#he's still super cool in my book and when i do remember him like Yeah Top Antags For Sure | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

strniohoeee · 1 year ago

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Matt with a gf who likes to paint and read, and since so many people compare Matt to Flynn rider they dress up as Flynn and Rapunzel for Halloween. A little smutty if you want 🤭

Sunshine

Pairing: Matt Sturniolo X Female Reader

Synopsis: Matt and Y/N are dating, he loves how artsy and cute she is. And they decided to go to a costume party as Rapunzel and Flynn. 💐

Warnings⚠️: Suggestive parts, but no sex in this one😙

Song for the imagine: K.- Cigarettes After Sex

Flower, gleam and glow

Let your powers shine

Make the clock reverse

Bring back what once was mine

Heal what has been hurt

It was such a beautiful day today, and I was getting a little tired of spending it cooped up in the house. Matt and his brothers were still sleeping as expected it was 7AM.

I decided to get up and do my morning routine before making myself coffee. I sat in the living room opening the curtains to let the warm light in as the sun was finishing rising. The sky, beautiful tinges of orange and blue. This feeling made me all emotional and happy.

I sat down facing the window as I sipped my coffee sitting in silence. I was listening to the birds chirping and the wind rustle through the palm trees. So sad that we take advantage of such simple things like this.

I got up to make myself a bagel when I realized I purchased a book yesterday. As my bagel toasted I walked into Matt’s room, tip-toeing over to the bag on the desk pulling out my book.

I walked back over to the kitchen as I put my bagel together and went back over to the couch. As I ate I read my book “A stolen life” . It was a true story about a girl getting kidnapped and escaping about 20 years later. It was good, but it was so sad

After eating I washed my dishes, and decided to put my book back in the room. Then I remembered I was painting yesterday out in the yard

I headed out back with a cup of water to clean my brush and some paper towels. I connected my phone to the speaker as I began to finish my painting.

This feeling was everything to me. The cool air around me, the beautiful morning sky, the birds chirping, no cars on the road. I was actually painting a picture of a sunrise. Matt always told me he’s never awake for one, so I wanted to paint him one super realistically, so he’d always have a sunrise to wake up to.

K. By Cigarettes After Sex started playing, and immediately a smile grew on my face. This was the first song Matt and I ever listened to and it was on our first date. So weird how the timing was.

I was singing along lowly as I painted when I heard the side door open. Turning my head I smiled at Matt.

“Morning sunshine” I said laughing

“How are you up so early?” He asked rubbing his eye and walking over to me

“I’m not too sure, but I just wanted to see the beautiful morning sky” I said continuing to paint

“You’re odd, I love that” he said laughing and pulling me in for a kiss

“I love you too” I said pulling away from the kiss and rolling my eyes playfully

“And our songs playing” he said smiling down

“Timing is so strange right” I said continuing to paint

“It is, what are you painting?” He asked standing behind me

“A sunrise for you. Since you told me you’re never awake for one I thought I’d paint you one to hang up in your room. And then this way you’ll always wake up to a sunrise” I said

“How’d I get so lucky, this shit makes me fall in love with you more and more” he said wrapping his hands around my waist and leaning his head on my shoulder

“Matttt” I said blushing

“What it’s the truth” he said pulling away

“My beautiful talented girlfriend who paints sentimental things for me I LOVE IT” he yelled the last part

“Shhh” I said laughing and covering his mouth

“Would you ever paint me?” He asked pulling me in and looking in my eyes

“You know I’d love that actually I haven’t painted a person since high school art class” I said looking back at him

“Mmm I have the perfect set up” he said

“Oh yeah and that is?” I said leaning in and kissing him

“Me nude surrounded by plants and shit like a Greek god” he said after pulling away from the kiss

“Mmmm I don’t know that I’ll be able to focus” I said trailing my hands down his arms

“Too much for you?” He asked with a smirk

“You know you’re too much for me” I said alluding to his size

“Ouuu my ego baby, just grew” he said clutching his heart

“I’ll consider it though, I like that idea” I said snaking my hands over his shoulders and pulling him in for a hug

Matts hands started trailing down my back and to my ass squeezing slightly.

“Behave Matt” I said looking at him

“On my best behavior” he said winking

“Don’t forget the costume parties tonight” he said pulling away

“Oh my gosh yes how could I forget” I said pulling away

“Do you have your whole costume?” He asked me

“Of course I do Matt I’m not an amateur” I said cleaning up my brushes and getting ready to head inside

“Flynn and Rapunzel” Matt said

“Except I don’t have the long blonde hair like Rapunzel” I said laughing

“Doesn’t matter you’re Rapunzel in my eyes” he said smiling at me

“And they say chivalry is dead” I said grasping my heart

Matt rolled his eyes and pulled me in for a kiss. It slowly became heated as his hands ran down my back and gripped my ass. His lips moved down to my jawline and then my neck.

“Oh Matt” I sighed out as I tilted my head back

“I love you so much, I can’t control myself” he said pulling away

I ran my hands through his hair as he came back in to make out with me. I was about to sit him down on a lawn chair and get to business but we were cut off

“AHEM” we both heard and we broke apart looking over

“Oh….hi Chris” I said smiling

“I come out to feel the breeze and enjoy the light and what do I get? My brother and his girl about to get busy” he said

“Chris shut the fuck up we were not about to do anything” Matt says rolling his eyes

“Yeah yeah whatever I know what my eyes saw” he said walking back into the house

“My own brother…..a cockblocker” Matt said pulling away and sighing

I just laughed and began to clean up my stuff before we headed inside.

Matt and I spent most of the day laying around, cleaning up, chilling with his brothers and I cooked some lunch for them.

Matt actually forced all of us to watch Tangled in light of our costume idea. His brothers found it corny, but I found it funny.

The house party started at 9, and Matt and I were currently getting ready. I finished my hair and makeup and decided to get dressed

I put on the purple corset with the purple short skirt and my white heels, I grabbed my plushy chameleon and put my crown on

I stepped out into Matt’s room from the bathroom

“Thoughts?” I asked spinning for him

“Wow” was all he said as he looked at me

“Starstruck?” I asked him

“Very, you look so fucking good” he said

“You look hot too as Flynn” I said walking over to him

“We could ditch the party” he said giving me a sly smile

“No Matt we’re not ditching the party” I said rolling my eyes

He pulled me in by my waist looking down at me before smashing his lips to mine. Slowly turning it onto a make out session as he let his hand rest on my neck

I pulled away before looking at him

“Matt my lip gloss” I said pouting

“Oh please” he said rolling his eyes

I smirked at him before pulling him in for another kiss. My hands raking through his hair.

“Okay no more or I won’t control myself” he said pulling away

“Awww but I was enjoying it” I said pouting and running my hand down to his dick lightly squeezing

“WOAH OKAY” he said pulling away

I smirked at him before stepping away. I reapplied my lipgloss and we decided to take pictures for his Instagram.

We stood infront of his mirror as he snaked his arm around my back gripping my ass.

“Mr. Handsy” I said giggling

“Says you” he said back

We snapped a few pictures and he posted some on his story

We decided to head out with his brothers and went over to the party. We enjoyed ourselves the whole night. Occasionally teasing each other with lingering touches and frisky dance moves.

“Want to head upstairs?” Matt asked me

“Sure lover boy” I responded

Matt and I made our way up to an empty room shutting the door behind us. He immediately smashed his lips to mine back tracking us to the bed.

Matt sat down and I sat next to him as we continued to make out.

“I need you” Matt whispered

I nodded and slowly moved my hand down to his dick palming him through his pants as he whimpered out.

“So good to me” he said letting his head fall back

I began to kiss down his neck as I palmed him. I went to unzip his pants when the door busted open

“OH SHIT SORRY GUYS” some random guy said before slamming the door shut

Matt and I sighed….the mood immediately being ruined

“I guess we’ll have to wait till we’re home” he said

“Yeah” I said giggling

Matt pecked my lips one more time before we got up and headed out to enjoy the party.

That night when we got home we finally had some much waited alone time.

The End

Hiiii hope you guys enjoyed this one. I got two more stories to write before I open my requests. I LOVE YALLLLL🤭🖤🖤🖤

-J💅🏽

#matt sturniolo smut #sturniolo triplet smut #sturniolo smut #matthew sturniolo smut #smut

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eddiessluttywaist · 2 years ago

Text

desiderium

an eddie munson series

AGELESS/BLANK/UNDER 18 BLOGS ARE NOT WELCOME TO INTERACT. PLEASE RESPECT MY RULES AND BOUNDARIES.

summary: eddie’s odd, forgotten childhood friend seeks him out when he needs her more than he realizes.

pairing: bsf!mechanic!bartender!eddie x eccentric!bsf!fem!reader

word count: 4,752 words

content/warnings: eventual smut so MDNI, angst, swearing, loneliness, mentions of drugs and crime, mentions of imprisonment, family issues, feeling unwanted, slight bullying, anxiety, nightmares, insomnia, depression, loss and grief, mentions of spit, super brief mention of alcohol and vomit, very brief mentions of breakups and inappropriate sexual relations (nothing reader or eddie are apart of). i think that’s it!

a/n: this is my first attempt at a slow burn series so i hope it’s good! i’m also trying a new setup with photos instead of gifs ^ i’ve seen a lot of other people do it and i think it looks really cool so! also creds to who owns and posted these photos! they’re not mine, i just made the collage!

part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - part 4 - part 5

Eddie Munson had grown bitter since you last saw him. To be fair, the last time you saw him was when you were kids but still. You always knew him to be boisterous. Adventurer Eddie. Eddie with the weird ideas and cool drawings. Eddie who made you laugh until your stomach cramped and you would cry out that he was going to make you wet yourself.

You didn’t know it as a kid but even then he couldn’t catch a break from the world around him, and apparently it never stopped spiraling even when it beat him into a hollow shell covered in grease during the weekdays and alcohol—and occasionally vomit—on the weekends. He was worn down by his own worries that never seemed to cease and miserable stories of others admitting things they should’ve never said aloud. Sometimes the stories were fun or at least amusing, but mostly just depressing. This was Hawkins after all.

This wasn’t an Eddie you knew. Had someone told you that man in the garage wasn’t him, you simply would’ve nodded and kept going on your journey to find him.

But it was him, and you were positive he was meant to be back in your life. No matter how much it was hurting right now.

You didn’t know why he left at first. It was as if he ceased to exist, and sometimes—when you were all alone at night—you wondered if he had been a ghost. If he had been an imaginary friend, but surely not? He had his own home you hung out in. His own dad who let you guys eat too much junk food and stay up too late. He looked and sounded real when he would scarf down several bowls of honeycomb cereal with those slurping noises you always hated and would whine at him over. He felt real when you would play wrestle—and unfortunately very real when he won and would pin you down while slowly letting a string of saliva stretch down towards your face in an empty threat. He never really did it, but it was gross all the same, and when he’d let up you’d punch his arm as hard as you could.

One day, you asked if your parents remembered him and your father scoffed at the question while he stared at the newspaper, but at least he acknowledged you at all. Meanwhile your mother had all her focus on putting her earrings in and checking her makeup in the small mirror on a wall surrounded by family photos. Those framed pictures felt emptier than the looming threat of Eddie’s spit touching your face.

“Well his father’s a bottom feeder stuck in prison,” your dad flicked his paper to straighten it out again from where it had begun to bow backwards. “And his kid is probably no better. You’ll make other friends.”

You never understood why he was so cold about the loss of your only friend. You’ll make other friends. Yeah right. No one liked you. Everyone made fun of the way you sat idly on swings just to kick on occasion as you focused more on the book in your hands, or the way you’d squat down and give all your attention to a bug in front of you. Either a line of ants that you regarded with pure intrigue because you wondered how they always filed so neatly and did their best to stay together. Sometimes you left crumbs by them just to see if you could watch them pick them up. You’d watch snails and show them the attentiveness and respect you felt they deserved as they slowly trudged along—so determined, you thought. You’d watch butterflies and try to keep track of all the different kinds you saw. A lot of them were small and fluttery with those buttery white wings, but sometimes you saw a monarch and your eyes would grow large with excitement.

You cried when Zachary McKay would stomp on the anthills or teased you about how the French ate snails—something his dad would say was just more proof of how odd Europeans are. They were one of those arrogant “We love our Country!” households with an “I can do whatever I want—America is the land of the free” ideology and it showed in their unbridled and privileged ass of a child. You didn’t inform him that one Spring of the wasp nest that formed on the underside of the slide he frequented. Maybe it was mean, but you were content in silence over on your swing when you heard him crying out in pain one day. He developed a crush on you in high school that dramatically contrasted how he treated you in grade school—and even tried to make a move at Maddi Ecker’s 17th birthday party—but you could only think of the ants and the snails. You turned him down and he was horrible to you again.

