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beewolfwrites · 4 years ago

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And When I am Formulated, Sprawling on a Pin - Chapter Thirteen: By a Thread

I know how much some of you love the original games, so I hope you enjoyed this one too :)

If you’re new here, hello - this is a Chishiya x OC/reader fic. You can find the full fanfic, including this chapter on AO3 here.

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Like always, the hotel lobby was crammed with people. I kept my head low as I moved quietly through the crowds, hoping to avoid the gaze of the militants dotted around. The last thing I wanted was to draw the attention of Niragi and his troupe. When I finally took my slip of paper, I went to stand by a corner before opening it.

Group four.

‘Looks like we’re together.’ An arm wrapped around my shoulder and Kuina appeared beside me. ‘It must be luck.’

‘I don’t know about that,’ I said. ‘We could end up with a Hearts game.’ Unconsciously, my eyes roamed the lobby for any sign of white.

‘Yeah, we could. But there’s only a one in four chance of that.’ She leaned in close, and I could practically hear the grin in her voice. ‘Speaking of hearts, he’s not in our group.’

I tensed, causing Kuina to giggle. She must’ve noticed me looking for him, but she’d gotten the wrong idea completely.

‘It’s not what you think,’ I told her, embarrassed. ‘He left some things in my room, kind of like a peace offering. I just wanted to thank him… and maybe apologise for being a brat and refusing to speak to him.’

I hid beneath my hood as Kuina began to slowly steer me through the crowded room. There were several of Niragi’s thugs standing around in their groups, but I hadn’t seen Niragi himself yet.

‘You can thank him after we win our game,’ Kuina said as we walked outside. Then in a low mutter, she added, ‘you werebeing a brat though.’

‘Hey, that’s not fair,’ I laughed. ‘He was in the wrong too, you know.’

Although I held onto moments like this, there was no covering up the anxiety I felt deep inside. It was an unfamiliar worry, one that had appeared only recently, having crept up on me when I was least expecting it. And Chishiya was at its core. I was wavering between wishing he were in our group, and the relief that he wasn’t. I was glad that he was somewhere else, just in case we actually did run into a Hearts game. But at the same time, I wanted him by my side just to know that he was okay, that he was alive. And the uncertainty would drive me mad.

But overlying all of this, I was terrified of the fact that I felt this way at all.

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There were only five of us in our group, so the car ride was more comfortable this time. Behind the wheel was an intense woman in her thirties who kept chewing at her lip. In stark contrast, a young woman with long hair tied in a pale pink scrunchie was sitting in the front passenger seat. She was biting her nails nervously, the clipped sound overwhelming in the quiet car. The final member of our group was a teenage boy. He seemed calm as he stared out the window, but the way he kept playing with the hem of his t-shirt betrayed his fear.

Kuina and I didn’t talk much, but there was comfort in our quietness. It was never said aloud, but we were both worried about what lay ahead. Even though I trusted in Kuina’s strength, and she probably trusted in my intelligence, there were some games designed to ensure only one person survived.

The car took us further into the city’s outskirts, and I began to wonder whether our driver actually knew where she was going. A glance into the front revealed that she had a piece of paper with directions resting on the dashboard.

Eventually, the car pulled up outside a set of gateposts leading into to a suburban park. I mentally groaned at the sight.

Not another park.

Unlike Shinjuku Gyoen, this was smaller, with trees lining the edges and flat fields designed for football games. As I got out of the car, I could see the usual white sign pasted to a brick gatepost.

GAME – こちらです.

I spared a glance at Kuina, but her eyes were set ahead, and her jaw was tight with determination.

I wish I had her confidence.

There was no bleep as the five of us walked through the gateposts. That could only mean the park itself wasn’t the game arena.

But it soon became clear what was.

In the centre of the fields, a large circus tent – a big top – glowed red from within like a giant pinstripe cloud. Spotlights illuminated the space outside, staining the grass with splotches of primary colours. But there was something jarring about this circus, something subtly off. There was no music. There was total, deadening silence as we approached the tent entrance.

‘Do you think this is it?’ the woman with the pink scrunchie asked, biting her fingernail.

Our driver scoffed, pursing her lips. ‘What else would it be?’ Then she headed inside, followed by Pink Scrunchie and the teenage boy.

Kuina smiled reassuringly at me. ‘Let’s go.’

With a nod, I ducked into the tent, Kuina following close behind.

Inside, it was immense. The entrance led out onto a walkway between tall rows upon rows of empty seats. The tent ceiling stretched high above us like a shining red and white toothpaste sky. In the middle, on either side of the circus ring were two tall platforms, the space in the middle blocked from view by a strong steel fence.

Kuina and I found the others stood at the bottom of one of the tall platforms, where a pile of phones was set out on a white table. We both took a phone and held it to our faces.

‘FACE REGISTRATION IN PROCESS.

PLEASE WAIT FOR THE GAME TO COMMENCE.’

Now that I was at the base of the first platform, it seemed insanely tall. And if the rope ladder attached to the side was any indicator, we were going to be expected to climb to the top.

The teenage boy was looking anxiously at the steel fence obscuring the middle of the circus ring. ‘What do you think’s in there?’

Probably acid, or something equally deadly.

Our driver dismissed it with a shrug. ‘Guess we’ll just have to find out.’

‘REGISTRATION CLOSED. THE GAME WILL NOW COMMENCE.’

As always, I listened closely. I could only hope it wasn’t a Spades game. My arm was still wrapped in bandages, and while it was certainly healing well, I didn’t want to set it back yet again.

‘GAME – TIGHTROPE

DIFFICULTY – FOUR OF CLUBS

TIME LIMIT – 20 MINUTES.’

A tightrope?

I craned my neck, squinting up at the space above. Sure enough, a metal wire glinted, taut between the two platforms. It was so thin that I hadn’t even noticed it until now.

‘RULES –

PLAYERS MUST CROSS THE TIGHTROPE AND REACH THE OTHER SIDE.

ONCE ON THE PLATFORM, PLAYERS CANNOT LEAVE IT WITHOUT CROSSING THE TIGHTROPE.

THE GAME WILL COMMENCE IN TWO MINUTES.’

Clutching the phone, I felt some relief. It was a Clubs game, the best out of the lot. It meant there was likely a chance we could all survive.

‘So, what do we do?’ Pink Scrunchie asked, eying the rope ladder leading to the top. ‘Do we climb up?’

The driver huffed. ‘Do whatever you want—’

‘No,’ I interjected. The timing… it was just like the Tag game. ‘Not just yet. There’s a reason we’ve been given two minutes before the game starts. There must be something around here to help us cross it.’

Everyone looked at me, confused, before I realised I’d spoken in English. Luckily, Kuina came to my aid and translated as best she could.

The driver raised a brow. ‘And why would they bother doing that? The game-makers don’t exactly want to help us.’

I thought back to the Eight of Hearts, the teenage girl, the businessman’s body, his vest glowing yellow. ‘Because there’s always a solution, otherwise it’s not a game.’

Kuina adjusted her quit-smoking aide and nodded at me. Leaving the others at the base of the platform, we both jogged around the tent, checking between the seats and behind curtains to find anything that might help us. If this was a circus, that meant there had to be equipment. At first, it seemed like we were the only ones searching, until the teenage boy called out from the backstage area.

‘Hey, there’s some stuff over here!’

Running over, we ducked beneath some curtains into a backstage area before we found the boy, the driver and Pink Scrunchie all stood looking at a large storage unit filled with circus tools. Some of it, like the tricycles and spinning plates, was useless to us, but there had to be something in here.

‘GAME START.’

‘The hell?’ Kuina grumbled. ‘How has it already been two minutes?’

I began scrabbling through the pile, brushing aside a set of juggling clubs. ‘皆んな、何かを取る.’ Everyone, take something.

Truth be told, there wasn’t much that was useful, and some of it couldn’t be carried up a rope ladder. But in the end, I chose a set of vibrant purple aerial silks. Beside me, Kuina was holding a bungee cord, the teenage boy had a large hoop, Pink Scrunchie had taken a diabolo, and the driver was gripping a long pole.

‘Let’s go,’ she said, leading us back to the performance hall and the ring.

One by one, we each climbed the rope ladder leading up to the top of the platform. I put my phone between my teeth and draped the aerial silks over my shoulder before following Kuina up to the top, and once I finally clambered over the edge and stood up, the ladder dropped away.

Now, it was just us and the tightrope.

‘Guys…’

It was the teenage boy. He was peering over the edge into the center of ring below, the space obscured by the fence. I took a step forward and looked down. It was a pit, the edges raised before dipping again. It was brimming with murky brown-green water, like a neglected algal pond, except it was much, much more than that. Raised brown bumps poked through the surface like tiny islands, occasionally sliding and shifting as ripples tore through our reflections.

Crocodiles.

‘15 MINUTES REMAINING.’

‘There’s no time to waste standing around,’ the driver said. She pointed at Pink Scrunchie. ‘You were first up here, so you should go first.’

Pink Scrunchie flinched, her fingers tightening around the diabolo. I felt myself growing more and more irritated with the driver. From the moment we arrived she had been completely unhelpful, trying to boss everyone around when she had no idea what she was doing. It was really starting to tick me off, and from the looks of it, I wasn’t the only one. I opened my mouth to object, but Kuina beat me to it.

‘Oi! You don’t have any right to decide who goes first,’ she snapped. ‘If anyone goes first it should be you.’

Although meant well, it wasn’t a good idea to pick a fight now.

Really not helpful, Kuina.

‘Look,’ I began, but Pink Scrunchie cut me off.

‘It’s okay,’ she said nervously. ‘I’ll go first. I’ll do it.’

I wanted to tell her that she didn’t have to, but for some reason I couldn’t. One of us would have to go eventually anyway. Guilt stirred within me as she approached the edge of the platform, and even though I would never admit it, I was glad that I didn’t have to go first.

She crouched down and wrapped the strings around the diabolo, pulling it firmly so that the hourglass shape remained slotted around the wire as she pulled on the strings. I heard her take a deep breath as she put one foot on the tightrope.

The crocodiles stirred below.

Pulling the strings tight, she stepped fully onto the wire. Her body swayed, and she yanked harder on the diabolo, using its shape and the tension of the strings to balance herself.

As I watched, it became obvious that it wasn’t going to work. The diabolo couldn’t move unless she walked backwards and pulled it. But it was too late, it was much too late because when she took another step, the diabolo slipped.

As did her balance.

There was a shriek and a zip of metal as her body teetered off the edge. She hit the water with a loud clap, and the tent revibrated with her screams as the crocodiles sprung, slithering over each other until the screams stopped.

I closed my eyes, only to see the bodies of the two men from the Rummy game… the old woman crying as the collar ticked down… the businessman’s starched white collar. I opened them again.

‘That was your fault.’ The teenage boy was visibly scared, his hands shaking. However, his eyes were filled with pure anger and they were focused purely on the driver.

‘Maybe,’ the driver said. ‘But one of us had to go first.’

Kuina rounded up on her. ‘One of us has to go next, too, and it’s going to be you.’

‘Don’t,’ I muttered to Kuina. ‘そんな価値はない.’ It’s not worth it.

She looked at me with sadness and fury. ‘Why not? She practically killed that girl.’

I couldn’t deny this, and part of me did want the driver to go next just so she could experience the same thing that she had put the other girl through. But arguing like this would only get us all killed.

‘TEN MINUTES REMAINING.’

‘Actually, you know what,’ the driver said, ‘I’m not going to waste my time arguing with you. I will go next.’

The three of us stood back as the driver took off her shoes and stood up straight. She turned the pole horizontally and adjusted it between her hands until the weight was evenly distributed on both sides.

A balancing pole.

I almost wished I had thought of it, but then again, I didn’t trust my balance. Not with my life.

The driver stepped out onto the tightrope. She moved steadily, taking time to feel and test the wire beneath her feet. To my surprise, she was doing well, and she was now nearing the middle of the wire – the part where it was just ever so slightly more flexible. For a split second, I was rooting for her. I wanted her to succeed so we could all try it.

Then she took another step, and perhaps the rotation of her foot was slightly off, or maybe she hadn’t taken into account the flexibility in the middle.

Either way, the result was the same. Her body tilted, and the driver was whipped away, plunging into the pit below.

There was a rush of water and hisses as the crocodiles feasted.

I gulped, unable to bring myself to look down. ‘Kuina, what do we do?’

Her jaw clenched around the quit-smoking aide. ‘I’m not sure. Give me a minute.’

‘I’m not sure we have one,’ the teenage boy said, holding out his phone.

Only seven minutes left.

I glanced between the apparatus that we had left. A hoop… aerial silks… and a bungee cord.

Think, think, think…

My mind ran back over the rules. There might have been a clue somewhere in the wording. We had to cross the tightrope, and we were allowed equipment – that meant… it meant….

‘We don’t have to walk across it,’ I said.

Kuina blinked. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean we don’t have to walk across it. The rules just said we had to cross it. We could slide instead. If we tie ourselves to the wire for security, we could slide to the other side. Or maybe we could even crawl upside down, if that makes sense?’

Kuina mulled this over. ‘I get you. There’s a name for that, it’s called a monkey crawl.’

I stared at our collective equipment, before bending down over the edge to test the tension of the wire. It was thin, but with its metal casing, it was strong enough to hold us up. I gestured bungee cord. ‘You could tie yourself to it with that. I’ve got my silks.’

The teenage boy let out a sob. ‘I’m sorry, I’ve only got a hoop. I’m an idiot, I didn’t think.’

Kuina put a hand on his shoulder. ‘Don’t cry,’ she said. ‘Here, you can use the bungee cord.’ Turning to me, she nodded at the silks in my hand. ‘Can you rip that in half?’

‘Of course.’ I got to work, using my teeth and hands to tear at the elasticated silks until the fabric ripped in two. ‘Who’s going first?’

Kuina stepped forward and took the quit-smoking aid out of her mouth, throwing it away. ‘I’ll do it.’

I gave her the split piece of silk. She placed her phone between her teeth and got to the floor, dangling her legs off the edge of the platform. I wanted to tell her to be careful, but hesitated. A distraction could cost her life.

Gently easing herself down, she steadied herself with one hand as she leaned forward. Then with the other, she slid the silk around her torso and tied it in a messy knot. It was loose enough that she could still move freely, but if she let go, it would hold her weight long enough for her to grab the wire again.

She swung her body around until she was hanging upside down, suspended by her ankles and hands. And with a wink in my direction, she began crawling across the wire.

She was fast. Faster than I’d ever be. But it worked, and before I knew it, she had reached the other side. I watched as she untied herself and climbed onto the other platform.

‘FIVE MINUTES REMAINING.’

I looked at the teenage boy in silent question.

‘You go first,’ he said. ‘I’m still a little nervous.’

I nodded, trying to smile reassuringly. ‘Okay.’

Following Kuina’s lead, I placed my phone in my mouth and slid onto the wire, using one hand to tie a knot around the wire and my torso. Adrenaline shot through me as I swung upside down. And wrapping my fingers and ankles around the wire, I crawled.

Just breathe and focus on the ceiling.

When the wire became slightly lax beneath my fingers, I knew that I was halfway there. Below me, I heard a splash and a hiss. My hands stilled. I don’t know what possessed me to do it, but I turned my head, looking down to the pit.

It was a mistake. It was a huge mistake. The water was red, their teeth were red. There was a stained red scrunchie floating on the surface.

I felt sick.

‘Stop staring and get the hell over here!’ Kuina’s voice sounded from the other side.

I snapped my head back, blinking away the image of the pit.

‘Don’t you want to thank Chishiya?’

I do. The taser and the note flashed through my mind. I really do.

Taking a deep breath, I crawled fast, faster than I thought I ever could. That was, until my head hit the platform on the other side.

‘Idiot,’ Kuina said, helping me upright. I untied myself from the wire and scrabbled onto the platform with shaking limbs. I did it. I was safe.

‘TWO MINUTES REMAINING.’

But he wasn’t.

Back on the other side, the teenage boy was doing the same thing as Kuina and I. His hands quivered as he struggled to tie the bungee cord around himself. Eventually he managed to use the hooks on the end to haphazardly secure it in place.

Then he began to crawl, just like we did, except slower. Because his legs and hands were trembling, he was having a hard time hooking his ankles over the wire.

‘You can do it!’ Kuina shouted. ‘You’re almost halfway!’

He slowly approached the middle. Tears slipped down his cheeks, dripping to the pit below.

‘ONE MINUTE REMAINING.’

The boy gasped and hooked a leg around the wire, just as his bungee cord came loose. He cried out, fists clenching white around the wire as he relied solely on his hands and ankles to support his weight.

The bungee cord hit the water with a snarl and a snap of teeth.

‘大丈夫,’ I called out. ‘遠くないよ.’ It’s okay, you’re not far.

He’s not listening, I thought, as I watched his face contort in fear. He’s too terrified.

‘30 SECONDS REMAINING.’

It was the wake-up call he needed, and that little chime shocked him into action as he continued clambering along the tightrope. His movements were even slower now that he didn’t have the bungee cord to support him, and he was crying harder. The sound echoed through the tent, causing the crocodiles to hiss.

‘20 SECONDS REMAINING.’

My fingers clenched and unclenched. He was almost there; he was almost safe. I held my breath. I didn’t want to see any more people die like this.

‘You’re going to be fine,’ Kuina called out. ‘You’re so close now.’

‘TEN SECONDS REMAINING.’

He was close, nearly enough to touch. I reached out a hand and Kuina did the same.

‘FIVE…’

He’s not going to make it.

My fingers brushed his t-shirt.

‘FOUR…’

We both grasped his shirt, trying to pull him upright over the wire.

‘THREE...’

He gritted his teeth, his lip dribbling with blood from where he’d bit it.

‘TWO...’

He dragged himself up, hands splayed on the edge of the platform. I pulled.

‘ONE...’

The wire fell away from the platform. There was a yelp as his fingers slipped off the edge. For the tiniest second his eyes met mine, innocent and wide with realisation.

‘NO!’

I grabbed his outstretched hand, feeling the weight of him pull me forward. Behind me, Kuina shouted my name. Her arms came to wrap around my waist, anchoring me to the platform.

The boy grasped my hand with both of his, and I pulled. I pulled as hard as I could, even as my shoulder felt like it was being yanked from its socket and the skin of my palms burned with the friction.

Kuina’s arms were like weights, dragging me back and giving me the leverage I needed to tug the boy up to the edge. He released one hand from mine and gripped the platform. Then Kuina extended hers, and together, we hauled him up to safety. We collapsed onto our backs, panting with the exertion.

‘GAME CLEAR – CONGRATULATIONS!’

