#he sells things. which is nice because the cops took all my stuff when they arrested me

[rustpuppy]

got sent to jail for stealing and this guy is in the cell wall

[sapphic-outlaw]

Part 1/2 Long text ahead and a mixture of cringe RP stuff and "two stoned friends with way too much time on their hands" stuff. Be warned lol. I had kind of an internal monologue while doing this trail ride. Probably because I was inebriated, but regardless I took some mental notes and wanted to put it in writing before heading to bed. Everything is perfectly optional to read, of course, since I'm mostly writing this all for myself, but more power to you if you're interested! This post is kinda randomly peppered with screenshots I thought were pretty, and then some that are actually written about. I did my best to place them accordingly! The devs of the mod menu I use, Fortitude, recently added a slow motion feature which I've been having an absolute blast with! So tonight, accompanied by a lovely friend (whom I'm just going to refer to as Charles for simplicity's sake), I went on a nice long digital trail ride with Charles and took some screenshots. This was a whole ordeal lol. Started out rather normal, no issues whatsoever as we were in a private server and had all the time in the world to just take our time and take pics. We listened to music, smoked a bowl, just got comfy and prepared for a LONG journey because I wanted this whole thing to be in slowmo. Charles hasn't really played RDR2/RDO before, much less with mods, so I had to teach him a bit. But I digress! Early into the ride I started playing Angels and Airwaves, a band that I grew up with and love dearly. Turns out… Charles hates them lol. But he DID agree that they fit the Charles and Blair aesthetic really well with both sound and lyrics, plus helped me pick out the best song to put some clips to, so there's that. Then we ran into the red coyote. I tried my hardest to ignore it, truly. But my ADHD got the best of me. I think we spent the better part of 30 minutes in a constant back and forth of "Where is it?!" "THERE!!" "WHERE?!" "RIGHT THERE!" "I CAN'T SEE WHERE YOU'RE POINTING, YOU'RE IN A DIFFERENT ROOM!" Let me tell you, chasing a coyote with cinematic mode on and in slow motion is HARD. I wish I had gotten some better pictures. Oh well though, the experience was worth it. And then I killed the poor thing. I didn't mean to, but I ran it over a couple of times and that did it in. I was actually gonna let it go after taking pics, and just let it despawn, but I guess little coyotes are no match for two stomps of an Arabian's hooves. So after selling the little cutie to Gus and getting my garment (that's my fave legendary and I somehow hadn't gotten it yet; I only let myself get legendaries when I see them in game and won't spawn them for myself), we continued south. More screenies, ofc, and I wanted to hurry through Armadillo (that town gives me the creeps. Also, I waved to a cop once and immediately became wanted) but Charles insisted we stop so he can buy some food (I told him how to fill his cores but he was immersed at this point lol, brave soul had been riding almost entirely in first person). So while he went to the general store, I chilled out with Johnny and Taima (Johnny is my horse, the brindle Arabian) and took some more pics. I caught a glimpse of Charles sprinting his big ass out of the shop when I said I was doing so, he immediately came running and said "Wait! I wanna see what [Charles] looks like on Johnny!" As if I was about to let that photography opportunity slip by lmao. Seeing Charles sprint is HILARIOUS btw. He's got kind of a naturally bow legged stride, and he honestly kinda runs like it's heavy. Iykyk. I gotta break the post off here bc Tumblr isn't cooperating, but I'll post part two in just a second. ♥

[itwoodbeprefect]

Hello, for the WIP game : Several of the Hawaii Five-0 section sound nice... I'll go with #23 because it does sound particularly intriguing!

Steve’s becomes… themed

ooh, another recent addition to the h50 pile! though the idea is one that’s been bouncing around my head for years - and then always ended up going a different direction, which this one already has again too, i think. the “steve’s” here is the restaurant (i forget if canon ever really nailed that down, but we do get steve asking danny to name the restaurant after him (so they can be together forever, you know, like good platonic buddies) so i think it’s at least generally accepted fanon that it’s called that?) and the “themed” is just, well. i think that in canon, at one point, danny says he wants the restaurant to be a place for cops to come hang out and get dinner after their shift? but this is steve and danny, so of course they accidentally open a queer restaurant instead. huge rainbow in the window, cheesecake in the colors of the transgender flag, they adopt half the local teens, that kind of thing. (obviously they keep the restaurant in this version instead of selling to kamekona - i think it would work out a lot better for them if they have a united Cause that distracts them from fighting over the shade of red of the chairs, anyway.)

which is a concept i really like, but it’s also always pretty Big. there’s a lot of stuff i would want to throw into that story, and to avoid starting something Very Long that i’ll never finish because it’s getting Very Long, i end up cutting myself short to keep things manageable and throwing the original idea overboard in the process, which i think might happen again here, but i’m also considering ways i could keep this fic short and set it up as a potential start to a series, so i don’t need to commit but there are still options.

for this particular go at this idea, this is the catalyst:

“Oh, it’s good that you’re both here,” Grace says, when she falls into the kitchen with a slightly chaotic energy. The double doors haven’t had the time to fully swing shut behind her when she follows that with, “I’m a lesbian.”

They were going over the menu - again - and it’s been a pretty boring if hectic day of ironing out the last details before the opening. Steve looks from Grace, hovering so near the door she looks as if she might run right back out, to Danny, who quietly unglues his shoulder from Steve’s and puts down the pen he’s been using to wave far more than write. “Monkey,” Danny says, with a lot of emotion but most of all baffled, and Steve has to agree that these are pretty uncharacteristic nerves for a kid as cool as Grace.

She shifts a little, folds her arms. “Mom already knows. I just wasn’t sure how you’d take it, so-”

“Grace,” Danny says, and this time he sounds like he’s about to cry, but in the next moment he’s around the counter and wrapping Grace up in his arms so tight it’s as if he’s trying to squeeze the thought that he could ever love her any less than he does right out of her.

Steve lets out a deep, shuddery breath, and closes the menu folder. They’re finished for today.

and then there’s some stuff about letter soup (“I tried to get someone to sell me only the LGBTQIA’s, but they don’t seem to do custom letter sets.” / “Right,” Steve says, because what else is he going to say? “And what would you do for the plus, anyway?”), and danny cooking sadness pasta while telling steve he feels like a Bad Dad because he’s known he is bisexual this whole time and if he had been open about it maybe grace’s life would have been easier, and obviously steve goes, paraphrased, “you are very stupid for thinking that you’re not the best dad, stop it”, and then he mentions that at least grace did tell her dad, that she trusted him enough to do that, and that steve never took that step with john - and that’s the story of how half the mcgarrett-williams family came out in maybe an hour.

-

send me the title of one of my WIPs and i’ll tell you something about it or post a snippet!  

[thequeenofmyownscreen]

I took time to watch the first season of “All Work No Play”

And then, after that, because a) I have no self-control b) I felt like I was missing on a lot of stuff c) I just could listen to Sam and Liam fuck around and talk about themselves and their lives for forever ??? d) I saw a Tumblr post detailing the facts we learn on the original “All Work No Play” episodes and just could not believe what I was reading... I listened to the original “All Work No Play” podcast only.

So under the cut, details of what I thought of each episode, and the glorious run of the 15 episodes podcast that started it all, really. But yeah, contrary to my preferences, it does not follow chronological order. Which is fine, because if there was a way to describe this experience, it's "drunk delightful clusterfuck", in my humble opinion.

Sword fighting : the start is awkward, the middle is epic, the end is awkward. So yeah, on parr with the rest. I do love a good pun, so the whole knighting sequence was hilarious to me : "I knight you Ser...Pent, Ser... Cumvent, Ser... Vival." I love Will Friedle dry sense of humour and wish we've seen more of him. The mini-movie was awesome ! Put some swords into actors' hands and it does not matter if they were bad at sword fighting (they weren't !), they will sell it with yells and tragic death scenes.

Tap Dancing : Sam doing the worm in that stupid colorful costume... I was expecting no less of him. Liam has NO coordination, this is true, and again demonstrated it in this episode. Courtenay Taylor was a necessary addition, because she knew what she was doing, and her "mom jokes" were unexpected and dry and hilarious. Sam tells the story of the birthday of Macaulay Culkin, whom he went to school with, and the birthday was this : they were in the biggest toy store in New York, which was privatized, and for 10 minutes all the kids could run through the alleys and get any game and toys they could want. Liam, hearing this story of privilege, boiling inside : "It is super fucking hard to be your friend and love you. I try and I try, and everyday you make it a little bit harder."

Rage Room : Liam can run a half-marathon (I'm not surprised), Sam can't (I'm not surprised). Sam is a night pooper and Liam a morning pooper and they both like to take this time to destress. Liam looks at the stars alone at night when in his backyard (relatable). Sam does not feel stress in general because he's weird. Rage room was fun but not as cathartic as the name would suggest, I think it's because rage cannot be in a controlled environment. But Stephanie Sheh was so fun, and seeing the bass fish get destroyed was nice. Also Sam has no darkness inside of him, and maybe he has no soul ? I would watch Sam and Liam take ayahuasca in Brazil, tbh.

Goat Yoga : this is a thing. Call me stupid, but while I think Yoga is a real thing, I think Goat Yoga is a scam and brings NOTHING to Yoga. But the goats were cute !! We learn that Sam got high with Snoop Dogg on his first week in L.A., that Liam once got arrested because he was too busy rehearsing a scene with an object that was not even a fake gun outside and being too good at it to notice the neighbors were calling the cops. And I'm just going to leave this quote here : "She's an anal sniper. She aimed my ass right at the cameras."

Creature Makeup : I barely recognized Alex Ward from the Elden Ring one-shot (he was so good in it), he seems really talented in his specialty. We learn that Sam nearly got himself killed by locking himself in a coffin and discovering after someone was sitting on it, and that Liam's aunt once saw her long-gone father talk with her child in the rearview mirror. Sam and Liam do want to make out with each other while wearing makeup that makes them look like the other. After hearing Sam talk about how snot accumulated in his latex mask, I do not want to do Creature Makeup personally anymore. But I do want to see the movie for which they shot the trailer !

Fire Spinning : Ok ok ok, I am but a simple wee lesbian, Marisha doing the fire spinning did things to me. Just hearing Sam and Liam talk about how cool she is and how she always has the best style is wonderful. What we have learn : Sam technically committed apostasy since he converted to Catholicism but "crossed his fingers the whole time", and on his wedding night he hurt himself so much by stepping on glass (Jewish tradition) that he had to go to the ER after.

Mame Cabinet : Felicia Day !!! I love Felicia Day. We learn that Sam might have more of a chance to develop Alzheimer’s thanks to his t-rex arms. Why was this the most emotional episode yet ? I don't know but the hug Liam gave Sam almost made me cry.

The Hot Tub with, like 12 people : Ok this was just fun as hell. I want to do this with my friends all the time !!! We learn that Courtenay CAN do the cherry trick of tying it up which is HOT, the S'mores Martini takes a century to do, and that the censored nipples of Liam are Sam's pixel face. Thanks Twitch !!

The original podcast : They're so young (it starts at December 2012)! Travis and Laura are mentioned on the very first episode, and so's Liam fear of skydiving. Malaysia is mentioned on episode 2, also Kit Buss ! Episode 2 is where they decide to do a “Laura Bailey harp music”, after they talk about how great she is. Also Sam and Liam are excited because they've decided to play D&D together, and mention Matt and his glorious hair. Sam asks Liam to pick his race and class : "- Can I just be the worst ? - You could be... A gnome !" I CAN'T BELIEVE I HEARD IT LIVE, THE INCEPTION OF SCANLAN SHORTHALT. Episode 3 is the recap of said session of D&D, and you know what's better to hear them screaming into their mics that they loved it so much ? A FREAKING EXCERPT OF THE VERY FIRST SESSION THEY PLAYED TOGETHER ! (there was even Marisha, who was - if I understand - helping Matt and not playing). Episode 3 is also the episode where we learn that if they were abandoned on an island, Liam and Sam would start to fuck "immediately" according to Liam, "48 hours later" according to Sam, who wants to search for help and shelter before fucking. I love the guests they brought in occasionally : it's so good to hear Mary Elisabeth McGlynn, to discover Jennifer Hale who's chill and funny and Roger Craig Smith who seems insane and is also funny as fuck, and to hear Travis and Laura bickering sweetly. Episode 6 is where we learn the very cursed fact that Liam did gymnastics when he was young, and was pretty flexible, so much in fact that he "could reach it" (Sam, not understanding, at first : "You could reach it ? what do you mean..."). About episode 7 I think this is where their lives became much more complicated ; from this one, I just love the recurring "we promise we're gonna do a podcast next week !" only to have the episode after that dated 3 or 5 months later. I loved the episodes they did at conventions, the questions and horrific and convoluted scenarios they put their friends through were funny. Episode 8 is where we learn that Sam's first and only fight, that he WON, was over tickets for Dave Matthews Band. "- We'd obviously like to nail Travis Willingham. - Of course !" Poor Travis ; in the episode with Roger Craig Smith, when put through a horrific scenario of a plane crash in the snowy mountains, he says "I immediately eat Travis Willingham" to the choices offered by Sam and Liam. That does not seem to deter him, since he later admits All Work No Play is his favorite podcast in the world, and he has listened to all the episodes. They do talk a little bit about Critical Role once they've launched the ship in 2015, mainly how is has changed their lives already. By Episode 13, they're not sure of what the format is anymore, and they nearly start reading their e-mails live. We learn that Liam has worked with Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford, and how he was very turned on by Harrison Ford. He also likes Gwendoline Christie “because she seems like she could wreck me, with weapons.” (fair). We learn that when Travis was courting Laura, he wanted to be on her level, so he read the books she was reading at the time... which were the Twilight books : “I've read. Every. Single one of the Twilight Books ! And because there were werewolves, at the end... I kinda liked it.” He went by himself to go see the third movie ; Laura wouldn't go with him because she thought the movies were so bad. By the way, the sound effect for Travis is SO ridiculous, and retrospectively I'm laughing so much more because of Travis Willingham's Yeehaw Game Ranch. Episode 15 is really the end : the show has no format anymore, it's either them reviewing cat videos or them doing podcasts recommendations to each other. But Liam and Sam still talk about their kids with incredulity and so much love. We learn that Liam wants his daughter to learn how to kill a man, to protect her, because he knows “98,7% men are terrible”. We end with a cliffhanger : “Hey, Liam, are we gonna get tattoos ?” Really, what more could you want ?

Overall, the podcast holds a charm from the not-so-distant past who is incomparable. But the VIDEO revival can allow so much more ! They did so many activities, some of them dangerous. Also the editing of the videos is a plus, because it allows things like "let's put cards on the screen to directly contradict what bullshit Sam and Liam are saying", or "Yeah, FAO Schwartz is definitely gone". I'm really glad I discovered another piece of the house that is Critical Role.

[razrbladekiss]

Tyrants | Chapter Four - Peril

WORD COUNT: 5.1k

WARNINGS: Mentions of death, drug use, Tig being Tig. The usual SOA shit. Sorry Donna..

She always saw the beauty in darkness. The lugubrious belle that came alongside the moon and stars and whatever else lurked amidst the murk of nighttime.

Isla was cliche in that sense.

She was cliche in the sense that she adored watching the sun set, swallowed by the mountains and high-rise buildings as the evening fell and Charming was painted black.

And maybe it was mostly melancholic because of the horrors that swathed that small town, but it was still beautiful nonetheless.

She still liked to bask in the scenery, to discern the marvel of her home, from the highest point she could access. And, sometimes, she liked to take somebody along with her so she wasn't completely alone.

"Why'd you still come up here?" Ope asked, pulling himself onto the roof as she sat with her back to the wall--puffing on a cigarette.

"Because it's quiet." She was content, comfortable with her response. "And whenever I'm looking for Jax, or Gem, or my dad--or they're looking for me--this is where we're almost always found. Just people watching, or reminiscing, or having a few minutes to ourselves away from the chaos downstairs."

It wasn't an unknown safe space--Gemma had told her that JT and Clay would climb up there during the earliest days of the club--but it was special.

Jax, Opie, and Isla spent time up there as kids, too. Because they were bastards and were always running from their fathers--and den mother--and the roof of the clubhouse was their go-to.

She never really got out of that habit. She'd spend hours up there if she could, just watching as Charming bustled beneath her. And she liked that it was separate to the garage, but everyone knew where to find her if they needed her.

"It clears your head, being up here." She added. "I have got so much shit going on right now--between work, and my personal life--but coming up here is like a refreshment, I guess."

Opie understood what she meant because he was also seeking comfort in the night. Riding through dusk, spending time alone on his bike as he cruised the streets of his quaint town, relishing in the darkness because it was strangely comforting to him.

He liked to be alone. His thoughts were brutal and they seared his brain left and fucking right, but he liked his own company.

"Wish I thought about comin' up here when I was released from holding." The man chuckled, balancing a cigarette between his lips. "Stahl grilled the fuck outta me."

"She did?"

"Yeah. She really fuckin' did." He added, grunting as smoke blew from his nostrils. "Did she get you? I know she got Gemma."

"Nope, she didn't. I don't know why, though. She interrogated everyone else. Starting to feel a little left out."

Opie chuckled, smiling a bit. "Be glad. It's obvious that she's used to getting what she wants."

"And did you give it to her?"

"Fuck no." Isla smiled. Proud. "She can cross-examine me all she fuckin' wants—I'll never sell the club out."

"They know that, Ope."

"I know." Half confidently, he nodded. "Just—Stahl made me second guess it all, y'know?"

Nobody in Charming--aside from the PD--knew where that despicable bitch came from, and nobody cared to ask.

What they did know, though, was that she had her heart set on making that town a living fucking hell as she strived to eradicate the Sons of Anarchy by getting to its members.

She'd grilled everyone she could've. She cornered Gemma when she was out running errands, leaving the grocery store with a sour taste in her mouth when Teller told her where to fucking shove it.

Same went for Jax, and Clay, and Chibs, and Tig, and...Well, all of them told her to get fucked, actually.

None of them caved. None of them wanted to sell the club out because there was no reason to.

Well, there was a reason to, but no desire to.

There'd been murders. Three, to be specific. And one of them just happened to be a police officer--which was quite unlucky, but it wasn't awful.

They hated cops.

What they hated more, however, was the idea of getting caught by them. And Clay was. Somehow, anyway.

Piney's old "friend"--Nate Meineke--needed quality, albeit illegal, guns with no traceability to attack the convoy that was transporting one of his friends from point A to point B. And it went as swimmingly as possible...

Until June Stahl was put on the case and found that idiot's phone at the scene after dropping it mid-ambush.

Clay just happened to be the last person he had called. Which then caused the investigation to point toward Charming.

They all knew the Sons were guilty of supplying those weapons. Who else would it have been? They were known for running illegal firearms without batch numbers from a quaint Californian town whose name didn't quite fit its image.

It was blatant, though nobody gave it up.

But Stahl tried her damndest to get answers. And when she didn't, she targeted the member that she saw to be the most vulnerable--after a hit went wrong and he failed to cover his tracks--and Opie just happened to be that guy.

She questioned him for hours. She practically held the man captive in that little cell until he caved. But he didn't--and he wasn't going to, either.

He was loyal. That's one of the reasons why Jax wanted to patch him back in.

"Yeah, I know." Isla got to her feet when she heard Tig yelling for her downstairs. "But you're the strongest guy I know, Ope. I don't think Stahl, of all people, is gonna get to you."

He shrugged her off, flicking the butt of his cigarette to the gravelly ground of the roof.

Opie had changed. Not much, and it wasn't very apparent, but he'd changed. Chino had changed him, she thought.

He was still dedicated to his club, still in love with the reaper and the responsibility that came with the patch--but Opie Winston lacked that flicker of enthusiasm now.

"How does your dad feel about you being back at the table?"

"Said he's proud of me."

He was a man of very, very few words. But the tone that he took--the sheer relief twined into contentment--spoke a greater volume.

Piney would always support his son, feel a sense of gratification from his involvement in the club. And, of course, Ope felt grateful to be back--but it was different now.

He'd served time for his club. Donna consistently argued that they sold him out and that he was fucking stupid for running back into the arms of SAMCRO.

But it was his brotherhood. The Sons of Anarchy were his family--his lifeline. He was nothing if not blessed to be patched back in.

"And I guess that wife of yours isn't too happy about it?"

"How'd you reach that conclusion?"

"Well," she ignored that Tig was waiting for her, standing directly in front of him. "If she was genuinely thrilled about you being back here, she'd have been coming to Gemma's dinners, and spending more time at the clubhouse with us. But she isn't, and I'm starting to realize that she probably hates me now."

His head shook. "She doesn't hate you. It's just...It's just raw. Weird being back, I think."

"She didn't even have to leave. She knows that."

Donna did know that. But there was always something about Gemma. About the way she let things slide so often, how she felt that she had Clay so pussy whipped that he'd be at her every beck and call--but, really, that was redundant. Because Gemma let him get away with fucking murder.

Literally.

"Is she gonna be there tonight?

"Of course. She wouldn't miss Jax's son coming home." He got up, reaching for her hands. "Sorry that she's been so distant with you, Isla. But she's just been stressed out--money worries and the kids and stuff, y'know?"

"Yeah, I know."

Donna wasn't traditionally a worrier. But five years worth of finances, being a single mom, and fretting over her husband potentially not making it out of prison alive, just did that to a woman.

"Anything I can do to help?"

"I don't think so." Grateful for her offering, though recognizing how damn stubborn his wife was, he conceded. "Thanks, though."

"Anytime. And if you change your mind, or need me, you know where I am--"

"Isla!"

"He is getting on my last fucking nerve today." She groaned, flipping Tig off as she looked over the ledge. "I'm coming! Give me a minute!"

"I've given you plenty of minutes! Just get your ass down here!"

"Just go," Ope chuckled, leaning down to peck her cheek. "We can have this talk another time."

Isla turned back to him, frowning. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. Go 'n talk to him--I'll see you tonight."

He was such a nice guy. So considerate, kind.

She loved him a lot.

The flouncy sundress rose to the middle of her thighs as she sauntered through the clubhouse, hearing Trager talking--rather conspicuously, though slightly muffled--to somebody on his cell.

"C'mon, Tiggy. Why'd you yell at me?"

He waved his hand to shut her up, gesturing for the blonde to follow him out of the clubhouse and toward his bike.

"Yeah, cool. K, brother--see 'ya later. Bye." He hung up and slid the phone into the pocket of his cut, swiveling to face Isla with a smile. "You ready?"

"For what?"

"The party?" Tig told her, watching confusion sweep over her face. "I'm taking you over 'cuz you want a drink and don't wanna drive home after? And that you're probably gonna end up heading home with Juice, or something--"

"Juice?"

"It always happens," he shrugged, pointing at the helmet he set out for her at the back of his bike. "We all head out, you get too drunk, you take a liking to Juicy, and you try to ride his dick."

"What?" Isla got herself situated behind him as he got on first, her arms wound around his waist. "That was one time. I've only slept with him once, and I told you it'd never happen again."

"And why is that?"

Her cheeks flushed red, the engine revving sending vibrations through her entire frame.

