#hating on the split-screen they kept using but what can you do

[incorrectbatfam]

dickie and jason headcanons pretty please

Everyone thinks Tim and Damian are a nightmare to have in a room together, but it's actually Dick and Jason. Tim and Damian still need to work through a thing or two and subconsciously pull their punches because of that, but Dick and Jason have no such thing. They've been siblings the longest and at this point it's an undisputed fact that they love each other, so there's zero limit to them being absolute menaces

They've been in a Toy Blast standoff since last year. Dick keeps speedrunning the levels and Jason keeps deleting the app from Dick's phone until he catches up

The bathroom switch in the Bludhaven apartment is outside the bathroom. Barbara kept telling Dick to get it changed and he kept procrastinating, so when Jason broke in and turned the lights off in the middle of Dick's shower, all Babs said from the other room was "Told you so"

Jason: "Alfred, tell Dick to quit breathing over my shoulder"

Dick: "Tell Jason to quit blocking the screen with his big helmet"

Alfred: "Sort it out yourselves, this is not in my job description"

Dick wrestled Jason for an Oreo but also gave him the comfier sleeping bag in the span of five minutes while they were on a stakeout

Jason is absolutely the sibling that chases Dick around the house with a knife for fun when Bruce and Alfred aren't around

Dick: "Get out of my room"

Jason, lurking outside the windowsill: "I'm not in your room"

Dick's outfits aren't truly considered nice until they pass the Jason Test, which is getting a "meh" instead of "you look like you were drawn by a fourth grader"

To brag that he got the last slice of pizza, Jason slapped it across Dick's face

The most accurate ruler in the world is the one they use to split the last candy bar (but Dick secretly lets Jason have an extra millimeter)

And the most accurate measuring cup is the one they divide the last of the apple juice with (though Jason generously gives Dick a few drops more)

The tension is palpable—even the Subway guy cutting their sandwich can feel it

Alfred sends them out to do yard work and they start sword-fighting with increasingly bigger sticks until Dick grabs a rake and Jason whips out the All-Blades

Jason: "I was here first!"

Dick: "I was born first!"

Jason: "I was adopted first!"

Dick has two Instagram accounts—Dick Grayson and Nightwing. Jason has three—Jason Todd, Red Hood, and the verified Nightwing

When the Cave is colder than usual, Jason brings Dick his favorite peppermint hot chocolate but always takes the first sip

Together they stole the bat-plane, flew to Lebanon for food, received a hefty fine after nearly colliding with a fighter jet, got a huge scratch on the side, paid someone under the table to fix it, and put it back where they found it in the span of Bruce debriefing the Justice League

Dick will go through Jason's leftovers, pick out what he likes, and leave the rest. Later he'll hear Jason walk out of the kitchen shouting "Who the FUCK took the shrimp out of my shrimp fried rice?!"

When they were kids Jason's bedtime was half an hour later than Dick's. Dick still has beef with Bruce about that

Dick is Player 1. Jason is Player 6 because the first time they played he grabbed a random controller from a box of dozen

Jason: "Help me bury this body"

Dick: "Sure"

Jason: "Also I need to delete all record of this guy's existence"

Dick: "Will do"

Jason: "And can you get me a drink?"

Dick: "Get it yourself"

When he first arrived, Jason was resistant to the idea of having an older sibling until he realized he has Younger Brother Privilege

Dick hides the remote with a sword swallowing trick and Jason hates it

They use texts for personal conversations, WhatsApp for vigilante business, and Snapchat for unhinged memery. It's like talking to 3 separate people

They also have their own text abbrevation: DTB (Don't tell Bruce)

They don't apologize, they just sulk in their rooms for a couple hours until Alfred calls them down for dinner and they forget all about it

Goon: "Who's that blue fella? Youse was fightin' real loud"

Jason: "Nightwing. He just pisses me off sometimes"

Goon: "I can take care of him"

Jason, lighting a cigarette: "Go ahead, I'll be here when you get your ass handed to you"

[perfumejamal]

SECRET SANTA (h.r) 18+

pairing: dom!renjun x f!reader

summary: when you are renjun’s secret santa and you choose to get him a silly present, but the night ends with him splitting you open on his couch.

genre: @jenoslutie ‘s christmas collab, smut, fluff

warnings: best friend!renjun, pocket pussy mentioned, unprotected (seems like all my fics.. but pls use protection!), cute renjun, softdom!rejun, creampie??

word count: 1.6k

a/n: YOOO yall don’t know how many time i had to scrap the damn fic. i was so close to ending this account that’s how bad it was fr.. also i am so sorry for how late this is i was trying my best to finish it with how many times i deleted it and tryna keep up all my course work ,, hope yall can enjoy and look past how late it is ………also listen to this song bc it was on repeat while i was writing this!!

renjun was one of the hardest people to read, he was very quiet and kept to himself. unlike the rest of the guys, he didn’t hit on you or make sexual jokes around you. you were convinced he didn’t make any jokes of that sort at all.

you smile as you mentally read his name off the slip you just drew from a cup. you and your friends decided to do secret santa, following the usual tradition you had all followed.

you spotted renjun sitting at the kitchen counter, snacking on some chocolate covered pretzels. he would talk from time to time, but most conversations was held by you and the others. you sit on the counter facing him, staring down at him. “junnie?”

he hummed softly as a response, “are you not having fun?” you say with a sad tone to your voice.

he quickly straightens his posture before responding, “i-im having a lot of fun!” he says with a slight smile.

you smile back at him taking his hand and leading him to the living room, where everyone else was singing and dancing.

you snickered to yourself as you wrapped up renjun’s gift. unsure of what to get him you thought you’d get him something silly and something he needed. your friend group was very open about hookups and lack there of. renjun, however didn’t really talk about any of that. so what better gift to get him than something he could use to pleasure himself?

you were getting ready to drop off his gift. he didn’t have a lecture today and he wasn’t working so it was the perfect time to swing by his apartment. you also didn’t want any of your friends to see the gift, they tend to make a big deal out of things.

you rung the doorbell to his apartment, quickly making your way in when he let you in.

“junnie!” you exclaim hugging him immediately. “i’m your secret santa,” you say with a bright smile to your face handing him the wrapped present.

he smiled and took the gift placing it under his small christmas tree. “take a seat, let me get you some hot chocolate,” he said heading to the kitchen.

you take off your jacket and place it on the hanger by his door. snuggling into his cozy couch, and covering yourself with the blanket you had crocheted for him. “junnie i’m gonna search for a movie to watch!” you yell from the couch, earning a small ‘mhm’ from him.

scrolling through the new releases you chose a random rom-com, and renjun came back just in time with your mug of hot chocolate and some cake. he sat down next to where you laid, getting under the blanket and letting your head rest on his lap.

the movie started with the main characters hating each other, and you were intrigued this trope being your favorite. your focus kept shifting as renjun kept playing with your hair, his slender fingers massaging your scalp.

you relaxed into his touch, your mind hazy at the softness of his fingers. “fuckk,” you moaned, accidentally. you cover your mouth quickly realizing what just happened. he chuckled, slowly pulling his hands out of your hair.

your face is reddening but you try to hide it by looking at the screen, focusing once more on the movie. which was probably not a good idea. you’re not even sure how long he was massaging your scalp, but by the time you looked back there was a sex scene.

you clear your throat awkwardly as you watch it, rubbing your legs together and shifting around. “are you okay, y/n?” you quickly look up at him from his lap and nod your head yes rapidly.

“yes!” you exclaim. “sorry if i was moving so much,” you say moving to sit next to him. focusing on the screen once more.

you let out a sigh of relief as the movie came to an end. “you know,” you start, moving towards his tree. “you can open your present,”

he nodded walking towards his tree, grabbing the cutely wrapped present. “you’re right,” he said as he neatly ripped it apart. his eyebrows furrowing in question looking at the box under the pink wrapping paper. you sit back on the couch sipping on some water as his mouth forms an ‘o’. “you got me a fucking pocket pussy?”

you burst out into laughter, spitting out the water in your mouth. he walked towards the couch while holding the present in his hand. “y/n,” he started, lifting up your chin up to face him. your eyes wondering everywhere but to his own. “why’d you get me this?”

his tone was deep, with a serious undertone and it made you nervous. you had never seen him like this, you didn’t even think his voice could go that deep, dropping a few octaves from his normal voice. “i-im sorry.. i just wanted to give you something to help yourself!”

he looked down at you angrily, “what? you thought that just because i didn’t fuck you that i didn’t fuck anyone?” he leaned down closing the gap between you and him, “you’re right, though.”

you could feel his breath on yourself, making you even more nervous. “do you know why that is, y/n?” you nodded your head no as a response, unable to get any words out. “well, it’s because i want to fuck you, i always have.”

you gasped at the words, throat closing up at his words. “fuck it,” he said before closing the gap between you two, pushing his lips on yours. his hand sneaking around your body, one around your neck to deepen the kiss the other gripping your hips.

you moan into his mouth, he pulls away slowly. “i need you right now, y/n,” he says. “then fuck me, junnie!” you say in excitement awaiting his next move.

his eyes were full of lust and warmth, he kept steady eye contact with you as his he started getting on his knees between your thighs. he pressed the hot warmth of his mouth onto your clothed pussy. chuckling against you as your back arched from the friction. “baby, relax your body,”

you whine as his fingers grace your cunt, he plays with the waistband of your panties. “please! please do something renjun,” you pleaded him making him laugh at you before pulling your panties down and lapping at your pussy.

his hand grip at your thighs, and his tongue works your folds. he sucks on your clit like a madman, hungry and thirsty for you. “you’re so fucking wet, y/n,” he says while adding two fingers into your hole.

you gasp, throwing your head back, a scream ripping through your throat. “fuck, fuck!” you moan out, your hands making their way to his soft hair, grabbing a handful to guide him more into your pussy.

renjun looks up at you, seeing your pleased face, smiling to himself. “y/n, baby are you close?” he asks you in a sweet tone.

“mhm! fuck, yes i’m close junnie!” you moan out as a response. and just like that your body felt empty, your orgasm is quickly interrupted. a sadistic chuckle escaping him as he sees the sadness on your face. “why’d you stop?” you pout.

he smiles, cupping your face with his soft hands, caressing your hair before saying, “i want to feel you,” he says simply, kissing your swollen lips, “i wanna feel you come against my dick,”

you bite your lips, using your hands to pull his sweats down. letting his dick spring out against his abdomen. “can i ride you?” you ask, whispering into his ear as if you’d be ridiculed if you said it any louder.

“fuck, y/n, you can do whatever the fuck you want to me.”

you smile, climbing onto his hardened dick, using his arms as support. you both let out a pleased sigh as you sank down into his dick, slowly letting yourself adjust to his size.

you started to slowly bounce, but renjun had different plans. his hands rest on both sides of you, forcing himself into you fast, making your eyes roll back. he giggled bringing his head to rest on the nape of your shoulder as you rode him slowly.

the room was filled with the sound of your bodies slapping against each other, and your loud moans along with his quiet moans. you ran your nails over his toned back, biting his shoulder softly.

he uses his hands to lift you from bouncing, causing you to whine. “shh, baby,” he said pushing your head onto the soft couch in his dimly lit living room. you can feel yourself feeling hotter against his hard dick.

renjun aligned himself, hand resting on your lower abdomen, slowly entering you feeling himself against your lower stomach. “you alright y/n?” he asked earning a response from you almost immediately.

“yes, yes fuckkkk!” you scream into the cushion you were holding for support. “you’re fucking me so good, junnie.”

he smiled to himself, his thrusts becoming sloppier. he could feel himself getting closer and closer to coming undone. his hand worked its way to your clit rubbing circles, making your eyes roll back harder than before.

your legs were threatening to give up on you, and renjun gripped your hips to hold you up. “where do you want my cum?”

you moaned at the question, “in me please!”

he complied with your request, cumming in you. your body gave up on you, letting you fall down onto the couch. renjun let out a low chuckle. “you fucked me crazy, junnie!”

he smiled at you, pressing a kiss onto your lips, your eyes half closed. “yeah, i guess i did,” he laughed at your fucked out state. “do you still think i need that pocket pussy?”

you giggled, “definitely not, you probably think i’m the worse secret santa…”

he smiled, “this was the best gift i could ask for,” he said placing a soft kiss on your lips.

[kinokoshoujoart]

is it really toxic yuri if she doesn’t demand you cut off your fingers for her happiness???