#alice in borderland #aib #chishiya #chishiya shuntaro #chishiya x oc #chishiya x reader #chishiya alice in borderland

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omniswords · 4 years ago

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Chronicles of a Parisian Dumbass 14

Happy Chronicles Update! I promise I'm still trucking along on this baby. I think?? We've also officially reached the halfway mark on this installment, which is kind of. Wow. That's WILD.

anyway, I hope you enjoy!

welcome to today’s episode of Luka’s Word to the Wise: whatever it is, it doesn’t have to be perfect. it just has to be good.

thanks, I.

Ivan is right. And technically, so is his Ma, who’s been telling him and Juleka this for as long as he can remember. But Luka will give them the gratification of saying I told you so when this is all over. Even though he could take a stab in the dark and guess that only one of them would take him up on that offer. And it wouldn’t be Ivan. And it wouldn’t be his Ma.

In between messaging back and forth with Bubbles over the next couple of days, Luka puts together a flyer. It’s not exactly the best—just something he threw together on one of those free graphic design websites, definitely nothing like a Gabriel billboard. But it’s punchy, and it fits the vibe, and it gets the overall message across. And more importantly, Juleka doesn’t give him The Look for it. In fact, she smiles over his shoulder when it’s done, and she rubs her fist in his hair, and she affectionately says, “Now can you chill?”

Luka only grins and throws her into a fireman’s carry for another round of ping-pong. He’s pretty sure he doesn’t know how to be totally chill any more.

They pool pocket money, leftovers from past paychecks, to put in an order for copies at the local print shop. Only Rose has ever been; she tells them she’s tagged along with a couple of old friends from an art club to print issues of the comic they’ve been working on together. It’s nice to see her take the lead, point out the best paper stocks and finishes and spot colors, whatever those are, based on what she’s overheard. It certainly beats the alternative: four barely-adults standing awkwardly at the counter, pretending they know what they’re doing.

Even if, according to Luka’s Ma, that’s most of what adulthood is, anyway.

They decide on something glossy because it makes the colors pop, and admittedly Luka has to thank his lucky, anxious stars for saving the file in every format imaginable because he wasn’t sure which one they’d need. Before he leaves them and heads to work on his bike, Juleka gives him another smile, and Ivan manages a single, subtle nod, and Rose’s eyes sparkle. And it’s starting to feel a little less like a thing he needs to do. It’s a thing he wants to do. With them.

And, well. Any bonuses are just that. Bonuses.

These days, Luka’s made it a point to bike past the bakery on his way to work, because if he’s as much of a regular as the Dupain-Cheng family claims, then he might as well act like it. To be fair, he doesn’t always stop in to talk or buy something; in fact, most times he doesn’t. maybe it’s some silly sense of hope that he’ll be seen. That Marinette really did talk to her parents about picking up an extra shift or two behind the counter. That there’s still room on the bulletin board for him—them. And most times, it is just Mrs. Cheng at the storefront, organizing displays or chatting with a friendly customer.

But sometimes it isn’t. Sometimes it is Marinette, idly staring at the window with what he can only assume is her sketchbook at her side and her apron tied around her waist. And sometimes, she looks up at him. And sometimes, she waves and smiles with all the warmth and none of the sweat of July.

That’s why he does it. For the sometimes.

The flyers, once they’re printed, are nothing short of gorgeous, but Luka can’t bring himself to take any of the credit for it. More than anything, he’s just happy to see his bandmates all in on this, even if he did jump in with both feet. Even if they do still rib him during practice about how he’s way too invested in this. (At least Mylène has only nice things to say. He’ll have to remember to order a few extra pastries just for her.)

They split the flyers into four stacks, because of course Mylène insists on helping and of course Rose and Juleka insist on going together. They run or pedal off in different directions once they’ve put a game plan together, and at least Luka can credit them for not teasing when he offers to take the third and fourth arrondissement. They all know it’s where the bakery is, in spite of how he talks up the Place des Vosges. They know, and they don’t have to say anything.

He’s still trying to figure out whether it’s a blessing or a curse to have your real-life friends on your social media accounts.

Even as he’s hanging the flyers in downtown coffee shops, in libraries, on signposts and public bulletin boards, Luka can’t stop staring. With every flyer he pins or tapes up, he finds something new to love about it. A splash of neon color in the top left corner. The jagged, cutting edges of the lettering. The blurred glow of a spotlight. Every time he looks, he gets the feeling that he’s already there. Music pounding in his ears, stage lights burning so bright and hot they make him sweat, fresh calluses on his fingertips that he’ll regret and adore later. He doesn’t think of stardom often, but he imagines this is something close to it.

At the very least, it’s what he would want to make of it.

It’s close to closing by the time Luka arrives at the bakery-patisserie; the usual lingering smells of fresh bread and sugary frosting and the easygoing music are both conspicuously absent when he walks in. But Mr. Dupain and Ms. Cheng are both missing from the storefront, and he has to double check the time on his phone to make sure he didn’t accidentally arrive too late, or that he’s not interrupting some closing routine. It shouldn’t take long; he spent almost the whole bike ride over rehearsing what he needed to say. He looks around cautiously, even clears his throat in case it gets someone’s attention.

It does. Marinette pops up from behind the counter with a squeak, and it startles him so much he nearly drops the stack of remaining flyers in his arms. And that would’ve been a pain in the ass as much as it would’ve been straight out of one of Rose’s cute romcoms for Marinette to round the counter and help him pick them up until their hands brushed over the same one.

Jesus. He really needs to get out of the house on his sister’s date nights.

He really needs to have a date night.

He also really needs to stop thinking about date nights when the person he’d actually consider a date night with is right in front of—

“Luka?”

He blinks to attention, standing awkwardly in the quiet. God, he really hopes he wasn’t staring at her when he zoned out like that. “Sorry,” he mumbles.

Marinette shrugs it off with an apologetic smile. “We’re fresh out of napoleons, you know,” she says casually, slipping past him to flip the sign on the door. “Guess you’ll just have to come first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Yeah, I guess I will—wait—” He shakes his head. “No, that’s not why I’m here.”

Marinette pauses at that. Even seems to stand a little taller, intrigued. Hopeful? “Oh…? Then why… are you here?”

Meekly, Luka holds up one of the Kitty Section flyers and nods toward the bulletin board. Here’s hoping he—it— isn’t too much of a disappointment.

Marinette squints at the flyer for a second, and then her eyes widen and spark in delight. She looks… impressed, at least. which isn’t to say she’s never seemed impressed by him before. It just makes all the things he’s been working for a little more worth it. “Wow,” she says. “You really weren’t kidding about being in a band, huh.”

“You know it,” he says with what he prays is a casual shrug; this… wasn’t part of the script. “I don’t wear this thing on my back just to look pretty.”

She stifles a laugh, then claps a hand to her mouth immediately. “Sorry, I didn’t—I wasn’t implying that you’re not handsome—pretty— “

Oh God. She’s stammering. And it’s adorable.

Marinette composes herself with a deep breath and her arms folded over her chest. “There are pushpins in the corner,” she says. “Hang it up wherever you want.”

Except Luka can’t help feeling like she’s got her eyes on him the whole time. Either she’s coming to terms with the fact that he was telling the truth all along, or she’s… judging him. Or the flyer. And honestly, he can’t tell which is worse. “What’s wrong?” he asks once he notices she’s still staring. “Did I put it up at a funny angle or something?”

“No, just… thinking…” Her voice sounds distant, perhaps somewhere he might never find her. But then she snaps her fingers, and she says, “That’s it!”

“Uh.” Luka’s brow furrows. “What’s it?”

“Oh, just… sorry, my thoughts just ran away with me, I guess.” Marinette steps toward the flyer, brushing her fingers over it and wincing. maybe it’s just from the finish; his nails have scraped over then more than once, and it felt just as bad as a chalkboard. “I was just thinking, well… you’ve been good to my parents and all. Why don’t we help you with promotion? You know, put postcards in the boxes or bags. It couldn’t hurt, could it?”

Luka nearly spotters, but the only thing he can manage to say is, “Where am I gonna get postcards?”

“I can make ‘em.” She says it like the simplest, most obvious thing in the world, and looks him up and down when he falters. “If… you and your band are okay with that, I mean. Cause I, y’know… dabble, in graphic design. But I don’t want to impose, if you’re okay with this. It’s your band and all.”

“I can,” he starts to say; then he stops himself, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. “I can ask them?” Idiot, he thinks. That wasn’t supposed to be a question. “I’ll let you know what they say. Have to come in bright and early tomorrow anyway, right?”

Marinette only smiles. It’s faint, almost absentminded, but that sweet little tug at the corner of her mouth is hardly lost on him. “You don’t have to.”

“Ask them?”’

“Come by.” Her bag is hanging on a peg by the register, and she’s off rummaging through it before Luka can ask what she means. He gravitates toward her more than he actually walks to her, and by the time he reaches the counter she’s fishing a card out of her wallet. It’s pink and black, decorated with the same spray of flowers and monogram as her apron. when he turns it over, there’s her name at the top, and below that, two email addresses. And two phone numbers.

He looks up, wide-eyed.

“So,” Marinette says. “Unless you’re coming all this way for a napoleon, a pear tart, and my pretty face, I think you’re good.”

“I—” Luka turns the business card over and over as though it will teach him now to speak again. “I guess so.” Does she know he thinks her face is pretty? Wait—of course she does, he gave her that note. Oh, Jesus, does she still have that thing? It’s been weeks. “Well,” he says, scuffing his heel against the tile. “Who knows. Maybe I’ll come anyway.”

Okay, that was definitely not part of the script.

But then, neither is the way her eyes are sparkling. “Well,” she murmurs. “Maybe you will.”

“I should, uh—” He jerks a thumb toward the door. “Go, um. Happy closing?”

She laughs behind a hand, glancing between him and the tacked-up flyer before she grabs a broom and sends him off with a delicate wave. And to be honest, Luka’s never been angry with nature before, but he curses the wind for being so loud that he can’t hear that giggle in his head, over and over. Almost as much as he thanks it for drowning out all the stupid things he said, and the lingering questions of why she offered at all.

Luka’s Word to the Wise, Part 2:

Progress isn’t linear but it sure as hell doesn’t mean you can’t stutter your way through getting a girl’s number and succeed.

#miraculous ladybug #lukanette #luka couffaine #marinette dupain cheng #fic: chronicles of a parisian dumbass #HELL YEAH LUKA THAT'S MY BOY

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its-abbyyyyy · 4 years ago

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10 Tips for Freshmen Year

1. Be prepared!! (but not too prepared)

I know that you may think you know this already, but on my first day of freshmen year I came to class with a thirty-pound backpack and could barely move by the end of the day. You really only need the bare minimum (notebook, pencil, other stuff on the syllabus), so don't waste your energy carrying around stuff you don't need! Also, take advantage of your locker.

2. Take awesome notes!

If you're in an exciting class, you'll want to absorb as much knowledge as you can. If you're in a boring class, you'll want to have something to do. Either way, notetaking is the way to go. I always bring one notebook to school to save space in my bag, then when I get home, I recopy my notes into different notebooks to make them neater. Another tip- do each chapter or unit with a different colored pen. For example, I did one chapter in orange, another in blue, another in green... This makes it a lot easier to find information you need when you're studying. Even when the teacher doesn't insist on taking notes, they will help.

3. Study. Study. Study.

When I was in middle school, I never really learned how to study effectively. One big tip? Make flashcards on actual paper. Even if you don't use them much, writing and searching for the information will help you remember so much more. Having a parent or family member quiz you is great, but studying with a friend in your class is so much better. They'll know more of the material than a parent, plus you're guaranteed a good time. I've studied for biology a lot this year with a close friend and not only did I get good grades, but I also had some of my best memories of freshman year.

Also: word clues help so much, especially when you're trying to memorize people for history or something. I had a hard time during the evolution unit remembering the names of scientists, so I came up with clues. For example, Thomas Malthus proposed that humans would grow faster than food needed to supply them. Malthus -> Mouth-us -> food.

4. Be yourself and be confident!!

I know, I know. But hear me out. High school is all about finding your people and you aren't going to find them if you spend all your time pretending to be someone else. Not everyone is going to like you, no matter what you do.

I have a really difficult time with the confidence part, but one thing that has helped me is having a morning routine. Before I get out of the car in the morning, I always say to myself, "Carpe diem. Seize the day. Make your life extraordinary." (yes, I'm a movie nerd. how ever did you know?) But whatever works for you!

5. Try new things. You won't regret it.

I tried sooo many different things: I became a part of the band, I joined clubs, I was on the track team... Not all of them worked out for me, but the ones that did, I wouldn't trade them for the world. I'm not the most athletic person, but the track team gave me a whole new community and an extraordinary role model for a coach, and this was all because I stepped out of my comfort zone.

I also tried band this year, and I'll admit that I was skeptical that we would play lame music or everyone would be better than me. I was completely wrong and now the band is like a second family to me. Even if you don't think you'll be good, even if you aren't super excited about it, try it. Maybe you'll hate it, but maybe you'll love it or even just make a few friends along the way.

6. Talk to people!

I know this one's obvious, but I feel like it should be said. Some of my best friends now, I just met them by making small talk in class. Get to know a few people in each of your classes and extracurriculars well, then just tag along with them and you'll eventually be absorbed into their friend group. At the beginning of the year, I was a loner and always read my book during lunch; now I have three different groups to sit with! It's always worth putting yourself out there, trust me.

7. If you like someone, wait a week or two.

Liking someone in high school is a constant struggle between throwing caution to the wind and not embarrassing yourself. My rule of thumb is to wait two weeks. A lot of times, your crush is just based on looks or a first impression, or you're just liking someone for the sake of liking someone. But if you still have feelings after that long, well... you only live once. You might as well have some crazy stories to tell someday.

8. Be polite to your teachers!

No one likes a teacher's pet, but just being polite can go miles. Just wave in the hallways, say "hi" and "bye" at the beginning and end of class, and answer a question every now and then. In my Spanish class this year, a lot of people were standoffish towards our teacher and ended up getting called on more than people raising their hands, so...

It really helps build relationships as well. Getting early to band class on Mondays and talking about music with my teacher allowed me to use the practice room instead of going to a study hall twice a week. I greeted my English teacher at the beginning of every class and asked her about a book I had recently read and I got an amazing final grade in the class. I waved to my computer science teacher in the hallway and ended up being able to watch Netflix when I was done with my work.

That being said, don't take advantage of their generosity!!

9. Always take someone up on the opportunity to do something fun.

I shied away from hanging out with people outside of school at the beginning of the year, but I eventually came out of my shell. Going on long drives, jamming along to music in study hall, or just playing a simple game of football can easily become your favorite part of the year. Don't miss out on it!

10. Make friends with the upperclassmen.

Seriously. This helps you out so much. They can give you so much advice because they were just in your shoes, and they can even help you with homework and help you out with your teachers. If you're doing a sport and you get to know a few juniors and seniors, then you've got a built-in support squad. I was on a team this year and the loudest cheering didn't come from my friends, it came from the upperclassmen. They really aren't scary, more often than not, they take you under your wing and guide you through high school.

Having upperclassmen as friends also comes with a huge advantage. I tried out for the musical this year and didn't get a part, but I got to know a bunch of juniors in the band that happened to be theatre kids. Now, they say that they will spend hours helping me with my audition and even fight to the death to make sure that I get a part. (hopefully they were being dramatic.)

A side note to that- get to know people in your own grade as well. You don't want to have friends that are all juniors and seniors because they will graduate and it'll break your heart.

Bonus tip cause I feel like it- take care of your mental health!!

This is so important. If something about school is affecting your mental health drastically, talk to a parent or a friend or a teacher or the school counselor. I reached out several times this year and it was terrifying but it helped me so much.

Your mental health should come before your schoolwork. Always.

If you need a break, take a break. Drink water. Have a snack. Listen to music. Sleep. Go on a walk. FaceTime a friend. Do whatever you need to do, and if you miss an assignment because of that, chances are that your teacher will understand.

If you ever need someone to talk to, I'd be happy to help out! <3

#advice #mental health #high school #original post

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browneyedhimbo · 5 years ago

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I Can Do This All Day

Prompt: 4. “I cAn Do tHis aLL dAy”

Summary: You knew Steve’s favorite line and you keep trying to pinpoint when he says it and why, leading you to go down memory lane.

Pairing: Steve x Reader

Warnings: cursing, slight implied smut, gun/gunshots, so much FLUFF

Word Count: 1.2K

A/N: This is for @honeyvbarnes birthday writing challenge. Happy Birthday booski!!!! Sorry this is later than when expected, things started piling up. I hope you enjoy it! Also shoutout to @this-kitten-is-smitten for beta reading, thanks again so so so sooooo much hun!!

If you’d like to be tagged in anything, please let me know! 《MASTERLIST》

Ever since Steve Rogers was that scrawny kid in Brooklyn, he’s said it. It started the first time he got his butt whooped behind a diner after a douchebag cat called a girl who was waiting tables. He got up, wiped the blood off his face, and said it. Then of course Bucky found him and well, the rest is history.

Though it’s his favorite catch phrase, you noticed he only says it during specific times. And you can name each and everyone of them.

—

“Shit!” You yelled fighting off a few Hydra agents. It was supposed to be a simple mission, raid the base and extract some files, but of course it wasn’t empty and they had an ambush set up.

“Language!” You heard over the comms. But it wasn’t Rogers’ voice, rather the rest of the team.

“One time!” Steve yelled over the comms, the sound of his shield hitting people faint in the background.

“That’s all it takes Stevie,” you laughed, getting up from putting one in a choke hold.

“Yeah yeah,” he faintly chuckled. “Alright Y/N and I are going to go extract the files, everyone else stay out here and cover us.” Steve yelled, meeting up with you at the entrance. You both ran and cleared out the floor. You started working your magic on the computer with the drive Tony gave you. Loud banging and gun shots could be heard getting closer to the room you both were in.

You tried typing faster and were almost done when a few Hydra bastards blasted the door. Steve turned around covering both of you with his shield while they emptied their clips on you. He threw his shield and started fighting them off while you finished up.

“Got it!” You yelled, punching and shooting one in the face. You unplugged the drive and tucked it into a pocket in your belt. You looked up and saw the room was surrounded. Steve took off his helmet and handed you his shield. You gave him a puzzled look.

“Boom,” he mouthed. You nodded, he meant there was going to be an explosion. You looked around the room and saw a window. With a smirk you nodded slightly at Steve. With raised fists he looked at the agents in the room before a huge smirk landed on his face.

“I can do this all day.” Agents started running towards him and he was able to fight them off. He grabbed a grenade off one of them and tossed it to the middle of the group of agents. You shot the window and both of you ran towards it. He grabbed your waist as you both jumped out, the shield blocking the glass from coming into contact with your faces.

“Fuck!” You heard Tony yell over the comms, before you metal arms wrap around both of you. As carefully as he could, he lowered both of you to the ground. His grip slipped and you both fell, rolling to a stop.

“Next time, let’s not jump out a window.” You chuckled looking at him.

—-

You never really knew exactly what would spark him to say it. Maybe it was because he saw something as a challenge, maybe he wanted to show his determination? Whatever it was, it always got you to smile.

