#i dropped out of school when i was 14/15

[z0mbiefrank]

you GUYS i am officially enrolled in my degree i am so unbelievably happy!!!!! i have been fighting for my life to get here. i had to turn down all my uni offers when i was a teen (had to move out independantly bc of domestic violence and disability/health complications). i've always known exactly what i want to do with my life but everything got put on hold whilst i desperately tried to sort my shit out. BUT IM DOING IT NOW!!!!!

[isa-ah]

yall ever end up thinking back on periods of ur life and ur like. bro what

[bibleofficial]

i just think it’s funny that raspberry pi seems to plan their releases around that of apple’s

[carolperkinsexgirlfriend]

can you see the stars in your dreams (and do they have a lot to say about me) - Part 18

Or: a secret Admirer AU

PART 1 || PART 2 || PART 3 || PART 4 || PART 5 || PART 6 || PART 7 || PART 8 || PART 9 || PART 10 || PART 11 || PART 1 || PART 13 || PART 14 || PART 15 || PART 16 || PART 17

Steve doesn’t see much of Eddie for the next few weeks. Presumably there are still Dungeons and Dragons sessions and band practices, but Steve and Chrissy are no longer invited. Jeff flits back and forth between their two groups like a child of divorce, and Steve? He just misses Eddie.

Eddie, who even once Steve slinks back to his usual seat in the cafeteria for lunch, no longer gives his table top rants. He doesn’t say anything at all, not where Steve might overhear him. But he still has Chrissy, and Robin, and Jeff, and that’s enough.

In his free time, he writes aimless letters destined to never be read.

Steve’s moving on—getting over it is a process, or so he tells Chrissy. He never shows her the letters, can’t bear to see the pity on her face. He doesn’t talk about it with Robin again either–just hides his notebook away and gets on with his life.

Eddie’s just a boy, and it’s just a crush. Steve can move on, he always does. He tells Eddie as much in a letter he’ll never read.

Everything changes when he opens his locker and something drops out. It’s a bright yellow envelope, sloppy sunflowers drawn on the sides with black pen, and there, dead center, is his name written in a handwriting he’d recognize anywhere, is his name. Not Secret Admirer, not even Harrington, just Steve.

He shoves it into his backpack before Robin can close her own locker and notice.

It stays hidden there for the rest of the day as Steve’s heartbeat rabbits away in his chest, and his palms itch with sweat. He doesn’t open it that night either, too afraid of what he might find in it. It’s like that one story Robin had told him, where the guy goes crazy after burying someone under the floorboards or something? It’s calling to him, no matter how hard he plugs his ears.

Steve doesn’t get much sleep that night.

He still hasn’t opened it by school the next day. Might not ever have opened it if he hadn’t glanced toward Eddie during lunch and caught his eye. Eddie’s staring, gaze intense even with all the distance between them. But then, the weirdest thing happens—Eddie smiles just a little, and finger waves at him, like they’re friends.

Steve just stares, gobsmacked until Eddie’s entire face starts to turn a splotchy red and he looks down at his lunch table as if embarrassed.

“What was that?” Chrissy asks, looking behind her at whatever had caught Steve’s eye.

“I have to go,” Steve blurts, rushing out of the cafeteria before she can ask anymore questions.

His and Chrissy’s usual abandoned classroom has a teacher in it, so he ends up in his and Robin’s bathroom stall, this time alone. Still, he sits on the ground, leaving enough room for the ghost of Robin to have a seat, too.

He opens his backpack, zeroing in on the envelope instantly—as if he’d ever, for a second forgotten about it—and finally pulls it out.

He traces the sunflowers on the paper, memorizing the grooves Eddie’s pen had made before finally turning it over and sliding his fingers beneath the seal to tear it open.

The paper’s thicker than he’s used to getting from Eddie, and it’s that same, bright yellow that doesn’t fit Eddie’s aesthetic at all. But it fits Steve’s, and that’s the thought that finally gets him to bring the letter closer to his face and begin to read. 

   Steve,

   I wanted to start this out by saying that I’m sorry—it’s a phrase I’m becoming alarmingly used to saying in recent weeks. To Jeff, to Gareth, and now to you. No matter how surprised I was, I had no right to say all that shit to you. And for that, I’m sorry, okay? Really, truly sorry.

   As Chrissy and Jeff pointed out once you’d left, I was a dick, and there’s no excuse for that. And as my uncle told me when he was doing his disappointed parent shtick, I might have been projecting, just a tad.

   Eddie Munson might be gay—who knew?

   So, I’ll hope you accept my sincerest apologies for how I’ve handled this whole thing, Steve. I can’t imagine how it must have felt. Well, I can now, a bit. And it’s scary, right? But, I think it’s my turn to be brave. If I haven’t already ruined any chance I might have had, maybe we can go on a date?

   I’ll pick you up this Friday at your house, say around seven? If you don’t answer the door, I’ll understand. That’ll be my answer.

   But I really, really, really hope you do.

   Yours, always, hopefully,

   Eddie

Steve stares down at it, flummoxed. He reads it again, and again, and again. When the words on the page don’t change, he slips it delicately into the envelope, and goes to his next class, mind swirling away with the clouds.

“Can I drive you home?” Steve asks Jeff before he can climb into Chrissy’s car.

“Uh, sure?” Jeff replies just as Chrissy cuts in with a near-frantic, “are you okay?”

Steve smiles tightly at her and says, “I’ll call you tonight, okay? I just need to talk to Jeff.”

She bites her lip, looking even more worried than before, but all she says is, “I’ll hold you to that.”

Jeff and Chrissy trade an indecipherable look and then Jeff dutifully follows Steve to his car and climbs in. Before he starts the engine, he pulls the envelope out of his pocket and hands it to Jeff.

“What’s this?” Jeff asks.

“Read it,” Steve replies, starting the car and pulling out of the parking lot so he doesn’t have to see whatever expression crosses Jeff’s face as he reads.

It’s silent for a few minutes aside from The Clash filtering quietly tinnily from the radio, but then Jeff says, “so, he finally did it.”

Steve’s fingers clench on the steering wheel at the vague answer to the question he hasn’t yet asked. “Is it some sort of joke?” Steve grits out, still unable to look at Jeff’s face.

“No, man,” Jeff replies, doing that same shoulder clasp thing he’d done last time he’d been in Steve’s car while he was upset. “He’s just been working through some stuff.”

“So he’s…” he finally shifts his gaze toward Jeff, hoping to convey his question without having to say it aloud.

“Seems so,” Jeff replies.

And Steve shudders, all those same feelings he’d been working so hard to suppress bubbling back to the surface, the most dangerous of all being hope.

“Are you going to go?” Jeff asks, voice even enough not to show his opinion on the decision one way or another.

Steve swallows, throat dry. “I don’t know.”

They don’t talk for the rest of the drive, and when he calls Chrissy later that night, she asks the same thing.

“Are you going to go?” she asks breathlessly, like she’s hanging on his every word.

Steve sighs. “He said he might be gay, Chris. What if we go out and he’s wrong?”

Left unmentioned is the niggling voice in the back of his head still insisting that the whole thing is some sort of cruel prank to get back at him. He’d lied, and strung him along, and gotten him hurt. No matter how many times Eddie apologizes, Steve knows he’s not really the one that should be.

“What if he’s right?” she asks.

Steve knows, deep down in his bones, that he’s going to go, just at the chance that Chrissy’s right, that Eddie’s right, that Jeff’s right. Steve desperately wants to be wrong. 

***

Steve doesn’t show any outward appearance of having received the letter. Eddie watches, obsessively trying to catch even the barest hint of what he thinks of the note– if, when he knocks on the Harrington’s front door, he’ll open it.

He keeps looking, and looking, and finally, blessedly, when Eddie looks, Steve’s looking back. Their eyes lock, and such a wave of relief courses through Eddie that he, like a fucking idiot, waves at him. Steve stares, mouth open, and does absolutely nothing back.

Eddie looks down at the table, whole body aflame with mortification, hair dangling messily into Doug’s mashed potatoes.

“Dude,” Doug says, shoving Eddie’s shoulder, forcing him away from his precious lunch.

“You good?” Jeff asks, leaning across the table to poke at Eddie’s bowed head like it’s potentially diseased roadkill he found on the side of the street.

“He hates me!” Eddie whines, turning his head just enough to glance towards Steve’s table, spitting a chunk of hair out of his mouth.

Steve’s not there at all anymore.

“Harrington?” Gareth questions around the bite of apple lodged in his throat. “Aren’t you trying to steal his girlfriend?”

“Of course no—not anymore!” Eddie stutters, turning his head the other direction to glare at Gareth instead.

For his part, Gareth just looks down at him, supremely unimpressed. “Uh huh,” he replies, keeping his voice quiet even when very obviously fed up. “Is this more secret bullshit you’re refusing to tell me?”

“It’s not my secret!” Eddie hisses, finally removing his head from the table so he can crouch on it instead, leaning over Gareth like a gargoyle. “And I promised!”

“Bet you told Wayne,” Gareth mutters.

“Oh my god, I told Wayne!” Eddie cries, dropping off the bench entirely to crawl under the table where he belongs. It’s not like there’s anyone in the room right now that he wants to impress—he already scared Harrington off.

“Dude,” is all Jeff says, peering under the table to look down at him judgmentally. “Chrissy is going to kill you.”

Eddie clutches his hair hard enough that it hurts. “It’s Wayne! He doesn’t count,” Eddie whines, “does he?”

Jeff snorts, kicking his foot out until the toe of his sneaker connects softly with Eddie’s kneecap. “He doesn’t count,” he starts, continuing before Eddie’s even slumped with relief, “to you.”

When Eddie slinks out from beneath the table, Steve’s spot is still empty, and Chrissy’s sitting there, glaring across the cafeteria at Eddie like she can just sense that he didn’t keep his vow of secrecy.

God, girls are scary.

He avoids looking in her direction the rest of lunch, picking at his own potatoes and mushy peas just for something to do.

Steve’s not going to open the door—he knows that. But, even still, he wakes up early on Friday morning to sneak into Mrs. Johnson’s yard to carefully cut a few of her sunflowers, ducking low enough that the bushes in front of her windows will obscure him.

When he’s done, he’s got five perfect sunflowers, tied together with the brown shoelace he’d stolen from a pair of Wayne’s old boots.

He leaves them in the kitchen, awkwardly propped into a bowl full of water since the Munson’s aren’t the kind of family to own a vase, or even a tall enough glass, apparently.

By the time Wayne gets home from the graveyard shift, Eddie’s elbow-deep in a trash bag in the back of his van. Wayne peers through the propped-open doors, eyebrows already raised as Eddie freezes, hand in the metaphorical cookie jar.

“What’re ya doing, boy?” Wayne asks.

Eddie stares, brain full of ants and TV static as he fumbles for an answer. What comes out of his mouth is “I asked Steve out!”

Wayne’s lips quirk up, and he’s smirking at Eddie as if to say, see? told ya, the smug bastard. But all he says is, “is that so?” drawling and easy like he’s not acting all-knowing and superior.

Eddie groans and takes his hand out of the garbage bag to run it through his hair and pull. “Or I left him a note?” he says, gut churning as Wayne’s face drops to his more customary frown. “Oh my god, he’s not going to show!”

“Then why’re you cleaning your van out?”

Eddie puffs up, glaring back at Wayne now. “Well I’m going to show up, Wayne!” he replies, voice shrill. “I’m a man of my word.”

Wayne snorts when Eddie calls himself a man, just like he always does, but his lips are quirked up again, looking almost proud as he replies, “good man,” with only a slightly mocking intonation. “Want some help?”

They get all the trash out in a matter of minutes. When it becomes clear that the vacuum cleaner can’t reach no matter how close they park the van, Wayne comes back out with the broom from the kitchen and they sweep as much debris as they can from inside before Eddie steals the comforter from his own bed and lays it across the back carpet, masking the weird stains.

Wayne finishes it off with a spritz of his own rarely-used cologne, covering up any remaining funky smells. Even so, Eddie elects to leave the windows rolled down to air it out for as long as possible.

When Wayne notices his commandeered shoelace around the sunflowers, he doesn’t say a thing.

Then, he’s forced to go to school, wiling away the hours until he’s standing in front of the Harrington’s front door, boots shined for the first time in his life, sunflowers clutched in shaking hands, van parked neatly behind him, hair brushed into submission. He’d even used his fancy conditioner, thoughts of that half-remembered first letter waxing poetic about his hair fueling his action. 

All for a boy who won’t answer the door.

But, Eddie’s a man of his word, so he knocks.

And waits.

And waits.

And waits.

He waits such a long time that he jumps when the door opens, breath catching as he looks at Steve Harrington, face-to-face for the first time since that disastrous day in his living room. His mostly-healed eye aches with remembered pain, his ribs cold with the absence of Steve’s hands.

He’s missed looking at him.

Steve’s in light-wash jeans, hair perfectly coiffed, wearing a green sweater that makes the gold in his eyes pop, even in the dim light from the Harrington’s porch light. He looks good, put together enough for a first date, casual enough to just be his everyday clothes.

Eddie’s heartbeat flickers with something that feels alarmingly like hope.

“Uh, hey,” Eddie says, finally breaking the awkward silence.

He smiles, trying to be charming, but he’s never done this before, doesn’t know how to contort his face. He holds out the sunflowers, arm awkwardly extending, hoping desperately that his offering will be accepted.

Steve stares down at them, hand still clutching the door like he’s one second away from slamming it closed in Eddie’s face. Eddie holds his breath, heartbeat ratcheting up from the oxygen deprivation.

Steve reaches out, his fingers brushing Eddie’s as he tries to take the flowers from him. Eddie’s fingers stay clenched around the stems for a second too long, hand following the flowers trajectory toward Steve’s own chest until Eddie forces his hand open and lets it drop uncomfortably back to his side.

Steve stares down at them, leaning down to take a sniff. Eddie winces—they don’t smell like much, just dirt and nebulous green things. But Steve smiles, just a tiny, little thing that hits Eddie’s body like electroshock therapy.

“Thank you.” Steve says quietly, not looking away from the sunflowers as he asks, “come inside while I put them in some water?”

Steve swings the door open wider, and Eddie slides past him and into the Harrington’s house. As Steve wanders further inside, Eddie stands in the entrance—foyer?—feeling remarkably out of place. Even from here, he can see enough negative space to house twenty-odd people, a vaulted ceiling, and is that a chandelier? Eddie doesn’t step a toe off the mat beneath his feet, afraid his very presence will stain the perfect white interior.

He shouldn’t be here. Places like this aren’t for the Munson’s of the world. They’re for royalty, kings and queens, and all the upper crust that spits down on the rest of them. But when Steve comes back, sans sunflowers, he’s smiling just a little, tromping his own shoes over the white carpet like he doesn’t give a shit.

