#i��m so sorry Jorge

[mj0702]

@helen-with-an-a ... I hope you like it

“Jorge.... Sophie... Lucy!!” Diane yelled from the Kitchen towards the yard where her three children were playing.

Lucy and Jorge were fighting over the old football laughing and shoving each other while Sophie sat on one of the lounge chairs reading a book.

“JORGE!!! SOPHIE!! LUCIA!!” Diane yelled again her voice more strict

“Yeah mum?” Sophie answered on behalf of all three

“Dinner will be ready in 10” the Bronze family leader said grateful that at least one of her children reacted

“Okay” Sophie said and stood up to interrupt her siblings play by kicking the ball to the other side of the yard

“The fuck Soph??” Lucy looked at her younger sister in disbelieve

“Mum said dinner is ready” the youngest Bronze said dismissively turning around heading towards the house

“She just could've said so” Jorge grumbled as he started to walk towards the house “Oh Luce... you need a better stand... root yourself into the ground then the other player can't shove you over”

“Yeah I know... I still have to work on that” Lucy sighed “I just don't know how”

“You need to find your balance” the oldest Bronze said as the two of them entered the kitchen through the garden door

“I don't think so... shoes off” Diane immediately stopped the two pointing outside again

“Sorry Mum” Lucy quickly retreated kicking her shoes off in front of the door

“No you're not...” Diane grinned at her teenage daughter “The only thing the two of you are interested in is football”

“I'm gonna win you the Champions League one day Mum...” Lucy smiled at her mother

“For that women need to step up and play real ball” Jorge threw in and the second he said it Lucy already jumped on his back choking him

“Take it back” Lucy grunted from above as her brother started to spin around to get rid of her

“Never in a million years... you girls are to fragile to play real ball” Jorge choked out

“Stop roughhousing you two... dinner is ready” Diane interrupted her children strictly “Go sit down”

“Yes Mum” Jorge and Lucy said simultaneously as Lucy slipped of Jorges back

“Okay... Your mom and I have to tell you something” Joaquim said grabbing the hand of his wife after dinner

“Oh my god... you're getting divorced... I knew it...” Sophie blurted out shocked hitting Lucys shoulder repeatedly “... I told you... something is weird... I TOLD you!!”

“Sophie... Sweetheart...” Joaquim said softly “.... I promise we're not getting divorced”

“You can stop hitting me now” Lucy said dryly

“But something is WEIRD” Sophie exclaimed

“Weird is the wrong word Soph...” Diane smiled “... try... different”

“Different how?” Jorge asked confused

“I'm pregnant...” Diane said softly her hand finding her stomach resting on it lightly

“WHAT??!!” all three Bronze children exclaimed

“Pregnant??” Jorge asked

“From dad??” Lucy asked confused

“With a baby??” Sophie shook her head “I'm not giving up my room... I JUST got it... I don't want to share a room with Lucy again... she snores”

“I do not snore... you snore” Lucy shoved her sister

“To answer all of your questions” Joaquim interrupted his children “... yes... to all of them.. pregnant... with a baby... it's mine... all of you are going to be big siblings once again... congrats Soph... you're going to be a first time big sister – well done me”

“Oh ew DAD” Sophie exclaimed disgusted which caused Joaquim and Diane to laugh

“Mom... I'm home...” Lucy yelled into the quiet house when she came home from school “... I tell you... Tracey Gellar is a full grown bi.. mom?? are you okay?”

Lucy quickly made her way over to her Mom who was clutching to the kitchen counter holding her belly her face scrunched up in pain

“It'll be okay in a second... your sibling decided to kick me into the rips again” Diane wheezed out “I tell you know Lucy... they be a better footballer then you one day – you didn't kick as much”

“Hey Bubs...” Lucy said softly kneeling next to her mums belly “... I told you not to kick Mum so much... I told you she's the only one who knows how to took... we need her around... we'll all starve... or get food poisoning from Dads food”

Diane chuckled at her daughters words and her heart swell with pride at how Lucy adapt to the situation and how gentle she was when it came to the unborn child. She did most of the chores around the house now. The cleaning, the laundry or whatever arises – Lucy stepped up and took over. Except for the cooking. Lucy tried – she really did. But she wasn't made for cooking. Or frying. Or cutting. So Diane kept her monopole in the kitchen. She cooked and her children did the dishes and Lucy normally stayed longer to clean the whole kitchen. On top of that Lucy had school and homework and football. Diane was so proud of her middle child

“You always manage to calm them down..” Diane smiled as she stroke through Lucys hair

“Her mum... she's a girl” Lucy said firmly

“We don't know that Luce... I told you we want it to be a surprise” Diane smiled at her daughters words

“I know Mum... I just know...” the middle Bronze smiled back

“You have a name then?” Diane asked softly as she pushed herself upright again

“Y/n... Y/n Tough Bronze” Lucy smiled

“That's a beautiful name Lucy... I'm very proud of you” Diane smiled while Lucy got her a glass of water

“Lucy... I trust you to keep an eye on Mum okay... I'll be gone for about three hours” Joaquim said seriously while Jorge and Sophie got in the car already

“Don't worry Dad... I got it” Lucy waved off

“Good... if anything happens...” Joaquim started

“All numbers on the fridge... first call Ambulance, then you... not the other way around” Lucy rattled off what her father drilled into her head

“Good... you're a good daughter Lucy... I love you” Joaquim smiled

“Love you too Dad” Lucy smiled back

“Okay Mum... you need anything?” the middle Bronze asked her highly pregnant mother

“No Lucy thank you...” Diane sighed trying to get more comfortable “... could you please stop moving?”

“She's being difficult again?” Lucy chuckled

“Yes... she's going to be a handful Lucy I tell ya...” Diane groaned

“Don't worry Mum... you've got Dad.. and me... and... yeah no.. I wouldn't trust Jorge with a baby... he's clumsy...” Lucy said thinking about her siblings and their ability to look after a new born which made Diane chuckle

“I know Luce... but it's not your responsibility to look after a new born... you have to study Lucy...” Diane said gratefully

“I don't see it as responsibility Mum...” Lucy smiled “... I see it as protecting someone I love”

“Lucy” Diane said a little louder to get her daughters attention but she got no response

“LUCY” the head of the family yelled

“Yeah??” Lucy opened the door of her vacation home room

“Would you come here please?” Diane said feeling another twinge in her belly region

“What's up Mum?” Lucy padded down the hallway a cereal bar in her hand

“I need you to stay calm now and call the ambulance” Diane said calmly knowing exactly what's happening – after giving birth three times already

“What??” Lucy asked dumb folded a little piece of cereal bar falling out of her mouth

“Call an ambulance Lucy” Diane pressed out clutching her side

“You mean... but it's too early... she has another four weeks to bake” Lucy said panicky

“Lucy... sweetheart... darling...” Diane said soothingly “... calm down.. I know you're getting scared but I did this before... just call the ambulance okay sweetheart?”

“Yeah... yeah I can do that...” Lucy stammered pulling her phone out of her pocket “... wait... bag”

“Bag comes later... Ambulance... Bag... Dad” Diane said calmly

“Okay... Ambulance...” Lucy took a deep breath

“Lucy” the middle Bronze heard her name being called down the hospital corridor and as she lifted her head she saw her Dad and two siblings running towards her

“Hey Dad” Lucy said lowly

“You did perfectly Babygirl” Joaquim mumbled as he pulled his daughter into a hug

“You maybe should look for Mum Dad...” Lucy mumbles against her Dads shoulder “... they wouldn't tell me a lot but I heard one of the nurses that she's apparently “pretty far along”... whatever that means”

“I'll tell you one day I promise” Joaquim winked “Your aunt will pick you lot up soon okay... I'll call you later before bed okay?”

“Can I stay Dad?” Lucy begged with big eyes “Please”

“Lucy...” Joaquim sighed “... this could take hours... the whole night even”

“I don't care Dad... please” Lucy begged again and Joaquim had no choice than to falter under the puppy eyes

“You want to stay as well?” Joaquim asked his other children

“No thanks Dad... I have a game tomorrow” Jorge said and Sophie shook her head as well

“Okay... go get yourself something to eat Luce... something useful – not a chocolate from the vending machine” Joaquim sighed and pulled some bills out of his pocket

“Thanks Dad” Lucy smiled happily

“Lucy... hey Lucy” Joaquim shook his daughter carefully awake who fell asleep in the plastic chairs in the waiting area

“Hm?? What time is it?” Lucy mumbled tiredly

“3.25AM... Come on Luce... time to meet someone knew” Joaquim said softly chuckling at the sight of Lucys eyes flying open

“She's here?” Lucy sat up quickly rubbing the sleep out of her eyes

“Come on...” Joaquim said lovingly taking his daughters hand pulling her up and towards the room Diane and the newest Bronze were placed in

“Lucy... meet Y/n Lucia Tough Bronze... your sister...” Joaquim said keeping his voice low pushing Lucy gently forward

“Hi Bubs...” Lucy chocked out happy tears spilling out of her eyes looking down at you in your plastic container like bed “... hi”

“You can touch her Lucy... but gently... she's not Jorge” Diane smiled tiredly from her bed seeing how Lucy retreated her hand a few times not daring to touch you

“She's so small...” Lucy whispered “... I'm going to hurt her”

“You won't Luce...” Joaquim said smiling softly as he pushed his daughter down on a chair simply lifting you out of the hospital basinet and placing you unceremonially in Lucys arms

“Dad!” Lucy squeaked shocked when she found a little bundle in her arms

“Lucy... the two of you already share a special bond... that's why we decided to give her your name – whatever happens I... we... we know you'll always take care of her and will protect her with your life” Joaquim said soothingly “So say hi to your sister.... born at 2.15AM, 6lb 3oz, 18.8 inches... she's a little small but I can tell you she has a good pair of lungs on her”

“I will...” Lucy whispered looking down at you as you opened your eyes staring up at your big sister right into her eyes “... I promise Bubs... I protect you... I'll keep all bad things away from you... mostly Jorge... I swear he's manky... he doesn't wash his hands after using the toilette most of the times... I won't let him touch you”

“I told you... these two are a perfect match” Diane whispered towards her husband who sat down on the bed next to her observing how Lucy talked to you quietly

“Just wait till Lucy wants to go out and has a three year old attached to her leg...” Joaquim chuckled back also watching the two of you fondly

“Hey Bubs...” Lucy said tiredly as she walked into your nursery “... what's with the screaming?”

Lucy looked in your crib where you where crying and fussing your head red a little sweat forming on your forehead

“I checked on you two hours ago...” Lucy mumbled “... you were snoring”

“Oh you so were... don't try to deny it” Lucy said after you let out a particular loud scream “... you got that from Dad... he always snores when he falls asleep watching the Telly”

“Oh really.... I don't think so” your sister said like you actually answered her as she lifted you up and laid you against her chest your head on her shoulder “... okay... why so upset?”

You calmed down a little bit feeling the familiar skin of Lucys neck, smelling her scent and hearing her soothing voice

“Hungry?” Lucy asked you starting to rock you gently “Okay... not hungry... change? Please say no...”

“Okay... that's good” your sister said after she took a quick sniff and sniffed.. nothing “... if you have colic again I'm going to shoot meself...”

“Lucy??” Joaquim asked tiredly entering the nursery “What are you doing?”

“She was crying... I've got it Dad... you can go back to bed” Lucy said shrugging her shoulders

“It's not your job Luce...” your Dad said to your sister

“She's not a job Dad...” Lucy said seriously “... and I don't mind...”

“Hand her over Luce... go back to bed... you have school tomorrow” Joaquim said holding out his hands to take you from Lucy

“No Dad it's okay... she nearly calm again” Lucy turned away from your Dad basically hogging you

“If she hasn't calmed down in 10 Minutes you bring her to our bedroom...” your father said strictly but left knowing he had no chance taking you away from your sister

“Heard that Bubs... you need to tell me what's bothering you” Lucy mumbled as you slightly hick up against your shoulder “... don't tell me you woke me up because you missed me presence”

Lucys quiet constant talking send you back into a semi-sleepy state which held until Lucy was about to lay you down again and you lost the familiar contact. Immediately you started to fuss again and Lucy groaned knowing what it meant

“Yeah okay... you can sleep in me bed... but I'll tell you know... when I have a relationship you sleep in your own room” Lucy huffed (oh boy was she in for a reality check – the two long-term girlfriends loved you just as much and more often then not you ended up in their bed anyway)

“Keira... this is Y/n... my sister... she's good on her feet... just a little slow” Lucy said apologetic as you held onto her finger tightly while she introduced you to the woman who sat at the table

“Hi Y/n” the blonde smiled kindly down at you and you decided she had pretty eyes and funny ears

“Come on Missy... you made me late already” Lucy sighed lifting you onto a chair next to her and you immediately tried to flee again

“Oh no... you stay” your sister said quickly pulling you up into a sitting position again “No running about”

You made your feelings about it known starting to cry loudly and Lucy pinched the bridge of her nose

“I'm so sorry” Lucy said to Keira while stuffing your pacifier into your mouth trying to silence you “... I didn't want to bring her but she had a whole meltdown when I started to leave so I rushed to get her in some decent clothes and then of course she wanted to walk by herself from the car and because I rushed to get her ready I don't have anything with me to entertain her... I'm so so sorry”

“Oh god no please don't be sorry...” Keira chuckled seeing how you try to spit the paci out again just for Lucy holding it in place professionally “... we can take a walk if you want.. maybe that would suit her better”

“No...” Lucy said quickly “... I haven't had time to eat and I'm so SO hungry”

This made Keira burst out laughing and you looked at the blonde like she lost it – even in your young age you couldn't control your face. Years later it would become a running joke within the Lionesses that your face was the subtitles of your emotions.