—-

“Is that fine?” He asked you, blue eyes filled with nothing but love and worry. No matter how many times you, as he says it, ‘fondue’, he’s always worried he might hurt you. You found it adorable.

“That’s perfect b-baby,” you sputtered as his mouth attached back to your heat. He may be shy and blushy but damn did he know what he was doing. He chuckled, the vibrations sending shivers down your spine. You made eye contact with him and he had that look.

“Darlin’ I can do this all day,” he winked before going back to work. That didn’t help the grin that made its way to your face.

—-

He told you it depends on the occasion but also the person. You chuckled at that. But then he told you he loves to say it around you, because you never stopped him.

—–

“What’s that mean Stevie?”

“Well,” he started, a soft smile on his face, “I don’t-I’m not really sure.” He giggled, that slight blush creeping up his neck. “I guess it’s cause I know you’ll support me no matter what? Probably that or I know you won’t question my motives.” You shared a laugh. But he was right.

—-

It was the big day, and you were so excited and extremely nervous. You breathed deeply while looking in the full body mirror in front of you. You weren’t one for self compliments but today, you really did look good.

“Ready?” Nat asked from the doorway. You took one last deep breath before nodding. Everything was a bit of a haze between getting from the room to the altar because that’s just how anxious you truly were. All you knew was that you were now standing in front of the man you love.

The world blurred as you stared into those crystal blue eyes in which you fell in love with. You said your vows and kissed. Things moved at a faster pace as you both walked hand in hand for pictures and got ready to head to the venue for the reception.

The pictures never stopped, the talking never stopped, the laughs and the ‘congratulations’ either. You ate and drank and had the best time of your life. The music slowed on the dance floor, the song you both choose booming through the speakers.

Steve gave you his charming smile and held his hand out for you which you gladly took. He led you to the dance floor, only the two of you were there. You were in complete bliss. He pulled you close and held you tight.

“Those classes paid off,” he whispered in your ear. You chuckled and bit your lip to refrain from belching out a laugh.

“Guess they did,” you beamed back. You heard ‘awws’ and coos from your family and friends. You leaned your head against your now husband’s shoulder as he brought you in impossibly closer.

“I can do this all day.” He whispered into your hair.

——

Now that you think about it, he didn’t say it during specific times. He just said it when he wanted to, when he felt the need to. Every time you try to guess when he’ll say it, there’s a 50/50 chance you’re right or wrong. Maybe that’s why you loved hearing him say it so much.

You had especially loved it when he would say it to your kids while they were playing when they were younger. Didn’t matter the game or time. When they would ask him if he can keep playing he’d tell them he ‘can do it all day.’

“Baby doll, are you good?” Steve waved a hand in front of your face, that same charming smile on his face.

“Mhm, just got lost in my thoughts.” You smiled at him.

“Your thoughts huh? Must be a very interesting place.” He teased. “Remind me to wish to not be a mind reader.”

“Stevie,” you rolled your eyes playfully, “it’s not such a bad place. It holds a lot of our precious memories.” You stared at him. You couldn’t believe it was already your 50th wedding anniversary. Everything felt like it was just yesterday.

“I’m sure,” he hummed, “50 years honey. We’re old.” You laughed loudly at that.

“No, just you.”

“Hey darlin’,” he grabbed your hands and intertwined your fingers.

“Yea babe?” You leaned closer to him.

“I can do this all day.”

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Permanent tags: @becausewhyknotme @katbtracy @imma-new-soul @justmebeingtheweirdmeiam @officialtonystarkprotectionsquad @theladyoffangorn @itsunclebucky @mushyjellybeans @writing-for-hours-on-end @this-kitten-is-smitten @agentpeggybarnes @fangirl-introvert @ninjabucky @cosmicbucky

Steve Rogers tags: @wemisshim3000 @dianadov @nerdy-bookworm-1998

#steve rogers x reader #steve x reader #steve rogers #captain america #captain america the first avenger #captain america the winter soldier #captain america: civil war #tony stark #honeyvbirthdaychallenge #chris evans #steve rogers fluff #steve x reader fluff #fluff #marvel #oneshot #chris evans x reader #chris evans fluff

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yossariandawn · 4 years ago

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Tagged by @astarkey and @alwaysupatnight , thank you! I do love interesting questions! I’m combining these because it would take me days to think up 22 questions. Here are the rules:

Rule 1: post the rules Rule 2: answer the questions the person who tagged you asked and write 11 new ones Rule 3: tag 11 people and link them to the post Rule 4: actually tell them you tagged them

Edit: I didn’t realize how long this got, so I’m fixing it so I can put some of it behind a cut. My questions first so people can decide if they want to play along!

My Questions:

1. Set two fictional couples you love on a double date, and tell me how would that play out? One word answers are acceptable if you prefer.

2. Do you like candles? If so, what’s your favorite candle scent?

3. What’s the perfect fic you’ve been craving that wish someone else would write already?

4. If you could have an 15 minute conversation with any fictional character, who would you choose?

5. Above question continued, what would you talk about?

6. What’s one weird thing you loved as a child?

7. Any songs that make you always think of a character?

8. How well can you swim, and do you enjoy swimming?

9. Recommend me a new show, movie, or song!

10. What’s your favorite food that you make?

11. Draft the perfect Zombie Apocalypse Survival Team, 5 characters from any show or movie.

and now I’m tagging @sandalaris, @fortysevenswrites, @starkidmack, @captain-k-jones, and if you follow me and want to be tagged in this kind of thing in the future, just tag yourself and I’ll know to send them your way! I never know who wants to play, and there’s never any pressure to do any I send, I promise! 💖

EDIT: adding @alwaysupatnight YOU ARE NOW OFFICIALLY TAGGED

and now for my answers behind the cut:

@astarkey’s questions:

1. Favorite fall activity? Anything outside, to be honest. It’s my favorite time of year! I do love reading in my hammock with a blanket before it gets too cold, though I’m not sure that counts as an activity.

2. Favorite song at the moment? Well, the one I’m most obsessing on is one I’m vidding right now, so I’m keeping that a secret. BUT, I’ve been listening to Setting Sun by Lord Huron a lot recently ever since @alwaysupatnight mentioned it in an ask about Culebra Seth. I hadn’t heard it before and I fell right in love with it.

3. Last movie you saw in theaters? Oh, it has been awhile since I actually went to a theater. I wanna say it was the first IT movie, cause I remember taking my brothers to see that. If I went after that I guess it didn’t leave an impression on me.

4. Favorite emoji/smiley? I really like 🥳 cause look how excited it is! Close second is 😎 because it makes me think of the Geckos when I use it.

5. Cold weather or hot weather? Cold weather, as stated above!

6. Are you a past, present, or future person? Hmm, I’m going to say present. I am a bit of a worrier by nature, so I intentionally try and keep myself grounded by staying in the moment as much as possible, so I’m not obsessing over what I did or about what could happen next. I’m reasonably successful with it.

7. From where you’re sitting, what’s the closest object on your right? Water bottle.

8. What’s something you’re weirdly afraid of? (For example, a hair dryer, airplanes, a microwave, etc.) Ok, so this going to sound very weird, but it’s grasshoppers. don’t mind spiders, hornets, bees, any of the normal creepy crawlies, they don’t bother me at all, but I have such an intense irrational reaction to grasshoppers, like a real fight or flight thing kicks in for me. I understand they can’t hurt me, but I don’t trust those little sideways hoppers AT ALL. Also, I used to spend a lot time catching (and releasing) bugs when I was a small child, and one day one BIT ME, which I didn’t know they can do, and the betrayal was so great that I have never forgiven them. And then if you want to see something that’s even more untrustworthy, google the spider cricket sometime. I don’t see as many of those, but my friend had some living underneath her porch one year, and they are terrible. (also harmless)

9. Favorite snack food? Soft pretzels with cheese are always a good time. And now I want one, dang it.

10. Favorite color to wear? Blue! I love blue so much.

11. Stargazing in an open field, watching the ocean tides on a lonely beach, or late night drives on the highway while listening to good music? I’m going to pick stargazing in an open field, because that sounds the most relaxing to me at the moment! But the other two also sound lovely.

@alwaysupatnight‘s asks:

1. Have you started any new hobbies this year? Vidding. if I’m allowed to stretch the definition of a year about 1 month past haha. I’ve also done a ton more “creative" writing since joining tumblr, all these asks and tag games are the most I’ve ever organized my thoughts and put them out there for others to actually see (excluding non voluntary things like schoolwork and work) It’s been a lot of fun to do both, and really allowed me to push myself out of my comfort zone.

2. Read any good books lately? Not recently, I have several checked out I need to get to soon before I have to return them.

3. Favorite color of nail polish to wear? Or if you don’t wear nail polish, the color of the laces on your fave pair of sneakers? I don’t wear nail polish most of the time, though I will let children paint my nails when they want, since they seem to love doing that. And my favorite sneaker laces are just the standard white they came with. I’m pretty causal and laid back fashion wise.

4. Faerie, mermaid, angel, or vampire? This is so broad! Am I reading/watching something they’re in, fighting them, auditioning them as room mates?! I’m going to go with Vampire (Mermaid as a second choice)

5. What is your MBTI type? INFJ

6. What does your phone case look like? (Describe or post a pic) It’s black, no design. I’m so boring an practical!!!! I picked it out based on reviews, I drop my phone way to much.

7. What is your dream vacation? Camping, with people I like. Maybe a road trip out west.

8. Would you tell us a little about your current WIP? (writing, art, gifset, whatever the project!!) Working on a new vid, I’d let myself get stuck finishing one up, and realized maybe I needed a break from that one. It’s a SethKate one I’ve wanted to do ever since I heard the song, and I’m just going to do it. It’s not AU? That’s all the spoilers for now.

9. What is the best movie you’ve seen this year? I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE, BUT YES. Prospect was amazing, and does when that title! Runners up would be Priest, Crawl (I love disaster movies so much) and Knives Out.

10. What are your opinions on the child from The Mandalorian series? Really cute! I have only seen like 3 episodes, but I have seen all the gifs, (especially today 🤣) and look at the tiny adorable space baby with powers 🥰

11. What is your zodiac sign, and do you think it fits your personality? I am an Aquarius, I have no idea honestly. Maybe? Is there an official description I can read somewhere?

#tag games #replies #personal

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queenharumiura · 4 years ago

Note

B, E, L, P, H, A, G, O, R

Taken from meme: [x] ||Accepting|| ((I see what you did there and it’s beautiful. A++ ))

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

In regards to KHR, it’s hard to find any ship that I didn’t consider, because there was a time when I went crazy thinking of all sorts of ships (boy/boy, boy/girl, girl/girl. Don't test me). Still, there is an answer because this ship started it all. Hibari x Haru lol. At the time they were my favorite female and male character in KHR. My friend joked and said, “If you love them both so much, just ship them together.” History was made that day. Coincidentally I’ve cosplayed both. I will never show them off because they aren’t good lol. That started my descent down: This is fun, let’s ship almost anything I can find. Ships didn't necessarily have to be romantic either. I love exploring friendships and also just sibling dynamics as well. Haru adopting people? Yes please.

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what?

I feel like I’m a troll in general, so I have added something cracky to any fandom that I’m in. Two things I can think of atop my head are ‘you reblogged a dare meme and you dare think I won’t ask Mukuro/Hibari/Alaude/Daemon to wear cat ears? HA!!!! YOU THOUGHT!!’. Another would be that I like puns, so if I see my chance to pun in a meme, I will. I always ask first before I send, however. It usually results in silliness, as you could imagine and Haru running away in fear.

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.)

I guess I’m neutral about Dr.Shamal so he should count? Mn...despite the way he is with women and the way he refuses to treat male patients, he’s a smart guy and talented at what he does. He was also utilized well in putting Gokudera’s character into perspective more. Additionally, he is a good example of, ‘Haru will punch you out if you cross the boundaries,’ and I appreciate him for that. His sacrifice wasn’t in vain. Never forget how he is the reason why Mukuro was able to use Sakura blossoms against Hibari in the first place. This man--- the damage he has caused.

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).

I’m assuming this is asking for me to create an AU for Haru as she’s placed in a different fandom. If that’s correct, I am going to casually pretend that I don’t know the difference between a fandom and a genre by going: “I’ve been reading way too many isekai recently and I think it would be funny to consider Haru getting sent to an otome or something and her being a super sassy and head strong FL. Watch her instantly try to change her identity or run away from bad male leads with all her might. I would live for this, thank you. Haru is also smart and adapts well, so she’d be able to adapt to whatever world setting she’s put in and she doesn’t hate studying, so she’d be able to pick up on the intricacies of her new world. Mainly, I just want a FL who will actually smack the life out of a ML if he’s being a POS. I NEED THIS. It’s emotional healing.

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?

I really like sourcing things in novels or manga/manhwa/manhua a lot. Animated sources are good too, but it’s much quicker for me to go through something that’s written, so I tend to prefer those now days. Anything that’s easier for me to binge is A+.

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.

I’m answering strictly based off this blog in it’s current state, else you’ll be here forever. If I talk about ships in KHR in general, you’ll actually be here forever. No @ tags bc I’m feeling shy today. I personally love the dynamic between Gokudera and Haru (platonic or romantic). I’ve historically liked BelHaru, and it looks like it may become a thing in RPC as well. Haru is warily staring from a comfortable distance atm. Haru has a friendly relationship with a Byakuran at the moment. They’re baking a cake! She is generally very friendly with any Tsuna I encounter.

Ravein/Pino… yeah, I self-thread sometimes. Haru has a sibling kinda dynamic with Ravein which is really just a friendship dynamic. It’s the same with Pino. Mizumachi and Haru are both energetic, hyper buddies. Hibari—I aim for just a casual lowkey friendship kinda dynamic. Shame in self-threading? Never heard of her.

The best way to describe her relationship with Zelman in a ‘Black Blood Brothers’ au is ‘hey I just moved into the territory you lord. Hello!’ I think this would go down a friendship route and I’m so for it. Kajika from ‘Hanasakeru Seishonen’ has a friendship with Haru and they just get along swimmingly well. I think the mun for Rentaro ‘Black Bullet’ returned, so I think he can count. Haru has a friendship with him and they’re cooking buddies! They joined a cooking association together!

Haru also has friendships with Emi (KHR oc), and Luca (KHR oc), both of which are in the Varia!au setting that I have for Haru. Emi in particular, Haru has decided to adopt her as a little sis and will pummel anyone who bullies her. Luca--- sometimes in conjunction with Ravein (my OC) drive Haru insane. It’s a trio of dumb, dumbest, and ‘hey I’m the dumbest!’.

The ‘ships’ that I have with Haru are usually always friendship and ‘hey I’m arbitrarily adopting you’ and I love it.

G - Have you ever had an OTP? If so, do you remember your first one? Who was in it?

Eh--- in RPC, my very first one... I believe, was GokuHaru. I currently have a GokuHaru (A different blog) in an AU for a TYL setting. I think I got very close to HibaHaru before, which is, a guilty pleasure ship of mine. Haru is treading into BelHaru territory right now in RPC and that is also, a guilty pleasure ship of mine. In the distant past there was also a TsuHaru (I know, I know, shocking) which was a reincarnated lovers Yakuza AU. That was a fun one. Also in the distant past, there was an AU for a MukuHaru as well. Le kek. I am a multi-ship blog and all ships have existed in different worlds/universes, therefore they all quality as an OTP in their own specific verse. I cheated, yes.

Pro-tip: I may warily stare from afar if shipping is a topic, but the moment you suggest an AU SHIP? I’m down. To further explain, these AU ships have always taken place in a very different timeline/world than what we know in KHR. So therefore I can feel all the freedom to do as I please and figure out characterizations based off what I need.

PS. in regard to KHR in general, my first OTP was GokuHaru and GokuYama. Le kek.

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

I took my library of songs and randomized. I got: ‘Get Off My Back’ by Bryan Adams and Eliot Kennedy. So, by the vibe of the music, the first things that come to mind are either GokuHaru or BelHaru, I’m not going to lie. Now… who is saying these words, I’ll leave it to the imagination. I really like this song, but I really like the cover by Jonathan Young.

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

Oh—that’s hard. Friendship dynamics are so fun! I really like Ryohei and Hibari’s dynamic together which could be depicted as friendship. The friendship between a lot of the guardians is just //chef kiss. However, the TRUE SHOW STOPPER in my heart is the friendship between the girls. I really love how all the girls build each other up and always support each other. I love it so much. Especially when the girls are there for Chrome, I CRY. When they support Yuni, I CRY. When I think about how big sis Bianchi looks after the girls and teaches them things- I CRY. I just cry. I love all the friendships in KHR, but the ones the girls share with each other wins in my book. I don’t take criticisms.

#Belacedia #Meme answered #answered ask #thanks for the ask!#Neo speaks #((Phew-- this took me a while but I did it))#((Got pretty long but I mean what else did we expect?))