”You have given me gifts over 10,000 times. Congratulations!” haha happy wife happy life…. (my fingers are stumps)

as some of you may or may not have realized i am powerless to the siren call of the ultimate devilish blond Harvest Moon Scum Man, and given that the Japanese version of DS Cute gives you TWO saveslots and TWO hands and the ability to to be in a literal toxic lesbian best friendrriage with ultimate devilish mischievous blonde Harvest Moon Scum Woman i have no choice but to meet all of the Witch Princess’s super reasonable honey do list!!

so one of those fun little non negotiable requests from majo-sama is that you need to give her presents 10,000 times before she’ll even consider marrying you, even if you meet all the marriage requirements!

i don’t mean 10,000 items total— even if you give her a stack of 99 items, it only counts as +1 towards the “items given to witch” counter. you have to give her 10,000 items individually…

in normal gameplay (giving her 1 gift a day, accounting for the holidays when her house is closed) you’ll eventually reach 10,000 gifts!…in your 95th year!

you COULD give her 100 gifts a day every day and knock it out in less than a year, and this was my strategy at first! i quickly realized adding another tedious daily chore to a pile of tedious daily chores slowed the game loop to a crawl and splitting items out was really fucking annoying actually

on the other hand, in 5 IRL hours, you can just get it all done in one visit to her house and never worry about it ever again.

“wow, that sounds like a really great use of my limited time on god’s green earth! how can i too win my future wife’s heart through button mashing my fingers into a pulp?” you ask?

˚✧₊⁎optimized pro gamer technique for breaking your fingers yuri style!!٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶⁎⁺˳✧༚

you will need

dog (each time you show your pet, this adds +1 to the gift counter the same way a gift would)

the bottom screen should be the map screen (reduces loading time between conversations compared to having your rucksack open)

cast endurance on fingers (wait this is redundant, you saw yuri in the title…)

ideal but not required

sometimes when you enter her house, she’s facing the side and her walk cycle never starts. it’s great if you get this glitch because then you can just stand in place for the entire duration without having to look at the screen, and even like watch a movie or whatever while you do all this, instead of accidentally dropping your dog every time she walks to the other bookshelf

if you’re wondering “wait, doesn’t Witch Princess hate dogs and love cats? why are you showing her your dog?” you are absolutely correct! she yells at you to get that stupid beast away from her every time you show your dog to her! her FP goes down by 3 each time! however, since her response to the dog is shorter than her response to the cat, you end up saving like .6 seconds per conversation, saving over 1.5 hours total, so the dog is what she gets

anyway, in true Karen HM64 tradition, after being repeatedly harassed by having a dog she isn’t fond of shoved in her face ten thousand times in a row for like five hours straight, naturally this makes her want to marry you! who said good old fashioned courtly love is dead?!

* as a small note, if you care enough to keep track and give her an actual gift at the 10th, 100th, 1000th, and 10000th mark, you’ll get 4 of the limited Witch Photos early on, which each give you +1 sweet sweet farm degree points every day… honestly that’s not much, but the pain of being told “your hands are full soooo no reward for you lmaoooo sucks to be you” was too much to bear, so i kept track and used a normal present for the 10th, 100th, 1000th, and 10000th…

[damiansgoodgirll]

Can you please write jey x jimmy x reader with what happened at summerslam? like reader is their younger sister and she was in the backstage watching jey fighting roman and watched jimmy turning his back on jey and then she confronts jimmy about it but in the end she sticks with jey please?

the usos x sister reader / rhea ripley x best friend reader

reader being dramatic is my mood

by his side

you were mad because you had no matches at summerslam. you and liv morgan were tag team champions and you were 100% you were going to defend your titles that night but to your surprise you weren’t booked for the night and that left you completely shocked.

rhea wasn’t going to defend her title either and to say that she was mad was almost like a compliment, no, she was furious. she was the woman’s champion, she had to defend her title but she wasn’t booked either and that left her shocked as you and liv were.

so you were all watching the show from backstage.

you had to be there, knowing that you’re older brother jey was going to face roman and you wanted to show him your support. you couldn’t wait for roman reign’s to end and you knew your brother had the possibility to make that happen.

you trained with him and you watched him train for the last month, and you knew he was more than ready to face roman.

you knew that your other brother solo was going to interfere and jey saw that possibility coming too, but he was ready to face solo in case he would attack him.

what you didn’t see coming was jimmy turning on your brother.

the twins, your favorite brothers splitting was the last thing you needed to see that night.

you were ready to go out there and fight jimmy, all you were seeing was black but rhea and liv had to hold you, knowing that you probably were going to cause a riot.

“you can’t go out there…” rhea whispered into your ear as she grabbed your wrist.

even if she was a heel and you and live were supposed to hate her, she was your best friend, and she knew that she had to stop you before you did something stupid.

“rhea this wasn’t supposed to happen!” you tried to free yourself from her grip but she was ten times stronger and in that moment you weren’t thinking straight.

“i know but please calm down…y/n, calm down” she held you tighter as you kept your eyes fixed on the screen.

not only jey was facing roman. he was facing solo and jimmy.

you were so mad at jimmy for doing that.

“rhea let me go…please…” you weren’t used to cry in front of other people but your brothers were involved.

“i can’t…you need to calm down, i can’t let you go outside, the production will stop you in any way if i let you go”

“i don’t care! i need to go out there and help jey!” you kept screaming, tears running down your cheecks.

rhea and liv never saw you like this. you were usually the happy and bubbly one in the group so seeing you crying like that was new for them.

“please calm down sweetie…” liv said while she guided you to the black leather couch that was in rhea’s changing room.

as you sat there watching the match, you felt unease, you almost felt sick and you couldn’t wait for the match to be over so you could go and comfort jey.

in your mind he was alone now. you were the only one left for him.

roman left. solo left, and now jimmy too.

you were living the rise and fall of your own family and what pained you the most was the fact that you couldn’t do anything to prevent that.

you left a soft breath when you saw the match ended. roman won but that was his plan from the beginning.

as you left the changing room, waiting for jey to come backstage, you saw jimmy walking right in front of you.

“jimmy!” you screamed his name and that made a few head to turn. rhea was still behind you, preventing you from attacking your own brother. jimmy ignored you but his heart broke a little when he saw the disappointment on your face “jimmy! what the fuck was that?” you kept screaming but he was ignoring you “jimmy, don’t fucking ignore me, come back here!” you started following him but rhea was like a magnet and she was blocking you from going after your bother “rhea let me go…”

“i’m not doing that…you’re not thinking straight right now”

“of course i’m not! haven’t you seen what the fuck just happened? that’s my family rhea and they’re fucking destroying each others!”

“i get it, i truly get it y/n, but you have to let things calm by themselves…you’re gonna cause more drama if you go after jimmy right now…” rhea explained to you and for a few seconds you saw her point of you but you were just so mad you couldn’t drop it.

“fine…” you said but you were only waiting for jey to come backstage.

no matter how sad or mad jey was, you knew that he would have never ignored you.

so you patiently waited for him and when you saw him, your heart broke completely. you never saw him so defeated.

“jey…” you went to hug him and he sadly smiled at you, a little relieved that you were there for him “i don’t know what has gotten into jimmy…i’m so sorry jey”

“you have nothing to apologise y/n…” he said, stroking a little your hair.

“he shouldn’t have done that…i just - i’m so mad jey! everything you’ve worked for, everything you trained for and just -just for jimmy to ruin it…”

“i wished i made everyone proud…i wish…man, i just wanted to win this, for you, for jimmy too, for my kids and the fans who expected this…but i lost…” he said, losing himself in your arms again.

the bond that the two of you shared was incredible. you were the little of the family and everyone felt super protective over you but jey always cared a little more, he was the one who swore that would never leave you, he was the one by your side during your first breakup and he was the one to comfort you everytime you felt you weren’t enough, so it was your time to stand by his side and showing him that you cared.

“you made me so proud jey…your family is proud of you too, never doubt that. i’m gonna stick by your side, always. don’forget that” you whispered, your lips turning into a soft smile.

he thanked you.

you could tell he was still heartbroken about what happened and that he needed time to process the event of the night but no matter what he knew that he could always count on you.

[gojuo]

You know... I kept my faith all this time. I thought, the Yuki fight was just a one time slip. Everyone makes mistakes. The atrocious way the Culling Games arc played out will be redeemed by this fight that was foreshadowed in the literal third chapter of the manga. But Gege went and fucking did it again, he ruined a fantastic overall fight with an atrociously bad ending. Like when you think about it, he didn't even really change it up... Gojo used a big suicide attack as his final move like Yuki, then it turns out to have accomplished nothing like Yuki, fucking hell he's even split in half just the same as she was. I seriously can't believe it.

We all knew Gojo had to go out in some form or another. The "It's Gojover" memes didn't exist for nothing. But to have it be done off-screen??? On top of that we get a whole purgatory sequence where he just outright says Sukuna was stronger and that he's just happy he got a good fight out of all of this? He doesn't give a fuck about his students or what will happen to them after this? His adopted son? What was even the point of him saying that if the only reason Sukuna wins it's due to Mahoraga? Why was Sukuna supposedly "nervous" last chapter if it turns out he wasn't even really trying?

We all made jokes over the years about Gege saying how he hates Gojo, about it being self-deprecation or he's just messing around... But I can only conclude that Gege actually despises his creation for a character assassination this bad. Gojo legitimately has never won an important fight in this entire series, all the way until the bitter end. He always loses and always leaves a mess for his students to clean up. All his talk about being the strongest, "I will win", it was all bravado and no substance. Like I really can't believe it, Gojo has never won a fight that mattered. Not once.

Pending some sort of galaxy brain reversal from Gege (which I do not have enough copium in the tank for to truly believe in but hey... RCT comes from the brain and his head is still attached...), this is no doubt the worst chapter of the entire manga. This was the fight we were all waiting to see happen from the very beginning, foreshadowed in chapter 3, and the man just straight up fumbled the ending because Gege has a boner for the villains to win.

And if this disrespect was not enough, this pivotal chapter ends with fucking KASHIMO of all fucking people swooping in the steal the last panel signaling the start of a new fight. Wtf is this guy even going to do against Cleave which can now cut through the world itself? We don't even get the time to mourn Gojo. For fuck's sake.

[according2thelore]

it always bothered me that in the show, when dean learns that sam kept the amulet at the end of s11, he didn’t immediately put it back on—esp since from what i heard, that was an actor preference, not a storytelling one!!! (the samulet chipped his teeth ☹️)

anyway i wanna imagine that in your time travel au it doesn’t happen like that 🥹 it takes es dean five days to notice that his older self isn’t wearing it (in his defense, he’s not used to looking at himself from the outside!), and when he does it makes him so mad. and that’s what drives ls dean to - out loud - say that yeah, he wishes like hell he had it, but he doesn’t, okay? what do you want me to do here, kid??….. cue older sam like uh well i mean hmm. do you mean that.

although now i’m thinking of es SAM being the one to notice, and he notices right away, but he doesn’t use at as a barb until all the little upsets boil over. oh man. that kills me too. poor kiddo. you don’t get to go to law school AND your loml brother threw away his wedding ring amulet.

anyway you don’t have to do anything with any of this!! just thank you for letting me play in your sandbox!!!!

hello!!!

YESYESYES!!!!

this ask made me start BARKING. let's discuss!

for those who didn't know--yes, the samulet leaving the show was a choice made by jensen because it split his lips a lot and eventually cracked his tooth. i can understand his choice to have it taken off of the character (as much as i simultaneously hate it) especially since it seems that it was chosen as a prop during preproduction of the show at random. they lost a lot of jewelry from S2-4 (i'm looking at you skull bracelet, ring, and jelly bracelet), but the amulet got an emotional backstory so it had a longer life on the show.

but as for ES/LS verse YOU ARE SO RIGHT!!!

ES!Dean is so distracted by how fucking huge these guys are (LS!Sam cough cough bouncy tits cough), and how discombobulating everything suddenly is (1 lb laptops? cellphones that are a flat screen? TVs thinner than a DVD player? IPADS???) to notice immediately. and you're so right! he's used to the amulet being a mostly physical thing--a weight around his neck so familiar that he hardly notices it until it moves--so not seeing it visually doesn't register.

but when he does, he's mostly confused at first. where is it? do we not wear it every day now? why not? we didn't fucking lose it, did we? did it get destroyed? i would know immediately if it fell off, so it didn't do that. hell, i don't even take it off in the shower, where the fuck is it? seriously, dude, look at me, what the fuck did you do to it?

LS!Sam gets more and more uncomfortable, because he's probably the only one at the table that knows it's not buried deep in a landfill in some random state. but he's not sure how dean will react to the fact that sam's kept it all these years, that he got on his hands and knees in a motel room and dug it out of the trash, wiped cold, damp coffee grounds off the pendant, and put it in his pocket with fingers that shook.

then, as you wrote so in character it made my teeth hurt (!!!!), LS!Dean snaps. i don't fucking have it. i threw it away, and i wish like hell i didn't, but it's gone. what do you want me to do here, kid?

and AHHHH!!! you are so right!!! LS!Sam goes fucking rigid like uhhhhhhhhhh...on a scale of 1 to 10 how much did you mean that be so serious rn 🥺 like hmm. well. hmm. let's say for argument's sake...🥺 👉 👈 ...

