#i was talking to a friend about it and he was sayin' they're gonna have a fivesome at this point

[tuxxydo]

If Wilson isn't a coward she will make Janet kiss Grundy next. Come on lady, your self-insert is currently 3/4 in kissing all the members of the crew. You might as well make her make-out with the fungal zombie next.

[obsessedwrhys]

Damaged Souls

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 .ᐟ Grieving him, fluff, angst, relationship between reader and Joel is plantonic (father figure), reader is like the stone cold typa person (this is for the traumatised kiddies!!!), this fic is almost like a prequel to my ellie fic, reader is fem!!

ᯓ★

From how you two became acquainted. You knew Joel through Tess and at the time you were still a kid. But what you didn't expect was for the grumpy man to end up taking care of you after Tess died, going from some guy who comes to visit frequently to the only person you trusted with your life.

Even when Joel was ready to kill everyone in a hospital to save Ellie, you too were ready to do the same. For her and for him. After everything that went down, you agreed to keep the truth about what happened from Ellie. It was like you two had a mutual understanding.

So the moment you three moved into Jacksons, things were somehow looking brighter for your life. Though even good things didn't last forever. Eventually Ellie found out about everything. Going as far as to stomping into your home to initiate an argument that left you two on bad terms.

Now you felt hopeless... the only friend you cared about gone like that.

The winter became colder. The breeze stronger.

You rest your hands on the fence as you stood at your front porch, with nothing to do but to just enjoy the scenery. You were in your sweater and wearing a beanie as well as putting on a pair of mittens. Even with the pretty view, your mind were clouded with worries, worries concerning you and Ellie.

Is it more lonely to be hated or ignored? You wondered.

"Hey" Your eyes perked up as you turned to your side to see Joel approaching your house.

"What are you doing here?" You asked but he just brushes your words off. You watch him step up on your porch.

"How you holdin' up kid?" He stands beside you, mirroring your posture.

"You don't need to ask me, I'm good, you should check up on Ellie instead" You said which had him nodding his head with an amused smirk.

"I know, you're capable... but I'm still askin" He looks at you but you couldn't bring yourself to even look at him.

In a way you felt embarrassed, you always did whenever he cared for you, because almost your whole life you never showed your need for it.

"Won'tcha talk to me? What's botherin' you? Hm?" He nudges you slightly, almost playfully.

You sigh in defeat.

"I'm... scared...." You uttered almost too quietly that if it weren't for the quiet storm he wouldn't have heard you.

"What are you scared of?"

"Everything. Whatever that happens next" You suddenly rest both your elbows on the fence without even realising, seeming like the nerves have gotten to you.

"I'm scared of ending up alone" You admitted and he nods to your words out of understanding.

"Life's full of surprises kid... it's best you let go of those worries, you ain't gonna survive if you keep thinking like that" He stands up, straightening his back.

"You speak like I have a choice"

"You do"

Just then, he grabbed you by the chin to have you face him. With his other hand, he presses the tip of his index finger on your forehead. You didn't fight back but just bat your eyelashes at him.

"These thoughts... they're nothin' but problems you've overcomplicate. One day you'll see that things are better than how you perceived it. I'm sayin' this cause I care about ya" He said, staring directly into your gaze.

"You think Ellie would forgive me? For killing multiple innocents for her?" You raised an eyebrow.

"We did what we had to" He said as he lets go of you to grab onto the fence, staring off into the forest.

"She doesn't seem to see it that way"

"Just give her time"

"That's what I've been doing"

He could tell that from your tone you were frustrated. He was too, Ellie has been ignoring him as well but for some reason he doesn't seem as affected as you are. It made you curious.

"How are you not upset by all this?" You asked.

"... well... this is the kind of things you've gotta deal with once you have kids" He chuckles softly to himself but he clears his throat when he realised you were genuinely interested in his reason.

"Look... what I'm tryna say is... you and Ellie... you're both like daughters to me. It don't matter if we fight or what, I'll still be patient with ya'll, no matter how long the time takes" He said, placing a hand on your shoulder that instinctively made you turn to look at him.

"And how long is that gonna take?" You said, your gaze softening without even noticing.

"As long as it needs to be"

His response leaving you silent for a while. You turned to look away, thinking of the right words to say before looking back at him, but even with the time taken to think, you couldn't bring yourself to say it. His hand from your shoulder now moving to your back to give you a comforting pat.

"I'll leave you to your morning routine, I know how much you hate people interruptin you" He pointed out but you could hear him chuckle as he said it.

Without realising it ,you watched him start to leave, his back turned to you as your mouth was agape. You wanted to call out to him to say what you wanted to say but you were also too embarrassed to do so... so you let him go.

What you didn't realise was that that would end up being your biggest mistake.

The next day you were sent to go on patrol with him, the patrol was going well until a heavy storm hit, next thing you know you both were swarmed with infected. Having to encounter another girl and saving her, she was able to lead you guys to somewhere safe. Only to be lead into another trap.

The sound of a gunshot going off had your heart race, your eyes widening at the sight of Joel having his knee shot. Even with your struggle against the people pinning you down, it wasn't enough but everything went pitch black the moment you endured a punch to the face.

Then it was quiet.

But your consciousness came back. Slowly cries of a familiar voice woke you up. You almost wished you hadn't opened your eyes when you saw the sight waiting for you. He was bloody, hardly recognisable. You could only watch in disbelief as he was being held by Ellie in her arms, tears streaming down her cheek.

Even then, during his funeral, you couldn't even show up. It was too much. You were there with him when it happened. You felt as though you could have stopped it. You knew something felt off so why didn't you notice anything sooner?

The guilt was like a void drowning you in.

Just like that you spent your day pondering about the what ifs and alternative scenarios of what could have been. You made yourself coffee but the sound of you pouring into your cup was soon interrupted by the sound of knocking on your front door.

You let out a sigh before putting down the cups and then heading off to check who it was. When you opened the door, for a split second, an image of Joel appeared and it made you froze in place. Your mind was busy registering what happened that Tommy, who's the person that knocked, stared at you concerningly.

"You alright?" He asked and your lips moved but no words came out.

"I uh yeah... fine... I just haven't had my coffee yet" You said, quickly thinking of an excuse for your behaviour. He nods, seeming convinced.

"Well I just wanted to drop by and see how you were doing. Lot of the folks were beginnin' to worry about ya, they say they haven't seen you around lately" He said and the reality of the outside world was crushing on you.

"I'm good" You said but his face was showing how he wasn't taking it.

"I highly doubt that... but I'm not sayin' I blame ya... everyone's going through it. I just hope you know you're not alone" He said, nodding his head at you out of encouragement.

"... thanks..." You could only say and he looks at you for a while to study your well being before finally leaving.

Even after he left, you didn't go back in your house to get back to your morning coffee. Instead your fingertips scratches at the wood of the door as you began to overthink, one thought overtaking the other rapidly. You've tried multiple solutions to solve this problem but none seemed to work so far. That was until you had an idea.

An idea you might hate but was willing to try.

Putting on your coat, you left the house and decided to walk towards your destination. On the way you could see multiple people going about their days. The sight of seeing parents getting along with their kids made your heart ache which made you look away.

You tend to distant yourselves from the kids at Jacksons.

It wasn't done out of hate or anything.

It was out of envy.

Their innocence were somehow still preserved from the cruelty of this world.

Because how is it that you never got to experience that at a young age?

And when you did experience the safety that you longed for from someone.

It eventually melts away like a lit candle... until it's nothing but just melted wax.

The sound of your shoes crunching on the snow stops the moment you stood at the location you had in mind. You could only stare down at him, his grave, decorated with flowers and messages. In a way you felt better knowing so many people looked up to him the way you did.

Then you looked around to make sure there was nobody nearby that could potentially see what you were doing. Being out in the open after shutting everyone out made you felt a sort of guilt. But you also wondered is it really guilt for putting yourself first?

You cleared your throat as you look back down at his grave. Your breath like smoke from the cold weather.

"I uh... I don't really know what to say..." You uttered and you stayed quiet for a moment before finally saying something again.

"I'm sorry... for everything. For letting this happen. You didn't deserve this" You shut your eyes, trying to control the pace of your breathing.

"I'm scared. I'm so fucking scared. I don't know what to do with myself now that you're not here. I want you back... fuck... e-every day I wish you'd just walk up to my house to give me one of your talks. Hh... I really miss you. I fucking miss your voice" You sobbed, tears welling up your eyes as your nose was clogged, making it hard for you to even breath.

"I know I suck and I'm sorry for always being such an asshole to you. Just come back. Please. I fucking beg you" You got on your knees and could only stare hopelessly at his grave. Some part of you inside still not accepting the reality of this.

"I wish I got to tell you how happy I would have been to be your daughter. You're a cool dad. You're the only dad I actually have in this hell hole. Somehow you made me feel loved" You said, the words you've wanted to tell him that day finally coming out.

"I don't wanna be alone. I don't wanna feel these things... please... please..." You trailed off, muttering to yourself that you failed to notice the butterfly fluttering around you... before settling down on his headstone.

The very fear that you've prayed would never come true had became reality.

You were now alone.

You really lost the very same people who said they would stay your side forever.

Your hands than clawed at the snow, the sadness in your chest slowly transforming into rage. Hatred. You could feel your head almost pop from it. The tears feeling cold under your burning cheek. You stare at his grave, your gaze sharp.

"I'm gonna hunt them down... I'll find whoever that girl is... and I'm gonna kill her even if it takes away what humanity I have left in me" You said, a promise.

The butterfly on the headstone flutters its wings at you, almost like it's trying to say something but soon it flies away. You simply watch it go before standing up on your feet and heading back, getting ready for your hunt for revenge.

[bonezone44]

Pretty Is As Pretty Does (18+)

Uncle!Ezra x F!Reader x Uncle!Tommy

Summary: The best part about Uncle!Ezra and Uncle!Tommy is that they always smile when you walk in.

Word Count: 2883

tags: spitroast, double creampie, praise kink, southern accents, being called 'pretty', two men talking about you as if you aren't there. nicknames for Reader: angel, niece, baby, honey, sugar.

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It's late at night and you can't sleep. Been tossing and turning for what feels like hours. You finally decide to get out of bed and do something, anything, rather than lie there counting endless sheep.

You make your way to the kitchen with sleepy bare footsteps. You hear murmuring out the back door--deep, smooth voices and soft laughter. You figure Ezra has a friend over. You bite your lip. You want Ezra to yourself for some quality time. Maybe if you let him know you're up, he'll send his friend home. It's worth a shot anyway. You've got nothing better to do.

When you step out onto the screened in back porch, you see Ezra reclining in one chair and his friend in the other. Theyre silhouetted by the blue light of a bug zapper hanging in the corner. It's been a hot summer, but tonight the air is cooler and drier than it has been in weeks. The wood floors creak as you step further onto the porch and both men go quiet and turn to you.

"Hey, angel," says Ezra with a wry smile on his face. "What're you doin up this late?"

"Can't sleep," you answer with a shrug.

"Aww, you poor thing." He holds his hand out towards you. "Me and Uncle Tommy are out here shootin the shit. Why don't you come sit with us for a while?"

That's when your whole body goes hot. You look over and realize it wasn't just any of Ezra’s friends. It was Tommy. And Tommy’s got a nice little smile on his face, too, as his eyes rake over you in your pajamas and bare feet.

" Damn, girl," says Tommy. "You get prettier and prettier every time I see you."

Your cheeks burn and you fidget. "I don't know about that--"

"Shit, I do. I bet you gotta beat them boys off you with a stick."

You wave him off. "No way."

"Aww, look at her bein shy," says Ezra, turning further toward you in his chair. "There is no need to be so timid around your uncles, angel."

"That's right, honey," says Tommy. "It's just us. You don't gotta worry bout nothin around us." He smiles. "We'll keep you safe from all them boys out there. We'll have 'em runnin off. Don't you worry about that."

You roll your eyes with a smile.

"What? You don't believe us?" asks Ezra with big, puppy dog lookin' eyes.

You shake your head. "Y'all are just sayin stuff."

"Oh, c'mere, honey," says Tommy as he reaches out and grabs your hand. "Why don't you come sit by Uncle Tommy and let him show you how pretty he thinks you are?"

Tommy's one of the most handsomest men you've ever seen in your entire life. He's got beautiful wavy hair that curls beneath his ears. His voice is so smooth and syrupy compared to Ezra's deep rasp. He's always wearing nice blue jeans and cleaned-up cowboy boots. Ezra almost never tries to dress nice to the point where you've given up on ever looking nice, too. And right now, you're standing in your sleep clothes and Tommy's offering you something that you weren't even trying for.

Your heart races in your chest and you gush between your legs. Your face is on fire--the whole situation makes you so nervous. What if they're lying? What if they're just playing tricks on you? What if this is all one big joke? Your history with Ezra didn't matter. He could change his mind at any minute and go running off leaving you all alone. You were tired of being abandoned by the people you trusted most.

Ezra rests his large hand on your hip. You can feel the heat of him through the thin fabric of your shorts. "Go on, angel. Uncle Tommy ain't gonna hurt you none." You glance at Ezra nervously and he nods. "Go on," he says again.

You decide to give in. Ezra's been around long enough. He knows you. He knows how anxious you get. And if he's there, it does feel safer. You've at least got one person on your side if Tommy doesn't treat you right.

You take two steps towards Tommy and the two men immediately relax. Tommy spreads his legs and guides you by your hips to sit between them. He pulls you back against his warm, broad chest. He feels so solid and sturdy behind you. And he smells like something clean and bright--waking you up even more, making you more aware of just how much of his body is touching yours. His hands slide up and down your bare shoulders.

"Now what's makin you think you're not the prettiest thing on two legs, sugar?" says Tommy.

"I-I don't know," you answer. You did know, though. It was all the movies and TV and magazines. All the clothing stores and boutiques where the clothes never quite fit you right. It felt like the whole world was telling you that you weren't pretty enough to be loved.

"Too much TV," says Ezra and you roll your eyes.

Tommy chuckles into your skin as he presses light kisses into your shoulder. Each one excites you and soothes you at the same time. "You know all that stuff is fake, don'tchu?" His hands slide down your arms, squeezing you just above your elbows. "You can't be thinkin ya ain't pretty just 'cause ya ain't fake, now, sugar. 'S not what men like anyway."

"Not any man worth a damn," adds Ezra.

"That's right," says Tommy. His hands move from your arms to your waist. "Men know a real thing when they see it, sugar." His hands slide up to your breasts and he gropes them in each hand. "And we got ourselves a real one right here."

Your hands grasp tight onto Tommy's knees next to your own. You glance over at Ezra with hazy eyes and Ezra sits so casually as if nothing unconventional is going on.

"'S about what's on the inside," says Ezra, flicking dirt off his ankle as he goes to cross his legs. "That's what counts."

"That's right," says Tommy. He squeezes your nipples through your shirt. "And I'm proud to say that our little niece here is pretty on the inside and out."

"She sure is, ain't she?" says Ezra.

You don't know how to respond. You're not sure what to do. All you know is that there's a pool of slickness growing between your legs and it's enough that you wonder if you're gonna leave a wet spot on the chair beneath you.

"What? You still don't believe us?" says Tommy.