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croc-odette · 4 years ago

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i love ds9 and here are some episode premises that i wish had happened

DND EPISODE: already talked about this but a dungeons and dragons holosuite episode. jake is the overly prepared DM obviously, nog, ziyal, and alexander are players. nog’s player is clearly his idea of sisko, a lawful good paladin; ziyal plays as a cardassian rogue (played by dukat, but clearly based in personality on kira); alexander plays a mage who is kind-of worf kind-of jadzia and keeps switching between them through the game). there’s an NPC version that’s clearly also based on sisko at one point, but from jake’s point of view knowing him as his dad to compare how differently jake and nog, a cadet, see him.

as the game progresses, it becomes clear that the Big Bad is based on a combo of dukat/winn (corrupt government/religious figure). ziyal struggles with the classic DND question of ‘just because i would do this, does that mean my character would?’ except she’s realizing that her dad wouldn’t do any of the selfless things she wants her character to do. alexander keeps trying to solve shit through weird cantrips or puzzle solving instead of fighting and jake is like ‘it’s not deep it’s just a cave bat please roll initiative’. bashir and garak show up as like, the old couple from the princess bride and everyone has to be like ‘jake they’re not dating in real life this rpf shit is kind of inappropriate’ and he’s like ‘wait what? i thought they were dating’. miles is an NPC and dies. nog thinks jake’s-sisko-npc is too silly and disrespectful and jake is like ‘he’s MY dad’ and they have to take a break to argue about it and jake is like ‘your dad is cool too’. nog’s character changes to lawful good paladin rom. actually this whole game is ‘arguing about dads’ time now that i think about it, which jake is not really equipped to jump in on since he has a normal cool dad who he basically just thinks is embarrassing because he’s the ~messiah~ or some goofy bullshit. ends with them calling it a day after the final boss battle and then jake and nog privately talking about whether or not they can trust ziyal if she has to choose between ds9 and dukat, which was an ulterior motive of the game. ziyal is clearly clearly rattled by what the game made her realize and goes to see kira, who she doesn’t tell about the game but who still gives her a hug, and ziyal realizes that kira’s her hero (and like, her mom). alexander tells worf and dax about the game and dax thinks it sounds fun as hell and asks alexander if they can come next time, and worf is like ‘....... only if i can be a blood mage’. nog and jake go home and tell their dads they love them.

shit i blacked out

PRANK WAR EPISODE: escalating series of pranks starting with jadzia putting hair dye in bashir’s shampoo and ending with the space station accidentally going into a meltdown self destruct scenario. garak is torn between helping jadzia and quark, who are clearly the better pranksters, or helping julian and odo, who suck at pranks but are his lunch friends. everyone has to tell garak that he’s way too intense about ‘pranks’ which are actually just really dangerous booby traps he puts in people’s quarters. sisko ends the episode by grounding everyone; no holosuites for a month!! yes even dax

GREAT RACE EPISODE: there’s some kind of macguffin resource on a planet (a klingon escape pod with a survivor with crucial intelligence information?), but they can’t teleport directly to it. a vorta and jem h’dar team and a ds9 team beam down on opposite sides of its location and are both racing to get there first, having to macgyver together vehicles and tools on the way. lots of excellent outdoor on-location settings and comparison of the jem h’dar/vorta dynamic and the ds9 federation dynamic. ends with the jem h’dar almost winning but turning on the vorta at the last few yards, and sisko’s team beams out as the jem h’dar chant victory. no i refuse to think this is same plot as ‘the ship’ or whatever

KASIDY EPISODE: set earlier in kasidy/sisko’s relationship, kasidy agrees to go with jadzia as a third-party observer to negotiations with a nearby bajoran colony over a trade agreement with the federation. jadzia and kasidy bond over gossiping about sisko on the way, but once they get there kasidy disagrees with the starfleet’s contract during negotiations which causes tensions, and recommends that the bajorans reject it. she and jadzia get into an argument about starfleet and its ideals, and why kasidy chose to be an independent captain rather than a starfleet captain, and how that doesn’t make her lesser than starfleet captains. jadzia realizes that kasidy is right and petitions superiors for a new contract, which kasidy approves of. they go home tenser then when they left, but when sisko asks jadzia what she thinks of kasidy, she very seriously says that she has incredible compassion, intelligence, and integrity, and that she doesn’t need or want jadzia’s approval. but has it anyway

MUSICAL EPISODE: someone already outlined a great musical ep where lwaxana comes in with a betazoid cold and it makes everyone burst into song in another text post and like 100% cosigned

SHAKESPEARE EP: holosuite shenanigans; every character is suddenly stuck as someone from a different shakespeare play. garak is an enthusiastically combative beatrice, kira is cordelia, worf is hamlet, jadzia is a very amused katerina, julian is puck, miles is duncan (”i get MURDERED?”), odo is benvolio and kind of bummed he’s not romeo, etc. i actually don’t know any shakespeare play that well but i think it could be neat. julian is the only fucking person on ds9 who actually knows any of it well enough to figure out what’s going on, except for sisko who doesn’t really care for shakespeare but generally knows about the plays (maybe a good opportunity to talk about the racism in most ‘classic Earth’ pop culture that star trek tends to uphold without criticism). i don’t know shit about the 40 plays that shakespeare wrote about british kings but i could see sisko ending up in that kind of intense role and refusing to play into it, as do the rest of the characters who refuse to fulfill their respective roles and instead find another way to end the program.

KLINGON OPERA EPISODE: goodddddddd can we see some klingon opera, mac. i’ve been dying to see some klingon opera. premise is they believe that someone is assassinating ambassadors and so they tag along with a andorian ambassador who loves opera to see if they can figure out who the assassin is, however the andorian plays it down as over-worrying and that they should use it as an excuse to enjoy themselves. worf and jadzia go and have a lovey dovey time, sisko and kasidy go and have a lovey dovey time watching worf and jadzia get super into the opera together. julian is asked to go in case there’s poison used or first aid needed, and miles is like ‘the last time i went undercover i came home with trauma and someone’s cat so no thanks i hate klingon opera’ and after some increasingly overt passive aggressive implications that julian should take HIM, julian asks garak to go with him. bonus points if for some reason they are wearing the stupid tuxedos from doctor bashir i presume. a lot of loud arguing about the opera which almost gets them kicked out. at the end of the first act, one of the actors DOES try to kill the andorian but jadzia jumps in front of the phaser beam (cue worf being very concerned and annoyed that she could have gotten killed, jadzia being very smug and pleased with herself, her head in his lap, in a pose mirroring an earlier couple in the opera). julian feels like he would have noticed if he hadn’t been distracted by garak, and when it turns out the andorian ambassador has sensitive info about cardassia’s civilian government, julian accuses garak of intentionally trying to distract him to make sure the andorian actually died, which turns into a huge argument (ideally in a very opulent klingon opera house bathroom). during the argument, julian realizes that garak was trying to hint to him that something about the assassination attempt was off; he pieces together aloud that the andorian and the actor must have been in league together, to fake the andorian’s assassination so they could not be tried for profiteering by illegally selling weapons to the cardassian central control during bajoran occupation, which they are currently under investigation for. the other ambassador assasinations were planned by the andorian to cover their tracks. the andorian is arrested, as is the actor. at the ballroom afterparty, sisko and kasidy, in a good mood that everything worked out, agree to join in on traditional klingon dancing. worf and jadzia take a peaceful walk through the gardens and worf recites some really lovely klingon poetry about how sometimes it’s NOT a good day to die if someone loves you, that none of us fucking understand without looking it up. julian and garak talk on the balcony, and julian posits that garak is loyal to cardassia, but which part of it? garak answers, very close and meaningfully looking at julian, ‘like most things... it’s complicated.’

i was about to say ‘fake wedding episode’ but literally LITERALLY that was the shotgun wedding lwaxana/odo ep. i love star trek

KEIKO BOTANIST EPISODE: kira accompanies keiko to bajor to help find a medicinal plant that was thought to be wiped out during the occupation but might still exist in a remote mountain region based on local reports. a nice episode where we learn more about bajor and see how bajorans are coping and healing. over a campfire, kira thanks keiko for accepting her into their family. keiko tells kira that she was really intimidated by her when they first met, and then realized she’s one of the most loving people she knows. just a nice episode, maybe some mild nature survival conflict, but ends on a hopeful note of them finding the plant. miles beams down with the kids to have a picnic with keiko and kira, and kira’s happy to see children playing carelessly on bajor again.

JAKE AND ZIYAL EPISODE: everyone thinks jake and ziyal are dating because they’ve been hanging out. julian’s an idiot and mentions to sisko ‘must be hard, huh’ and sisko’s like ‘WHAT must be hard’ and julian’s like oh my god were we not supposed to talk to him about this. jake and ziyal aren’t dating but as soon as sisko tries to talk to jake about it jake is like ‘i’m not but actually maybe i SHOULD ask her out’ and sisko is like fuck. okay no that’s fine. this is more of a B-plot but basically give jake and ziyal age-appropriate love interests they’re both RIGHT there

#i'm really about to write fake screenplays for episodes for a tv show that ended 20 years ago #star trek blogging #THIS GOT OUT OF HAND.

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fanfics4all · 5 years ago

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The Piano Man

Request: Yes / No

Requests are closed <3 Have a nice day/night

Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Word count: 3999

Warnings: TALK OF RAPE I will not be tagging anyone but do not read if you are triggered by rape! (This is based on season seven episode 12)

Y/N: Your Name

Y/L/N: Your Last Name

PLEASE DO NOT STEAL MY WORK, I WORK HARD ON MY FICS AND IT’S NOT COOL TO STEAL SOMEONE ELSE’S WORK!

If you want to be on the tag list for anything (My series fics, specific character fics, or just all of them) All you have to do is send me an ask and I will add you!

Masterlist

(Not my photo, credit to whoever made it!)

A long time ago I used to live in Houston. That was a part of my life that I never wanted to return to. But now, it looks like I had no choice. I had joined the BAU team in the FBI and our case was back in my hometown.

“So Houston PD needs our boots on the ground for the Piano Man case.” Garcia said and I silently gulped.

“The serial rapist?” Morgan asked.

“A case we consulted on about eight months ago. Twelve victims over five years.” Hotch said and he glanced at me. He knew that I was one of those women that he had hurt, he was the only one that knew. Not even my boyfriend of one year knew, I couldn’t bring myself to tell anyone else. Hotch needed to know because it came up on my psych eval, but that was the only reason. The local PD didn’t even know, I never reported it because I was scared…

“He crosses racial and social lines, ages too.” He added and kept glancing at me, I knew the others noticed as well.

“Power assertive?” Prentiss asked.

“Knocks them out with a date rape drug, and binds them with piano wire…” Rossi said.

“They wake up with no memory of the assault or how they got the permanent scar the wire leaves.” I said, managing to keep my voice leveled.

“So he’s branding his victims. How does he dose them?” Prentiss asked.

“Houston PD still isn’t sure ‘cause, you know, date rape drugs metabolize quickly, and he’s keeping them for twelve hours.” Penelope answered before I could say anything. To be fair, I have no memory of how he drugged me, so even I didn’t know.

“So why are they calling us in now?” Morgan asked.

“Because of these most recent attacks. This piece of work has elevated sick and twisted to a whole new dimension. Cases in point- Brittany Anderson filed a report after she woke up outside the restaurant she was abducted from, and Vanessa Campbell was just reported missing.” Penelope answered and my eyes widened.

“Wait, those were victims two and five, weren’t they?” Spencer asked.

“Yes. He’s going back and attacking survivors a second time.” Penelope confirmed.

“Vanessa was grabbed from her house? He’s changing his M.O. from what we studied. He’s upping his game.” JJ said.

“Well, we know he stalks them. But public venue abduction, he has the power. Home invasion, he’s on their turf.” Morgan said.

“So he’s betting he can gain control before they get to a phone or a gun.” Spencer said.

“The question is why? What is he getting from revisiting old victims?” Rossi asked.

“It seems careless for someone who’s been so controlled up to now.” Hotch said.

“What is this? On the floor?” Prentiss asked.

“Uh, that- oh, God, that is the contents of Vanessa Campbell’s stomach, which she ralphed up.” Penelope answered.

“And in the glass?” Prentiss asked.

“According to the police report, it is salt and water.” Penelope answered.

“Homemade emetic.” Prentiss said.

“E-what what?” Penelope asked.

“Quick and dirty cocktail meant to induce vomiting.” Rossi answered.

“Vanessa Campbell and her husband moved to a new address. They’ve put locks on the doors. They took precautions. She even knew what to do if she was dosed again, and it still wasn’t enough. That’s what he gets out of it.” Prentiss explained.

“Their fear. He wants them to know that no matter what, he can still get to them.” Hotch said and I felt a chill run up my spine.

Everyone was getting ready to get on the jet. I gathered my stuff up and headed to the jet early. I walked on and saw Hotch sitting there alone.

“Hey.” I said.

“Y/N, I’m glad you’re here. Sit.” He said motioning to the seat in front of him.

“I don’t want you to go on the case.” He said and my eyes widened.

“Hotch, I’m fine.” I said and he shook his head.

“No, you’re not. You are too involved with this case.” He said and I shook my head.

“This man is the reason I studied so hard for this job, I want to catch people like him and now I have the chance to catch this son of a bitch. Please don’t take that away from me.” I said and he started at me for a few minutes.

“He’ll try and come after you.” He said and I nodded.

“I know the risks, but Hotch I can promise you I’m okay. I’m not gonna let him scare me.” I said and he sighed.

“Fine, but you listen to what I tell you and don’t try and find him on your own.” He said and I nodded.

“I promise.” I said, although I knew I might not be able to keep it all that well. Hotch and Rossi were talking with the chief and JJ and Prentiss were interviewing the victims. Reid Morgan and I were sent to the latest crime scene.

“Does Vanessa smoke?” Spencer asked her husband.

“Yes, Vanessa smokes. What does it matter?” He asked.

“It might explain how the unsub is drugging these women.” Spencer said and my eyes widened slightly. Thank God I quit.

“The media has done a very good job of warning people to watch their drinks so that bars are no longer a fertile hunting ground, but cigarette smokers aren’t as careful. They might ask to have a cigarette from a stranger, or have their pack swapped out of their purse when they put it down and then unknowingly inhale PCP or scopolamine, both of which mimic the effects of date rape drugs.” Spencer rambled, it honestly was always so cute to me, but now wasn’t the time to be thinking that.

“She hid them in her purse. She didn’t think I knew. She cracked the windows so I wouldn’t smell it when I got home.” Mr. Campbell said.

“You know, if the unsub stalked her from the backyard, he’d have a good view when she lit up.” Spencer said.

“He also took out the window with something like a center punch.” Morgan said.

“What’s that?” Mr. Campbell asked.

“It’s a spring-loaded device used to punch divots into metal. It also breaks glass.” I explained as Spencer walked off towards the kitchen.

“No cigarettes. He must have taken them with him to hide the evidence.” Spencer said while looking through her purse.

“You know, it might not be all he’s trying to hide.” Morgan said.

“What do you mean?” I asked him.

“Mr. Campbell, was this on when you came home?” He asked.

“The police told me not to touch anything.” Mr. Campbell answered.

“Well, you sure got a lot of MP3s on here.” Morgan said scrolling through them.

“Was it playing one of them?” He asked.

“No. Why?” Mr. Campbell asked.

“The media center keeps a history of the last twenty songs that were played, but either you don’t listen to any of them or someone erased it.” I said catching on to what Morgan was thinking.

“It wasn’t me.” Mr. Campbell said.

“I’ll call Garcia.” Morgan said, pulling out his phone.

“Whatcha need?” She answered.

“Hey, there’s an MP3 player in the Campbell house, can you tell me anything about the erased history?” Morgan asked.

“Okay, I can’t tell you who deleted that playback list, but I can tell you exactly when the log was cleared. 7:43 P.M..” She said.

“Why erase a history of someone else’s music?” Spencer asked.

“Because he didn’t erase someone else’s music. At 7:36, he loaned an MPS via USB drive, played it, and promptly deleted it.” She said, showing us on the Campbell’s T.V..

“Cleared the history so he could cover up his tracks.” She added.

“The unsub brought his own music to an abduction?” I asked confused.

“Yes, he did, and that is creepy. Fortunately, whatever is imported onto this computer downloaded the home network, so, ladies and gentlemen, the mystery song of Mr. Gruesome is…” She said and the music started playing. “That’s specific.” Spencer said.

“That’s another reason to call this guy the piano man.” Morgan said.

“Turn it off. Please.” Mr. Campbell said. Morgan turned it off.

“Does this song mean something to you or your wife?” Spencer asked.

“Vanessa hates it.” Mr. Campbell said and I gulped.

“How come?” Morgan asked.

“I don’t know. She doesn’t know. But every time it came on the radio, she’d burst into tears.” Mr. Campbell explained.

“So the unsub just happened to play it the night he came after her.” Morgan said.

We got back and JJ and Prentiss brought the woman back in to see if they had songs that triggered them too. All of us were in the room the local PD had set up for us and looked at all the songs these women now hated.

“Lady in Red, Up Where We Belong, Glory of Love. Each victim has her own piano ballad.” JJ said.

“You know, considering the survivors lose consciousness during the rape, we think this functions as the unsub’s signature. He most likely plays the songs repeatedly during the assault, resulting in pavlovian response when they heard it later, sort of a subconscious rape trigger.” Spencer said.

“The night of Vanessa Campbell’s abduction, that signature became part of his torture.” Rossi said. Hotch looked at me and I shook my head.

“We need to know.” He said and everyone looked at me.

“No.” I said.

“Know what?” Spencer asked confused.

“Y/N is one of the victims from the first time.” Hotch said.

“Hotch!” I said and I felt everyone looking at me in shock.

“So, what song is it?” He asked and I looked away from everyone.

“Endless Love…” I said.

“So, why these songs? What do they say about him?” Hotch asked, but before anyone could say anything more his phone rang.

“Go ahead, Morgan.” Hotch said.

“We just found Vanessa Campbell’s body. He didn’t even bother hiding it.” He said and my eyes widened.

“How long has she been dead?” Hotch asked.

“Maybe five hours.” He answered.

“He’s never killed before…” I said.

“Are we sure it’s our unsub?” Spencer asked, he was clearly worried.

“He used a piano wire as a garrote.” Morgan answered.

“Alright, Morgan, you come back here, I’ll go to the coroner's office once they’ve looked her over.” Hotch said and hung up.

“Keep working.” Hotch said and pulled me out of the room.

“You need to go back home now.” He said and I shook my head.

“I’m not going anywhere until he’s behind bars.” I said, standing my ground.

“Y/N this is serious, he’s getting more confident, you need to leave.” He said.

“Hotch is right Y/N.” Spencer said coming out of the room.

“I’ll give you two some time to talk.” Hotch said and went back into the room.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked.

“Because I wanted to forget about it. Hotch is the only one that knew because of my psych eval.” I said not meeting his eyes.

“I can help you.” He said, gently touching my arms.

“Spence, there’s nothing to help. The only thing I need to do is to catch him.” I said. He gently guided my eyes to look at his.

“I understand, but this is dangerous for you, he could try and come after you now and what if he kills you? I can’t lose you…” He said with tears in his eyes.

“I promised Hotch I wouldn’t go looking for him alone and as hard as it is to keep that promise, I need to. Because if I ever see him again, I will kill him.” I said and Spencer’s eyes widened, but he saw the tears in my eyes.

“I can’t let him get away with this again.” I said and a tear slid down my cheek. Spencer pulled me to him and held me close.

“Just stay with me okay? I can tell Hotch that we need to stay together, I can protect you.” He said and I smiled.

“You know, I think that’ll be better for the both of us.” I said and he smiled back.

“I love you.” He whispered.

“I love you too, now let’s get back to doing our job.” I said, but he stopped me.

“There’s nothing I can do to convince you to go home?” He asked and I smiled slightly.

“You know there’s not.” I said and he sighed, but nodded.

We walked back in the room and Hotch said the three of us were going to the morgue. So we hopped in a car and headed there. They didn’t have too much to look over apparently.

“Tissue inflammation is consistent with inhalation of some sort of drug. I can’t tell what yet.” The doctor told us.

“And the ligature marks?” Hotch asked.

“Same as before. New wounds on top of old scars.” The doctor said holding up the hand and I felt myself reach for my own wrists.

“No sexual assault, though. Possibly because she regained consciousness at some point and fought back.” He added.

“She doesn’t show any signs of defensive wounds.” Spencer commented.

“No, but I did fish this out of her trachea.” The doctor said handing Spencer a bag.

“Neoprene?” I asked.

“From a glove. My best guess is she bit him.” The doctor said.

“Not enough to break the skin, unfortunately.” He added.

“An exam glove?” Hotch asked.

“Most likely.” The doctor answered.