You eventually did make some friends, other odds and ends throughout your school, but it wasn’t the same as it was with Eddie. Maybe it was childish and stubborn, but you could feel it deep in your gut that he was one of a kind. So you couldn’t let him go. All those years you ached for your friend who you considered lost. He always came up with wild stories and (when you were still relatively young) you imagined he had become a pirate and was lost at sea. Or became a gunslinger in the Wild West and didn’t draw fast enough. Maybe he went to slay dragons and wound up a burnt crisp of a human. That last one made you cringe the most, but he probably would’ve liked it the most. He loved mythical creatures the way you adored real creatures. By high school you weren’t as naive. You heard about his dad—caught with multiple charges of grand theft auto, a hit-and-run in one of said stolen cars, and dealing drugs. The hard shit. Not weed or shrooms. But the kind of stuff that really ruins lives.

You always thought Eddie had a good home. His dad didn’t hate him the way you were sure your parents hated you, and he had a nice house. It wasn’t a mansion or anything, but they really didn’t need anything beyond a one story and a sizable basement with only two of them. In hindsight, you supposed he couldn’t find a home in that childhood house anymore than you could with yours. Yours lacked love. His lacked a reliable source of income.

Over time you heard about the night with all the sirens and social workers. The night he turned into a spirit that had finally moved on—an imaginary friend that your growing mind ceased to conjure. He lived with his uncle over in Indiana, rather than your small town in Ohio. Even in your mid twenties, he flashed in your mind like a small blip on occasion and it still twisted your stomach.

You thought of asking if you should go to him whenever you remembered, but you thought you needed a sign. What if you showed up too early? And you messed up any possible grand plans? So you avoided indulging in questions about him to your tarot cards or over your pendulum map. On occasion you caved and just asked a simple question: is he safe? It was a yes every time you broke and just had to check up on him, and the answer reassured you for long enough until the next time the concern rose up to unbearable levels.

But then you started getting those dreams. Sometimes they were just memories playing from deep within the archives of your mind. Sometimes they were nightmares of yelling at someone to go away, only to realize it was Eddie far too late—and when you wanted to run after him to correct the mistake, you couldn’t move as quickly as you knew you were capable of.

It went on for about a month before you finally broke. Your eyes had snapped open, accidentally waking yourself in the middle of saying what you had been shouting to Dream Eddie out loud into your pitch black room. You glanced at the time. 11:11 PM. You felt your heart skip a beat before you shoved yourself out of bed. You had to take a moment to steady yourself against your bedpost from the sudden movement making you dizzy, but then you were flicking on the light and digging through your belongings. You didn’t even give yourself a chance to wipe away at the thin sheen of sweat over your skin from August heat mixed with a cheap fan that really didn’t make that much of a difference, and the stress from the events that had played deep in your mind while you slept.

With a shaky breath, you smoothed out your map on the floor where you were squatting, and steadily held your pendulum over the center. Does he need me? You finally asked and watched as the chain connected to a sphere of rose quartz slowly began to circle. It sped up and then began to dart in different directions before finally swinging back and forth between both of the “YES''s on the piece of cloth.

It took a little over a month to arrange your departure from your life in small town Ohio—not that small town Indiana was really all that different. You had briefly been back at your childhood house after your lease came to an end for the apartment you shared with a friend (who didn’t want to renew because she wanted to move in with her boyfriend, and you didn’t have the heart to tell her that the card spread you had laid out all pointed towards a breakup). All of this to say you didn’t have a lease or mortgage to tie you down. You certainly didn’t have a boyfriend (you haven’t had one since college), and you didn’t even like your job at the local mart so it was easy to give your two weeks. Your parents were just as sick of your presence now as when you were a child, and were willing to help you in every way possible to get you to just leave again. Had you not been so focused on your end goal, you might’ve taken a beat to really feel the hurt that always came with parents who only came to your aid when it meant keeping you at arm's length. But you couldn’t focus on it and really (for the sake of your mental health) you shouldn’t focus on it. All of your energy went towards Eddie who seemed so far, even if he was supposedly just a few hours and a state line away.

You didn’t have a place yet, which was a mistake on your part for rushing, but you could stay in a motel for the time being. The prices were pretty low anyways and the owner seemed pleasantly surprised by the sudden source of money and company. The lot belonged to her husband who had passed a few years back, so now it was only her running the place. Her daughter helped sometimes, but she had another job to focus on—only coming to help when the older woman was ill. So even though she appeared kind of grumpy at first, she really softened up to you when you wound up padding out of your room the first night and asked if she wanted to play Go Fish. You had been feeling antsy and lonely, and you were right to assume she felt lonely too.

Over the past week or so, you found a friend in that creaking, groaning motel. You did have a bit of a tendency to befriend the adults around you more often than kids your age when you were younger and it still happened now, apparently. A shrink at university pointed out once that it had to do with the lack of guardianship and guidance growing up. That you were trying to replace something that had always been missing, but you didn’t go back to him after a couple sessions. You didn’t like how patronizing he was, telling you things you already knew. And when you asked your dowsing rods if he was sleeping with any of his clients, the two pieces in your fists whipped open in a blatant “Yes!” But he wasn’t around now to make you feel low with his supercilious commentary and his notes that he always scratched down right in front of you. Your parents weren’t around to remind you of how utterly unlovable you can be. It was just you, Martha at Hawkins’ Blue Bird Inn, and hopefully a pleasant reunion on the horizon.

Today was the day to finally see Eddie, and Martha urged some confidence into you this morning before sending you on your way with the directions to the garage. No matter how many times you clarified he was just your childhood best friend, she got that sly look about her that always showed when an adult was all amused about the novice in front of them being openly or involuntarily blind to love.

So there you were. On a mild Wednesday morning in late September, standing before Thacher Tire after a lot of asking around, a lot of time flipping through Martha’s phone book, and even more odd looks. You let out a careful breath, doing your best to reassure yourself with the knowledge that the people you spoke to knew his name in the first place. He had to be here, and even if he wasn’t working today he should at least be employed here. Maybe you could be told when to come back to speak with him or where you could find him outside of work. Would they share something like that? People don’t tend to care about privacy in small towns, that’s why everyone knew (generally) where everyone else was. Maybe if you clarified that you’re an old friend, they wouldn’t treat you as a customer and tell you where he would be.

You were wringing your hands as you eyed the door in front of you. The glass looking in was worn from age and weather, clearly cleaned so people could see through it, but there seemed to be an aging to the corners where the rectangle of glass met the surrounding wood that couldn’t be scrubbed out. It felt like a portal looking into what could be, and you suddenly felt yourself getting anxious with what exactly meant could be. You had a knack for catastrophizing, and spiraled in all of the worst case scenarios until you were running back to your car and abandoning the lot.

“Trust me, it’s not as scary as it seems. Going for those intimidating opportunities is always better in the long run than letting ‘em slip away,'' Martha murmured to you before biting into the sandwich you brought her.

You bought typical fast food that you always came running back to when you were stressed, but she didn’t like the grease. You learned that over the past week when you brought up your bad habit, and her nose scrunched up at the mention of crappy burgers and overly salted fries. Instead you got her a tuna sandwich from the nearby marketplace, and she shared her big jug of iced, sweet tea with you.

“I haven’t seen him for over ten years…,” you sigh, toying with the crackling paper that was wrapped around your cheeseburger. “What if I’m the only one who clung onto our friendship? What if it’s stupid to him?”

“Mm, us women always do hold on longer,” she hummed thoughtfully and you refrained from your urge to correct her old-fashioned view of gender dynamics for the sake of staying on topic. “I still think you should go for it.”

“What if… what if it’s not what I think it’ll be? What if I’ve turned him into someone more fictional than Eddie in my mind, and when I’m faced with how he really is now I just… I dunno…wish I didn’t come here?”

“They never are what you conjure up. They’re always better up here,” she pointed a bony finger to her temple and you focused on one of the curls in her short gray hair for a second before bringing your gaze back to hers. “I still think you should go for it.”

You huff out a laugh at her repetition, smiling sadly to yourself as you look down at your hands and notice the thin sheen of grease on them. Maybe Martha’s right. Maybe this food is gross. You grab a few napkins from the brown paper bag and wipe at your fingers.

“Just think of it this way: is it worse knowing the truth or worse never knowing?”

Eddie had been having a shit day. Actually he had been having a shit week. If he let himself truly indulge in his pessimism, he’d be acknowledging that he’s altogether just had a shit life, but he was trying not to fall into that trap. It would make him the kind of depressed and bitter that made him snap at others and then feel guilty about it—which only made him feel worse about himself.

He hasn’t been sleeping well, a sudden flare up of his insomnia throwing off his circadian rhythm. He thought with how busy his schedule was that he’d knock out the second his head hit the pillow, but he only seemed to be exhausted until he finally laid down. Then was when his thoughts randomly chose to run and his heart would race with the sudden surge of anxiety-inducing thoughts. He was beginning to feel so overwhelmed by everything that his eyes burned with the beginnings of hot tears but he wiped at them carelessly with the heels of his hands before they could become too real. In his mind, they didn’t exist until they fell.

Eddie ached with exhaustion that only seemed to let up when he could actually get a shot at some rest. He ached with loss and grief. He ached with pure misery and painful seclusion and a silent trailer—besides the occasional buzz of electricity through his lamp that he turned back on when he realized he wouldn’t be sleeping anyway, or the groan of the old mobile home settling against its cinder blocks. The upcoming season made itself known through the ever growing chill that formed at night and occasionally blew through every crack and crease of the trailer, making him shiver and pull his blankets up before inevitably growing hot again and kicking them away.

He missed his friends that he rarely saw. Everyone is busy nowadays. He missed Wayne who… god, he couldn’t even think about it. He missed Chrissy who lit up his world Spring of ‘86 just for them to drift apart. People seemed to drift from him a lot. People seemed comfortable with forgetting him and giving a brief call only when they got a pang of guilt at any reminder that they were getting awfully close to leaving him behind. But who was he to drag them down? It was heart-aching enough to live the way he did sometimes, let alone when people acknowledged just how heart-aching it was. Sometimes he even missed his dad, but he always avoided thinking too hard about him before it could sink his mood to a new level that would be hard to crawl out of.

He hadn’t been able to fall asleep Wednesday night until early into Thursday morning. He settled into a deep rest around 4 AM just to be abruptly woken up by his 6:30 alarm to make sure he was at Thacher’s by 7:00.

“Fuck off…,” Eddie groaned out loud and slammed his fist down onto the alarm clock, never lifting his face from where it was planted right against his worn pillow.

He laid there for what felt like forever, but was really only a few minutes before he finally peeled himself out of his spot. Forcing himself from the comfort of his old mattress was never easy, especially when he couldn’t rely on any excuses he made up as a teenager to just flop right back into his bed. He had to get up. He had to work.

He went to make his usual toast just to see there was only the end piece left in his loaf of bread, and let out a guttural groan of frustration as he tilted his head back. He forgot to stop at the store. Grumbling a bitter so that’s how today’s gonna go under his breath, he shoved the sad excuse for a slice of bread into the toaster and then began looking through the kitchen for something else to satiate him until lunch.

He wound up eating what was left in his jar of peanut butter with a spoon after slathering the small piece of toast with jelly. He didn’t have time to clean a travel mug (which he forgot to clean last night) so he took a regular one with him on his commute, and wound up dumping his coffee all over himself mid-sip when he had to stop short for a kid suddenly biking across the road. The young teen laughed at the close call and made his way to the other side of the street. Eddie glanced down at his drenched t-shirt and coveralls, releasing his third irritated groan of the morning while he rolled his eyes up to the ceiling of his van before focusing back on the road and moving his foot to the gas. He focused on taking deep breaths as he gripped the steering wheel and made his way to the shop.

Thankfully, Linda had already started a pot of coffee in the break room which he happily drank and patted at his wet clothing with one of the blue shop towels. Staining was inevitable and it really didn’t matter with the coveralls anyways, but that didn’t mean he had to be damp. Taking that moment at the start of his shift helped with his mood, but the amount of customers bitching over the phone about how long it was taking to get their cars back were steadily draining him back into a surly mood. The most he had to look forward to and keep himself from unnecessarily snapping at someone was the fact that it was almost the weekend—and yes he would still have to work nights at The Hideout, but at least he didn’t have to get up early.

Never knowing was decidedly worse.

You had concluded this after ruminating on it all night—with and then without Martha’s help. And despite all of your anxieties that were just barely buried under the surface, you made yourself go to the garage again.

An obnoxious, tinny bell sounded and a dull voice said from behind a counter: Welcome to Thacher Tire. What can we do for you?

You approached carefully as if you moved too quickly, the depressing gray and beige setting around you—which held far more meaning for you than just fixing cars—would suddenly melt away and you’d wake up.

“Do you know where I could find Eddie Munson?” you asked in a soft voice, and the woman obnoxiously chomping at her gum looked up at you over the top of her glasses before looking back down at the paperwork in front of her.

“He’s in the garage. Is he working on your car?”

Your heart jumped and although you hated to lie, you did.

“Yes,” you said probably too quickly, but it seemed nothing could get this woman to care.

“Wait over there, please,” she spoke in a voice that was just as greige as her place of work.

You thanked her meekly and shuffled over to one of the worn, faux leather and hard plastic seats. The room smelled of cheap pine air fresheners and the potent combination of oil, and that specific rubber scent of brand new tires. The space with the front desk and the waiting area was small enough to be cramped if it was a busy day, but since you were the only visitor at the moment you didn’t have to be confronted by the full potential of such limited space. You toyed with your hands and tried to pay attention to the fuzzy television in one corner of the room, but you couldn’t help listening in on the receptionist’s call.

