea?!"

● "Because I love you, you asshole!"

● this leads to really intense 'I love you' sex and making your relationship official

● and telling the rest of the team

● Diggle "oh damn, Felicity was right"

● Felicity proudly "told you"

● you two are the ultimate red superhero power couple

● when she finds out about your history with the Lazarus pit

● "is there anyone this thing hasn't resurrected??"

● Oliver hates seeing her on your motorcycle

● "So I can be a vigilante but I can't ride on my boyfriends motorcycle?"

● "I'd prefer if you didn't do either but I can't seem to change your mind about the first one so the least you can do is give me a little peace of mind with the second"

● she doesn't

● you love not having to pay for drinks at the Verdant

● Thea "you know you're gonna run my bar dry if you keep drinking everything from the top shelf"

● "Hey we don't have any clubs this clean in Gotham and im taking advantage of it, back home you're lucky if the only thing a bar is infested with is cockroaches"

● sparring together

● she surprised you with how good at hand to hand combat she is

● "damn Thea, now I know why they call you speedy, you dodged all of my punches"

● and another time she knocked you down and landed on top of you

● "batman would be so disappointed to see me in this position"

● "really because I thought you liked me being on top" she says with a smirk

● Thea felt so bad when she accidently sent an arrow into your shoulder during a mission

● "Oh my god Y/N I'm so sorry I thought you were one of the bad guys"

● "Thea it's okay, I died remember, an arrow isn't the worst pain I've ever experienced"

● her gently tracing your scars when you're lying in bed together

● Dick and Tim came to visit you one weekend when they found out a new drug on the streets of Gotham and Bludhaven were being sourced from Star City

● and to meet Thea because they never expected you to have a serious relationship

● part of them thought you were lying and Thea didn't actually exist

● Dick "so you must be Thea, Y/N has told us so much about you, I hope you're keeping him in line"

● Thea "oh trust me, Y/N loves when I order him around"

● Tim "didn't need to know that, so about this drug-"

● when the mission is over you take your brothers to the club before they go back home

● they have a great time but halfway through the night you've disappeared to hook up with Thea in her office

● Dick to Oliver "Hey have you seen Y/N, he left to get me another drink an hour ago"

● Oliver "yeah when Y/N and Thea both disappear you usually don't want to know what they are doing"

● Thea buying you a brand new knife when yours breaks

● this one also has 'red hood' engraved on it

● "babe, this might be the nicest thing anyone has ever given me"

● "I should find that endearing but I know by tonight you will have used it to stab someone with"

● "you're not wrong"

[dayurno]

do you have any thoughts about the way thea was handled? ever since nora has been more active on twt (and mentioned the hate thea gets) people have been sort of insistent about Always Having Liked Her Actually and it irks me a lot, because imo people SHOULD be upset at the fact that kevin (who has been abused all his life and has trauma regarding the nest) has a gf who's from that same environment but 1. doesn't seem all that concerned about getting better / helping kevin get better 2. shouts at him in the only scene they're in together 3. isn't even described as a particularly good presence in the extra content explaining their past 4. this is just a horrible cherry on top but she's 5 years older and they met when he was 14 :/// like if anything i think this has a lot to do with nora not having been kind to kevin (which she also recently admitted to) like damn can he get one thing in life that's just good for him. one safe haven. jesus

short answer: i think thea as a character has been done the worst by nora sakavic, and the lack of care she was shown is in line with how all for the game treats its other characters of color.

long answer: most of my thoughts about how thea was handled are less about thea the character itself and more about her throwaway appearance and the overall lack of interest the author had when writing her. thea's a widely hated character for many reasons, not all of them valid, and a big one is that she was shoved into the narrative at one of the very last few chapters and paired up with one of the most important characters with very little thought or effort. we don't get even a hint of her existance before her appearance, and her one scene does not gather her sympathy because what we know of her is that she's an unrepentant raven (arguably the series' most evident villains) and what we see of her is a moment of great anger, that, even if ignorant, mimics the hostility most of the other ravens had towards kevin/the foxes during the trilogy

this is all to say: i don't like the way thea was written, and i think, especially, that it was a bad optic to write a black woman whose only scene is her being hostile towards her love interest. i need you to know that i'm not saying thea was not right to be angry, or that thea should've flown in and nursed kevin's mental health as soon as she could — both because it's out of character and because it's ridiculous —, but i am saying that she was not afforded almost anything as a character, in both terms of humanity and screentime. this is nothing new with how aftg treats its characters of color, and it is very telling that the characters who get the most flack (namely nicky and thea and riko) are the core of the non-white cast. thea and riko are not afforded complexity; nicky is a constantly flamboyant brown man whose only purpose is to wrangle his cousins and deliver friendship-related one liners to neil. this is why nora sakavic's refusal to comment on them grates on me, and why the new wave of adoration for the series with no nuance suffocates all of the real criticism done by fans of color in the last ten years.

and here's a personal answer: thea's future breaks my heart just as much as kevin's does, because she is also a victim of cultist mentality, and she never breaks out of it. i have no doubts in my heart that the nest was cruel to her, and her unflinching loyalty to the ravens until the end saddens me because it is a terrible existence when all is said and done. thea will not play exy forever, and by the time she has to retire, she will be just as miserable as kevin was. i don't know if she'll ever acknowledge how awful the ravens were either to her or to kevin — i don't know if she'll *want* to, because it is hard to do all that work, and it will leave her deeply scarred to realize most of it was not necessary to her sucess —, but i hope she does, and i hope that on that day, she will be able to decide for herself where to go from there.

[schrijverr]

Why Her?

s02e06: Keep Your Enemies Closer. Introspection of why Oliver slept with Isabel brought upon by Felicity asking why he did it.

On AO3.