"She can be real stubborn when she wants to be," says Ezra.

Tommy chuckles. "How 'bout this? Don't you feel this, sugar?" One of Tommy's hands slides down the front of you to cup you between your legs. He pulls you flush against him and that's when you feel it. That's when you feel how hard he is. You're not sure how you missed it before. It feels like a steel rod against your back. "You feelin' what you do to your Uncle Tommy, baby?" He rolls his hips against you. "'M about to burst and we ain't even done nothin, yet. We're just sittin here talkin."

Part of you wants to laugh at that. There's a hell of a lot more going on than just talking.

"I think she's grown weary of conversation, brother," says Ezra.

Tommy chuckles again. "Ya think?"

"Yeeeeep," Ezra groans and stands from his chair. "And you did promise to show her how pretty she was."

"I sure did, didn't I?"

Ezra walks over and stands in front of you. You feel surrounded--caged in. But not unsafe. "Whatchu thinkin', angel?" Ezra cradles your face in his big hands. He leans close enough to you that the whole rest of the back porch disappears. "Want me to get you ready for Uncle Tommy?"

Oh fuck. Does Ezra mean what you think he means? "O-Okay," you say.

"Good girl." He grins briefly before his eyes go wide and serious again. "Uncle Tommy's big. I don't want you gettin hurt."

You nod. "Okay."

Ezra sinks to his knees before you. He reaches for your waistband and you lift your hips as he tugs your shorts down and off your legs. "Mm-mmm," hums Ezra, staring between your thighs. "Our little niece is pretty everywhere." His large fingers poke and prod at your lips. "She's wet, too." He spreads your pussy apart with both hands. "Soakin," he says.

"Is she now?" Tommy says. His breathing's picked up. Both his hands back on your chest. You can feel his whole body rolling into you, even if just in the smallest way. Ezra's touch has you responding in kind.

Ezra's head tilts upward with his fingers still on you. "Remember that job on Breyer street? The house with all those cat paintings?"

Tommy stills a moment. "... y-yeah?"

"Remember how that faucet on the side of the house wouldn't stop leaking?"

"...yeah?"

"That's about what she looks like right now."

Tommy laughs and holds you close, grinding against you. "Fuck, man. You can't be sayin shit like that to me, man. What the hell?"

"I am merely trying to be honest with you," says Ezra with a shrug. He thrusts two thick fingers inside of you with one hand and with the other, he rests his thumb against your clit. Unmoving. Simply applying pressure as you and Tommy's bodies move together.

"Oh my god," you moan as Ezra's fingers stroke inside you and Tommy whispers in your ear.

"'S Uncle Ezra makin you feel good, sugar? 'S he touchin you just right?"

"Mm-hmm," you whimper. "So good. So good."

"You feel how pretty we think you are, honey?" asks Tommy.

"And it's not just because you're our favorite little niece," says Ezra.

"That's right," says Tommy. "'S because it's a fact, sugar." Tommy grunts. Ezra's fingers squelch inside your wet walls. "It's a fact that you're the prettiest goddamn thing we've ever seen."

"Our pretty little angel inside and out," Ezra says with a smirk as he adds a third finger inside you.

"Oh fuck" you moan and writhe.

Tommy chuckles. "Even if she got a dirty mouth on her."

Ezra laughs, too. "Oh she's filthy."

"Is that right?"

"I-I don't know." Your dizzy with desire. You're surprised you can register anything they're saying to you.

"How 'boutchu get that filthy mouth on Uncle Ezra's cock while Uncle Tommy gets inside this pussy, huh, sugar? How's that sound?"

"Yeah, okay," you slur.

Ezra pulls his fingers out of you and stands. Tommy scoots you forward so he can undo his jeans. He and Ezra situate you so that your feet are on the floor with your ass hovering above Tommy's lap. Your hands grip the arms of Tommy's chair. Ezra pulls his own cock out of his pants and it bobs in front of your face.

You and Tommy both hiss as he pierces your cunt. Ezra was right. Tommy is big.

"Shit, man. You didn't tell me it was like this--" Tommy chokes out through panting breaths.

You bite your lip and groan.

Ezra chuckles as he strokes himself. "I tried, brother, but some things are best experienced for yourself."

"You got that right," says Tommy. He moans and curses as he guides you up and down his shaft, providing you with the rhythm and speed.

Once you feel steady enough, you open your eyes and Ezra's cock is hard and ready for you. You open your mouth, eager to hold its weight on your tongue. He doesn't thrust or move--merely lets your rhythm on Tommy's lap provide all the back-and-forth action.

"You're doing perfect, angel," says Ezra as he caresses your cheek. You've given him much better blowjobs before but he's looking down at you like you're giving him the high of a lifetime. "You look so pretty."

"Prettiest fuckin thing we ever fucked," grunts out Tommy.

"Play with that clit and she'll cream all over ya," says Ezra.

"Goddamn," curses Tommy. And he does what Ezra says. He reaches one hand around and presses hard against your clit. Four fingers rubbing back and forth just above where his cock is thrusting in and out of you.

Syrupy warmth begins to flood between your legs and seconds later your spasming between the two men--thighs twitching and toes curling.

Tommy curses again. "If she wasn't my favorite niece before, she sure as shit would be now."

"Told ya," says Ezra.

Tommy continues to thrust into you as you bounce onto him. "Yeah, suck his cock. Suck Uncle Ezra's cock, sugar."

Ezra does his best to keep his cock inside your mouth, but he doesn't seem too concerned about your performance there. It seems to be enough to watch you getting fucked so hard by your Uncle Tommy. Hearing your thighs slap each other and his cock squelch inside you is like music to Ezra's ears and dick. And your whimpers--goddamn!--you got the prettiest little whimpers he's ever heard in his life. Add in Tommy's desperate grunts and Ezra's careening toward the edge and nearly sent over it. He has to take a step back to get control of himself.

Without Ezra's cock to muffle you, your whimpers turn into shouts and Tommy grits his teeth. "Where do I cum?" asks Tommy through strained breaths.

"Fill her up, brother." Ezra's eyes sparkle at you. "Then I'll take my turn inside our pretty little pussy."

Tommy curses some more. He wraps his arms around you and taps on your clit, hoping to make you come along with him. And you do, it's hard not to. His thrusts were hitting all the right spots in your inner walls and Ezra's standing in front of you and watching you with tender focus. Your legs twitch and your toes curl all over again.

"Alright, now, hold it all in, angel," says Ezra with a stern expression on his face and you know what he means. You reach between your legs as Tommy pulls out and you do your best to keep all his cum inside you.

Ezra sits and then lies down on the floor, his cock hard and at attention. He waves you over with the flick of his fingers. "Come ride your Uncle Ezra, baby. Come show me how it's done," he says.

And something animalistic has been triggered inside of you as Ezra casually reclines on the hard wood floor. His elbows are bent and his head rests in both hands. He dons a simple smile and it almost drives you crazy. You want him as desperate for you as you are for him. You want him aching and writhing for your touch. He's been too relaxed this whole time and you almost hate him for it.

Tommy's cum is beginning to seep from between your fingers so you hustle to sit on Ezra's cock. Ezra's facial expression doesn't change as you sink onto him--but you notice the way his hips curl ever so slightly into you. He's holding back and you wanna make him give in. But you know Ezra, just as much as he knows you. And riding him how he likes it isn't going to get you anywhere. He wants you to use him--make yourself come by whatever means necessary. And that is certainly something you can oblige by.

So you do. Your hands grip his chest and you find the right angle that allows you to roll your hips into him with your clit pressed against his skin. You decide to take. You take and take and take your pleasure from him--you don't give a shit what makes him feel good. This one's all about you. And eventually he does give in. You see the way he grits his teeth and bites his lip. His hands fly to your waist, but you don't let him guide you at all. This is your ride and your orgasm. Even if you've already had two and Ezra's yet to have one.

But it was just what Ezra wanted--he was getting off on you getting off and some kind of feedback loop developed into both of you getting off and your panting and he's snarling and then suddenly there's another burst of hot liquid inside of you and seeping out of you. And you don't know it, yet, but Ezra loves when all the juices and cum are soaking his lap and he's filthy with the remnants of a well-and-good fucking. And if he could suck his own dick after all of it, he would. But instead, he pulls you up his body and has you sit on his face and he gives your pussy the most tender and loving kiss with tongue and all. All while your trembling and dizzy from overstimulation.

Once you finally take a moment to breathe. You find Tommy watching with lazy, tired eyes from his chair, his own cock already tucked back in. But there's a smirk on his face that tells you he appreciated the show you and Ezra just gave him.

"Alright, angel," says Ezra with a messy mouth. "Let's go put you back to bed."

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a/n: wow. so horny. jesus christ.

tagging: @neverwheremoonchild @xdaddysprincessxx 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[suzukiblu]

who is match?

That . . . is a slightly complicated question, friend, because he keeps getting either retconned or getting given VERY alternate origins, hah. When I'M talking about him, I'm usually talking about specifically this version:

THAT Match is the OG version from the nineties, who was created by the Agenda as a clone of Superboy and meant to be the first draft/test run of a line of metahuman clone soldiers they wanted to produce to, like, sell to the highest bidder. He's an asshole who insists that he has no free will and therefore can't be enslaved while VERY CLEARLY BEING A PERSON WITH FREE WILL WHO IS BEING ENSLAVED, and the Agenda mostly trots him out to pretend to be Superboy and fuck with Project Cadmus or the superhero community in general or just try to murder Superboy/Young Justice/whoever they're annoyed with this week, I guess. His whole thing is he's better-educated than Superboy and knows more about literally everything but especially how their powers work, because he got the full education uploads (AND THE FULL INDOCTRINATION UPLOADS, JUST SAYIN') while Superboy got yanked out of his own cloning tube early and saved from . . . well, at least SOME of the mind control that Cadmus was gonna stuff in his head. SOME of it.

( goddammit, Lex )

This Match considers Superboy obsolete and himself as a better, updated version of their design, and again, is way better-educated and better with their powers. He is also way less creative and self-motivated, however, which tends to bite him in the ass when Superboy decides to get batshit in their fights. Like, that's generally how Superboy beats him, when he does: he just does something absolutely fucking STUPID and it works because Match is thinking "no one would actually be that stupid--oh my GOD how are you THIS STUPID?!?!"

Later on for no apparent reason they decided to have him genetically degrade and go Bizarro in Teen Titans, which annoyed the fuck out of me because it's actually the literal worst possible thing you could do to a character who prides themselves on being an improved design and more intelligent than their rival/enemy/foil, but like . . . the narrative was not really examining that, from what I know of it, the narrative was just "oh Bizarro Superboy is here to upset/freak out everybody while Kon is dead and also now he's being mind-controlled by an asshole and the good guys are . . . fine with that? for some reason??" and just . . . sigh. SIGH. And then he gets fucking murdered and used for scrap parts to make MORE Superboy clones, which oh my god, fucking horrifying TOO and YET . . .

Though apparently in Rebirth, he's alive again and they've semi-redone his origin and made him a clone of Superboy that Amanda Waller has inexplicably managed to produce and even more inexplicably somehow uploaded all of Kon's memories into? Somehow?? And is forcing to work on the Suicide Squad for her, because fuck Amanda Waller, jfc. And for a while in there he thought he WAS Kon, because like, how the fuck would he have known different. So that was fun for him to find out about, I guess! Especially because he ALSO started to Bizarro-degenerate about five seconds into that particular realization.

FYI KON HAS TRIED TO SAVE THIS BOY SO MANY TIMES AND IT HAS NEVER WORKED. NEVER. IT KILLS ME.

Also he seems to have inherited Kon's thing for older women along with his presumable memories, cough cough cough.

And ALSO there's a version of Match in Young Justice Animated who is actually OLDER than Conner, because he was directly cloned from purely Kryptonian DNA and then failed as a weapon because he wasn't controllable, and Project Kr was created as a hybridized clone after he became too unmanageable to use. He's apparently just full-stop psychotically violent due to shitty mental conditioning and instability in his Kryptonian DNA, and very much unbalanced, which is waaaaay different than the more calculating and educated version we first got in the comics.

It actually low-key makes me insane that they apparently just decided to make a character who was all uncontrollable violence and rage and just, like . . . never revisit him or actually HELP him despite the fact that he is EXPLICITLY both mentally AND physically compromised and therefore can't really be considered to be, you know, an informed asshole making informed asshole decisions any more than Conner was when his pod first got cracked. Project Match is a fucking baby who's had a very shit excuse for a "life" and has been CONDITIONED to respond violently AND is effectively suffering from a genetic disorder, but we're just gonna . . . ignore that, I guess . . . and punish him for it? I guess?? For being how he was made and not having the mental capacity to figure out how to be anything else in the, like, thirty fucking seconds of actual consciousness the series allows him??

And I am just not gonna talk about what they did to him in the tie-in comic, hahaha. FUCK that tie-in comic.

( one day I will write fix-it fic for you, YJ Animated Match. one day. I AM COMING FOR YOU. BE STRONG. )

[shiro-s2e2-erukinzu]

Anime only watchers and people who aren't caught up with the Manga, BEWARE... Cuz I'm about to discuss Spy X Family Mission 104... You have been warned...! 👌

[SPOILERS AHEAD FROM THIS POINT ON]

This chapter was SO MUCH FUN!! 😆 I really liked it...!! 😁👍

I had good time reading Mission 104, so let's talk about it, shall we? 😄

So, when I first opened the chapter and saw Damian...:

...I got really excited!! 😁 I was thinking that maybe Damian was gonna be thinking about the whole "Anya can read minds" thing, but then I quickly realized that we're probably not gonna get into any of that until the kids go back to Eden...! So instead, I started to wonder what kind of shenanigans Damian and his crew might get into, and after seeing that a student got a Stella for discovering some ancient pottery long ago in a book at the library, of course Damian, Ewen and Emile were gonna go for it!!! 😆

Also, Jeeves (who is still very handsome) and the butlers of Ewen and Emile tag along as well on this adventure to most definitely keep an eye on the boys and to make sure that they don't get hurt (like Jeeves hitting a snake with an acorn...!! 👌😎):

DAMN JEEVES, YOU GOT SKILLS!!! 😆

After that encounter with the snake, Damain says that because there are snakes and bugs everywhere in this place, that's why didn't want to go here in the first place...! So, Emile suggests that maybe they should just go home, but Damian refuses because...:

Oh Damian... 😓

After that, Jeeves decides that it's time to take a break to have some food, so him and the other butlers make a delicious meal for the boys before heading back out...!! 😋 Now that they've had some food, it's time resume the expedition, but none of the clues seem to be helping, so Damian tries put himself into the king of antiquity's shoes and...:

DAMIAN LOOKIN' LIKE HE JUST WENT SUPER SAIYAN...!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

But, it didn't last for long because...:

Don't worry Damian, I would also freak out if a spider THAT SIZE landed on me too...!! 👌😌

And though Jeeves knocked the spider off of Damian, he continues to freak out until he falls over and sees THIS:

IT'S AN AWESOME LOOKING GIANT FLOWER...!! 🤩

But... It turns out that this giant flower has already been discovered, and Damian is unamused by this fact because he can't get a Stella for it, so Damian, Emile and Ewen call it a day a head home in their THREE FREAKING SEPARATE HELICOPTERS!!! 😵 (Look, I know these kids are from rich families, but I find it both hilarious and insane that they all didn't just take a single helicopter there...!! 🤣😵 Just sayin'...!! 😌)

While in the helicopter, Jeeves brings up to Damian that it seems that he always doesn't want to go home, and Damian freaks out about it and tells Jeeves that worries about the weirdest stuff...! 😌 Jeeves then offers to call Melinda to cook for Damian again like how she did in the flashback in Mission 76 (though she didn't eat with Damian, which still makes me both sad and mad...!! 😤) Then Jeeves brings up showing Demetrius the picture of the flower they saw today, and what Damian said got me...:

"When DON'T my brother's eyes look like they're bulging out of their sockets?" 😭 WHY WAS DEMETRIUS CURSED TO HAVE HIS FATHER'S EYES!? 😵 THAT POOR BOY...!!! 😩

In all seriousness, that line makes me even more extra worried about what exactly might be going with Demetrius, but besides that Damian warns Jeeves not to say anything weird to his mom, then Jeeves asks like what, and Damian says:

And then, the chapter ends!! 🤭

And that was Mission 104, a nice fun little chapter with Damian and his friends...!! 😆 Though I am a little worried about Jeeves telling Melinda about Damian's dance with Anya, I doubt Damian mentioned to Jeeves about the whole Anya can read minds part because probably still doesn't believe it as of right now...! Well, we'll just have to wait and see what happens when the kids to return Eden Academy...!! 👌😌

Anyway, I think that's pretty much all that I wanted to say on this chapter, so until the next Mission; take care, be safe out there and be kind to one another...!! 😁 (Also, I was trying to finish writing this review a lot sooner, but I was having a really bad headache this morning when I got up to read this week's chapter... 😩 It still hurts a little, but I powered through it...!! 👍) Anyway, LATERS!! 👋😊

[crabonfire]

Oo can I have a platonic hcs of reader just gossiping with any of the mercs?

oh my god.