ES!Sam notices IMMEDIATELY that LS!Dean isn't wearing it, and it's one of the main reasons he's positive the LS!Boys are some kind of demon/shifter/ghoul/trick. because if this was actually dean, he'd have the amulet.

LS!Dean notices ES!Sam glaring daggers at his sternum, the spot where it used to be, as LS!Sam does all the usual tests and tries to calmly explain what's going on. he feels even more guilty as hell, whether or not he knows LS!Sam still has it yet. he crosses his arms over his chest and stares back, not quite able to muster the heat of a proper glare.

it breaks his fucking heart a little, because yeah, it is a betrayal, isn't it? even if his body is copy-able, or mutable, or not able to be trusted, sam should be able to trust a landmark that dean disposed.

but when ES!Sam finds out what exactly happened to the amulet?? oh lord. complete and total meltdown to be frank. "you don’t get to go to law school AND your loml brother threw away his wedding ring amulet." KNOCKED ME OUTTTTTT

because literally!! not only does sam not get a normal life or a nice job or an apartment that's not a windowless bomb shelter but he and his brotherwife got DIVORCED????? he's all but shaking LS!Sam back and forth like WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU???? HOW DID YOU FUCK IT UP THIS BAD??

no one tell ES!Sam that he and dean found out they were soulmates and dean threw his wedding ring necklace out on the same day. he will knock a hole into the bunker wall just so he can jump out of it.

on a more serious note, it is very much "not only are we still on dad's insane revenge mission," *points furiously at LS!Dean* "we're apparently not even a goddamn team anymore!" his voice cracks "can we even stand each other? are we still brothers?"

your characterizations for them were so spot on!!!!! canon to me!!!! this ask is a beautiful painting--babygirl (gender neutral) this is OUR sandbox!

thank you for this lovely & insightful & incredibly written ask anon!

-lizzy

[julianalvarez9]

the fix up / christian pulisic

part 2: the battlefield

request: here author's note: part 3, everybody! this was a rollercoaster of emotions to write, so hopefully you can feel all of it too. let me know if you liked it 🤍🥹 wc: 2025 words

it hasn’t been long since your arrival in london.

at first, when you booked the ticket back here, you didn’t actually know why you had done it. the only thing tying you there was gone, and now, three months later, once the filming for the voice had ended, you were sure that there wasn’t anything -or anyone, for that matter-, waiting for you back at the airport.

except mason.

mason, who was the first to notice that something was wrong between christian and you. it started when he noticed his bad mood the day after you left, frown never leaving his once-kind features and the fact that he had gotten too rough and physical in practice only confirming his thoughts. he had confronted him about it once everyone left the locker room and it was the two of them alone, and that’s when his facade fell. christian started to cry like a little kid when he had to tell mason that you had left him, not even getting to say goodbye due to his stubbornness. the american even told his friend about the little red box that rested on his bedside table, where he kept the engagement ring he was planning on giving to you when the timing was right for both of you. back then, wound fresh after your split, it seemed like the right time would never arrive. that christian had lost his chance.

mason, who, even if you didn’t expect it, was the first one to congratulate you when the news broke out about your participation on the voice. you were sure that he already knew about your split with his best friend, so you wondered why wasn’t he taking his ‘side’. you so desperately wanted to know what christian had to say about it, how he was taking it, if he was as affected as you were; but you didn't want to use mason as a way to get to know how your ex was. it was funny, actually, how much you two tried to hide the elephant in the room. not once had he mentioned christian, and as you didn’t want to bring the topic first, it seemed like the two of you were constantly walking on eggshells around each other. but eventually, the need to know overpowered your better judgment, and mason became the only connection between christian and you while both tried to maintain the happy faces, pouring every bit of yourselves into work. 

chelsea’s number 19 was the main reason why you had bought a ticket back to the uk, and because of it, mason was the one that took you back from the airport and welcomed you into his home, wanting to avoid the unwanted attention since it was impossible for you to be back here without raising suspicions.

you almost don’t remember mason guiding you to his guest room, and you settling down to fall asleep. it's almost like merely a blink has passed, but suddenly, the daylight is hurting your tired eyes and an annoying ringing is piercing your ears. you certainly don’t remember even setting an alarm, but when you frantically press the screen of your phone to make the noise stop, you’re greeted with a familiar voice. at first, it seems like he's speaking a foreign language, the sleep that's slowing down your thoughts and the incessant rambling being too much to process.

“christian?”.

he keeps going, but now, you can pick up what he’s actually saying. “i know you hate me right now. and you have the right to hang up if-" he tries to go on, words piling up, leaving him breathless until you interfere. “i won’t do that, christian. what happened?” the question slipped before you could do anything about it, worried tone clearly recognisable through the line. it's like you can see him doubting and ruffling his hair before continuing. “so… mason told me you were back home,” he breathed, quickly correcting himself when he noticed his error. “i mean, you’re back in london”. you were way too asleep to figure out that he wasn’t actually seeing you nod, so you hummed in confirmation. 

“can i see you? it’s just been so tough these last couple of months without you," he added under his breath, sounding so small that you almost didn't understand. you wondered if he really thought the feelings were one-sided. to you, the wound was visible to everyone that came close, but you weren't interested in covering your pain, even though the only thing that you dared to show to the camera was your bright smile and bubbly personality. still, you were sure that, of the hundreds of people that got to see your facade every day, christian was the only one capable of seeing right through it. but apparently, not even the man that you thought knew you the most could crack the perfect image you had created. 

his voice brought you back when he muttered "i'm sorry, i really need you here” after moments of you not saying a word, and him not being sure whether your silence meant that you would hang up on him or not.

“yeah, it's okay, tell me where you are”.

“at the hospital. i really messed up my knee in the last match” he explained, and your breath stopped until he clarified that it wasn’t anything too serious. “i’m okay, though”.

when you arrive at the medical center and after the receptionist gives you directions of where his room was, you find yourself freezed at his door. the number plasticised on the door serving as confirmation that he's on the other side of the entrance, but you don’t seem to have the energy to knock. it's been three months since you’ve last seen him, and you're not sure if you can look him in the eyes and avoid the tears from falling down, reminiscing that dreadful day all over again. but something pushes you inside, and suddenly, you're in. 

christian’s seated on the hospital bed facing the big window in front of you. he’s there in all his glory, curls untamed and big hoodie hugging his figure. you assume that he has heard the door opening, because from one second to the next, he’s almost jumping to greet you. his body engulfed your figure whole, and for a second, all you can feel is him. his presence fills all your senses, and after months, you're finally home again. the tears pool quickly at your eyes when you realize you can actually smell him and feel his warmth reaching into your fingertips. living proof that he’s there, not like the millions of dreams you’ve had while you stayed an ocean away while at work. christian mutters a little “sorry” into your hair, and your heart tightens at hearing his voice again: no shouts or low blows this time, only regret seeping through his tone. you remember him saying it over the phone too, but now you understand what he meant.

“i’ve missed you,” you get the chance to say, and his arms immediately hug you tighter, letting you know throughout the physical act that he did too. “you shouldn’t be standing for this long, though” you joke after what seems to be a lifetime standing near the door, and you hush him to get his things so you can drive him to where he needs to go.

-

“where should i take you?” is the first thing you ask once you get in your car, after helping him get in. “to our place,” christian blurted out while putting on the seatbelt, the sentence so engraved on his mind that he didn't notice the slip up. you know it isn’t your place anymore, not since you had moved out months ago when you went back to the states, but you don’t say anything to correct him. “i’m sorry” he was quick to mutter, and although he referred to his error, christian couldn’t stop thinking about all the things he was sorry for.

i’m sorry for making you choose between your career and me. i’m sorry i didn’t make it work. i’m sorry i wasn’t the partner you deserved. i’m sorry i didn’t get to give you the ring before you left.

“ey, it's okay, don’t worry," your voice sounded almost strange to you, like you weren’t actually there. you weren’t sure if it was a product of your jetlag, or the prospect of having christian back on your passenger seat. you heard him sighing, relief draping over his shoulders after confirming that he hadn't messed it up, again.

-

coming back to what used to be your home feels unreal. everything is frozen in time, and it’s like you’ve never left. all the rooms are decorated exactly how you had done them the first time you moved in together, and how you had left it when you went away. everything was right into place, and you couldn’t believe that christian had ever paid enough attention to the little things you did to remember it all. even the white tulips -that you were certain he hated- were placed on the marble table in the kitchen, looking as bright and fresh as they did every time you bought them from the market.

“i can’t believe you got these,” you point at flowers, getting near and closing your eyes at the familiar scent, which prompted a smile to paint on christian’s features. “well, they were your favorite,” he shrugs, and sets to make a warm drink for the both of you, even if you complain that he shouldn't be standing for so long, again.

after a few minutes of being settled on the couch, he begins to talk. "you know, everything has gone wrong since you left,” he starts, and though you want to intervene, he signals that he hasn’t finished yet. “we started losing these stupid matches, and i just, wasn’t myself. not just on the pitch, but off too. mason was the first to notice.” he remembers, and a soft smile gets on your face in appreciation of the british boy who made sure to be there for him while you weren’t. “i felt like i was stuck on the day you left, the sound of the door closing all i could focus on for days. and then the knee…” christian moves, placing the mug on the coffee table in front of you, and he can’t look away from you now. “i'm surprised i didn't call you sooner. i thought about going to the states and apologizing a million times. i’m sorry i didn’t".

"don't be silly, christian. you know the club needs you, and your teammates too. everything will get better soon," you reassure, warm hand from holding the mug meets his arm, and you softly caress it in a loving motion. it comes as a second nature almost, and when you rationalize it you feel self conscious about it, but he soothes your thoughts when his hands find yours, interlocking fingers. “will you stay? here, in london?” christian asks, and his warm brown eyes sparkle with hope. you nod. “if that’s what you want. filming’s over, so…”

“please” he begs, and now he’s holding your hand with both of his. “i need you here. these couple of months made me understand that i can’t afford to lose you, y/n. you’re my home”.

you drop his hands for a second to let the mug with the -now turned cold- beverage into the little table, and he fears the worst: that he may have overstepped, that maybe you had someone else already. but suddenly you're capturing his lips with yours, and he melts. christian has missed your warmth, the comfort your frame brings him and how right it feels to have you back in his arms. the kiss is all you two could wish for it to be, and you find yourself pouring all the bottled up feelings that used to drown you before, not being able to pour them into songs, or unsent letters with all the words you couldn’t or didn’t get to say.

“you’re my home too, christian”.

part 4: war is over.

[noforkingclue]

Love to Hate and Hate to Love, Chapter 4 (River Cartwright x OC)

Whatever you think is happening in the chapter it isn't a date. Absolutely not.

Nope.

No fucking way.

Anyway, hope you like the chapter!

Slow Horses tag list: @cillmequick

Olivia looked down at her phone and sighed. It had just started to rain and the water was making it hard to use the screen. She wiped it on her coat jacket and looked around. She could’ve sworn that the restaurant was around her somewhere. It might’ve been several years since she had gone but she could still picture it. After all, it had been one of her favourite places as a student. She pulled her coat around her as she turned the corner and beamed.

Success!

She walked towards it, a spring in her step. Finally a fucking breakthrough. She looked through the menu with a fond smile. The place really hadn’t changed all that much had it?

“You seem fucking happy.”

And once again her good mood had gone. River slinked out of the shadows as Olivia turned to face him. She crossed her arms and said,

“Are you following me?”

“I wanted to know where you were going.”

“Wait, how long have you been following me?”

“Why? Couldn’t tell.”

He smirked at her and Olivia rolled her eyes. Yes, even she had heard the story about River tailing Taverner. If Second Desk couldn’t tell that River was on her then what hope did she have.

“Maybe I just wanted a bite to eat?” she said, “Is that a crime?”

“You spotted something in that photo.”

“Yeah. A dead fucking body.”

“Besides from that. What did you see?”

“And why should I tell you?”

“Because we’re meant to be working together on this.”

“Of course,” Olivia said, rolling her eyes, “and you think that by ‘helping’ it’ll get you back into The Park.”

“Good evening. Table for two?”

Olivia and River looked over sharply at the waiter who had just approached them. He gave them a bright, customer service smile but mentally Olivia was panicking. Fucking hell, how much had he overheard? It was a suspicious conversation they were having. Anyone in their right mind would probably be calling the police at the mention of dead bodies. However, River just wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her against him. She tensed under his touch but he gave her a brief squeeze. She did her best not to glare as he rubbed gentle circles against her hip. Unwittingly she relaxed under his touch.

“Yes please.”

And it clicked what the cunt was doing. Olivia looked up at him and hoped her expression was adoring enough. She could see a brief flash of surprise flitter across his eyes as she rested her head against his chest and said,

“Oh, taking me out to my favourite restaurant for my birthday. You shouldn’t have!”