Ships: pre-slash Olicity

Warnings: implied/referenced dubcon

~~~

“Why her? I mean, besides the obvious leggy model reason,” she asks, the hurt clear in her voice. She can’t understand why he’d sleep with her, this woman who has been mean and rude to not just her, but to Oliver as well.

Oliver gets it. He does. Isabel Rochev is not a nice woman, not even pleasant either. She always has an angle she’s working, a way to use you and discard you after. She doesn’t care, she has a ladder to climb.

Despite what it looks like, Oliver isn’t being an idiot about it. He knows that Felicity thinks it is mostly because of the leggy model reason, but it isn’t. However, he doesn’t know how to explain to her why he did it. Not without revealing pieces of himself that he’d rather keep to himself.

He can’t tell her that Isabel accused him of sleeping with Felicity, of only giving her that promotion because she slept with him. As if Felicity has nothing else to offer, no talents that earned her a promotion. As if she isn’t right there by his side every single night protecting him.

Oliver wanted to protect her from those rumors the second he heard of them, because protecting Felicity has become one of his priorities in a scarily little amount of time.

But he doesn’t think she’d appreciate hearing that sleeping with Isabel would be a way to confirm that he didn’t go on this trip to sleep with Felicity. That it isn’t like that. That Felicity has earned her place there on professional merit.

He has been using his body to protect friends, to protect himself, long before Yao Fei and Slade Wilson taught him how to fight.

When he and Tommy drunkenly kissed at a party and gay rumors starting floating around that might get Tommy into hot water (not to mention Oliver himself), he was on the cover of a gossip rag three days later, plenty of models on his arms. He made sure one of them sold the story afterwards too, performed the hell out of that orgy.

How when old lady Duchard started getting handsy at one of the balls with Max Fuller who was clearly uncomfortable, Oliver turned her into a conquest. It’s not that bad if it’s his own design and she clearly didn’t care who she lured back as long as they were under twenty, but enough of an adult for her to not end up in court.

And when Thea started getting sexualized at the ripe old age of twelve, he punched paparazzi in the face. High publicity and Laurel not finding out about his cheating, because he actually loved her and didn’t want to do that to her. Not yet at least, not then.

Felicity can’t know these things about him. Can’t know that he slept with Isabel to protect her, because using his body is the only way he knows how. He knows what he looks like, he knows he can be charming, it’s just another asset and he’s happy to use it to keep his friends safe.

She’ll probably be upset if she knows. She’ll make him never do that again. But she doesn’t get that he doesn’t mind doing it. For him sex is just like a good work out, or a nice conversation. It’s just an action, nothing special. He enjoys sex the same way he enjoys good food. Not a necessity, but nice to have.

Sleeping with Isabel had never been his plan, but with the information he had, it was the best move to keep Isabel away from Felicity and the situation under control. Oliver likes it when he has a situation under control.

So, he goes with bits from the truth, since he’s always been bad at lying to her, showing her the pieces she expects to prevent her from searching for the pieces he wants to stay hidden. “It just kind of happened. It didn’t mean anything.”

Felicity looks upset by that. He never meant to upset her, he did it to make Isabel stop thinking about her like that. To keep her happy. Of course he failed at that.

“Hey,” he finds himself saying in a soft tone, unable to let it go. More honest than he has ever been with her or himself, he says: “With the life that I lead, I just think that it’s better to not be with someone that I could really care about.”

She looks at him for a moment, then nods, more to herself, before spinning her chair, getting up, circling him.

He stands there for a moment, taking a deep breath as he closes his eyes. The regret washes over him, but he doesn’t call out. Doesn’t set the record straight.

It wasn’t a lie when he said that not being with her was better. He can’t risk having that and messing it up. Despite who he is trying to become, he still carries so much darkness, while she is brightness personified. He doesn’t want to risk holding her when his hands are best at breaking.

Sleeping with Isabel was better. She is hardened to the world and he doesn’t care if he holds her too tight and leaves a few bruises on her hips. Sleeping with Isabel is just an action, sleeping with Felicity will be so much more, and he doesn’t think he can handle that. He is only good at using his body, he isn’t good at the everything else. And Felicity deserves everything else.

So, he lets go off all that regret and tries not to flinch when Felicity says: “Well, I think you deserve better than her.”

Because maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t. Whatever it is, it was the best tactical move at the moment and just because he might deserve better than Isabel, doesn’t mean he’s worthy of someone like Felicity.

All he can do is watch her walk away and wonder: why her? Why did he have to meet someone as incredible as her? And why can’t he hold onto her the way he wants to? Why does he keep messing up when all he wants to do is keep her safe? Why is she the amazing IT specialist that has gotten caught up in all of this? Why not anyone else?

Why her?

[alligatorjesie]

*glances at the raging cunt who keeps posting harassment to this fandom's tags every month or so*

You know the last time I checked you're not a fucking reylo so beats the fuck out of us why you're up in our goddamn shit so often @watchingtheearthrise

Cait Corrain isn't active in this fandom. She's hardly a reylo, and if she's gonna act like that she's not fuckin' welcome here.

I think they may have wrote a few reylo fics a long time ago but they're not a big name writer and the fandom as a whole don't really know who the fuck this person is.

I've seen a few people online mention Cait's book is published reylo fanfiction but I can't find anything from the writer confirming it so we’re all just assuming it started out as a reylo fic.

Looking at it, it seems more like lore olympus fanfiction than reylo but again, until the author says otherwise we’re just assuming.

Cait did however talk a gullible friend into helping her sabotage other people's book reviews and when the lacky she coerced did it wrong because she didn't really explain her dastardly plan very well and the moment she realized how badly the 'friend' fucked up she threw that kid under the bus.

But even that shit is kinda sus because these timestamps don't fucking line up. This conversation looks doctored to a lot of people meaning the only person responsible for being a cunt here is cait and you @watchingtheearthrise.

The friend is mentioned to be a reylo but you can't really put much of the blame on them since they were just doing what their cool(shitty) published writer friend asked them to do, assuming this friend is even real.

Cait didn't get mad she did a bad thing. She got mad she did it poorly and got caught. Which speaks volumes about Cait.