Platonic! S/O gossiping with Merc.

characters: all mercs 😱😱😱😱

note: hehehehhehhHYahhahaHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHhhahahhhagagagagHaggaHAGHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHhhahahahahahahhahahhHhHahHA A

sorru if some r short! My excuse is cause I'm lazy, or idk what to write for em. (You take a guess for which one is the real one.)

warning: gossip girls tick me off 😡😡😡

♧Scout♧

• It all started one day, Engie was arguing with Heavy about something, and you knew what happened on Engie's side, but you didn't know about Heavy. You asked the other mercs for information but they didn't budge, saying they didn't wanna get involved. But scout approached you, whispering and giggling about what happened, why they argued.

You two really hit it off!

And even after the whole thing went down, you still found yourself gossiping with him after matches about anything interesting you found.

Fortunately for you he did the same!

• Since then on, you guys gossip a lot. Enemy drama, team drama, and sometimes gossip on dumb shit on the newspaper or a celebrity thing.

• "Dude, have you heard about the enemy Pyro? I heard they might be a chick."

"What? Really?"

"Yea, like...I overheard it from one of the janitors."

"Huh. I can see it."

"Really? How? I always thought they were some sorta...weird..alien in a suit."

"Why?"

"...Cause they're frickin' weird and...don't talk."

"That's so rude man, are you saying all aliens are quiet? You don't know them."

"You sayin' you know any?"

"No. But don't say stuff like that. That's so stereotypical."

"FYM STEREOTYPICAL??????"

"IDK DUDE JUST STOP BEING A DICK. The girl thing makes more sense then whatever stupid theory you have."

"Fuck you, I have great theories!"

You scoff, "Me when I lie."

♧Soldier and Demo♧

• if your buddies with Soldier, Demo is gonna be buddy buddy with you.

• Soldier honestly doesn't like to gossip much, but on the rare occasion where he knows something, he's gonna be up at night with you, talking about what he saw and making theories about it.

• Demo likes his cup of gossip now and then, not as big on it as you'd think though, he'd love to know but if it doesn't interest him he won't care.

• Usually Demo and Soldier do their own thing together a bunch, and man have they heard some things.

• They'd both approach you with new gossip, Demo trying not to laugh while Soldier shoves pictures of Scouts naked mother and Spy together in your face, exclaiming that "THEY ARE MAKING LOVE! SCOUT IS NOT A TRUE AMERICAN! HES A FRENCHIE :*("

♧Pyro and Engie♧

• same goes for em, you friends with Pyro your bound to hear shit from Engie.

• It was your first day, you were assigned as a janitor in the base and you were cleaning. Already you would hear all sorts of funny shit that would happen in those walls. Arguing, drama, secrets like how Spy is Scouts dad? Honestly it was a lot to hear in one day but wow.

• You were cleaning the common room, and you didn't notice as you were mopping but somebody had walked in. They were so quiet, you didn't know how with the fact they had a very heavy looking fire retardant suit on. You jumped a bit, laughing to yourself.

"Sorry I didn't see you there."

They replied, but it was muffled by their mask. You blinked, "Oh um, sorry dude I can't really hear you." They continued anyway, muttering muffled "huddas" like you would understand. You didn't.

An awkward silence overcame the room, you decided to break it.

"Hey, you know...I heard while I was cleaning...is it true that there's living...pieces of bread here?"

They nodded, chuckling under the mask remembering the situation about it. You smiled, laughing along. "What? That's crazy. I thought that was a joke. It's my first day and I'm already hearing so much about this place. These walls are NOT thick."

• From that moment, you talked with them in your own way, they'd write their replies on a piece of paper and even tell you some things about the other mercs.

• You two really hit it off, after their matches, if they could find you, they'd slip pieces of paper in your cleaning supplies for you to read on your breaks, and you'd reply by leaving notes under their door.

And as time went on, you had learned to understand them. Now it was much more fun to listen to them actually tell the stories and giggle over gossip.

They LOVE gossiping honestly. Since they are unnoticed usually they can get away with blending in the background to listen to whatever the others talk about.

• Because of your new friendship, Engie respects you for not belittling Pyro, and finds your company to be a nice change to the quiet and sometimes even crude folk he works with.

• "ENGIE YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE WHAT WE HEARD-"

"MMHUDA MMHU-" [WE SAW-]

"Wait I thought I was gonna tell him?"

"Mmmhuh mmhuh, mmhhf mhuh hhhuhd." [Oh yeah, sorry go on."

"NO NO it's okay you do it."

"Mmhuh mmhuh, mmh-" [Okay okay, so-]

Insert the three of you laughing your asses off shittalking the enemy team for dirt you found of them.

"No way, are you two serious?"

"DEAD SERIOUS ENGIE, We literally saw it happen. Pi has photo evidence."

"Mmhh!" [Yeah!] Pyro pulls out the pictures, having a lot more of them than they should. Engie holds them in his hands, pausing before erupting into howling laughter.

"PFFT- OH MY GOD." He exclaims, slapping his thigh as he laughs uncontrollably.

• Engie doesn't hear much gossip, but if he hears gossip about him from you two he's gonna be grumpy for the rest of the day 😭😭😭 so if you hear anybody talking bad about him do not tell him or else he's gonna look like this

♧Heavy♧

• hates gossiping IM SORRRYYYY

• Will gladly listen to you gossip, but won't say anything, even if he has his own opinions about the situation. Best you'll get out of him is "That's absurd." Or "Haha, that is funny." But he will not say shit on it.

• He likes to listen because it's interesting to him, but he does not like to gossip himself because he finds it rude to gossip. Will not judge you though, you bring him quality stories to laugh and think about. (Plus now he has dirt on those people.)

• BUTTT if you're upset, he'll try to cheer you up by telling you gossip. And the gossip? It's always juicy. Like, "no fucking way" type of juicy. He has so much dirt on the other mercs and so much he knows about them, but he only tells you these things so that you can laugh and smile again. But won't say anything else, just let you theorise.

♧Medic♧

• loves gossiping.

• gossips with Heavy, and his birds.

• sorry idk what to write he's just a silly gossip girl 😋

• though surprisingly, he tends to keep that gossip to himself, and never actually gossips about anything he's unsure of. He thinks it's rude to speak of things that are merely "rumors"

• plus its better if it's proven to be real gossip anyway

• he's an asshole but he has his standards

♧Sniper♧

• Likes his fair share and also knows his fair share of gossip.

• Usually your the one talking, but the reactions you get out of him with the shit you tell him are priceless. Sometimes he laughs so hard he hits the table you two are talking by repeatedly, telling you to "Cut it out" or "No way"

• His gossip is mostly about the team, he doesn't care or know much about the enemy team.

• you two actually got along because of gossip, you two were out on a mission, and to break the boring yet awkward tension, you started to gossip with him, and surprisingly he enjoyed the talk.

• you guys are best friends because of this honestly, like Heavy, he likes to cheer you up by telling you some "hot goss" you cringe a little whenever he says that but he just wants to make you happy again.

• honestly idk how else to make this long, he's gossips, but not an insane amount

♧Spy♧

• never gossip but knows EVERYTHING 😭

• very rarely gossips with anybody, but he simply tells you very...subtle details about a certain thing, leaving you curious and wondering about what it's about / who's involved.

• he only actually gossips with you if it's late at night, everyone is asleep, he's in his smoking room having drunk a couple glasses of wine here and there, and maybe then he'll do it.

But it's a rare occasion.

Still, it's always fun for him to hear your thoughts on it. He simply listens to you, smiling here and there and rolling his eyes at your quips.

• he doesn't really gossip? more like...just...insult the person you two are talking about. he gets a kick out of it, especially when you make such funny jokes about the situation.

• yeah u guys r kinda mean 😭😭😭😭

anyways hope yall enjoyed woo (can you tell engie's text is always the longest in every one of these nevause he's my favourite? Yeah I do it on purpose.)

[boygiwrites]

Harley D. Dixon 24

An amazing edit inspired by this story! (Cred to Cora_Line99) Harley D. Dixon's Pinterest Board! Harley D. Dixon's Playlist!

📖Chapter List.

Author's Note.

Almost a whole MONTH later, and I've finally got the next chapter to share with you guys. 😭 To make up for the wait, I made this one extra chunky. Just over 10,000 words. Enjoy reading!

"What about you, Maggie?" Lori's voice comes from downstairs. "Can we get you anything?"

"Naw, that's okay. I just wish my Dad was here, that's all... House feels so wrong without him."

Plodding back down the stairs, I find the three women sitting in the living room together, still talking. They look like a group of friends like this. I quietly take a seat next to them on the vintage sofa, hugging a cushion to my chest. I think I'd rather be out in the woods, laying in a patch of sunny dirt or climbing a stumpy tree, but I wouldn't make it five feet past the fence, not with Dale on watch. So I'm better here.

"He always knows what to do." Maggie muses sullenly. She got a weighty, tired look about her. "Guess I feel wrong without him, too."

"You're doing your best." Lori reassures her. "Those three, they're good at what they do. I'm sure they'll be back with your Dad soon."

She gives a little huff. "Good at killin' folk. We heard what happened to Shane, y'know. Not like it's a secret."

She's right. Ain't a secret. It's the opposite. Everybody knows Rick shot his best friend in the chest and my Dad finished the job. 

"It sounds bad." Jacqui stammers, 'cause it does. "But there was no way they were gonna let him take off with Harley. No way in Hell."

"I'm not sayin' they would've," She lilts, "And I don't blame 'em. But I'm just wonderin' what that might do a person, what it means for 'em."

"It means they'll do whatever it takes to protect their own." Lori calmly explains. "Whatever happens after that is worth the trouble."

"Rick's a good person, Maggie. So is Daryl. So is Glenn. Life is so different for us now that goodness doesn't look the same, anymore."

"I've never had to kill for my family." She fiddles with a stray thread on her jeans. "Life ain't thrown that at me, yet."

"Well, one day, it will." Lori says truthfully. "And when it does, you'll still be a good person, too."

"There was a moment, with Glenn." Her gaze flits between two vague points on the floor as she speaks. "At the pharmacy. We'd split up to save time. I was in the back by myself, pickin' around for meds, and these... these two cold hands grabbed me. They were so much stronger than I thought. I couldn't pry 'em offa me. I couldn't... I had my gun on me but I couldn't. Glenn had to do it for me."

I've had those hands on me before. I can tell she can still feel them on her, too, by the way she shivers. Gross. Best to ignore it.

She shakes her head. "I guess the definition of murder's a lil' skewed nowadays. It ain't always in cold blood like the bible says."

"It isn't." She agrees. "Putting down Shane wasn't all that different from putting down a walker, and we just have to be okay with that."

My body goes cold all at once. I lock eyes with her across the room, dark and cutting. She got no idea what it was like watching him be lured, tricked, the life beaten out of him punch by punch. Nobody should be okay with that. It ain't the same. "How can you say that?"

He was human. I know, 'cause when I held his hand, it was warm. He could think, and feel, and hope. He could bleed.

She gapes a little, glancing at the other women like they'll know what to say. "I— I just meant—"

"He weren't dead." He was somethin' more complicated than that. I know he's gone, but Rick said he'd cherish his memories of him, the good ones, the old ones that are a little harder to recognise, so I will too. "He was sick and hopeful and alive. He was in pain when he died."

"Sweetie," Jacqui breathes beside me, brushing back a lock from my temple, pulling me into a hug. "We know that."

"I'm sorry." She sighs. "I can't... I can't imagine what that must've been like. For any of you. That was insensitive of me to say."

"It weren't nothin' like killin' a walker." I definitely ain't the brightest crayon in the box, but I still know what I saw was murder. It's just somethin' that you can feel, like my heart stunting right before the blood shot out Shane's back. Lori can pretend all she like, but it was different. Rick's a murderer, through and through, and so's my Dad, and so's almost everybody else, but we can still love 'em.

"I guess I just wish it was." She confesses a little sheepishly. "It'd make things a whole lot easier that way."

As Jacqui releases me, I frown, thinking of Dad. "Well, he is a murder. That's what we gotta be okay with."

Looking like somebody who doesn't, she mutters, "I know."

"Whole world's gone to horseshit." Maggie comes out and says, in a sudden way that almost makes us laugh. "Makes sense we would, too."

Jacqui grins, quirking a brow. "And we got that famous tater soup to get us through it, too."

"I think if anybody'd understand that, it'd be Harley." I feel my cheeks flush under her warm, green gaze. "How was Beth, by the way?"

"She seemed," I hesitate, afraid of saying the wrong thing. I'm good at doin' that. I could tell her that her baby sister thinks all she's good for is dyin', that she's revolted with herself just for bein' alive, but that's not the important part. "She seemed like she was sorry."

That surprises her, like she ain't think it was possible. Her face lights up a little as she asks, "She talk?"

I give a nod, making Jacqui snort, impressed. "We been tryna crack her since yesterday. Hardly given us a second glance."

"This is good." Maggie decides. "Y'know, that girl ought'a be sorry. Scared me and poor Daddy half to death, pullin' that stunt."

