#got so inspired last minute.. took me way less time than expected

[3416]

The Best of 1634 during the 23-24 Season

[tweetybaird]

intro for a possible dad!carl grimes fic

none of my works are ever proofread!

i can’t think of what it’s called for the life of me but there’s an owen wilson movie where like the hotel or something they’re staying in gets attacked by someone and he has to chuck his kids off of the roof onto another that his wife is standing on ready to catch them. and like i have always seen carl as being such a good dad one day and you KNOW he’d do anything for his kids. so this is kind of like a background story for a small x oc fic i wanna write that is fully inspired by that one scene because I CAN SO HA. um, yeah. k bye! (pls reply letting me know if you’d like to read this fic, i haven’t started writing it yet so i can easily back out of the project)

~🪐~

alexandria fell months ago. carl didn’t know who survived, if anyone did. he was with his family when the community first began to burn, but they got separated. he’d been looking for them, but it felt pointless now. last week he’d accepted it, the fact that they were dead, and had processed it his own way (his own way being finding a liquor store and chugging so much he’d passed out, not even thinking of the dangers outside. he couldn’t help but let his eye water when he awoke and realized it wasn’t all a bad dream.) but he was still moving now, the apocalypse leaving no time for grief.

it was quiet today, it always is. until it wasn’t. until carl heard the screams of a little girl, sounding too much like his judith. he took off into the woods, following the sound. carl ran into a clearing, gun at the ready, when he saw them. a girl, most likely the same age as him, stuck on top of an abandoned golf cart, holding on to a much younger girl, four years old at the most.

carl spotted a gun on the ground, assuming the oldest must’ve dropped it in her hurry to get to safety, taking note of the group of walkers surrounding the golf cart. in all fairness, it was a small group, one he could handle easily. but the brunette had a child with her, and maybe she couldn’t handle a group like this.

carl leaped forward, dropping his book bag and snatching his machete from its holster. in less than two minutes, he’d completely cleared the group of walkers. the boy turned in his place for a few moments, waiting to see if any more unwanted creatures would make themselves known. when they didn’t, carls head tilted upwards, eyes immediately locking onto the girls, still on top of the golf cart.

“hey,” carl began, having to pause and clear his throat due to not using his voice for so long. “it’s alright,” he tried again, hand outstretched, “i’m not gonna hurt you, i wanna help.” the older girl just stared at him, a cautious look in her eyes, like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop, for carl to tell her what she owed him now that he’d saved them.

it was the younger girl that reached out first, taking one small hand off of who carl assumed was her sister. the tot reached a hand out to the young sheriff, clearly having no issue trusting him. before the oldest could stop her, the younger girl hopped off the golf cart, fully expecting carl to catch her. he did, of course, but not without a grunt of surprise after frantically dropping his machete to grab her.

“hi,” carl had said, giving a gentle smile to the girl in his arms, “my name’s carl.” the girl looked at him curiously, head tilted to the side like a puppy, eyes flicking over the bandage covering his left eye, his sheriffs hat, his abandoned machete. “like a combat carl?” the first words she ever said to him. carl didn’t hesitate to love her like she was his own.

~🪐~

it’s been a year and four months since then. well, a year, four months, and twenty seven days according to beth, the sweet little girl who had leaped into carl’s waiting arms. carl felt like it was the universe punishing him for something. bringing him little beth, with her dirty blonde hair and willingness to trust anyone and her sweet southern accent and the fact that carl couldn’t breathe when he first heard her name and realized just how similar she was to his first puppy crush. mickey (the older, not so trusting, now his loving girlfriend) had said that carl would get used to beth’s love for numbers; he still hasn’t. but he’s learned to appreciate it.

carl was utterly baffled when he found out that beth was in fact not mickey’s little sister, but her child. the third night after carl had found the girls, him and mickey stayed up most of the night, talking about their past. carl talked about the prison, she told him about how her family abandoned her. carl told her about enid, mickey explained that her only boyfriend was the one that got her pregnant at the ripe age of 14, and ditched her upon finding out. the night ended with them wrapped up in each others arms, beth giggling upon seeing them the next morning. the small girl was delighted to call carl her daddy.

they’d been devoted to each other since then, and have made every decision together. including the decisions to allow two more members into their group along the way. the two other members being children as well. they’d found dottie first, six months into their escapade, a sweet nine year old girl who hadn’t been alone for more than an hour before they found her. her bright red hair was a stark contrast against her ebony skin. the poor thing was shivering, standing in the road in nothing but a men’s XL t-shirt. the article of clothing was soaked with blood, luckily not her own. carl scooped her up immediately, and all he had to do was look at mickey for her to give an agreeing nod. dottie fit in like a missing puzzle piece, and within a week was calling the young adults mama and daddy.

the next child they found was lincoln, a spritely twelve year old boy, who could tell you everything there is to know about bugs. mickey spotted him trying to sneak materials out of the car they’d taken over for the night, and snatched him up immediately. the brunette carried the curly haired boy over to her boyfriend, explaining what she’d seen. but before either of the young adults could speak, lincoln burst into tears, telling them that he was only trying to find something to eat. the boy had lost his family a month before, and had been left to defend himself ever since, with nothing but a dull butcher knife.

lincoln was starving, the hunger had taken over, and he figured it’d be easier to steal food someone else had already taken than to struggle to find his own. mickey and carl took pity on the boy, welcoming him into their family with open arms. lincoln settled in quickly, and had no issue calling mickey his mother. but when it came to being around carl, the boy was tense, hands reaching up to pull on his soot colored curls. it wasn’t much of an issue, lincoln still trusted carl with his life. it was more that he struggled to be comfortable with him. but his adoptive sisters didn’t have a problem with the man, so he guessed he was okay.

tonight, carl had cleared 4 floors of an abandoned hotel, herding them all into the biggest room he could find on the third floor. once the children were all tucked into the king sized bed, carl joined his girlfriend on the air mattress they’d set up on the floor, easily slipping into his place as little spoon.

the family dozed peacefully, appreciating the safe space as long as they could.

~🪐~

let me know what you think! like i said before pls reply or reblog if you’re interested in seeing more of this. i haven’t began writing any full chapters yet so it’s no issue if it doesn’t do well.

[louiesselfshipramblings]

Ena's Birthday!! [Personal]

It's February 23rd, aka ENA Day, aka—Ena's birthday!! To celebrate, I got this lovely art piece from @lunarbun-ships, who got it done real quick in time for today! Thanks again for that, Bunny!

Happy Birthday, Ena! You make life at the theater so much more exciting with you being there! I love you so much! :]

As a bonus treat, I also felt a touch inspired last night, so I wrote up a lil piece to go with the art! Nothing major, but just a lil extra expression of love to the most beautiful low-poly gal I know! Hope ya guys like it!

Word count: 868

Today had been rather confusing for Ena, though she at least had some idea of why such things were happening to her today. After all, it was her birthday, and it had started off fairly well. Moony had stopped by with her gift, that being a big bag of discounted Valentines Day candy she appeared to have picked up that day. It wasn’t anything spectacular, but she certainly appreciated the thought. Not long after did she receive a message from her partner Lüc, who simply said to stop by the theater. Nothing more, nothing less. Not even an expected ‘happy birthday’.

Regardless, Ena was right away intrigued, and headed over to the theater not too long after. The surprises continued when she saw that the lights were out, and a ‘Sorry, We’re Closed’ sign hung from the doorway. At first, she was ready to message Lüc again about this, but then she took a moment to try the door, and found it was still unlocked. With even more curiosity than before, she took a step into the empty theater.

Now, seeing as the theater was a smaller, independent one, it was never exactly buzzing with activity, but it was still off to see it both dark and empty as it currently was. She would have found herself slightly unnerved, if her attention had not been caught by a single spotlight which shined down onto the concession stand, and more specifically, a single desk bell.

Rather collected, she approached the counter, and with only a moment’s hesitance, reached out and rang the bell.

Ding!

The sound resonated, and silence returned, though just for only a moment, before the lights suddenly flicked on, and a banner flipped down behind the counter, paired with a shower of confetti. While Ena was caught a touch off guard, she could see through the confetti that the banner read, in alternating blue and yellow colors: ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY ENA!!!’

“S-Surprise!” Lüc cheered out as he popped up from behind the counter, arms in the air. “Happy b-birthday, Ena!!!”

“Oh!” Ena smiled, quickly bouncing up to the counter. “Pardon my previous hesitation, my dear! I had no earthly idea you were awaiting for me behind the counter there!”

“Eh, n-not for that long, really,” he remarked. “J-Just a few minutes, once I reasoned y-you were on your way. But I am g-glad you are here! For I…” he ducked back down under the counter, and popped back up with a two-decker slanted angle cake, “...have a w-wonderful treat here for you!!”

Ena gasped, clapping her hands. “Why, a birthday cake! For me, as it has my name and my colors lovingly strown onto it!”

“Y-Yep!” Lüc nodded proudly, setting the cake on the counter side. “Had it s-specially baked just for you! Costed a b-bit extra, but I think for someone as amazing as you, it’s w-well worth it!”

“Oh, darling! How—!” She suddenly paused, and her face flashed, shifting to a sadder, half white face. “H-How…” she repeated, sounding now on the verge of tears.

Uh, oh, Lüc winced. He knew how Ena’s mood swings went, but he wasn’t quite expecting one to happen so suddenly. “H-Hey, Ena, it’s okay, n-no need to—”

“HOW SO AWFULLY SWEET!!” She belted out, tears starting to stream down her face as she leapt over the counter, again to his shock as he just barely caught her, the two falling back onto the floor. “You always make sure to do so so SO many nice and kind things for me, and-and I can hardly think of how best to repay such kind kindness!! What if I never can, and your kindness towards me just goes unpaid?? What kind of girlfriend would I be if I did that!?!?!”

Lüc blinked, still a bit shook, before gently holding her case and chuckling. “Ena, sweetheart…it’s okay! Y-You don’t need to repay me for any of this. I’m doing this f-for you because it’s your birthday, and I want it to be special for you.”

She sniffed, nuzzling her head up into his sweater. “But you always made every day special for me…”

“Heh, I try…it’s because I love you, Ena,” he remarked, kissing the top of her head. “And you make every day s-special for me just by being the lovable person you are. My life is better because of you, and I wanted to give back even if it’s j-just in a small way like this.”

“...thank you, Lüc,” she replied softly, turning her head up to him. He smiled, before jumping a bit when she suddenly pulled his head down for a kiss, which he happily returned in kind. “S-Sorry I got all emotional…,” she half-mumbled.

“N-No need to apologize for your emotions, my love,” Lüc assured her, gently running his fingers through her hair to calm her. “You’re never wrong for crying around me. And hey, we still have the rest of your b-birthday to be all cheery, yeah? S-Speaking of, would you like me to cut a slice of cake for you, to cheer you up? It’s h-honey glazed, your favorite.” She took a big sniffle, and slowly a smile formed on her half-darkened face. “Yeah…that would help…”

[prolix-yuy]

Hello friends! It's been way way way way WAY too long since we chatted, and to be honest I've been taking an embarrassingly long time to write this update post because godDAMN life just gets you sometimes and you go on an impromptu hiatus that gets super messy. So let's get into what's been going on and what to look forward to!

Pedro Tax for this long-ass post.

(We're gonna get into some personal stuff, but if you're just here for what's coming up skip down to WHAT'S NEXT for the tl;dr version)

So beyond work getting hectic from January to March, which was the catalyst for everything getting wacky, I experienced a weird emotional turn that I wasn't expecting. It made me get a little introspective, which I blame some of my productivity slump on.

As I was finishing up the Bangathon entries, I noticed a sharp decline in interaction. I'm a fairly young fic writer on Tumblr, but I was a little baffled as to why stories I'd posted only a week before got a nice bit of interaction yet the newer ones were only getting half to a quarter of what I expected. For a minute I thought I had been shadowbanned (I was not) or I hadn't tagged the posts (I had) or my taglists weren't working (they were). People were already talking about interaction being lower, so I sat back and tried to go with the flow and not let it bother me. I posted Decoherence, which has a more niche audience, but I was definitely missing and wishing for some of the comments and reblogs I thought I might get.

All this led up to one of the least favorite voices in my head saying something that stuck around:

"Well, you were right not to become a writer if your motivation is this closely tied to feedback."

If you're new here or I haven't talked about it much recently, I initially was planning to be a writer. Went to school for it and everything. While I was there I felt like I hadn't found the stories I wanted to tell yet. My colleagues were developing in their niches and writing "the great American novel" and I didn't feel like I fit in. My stories had a lukewarm reception, and I never felt like anyone was excited about anything I was trying to say. So I wrote myself into burnout by the time I graduated with not much to show for it. I ended up doing a career switch, which I love to this day, but I stopped writing for almost 10 years.

Coming to Tumblr, I felt that spark of excitement writing again, and some of that was definitely due to people commenting and being excited or interested in the stories I was sharing. That truly revived something in me I thought was long gone, and reflecting back on the last two years that I've been sharing stories with this community makes me wildly emotional. I didn't know how much I missed of the life I left behind, and how much joy it brought me to share stories again.

