#i've had a couple of moments where i've gone to hell and back to get the perfect result

[kissentz]

i'm honestly tired of thinking that everything i do is bullshit

[skz-bee123]

Telling Skz your ex texted you

Stray Kids reaction

A/N: So here's another reaction after a very long time. I hope it tuns out alright, I haven't gone through and edited it so if there's any mistakes, no there isn't. Jisung's one is again quite short, I don't know why this keeps happening to me but I find him very hard to write, hopefully a one-shot of him will make up for that (I've got a few ideas, I just need to write it out first). For Seungmin's part, the ending is a bit iffy but other then that, enjoy!

Word count: 5.2K

Bang Chan

"Hey babe?" You called out to your boyfriend who was in the kitchen getting himself a drink.

"Yeah?"

"My ex texted me, what should I text back?"

It goes silent for a couple moments before you call out to him again, "Channie?"

Loud footsteps make their way into the lounge and you see Chan, with a look of annoyance on his face as he makes his way over to you.

"What the fuck does he want?" Chan says as he stands in front of you.

"Just wanted to know if we could meet up." You respond.

Chan goes quiet and you wait for him to speak, watching him as you see his brain ticking over.

"He...wants to meet up?" Chan finally speaks.

You nod your head in confirmation.

"Hasn't that dickhead already put your through enough already? Why is he wanting to talk to you again?" Chan sits down next to you and grabs your hand. "I'm not going to be one of those boyfriends that tells you you can't go, because ultimately it's your choice. But...sweetheart...he put you through hell, he doesn't deserve to see you ever again."

Chan sighs before speaking again, "like I said, it's your choice. Either way I support you, I just personally think that you should ignore him, block him, just get rid of him."

You stay silent for a while before your phone dings again. You look down at it before pulling up the contact of your ex. You block him.

"I did it." You finally speak up.

"What did you do?" Chan asks, grabbing your hand.

You give Chan's hand a squeeze, "I blocked him, I don't know why I hadn't in the first place."

"It's alright baby, I get why you couldn't before."

"Yeah...but I've got you now so, I don't need him anymore."

"That's right, you've got me. And I'm not going anywhere."

Lee Minho

You had gotten a text from your ex.

You chewed on your bottom lip, making it raw and hurt as you agonised over what to do.

You knew you should just delete the messages that kept coming in but just couldn't work up the courage to do it.

You and your ex had not ended on good terms, he was borderline abusive and it took you awhile to work up the strength to leave him. When you finally did, you weren't the same person anymore.

You often got scared by loud shouting and raised hands always made you cower. Minho, you boyfriend of 7 months, knew all about this. He knew about the type of person your ex was and helped you break out of your shell again. He helped you become the person you once were before your ex took that away from you.

Despite all of this, Minho has never been a super protective boyfriend. He never really made a move to go out of his way to protect you, he's never actually really had the need to. Until now.

You were starting to feel anxiety making its way through your body, it clung to you in the most uncomfortable ways possible, squeezing the little bit of air out of your body.

You wanted to tell Minho, why? You weren't even sure yourself. To vent? For advice? To get him to deal with your ex? You don't know. All you know is that your shaking hands and fast-racing heart needed to be with him.

You make your way into your room where Minho was laying on your bed, watching his phone.

Minho looks up at your over the top of his phone before he goes back to watching. A few moments go by and you don't move from your spot in the doorway and Minho pauses his phone and places it down beside him, sitting up and looking over at you.

"Y/n-" Minho goes to say but is cut off from your phone ringing.

You look down and see your ex trying to call you. A sniffle escapes from you as tears well up in your eyes.

"I-" You try to get the words out but you're overcome with tears.

Minho stands up from the bed and makes his way over to you, he grabs your hands and pulls you over to the bed, sitting you both down. Minho gently wipes away your tears and looks at you with a concerned look on his face. "What happened?" He asks.

"My ex texted me." You whisper out, looking down at your hands.

A moment of silence passes before Minho speaks, "What did he say."

"That he wants to talk. He wants to meet up with me and apologise for how things were. he wants to see if we can work things out and get back together."