Maggie's real tough on the outside, 'cause she likes it that way, but it's obvious how on the inside she been worrying for Beth. Losing family to a gunshot, or a bite, or an unlucky mistake is awful enough, like the massacre at the barn, but to have 'em taken away from you 'cause they wanna be — That's a whole other brand of pain. I know they'd all be devastated if Beth had really died.

"Speaking of Herschel," Lori says, "You think he'd know anything about getting Harley a hearing aid? Types, sizes, things like that?"

"Ended up getting worse, did it?" She hums, even though she already knows, just so she can make a sympathetic face. "Well, I don't think his veterinarian knowledge will shine too bright there, but we had some old family friends who were deaf and hard of hearing." She says this part like Carl did, as if the existence of other deaf people will make me feel better. It don't really. "Picked up a thing or two."

"You wouldn't happen to have any spares left over, would you?"

"Naw," She regrets telling us, "They all lived separate to us."

"Hang on. That works." Jacqui butts in. "You got a whole list of addresses Rick and Daryl can hit for a hearing aid."

Oh, she's right. Search wouldn't be so blind that way. It's a strong start, and Rick and Dad have proven a strong start's all they need.

"Yeah. Suppose we do." I'm sure it ain't feel the best, having your old friends' houses looted, especially knowing the reasons they wouldn't exactly need their belongings anymore, but that don't stop her from giving us her blessing. "When they're back, I'll write 'em down for you."

"That would be an incredible help." Lori smiles, reaching out to cup her shoulder. "Our group would appreciate it very much."

"Told y'all," She drawls with her own weaker smile, grabbing her hand, squeezing it. "Ain't no trouble. Your problems are our problems."

It's starting to feel more like there ain't two groups on this farm, just one bigger, stronger one. I think if anybody were to look in on us without knowing who we are, they'd have a great deal of trouble tryna figure out who belongs to which side. I like that.

She gives her a grateful look before pulling away, nodding lightly. "The same goes for you."

"Thanks, Maggie." I mutter shyly, forcing myself to at least say that.

"Wouldn't just leave you hangin' like that." She tells me. "If you need a hearing aid and we can help you get one, it's as simple as that."

"Hey, I just had a thought. Do I have to learn sign language?"

Walking down the pebbled path with Carl in the late morning, lugging heavy buckets of water, I send him a deadpan look.

"English is hard enough, y'know." He says with a grunt. "But if that's gonna be your language, I'll learn."

When we reach the gate to the cow paddock, I toe the peg off the ground and push it open. "How 'boutchu just stop talkin' altogether?"

"Eugh. No." He cringes, following me through. The gate clicks shut behind us. "That sounds awful."

We make our way through the wispy, dry grass, trying our best not to spill too much water along the way. It ain't like we can't get more — The well on this side of the farm is conveniently walker-free — but we promised Maggie we'd do a good job filling the troughs for her. They're these bathtubs made of metal that cows and sheep like to drink from. They must have real big stomachs to handle all that water.

"You saw Beth, didn't you?" He asks as we haul the buckets onto the ledge, tipping the water in. "She's sad, isn't she?"

"Nah, she's more than sad." I explain. "She's, like, depressed. Doesn't wanna live."

He pulls back with a pout, squinting against the sun. "Doesn't wanna live?"

"Don't wanna live, wants to die. Same thing." I shake the last droplets out. "She's in shock. S'why she cut herself like that."

We fall back into step together, but I almost trip over myself when he comments sadly, "Kinda like you, right?"

"What?" I exclaim, "No. That's stupid."

The herd of black cows start to meander over at the sight of fresh water, the deep honk of their moooos carrying on the breeze.

"It's not stupid." He counters rather weakly. "Since Shane and Sophia died, you've been more than sad, too."

Just like his Dad, Carl pays more attention than I thought he did. I huff, "Well, ain't everyone?"

"I guess." He holds off on blurting his next thought, until he just can't hold it in anymore. "You're not gonna do what Beth did, right? Because that's what would make me sad. You're my best friend. Even if you were only in second grade. I-I won't have anyone to push on the swing, otherwise. I won't learn any new facts about mushrooms. I'd rather read you my comic a hundred more times than seeing you do that."

I stare at my boots as they scuff the dirt, step, step, step, so I don't gotta look at his round, freckled face.

"Mom and Dad say I have to be nice to you. But if I need to slap you to get those thoughts out your head," He warns, "I'll do it."

That makes me snap my head up. He puffs out his chest a little, juts his chin out. He don't look like the slapping sort at all.

That's an honest to god chuckle coming out my mouth. A soft, fond one. "You don't gotta hit me, Carl. I swear it."

As we come to a stop in front of the crumbling well, he tests out the feel of my answer in his head before nodding. "Good."

"And me, I'll hit ya, anyway." I joke, giving him a shove. "So hurry up and fill yer bucket, 'fore my hand slips and catches yer cheek."

His mouth lifts into a tiny smile. I don't got a real good way of saying it, but I'm lucky to have a boy like him as my best friend. I wouldn't lie to him like that. We lost Sophia already. Another grave would break him. It'd break everyone. My Dad would wanna stop living, too. Much as I can't handle the constant blows life keeps sending us, I can't handle that, neither. So, no. I won't do what Beth did, even if I really want to.

We make the back-and-forth trip from the trough to the well a handful more times before they're filled all the way up.

Before we leave, we give the cows some friendly scritches on their huffing snouts. They seem happy with their simple lot in life.

On the way back up the hill, we pass the oak tree again. Really, it's a graveyard, but I like calling it the oak tree better 'cause it don't feel so terrible to say. But in the end, it don't matter. It feels terrible anyway, 'cause there's Carol kneeling in front of the white roses, sniffling into her hands. Me and Carl share a look. She hasn't left the RV in days. I ain't sure what she does in there, but I imagine it looks a lot like this, shedding misery all over herself. I guess she decided to finally visit her daughter's grave. I bet she ain't even believed it was real 'til now.

I grab Carl's hand to tug him along so we can leave her be, but she's heard our footsteps. She looks up at us.

"You know," She croaks, sounding like she ain't slept for days, neither, "We'll see Sophia in heaven someday. She's in a better place now."

His fingers coil tighter around mine. We both know Sophia's actually just in that hole, which ain't a better place than anywhere.

"Heaven's just another lie." He blurts. My eyes go wide. You ain't meant to say that part aloud. "And if you believe it, you're an idiot."

I yank on him again, giving him a stern look, but he ain't budging, and Carol already heard him loud and clear anyway.

"That's a very nasty thing to say." She scolds him tearily, before standing and hurrying away.

As soon as she's out of earshot, I turn on Carl with my bucket reared back and smack him with it, but he dodges and I smack him again and he dodges, and the scuffle goes on like that for about a full minute. "You damn moron, why'd you go and tell her that? Now I'll really hit ya!"

"Well, it's true, isn't it?" He bickers, tryna steal the bucket off me. "No such thing as heaven. You die, you rot in the ground, and that's it."

He quickly side-steps another swing, so I just throw it at him and it clatters at his feet. "But you don't go tellin' people that!"

"I'll tell my Dad you threw a bucket at me!"

"I'll tell my Dad you're a stinkin' jerk-face!"

"That's a swear word!" He annoyingly quips, before taking off in a sprint up the path to escape me.

I snatch up my bucket and set off after him. "Hey! Get back here!"

I sure got a big mouth and a meaner streak than any other kid I ever met, but even I wouldn't've said that to Carol. Believing in heaven ain't gonna get nobody killed, so I say let her be an idiot in peace. All he managed to do was make her sadder than she already was.

I'm much faster than him so I'm about to grab the back of his shirt when Lori quickly steps in.

"Hey, hey, hey." She grabs my wrist and pulls me back from him. "Stop it. Both of you, this is ridiculous."

Before she's even finished speaking, Carl gets his defence in. "Mom, Harley threw a bucket at me."

As I roll my eyes and shake Lori offa me, she raises her brows. "Well, Carl, from what I heard from Carol, you might've deserved that."

"You can't go around willy nilly, calling people names." Carol tells him, her mouth a thin line on her tear-streaked face. "It's not right."

"Think about it. We've all gone through a big loss recently, and Carol doesn't need this right now. It doesn't matter if our beliefs—"

"But you know she's—"

She shushes him. "Don't talk. Just think. It's a good rule of thumb for life. Now you're gonna apologize to her, okay?"

I try not to get a little kick outta watching him begrudgingly recite, "I'm sorry I called you an idiot for believing in heaven."

No you ain't, I feel like saying just to annoy him, but I hold my tongue in case that gets me in trouble, too.

"Thank you." Carol accepts his apology 'cause it's the good thing to do. "I just hope you'll learn some manners from this."

Right as he's about to turn back into sassy Carl, Lori talks over him with a simple, "He will. And Harley, you think about your manners, too."

Oh, come on. "I only hit him 'cause he was bein' bad!"

"That's the problem, honey." She mutters awkwardly. Oh, right. That sort of punishment is bad. I forgot, but I don't even know why. "I'll have to talk to your Dad about that... In the meantime, you guys gonna get along or do we have to sort something out here?"

We mull over whether or not we wanna keep fighting, but we're the only kids here and we're best friends, so the choice is already settled.

She takes our silence as a positive. "Good. Now, go play nicely for a while. Shouldn't be long before the others get back."

Carol follows after her, much to my satisfaction, to go sit at the picnic table together, and not to slink back into the RV. I hope I'll see her around more often now, for her sake. Ain't good to be cooped up like that. Rick said that once.

Stuck with Carl again, I wordlessly drop my bucket in the dirt and sit against the fence. He could go play on his own, read a comic or somethin', but instead he follows suit and settles at my side, a non-annoying distance between us.

He quietly suggests, "You wanna bet a cookie on how long it's gonna take for 'em to get back?"

And of course, I say yes.

Carl's fallen asleep on my shoulder by the time the cars appear at the end of the driveway. I shake him awake, ignoring his blubbering, what, what is it. I get up and go running down the hill to greet them. It took them about an hour to get back. That means I earnt myself a cookie. There's Herschel, sitting in the passenger seat of Rick's car, by the looks of it, totally alive. Dad's truck lurches to a stop nearby. He hops out, and as I clock the brooding look on his face, I realize I got more than just a cookie to be worried about. 

"Daddy, what's wrong?" I ask cluelessly, a little sad I didn't get the chance to hug him. "You ain't hurt, is you?"

Carl jogs up to my side. A few others gather around as Dad yanks the back door open and, holy shit, hauls a full-grown man out by the elbows, throwing him into the grass. We both jump back as if the stranger's diseased. What in the Hell?

As Rick comes around the car with a coil of rope slung over his shoulder, Lori exclaims, "Who the Hell is that?"

The door slams. The man groans in pain as he's forced to his feet by both men.

Ain't no friend of ours, I got that much figured out. He got a bag over his head and two vague pits for eyes, skinny torso, a bloody leg. 

"Oh, fuck," He panics as they drag him like a sack of bricks through the crowd. "Oh, fuck, please, no."

Rick simply grunts, "Welcome back, Jim." 

My jaw drops. This crippled man, it's Jim. They found him. Or they ran into him. Or they—? Did they capture him? As Glenn guides Herschel outta the car and Maggie rushes over to them, I stay with everyone else, tailing Rick and Dad and Jim, 'cause yeah, that's really him. Those are his lanky limbs and that's his dark arm hair and his broken wrist-watch right where it always was. I weren't expecting this at all.

"What's going on?" Dale demands to know. Exactly what I'm thinking. "What on Earth are you—?"

"Please," Jim begs. "My leg — It- It needs surgery. The tendon, it's fucked— I can't—"

"Ran into some fellers in town." He gruffly explains. "He was runnin' with 'em. Got his leg daggered on a fence."

"Running with them?" T-Dog gapes in confusion. "Wasn't he shacked up in some dingy little tent, last we knew of him?"

"Please, my leg— My le-leg, it hurts so bad—"

"He got a story to tell, alright," Dad growls, taunting him through the fabric, "But man ain't so loose-lipped as he used to be, is he?"

"Man, I duh— I don't even remember saying those things about your kid," He whines, "I swear. That was so long ago now."

"You got nun' to swear on, ya useless shit. You keep talkin', you won't even have yer life to swear on, ya hear me?"

"Oh, fuck," He goes back to chanting, "Oh, fuck, please, no."

Dale scoffs, "So, what, he's back with the gang, now, Rick? This is insanity!"

"We keep him in the shed 'til he talks." Is all he offers as explanation. Lori grabs me and Carl by the shoulders and pulls us back, away from the struggle of limbs and blood, as Dad kicks the shed doors open. They're gonna lock him in there, like a prisoner.

They muscle him inside. We keep hearing cries of, you assholes, I need surgery, as they tie him to a post with the rope.

"Shut up!" Dad snarls, forcing him down. "You ain't worth a damn q-tip right now, let alone surgery!"

"Ran into some fellers?" Jacqui repeats with uncertainty to Lori, who's got no clue what it means. "I thought it was just us around here."

I did, too. Us, cows, sheep, and the sky. But there's fellers out there too, now. I don't think anybody likes the sound of that.

"No, please! Please!" Kicking and thrashing, like that day in the parking lot again. "I'm gonna bleed out before I can tell you anything!"

Rick retorts with one last brutal tug to the rope, "You best start gettin' your story straight, then."

"No, you fuh— you fucking assholes! You can't do this! It's inhumane!"

The doors close on him without mercy, sealing him inside the stuffy darkness.

"He's right, Rick." Dale argues, trying and failing to get a good look at his sweaty, blood-speckled face as he braces the doors with more rope. He got that spooked predator feel about him that I only ever saw on him once or twice before. "He needs medical attention, and now."

"Herschel repaired his calf muscle last night." He shakes his head, turning to face the group. "Pain's only gonna help him talk."

I break away from Lori and wrap my arms around Dad's waist, burying my face against his ribs. He instinctually cradles my head.

"Listen." Rick holds a hand out in front of him, his gaze dark and feral, chest heaving. "For the safety of everybody here, I've decided this is what has to happen. I'm not taking chances anymore. We found Herschel in town, holed up in that bar just like Maggie said, but we weren't the only ones. Couple'a big-mouthed tough guys got in the way and I dealt with 'em. They was with a bigger group, and we picked up Jim on our way out. Camped in the woods for the night. So far, he's told us a whole load of nothin' about these folks."

"What do they want?" Andrea asks, lookin' ready to go hunt them down right here and now.

"What we have." He answers with a shrug. "Source of food, water, stability. It's gotten bad in town. Nothin' left but walkers and rats."

I glance up at Dad through my screwed brows, 'cause bad folk steal what they want from the people who got it, and that's scary. I don't want those men to take our fresh cheese and bread, our swing, our wells. He gives me a strong look, soothing his hands through my hair.

"It ain't like they know where we are." He reassures us all. "I doubt they're gonna be ridin' down here like Jesse James."

"Not yet," Dale scoffs, unamused. "How long until they do?"

 Jacqui adds, "We got that horde to think about, too, don't we?"

"I am figurin' it out." Rick scolds loudly, scaring everyone into silence. "Christ's sake, I killed my best friend yesterday. I am trying."

There's nothing to argue against that with. Trying is all Rick Grimes does. He does it for us. Nobody can fault him for that.

"But, Rick," Lori apprehensively mutters, as if he hasn't quite thought it through yet, "There's a dying man in that shed."