Maybe he doesn’t belong here either. Maybe it’s possible to carve out a space for him in the Munson’s shitty trailer, however small.

“Alright, Munson,” he says, still smiling just this side of awkward. “What’re we doing?”

As Eddie holds Steve Harrington’s own front door open for him to step through, Eddie’s mind’s buzzing with maybes.

***

Eddie’s van smells like mothballs and cologne, and the radio’s quietly playing the sort of generic pop music Steve usually mumbles along to on his way to school. But, Eddie’s fingers are twitching against the wheel, and he hasn’t said a word since they’d climbed in, so Steve sits on his own hands and keeps his mouth shut.

The longer the silence drags on, the more Steve regrets ever opening the door at all. Eddie pulls into Hawkins’ drive-in, and buys their tickets and two bags of popcorn. Steve’s hand clenches in his lap, Eddie’s words to Chrissy all that time ago running through his head—we can go to the drive-in and hold hands the whole time.

“I hope this is okay?” Eddie says, finally breaking the silence as he spins the dial to the correct channel to catch the movie. “I wasn’t sure if you liked horror, but this is all that’s playing this weekend, and I’ve been wanting to watch it so—”

“It’s fine,” Steve replies, and it is.

He’s never been much for horror beyond putting it on for dates so he has a built-in excuse to reach out. But, he’s not squeamish, and maybe those same thoughts are running through Eddie’s head: an excuse to reach out and touch.

But, as the title card flashes SLEEPAWAY CAMP in big, boxy font, all Eddie does is reach into his popcorn bag and stuff a handful into his mouth. Steve follows suit, the buttery kernels turning to ash on his tongue.

He watches with little enthusiasm as the stupid teenagers on screen fool around and get torn apart. Eddie makes little comments throughout the movie, but there’s nothing Steve can grasp onto.

What does one say to, “whoa, blood fountain,” or “god, that kid’s a douche,” or, “they should’ve killed him sooner.”

Steve still tries, humming and nodding along and verbalizing his own agreements. Eddie never responds, just keeps stuffing his mouth with popcorn until the bag’s empty. Steve stares down at his own mostly-full bag and wonders if the separate bags were just to make sure they didn’t accidentally brush hands. 

He hands his own popcorn over, and Eddie grabs it twitchily, muttering a “thanks, dude,” without really looking at Steve at all.

Steve just wants to go home, crawl into his own bed, and forget this whole thing ever happened.

But he just sits there, silent as the movie plays on. He doesn’t understand the end, but he missed so much of the beginning and middle that he barely questions it.

When it’s over, Eddie turns the dial back to that same, nondescript station that doesn’t fit him at all, fingers clenching hard enough on the wheel that Steve can hear it creak under the strain. Steve turns away, to look out the window, throat clogged up with feelings he doesn’t want to think about.

The longer this date drags on, the more excruciatingly clear it becomes that whatever is driving Eddie to this, it’s not him returning Steve’s feelings. This isn’t how dates go when you’re excited about them, there’s nothing clicking into place–it doesn’t even seem like Eddie’s trying.

He feels small, and sad, and every minute that passes with Eddie saying absolutely nothing at all only makes Steve feel more like a charity case that Eddie’s taken pity on. 

He never should have listened to Chrissy and Jeff’s encouragement. They’d both been so hopeful that he’d caved, but they’re not the ones stuck in the devastatingly uncomfortable moment. It’s just him and Eddie, living with the fact that Steve’s got a crush on a boy that can never like him back.

There’s no coming back from this, no matter how nice Eddie tries to be about it. Because he is nice, no matter how he’s been acting the past few weeks.

Steve’s the problem—always has been, always will be.

So, he stews in the silence, watching the same familiar buildings pass him by like it’s the last time he’ll ever see them. And maybe it will be, if Eddie decides to be not so nice. This was all so catastrophically, unbelievably stupid from that very first letter all the way to this moment, stuck in a van with a boy that won’t even look at him. 

He’s so lost in thought that he doesn’t realize they’re going the wrong way until Eddie’s pulling into a familiar clearing in the quarry. His headlights illuminate the skid marks Steve’s car had made in the dirt when he’d screeched to a halt to stop Jason Carver from rearranging his face.

Eddie slides into park much more levelly and cuts the engine. The quiet is absolute, made worse by the darkness surrounding them. Steve can hear the crinkle of Eddie shifting on his seat, the sound of his throat as he gulps like he’s about to go off to war.

 “I thought—” Eddie starts before petering off as his voice breaks. Steve listens to him take a few shuddering breaths before starting again. “I thought we could star gaze?”

Steve sighs, slumping back into his seat, so unbelievably tired. “Eddie—”

“Unless you don’t want to!” Eddie rushes out. “I just thought…”

Steve would kill to know what he’s thinking, but whatever it is, Eddie doesn’t pick up his trailing sentence, just leaves it hanging in the silence between them. Steve sighs again, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose, desperate to keep an even keel.

“Look, Eddie” Steve starts, turning toward Eddie. He can see the silhouette of his frame hunched over in the driver’s seat, but his face is a black void for Steve to project upon. It makes him brave. “You don’t have to do this. You, like, tried it out, right? And it didn’t work out.”

“Steve—”

“It’s fine, Eddie,” Steve cuts in, exhausted. “You can just drop me off at home, and we can go our separate ways.”

Eddie makes a sound like a strangled cat, and then his silhouette lunges across the distance between their seats. Steve jerks back, head banging painfully into the window as Eddie’s mouth mashes against his, more teeth than lips.

PART 19

Shoutout, once again, to my beta reader and friend @queenie-ofthe-void for this one!!! I struggled for weeks on the date, and then they said, "what if you just make it as awkward as possible," and then I wrote this entire date in a day. Truly a muse for me <3<3<3

[persevereforahappyending]

A Legacies Secret |3|

Pairing: Tara Carpenter x Reader

Summary: You just wanted a happy life with your girlfriend but then Ghostface attacks, revealing long thought to be buried family secrets.

Warnings: Talks of injuries

Word Count: 3.7k+

Main Masterlist | Series Masterlist

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15

“Run away with me?” you asked, staring into Tara’s eyes as she leaned in for a kiss.

“No,” Tara giggled, playfully shoving you.

“Why not?” you sighed, flopping back onto Tara’s bed.

“Cause I don’t want to be a high school drop out?” Tara draped herself over you, looking down at you with a loving smile.

“Ugh, fine, I guess that’s reasonable,” you grumbled, pouting up at her as you ran a hand through her hair.

Tara sucked in a breath, instantly wincing in pain, her hand went to her stomach, but she quickly pulled it away when the pain worsened. She tried to push herself up but quickly lowered herself back down when every movement sent waves of pain through her entire body. She blinked, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the unfamiliar lighting. She looked around seeing blank white walls, a thin white sheet over her, and a hospital bed. She scrunched her eyebrows, trying to remember what happened, she reached up feeling an oxygen tube around her nose.

She got flashes of bleeding out on the floor, a knife through her hand. She looked down to see her left hand bandaged up. She closed her eyes, feeling her leg snap, she winced at just the memory. When she opened her eyes again, she noticed the large black boot on her right leg. Then she saw it, the white mask, black cloak, she remembered getting the call, it had been Ghostface. Her heart rate picked up again, she ignored the pain as she pushed herself further up on the pillow. She whipped her head around, her eyes darting all over the room, only stopping when they landed on your sleeping figure.

She couldn’t help but give a small smile at you. Tears pricked the edge of her eyes as the attack fully came back to her. The only comfort she had was seeing you by her side, safe and sound. Part of her felt bad but the other part of her wanted to laugh at your position. You were curled up, one leg hanging off the chair, the other draped over the armrest, and the top half of your body curled in, so your head was resting on the back of the chair.

She relaxed back into the pillow, her heartbeat slowing back down. She never took her eyes off you though. Her mind went back to the dream she woke up from. It was a memory, it was the last time you spent the night, just two days ago. You always asked Tara to run away with you, ever since she turned eighteen. The two of you had plans to leave when Tara graduated but then she got held back a year, delaying your plans a year. She knew you didn’t mind, truly, but you still always asked to run away. Tara loved it, she loved knowing you wanted to spend the rest of your life with her. Tara just didn’t want to be a dropout before she ran away with you.

Tara laid her head on her pillow, just staring at you, you always looked so peaceful sleeping, even in a very uncomfortable position. You suddenly shot up, bracing yourself in the chair so you didn’t fall off. Your eyes instantly went to Tara, your eyes filled with tears as you let out a shaky breath. Tara could only describe the look on your face as one of relief, she had no idea how long she had been out and couldn’t begin to imagine what you had been going through this whole time. If you had been attacked and Tara was the one waiting by your bedside she surely would have been going out of her mind.

“You’re okay,” you sobbed. You were instantly out of the chair and at Tara’s side. You reached up to touch her but hesitated, your hand freezing just as you were about to graze her hair.

Tara gave a small nod, realizing you were terrified of hurting her. “It’s okay,” she rasped out.

Your hand gently caressed her cheek. You leaned in, resting your forehead against hers. Your eyes were pinched shut but tears still managed to spill out of them. Tara let out a shaky breath, trying to contain her own sobs, she reached up with her good hand, resting it on the back of your neck.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered in between sobs. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Tara tightened her grip on you, quietly shushing you. “I’m okay. I’m okay.” She wanted to offer you any comfort she could give, she was making sure you felt her, that you heard her, that you knew she was there, and she was okay.

When you finally pulled away from her you quickly wiped your eyes, sniffling a little. You cleared your throat as you walked across the room, Tara’s heartbeat spiked for a second until she realized you were just going to the sink. Her eyes never left you as you filled a glass with water and instantly went back to her side, you handed her the glass of water and then dragged the chair you had been sleeping in next to her bedside. She took a few sips, the water instantly soothing her dry throat.

Tara looked down at your hand resting on her bed, she could feel your fingers barely grazing her leg through the blanket. She started to move her hand to hold your hand but stopped when she realized her hand was bandaged. She furrowed her brow, opening her mouth to ask you to move to her other side but the words died on her lips when she looked up, seeing your eyes not on her in the moment but on the door. She quickly shut her mouth, she couldn’t help but smile at your determined look, as if you were daring someone to walk through that door.

When you took your eyes off the door and looked back at her, she was still staring at you. You tilted your head, giving her the same soft look you always gave her, it was a complete 180 from the glare you had been giving the door. “What?” you asked softly.

Tara shook her head, blinking away the tears that had started to form. “I love you,” is all she said.

You smiled, for the first time since Tara woke up, you looked like you did any other day. If she didn’t know better, she would say you and her were just sitting on her couch about to watch a movie. “I love you too,” you reached up, brushing a few strands of hair out of her face. “Do you want me to text your friends?”

Tara opened her mouth ready to say yes but stopped. She couldn’t explain why she stopped. She loved her friends; she had known all of them pretty much her entire life. She couldn’t imagine any of them hurting her, couldn’t imagine that any of them would dress up like a psycho and attack her. There was a part of her that told her not to trust anyone though. Tara might not have remembered Stab too well, but she knew the story of the original Ghostface killings, Sidney’s boyfriend had been the killer, she had trusted him, and he ended up being the one to attack her and kill her friends. The truth was, anyone could be a killer.

The only person she didn’t doubt for a second was you. Maybe it was stupid and naïve but there wasn’t a doubt in her mind about you, she knew you’d never hurt her. And if anyone ever asked her about it, she’d say that you sitting there by her bedside completely guilt ridden over just not being there was proof enough. She saw you beating yourself up, blaming yourself, and it was all for something you had nothing to do with, for something couldn’t have controlled or prevented. As much as Tara had wanted you to come over that night, she was now glad you had work, she would never have forgiven herself if you had been there and you had gotten hurt trying to protect her.

“Not yet,” Tara finally decided on. “I’ll text them later. I’m not ready for all of them. I just want to sit here with you.”

“Okay,” you whispered. You tucked more strands of her hair that had gotten loose behind her ear. You didn’t even question Tara’s decision to not contact her friends yet, not that she ever thought you’d question her wanting to spend more alone time with you.

“How are you feeling?” you asked.

Tara looked down at herself, her eyes focusing on the large boot on her foot before trailing up to her hand. She lifted her hand off the bed, turning it over, it was covered in a wrap, but Tara could still see the knife sticking through it. “It hurts,” she said but it came out as more of a whimper.

“Do you want me to get the nurse? Maybe they can give you more drugs or up the dosage?” you were already moving to stand up.

“No.” Tara reached across her body with her good hand but didn’t have to strain herself before you noticed and were sitting back down. “I’m okay.” You didn’t look convinced. “Really, I think no matter what, I’m going to feel it at least a little bit.”

“Okay,” you whispered, dropping your eyes to the floor as you stared intensely at your clasped hands in your lap. “I should have been there,” you whispered. If you weren’t seated so close to Tara, she would have missed it.

“No,” she shook her head. “This isn’t your fault.”

“I should have just left work and come to you when you called.”

“You would have gotten fired.”

“But maybe you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.” You looked up at her, your eyes filled with tears once again. “I’m always there,” your voice cracked. “I should have been there.”

“Stop it,” Tara said, trying to keep her voice determined but it was hard with the tears she felt filling her eyes again as well. “Stop, please, you’re not allowed to blame yourself. I refuse to let you blame yourself. You didn’t cause this, you had nothing to do with this.” You buried your head in your hands but nodded, nonetheless.

After a little while you had turned on the TV and flipped through channels until Tara finally agreed to a channel that was showing some reruns. Tara wanted her laptop so she could watch whatever she wanted but that would mean asking you to go get it and she didn’t want you to leave. Tara watched you out of the side of her eye as you watched the TV, you had moved the side table over and pushed your chair against the bed. You had your arm propped up on the bed, absentmindedly playing with Tara’s hair. You were at an awkward angle and as much as Tara wanted you to, you couldn’t lay in bed next to her with her injuries, so this was the closest the two of you could get for the moment.

There was a long creak as someone opened the door to the hospital room without knocking. Tara’s eyes widened, she sat up in bed, ignoring the pain that shot through her. You were on your feet in seconds, glaring at the door, ready to attack whoever was entering.

Tara relaxed when she saw sheriff Hicks walk through the door, her eyes glued to her notepad. You were still tense, slowly relaxing as Judy put down her notepad and looked up at the two of you. Her mouth hung open, a greeting at the tip of her tongue, her eyes went from Tara, to you, to the door behind her, and back to Tara.

“I’m sorry!” Judy said sincerely. “I should have knocked. I was so caught up finishing up my notes,” she looked down at her notepad, flipping through pages as she rambled. “I didn’t mean to scare you,” Judy looked back up at Tara. “There is an officer right outside your room,” she pointed back to the door. “No one is getting in here unless they’re authorized.”