It goes quite between you two and you look up. Minho's face is blank as h stares off to the side, whatever he's thinking or feeling right now, you can't tell.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bother you with this." You mumble out.

Minho's face whips around to face you and he opens his mouth. Before he gets the chance to say something, he is once again cut off by your phone ringing.

You feel even more tears well up in your eyes as you see it's your ex trying to call you again. Before you even get the chance to decline the call, your phone is swiped out of your hands.

You watch as Minho answers the call and places it up towards his ear.

"This isn't Y/n." Minho says. There's a moment of silence before he speaks again. "Her fucking boyfriend dickhead."

You watch as a look of pure anger forms on Minho's face, "now you listen here you fucking piece of shit. You contact my girl one more time and I promise you that I'll find you and make your life a living hell. Do you understand me?"

Minho seems to be satisfied with himself as he ends the call, blocking the number of your ex. He throws your phone over to the side of the bed and runs a hand through his hair before looking at you.

"You're not a bother Y/n."

Hearing this confuses you, "huh?"

"Before that son of a bitch called, you said you didn't want to bother me with this. Y/n, you're not a bother to me."

"I just...I just didn't know what to do. You just never really seem to care about this stuff so I just assumed..." you trail off.

"I don't care?" Minho looks at you with a hurt look on his face, "you really think I don't care about you?"

"NO!" You quickly scramble to explain yourself. "I know you care about me but you just never really seem to care about you know...other guys...and like what sets me off and that. I'm sorry, I don's really know what I'm saying."

"Baby..." Minho starts, bringing his hand up to your face. "I'm sorry I made you feel that way because it's far from true."

"Huh?"

"Before you met the boys, I had a long talk with them. Of course I didn't tell them everything but a few basics. You know how they can get with new people they meet, they're loud and touchy. I didn't want them to overwhelm you so I told them to just watch themselves. Even now, sometimes I know that they can get a bit much so I step in. I step in and make up reasons to excuse us because I know you need to have some space but you're too scared to say anything."

"I'm always watching you baby. Always." Minho continues. "It kills me to know what you went through and i know that although you're doing so much better, somethings things set you back. And that's okay. But I know that these setbacks really affect you, so I watch you. I watch so that if you need me to step in, I will. I always will, baby."

"I'm sorry, I really didn't know." You say.

"It's alright baby. You mean to much to me and it hurts me to know you're upset."

You push Minho down onto his back and lay on top of him, putting your head underneath his head, snuggling into his chest. You feel his arms come up to wrap around you protectively as Minho places a kiss on the top of your head.

"I love you Min." You whisper out as your eyes fall close, exhausted from today's events.

"I love you too baby, so much more than you'll ever know."

Seo Changbin

It first happened when you were getting ready to go out for breakfast with your boyfriend, Changbin. You had just finished putting your coat on and was waiting for Changbin to come out of the bathroom so that you both could leave when you got the text.

At first you didn't quite know who it was from, simply thinking it was from a wrong number, so you just brushed it off, not giving it a second thought.

The second time it happened, you and Changbin were walking back from breakfast. It was this time that it clicked to you who exactly was texting you. Blocking the number, you thought that that would be it. Of course though, you were wrong.

All throughout the day you had been receiving text messages from you ex, some pleading for you to take him back, others threatening you for leaving. It left you with an uncomfortable feeling inside of you and you were not quite yourself.

You thought you had been quite good at keeping it to yourself, but your boyfriend, who had noticed right away that something was up, thought that you would come to him when or if you needed too.

But after going to entire day with you looking over your shoulder, Changbin was currently very worried. Worried enough that he decided that if you weren't going to say anything to him, he was going to have to make the first move.

You both were currently sitting down on a park bench, just watching the scenery, it was just reaching sunset.

"Baby?" Changbin calls out to you.

"Yeah?" You turn towards Changbin with a smile on your face.

"Something's been bothering you all day and I've been waiting for you to come to me about it but you haven't. I just don't like seeing you so uncomfortable."

"Nothing's wrong."

"You've been constantly checking your phone and looking over your shoulder, I'm worried baby."

You start to chew your bottom lip and Changbin notices this, he reaches a hand up and gently pulls your lip out from your teeth with his thumb. "None of that love, you'll just hurt yourself. Tell me what's wrong?"

