#i was like 'oh this is gonna help Jayson understand'

[yourmoonmomma]

Jayson & I watched Barbie last night. I thought it was a silly lil movie, one of the ones where you can laugh and cringe about the over the top relatable experiences.

But Jayson CRIED at the end?!?! And then I go online and a LOT OF PEOPLE ARE CRYING?!? And talking about how it hit em in the mommy issues department, or reminded them of the mother-daughter connection?!?!

All this movie taught me is that my job should also be Beach. I think my mother fucked me up in a way different way than some of these Barbie girlies moms did.

[webslingingslasher]

The Last I Heard

i may have a seperate part 2 of this on the way, the idea is so cute.

Pairing: Peter Parker (mcu) x Reader

Warnings: peter do be flirting

Genre: Fluffy/slight angst/ pining

Word Count: 15K

Summary: Peter overhears you saying you like him but you're too scared to tell him, he makes you want to tell him.

Peter knows it is absolutely wrong to use his powers for his own advantage. 

He also knows that the majority of common folk would disagree and use it to their own advantage if situations were reversed, and that’s fair to Peter. Everyone at one point has sworn that if they had super powers they would listen in to every conversation, or they would read everyone’s mind. 

And Peter did do that at first, until he realized that eavesdropping was a terrible idea. Because you start to feel kind of itchy and icky about yourself, you realize that these are conversations that were meant to be personal. Ned was the one that usually begged, he would point out random people and persuade Peter into listening in and giving him dirt. 

It was never anything too interesting, just personal. 

At lunch Ned would ask, “Yellow jacket is up in hat’s face, what’s going on?” 

And Peter would listen in. 

“You weren’t there! You have no idea what went down, like, at all!” 

Hat defends her stance, “Oh come off it! You’re supposed to be MY best friend, you were mine. And I lost you to him.” 

Yellow jacket is upset at her dismissal, “ You decided that, not me. You think this is dumb of us? That we’re selfish? That this was one big ploy to fuck up your life?” 

Hat is taken aback, then stands her ground. Solidly, “You fucked my brother, Jessica. You both decided to run around and date behind my back, and if you did it openly it would’ve gone over better. But you conniving with him hurts, I just lost my best friend and I have to watch her walk around my house cuddling up to my brother!” 

Peter stops listening, he feels like he should’ve never heard that. 

But he still tells Ned. 

Once at the mall Ned pointed to a group of girls, “What are they talking about?” 

Peter hones in, then repeats. “Redhead is looking for a tampon, Jeans is helping Redhead search for a tampon. Ponytail is talking about wanting to hook up with Jayson but she’s dating Erik, Bangs is telling Ponytail to do it anyways and Glasses thinks you’re cute.” 

Ned grins, “Should I go ask for her number?” 

Peter frowns, “No.” 

He doesn’t like playing this game so much anymore, he’s started to feel like a constant invasion of privacy. He doesn’t do it for Ned much anymore, only sometimes. 

“It’s an emergency, Peter! Like a real emergency! You have to tell me what they’re saying!” 

Ned shakes Peter's shoulders for emphasis, Peter bobbles his head back and forth then stops to wave and smile like a normal human when you walk by doing it first. 

He lets out a sigh, “Who?” 

Ned points to Betty Brant and Flash Thompson. 

Peter understands why he wants to listen in so bad, he gives in. By the way Betty looked it wasn’t going to be anything juicy. 

“Flash is telling her about how his mom is gonna buy him a new car, Betty is saying her mom’s making her favorite dinner.” 

Ned pouts, “Nothing about me?” 

Peter shakes his head slowly, “Sorry man.” 

Ned stays quiet for a few seconds then pushes his head towards them again, “How about now?” 

Peter sighs, “No, Ned.” 

—------------

MJ wrapped her hand around your neck after you passed by Peter. 

“Waving to your future man?” 

You turned your head back, panicked he had heard her. Instead you just saw Ned and Peter looking at Betty and Flash. 

“He’s so fucking cute, right? Did you see his hair? His curls are like, fucking perfect today.” 

Peter Parker made your heart race. 

He was a goddamn saint, the nicest person you’ve ever met. He was a genius, the smartest person you’ve ever met. He was funny, the best quick wit you’ve ever heard. His laugh was the best you’ve ever heard. His smile made you feel like putty, his voice woke you up in the morning but melted you down if you’d been extra stressed that day, and his clothes looked down right adorable on him. 

Everything about Peter Parker was your favorite thing about him. 

“Careful, Y/N. I may think you have a crush on the kid.”

You pushed MJ in her ribs, “Has he ever kissed anyone before?” 

“Why, looking to be the first to settle the land, Christopher?” 

You gasp, “Did you just call me a colonizer?” 

MJ ignored you, “You know, you could just ask him.” 

You laugh, “That’s cute.” 

It was. You and Peter were casual friends, you’ve hung out in only groups and only had one on one conversations a few times. You did like him, and you did flirt when you were around him but it was so subtle you don’t blame him for not picking up on it. 

“I mean, I think you guys would actually work out. Like hardcore, he’s just a little dumb. You’ve gotta be the one to bring it up.” 

Here we go again, the same tired piece said over and over. MJ, Betty, even Flash has gotten in on it, they all claim Peter would be down in an instant but would it be because it’s you, or because someone likes him? 

“Does he even like me? Or think of me like that?” 

MJ grimaces, “Peter’s hard. He doesn’t really talk about girls, you know? I mean, he’ll say when a girl is pretty or whatever but he’s never been one to be like, ‘she’s so hot, i wanna french her by noon,’ so, maybe?” 

You tap her arm around your neck, “So insightful, I’m so glad I have a friend on the inside.” 

MJ squeezes the sarcasm out of you. 

—-----------

Peter’s gotten better at not eavesdropping. 

It’s been weeks of fighting off Ned’s request to listen in on an unsuspecting victim. 

Until recently. 

He kept hearing his name, but couldn’t clock it. He had his head swiveled around the entire lunchroom with no luck. It wasn’t a constant calling, just casual. Peter this, Peter that, Peter, Peter, Peter. 

He swears he’s going insane, he can’t jus-

Peter jumps, he’s trying to dial his focus on his name when you slam your hand down on his lunch table. 

“Oh.” When he realizes it’s just you. 

“Hi, Y/N.” You grin when he does, it’s infectious. You almost forgot why you approached, MJ said Peter would admit when a girl was pretty. 

“Hi, Peter.” 

Peter looks to the side of him and pushes his backpack away, “Wanna sit here?” 

Your heart lurches with the question, he was asking if you wanted to sit next to him. 

You shake your head, “I just have a question.” 

A grin, “Shoot.” 

You gulp, why did you do this again? Oh. To prove you had a chance. 

“In a strictly non friendly way,” 

“Uh oh.” He voices. 

You smile, “Do you think I’m pretty?” 

Peter freezes, “Oh! Uh, I mean, me?” 

“You what?” 

“Me! You’re asking me? Of course I think you’re pretty!” 

You smile, “Thanks, Peter. But, am I pretty in a non friendly way?” 

He looks confused, “What would be a non friendly pretty?” 

You roll your eyes, “Like, pretty enough to date.” 

His eyes go wide, pink coats his cheeks. 

“Oh, oh!” He nods enthusiastically, “Yeah! You’re dating pretty, don’t worry about it.”

You thank him and walk away with your head a little higher. Your group quiets when you approach, MJ greets you with raised eyebrows. She has to pretend the whole group wasn’t just talking about you and Peter.

“What was that about?” 

You sit your stuff down and take a seat, you shrug and look at her. 

“He said I was pretty.” 

Flash commends the size of your balls. 

You thank him.

—--------------

“Y/N asked if she was dating pretty today, what does that mean?” 

Ned shrugs, “Google it.” 

Peter gives him a ferocious look, “And what would Google say?” 

Ned sighs as he looks over Betty, “Are you sure she’s not talking about me?” 

Peter looks towards the back of the class, you and Betty sat next to each other giggling. Peter tells himself not to, but he does. 

He hones in, he doesn’t get much. He’s learned to listen in enough to get the details, but protect the person at stake. 

Peter’s eyebrows furrow, he wants to listen to more. 

“Uh, they’re talking about a double date.”   

Ned throws up his hands, his jaw is dropped and he’s looking between Peter, you and Betty. 

“Well?” 

Peter looks around, “Well what?” 

Ned tugs at Peter’s arm, “With who?” 

Peter’s eyes widened, “Oh!” 

“I’m sure Peter would be down, Y/N.” Betty shoulder checked you and winked, you groaned and looked up at Peter, he was looking at you. Even though he was across the room you felt paranoid he could hear you. 

You smiled at Peter and turned to your friend, “Sure, you ask Ned first.” 

Betty drops her jaw and looks at Ned, she starts to sputter. 

“No! That is not the plan, at all!” 

You huff at her, “The plan was to use Peter against me? You’re sick for that.” 

Peter knows he should stop listening, he’s caught on, the double date was with him and Ned, but he also wants to keep listening. 

“No! I never said that!” 

You narrow your eyes, “Look, it would make sense for you to ask Ned on a date.” 

Betty turns her nose up, “Well, the same could be said for you and Peter.” 

Peter Parker can’t help but feel a bit giddy, you asking him on a date? He would never shut up about it again. 

Ned is pawing at Peter’s shoulder begging for an update, he shrugs him off and keeps listening. 

“What? No, it literally could not. You and Ned flirt all the time, everyone knows it’s gonna happen, it just when.” 

Betty is slightly confused, she's wondering if you two are fighting. Just slightly. 

“Do you think you’re not flirting with Peter?” 

You blink and Peter watches your mouth open, you’re about to reply when Ned shakes him hard. 

“Well?” 

Peter turns back around and scoots his chair closer to the desk. 

“It’s us.” 

“What is?” 

Peter clears his throat, “The double date, it’s us.” 

Ned’s eyes light up, the thing he’s been searching for in conversation is coming to fruition, then dials it back some. 

“Betty wants me, right?” 

Peter nods. 

“And Y/N wants you?” 

Peter shrugs. 

“I mean, it makes sense. She’s always trying to hook up with you.” 

Peter’s head spins, “What?” 

Ned pulls his head back, “Well, yeah. I just thought you weren’t interested. She’s always trying to make a move when we hang out.” 

Peter is in disbelief, “She is?” 

“Bro, she literally only hugs you when we all hang out. When she gets there and when she leaves, she wants you all over her. Like, now.” 

Peter is nibbling his lip, he never thought he had a chance. He just thought you were extra friendly towards him, maybe you thought he needed a friend. He didn’t know you wanted him like that though. 

He decides to listen in, one last time. Then he swears he was done, forever. 

Betty huffs, she’s lovely but absolutely stubborn. 

“Then fine, I’m not asking Ned until you ask Peter first.” 

“That’s fine, Ms. Brant. But I’m never gonna ask him.” 

Betty huffs again then looks to the boys and sees Peter looking at you, she gets a wicked grin across her face. 

“Then I’ll make him ask you.” 

You turn your head to see her looking at Peter, you start to backtrack immediately. 

“No! No, no, no. You won’t. You promise me you won’t get Peter involved.” 

Betty pretends she didn’t hear you. 

“Betty, I’m serious. Promise me right now you won’t involve Peter.” 

She starts to hum, this is a game to her. You know what she wants and you’re about to give in. 

“Betty please, don’t involve him. I’ll ask anyone else, if you’re that dead set on a double date I’ll ask literally anyone else.” 

She pretends to think about it, then calls out across the room. 

“Hey, Peter?” 

You whip your head to his, he’s looking at Betty confused. You start to melt and panic. 

“You won’t.” You mutter the words. 

“Come here?” 

Peter looks at Ned and shrugs, he goes to stand. 

Your heartbeat is hammering your chest, you grip Betty’s elbow tightly. 

“Stop it, Betty. It’s not funny anymore.” 

Peter’s walking over, you feel your hands shake. You curl them into fists.

“Betty!” You look over your shoulder, he’s about to be here. 

“I’ll ask him! I’ll ask him!” 

Betty smiles, it’s like she's asking you if it was that hard. 

You can’t help the smile that crosses your face when Peter not only approached your side of the desk, but also smiled at you first and made sure you saw him before looking at Betty. 

“You called?” 

Betty grins, it makes you feel sick. 

“I was thinking of asking Ned on a date, what’s his favorite food?” 

Peter thinks of his next words carefully, he makes sure to look at you when he speaks. 

“We’re both pizza kinda guys.” 

You shudder. it was never about asking Peter for you, it was about forcing you to say yes. 