Two can play at this game, Cartwright, she thought

When they were at their table looking through menus and a bottle of white wine promptly order, River said,

“I didn’t know today’s your birthday.”

“It isn’t,” said Olivia, “but now everyone is going to think it is and you’ll look like an uncaring dick if you make me split the bill. Hey, do you think we’ll get a free dessert?”

“I thought they only did that for proposals.”

“Hmm,” Olivia pretended to think for a second, “I’m not that desperate to get married to you, fake or not. Anyway, I won’t be paying for it so…”

She shrugged and grinned at him,

“Thanks for the meal, honey.”

“You’re welcome, dear.”

The waiter came over for their orders and River kept his face neutral when Olivia put hers in. When the waiter went away he hissed,

“Did you have to order a steak?”

“Why? Because you’re not meant to have white wine with red meat? Of course you’d be pretentious enough to nitpick about that.”

“No,” River sounded exasperated, “because it’s expensive.”

“Why can’t I order one? It’s my birthday.”

“No it fucking isn’t.”

“Fine. I just wanted a steak because I wanted to have a steak knife. It might come in handy if you continue to piss me off.”

“Yeah, like you’d ever use it. You’ve never actually killed anyone have you?”

“Don’t say that like it’s a bad thing.”

River looked up sharply from his drink at the tone of Olivia’s voice. She wasn’t looking at him, running her thumb up and down the stem of her wine glass. She grimaced and looked around the restaurant. Other people having a seemingly normal night out.

“You know that’ll change.”

Olivia glanced over at River. The harshness of his gaze had gone and he was looking at his hands. He briefly glanced up at Olivia before looking away again.

“It’s the nature of our job.” he said

“You sound like Fitz. Besides, don’t you mean my job and not yours.” Olivia said, although it lacked its usual bite.

The conversation was interrupted by their food coming and Olivia was relieved about that. She didn’t like this understanding version of Cartwright. She preferred the snipey version of him. She could understand him better when he was like that. She didn’t want to like him, although she could pass that off as the alcohol talking. She never knew that Cartwright could be semi-tolerable when he wasn’t trying to constantly prove himself to people who didn’t give a fuck.

“You know,” said River eventually, leaning back in his chair and grinning at her as he poked at his pasta, “I’m beginning to think that this was all a ploy to get me to take you out for dinner. Surely you must’ve suspected that you’d be tailed?”

“You fucking serious?” any alcohol induced reluctant feelings vanished and Olivia said, “A) you followed me here. B) you told the waiter that we’d be taking the table. Finally C) I have much better things to do than to go out for dinner with you.”

“You’re right, that’s giving you way too much credit. You didn’t even realise I was following you until I spoke to you.”

“You know what I think it is?”

Olivia steepled her fingers and leant closer. River copied her movements, leaning in close.

“I think you can’t stand the fact that I have absolutely no desire to fuck you,” she said quietly, “been a while for you, Cartwright? I can imagine that being stuck in Slough House hasn’t exactly done much for your dating profile.”

River’s eyes twitched slightly and his gaze dropped briefly down to her lips and he prayed that she hadn’t noticed. However, Olivia had turned her attention back to her meal. She stabbed her steak violently and

“You got us off topic,” said River reaching across and stealing a chip, “why here?”

“Oi, those are mine!” Olivia said, “and like I said- maybe I just wanted a nice meal?”

She stabbed a bit of River’s pasta with her fork and ate it before he had time to protest. She closed her eyes and slumped back in her seat at the taste.

“Fuck me,” she muttered, “that’s good. I forgot just how good it was here.”

“Been before.”

“Used to go regularly back when I was a student.”

“I thought you went to Oxford.”

“And that meant I couldn’t have nights out in London? And what about you, I thought you said that we shouldn’t be discussing work out in public and yet,” she gestured between them, “here we are.”

River rolled his eyes and tried to steal another chip. Anticipating this Olivia slapped his hand away. With meals now finished Olivia stood up and excuse herself. Yes she did need to use the toilet but she also needed to get away from Cartwright. There was only so much time she could spend with him before she went mad. When she came back the plates were cleared away, another bottle of wine on the table and their wine glasses refilled and River had that stupid smirk on his face. However, it didn’t take her long to figure out what he had done.

“Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you!”

Well,  it turned out the restaurant did do birthday desserts and yes, they were free.

Bastard.

At least the cake was good although unfortunately they did have to share.

*

“Was that free dessert really worth humiliating me?” asked Olivia

“Yes. Eased up the bill a bit.”

“Bastard.”

Olivia buttoned up her coat as the two of them left the restaurant. Luckily the rain had stopped by the time they finished their meal. They walked in an increasingly comfortable silence but Olivia could sense the underlying tension. The wine was slowly leaving their system and Olivia was remembering that she was meant to hate River.

“So, where to now?” asked River

“What?” said Olivia, “your place or mine?”

“That isn’t-”

“I know,” she sighed and ran a hand over her face, “look, let’s just head back to mine, alright? It’s closer. You did pay for dinner and it’s the least I could do.”

River paused for a second and raised his eyebrows at her.

“I didn’t know-”

“No,” Olivia said firmly, her face bright red, “I didn’t mean sex. Why anyone would want to fuck you I have no idea. I meant,” she sighed and looked away, “the least I could do is let you know about why I went here in the first place.”

“Why?”

“Well unless you don’t want the information. I’ll be more than happy to-”

“I didn’t say that.”

When the two finally got to Olivia’s flat she grabbed another bottle of wine and pulled out two glasses. River had occupied his time by looking around her living room. He raised his eyebrows at the trophy on her mantel piece. Next to it was a photo of Olivia in fencing gear. Under one arm was her fencing helmet and the other held a sword. She was grinning widely at the camera

“Do you mind not touching that?” Olivia asked as she entered the room, “Look but don’t touch.”

“I didn’t know you fenced.” River replied

“I learnt at uni,” she said, “And there’s a lot of things you don’t know about me, Cartwright.”

“Such as?”

“I’m sorry but at the moment we are not close enough for me to tell you anything else.”

River pointed at the photo and said,

“You look like a wanker in that.”

“Yeah, thanks,” she said rolling her eyes, “that was after a match with Cambridge. Fucking won that, thank you very much. Now sit down and stop judging my hobby.”

“Why fencing?”

“Hmm?”

Olivia spun on her heel so she was once again facing River. He looked back at the photo then at her.

“Guns are useful,” River continued, “nowadays what use are swords?”

“It’s a sport,” said Olivia walking closer towards him, “it’s fun, it’s elegant. I’m not doing it to kill someone, I don’t want to kill anybody despite you constantly pissing me off. But it’s exhilarating. To get so close to someone, to know that you could hurt them and yet you’re not able to. We have rules to follow.”

By now she was directly in front of River. He was looking down at her with a mixture of curiosity and something else which she couldn’t quite place. The smile slowly slipped off her face as she looked into his eyes. Fuck, she was too close and slightly too drunk. Instead she tapped him on the chest with the wine bottle.

“Another drink?” she asked, hoping that it would remove some of this unwanted tension. 

River nodded and she started to walk towards the sofa. Olivia sat down on her sofa and filled up the glasses and gestured to River to take one. Yeah, they probably already had enough to drink but being drunk around River made Olivia less likely to want to smack him.

“So,” said River at last, “why there.”

“Surely you already know,” said Olivia as she settled onto the sofa, “you are a Cartwright after all. Or has being in Slough House dulled your keen powers of observation.”

Maybe it was the wine talking but there was less venom in Olivia’s words. River sat down on the sofa, making sure to leave a reasonable amount of space between them. He narrowed his eyes at her as he looked down at his glass.

“I haven’t poisoned it,” Olivia said, “zero body count remember which I hope to keep, by the way.”

River smirked at the double meaning and Olivia rolled her eyes. Maybe it had been a while for him if he had sex on the brain that much.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Olivia took a sip of her own, “see?”

“Alright.”

“So are you going to tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“If you followed me or worked it out for yourself?” Olivia said, rolling her eyes, “I’m really beginning to think you are fucking deaf.”

“Ah, no, because you told me that you were going to tell me that.”

Olivia frowned as she tried to untangle River’s sentence. The alcohol was beginning to go to her head and she was thankful that it was a Friday. Eventually she said,

“Fine. It had been raining and there was a reflection in the reflection in the puddle. I thought I recognised the restaurant name and,” Olivia shrugged, “it was a lead that went nowhere. Nothing. No signs of gore or murder or police or anyone asking questions. Like if you knew there was a horrific murder committed relatively recently wouldn’t you expect something?”

“Yeah,” said River, “although you know what this shows?”

“People are now bored of murder?”

“What? No. Wait, were people ever really interested in it to begin with?”

“Yeah. You should hear some of the true crime stuff Kara makes us listen to. Sometimes I think she listens to them to get inspiration.”

“But you really don’t see it?”

“Umm no.”

“See,” River sighed, “this is what happens when The Park send fucking amateurs. You really have no fucking clue, do you?”

Olivia blinked at the tone of River’s voice. Just when she thought things were finally improving between the two of them, however small that might be.

“You’re one to talk,” she snapped, “still can’t get over the fact that you’re not as good as you think you are. You know this won’t get you back into The Park.”

“And yet you can’t see the obvious.”

“That’s rich coming from you.”

“Well you fucking started it.”

Olivia clicked her tongue and shook her head. Fucking unbelievable.

“No I didn’t.” she snapped

“Yes you did.”

“No I didn’t.”

“Yes you did.”

“No I- fucking hell. Maybe it’s best you leave.”

“Fine.”

River stood up, leaving his half finished glass of wine on the table. Olivia led him towards the front door and practically pushed him out. Just before he left he turned around and bent down, noses almost touching. He licked his lips and once again his gaze dropped to her lips. When he once again locked gazes with her, his eyes had gone dark. He was breathing heavily but Olivia was determined to stand her ground.

She wasn’t going to let him intimidate her.

“Try and work it out by yourself,” Olivia felt her cheeks get hot and his breath fanned over her face, “but don’t come begging to me when you can’t work it out.”

Olivia promptly slammed the door in his face and slid down to the ground. She took a large gulp of wine as she tried to work out what River was going on about. Yes, Cuntwright certainly suited him.

[unofficialadamtaurus]

(Short Version) Give Me Death Chapter 1 in a nutshell:

(Long Version)

Hi Ares, I read chapter 1 of your 'Give Me Death' fic and overall impressions are that I was right to view this as a heart wrenching tale that would readily put a beloved character and cast through emotional turmoil which in turn is gonna keep me up at night (Admittedly not a hard task but the sentiment still stands).

I really liked how you framed Adam's headspace (ah, to be the very thing you hated >_<;) from beginning to end. His battle honed instincts and self awareness while doing horrendous things seemingly beyond his control right off the bat sets quite the precedent of what to expect in later chapters (more faunus deaths, survivors coming back for revenge, word being spread to the rest of the white fang, etc) but one I can stomach and respect to show ending lives and hopefully the consequences that come with that. I mean ruby having to step over two bodies to reach Weiss?! OAO; It paints a bloody picture.

The girls had a small amount of screen time split among the four of them but I think you utilised it well. Every word they said, I could hear it in my head. Every action you saw fit to have each one show felt as if I could see it with my own two eyes. Their personalities take me back to volume 1 with the limitless potential of what they could do yet their characterisation here is clearly different showing a peek into how they have developed as a team (Weiss bawling on the ground in clear view of others? Blake and Ruby comforting someone they would have kept a distance from at an earlier time? Yang. . . ok there's not much I can say about her but it's simply nice to see her in denial instead of blatant anger). I was not expecting to have uncle qrow (He is like on a list of people I wasn't expecting to even be name dropped in this fic) mentioned but consider me intrigued. Now here are my fav lines and first reaction to them~

Fav lines: 'Adam knows oblivion. He didn't used to; for twenty-three years of life, it was a concept and nothing more.' (Adam with a clear set age in the opening of a fic? Oh this is already gaining a point in my favour).

'By its very nature it is unknowable until he is, at once and without warning, exhumed from it. Sensation crashes through his spinning mind: the ground under his boots, the weight and feel of his clothes, the air rushing into his lungs when he pulls in a reflexive breath.' (This is reminding me alot of when a character got ripped away from her 'afterlife' and believe me when I say that is a compliment.).

'The ghost of Adam Taurus breaks apart into glittering flakes of snow that just as quickly disappear.' (He's pretty. He's sad. You've made him pretty sad).

'Adam knows oblivion and so he knows that this suffocating void isn't it. Within the emptiness in and of himself there is a single anchor. A point of thready white light wrapped around some concept of him.' (I love these three lines, it's giving me 'soul' vibes with the abstract perception of what an individual being is :D).