You being here assuming the worst out of this fandom every time someone so much as sneezes without saying 'god bless you' speaks volumes about you @watchingtheearthrise.

Please for the love of fuck would you find a fucking hobby to pour this endless passion into.

You know something really fun that I've spent a lot of mental energy on over the years and has brought me great pride and joy is this Star Wars Episode 9 rewrite comic I've been working on.

Legit!

I got character sheets and new alien designs.

Most of the script is wrote out, I'm currently working on storyboards and page framing.

I'm only as far as I am because I have a life outside the computer and can't dedicate endless hours a pet project but it's got 2 of my favorite things in it:

A narratively cohesive continuation of The Last Jedi-

And furries.

Because fuckit why not it's my fucking comic.

You're welcome to laugh, and I know you will because you're a huge pile of shit, but doing this has been incredibly cathartic.

we live in a world were we have increasingly little control over basic shit in it. Media can feel like it wants to make money more than it cares about the story and character development and if I want media I’ll actually enjoy well goddamnit I guess I’ll make it myself.

I want it to be good. I want the salt of the fact a random furry wrote and created a better Star Wars EP9 to burn. I think thats funny.

I personally didn't like EP9

(Notice how I dislike EP9 but don't go out of my way to harass people who like it @watchingtheearthrise?)

So I decided to just make my own. Instead of being asshole to people in a fandom who do like it.

(Notice what I'm doing there @watchingtheearthrise?)

I don't see you in here when the fandom does nice shit like donating a shit ton of money to Adam Driver's arts for the military foundation.

I didn't see you in here when Thea Guanzon, a southeast asian reylo's published book became a new york times bestseller.

I don't fucking see you pop in when the dedicated members of this fandom post art and stories and celebrate the thing they love.

Don't let a single person who is acting shitty color your entire opinion about a whole ass fandom man. God fucking knows if I took this approach with finnreys I would just assume all of them are huge pieces of shit because nine times out of ten the people posting anti hate to the reylo tag are finnreys.

But since I'm not a complete fucking dumbass Like Some People Here

I'm able to use some common fucking sense and see it's not the finnreys that are shit.

finnreys are fine.

It's just like... 4 unique people with a lot of extra accounts.

real fucking bold to comment on someone making extra accounts to do nefarious things online from someone who already does that.

I’m pretty fucking sure at least 6 of the antis I regularly come across in this tag Are Your Accounts @watchingtheearthrise. You admit to 2 extra ones you’ve used to harass people in this fandom in the past In Your Fucking Bio

( I love hate how you have reylos in your DNI but paradoxically will not stop posting to this fucking fandoms’s tag I swear to Jesus Fucking Chri-)

God fucking bless you @watchingtheearthrise I hope you find someone who helps you learn how to not be such a festering cunt.

I started out this post not even know who the fuck Cait Corrain is. I still don't give a fuck because shit people can go fuck off into oblivion for all the fucks I don't give but since some asshat antis can’t be fucked to do a goddamn second of research I guess much like that ep9 I'm rewriting I’ll just fucking do this too.

Cait's a reylo about as much as you @watchingtheearthrise and you’re both welcome to let the door hit y’all on the ass on the way out.

[swiftsuburbanlegends]

OKAY OKAY Lucas and Nik get injured and end up with Danny for safety purposes, Vin gets upset because he's her safe space and feels betrayed by him for letting Lucas in but Dallas tells her everything he did to get here for her and how his brother died (mayhaps it's never permanent we decide later) so after some stewing Vin has a normal conversation with him

Look I can see Lucas struggling to like stuff his duffle, because he knows this is hurting Vin, and he'd rather risk infection on the streets than be the reason she is in pain again.

She comes into the room and sees him putting in the last of his stuff.

"What do you think you're doing?" He sighs, knowing he can't make up an excuse. "What does it look like? I'm getting out of your way." "I never said I wanted you to go." "Maybe not to my face, princess, but we both know you would like it better if I found other accommodations." "I told you to stop calling me that." Only she's not sure if she actually had. Lucas was the only one who had ever called her 'princess'. The moniker was technically hers, but she had never felt like it fit. She had never even seen the inside walls of the Queen castle. She had believed herself a commoner a lot longer than she had known the truth. He met her gaze then nodded. "As you wish. But still I should go." "Don't be stupid, you can barely more your arm," she gestured to him as he tried to move his duffle from the bed. "You could make that worse if you leave." "And if I stay, I'm gonna hurt you worse. And I can't be the reason you're in anymore pain," he shook his head and she can see the tears he's fighting back. "So I'll find something else, somewhere else." "You think leaving is going to cause me less pain?" "Vin--" She moved to him, taking the bag and tossing it to the side. "No. If you leave, and something bad happens to you, what do you think that's gonna do to Dallas, to me?" "I thought you wanted me gone?" "I never said that." "You sure as hell have acted like it." He winced, and she didn't know if it was out of pain or the reality of his words. So Vin did the one thing she could think to do get him to stay. She reached across the space, a couple of inches that felt like lightyears, and took his hand. "I wanted you to be able to go back. I wanted you not to be working for Merlyn, to stop yourself from turning in Thea. I wanted you to be able to erase the things that drove us apart." "If I could--" "Let me finish, please," Vin took her other hand so she could turn his face to hers. "I know we can't go back. I know the things you did, they'll always be there. And I wish I could tell you that they won't keep me at arms length, but I can't. What I do know is, even if I didn't want to admit it, when you were shot I was terrified that I would never see you again." "I'm right here," he said, squeezing her fingers. "You weren't though," she shook her head. "For an hour I thought, I thought you weren't going to make it. I thought, this is it? This is one of my only tethers to home, just cut. No valiant roar, no fighting tooth and nail to stay, just you, gone. And it felt like losing my parents all over again, but so much worse." "You and Dallas are my only connections to home," she continued with a sad smile. "And if you die, I don't think I could handle that for real." "Princess..." "So stay," she pressed. "Maybe it's selfish, but stay anyway. Because if you leave, I'm going to imagine the worst. You promised me once that you would never leave my side, and you'd always protect me. And if you leave--"

[originalhybridloverfics-backup]

Ch12 The Gift You Gave Me