You open your mouth to say something but suddenly your eyes widen as you look over Changbin's shoulder and you're squeezing his hand. Changbin looks over his shoulder and watches a man walk towards you both.

Not quite recognising him but at the same time feeling that this man is somehow familiar to him, Changbin still protectively moves in front of you and watches as the man stops in front of the both of your. He completely disregards Changbin and speak to you.

"Babe, I've been texting you all day. How come you haven't been texting me back huh?" The man speaks.

Changbin turns towards you and all he sees is fear written all over your face and that's enough for him to feel an immense amount of anger well up inside of him.

The man steps forward and reaches out to grab your hand but before he gets the chance Changbin grabs his wrist.

"I don't know who you think you are. But she is not your 'babe'. Changbin speaks with venom in his words and pushes the man's hand away.

The man turns towards Changbin with annoyance, lacing his voice as he speaks. "And who are you?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but I'm Y/n's boyfriend. And you are?"

"Whatever, Y/n babe. Comeback to me, yeah? We can talk about it." The man, who Changbin now recognises as your ex, takes a step towards you and at this Changbin stands up, shoving the man away.

"You take one step closer to her and I swear to God you're going to regret it. Leave and don't contact her again, do you understand?" Despite being shorter than your ex, Changbin was bigger.

"I said. Do. You. Understand?" Changbin says putting emphasis on each individual word.

Your ex nods his head before turning away and walking off. It isn't until your ex is completely out of sight that Changbin sits back down and turns towards you. Noticing the silent tears rolling down your face, Changbin pulls you into a hug.

"We don't need to talk about it now. But I think we need to have a talk later, yeah?" Changbin mumbles into your hair.

You pull away from Changbin and start to apologise. "I'm-" but before you could even finish your sentence you're cut off by Changbin.

No, none of that. Let's just go back home, make some hot chocolate and cuddle while we watch movies, okay?"

You nod your head at him and he stands up, gently pulling you up with him. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Hwang Hyunjin

"Jinnie?"

You wait for an answer only to receive none. You sigh and make your way over to the bed where your boyfriend was wrapped up in the blankets.

"Jin?"

You see Hyunjin's eyes look at you before he turns around so his back is facing you. You sit down on the bed next to him and tug at the blankets. You feel a smile form on your face as you feel Hyunjin tug the blankets back from you.

"Baby."

"Oh am I still your baby huh? I thought you had replaced me." As Hyunjin says this he turns to look at you. Noticing the big smilie on your face he just pouts. "And now you're laughing at me."

You flop onto him, wrapping your arms and legs around Hyunjin. "I'm not laughing."

"On the inside you definitely are."

"Okay maybe that's true but it's only because you're so cute."

Hyunjin narrows his eyes at you suspiciously.

"Baby, you know that I love you right

and that me texting my ex, who I am completely over by the way, would never change that? Beside you, my love, are a lot more handsome.” 

Hyunjin sighs and a smile finally makes its way onto his face. “I know. But it definitely doesn’t pain me to hear it again from you.” 

You roll your eyes at him painfully. “Well if that’s what it takes to stop you from your dramatics, that I’ll tell you over and over again.” 

“Dramatics?” Hyunjin looks at you offended. “I am NOT dramatic.” 

“Jinnie, you are the definition of dramatic.” 

“You know what? For that, I’m not speaking to you again.” Hyunjin gently pushes you off him and rolls over so he’s facing away from you as your laughter sounds around the room.

Han Jisung

“You’ve been staring at your phone for a while, is everything alright?” 

You turn to look up at Jisung who had asked you that question, you smile at him softly before replying, “Yeah, Minjun texted me.” 

“Minjun, your ex?”

You nod your head before looking back down at your phone, replying to a text Minjun sent you. 

Some time passes and you’ve noticed that Jisung has been really quiet, you look up at him to see him staring off, a spaced out look on his face. 

“Ji?” You gently call out for Jisung. 

Jisung snaps out of the daze he was in and looks at you, “Yeah?” 

