#got a little wordsy sorry

[lifesanssin]

I've seen days where all the hope and color was absent from the world, and days that I didn't want to survive. I've been down and defeated, and I've struggled and had to fight, tooth and nail, just to get to the next day.

But I've also seen surprise parties, and laughed with friends as we tried to paint like Bob Ross. I've had soft moments with my children, where they just wanted to cuddle up with Mom. I've felt pride in creating, in growing plants from seed and watching new life sprout. I've had red velvet cake that was sweetened even more by the fact someone remembered it was my favorite.

Today is my birthday. I've survived 30 years in this world, and inside my own mind. Today I woke up and cared for my plants, and had my favorite soda, and am now very warm and cozy back in bed.

While I might not always feel this way, I know I'll feel it again. Right here, right now, I'm very happy to be alive. 💜

[jmkho]

The One Where They Go On A Disney Cruise

Summary: Sammy booked a nice sea voyage vacation for the boys….

Words: 2.8k

Warnings: swearing, drinking, cruise ships, stuck on a vessel with these 4 in the middle of the ocean, not enough research done of cruises

Note: THIS IS FOR THE ANON 👤 THAT REQ THIS YONKS AGO!! I'm so sorry it's taken me a long ass time but health problems & just reaaaalllly not in the mood to write, got the best of me 🙏❤️

————————-

The boys were all smiles as they hauled their luggage up the ramp to board the ship. Danny had been meaning to comment on the size of one of Sammy’s bags as he kept moaning it was, ‘fucking heavy’ but got distracted to try and keep the guys all in check at the airport.

“Sammy, dude. What the fuck did you pack in that?” Danny asked as the bassist walked in front of him up the ramp, leading everyone onto the vessel as he struggled with his two bags and fanny pack.

“Shoes.” He simply replied seriously. Danny didn’t know if he was joking or being serious but he also couldn’t even say anything to that because Josh and Jake were shoving themselves into the back of him trying to make him walk quicker.

“Quit it!” Josh yelled out behind him to his excited twin.

“DID YOU KNOW THEY DO PIRATE NIGHT?”

Sam grinned to himself. He purposely booked their vacation when the woman told him it had been cancelled for an unknown circumstance but it was available on other cruise ships. Just to fuck with him. “Might not witness that while we’re on this buddy.”

Jake’s smile fell. “What? Why?” That had to be bullshit. Sam was fucking with him surely. Pirate night was held on every third night of the cruise! It was a STAPLE in Disney Cruises!

They all made it onto the cruise ship. The grand exterior of the main lobby was insane. Josh had his head looking right up at the ceiling of the massive ship as if he was looking at stars.

Sam pushed his sunglasses onto his head and turned to his older brother. “It’s pirate night 365 days for you anyway! So what difference does it make?”

Jake pouted a little.

“Besides, we came here to relax, chill, and drink.”

Danny snorted. “Isn’t that you 365 days of the year?” Sam ignored him but Jake grinned at the taller man for sticking up for him.

“Did you know that Disney Cruise ships have never had one that-“ Josh began but Danny held up his hand. “Nope. None of that. Hearing about every fucking ride and it’s faults was enough. Nothing about cruise ships please.”

Josh’s face fell to match his twins previous expression.

“I tried to book us a room each but, I thought let’s share and save money so we can spend it on other stuff.” Sam declared. “Me and Daniel-“

“Daniel and I” Jake corrected him.

Sam’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t grammar check me. Just because you use the longest words in existence when you post something."

Jake let out a deep sigh. They’ll never let him live that down. He just wanted a nice wordsy post not the usual boring stuff. He wanted something fancy.

“Daniel and I…..” He widened his eyes as he looked at Jake. “Will be sharing a room-“

“Why can’t I share with Daniel?” Jake asked.

“Yeah, why do Jake and I have to share?” Josh piped up.

Sam closed his eyes. “Because, if I shared with any of you on this thing I think I’d actually murder someone. Besides, you two communicate in that….” He started wiggling his finger at them as he thought of what to say. “That….non-verbal way you do. With the looks and the hand gestures. Perfect. Also you two love being together and would probably moan about not being together if I did split you up! ”

Jake and Josh looked at one another and then nodded. Yeah.

They grabbed their bags and trudged off to their room after check in. It took a little longer because Jake was asking if there were any themed rooms on the cruise ship.

There were

He then asked if there were any pirate themed rooms.

There weren’t.

Jake was bewildered. No pirate theme rooms on a SHIP?! Blasphemy!

The lady behind the desk began to tell them about pirate themed rooms and places at other destinations and Jake wanted more details but Danny told them to move on and get to their rooms to settle in, unpack and get this vacation started.

Sam smiled widely as he entered their room. There were two big twin beds, a nice bathroom, comfortable looking pillows and a mini bar. Perfect.

Danny was smiling as he walked over to his bed and placed his bags down. He looked out the window and grinned. “I needed this.”

Sam nodded. “Same. Looking after you lot really takes a toll on a person.”

Danny’s head slowly turned to look at his friend, staring in disbelief.

Sam ignored the bewildered look from his not blood-brother brother, kicked off his sandals and clapped his hands, and rubbed them together as he grinned. “Now, let’s go explore this big bitch!”

—————————————-

Josh and Jake were in the middle of their room doing rock, scissors, paper, to see who would get the bed near the window. It was their 3rd game as it was best out of 5 since Jake lost the first two.

“You know what, just take the damn bed near the window, Jake.”

Jake bounced over to the bed and threw his stuff down before shoving his face against the window. “Ahhhhhh”

Josh watched as his twin took a deep breathe, despite the window being closed.

“I”m taking it you’re excited?” Josh asked as he looked down at his phone. The brightness would make anyone else shriek back in horror but he was used to it and liked the glow it gave off.

Jake didn’t even answer, he turned to Josh and his beacon light of a phone. Just staring at him. Josh knew that look when he looked over to him.

“Okay fine.” He let out then lifted a hand and gestured in the air. Jake threw his head back with a laugh. “Okay deal!”

—————————————-

Danny and Sam were walking along the deck. They were taking photos with Sam’s beloved Olympus 35, laughing, posing weirdly, getting looks but also smiles at their antics. “You know we could have just filled the cooler and gone to the river again with some dinghies.”

Sam ignored him. True they could have, but last time it was a mess. The cooler got filled with river water, Jake’s Taki’s got wet, Sam ended up stuck in a shrub and Danny had to get out and help him, and Josh nearly went flying into a rock.

Soon, they wandered to look over the rail of the ship, drinks in hand. They smiled at each other, clinked their glasses and enjoyed the vast view of the blue ocean. There was silence but it was peaceful until Sam said, “You ever thought about diving off the side of a-“

“Come on let’s try and find where they are” Danny pulled him away from the rail.

——————

Josh and Jake were inside and found themselves with some cast members. Josh was giggling at Mickey as he stood there listening to the vocalis rant about life, his hand waving in the air. “You see? We just need to embrace life and live it. Not thinking about how it will all end, we need to make memories and live the now-“ Mickey was holding his hands to his mouth as if he was in shock but also laughing. Jake was ignoring the whole situation of Josh giving Mickey an existential crisis and was taking selfies with Goofy in his sailor clothes.

“There they are!” Sam called out and ran over, drink in hand as his paper umbrella went flying. He suddenly stopped, pointed at Donald who also pointed back at him as if he recognised Sam. Then they both pointed at each other's bare feet. “Give me a hug you wacky duck!” Sam let out and hugged the adorable character.

Danny also got a picture with Pluto and Minnie as they posed for Sam’s camera. He walked over to Jake as he finished taking pictures with Goofy and beamed a smile.

“Just got down here?”

Jake shook his head. “Nah, we’ve been here for an hour. Josh won’t leave Mickey alone.”

Danny snorted a laugh and looked over to the shorter man who was still talking to the mouse. “Okay” he walked over, smiled at Mickey and put his hands on Josh’s shoulders. “Time to let Mickey have a break dude.” He began to shove Josh away as Mickey waved, the shorter man still trying to talk to him.

“Let’s get you a tequila soda and some snacks.” Josh suddenly perked up and stopped talking about life and death. The boys found themselves in the ship bar. They warned the staff there they would see a lot of them and they already got free shots and were on a first name basis with most of them.

“So what now?” Jake called out as the conversation died down.

Sam looked at each of them. “Yeah, what do we do on a cruise ship?”

They all glanced at each other and shrugged.

—————

The next day.

The boys decided to try and relax by the pool. Jake was wearing black swimming trunks and his straw hat, along with a book in hand.

Josh was going to wear a gold speedo but Jake slapped it out of his hand. He decided to wear a pair of striped shorts and some sandals, along with a big pair of sunglasses and a long Japamala.

Sam was wearing his short shorts in purple, no sandals, sunglasses and had a cocktail ready to go.

Danny wore a pair of mustard yellow trunks, his hair tied into a bun on his head, a beer in hand and a smile.

They lay on their sunbeds as people did the same, some in the pool, some just walking around.

“This is too calm for us.” Sam let out.

Danny turned to him. “This was your idea. I said we should have gone to the river.”

Jake was sitting reading his book, “but snacks don’t get wet on here.” He mumbled.

“I BET SOME STUFF DOES GET WET ON HERE WOAHHOEEE WHEEYHEYY” Josh loudly let out. Sam smiled at his bizarre older brother.

“What else do we do on cruises?” Danny asked out. They all looked at each other, apart from Jake who was still reading.

Sam closed his eyes trying to soak in the peacefulness. Okay it did feel too calm but hey, at least there was no annoying pirate night. Right?

Like clockwork, a speaker on the deck made a bell sound.

“Ladies and gentleman, we have an announcement to make. You were informed that Pirate Night was in fact cancelled due to some circumstances. However, we are delighted to announce that Pirate Night SHALL be happening as usual and the third night of our journey.”

The people around them erupted into cheers. Jake was beaming a smile at the page of his book before he put it down.

“You have got to be shitting me!?” Was all Sam let out loudly as he looked at the rest of the people all happy and then back at the boys. Danny was delighted. He was smiling and actually excited. Hell, even he wanted to dress up in pirate gear and run around on this big bitch of a boat.

Josh was smiling as he looked at his twin. Jake perked up an eyebrow at him and Josh nodded and then lifted his left hand and made a gesture with his index finger and then thumb. Jake laughed and nodded back before he pulled a face. “Okay, but only if you let me have the sword this time.” Josh answered back to that and settled back into his sunlounger as Jake beamed a happy smile.

Meanwhile, Sam was looking out at the blue waves. He was imagining himself on a raft trying to escape with one of the cast members . No idea who he’d try to shove on the raft with him. Either Donald or Pluto.