"I know that, Lori." He quips a little harshly. "Of course I know that. You think I'm enjoyin' this?"

"We should at least start considering what his future is gonna look like." Dale suggests.

"Yeah, man." T-Dog agrees. "I mean, he talks. What then? What's the plan?"

"The plan is he talks and then I kill him."

When Rick says this, I feel like I'm looking at someone who looks an awful lot like the Rick Grimes I care about, but ain't actually him. That's how I'd expect someone to announce they're going on a supply run or taking next shift for watch, not that they're gonna end someone's life. Maybe Maggie was right about him being changed after murdering Shane, because I ain't never heard him talk like this before.

Another murder. My second one. Shane first, now Jim. I'm going to be ready for this one. I'll be strong.

"You can't." Dale lies. We all know it only takes a bullet, and we got plenty of those. "You can't, Rick."

"I don't recall asking for any feedback." He sounds tired. "There is no discussion on this. Not this time. He talks and then I kill him."

As he walks off, the group share startled, disturbed looks, because nobody's okay with this, right? Nobody's actually letting this happen? But the fact is anything Rick says is gonna happen is gonna happen, 'cause Shane's dead and we need a leader, and without anybody really hashing it out or realizing how it turned out this way, seems like that's gonna be Rick from now on. He's doing this to protect the people he loves, same reason he killed Shane, same reason he does everything. It's like Jacqui says. This is what goodness looks like now.

Dale goes running after him, probably to waste his breath some more convincing him to change his mind.

With Rick gone, the next person everybody looks to for guidance is my Dad.

"I'm with Grimes." He warns before they can hassle him. "I wanted that skinny bastard dead the day we left the quarry, y'all know that."

Rubbing at the fine wrinkles on her forehead, Lori sighs, "I don't like this."

"Can't we just take him out to the main road once we're done with him, give him a canteen, send him on his way?"

"Nah, we've done all that before." He frowns. "And his new boys, he'll go crawlin' back to 'em, tell 'em things we'on want 'em knowing."

"Man, this is fucked." T-Dog tsks, turning away.

Dad retorts, "Yeah, what else is new?"

"Look, there's nothing we can do. Did anybody really like Jim, anyway?" Andrea levels in that blunt way she got. "No. So, I say fuck him. The guy's good as dead anyway. It's clear where his loyalties lie, and it sure isn't with us. Now, who's gonna stand watch?"

"I will." Dad answers. "Gimme 'bout ten minutes, I'll take up watch. T can take graveyard."

"Maggie has a plan for that hearing aid, Daryl." Lori says as heads up. "You might wanna go check that out when you can."

He nods in thanks, reminding Andrea not let anyone near the shed, before grabbing my hand and walking over to the house with me. I glance over my shoulder at her, arms crossed over her chest, holster back-lit by the midday sun. She'll be good at ignoring Jim's pleading.

As I turn back around, Dad asks, "How ya been while I was out, chicken?"

"Fine. Helped cook. Did chores." That's not what's on my mind, though, or on his. "Jim gon' die, ain't he?"

"Yeah," He tells me straight. He don't add much else, 'cause there ain't really anything else to add. "He's gonna die."

Unlike some of the others, I know I can't stop it. I couldn't stop the bullet that killed Shane, so why would I be able to stop this one?

People who don't fit in right, people who put us in danger, they get killed. Jim got a whole new group. They ain't lookin' to be our friends. That's danger. Sum' I learnt from all this is that you're better killin' off the problem before you get hurt by it. It's what we do with vermin, like rabbits and bugs. Maybe that's a morbid thing to say. I know Dale would think so. Jim's just a normal man, dyin' in a shed. He ain't killed nobody. But neither did Shane, and look at all the damage he done anyway. Maybe if we killed him to start with, it wouldn't've been so cruel.

"Alright." I settle on. I wouldn't stop it, even if I could. I said I weren't gonna be stupid ever again. So I say fuck him, too.

Dad glances at me. He knows this is how it's gotta be, so that's where the conversation ends.

We step up to where Glenn, Maggie, and Herschel are standing together at the bottom of the porch steps. He looks a little shaken up, his shirt grimy and his suspenders wonky, but he's still standing, which is all that matters. It could'a gone a lot worse for him.

"Bethy's gonna be fine, Dad." She says sweetly. When she notices us, she smiles. "Hey. Thanks for your help, Daryl."

Dad gives a little shrug, 'cause he never liked thanks. "Don't worry 'bout it."

It's clear how much Herschel is loved by his family. I wish my Grandpappy Dixon could'a been a little more like him.

"But I heard from one'a the women you got somethin' for me about a hearin' aid?"

"Oh, right." Her mood dampens a little at the mention of it, but she knows he means no harm. "We were talkin' about it earlier. I offered to give y'all the addresses of some people we knew who might have what you're lookin' for. None of 'em are too far from here."

"That's good of ya." He nods, grateful. "We got our hands full with that shit-sack Davison, but we'll find the time."

Glenn frowns in confusion. "Wait, what's all this about? A hearing aid?"

"It's for Harley." He explains and looks down at me, squeezing my hand. "That gunshot messed her hearin' up pretty good."

"Oh, man. That's unlucky." He gives me that soft, mushy look everybody been giving me. "So you're, like, deaf in that ear?"

"Yeah." I murmur, nervously tugging on the nub under my hair. "And half-deaf in the other'un."

He looks at Dad. "Let me know if you need any help searching, man. Anything I can do to help."

"I'on know if Rick's gonna be up for it way things are, but I'll head out sometime tomorrow if I can. Won't fuss if you wanna join."

"And that business with your friend there in the shed," Herschel says, "Whatever you do with him, please just keep it to yourselves."

"Well, we weren't plannin' on a public execution." Dad shrugs. "Rick'll wanna do it in the barn, I reckon. Y'all won't see nothin'."

"Good." He sighs, even though none of this is good. "I'm not saying I like it, but I know better than to impede on your... politics."

"That what it's called, huh?" He murmurs sardonically.

"C'mon. Let's get you inside now." Maggie gently guides him away. "Thank y'all both again. I'll get that list to you when you need it."

As they climb the porch steps together, Dad gives me a kiss on my forehead and tells me he's gotta go guard the shed now, handing me off to Glenn to walk me back to main camp. Because I guess they don't want me impeding on the politics, neither.

Dad's not actually on watch. I get that now. I watch the little shed sit there in the distance. There's nobody standin' outside the doors, and they wouldn't just leave Jim unattended like that. So that would only mean that he's inside the shed, doing what people do when they're tryna make someone talk. I can't see through any of the boarded-up windows or the little loft space that looks in, but I don't need to.

Jim don't deserve this, but I think we're a little past getting what we deserve. It ain't my fault he's suffering.

Shane's bones are breaking again. I'm half deaf, but I hear them just fine, and the blood, the cries, the smack of fist on muscle. I thread my fingers through my hair, grip and twist and pull on it, like the memories are in the roots and I can rip them out and throw them away and be done with them, but I can't, so I just drag my hands down my face and throw my head back against the tree I'm sitting under. On the other side of the leaves, the white ball of the sun shining down. I take a few deep breaths. In and out, nice and slow, like Dad showed me.

We been through so much. Escaped and killed and hurt so much, just so we can live. If Jim were to ruin that, or his fellers were to ruin that, I would wanna beat his face in, too, 'til it was just a piece of meat balanced on a neck. That, he would deserve.

It's as I'm staring at the clouds floating across the sky, that the brim of a cowboy hat enters my vision.

I know it's Carl before I look at who it belongs to. He says something I can't hear, holding out a granola cookie to me. I assume that's the cookie he owes me from the bet, and that he's telling me I can have it, so I take it from him. He settles down to my right.

"I tried to get one without raisins," He says apologetically, voice clearer now. "But Glenn kinda ate them all already."

"'Course he did." I take a big bite. "It don't matter. I like raisins anyway."

He pulls a bit of a face, because nobody likes raisins. "I'm just gonna forget you said that."

We fall into silence after that. There's nothing to talk about except the hostage in the shed and the fact his Dad is gonna kill him soon, and maybe raisins, but nobody likes talking about raisins. You know, there's lots of different types of killing. There's mercy killing, which is what the vet did to Tank. It's what Dad does to any deer we find half-dead on hunting trips, or ones suffering on the side of the road after they weren't ran over all the way. Then there's self-defence killing. That's for walkers, and people that wanna kill you. There's killing for food. We do that all the time. And then there's murder, which is almost the same, but feels a whole lot different.

"How do you think they're gonna do it?" Carl suddenly asks, his tone dull, neither here nor there.

I pause. It. Killing Jim. I don't know how they're gonna do it, but Dad says it'll be in the barn. They got ropes and rafters in there.

"Maybe hang him." I guess, but that don't feel right. "Prolly just cap him in the head, though."

"Is that what they did to Shane?"

Bones breaking. Fist on muscle. A spike of blood. I shake my head with a simple, murmured, "No."

He knows better than to start guessing what did happen. "Well... How'd your Dad kill Ronnie?"

Huh? "How you hear about that?"

He shrugs one shoulder. "Heard Maggie talking to my Dad about it."

I didn't think anybody else knew about Ronnie. I've always been told it's a bit of a taboo story, and I shouldn't talk to Meemaw or any kids at school about it. But if anyone had a problem with mine and Dad's past, I would'a known about it by now.

"That was my Dad and Merle." I confess, after deciding I can answer this question. "They didn't shoot him. They chased him into the woods and beat him so bad he ended up dyin'. Then Merle ran away for a bit and Dad went to prison."

"Guess both our Dads are murderers." A sentence I've never heard before. "Do you ever wish you were more like him?"

"Nah. I couldn't get any more like my Daddy if I tried." I'm my Daddy's girl. I'm just cursed that way. I got his little moles and his nasty glare, his dirt blonde hair and his short temper. I got all his good parts and all his bad, painful, thrown-away parts running through me, and I poke my tongue out when I skin animals, and I hurt the people I love. I guess the only gene I'm missing is the one that lets him lock it all away. I ain't strong like that, but I don't wanna admit that to Carl, or to anybody. I don't wanna admit I'm weak. "What... What about you?"

Carl's got his Dad's blue eyes and his goodness. Oh and of course, his hat.

He considers the question for a long time. "I'm not a very good protector. I've never killed anything."

"Well, you ain't got a gun, do ya?" I try joke, swallowing the last bite of cookie. "How you meant to protect anybody?"

It don't make him laugh. "Be serious."

"Carl," I say a little frustratedly, "I've killed two walkers and watched a man die by now, and I can tell you it don't make you any tougher."

I don't know why he can't see that, especially with his parents arguing over by the fence the way they are, getting louder by the minute.

"Kinda just messes things up." I mutter. "It's horseshit, like Maggie says."

I watch Rick pinch the bridge of his nose as Lori shouts at him.

"You know what," Carl cringes, "Maybe you're right."

"Do you think they're arguin' about Jim?"

We both know they are. "Yeah."

I like Lori. She doesn't laugh at me when I can't spell something right. But if I were Rick right now, I'd bust a damn gasket and scream somethin' like, leave me alone, woman! Because the last thing I'd want is somebody badgering me on this. He said it himself. He doesn't want to kill Jim, but he doesn't have any other choice if he wants to keep us safe. He's stressed enough without this nonsense.

Instead of that, though, Rick exclaims something totally different, just loud enough for me to hear.

"You're pregnant?"

Oh, Lordy. She told him?!

Carl whirls on me like this was my doing. "Did he just say pregnant?!"

I don't get time to reply before he gets up and runs over to them, calling out excitedly. I knew he'd be happy. But I don't know so much about Rick. He threads his fingers in his hair, taking a step back. The look on his face is the same one Dale used to get when the RV suddenly started making a strange noise and he had to figure out how to fix it. I don't even think Lori meant to tell him. She just blurted it out.

"Cat's out the bag, I guess." Glenn muses lightly from nearby, as Carl wraps his arms around his Momma's belly.

She seems a little shocked, too, but she still returns the hug and kisses his fluffy hair.

I can't hear them anymore, so I walk over to Glenn and ask him eagerly, "What're they sayin'?"

"He's asking if it's a boy or a girl," He relays to me, "But they won't be able to tell until the baby's born."

"When's that happen?"

Carol approaches us with a fun little smirk. She must've overheard as well. "In about nine months, if everything goes right."

That's almost a year. Where are we gonna be a year from now? A lot can happen in one month, let alone nine. Will there still be eleven of us, or will there be less? We gonna make it to twelve? I'm not sure how having a baby at the end of the world works. I think ya need lots of medicine and a little beanie to put on their head, but we don't have those things. We only have each other, a vet, and some aspirin.

Lori and Carl walk back into camp together. He's smiling like he's swallowed the sun.

"I'm gonna be a big brother." He exclaims, as Carol gives Lori a supportive hug. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Pretty cool." I agree, but I can't help glancing over his shoulder at Rick, who's slumped against the fence, head in his hands.

"You heard? God. I don't want this to be made a big deal out of." Lori mutters to her. "It's not good for anybody."

"Don't be silly. I think we could all do with a little hope around here. What's more hopeful than a baby?"

"I'm talking about..." She whispers this next part.

Carol smiles sadly when she pulls back. "Don't worry about that. He's out of the picture, now. Just focus on Rick."

"Hey, if the baby's a girl," Carl suggests, "Can we name her Sophia?"

"I think that would be lovely," Lori says very earnestly, looking to Carol, who seems to also like that idea. "Guess we'll have to see."

The two of them get sucked into conversation with Glenn after that, and it looks pretty serious, so me and Carl are left on our own again. He continues babbling about the baby, and I try my best to listen, but I'm distracted thinking about how Glenn's no longer keeping an eye on us like he's meant to, and Dale's facing the opposite direction on watch. We could sneak off to the shed without anyone noticing.

"And if it's a boy, we can name him Nate. You know, like Captain Nate and the Awesome Eight. The comic I read you, remember?"

I don't know what's gotten into me, but I ask him with no warning, "Wanna sneak into the shed?"

His grin fades, until there's nothing but apprehension on his face. "But we're not allowed. I thought you said you hated getting in trouble."

"I thought you said you wanted to be tough like your Dad," I retort. I do hate getting in trouble, but I wanna get inside that shed a whole lot more. I wanna see what Dad's done to Jim, see what happens to people that put us in danger. "Come on. Nobody will see us."

"I don't know, Harley." He mumbles. I never thought I'd be the one coercing him into mischief. "It might not be safe."

"Safe? When since do you care about being safe?"

He hesitates to answer. "It's just, I'm supposed to look out for you. And I'm gonna be a big brother soon, so I gotta learn how."

"I ain't your practice-sister." I scoff, feeling a little offended. "I don't need no big brother to take care of me. I taught you to shoot."

"I just wanna keep you safe like the adults do." He says more sternly now, like I'm being unfair. "Like my Dad does."

"Well, I wanna go smack the shit outta Jim," I sass, "Like my Dad does."

With that, I turn on my heel, making a beeline for the shed. It don't even take him five seconds to give in and follow after me.

"No, no, Daryl, c'mon, man, please. We used to be on the same side. You don't have to do this."

"How many in yer group, huh? I said, How many?!"