“Okay... then let's order?” the blonde laughed

“No Bubs... that's my... okay...” Lucy huffed as you climbed on her lap from your chair “... can you please at least act like you have mann... no... no hands on the salmon”

“I'm sorry but she's just too adorable...” Keira laughed seeing how Lucy struggled to eat AND keep you out of her plate

“Yeah well we can switch if you like... she's a big fan of pasta” Lucy grumbled as she pried your hand open to remove the peas you squished in there

“You have it fully under control... I don't want to disturb your routine” the blonde chuckled and Lucy suddenly grinned darkly at her company

“Hey Bubs... look... Keira has pasta with tomatoes sauce” your sister pointed at the other plate you didn't realized was there but now that Lucy pointed it out you became big eyes and immediately started to climb over to Keiras lap

“Really??” Keira said unimpressed adjusting her hold on you “Using her so you can eat in peace?”

“Told you... big pasta fan” Lucy said her mouth full with her meal

“Okay little Bit... slowly okay?” the blonde said softly holding her fork out for you to eat the two noodles she picked up for you

“There we go... good girl” Keira praised you after you held still for her to feed you the pasta and started to chew slowly

“Are you brat serious??” Lucy asked outraged “You smashing my food but behave for her?”

“What can I say... I have a way with kids” the blonde winked already feeding you another fork full of pasta

“Unbelievable” Lucy grumbled but then smirked “... I might have to keep you around then”

“You might have to do that” Keira smirked back holding her glass of water for you to have a sip

“Bitsy come on... we're late” Keira yelled down the hallway

“I can't find my shin guards!” you yelled back and a second later a pair of t-shirts flew out of your room into the corridor

“Kid...” the blonde sighed rolling her eyes

“FOUND THEM” you yelled but your voice was uncharacteristically low

“Then let's go!” Keira yelled again

“Can't... I'm stuck” you whined “Kei.. help”

“It's like living with Pinky and Brain... with me being stuck with Pinky” the blonde rolled her eyes already on her way to your room and couldn't help but laugh at the sight she was greeted with

“Don't laugh... help me” you whined from under the bed one of the posts broken trapping you successfully

“How did you manage to break your bed Bitsy?” Keira chuckled as she easily lifted the bed so you could rob out from under it

“I used the post as leverage to get to the second shin guard and pushed against it and it just... broke” you pouted

“We'll fix it later..” the blonde ruffled your hair lovingly before she ushered you towards the car driving the both of you to the Man City trainings ground

“Good job everyone...” Nick clapped his hands being happy with the training his team just ended “Tomorrow we work on some Midfield – Defence connection”

“That connection works perfectly already” Steph Houghton laughed shoving Lucy towards Keira with Lucy trying to be smooth and trying to keep upright by flinging her arm over her girlfriends shoulder just to keep on stumbling when Keira took a step to the side

“Thanks for catching me Walsh” Lucy huffed from the ground where she laid on her back shooting Keira a playful glare

“Always my pleasure Bronze” the blonde smirked back spraying Lucy with her water bottle when suddenly a painful scream echoed through the grounds

“LUCY!!” Keira yelled after her girlfriend who shot off the ground sprinting down the field already jumping the first barrier

“Fuck...” Steph swore under her breath taking off as well “... come on Kei... move... if it what I think it is I need you there... the rest of you.. hit the showers and go home”

“But what..” the blonde asked confused when she heard a cry immediately knowing it was you – this time Keira sprinted off in the same direction Lucy did but instead of jumping barriers she took the official exit

“It's okay Bubs...” Lucy panted as soon as she reached you getting down on her knees next to your upper body “... I'm here... I'm here... it's okay”

“Lucy” you cried out clutching your knee

“It's okay Bubs...” Lucy crouched down even further her hand on your cheek her thumb whiping away the tears that were already streaming down your face

“I felt it rip Luce...” you cried “... I tore it again”

“No Bubs... no you didn't” your sister quickly said but both of you knew she was lying “... you just twisted it...”

“I'm not stupid Luce...” you tried to hide in your sisters side from all the prying eyes “... I know what it feels like”

“Bitsy” Keira came to a scrambling halt on your other side “... It's going to be okay... we got it okay...”

“It hurts” you cried as your sister pressed soft kissed to your forehead now basically laying next to you

“I know... medics are nearly here” Keira said softly her hand placed on yours holding your knee still so you wouldn't hurt it further “... just breath Bitsy okay... Copy Lucys breathing”

“Lucy??” Dr. Wimmer asked when he entered the waiting area

“Yeah?” Lucy looked up from her hands still in her trainings kit

“There's no easy way...” the young dark haired doctor said

“Just say it Teddy...” your sister knew what was coming – she has known the second she saw you on the ground

“I can repair it...” the orthopaedic surgeon said “... but there's no way this knee will hold the pressure of a professional career”

“Did you tell her?” Lucy asked quietly

“No... I thought I'll tell you first because she'll need you” the doctor said

“I'll tell her...” your sister said firmly standing up

“Okay... she's in the same room” the dark haired woman said her face apologetic

“Okay...” your sister huffed turning around to a silently crying Keira “... I need you in there too...”

“Give me a minute” Keira took a deep breath before standing up herself “okay... let's get it over with”

“Hey Bubs” Lucy carefully opened the door finding you staring out the window

“Hey... Bubs” your sister said again softly trying to get your attention feeling Keira taking her hand squeezing it supporting

“Again, hm...” you said monotone your voice raspy from all the crying

“Yeah... I'm so...” Lucy said coming closer to your bed Keira right behind her

“It's okay... shit happens right?” you chuckled humourlessly “Another round of physio and learning to walk again...”

“I'll be with you every step of the way Bubs” your sister said quietly “... like always”

“I know it's over Luce...” for the first time you looked at her and Lucy felt her heart shatter into a million pieces with the empty look you had in your eyes “... no player ever came back from three ACLs”

“But you will Bubs... we'll help you get back...” Lucy said quickly but again the two of you knew she was lying

“It's okay Luce...” you sighed your voice emotionless as you turned your head to look out of the window again “... some things are just not meant to be”

[tinfoil-jones]

Gravity Falls: For Your Own Good, Ch. 6

Summary: A few years after moving to Gravity Falls and having his lab built, Stanford Pines happens upon his estranged twin brother, Stanley. He mentally prepared himself to be suffocated by his brothers neediness all over again - what he wasn't prepared for was Stanley walking right past him like he didn't even notice him.

Rating: M for language, violence, and adult implications

Preface: Dialogue only, but some actions will be annotated for clarity. Cross-Posted on AO3 Here

First - Prev - Next

CH.6

“Good evening, Stanley.”

“...”

“I can see in lieu of speaking, you have instead chosen to communicate with an obscene hand gesture- two obscene hand gestures. I'll excuse your immaturity because I understand you might be feeling… upset.”

“Upset? Me? What could I possibly be upset about?”

“I understand your current state of… lodging is making you apprehensive. On account of being involuntarily committed.”

“You not picking up sarcasm doesn’t surprise me. And this isn’t an involuntary commitment; this is an unlawful abduction and confinement. I have enough experience with both to know the difference.”

“You what?”

“Ask me whatever stupid questions you’re about to ask, but I refuse to stand up. This is literally the first bed I’ve had since prison; and in that bed I had to worry about bed bugs, dirty needles, poisonous snakes… and Jorge.”

“What was that last thing that you just whispered to yourself?”

“Don’t worry about it. Now, what do you want, Doc? You here to scan me again? Get me to take more drugs? Ask me weirdly personal questions like your hot friend?”

“I want to talk. I may have come on a little strong when we crossed paths in town, in order for you to truly understand where I’m coming from, I’m going to have to give you some context in place of your lost memory.”

“Please tell me you’re not about to give me the tragic backstory of you and your missing twin.”

“Listen, Stanley, you don’t remember this; but we had a falling out ten years ago.”

“Aaand you’re doing it. Yeah, that’s pretty much what I was expecting. Fine, I’ll play along.”

“We were in our senior year of high school. You ruined a project of mine, and it cost me my dream college. We had a fight, and you got- you left home after that.”

“Man, dunno why I’d do something like that.”

“You were scared of me leaving you.”

“Did a shitty thing, and ended up alone anyways. That's something I'd expect from me.”

“And then you tried to justify it and say there was a silver lining-.”

“I’m sorry.”

“...What?”

“I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that.”

“... Where’s your excuse?”

“Hm?”

“Your excuses- your reasons? You cannot just apologize- so casually.”

“Sure I can. I just did. You don't accept it, that’s your right."

“...You don’t mean that.”

“Naw, I’m pretty sure no one deserves to be betrayed. I’m sorry you were.”

“Saying sorry doesn’t make it okay.”

“Didn’t say it did. Nothing can- it’s already happened, and there’s no changing it. You don’t wanna forgive and forget? I won’t make you.”

“And you’re going to simply… move on?”

“Look, PhD, I can’t tell you why your real twin did what he did, or what was going through his head when he did it. But he did the wrong thing to the wrong person, and paid for it. It’s too bad you had to pay for it too.”

“You are-.”

“Can see why you’d get us mixed up though. All I do is ruin things, too. Maybe if that thing with your project hadn’t happened, you wouldn’t be a wackjob who carries a tranq gun with him everywhere and abducts people off of the street.”

“I’m not mixing anything up. You are exactly who I keep trying to tell you that you are. You’re just not you right now.”

“I’m never anybody but me. You feel better now? Get all of that out of your system?”

“Now that I have told you what separated us-.”

“I’m gonna take that as a no.”

“Can you fill me in on the years that followed?”

“Doc, a lot of what I remember is like smoke - it’s hazy, and it’s hard to hold onto, can you be specific?”

“How about we start with something tangible?”

“Like what?”

“I am going to slip a paper and a pen through the slot in the door. Write down a list of the people who’ve tried to kill you.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. You told my associate a number of alarming things during his interview with you, and he reported that a not insignificant number of those things revolved around people trying to kill you.”

“A lot of them still want me dead, you know. If they figured out where I was, they might raid this place. It’s not too late to just… let me go, and we can pretend none of this happened. I’m not gonna hold a grudge against you, it's clear to me you've got issues because your real twin is either dead or hiding in Cuba.”

“They can try. They’ll fail.”

"Gutsy. We coulda been friends if you weren't insane."

"...We were."

"If you say so."

To be continued...

[lady-daydream]

Our Life Headcanons/Imagine: How They Deal With Being Sick.

Cove Holden:

Due to both Cliff’s, and then retroactively, Cove’s active lifestyle as well as Cliff’s habit of cooking from scratch plus adding that they live close to the coast. Cove doesn’t get sick very often. Or if he does, he doesn’t react noticeably to it. This means that when he gets ill. It’s normally a pretty strong illness. Cove has a pretty high pain tolerance, and he is the type of person to say ‘ow’ more out of shock than out of pain when he bumped or hits something. As such aches and pains he finds more annoying than difficult. However, he hates the groggy feeling of cloudiness he gets when ill. Normally he will try and sweat it out with spicy food or exercise. But most of the people in Cove’s life normally end up suggesting, or if it is Elizabeth or Kyra it becomes pressuring him to rest. If Cove is being stubborn, they find out that booking a fun activity somewhere for when he felt better normally distracted him long enough for him to forget he shouldn’t be doing anything. He likes cuddles when he’s ill and sometimes forgets that this can cause M/C to be ill as well. So, it normally ends up with both of them getting sick at the same time.

If M/C falls ill however and he’s not sick. He doesn’t like not being able to help so isn’t great verbally at soothing further than ‘I’m sorry – I know this sucks, I’m here for you’. But he shows he cares by distracting them. Or setting up a video call if M/C is in a social mood with friends and family if they are far away so they don’t feel so lonely. He doesn’t mind giving supportive hugs and a few sneaky kisses to M/C, (Much to M/C’s protest at the risk of getting sick), but he just argues he could get sick anyway so why not get a few kisses out of it before he does. If Cliff catches ear that M/C was sick, he normally sends a check-up text, and if he is close enough to be able to do so – he will send food over. If he doesnt hear from the grape-vine, he normally ends up hearing from Cove himself since he is the first-person Cove texts if he’s uncertain if something is wrong or if something M/C does while sick is something to worry about, or if it’s just a side effect of the bug. And if M/C ever needs to go to a GP or The doctors,he never judges if M/C is stressed or scared or needed him there to support, he’s happily holding M/C hand the whole way or waiting outside even if the doctors makes him slightly anxious himself due to the accident that happened when he was younger. 

Derek Suarez:

Derek got sick a lot as a kid. Not intentionally, but due to his two brothers all going to different schools and being in different years, if one person in the household got sick. Everyone got sick. He hates being sick cause he gets fidgety and bored from the lack of energy and ability to move about or being able to do much really. But he doesn’t like seeing other people ill also. This meant he was the first to organise a group activity for Jorge and Nico if all three of them were sick to cheer them up, as well as helping his parents when he could see them slightly stressed from looking after three ill kids. This however led to Derek hiding his illness unless he physically couldn’t from his perceptive parents. So, when he is ill, he may not ask for help, feeling guilty for getting ill. However, as he got older he found his immune system was quite strong so he didn’t find himself ill often. He is always touched when M/C offers to help or look after him when he is ill, even if he takes some persuading from the people that care about him to let them help him get better. His parents like to joke that the brother must be linked because no matter how far apart, the three brothers always seem to get ill around the same time. This leads to a lot of joking phone calls trying to find out which brother is to blame for ‘getting them all sick’.