He nudged Danny. “You ever wonder how long a person can survive at sea?”

—————————————————————

The last day.

Josh had an adventure on the cruise ship. Last night he found an unlocked costume room and decided to put on a Mickey Mouse outfit. Weirdly, he got away with being Mickey for around 6 hours until he felt like he was going to faint from the heat and tried to slap Sam when he heard him let out a joke about his brother and his whereabouts.

Josh was made to promise to not cause anymore trouble while on the ship or else they would be banned from any Happiest place on Earth or water forever.

Jake didn’t give a shit about anything else. Tonight was Pirate Night. And you best believe he brought his clothes with him. Everything but his real sword because last time they got in trouble at Medieval Times. For this occasion, he has a bubble sword which he thought would be fitting with the boat AND it’s fun!

Danny was taking a photo of Goofy holding Sam in a headlock, laughing and trying not to break down completely at the image of Sam legitimately getting a little freaked out and the soulless smile Goofy was giving to the camera.

“ARRRRRRR!” Was all he heard from behind him along with people saying, “Oh my god! This year they have Pirates of the Caribbean cast members?”

He turned around with a smile knowing what he was going to see. And there Jake was. Stood with one foot on the railing of the ship, posing with his hand out as people took photos. He was wearing his pirate outfit, complete with a hat this time with a red bandana on his head underneath, eyeliner, hair teased a little, giving Jack Sparrow if he shaved. Danny laughed when he spotted the bubble sword tucked away in his belt.

People started taking photos with Jake as he stood there with the sea and the horizon behind him. Posing away as Sam finally got out of Goofy’s headlock. “He really was a fucking pirate in his last life.” Danny nodded

“What do you think you were?” He genuinely wanted to know

Sam took a sip of a drink that appeared in his hand as he took his camera from Danny with the other. “I don’t know….a garden gnome?” He said seriously before walking away from his friend to quickly snap a picture of Jake with a bunch of people taking photos with him.

“Ladies and Gentlemen! Pirate Night!” Was announced loudly and everyone started cheering as the cast members were all in a line, waving and dancing to the music that was playing, dressed in their cute, best pirate attire.

Jake unsheathed his bubble sword and started waving it about, really adding to the atmosphere and tone of the night as everyone smiled, snapped pics, and enjoyed themselves.

“We will begin the fireworks shortly, there are themed drinks for everyone to enjoy so please help yourself.” One crew member announced, and so did everyone. The lads all stood there with a drink and clinked their glasses together. But Josh was missing.

“Where did he get to now?” Danny asked, looking around the crowd of people.

Jake stood smiling away just taking in the moment but did note it was weird he was missing since he loved fireworks and fire so much, AND alcohol.

Sam snapped a pic of someone falling over on the deck and then nodded in agreement that it was odd. “He’s probs in another costume or something.”

After a few minutes the fireworks began. Everyone stood ‘ooing’ and ‘ahhing’ at the colours and sparkles. The reflections of the fireworks on the sea made the experience much more different than seeing fireworks just blast off into the black inky sky above.

Suddenly, someone from the crowd let out a, ‘what the fuck?!”

The boys turned around to find Josh wearing a big pair of sunglasses and his brown jumpsuit. But he was also wielding two of those firework swords, lit.

“PIRATE NIGHT BABY!!” Was all he yelled out before it started going off, shooting random sparks up into the air and on the boat. Mayhem broke out and everyone started screaming.

Jake grabbed his bubble sword and started to try and join in and make some bubbles. Sam was laughing at the chaos as the cast members were running away from Josh as he stood there, grinning like a maniac as Danny yelled at him to stop. “JOSH! STOP IT!”

As the swords finally stopped. Danny looked around at the cruise ship and let out an annoyed sigh. “SEE! AND IT STILL WENT ON THE ROOF!”

[alien-slushie]

Hi! If it's okay, can you write a maribat Damian X Marinette with class salt, Alya salt, Adrien salt, Lila salt and Bustier salt based on this prompt please? 🙂 (I send you a link 'cause the prompt is a bit long sorry! ^^')

https://at.tumblr.com/sayuricorner/maribat-salt-prompt-adopted-sisterenigma-au/xcl9fupxbi9s

Disclaimer: I don't hate any MLB characters, salt drama is just funny, and I want to get my writing enthusiasm back. Don't like, don't read. And any hate comments that are not constructive criticism will be laughed at and then ignored so don't waste your own time.

Thank you for the prompt, this was a lot to read and comprehend, and I wanted to include as much as I could from what was provided in the prompt, but this turned out pretty messy and bad, so I am so sorry if this isn't how you imagined. Anyway, let's get into this.

Contains: Batman crossover, (Mild)Class, (Mild)Adrian, Lila, and Bustier Salt, cannon typical violence, brief mention of child abandonment, Daminette, Le Coin de Sayuri's OC as a Main Character(as the prompt asks), Not beta read, (kinda)implied past Batman x Riddler.

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Title: The Weird Life fo Jade Dupain-Cheng

Jade Dupain-Cheng, the older daughter of Tom and Sabine Dupain-Cheng. In complete honesty she was adopted, though for your own safety you shouldn't bring it up as a slight towards her. Jade had come to terms with her birth, how she was found, by chance, in a Gotham dumpster as a baby by her grandma Gina and was adopted by her parents, so her adoption being brought up never really bothered her. Her parents loved her, her sister loved her, her extended family loved her, and that was enough for her. But the Dupain-Cheng family was tight knit, and proud and did not take shots fired at their family lightly, and while they didn't try to hide the adoption or anything so absurd, Jade was as much their blood and Marinette was. But no matter what the Gotham snark seemed to be ingrained into her blood.

Oh Jade was every bit as golden hearted as her sister, but she had every shred of snark and scrappy intelligence that was needed to survive the streets of Gotham. She was smart, and wordsy, she could twist and tangle anything anyone said to make them embarrass themselves. Though, she was too well raised to use it against anyone that didn't deserve it(ie, anyone who slighted herself, her sister, or her family). And though she was only born four months before Marinette(to the day, hilariously enough, born March 9th), she took her role as Marinette's big sister very seriously.

They were in separate classes, the school feeling that pairing siblings together encouraged in fighting, cheating, and/or co-dependance. It did little to curb Jade's involvement with her sister's class however. She loved her sister, truly she did, but she was a naturally hard worker on the best of days and a supreme over achiever on the worse, she just didn't know how or when to stop herself, As a result Jade had a rather bland feeling towards Marinette's class. She didn't necessarily like them, but she also didn't hate them. She did wish they showed Marinette proper appreciation from time to time but while rude, they weren't doing it from a place of malice. There was the issue with her crush on Adrian that Jade had to deal with, what with Marinette's female classmates fanning the flames into borderline obsession, but Marinette was always one to be talked down, and the harsh tongue lashing the girls got after the Beaver Incident(do NOT ask) but a swift end to that mess. And do not get her started on the Ladybug situation. Jade hated Hawkmoth /before/ she knew Ladybug was her sister, but afterwards she was determined to see him burn. Initially she was in shocked, as anyone would be, but looking back it had been pretty obvious, and after sitting in a borderline comatose state for three hours, Jade was extremely proud of her sister and for her sake, and maybe her own, never spoke a single word about knowing, not even a few weeks later when Ladybug appeared in her room.

After finding out Marinette was Ladybug everyone else sort of fell into place and she was able to connect who everyone else was, except for Chat Noir, as he had been chosen by someone else and not Marinette. Because of that, Jade was somewhat unsurprised when the spotted hero appeared at her window with a Miraculous. She knew that things were tense between Marinette and Alya, so while the fox being replaced wasn't a surprise to her, her being the replacement had been. And thus, Silver Fox was born.

And through it all she had only ever been akumatized once, after she found out about the idiot storm that had overtaken her sister's class. Marinette hadn't spoke a word to her about Lila. Oh she knew Marinette had been unfairly expelled, and while pissed she had let the matter go for Marinette's sake once the matter was cleared up, and then she was asked to go to the nurse's office to escort Marinette home. Marinette was quick to assure her that it was an accident, she had gotten into a fight with Alya and the girl had shoved her down in a moment of anger, but kept pushing and it all came out. The lies, the betrayal, the slights made towards Marinette by the people who were supposed to be her friends. Her anger and frustration had consumed her, and in her moment of weakness, she took the butterfly. Her time as an akuma had been short, she would never willingly hurt her sister, possessed by a butterfly or not, but it did happen. Using her akumafication as an excuse Jade pushed to be moved to Marinette's class, and while the teacher, Bustier especially, were hesitant, Sabine Dupain-Cheng made it happen. With her presence in class Marinette became outcast but no dared hurt or bad mouth her.

Not all was bad though, Chloe did seem to be making a turn for the better. While the would-be princess was by no means friends with them, she had sloppily apologized. She still obviously had a long way to go, but it was a start, no matter how minimal it was. Marinette's crush on Adrien also slowly dried up, and one night the girls spent carefully removing her collages off the walls before breaking into the ice cream tub.

And then the Cultural Exchange Program was announced. Jade was surprised on where they would be going. Gotham was /the/ most dangerous city in all of America, why would any teacher from anywhere agree for a class of 13-14 year olds to go there of all places, school necessity or not? According to Marinette, Ms. Bustier used it as an example and Lila had latched onto the idea, and Marinette had been out voted. Jade was even more surprised the parents agreed, Marinette and Jade were only permitted because Jade was curious about her birth city and their grandma Gina would be in the city to watch over them, even then they were given strict rules they had to follow, such as: not going out at night, no going anywhere without their safety keychains(equip with: bear mace, a mini taser, body alarm/gps, seatbelt cutter, whistle, foldable knife, and window breaker, both customized with little yarn dolls, curtesy of Marinette), and calling them every breakfast, lunch, and dinner, no matter the time difference. Though from a few whispers she gathered the other students didn't tell their parents where they were going, or outright lied because they knew they wouldn't be allowed to go.

Something told her the exchange was going to interesting.

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

The Cultural Exchange Program was to las three months, and for the first month everything was fine. There was a slight language barrier, Jade and Marinette was stuck having to deal with the class 24/7, and culture shock was real, but other than that things were generally going very smoothly, they were roomed together and other than a confusing couple of times they were ambushed by rogues, only to see Jade and turn tail for some reason(?), the Americans seemed nice enough. Damian Wayne had been a right pain in the butt, but Marinette fully body flipping him to the ground in Gym class seemed to turn his whole opinion around, for them at least, as he went from pain in the butt to rude but somewhat polite.