“What’s his favorite? He strikes me as a hawaiian type of guy.” 

He grins, “You guessed right.” 

You speak up, “You strike me as a cheese or pepperoni type.” 

Peter tilts his head, “Do I?” 

You shake your head, “Actually, I think you’re a ‘any type of pizza will do, as long as I can pile as much parmesan cheese as humanly possible on it.’ kind of guy.” 

He hums, “Are you a crushed red pepper kind of gal?” 

You shrug and feel your cheeks get warm, “Maybe.” 

“That’s good then, none of the packets get wasted. Look at us, the zero waste couple.” 

“Couple of besties?” You give a nervous grin. 

Peter nods, “Sure.” 

You swallow hard, you were never prepared for Peter to say something flirty to you, he was supposed to be the nervous quiet one, but you have a feeling he can be extremely charming when he wants to be. 

Betty eyes you then looks at Peter, you notice they share a look but you can’t place what it is. 

“Pizza then?” 

“Trust me Bets, Ned is gonna scream when you ask him out. He’s been dying to do it but it’s always nice to know when a girl is into you.” 

He let that last line slip, he’s trying to hint to ask him without laying it out. Or let you know he was listening in. 

“Does he really? I swear he doesn’t make it known.” 

You look over at Ned, you have no clue how she thinks he doesn’t make it known. He followed her around like a puppy and was at her beck and call. Not to mention he’s watching the entire encounter rocking in his seat biting his nails. 

And you were scared you looked nervous. 

You point at Peter’s best friend, “Really, Bets? He doesn’t make it known?” 

Peter pats your head, “What she said.” 

You bite your bottom lip hard to stop the whimper from escaping, Peter shares a glance with you, you’re pretty sure he heard you. 

“So it’s an easy yes?” 

Peter nods, “The easiest.” 

Betty nods at Peter then looks towards you, “Y/N? Anything you need to ask Peter?” 

Your cheeks feel hot, you give a death stare to Betty. 

“Uh, nope. Can’t think of anything.” 

Betty pushes, “You sure?” 

“Positive.” You push the word through clenched teeth. 

Betty waits with pursed lips and when you offer no more she nods slightly, she can play this game too. 

“Thanks for the advice, Peter. But I don’t think I’m going to ask yet.” 

You want to disappear, and you are extra aware of Peter’s body next to yours. If you leaned against him you would rest into his waist, you wanted to make him proud again, so he could give you another celebratory pat. 

“He’s there when you’re ready, Betty. Stays between us, promise.” Then he looks at you before he departs, “Hey, you going to Flash’s party tonight?” 

You don’t trust your voice and nod, Peter watches where you chew on your lip. 

“Good, I’ll see you there.” He taps your shoulder with a punch and walks back towards his best friend. 

Ned looks at him with wide eyes, his fingernails are nubs. 

“Well?” 

Peter sighs dreamily, “I’m gonna make her ask me out.” 

—---------

“Peter!” 

“Y/N!” 

You both point at each other then meet in the middle for a hug, Peter sways you slightly and pulls away. 

“Long time no see!” He jokes, you giggle along. He’s just so funny. 

“No kidding, you know time stops when you’re not around.” You wink to play off the joke. 

Peter scrunches his nose like a bunny, “I love when you flirt with me. Want a drink?” 

You feel frozen for a moment, he’s not supposed to catch on. He was supposed to play dumb until you all grow up and get married and have kids and one night over lunch when you catch up after years you let it slip that you had a giant crush and always waited for him to notice. He wasn’t supposed to notice now. 

“What are you drinking?” You clock his red cup, he’s not a drinker but it’s not a water bottle this time. 

He holds it out, “Try?” 

You take it and raise it to your lips, it’s nearly empty. You can’t help but think about this being the first time you’ve shared a drink with Peter, you’re putting your lips where his were. The only thing more intimate than this is sharing a bite of food. If you pretend hard enough you can say that you’ve technically kissed him. 

It’s sweet and you can’t detect alcohol. You pull back and eye him, he’s waiting for your reaction. He hopes you like it. You pull a face then try it again, you’re trying to place it. 

“Like it?” 

“It’s like a cherry sprite, but like, better?” 

“It is! I can make you one?” 

Peter pushed you towards the kitchen with a hand to your back, you felt his palm through the material of your shirt and realized how cold the rest of you felt. Small conversation carried you through the wait, he made each of you a cup and handed it over. 

You both took a sip at the same time, you pulled back with a slight frown then took another sip. Peter watched you furrow your brows before you reached out for his own and took a sip. You make a confused sound. 

“Hm?” 

You shrug, “Your’s tastes better.” 

Peter thinks it's adorable, he can only hope that if this goes the way he’s thinking that you would carry this over. He always wants his to taste better, just because it’s his. 

“I’d offer to swap but then I’d think that one would taste better.” 

You nod, “I think you’re right.” Then hold your own out, “Cheers!” Peter obliges then holds his back when you try to tap it, “What are we cheering for?” You pucker, “Do we need a reason?” 

Peter pouts, “No, I guess not. Feels better to have one though.” 

You think for a reason then exclaim, “Here’s one,” You raise your cup again, “Here’s to new friends!” 

“And couples!” Peter taps his cup on yours. 

“What?” You eye him down, did he just say what you thought?” 

He nods his head towards Ned and Betty, totally wrapped up in each other. 

“Right! To new friends and couples.” 

Peter was about to speak again when Flash’s voice rang out on the DJ speaker. 

“Friends to the inner ring, losers stay away.” 

MJ immediately leaves from the inner circle to the kitchen, “MJ! You’re a friend!” 

She calls behind her, “I know you consider me one!” She stops when she sees you and Peter chatting closely. 

She nods her head in recognition, “Nice.” 

“What are you doing?” You watch her open cabinets moving around the kitchen. 

“Making toast. Take my place for me.” 

You made a pit stop to the bathroom and came back to the living room, the whole group sat across the couches and criss-crossed on the floor, there was not one space open. Peter took the last spot, you were about to sit in the kitchen with MJ when Peter waved you over and tapped his lap. You felt warm just thinking of sitting on his lap, it was closer than you’ve ever been before. You would literally be on top of him, and if you were to move just right perhaps you’d get even closer. 

You held your breath as you lightly rested on his lap, most of your weight rested on your feet you kept planted on the ground. Peter wrapped his arm around your waist and tugged you against him, your feet dangled between his knees and his chest was against your back. He delicately wrapped his other arm around your waist, he was hugging you to him. 

“Good?” He tried to look around at your face, instead you gave in and rested your head against his shoulder and rested a hand over his on your waist. You nodded against his neck, he grinned softly, “Good.” 

The rest of the party went by quickly, it was just a few rounds of some games but nothing too crazy. Some truth or dare, some never have I ever, some beer pong but nothing that led to anything more between you and Peter. He did however stick to your side the whole night. 

Betty and MJ had to nearly pull you from his side to leave, you wish they would’ve left you so that Peter would walk you home and you could maybe score a midnight smooch but they didn’t let you get the chance. 

“Say bye to Peter, Y/N.” 

You pout at Peter, you’re wishing he says he’ll take you home instead. He thinks that’s what you want too, but he has patrol after this, he even has the suit on. 

“Bye Peter. I’ll see you on Monday.” You reach in for a hug, he squeezes you and talks in your ear. 

“Bye Y/N. Let me know when you’re home, okay?” You grin into his shirt, he’s never said that before. You pull away and he looks over your face and hesitates before leaning in and pressing a kiss to your cheek, “See you Monday.” 

The only thing you can do is nod, you smile softly then step back into MJ and Betty who are ‘oohing’ softly at Peter’s move. You can’t even form words, your knees feel shaky and all your pacing thoughts are screaming his name over and over. Peter grins at your reaction before turning and going back to Ned who is now ready to leave since Betty is no longer there to entertain, Peter feels the same way. 

—-----------

Okay, Peter swears this is the final time. 

He’s never going to listen in on you ever again, he just needs to know what you’re feeling right now. He’s just making sure you’re okay, you didn’t talk over the weekend beyond the ‘home safe’ text and his ‘good, i had fun tonight! thanks for hanging with me!’ text. After he finds out what you’re thinking he’ll trust the process, he just needs to be sure you know he’s interested. 

You were distraught, did you go up to Peter? You got closer than ever at Flash’s party, but he didn’t text you all weekend, but you didn’t either. You wanted to pull at your hair, you had a feeling Peter was the ‘what you give is what you receive’ kind of guy. You swallow the lump in your throat and walk towards him. 

“Hi.”

Peter opens his arms, “Hi.” 

Your face lights up, he’s never initiated a hug before. You step into his hold and melt into him this time, no more pretending you didn’t absolutely love this. 

“Good Morning.” He mumbles the words in your ear, you mumble them back into his chest. 

“I don’t want to go to math, go for me.” 

Peter rests his chin on your head and pulls you in tighter, “Wanna swap? I have advanced trigonometry.” 

You pull away and squint at him, “Ew.” 

“I know right?” 

“It’s cause you’re such a smartie. I bet I could quiz you on anything and you would know it.” 

Peter grins, “Wanna come over and test that theory?” 

Your eyes widen, “Just you and me?” 

Peter laughs, “Unless you want to make it a decathlon.” 

A joke. 

He’s joking. 

“Bet, I’ll start working on the flash cards. Irrelevant question, what is your toughest subject?” 

He blows air through his lips and shrugs, he lets out the word with an honest chuckle. 

“Girls.” 

You swallow, “Noted.” 

—------------------

He was losing his window of opportunity. 

Good thing, you and Betty sat with him and Ned at lunch. (MJ and Flash followed.) Bad thing, he couldn’t listen to you talk about him. Peter will admit that it feels good to openly like someone and not be scared because he knows the other likes him too, it gives him confidence like he’s never had before. 

You sat next to him too, it went: him, you, Betty, Ned, Flash then two seats away from him, one from Peter was MJ. The table was loud, everyone having mixed conversations, once it quieted down some MJ was reminded of something. 

“Hey, Peter. Are we still doing the thing tonight?” 

What thing? You weren’t told of a thing, was it a Peter and MJ thing? I mean, MJ doesn’t like Peter and you’re almost sure Peter likes you but what is that thing tonight? 

“Yeah! I think Ned is gonna invite Betty too if that’s cool?” 

MJ nods, “Betty’s cool.” 

Peter then nudged his nose against the side of your face, you turn and he’s right there. You notice him glance at your lips for a quick second then asks, “Busy tonight?” 

You hum and think, “I don’t think so.” 

Peter grins, “Wanna come over? It’s game night.” 

“What kind of games?” 

“Mostly video games, MJ and Ned have a switch so we all take turns. But I have some two player board games if you want to play me.” 

You give him puppy dog eyes, “That is so cute.” 

“Is it?” Peter didn’t know it was that easy, he just wanted you to feel included if you didn’t want to watch him or your friends play games. 

You bite your lip and nod, without thinking he places his thumb on your chin and pulls down releasing it. You stare at him and he watches your pupils go wide, he was about to apologize but he won’t now. He’ll let you believe he did that on purpose. 

“Do you have Guess Who?” You clear your throat and try to level your breathing after his stunt. 

“Think so, I have a couple of good ones. I’ll show you when you come over.” 

You look him up and down, “Can I wear my PJ’s?” 

Peter holds a hand to his chest, “I’d be insulted if you didn’t.” 

You hold out your hand to shake his like a business agreement, “Deal.” 

He tells you he’ll text you the details and you lean into him as you laugh at something Ned said in retort to something Flash said. Your head was against his arm, he carefully watched as you made eye contact with Betty, she raised her eyebrows slightly and you carefully nodded your head.

He wrapped his hand around your neck and pulled you into him. 

Peter knows he has you now. 

—--------------

“Okay, what’s up with you and Y/N?” MJ wasn’t one to care, she promises. But you did consider her a friend on the inside and Peter was acting extremely touchy feely with you and he’s never done that before. Not to mention he kissed your cheek the other night. 

You couldn’t shut up about it on the way home, and of course the group text with you and Betty had been blowing up like crazy. You were constantly analyzing Peter’s every move and Betty was doing the same with Ned. If MJ was honest, and she would never admit it, Flash was her favorite right now. 

“Uh, nothing?” 

MJ nodded, “Nice to know we’re lying.” 

“I don’t know. I know she’s into me and Betty wants to ask Ned out but she won’t do it until Y/N asks me first, but she doesn’t think I’m into her so I’m trying to show her that I am so she’ll ask me.” 

