#hey fitz? my guy? I have several questions

[everywaythatmatters]

“Strangely, I felt at peace.”

[hi-imgrapes]

//Song Family Reunion! Well, At Least Some Of The Family- A Kam Oneshot//

hey guys! happy holidays, heres a kam oneshot below the cut! enjoy!

contents: major kam fluff and angst on the side, tam’s childhood trauma, keefe’s childhood trauma, mai’s domestic abu$e, slight fedex, ro slaying the day, #fistbump

WARNING: MENTIONS OF DOMESTIC ABU$E, STAY SAFE!

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"Take that, you hooligan!"

The bright yellow beach ball knocks me on the head. It doesn't hurt much, but I am in a relatively good mood today- or as good as I can possibly be. I crumple to the ground onto the soft black sand of the Shores of Solace, letting out a sigh of defeat. A boy with bubblegum pink hair snickers from behind me.

I throw the beach ball at Fitz's head. He doesn't bother pretending to be hurt; he just laughs at me and Keefe.

"Ow," he giggles, throwing the beach ball back into Keefe's hands and plopping down on the soft ash-colored sand. He frowns, glancing at the pretentious mansion behind him. "How long do we have to do this?"

"Until Dad of the Year gets officially pissed." Keefe ruffles his sunny blonde hair and copies Fitz's frown. "Weird. He seems to be having more patience than usual today."

"I think you're making progress," I offer, pointing at the highest window where Lord Cassius, my boyfriend's father, rests his pathetic little feet. "See those curtains? He just closed them, but he can't block out the sound. It's only a matter of time before he caves."

"You would be making a point if you didn't say that half an hour ago. Besides, it's- what three hours till dinnertime? I have to get ready for a date," Fitz complains.

"Who takes three hours to get ready?" I mutter to myself, but loud enough for Keefe to hear.

"Fitz, apparently," Keefe snickers. Fitz flushes a dark crimson.

"For the record, your hair looks fine," Ro says from a bright green beach towel several feet away from us. "But if you want me to style it better-"

"I'm good, thanks," Fitz says before Ro could suggest some of her ideas. "But something tells me I'd look better without maggots burrowing into my scalp."

"Not maggots!" she corrects indignantly. "Just bacteria!"

"Very big bacteria," Keefe jokes. Fitz sighs in exasperation.

"Where do you have your date with Dex anyway?" I ask.

"Rimeshire," Fitz boasts before his mind could process my words well enough to correct himself. His face reddens the more Keefe rolls on the sand in laughing tears.

"Alright, you can go put your non-maggots in your hair if you'd like, Fitzy," Keefe teases. "No one's forcing you to be here."

"Considering Dex's questionable taste," Ro says, wrinkling her nose at Fitz, "maybe he would like maggots."

"Oooh, how well do maggots get along with tomples?"

"Alright, screw you guys," Fitz scoffs, holding up his leaping crystal to the sky. "Good luck on being a disappointment." And with those happy words, he glitters away into the afternoon sun.

"Alright, should we keep playing?" I am surprised to see Keefe looking at where Fitz used to stand with a wistful expression. Adopting an expression of concern, I sit up and walk over to him, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" I ask him.

"It's just..." Keefe blinks, and I am startled to see tears running down his cheeks. "My whole life I've dreamed of having a nice family I could settle into. Like how Fitz settled in with Dex after his parents kicked him out. But I..." His ice-blue eyes meet mine, and I know what he is thinking.

"I know. My parents..." I pause, falling short of my arsenal of good words to phrase the truth. "Aren't ideal. I'm sorry." I turn away, feeling a sense of shame burying into my chest.

Keefe's eyes widen out of the corner of my eye just as Ro picks up her towel and moves further down the beach. He cups my face, pulling it towards him. "Hey, that's not what I meant. I'm so lucky to have you, and I couldn't ask for anything more. I just-"

"I could try."

Keefe's eyes widen again, and the look on his face is enough to stop my heart for a solid two seconds. The look of hope, of all the dreams he had stockpiled in his head from the moment he realized he never was going to find what he wanted, what he needed, in his own family of blood. "What?"

"I've been meaning to tell you this for a while, my parents have been trying to get in touch with me lately. Saying they've changed. I don't believe them, but if it means so much to you..."

Keefe smiles sadly. "Bangs Boy, you don't have to do that."

I know I don't have to. But the look of hope Keefe gave me planted a seed of determination inside my head. I am going to try, and nobody can change my mind.

***

"Bangs, I told you that you didn't have to do this."

Keefe pesters me with complaints as we walk hand in hand up to my parents' house, but he didn't refuse to follow me.

"I told you before, I want to. And hey, if things go wrong, the door will be right next to us, okay?" I turn around to look Keefe in the eyes. He smiles gratefully and pulls me into a warm hug.

"Thank you," he whispers with a fierce kind of passion. "I love you."

I allow myself to melt into his embrace. "Love you too, Keefe." Too soon I pull away, kissing his cheek and squeezing his hand. "Ready?"

"Ready." We reach the door and Keefe looks at me with concern. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

I elbow him in the side. "We're literally at the door. What do you think?"

Keefe shrugs. "Just making sure. Alright, you reunite with your family and tell me to come in when you're ready for me."

"Alright, see you soon." I kiss his cheek once more and knock on the door, waving fondly to him as he scampers to the safety of a potted plant.

The faint sound of footsteps down stairs, familiar voices. I told them I would be coming sometime today. I didn't mention Keefe. That wasn't my cleverest move. (Or maybe it was. The only thing I could do now was find out and see.)

I look around. The porch is covered with potted plants and overgrown vines blossoming Mom's favorite flowers that I remembered her sprinkling on teacakes because she thought they looked pretty that way. The porch has a strange mix of familiar and foreign qualities smashed together like the edges of two worlds colliding into one. Something about the porch makes my eyes well with tears, which I wipe away almost as quickly as they come.

My heart stops as I hear the unlocking of the door.

A familiar woman steps out of the house with soft, delicate features and smooth black hair. Her silvery blue eyes widen.

A pair of smooth arms engulf me into a hug, crushing me despite their small size. Teardrops drip down my neck and my tunic, the sound of quiet sobbing in my ear.

"Tammy, I've missed you." That was the nickname Mom called me before I left with Linh.

"I've missed you too, Mom," I whisper hoarsely in her ear, feeling tears fill my eyes again only to wipe them away with my finger.

When my mother finally pulls away, she holds my shoulder steady and looks into my eyes with the concern to make me crumple to the ground, after so many years of only getting that kind of look from Linh. "How have you been?"

That's a hard question to answer, I admit. I think of the Neverseen fights, the pain, the injuries, the feelings of loneliness and loss.

I think of the friends I made, the smiles I let spread across my face for once, the love I spent on so much more people than I could ever have imagined.

A ghost of a smile breezes past my lips. "I think I've been okay."

Mom smiles back at me, gesturing to the opened door behind her. "Would you like to come inside?"

I fight back a grimace. I know the veiled meaning behind those carefully crafted words. Mom wants to know if I want to see Dad. The truth? I don't. Not really.

I think of the disdainful looks my Dad gave me back when I was little, when I didn't have any reason not to love myself for who I was. I think of the way he treated my mom like garbage, bossing her around like she owed him something when the only thing she ever owed him was a kick to the testicles. I think of the way he treated Linh like a mini version of Mom, like gardening flowers and baking cakes was the only future the universe had in store for her. Mom treated Linh badly, but Dad was on a whole different level.

But then I think of the expression of happiness on Keefe's face when I told him I would be getting him what he wanted. No, what he deserved.

Oh, Keefe would be mad if he knew I did something I didn't want to do because of him. I bite my lip and push down the false words of consent I was ready to give. "No," I say.

I thought that Mom would be at least a little surprised. Perhaps even angry that I would get so far only to reject the company of my father. But she only hangs her head and looks at me with a face of understanding and tears. A snot bubble pokes out from her left nostril.

She throws her arms around me again, sobbing uncontrollably into my ear. I hug her back this time, wrapping my arms around her like a blanket. I feel a sharp pang realization in my chest, like a knife to the chest.Mom despises it here.

Eventually, she pulls away again, still crying her heart out. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be letting you comfort me on a day like this-"

"No," I say firmly. "No." I rest my hands on her shoulder and see her tear tracks. My gaze travels slightly downwards and my fists curl in anger.

An ugly blotch of violet is on her right cheek, barely concealed by a heavy layer of makeup. But it's there.

"Mom, has Dad been-"

Mom breaks down in tears again, digging her fingernails into my back. My mouth curls into a snarl and I patiently wait for her crying to cease.

"Tammy, what are you-"

I march into the house, up the carpeted stairs, and down the hall. My head pounds like the beat of a thousand drums and my blood boils so much I think my skull is going to explode.

Sure enough, Dad is there. In his office, with a book cradled in his hands. I walk up to himself, heaving furious breaths, and wait until he decides to stop ignoring his son and look up.

And then I punch him, square in the jaw. A groan crumples out of her mouth, dark red pouring out from his nose. I march back down the stairs, the pounding in my head starting to slow.

"Oh, Tammy," Mom cries out when I come back. Tears are still drenching her face, but slower this time. I think she has subconsciously realized that she has nothing left to spare for her husband- tears or anything else.

Mom suddenly stops crying, and I look at her in confusion. My eyebrows shoot up as I look at her face, blotchy and red. Her tears have washed off some of her makeup, revealing more of her bruise. I can't help but narrow my eyes at the marks my dad, no- Quan Song- made on her. But that's not the thing that catches my eye. On her face is a look I've never seen before. A look of pure fury.

She picks up a small potted flower on a table by the door. It's a pretty magenta one, generously watered and cared for.

Mom smashes the pretty flower on the porch, shattering the porcelain vase holding it. My jaw drops in sheer awe as one thought takes over inside my head.

Mai Song is not going to be Quan Song's perfect, pretty wife any longer.

I scowl at the image in my mind of Quan. Why did I even come here, if I knew how much of an ass he was?

I look back at the potted plant on the side of the house. A trace of messy blond hair waits patiently as it peeks out from behind pink flowers. I suppress a chuckle. Whether he is trying to make me laugh on purpose or simply terrible at hiding is beyond my knowledge. "Oh, um, Mom?"

Mom is staring at the shattered porcelain but eventually looks up to meet my gaze. I am shocked to see a toothy grin painted on her cheeks.

It's good to her see smile, after so long.

"I have someone I'd like you to meet."

I whistle, and a rascal of a blonde boy scurried out of the porch, ice-blue eyes flashing with excitement. He holds out a shaky, sweaty hand to my mother.

"Mom, this is Keefe Sencen. My boyfriend."

Mom's eyes widen, and for a second my heart is paralyzed with fear until Mom gives Keefe the most heartwarming smile in the world and gives him a fistbump.

Keefe's eyes widen too, maybe because of the out-of-character gesture or because of her grin. He recovers, barely, then returns the fistbump.

"Nice to meet you, Tam's boyfriend," Mom says warmly. "I'm going to take all the pies I baked for Quan and give them away. Would you like to share one with my son?"

Keefe's eyes fill with tears and just like my mom, he breaks down into tears, leaning on her shoulders (that Mom seems to hold a little higher than usual) for support.

Once Keefe stops crying, he looks at my mom with glassy eyes filled with joy. "I would love some pie."

Mom grins. "Great. I'm going to pack my bags and then we'll get out of here. Okay?"

Keefe barely manages a nod before breaking down into tears again, this time on my shoulder. After such an eventful day, it feels embarrassingly nice to feel his warmth on my skin. I suppress a blush and bury my head in my boyfriend's sunny blonde hair.

"Is this what it feels like?" Keefe whispers. "To be welcome?"

"I think so," I whisper back, clutching her back in my arms as the next round of tears comes.

Man, I'm really going to need to clean my shirt after this, I think to myself. I smile.

[cowboypossume]

so i reread keeper of the lost cities and here’s my fresh input:

a note before we begin: you know how people fake throw up at things on tik tok? this book is the reason i now unironically do that.

dex and fitz really have the enemies to lovers troupe going for them and i’m ok with it. i really am.

so do sophie and biana at the beginning but it fizzes out so a better description is enimies to friends to lovers

marhella and stina give me such power top energy i cannot express how much i think that contributes to people not liking them

speaking of stina i wish sophie didn’t just immediately hop onto the bandwagon of “oh she’s evil” without investing further, especially with how much she is written as a ‘good’ person (which i can and will defend to the day i die that good people don’t exist but that’s for a different day).

there’s way too much heteronormativity and Patriarchical Ideas mushed into the book. like three hole pages of a 488 page book of teenagers being like “oooooo girls like guys and guys like girls” only for della to join in. not to mention the amount of times keefe is the reason for those ideas because he’s teasing like “oh fitz has a girlfriend”

keefe and fitz didn’t have as many bonding moments™️ in this book as i remember, but they stil know each other really well, have comfortability around each other, and would make a 10/10 best friends to lovers troupe.

oh my god s o many crushes i swear. like two teenagers of the opposite gender really can’t not like each other apperantly

i miss read a line and really thought there was cannon sexism for me to do a whole ass rant about in the notes part of my analyzation but n o p e

but we do have classism, sexist stereotypes, and the fact that there’s been SO many characters who’ve spoken and ✨🌺far too many of them are white🌺✨

oh also: no ones disabled. which annoys me because their society is described as ‘euptopic’ almost implying that it’s something that makes people problematic, which,,,, no

ok a side note on the society, i understand that the story’s message (kinda) is that things that seem perfect are probably deeply flawed, but something tergan said stuck with me. on a page i can’t remember at the moment he says something like “[the black swan exists] in a society that doesn’t have rebels”, which it suck with me bc that’s boarderline dystopic if it’s not there already. it’s one thing for laws not to be broken, but when you think your society is so perfect despite it having obvious flaws and you think that no one rebels, then i really hate to break it to you, you have a massive rebellion about to occur; it’s just scented as foul under your resplendent nose.

please stop flirting. i get its part of teenagers being teens but i swear if i read “s/he realeased a breath” or “their heart fluttered” or literally ANYTHING like that god no.

yall. i missed dex. he actually has more role in this book than ‘you can gadget and we need one’ and oh boy i really missed him. he’s a BEAN and deserves better.

hole’s said everyone deserves better and i absolutely agree so we’re adding that note here.

if you do what i did and read this book out loud to one of your best friends who has no clue anything about this weird fandom and give fitz a really deep voice for no reason it’s comdy GOLD.

i really think i’m reading too much into this point but iggy seems,,,, symbolic to me?

like ok with humans, sophie didn’t ‘fit in’, right? like she grew up hearing things like “why can’t you be normal like your sister” (which i can do a whole other rant about how that will affect her for the rest of her life just a s k)

not to mention looking really different from her family and graduating high school at age twelve 

but you know who never judged her?

m a r t y

so anyway sophie meets this teal-eyed, movie star smiled wonder boy who takes away her entire knowledge of everything she’s known while taking away her family too

and it turns out even in a place of weirdos she still manages to be the exception to everything

and she doesn’t have the comfort to hear what people are really thinking about her anymore (which as i said before say the word and i’ll deadass write a whole speech about how everything she heard will completely fuck up every relationship she has) which unfortunately means that she grew used to confirming people didn’t like her but now she doesn’t have that

she has to adapt to this new space and feel like she’s always felt, like an outcast in a place that was accepting, but yet again, she the exception to everything

but about halfway through the book she starts to become more comfortable around grady and edaline and that’s when iggy comes in

she finds him while cleaning garbage, and grady compliments her. they have a bonding moment and it’s because of this t h i n g. and then sophie actually feels proud not only does she take up a room, but she did something

and her new parents are proud of her

so she finally feels like she BELONGS because she helped out at the place where she lives/they work

to me it seems iggy is kinda a manifesto of the world building and character development that happens in this book

i think the plot/character arc is fixated a little too much on how different sophie is. like, i get it, she’s exception to everything, but the plot really didn’t need her to be that quirky. yes, she’s different, but there’s a lot more to the plot and her character than how different she is.

also, i had to reread pages a lot bc i needed an exact paragraph number and,,,, it’s really paced like a fanfic

some questions i have about the society is:

it’s established that they use books, physical papers, etc., and the only thing i remember about trees is the speech alden gave her about how she doesn’t know the name of their most popular tree, and the fact that people become trees when they die. even then i don’t think the second one is in this book. never o n c e do i remember something about planting trees that aren’t dead elf’s, so do they feel the affects of deforestation and that jazz?? like if they use trees, will they run out of them? can they??? and do they use the coffins of elf’s for paper??

this is more of a rant than a question, but here it goes anyway. in foxfire, students have a testing system very similar to the one in america: a huge test at the end of the year determines the future of a student. that in of itself doesn’t sound too drastic, right? well,,,,, not necessarily. several studies have shown that tests in general, but especially these types, don’t work. despite how good or bad of a teacher i think my past and current teachers have been, every single one of them hates this system that we have in place. they know it’s an unfair assessment that does it’s damnist to make you fail, and they’re trying so hard to denounce it. however, that doesn’t happen at all in the lost cities. in fact, most of the teachers pride themselves on failing students. so if elf’s are in such an advanced society, why do tests still exist? especially in an environment where the consequences are far greater than just staying back a grade. 

so sophie’s figuring out that major problems exist in the world the elf’s created, right? i wonder if more society structured problems exist more than ‘oh bad people do things and the law justifies which is what’. like, as i’ve previously stated, there’s sexist stereotypes presented (like girls like dresses and guys don’t), but does sexism still exist? does racism exist? it’s established that poverty isn’t a thing because of the fund elf’s have at birth and their limited usage of money (which if you understand please explain bc i don’t really get how they buy stuff but still don’t use money) but if someone gets shipped off to exile, do they lose their money? is it possible for elf’s to starve to death because they can’t afford food? do they pay for food?? if they did starve who would they call? because someone on this website, who’s post i tried to find but i couldn’t so if y’all know what i’m talking about please link it, brought up a good point that elwin is a school physician, he shouldn’t be dealing with the near-death experiences sophie has, so who would they turn to? especially if they don’t have access to foxfire because they got exciled??

is therapy a thing in this world? sophie and dex could really benefit from it, yet mental health has only been brought up when someone went insane, which REALLY shows how little they think about it.

that perfectly transitions into my next point: sophie and dex’s trauma. i really don’t get the vibe that there was much thought going into their kidnapping, other than sophie needed something to trigger her inflecting ability and establish the black swan are on the good side, which really sucks because wow trauma doesn’t happen lightly. and the fact that it happened seems rushed to me, but i’ll come back to that. but anyway, their trauma doesn’t get developed that deeply in this book because it wasn’t given the space to. they were beaten, tortured, starved, gagged, and who even knows what else for t e n d a y s, only for them to find them again, repeat the process, but someone saves them and dumps them into an illegal city and they both nearly die from dehydration, coldness, and lack of concentration, and you’re telling me after three days of conscious of bed rest sophie wants to get her failing out of school over with? ma’am, it takes more time than that to adjust to THAT alone, not to mention the realization that “hey your entire life is fake because people genetically altered you to be their weapon in a war so much bigger than yourself” that was recently dumped on her. like,,,, you really expect me to think that three days is what made her feel prepared and CONFIDENT? no sir. i don’t buy it.

coming back to it being rushed: the book starts out slow and then really hits the ground running and doesn’t stop. so much more stuff happens in the second half of the book than the first and it never gets fully developed it feels like. in the first half sophie moves away but gets a new family and struggles a bit but adapts, fires maybe but hey don’t worry about it, dex hates fitz, fitz is ✨d r e a m y ✨ but our main girl doesn’t like him like that, right?, stina’s a bitch, and sophie is a quirky girl and telepath but can’t tell anyone. pretty basic stuff, not too plot intensive. the second half though: sophie almost fails her midterms but doesn’t, grady and elaine want to unadopt her (which that’s never really explained as to why they do that but ok) fires exist in san degio but they’re fine but they’re actually a rebel elf so..., sophie accidentally breaks a law but it was an accident so it’s fine, update on the fires: sophie burns herself trying to get the evidence that it’s a rebel elf and it works, she’s the moon lark and basically a weapon bc no one knows her well enough to evaluate her safety, sophie and dex get kidnapped but fitz can now transmit to her and she has two new abilities so it’s all good, trauma doesn’t exist except for nightmare you can fix with sedatives, sophie doesn’t fail out of school, and yayyy her family doesn’t want her remove their adoption. there’s probably a lot more that i missed, it’s just that’s a LOT of stuff crammed into a little bit further than the second half of the book that really could have been devolped or explore further instead of forcing into less than 244 pages, ya know?

fitz’s eyes are mentioned seven times, the first time being on page TWO of the novel

his smile is mentioned three times

alden says “no reason to worry” five times, he writes it once, and sophie points out he says it a lot so he chances it slightly to something like ‘don’t stress about it’ so i didn’t count those though i should have

speaking of alden, in this book he’s absolutely creepy, but something that stands out to me is how much he calls sophie girl. i didn’t count it, but he said “that’s a good girl” to sophie too many times for it to be normal especially when you consider how he doesn’t do it to anyone else.

i kinda forgot i was annotating for sophie’s anxious habit of pulling out her eyelashes so i got she did it twice, but i highly doubt that number

but i will keep adding to this when i actually do the words with my annotations.