If M/C ever got ill, he is the first person to notice and is quick to offer help. From the mix of his sports experience, getting sick a lot while young, as well as suffering through rather bad growing pains after he hit 14 till turning 18, he always seems to have painkillers around as well as heating pads or hot water bottles. His strength lay in actually helping cure the sickness and its side effects. He generally isn’t that queasy around vomit, leading to him with either a bowl/bucket or if not a supportive back rub if M/C has a particularly nasty bug or illness as well as being strong enough to offer to piggyback or carry them to bed if its needed. But that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be the first person to offer mental and emotional support alongside it. He normally ends up joking with you throughout the whole period M/C is ill if they are in the mood to stomach it. If not, he is always happy to give hugs not caring if he gets ill, saying he’s too buff to get ill, forcing a laugh or smile from M/C with a strongman pose. If they aren’t too sensitive to light or noise, he will offer to put on whatever M/C would like to watch, if M/C doesn’t pick something and lets him decide he will pick a movie he knows M/C likes regardless, asking them questions when they seem interested above the movie in order to distract M/C into info-dumping about it. However, due to his vigilance at helping M/C, if things start looking like they are getting worse he normally ends up anxiously double-checking M/C’s temperature or making sure they are intaking enough fluids and food. He is more than willing to take M/C to a GP or the Doctors the minute things are looking bad. If M/C is stubborn he is not beyond carrying them to the car and driving them or just using bribery. He’d rather have M/C be mad at him than them getting seriously sick. But he does always follow up on his bribery so M/C, though mad, does normally end up getting whatever food or treat they want afterward.

Baxter Ward:

If there is one thing Baxter doesn’t like. It’s not being able to work. As such, he hates more than anything being sick. The problem that peoples face with Baxter being sick is that he will hide it until it’s impossible to hide it anymore. He will do anything to continue going on like normal. Tired? down some coffee or work from home. Headache? Wear some sunglasses and listen to some white noise. Sneezing or coughing? Downplay it as a simple cold or hay fever. So, M/C has to be just as sneaky. If they are snuggling and he falls asleep, M/C will test his forehead for a temperature and always carry cough sweets, hay fever tablets, and sunglasses just in case to see if he reacts. After some investigation, and a lot of downplaying on Baxter’s end, he normally comes clean and states he’s a ‘light unwell’. Then comes the next battle. This being actually looking after him. He hates feeling like Mc is ‘wasting’ their time or going out of their way. Constantly apologizing no matter how small the act is that M/C does. However, he appreciates its immensely. He feels ashamed that he isn’t able to deal with the sickness alone, arguing in his own head that adults can look after themselves. M/C reminding them that their Mum’s look after each other whenever they are ill, detailing a time M/C remembers their Mom made chicken soup, homemade orange juice for their Ma when they came home from work with tonsillitis. Normally retelling this makes Baxter chuckle, making him mutter something about ‘some orange juice might be nice, and maybe some comfort would help him get back to work quicker’. But once Baxter starts feeling comfortable and lets up his stubborn walls, he admits that he enjoys M/C comfort. M/C is more than happy to offer head massages, getting as many cold compresses as possible when he needs them, getting him food and just making sure he was taking his medication when he needed.

Meanwhile, though he ignores his own illnesses. If anyone he cares about someone. He will go above and beyond to help them. When they were younger, he would normally find out either from Cove or from knocking on M/C door to have their parents explain that M/C is ill. It would take him long to make his way to town after asking M/C parents if they need anything and picking more than enough supplies to find something to cheer them up. Normally if the illness is bad enough that the M/C cannot text or move about, he will just leave a note with the supplies. Then when they see them later on in the week, he will always ask how they are normally with M/C smiling at their cute note.

However, as Baxter got older, though he became a bit more isolated he still did check in on his co-workers. If he notices someone has been gone for a couple of days, he’ll text them a kind message to see how they are. If they are ill, he will find a small gift – either tea, coffee, or a small snack to leave on their desk with a ‘hope you are well’. If when M/C mentions they are not well, Baxter is happy to take some time off, if possible, to look after them if they would like. If M/C is unwell enough that they are stuck in bed, Baker would recall the story M/C shared about their Mum’s, and a drowsy M/C might walk into the kitchen to find Baxter shirt sleeves rolled up, a YouTube video playing at the lowest volume as to not waking M/C up, all while a tasty soup cooking on the stove.

[ray935sworld]

How it ended (Jorge L/ Alex M.)

Chapter 4: 1, 2, 3 phone calls

All parts

Jorge was currently driving home. It was early evening and he had finished a photo shoot. In his mind was nothing but the next hours. He'd have dinner, watch a movie and hopefully get to video chat with his boyfriend.

His mind started to drift at the thought of Alex but a call made him focus again. He took one look at the display in his car before he accepted the call.

"Dani, good to hear from you." he greeted the older Spaniard. "What's up?" "A hell lot I think" Jorge sighed, internally cursing.

"What did that fuck ass Italian say now? It has to be bad if you call me about it" "Well I'm sure rossi has somehow something to do with this." "Doesn't he always? So? What is it?" "Marc is asking for your phone number."

He made a double take. Marc? Only one Marc came to mind.

"Marquez?!" "Yes." "Why the fuck would he want my number?" "Apparently it's for Roser. Cause she wants to call you" "Roser?" Jorge pulled a face trying to make sense of it. "Who's Roser?" "Roser Marquez? Mama Marquez. The mother of your boyfriend..." Fuck. THAT Roser.

And that name he knew pretty well. His boyfriend had told him a lot about his family. Of course his mother wasn't excluded. From what he knew, she was a kind and loving woman that was more than able to handle her two sons. But why the hell would she want to call him?

He bit his lip, nodding along. A worried expression had spread on his face, unsure how to respond for a moment.

He almost forgot that Dani knew about them. It had been an accident, really. Jorge and Alex were getting.................. Busy. And Dani had walked in without knocking.

"EY! Lorenzo! Where the fuck are-" With that the door had swung open, Jorge apparently having forgotten to lock the door. Both stared at Dani, stared at them only to turn around within 2 second with a quick "Never mind! Sorry!" before he was heading out again.

For a few second, they both stayed frozen, not really knowing what to do and how to react, until life returned to Alex. He sat up straight, pushing Jorge away. He stood up, grabbing his boxers and short as he started cursing.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!" he yelled as he was jumping to get into his clothes. "We are fucked. Jorge. I AM FUCKED. I'm through. I'm dead!" "Alex-" "He's gonna kill me. That's it. He's gonna tell Marc and then Marc is going to kill me." "Alex, he won't-"

He tried to calm him. But to no avail. Alex was too deep into his worries. "Yes he will. They are teammates. They are friends, Jorge. FRIENDS. And what if he tells him before a race to distract him? What if-" "Alex, Alex, corazon, listen, will you?" he asked slowly. He grabbed Alex at his shoulders to stop him. The younger man stopped, staring at him with his big eyes.

"Dani is my friend as well... Somehow. After all those years of... You know. My point is... He is literally just out the door. I doubt he straight ran to Marc to snitch. I can talk to him and - explain us. Make sure he doesn't tell Marc, okay?" "You think?" He looked at Alex, his dark eyes unsure. He genuinely looked afraid.

Jorge wasn't sure if he wanted to kill Marc or himself. He was the one that had put Alex in this position. But how come Alex not feel safe enough to tell his own brother about them? Even if Marc didn't like him that much.

"Yes." he reassured him. "You go to find Marc." Alex just nodded.

A few minutes later Jorge stood infront of the 26 Honda motorhome. He swallowed before he knocked loudly. A few seconds later the door got opened, revealing a surprised looking Dani.

"Jorge- didn't expect you here" he replied with a smug grin. "So you do 1.45 on and off track?" He ignored the comment since he had a reason to be here. "Can we talk? Please?" "Sure"

"So... You like them young?" Jorge felt his cheeks heat up but Dani was smiling teasingly. He was making fun of him. mocking him. But he didn't seem angry or concerned. "OH shut up, please" he groaned as he sat down.

"You didn't tell Marc?" he asked eying Dani who crossed his arms. "Not interested in getting myself killed." "So you won't tell him either?" "Nope. It's not my place to do so. But you need to tell me his reaction and if you still have your dick afterwards"

Dani chuckled and Jorge just roll his eyes. "Thanks" he said dryly. "No problem. I mean... Come on, fucking little golden boys brother..." "I am not fucking golden boys little brother-" It sounded wrong. Like he was using him. Like anything he and Alex did had something to do with Marc when it didn't. Couldn't be more far.

"Oh so I walked in an anatomy course - with tongue?" The older rider asked and somehow that sounded worst. "We are in a pretty commited relationship. Thank you very much, Dani" he cleared and watched how the others face changed to disbelief.

"You're what?" Okay. Rude. Why did he seems so - surprised about that. "I believe dating is the term that young people use" "Oh did the 19 year old tell you that?" "Would you please stop saying it like that?" Not that it wasn't like that. It was like that. But he didn't had to say it like that.

"Jorge, it's none of my business and honestly..." Dani started, clearly careful with his next words. "You two kind of fit to each other. I mean - I don't know but now that I think about it. Somehow - What I'm saying is... Marc won't give you an easy time for that" "I know"

"Good... Oh and I like Alex, alright? He's my friend. And I know you can be a softie so if you're anything but a big fat cute softie to Bambi, I will kill you. And if Marc gets you first, I'll kill you again. Understood?" "Understood. Didn't plan to be anything else anyway" "Good."

Jorge sighed as he let the memory pass. He had other things to think about. For example why his secret boyfriends mom wants his number. For a moment he assumed that she knew. But if that was the case, Alex would have given her his number.

"Okay. Right." Jorge said. "Do you know what this is about?" "Ehm, the message read 'Hey Dani, can you please pass me Lorenzos number. My mom kills me otherwise.' So no." "That's all?" "Yep. Sorry. Do you think they know?" "No. Alex wouldn't tell them in that mess. It'd be a disaster. And if he did, why didn't Alex gave his mother my number himself?"

For a moment it was silent both thinking. Then Dani carefully asked "Do you think... I'm sorry to ask that but... What if Alex got hurt? I mean-" "No" he quickly interrupted him, refusing to even think about that possibility.

There was no way. Alex couldn't be hurt. "No he didn't. He send me a text like - an hour ago. He said he was traveling to the city. Fuck. What the hell is going on?" "I don't know man. Maybe it has nothing to with Alex. I mean maybe she wants to settle this whole Rossi drama."

Unlikely but it seemed like the most harmless possibility. "Maybe..." he replied not really believing in it. "I'm passing them your number. I guess you have to let the give the future in laws give you a call" "Yeah... Thanks for the heads up." "Anytime. See you soon" "Yeah see you."

Jorge hung up. There was an unsettling feeling in his guts that told him that the next call he'd get wasn't exactly a happy one.

He calmed himself in the knowledge that he and Alex had called just a few hours ago. He had sounded exhausted and tired but said it was nothing. They had been okay during the call. No hard feeling, nothing that seemed to be hanging over them. Alex had told him that he loved him. Jorge had told him the same.

So why would Roser Marquez asked Marc to get his number? It surely couldn't be anything about Alex. Right? But then why hadn't Alex mentioned anything? Give him a heads up. It didn't seem to make sense.

He was over thinking, knowing he wouldn't get an answer until he got the call.

Over all it took around 15 minutes until his music got interrupted with the call. One look at the display told him that it was an unfamiliar Spanish number. "Showtime" he mumbled. He took a deep breath before accepting the call.

"Lorenzo" he answered. He tried to sound neutral, professional without sounding cruel. A short silence followed. Yeah.... Same, he thought, he too needed a moment.

"Hello... Here is... Roser. Roser Marquez, Alex and Marc's mother." a female voice answered. There was a clear hint of exhaustion and sadness. It sounded a little bit like she had cried, her voice still shaky. He immediately felt guilty. He didn't even know why, but he hated the feeling of hearing someone cry. And if he got a call he was sure he wasn't just a bystander in whatever was happening.

"Hello senora" he replied trying to sound kind. "How can I help you?"

"I - I just wanna know... If... Please, even if he doesn't want to speak to us right now, just tell me he's okay. Tell he is with you and he's safe and protected. He isn't hurt or anything and I don't need to worry cause you're looking after him"

Him. Alex. It had to be about Alex. Right?

Jorge would later be pretty proud of him for not cursing or crashing his car from the highway despite the deep shock that over came him in that moment.

He grabbed the wheel tighter trying to make them make sense. He wanted to find a loophole anything that meant she wasn't referring to Alex.

But he couldn't find anything.

Questions over questions were running through his head. Why would Alex be with him when he was in Cevera? Was he not? Why hadn't he mentioned anything when they called? Or texted? Was he at risk? What the hell was going on?

"I'm sorry-" he replied with shaking voice. "I - I have no idea who you're referring to" and actually he didn't want the confirmation either.

"OH don't do this. Don't try to make a foul out of me. Alex told us. We know you're in a relationship. So please - just tell me he's okay" Fuck. They knew.

He was sure that he would curse but right now he had other worries.

"Yes. We are. And we were in contact during the last hour so he's okay, I guess. But he's supposed to be in Cevera. With you. Why isn't he there? Why should he be with me? I'm in Switzerland. He wouldn't just travel 1200km without telling anyone"

Another silence followed. It felt heavy. Guilty. With every second Jorge's need to protect grew stronger. It grew into anger.