“How the hell do you know about this?” 

Peter shrugs sheepishly, “I listened.” 

MJ groans, “You said you were gonna stop!” 

“I know! Ned was begging me and I accidentally heard it, and now I know she’s into me. I just want to make sure this actually happens.” 

Ned walked in the front door and shook his shoulders, “It’s freezing tonight.” 

Peter glanced at his phone to see if you texted him again, he told you to let him know when you were on your way up, he wanted to catch you in the hallway. Alone. 

“Y/N and Betty are on their way, by the way.” 

“Betty’s bringing her switch so we can all game.” Ned shot finger guns at MJ, she blocked the imaginary hits. 

“Sweet. I’m gonna kick double ass in Mario Kart.” 

Ned looks at Peter, “What are you doing?” 

“I think we’re gonna play some games in my room.” 

MJ waggles her eyebrows, “Alone?” 

“Yeah?” 

Ned whistles, “On your bed?” 

“Probably.” Peter doesn’t see what’s wrong. 

“She’s gonna think you’re making a move, you know that right?” MJ clicks her teeth at him. 

“Like what?” 

MJ chewed on her lip, “She asked me if you’ve ever kissed someone.” 

Ned whoops, “Get it, dude!” 

Peter isn’t that surprised, he wants to kiss you too after all. And maybe that was slightly his plan already, he was trying to separate the both of you from the pack. He just wanted to talk with you more and he couldn't spit game as confidently when his friends were watching and listening. Peter also can’t think of a downside of kissing you either, it just seems really lovely. 

“It’s almost like I planned it.” He winks at his friends as they realize he did in fact plan it to be this way. 

His phone buzzes, “Hold on.” 

He opens the door to see you and Betty’s smiling faces, “Hello.” He reaches in for a hug, you first then Betty. “If you wanna head in you can,” He smiles at Betty and watches her step through the threshold, you go to follow and he steps in front of you. He softly closes the door behind her, you watch expectantly. 

“Hi.” He smiles. 

“Hi.” You mimic.

He almost kisses you now, he opts for pulling you in for a second hug. You’re surprised but latch on tightly, he pulls away and places a delicate kiss on your cheek. It’s softer than the one at the party, it’s intimate, it was a private kiss. 

“Thank you for coming.” He whispers against your skin. 

Your cheeks flush, you’ve never felt this seen before. Peter notices everything about you, and you wonder why it took him this long. You can’t help but get lost in daydreams where he was truly yours and his kisses never stopped, even as they trailed down your body. 

“Thank you for inviting me.” 

He didn’t even look at what you were wearing, he tilted your head up with his hand on your jaw. 

“You look pretty.” 

You blinked slowly, you kept looking between his eyes and his mouth. He said his worst subject was girls, you think he’s a liar, he’s too smooth and quick. 

“You’re better at this than me.” 

Peter just grins smugly. He’s better at the flirting game and he knows it. Spider-Man has some quick wit and it’s helped Peter out tremendously. 

As soon as you both stepped through the door MJ berated you, “What were you two doing out there?” You wince and suck a breath through your teeth, “Making out. Hard core face sucking, had a full round of tonsil hockey.” 

MJ narrowed her eyes, “Oh? Peter finally kissed you?” 

This is what Peter means when he says his friends ruin his game. 

You nod, “Oh yeah. Had me pressed against the wall and everything. I’m still seeing stars.” 

It’s funny, nothing actually happened but what did felt more personal than actually telling your friends about a hook up session. 

“Really?” Betty gasped, fully amazed that you had actually done it. 

You frowned slightly, she seemed so excited for you. You had to let her know you were kidding. 

“Yup. He even asked for my hand in marriage, right Peter?” 

He nods, “We haven’t set a date yet.” 

Betty boos with Ned, “No fair, we actually believed you.” 

MJ shook her head, “No way. Peter’s not the make out in the hallway type.” 

Peter makes kissy faces at MJ, “Wanna find out?” 

MJ gags.

Ned huffs, “Betty and I are setting up Mario Kart.” 

“I’m making popcorn.” MJ backs up into the kitchen. 

Peter tugs you into him, “Wanna check out my games?” 

—-----

You may or may not be trying a little extra hard to make your butt look good as you bend down looking at the games, Peter’s standing behind you and you just hope he’s taking a little look. Your PJ’s did hug you just right. 

“You know I’ve never played chess?” You move the box to the right and find Connect Four, you pass him the box and he gasps. “Never?” 

“Nope.” You wish you could play Clue, it was a favorite. You’re gonna team up with Betty to get the boys to play with you, MJ was an easy add if everyone else played. 

“Never learned?” 

You shake your head, “Never did. I dated one guy in middle school who did it competitively, and seeing as he was my boyfriend and a master in the game, or at least I thought he was at the time, I asked if he would teach me and he laughed at me and said it was “too advanced for a brain like mine.” So I vowed to never play it.” 

You stood and handed him two more games, Guess Who and Battleship. 

Peter frowned, “Sounds like a dolt. If you want, I would love to teach you. The hardest part is learning what the pieces do, after that it’s all strategy.” 

You smile, “Don’t make fun of me but that would be a cute date.” 

He laughs, “Teaching you chess?” 

“Yes! You would be like this does that, and this does that, and you would let me practice on you, but you wouldn’t let me win cause then you can tell me why I failed so I actually get better.” 

Peter doesn’t know why he thought girls were so hard to please, he thinks that's just what he’s been told. But so far all you really want to do is hang out with him. 

“We can do it later this week if you’re up for it.”  

You grin and nod, “Yes! You’re awesome, thank you so much!”  

You also are extremely excited to see Peter concentrated and calculated with his moves. 

Peter tells you it’s no biggie, then asks if you want to play in his room. You breathe in and nod, you were nervous to be in Peter’s room for the first time ever, and alone with him. It was slightly calmer if you think about how this is the first of many times you’ll see this room. You’re hoping you’ll be looking at the ceiling a lot more, though. 

He points to his bed when you enter, “I’m leaning towards Guess Who first.” 

You kick your shoes off and sit on his bed, “Comfy.” 

“Just big enough for two.” 

The way he speaks so casually makes you sweat. He’s a natural when it comes to flirting with you, you feel kiddish thinking about your lame attempts you call flirting. No wonder it went over his head for so long. 

“Red or blue?” He holds up the plastic, “Red.” He nods in approval, “Nice choice.”

You hum, “Spider-Man wears red, I like red. I’m easy.” 

He looks at you, “You like Spider-Man?” 

You draw your head back, “You don’t?” 

“I do! I didn’t know you were a fan, that’s all.” 

“I’ve never seen him in person though, MJ has and I ask her about it all the time but she’s just super generic. Have you seen him?” 

Peter clears his throat, “A few times.” 

You drop your jaw, “No way! Tell me!” 

“Nothing special, just the usual walking down the street and seeing him swinging.” 

“That’s so cool though, have you seen him just fucking people up? Like when he does that web thing when he picks them up and slams them down? It’s so sick. Or when he wraps them up and like, flies towards them and double kicks their chest?” 

Peter pretends to think about it, “I think I’ve seen some videos. He’s pretty cool, he’s got a few sick moves.” 

“He’s my Harry Styles, if I saw him I’d melt down and cry and ask him to gently hold me. Like, it sounds crazy but I just know he’s cool. I don’t even like him like that, I just want to be his best friend.” 

Peter wants to ask how you’d feel knowing you were about to make out with him. 

“Total fangirl moment?” 

“Pictures and all. I’d ask him to sign my tits, no joke.” 

Peter throws his head back in a laugh, you smile at how he lights up. You love making him so happy. 

“Okay!” You clap your hands. 

“Is your person wearing a hat?” 

“Nope.” 

“Is your person wearing glasses?” 

“No.” 

“Fuck.” 

“Does your person have a beard?” 

“Fuck off, Peter. I’m moving in.” 

“I’ll take that as a yes.” 

“Is your person old?” 

“Ancient.” 

“Is your person Sam?” 

You narrow your eyes at Peter, “Is this how it’s going to be between us? You always winning?” 

“I ask good questions, stick around me long enough and you’ll get better at dodging me.” 

“I could eat you up in scrabble.” You mutter. 

“Yes you could, I’m ass at scrabble.” 

Somewhere after the hour mark you’ve made your way to Battleship, it’s been a close game both of you have one more hit on the other person. You’re starting to feel the pressure, you try and calculate where he is, if you guess wrong he’s going to win. You know it. 

You hold your breath, “C-4.” Peter looks at you and builds the suspense, then frowns. “Miss.” You groan, “Ugh, go ahead and sink me.” He smiles softly, “D-11.” You grunt at your board, “I’m swimming in the ocean with hope and a lifejacket.” 

“Don’t worry, my one boat will come to save you.” 

You snort, “Don’t worry babe, I blew your engines. You’re sinking next.” 

“Are we gonna Jack and Rose it?” 

You nod stiffly, “I’d let you die for me, yes.” 

The room gets quiet, it makes you want to puke but you think the time is right. You told Betty you’d do it tonight, and Peter isn’t so scary, you just hate the feeling of rejection. 

“Remember when Betty called you over about Ned?” 

Peter has to pretend to think about it, he hums as he’s setting up his ships again. 

“Well, she was trying to set up like this double date thing cause she’s too scared to go out with him alone for the first time. I mean nervous, not scared. Ned’s not scary.” 

He hums again, he’s placing the third ship. He’s nearly holding his breath in excitement. 

“And she wanted me to, like she asked if I would, I uh, nevermind.” 

You lost the steam, you weren’t even sure how to word it without making it seem like a favor. 

“I’m listening, she asked if you would what?” 

“It doesn’t matter, it’s stupid. Are you almost done?” You almost looked over to see if he was done placing his ships but stopped before you would ruin the game. 

He looked up at you, “Tell me about Betty, come on.” 

You shook your head and bit your lip, he took his chance and leaned forward to untuck it like he did earlier. Peter watched your pupils blow like before, he looked between your eyes and mouth before moving in. You felt his hand move to cup at your jaw, his thumb brushing your cheek softly before hooking his hand around your face. 

You felt like you couldn’t breathe, you knew what he was doing. He watched your reaction as he pulled you near him, he leaned in closer. He was taking his time, you were nearly shaking waiting for him to just kiss you, he was slowly building the tension. He wanted you to know he wanted this just as much as you did. 

He smiled as he leaned in, just inches away. He brushed his lips against yours, the feather like promise of more. You melted into his touch and closed your eyes, he took that as a sign. His lips pressed against yours and your spine jolted, electricity felt like it ran through you, it didn’t hurt but it woke you up. You gripped at the back of his neck and held him tighter to you, you had dreamed of this for months, you weren’t letting go easily. 

Peter moved against you slowly, he felt as you opened your mouth slightly and he took that as an invitation, he smoothed his tongue over yours and you moaned into his mouth. You’ve never felt this way before in a make out session, and this was just starting. He went until he felt choked for air, he pulled away slightly. You made a wet smacking sound when you separated. You raced for breath and kept your eyes closed, still panting you needed more. You opened your eyes to blink then pulled him back in, you were only able to last a minute before you searched for more air. 

You couldn’t help yourself, he tasted so sweet it felt impossible to pull away. Now that you know what you were missing you never wanted to go back. You told yourself one more, you tried to pull him in but he pulled your hands from behind his neck, “Breathe. I’m not going anywhere. Can’t make out if you're unconscious.” You nodded and made a show of you breathing, then you leaned in for one more, he bowed his head and laughed. “That good?” You drank him in with greedy eyes, you ached for him. ��Please,” You whimpered the words, it sent chills down his spine, he loved the way that sounded. 

He nudged his nose against yours, “Please ask me, I’ll say yes.” He whispered his request.

He wasn’t talking about kissing, you knew that. He was asking about you asking him out, you know he was. He tied two and two together, you breathed in deeply. 

“Do you want to go on a date with me?” 

He nodded and placed his mouth on yours once more, you gripped at his shirt before shoving the plastic boxes to the side so you could get closer. You slowly shuffled toward him until you pulled away to straddle his waist, meeting his lips quickly before he could tell you to slow down. You’ve dreamed of this forever, you were in awe of what was happening, Peter Parker was making out with you, and it was really, really good. 

Betty tried to walk in to ask what time you were leaving, it was a school night after all. But she decided to back out and give you space when she saw you busy at work on top of Peter. She came from the room glowing, she couldn’t believe you had actually done it. 

“What’s going on in there?” 

Betty smiled at MJ, “They’re making out.” 