*claps* OK I'm going to go pass out now with thoughts of reading and reviewing chapter 2 <3

Oh that's a very long version. I'm delighted by that :D

Yeah, I was very proud of that "Adam knows oblivion" blurb. It felt very impactful.

"Pretty sad" is now the official title of that flowers-from-the-face art piece I made the cover art lol

Thanks for taking the time to write such a long review! I'm glad you're enjoying what you've read so far. Not to belittle the later chapters, but I think the first is by far the strongest of the lot. I hope you enjoy the pain that follows :)

[kila09]

SHIPPER TAG GAME

tagged by @gloster

1. What ship were you completely obsessed with when you were a teenager, but now you don't care anymore?

-not really obsessed, but I'd have to say Nick/Maddie from PR: Mystic Force. I really liked their dynamic and tbh, it was that couple that introduced me to fanfics because I went googling for info on Melanie and Firass

2. Which ship would you consider your first one?

-oh that's an easy one: Tommy/Kim. The moment I saw them on screen, I started shipping them before I even knew what shipping was. They were my OTP before I even knew what that was. Even at that young age, I was taken in by their chemistry, their understanding and acceptance of each other, the slow build up of their relationship...just...their everything. Honestly, it was because of this ship that i could not get into Disney fairytales because they did more to convince me of true love than any Disney movie ever did.

3. Your first fanfic belonged to which couple?

-Tommy/Kimberly. After I learned what fanfic was from searching Maddie/Nick...I stumbled upon a Tommy/Trini story and it didn't sit right with me lol. I kept thinking "Tommy and Kim are meant to be" and then I started writing a story about them. Took my weeks, after I'd written the first seven chapters, to work up my courage to actually post that first chapter.

4. Do you remember the first couple you saw a fanart over?

-more than likely Nick and Maddie.

5. Did you ever get into ship discourse?

-uhm....I mean, not really? I've responded to one or two anon posts or even made a post or two about a ship but actual discourse? I usually have those discussions with my friend

6. Did you used to have a NOTP or have it currently?

-ha! Did I ever! And still do: Kataang, Klance, Hinny, McRolls, Tommy/Kat, Jason/Kim, Dramione, Romione.

7. Who were the couple in the last fanfic you read?

-well, I'm currently reading three fanfics right now, so the couple in those are: Zutara, Tododeku, KinnPorsche

8. Currently, do you have any OTPs?

-ohh yeah: Tomberly, Drarry, Sheith, Zutara, KinnPorsche, Tododeku, DickKory, Geraskier

9. Is there any couple, to this day, you are extremely mad about not getting together?

-yes. I'm pissed they broke Kim and Tommy (rumor was, the letter wasn't even the original storyline but they did it because they wanted the fans to let go of Kimberly and accept Kat); Sheith (they had the best chemistry and the show kept drawing parallels between them and other couples on the show, including Keith's own parents); Zutara (they just made sense and I think Katara would've really blossomed even more because Zuko never would've stifled her or encourage to forego her own culture); Drarry (sure as shit, if one of them was female, it would've happen, so I don't see why it couldn't happen anyways. Plus, I feel they would've understood and balanced each other a lot better than their Canon couples).

10. Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they are kind of interesting?

-nope.

11. Do you have any ship that, in the past, was considered normal but now would be canceled over?

-i dont think so, no.

12. What was your favorite crack ship?

-i don't think I had or have one tbh.that.

13. Who is the couple you read more fanfics of?

-its split btwn most of my OTPs tbh.

14. What do most of your ships usually have in common?

-hmmm...idk, equality, I guess. The way they understand each other, how they are each others safe space in a way, how they can be themselves (all facets of themselves, e.g., angry, happy, messy, etc.) with each other, the way they're different but also the same in some ways

15. What do you absolutely hate in a ship?

-a bully/victim dynamic that is labeled as enemies-to-lovers; when a miscommunication happens and the person immediately runs away/avoids the other without giving them a chance to explain, which leads into the miscommunication going on for more than 2-3 chapters (even worse when it's a 15 chapter story and the miscommunication happened in like ch 2 and you're on ch 12 and it...is...still...going on)

Tagging: @tomberlylove, @the-badger-mole, @moerusai, @teamironmanforever, @luckydragon10, @ink-and-dagger, @mymcdanno, @angstosaur

[folkloristico]

1, 7, 8, 12, and 22 for the 🧂🔥🔪 ask game!

Very late response, but anyway...!

The character everyone gets wrong

A part of me feels like answering this question is tough for two reasons, the first one being that I haven’t much knowledge to work with because the Winx fandom is criminally lacking any kind of content I’m interested in (that would be, Daphne, the Dominoan royal family as a whole, and CoL members). As for the second reason, I do realize many things I like about Daphne are just a headcanon of mine, but then again the overall characterization is something I picked up from the canon material. Daphne comes off as an extremely wise and mature young woman despite her age—I’ve always headcanoned her to be between 20 and 24 because of the way she looks—and although I don’t engage in much fandom discourse, I’ve seen my share of bad takes on her that just don’t reason with me At All. 

(Honestly, seasons 5 and 6 handled her so badly that I’m gonna say even canon gets her wrong.) 

Also, I was gonna use this to answer #22, but as I’ve dedicated that question to rant about something else, I’m gonna mention here how much I love that Daphne sacrificed herself and gave away her powers just so that her little sister would be safe, and she never complained once about it. I guess that’s why I’m mad at how season 5 and 6 handled here—how can you have a character that went through so much and never acknowledge it again?

7. What character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because of how the fandom acts about them?

I’m gonna preface this by saying that ‘hate’ is a strong word here—anyway, my answer would be Riven. I don’t hate him at all, but I feel like some fans act too densely about him. What gets on my nerves is when they make up excuses for his behavior towards Musa and others, either by downplaying its severity or by blaming it on bad writing, but then never do the same thing with characters whom they dislike.

Take Sky, for one. Do I like him? No. Does he suffer from bad writing? Yes. Does it excuse the way he acts towards Bloom? No. But If you’re (rightfully so) calling him out for his behavior—the way he handled the whole Diaspro and Bloom situation being on top of the list—I’d expect you’d do the same thing for all the other characters alike.

8. Common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about 

I have read this claim several times on Reddit, but I don’t really mind that the Specialists didn’t get more screen time. Actually, it feels a bit off when fans complain about it because it seems to me that for being secondary characters, they were around pretty often. They appear almost in every episode. The problem, rather than the time they spend on screen, is either the lack of development or the reverse of the aforementioned just for the sake of drama. As I said, I’m not Riven’s biggest fan, but even I can recognize how annoying it is that his development kept being reversed just so he could play the part of the bad guy.

Talking about SotLK, I actually like how Riven reacts to first seeing Hagen, treating him with a mixture of reverence and respect. On the other hand, the fact that he ended up being used by Mandragora was annoying. It’s like not even the writers know if they want him to get better or keep reminding us that he’s ‘evil’ or something, but the whole thing feels flat because it basically boils down to nothing. It doesn’t create any interesting tension, so what was even the point?

Anyway, back to my original point, I’m salty about the writing but not the screen time dedicated to the Specialists. The way I see it, it’s not that different from Barbie being, well… about Barbie, rather than Ken.

12. The unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

CoL members in general, but because I like writing about them more as a whole than when they’re split—even if it’s Marion and Griffin, whom I enjoy writing the most—my answer would be Daphne. I can’t believe the lack of Daphne!centric fics! The angst is right there! 

22. Your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

Everything CoL related. I have so many questions I don’t even know where to begin, like—how did the war play out? How exactly was the Company formed? How did Marion and Oritel get in touch with Faragonda, Hagen, Saladin and Griffin? 

Now, I don’t blame people for sleeping on them because canon itself does a tremendous job at handling what could’ve been one of the best plotlines ever (you can fight me on that), but still, the little things we know about CoL are cool (pun not intended) and there’s so much room to work with. Should there be more fics about them, I’m not sure how I would feel about them because the fact that almost everything is left to the imagination has led me to make up entire scenarios about them, so I can’t say how interested I’d be in fics who diverge too far from my headcanons.

Still, I’m shocked that so many people are sleeping on Domino’s revival! Again, canon doesn’t help here as SotLK is quite frankly a mess, and I don’t expect many people to care about Hagen when the guy appeared out of nowhere and stayed for, like, twenty minutes or so. But then again, I would expect more from Bloom’s POV at least! Fandoms usually thrive on angst, and there is a lot here.

It’s really a shame, because honestly, if it weren’t for the characters mentioned here, I don’t think I would ever be writing about Winx Club in the first place. Which I know sounds crazy because the main characters of a show called Winx are, you know, the Winx, but still.

[pico-digital-studios]

Into, Across and Beyond! Cast: Wacky the Hedgehog

Owned by: DJ Awesome

(art by SEKittenTail2008 on Deviantart)

"I may not be A Sonic, but I do know I was made with the same passion and care as one, and that, alongside my adventures and friends, are what keep me speeding ahead!"

Wacky is, as her name suggests, a very wacky bootleg hedgehog made back in 1997, by the now-missing Junio Collymore. She was created purely out of Ms. Collymore's love for the Sonic franchise, but her game came out unfinished, due to Junio going missing and the game being cancelled.

Of course, Wacky's AI still remained active, which built its own world out of what was there. Most of these were yet to develop their own personalities, but they could still live in this new land built from the ground up.

Naturally, there's two sides to a Sonic world. One with the good guys, including Wacky, Zane the Fox and Starburst the Hedgehog, and one with their arch-nemesis, Dr. Sunnyside. As the days went on, Wacky and her friends spent their time going on adventures and foiling Sunnyside's plans, which changed when one of Sunnyside's tricks sucked most of the world into a newly-formed portal.

The portal led them to an unofficial copy of Sonic Mania, where their designs changed and Wacky and her friends became taller than they were. In this new world, Wacky was set to go on new adventures to learn more about the world used to build her own, to find her friends, and to stop Dr. Sunnyside from destroying this world.

However, an entity that lurked in the code wound up going through the portal too, desperately searching for a vessel. This entity was known as Bizarro, which secretly hunted Wacky while she continued her adventures and meeting new friends.

Then one day, the entity, which was a sludgy being with a melted body, lunged out at her and plunged into her head, seeping through her skin. She woke up a couple of hours later, though when she tried to open her eyes, she felt something trying to get out, so she kept them shut.

The possession hadn't gone as Bizarro had hoped, with Wacky still in full control of her body. The entity wanted revenge on Ms. Collymore for leaving her unfinished, unaware that she's long gone now. Though Wacky no longer has to keep her eyes shut to keep Bizarro in as of this AU's events, she stayed in the heroine's body due to her being an unrotting vessel. And though the two clearly hate one another, they can work together if necessary.

Before she got involved in things, Wacky even started dating Starburst as her girlfriend, and the incident in the OMT universe forced Bizarro to split from Wacky's body, fully decaying away once she realised she could never have gotten her revenge to begin with. Wacky was also curious about the giant screen in her world's sky, and her sentience seemed to scare anyone who played her game away, which concerned her and made her yearn for companionship from another world.

During More than One Universe, Wacky helps out from the sidelines to get the multiversal threats under control, and becomes a member of the Blur Gang in the aftermath, willing to help her new companions protect their worlds alongside her own. During the story, however, Sonath was heartless enough to taunt her about his plans to use HER world as a proxy to get his plans back into high-gear.

Sonath: You seriously think you'd stand any chance? When I'm through with you, your world will be next! Wacky (immediately losing her goofy demeanour): W-What...? Sonath: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That's right, child. Your little bootleg world is just the vehicle I'll be needing to kick myself back into high gear and begin my conquest ALL OVER AGAIN. Wacky was panting in horror, knowing JUST what Sonath was planning. Sonath: I'll make it into a NEW world, where who you were before doesn't matter! Soon, that'll be nothing but a burning me-! He suddenly got strangled by Wacky's hands. Wacky (genuinely furious with her teeth clenched): Shut... She tied his body up in her expandable arms, her hands grabbing either side of his head. Wacky: ...the... She began moving them, causing Sonath to gag as his neck joints were getting damaged. Wacky: ...fucking hell... UP!!!!

The resulting neck snap didn't outright kill Sonath, but it did render him horribly immobile, though it thankfully gave the others time to inject a cure into him, curbing his evil acts permanently. For one of the more goofy characters in the Blur Gang, Wacky still inherits sad clown traits, and genuinely sympathises with OMT!Tails when he mentions the loss of his Sonic and Sally.

"Tails, I... The... The hardest thing about being a hero is... you can't always save everybody."

If you're wondering about the ponytail she sports in her sprite in the character chart post, it's because I had a bit of trouble integrating her long hair and tall height in. In-universe, I'd say it's for keeping her hair from getting too dirty when out in messier combat.