Whack!

I pull Carl with me around the corner of the shed, ducking down into the grass, holding a finger to my lips. On the other side of the wall, Jim groans. It sounds blubbered, as if his gums are swollen and his lips are fallen off. I peek through a tiny hole in the wood.

"Thuh— Th- Thirty." He answers breathily. It's dark in there, but I can make out both their figures. "Thirty. Thirty guys."

"Where?" He growls, pacing around in the shadows. "Where they camped?"

"Why— Why the fuck would I tell you, huh?" He sniffles wetly, but it's not snot. "I'm dead, anyway, man! Fuck the whole lot of ya!"

"You wanna put this whole farm in danger, is that whatcher sayin'? You're a smart-mouthed piece'a shit?"

"You're the ones who left me!" He shouts, kicking and pulling and wriggling against the rope like a feral creature itching for a fight. He's never gotten along with our group. Given the chance, I know he'd throttle any one of us. "Maybe I should want you to pay!"

"The feeling's mutual." He snarls. There's a little, wait, no, before he rears his fist back in the air, and then a disgusting cracking sound as it comes down on his cheekbone. Carl whispers in my good ear, what do you see, but I don't answer him. I watch as Dad crouches, his face mere inches from the bruised mess that's meant to be Jim's, staring him down like if he does it hard enough, he can kill him just like that. "I'm only gonna tell you this once." He warns, his voice a rumble. "My little girl is on this farm. If you breathe the wrong way. If you make a funny look I don't like. If you take too long answerin' me 'cause you're chokin' on yer own blood, and that puts her at risk..."

Jim's bloodied neck bobs under a heavy gulp, his chest shivering with shallow puffs.

"I will kill you so slow... you'll be beggin' to eat a bullet." That's far from an empty threat and he knows it. "You understand me?"

"Yeah. Yes. Yes." He nods. "I'm not tryna be smart. I'll— I'll talk."

"Let's try this again, huh?"

"They move around." He confesses. "They never stay anywhere more than a couple nights. That's all I know, but they got guns. Heavy stuff, like automatics. I used to clean them. That's why they let me stay, after they found me camping in the woods. I went with them b-because they had food, but that's all gone, now. They're branching out. I swear I had nothing to do with the other stuff. I swear."

"You just happened to be there last night, is that it? Tryna tell me you're innocent?"

"I've always been innocent."

Liar. I remember him snarking to my Dad that the trip out the quarry to save my life wasn't worth it, that it was a waste of our gas.

"If you're memory's that bad, buddy, I can crack yer head open and we can sort through yer brains together, how's that sound?"

"Like a f-fucking nightmare." He slurs. "Always is with you."

Dad's about to break his other cheekbone in when Andrea calls out his name. I pull away from the peephole just as he turns around, my heart racing as the creak of the old doors come, then their voices. I can't make any of it out like I would'a been able to before my hearing went to shit, which makes me a little jealous of Carl, but I can tell the point at which one of them walks away 'cause there's silence.

With the shed quiet and empty, Carl points above my head. "We can get in that way."

The loft. It hangs over a pile of rotten wood laying in the overgrown weeds. It doesn't look like an impossible distance to climb, so I give him a nod. He follows me out, warning me to, be careful of splinters, which almost makes me roll my eyes because he really does think he's a mini grown-up now. I ignore him and hop onto the planks. He jumps up onto the loft first and then rolls onto his tummy and pulls me up after him. He asks me if I'm alright, which of course I am, so I duck through the opening and climb down the ladder.

My boots hit the straw, then his. I can't believe we're really in here. This is way worse than sneaking into the woods.

"Who's—? Who's there?" Jim startles, peering at us through his puffy eyelids.

I step into the single beam of sunlight shining down on the dirty floor, and only then his face morphs with recognition. I stare him down. He looks exactly the same as he did at the quarry, but scruffier, angrier, splattered with blood. It's what I must look like, too.

He actually starts laughing, an empty laugh. "Harley Dixon... My fucking luck."

"Be careful." Carl mutters from behind me.

The laughter catches in this throat, a phlegm-y knot that he spits on the floor. "He's right, kid. Your Daddy thinks I'm dangerous."

"I ain't afraid of you," I take great satisfaction in telling him. I've never been able to say that to anybody before. I been scared of Merle, been scared of Grandpappy Dixon, scared of Shane. But I out-lived all of them, and I'll out-live Jim, too. "You're nothin'."

"I thought you died on the road, you know. They always do." A grin creeps onto his lips. "But not you, huh?"

Not me. I been scratched, trapped in a horde, chased, lost, stabbed, taken and shot at, but no. "Not me."

"I'll be dead soon." He lilts uncaringly. "I'm not gonna beg. No you. Not anyone. I know it's coming. Your Dad, Rick, or... Even my own leg. Something's gonna kill me, and I'm not gonna fight it." As he speaks, his head lolls to the side and he gazes out at nothing. "You can't. Can't fight gravity, can't fight nature. Can't fight death. I tried, though. All of it, I tried, and here I am. Pissin' blood in a shed, waitin' to die."

"I ain't never cared for no sob story." I scowl, moving into his line of sight, crouching down. "'Specially not yours."

He glares at me through his dark brows. "You're a little s-shit-stain, aren't you, just like your old man."

"None of us ever liked you, neither."

"Whatever happens after I'm gone," He sneers, breathing heavily, so heavily I can feel it huffing and puffing on my forearms, "You're all gonna deserve. F-for being so cocky. Thinkin' you're better than everyone else, thinkin' you can cheat death. For leaving me."

"Whatever happens after you're gone," I retort just as angrily, "We sure ain't gonna spend it missin' you."

He bares his teeth, straining against his bindings to get in my face, but I remain stony, like Dad would. "You— You should've never made it out that quarry." He rages under his breath, "They can give you all the— all the hugs and kisses in the world, but when they tell you everything's okay, they'll still be lying. It's what I told my wife and my two boys a hundred times, but it didn't matter."

The louder he hisses the words at me, the wetter his eyes get.

"They came out of nowhere. Dozens... and dozens. Pulled them right out my hands." His voice cracks. "The only reason I got away was because the dead were too busy eating my family. I was meant to die with them. I was. And you— you're just a little kid. You should've died to those scratches. You're supposed to be dead. All of you. You're all supposed to be dead."

Before I can stop myself, smack!

"You don't get to say that." I scold him, shaking out my stinging palm. "Only dead one 'round here is you."

He groans. "Shuh— S-sure."

The doors swing open. Andrea comes in, shock across her face as she realizes what's going on. She snatches mine and Carl's hands in her own and drags us out.  We stumble as she throws us ahead, shouting something at Jim before slamming the doors shut again.

"What the Hell were you two doing in there?" She asks incredulously as she picks up the rope and re-binds the handles.

"Please don't tell our parents." Carl immediately begs.

Too angry to speak, I take myself over to the swing and plop down on it, rubbing at my red palm. I slapped Jim pretty good. If only we didn't get caught, I could'a done a whole lot worse to him, maybe even broken in his other cheek. He's a bastard for sayin' those things. We had our reasons for casting him out, and he sure as shit ain't bothered figuring out what they were. He's still as smart-mouthed as ever. I ain't even feel bad his wife and kids got eaten, 'cause that's just what happens now. He ain't special for letting it drive him mad.

"Listen, buddy," She scoffs as she turns around, putting her hands on her hips. "I won't, but that was plain stupid."

"We were only talking to him." He argues innocently. "We didn't do anything."

She raises a brow. "Oh, yeah? What was that slap sound, then?"

"It was me." I admit with a bitter tone, dramatically dropping my hands in my lap. "I cracked him for bein' smart."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you." She chuckles, seeming annoyed and amused at the same time. "You wanna die? Is that it?"

I frown deeply. Like I said, blunt. She's the only person outside my family who's ever given me a run for my money on that front. "Maybe I do," I sass her. "Maybe beatin' on somebody makes me feel a little better. You got a problem with that?"

"Not at all." She surprises me by shrugging. "I get it. But really, guys? Jim?"

"You want me to hit you instead, then?"

"God," She laughs. "Maybe if Beth had half the fire you got in you, she'd actually be worth something."

"Hell's that mean?"

"Means if you asked me for a knife like she did, I wouldn't bother giving you one. You'd find a way."

"Give her a knife?" Carl pulls a stank-face at her. "That was you?"

"She didn't have the guts to do it herself." She explains. "So I gave her the push she needed."

"Why would you do that?" He sounds betrayed when he says this, turning and taking my hand. "Come on, Harley. Let's go, now."

He pulls me off the swing and leads me away, a grumpy look on his face.

"Screw her." He exclaims. "Don't talk to her ever again. She's crazy."

"Sure thing," I murmur, too busy thinking about how I can sneak back in the shed again soon to sound all too convincing.

That afternoon, I relish in the gentle sounds of rustling leaves and little squirrels and birds chittering throughout the forest, the crisp breeze blowing through my hair. I've never really liked the cold all that much, but this is good. I remember when I was just a tot, around the first time I ever saw snow, I tugged on Daddy's sleeve and asked him, when we goin' huntin' today, but all he said was, can't, baby, all the game's hidin' away in holes. I was a little confused on that for a while. Couldn't the animals just put a coat and hat on like the rest of us? That was back when I thought the whole world was like it was in the cartoons. I learnt fast that it weren't.

"Heard you was beatin' on Carl today." Dad casually hums. I follow him along the trail, keeping an eye out for paw prints or broken twigs. September's almost over now, if it ever even was September, and Winter's on its way. Nature's one of the only things ain't changed, and I know the slim chances of finding game ain't changed neither, and so does Dad, but I think he don't care. "You wanna talk about it?"

He just wants away from the farm for a while, time where it's just the two of us. Even if we ain't catch nothing in the end.

"He was bein' a jerk to Carol." I explain, and that's putting it lightly. "So's I whooped him."

Surely Dad won't care like Lori does. He was the one that taught me to whoop stupid boys in the first place.

"Baby," He seems to struggle saying, before coming to a stop, facing me with a funny look. "You can't be doin' that no more."

Oh. He does. But, "I've always done that."

"Yeah, and so've I." He tells me. "I don't gotta tell you twice. Only time my fists ain't been swinging was when I was busy cleanin' the blood off 'em. But like I told you at that pond, I'm puttin' that behind me when it matters, a'right? That lil' scrape wit' Carl, that matters."

Only other punishment I ever got was time out. "You sayin' I should'a put him on a stump, instead?"

"I'm sayin' let his parents put him on a stump, or take his shit away, or whatever it is they wanna do. It ain't on you to dish that out."

"But Grandpappy Dixon and Merle used to beat on me, and they weren't my parents."

"Weren't on them, either." With an angry scoff, he turns back around. I chase after him. "Weren't even on me. Ain't none of us treatchu right."

I guess I should'a thought more wisely about laying into Carl. But I ain't ever practiced. None of my family have. Beat first, think later. Next to, Fuck the cops, that's always been the Dixon motto. But me and Dad, we gotta be different. There's more to us than our anger.

"Well, I'm gon' try treat everybody else right, anyway." I decide. "Next time, I'll just call Carl an idiot and leave it at that."

I hear him chuckle to himself. I guess that means it's a good plan.

It's at this moment that the honking trill of a deer sounds through the trees. Both of us stop dead in our tracks. He reaches for me, takes my wrist, pulls me behind a nearby shrub. I peek over the leaves, swallowing down a gasp. Rats on hats, there she is. A deer, with sweet black eyes like polished glass, and long, beige legs, walking through the underbrush as if she were made of it. I ain't seen a deer in months, not even when the weather was warmer. Guess I thought the dead ones ate 'em all. I almost forgot how magical they are. Merle always teased me for it, but I used to think deer were just unicorns whose horns fell off. I was always a little sad whenever we ate them.

Dad loads a bolt into his crossbow. I can't hear it, but I'm sure it makes the faintest click, because her big ear twitches, but she doesn't bolt. I watch her bow her head, munching on dead grass, as he lines the sight up with her heart.

He never hesitates to down a target, but this time he does. He watches her, too, then lowers the bow altogether.

I whisper to him, "You ain't gonna shoot?"

"Nah," He whispers back, "It's good just like this."

The deer grazes on the forest floor for a few more minutes, until she decides to move on.

After which, we do, too.

Author's Note.

Whew! Hope you enjoyed this one.

We finally ran into Jim again! Lots has changed since he's been with us, including Harley lmao. She's a menace.

Like I said in the last chapter's notes, I've been dealing with some motivation issues and just a creativity slump in general, so working on this chapter was a ride and a half 😩 Thanks for your support and patience as always. Your comments are what fuel me to write when I can't fuel myself 💙

@poetoflawed

[misc-obeyme]

Ok sorry super late but it's me the solobarb anon and yeah i was mostly talking about the art but i also find the story so silly

but anywyas about the art REOAOASFGFDSHQWHHSS first of all BARBATOS'S SHOULDERS?.$.@"!(1!$+1+"!$ i started to go insane im sure i transformed into a whole another being when i first saw that card i literally spammed my friend with it until she had to BLCOK ME for whole 5 minutes and only unblocked me when i promised to not spam her anymore 💔

AND SOLOMON'S FACE 😭😭😭 HE LOOKS SO CUTE THE LITTLE SCARY HAND POSE TOWARDS BARBATOS ONLY FOR BARBS TO LOOK BACK AG HIM LIKE HE WANTS HIM DEAD 😭😭😭 IM CRYING PLEASE

and yes i agree solobarb is way cuter when they're getting along but also JFDJWDSS angry Barbatos is so funny to me 😭 i was caught so off guard when i started to play nightbringer by the way he talks to solomon, i already shipped them before but nightbringer just made them jump to one of my biggest canon x canon ships in om

i see a lot of ppl theorizing Barbatos was mad at Solomon for another reason and just lied to mc because he doesn't trust them and tbh considering how long it took for him to open up to mc in the og game it's a very believable theory but also Barbatos getting mad at Solomon because he wasn't the first demon Solomon thought to make a pact with is very silly to me i love that part so much

also in the part of the story where mc says they'd like to do both of their ideas and Solomon just says they're greedy 😭😭😭 i hate that man so mMUCH /pos

(also is it just me or Solomon looks like he belongs in evangelion in that card like the art style looks so similar to me....)

Anon, you are not super late lol. If anything, I am the one who is late in responding... alas, I'm still always a day behind on asks...

Anyway, yes, Barb's shoulders which we so rarely get to see~ I am sayin' he looks like a freakin' bride!!

Solomon is always adorable but that funny lil rawr face is incredibly cute lol!!

I suppose you could say Nightbringer allows for them to have an enemies to lovers sort of story... and you could also rewrite the list thing to be a story about Barb feeling jealous in a boyfriend sort of way...

But dearest anon, I'm afraid I am one of those people who has theorized that Barb is lying to MC about his real reason for being mad at Solomon. I think the reason would have been funny if they hadn't made such a huge deal out of it. But Barbatos rarely displays that kind of emotion and to me it just didn't make sense for it to be something so minuscule, even if it is funny. It seems a little more plausible if you look at it through a shipping lens, though. Like if Barbatos really loves Solomon only to find that he only made it eighth on the list? That feels a little more likely to me. But even then, I feel like Barb's just not that dramatic about stuff lol. I could get into this further, but I digress!