You move closer to where Jisung is sitting and grab his hand, rubbing your thumb over his. “You were staring into nothing, just wanting to make sure you were okay.” 

“You…your ex.” Jisung mumbles.

“What about him?” 

“How come you’re talking to him?” 

“Oh, you know how he ended up dating one of my friends after we broke up?” 

Jisung nods his head. 

“Well he wants to propose to her, just asking me for some advice on how to go about it.” 

“Oh.” You see Jisung visibly relax and you place your head on his shoulder, snuggling into him. 

“You don’t have to worry Ji, I would never leave you.” 

“I know, I guess I just got into my head a bit is all.” 

With the hand that’s holding Jisung’s, you bring it up to your lips, and place a kiss on his hand. “I know my love, that’s why I’m always here to bring you out of it when you get too far.”

You feel a kiss being placed on the top of your head as Jisung mumbles, ‘I love you’ into your hair. 

Lee Felix

You and your ex ended your relationship on good terms. At the time you both just realised that you weren’t right for each other and agreed that maybe being a couple just wasn’t good for you both.

Your ex ended up getting a promotion at work and had to go overseas for some time. You were extremely happy for him but ended up losing contact.

That’s why when your ex texted you out of the blue, you were surprised yes, but also happy. 

“What’s got you all happy, my love?” 

You looked over at Felix who walked into the living room where you were sitting on the couch. 

“Do you remember Minjun?”

This causes Felix to stop in his tracks. “Like..your ex Minjun?” 

You nod your head, “Mhm.”

“Yeah I do. What about him?” 

“He’s back in Seoul and asked if we could meet up.” 

“Oh.” 

You look up from your phone then and over to Felix.

“Lix.” You call out softly. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” Felix smiles at you, although you could tell it was forced. “Are you gonna…meet up with him?” 

“Probably, it would be nice to see how he’s doing.”

“Oh..that’s-that’s good then.” 

A bit confused, you slowly nod your head. “Uh yeah, it is. Are you sure everything is alright?” 

“Yeah, everything’s fine, really.” 

You stare at Felix for a moment before continuing on. “Well, Minjun is officially back to live in Seoul now. He’s worked his way up and is now extending his branch more.” 

“You certainly know a lot about Minjun.” 

“We’ve just been texting, trying to find time to catch up.” 

Felix goes really quiet then. You could tell something was bothering him but he just wouldn’t admit it. Getting a bit worried you sit closer to Felix and grab his hands. 

“Lix..what’s wrong? And don’t say it’s nothing, because it obviously is something.”

Felix doesn’t look at you as he speaks. “You and Minjun.” 

“What about us?” You asked, slightly confused.

“You both were very close.”

“We were.”

“And he’s a very handsome guy who is back and wants to meet up with you.” 

It suddenly clicks in your head what was up with Felix. Reaching over, you gently grab Felix’s face in your hands and turn his face to look at yours. “Lixie.” 

“Yeah?”

“I love you so much.” 

Felix eyes widen as you say those words, neither of you had spoken them outloud before, so this moment meant a lot. “You love me?” 

“I do.” You nod your head. “Very much, and some silly old ex isn’t going to change that okay?” 

“Even if he’s really handsome.” 

“In my eyes, no one is more handsome than you. And I will fight anyone who says otherwise.” 

Felix lets out a soft laugh, “I love you too.” 

You smile at Felix before leaning in and placing your head on his chest, closing your eyes. You feel Felix run his fingers through your hair as you feel him relax underneath you. 

“Don’t overthink it okay? I love you a lot and that won’t ever change.” You say, your words muffled from your face being stuffed in Felix’s chest. 

“I know my love and I love you a lot too.” Felix says before closing his eyes and falling asleep with you held tightly to his chest. 

Kim Seungmin

You and Seugmin were just chilling on your couch. He for once had a few days off and chose to spend it with you. It was silent between both you had, had been for the past couple of hours until you broke the silence.

You had been debating with yourself whether or not you should speak to Seungmin about this, but seeing as he was your boyfriend, you decided that you should. It would honestly make you feel better if you did. 

“Hey Minnie?” You finally speak up.

Seungmin just hums not looking up from his phone but letting you know that you had his attention. 