Yes Jade laughed when he awkwardly asked her on a date. Yes Jade laughed when Marinette agreed and he turned 50 shades of red all at once. And yes Jade tore Adrien Agreste apart when he got on Marinette's case for "agreeing to date Damien just to out Lila as a liar!", followed by another ripping to shreds of Lila when she claimed, "Marinette is a no good, boyfriend stealing has been that would amount to nothing." Neither Adrien or Lila were very popular with the class after that, seemingly coming to their senses a little too late.

But everything came crashing down when she and Marinette came face to face with the Riddler. It had been like looking into a funhouse mirror, she looked so much like him, but also so different. She could map out their similarities, even the inflections in their voices were similar! The Riddler fled and Marinette guided a shocked Jade back to their dorm.

The next morning Jade contacted Poison Ivy, a rogue who had taken a liking to Marinette, and together they were able to meet with the Riddler again. With Marinette's hand gripped tightly in her own she explained the circumstances of her birth and they got a blood test drafted. It took a few heart wrenching days, but they got the results back.

Positive.

There was only a 1% chance the Ribbler, Edward Nygma, was not her father.

When Jade called their parents that night, she told them everything and was reassured that if she wanted a relationship with her father that it was okay with them, and they just hoped she'd keep them updated. Jade cried wrapped in her siters arms while on call with her parents, and later set up another meeting.

Meeting her birth father again was awkward, especially when Batman dropped by to check over the situation. Jade was unsure of the relationship between the two, but it was somehow more awkward than her own relationship with the estranged Rogue. According to Robin, who dropped by with Batman and was chatting Marinette, suspiciously enough, there used to be some serious tension between the two, and while it was still tense it was now more just awkward. But as Jade sat back and took in everything that had happened in her life, no matter how weird or crazy, she actually quite enjoyed it.

[wordsysayswords]

Someone needs to put down a wet floor sign because Tucker’s pretty sure his heart has melted into a puddle around his shoes.

Or, Tucker gets to see Wash interact with children, including Junior, for the first time ever and, to quote Grif, he's so fucked.

--

Merry Christmas @washingtubb!  I hope you enjoyed this fluffy Blue Team bonding with just a pinch of Tuckington thrown in for good measure. Thanks for being so patient with this fic getting posted. @redvsbluesecretsanta

--

“Have you guys seen Junior?” Tucker asks, poking his head into the common room.

Carolina, who is sat perfectly still on the couch and in the process of having her long hair braided by three children, glances Tucker’s way without turning her head.

“He was with Caboose’s group earlier,” she says, blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face. “In the mess hall.”

“Yeah, apparently they got told to leave because Grif tried to organize the kids into storming the kitchen. The things that guy will do for chocolate pudding.”

“BLARG!” Cries one of the twin Sangheili infants in Carolina’s lap. She rubs the alien’s back soothingly and raises an eyebrow at Tucker in a silent question.

“She’s ready for a nap,” Tucker translates.

There haven’t been a whole lot of opportunities for Tucker to exercise his Sangheili conversation skills on Chorus. That all changed two days ago when a ship full of Sangheili and human refugees landed, fleeing their own war-ravaged planet halfway across the galaxy. They had received Epsilon’s message and come seeking help because the reported conditions on their planet made Chorus seem like an idyllic paradise. Among the refugees were an almost comical number of children, outnumbering the adults six to one. The situation became a lot less funny when you realized 80 percent of the children were orphans.

“Here,” Tucker says, pulling out his datapad and selecting a playlist of classic Sangheili nursery rhymes. “They’ll recognize these. Puts ‘em right to sleep. You’ll have the songs stuck in your head for days, though.”

“Thanks for the warning.” Carolina gives a crooked smile as she accepts the datapad. “Can’t be worse than the crap Wash listens to.”

“Speaking of Wash, any idea where he’s hiding?”

Carolina cocks her head—as much as she can considering one of the aliens curled up against her shoulder is batting at her braid like a particularly curious cat. The kids finish up on her hair, and a little boy passes Carolina a pink hand mirror. Tucker bites his lip to keep from laughing as the Freelancer turns her head this way and that, inspecting the no less than eight messy braids sticking off her head at ridiculous angles.

“Looks great,” Carolina whispers, causing the kids to giggle and blush.

She turns her attention back to Tucker. “What makes you think Wash is hiding?”

“I don’t know, have you seen what it’s like out there?” Tucker asks, gesturing towards a window overlooking the track where groups of kids are playing frisbee or jumping rope, supervised by the lieutenants. “I’m having trouble keeping up, and I’m a dad!”

“Eh,” Carolina shrugs, “you’d be surprised.” She looks around at the cluster of children, “Do you remember our deal?”

The kids nod excitedly.

“If we take a nap, you’ll show us how to punch good!” A girl with wilting daisies woven into her hair punches the air, beaming.

Carolina raises an eyebrow. “And the rule?”

“Only in s-self, um,” lisps the boy missing his two front teeth, “s-self defenssse!”

“That’s right,” Carolina says, tapping the datapad. Plucky music starts to play as the kids curl up on the couch. She looks over at Tucker.

“Try the barracks,” she tells him. “They might have gone to get Caboose’s crayons and coloring books.”

“Thanks,” Tucker says, tossing a salute her way as he backs out the door. “Let me know if you need another teacher for punching class.”

“Sure thing. Watch out for—”

“HONK BLARG!”

A dark shape shoots out from under the couch and latches on to Tucker’s leg before he has time to blink.

“Holy fu—” Tucker catches himself. “Fudgsicles. Holy fudgsicles. Definitely what I was going to say. Right, little buddy?”

The small Sangheili wrapped around his leg hoots happily and starts gnawing on his boot laces.

“I think she’s teething,” Carolina explains. “Her brother is with Caboose’s group. Mind taking her with you?”

“No problem,” Tucker says, lifting his foot to get a better look at the alien. “And what’s your name, champ?”

“Firo 'Srattin,” yawns the little girl draped over Carolina’s shoulder.

“Strattin,” muses Tucker. “Good, strong clan name. Well, come on, Firo. Let’s go find your brother.”

“Say goodbye to Captain Tucker,” Carolina tells the children. A chorus of honks and goodbyes follows the teal soldier out of the room.

In the hall, Tucker looks down at his passenger. She’s given up on his laces and is now digging through his cargo pants pocket looking for snacks.

“All right,” Tucker says. “Which way should we try first, hm?”

Firo sniffs the air for a moment before pointing down the hall. “BLARG!”

“The barracks? Good choice. Let’s roll out, soldier.”

It ends up being a long walk to the barracks—and not just because Tucker has a honking deadweight wrapped around one leg.

Passing the empty lot behind the mess hall, he and Firo walk past the Reds organizing a game of football for the kids, and the pair promptly get roped into playing referees. They leave at halftime while Donut’s group of kids performs an impromptu cheerleading routine (The man’s created surprisingly passable pompoms out of old caution tape).

Despite the rest of the base swarming with children, the barracks are oddly quiet.

“I could’ve sworn they’d be here,” Tucker tells Firo after checking Caboose’s room and finding it empty.

“BLARG,” she agrees around a mouthful of a granola bar—wrapper included.

“I mean, I guess we could check bomb disposal range. Maybe they’re playing fetch with Freckles?”

“BLARG?”

“No, fetch with Freckles basically involves vaporizing tennis balls straight out of the sky. So, there’s no real ‘fetching’ happening.”

“BLARG CHONK.”

“I know, right? That’s what I said!”

“CHONKA CHONKA.”

“Watch the language!” Tucker chides. “I don’t want the parents thinking I taught you that.”

Just then, Firo perks up, her large grey snout sniffing the air intently.

Tucker stops walking. “What is it? Did you get their scent aga—whoa, hold up!”

In the blink of an eye, Firo lets go of Tucker’s leg and tears off down the hall.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Tucker calls, sprinting after her. “Firo 'Srattin, get back here! If you had a middle name, you bet I’d be using it right now!”

Firo only stops long enough to stick her tongue out at the sim trooper before racing away down another corridor.

“Why you little,” Tucker mutters to himself and looks up at the ceiling. “Mom, if this is what I was like as a kid, I am so sorry. Firo!”

Tucker skids around a corner just in time to see Firo squeeze through an ajar door and disappear inside.

“Oh fuck,” Tucker groans, picking up speed. He hisses. “Firo! Get out here! That’s somebody’s room, and they don’t want to wake up to an alien chewing on their socks!”

The maze of two-person bunk rooms all looks the same to Tucker, so he’s halfway up the hall before he realizes the alien just escaped into his room. His and Wash’s room.

“Damn it,” Tucker mumbles, screeching to a halt outside the door, a hesitant hand on the handle.

Okay, okay. No need to panic. Maybe Firo hasn’t turned any of Wash’s meager possessions into chew toys yet. The Freelancer isn’t one for trinkets or homely touches. If it wasn’t for Tucker, the man would still be living out of his footlocker rather than the closet and chest of drawers available to him. But that means any nonessential items Wash does keep around are all the more meaningful. Like Caboose’s messy drawings or the ugly-ass cat figurine that Tucker carved him out of a bar of soap (“No, no, Tucker, I appreciate the gift. It’s a cute giraffe.” “It’s supposed to be a cat!” “Uh, cat. Right. That’s what I said.”)

“Alright, whose turn is it to turn the page?”

Tucker freezes. Fucking of course Wash is hiding out in the desolate barracks while the base is swarming with children. Tucker’s never seen him interact with someone younger than the lieutenants outside of a military setting. You don’t exactly see a whole lot of kindergarteners toddling around an active military base (Caboose doesn’t count). Long story short, Tucker has been putting off even introducing him to Junior because everything about Wash; his anxiety, his control-freak nature, his stickler-for-the-rules attitude; screams that he and children do not mix.

So who the hell is Wash talking to?

“BLARG!” A high-pitched Sangheili voice shouts.

Tucker’s brow furrows. He’s just about to push the door open when someone else speaks up.

“It’s Ure’s turn,” a young voice translates.

“Alright, Ure, you can do the honors,” Wash says. “Careful this time.”

Tucker hears the sound of a page being turned.

“Great, where were we? Right,” Wash clears his throat. “The BR55HB Service Rifle entered service in 2548 and is employed as a medium-to-long-range marksman rifle.”

The fuck?

“Though its barrel is longer than that of the BR55, the weapon performs almost identically to its predecessor,” Wash continues. “The magazine housing is built directly into the underside of the stock of the rifle and is located behind the grip. And look, here’s a picture.”

That’s it; Tucker can’t stop himself from sneaking a peek around the door.