"Senora Marquez?!" he asked. "What the fuck is going on? Why would Alex be with me? Is he okay?" his voice got stronger, demanding answers.

"He - We had a fight, yesterday. It was-" She let out a sigh and Jorge set the indicator of his car to pull onto a small rest area parking lot. He couldn't drive like that. "It was bad. I - I should have intervene but - They are- you know how Marc can be"

Marc? Of course Marc. Why seemed everything with Alex seemed to involve Marc?

In his head he went through the facts that he knew. They knew. Alex and Marc had a fight, now Alex was - somewhere?

Apparently not in Cevera. A part of him hoped that Alex was currently sitting in his living room, having entered with the key he had given him a few weeks ago, but he knew how unrealistic that was. He didn't like any of the facts he had so far.

"They said... A lot. The fight was about your... Relationship. And - Jorge, I will not lie to you. My husband and my oldest son are less than happy. And I... I didn't act the way I should have. I... I should have listened to him and... I'm just so sorry and now he's gone and... I... I'm sorry. My two boys said a lot of very, very bad thing to each other. Especially Marc. I should have stopped him. I'm so sorry, that's on me. I just - I just want my baby back, okay? Please. I-"

"Of course. I understand" Jorge said softly. He was angry but he wasn't cruel. He understood that she wasn't to blame no matter how angry he was that she didn't seem to protect Alex. Even if it was against Marc. But he needed to know where his lover was. "Whatever happened, wasn't your fault. Just... What about Alex? Where is he?"

"I don't know. I had hoped you could tell me that. He wasn't - Alex wasn't at home this morning. At first he assumed he maybe went for a run. He does that often. But then he didn't returned. We called his friends and everyone he knows but nothing. He didn't even contact them. They were just as confused. He still hasn't come home or answer any of our messages. I'm worried about him. He's just a child. He-"

"He is your child. But he's also an adult." he said, reassuring her and himself. "I'm sure he wouldn't do anything stupid. He wouldn't put himself in an unnecessary risk" He leaned back in his seat, glad he had decided to pull over. "I'm sure he's okay. I - He isn't with me and he didn't mention any fight. We talked around lunch and texted. He is okay. I don't know where he is or what he is doing but one hour ago he was definitely okay."

He shot Alex another text. Nothing that he hinted he knew something was wrong, just a short sweet text to make him answer.

"But what if he isn't. What if he disappears and -" "We are talking about Alex" he said. "He makes his own decision and I know he makes them for a reason. And he is neither mean or an idiot. So I'm sure he didn't do whatever he did to spite any of you. He did what he did because he believes it was the best decision"

"But he's a child! How could he know?" "He is your child. But he is also a responsible adult. Okay, yes, he is reckless but only when he knows he can. And he is childish and overexcited and - well he likes challenges and pushes too much at his limits which is a headache. But my point is, he knows what he's doing. And I trust Alex to not do anything stupid"

He heard a sad chuckle, unsure what it could mean.

"You know my son very well" "I'm trying" "And... You love him?" Ah. There it was. The boyfriend interrogation. This was definitely a good sign. "Very, very much..." he reassured her. "I'm... I'm sure I'm not what you had in mind for him but I'm just trying to make your son happy. He means the world to me"

"What I'm having in mind for my son is a partner that loves him dearly and protects him. Someone he feels safe with... And to see how far Alex is willing to go for you - To get in a fight with Marc and stand up to him... You mean a lot to him." "Thank you... I'll let you know if I hear something from him." "That would be great... Thank you"

„No problem and..." „Yeah?" „Alex always speaks very highly about you. He loves you a lot... All of you and knowing Alex big heart he will forgive whatever was said. I'm sure he just needs some space to think. I can't image he would want to worry you on purpose"

"You really are good with words. Good to know that asshole persona is a media thing" she responded with a chuckled and Jorge decided it was a good thing. "Eh, mostly" he replied with a smile before they said their goodbys.

When the line went silent Jorge let out a loud breath.

"Fucking hell, Alex" he whispered as he looked at his phone background, a picture of his boyfriend. "What the hell have you gotten yourself into?" But he knew he wasn't innocent in this chaos.

Jorge turned his phone around in his hands. He was worried about Alex so he just hit the call button. Every second that passed worried him a little more.

Then the call got picked up and a flood of released wash over him when Alex voice spoke through the car speakers.

"Hola mi amor" he said. He spoke with a tired voice and only rather quiet. At the other side of the line, Alex was sitting in a train, a soft smile on his face as he leaned against the window. He looked outside, watching nature pass by. He had his boyfriends voice in his ear and almost no one was around him, so he was free to speak.

"How are you doing?" he asked. "I'm fine, baby." the older responded just glad to hear his lovers voice and therefore the confirmation that he was in fact safe and secure. "How are you?"

"I'm good. Tired. How was you shoot? Are you on your way home?" "Yeah. It was good. Just the normal stuff. I just thought I should call my boyfriend, see how you've been" He knew a direct confrontation would solve anything, so he didn't. "Oh, I'm fine. Just Ehm... on my way to the city to get some stuff"

Ah. A lie. Jorge wasn't angry. He took it as a challenge. "Yeah? What are you looking for?" "Oh mama send me grocery shopping so just some food." "Fun. oh and I had an Intresting phone call" "Mm? With who?"

"Your mom"

The silence was very loud. Jorge triple checked that the call was still going on and Alex hadn't just hung up on him.

"Is that a very bad your mom joke?"

".... Take a wild fucking guess, Alex. Take a wild fucking guess" he responded almost laughing. "Ah... No?" "No. I just got off the phone with your mother. Not the call I expected to get to be honest."

"So Ehm... She... Told you?"

"She did..." he confirmed. His voice turned soft as he continued a few seconds later. "You know, you don't need to tell me anything - just tell me how you are? Are you safe? That's the only thing that matters right now. We'll figure the rest out. Are you safe?" "I am... I - I didn't think they would call you. What the fuck?!" "Alex, just tell me you're at a friend's house or any other solution a responsible adult would choose when he needs some space"

"I..." He shifted in his seat. The only passenger in this compartment was an old lady busy knitting. But still he was alone in a foreign country. So that probably didn't count as 'safe'. Yet.

"Okay don't get angry. I didn't know where to go and-and I wanted to go to the only person that I feel safe with and- Fuck, Marc said so horrible things and our parents just fucking let him! Like- I know he's the favorite but-" His voice broke, he was close to crying. "Fuck! That's why I didn't tell you earlier. I knew I would cry. And I really don't wanna cry right now" he quickly brushed his tears away and Jorge hated that he couldn't wrap his arms around Alex right now.

"Alex, my love, my baby, my sweet, sweet angle... Just... Are you safe?" he asked again, really needing an answer. "Yes. I... Maybe not yet?" "Not yet?" "Please don't be angry and I swear... I... I can leave if you want to"

The fear that maybe Jorge didn't want Alex there once more bubbled up. Part of him knew it was irrational, that his boyfriend that told him that he was always welcome there and that he enjoyed spending time with him. The other part felt like he was invasive and annoying and clingy.

"What? Alex as long as you are safe I don't care if you're at a friend's house or a strip club. I just- I will literally get on the next plane to Spain if you want to" "I'm in a train to Geneva" he blurted out. "The hell are you doing in Geneva? Wait- like - you're in Switzerland?" "Yeah... I... There's a train in Geneva that goes to... Ehm... to Lugano..."

"You... Are you being serious?" his voice went almost dry as he heard that. His mind kept running as he slowly understand what was going on. He was in Lugano. His home was in Lugano. Alex was on his way to his place after he had a fight with his family.

"Yeah... If you don't want me there, I'll leave. It's just-" "NO! No, Alex, I want you here." he quickly reassured her before grabbing his phone to check the quickest way to get to Geneva to pick him up.

"Fucking hell I was so scared when your mom called me. Listen, I can be Geneva in 2 hours, okay? Just... Just get off there and I will come and pick you up. Go visit the city, get yourself some food. Wait, you have money right?" "Yes" "Okay. I send you some anyway" "No you dont-" "Please. Just - I want to make sure that you're okay. Get yourself whatever you want and I'll come pick you up as soon as I can and..."

He felt himself hesitate. It wasn't his place. It wasn't his to judge and he probably wouldn't do it in Alex position either, but the worry and regret in Rosers voice was still present in his head.

"Think about texting your mom, okay? She's worried about you" "I... I can't. It's - complicated. I really can't explain it right now or I'm going to cry and I really don't wanna cry when I'm in public and you can't hug me" Jorge nodded. He didn't want Alex to cry when he wasn't there either. Or. Preferably in general.

"I know. It's okay. I promise you, we'll find a way" "Yeah... I know. Thank you, I love you" "I love you too. I can't believe you're in Switzerland. That's kinda crazy" he smiled softly. It might be selfish but a part of him was happy to know that he would see his boyfriend soon. "I know" he laughed lightly.

But then there seemed to be a shift. Jorge could feel it, despite not seeing Alex. He knew something else had crossed the mind of the younger.

"Do you think - I mean they basically know that I'm with you so - Do you think they'll come and... Get me - force me to go home again?" he asked and the older didn't need to ask who he was referring to.

"Alex, no one will be taking you from me. I promise you. Even if they would show up I wouldn't let you go if you don't want to"

"You promise?"

"Pinky promise, my sweet darling. No one is going to harm you... I'm very sorry that they said all those things to you... I swear, I'm gonna rip him a new one" "Yeah... I... Thank you. But... I just... I don't know. I don't even know if I ever want to talk to him again."

It felt weird. Jorge was angry at Marc. He was furious, but hearing Alex say that he didn't want to talk to him again, felt wrong. It was wrong. Marc and Alex were too close to suddenly never speak again and he refused to be the reason why.

He had to fix this.

Somehow.

"I understand. I really do. You're sad and in pain. Let's just let this all cool off for now before things escalate even more. And then see how things turn out" "Okay" he agreed "I just - Fuck I just wanna see you. I miss you so bad" "I miss you too. I love you so much, everything will be okay."

They agreed on a meeting point before Jorge started driving again. They talked some more, just some light conversations, both consciously avoiding the issue on hand. Both waiting to finally arrive at the meeting point, a little bit outside of Geneva, easy to reach and private enough not to make a fuss.

[p0patochisps]

What IS Epic The Musical

I WAS WAITING FOR THIS GOD DAMN MOMENT.

OKAY. BUCKLE YOUR SEATBELT ANON, BECAUSE YOU JUST UNLEASHED MY ADVERTISEMENT SIDE /HJ

According to the EPIC website, EPIC is a loose musical adaptation of Homer's Odyssey written by Jorge 'Jay' Rivera-Herrans. Jay also voices Odysseus, the main character of the musical.

It is completely sung through, consisting of 40 songs. The musical has two acts, which are then split into nine 'sagas'. There are five sagas in act one (Troy, Cyclops, Ocean, Circe and Underworld) and four in act two (Thunder, Wisdom, Vengeance, and Ithica).

As the show is still a work in progress, the songs are still being released on platforms in their entirety. As of right now, the Troy, Cyclops, and Ocean sagas have been released with the Circe saga coming sometime soon.

Jay posts consistently on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, showing his working progress with little sneak peaks at the songs and little bits of information about each of them that really enhance the listening experience!

Plot wise, like I said, EPIC is loosely based on Homer's Odyssey. Homer was an ancient Greek poet, and he is credited for both the Odyssey and the Iliad.

The iliad is the first of the two, telling the story of the Trojan War and all that happened. The Odyssey is about the journey Odysseus and the six hundred Ithican soldiers took to return to their homeland post-war (Spoiler alert. It doesn't work out very well)

EPIC follows Odysseus as he tries so very, very hard to return to his wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus. However, every monster, God, and Goddess in the entirety of Greece and Olympus seems to have beef with this man and he struggles to get home.

He's somehow meant to be one of the most intelligent Greeks out there, cunning and clever and a brilliant soldier (so much so that Athena- Goddess of W i s d o m- decides to be his mentor) and yet he has a knack of pissing everyone off.

Anyway, the Trojan War took him away from Ithica and his family for ten years, and then EPIC follows his stupidly long and complicated journey home in the most stunning, heart-wrenching, tear jerking, awe inspiring way it can.

It's greek mythology, what isn't there to love about it.

I doooo heavily recommend it. So, so very much. So much. Jay is so very, very talented, and all of the singers in EPIC are so very talented. I think the songs are on most platforms (I'll link spotify and YouTube below). I also recommend looking at his TikTok or YouTube pages because this man is hilarious, and the process to the creation of this musical is so very interesting.

Okay bye bye :))

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqxvpcFchZLtYj30bSGmm64JibFLaWOAJ&si=fRBt3GoRCwew5_Sd

^this has all thirteen released songs on for YouTube.

https://youtube.com/@JayHerrans?si=7qR098QuuulGBxYg

^This is Jay's YouTube page.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6T7xIAK4W0Fwxp04fSjpE9?si=iccq-vm-SD-i5X0TcXMTBw&pi=e-RZKH3MfvTXmQ

^This is a playlist of released songs on Spotify.

https://www.tiktok.com/@jorgeherrans?_t=8j0ebB8Ka7V&_r=1

^This is Jay's TikTok.

He is also on iTunes but I don't have an account and I can't be bothered to make one (sorry)

IF YOU LISTEN, DROP ME A MESSAGE OR A COMMENT BECAUSE I LIKE TO TALK ABOUT IT.