“My um…my ex texted me.” 

“Nice try Y/n.” 

You look at Seungmin confused. “Huh?” 

Seungmin, still not looking at you, answers “I’ve seen this over tik tok. I know you’ve been getting me good with your pranks but this time it’s not gonna work babe.” 

You go quiet for a bit, silently cursing yourself for all the pranks you’ve pulled on your boyfriend. But this time, it wasn’t a prank, your ex had actually texted you and it had left you feeling uncomfortable. 

Not quite knowing what to say you just turn into yourself, staring off into space. 

“Y/n?” 

You look over to Seungmin to see him watching you. “Hmm?” 

“Something’s wrong.” Seungmin doesn’t ask, he states.

You don’t say anything and this causes Seungmin to move closer towards you, grabbing your hand. 

“You weren’t pranking me were you?” Seungmin asks. “Your ex actually did text you.” 

You just nod your head and show him the text messages from your phone. You watch as a wave of anger washes over his face before turning towards you, locking your phone and throwing it gently towards the side. 

“I’m sorry.” You blurt. 

“What are you sorry for?” 

“For always pranking you, it’s not..I mean I just…I don’t know. I guess I thought they were funny but…” You say turning your face away from Seungmin but Seungmin’s fingers gently turn your face to look back at him. 

“They are funny. I might not show it, but the joy it gives you when you successfully prank me, makes me happy. And besides, all your pranks are completely harmless.”

“I guess so.” 

You watch as Seungmin sighs before he leans forward and places a small kiss on your forehead, lingering there for a few seconds. “Why don’t you let me deal with this douchebag of an ex and then we can talk about all the pranks I know you have planned for the members, I’m more than willing to be an accomplice.”

“Yeah?” 

“Oh yeah baby, the two of us together? The boys are not gonna know what’s hit them, and let’s just say, it’s gonna be amazing.” 

Yang Jeongin

Your ex texting you had been completely out of the blue. Your relationship had ended because of the fact that he was moving, needing to move countries because of work and you couldn’t because your own responsibilities kept you where you were. 

So your relationship ended on mutual terms. Over time, the two of you did end up losing contact with each other, simply because of time differences and the fact that you had found someone new. 

You had been at the boys practice, having finished work for the day, you decided to drop by and watch them. And although you and Jeongin weren’t heavy on the pda, it was obvious that Jeongin needed you there. Not saying it out loud but sending you a smile and a squeeze to your hand was all it took for you to stay longer than orginially planned. 

It was while the boys were dancing that you recieved the text from your ex. 

The conversation with your ex went as so:

Ex: Hey Y/n, haven't spoken for a long while now. I’m currently back in Seoul and was wondering if you wanted to meet up?”

You: Oh Minjun! How have you been? It’s been what, 3 years since you’ve last been back to Seoul?” 

Ex: Yea, it’s been awhile. But the company has been quite successful and they’ve made a branch here in Seoul, I was made to move with it, and oversee it all.

You: Wow, that’s amazing, I’m proud of you.

Ex: Thanks! So about that catch up? What do you say?

You: Yeah of course! Just let me know what you're free and we can sort something out.

You and your ex organise a time and date to meet, you're so engrossed in the conversation with your ex that you don’t even realise that the boys are on a break and that they’re currently trying to get your attention.

“Y/n!”

Your name being yelled causes you to look up and you notice all the boys, obviously taking a break have sat all around you and are looking at you. 

“Yeah?” You smile at them all before looking over at Jeongin who was calling your name.

“I’ve been trying to get your attention for the past couple of minutes.” Jeongin says. 

“Oh sorry Innie, Minjun texted me and I’ve just been making plans with him.” You respond, grabbing Jeongin’s hand and bringing it onto your lap, showing him the messages between you and your ex. 

“How’s it going so far?” You turn to the boys as Jeongin reads through the messages. 

“It’s going, that’s all I can really say at the moment.” Chan speaks for the rest of the boys who all nod their heads. 

“Well I know you all will get there, I mean, you always do.” 

Jeongin hands you your phone back, not saying anything as you continue to talk with all the boys.