Wash is sat on the floor, leaning back against his cot. And around him are no less than twelve children and young Sangheili, cuddled up against him, hanging off his arms, sprawled across his lap, and peering over his shoulders at the yellowed paper gun manual in his hands. After turning the book for everyone to see the battle rifle diagram, Wash goes back to reading,

“Though the BR55HB SR is a select-fire weapon, it is most often used in its three-round burst mode.”

“This is my favorite part,” whispers Caboose to the three kids comfortably sharing his lap.

“Despite firing a very powerful cartridge, the weapon is subject to little recoil, even when being fired automatically.”

Curled up in the arms of one of the Sangheili is Firo, happily sucking on her brother’s shirt as she listens to Wash read with rapt attention, along with the rest of the children. Huddled up among them sits Junior, head resting in his hands as he drowsily listens with a content smile on his face.

Someone needs to put down a wet floor sign because Tucker’s pretty sure his heart has melted into a puddle around his shoes.

“Whose turn is it to turn the page now?” Wash asks, and a tiny boy pulls his thumb out of his mouth just long enough to raise his hand.

Wash smiles, and it’s so warm and natural Tucker momentarily forgets how to breathe. “Want some help?”

Thumb back in his mouth, the boy nods, and the Freelancer helps him turn the page with his free, chubby little hand.

“Great job. Now, it fires M634 X-HP-SAP round from a 36-round magazine, which fits flush in the receiver...”

Suddenly, Grif is there next to Tucker, whispering. “You’re so fucked, dude.”

Tucker startles so hard he stumbles face-first into the door. He turns to glare at Grif who disappears into his own room next door with a little wave. Tucker turns back around to find he’s accidentally pushed the door open and the entire room staring at him.

“I, uh, just...Firo!” Tucker recovers quickly. “There you are! I’ve been, ah, looking everywhere for you. Yeah.” Hell yeah. Fucking smooth. Definitely doesn’t sound like you’ve been creeping outside the door.

Wash has gone bright red. “I, uh. There aren’t any, er, kids books on base,” he stammers and starts to stand up. “They kept asking to read this one cause it has pictures. It’s stupid, I kno—”

“What happens next?”

“I—” Wash stops. His brow furrows. “What happens what?”

“What happens next?” Tucker asks again, coming to sit cross-legged on the floor beside Junior. “Dude, you can’t leave us in suspense. I gotta know who lives happily ever after, right guys?” He winks at the kids who giggle. Junior slings a massive arm around his father’s shoulders and pulls him close.

Wash just sits there, ears and cheeks still tinged with red. “You’re sure?” he asks, narrowing his eyes in the way he does when he’s trying to figure out if Tucker’s fucking with him or not.

Tucker settled in, leaning back against his son. “Just read the story, dude,” he says, grinning.

Wash flips the manual open, laughing under his breath. “Okay then,” he concedes. “Section 1.4 Service History. The introduction of the BR55HB SR led to an immediate increase in the BR55's popularity, prompting all branches of the UNSC Armed Forces, except the Army, to replace the M392 with the newer weapon...”

[romanadore]

“Lie to me” ~ Sweetpea imagine

Warnings / sad af I guess ? / some lil fluff at the end

Inspired by the song “lie to me” by 5 seconds of summer .

Sorry if it’s sort of sucky... i hope you enjoy it !!

SWEETPEA POV

🎶 I saw you looking brand new overnight

I caught you looking, too, but you didn't look twice. You look happy. You look happy 🎶

I saw her bouncing through the hallway, her beautiful (Y/H/C) falling behind her in the wind, her high waisted jeans and pastel coloured sweater hugging every curve perfectly making my heart skip a beat. She sends a glance my way, her once sparkling (Y/E/C) eyes look cold and distant. She looks through me, rushing past me to get to Betty and Veronica, who give her a sympathetic smile.

🎶 Flashing back to New York City

Changing flights so you'd stay with me

Remember thinking that I got this right 🎶

Looking at her mud stained converse, memories of sitting down by the lake come flooding back to me. We talked about our dreams, our future. She always wanted to tour America, she swore one day when we left school we’d leave this dump and never look back, I’d do anything to make her happy, even if that meant going to LA, New York, Texas, god damn, anywhere to see her smile.

🎶 Now I wish we'd never met 'Cause you're too hard to forget While I'm cleaning up your mess I know he's taking off your dress 🎶

Your POV

I walk through the halls putting on the bravest face I could. I have to keep my head held high, I can’t let anyone see I’m hurting. I put my cutest outfit on, his favourite jeans on me. Anything for him to see what he’s missing. I saw the tall dark head serpent staring at me as soon as my foot steps in the door, and all the memories of that night flood back like a tsunami...

•* FLASHBACK *•

Laughter echos in my ears as me and toni fall into the speakeasy owned by one of my best friends, the one and only Veronica Lodge. We make our way into the place, arms linked, Gossiping about the latest reality TV show drama that we love to hate, and then the world stops, it’s like I’m drowning under water and no one can save me, I see her, some trashy yellow blonde haired girl have her hands all over his thigh and chest, getting uncomfortably close for my liking. Suddenly I hit back to reality when Toni shakes my shoulders “Y/N, Y/N!!” I storm towards the pair and fling whatever drink handy over the two, earning a gasp from the blonde and a shocked expression from MY boyfriend sweetpea... my heart sunk. “Babe, it isn’t what it looks like” the love of my life soothingly says to me Complete and utter bullshit, I scoff and storm out the place.

•* END OF FLASHBACK *•

That was Friday where I could ignore him the full weekend ... but now it’s Monday and I have to face my reality... I love him with all my heart but I just can’t believe he’d even do this to me. I can’t even begin to think of what they got up to after I left...

🎶 And I know that you don't, But if I ask you if you love me I hope you li-li-li-lie Lie to me 🎶

(Y/N) POV still)

It was end of the school day and I have a text from sweetpea, my heart drops as I read his name across my screen.

Sweets🐍💞💖-: “meet me at our spot, please? I need to talk to you”

I let out a heavy sigh sending back a quick “ok” before heading off to the library, where I see sweetpea at the back of an old bookshelf covered with dusty old books. His gorgeous face. Damn. It lit up as soon as he saw me, I just want to kiss him and let him hold me.I stand with a hand on my hip acting strong “you have 10 minutes to explain pea I’m not joking around”

He sighs “look, Y/N, you’re the only one for me, I didn’t want her. She was literally clinging onto me all night and I told her I was with you, she knew I had no interest in her.”

I scoff “well why did you let her touch you up and down Pea!” Raising my voice lightly

“Y/N, you never gave me a chance to I swear I’d never ever do that to you, I was literally just going to push her away before you came over. I have far too much respect for you to do anything to hurt you. I-I love you Y/N” he rushed out, stumbling over those little three wordsI gasp, my cheeks going crimson as I look up to him. Me and sweets have never told eachother we love eachother before, I mean of course I love him and I’ve always hoped he felt the same way back but now he just confirmed it. I went to open my mouth after what felt like an eternity of silence but sweetpea cut me off “I love you, I can’t believe I’ve said it out loud. I’ve never felt this way before anyone before, it’s honestly scary. And especially after Friday, I know that you don’t but if I ask you if you love me, please Y/N lie to me?” He almost questions his own words.I take a step forward crashing my lips into his soft pink ones, my arms reaching around his neck, his large hands automatically clinging to my hips. Once we pull away I brush the hair out the way of his face, “but sweetpea the thing isn’t, I wouldn’t be lying” The biggest smile spreads across his face as he leans back in for another kiss...

[killapunk]

whats your cannon/ idea of how biker and son met?

HM well the ship itself really only took off with the fic I was writing with @fillipsfunkylife (which, yes, I want to continue someday somehow dhsjd), which involved them just crashing into one another, Biker flying into a bush, and getting really mad. They decided to race each other and it resulted in Biker becoming Son’s “bodyguard”- like, that’s what the job is meant to be but it was really more Errand Boy + I Hired You To Be My Friend which only really translates to partner in crime. 

If we’re not going off Bodyguard, though, it’s really just standard stuff. Met at a bar, got a little drunk, danced around. I have about 50 AUs for these guys and in each one the time at which they meet varies, but the one I’m probably sticking to the most is mid-1990. Biker gets the fuck out of Miami after compiling evidence and not having it taken seriously by authorities (or at least that’s what he thought had happened..) but about a year later he starts getting this itch to go back, at least to see if the people he cared about are okay, seeing as he left them behind without a second thought. Smh. 

He gets there and finds out that, miraculously, no one’s moved into his old place and no one’s boobytrapped it either, so he half-considers moving back in, working odd jobs and staying at a motel and what have you. One night he figures he can take it easy for a bit seeing as no one’s been sent to kill him, so he goes out to get drunk and ends up talking to this dude who’s acting like he’s really hot shit. Bragging about power and what have you but not really looking the part. Biker humors him and they have a pretty pleasant evening together- but the dude is way, way too drunk to drive. So now he can do one of two things: let the guy stay the night at the motel (it’s walking distance) or drive him home. One of them will raise quite a few less questions than the other, so he ends up being designated driver. How they ever got to their destination is a mystery.

Later he realizes he probably could’ve called him a cab.

Once he sees white and blue uniforms, Biker feels serious panic and gets the hell out of there as soon as possible, only then realizing the guy actually is as important as he said he was. He never intends for them to meet again. 

BUT NATURALLY THEY DO. They cross paths and Son thanks him for what he did and sort of latches onto him because he’s actually really lonely, and Biker is like dying inside from stress but trying not to make it obvious, and he agrees to hang out because running will only make him look guilty. 

They hang out semi-regularly and Biker quickly realizes Son is doing every possible thing he can to not have to face the fact that he has a mob to be in charge of now. He’s not ready. He’s internally grieving still, even though it’s been quite a long time. He’ll never say it out loud, but he’s scared. And the best possible way to deal with the fear of failure is to simply not participate at all. 

Biker unintentionally becomes his moral support, and actually hanging around someone who likes him for who he is gives Son the sort of boost he needs to take the throne. Biker is equal parts “oh good” and “what have I done”, and he chooses to stick around to make sure Son doesn’t die. He tells himself no, it isn’t because he misses the thrill and no, it isn’t because he really, really cares about this dude, it’s only because this is the first person he’s bonded with in a year and it would be a shame to lose him. 

Hmm. 

Now there’s 2 options:

Option A, Son eventually discovers what Biker did and there’s a whole lot to unpack there (which is where the Bodyguard timeline would be headed), or

Option B, Son found out pretty early on and stopped himself from beating Biker into the ground probably only because he wasn’t in the vicinity, decided to keep befriending him in order to somehow ruin his life, but couldn’t go through with it at all due to the aforementioned loneliness and the fact he fell for Biker hard LOL

Option B is a little more bittersweet I think but I like it. Thanks for the ask! Sorry it turned so wordsy! 