She became a close friend to Hog as well, in part due to both of them being fellow bootleg characters, and they both got a laugh out of their villains' silly names, so that's something. While she doesn't mind Mr. Needlemouse all that much, she does take offence to some of his jokes and tries to defend whoever was the target of said joke, as long as they were nice.

[deaneverafter]

Are You Mad?

First things first, I just have to say, if something happens to Beau, I won't survive that 😱😭😡💔 (whether that be death of the body saving people who don't care about him, or death of his soul by going back to Carla's captivity 💔😭)

My sheriff and undersheriff sheriffing like no other 💯😌 They're always so in sync, have each other's backs, their silent communication! 😍💘  I hate that they've kept splitting them up though, especially with this few episodes left 😒

Jenny always having Beau's back, supporting him, reminding him that he doesn't have to blame himself for things that aren't his fault. True love 🥺🥰💞 (That scene should've been longer though) Jenny always has Beau's back, just like he has hers 😌💟 Another thing that was telling was Beau not taking Jenny with him to Avery's house because he knew she is the only one who could pull him back, that hit right in the heart 🥺💕 And then as soon as he had a minute, he let his guard down, let her in, let her be there for him 🥺🥰 They deserve to be happy together, they've both been so hurt, but are so good for each other, understand and trust each other, are always there for each other. And she loves Beau so much, and now they're going to make her lose him, she doesn't deserve this 😭💔 And he's clearly fallen for her, and they're just going to be like "this sign won't stop me, because I can't read" and then send him back to his toxic "family". I can't 😡😫 I am ready to riot, not going to lie.

"Breakfast burrito time?!" I say once again, I love him so much 🥺💟💘

Madge is so funny 🤣 I can even forgive the time she interrupted Beau and Jenny's hug, just because she's so sassy 🤣

All three McCallisters 🤝🏻 Blaming Beau for literally every single thing ever 🙄😒🙃😡 Last week, Carla and Emily blaming him for the divorce, this week, Avery blaming him for..... I don't even know what. Again this week, Carla yelling Beau about being followed like it's his fault, not her husband's? 😒🙄 Like, when do we address the fact that Carla is the reason Beau is in danger, she's the one who married Avery, then involved Beau into this mess, continues to throw him into danger, and THEN she yells at him like it's his, not her own fault? And she really does use Beau as a threat, a tool, a human shield, it's truly vile to me. He almost got shot in the back already because of her, now she's pointed him out to the bad guy to save her own butt. Can't get any more selfish than this. And I really cannot with the entitlement and superiority complex. Like, why is she walking into the precinct with that look on her face like she's better than everyone, and literally looking down her nose at the officers doing their jobs? And clearly Beau was in the middle of something, but no, her issues can't wait (the absolute self centeredness, the entitlement with which she said that line, I really can't understand how the narrative keeps trying to pretend as if she's not the most toxic character we've seen on screen in a while). The way she's always putting him down, acting as if she's the center of the universe, never supporting him, (and not to mention how every "family moment" we've gotten has been a glimpse into the fact that at their happiest, this "family" consisted of Carla and Emily just sitting there and making fun of Beau, putting him down)...... it's abusive, and I hate that it's not being acknowledged. As a woman, I find it offensive that this caricature of a mean girl is being shown as the picture of a successful, strong, "fiesty" woman, when she's just...... really cruel and selfish.

And Emily showing once again she doesn't want to talk to Beau, uwu, so cute 🙄😒 Which, also brings me to the point that, full offense but if they wanted me to be invested in Emily and Denise and their safety, it would've been a good idea to make them more likeable and less mean to characters I love, instead of banking just on their "connection" to Beau to make me care. Not one, but two episodes wasted on "where's Emily?" 🙄😒 Like? I don't care, frankly. And Beau's emotions, and Jensen's excellent acting, wasted on being about Emily, for why? 🤦🏻‍♀️ Istg, if they sacrifice Beau saving his daughter who does not give a single damn about him, you guys will never ever hear the end of it. Ever.

Donno and his TWO hammers, asdfghhjk 🤣🔨 That was fun. But..... I hope they didn't just sacrifice DONNO for Emily, Carla and Avery's sake? 😱💔 But I remember that season 4 is supposed to have something to do with Donno and Tonya, so maybe he'll be okay 🥺 Then Donno and Tonya will be partners in literal crime and partners in life 🤗

I still want a Sunny and Walter killing team going after Buck 😈🔪 And based on the trailer, I think the Sunny-Walter killing team plan is back on 👿

Cassie and Cormac and them putting their heads together for the case AND their talk, that was cute 💛

On a more outside-the-story note, I just have to say, I don't understand making Jenny have feelings for Beau, and making Beau have feelings for her, if they're just planning on sending him back to his evil ex. That would be such a disservice to both Beau and Jenny. It would be bad enough if it's just Beau, blaming himself and getting Stockholm Syndromed into going back to a person who does nothing but be condescending, abandoned him when he needed support the most, uses him, and for whom he'd only be a second choice. But adding Jenny's feelings into the mix if they're sending him back to hell, all it does is unnecessarily hurt Jenny (it isn't as if they'd explore her heartbreak and hurt) and humiliate her, having a third man leave her for another woman. And why make Beau have feelings for Jenny? All that does is hurt more, because there was something there, hope. And making him get closer to her all season if he had feelings for the other one, that just unfairly messes with his characterization. He wouldn't. Sending him back to Carla period, messes with his characterization, every scene they have together, there is no romantic love or attraction. There's subzero chemistry. The respect, care, adoration, chemistry, trust, that's only there with Jenny.

And the way Carla treats him, the only reason Beau would even consider going back to her is guilt, regret, gaslighting, holding on to the past. Not love, he respects himself more than that. Doing that, sending him back to her, it would be unfair not just to Jenny, but also Beau AND disrespectful to the work Jensen and Katheryn put in to make this relationship believable and complex, interesting and complete. Not to mention how rude it is to prioritize the story of two guest characters, their "happy ending", over storylines, exploration of backstories, development of current relationships, for two of the three main characters, Beau and Jenny. All of which is to say, the chemistry is between Beau and Jenny, the story, the trust, compassion, support, attraction. And it's evident in the way that they DID choose to pursue this between them. So I don't understand if they're sending him back. And if for some unknown reason, the endgame must be with Carla (I can't think of a single reason that would be necessary, but okay), then...... there were better ways to do it, that wouldn't make things extra messy all around. Working with the chemistry b/w Beau and Jenny, the comradrie and trust that has been there from the beginning is the best thing the writing did. Spending time focusing on his toxic ex, or even thinking about sending him back to her... not so much.

[awkwardwithapause263]

Spoilers for Episodes 4 of Mayfair Witches if you haven’t watched.

Cortland’s weird and apparently sick, but he had a point in the end when he said Carlotta kept Deirdre hostage for 30+ years and somehow made herself out to be the victim.

I did love how he was like alright we can go now that I’ve said my piece and made the crazy come out my sister.

He wanted Rowan to follow him why else would he have looked back.

Cortland’s daughter in the last episode made no sense unless A)She actually knew the guy that passed or B) She’s like I go where the party is even if it is a funeral. It couldn’t have been at Lasher behest because I don’t think he knew Rowan would end up walking toward first st. and he wouldn’t ever need help finding her. Or it could be C) the directors and script writers wanted to say hey look out for this woman she’ll be important.

When Carlotta showed Rowan pictures of Ellie I was Rowan for a moment saying that isn’t my mother. I mean this is my mother, but not the one I came here wanting to know about you know the one this day is all about.

I think something gross happened to Carlotta when she was eight that makes her hate Lasher so much. I really hope not.

When Carlotta told the butler to gather the staff in the kitchen I was oh she’s going to do something to Rowan.

She really said fuck everybody and this house. She has had enough.

I thought she was going to poison her but when she finally got to it I was like Miss Ma’am she has the necklace around her neck how well do you think that’s going work out for you?

When Lasher appeared to say she’s already mine I was like And where the fuck have you been? Obviously I know where’s he’s been saying goodbye to Deirdre in the way we saw him saying hello to her in the first episode(the flying rose petals) and getting revenge for her murder.

When he came out the dudes body I was like no way(he killed her), but no he was just killing the guy that killed her.

Which I have questions about. How was there no struggle? How’d he get off the elevator?

Sip’s right there is a supernatural element to this and not just the elevator being wiped. One his bosses or maybe just that particular one he was talking to doesn’t want investigated. Could they or he be in league with Lasher?

If I was Rowan after a while I would have been like Well it was nice meeting you all, but I really should be going.

That scene of Sip and Rowan having sex then it switches to Lasher was a trip.

Should have known he was going to get hurt and potentially die when the blind woman was like don’t get hurt you’re one of my favorites.

Loved how at one point the screen split with her on one side and Sip’s head but blurry around it on the other. Showing her ability.

I would do what Rowan did to be honest the only way to learn a way to get rid of him is learn more about him and the only way to do that is to accept him. But I don’t think getting rid of him is why she put the necklace on.

Might add more.

This episode got me hyped for the next.

My one complaint is we shouldn’t be asking what do you want from me over halfway through the season.

The house is burning why the fuck are you locking them inside?

For the next episode I think he’s put Rowan in some sort of trance into a reality he built.

I don’t think she gave in for no reason. You got to remember Lasher has been plaguing her dreams for month.

When Sip was like I had weird dreams last night I was like uh-oh.

Or taken it and given it to the Talamasca.

I think the black woman that was like they aren’t like us to Tessa was Ellie’s mother or a closer relative to her then Carlotta.

In the second episode my sister said is that important in response to the news report of someone being found tied up and burned to death. I replied I don’t know well know I do.

That guy creeping in the bushes was apart of the anti witch rally or was he the medical examiner? Either way he has something to do with those murders I think.

Josephine completely dismissed Rowan’s refusal to have children.

Cortland hired the hitman.

My honey took me to San Francisco in 98 if only we knew you were alive we could have met. Uh lady she would have been seven and had no idea who you were.

[thechaosisgettingexhausting]

Owen warland

wtf is productivity anymore? is it slaving yourself away for a government that likes to milk you of your money and bread crumb you when you asking for basic needs?

I have to write a damn essay today that is due tonight and I am stuck. im stuck going on my phone hoping from three main apps. what truly is the point of doing all this shit, to get that degree, and then what... continue to work a long side all these other people who I know are just as burnout?

yeah life is good for split second and then we have to go back to being apart of a society that drains us of our energy.

is this me being lazy? not wanting to participate in a world where everything is transactional and your worth is seen through how much you make and if you can pay bills pay, taxes, keep up with friends but also stay in school, care about people but don't be too loud about it because the person next to you is trying to focus on their work.

work work work

work isn't even that worth it at this point. you expect me to want to survive in these conditions, id have a better chance in the forest... give me a survival book that humans have imposed onto the earth maybe then ill "work" the rich don't seem to be doing much but sitting back in their 4 billion dollar home watching the world burn.

the paychecks are barely suitable for some families, even a married couple with well paying jobs could barely even buy a home, it keeps us all in the same loop that is hard to get out of.

idk how people like me even survive this world, maybe my mindset is negative and I should join the flow. work til my bones ache, til my joints develop arthritis, til im so used to being hunched over that when I straighten my back it's painful, til my eyebrows have a permanent line in the middle, til my ears are ringing from the typing of the keyboards,

I wish we could live in better systems that don't keep us trapped under the rich, I wish people in Palestine and Congo weren't victims of this greed, I wish our government gave a fuck, I wish people weren't so hateful to difference, I wish mental health would be considered a genuine illness that some of us face that we didn't have to push down to keep our productivity up.

im just a person complaining behind a screen, no I did not directly go through all these things but I was adjacent, I am an audience member, I've see and hear my family, friends, professors, strangers experiences. I see the strain this life has taken on us and it's devastating because we're so used to living in it we don't have time or money to fight for anything better.

in the fictional story "the artist of the beautiful" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the character, in the title, is opposite of what his society expects as an ideal worker. he doesn't work for the money or the revenue or to mass produce. those around him tell him, he needs to improve his skill in order to be productive and be valued as a person. he was strong willed and kept strong by his he goes through a journey of self rediscovery after giving in to the social worlds pressure. he essentially transcends and is happy in his

may or may not add to this later.....

[twomrw]

Catch a Falling Star - Chapter Ten

Series Masterlist

Series Summary:

Ezra Owens + Empty House = Pretty Chill Summer

Pretty Chill Summer + ‘Nola’s Best Family Restaurant = What is sleep?

What is sleep? + Spoiled Pop Star = Recipe for Disaster

Previous | Next

Word Count: ~5000

Chapter Summary: A blast from the past

Chapter 10

Ezra stepped into the living room to turn on the radio. Then he switched on the light in the kitchen and the ones on the front steps before stepping outside and locking the door. Climbing into his vehicle, he caught a glimpse of their neighbour in her spot by the window and he offered a wave. As usual, he was ignored. He shrugged and sent a quick text to Maya that he was leaving before starting the engine and backing out of the driveway. 