Which is why it was SUPREMELY FRUSTRATING to have that shitty little voice pulverize my productivity and excitement over something as silly as interaction. But I'm sure most of you know how hard it is to get that voice out of your head. I worked to write things I found fun and less stressful than the series I already felt bad for not updating. And while I still love those stories, it felt like I was pulling them from an inauthentic place and finishing them wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped.

Thus the hiatus! I stopped writing and turned my attentions to consuming and creating in other ways. I watched some shows I'd been meaning to catch up on, started planning to buy a house, worked my butt off at the day job. And I was starting to feel like inspiration was coming back. I didn't want to spook it so I took my time and promised myself I was going to start small and not stress about getting stories out for a bit.

Top that off with some medical surprises, an upcoming surgery, and a little re-evaluation of life moving forward and things have been wild. But I've been missing the daily joy I get from being part of this fandom, and I'm getting back into being here more because I miss you guys! AND! I have stories I want to share and fun to be had. So let's shake off all the heavy shit and get to the fun stuff!

WHAT'S NEXT!

The big thing I'm getting ready to post (after teasing it for so long) is the 2024 Bangathon! This one is different from last year's because instead of requesting stories from me, the Bangathon is open to anyone who wants to participate! There will be a randomizer to play with, and some fun bonuses for those who participate. The announcement will be coming out soon, stay tuned!

As for fics, here are some updates on what's in my WIPs:

Series:

I Think of You: I spent some time rewatching Mando for the newest installment, and I've finally gotten the thread of where to go next thought out. It's been a long time coming so this one's gonna be BEEFY to make up for it.

SW!Frankie: I am crushed to realize it's been over a year since I posted any SW!Frankie! I've got a new story about him and Ms J moving in together I need to finish, then some more asks that are getting into new story arcs I'm excited to share!

Best Laid Plans: Dieter and Murch's first date is bouncing around in my head and I NEED to get it on paper. There's much fun to be had, and I've been binge listening to my playlist for them to get into the headspace.

Midnight Alley: I got all up in my own head about continuing the story with these two and lost a little steam, so I'm going to ease off my "big plans" and start smaller with some oneshots instead. I think it'll help me find out where I want this story to go.

One Shots in Progress:

Decoherence Follow-Up

Incubus!Dieter Ask

You know, laying it out like that makes it feel much more manageable than my brain was telling me! I'm also planning to prioritize more fic reading while I'm getting these updates in ship-shape. Reading your stories always helps get my creative juices flowing, and there are so many good ones lingering in my TBR list that I need to devour.

This has been a rollercoaster of emotions, so thank you for coming on the ride with me. I'm excited to bring more of myself back to Tumblr and have fun with all of you again! To many more stories!

[wandixx]

You'll never find the aswers ch.6

Words in this part: 4412 Story summary: M'gann was having an amazing day. She met with her civilian friends, drank an amazing smoothie, saw a cute dog. For a few hours, she didn't have to think about problems that took more than 20 minutes to solve. For a few hours, she could just be Megan. And then there was a scream of a woman, mother, who thought too loud and faded too fast and M'gann wasn't enough to save her and it made her whole world come crashing down. And then Danny found her, with a soft smile and patient voice. He kneeled beside her to pick up the pieces. And shards cut them both in the process. This part summary: Team finds out (kinda) and late night conversations Trigger warnings: Overtraining as a way of self harm Self Hatered, I'm not sure how to describe that, but Danny gets overwhelmed about his life and potential future and all of the stuff and I got a little too many feelings while writing it Please let me know if I forgot to put something here

first chapter, previous chapter

M’gann swayed, thrown a bit out of balance by her own punch. Danny, who was her sparring partner at the moment, evaded it with ease. They were both officially banned from all training related areas about half an hour ago. In theory, they weren't in the training area. They were good.

She couldn't just stop. She had to train until she got better, until she was strong and capable enough to protect everyone around her.

To be a hero people thought she already was.

Danny refused to let her do it unsupervised despite claiming that he slept around for four hours in the past two or three days. He wasn't sure. It was a terrifying admission from a resident STEM guy. He fought tooth and nail to not go to sleep unless she did too.

So they started this poor excuse of a sparring match.

M’gann considered stopping at least long enough to put Danny down for a nap, he seemed to stand straight by the sheer power of will, but she wasn't sure if she would be capable of getting back to it, herself. And she had to train more. 

“You're getting sloppy,” he pointed out trying to land an equally if not even more sloppy kick to her midsection. He was just barely louder than whisper, which she was thankful for. She got an annoying headache some time before they got there and loud noises were not helping.

“And?”

“Remember what Black Canary said about being sloppy last time she banned me from training?”

“The one when you were seeing double and couldn't walk straight? Yeah, I remember that one”

She tried to jab him in the ribs. She probably should have faked it and tried some other maneuver but she was a little too tired to come up with strategies more complicated than ‘punch, duck, punch’.

“Touché. I had a trashy week, not my fault. Like really trashy. And you’re breaking my very inspirational speech about importance of the breaks”

“Ones you don’t take?”

Well… she almost took a right hook to the jaw for that.

“What do you think I’m doing in English and World History classes?”

“Study like you’re supposed to?”

Danny just stopped for a moment and stared at her like he wanted to ask ‘Who do you take me for?’ which, frankly, that was fair.

“Point taken. Still, you’re banned too, so give me spark notes. It’s less hypocritical then”

“Not sure how it works but mkay” Danny mumbled and yawned, swaying a little bit “Something, something, when you’re tired, your form is getting more and more wrong, so you’re teaching your body bullshit. Something, something, your muscle grow when they aren’t in use, something, something-” he almost fell backwards like a log if M’gann didn’t catch his wrist”-holy shit that was one heck of a dizzy spell, gimme a sec”

She did but as soon as Danny got a bit stable, he twisted around her, caught her arms and did his flag move of restraint-from-fighting hug that she got so familiar with over the past few weeks. She probably should’ve expected it.

“Let's stop for now, alright Meg?”

“I should be better” she grumbled, wiggling to get out, in a way that was more for show than to actually get out. Danny squeezed her a bit and slowly lowered them to sit on the ground.

“You're good enough,” he lied quietly, warm breath carrying his words to her ear. "You're good enough and you don't need to push yourself over and over gain. I understand why you think you need. but you don't. You can't help if you're too tired to move. I know it's hard for you to take care of yourself right now. But it's something you need. It's something we all wish you did. Can I do it for you?"

She just hummed. She shouldn't be bothering him even more, they both knew he was already stretched to his limits. She shouldn't be so needy, she should be alright, she should be better, she should be good, she should-

Danny sighed and let go of her so he could take her hands in his, with much more kindness than it was justified in this situation. Her body relaxed at the familiar motion.

"It may sting a bit," he warned, as he always did, right before he grabbed the edge of the tape and started taking it off. It felt strange, as usual, when soaked material came of and her skin was again hit by the fresh, cool air. She had trouble focusing enough to fully register the feeling.

His fingers weren't as cold as they usually were when he did this. Most of the time when he did this, he would make his fingers colder. He said it was to help with the sting.

M'gann wasn't sure how she felt about the fact that he stopped.

An urge to cry caught up in her throat. She didn't deserve to be sad about it. It was about time Danny stopped caring anyway.

It was her privilege that he did for so long.

His hands got colder when he finished taking off the tape and started brushed against each scrape. Then he got warmer again to gently massage her fingers.

Against her will, whine escaped her. Cramped muscles relaxed and for a moment she couldn't breathe.

He- She- She didn't- He still-

"It's okay M'gann. Let it out. I've got you. You're safe. You're not a bother. You did your best. Sometimes nobody's best is enough. And that's okay. That woman isn't gone gone," But she died and it was all M'gann's fault, and she couldn't even train properly to be better. She was just reduced to the shaking mess the second she stopped going forward.

"She is a ghost somewhere, either in Ghost Zone or already in her Afterlife, where she is happiest she could ever be. Everyone would probably be glad if she waited a bit longer for it, but she is now in infinite joy for the rest of eternity" Danny murmured into her hair. They both knew it was a lie, an exaggeration, a myth fed to living by living. But it was close to what really was for some and that woman was hopefully one of this some. She seemed deserving. M'gann just cried harder, sobbing so loud her throat hurt.

"I know it was scary thing to witness, and it'd be best if nobody ever had to see it, but it's over now. There is nothing you can do to bring her back. I know you want to do better with her in mind, so nobody ever has to live her tragedy with you near them, but to do so, you need to let yourself rest. You can't help if you can't stand. You can't help if bright light defeats you…"

He kept speaking, gentle nonsense in a quiet soothing tone, accompanied by projection of soothing emotions, but it was mixing and tangling into incomprehensible murmur somewhere on the way from his mouth to her ears. She was shaking apart, feeling like Danny's hands were only thing that held her together. World became unimportant, distant in a way last years snow was, just M'gann, her grief and pain, small orb on her neck and warm body trying to anchor her in the moment. It was failing miserably.

It shouldn't happen. She wasn't supposed to die, she was supposed to get to her son's first ballet show and buy him ice cream and bake cookies with him afterwards, as a reward. They should be happy and together. She should be alive. She should be alright.

But she wasn't because M'gann… because M'gann failed her. Because she didn't stop the car, because she didn't move this woman, because she didn't realize something was wrong until she heard the scream. She was a hero. She was supposed to have better spatial awareness. She should've seen it coming. She should prevent it, she should do something about it. She should be able to help afterward, she should know human anatomy better so she could help her with first aid that she should be carrying or telekinesis or anything, at least until paramedics arrived. She should comfort her. She should do many things other than what she actually did.

She should do so much better, or at least train so she would be in the future.

Next thing she realized, her head was closer to the carpet, on Danny's lap, fabric near her wet with the tears. Warm, soft fingers were trailing through her hair, adding a bit of pressure to her scalp, temples, forehead in a senseless pattern. She remembered Danny saying he found hair pets soothing and in this more humanoid form, she could understand why. M'gann wanted to cry again a bit, but thankfully she seemed to run out of tears. She didn't deserve that. She wasn't worth that. She wasn't worth any of that. She wasn't worth even tenth of what Danny was doing for her. Not the comforting, not the preparation of foreign memorial, not the search for the ghost. He shouldn't be here. He should rest, live a normal life, at least as much as he could. He should-

"You're going into spiral again, please don't."

"How do you know that?" she asked, brows furrowing a bit before headache made them relax again.

"You're projecting so hard I can sense it. I'm a bit too tired to filter so… you know"

She shouldn't force him to-

"That's exactly what I'm talking about! Stop it!" he shouted, quickly cowering when she flinched. "Sorry," he whispered, moving his hand again to continue head massage.

"I should be sorry not you"

"You haven't done anything wrong"

They both knew it was a lie, but it was a nice lie and M'gann was too spent to fight on it right now. She just barely had an energy to maybe drag herself to her room and go to sleep. Or pass out on her way there.

"I guess you won. We are taking a break," she said after a moment, trying to make it sound a bit playfully and failing. Danny still smiled as if she succeeded. He looked absolutely exhausted despite, or maybe because of that. He was still Phantom, like always when they were training. It annoyed her for some reason. She wasn't sure what she should do about it though.

"I guess I did."

"Is your break more food or sleep focused? Mine is sleep."

"Nap sounds like midway to paradise right about now."

He didn't do anything indicating he was about to move to do it.

"So we're going to our rooms now?"

Danny hummed thoughtfully.

"How about we sleep together?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure by human standards, it's weird, right?"

"You made it weird. Tell me to piss off if it makes you uncomfortable, but I know myself. When I'm severely sleep deprived I get nightmares easily and friendly presence helps. We don't have to touch, just a general vicinity should be enough. You can take couch and I'll take the carpet if you want."

M'gann tried to send him an incredulous look, but it was a bit complicated when she was laying on guy's lap, probably having some fabric imprint on her cheek.

Thankfully the message was clear despite that.

"What? The carpets here are more comfy than my own freaking bed, I'll be happy to take it"

He wasn't exactly wrong, carpet was surprisingly nice, but it still wasn't enough for her to accept his offer.

"I'm not sleeping on the bed if you're on a floor, who do you take me for? And we both can fit on a couch I think"

"So can the carpet" he mumbled, looking a bit embarrassed.

"You're really attached to this carpet idea, aren't you?"

Danny groaned and untangled his hand from her hair to hide his face in it.

"I don't know if I can get up right now and I don't want to test it," he explained as if it was nothing of matter. M'gann shot up to sit, ready to ask him more questions or carry him to med bay if it was necessary. "Don't worry, it's mostly my legs getting numb from sitting on them for so long. And I'm too lazy to do anything more than to flop right were I'm sitting."

"And yet you're still clinging to Phantom."

"Huh. I honestly forgot about that," he muttered back, right before letting himself transform. He did seem to be honest, but M'gann wasn't in quite the right head space to read him well and he was steadily getting better at concealing himself from psychics.

He did flop right were he was sitting, practically boneless, wiggling just enough to free his legs from under himself. M'gann draped couch blanket over the boy and positioned herself to face him, close enough they could hold hands if they wanted, but far enough to not be in his space. Danny smiled at her like she was someone to be appreciated and admired. It reminded her of that one time they went stargazing.

She took deliberately deeper breath and closed her eyes.