[purrfics]

Summary: A life threatening decision puts the camp in crisis. Chapter: Eleven - Kick The Bucket Author’s Note: [Masterpost] [Quotev] [Blog]

“What were you thinking?!” Grace muffles into Sabrina’s shoulder, still holding her in an unbreakable hug.

“I--”

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!” She yells again as she breaks again, pulling Sabrina up as she stood up, too, from the ground.

“I’m sorry!” Sabrina says, still slightly shaken but doing her best not to show it. “I just don’t like being cooped up all the time.”

“You almost died!!! I saw that guy put a gun to your head!! What have we talked about?!”

“God! Just leave me alone, okay. I’m sorry. I’m sick of being told what to do all the time.”

Grace fell silent for a minute, biting her lip.

“Oh, Sabby.” She sighed, hugging Sabrina again. “Just-- Don’t do it again!”

“Grace, hate to break the family reunion but--” Drake started, pointing in the distance as some of the undead come wandering towards them.

“Are they starting to come up here?” Sabrina asks, clearing her throat as her voice was shaking.

“Seems like it, let’s go. They’re slow.” Drake says, motioning for everyone to follow him as they took off into the forest. The dead following them until they stopped, smelling the fresh blood and falling to their knees, ripping into the body of the man lying dead on the ground.

Nancy gasped as Tanya finished a story, both the girls laughing outloud as they sat crossed legged on the bed.

“Thank god I didn’t know you in middle school, you would have been a little rebel.” Nancy tells her.

“Well, In tenth grade I did a little bit of drugs.”

“Tanya!!” Nancy gasped, hitting her lightly on the shoulder.

“It wasn’t that bad. I only did it like.. Once or twice, too. It was kinda gross, actually. Had to impress my crush, though.” She shrugs, grinning.

“Who was it?” Nancy asks curiously.

“This girl named Mary. She wasn’t interested, though. I think she actually went on to become a raging alcoholic. So, I guess I dodged a bullet?”

“You probably did, atleast if you were with her, what about me?!” Nancy asks.

“Ugh, silly. Don’t even think about that!” Tanya giggles, leaning over and softly kissing Nancy on the lips.

“Huh, well, I could always get with one of the dead outside.” Nancy says, lying back in the bed. Tanya raises her eyebrow.

“Yeah, like they’d want to get with you.” She smiles, Nancy’s face falls in joking disbelief again, grabbing one of the circular pillows and hitting her roughly.

“Hey!! Stop it!” She calls out, Tanya giggles to herself.

Sally walks down the hallway, her feet carrying her quickly towards the nurses office again, she seemingly becoming much more healthier feeling. A light blush on her face. Connor’s words echoing in her mind, words he had just said no later than a few seconds ago.

“Think about it,” He smiles, “You’re beautiful, and you know how to survive, can’t let that go to waste.”

Sally bumped into Bri, who was just coming out of the nurses office. The two girls gasping slightly as they didn’t expect eachother to be there. Bri’s face blew into a light blush, too, as she stood back.

“Are you okay?” She asks, awkwardly as Sally looked a little tired, her eyes drooping and her mind racing.

“Yeah. I just really need to sleep.”

“Oh, okay. Haley gave me a room number, there’s supposibly hundreds of rooms in this place.”

“Just like the warehouse.” Sally comments.

“There you are! I was getting worried.” Haley smiles, approaching the girls once again.

“Worried, why?” Sally asks.

“Oh, you know. Connor can get… A little wordsy at times.” Haley shrugs, “Nothing to fear! Follow me.” She smiles, turning around and making her way down the corridor.

“What are you going to do?” Melissa asks as she lays in bed, looking up at Darryn as he pulls on his boots.

“You know what I’m going to do.” He says, squinting at her as he looks around the empty room, pulling his T-shirt over his head.

“Baby, you know we have more people to worry about than just us.” Melissa says, “Tanya… Nancy… Carlo--”

“Yeah. I know exactly who we’re with.” Darryn says, full of hositility. Melissa raises an eyebrow.

“Wow, you’re still--”

“Don’t, not right now, Melissa.”

“Sorry.” She says meekly, rolling over to face the wall. Darryn shakes his head, grumbling lightly as he heads towards the door, pulling it open and leaving the room.

Bri and Sally reached the room, Haley opening the door and pointing inside.

“There’s only one bed, but I hope that won’t be a problem.” Haley says, Bri and Sally entering.

“That won’t be. You’ve given us so much, thank you.” Sally says, looking at the bed and then to Haley.

“No problem. We strive to make the world a better place, it is the strong that survive.”

Sally gulps, Haley waving to them as she closed over the door.

“Do you have a favorite side to the bed?” Bri asks, sliding onto the bed.

“Uh-- no.” Sally says, laughing lightly.

“Okay, good. I love the side to the window.” Bri smiles.

“Why?”

“I like the natural sunlight to wake me up.” She says. “I also like nature, but-- Hey, what did Connor say?” Bri asks, suddenly changing the subject.

“Oh, Connor? Nothing!” Sally smiles, sitting on the top of the bed, not facing Bri but just hanging her head, biting her fingernail.

“Doesn’t seem like nothing.” Bri says quietly, standing up and exploring the rest of the room, although she didn’t find much except a small bathroom. “Was this a hotel?” She wonders to herself.

“He asked--” Sally starts, but she cuts herself off.

“What?” Bri asks, moving back to the bed and sitting beside Sally as she lifts her head up, sighing towards the cieling. “I want to get in on this… Leader guy sidekick role.”

“He said if I was injured, they don’t take injured people lightly here. So, he said that if I wanted too… He’d uh…” Sally says, Bri blinks awakrdly, just staring at Sally as she wasn’t sure what she was going to say. “He offered some sort of… Relationship. Like… Sexually... Or something.” She tells Bri, the word sexually a mere whisper, Bri’s eyes widen.

“What?! He’s a pig. You deserve... Better than that.” Bri says.

“It’s… Whatever.” Sally sighs, “I guess I’ll just die!”

“No, Sally. This is a perfect oppertunity, actually. I mean, what if he’s actually a cool guy?! What if you fall inlove?! True love, Sally??”

“This isn’t Disney.”

“Oh, no. Not really. It’s not PG.” Bri shrugs. Sally shakes her head, lightly laughing to what Bri said.

Darryn rummaged through the food supplies, checking each tin, counting the water bottles and throwing together a small pile of food.

“What are you doing?” A small voice chirps from behind him, he turns around, noticing Harry standing right beside him, the tip of his tongue lightly hanging from his mouth subconciously.

“Nothin’.” Darryn replies blandly, turning back around and continuing his work.

“Do you need some food?? My daddy makes a cool dindins!” Harry tells him.

“Harry!!” Another voice calls, running down, Molly meets at his side, looking at Harry before looking down at Darryn. “What are you two doing?!” She asks.

Darryn sighs, knowing he isn’t going to be able to do anything today, he stands up.

“Nothing, what are you doing?” Darryn asks, trying to be as playful as possible.

“We made babies!!” Harry giggles, his hands pressed against his cheeks. Molly opens her hand and shows the single dandelion seed, crushed in the palm of her hand.

“See!!”

“That’s nice.” Darryn says, beginning to walk away.

“Do you want to say hello?!” Molly asks, following Darryn with Harry close behind. Darryn rolls his eyes, turning around and grinning.

“Of course.”

Molly holds out her hand, up as far as she can to Darryn’s face. He looks at the small seed in her hand.

“Hello…” He says, just as he says this a small gust of wind suddenly takes the seed out of Molly’s hand and into the air.

“OH NO!!” Molly and Harry both scream out, running after the seed with all their strength and will. Darryn quickly makes his way from the kids, instead heading down towards the gates. He stops, eyeing the weapons cabin and suddenly an idea comes to his head.

“But she has promises to keep, Until then she shall not sleep. She lies in bed with ducts that weep.

Because I could not love for affection, It did kindly love for me. Are you upset by how factual it is?

Just like a fire, is the hate. Does the hate make you shiver? Does it?

The touch that's really motherly, Above all others is the kiss. Does the compassion make you shiver? Does it?

Because I could not yearn for love, You did kindly love for me.”

Flake scribbles down a poem onto the paper. At the top, the word “Mother II” is scrawled in fancy lettering. He signs the bottom with “Sebastian C. Flake” and puts his pen down, folding the paper and opening a drawer in his desk, filled with pieces of paper and a large book. He places the piece of paper inside and closes it over.

His eyes flicker up as he hears the front gate opening. He stands, pulling on a jacket and heading out of the darkened cabin.

Robbie, Grace, Sabrina, Carlos and Drake make their way inside the camp. Cooper welcomes them back. Jessica wanders down, Scrap bobbing along right behind her.

“You found her.” Jessica smiles, referring to Sabrina. Sabrina nods, smiling slightly at Jessica before walking at a quicker pace, away from everyone.

“Yeah. She’s alright. Just a little shaken.” Grace says, biting the inside of her cheek, looking up as Flake approaches them.

“You got her, huh? Is she alright.” Flake asks, his hands stuffed inside his jacket.

“Yeah. She’s fine. You?”

“Better than Sabrina, probably.” Flake says.

Darryn approaches, looking at the group.

“What’s going on?” Darryn asks.

“Nothing. That should be it with all the problems now.” Flake says.

“Yeah. Sure.” Darryn says, a little bit more sarcastic than he’d liked. Flake stares at Darryn before turning back to Grace.

“Do you need anything?” Flake asks her.

“No. I’m just going to make sure she’s okay.” Grace smiles, making her way, following Sabrina. As she passes Flake, she rubs his arm slightly as a silent thank you.

“Okay. Drake, can we talk?”

“Oh. I actually wanted to talk to you.” Darryn says to Flake.

“Can it wait?”

“Yeah. I guess.” Darryn nods as Harry and Molly run past.

“I got it!!” Harry calls out, picking up something from the ground and showing her it. Molly’s face scrunches up.

“That’s dirt!!”

Melissa knocks lightly on a door before pushing it open.

“Nancy? Tanya?” She asks quietly, making her way inside as both girls sit up on the bed, covered in small feathers from the pillows.

“Yeah?!” Tanya calls out. Melissa enters the room and closes the door behind her.

“I feel awful.” Melissa tells them.

“What’s wrong, dear?” Tanya asks, turnign to face Melissa, pillow on her lap as she rests her head against the wall. Nancy sits at the edge of the bed, leaning over so her elbows rest on her knees, head in one hand.

“I think Darryn is going to do something real stupid. I didn’t want to stop him though.”

“What is he going to do?” Nancy asks, standing up and approaching Melissa, comforting her by taking her hand and leading her over to the bed, sitting down with her. Melissa sighs.