“Good for them!” Ned cheered out, he passed the finish line before MJ, “Last lap, loser.” 

“That reminds me!” Ned looked over at Betty, “What?” 

“Wanna go on a date with me?” 

Ned dropped the remote, his character fell off a cliff. 

“Yes. God yes!” 

MJ is sure Flash is her favorite now. 

[razberrypuck]

EP 101 LIVEBLOG

john design,,,,, sir where are your teeny tiny little glasses

RRRGHFHDG GILLION HUGGED JOHN THIS IS SO IMPORTANT TO ME HE DOESNT INITIATE HUGS EVER THATS HIS BESTIE

"you took that big daddy blast like a champion" gillion I love you

THE WIZARD

chip being so hospitable while the wizard freaks the fuck out

gillion: jayyyyy gilly has an ask! gilly has a question!

jay, deadpan: uh-huh?

lizzie I love you don't run away from this you mfer

queen <3

JAY GONNA RESCUE GRYFFON

chip: can we please just keep him 👉👈

"DONT make me look stupid silly wizard"

returning the silly wizard </3

alph-atross jsjfkehf

"which I didn't think was a bad plan but apparently I'm just a Hater"

CASPIANNNNNNNNN

"we're not letting that bastard go"

"well they're -- Jay said we're letting him go :/"

"I didn't hurt you. don't talk to me like I hurt you, for one" love u chip <3

caspian <3

"jay's the last fucking person I want to talk to right now" okay but you're the one associated with the murder of her sister, regardless of whether or not you did it. you know. one of two family members that cared about jay. the only reason she left featherbrooke to begin with. not really your jurisdiction liz.

"okay, FUCK you, 'it's none of my business.' like it or not, we're family. bound by that goddamn hole in the sea. talk to me like a person, or you're on your own" CHIP I LOVE YOU

"okay, then yell it at me. say it however you gotta say it-- make me understand why you're acting like this"

"it's me, talk to me." CHIP

oh im so emotional over them

"I'd rather just move forward and use my power to set it all right. because words do nothing but fill fucking dead air"

"no. but I might as well have." LIZZIE YOURE KILLING ME

lizzie: I don't wanna fucking do this right now. I don't wanna do it with you. I don't wanna do it with jay.

chip: tough shit. cause jay heard what she heard, and she's coming. if you talk about this with me, now...

lizzie: you'll, what, mediate?

chip: I can help her understand. but to do that I have to understand.

chip taking nothing but W's today

JSJFJSH HE WANTS THIS PIN SO BAD

DREYYYYYY

kira <3

"friends should not be on different sides" kira 👀?

"you're the last person I wanna fight ever. I'm coming over in peace. also with wizard" jdjdhfh

"I drop him. I don't want him"

WHY IS THE WIZARD SHAGGY NOW JSJFJDJHGUSO

casual conversation on a navy war ship

"kira, I'm...gonna trust you." "that would be nice"

"NAURRR D: WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT???" KIRA YOURE WONDERFUL

KIRA DO YOU THINK GILL LOOKS LIKE A BASTARD LMAO?????

kira being so concerned about jay going to the black sea that she's not even asking why she's a pirate anymore :((((

jayson? taking responsibility for letting the riptide pirates go? and taking off work bc his wife is sick? you're still the worst but this is a slight improvement

"kuba kenta" "the tiger man?" kira <3

RAFT IS THE BEYOND SECTION NOOOOOOOO

KIRA AND JAY I LOVE BOTH OF YOU

jay's so,,,,,, she cares about kira so much dude im losing my mind shes so important to me

"but if I could stop you from going, I really, really would, jay"

GILLION ON HIS GOOFY SHIT

GAVE EARL 20/20 VISION AND THE FIRST THING HE SAYS IS "GOD YOURE UGLY" JAHCJSJFH EARL YOU ARE WONDERFUL

oh lizzie :[

shay :[[[[

oh shit she was picked up by shadowbeard

"he was meaner than rose. strict. but over the years he softened." "but he still saved me. but he still raised me."

SHE MET CASPIAN IN SHADOWBEARD'S CREW,,,,,,,,,

did jayson kill shadowbeard. was he responsible for shadowbeard and bellamy's (ollie's brother) deaths.

THEY MET BC THE NAVY STARTED PUTTING TARGETS ON PIRATES THEY WERE RIVALS,,,,,,,

"she wasn't just some regular soldier, she was different"

AND THEY FELL IN LOVE. AND THEY FELL IN LOVE AND THEY FELL IN LOVE

SHE BROUGHT AVA TO SHADOWBEARD'S SECRET HIDEOUT AND THEY WERE INVADED BY RAFT OH NO

SHE KILLED SHADOWBEARD

"and I begged her not to. he was like my father, as stupid as it sounds." "it's not stupid." FUCK. FUCK FUCK FUCK THAT HURTS

THE SOLDIERS LET HER GET CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE???

CASPIAN SAVED LIZZIE MY GODDDD

and raft blamed the survivors.

she was about to kill shadowbeard and the soldiers open fired to get it over with.

"I didn't know you had a soft spot for anybody. I wish I could've seen that more." FUCK OFF CHIP YOURE GONNA MAKE ME CRY

ohhh lizzie :[[[[[

chip I LOVE you chip

"if you wanna do something, you can buy me some time" "aye aye, captain"

"ALSO ollie is shadowbeard's son, I just wanted to throw that out there-" JSJFJEJFHWUDUH CHIP

USING THE LUXBRIS PEARL SHARD TO FIND THE FUCKING PIN JSJJFFHEG GILLION

HE DIDNT WANNA CALL THE GODDESS WHEN HE WAS DYING BUT THIS IS THE TIME HE CALLS HER

HES CALLING THE SUN GODDESS THATS SO INTERESTING

"sort of?" THANKS SUN GODDESS LOVE U

IS THERE ANOTHER CHOSEN ONE

"not really" WHAT DOES THAT MEAN GIRL IS GILLION BOTH CHOSEN ONES? IS THERE NO CHOSEN ONE AFTER ALL? IS THE OTHER ONE OUT OF THE PICTURE?

"I think my will to try to do it from the inside died along with my sister" JAYYYYYYYYYY

"well...as long as you're the one controlling the chaos" "I'll be doing my best" IN LOVE WITH BOTH OF YOU

gryffon supremacy

MARSHALL JOHN HAS THE PIN

CHIP YOU BASTARD JDHFJDJF

" 'okay' I step of the ship and go home" JSJFJDNGGFH

"ARE YOU MY MOMMY TOO, SUN"

CHIPS JUST FUCKING WITH HIM

OHHHH GILLION

charlie: I open it up. what does it say?

bizly: "mommy loves you, too"

charlie: I hold it so fucking close to- I hold it so close my chest, I hold it so close to my chest-

grizzly: this is the saddest thing to happen this episode

gillion, in tears: you don't know how long I've waited to hear those words

"for the first time a parent has ever told me that they loved me" "oh damn bruh"

"just like a paladin to give the glory to a god"

anyway gillion has two moms now <3

"I don't think we'll be able to distract her, she's smart, she'll know what's going on- it just seems like a cruel trick." :[[[[[[[

NOOO GILLION OH MY GOD :[[[[[[[[[[ "no, that makes sense, why would she? why would she?" FUCK OFF

gillion and caspian <3

JDHFJDBVCJ CASPIAN IMMEDIATELY TELLING JAY WHERE LIZZIE IS

understandable jay

gillion fully trusting/being on jay's side is something that can be so important to me.

" 'trust her, chip. [to jay] aim for the hinges.' and I cast guidance"

ANIMATIC POG???????

OHHH MY GOD. OH MY GOD OH MY GOD.

JSHFJDJJE BIZLY AND CHARLIE BACKING OUT OF FRAME

"nobody died."

"that could've gone worse"

"...has anyone seen my pin" JOHN I LOVE YOU

AND THATS WHERE IT ENDS. god that was a good episode.

[sh1tbird-shantytown]

WIP Wednesday

it may not be wednesday anymore but i’m not that far off.

tagged by @ghostofjellyfishforgotten and @deardmvz <33

i don’t even know who to tag so if you want to join me in being late for this please do go ahead. tag me, i’d love to see.

also this is just over 1000 words so excuse that. it’s a pretty lengthy series i was working on a long while back. never posted. :)

…

Steve had an arrangement of emotions that hovered over his mind as he rushed around the kitchen making breakfast for himself. The little television was on in the corner counter as he spread butter over his toast, occasionally tuning into the news channel. He was debating on whether or not calling out of work would be a bad move. His head did feel a little sluggish and he knew he’d end up with a horrible headache by the end of the day nonetheless. He straightened his posture and looked up at the grey window. The day didn’t seem to favor anything good either.

There was a dark haired, middle aged man speaking when Steve looked up as he plucked up the other piece of toast, “In breaking news, there was a private jet crash near the Canandian border reported just fifteen minutes ago. The group aboard the plane were prestigious lawyers, Katherine Dacy and Oliver Brookson and their co-partners, John and Elizabeth Harrington,” the man sat up straighter in his chair as Steve barely registered his own posture sinking. “There was a pilot aboard, Jayson Dickson, they are all assumed to be deceas—” Steve blankly heard his toast plop on the floor. His ears started ringing and his vision blurred, his knees following in his body’s failure to deal. His parents were dead. The plane crashed. Katherine and Oliver? He remembered them. They came to dinner a few times. They were nice, they talked to him about civil justice while his parents bickered over white or red wine. His parents—

Steve struck into action and stumbled upright clumsily to the phone on the wall ten feet away, “Hopper,” he whispered to himself, “Hopper. Hopper can help.” He ripped the phone off and dialed the memorized house number.

It rang and rang until there was finally an open click, “Jim here,” was the greeting, it sounded like a rushed thing though. Like he had somewhere to be and whoever was calling better have a good reason. Well, Steve thought dead parents were a pretty good reason.

Steve took in a shaky breath before clearing his throat painfully, “Hop?”

Hopper’s voice changed significantly, “Steve? That you?” he didn’t pause long enough for a response, “‘Course it’s you, I just saw the news, kid. I was just on my way over.”

“Over?” he asked curiously, he grunted as the air was forced out when his knees finally buckled and he dropped heavily to the floor.

“Steve? Harrington?” Hopper’s voice carried through the line worriedly, “You— What are you doing right now?”

“Work,” Steve mumbled and looked at the shiny red telephone in his right hand before slowly raising it, “I was going to work, making breakfast,” he spoke slowly; shock taking it’s powerful place. Although, toast and work seemed very far away; eons.

“You aren’t going to work, kid,” Hopper reasoned and Steve nodded back to the air emptily, “You got that?”

Steve whispered back, “Yeah.”

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes, don’t do anything rash, Steve, I know you may be thinking things but you just wait there until we’re there.” Steve racked his brain to see what Hopper may have been talking about but he couldn’t find anything. There was nothing. He felt numb and even the deep sorrow he knew was there couldn’t penetrate the lack of everything he felt and thought. He swayed where he sat, subconsciously, back and forth as he searched desperately for some sort of movement around him.

“Okay,” Steve said at last when he realized they both had been stuck in the silence, “I’ll be here waiting.”

“See you soon, Steve,” he heard back and then clicked to the end of the line.

He sat back against the wall and spread his legs out in front of himself, light blue pajama pants that his mother had gifted to him last Christmas. Made him feel nice about something. Made him feel content and warmed even in the large and open emptiness of the house. And then Steve began thinking about how the house will begin to feel even more empty with his parents officially gone. No more mom and dad bickering over wine, or his mediocre grades, or how he should strive for a better job. No more stupidly funny jokes by his tipsy mother, no more pleasantly enjoyable law lessons from his father on quiet nights they were home, no more holidays shared sparingly. They were gone. And Steve had learned quickly, especially in the past few years, how to accept loss. But this seemed to be different. A part of his already feeble life was gone. A big part. The beginning of his own. His parents were dead. Was that what Hopper had been talking about. There was an awful amount of death-speak panging around his mind.

Steve erupted with a powerful sob then, tears suddenly springing forward and flooding over his eyelids even when he closed then uncomfortably tight. His shoulders hunched forward and his stomach contracted as he felt bile rise. He forced it down at the last moment and then took in a delicate rumble of a breath from his aching and burning lungs. His heart was pounding so loud and fierce that he felt it in his ears and brain. He brought his hands up and covered his face, where his fingers grazed his forehead and the heels of his hands rested at the bottom of his cheeks.