“Actually, it’s a surgical glove. A little bit thicker than an exam glove. If he was wearing neoprene, it means he has an allergy to latex.” Spencer said.

“I’ll have Garcia check hospital records.” Hotch said and left the room.

“Thank you doctor.” I said and Spencer and I followed Hotch out.

When we got back to the PD Hotch told Spencer and I to take a little break. I objected at first, but he said it was an order so we took a walk around the block.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” I said grabbing Spencer’s hand.

“I understand why you didn’t.” He said.

“I can hear him still you know…” I said and he looked at me confused.

“What?” He asked.

“He sang the song, I remember his voice. I was new to smoking so I wasn’t used to it yet. I was out with some friends and I went to smoke alone, when I tasted it, it tasted off so I got rid of it, but I blacked out after. I couldn’t open my eyes, but I could hear that song and him singing it…” I admitted.

“We need to go back.” Spencer said and grabbed my hand. We ran back as fast as we could and we saw everyone sitting at a table.

“Hey you guys are back, we got a suspect.” JJ said and we looked at her confused.

“Y/N remembers his voice.” Spencer said and everyone’s eyes widened.

“Let’s go, Prentiss you try and get him to talk. Hotch said and the four of us walked towards the investigation room. Emily went inside and started playing to his fantasies.

“It’s not him.” I said.

“He’s definitely assaulted Dianna though.” Prentiss said.

“Arrest him for that, but he’s not the man that raped me.” I said and walked out of the room.

“How can Herman Scodie not be the piano man? We’ve got the medical gloves, the medical record he pulled.” Rossi asked. We were all gathered in the room, after Hotch had sent JJ, Spencer, and Morgan to go check his house anyway.

“The taunt he said to Diana Mitchell, he repeated to us.” Prentiss said.

“Well, Scobie definitely assaulted Diana the second time. He’s probably re-victimizing all of the survivors.” JJ said.

“But apply the profile to Herman Scobie, and look at what’s different. There’s no piano wire, and there’s no song played.” Morgan said.

“You think there are two unsubs, the piano man and a copycat?” Hotch asked.

“A copycat studies the original unsub in order to learn. Herman Scobie’s a doppelganger.” Spencer said.

“He’s trying to pass himself off as the piano man.” I said.

“Why?” Rossi asked.

“Convenience, maybe. If he assaults the piano man’s survivors, they’re less likely to reach out to the police.” Morgan said.

“And if they do, the women claim it was the piano man. No one thinks to look at hospital orderlies.” JJ added.

“So who killed Vanessa Campbell, the piano man or Scobie?” Hotch asked.

“It’s a lay-up. Same neoprene glove in her throat as we found in Scobie’s van.” Rossi answered.

“There’s something odd about that too, though. If Vanessa swallowed this it would be scarred by digestive acids. I mean, even if it got caught in her trachea as he choked her out, gastric reflux would be evident, but there isn’t any.” Spencer said.

“So the unsub placed that in her throat postmortem.” I said.

“Which unsub?” Prentiss asked.

“He used the piano wire, he played the song, it must be the piano man.” Morgan said.

“So he plants a piece of evidence to frame Scobie.” Rossi said.

“Okay, let me get this straight. The piano man is trying to convince us that Scobie is responsible for all of these crimes.” Prentiss said.

“And if these two have studied each other this closely, then Scobie is the key to finding the piano man.” Hotch said.

“His lawyer’s here. Scobie’s not gonna talk to us.” JJ said.

“He will when he finds out he’s been set up.” Hotch said.

“Let me talk to him.” I said and everyone looked at me.

“No way.” Hotch said.

“If he’s studied the piano man he’ll know who I am. He’ll want to talk to me.” I said and Spencer shook his head.

“No, we can’t let you do that.” He said.

“Fine. I’ll go in with you. That’s the only way.” Hotch said and I nodded.

“Hotch, you’re serious about this?” Spencer asked shocked.

“She’s right, if he knows who she is then it might put him on edge.” He answered.

“Let’s go.” He added and we walked inside. Herman and his lawyer looked up at us and I noticed Herman’s eyes flash with realization.

“My client has nothing to say.” His lawyer said.

“Good. We’d rather he listen anyway.” Hotch said.

“You’re going away fro rape. The question is whether you’ll let your competition hang Vanessa Campbell’s murder on you as well.” I said.

“I didn’t kill her.” Herman said.

“I didn’t even touch her.” He added.

“Herman.” His lawyer warned.

“From what you’ve told us, we know exactly what you think of these women.” Hotch said.

“You don’t need to kill them.” I said speaking as if I wasn’t one of them.

“They’re not worth that much effort to you.” I said and he never took his eyes off me.

“But the piano man can’t take that risk. When he’d heard what you’d done, he killed Vanessa Campbell.” Hotch said.

“He went back to an old victim, just like you, but then he places a piece of neoprene down her throat. Does that sound like an accident?” I asked and he glared at me.

“He’s setting you up.” I added.

“I need to discuss this with my client.” The lawyer said.

“No, he talks to us now, or he takes his chances with a jury.” Hotch said.

“What do you want to know?” Herman asked, eyes still never leaving mine.

“Who is he?” I asked and he smirked.

“You should know, I know who you are.” He said leaning forward towards me.

“His unknown victim. The one that didn’t report him.” He said.

“Who is he?” Hotch asked again.

“I never met him. I just read about what he did in the hospital records.” He said looking up at me.

“You were the only one that didn’t report him, but you came in with the same marks as those other women.” He said, looked at me again.

“The weird thing though, I had three chicks picked out to do next. I was gonna start with Vanessa, but… He got to her first.” Herman said.

“Who was the other ones?” Hotch asked.

“Regina Lampert and Y/N Y/L/N.” He answered.

“You’re going away for a long time.” I said and walked out of the room. Spencer grabbed me and pulled me to him.

“It’s okay.” He whispered and kissed my head. We all met in the room and tried calling Regina.

“Okay, guys, regina Lampert is not answering her phone, and I found something hinky on her, which I’m sending to your tablets.” Garcia said.

“Alright, Garcia, what are we looking at?” Hotch asked.

“It’s a surveillance video from the bar that Regina Lampert works at. Do you see the guy she’s talking to?” She asked.

“PLaying the piano. He’s taunting her.” Rossi said.

“She knows it too. Look at her body language.” Hotch said.

“Watch what happens when I fast-forward to closing time.” Garcia said and sped up the video.

“She seems to warm up to him.” I said.

“And then, watch this.” She said and the video changed to a different angle.

“Garcia, freeze it right there.” Hotch said.

“Look at her face. No, she doesn’t. She set herself up as bait.” Hotch said.

“Credit card says that the guy at the piano is Hamilton Bartholomew. This is what I know, his wife just filed a missing persons report on him this morning. She directed me to some job he just applied for, so I got a background check from that where they did his fingerprints.” She said.

“Alright, Garcia, pull Regina Lampert’s rape kit and cross-reference the prints found with Bartholomew’s, and see if you get a match. We need to get to her house.” Hotch said.

“Sending her address to your GPS.” She said and then we hung up. We all left to get to her house.

“Garcia, did she pick up?” Hotch asked, answering the phone.

“No, but we did just get a 911 call from her house, and it is freaking weird.” Garcia said and then started playing the call.

“911 operator. What’s your emergency?” A lady asked.

“Hello?” She asked when no one said anything.

“My name is Hamilton Bartholomew. I’m being held captive by a lunatic!” He said then a gunshot went off.

“She took the piano man captive?” Prentiss asked.

“Unless he’s not the piano man. I mean think about it. Would the piano man call us to rescue him?” Morgan asked.

“She could be shooting at the wrong guy.” Rossi said.

“No, it’s him.” I said.

“What?” Spencer asked.

“That’s his voice… I know it.” I said.

“The lab just confirmed, it’s him.” Prentiss said. We pulled up to the house and everyone got out.

“Y/N you stay out here, that’s an order.” Hotch said and I knew there was no fighting this on.

“As long as I’m the one that puts the cuffs on him.” I said and Hotch nodded. They went in and Spencer stayed out here with me. Hotch and Prentiss came out with both of them and Hotch handed him to me.

“Hamilton bartholomew, you’re under arrest for the rapes of thirteen women and the murder of Vanessa Campbell.” Hotch said and I put the cuffs on him.

“It’s you…” He said to me.

“I’m gonna make sure you stay in jail for the rest of your damn life.” I growled at him. Hotch took him from me and Spencer came up and held me tightly.

“Should have let her pull the trigger.” I said.

“Come on baby, let’s just go.” Spencer said and took me to the car.

“He’s never gonna see light again, you know that.” He said.

“But he’s still alive…” I said.

“And I’ll be here for you, whatever you need.” He said and held me close.

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mangolover · 4 years ago

Text

Introduction

Well hello there~!

I am Mango Lover, but I also like to call myself Kiara in most of the games.

That is not my real name however, but I would kindly ask of you to reffer to me by it or by Mango or Mango Lover.

First, let me just say that you’re all welcome here. No matter your gender, sexual orientation, race, skin color, eye color, religion, nationality, whatever the hell it may be. As long as you have general respect towards everyone here, you’re welcome. We all have our beliefs that are valid, but please, for the love of everything holy, don’t be disrespectful towards anyone. This a safe place for us all. If you don’t respect that, well fuck you, to simply say it.

Now here’s some facts about me:

I use she/her pronouns (but I am thinking of using they/them as well)

I am questioning my romantic and sexual orientation so I’ll try to write for everyone

I am a cancer, 21st of July

I am a minor

I am in multiple fandoms

Apparently, I am INFP-T

I am from Europe.

I write for:

Ikemen Series (Ikemen Revolution, Ikemen Sengoku, Ikemen vampire)

Genshin Impact

Obey Me!

A3! Act! Addict! Actors!

Now why did I name myself Mango Lover?

It’s simple really, I love mangos. I believe it’s my favourite or 2nd favourite fruit, it’s a tight race between mangos and bananas.

Do I watch anime or read manga?

I do watch anime, but rarely. I’m new to it and I did not watch any that are in trend right now like BNHA, AOT or Fruits Basket, sorry.

I am currently watching Haikyuu!! tho just really slowly...

I however do not read manga. Simply because they are too expensive to buy in my local bookstores and my family would judge me for as long as I shall live. And I’m too lazy to try and find manga online to read, to be quite honest.

But I am thinking about starting to read it...

My hobbies:

Not many really

Listening to music?

Writing sometimes

General daydreaming

Laying around all day, I’m lazy ngl

Will there be any more fandoms I’ll write for in the future?

I am opent to it as of July of 2021.

I’m sure there will be some in the future maybe based on some other games or anime, but right now I’m still trying to write for all this characters already. Also, I’m thinking of adding Midnight Cinderella, but I haven’t played that game in quite some time so I remember nothing.

All my work is tagged with #🥭. ‘Cause you know, it’s a mango, lol.

I think that covers it all. If there’s anything more you would like to know, please let me know and I will answer it. Just nothing too personal as I am kinda uncomfy sharing too much stuff about myself, just in case my friends may find this and figure out that it’s me. The shame I would feel.

If you would like to return to navigation post, press here.

#introduction #introduction post

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pattonkittysquad2 · 5 years ago

Text

TS Sims 4 Challenge

Looking for a Sanders Sides Challenge in the Sims 4? Well, I have created one! This challenge requires the base game, and anything that comes with an expansion or so can be swapped out for something else similar.

Goal of the Challenge: get through at least six generations without cheating (Testingcheats true is allowed, but Kaching/others is not).

Gen. Rules

No cheating! Money, Relationships, UI Cheats, and the like are not allowed!

You can switch lots at any time, but only if you can afford it. (40,000 simoleons minimum)

If you do not want to do a side because they make you uncomfortable, you can absolutely skip that generation and go onto the next!

If you still want to do at least six generations, I provide extra generations for the end!

If you have done all six generations and want more, the extra generations are also open!

You can switch out any traits/aspirations/jobs/gen. specific activities for similar ones if you don’t have that pack.

The next heir can be Adopted or biologically the former heir/founder’s kid, but they must be connected on the family tree.

If your heir/founder does not complete everything before they die, then you fail the challenge

After your current generation completes their aspiration, you can choose a new aspiration to complete.

You can either have the sims named after the sides or something inspired/drawn from it. They can be any gender or sexuality, but you might find some trouble with the gender part as they only have he/him and she/her pronouns (petition to get EA to include pronouns)

Gameplay

Life span is set to Long and you have to wait until half of the age bar is full to grow them up

Seasons is set to four weeks.

Toddlers must have all skills maxed before fully aging them up.

Child must have one skill maxed and an A in school.

Scoring

Each successful Generation gives you ten points. ( 6 generations = 60 points)

Each completed collection (fossils, crystals, etc) gives you 10 points.

Each skill maxed gives you 10 points.

Each aspiration complete gives you 10 points

Every 10,000 satisfaction points unused is 10 points

Every 50,000 simoleons earned is 25 points

To complete each generation, finish their required

Generation One: Logan.

You have moved out of your parents and have cut off contact with them (for whatever reason). You have gotten your dream job, have your own little house, and now, you are about to start your own life with your own rules.

Generation Color: Dark Blue.

Job: Astronaut

Aspiration: Nerd Brain

Traits: Genius, Geek, Ambitious

1. Max Logic and Handiness skills

2. Get to the top of your career

3. Complete elements collection

4. Build a rocket and go to Sixam

5. Become best friends with or marry an Alien

6. Read all the (fiction) books you can.

Generation Two: Roman

With your parents were busy with work, you had to grow up on your own. You two always found time to be together, but you both have wildly different personalities. While your dad was reading books, you were practicing the violin and singing.

Generation Color: Red

Job: Entertainer (Musician)

Aspiration: Musical Genius Aspiration

Traits: Music Lover, Creative, Romantic

1. Max all instruments available to you

2. Max Singing and Charisma Skills

3. Get to the top of your career

4. Have two failed relationships before finding your soulmate (get Soulmate label in relationship status)

5. Mentor your spouse in playing the Violin.

6. Adopt a pure white German Shepherd.

Note: if you do not have Cat and Dogs, ignore step six.

Generation Three: Patton

While your parents were loving, you always yearned for a big family. Now that you’re married to your high school sweetheart, you are ready to start your own family.

Generation Color: Light Blue

Job: Stay-At-Home-Parent

Aspiration: Super Parent OR Big Happy Family

Traits: Family Orientated, Goof-Ball, Dog Person OR Good

1. Have a High School sweetheart and marry them soon after you turn into a young adult

2. Have at least four kids (One must be adopted from when they’re a baby, another must be when they’re a child.)

3. Have a dog

4. Max Cooking, Parenting, and Gardening

5. Become Soulmates with Spouse

6. Have your BFF be a friend from High School.

Generation Four: Virgil

While your parents did an amazing job with raising you, you still struggle day-to-day with anxiety and still live with them after everyone else has moved out. Determined to help around the house, you get a job and try to help your elderly parents as much as possible

Generation Color: Purple

Job: Writer (You may make it an official career or write in your free time)

Aspiration: Best-Selling Author

Traits: Gloomy, Bookworm, Loner

1. Max Fishing, Cleaning, and Piano Skill

2. Marry someone with outgoing trait

3. Be BFFs with former Heir

4. Max Writer Career and/or Skill

5. Have twins with spouse

6. Max all toddler and child skills

Generation Five: Deceit

You tried your best as a kid to be kind, but you struggled with making friends. Now you only have one close friend that you are struggling to stay close to after you enter a relationship. You are struggling to stay positive in dark times.

Generation Color: Yellow

Job: Tech Guru

Aspiration: Computer Whiz

Traits: Geek, Hot-Headed, Jealous.

1. Max Programming, Video Gaming, Handiness, and Cooking

2. Have an iffy relationship w/ parents and grandparents

3. Marry and divorce once before marrying BFF

4. Have only one child w/ first parent

5. Reach top of career

6. Travel to all secret locations (excluding Sixam unless given the chance.)

Generation Six: Remus

Your parents tried to give you the world, but they just didn’t have the time. With no where else to turn, you started acting out, causing a rift before you all. Now grown up, you still have no idea what’s going on in your life.

Generation Color: Green

Job: N/A

Aspiration: Public Enemy

Traits: Erratic, Hot-Headed, Kleptomaniac

1. Make Money by stealing

2. Marry when adult (not Y/A)

3. Max Mischief, Comedy, Violin, and a random skill of your choosing

4. Max Creative/Imagination skills as child/toddler

5. Have a poor relationship with your former heir and then repair it.

6. Have at least one romantic action w/ partner a day.

BONUS GENERATIONS (Small generations that I didn’t give a lot of thought to)

B.G: Remy

Generation Color: Black

Job: Barista, Mixologist

Aspiration: Mixology Master

Traits: Bro, Snob, Dance Machine OR Art lover

1. Reach top of Barista Career

2. Max Mixology, Dance, and Photography skills

3. Marry young.

-----

That’s all I have for now! If you have any questions go ahead and shoot an ask my way or PM me. If you try out this challenge, go ahead and tag me in any posts you make- don’t forget to link the rules and such!

P.S; Give me some Ideas for Remy and future Bonus Generations! I’d love them! ♥♥♥

edit: added some fancy borders and an edit, ooo

#thomas sanders #Sanders Sides #patton sanders #logan sanders #roman sanders #virgil sanders #remus sanders #deceit sanders #remy sanders #sims 4 challenge #TS sims 4 Challenge #Rules #OG post #tw bright colors

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xxisxxisxxis · 5 years ago

Text

Gateway Drug | Part Thirty-Seven

Table of Content or Part Thirty-Six

Read chapter here on wattpad

Word Count: 3.2K

Warning(s): Explicit language, Drug abuse, mentions of abuse

Tag List: @unknownoblivion @sinningsixx @edwardtriggerhandzz @lemmyjelly @haileynicoleseavey17 @cierrasixx19 @oskea93 @mgkobsessed @vamprlestat @sharon6713 @itsametaphorbriansblog @miriampraez @allie-mcginn @rebeccaphillips14 @nicholeh7 @fandomshit6000 @lilmou5ie @tamedhearts @divaanya @kingbouji3 @evrsncnewyork @6ixx6ixx @ratedrkohardychick91 @floregrohlssard @oldschoolimagineblog @thanks2pete @abaldboi @swoopygorl @justjodeye @liith-ium @caos18blog @ytwahsog @shamlessobsessions @scarecrowmax @toadspleen @random-internet-user-4471 @solohqrry @loveofmyloif @sparxx27 @kaitieskidmore1 @xpoisonousrosesx @ijustwanttokiss70srogertaylor @triplehaitches @emmaelizabeth2014 @meetthesixxter @sixxsixxsexx @sublimeprincesswasteland @arianareirg @girlnight-terror @mcnibberachi

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"...I don't think that's necessary." I argue, stepping down the hallway with Ross and Tansy at my heels.

"Oh, c'mon, Viv, it's one shoot." Tansy tells me. "I think it would be nice."