“He’s being a prick. I mean, I love him, but he wants to leave and rob this place, or take over, whatever comes first -- Please tell me you wont tell anyone.” Melissa asks, Nancy nods frantically, rubbing Melissa’s hand comfortingly.

“Can I tell you the truth?” Nancy asks. “I think Darryn is an asshole.” Melissa sighs, spotting Tanya nodding from beside her.

“He’s not that bad.”

“Sweetie, he’s aggressive and I think a tad dangerous.” Tanya chips in.

“How we survived in that garage for over a month with him is unknown to me.” Nancy says, “He can get over dramatic at times, which I guess is a character flaw he needs to work on.” Nancy says.

“I guess, but we have to stop him.” Melissa says.

“I don’t think you can stop Darryn. Once he’s set his mind on something, he’ll probably do it.”

Flake closes the door behind him.

“What did you want to see me about?” Drake asks, plopping into a chair and rubbing his eyes.

“I wanted to talk to you, about Sabrina.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’m worried about her and I just want to discuss our options. We can’t have anyone do that again. Today you four could have died.”

“The forest is safe, Flake, there’s barely any dead.”

“So nothing happened today?”

Drake adjusts in his seat uncomfortably. He considered covering for the sisters, but then again, he didn’t think they’d do the same for him. “Well. No, we ran into a man.”

“What did he do?” Flake asks.

“He just attacked her, Sabrina, but it’s fine. You don’t need to worry about it. It was taken care of, nobody was harmed.”

“So you think she was okay to go out on her own?”

“No.” Drake says. “If we hadn’t showed up, she would have died. I’m just thinking that she won’t do it again now, you know? After today, I doubt she’ll want to go outside the walls.”

“If you’re certain. You need to keep an eye on them.”

“Aren’t you closer to them, you should do it.”

“Both of us. I mean, Grace trusts me but I can’t be snooping on her sister like some sort of creep. She’s overprotective, which is good.”

“Yeah. Well. I’ll get on that. I have to go clean myself up.” Drake says, getting up and saying goodbye to Flake, opening the door and making his way out, bumping into Darryn on his way out.

“Is Flake done?” Darryn asks him.

“Talking? Yeah. He’s in his cabin.” Drake tells him in passing, Darryn nods and walks to the cabin, tucking his shirt over a gun in the back of his pants.

Darryn knocks on the door, pushing it open and spotting Flake sitting at the desk, lit by the candle light as he admires his sword.

“Oh. Hey. What’re you doing?” Darryn asks, stepping inside and closing the door over.

“Just… Thinking. What’s up, Darryn?” Flake asks, placing the sword on his desk as he makes his way to the front of it, leaning against it.

“I just wanted to talk to you. About the situations, about everything.” Darryn says.

“Okay… Continue.” Flake says, interested to know where this conversation was going, tapping his fingers against the wood of the desk.

“You need to know some things about my group.” Darryn tells Flake.

“Okay.”

“We don’t do well with dictatorships. Honestly, they’re a little sad. One guy in charge of a dozen people? Sounds pretty cliche.”

“What are you getting at?”

“Leaders are no good unless they’re strong and capable of doing what’s right.” Darryn tells him, stepping closer. “If a leader can’t do what’s right, then what sort of leader are they?”

“Do you see yourself as a leader?” Flake asks.

“Yes. I know I’m capable, but I’m not in charge of my group, nobody is. This group? However, has one clear leader. You.”

“Correct.” Flake says. “This is my place.”

“Yes. You know we got off on the wrong foot. I know you don’t like me, but I’m here to make a proposition.”

Flake nods, his eyes squinting ever so slightly, suspiciously. Darryn adjusts his shirt, clearing his throat before continuing with his “speech”.

“Give up your position as leader and we’ll have no problems.”

“Excuse me?” Flake asks, gripping his fingers against the edge of the desk.

“You heard me, loud and clear.”

“You’re telling me you don’t like dictatorships. However, you appear to be trying to create one. With yourself incharge.” Flake says, his eyes lingering down as Darryn adjusts his hands on his hips. He immediently retained eyecontact with Darryn. “You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?”

“Kill you, why would you think that?”

“Oh, come on Darryn. Nobody says this without a backup plan.” Flake says, leaning his upper body closer to Darryn. “And your backup plan is needed, because I refuse your offer.”

As soon as Flake saw Darryn’s lips turn into a grin, he reached on the desk, gripping his sword as he swings it forward, slicing upwards and into Darryn’s stomach. Darryn gasped out, gasping for air as the sword entered his lower abdomen.

“I get things done, t--” Flake begins, but he feels a bullet enter his torso, the gunshot firing throughout the cabin as his reflexes kick in, he slices the sword out and as he feels himself tumble backwards towards the desk, he uses his strengths to slice Darryn’s head, slicing halfway through Darryn’s skull, killing him.

Flake collapses to the floor, bleeding through the side of the body. His whole body aching as he starts fading out of consciousness.

(Day 6)

Sally steps out of the shower, turning off the water. She sighed, turning towards the mirror and using her towel to wipe the steam off of the mirror before wrapping it around her body, rubbing her eyes as she had just woken up a few minutes ago. The morning coming quicker than she had expected.

She dried her hair, rubbing it frantically with a towel before tying to around her head. She opened the bathroom door, the steam flooding out into the main room and disappearing into the air as she stepped out. Her eyes widening as she noticed Connor standing by the bed, leaning against the table at the side.

“Good morning.” He smirks, gesturing with his head to the bed, “Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah. It was fine, thanks.” Sally tells him, making her way over to the bed and grabbing her clothes that she had lain out, using her other hand to support her towel to make sure it didn’t fall from her body.

“Did you consider yesterday?”

“Uhh- Yeah. I mean. I don’t know.” Sally says, picking up the last of her clothes. “I’m just going through alot right now.”

Connor raised his hands up. “I know, I know. It’s just a system.”

“I’m almost better but uh. Later I’ll come with a decision.” Sally tells him, heading into the bathroom and placing her clothes on top of the pile of towels. “Where’s Bri?” She asks, turning to look over her shoulder at Conner.

“I sent her to get food, thought It’d be time that you’d have a good amount of food to start your day. Am I right?”

“Very right.” Sally smiles at him, heading over to the door, “Excuse me.” She says, closing over the door until it clicks closed. She turns the lock and turns to lean against the door, sighing heavily and covering her face with one hand, feeling suddenly rather overwhelmed.

Connor shakes his head, getting up from his leaning position and leaving the room, heading down the corridor and disappearing down the stairs.

(Day 5)

Grace feels her feet taking her as fast as she has ever ran, her legs moving exceptionally fast as she grabs the railing to a cabin, swinging herself up the stairs, throwing herself into Flake’s cabin as what she sees shocks her. The dim light giving her a clear view as opposed to the moonlight outside.

“Holy shit, Flake!” She gasps, almost tripping over Darryn’s body as she enters, her foot stepping in the puddle of blood forming around his head. Flake grumbles, holding his wound as he has managed to pull himself up onto the seat, his eyes falling heavy as Grace makes her way over to him, slapping him lightly on the face, recieving a curse towards her from Flake. “Stay awake!”

Sabrina manages to catch up with Grace, sliding inside and letting out a small gasp. She raises her foot as she spots the blood, avoiding it as it seeps through the floorboards.

“Get the medical kit!” Grace calls out, grabbing everything from the desk and beginnign to practically throw it to the floor. Flake grumbles out something, but she can’t seem to hear him. She throws stray pieces of paper off of the desk and grabs Flake’s hand, throwing his arm around her neck as she attempts to lift him onto the desk, but not being able to manage. “Fuck!”

Robbie enters, hearing the commotion, with Drake right behind him.

“What the fucking FUCK!?” Drake yells out, pushing past Robbie to view the situation.

“Help ME!!” Grace aggressivly calls out. Robbie snaps out of his slight daze and makes his way across the cabin as Sabrina returns, holding a small med kit in her hand. “Is there any doctors in that new group of Carlos’?!”

Flake grumbles a bit, although it’s more of a laugh as Robbie and Grace pull him onto the desk, his body falling limp over it.

“I don’t think so.” Drake says, “I think we’d know.”

“FIND OUT?!” Grace yells as she slams the medical kit on the spare piece of the desk, ripping it open.

“Do you need anything?” Sabrina asks, shoving her hands into her pockets.

“Yeah. We need to fix this.” Grace says.

“My friend was a trainee nurse, she told me some things. I don’t know how much was right, though, she wasn’t that far into her course when shit went down.”

“I don’t care. Come on, we have to help him. How did this happen?!”

“Maybe we should question why they’re both in this mess in the first place.” Drake says.

“I don’t think anybody else heard, We have to keep this between us until morning comes.” Grace tells them.

“Jessica heard, she’s trying to keep the kids quiet.”

“Okay.” Grace says, picking out a scalpel. “Will this work?”

“Better than anything, I guess.”

“I’m so sorry, Flake.” She whispers before she rips his shirt, throwing it up his body as she reveals the wound, just above his hip.

“Use this.” Robbie tells her, “Before you do anything, It helps. It’ll burn a little, though.” He says, giving her a small bottle.

Grace unscrews the bottle, holding it above Flake’s bullet wound.

“Sorry.” She says, although rather unsympathetically, she tips the bottle and pours some of it on his bullet wound as Robbie quickly grabs Flake’s sword, using the handle to place against his teeth. Flake’s muffled screams fill the cabin as Grace begins dabbing it along his wound with her t-shirt, lightly as she leans in.

“Sabby, come here.” She says, Sabrina make sher way quickly around the desk, standing next to her sister as Flake’s body jerks upwards, his hand grabbing Grace’s shoulder, trying to control his pain but trying not to hurt anyone.

“What is it?”

Grace explained to her, in as much detail as possible, what to do. As Sabrina helped Grace dig out the bullet and hold pressure to the wound, she felt the blood seep onto her skin and cover the palm of her hands with red, sticky blood.

This continued throughout the night... Flake's life hanging in the hands of The Berry Sisters.

[chacmar]

Hey, anon, I just got home from work!

Charlie’s Bad room/ Mac’s sad room (this one was literally posted today!)  691 wordsi just read it and now i’m sad. it is very sweet and sad. 

I was looking at photos from when we were young 3,434 words platonic charmac. ngl this is 100% mine. sorry for the self promotion lmao

Charlie Work 717 words soft and sweet moment between Mac & Charlie b/c they’re besties!!

Backrubs 1,029 words trans!charlie mac is kind and sweet and they love and care for each other.

Ruin My Life, Tonight 593 words some csa tw stuff in this one. charlie’s having dreams abt the nightman, calls mac over. soft and gentle. they love each other. 