Oliver, after much convincing, got Thea to go home. 

She was rather reluctant to leave Felicity’s side, but with a promise to attend dinner. She was on her way.

John was utterly amused, especially when once Thea was gone Felicity turned her full focus on Oliver, who had the decency to look like a scolded puppy.

“Felicity, I-“

“The next words out of your mouth better be an apology and not an excuse, Oliver Queen.” Felicity said sternly.

Oliver fell silent.

“I’m waiting,” said Felicity, expectantly.

“I thought you and Thea hit it off.” Oliver’s brow furrowed.

“We did.” Felicity grabbed her jacket, pulling it on. “But that doesn’t mean she didn’t grill me about every little detail of my life.” 

Oliver winced and looked at John.

“Don’t look at me. This is your mess,” said John, his amusement only increasing with Oliver’s pleading puppy dog look.

Oliver barely suppressed a groan. “I’m sorry.” 

“And?”

“I shouldn’t have left you to be interrogated by my sister.” Oliver continued.

“No, you shouldn’t have.” Felicity agreed. “Just consider yourself very lucky that I happen to like your sister a lot after spending hours with her or else I would have made you regret it.”

Oliver nodded. “I promise to never ambush you again or leave you with my family without being sure you’re okay with it.” 

“That’s all I ask,” said Felicity, grabbing her bag. “Now, let’s get going. We have things to do before dinner with your sister tonight.” 

“I’m not expected to be there, right?” asked John hopefully.

“No, you get to go have dinner with Carly and AJ. while I and Oliver get to explain that we are just friends despite my special condition.” Felicity answered. 

“I’m sorry, what?” Oliver interjected. “How does she know?”

“She’s smarter than people give her credit for?”

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Oliver moved around Felicity’s kitchen, gathering her a bowl of her favorite ice cream. 

Felicity saw it as a bribery to forgive him for today. One Felicity was glad to accept. She was craving something sweet.

“So, Thea know’s your pregnant. What else does she know?” Oliver wondered.

“We were in a public place. I said we could talk more about it at dinner tonight.” 

“What more is there to talk about?” Oliver asked while stealing a bite of her ice cream.

“Like the fact that she thinks you’re the father. She has no idea that Tommy,” her voice caught on his name, but she pushed through. “And I were together and believes you and I are more than friends.”

“Is that such a bad thing?” Oliver wondered.

“I’m sorry, what?” 

Felicity would’ve been less stunned if he told her he was going to reveal his true identity to all of Starling City.

“All of Starling hates anything related to Merlyn. I know they hate my family too, but while my parents were accomplices of the Undertaking, Malcom was its orchestrator.” Oliver reasoned. “You said it yourself being a Merlyn right now is like living with a bullseye on your back.”

She did say that, but she was scared at the time and thinking of everything her child would face from having Merlyn blood. 

And now all these reasons were still valid.

Her child will be in danger from the moment the world learns Tommy Merlyn was the father.

Even now that his body was resting 6 feet under, Tommy was being blamed for his father’s crimes, his memory tarnished. However,to lead everyone to believe Oliver was the father would come with its own problems.

Maybe it would be better to just say she had a drunken one-night stand and didn’t know who the father was and had no way of finding them.

“That doesn’t mean you have to say it’s yours. We don’t have to lie to your family,” Felicity argued.

“You’re right.” Oliver said after a moment. “But I want to be there and I think it’s the most logical option.”

“How do you figure?” Felicity wondered.

“I want to be there for you every step of the way. I want to go to every doctor appointment and I don’t ever want you to be alone in this,” Oliver said. “However, my life is complicated. More so than ever, with my mother’s involvement in the Undertaking being public knowledge. I’m always going to be a public figure. The media will most likely paint me as the father when they see us together all the time.”

“And you’re okay with that?” asked Felicity skeptically.

“Honestly, I encourage it. I want to protect you and your precious cargo. I want to give your child all the opportunities that Tommy would’ve.” Oliver said. “I want to make sure you both will have whatever you need.”

“I appreciate everything you want to do. I really do, but this isn’t a decision to make impulsively,” Felicity said. “We need to talk about this more. Look at it from every angle before marking a decision about this.”

Oliver nodded. “I’ll do whatever you want to, but there’s still my sister to deal with tonight. We’ll have to tell her something.”

“I know,” said Felicity.

Oliver understood Felicity’s hesitancy, but he knew he wasn’t going to change his mind about this. He wasn’t be impulsive. He thought about this over and over. It’s what he wanted, and he knew he would be able to give Felicity and the baby everything Tommy would’ve if he were here.

However, that was the thing. Tommy wasn’t here, he will never be able to, but he could do this for him.

He could protect Felicity and the baby. He could make sure they could want for nothing. He could be whatever they needed him to be.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

“Is it too late to turn back now?” Felicity asked Oliver, standing in the foyer of his home. 

She liked Oliver’s sister, but she wasn’t ready for another Thea Queen interrogation. Especially not one regarding her pregnancy.

“Yes, it is.” Thea walked into the room. 

Oliver took Felicity by the hand.

“Raisa is setting the table and dinner will be served in half an hour.” Thea hooked her arm with Felicity. “Do you remember my promise from earlier?”

Felicity's eyes lit up as she pulled her hand from Oliver’s, her earlier reservations forgotten.

“What promise?” asked Oliver, looking at the pair.

“Thea promised pictures to go along with stories about you as a kid.” Felicity grinned.

“Thea, no.” Oliver looked at his sister sternly.

Thea was unphased. “Ollie, why don’t you go help Raisa?”

Before Oliver could protest further, Thea was tugging Felicity from the foyer and into the room his mother used to entertain the important guests.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Once they had settled on the couch, Thea retrieved the family album filled with pictures of Oliver’s adolescence.

Oliver watched from the doorway as Thea began telling a story of the time he and Tommy had tried to create their own chocolate fountain when they were twelve and when they were caught. They claimed it was her idea. She wasn’t even 3 at the time.

Oliver was tempted to interrupt, not wanting Thea to get into the really embarrassing stories of his youth, but couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not with the way Felicity’s eyes were lit up and the smile that brightened her face. Oliver lingered a little longer before pushing off the doorjamb to go see if Raisa needed any help.

A few minutes later, Oliver found Raisa setting the place settings. “Here, let me do that.” Oliver took over, setting the table. “Raisa, would you like to join us for dinner?”

Raisa looked up in surprise. In all her years working for the Queens, never had she been asked to join them for dinner.