[sugar-and-spite]

finally watched the vengeance saga and i am being so, so normal about this. spoiler rambles below the cut. i watched a bunch of different animatics for most of the songs so there will be comments about both the actual songs & official animatics, plus the other fan animatics i saw

not sorry for loving you

first off. CALYPSO. MY GIRL. i'm so glad jorge did her right with this song. i remember adoring calypso in the odyssey, and while epic definitely put her in a more manipulative and antagonistic role than i remember her having, she has a reason. i felt like love in paradise kind of rushed her entire character and i'm so glad she got fleshed out more here.

while she is being manipulative, i definitely don't agree with the people saying she's doing it on purpose. she's been alone for a hundred years, of course she'd be lonely. also like. she's literally never known any other people to know whether she's being manipulative or not, so

also i watched the most animatics for this one and calypso being skinny feels so weird to me, she's at least chubby imo

also extremely funny that jorge got gigi to animate for this one for the stream. gigi being known for having the best circe saga animatics and jorge is like "hm you know who i want to animate this other woman who's manipulating odysseus?" incredible.

and there's this which i said to my bf:

dangerous

"six hundred men, six hundred dead under my command, 'cause i had one goal in mind... [silence]" OKAY YEAH I DIDN'T NEED MY HEART. FUCK.

HERMES IS BACK, BABY!

ximena natzel has the best hermes animatics, the official hermes is good but ximena's is better, if you haven't seen ximena's animatics for "wouldn't you like" and "dangerous" go watch them NOW

they canonized the fluffy winions, i'm not even sure who first came up with that design for them (mircsy was the first one i saw) but they're wonderful and amazing

hermes is just amazing and all of his songs are amazing and this is amazing (can you tell i have a favorite song from vengeance saga)

i love that they also included actual sirens in the official animatic!! the birds with women's faces, those are what sirens actually look like in the myths and mermaid-sirens are more common to see nowadays but it's not The Og, and i'm so so happy they used og sirens (this made me giddy in the same way all the "ruthlessness" animatics with horses in them made me giddy, little-known myth details my beloved)

the callbacks to "keep your friends close"! both musically and lyrically! and the callback to "wouldn't you like" with hermes going "don't thank me" and "good luck!" jorge is always on point with the callbacks

charybdis

took a couple listens for me to really vibe with this, it's kinda filler but that's fine they can't all be bangers

someone pointed out this is the only song we have so far that's 100% solo odysseus with no background vocals or other characters so that's neat

feels like this could've been longer? or fleshed out more? it feels kinda abrupt. but there's gotta be some losers they can't all be winners

get in the water

i need to hear this sung by a woman right now actually so i can be equally bisexual about the original and a female cover.

honestly i don't think i had a single thought in my head through the entire song besides damn. holy SHIT. holy shit this one is good. this is so fucking good.

i lied i had a singular coherent thought (on the second watch): it's subtle, but i think there's a musical callback to the end of "god games" during odysseus's part. when he's begging poseidon to let him go, the music is really similar to when athena begs zeus to let him go at the end of "god games."

six hundred strike

hoooooooly shit. oh my god. what the fuck. not to be bisexual but -

(hottest odysseus has ever been)

he has the power of (the wind) god and anime on his side

with the power of friendship and this jetpack he found -

the callbacks

"you can't kill me." "exactly." HOTTEST ODYSSEUS HAS EVER BEEN

NEXT TO MY WIFE

oh my god. holy fuck. oh my god

anyway this has been rey's (lack of) thoughts about the vengeance saga thanks for joining me i'm so, so normal about this musical

[safetycar-restart]

Hi,

I’m not sure if you’ve done this and I apologise if you have already but what hybrid is each driver and what are they like? Again very sorry if you’ve already done this

Hi anon! Absolutely I can go over them. Also, remember that these things aren't set in stone. If you guys want to ask about a driver/rider being a different hybrid, feel free to! The ones I'm about to list are just how I picture the drivers :)) Also, I don't think I've ever written about the hybrid AU with Motogp riders, so I've added some of them as well!

BUNNY HYBRIDS:

Charles, Arthur, Fabio

WOLF HYBRIDS:

Pierre, Carlos, Marco

CAT HYBRIDS:

Lando, Oscar, Esteban, Marc, Alex M, Yuki, Lance

DOG HYBRIDS:

Logan, Mick, Jorge

FOX HYBRIDS:

Pedro, Nyck,

[42bakery]

i'm not trying to start anything but you said that pecco basically says slightly different things to different media, i think that's actually pretty common or at least i've seen marc marquez do it multiple times he's def more tame to italian and english media compared to spain, same with jorge m. maybe it's part of their pr training?? (not saying it's okay)

Hi there anon 👋👋👋👋. I'm sorry for not answering immediately.

I wasn't aware they Marc and Martín also do this, but based on the lack of controversy on the subject, I would say it's not that different from what they say to the Spanish and non-Spanish and non-Italian media. Whereas Pecco is because he has thrown at leas 2 times the mistranslated or misquoted to the medias. In fact there's at leas 2-3 times per season we come here and bitch about what Pecco has said for him to say 'well media didn't get the full quote' or 'it's a bad translation'.

For example when he said that satellite bikes need to be slower to avoid the start melle, he said it to DAZN Spain and he clearly said that. They didn't miss quote him. Then because DORNA officials follow the Spanish media around the paddock, they reported it too and in the next GP he said he mistranslated. And no, Pecco is not stupid. He didn't hesitate nor need help with Spanish words, he really chose to say that. That's why I say Pecco is an expert in media manipulation.

I don't have access to Italian media, but I can say that Joan, Rins and Aleix always say the same (or try to, sometimes the wording is different but is the same meaning) when they speak to DAZN and when they speak to the official broadcast, so it's not PR training. That is Pecco, Martín and Marc choosing to do it. I can see why Marc does, he has most, if not all, Italy against him, so he tries to be more tame and polite.

[foggyfanfic]

The Jorge Situation

Chapter Preview: “But we’re magic! And so is our house,” Octavia argued, “A pool's just a hole with water in it. How hard can it be?”

“Um,” Mirabel said, but before she could come up with a reason why they shouldn’t do this, Camilo cut her off.

“You know what, I say we follow the six year old,” he said, “she has a point.”

First Prev Next Masterlist

“Please Luisa,” they all chorused together, hands clasped under their chins.

Luisa frowned down at them, eyes soft, “I-I’m sorry, I really can’t, I have chores.”

“You always have chores,” Amada pointed out, putting her hands on her hips.

“And it’s so hot out,” Mirabel said, “don’t you usually take the day off when it’s this hot?”

“Come on, doesn’t a jump in the pool sound nice,” Camilo cajoled.

“Pool party, pool party, pool party,” tiny little Octavia chanted, marching back and forth and pumping her fists in the air.

“Maybe tomorrow,” Luisa hedged, inching away from the small army of puppy dog eyes.

“That’s what you said yesterday,” Camilo groaned.

“Does that guy really need you to round up his donkeys every day,” Amada groused.

“But we haven’t gotten to play with you in forever,” Mirabel grumped, crossing her arms and pouting.

Octavia continued to chant “Pool party!” as she now circled around Luisa.

“Aw geez, I know, I’m sorry, really I am,” Luisa said, even as she plucked Octavia up and moved her out of the way. As soon as Octavia was back on the ground, Luisa was off, speed walking out of the house.

“But it’s so hot!” Camilo shouted after her.

She didn’t respond.

“Darn,” Amada sighed.

“Now what?” Octavia asked, finally cutting the chant off.

“Let’s ask one of the adults if Gabe can take us to the river,” Mirabel suggested, already turning towards Tío Bruno’s door.

“Can’t,” Amada shook her head, “they’re all out.”

“What? All of them?” Camilo wrinkled his brow, “Even Tío Bruno?”

Amada nodded, “You know how your mom has that doctor appointment today? She might get bad news, so my Pá and Tío Agustín are setting up a gift basket to cheer her up.”

“Bad news?” Camilo asked.

“Yeah, she’s older than most women are when they get pregnant,” Amada shrugged.

There was a pause.

“Tía Pepa is pregnant?!” Octavia all but shouted.

“My Má isn’t pregnant,” Camilo said, at the same time.

“Oh, we should do something nice too!” Mirabel decided, turning towards Gabriel’s room instead.

“She is, I saw it,” Amada argued, “that’s why there’s a new door.”

“What? No it isn’t,” Camilo turned to gape at the new door, then much like Octavia had, shouted, “My Má is pregnant?”

“Sí,” Amada nodded once, joining Mirabel outside of Gabriel’s door.

“Ay, mios dios,” Camilo put a hand over his mouth, “I’m going to have a baby sister?”

“Or brother,” Mirabel said, knocking on Gabriel’s door.

Camilo scoffed, “Please, in this family? Pretty sure I’m cursed to forever be surrounded by girls.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Octavia asked.

Camilo shrugged, “Don’t know, but my Pá’s friends are always saying they feel sorry for me.”

“Your Pá doesn’t even like those guys, the ones from the masonry, right?” Amada said, “He’s always one bad joke away from smacking one of them.”

“Really? Then why does he talk to them?”

“Why does who talk to who?” Gabriel asked, opening his door.

“Why does Tío Felíx talk to the guys who work for the mason?” Octavia asked.

“Oh, because it makes negotiating with the mason whenever the mill needs a new stone easier and he lost the coin toss between him and Tío Felípe,” Gabriel answered, “is that what you guys wanted?”

“We want to do something nice for Tía Pepa, in case she gets bad news about the baby,” Mirabel said.

Gabriel blinked at her for a few beats, then looked at Amada, “Pretty sure Tía Pepa didn’t want any of you kids knowing yet.”

“Oh,” Amada said, “oops.”

“Amada wants to do something nice for my Má to apologize for blabbing her secret to everybody,” Camilo amended Mirabel’s previous statement.

Gabriel snorted, and left his room fully, “What’d you have in mind?”

“Oh, um,” Mirabel looked around at her cousins, hoping one of them would have an idea, she received a bunch of blank looks, “what do you think would cheer her up?”

“Well, she’s been complaining about the heat,” Gabriel said, then he started walking towards Abuela’s room, “I’ll ask Abuela if we can go to the market, maybe we can make her ice cream or something.”

“Abuela’s not here,” Amada said, “she’s with Má, mediating negotiations between Tío Al and that one jerk head.”

Tío Al was the new goat herder, who had taken over from their Má’s father. He had been herding the goats for years with no problems, but now that their abuelo was taking a step back and fully retiring, one of the farmers had started trying to push Al around. Their Má had slipped up a few times and referred to the farmer in question as something much worse than a jerk head.

“Oh,” Gabriel stopped, he was old enough to leave the house by himself, and old enough to take the younger kids out, but not old enough to take the younger kids out without telling an adult where they were going.

“Maybe Isabela can take us,” Camilo suggested. Isabela and Dolores were old enough that they could take the younger kids out without asking permission, just so long as they also took one of the other older kids with them to help out.

“She’s out too,” Amada shook her head, “she’s helping the Cortez family plan the decorations for that party they’re throwing next week.”

“Dolores?” Octavia asked.

“I think she’s home,” Amada said.

“Yeah, but she’s in her Sanctum of Silence,” Camilo said, “she wasn’t feeling well earlier.”

“Well, there has to be something we can do here at home to cheer Tía Pepa up,” Mirabel refused to be deterred.

As one, they all turned to look up at Gabriel. As a wise and worldly twelve year old, they figured he would have some insight.

“Oh, uh, we could um, make her something else?” he suggested, nervously sweeping his curls back from his face.

“Like what?” Camilo asked.

Octavia gasped, then whispered, “Pool party!”

“What?”

“Pool party,” she cried, throwing her hands in the air, “she’s been hot and might be sad, let’s throw a pool party! With dancing, she loves dancing.”

“Má does love dancing,” Camilo agreed.

“Great, let’s ask Luisa-,” Gabriel started to say.

“She’s already out doing chores,” Mirabel said.

“Oh, so no pool then,” Gabriel deflated, “not much of a pool party.”

“No, no, guys, guys, guys,” Octavia hopped up and down, “we can make one!”

“A pool?” Amada asked.

“Sí!”

“We only have a couple hours before she gets back,” Gabriel pointed out.

“But we’re magic! And so is our house,” Octavia argued, “It’s just a hole with water in it. How hard can it be?”

“Um,” Mirabel said, but before she could come up with a reason why they shouldn’t do this, Camilo cut her off.

“You know what, I say we follow the six year old,” he said, “she has a point.”

“Yeah, let’s follow the six year old,” Octavia cheered, already running towards the stairs.

“Hold on, hold on, hold on,” Gabriel followed after her, “where would we get the water?”

“Well,” Mirabel started to say, then grimaced, knowing before the sentence was fully out of her mouth that what she was about to suggest was a bad idea, “you uh, you could use your gift to transport all the water we’d need.”

Gabriel frowned, “My gift-?”

“Sí, if you uh, if you just make a shield underwater, then bring it back to the pool and pop it, then ta-da, water,” Mirabel explained, wiping her palms on her skirt.

Gabriel made a quiet, thoughtful noise, then turned to Amada, “How likely is this to end well?”

Amada blinked and her eyes turned gold, she looked around the room and got this weird sort of smile on her face, “We should do it.”

“Really?” Gabriel asked, face crinkling with doubt.

“Yeah, absolutely.”

“Are you sure?”

“Nothing will make Tía Pepa happier,” Amada said, Gabriel examined her for a long time, then slowly nodded.

“Alright, if you’re absolutely positive?”

“Completely.”

“Hm, well, then guess I’ll just head down to the nearest body of water,” he said, “where will I be bringing this water to? Front yard or back?”