"Of course you would, Tansy. You like stuff like that." I reply. "I have no business being in a magazine like that."

"It's Metal Edge." Ross interjects with this British accent in my ears. "All you need to do is be pretty and stand against a wall with Nikki for a couple of pictures." He explains and I glare back at him.

"Isn't it a rock magazine that covers musicians?" I ask.

"Yeah." He tells me.

"Hmm. I'm not a musician. I have no business being in it." I make my point.

"Your Nikki's wife. You've got a pretty face and banging body and the fans will appreciate that." He argues.

"Ah, so now I'm the little extra on the side so when the fans get done reading about their favorite band, they can rub one out imagining the bassist's pretty wife with a banging body, naked."

"I didn't mean it like that."

"Yeah, you did." I state as we walk towards Nikki, Vince, Tommy, and Mick.

"Can we hurry up and take this, man?" Nikki asks him.

"Tell your wife to take a picture for the damn magazine." Ross states to him.

"Wife, take a picture for the damn magazine." Nikki repeats with very little enthusiasm.

"No." I cross my arms, looking up at him.

"Vivian, they told me to get a couple of photographs with you and Nikki together." Ross continues to plead. "It's one picture. You're not selling your soul."

I look at Tansy as she's giving me a small, reassuring, smile.

"Fine." I give up, rolling my eyes.

Ross let's out a breath of relief being that we've been going back and forth for 45 minutes now.

"I'll go get ready while you guys do whatever." I tell him.

"Thank you!" He calls after me, as Tansy has my hand in hers, pulling me to the dressing room.

Ross Haflin was the band's photographer that documented every tour.

Everything from random, sweet, camaraderie filled candids of the band, to pictures from their shows that you can practically hear the music through, to even some full frontal nudity shots of someone in the band who will not be named. (Hint: It's definitely not Mick.)

I finish my makeup as Tansy finishes curling my hair, examining her work in the mirror.

Once I get changed into the tight black minidress and red heels Tansy tosses my way, we're meeting Ross and Nikki in the hall.

Nikki's face is lighting up like a lightbulb when he sees me, I don't know if it's because of coke in his system or if he's just glad to see me.

"You look great." He grins at me, his eyes looking me up and down before placing random kisses all over my face, causing me to smile like an idiot.

"10 minutes, guys." Doc says just as we're kissing, pulling the both of us back from each other to stand against the wall.

"Try to look like you love each other." Ross says sarcastically after Nikki pulls me closer beside him. "Alright, one, two..." Ross counts off. Just as he says "three" Nikki's fingers are tickling at my side, cause me to laugh and jerk a little, ruining the picture.

"Nikki." I complain, nudging at him a little.

After several more attempts to take a serious photo, one of them involving him pulling the bottom of my dress up, we finally get the winning picture: him with my crucifix between his bared teeth, looking directly at the camera, while my mouth is pulled into a smile as I laugh at his stupidity, my arms loosely around his waist.

After the show, Doc is pulling the guys back into the dressing room before they can entertain the idea of changing really quick and hitting the town.

"Something good has happened." Doc tells them, smiling, leaving us glancing at each other in confusion.

"What is it?" Tansy and I both ask at the same time, my heart racing despite him saying it's good news.

"As of today, Shout At The Devil and Theater of Pain have both been certified double-platinum." Doc informs us.

I look at Nikki to gauge his reaction as Tansy let's out an excited shrill, engulfing Tommy and Vince both in a hug. She goes to do the same to Mick, but he looks at her blankly, only making her squeeze at his hand with a proud smile.

"Nikki?" I ask cautiously, seeing him wearing a neutral expression, my arm looping around his.

"Who the fuck are these people?" He questions suddenly, causing us to fall silent. "Who the fuck listens to us that much?" He adds and I rub my lips together.

"People who really love you." Tansy states like it's known knowledge.

I don't think Nikki knew he was capable of being loved as unconditionally as their fans loved them.

Later that night, laying in the silent hotel room, hearing Vince have his nightly menage a trois as Tansy sleepily tosses beside me in our bed.

Me and her have been left by Nikki and Sparkie, Tommy tagging along, to go out.

Tansy's been attempting sobriety...kind of?

"Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahh!" Short, high-pitched squeaks leaves one of the girls Vince is with and I cringe in disgust.

"Ew." I mumble, trying to cover my ears.

"It's so fucking big." The other girl comments in a wanton moan.

"It's not that big." Tansy comments tiredly, causing me to choke on my spit. "It's good, but he never had me—"

"Oh, fuck, I'm gonna cum!" The first girl nearly screams out, causing Vince to groan.

The next thing we hear through the thin walls is the sound of gushing liquid hitting the wall we're against as the girl gives out a cry.

"Okay, he's either upped his game or they're getting off on the fact they're simply fucking Vince Neil because I definitely did not do that when we dated." Tansy's interested now, sitting up and pressing her ear against the wall.

"Why on Earth would you want to hear that?!" I scold in a whisper. "You pervert." I add.

"My turn." The second girl pipes sultrily. "Did I mention I can lock my ankles behind my neck?"

"Awe, Viv, you can do that." Tansy whispers, nudging my arm with her hand as if that makes me and the random woman kindred spirits.

"How do you know that?" I ask her with furrowed brows.

"Tape 2, four minute and forty-three second mark." She says casually, focusing on hearing the action next door.

"You've seen our sex tape?!" I keep my voice to a loud whisper.

"I've seen all of them." She replies. "You look hot in them, don't worry."

"I—"

"I'd like to see that." Vince tells the woman arrogantly, interrupting what I was about to say.

"Gross." I groan out, covering my head with my pillow to drown out the noises.

After a couple more minutes of trying not to vomit from hearing his sex, I'm snatching the covers off myself and stepping to the door.

"Where are you going?" Tansy asks me and I ignore her, going out in the hall and banging on Vince's door with the flat of my palm.

The door opens, and I'm face to face chest with Tommy...a naked Tommy.

I avoid looking down.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I ask him, seeing a naked woman wrap her arms around his waist, peeking at me from behind him. "You're suppose to be out with Nikki and Sparkie."

"We got back early." Tommy explains to me, pupils blown out.

"Where's Sparkie and Nikki?"

He steps to the side and motions to Sparkie, who's gang-banging another woman with Vince.

I feel sick to my stomach.

"Where's Nikki?"

Tommy's hand curls into a fist as his knuckles knock at the bathroom door beside him.

"Sixx?!" He asks, and I already know what Nikki being locked in the bathroom, avoiding a good time, means: he's high as shit.

The bathroom door, revealing Nikki as he slumps against the door frame, his eyes struggling to stay open as he looks at me.

"Uhh...you good, man?" Tommy asks him, cautiously.

"Yeah, dude." Nikki slurs, taking a step forward to me.

"I got him." I tell Tommy, helping Nikki out the door. "Enjoy the rest of your night." I tell Tommy, ignoring the moans and screams of the girl Sparkie and Vince are working on.

I leave before Tommy can reply, Nikki leaning against me as I knock on our room door.

After several attempts, and Tansy still hasn't come yet, I pull the other key out of Nikki's pants pocket and unlock the door.

A bitter, horrid smell invades my nose, and I see Tansy crouching in front of a hotplate, looking at me wide-eyed, pipe in hand as she eagerly awaits the base to cook up.

That moment I found out Tansy was dabbling in crack.

She did a complete nose dive into it a couple months later, and once Vanity taught Nikki how to properly cook it up, smoke it, and get the biggest high of it, he, Vanity and Tansy would just lay around our house and smoke crack together.

I didn't mention it to Tansy the next day because I had other things on my mind...such as Sparkie having a death wish.

You can hear a pin drop in here. Even the flight attendants are holding their breath.

It seems Tommy, Nikki, and Mick have sobered up on the spot the second Sparkie says, "well, I didn't have any cash on me, and your purse was on the bus so I just made a trade. I didn't think you would need them anymore. You seem pretty happy to me, lately" once I'm digging around in my purse, asking the guys if they've seen my Nardil anywhere because it's time for me to take it.

I'm still trying to figure out if I heard him right.

Fred's getting antsy, I see him from the corner of my eye as he slowly stands from his spot, waiting for me to attack with my teeth going for the bastard's neck.

Vince just has this little smirk on his face because he knows Sparkie is about to meet his maker.

"W-what?" Tansy squeaks at her boyfriend, confused as to why her sweet, innocent, precious little Sparkler would do such a thing to her best friend.

"Where are my pills?" I ask Sparkie just to clarify.

He looks at me with raised brows.

"I told you, Vivian, I didn't have any money. I needed some blow. I remembered you keep them in your purse, which was on the bus, which was unlocked. I got your pills out and made a trade." He repeats to me like I was too stupid to understand him the first time.

"You heard him, right, Doc?" I ask.

"I--yeah?" Doc replies, uneasy at my calmness.

"Good. Because a jury will need to hear a witness and know I had justification for finally killing this motherfucker!" I lunge over the seat in front of me to grab fistfuls of Sparkie's greasy hair, Tansy screaming as she stumbles out of her seat beside him.

"Vivian!" Doc's yelling as he reaches his hand out, trying to pry me off of Sparkie.

I turn and kick him in the chest with my heel, still leaned over the seats, my arm around Sparkie's neck, hopefully crushing his throat as he fights against me, sputtering and gasping for air as Tansy's crying and pleading with me, but I don't hear a word she says.

Tommy and Nikki come to Doc's aid, the both of them grabbing at me, only causing me to kick at them and swing my free hand.

"You fucking kick me, I'm laying your ass out, Viv!" Nikki threatens me sharply.

I look at him, directly in the eye, and kick him as hard as I can in the arm.

His eyes go wild, an ugly sneer pulls at his lips to expose grinding teeth, and he grabs me by my hair, causing me to whimper out as tears prick my eyes from the pain, and forces me off the seats to the floor.

Because I've always been glutton for punishment when I'm angry, him nearly scalping me wasn't enough.

My foot collides with Nikki's crotch so hard he doubles over and falls to the floor, completely disregarding me, and giving me time to reach up beside me and grab the Jack Daniels bottle sitting in the seat Tommy just got up from.

Sparkie's trying to recover, taking long, heavy breaths, as the whiskey flies from the Jack bottle as it hits him square in the head.

Fred snatches me off the floor, manhandling me like he would do one of the guys, and throws me into the small bathroom, locking me inside for the remainder of the flight, only yanking me out and making me sit next to him and buckle up to land.

Sparkie was taken to the nearest hospital to make sure he wasn't suffering from a concussion, and I was getting the chewing out of a lifetime.

"You just can't start trying to kill people left and right, Vivian." Fred snaps as we step to the car that's taking us to the hotel. "You're gonna fuck around and get sued and no offense, Nikki, but you can't afford that." He adds and Nikki scoffs.

"None fucking taken." He mumbles back.

"He traded my antidepressant for blow!" I argue.

"I think she did a great thing." Vince tells them. "The little bitch deserved it."

"Thank you, Vince." I say to him and Nikki scoffs out bitterly, causing me to turn to look at him.

"What?" I ask him, not finding anything wrong with what I said.

"You would agree with him." He replies as we get into the limo.

"What's that suppose to mean?" I snap back at him.

He just shakes his head a little and looks straight ahead as Vince and Fred get into the seats across from us.

I almost ask where Tommy and Mick are, then I remember Tommy went with Tansy, Sparkie and Doc, to the hospital and planned to drop Mick off at the hotel on the way there.

"No need to be threatened just because she slept in the bed with me." Vince tells him, reasonably. "You know that, right?"

Nikki's laughing it off as if he could never be threatened by Vince Neil...although it's so obvious he is.

"Well, Nikki, if it bothers you that much, maybe don't stay out all night." I suggest calmly. "I'm always gonna go find one of my friends and stay with them for the night because I don't like sleeping by myself. That doesn't mean I'm having sex with them or want to. I just get lonely."

"Well, when I get lonely, I don't crawl into bed with other people." He says it harshly and I roll my jaw.

"No, of course you don't. You just warm up to a needle and strip your veins." I argue in the same tone, seeing a brief glance of Satan in his hazel eyes before his hand, harshly, hits my thigh hard enough to leave a stinging, firey hot, dark red print that's welting up in the shape of his hand.

I didn't say a damn thing else to him until we got back to L.A. a couple days later for a a week-long break. All I could think about while avoiding my own husband, were Ross' words, "pretend you love each other" echoing in my brain.

People who really love each other don't kick, hit or talk to each other the way Nikki and I did.

Ross would always say, "alright, you love each other" or "look like you want to be together" before taking our picture.

At first it was light-hearted, but over the course of two years, it began being said with less light, and more of a command, which after after finding out what I did from his drug buddy/mistress, any commands about a picture made by Ross would be followed by me saying, "I don't wanna touch that doped up bastard-fuck" and Nikki saying, "I'm not getting anywhere near that rabid fucking bitch."

We would, of course, suck it up and take the pictures for the sake of the fans and our public image, but the second he said he was done, we were darting away from each other like we would die if we touched each other more than five minutes.

We could barely stand to be in the same room after Vanity dropped the bombshell which really wouldn't have blindsided me had I been paying more attention to all the screaming red flags the both of them were practically throwing at me. And if you've been in that situation, the signs are oh so clear in hindsight once you're taking a break between crying, to put the pieces you hadn't given a second thought before, together.

A huge one, possibly the most painful, was the giant roman numeral "V" Nikki had gotten tattooed on his arm months prior to the revealed betrayal. I hadn't thought anything of it at the time when I first saw it after he got back from getting it, other than "what significance does the number "five" have to him?"

It was a roman numeral, but was also a "V."

For "Vanity."

Once I came to that realization in the bathroom of the hotel we were staying at, that I had barricaded myself in, it hurt even worse than just seeing the woman I had practically given a house key to, joke about becoming "Vanity 6" once again after taking my husband's last name, while waving my wedding ring around.

He didn't even have anything related to me tattooed on him and I was his wife. But he had no issue slapping a big-ass "V" on his arm and playing it off like a number. If "five" had a significant meaning to him at the time, it was because it was the number of times he bought heroin in a day.

All sanity left in me was tossed aside and it was fucking war from then on and I mean war.

After that, it seemed like every time Nikki and I were in a room together, everyone tensed up and prepared to either hit the floor to avoid being caught in the collateral in case Nikki or I started throwing shit at each other, or eyed their exits to escape being a witness to some fucked up things being said between me and him.

Shortly after the Vanity incident, I figured since we were tattooing the initial of the people we told each other not to worry about on ourselves, Nikki wouldn't have minded seeing a perfectly sharp"D" on my upper hip—and Duff and I weren't even messing around yet at that time.

It was small, only about the size of a quarter, but it packed one hell of a punch when Nikki first laid eyes on it and I sarcastically, innocently, spat out, "but...it's just the roman numeral for 500."

#nikki sixx #tommy lee #vince neil #mötley crüe #the dirt #gateway drug

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kyufiber-moved · 5 years ago

Note

I feel like u have a lot of amazing ideas. Can u list them all our do u wanna keep them secret? Like a big masterlist of all the types of aus u wanna write someday. I know i have like 3 pages of ideas. I've actually written down plots to a lot of them, but i don't get much father than that 😬 -🐖

wkjefkwej i do have lots of ideas ((idk about AMAZING damn ily) but most of them are just swirling around my head tbh,,, i have an 18 page google doc with old ideas but then i didnt keep writing ideas down there so ,,, it would be like 30 pages long if i had kept at it ksjdfkjefj

i do want to ((for the most part)) keep my ideas secret so that 1. ppl wont use them before i can SKFKJE and 2. so that if i do post / write / etc them, ppl won’t have alr seen them before !!! but i can post vague-ish ?? summaries of them !!!! also this turned out to be way longer than i thought so . apologies

modern cinderella sns au

hanahaki au

ao haru ride au

modernized jane eyre au

love alarm au

stoic tsundere chef!kyungsoo (see here)

au based off of shinee’s view music video (which i alr kinda did with runaways but . still ive had this idea for years)

tatbilb au

teacher x student au

fashion blogger!y/n

bad bitch!y/n and nerd!main lead

false memories au ((a lot more complicated but hard to explain simply so,,, ill leave it at that))

au based off of the dawnguard quest in skyrim ((but just the ‘100′s of years old vampire locked in a crypt gets found by random human’ part))

au based off groupie love by lana del rey

something with the title “1-800-CUPID” ((if someone takes this i will literally cry just . dont do it . im gonna use it at some point))

something with the title “101 ways to get the girl” AGAIN DONT TAKE IT

guy takes nerdy girls and turns them into bad bitches formula au

ur new teacher / teaching assistant / boss / etc is the one night stand you had the previous night OOPS

secretly dating au

boarding school au

harry potter au

au based off airplane by ikon

fuckboy!heejun

au based off she’s a baby by zico

halloween party costume... turns out to not be a costume :> im mostly a romance writer but this could go a horror route idk

this svt series i was gonna do where each of them had a love story... i can list them if you want but i think i deleted the drafts bc im ocd and have a need to clean out my drafts smh... ok they are as follows ((ill prob end up writing some of these and maybe/probably changing the idol but who knows)) :

(minghao) ur bff tags you and the boy u like in an ig pic and the pic says “tag ur best friend and their crush to ruin their life”

(jun) FAKE fake dating au ((aka guy gets girl to fake date him so his parents will back off of asking him if he has a gf except he actually likes her and its a plan to get her to fall in love w him LOL))

(jeonghan) ice cream shop summer job au feat. flirty main lead

(chan) girl and guy have a prank war that’s been ongoing for two years ever since he accidentally did smth to her and they’re rivals but then he witnesses a moment right after her bf breaks up with her and is like ok we r bffs now and yeah . its cute in theory

(wonwoo) girl is at a party and kisses someone but bc she was intoxicated she doesn’t remember who it was and the plot is her narrowing down who kissed her etc

(mingyu) best friends to lovers bc of a game of spin the bottle HAH ik its cliche but idc

(seungkwan) girl is a prim and proper student but parties over the summer and makes a whOLE fool out of herself in front of guy at one such party but she’s like eh im embarrassed but ill never see him again so its ok except . he turns out to be a transfer to her school

(woozi) guy and girl are main leads and romantic partners etc in play / movie / whatever and while they film / practice an actual behind the scenes romance develops

(dk) guy who is energetic and spastic meets rlly stoic and cold girl bc they’re lab partners and he melts her cold ass exterior

(hoshi) girl is the only daughter of a super rich family and boy is the son of the family’s maid / etc and they run into each other and end up falling for each other despite the class difference, which causes conflict later on when they want to be together yeehaw

(joshua) girl and guy are close friends n one time their friend who is an aspiring youtuber is filming and he’s like listen i want views yall should kiss . and the girl is like no ??? what . and the guy is like surprise ! and kisses her and it changes their relationship oop

(hansol) brother’s best friend!au . simple as that tbh skejfke

and lastly (scoups) famous idol!guy and company intern!girl who definitely shouldnt like each other but . totally do

ok anyways continuing on bc my ideas never fucking stop . oblivious! popular boy taehyung and lovesick!y/n desperately trying to get it into his rock dumb brain that she likes him

i also had this idea for kim doyoung and kim gongmyung like . about the girl liking one of them and then him breaking her heart and its like a year later and she ends up with his little brother . yanno . ok

arranged relationship au BUT with a twist bc the girl also has a bf at school (basically,, something similar to my little bride??? but not the same,, just similar)

cute new boy vs bff boy who has a secret crush on oc

au based off boys by charli xcx

au based off in your pocket by maroon 5

sugar daddy!au

then ofc i have ones ive actually started which are:

au based off mistakes like this by prelow

au based off leave your lover by echos

au based off the mv for view by shinee yanno yanno i mentioned that

royalty!dawon and bodyguard!y/n whose real identity turns out to b something nobody knew about oops

wow i didnt know i had so many ideas when will i chill

#asks #🐖 anon #story ideas #anonymous

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commander-rahrah · 6 years ago

Text

Residency (An Open Heart Fanfic): PART THREE

Pairing: MC (Jordynne Holland) X Ethan Ramsey X Bryce Lahela; MC X Bryce; MC X Ethan

Masterlist: Click Here

Chapter Rating: T (Swearing, Kissing)

Word Count: 3700+

Description: Ethan cannot “get” the Rookie -- he can’t figure out the mystery, and it’s driving him crazy. A trip to Donahue’s and a couple glasses of scotch might make it better - or not.