“Thank you,” Tara whispered. She flicked a glance at you to see you slowly lowering yourself back into the chair. “Sorry, we’re just a little jumpy after…”

“You don’t need to explain,” Judy said softly, walking up to the side of the bed. She reached down, grabbed Tara’s hand, and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’m glad to see you awake.” Judy gave her a soft smile.

Judy was one of a kind, she was a little embarrassing at times and Tara and Amber certainly loved to pick on Wes in a loving way because of it. Judy was the most loving parent around though, the only other parent that seemed to love her kids as much as Judy loved Wes was Mindy and Chad’s mom. Whenever the kids went over to Judy’s house, even now as teenagers, she always made baked goods before she left for work or as soon as she got back.

Tara knew her sister got into a lot of trouble with Judy, Tara was glad Judy never held Sam’s actions against her though. Judy wasn’t a fan of Tara’s mother either, Tara always tried to hide her home issues, but Judy always seemed to know. There were so many times after Sam left and their mom got drunk or went away on long business trips that Judy insisted Tara spend the night and she always made sure Tara never went hungry, whether it was inviting her over for dinner or dropping by with a casserole or something she insisted she had so much fun making dinner she just had to make a second one. Judy never drew attention to what she was doing, she never pressed Tara to talk about it, the few times she did Tara had shut down completely, after that Judy settled for silently helping anyway she could.

Judy also wasn’t the biggest fan of you. She never directly came out and said anything, she knew deep down she didn’t have any right, but there were little comments here and there when Tara started dating you. Judy would always give a tight-lipped smile and her voice went even higher than usual when you were around or when Tara and yours relationship was brought up. When Tara first told Wes she had kissed you, Judy had overheard and made a comment about you being too old for her. Tara had just rolled her eyes saying you were only two years older, technically closer to three, but Tara wasn’t going to get into that with Judy. Judy had dropped it, but it was always obvious she didn’t approve of your relationship.

“I was wondering if you were up for answering some questions?” Judy asked softly.

“She just woke up,” you snapped. “Shouldn’t you be, I don’t know, trying to catch the psycho that did this?”

You were glaring at Judy, but she just gave you a sympathetic look. “That’s what I’m trying to do,” she said softly. “If you aren’t up for it, I can come back,” Judy looked at Tara.

Tara wanted to tell Judy she was tired and to come back later, she had no desire to relive what happened to her. She didn’t think she’d want to relive it later in the day or the next day either so she might as well just get it over with.

“Can Y/N stay?” Tara asked, looking at you. You smiled softly, resting a hand on her arm as you lightly rubbed it.

“Of course,” Judy answered, glancing at you before pulling up a chair of her own. She was near the hospital bed, her back to the door, the perfect spot to look at Tara as they spoke.

“Can you tell me about your night?” Judy asked, flipping open her notepad to a new page. “What you did, anything and everything, just talk, anything can be important.”

Tara nodded, looking at you before she took a deep breath as best as she could. “I was making dinner and called Y/N. They were at work and their boss yelled at them to hang up,” she started.

“What did you talk about?” your eyes flicked to Judy, but you didn’t say anything, you just kept your hand on Tara’s arm, trying to bring her comfort in anyway.

“I was trying to convince her to blow off work,” Tara admitted, blushing lightly. She glanced at you to see a small smile on your own face, but it was quickly shadowed in sadness and guilt. “We talked about graduation, me going to college, us moving out of this town.” Tara shrugged, “Normal stuff.”

Judy nodded, writing a couple things in her notepad. “And after you got off the phone?”

“I was texting Amber, wanted to see if she wanted to watch some movies.” Tara furrowed her brow, shaking her head. “It wasn’t Amber,” she whispered, staring at a spot at the end of the bed. “The phone started ringing.”

“Your phone?” Judy asked but her voice sounded muffled.

Tara shook her head. “Landline,” she said mindlessly. “It was some guy.” She could swear she heard you suck in a breath, but she didn’t turn to look at you. “Said he knew my mom. Figured he was just a new boyfriend,” she shrugged with an eyeroll. “He asked me my favorite movie; I didn’t think anything of it until he specifically started talking to me about Stab.”

“What about it?”

“He asked me if I remembered the opening and then started telling me about the opening kill scene, a girl home alone who answers an unknown number and starts talking to the killer.” Tears slowly started to fill her eyes. “Just like me,” she whispered.

“We can stop if you want,” Judy’s voice came again, this time accompanied by a soft hand resting on her uninjured arm.

“I texted Amber,” Tara continued, shaking her head. “It wasn’t Amber.” She continued shaking her head, the tears slowly began to fall. “He-he-he started quizzing me on Stab.” Tara’s breathing started to become heavy, she was gasping more, the walls were closing in on her. “He-he-he-” she was gasping, her eyes wide as she couldn’t catch her breath.

“Breath,” your voice cut through. Tara tried to focus on your voice, hearing you softly whispering to her. Tara felt a puff of air enter her and she slowly started to be able to breath again. “There you go,” you whispered. Tara’s eyes found yours only to see you standing up, one hand resting on her shoulder while the other held her inhaler to her mouth.

“Thanks,” she whispered, taking the inhaler from you with her good hand.

You let out a shaky breath and slowly lowered yourself back down into your chair. Tara blinked a few times, taking another hit of her inhaler before she set it down at her side, making sure to keep her fingers around it.

“Why don’t we stop for now,” Judy said as she began to stand up from her chair.

“No,” Tara said, giving Judy a determined look. “No, I can do this.” Judy looked from Tara to you then back to Tara before slowly lowering herself back down. “I got a question wrong, and he said he was going to kill Amber. I ran to the door, intending to help her but he was there,” she continued, jumping back right where she left off.

“That’s how he got in?”

Tara shook her head. “No, I got the door closed and locked it. I made sure the system was armed when I called the police but…” Tara’s eyes went wide, the little robotic voice going back and forth saying armed and disarmed filling her mind.

“What?” you asked softly, giving her shoulder a comforting squeeze.

Tara turned to you, focusing on your red rimmed eyes, full of nothing but love and concern for her. “He disarmed the system.”

“What?” your face went white.

“We went back and forth. As soon as I armed the system, he would disarm it. He could have gotten in at any time,” she sobbed. “He just wanted to fuck with me!”

Tara was sobbing uncontrollably but you were sitting at her bedside in a second, wrapping your arms around her, making sure to be mindful of her injuries. Tara didn’t care about her injuries, she buried her head in your neck, throwing both her arms around you and pulled you as tightly as she could against herself.

“Sorry,” Tara mumbled, wiping her eyes once she pulled away from you.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Judy said, standing up from her chair again. She looked over her notepad before flipping it closed and tucking it back in her pocket. “I think we’re good. Thank you.” She gave Tara a pat on the arm before leaving, quietly shutting the door behind her.

Tara reached for her phone, opening her messages but her thumb hovered over Amber’s name. “What’s wrong?” you asked, looking at her with worry.

“Amber’s phone was cloned, I can’t know if I’m texting her when I text her,” Tara answered. She scrolled a little further down, selecting Wes’s name. She shot Wes a quick text saying she was awake. Judy was a professional, but Tara was sure Wes had heard about the attack and was just waiting to hear from her or to question his mom.

Not a second later her phone buzzed, showing Wes had already messaged back. “Wes and the others are on their way,” she said.

You nodded, before scooting your chair up further so you could rest your arm around her head. Tara leaned into you, relaxing as you gently played with her hair. She tried to focus on the TV again as she waited for her friends to arrive. Her mind was plagued by who she could trust, why she was targeted, which of her friends potentially did this to her. Whoever did this knew her alarm system, they were either very skilled with technology and could hack into her system or this was someone she trusted.

[clockwayswrites]

Cozytober Day 14 & 15: Unexpected family gathering Getting comfort after a bad day at school

masterpost CW: referenced abalism

It was a Bad Day.

It had started as a so-so sort of day. The sort of day where words were a little slower and harder to find. Danny could work through those days, he always had to, after the accident. But then, of course, it had been a day that his sociology professor had actually shown up instead of just leaving the teaching assistant to do his work for him.

Of course he had called on Danny. And being a so-so sort of day, Danny had fumbled through the answer. Apparently, that meant the fucking jack-ass decided to use Danny as ‘an example’ right there in front of the whole class. As if public speaking was Danny’s issue. As if sometimes struggling with words meant that he couldn’t do social worker. As if he was worthless.

Danny made himself close his eyes and just breathe. He’d contact his ADA rep tomorrow. There were avenues to deal with this. It was just… it was so much effort and was probably going to be a fight over it. The professor as there for research reason, he didn’t actually care about teaching. Danny would probably have to go in front of a committed and tell his side and—

Tomorrow.

He’d deal with that tomorrow.

Right then Danny just wanted Jason.

Uncovering the hidden panel, Danny typed in his code, popped open the covered door, and swung himself down through it and onto the steal beam.

“Who the fuck?”

Danny froze. Very slowly he looked down. Below him, Jason’s table was expanded out into an oval and surrounded by people. People who were looking up at Danny with a frankly frightening amount of attention and suspicion.

The person closed to Danny stood. Their hand went to something on their belt in a move that Danny was sure was intended to be casual, but wasn’t actually. It made the hairs on the back of Danny’s neck stand up. That person was dangerous. All these people were dangerous.

“So who exactly are you?” They asked.

“Jay wasn’t inviting anyone else, right?” Someone at the table asked rest of of the people.

“Jason didn’t even invite us,” one of the other redheads answered.

“Oh, right.”

“Hey,” the redhead glaring at Danny barked. “I asked who you were!”

He was Jason’s boyfriend. He was allowed to be there. Jason had given him the code. Jason wanted him there! Words that Danny couldn’t manage to speak piled up in the back of his throat.

The redhead’s hand tightened around something.

Danny leaned back.

The rest of the table tensed.

“I swear to fuck Roy, if you throw something at my boyfriend you are not welcome back here!”

The room froze and slowly all eyes shifted to look towards the bedroom where Jason was walking out of it and into the main space.

“Boyfriend?” Someone at the table repeated in a near squeak.

Danny ignored them. Jason was there. Jason was there and knew who he was and that he was welcome even when he didn’t have the words for it. He dropped to hang of the edge of the rafter for just a moment before he flung himself at Jason, trusting the other to catch him.

And Jason did. Jason wrapped Danny up in one of his warm hugs and spun them so that his back was to the group and Danny was hidden.

“Hey, boo,” Jason said and pressed a kiss to Danny’s temple. “They sort of all just showed up. Apparently they decided to have a game night and that this was the place to have it. I was going to text you a warning later. I thought you still had class right now?”

Danny scowled and tapped a sequence against Jason’s hand. S.O.S. Something that Jason had suggested they use as a sign for when Danny was having a Bad Day.

“Shit, yeah?” Jason dropped his voice to keep his words more between them. “What do you need? I can kick them all out if you need me to.”

“Hey!” Someone at the table protested, followed shortly by a omph and a wheeze. “Ow! Fuck, keep those elbows to yourself.”

Danny quirked a little bit of a smile despite himself and shook his head. He pointed over his shoulder before running the same hand through his hair as if washing it.

Jason nodded. “Okay. You know where the bath salts and things are. I’ll check on you in a bit.”

Danny pressed a grateful kiss to Jason’s lips and practically dashed to the bedroom without a single glance towards the table full of Jason’s friends and maybe even family. That was… it was just too much right then.

-

By the time that Danny was settled into the warm, scented water he had managed to calm down a great deal. He still couldn’t find his words, they were still stuck down deep under his ribs, but he wasn’t in a panic anymore.

(Not having someone about to attack him helped with that, go figure.)

Danny sunk a little further into the luxuriantly large tub and rolled his head slowly this way and that. The rest of the world could wait until tomorrow. All that mattered was what was inside of Jason’s apartment.

Of course, inside the apartment meant Jason’s friends right then, but Danny knew that Jason would let him hide in the bedroom if he wanted to. For the moment, Danny tried not to be worried with figuring out what he wanted. Right then was about relaxing.

[mayearies]

… ꒰ঌ ໒꒱

.. ❛ nailed it ❜

genre: suggestive | warnings: implied making out, suggestive speech ->summary: miles gives you a prize

꒰ঌ a/n ໒꒱ needed to spice up shi a little bit since i havent in a while lmao i didnt feel like adding pictures to this one (ty @/q2ie for letting me steal ur format 😊 i might not keep it tho LMAO)

miles and you were doin' your nightly routine—facetiming each other for 3 hours before you actually went to sleep. you two would talk about anything and everything. drama at school, shit at work, etc. but you wanna see him in person. you would drop that in the convo for a while.

"then this bitch down the street was lookin' at me sideways n' shit, i swear to god-" "i wanna come see youuuu"

he broke, bursting out in full on laugher and rolling around in his bed out the frame. all your other attempts landed in him letting out a breathy laugh or a small chuckle.

"okay but no seriously! you haven't came over in foreverrrr" "we saw each other last week, mi vida?" "that's too long! what can i do to make you come over?"

it didn't take him long to think about a possible challenge. the smirk on his face told you all you needed to know. "you can try that one filter goin' around."

"which one? the hammer one?" "yeah." "hmm. you make it seem like it's that big of a challenge." "knowing your timing skills, yes. yes it will be a challenge for you." "what's in it for me?"

miles held his face in his palm while he looked to the side, making a humming noise. "i'll come over and kiss you."

"make out, you mean?" "i mean... it depends if you pass or nah."

you sucked on your teeth as you moved over to tiktok and got ready to win the little prize he had for you. you didn't even tell him that you started. you just went at it. he saw your focused ass self through your camera and he was snickerin a whole lot. "yo, shut up or i swear to god."

miles sat up and took a deep breath before saying in a mocking tone: "yo, shut up or i swear to g-"

"STOP"

once the timer hit zero, you had landed around 14. still bein' salty about not being able to get at least two because of his sabotagin' ass. you mumbled a curse under your breath which he knows for certain was for him. "awww.. you mad, ma? estás molesto conmigo?

"shut up." "you're too cute, i can't." "you didn't even tell me how many i had to get!" "... 15."

you stared at him with unamused which only made him feel amused. you swear, this boy plays too much. but that's one of the reasons you love him. the other reasons? well... that's another story.

"i'm jokin', ma. unlock your window."

once you heard your window slide up, you stopped shaking your leg. you had been waiting a whole 10 minutes. far too long. he came in his prowler pajamas, which was cute and it matched your spiderman one. "took you long enough."

miles held your chin with a playful smirk on his face. tilting it upward a little so he could plant a little kiss on your neck. "y'know. i wonder if you taste as salty as you talk, ma."