"Because he was too gentle." Tig's foot collided with the kickstand.

"And the little Catholic girl likes it rough."

She felt the solid gold crucifix burning a hole into her chest.

"Yes. I like it rough." He groaned, leaning into her. She swatted at his chest over his shoulder, laughing heartily. "Just take me to see the baby, dickhead."

The bike sped out of the lot and Isla was loving the thrill of being on two wheels. She'd always liked being stuck to the back of somebody's Harley--but she'd never own one herself.

Isla was like Gemma. She felt stable enough riding with somebody, but riding alone--being in control of the motorcycle--was fucking terrifying.

Jax and Opie had encouraged her to take a ride at one point, but it didn't end very well, and Chibs spent the best part of two hours trying to stitch his daughter back up whilst Gemma castigated the two imbeciles who thought it was even reminiscent of a good idea.

Weaving through traffic gracefully, freely, was appealing to her, however. But she wouldn't be caught dead--alone--on a fucking bike.

Plus, she quite enjoyed being taken places. Escorted by a member of the club. It was safe.

The wind whirred and whipped around them, and she wished she didn't make the effort with her hair tonight. It was ruined, tousled to within an inch of its life, and she dreaded the thought of having to brush the knots out in Jax's bathroom.

Still, commuting via Harley was a hell of a lot quicker and had a few more benefits than commuting via car.

But the looks that they got were piercing. Horrible. Mainly from Hale stationed beside his squad car, watching as Isla and Tig raced down the freeway.

"He likes you." He spoke over the roaring engine when he hit the first stop light all night. "He hates that you've never given him a chance--"

"He's a cop, and I'm the outlaw's daughter. I've been raised to hate his kind."

Tig nodded his approval, setting off once again when the light switched to green and all opposing traffic stood still.

At one strange point in time, David Hale had his sights set on Isla Telford. He was in love with her. Completely besotted.

And she never gave him a second glance because, for one, she wasn't interested. He hated that she was so close to Jax and Opie, but not him, and he wished that she'd push herself away from the bad guys to grow closer to the heroic law-enforcer.

But he was a control freak above everything else, and Isla was just a free-spirit. She was loyal to her friends and family but she didn't want to get tied down, and she didn't want to become friendly with a fucking cop.

The only cop she liked was crooked. And Unser was in a similar spot to her--a little too affiliated with SAMCRO, but not completely doted on. Though, they were both strangely essential fixtures, and Clay would've been lost without them.

"Juice is here." Tig taunted as he helped her off the bike, holding her hand when she stumbled over herself a little. "Try to keep those panties on."

"Can't make any promises, Tiger." Her growl was seductive, though he knew that she was fucking with him.

She'd given up rebuking his claims, instead feeding into them because, with Trager, she couldn't seem to win. He was sleazy, and she loved that back and forth.

What she loved more, though, was that he was comfortable. He was a strange man, and nobody really understood just where he came from, but Isla liked that she could make jokes of any kind around him. He was easy to get along with. Easy to love.

And, man, did she love Alex Trager.

"If you do fuck him, though, would you make a video?"

Isla stepped into Jax's front room, turning on her heels. "Who said that we haven't already got one?"

She chuckled and wandered into the party, leaving Tig with a few convoluted thoughts and even more raunchy questions.

"Fuck. Gemma taught her well." He grumbled under his breath, reaching for the beer in Half-Sack's hand.

He slumped on the couch, motioning for his usual lay to sit in his lap as he watched Juice fawn over his little blonde friend making conversation with some other random woman already.

"Yeah, totally..." she agreed with whatever the girl was saying, but her eyes were glued on Tara. Just floating around the party.

She felt bad that the doctor was alone. Despite all that she thought of her, being out of ones depth in such an intimidating setting wasn't very nice. And Isla was an empath.

"D'ya think anyone 'round here has any nail glue?"

"Gemma might." She smiled, pointing toward the kitchen.

Grateful that she managed to shake that one off, Isla weaved through the small conclave and sat beside Tara, offering a friendly face during a time of such discomfiture.

Her heart was aching, the sheer nervousness was palpable, and she knew that Tara felt the same way too.

But Isla just sucked it up. Because she wanted to talk to her, and had to be the one to initiate it.

"Thanks for coming." Her smile was wide, genuine.

She offered a beer to the brunette, hoping that she'd take it.

"Thanks for asking me here." Tara accepted it, glad that Isla remembered she wasn't particularly a wine girl like herself.

Christ. This is awkward.

"Trust me, you were the first person I asked to come tonight."

"How so?"

"Well," a little bit more comfortably, she faced her completely, "you've literally nursed Abel back to health. You've been there every step of the way. You've been the best surgeon. And, as much as I hate to say it, you helped Wendy so much, Tara. I'm really thankful for all that you've done for this family."

"It's my job." She tried to brush the comments off, but her heart definitely fluttered at the praise.

Isla never changed. She was still the sweetest soul, she thought.

"I know, but you've had it rough with this lot--with Gemma, I mean."

"She isn't anything I can't handle." Confidently, she asserted.

"I know, and I'm glad that you're able to stand your ground." Reluctant, a hand landed against Tara's palm.

She jolted a little bit, but softened into the embrace.

It was comfy, warm. Prosperous, perhaps, because it meant something. Tara not jerking away and leaving once Isla offered a friendly embrace, was promising.

They spoke about the baby for a little while, and shared a few laughs at Tig's expense. It was strange, really. To be talking to her ex-best friend was strange, but she'd missed it.

Donna joined the mix, too, and it was starting to feel like old times. Isla recognized that they'd never slip back into that routine, the dedication to one another that they'd known when they were kids--but it was nice.

The conversation stuttered and it wasn't able to flow as freely as what she might've liked, but it was a start.

To know that she had something resembling an acquaintanceship with two women she admired, was nice.

And Jax introducing his baby to his brand new home, to his extended family that were already so fucking dedicated to him, was just the most wonderful thing ever.

"What about a beer?" Clay joked, holding the bottle close to Abel. Jax laughed, though he shook his hand away. "What? Grandpa can't give him his first beer?"

"No, he can't."

"I'll take it, though. If you're offerin'." Chibs grabbed the Budweiser and twisted the cap with the leather grip of his glove.

He gestured to Isla, tipping it toward her. "Want some?"

"No, you're alright." She went back to her wine, smiling at that little bundle of happiness in Jax's arms, wondering how the hell he'd gotten to be in this position now.

But it was because of Tara. Her commitment, her talent, and sheer want to help that angel through the roughest patch that a baby could have possibly been thrust into.

How Gemma could still loathe that girl--after everything she did--was beyond her completely.

Tara was the unlikeliest hero in Abel's story.

"Why is it that every time I see you, your highlights get more chunky?" Gemma smiled at the comment, turning to see her favorite girl, flaunting the most beautiful smile.

She handed Isla the bottle of whatever wine Chibs could get this evening, unable to quit beaming at the thought of her grandson finally being at home. Where he belonged.

"I told you I'd do them for you, Gem."

"I know," she nodded, playing with a few strands of hair, "I was gonna ask you, but you've been a little distant this week--didn't wanna add to your workload, baby."

"That's super considerate of you. Are you alright?" Isla teased, holding a hand to Gemma's forehead.

She slapped it away with a laugh. "Fuck you. I'm always considerate."

"Sure you are. That's why Wendy is here, right?"

"No," her head shook, "she's here 'cuz this is her house. If I had it my way, she'd be out on her ass faster than what you could even say 'crank whore.'"

Isla wiped at her lips with the back of her hand, tipping her head toward the blonde in the living room.

"I thought you made sure she was gonna be here tonight?" Confused, she quizzed.

She was under the impression that Wendy was starting to grow on her. After she'd tried to kill her, of course.

"I did," Gem confirmed. "But only because I knew it'd be awkward between her and Tara."

Amazed, or maybe fucking horrified, Isla simply glared at her.

It should've been obvious to her--plain as day--that Gemma Teller doing a good thing was simply a bullshit facade, built in order to take away from the fact she wanted to do an inherently bad thing.

But Isla liked to see the good in people, so it wasn't. And that really was one of her mot fatal flaws.

"She thanked me for letting her stay, too."

"And what'd you say to her?" Almost as if she didn't want to know the answer, she asked.

Black nails danced along the rim of her wine glass as she leaned against the counter, watching everybody enjoy themselves as they bitched and moaned.

"That she's lucky to be alive."

"Jesus, Gem," her head shook disparagingly, disappointed perhaps.

But being surprised that the woman made a threatening comment toward Wendy, was just as stupid as being surprised at Tig for fucking another hooker during his free time.

"You've gotta keep her close, ma. She's the mother of your grandson, the woman your son did love at one point."

Ma. The word rolled off her tongue unintentionally most of the time, but she didn't hate it.

Gemma was the mother figure in her life--hell, she was the mother figure in a few of the Sons' lives--and it didn't feel weird using that around her. It was affectionate. She adored it.

"Jax never loved her," matter of fact, she retorted. "They got drunk together. They smoked dope together. They didn't love one another--"

"They got married." Isla reminded her. "They have a kid together. They have a lot of history."

"Just because they have history, doesn't mean they love one another. You've got history with him."

Her chuckle was throaty, almost a full-on splutter. "We have not got that same history--we're friends, Gem, you know that's different."

She supposed the blonde was right.

There was hell of a contrast between friends for life and friends with benefits--and Gemma knew that. She just didn't like that Jax gravitated toward Wendy when he'd always had Isla right there in front of him.

Though, she was more than aware that the pair didn't look at each other that way--she still lauded the thought of the two together.

"I still hate her."

"I know," Isla laughed at Gemma's irritability, sipping on her wine, enjoying the sight of everybody having a damn good time.

"She's checking into rehab, too."

"Really? Where?"

"Some place in Oakland, I think." Gemma added, smiling at Clay when he wandered over to the pair. "But you didn't hear that from me."

"You think she's gonna stick to it?"

"Couldn't tell 'ya." He answered for his wife, leaning in to press a chaste kiss to Isla's cheek. "She's determined though, I'll give her that."

"Yeah?" His nod was optimistic--strange for Clay Morrow. "Well, I'm glad she's working on herself, anyway. She's got potential."

"You hate her."

"I know." She didn't refute the assertion. "But I'm still happy for her."

At least somebody is.

She wasn't lying. Wendy was a good girl, a woman tortured for no good reason. And she felt for her, she really did.

It'd been a shock, finding out that she was pregnant. But it wasn't like they weren't expecting it--what with the rate she and Jax were going at it.

From the start, Isla and Gemma were worried. She was notorious for her crank habit and the girls thought she was going to kill herself before she had the chance to see her son into the world.

And that almost happened, didn't it?

The doctors at St. Thomas were fucking miracle workers--Isla was on pins and needles waiting for a call to say that Wendy and Abel were okay.

But she tried not to dwell on that, now. They were both as healthy and Abel was as happy as he could've been, so Isla was content. She wasn't pleased, but she was comfortable with the way that things were going.

Tara, however.

"No!" She yelled, backing out of the nursery. "No, fuck you, Jax."

Juice stumbled backward when she nudged him out of the way, pulling her purse from the kitchen counter.

Isla and Gemma couldn't not stare.

"Tara, c'mon!" Jax called after her, but it was too late.

The front door had been slammed shut and the party came to a complete standstill. A thickening tension was shrouding the group, and things were only just starting to simmer.

"What was that all about?" The blonde asked Juice, leaning against the island.

She didn't want to prove Tig to be right but, after a few glasses of wine, Juan Carlos Ortiz was starting to pique her interests.

He swallowed thickly, watching Clay leave the room. "He said something about Wendy--wanting to keep whatever it is that he and Tara have going on the down low so it doesn't set her off, or something."

Makes sense.

"He has a point. She's doing really well lately." He continued. "Jax would hate to stunt her progress by shoving his relationship with Tara in her face."

Isla was rattled.

Jax hadn't talked to her in days, and she wasn't aware that so much had changed. She wasn't aware that he had established a relationship with Tara Knowles.

Again.

You know what they're like--like two fucking magnets or something. They always find a way back to one another.

She was too irritated to reside in that same room as Gemma, now. Knowing the conversation she'd initiate the second that Juice left was too fucking much. So she left first, instead.

The living room was almost empty. Just Clay, Bobby, Tig, and Chibs sat around the couches as Donna, the kids, and Ope were preparing to set off.

Everything was annoying her, now. She hadn't made the effort with Donna all night, but she was pissed that she hadn't started to say goodbye to her yet.

Isla was so fucking irritated that she didn't even want to talk to Tig, or her father. So she didn't.

"Where're you going, petal?" Chibs asked, hindering her plan to keep her mouth shut for the rest of the night. He knew that she'd crack a smile at the nickname.

"I was just wandering. Not really sure what to do with myself."

"Come sit down," he gestured to the space between himself and Tig, and wound an arm around her when she met the leather. "I've missed 'ya."

"Tonight? Or just in general."

"In general. It's been a few days, love."

"I know, I'm sorry." Her head rested against his Sgt. At Arms patch, and she sighed. "Work has been so fucking busy and I feel like I haven't gotten a moment to myself this week."

Isla only worked a part-time gig at some shitty salon just on the outskirts of Charming--edging into Stockton--but she hated her job.

She hated driving into the city every morning and evening, wasting a fuck ton of her paycheck on gas when, really, there was no point.

She hated her cunt boss.

Hated her cunt clients.

She hated that nobody really spoke to her because of who her father was. And when they did speak to her, it was almost like they were scared. Of Isla.

Gemma had always promised her that there was a space at the auto shop for her had she needed it, but she couldn't think of anything worse than having to answer to Gemma and Clay every single day.

Well, more than what she already was, anyway.

"Who'd 'a thought that being a hairdresser was so demanding?"

"Me, apparently." She joked, watching Tig get up and leave the room.

It'd turned somber. A little too bleak for her liking, but she guessed that everyone felt a bit awkward after Tara stamped out and Jax sat on his porch. Alone. With a bottle of whiskey.

She hated the hold that woman had over him sometimes. The way he was so fucking devoted to Tara Knowles that she could literally slap him, scream in his face, and ruin his son's homecoming party--and he would still pine for her.

She'd never understand that.

And she didn't understand how such a lively bunch of individuals had mellowed out over the course of two hours, either.

The party had disappeared. Dissipated into nothing and the atmosphere she once lauded was completely dead in the water.

It was fucking grim, and she couldn't wait to head home.

"Can I come with you tonight?"

"Why'd you even ask? Y'know you're welcome to come home with your old man whenever you want." Chibs told her a little bit stern, though it was essentially full of love.

She just smiled up at him, a bit buzzed. But she was having a good-ish time and who was he to chastise her for drinking a little too much tonight?

"Wanna head off now?"

"Yeah--lemme just say 'bye' to Gemma."

"Alright, I'll be out front. Don't forget your purse." He reminded, knowing she was too ditsy for her own good.

Chibs helped her to her feet, letting go of her hand only to part ways for a few moments.

Her mood was perking up, now. The prospect of being able to spend a few hours with her dad after a long fucking day, was just the best.

And she'd really missed him. Missed the time they once had an abundance of. Missed the evenings that they'd spend talking, drinking, watching movies, doing the generic father daughter activities.

They hadn't had that for a while, and it was truly a blessing that it was within reach tonight.

Well. It was within reach for all of five minutes.

"Oh my God--" Gemma's cell slipped from between black nails and bounced across the table. Saturated hues were locked on Isla, and her head shook.

"What?"

"There's--there's been an accident." She managed to muster out. "Or, maybe a drive-by, I don't know, but Donna--"

"Donna?" Piney's attention was snatched at the mention of his daughter-in-law. He stood up. "What about her?"

Isla knew the answer. She knew what Gemma was going to say because it was just the usual now, wasn't it?

Being affiliated with SAMCRO just did that to somebody. Man, woman, child. They didn't fucking care.

"She's--Piney, she's dead."

[anotheronechicagobog]

Rangers, Lead The Way - Chapter 2 - Jay and Hana

written by @anotheronechicagobog

warnings: swearing, cannon typical violence, jealousy, abandonment

When Jay had gotten a call from Kenny at three-thirty in the morning he didn't exactly know what to expect. Sure, he could have called because someone died, but he could've also called because he wanted to debate the pronunciation of 'avocado' (something he'd already done twice). So when Kenny's name flashed across his phone screen he just took a deep breath and went to the hallway, leaving a sleeping Hailey alone in bed. "Halstead."

"Hana got shot."

"What? Hana? Your Hana?"

"Yeah- it was a fugitive. She- she's fine. Shot in the foot. She was on leave for a bit, stayed with her parents, but now she's on desk duty. She was going to be with us, but apparently, she was helping the cyber division track some hackers, and they're connected to an organized crime group in Chicago. And she's going to be working with the unit that's been conducting the investigation into that organization. Your unit."

"Yeah, we were told that an FBI cyber analyst was coming down to work with us but they didn't tell us who. Okay, well, she'll be perfectly safe. Our tech room is in the basement with secure entrances, and I'll see if I can get either myself or Hailey assigned to work with her."

"Thanks man, you have no idea how much this means to me."

"Actually I do, remember?"

"Yeah, any advice on how to get through it?"

"I'm not gonna lie, it's gonna be hell, but you'll just have to hang in there and trust me."

"Okay."

"... So I'll finally get to meet Hana..."

"Yeah, I'm hanging up now. Bye."

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"Everyone, meet special agent Hana Gibson from the FBI. She's the tech specialist here to help us out with the Anderson family. Play nice." After his... Enthusiastic introduction, Voight walked back into his office and shut the door. "Hi, I'm detective Jay Halstead and this is my partner Detective Hailey Upton, it's nice to meet you. I can show you where you'll be working if you want?"

"That would be great." Jay moved to the desk by the stairs. "Okay, this desk is just like ours, older than our boss and with a PC on it. The tech room is downstairs, this is mostly for basic searches and so that the tech expert can be with the group when we debrief and work the board and the like. The stairs over here take you down to the garage which is where the tech room is. The stairs are old so they creak a lot but don't worry, they're perfectly safe."

"Sorry to interrupt, but is that a cage?"

"Yes, but don't worry, we don't use it. It's from the old guard, you know, when cops were assaulting people for no reason and no one would say anything. At least now people are talking about it."

"I sense a 'but'."

"But... I wish that cops who were still like that actually got arrested, or never made it out of the academy."

"You and me both."

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"Okay, so the Anderson family has been selling legit products online but then stealing and selling the credit card info, they've been covering their tracks pretty well up until now. That means that something changed. What that is could be key to catching all, and I mean all, of them. Work your CI's, talk to victims, flip some people. Figure out what it is." The team nodded and turned to their partners to figure out their next move.

"Should we head out to Cook County? There's an inmate there connected to the Anderson's, right? Maybe they could give us something."

"Actually, I was thinking maybe I could head out there with Ruzek and you could stay with Gibson because you found their online pattern and figured out which products and websites were theirs. Maybe you two could find more together."

"Sure, that sounds okay but, we're good, right?"

"Of course we are, we'll always be good. I just think this will be best for the case, plus you have the most experience working with the FBI, and her being here has put Voight on edge which has put everyone else on edge."

"Good point, I'll see you later." His eyes followed her until he couldn't see her anymore and he let out a breath, it was different this time. Last time, when Hailey hadn't been here, OA had kept an eye on her but his partner wasn't there so that made it a bit easier, but Hailey was here and now so was Hana. It would take some finessing to have both of their backs but he figured if they were in the same place it would be a little easier. "Halstead? You ready to head out?"

"Yeah, let's go."

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Cook County was as unpleasant as always. Angry convicts yelling at them through their cells that they wanted to slit his throat. Lovely. But that wasn't what got to him. Leonard Mitchell, the man they were there to see, wouldn't say anything helpful. He wasn't even threatening them or insulting them, he was just asking "where the smoking blonde from last time was". It was taking an enormous amount of restraint to keep him from jumping across the table and tackling the guy. "You're here for hacking the Chicago Municipal Courts website and unsealing confidential information. You're in the high-security ward and have more restricted access to places in the prison than most inmates. You don't have much going for you, maybe if you give us some information we can help you out."

"That's a joke, I'm not saying anything to either of you. Now that blonde, get her to show up for a conjugal visit, then maybe I'll consider it."

"Okay! So, we're done talking, we're going to search your cell and work station now, and you know what, because you have been so unpleasant to deal with today, we're also going to search the cells and workstations near you. Have fun explaining to your neighbours why their contraband got carted off by Chicago PD." Jay marched out of the interrogation room before he lost his cool even more than he already had. He gestured for the warden to get some guards together to start the search. He took a deep breath to try and calm down. "Hey Halstead, are you okay? I mean, what he said about Upton..."

"I'm fine. I don't like hearing anyone talk about my partner that way, but I'm fine."

"Really? Cause the stuff he said was pretty..."

"She's back at the station with Gibson in probably the most secure room there, far, far away from that perv. And if she's okay, I'm okay."

"You should ask her out. I mean, I know it might be weird considering I'm her ex, but you're so far gone on her it's ridiculous and I think that you'd make a cute couple. Think about it, man"

"Uh, yeah. I'll think about it, come on, let's go see if the warden's ready for the searches." Jay's heart was pounding and he felt like he'd just jumped out of the way of a moving train. Nobody knew about them yet, but they were all criminal investigators surely they'd picked up that at least something was different.

They searched Mitchell's room and found a burner phone... Behind his toilet. "Man, I am so glad I don't have to touch that thing. That's Upton and Gibson's job."

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"So I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is, we found a cell phone. The bad news is, it was behind his toilet."

"How lovely."

"Well, you can thank Leonard Mitchell for that. Hey, how's it been working with Gibson?"

"Why?"

"What do you mean?"

"You seem really interested in her, that's all. Do I need to be worried?"

"No, I just want to make sure that she feels welcome and won't give us a bad review to the FBI."

"I know what you look like when you're lying, Jay."

"Hailey..."

"Just... Go back upstairs, Jay."

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"How's everything going?"

"Other than the fact that I'm in the doghouse, good."

"What'd you do?"

"I was a little too protective of Hana, I guess. Hailey picked up on it and I couldn't exactly explain without blowing our cover."

"That sucks, man. I'm sorry but honestly, it sounds like you were gonna end up sleeping on the couch either way."

"Yeah, how are you? You holding up alright with Hana gone?"

"No. You were right, this is hell. I keep looking around to make sure she's covered or to offer to get her that terrible coffee she likes and then she's not there and it feels like whiplash." Jay could practically feel himself sharing the weight on Kenny's shoulders. "It doesn't get any easier, it actually gets a lot harder, but she won't be here forever. She'll be home soon and you'll be able to breathe again."

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Hailey was still giving him the cold shoulder when he went around to take lunch orders. She was curt "my usual" before turning back to her computer screen and completely ignoring him. He did what he could to not let the pang in his chest play out on his face but from the way Hana looked at him it was obvious, he'd failed. "What about you Gibson? Do you need a copy of their menu?"

"No, that's okay, I looked it up. I'll get the spicy shrimp pad thai."