Of course, I know a lot of people enjoyed that particular piece of the story and I'm not at all going to say that they shouldn't, so it's all good lol!

Solomon saying MC is greedy made me laugh, too! I was like exCUSE me, but you two can't agree on anything at the moment, what do you want me to do, choose a side!?!? I don't think so! If saying yes to my two faves makes me greedy, then just call me Mammon. >:(

I wish I could tell you if it was just you, but I'm not familiar enough with Evangelion to give you an opinion, I'm afraid. I'm just gonna say that you are probably right and should trust your instincts!!

[siriuslysatorusimping]

nono, I get you kiko. about the currency thing. unless the original work uses other currencies, I always prefer yen in fanfics. I sometimes have that weird feeling cuz not all of us use USD. my country uses dollar too, but it's not USD, so I will get confused now and then, unless the authors specify in their notes or something. I don't know, just a weird feeling.

it's just like some modern jjk college fanfic and some Chinese/Korean fanfics too. It's too Americanised with the house parties, drugs, and stuff (though some are so nicely written that I have no complaints). I thought it was more of an American thing than Asian. I can say this because I live in an Asian country, we don't do house parties here (drugs are debatable in some countries, but most, it's a no. it's always drinks or smoking), people mostly go to clubs and bars with friends. Japanese college students mostly go on gōkon (group dates) with other schools (so many shojo manga references out there), and I rarely see it being written in fanfics nowadays.

nothing against it, just a weird feeling sometimes. so I get you.

Hi, sweet Anon!! Thank you for your message!!! 😊💕

OH, TELL ME MORE ABOUT GŌKONS???

See, I was so worried about Physical Paradox being super inaccurate because of the house parties because I figured that isn't a thing in Japan. But I couldn't get it to work otherwise 😭😭

Knowing that they go to bars and clubs helps quite a bit, though!! I'll keep that in mind as I keep writing because I do care about those things a lot.

BUT I NEED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT GŌKONS. I MUST RESEARCH. (from what I've seen, they're kinda like speed dating? like you rotate and talk to each person and gather basic info?? but that could be wrong???) IMAGINE THE GOINKO JEALOUSY ON A GROUP DATE BEFORE THEY STARTED DATING EACH OTHER? JUST IMAGINE IT. GOJO JEALOUS OF WHOEVER RINKO IS TALKING TO?? RINKO JEALOUS OF WHOEVER GOJO IS TALKING TO???????? GUYS. 🥵

Thank you again for your message, sweet anon! You've given me more research material, but I would also love your perspective or opinion if you feel comfortable sharing!

Things are very Americanized. And it frustrates me because it's hypocritical of people who are typically the ones screaming about inclusivity and representation. They erase entire cultures from their fics and claim it's fine just because it's fanfic. But writing can teach you so much. I've learned tons about Japan just because I've wanted things to be as accurate as I can manage, and it's made me fall in love with parts of the culture so much more.

It's a beautiful culture that literally gave us the stories we're basing our fics off of. I think it should be included more often instead of ignored.

AND I MEAN IT IF YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE MORE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT GŌKONS.

WE MIGHT JUST HAVE A GŌKON PHYSICAL PARADOX INSTALLMENT IN THE FUTURE, JUST SAYIN' 👀👀👀👀👀

(gojo glaring at whoever is talking to rinko knowing she's gonna be pissed when she realizes he's acting like a jealous dickhead and not being able to care)

[the-feral-one]

After Wo had put Pao in charge of looking after his shrine, and after making sure everyone had what they wanted to bring, the family had began to set off on their journey towards where they wanted to go.

The siblings talked about various things with their two dads, including the upcoming wedding. The more that was said, the more that Wo's cheeks went pink. They decided to change the subject after seeing Wo's reactions to their words.

It wasn't long before they were made to stop by something quite familiar.

"Papa Wo, look!"

Wo turned to see what Ogerpon was referring to. His expression turned unimpressed after seeing who she was pointing at.

"Nevah fought you'd leave me be'ind, big guy! What gives?" Chester gave Wo a disappointed look, which was soon dropped after he couldn't hold the face for long. "Jus' kiddin'! I'm not mad."

He stood with his hands on his hips. Ogerpon ran up to him.

"Hey Uncle Chester! Are you gonna come with us too?"

Before the Gholdengo could speak again, Ogerpon turned to Wo.

"Can he? Pleeeease?"

Chester rubbed the back of his head as Wo came up with his answer.

"While I did say that this was a 'family-only event', I...can make an exception this time."

Ogerpon gasped and held onto Chester. The Gholdengo playfully tried to get her to let go.

"Yaaaay!"

"Awright, y' can let me go now! Any more shakin' an' me arm'll fall off!"

Ogerpon let go of Chester.

"Wait..." Wo began, catching Chester's attention. "What about..."

"Peseta?" Chester pointed one finger upwards. "Well, 'oo am I to not let 'em be cooped up in th' stuffy academy all day and all night?" He looked behind him, then stepped to the side. "What I'm sayin' is, that they're right 'ere."

Peseta looked up at Wo as they came forward.

"I needed time away from the academy. Of course I needed to inform Clavell about such actions, but, after some careful negotiations, here I am." They looked to the side and raised an eyebrow at Chester. "It's going to be worth it too, I can tell."

"Eh-heh..!" Chester rubbed the back of his head again. "We gonna set off soon, or..?"

"Oh, yes." Wo nodded and turned around, ready to resume the journey. "Onwards, but only when you're ready."

The group was about to proceed when they were stopped by a distant shout.

"Wo-Chieeeeennn!!"

The snail turned around again, and was met by an eager snow leopard almost colliding with him.

"I'm comin' with ya too!" Pao sat up after falling on his face. Wo gave him a slight glare.

"I...thought I left you in charge of my shrine, Pao..! If you're here, now, who is watching over it?"

"Well.." Pao began, motioning with both paws as he explained. "Y'see, I was doing that, but then Ting-Lu came by. He was lookin' for his two little ones, so I let him see them, but then he asked about you, and I said you're goin' on vacation, and Ting-Lu turned to me and said 'Go find them all and go with them.', so I did after he said he'd look after your shrine."

Wo raised an eyebrow as he tilted his head a little.

"Ting-Lu offered..."

"...to be shrine-sitter 'til you come back." Pao put both paws up and shook his head. "And believe me, Wo - no shrine invader or pesky fishy fireball's gonna get past him. The guy's a wall. You've seen how good he is at lookin' over stuff. 'member what he was like back in the day, when he was a lookout for his village? Body like a wall, eyes like a hawk. Your shrine's never been safer, Wo."

"Hmm.." Wo began, vine raised to where his chin would be. "I guess it's alright. The only issue I have with it is that the allotment is going to be a bit of a mess when we return, but that can be sorted out if I obtain the right items first."

"So I'm with you, then?" Pao asked, tilting his head and putting his paws together. Wo looked off to the side, then pack to Pao and put a vine on his head to give it a few pats.

"You are with us, my friend."

"Thanks, Wo!" He waited for the snail to begin moving with his family(plus two Gholdengos) following close by before running to catch up.

"So where are we going, anyway?" The snow leopard asked.

"We'll find out when we get there, Pao."

[triplexdoublex]

To talk on things + To not talk on things= Gaslighting at finest..🙃

I’m not surprised that Megan Fox could be making Colson look bad but at the same time even the man’s said ‘..you wouldn’t have wanted to be around us this weekend’; it was in some interview clip an he says that fights get pretty heavy.

P.s:

Pls do note, not sayin’ he’s put hand on her but not sayin’ he ain’t gonna do not-one-lick-wrong either.Both are good for PR management an both could be toxic to each other; disappointing, it’s all disappointing in what’s going on from every angle..

Contracts of PR could go from a couple of days/ weeks/ months & yrs; this, all of this sh!t isn’t going to be over any time soon..👀

Oh 100% I know they argue I know he argues back he’s not completely innocent, I know it’s likely he has cheated, but you can tell that Megan is gaslighting, manipulating and mentally/emotionally abusing him, just by how she talks about him and to him, and the social media stunts she pulled as well and the completely different way Colson’s been since he’s been with her - the complete lack of confidence, issues with friends, getting more hate and being dragged in the media. His whole demeanor lately is that of an abuse victim NOT and abuser. Megan’s even admitted she manipulates men in past interviews by saying …

“What you do is harness your sexuality and use it to control your destiny. Like, if a conversation with a guy is going somewhere I don't like, you can manipulate it and build a dynamic that causes that person to fear you sexually. You do it with men by making them feel small, and men usually feel small when they're attracted to someone."

She’s done it, she’s succeeded at making Colson feel small 😢

[bisexuallsokka]

I need to know which 1989 vault songs you consider divorced zukka coded

heehee this is a test right? because the answer is, of course, all of them to some extent. never doubt my ability to divorcedzukkaify anything that has ever been written.

-"slut!" is from zuko's pov... "everyone wants him, that was my crime / the wrong place at the right time / and i break down, then he's pullin me in / in a world of boys he's a gentleman" is of course about sokka

but! don't forget the lines "lovelorn and nobody knows" (their whole relationship was a secret) "love thorns all over this rose / i'll pay the price you won't" the divorce of it all...

that's for later though. for now, they have the bridge, where they both know it's a huge risk but they are taking it anyway "you're not sayin you're in love with me but you're going to half awake takin your chance, it's a big mistake i said, 'It might blow up in your pretty face' i'm not sayin, 'do it anyway' (do it anyway) but you're going to" LIKE HELLO.....sad

-say don't go.........do i even need to say anything. no. but i will anyway. overall this song is from zuko's pov and i mentioned this last week but even though sokka is the one who is leaving, the chorus could be applied to zuko's pov by thinking of it as zuko internally begging sokka to say don't go when they're in the middle of a huge argument and zuko is getting called away for fire lord business. also the bridge makes me crazy because every time i listen to it my mind plays the high definition emotionally intense amv made from shots that only exist in my mind of sokka rejecting zuko's proposal. phew!

-now that we don't talk...sokka's pov! "remind myself the way you faded til I left...i cannot bе your friend, so i pay the price of what i lost and what it cost..." HELLO. also "what do you tell your friends we shared dinners, long weekends with?" WELL! "truth is, I can't pretend it's platonic, it's just ended" and the outro is more of sokka thinking well now that we don't talk i don't have to get sucked into the mess that is the fire nation political atmosphere i don't have to suck up to anyone or pretend that i like this life because i don't and i never did!

-suburban legends "when you hold me, it holds me together and you kiss me in a way that's gonna screw me up forever" SHUT UP!!! are you joking. they were born to be suburban legends they were born to change the world to fix the world and then return home but whoops it's not that easy...."I know that you still remember we were born to be national treasures when you told me we'd get back together" bruh

"i broke my own heart cause you were too polite to do it" ...this is what sokka tells himself but really he breaks his own heart because he thinks it's going to fall apart anyway so he might as well have some control over it right! but also zuko is too polite to do it, even when things were obviously crashing down between them he didn't want to let go of this he didn't want to stop trying nothing would ever make him give up on him and sokka. teehee.

-is it over now? i mean. was it over then? and is it over now? hint: it was never truly over and they will each have moments where they try and move on but it never ever works out or gets far because they will always be hung up on each other....anyway. "i think about jumpin off of very tall somethings just to see you come running and say the one thing i've been wanting, but no" wow and of course "if she's got blue eyes, I will surmise that you'll probably date her him" 😵

[prettybluelites]

Thoughts: The Innkeeper

Ahhhhh here we go, part 3 of 3. I'll do the new episodes next week once I've had time to digest. Ugh, I can't believe I have to wait until I get home from work tomorrow to watch, what the actual fuck? Anyway!

That little lick of flame to open is kind of elegant, I like it

"Soul Reaper" makes me laugh because I can just imagine that guy being like, "Yeah, I'm a reaper of souls but also...I've got soul" and it's doubly terrible.

Just watching Zheng in action and thinking about "Every pirate captain captains pirates differently"

I really love Stede's crew lined up and watching as they approach the Revenge, I think they all look suitably shellshocked and I think they're all at least a little bit thinking of it like Jim was when they were talking to Archie, a place where their lives meant something

Stede scaling the side of the ship, not wasting a thought on something as trivial as a rope ladder

One moment to survey the devastation and then back to action

"Guys, hi!" Like there's nothing amiss about the scene he just walked in on. Never change.

"I thought you'd be taller" is such a great callback

"He retired" belongs in the Treacherous Liars Hall of Fame. And "If you don't want to work anymore, you can just give up, I guess," is another early favorite for best line delivery of the Season

Love Zheng's face when she says "Leather. And B.O."

When I watched the trailer and I saw the bits that had this blue saturation to them I called a dream/vision situation and I guess I wasn't far off. Everything about the way this is shot is gorgeous.

My sis: "Why is there a pig?" I think since it's a dream (-ish) it's one of those things where the brain just tries to plug in something, I don't think Ruthie has any real significance but I would love to hear thoughts if anyone has any. It did remind me a little of the bit in "Cold Mountain" where Inman meets the goat woman who cares for him for a time. Like, some mysterious hermits have goats, some have pigs. *shrug*

I think i want to start a band and call it the Coolin' Bevvies

Better name for a band than Shit Tits, anyway

Jim and Olu forever, even if not as a capital-c Couple, even if only as best friends they tell stuff to

The way Con's voice trembles when says "I dared to mention your fuckin' name" - masterful

Stede seems to be realizing that for everything he's coming to understand about Ed and about pirating there's still a whole world of stuff he needs to learn.

Okay, dumb question, is Ed's shirt black or is it purple? Or is it legit changing from shot to shot? Or is it just the...the filter or whatever they used here? (Sorry, I don't know the lingo) whatever, I love it, sometimes his hair even has a purple cast to it, so cool.

Aw, Stede, listen to you, talking it through

When Ed starts flashing back in reaction to Hornigold going at him and there's that one tiny burst of Izzy laughing at him - oh god, that's such a gut punch

Gravy Basket would also be a great name for a band

In all seriousness, Taika is so good in this whole scene

I really like Olu defining a friend as "someone I'd like to see grow old"

Lol every time at "This one has a smell" because yes, chamomile has a smell and it is weird

"I never said that"/"You say that all the time" - another hilarious callback/inversion

Between multiple viewings of both this episode and the trailer, I've seen this bit with Black Pete and the crossbow probably dozens of times and I still laugh out loud every time

Madeleine Sami is gorgeous, just sayin'

I think...Izzy's trying. That's all I'm gonna say for right now. I think he's trying.

"I hate you. I've always hated your guts." Oh, all my insides clenched. Oh Ed.

And then...and then. I don't even know where to start about this whole sequence. I loved it the first time I watched it, and I sobbed (always a good indicator in my book, I think Stede saying "I messed all of this up" is what really touches me off) and I think I've loved it more every time I've watched it. It's beautiful and perfect and sweet and just the right amount of dramatic and just the right amount of...silly, which doesn't mean I'm selling it short or diminishing it in any way, I mean silly in the best possible way. And the way they smile at each other when they're finally face to face? And the way Ed leans in? That's it, going to watch again....