"just kiss me already."

and so he did. rather passionate, you would say. he knew everything you liked when he kissed you. what you didn't like, and what you loved. what made your face warm. what made your heart flutter. all of it. it's one of the other reasons you love him.

"i know just how to make your knees weak, amor." "sad but true." "what is that supposed to mean?" "you always make me fold. it hurts my back."

he let out a small giggle while cuddling up under the covers with you. he was proud to be able to tease you so much. even if you might get sick of him. "i love you so much."

"wish i could say the same." "damn. you still got that salty ass mouth after all that? thought i carried all my sweetness over to you. you want me to do it again?"

©hiimayee

[therandompagesblog]

SKZ Mate: Chapter 5

Warnings: Childhood trauma, communes, assault, verbal threats

"Hollow Woods is where I grew up. On the Eastbank near Wraithwood. I grew up in a relatively large pack, there were about twenty other werewolves. Some alpha. Some beta and some omega. The majority of them, all had children. I was one of the children. There were roughly 15 or 18 children, there may have been more. It was more like a commune. The children of the pack would go to school in the morning and learn how to be a werewolf. You would learn the basics of hunting and survival skills. The older children, like myself, would learn how to be what we are. In my case, learn about being an omega...

You were incredibly unlucky if you were an omega in our pack. It was the worst thing to ever be. If you were an omega you were fated to downfall. As a female omega, your job was to be a concubine for an alpha. To produce an Apex. Yet, it was never possible for them. The majority of omegas that were born were male in our pack. The ones who were female lost their lives because they were succumbed to mistreatment. Omega's had little rights in our tribe. They were subjected to their alphas most of the time, meaning when an alpha wanted something an omega did it. If an alpha had a rut they needed an omega. If an alpha was angry they needed an omega to take the pain away. Despite all that, an omega was not allowed near an alpha nor a Beta. They were only allowed near them if the called upon them or sent them to a beta. It was tough for all of us. Even for my mother!

My mother was an omega, conceived by two omegas that rebelled against their alphas. Before they were sentenced to death they pleaded with the alpha at the time to take my mother in. My mother was 14 at the time when she watched her parents die. My mother swore she would never make the same mistake her parents made. Instead, my mother was forced to be with our head alpha as his mate in hopes of producing an Apex, but sadly it never happened. My brothers Joshua, Samuel and I were born as Omega. Even my younger brother Milo came out as an omega. We watched our mother for years get slandered and beaten by our alpha for never conceiving an Apex. What was funny to us was our mother conceived an Alpha with Jiyong! Turns out our head alpha cannot conceive other alphas because they were not soul mates. Poor Alpha Jackson! He never got what he dreamed of.

That was until our head alpha committed a heinous act. He forced an omega to conceive an apex through necromancy. This led to an upral with neighbouring packs, particularly one pack. They threatened our pack and told them they would be reported to the elders and the council. So they had to make a pact, or a trade, if you will. They will keep the secret of the apex being born through necromancy if my pack hands over a virgin omega! Well, you see, that was easy for our head alpha because I was the only virgin female omega. The only reason I was a virgin omega is because I hated half of the beta boys in our back. They were flamboyant casanova peacocks."

"So what happened to the apex and their mother did they survive? I've never heard of the omega mother surviving a forced apex pregnancy?" Changbin interrupted her novella out of curiosity. He had heard the story of an apex being born but he didn't think it was true. "From what the pack I was given to told me, they both didn't survive. The mother died during childbirth and the apex died because he went into a sub-drop too early on." Y/N answered with a shrug. "That's crazy. What were they thinking." Changbin stated. He couldn't believe an infant could go through a sub-drop. It was near enough impossible. "Not to disrespect your pack nor your family, but was it more like a breeding farm?" Seungmin asked, causing everyone in the room to freeze. They all thought the same thing but no one wanted to say anything to offend her as she was opening up for the first time with them. "Ah. Yes. Yes it was. They breed to create omegas in hopes that omega would be an alpha's soul mate. Yet it never happened or the omega rebelled and fled"  Y/N answered sadly as she looked down at the wooden floor. "That's fucked up," Seungmin stated. He was about to continue when Chan stopped him with a warning glare. "Please continue Y/N. If at any point it gets too much we can stop and talk about it another day." Chan reassured with a promise.

"Going back to what I was saying. I was basically given to-" "It was Ateez wasn't it? You were given to Hongjoong." The red-haired alpha interrupted with a low growl. His eyes narrowed in on her. "How di-" "I can smell him all over you. Such a disgrace." Hyunjin spat before walking out, leaving the room with an icy feeling. None of them knew what to say at Hyunjins outburst. "Please don't mind Hyunjin little wolf. Hyunjin has quite the history with Ateez." Chan explained with a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Chan realised this might complicate things as Chan had already stolen from Hongjoong before. "It makes sense," Seungmin added as he watched the omega drop her head in shame. "What does hyung?" The younger alpha asked as he pulled on Seungmin's jumper. "Why our omega was so afraid of us? Look at her Innie. Look at the state of her. You can tell what they've done to her. It was probably that demonic little alpha." Seungmin growled making the omega shrink into the sofa even more. "Seonghwa isn't an alpha," Y/N muttered. "What?" They all said. "Seonghwa is a beta. He just pretends to be an alpha. They only have one other alpha, Wooyoung. It's only because Hongjoong gives him the power that he acts like a fucking alpha." Y/N growled, her eyes sparkling in anger. "So the other six are Betas?" Chan asked in confirmation causing Y/N to stare at him in bewilderment. "You mean the other four are betas. Two of them are omegas. Three including me." Y/N said. "Wait what!" Jisung and Changbin shouted. "Those fucking liars. They're corrupted." Changbin screamed. "Yeah, and you guys are not corrupt," Y/N answered as she rolled her eyes. As far as she was aware Straykids was as bad. "I guess that means we have a lot to think about, but for now let's hold that thought. We can think about Ateez's politics later." Chan looked around the room before continuing. " Minho can you go and check on Hyunjin he will need your guidance. Changbin take Jisung and Seungmin to the border and patrol for the next few hours. They will have realised Y/N-"

Everything sped up for Chan in an instant. One minute his omega was opening up about her background and the next minute she was on the floor withering in immense pain. He knew within seconds it was her previous alpha trying to track her down. He was trying to communicate with her through his bond and mark, but it was only resulting in her suffering. It was clear to Chan that her old alpha, Hongjoong, was trying to make her suffer. Chan knew he needed to remove the mark from her, both of them, but it would be too obvious. He needed Hyunjin to help him and he needed him to act now, regardless of the consequences!

"Hyunjin!" A panicked Chan called out. Within seconds of calling Hyunjin, Chan had his mouth over the top of Hongjoong's mark and bit down on top of it at the same time Hyunjin bit down on the mark on her ass. Both of them could feel the power of the two Ateez marks as they tried to override it by forcing their power onto her. The problem with overriding an alpha mark is it could result in death for that omega. Wolves knew it was rare to have a soul mate which was why they heavily branded and marked their omegas so they wouldn't go missing. Ateez was aware of that. They knew she wasn't really theirs, but they had to lie to her so she wouldn't leave them. What neither of the Alphas realised was how much power the two Ateez alphas had. Chan and Hyunjin were struggling to break the bond as they assaulted her neck, forcing submission. It was an awful sight to see and quite frankly frightened the other forgotten wolves who were witnessing the assault. They had never seen either of the alphas in such an aggressive sadistic state. They couldn't believe how quickly Chan ripped her jumper to sink his fangs straight into her. His eyes glowed a dark shade of ruby as blood poured down her neck. Hyunjin, wasn't any kinder as he bit down on her ass with a deep growl, is hands dug into her calf while the other dug into her waist, leaving nail marks.

The two younger betas, Felix and Jisung were in hysterics as they jumped straight into Minho's lap cuddling up to him. They didn't like to see their omega in such an awful position, they wanted to take it away. They wanted to rip the two alphas off of her and make it all better, but they couldn't. None of them appreciated what was happening. It was making their stomach churn the louder Y/N cried. Her cries were getting louder and it didn't seem like the alphas were going to stop. Jeongin couldn't take it either. A new alpha dealing with the heightened emotions in the room was overwhelming. He could smell the omegas pain. He could smell her blood and anxiety that was bleeding through the entirety of the house. It was too much for him, he had to leave before he acted out. The other two betas, Seungmin and Changbin were stress nesting. They had decided to rearrange their alpha's bedroom completely, ready for their omega to rest in. Seungmin ripped off the covers in a panicked emotional state, slightly sniffing to himself as he changed the pillows. He feared the omega was really going to hate them now. Changbin was aggressively moving the furniture around, cursing his ancestors for making his life hell.

They all felt conflicted. Some felt sick. Some felt remorse. Some felt anger and hatred. Some even felt let down by their ancestors. Except for one little beta, Jisung. He felt hope despite all the trouble she brought. Jisung believed she was the best omega for them. He could feel it deep down which was why he had to stop them. He didn't want her to suffer anymore. His poor omega was bleeding out to the point she had blood coming out her mouth and neither of the alphas realised they were taking it too far. Jisung plucked up the courage to slam straight into his head alpha, causing Chan to slide his teeth down the front of her chest, before falling into the wall. Jisung knew he was risking it all for an omega they barely knew but it felt right as he stood in front of his head alpha stupidly as he tried to challenge him. His heart thumped in panic as he knew he royally fucked up as he heard the little omega scream out in pain as Ateez tried to push the unidentified invasive werewolf out. "Go. Downstairs. Now." Chan alpha ordered out of anger. Jisung put his head down in shame as he headed towards Alpha Hyunjins room of torture, knowing he was going to spend however long in there. Jisung shamefully opened up the metal gate and headed towards the metal chains, wrapping them around his ankles waiting for his punishment that would only come when the omega was safe.

Moments later, Jisung heard Chan and Hyunjin's heavy footsteps coming down into the basement. He wasn't afraid. In fact, he was relieved they were down sooner than he thought. It meant she was safe and marked. Of course, Jisung wasn't happy about his upcoming punishment but it will suffice until he gets to see his omega. "Jisung look at me," Chan ordered. His harsh voice cut through his body. "You know why I sent you down here?". "Yes, because I threw you into the wall for hurting our omega." He said blankly. His answer stunned the alphas. "Because you threw me into the wall." Chan nodded his head, thinking about the sarcastic answer he gave. "Alright. Phase back and forth fifty times a day until I say stop." Chan stated as he headed out the door before stopping. "You can start when Hyunjin breaks one of your back legs."

[aangarchy]

Anyway because avatar studios is planning a new animated series on the new earth avatar after Korra, i won't ever continue writing the story of my OC earth avatar so here's his story summed up (mind you i started writing this in 2014, after korra ended, before the kyoshi novels, i have the proof on my laptop to back this up, the manuscript's original date is 2014. so no, i did not steal the "avatar is an orphan and therefore no one knows who the avatar is" from the kyoshi novels, my work was never published, not even on fanfic websites so it is purely a coincidence my 15yr old brain came up with the same idea of FC Yee)

Main character is Shen (originally Chang but stopped liking that name in 2019) born in Ba Sing Se, dropped off the door of a non bender couple when he was two months old. Shen grows up thinking he is a non bender. The adoptive parents have one biological daughter after Shen, the father ends up being a dead beat and leaves when Shen is 9

Because his adoptive parents are non benders, they find out Shen's an earth bender embarrassingly late, when he's 14

Shen's family lives in the lower ring and can't really afford actual earth bending lessons, so they rely on their kind neighbor who is a farmer, and teaches Shen the basics

One night, Shen's mother forgets to put out a candle. Shen discovers this when he goes downstairs for some water. As he goes to snuff the candle, he realizes it grew as he got closer. He played around with the flame, and ended up holding the fire in his hands. He then runs outside to the farmland in the outer ring where he trains earthbending, where no one can see him, and firebends. This way he discovers he is the avatar at age 15

Shen keeps this a secret. He does not want to be the avatar. He fears if he reveals himself, powerful people from all around the world will try to take him away from his family, and try to push their political agenda on him. He mainly fears the Earth King, who's been causing political tension with the Northern Watertribe and Fire Nation since he inherited the throne, and has been "unifying" the Earth Kingdom whilst simultaneously taking land from the Fire Nation and Watertribe.

The absence of the avatar made these tensions worse, the king has been desperately trying to find the avatar and hasn't gotten anywhere. The Fire Nation and Watertribe think the king is incompetent and want to start the search themselves, but the king won't allow it. Even the air nomads are trying to get the king to allow them to search, but he refuses.

At age 16 Shen, his mother and sister move away from Ba Sing Se to a small harbor town in the southern Earth Kingdom. Shen starts a new school and meets a boy named Yahno, who's father hails from the Northern Watertribe, but his mother is from Republic City. He also meets Ji-min, and airnomad girl who is a descendant of avatar Aang. They moved to the town because her mother was banished from the Eastern Airtemple. At school he meets a girl named Chō, a firebender that has Earth Kingdom nationality and likes to dye her hair bright red.

The friends tell him about their classmate Uma. She was adopted, no one knows her actual birthday. She is an exceptional earthbender, which is why she believes she is the next avatar. She treats it as fact, and uses the title to hold power over others. During their first PE lessons (where benders are encouraged to train their elements) she bullies Shen about his lackluster earthbending skills

Shen and Yahno go sailing with Yahno's waterbender dad, who takes them out of the bay in the open ocean, however they are taken by surprise by a storm. Shen accidentally activates the Avatar state on instinct and saves them from drowning. Yahno and his dad vow to keep Shen's secret, as they know what the Earth King would do to get his hands on him.

The king declares a final nationwide search for the avatar. The earth king is a truth seer (Toph's ability to detect lies), he decides to use this ability because he suspects the Avatar knows their own identity and is hiding it. Shen tries to half truth his way out, but ultimately fails due to a trick the king pulled on him, making him firebend in front of everyone. Shen gets revealed to the king, and with that the world.

Firelord Kaen, who recently ascended the throne after the untimely death of his father at age 19, meets the young Avatar in secret. Shen is apprehensive, which Kaen understands. They end their conversation with mutual appreciation, since both are teenagers in position of power.

Shen starts his Avatar training. When he enters the spirit world through Republic City's portal for the first time he finally meets Korra, and she has to sheepishly admit to Shen that she'll be his only guide. There's no connection to any of the other past lives due to the new cycle.

Shen has the most trouble learning waterbending. He doesn't know how to let his emotions flow like water, which is blocking him from getting a true feeling for the element. He masters earth, fire and air relatively quickly, but water refuses to budge for him.