“…’s a girl here to talk to ya… uh-huh… yeah I know… uh, no I don’t think so. I doubt it. Her voice is different from the one that keeps calling about the Ford. Might be though... ‘Kay.”

You anxiously wiped your sweaty palms over your jeans as you heard the clunk of hard plastic settling back into its cradle. What if he didn’t remember you? What if he did, but didn’t care? What if he thought you were weird for showing up? What if he grew up to be someone who stomps on anthills?

Your head shot up at the sound of a door opening and then closing from the back, and a man in filthy coveralls approached the woman behind the desk. He had messy, curly bangs settled on his forehead and the rest of his long hair was in a low ponytail. He was sweaty and clearly exhausted as he wiped at his forehead and left a swipe of grease in his wake, speaking quietly to the receptionist before making his way over to you. The closer he got, the better you could smell the grease and sweat and bitter coffee, but it didn’t deter you. What truly threw you were the circles under his eyes and the sort of pale cast to his skin that people got when they were fatigued or ill. You weren’t sure why a part of you expected to see an eleven year old kid approach you with a god awful buzz cut and big brown eyes, even after fourteen years.

This was it. This was your moment. The time to reclaim your best friend, and have the greatest person you had ever met back into your life. Why was your throat suddenly so dry? You swallowed anxiously and then parted your lips to speak and-

“Miss, I know you’re waiting on your car to be fixed before the weekend—I promise I’m working as quickly as I can.”

You tried not to cringe at the use of “miss” and looked up at him with wide, sad eyes wondering why he didn’t see an almost ten year old girl with a messy braid in her hair that she did by herself, complaining at him to chew with his mouth closed.

“I lied,” You said bluntly and the man stared at you in a way that felt blank and still despite his wonderment.

“I-I don’t have a car here. I just wanted to talk to you.”

He eyed you curiously, his hands slowly wiping onto an old rag. It looked like it had been used so many times, you doubted it was even picking up any filth on his hands but just moving it around instead. He was clearly thrown off by the sentiment which brought a sort of youthfulness to his face in that moment of curiosity before his features hardened.

“Listen. I’m sure whatever prank you have conjured up is hilarious, but I’m tired and trying to do my job.”

“No-- no, no,” you tried to clarify, shooting up from your seat. “I—I-”

But he was already swiftly stomping away from you towards the back, muttering to the receptionist with a quick and surely rude comment about you on his way. You were moments from being politely asked to leave, you’re sure, but the woman hesitated with a gentle expression when she saw you approach her with glossy eyes.

“Could you please just give him this?” you asked in a soft voice that you did your best to keep even, but of course it wobbled just enough to be humiliating. You could feel the heat in your face and (even worse) the moisture in your eyes so you did your best to avoid eye contact.

You outstretched your arm and she met you halfway with a nod, allowing you to drop the old friendship bracelet into her palm.

#eddie munson #eddie munson smut #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson imagine #stranger things x reader #mechanic!eddie #bartender!eddie #bartender!eddie munson #angst #slow burn #slow burn eddie munson #eddie munson x fem!reader #bsf!eddie munson #eddie munson angst #stranger things fanfic #eddie munson series

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thewonderfulwitchofthewest · 1 month ago

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my thoughts on Wicked part 1 :D

(spoilers for act 2)

stuff that made me happy:

Absolutely loved and appreciated that there weren’t any huge song or scene removals, just smaller stylistic changes that were usually made to help things flow better

More emphasis being put on Elphaba’s midwife/primary caretaker being an Animal. That was one of the gripes I had from the musical, especially since it forms the basis of Elphaba’s motivations and empathy. Plus, the book was more prevalent about it as far as I remember

Elphaba causing the mural of The Wizard in Shiz’ welcome hall to crumble and reveal the Animal mural underneath was one of my fav additions!! What a clever way of pointing at that revisionist history, and also foreshadowing Elphaba herself being the one to uncover the truth behind The Wizard later.

The recurring For Good leitmotifs FUCK!! that was so mean of them, but so amazing

Set design went insanely hard, kudos to the team!! Everything was visually stunning! I’m in love with Shiz’ rotating library in particular, keeping to Wicked’s theme and aesthetic of circularity

Speaking of circularity, costume design also went incredibly hard!! Of course I miss some of the original designs, like Glinda’s yellow dress, but the new outfits brought in do feel similar to the ones that weren’t included, so I’m not pressed about it. I’m very happy that most if not all of Galinda’s outfits incorporated circles/curves (see above; also a nod to the bubble aesthetic)

Elphaba’s innocence and joyous whimsy in The Wizard and I!! So beautiful. She’s so outwardly excited and fantasizing so vividly, something she only expresses in the safety of her own solitude. But she has a chance, she’s free to explore something she never thought she could have before, she’s unlimited. Really great I Want song sequence

Original Dillamond is more humanoid and looks more refined as a professor imo. But I’ll admit, this Dillamond’s very endearing…he’s just a lil goat. And I love him :)

I really enjoyed all the The Wizard of Oz-like stylizations being included, like the title font. The references were great too, like the ‘ruby slippers’ in Popular

The gadgetry in general was super cool. Gotta love all those fun lil inventions, like Dr. Dillamond’s tea set that accommodates the fact that he doesn’t have hands

The vocals HOLY SHIT. Do I need to say anything?? I was blown out of my seat dude. Loved all of the little personal touches added into the songs, it felt so raw and close to what actresses would’ve done on stage

things that could’ve been better:

Honestly, my biggest issue is that I needed Elphaba to be more mean. I like my Elphabas blunt, and angry. She was grumpy and petty and bitter from the start, but was still a good person, and I loved that about her character. While I respect the decision to make this Elphaba more composed (possibly to garner more sympathy from the audience), she came off as a bit too somber and self-pitying for my liking. Elphaba is witty and sarcastic. She’s unapologetic, but knows when to yield. And most importantly, she’s very much fuelled by rage, as much as she’s moved by love and compassion. I hope part 2 brings in all her nuances and inner fire, because that would really elevate everything for me!

EDIT: As an extension to the point above, I do still love fiery Elphaba, but I recognize there was nuance in this particular decision for this version of her character! This is the insanely good post that changed my view of things (for the better)

Somewhat related, I was looking for a bit more oomph, more emotion and inflection in tone for some of the line deliveries. The ones off the top of my head would be Elphaba’s explanation about being green, and Glinda’s sadness over Fiyero’s changed behaviour at the train station. Maybe this is a nitpick, maybe it only makes sense on a stage, but yeah I do miss the intensity.

Overall, I’m not the biggest fan of Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero. No disrespect to him, but I think they could’ve found someone a bit less charming and more rogueish for Fiyero, especially since he’s supposed to be a troublemaker and an airhead in this act

Also no disrespect to Michelle Yeoh, but I’m not the biggest fan of her singing. I wasn’t that torn up about it. It came and went, that’s what I’ll say. As for her as Morrible acting-wise, she’s okay. I love when Morrible is more over-the-top and loud, but Michelle plays her quieter, sneakier. She’s got room to be more intimidating later on in part/act 2

godddd I wish we could’ve gotten new scenes with Elphaba and Fiyero because as fun as gelphie is, fiyeraba is a compelling dynamic to me too, and I think the movie could’ve taken a great opportunity to rectify what a lot of people’s problem is with the ship, aka it being too rushed. I would’ve loved to see an additional moment where they shared something with each other and only each other, like a personal tidbit about Fiyero’s life as a prince, or something he did at other schools, anything Elphaba could grasp onto and relate to in order to flesh out their relationship more, as two people who understand what it’s like to not be happy and seen for who they really are deep down

Even just making the I’m Not That Girl sequence more visually appealing would’ve been nice. I miss the poppy field. We lost that flower symbolism in this particular context, representing love, remembrance and hope for the future, which does encapsulate the basis of Elphaba and Fiyero’s relationship

The Defying Gravity sequence was of course absolutely incredible on several fronts, but it did feel a little clunky at times. Somehow the pacing was slower here than it was in the musical. I should feel my heart pounding alongside Elphaba and Glinda’s. Elphaba trying to steal The Wizard’s balloon was a nice touch though, I loved that.

Small gripe, but I would’ve loved more steampunk stuff incorporated (the train to the Emerald City was great!!), as well as the Time Dragon Clock somewhere (unless I missed it in the opening sequence?)

If I think of more, I’ll add it in later, but that’s pretty much it for now! I really enjoyed watching this movie. It was very well done and it captured the soul of the musical!!

#wicked 2024 #my posts #text

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beanghostprincess · 1 year ago

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Dropping some silly Shuggy content bc it's how I cope-

Shanks was found as a baby in a treasure chest. Buggy was semi-force-adopted off the streets at about 6/7. Roger really just went "Anyone gonna parent these kids" and was already signing pretend adoption papers furiously before anyone could so much as breathe.

The Roger crew tried to teach the boys school-like things, but Shanks HATED it while Buggy was just gobbling itt up like a dehydrated horse in a desert oasis.

Buggy LOVED reading (and still does in the present), but he has a soft spot for fantasy stories and fiction. He worries the others would make fun of him for it, but Shanks is Not Having That. He offers to be the one to ask for those books on the condition that Buggy read to him before bed. He acts put out and huffy about it, but Shanks can see him blushing every time he snuggles closer or asks a question.

Roger knows damn well about the truth bc he too sometimes joined story time. Buggy has that Performer Energy down to a SCIENCE.

It gets out eventually, and the crew tries to tease Buggy for it ((even though they didn't tease Shanks, and the redhead Will Remember That)). The guys ask if Buggy likes them bc he wants to be a princess, to which Shanks goes surprisingly nuclear, going on about how if Buggy was ANYONE'S princess, he'd be HIS because the princesses are smart, brave, strong and beautiful, and their knights need someone to be the brains and drive. Buggy is the brains and Shanks is his knight. Pirate princess and pirate knight!!

A few hours later, once he has successfully calmed Buggy down and Captain has punished everyone for bullying his kids, Shanks has the BRILLIANT idea of getting "married".

"Princesses can be flashy, but the warrior queen from the last book was SO COOL and I think you'd make a better queen than a princess because queens are SUPER SMART and lovely and strong and just like you!"

"You think so...?"

"Mmhm! So we just gotta make you a queen! How do princesses become queens?"

"Don't they get married?"

"Oh yeah! Then let's be married! That way you can be MY queen and I'll be YOUR king!"

They sneak into the treasury, looking for rings. There are none - at least, none that would fit. ((Shanks stole one for Buggy when they get bigger)). So they decide to do the next best thing!

They drag Roger onto the next island, make rings out of dandelions, have him officiate, and marry each other with flower rings so they're king and queen now. Then they make a wish on the dandelions.

They consider it their Real Marriage. It was officiated and everything, and they still refer to each other as Husbands ((or Wife when Buggy's feeling more femme)), and everyone is absolutely flabbergasted when it comes up in conversation.

Shanks lost his band when he gave his arm up for Luffy, but Buggy sent an 'anonymous' gift with a replacement. He wears it on a necklace now.

Buggy wears his ring on a necklace as well, or sewn into the inside of his hat or in a jewelry box he keeps under lock and key, depending on the day.

The breakup they had post-execution was smoothed over, they have an open marriage, and they still love one another in the sweetest, most cavity inducing way imaginable.

((PS, Luffy, once crowned King, mentions to Shanks that he was the closest he had to a dad. While Shanks I'd emotional, Luffy grins at Buggy and goes "so should I call you mom or dad?"))

Shooting me would've been less painful than reading this because now I am sobbing crying and shaking on the floor and I will never forget this. The whole concept about Buggy loving to read and Shanks doing it for him always makes me go insane, but the crew making fun of Buggy and Shanks protecting him without hesitating? Not even once? And telling him that they should get married? Okay. Wow. Okay. I need a second. Because this is just,,, So sweet. And Roger and Rayleigh would literally die when they told them about the idea. Like they would probably have a tiny heart attack from how cute these kids are. Rayleigh would probably go "Isn't it a bit too soon? Think about it first you idiots-" but Roger is already planning everything because his impulsive romantic ass can't wait for his kids to get married lmfao. Also, non-binary/genderfluid Buggy my beloved because me too, Buggy, me too.

#this is just so cute #buggy the clown #red haired shanks #shuggy #roger pirates #one piece

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blues-of-randomness · 11 months ago

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could you do more headcanons for the Smiling critters please

(Maybe when they’re Sad )

Good suggestion and yes I can.

Cw for self harm and involuntary age regression

Catnap - When Catnap gets really sad he retreats to his home and hides there for who knows how long, it could be days or even months before he comes out again. All the curtains drawn, not a single like in the house, if you're hoping for Catnap to eat or drink during this time peroid, other than a cup of juice or two...it's very wishful thinking. he'll most likely just be laying around on the floor or on the furniture. This is also when involuntary agere sets in, during this time he just feels so small and even simple tasks are two scary or frustrating for him (like brushing his teeth or even turning on the lights). During this time he might just were a bathrobe or his pajamas for some form of comfort. He'll hug himself and squeeze his arms very tightly, most of the time his claws are out when he does this so it leads to him cutting himself frequently. I have a feeling he might also wear dresses as a comfort.