"Sleep well Meg"

She was covered with half of the blanket when Danny shuffled a bit closer to fit both of them under it.

"M'you too"

*

"M'gann was successfully put to sleep," Danny whispered to the thin air, carefully sitting up so wouldn't risk falling asleep rright then and there "Conner, can you ask Black Canary if I can come back to training now?"

He heard Kryptonian rely his question and woman's slightly dry response.

"You were banned from training not to make M'gann sleep but because you're in such bad shape, you're danger to yourself and others. Take a nap Danny, but don't think we won't talk about it afterwards."

"Oh, c'mon, I'm not that bad"

It wasn't that Danny didn't want to, he was more than ready to jump on the occasion to get some barest scraps of sleep, he just also knew it wasn't exactly norm for him. There was no need to worry everyone about it yet, not when they finally started to do something (not much but something) about M'gann. There was no need for him to be a distraction.

"You're right, you're way worse. Danny, I say it with all due respect and affection, while working with you I've been introduced to levels of sleep deprivation that I thought were only possible in medical dramas where everyone is either sick with rarest possible disease or has normal symptoms cranked up to eleven. I'd say 'get ten hours of sleep or more' but we both know it's not quite doable, so nap has to suffice."

"I've seen body bags smaller than you eye bags dude"

Well who was Danny to fight with that arguments.

"Alright, have a good time training"

Let it stay between him and the bigger powers that he fell asleep before his head hit the carpet.

***

There was a fly in his tea. He was going to drink it anyway, because there was too much of to waste for such a minor reason. There was a fly in his tea and he was stuck on the same sentence of his essay for the past twenty minutes with no idea what to write next. There was fly in his tea because Jazz wouldn't let him destroy his sleep any further with coffee or energy drinks but he needed some caffeine to finish his homework. There was fly in his tea and Sam and Tucker were laughing about something on their let's-study-together call and he was too wrung out to laugh with them. There was fly in his tea and the finals were coming and he felt like he knew nothing but he couldn't force himself to study more. There was fly in his tea and he was stuck in a downward spiral of feeling too bad to study and then feeling bad about not studying and then being unable to study because how bad he felt and- There was a fly in hi tea and the ghosts were coming around to attack like there was no tomorrow. There was fly in his tea and Batman started trusting Team with more missions which was great but Danny already had no time. There was fly in hi tea and he didn't remember when was the last time he slept for more than five hours. There was fly in his tea and he was still looking for the ghost, whose death M'gann saw. There was fly in his tea and despite all his powers he had no way to truly make his friend feel better. There was fly in his tea and he was jealous of the soul crushing his friend felt over an unknown person because he felt like nobody ever truly grieved him and he felt like an awful person for that. There was fly in his tea and he didn't know what he felt or how to handle it but it wasn't important because M'gann needed support and Artemis needed new funny arrows and Sam with Tucker needed him to beat new level in Doomed and Jazz needed him to take care about his academics and Team needed him on the missions and Amity needed him him to stop ghosts and- There was fly in his tea and everything was a little too much right now.

He ended the call, closed his eyes and leaned back on his chair to breathe. Single tear slipped down his cheek.

It was alright. He didn't have time for this, so he was alright. He was just a little tired. Everything was fine.

There was a fly in his tea and he drank it without a second thought. There was no fly in his tea when he put it back in one clean spot on his messy desk. He straightened, stretched and rubbed his eyes. He had an essay to write to finish and the ghost to find, he couldn't cry right now. He entered the discord call back, forcing a smile that wouldn't be seen but had to be heard.

"Hey guys, the internet got funky for a moment and kicked me out. What were you talking about?"

***

Sam put down a wide choice of delicious vegan snacks that she stress-cooked when Jazz asked them to meet up, and two sad bags of a Jerky Beef. Tucker, the absolute heathen he was, wouldn't eat anything vegan or even vegetarian even if he had to starve to death and Sam refused to work with meat with a legendary (really, ghosts were gossiping about it for some reason) vengeance. It was best compromise they could achieve without her involving the personal cook, which would send wrong message to her parents and she didn't want to go through the 'are you sure about this vegan thing Samantha?' phase with her parents. She was determined to change that though. She managed to convince Danny to no-meat-Fridays and vegan-Wednesdays, how much harder could Tucker be?

"Cinema, huh? still better than mine, but not something I expected when you said 'Let's go to the basement'," Jazz said, craning her neck to see everything, while making her way to the beanbags. Sam dragged them there before Jazz and Tucker showed up because cinema chairs were all great and comfy and sustainably made but still a pretty horrible choice if you wanted to do anything other than watch a movie.

Tucker almost thrown himself onto his beanbag as if there was any risk someone would steal it.

Jazz sat down too and picked up something, looking like she did it more to be polite than because she really wanted. Sam was gala-trained, she knew how to differentiate polite from 'wants something' and from honest better than she knew goddamn alphabet and in her essays only thing that was ever underlined by spell check were foreign surnames, thank you very much.

To be completely honest, Jazz did look genuinely delighted after first bite though, and Sam could admit in privacy of her thoughts that it made her so damn proud.

"It's really good Sam, where did you get it?"

"Oh, she made it. Other than beef of course" Tucker explained, already opening one of his bags "You see pomegranate as a decoration here? It's like… her signature or something"

"I didn't know you cooked"

"And baked, her cakes are great actually!"

"I like to do that sometimes"

She didn't do it often, she usually preferred her other hobbies, but sometimes, sometimes she needed the control and power of creating. Whether it was a control in form of meticulous measurement of baking or mad improvisation of cooking depended on the day and what made her seek comfort in the kitchen. Thank Ancients that Janus, the cook, very rarely didn't catch up on the fact that she needed to be alone.

"It's good that you have… calmer hobbies"

Both younger teens groaned in almost perfect synchronization.

"Please stuck with psychoanalyzing Danny whenever you two talk, it gets really weird and annoying really fast"

"Speaking of Danny and his mind stuff, Jazz, you know what's up with him? He's been really weird lately," Tucker asked in between stuffing himself with Jerky like he wanted to take the place of this year's Thanksgiving turkey. If someone was insane enough to stuff turkey with some other meat of course.

"I thought you knew, that's why I asked to meet you. I recognize that he often shares with you things he is not comfortable sharing with me and I assumed… i hoped it was one of them. I'm worried about him"

Sam held back a sigh and finally dropped to her beanbag in maybe a bit overdramatic manner.

"We all are Jazz. For Ancients sake, Val asked recently, both as herself and as a Red Huntress, if we know what's up with Danny or Phantom, since the later looked pretty rough during last ghost attack. Let me repeat that, Red Huntress got concerned about Phantom's well-being." Sam paused her tirade to look Jazz dead in the eyes "We thought you knew. Apparently, you know a lot of stuff nobody told you"

"You're still bitter about the fact that I didn't tell you as soon as I learned who Phantom was, aren't you?"

Sam rolled her eyes, moving her head too to make the gesture more prominent and obnoxious. Jazz just couldn't help herself, could she?

"I am not and anyway it's the least important thing right now"

"It is important, but you're right, we have other things to discuss right now. We will talk about it later"

Sam happily recounted all of the places she could escape to to make this promise impossible to fulfill.

"Jazz, I can't stress it enough, we don't want you going full on brain doctor on us, stop please"

Redhead blinked at Tucker as if she just realized what she was doing. Maybe she did actually, the way all of the Fentons obsessed over 'their thing' was considered irrefutable fact by everyone in Amity. Earth was round, water in room temperature was liquid, ghosts were attacking every other night and if Fenton considered something their interest, they're going to be intense about it. There were some discussions whether it was cause more by some type of neurodivergence or if they just got a bit too ghostly because of the Jack and Maddie's everything.

"I'm sorry, I'll try to keep that in check" Jazz said, and the kicker was, she actually sounded apologetic. It felt almost too easy, but Sam didn't want to look gift horse in the teeth.

They sat in relative silence for a longish moment.

"So no one knows what's wrong with Danny, right?"

"I mean, there is someone who can know…" Tucker pointed out, sounding like he himself wasn't sure where his thoughts were taking him.

"Do you mean…"

"The sidekick team, yeah"

Actually, it wasn't dumb idea, and Jazz seemed to agree with it too.

"I mean, that makes sense, he is banned from telling us whatever is going on in there, so it's not that far fetched"

"Do you think they'd just let him roll downhill like that?" Jazz asked cautiously "I mean, there is supposed to be a psychologist to help them? Or maybe it's just something that happened during some mission or training but it didn't affect others as much and they haven't caught him yet? I mean, he is still spending most of his time here or in the Ghost Zone-"

"I have Robin's number, we can call and ask"

"You mean yell at them"

"I mean yell at them"

"Please don't yell at them"

"Why not, they fucked up Danny and are doing nothing to help him"

"We all know how good Danny is at seeming okay, I don't think we can judge them. It did took all of half a year to realize he actually accepted that he was dead and went through all stages of grief in the meantime. They probably just need a moment to catch it"

"You're being too optimistic Jazz"

"No, you're just super-duper pessimistic Sam. I agree with Jazz, Danny acting alright when he is falling apart is pretty on brand with him. Do we still want to call for that screaming match?"

"ell yeah"

"Please, keep it civil"

"Killjoy"

*

Dick, as Robin of course, was in the middle of an intense lazing around session, interrupted from time to time by the points added to "what is actually wrong with M'gann (and Danny, potentially)" brainstorming list when his phone rang. He exchanged confused glances with Wally and Kaldur, who were helping with the brainstorming part, before he answered the call because not many people had this number, much less considered it a reliable way of getting ahold of him. Frankly, it could only mean one person.

"Hey BadLuck, to what do I owe the pleasure? Something is bugging you?"

Despite all of his training and years in the field on service in the worst city in USA, he was thrown off a bit by the absolute onslaught that Danny's friends unleashed on him. At some point he just put them on speaker so his friends could hear them too.

It seemed like they'd have to drag Danny out of the parenthesis.

******

So... it's been a while, sorry guys. I can promise you that next two chapters, which are ending of the story (and much longer than this), will be queued to sometime today, so, yeah.

AO3 link

Next part

[cconfusedkat]

(shaking hands, functioning on three iced coffees, not beta read we just die) (LIL BRO TREATING THIS LIKE AO3Anyways yeah i did not read anything i typed here a second time so my wording might Suck Major Kuss)

Hey chat! sorry my holiday depression unfortunately kicked in, i had a ,, relatively decent Eid (cuz i dont celebrate christmas) ...? so i hope everyone had a relatively better holiday than i did… 💦

My friends often tell me i look like my art and i kinda see it. Hooray! Meeting the artist! Except i took matters into my own hands of making my own collage because I Do Not Have Enough Storage Space For Any Other Editing App

Additional shitpost ❤️ the art I've been most proud of are not actually in here, really! I'm mainly proud of the fanart i made for the few smiling critters AU's aaaall the way back feb-march but. I guess the stuff i liked the most i did this year was probably for the one who wilts? Im trying to think of stuff earlier than that. I noticed i definitely had an improvement in art, and i learned i do have a preference of drawing certain ways now too lmao- the fun of art! I hope to improve more in 2025 :-)

Herm,, all jokes aside, im glad people like my art...?? I am not a very Secure artist myself (already taking me five minutes to type that out and consider myself as an artist) so im SHOCKED when people Actually like my things. My doodles. The sometimes rare occasion of real art i put out there. Like! Wow! Thats crazy

Id have to say the same for youtube- im currently at 456 subscribers 🥺❤️ that is huge to me,, i wouldnt have expected me posting for the first time in years on youtube would result to me getting this many subscribers? ? .???

Im very, VERY thankful for the people ive met this year through fandom and generally. Unfortunately—for the past few months—Ive hit a really low stump in my mental health that limits me from talking to people without getting super drained, even on social media i kinda struggle with being active again. I am thankful for the people that continue to stick around and know im the way that i am,, one day ill be mentally stronger and everyone is gonna see my growth as soon as i can ,, Actually leave my own home and hopefully start a new. I didnt really consider that until one of my friends shared its experiences with me and i GENUINELY realized i can run away and get better one day,, there is a light at the end of the tunnel,, there IS,, but not now. Not today. Not in a few months. Itll take me years to heal but 2025 and ongoing years as i get more freedom to do so,,

UHHHH UHHH. ASIDE FROM CHEESY RANTING OF HAVING HOPES FOR THE FUTURE, YAPYAPYAP- i got a drawing tablet (again another thing my friend inspired me for- technically two major things in a row it inspired me for- hope in the future and drawing BWAHAHA-) and uhhh. HmMMOOHHH YEAH I REUNITED MY MEOWMEOWS! HOORA🎊🎊🎊🎊

my 2025 goals are not just improvement in art,, but in hopes of getting a full time job (since my last full time UMM. did NOT work out well! How am i gonna learn to pay my taxes on my own dawg,) and trying to get a place of my own since i missed out on that two years ago (or one? One year ago? I DUNNO..!!!!) , therapy and trying to heal better compared to my terrible stumps of 2022-2024,, i dunno what else but. Maybe working on my social skills at some point 🗿🗿 a far fetched goal is moving out of state completely and also going on testosterone but that is farrrr from now </33

Thank you lot for following and keeping up with my goofiness i gen did not think an animanga nerd with a passion of indie and mascot horror games could reach 510 followers within one year HELPPP thats crazy

On less serious goals though i hope on watching more animes than reading manga in 2025 BWAHAHAGAHSAJD i read manga more and anime is Extremely Rare for me to watch but both jjk and Beastars have all ive been watching as of recent lol- trust i will be such a geek (girl Please that is NAWT something to look forward to) (YES IT IS. HAVE YOU NO WHIMSY?)