“Ok, I know we all noticed it but I’m gonna be the one to say it.” Jisung says, interrupting the conversation you were having with Felix. 

You turn to Jisung with a raised eyebrow, “noticed what?” 

“Jeongin.” Jisung points towards him. 

“What about him?” You asked confused.

“I’m not the only one right?” Jisung ignores your question and asks his own. 

The other members all nod their heads. You turn to look at Jeongin but don’t notice anything wrong with him. 

“What’s wrong with Jeongin?” You ask again. 

“Ever since you mentioned at Minjeon? Minjin? guy, and then letting Jeongin read the messages the obviously happened between you both, Jeongin’s had his jaw clenched and a far off look on his face.” Seungmin finally answers you. 

“Oh Minjun? He’s my ex, he just texted cause he wants to meet up.” You smile, completely oblivious. 

“Your ex? You ended on good terms then?” Chan asks. 

You nod your head. “Yeah, he had to move countries because of work but I couldn’t leave home because of school and work. So we both decided to break up. He’s currently back in Seoul, for the first time in 3 years, just texted me and asked if we could catch up.” 

“What else did you guys text about?” 

“Oh he just mentioned about going to the cafe where we had our first date, it ended up becoming one we went to all the time.” You smile at the memories. 

“He also called you pretty and that he couldn’t wait to see you in person. Said he missed you a lot.” Jeongin speaks for the first time. 

You turn towards him with a confused look. “He didn’t call me pretty but he did say that he missed me and wanted to catch up.” 

You look at all the other boys and notice them glancing at each other. “I’m sorry, have I done something wrong?” You ask nervously.

“No love, it’s just that, he was your first boyfriend right?” Chan smiles at you. 

You nod your head, “yeah, he was my first and then i’ve been with Jeongin ever since.” 

“Alright well, from what I’m getting here, your ex doesn’t have a new partner?” 

“Not that I know of. But we haven't spoken in a while, so maybe.” 

“Okay, so let’s say he doesn’t, and from the look on Jeongin’s face after he read the messages. Your ex was trying to flirt with you.” 

“What?!” You exclaim in shock. You quickly grab your phone and read through the messages, realising that it did indeed look like your ex was flirting with you. 

“Jeongin I…I’m sorry, I didn’t realise. I wasn’t flirting with him, I promise.” You quickly rush to explain. 

Jeongin doesn’t say anything, just clenches his jaw. With a nudge from Chan, Jeongin speaks. 

“No baby, it’s alright, I know you weren’t flirting with him. I was just jealous I guess.” Jeongin reaches over and brushes some hair away from your face, letting his hand rest on your face. 

You reach a hand up and grab Jeongin’s one that was resting on your face. You smile at him before speaking. “I can cancel my hang out with him if you want?”

“No baby, you don’t have to do that on my terms. I know you were looking forward to catching up with him.”

“Yeah, but you’re obviously uncomfortable about that and I would rather just not go.” 

“Why don’t you just text him and make it clear that you’ve got a boyfriend? You can still go and hang out with him, just as long as he knows you're taken.”

“Taken but the most amazing guy ever.” You grin, a toothy grin at Jeongin.

Jeongin laughs under his breath a little before leaning forward and placing a kiss on your forehead. “I love you," he mumbles into your head.

“I love you too.” 

Plus a little extra of the boys looking at your both with heart eyes. 

“Omg they’re so cute.” 

“I know right, like can you believe we raised him to be like this.” 

“Yeah and Y/n, what a cutie.”

“Ahh I just wanna squeeze their cheeks.” 

A slapping sound can be heard as Minho looks down at Felix, Jisung, Hyunjin and Changbin who were fangirling over the two of you. 

“They're obviously having a moment, leave them alone.” Chan says. 

“Exactly, Jeongin’s very private when it comes to his relationship with Y/n, let’s just leave them alone.” Seungmin says. 

“Awww, but they’re just so cute.” Felix whines. 

“Yeah! Even you all must admit that this is just so heartwarming to watch.” Jisung says. 

“Maybe it is, but let’s leave them to it alright boys.” Chan says as he rounds the pouting boys up and walks them out the door. 

As all the boys leave, Chan and Minho linger in the door, a soft smile on both their faces. 