"You got it." He was about to leave when Hana gestured for him to lean down close to her. "Just apologize for whatever you did, it'll go a long way. She's been off since you dropped off the cell phone." He wanted to say something, explain that he was just caught between a rock and a hard place, but the words were trapped in his throat. Hana sent him a I-know-what-I'm-talking-about-if-you-don't-listen-to-me-you're-probably-going-to-regret-it look and all he could do was allow his shoulders to slump and nod.

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The intense silence of the bullpen was interrupted by Hailey entering behind Hana, who looked incredibly confident on her crutches. "We got something off of the phone." Hailey moved to the board with some papers as Hana plopped down into the office chair at her temporary desk. "It took a while to crack some of the files but I got it. They're transactions between an off-shore account and a shell company based out of Arkansas. While the account was set up there, it's been used mostly in New York, Washington DC, and Chicago. The most recent transaction was for 85K."

"Hana and I also found some emails with photos of military-grade weapons. Guns, missiles, and grenades. Mitchell isn't the buyer or the seller, it looks like he's mediating between the two. We don't have an ID on the buyer yet, but we have one on the seller. Lori Anderson, member of the Anderson crime family. Got no idea what they're planning, but the Anderson's were particularly interested in armour-piercing weapons and rocket launchers. And two days ago she asked Mitchell if he could put her in contact with an explosives supplier. We need to talk to organized crime, both from CPD and FBI, this looks bad. There are still files and emails that we have to go through, and his calendar makes no sense it's all in code. It's probably pretty important because he was in prison and couldn't actually go anywhere. We're also still combing through the contraband from the other cells just to make sure none of his neighbours were also involved."

"Alright. Upton, Gibson, good work. Keep at the phone. Atwater and Burgess you two talk to organized crime, see what you can dig up and alert them of our discoveries. Ruzek and Halstead, flip any CIs you've got. We need to get ahead of whatever they're planning."

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They were supposed to be safe. They were supposed to be safe. They were in the precinct, they were surrounded by on-duty cops, there was another detective unit across from Intelligence, Platt was at the front desk, Hank-don't-you-even fucking-dare-Voight was in his office. They were supposed to be safe. But they weren't.

They'd just left one of Adam's CIs twitching in excitement down the street as he counted his money when they got the call over the radio.

"10-1! 10-1! Shots fired at police at 21st district! We're pinned down!" They had a moment of stunned silence together before they hauled ass to Jay's truck and high-tailed it back to the district, sirens blaring and lights flashing. Jay's body was moving on autopilot, which probably wasn't good considering he was speeding in a large vehicle down busy roads, the only thing that was going to calm him down, that would quell and panic and rage bubbling up in was seeing Hailey alive. He would move heaven and earth to make that a reality.

Pulling up at the district he vaguely remembered he had to look out for Hana too, but lord help him, and whoever stood in his way, if he didn't see blonde hair and blue eyes attached to the fiery woman who held his heart.

The lobby reminded Jay of Kandahar, there were bullet holes lining every vertical surface. Blood pooled under the bodies of the injured. He did a quick sweep of the room, finding nothing but injured cops and civilians, none of whom were Hailey or Hana, or the attackers. The door to intelligence hung open, barely attached at the hinges. "They went up to intelligence! Move your asses!" Platt didn't spare them a second glance as she went back to ordering the remaining able-bodied patrol officers around.

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"Kim!"

"I'm okay, I'm okay."

"We're okay too, just so you know."

"Where did they go, Kev? What happened?"

"They went down to the garage-" Jay didn't have it in him to finish listening, he just ran, gun raised. "Hailey! Hana!" It was bad enough that he might lose Hailey, the woman he loved more than anything, but losing Hana too? He wouldn't be able to look Kenny in the eye ever again.

"We're over here!"

"We're okay!"

And then he could breathe again. Oh thank god, she's safe, Hailey's safe. She's mad at me but she's safe... Does my heart always pound this fast when I'm not with her and I'm just noticing now? No, it's probably adrenaline because... I almost lost her. But I didn't. They were tucked into separate corners of the tech office, Hailey, covered in blood that she immediately indicated wasn't hers, was armed with her Glock and Hana armed with her crutches. There were five men in black tactical gear with ski masks lying in various positions on the floor. Four had obvious non-lethal bullet wounds, a courtesy from Hailey, and the fifth was still moving and being hit repeatedly by Hana with one of her crutches. "Stop. Moving. Already. You. Ass!" Jay would've been more impressed if he wasn't still coming down from the adrenaline. "Thank god. You're both okay? Hailey?"

"We're fine."

"Hails-"

"We're fine, just help guide the ambos here, please?"

"...Okay." God, he could feel his heart start to splinter. Less than a minute ago he'd thought that his world had been savagely destroyed, but now... All he wanted was to hold her and it only made him ache more when she pushed him away. He just walked over to the garage door to allow the paramedics easier access, only his footsteps and groans of pain coming from the goons kept the room from being dismally silent.

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"She's completely fine, so before you freak out just know that she's in the exact same shape she arrived here in."

"That is a terrible way to start a phone call Halstead! Was that supposed to calm me down or help in some way? What even happened?"

"The Genna's hired some local weapons enthusiasts the bust into our precinct and steal what we knew about them. They trashed our bulletin board and tried to get to the computers in the tech room but Hailey and Hana whooped their asses. When I got there Hana was actually beating one with one of her crutches. Hana's a badass."

"Damn right she is... But she's okay?"

"She's pissed off, but there's not a scratch on her."

"Good... That's really good."

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"Hailey?" Jay knocked again, using every last thread of hope he had that she'd answer. It didn't matter that she was still upset with him, he just wanted to see her face. She and Hana had been whisked away by the FBI and IA right after the ambulances picked up the hired help. He just wanted to see her for more than thirty seconds, reassure himself that she was okay and that she still loved him. That he could fix everything, that he would at least get to hold her one last time. "Hailey, please open the door." He was only met with soul-crushing silence. "Please."

The relief he felt when the lock turned and the door opened could not be described. "Hana is inside if you want to talk to her."

"I'm here for you, Hails. Please, just... Talk to me. I love you, I love you more than I ever thought possible to love someone and today I found you hunched over, covered in blood. It doesn't matter that the blood didn't end up being yours. I was- I still am- terrified. I could have lost you today and I don't know how to face that. Can I just have a hug, at least, please? I just- I can't-" And then she was wrapping her arms around his waist, her tired gravity pulling him to her. He honestly considered being able to wrap his arms around her in return, and burying his face into her hair a gift from the gods. "I was so glad that you weren't there, because it means you weren't getting shot at, I've had to deal with you getting shot more than enough times, I couldn't deal with it again, Jay. I... I love you too." Jay didn't know how much longer they stayed like that, enveloping each other, but he cherished every second of it. And when they finally parted it was like coming down from an adrenaline high. "Do you want to come in? We were about to order from Bartoli's."

"I would love that."

"Good, cause we've left Hana waiting for a while."

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"So, now I get to have the legendary deep-dish pizza, huh?"

"Yep. Best damn pizza in the world."

"Damn straight."

"You know, I think you two are a little biased."

"You sound like the partner I had while I was in the FBI, OA Zidan, he was always riding me about my opinion on pizza." Jay froze. He could feel himself freeze up. He could feel Hailey and Hana eyeing him in confusion. Shit. "What is it, Jay?"

"Sorry, I just don't like remembering that my partner was away from me for so long, and had another partner in that time period."

"Really, Halstead? You don't need to get all territorial, Hailey clearly doesn't want to be anywhere but with you. Seriously, you should have seen her when the FBI and IA showed up-"

"Hana!"

"What? He's the one who got all stiff when you brought up the FBI"

Phew, they didn't know, thank heavens.

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Everyone was back the next day, ready to keep moving, to catch the people who organized the break-in of their precinct which injured twenty-three and killed four. It was bad enough that they'd tried to bust into Intelligence in the first place, but to hurt innocent people in the process? That was just plain wicked.

Hailey and Hana were working side by side, delving into the cyber goings on of the Genna family, Kim and Kevin were working with the crime lab to analyse the precinct, and Jay and Adam were back to flipping CIs. Jay felt better about where things stood with Hailey, but he was still grumpy that he couldn't be in the temporary bullpen with her today. He knew that she was capable and that she didn't need him to hover, but that didn't make being away from her after she was almost killed any less difficult. They were supposed to be in the most secure place in the precinct, how were any of them supposed to feel safe working in a place that had been breached by mercenaries in only a few minutes? He tried to shake off the worry and fear, but he just couldn't. And it was made worse by the fact that it wasn't only Hailey who had been in danger- Hana was too. And Kenny had already lost so many people that he really didn't know how he would've handled that situation. Having to tell one of his best friends that the woman he was in love with was dead while dealing with the exact same senario.

The second last CI on their list had been dodging them all day, and Jay's sanity was already hanging on by a thread- he did not have the strength or patience to deal with this. So instead of trying to track him down again, he just put out a BOLO and waited until patrol brought him in, kicking and screaming. When he entered the interrogation room Marcus went on a tirade, "what the FUCK, man!", "we had a deal!", "are these handcuffs really necessary?". Jay just stared at him. He didn't have the energy to try and get the guy to shut the fuck up, so he just sat silently across from him, trying to make him as uncomfortable as possible. "... Are you okay, man?"

"No, not really, Marcus. See, I've been calling you all day. I've called up other CIs and they were all okay to meet. But not you. No, you ghosted me and I had to get patrol to drag your ass in here. You still have robbery charges I could lay on you. This is about to get a whole lot worse because I have exactly no patience to deal with any BS right now, but yours especially. So. The Genna family. Tell me everything you know."

And he did. He sang like a damn canary, which Jay attributed to luck, and Adam attributed to Jay looking like he was going to tear the poor bastard limb from limb. Seriously. Adam made a mental note not to piss off Jay, which he subconsciously realizes means that as long as he didn't hurt Hailey he'd be fine. But he didn't have time to dwell on that as Jay exited the interrogation room looking like the leprechaun at the end of the rainbow. "I've gotta get this to the girls, you're not gonna believe what this bastard knew."

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An apartment, down in Canaryville, was occupied by Daniel Anderson's mistress. And she wasn't just his mistress... She was his accountant. She didn't just file his taxes, she managed his money, she knew everything that it was used for and how they got it in the first place. Jay ran to the temporary tech room ready to drop a bomb, only for his fiery girlfriend to beat him to it. "We found out where they got the weapons and ammo! The navy didn't put out a report until they'd finished their investigation, but it's their stuff. It all came from Norfolk, but they were shipping it to Kandahar when they were robbed by a twelve-person team, well-skilled and heavily armed. But look at this surveillance video, where part of the leader's sleeve got torn off."

"That's... That's Daniel Anderson. He's got that tattoo. We can get a warrant with that, but what about this- Daniel has a mistress in an apartment in Canaryville. She's his accountant, she knows everything. And if we can get a warrant with what you found, we can search that apartment too because it's in his name." Hailey smiled that vindicated smile that just lit up her whole face and made her eyes shine with pride. Jay could feel himself mirroring her and he just couldn't look away, finally feeling like they got their groove back, their relationship back. "Hey guys? I'm glad you made up but can you either get to work or get a room? I don't need  a front seat to this."

"Oh, admit it Gibson, we're your OTP."

"I admit to nothing, Halstead."

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Honestly, the raid of all of Daniel Anderson's properties, and consequently the collapse of the Anderson crime family, was dismally anti-climactic. They found boat-loads of evidence, Daniel's wife, mistress, and right-hand man all turned on him, and the FBI and NCIS were currently fighting over jurisdiction even though the case was already solved... By the CPD. Truthfully no one minded, because it meant that once they submitted their case notes and raid reports, they were done and might not even have to go to trial, the feds could handle that. While the majority of Intelligence decided to go to the regular watering hole, Hailey and Hana had made other plans and were dragging Jay along for the ride. And it was all going well, until they started talking about roommates. "I like Zadie, but she's gotten annoying now that she's dating my partner. So has he honestly. I mean, who thought that Kenny Crosby, an ex-army ranger would be acting like a thirteen-year-old that was in his first relationship? 'Is that text from Zadie? Is it about me? Were you guys talking about me while you were in the kitchen together this morning?' He was It's... A little exhausting. All he can talk about, is her. And whenever we hang out it always involves her somehow. He won't say it but I know he was a little disappointed when I came back and interrupted their 'love nest." All that Jay was able to gain from that other than the echo of sadness from behind her eyes, was that Crosby was dating someone who was not Hana. Which would be weird if he talked about her constantly on the phone, which he does, have an intimately trusting relationship with her, which he does, and ask one of his old army buddies to keep an eye on her while he can't because he cares about her so much and can't bear to lose her, which he did. So in conclusion; the fact that Kenny is dating someone who is not Hana is weird and will require further investigation.

"So he's constantly asking you about his girlfriend?"

"Well, she is too. But it's more annoying with him because he's my partner, we work together."

"But you live with her."

"It's... It's just different." Jay could see that she was mentally grasping at threads while trying to keep herself from falling into a black hole, this clearly meant much more to her than she was letting on so he decided to drop it. It was good timing too, because Hailey returned to the table with their food. Hair up, with a cute little Greece-themed apron on, ignoring her older brother's teasing from the kitchen. "Σκασε ηλιθιε!" (shut up idiot!)

"Μην μου πεις να σταματήσω, αυτό είναι το εστιατόριο μου!" (Don't tell me to shut up, this is my restaurant!) Jay found himself chucking at the Upton sibling banter. They interacted a lot less than he and Will did, though he supposed part of that was because he and his brother ran into each other through their work fairly often, and it was nice to see them... Happy with one another. Hailey usually looked like a constipated pigeon whenever she talked about her family so it was nice that she had reconciled with at least one sibling. After they were all able to move out, their relationships with each other got much more contentious. Theodore was the middle child and believed that they should quietly encourage their mother to leave their abusive father and just silently support her, Declan was the oldest and quite firmly just didn't care about their parents anymore and wanted nothing to with either of them because one was the abuser and the other was the enabler, while Hailey was the youngest and wanted to drag her father to prison by his ear herself. "Your brother seems like quite the joker."

"Oh, he is. He's always been the comedian in the family, a bit of a cross between SpongeBob and Chandler Bing. When I was seven, Theo put these gummy spiders in random places all over the house. It scared the crap out of my dad when he opened the- a top kitchen cupboard and about twelve of these spiders fell out, scared him even more when Theo grabbed one off the floor and bit into it, I think he ate three in total, one was completely whole, talking about how 'tasty' they were before my dad needed to sit down. It took him longer than he will ever admit to realize that they were just candy."

"Oh, that is good. I used to use some of those YouTube jump scare videos on my parents. I thought it was the funniest thing ever, especially because I used Elmo jump scares. So they'd be freaking out, and I'd just ask them why they were so afraid of a red puppet. My mom still doesn't trust me to show her videos."

"Well, it sounds like you and my brother would get along like fire, you should meet him later. He said he'd join us for dessert." Wait... What? Oh no... I know that look, she's trying to set Hana up with her brother! As much as I'd like Hana to be my sister-in-law, that would preferably be through a different brother.

."That sounds great, I really like Theo. What was that thing we had last time we ate with him and... Her name was Kate, right? Do you know how they're doing? I feel like I haven't heard about her in a long time." Hailey gave him a look. A I-can't-believe-you-just-said-that look. "No, they're not dating anymore. I thought I mentioned that."

"Oops, seriously though, what was that dessert we had with them?"

"That was revani, we can ask if that's what my brother has here today."

"Uh- what is revani, if I may ask, as the only non-Greek and non-Greek-dating person at this table?"

"Ha, of course you can ask Hana. It's a semolina cake, flavoured with lemon and orange zest. It's really good."

"That sounds great, but do you think I'd also be able to order some takeout for tomorrow? I just have a long day of travelling via bus tomorrow and I don't know when I'll get the chance to eat, so I figure having a big breakfast might help with that."

"That sounds like a cool idea. Hailey, why don't we all order some food to go and eat it tomorrow morning together?"

"You mean as like a big Greek breakfast?"

"Yeah."

"I wasn't thinking that initially but I'm glad Jay did, it sounds great."

"Alright, yeah, let's do it. I'll go talk to Theo and order somethings that reheat well." Hailey left them with a smile to go bother her brother in the kitchen, their discussion in Greek filling the restaurant with jokes and quips only a few present were able to understand, forging smiles on the faces of strangers as they listened to the voices in the kitchen. Hana looked apprehensive, and he doubted it was about the long bus inter-state bus ride. "Hana, I'm sure that your partner missed you, maybe he didn't say it, maybe he needed a distraction, but he missed you."

"How do you know? You don't even know him." If only you knew.

"Trust me on this."

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"You fucking idiot." Jay was trying to keep his voice down so that he didn't wake Hailey, who was asleep in her bed (where he wanted to be), or Hana who was asleep in the guest bedroom. As much as he loved her with his entire being, Jay had to admit that Hailey was a fucking demon if you woke her up without 'just cause'.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me Crosby!"

"What the hell Halstead?!"

"You called me at three-thirty in the morning, worried out of your mind about Hana, asking me to keep an eye on her, to protect her, all while you're dating someone who isn't her!"

"Oh, yeah, I'm dating her roommate-"

"Zadie. I know. Why do you think I called you to yell at you at two in the morning?"

"Hey, back up man. I don't know what you think you're talking about, but just because I'm dating Zadie doesn't mean that I don't care about Hana. There is very little I wouldn't do to keep her safe... If I could even do it."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I... I was right there. I should have been able to help her. So, so why couldn't I help her? Huh? She is so important to me, okay? I don't even know how to describe it."

"Try."

"She... My mom told me that to make a woman fall in love with me I had to make her laugh, but every time she laughs I'm the one who falls more and more in love. She is astonishingly intelligent and I have never been more glad to feel like a complete and utter fool just by standing in someone's presence. If I had to crawl to hell and be tortured by the devil himself to keep her safe, I'd do it. I have never felt as wholly accepted by anyone else in my life, she has found ways to motivate me to climb out of my own grave on my darkest days. Every time a look at her, I see a glowing, deliriously happy future that I know I don't deserve." Heavy silence bore on both sides of the phone, dragging Kenny deeper into the dark crack in his chest, and delivering Jay an epiphany.

"... Have you ever thought that maybe it's about what she deserves?"

"Hm?"

"Listen, man, not everything is about you. This is about her. You just said you would let the devil tear you apart to keep her safe, and yeah maybe you don't deserve her, but she deserves you. She deserves someone who would do whatever it takes to make her laugh and keep her safe at whatever the cost all in the same day, and it sounds like that's you."

"Jay..."

"Just think about it man. And while you're at it, stop neglecting Hana, okay?"

"What?"

"You constantly talk about Zadie, you always involve her somehow when you're hanging out with Hana, and Hana's been getting the vibe that you're upset she came home and disrupted the little bubble you had going on with Zadie."  

"She told you that?"

"Me and Hailey, when we were all out at dinner. Just listen, pay a bit more attention to her, stop treating her like the middle man between you and your girlfriend, and work on your self-worth, man. You're a good person and an even greater friend, don't sell yourself short."

"Thanks, Halstead."

"No problem, Crosby."

"So what exactly makes me a 'great friend', Jay?"

"Uggggghhhhhhh."

"Hey! You said it, can't take it back!"

"... This is why we can't have nice things Kenny, goodnight."

"Wait you didn't tell me-"

[detectivejay-chuckles-halstead]

Hello Again // Jay Halstead x Reader // Pt 1?

Description: Y/N comes back in Jay’s life asking for help. But it’s been almost a decade. How much has changed since they last saw each other?

Words: 3540

Warnings: TW Domestic Violence

Pairing: Jay x Reader

A/N: I’m back! This wasn’t one of the requests, and I promise I’ll get to them once my muse is really back. This was just a quick thing that I thought up today. I’m thinking about making it into a multi-chapter. Let me know if you guys are interested in seeing where this one goes or not. Thank you all! You’re the best! Love you guys and your support!

“I’m looking for Jay Halstead,” you told the older woman standing at the desk in the 51st Precinct as you wrapped your arms across your stomach even tighter. You hoped he was there. You didn’t know where else to go. There was literally nowhere else for you to turn. It had been years since you’d seen him, wondering if he’d even recognize you. But this was your Hail Mary.

“Can I get a name?” she asked gruffly, your jaw clenching. Would he even see you?

“Just tell him it’s an old friend.” At least it seemed he was there. You didn’t let her ask anymore questions as you quickly walked to the bench and sat down. It was difficult to keep your breathing steady, to keep yourself from completely losing it. So you did the only thing a sane person would do. You bent over, sticking your head between your knees, your hands on the back of your neck. There was no describing the amount it helped, having seen Jay do it a thousand times before to calm himself down. 

You didn’t see him come down the stairs or see the woman point over to you. All you knew was the feeling of someone sitting next to you, not saying anything as he rested his hand on your back. Did he even know it was you, or was he just trying to be nice? How long you’d been sitting there was lost to you before you took a deep breath and sat up, looking at him for the first time in almost a decade. 

He still looked like the same Jay you knew. A little more worse for wear, but being a cop would do that to a man. He tensed up, but kept his hand on your back. 

“I need help, Jay,” you told him on the verge of tears again. 

He nodded as he stood up, motioning for you to follow suit. There was no hesitation, but you pulled your sleeves down a little more, gripping the cuffs of your sweater for dear life as he led you upstairs to a secluded conference room. You ignored the looks of his colleagues as he led you away from their workspace. 

“It’s been a long time, Y/N,” he told you with a sigh and look of worry as he shut the door behind the two of you.

“Yeah, well I wasn’t the one who left.”

-----

All good things come to an end. It was something you’d had to learn from an early age when your father left. Then your mother died. Then you bounced around in foster care until you were sixteen. So you shouldn’t have been surprised when the best thing in your life came to an end. 

“I have to figure out who I am, Y/N,” Jay told you, standing in the kitchen. His duffle bag was packed and sitting next to the door. It seemed like just yesterday he waltzed into your bar with it slung over his shoulder. 

“You don’t have to figure it out alone, Jay,” you countered, needing him to stay. It wasn’t a desire. Maybe early on. Now, it felt like he was the air you needed to breathe.

“I do though. Being here, being around what I’ve been doing since I got back...It’s not good. It’s not who I am. It’s not who I want to be.” Your heart dropped, feeling like he was calling you a mistake. 

“If you’re going to leave, Jay, Just do it,” you spat. “I don’t need your explanations.”

-----

“What is it you need, Y/N?” he asked as you walked to the window, looking out. The view of the city wasn’t fantastic, but feeling the sun on your face made up for it. 

“You have to understand something, Jay,” you began, looking over at him as he leaned against the wall, arms across his chest. “If I felt like...If I had any other option…” You took a deep breath. “I didn’t know where else to go.” 

He didn’t say anything as you looked out the window again. “About three years ago, I met a guy. Jason.” You didn’t want to say his name, but knew you had to. “Things were going really good for a while. We got married...and then he changed. Drinking, drugs. I stood by him every time. Even when he made me sell the bar. A mix of paying off his debts and him not trusting me to be away from him...to be around temptation.”