“No,” she shook her head and smiled softly. “Thank you for asking, but I ate something earlier.”

“Well, if you change your mind, the offer stands.” Oliver assured her.

Raisa smiled and patted his hand affectionately. “You’re a good man.”

Oliver covered her hand with his own, appreciating the sentiment even if he didn’t quite agree with her.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Felicity laughed as Thea pointed out a photo of both Tommy and Oliver, covered in chocolate from head to toe.

“Not for the first time. Ollie and Tommy got it in their head that it would be fun to have a chocolate fountain for my eighth birthday. Really, they wanted to lick chocolate off their flavor of the day. So I pushed them into the fountain.”

“That sounds like them.” Felicity murmured, her eyes finding another photo of a beaming Thea, with Oliver and Tommy freshly showered, bright smiles in place.

Felicity's left hand rested on her stomach as her finger hovered over Tommy’s image. He looked so young, carefree. Happy. His blue eyes shined with so much life.

Tears gathered in Felicity’s eyes.

Thea stared down at Tommy’s image. “I miss him so much.”

“Me too.” Felicity's voice cracked, and she took a shaky breath.

Thea’s eyes shot to Felicity, hearing the tears in her voice, but it was the pain in Felicity’s eyes that had a vice constricting around Thea’s heart.

It was the look of someone who had lost their other half.

Thea’s eyes flickered from Felicity’s hand resting over her stomach to the way she caressed Tommy’s image.

The sadness that suddenly radiated from Felicity. Grief came off the blonde in waves. 

“Oh my God.”

Felicity looked at Thea questioningly.

“Tommy.” Thea said, eyes wide." Tommy’s the father. Not Oliver."

Felicity was quiet for a long moment. “You’re smarter and more observant than people give you credit for.”

Without a word, Thea threw her arms around Felicity, clinging to her.

Felicity wasn’t sure how to react, but when the younger woman started to lightly shake around her, her arms came up around her, instinctively trying to comfort her. “It’s ok. You’re okay.”

Thea sniffled against her, shaking her head. Felicity rocked her gently, humming quietly.

In that way, her momma did for her when she was a little girl, and was upset

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Oliver walked back into the room to tell Thea and Felicity dinner was ready, but stopped short.

He hadn’t really seen Thea cry since everything that happened. Not really.

Thea hated to have people see her as weak. A trait he believed she got from their mother.

Yet here she was, crying on Felicity’s shoulder and letting her comfort her.

She was letting herself be vulnerable. Felicity seemed to have this ability, this warmth that made you open up to her, especially when you were feeling your most vulnerable.

He remained silent, just observing.

Felicity looked up at him not long after.

‘Thank You,’ he mouth silently, hoping she could see in his eyes how grateful he was for her being there for his sister.

‘Anytime,’ she mouth back.

Oliver slipped quietly from the room, giving Thea a little longer.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Thea sniffled, breathed deeply.

“I’m sorry.” She said, pulling away from Felicity. 

“Don’t be.” Felicity said. “contrary to popular belief that the best way to deal with emotions is not to bottle it up. It is better to let it out sometimes.”

Thea laughed and reached for Felicity’s hand. 

She clasped back tightly." It’s okay to cry." 

“Thank you,” said Thea gratefully, and Felicity smiled.

“Raisa says dinner is ready,” Oliver announced. Appearing in the open entryway.

Thea quickly wiped at her eyes. “I’m going to freshen up real quick.” She said, excusing herself. 

“Ice cream after dinner,” Felicity ask Oliver hopefully as Thea retreated from the room.

Oliver couldn’t help but smile. He extended his hand to her.

Felicity placed her hand in his, allowing him to help her up.

“Is Thea okay?” asked Oliver, moving his hand to her lower back as he guided her from the room.

“No, but I have a feeling she will be,” Felicity replied. “She’s strong. She’ll pull through. We all will.”

Oliver was glad to hear her include herself and sound like she meant it.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Oliver pulled Felicity’s chair out for her as Raisa brought in the last of the food.

“Welcome, Miss Felicity.” Raisa greeted with a welcoming smile.

“Hello, Raisa. I hope you will be joining us?” said Felicity in return.

“I can’t but thank you.” Raisa smiled. 

“Next time?” Felicity insisted.

“I’ll join you for breakfast in the morning.” Raisa promised.

“Oh,” Felicity’s face flushed. “I’m not spending the night.”

Raisa hummed. “Then Mr. Oliver will bring you for breakfast then.”

Before Felicity or Oliver could respond, Thea emerged, joining them at the table and Raisa took the opportunity to slip from the room. 

“So, Tommy’s going to be a father?” said Thea, lifting her glass of water to her lips.

Oliver looked at Felicity.

“I didn’t tell her,” said Felicity. “She figured it out when I started crying, looking at his photos.”

“I’m sorry, I just assumed it was Ollie’s.He rarely has female friends.” Thea apologized. “And I thought Tommy was with Laurel. I had no idea he was seeing someone else.”

“It’s complicated.” Oliver said in defense of Tommy and Felicity.

“I’m not judging,” Thea said quickly. “I’m just trying to understand.”

“It’s okay.” Felicity said, but didn’t elaborate more on her relationship with Tommy. 

She knew if she started really thinking about it, talking about him. There would be nothing to keep her from crying. And once she got started, she was afraid she’d never be able to stop. 

“What are you going to do?” Thea asked. 

“I’m keeping it.” Felicity answered. “This baby is the last piece of Tommy I have, and it’s a part of me. I won’t give that up.”

“Do you have a support system? Someone to help you?” asked Thea." Do you have family here?"

“Thea, slow down with all the questions.” said Oliver. “You’re going to overwhelm her.” 

“It’s alright.” Felicity waved away Oliver’s concern. I don’t have family here, but I know a thing or two about single mothers. I was raised by one. I know it won’t be easy, but nothing worthwhile is. And yes, I have a support system." Felicity looked at Oliver. “I have Oliver and my friend John. I’m not alone.”

Oliver smiled and reach out to squeeze Felicity’s hand.

Thea reached out to cover Felicity’s other hand. “And you have me.” Thea grinned. “I will spoil this kid rotten. It’s my duty as its aunt.”

Felicity laughed. “It’s only right.” She agreed. 

“If you’re meant to spoil them, what am I supposed to do?” Oliver asked good-naturedly. 

“You’re the boring uncle, obviously,” said Thea. 

“Obviously.” Oliver repeated, sharing a smile with Felicity, and Thea grinned.

The rest of dinner was entertaining with both Queen siblings sharing stories from their youth with Felicity.

Raisa returned to gather up the dishes after Thea excused herself to accept a call. However, Felicity insisted she and Oliver take care of the dishes and wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Felicity washed the dishes while Oliver toweled dried them.

“You know, we do have a perfectly good dish washer?” Oliver pointed out.