Disclaimer: Characters, storyline, and parts of the dialogue are taken from Pixelberry’s Choices. They fully own the characters, dialogue, backgrounds, etc. MC Jordynne’s background is my own creation, based loosely off of MC in-game’s personality and provided with more details.

Author’s Note: Here it comes: the jealousy... Eek! I really like flipping things from in-game and turning them into Ethan’s point of view. There are definitely more updates to come! If you want to be tagged in upcoming chapters, reply or DM me! :)

Taglist: @drakewalkerfantasy @owleyes374 @professorortegasstudent

Previous Updates: Part One, Part Two

PART THREE:

Ethan rapped his hands on his wooden desk, breathing in through his nose deeply. Every orientation day was frustrating but this one topped all the rest. The Rookie, Holland — she got under his skin. He stared at the chocolate bar she got him, sitting on his desk — untouched. “You know, it’s okay to treat yourself sometimes.” Her voice echoed in his head, as he played with the corner of the wrapping.

She exasperated him — he reprimanded her in front of the entire waiting room, he scolded her with her first patient, praised Verma over her. But she still bought him the chocolate, she teased him back, stood up to him. He had taken this approach before with interns — tough love, a strong mentor to give them a backbone. But someone who would also leave him alone, for fear of further yelling or discipline.

But she was so different, somehow. She took his advice to heart, she let Verma take the credit for the save. Hell, she even went out of her way to help him with Barbara and her medication. He couldn’t figure her out. He didn’t get it. He was a world-class diagnostician — how could he not get her yet.

Glancing down at this leather watch, Ramsey realized it had been a few hours since he had last seen the Rookie. He would give her about one more hour, before stepping in with her patient. Grabbing his white coat off of the back of his chair, Ethan slid it on and adjusted the sleeves in front of the mirror on the back of his door. Tousling his hair slightly — he suddenly stopped himself. Who was he grooming himself for? Shaking his head, he went to grab onto the door handle when his pager went off. He was being paged down to Holland’s patient. She had figured it out — or was asking for help. Either way, Ethan was curious to see what she wanted.

He stood just outside of room 532 for a moment, watching as Dr. Holland spoke with her now-conscious patient. Her ponytail was becoming less and less perfect throughout the day — pieces of it falling over the nape of her neck and down her temples, framing her face. The white lab coat she had changed into after their emergency in the waiting room was still clean — a little wrinkled though.

She was speaking candidly, as her patient apologized to her. “You have nothing to be sorry for Annie.”

“But if I would have known about my allergy, you wouldn’t have gotten in trouble with that hot doctor.” He heard the young girl say.

A soft laugh escaped Jordynne’s mouth, “You don’t need to worry about Dr. Ramsey and I. I’m just glad you’re okay now.”

Ethan felt his face flush red, as he heard Doctor Holland link together he was the “hot doctor — heat spread down his neck. He had overheard some of the nurses and interns calling him that before, but he usually just rolled his eyes or ignored them. Now, he almost felt a twinge of a smile on his face. Suddenly, he couldn’t handle hearing anything else and he stepped into the room announcing himself with a cough.

Jordynne met his eyes, an uneasy smile spreading across her face.

“I’m told you wanted to see me?” He said, raising his eyebrows at her.

She nodded, grabbing onto the railings on her patient’s bed. “Annie’s going to be okay.”

“That’s good news. I imagine this wasn’t a random miracle…,” Folding his arms across his chest, he leaned his shoulder against the doorframe. “So? I’m waiting to hear whatever brilliant insight you arrived at.” He tried to hide his curiosity — Did she actually figure it out? Or was it another failed attempt?

“I wanna know too!” Her patient said, using her elbows to sit up a little straighter.

“It was never the bacteria. But it was something that happened on her trip to Indonesia.” She turned her eyes back to her patient, “Annie, you told me you ‘went for’ your scuba license. You didn’t say you go it.”

The patient’s face reddened with embarrassment. “Because I didn’t get it.”

“You also told me that you’re prone to panic attacks when you get stressed out. Annie, did you have a panic attack while you were diving?”

She nodded, “I always wanted to go scuba diving… but once I got down there, I just totally freaked out.”

“And you resurfaced too quickly.” Jordynne handed her patient’s chart to Ethan. “The result? Decompression sickness and labyrinthitis.” She noticed the confusion cross her patients face, "Annie, that’s an inflammation of your inner ear, which caused your vertigo and nausea.”

Annie blinked, starting to understand what was wrong with her. “Oh!”

Ethan still leaned against the doorframe, the clipboard hanging in his hand lazily. “And what treatment do you recommend, Dr. Holland?”

“The symptoms can be eased with antihistamines… but the condition itself can only be treated with time.”

Annie’s face fell, “How much time?”

She grabbed onto her shoulder gently, “You can’t rush it, but within a few weeks, you’ll feel like yourself again.”

“Thank you so much, Dr. Holland.” She smiled at her, her eyes filling with tears.

Ethan swiveled on his heel, heading out into the hallway. He waited for Jordynne to follow.

“So, I’ll fill out a prescription for some extra-strength antihistamines…” She started jotting it down on her pad, but he grabbed onto her pen. He clicked it closed and placed it back on her clipboard.

“Don’t bother. I already have.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the printed out prescription order and held it out for her.

She stared at him, her pink mouth opening up in surprise. “You knew? When were you gonna tell me?”

He glanced back down at his watch, “I’d planned to give you another forty-five minutes. I pulled up Annie’s chart to diagnose it myself, in the likely even you blew it.” He crossed his arms, staring at her, “But I wanted to give you the chance to right the ship, first.”

“Thank you… For giving me the chance.” She said, hugging the clipboard to her chest.

He narrowed his eyes at her, “Hm. I would’ve expected you to be angry.”

She shrugged, “No, I appreciate your help. But I’m never gonna learn if someone’s always holding my hand.”

He smiled at her, surprised that they were in agreement. “My thoughts exactly. But you showed your potential. Not to mention maybe the most important trait a doctor can have.”

“What’s that?”

“You listened.” He stared at her, admiring her. “You took the time to get to know your patient. Their story, their hopes, their fears… Sometimes those are the key to saving their life.”

Suddenly, Harper’s niece stalked up to the pair of them �� looking flustered. “What the hell? You went and presented without me?” She glared at Jordynne, her arms raised up in the air.

Before Jordynne could reply, Ethan stepped in front of her. “Annie was your patient as well, Dr. Emery. What the hell have you been doing while Dr. Holland was making a diagnosis?”

Holland moved past him, stepping up to her. “Sorry, Dr. Emery. I should have kept you updated on the developments.” Ethan looked back at her, eyebrows furrowing in confusion again. Why does she keep doing that? Defending Doctors who are ready to throw her under the bus.

Dr. Emery’s glare softened slightly, “It’s okay. I wasn’t here. This was your win.”

Looking between the two of them, Ethan spoke again. “Dr. Holland, hospitals run on communication. Keep each other apprised.”

She nodded, keeping her eye on his — undeterred. “Yes, Dr. Ramsey.”

He turned his finger towards the other woman, “And, Dr. Emery? Patient assignments are not optional.” Looking back at Jordynne once more, he gave her a nod before stalking off towards the nurses' station. Glancing back at his watch, he realized his shift was almost over. Flipping through some charts, to keep him busy until his watch neared 9:00 o’clock. He let out a loud sigh as the large hand finally hit the nine, and he started heading towards the locker room to change. Longest orientation day ever.

_______________________________________________________________________

Loud music could be heard from the sidewalk outside of Donahue’s, lights flickering from the inside, and people going in and out for breaks. Ethan slid in through the open door, stalking over to his regular stool on the edge of the bar.

He wasn’t sure why — but he loved it here. It was the furthermost thing from his style — with the tacky neon signs, Christmas lights up year round, and a jukebox playing music he couldn’t stand. But most days of the week, Ethan found himself sitting on that stool, nursing a drink, listening to the awful music and watching the tacky lights.

Reggie placed a scotch tumbler on a white napkin in front of him, without Ramsey even having to ask. He gave him a curt nod, before grabbing onto it. Raising it to his lips, he took a swig — relishing in the warmth that spread down his throat into his belly.

He stared around at the patrons of the bar, studying them. There were a lot of his colleagues there that night — a lot of interns. The surgical interns were crowded around the dart boards — passing pitchers of beer and being rowdy. They reminded him of a fraternity. A few residents sat at a booth together, trying to wave Ethan over to join them — but he just gave them a nod, grabbing onto his scotch for another swig.

Just as the liquor went into his mouth, he noticed her — Dr. Holland. He coughed a little, finishing his swig — the sight of her making him gulp. She was wearing a tiny little number; a green shirt wrapped around her torso — leaving her shoulders and midriff bare. A black bralette peaking through, and a golden locket falling into the between her cleavage. High-waisted jean shorts hugged her hips, showing off her lean tan legs.

She had just finished a shot, placing the glass back onto the table. Her face scrunched up at the taste of the liquor before she tossed her head back laughing with some other medical interns. She had let her blonde hair out her ponytail — her wavy, long tresses falling down her back wildly.

The small group all raised their glasses together in a toast. He moved his eyes away from the group, feeling a wave of loneliness. He shook his head at himself — that’s why he came here, to be alone. To distance himself from the hospital, to enjoy his drink and talk to nobody.

Suddenly a voice shouted over the loud music, causing Ethan to turn around with a frown on his face. “Hey, Jordynne! Get over here, I’ve got a game for you!” A surgical intern was holding up some darts, waving them in the air at her — taunting her.

Ethan grimaced at him, turning back around — his eyes set on hers. He pursed his lips into a straight line — nodding his head to her. Before she could react, he turned his back to the TV on the top of the bar. He watched out of the corner of his eye, and she strutted over to the other side of the bar.

Heat spread over his neck, as he heard the surgical intern whistle low at her as she approached. Disrespectful. He thought.

Ethan found himself angling his body so he could keep watching her. He would flick his eyes back to the screen every once in a while, as though not to be too obvious.

“You really scrub up nice.” Bryce grabbed onto her, his hand resting on the bare skin on the small of her back. “Everyone, this is Dr. Jordynne Holland, the only good medical intern. Jordynne this is everyone.”

“Welcome to the party!” There were clinks of glasses as the group met each other.

The surgical intern licked his lips, “So, have you decided to switch teams? There’s still time, you know.”

Ethan furrowed his brows — she wouldn’t switch to be a surgical intern… Would she?

A laugh escaped her lips, a sweet sound in Ethan’s ears, “Sorry, I still prefer the part where I get to talk with my patients rather than cut them open.”

Good girl. Ethan thought to himself, smiling as he took a swig.

“Hey, we talk! I had a great conversation with a sweet old guy this afternoon. And then I watched my resident remove a lobe of his right lung.”

“Okay, that’s… actually pretty cool.” She looped her fingers through her belt loops, “So, darts, huh? I don’t wanna embarrass you in front of your surgery friends.” A confident smile spread across her face.

Bryce sized her up, “I think I can handle you. I’m a surgeon, remember? Very good with my hands.”

Ethan couldn’t help but roll his eyes — God, this guy was a flirt.

“But if you’re feeling cocky, we could place a little bet…” He offered.

“Fine. I’ll wager… a kiss.” She gave him a flirtatious look, licking her pink lips shiny.

The group of surgical interns started whistling loudly, shouting at Bryce to win the game.

Ethan went to take another swig of his scotch but found his glass empty. “Hey, Reggie.” The bartender acknowledged him from down the bar, starting to grab him another glass.

He had tried to stop watching them — she was an intern, she could play games with whomever she wanted, share drinks with whomever she wanted. But as they got to their last darts, he couldn’t help but glance at Jordynne out of the corner of his eye. The surgical intern was shooting — Jordynne was standing right behind him, on her tiptoes so she could reach up to speak to him — her chest pushed up against his back. Even from his seat at the bar, Ethan watched as she brushed her lips on his ear, whispering to him. An involuntary shudder went through Ramsey as he imagined her doing that to him.

Bryce’s dart went wide at her touch — causing him to lose the game. “Yes!” Holland screamed, throwing her hands up in the air — high-fiving a few of her friends that were watching. The group of surgical interns booed from the sidelines. Ethan smirked a little. Of course, she won.

“I believe you owe me.” Jordynne jabbed a finger playfully into Bryce’s chest.

Ethan had forgotten what they wagered until now.

Bryce grabbed onto Jordynne’s wrist, gently pulling her into him. “I am a man of my word…”. He hooked his arm around her waist, their faces inches apart. He said something to her, his voice too low for anyone else to hear. Suddenly, he dipped Jordynne dramatically backward, balancing her in his arms and they kissed. Different catcalls echoed throughout the bar, as the pair finally stood up and Jordynne pulled him back in for a second longer kiss. Ethan finally swiveled around his stool — having seen enough.

Grabbing onto his newly refreshed drink, he finished it in a large swig. That wasn’t a first kiss kind of kiss. He had had enough in his day to recognize that. He furrowed his brows as he thought — Did they know each other before Edenbrook? He didn’t get it. Shaking his head, Ethan got mad at himself — Why do I care?

The sound of a stool scraping nearby, caused him to perk up — sitting a little straighter. He watched as Dr. Holland hopped up onto the stool next to him, eyeing her out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t say anything.

She spoke first, swinging her legs on the stool so she could face him. “Something wrong, Dr. Ramsey?”

He glanced over to her, “Just noticing how… different you look out in the real world.”

A smile broke across her face, and she started playing with the gold locket around her neck. “You too Doctor. I like you without the white coat.” Her green eyes lingered on the few buttons he had kept undone on his shirt.

The bartender approached the pair, pausing in front of them. His eyes widened at Ramsey’s already empty glass — it hadn’t lasted very long. Reggie put his hands down on the counter, “So, what will it be?”

Before Ethan could speak, he watched as Holland eyed his glass — she was trying to guess what he was drinking. “We’ll have two scotches, neat.” She ordered with a smile. When the drinks arrived, she slid one over to Dr. Ramsey, before picking up her own.

He grabbed onto the glass, smiling at her with approval. “Why neat instead of on the rocks?” He questioned.

She didn’t miss a beat. “The ice changes the flavor.” Raising the glass to her lips, she took a hearty swig.

He smiled again, he couldn’t help it. “Right answer. But you know I can’t be bribed into favoring you, right?”

She chewed her lip, “It’s just a thank you.”

“For what?”

Her green eyes met his blue ones, “For pushing me to be better today.”

Ethan let out a breath, before grabbing onto his drink and finishing another one in one long sip. That was the first time someone had ever thanked him for being an asshole. He could get used to Holland. Signaling over the bartender again, he ordered the pair another round of drinks. “Two specials. Thanks, Reggie.”

The man let out a laugh, raising an eyebrow at the sight of the two sitting together. “Only for you, Ethan.”

Jordynne squinted at him, “Your on first name terms with the bartender?”

Ramsey shrugged, “He’s an old friend. I come here most nights.”

She put her elbow on the bar, propping her head up with her hand as she asked, “You don’t have anyone waiting at home?”

He hesitated — he thought of his empty two bedroom apartment downtown. His dog Jenner was at his neighbor’s tonight, so only a dry plant in his living room really required his attention at home. He thought about what it would like to have someone waiting — have a home cooked meal with a partner, to hear tiny feet (that weren’t paws) run to the door in excitement when he came home after a long shift. Shaking his head, he snapped back to reality. “I’ll come here even when I do. I need some buffer between the hospital and the world. An airlock.” He let out a sigh, “Don’t take the job home with you, Jordynne.”

She nodded, looking like she took his advice seriously. “I’ll keep that in mind… but you didn’t answer my question.”

Ethan looked at her — he knew she wasn’t going to drop it. “No. Nobody waiting at home tonight.”

Before she could ask anything else about it, Reggie set down the mixed drinks onto the bar in front of them. “Here, try this.” Ethan matched her, taking a sip at the same time. He licked his lips, savoring the sweet and sour flavor. “Well, how’s it compare?”

Her eyes went wide as she swallowed, “It’s amazing!”

He rolled his eyes at her, “Either you’re sucking up to me, or…” He trailed off, a smile setting on his face. “You’ve got surprisingly refined taste for an intern.”

She flicked her blonde hair over her shoulder, smirking at him. “I’m surprising in a lot of ways.”

He tried to hide his gulp as the smell of her shampoo and perfume wafted towards him with her movement — she smelt like orange blossoms and jasmine. “You’ll have to prove that.”

He grabbed onto his glass, raising it up to her in a toast. “To your intern year. In the hopes, you don’t completely blow everything you’ve worked your whole life for.”

“Morbid. I like it.” She let out a laugh as they clinked their glasses together.

Taking out his wallet, Ethan placed a few bills underneath his drinks, waving at Reggie. “Well, Rookie it’s probably about time you go collect your friends over there before they have to go back to the hospital to get their stomachs pumped.”

Jordynne’s fingers went to the bills on the table, grabbing them and folding them up. She tucked them into the breast pocket of his sweater, before tapping it with her hand. “I said it was a thank you. It’s on me.”

He furrowed his eyebrows, “I had more before you came over —“

“Ramsey.” She looked up at him with big eyes, “Just let me do this. Besides, like my new friend Elijah said — I’m 100K in debt anyways. What’s a of couple scotches gonna matter?”

He let out a chuckle, “Fine Rookie. You win this time. Only this one time. Got it?”