You heard him sigh behind you, but you didn’t want to see the pity on his face. You’d seen it before on others. But coming from him would be a whole different story. 

“Why come to me?” he specified. You could feel your bottom lip quiver as you tried to steady yourself. 

“I tried going to the police before. I’m sure if you looked it up, you’d find at least twelve domestic disturbance calls over the past six months.” You finally brought yourself to look at him again, not seeing the pity you were used to but genuine concern. “If I stay, he’s going to end up killing me.” 

He nodded, sighing again as he rolled his shoulders. “I’m going to go get my Sergeant, bring him in on this. I’m sure we can find something to get him locked up. We’ll get you set up in a safehouse, but there’s something that comes along with that.”

“I’d do anything, Jay.” You felt bad for not mentioning the biggest factor of all, but knew it would be coming up soon. 

“You have to have absolutely no contact with him. At all. Period. If you’re serious about leaving, we can set you up with a new phone.” You nodded in agreement, looking up at the clock. “You have somewhere you need to be?”

“At three, yeah,” you answered, not giving him more than that. 

“I’ll get my partner Hailey to take you wherever you need to go. She’ll take you to the safehouse afterward. Until we get him, one of us is going to be there with you.” You nodded again. 

“Jay?” His head tilted to the side slightly, listening. “Thank you.” He gave you a small smile. 

“You stick around in here for a few minutes and I’ll send Hailey in.” You turned your attention back to the window as you heard him leave. You couldn’t help but sigh, noticing how different he was from when you first met him.

-----

The bar wasn’t as busy as it usually was, which was a nice change of pace. You’d inherited it from the last owner when he decided to retire, not having to pay a penny. All you did was promise to keep it up and running. And that’s what you’d been doing for the past three years. It was mostly regulars, until you saw someone you didn’t recognize. He looked broken down, defeated. Seeing what he was wearing made it click for you.

“What’re you drinking, Halstead?” you asked with a smirk, his green eyes meeting yours in confusion. “Stitched on your uniform.”

“Bud Light,” he answered. You turned away for just a minute to grab a bottle out of the refrigerator, popping the top off before sliding it towards him. He must have just gotten back, based on the disheveled appearance. 

“I don’t mean to be really forward, but I get off in an hour,” you told him with a smile, getting a smirk in return as he took a swig from the bottle. 

“I’ll stick around.”

-----

“Hi,” a woman called out from behind you, startling you out of your thoughts. “Didn’t mean to scare you.” You turned to look at her, figuring it must be Hailey. “I’m Hailey. Why don’t we get out of here and get you all settled?” 

You nodded in agreement, following her downstairs to a black car, the two of you sliding in the front. 

“Where we heading for this errand?” she asked. 

“Barton Elementary School,” you answered, your head leaning against the window. You honestly were relieved it was Hailey taking you to pick up your son instead of Jay. You didn’t want to talk about it with him yet, but you knew Hailey would have questions. 

“Jay doesn’t know you have a kid does he?” she finally asked after about ten minutes into the ride. You knew it would take at least another twenty to get to the school. 

“No. And I’d appreciate if you didn’t tell him. I want to be the one to talk to him about it. A lot has changed in the nine years we haven’t talked.” You could see her nod out of the corner of your eye. “I’m not a bad mom, I promise. It’s just…”

“I get it. I grew up in a similar environment. Mom’s still with Dad though. This makes you the best mom,” she assured you as you tried to keep the tears back again. “I’m going to let Kim know to bring kids clothes as well when you go inside. I’ll let her know to keep it on the down low. It’ll be mostly her and me staying with you though, if that’s okay with you?” 

“Yeah. Will Jay…?” 

“Yeah, he’ll stay with you sometimes. We just figured it would make you feel more comfortable if it was the three of us rotating staying with you. He’ll be there tonight. Just a heads up.” You just nodded again. “So, do you have a boy or a girl?”

The two of you kept up idle small talk until she pulled up in front of the building, letting you get out and go inside to get Blake. He kept talking about how good of a day it was on the way to wherever Hailey was taking the two of you, talking about his friends and all the stuff he’d learned. 

“Mommy, why are we here?” he asked, as the three of you walked up the stairs into the furnished apartment. It was definitely better than where you were living currently, so that was a plus. 

“We’re going to stay here for a while,” you answered, kneeling in front of him, holding his small hands in your own. “Jason and Mommy aren’t together anymore. So my friends are going to stay with us for a bit while I figure out what we’re going to do next.”

“Is it because Jason hits you?” he asked softly as if it was a secret. You were thankful you couldn’t see Hailey’s reaction to your son asking you this. 

“Yeah, it is buddy. But what have I always promised you?” 

“That Jason would never hurt me.” You nodded, pulling him in for a hug, kissing the top of his head.

“Why don’t I show you where your room is going to be? My friend Kim brought some toys and stuff for you to play with. And your Mommy and me are going to talk about grown-up stuff,” Hailey suggested, Blake quickly going along with it as she led him to the second bedroom, leaving you alone with your thoughts again if only for a minute.

You’d slid your sweater off, leaving you in your tank top. Bruises were very evident on your arms and chest, more hidden under the clothing. Jason always made sure to make it easy to cover up. 

“Damn, Y/N,” Hailey said as she walked back into the room, the two of you sitting on the couch. 

“I really don’t want to talk about it right now, Hailey,” you told her, resting your head in your hands, propping your elbows on your knees as you tried to just breathe. 

“He looks just like his dad,” she said, changing the topic to one you still didn’t want to talk about. But you knew you would have to. 

“Like I said before, I’m not a horrible mom,” you reiterated as you looked up at her. “I’ve given Blake everything I could. And I would have given him his dad, but we didn’t end on the greatest of terms.”

“I’m not here to judge you. Just to understand. Jay’s always wanted a family, I’m sure you know that,” she reminded you. 

“Jay and I met the night he landed back in Chicago from his last deployment. It was a whirlwind romance for six months. And one day he told me he had to figure out who he was now. The way he talked about those six months made it seem like he’d realized how much of a mistake all of it was. Not that I blame him. We’d both made some stupid choices, but he left without looking back. It wasn’t like I could easily get a hold of him when he left. So, I decided I’d just do it on my own. I wasn’t going to tie him down to his mistakes,” you explained. 

“Jay isn’t the same guy who left that day, Y/N. He’s changed a lot. Mostly for the better, I’m sure.” You couldn’t help but smile at her assuring words, as if she knew exactly what to say. “When you tell him, it might take some time for him to warm up to the idea though. You both have so much to talk about, and I can’t exactly tell you how he’s going to react. Just...give him time.”

“Blake has asked about him before. Not often. I never know how to answer. I’m not stupid, I know it was my choice to not try and find Jay and tell him. So, I tell him about the Jay I knew. The brave soldier, the amazing guy.”

“No worries there,” she interrupted with a chuckle. “He’s still very much both of those things.” 

“Thank you, Hailey.” 

“It’s no problem. I’m going to stick around until Jay gets here. He’s bringing pizza apparently, but it’ll be a few hours until he gets here. Why don’t you try and get some sleep? I’ll make sure he doesn’t meet Blake before you two have the chance to talk.” You nodded as you stood, walking into the other bedroom and laying down. 

-----

You stared down at the two lines, in complete shock. There was no way this was happening. No possible way this was happening. Yet, as you stare at the pregnancy test, you knew it was true. Deep down in your soul, you knew it was true. And you didn’t know if you’d be able to do it.

It had been three months since Jay had left, and you’d chalked up all the symptoms to stress and heartbreak. Until you realized how late your period was. Which is what led you to staring at the positive pregnancy test. And you had no idea what to do. 

An hour later, and many laps pacing your small apartment later with your phone in your hand, you hit the dial button. It only rang twice before you heard his voice on the other end, your heart fluttering as your free hand rested on your stomach. 

“Y/N?” he asked, but you didn’t know what to say. “You there? You okay?”

You couldn’t do it, so you hung up. He didn’t try calling back. And it was in that moment that you knew you could do it alone. 

-----

“Hey, Y/N,” Hailey said, knocking on the door before cracking it open to pop her head in. You stretched, wincing as you looked at her. “Jay’s parking right now. Blake is passed out. I gave him some soup Kim had stocked up.”

“Thanks,” you told her as you got up, pulling on a different sweater. You didn’t know if you’d be able to have this talk with Jay if he was too focused on the bruises Jason left in his wake. You didn’t know if you could have this discussion with him at all if you were being completely honest with yourself. But you didn’t have any other option. These were the cards you’d been dealt. And now you had to figure out how to work with it. 

You walked into the living room, seeing Hailey leave as Jay walked in with the pizza. He made a beeline for the counter, putting the box down. 

“Didn’t know if you would be hungry or not,” he told you with a smile. You could hear Hailey lock the door behind her. “Figured a supreme from your favorite place would be a safe bet.” 

“We need to talk, Jay.” His smile dropped as you motioned for him to join you on the couch. “Do you remember three months after you left, I called you and then hung up?” 

“Yeah. Why?” he answered, confusion plastered on his face. 

“I just need to know...why didn’t you ever call back? Or call me in general? Was I that much of a mistake?” you finally asked, voice soft. All you wanted to do was curl in on yourself, to hide from everything. But that wouldn’t work. You were thirty-three, you had to face it like an adult. 

“I thought it was a pocket dial that night, honestly. And I wanted to call. I just…” He took a deep breath as he looked at you, really looked at you for the first time all day. “I couldn’t bring myself to because I felt ashamed. I loved you, and I left. There was no way you were going to take me back, so what was the point? I went back to the bar once, but they said you were on vacation. I took it as a sign.” 

You’d never taken a vacation in your life, so you knew what he was talking about. You’d taken a few months off for maternity leave. To think, he was just downstairs from your apartment while you were upstairs with Blake. 

“Iwaspregnant,” you quickly told him as he looked at you, confusion back at full force as you took your own deep breath. “I was pregnant, Jay. That’s why I called you that night. And I couldn’t bring myself to tell you. Because you’d left. You’d made your choice. And it wasn’t fair for me to try and drag you back.” 

“Oh.” That’s all he had to say was ‘oh’? Surely there was more. 

“I kept it, Jay. Kept him. He’s asleep in the second bedroom right now,” you finally said. You couldn’t distinguish just one emotion on his face, seeming to be a mix. “His name is Blake. He’s nine. And he looks just like you.” 

“I had the right to know,” he finally told you, breaking the silence as his voice wavered, jaw clenched. “I deserved to know.” 

“I know, Jay. God, you think I don’t know that? But what was I supposed to do, huh?” You stood up, not able to sit next to him. “You’d said it yourself. It wasn’t good for you to be around what you’d been doing. It wasn’t who you were. It wasn’t who you wanted to be. Those were your words before you left. You were the one who left!” 

“That didn’t matter!” he finally said, voice raising. “I missed nine years of my son’s life! You had nine years to reach out to me! Was this why you came today? This was the easiest way to tell me?” You couldn’t help but flinch at his words, expecting fists next. “I’m sorry,” he said, calmer. You hadn’t realized that you’d squeezed your eyes shut, taking an offensive stance just waiting for the first blow.

“Mommy?” Blake asked from the doorway, rubbing his eyes as he held onto one of the stuffed animals Kim had left for him. You didn’t look at Jay as you quickly walked over to him, scooping the boy up in your arms.

“It’s okay buddy,” you assured him, holding him close as your hand rubbed circles on his back. “We’re safe here. Mommy just got into an argument with her friend. You’re okay.” You couldn’t help but reassure him as you took him back into the bedroom. 

“I thought Jason was here,” he mumbled as you laid him down, pulling the blanket over him. 

“You’re never going to see Jason again. I promise,” you assured him, kissing his forehead before smoothing his hair back. His eyes fluttered closed as you sat next to him, waiting for his breathing to even out, signaling that he was asleep. You could hear Jay behind you, but you didn’t want to face him. You had to though. 

You stood up, taking his hand as you walked out of the room, shutting the door behind the two of you. 

“That’s my son,” he said softly, looking down at you in awe. It took everything in you not to reach out, to stroke his cheek, to embrace him. 

“That’s your son,” you repeated back. “The night you left, you made it seem like it was all a mistake. That we were a mistake. And I was scared that you’d think the same thing about him. I should have told you.” He didn’t let you keep talking, bringing you into a hug. And for the first time in a long time, you felt like things were going to be okay. 

[davidcampiti]

A SCREENPLAY IS NOT A COMIC BOOK SCRIPT

I'm frustrated by writers who hire a comicbook artist then send a screenplay as their script.  My first question to them is, "Are you hiring one of our writers to adapt this into a comic book script?"  Usually they'll respond, "No that's the script to work from."

But it's not.  

Word balloons aren't broken out or numbered, SFX aren't identified, the pacing is wrong, and most panel descriptions are missing, causing the artist and the editor to do twice as much work without a corresponding increase in pay.

Here's a good article from Nick Macari about the differences --

I think you’d be hard pressed to find some work of fiction, some type of writing, that you could NOT turn into a comic. That is to say, you could create a comic from notes on bar napkins, a published novel, heck I bet you could even create a comic using nothing but a movie as the source material.

If you’re making a comic yourself, like literally by yourself, it doesn’t really matter how you do it… only the final product matters. If you have some crazy process that gets you a beautiful finished product, good on ya mate.

But for those writing spec scripts, trying to write for others, or trying to entice others to their project, it pays to create scripts that open doors instead of closing them.

In 2020, there are a million writers writing screenplays and pawning them off as comic scripts.

If you want to be one of those guys… as you were.

But if you actually want to write comics, if you want to be a comic book writer, you should learn how to write an actual comic book script, not how to sell some other script as one.

There are lot of useful technique comics can borrow from screenplays.

For the innocent novice writer, it’s understandable to see some technical execution confusion. But for working and professional writers, knowing what transfers over and what doesn’t separates the riff from the raff.

Before we get into it, let’s put to bed, once and for all, why a straight screenplay script is not a comic script. Here’s why;

Director Production Designer Art Director Costume Designer Cinematographer … Camera Assistant Director of Photography Scenic Artist Set Decorator Storyboard artist … Makeup artist Wardrobe stylist Assistant Director Production Assistant Production Coordinator Production Designer … Script Supervisor Sound Mixer Special Effects Coordinator

oh yeah, and actors.

These are a few of the people involved in a film.

Individual roles dedicated to a specific area of production. In essence, a screenplay can deliver fairly minimal information and it’s someone’s specific job to interpret that information, its context, and otherwise apply their knowledge, experience and skill, to turn that information into some tangible, successful element.

If you think it’s the artist’s job to fill all these roles, you’re crazy… and mean to artists.

Ok, you still here?

Good.

Let’s showcase some specific examples of why a screenplay doesn’t hold up for comics;

THE FRENCH CONNECTION

Drug Dealer I don’t…

Doyle Ever pick your feet in Poughkeepsie?

Drug Dealer What?

Doyle Did you ever pick your feet in Poughkeepsie?

Drug Dealer I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.

Doyle Were you ever in Poughkeepsie?

Drug Dealer No… yeah…

Doyle Did you ever sit on the edge of a bed, take off your socks and stick your fingers between your toes?

Drug Dealer Man, I’m clean.

Doyle You made three sales to your roaches back there. We had to chase you though all this shit and you tell me you’re clean?

Russo Who stuck up the laundromat?

Doyle How about that time you were picking your feet in Pougheepsie?

The drug dealers’ eyes go to Russo in panic, looking for the relief from the pressure of the inquisition.

Russo (in pain) You better give me the guy who got the old Jew or you better give me something or you’re just a memory in this town.

Drug Dealer That’s a lot o’ shit. I didn’t do nothin’.

14 dialogue exchanges, with for all intents and purposes not a single visual description (one minor one toward the end about the dealer’s eyes.). This is likely at least one page of comic with this volume of exchanges and dialogue, and there is literally, nothing cuing the artist as to how this should go down.

THE FRENCH CONNECTION

Mutchie

That’s right, he couldn’t fight legit. One night at the Garden about 1950, ’51—he fought either Jake LaMotta or Gus Lesnevish, I think it was—he took one o’those cream puff punches in the sixth—the laziest left you ever seen—missed him entirely. Down goes Blackjack without even workin’ up a sweat and the whole Garden gets up on its feet and I swear to Christ, everybody starts singin’ “Dance with Me Henry.”

75 words. Way too much for a single panel.

How many ways can you break the dialogue into how many panels?

Is one way to break it up more effective than the others?

Because if it is, and that’s NOT the method you write up, you’re producing a less effective script.

But ultimately, what works in film as a 30 second monologue (doesn’t work in comics), would be far more effective as caption narration over flashback action.

THE EXORCIST

EXTERIOR – IRAQ- NINEVEH- DAY

The old man arrives back at that dig site in a small jeep. As he pulls up two armed guards rush out. When they see who it is the old man gives them a wave and they slowly walk back to there quarters. The old man walks up the rocky mound and sees a huge statue of the demon Pazuzu, which has the head of the small rock he earlier found. He climbs to a higher point to get a closer look. When he reaches the highest point he looks at the statue dead on. He then turns his head as we hear rocks falling and sees a guard standing behind him. He then turns again when he hears two dogs savagely attacking each other. The noise is something of an evil nature. He looks again at the statue and we are then presented with a classic stand off side view of the old man and the statue as the noises rage on. We then fade to the sun slowly setting as the noises lower in volume.

Hey! this has some nice direction, this screenplay stuff is perfect for a comic.

NO.

Let’s break it down;

The old man arrives back at that dig site in a small jeep. As he pulls up two armed guards rush out. When they see who it is the old man gives them a wave and they slowly walk back to there quarters. The old man walks up the rocky mound and sees a huge statue of the demon Pazuzu, which has the head of the small rock he earlier found. He climbs to a higher point to get a closer look. When he reaches the highest point he looks at the statue dead on. He then turns his head as we hear rocks falling and sees a guard standing behind him. He then turns again when he hears two dogs savagely attacking each other. The noise is something of an evil nature. He looks again at the statue and we are then presented with a classic stand off side view of the old man and the statue as the noises rage on. We then fade to the sun slowly setting as the noises lower in volume.

This passage is 15 beats, give or take. One beat a panel, 3-5 panels per page, we’ve got 3-5 pages of comic in this passage alone.

Hang on we’re not done.

If you fill your page with this type of description (you shouldn’t, but let’s say you did), you could get almost double that amount of beats. So one page of screenplay delivering nearly 6-10 pages of comic content!

Tell me, when was the last time someone delivering a screenplay “comic script,” delivered a 2 page script for a complete issue?    Never says I.

BONUS on this example:

Did y’all notice the soundtrack emphasis in this excerpt from the Exorcist script? Of course you can have sound effects in a comic, but no matter how you crack it, comics DO NOT have soundtracks. Relying on film soundtracks in a comic script is a sure fire way to deliver less effective scripts.

BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA

JACK Alright, where’s my truck, Wang? I’m outta here. And my money, too.

WANG Forget about your truck, Jack. You don’t wanna go back there. You’ll have to go through the Wing Kong to get it. It’s insured, right?

JACK Of course it is. But that’s not the point.

WANG The smart man comes back for it later…

JACK The smart man calls the cops!

WANG Cops have better things to do than get killed.

We showed the typical lack of visual description a screenplay gives in the first example. [Screenplays tend to focus on the scene setup, then briefly hit key actions of the scene.] Here we have another example of missing visual description, but I point it out for something more specific–LACK OF EMOTIONAL context.

As I point out in the Writer’s Guide, Emotional content is one of the essential elements of each and every comic panel. So not only do we not have visual cues to support the action in the screenplay, but how are the characters delivering these lines!?

JACK Alright, where’s my truck, Wang? I’m outta here. And my money, too.

How many ways can you say this line?

I can say it pissed. Irritated. Fearful. Sarcastically. Comically.  Those are just a few that pop in my head… and I’m no actor.

Leaving emotional context open to interpretation undermines narrative control–in a big way.

A good, effective scene, could die a horrible misinterpreted death.

For the record, you can use parentheticals in a screenplay. This can give emotional context, like the one from Jack’s first line I omitted to make the example more effective

JACK (pissed off)

But where parentheticals do contain emotional context, you use them in a script sparingly. Just like you don’t tell the director how to do his job filling your screenplay with camera direction, you don’t try to tell the actors how to do theirs. (Remember, the answer to why Screenplays aren’t Comic Scripts, there’s a lot of people, hopefully professionals, bringing their expertise to the table.)

CASABLANCA

Ilsa Your secret will be safe with me. Ferrari is waiting for our answer.

At the bar Ferrari talks to a waiter.

Ferrari Not more than fifty francs though.

Ilsa and Laszlo walk up to him.

Laszlo We’ve decided, Signor Ferrari. For the president we’ll go on looking for two exit visas. Thank you very much.

Ferrari Well, good luck. But be careful. ( a flick of his eyes in the direction of the bazaar) You know you’re being shadowed.

Laszlo glances in the direction of the bazaar.

Screenplays live in movement. Unless you’ve got a static insert of a letter or photo or something, everything is in motion and there is constant change (even if subtle) from micro-second, to micro-second.

While comics work to capture movement (and  there are some tricks), it is ultimately a static medium, locked into showcasing moments frozen in time.

What I explain in the “works in movies not in comics article” is that the constant movement and motion, supported (primarily) by actors, but by the lighting people, the art direction people, director, etc. all gives depth and purpose to every single second of a film.

With all these people doing their job, a screenplay can give super general stage direction, like what we see here in this Casablanca excerpt.

At the bar Ferrari talks to a waiter.

Ilsa and Laszlo walk up to him.

Laszlo glances in the direction of the bazaar.

These trivial actions carry no narrative. They work in film because of performance and motion, which steps in to create narrative.Without performance and motion, a single frame captured from core stage direction translates to ineffective comic panels.

By the way, all the examples I’m giving here, are from solid movies. The big pink elephant in the room when writers deliver “comic screenplay scripts,” is that they assume they know how to write a good screenplay in the first place. Trust me, novice writers rarely do.

There’s a lot of technique and skill in writing a solid screenplay. And if you think a good screenplay causes problems converting to a comic, wait till you try it from a shitty screenplay.

Still thinkin’ screenplay is synonymous with comic script? Well you’re wrong sunshine, but what do I know?

I’m just a non-famous full-time mercenary writer, writing almost exclusively in comics and games for a decade or so. :p

I’ve spent a few hours writing this article, but there are plenty of other examples I haven’t touched on.

I’ll come back and add some more as I think of them in my down time. Maybe eventually when the list is so long it takes you a couple hours to read this article,  y’all get it through your noggins that comics are there own medium which demand the attention and respect of a unique format and writing approach. Something the comic book writers reading this, already know. #justsayin

About the Author — Nick Macari is a full-time freelance story consultant, developmental editor and writer, working primarily in the independent gaming and comic markets. His first published comic appeared on shelves via Diamond in the late 90’s. Today you can find his comic work on comixology, amazon and in select stores around the U.S.  Visit NickMacari.com for social media contacts and news on his latest releases.