“A little work and effort never hurt anyone.” Felicity retorted, making Oliver laugh. 

Raisa smiled from the kitchen island behind them where she was seated, writing her meal plans for the next day.

And although Ms. Felicity insisted she wouldn’t be there, she had every intention of preparing a healthy balanced meal to benefit a woman in Felicity’s condition.

Raisa quietly observed Felicity and Oliver, watching when Felicity would offer up small smiles and the way Oliver laughed with her.

Raisa noted even in difficult times, the pair could make each other smile.

It was a strong bond they were forming, and she hoped it would continue to grow.

She liked Ms. Felicity. She was good for Mr. Oliver and Raisa thought she could be good for all of them.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

After the dishes were done, Thea managed to convince Felicity and Oliver to join her for a movie.

Felicity agreed with the promise of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

It was a chick flick which Oliver complained about but sat through it next to Felicity. Felicity was half asleep against Oliver’s shoulder when the credits rolled.

Oliver gently slid a pillow beneath Felicity’s head and slowly moved off the couch.

Thea watched as he slipped his shoes on, followed by his jacket. “Where are you going?” 

“I have to get Felicity home,” he answered, slipping keys from the coffee table into his pocket.

Felicity, hearing her name mention, slowly rose. “I do need my bed.” Felicity covered her mouth to hide a tired yawn.

“Why don’t you stay here?” Thea suggested. “There’s plenty of room.”

“I don’t want to impose.” Felicity replied, standing and stretching slowly.

“You’re not.” said Thea. “Stay.”

“You did promise breakfast with Raisa tomorrow.” Oliver reminded her.

That was true. If she went home, she would’ve to get up earlier than she planned to come over here for breakfast.

“I didn’t bring a change of clothes.” Felicity protested weakly.

“I’m sure we can find you something,” Thea insisted.

Felicity chewed her lip hesitantly.

“I would really like it if you stay.” Thea was like a dog with a bone and wasn’t ready to give up.

“Can I sleep in Tommy’s room?”

Oliver’s eyes softened as surprise flitted across Thea’s face.

“Of course.” Oliver said, gripping her hand. ‘’Anything you want."

“Okay then.” Felicity conceded. “I’ll stay.” 

“I’ll bring you a change of clothes.” Thea said and disappeared from the room.

“I’ll walk you.’’ Oliver placed the palm of his hand against her back.

“Good, cause I’m having trouble remembering where it is.” Felicity replied. And Oliver chuckled in response.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Felicity stepped into Tommy’s old room and, strangely enough, it felt like coming home. All the touches of Tommy never failed to set her at ease.

Oliver leaned in the door, instantly seeing a change in her. Her spine wasn’t as rigid, her shoulders relaxed. There was an ease that set in the moment she stepped into the room.

Felicity sat down on the edge of the bed and let her hair down from her signature ponytail. 

Oliver watched as she ran her fingers through it, trying to tame her blonde curls.

“Okay, so I was able to find a pair of my pajamas that look like they could fit you,” Thea said, walking into the room with a bundle of clothes. “And I’ll have something for you to wear in the morning.”

“Thank you.” Felicity excepted the bundle of clothes.

“You’re welcome.” Thea stepped back out of the room. “See you tomorrow.”

While Thea started back down the hall, Oliver lingered in the doorway.

“If you need anything..”

“I know,” Felicity smiled in thanks. “You’re right across the hall.”

Oliver nodded and left the room a few minutes later, giving Felicity time to get settled in.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Thea was waiting in Oliver’s room for him.

“I wanted to talk,” Thea told him.

Oliver settled behind his desk. “What do you want to know?” he asked knowingly.

“How long did you know about the baby?” asked Thea.

“Felicity told me not long after Tommy’s funeral.” Oliver told her.

“And how long have you known about Tommy and Felicity?” Thea asked.

“Felicity was Tommy’s emergency contact,” he said, shocking Thea. “She was a wreck after learning of his death. I found her sobbing so hard she couldn’t breathe. That’s how I found out.”

“It was pretty serious between them, wasn’t it?” asked Thea, not really expecting an answer. “I mean, Tommy made her his emergency contact.”

It made Thea wonder what else Tommy might have done.

“They were in love.” Oliver answered. “I don’t think it gets more serious than that.”

Thea came to lean on his desk in front of him. “I can’t believe Tommy’s gonna be a dad, and he’s gonna miss it. He always wanted a family of his own.”

“I’ve been going to the baby appointments.” Oliver confessed. ‘’I thought if Tommy couldn’t be there, then I would."

“How far along is she?” asked Thea.

“Not long. I think almost two months. I’m not for certain, though. Still, I got to hear the baby’s heartbeat and see the baby on the ultrasound. It’s so surreal, speedy.”

“What?” Thea breathed. “I wish I could’ve...” she trailed off.

Oliver pulled out his wallet and removed a folded photo. He unfolded it carefully and held it out.

Thea reaches out slowly, holding the photo in her hands carefully, like broken glass. She stared down at the sonogram, her eyes watering. “Wow,” she said in awe. “Knowing it and seeing it are two different things. This makes it so much more real.”

Oliver nodded in agreement, accepting the photo Thea gingerly handed back to him.

“I wish Tommy was here.” Thea murmured sadly. 

“You and me both, Speedy.” Oliver reached out, taking her hand, squeezing it in support.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Felicity stepped out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her body. Droplets of water falling from the wet strands of her hair. She stepped up to the dresser and pulled out one of Tommy’s shirt’s. She sprayed it with his cologne on the dresser before slipping it on.

She finished getting dressed, pulling on the pajama bottoms Thea loaned her.

Combing her fingers through her hair, she slipped beneath the covers on Tommy’s side, burying her face in the pillow. She prayed she wouldn’t have another nightmare.

[mermaidsirennikita]

i imagine you heard about the cait corrain stuff?

Oh, yeah. I saw her recent non-apology. A couple thoughts on that:

A) as somewhat with mental health issues that can be somewhat severe when I'm not properly medicated/doing therapy (I have bipolar disorder) I find it pretty offensive when people blame their bad behavior on mental health issues. I'm not perfect; I've definitely done some shit I'm not proud of when in the midst of depressive or manic episodes. But I've never been incapable of some degree of awareness, and I tend to feel (based on many years of therapy and psychiatric treatment) that it is relatively rare for people with serious mental health conditions (including substance abuse) to be absolutely "not at the wheel" as it were. Yes, people do have psychotic episodes (although, I feel as somewhat with the diagnosis I have--I often see people with the same diagnosis treat mania as shorthand for a "psychotic episode", but mania and psychosis are not the same; mania can result in psychosis, but they do not inherently go hand in hand; I've been manic multiple times, but I have never been psychotic, and I've never had true delusions). Yes, people have delusions. I don't think that's what happened with Cait, and I'll tell you why.