[nomatterwhatnomatterwhere]

What a ( Not so) Strange World - VIII

AN: I'm so sorry it took me so long to update.

I'm working on some things and to tell the truth the chapter was practically ready for weeks, even if I wasn't convinced by the final part.

Sorry again

I Know Exactly (Not Quite) Where I'm going

Part VII Part IX

You didn't know what made you think that, but you were convinced that once Heartslabyul sent one of his people to retrieve his lost child, everything would go decently.

You would accompany Yuu and Grim - who were a package from what you understood - to class, so as to minimize the problems that Grim might get into and which he would drag the Prefect into as a result, and then you would go and look for Crowley , since you didn't know what you were supposed to do with your time at this school.

(Of course it was a school, and during your tour the crow lover had named some classes you would take, but he hadn't bothered to give you a timetable for the lessons and as gifted as you might be with magic, you didn't have the gift of clairvoyance or mind reading. The questions of how someone like that could be put in charge of a school were still present in your mind)

But as you should have expected, your plans would not be respected, since you were all heading together and passionately – except Ace, who was not happy at all – towards Heartslabyul.

When Least Problem Child – even his nickname was due to what you understood about him from Yuu's story – showed up to see how Ace was doing you were surprised to see how Deuce – “D-Deuce S-Spade !” – really seemed like an unproblematic child.

He had been direct in telling Ace what an idiot he had been, and had been much less tragic while talking about the Housewarden than Ace had been.

(You had to suppress a laugh at their situation)

It was fun to watch them interact with each other.

(Though maybe, from Deuce's story, you could understand why Ace was being so dramatic, since their Housewarden seemed to be exaggerating a little, if he put the same collar as Ace on someone who had overslept.)

You offered the newcomer to have breakfast with you and saw him stammer "No thanks" for a good whole minute, avoiding your gaze with the tips of his red ears.

It was cute.

( Deuce remembered seeing you during the chandelier fiasco, he had tried to apologize on Ace's behalf when he came at you, and he knew a model student would apologize , but you didn't see him. Now you were here, all smiles offering him breakfast with you, a breakfast you probably made yourself. You were the prettiest girl Deuce had seen in his young life. Avoiding acting like a delinquent was definitely paying off.)

You headed to Main Street and Grim had been absolutely unbearable the entire way.

The teasing towards Ace had been funny at first, but after a while it had tired you, both because the weasel's voice was making your ears bleed in pain, and because he was attracting so much, too much, attention from the students who you met

(The students' gazes weren't too focused on Grim though – their ears definitely were – their eyes were focused on you and the animals following your group. 'Cute' animals rarely strolled around the NRC, unless Silver wasn't asleep nearby, and so it was decidedly bizarre to see them following someone)

You were convinced that as soon as Ace got his magic back, Grim would have a tough time; you hoped to get Yuu away as quickly as possible, with that temper he had you knew the little monster would cause problems.

You didn't really want to go to Heartslabyul, you had more important things to do - like find Crowley and figure out where the library was - but leaving Yuu with the Problem Child™ wasn't an option, last time they ended up fighting a monster to find a Mana Stone in the dwarven mines, who knows what they might have gotten up to while they were together.

You didn't want to know.

The Queenie-inspired Dormitory wasn't bad at all: it was regal but inspired a certain order and discipline, but it lost a little of its solemnity when you saw the rose bushes losing spots of color.

You knew that Queenie had a tradition involving painting roses, but you hadn't yet seen the tradition in action. It was definitely something interesting.

Certainly Yuu's poor attempt to not make Ramshackle appear as something totally destroyed and unlivable hadn't helped much.

Ramshakle was a “work in progress” for housing decency. Once that was achieved we could talk about something else.

To get to the dorm entrance you had to pass through a Rose Maze, and the path was littered with cans of red paint, although you were much more focused on the tiny red footprints that started from one of the paint splotches on the ground.

You had missed the moment when Grim realized that someone other than you was in the maze: little pink hedgehogs were pushing at your heels – they were trying and you were letting them – while they whispered anxiously that they needed help.

You didn't want to leave the group, but you really pitied those little hedgehogs - they spoke in a fast and almost scared way - and your willpower to keep Yuu out of trouble was slightly weakened; they were in a Maze, the worst that could happen was that they could get lost, right?

The little guys led you not too far from where you were, to a little cage that had another hedgehog stuck in it, who looked like he was about to cry, if the little whimpers he let out were anything to go by.

After freeing the little one, the other hedgehogs decided to remain hanging on your body: you had one on each shoulder, the one just freed had decided to stay in your arms to be petted, the last one had decided to take a walk from grass up to your legs - where it was definitely comfortable - but since you had to go back to the others, you picked him up too.

“Why are you painting the roses red?”

When you returned to the others you were greeted by a decidedly interesting panorama: Deuce was fighting with a rose that was supposed to be red but tended more towards blue; Grimm was no better off, as you could see some singed roses; in the end the ones in the best position were Ace and Yuu who were literally painting the roses red.

“Why are you not painting the roses red?” Ace sounded totally betrayed – dramatic, downright dramatic.

You raised your arms to show the small animals – as if they weren't already visible with those bright colors they had – asking where you could leave them.

Nobody had time to answer you, because someone was faster: you felt yourself being hugged from behind, with the newcomer's arms settling just under yours, catching a glimpse of a very familiar lock of hair.

“Hi! Hi! There you are! I was soo worried 'bout you” he placed a hand on your back and started pushing you in another direction, without any of the others having time to say anything.

(As Cater dragged you away, Yuu could see how you didn't seem the least bit surprised or worried by the older boy's attitude, as if you were used to it. Ace was still shocked, he had to paint the roses and you were escorted in a very kind way, given the character of Cater, who knows where. Deuce was still realizing the situation; he was so entranced by your cute figure holding those little hedgehogs that he almost missed the moment Cater dragged you away)

You were arranging the hedgehogs in a basket that seemed much more well-stocked, and above all comfortable, than the trap in which one of them had gotten stuck, when Cater had leaned on your left shoulder and actually greeted you.

(actually, he had tried as soon as he saw you, but the hedgehog on your shoulder gave him a very dirty look and was a good deterrent, he didn't want quills on his pretty face the first time you saw you again together, although maybe that would have made you want to take care of him? Hmm, he would have thought about it.)

“Hi,” he said, lowering his voice slightly and looking you straight in the eyes, and God how much you missed his eyes, even though, at that moment, they seemed a little darker than you remembered.

"Hello to you too"

You stared at each other for a few seconds before the hedgehog on your other shoulder nuzzled his nose into your neck, waking you up from that sort of trance.

"Oh right!" Cater's eyes widen slightly at your tone. "The hedgehogs would appreciate a strengthening spell when you use them as balls and maybe if you avoided all those traps in the maze they would be a little calmer and maybe avoid escaping."

"Did they tell you?" Cater was still hugging you with his chin on your shoulder. "I'll talk to the Housewarden about it, but I can't guarantee anything."

Once the sidequest was finished you returned to the others, with a decidedly sulky Cater

(He had just seen you again in person and didn't have the slightest desire to share his time with you with the other firsties, but he had work to do and it was best to avoid Riddle's tantrums. Ugh!)

“I hate to say it, Ace, but I need you to leave before Riddle sees you.”

Sure, Rule 53 made total sense, but having to kick Ace out before the warden saw him also seemed over the top, even by Queenie's rules.

As you watched Cater fight Deuce and Grim you realized that unless "Riddle" was a rather common name, the Housewarden of Heratslabyul and Che'nya and Trey's friend must have been the same person.

You didn't understand how a personality like Che'nya could coexist with a "tyrant" like this Riddle, it couldn't be all thanks to Trey, despite all the wonderful abilities the boy possessed.

During the fight you had cast a small protection spell on Yuu, it didn't make sense for them to get hurt… now that you thought about it, if they had had a protection spell on them maybe they would have managed to avoid the physical attack repercussions that 'being friends with the Problem Child™ would have meant… yeah, you could try that.

“Shouldn't you send me away now too?”

You received a dirty look and a childish “Gno” in response as CayCay – that was the nickname used when Cater acted like a child – went back to hugging you like a Teddy Bear

“I need to find Crowley”

“Gno”

“I need to go”

“Gnoo”

Awsome, you have been kidnapped by Cater

“You need to paint those roses red”

At this he let you go, very reluctantly, making you promise to spend lunch with him, which you gladly accepted.

Back in the Hall of Mirror two things hit you hard Where the hell could you find Crowley and above all hope that the Problem Child™ and Yuu didn't get into trouble during your absence.

You should have stocked up on headache potions, maybe Crewel would have provided you with a supply if you asked.

Dividers by @sweetmelodygraphics

[jerryterry]

Hi Jerrod! I'm a college student taking a music appreciation class, and I have to use the musician I talked about on Day 1 for a project, and that so happened to be you, haha. Is there anyone who has inspired you musically for some of your horror work like Kiss Me/Kill me (which happens to be the song I chose cause honestly? A bop). Thank you so much in advance!

Hmm. Honestly, in cases like that one, I don't really have any conscious inspirations aside from the obvious song itself (as I've mentioned in the past, Kiss Me was mainly inspired by hearing the song on the radio and really listening to the lyrics for the first time and thinking "woah what if she keeps asking to be kissed next to increasingly-creepy things" lol). Started with the lyrics, then once I got the vocals back from Juliëtte I just started with "basic cover of the original song, then just see where I can take it".

The previous work "The Boys are Back (to kill you)" was a much more subdued 'remix', in that many elements were a 1:1 recreation (the backing guitar and bass are remade but mostly adhere to the original) or direct sample (that lead guitar riff) that I built up on in a more subtle way - different drums, lil blips and bloops here and there, but more of a cover than a remix in vibes. Kiss Me starts in a similar way, there's some added synths but it's mostly a close following of the original track with minor embellishments. But as part of the bait-and-switch (in that the listener was intended to assume it's the same situation as the previous one, both in terms of the remix style and the vocals being a sentence-mix), the plan was to just keep winging it in a new direction and see what happens.

Like most of my stuff, the rest kinda formed in this real hazy-to-remember bout of extreme productivity and luck. It's kinda like one of those cartoon fights where you just see a dustcloud and the occasional fist - like I'll zone out (or I guess in) into this very intensely-focused session for hours, and emerge having made a ton of progress thinking "I honestly don't remember how I got here". Sadly can't do it on command (hence my usual low output), but in this case I left everything so last-minute that the stress of the Halloween deadline was really propelling me forward, haha.

Come to think of it, is any of this useful at all? Was the project specifically just about inspirations? If so, kinda sucks that I guess I just went "huh, not really", sorry about that. Obvs not trying to claim my work is immaculate and wholly original and incomparable or whatever (it sure ain't), just that any inspirations for this one were more just my own ingrained inspirations and less conscious ones that I could pinpoint and list, yknow?

A lot of people think Boys are Back was inspired by Neil Cicierega. Which I totally get (on multiple levels, both the sentence-mixed mashup PLUS the "creepy old 90's-style computer UI" stuff are SO his bag), but tbh his work wasn't a direct inspiration in this case, it was mostly another accident. Maybe kind of a "man invents Frankenstein 200 years after Mary Shelley" vibe for sure. Though funnily enough it does take a lil conscious inspiration from one of Neil's works in a less-expected way, in that a distant memory of his track "Super Hey Ya" popped into mind while I was partway through the remix and inspired the lil bouncy chip-arps you hear from 0:50 onward. SHY came to mind on account of being what I guess I'd call an "additive remix", in which he took the whole song and put his own additions on top of it, which was only partially the case for TBaB but it was a bit of a similar process (I specifically remember thinking like "ok so I've got this pretty direct cover of the backing track, I don't want to go full capital-R Remix here but let's add some lil embellishments... oh hey, remember Super Hey Ya?").

Is any of this helpful? Sorry I couldn't really answer the question in a very satisfying way.

[babyarmybabbles]

Run ARMY! (Arrival Part) a2 d2

[Caution: These are not full fics, or even full parts of fics for some, these are part of my writing progress archive!]

Concept: Reader won the opportunity to film a spin off of Run BTS! celebrating the boys return from enlistment, called Run ARMY!, over the course of seven days.

Word Count: 1,836

Notes: This fic fights me so much, it's so difficult to write, but I love the idea so much, so I'm stubbornly refusing to quit lmao. I'll figure it out eventually. For now, enjoy this fragment. Could probably use some formatting and clarity edits.

Took Inspirations from Run ARMY! series on Tik Tok by _yamanika_ and Guess The Bias! by HelloMyAlien7 on Ao3

Warnings: Reader is a bit of an anxious mess

Masterlist Link <3 | Prev Part Link c: | Next Part Link :D

It wasn’t until your plane was landing on South Korean soil that the reality of your situation really started to sink in. Namely, that your situation was reality at all. Really, who could blame you? With the 15 hour flight behind you there were less than 24 hours between you and meeting BTS.