[thewritercometh]

So, here's a one-shot featuring my stronk lady oc, Anna Fitzgerald!

Anna sat quietly at the bar, nursing a glass of scotch as around her, the sounds of merriment and revelry rang out around her.  The jukebox was blasting a KISS song as pool balls clicked together on the table in the corner.  A few different groups were laughing and talking about this or that.

Behind the bar, Anna's friend Mason continuously shuttled back and forth, serving the patrons of this humble bar, whether they needed a drink or a friend.  He was good at his job, too.  He rarely had an angry 'patient' as he sometimes referred to them as, and ended up making off like a bandit in tips.

The bar suddenly became deathly quiet when the jukebox was unplugged.  Several people made noises of complaint and turned to see who dared interrupt their night.  Anna turned as well, and cursed silently.  There stood Wade Klatt, stinking of booze and bad temper.  He clutched a beer bottle in one hand, and the jukebox's power cord in the other.

"Hey!" he slurred, throwing down the cord, then his bottle.  "Gimme a fuggin' drink!" Wade peered around at everyone, lurching threateningly toward Al Collins, a friendly bearded truck driver who had just gotten back from an East Coast run.  "The fuck you lookin' at? Think yer a tough guy? Huh?!"

Making similar moves toward other patrons, he wobbled to the bar, at the opposite end from Anna.  He slammed his hand down.  "Hey! Your ears fuggin' painted on or what? I said gimme a drink!"

Mason shook his head.  "No way, Klatt.  You've already had plenty. Get out and go home, or the cops get called."

Wade grabbed an abandoned glass and lobbed it in Mason's direction, missing by several feet, with an unsavory slur chasing it.  "I'll say when I've had enough!"

Time froze. The gauntlet had been thrown down.  It was no real secret that Mason was transgender, and had even been re-baptized up at the church.  Most of the town had shown up, except for the Klatts, strangely.  Now, it was glaringly obvious.

A glass was set down forcefully on the bar, sounding like a gunshot.  "Wade Klatt, if you have a problem with the LGBTQ community, you have a problem with me," Anna said sternly, sitting up a little straighter.

Wade turned in her direction.  "Stay out of this, sugar tits. You don't scare me anyway," he snorted.

In one quick move, Anna kicked her stool back and stood up, turned toward Wade.  "I can make you scared, if you want me to," she calmly stated, unzipping her hoodie and revealing her black t-shirt.  The nickname 'Big Fitz' was printed in white across the chest of the shirt, stretched taut over Anna's amazonian build.  She tossed the hoodie to a girl at a nearby table.  "Keep it safe for me, huh?" she winked, giving the girl a little playful bump on the arm.  The girl gave a shaky giggle and nodded, blushing hard.

Anna turned back to Wade.  "Outside," she sternly ordered and strode toward him, her logger boots heavy against the wood floor.  In that moment, she was not Anna Fitzgerald, but Wonder Woman, confidently crossing No Man's Land.

She followed Wade outside into the parking lot, and the door swung shut behind them, leaving the bar quiet as a morgue.

Everyone in the bar held their collective breath as the muffled sounds of a scrap reached them.  Anna was calmly taunting Wade, egging him on, making him angrier.

"You're so trashy, instead of an organ donor sticker on your license, you have a hazmat decal."

A snarl and "Shut yet damn mouth!"

"Buddy, how's it feel that Mason's a better man than you, and don't lie to me!"

Another snarl, then a few grunts, and the sound of a body hitting the ground.

Everyone heard Anna grunt, as though she was lifting something heavy, then the sound of something being thrown in the dumpster with a "Whoopsy-daisy!"

Silence, then the door opened.  Anna calmly walked back inside, dusting herself off.  The bar patrons began to chatter as Anna approached the bar.  "Mace, wanna grab me the phone?" 

She dialed and held the receiver to her ear before turning to the crowd.  "Hey! Phone call, keep it down!"  The whole place went quiet, and Anna looked around with a teasing grin.  "Ya buncha savages," she chuckled.

"Hey Nora, how's it going?  That slow, huh?  Well, if Andy's looking for something to do, Wade Klatt came by... Yeah, drunk and wanting to fight.  He bad-mouthed Mason, called him… Well, I'm not gonna even say it to a good woman like yourself.  But I took him outside and settled things… No, I didn't put him back in his truck this time.  He's in the dumpster, with the rest of the trash.  Yeah, Andy knows where to find me if he has questions.  Okay.  Thanks Nora, good night."

The receiver set back in its cradle, Anna got up and walked back toward her seat as the bar began to come alive again.  She stopped to grab her jacket, and thank the blushing girl that kept it safe.

She sighed as she righted her stool and sat down, ordering another scotch.  Smiling at Mason, she winked.  "Here's to another quiet night at The Pink Pony," she toasted.

[shes-an-oddbird]

Christmas at River’s End Mall

Summary -  A Christmas AU in which everyone navigates their seasonal jobs, relationships and Christmas spirit, or lack there of, through woven together tales inspired by holiday prompts.

Chapter 6 - Christmas Tree

Summary -   Jemma and Daisy search for a Christmas tree last minute and Jemma tells Daisy about their new house guest.

Prompt - Christmas Tree Relationship - Jemma & Daisy POV - Jemma

Jemma knows the last few boxes are just a little messier than usual and the ribbons slightly askew but she’s in a rush to finish the last of the gifts and clock out. It’s quiet in the mall. The natural day light from the skylights had been replaced with softer moonlight and the harsh fluorescent fixtures cast shadows she doesn’t recall seeing during the day. Gates have been lowered on stores, the only patrons are mall staff and most of them are on their way out too. She cleans up her space quickly; brushing the scraps of her conversations with Fitz into the bin beneath her workspace and making sure all the gifts are secure before pushing her stool under the table and rushing to the stairs.

She’s supposed to meet Daisy so they can finally get their Christmas tree. It’s the first chance they’d had even well into December. Her labs kept her busy and Daisy seemed to work non-stop this time of year. She dedicated her days to volunteering at the mall and that left her freelance cyber security work to be done at all hours of the night.

But someone was covering her labs tonight and Daisy managed to squeeze out a little time in schedule, so this evening they were going to have a Christmas themed girls’ night and decorate their tree, bake cookies, down eggnog and maybe binge a couple of holiday movies.

Jemma was hoping it would put Daisy in a good mood because she had some news that her friend was going to be less than excited about.

She hurried down the steps to the North Pole where a few volunteers were finishing clean up. Daisy is leaning against a table while Daniel, the new volunteer Daisy claims to be the biggest dork, creates neat stacks with piles and piles of envelops.

“You’ve never seen Elf?” She asks him in disbelief.

“No.” He confirms.

“What about A Christmas Carol.”

“Of course.”

“The Muppet version?”

“Um, no.”

“The Grinch?”

“The original.” He says positively.

“Okay, have you watched any movies made after 1990?”

“Not many.”

“Jemma help, he’s never seen Home Alone.”

Jemma knows that while Daisy is chipper and teasing this may truly be causing her distress. “I’m surprised she’s even speaking to you, our first Christmas as roommates I think we had a 48-hour movie marathon of every holiday movie I hadn’t seen.”

“My family only ever watched classics when I was a kid, I may have seen some of these but if I did, I don’t remember them well.” He reasons.

“So watch them again, mix it up.”

He shrugs. “I guess, I just don’t like watching movies alone.”

Daisy huffs, “Well I’m making a list – “

“and checking it twice?” He interrupts her and she shoves his shoulder.

“I’m making a list of must-see Christmas movies and you’re watching them, I’ll watch them with you if I have too, no one should be deprived of watching a grown ass adult’s belief in Santa be restored ten or twelve times in a row.”

“I do hope you’re making this list later because if we don’t get going, they’ll be all closed up soon.” Jemma hates to pull Daisy away from her fun but she’s eager to get their tree.

“Where are you guys off to?”

“We’ve got to get our Christmas tree.”

“Do you need any help?”

“Thanks but we’re good, Bobbi forced Hunter to stay late and help us, might as well put him to work.”

“Fair enough, see you tomorrow?” Daisy nods and they wave goodbye. They walk in silence towards the front entrance of the mall, pulling on their coats and gloves. Jemma adjusts her wool hat so that it covers her ears and checks to see if Daisy is ready to go only to find her looking back in the direction they came from.

Jemma smirks and doesn’t bother to try to hide her amusement. Daisy turns back to her, preparing to pull on her own hat and jumps when she sees she has been caught. “What?” She asks, her cheeks rosy like they’ve already stepped out in the cold.

“Nothing, you’re right though, he’s kind of a dork, sweet though, it was nice of him to offer his help.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

They hurry outside and across the dark parking lot towards the tree lot. There are a few snow-covered cars nearby and Jemma spots Hunter loading a fluffy tree into the bed of a large red truck. As they get closer Jemma can see that the tree farm has been picked over and what is left seems to consist of a few unnecessarily large trees, a few puny ones and the rest look as though they are already on their last limbs.

“Oh dear.” Jemma’s heart sinks and she glances worriedly at Daisy.

“Wow.” Her friend runs her hand over a branch of the nearest tree and several bristles fall to the ground. “Not much to choose from is there, guess it’s my own fault, I should have made time sooner.”

Jemma frowns. Daisy’s attempt to brush off her disappointment is obvious, at least to her. Her friend loved Christmas and putting up the tree was one of her favorite traditions. She had several beautiful ornaments; May and Coulson and even Bobbi had taken to giving her one every year. Just recently she had started to do the same. She always took such care when hanging them.

“I’m sure we will find the perfect one, let’s look around.” Jemma loops her arm through Daisy’s and pulls her along.

The healthy little ones were too small to support Daisy’s vast collection of decorations and the large ones would eat up the small living room of their apartment, but they look and look again for the right one.

“Hello loves,” Hunter steps up behind them, throwing an arm around each of their shoulders. “Bout time you showed up.”

“Hey, you didn’t save us a decent tree, did you?” Daisy asks.

Hunter takes a step back, “you know Bobbi might have mentioned something about that.”

Jemma feels a surge of hope, “so you’ve got one for us?”

“Afraid not.”

“Hunter!”

“Hey, you ever try to deny a tree to someone this time a year, one woman nearly took my head off when I told her the one for you was off limits, this,” he gestures to the scarce lot of trees, “is all you’ve got to choose from.”

Jemma shares an unsure look with Daisy. She wasn’t about to go without a Christmas tree. “Maybe we could get a big one, we can just push the couch aside, we hardly ever use it anyways.”

“Works for me, I get better commission on the big ones and better tips by the way.” They both shoot Hunter a look and he raises hands up in defeat. “Just let me know when you’re ready.” He says and makes a hasty disappearance.

Daisy sighs. “What do you think, we can make it work right?”

Oh damn. She was hoping not to have to bring this up yet. “Actually, we will be needing the couch, very soon actually.”

“Wait why?”

“Remember my cousin Deke?”

“The one with the creepy crush on me?”

Jemma cringes. “Yes well, his parents are flying out to spend Christmas with my parents and he was going to go too, until he heard I was planning to stay here and he thought I should have some family around for Christmas so – “

“Oh, don’t say it.”

“He’s kind of going to be staying with us.”

“Jemma!”

“I’m sorry, if I didn’t take him in, I would have never heard the end of it and he’s been better right, since you had that talk with him.”

“Yeah, but it’s still awkward.”

Jemma was actually quite fond of Deke. He shared her love of science and had a good heart. He was just a bit awkward, not unlike herself. That said it was uncomfortable to be in a room with someone you knew liked you and that was unfair to ask Daisy to do. “Let me call my mom, if I explain – “

“No, it’s okay, he’s really not bad company and I can’t throw him out at Christmas that would be cruel, even for me, besides, I know he’s your favorite cousin.” Daisy stops, maybe to re consider her words, Jemma thinks. “But if I see one lemon Jemma – “

“He’s on the street I swear, favorite or not.”

Daisy laughs and Jemma feels better knowing she’s not actually mad at her. Still she wants to make it up to her. An unexpected house guest was not in their Christmas plans. “Let’s get the big tree, I think I can squeeze an air mattress into my room.”

“We don’t have too.”

“We should, we never have enough room for all the ornaments anyways, this way we will.”

“Really?” Daisy asks hopefully and she nods insistently. Her eyes light up. “Alright, which one?”

“How about this one?” Jemma points to a vibrant green one that towers over the pair.

“I like this one.” Daisy points to a slight smaller one, the bristles are a bit browner but it would be a better size for the apartment.

“Are you sure, this one looks healthier.”

“Come on, I bet you could nurse it back to health and I’m afraid no one else will take it.”

Jemma doesn’t question Daisy’s attachment to the misfit tree. It wouldn’t be the first time she picked something that was a little different or a little odd. “It will be beautiful.”

[amtrax]

Megaton Girl FAQ Masterpost

Here is a bunch of potential questions that you may have about Megaton Girl for both new and long-time followers!

What is Megaton Girl?

Megaton Girl is a scripted podcast (which is to say a radio play) that I would describe as a superhero comedy with lots of action, adorable romance, and an overarching story. The pilot is available here and I highly recommend checking it out if you want an idea of what the style and tone of the show will be.

Okay, well what’s the basic story?

From the official description:

After getting struck by a radioactive meteor, Connie Opland becomes the latest contender in a world of super hero celebrities: Megaton Girl. With the help of her girlfriend and secret publicist Laurel Fitz, and her mentor and manager Kirby, Connie aims to dethrone the corrupt and arrogant Captain Valiant as the greatest hero in the world!

That sounds totally radical, dude.

Thank you, 90′s-slang-spewing question asker.

I have very specific tastes. How will I know if I like this show?

If you enjoy any of the following, you’ll probably really really like this show: Stories with LGBTQ protagonists, Marvel and DC comics, Megas XLR, Teen Titans, The Adventure Zone, Critical Role, The Thrilling Adventure Hour, Mission to Zyxx, Hello from the Magic Tavern, Sonic Boom, Swat Kats, and honestly just check it out. The pilot’s only like 15 minutes long, and I think you’ll really love it if you check it out.

Well, who is the show about?

Connie Opland AKA Megaton Girl: A snarky, bubbly and easily excitable young woman with a love of food and low tolerance for jerks. After a bad run in with a corrupt superhero named Captain Valiant, Connie gets struck by a meteor and gains super powers. She dons the persona of Megaton Girl and begins a career in super-heroics, hoping one day to dethrone Captain Valiant and give the world a hero that actually gives a shit. She’s not very bright or quick to the uptake, but she has a ton of grit and determination. No matter how many times she hits the mat, she’s always back on her feet and ready to fight back. She lives with her best-friend (and now girlfriend), Laurel, in a cheap apartment in Los Dioses, California. Powers: Super strength, flight, energy beam attack (expelled through mouth), enhanced durability. She still feels pain and isn’t completely invincible, but she can withstand a megaton explosion and walk away alive (though VERY hurt).

Laurel Fitz: A shy, composed and brilliant lady with wonderful artistic talent and a passion for documenting the feats of superheroes. She is the newest member of the Olympus Illustrated news team. Her job is to essentially write and illustrate comic pages documenting the latest superhero news. When she gets on the bad side of her boss (whom is secretly Captain Valiant), she gets humiliated and demoted in front of the whole bullpen. When Connie gets superpowers, Laurel begins to secretly rebel against her boss by publishing a website dedicated to documenting the feats of Megaton Girl. She also begins learning the basics of superhero coaching from Connie’s manager, Kirby, who sees a ton of potential in her. She lives with her best friend (and now girlfriend), Connie, in a cheap apartment in Los Dioses, California.

William Kirby: A grumpy, no-nonsense old man with a long, once-celebrated history of superhero managing. He represented and coached the best of the best for decades before being forced into an early retirement by his last client, Captain Valiant. He distanced himself from society and lived out of his gym locker room for 15 years, until Connie and Laurel popped into his life asking for help. He’s long past his prime, so he calls in favors from heroes around the globe and beyond to assist in training Connie to be a hero herself. On the side, he begins to teach Laurel how to be a superhero coach, seeing her as a worthy future successor to his business.