Dogday - Remember that MLP episode where Pinkie pie lost her color cause she thought her friends didn't like her anymore? Yeah that's basically Dogday when he gets sad, any bright colors drain from his fur and his smile fades from his face. In my Dogday headcanons I mentioned that his fur feel like a warm mini sun, well when he's sad his fur becomes frigid cold. Unlike Catnap though Dogday still spends time outside, looking for anything that could cheer him up as quick as possible. He still has a hard time talking about what made him upset but he'll try. if what made him said was say him disappointing his friends he'll have a lot of self depricating thoughts (specfically about falling them in some way). he's not nearly as self destructive as Catnap is though, he still takes care of himself. I'll be honest though I could see Dogday having a tea party with stuffed animals when he's sad.

When Kickin gets sad he just gets angry. Like any kind of sorrowful feeling will vented through aggression before the tears eventually come. You can't tell me that Kickin hasn't gotten super overwhelmed thrown himself to the ground and started having a tantrum like a little baby. Kicken grew up with a father with very toxic views on how men should behave so he's not very comfortable crying in front of anybody. The only one who's seen him cry is Bubba, Bubba is reall the only one he's go two if he's sad. he might all himself stupid or an idiot depending on what he's crying about. He also has a teddy bear that he talks to when he's upset.

Bubba is a man who doesn't were his emotions on his sleeves per say as he always tries to keep his cool. You wouldn't even realize he's upset unless he get's really upset. Like Kickin, his sadness comes out as anger, he does cry but not often and not in front of his friends. Bubba would probably be the type to just pick of book or try to do some brain puzzles in order to take his mind of what he's upset about, if that doesn't work he tries to solve the problem on his own.

Hoppy is another critter who i imagine can get very aggressive when she's sad. Her first instinct is just to walk away, blow off the steam and come back when she's ready. She might yell or hop and down depending on how frustrated she is but she would take a deep breath and say "I need to go for a walk" or something like that. She prefers to do this alone but she wouldn't say no if you offered to walk with her and talk about it. It actually means a lot to her that you'd wanna help her.

Picky's ultimate coping mechanism is food though contrary to when she's stressed and stress eats, i feel like when she's sad she makes treats for everyone else. Since she already makes an unholy amount of food for everyone, espically when their doing an activity or going on a trip this just seems like her normal behavoir. Other than baking she might do something calming like apple/berry/flower picking. A nice picnic is also a good way to calm down.

What does any Artist do when they are upset or down in the dumps? Dump every single raw emotion on anything that doesn't move. Craftycorn has had her far share of vent pieces, some she's actually proud of, some that are just nonsensial scribbles soaked in tears. The only vent pieces her friends have seen are the ones that look cute and don't have any concerning elements to it. All the others go straight into the fire, those are not for the critter eye to see. Music, blankets and toys also help.

Bobby is a very emotional person, when she gets really upset it is instant tears or instant bawling. It's real easy to calm her down though, give her a hug, a flower, take her somewhere safe, play a game with her, and voila! If you couldn't tell she does not like being alone when she's upset, She'll cling to the closest person until she isn't upset anymore. If she's bawling she'll be begging you for a hug, she won't make yu hug you if you're uncomfortable with that though.

#headcanons #poppy playtime #smiling critters poppy playtime #smiling critters #bubba bubbaphant #catnap #kickinchicken #dogday #bobby bearhug #hoppy hopscotch #craftycorn #picky piggy

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bouncybongfairy · 1 year ago

Text

Woodstock 1999

Rick Sanchez x Fem Reader

Summary: After attending a house party, thrown by your friend Summer, you end up meeting Rick. While making small talk, you tell him about the Woodstock 99' documentary that you had just seen and that you wish you could have seen Korn from that festival. Rick is confident that you wouldn’t be able to handle yourself in a crowd like that. When you disagree, Rick tries to call your bluff. By taking you to an alternative reality where Woodstock 99 is taking place.

Word Count: 3k+

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

You were sweeping the floors, finishing up your shift at the grocery store you worked at. It was Thursday and the store had been relatively quiet for most of the night. Only a couple more customers were wandering the isles, picking up last-minute items.. You were pretty tired, this started as a summer job but you ended up keeping it throughout the school year. It was nice to have extra money for clothes and outings with your friends, it almost made up for how depleting work was. You heard the assistance bell ring from the register, which prompts you to run over. You were pleasantly surprised to see Summer and her mom, you share most of your classes with the redhead. She has actually spent the night at your house a couple of times and vice-versa. You give her a quick mom and start scanning her items. Her mom was going on and on about how all the bottles of wine were for a family event, you looked over at Summer who was rolling her eyes. You held back a chuckle and continued to make polite conversation with Beth. After you bagged their groceries, Beth walked back to the car but Summer stayed back to talk.

“So obviously the family event thing was a lie but I am throwing a party tomorrow while my parents are doing this couple retreat thing. You should totally come,” Summer said.

“Yeah that sounds really fun, did you already invite half the school?” you joked while wiping down the counter.

“A lot of people are coming, yeah, but it’ll still be fun,” she said.

“Yeah for sure, do you want me to bring anything?” you asked.

“Just your hot ass and maybe a bottle would be cool. My mom is calling. I got to go but I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said while walking away.

Normally a house party isn’t really your scene but you were feeling kinda excited. For the past two months, you’ve been in a bit of a funk. Only going to school and work, not feeling up to doing your make-up most days, and dressing pretty bummy. You felt like a good party would break you out of that. Summer and you had a lot of mutual friends so you knew you would have company no matter what. You checked out the last customer and locked the door behind them. You grabbed some stuff for your lunch tomorrow and two bottles of Red Berry Ciroc. The store was owned by an older gentleman who sadly had dementia, his 29-year-old son now runs the store. As long as you gave him an extra ten for each bottle you bought he would look the other way when it came to age. You took an Uber home and immediately got in the shower. Scrubbing all the sweat off your body and lathering your hair in shampoo as Molly Kate Kestne’s Prom Queen blasted through a speaker. You stayed in the hot water until you felt at risk of passing out. You give your mom a kiss on the cheek, wishing her a good night before going to your bedroom. After turning on Jersey Shore as background noise, you fall asleep in your towel; completely worn out by your school and work week.

When you woke up, you were surprised that you slept through the night considering you didn’t get too comfortable before falling asleep. You were feeling extremely well-rested, it wasn’t until you were halfway done with your hair that you remembered about Summer’s party. You were super excited, you had this Saturday off which meant you didn’t have to worry about having a hangover. You throw on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt and start gathering things into your book bag. Once you got to school, you couldn’t stop counting down the hours until you could leave. It felt like years had gone by once it was finally time for lunch. You were sitting with a group of friends who were all talking about Summer’s party. Maybe it’s because you have a job but your friends seem a lot less mature over these past couple of months. It seemed like if it wasn’t posted or extremely extra then it didn’t happen. I don’t know, it just felt like they did everything for shock value or clout. You thought it was weird how upset they would get if they didn’t look good in a video of them taking a shot or not taking a picture with the blunt before it was smoked. Sometimes you wish you could record how they act during those times and show them later. You pick at your salad, tuning out of their conversation until the bell rings.

Once the last period ended you bolted out of the front doors and made your way home. You flat ironed your hair and started applying a bit of makeup. Rummaging through your closet, you ended up wearing a tube top and a pair of baggy cargo jeans. You grabbed one of the biggest purses you could find grabbed a tee-shirt and wrapped the two vodka bottles in a way that avoids any clanking sound. Your pen, make-up bag, charger, and a couple of other items. You end up walking to Summer’s house seeing that it’s only a 20-minute walk. When you got there, the sun was just barely setting and teenagers were flocking to the house. The house was practically shaking due to how loud the music was. When you walked in you practically had to wave a cloud out of your face. Summer immediately noticed you when you walked in and came over to greet you.

“Hey! Oh my gosh, I’m so glad you came!” Summer said.

“Yeah me too, I needed this really bad. Also.. here are those bottles,” you said, taking the vodka out of your purse.

“Wow, I didn’t think you were gonna bring anything. I’m gonna chill these,” she said, grabbing the bottles and leading you into the kitchen. When you walked in Rick was leaning against the countertop. She shoved the bottles deep into the freezer, in hopes of speeding up the process.

“If you can’t drink -burp- the liquor at room temperature you’re probably not mature enough to be drinking at all,” Rick said, taking a swig from his flask.

“What if we just prefer it chilled? Just because you can doesn’t mean you shouldn’t” you point out.

“Yeah, Grandpa and after I smoke I don’t like the way hot ass liquor feels on my throat,” Summer said, closing the fridge door.

“Doesn’t matter whether your liquor is cold or hot, your party is gonna suck since you put a ban on any of my friends coming. Seems a little like bigotry in my opinion,” Rick said.

Summer ignored him and led you to her bedroom where a girl from your school Tricia Lange was packing a bowl. You asked Summer if it was okay to leave the party unattended. She joked ‘That’s what Morty is for’ which made you and Tricia laugh. She offered you greens which flattered you, after cornering the bowl you handed it to Summer. Coming off a two-week tolerance break, the weed was hitting you fast and hard. You tilted your head up and blew the smoke up into the air. Tricia complimented you on how pretty you looked which made you blush because.. hello its Tricia Lange, one of the hottest girls in your grade. You guys were making small talk when Summer pulled out a pink crystal and started crushing it into a fine powder.

“What is that?” you asked.

“It’s a Kalaxian crystal, it’s pretty mild like snorting molly kinda,” Summer said, lining up the power.

“I.. don’t know about that,” you said looking at the powder suspiciously.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about it showing up on a drug test or anything. It’s not detectable with Earth’s drug tests,” Tricia said, setting her hand on your shoulder.

“No, well that’s good to know actually but imma need to see you take a bump before I do,” you said.

“You humor me,” Summer said, using a hundred-dollar bill to snort the powder, her eyes turning a baby blue.

Summer passed the tray to Tricia who mimicked her action. Your heart was racing as her manicured hands passed the tray over to you. Not wanting to come off as a prude, you took the rolled-up bill into your hand and brought it up to your nose. You sniffed the powder into your nose and coughed a little because the taste was so foreign. The two girls lead you downstairs where the party is now packed and a bit unhinged. Couples making out against any available wall space they could find, groups of people who were surrounding a person smoking out of a gravity bong. Drugs by Lil Aaron was blaring out of several speakers, drowning out almost every other sound. The three of you were dancing together in the living room with several of your peers. You were feeling so euphoric and magical; like you could float off the ground if you really tried. It was then that Summer reminded you of the Ciroc bottles that were in the freezer. All three of you took a shot and cringed as it went down. Summer and Tricia left to go to the bathroom leaving you in the kitchen. You were pretty intoxicated at this point and started to wander. You end up in the garage, where Rick is sitting at his workstation.

“Out!” he barked which caused you to jump and gasp due to how loud and aggressive he sounded, he didn’t even look up.

“S-sorry I -which way..” you started but Rick got up and walked over to you. He grabbed your chin and tilted your head up.

“I told Summer to stop giving K-Crystals to her little friends,” he said, seeing the effects from your eyes. You looked over a noticed he had a Woodstock 99’ ticket pinned onto his wall.

“You -hiccup- went to Woodstock 99? You- you’re so lucky you got to see Korn from that crowd,” you slurred without breaking eye contact. He laughed and let go of your chin and walked back to his workstation.

“Did you actually go?” you asked, walking over to him.

“I thought I said to get out earlier,” he said.

“I have selective hearing,” you said, picking up a screwdriver.

“I’m lost, is that supposed to be my problem?” he said.

“Well it -burp- if you really wanted it to be,” you giggled.

“Yeah as much of a catch as you are, I think I’ll pass,” he laughed.

“Oh please I bet I’d be the best pussy you’ve had in months,” you laugh but quickly change expressions as Rick stands up and towers over you.

“Do you really think that you would be an unachievable fantasy to me? Like I’m some sad old stockbroker who has to rely on naivety to get laid? Don’t insult me,” Rick said, taking a sip of his flask without stepping away.

“Your shirt -hiccup- looks so soft, imagine if we could have gone to Woodstock together. You’re so tall that I wouldn’t have to worry about guys reaching up and groping me and I would have the most amazing view of some of the coolest bands of all time,” you said, feeling your high slowly start to come down. He smirked at you before turning around locking the garage door and opening a portal, dragging you through it.

“What- where are we going?” you asked confused, adjusting your eyes to the suddenly sunny skies.

“To call your bluff. There’s no way you could last here, it was kinda a shit show if you didn’t know,” he said.

“I know, I watched the documentary on Netflix,” you said very matter-of-factly.