Less than 24 hours between you and filming with BTS.

It still felt like a dream as you disembarked from the plane and started heading to customs. Quite frankly you were still in shock about the whole thing. It felt like everything was progressing way too quickly, even though it had already been nearly two months since your name had initially been drawn from the Weverse raffle.

Honestly, even entering the raffle had been no more than a matter of rote to you. A notification from Weverse had announced a new special season of Run BTS! to celebrate the group's return from enlistment. The twist that made it special? They were going to pick one lucky Korean-speaking ARMY to film the series with BTS. Of course you'd entered the raffle. Hell, you're sure ARMY that didn't even meet the Korean speaking requirement had entered it.

It's just that you had never expected to win. You'd never even entertained the possibility. It had been just another of those things you did because you'd be wasting your fanclub membership otherwise. And also because you'd be insane not to. You'd giggled and done the whole "but what if?" routine with your ARMY friends, of course, but you'd never, ever, in a million years, believed your name would be picked. Never thought that one in ten million chance opportunity would be yours.

You make it through customs relatively unscathed and once more think that time is passing way too fast. You are maybe having the mental breakdown that had been pending since you'd received that fateful email from Hybe. You're not sure if you'd been able to hold it off until now through the sheer power of disbelief or if you'd simply been too busy.

Although a lot of the planning, and all of the expenses, for this trip were handled by Hybe you'd still had a pretty short window of time to sort your life out for a 9 day international vacation. Submitting your PTO request, finishing projects at work, dusting off your rusty Korean skills, making sure your passport was up to date, getting your visa sorted, finding someone to water your plants for you, corresponding with a freaking Hybe representative about details.

It had been a lot. Still was, actually. You move slowly through Incheon airport toward the baggage claim, taking your time to make sure you read the signs correctly. You always got anxious about getting lost in airports, no matter how many you'd been in. You were always convinced you were heading to the wrong place until you got there.

You’re sort of still sure you’re in the wrong place, actually. Just - in general. Not because of the airport specifically. Being in Korea, about to be carted off for last-minute paperwork and interviews, with intent to spend several days in the presence of your idols. You know you being here was a matter of random chance, but you can’t help but feel unworthy and out of place.

Mostly out of place. You’d never been the sort to do everything in your power to cross paths with your idols, and yet here you were. In fact, you’d maintained for years now that if you’d ever come across an idol in the wild you’d turn tail and run. You’re not sure how you’re going to handle being in close quarters with seven of them. You might faint. Actually, scratch that, you can almost guarantee you will.

You scoff at yourself a little bit. Here you are, about to live every AMRY's dream, and you're driving yourself into a panic attack at the baggage claim instead of enjoying it. Your luggage makes its slow and tottering way around the carousel, and you make no move to reach it any faster. Reality continues to make its presence known as your bag comes closer. By now, your fear has almost entirely overridden any excitement you're supposed to feel.

You swear that when you’d boarded your flight you’d been appropriately giddy. It's just that you're realizing some things right now. Like the fact you'll be spending a week in a house with seven strange men. Men you know of but have never met before. Men who are most assuredly stronger and more fit than you in every way. Men you've admired for years now. Men you are 100% sure to embarrass yourself in front of at some point.

Really, that's just a fact. It's a fact that feels scary right now, what with your anxiety overtaking your brain, but a fact nonetheless. You were a bit of an embarrassing person, and usually you'd embrace that, but right now it feels like a death knell.

You know that once the thing is actually happening and you don't have all this apprehension hanging over you anymore, you’ll be fine. You'll realize that everyone there are just people. That they're not so far off from yourself. You'll be far too busy being in the moment to cater to your anxiety. Everything will be fine.

If the voice in your head soothing you right now sounds more like your therapist than yourself, well, that’s for you to know. You’d internalize those kinder thoughts eventually. Your therapist said you would, anyways.

Your luggage is in front of you before you’re really ready. You're not really calm, but you’re not panicking either. You figure that’s as good as you’re gonna get, pull your big kid pants up over your anxieties and insecurities, and heave your luggage off of the conveyor belt. You suck in a stuttering breath and let it out smoother than it came in. The easy parts of this trip - the flight and the freaking out - were over. It’s time to find your ride.

You turn on your heel with a bit of determined flair. Dramatic? Maybe. But the animated movement makes you feel better and refocuses your attention to the task at hand. You let that energy carry you as stomp your way toward the loading area.

It doesn’t take you long to settle down and walk like a normal person again, but you cling tightly to the momentary confidence. You'll need it to bullshit your way through the next nine days. Finding the loading area you’d been told you’d be picked up from doesn’t take long either, and soon you’re paused off to the side to double check your instructions.

Well, you say instructions, it was more just a kind email explaining what to expect when you made it to Korea. Aside from a description of the person picking you up (the same Hybe representative you’d been corresponding with the whole time, thankfully) they’d also informed you that there would be some last-minute paperwork and that you’d be meeting the PD in charge of the show before being taken for a few interviews and photos. You’d get your post-travel rest after all of that.

It takes you several minutes of frantic double-triple-quadruple checking of your email and carefully surveying the crowd of travelers before you manage to spot who you’re looking for. She’s clear across the loading area from you, because of course she is, that’s just your luck, and the bright red hairband on her head combined with the sign with your name written in bold English in her hands tell you you have the right person.

She’s intimidatingly pretty and combined with the sharp way she’s dressed, black blazer and slacks and all, kinda makes you feel very under dressed and small in your baggy hoodie and paint-stained sweats. It’s a volatile combination of anxiety and relief that fills you as you start picking your way through the crowd. You dodge and weave through other travelers and their luggage to the best of your ability, but there are only so many toes you can dodge with your own suitcase being merrily unwieldy beside you.

You come to a stop in front of her entirely too quickly and your brain stalls as you desperately try to remember how to behave like a normal, rational, human being in front of a very attractive person. You somewhat hysterically think It’s good practice for when you meet BTS tomorrow. You fall hard on your manners about it and timidly call for her attention before introducing yourself and asking if she was who you were supposed to be looking for.

She smiles gently at you and suddenly you're a lot less nervous. Her smile makes her look kind and approachable and you’re immediately put at ease.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Cheong Haneul, and I'll be your liaison with Hybe for the duration of your stay." She finishes off her introduction with a neat bow, which you clumsily copy.

"Thank you for taking care of me." You reply awkwardly, wanting to be polite. Hopefully she’ll forgive your lack of social graces. Hurriedly, you push the conversation onward. "Uhm, sorry to be asking questions already, but what do you mean by liaison?"

Haneul waves a hand in dismissal of your apology and explains, "It just means I'll be in charge of you. Make sure you get to where you need to be, you have all the information you need, that sort of thing. Answering your questions is definitely part of that." Her charming little grin endears her to you further and stalls your nerves. You give a small smile back and soon enough the two of you are making your way to a black SUV parked nearby.

There’s a man in business attire waiting by the driver’s side door as you approach. Haneul introduces him briefly and you give him a nervous smile and profuse thanks as he helps load your suitcase and carry-on bag into the trunk. Your bulky backpack finds it’s way into the backseat with you as Haneul motions you ahead of her, following shortly after.

You can’t help but notice she’s about 20 time more graceful than you as she climbs into the vehicle. You resolve to take notes. Surely getting a good grade in entering vehicles is normal to want and possible to achieve. Surely. Soon enough all bags and passengers are safely loaded, and the SUV lurches into motion as you begin to leave behind the airport at last.

Hanuel turns to face you as you get going properly, and begins to speak.

“So, first things first, sorry to sweep you up as soon as you’ve landed, but we’ve got a couple of house-keeping things to get through before you meet the group tomorrow.” She takes a moment to pull a manila folder from the seat pocket in front of her, opening it to reveal a few packets of what looks like questionnaires.

"The PD

[beck-a-leck]

I'm gonna vent about fic comment etiquette for a hot minute beneath the cut and I'll probably delete this later after I've slept on it but...

I thought I would take my fics off of Registered Users Only lockdown, after being on it for several months. Not gonna lie I missed my guest readers and commenters.

But literally less than 2 hours after I did that I got this comment from a repeat guest commenter who has pretty much exclusively only asked the same thing when they comment

I'm legally allowed to commit murder now, right?

Like. For the last 3+ years this person has been reading my fics almost all of their comments are like this.

I'll post a brand new chapter and they'll comment 30 seconds later, "update when?"

Like. 😤

I get being excited over a fic. I get eagerly waiting for the next chapter. I even get the impatience that can come when a fic hasn't been updated in over a year.

I am very flattered to know that people feel that way about my stories.

But, mother fucker, I have been working on other things. If you just took 30 seconds to look at the rest of my profile, you would see that I have been writing other stories. I've been thinking about other fandoms. I've been juggling a dozen different projects at any one time. And I just want to shake them and shout "You'll get it when you get it! Stop asking!"

Like. I'm pretty sure this person commented a few months ago under a different name trying to semi-guilt trip me into continuing the story, which is not and never has been abandoned, and all they ever do it trigger the contrarian little gremlin in my brain that immediately says "well, now it's gonna take even longer. Nyeh!"

I just... idk. Part of me doesn't want to assume they're intentionally being rude. But also.

There are ways to comment on a fic you enjoy and would like to see more of, even if it's been on hiatus for a while without just demanding an update. They've MADE comments in the past that have been enthused and not demanding. But recently they've just gotten rude about it, treating me like I'm a vending machine and if they drop a comment (and comment) they'll get the content they want churned out to them in 2-3 business days.

I mean. Jfc saying "Please and Thank You" can go a really long way when you're asking people for things.

Like...

I just wonder if readers like that don't realize that every frustration they feel about an unfinished story, the writer feels tenfold along with a dozen other complicated feelings about it.

I certainly didn't expect that fic to still be in progress 3 years later. I thought it would be done in 6-8 months. But I can't control my damn muses and sometimes the inspiration just goes away for a very long time, and as the writer it's infuriating and guilt-inducing to see that Last Updated date getting farther and farther away.

But as the writer who is also doing all of this for free and for fun, I want to keep writing the stories that are currently fun for me, which means enjoying when different fandoms and new story ideas come and grab me by the hand and drag me off on new adventures.

I should just ignore the comment. Or at the very least wait until I'm less annoyed about it so I can respond civilly. But right now I'm just lying in bed, considering taking away guest reader privileges again. Just because I'm feeling petty.

[uniquejellyfishqueen]

Follow up to my previous post from 11/20.

The Boston Bruins fired their head coach Jim Montgomery on 11/19 after their 3rd straight loss. (3 again.)

Flash forward to 11/24:

The St. Louis Blues have fired coach Drew Bannister and hired Jim Montgomery as his replacement just five days after the 2022 Jack Adams Award winner was let go by the Boston Bruins.

Blues president and general manager Doug Armstrong announced the stunning change Sunday. He is expected to address reporters on a video call in the afternoon, while Montgomery is joining the team in New York on Monday.

Bannister had been on the job in St. Louis for less than a year since succeeding 2019 Stanley Cup-winning coach Craig Berube and getting the interim tag removed after last season. The Blues have lost 13 of their first 22 games this season.

Montgomery spent two seasons as an assistant on Berube��s staff in St. Louis between coaching Dallas and Boston. The Bruins fired him less than a quarter of the way through the season after they lost 12 of their first 20 games.

So the St. Louis dude lost 13 games and got fired, but then St. Louis gave the job to the guy who was fired from Boston 5 days ago for losing 12 games.

12/13 is TS 35 birthday.. is 19 days from 11/24

5 is 1989… and track 5 is “All You Had To Do Was Stay” which is a 7 word title. 5+7=12.

But the funny thing about 1989 is that there were 2 of them the standard edition and then the deluxe edition which had 19 tracks. Track 19 was the voice memo for Blank Space. With a run time of 2:11…. 11/2 backwards. The second to last line is “Oh my God, everyone’s gonna kill you”….. “I’m sorry the old Taylor can’t come to the phone… oh why? Cause she’s dead.” This was a bold foreshadowing for what was to come in her work, and also a major Easter egg since this was before Reputation came out. There is 1110 days from the release of 1989 to the release of Reputation. (Another damn 3)

The voice memo also said “this is like an early 2000’s Nelly track…” like the track “Over and Over” by Nelly featuring Tim McGraw? This song was released on 9/12/2004. One of the two recording studios was Basement Beats “Don't put me in the basement. When I want the penthouse of your heart”-Bejeweled.

Boston to St Louis

17 hr 15 min (1,192.7 mi) via I-70 E and I-90 E

1+1+9+2=13/7…

7/13 was the #115 show N1 in Milan

Surprise songs on Guitar

Folklore (1) The 1

1989 (14)Wonderland

Surprise songs on Piano.

*****this is the ONLY night of the ET that she did a double red mashup on piano..

Red (7) I Almost Do

Red (17) The Moment I knew

2 days ago on 11/22/24 show #145 she played

Ours and The Last Great American Dynasty on guitar…

“Her salt box house on the coast took her mind off St. Louis.”