Chuck Bradford AKA Captain Valiant: A vain, pompous, power-hungry man who is a superhero in job title only. He does everything for personal gain, even when it comes to stopping crimes. Once represented by Kirby, he cast his old manager aside when Kirby refused to coddle his ego. He lied, cheated and beat his way to the top of the superhero world, and stood unopposed as the most powerful hero in the world for a little over a decade. To fuel his ambitions, he runs the Olympus Illustrated news outlet, wildly overemphasizing his own deeds and often minimizing the efforts of other heroes. There are few heroes who verbally oppose him (and even fewer who physically oppose him), as he has been known to turn the world against those who seek to bring him down. Powers: Super strength (amplified by years of bodybuilding on top of his natural superhuman power), flight, energy beam attack (expelled through eyes), enhanced durability (comparable to Megaton Girl, though with a much higher pain tolerance due to more years explosions and bullets in his face).

Doctor Menace: A bombastic, bumbling, over-eager supervillain with copious amounts of intellect, but none of the brilliance to put it to much use. None of his plans have ever succeeded, his inventions are in perpetual “early-access,” and no hero or villain ever takes him seriously. In spite of his endless list of failures, he sets high goals for himself and always gets back up after every failure, with just as much vigor and excitement as ever. He just loves being the bad guy, no matter what gets in his way. He dreams of one day being the respected arch-nemesis of a powerful superhero with whom he can be locked in ceaseless bloody combat for all time, and to join a league of supervillains with which he can begin his conquest of the world. Also he’s stuck in a too-small tin can of a mech suit. Haha. Powers: Extraordinarily high IQ, high tech armor and gadgets with seemingly endless resources to create more, and limitless determination.

I watched the pilot and I [totally loved it]. Where’s the rest of the show?

We’re working on that! We want to turn this into a full series and already have several episodes written, but in order to produce a full series we will need funding to make sure that everyone involved is paid for their time. One possible goal is to get the show picked up by a podcast network so that we can run the show like a podcast with commercials. Another possibility is Patreon or some other form of crowdfunding.

Is there anyway I can help with that?

The absolute BEST thing you can do right now is to share the pilot. Reblog it, retweet it, TALK about it. Get the word out, and I do mean the word.Use the #MegatonGirl hashtag on Twitter. Tell people what you think, because word of mouth is the best form of getting people to listen. Tell US what you think! Share your thoughts on the pilot, leave iTunes reviews, leave Youtube comments! We want to know what you think!

This sounds like it’s gonna take a while! I want the show now! And an Oompa-Loompa too, daddy!

PUT THE GUN DOWN! WE CAN TALK ABOUT THIS, OKAY?! Alright, okay okay. How about we make a full first episode for now, and see what happens? We’ll produce a full origin-story episode about how Connie and Laurel become girlfriends, how Connie gets her super powers and begins her rivalry with Chuck, and how Connie stopped her first supervillain? It’ll be about an hour long and be a proper start to the series. That sound cool?

Looks like you keep your kneecaps today, sir.

Thank you for your blessing, gender non-specific question asker.

I have fanart/AUs/other fan related content that I want you to see. What’s the best way to get your eyes on it?

Tag me on Tumblr @amtrax or on Twitter (at)amtraxVA, and/or use the proper “#Megaton Girl” tag on Tumblr and the #MegatonGirl tag on Twitter! I have gotten some LOVELY fanart and I love seeing all of it, so if you have some and you want it seen, that’s the best way to get it seen!

Hey don’t you run away from me! I have other questions!

And I’ll gladly take them, any time! Either leave them in my askbox or Tweet it at me! I’ll always answer it as best as I can without spoiling too much of the show. I also put out a call for questions and art requests every week for Megaton Girl Megatuesday, so keep any eye out for that as well.

For now, I think that’s a good spot to leave this. I will update this later as necessary, but I hope your basic needs are tended to for now! Thank you for your time and hope you enjoy what’s to come next!

[nellie-elizabeth]

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Alien Commies from the Future! (7x03)

My boy Daniel Sousa!!

Cons: This whimsical trek through time has a lot going in its favor, and I do appreciate that we're not totally ignoring the impact of racism and sexism on the ability of several of the agents to do their jobs. I guess I'm kind of hoping/kind of dreading the furtherance of this plot element. It's one thing to hear from May after the fact that someone called her an "oriental," or to see segregated bathrooms in a diner. Are we going to go further with the racial injustice? I hope not, and yet at the same time this mostly sanitized version of history is also not quite sitting right with me. I feel like the show is kind of trying to have it both ways, which is a little troubling.

So, it's been a while since I watched Agent Carter, but I thought Peggy and Daniel more or less ended up together? Here's the thing... I can't tell if this is part of the Endgame time-line where Steve went back in time and behaved like a selfish ass, or if this is another timeline, where Peggy had a life without Steve. In either case, what's the situation with Daniel being all weirded out at the thought of Peggy being at the station? And people calling him "Peggy's old partner"? Did they drift apart? Have some sort of falling out? I am not about that. I wanted them to have happiness together, at least for a time.

Pros:

I didn't realize how much I truly loved Daniel until he showed up. Everything about him was just so wonderful. I love how he was able to see through and capture people who had every advantage on him, and even with Daisy pretending to be CIA, he wasn't willing to just trust her 100%. He's a smart cookie. I'm thrilled that he'll be in next week's episode as well, because I definitely want more time with him.

This episode had so much great comedy, particularly with Simmons and Coulson impersonating other S.H.I.E.L.D. members and "inspecting" the scientists. They're trying to root out the Chronicom hiding in plain sight, and the way they go about that is by trying to get emotional responses out of them. Coulson is having so much fun pulling out all these historical fun facts, and Simmons has grown so much from Season One, back when she couldn't lie to save her life. Her Agent Carter impersonation doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be convincing enough that she can get in the door. Even face to face with Daniel, as she realizes the situation, she maintains her calm.

Deke's moment of interrogation also made me laugh. He has to go in and question the guy because this white privileged man isn't going to take Mack, Yo-Yo, or May seriously. He really doesn't want to do it, though, so he leaves the room with the words "stupid white privilege." I thought that was really funny, and one of my favorite moments of addressing the issues faced by the people of color in this time travel scenario. Deke isn't really equipped to get good information out of the guy, but he does learn something valuable by accident, which is kind of perfect.

May continues to be a mystery, but I love where we're going with this. She continues to be a total robot about everything, but then during the mission, she inhales some gas and can't breathe, and seems to have a true panic attack, revealing a more feeling May underneath all that hard armor. Together, she and Yo-Yo have a truly awesome fight with a Chronicom, and May is as bad-ass as ever, but also seems to be somewhat more like her old self. We haven't seen a lot of interaction between May and LMD Coulson, but hopefully we'll get that soon enough.

The fight choreography was great - that's always true in this show. I also just love the whole scenario here, where our main character good guys are forced to infiltrate and wreak havoc, all in the name of preserving history as they know it. From Daniel's perspective, or any of the other agents and scientists working at Area 51, they are bad people doing bad things. The bigger picture must be maintained.

I think that's basically all I've got for now. There are lots of threads to pull as we move forward. The ethics involved in time travel, Yo-Yo's abilities failing her, May's emotional condition, and... hey... when the heck are we going to get to see Fitz???

8.5/10

[goldstonegolem64]

Book1 Hope returns  Chapter  42 knowledge or death

By goldstonegolem64

Everyone was standing in the bridged. 

“ Ok so do we have any idea whatever supposed to do when we get to wherever we're going “ Lance said 

“ We just talk to them an see what they want from us “ Jay said then returned to reading to his daughter with Fitz, Bastion and Usamu just sitting nearby just listening to him read  

“ Ok but still all we got from Uzla was  co-ordinance” Hunk said

“ Yes but we can trust Uzla after all he did save Shiro “  Adam said 

“ But he could just be playing a long con”  Pidge said 

“ that could be possible so don’t let your guard down paladins”  Allura said as the castle of lions exited the worm hole and found themselves in from of two black hole

“ Is that a black hole?”  Hunk asked 

“No No No hunk it’s two black holes surrounding a star going super nova”  Coran said 

“ Well that not something you see every day” Lance said 

“ Dear god that is a nightmare “  Jay said  thinking about what it would do to them if they flew into that thing 

“ He’s not wrong because if we go in side of it will be one/ millionth degrees above absolute zero but just out side of that it hundred of millions degrees Celsius”  Pidge said 

“ So it’s like a burrito that you placed in the microwave  that is super hoy on the outside but super cold on the inside “ Hunk said 

“ Now I'm just hunger for launch “ lance said 

“ No hunk it’s like being give the choose between either freezing to death or burning to death “  Jay said 

“ Well that just made it worst “ Hunk said 

“ Coran have you found anything “ Shiro asked 

“ Yes I have just in-between those three deadly  Celestia objects there seem to be the same spatial disturbance as before when we meet Uzla” Coran said

“ Well that’s a dangerous to put a secret base “ Lance said

“ And it’s a perfect place to set up a trap” Allura said  

“ Ok Allura lets not jump to conclusions here” Jay said knowing where this line of thinking was leading to

“ Your right but after the last i’m just a little on edge “ Allura said 

“ In coming Message “ Coran said as a screen appeared written in Galra

“ Jay Your up ” Shiro said

Jay put on his reading  glasses and started to read the message “ It’s asking who send you . I’m guessing they just want us to conform who we are which is dumb seeing as we are in the only Altea ship in the known universe but then again seeing how fast the empire works maybe they build a copy of the castle of lions. Shiro your up” Jay said 

“ Uzla send us “ Shiro said     

For a few seconds  everyone  watched  the screen then a new message appears and jay read it aloud  “Only two may entire unarmed they put emphasis on unarmed  ” Jay said

“ But  Why “ Allura question while crossing her arms 

“ most likely because they don’t want usto shot up the place  

“ But we have to go  This the whole reason we came out  here “ Keith said annoyed   

“ We know keith but we need to look at are opinion so just be a little bit more patient for the time begin   “ Adam said placing his had on keith should

“ Your right but still .” Keith lowered his voice for only Adam to hear “ They could know where and who my mother is “

Adam matched keith’s tone of voice “Alight  well get the information as soon as were done figure out are plan here” Adam said 

Keith nodded his head in agreement 

 Well your going to need to send someone who can keep their cool just in case thing get hot  ” Lance said   

“ Lance i love yea like a brother but i think someone  else should go with Shiro like keith ” Jay said Everyone looked to surprised as jay said that  

“But Keith is a shoot first asked second kind of guy   “ Lance said 

“It’s just a though i mean Galra respect a person's fighting sprite an keith as a lot of that. I mean have you seen him training But it’s all up to Shiro  “ Jay said  just remembering his time on the training deck and watching keith fight multiply galaitor bots at the sametime    

“ And He better make it quick we have about three of what you would call hours before a solar flare closes of entries  to the blades base   for two day” Coran said

“ Alright then Keith your  going with me “ Shiro said 

“ But  “ Lance was about protest then he stopped 

“ Look lance the reason i’m talking Keith is the fact that the red lion can withstand the heat of that star the best out of all the lions and if this was any other situation i would pick  you or any other member of the team that would fit in this kind of mission. So please don’t take me picking keith over you the wrong way ok” Shiro said as he place his hands on lances shoulder.

“ Ok i understand “ Lance still a little upset but he got the jist of what shiro was saying 

“ Alright. Lets go Keith “ Shiro turn to look at his little brother then started walking toward the door that exited the bridge 

“ Alright “  keith said then  followed shiro out 

In the hanger bay that had housed the no long functioning robeast 

“ No matter how much I hate them. I have to admit the galra work fast “  La-sai said as he looked at the computer screen in front of him 

“ You're not wrong but still it’s kind scary how fast my they can build this thing “ Ace said 

“ Why  don’t we could build some of are own” Rax said as he stood by La-sai looking over his shoulders trying to figure out what was going on the computer screen. 

“ That’s a good idea Rax’s but we don’t have the resources to build them “ Rolo said 

“ But hey when this whole war is over we could bring it up to Allura and we could  have hundreds of voltron around the universe”  Nyma said 

“ that's not a half bad idea. If only Jay didn’t destroy the power core along with frying most of it circuitry. we could do a test run on it “ La-sai said kind annoy

“  Well just be happy jay decide to bring it aboard”  Matt said 

As everyone else was talking Shay was just walking around the robeasts head. She wonder what It would be like to pilot one. She imagined  herself flying along side the Hunk, Fighting ,protecting from harm. no longer being on the side lines and watching while Hunk put his life in danger. As she thought of this she placed her hand on to the metal her hand used something inwards as this happened  the sounds of decompression and the sound of air being jettisoned. She stepped back in surprise as the to of the robeasts head started to split apart. As she watched this everyone ran over to her.

“ Shay what did you do “ Rax asked  as everyone 

“ I don’t know i placed my hand onto and i pushed something inward and then this started to happen “ Shay said as the metal final stopped moving and revealed a pod shaped objects with a masked person sitting in side of it not moving.

“ Well Allura and the others might  want to see this” Matt said 

in the cockpit of the red lion 

Keith and Shiro were still in total silences as they flow into the swirling storm before them. The flight itself was a little unnerving as they flew closer to the black holes. Keith tightened his grip on the control sticks as they entered the vortex and felt  the pull of the black holes and followed the co-ordinance that were given to then

“ Keith can we talk for a bit  ?” Shiro asked 

“ Please let it not be dating advies.” 

“ it’s not dating advice. I want to continue are talk from before i have See that you are improving but your going to need to control your a  ” Shiro said 

“ Wait you were  serious about that i just thought you were delusional from pain ” Keith said a little nervous. “ 

“ But why are we even talking about this nothing will happen to you So let’s not talk about it ok” Keith said just not ready to talk about this

“ We need to talk about it Keith”

“ Shiro please I get it you want meet to be a leader.  But about two months ago i thought you were dead and now we're fighting a ten thousand year war i’ve watch several of my friends nearly die,nearly die myself,  Pidge as lost her foot, Jay was beaten to a blood plup  the empire is making an Army of robeasts base off the Valkyrie and now were flying in between two black holes and a collapsing star. So please let’s not talk about what  will happen if you die ok” Keith said his voice started to cracking a little 

Shiro went quite an realized how much had happened in the passed week “Sorry keith   “

“ It alright i know what your trying to say. An your right i need to work on control my temper it’s just a” Keith was cut off when the red lion started to shake violently as they both felt the red lion being pulled towards something. As Keith fought to bring the red lion back under his control . the red lion slammed into something and stopped moving. As keith regained control he looked out the red loin’s eyes and watch to massive ice covered rocks collide and break apart “ Ok that could  have gone bad. Shiro are you alright?” Keith asked 

“ Yeah I'm fine now what happened  ?” Shiro asked as he started to get up 

Keith looked over toward the red lions dashboard to see what had happened and saw that they had been pulled  by a gravity well. As he looked at it another message a appeared. It took a few second for the computer to translate . An all the message  when it was translated was Welcome.

“ Uh Shiro were here “ Keith said 

“ Alright then let get going “ Shiro said as he exited the red lion not noticing that Keith had grabbed his knife and followed 

as the exited the red lion they found themselves on a massive ice shelf  

“ There’s nothing here “ Keith said  as he looked around the empty space 

 “ Remember Keith The blade uses a space bending devise to hide their locations so just be ready if I just”  Shiro was cut off when he disappeared with a huge distortion   that rippled. Then Shire then popped back out. “Found it “ Shiro said .Keith quickly followed and passed through the weird distortion and found himself in front of a huge  gray and purple building   As they entered the build they noticed dozens of Blade members  just standing there in two lines with one member stand on a elevated platform wearing a different uniform then the rest they both guessed he was the leader.

“ Welcome paladins of Voltron I am Kolivan leader of the blades of Marmora .” Kolivan said 

“ I am Shiro pilot of the black lion “  

“An I'm Keith pilot of the red lion.”  

“ It is nice to finally to meet you but I must ask what did you disobey my request to come unarmed”  Kolivan asked 

Before Shiro could even responded  a blade member descended from the roof right behind Keith and quickly pined him to the floor “ Keith!!!” Shiro tried to help his brother only to have another blade member stepped in front of him stopping him from interfering 

“ He has one of are blades. Explain Boy “ The blade member asked

“ It was a gift from my mother”  Keith said as he struggled to get out of the blade’s members grip 

“Antok get off the boy and let me look a the blade ” Kolivan said as he walked calmly towards them.

Here you go master” Antok said as he handed over the blade to his master

Kolivan examined the blade. He know who it belonged to. But he wonder when If this was truly her son. There was but it would have it’s own set off consequences for the boy if he choose to take it”  You have disobey my request and by the blades laws you should be put to death but seeing as your a member of Voltron we will let you pass it you give us the blade “

“ No!! That is the only thing my mother left me .I brought it here to see if you knew who she was.  “ Kieth said

“ Well if you want that answer and to keep this  then you’ll have to take the trail that all Blade members”

“Now  Keith we need to -” Shiro was cut off 

“ I’ll do it “ Keith said 

Back In the castle of lion’ s bridge 

“ Adam you alright bud you seem Worried ”  Jay said

“ I’m fine it just I feel like something is off. Coran have we been able to contact Shiro or Keith yet “ Adam asked  

“ Were trying to but the Solar flairs make it near impossible “

“ I’m starting to feel like this was a mistake coming” Allura said 

“ I  agree with you on that one. But then again we need all the help we can get at this point. With the Empire building an Army of robeast to fight against us .”  Hunk said

“ As well as Harley, Quinn, that Skyver guy and that thing we still have to deal with “ Jay said snarling a little as he remembered that planet things face

“ As well as the Armada of warship that are protecting the command center and the fleets that are go there roaming the universe conquering other worlds” Pidge add

“ If only there was a way for us to just attack the command center with having to fight are way though all of that. “ Adam said 

“ Yeah but the only away we could do is if we were to some how isolate the command center from it’s fleet but then we would have to find away to stop them from calling for help along with bringing down there defends” Lance said 

“ That is not a bad idea but how are we going to isolate the command center ?” Hunk asked 

Allura was about to speak up only to hear over the speakers Matts voice  “ Everyone to hanger bay 4 we have something to show you” 

“ Well that seem to be important Jay ,Adam,  go see what  they have found .” Allura said  

“ Alright” Adam said leaving . While Jay just loaded revolver and followed Adam out     

“ Well call you when shiro contacts us” Allura said as the two men left the room” Now Lance what was that again about moving the command center ?” 

Back in the blade of Marmora 

Keith was walking out what he assumed to be a dressing room in the blade outfit he was give an as he left the room he saw shiro Standing there wait for him.

“ Keith “

“ Shiro i know what your going to say. But i need to do this” Keith said 

“ First i was going to say that looks go on you and second “ Shiro sigh “ look out of everything you’ve done this is the dumbest but then again i choose a mission to the moon of Pluto over the man of my dream so i have no place to judge . Just don’t die out there know when to call it quits we can’t lose you “ Shiro said with a look of worry on his face 

“ Ok Shiro I'll try. I’ll try “ Keith said s the two walked toward another door “ Wish me luck “ 

“ Brake a leg”  Shiro said as he left Keith in front of the door 

“ Knowing me I might” Keith said as he as he steeled his nerves waited a few seconds  before walking in to a big empty white room Then he heard a voice say 

“You seek answers then survive the trail or die trying. knowledge or death” Kolivan said. 