It took your eye a couple of minutes for them to adjust but once they did, you couldn’t deny you were a little taken back. There really was a lot of nudity and white-boy aggression. You hoped Rick didn’t notice, but every once in a while, you would look behind you to make sure he was nearby. The first thing you wanted to do was get to the airbrush body paint station. You wanted Korn written across your chest in black and pink. At this point, the high of the K-Crystals was completely worn off and all you wanted was a hit of something. It was then you realized you still had your purse, you blindly reached your hand in until you felt your hand hit the cold metal of the battery. Your mouth begins salivating as bring the cart to your lips and take a long drag, blowing it up in the air. You take a couple more drags and notice that the artist has stopped. When you looked down he was just looking up at you. He was probably in his early 30s and had a 90s haircut that was short and spiked with blonde tips. Without breaking contact take another drag and exhale as you speak.

“Sorry, did you want a hit?” you asked playfully, looking over at Rick who was smirking with his arms crossed, evaluating the situation. The guy airbrushing you looked up at Rick who started to speak.

“You know you didn’t come across to me as one of those girls who have nipple piercings,” Rick said.

“Yeah I know, they’re hot right?” you asked to adjust the one that didn’t have any paint on it yet; they were bars with a chain that supported a pink bedazzled saturn charm.

“So uh, Maria is gonna finish up our piece cool?” he said, getting up before either of you could respond which caused both of you to chuckle.

After you were finished up with the body painting tent you made your way to the main stage. Hundreds of teens and young adults were making their way to the exact same location. It was weird because even though you knew what was going to happen, you were still bubbling with anticipation. Rick laughed and mocked you because he knew you had seen exactly what happened and still bubbled with suspense and excitement. When you asked Rick if you could actually sit on his shoulders he didn’t say anything, only nodding in agreement. You were trying to pry about the first time he ever experienced this but he would always give you a bullshit excuse like he was too wasted to remember. As you walked, guys kept approaching you, trying hard to keep conversation. You tried to be polite and at least slow down as you respectfully deny their advance. You even stopped a couple of times but Rick would gently bump into you with his body from behind to keep you walking. Once you got into the crowd, Rick took the arm and pressed his body to your back. He started guiding and shaving his way through the front of the sea of people while having his arms raised, protecting you from the crowd.

Normally if someone was being more polite it would have taken forever to make their way to the front. Rick however wasn’t sparing any feelings as he pushed and shoved. As you people watched, you couldn’t help but take in how different people were in the 90s. One of the biggest things that tripped you out was seeing how different the hair and make-up were of the girls around you. Super thin eyebrows, a thick eyeliner waterline with clumpy mascara. Your lashes were huge and your nails were so long, it felt like everyone was staring at you. Most of the hair extensions were god-awful but you gave them a pass considering this was a festival. The cameras were so retro-looking and looked bulky on the crew’s shoulders. Rick pulled a plastic baggie of pink powder from his lab coat. You assumed these were the same crystals you smoked earlier so didn’t think twice when snorting your fair share. Only later to find out that it was actually Molly, normally you’d be freaking out but I mean… You were in an entirely different dimension. Seemed kinda late for that. Once the intro started, Rick bent down slightly allowing you to sit on his shoulders. You could feel the energy of the crowd growing. It was almost like your heartbeat was getting more intense as the music’s rhythm began picking up.

A camera was coming closer to you, you blew it a kiss and then took a drag of your pen. It could have been because of the drugs but you felt like you were so high in the air, you could see the top of everyone’s head.; like you were a skyscraper. You were truly having the time of your life, it was nice being able to be carefree. Being able to get as wasted or naked as you wanted knowing you had someone to take care of you. You were gently running your fingers through his hair, tugging on it a little bit. You leaned down and whispered into the top of his head,

“Thank you for taking me here, this is amazing,” you said.

He didn’t reply, just ran his hands up and down your leg, starting at your knees and ending at your ankles. You were feeling accomplished that he didn’t get the chance to call your bluff as he put it. When Korn wasn’t playing you could barely hear yourself think over how loud the crowd was. You couldn’t tell if Rick was mad or just concentrating. After a while, you were getting overstimulated by everything going on around you. You asked Rick if you guys could head home, and he opens a portal directly underneath you guys, dropping the both of you back into a garage. You grab the extra tee shirt from your bag and throw it over your body.

“Thanks, we should do it again sometime,” you said before exiting the garage to find summer.

#rick sanchez x reader #rick and morty #rick c137 #Woodstock 1999 #Rick Sanchez FanFic #Woodstock #Korn #korn band #Rick and Morty #alcohol #drinking #smoking #weed smoking #Rick sanchez x you #rick sanchez x y/n

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unknown-lab · 1 year ago

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Unrequited Echoes of the Heart

Pairing: Gojo Satoru x fem reader

Characters: Gojo Satoru, Geto Suguru, Shoko Ieiri, a random perfect girl

Genre: Angst

Warnings: Delulu, unnoticed reader, angst?

It is an undeniable fact that walking down the hallway during break time was the best moment of the day. Why? Some people say it's because they can finally get their ass out of the classroom, walk to the toilet and finally take the shit they held in for hours. While some say they get to gossip among their cool friends. Well, in your case, you get to watch your crush from afar.

"Haaaah~ Class is finally over." Shoko, who is sitting right next to you spoke and yawned at the same time, making it inaudible.

"..." You were staring at her, but it is obvious your mind is wandering elsewhere.

"What's wrong? Anything on my face?" She grabbed the travel mirror from your bag to inspect her own face, making sure there was nothing weird on it.

"Do you still remember Gojo?"

"Huh? That tall ass guy from our class last year?" She closed the travel mirror, handing it back to you.

"Yeah."

"Yeah, what's with him?" She had her elbow on the table, propping up her chin, looking at you.

"I think I like him." You said with a straight face while arranging your messy desk.

"What???" Her eyes widen, looking at you unbelievably.

"What do you like about him? His looks? His height? His personality? This is so sudden what the hell?"

"Maybe all." Your lips curled up looking at her disgusted face.

"But, didn't you have a crush on him last year already? Why him again this year?"

"Shoko, you know how much I want a boyfriend. Everyone already has their own. Including you." You gave her an eye roll sarcastically.

"And you know what happened. You got rejected." She sarcastically returned the sarcasm.

"..."

"Get your ass up, I wanna see him. He's probably playing badminton with Geto." You stood up while pulling Shoko's right arm together.

"Ugh, I hate you so much."

"I love you too."

We walked to the badminton court, sitting in the resting area. There are a total of 6 badminton courts available, and we chose the seat closest to the court Gojo and Geto are playing.

He has a smile radiant with happiness, sometimes he will show his white and shiny teeth when he grins after hitting a smash. He looked pretty from every angle. His height, his facial features, his body shape, everything about him is ideal. Maybe that's why you were attracted to him once again, after a cruel one-sided heartbreak.

"Oi, stop staring. You're making it super obvious." Shoko is trying to look for the positive points on Gojo that attracted my attention. She can't understand why people like him. He's an asshole, causing trouble in class, loud, and inelegant. She can't find anything better than his looks and height.

"Shoko, do you think I have a chance with him?" I turned to her, hope glimmering in my eyes.

"Umm... Probably no- I mean, 50/50." She looked guilty when she said that. She knows very well what happened last year will repeat, but she doesn't want to hurt your feelings by being too straightforward.

-And this is when your delulu started-

"Shoko! Shoko! I saw him 3 times today in the hallway!!"

"Shoko! I had 0.000000001 millisecond eye contact with him today ahhhhhhhh!!!"

"Shoko he turned to look at me!!"

"..."

Shoko gave up. It's already the second week, she had to bear all your tiny tiny interactions(??) with Gojo, every single day. The way you blushed when he walked past you, the way your eyes followed his back until his silhouette disappeared around the corner. She had enough, she needs to stop this torture. Without you knowing, she went to Geto after school. They are actually childhood friends so they're pretty close together.

"Geto." Gojo was absent on that day, so she turned his chair around to face Geto.

"Hmm? Need anything?" He shifted his sight from the book in his hand to Shoko, who is sitting right in front of him.

"Yeah, very important." She got a deep breath before continuing.

"Do you still remember Y/N?"

"Yeah, I see her almost every day, in the resting area with you."

"I need your help." She looked into his eyes firmly, as if it's a situation between life and death.

"Y/N has a huge crush on Gojo. Again."

"... I think she took 'never give up' too seriously." He chuckles, covering up the book in his hand and put it on his desk.

"Agreed. So are you helping or not? And What is the percentage of succeeding?"

"I'm afraid it's impossible. But I'll try my best."

"Ugh, I also have the same thought, but I don't want to make her sad again. She looks so happy having delusional thoughts."

"I'll see what I can do."

Shoko thanked him and walked back home that day. Although she's prepared you won't be getting your happy ending after what Geto said, but she still has faith in Geto helping you out.

Another normal day, same routine. The bell rang, you and Shoko walked to the resting area. You were expecting Geto and Gojo to play together. Instead, you saw another girl right beside Gojo, playing with him. Both of them were teaming up against Geto. She was pretty. Her straight and black shoulder-length hair. Her facial features. Her body shape. She caught your eyes easily, not because she was standing right beside Gojo, but because of herself. Looking from afar, you can feel Gojo smile more than usual. You thought she was just there for fun, so you dismissed the thought of Gojo having an interest in her. The next day, she's still there. The day after, she's also there. She was there for the whole week. You started to see her walking around with Gojo every time you walk past them. She'd sometimes look for Gojo in his classroom even though she is 1 year older than us. You weren't bothered, she may have feelings for Gojo too, but Gojo wouldn't return his feelings. He rejected so many girls, including you. There's no way he'll out of nowhere have interest in this senior.

Good times always come to an end. The moment you realised Gojo always waited for her to keep her badminton equipment before going back to his classroom, even though he had already packed everything up and was ready to go back before her. It made your heartache. You knew damn well you shouldn't be feeling this. He isn't yours. Your delusional thoughts are corrupting your mind, making you think he wouldn't be in love with someone else. You thought one day you'll be the one staying by his side, admiring his smile not from afar any more, but right beside him. In reality, there he is, waiting for her, walking with her every single day. And that girl isn't you.

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sebastianswallows · 8 months ago

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I want to talk a little bit about Frank Herbert and the Bene Gesserits, because it's something that's been on my mind for a while and I haven't seen anyone looking at these characters from this perspective yet (not that I looked very hard, but I check the tags occasionally and just haven't seen it, and this would be the first place I'd expect to).

It's strange in a good way seeing Dune become popular, and people actually reading the books, and it being cool to do so, not it being a niche and nerdy thing. But what's equally weird is to see all the praise Frank Herbert's getting, especially from women readers 😂

Because at any point between, I think, the 80s and the 2000s, if a guy said he liked Frank Herbert that was considered by women to be a red flag. I remember women chatting about this in online forums back in the day. It was the equivalent of a guy saying he likes Jordan Peterson now.

It's an analysis of Dune that doesn't seem to have come through again. Audiences have caught on to the homophobia inherent in how the Baron was represented, but nobody is talking anymore about the blatant sexism of the books.

And I say this as a long time fan, because I was super inspired by most of the female characters in the novels and in particular the Bene Gesserits, so to hear that Herbert was supposed to be a misogynist took me by surprise. "What do you mean it's sexist? This is great!" The idea of a group of women who fully dedicate themselves to their own intergalactic girl gang, who follow their own plans, who use their femininity to their own ends, who live through discipline and self control and are fully empowered to face down any threat, that was so inspiring to teenage me.

But I guess the sort of women I most admired were the ones who were terrifying to men.

I mean, the only "good" female characters are either not Bene Gesserits, like Chani, or are Bene Gesserits who go against the order, like Jessica. Moreover, the only "good" female characters are those who betray their group for the sake of men. Like Jessica going against the word of the Reverend Mother because Leto wanted a boy.

Irulan's only redeeming features are her complete dedication to Paul and being basically in love with him and being the author of glorifying history books about him in spite of the fact that he deposed her father and is keeping her in a loveless marriage and constantly publicly humiliates her by treating Chani as his wife.

Even Chani, an otherwise bland and marginal character compared to the film, is at her most poignant when dying in child birth for the sake of giving birth to Paul's children. A death which happens because Irulan had been secretly poisoning her out of jealousy. Frank Herbert just has women clawing each other's eyes out for the sake of Paul's affection. I don't care how good that dick is, it's not worth poisoning another woman over. Poison him instead and take the throne, girl.

But oh yeah, in this intergalactic empire tens of thousands of years in the future, they seem to have discovered neither the concept of divorce nor of female inheritance of titles and property. It can only be a man inheriting the throne, not the Emperor's biological daughter. And once Irulan is married, well she's just stuck there. Pretty incredible.

And however great the Bene Gesserits are, they still need a man to "see where they can not see". No matter how empowered a group of women becomes, they still need a man. Only a man can see into the future. Women can only see into the past. Therefore, only a man can save the world.

I get that they tried to conceal some of this in the recent film, and they managed to do so to some extent, but it's mostly been with Chani. You still have the problem of Jessica and Irulan being just servants for the whims of the men in their lives, a fact which gets them into a lot of trouble. And you have the Bene Gesserits portrayed as scheming witches who are evil to have their own plots and designs, and are dependent on a man to see into that place which terrifies them.