Exception  2,219 words. Since u didn’t explicitly ask for Charmac, I’m not explicitly recommending Charmac. This one’s Charden. Not my go to, espc not for hurt/comfort, but it really works in this fic! They both escape their apartments for different reasons and kinda help calm each other down. (there’s a little tiny snippet of Charlie being touched in a way he doesn’t like and he doesn’t like being touched, but it’s not very intense)

Anyway, anon, you’re right. there’s not enough soft, emotional, hurt/comfort fics that are Charlie-centric. also they are hella short (I never got to say hella. Hella came & went), but here are some ones I really like (and one that i wrote lmao).

My dream is a soft and emotional charlie centric hurt/comfort fic that is over 500 words long u feel me bro

trust me fam, i feel you more than u ever could imagine. 

[selinascatnip]

NejiHina | Unbeta’d | 3062 words | Read on AO3

This was the most wordsy thing I’ve ever wrote in English, I’m a bit scared.

Bloom

 “You’re cruel, nee-san.”

Hinata’s smile died, and her steps faltered. The sweet, calm sensation she always felt after having her daily tea with her favourite cousin leaving her body.

She gripped the edges of tray tightly, and started walking again.

“Why do you say that?”

“You shouldn’t be so nice to him all the time.”

“I try to be nice to everybody, Hanabi.”

“But don’t you think you are feeding him hope doing that?”

Hinata took a long breath and then sighed.

“Neji-nii-san knows about my heart, I’m not lying to him, I’m not pretending to care about him. I like to be with him too. No, I don’t think I’m doing anything wrong.”

“So… Do you wish Naruto would do the same to you?”

“It’s different.”

“How so?”

“Naruto-kun’s life is so… distant from mine. Don’t get me wrong, it would be a dream come true if he payed attention to me, but if he did that just after I declared myself to him, I’d know it would be just because of my feelings. Not his. And I wouldn’t want that. I don’t want to him to be with me because he feels obligated somehow. This would never happen between Neji-nii-san and I. There are no obligations between us, not anymore. We were friends when we were young, we grew apart for a while, it’s true, but I’m happy that we required closeness lately. And we are family too.”

“But you know it isn’t friendship of family love that he feels about you.”

“You shouldn’t go around presuming things about people, Hanabi.”

“Oh, please, you know it isn’t an absurd what I am saying.”

“It doesn’t matter, do you think I should answer this supposed romantic feelings with coldness? That wouldn’t be cruel?”

“No more than keeping him at arm’s length.”

They were just about the kitchen’s entrance when Hinata stopped and looked to her sister for the first time since they started that conversation.

“Even if I was doing that, and I’m not, cruelty for cruelty, I still prefer the option that keep we both happy.”

Nevertheless, even after saying that, she wondered if Hanabi’s words held a portion of the truth and she just wasn’t being selfish.

 “You should stop.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to you to get hurt.”

“Please don’t insult me you too. I was bad enough that I got distracted and let this happen.”

She sat back, lowering her hand and taking a good look at him. His face was still livid, maybe what she said had its fault too, but she knew all that anger wasn’t towards her. It was funny how everybody considered him expressionless – as any self-respecting Hyuuga would be, and she was not included in either of that – but to her his feelings were always all too obvious.

Earlier that day he saw some misguided men screaming obscenities to her when she was coming home, he – even though she told him time and time again that wasn’t necessary, please Neji-nii-san I am ninja too and can take care of myself just fine – was accompanying her from afar, as usual, and decided to teach the losers a lesson. Completely unnecessary in her opinion, and she thought he would make short work of that unfortunate encounter, but for her surprise, he came back with a black eye. Seems like he was so overcome by anger that he let his guard down.

If it wasn’t so tragic, she would have laughed.

Really, Hyuuga Neji bearing a black eye, what were the chances?

“I don’t mean you eye. I’m sorry.”

He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment.

“Hinata-sama, I’d have done the same either way.”

She smiled softly, and went back to applying ice to his swollen face.

“I still wish you wouldn’t.”

He didn’t ask if she meant about protecting her honour or about loving her.

 Some loves were just like flowers, she thought.

Beautiful when bloomed.

She felt hers was past that point thought.

And now, her withered petals were being carried by the wind. To far away.

She was sad to watch it go, it was such a huge part of herself for a very long time, it helped her to carry on with her days, to work hard, to care for others, and to see worth within herself. The roots would remain in her heart because now it was just part of her, but it wouldn’t flower again.

 “And Sai and I will have another mission next week. Kakashi-sensei still have to appoint someone to fill in for Naruto, though.”

“He still haven’t come back? How long has it been?”

Silence was made when everyone looked at Hinata and she just blinked.

“Hinata?”

“Yes?”

“You don’t know?”

“What I should know?”

“How long Naruto has been abroad!”

“Why should I know that? Sakura-san is his teammate.”

The other two looked flabbergasted.

“What?!” they said at the same time.

“What?” answered Hinata with a little smile.

“Stop, it is really what I am thinking?” asked Ino, her eyes glowing with excitement. Sakura didn’t look as thrilled with her brow deeply frowned.

Hinata just nodded.

“I don’t believe it! She’s really free! Do you hear that, Sakura?”

“But how this happened? How come you stop loving him?”

“I don’t know. I still care a lot about him, I just… I am tired of waiting for something that will never happen.”

“But how do you know it will never happen?”

“Sakura! Come on! You should be happy for her!”

“No, it’s ok, Ino-san.” She took a deep breath “Well, I told him my feelings, he didn’t bother to answering to my confession, I’m not gonna lie, it hurt me, a lot, but you know what? It was better that way, let’s face it, he never even thought about be that way, he never thought about me at all. I just… It was better to move on. It was really hard, but I think I did it.”

“I’m proud of you, darling” said Ino before engulfing Hinata in a bear hug.

“Oh!” exclaimed Sakura “I’m being silly, of course I’m happy for you too.” And then she joined her friends.

 Was she sending him mixed signals? She would ask herself. Or was she being selfish and taking advantage of his feelings like Hanabi said? But she couldn’t help herself, he just made her feel so good, that’s why she increased the time they spent together. And it wasn’t because she developed a crush on him like Hanabi was accusing her lately. It was too early to her to start feeling like that for anyone.

No, she didn’t have romantic feelings for Neji, at least, not yet.

So what if she could appreciate that he was always there for her? That he made her feel like no matter if the whole family though she was weak, useless and a failure, he who was so accomplished, more talented than anyone in the clan, and a genius in every sense of the word thought differently, enough to take a piece of his precious time to help her with her training.

She was just grateful, that was it. It was nice to have someone in their family that didn’t think she was a waste of time.

Of course, her relationship with Hanabi was a loving one, but it was difficult to not feel smaller beside her younger sister when everyone was always reminding her of how less talented, less accomplished and, taking their father for reference, less loved she was. So, it was nice that someone like Neji cared about her despite the river of bad blood and the huge gap between them.

But sometimes she still wandered if Hanabi was right, maybe she was using him somehow, bathing in his affection for her, but she couldn’t just stop herself, it was addicting, being with him was addicting.

 With most jounin being out in missions to raise money to the restoration of the village, some concessions were needed to be make, as pairing different ranked ninja in the same mission, that happened to be their situation.

The mission required two byakugan users that were comfortable enough to each other to convince the targets that they were a newlywed couple. They had to steal back a forbidden scroll that the mafia of the Land of the Valleys hid at a casino and pretended to sell it in an auction, and depending of whom bought it, Konoha could be in a tricky situation.

Hinata shouldn’t have been surprised by how smoothly the whole affair ran. They had been training together – more like he training her, actually – so they knew how each other thought and worked, and despite her initial insecurity, after all he outranked her in every aspect, there was not even a moment in which she felt he was doing her job or that she was just dragging him behind. They worked like a well-oiled machine, like they had been doing that all their lives. One thing surprised though, it didn’t have to do with the professional aspects of the mission, but she never thought she would feel so at ease every time they had to show that they were intimate publicly. It just felt like the most natural thing in the world. She wondered if it wasn’t side effects from been together so often, and the training, but that didn’t explain why she missed so much the little touches and sharing a bed with him when the mission was over.

 “You are ogling again.”

“What did you said?”

Hanabi laughed.

“So you are really over nightmare in orange, aren’t you?”

“What are you talking about, Hanabi?”

“About the attention you were paying at our dear cousin’s but.”

“What? I was not!”

“Oh, you were too!”

“This is ridiculous, I was just watching him training with father” but it was true that she was also reliving a very realist dream in which they were back on their last mission and Neji was kissing her.

“I would ask if it’s just a carnal thing or if you really like him, but know your cheesy ass, you probably already named your future children.”

“Hanabi, you are so silly sometimes.”

“The fact you are denying just make it cuter.”

“I don’t have time for this” she got up and left, Hanabi almost died from laughing too much when her father finally was able to strike a blow at Neji when he lost momentarily his concentration when he glanced at Hinata’s departing form.

Oh, the next days would be fun to watch.

 He said he was leaving for a long-term mission in two days.

“But your birthday is in three days!”

He actually smiled. A tiny thing, and just for a small moment, but happened.

“Hinata-sama, the Hokage nor the client care about that.”

“I know, I’m sorry, it’s just… Well, I’m being silly, you probably would already have plans with your team anyway… It’s just…”

“I didn’t.”

“What?”

“I didn’t have any plans.”

“Oh.”

They kept staring into each other eyes, until she noticed that he was probably waiting for her to continue and blushed hard.

“It’s just… On you birthday… I had a surprise for you. It wasn’t nothing big. I was just prepare herring soba for you… I tried the other day with the boys’ help and they said it wasn’t bad… Of course Kiba-kun and Akamaru-kun can eat anything, but I trust Shino-kun, and oh I’m sorry, I’m babbling.”

She covered her face with her hands.

Neji couldn’t actually believe the whole scene. Was Hinata… nervous? Was Hinata nervous around him? He thought they were past that ages ago. What did he do wrong?

“Hinata-sama, are you ok?”

She took a deep breath and looked up to him, her face still a bight shade of red.

“Yeah. I think so… You know, I’ll just think about something else. Maybe something you can carry on your misson?”

“You don’t have to.”

“But I want to.”

 She said he only could open the present on his birthday, and she promised that wasn’t something that would get in the way of his mission, or something too personal that could expose him, so he packed the small package with the intention of only opening it in July third.

It was a little vial with a string, probably to be used around the neck, there was some pills inside, it smelt nice, like some kind of herb he didn’t know the name. Glued to the lid was small roll of parchment.