An he said that a tile in the room Keith was in opened up and Keith watched as  a blade member slowly raised up into the room . the moment they stopped rising the blade member grabbed there blade and charged at Keith. Keith quick grabbed his knife and blocked the first strike and did his best to block the oncoming onslaught of blade strikes. each time their blade meet Keith could feel his heart start to race as he blocked another blow but as he did he felt the wind get knocked out of hit followed by a sharp pain in his should as the blade brought down the sword. Keith stumble back. He tried to swing his knife in retaliation only for  the blade to grab the hand by the wrist and before he could do anything to get out of it. He was to kicked in the back and fell to his knees and felt his arm being putted back. He then felt the cold touch of metal  on his neck 

“ Give up the blade an the pain will end “ the blade member said

“ No I won’t “ Keith replied through gritted teeth 

“ Then the pain will continue” the blade member said as he let go of Keith. 

Keith got to his feet and looked toward the blade member an saw they were pointing to a door at the end of the room. Keith walk to the door clutching his shoulder. As he got closer to the door he felt like someone was watching him. he looked around the room for a few seconds before entering the next room and as he entered the room  the door closed behind him and he watched as two blade member ascended for the floor to meet him. Keith readied himself and charger forward 

in a different room Shiro and Kolivan were both watching Keith’s trial 

“Is this really necessary?’  Shiro asked as he watch his brother get beat by the two blade members 

 “ He was the one who wanted this. But I will not lie I am I'm impressed with his resolve to keep pushing forward “ Kolivan said as Keith entered the third room

they both watch as Keith  tried to hold is own against the three blade members only to be beat to the ground and asked the same question only to refuse and move on to the next room and fought off four blade members only to go through the same thing  . An each time he entered the next room he was beaten and asked the same question and he refused again and again and again he limped into the next room. But just outside of the blades hideout. 

Keith knew he wasn’t going to survive this if he kept going. But he refused to give up his mother’s knife. So as the Seven blade members started ascend and step off what ever they were using to entered the room. Keith quickly throw the knife and it jammed itself in between the metal floor and the metal tile. As the five blade members look at it. Keith booked it  toward the exit he made and quickly slide pass all the blade members fell to the hole grabbing his knife on the way down causing the tile to close behind him. He slide down the tube faster than he had expected and when he exited the tube he slammed into the floor with a loud cracking noise . Keith lay there for several minutes before keith started to move again  

Shiro was surprised by what just saw . "Is the trial over?"Shiro said worried about his little brother's life

“ Not yet the hardest part of the trial is about to begin “ Kolivan said

Keith tried to get up . His body was racked with pain " why are you like this Keith you could have just left the knife in your room or with Adam or someone else you trust. But no you needed to get your answer" Keith muttered to himself " You put a new alliance at risk for what a chance for what to know who your mother was. To find out if your galra . keith started to stand up and felt pain shot up his leg. “ Great now my be leg might be broken.” Keith said to himself as he limped toward the wall   leaned against the wall and slowly started to blackout as he did he could  heard someone walking towards him then he heard a soft female voices“ Rest now my sweet child it will be all over soon”  Keith felt a warm hand on his face. and just before he completely black out he looked up and saw an bright pair of warm purple eyes looking at him. Then he blacked out   

“Keith wake up” A male voice said 

Keith slowly opened his eyes and recoiled from the lights that were on as he got up he found himself back home he looked out the nearby window and saw that he was back on earth” was everything  just a dream” Keith said to himself as he got up from the coach he was on  

“ Morning bud “ A deep voice said .Keith looked to see his father alive sitting in a chair.” Go to see you again you’ve grown so much. Since i last saw you. But that all i had to say now what did you come  to ask me somethings    “

Keith was surprised,happy and confused all at the sametime. but he quickly composted himself “ Ok Dad what was mom. What am i. Why can i use galra tech without hacking it or have a stolen galra prosthetic . Why was the blue lion so close to our home.Why did mom leave us.” Keith asked but in the back ground keith could swear hear a faint sound of he guest was screaming  

 “ We just have to wait a few more minutes and you will get your answers” 

“ ok just a moment “ Keith said as the screaming got louder as well as the sounds of marching and blaster fire.Keith got up from the couch he was on an walked towards he dor and notice a red huew was overtaking the blue sky . So when he made it to the door and what he saw sacred hiim. It was a Galra warship with an army of sentries marching toward them and that was followed the sound of his teammate yelling for him . Keith quickly grabbed the doorknob and was about to leave  

“ Wait keith if you go now your not going to get to see her “ Tex said “

"But their are people that need me" Keith said conflictly he wanted to know who is mother was but his team need him . But then again everything he went to get here would before nothing .

“ But if you go now you’ll never know what you are” Tex said

KEith bit his lip and started to open the door “ I’m sorry dad but i have a job to and people to save “ KEith said 

Tex smiled remembering that he would say that to keith whenever there was a fire he need to deal with “ Don’t be sorry your making the right. Now go save the universe “

“ Thanks dad it was nice to see you again “ Keith said as he fully opened the door and walked into a bright light.Keith awake and found himself lying down again but back in the blades base. He looked over to see Shiro talking to what keith guessed was the leader of the blade with his hood and mask off they had red fur that crossed their eyebrows and and on the top of his head, 

Shiro turned to see that was up “oh you're finally up” shiro said 

“it’s good to see your awake boy” Kolivan said 

Before keith responded he pulled out the knife “here take it.” But as he it did this the blades started to glow and change shape into a scimitar like blade.   

“ The blade took it’s true form that is only possible if there is galra blood in your veins so my theory was right ” Kolivan said    

Keith felt a weight lifted from his shoulder as he looked at the blade. 

Back in the castle of lions  

“ Where can they be?” Allura asked as they were now looking for for the red lion the screen auto locked onto the red lion followed by the comms turning on 

“ Sorry we took so long” Shiro said over the comms 

Allura smile hearing that her friends were safe 

Thirty minutes later after Both Shiro and KEith explained what happened as well as Allura explained that the rest of the team found the pilot of the robeast and that they were now in a cell in the detection level. They also discussed about a plan to End Zarkons Rule 

“ So were in the end game now huh “ Jay said 

“ Yes we are but when do we begin?’ Shiro asked 

“ Now”  Kolivan said 

[helloalycia]

bad day // jemma simmons

summary: you're having the worst morning ever, and it doesn't help that all these embarrassing and equally terrible things that keep happening to you are occurring in front of your crush: Agent Jemma Simmons.

warning/s: none.

          It all started when I woke up half an hour after my alarm went off. Or should I say when it didn't go off. From there, it only got worse.

         "I'm so gonna be late," I mumbled to myself as I speed-walked to the kitchen area of the Bus, aka the giant plane we were all residing in.

         Missing my alarm had essentially contributed to me having to rush around so I would make it in time for Coulson's training this morning, but discovering the absence of shampoo in my shower, as well as my missing pair of trainers that magically reappeared after ten minutes of searching were definitely contributions to being off schedule.

         Upon reaching the kitchen, which was an open area, I made my way to the cupboard to grab a cereal bowl. As I did so, I noticed Agent Jemma Simmons sitting on the couch on the opposite side of the kitchen, a book in hand and an intrigued look on her face.

         Usually, I would say something to her, probably a 'good morning' or some sort of greeting – really wanting any excuse to talk to her – but due to my messed up schedule, I continued to pull out the cereal from the drawer above me.

         "Somebody's in a rush," her adorable British-accented voice rang through the small space.

         I felt butterflies rise in my stomach at the sound of her voice, and despite the rush I was in, I glanced up at her to see she was still focusing her attention on her book, but a teasing smile was on her lips. This was our day off, and whereas I was spending it training with Coulson, she was obviously spending it lounging around comfortably.

         "Just a little bit," I responded shortly, before setting the cereal to the side after filling my bowl.

         I heard her chuckle resonate around us as I headed to the fridge to search for the milk, and it made me smile despite my current mood.

         "You sound a bit cranky," she noted aloud, a hint of concern laced in her voice. "Is everything okay?"

         As my eyes settled on the milk carton on the top shelf, I attempted to grab it. "Just had a bad–"

         But I was cut short when my grip loosened on the milk carton and it fell from the shelf and onto me, managing to soak my shirt and face.

         "–morning," I finished with a sigh, clenching my jaw slightly.

         I heard Jemma's gasp from behind me, and I pursed my lips as I turned around to grab some napkins to clean up the mess and myself. I managed to catch sight of the biochemist's expression, and she had her mouth covered with a loose hand, lamely attempting to hide her obvious need to laugh.

         "Are you okay?" she asked through an amused smile, moving forward to pass me some napkins.

         I gratefully accepted the napkins and began to wipe away the milk from my face. "Doing just great, Jem. How about you? Having a lovely morning?" I asked, a hint of sarcasm in my tone, but knowing I made her smile did send a sense of accomplishment through me.

         "Honestly? I think this is my best morning yet," she admitted truthfully, her bubbly laughter finally escaping.

         I chewed on my lower lip impatiently when she grabbed the napkins from my hand and helped wipe away the milk from my shirt and face. She was still laughing as she patted away the white liquid, and I tried to ignore the tingles running down my spine at the fact that she was only inches away from me and wearing the most mind-blowing grin on her lips.

         "Looks like you're going to have to pop in the shower again," she said jokingly, but I knew she was right.

         I sighed and shut the fridge, before grabbing some more tissues and wiping up the mess on the floor.

         "As much as I would love to, I can't," I grumbled with a frown. "I'm already late, and having a shower will only prolong the time."

         Jemma chuckled melodiously from behind me, and I stood up to throw the milk-soaked tissues in the bin before smiling at her shortly.

         "If you'll excuse me..." I said as I moved to slide past her, and she stepped to the side to let me move, but I felt her questioning gaze on me.

         "Aren't you going to have some breakfast? It's the most–"

         "–important meal of the day, yes, I know," I finished her sentence, feeling her presence following me as I headed to the living-room area. "I don't have the time, though. Gotta head to Coulson. I'll catch you later, though?"

         A suspicious smile was on her lips as she nodded and saluted me playfully. "Yes, indeed, I will catch you later, Y/N."

         Smiling with confusion and raising an eyebrow, I studied her sheepish posture and expression before deciding to leave her be and head down to the ramp where Coulson would be waiting for me.

         I left her to her own devices and made my way to Coulson, whilst attempting to ignore the milk smell that was wafting from my stained shirt. Maybe it was the wrong day to where a black tee for training...

         "Ah, Y/L/N, there you are," Coulson said when he spotted me walking down the steps. "Took you long enough."

         I sighed. "It's been a bad morning, sir. But I'm here and ready to learn."

         He smiled when I neared him, but when he spotted the new addition to my shirt, his smile faded into a thin line.

         "Uh, is that–".

         "–a milk stain all over my shirt? Yes, it is exactly that," I cut him off unenthusiastically. "Like I said, sir, it's been a bad morning.

         He pursed his lips and cocked his head to the side as he studied my dishevelled appearance. "Ah, okay then. Well, I guess we can begin..."

***

         Training went a lot worse than I imagined.

         Maybe it was just God playing a cruel joke on me by making me have a terrible day. By making embarrassing and awkward things happen to me. Especially in front of Jemma, too. First spilling milk all over myself in front of her, and then training.

         I was working the punching bag as Coulson ordered me, when the brunette was walking by to get to her lab. All she did was shout a quick friendly greeting, and I made the mistake of glancing up at her, only for my love-struck smile to be hit with the punching bag that flew right back into my face. She, of course, came to see if I was okay, and after reassuring her that I was indeed okay, I tried not to flush any more red when Coulson was chuckling at my mishap. I was just lucky Skye wasn't there or else I would've never heard the end of it.

         After that, training ended up kicking my arse, just like the punching bag did. I was grateful when it was over, and not only because I could have a shower and rid my sweat and milky odour combined.

         After washing myself clean and avoiding any milk cartons on high shelves, I headed to Fitz's and Jemma's lab where I spotted Jemma last. Upon entry, I spotted the young Scotsman sitting on the swivel chair by the computer, deeply concentrating on something on the screen. The young Brit was stood up, playing with some chemicals in test tubes on the counter. She was wearing her lab coat and goggles, and it made me smile because she looked so adorable in her little getup.

         "'Sup, guys," I made my presence known, looking between the two geniuses.

         "Oh, hey, Y/N," Fitz spoke enthusiastically, looking up from his computer screen with a smile. "How was training?"

         I tried not to blush as I saw Jemma stifle a laugh at Fitz's question. The awkward moment from earlier flashed through my mind, and I tried my best to push it to the back of my mind as Fitz awaited an answer.

         "Uh, yeah, it was good, thanks," I got out, smiling awkwardly. Wanting to change the subject, I headed to him and looked over his shoulder at his computer screen. "So, what're you up to?"

         "Going over some blue prints for some new weapons I've designed," he said dismissively, as if if were nothing, when in fact, it was the complete opposite.

         His screen showed several variations of a model of a gun, and surrounding it were extensive analytical notes, presumably from the engineer himself. I was amazed.

         "Wow, you're literally a genius, Fitz," I praised him with wide eyes.

         "Barely, but I appreciate the compliment. Thanks," he said with a sense of accomplishment and a matching smile.

         I chuckled at his modesty and headed to Jemma to see what she was up to. I took a seat on the stool beside her and leaned on the palm of my hand as I studied the contents of the test tubes before me. Jemma was making notes on the tablet beside her as she messed around with the chemicals.

         "What are you doing?" I whispered, afraid that if I spoke any louder, her concentration would break and I would bother her.

         I saw her lips curve into a small smile as she brought the test tube to her eye-level. "Testing out the reaction rate of this chemical," she whispered back, and directed her attention to me. "Why are we whispering?"

         I gave her a knowing look as I sat up straight, and she giggled adorably.

         "Well I was whispering because you looked really into whatever you're doing," I answered her question. "And you're whispering to tease me."

         "Spot on, Y/L/N," she confirmed with a toothless smile.

         She placed the test tube back in it's rack and continued to make notes on her tablet. Meanwhile, I found myself interested in the bright blue liquid that was swirling around in the test tubes. Obviously my curiosity got the best of me, and I lifted it up, bringing it to eye-level as I studied the contents.

         "Be careful," Jemma warned in a sing-song voice, glancing up at me momentarily.

         "Is it poisonous or corrosive?" I asked, setting it back down in the rack with the rest of them.

         She watched me with an unreadable look in her eyes, before motioning for me to follow her. She grabbed one of the test tubes before leading me to the opposite side of the lab, where her workstation was.

         "Check this out," she said as she attached the test tube into a mini arm-like robotic that held it up in place. She controlled it with a little remote on her tablet, allowing her to move the tube anywhere she wanted, and at any angle. Adding a little bit of some clear yet fizzy liquid to the blue chemical, she watched for a reaction. "See that?"

         The chemical began to fizz slightly, and as I looked closely, I saw the bright blue dilute a little, resembling the ocean, but in a tube. It looked pretty awesome.

         "If that gets on your skin, you'll probably lose a body part," she commented casually, making me widen my eyes and move back.

         I looked her way to see if she was joking, but she only wore a thin smile on her lips. Her brown eyes flickered to mine for a moment, and I saw something hiding in them, something mischievous and unlike Jemma. It was hard to pinpoint, but it was there.

         Before I could say anything about why the chemical wasn't being handled with a little more care if it was so dangerous, the robotic arm that held the tube moved about a quarter of an inch, but that was enough for the tiniest of drops to drip from the tube and onto my hand. Upon reflex, I yanked my hand away and looked down at it, only to stare wide-eyed at my skin, which now had a small blue stain on it.

         "Oh my god, Y/N!" Jemma shouted suddenly, getting both mine and Fitz's attention. He was rushing to our side to see what the matter was when Jemma continued to shout, "We need to give your hand a, um, a toxic chemical scrupulous flush to try and stop the chemical from, uh, from spreading into the rest of your hand and altering your DNA!"

         "Jemma, what are you-" Fitz began, but was silenced when Jemma sent him a knowing look, presumably reminding him what chemical she was dealing with. Realising, he widened his eyes and nodded, looking to me. "My mistake, Y/L/N, Simmons is correct! We need to give you that toxic chemical scrapple-"

         "-scrupulous-"

         "-scrupulous flush or it may spread and alter your skin-"

         "-DNA-"

         "-DNA!" Fitz finished with a horrified expression. He exchanged a look with Jemma before the two of them dragged me to the washing station and practically scrubbed my hands clean to the last germ on there.

         "Will that be fine? Will I be okay?" I asked, growing worried as I looked at the faint blue stain on my hand, and remembering the fizzy reaction I witnessed not moments ago. It was stupid of me to imagine that happening on my own skin.

         Jemma sighed heavily and ran a hand through her hair. "Yes, of course. Just to be sure, you should get some rest. A power nap of some sort. Sleeping slows the rate of reaction down, and this should prevent anything further from happening." She nudged Fitz in the ribs, adding, "Right, Fitz?"

         Fitz hummed and nodded frantically agreement, leaving me no choice but to believe the two geniuses before me. They knew what they were talking about, and I knew they only wanted what was best for me, so I had to follow their instructions.

         "Come on, let's get you upstairs," Jemma said, offering a reassuring smile and linking arms with me suddenly. I was at a loss of words as she began to lead me out of their shared lab, and continued to be as she led me to the living-room area once again.

         "In here now, come on," she instructed kindly, releasing my arm as she went to the couch to prep some cushions.

         "Shouldn't I go to my room?" I asked with confusion.

         She shook her head and finally stood up straight, smiling brightly at me. "It's only a power nap. I'll wake you up as soon as and we can see the progress on your hand. Everything should be fine then. I can keep an eye on you if you sleep here."

         I tried to the heat that was rising from my neck and to my cheeks at the thought of her "keeping an eye on me", and instead nodded and began to lay down on the couch. She knelt down and her smiling face was inches from mine.

         "Have a nice rest, Y/N," she said soothingly, her eyes glistening with an odd excitement. It didn't make sense, but then again, nothing did right now.

         I returned the smile and watched her leave me be before attempting to fall asleep. I sure hoped that Jemma was right about my hand...

***

         "Holy shit, dude."

         Hearing that when you wake up wasn't exactly the most promising thing, so you can imagine my reaction when I peeled open my eyelids and came extremely close to the face of Skye.

         I let out a yelp, as did she, obviously not expecting to be that close when I first wake up. She pulled back and I sighed, before forcing myself to sit up.