He trembled on the floor with hot and sticky tears blotching his skin, and then stood up in sudden strength and slammed his own phone down on the holder attached to the wall. The grey wall his mother had made his father agree to when Steve was ten. It had been a three day fight over the wall color. Steve’s father had wanted it green. Steve found that suddenly amusing as he recalled the conversations his mother had with his father where she scolded him on his poor color pallet choice. He laughed into the vacant house hysterically and listened to the echoes it created. The front door slammed open and multiple voices took it over.

There were arms around Steve before he could even fully turn around when he got to his feet to greet the loud guests. And when he did manage to glance at the tops of two women’s heads he clasped his own two arms around them too. Robin and Joyce stepped back with their wide and empathetic eyes. Steve knew he looked a mess by the way sympathy and concern overran their expressions. And he felt it too, his hot temperature and stiff limbs.

“We’re here for you, honey,” Joyce grabbed his forearm gently, but it was firm too. Hopper stood in the doorway, so Steve waved him over before he answered Joyce.

Hopper stepped inside and closed the door as Steve began to speak thickly, “I just— I don’t know what to do,” he released.

Joyce cupped his cheek like he’d seen her do with her own sons before, “Oh, honey,” she eased, “You don’t need to know anything right now. We just need to sit down, stick together, and take the day to slowly come to terms.”

“They’re gone,” he choked out loud finally. He looked up at Joyce’s suddenly tear filled eyes, “They’re actually gone. They’re not coming back to me anymore,” he felt his knees give way but Robin held him up.

She grunted and then put his arm over her shoulder, “Alright, let’s move this to the living room, Bud,” she spoke like she was trying to keep normality to the situation but also still show she cared. And Steve could understand the meaning even in the moment of weakness in his structure. There were cracks everywhere in himself. But he knew Robin and he knew Joyce and he knew Hopper. They were strong, they were present, and they came to stay with him. That was what he needed. Robin seated him on the plush sofa as the two adults entered the room. Steve leaned back and stared off a moment before refocusing on Robin’s clear blue gape.

“Do you guys have to leave?” he asked. The rest looked taken aback and Robin maybe a little offended.

“Son,” Hopper spoke up, “We’re gonna be here all damn day whether you like it or not.”

Steve smiled wetly back, “Thank you.”

Hopper smiled and Joyce did the same beside him, “No prob—” he was interrupted by the phone ringing.

Steve sat up with perseverance he hadn’t had a moment ago, “I got it, don’t worry.” He shuffled over to the wall from before and picked it up, after a moment he gripped it with his other hand too, “I know, Aunt Clara, I know.”

[the-decaffeinated-youth]

Brynlee

I push the eggs around on my plate. Mom walks in and looks at me. "What?" I asks. The air is tense, just as it's been since he died. I take in a deep breath and cock and eyebrow. I look down at the plate and try to concentrate on the blue color. 

"You know you could be a little nicer," she says. 

"Whatever mom," I say and push the plate away from me. I look up at her then back down at the plate that's now a couple inches away. 

"No don't whatever mom me," she says. "I know you're mad but-" her voice getting higher pitched at the end. Her name fits her perfect. Karen. 

"I'm not mad. I just want you to understand we can't just run away because dad died. But oh wait yes we can because you pulled me out of school mid way through the first semester of my senior year. So I guess we can right?"

"Brynlee," she says stepping towards me. I shake my head and walk away from her. My brown eyes swell with tears. 

"I have to go get dressed," I say. "I can't be late for my first day of school," I start walking up the stairs. I walk up to the new room I call mine for now. 

"Brynlee!" she calls again. I take the stairs two at a time trying to get away as fast as I can. 

My door opens and my "IT" poster greets me. I smile softly and close the door behind me. I change quickly and walk over to the mirror. My long red hair swoops by my face and I pull it back before looking down at my outfit. A faux fur jacket over a white halter top and ripped jeans. 

I sit down on my chair in front of my newly assembled vanity and throw on light makeup with light pink eye shadow. I pull the hair tie out of my hair and pick up my brush. A small smile plays across my lips and I stand up. 

I pick up my bag and walk downstairs. "Your car showed up last night," my mom says. I pick up my keys and continue walking. It's hard to look at her. The last place Dad was, is no longer part of my family. It's hundreds and hundreds of miles away. I hop into my car and turn on the radio, I start scanning through the stations before giving up and pulling my aux cord out and plug it into my phone. 

The song I was last playing blares out, "I Hope" I chuckle and begin singing along. "I hope you both feel the sparks by the end of the night-" I continue singing. 

I turn on the gps not completely sure where the school is, and keep my music playing. I look at the clock on my phone and realize that it's nearly eight, about ten til. I groan a bit as I take the left turn into the school's parking lot. I pull into a parking spot and hop out of the car. I walk out and snow falls softly over my head. "Shit," I say pulling my jacket closer around me. I jog a little fast to get into the building. I reach the office when the bell rings. I groan again before opening the office door. 

I step in and smile at a tall blonde boy sitting in a chair nearby. I walk up to the desk and wait quietly. The secretary sitting there asks "Can I help you?" 

"Uh yeah I'm Brynlee Thomas, I'm a transfer student. I was wondering where to get my class schedule?" I ask softly. The lady nods and smiles softly. She clicks a few buttons and the printer whirs to life. A piece of paper falls out into the tray. She picks it up and hands it to me. 

"Marcus will show you around, you have first period together," she says. The blonde guy stands up and smiles softly. 

"Hey!" he says. The boy was taller than I thought he would be. He's over six foot tall, my jaw almost drops when I see him. I walk over to him and hold out a hand. 

"Hi." I say as he shakes my hand. He nods to my schedule and I hand it to him. 

"Oh we have six out of eight classes together," he smiles softly. 

"Oh do we?'' I ask. He nods and we begin walking out of the office. I follow him close behind. 

"So Brynley how do you like Vancouver so far?" 

"Oh uh Bryn is fine, and I like it. I miss Texas though," I say. Marcus nods and sighs. I shake a little. 

"Well Bryn. I'm glad you like it," he says and walks down the third hallway down the main hall. "Cold?" he asks softly. I nod. "Well you did wear a third of a shirt," he says. 

"Oh uh yeah," I say self consciously. Does he think I'm a slut? He laughs a little.  

"I like it," Halfway down the hall he walks to a door and opens it, "Here we are," he says to me quietly. I walk in and he follows behind me. He walks up to the teacher and explains who I am. 

"Oh! Welcome Bryn! Go ahead and take a seat," Mrs. Jayson says. Marcus tilts his head and walks to his seat looking at the empty seat in front of him. I walk over to it and sit my bag down. I sigh and pull out a notebook. "Brynn have you gotten to trig in your past bridge math class?" I nod and look at her. 

"Just got to it actually,"I say quietly. She begins lecturing after telling me if I had any questions I was welcomed to stop her. 

"I can help you with your homework if you need it," Marcus leans up and whispers in my ear. I nod and lean back into the chair taking notes. 

After an hour of lecturing the bell rings and I stand up. "So next period. I don't know if he's here today. But you not being from here it may be a shock to you to see who's in our next period." I look at him as he shows me the way to our lockers. 

"Who is it?" I ask. 

He shakes his head. "I'm not gonna explain who he is. If you know who he is you'll see. You'll understand. Just promise me you'll be cool about it?" he asks. I nod and open my locker putting everything besides one notebook, my phone, and a pencil inside. 

"Promise," I say shutting my locker. He picks up his binder and shuts his locker as well. "Well lead the way." A smile plays across my light pink lips. 

"God I hope he's not here," the boy says. 

"Marcus who the fuck are you talking about? You can tell me," I say as we walk up the nearby stairs. I walk directly beside him, our hands swinging, almost touching. He shakes his head, showing his side shave. I smile softly, but hide it so that maybe he'll tell me," 

"Here we are, second period," he says opening the choir door. The room is lined with sound proofing. My jaw almost drops. The room is about three times the size my old class was. My eyes scan across the classroom. A girl with dyed pink hair, one from first period, a boy with black hair, and a boy with shoulder length curly hair. I can't make out his face. He's tall. Not as tall as Marcus but tall none the less. That's when he turns around. "He's here." 

CHAPTER 1-7 OUT NOW ON WATTPAD. @/xamandxolby

[redditnosleep]

The Terrifying Note Addressed To My Six-year-old Son

by Creeping_dread

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 (Final)

This story has a free audiobook available!

There’s a certain terror in knowing your life is on a totally different path than the one you intended and there isn’t a damn thing you can do to stop it. Four days ago I could have looked out over the next 2-3, even 5 years, and said I pretty much know how things are gonna go. Well, not anymore. Even though every day is a living nightmare, it’s not knowing what tomorrow may bring that scares me so much.

Carrie and I started speaking to each other yesterday afternoon sometime. Just short conversations here and there, but it’s a start. My heart still feels broken, but my worry for her well-being is starting to trump my own feelings. She’s barely eating, for one. And if it’s possible to lose significant weight in the span of a couple days, she has. She was already thin enough to begin with. When she looks at me, I can almost read her thoughts through those puffy eyes: I wish I could take it all back. But I can’t.

There’s something else I’ve been considering: it’s entirely possible that Carrie was drugged. Cheating on me with a stranger in his car doesn’t seem like the Carrie I know. It just feels wrong. If the person who left those fucked up notes/took Andrew and the person who took Carrie down to the river are the same person, the idea that she was roofied is that much more plausible.

And I can’t help thinking Carrie saved her own life when she blocked “Ray’s” number from her phone. She may not have survived a second meeting.

Still, that stupid, smirking, voice is always there, whispering in the background. You’re so gullible, Dean. She CHEATED. And if what she says IS true, WHY did she hide it from you? Why, indeed. Shame, obviously. Or maybe she just didn’t want to get caught? It’s hard to ignore that voice, but I’m trying.

Detective Carr dropped by to interview Carrie around 4 yesterday. He thought she’d be more open about her experience with “Ray” if she didn’t have to talk about it in front of me, so I sat outside on the porch while they talked, that jealous little voice badgering me the entire time. When they were done, Carrie left the house to run an errand and Carr and I talked in the living room.

Of course, the police department had gotten dozens of calls after the radio show, which had sent our little town into a tailspin. I guess giving a name and a persona to this psychopath—whether correct or not—had really touched a nerve. People were reporting every single little “suspicious” thing they saw, which left a lot of work for Carr and his team. Every person that wore a hoodie, acted strangely, or was in an area they wouldn’t normally have been in was reported. The mall canceled its Easter Bunny pictures, which were supposed to take place each day of the week leading up to Easter. I’d gotten a text from Kyle’s coach explaining Kyle’s tee-ball season was canceled, too. Temporarily, at least. No one wanted to be responsible for another child being taken.

Leads needed to be followed, no matter how small, Carr said, but he knew he’d be lucky if any of them amounted to anything.

Before he left, I asked Carr bout what was going on at 3 Orange Circle. Had they found anything? He said the construction crew had finished breaking up the concrete floor and hauling it out just after lunch. He was waiting on the forensics guys—he laughed when he said it, it was really just two police officers with some special training in collecting evidence—to get over there and start digging. Even though he’d already refused to share it with me, I pressed him again about the evidence he’d found. He looked like he was mulling it over in his mind, then told me he could show me one thing. He retrieved his phone from his pocket, flipped through some pictures, and held the phone up to my face.

The picture on the screen showed a polaroid photograph laying on a scuffed wooden floor. The lighting was dim, so it was a little hard to see. For a split second, I thought it was a picture of Carrie. The blonde hair, pulled back tightly like a cheerleader’s, was almost identical. Then I realized who it was.

Suzanne Kerrington, Carr offered. Then, when he saw my face, Yes, I see the similarity. When I asked whether he thought this was all about Carrie the entire time, he shrugged. I’m not sure about that, yet. It’s an odd coincidence, if not. I thought he may agree to show me what else he’d found, but he demurred, glancing at his watch. I’ve been here too long as it is. Every minute is precious when you have a child missing.

A little after he left, I got a text message. It was from Ryan, a friend of mine whose son played on Kyle’s tee ball team. I’d kept him up to date on what was happening. Thought you might want to see this, the text read.

Below the message was a screen shot of a text message Ryan had received from Andrew’s dad. It said: What the fuck does this mean?. A picture of a note was attached below it.

I’m going to keep this short and sweet

before things get too scary.

If you want to know why

I chose Andrew to die,

you better ask Dean and Carrie.

I felt like throwing up. Who did this sick fuck think he was? It wasn’t enough to terrorize us—now he wanted to turn the entire community against us!