In 2013 TS bought the Holiday House that inspired TLGAD

Rhode Island to Boston is 1 hr and 18 minutes (70.1 miles) vis 1-95 N. 42 miles via train.

She played on guitar You’re Losing Me for the second time on 6/14/2024 show #101 mashed up with The Great War.. the following night she played “Carolina” for the 1st and only time on the Errors Tour on 6/15/2024 N3/3 Liverpool show #102. This was played on the guitar mashed up with No Body, No Crime.

-> 5 months and 8 days later (13) on 11/23/24 show #146 she played You’re Losing Me mashed with How Did It End? on piano.

TN tweeted a callback to 4/25/2019:

On April 25, 2019, Taylor Swift surprised fans in Nashville, Tennessee with a series of events, including a surprise appearance at a butterfly mural and the announcement of her new song, "ME!"

Butterfly mural: Swift surprised fans by appearing at a butterfly mural in Nashville's Gulch neighborhood. The mural, created by Denver artist Kelsey Montague, included clues about Swift's upcoming music. Swift took selfies with fans for at least 45 minutes

which is the day before Me! Was released, in that song she says “Hey kid spelling is fun” and in “How Did It End” says “D-Y-I-N-G”

Like there is only one me and I’m dying a slow death….from a slow burn?

4/25/2019-11/23/2024= 66 months and 29 days

6+6=12 9+2=11

12/11 is Evermore’s Birthday it is 15 songs and exactly 1 hour long. 60 minutes…

Taylor appeared on “60 Minutes” on 11/20/2011 in an episode titled “The Pledge”

12 years later…

11/20/2023 N3/3 in Rio is when she performed “Me!” On guitar for the only time on the ET and also on piano “So It Goes” which has only been played this one time.

*does this mean that the Great War started in Liverpool?

146-101 = 45

11/24/24 Kansas City @ Carolina

At Banks of America Stadium, which is on 33 acres. Its opening day was 8/3/1996 (Karlie Kloss’s 4th birthday)

- a stadium TS has never performed at. (A really good trivia question would be what NFL stadiums she hasn’t played at.)

Her last performance in NC was on 10/21/2015… a possible mirror of 12/1 which is 7 days before the last Eras Show. On 10/21 she was joined by Miranda Lambert for a duet of “Little Red Wagon” like she uses a red convertible for the cover art for Red?

“You only love me for my

Big sun glasses

*the sun glasses ornament

And my Tony Lomas

And my Dodge Dart classic

You said, "I'll be Johhny and you be June

And I'll ride with you to the moon"

*a space reference all the way back in 2015.

**TS has a History of 15 shows in North Carolina (3 separate cities) throughout her career. Her last stop there was the 1989 World Tour on 10/21/2015

***on 2/7/2024 Disney+ announced that Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version), which is the concert film in its entirety for the first time and includes the song “cardigan” and four additional acoustic songs, will make its streaming debut on March 15, 2024, exclusively on Disney+.

The Red Tour

February 7, 2014 – Berlin, Germany: "I See Fire" with Ed Sheeran

*10 years before the Disney+ announcement

*or 10 years/ 120 months. Like 12/10? 2 days after the ET ends.

3/15/24-12/13/24= 8 months and 28 days

** She has only had 3 concerts on this date: Connecticut, LA, and Detroit. CLAD - “clothes”… DID YOU TAKE ALL MY CLOTHES TO LEAVE ME HERE NAKED AND ALONE?

8/28/2009 Fearless Tour

Ucansville is a village in the town of Montville, Connecticut, United States.[1] It is located in southeastern Montville, at the mouth of the Oxoboxo River where it flows into the Thames River

All aboard! Taylor Swift cosies up to Calvin Harris as they enjoy a boat trip on the River Thames - Thames Limo

8/28/2011 Speak Now World Tour

N4/4 LA “Super Bass” with Nicki Minaj was performed.

**Her favorite Sagittarius

8/28/2018 Reputation Stadium Tour

N1/1 Detroit: surprise song was “Jump Then Fall

[margalitarry]

dorothea | c.b

~❦~❦~❦~❦~❦~❦~❦~

ooh, you're a queen

selling dreams

selling make up and magazines

ooh, from you i’d buy anything

colby brock x reader

warnings : depression, mentions of suicidal thoughts, mention of drugs (xanax)

word count : 1.4k

notes : i love writing emotional fics so much omg. inspired by taylor swifts song, dorothea. you and colby were best friends (aka both def crush on each other but whatevz) and you decide to pick up the unknown call

~❦~❦~❦~❦~❦~❦~❦~

colby scrolled through his instagram feed, feeling like every photo was you. last night had been the release of your highly anticipated album, and he had of course listened to it.

you and colby had met when he first moved to LA with sam. you were one of the first people he had met and you both immediately clicked. you easily fell into his patterns and hung out nearly everyday. you helped him and sam film videos for their channel, and he helped you with pursing a music career.

everything was fine until you had released your first album. it was incredibly successful, you had even won a grammy award. you began to travel not only all over america, but the world for interviews, tour, photo shoots, and everything else in between. it was an extremely difficult change and even more difficult to balance your relationships.

at first you insisted on calling colby at any and every moment you could. even if it was for a few minutes, talking to him helped your nerves. but as the months went on you had begun getting depressed, withdrawing yourself from not only colby but many of your other friends. you felt you only had time for your career, and if you weren’t asleep you always had something or somewhere to be.

colby was never mad at you for calling less and was extremely understanding. he just wanted you to be happy, and he believed that at that time you were happier with whatever you had been doing. he couldn’t deny one thing though; having to find out bits of your life through the news made him extremely sad.

it was almost 4 in the morning when you had gotten home from your release party, which you didn’t even want to go to. you had tried to leave multiple times but your manager insisted you should stay. you groaned when your phone began to ring, expecting your manager to update you on some statistic you couldn’t care about.

‘no caller id’

you didn’t know what came over you, because technically you weren’t supposed to pick up a call you didn’t know. especially without a caller id. it could be a fan who somehow got your number, but you picked it up.

“hello?” you said after picking up the call.

“hey hello? y/n?” an extremely familiar voice replied, letting your stomach drop at the thought of who it could be.

“colby brock? are you seriously calling me right now?” you asked, excitement and anxiety running through your voice.

“yeah, yeah it’s me! how are you doing? it’s been forever i feel like.”

“i’m okay, really tired right now. i just got to my hotel room after being out all night at the listening party for my album. how are you?”

“i’m good, your album is amazing by the way. sam and i listened to it when it dropped. are you in la?”

you almost felt guilty talking to him right now, it felt like nothing had happened and just like the years together before but something wasn’t right. it didn’t feel the same.

“no, i honestly wish. i’m in new york right now, i have a show at madison square garden tomorrow night.” you told him.

“oh damn! you’re just selling dreams and everything now. i’m really proud of you, holy shit!” colby exclaimed, he couldn’t believe you had picked up his call. but he could hear a dullness in your voice that wasn’t there before.

“thank you” you lightly laughed

“are you seriously doing okay though? you sound a little more than just tired y/n.” colby asked, not beating around the bush. if he felt something was wrong he wanted to know.

his question took you aback; although you expected him to say something along those lines. you didn’t know how to answer, because truthfully you didn’t know how you were feeling. you were filled with joy from the overwhelming support, but you desperately missed your old life.

“y/n? hello?” colby said, pulling you from your thoughts of your emotions.

“uh- yeah. i mean no, but it’s not like bad. it’s not amazing either- but- i don’t know really.” you answered, best you could.

“what’s up? just talk to me, you’re good.”

“i just really fucking miss my life before all of this, whenever i just sat and edited your guys’ videos for hours a day. when we were younger down at the parks. whenever we would be together all of the time. all of you even. obviously you more- but whatever i just miss it all.”

“i don’t want to live this life anymore” you whispered, focusing your eyes on a bottle of xanax for a spilt second.

colby felt a more of a relief than he did sympathy in that moment. you were finally opening up to him after almost a year and a half. but he also couldn't help feel helpless for you.

“i’m sorry, but there’s definitely a way to balance everything. i know you have so much going on, but you’ve gotta be able to take yourself back and out of certain situations. standing up for yourself” colby said, still in disbelief he was having this conversation.

"i know but it's just after my first album it's been absolutely nonstop, i haven't had longer than a day to just do nothing. i don't know when that's gonna end."

"you have more people who want to help you than those who want to see you fail. you cant keep these things hidden, it doesn't help anyone."

"i'm sorry" you said

"nothing that's happened to you is your fault, don't be sorry for your emotions. especially with me, we're way past that point."

you weren’t sure if that was something you needed to hear, or if it was just because colby was saying it, but it encouraged you to make a spur of the moment decision.

“what if you came to new york for my show tomorrow? if you have nothing going on obviously, i’d pay for everything. and if you want too.”

colby’s jaw dropped even though you couldn’t see it. he didn’t have anything going on for the next four days, and couldn’t have been more thankful not too.

“i have nothing going on the next four days actually”

“are you serious? please say you’ll come.”

“of course i will!”

you immediately opened you laptop and looked at flights from lax to jfk, your heart breathing through your chest.

“ do you think you can be ready in five hours?” you asked him, wanting to suddenly see him extremely badly.

“are you kidding? yeah i can be, definitely. whatever you want.”

as the word ‘yeah’ came out of his mouth you booked the tickets as fast as you could, sending him the email confirmation. you couldn’t really process what you had just done fully. you also didn’t realize it at the moment but you had still had his email perfectly memorized.

“i just sent you the email, i’m so excited fuck!”

“i’m really excited to see you y/n. i feel i’ve only seen you on screens the last year.”

colby saying that so nonchalantly made you more upset that you would've liked to feel, but it had almost been an hour since he first called and you were very tired.

“i’m gonna try to sleep before you come, i’ll text you in a few hours. actually wait- do you have a new cell? it showed up no caller id.”

“it’s the same as it’s always been, not sure why. but okay get some rest, i’ll see you soon.”

“see you soon” you said before hanging up the call.

you stood up and walked over to the counter that the bottle of xanax held, tearing up staring at the bottle. you proceeded to take them into the bathroom and flush them all down the toilet before going back to bed.

all you could think about was you fully laid down was how you were pretty sure colby had just saved your life.

colby couldn't have been more relieved as he called sam letting him know he'd be in new york for the weekend.

[missyxxxxx]

Expect The Unexpected | Zlatan Ibrahimović x Female Reader | Soulmate AU

Summary : She left her hometown and moved to Rome to study at her favorite University . That's what she said to the people that asked her , but she knows it's not the truth . She is in pain and she thinks that she's never gonna find her true love , until she came across him .

He reached a certain point in his life where the only think that he cared about was his career . He didn't believe in love and he certainly didn't believe in love at first sight , until he spotted the girl with the beautiful and big bright eyes .

Trigger Warnings : Mentions of past toxic relationship , abuse and harassment , anxiety and panic attacks , stress , self - harm , insomnia and angst .  

DON'T WORRY THER'S GOING TO BE FLUFF AT THE END

P.s. Hello Tumblr : ) This is my first time uploading something that I wrote so please be kind . I actually was inspired to write this because of a conversation I had with my best friend and a recent dream I had. This is an AU imagine , where Zlatan isn't married , he dosen't have any kids and he is close friends with Lionel Messi . Also ,English isn't my first language so if you spot a mistake please bare with me .

This turned out way longer than I expected - 12k words : \

Enjoy < 3

__________________________________________________

Reader's POV

I checked my test paper for one last time while I was making my way through the busy hall filled with students .

" How did it go ? " The teacher that was responsible for receiving all the test's asked me .

" It went well . " I responded to her trying to keep my tears from escaping .

University is stressing me out more than anything else and the amounts of studying for the exams isn't helping at all . I decided against taking the bus to return to my apartment . Plus walking in autumn is way better . I took out my earphones to listen to some music , thinking that it will calm me down . And then , the moment music flooded in my ears I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

In less than 20 minutes I'm back in my apartment . Specifically in the kitchen floor crying my eyes out , while Fluffy was sitting in my lap.

" Well at least I have you in my life . " I say to my cat Fluffy while petting him on his little head . He let's out a meow and looks at me .

" Sometimes I really think that you are the only one that understand me . " I say to him with a smile . The he suddenly meows and walks torwards his bowl . My smile drops and I get up to feed him .

" You ate breakfast 2 hours ago and you're fat . " I say to him while I'm putting food in his bowl . He dosen't give me a second glance and starts eating his food .

Meanwhile I'm standing in the middle of the kitchen rubbing my temple trying to get rid of my headache .

Music still plays through my headphones and I realise that I left my phone on the counter .

Taking it in my hands I see that I have a new message from a number that I have deleted from my contacts way too long ago .

' Why are you not answering any of my calls or messages ? It's not that you have more important things to do . One day you'll regret leaving me . '

I can imagine him typing at his phone angrily while drinking a beer or geting high .

The memories make their way back in my head and suddenly I can see him infront of me yelling and throwing things all over the place .

" You are just worthless and a waste of time . Don't you see ? You are the reason why I cheated on you at the first place . It's your fault . Everything you do is stupid . Every desicion you make is stupid . You deserve nothing . "

And whenever I didn't react and remained silent he would start to throw glass bottles on me . One time he got me in the head and when I tried to leave he did it again and again until I fell unconscious in the floor . When I woke up I was still on the floor , but I was almost naked and my body was full of cigar burns and bruises .