He glanced at the empty passenger seat. It felt so strange driving alone after sharing the space with Ada for so many days now. He turned on the radio.

“Still no word from Ada Michelle or any of her representatives while her foundation ‘All For One’ is being investigated. There have been rumours that the young popstar has fled the country.”

Ezra turned off the radio with a heavy sigh. Ada’s scandal made no sense to him. The more time passed, the more he was sure that she’d been set up. He knew without a doubt that Ada wouldn’t do something that selfish…or stupid. He just couldn’t figure out who’d make it look like she did. Who wanted to take her down? He couldn’t think of anyone who would benefit from Ada’s downfall.

He’d had some suspicions about Ada’s former bandmates, Sean, Raina and Travis and based on his research, so had a lot of Ada’s fans. The most loyal of her fans had started posting hate messages on fan forums for STAR.

Ezra scoffed, just like he had when he’d first heard the band’s name. It was so cheesy. But Ada had loved it. It had been her idea. At the time, she’d been obsessed with the constellations and it was an acronym of the first letters of their names. He wondered how she’d felt when she left the band and they kept it.

He had never understood why she left in the first place. They had been on their way to be the next pop sensation. Then their label had made the surprise announcement that Ada was going solo. Fans had been understandably confused at the fracture, but both parties insisted that it was a mutual split, that they had been having creative differences but they wished each other the best in their music careers.

Ezra had learned all of this against his will. Maya had gone on about it for weeks. She was definitely one of the more suspicious fans.

“Something’s fishy about this,” she’d insisted. 

Now that he actually thought about it, he didn’t blame her for thinking that. For three summers straight, Raina and Ada had been inseparable. When the prospect of them being able to make music together had become an actual possibility, the two girls wouldn’t shut up about it. They’d been ecstatic. He didn’t understand how “creative differences” had gotten in between that. Then again, business did seem to make everything more complicated. What was it his dad always said? Not even family can see past the bottom line sometimes. He let out a tired sigh. He’d seen that first hand at ‘Nola’s Best.

Ezra’s somber thoughts were disrupted by his phone ringing. Maya’s contact card flashed on the screen. They must be there already.

“Hallo!”

“Hi Sweet Cheeks!”

Ezra groaned as he made the first turn towards Pine Beach House. Maya let out a maniacal laugh as his headlights flooded the entrance, illuminating the murals on either side of the road. The streets in this area were lined with short walls tinged with oranges, yellows and greens and sprinkled with the mascot for the island’s National Plant, Nana, a portly anthropomorphic pineapple.

“How far are you?”

“Nana’s giving me a cheeky grin.” Ezra suppressed a shudder. Something about Nana’s eyes had always creeped him out.

“Nooo! We were hoping you were running late and you could swing by and pick us up.” She sighed. “Mom can’t drop us so we’ll have to wait for Jay.”

“What?! I’m practically there already. I didn’t even want to come. You guys insisted!”

“Yeah well. We had important business to take care of,” Ezra could hear the smirk in Maya’s voice and if he wasn’t mistaken, he could hear Ada giggling in the background.

Those two had become fast friends. After the whole picture-taking fiasco at the harbour. He’d told Ada that Maya would be taking the next shift in the turn-Ada-into-a-local project. He shouldn’t have been surprised when she was ready to fight him at the idea that he’d told Maya her secret without her permission.

“You’ve practically told the whole restaurant!” was definitely the wrong thing for him to say next. He had realized as much when Ada’s eyes turned ice cold. 

“I didn’t tell Maya, okay,” he had added quickly. “She knew since the supermarket. She figured it out on her own. She’s been a fan since the beginning, of course she’d recognize you eventually. Besides, you practically told her who you were when you implied that you were Aunt Misha’s daughter.”

That had been enough to silence Ada but he continued.

“Don’t tell her I said this, but Maya is good people. She wouldn’t sell you out. You can trust her,“ he assured. “It’s been almost a week and the tabloids haven’t come banging on our door.”

Ada seemed to relax at that. It was perfect timing because Maya had shown up in the next breath.

“Sweet Cheeks. Adaline.” She had offered both of them nods. He’d sucked his teeth and left them with a shake of his head. However annoying she was, he was grateful for Maya. She’d been willing to finish Ada’s ‘Nola makeover while he went hunting for a new (used) freezer. 

He’d been quite satisfied with himself actually. He’d gotten a great deal and negotiated a payment plan. After organizing the delivery, he’d texted Maya to see where they were. She’d brought up the class get together that Ada had apparently told her about and how they were picking up a few things for that. He’d shot it down so fast but Maya had insisted. She’d even brought in the big guns. It was a picture of him at about 9 in his White Knight tighty whities.

“Where did you get that?” he’d muttered into the phone with gritted teeth when she finally answered his call.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Fine! What time should I pick you up?”

Ezra didn’t have to see her to know that she was wearing a Chesire-cat wide grin..

“You go ahead. We’ll get a ride with Mom. We still have a few things left to do.”

“Fine!”

Ezra should have known better than to believe that Maya’s antics wouldn’t come back to bite him in the butt. He sighed.

“Hey! They’re your classmates too. Go mingle! We all know you don’t do enough of that.”

“One of these days Maya I will get the perfect blackmail on you and you’ll regret everything you’ve ever put me through.”

She cackled down the line. “I have no shame, Sweet Cheeks. I’m un-blackmailable.”

“We’ll see.”

“Mmmhmmm.”

“I’m pulling into the parking lot now. You guys better be here soon.”

“Sure we will.”

“Alright. Late–”

“Oh I almost forgot! I have a surprise for you.”

“Why do I suddenly feel terrified?”

“I can’t imagine why at all.”

“Maya? Help!” Ezra heard Ada’s muffled cry in the background.

“Gotta’ go. Our popstar has somehow gotten herself stuck in one of my tops. See you, Sweet Cheeks.”

The line was dead before Ezra could respond. He sighed, shaking his head as he got out of his car. He didn’t know why the two of them were friends. 

Despite being in the same year, they’d as good as ignored each other in secondary school. They weren’t in any of the same classes. They hadn’t joined any of the same clubs. They had different friends. They could have probably gone their whole lives without knowing each other…until Vanessa.

“Good evening, Sir.” Ezra was greeted by an attendant as he walked into the lobby. 

Pine Beach House was one of the fancier spots on the island, definitely not ‘Nola’s Best. Though he suspected they were going for the same “rustic” vibes. Why else would they have called it a beach house when it was really more of an expensive country club?

“I’m here with the Krony party?” Ezra didn’t know why his statement sounded like a question. Maybe because the attendant had looked down his nose at him with an expression that clearly stated, “You don’t belong here. Why are you here?”

“Right this way, Sir.” 

Despite being able to read the man’s growing contempt through his dazzling customer service smile, Ezra nodded in acknowledgement and followed him down the cobbled path. It was lined with palm trees that he was sure cost more than ‘Nola’s Best’s monthly expenses. The trees thinned out towards the end of the path, replaced by pineapple plants instead. Here the attendant gestured to one of many archways that led through a long portico to an open grassy area. 

Ezra’s eyes grazed over the area. He would never admit it aloud, but he felt more than a bit intimidated by the display of it all. It wasn’t so much that Emma was marrying into one of the richest families in all of ‘Nola. He’d found out that tidbit of information when she’d posted in the old class forum that anyone dropping by their “little” get together should ask for the Krony party. The name had sounded vaguely familiar so he’d hopped over to Emma’s account where the most recent post was her engagement pictures. There he’d found out that Emma was marrying Alexander Krony, son of Martha and Frederick Krony, owners of the largest pineapple plantations on the islands.

Alexander had not chosen to go into farming like his parents, grandparents or great grands, but that hadn’t stopped him from benefiting from the Pineapple Empire as Maya liked to call it. Alexander was a national athlete who’d recently bagged a sponsorship with the soft drink company that sold SUM, a pineapple-flavoured soft drink filled with electrolytes designed to rehydrate. Perfect for athletes. At least that’s what Alexander insisted in every promotional video. He’d grin at the camera and offer the viewer a bottle with his simple tag line, “Want SUM?”

Lots of things had made sense after discovering the identity of Emma’s fiance. The size of the stone in her ring for one and then there was this event. There was nothing small about this get together. 

At the far end, a wooden hut that Ezra was sure had been stained to look old and worn, housed the bar. A few yards away was a table set up with what looked like a buffet of finger foods. He could hear, rather than see, a game of pool going on somewhere.

Ezra tried in vain to tamper the discomfort swirling in his stomach as he made no further attempt to join the group. It wasn’t the display of wealth that bothered him, it was the comfort. His former classmates milled about the space, laughing and chatting and catching up on each others’ lives, he was sure. He couldn’t imagine that he’d be welcome. What did he have to contribute to the conversation? What had he accomplished in the past seven years?

His self-deprecating thoughts were disturbed by someone clearing their throat. Ezra started in surprise and turned towards the attendant just in time to catch him rolling his eyes. He’d completely forgotten he was there. By the time Ezra had blinked, the man’s look of contempt was replaced with an at-your-service mixed with an I-don’t-get-paid-enough-for-this facial expression.

“If you’ll excuse me.”

“Yes. Of course,” Ezra stuttered, his back straightening in an involuntary attempt to appear more sure of himself. He didn’t let out a breath until the attendant was safely out of sight. Then he turned back to the party. He sighed in resignation as he took his first step. So what if he was in the same place he’d been for the past four years? Did he love his job, no? But he loved that it paid the bills and had gotten him through two years of his Master’s degree. He loved that his taking over had taken a huge burden off Ma’s back. He loved that because of him (not in spite of him) she’d been able to realize a life long dream.

Those things were all true, but they hadn’t made Ezra feel any better. He made a beeline to the bar, sure that having a drink in his hand would make him feel less awkward. The thing was that even though he probably knew most of these people, they probably didn’t know him. He’d been very lowkey in secondary school, almost invisible. He'd been an above average student but no valedictorian like Ben. And because of the restaurant he’d really only been able to join one club a term and he and Sam had rotated between Science and Ping Pong.

He sighed again, settling on a bottle of the salty, pineapple drink he was sure would be littering the place by morning. Maya would turn up her nose in disgust as soon as she saw it in his hand and Ada would…Ezra took a sip of the drink with a contemplative tilt of his head. He was surprised to realize that he didn’t know what Ada would do. He didn’t know if she liked the drink or not. She hadn’t been around when it had reached its popularity. She may never have even tasted it.

As he took another sip, he acknowledged his curiosity. He’d find out if she’d ever tried it and if she hadn’t he’d remedy it tonight. Before he could process these thoughts any further, there was a tap on his back, followed by a “Hey man, nice of you to grace us with your presence.”

Ezra turned to a friendly smile on a vaguely familiar face. The smile soon turned to confusion and then an apology.

“Sorry. I thought you were someone else.”

Ezra shook his head, his way of communicating, “No worries” without risking losing a mouthful of his drink. He figured it was the end of the interaction, when the other young man’s eyes narrowed at him.

“Wait…you’re…ummm…uhhh…Owens! Yh! You’re…ummm…Dan’s little brother, right?”

Ezra nodded slowly, still unable to place the man in front of him.

Seeming to recognize his uncertainty, said man pointed to himself as an introduction, “Greg!”

The name didn’t quite ring a bell. 

“I was on the track team with Dan.”

“Ahhh!” That made sense. Ezra must have seen him at track meets, maybe they’d had a class together or something.

“How is Dan?” Greg asked, sounding genuinely interested in knowing the truth. 

Ezra smiled. “He’s good. Living his best life. Sends me pictures from random cities all over the world from time to time.”

“Wow! What does he do?”

Ezra chuckled. “You’re not the first person to ask and you’re probably not the last person that I don’t have a concrete answer for. I honestly don’t know. Something to do with network security, I think. I’m not sure exactly but he’s some sort of consultant or freelancer for corporate clients.”

Greg hummed in a way that Ezra could only describe as appreciation or awe.

“Yeah.” Ezra nodded, a bit of pride swelling in his chest at what his brother had been able to achieve.

“I always thought he was going to go pro with either track or basketball.” Greg admitted. “He was the only one of us who could ever beat Lex.”

Greg glanced at the bottle in Ezra’s hand and without saying anything Ezra knew exactly what he was thinking. It’d probably have been Dan’s face on the label if he’d decided to become a professional athlete.

Greg cleared his throat before offering a sheepish smile at being found out.

“So…what do you do?” Greg again seemed to be asking a genuine question, like he actually wanted to know the answer. He wasn’t just making small talk or trying to compare so he could one up him.

Ezra opened his mouth to respond, when a hand landed forcefully on his left shoulder almost knocking him to the ground. He stumbled forward barely managing to keep the contents of his bottle from spilling everywhere.