“Actually, I was thinking-,” Octavia started to say.

“Front will be better,” Amada cut her off.

“Bien, front it is,” he slowly backed up, watching Amada, surely hoping she would announce she was just kidding or something. When she didn’t, he reluctantly turned and left the house.

As soon as he was gone, Amada turned to Octavia, “Don’t worry, we’re going with your idea.”

“Whoo!” Octavia cheered.

“What’s her idea?” Mirabel asked slowly, anything Amada felt she needed to hide from Gabriel was bound to be bad.

“Casita will be the pool,” Octavia answered, “because Casita is probably hot too, right Casita?”

There was a slightly uncertain clatter of tiles, then a sheepish wobble of the light fixtures.

“Really?” Mirabel asked, “You get hot?”

Casita made a wavey gesture with the floorboards that Mirabel knew to mean, “Kinda, not like you, but I definitely wouldn’t mind being a pool for a little.”

“Huh, alright, Casita wants to be a pool,” Mirabel took a minute to let that sink in, then frowned at her assembled cousins, “so uh, how do we make Casita a pool?”

“We need to block off some of the doors so the water doesn’t get out,” Camilo said.

“I’ll grab some rocks,” Octavia shouted, running out to the backyard.

Mirabel followed after her, “Wait, shouldn’t we think about this a little more before-.”

“Hah!” Camilo suddenly laughed behind her, Mirabel whipped around and saw him standing next to Amada, one hand slapped over his mouth. The pair stared back at her, trying to look innocent.

“We should get the furniture out of the courtyard,” Amada said.

Mirabel narrowed her eyes at them, now positive Amada was up to something. She crossed her arms, setting her chin.

“Mirabel, I promise, if this goes exactly right, it’ll make Tía Pepa really, really happy,” Amada put her hands up, “trust me?”

Mirabel searched her face, but only saw sincerity, so she sighed, “Bien, let’s move the furniture.”

Casita helped them by moving the bigger furniture so they mostly just moved the paintings on the first story out of the way. Mirabel was very careful to prop them all up on the chairs in the dining room so that their placement roughly matched where they had been in the courtyard. She figured that’d make it easier to put everything back in the long run. Meanwhile, Amada and Camilo moved a few things upstairs where they’d be dry but still accessible, like the record player and a hammock.

Shortly after, Octavia came back with some boulders which she molded to fit the doorways.

“Casita,” Mirabel said slowly, “can you make the floor um lower?”

Casita shivered proudly, and Mirabel could almost hear a voice saying, “No, but watch this.”

Instead of sinking the floor, Casita grew three feet and left the courtyard on the ground. The tiles around the edge of the courtyard folded themselves into steps up to the newly created half floor. Octavia and Camilo cheered, while Amada laughed in amazement.

“That’s so clever,” Amada said, and Casita briefly lit all the lights in the house, literally glowing from the praise.

“Gracias Casita,” Mirabel said, trotting up to the nearest wall to place her hand on it.

Casita merrily clattered some tiles at her.

“Let’s get our bathing suits on,” Camilo said, already jogging towards the stairs.

“Wait! We need food for the party,” Mirabel pointed out.

“Oh, good point,” he switched directions and followed Mirabel into the kitchen.

“Hm, what can we make,” Mirabel mused, putting her hands on her hips. Being nine years old, she wasn’t allowed to use knives or the oven without adult supervision, which ruled out a lot of stuff in the kitchen.

“Ummm,” Camilo, also being nine and therefore forbidden from using knives and ovens, drummed his fingers on his legs, “fruit basket?”

Mirabel slowly nodded, she walked over to the shelves by the pantry and grabbed a basket, “What fruit do we have?”

Camilo was already digging through the pantry, he popped his head out and said, “Mostly mangoes and avocado.”

She wrinkled her nose, “Avocado isn’t a fruit.”

“Yes it is.”

“No it isn’t.”

“Is to.”

“Is not.”

“If it’s not a fruit, what is it? A vegetable?”

Mirabel scowled, but didn’t answer, because it wasn’t a vegetable either. She was pretty sure, at least.

“See! See! Avocado’s a fruit. I’m putting it in the fruit basket,” he stepped out of the pantry with his arms full of avocados and dumped them into the basket.

“Nobody eats just avocados,” Mirabel argued, “you’re supposed to put them on stuff!”

“Like what? We’re not allowed to cook.”

Once again, Mirabel didn’t have a good response, so she just said, “This fruit basket is going to be dumb.”

“You’re going to be dumb,” Camilo said, dumping an armful of mangoes into the basket next.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” she adjusted her grip on the basket, which was already getting kind of heavy.

“You don’t make any sense,” he retorted.

Mirabel rolled her eyes, and started to call him stupid, when he stepped out of the pantry with a couple ears of unhusked corn, “Corn’s a vegetable! And you have to take the leaves off of it first!”

“It’s the only plant we have left,” Camilo argued, throwing the corn into the basket.

“What?! Nuh uh,” she shoved the basket into his hands and looked in the pantry, “we have raisins!”

“Raisins aren’t a plant!”

“Yes they are, they’re grapes,” Mirabel pulled the bag of raisins out and placed it in the basket.

“What? Really?” Camilo set the basket down so he could look in the bag.

“Yeah, they’re dried up grapes.”

“Oh,” he frowned at them, “but my Tío Felípe told me they were bugs.”

“Ew! Gross! If you thought they were bugs, why’d you like them so much?!”

“We eat bugs all the time,” Camilo reasoned, “like beans.”

“Camilo, beans aren’t bugs either,” Mirabel said, “did Tío Felípe say they were?”

“Is anything bugs?!”

“Not that we eat,” Mirabel shook her head.

“What about honey?”

“Bugs make it, but they aren’t like, in the honey, you know?”

Camilo looked back down at the raisins, and sighed woefully, “I’m never eating beans again.”

“Because it’s not bugs?”

“Sí.”

Mirabel opened her mouth to ask about raisins and honey, but was cut off when Amada called for them. She helped Camilo lug the “fruit” basket into the courtyard turned empty pool and was struck by how much brighter it was. She looked at the front door and saw a big ball of light that was full of water. Or rather, she saw a part of the big ball of light, it was large enough that Mirabel couldn’t see the full thing through the doorway.

Amada’s eyes flashed gold, then she grinned, “We’re on the right track.”

Camilo snickered, Mirabel looked between the two of them. They were both way too happy about something.

“Guys?” Gabriel’s voice called out, sounding a bit ragged, “Where’s the pool?”

“It’s in here,” Camilo called.

There was a pause, the light making up the ball warbled and thinned. Mirabel gulped and took a step back towards the kitchen, but Octavia had already begun plugging up the doorway. Thankfully, Gabriel must have noticed the light thinning, because he added more to his shield. The ball rolled away from the door a little, so Gabriel could step into the doorway, sweating through his shirt and looking exhausted.

“What do you mean it’s in here,” he gasped, looking around the transformed courtyard, “no, no, no, no. You said we would put it out front!”

“Nuh-uh, I said the front yard would be best,” Amada shook her head, “but this will make Tía Pepa happier!”

Gabriel gaped at her, the light thinning again. Mirabel took another nervous step back and pointed at it, by the time she’d got out a single “UM!” Gabriel had turned and noticed the thinning light. With a tired puff of air, he once more returned his focus to the ball of water.

When the light shaping the ball was nice and thick, he turned halfway back towards them, keeping one eye on the shield, “How exactly does this make Tía Pepa happier?!”

“You’ll see, just trust me!”

“I- you-. Nope! I’m putting the water back,” he said, turning to put both hands on the ball. He braced to start rolling it back the way he came, only to hear something that made all of them freeze.

“Gabriel?” Tío Bruno’s voice wound its way around the ball and into the courtyard, “What uh, what’s this?”

He slowly walked around the ball, holding a box of chocolates in one hand and a bottle of orange colored juice in the other, studying it with a raised eyebrow. When he reached Gabriel he gave him a quizzical look, glanced into Casita, then did a double take.

Octavia, who had just finished plugging up the doorway to the kitchen, happily trotted up to him, “Papa! Papa! We’re throwing a pool party for Tía Pepa!”

For a second, it didn’t look like Tío Bruno understood what Octavia had just said to him, as if she had spoken Russian or Ancient Greek. Then, he looked around the courtyard with a look of slowly dawning horror, his head whipped over to the giant ball of water, then to the blocked up doors. Mouth opening and closing uselessly, he started slowly shaking his head.

“It’s uh, it’s my fault Pá,” Gabriel tried to say.

Tío Bruno barked out an almost hysterical laugh, “Yeah, right!”

Everybody startled at the volume, and Tío Bruno rattled out a few quick sorries, before pinching the bridge of his nose. He took some deep breaths.

Finally, he splayed out his hands and said, “Ok, this is ok, I’m the only one who saw this, so this is fine. We’ll just clean all this up before-.”

“Gabriel? What’s this for?” Agustín interrupted Tío Bruno, also walking around the ball and examining it with a raised eyebrow.

Tío Bruno paused, then said, “Nope, still fine, it’s just Agustín. This is still fine.”

“Actually,” Agustín said slowly, eyes roving the courtyard with growing alarm, “the others are right behind me. Juli and Félix are trying to slow Pepa down so we have enough time to set up her surprise. Uh, what’s-?”

“It’s for Tía Pepa,” Octavia said, now sounding just a little defensive, “we want to make her happy, too!”

“Oh, that’s so sweet,” Agustín said, then cast another confused look around.

“It’s a pool party,” Tío Bruno supplied, deadpan.

Agustín’s face dropped and he paled considerably, after a beat he turned to Tío Bruno and in a hushed voice said, “We need to act fast.”

“Right,” Tío Bruno turned to Gabriel, “let’s get this water back where you found it.”

“I’ll help the kids with all this,” Agustín volunteered.

They nodded at each other, Bruno put his hands on the ball, and started to help Gabriel roll it out of the way, only for it to get stuck on something.

“Whoa! Watch out,” Tío Félix called out.

“Fantastic,” Tío Bruno muttered, resting his forehead on the ball of light.

Now, Julieta, Félix and Pepa appeared, also examining the giant ball of water and light. Since there was three of them, they were able to exchange confused glances, before turning to Agustín and Bruno for an explanation.

Before anyone could provide one, however, Camilo sped walked up to Tía Pepa, lugging the fruit basket, “Mamí! We made you a fruit basket!”

“Oh! Camilo mijo, that’s so- um,” Tía Pepa took the basket and looked inside of it, her smile seemed just a bit strained to Mirabel’s eyes as she said, “thank you corazon! This is lovely.”

“De nada,” he said, hugging her.

“Tía Pepa! Go back outside, the rest of the surprise isn’t ready yet,” Octavia said.

“Surprise?”

“Octavia, we’re not doing it,” Gabriel said gently.

“Why not?! We’re almost done,” Octavia protested.

“What’s uh, what’s the surprise?” Tío Félix asked.

“We were going to throw Mamí a pool party to cheer her up if the doctor made her sad,” Camilo explained, “but now Gabriel’s being boring.”

“You were what?!”

“I’m not being boring!”

“You did all this for me?”

“Why not just use Luisa’s pool?”

“We need to get this all cleaned up before Má gets home.”

“Too late,” Abuela called out over the riot of voices, and everybody froze, as her and Tía Leandra rounded the ball of water, she started to ask, “What in the world-?”

“Perfect,” Amada whispered, as the sunlight began to coalesce around her.

“Abuela,” Gabriel gasped, sounding horrified.

“Mijo, the wa-,” Tío Bruno tried to say.

But it was too late, the second Gabriel laid his eyes on Abuela he encased all of the women and other children in balls of light. In doing so, he pulled the light not just from the sun above, but the giant ball of water under his hands.

It burst.

Four male voices cried out in dismay as a wave of river water fell onto them, soaking the front yard, Casita’s entryway, and the four people who hadn’t received light shields. A few fish flopped around on the ground, and one managed to maintain impressive balance flopping on Tío Félix’s head. Another wiggled vigorously where it was trapped in Agustín’s breast pocket.

Tía Pepa made a choked sound, slapping a hand over her mouth.

“Whoops,” Gabriel said, the shields all flickering out as water dripped off of him. There was a dead, water logged leaf in his hair.

Tía Pepa’s shoulders started to shake.

“What is going on?” Abuela asked, looking too bewildered to be truly angry.

A few squeaks squeezed their way out from between Tía Pepa’s fingers.

“The kids wanted to do something nice for Pepa,” Tío Bruno sighed, parting his wet hair so everybody could see the extremely tired look on his face.

Just like the ball of light, Tía Pepa burst. Despite her best efforts, laughter roared out of her, staining the early afternoon sky with two brilliant rainbows.

“It worked,” Amada cried, throwing her hands up into the air and hopping up and down a little, splashing in the puddle that was spreading into Casita.

“Love you Mamí,” Camilo said through his own laughter, hugging her tighter.

“You knew this was going to happen?” Mirabel asked, “The whole time?!”

“I knew it might happen,” Amada corrected, “and look, look! See how happy Tía Pepa is!”

Indeed, Tía Pepa was still giggling, trying to wipe tears from her eyes. Every time she opened them and looked at one of the men, another peal of laughter burst out of her. And she wasn’t the only one, Julieta and Tía Leandra were also hiding smiles and laughter behind their hands. They both made a passable effort to look sympathetic to their husbands, but neither quite succeeded.

“I want you to know,” Tío Bruno said to Tía Leandra, “I blame you for this.”

“Me? I just got here.”

“Exactly. You weren’t here, and I was dry, then you get here and poof, within seconds I’m completely soaked.”