         "Nice wake up call," I mumbled sarcastically, momentarily forgetting why I had taken a nap in the first place.

         Skye forced a chuckle before pointing to my hand. "Yeah, well, as much as I adore making you crankier than you already are, I though you should maybe pay attention to the fact that you'd hand is freakin' blue."

         The memories of what happened came flooding back, and my eyeballs almost fell out of my head when I saw that my whole right hand was now blue. Obviously having no idea what this meant, I thought of the worst and shot off the couch.

         "I've gotta find Jemma," I exclaimed, pushing past Skye and racing towards the lab.

         "Would you prefer me to call you an avatar or a smurf...?!" I heard Skye call after me, but I wasn't in the mood to fire some sarky response back.

         On the way towards the lab, I managed to race straight into one half of Fitzsimmons, and the Scotsman certainly looked surprised when he saw the rush I was in.

         "Hey, Y/N, what's up?"

         My expression should have told him everything, but because he couldn't get the hint, I waved my bright bloody blue hand in the air for him to see. I expected him to react just as frantically as I was, claiming that I would have to amputate my hand or something as extreme as that, but he didn't claim the slightest extreme thing ever.

         He laughed.

         Full blown laughter where he had to bend over and clutch his stomach to stop it from hurting. I opened my mouth to say something, but soon found that I was speechless. Why on earth was he laughing at something so serious? If I remembered correctly, the chemical was altering my DNA, and Jemma practically said I would have no hand left by the end of it.

         "Oh my god, Simmons needs to quit thinking she can prank everybody who didn't go to the academy," Fitz said aloud to himself, but I let his words sink in, and all my worry was melting away.

         "Uh, come again?" I raised an eyebrow, and now my blue hand seemed more embarrassing than worrying.

         Smiling with amusement, he explained, "I shouldn't be telling you this, but you honestly looked like you were fearing whether you would live or not." I narrowed my eyes at him, so he spoke faster, though his teasing smile was still on his lips. "From what I know, she made up the whole poisonous chemical thing. It was just blue dye, and that thing she mixed in was literally sparkling water from our mini fridge. When you fell asleep, she stained your hand with some more dye and is actually waiting for you to go downstairs to her right now."

         His words took a few seconds to sink in, but when they did, I furrowed my eyebrows.

         "You're telling me that Jemma pranked me?"

         "Mhm," he hummed with a nod. "You, my friend, have just been pranked by Jemma Simmons."

         "Because I didn't go to the academy?" I questioned, referring back to his first comment.

         He chuckled and patted my shoulder. "You catch on fast, don't you, Megamind?"

         I glared at his retreating form as he headed in the direction I just came from. He was beginning to sound more and more like Skye every day, and trust me, that wasn't a good thing.

         I thought about earlier today and how everything played out. The alarm clock not going off. My missing shampoo and trainers. The milk. Jemma's lame improv skills when discussing the chemical. How hadn't I caught on?

         Now, I could easily go down there and tell her that the fun was over, that I knew of her prank, but that would be too easy. And since she went through the effort of staining my whole right hand blue, it was only fair of me to make use of it.

         A playful smirk appeared on my lips as I took my time walking towards the lab, where Jemma was supposedly waiting for my crying self. When I was just outside the lab, but out of view of the biochemist, I took a deep breath and prepared myself. Putting on my best terrified expression, I ran towards the glass doors and banged on the glass, pretending to be frightened of my blue hand.

         I punched the mechanism to open the doors, and ran straight through, certainly earning Jemma's attention. Her eyes widened when she saw me and my blue hand, and I could see the humour dancing in her eyes. Oh, two can play at that game, Jemma.

         "Oh my gosh, Y/N!" she feigned surprise, placing a hand over her mouth. "It's gotten worse!"

         "I know," I cried out, grabbing her forearm and tightening my grip to appear helpless. "Jemma, I know what I need to do."

         Her fake saddened expression morphed into one of real confusion as she said, "You do?"

         I nodded frantically. "Yes, I do. I need to cut my hand off! It's the only way for the chemical to stop spreading!"

         Before she could say anything, I ran around the lab and searched through all of the bits and pieces that were sprawled on the desks and counters. Jemma bit her lower lip as she tried to understand what was going on, and I so desperately wanted to laugh in her face, but I wanted to milk this for as long as I could.

         "I need something sharp!" I cried out, looking at her with a bewildered expression and sad eyes. "Please, Jemma, it's my only hope!"

         She was believing my every word, and when I managed to squeeze a fake tear from my eyes, her whole demeanour broke and she was by my side in an instant. I resisted the urge to smirk at how easy it was to manipulate her niceness, and instead continued my facade of appearing helpless.

         "No, Y/N, no! You don't need to cut off anything!" she reassured, grabbing my arms with her own and staring into my eyes with worried ones whilst shaking her head.

         "I do, Jemma," I whimpered, frowning as I glanced down at my hand. Suddenly, I continued to jerk around, attempting to search for a sharp object. "I need to stop it now!"

         She struggled to keep me still as I was slightly taller than her and stronger than her, and I could see in her expression that she felt extremely guilty.

         "No, Y/N, no, please stop," she begged, pulling me into a hug to stop me from moving. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! This was a prank! It was a stupid mean prank and I didn't mean to make you this scared, I'm so bloody sorry, Y/N!"

         With her arms wrapped around me and her head tucked into my shoulder, I could feel her trembling slightly, her guilt eating away at her. I felt slightly guilty for making her feel like that, but at the same time, I felt satisfied knowing I had won.

         "All is forgiven," I said simply, shrugging my shoulders.

         I felt her slowly pull away from me, until she released me and looked to me with a puzzled expression.

         "Wait... what?"

         I offered a small smile. "All is forgiven, Jem."

         A series of squeaks and whimpers escaped her mouth as she tried to formulate a coherent sentence, but nothing came out. Instead, all she could do was watch me smiling at her innocently.

         "You knew? This whole time?" she asked, before rubbing her temple with her finger. Suddenly, it dawned on her, and she met my eyes with a sharp glare. "You knew?! And you let me think you were going to amputate your bloody hand off?!"

         She began to hit me on the chest repeatedly, and I had to run away from her to stop. She chased me around the lab, smacking me whenever she could,  and all I could do was protect my face by using my arms as a shield.

         "Ow! Okay, I only found out when – ow! – when I woke up from my – ow! – sleep," I defended as she finished up her mini violent attack.

         She finally stopped smacking me, but I definitely preferred that over her glaring at me with her intimidating gaze. God knew what she was thinking.

         "I could punch you right now," she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

         "You dyed my hand blue!" I exclaimed, defending myself. "I think it's only fair I got to ruin your prank."

         She loosened her tight posture, and avoided my eyes as she knew I was telling the truth.

         "And you pranked me this morning with my alarm clock, my shampoo, my trainers, the milk," I listed, proving my point.

         She immediately raised a finger and looked at me with a defensive expression. "Actually, the carton of milk was your genuine clumsiness, but yes, everything else was me."

         I felt my cheeks heat up as she admitted this, realising that one was just me making a fool out of myself in front of the girl I like.

         "Still," I said, giving her a knowing look. "You, missy, have some explaining to do."

         This time, it was my turn to cross my arms over my chest and stare at her intimidatingly. It seemed to work because she smiled sheepishly making her nose do that adorable thing where it scrunched up sheepishly.

         “Well, I may have gone a bit too far with the pranking," she admitted, laughing to relieve the tension, but I wasn't amused.

         I raised my blue hand in the air, and quirked an eyebrow. "A little?"

         "Okay, a lot," she agreed, but was quick to add, "but that was only because you didn't go to the academy! You didn't endure the endless amount of pranks as a freshman like Fitz and I did. It was only fair."

         I felt an amused smile forming on my lips, despite trying to prevent it. "Are you kidding me, Jemma?"

         She smiled beautifully, and stepped forward. "Look. Why don't we just forget this day ever happened? You figured out you weren't just having a bad day, and I got to prank you. It all worked out!"

         I couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous she sounded, and I allowed her to put an arm around my shoulder and steer me in the direction of the lab exit.

         "You do realise I can't go out on missions with a blue hand, right?"

         "Oh, please. If anything, it will distract your enemy and give you chance to strike. You're very welcome."

[eclecticmuses]

Agents of SHIELD: a DragonCon Post-Mortem

Now that I’m back home from the con and actually have time to sit down and type, I thought I’d do a rundown of all my experiences AoS-related to share with you guys. I attended both the Saturday and Sunday panels and made a few trips to the Walk of Fame (autograph hall) to meet the cast members who attended. I had a great time, as I always do at DragonCon (this was my 10th year attending!) and I’m already looking forward to next year. Hopefully we’ll get just as many AoS guests then.

My big takeaways from the panels and chatting with the guests: - we haven’t seen the last of Talbot/Graviton - “have hope” for Mackelena - I think Liz still considers Jemma and Fitz to be married - Mark Kolpack (sfx supervisor) is directing an episode this season - don’t bother asking anyone anything about season 6 because all they will say is “I can’t say anything”

More details on the above and my talks with the guests below the cut because this is going to get long (sorry to all of you on mobile!)

Talbot/Graviton: I went by Adrian’s table on Friday and told him I’d met him once before at his last DragonCon appearance in 2010 and had been hoping he’d come back ever since I’d started watching AoS because I love him as Talbot. When I told him I kinda hated to see him go out the way he did, Adrian was kinda like “hey--you never know--” and then asked me what’s at the center of the sun. When I blanked, he said (according to Marvel lore) it’s gravitonium. And when I told him I’m glad we’re getting season 6, he said “good things are coming” like he’s in the knowledge loop, and that made me kinda perk up like WHAT DO YOU KNOW. He reiterated the bit about gravitonium and the sun at the Saturday panel, and whenever he was asked a question about Graviton, instead of saying something like “he’s gone, he’s defeated, he’s dead” he’d just say “I can’t say anything” and was super coy. I think he also said he’s visited set since they’ve started filming season 6. Soooooo yeah I think he’s coming back.

Mackelena: someone asked Natalia a question on Saturday about how Mack and Yoyo are doing going into season 6 and after hemming and hawing for a minute, she just said to have hope for them. That was about the most direct answer any season 6 question got.

Fitzsimmons still married: this one is fuzzy in my memory because Liz wasn’t actually asked a lot of FS-related questions at either panel but I think she (as in she, Liz) still considers them married. At least, that’s how I took it. One that sticks out more to me was the person on Sunday who said FS seem to be in a calmer spot right now and Liz deadpanned “Are you caught up on the show?”

Kolpack directing: Dichen confirmed this on Saturday.

No season 6 clues: Seriously. They were so mum. No hints, aside from Natalia’s one about Mackelena. Not even speaking to them at their tables (not that I directly asked for hints).

Alright, here’s how things went speaking to them individually.

Max - I met him first, on Friday. I must have spoken to him for about 10 minutes or so because he didn’t have a line. He was so nice, and very chatty. He asked where I was from, how long of a drive it was, Chicago vs Atlanta humidity (lol), etc etc. He said aside from one brief job in SC that he’s never actually been to the South. I said that I knew he didn’t have the official story on how Davis survived, but what did he think happened? He said he didn’t know, but he’d read some good fan theories, and that when he originally came back Jed had floated putting him in a back brace and a cane or a wheelchair, but ended up just going with his Mystery Scar. He did say it’s kind of strange to be filming now, knowing it won’t air for so long, and that there’s a chance the premiere might get bumped up if another show flops but he wouldn’t count on it. We talked a little about my costumes and he asked me to come back on Saturday so he could see my servitor costume (I did and he liked it). Also, he said he thinks we’ll really like season 6. Also also, he’s tall. Like, damn. I’m 5′7″ and I only came up to his chin.

Dichen - I got really nervous talking to her for some reason, but she was really sweet about it. I told her about my experience being on the signing side of an autograph table and how surreal it was. She said she gets nervous talking to us, too. Soft-spoken and just a very nice woman.

Natalia - I saw her twice, once on Saturday and once on Sunday. On Saturday I told her how much I admired her for her outspoken activism and how strong she is about it and how I don’t always feel very brave to do the same, but I tried to support a good cause by buying some lipstick. She laughed and said I should take some glamor photos of me putting it on. When I went back on Sunday, I had my marauder Fitz with me and she kinda freaked out over our costumes a little, saying they were fantastic and so good and had we shown Liz yet? Then I gave her a print of my season 5 group art and she freaked out again. She said she wanted to frame it and hang it on the wall of her house and put it on Instagram when she did (and made sure my name was on the back so she could). I didn’t expect her to reply to my Instagram/tweet of our photo together, and I REALLY didn’t expect her to both Instagram and tweet my art a few hours later! Having her call me Mama to my face and on social media, honestly I feel blessed. She was so warm, I’m so, so glad I got to meet her.

Liz - I’ve met her before of course but I still get nervous every time. I went Saturday in my servitor costume and as soon as I stepped in front of her, she said “Hello again!” I was like, “you remember me?” And she said “Yes, yes, because you always do the lovely costumes!” So that was super nice. I asked her how she was doing and if she’d had a good flight in (she’d arrived quite late the night before) and she said she was just glad she hadn’t had to take a red eye. She complimented my costume again and signed the 100th episode poster I’d brought, and then I presented her with the leopard print cat ears. My con roommate and one of my best friends had brought several of them, left over from building a costume, and I was like LEOPARD PRINT I should bring Liz a pair! She legit gasped when she saw them and asked if she could put them on right that second. I told her of course she good, so she did and put both of us (and my sister!) on her Instagram. I ended up having to go back later in the afternoon because I’d forgotten the card with Deke’s mom’s quote I was going to get signed for @agl03‘s daughter and Liz was still wearing the cat ears. I asked how she was holding up because my sister had advised her that they hurt after being worn for awhile, and she said that she’d had to take a short break but she put them back on because they were too adorable. :D I also remembered to ask her how she enjoyed shadowing Clark (she loved it) and that I knew she couldn’t say whether or not she’d been asked to direct an episode (she gave me an “of course not” face lol) but if she COULD direct, would she? She said of course she would, it’s her dream! On Sunday Jason (my Fitz) and I had our photo op with her right after the panel and she was like HEEEYYYY when we came in and told us we looked great. At her table, I got another selfie and gave her a print of the same art I gave Natalia. She too said she’d hang it on her wall at home, and propped it up on her table so everyone could see it. Then I thanked her for being so candid with her Instagram story where she talked about getting rid of her old jeans, and how I’d held on to a pair of jeans from before I’d had my son for a loooong time, hoping to fit back into them someday. Then I thanked her for going through the tag we’d made for her re: that story on Twitter, and she said we were all very sweet for doing it.

That’s about the sum of my AoS DragonCon experience. I’ll be happy to answer any questions any of you might have about the panels and the individual guests! One last tidbit. At the Saturday panel, conversation somehow got turned to which cast member they’d like to put on Queer Eye. Natalia said Iain because he’d be so uncomfortable the whole time, and Max said Jeff because he’s been to his house. When Dichen protested that Jeff keeps a tidy house, Max was like “Ookay.” Also Adrian told a really funny story about shooting his finale fight scene with Chloe that had everyone laughing.

[everysongineverykey]

how boy i just wrote the longest solinh fanfic i have ever written

Sophie flopped down on her living room couch and willed herself to think. The Foxfire Winter Ball was coming up in three weeks, and she needed a date. Obviously she could just ask Keefe or Dex or Fitz and save any embarrassing questions. The only problem was that they were just her friends. If she asked them, they’d think she liked them. Keefe, especially, would never let her hear the end of it. She sighed in frustration. There was no other option except not going, in which case she would likely be teased by Stina even more relentlessly.

Of course, there was always Linh…

No, Sophie thought, pushing the idea to the back of her mind. That’ll never work. The mere possibility that Linh might like her back was one in a thousand, and even then, the odds of Linh actually asking Sophie were even worse. But then again, she thought, I’ll never know unless I ask her. She concluded that the only way she would not end up feeling terrible about herself was if she did. She started to brainstorm ways to ask her when the door opened suddenly.

“Hey, Foster,” an enthusiastic Keefe said, appearing in the doorway. “Jolly Grey Giant here?”

“No, Keefe, Sandor is outside. And he wishes you’d stop calling him that, by the way.”

“Aw, he loves me. So, who’re you taking to the Winter Ball?” he asked, smirking. “Will it be Dimply Dex? Fantastic Fitz? Maybe even… Kissy Keefe?”

“How much time did you spend thinking of ‘Kissy Keefe’?”

“Wow. Salty much?” Keefe whistled. “Anyway, I don’t know who I’m bringing, but you’re the Mysterious Miss F! If you can fight terrorists, you can get a date for a little dance.”

“Well…” Sophie hesitated. “There is someone… but I’m just not sure…”

“I knew it! Who’ll it be, Foster? Which lucky guy has the honour of being your dream date?”

“Don’t get mad-or tell anyone-“

“You can trust me.” Keefe’s voice became gentle and serious.

“Well- I like Linh.”

Keefe’s eyes widened. “Yeah, I know you like her, but who do you want to take to the Ball?”

“Linh, Keefe. I told you. I like her.”

“...Oh.” Keefe looked confused. “Huh. I didn’t know you… swang that way.”

“Oh. Well. I do. Is that.. okay with you?”

“Well, yeah, of course, but… does anyone else know?”

“No.”

“Not even your parents.”

“No one.”

“That’s… problematic.”

“Why?” Sophie was apprehensive.

“I mean, shouldn’t they? If you’re going to ask Linh out-“

“I don’t know if I’m going to ask her out.”

“You don’t know? What do you mean, you don’t know? If you like someone, you ask them out. Simple as that. Come on, Foster, how are you so smart and still so dumb?”

“I’m sorry, okay? I wasn’t exactly the popular kid-“

“I know that. But you’ll miss your chance if you don’t ask her now. You need to grab the horns by the cow-“

“Grab the bull by the horns, Keefe.”

“Whatever. The point is, you’ve got to ask her. I’ll even help you. Meet me at your locker tomorrow when you get to school.”

Sophie sighed again. This was going to be the death of her.

When Sophie got to Foxfire the next day, Keefe, being a man of his word, was waiting there for her at her locker. He greeted her with a shake of the shoulders and slipped a bottle of green liquid out of his bag.

“This is clover juice. It’s a million four-leaf-clovers, all ground together. I bought it at Slurps and Burps. It’ll give you good luck. Just drink it all right before you ask her and she’s bound to say yes.”

“You want me to influence the opinions of my friend with a potion?”

“Geez, Foster, you make it sound so bad. Look, I promise it’ll be fine.”

Sophie thought for a moment, then said, “Okay, I guess.”

“Attagirl. You’ll do great. Just be yourself.” He smiled, clapped her on the back, and hurried off with Ro, presumably to ditch somewhere. Ro gave her an encouraging smile as they walked away.