I had no idea why he chose Andrew! The only thing I did know—or THINK I knew, especially after seeing the picture of Suzanne that looked identical to Carrie—was that this was never about Kyle. Or Andrew. Not really. It seemed like he was targeting Carrie the entire time.

Actually, one other thing was certain: he wanted to destroy our reputation in the community. That’s why he had left that note for Andrew’s dad. I knew the picture would make the rounds, and Carrie’s and my name would be dragged through the mud. No doubt. But then, that voice was at it again. Gullible. Sucker. What if it’s more than that?

When Carrie got back from her errand, I showed her the picture.

Me: Any idea what this means? Is there something you’re not telling me?

Carrie: (Eyes wide and pleading) No Dean, I swear to God. I have no idea what this means. (She grabbed my phone and read the note again.) He’s sick. That’s what it is. He’s sick and he’s trying to destroy us.

Me: Well, he was telling the truth in the last note. Why lie in this one?

Carrie: (She grabbed my arm. It was the first time we’d touched since the day before). I have a lot of groveling to do. I get that. But please, if you’re ever trusted me—if you have any love for me left, any single solitary little bit—believe me now. Please. Believe me. I don’t know what this means.

She held my eyes with hers, and in that moment, I believed her. The little voice was silent.

I dropped the phone in frustration.

Me: What are we going to do?

Carrie: I don’t know, Dean. I just hope Andrew is okay. Do you think they’ll find him?

Me: (That reminded me of something). Oh, tomorrow at church will you ask Glenda in the front office if you can look at the church’s membership records? I assume Detective Carr will be by there, now that he’s talked to you, but maybe we can get a head start on it. I want to see if there’s a Ray listed anywhere.

Carrie: Okay. Are you going with me?

Me: I don’t think so. I don’t feel very close to God right now.

She looked like the words hurt her, but she also looked like she understood.

This morning, Carrie went to Union Street and met Glenda before Sunday school. The church didn’t keep any digital membership records, but Glenda did find a box with all of the membership bulletins for the last ten years. The kind with each member’s picture and their name underneath. When Carrie called, her words were dripping with disappointment. She couldn’t find anyone named Ray or Raymond. She asked Glenda to make a copy of each of them for Detective Carr and said he’d probably be by later to pick them up.

While Carrie was at church, I got a call from Ryan. Apparently, a lot of the dads are upset that the entire tee ball season was canceled. I know some of these guys, and you probably know some guys just like them. They have big trucks and guns, and they feel like they could protect their sons just fine if they were allowed to continue the season. I sort of agree with them, deep down, but I also understand its better to be cautious. Andrew was taken right out from under his dad’s nose, after all.

Ryan isn’t as bad as some of them, but he also agrees that this psychopath wouldn’t make a move out in the open like that.

So,they were supposed to have a “practice” game today at 1:00. Just to get some of the kids together at the field and let them feel like they’re actually getting to play. Full dress, scoreboard, ref, all that. The problem was, none of the dads could get in touch with the head ref. Some of the dads had been texting and calling him since the season was cancelled, but they hadn’t gotten a response. That's what Ryan had called about. To bitch about the refs.

The call was breaking up, but I thought Ryan said Ray’s usually here whenever we need him. He loves doing these games. He’s out here every chance he can get.

Me: Wait a minute. Say that again.

Ryan: I said Jay’s usually out here. But he won’t answer his phone.

Me: Shit, you just about gave me a heart attack. Jay who? Do I know him?

Ryan: Jayson Fisher. He’s been the head ref for a while.

Me: Who’s his kid?

Ryan: Doesn’t have any kids of his own. Just likes tee ball, I guess.

When he said it, something went off in my brain. Like a bell tinkling.

Me: How old is Jay?

Ryan: Uh, I don’t know, close to our age. Forties.

My heart started to thump in my chest.

Me: And you haven’t talked to him in a couple days? Any idea why?

Ryan: No, like I said, he usually texts back. He’s the one who assigns the other refs when he can’t make it. I guess I’ll need to track down someone else’s phone number.

Me: Keep trying to reach him, Ryan. And listen: if you get him, do you mind letting me know?

Ryan: Yeah, why?

Me: I don’t know, maybe I’ll bring Kyle out there.

Ryan: Really, I thought you said….

Me: Just let me know. Okay?

Ryan: Will do.

Me: I gotta run. Talk to you later.

My hands were clammy as I texted Carrie’s phone. Emergency. Please call me back.

About two minutes later, Carrie called, almost hyperventilating.

Carrie: What’s wrong? What happened?

Me: Nothing. Everything’s fine here. I’m sorry I scared you. (She breathed a sigh of relief). I need you to do something for me. Right now. Can you go back to the office? I want you to look for another name. I’ll stay on the phone.

Carrie: Another name? Okay, hold on. (I could hear the phone rustling as she hurried down front steps of the church and around to the side door that led into the office area). Okay, I’m here. The copies Glenda left out for the detective are on the desk.

Me: Carrie, look for a Jayson Fisher. Start in the one farthest back. 2007?

Carrie: Yes, 07. Jayson Fisher? Okay, let me see.

I waited. She was breathing heavily and I could hear her rustling through the pages.

Then, she gasped. When she spoke again, her voice had taken on a new quality. Like that of a frightened animal.

Carrie: Oh God, Dean. Oh God.

Me: What?

Carrie: It’s him, Dean. It’s him! It wasn’t Ray, it was Jay!

Me: Are you sure?

Carrie: Yes, I’m sure. I don’t remember a lot, but I’ll never forget those eyes.

Me: He’s a tee ball ref, Carrie. He took Andrew! I know it.

Carrie: No! Oh my God. I missed Kyle's first game, but I was there for the second. Why didn’t I recognize him?

Me: I don’t know. But I actually spoke to him! During Kyle’s first game, he hit a grounder to the short stop and the ref called him out at first when he was clearly safe. It was a bad call. Everyone said so. And I let him know that. God. That’s why he said I was rude!

Carrie: It’s not your fault, Dean…..

Me: I gotta call Carr. I love you. Bye.

I hung up before she responded, then dialed Carr’s phone. As it rang, I thought: Hold on Andrew. Just a little longer.

[mitchbeck]

CANTLON'S CORNER: WOLF PACK TRAVEL TO PA TO BREAK STREAK

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - Kris Knoblauch, the Hartford Wolf Pack's (11-4-0-5) first-year head coach, is taking the Wolf Pack’s first losing streak, currently three games, as calmly as he took their nine-game winning streak to open the season, calm, cool and collected. “Not changing too much. Guys are still happy to come to the rink, and that’s good. We're balancing things right now. The hard work continues.” Knoblauch didn’t highlight any one area that needed cleaning up. “We weren’t as sharp as we had been (defensively), and we had scoring chances and couldn’t finish. Our passing was spotty. We encourage our team to get faster, keep the feet moving, and how well you defend plays a big part in how other parts of your game are doing,“ Knoblauch commented. On Wednesday, Knoblauch ran a hard hour-long game that simulated one-on-one battle drills perhaps stressing that level of intensity that might have ebbed a bit over the last three games. It didn’t faze veteran Matt Beleskey. “Of course your gonna have moments like these (losing streaks). It's all about taking forward steps, not backward ones. We still have good energy in the room, if we keep playing hard, good things will come to us. Coach said it best this morning. 'Things that don’t take talent helps you win.' The tape-to-tape pass, winning that one-on-one battle and when you do the little things as a group, good things will happen.” As a veteran, Beleskey was able to understand what it was and draw parallels with tough practices in the past. “That was a tough practice hour-long battle drills, but he made it fun. That keeps guys competitive. It can be seen as a punishment, but it wasn’t. You could view it as a punishment, but there isn’t one guy in that room who doesn’t want to win and do better. It is, in its own way, a team-building (moment) and learning to come together as a group." When queried about one very nasty bag skate the Wolf Pack suffered under former head coach, Keith McCambridge, last year upon their return from an unsuccessful Canadian road trip on a Monday - the traditional off day in hockey. “I missed that practice by a week getting reassigned by the Rangers, but no question it left a really bad taste with players for two or three weeks afterward. It took the wind out of our sails. You feel you're being punished, and you're trying to win. It wasn’t a good atmosphere. Today doesn’t resemble that at all. It was a tough practice, yes. It was competitive. It was an hour-long battle to get better-together. I think it’s a good way to work toward breaking a losing streak.” The goaltending duo of Igor Shesterkin and Adam Huska did their usual split of playing time, but Shesterkin played his first back-to-back games in North America, and the formula will remain this week when they visit Lehigh Valley (Allentown, PA ) on Saturday, and Hershey on Sunday. “Both will play, but we really haven’t decided what our rotation will be for this weekend yet." Line changes may see some minor changes with Boo Nieves recalled, and Tim Gettinger returning after two games in New York. The biggest change is the addition of Shawn McBride, who was recalled from Norfolk (ECHL) where he was reassigned from Maine to get playing time for the injured Lewis Zerter-Gossage (upper body, out for the weekend), but are hoping he’ll be back next week. “I’m very happy we were able to recall a natural center and not convert one of our wingers.” He will likely be anchoring the fourth line. NOTES Knoblauch’s bench will be shortened-on the coaching-end this weekend. In an out-of-left-field move, Assistant Coach, David Cunniff, officially resigned this morning and took the Head Coaching/GM job with the Worcester Railers (ECHL), the Islanders Double AA affiliate. The team relieved their first-ever head coach, Jamie Russell, and assistant coach, Derek Army (Kent Prep), of their duties. “We knew for about two days. On Monday, they sought permission from the Rangers' Jeff (Gorton) or Chris (Drury) not sure who, to speak to David about the job. It was really a job he couldn’t pass up. He has been an assistant coach for many years, so he gets his first head coaching job and couldn’t be happier for him, but we're gonna miss him.” Beleskey echoed his sentiments “That’s close to home for him to be a head coach good for him. We're really gonna miss him because he was one positive guy on the bench. He was always talking and encouraging everybody. We all wish him the best.” He was an assistant coach for eight years with the Worcester Sharks under Roy Sommer, the all-time winningest AHL head coach. He was an interim head coach in Iowa for a period of time. His debut at the DCU Center in Worcester Wednesday night wasn’t a good one, a 4-1 loss to the Newfoundland (St. John’s) Growlers. When asked if he had a replacement in mind for Cunniff, Knoblauch responded, “Too fresh and too early for that. Gord Murphy is more than capable of handling more responsibility. We'll be able to handle things this weekend.” There's a troika of possibilities to take over for Cunniff. It could be Jed Ortmeyer, Tanner Glass, or perhaps assistant GM Pat Boller, who was on ice assistant under Ken Gernander, could dust off the skates and be in the mix. Defenseman Yegor Rykov was skating with the group in his non-contact jersey, #57. He is very close to returning as he was going to the doctor’s in the afternoon seeking medical clearance. “If he is cleared as we hope, he won’t this weekend, but hopefully next weekend,” said Knoblauch. Rykov hasn’t played since the Traverse City tournament in September where he suffered a nasty high ankle sprain. With his left arm in a sling, Gabriel Fontaine was actually feeling pretty good five days after his surgery on his left shoulder. "It was actually a lot less pain than I expected. It's not great, getting better every day, but its a tough break for sure." Sleeping has got to be a gymnastic feat. "I've been able to stay on my back, but when I try to go my left side, oh you feel it," Fontaine said with a smile as he rolled his eyes. Tough to have a season cut short at 13 games for one of the nicer players. The hottest team currently in the AHL is the Milwaukee Admirals. They have won ten in a row. The Admirals second-leading scorer is ex-Pack captain Cole Schneider with 19 points in 21 games. The Pack is now the sixth-best in the AHL behind Toronto, Milwaukee, Tucson, Rochester, and Providence. Ex-Pack, John Gilmour, was sent to Rochester. He has played only four games in Buffalo in the first two months of the season and last week just 7:53 in his last game. Ex-CT Whale, Jayson Megna, was sent to the Colorado Eagles by the parent Colorado Avalanche. Former CT Whale, Alex Krushelnyski, was loaned to Rockford after starting the year with Indy (ECHL). Ex-Pack goalie, Brandon Halverson, was returned to Norfolk (ECHL) by Providence. Former QU Bobcat, Craig Martin, gets a weather upgrade from Adirondack (ECHL) to Jacksonville (ECHL). -Jaxon Stauber, son of former Wolf Pack and New Haven Nighthawk goalie Robb Stauber after one NCAA game with the University Minnesota-Mankato a victory 4-1 win over University of Alabama-Huntsville (WCHA) returns to Sioux City Stampede (USHL) for the rest of the year. It preserves his NCAA eligibility and he returns to the defending USHL Clark Cup champions where Stauber had an 11-1 post-season mark win playoff MVP honors. Former Wolf Pack captain, Mat Bodie, is not having a good time in Sweden. He lost his assistant captain status, his ice time, and was then traded from Vaxjo HC (Sweden-SHL) to IK Oskarshamn (Sweden-SHL) Former Sound Tiger, Casey Bailey, leaves South Carolina (ECHL) for Vaxjo gaining the team’s import player license as it's known in Europe. Ex-Pack, Zdenek Bahensky, has gone from Mulhouse (France-FREL) to Cracow (Poland-PZIHL). Read the full article

[flauntpage]

Let ’em Off the Hook – Observations from Celtics 108, Sixers 103

Blown lead? Check. 