Tía Leandra opened her mouth to respond, noticed Mirabel paying attention to her, then leaned in and whispered something to Tío Bruno. 

Tío Bruno turned very red and muttered, “Lucky Dolores is spending the day in her sanctum.”

Meanwhile, Julieta carefully pulled the fish out of Agustín’s pocket, then held it for a second. After a little bit of deliberation, she put it back in his pocket.

“It seems wrong to just throw a living creature on the ground,” she told him, when he raised an eyebrow at her.

“So, the plan is for it to live in my favorite vest?”

“Well, the silver scales do go really well with that shade of blue.”

Agustín looked down, “Huh, so it does.”

Mirabel looked over at Abuela, to see her reaction, but couldn’t decipher the look on her face. Abuela kept looking around the courtyard, her mouth starting to tug into a frown, then she’d look at Agustín, Bruno, or Félix and start to smile, then her eyes would land at Gabriel and she would look almost sympathetic, before looking back at the courtyard and starting the cycle over again. Eventually, she just sighed, chuckled, and nodded.

“Well, they’ve certainly succeeded in cheering Pepa,” she said, “hopefully, you children will be equally successful cleaning all this up.”

“Of course Abuela, we’ll get right-,” Gabriel started to say.

“Not you,” Abuela held up a hand, “at least, not until you dry off first. You’ll just track more water all over the house.”

Gabriel grimaced, and nodded. Tío Bruno patted him on the back.

“Casita,” Abuela called out, and the house stayed very, very still, “care to explain why you allowed this to happen?”

Casita didn’t respond at first, then sheepishly rattled some of the roof tiles.

“You were hot? Casita, you’re a house,” Abuela said, “do you get hot?”

Casita rattled out a confirmation, and at first Abuela didn’t respond, she just gaped up at the house for a few beats. Mirabel thought she may have heard Abuela mutter something along the lines of “Just when I think I’m used to all this magic” but wasn’t sure. Abuela shook her surprise off and promised Casita they would talk about ways to cool the house down that didn’t involve allowing a bunch of kids to flood the first floor.

“Mirabel,” Abuela said next.

“Sí Abuela?” Mirabel asked, trying not to shrink in on herself too obviously.

“Did you help with all this?”

“It uh it was sort of my idea,” she answered.

“Really?” Abuela asked shocked.

“Mirabel was the one who thought we should do something nice for Tía Pepa,” Gabriel said, “the rest is my fault.”

Abuela didn’t look anymore convinced than Tío Bruno had about that last part, but she didn’t respond to it, “Sí, well, as always, it is good of you to want to help your familia. How about you help the men get themselves dried off? Meet them out back with some towels.”

“Sí Abuela,” she said, she started to head towards the stairs, but stopped when she realized she was about to track watery footsteps onto the dry part of the house. She carefully stopped at the edge of the puddle, then stepped out of her shoes. Picking them up, she quickly made her way up the stairs to grab some towels.

“As for the rest of you, I believe you know where the mops are,” Abuela said.

“Can’t we help the men too?” Octavia asked.

“Mija, you are the only one who can move the rocks,” Tía Leandra pointed out gently.

“Aaaaw,” Octavia said, but at her mother’s urging, began doing just that, grumbling all the while.

—

Bruno sighed, staring longingly at his nice, warm bed. Leandra, who was busy tucking her curls into her silk hair wrap, noticed him doing so in the mirror. She turned to give him a sympathetic smile.

“You don’t have to do it tonight,” she pointed out, “you can check tomorrow.”

“They’ve been changing so quickly, I-I want to see if they’re affected by what happened today,” he said, “like how they got bigger on Isabela’s birthday, but smaller on Camilo’s.”

“Hm,” she tucked the last curl in, then stood and walked over to him, “maybe we should start writing some of this stuff down.”

He nodded, sighing, “Maybe.”

She squeezed him around the middle, “Do you want me to come keep you company?”

“No, well actually yes, of course I do, but no,” he gave her a rueful smile, “one of us should have enough energy to actually be a parent in the morning.”

“Ah, fair point,” she kissed his cheek, then let him go, “I suppose it’s too late for us to switch?”

“Hah, sí,” he grabbed his bucket and started making his way towards the tent’s exit, “much too late, but you have fun explaining to Octavia why she has to follow you whenever you do errands from now on.”

“Meircoles,” she muttered, getting in the bed.

Suddenly feeling much better about having to work on the cracks instead of sleeping, Bruno wished her a good night, then left her to rest up for a long day of dragging a bored six year old around the market. He hummed quietly to himself as he made his way through his room, then cut the humming short the second his door was open. Checking first to make sure the coast was clear, he tiptoed out of his room and gently closed the door behind him.

Silently, he made the short journey to the painting that hid the secret passage down to the cracks. Then, quietly, he made the long journey down to said cracks.

There were fewer of them today than there were yesterday. He wasn’t sure how to take that.

Was it because Casita spent the day before silently suffering in the heat? Where as today the house received a nice cooling shower of a pond’s worth of water?

Or maybe it was because yesterday Pepa was worried about her new baby, but today she was reassured the baby would be fine, and that her family was there for her?

Or maybe it was just because. Maybe there was no rhyme or reason. Maybe the miracle was just wearing off and he was watching it struggle to keep going. 

Leandra was right, he needed to start writing his observations down.

For the time being, he set his bucket down and got started on mixing the spackle. He had been getting better lately, when he was done, he had a bucket full of spackle that was almost the right consistency. He focused on a crack that hadn’t closed by itself for a few weeks now, ignoring the newer cracks since they might sort themselves out if he let them. With practiced almost ease, he got to work patching the cracks.

[waru-chan8]

i just saw your AMAZING "Would you rather MotoGP Edition!" thing 😍😍 i love it so much! 🥰 and i want to know: 🏆, 🔄, 🛍️ and 🏖️?

Thank you so much Mira 😍😍😍. I'm also glad you liked

🏆 Would you rather third wheel a podium between Fermín&Alonso or Joan&Álex back in their Suzuki era? This one is difficult. I mean I love both teams, but if I have to choose I'll go with my boys the Suzukis. They where my everything and now they are separated and not happy.

🔄 Would you rather learn have a cooking class form Arón or a cross-snitch one from Pol? I took cross-snitch classes in school (it was a mandatory 1 month with 1.5 hours a week) and I din't like it that much. So I'm sorry Pol, I'm going with Arón and his 'Smacheamos la carne'

🛍️ Would you rather let go shopping for clothes with Taka or Dovi? Dovi. He seems to have a more casual wear that fits my style better

🏖️ Would you rather go on family vacation with the Academy at Ibiza or with Aleix, Jorge M. and Fermín in Bali? We are going to Bali baby. I'm choosing this based only that they swim with dolphins and the water seems cleaner.

Thank you so much

[yourimagines]

Jorge masvidal x reader where him and reader go to a party and reader feels like he's ignoring her so she does the same thing the next and he gets kind of irritated cuz he didn't do anything and you complete the rest thank you so much

Sorry it took me so long, had a busy week

I didn’t do anything

* English is not my first language I apologise

* Gif is not mine

* Triggers: swearing, angst, fluff

Y/N POV

There he was talking with some people I don’t even know who they are, totally ignoring me. “Jorge?” I asked politely. He smiled briefly at me and looked back, listening what the other person is telling him. “Jorge, I’m going to get a drink, you want as well?” He looked back at me and shook his head. “Not now babe, I’m busy.” He turned away from me again. ‘Oh okay, you want to play that game… so be it then.’ I turned around and went to the bar. “Hi, one Bacardi Cola.” The bartender nodded and gave me my drink as I payed him. “Thanks.” I grabbed the glass and looked around. People were talking, dancing and watching others just like me. “Hey, you’re Jorge’s girl right?” A tall blond guy stand next to me, also looking around at the club. “Yes, why?” He smiled friendly at me. “I’m one of his old school mates.” I nodded and smiled back. “So you know Jorge when he was a little guy.” He laughs and nods. “Yes I know everything from his childhood.” “Tell me everything then.”

Jorge POV

I looked around to find Y/N, she just disappeared out of nowhere. ‘Where the hell can she be?’ I walked to the bar and saw her talking to Dennis. An old school mate of mine. “Hey there you are.” I said an stood next to her. Dennis smiled at me. “But Dennis, are you sure it wasn’t just a bee?” He laughs. “No it was not just a bee, it was way bigger than that, right Jorge? When I got stung by that weird looking creature.” I laughed and nodded. “Oh yes, no honey that was no average bee.” She didn’t reacted at me, still looking at Dennis. “Is something wrong?” I whispered to her as Dennis ordered a new drink. She turns around and smiles at me. “No, but I’m busy right now.” She immediately turned around to Dennis and started a new conversation with him. ‘What the fuck?’ I looked surprised at her, ignoring me just like that. ‘She mad at you.’ I huffed and order myself a drink, closely watching her. ‘This is going to be an long night.’

It was way to late as we walked to our cab. “Did you enjoy it tonight?” She only nods and get in the cab. I followed her and looked at her. “Is something wrong..?” “Hi, can you bring us to this address please.” She totally ignored me again and showed the driver our address. “Of course..” she smiles and leans back into her seat. “I did something to upset you but I don’t know why, just cut the bullshit already.” She looked at me. “Me? I think you should stop the bullshit Jorge.” She crossed her arms and looked away from me. “What did I do?!” I slightly raised my voice. “Enough, I don’t want to talk to you now.” I huffed and shook my head. “Very mature, okay fine then we don’t talk like adults normally do.” I looked away from her. “Yep, just like we already been doing, ignoring each other.” I looked back at her as she still looked outside her window. “Ignoring?” She stays quiet. “Baby, you thought I was ignoring you?” She turns slightly and looks at me. “Yes, I was asking you something and you just cut me off, with not now babe I’m busy.” She looks down at her hands. “I didn’t know anyone there, you could at least introduced me to them.” I sighed and carefully reached out to her hands. “Baby… I didn’t know, I’m sorry.” I held her hands in mine as she looks up. “I’m sorry, I’m an idiot… do you forgive me?” I looked at her with pleading eyes. “Yeah, only because we are already married.” She joked as she had a small smile on her face. “Good, divorcing is expensive tho.” We both had a laugh about it. “Don’t ever ignore me again Jorge.” “ I promise I will try to not ignore you ever again in the future.” She rolled her eyes at me. “I mean it Jorge.” I nodded “ yeah me too.” I laughed as she slapped my arm. “Okay okay I promise, no need to fight me.” “Good, because I’m the baddest Motherfucker here.” I laughed and shook my head at her. “Are we good again?” “Yes we are good again.” I kissed her temple as she hugs me from the side. “I love you.” “I love you baby.”

[ao3feed-erha]

Not Your Snack

by Illfaeted

Wei Wuxian and crew go sailing through Siren infested waters on their way to get home. Who will win?

Words: 1398, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 2 of EPIC: YLLZ Style

Fandoms: 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, 天官赐福 - 墨香铜臭 | Tiān Guān Cì Fú - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, 二哈和他的白猫师尊 - 肉包不吃肉 | The Husky and His White Cat Shizun - Meatbun Doesn't Eat Meat

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: M/M, Other

Characters: Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian, Xie Lian (Tian Guan Ci Fu), Nie Mingjue, Wen Ning | Wen Qionglin, Mo Ran | Mo Weiyu, Mei Nianqing, Pei Xiu (Tian Guan Ci Fu)

Relationships: Chu Wanning/Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian, Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian & Wen Ning | Wen Qionglin, Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian & Xie Lian (Tian Guan Ci Fu), Mei Nianqing & Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian, Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian & Pei Xiu (Tian Guan Ci Fu), Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian & Nie Mingjue, Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian & Yin Yu (Tian Guan Ci Fu)

Additional Tags: Sirens, Inspired by EPIC: The Musical - Jorge Rivera-Herrans, Yiling Laozu Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian, Mentioned Chu Wanning, Mentioned Shi Wudu, Mentioned He Xuan (Tian Guan Ci Fu), Blood and Violence, Actor Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian, Sect Leader Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian, Self-Worth Issues, Anger, No Mercy, Wang Lingjao was the Siren but I hate her so no naming her in the story, Sorry Not Sorry

via https://ift.tt/BXIv3SQ

[trash-begging]

Tag Game!

tagged by @maythedreadwolftakeyou thank you so much!!

Rules: tag 10 people you want to get to know better!

Last Song: "Would you fall in love with me again" by Jorge Rivera Herrans

Last Movie: I barely watch movies anymore I’m more for series but I think it was Lord of the Rings Return of the King you can never go wrong with that.

Last Book: the fake mate by lana fergusson it was exactly what I thought it would be so I was quite entertained

Last TV Show: Bobs Burger always watch that when I´m not sure what else to do. It´s also great for just playing in the background while I do something different

Sweet, Savory or Spicy: Sweet and Spicy! Seperate and together I like both. If you want your chocolate to survive don´t ever let me near it lol

Relationship Status: Single as a pringle for I think 5 years now. There are days where I´m absolutley not okay but I guess I just have to make my peace with it. I don´t see anyone falling from the sky or knocking on my door like they do in romance books.