I mean, enjoy the books by all means. I always did in spite of all of this, and I still like the story and the world. I still love the characters too. But man if the author didn't have some unflattering ideas about us 😂

#Dune #Frank Herbert #Jessica Atreides #Irulan Corrino #Chani Kynes #just had to get this out #didn't mean for it to turn into a rant but I guess it did? lol #spoilers #Dune spoilers

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adamnablelittledevil · 5 months ago

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Reacting to The Vampire Lestat - Part V (with a bit of spoilers and maybe important quotes?)

Armand!

YAY!

Okay, what the hell is happening?

??????

Seriously, WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?

Am I lost because I'm reading the Brazilian Portuguese version and maybe it's not properly translated?

*Downloads an English PDF copy* Yeah, this isn't much better and it looks like it was poorly transcript.

I'm still not sure I'm following...

Well

Whatever

I still like this anyway?

Also, I can see I'll have to read at least this book twice anyway. Maybe more or even the whole chronicles.

Because since Armand showed up I'm DEVOURING this and I can see myself maybe missing a few details... I'll need to read it slower and savor it in the future. I also assume that knowing more of the lore will give me perspective on a future read.

Armand is never boring.

Still my favorite character. :) Let's hope nothing ever ruins that. :) /hj

Not one Lesmand/Armandstat interaction is wasted tbh, I don't care if they're vibing or hating each other's guts, they're always A MOMENT™.

Let's hope nothing ever ruins that. :) /hj

They also have some pretty valid and intriguing conversations, really.

The impression I get is that they want to stay close, but deep down know it's better not to because they're so messed-up and would be even more messed-up as friends or else (and maybe it's the or at least one of the reasons why they attract each other?), but there's some frustration in that acknowledgement too. Like, doing something because you should is not the same as doing it because you want to and... Well.

I mean, there's more I could say, but this is the short version of how I generally feel about them lol.

Can't wait to see all of this on season 3.

Assad is right, I want Armand to be unhinged too. So glad we're on the same page about all thigs Armand ever and that the spirit of Armand posses Assad on a daily basis so he can play him 100% the way I imagine him. SMILING THROUGH IT ALL, CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS MY LIFE RN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm also ready for more Lestat (Armand's version) and finally some Armand (Lestat's version). Let the battle begin. I wonder who will be more insufferable.

Little bit of Armand's back story. :/ I wanna put him in a bubble.

I don't really think I'll be interested in Marius, tbh.

Anyway... He's not here yet.

Gabrielle jumps from roofs like Cat Woman and Armand quickly and silently vanishes from places like Batman. I hope we keep the Gotham-esque vibes of these scenes. I think it's super cool tbh.

I also love seeing Armand talking to people telepathically? Feels so much deeper and kind of poetic, idk. Not to mention is such a cool concept. I hope the show explores more of that.

Also, when he stops blocking his thoughts and let's someone peek at his thoughts it feels intimate? And not necessarily romantic or anything like that, but just like, "hey, this is a little piece of my soul, I'm sharing it with you". Or maybe I'm too romantic and trying to find the beauty in everything lol.

But then he finally speaks out loud and it feels deeper and more meaningful as well? I don't know. Maybe I'm becoming insane.

Lestat went like 3 pages without mentioning Armand's beauty. I'm proud of him.

Nevermind, now he is mentioning it 50 times per sentence. Even more than he did before. It's like he regretted it and it's making up for lost time lmao.

Some of the words Lestat has used to describe Armand so far: beautiful, sublime, ethereal, exquisite, perfect, soft, saint, angel (there's more, but it's been so many synonyms for beautiful I can't remember... still, you get the point). Not to mention comparing him to a Caravaggio and Da Vinci paintings.

I feel like he'll run out of words to describe him pretty soon.

I guess we all feel pretty (not) normal about Armand.

This is also ruining it for me, because if someone doesn't describe me as "irresistibly beautiful" then what is even the point, really...

And it's not like they're a couple or anything, SO??? STOP!!!

They're not lovers, they're not friends, they're not enemies, they're a fourth and more sinister thing that not even them can classify, let alone my mere mortal self.

Anyway, I hope Lestat will be even more annoying describing Louis. He set the bar too high now.

I wonder if Louis appears (for a significant amount of time) on this book.

I hope so, but I don't know.

"But I was so glad it was finished. So glad that we could go on. Yet I held to the bars for a long time just looking at the distant woods, and the dim glow far beyond that the city made upon the lowering clouds. And the grief I felt was not only for the loss of him, it was for Nicki, and for Paris, and for myself." This is sad...

"So let him be your patron saint if you need it" LMFAOOOOOO.

Is Gabrielle wrong, though?

NO, SHE ISN'T!

Just have fun with your immortality instead of going on an uncertain quest to find Marius? Stop being stupid???

You'll probably just find danger or disappointment. Or both.

LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF REASON, LESTAT!

"And the sense of grief came back to me, the realization that we were really going, that it was finished with Nicolas and finished with the Children of Darkness and their leader, and I wouldn't see Paris again, or anything familiar to me, for years and years. And for all my desire to be free, I wanted to weep." So, he finally starts making a life for himself away from his abusive family. Then, he is forcefully turned into a vampire, has to live this double life with mortals, without ever being able to be completely open, honest and have real, deep relationships with them. Later, he turns Gabrielle, Nicki, meets Armand and the other of his kind, but they're all so troubled or with completely different interests... And it's clear as a day that they can't stay together anymore, he's slowly coming to the realization he's losing everything and everyone he knows and will soon be alone again... I'm (not) fine.

Also, this is so BPD-coded of him. He's had these pretty sad and traumatic moments, but he never allowed himself to feel those emotions for too long, he always found stuff to distract himself with, tried to see the "the good side" of things, embrace them, be positive instead etc, but you can only ignore it so much until it becomes such a big problem you can't possibly avoid anymore. And then the emotion hits 9483958345x harder than it would have if you processed things properly and had better coping mechanisms. Like, I get him, but OMG. Get him some vampire therapist.

Btw, Armand feels pretty BPD-coded too.

I also heard somewhere that Armand is a Scorpio?

And Lestat is another BPD Scorpio...

That would explain A LOT actually lmao.

End of "The Vampire Armand" chapter and they're parting ways.

So I guess I'll just rot and die, then?

Or...

...Armand will return in the worst possible way lmao.

I tried to find a gif of 2x05 saying "everything is fine!" to represent how I'm feeling right now, but failed, so consider it done anyway. Everything is (not) fine!

#interview with the vampire #lesmand #armandstat #not sure if this is good btw but i did it once and people interacted with the post so now i feel like i need to keep doing it?#i'm kind of serious about following patterns and hate breaking them so i have to keep this going now but hopefully it's still fun to people

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bisexualshakespeare · 2 months ago

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I feel like I dreamt a whole comic book series

I dreamt I was sent to superhero/magic school. There I met an uncle who was shady but I really liked him for some reason so I wanted to believe he was good. I got into kid investigations around the school. Small things that eventually got big enough to threaten the school and then we figured out my uncle was behind it all. I remember there was a moment where he waa like "bet you didn't see THAT coming!" And for a moment it switched to being a ttrpg game and Brennan was like "you were suspicious the whole time! I knew it was you from jump!" And I was like "yeah I thought you probably were bad but i thought i could change you" and we defeat his evil plans and put him under house arrest.

Some time later in like seasion 2, I was outside and I saw someone who looked EXACTLY like me and i turned to tell my brother and when I looked back they were gone. So I say whatever, continue my life, several days pass. I go to a fabric store and it's cool. I leave, I'm walking around outside and then I hear me saying "this person looks EXACTLY like me" and i look up and it's me from the past! I run away so i don't see me again but then I'm like omg time travel is real and it just happened to me on accident?? I start having a panic attack.

Cut to I'm a different character played by Octavia Spencer. She's going on a date with a guy to a diner/roller rink that's a 50s theme that's just opened up and it's super popular. She's so nervous and she likes this guy and he's just chatting away while they're in line and every moment they get closer she gets more nervous. They get inside and she sees all the roller rink stuff and is like "I'm terrified of skating and i don't think we'd even work together. You're such a carefree guy and i should just leave! I can't do it any of it!" And her date reassures her that she doesn't have to skate if she didn't want to. He introduces her to his son who had been inside while he picked her up and that's okay because he's got a lil 50s community in here where they all look out for each other and that makes Octavia Spencer feel better somehow.

But then their nice moment is interrupted by some actual 50s gangsters who have appeared in the diner all of a sudden! Time travel things brought them to the modern times and they dont like being made fun of!

Cut to me waking up (still in the dream) and I'm freaking out because I just realized time travel shenanigans are happening! I run to my brother and wake him up and he's all groggy and I'm like it's an emergency!! He's like, what's going on? I say. I just saw myself from the past! He's like, what? And I'm like, damn i just woke up. Maybe none of that was even real but it FELT real. I tell him what happened and he's like, okay I kinda remember you saying you saw someone who looked like you s couple days ago so let's look more into this. Wecome up with a theory that maybe it's a time dilation where for just a moment, two segments of time overlapped but it was short lived. Maybe it didn't even happen to anyone else yet.

Cut to outside where Andrew Garfield is fighting with a 50s version of himself and the me watching this through my dream is a little into it. I think the me in my dream is also watching but she's in distress.

We remember there's a comic book series comic out with a character based off me. I think our evil uncle made it. We go to its booth but it's just an ad with a poster. The comics won't cook he out for weeks. But then I notice the illustration of the main character and I look down and we're wearing the exact same clothes. Either the uncle writer made this happen or they saw it before and are making money off it instead of warning us.

But then I remember something about the Andrew Garfield fight. There might be some way to reverse all this. I can't really what it was and then i woke up for real

#dreams

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halothenthehorns · 3 months ago

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Chapter 26: WE SAY GOOD-BYE, SORT OF

Let’s all just pause and take a moment to exult that I’m done with one set of books! This is an accomplishment I will never fail to revel in no matter how many more I have to go! It’s been a ride I wouldn’t trade a word for!

PJOPJOPJOPJO

Alex, who had started all of this by picking up the first book she remembered fondly, took it from Magnus casually with a hopeful smile as she read, "We Say Good-Bye, Sort Of. That's just like you Percy. Gods forbid you commit to anything."

"I commit to important things," he promised with a casual kiss on his girlfriend's temple.

Camp went late that summer. It lasted two more weeks, right up to the start of a new school year, and I have to admit they were the best two weeks of my life.

Alex couldn't help but read that with a tinge of confusion to her voice though. She had about as much clue to that idea of a solid length of time being happy as Percy had to a normal life. She liked it better when he was killing math teachers, at least that she could wrap her head around.

Of course, Annabeth would kill me if I said anything different,

"For just a moment I thought you were done holding people hostage at knife point Annabeth," Thalia said with, wagging a 'for shame' finger at her. "Let the poor boy go this instant!"

“I’m relieved, can’t let her go getting soft now that she’s in love,” Jason snorted.

"A lesser person would hold you to saying that as some kind of blackmail Thals," Annabeth chuckled.

but there was a lot of other great stuff going on too. Grover had taken over the satyr seekers and was sending them out across the world to find unclaimed half-bloods.

Jason felt a giddy sense of pride that his reaction all the way back at the beginning of this hearing how unorganized they were had been given its own resolution. Gods he wanted to shake Grover's hand and meet him so bad to see what his chart looked like covering all of this.

So far, the gods had kept their promise.

"For all of two weeks," Will nodded seriously. "Yeah, we were shocked too."

New demigods were popping up all over the place—not just in America, but in a lot of other countries as well.

"We can hardly keep up," Grover admitted one afternoon as we were taking a break at the canoe lake. "We're going to need a bigger travel budget, and I could use a hundred more satyrs."

Alex resisted the urge to joke about an orgy with great restraint. Grover was a real person to Percy, not just an abstract joke.

"Yeah, but the satyrs you have are working super hard," I said. "I think they're scared of you."

Grover blushed. "That's silly. I'm not scary."

"You're a lord of the Wild, dude. The chosen one of Pan. A member of the Council of—"

"Stop it!" Grover protested. "You're as bad as Juniper. I think she wants me to run for president next."

"And I'd vote for his hindquarters!" Nico snorted. "He'd do wonders for environmental issues."

"Given you and Thalia are the only one's here old enough to vote, I guess we'd just help put up campaign signs," Percy chuckled.

He chewed on a tin can as we stared across the pond at the line of new cabins under construction. The U-shape would soon be a complete rectangle, and the demigods had really taken to the new task with gusto.

Nico had some undead builders working on the Hades cabin. Even though he was still the only kid in it, it was going to look pretty cool: solid obsidian walls with a skull over the door and torches that burned with green fire twenty-four hours a day. Next to that were the cabins of Iris, Nemesis, Hecate, and several others I didn't recognize. They kept adding new ones to the blueprints every day. It was going so well, Annabeth and Chiron were talking about adding an entirely new wing of cabins just so they could have enough room.

Jason felt like getting up to high five Chiron. Of course Percy had been right, change was happening!

The Hermes cabin was a lot less crowded now, because most of the unclaimed kids had received signs from their godly parents.

"What a concept, all the kids having a bed and a whole foot of space for themselves," Nico said dryly.

"I hope you're not expecting a thank you card," Percy rolled his eyes.