Highly questionable coaching decisions? Check.

Struggles from a superstar player? Check.

Game two was an archetypal Philadelphia sporting experience, a collection of only the most bitter ingredients, pestled into slop and added to the worst mixed drink of all time. It starts smooth and then gives you a repulsive aftertaste, one that I think will probably last until Saturday night for most Sixers fans.

There’s a lot to unpack after last night, so let’s just take it one step at a time.

Why no timeout?

Twitter went off the rails during the Celtics’ 2nd quarter run, wondering why Brett Brown didn’t call time to stop the bleeding.

Brown explained post game that he trusted his team to stay organized. He’d “do it again,” if the same situation came up.

Here’s the full quote:

“I trust my players that they have shown that they can hold on to stuff, that they can stay organized. And they’ve shown that over the past third of the season. As we study this – and it’s easy for us to say, ‘oh shoot, they went on that run, do you burn a timeout?’ When we study it and we discuss it on the bench, we wanna have – I wish I had more (timeouts) at the end of a game as well. So I feel like, when you started subbing, that we were gonna be able to hold the fort. In retrospect, we didn’t. Would a timeout have fixed it? I don’t think so. We can maybe second guess that. But by and large it’s going into the game and trying to make sure that you have enough (timeouts) at the end of the game also to manage it. You knew it was going to be a close game. The notion that we were gonna maintain a 20 point lead and walk out of the Boston Garden wasn’t on my mind. I felt like what we did to them, they were going to do to us. Runs were going to be had. When you bring Joel Embiid and JJ Redick back into the game, and you’ve got a stockpile of timeouts to use, that was my decision (not to use one). As I said, I’d do it again. I’ll go back and look at the tape and if it’s something I’ll pivot out of, I’ll share it with everybody when I see you next.”

My first reaction is that I’m not surprised. This is how Brett Brown has coached all season long. He’s said 100 times before that he’s not gonna change how his team plays or “walk the ball up the floor” to address the turnover issue, preferring to let his team figure it out on their own. It seems like that same mentality is applied when opponents go on runs, and I can understand, based on his DNA, why he coached that second quarter the way he did.

That said, he has to consider the other five guys on the floor. Whether you believe in YOUR team or not, using a timeout there can break the OTHER team’s rhythm and put a halt to the action. It’s one thing to think your squad can play their way out of it, and maybe they would have if one of those three-straight three point attempts had gone in, but they didn’t. They missed. So do the simple thing, call the timeout to slow Boston’s momentum and have a talk with your team.

Brett’s pattern has been to call timeout usually after the second or third shot a team makes to begin a run, typically when he sees a mistake on defense. It’s a “nip it in the bud” type of approach that he began to use in December and January, and I think it helped correct some of the blown lead problems they were experiencing during the first half of the season. And while he’s correct that basketball is a game of runs, he could have helped his team out by settling things down and at least breaking up the opponent’s rhythm.

It felt very similar to the London game in this regard, where the Sixers started out strong then found themselves totally lost in the moment.

Ben Simmons

One point on 0-4 shooting with 7 assists, five turnovers, and a -23 rating.

He was again ineffective due to Boston’s defensive scheme, which I’ll explain a bit later.

Brown made a shrewd decision to take Simmons out of the game in the third quarter and put in T.J. McConnell, who finished 4-4 for 8 points, adding 5 rebounds, 0 turnovers, and a ending the game at +16. McConnell showed Boston a completely different look, explored different spots on the floor, and established an offensive fluidity that had been missing since the 1st quarter.

With 5:29 remaining in the fourth, with the Sixers leading 93-91, Brown inexplicably went back to Simmons and put McConnell on the bench. His team was outscored 17-10 from that point and ultimately lost the game.

Brown’s explanation:

“I mean, It’s a tough decision, I admit it. This whole playoff experience is something I want our young guys and our star players to learn from and grow. The decision, do you go with T.J. still or come back to Ben Simmons, I’m coming back to Ben Simmons. I’m coming back to Ben. He’s had a hell of a year. I think he’s the rookie of the year. I think he’s going to have to learn how to play in these environments and I’m going back with Ben Simmons.”

I understand that.

I don’t think anyone disputes the idea that your starting rookie point guard should get as much experience as possible, especially in challenging, high stakes situations. If that’s the idea though, then Markelle Fultz should be playing in this series.

Why? Because McConnell gave the Sixers the best chance to win that game last night, and Brown claiming that Ben has to “learn how to play in these environments” is basically an admission that winning right now isn’t priority number one.

Seriously.  How else do you parse that quote? Everybody knows that Simmons should have stayed on the bench, but Brown went back to his worst player on the night with the game on the line.

You can give me some push back about Markelle Fultz not being ready for this stage or whatever, and maybe you’re right, but Fultz is the #1 draft pick. He’s available. Put him in the game. Is he going to look more lost than game two Simmons?

It’s hypocritical to bench the better player on the night (McConnell) for the future of the franchise (Simmons) while completely ignoring the guy you traded up to select #1 overall. If the Sixers feel like they’re playing with house money, and everybody is just happy to be here, which is the vibe I’m getting, then put Markelle in the game, give him this experience, and move on to next year knowing a little bit more about what you have.

I wanted to give Brett a lot of credit for sitting down Simmons, and I think we can still do that, but he completely expunged his best coaching move of the series by going back to Ben down the stretch instead of staying with T.J.

Walled off

Boston attacked Simmons the same way they did in game one, meeting him with a second defender in transition and walling him off near the free throw line.

The issue is that he’s too shallow to kick out to the perimeter but also too deep to take a shot. The Celtics are doing a nice job of trapping him in that purgatory type of area where he’s caught in two mindsets.

One of the issues is that Ben is trying to push in transition before Joel Embiid makes his way up the court. In those cases, Aron Baynes, or whomever is guarding Embiid, simply just slides to double Simmons because there’s nobody else to guard. The best option is to leave the ball for Embiid for a trailing three, but he’s not shooting well from the perimeter in this series.

Even in the half court, you see similar things. Here, Al Horford sags, Baynes is there for the pickup, and if Embiid wants to stand on the three point line, Boston will live with that all day long:

Horford also kills the entry pass to Saric there, because he essentially guards two guys at once by sagging off a non-shooter.

Simmons can’t figure it out and the Sixers staff needs to coach him through it. For what it’s worth, he put it on himself after the game:

"It was mainly what I did to myself. I think mentally, I was thinking too much."

Ben Simmons on his struggles in Game 2.#GameTime pic.twitter.com/xPgzKo7mTd

— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 4, 2018

I think the “thinking too much” concept was exemplified on the 4th quarter play where he got Aron Baynes on the switch and didn’t take him to the rack:

This is why Ben Simmons isn’t the rookie of the year. He’s incapable of scoring on One of the slowest guys in the NBA. Any elite player goes to the basket here. Donovan Mitchell is ROY. Simmons with 1 point, 3 assists and 4 TO halfway though Q3 pic.twitter.com/TVn41ukTik

— Curtis (@CJKnh) May 4, 2018

I don’t necessaril agree or disagree with “Curtis” here, I was just looking for the video on Twitter and this is what came up.

Other observations

They took JJ Redick off Jayson Tatum, starting him on Marcus Smart instead. Robert Covington picked up Tatum while Simmons was Terry Rozier’s primary defender.

Horford at the five is causing all sorts of defensive issues for Joel Embiid, who is being dragged to the perimeter and forced away from the rim.

I didn’t see a ton of tweaks to combat Boston’s perimeter pressure, but Redick and Marco Belinelli did have a couple of made shots at the rim. Belinelli I think had two successful backdoor cuts. That’s something I need to check out when I rewatch the game.

Jaylen Brown came off the bench to make his series debut. He had 13 points on 5-12 shooting. You can live with that, considering he had a pair of 30 point games against Milwaukee.

Uncontested field goals: 46.4%, 26-56. They just made more of their open shots this time around.

Amir Johnson had a clean block whistled as a foul in the 1st quarter

I’m not sure what Dario was doing on that play where Jaylen Brown picked up a loose ball near half court and finished at the other end.

16 offensive rebounds and 18 second chance points. Only 12 total turnovers. Again they did fine in auxiliary categories.

Only 14 free throw attempts, compared to 26 in game one. They did a poor job of getting to the line.

There was a late game possession, at 104-97, when the Sixers didn’t know what they were supposed to run. Saric went to screen for Redick, who looked like he wasn’t expecting it. Covinton put his arms up after the play as if to say, “what was that?”

Let ’em Off the Hook – Observations from Celtics 108, Sixers 103 published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[vi-sability]

Rebel of Dimensions Chapter 4

From darkness to darkness. I don’t know where I was, but I fell from the sky. Where I came from was gone in a second, burning bright and then vanishing. I couldn’t have fallen far, since when I landed and sunk into what felt like nothing, I didn’t feel any pain. The cold overtook me in a second, though.

“What is this?!” I hissed, almost jumping to my feet and brushing it off of myself. It’s up to my knees! What the hell can be this cold?! As I brushed it off, I felt the crystal rub against my stomach. Lifting it up to stare at the golden shape set into my palm, I jumped slightly as it pulsed. “Did you do this?” Another pulse. I… have no idea what that means. Another wave of pain shot up my arm, and the golden cracks moved up my wrist a little.

A shout scared me, and I looked around in the complete darkness. What was that? Wait, a light! It’s… getting closer. I think. No, now it’s getting further away. I looked to the crystal on my palm, and how it shimmered. It’s so cold out here; it’s getting through my metal boots, so I hope these people don’t kill me. Lifting my hand, I held my open palm to the cold wind, trying to not shiver. I don’t wear a shirt to look cool, but right now, I am very much regretting that decision. I heard another shout, and the light started to get closer again. I sure hope they don’t kill me. Whatever it was approached insanely quickly and skidded to a halt, forcing me to shield myself from whatever I was stood in.

When I lowered my arm, I saw two very large men staring down at me with confused expressions. I’m not sure how big they actually were, because of all the fur on them. One of them said something I didn’t understand, and turned to the other guy and said something else when I didn’t respond.

“You guys aren’t gonna hurt me, are you?” They looked back at me, obviously not understanding. I guess that we don’t speak the same language. The closer guy leaned out of the structure they were in and lifted me up by my largest chest belt, sitting me down next to him. The other put something furry around my shoulders, and I tried to thank him, but he didn’t understand. Pulling the warmth closer, I tried to not panic as the -ship? I guess?- started to move again. It’s a simple wood structure, with a paper orb lighting it up. I wonder if they use Pyrite for that?

When the two men started speaking again, it scared me. I’d like to know what they’re saying. They could be planning to eat me! I know I’m tasty, but- ok, let’s not continue that train of thought. It would go downhill so quickly. Looking over the edge of the boat again, the sheer amount of darkness confused me. Is there nobody else out here? Do these guys even have somewhere to live? One of them tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the front of the boat. We were heading towards what looked like a large amount of houses. Even though it was dark outside, people were still moving around, probably doing jobs.

One of them barked a word, and the shimmering barrier I didn’t notice before made an opening, wide enough for the ship to slowly push through. I looked back and watched it close, and I then felt the air start to warm up. Magic is amazing. The guy I was sat next to pulled the fur off of me and picked me up again, placing me on my feet in much less of the cold powder. People started to stare, and I don’t blame them. They’re all covered up to deal with the cold, and I’m stood here with no shirt, chest belts, and one glove on. The crystal pulsed again, and I couldn’t help but wince at the wave of pain that shot up my arm.