This is about as far as I got writing wise. In the second half of the story a time skip was planned so Shen would be a young adult instead of a teen. He'd get badly hurt during an assassination attempt at age 18 (airship he was on got blown up) and go missing for five years making people believe he's dead and thus reborn in the firenation. He joins a pirate crew bc he has amnesia after getting badly wounded, but once he regains his memory as he's healed he keeps his identity secret again. That is until he literally sees the earth king attack the fire nation and he reveals himself to his pirate friends and contacts his old friends to take down the earth king. Also a romance of sorts would develop between Shen and Kaen (which is another reason for the timeskip lol like an 18yr old and a 21yr old sounds weirder than a 23yr old and a 26yr old idk) then i'd explore the complications of an Avatar, who's supposed to be neutral and unbiased, falling in love with a leader of one of the four nations.

Either way i was never gonna finish this story anyway bc i suck at thinking of complex political plotlines and problems for the avatar to solve to include in my story lmao. I do have some chapters that are finished writing wise but they're not in order bc I'm the type of writer that just writes the chapter they want to write without caring where it takes place in the story, which admittedly isn't a great strategy but eh it's not like I'm a published writer, it's mostly for my own enjoyment

[ladykailitha]

The Caged Bird Still Sings Part 22

Hey guys!! We are back with the next chapter of the lovely fic! Just two more chapters to go! Can you believe it?

In this one we have two of my *favorite moments in this fic as Dustin and Mike get to have their own special days just like the others.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21

~

Steve was kept busy over the next couple of weeks hauling the kids around to the connections Chrissy had set up for them. Max skating with Steve C., Will at the Children’s Museum, Erica and her horses, Ellie at a fashion show in Indy. Dustin and Mike were talking about the concert for weeks.

Steve had felt bad that Mike and Dustin hadn’t had their own experiences when he stumbled on the perfect solution.

He picked up Dustin from school.

Dustin slid into the front seat of Steve’s Sunbird. “Ma said you were planning to take me somewhere?”

“Yep!” Steve said, popping the P. “I found this thing in the newspaper today talking about it and I knew it would be right up your alley.”

Dustin cocked his head to the side, considering that. “But, I’m guessing that you’re not going to tell me. Just like you did with Lucas?”

“Ding, ding, ding!” Steve said brightly. “You win! Of course I’m not telling you jack, dude. It wouldn’t be much of surprise if I did.”

He crossed his arms and pouted. “Ma wouldn’t tell me anything either. Only that I would love it.”

“I honestly don’t know why you don’t like surprises,” Steve said, shaking his head as they hit the freeway. “As long they’re not jump scares or surprise parties, surprises are meant to be fun.”

Dustin slumped even further in the seat. “My dad was on his way to surprise me at school to take me out for ice cream because I had won some award in science and he had a heart attack. He didn’t even make it the hospital before he was gone.”

Steve pulled over to the shoulder and turned off the car. “I’m sorry, Dusty. I didn’t know that, but your mom should have. Do you really want me to tell where we’re going? Because I will.”

Dustin opened his mouth to answer but closed it with a frown as he really thought about it. “No. But I’m going to be grumpy about it anyway.”

Steve let out a small chuckle and got them back on the road.

Soon enough they were pulling into a large convention center with huge banner declaring it to The Aerospace and Exploration Expo with special guest speaker: Buzz Aldrin.

Dustin had stopped halfway out of the car to stare at the sign in wonder. He turned to Steve slowly as Steve got out of the car and slammed his door.

“Holy shit,” Dustin breathed. “Buzz Aldrin. Do you know who that is?”

Steve rolled his eyes as he walked around the car. “Do I know who one of the two men who landed on the moon is? No.”

Dustin rolled his eyes back at him. “Come on, everyone knows Neil Armstrong, but not everyone knows Buzz Aldrin.”

“Yeah,” Steve said with a huff. “Someone should ask Michael Collins how he feels about that.”

Dustin’s jaw dropped and then he hurried to catch up to Steve. “Holy shit! How did you know who that is?”

Steve just kept walking to the Will Call, not bothering to answer the question. He was old enough to remember watching the moon landing on the TV with his parents. Barely, but he did. It was his earliest memory; sitting on his mom’s lap as Neil Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface. Every kid was fascinated by the whole thing and he was no exception.

“Welcome,” the teller said with that false cheer perfected by every teenage forced to work these types of jobs.

“Yeah, hi,” Steve said, putting on the charm. “I have two VIP tickets to the Expo. Under Harrington, Steve.”

She pulled it up on her computer. “Yes, I see it here. May I see your ID please?”

Steve handed over the ID and within moments, he had his ID and passes in hand. He handed one to Dustin.

“You ready for this?” he asked with the biggest smile on his face.

Dustin grinned back. “Hell yeah!”

They walked through the all the exhibits, stopped and talked to the different sellers, and even geeked out at the NASA booth. They tried space food and liked the ice cream, not so much anything else. But they had fun trying it.

Then it was time for the main event and because Steve had bought VIP tickets they were let in a half hour early so they were able to nab a couple of the best seats in the auditorium. Beside him, Dustin vibrated with excitement.

Then Buzz stepped out on that stage and the audience erupted into cheers. He waved at the crowd with a huge smile on his face.

The talk he gave was electric and exciting, filling both of their heads with new information. Dustin was shocked to learn that the earliest astronauts weren’t scientists, but test pilots. Jockies. Steve learned about the lucky vest the mission control commander had.

By the time they left the convention center both boys were talking a mile a minute about everything they saw. Dustin had even gotten an autograph from Buzz.

“Thanks for doing this for me,” Dustin said as they pulled up to his house. “You didn’t have to. I loved the private concert with Corroded Coffin. Like how many kids can say that they’ve been to one, you know?”

Steve smiled at him. “I know, but I wanted to do something special for you and Mike, too. Mike’s a little harder to find that moment for, you know?”

Dustin pursed his lips as he thought for a moment. “A day with Eddie. Just him and Eddie.”

Steve cocked his head to the side. “What do you mean?”

“Like Mike really looks up to Eddie,” Dustin explained. “Why don’t they hang out for a day? Eddie can show him his guitars, how he writes his songs, taking him to all his favorite places in Hawkins. It’ll be like one of those contests where the person gets to spend the day with the band.”

Steve rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Would Mike want to hang out with the whole band or just Eddie do you think?”

Dustin’s eyes went wide. “Holy shit, dude. The whole band for sure. He would completely flip out.”

Steve grinned. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Dustin gave him a hug and gathered up all of his loot to go inside.

~

“Thanks for agreeing to this,” Steve said, standing really close to Eddie as they waited for Casey to come back with Steve’s car. “You didn’t have to.”

“Nah,” Eddie said with that dimpled grin. “You were right about Dustin and Mike needing to experience something fun on their own just like everyone else did. And this has got to be the easiest one.”

“Chrissy said that the guys are already at the studio waiting for you both,” Steve murmured, “so call her when you get there and she’ll send over food.”

Eddie tucked a loose hair behind Steve’s ear. “Roger that, little Canary. Are you sure you don’t want to come with?”

Steve shook his head. “I think he’s still bitter about me briefly dating his older sister before I realized I was gay. Like I was supposed to figure out that shit before I dated her or whatever. So I would rather this just be the band and him so he can’t say I was in the way or whatever.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Eddie said softly. “But I’m still happy to do this for him, for you.”

Steve looked up at him through his lashes and his breath caught in his throat. Eddie was so close. Steve ran his tongue slowly over his lips to wet them, his mouth suddenly dry.

Then the roar of the Sunbird and its slowing to stop made them aware of their surroundings. Steve was forced to take a step back.

“I’ll see you soon,” he murmured. “When I get back with Mike.”

Eddie pursed his lips to hide the grin that was threatening to break free. “Yep!”

Steve got into his car and Casey leaned into the open window. “I’ll tell you what, Harrington. You ask Eddie out and I’ll ask out Abby. Deal?”

He stuck out his hand.

Steve looked back at the broad smile that had slipped through Eddie’s facade then back at Casey. He shook his hand. “Deal.”

Casey stepped back and tapped the hood of the car to say he was far enough out of the way. Steve pulled out of the parking lot leaving Casey standing across the driveway from Eddie.

Eddie crossed his arms and wagged his eyebrows. “Best get to it, big boy. Abby’s awaiting.”

Casey nodded once and as he walked past Eddie he slammed the ridiculous hat into Eddie’s chest.

“Hold that for me,” he said. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Eddie burst out laughing.

~

Mike was sitting on his porch, his arms crossed over his chest when Steve rolled up to the Wheeler house.

“You do realize that your face is going to freeze that way some day, right?” he said, getting out of the car.

“My mom told me to get out of the house because I was bothering her.”

Steve walked up to him and leaned over so that they were eye to eye. “She wouldn’t tell you what we were doing today, huh?”

Mike nodded.

“Well,” Steve said a smile slowly drawing in on his face, “I’d tell ya, but then I’d hafta kill ya.”

Mike huffed, a small smile fighting its way to his lips. “Yeah, come on. Let’s get this over with.”

Steve burst out laughing. He shook his head and led the way to the car.

“I have to admit,” Mike said as he slid into the passenger seat, “this car is pretty sick, dude.”

“I miss my Bimmer,” Steve said as he pulled away from the curb, “but I can’t deny what an absolute beauty this car is.”

“Why?” Mike asked with a sneer. “They’re both rich people cars, what’s the difference?”

“Difference, Michael,” Steve said sarcastically, “is that I picked out the BMW. She was my first car and I chose her. All the features even down to the color of the seats. But I also realize that everyone in town knows that’s my car. Most people think I’ve left town because it hasn’t been seen in awhile. So I deal with it.”

Mike nodded appreciatively. “I can get that. This is something someone chose for you, while the Bimmer is something you chose for yourself.”

“Right in one.”

They pulled into an abandoned parking lot and Steve got out. When Mike didn’t he tapped on the roof.

“Come on,” he huffed. “Get out. You’re going to want to see this.”

Mike reluctantly got out of the car, just in time to see a sleek, black Jaguar XJS pull into the lot. It slid to a stop in the parking space in front of Steve’s Sunbird.

“Am I being kidnapped?” Mike asked, his eyes wide with worry.

“Only if he doesn’t return you to your mother before your bed time,” Steve said with a giggle and shake of his head.

Then out stepped Eddie Munson in tight leather pants, combat boots, and ripped Megadeath t-shirt under his black leather jacket.

“He’s all yours,” Steve told Eddie. “Karen said not too late, but that he doesn’t have a curfew.”

Mike stared at Eddie and then at Steve, mouth wide open. “What is happening right now?”

“Hey, Mikey!” Eddie said cheerfully. “You see, Steve got to thinkin’ that since you and Dusty didn’t get to have your own experiences like the rest of your friends, so he decided that he would do something special for each of you. Dusty got NASA and Buzz Aldrin, and you get a day with me and the Corroded Coffin boys.”

Mike pinched himself and then pulled out a piece of paper from his back pocket. “Nope. Not dreaming. Holy shit.”

Eddie cocked his head to the side. “What was with the paper? I know about the pinching to see if you’d wake up, but the paper is new.”

“According to Harry Houdini if you can read something clearly, you can’t be dreaming,” Mike explained with a half shrug. “Because in dreams the words are blurry and obscured.”

“Huh,” Eddie said. “Neat.”

“You two have fun!” Steve said with a grin.

Mike’s head whipped around so fast. “You aren’t coming with?”

Steve pressed his lips together and shook his head. “Nope. This is all you and the band. Don’t run them ragged too much. They’re old now.”

“Hey!” Eddie protested. “I’m not even thirty yet, asshole!”

He burst out laughing and then gave him a dorky little finger wave, before slipping back into the Sunbird.

Eddie rubbed his hands together gleefully. “You ready for this Mike Wheeler?”

Mike grinned back. “Hell yeah!”

~

Part 23 Part 24

*The part with Michael Collins and Mike getting kidnapped.

Tag List: CLOSED

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2- @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @themoonagainstmers @cryptid-system @maya-custodios-dionach

3- @goodolefashionedloverboi @val-from-lawrence @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog @irregular-child

4- @bookbinderbitch @bookworm0690 @forgottenkanji @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1

5- @dragonmama76 @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt @useless-nb-bisexual @disrespectedgoatman

6- @counting-dollars-counting-stars @tinyplanet95 @ravenfrog @swimmingbirdrunningrock @lingeringmirth

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9- @little-birch-boy @yearningagain @micheledawn1975 @sadisticaltarts @steddieislife

10- @fearieshadow @kultiras @thesecondfate @tartarusknight @genderless-spoon

[emrikae]

aot cast modern au jobs in my head:

eren: cybersecurity specialist. i feel like erens one of those kids that suck in subjects like lang-lit or fucking geography but have an impressive talent in anything techi. i think growing up eren was a competitive gamer and i imagine him being pretty rich in the sense where doctor daddy grisha and also big bro zeke are always spoiling his brat ass with the latest technology. he gets so good, he initially goes into uni wanting to become a game designer but after a brief fallout with his dad when he dropped out and eventually had his allowance cut (a period where i think eren dips into underground hacking and also modelling?) he falls upon the sexy salary in cybersecurity (and saw how thrilling- and damn easy !for him! - the job is) he changed course. i think eren eventually builds his own successful company and becomes one of those rich folks who say that school aint shit.

mikasa: president of a major sports team. mikasa takes over pretty young (like early 30s) after old uncle kenny was involved in some ‘reiss scandal’. initially mikasa was labelled ‘princess’ (derogatory) by dumb angry hooligans who thought a woman would curse their current standing, jokes on them cus that same season the club broke their 20 year curse by reaching the championships. i also think old pictures of gothkasa gets leaked on the internet but it only brought her more praise. but i actually dont think mikasa stays in this job for very long, shes always wanted a quiet simple form of income anyway so when her baby brother comes of right age and maturity she passes the baton to him and lays back as just a shareholder before shes even 40. i also believe mikasa in another universe wouldve loved to be an archivist.

armin: celebrity marine biologist/activist that went viral online during lockdown. he gets his own fanbase and is termed ‘biologist bae’ cus of his cute looks. a tv producer who fell into his corner pretty much fell in love with him after seeing armin deliver a spiel about endangered dugongs. invites him to a bunch of talk shows and the viewership goes so high (a large portion of it being teenage fangirls who want to ‘save the ocean’ too!) he manages to score his own show where he eventually meets his future wife.

annie: senior tv writer who got with armin after working with him on his show. she usually works on sporty reality shows and competitions even though shes a big time introvert. known for her sharp dont fuck with me work ethic, annie gags at how easily she fell into ‘biologist baes’ charm, hates how shes just like the 14 year old fangirls who try to sneak into their shoots. but anyways, annies the ace at her job been going hard for about 15 years but ultimately decides to retire early after having her second child and really liking how ‘biologist bae’ was making enough dough for the whole family.