[buckyscrystalqueen]

Fresh Start: Part 5

Pairings: Bucky x Reader, Cop!Bucky x Reader

Warnings: Swearing.

Word Count: 2,953

A/N: Got the idea for this one while watching ‘The Town’.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Why is this necessary?” You asked as you walked up the driveway at the Winchester’s house.

“Because I said so.” Bucky sighed as he pushed the doorbell. You looked over at him with one, final annoyed huff before hiking Jess up on your hip and smiling at the opening door. “I convinced her.” Bucky chuckled as he held out the bag of burger meat, buns, and various bag of chips you had picked up that morning when you picked up holiday decorations and decorations for the house. You had no idea how ‘thank you cookies’ had turned into ‘thank you barbecue and pool party’ but apparently that’s what was happening. “This is my fiancé, (Y/N), and our daughter, Jess.”

“Nice to meet you, (Y/N). Come in, come in. Mary’s just getting Sam and Dean up from a nap.”

“We brought food.” You said, not knowing what else to really say as Jess whined and tried to hide.

“Here, I got it.” John said with a nod as he took the bag from you as you walked past a giant play room that looked like a former formal dining room on your left. “There’s a bathroom down that hall over there, only door on the left if you need to change. It goes straight out to the pool. There’s swim diapers in there for Sam that should fit Jess…”

“Oh, no thank you.” You said as you gave up trying to keep your daughter on your hip and let her straddle your stomach to hide in your throat. “We have a pool, too so we have them.”

“You’re lucky.” He said with a nod as he lead you guys past the kitchen that backed the play room and out to the quaint patio. “Pools are hard to come by here. Beer?”

“Yea, two please.” Bucky chimed in as he set your diaper bag down on the bar that ran along a pass through window to the kitchen. You looked back and moved out of the way as the older of the Winchester boys ran past you and jumped into the pool as fast as he could.

“Dean!” A woman yelled as she walked out on to the patio slowly with Sam’s hand in hers. “Apologize. That was rude.”

“Oh, he’s fine.” You said with a shake of your head as you took your beer from Bucky. “If his biggest issue is he ran past some strangers and jumped in his pool, he’s doing pretty damn good. (Y/N).”

“Mary.” She said with a nod as she shook your hand. “And Sam.”

“When she’s done hiding, this is Jess. Who’s missing out on new friends by hiding.” You tried as you kissed the side of her head. “But she’ll get over it.”

“Well I don’t know about you.” Mary said as she gestured to the pool behind you. “But I’m gettin in. It’s hot.”

“Hot!” Sam repeated as he pulled on his mother’s hand.

“Yea, we’re going.” Mary chuckled as Jess picked her head up to find where the little boy’s voice was. 

“You wanna go play with Sam?” You asked her before taking a sip of your drink and putting it down on the bar by your bag. “You can’t be shy. Man up, little girl. Show these boys you ain’t no pussy.”

“(Y/N)!” Bucky hissed as he flicked your arm. You looked over at him and the giant shit-eating grin John had on his face.

“What? You want her to be a little pussy?”

“You are killing me.” He sighed as you sat down in one of the chairs and took off the dress you had on over Jess’ swim diaper and bathing suit. “You’re really killing me.”

“You love it.” You smiled up at him as you set your daughter down long enough to take off your tank top and shorts.

“Up.” Jess whined as she tried to climb up your leg.

“I know, come on.” You said as you picked her up to go swimming with Mary and the boys.

“So I have water wings and rings galore.” Mary said as you walked down the stairs. “Dean tends to dive through the rings and pops them so we buy them by the case load. And neither of the boys like water wings.”

“Yea… my Ma just chucked us in the community pool.” You giggled as you put Jess in a ring that had a plastic bottom for her to sit on. “You either swam or you were drowning.”

“That’s how we learned, too.”

“I tried to do it with Jess.” You sighed as you looked over at your new friend. “But my lovely fiancé threatened to make me sleep on the couch if I did so she doesn’t know how to swim yet.”

“Really? John was the exact opposite. He practically threw Dean into the pool like a football as I screamed from the kitchen.” You nodded your head and shrugged as you gently pushed Jess toward Sam and his float.

“Yea, I’m not the sensitive one in our relationship. I was raised on the mean streets of Brooklyn, New York by the boys in my neighborhood. I was the only girl my age for like three blocks. And that just kinda stuck. So I don’t coddle. That’s James’ job. I got lucky with that one, too.”

“Isn’t it funny how that always works?” She giggled as she leaned to the side so Dean could get out to jump in again. “You always end up finding the exactly right person to compliment us in the end.”

“True.” You said with a nod as you looked back over your shoulder at the man that literally changed your life in so many ways. “So very true.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I feel so naked.” You sighed as you scratched at your throat where your five gold necklaces usually sat. “’s’not right.”

“Stop scratching, baby.” Bucky said sweetly as he sat down beside you on the couch with a pad of paper in his hands. “All right. Let’s start with the most basic. Hair color.” You groaned and let your head fall back so that your currently wet bottle blonde hair fell back over the side of the couch.

“Why ya gotta go afta the hair?” You asked as you ran your fingers through it for a half second before forcing yourself to stop. You hadn’t before realized you did that at least fifty times an hour, and you were going to try to break that habit with your new personality.

“You can stay blonde.” He said as he wrote other ideas down to help you figure out who you wanted to be. “Or you can let it grow out. It’s up to you.” You sighed loudly and met his eyes before covering your face with your hand.

“Don’t look at me.”

“Hand down.” He said as he reached out to push your hand away from your face, which you were hiding because you didn’t put any ‘hooker make-up’ on for this conversation. You simply had a little bit of eyeliner and some mascara and that was all. “You are gorgeous and you know it as well as I do.”

“Besides the point.” You muttered as you went to run your hands in your hair again before dropping it on the couch cushions beside you and shoving your hands under your thighs. “I feel naked.”

“So we’ll come back to hair color.” Bucky said as he put a question mark beside the idea. “And we need to go shopping for new eyeshadows in natural colors for the make-up part?” You nodded your head because you knew that the blue you loved to wear wasn’t really a respectable color to wear every day. “Alright then. So I found a nice online cooking class on Groupon. Six months, twice a week. They shoot prerecorded videos and post them to the website so you can learn as slowly as you want and watch them as many times as you want as well. And there’s a baking one as well thats the same thing, but once a week for six months that I can sign you up for, too. So you can learn how to cook at your own pace.”

“I’m gunna burn the house down.”

“No you’re not, because I will be right there with a fire extinguisher.” He commented as he drew a line through something else on his list. “So that takes care of cooking. Next is job.”

“I can’t do…”

“Stop.” He interrupted as he looked over at you with a smile and grabbed his phone. “Let’s think about what you can do. Realistically. You are amazing at basic math. You said it yourself that you were good at weighing out weed.”

“So what, become a drug dealer again?” You asked before looking down at the webpage he was showing you.

“Medical Marijuana. They are looking for an assistant manager AND before you start in on not being able to do it, they teach you step by step, to make sure you know the job before letting you go out into the real world and manage their store. So you will be dealing with something you know, and doing a job that is easy. And the best part is, Mary is the owner and manager. So that’s a bonus. She’s looking forward to seeing your application, which I will help you with since I know you’ve never filled one out. Which leads to my next thing, clothes. 

If this is the route you wanna take, you can still wear your necklaces, your earrings, the bracelets and the rings. All of that. You can keep the blonde hair, you can go natural, you could even dye it purple if you wanted to. But your hem lines need to change. Jeans and shirts that cover your bra’s completely. Only a little bit of cleavage. Shorts have to completely cover your ass. Don’t give me that look. I’m trying to help you here and you know it. I’d suggest sneakers and flip flops as well. Your heels won’t be fun. But you will have to remember that you are NOT a Townie in that environment. It won’t be easy.”

“What about Jess?”

“Jessie can go to day care.” He said as he set his pad of paper down on his knee. “There’s a really good one just down the road and she will be just fine. And if none of this sounds like a good idea to you, and you wanna just be a stay at home mom, you can. I should be hearing back about that mechanic’s job today or tomorrow and I’m confident I’ll get it. With that and what we have saved from selling all your cars, my car, and my bike. All the cash you had stored in your mattress at home, all the stuff we took from your brothers place, all the furniture we sold… all that money is just building up interest in a bank. We could live off just that comfortably for two years. At the end of the day though, doll, you are the one that said you wanted to grow up. Now I will stand by you one way or another no matter what you wanna do. So you think about it.”

“Why is this so hard?” You asked as you threw your hands up in the air.

“Because your brother and I coddled you too much, sweetheart.” He said as he tossed his notebook on the table and got up to check on Jess to see if she was still napping and grab you a joint from the dwindling stash you had upstairs. “All because we loved you.”

“No, you just loved that I mulled drugs the best.” You grumbled as you sat forward to grab his notebook to look at his list again. “The boobs and all.” You didn’t even stop yourself from running your fingers through your hair again as you looked at the list of things to change to make you more of an adult. It was all terrifying and yet, you wanted it. “You’ll still love me, right?” You asked your fiancé as you looked over at him as he walked down stairs. “If I do this… if I become this person for you, for us?”

“(Y/N), I will always, always love you. Because I know the person inside of you. The woman that I fell in love with, the mother of our daughter, that’s the woman I love. What the outside looks like doesn’t matter to me. I just know that you will have an easier time with this if you don’t try to fit the Townie into Vegas and instead fit the Vegas into the Townie.”

“That makes no sense.” You huffed as he lit the joint and passed it over to you.

“Then look at it this way. You love drug dealer me, cop me, and mechanic me. You love me no matter what I look like on the outside. Long hair, short hair, and baggy shirts to tight ones. I feel the same way. And this is all up to you, doll. Like I said, you can stay home…”

“I wanna change.” You said with a nod as you looked at the ember at the end of your joint. “I need to or I can’t let go.”

“OK.” Bucky breathed as he reached out and squeezed your leg. “Then we’ll do it together. Always.”

——

You were reorganizing your closet and putting your more ‘slutty’ tops in a box to stash away before your first day at work, when you stumbled upon a box you forgot you had shoved on the top shelf of your closet. You smiled to yourself, and picked up the first photo on one of the two stacks in Jessica’s baby box.

“God, you were so tiny, little girl.” You said to yourself as you looked at the tiny new born laying on your chest in the hospital. You set it back in the box and flipped off the closet light on your way downstairs to show your fiancé. He was laying on one side of the couch with Jess sleeping on his chest while he watched the Yankee’s game on TV. “I’m interrupting your shit team.” You said softly as you simply climbed over the back of the couch beside him. “It’s worth it.”

“Don’t do it.” Bucky growled lowly as you grabbed the remote before he could and muted the TV. “Yankee hating bitch.”

“Look.” You said as you set the box on your lap and showed him the first photo with a smile. He sat up the slightest bit since he had never seen these photos.

“Oh, my God. Look at her.” He whispered as he put his hand on Jessie’s back so she didn’t slip when he sat up. “She was so tiny.”

“Six pounds, two ounces.” You said with a nod as you picked up that stack and handed it to him. “Eighteen inches long. Born August 14 at 7:38 PM. Born at 38 weeks and two days.”

“You should have gone through these before we came here.” He said as he showed you a photo of Thor holding Jessie on your old couch in your old apartment.

“I only kept three with him in it.” You said as you leaned against his side to look at the photos as well. “When she’s old enough, she deserves to know the truth about him… about us. She has that right.”

“We’ll see.” He said with a small nod as he continued to look through the pictures while you picked up the other stack.

“I was always surprised at how small she was.” You sighed as you looked at the out of order stack of your pregnancy. “I looked like a damn balloon.” Bucky glanced over at the picture of you at a barbecue at your brother’s you were holding and did a double take.

“Holy shit. Damn, you are so fucking hot.”

“Stop that.” You said as you pushed his jaw with your fingertip. “That was about a week before she was born.”

“I hate that I missed it.” He said as he looked at the photo of Jess’ first bath. “All of it.”

“You had about as much of a choice about it as I did, sweetheart.” You reminded him. “Holy shit, look at this one.” You giggled as you showed him a photo of the two of you on the night you got engaged. “Your hair was so long. I miss it.”

“Maybe I’ll grow it back out for you.”

“The beard, too.” You said with a side eyed glance. “Fuck I love that beard.”

“The beard is a pain in the ass.” He sighed as he looked at a photo of Jess sleeping on Dakota.

“Yea, but that beard between my thighs felt amazing.” You said as you flipped through the stack in your hands to try and get them organized. Bucky grunted and dropped the photo in his fingers as the fabric of his basketball shorts visibly twitched. “Oh, look at this one…”

“OK, memory lane is closed right now.” He said as he picked up the stack of photos beside him and put them back in the box. “You, upstairs, now.”

“Damn… is it that easy?“ You teased as he got up to put Jess to bed.

“Yes, I’m that easy. Come on, Dakota.” With a small giggle, you put the rest of the photos in the box and left it on the coffee table before turning off the TV and jumping back over the couch to go to bed with your fiancé.

[zacc-attacc]

Firstly - I really love good puns, so your username made my day xD

Then, for your request thing - would you maybe write a Sprace OneShot that plays in the canon era? Maybe some sort of friends-to-lovers thing?

Thanks :)

First of all, thank you for the request! And for the compliment, of course.

ANYWAYS, HISTORICAL SPRACE, HERE WE GO BABS.

Sweet-Talker- A Historical Sprace Fic

Word Count: 2k

I wasn’t supposed to fall in love. Period. Especially with a boy. I was Spot Conlon, the King of Brooklyn. Not some blithering idiot who brings flowers to some idiot boy halfway across New York. I had made a pledge, not only to myself but to the others. I was responsible for them. 

So why was I falling for a stupid blond Manhattan boy with an addiction to soggy cigars?

I still remember the first time I saw him-- on a pape I was selling to a regular buyer. It was just a black and white picture, which hardly did any justice to how handsome he was in color. But even among 20 or so other newsboys, I felt a flutter in my stomach when I looked into his eyes. 

Disgusting, I thought as I sold the paper. Is this what the boys were talking about? Sparks flying and all that sappy shit?

If I had been smart, I would’ve sold all my papes and kept my distance from the strike. From Cigar Boy. 

Brooklyn don’t get caught up in things that ain’t our deal, I reminded myself. 

But Race, as I learned later, tends to bring out the worst in me. So I did the dumb thing. I sold all but one of my papes (I couldn’t bring myself to just… Give him away like that. For what? A penny?) and ran to Manhattan. 

Where it was a full-blown war. Pulitzer had called in dozens of goons (but, of course, couldn’t be bothered to show up himself), an army of policemen, and the only cop the newsboys truly feared-- Snyder. The only man who had succeeded in locking up the two most resilient Newsies of New York- Jack Kelly, and yours truly. 

I watched in horror as bottles were thrown, teenage boys were hit by adults, even a smaller boy who needed a crutch to walk was beaten with his own crutch. And I knew I couldn’t do the smart thing, the Brooklyn thing ever again. Not for this.

I ran to join my brethren, letting myself give in to the adrenaline of a battle. Luckily for me, most people were too lost in the chaos to notice me. 

All except for one. 

As cops ran, chasing boys as if they were prey that they would likely never catch, who other than Cigar Boy walked over to me, spitting blood out of his mouth and extending his hand for a handshake. 

“Well, well, well, to whats do we owe the pleasure of Spot Conlon of Brooklyn?” He said, giving me a tired grin. He didn’t have a cigar between his lips, but he did have one sticking out of his pocket. I shook his hand, noticing that even after he had literally been beaten up for an hour plus, his handshake was firm. 

“Okay there, Sluggo, we’ll talk when you ain’t bleeding from the head,” I said gruffly, turning and starting to walk back towards Brooklyn. If I could convince the boys, we could come back later and tell Manhattan we were joining the strike. 

“The lodge is this was,” the boy pointed to the opposite direction of where I was heading. I gave a light laugh. 

“No, no. I’s best get goin’ so you’s can patch up.” 

“There ain’t no way I’s letting you walk halfway across New York after getting beaten up,” the boy protested, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the lodge. 

“I’ve been through worse,” I protested, attempting to dislodge my arm from his grasp. 

“Well, ya’int goin’ through that again. Now c’mon. We has some bandages back at the lodge for that cut of yours,” he said, gesturing to the deep cut in my upper arm. I sighed in defeat and started walking. 

“Just so you know… This is just to make sure yous don’t pass out in the streets on the way there,” I clarified. The boy just rolled his eyes and chuckled. 

“For New York’s most feared Newsie, you sure is worried about someone you just met today.”

“I’m feared, but I an’t heartless, sweet-talker. I don’t want another life on my conscience.” Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. What kind of monster did he think I was? Race stopped walking. I looked up and saw a complex setup of fire escapes, rails, and a rooftop where a newsboy who could only be Jack Kelly was pacing.

“Fair enough. Well, we’s here… So I’s just gonna swing up, grab my stuff, I can meet you down here,” the boy said, grabbing onto some rungs of a fire escape and climbing up with surprising nimbleness. It was as if the battle had barely affected him. That, or he was still riding the adrenaline rush. 

“No, no. Take care of your boys. I won’t die,” I said, hearing the panic in my tone. If Jack saw me with no reinforcements, he’d start to think we were fully on board. And if Brooklyn wasn’t, and word got around that I had already fought… It wouldn’t be good. They would accuse me of being a traitor. I couldn’t risk that.

“Ey, no, that wasn’t part of our agreement!” he yelled as I walked away. I could hear the smile in his voice.

“Next time, have me shake on it, sweet-talker!” I shouted back, turning around to see his impish grin. My muscles were screaming in protest from overuse, but I had to get home before dark. 

“The name’s Racetrack Higgins!” was the last I heard before breaking into a sprint. 

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

And here we are now. Strike over, prices back, nobody dead, everyone happy.

Except for me. 

Because I wasn’t supposed to fall in love, but here it came. Striding down the hill with a cigar in its mouth.

I could feel the unease in the boys beside me. We weren’t used to soloing Newsboys in our area, barely after selling hours, no less. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll handle it,” I muttered to them, walking towards Race. 

“What. Are. You. Doing. Here,” I hissed, grabbing his shoulders and fake-shoving him to look like I was giving him a serious talking-to. He couldn’t know we knew each other. It had to look like we were fighting.

“Well, Conlon, I thought we’d had a moment there,” Race whisper-shouted back, shoving me as well. I lowered my voice to an even quieter tone. 

“Meet me in your alleyway after sundown.”

He looked at me, confusion on his face, but nodded numbly and ran away. 

I heaved a sigh and turned to go spin some fake tale about why he was there.

That boy is going to be the death of me.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“Why’d you chase me out like that, Conlon?” Race asked, leaning against the brick wall of the Newsboy lodge. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. 

I hated it. 

“Because, Higgins, the boys don’t like strange Manhattan Newsies on our turf,” I half-spat. How stupid could he get? Didn’t he understand what was at stake here?

“You’re mad at me,” he said, his eyes flashing with realization. 

“Yeah, no shit,” I muttered, starting to pace. This was a bad idea. Why did I keep letting myself come back to him? Why was I constantly subjecting myself to the one thing I couldn’t have?

“Why? I just wanted to see you again,” he protested, walking towards me. I turned around to face him, my nose practically touching his chin.

“‘Cause we ain’t supposed to be friends. The boys see you hangin’ around Brooklyn, they’ll think yous tryin’ to prove something. And you know what they do to boys that ain’t ours? They beat ‘em up. Then, they bring them to me. And I decide if they’s gets a real pounding. But do I have a choice? No! Once they’s decides yous getting beat, my say hardly matters. If I randomly tell them to let someone go, I’m considered soft. Then we both get beat. Do you see what they’ve done to some boys? I ain’t letting that happen to you, Race! I’m not patching up your wounds because I couldn’t control-”

“Spot.,” Race cut me off. I froze. It was the first time he had used my full name. 

“What?” I asked bitterly. I noticed my eyes were burning. Why were they burning? What was this hellish sensation?

I felt something warm trickle down my face. 

Oh. My. God. I was crying. Crying! I hadn’t cried in four years! All about some idiot boy who had lovely eyes and blond hair and was empathetic and made me genuinely laugh and feel safe for the first time in years-

Race stepped forward, crushing the distance between us in one stride (damn tall people), and then… Hugged me. 

I hadn’t been really hugged in seven years, since I had made it to Brooklyn. Well, I had received bro hugs. Light ‘ey, whaddup’ hugs. But this… This was the type of hug that I hadn’t received since my parents had died. The type of hug that shields you from the outside world, that makes you feel like an atomic bomb could go off and they could protect you from it. 

It was so strange, so human. I hadn’t been treated like a real person for so long.

“It’s really like that, huh,” Race whispered, stroking my back. I felt goosebumps appear on my skin. How much feeling had I forced myself to miss out on? 

“It’s just… A lot. I mean… I’ve always known I would give my life for those boys, they’re my everything. But… I don’t know if they would for me. I don’t even know how much they truly respect me. I can’t even say if they’d respect this new rule I’ve been thinking of putting in place,” I said, not moving from my place in Race’s grasp. 

“And what would that be?” Race muttered, rocking back and forth. It was… nice. 

“No beating up on Racetrack Higgins ‘cause he deserves the world,” I said, my voice still muffled in his shirt. He chuckled. 

“I hardly deserve the world… But… Could I have you?” there was this caution in his voice, so different from the constant suave tone he took on while talking with me. But, then again, I of all people was sobbing into a boy’s chest, so this night turned out to be the night of all the unthinkable. 

“I don’t know if that’s what you really want, but… You can have me, sweet-talker,” I said, tipping up my head and meeting his lips in a kiss. 

It wasn’t sudden, or brash like most would’ve thought our first kiss would be like. No, it was slow and sweet. Because even if our relationship was loud and chaotic, we could take pieces of it as slow as we wanted. 

And now, I can say that my sweet-talkers lips are just as sweet as his words.

A/N: Thank y’all so much for reading! if you have any sort of prompts, pop on over to my asks! Love y’all! <3 

[keepyourpantsongohan]

Ayesha Liveblogs Death Note

I’m watching this show specifically because of that text post that said, “Watch how quickly this one guy decides to be the worst person ever” and he has killed two people in the first ten minutes

Though 2 be fair he’s killing people to save people so it’s a trolley problem kind of thing for now

“In fact I’ve been waiting for you... Ryuk” ok weird flex Light but u do u

“You’re the first one to use to this extent in five days” WAIT DID HE MURDER ALL THOSE PEOPLE IN FIVE DAYS I THOUGHT HE WAS JUST LOOKING AT A LIST OH MY GOD??