It happened almost every night, and every night more demigods straggled over the property line with the satyr guides, usually with some nasty monsters pursuing them, but almost all of them made it through.

'Almost all of them,' Magnus shook his head sadly he couldn't even feel real surprise and shock at how casually that was just put down.

"It's going to be a lot different next summer," I said. "Chiron's expecting we'll have twice as many campers."

"Yeah," Grover agreed, "but it'll be the same old place."

He sighed contentedly.

I watched as Tyson led a group of Cyclops builders. They were hoisting huge stones in place for the Hecate cabin, and I knew it was a delicate job. Each stone was engraved with magical writing, and if they dropped one, it would either explode or turn everyone within half a mile into a tree. I figured nobody but Grover would like that.

"Define, everyone?" Alex asked clinically, wondering if it would work on the cyclops, who were already nature spirit adjacents.

"Been there, done that, don't recommend," Thalia huffed.

"I'll be traveling a lot," Grover warned, "between protecting nature and finding half-bloods. I may not see you as much."

"Won't change anything," I said. "You're still my best friend."

He grinned. "Except for Annabeth."

"That's different."

"Yeah," he agreed. "It sure is."

"I miss him," Percy needlessly told her. "We need the three amigos out in the world!"

"I have a feeling you'll get your wish soon," Annabeth promised, but with the kind of smile that at least made him hope it would be fifty fifty on the fun/ death scale.

In the late afternoon, I was taking one last walk along the beach when a familiar voice said, "Good day for fishing."

My dad, Poseidon, was standing knee-deep in the surf, wearing his typical Bermuda shorts, beat-up cap, and a real subtle pink-and-green Tommy Bahama shirt. He had a deep-sea fishing rod in his hands, and when he cast it the line went way out—like halfway across Long Island Sound.

"Hey, Dad," I said. "What brings you here?"

He winked. "Never really got to talk in private on Olympus. I wanted to thank you."

"Thank me? You came to the rescue."

"Yes, and I got my palace destroyed in the process,

Percy sighed loudly, he just knew that was going to come up again!

but you know—palaces can be rebuilt. I've gotten so many thank-you cards from the other gods. Even Ares wrote one, though I think Hera forced him to. It's rather gratifying. So, thank you. I suppose even the gods can learn new tricks."

"Yada yada old dogs," Magnus nodded.

"I'd leave at least half of them at the pound," Thalia smirked, causing Percy to laugh hard in agreement.

The Sound began to boil. At the end of my dad's line, a huge green sea serpent erupted from the water. It thrashed and fought, but Poseidon just sighed. Holding his fishing pole with one hand, he whipped out his knife and cut the line. The monster sank below the surface.

"Not eating size," he complained. "I have to release the little ones or the game wardens will be all over me."

"Little ones?"

"Game warden?" Jason felt he was asking the far more important question.

"I'll bet it's Grover," Will smirked.

He grinned. "You're doing well with those new cabins, by the way. I suppose this means I can claim all those other sons and daughters of mine and send you some siblings next summer."

"Damn," Alex snorted, "your dad is ice cold for that joke."

"He had to have that side of him somewhere, the ocean isn't all dolphins and maytai," Annaebth shrugged without surprise. Percy was to busy sitting in nervous silence to answer.

"Ha-ha."

Poseidon reeled in his empty line.

I shifted my feet. "Um, you were kidding, right?"

Poseidon gave me one of his inside-joke winks, and I still didn't know whether he was serious or not.

"He, wouldn't, have," but Jason sounded as confused and unsure as Percy did, and when this guy was on the same page as him, they were all in trouble.

Percy loved his little brother in Tyson, but a small, secret part of him had also kind of enjoyed the idea his mom was special. That it was Sally Jackson herself that had made Poseidon break his oath and sort of regret him being born until he proved otherwise.

...besides, no way could other half-blood siblings have been out there all this time, still alive and awaiting to be discovered. They were supposed to be extra monsterlicious or something. Right?!

"I'll see you soon, Percy. And remember, know which fish are big enough to land, eh?"

With that he dissolved in the sea breeze, leaving a fishing pole lying in the sand.

"Did you keep it?" Alex asked casually.

"It was probably cursed," Percy said like that was an answer.

"And?" Alex spluttered in disappointment. Percy gave her a tragic look that he felt spoke all he needed to about enticing such ideas.

She turned grumpily away and muttered some more curses, though Percy wasn't quite sure if he meant the artifact kind or the cussing him out kind. He had a feeling Alex could manage both equally well at any rate.

That evening was the last night of camp—the bead ceremony. The Hephaestus cabin had designed the bead this year. It showed the Empire State Building, and etched in tiny Greek letters, spiraling around the image, were the names of all the heroes who had died defending Olympus. There were too many names, but I was proud to wear the bead. I put it on my camp necklace—four beads now. I felt like an old-timer. I thought about the first campfire I'd ever attended, back when I was twelve, and how I'd felt so at home.

That at least hadn't changed.

It was one of those things Percy hoped never did. His love of the color blue, how much he loved going fast on his pets, how much he looked forward coming to camp every year. He expected his feelings for Annabeth to change and reform, he accepted he'd keep feeling like a freak in his own head around all these different people who saw him as something special, but it felt good to fall back on simple things too.

"Never forget this summer!" Chiron told us. He had healed remarkably well, but he still trotted in front of the fire with a slight limp.

"Errr, Percy, he's always had that limp," Annabeth told him kindly.

"What? No he hasn't," Percy frowned. "I'd notice that."

"Yeah, sorry Perce," Will agreed. "It's not super obvious, but it's there. He got it from that Hercules incident."

Percy looked at them dumbfounded and was pretty sure they were pulling his leg...but he also still couldn't prove there wasn't some secret play they put on every year he'd never heard of so he was kind of at a loss.

"We have discovered bravery and friendship and courage this summer. We have upheld the honor of the camp." He smiled at me, and everybody cheered. As I looked at the fire, I saw a little girl in a brown dress tending the flames. She winked at me with red glowing eyes. No one else seemed to notice her, but I realized maybe she preferred it that way.

"Yeah, I think Hestia is my spirit goddess," Magnus grinned.

"We can throw you in the fire?" Alex asked with mild excitement.

"You're going to save the world by being handed a jar?" Percy asked blankly.

"Screw both of you," Magnus chuckled.

"And now," Chiron said, "early to bed! Remember, you must vacate your cabins by noon tomorrow unless you've made arrangements to stay the year with us. The cleaning harpies will eat any stragglers, and I'd hate to end the summer on a sour note!"

"Do we taste sour?" Nico asked, unimpressed.

"Don't say it like that," Will whined. "Chiron doesn't join in them eating us!"

"Well I'm so sorry I didn't get the correct interpretation out of that death threat," Nico rolled his eyes. He'd left this night, it had been the last thing he heard Chiron say. It had been a pretty memorable last stance.

The next morning, Annabeth and I stood at the top of Half-Blood Hill. We watched the buses and vans pull away, taking most of the campers back to the real world. A few old-timers would be staying behind, and a few of the newcomers, but I was heading back to Goode High School for my sophomore year—the first time in my life I'd ever done two years at the same school.

"In the sea of your life, that is a particularly depressing statement my friend," Jason said with a strange feeling of not being able to relate to Percy on that one. It was nice, he supposed, not to have a deep rooted parallel lodged in him about such a sad thing to hear, but somehow made Percy's life even more tragic than his own blank one for a moment.

"Yeah, yeah, news flash at ten, traffic or whatever," Percy shrugged, but it was still a good feeling. To smile and hope that they were just on winter break and he'd be able to actually continue this trend. The world wouldn't end because he'd accomplished something, it was all he'd wanted once upon a time.

"Good-bye," Rachel said to us as she shouldered her bag. She looked pretty nervous, but she was keeping a promise to her father and attending Clarion Academy in New Hampshire. It would be next summer before we got our Oracle back.

"You'll do great." Annabeth hugged her. Funny, she seemed to get along fine with Rachel these days.

"Very, very strange, yes," Alex said in a posh, scholarly voice. "Next he'll sit around and ponder the existence of bread or something."

"Well documented history of something all human civilizations create," Annabeth helpfully said to his blank look.

"Ah, thanks," he said.

Rachel bit her lip. "I hope you're right. I'm a little worried. What if somebody asks what's on the next math test and I start spouting a prophecy in the middle of geometry class? The Pythagorean theorem shall be problem two. . . . Gods, that would be embarrassing."

"I think that would make her the most popular girl there though," Thalia grinned. "Teachers would never understand how the kids keep cheating, she wouldn't charge anyone for free answers to the test, just works out for everyone really."

"Don't get me started on how our education system is trash," Annabeth said with a sharp look at the book like Rachel was in front of her to debate this with on whether that would be of any help.

Annabeth laughed, and to my relief, it made Rachel smile.

"Well," she said, "you two be good to each other." Go figure, but she looked at me like I was some kind of troublemaker.

"You can't say anything Percy, you called yourself a trouble maker first," Thalia grinned.

"It was shocking I tell you, I'd never been labeled as such before," Percy insisted wide eyed, causing them all to laugh lightly again.

Before I could protest, Rachel wished us well and ran down the hill to catch her ride.

Annabeth, thank goodness, would be staying in New York. She'd gotten permission from her parents to attend a boarding school in the city so she could be close to Olympus and oversee the rebuilding efforts.

"Guess that living in Cali. thing didn't stick?" Magnus asked, one part nervous for her, one part hopeful she'd just finally decided where she wanted her home to be.

"Not so much," Annabeth agreed, but the sad smile didn't linger as she turned back to the book casually. She'd keep in contact with her dad as long as he wanted to. She'd even offer to say hi to her step mom if she wanted to stop and chat on the phone. She'd come around for holidays or birthdays even. It just wasn't a necessity to her. She finally had her question answered of her place in his life.

"And close to me?" I asked.

"Well, someone's got a big sense of his own importance." But she laced her fingers through mine. I remembered what she'd told me in New York, about building something permanent, and I thought—just maybe—we were off to a good start.

"Well the bones of your relationship are at least well set in good sediment," Nico tried to say that in a complimentary way, but Percy just got another 'over my head' look and Nico shrunk in his seat rather than admit he'd spent hours in a museum once looking up niche facts of where dinosaur fossils were usually discovered.

The guard dragon Peleus curled contentedly around the pine tree underneath the Golden Fleece and began to snore, blowing steam with every breath.

"You've been thinking about Rachel's prophecy?" I asked Annabeth.

She frowned. "How did you know?"

"Because I know you."

Annabeth gave a mock, tragic sigh. "Am I already that predictable?"

"I don't mind a little calm and steady see-thoroughness right now," Percy promised. He could see that feeling hadn't faded at all with time too. She hadn't stopped studying Jason with those intense gray eyes every time she was sure he wasn't looking. A lesser guy would have been jealous. Percy was secure enough to know better it wasn't that blonde hair and blue eyes holding her attention after quoting that prophecy.

She bumped me with her shoulder. "Okay, so I have. Seven half-bloods shall answer the call. I wonder who they'll be. We're going to have so many new faces next summer."

"Those poor suckers have no clue what they're in for," Magnus said with experience.

"I'm still trying to hold out hope it won't involve us," Percy groaned.

"Well then, don't give the jar to Magnus," Alex reminded with an impish grin.

Annabeth chuckled along quietly, her eyes still darting between Jason, her cousin, and Alex. To much of what Artimes had said made sense with her dreams.

"Yep," I agreed. "And all that stuff about the world falling in storm or fire."

"You don't get a choice about the world ending that time," Jason agreed sadly. "You pick your poison and you like it."

"Bet I can find a loophole where one of the poison's tastes like blue-raspberry at least," Percy offered half-heartedly.

She pursed her lips. "And foes at the Doors of Death.

"Which is a particularly strange line," Nico nodded. "The Doors of Death are always moving, they're set in no spot, in Tartarus! No half-bloods would survive down there to bare arms against each other long enough."

"Not a theory I'd like to start beta-testing," Annabeth reluctantly agreed, though it was a soothing feeling for a moment to have a niche expert on at least one line at minimum.

I don't know, Percy, but I don't like it. I thought . . . well, maybe we'd get some peace for a change."

"What on earth gave you that strange thought?" Thalia asked her in concern.

"My recent visit to the delusional land of Olympus where everything was sunshine and rainbows by design," Annabeth sighed.

"Wouldn't be Camp Half-Blood if it was peaceful," I said.

"I guess you're right . . . Or maybe the prophecy won't happen for years."

"Could be a problem for another generation of demigods," I agreed. "Then we can kick back and enjoy."

She nodded, though she still seemed uneasy. I didn't blame her, but it was hard to feel too upset on a nice day, with her next to me, knowing that I wasn't really saying good-bye. We had lots of time.

"Race you to the road?" I said.

"You are so going to lose." She took off down Half-Blood Hill and I sprinted after her.

For once, I didn't look back.

Alex smiled as she closed the book to finally indicate she was done, this one was done. It was a strange feeling of relief and accomplishment when it had nothing to do with her in particular, just one that always came with finishing a new story. Having someone else's life given a tangible place in her world was usually such a fleeting thing.