sasha: influencer cus shes so pretty and fun. was a design major so all her vids have a ‘aesthetic’. now she prettily promotes lifestyle hacks for all the girlies. she also has a set of vids called “what my chef husband cooked for me today” . i think also further on she ends up being one of those moms who shoots vlogs and reviews with their kids.

jean: jeans a classy guy with artistic talents so i imagine him being a successful automotive designer for a luxurious car company. a mommas boy, he used his first fat pay-check to buy his mom a sleek ride thats a little too fast for someone her age. dudes insta page is what you’d expect from a posh car enthusiast with flashy posts of either him, his car, his mom or all 3.

connie: real estate party man. he really climbed his way up and becomes a man of many stories, friends with everyone and plenty of connections. the old hustle got him familiar with the best locations in the city, and now with his excellent salesmanship dude manages to sell at least 3 huge properties a week. i also feel like connies one of those dudes to finally settle down in his 40s -50s (with someone half his age).

historia: i believe queenbee was made for wedding planning. she has her own company before her first job ever but damn is she good at it. being brought up filthy rich, historia is familiar with the highest quality of things, knows whats on the market that only the small percentage of rich people know and will get clients their dream wedding to a t. moreover, she also loves to play cupid (canon!) and is always up to planning her friends weddings (and baby showers, and birthdays parties, and…)

ymir: i imagine ymir being on the board of directors for a bunch of ngos. she had a tough upbringing, was probably moved around from one home to another and could see how hard life is for anyone working at minimum wage. she grew up to be a little spitfire in school, hadnt taken it seriously until she reached senior year and bonded with a school staff named Ms Ymir Fritz. With the wisdom and kindness she learnt from her old teacher, ymir wanted to pay it forward and decided to make a living helping those in need.

reiner: idk why, but i feel like reiners a softie at heart and i imagine him having a nice cozy candy shop. probably fighting old childhood demons and the parental neglect he faced, his cute little shop comes as part of his healing journey to compensate what he missed out on in his youth. its sweet (but a little heartbreaking) that reiners favourite part about his job is getting to witness and be a part of the joy that emerges between families when they enter his shop.

bertholdt: a nurse just cus i think bertholdt would know how to be gentle with the patients. hes got a soft way of speaking that makes vulnerable people feel safe and comfortable. hes also wildly knowledgeable in flexibility and keeping your muscles in good shape that he conducts morning stretches and sometimes yoga in one of their recreational halls.

[whumpily-ever-after]

High School Frenemy มิตรภาพคราบศัตรู Whump List

Summary: When Siamwit School falls on hard times, the school administrator Paphada decides to merge Udon Phithak campus with the main campus, Thep Burapha. The two campuses have long been at odds with each other, and now they'll be sharing one roof for the next school year. Saint, the head of class M.5/2, doesn't care about school or anyone in it. In middle school, he headed a gang of bullies. Now, he's met with rebellious, temperamental and stubborn Shin. In the past, Saint and Shin were close friends, but something happened between them that put a violent end to their friendship. The friction between the two causes a classroom war and teachers Jan and Sung have to put their differences aside and come together to put an end to the fighting which will require a reconciliation between Saint and Shin.

Genre: Youth, drama

Year: 2024

Country: Thailand

Where to watch: YouTube

Note: This is a remake of the Korean drama School 2013. The lovely @love-me-a-lotta-whump made a list for that drama which you can check out here.

Possible spoilers ahead...

Whumpee: “Saint” Thamnithis Nitiroj played by Sky Wongravee Nateetorn

Episode 1: Chased; takes a beating in place of his father; punched in the face, blood on his lip

Episode 2: Told his true nature is liking to hurt others; punched in the face, grabbed by the collar, threatened to be punched again, shoved back; grabbed by the shirt, manhandled, pushed around, punched in the face, slapped, blood on his lip, grabbed by the shirt, punched in the face, falls to the ground; held in place, punched in the face, kneed in the stomach, blood on his nose; pushed back, threatened, grabbed by the shirt; in a fight

Episode 3: Teary-eyed, takes the blame for something he didn’t do, lets the school principal insult him; takes a beating (mostly fine afterwards); (flashback) uses himself as a shield to protect his friend, kicked in the back repeatedly

Episode 4: In a fight, cut on his cheek

Episode 5: In a fight, threatened with a knife; slapped in the face, emotional pain

Episode 6: Lets others beat him

Episode 7: Pushed against a wall, grabbed by the shirt, punched in the face, worried about his friend; tells his class about how he beat his friend and ruined his life, crying; punched in the face, told if he gives up the most important thing to him, his friend will go back to school; decided to drop out of school, emotional pain; says he’s not giving up school but his friend

Episode 8: Teachers, friends, and family all concerned about him

Episode 9: None

Episode 10: Locked in a room with his classmates; makes a deal to steal a gang leader’s bike for his friend’s safety; shot at, chased; slapped in the face, told to stay away from his friend

Episode 11: Locked on the school roof, punched in the face, emotional, punched in the face, falls into a stack of desks, desks fall on him, unconscious, concern for him

Episode 12: (Flashback) scolded by his friend’s mom, tears, told to never let his friend see him again; (present) willing goes with the gang leader out to get him and his friend; kicked in the chest, falls to the ground, kicked in the head, blood on his head, held in place, punched repeatedly, grabbed by the hair, dropped to the floor, coughing, blood in his mouth, hit with a metal pipe, kicked and stomped on, beaten body left with the trash, concern for him

Episode 13: Wounds tended to, flinching in pain

Episodes 14-15: None

Episode 16: Shot at, chased, cornered, in a fight, threatened with a knife; kicked away from his friend, held in place, punched repeatedly, in a fight, knocked to the floor x2, helped to stand; crying

Whumpee: Shin Naruebet played by Nani Hirunkit Changkham

Episode 1: In a fight, punched multiple times, manhandled, held back by a police officer, arrested; in a fight, chased

Episode 2: Grabbed by the shirt, pulled back from a fight; held in place, punched in the stomach, slapped, in a fight, punched in the face repeatedly

Episode 3: In a fight; (flashback) beaten, holding his arm across his stomach, struggling to stand, friend uses himself as a human shield, groaning in pain, helped to stand

Episode 4: Flashback to getting beaten by his friend; in a fight; ambushed, kicked in the face, falls to the ground, blood on his mouth, kicked repeatedly, grabbed by the shirt, punched in the face; beaten, held in place, unable to hold himself up, bruised and bleeding, grabbed by the chin, beating continues, stands as a shield in front of his friend, kicked in the chest, falls to the floor, concern for him

Episode 5: (Picks up from pervious episode) Stands as a shield in front of his friend, kicked in the chest, falls to the floor, concern for him, refuses to go to the hospital, helped to stand, helped to walk; pain in his leg, concern for him, limping, kicked in the leg, falls to the floor, helped to stand

Episode 6: A teacher calls him a delinquent

Episode 7: School administration actively looking for a reason to expel him; emotional pain; (flashback) beaten by his friend, blood on his face, kicked repeatedly, leg broken, curling around his leg, crying in pain, in the hospital, cast on his leg, abandoned by his friend (the one who hurt him)

Episodes 8-9: None

Episode 10: Locked in a room with his classmates; shot at, chased, hit in the leg with a pipe, groaning in pain, helped to walk, limping; abandoned by his friend again

Episode 11: (Flashback) in the hospital, cast on his leg, watches his friend walk away, lashes out in pain and frustration; (present) locked on the school roof, confronts his friend about their past, causes his friend to be injured, calling for help

Episode 12: Upset his friend took a beating for him, crying

Episode 13: Punched in the face

Episodes 14-15: None

Episode 16: Shot at, chased, kicked in the stomach, falls to the floor, hit on the back with a metal pipe, pipe held across his chest, in a fight, concerned for his friend, kicked in the chest, in a fight, kicked in the head, falls to the floor, grabbed by the shirt, punched repeatedly, in a fight, uses himself as a shield, stabbed in the back, concern for him, passes out; wakes up in the hospital, emotional

Whumpee: Ken Kasidit played by Kay Lertsittichai

Episode 1: In a fight, punched multiple times, manhandled, held back by a police officer, arrested; in a fight

Episode 2: Punched in the face, pushed to the ground, punched in the face, in a fight

Episode 3: Kicked in the chest, falls to the floor, punched in the face, kneed in the stomach; in a fight

Episode 4: In a fight

Episode 5: Grabbed by the back of his neck, scared, coerced into doing a gang leader’s dirty work

Episode 6: Subtly threatened, grabbed by the back of his neck

Episodes 7-9: None

Episode 10: Locked in a room with his classmates

Episode 11: Emotional pain

Episode 12: Grabbed by the back of the neck, threatened

Episode 13: Punched in the stomach, bending over in pain, grabbed by the shirt, held against a wall, slapped in the face x2, hit in the stomach with a wooden baseball bat, slides to the floor, grabbed by the hair, forced to stand, scolded for disobeying orders, punched in the stomach, slides back to the floor, kicked in the head, kicked in the repeatedly; father tells him all his does is cause trouble, scolded, grabbed by the shirt, pushed back, hit in the head, falls to the floor, kicked repeatedly, emotional abuse from his father, curled up on the floor, crying; friends concerned for him, in a fight, pushed to the floor, head hits a vase, dazed, bleeding on the back of his head; concern for him, punched in the face, emotional pain

Episode 14: Told he is useless, pushed back, grabbed by the chin, threatened; emotional pain, crying

Episode 15: Father says a guy like him will never make it far in life, pushed back, friends stand up for him, crying

Episode 16: Ambushed at home, held in place, punched in the face repeatedly, punched in the stomach, bending over in pain, slapped, punched, kidnapped, friends concerned for him; pushed around, punched and kicked, falls to the floor, grabbed by the hair, forced to stand, gun held to his head, hit in the stomach and back with the gun, falls to the floor, curling in on himself, groaning in pain, bruised and bloody, kicked and stomped on; in a fight, kicked in the head, falls to the floor, tries to help his friend, grabbed in a headlock, manhandled, thrown to the floor, kicked and stomped on, helped to stand

[saveyourblood]

Pretty Boy - Ch 16 (Buddie x Reader)

Summary: Buck’s hands trail down to your hands. He takes his in yours. “Do you love him?” “Buck.” “I know you love me,” Buck continues, playing with your fingers. “You know I love you. But I’m asking if you love him.” The one where you’re an advanced paramedic, Buck and Eddie are firefighters, and you think you might be in love with both of them.

Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5 | Ch 6 | Ch 7 | Ch 8 | Ch 9 | Ch 10 | Ch 11 | Ch 12 | Ch 13 | Ch 14 | Ch 15

Word Count: 3.3k Warnings: *Are spoilers, listed at the bottom*

Finding a last-minute flight to Seattle was hard — finding four tickets on said flight was even harder. When you explained the circumstances to the boys, they insisted on joining you. Once Chris heard about it, he wasn’t about to take no for an answer either. He’s never seen snow, and when Eddie mentioned that Seattle probably has snow on the ground right now, his eyes lit up. You couldn’t take that joy away from him.

So, the four of you are on a plane. Chris is asleep in his window seat, his head on Buck’s shoulder. Buck is resting his head on top of Chris’s. His eyes are closed, but you don’t think he’s fully asleep yet since he isn't snoring.

You and Eddie took the aisle seats. He’s in the middle while you’re seated on the end. The flight won’t be long, so you knew you wouldn’t be able to sleep even if you wanted to.

You bob your knee up and down anxiously as you gnaw on your index finger’s nail. Eddie sets a hand on your knee, making it still.

“What are you thinking about?” He asks softly.

You move your hand from your mouth as you look over, forcing a small smile. “Nothing. Everything. I don’t know.”

“When’s the last time you talked to him?”

You consider this. “Eight years? No, nine. It was a few weeks after I turned eighteen.”

“What did you tell him?”

“That I was moving to LA for paramedic school,” you say. “He hasn’t reached out since before yesterday. Well, technically he didn’t even reach out then; it was a doctor who called me. Whatever.”

Eddie squeezes your knee. “What are you gonna say when you see him?”

You thought about that question for the rest of the flight. You thought about it as you walked through the airport, Buck holding your hand and Eddie keeping his arm around your shoulders. You thought about it for the entire car ride, up until Eddie turned onto South King Street.

As Eddie parks the car, your mind goes quiet — so quiet that you can hear a ringing sound. You wonder where the sound is coming from and if everyone else can hear it, too. You wonder if silence doesn’t actually exist; maybe this is what your head sounds like when it’s empty.

The sound of your door opening replaces the ringing.

Buck leans his head down, resting one hand on the car door and the other on the frame. “You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

You step into the night air, and the sudden chill makes you breathe a little deeper. It’s been almost a decade since you spent the winter in Seattle, and it’s as cold as you remember. It’s nice to know that some things never change.

As you walk up the stairs to your childhood home, you think maybe nothing has changed since you were last here. The handrails are still rotting, and the third step still creaks when anyone uses it. When you look to your left, you still see the Vietnamese Buddhist temple painted such bright yellow that it glows, even at night. You put the key in the lock, and you still have to jiggle it back and forth before the door opens.

Of course your father hasn’t changed the locks.

You open the door, flip on the light, and are almost overwhelmed by the sameness. You step onto familiar white kitchen tiles that have been stained creme by dirt and time. You drop your bag onto the foldable table in the center — it isn’t the one you grew up sitting at, but it’s close enough. There are still only two chairs surrounding it; you never needed any more.

“It’s… nice,” Buck eventually says. “Very homey,” Eddie agrees.

You snort out a laugh. “Yeah, something like that.”

The nice thing about South King Street is that it’s a stone-throw away from the Chinatown-International District, which is home to some of the best Chinese restaurants you’ve ever been to. You send the boys to get some takeout, and you tell them it doesn’t matter which one they pick because any restaurant open this late is bound to be good. They come back half an hour later with enough dim sum to feed a small army.

The three of you eat at the table wordlessly. You and Eddie occupy the two chairs while Buck stands, rocking back and forth a little as he eats.

Someone knocks at the door. The boys’ eyes go from the door, then to you. You shrug.

Buck frowns as he sets his plate down, cautiously approaching the door. He opens the sliding peephole, then the door. “Can I help you?”

“Oh, you aren’t… sorry, I thought I saw someone who… Who are you? You don’t live here, do you?”

You’d know that voice anywhere. Your heart starts to dance at the sound. Still, your brain is hesitant to believe it’s really her.

You push away from the table, approaching Buck. Your heart stops dancing and instead marches in painful succession.

She doesn’t look much older. Her hair is longer but still black in color. Her hips jut out a little more, but her frame is still small. Most of her, like all of your surroundings, stayed the same. Her face is still perfectly smooth, and her monolid eyes are as big and full of life as ever.

“Linh?” you breathe out.

“Oh my god, it is you!”