I was too young (and too American, probably) to have really gotten into Kate Bush in her heyday, I knew "Running Up that Hill," and her album "The Red Shoes" got played a little on the radio around here when it was out, but I honestly don't think I knew "This Woman's Work" until recently. I now love it just by virtue of it being so perfect in this scene. The ethereal-ness of it and the way it builds with the action, or the action builds with the song - I can't think of something that would have been better.

The way Stede kind of steels himself before taking the towel off Ed's face

And the way Ed's fingers immediately close around Stede's

If I'm that far in my feels after 3 episodes what is the rest of the season going to do to me??

Thanks for reading, if you're still here! Everybody enjoy episodes 4 and 5!

[luaspersona]

this fic was one of the best surprises i've had on this site and i can't possibly stress enough how in love with it i am.

this review comes in the fifth (maybe seventh?) time i'm reading this and i can't get enough 😭 this is so good, so charming, so fucking perfect that i need to point a bunch of this out, so bear with me 🫡

the story starts with the best use of synesthesia i've read in years. the way the reader describes yoongi's voice, and how it becomes a vessel for the attraction she feels despite the fact she's never seen him before.

the idea of rawness in his voice, of yoongi expressing himself through his cadence, his tone, his breathing… god, that's so enticing 😩 i mean, look at this paragraph 🚨

But regardless of being cut short, the metallic nature of his voice still managed to worm its way directly into your chest, where it festered into something so captivating that you couldn’t help but sigh. It was cool to the touch as the syllables of his chosen words sent an intrusion of goosebumps along your arms and thighs. It had a certain gravel, a deepness that you could sometimes feel in the pit of your belly if you listened to him long enough with your eyes closed. However, more times than not, the grit would be severed with a vibrant laugh that rang so sweetly that you could feel it clamoring around your heart with giddiness on its heels.

again: so 👏🏽 fucking 👏🏽 synesthesic 👏🏽

the wording, the sentencing, everything just adds up to the sensations yoongi's voice provoke — and god, if we don't know the effect his voice has 😮‍💨

but i think that the most charming aspect of the fic has to be the dialogues. they're so ridiculously smooth, so natural! and they flash out the character with such easy, it almost seems like an actual conversation transcribed. like, hobi and yoongi bickering during the podcast, their light teasing and easy back and forth: it's all so palpable and i was smiling all throughout that part (i was mostly crying in the ones after, but we'll get there), like:

“Well I am fratty, but not the douche kind.” “Debatable, but admittedly sometimes I do forget that you’re part of Delta Delta Dickhead.” “Fuck you.” “That’s next week’s topic, sorry for the wait.”

and the whole KJ Apa tangent too omg.

and ugh, hobi's so fucking unserious, i couldn't DEAL with him, i was wheezing 😭:

“You cried for hours over that fucking sports anime, Ace of some shit. I had to buy you like three pizzas just to calm your ass down – which you never Venmo'd me back for… just sayin'.”

but also:

“Oh my god, wow I'm getting so hard just thinkin about those flexible paper rectangles. Mhm, oh yeah.”

or even:

“—College sex life! That’s right, my friends, we’re gonna get all down in that bow chicka wow wow nitty gritty—”

gdi, why can't mixtape be a real thing 😠 not to mention this story had such strong early 2000's romcom vibes (without all the problematic and misogynistic shit ofc).

(quick sidenote before continuing: i first thought i misread yoongi's pseudo in the show, but when the café scene happened omg lmao is was so gooood 😩)

i also want to talk about the tone of the story, because the control you have over the atmosphere and the overall feel of the scenes is p-e-r-f-e-c-t 😭 i was drawn into their interactions and their banter so easily, because it's so damn captivating: everything feels tangible.

and god!! your yoongi 🗣

soooooooo hot, so sexy ugh, the ✨things✨ he says to reader while always making sure of her consent and being mindful of her comfort — as if my standard for men can afford to get bigger??

and 👏🏽 when 👏🏽 they 👏🏽 meet

god, this pairing was written with such nice and natural chemistry. i loved their dialogues and how smoothly their interaction turns flirty, and even if they get super into each other after a couple of days together, it doesn't feel rushed at all because you make us feel their chemistry right off the bat! god, i wish i knew more adjectives to praise you like you deserve 😠

and like, even the way yoongi makes the proposition! how they lock eyes and the stare turns into mutual understanding and then to tension. not to mention the way he asks to eat her out in the most respectful way, like??

but it's the constant reassuring that gets me tho, like:

“Not at all,” He replied, confidence dripping past his lips. “Just you, honestly. You’re someone that looks like they need help focusing, who happens to have an unopened pack of flashcards that they seemed to have purchased for a certain reason. But please tell me if I’m wrong or if you’re just not interested. If that’s the case, then I’ll be happy to help you study in whatever… mundane way that you want. I’ll even spot you a coffee.”

and even after her initial consent, he never assumes she's comfortable: he asks for her confirmation, and even waits for her to relax before touching her like🚨🚨🚨 (the sirens are me screaming).

and as if all that wasn't enough there's the teasing too😭 yoongi's so fucking hot here, like—

Your brows furrowed in confusion, but admittedly it piqued your interest. “Practice round? Don’t exactly think you’re brave enough to lay me out on this table and just go for it in the middle of the library.” “Wanna see if that’s true?” He asked, a certain fire flaring across his eyes. It sent a swirl of arousal through your lower stomach, but you quickly pulled it back in.

YES I WANNA

ahem

*clears throat*

and the fact that he knows how fucking sexy he is, god, his cockiness was so gooood:

“Ah, glad my intellect hasn’t been overshadowed by the things you’re picturing my mouth and hands doing to you right now.” You bit at your lip to try and stifle the grin that threatened to split across your face, and Yoongi seemed highly amused with your failed attempt.

but he can be so cute and sweet too:

“But c’mon, time for you to learn what’s in that pretty head of yours.”

and the same goes for reader! she's so relatable, suffering that pied piper syndrome not being able to study because of min yoongi 😔 oh bestie i feel you. but she's also super funny and sexy 😩

“How about how fast you can make me cum?”

it made me scREAM, like, when she actually started to feel herself and got comfortable with the situation i was gone

and 👏🏽 the 👏🏽 smut

the teasing, the edging, the begging — but also the learning! and the studying! that's what this was all about folks 🥹 no but, for real, i really liked every single aspect of this story, from the tone, to the wording, to the humor, to the teasing, the dialogues and the smut. the pairing was unbelievably sweet and i was so into them.

thank you for taking your time writing this, author! it made me so happy and your words brought me peace at some weird, difficult times, so i really appreciate it 🥺💐

mixtape (m)

pairing: min yoongi x reader 

genre: smut, fluff, comedy / college, podcast personality au

word count: 15,610

description: Two mystery students from your college run the podcast dubbed ‘mixtape.’ It’s become a sort of phenomenon around campus, listened to by almost everyone. In their most recent episode they discussed various study methods… One of them being oh so tempting.

“This week’s topic is—” Sugar started, of course only to be swiftly interrupted by the second half of the two-man show podcast that had sort of gone viral around your college campus.

But regardless of being cut short, the metallic nature of his voice still managed to worm its way directly into your chest, where it festered into something so captivating that you couldn’t help but sigh. It was cool to the touch as the syllables of his chosen words sent an intrusion of goosebumps along your arms and thighs. It had a certain gravel, a deepness that you could sometimes feel in the pit of your belly if you listened to him long enough with your eyes closed. However, more times than not, the grit would be severed with a vibrant laugh that rang so sweetly that you could feel it clamoring around your heart with giddiness on its heels.

“—Studying! So sexy, right?” Jay interjected mid-sentence, something that anyone who listened to their weekly episodes would quickly learn is a norm.

However, there were times of course where Sugar was allowed the courtesy of going off on long tangents without his friend’s interruption, and in those moments his voice was hypnotic, if you had to put it simply. It tugged you beneath the current of concentration until you were pressing the volume button on your phone to raise his vocals higher. The small hitch of his breath, or exhale against the mic when he would sigh due to the topic at hand, they made you lean in closer to the invisible man on the other side of the pre-recorded audio that filtered through your headphones.

Keep reading

[officeobject]

So, I have a 30 year old who stares at me back and likes me back who is exactly like my character who is 30 and has similar body-language + personality while also having name-parellels,

Then there's also gonna be some fashion doll plushies of anthro animals with pretty artwork and ugly dolls themselves that is over-priced but has a lot because they wanna make it big, in the year of me having a doll that means a lot to me and kinda represents me who is from a doll-brand with the same case except it discontinued and my biggest wishes were more stuff, easier-to-find clothes, and the ability to cuddle,

AND, I've found someone who has a lot of similarities with Colby who might also be a living ghost himself, who even likes Colby, and who even likes me but like a lot, but who also finally has Tumblr and really likes ghosts in general?

Also, shout-out to me being paranoid about the one who is similar to Colby, because he is ... similar to Colby ... even though Colby ... has many traits of an average teenage boy ... but yeah, as far as I know, he's at least not a fake account set up by mister Loser and his friends, because

That'd be too obvious, they're so similar at the details I got told at basically the fecking start - like, come on.

He can't have Tumblr, lmao.

Hasn't he moved on NOW at least?

He'd want me gone.

He wouldn't wanna talk to me again.

He's tired - bored, but tired.

No way his friends have the desire and/or ability to go through

I'm so tired of being paranoid, I'm so tired of living in fear, and of suspecting everyone, and of trying to convince them it ain't their fault, because trust me, it ain't!

Bruh, what you gonna do, make me dislike a few more things, lmao?

I'm literally suspecting this person ... who is a teenage boy ... based on ... common teenage boy traits ... THAT COLBY ALSO HAS -

He's not edgy as far as I know, YAY! 👏👏👏

They have differences ...

Okay, are we just suspecting EVERYONE who likes me here, or -

Colby's a living ghost ... he's real ... oh shit man I'm gonna end up suspecting Colby, lmao -

No mention of anything, anywhere.

He's (as in, the bad one), not doing well ... why would he go through MY personality?

Different timezones ... different timezones ... different timezones, and you're still paranoid -

I suspect everyone of eventually blocking me and/or eventual dislike, etc. Therefore, my paranoid feelings towards him, don't really mean any crap anyway.

Manifique Gerald from the Xanderverse is real, and I'm gonna wonder why the Colby-like teenager is fake?!

This is Tumblr, and I've already experienced Tumblr people be different from Quotev people.

Could've tried better, whatever the goal was, just sayin' ...

I got nervous less in a different way, or whatever.

I fear ... ANY ... teenager ... this fear is just another fear on top of that being a teenager -

Dude, haven't you accused OTHER accounts, of OTHER, paranoid things?

You are a paranoid person.

It's just deja vu and reliving crap.

You've deja vu'd and relived crap, even when it was just similarities.

If, hypothetically, mean dude was here to kick you down lower than the dirt ... why would he choose ... a random day ... that isn't even that far from "no longer clinginess" ... like ... WHAT?

He's had weeks ... acually, months -

Parallels are everywhere, crows are everywhere, life is changing, I don't know what is happening.

Above, but you try to predict every outcome to deal with change and to avoid getting hurt in the meantime and to have some semblance of control and whatnot, etc.

But also, me shouldn't worry, as I can just Xanderverse things out, man.

[jemshopes]

Joseon Era Namseok

--Namseok Prompt

Namjoon is the son of an important family, very rich, very high social standing. When he gets older he'll be set to continue the family bloodline, inherit the money, do important stuff.

Hoseok, on the other hand, is poor. His family have to scrape by and often go hungry because they don't have money. 

But despite these vast differences, the two of them meet as kids and become fast friends. Namjoon smuggles food to Hoseok all the time.They play together in secret. And they grow up together and... Well, let's just say it's not exactly platonic, but maybe Namseok haven't figured that out yet. 

They're about 17-18 years old when Namjoon’s father finds out about them and bans Namjoon from ever seeing Hoseok again. He puts Namjoon under house arrest. When Namjoon does go out, he must be chaperoned at all times (let's just say even though Namseok may not have figured out they're a little more than platonic, Namjoon’s father isn't blind. And he's not happy about what he sees). He also gets Hoseok's family sent away from the city, effectively separating Namseok by hundreds of miles. For all Namjoon knows, Hoseok could be dead. He's only told they're gone and he'll never see his "friend" (*wink wink*) again.

And so years pass. Namjoon grows up. He's a scholar, he studies diligently, he's all set to get married and do all that stuff straight people in the olden days did. 

Until one night he takes a stroll through the city streets. He likes to do this to clear his head. That's when he sees the posters for a performance that's taking place and he hears the crowd and the beat of drums. And so he pays and goes in because why not? He has time to kill. 

He manages to get himself a place quite close to the front, but not so close that he's conspicuous or anything like that. He likes to be just in the middle. Not really an important detail, but anyway—When he gets there the performance has already begun and it's good, he likes it. He's always enjoyed this kind of thing.

He catches a glimpse of one of the performers faces. And it's Hoseok. Grown up, ethereal, beautiful Hoseok. Like... 😌fiiiiine Hoseok, yanno what im sayin’? You've seen him dance, I don't need to go into detail.

Hoseok sees Namjoon too and their eyes meet and they share this moment of recognition, but Hoseok doesn't falter in his dance. And so Namjoon is sort of left in agony the whole performance wondering if Hoseok really keeps looking at him or if it's just his imagination.

BUT THEN the performance is over and people are filtering away, and Namjoon is just waiting, waiting for Hoseok to reappear because if Hoseok doesn't reappear Namjoon may have to tear apart every building in the city to find him. You know, just normal platonic friendship things.

He's craning his neck, very undignified and desperate-looking, at the front of the stage when someone taps him on the shoulder and he turns and oh my god, Hoseok is as tall as him and he's still dressed in his outfit from the performance. And they just hug so hard (in a totally platonic way. Totally) and they spend the whole night talking even though Namjoon is supposed to go home, but who cares about home when Hoseok is right in front of him again???

They tell each other all about their lives and what's been going on since they were separated. Hoseok's parents have passed, but he and his siblings have thrived. He, in particular, has clearly thrived. He's been travelling with the performers for a few years now.

And... well... Namjoon has to break the news to Hoseok that Namjoon is gonna get married soon. Some arranged marriage to a woman he doesn't care for. Honestly, Namjoon’s life hasn't changed that much—he's still in the same place he was when they were separated. Under his father’s thumb. 

Hoseok looks positively heartbroken to hear this news, but neither of them acknowledge that. And Hoseok just tells Namjoon he's going to be in the city for another month performing, so Namjoon should come visit whenever he can.

Of course Namjoon does, that's his very extremely platonic no homo bro bestie. He goes to see him EVERY NIGHT. And the long and the short of it is, about halfway through the month they do a little something-something that's not very platonic of them…And the next day Hoseok says Namjoon should run away with him when the performers leave the city. And Namjoon says he can't. And so there's pain and angst and they fall out. The performers leave. Namjoon's wedding is just around the corner. And he just realises he's the biggest idiot in the world. Like why is he marrying some random woman when the person he wants is Hoseok? Pure dumbassery.

And so he chases after Hoseok. And then he runs away with the performers and it's cute and they live happily ever after and stuff.