“Sean! My buddy! My pal!” came from behind him. When he’d righted himself he turned to see who the assaulting party was. The teasing grin that greeted him soon became a mouth open in surprise.

The young man backed away two steps, hands up and palms facing outward. “I am so sorry! I thought you were someone else.”

Ezra shot a look at Greg before turning to…Mitch…he suspected was this guy’s name. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not the first time it’s happened tonight.”

“Guilty.” Greg raised a single hand.

Mitch–yes, Ezra was sure that was his name now— turned a guilty smile to Ezra before recognition lit up his features.

“Wait! You’re Ezra ‘Left Hand’ Owens, right?”

“Left han–wha-?” Ezra stuttered.

Mitch practically giggled with glee. He turned to Greg with a conspiratorial smile.

“This man was a table tennis beast in high school.” Mitch elaborated. “He’d start the game playing with his left hand and then when he’d figured out his opponent’s playing style and more importantly, when they thought they’d figured him out, he’d switch to his right hand on his next serve and completely obliterate them.”

Mitch’s excitement was contagious and Ezra couldn’t fight the embarrassed smile that spread across his mouth. Dad had taught him and Sam to play and it had been their dream to beat him one day. It hadn’t happened yet, but Ezra was still hopeful. Although, he hadn’t picked up a racket in a while.

“So you’re the professional athlete then?” Greg asked, sounding impressed.

“Oh no!” Ezra laughed. “I work at that restaurant fifteen minutes from the Reserve, ‘Nola’s Best.”

“Right!” Mitch nodded. “Sean was always over there during the summers. It’s your parents’ place right?”

Ezra hesitated, “Well more like my grandparents’, but my family runs it.”

“I don’t know that I’ve heard of it.” Greg admitted.

“Yeah! We’re pretty lowkey these days. Mainly just a tourist attraction. A bit too run down and old for the locals, you see.”

“Hmmm…”

“Oh no!” Mitch exclaimed, hand to his heart. Ezra started to panic but he could see Greg rolling his eyes in his peripheral vision.

“You should run away before he starts.” Mitch continued.

“Starts what?” Ezra felt more than a little confused.

“His whole marketing spiel.”

Greg was full on scowling now.

“You work in marketing?” Ezra asked.

Greg tilted his head from side to side in a sort of “so-so” manner. “Kinda’...” he started. “I work on the Marketing Team at the Development Bank. So we provide marketing services for small local businesses at subsidized costs to boost revenue.”

Mitch’s head fell forward as he pretended to snore before abruptly lifting his head. Greg rolled his eyes while Ezra raised his brows in an impressed way. Now it was Greg’s turn to offer an embarrassed smile.

“We’ve actually found that–”

“Here we go. He’s started!” Mitch interrupted in exasperation.

Greg ignored him, raising his voice to drown out the other man’s. “We’ve actually found that most small businesses don’t need major grants in order to sustain themselves. A good modern marketing system and they’re good to go.”

“Really?”

“Why are you encouraging him?”

“Yeah it’s amazing.” Greg patted his pockets and groaned. “Shucks! I don’t have any cards on me, but why don’t you take my number and when you’re ready you can reach out and we can talk about—

“I can’t believe you’re working right now. I’m going to go find Sean. Bye! Nice seeing you again Ezra.” 

Greg shook his head as he watched Mitch walk away. “Don’t mind him. We used to work in adjacent cubicles until he got picked up by the SUM Marketing Department.”

Ezra’s eyes widened in surprise. “He’s responsible for ‘Want SUM?’” Ezra pushed the bottle towards Greg mimicking Alexander or Lex as Greg had called him. Greg stifled a laugh. “Hey! It might seem ridiculous but it worked. That campaign is responsible for a lot of their new revenue.”

“I bet.”

“Yeah but corporate marketing has come with its frustrations for Mitch that’s why he’s so reluctant to talk work outside of the office. Plus, the NDA agreement would not help things either.” Greg shrugged.

“You sound like you wouldn’t switch given the opportunity.”

Greg gave Ezra a knowing smile. “I mean, I’m sure the pay is better, but I love what I do. I love putting in the work and then seeing the transformation. It’s fulfilling. I think it’s my purpose.”

Ezra couldn’t help but feel a little jealous of Greg. Everyone else seemed so put together and successful. If they were not raking in the dough, they were marrying into it, or actually achieving career fulfillment.  

Ezra tried to push past the lump forming in his throat to say something, anything. A simple “that’s great” would have been fine, but nothing came out. Thankfully he was saved from having to say anything when someone called out for Greg.

“Ahh! It must be my turn at the pool table. Two guys from the swim team challenged two of us from the track team to a game.”

Ezra nodded trying to ensure that the relief didn’t show on his face.

“But you should take my number.”

“Oh. Right.” He pulled out his phone and handed it over.

“You should give me a call and I’m sure we can figure something out for your family restaurant. I already have so many ideas.” Greg passed the phone back to him.

Ezra nodded, still not trusting himself to respond coherently.

“Well, it was nice meeting you, Ezra.”

“Yeah, you too.” And then Ezra was alone with his thoughts again. Where was Maya when he needed her?

He pulled out his phone to check for messages, just in time for a new message notification to pop up. He opened their chat to see a blurry pic of Nana painted on a short wall. He smiled, heading back to the bar to drop off his bottle and then head out front to meet them. 

Before he could set foot across the portico, he was ambushed by a pair of young ladies, one of them particularly more friendly and handsy than the other.

“Ezra!” she all but shrieked. “You came!” Emma smacked him in the arm in what was supposed to be a playful hit, but from the way Emily was supporting most of her weight he suspected she had had a little something to drink. And Tipsy Emma packed a punch. “Emmy, he came!” she turned to her friend with a loopy smile.

“Aren’t you glad you came?” She turned back to Ezra.

He considered the question carefully. If he were being honest with himself, he’d say the few interactions he’d had with his classmates were not as bad as he had expected, barring the jealousy and disappointment in himself of course.

Ezra offered a genuine smile. “Of course!” Emma grinned and even Emily who’d seemed stressed a minute ago, returned his smile.

Emma frowned, looking around them. "Where's your friend?" She slurred.

“I'm just going out to meet her and Maya.”

"Boooo!" Emma exclaimed with a pout.

Ezra's brows furrowed in confusion. "Wha–I?" He glanced at Emily, an unspoken question on his face.

She looked a little embarrassed, unable to hold eye contact for long.

"Don't worry about it, Ezra. We've just had a little too much champagne tonight. There was a lot to celebrate."

He nodded, though still confused by the interaction.

Emma started to keel over and both Ezra and Emily grabbed for her.

"I think that's our cue to get you inside. Maybe we can give Lex a call."

"Ooooh. Lexxie.” Emma let out a sob. “I miss him.”

Emily nodded. “Of course you do, hun. That’s why we’re going to call him.” She shouldered all of Emma’s weight, taking over from Ezra and offering him a smile of gratitude and goodbye at the same time.

He nodded as they moved towards the building.

He barely made out Emma talking to Emily, “Emmy, I can’t wait to find you your own Lexxie.”

Ezra shook his head and made his way back out to the front lobby. The attendant was missing but there was a young man standing around and sipping a– Ezra squinted at the bottle– SUM. The young man seemed to be staring out into the night contemplating something serious. Ezra wondered if he’d had enough of the party or if he was just taking a break. Maybe he’d never really gelled with his classmates like Ezra and felt like an outsider at a get together like this.

A few yards away, Ezra’s attention was drawn to two young ladies walking through the entrance. The first one in looked like someone he should know, though she looked like she could blend in a crowd easily. She wore a long-sleeved black turtleneck sweater and a simple pair of blue jeans. Her hair was cut short, more or less shaved at the back and sides, but with a little more volume on top. She seemed a bit unsure of herself and which direction to go in. Too bad the attendant wasn’t there.

The next girl in was dressed in louder colours, though her outfit seemed simple enough: a spaghetti strap floral dress. She stepped further into the lobby and pulled out her phone from the dress’ pocket. She typed something and then turned to the other girl to say something when Ezra’s phone vibrated in his hand. He looked down at the message and then back up at the girl. It was Maya! She glanced at the young man standing in the corner and broke into a warm smile. 

Ezra got the sinking feeling that something was about to go horribly wrong before he understood what it was exactly. Maya walked up to the young man in the corner absently staring out the window and sipping his drink. She tapped him on the shoulder then turned with her arms spread out towards the other young lady. 

“Ta da! The ‘Nola makeover is complete.”

Ezra almost spit out his drink and from the looks of it so did the other young man. Maya’s look of confusion soon turned apologetic and Ezra’s eyes moved back to the other young lady in time to see her eyes widen in recognition and then absolute panic. Ezra knew that look. Ezra knew that face! His mouth opened.

“Ada?!”

Ezra’s brows furrowed in confusion. That was the exact word that his mouth had opened to let out but that had not been his voice.

“What are you doing here?” the young man blurted and from the look on Ada’s face, Ezra knew that was his cue to step in. He marched towards them with purpose.

“I–I–” Ada started. “I have to go.” She spun around and disappeared through the archway she’d come through minutes before.

Maya offered the young man a sheepish smile before tapping him on the shoulder. “It’s always good to see you, Sean.” He made no response. Maya nodded, lips pulled into her mouth in a straight line. She took a step back. “But I better…” she pointed behind her and Sean was still speechless and immobile. She hesitated for one second longer before heading out after Ada.

Ezra had reached Sean by then. He thought about just walking straight past him, but his mouth opened of its own accord. “Uhhh…I think Mitch was looking for you earlier.” Sean turned to him, his eyes not registering anything. “Yeah.” Ezra offered finally before hightailing it after the two young ladies.

He found Maya leaning over a crouched Ada both their chests heaving with the exertion. “I’m so sorry. I thought he was Ezra. I can’t believe I mistook him for–”

“I need.” Ada started and Maya’s rambling cut off immediately. “I need to go.”

Both girls were startled when he spoke, “I’m parked right over there.” He pointed. He tried his best to school his features, but one look at Ada and the set of her jaw was enough for him to know that she knew he’d seen everything.

“Let’s get out of here,” he whispered, hand outstretched towards her for the second time today. He saw the hesitation in her eyes and if he wasn’t mistaken he thought he saw her fingers twitch as though she was thinking about it. But instead she turned away and buried her face in her hands still in her crouched position.

Honestly, Ezra would have been more surprised if she’d taken his hand. He’d half expected her to slap it away, so this reaction was an upgrade.

“I just need a minute.” Ada breathed, barely a whisper, but he heard it.

“Okay. Sure. Take two if you need to.” He glanced at Maya, worry and guilt clear in her eyes.

“Alone.” Ada added, a pained hue to her voice.

“Of course. Yeah.”

“Sure.” Maya offered, making eye contact with him again. He tried to use those supposed telepathic powers of his to assure her that it hadn’t been her fault, but he knew he’d failed when she would no longer meet his eyes.

“Just come to the car when you’re ready.”

Ada nodded, head still in her hands.

The two friends walked to the vehicle in silence, well, as much silence as there could be while the wind whipped around them. Maya rubbed at her bare shoulders, her mind far away. He pressed the fob to unlock the car and headed straight to the trunk. He fished around in there for a minute before closing it and climbing into the driver’s seat.

He twisted his torso to look her in the eyes again before handing her the grey zip up hoody he kept in the trunk for colder mornings before he got to the gym. “It wasn’t your fault.”

Maya let out a humourless laugh, still refusing to look him in the eye or accept the hoody. He reached further into the backseat spreading the jacket over her backwards, tucking the front of the hoody around her shoulders so that the hood hung limp in front of her.

She looked up at him, finally. He tried to pour all the earnestness and honesty into his voice and eyes as he spoke again. “You couldn’t have known it was him. It wasn’t the first time tonight someone mistook the two of us for each other.”

He put a reassuring hand on one of her shoulders, “It wasn’t your fault.”

Maya closed her eyes, turning away her head. “Ezra, I–” she started when the passenger seat door opened and Ada got in. 

Ezra spun around to check on her. She looked…normal, bored even. She pulled the door closed and turned to look at him.

“Before we go home, can we get something to eat? I haven’t had anything proper since lunch.”

He shot a questioningly look over his shoulder to Maya who offered him a forced smile. “I’m a free bird.” Ezra knew it was supposed to sound cheerful but she missed it by a long shot. His brows furrowed and she offered him a wobbly smile in return.

He turned back to see Ada, head leaning against the headrest, eyes closed, defined wrinkles between her brows.

“Yeah. Sure.” He started the ignition and he pulled out of the Pine Beach House parking lot.

A/N: I'm very poorly (read in a Keira Knightley from P&P accent) when it comes to my mental health RN. I honestly don't know when next I will be posting. :`(

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