“They are really cute though.” Chan says to Minho. “Makes me want to wrap them up and protect them both from the world.” 

“I know how you feel, come on your old man, let’s get these kids some food. Then we’ll bring some back for the two lovebirds.” Minho says with a small smile on his face as both he and Chan leave both you and Jeongin in the dance practice room to spend some time together. 

[smoulderingocean]

On June Osborne and Grief

I've been thinking a lot about June and grief in this final episode of The Handmaid's Tale. While there are some flaws, the more I've sat with it, the more I've come to appreciate the brutal and raw honesty of it.

I’m going to be straight with y’all before I get into the analysis: I have had serious issues with June going back to the start of the third season. I have serious issues with her still, as you can see from my posts from episode nine of this season. But with that said, there is something striking about her grief in this final episode and I'm going to be somewhat generous with her here as grief is a difficult, complicated, painful thing to live through and is something that happens for years and years. (Bruce Miller himself said June would be grieving this loss for 25 years and frankly I see that as a low estimate.)

Having currently been going through the grieving process myself, there are a lot of recognizable things going on here with June. She is numb, she is angry, she is detached, she thinks of good times warmly but can't linger on them because the pain is too fresh, and she has so many emotions that she can't work through them all.

The most prominent emotions we see with her are shock and anger.

Let's get the anger out of the way first because it's this part of the story that I see people upset with. And I get it! June's words are awful. They're cruel and heartless and they're lies. And she knows it. She's saying those terrible things for a couple reasons. The most obvious one is that June is projecting the feelings she has at herself towards Nick. She is angry with herself for not helping him and for not being there when he needed her like he always was for her. She is trying to justify the terrible choice she made, because she knows deep down when she accepts what she did, the devastation of it is going to destroy her because she made the wrong choice and it cost her the love of her life and her daughter her father and Nick's unborn baby their father. June knows that in the future she is going to have to explain to those two why their father is gone and that they may well reject her completely because of it. So by projecting her anger, she is protecting herself for the time being. But it will come to get her eventually.

June is also trying to ignore the fact that she is violent and dishonest. June is the one who is reaping what she sowed and she is suffering for it. By dumping those words on a dead man who can't fight back and force her to look at herself, she can push past a part of herself that she doesn't like and doesn't want to see. But she can't run from that forever.

On top of being angry at herself, June is genuinely angry with Nick. In a tight spot, he messed up and shattered every perfect illusion she had of him, turning him from a perfect dream to a complex imperfect human. A terrible, devastating thing happened as a result and in his panic, Nick did not tell her himself (not that I'm sure it would have made a difference) and that fear-based deception also hurt her. Things then fell to pieces because June in turn made a terrible choice. Without her Nick spiralled completely, lost without any love. It is not lack of sex we die from, it is lack of love, and this is starkly visible with Nick as the lack of love in his life drove him deep into Gilead survival mode and he died in the end.

I truly don't think June meant the things she said. She doesn't think he's violent or dishonest or bad or that he reaped what he sowed. In the episode she looks up at the sky and is clearly thinking of him in the moment. It's a subtle acknowledgement from her that he was truly good and he's in heaven, not hell, as she directed her gaze heavenwards and her eyes lingered. She knows in her heart who he was and where he's waiting for her, because now Nick can wait for her and he will be there for her when she gets there.

As for shock, June spends much of the episode in a daze, wandering around and just completely incapable of truly hearing kind words about Nick. Early grief is full of shock as our worlds are destroyed and our brains are trying to keep us alive and we are narrow in our focus. June struggles to even acknowledge those kind words to the degree that she needs to in order to even begin properly grieving this loss, but in the moment she knows Serena was right: Nick never had a real choice in life and if he did, that choice would have been her. (And these words again go back to her guilt- she killed a man who had no real choice and that's a terrible thing. Nick was possibly the most trapped person she knew as unlike others, he had no freedom anywhere that didn’t come compromised, and she made no effort to help him find his way out when he couldn't see a way.) She has an easier time accepting that Nick loves her, because it is impossible to deny such a thing, even after everything that happened- his love for her became his entire existence and she knew it (and frankly she liked it until it became imperfect). It is also impossible to deny he kept her alive and without him she is vulnerable. June is not someone that likes feeling vulnerable and so pushing Nick away in her mind is her trying and failing to not feel vulnerable without him there.