A large hand gripped my shoulder, and the big guy I was sat next to started to lead me through the small city as his friend started to move things around the ship. Unlike the dark brick of Khido and the light metal of Drin, the houses here were made of light wood and some kind of thin, yellow sticks. They weren’t too big, but there were a lot of them. Where the guy was taking me was much larger. It looked about half the side of Drin’s tech institute, but it shaped more or less the same. As we got closer, somebody walked outside and waited, hands folded in front of their stomach.

Oh, it’s a woman. She stood there, waiting for us with a smile on her face. In comparison to everyone else, she was smaller and thinner, but still wore a full-length black dress with gold hems. The black matched her hair, which was swept behind her ears and reached all the way down her back, and I could see it curl slightly at the ends. She was pale, but her face reminded me of my mom’s with how soft it looked, despite her face being thin. She looked up at the big guy with his hand on my shoulder, shared a few words, and then met my eyes with her brilliant green ones. She said a few words, and I shook my head.

“I don’t understand.” Surprise filled her face.

“Oh! You come from that land!” Her outburst made me exhale heavily and put a hand to my chest. “I’m sorry, did I scare you?”

“A little.” I grinned and rubbed the back of my head. She’s really pretty. “I don’t know where I am right now.” She looked back up at the big guy and spoke in other words again. Now that I can look closer, her dress doesn’t actually go past her chest. Shoulders bare, and sleeves that reach her biceps, looped around her middle fingers. He big guy bowed and left, calling out to somebody else.

“Come with me.” She motioned with her hand, and I moved in step next to her as we walked into the large building. “Cyamus told me that when we saw the bright light in the sky, he didn’t expect to find anybody out in the snow.”

“Is that what it’s called?” I asked, brushing a bit off of my shoulder.

“Your language is not my first, so I’m surprised that I know the word, and you don’t.” She smiled, and looked sideways at me.

“I’ve never seen it before.” This place was huge! A lot of people that were looking at me weirdly were sat at a table set into the floor, eating. On both sides of the huge room, there were stairs leading up to different areas, where I’m sure I saw a couple making out. “Oh, by the way, my name’s Vincent.”

“Vincent.” She repeated, seemingly rolling it around on her tongue. “I’ve not heard a name quite like that before. Do you have a last name?”

“If I do, my mom never told me what it is.” A look crossed her face.

“I don’t recognise that word. The, uhm, how do you say- ‘mom’?”

“Oh, uh, it’s a short version of mother.” She nodded, and we stopped at the end of the hall, where she sat in a huge chair, the back decorated with carvings. They look like battles.

“Please, sit.” She motioned to a smaller chair, and I dropped into it, adjusting my chest belts. “My name is Lucilia Zoilus.”

“Nice to meet you.” I grinned, and held my hand out for a handshake. Instead of accepting, she looked at me weirdly. “You don’t do handshakes?”

“I don’t know what that is.”

“I always do it when I meet someone.” After staring at my hand for a couple more seconds, Lucilia gripped it and smiled.

“Well, it is nice to meet you.” My grin fell when I realized that I’d offered the hand with the crystal in the palm. “Why does your hand look like that?”

“Oh, uhm, magic accident.” I tried to hide it under my other arm, but she was interested, and I winced as it burned again.

“May I look?” Sighing, I held my hand out to her, and felt my face heat up when she gently gripped my fingers and wrist. “I’ve never seen a crystal such as this.” Her hand moved from my wrist to brush over some of the golden cracks on my palm. “How did this happen?”

“I was supposed to grab it with this hand.” I said, holding my gloved hand up. “I got distracted by two people who claimed to know me, but I didn’t know them.” Lucilia nodded, and said something in her own language as she looked at my palm again.

“It’s the same colour as the light in the sky that we saw.” She surprised me again when she spoke. It must be weird to switch languages. “It’s a unique crystal for a unique person.” I looked at her face, but Lucilia was focused on my hand. I didn’t really notice before, but she did look really frail. Is she sick? “Vincent?” I must have been staring, since hearing my name startled me. “Is everything okay?”

“Right now, or in the big picture?” Lucilia smiled again and let go of my hand. “I’m just worried about my family right now.”

“What is your family like?” She asked, turning in her seat to face me.

“Well, a bit strange if you look at other families.” I expected confusion, but she kept watching me talk, a hand under her chin. “My mom- I mean, mother, has me, as the oldest, my sister Caylee, who’s blind, and my younger brother Jayson.”

“Your sister is blind?” I nodded. “How does she survive?”

“We take care of her.” That’s when Lucilia looked confused. “She uses magic to see the world, instead. My… mother,” It’s weird to say that. “Lost one of her arms in an explosion when I was younger.” Lucilia was still watching me. “The left side of her body is covered in burns, and she has an arm made out of robotics.”

“What is this word, ‘robotics’?” She asked, her eyebrows pointing down. It makes her look angry, but she probably isn’t.

“Oh, uhm, it’s like a machine.” She nodded and motioned for me to continue. “Her hair is the same colour as mine; she got it from being subjected to experiments as a child.” I never usually talk like this, but I don’t want to confuse her with how I usually shorten words.

“Somebody experimented on her?” I nodded. I don’t know why I’m telling her all of this. Maybe it’s so she’ll trust me?

“They did the same with my uncle Cable, and my aunt Spring.” Lucilia laughed, covering her mouth.

“Such curious names.” I shrugged.

“They told me that they chose their names themselves. My mother named herself Frost.” Lucilia laughed again, and I felt myself smile. “Cable has eyes that glow in the dark. He passed that on to his two sons, Nate and Yasi.”

“Does that mean your brother and sister have the same hair colour as you?” She asked, and I shook my head.

“No, actually. It’s just me.” Again, Lucilia motioned for me to continue. “My uncle is married, and his wife is called Alva. They… uhm… ink their skin together quite a lot.”

“Like, design their skin with ink?” I nodded.

“They love each other more than anything. My aunt Spring has one girl called Tabs. Both of them are pure fighters.” I smiled, thinking about my broken promise of punching a mafia member. “Spring actually has her own small army of people who fight against how unfair my home city is to them.”

“Does she have any signs of experimentation?”

“Yeah, she has a ton of pale spots on her skin that… move. Tabs has them, but they don’t move.” A thoughtful look crossed over Lucilia’s face, but she seemed to understand. Somebody walked over and she turned to speak to them in another language for a few minutes. Why is everybody here so tall?

“People are asking me if everything is okay because we’re speaking in your language.” She turned back to me. “You have a questioning look on your face.”

“Why is everybody so tall?” I asked, and Lucilia laughed again, still covering her mouth.

“It’s just how people here grow.” She replied, looking out over the hall. My palm started to burn again, and I gripped my wrist, hissing in pain. “What is happening?”

“The crystal is burning me!” I hissed, screwing my eyes shut. I felt her fingers on my hand again, pulling it open. Lucilia gasped and started speaking in her own language before meeting my eyes.

“Will water help?” I shook my head and pulled my hand back, shaking it as if that would help. “Breathe. That’s the most important thing.” Lucilia put her hand on my shoulder, making me jump and look back over to her. “Control your breathing.”

“I… I think its stopping.” Exhaling deeply, I opened my hand and looked at the golden crystal and at the cracks in my skin. “It’s moved up my arm.” I brushed my fingers over where they stopped, above my wrist.

“The most important question is: what could be happening under your skin?” I looked up at Lucilia, her green eyes fixed on my hand. “It could be damage.”

“Do you mean damaging?” I asked, making her look back at my face.

“I don’t know. I don’t speak your language much.” I laughed through the pain, and she turned away, pouting.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh. That was just really cute.” Lucilia put a hand over her mouth, and I grinned widely. “Can I ask you something? You said something about it earlier.” I saw her nod. “You said earlier that everybody here grows up tall, but why are we the same height?”

“Oh, that?” She turned back, but didn’t meet my eyes. “I was born with… what’s the word…” Lucilia clicked her fingers a few times. “The way I was born made my bones weak.”

“Oh, I know what you mean.” She looked at me then. “I think it’s called osteoporosis.”

“Os… that’s very difficult to say.” I smiled again. “I will just call it weak bones.” She looked back over the hall. Some people were starting to leave. “It’s time for most people to sleep. Would you like to stay here, Vincent?” I huffed and scratched the shaved side of my head.

“I don’t have anywhere else to go, and I don’t know how to get home so… yes, please.” She smiled again and stood up, smoothing her dress out.

“Come with me. I need to make sure that my camp is secure.” People started to give me weird looks again as I followed her.

“Your camp?” Lucilia nodded. “You must be pretty powerful.”

“I do not understand this word… powerful.” Humming a low note, I scratched the back of my head.

“Let’s see… power?” She shook her head. “Strength?”

“I understand that word, but I am not strong.” We stepped outside, and the cold wind hitting my skin made me shiver. “My weak bones have been a difficulty since I came into the world.”

“Strength isn’t always just having muscles.” Lucilia stopped, and I almost tripped over my own feet. “How do I put this… Okay, do you think I’m strong?” She nodded. “I’m really not. I can’t even lift half of my body weight. People can have strength in their minds, or in other things.”

“I… think I understand.” Before we could start walking again, a woman approached and bowed to her, talking in their language. Lucilia was right about people here being tall. She also looked like she could punch through a wall. Scary thought. “If what you say is true, my people are my strength.”

“Your people?” She nodded, and we started walking again.

“It has not been easy to get here, but I never given up and neither should you.” I didn’t want to correct her. “I still face enemies, even now. Some do not think that I belong where I am.” I don’t even know what she is, but it might be rude to ask.

“Why would anybody think that?” We stopped again by the barrier, and the snow started to come from the sky, making it deeper.

“It was how I was born, Vincent.” For some reason, the way she said my name made my heart beat faster. “I could barely hold my own head up as an infant.” Lucilia folded her arms and creased her forehead in either frustration or concentration. “My father wanted to give me to the wilderness instead of allowing me to grow.”

“Why?” She glanced at me, but continued to look out into the darkness.

“Any kind of weakness is not allowed. Even now, my family hates me for getting to where I am.” I stepped closer and put a hand on her shoulder. Lucilia flinched and glanced at me again, but didn’t brush me off. “My father refused to allow me the honour of ruling, so I took it by force.” She’s… she’s a Queen?! “He burned the crown that my family held for hundreds of years in fury, and killed my mother for letting me live.”

“Did you kill him in return?” She shook her head.

“Violence for violence is the rule of beasts.” I opened my mouth, closed it, opened my mouth, and looked away as I closed it. “That statement always takes people’s words away.” Lucilia was smiling at me was I looked back over.

“You’re right; I don’t know what to say to that.” She giggled, and then cleared her throat and put on a stern expression. That is so damn cute. “What did you do, then?”

“I exiled him. However, my oldest sister, Aurelia, is keeping him safe where neither of them belong.” Lucilia glanced at me before talking again. “I am unable to take am army there and reclaim what is mine.”

“Why?”

“First, I do not have a crown.” I scratched the back of my head as I thought about it.

“Then make one.” She flinched and turned to look at me, confused.

“Excuse me?” I couldn’t help but grin.

“Make one! You said that your father burned the other crown, but who do you need that one? It would just be a reminder of how mean they are.” Lucilia nodded, looking like she understood.

“I appreciate your words, but what is this word… ‘mean’?”

“Cruel?” She nodded again.

“Now I completely understand, and you are correct.” Instead of just turning her head, she turned completely to face me, a smile on her face. “How is it that you only came here an hour ago, but you are already giving great advice?”

“Because I’m not from here.” I grinned and hooked my hands behind my head. “You needed a different look at what’s happening.” Lucilia nodded and smiled.

“The other problem is that I can’t fight as I am.” I folded my arms over my chest. “When I was fifteen winters, my brother gave me some metal arms that made me stronger and able to fight.”

“How old are you now?” I asked.

“Nineteen winters. And you, Vincent?”

“Sixteen.” I scratched the shaved side of my head. She still looks to be the same age as me. “What happened to those… arms?”

“They broke in the summer.” How do you even tell if it’s summer out here? “My people have been patient, but they want to help me reclaim what is mine.”

“Do you want me to try and fix them?” Lucilia fixed her stare on me. “I fix a lot of metal things at home; maybe I can fix your metal arms?” Instead of answering, she reached over and unfolded my arms, gently gripping my hands and smiling. I’m sure that my face started to go red. It certainly felt like it.

“Like I said, you didn’t come here too long ago, but you are giving me the chance to reclaim what has been mine for years. Is this how fate works?”

“If it is, it has a funny sense of humour.” I said, taking my crystal hand out of hers and lifting it. Lucilia laughed and started walking away from the barrier, still holding my gloved hand. I need to go back home, but this is… this is nice.

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