She let out a big smile, revealing her white teeth. “Understood. You like to be in control.” She winked at him, “See you tomorrow Doctor Ramsey.”

_______________________________________________________________________

Ethan took the long way back to the hospital, shoving his hands into his pockets as he walked — enjoying the fresh air. It had been a long day. Longer than usual. He couldn’t be bothered to go home — he was just going to have to be back in four hours anyway. Like he had said to Jordynne — he also had no reason to go home. He thought of his leather sofa waiting for him in the hospital and let out a sigh.

As he neared the front entrance, he fumbled in his pockets for his key fob. He heard a commotion on one of the nearby paths, and he glanced over as he approached the doors. It was the group of medical interns from Donahue’s, holding onto each other, laughing and joking. They were all excitedly chatting

about something before dispersing in their separate directions.

Holding onto the door handle, he watched as Jordynne walked off with one of the petite interns — her blonde hair waving in the breeze, her arms wrapped around herself in an attempt to stay warm. He was relieved to see that the surgical intern wasn’t with her — not that it was any of his business.

Shaking his head at himself, Ethan stalked into the hospital trying to get the mysterious, blonde intern out of his head.

Part Four

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emotionsofthesoul · 5 years ago

Text

Chapter 28 _ No Voy A Pelear En Mi Cumpleaños

“Que quiere hacer hoy la princesa de la casa?” Lucia asked Valentina as they finished up their breakfast. It was her 19th birthday and she had no concrete plans yet.

“I’m not sure yet. I was thinking maybe a movie date with Juls after she gets out of church with her parents and then come back here for a swim, I’ll invite her parents and we can have a small carne asada or something. I can bring home some cake on our way back from Sac?” Valentina said shrugging.

“Nonsense mi niña, I’ll make your cake, it’ll be ready by the time you come home. How do you want it?” Chivis asked while picking up their plates.

“How about how you used to make it with mom when I was little; with lots of raspberries and strawberries in the middle. Surprise me with the outside.” Valentina said getting excited about her cake and the idea of sharing her birthday with Juliana and her family. After their snow trip all six of them had gotten much closer.

Lucia and Leon smiled at the idea of spending time with Juliana’s parents again. “Sounds good,” Leon said, “I’ll go pick up the meat and everything else we’ll need from Vicky’s. Meet up here by 1?”

Valentina got up and hugged her father and Lucia thanking them. She ran off to her room to get ready to head over to pick up Juliana. Thirty minutes later she ran down the stairs and told her father and Lucia that she’d be back soon as she headed out.

When she arrived outside the church she found a parking spot and went to buy 4 hotdogs because it was a part of the Valdes family tradition to have a hot dog after church at the nearby park. Once the mass was over and everyone was heading out she waited with a bright smile as she waited for Juliana and her parents.

As she waited she was approached by a few people and others simply stared at her.

Once the Valdes family walked out Valentina’s smile grew larger as she raised the hot dogs a bit more for emphasis causing a laugh to erupt from Juliana’s lips.

“What are you doing here, birthday girl? I thought you’d be sleeping in today?” Juliana said as she approached her girlfriend.

“I wanted to surprise you. Ta-da!” Valentina said with a cheeky grin. “Oh! I bought you guys hotdogs so you don’t have to go wait in that line.” She said handing each a hot dog. Once she was left with just hers she was able to properly greet Juliana and her parents. They each gave her a birthday hug. She and Juliana held hands as they headed towards table the family usually sat at.

“So what do you have planned for today, mija?” Lupita asked as everyone took a seat.

“Well that’s actually part of why I’m here.” Valentina said with a bright smile and turned to look at Juliana who smiled back at her instantly.

“My dad is going to grill carne asada con costillas de res por mi cumpleaños and I wanted to invite you guys. It’s not gonna be anything big just the family. My dad said he’d call Mr. Valdes but it’s at 1pm at our house.” Valentina said and finally took a bite of the hot dog Juliana always talked about.

They enjoyed their hotdogs and Valentina looked at her watch, “Oh I’m gonna steal Juls, we have a movie date!”

Juliana smiled and said, “as you wish, my love, it’s your day. We have to stop by my apartment first though, I have a few things I need to get.” To which Valentina gladly agreed to.

The couple said their goodbyes to Juliana’s parents and went on their way.

Once inside the apartment Juliana told Valentina to sit on the couch and close her eyes. She went into her room to get three gift bags. “two of these are for you to open now and the other one you can open it at your party if you want.” Juliana said leaning to give Valentina a kiss indicating she could open her eyes.

Valentina took the blue bag and opened it pulling out a cute blue summer dress with Juliana’s logo at the bottom on the left side.

“Oh my god, Juliana… you made this? It’s beautiful thank you.” Valentina said still admiring the garment.

“You always said blue was one of your favorite colors and that you wanted a dress like the one your mom wore in one of your favorite pictures. Lucia and your dad gave me a few of the pictures she’s wearing it in so I could draw inspiration from. So here’s a little something I came up with based off of that dress.” Juliana said sitting next to Valentina placing her hand on her knee knowing Valentina was processing her words and would need a minute.

“Can I wear it today?” Valentina asked still not tearing her eyes from the dress.

Juliana smiled, “it’s yours babygirl wear it whenever you want.” She said with a giggle.

Valentina turned to look at Juliana with unshed tears in her eyes. “Thank you so much Juliana, I love it. I love that you put so much thought into this. I love that you pay attention to all the little details, I love that you listen to everything I say and know what details are important to me even if I play them off as minor things. Thank you. This is the best birthday present I could’ve asked for.”

“Open the second one.” Juliana said giving Valentina’s knee a squeeze.

Valentina removed the tissue paper and found three boxes. Opening the smallest one first she found a gold necklace that held a small gold pendant with a tree along with its roots inside. There was a note under the necklace that read, “I will grow roots. Not a promise but a fact. — Emily Palermo”

Valentina turned to look at Juliana with a questioning look that received a smile from Juliana. “That’s one of my favorite quotes. You always follow through in everything your set mind to. I know one day you will have everything you desire and that’s not a promise, it’s a fact, because that’s who you are. That’s who I fell in love with. With a woman that doesn’t give up when she finds a wall or a locked door, she find a window and goes through it.”

A single tear fell from Valentina’s left cheek and she started laughing, “I wasn’t supposed to cry today Juliana! I love you.” She said as she blinked her tears away.

“Don’t worry baby that’s at cheesy as we get the other two boxes aren’t cheesy they just accompany the dress.” Juliana said bringing Valentina in for a hug and kissed her forehead.

Valentina opened the remaining two boxes and opened them finding a pair of white sandals and a blue summer hat that also had Juliana’s logo on it on the tag. “You made the hat as well? What else are they teaching you!” Valentina said excitedly. “Now I have official girlfriend merch!” Causing Juliana to throw her head back laughing.

“Okay nerd, let’s go. We’re gonna be late to see Cap.” Juliana said getting up from the couch and offering Valentina a hand.

Valentina changed into her new dress pairing it with the sandals and the hat. They headed out to Valentina’s car. After driving about 45 minutes they arrived to the Placerville theater where they were scheduled to watch Captain Marvel.

Once the movie ended they discussed the movie and decided they would watch it again the following day after class and work. Soon after, they headed to the Carvajal mansion. When they arrived Valentina tensed up seeing Mateo’s car meaning her sister was present. “Juls, how about we go out for our own adventure and just come back later?”

Juliana had also noticed the car and knew Valentina was trying to avoid her sister but it was her party. “Val. Baby. You have two options, one flee and leave everyone hanging or two go in there and face your sister. If she’s rude you can ask her to leave, it’s your birthday, your family knows how things are they’ll understand.”

“I don’t want to see her.” Valentina said as Juliana intertwined her fingers with Valentina’s as she took hold of her hand.

“I know and I get that but if we’re gonna leave, at least let your dad know.” Juliana said speaking calmly.

Valentina closed her eyes and leaned agains the steering wheel trying to decide what to do. Finally, turning to head to face Juliana as she opened her eyes, she spoke. “We’ll go in there but if she’s acting up she’s out of here. I don’t want to deal with her.”

“As you wish babygirl.” Juliana said tucking the fallen hair behind Valentina’s ear.

The two exited the car and walked towards the front door. They made their way to the backyard where the rest of the family was. As they approached Valentina’s father she saw her sister walking towards her. Valentina gripped Juliana’s hand tighter. She tapped her father’s shoulder before her sister could reach her causing him to turn around.

With a quiet gasp Leon said, “you look lovely. Juliana did a wonderful job. As you’ve aged you look more and more like your mother, in this dress you look just like her in that picture you love so much.”

“Thank you papi, Juliana made it simply because she knows how much I wish I could’ve had it so she made me my own. Do you think mom would like it?” Valentina said twirling so her father could see the dress in its entirety.

Leon gave his daughter a smile. “She would’ve loved it, baby.” Valentina gave him a tight hug and asked in a whisper, “is Eva still waiting for me to finish up to approach me?” To which he nodded.

Valentina took her place back next to Juliana with her left hand in Juliana’s right preparing herself to face her sister. She hadn’t heard from her in over two months, she honestly had not expected her to arrive today. Regardless she and Juliana turned around hand in hand ready for whatever her sister had to say.

Eva walked towards the couple. Everyone stopped what they were doing to witness what was gonna happen until Leon turned the music up and told everyone with his eyes to keep doing what they were doing and not be so obvious.

“Eva.” Valentina spoke first.

“Vale, happy birthday, hermanita. Here I brought you something.” Eva said extending her hand, that held a gift bag, towards her sister.

“Why are you here Eva, let’s not play games, you were very clear as to what you thought about my relationship with Juliana. You paid someone who I thought was a friend to lie for your convenience. You had her tell the world that I was cheating on the woman that I love and I told you I wanted nothing to do with you. So why are you here?” Valentina said going straight to the point.

Eva looked shocked that Valentina didn’t simply accept the gift as if nothing had happened. “Can we go inside and talk? Alone.”

“No whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of Juls.” Valentina said as she gave Juliana’s hand a quick squeeze.

“Okay well can the three of us go inside then? Everyone is watching.” Eva said hoping her sister would agree, to which Valentina rolled her eyes at but gave her a single affirming nod.

Once inside the house Eva began to pace trying to find her words.

“Look, Evangelina, if you have nothing to say, I’d rather you not be here today. I’m not going to argue with you on my birthday. Juliana —” Valentina was cut off by her sister.

“I do have something say and I guess it has to do with her.” Eva said motioning to Juliana. “I need to apologize because I’ve been blinded by prejudice and hate and didn’t take into account your feelings, little sister. I thought she was only after the family’s money and was only using you. I thought I was protecting you. I see now that I was wrong. I may not understand what you two have but I’m willing to try. If dad trusts her, I will too. So to the both of you, I’m sorry.” Eva said.

Valentina replied instantly, “why can’t you just trust her because I trust her? Why do you still treat me like a child, like I don’t know what I’m doing or what I’m feeling? I understand trying to protect those you love ‘a capa y espada’ but going to the lengths you have to keep us apart without even giving her a chance, I won’t allow it. This is not a simple fix. You went after me like I was one of your enemies, what kind of sister does that? What kind of sister puts ‘el que diran’ before her blood?”

“Valentina, you’re only 19 how do you not want me to see you as a child? You have no real life experience. We are public figures, how do you want me to not worry about what other people say or do in regards to the family? I’m the next in line, the weight of this family falls on my shoulders. What you do with your life falls on all of us, you’re the black sheep of the family because we let you be. Dad didn’t force the company on you like he did with Guillermo and I, he lets you do whatever the hell you want because you were a child when mom died. You may think you’re grown but you don’t know what it’s like to have to answer for things the rest of the family does. You think I wanted to help dad run the company? No, I wanted to study art in Paris. I wanted the freedom you have. You think Guille wanted to be a lawyer, let alone the company’s lawyer? He wanted to be an architect since I can remember but now he’s the best lawyer in the state and while he loves it I know that’s not what he originally wanted. Dad told us to think bigger, to think of our legacy. You are a part of the legacy, what you do affects all of us. So while you’re out there planning extravagant outings with Juliana we have to face the questions of your relationship. While you’re giving Juliana serenatas on the bridge we have to come up with a response as to why the princess of the house caused traffic for closing down Tower Bridge on a busy night. So yes, I was wrong for hating your relationship with a woman and I’m sorry for not understanding that you’re going to love whoever you want to love because you can’t stop that but I also need you get in all of our shoes and grow up a bit. I’m sure Juliana doesn’t feel too comfortable with the grand romantic gestures anyway but at least let us know when you’re going to do something that affects all of us so we’re not blindsided by morning when we’re bombarded by questions. I love you and I’m sorry for getting in between you two. I will never do it again because you and your happiness are more important than my initial feelings towards your relationship. You told me something that has stuck with me. You said, I couldn’t keep Lucia and Renata from marrying into the family and that I couldn’t stop Juliana either and you’re right, I can’t. At the end of the day a job is a job and we’re human, if dad could build an empire from the ground up who’s to say Juliana won’t either? So if Juliana is who you want to be with, I’ll support you because as your sister that is my responsibility.” Eva finished letting her little sister process everything she said.

Valentina had no idea her siblings hadn’t wanted their professions. She assumed they each wanted to be a part of the family business from childhood and she couldn’t possibly imagine her sister, the toughest businesswoman she knows, as a painter. She finally understood where her sister was coming from and it was refreshing to know all of this new information. She didn’t know how to respond but she knew one thing, she loved her sister and no matter how angry she got she always would.

“I just need you know that I love you okay, kiddo? You can be as old and as wise as you want but you’ll always be my little sister and I will always look out for you even if my approach is wrong you have to know that it comes from a place of love. Now I don’t want this day to end on a bad note for you so I’m gonna leave but I would like for you to at least open my gift before completely discarding it, okay. It was mom’s and dad gave it to me because he knew I loved it but I want you to have it because I know you’ll find a better use for it. Happy birthday, Vale, I love you.” Eva said placing the gift bag on the counter before making her way to the door.

All the while Juliana was observing both sisters and she knew Valentina wanted to say something, anything, but didn’t know how so she simply squeezed her hand as Eva was walking away and whispered, “go after her,” causing Valentina to finally react and smile at her before running after her sister.

“Eva! Wait. Please. Don’t go, stay. I never knew this wasn’t what you wanted, I always thought you wanted to run the company after dad, not that dad forced you to make his dream your own. I’m sorry for that. I won’t apologize for the grand gestures but I will apologize for not thinking about the rest of you beforehand. I promise to seek guidance or give you a heads up next time. I love you Eva, you’re my sister, I always will but you have to give me the benefit of the doubt. I’m not a little girl anymore, I haven’t been since mom died. We were forced to grow up from that day onward and neither of us was ever the same. I know you don’t like Lucia because you think she wants to replace mom but no one ever could and she knows that. I think if you’re gonna give Juls and I the benefit of the doubt you have to give her and Natty a chance too. They’re incredible women if you just let them in. Lucia was the first person I came out to. She’s the first person I told about Juliana because I trust her. She’s the maternal figure I’m sure mom would be happy to know I have in her absence. She’s been with dad for years and not once has she disrespected me or mom’s things, she knows what mom means to us and she respects that. She also knows she’s not here to replace anyone, she has her place in this home and in my heart because she’s earned it not because she slithered her way in like you like to think. I promise you she’s a good woman.” Valentina said taking hold of her sister’s hand and pulling her in for a hug.

Eva gave Valentina a tight embrace and told her she’d give Juliana, Renata, and Lucia a chance. In the meantime, Juliana watched the sister’s quietly from afar. She was surprised when Eva looked her way and smiled but returned the smile nonetheless. The sisters finished their talk and made their way to Juliana. Evangelina offered her hand and formally apologized to Juliana, an apology which Juliana accepted.

Valentina opened her sister’s gift to find an old polaroid camera that, according to her sister, belonged to her mother.

“She used to take it everywhere. I remember using it to take a picture of you at the hospital the day after you were born. I’ve had that picture with me ever since. You were my baby sister and I promised to protect you at all cost. So you’re right you’re not a child anymore but you’ll always be my baby sister.” Eva said giving her sister a side hug before being engulfed in a full hug.

“Thank you, Eva. I’ll keep it safe.” Valentina whispered into her shoulder as they continued to hug.

Eva wiped a rouge tear away as she laughed and said, “okay enough feelings for the day, go enjoy your party. I’m gonna head out with Mateo. I just wanted to stop by and give you your birthday hug. Mateo and I are flying to Rome tonight for our anniversary so we have to make sure everything is ready. I love you.” She turned to Juliana who was simply standing off to the side not really knowing what to do with herself so she just shrugged and stood there. “And you, keep taking care of her please. She’s a good kid and if she says you are too, then so are you.”

Juliana smiled at Eva as Valentina reached for her hand, “always. I love your sister and I will take care of her for as long as she’ll allow me.”

Eva nodded, “nice dress by the way, you did a really good job. Renata was right about your talent.” Juliana appreciated the comment and thanked Eva.

They walked to the backyard where everyone was waiting, talking animatedly. Everyone greeted the birthday girl and exchanged hugs with her. She said her farewell to her brother-in-law and sister wishing them a safe trip.

She sat with her family in a circle talking while her father and Juliana’s father finished cooking the meat and hamburgers.

Someone stood behind her covering her eyes. Valentina recognized the scent instantly as a huge grin came across her face. “Hope!”

“C’est moi!” Her best friend said as she removed her hands and went in for a tight hug. “Happy birthday nerd!”

“What are you doing here? I thought London had you for another month?” Valentina asked.

Hope smiled, “You didn’t think I’d actually miss your birthday did you? Plus I was getting tired of missing my main squeeze and only seeing those beautiful blue eyes of yours through a screen.”

Valentina laughed and turned to Juliana offering her a hand to stand up. “Juls, this is my best friend, Hope, we’ve known each other since birth. Hope, this is the beautiful and talented Juliana I’ve told you so much about.”

“So you’re the one who stole this loser’s heart. I see why,” Hope said looking Juliana up and down playfully, “pleasure to meet you. I’d give you the usual best friend speech but with the sister-in-law you have and what she’s put you through, I don’t think you need it. Welcome to the family.” Hope said pulling Juliana into a hug.

They spent the rest of the day enjoying the company and the food. The girls went for a swim and Juliana got to bond with Hope. By the time they cut the cake and Valentina opened the gifts the sun had begun to set. Juliana’s parents were the first to head out. Then went Guille and Renata. Hope offered Juliana and Valentina a ride back to Sacramento since she would be staying at her city loft with Lizzie tonight. The girls agreed and off they went.

When they arrived to Juliana’s apartment they said their goodbyes to Hope and the couple ended their night with hot chocolate and Mexican bread from La Esperanza.

#juliantina #juliana valdes #valentina carvajal #forever #Forever update #forever ch28 #chapter 28 #juliantinafics #juliantina fics

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