He unrove the parchment and read:

“Happy birthday, Neji! I’ll keep this short, because you probably won’t have a lot of time to spare on you mission, so, I made these pills for you to take every time you head hurt from using the byakugan too much. They have so side effects and are completely safe, I tested them myself. Come back soon and be safe!”  

He read his name five times until he finally accepted that his eyes were fine, and yes, she didn’t call him “nii-san”.

Neji was a realistic person, it was not of his nature to hope, and yet, he couldn’t stop his heart from doing so.

 Summer became autumn, but he wasn’t back yet.

Hinata tried not worry too much. He said it was a long-term mission, he said it would take time. Yet, her heart couldn’t be at ease.

She tried to carry on with her days, occupy herself with her own training, missions and friends, but every time she looked behind she expected to find him following her. Sometimes she could almost feel his presence. And she missed him. In the mornings he was her first thought, because she should be going to meet him for their shared training session, the middle of the day was easier, because she could just pretend that he was home, but the evenings were hard, and took time until she stopped bringing two sets of cups for there was no one to have tea with her before bed.

When the winter came, she decided to go to the Hokage’s office and ask for news.

“You know it is confidential where they went.”

“I know but…”

“No buts! You know the rules.”

“Please, Hokage-sama, I don’t need details, I just want to know if everyone is fine.”

The blond woman sighed, it wasn’t unusual to have conceded relatives asking for her men in her office, and she pitied them, but what she could do? Even when she knew something the best thing she could do to keep her shinobi safe was to keep her mouth shut.

“I don’t know, Hyuuga. They sent me nothing. You’ll just have to wait.”

He finally arrived in the two days before the new year. Tired, but not badly hurt save from some scrapes and bruises.

When she saw him trespassing the compound’s gate, she threw everything she was holding – her knitting stuff, Hanabi needed a new sweater – her heart pounding. She walked towards him, and took every fiber of her body to not hug him in front of the entire clan.

“You’re back. Welcome.”

“Thank you, Hinata-sama.”

They stood there, just looking at each other, until he turned his face down to look inside of his pouch bag, taking a little package from inside it.

“For you birthday, sorry I missed it” she started opening the present, it was inside of a roll of ninja bandage “and I’m sorry it isn’t as practical like you gave me, but I had little time to spare.”

She smiled at him.

“You were busy, you didn’t have to bring me…” she finally found it in the middle of the fabric, it was a small pedant of a sunflower “…anything.”

“Oh, Neji…”

His heart soared. She said it. Ne never liked his name before as much.

“Thank you.”

And she didn’t care if everyone was watching. She engulfed him in her arms, her eyes shut, her heart happy.

 And it was in the winter that a new flower bloomed in her heart, and this time, she could feel it, it would grow into a proud tree, and would flowers for years and years, never withering, never dying.

 He doesn’t quite believe that was really happening to him. It seems to be like something from his dreams, except she never looked so beautiful in his imagination.

The sky is in fire above them, the whole village is welcoming the new year, but he don’t see it, all his attention is held by the threads of hair that escaped her hairdo falling on her back covered by the beautiful navy yukata and the heat of the hand of the woman that is taking him far from the commotion of the party and into a wooded training ground.

When she stops, he doesn’t say anything, he knows what she is about to do, he have been knowing about her feelings for a while now. Yet he doesn’t dare to say anything, to do anything, because everything still feels surreal, and if he doesn’t something wrong he might wake up.

She finally turns her face to him, her face glowing with heat, his mouth feels dry, his heart pumps in his chest. It’s ridiculous how she makes him feel, but it’s been a long time since he gave up on hating anything related to her, even how weak and stupid his feelings towards her make him become.

She gets closer to him, not once breaking eye contact, she raise her body, standing on her toes and his last coherent thought is that she is indeed very short before her lips are upon his.

Then she’s suddenly gone, because no matter how much time that moment last, for him, it would always be too short.

“Hinata-sama… You are shaking.”

“Please, help me” she whispers.

His hands go to her waist, but she falls on his chest and he ends up hugging her.

“Do you…” she starts.

“What?”

“Do you still love me?”

Silence.

She makes a move, like she was about to escape his arms, but then he tightens the embrace.

“Yes.”

She raises her hands to his chest.

“I think I love you too.”

And when he kissed her, she was sure.

[electricjudgements]

It's really bananas. Like, I don't know what I expected, but "shifting the blame to make your ship look better" was low on the list. I'm pretty sure anybody with any sense would be able to tell Song Lan's words were spoken in a moment of incredible pain and vulnerability, and like even if you think they weren't (only a moron would think this, mind), the fact he went out to find you and say sorry should be enough to show he changed his mind.

It fucking boggles me. It genuinely boggles my brain. Not just that, but that people would see how blatantly obviously in love you two were and STILL think x*ex*ao was the way to go. I don't know who I detest more, even, those who admit to simply thinking stuff like that is hot (you do you but I'm Xue Yang, I get a say) or those who try to find any way to justify their bullshit, i.e. Wah Wah Song Lan Abusive Waaahh!! His fault it all happened!!!

Like I said in my previous ask (by the way, sorry for sending another one instead of reblogging!), that 'argument' is just recycling what I said during that fight (feels weird saying I, but hey, I did), which was literally "hit him where it hurts to get the upper hand". Your argument is a jenga tower about to collapse if you think playing on someone's regret and manipulating them into feeling bad is equivalent to thought out, rational reasoning.

Makes me sick. For real. And don't even get me started on songx*ex*ao. I get the intent behind trying to fix things by having everyone be friends, but from where I'm standing it just feels awful. Like truly. Seeing as everything was genuinely all my fault, of course I wouldn't wanna see that.

God, I'm sorry for the ramble. But also hi!!! - your wordsy pal, 🍬👿

yes yes yes!! (and btw in advance i'm sorry for how long this will take me to respond, i wanted to wait until i had a good chance to give this the proper attention to responding so it's not just some "lol totally!" answer 😖)

i remember when that person told me (TO MY FACE!!) that zichen was just as bad, i'd said "i don't think so...? after all, he may have hurt xiao xingchen, but he'd just been traumatized and BLINDED, he may have been a monk but we all have a breaking point," and the person had just been like "well :) i still think he's just as bad really :)"

i honestly think those kinds of people just assume they've got to attack first, since ship wars rule the world! /s so if i say "x*ex*ao squicks me out" they assume i'm going to go off on a tirade about how terrible it is, et al. i'm not! i don't care! if you ship it, whatever... just be nice about it? keep it away from ppl who don't want to see it? i've my share of problematic things i enjoy, you just have to be decent about it. not everything is an attack on you personally, although once you start going "well. character is just as bad so get off your high horse" to someone who didn't even start a fight, then maybe i will attack you personally? depends on my mood LMAO

and eeuuugghh songx*ex*ao noooo don't even get me started 😣 my zichen is, how shall we put this, he hates x*ex*ao obviously, but s*ngx*e or god forbid all three of them together, it makes him so mad, like absolutely disgusted, LMAO (he says hi also!) and his emotions tend to bleed into mine, especially if we feel similar things, so it's.... a lot. it's a lot!

i hold a deep fondness for xue yang even now, and i can't lie and say he's the worst character i've ever liked (seriously. i have a refined taste that can be best described as "horrible enough that my therapist makes fun of me for it") but i don't like him because i particularly want to ship him w anyone. i'm just compelled by characters that have tragedy in their lives and choose to do the wrong things about it. characters like that are so interesting, and you don't have to excuse their actions or woobify them just so you can feel better about liking them!

like, long story short i guess LOL, but what's just as annoying as "song lan is just as bad!" is the "xue yang is a little baby though!" woobification, like i'm somehow his "prize" for all of his suffering and pain. i'm not anybody's prize! yes i had a close relationship with him and had i not been a near-celibate "mates once for life" kind of person i might have been able to have romantic feelings for him, when we were "friends"! but no, i was taken advantage of and betrayed, and i couldn't handle it. i really had cared for him, to the point where had he admitted who he was, i think... i wouldn't have forgiven him point-blank, but i would have shown him more mercy than i had in the past. it would hurt me, to know i cared for someone who did such horrible things, but it would have been okay. i wouldn't have lost myself to grief, at the very least. we might have had to end that friendship, but i wouldn't seek him out anymore. it would be a different kind of pain, especially if i found zichen again and he wanted revenge, but... ah, that's all in the past, and i suppose there's no use agonizing over it. but i did care for him, immensely so, which is why it tore me apart so horribly in the end.

if fans think i can be happy after that kind of incident, well! they're free to think that, i guess, although i would not like to see it, and also i am questioning how much they care for me as a character versus how much they care for xue yang. it always seems like our ship is about comforting him and not, you know, the person he drove to suicide. i wonder why! 🤔

(don't worry my friend, i also ramble a lot, like endlessly, and it's only exacerbated with my current shifts 😅)

[wordsysayswords]

3/? that! Another thing I loved is the way you show just how much Wash means to Tucker, the whole "what would Wash say in his place?" made me feel THINGS and it was great. Also, "Will I know Wash is gone" is such an interesting question and oh boy, I could write pages just about this but clearly I am not going to. Don't even get me started on that ending -- first of all, thank you so much for the possible happy ending because I needed a little comfort after all the angst (which was awesome)

4/? but my absolute favourite heart-breaking moment of it was the “Everyone’s fine but that’s not right because you aren’t okay” and this breaks me on so many levels because it feels so incredibly honest and so REAL and the “–because you’re part of everyone” thisthisthis. This sense of belonging and being wanted by others that Tucker mentions here is the core of this fic to me and thank you so much for writing it and sharing it with everyone. Again, sorry if this got super weird or

5/5 or if this made sub-zero sense, I really I managed to get my excitement through to you at least. I’m looking forward to reading your stuff! Have a nice day! RA

Lol okay, a peek into Wordsy’s mind here: 

The idea of ‘will I feel it when so-and-so dies’ is directly inspired by the NICHOLAS CAGE MOVIE: KNOWING. I shit you not. I saw it once, in theaters NINE YEARS AGO. Basically, Cage’s character comments that he doesn’t believe in God or fate or whatever anymore because he didn’t feel anything when his wife died away from home. I remember very little else except for the importance of some closet door, flying rocks getting thrown at Cage, and a last scene that involved rabbits for some reason??? Spoilers, I guess.

Yeah, writing bad endings in fanfic never appealed to me. Proof that I’m not 100% a terrible person: I like to swoop in with a little hope or ambiguity at the last minute. So, I’m like 99.9%

My dude, it’s the best thing in the world to hear people talk honestly and emotionally about what’s working in your fic so I super appreciate it. Thank you for the wonderful messages!! They really make my day :) Have a wonderful day!