I closed my eyes and tried to make the memories get out of my head.

The song People You Know by Selena Gomez was playing through my headphones .

" How ironic . " I said while blocking his number .

Flyffy was meowing at me trying to get my attention .

" He won't find us . He can't find us . We are gonna be okay . " I said to him and went to my bedroom to change and read my new book as peacefully I can .

_____

I feel something hairy close to my face and when I open my eyes I see Flyffy's orange head looking at me while sitting on top of my chest . I turn my head to the right and see that it's near 6 p.m.

I close my eyes again and when I open them after a couple of minutes, I go to the kitchen to feed Flyffy . I make a tea for me and I go to the bathroom to take a shower .

I start to take off my cloths but then I stop and take a good look at myself in the mirror . My hair looks a mess and my eyes are red and have dark circles from not sleeping enough .

I spot the scars from the cigar burns on my shoulders and chest and I immediately look at my wrist's and thigh's . The scars I made myself a few days before are still visible .

Tears escape my eyes and I feel worthless and weak .

I try to calm myself down by stepping into the shower and for a few minutes I fell better under the hot droplets of the water . When I step out , I wrap myself with a white towel and go to my bedroom to put some comfy cloaths .

I change and I sit on my bed , but before I can open my book to read I hear a notification from my phone .

Flyffy jump's on the bed and I grab my phone hoping that everything is okay and I'm safe .

' Did you really think that by just blocking my number you could get away from me ? '

I stare at my screen for God know's how long .

My tea that has been sitting on top of my nightstand is now cold .

_____

Zlatan's POV

I'm basically training non - stop . I wake up at the morning and I go to the gym at the training centre , then I train with the others , the I train by myself again . Basically all I do is train . My goal is to become an even better version of myself . I want to show them what I'm capable of doing . My agent said to me that there is a chance that I'll be transferring in AC Milan in a couple of weeks . I actually can't wait to leave this team . I've been here for two years and the only think that I've been doing is running up and down a field . I decided that I'll keep in touch with Lionel and couple players , but that's it .

Now , I'm in my house playing PS3 and waiting for my agent to call me and tell me when I'll be leaving for Milan . I want to visit Rome first thought . I feel that I have the need to go there . Maybe it's because I've never really went out in the city when I visited last time .

After a few days , I'm sitting in a private jet flying from Spain to Italy with Lionel . He decided to come with me because as he said " I need a break from all this and besides you need me here . Your happiness depends on me . I'm gonna help you have fun . Do you even now what that is ? " He said to me .

" What are you even saying to me ? This is bullshit . Ofcourse I know what happiness is . I have fun on my own . " I answered looking at him.

He just looked at me and responded to me with that smile of his .

" How come you didn't bring Antonela with you ? " I asked trying to change the topic of the conversation .

" Do you wanted her to talk about your non existing love life for the whole trip and how you haven't found your soulmate yet ? " He aksed while looking at his phone .

I just granted in response .

I've reached a certain point in my life where all I can think is my career . And besides that I don't need love and all that in my life . I'm perfectly fine on my own .

And with that I closed my eyes and tried to sleep .

_____

" Wake up . We're landing . " Lionel said to me while rocking my shoulder .

I checked my seatbelt and waited for the touch - down .

In less than one hour I've settled into my new home and getting ready to go walk in the town . I just feel the need to walk alone .

_____

Reader's POV

I was sitting in my couch reading my book . Flyffy is sleeping besides me . I'm bored . Should I maybe go out ? I ask myself and befone I knew it I was in front of my closet trying to find what to wear .

I decided on a pair of black sweatpands and a hoodie . I puy on my black jacket and shoes and before I step out of the door I grab my earphones and keys . I decided to go to the fountain Fontana di Trevi since it was beautiful to look at night .

I put on my earphones to listen to some music while I'm walking .

Rome at night is so noisy , but in the same time so silent .

Especially if you're all alone .

I'm alone .

The fountain is so beautiful . I search at my pockets for some coins to throw .

I look at the gold coin in my hand and tears start to form in my eyes .

' I don't wanna be alone anymore . I say to myself and wipe my tears with the back of my hand .

I throw the coin in the fountain and then I take a deep breath .

I suddenly feel the urge to turn my head to the right and when I do , I came across a pair of dark brown eyes staring at me like they want to know my deapest secrets . I take a step back and study his body . He is tall maybe over 6 feet , has a small ponytail , strong jaw - but then again - I lock my eyes in his and can't seem to get away .

_____

Zlatan's POV

I was throwing some coins in the fountain . It was noisy and some people recognized me and asked for a photo now and there , but still it was in a way - silent .

I turn left ready to leave and head back to my home until I came across a small figure not so close to me but not so far away that I couldn't not see their face .

She's short , maybe 5 ' 2 and she has dark brown hair . A tear rolls down her face but she quickly wiped with the back of her hand . When she turns her head towards my direction , I came across a pair of bright blue eyes - the kind of blue I loved in my entire life . Like the blue of the morning sky .

And we lock gazes - looking at each other for some seconds , until she takes a step back to look at my face .

My eyes don't leave hers even for a seccond - and we just stay like this . Looking each other and I can't seem to look away .

_____

They are looking at each other for a couple of minutes , but when she turns her gaze away trying to leave , he reacts quickly by slightly grabbing her left palm .

She stops dead in her tracks at the sudden touch .

His big hand covers her small one , but she doesn't protest . She just stays there enjoying the warmth of his palm over her cold one .

After looking at her for a little more he realized that she looked kinda scared so he left her hand .

" I'm sorry . I don't know why I did that . " He said to her .

He had a deep voice with an accent that and she thought that she could listen to his voice for the rest of life .

" It's okay . " She answered while looking at him .

And suddenly , the both felt the exact same thing . He felt in peace and for once in his life he wasn't mad . She felt safe for the first time in a really long time . They felt like they were made for one another .

" I need to get back home . I mean ... I - I have a cat and he's alone - " She said but she stoped after a smile appeared in his face .

" Let me walk you home . " He said to her while coming a little closer .

She just nodded her head and bite her her lower lip .

They started walking together silently when she stopped and looked up at him . He was already looking at her . He then grabbed her hand in his and started walking again .

_____

They walked holding hands in the night and when they reacher her complex apartment he looked down at her .

" I know that all of this is weird, but can I have your number ? I mean I already know where you live now . " He said while smiling and she laughed nodding her head .

_____

When she entered her apartment , she threw her keys in the counter and fell in the couch with a smile .

Flyffy came running towards her meowing .

" You'll never believe what happened . " She said to the orange cat while looking at him .

Where Have You Been by Rihanna was playing through her earphones. She took her phone in her hands and when she looked at the screen , there was a new message from him .

From the man with the dark brown eyes .

Zlatan : Still can't explain what happened an hour ago . Can I see you tomorrow ?

' How ironic ' She thought while answering him with a smile .

_____

Tags : @unimportantbabymilksharkte

[asgardwinter]

This is totally no pressure and I completely understand if you don't want to write it or aren't taking requests right now (then just ignore this), but I'd love to your take on the "shows up at their enemies door" prompt from that prompt list. It can be a villain of your choosing or maybe it's a hero and villain!Reader. Anyways ily and your writing! 💖

i loved this request!! i decided to go with villain!Reader (somehow inspired a bit by yelena's role on the hawkeye series as a hitwoman and all) because this is something i've been meaning to write for quite some time... hope you like it, Mar! <3

White Flag

summary | The last thing you expected that night was for Kate Bishop to be on your doorstep.

Series Masterlist | Next Chapter

pairing | Kate Bishop x Villain!Reader

warnings | angsty, a tiny bit of fluff, sort of an open ending, Kate refers to the reader as “bad guy” but in that generical way (i might have listened to billie eilish a bit, okay?), the reader is not a good person but they’re certainly enchanted by Kate (i can’t blame them…), probably too much mentions of killing people (nothing graphic but y'all know that reader is kind of a mercenary)

word count | 1,2k (i give up on writing blurbs)

author’s note | HERE WE GO!!! i’m so excited, i had this idea since i first read the request but i couldn’t find time to write so spent two weeks writing it in my head hehe (i missed writing for kate SO MUCH!!)

prompt: "shows up at their enemies door" from the prompts that hit in all the right places list

join the taglist!

There were only three firm knocks.

The first one already got you worried.

No one knocked on your door, no one knew where you lived. Except for maybe one close relative…No, that wasn’t true, you made sure you had no one around you.

You grabbed the gun hidden on the below your coffee table’s top, loading it just in case things went sideways. The steps you took towards the door were feather-like, making you invisible like you always were, like you were trained to be.

Lookin through the peephole was enough to surprise you, not to calm you down though. What was Kate Bishop doing at your door at midnight?

“Bishop.” You said as you unlocked the door, the gun still in your hand but carefully hidden behind the wood. “What brings you here?”

“I…” She started to talk but the words weren’t there. Kate opened and closed her mouth a bunch of times before saying. “I’m paying you a visit?” She didn’t sound so sure about it. “Needed to check on how my favourite bad guy is going.”

The thing was, you could see how lost Kate looked. The ponytale was more disheveled than normal, bags were starting to appear under her eyes and the nervous energy radiating from her was enough to make you a bit worried about her. Only a bit.

So you did the obvious thing anyone would do when they saw the person they were trying to shoot less than a week ago, you invited her to come inside. And Kate did the most common thing a hero would do when the “villain” would invite you to sit down on the sofa, she went to sit on the arm chair.

You closed the door and decided by not locking it for now, walking to the empty sofa to sit down, not before you carefully placed the gun on your waist. Kate’s eyes widened as she took in you armed just to answer a door.

“Do you really need the gun right now? I thought we had a moment.” Kate said in that always playful tone.

“And I thought I was your favourite bad guy, Bishop.” You said, the small smile appeared in your face before you could even contain it. “What type of bad guy would I be if I went to answer the door to my secret house unarmed?”

“You got me there.” Kate offered you a shy smile and you both sat in silence.

A deeply uncomfortable silence.

What were you doing?

Both of you had no clue.

“Why are you here Kate?” You asked sincerely, the first time you actually used her first name.

It shouldn’t sound as meaningful as it did, as worried as it did.

Kate thought for a couple of minutes, her eyes not reaching yours for a little while. She was already inside your house, sitting in your armchair, what did she have to lose if she told you the truth?

“I’m…lost.” Only those two words carried so much.

It was the first time she looked directly in your eyes and for a moment you forgot about the context.

You decided that for the next hour you’d forget about everything. How you were hired to kill Kate at one command from Fisk, a threat to Eleanor Bishop, to show her there was no way out and if she even tried he’d bring her daughter in the field. How you happen to have her on at the range of your gun everyday even if you felt terrible for it, even if since the first time you pointed the gun to her you knew you weren’t going to take the shot. Feelings and memories were hidden and you sat there, ready to listen to what she had to say.

As a gesture of peace you took the gun from your waistband and secured it back under the table. Standing there unarmed pretending you both trusted each other.

Looking from a certain point, Kate did trust you for that short hour and you did trust her back.

“I just got my mother arrested. On Christmas.” She whispered. “That does things to people.”

“It was the heroic thing to do.” You said almost automatically.

“Not the right one?”

“I don’t think I’m in the position of telling you what’s right and what’s wrong.” You tried to bring some light to the mood. What was done was done.

“A lot of people don’t go to jail and change.” Kate continued it.

“Well some of us go and still don’t change. It’s not a recipe, not a rule.” You almost cut her mid sentence. “It takes some guts to admit what you do is wrong and a whole other lot to stop doing it.”

“Why continue doing it if you know it’s wrong?”

“It’s the only thing some people know.” You answered it quickly, but that was the easy answer. “It’s easier too. Just that old thing about inertia, about how it takes some different force to pull you out of the tracks.”

“What could be that force?”

You laughed dryly at the hope in her voice. “You know what happened when I took the job that brought us together?” The job I could end up killing you. “I didn’t know who you were. I took it because Fisk pays a lot and I never had trouble with business with him. When I learnt you were only a twenty-two year old college student I still carried on because I was afraid to step down on someone like Fisk. I carried on to save my skin. Some people fall back to that even after there was a force.”

You wouldn’t mention to Kate that you hadn’t taken not even one job after everything that went on with her.

“You didn’t shoot me though.” Kate pointed out.

“No one asked me to.”

“I know you wouldn’t shoot me.” Kate sounded so sure in contrast with minutes earlier.

You looked at her in disbelief, she had the nerve to show up at your door, vent about her despair and offer some faith in you?

“Not even I know if I would.” It was your turn to whisper.

“Someone told me the best shot they ever took was the one they didn’t take.” She got your attention with that.

The words hit deep in you and you did your best to hide it. That unexpected encounter didn’t go the way you saw in the beginning. What was Kate doing to you?

“And besides, how many twenty-two year old archers have you taken down?”

You laughed hard at that question. “You have a point.” You told her.

Both of you stayed there for one more minute, the way your eyes locked with each other only a second longer made something awake inside you. Something you completely buried inside and ignored.