“So there isn’t a price to using Death Note?” said Light, as if killing people is just a normal thing that we all do

Fhkjfhfkjb Ryuk really went ‘u used the book so we’re friends now’ 

I was wondering why the book was in English, and I guess that makes sense British and American imperialism really Did That

“I can write down the names of criminals, and slowly reduce the number of evil people” uhhhh doesn’t u being a Book Murderer also make you a criminal Light

“Human lives shouldn’t be taken so lightly” bah dum tss

Also I guess that revelation lasted about thirty seconds for you huh

Update from 15 seconds later: Even less than that

“I would create a world of earnest, kind humans” really because I don’t think places that allow the death penalty are generally nicer societies 

It’s interesting that they use English in the classes and the notebook but the conversation at Interpol takes place in Japanese (despite the implied internationality and Ryuk’s aforementioned claim about English being most common) 

Huh I won’t lie I do think it’s confusing that the main characters are L and Light, which also starts with L

“I am justice” I mean if anything this show just proves that no one should be allowed to use the death penalty on apprehended suspects in criminal justice cases ever 

OH SHIT PLOT TWIST HIS DAD’S A COP (IT WAS IN THE TEXT POST I THINK BUT I FORGOT)

Wow this show is full of mind games already I guess I can see why like, crime show fans would dig it

“But I’m going to say this as your roommate” OH MY GOD THEY WERE ROOMMATES KJHRGKJHKJHG

Interesting that someone is following Light specifically already

I mean not to poke too many holes in your plan Light but wouldn’t it clash with your plan to become God if you die at like 35 or smth 

“You’re already much more of a shinigami than they are” Ryuk said my friends are BORING I want to hang out with this MURDER TEEN

“I may not look it, but I’m pretty popular” Light is exactly the kind of guy who ends up in a true crime special where a bunch of people say he seemed like a nice, charismatic young man

Man this poor girl that Light brought on this date is going to be straight traumatized after this

I mean isn’t it MORE suspicious if someone dies around someone with direct ties to the police even if it’s not a heart attack

“You were indeed a brilliant FBI agent once, but now you’re my fiancée” kjhfkjhg WHAT FBI AGENTS CAN’T BE MARRIED 

“Once we have a family, you’ll be so busy that you’ll forget that you were an agent” I’m not a fan of Raye Penber 

What’s the point in killing Raye at all???? He told you he was part of a special investigation so clearly he’s not that suspicious of you

Light sure is bold to announce his Killing People Experiments in the middle of a busy sidewalk 

Incredible that consistently no one notices Light’s increasingly threatening declarations????

Fjkfkfhk these five cops finding out their Hail Mary is this strange little goblin man,,,, wow

This woman has really pushed Light to the brink just by giving a fake name, I admire her tenacity

Cops wearing fake IDs really did not age well oh boy

SERIOUSLY HOW DOES NO ONE EVER HEAR LIGHT SAYING SUSPICIOUS THINGS IN PUBLIC THOROUGHFARES HE LITERALLY JUST SAID “I AM KIRA” AS A DETECTIVE WALKED BY, WHILE HE WAS TALKING TO SOMEONE HE KILLED IMMEDIATELY AFTER

Wow it really took only eight episodes for L to track Light as close as one of two families

“You have a wife and daughter, right?” “I know!” I mean..... not 2 be that guy but... cops

 “To me, apples are like... Well, like cigarettes and liquor to humans” Vcvhcjhj every once in a while Ryuk says something that really tickles me

I know the word sociopath is kind of outdated but man does Light have actual interests outside of school or does he just do stuff to fill the void of his lack of interests (outside of murder)

JKHGKJHGKJHKJHG I cannot believe that this has turned into a fake classmate situation first of all 1) are you going to become friends and 2) How old are you Ryuzaki/L?

“Where is that rich kid from? And he’s even at the top of his class? What a jerk” honestly a mood

I DESPERATELY want Light’s mother or sister to overhear his evil cackling will someone finally eavesdrop on this god complex

“If I sit normally, my reasoning skills drop by 40%” weird flex but same 

Sidenote: I can’t believe how many episodes of this show I already have watched

Ngl I was VERY shook that Mr. Yagami had a heart attack. Also does Light care if his family lives or dies or is he kind of neutral on the subject? 

“If Kira is an ordinary person who gained this power, then he is a very unlucky person” Dad and L said ‘if u ARE Kira could you please stop murdering thank you <3′ 

Light really underestimated how much cops hate anyone who has killed a cop oops

OH SO IT’S NOT LIGHT I WAS WONDERING WHY HE HAD NOT MADE AN APPEARANCE THIS WHOLE EPISODE U MEAN THERE ARE TWO GUYS WITH THIS EXACT SAME IDEOLOGY AND PLAN? INCREDIBLE

Update from ten seconds later: Two people, I guess

Well this explains the girl in the short dress which serves as the Netflix thumbnail of this show I was wondering when she would show up 

Also she sounds like she’s very young? Clearly Shinigami don’t have a minimum age of informed consent when it comes to their Murder Eyes Contract 

Hahah I bet Light didn’t imagine that his petty and fucked up apple joke would bite him so quickly in the ass

Dhkjdhdkjhd Misa is so bold dropping her Death God deets in a video for anyone to see 

“The way to kill a Shinigami, is to make them fall in love with a human” does this mean that Ryuk is going to fall in love with Light or Misa? Both would make me uncomfortable

Oh wild guess Misa became a Death Note Wielder through the Power of Unreciprocated Voyeuristic Love

“Yeah, I have a girlfriend now,” said Light, after a girl contacted him through a series of anonymous video tapes implicitly vowing to be his disciple 

“No one could tell who he’s attached to if I’m with this many people” [20 seconds pass] “Found him!” HAHAHA the funniest part of this show is consistently watch Light going “got ‘em” before it immediately is revealed that he doesn’t got ‘em 

Why is Light so incredibly searchable??? I think the only way people people could find my height online is if I happened to answer it for one of those Facebook note memes in 2007 lmaoooo

“There are many places that will go and sell your personal records” ah, data breaches; a problem that has not gotten any better in the last 15 years since this anime came out

HKJHFHKJFHF Light immediately jumping into fake-dating his weird disciple in front of his mom... what is this show

“Please make me your girlfriend” OH MY GOOOOOD

This is one of the weirdest romantic dynamics I’ve seen in recent memory but you know what? Whatever, at least it’s not Anxiety and Murder

“Does that mean I’ll have to deal with her until she dies?” Light is truly exuding some Ladybird Book of Dating Energy rn: 

The fact that to kill L all Light had to do was get an obsessive girlfriend... astounding

Beautiful that it took Misa less than a week of knowing Light to ruin his whole 15 episode game plan and also life

“I think I may be Kira” Well this show keeps taking one escalation after another this is exhausting why can’t Light just be a normal person who found it, tried it out of interest in the occult, discovered he’d committed a horrible atrocity and then went to therapy for the rest of his life only to confess to Magical Murder on his deathbed while his family goes, ‘Wow, Grandpa’s crazy’

Does L not think that keeping three different people imprisoned for days on end will lead to some psychological repercussions for him

FOR WEEKS ON END????? OH MY GOD???? The fuck L, I know two of these people are murderers but there are some minimum conditions of correctional facilities and this seems a little Stanford PE

THE DRAMA OF THIS EPISODE I KNEW IT WAS GONNA BE A BLANK BUT HOW FUCKED UP TO PUT EVERYONE THROUGH THIS L I THINK YOU NEED THERAPY!!!!!!! I MEAN LIGHT AND MISA ARE MURDERERS BUT FORCING A MAN TO HOLD HIS SON AT GUNPOINT AFTER IMPRISONING THEM FOR OVER A MONTH IS REALLY A REFLECTION OF A COMPLETE LACK OF EMPATHY (especially when you think that this version of Misa and Light don’t know anything!!! Oh my god!! The fuck)

“I will make arrangements so you and I are together 24 hours a day” call me crazy but I would not want to spend 24/7 with the man who imprisoned me for over a month while playing cruel psychological games all the while

“I’m one of those people who’ll accept Kira, I’d think of ways I could help him” Misa said Bimbo Rights

“I could never toy with a woman’s emotions like that” Light’s dating life and personality has gotten a LOT funnier since he forgot he was a murderer I kind of wish THIS could be the whole show 

Also: Nice to know Light USED to have standards of how to treat women

Honestly fair play to both L and Light they both deserved to be punched and it’s funny to see eighteen episodes of mind games culminate in punching and kicking each other in the face

“Matsuda’s being an idiot again” “Well, Matsuda is a natural at that” wghkjhgkj what has Matsuda done to any of you

"He’s punishing criminals as a front, and killing people for the benefit of this company” is Light unknowingly going to solve the murder chain he himself started... inspiring

“I was testing you” this is why Light is your only friend, L, Aizawa has kids and it’s a dick move to ask him to put his convictions before them

Poor Matsuda realizing he’s got the least to offer to their team... me in high school science labs 

I understand Aizawa’s moral crisis but why do NONE of these cops care about their wives or daughters they’re just kind of like, ‘I will provide for you but I have no interest in or fulfillment from being part of your life’ (ACAB)

Matsuda is truly about to die for being dumb and eager to help 😔 Rest in Pieces

“We must not allow Yotsuba to figure out that we are investigating them,” said L, just after it cut from Matsuda being obvious about investigating them. Oh Matsuda 😔 you’re so bad at your job 😔

MATSUDAAAAAAAA oh thank goodness; Bimbo Rights save the day

“I can’t go along with your idea, it’s wrong!” said Light, despite the fact it took him 15 seconds to get over murder the first couple of times he did it 

Staaaaaaaaay Good Light, I don’t want ur Deathnotesona I want this young man with moral convictions!!

The level of hubris it takes to answer a phone call during your secret Murder Meeting while people continue to talk about their Murder Plans is just out of this world

“If I die, you could probably become the successor to the ‘L‘ name,” said L, to the person he has been trying to catch for twenty episodes 

“I won’t say anything under any kind of torture” “Yes that’s true” Which he knows because he tortured her for six weeks!! You see that that’s fucked up, L, right? RIGHT??? RIIIIIIIIGHT? (LIIIIIIIGHT???)

Seriously not to beat a dead Shinigami but Light is so much better like this. He doesn’t want to throw people’s lives away for the investigation! He wants to protect Misa! He thinks Kira is wrong! Why does he have to be a murderer!!! Why can’t this show be about a nice young man!!!!

“Hey Ryuzaki, that’s messed up!” THANK YOU LIGHT AGAIN I KNOW YOU BOTH HAVE KILLED PEOPLE BUT YOU DON’T KNOW THAT RIGHT NOW SO FOR ALL MISA KNOWS HE’S JUST A GUY WHO TORTURES HER AND TELLS HER CRUSH WILL DIE IF SHE DOESN’T HELP

Wow Rem is so ride or die for Misa protecting Misa from creepy Higuchi, giving her info and telling her to trust Light, that’s love bitch

Props to Misa for getting a confession out of Higuchi after one (1) car ride 

Why do I feel like L is going to be responsible for reawakening Bad Light is it because he psychologically tortured him for six weeks? Had his dad hold him at gunpoint? Forced Misa to investigate on his behalf? Constantly and unerringly presses him on what Kira would be thinking as he’s handcuffed to him 24 hours a day? Maybe!! This is like Build-a-Bear but he’s customizing his Teen Murder Friend 

“Only Mr. Matsuda can do [the mission to lure out Higuchi!Kira]” Death Note really said the Himbos, Herbos and Thembos shall inherit the Earth 

They keep saying they don’t know how he kills but it seems pretty obvious that he writes down their names to kill, they literally saw him do it

I really don’t want any of the investigation team to die but things are not looking hot :(

“Ryuzaki, I never knew you could fly a helicopter” “It’s just intuition” what does that MEAN

“Those aren’t allowed in Japan,” said Light, about a gun, as if he had not killed probably thousands of people without one 

In spite of this fact I really do want Good Light to stay 😔 Why! Can’t! This! Show! Be! About! A! Nice! Young! Man!

Also they really are playing into this father-and-son duo I will be very sad when the dad inevitably dies as I’m sure he will 

Family side note: I’ve been wondering this since the prison ep but where do Light’s mom and sister think he IS now that he’s dropped out of first year uni to be a teen criminal investigator handcuffed to a maladjusted homebody private eye

AIZAWAAA and also the other two guys I guess there was a plot relevant reason for him to rejoin the police huh

Well what a clean ending to this Kira arc. No one died and the killer was caught! Yikes that the next ep is called ‘Revival’ tho 😔 Rest in pieces Good Light

Also a new and very threatening intro???? What happened to the Twilight Apple Hands 

BOOOO I knew Light would get his memory back but I was hoping it would at least fuck him up for a while he sorted out his two personas but I guess all roads eventually lead to Bad Light 

Full disclosure I stopped watching for a few days just after Light got his memory back and let me tell u coming back later hasn’t made it any more tolerable I am truly not built for this EUGH

“Do you really want to halve your life a second time” “Well, that can’t be helped” REALLY???? CAN’T IT BE HELPED MISA??? WHY ARE YOU AND LIGHT SO CRAZY

Oh I guess we’re back to Light saying incredibly suspicious things right near the investigators lmao what if those cameras secretly had audio or you know, L simply knew how to read lips 

“Misa, let’s make a new world together” Remember a bunch of episodes ago when Good Light was all ‘I could never toy with a woman’s emotions’?? What was the reason!!!

“Have you ever told the truth at any point in your entire life” L cutting straight to the core lmao (also the answer is obviously ‘no’)

This show has taken a jarring tonal shift why are they having a post-rain-confrontation massage and towelling each other off this is a level of intimacy I was not prepared for I NEED PEOPLE TOOK LOOK AT THIS:

OKAY OKAY OKAY I KNOW THAT IT WAS PROBABLY NOT THEIR INTENTION BUT THE ONLY WAY I CAN READ THIS SCENE IS AS “Don’t kill me Light~ 🥰 I’ll fuck you~ 🥰” 

I guess L knew he was forcing Rem’s hand to kill him if he disproved the rules written in the book?? But to what end omg how does this help anyone 

“In April 2012, Light Yagami, age 23, joins the National Police Agency” should’ve known we’d land here eventually (ACAB)

Ah, I see another person who doesn’t know how to sit, clearly they will inherit the L title next lmao

Update from the first few mins of the next ep: “Near should succeed L” told you

“There’s no way I’m letting Sayu marry a detective” ahjfkhkjf he’s a little old for her I think but it wouldn’t be the worst thing this show has done romantically lmao; maybe Sayu would get to investigate her brother

“I might’ve considered going out with you, if you were a little younger” HA GOOD FOR HER

“[...] the Japanese police are unreliable. In order to solve this case, we want you to hand over the notebook to our country.” Of all the Japanese-speaking Americans in this show, this is the most accurate jkhfkhf the US government really is Like That 

Ah, so that’s where Mello’s gone, oh how the turn tables 

Also way to sell your subordinates out immediately, NPA Director, will you give them the Kira task force’s home addresses too

The real question is if Light actually cares about his sister enough to prioritize her over the notebook

“Call me... N” Oh my good L... M(ello)... N(ear)... Oooooooooooooooo

It’s my saving grace that I only need to get through 9 more eps but as always I must wonder where this is going will Light just die and end up in Shinigami purgatory while the people who knew him after the fact go, ‘hey, that guy was fucked up’

“If things get bad, I’ll have to kill Sayu” well I guess that answers that question, my expectations of Light are so low and yet he continues to find new ways to be awful

Good for Mr. Yagami and Sayu for getting out of that alive I guess but hoo boy I think this is going to have some psychological repercussions for both of them 

Uh oh this episode is called ‘Father’ I’ve been dreading this one bc I think that means Mr. Yagami is about to die 😭😭😭

“It was an institution for brilliant children, to raise them to become L‘s successor” okay calm down Professor Xatari that’s not what children are for lmao 

Well I guess it’s a lot easier to track down info about these two guys than it was to figure out L lmao

HAHAHA Sidoh haunting Ryuk to ask for his stuff is a fun addition to this madness  

“He’s scary for a human” jkhhfjh how unhinged does Mello have to be to threaten a literal Shinigami 

I truly don’t understand the logistics of how they revealed Ryuk to the police force isn’t the second Kira notebook supposed to belong to Actual Kira, in the police force’s eyes????? I do not understand how Light can just turn up with another notebook and everyone’s like ‘sure cool’ did I miss something 

Mr. Yagami killed for being unable to take human life ugh this is the worst 

“You’re not Kira. I’m really glad.” WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THIS IS SO SAD MR. YAGAMI NOOOOOOOOOO THAT’S WHY HE RENOUNCED OWNERSHIP OF THE NOTEBOOK 

Neither Mello nor Near seem overly concerned with the lives of people around them does being a Super Genius Investigator also mean you have to be a dick (is this Benadryl Coddleswab Sherlock syndrome)

Lmaooo genuinely love how it’s constantly apparent that Light is the least smart of all of the smart people Light spent five years working on his reputation and it took Near one (1) phone call to destroy it 

Ghjkhgkhgkgjh Light outsmarted by Near yet again never think people will prioritize principles over money

Lol yeah Aizawa needn’t have given a name after he said the “Deputy Director Yagami would kill Kira and then himself” thing, you don’t do that just for anyone who was he fooling 

How does Light keep track of all the renunciations and notebooks bc I certainly can’t 

Ffhkfjhfj Mikami truly looks like the son of L and Light it’s like Light missed him and was like, “Miss u boo :( (even tho I kinda killed u) I’ll adopt An Evil 27-year-old in ur honour :)”

Is Mikami’s story really, ‘I got bullied in high school and have mommy issues so now I think people I don’t like should die’ ok Shonen Snape 

“I just want you to meet with me and hear me out” Light really proving to Aizawa that he can lie AND manipulate people’s feelings 

“The truth is, she’s not smart enough to be my partner” first of all Light I think this show has proven you’re not that smart, and Misa’s Herbo Energy is effervescent and will outlast you, and third of all go to jail

“He’ll look suspicious if he doesn’t say something soon” “Ide, have you ever been in love” Matsuda continues to be the only good part of this show

“You’re the only man I’ve ever respected and admired in my life” GET SOME THERAPY KIYOMI

“You’re going to be the goddess of the new world” so it’s not enough for Light to be a murderer he must also be a cheater

Lmao Near’s powers of perception do seem a little B/BC S/herlock because L tried for literally months to work out the possibilities and Near is just like ‘I KNOW IT NOW’

“The only thing I can deduce from this is that Light Yagami is popular with the ladies” HEAVEN KNOWS WHY (PUN NOT INTENDED)

Every moment Aizawa gets closer to proving Light is Kira is another step closer to death 😔

“This is definitely Mikami’s handwriting” Not to be a know-it-all, Near, but handwriting analysis has been proven faulty many times in multiple courts of law

This truly is a game of Cat and Cat. All these hidden plans give me a headache fkjhkfjh call me Misa-Misa and spin me sideways I don’t have the braincells to spare

Well this is definitely some kind of s*xual assault absolutely fucking hate it wow this show truly just drains the life out of you 

“Matt, I never thought you would be killed” why wouldn’t you think that at this point anyone who comes close to this investigation eventually dies (also wjkhkjhgk why is Matt special didn’t you kill all those thugs you had before -- Mello said ‘the lives of my allies are only important if they are drawn in handsome protag style’) 

As of yet I haven’t really talked about Near’s wild toymaking but hoo boy is that L finger puppet something to observe

“Everyone who knows about the existence of the notebook will die” I’m still pulling for their survival, particularly Matsuda (himbo rights!!!)

Imagine if they just shot Light Yagami on sight how ironic would that conclusion to all these mind games be 

“I’m waiting, for the one who will solve everything, to arrive” Lmao if it turns out L is alive I’ll pee laughing this show is so fucking stupid 

Take a shot every time there is a Humpty-Dumpty-in-Puss-in-Boots style explanation about how everything actually happened

“I’ve won, Near” I bet/hope what gets Light caught is his inability to hold in his hubris for one (1) minute

Although the last episode is called New World, in which case maybe he wins in a very weird ending to a very weird show

Sjkfhkjhfkhfkjhf well I guess what gets Light caught is that the person he invited to be his murderous disciple keeps calling him God

“A second ago, you said ‘I win.’ That’s as good a confession as any” HA hubris strikes again also bold of Aizawa to clap Light on the shoulder knowing he is a mass murderer

Ohhh Matsuda he’s so nice and believed the best of Light :((((((((((((

Watching Light become increasingly desperate and crazed is very uncomfortable give it up dude u’ve been beat (though I suppose there is time for everyone here to be murdered still lmao)

LMAO LIGHT SAID “IF YOU CAN’T BEAT ‘EM, CONVERT ‘EM”

Yeah I figured if one of them was gonna shoot it would be Matsuda :( :( Good for him for not killing Light tho!!

Huh I guess that’s the end of the show I thought Light would die but I did think we’d at least get to see him in Shinigami Purgatory or smth... what a wild ride. This certainly was a show.

[filthyjanuary]

B, D & T for D:BH for the fandom meme, also U if you wanna 😊

ahhh thank you ali, sorry this took a bit. i was uh asleep when my queue spat it out hahaha.

B - A pairing you initially didn’t consider but someone changed your mind

To be honest, this doesn’t really happen to me often in the sense that I think I am good at a) picking up chemistry and b) I have good taste 😛So probably just like... crackships? Ships with like no canon interaction or like... very little, because that’s when stuff like fanart really sells it to be. So with DBH like... I was on the Markus/Connor train pretty immediately, but things like Jerry/Ralph or North/Chloe, I’m like oh! I... wouldn’t have thought of that but now that I’ve thought about it because of these very wonderful fanworks, I’m like hell yeah bring it on. I still need my non-canon interaction ships to uh make sense though which is why I need to be able to imagine the characters actually connecting if they were to ever meet which is why [redacted] super popular no-basis DBH ship is like... Not My Thing At All.

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t (again: be nice)

Sigh, okay, so [redacted] ship above is Reed/900 because like... okay, I love enemies-to-lovers like that’s part of why I find RK1K so fun? But I need the enemies to be on fairly equal footing for it to be fun. If there’s a huge power imbalance AND they hate each other, I’m not as pulled into it because it just feels like.... straight up abusive??? And then with this ship it’s like okay literally, i) they have never interacted, ii) there is a huge power imbalance, iii) one of the characters has no established personality (or name even???) and the other has just enough established personality for us to know he is a giant bigot and hates the very thing that the first character is and that’s all, iv) requires doing mental gymnastics to rehabilitate a bigot cop and I just Don’t Have Time For That. SO tldr it’s entirely based in like deep fanon lore that has no connection to canon whatsoever and frankly, I think just exists because people think both characters are hot (and white!) I don’t really /wish/ I liked it, but I think if I /did/ this fandom would be more bearable and I would have a LOT more fic to read. 

Maybe also HankCon? I don’t have any actual qualms with it as a ship, I just read the relationship as very father/son personally so I can’t get into it. But like seriously, more power to everyone who doesn’t see it that way. But I’m sure they have really good fics, and I’ve seen a lot of very cute fanart. Glad y’all are having fun.

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending, about anything at all (gender identity, sexual or romantic orientation, extended family, sexual preferences like top/bottom/switch, relationship with poetry, seriously anything)

Honestly nothing I would die defending lmao, I like vibing in canon and stuff that isn’t canon, I’m pretty flexible for different like... interpretations as long as I think they don’t like clash with what we know from canon. I do think Markus and Connor wouldn’t adhere to like strict roles for sex? Like I think they’d both be switches. Also I don’t care if it’s cliche, Carl and Hank become besties and make fun of their sons being embarrassing together. Also Josh and Simon are in love thank you, I am not taking comments at this time.