You pull her into one of the tightest hugs of your life.

“I wasn’t sure it was you,” She laughs wetly into your shoulder. “God, you look so different.”

You squeeze her a little tighter. “Yeah, you too.”

The four of you move to the living room, mostly because it has a more appropriate seating arrangement. You and Linh are on the couch while Eddie sits in the armchair. Buck took one of the chairs from the kitchen and placed it next to Eddie’s.

“You know, Buck, when you opened the door, I really thought you might be the owner,” Linh explains with a chuckle. “I thought we might finally be getting new neighbors.”

“So you never moved out?” you ask.

The Lais were your next-door neighbors growing up. Tho and Chi Lai had two children, Nhat and Linh. Nhat is a few years older than you, and Linh is the same age. You attended Leschi Elementary School, then Washington Middle School, and eventually Garfield High School together, often in the same classes. It’s like everywhere you went, Linh followed, and vice versa.

Looking back, it’s kind of incredible the two of you were friends. On the surface, the two of you have nothing in common. You’re an only child, and she isn’t. She has a pair of loving parents, and you have a singular absent one. Her family always ate dinner together, and you were lucky if your dad remembered to cook.

Tho and Chi picked up on your living situation quickly. When you were five, you once braved the cold in two sweatshirts since you no longer had a winter jacket that fit. They talked to Linh about it in Vietnamese, so you had no idea what they were asking; all you knew was that you started spending a lot more time at the Lai house after that.

The Lais weren’t rich by any means: Tho worked whatever blue-collar job he could find, and Chi was a teacher at the elementary school. They also took care of Tho’s father, who was a refugee from the Vietnam War. He lived with them in Seattle from 1975 until he died in the early 2010s when you and Linh were in high school. Still, they made you feel welcomed and loved. Eventually, they became your family.

“No, I never moved out,” Linh confirms. “I got my bachelor’s in Early Childhood Education from the UW. I work at Leschi, actually.”

You smile. “You became a teacher. Just like your mom.”

Linh smiles back as she nods.

“How is she doing, by the way? How are both your parents?”

Linh’s smile falters. “My, uh… my dad died two years ago. He had a stroke.”

“Oh, Linh,” you say sadly, taking her hand, “I’m so sorry.”

You almost say something about wishing she had called. You stop yourself when you remember that you could have called, too.

“You said you thought you were getting new neighbors,” Buck interjects softly.

“Yeah,” Linh nods, wiping her eyes. “I haven’t seen Roy in a few months; I thought he was finally selling the house.”

You swallow, pursing your lips together. Linh squeezes your hand, which makes you look at her.

“That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” Linh asks. “You’re here for him.”

You sigh, pinching the skin between your eyebrows. “He’s been inpatient at Stillwater for the past seven weeks. Last night, they transferred him to the ICU. Liver Failure. I’m visiting tomorrow.”

Linh moves her hand to your back. “I’m sorry.”

You laugh a little. “He’s encephalopathic, but he keeps saying my name, apparently. He asks anyone who enters the room where his daughter is. I’m not even sure how, but they finally got my phone number. He doesn’t have advanced directives, and Washington is a next of kin state, so… here I am.”

“How long?”

Linh doesn’t have to be specific: you know exactly what she’s asking.

“I haven’t talked to the doctors yet, but… months, if that.”

The room goes quiet. You start to hear that ringing sound again. It stops when Linh slaps her hands on her thighs.

“Well, you know what this means,” She says.

You watch Linh walk through the kitchen and out the front door. Buck and Eddie look to you, dumbfounded.

“Will she be back?” Eddie asks, pointing towards the door.

You chuckle. “Oh, she’ll be back.”

Linh returns with four bottles of Sake. They’re the 2 gō size, meaning each one is two servings. She lines up the bottles on the kitchen table.

“I had just enough for everyone to get their own bottle,” Linh says, cracking open the first bottle. “We’re keeping the tradition alive.”

Buck raises his eyebrows. “Tradition?”

You smile, standing up and approaching the island. “When a major life event is about to happen, Linh and I get drunk on Sake. It started when we were 16, and her grandfather took a turn for the worse; we guilted her brother into buying us Sake at the Chinese supermarket. Because we were kids and alcohol naive, we didn’t realize we each drank a two-serving bottle until we were already drunk.”

“We did it again when you were rejected by Tacoma’s paramedic academy,” Linh points out, “and when I got into UW.”

“The last time we did it was before I left for LA,” you tell the boys. You look back at your friend. “I can’t get drunk off Sake tonight.”

“Oh, of course you can,” Linh counters. “Who cares if you show up to the hospital hungover? I mean, it would be a little ironic, considering your father’s condition and all, but…”

“No, I mean I can’t drink anything right now,” you continue.

Linh’s eyes widen. “You’re not…”

“I am.”

“Shut up!”

You laugh.

“Well… Fuck!” She laughs, scooting two bottles towards Eddie and Buck. “I guess we’ll have to pick up the slack tonight, boys.”

It’s weird being the only sober person in this situation.

Everyone is at least a drink and a half in, and it’s definitely showing. The boys can handle their alcohol, so the signs of their intoxication are subtle. Buck always gets super chatty when he’s drunk; he’ll talk about whatever topic springs to his mind. Meanwhile, Eddie gets handsy, so some part of him is touching Buck at all times,.

Buck is sitting on the floor in front of Eddie, who’s still in the chair. He and Linh are in the middle of a lively discussion about Buddhism. Meanwhile, Eddie’s hands aimlessly trace Buck's shoulders up and down.

“So you two are a thing, right?” Linh asks out of nowhere.

That’s how you know Linh is drunk: she has no filter.

Eddie’s hands stop moving, but they don’t retreat. Meanwhile, Buck stares at you.

“Uh, yeah,” Eddie eventually answers after clearing his throat. “We’re together.”

The three of you came up with a deal awhile back — in social settings, if someone asked if any two of you were a couple, the answer would always be ‘yes.’ It didn’t matter if the configuration was you and Buck or you and Eddie or Eddie and Buck. Overall, it’s a good plan. You just never anticipated using it in a setting like this.

“Sweet,” Linh says with a nod. She cocks her head towards you. “Then who’s your baby daddy?”

You choke on your glass of water.

“What?! It’s a fair question!”

Your cough turns into a laugh as you set down your glass of water. “Yeah, it’s fair.”

You look at Buck, then Eddie, then at Linh. It’s not a big deal. It’s not like you’re even friends anymore, not really: she’s a part of your past that’s come to life. The second you leave, she’ll go back to being nothing more than a picture in a frame. It’s sad, but it’s just the way it is. She’s one of the two things keeping you connected to Seattle. The other thing is dying in a hospital bed. You’ve enjoyed seeing her again, but you’ve gone almost a decade without her. When she becomes your only tie to this city, it won’t be enough to pull you back.

So, you should probably just tell her the truth.

“Actually, um, I don’t know,” you say. “It’s one of two people.”

She raises her eyebrows. “How’d you narrow it down?”

You jerk your chin towards the other two people in the room. “It’s one of them.”

Linh looks at them, then at you, her mouth agape. “No shit! LA must’ve rubbed off on you.” She takes another sip of Sake, her face wincing before softening. “Are you happy?”

An involuntary smile crosses your face. “For probably the first time in my life.”

Linh went home around midnight, and the boys passed out somewhere around 2:30 in the morning. The three of you are crammed onto the pull-out sofa; you refused to sleep in your father’s bed, as did both Eddie and Buck. You tried to get some sleep, but between the uncomfortable mattress and your racing thoughts, it was impossible.

You left before everyone woke up. Buck and Eddie were going to come with you, but you thought it would be easier to do this on your own. Well, it won’t be easier , but you thought it would be for the best.

You’re standing outside of the room. The sliding glass door is slightly open, so you can hear some random beeping from inside. You can see your father’s feet at the edge of the bed, covered by a sheet.

You take a deep breath and step inside.

The first thing you notice is the smell. It’s sour and acidic and completely overwhelming. You’re used to offensive smells as a paramedic, but between the change of setting and your pregnancy hormones, it takes everything in you not to gag. Your eyes meet the offender — a fecal containment device hanging on the end of the bed. A literal bag of shit.

How fitting.

Your eyes trail up. He’s tucked under the sheet up until his abdomen, which is so rounded that it almost looks fake. His arms are out, propped up under pillows. You notice how yellow they are; his skin looks like a fucking highlighter.

You finally look at his face. He looks… old. Older than he’s supposed to. His face is the same hue of jaundice as his arms and probably the rest of his body. There’s a massive tube taped into one of his nostrils while a massive nasal cannula sits in both. His eyes are closed, but his chest heaves like he’s struggling to breathe.

“Hey dad,” you say quietly.

He doesn’t respond. He probably doesn’t even realize you’re in the room. Still, you pull up a chair.

“I became a paramedic,” you continue. “I’ve been one for… shit, 5 years now? Oh, and I’m in nursing school. I can take the boards in a year. I’m still not sure what I want to do with it. I always wanted to be a flight nurse, but… my friend was in the ICU last year, and I thought maybe I could do it. Now that I’m back in one, though… I don’t know.”

Your father still doesn’t say anything. He keeps breathing heavily, his head occasionally shaking from side to side. You notice that his hands occasionally flap up and down — asterixis, or ‘liver flap.’ You remember hearing about it in a lecture recently. It’s a sign of liver failure. And, based on his neurological status, you’re guessing it’s pretty advanced.

“You ruined me,” you whisper. “For a long time, you ruined me. I felt like I didn’t know how to be a person. I’m one now, though. I became a person. I became something . I’m someone’s girlfriend, and I’m… going to be someone’s mother. And being a parent scares the shit out of me because I never had a good one. All I know is how to be a daughter. A daughter without parents. I don’t know if I was always a good daughter, but… I’m gonna be one now.”

You hear a knock on the door. A woman in scrubs smiles. “Hi, I’m Amanda, his nurse for the day. I’m guessing you're the daughter?”

You didn’t realize you were crying until you felt a teardrop land on your hand. You reach up, wiping the tracks away. “Yeah, I am.”

Amanda turns around, gesturing for someone. A group of three doctors enters the room. Amanda stands by the glass door.

“Hello, my name is Dr. Baltek,” the oldest of the three extends his hand. I’m the Intensive Care Physician covering your father’s care. These are my residents, Dr. Khan and Dr. Dawson.”

You nod, shaking Dr. Baltek’s hand. You offer a small wave to his residents.

“As I’m sure you’re aware, your father’s condition is worsening,” Dr. Baltek explains. “His medical history makes him ineligible for a liver transplant, and despite the high doses of lactulose he’s receiving daily, his ammonia levels are climbing. Our next option is Liver Dialysis, which involves-”

“We’re not doing that,” you interrupt.

Dr. Baltek blinks. “Ma’am, you understand that if we don’t proceed with this-”

“He’ll die,” you say you bluntly. “Yeah, I know. My father’s been dying ever since my mom did. He just found a slower, more painful way to do it, I guess.”

“...So you are no longer interested in restorative care?”

You can’t help but snort. “There’s no recovering from this. He’s gonna die, and he might as well do it as comfortably as he can. So… no chest compressions, no intubation, no tube feeds… I don’t want any of it, because he wouldn’t want any of it.”

You sign the DNR/DNI paperwork. In a way, it feels like you’re signing your father’s death warrant. That should probably unsettle you more than it does.

The social worker gives you a sad look before leaving the room. You look back at your father, who has yet to acknowledge your presence. Mentally, he’s so far gone he probably doesn’t even know who he is.

You take his hand. Until now, you can’t remember the last time you touched him. You didn’t hug him goodbye when you left for LA; you just packed your bags and disappeared.

“Goodbye, dad.”

You get back to the house a little after 10 AM. Eddie and Buck are in the kitchen. Eddie’s leaning against the counter, and Buck, pacing, stalls the second he lays eyes on you.