“Kate Bishop, you’re something else.” You whispered and she laughed too.

“Only for my favourite bad guy.”

That line made you smile more than it should, but as you sat there it didn’t feel wrong for the first time in some years.

“You’re not lost Kate.” You said to her as she left your apartment.

Kate nodded at you before turning around and following down the hall.

In the end she was probably your favourite hero.

Taglists:

Everything: @writing-for-marvel @ju5tyna20

Kate Bishop: @lovelyy-moonlight @notmesimpingforanothabritishlad @lovebyceleste @hallecarey1 @haeva

[formenis]

Can you do a oneshot of L Lawliet where he is in a secret relationship with Light's twin sister and she finds out she is pregnant so she shows up at Task Force to tell L and just announces it to the whole task force but its L who announces he is the father.

OML I'm so sorry for the delay, Anon-san 😭😭

Lately I'm feeling so overwhelmed and in the dumps that I lost any sort of inspiration. I hope you like it thou.

.

.

TITLE: NEWS

pairing: L x Yagami!fem!pregnant!reader

warning: none.

«See you later mom»

«Be careful dear. You too Light»

«Yeah bye mom»

And the door was softly closed after that answer. The two Yagami twins, Y/N and Light, always left home earlier than their sister Sayu. Light had to take the train for the Daikoku Private Academy while Y/N was a last year high school student at the Gamou Prep Academy, where her twin brother attended supplemental classes in the afternoon. Actually, it was what her family knew. The reality was a lot different.

Despite the two twins had the same age, the same skills and the same perfect school report, Y/N had that extra oomph that Light hadn't. It was thanks to this oomph that ensured her a special, secret job. She was noticed by no less than the greatest detective in the world, L.

Y/N Yagami had everything L needed: intellect, slyness, excellent rhetoric. At first, they had a simple working relationship made of mutual respect and esteem. But as time passed those feelings changed.

Initially Y/N felt strange: L was this mysterious detective with an extraordinary mind and skills, she never saw him in person. She had the impression that what she felt for him was wrong: what if L didn't exist? Y/N was so curious about him that one of their online meetings, she couldn’t wait to ask him thatquestion.

«L, can I ask you something?»

« 𝚈𝚎𝚜»

«Why did you decide not to show yourself? Can you describe yourself to me, please?»

A long pause followed her question. Y/N didn’t know what to say (or to do). She had the feeling she crossed the threshold.

«𝙱𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝙻 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚗 𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚢. 𝙸𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚕𝚎𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝙻 𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛»

Such an arrogant person. Y/N expected an answer like that. So she gave up with her wish to see her crush' face.

Sometime later, however, the Yagami girl met someone. A pale, tall young man with a simple white shirt and faded jeans; his hair was moved by the wind and they seemed messy yet rather silky. He was standing there, at the top of the Tokyo Train Station's stairs, staring intensely at her, few steps higher than the girl. This man was blocking the way and Y/N was in a rush.

«Excuse me, I have to-»

«You're Y/N Yagami?» he immediately interrupted her and in the meantime he hid his hands in the pockets of that faded jeans.

«Who wants to know it?» Y/N replied defensive. Unlike Light, Y/N had good skills in many martial arts and she was ready to kick his ass, just in case.

«Me»

Y/N hadn’t the idea that in front of her there was L himself. He introduced himself as Ryuzaki but, for some reason, she couldn’t believe him. For her, it was like he had a good answer for everything as if he planned every single (and possible) question from the Yagami girl. That reminded her of…L. Everything about him reminded her of the detective.

Day after day this Ryuzaki started to appear more and more often in her life: at the train station, on her way home or after school. He told her he was studying for the entrance exam at the To-Oh University, that was why the two of them were seeing each other that often.

«I see, what do you want to study?»

«Criminology»

Y/N and Ryuzaki created a strange bond between them. The Yagami twin felt so at ease with him despite his particular (and rather unique) behaviour: she didn’t mind about the large amount of sugar he ate or the sitting position he took. He was so smart and brilliant…once again she thought about L.

It seemed like that Ryuzaki appreciated Y/N's presence too. He loved listening to her or analyse every single feature of her figure. She would find him staring at her such intensity that she would look away.

Y/N, however, had so much in her mind. She was so convinced that Ryuzaki and L were the same person that she felt so anxious around him. She had to know the truth.

«Ryuzaki, can you tell me something?»

«What is it, Y/N-san?»

«Are you L?»

The two of them were waiting for the train and Ryuzaki was standing (or "slouching" actually) right beside her. His dark hair covered the face and Y/N couldn’t tell what he was feeling or thinking. She was afraid that she crossed the threshold.

Ryuzaki smirked and sighed through the nose as if he laughed silently. Then he turned to look at her. «Yes»

He kept staring at her while Y/N got pale and returned the stare with wide E/C eyes. So she was right…he was L. The real L. She couldn’t believe that this man…with faded jeans and a simple white shirt…was L. The same L she started to love.

That was how their story began.

───────◇───────

Now Light was going to finish his last year of school together with his twin sister Y/N but something else what happening outside the Yagami household: Kira.

This person took the role of judge, jury and executioner of the criminal world not only in Japan. Kira was such a disgusting, immoral human being, Y/N hated him. Nobody had the right to play with other's life regardless of their police record. Light, however, didn't agree with his sister.

«I don't understand your point, N/N. The world would be a better place without criminals, you have to realise that»

«Of course it would be a better place without them, Light. But it's not the right method!»

«And what would be "the right method"?» Light asked her making air quotes with his fingers.

«Uhh…I don't know maybe putting them before a judge?» Y/N simply replied. «Kira is not the solution, Light»

Her brother was so different lately. Since this Kira appeared Light started to act strange, Y/N was the first to notice it. Not even her mother, father and Sayu perceived it.

Y/N was feeling strange too actually. After Ryuzaki's "confession" about his identity the two of them admitted their respective feelings. Y/N was so happy that Ryuzaki felt the same as her, she was so happy. Sachiko noticed it and asked her if her happiness was due to a boy but Y/N didn’t give her a proper answer.

Ryuzaki was investigating about Kira and he booked a suite at the Imperial Hotel and Y/N would pay him a visit from time to time. They talked, played, ate and even made love in that room. And it was since one of those times that Y/N started to feel weird.

«Let's not talk about it, alright Light?»

«Fine» her twin shrugged and kept walking home together. After a while they crossed a konbini, a Japanese convenience store.

«Wait Light, I have to buy something»

«Alright, I'll wait you here»

And Y/N ran inside the shop while Light started to read a book outside. She had to buy few things: a new set of pencils, chips and…a pregnancy test. Yes, a pregnancy test.

She had all the symptoms: swollen breasts, nausea, fatigue. And the fact that she missed the last period was a sort of final proof. But she wanted to be sure.

Once she payed everything Y/N left the shop and kept walking home with Light. He was looking suspiciously at her but he said nothing.

.

> TIME SKIP <

«Positive…it's positive» Y/N repeated in a whisper while looking at her pregnancy test. Her E/C eyes were still glued to the test when she heard someone knocking at the door.

«Y/N! I need the bathroom!»

«Me too!»

Light and Sayu were staying right outside the door, Y/N hoped they didn’t hear what she said before. She hid the test in the pockets of her jeans and left the bathroom.

«Sorry» and she ran downstairs. Light, once again, looked at her with clear suspicious and raised an eyebrow. Sayu took advantage of this moment to lock herself in the bathroom.

«Sayu! I have to go with dad, leave the bathroom!»

In the meantime, Y/N already left the house and was literally running towards the Imperial Hotel, where Ryuzaki had his room (and where the Task-force met L for the first time). He had to know it.

About ten minutes later Y/N arrived at the hotel and quickly went to Ryuzaki's suite. She was bouncing off the walls for the excitement.

«Ryuzaki!» she spread the door open and ran inside. She quickly reached him and made him turn towards her.

«What is it Y/N-chan?» he asked calmly.

«I have to tell you something!»

«And what would it be?»

«I'm pregnant!» she said smiling. It, however, faded quickly when she saw Ryuzaki's lack of reaction to that news. Was he…disappointe-

«What?! Are you serious Miss Y/N?» the young voice of Matsuda echoed in the room making Y/N distract from the man in front of her.

The Yagami girl noticed that her father's entire Task-Force was working in the same room as L and she didn’t notice them when she entered the suite. Excitement was replaced by fear.

«Uhm…well…»

«Congratulations!» Matsuda got up and walked closer to her with a kind smile on his young face. That smile cheered her up a little.

«Thank you Matsuda-san»

The rest of the Task-force congratulated to her too, they were all so happy about that news. The only one who didn’t say anything was L, the father.

Aizawa started to give Y/N some "parental" advices when L's suite room opened again revealing Soichiro and Light at the doorstep. Y/N didn’t notice it immediately and she couldn’t stop Matsuda from rushing towards his boss to give him that important announcement.

«Boss, did you know it?»

«What is it Matsuda?»

«Miss Y/N is pregnant!»

Silence.

Silence of a grave, to be precise.

Nobody dared to speak, to move, to breathe. It seemed only Matsuda wasn’t feeling that heavy atmosphere.

At those words Soichiro walked towards his daughter and placed his strong hands on her shoulders.

«Y/N, is it true?»

She gulped and swallowed hard. «Yes dad, Matsuda-san is right» her voice showed no fear, no embarrassment, no shame. Even if her family didn’t agree, she wasn’t going to give up that easily.

«Who is the father? Someone assaulted you?» he immediately asked sounding rather worried and serious. Y/N was going to answer when she heard some sort of mumbling from behind, where L was sitting.

«Did you say something, Ryuzaki?» asked Soichiro.

«I said, Yagami-san…» he took an ice-cream sandwich and divided it in two. «I am the proud father» he turned towards the policeman and licked the vanilla cream without looking away from the man.

Soichiro couldn’t see her but Y/N was smiling widely at Ryuzaki who smiled back for a mere second before

[sweet-babyrose]

Alexia Putellas x Jenni Hermoso blurb

inspired by the bird app meltdown that occurred last night

🌵

They'd been home for less than 24 hours from national team camp. Jenni had played her best game in a while and was in desperate need of a recovery session. When she'd left that morning to go to Logik Clinic, Alexia had been playing with Nala and Andy and had plans to go meet a friend for lunch.

 When Jenni got back to the apartment a few hours later, she expected to find the place empty. Instead, she found Alexia on the couch, scrolling through her phone, clearly annoyed by whatever she was looking at. Jenni peeked over her shoulder, thinking she would see some new article about the way the team was playing.

 She had not expected to see a picture of herself with Esther on Alexia's screen.

 Jenni leaned down and kissed the top of Alexia's head. "Babe, what are you doing?"

 "Nothing. Just scrolling." Alexia made no attempt to hide what she was doing or to even stop.

 "Why are you wasting your time on that?" Jenni desperately wished she could erase all those photos from the internet. Alexia had warned her so many times that what she posted on the internet would stay there forever. Why hadn't she listened to her? And now Alexia had to have the constant reminder sent to her by millions of fans. Neither of them would ever understand some fans needs to tag Alexia in any of those photos.

 Alexia merely shrugged. But she kept scrolling. Jenni sat on the couch next to her and was about to pull the phone from her hand when Alexia suddenly said, “I don’t get it. Why do they still think you’re with her?” The frown on her face continued to grow as she scrolled through another post about Jenni’s “child bride.” “Even after Leila’s birthday! You were literally sitting in my lap that night!”

 Jenni studied her girlfriend’s face. She was upset, clearly. But not about Esther being a rebound. “You’re jealous.”

 “You’ve made it so obvious that you’re not together anymore,” Alexia said, groaning. “Why don’t they get it?”

 "Why didn't you just tell me that this upsets you? I can fix that." Jenni took her phone out of her pocket, unlocking it, and opening Instagram. She pressed a few buttons before locking the phone and tossing it on the couch. “Okay. There. Problem solved. The internet will just think I’m having a meltdown about breaking up with her.”

 “What’d you do?”

 “I unfollowed her on Instagram.”

 “What?” Alexia reached for Jenni's phone.

 “There’s only one woman I need to believe me when I say that Esther and I are done. That’s you. But if you need the world to have confirmation that I’m done with her, I’ll give that to you.”

 Alexia leaned over, wrapping her arms around Jenni’s neck. Jenni pulled her closer, nudging Alexia until she moved onto her lap.

 “I love you,” she whispered.

 “More than the child bride?”

 “Ale,” Jenni groaned, dropping her head to Alexia’s shoulder. She held her for a minute, trying to figure out the right words to comfort her girlfriend. “There will never be anyone that I want the way I want you. I was hurt as hell when we fought. I felt abandoned. And I turned to the first person who showed me a little attention. I’ll always be sorry for that, mi amor." Jenni eased back so she could see Alexia. She brushed a few stray hairs back from Alexia’s face. "But I want you. I love you. Always only you.”

 "I think," Alexia said, cupping Jenni's face in her hands, "I'm going to need about a million kisses to erase that image of you and her out of my brain." She smiled softly, looking down at her love.

 "I can give you two million," Jenni said, before peppering her face with kisses, making Alexia giggle.

 "Yes please." Alexia stopped Jenni's wandering lips with her own. "I love you, too. You're it for me, too."