Cait says she had a "complete psychological breakdown". This does not track for me. Based on her general behavior, I think Cait would've mentioned if she suffered from psychosis. Hell, I think Cait would have mentioned if she'd suffered from mania, as again, people tend to get this incorrect idea that mania means you have zero control of your actions. Because she didn't mention those things, I can believe she suffers from mental health issues, I can believe she has substance abuse issues, but I do think she absolutely used manipulative language here that left a lot to be interpreted. Does she owe us her diagnosis or diagnoses? Of course not. But "complete psychological breakdown" is some vague wording that imo is there to imply something bigger than "I was really depressed/anxious" (which can be a big deal! You can say that! It doesn't deprive you of responsibility, ut it's a big deal) without committing to a false diagnosis.

b) The lack of responsibility for the racially targeted nature of her sabotage is honestly... not surprising, but still so abhorrent. Cait did not solely go after authors of color (correct me if I'm wrong--I think there was at least one who was white) but she did primarily go after authors of color. Additionally, she--and I'll be honest, I do think this was calculated--either sicced her friend or passively let her friend essentially slander a disabled Black woman (the "albino in the hen house" comments, which I don't think were at all meant in an ableist fashion, and I genuinely don't see how a logical person could interpret them in any way other than "there is a white person who is a fox in the hen house". Come on.).

Furthermore, I noticed that least two of the authors Cait didn't mention there were authors of color. We know she low-starred Thea Guanzon's book, and Thea was apparently a legit friend who met Cait in person and blurbed her book? She also low-starred R.M. Virtues's books, which is truly deranged as R.M. writes books that really don't have much crossover with Cait's, aside from featuring Greek myths (I think? I know that's what he writes, her book is murkier to me) and poc. R.M. is a Black trans man, by the way, so...

c) I personally believe these were calculated moves as well. Thea has a big fanbase that Cait didn't want coming after her any more than they already are. Cait left R.M. Virtues off the list because she was afraid of being accused of not only racism, but transphobia. And she of course left off authors like Xiran Jay Zhao and Bethany Baptise because they had her number and she's afraid of them.

Plus, the authors she specifically apologized to were authors she essentially admitted to with her staged "Lilly" situation, so she couldn't avoid confirming that.

d) I've already seen white authors trying to excuse what she's done. And that's just so disgusting to me--as a writer, as a reader, as someone with basic human decency. There is basically nothing Cait can say to justify her actions. The best thing she could have done was own up, sincerely apologize, and take full responsibility.

e) I've seen some discussion surrounding Del Rey apparently moving Cait's book to a 2027 pub year. In their initial statement, they did say specifically that she was being removed from their 2024 schedule. That does leave some room for her to be published later.

Now, this could have to do with them still working out contract issues; it could be cold cost-benefits analysis; this could be all of the above. The thing is that there are books that I kind of doubt will ever be published unless things really change (Maya Banks's next Scottish book) that still have dates programmed in. I don't think Cait's book still having a release date means it's definitely coming out.

No matter what, she hurt people. It would be laughably stupid if the harm caused wasn't a reality. Ridiculous.

[masterthespianduchovny]

I do not dislike Michelle Keller, formerly Michelle Lasso, but I do dislike how the series and most fans either refuse to criticize her or defend her.

I understand that fans, esp women, are compelled to defend Michelle because she’s a woman and women are overly criticized and dragged unnecessarily at times. I get that. However, there would be think pieces about Michelle is she were Michael. And I truly hate this current trend of pretending everything is different when it’s a woman involved.

It’s quite strange how people are so sad for Ted being made to feel like he’s too much—hmm, I wonder who made him feel that way—and are rooting for him to have a happy ending with someone who accepts him as he is. Then when you directly criticize Michelle, it’s a ton of excuses about how separation/divorce is hard, Ted wouldn’t be transparent with her, and so forth.

While this is true, intentionally or not, Michelle still hurt Ted in a major way. And, I don’t know about you all, but I believe you should still apologize for hurting someone even if it wasn’t intentional.

Michelle became short tempered with him and had an issue whenever he tried to do things for her. While her reaction wasn’t malicious, there’s nothing wrong with, “hey, I know you meant well. I just—it’s hard being around you and having this life with you when I don’t even feel like I know you. I shouldn’t have lashed out. You didn’t deserve that.”

Boom!

This NEVER happens.

Michelle never has to take any accountability for the things she’s down, which we know has a major effect on Ted. Essentially, people are arguing he deserved that treatment all while saying, “poor Ted.”

Michelle making Ted feel bad for saying “I love you.” I understand Michelle was going through her own shit, but Christ! Would we defending her if the genders were switched? I’ll need to rewatch the episode to really dig into that, but it felt unnecessarily cruel even if she didn’t intend for it to be so.

Someone will correct me on this, but Michelle and ted separate in February and by March of that same year she’s pushing for ted to sign divorce papers. It’s not like he’s a busy man or anything??? Literally most divorces, esp considering how long they’d been married, take a while to happen. Ted fucking granted her the divorce without her even asking and was kind about the entire thing and Michelle is pushing for a divorce within the month.

Is that not strange?

I honestly think this was just a bad writing choice, but my God, I can’t imagine the discourse if Ted was a woman—Thea. And how “Michael” would be dragged for that and people speculating that either they were cheating or wanted to be with new and different women. Not even accounting for how some would relate to “Thea” and how their ex did them dirty.

But again, we can’t talk about that. No matter how fucked up that was, NOPE!

And this recent shit. I don’t even know.

I don’t know if it’s a case of poor writing or not because I don’t think the series is going to go there. Meaning I don’t think the series is going to say Dr. Jacobs groomed Michelle. But let’s keep in mind that he was her therapist originally, and then their marriage counselor. He was the one who fueled Ted’s dislike of therapists and always sided with Michelle. I don’t think Ted even felt like he could be heard.