Percy jumped up and did a lap around the room, arms up in a delirious victory. He would have been shouting like a loon at the top of his lungs if he wasn't worried about drawing the cranky Titan back.

The others couldn't blame him in the slightest, letting him work off his energy as they waited for Jason to stretch and offer, "don't worry, I can wait one more day to deal with the next stretch of my mess. We can all hit bed for the night."

"Thank you," Annabeth said politely, though she and Thalia exchanged almost disappointed looks. They almost didn't want that. They'd known everything of their past, but there was a hunger in them to get a look at the other side of a gods face and see just what Jason had gotten up to.

Alex, Will, and Nico were already walking off however, talking about death auras and color theory in a disturbing crisscross conversation, and Percy was starting to slow his frantic run and rubbing his stomach, so they weren't going to argue the point tonight and let it go to take a breath at minimum.

Magnus lingered on the couch where he'd been sitting by Alex, head tipped back and staring at the ceiling with a forlorn expression.

Annabeth sunk down uneasily beside him and asked, "thinking about Hearth?"

He nodded, an uncomfortable position for his neck for sure at the awkward angle as he didn't look around. "I feel like such trash, he's my friend, and here Percy just went and made sure the world was safe for all of his, and I waved mine goodby on the word a Titan wouldn't just chuck him off the planet by accident."

"Percy isn't perfect," Annabeth corrected with a fond smile. "I know you know I once jumped on the back of a manticore, and he beat himself up over it too."

Magnus finally turned to face her, waving his hand around in the water to show how much that comparison didn't work.

"I know," she agreed. "Just, I know you're going to beat yourself up, but try to leave some skin unbruised too. If Hearth left of his own accord, I can't see him blaming you."

Magnus sighed and nodded in agreement. He wanted to believe that, at any rate.

Annabeth watched, seeing him now studying the empty seat with a faraway look in his eyes she knew all to well, the lost expression of not knowing what to do about a situation wasn't just for his friend.

"You like her," Annabeth said astutely, tucking her legs underneath her and studying him, "I could tell that after being here half a day. Have you said anything to Alex?"

Magnus bit his lip and wasn't sure how to say it.

"Is it because you're only attracted to her, half the time?" She kept fishing.

"No, no," Magnus quickly corrected. "I, find her just as intriguing on her he days. I mean, I've never been attracted to a guy before, but it's not, I mean, I like Alex, no matter what gender she or he is."

"So what's the problem?" Annabeth repeated, pure sympathy in her tone.

He clasped his hands and tapped his fingers against his chin, there was no nice way to say it. "Not sure what's going to happen when we get back. I'm still, I'm not sure if you're camp, well, up there-"

His cousin's eyes filled with regret, she leaned forward in her seat, feet spilling back onto the floor to support her weight as she automatically went in to hug him, before she hesitated and leaned right back. He smiled at her in relief and forced himself to relax, not even realizing he'd tensed up until she'd sat back in her seat, but still leaning on the edge.

"You're homeless." She said it as a statement, not a question. He didn't bother to deny it. What would be the point when she'd find out the second they got out of here? Her face flooded with the one thing that didn't send him running away though. Understanding. "Magnus, I am so sorry about that, if I'd known-"

"How could you," he brushed off any responsibility on her part. "As bad as things apparently are between your dad, if he even knows, you've had your own troubles going on-"

"I asked about you though," Annabeth insisted, she was twisting her hands up in her lap and he smiled to imagine her Yankees cap there. "When he told me about Aunt Natalie, that first summer I'd seen him in so long, I cried all night. He said he tried to find you but the system had no record of you, and my step-mom was just in the kitchen the whole time making her kids lunch like nothing was wrong, well, it didn't set a good precedent for that summer. I just thought, I don't know, you were living with Uncle Randolph, safe, I was still fighting with them so much-"

"I don't blame you," he insisted to her guilt ridden face.

"I should have looked for you," she insisted too. "You could have been at camp with us all along."

"I don't know about that," he frowned and looked up at the ceiling again, then reluctantly, the door. "That's why I'm, well it doesn't help I'm a tongue tied idiot around her, but I don't know what's going to happen when we get back. The last thing I should be worried about is a crush when, well I have no clue about my parentage and," he trailed off with his face burning red and his own hands gripping painfully tight to each other.

Annabeth bumped their knees together as she leaned forward without being forceful about it, her tone dead serious. "Chiron will not turn you four away. You'll have somewhere safe to be Magnus." Then she looked over her shoulder, and back to him with a promising smile. "I can tell you really have feelings for Alex, and you shouldn't wait on something like that."

He was blushing again even as he answered, "it's not like it's just me. Alex is, so confident, about everything! I still think she's just been messing with me! If she did like me, I think she'd say something about it, she's so bold." He was smiling by the end, he could hear to his own ears how gently he spoke of her and couldn't even find the blush to be embarrassed about it anymore, even as Annabeth's smile increased.

She still spoke candidly, but there was a hint of worry for the first time. "Maybe, well, she has feelings for somebody else up there right now."

Magnus's heart plummeted, he hadn't thought of that.

"Maybe there's, other things going on in her circumstances," Annabeth relentlessly went on, "but Magnus, you'll regret it if you don't at least ask. Trust me."

He did trust her. He didn't envy the two living through the end of the world before finding peace in each other. He didn't want total destruction to get up the courage to say something to Alex and wondered what other obstacles between near constant death by monster and kidnapping's might circumvent them giving each other a chance.

Magnus knew the moment Percy must have walked back in the room by watching her face light up, shifting around in her seat as if her first reaction were to go to him. She stopped herself and smiled back at him.

He nodded to be left alone, so Annabeth just gave him a promising smile as she stretched and stood up, going over to Percy and putting her hand in his like it was the most natural thing in the world as they discussed what they wanted for dinner with Thalia.

His mind was so preoccupied trying to figure out what exactly he was going to say to Alex on the way to her door, he had no clue how long he was standing in front of it only to see it was open. Wrapping his knuckles sharply on it anyways and very cautiously easing his head around, he called out for her with no answer.

It was as bland as everybody else's, if he hadn't subconsciously noted which one she'd come out of yesterday he'd never have guessed who's it could be, but there was also something so uniquely Alex about it he was sure he wasn't wrong. The smell of wet clay lingered in the air, there was a sewing kit resting beside the pillow, and a plate of Hershey's Kisses on top of the fridge, all unwrapped and arranged in a nonlinear way.

His first impulse was to swipe them into his mouth and book it, but this was Alex's room, and he'd never stolen from someone he wasn't pretty convinced didn't deserve it, so he instead opened up the door below.

Instead of food, what he found was a bowl. A beautiful work of pottery with intricate, almost 3D looking designs all along the side of a caterpillar weaving itself into a cocoon and coming out, only for its wings to beat for all of one image and begin withering in the very next to turn to dust, a telling story all the way until he spun it back around to start.

The kind of thing he would have scoffed and been disgusted at the price of, only someone living the lap of luxury could afford in a window. His hands felt grubby holding it.

He swiftly set it on her bed before the worst could happen and bumped into the fridge door, closing it to hide the evidence he'd found such a thing while the chocolate all moved around on the plate.

Then his mind seized in a panic, wanting to put it back before she found he'd saw it, and he had to grab something else out to prove he hadn't of course! But what- his eyes darted to the chocolate, and he frantically slammed and yanked the door too quickly, the universe glitched as it delivered so fast, but a bag of Kisses fell onto his shoe. He ripped the bag open and hastily shoved one in as he kicked the door back shut, feeling the strange crinkling sensation on his tongue and realizing he'd forgotten to unwrap it-

"Magnus?"

He choked, his hands fumbled, and for some reason his brain screamed at him to hide the evidence. The rich chocolate fell to the floor, scattering to every corner as the half-unwrapped one sat on his tongue as he whirled around to see her dark brown and amber eyes were glittering at him from across the room as she sauntered over. She stopped right in front of him, eyeing his lips clinically.

Magnus swallowed and knew he should open his mouth, say something, like why he was invading Alex's privacy and something else very important, he was sure he'd come in here to say something but really couldn't remember right now as Alex leaned in.

Alex planted a hand firmly on his shoulder and kissed him.

It was not gentle, but neither was the way Magnus's knees literally gave out on him and he fell back against the wall, his hands had pulled Alex's shirt with him, so that Alex was fully pressed into him and her lips were still a tantalizing breath apart.

She braced her other hand against the wall right by his head, he felt her shift her weight and his eyes snapped open as he began to apologize and let go only to see her nose to nose with him and smiling, not leaning back an inch. "I'm homeless," he blurted out, and gods he was the most idiotic person on earth as he licked his lips. He was surprised he wasn't choking on that wrapper and probably dying and hallucinations all this.

"I guessed that, I am too," she nodded. Some of her hair had fallen out of the updo, curling back around her shoulders. They were so close, his golden strands were twining together with hers. "I'm a child of Loki."

Judging by her reserved tone, how she was still shifting her weight around, he probably should have had some revelation to that. Even he'd heard of that god. "The god of trickery? Thor's brother?" He was running his tongue over his lip still where they tingled and had never wanted someone to move away less. Maybe he had a chocolate allergy he'd never known of.

She gave him a joyless smile, the nails on his shoulder digging in just a bit, for all the world like she was still fixing to lean back but had yet to do so. "How those Greek kids speak of children of Hades, as outcasts, untrustworthy, that's how our kind will see me Magnus."

"You're not seeing anyone else are you?" He blurted, again. He wasn't touching her anywhere but where his fingers were still holding onto the edge of her odd shirt, the material crinkled like she’d wrapped herself in foil, just the tips of his fingers.

Her smile was very sad as she leaned in and kissed him again, fully capturing his lips. The world might have actually ended by the time she leaned back again, his protection had possibly evaporated into her he was left breathing so shallowly like all the oxygen had been deprived from him. "No," she finally answered in the gentlest voice Magnus had yet heard from her. Her eyes were closed as she stayed right where she was. "Give me time to tell you about Adrian." Her breath caught on the name. Then she opened her eyes, and finally pushed off him and took a step back.

There was chocolate smeared across her lips now and he found himself swallowing none left in his mouth.

"Okay," he promised, thinking Percy would have to come in here and pry him off this wall before he figured out how to move again. "I, um, you're gorgeous," he finally, stupidly, remembered what he'd wanted to come in here and tell her, and the compliment seemed very underwhelming now.

She laughed, that same crooked smile playing across her lips he didn't think he'd ever want to look away from. "And you're an adorable goof."

"I can work with that," he nodded so much he may or may not have broken his neck.

***

Percy finally held her tight that night.

“All coming back to you?” She couldn’t even put a tease in her voice as she lovingly curled into his chest without hesitation and his arms just circled her tighter.

There was comfortable silence for a while. But they both knew. It was a pause of their earlier fight, and they were both testing the waters to see who would break it first.

Percy did, cutting right to the heart of it. He’d seen that look on her face and known what it was. “I got lost, and it wasn’t your fault.”

She said nothing, her nails digging tight into his back. He could feel the hitch in her voice as she fought back a sob.

“The day you can tell a god or goddess or Titan what to do with me is the day you get crowned Queen of Olympus, and Zeus is doing a shit job too, so, I actually like your odds better,” he concluded with the contemplative simpleness she adored about him so much. He had a very black and white view of the world, one she didn’t share but admired.

“I think what’s killing me is, that Artemis had to help,” she admitted. She could only admit this to him, since she was being honest here.

He nodded, because he understood that too. “I’m sure your mom would say good counsel isn’t unwise?” He tried and failed to offer, knowing the answer. “Your mom might never have liked my help, but she can’t claim to have never needed it. She has demigods to do her bidding too.”

“Her counsel, perhaps, but I, I don’t know Percy. I hate the idea, of not knowing what they have planned for you. Of what they’ll ask you to do before this is all over.”

“What they’ll ask us to do,” Percy reminded, she could hear the grin of his voice from the comfort of his beating heart in her ear. “Oceanus might be an idiot, but he made it pretty clear he didn’t pull all of them in here by mistake. Now, you are a part of it, and we’ll make the right call.”

“I hope you’re right,” she murmured. Her mind was on Jason, and her cousin and Alex. Her mind was on those books, and how no god’s gift came without a price. Her mind was on Artemis still, and what she’d ask of them too when they got out of here.

And that would only be the beginning.

PJOPJOPJO

I don’t want to promise when I’ll start the next set of books. I want to get into a new fandom I’ve never explored before and really get invested without fretting in the back of my mind about writing. I want to say I’ll start posting the first chapter around the end of December with a possible first bonus chapter early that month, but if I wait a bit into New Year’s don't be alarmed either. My heart is SET on finishing these, I just don’t want to force it when I’m still playing around with a few ideas.

I will give the minor spoiler and promise I’m kicking around some new characters to bring in, but I would have to take some out too, I won’t go over my limit of eight.

Tell me which you’d prefer? I’m angling to bring in Leo and Piper or Reyna and Frank, both have merits, but I know you all have your own ideas.

#pjo #hoo #Percy Jackson #Jason Grace #Thalia Grace #alex fierro #Magnus Chase #fierrochase #will solace #nico di angelo #solangelo #Annabeth Chase #percabeth

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