That afternoon, Sophie could hardly hear the sounds of the students running through the bustling courtyard as she scanned the crowd for Linh. She took another look at the bottle in her hand and began to question herself. Was this really the right thing to do?

But her thoughts were interrupted by the sight of an impatient Linh, waiting for Tam at their crystal.

“Linh! Hi!” Sophie waved, pushing through the throng of people. “How was your day?” Ugh. ‘How was your day’? She couldn’t even think of anything original to say. How was she going to do this? Taking a deep breath, she started to unscrew the cap on the bottle, then, when she saw Linh smiling at her, decided against it and quickly shoved it into her bag.

“Hey, Sophie. What’s that bottle?”

“Oh, that? Oh, it’s nothing. Just a little… allergy tonic. Yeah.”

Linh eyed her suspiciously, but if she didn’t believe her, she gave no sign.

“So, um… there’s something I wanted to ask you.”

“Oh? What is it?”

This was it. The moment where Sophie would either get a girlfriend or end up with nothing but heartbreak. She took several deep breaths and said quickly, “HeyLinhdoyouwanttogototheBallwithme?”

Linh’s eyes widened. “...Sorry?”

“DoyouwanttogototheWinterBallwithme.”

Silence for a few moments. Sophie could practically feel the foundations of her world begin to crumble. And then:

“Yes.”

Sophie hadn’t been this speechless since Fitz had first told her she was an elf. “What?”

“Yes, Sophie. I want to go to the Ball with you.”

“You’re-you’re serious?”

“‘Of course I’m serious. You’re a really… awesome girl, Sophie. I’ve liked you for a while. I’d be stupid to say no to this.” She blushed furiously.

“Oh. I- um- great!”

“Yeah.”

“So, um… are you…” Sophie wasn’t sure if she should ask.

“What? Out?”

“Yeah. Because I’m not to anyone except Keefe.”

“Tam knows. I don’t really have anyone else to tell… besides, well, you guys.”

“Ahaha. I guess that’s true.”

“You made Keefe promise not to tell anyone, right?”

“Yeah. He said I could trust him.”

“Oh. I hope that’s a good-“

Linh was cut off by a squealing Biana.

“Guys! Guess who juuuust asked me to the Winter Ball??”

“Who just asked you to the Winter Ball, Biana?” asked Sophie patiently. When Biana was excited, it could take a while for her to get to the point, but this seemed to be the rare exception.

“Tam! Your brother! We’re going to have such a great-“

“Okay, Biana, I like you too, but it’s really not that big a deal.” Tam materialized in the area suddenly, a shy smile on his face.

“But it is! You two,” she said, turning to Sophie and Linh, “better find dates. I’m not going without my girlfriends.”

“Don’t worry, B,” Sophie said, “I think we’ve got that down.” Linh blushed even harder.

“Reeeeally? Who’re the lucky guys?”

“Um, actually, the thing is…” Linh struggled to make the words appear on her tongue. “Sophie and I… we’re… um…”

“What Linh’s trying to say is-“

“We’re going to the Ball together,” said Linh, having seemingly regained her composure.

Silence like never before. No one seemed sure what to do, until Biana managed to sputter, “Oh… I didn’t know that. Is it- okay if I tell Fitz?”

Sophie and Linh looked at each other. “Yeah,” Sophie said decisively, “You can tell him. You can tell everyone.”

“Cool. Hey, Fitz,” Biana called, “Sophie and Linh are in love and they’re going to the Ball together. Isn’t that cute?”

Fitz was talking to Dex and Keefe, who all turned around open mouthed, except the latter, who gave Sophie an impressed smile.

Sophie was relieved. This was going to be fine.

Three weeks later, on the night of the Ball, Sophie stood in her room, twirling giddily around in the incredible new dress she had bought for the occasion. Covered in sparkles, the dress went from dark blue at the bottom up to white at the top and was everything she could’ve asked for in a dress. And the shoes. The shoes were out of this world. They were simple flats (because Sophie would rather have murdered her family than wore high heels) with purple sequins and a light blue fabric on them. Her hair was done up in a high bun which had taken hours to create, and Sophie proudly wore the custom crush cuffs Dex had remodeled to say Sophie Foster + Linh Song on her right hand. Linh was waiting downstairs. Sophie had no idea what she looked like, and was anxious to see, so she collected herself and slowly walked down the tails as gracefully as possible so she could look like one of those girls in teen movies. And Linh’s outfit was beyond anything Sophie could’ve imagined.

It was beautiful, strikingly red, like Linh was some kind of warrior queen in her floor-length gown with patterns of roses on it. Her hair was in pigtails, an odd choice for a Ball, but possibly the cutest thing Sophie had ever seen. And her shoes were simple red flats with hearts on them.

When they got to Foxfire for the ball, the place was packed with people. There were guys wearing all kinds of suits, though with less variety than the girls’ dresses. But none were as gorgeous as Linh was to Sophie, who held out a hand to her date. “Shall we dance?” asked Linh, and no sooner had Sophie grinned and nodded than they were on the dance floor, Sophie leading, Linh giggling every time Sophie lifted her up in the air, looking down in those deep, brown eyes that reminded Linh so much of that of those human animals- dogs, maybe? She didn’t know. She didn’t care. All that mattered now was the two of them.

An hour later, Linh was standing on the balcony, having needed a break from all the excitement. She thought of Sophie and of her parents and what they might think if she told them. Would they be okay with it? Even if they were, would it matter? She wasn’t going to visit them anytime soon. And what about the Black Swan? Would they still let her be a part? All of her worries, however, were interrupted by Sophie’s voice.

“Linh? Are you out here? You okay?”

“Oh. Yeah, I’m fine. I just… needed a bit of a break, you know?”

Sophie’s eyes narrowed.

“N-not from you, that is, just the… excitement of it all.”

Sophie softened. “Oh. Yeah, that makes sense. Mind if I join you?”

“Go ahead.”

Sophie walked up next to Linh and leaned on the balcony. They stood in silence for a few moments, and then Sophie suddenly asked:

“Linh?”

“Yeah?”

“Um… this is a weird question, but… um…”

Linh smiled. “Take your time.”

Sophie paused, and then asked, “Can… I… kiss you?”

Linh’s face was redder than it had ever been before. The awkwardness in the air was almost palpable. Scratch that, it was palpable. It enveloped the girls completely.

“Um… y-yeah, okay,” Linh finally said, glancing not-so-discreetly at Sophie’s lips.

Both girls leaned in at the same time. The kiss wasn’t perfect- it was rather clumsy, and Linh might have giggled into Sophie’s mouth. But those things didn’t stop the waves of heat and excitement that shot through both of them. Sophie even got dizzy from it and swayed, causing Linh to pull away. After a moment, both girls laughed and kissed again.

Ten minutes later, they finally stopped and went back inside. Linh’s worries vanished. As long as they were together, everything was going to be fine.

[imagine-loki]

Runaways

TITLE: Runaways CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 11 AUTHOR: SassyShoulderAngel319 ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine around the turn of the twentieth century, Loki gets sick of being a Prince of Asgard for a while and runs away to New York City, where he falls in with a ragtag group of newsies, including you… RATING: PG/K+ NOTES/WARNINGS: No warnings, I don’t think, except their nickname name-calling and some minor threats that are mostly in jest. PREVIOUS CHAPTERS: P, Ch1, Ch2, Ch3, Ch4, Ch 5, Ch 6, Ch 7, Ch 8, Ch 9, Ch 10

^^^^^

Loki stared at the bunk over his head. The moonlight that managed to pierce the curtains faintly illuminated the woodgrains of the bed above him. His feet were throbbing and his eyes were burning, making it hard for him to sleep.

Not to mention Tony was snoring loudly on the bunk next to and above him.

He sat up and used a tiny bit of magic light to draw another picture of No-No in his sketchbook, trying to capture her smile from memory.

It was rough but looked good.

He tore it out of his sketchbook when he finished more than an hour later and snuck upstairs. The girls’ room door was, as usual, cracked open just enough to let in some air. Loki peeked in to see Tasha’s curly red hair splayed out over her pillow in a fiery mess. No-No was just a lump of blanket with long dark hair covering almost the entire pillowcase. Her cap was hanging off one of the supporting pillars of the bunkbed closest to her head.

Carefully, Loki opened the door just wide enough to slip in and tiptoed to the head of the bed. Making as little noise as possible despite the crinkling of the paper, he tucked the drawing into the cap and edged back out, closing the door almost completely—leaving a few finger-widths of space still open.

Thoroughly exhausted, he slipped downstairs and climbed back under his covers.

His eyelids slammed closed and he was out.

His dream was unpleasant.

Loki was sitting in an office—an extravagant one by human standards. Across from him was a man with dark eyes that were sharp as knives and greying dark hair. He had a shrewd expression and a fancy suit on. “You’re quite the cunning businessman, Mister…?”

“Odinson. Loki Odinson,” Loki replied with a sly grin. “I’m pretty good at understanding the mind.”

“Sir!” a voice exclaimed from behind. Loki and the man both stood up, Loki turning around to see a guard hauling in a small person by the arm. “Caught this newsie snooping around the building, Mr. Kingston, sir.”

Whoever the newsie was, their head was down so the cap’s brim was covering their face.

But Loki knew the blue button-up collared shirt, black vest, khaki trousers, braces—suspenders—and leather boots anywhere. Not to mention the lump on the back of the cap and the figure.

“Well who is he?” Mr. Kingston asked the guard.

“Not a he, sir, a she,” the guard corrected, grabbing the brim of the cap and yanking it off.

Over two feet of dark, greasy brown hair tumbled out of the cap, no longer bound by twine, to the girl’s waist. It fell over her face. Would have covered it too had she not finally looked up and shook it out of her way. Her dark eyes met Mr. Kingston’s with more frigid coldness than any warm brown eyes had the right to have. It gave Loki a chill just seeing her glare.

“You…!” Mr. Kingston breathed.

“Me,” No-No retorted casually.

Loki woke up with a jerk as a bell rung over the city. There were moans and groans of complaint that it was time to start another day.

He stared blankly for several moments off into space, trying to remember every detail of his dream. What was he doing in Herbert Kingston’s office? Why would Nora be snooping around The Daily King’s building?

Dreams never made sense, but that was just odd.

“Hope everybody’s awake down there!” No-No shouted from upstairs.

More groans as boys got off their bunks and stumbled around getting ready.

No-No came down, fully clothed with hair combed out, looking like she’d had the most refreshing sleep of her life. Her cap was nowhere to be seen.

Loki went over to her. “Hey, have you ever actually met Mr. Kingston? The guy whose daughter is missing?” he asked.

“Can’t say I have. Why? Have you?” she countered.

“Don’t be silly. I just got here. No, I had a dream last night that I was in his office and a guard hauled you in because you were snooping around the building,” he explained. No-No looked amused. She folded her arms over her ribs.

“Well, unless you’s in the business o’ predictin’ the future, I’d say that’s is just a dream,” she remarked. Turning away, she went back to bossing everyone around to get ready for the day.

“Hey, No-No?” Tony piped up as he pulled a shirt on over his undershirt.

“What?” she snapped, sounding irritated.

“Your hat,” Tony reminded her carefully.

Fitz and Bruce giggled behind their hands as No-No put her hands on her head.

She swore under her breath—being sure to be very quiet so no one would hear her even though Loki did—and took off upstairs, taking the steps two at a time.

Smirking, Loki went into the washroom and joined the older boys in shaving.

By the time he went back into the main room, No-No had come back down with her hat on and her hair tied back with twine—this time just a ponytail hanging down her back. For a moment Loki wondered if she’d even seen his drawing—until she met his eyes and jerked her head over to the window, indicating they should talk there. He crossed the room and leaned against the wall. One of her hands was in the pocket of her trousers, the other was behind her back.

“I’m guessing you’re responsible for this,” she commented, bringing a sheet of paper around from behind her back to reveal the drawing.

“What makes you think that?” Loki retorted smoothly.

“Just on account-a no one here can draw for beans,” she said casually. “An’ I seen all of ‘em try. So it was either you, the newbie, or Stevie Rogers out in Brooklyn who somehow managed to slip a drawing of my own face into my own hat while I was wearing it the entire time. ‘E’s the only other newsie I knows that can draw.”

Loki shrugged. “Guess you’ll never know,” he said.

No-No’s nostrils flared and she sucked in a deep breath. In his periphery he saw her hand clench into a fist in her pocket. “S’pose not,” she agreed tightly, through a clenched jaw, before going back upstairs. She trudged back down seconds after, the sheet of paper with her penciled face on it nowhere to be seen.

“Hey No-No!” Fitz called, grabbing her attention while Loki stared at her from near the window. The little kid whispered something to her. She grinned and nodded.

“Sounds good, kid,” she replied. Fitz skipped off as she straightened up. “A’right boys and Tasha! Time to line up!”

Loki snapped her spare hat onto his head and fell into line with everyone else.

Instead of an individual inspection, she glanced everyone over, deemed them worthy to be seen by the public, and excused everyone. Loki trailed around the back of the line as younger kids pushed past him to go out the door until he was walking next to No-No. “When are you going to tell them about your meeting with Rogers and Barnes?” he asked.

She shot him a glare—because of his constant questions—but sighed. “Tonight after dinner. Once all the kids get back,” she answered. Her hand grabbed his sleeve. “And if you tell them beforehand, I’ll soak you so good you’ll have a shiner for three months.”

“Okay, one: I don’t know what a shiner is. And two: I don’t know what soak means in your context—but I’m guessing it doesn’t mean dump a bucket of water over my head,” Loki said. “And three, I’m not going to tell them beforehand. You’re the one in charge here.”

“Dang straight I am,” she growled. “An’ just so’s you know, soak means beat the ever-loving daylight outta you. And shiner is a black eye. I assume you know what that means.”

“Yeah I do.”

“Good.” She lengthened and quickened her stride, outpacing Loki.

[chinxino5-blog]

who are you

suckles oneshot  warnings: mentions of being drunk, coarse language. 2268 words

note: sorry this is literally so trashy. it was better in my head. really bad when i edited. i dont have the time to re-edit tho or rewrite - it’s just bad quality. but i still hope it can be of some enjoyment.

next oneshot will be better i promise.

-

Mason’s head was pounding. And by pounding, he meant it was splitting seven different ways and simultaneously imploding in on itself.

“Urghh.” The moan of pain slipped out of his dry mouth as he squeezed his eyes shut tighter. Light from somewhere was filling the room he laid in and it threw more kindling on the fire of his agony.

Unfortunately, his mind refused to let him resume his slumber, only becoming more and more conscious with every the moment he laid splayed out on likely Toby’s couch, if he remembered the end of his night correctly: far too late and far too drunk. Seeing as there was no possible way he’d be able to open his eyes painlessly for a number of long minutes, he allowed his senses and very broken memory to fill him in on what had happened in the previous twelve hours.

He remembered drinking with Cam until very late. It had been John’s birthday… no- it had been Smitty’s! And with his dumb friends it was tradition on someone’s birthday to get absolutely fuckin’ smashed.

So unsurprisingly, they did.

From the celebrations, the cheering, the dancing: after losing count of how many drinks he’d had, his memory only seemed to be able to catch bits and pieces of the rest of the night. Smitty was definitely sitting in John’s lap at one point, and the images of Cam downing shot after shot across the table flashed behind his eyes. He knew himself well enough to guess he had been doing exactly the same. Other than that, he recalled little to nothing: only climbing back in through Toby’s window and collapsing wherever he deemed comfortable in his drunken haze.

Trying to clear his head and sharpen out the blurry memories was steadily becoming more and more difficult so the Australian stopped himself, letting out a heavy sigh and turning his face more into the cushioning beneath his head.

As he shifted he felt the sticky skin of his back peel away from the leather couch, only to resettle in a sweaty mess of discomfort.

Huh.

He’d also lost his shirt sometime during the night too, it seemed.

But since when did Toby have a leather couch?

… Mason gave this another few minutes of careless though before furrowing his brows. Toby didn’t have a leather couch. He’d spent weeks living in that house! He knew there wasn’t a single bit of leather furniture in there – so how on Earth was Mason laying on a leather couch?

He regretted opening his eyes instantly. Even just a crack. The brightness poured gasoline into his head, flames erupting outwards.

“Aw, fuck,” he groaned, throat feeling red-raw and just as agonizing as his head.

But no matter the pain, Mason did not like the idea of being not in Toby’s house. So with the limited energy he had, he lifted his hands to cover his eyes and lessened the pain of opening them. He blinked.

This was officially the worst hangover he’d ever had.

Peering through his fingers, it was very easy to confirm he was, indeed, not in Toby’s living room. He wasn’t even in Toby’s house. Had his headache not been so consuming, he probably would have been a lot more concerned. But with this level of agony, all he wanted was a glass of water and some painkillers.

He sat upright, peeling his hot skin from the sticky couch and cringing at both the feeling and the headache. A pair of black skinny jeans were laying on the floor, one leg still caught on one of his feet and he mentally thanked his intoxicated-self for having the common sense not to fall asleep in them.

In his exhaustion, he took a moment to glance around at the room he laid in.

There was a very casual, careless atmosphere to it, not that clean but also not grossly untidy. Another brown leather couch sat beside the one he occupied, both angled to face a big screen that sat on the wall above a cabinet that showed off several different consoles and a rack of coloured controllers.

There was a window either side of the screen, the left one wide open (obviously having been Mason’s entry point the night previous). He wondered for a minute what kind of idiot left their windows unlocked and unalarmed, before swinging his legs off the couch and standing up. Hands on his hips, he stretched up and yawned widely.

The little wooden coffee table had a few magazines and an empty bowl, and his toes curled in the fluffy carpet that covered the floor of the comfy room. The walls were painted a soft grey, matching the white of the carpet. But Mason could tell his attention was not gonna be able to stay with the room for much longer.

Sitting back down and kicking his foot out of his jeans, he picked them up and breathed a sigh of relief to find his phone and wallet still in the pockets.

-

Friday. 22:03.

john but not really john: mason come home soon and let yourself in

john but not really john: the doors unlocked

Saturday. 00:42.

john but not really john: mason youre gonna die if you keep drinking

john but not really john: you and fitz come back here

john but not really john: come on you fucking dumbass check your phone

Saturday. 00:53.

Missed call from john but not really john.

Missed call from john but not really john.

Incoming call from Missed call from john but not really john.

Saturday. 1:39.

john but not really john: mason. home. now.

zuck my ass: oksy muuuuuuuuuuuiuimm

zuck my ass: hheeheh

john but not really john: is fitz with you

zuck my ass: fitzfitzzyyy is wih dniittttyyyyyyy

john but not really john: okay are you coming now

zuck my ass: eslkinf nowee!!

zuck my ass: vlinmbing in urr wondpw!@!!@

Saturday. 2:31.

john but not really john: where the fuck are you

john but not really john: i hate you. let yourself in if you get here

john but not really john: im going to sleep

john but not really john: text me in the morning.