Last thing I Googled: sorry I am so boring. I googled the last book I was reading for this tag game because I wasn´t sure if I remembered it correctly. My brain is a sieve and I´m always doubting my own memory yay

Looking forward to: Spring! Getting real tired of everyday being the same murky gray! And always looking forward to those emails from ao3 telling me there is an update! They´re my personal highlight and always make my day

Current Obsessions: dragon age. Always dragon age! You can take that from my cold dead hands I will never let it go! Right now I´m back on my idk eleventh playthrough of inquisition and if i get origin to stop crashing on my pc I will continue there as well

tagging if you want: @cursedhaglette @ar-ghilas-vir-banal @maabelasdaruth @luzial @ellstersmash @gefionne @dreadwolfsspirit @rikuyrk06 @thefirstaidkit @abelas-inan

and of course anyone else who wants to do this!

[tired-simply-exists]

oh wow hi. jumpscare tag. we're gonna go with video game ost's and lyrical songs wahooo. T - taste (aaron's book club) I - I/Me/Myself (Will Wood) R - Remedy (Undertale Yellow Soundtrack) E - Everybody's Lonely (Jukebox The Ghost) D - Dream Sweet In Sea Major (Miracle Musical)

S - Stalker's Tango (Autoheart) I - It's Pizza Time! (Pizza Tower Soundtrack) M - My Goodbye (Jorge-Rivera-Herrans) P - Promise (Laufey) L - Life and Decay (SaltedSporks) Y - You'll Be Gone (YonKaGor)

E - Enter The Nexus (Madness: Project Nexus Soundtrack) X - (gonna cheat and add a song with an X in the entire song name, sorry :) ) Marx Battle (Kirby Superstar Ultra) I - I Am... All Of Me (Shadow The Hedgehog Soundtrack/Crush 40) S - So You Wanna Marry Daisy (Spence Hood) T - The Shifty Sticker (Paper Mario: The Origami King Soundtrack) S - Stardust Speedway "B" Mix (Sonic CD OST)

This was pretty difficult oh my god. so many musical interests fighting for their lives to get a spot and there are a good few letters I could swap songs with- anyways tagging people uhhhhh. @dedsec-pony @moonkeeper579 @octoes-mp4 @bon-the-angel you guys have fun if you want!

Username Playlist

got tagged by @purgetrooperfox to pick a song for each letter of my username so HERE WE GOOO!!!

H- Heartbeat by Childish Gambino

A- Automotivo Bibi Fogosa- Bibi Babydoll

M- MAMAMIA by Manëskin

B- Bounce Out by Kuttem Reese

U- Uno by Little Big

R- Run by Hozier

G- God Race by Metaroom

E- Echos of Roman Ruins by Jesper Kyd

R- RED DEVIL by WURZ

S- Silhouette by Pastel Ghost

L- Landfill by Daughter

I- I Wanna Be Yours by Arctic Monkeys

P- Pacific Love by Rainbow Kitten Surprise

P- Prisoners by Olivier Deriviere

E- Easy Way Out by Low Roar

R- Respiration by Blackstar

S- Soul Catcher by Yeule

Tagging: @kieropal @legityoots @stagbeetleboy @rottent33th @slaasherslut @phasewashere

[bubblesandgutz]

Hey Brian! Massive fan of Botch, Russian Circles and Sumac!

I was just curious to find out what are some of your favourite books?

Hope to see Russian Circles and Sumac over the pond again in Scotland!

Cheers!

Oh hey! Thanks!

I love Scotland. My genealogy-obsessed aunt insists our family is descended from Robert the Bruce. Who knows if that's true, but got Bruce as my middle name.

Favorite books? Oh man, this is gonna make me look so uncool.

For pure entertainment, I'd have to go with Stephen King's The Stand. I've read it four or five times over the course of my life. It's just a great epic good-vs-evil story, with some good social commentary sprinkled throughout.

As a teenager who discovered the joys of "classics" in the '90s, I have a soft spot for a lot of the 20th century writers that folks on Twitter love to dunk on these days. But fuck it... Kerouac's Duluoz Legend series made me realize that sometimes the way you write about something can be more interesting than what you're actually writing about.

And yeah, Hemingway was definitely saddled with some unfortunate prejudices, but The Sun Also Rises struck upon a very specific kind of melancholy that I haven't found anywhere else. I was talking about it with a couple of friends and there seemed to be a clear division between people who loved the book and people who were unimpressed: all the people who loved it were folks in touring bands. I think there's just something about that experience of parting ways with someone after being in close companionship in unfamiliar territories for a brief period of time that Hemingway captured perfectly.

As long as we're talking about melancholy and classic authors that folks love to hate on: J.D. Salinger's Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters completely floored me. You can skip the Seymour novella that comes bundled with it. But holy shit, I don't understand why Catcher in the Rye gets all the attention when Raise High is right there next to it on the book shelf.

And fuck it. I loved Infinite Jest and I think about passages from the book all the time. I am a walking stereotype of a Gen X male. Sorry.

More recently? I love Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I love Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle series (granted, part six was a bit of a slog). I love Jorge Luis Borges' Collected Fictions. Patti Smith's Just Kids and M Train. Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five. Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Every once in a blue moon I'll decide to tackle something "difficult" and the experience is always rewarding: Tolstoy's War & Peace (not actually difficult, just long), James Joyce's Ulysses (get a reader's guide and treat it like a puzzle), Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow (the cashier who sold it to me gave the best advice: at some point you'll have no idea what is goin on... just accept that you're lost and enjoy the ride). While these books are a struggle, they definitely imprint something on the brain. They stay with you.

In the last couple of years, I've really gotten into Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's work, particularly Half of a Yellow Sun, though Americanah and Notes on Grief also bowled me over too. Finally got around to reading Roberto Bolaño's The Savage Detectives and loved it... currently have 2666 in the queue. And I've really been enjoying the stuff put out by a small publisher from the UK called Broodcomb Press that all seems to be in a creepy rustic folk-horror tradition, and I suspect that it's really just one writer working under a series of aliases.

So there ya have it. Kinda basic; nothing crazy. But the classics are classics for a reason, I guess.

[blueeyedheizer]

running out of time - newt

A/N: Sorry this took so long. I actually started this fic back in 2018 when the movie came out but I never got around to finish it lol. But here it is, finally :)

•••

''Come on, Newt.'' you cried out as you struggled to carry your best friend's body on top of the burning building. Your limbs were shaking, and you kept stumbling on your own feet as you tried to keep him up.

Newt was loosing himself to the virus and it was getting harder for him to stay conscious. You could feel him try to push you away but you tightened your grip on him as much as you could, knowing that every second was precious. You had to save him, like he had saved you multiple times before. You had to keep going and make him live the life he deserved to live.

''Just leave me here Y/N. Leave me.'' he said in a harsh whisper before collapsing onto the ground, making you almost fall on top of him. You carefully sat him against the closest wall.

''Newt.'' you said, but he didn't seem to hear you as his eyes darted around, looking everywhere except at your face.

His breathing was heavy and his veins were almost completely black. Tears were blurring your vision and your heart was beating fast as you tried to swallow the lump that was stuck inside your throat. ''Newt !'' you repeated, your voice cracking, finally capturing his attention and making him look at you. ''I'm not leaving you Newt. You hear me?'' you said as you shook his shoulders, trying to keep him attached to reality. ''We're going to make it. Both of us. We'll get the bloody hell out of here, together.'' you never broke eye contact with him while you spoke.''I'm not leaving you.''

''Y/N...'' Newt gasped, ''Please take this.'' he said as he reached to his pocket, taking off something that looked like a necklace.

''What- ? No Newt, later, we gotta move !''

''Take it...''

''Newt come on !''

''JUST TAKE IT !'' he suddenly screamed, making you back away from him. His eyes widened and the expression on his face softened when he realised what he had done.

''T-take it and go. Far away from m-me. Please...save yourself, Y/N.'' With his shaky hand, he handed you the necklace which you slowly took. You brought your hand up and placed it fondly on his damaged cheek, stroking it gently. You shook your head slowly as a single tear began to fall. ''I can't...''

“Save yourself, Y/N.” he begged, his words filled with desperation. You burst into full-on tears and began sobbing heavily ''I can't! I won't!''

''Then kill me! Kill me before I kill you!''

''Newt—"

''KILL ME! Kill me before I become one of them! Kill me! Do it! Just throw me off this bloody building!''

And then Newt’s eyes cleared, as if he’d gained one last trembling gasp of sanity, and his voice softened.

''Please, Y/N....Please.'' You could feel your heart cracking in your chest. You were unable to move. Seeing Newt like this killed you inside, but you couldn't kill him. How could you possibly kill your best friend ?

Suddenly, Newt moved and quickly reached for your gun, slipping his hand around the weapon before yanking it towards himself, pressing it against his temple with tears streaming down his cheeks.

''NO!'' you screamed, throwing the gun away. ''Newt please give me a chance! There's still time!"

''I TRUSTED YOU! I TRUSTED YOU Y/N! NOW KILL ME!'' Helpless, you tackled him to the ground and tried to hold him still. Newt grabbed your arm tightly as he tried to wiggle out of your hold. At this point, you didn't care about your safety anymore. Newt could kill you at any moment, but you just didn't care. You had failed him.

You were about to give up and let your body collapse to the ground when you heard footsteps coming your way. A wave of relief washed over your tensed body when you saw Thomas and Teresa running towards you.

"Thomas, help me !" you pleaded, allowing more tears to fall.

''Newt. Hey buddy, It's me. Come on, stay with me." Thomas quickly injected the serum into his best friend's veins. He didn't know exactly where it had to be injected, but he had to get it in fast. Both you and Teresa were holding Newt's body to stop him from moving, since he was now almost completely changing and screaming in pain.

After several seconds, Newt stilled completely and you could've sworn your heart had stopped beating for a short instant.

"T-Thomas...what's happening?'' you asked, your whole body trembling in fear. "Why isn't he moving?"

Thomas checked his pulse and before he had the chance to answer, an explosion occurred directly in front of you, at a distance of not more than fifty feet. You jerked backward and put your arm in front of your face for protection while Thomas leaned on Newt's body to protect him.

''Is everyone okay?'' Teresa eventually asked, looking around to see the damages it had caused.

Your ears were ringing but you nodded nonetheless.

---

''That's them!'' Thomas screamed, pointing to the Berg. ''Y/N, help me !'' he said before throwing Newt's arm around his shoulder, ready to carry him. You quickly ran by his side and you both carried Newt's inconscious body towards the Berg.

''Come on bud, we can do it. It's almost over.'' Thomas whispered as he readjusted Newt's arm around his shoulder. His legs had become very unsteady, and every inch of his body was trembling with exhaustion, just like yours.

''Y/N, you go first! Teresa, help me !'' You nodded quickly and moved, letting Teresa take over your position.

You quickly made your way over to the Berg, but your eyes widened when you realized how high it was. There was no way you could reach it.

"Get closer !"

"We can't, It's too dangerous !" Vince answered.

"Come on Y/N, reach! You can do it!" Minho yelled. "Give me your hand !"

"Come on Jorge, you gotta get closer!" You heard Gally yell from the Berg.

''Jump !''

''Come on, reach ! Come on !''

You took one last look at Newt, then Thomas and Teresa, who both nodded at you. Then, you took a deep breath and leaped off the ledge of the building, jumping onto the Berg. Gally and everyone else quickly helped you on board, and before you had the chance to glance down at your friends that were still on the burning building, you were slowly engulfed by darkness.

---

You woke up to the sound of crashing waves. You eyes slowly opened to the blinding sun, a small groan leaving your lips as you rubbed your eyes, slowly sitting up. You tried to get up but you head was spinning, so you quickly decided against your initial plan and stayed sat. Not even a minute later, Thomas entered the small room, causing you to smile.

"Thomas." You reached your arms out for him and you pulled him in for a tight hug.

"It's nice to see you, sleepyhead." he took a sit next to you. "How are you feeling?"

"I don't know. My head's spinning." you answered. "Where are we? Is everyone okay?" you asked, remembering that you hadn't had any news of Teresa and Newt since you had passed out.

Thomas avoided eye contact, which only worried you more. You took his hand in yours and squeezed it slightly, trying to hold back tears as his own eyes started watering.

"Teresa didn't make it."

Hearing those words felt like a punch in the chest. You tried to speak, but nothing came out. Instead you allowed a few tears to slip out and pulled Thomas for a hug, which he gladly accepted and returned.

"I'm sorry, Tom." he nodded.

"Newt is resting." he continued as he pulled away, probably not wanting to go into more details about Teresa. "We took care of him, he's getting better." You nodded and he tucked a lock of hair behind your ear before kissing your forehead.

"Now get some rest Y/N, you deserve it. And welcome to the Safe Haven."

---

You sat by the sea as everyone was gathered not far away, celebrating the life of those that they lost by engraving their names on a rock and sharing memories.

You considered yourself lucky. You had made it out alive, and most of your friends did too. Thomas, Gally, Minho, Brenda, Newt. You just wished you could've said goodbye to Teresa.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" a voice suddenly startled you out of your thoughts. That voice, you could've recognized it from anywhere. You stayed frozen for a few seconds before your gaze shifted to the source.

"Newt!" you jumped to your feet and threw your arms around his neck, holding him close as you cried silently. "I thought I was going to lose you." you croaked out before pulling away, your thumb brushing his cheek softly. His skin had regained it color and the black veins were almost completely gone. He looked exhausted though.

"I'm fine, love. All thanks to you." you let out a small, brief laugh of relief before pulling him back to you.

You stayed like this for a while, just enjoying each other's company. Your head rested on his chest and your arms were wrapped around each other as you both stared at the sea, admiring the beauty of the sunset reflecting onto the water until you eventually broke the silence.

"The necklace you gave me...It fell when I jumped onto the Berg. I'm sorry.''

"It was nothing important, love." Newt smiled and squeezed your body before pressing a kiss to your forehead. "We're alive. That's all that matters now."