When Dr. Jacobs realizes it’s Ted, he freezes as if being caught. As if he was cheating with Michelle. Even Michelle is acting suspicious as fuck. There’s no, “I didn’t want him to find out about this, he may take it hard.” It felt like they’d both done something they were supposed to be doing. Both come off as guilty as hell.

Do I think the actually had an affair?

No.

Or maybe it was an emotional affair.

But people love to skip over the shit Michelle does (or inadvertently blame Ted) and it’s fucking annoying. Not necessarily because they don’t pay attention to her, but because the discussion around her behavior when they actually engage with it is either brushing off what she does or defending it.

[raywritesthings]

Laurel Lance (E1)

Sure thing, anon!

First impression: honestly I would be lying if I say I remember my first impression of Laurel, which sounds bad, but it's because I came to Arrow via way of Flash so my first exposure to her was that barely-thirty-seconds scene in the first Flash and Arrow crossover. I truthfully probably didn't even realize she was supposed to be Dinah Laurel Lance aka Black Canary until her appearance opposite Cisco in a later episode of Flash that season, at which point I was like "oh cool, they're bringing in Black Canary". Then I was really confused to discover when starting Arrow that she'd been there since episode 1 but seemed to have so miniscule a role in the grand scheme of things. Yeah, that really should've been a sign to run far away from this show while I still had the chance...

Impression now: I love her. Truthfully, I both do see her as Black Canary, but I also see her as a sort of separate entity from the comics itself, with her own unique merits struggles than what Dinah typically has. So while I love her because she's Black Canary and I love Black Canary, I also love her because she's Laurel, specifically.

Favorite moment: Ah man, this is hard to choose. Her fight scenes from the early seasons and some in s4, basically any scene with her and Thea or Nyssa, a lot of her deleted scenes with Oliver (gee, I wonder why those were all cut), so on and so forth.

Idea for a story: You don't wanna know how many WIPs I've got waiting in the wings, anon. But as far as a story strictly about just Laurel goes, I'm kind of tempted to do an AU post s1 where Oliver's spiel about how he's just holding Laurel back is actually super true and she just gets things together for the city and makes it much better without him. Like if he's gonna go sulk and not be the support she needs during a seriously hard time then I'd rather watch her be the hero of this story, thanks.

Unpopular opinion: I have no idea what's popular or unpopular regarding opinions on Laurel these days, but to cover the basics -- She was completely right to call SWAT on the Hood/Arrow that one time given he was an armed and dangerous stranger who violated the boundary she had already verbally set, she should not have had to apologize to her sister for being rightfully upset that she slept with her boyfriend (does this require further explanation??), and people hating on her for bringing Sara back to life is hypocritical bs since those same people were upset about Sara being killed off in s3 to begin with so she literally gave them what they wanted by bringing Sara back.

Favorite relationship: Overall favorite has gotta be the Laurel-Thea BroTP. Nothing tops it, not any of her romantic relationships (canon or fanon) or any of her blood family.

Favorite headcanon: idk that she's still alive? Haha, all my thoughts about Laurel have to exist in headcanons where she's not been fridged and where the people in her life treat her better than they did in canon, anon. In my headcanon instead of her constantly deserving better and being let down, she just gets the love and respect she deserved.

Thanks for sending in!

[spellbcok]

#𝐇𝐖𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝟔 starter call.

going to keep this simple as it's pretty last minute. if you'd like to plot then give this a like & i'll hit you up. otherwise, reply below for starter(s). you can find the aesthetics~ for everyone here (click the images for full size).

anastasia scarlet (going solo): ??/?? — plans to network (mostly going just to dress up though). she's not going to dance or be particularly festive.

anya jenkins (going solo): 2/?? liu qingge, ethan — honestly, had zero plans to go due to how other events in this city always end up. was eventually dragged here by someone.

blair waldorf (going solo): 1/?? rachel green — she came, she saw, she judged. blair wouldn't miss out on a gala, even ones that maybe she should. she's definitely regretting not staying home and watching roman holiday with macarons.

chloe decker (came to get trixie): 1/?? max, jamie — she was meant to work, but trixie heard free candy and more than likely snuck in so she's here to get her.

do dohee (blind date with harvey hufflepuff): ??/?? — dohee's only goal is to get married; however, not everyone is up for a quickie courthouse marriage in the middle of a first meeting, so will probably scare people (blind date included) away with her forthright nature.

tak dongkyung (going with doom): 1/?? sally, doom — here for all the fun! then will probably want to go home after an hour. but she'll enjoy it as much as she can until her inner homebody wants to lounge on a couch in sweats and watch tv or read.

ji euntak (will be with kim shin): 3/?? craig manning, junwoong, soren , pyrrha — not an official date, but euntak does find talking with kim shin fascinating. will be taking full advantage of the open bar and candy bowls while avoiding ghosts.

lorelai gilmore (blind date with kili oakenshield): 2/?? lu junyi, georgia, scarlett — mom signed her up for a blind date & is making her attend. she'll probably be a whole mess... especially with the open bar.

lydia martin (going with charlie weasley): 5/?? charlie, allison, romeo, tara, isaac — excited to be dressing up, be on a date, and just wants to have stress-free fun.

nora grey (going with patch): 1/?? arnold, rory — another nerd. will mostly likely spend most of her time away from the dancing & drinking and just exploring the museum. lest patch or someone drags her away.

ren ruyi (going solo): 1/?? feng yu — will be people watching mostly. she might partake if pressed, but she is more of an observer.

sabrina spellman (going solo): 3/?? hongjo, thea, fliss — stopped in to take a much needed break from trying to figure this place out. you will find her on the dance floor almost all night.

yan hui (blind date with wyatt lykensen): 1/?? a-xiang, wyatt — she didn't even know what she was signing up for or what this even is. but she was told it'll be fun and it's like a fancy party, so why not? it's not like she has much else to do.

son yeonseo (going with yoon chiwoo): 2/?? chiwoo, rosalie — not particularly thrilled to be here. fancy parties like this give her bad vibes for some reason (probably residual feelings from her past & all the wine authenticating she was forced to do for her dad). will try to have fun, though.

ki yuri (blind date with alyla vane): 1/?? alyla yeon, — is really looking for a fight or cause some sort of destruction after hearing lee rang is dead in the future (or past? present? however time works here as it is still confusing her).