-

Oh.

Toby was gonna be pissed with him. He didn’t remember answering a call at all. Well… He didn’t remember anything to do with his phone in general. He definitely remembered climbing in a window though. It just wasn’t the right window.

Whoops.

The pounding in his head was only getting louder and heavier and he was not ready to call Toby for help without getting some sort of medicine and some damn water. He just hoped the owner of this house was either asleep, or not home.

The second he was in the hallway, he noticed just how silent the place was. There wasn’t a single sound. No ticking of clocks, no sounds from plumbing or electricity. The lights were all off but the morning was bright enough to make things clear. Everything seemed very still and calm.

Perhaps the eeriness of it made him so cautious as he stepped down the hall, staying on the balls of his feet in fear of making any sort of sound. All he needed was water and painkillers. Fortunately, the kitchen was just at the end of the hall, a couple of dried clean dishes in a rack on the sink and a bowl of fruit on the bench.

Mason felt no regret in running the tap cold and lapping at the water like a kid. The cool liquid quietened the clanging in his ears and he sighed, standing upright and wiping his mouth with the back of his wrist.

Now painkillers…

He pulled open drawers, finding utensils, baking instruments, bags, bowls, cups and mugs; everything a kitchen would have. But he didn’t come across any sort of medicine. In his search, he forgot that he wasn’t really supposed to be in this house.

“Hey!” The shout scared Mason out of his skin, the scrawny boy jumping in fear and smacking his head on the door of the overhead cabinet.

“Shit!” he cried out, gripping his head with both hands and turning to face the man in the doorway. He took in messy brown hair, sharp dark eyes and the metal baseball bat held tightly with both hands and staggered back a few steps. “Who the fuck are you!”

“Who the fuck am I!? This is my house!” The combination of complete confusion, panic and fear smacked them both in the face as the homeowner took two steps forward and pointed the bat at Mason. “Who the fuck are you!” Mason stumbled back until he met the counter, eyes wide and fearful at the idea that this guy might actually fuck him up with the metal bat.  

The guy waited, bat still held out but making no motion of actually attacking the random stranger in his kitchen. “Uhh…” Mason glanced around the room, eyes wide and fearful. Thoughts of how exactly he’d escape the room ran through his head in the chance this guy actually tried to hit him. “Mason?” He said his own name with confusion and after another long moment, the baseball bat lowered to point to the floor and the homeowner lifted a hand to his face with a sigh.

“Mason.” The guy spoke with a tone of defeat, realising that the boy was completely harmless. “Why the fuck are you in my house?” he asked, voice far more calm and flat. It was thick with lethargy, and he rubbed his eyes with his thumb and finger.

With his heartrate lowering back to a humane level, Mason took a deep breath. Unsurprisingly, there was no explainable answer to the guy’s question and he didn’t even try to stop the dumb sounding: “Uhh…” from drifting off his tongue.

The guy blinked, brows raised. A moment passed and dark eyes dropped from Mason’s confused face to the rest of him. “Why are you naked?”

Mason’s eyes widened, falling to look at himself in surprise. “Oh fuck,” he said, the biting cold of the room suddenly making a lot more sense. When he looked back up at the guy, he ran his fingers through his hair and tried to make some resemblance of a smile. To relieve the awkwardness? Maybe to come off as friendly? He didn’t know his own intentions, but he knew his headache was getting more and more murderous by the second. “Hey, uh. Do you have any painkillers?”

Another moment. He took a step forward and Mason jumped in alarm, fearing the worst. Instead, the bat was placed on the kitchen counter and the guy ignored Mason, walking to the furthest overhead cabinet. From inside, he pulled a marker and a box of painkillers. He pulled a glass from the drawer beneath, filling it with water and placing it on the bench beside the stranger.

He didn’t give away anything with his expression, other than exhaustion in the bags beneath his eyes. Mason flinched back when a pale hand held itself open in front of him, waiting. Cautiously, he mirrored the action, trying not to react when the man took hold of the back of his wrist and easily popped two pills from the packet into the palm of his hand.

He closed his fingers around them, confusion growing when the hand slipped up further to grip his forearm, uncapping the marker. But something about the guy encouraged him to stay quiet and not bother him with questions. He just waited, soft tip inking numbers along his arm.

“Door’s out there. If I hear you banging around in my house any longer I’ll bury you.” Mason listened in surprise, hand finally released and feeling cold in contrast of the warm fingers that lifted to card through soft-looking brown hair. “Text me and tell me what happened in a few hours when I can actually process shit.”

The ten-digit number made his skin tingle and Mason blinked. The sound of the man’s voice was nice to listen to: deep and rounded. It was unlike other voices he’d heard before and he barely paid attention to what he was telling him, too focused on the sound of his voice. “Uhh, sure. Okay. Thanks.”

He took a step back. The dark eyes scanned him again.

“D’you have clothes?” Curious, still sleepy. Mason glanced down at his nudity again, mouth opening to offer an answer only to be stopped by the guy’s hand held up to face him. “Y’know what? Never mind. I don’t actually give a fuck. Just drink that and go home, uhh… Marson?”

He snorted. “Mason,” he corrected and the guy nodded, waving his hand vaguely.

“Yeah. Mason.”

With that, the homeowner nodded and walked past Mason and out into the hall. He watched him go, confused and stunned and slightly amused in his hungover. The painkillers went down his throat easy and the water helped considerably in refreshing his hot head. Rinsing the cup and sitting it in the sink, he returned to the living room, snatched up his jeans and opened up the phone app.

A sigh greeted him when he put the phone to his ear and he couldn’t help the immature grin on his face at his friend’s dissatisfaction. “Hey Toby,” he said, pinning the phone between his ear and his shoulder. He staggered, trying to yank the jeans up over his feet.

“Where are you?” Tired and already fed up.

Mason giggled. “I climbed into some guy’s house through his window.”

“For fuck’s sake, Zuckles. You’re kidding”

“Nah.”

note: again! sorry for the trash-tier writing. ill try improve on it when i have something better plot and better planned to get out here

gi

[theartofbeinganerd]

Hello!! Hope you don't mind but I was wondering if I could request a prompt with FS + Deke? Like something with Fitzsimmons being protective grandparents or something like that and Deke + everyone else just being so shocked about it?? Ahh hope this is no trouble, I love your writing xD. Have a nice day!!!

@dragonrider415 asked: Hey! I love your stories! I was wondering if you could write a story about the team finding out about Deke? Thanks! And keep up the great work!!

Anon asked: Hey, I was just wondering if, when you have a chance, you could write something about Daisy finding out about the (possible) Fitzsimmons baby?

@queensimmons asked: Fitzsimmons + losing their shit when they get back to find their trashcan of a grandson hurt fluff angst bonus if there’s some sort or mention of deke + crushing on his great aunt i am living

Okay, so I ended up combining all these prompts because they all seemed to make sense together, but feel free to prompt me again if you’d like to see something else! (Also, it turned out more fluffy with a bit of angst, so I hope that’s okay! Also also, sorry for the random pov change in the middle of the fic, but that scene just felt more natural being in Fitz’s pov.)

Set post 5x17

(Ao3)

-

As Daisy, Coulson, Mack, and May addressed Jemma, Fitz, andElena about the stunt they pulled by leaving the Lighthouse without clearanceas soon as they’d returned to the base and proved to be unharmed, Jemma feltproperly reprimanded. She did truly feel bad about having to trick Mack, and togo against Daisy’s orders, and, to boot, their actions at the HYDRA base mayhave simply contributed further to the planet’s ultimate destruction ratherthan stopping it, so she took it all without comment, simply nodding along.

“And drinking acid,”Coulson added then, shaking his head at Jemma and planting his hands on hiships. “What were you thinking,Simmons?”

“Technically, I didn’t drink the acid,” Jemma couldn’t helpbut point out, “that was sort of the point.” Her voice grew quieter andquieter, however, when Coulson leveled an unamused look at her.

“And then taking on a HYDRA base on your own,” Mack put in,though his disappointment seemed to be directed more toward Elena than Jemma orFitz. “What were you thinking?”

Elena opened her mouth, no doubt to shoot something back athim about thinking that she was at least doing something, but before she could get a word out, a cry sounded fromthe other side of the Lighthouse’s control center.

“Hey! You guys are back!”

Jemma felt a wave of relief at the sound of Deke’s voice, aswell a bit of excitement at seeing him again – when they’d nearly died inEngland (several times, truthfully), she’d been afraid that she’d never get thechance to see their grandson again.

As Deke climbed the steps to join them, she turned to greethim, but froze automatically when her gaze landed on the sling encasing hisright arm. Her eyebrows darted up her forehead, and she asked worriedly, “Whathappened?” Turning back to the others, she said, almost accusatorily in her rapidlygrowing concern for Deke, “You didn’t mention that Deke got hurt while we weregone.”

“Um…sorry?” Daisy offered, seeming bewildered by herreaction – no doubt, she was viewing it as an overreaction.

Fitz stepped forward then, giving Deke a bit of a look as hequestioned, “Did you do something else dumb?” However, even as he said thewords, he was obviously inspecting Deke, undoubtedly looking for a cast or abandage, something to indicate where his injury was.

“No, no, I’m fine!” Deke told them quickly, shaking hishead.

“Actually,” Daisy said suddenly, seemingly taking theopportunity to bring home just how bad of a decision it was for them to leave,getting one last reprimand in, “he needed surgery, and Simmons wasn’t here toperform it, so Mack and Piper did.”

Jemma whirled to face her, eyes wide as she demanded, “What?” She couldn’t help the slightlyshrill tone to her voice as she reminded Daisy, “Neither of them is a doctor! Anything could’ve gone wrong! What wereyou thinking?” She directed the last bit at Mack, unable to wrap her mindaround the idea of an engineer and an agent that had said herself that she didn’t“do science” performing an operation on her grandson.

Daisy crossed her arms over her chest, replying, “Well, wehad to make do with what we had since you weren’t here.” However, when Jemmafelt a great surge of guilt that without a doubt was showing on her face, Daisyfrowned a bit, her arms loosening and ultimately dropping to her sides.

Turning to Deke, Jemma apologized softly, “Oh Deke, I’m so sorry.”

Fitz clapped a hand on his uninjured shoulder, asking lowly,“You sure you’re okay? What’d you do to need surgery anyway?”

Deke let out a breath in a huff, narrowing his eyes as heshot back, “Why do you think it’s something that I did?” When Fitz simply gave him a look in response, he grumbledunder his breath, “Fine, I got shot.” Then, lowering his voice even further, headded, “By not listening to Daisy.”

Jemma couldn’t help the gasp that she let out at that,clapping a hand over her mouth as she imagined it, imagined Deke getting shot, bleeding and in pain and needing someone to be there to help him, and shewas gone; she hadn’t been there.Stepping closer to Deke, she removed her hand from her mouth, instead cuppinghis cheek. “I’m so sorry that I wasn’t here, Deke. Are you sure you’realright?”

He sighed, gently pushing away their hands before taking astep back and promising, “Guys, I’m not on my deathbed or something. I’malright, okay?”

“Okay,” Daisy broke in suddenly, “what is going on?”

At the same time, both Jemma and Fitz turned to find therest of the team (save for a smirking Elena, who was clearly trying her best tohide it – and failing, given the strange look that Mack was shooting at her),staring at them in blank shock and utter confusion. Well, except for May, whofor some reason didn’t appear anywhere near as taken aback as the others. But,Jemma wouldn’t be surprised if she’d somehow figured it out before then; it wasMay, after all, and she just seemedto know everything about everyone without really trying.  

They shared a look, but when Fitz shrugged, Jemma nodded, sohe thumbed over his shoulder at Deke and explained plainly, “Meet the grandson.Unfortunately.” When Jemma then smacked his arm, glaring up at him pointedly,he rolled his eyes and added in a mutter, “Just kidding.”

A hush fell over the room in the wake of his revelation, thenCoulson blinked, shaking his head as he asked slowly, “Deke is your…”

“Grandson,” Jemma finished for him, nodding, “yes.” She letout a sigh, then went on, “That’s why I feel so horrible about not being here…I, of course, would feel awful about not being here to help anyone, but Dekeespecially…”

She then turned back to Deke once more, but he held up hisone good hand quickly to put a stop to it before she could begin, insisting,“You don’t need to keep apologizing; I’m okay.”

Out of nowhere, Daisy blurted out, “Are you kidding me?”Startled, Jemma glanced back at Daisy, finding her with her mouth hanging open,her eyebrows high on her forehead. “There’s just no way…” She shook her head,obviously still stunned.

“I’m with Daisy,” Mack put in, shaking his head, “Are youguys sure?”

Before either Jemma or Fitz could say anything in response,Deke groaned loudly and said, “Yes, we’re sure! God, it’s not the most unbelievable thing, you know.”

Quickly, Jemma reached out to place a comforting hand onDeke’s arm, assuring him, “It’s just a lot to take in, that’s all. It’s notevery day that something like this happens, after all. Everyone will get usedto it eventually, I’m sure of it.”

When all they got in response was a few blank stares, Fitzshrugged widely and said, “Don’t look at me; I’m not used to it either.”

A moment of silence passed, then Coulson cleared his throat.“Well, as…interesting as this all is…”Letting his sentence trail off, he met May’s eyes and nodded to the hallwayoutside the control room. She nodded in understanding, and the two disappeared,no doubt to speak about something in private.

Once they left the room, Daisy appeared to take that as acue to the rest of them that the group could break up, startling Jemma bygrasping her arm and gently tugging her away from the others. Curious as towhat it was that Daisy wanted but felt that she couldn’t say in front of the restof the team, Jemma went with her.

-

Fitz watched as Daisy tugged Jemma away the rest of them,and the two began speaking in lowered voices, but it didn’t seem as thoughDaisy was still upset with Jemma for their escape from the Lighthouse, nor didit seem as though that was the topic of their conversation, much to his relief.After all, Jemma didn’t deserve to be on the receiving end of any of Daisy’s misplacedanger with him.

“Ugh,” Mack saidsuddenly, drawing Fitz’s attention away from Jemma and instead to him, findingthat he was pulling a disgusted expression, “man, this just makes all the crapyou said while on those pain meds even worse.”

“What things?” Elena asked curiously before Fitz could.

“Ah – that’s not really important,” Deke interruptedquickly, his eyes growing wide as he held up his free hand, laughing nervously.“Right, Mack? Right?”

Mack crossed his arms over his chest, raising an eyebrowpointedly and giving Deke an unimpressed look. Then, he turned back to Fitz andElena, explaining, “Spaceman here wants to kiss Daisy; he described it to meand Piper in excruciating detailwhile he was doped up on his meds.”

At the same time, Deke groaned in embarrassment, and bothFitz and Elena made similarly disgusted faces. Fitz glanced sharply at Deke,shaking his head as he told him in no uncertain terms, “Now that’s just gross.”

“What? Why?” Deke demanded, narrowing his eyes in clearinsult, suddenly not seeming so upset about Mack sharing his little secret withthem.

It was Mack that replied, “What, with how close Simmons andDaisy are? That’s like wanting to kiss your great aunt, man.” He gave a bit ofa shudder at the prospect, adding distantly, “Like wanting to kiss my greataunt Harriet, false teeth, butterscotch candies, and all.”

“Now, come on,” Deke protested, planting his one hand on hiswaist, “it’s completely different!”

But, Fitz held up his own hand then, hopefully putting anend to all of this Deke and Daisy nonsense before it could go any further. “No,just…just stop that, will you? It’s too weird.”

Deke scowled, muttering under his breath, “Says thethirty-year-old guy with an adult grandson.” Instead of offering a verbalreply, Fitz simply pointed at Deke, narrowing his eyes at the dig, but clearlyDeke wasn’t intimidated, as he just shrugged unapologetically in response. “Sorry,Bobo.”

There was a beat, then Mack repeated in disbelief, “Bobo?”

-

When Daisy was satisfied that they were out of earshot ofthe others, she released Jemma’s arm, immediately pressing, “So…how long haveyou known about this?” Her eyebrows were high on her forehead, and she was clearlystill shocked about all of it. “Have you known since we were in the future? And,like, what does this even mean?”

“Not since we were in the future, no,” Jemma answered,pausing for a moment before continuing delicately, trying to avoid anyupsetting topics, “Deke told me a handful of days ago, when he thought that I’dneed to hear it the most.” Smiling wryly, she added, “And, well, I think you know what this means, Daisy.”

Daisy’s eyes grew wide before darting down to briefly glanceat Jemma’s midsection. She stepped closer, then asked in a whisper, “Are you…?”

It took Jemma a moment to understand what she was implying,but when she did, she blinked in surprise before quickly replying, “No! Atleast…well, not that I know of, no.”

She nodded a bit at that, then frowned and questioned,“Wait, so…is it his mom or his dad? I mean, he told me about his father, and hedidn’t really sound…Fitzsimmons-y,but…then neither is Deke, so…”

Shaking her head in the negative, Jemma confirmed, “No, it’shis mother – our daughter.” She smiled softly then, once more thinking about theirdaughter who had loved them, who had loved her father so much, the mother that Deke spoke so fondly of.

Giving a short laugh, Daisy shook her own head and admitted,“Wow, I…I can’t believe this. You’re going to have a daughter; it’s crazy.”

“No, it’s not.”

They both turned in surprise then, finding May, who wasclearly finished with her conversation with Coulson and had been passing bythem when she’d stopped to correct Daisy.

Daisy tilted her head in consideration for a moment, pursingher lips. “Okay, yeah, May’s right. It’s totally believable. But…Deke…”

Already anticipating what would likely follow that, Jemmainsisted, “Really, he’s sweet and smart, and yes, he’s a bit…rough around theedges,” she pointedly ignored the scoff that May gave then under her breath,continuing, “but that’s just due to the future that he was raised in!”

She half-expected Daisy to have some other comeback aboutDeke waiting, but she didn’t reply for a long moment, clearly still letting itall soak in. When she did finally speak, it was to say quietly, “I’m sorry,Jemma, for…you know, trying to make you feel guilty about not being here. Ididn’t realize how much it would affect you.”

Jemma, in turn, apologized, “And I’m sorry for going behindyour back and not listening to your orders, Daisy. I still think that it wasthe right thing to do, but I can admit that we probably went about it the wrongway.”

With a little smile, Daisy teased, “Yeah, maybe I can see the family resemblance afterall; Deke thought he was doing the right thing too when he refused to listen tome.” Laughing quietly at that, Jemma gave a little roll of her eyes. Shenoticed Daisy take a half-step closer, then hesitate, before she abruptlypulled Jemma into hug, murmuring, “Congratulations. You know, for the daughter– whenever it is that she’s going to exist.”