U - 5 favourite characters from 5 different fandoms

I am currently reading a book called Empire of Sand and Amun I don’t know you that well yet but I Have Feelings For You

Bucky Barnes from the MCU

Thanatos from Hades

Sam Winchester from Supernatural

I’m not picking between Markus and Connor because I love them both a lot so INSTEAD, I will also say Rose from DBH. She is.... so wonderful, I love her.

send me fandom asks

[quarantinebreakup412081121]

Day 1: Long Story Short It Was The Wrong Guy (AGAIN)

After nearly a year of being miserable after my ex and I broke up, and about 8  overlapping months of attempting to date, I finally met someone.

He seemed genuinely nice.  He met me at my neighborhood park and we walked his dog, around and around and around for probably a couple hours.  We talked nonstop- about 90% of the conversation was about our dogs.  We left and he hugged me goodbye (I turned to the side because- COVID- and I wasn’t expecting it... but it turns out he was vaccinated already) and said we’d do it again.

The next time he came to my house, met my dogs, and we walked his dog around my neighborhood. My dogs aren’t up for more than about a half a mile walk, so they stayed at home.  We talked and talked, we ended up back at the house before we were finished, so we re-walked half of the route, then walked part of the neighborhood beside mine.  By the time we got back, we still weren’t finished talking, but it was getting late.  We attempted the hug again.  He was vaccinated, I was going to be vaccinated the next month.  His dog lunged when we were going in for the hug and it ended up being kind of a 101 Dalmatians, tangled hug moment.  It was funny and a but awkward, but definitely memorable.

He said we’d do it again.

Then he asked me to go to his apartment so he could cook for me; he called it a date.  It was a little fast, but I made the hour long drive and went over for shrimp and fake meat tacos.  We also watched a movie.  It was nice.  He kissed me on the way out.  It was sweet.  I wasn’t sure that I wanted it to happen so soon, but I left with butterflies.

The next few dates alternated between him coming here to do outdoorsy things and me going to his apartment for a meal and a movie.  It was beginning to feel like a real relationship.

Over the next 5 months, he introduced me to all of his friends and we went to game nights together, coordinated to play video games with his friends when I went over, attended his friend’s post elopement wedding party, and he had me sign the photo matte that they had in place of a guest book.  It felt real, it felt solid, it felt like it would be long term and like he really cared about me.  It felt like the opposite of what I had with my ex.

He had me meet his dad.  He came over and met my family.  He said he’d go to Disney with me and he asked me to go skiing with him and his family.  He said he loved the beach and that it was his favorite place to go- so I anticipated multiple beach trips over the summer.  He listened to Taylor Swift with me, we watched dumb movies together, went grocery shopping and made Target runs together- aka “couple shit” as he called it.  I loved it.  I never got to do everyday couple activities with my ex.  He’d cook for me, I’d cook for him, he’d make random Taco Bell stops for me and he knew my order.

A few weeks ago, I finally decided to open up to him about some of my anxiety and worries.  I thought that the person I’d gotten to know over the last few months would be a person I could talk to and be real with- something I could never do with my ex unless I wanted to be judged and then ignored about it.  He listened, and attempted to offer a helpful response- which wasn’t really helpful, but he TRIED.  That was much more than I’d ever gotten from my ex.  A few days later, I went over to his apartment for the night.  We had dinner, it was off.  The conversation was off.  The movie was uncomfortable- like we were just sitting through it to get it over with.  He went to bed early but I was so wide awake that I sat in the living room playing on my phone and watching the storm outside for another 3 or 4 hours so I wouldn’t toss and turn in bed and keep him up sine he had to work in the morning.  In the morning, I had to drive home at 7am on only a few hours of sleep. I was cranky from that and the way the previous evening had panned out.

I laid in bed for a bit and snuggled his dog.  She’s so sweet.  She loves me and I love her-- so do my boys.  I laid there thinking “this feels like it might be the last time I ever see her...  so I just scratched her head and took a photo to remember the moment.

The goodbye was awkward, and I texted him when I got home and apologized for acting weird the night before and that morning.  I told him things felt off for some reason and laid out some things that were on my mind.  I thought open communication would be a good thing and that it would help him to understand my headspace and show him that I felt comfortable enough with him to talk to him  about these things.

The next week, he avoided hanging out with me.  The week after that, same story.  I asked him to come to a concert with me on a Sunday night- he said he’d love to if it wasn’t on a Sunday.  Then I asked him about another concert on the following Tuesday night- I jokingly asked him to play hooky from work and come with me.  He said he couldn’t- but I understood that; it made sense. I went out of town for the weekend to visit my brother and he said that we’d plan time to get together once I returned.  I returned and he mentioned nothing about getting together.  I brought it up once and he didn’t acknowledge it, but he still talked to me, just a lot less than usual.

The conversations we were having sounded like repeats of previous conversations- and I honestly don’t know if he didn’t remember telling me some of those things, but he liked to partake in a beer or two or three... pretty frequently- so I’m not certain that some of the time he talked to me, he wasn’t 100% there.  But that wasn’t the point- he was just sending me pleasantries and fillers as texts. No real conversation.

I started getting worried because my mind went to the worst possibility.  He was checking out.  We were done- or almost done.  I asked him if we were good because it seemed like we weren’t.  He said he was good and that work was just really rough lately and he was basically working and sleeping all the time.  All of my worries melted away and I instantly felt a sense of relief-- I had been worrying for nothing!  So I asked him if he had time for an evening hangout on Friday or Saturday or a different night if those didn’t work.  I’d come to him and bring food and we could watch a movie and veg out for a bit.

That was last night.

This morning I woke up early to go to a sunflower field to take some fun summer photos.  With covid apparently flaring up again, I was trying to find safe summer activities to do before the season’s over.  Since I couldn’t get my guy to go with me to basically anything, I decided I’d do the things he didn’t want to do with me on my own and do the other things with him.  It wasn’t so much a compromise as it was me just learning to be okay with having someone who didn’t want to take part in activities with me.  My mom went with me an we got some gorgeous photos.  I kept an eye on my phone expecting him to reply to my hangout request, because once he said yes- I’d also ask him to go with me to visit my brother in a couple weeks an have a fun beach weekend.

On the way home, I went through the drive thru at the bank and while I was waiting, I noticed my phone blinking.

It was a text.  From him.

I don’t think we’re a good match for each other.  There has been numerous occasions where you’ve said or done something (even in the name of “joking”) that hasn’t sat right with me.  I’m sure there have been times you felt the same about me as well.  I don’t want to waste any more of your time either.  I hope you find a man who is a better match for you.

First of all, what the actual fuck.  Secondly, there *have* been numerous occasions.  Third- I have no idea what I said or did...  Best I can muster is that since I’m pro equal rights and pretty liberal, maybe it came across as offensive because I think he has family members who are... trump-esque.  I barely brought up politics because I didn’t want to make things weird.  He is a cop and I never made jokes unless he did first (he’d regularly joke about cop stuff and talk about how he isn’t a typical cop and how he doesn’t like hanging out with other cops or doing cop stuff or even talking about cop stuff outside of work.)  He gave me a whole spiel about he’s not a “cop cop” when we first met, like he was trying to sell himself to me-- which  he didn’t need to do, but I thought it was cute.

I asked him if we could talk for a few minutes later in the day because I wasn’t understanding what was happening.  I told him that I wasn’t trying to change his feelings about anything, but I wanted to talk.  He totally blindsided me.

He never responded.

It’s basically midnight and he’s had most of the day to respond.  Five months and he can’t even give me an explanation.

This is what I get for trying to trust people.

Tomorrow- or later tonight- I’m sending one last text and blocking him.  He knew that’s how my ex ended things and how insensitive it was and how wrong it was.  We had this conversation.  And after five months, he just strings me along for the last few months and then ends things with a text.  So goddamn insensitive.

I know I’m better off without someone like him in my life, but this hurts so much more than the last time because at least my first ex was a jerk and it was on brand for him.  This one... my second ex... he was supposed to be better than this.  He was supposed to be nice.  He wasn’t supposed to hurt me, not like this.

[smolbeandrabbles]

Trade Off - Andrew ‘Pope’ Cody x Reader (Animal Kingdom)

@wltz-bby​ @happyskywhale​

@mandy23b​ - in advance please forgive this ridiculous little AU.🙈 GIF CREDIT: X

Author’s Note: Look - it’s my favourite scene in the whole movie, OK? Let me have this slight AU!  But we all know in the happy universe in my head it all worked out after this right?

Also, for those unaware, yes... you can sing about stock trading! Imagine how happy I was to find fitting lyrics!

Disclaimer: AK has nothing to do with me /  I really tried to gloss over/layman's terms stock trading... I don’t know if I did a good job / Lyrics & gifs not mine.

Premise: After Baz pitches to Andrew the idea of stock trading it’s clear his friend is fairly dismissive. Baz enlists your help to follow through...

Words: 4126

Warnings: Swearing / brief mention of drugs / Slight AU

_____

Your gonna break my bank before too long I'm taking out a loan But when you turn your kind of lovin' on Honey I just can't say no, no no no no no no

Your gonna break my bank before too long I'm running out of dough But when you turn your kind of magic on Honey I just can't say no, no no no

Maybe I'll play the stock market Put some money in my pocket Ain't no telling what your gonna need next I need to steal a Sherman tank Just to break into a bank All my buddies think it's funny 'Cause I'm spending all my money On some honey like there's something to prove 'Cause for a little of your lovin' There ain't nothing much that I wouldn't do It's a business doing pleasure, a business doing pleasure with you

---

With the amount of time Andrew and yourself seemed to be spending around each other these days, you weren’t sure why one of you hadn’t taken up permanent residence in the others home. That deduction wasn’t exactly fair – he was with you to hide from the police for yet another thing he’d gone and done (that you didn’t want to know about), and he wasn’t about to leave the house you’d just pulled up at. Maybe Baz would eventually be able to persuade him that living with you was the good idea, but you weren’t sure you’d be able to do it alone. Of course without Baz you wouldn’t be here right now with all your gear – but you understood why this wasn’t a conversation that could come through Andrew. He’d never talk about it, maybe bury it in the back of his mind and forget the discussion ever happened with his friend. Baz had got home and immediately called you, to try and keep the idea on the table. By involving you Baz would create two fronts for the same goal; perhaps you’d be able to collectively persuade something out of Andrew yet – out of this house and out of this life… You weren’t about to hold your breath. But you’d take anything as a start. When you reached the front door and knocked, you were surprised for it not to be opened by your partner (or his partner in crime). Andrew usually headed you off at the sound of your engine, instead you came face to face with a teen you didn’t recognise. He also clearly had no idea who you were, by the fact that he stood there blinking with a blank expression. You took a step back and surveyed the driveway; okay, one car was missing but you doubted that absolutely everyone was out at once. You wouldn’t expect Andrew to venture out under anything but the cover of midnight with the cops probably still out there looking for him… having said that, apparently the lead up conversation had happened in a supermarket, so what did you know. “Uh,” You turned back to him, looking super awkward and not at all a part of the house he was standing in, “hey. Are the guys in?” He straightened a little, “Uhm, some of them are y-yeah, would you like me to get them? I mean I can-” He pointed back, then squinted at you, trying to recall if he had ever seen your face and if there were a name to go with it. Concluding the answer was no, he asked the question; “Uhm, who..?” “Y/N.” Your eyes flicked behind him, “Though you can also hold that thought.” “I’ll take it from here, mate.” The teen turned to Andrew, a few steps behind him up the corridor, and also who you were now staring at. “Oh, sure.” His back up against the wall already let you know what the power play was. “Hey-!” You stopped him before he left, “What’s your name?” “…Jay.” “Jay? Jay… Jay…” You pondered for a second, because Andrew had mentioned this before, “Oh! Julia’s son! Yes! It’s nice to meet you, Jay!” and with a smile on your face, to Jay it was almost startling that anyone to do with this family – Andrew in particular - would give him such a thing. “You too, Y/N.” Andrew shot him a look that seemed to suggest he forget your name in the next 3 seconds or face consequences, before turning those blue eyes on you. “What are you doing here?” You kept your reply level to his blunt question. “You just left. Which I expected, but you left some stuff. Not why I’m here, though.” You indicated to the house, “May I enter?” Andrew took a step back and nodded, beckoning you forward. You looked left and right with an affirming nod that you weren’t followed and hopped inside, arms winding around him immediately. “Oh my god, Andrew, are you okay?” “Fine.” You closed your eyes, burying your face in his shoulder, waiting patiently until he returned your embrace, “I know it’s stupid,” you mumbled, “but every time I hear sirens, I…” “Don’t. Don’t do that to yourself.” He only murmured it, hand to the back of your head, “…Why did you come?” “Oh, well-” You didn’t want to pull away but you wished to explain, moving your laptop case around, “I hear you don’t have a computer – and failing that, I do have every decent stock trading newspaper you could possibly hope for!” Andrew blinked slowly a few times, bemused by your encouraging grin, “Baz.” It wasn’t a question. “Mhm!” “You’re both crazy.” You weren’t about to let him dismiss this, and followed him into the back of the house – by the looks of it only he and Jay were in, “Wait-! I thought it was a good shout! Will you at least hear us out?” “No. It’s ridiculous.” “Andrew…” He paused and turned to your defeated tone, “Humour me.” He sighed heavily at the look on your face, “Okay. Fine…” He held his hand out for yours, and you linked your fingers with a gentle smile, it was a start. Hopefully Andrew would be receptive to the rest of the information you had to impart. ***

You slid your laptop out of its bag and powered it on, Andrew sat tentatively next to you, clearly unsure about the whole thing. You were certain that by the time you’d talked him through this, and made it so easy for him to understand what to do, with Baz’s help you could turn the tables. You didn’t think this was going to be an overnight miracle, but if it did anything at all that would be an achievement.

As you waited for your own profile to load, you opened today’s selection of newspapers to the trading pages and lay them out in front of him. Right now they looked like a bunch of funny letters with green, red or black numbers. And occasionally a confusing looking graph. It wouldn’t be long before Andrew Cody was reading these like a pro. “Woah.” Andrew’s eyes flicked from the papers to your screen, and he jabbed the number in the top right, “What is that?!” You supposed to him ‘that’ was an eye watering amount of Australian dollars. “That’s how much my portfolio is worth right now. It’ll fluctuate but it’s always somewhere around there. I always tend to go safe - but that means buying high and usually they stay high. You can buy low and have something grow exponentially, but also risk investments blowing up in your face. As you’re starting, maybe you’d like to invest in a bit of both. It’s all a guessing game Andrew, so there’s no wrong answers. If I set you up a profile and get you started, you can do it at your leisure. If you don’t want the hassle of a computer, then it’s as easy as collecting a paper, I can manage your portfolio for you. Or you can go the other way and pay someone else to do it. And if you trust them, then it’s as simple as giving them your money and they make the trades for you. But that’s maybe not so much fun if you’re looking to make a living out of this, which you certainly can. It’ll give you something to do, at least.” “Yeah, but how does that work? How do you make money?” You supposed you were happy that he had questions, and was cutting straight to it. You’d expect nothing less from this Cody. “Two ways. Your shares pay out dividends to you – i.e. a share of company profits - a few times a year, best to spread your portfolio over companies that pay out in different months to have a steadier income! Or you buy low, sell high as you can, or buy high sell even higher and make money like that. Then you keep the money or invest it, so on and so forth.” Baz had explained to you that he'd put thousands into this and was making good money and that he’d mentioned this to Andrew, met only with confusion. It was your job to untangle that.

You pointed to the number he was still staring at, “If I sell everything I have right now, I can have that in the bank, right? Instead I get paid steadily throughout the year. If you’re gonna make a living out of this,” you made sure to give him a look that would get Andrew’s stare back on you, because you meant it, “you’ll probably want to do a bit of both.” “Where am I getting the money for this, exactly?” You folded your arms, he surely had money of his own but you wanted all this to be as clean as possible, “If you’re prepared to take this seriously, I’m prepared to front you the money. I can make recommendations too if you want that. But I was gonna help you pick a few out for yourself...” “I don’t even know where to start.” Andrew’s voice strained for a second as he ran a hand through his hair, blowing out a breath. “Baby, baby...” The last thing you needed was for him to start winding up on you, you took his hand “that’s why I’m here. We do this together, slow or fast as you like, okay? Let’s see what you like the look of, alright?” “...I- I don’t know...” “Andrew.” You moved your hands to his thighs, face close to his, “This is yours, you’re not expected to be an expert overnight, but you have help now. This is a real chance for you... and I know that counts for something. You can’t want to spend the rest of your life like you have the past few months?” You didn’t want him to either, and as he turned from you again you scraped your nails through his hair, as if to tuck it back behind his ear. Andrew’s blue eyes searched your screen for an answer, hand laying on top of yours, not holding you, but still there. “Hey, maybe you and Baz can go into trading together.” You thought that might have been Baz’s idea and motivation anyway, and if Andrew had someone to do this with, in times that you weren’t around, that might help his desire to be involved. His eyes returned to yours, this look hard and piercing, like you were insane. Andrew instantly began to set you straight: “You really think this is just gonna end?” “No.” And that was the truth. You knew better. “But I’m optimistic that it would wind down and you can change.” “It’s too late for that.” “No. It isn’t. Andrew you can’t write yourself off. No one else has - we’re here and we believe in you.” Baz and yourself, your family… The people that really mattered, the people who would actually support him. This time you linked his fingers with yours, “Baby, I want a future with you... I’m scared that one day someone is going to turn up at my door and tell me you’re dead.” It was obvious how serious you were by the tone of your voice, that little waiver you weren’t holding back. “Y/N...” “Andrew, I will beg you... please just- have a go and think about it, and I just- I don’t want to lose you.” He looked back to your portfolio - as if a bunch of numbers and charts and virtual money was going to give him all the answers. But how could it? How could this be the key to the way out of the life he was living? He didn’t see it - and yet you and Baz so desperately believed in this. Andrew didn’t want to let you both down, and yet maybe he could get a kick out of proving you both wrong. Crime was the only way... but crime isn’t the only way... Heck you already had tried labouring the point that drugs wasn’t going to cut it with you. But there were track marks still in his skin, weren’t there. You couldn’t save him, but you tried so hard... you probably deserved him trying. “Okay.” His voice was quiet, but he looked back to you with a nod, “Show me.” You explained it all in as basic layman’s terms; most important to you was that he didn’t have any excuses for not being able to follow though once you left. You taught him how to read the numbers and exchange names in the paper first, green up, red down, black unchanged. That as long as he had noted what he bought them at he could always make sure to sell at profit. Then you spent a little while setting up his profile on your website and Andrew began trying to figure out where he wanted to invest the money you were saying you’d front him. You had a lot of fun watching him scrunch his face in concentration and try to reason out why he should invest in this particular thing. Some of it was way off, but you guided him - he’d get it, of that you were certain. Andrew was sharp, this was all new. You wouldn’t be surprised if later tonight you got a call: Y/N, I can’t sleep but I’ve been thinking about these investments and... You kept flicking back to your own to show him that he could start with what looked small and yet end up with something like this relatively easily, and you knew Andrew was starting to get it when he could interpret a graph without you telling him what it meant. And there was a hint of enjoyment on his face when you would smile and nod and say, “Yes exactly!”

The next time you heard footsteps, Baz was the one waltzing into the room. “Ahhh! Jay told me you two would be hiding someplace and HOLY SHIT-! Is that an investment portfolio!?!” He jogged his friend’s shoulder, “Oh, so it’s hard if I ask, but when your girlfriend pulls up you can put one together, huh!?” Andrew tipped his head, pushing Baz back, “You’re in this together, don’t give me that bullshit.” Baz cackled and hugged you, “Ah! That’s my girl-! You got him invested in you yet?!” “No, that could go wrong, very wrong. I didn’t even mention my company.” Andrew’s eyes flicked between you, causing Baz to smirk, “There you go Pope, you can get your criminal activity in there instead-! Invest and break the law! And you don’t even have to go outside to do it!” “Don’t encourage him!” You folded your arms, mouth open in disbelief - the goal of this was the complete opposite! This was Baz’s big plan, what was he doing!? “What?” “Insider trading.” You turned to Andrew, “Like, buy shares of my company and, as CIO, I tell you when you buy or sell depending on what we’re up to that will have the stock market value pushed up or down.” “Oh, you can do that?” And then at the look on your face Andrew changed track, “But it would be illegal. I get it. Can I invest in your company though?” “Knock yourself out, but I’m not telling you anything!” “This is your chance to have her never talk about work to you ever again, Pope! I’d take it!” “Shut up!” But there was even a small amused smile on Andrew’s face as Baz laughed this time around. “See all you need is to know some people within companies and you can do insider trading all over your portfolio!!” “I thought we were getting out of crime not getting you in more trouble!” “I’m trying to encourage him!” “Can’t believe I’m about to say it’s better than drugs, but we are not starting with insider trading! Oh my god-!” “Ah! But it is better than pushing drugs! Right Andrew?” Andrew looked to you, and you dare him to say it, “She thinks anything is better than drugs.” “I cannot believe you two.” You turned back to Baz, “Leave right now-! Before he latches onto this...!” “I was only kidding!” But he motioned to leave anyway, grabbing Andrew’s shoulders again, “I know she’s joking but seriously no insider trading, mate, you’ll lose her!” “I’ll lose my job too probably!” “Ah-! Yeah, definitely not-!” Baz waved, “See you later, happy investing!” Then turned back, “Oh yeah! Pope, remember to make sure that portfolio also supports your uptown girls’ lavish lifestyle!” He looked directly at you, tongue in cheek. “WHAT?!” “Gotta cost to run a Lamborghini everywhere in your designer heels and purse, darlin’.” You let Baz know you were not impressed, but that only made him laugh as he started back down the stairs. Andrew watched him go with a shake of his head; “He’s a fucking moron.” “His heart is in the right place.” You mused, turning back to your partner, “Yours is sometimes, too.”