You smile softly as your eyes water. “Let’s go home.”

~~~

Trigger warnings: implied alcoholism, semi-graphic description of liver failure, talks of death/withdrawing care

[icaruspendragon]

I got tagged in one of those "get to know me" tag games back in 2021 and I wanna see how 2024 me's answers compare!

2021:

1. Nickname: berk

2. Zodiac: Gemini

3. Height: 5’4

4. hogwarts house: it’s been years since I last took the test, but Gryffindor

5. Last thing I googled: yellow wallpaper. The short story haha.

6. Song stuck in my head: movement by hozier

7. Number of followers: 1021

8. Amount of sleep: 4ish hours recently

9. Lucky number: I don’t think I have one but my favorite is 27

10. Dream job: something where I get to help people

11. Wearing: mom jeans, black turtleneck, gray quater zip for the university of Mississippi chapter of delta gamma. Thrift store finds, ya know?

12. Favorite author: Kurt Vonnegut

13. Favorite instrument: cello

14. Aesthetic: someone once told me that I looked like “every kind of lesbian.” So whatever that means.

15. Favorite song: uhh, currently it’s probably “would that i” by hozier

16. Favorite animal noise: kitty cat purrs

17. Random: today at work some lady told me that everytime she comes in she looks for me because I make the best drinks. I haven’t stopped smiling bc of that :’)

2024:

1. Nickname: berk, professor alpha

2. Zodiac: gemini

3. Height: 5’4

4. hogwarts house: once again it's been years since i last took it, but my result that time was slytherin

5. Last thing I googled: "how does a pipe bomb work? I'm not gonna make one I'm just curious /gen"

6. Song stuck in my head: nothing at the moment, but according to receiptify my top ten most listened to songs for November so far are:

man or muppet - jason segel, walter

blue sky & the painter - bastille

marie & polonium - bastille

intros & narrators - bastille

eve & paradise lost - bastille

red wine & wilde - bastille

seasons & narcissus - bastille

fratelli d'italia - this is the italian national anthem lmao

the rattlin bog - seamus kennedy

nobody's soldier - hozier

7. Number of followers: 14,841

8. Amount of sleep: not enough

9. Lucky number: my original answer still stands. big fan of 27 still, too.

10. Dream job: I don't dream of being a laborer, but I still very much want to something that helps people.

11. Wearing: biker shorts and a 2024 gran premio dell'emilia romagna crewneck. welcome back princess diana

12. Favorite author: opal_bullets of ao3 fame

13. Favorite instrument: banjo

14. Aesthetic: on a spectrum that goes from academic queer to refined-button-up bisexual

15. Favorite song: it changes somewhat often. my all time favorite is icarus by bastille but my current is the don reno version of feudin' banjos

16. Favorite animal noise: when my cat groans like she's a blue-collar dad whose long day at work and just wants to decompress in his recliner

17. Random: I was very brave and also very sexy and I decided to go back to school after dropping out at the end of my senior years four years ago and I registered for classes this week and I am not going to let myself self sabotage and quit before I've even started because of anxiety-driven-fear-of-the-unkown-control-issues because it's okay to be scared. you just can't let that stop you and I'm done letting it stop me !!!

[mrinafria]

The person who saved my life, and the person who made me want to live again, were all you.

Writing this to echo what @thedeathdeelers said in her post. I'm a Seon Jae softie through and through, and yet, when anyone questions Im Sol's choices or calls her names, I want to flip a table pretty much because have you seen the effects her choices have had on people?

Because of Im Sol's choices her mom doesn't have a burn injury on her hand.

Because of Im Sol's choices their house didn't completely burn down.

Because of Im Sol's choices Hyun Joo finally has the best of both worlds, with no regrets about letting go of something for the other. Her brother who was struggling with no motivation or luck whatsoever is definitely better off now.

Because of Im Sol's choices we even have a Tae Sung in the story, otherwise all we knew at the beginning, in episode 1, was he was some guy who dropped out of school after getting into a fight over something. Not the best first introduction to a character (who goes on to become the best second ML ever). I am the most proud about Tae Sung's transformation, because you can see that even in high school, underneath the 'bad boy' facade, he craved some genuine care and attention and guidance, which Im Sol the haelmoni, the yeppo noona provided.

Im Sol's choices allowed Seon Jae in Alt 2023 to live guilt-free for 14 years (where they confess), instead of him suffering that mental anguish and longing for 15 years out of guilt which the OG Seon Jae had to go through. And we all know what my feelings are about that version of him.

Because of Im Sol's choices, Sonagi exists (/-ed). Because if the 19yo Im Sol had not held the umbrella over him, giving him that dazzling smile of hers that is sunburst and blinding and contagious, capable of stirring storms within the heart, our boy would not be smitten and a loser and a goner for life (well, lives). And now we all know what that means when she chooses not to do that.

If Im Sol's choices have made anyone's life harder, it's Im Sol herself. She carries around the memories of THREE++ timelines, with the love of her life dying/almost dying in EVERY one of them. She goes through life as if she really didn't live through all that trauma that is enough to drive someone insane. She knows her Seon Jae is gone, for good, and all she has are memories that don't even exist in this timeline, memories that not even a single person can corroborate. You know how utterly helpless and hopeless that sounds like? She has a person in this timeline that resembles her Seon Jae, but she has to constantly remind herself he is not her person, her Seon-Jae, he better not be if she wants to see him alive. Going around in the city and seeing his posters/ads with his face on it, or stumbling onto him and seeing him staring at her with no recognition whatsoever? It's not easy. Becoming a complete stranger to someone who was once your everything, who could've been your everything. Not easy.

And she decides to carry on with life still because deep down she knows that's what Seon Jae would want, that's what Seon Jae had taught her: to live for the people who are thankful to have her around, to live to see another day, rain or shine. She loves life, lives life, as a token of gratitude to Seon Jae. She lives because when she says You saved my life, and you made me live to him, those are not just words she is casually throwing around. She is thankful that he made her find reasons to live one more day, and she is going to pay him back by living a worthwhile life. Because Seon Jae truly wants/ed that. He literally died wanting that, putting her life before him, because he wanted her to live, and by living, I mean not just breathing and spending the remainder of her life with survivor's guilt. Going back to this epic confession scene, he says all that because he is afraid of how Im Sol would go on with her life if he's no more. Here, he wants her to know that she doesn't need to blame herself, or suffer, because it is his choice to save her, and it'll all be worth it to him if she gets to live the best life she possibly can.

Just like Seon Jae in any timeline never stopped living or appreciating the good things in life despite longing for Im Sol for more than a decade, she will live and keep her love for him alive through herself. Even if she comes back home at the end of the day to cry in secret, or breaks down in tears in public places.

If Im Sol didn't make the choices she did, we won't have a Seon Jae to begin with.

[explosionkatsu]

“Age doesn’t matter” 7

Dad!Bakugo x F!Babysitter!Teacher!Reader

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

The next day arrived and Katsuki behaved toward Y/n as if nothing occurred in her apartment.

After what he witnessed yesterday, Katsuki decided to entrust Y/n. He decided to rely on her concerning Kazui. He wouldn't acknowledge it of course but she's a huge benefit to him. The only thing he should do is to make Y/n officially Kazui's babysitter. He didn't mind her tutoring him as well. But he's confident Kazui didn't need tutoring knowing how intelligent his son is.

Y/n on the other hand was feeling frightened when she hasn't seen Katsuki drop Kazui. He probably took him away from her. But when she caught the same car Katsuki used, her heart pounded happily.

"Ms. Y/n! Ms. Y/n!"

Y/n beamed and rushed to Kazui providing him with a tight embrace. She thought she won't be able to see him again.

"Too tight, dumbass."

She heard Katsuki say.

She looked up at him happily causing Katsuki to be surprised. He has never seen that look from her before so it took him off guard but maintained his composure.

"Thank you." Y/n mouthed wiping a small tear from her eyes.

"Ms/ Y/n? Are you okay?" Kazui asked confusedly once Y/n let him go.

"I am, sweetie." Y/n smiled softly at him. "Now go inside, you want to have your first late attendance, right? It'll ruin your record."

Kazui looked at her terrified. "Nooo!!" He yelled dashing towards the school entry.

Both adults watched him make his way inside without stumbling or tripping.

When Kazui faded from their view, Y/n turn in Katsuki's direction.

Katsuki on the other hand was bewildered. Why wasn't he leaving? Was he waiting for Y/n to say something to him?

"Thank you for bringing him today, Katsuki," Y/n said softly as she shift her gaze to her feet.

"The hell are you saying? It's his school. Fuck off." Katsuki reacted looking away.

Y/n chuckled before responding, "W-well, after what occurred yesterday. I-

"What?" Katsuki questioned shifting his gaze towards her. "What happened yesterday was my fault. I should've known your side before jumping to conclusions." Katsuki confessed. What the hell was happening to him?

Y/n just smiled. "W-well then. If you're going to pick him up. You know where to go."

"Tch. You don't have to tell me!"

And with that, Katsuki left the smiling Y/n behind.

They both didn't notice the camera concealing from the trees around the school.

..

The night began to fall bringing Y/n’s shift to an end.

Like how she usually does, she would pack up the things she needed to do at home with Kazui’s belongings as well and flee the school before the sky dimmed.

It was a normal day and nothing interesting happened. And boy she was glad she’ll get her work ID anytime now since she’s a new employee and all.

Well like I said before, she was a babysitter, right?

Nonetheless, as they both reached her apartment, Kazui zoomed in instantly to turn the tv on while Y/n just put his stuff in her bedroom, along with hers.

When she came back dressed in comfortable clothes, she watches Kazui's eyes fixed on the tv. What was so interesting?

Out of curiosity, you take a glimpse at what he was watching.

There was his papa being interviewed. All bruised up. Catching this caused your eyes to widen.

Katsuki will pick Kazui soon, so that means he’ll be here at any moment now.

So what did you do? You headed to the bathroom and collected your aid kit.

Well, why do you need this when your quirk is healing?

Lemme tell you.

Y/n’s quirk is like any ordinary healing quirk. Broken bone? No problem. Destroyed muscle tissue? You got it. But the only drawback in her quirk is that whatever injury she heals, she’ll be the one suffering. If her body doesn't seize the pain, wounds, and scratches would appear everywhere on her body.

As much as possible, she tried and use it less due to the actuality that she knows it’ll come in handy. Just like today.

As soon as Katsuki messages her he’ll come over, she’s unpacking the contents from her kit.

She waited for him to come while preparing dinner and just to be sure, she prepared a meal good for 3 people because she kinda felt like he’ll be starving.

Then she heard a knock. Almost immediately, she patted her hands on the apron she was wearing and scurried to the front door. She even saw Kazui from her peripheral vision getting up from being seated comfortably and peering from the sofa, displaying only his eyes gazing curiously at the entrance.

When you unlock the door, reveals a Katsuki being held by a nervously grinning Eijiro.

“Hey.” Eijiro greeted. “Bakubro here said I should bring him here. Sorry about this though.”

“Uncle Kiri!” Kazui beamed, running towards him and giving him a big from his legs.

“Hey, there kiddo. I didn't know you’d be here.” Eijiro smiled.

“Red riot!” You exclaimed covering your mouth.

“Kirishima is fine. Hehe.” Eijiro said. “So uh, may we can in?”

“Oh my, please do!” You stepped aside letting Eijiro get in with Katsuki, almost dragging him to the sofa.

“Uncle, what happened to Papa?” Kazui instantly sat beside his unconscious father.

“Don’t worry kiddo. He’s just resting.” Eijirou assured before turning his gaze to you. “Do you have any med kit we can use?”

Y/n just smiled. Before she moves a chair near them, she first switched the fire from her stove and went back to them holding a chair.

“Let me help-

“No, please. You are injured as well. Just rest, okay?” Y/n smiled and place the chair in front of them and then went back to the kitchen to grab the med kit from the counter.

Once she got everything, Eijiro was about to thank her for bringing the kit they both needed, but Y/n halted him causing Red Riot to look at her confused.

“I have a healing quirk.” Y/n smiled softly at Eijiro.

“Really!?” Eijiro smiled feeling a bit better.

You nodded in response. “May I tend him first, Red Riot?”

“Please. Just Kirishima.” Eijiro sweatdropped making him scratch the back of his head.

“O-oh! Apology! Kirishima.” You said a little embarrassed.

Eijiro grinned saying it's not to worry about. He watches how Y/n’s demeanor turned serious.

He gazes at her intently seeing her closing her eyes as if focusing on her surrounding. Minutes now, Eijiro saw Y/n take a deep breath before slowly opening her eyes revealing a bright blue color.

Kazui, seeing this hid behind his father’s limp arm, as if scared.

Y/n saw this. She gave Kazui a closed eye smile. “Don’t be afraid sweetie. This is still me.”

Her focus went back to Katsuki. She held his hand gently and a small circle of light came out of her hand and visibly ran under Katsuki’s skin.

Eijiro and Kazui watched in amazement.

Once the light found where Katsuki was wounded, it slowly disappears.

Y/n though closed her eyes, slightly wincing.

The same scenario happened, the comforting light passing through Katsuki’s body, slowly healing him.

The scrapes, wounds, and bruises had been lost to sight from Katsuki’s skin. No scars or marks were left.

Eijiro’s eyes were wide. “That was. Awesome!”

Y/n chuckled at his childish reaction.

“You’re so cool- uh. What’s your name?”

“(First Name) (Last Name)” You smiled at him. “You can call me Y/n.”

“You’re so cool, Y/n!” Eijiro beamed at her.

“Thank you, Red- Kirishima.” You chuckled. “May I hold your hand?”

Eijiro blinked but nodded right away. He slightly reached his hand out to Y/n who held it.

She’s so gentle. What Eijiro thought. He watches her do what she did to Katsuki, only this time, it's his turn.

The light coming from her was comforting, almost like it was lulling him to sleep. He can even feel the pain from his injuries vanishes.

Minutes passed after Y/n finished healing both heroes.

Eijiro excitedly stood up and stretched. “Wow. Not even the Medic from our agency can do this. Thank you so much, Y/n! It really helps! If you need anything, you can just message me!” Eijiro said showing Y/n the result of her quirk. Although, his eyes turn to worry when he saw Y/n rubbing her arms as if wincing. “Are you okay?” he asked worriedly and slowly approach her.

Y/n’s iris went back to its original form. She gave Eijiro a strained smile before responding. “Don’t worry. It's just the drawbacks of using my quirk.” You assured.

“Ms. Y/n! You have bruises!” Kazui got up beside his father who was stirring slightly as if waking up and rushes to his teacher’s side.

“What do you mean?” Eijiro asked worriedly, sitting back to where he was seated before.

Y/n was hesitant at first. But she knows sooner or later, they’ll know. So it's best if she just informs them. “Well, every time I use my quirk on someone, the pain taken out from them will be transferred to me. If my body couldn't deal with the pain, bruises would usually emerge,” she said smiling at Eijiro before showing the big purple bruise on her arm.

Eijiro’s eyes once again widen. “W-what!? Why would you use it on us t-then?!”

“Because you’re heroes,” Y/n said making Eijiro silent. “People need heroes. So you should be at your best.”

“The fuck is going on.”

“Papa!”

Y/n and Eijiro stopped conversing once they heard the familiar voice and shift both their faces to him.

Kazui tackled his father who was slowly sitting up. “Euf.”

“Papa! I’m glad you’re awake!” Kazui said embracing his father.

Katsuki let the sofa take all of his body weight. He raised a hand and placed it on Kazui’s head, patting it. “Tch. As if something like that could kill me.”

Y/n turns her gaze back to Eijiro looking at him worried. “Please don't tell him.” You mumbled.

Eijiro blinked. Why wouldn't you want Katsuki to know this?

Eijiro’s shoulder suddenly slumped making him sigh quietly. He then looked back at Y/n and just smiled before nodding his head.

..

Heroes' job was the hardest. That's what most all people would say. They would even sacrifice their lives just to maintain peace.

For Y/n, being a hero was the most common dream every student she has. She would watch them play, even argue because they don't want to play be the villain. She would only giggle every time one of her students ended up going to her just because they don't want the role their playmates assigned them.

But sometimes, Y/n would question herself.

Was it worth it?

Was it worth it seeing the people smile once they knew they were finally safe?

Was it worth it seeing the people rely on you for peace?

Was it even worth it?

No, she's not a villain. But sometimes these questions would cross her mind. Why now though?

Because of the scene in front of her.

Bakugo resting on the sofa watching Kirishima and Kazui interact. She would see Kirishima and Kazui laugh while Bakugo would smirk. Even hide a smile.

The scene in front of her was heart melting. Like normal family time.

..

"Now for our latest news. It seems that our no. 2 was now involved in a romantic relationship."

This statement made Katsuki and Kirishima flinched causing their attention to shift to the news.

"What?" Katsuki growled.

"Around 7 am this morning, Dynamight was found with a lady near the kindergarten school."

"It is said that Dynamight has been acting rather close to this kindergarten teacher."

"Based on the images we gathered. It shows Dynamight in his usual work outfit and the teacher having a conversation."

"Don't you think we're looking too deep into this, partner?"

"Well, they do seem like just having a normal conversation me." The newscaster laughed.

Pissed off, Katsuki flipped through the channel while glaring at the tv.

Eijiro was quiet though. He knows not to bother Katsuki when pissed. But the news surprised him causing him to divert his attention to his friend.

The media does this to spread false humor which Katsuki hated the most. Why can't they just mind their own business?

Although, his gaze shifted to Y/n who was taking her time preparing dinner for them.

Wait.

Since when did he let her prepare their meal?

And the fuck happened to his wounds?