Even as she returned the embrace, Jemma confessed lowly,“The congratulations may be a bit premature, Daisy; depending on when we break theloop and when our daughter was conceived, she may never exist in thistimeline.”

Daisy pulled back just as suddenly as she’d initiated thehug, frowning worriedly as she caught Jemma’s eye. However, it was May oncemore that spoke up then to say, “Doesn’t matter; whenever or whoever yourchildren are born, Simmons, they’ll be just as loved.”

Jemma gave May a warm, grateful smile. “Yes, I think so too.Thank you, May.”

“Does…Deke know about this?” Daisy asked carefully, glancingover her shoulder at where he was talking with Fitz, Mack, Elena, and nowCoulson.

“We haven’t talked about it, no,” Jemma replied with a quietsigh, looking toward her grandson as well and feeling another rush of guilt, “andI’m not sure if he’s come to that conclusion himself yet.”

They were silent a moment, concerned about the prospect ofDeke realizing that if they were successful in stopping the end of the world,his mother may never be born and how it might affect him. After a moment,though, Daisy nodded in understanding, then broke the silence to say, “Well,then let’s break this loop and save the planet already – the sooner we do, thesooner your guys can get busy on making some super cute, super smart babies forme to play with.”

Glancing back at Daisy to find her with a small smile on herlips, Jemma returned it with one of her own, giving a little laugh as sheagreed, “Sounds like a plan.”

[theclaravoyant]

Changing Stripes - Ch.5

AN ~ I am very pleased to announce that after LITERAL YEARS I am raising this fic from the dead to give it an ending. I got caught up in trying to make it perfect and as canon got darker I wasn’t sure how to balance it out, but some of my recent prompts about bi fitz have given me opportunity and inspiration too perfect to pass up so I am FINALLY finishing this fic! The 6th chapter, which I plan to be the last, will be released in the coming days.

For those who are not familiar, this a bit of a bi!Fitz retrofit, in which Fitz encounters and slowly comes to terms with his bisexuality. As it is intended to integrate with canon, there is a fair bit of the FitzSimmons relationship in its platonic/pre-relationship stages, as well as discussions of romances & crushes with various characters. However, the ending will be left deliberately ambiguous in terms of endgame ships, and as such I welcome readers to follow things through to their canon conclusions or to divert with ships of your own. Enjoy x

This chap, we jump forward to S3 canon. Joey pays Fitz a visit.

Read on AO3 (this chap, ~1400wd, whole fic, ~4700)

Changing Stripes - Ch.5

Joey wasn’t typically one to get involved in other people’s lives, especially the intimate parts, but he saw something of his old self in Fitz sometimes, and for some reason - maybe it was Daisy’s sense of mission rubbing off on him - he felt like he should do something about it. Nothing too elaborate, just a nudge in the right direction; just a little something like the push he got, when he had needed it, to look at his life and his heart and his mind and line it all up for himself. So he set himself a little research project, until he had enough observations and anecdotes to back his instinct, and to hold Fitz’s attention if he shied away; until he was sure, at least as sure as he could be without being Fitz, and until the only question left was when to broach the subject. With Fitz so focused on Jemma’s rescue from the mysterious rock situation, it sometimes felt almost cruel to contemplate intervening, but Joey knew more than most, that sometimes the threat of a spiraling, all-consuming depression presented a man with a prime opportunity to take stock of himself.

So it was that Joey decided to simply seize the day.

“Hey, Fitz,” he greeted, inviting himself into the lab, where Fitz was frowning at his work, pencil shavings littering his desk, a cold tea only half finished sitting nearby. He shook his head and looked up as Joey approached, belatedly pulling himself out of his own head.

“Hey, Joey,” he greeted. “Sorry, I’m a little distracted. Can I help you?”

“Actually,” Joey began, “I was thinking maybe I could help you.”

“I’m… not sure that’s a good idea,” Fitz replied, as reluctant to think about the fruitlessness of his mission as he was about the possibility of having a volatile heat source at his side in the vicinity of several combustible chemicals. “Don’t Daisy and Coulson want you on something- something else?”

“I didn’t mean in the lab,” Joey clarified. “I meant something personal.”

“Oh.”

“And judging from that look on your face, you already know what I mean.”

Fitz cleared his throat, and mumbled along the lines of I don’t know what you’re talking about. He turned back to his work, and picked up the pencil, but seemed to have lost his train of thought. And forgotten that the nib had long since snapped off the pencil, and he’d given up on it hours ago.

“I think you do, though,” Joey continued calmly. He sat down in the chair beside Fitz, his own nerves starting to shake his hands and claw at his throat. But he could tell that Fitz was listening, and so he pushed on. “Let me put something to you. Some feelings you might relate to.

“You grew up in a conservative household. Hopefully one full of love, but one where you weren’t exposed to a lot outside of the norm in terms of love and marriage and family structure. You never knew any queer kids growing up – none that you knew of anyway – and you never saw it as a possibility until one day, later in your life, maybe at college, something happened. You felt something, maybe some guy just winked at you, and something inside of you asked a question.

“You ignored it. You had another one-off. An inconvenient boner, maybe a sex dream, and you thought, it must be the stress, the strangeness, the objective aesthetic appreciation – anything but ‘that.’ Every time, you told yourself it was an anomaly, even though, while I’m talking about all this right now, you’re counting how many anomalies there have been, in your head. Aren’t you?”

“I…” Fitz’s lips moved around nothing. His mind felt strangely clear, and yet, he had no answer for Joey other than to marvel at the accuracy. He put down his charade of a pencil and turned in his chair. “How did you know?”

“A lot of guys go through this,” Joey promised. “LGBT people, in general. Even if we’re not in a particularly hostile environment, we don’t have the resources to- you know, to recognise our feelings. It takes longer, it’s messy. With guys, there’s all the macho-fairy stuff to deal with too. And for you it’s probably different again, right? I know you’re in love with this girl, Jemma. I had help like, I didn’t like sex with girls, and I kept wishing the girls I thought I was interested in, were more like the guys I actually was interested in. Being bi, maybe you didn’t have that, I don’t know. Maybe that made it more confusing. But I’m not wrong, am I?”

Fitz frowned. Joey was not wrong, that much was true, but was he right?

“Bi,” Fitz mused. “You think I’m bisexual?”

“You know about it?”

“Not much. Not well,” Fitz explained. “I’ve heard about it, I guess. I did a couple Google searches. Chickened out of following it up every time, of course, but you probably know how it goes.”

“Right.” Joey snorted. “But actually, it’s interesting you say that. A lot of people get hung up on the concept of being attracted to more than one gender. They think they’ve gotta be gay or they’ve gotta be straight, and those are the only two options. If you’re open to a third, that’s gonna make life much easier for you.”

“Do you think that’s what I am though? I don’t- I don’t even really know if what I’m feeling is… you know…”

“Gay?” Joey teased, a smile touching his lips. “Okay, let’s put it this way. There’s a difference between appreciating how much a man can lift, and wanting that man to lift you.”

The furious blush that arose in Fitz’s cheeks at this, told both of them as much as they needed to know.

“Point taken,” Fitz conceded.

“In all seriousness, though,” Joey insisted, “I can’t tell you who you are. There are a couple more labels that might suit you better, and some people don’t want to label it at all. You don’t have to, either, and you don’t have to let it change anything about your life out here.” He waved an arm through the air, gesturing around the room. Then he gestured to his heart. Swallowed his nerves. “The change is in here. It’s a beautiful thing, whatever happens. Whatever you decide, labels or no labels – but, you know, speaking as someone who’s been where you’ve been, or somewhere close to there, I think the most important thing is recognising it for yourself. Recognising your attraction to men, and having a relationship with it. Of some kind. I don’t wanna tell you how to live, but just… think about it, okay? I think you’ll be surprised what good it does.”

Voice trembling, Joey stood up and took a deep breath. He had to stay calm these days, and he was getting good at it, but every now and then things risked getting just a little too real. This time, crisis was averted - the metal lab bench was safe - but not a moment after he had jumped to his feet, a couple of lab techs filed into the room. The conversation was over, then, at least for now. Joey gave Fitz a nod and a look that promised he wouldn’t tell anyone. Fitz nodded back, a promise that he would at least think about it, and Joey took his leave.

Fitz turned back to his work, but his mind was still distracted. What good was another vague promise, after all? Apparently, he’d been thinking about this for a decade already, maybe longer. All those not-so-one-offs. Watching Joey leave, he recalled that day at the orientation fair, when he’d found the queer guild table and hadn’t dared approach it. Looking back on it now, he wondered how he might have felt within himself, or in his relationships with Hunter or Mack or Trip or Ward, or even with Jemma or Daisy, if he’d dared to resolve that question when he’d had the chance. Well, now he did again, and apparently, he had someone personally cheering him on along this awkward personal journey. And he’d had some growth along the way in his lifetime too, in other ways. He’d learnt to start trusting himself, most of all, and to take pride in and stand up for who he was; not who he was expected to be. With this in mind, he picked up a fresh white pencil and, on another blank blueprint sheet, carefully wrote out the word:

Bisexual?  

He sat back and looked at it, and blew the air out of his cheeks.

Then he scribbled the question mark out.

[shes-an-oddbird]

Christmas at River’s End Mall

Summary -  A Christmas AU in which everyone navigates their seasonal jobs, relationships and Christmas spirit, or lack there of, through woven together tales inspired by holiday prompts.

Chapter 9 - Christmas Parade

Summary - While at the annual Christmas parade, Mack and Elena discuss Hope getting older and Mack steps into help when when one of the parade floats breaks down.

Prompt - Christmas Parade Relationship - Mackelena POV - Daniel

Mack wonders if they should have brought chairs with them. Unless there was snow on the ground, they’ve always just watched the parade from the curb with a blanket folded up underneath them and another one pulled around them for warmth. But considering they invited Elena to join them, maybe a chair would have been nice to offer her.

“Dad I don’t see her!”

“Calm down Sparkplug, I just texted her a minute ago.”

“Well, that’s all some of us need.” His heart does a skip at the sound of her voice behind them. Her hands land on his shoulders, her long hair and festive red scarf falling over his shoulder and she leans down to say hello.

“Yoyo, you made it!”

“Of course, the parade is a tradition right?”

Hope nods. They have a few minutes before the parade arrives, although he thinks he can hear the first of the sirens that lead the parade in the distance. The parade, which sets up in the mall parking lot, would makes its way down the main road just outside the mall and then head down towards the small downtown area. They always stayed close by the start so they could head inside after for more activities.

Elena sets her own blanket on the ground next to theirs, sitting close although there wasn’t much other option as the street became more and more crowded. As they wait for the parade to come around the corner they talk about work and weather and other mundane topics.

“So what are we up to after the parade?”

“We’re going to go see the drones, dad finally decided on the right one which is the same one I wanted from the start.” Hope turns her eyes back on him. “Do you think Fitz will be there?”

“I’m sure he will be kid, he’s probably starting to think you’re after his job you ask him so many questions.”

“CANDY!” Several kids scream in excitement as a float from the public library drifts by and the riders dressed as reindeer toss candy canes and chocolate kisses from the sleigh. Hope and the other kids surge forward to collect them.

“I have to buy that damn drone today, I’m afraid if we go back again without buying anything their going to think we’re casing the place.”

“I’m sure they’re used to it, kids are obsessed with those gadget demonstrations.”

“That’s true and half the time we don’t even go in, she just talks with Fitz, the guy who demos them, goes well beyond what I know about them.” Elena looks at him curiously. “What?”

“Nothing.” She shakes her head but she’s grinning like she knows something he  doesn’t.

“What, tell me.”

Still looking far too amused she gives in. “It’s just, it sounds like Hope has a crush on him.”

“What?” Mack laughs. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it?”

“Oh come on, she’s only eleven, she’s not old enough to be having crushes yet.” Was she? No she was just a kid, it was ridiculous.

“Oh please, what do you know about it?” Elena laughing now at his utter disbelief.. “I was eleven when I had my first crush, and that was well after all my friends started too.”

“That’s just not like Hope, she still thinks all the boys in her class are stupid.”

She just shrugs. “Maybe that’s part of it, look I bet Hope is the smartest kid in her class right?”

“In the whole grade, maybe the whole school.” He answers proudly.

“Exactly and all her friends are starting to get crushes on these boys who are probably so boring to her, she starts to feel left out.”

That was reasonably to assume but he still only agrees with a hesitant, “I guess.”

“Then she meets Fitz, and Daisy’s told me about him, a brilliant engineer, someone who can have a conversation on her level who’s also nice to her and let’s her test all these drones and gadgets she’s preoccupied with.”

“But he’s– “

She cuts him off. “But he’s what, a grown up, you never had a crush on a teacher before?”

“Alright, I get it.” Mack contemplates this new revelation. When exactly had Hope gotten old enough to have crushes. Was he supposed to do anything about it. He had promised they would go there to get the drone after the parade. “Should I take her back there?”

“I don’t see why not, if you don’t and she finds out why she might think she’s done something wrong,” Elena advises. “But maybe give Fitz a heads up, it’s hard having your first crush at eleven but having your first heartbreak at eleven is ten times worse.”

Mack nods, making a mental note to pull Fitz aside and explain. Then he looks back at Elena a little in awe. “How did you get so good with kids?”

“I’m not, but I was a little girl once, it’s a tough life.”

She’s so pleased with herself. That was one of the first things he realized about her that he really liked; she was confident. Determined and straight forward.

And now they’re exceptionally close together. Forced into each other’s personal space as kids return to the sidewalk, arms full of treats. He blinks and she’s closer again, leaning in towards him.

There’s a deafening screech and they snap apart. The parade has rolled to a stop and a horrible grinding noise is emitting from the truck hauling the River’s End High School’s float. It rolls to a stop and cuts off. The crowd around them chatters in concern while the students frantically dismount the float and the truck bed.

“What’s going on?” One girl yells from the float.

“The truck must have stalled.” Another answers.

“Flint, what’s going on up there!”

The skinny young boy driving the truck leans out the window and shouts back at them. “It won’t turn back on.”

“Gabe, I thought your brother fixed up this thing.” A girl with white-blonde hair storms around the float, frustration evident as she addresses a boy still sitting in the bed of the truck.

“He had the guys at the shop take a look at it.”

“Well can you fix it?”

“Yeah Ruby, let me just jump right down from here and look under the hood.” The boy snapped back sarcastically.

The boy driving the truck jumps out and runs around to the front to lift the hood. “Yeah, I don’t exactly know what I’m looking for here.”

“This is going well.” Elena whispers to him as he watches them concerned.

“Old model, bad engine, probably something one of the kids picked up for cheap.” Maybe it was the mechanic in him but he was already assessing everything wrong with the truck. Even if it hadn’t stalled making it to the end of the parade would be a Christmas miracle.

“Dad, do you think you can help them?” Hopes asks.

“I haven’t got my tools, not sure there is much I could do.”

“I don’t think it could hurt.” Elena says, her eyes wide a the boy at the hood yanks his arm back as it crashes down. He’s joined by a girl with lots of dark curly hair and they open the hood again, steading it on the support.

“Alright.” He pushes himself off the ground “before someone loses a hand.”

Mack jogs out into the parade chaos. He has to clear a path through the crowd of students now converging at the front of the truck.

“This truck belong to one of you?” He shouts.

“It’s mine sir.” The girl with the dark curly hair speaks up.

“You have this problem before?” He asks. A glance over the engine and its not as bad as he anticipated, it’d clearly already had some decent work done on it but unfortunately it doesn’t show any obvious cause to the problem.

“Yes, but someone was supposed to have it checked out for me.” She glares at the boy now wheeling his way towards them.

“Shut it Tess, I’m trying to get Robbie on the phone.”

Mack tries hard not to groan. He’s so not ready for Hope to be on the verge of her teenage years.

He needs to check the radiator and fuel but its too hot to reach for anything with his bare hands. “Have any of you got an old rag or t-shirt?”

“There’s probably one in the truck.”

“Grab if for me, what about a flashlight.”

“I’ve got my phone.” Flint grabs the phone from his pocket and holds it out over the engine.

“Thanks kid.”

“Here.” The girl hands him a stained t-shirt. He manages to get the cap off the radiator but it doesn’t appear to be the issue.

“Was there any odds smells when you were driving?”

Flint shakes his head. “No, I don’t think so.”

Alright, that rules out a few possibilities.

“No, Robbie its fine, someone else is here already,” Gabe listened for a second, nodding along unimpressed before holding the phone out to him. “He wants to talk to you.”

Mack begrudgingly accepts the phone. “This is Mack.”

“Hey,” a voice with an accent like the boy’s greets him shortly, “the truck stalls on inclines and my brother won’t tell me where you are.”

That explains a lot. “They didn’t make it far, we’re on the main road outside the mall.”

“Dammit, my crew was supposed to fix the problem.”

“No worries, I think it’ll start again, its been down for a few minutes, doesn’t seem to have any other issues unless it’s the extra weight.”

“Give it a try, if they can get off that hill the parade levels out, should make it to the end.” Mack nods at Flint who jumps back in the truck.

“Easy.” He calls. Flint starts the engine which, after a long moment, stubbornly springs to life and relief washes over the students. “Alright its going.”

Robbie sighs. “I’ll get a backup truck over there just in case, first I gotta go fire somebody.” Mack chuckles, he doesn’t know this Robbie fellow, but he thinks they’d probably get along.

“I’ll follow along behind them down the hill.”

“Appreciate that.” Mack hands the phone back to Gabe.

“Alright everyone back on board, if you can make it down the hill you should be in the clear.” If there wasn’t a damn marching band in front of them, they could just throw it in neutral and roll. It takes everyone a minute to get back in place so he hurries over to Elena and Hope who are still watching from the curb.

“Everything alright?”

“Should be fine but I’m going to follow them for a bit make sure they don’t get stuck again.” Mack explains. “Do you mind hanging here with Hope?”

“Can’t we walk with you?” Hope asks.

“She can ride with us if she wants.” Tess, the curly haired girl offers. Hope’s eyes light up and she looks pleadingly up at him. Personally, he doesn’t want her anywhere near that truck but at two miles an hour she’d probably be safe.

“Alright, let’s go.” Mack lifts Hope up onto the float. Tess takes her hand and backs her away from the edge.

“Let’s go Flint!” Gabe shouts and the other boy waves his hand out the window. They being to roll and the crowd bursts into applause.

“You saved the day.” Elena nudges his shoulder as they begin to walk along side the float.

“I didn’t really have to do anything.”

“Well, you get credit for trying, I didn’t see anyone else run out there to help, just heard a bunch of moaning and complaining.”

“Yeah well, they’re good kids, but now all I can think about is how that’s going to be Hope in a few years.”

“Don’t worry about that, she’ll be just fine, she’s got an excellent role model to look up to.” She nudges his arm again, this time slipping her hand into his as they walk.