**

Before long Andrew was leaning on his arms staring at your computer screen with a blank look on his face. You thought that meant that his interested attention on this was just about over. You made sure your movement was slow as you ran your hand up his arm and shoulder, stroking his back gently before sifting your fingers through his hair. Andrew’s eyes remained on your screen as he blinked slow, but the quiet hum you pulled from him was enough; he was content. When you moved to shut everything down, he simply nodded and let you continue to stroke his back for a few minutes; he closed his eyes, moving his head to rest across his arms and you knew Andrew felt safe, he trusted you enough to simply do that. Baz gave you a general call soon after: “Kids! We’re eating if you wanna come grab something.” Andrew was slow off the mark, wanting to stay with just you for a little while longer, but when he followed you downstairs, Baz and Jay were out of the way of the main room and kitchen. You sat yourself up on the counter as you both continued your conversation, sometimes with words and sometimes in silence but fluid, there was no break in communication, not even once. Andrew remained as close to you as possible and you ate in comfortable silence, still content to sit up on the counter. He seemed a little too into touching you today, nearly always keeping a hand on one part of you – you were prepared to call him possessive; it was surely Jay’s presence making him do this. If not you’d welcome a change up, but you highly doubted that after all this time Andrew would do such a thing. You let him if only to revel in the attention, making sure to afford him affection back, hand over his, or touching him in the same place. All very delicate – and yet kissing you was a step too far, no matter how close he got. You’d persuade one out of him eventually, you were sure… You spent a little time after that talking with Jay and Baz, glad that the other three weren’t present. Although not entirely sure why, also not eager to find out. Andrew’s participation in the conversation barely registered, attention on you the whole time. Today not hard to keep, and very much wanted. If only you could guarantee such a thing more regularly… and yet maybe if Baz and yourself managed to achieve something, and start something here, perhaps you really could. Eventually your mobile rudely interrupted you. “What? No! Stay!” Baz protested. “Much as I would love to,” you glanced to Andrew, “and I really would – David’s in town so I gotta go meet him.” “David?” “Brother.” Andrew answered for you. You noticed how it never quite got back to his family that your foster brother also happened to be a cop. Long may it remain that way. “Aw, bring him here!” “Uh. NO.” You waved that one off quickly, “It was lovely to meet you Jay! Baz, a pleasure as always!” “No worries – I’ll call you later this week, yeah?” “You may.” You gave him a wink, as if he needed your permission, and collected your bag before Andrew walked you to the door. “If you need me to get you a computer-” He made a sound of discontent, “Let’s just- see how it goes. Okay?” “Alright, but I’m here for you, you know that, right?” “Of course I do.” He gave a nod, “I said I’d try. I’m not breaking a promise to you.” Try was a big word, Andrew was always trying for you… You just wanted something to stick now. You prayed it would be this. His hand remained in yours until you got to the outside door, where you swivelled back to him, gathering his other hand. “Thank you, for hearing us out on this.” “Save that for more than day one.” “But there’s a day one!” You beamed, “That already means more to me than you can imagine.” Andrew gave a nonchalant shrug, but he could imagine, quite clearly. You pulled yourself into him, brushing your lips gently to his. As he wasn’t being so generous with his kisses today, you were content to leave it as just that. Instead Andrew let your hands go and locked his arms behind your shoulders; keeping you against his lips, Andrew’s kiss became fierce. Oh, you’ll kiss me like this now your nephew isn’t in sight, huh?! But you wanted it; pushing your body up against his you wound your arms around him, fingers tangling back in his hair as he coaxed a gentle groan from you. Of course that was what Andrew wanted, by the way he smirked into the kiss. He pulled back, leaving you a little wide eyed and whiney, automatically craving more than that – and trying to catch your breath without panting too hard. By the way his eyes were studying your face (and liking what he saw), Andrew was clearly going to leave it there and took a step back as if to prove it. “Will I see you later?” It took a moment for what he’d said to register, “Uh, I… We’re having dinner, but as far as I know he’s driving back. Do you want me back… here?” “Call me when you’re done. I’ll see where I’m at.” “O-Okay…” Your head was still swimming from the kiss, and he shook his head slowly at you, granting you a single chaste one for balance, and as a mercy. You almost verbally thanked him. You took Andrew’s hand back in yours to walk those final two steps out of the house and the door, before turning to say your final goodbyes. Probably not for the day, maybe you’d get to see him later on. Hopefully he’d make good on that kiss – there’s no way Andrew didn’t know you didn’t want to leave him now. As you walked towards your car he couldn’t resist calling after you: “Don’t forget to keep me up to date on what you’re doing before you report to the street!” You couldn’t help but burst out laughing as you slid into your car, “Hell no, Andrew Cody! We aren’t doing that!” As you buckled up and started your engine he strolled over, so you wound your window down, “What?” He leant on your car door, “I did want to thank you for coming up. On account of everything else you do. Take care of yourself.” You rubbed his hands affectionately with a small smile, “You don’t have to thank me verbally.” Evidence, that’s what you really wanted. “I will, make sure you do too. No insider trading! I’m serious!” “No promises. Say hi to David.” You rolled your eyes, “Yeah, he’s exactly the kind of person who’d pick you up on it… Stay safe, at least until I call you again.” Andrew gave a nod, but it wouldn’t surprise you if his fingers were crossed behind his back as he stepped away from your car, hand raised. You waved back, taking a deep breath. One step at a time… You could do this, the three of you could do this if you worked together… It would be worth it; the road might be long but the destination was worth getting to. If Andrew could see that. He will, one day he will… You smiled as you pulled from the curb, you had faith, you believed in him. You had a future. There was nothing else worth believing in.

---

Thank you for reading! 😘😘😘

[eluminium]

Raiding the Train: Endings

Hello Hello and welcome to all the endings for my Henry Stickmin Fanfaction, The Bowtie Bastards and their game Raiding the Train! All these endings are based on the endings gotten in Completing the Mission. 

WARNING! SPOILERS ARE COMING UP! IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED COMPLETING THE MISSION DO NOT CLICK “KEEP READING”. YOU HATH BEEN WARNED BY A SWEDISH GREMLIN.

     There are 4 categories, Toppat Related Endings, Solo Endings, Partnered Endings and Government Related Endings. They’ll come in that order.

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                                    ¤~Toppat Related Endings~¤

Toppat King - Due to the great rise of the Toppat Clan, The Bowtie Bastards team up with the government to try and take them down. They chase down Henry (similar to how he chased down Reginald in ItA if you pick the plastic ball) but just as it seems that Henry has lost he manages to use a Gadget Gabe tool to mind control/brainwash Couductor Elg. Since its such a taboo to betray someone in the Bowtie Bastards, especially the Conductor, the gang switch sides at her order and they force the government to retreat. Now with The Conductor firmly under his control, he's now the leader of both the Toppat Clan and the Bowtie Bastards.                                        

Ending name: Hats and Ties

Toppat Recruits - After being accepted into the clan, Henry has to return the Romanian Ruby as promised. But when the day they ruby is supposed to be returned comes a Bowtie Bastards spy inside the Toppat clan steals it from Henry. Reginald is furious and threatens to kick Henry out of he doesn't find the ruby in 12 hours. So Henry corners the Bowtie who stole the Ruby and makes him reveal where it is now. It's now on the Bowtie Bastards train back at earth and Ellie offers her help in retrieving it. They get down to earth and retake the ruby but Henry notices another valuable jewel that could boost his favor with Reginald, the Portuguese Purpurnite. He steals that too and with Ellie's help, he brings them back to Reginald. Reginald is surprised but delighted about the added bonus of the Purpurnite and promotes Henry and Ellie to high ranking positions within the clan, citing their loyalty, efficiency, and determination.  

Ending name: Risen Ranks

Toppat 4 Life - Henry hears that the Bowtie Bastards are currently in a really bad spot and vulnerable, so he plans an all-out raid on them because riches make clan better uwu. Unfortunately, they drag the attention of literally almost every faction out there, and now everyone wants a piece of the Bowtie pie. So a gigantic battle occurs and the Toppat's retreat to their space station when most of the other factions bail too. This leaves the Bowtie Bastards in ruin, yet the climate in the crime world has forever changed.                      

Ending name: New allies, New Enemies

Revenged - Henry fucking dead lol you cant choose this one

Toppat Civil Warfare - After being cut off from the Toppat clan the Henry squad is running low on funds with Ellie's sides constantly harassing them. While wandering the desert they find the Bowtie Bastards train and by twisting their story about being kicked out a bit they are granted sanctuary by Conductor Elg. But they keep secretly stealing cash from the Bowtie Bastards to fund the civil war against Ellie and the other Toppats. But one day the train stops and outside the train is the rest of the Toppat Clan because the Bowtie Bastards were actually allied with Ellie's side of the civil war. They basically set up a trap for Henry's side. A big battle then happens and Henry is clinging onto life so to get away, he plays dead. Ellie comes up to finish him once and for all but she gets backstabbed by Elg, who reveals that she allied with Ellie because the Bowtie Bastards wanted to forever shatter the Toppat clan by killing both sides of the civil war. Ellie dies and the Bowtie Bastards bail. Henry sneaks away with Dave and their fate is unknown.                                           

Ending Name: Forsaken and Fractured

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                                             ¤~Solo Endings~¤

Master Bounty Hunter - Henry gets a bounty on a high ranking Bowtie Bastards member by another crime organization (don't know which one yet) he finishes that bounty but gets captured by some members who force him to reveal who he was working for. When he tells them they freak out a bit and they throw him into a cell temporarily. He escapes of course but now he's started a full-on gang war between The Bowtie Bastards and the faction who hired him.   

Ending name: Accidental War Instigator

Stickmin Space Resort - A few members of the Bowtie Bastards (Including Conductor Elg) stay at the resort undercover because they want a nice week out. However, they commit way too many mildly irritating things by mistake and Henry decides that he want to be a petty bitch today. So he heads down and sabotages their train while also stealing the Conductors Bowtie aka one of if not the most important things to the gang. When they find out Henry SELLS the bowtie back to them for a hefty sum of money which is a huge embarrassment to the Bowtie Bastards.                                             

Ending name: Petty Business

Jewel Baron - After collecting the 3 jewels from earlier, Henry decides that 3 isn't enough. He hears about the Portuguese Purpurnite, which is currently owned by the Bowtie Bastards. So he goes, does his thing, and steals the precious stone.                                                 

Ending name: Gem Harvester

Free Man - A few months after the whole "getting captured by the Toppat clan and then escaping" thing Henry is actually trying to return to a more normal life. One day while he's doing some paperwork at his local bank a Bowtie Bastards raid happens at said bank and Henry gets shoved in a money bag. The next thing he knows he's on the bowtie bastards train because they accidentally took the bag he was in. As he's escaping he catches a TV broadcast about the attack on the bank. Apparently, all the money in that bank is gone, causing him and many others to basically be broke at the moment. So he uses some bullshit thing to teleport all the money back to the bank because he ain't gonna be broke again and he has interest on those savings. After that, he escapes and returns to his "normal" life.                                             

Ending name: Interest in Normality

Little Nest Egg - While Henry is trying to get all the riches he stole to a safe place some employees of the Wall try to recapture him because after Henry did the thing Dmitri found out Henry wasn't actually dead and got furious. But before Henry is completely screwed by The Wall he runs into the Bowtie Bastards. They offer to let him become a member and protect him if he gives all the riches to them. Seeing no other option Henry joins the Bowtie Bastards and then later defends the train when The Wall tries to raid it and capture him.          

Ending name: TRAINed for Thievery

Clean 'em Out - Henry's gotten very comfortable in a life of riches after his successful robbery of the Toppats but he forgot someone from his past. Ellie. After she escaped The Wall she came to look for revenge on Henry for abandoning her. She tries to rob him but Henry catches her. During their confrontation, the Bowtie Bastards suddenly appear (having planed a robbery on Henry for a while) and rob Henry while he is busy with Ellie. Ellie is now totally lost because she focused so much on revenge and Henry is dirt poor again, so they make an uneasy alliance to get the stuff back with Henry promising to give half to Ellie so she'll help him then leave him alone after they're done. When they finally steal all the things back Henry can either betray Ellie again or hold up his part of the deal.                                            

Ending name if Henry betrays Ellie again: Taker of Opportunities

Ending name if Henry doesn't betray Ellie: Unanticipated Teamwork

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                                        ¤~Partnered Endings~¤

Pardoned Pals - After being pardoned, Henry and Ellie start accumulating into normal society for once. But when they stumble upon The Bowtie Bastards during a failed heist, they take advantage of the chaos to try and get some loot for themselves. But they get caught. However, they use some big brain plays to convince the cop who caught them that they were trying to put the riches back from where they were stolen. They return the big treasures (to keep the cover) but they manage to get away with some smaller loot.                 

 Ending name: Old habits pay Off

Capital gains - After Henry and Ellie become part of the 1% the Bowtie Bastards take an interest. (because they hate rich people since they benefit from the society that oppresses others and they especially hate rich people who were poor once yet they don't help out the current poor) They steal a lot of riches from the duo and flee. Henry and Ellie aren't gonna let these bowtie bitches steal their loot so they attack the train with the tank and not only steal their stuff back but also all the Bowtie Bastards loot as well. Conductor Elg is also gravely injured by them and its unknown if she survives or perishes.                   

 Ending name: Dragons on their Hoard

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                                 ¤~Government Related Endings~¤

Special BROvert Ops - Henry and Charles are called to order by General Galeforce to deal with a huge security breach. You see, the Bowtie Bastards have gotten their hands on the plans for a superweapon. Henry must steal em back before they do something nasty with it. Of course, he does but they don't manage to escape before the Bowtie Bastards shoot them down. They both survive with some injuries but now they're stuck without any way to contact anyone.                                                      

Ending name: Stuck

Valiant hero - A few weeks have gone by since Charles'es death. General Galeforce, seeing how much Henry is grieving, decides to let him look at what would be Charles'es next operations if he survived and possibly take part in any of them to "finish any work left". Henry notices that the next big (and last) operation Charles was given was a raid on the Bowtie Bastards. Henry agrees with the military to take part in the raid with other military members. But a few days before the scheduled raid Henry catches a TV broadcast where it's revealed that the remaining Toppats who escaped the exploding space station were picked up by the Bowtie Bastards. He sees red, finds the train, and totally destroys the Bowtie Bastards by himself. He murders all the remaining Toppats by hand and Conductor Elg as well, for accepting those rats into her organization.                                                   

Ending name: In His Honor

Triple Threat - Following many successful attacks on many factions by the Triple Threat Trio the Bowtie Bastards see them as too much of a threat to keep alive, so they capture the Triple Threat Trio and lock them in the train. While they try to escape both The Wall and the Government arrive too either rescue them or recapture Ellie and Henry. With the chaos erupting from all these factions interacting the Triple Threat Trio gathers important info on many factions that the Bowtie Bastards have and then they bail after almost being capture by The Wall. With all the information the Bowtie Bastards had on other factions the Government starts to crack down hard on them all, causing great panic in the crime world.                                                   

Ending name: Crime World Butterfly Effect

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Those are all the current endings for Raiding the Train! I might change them up if i feel like it but for now, this is it. Thank you for reading!

[wizardessheart-sideb]

Since I was up so early in the morning, it was hard waking up. Part of me wanted to ask Isabelle to just drag me out of bed, but somehow, I managed to get up and ready. When I got to class, I took my usual spot next to Tsukasa.

“Are you okay?” he asked, a frown on his face.

“Do I look that bad?”

He waited a second too long to answer.

“You look tired.” So it was bad, wasn’t it?

“Yeah, I didn’t get much sleep this morning,” I admitted as I pulled my notebook out. He gave me a sympathetic look, patting my arm. I gave him a soft smile.

“Hopefully you can take a nap after classes,” he suggested.

“I plan on it.” I glanced to the side to see Viggo and Fandamilia’s places empty. Even if Isabelle didn’t like her, she was nice to me and I would give her the benefit of the doubt for now. “Where’s Millie?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen her since last night” Tsukasa shrugged. “Maybe she’ll come in later.”

“She probably will,” Clive spoke up from my right. “If she drinks too much, she’ll miss our classes before lunch.” Was… Was this something normal with her? I gave Clive a quizzical look and he deflated a bit. “Fandamilia likes partying. I’m sure she just had too much to drink and she’ll be here by lunch.”

But she didn’t show. I kept waiting for her to come in late. I waited for her to come in after lunch. But she didn’t show up. Normally, I wouldn’t be worried and Clive kept trying to convince me it was fine, that she was probably just nursing a hangover, but it didn’t sit right with me. She’d been so upset last night. Was she okay?

The bell rang, dismissing us. I shoved my things into my bag and hurried back to the dorms, trying to find Fandamilia’s room. As I got to the top floor, there was only one suite that had the door shut. I opened it and immediately heard muffled sobbing. Viggo sat on the ground outside a door, arms folded over his chest. For a moment, he perked up, but then he went back to looking sour.

“Oh. It’s just you,” he said.

“Uh, hi?” I looked at the door behind him. The nameplate read “Fandamilia and Catrina.” So the crying was coming from her room. “Is… Is Fandamilia crying?”

“Yeah,” he answered, rolling his eyes. I moved to knock on the door, but Viggo grabbed my leg. “Hold on. She’s not going to let you in.”

“How do you know?”

“She didn’t let me in.” Again, that awful attitude. What is it with men here?!

“Uh, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re different people,” I couldn’t help but snap back. “Maybe she’ll let me in.”

“Aw, you’re being sassy with other men? I’m heartbroken.”

“Huh?!” I turned around to see Zett standing in the doorway, dramatically pretending to faint. “Zett?! What’re you doing here?!” Seriously?! We’re doing this AGAIN?!

“Viggo asked me to bring him some things.” He gave me a smile as he moved towards Viggo, who stood up. “You know, I was going to call you out for having a party without me when you told me what you wanted, but…” His eyes flicked over to Fandamilia’s door.

“You got it though, right?” Viggo asked.

“Of course I did.” Zett reached into his peram and pulled out a couple of bottles of wine. It suddenly clicked.

“Viggo, do you really think this is the right time to give Fandamilia alcohol?” I demanded.

“What else am I supposed to give her?”

“Money to go to therapy?” Zett suggested, folding his arms. “What happened?”

“She got into a fight with her crush and she’s been crying ever since,” Viggo told him. I knew she wasn’t doing that great last night when she stood up for us, but I had no idea she’d be this distraught over what happened.

“Oh, so you’re just going to give her wine until she forgives you?” Zett asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It was someone else,” I told him. He looked like he wanted to die.

“Oh. Uh, still, do you think this is the right thing to do? She’s the one with the drinking problem, right?” Zett said, although he still looked incredibly uncomfortable.

“Look, I’d love to do something else for her, but I can’t. She can’t go to therapy and this is the only thing besides books that I can give her to make her feel better and make her stop crying,” Viggo argued.

“You’re loaded. Just help her pay for sessions,” Zett suggested.

“No, it’s – ugh. I don’t want to air out her trauma, but therapy triggers her,” Viggo said. My heart broke for her. Zett frowned, eyes cast down onto the floor.

“That sucks that she can’t get help,” he said. Viggo sighed and folded his arms against his chest.

“Believe or not, she is. She’s better here than in the Day Class. The Prefects there are so incompetent. Noir and Blanc can help her better than they could,” Viggo told us. They could help? They were more helpful than the Day Class Prefects? Why would the Day Class even be involved with us? “This is just a security blanket for her. She’ll be fine as long as I’m close by,” Viggo said. Zett’s eyes slid over to Fandamilia’s door and he cringed.

“Are you sure about that?” Viggo glared at him and even though it wasn’t directed at me, a shiver ran down my back. Nope. You know what? This wasn’t my problem. I felt bad for Fandamilia but she wasn’t going to be coming out anytime soon and this atmosphere was getting stressful. I slipped out of the room and headed to Tsukasa’s suite. He’d probably want to know what was happening with Fandamilia.

I wandered the halls for a while before finding the suite. Tsukasa was in his kitchen, a plate of cinnamon-sugar toast in front of him. He perked up when our eyes met and he gave me a small wave.

“So, uh, I found Fandamilia. She’s doing bad,” I said, sitting down across from him. He sighed, face scrunching up.

“I was worried about that,” he said.

“Did stuff happen at the Night Cafe after I left with Zeus, or…?” I asked. Tsukasa put his piece of toast down and nodded.

“Yeah. Fandamilia started crying after you two left and she tried to order more drinks and I guess you can guess where it went from there,” he told me. So this has been going on for a while now…

“Is she really that upset over talking back to Zeus? Does she like him that much?”

“I guess. I don’t really know her,” Tsukasa shrugged. “Did you see her?”

“No. I went to her dorm and Viggo was sitting outside it and I could hear her crying from out in the hallway,” I informed him. Tsukasa sadly shook his head as he listened. We stayed and chatted for a bit, both of us resolving to go see Fandamilia later and check on her. I know Viggo was doing what he thought was best, but letting her get drunk wasn’t going to do her any favors.

It was getting late and I headed back to my own suite for dinner. As I approached it, I noticed the door was shut. Huh. I hadn’t seen a closed suite door at all and for some reason, it made me feel apprehensive. But I opened the door and as soon as I did, I could hear yelling coming from the kitchen. It was Isabelle. I didn’t exactly want to eavesdrop, but she made it hard to avoid it.

“You are such a fucking idiot sometimes, I swear!” she shouted at someone. Was she fighting with Aika? Or Dorian? Or someone else?

“I know, I know, Izzy, lay off.” My heart pounded at that voice. He really was just popping up everywhere in my life, wasn’t he? Something possessed me and I peeked into the kitchen. Isabelle was at the stove, hands on her hips, and Zett was at the table, looking sheepish of all things. Isabelle’s magenta eyes met mine and her face softened a bit.

“Ugh. How much did you hear?” she asked.

“Um, just that’s Zett’s an idiot and he knows this,” I replied. Her shoulders slumped a bit, as if a weight was off them. Zett laughed.

“Isabelle’s right to be mad at me, don’t worry about it,” he told me. “But we all make mistakes, right?” Isabelle’s eyes widened and the look on her face was… Well, she looked like she was about to snap.

“Bitch, you tried to sell drugs to a COP. That’s… ugh!” She turned back to the stove, working on something in a bowl. I looked back to Zett, incredulous.

“You did what?”I demanded. Again, he looked sheepish.

“I made a bad business decision and now Viggo’s letting me stay with him until things die down a bit in town,” he said.

“Really? He’s letting you stay with him? He looked pretty mad earlier,” I said.

“Oh yeah, he’s mad, but I asked for a favor instead of him paying me for the errand, so…” He grinned at me, resting his chin on top of his hand. “I guess we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other from here on out.”

“I can’t believe you’re acting so nonchalant about this,” Isabelle spoke up harshly, whipping around to face him. “You’re acting like this is some joke to you.”

“I mean, it is kind of funny I almost sold magic cocaine to a cop,” Zett said. I didn’t know what part of that sentence to address first.

“You’re going to end up getting killed someday if you keep this up,” she said, pointing a batter-covered spatula at him. “You can’t keep doing this.”

“I have a retirement plan, but I’m nowhere near where I want to be,” he said.

“Why have a retirement plan? Do you really think you’re going to live to see thirtyat this rate? It’s a miracle you haven’t already been killed,” Isabelle said.

“Don’t underestimate me, I have-”

“Your ways, I know. To be honest, I don’t think you’re as clever as you think you are, but really, this is more about others. No one in town likes you except maybe that one girl you keep talking about, the one in the cult. Do you really you can keep going on like this here?” she demanded.

“Look, I get it, Isabelle. Can you please lay off me?” Zett’s eyes narrowed and there was a harsh edge to his voice. On one hand, I understood Isabelle’s frustration but on the other hand, she was being a little harsh. But she was right. Zett could easily get himself killed. And it was only because of a favor that he would be safe for however long he was hiding out here.

Jeez. The last couple of days have thrown curve balls at me. Not only was school hard (which I knew), but it felt like everyone was tied to Zett. And I had no idea if that was a good thing or not.