June looks at his apartment, at their little sanctuary, and smiles a broken, faltering smile. She wants to go there and to live in their love, but she is not ready and so she walks away. To go in she first needs to accept she killed him when she could have helped and that she rejected him in his darkest hour when she should have embraced him. In order to accept her role in his death, she needs to accept she is not a perfect person; she is not above others or more moral than them or more righteous. Without Nick there loving her, it'll take a lot longer for her to accept that as he loved all of her, good, bad, and ugly, and in a way no one else has. (And I think his love overwhelmed her and scared her in a way, as he loved her more than she'd ever been loved before.) But when she does, the real work in grieving will begin and that will take many, many, many years. It'll probably take years just for her to accept herself as flawed and that she killed Nick.

When she does accept her flawed self and then her role in Nick's death, I think she'll be grieving him more fully and will be able to open up that apartment door once more and then she'll embrace that he was a flawed man who she did love very much and that she betrayed him and not the other way around. She'll fully live in the love they shared and in the dreams they had that never came to be, and especially in what she has deprived their daughter and his child of. (At the very least, she needs to be looking for Blaine family members to help fill that gap, and this will come once she gets into this grieving space.) She'll def be experiencing complicated grief and will spend decades in the throes of it. But she'll get to experience the good side of things too, once she gets there, as the happy moments will be lived in more and will feel more happy and not bogged down by everything else.

I picked up on a bit of tension in the music in this ep and I think that combined with June's wife coloured teal coat is a sort of nod to her being like the wives of Gilead- standing by and causing so much pain in their goals of achieving their own ends, everyone else be damned. And June is having to face that she is like Serena in ways she hates and that Nick's death is the result of that.

With all that said, I just wish this show didn't rely on subtext so much. Bruce Miller had always relied too much on subtle glances and facial expressions, and doesn’t use dialogue and props enough. They needed a line of June telling Nichole that her Daddy loved her, perhaps another of her really feeling that guilt (Moira would have been perfect here, especially given she lost her fiancee and so she understands this specific type of grief well). A moment of creating a little memorial for Nick or pulling out a secret photo of him and smiling also would have been helpful in adding depth to her grief and emotions. All that would have tied June’s regret and pain together so much better. They lacked a balance with her cruel words and showing what she was actually feeling deep down. Yes, it’s not in her nature to be open or rational, especially when it comes to Nick. But having her do so, even if only with Nichole would have portrayed badly needed character growth.

All in all, after a lot of reflection, I think they got it decently right. Grief can be deeply ugly and we see that here. I just wish we’d seen the beautiful side of grief too, which is love. Grief and love go hand in hand and cannot be divorced.

[live-laugh-lenney]

plz could you write something where you have an awful day and arthurtv cuddles you and looks after you

(I’ve had a horrific day lol)

it had been one of those days.

in fact, no...

it had been one of those weeks for yn, where everything seemed to go against her and seemed to go wrong and against her favour, and she felt she was ready to burst with every emotion that was coursing through her body. she felt anger at how nothing was going right, she felt sadness at how things out of her control seemed to be her own fault, she felt under pressure at how she wanted to please her co-workers as well as the customers she served, she felt alone in each situation... and she missed arthur.

he'd been away for just over a couple of weeks with arthur hill and george and chip, in sri lanka filming video for chip's channel, and she had really felt gap in her life that would usually be filled with arthur and his presence.

and with a week like she'd had, where she'd been shouted at by her customers and dealt with the stresses of working in hospitality, all she wanted to do was curl up in bed with arthur and a cup of tea and a blanket and sleep off the problems and to wake up on a brand new day that she hoped would go better.

when she walked through the doors to the building of her flat, she felt a weight lifting off of her shoulders knowing that she was done for the day, didn't need to work the evening dinner shift, and that she was due a couple of days off. her feet ached, her back hurt and she could feel the lump in her throat that was burning and aching due to the built-up tears that were screaming to be let free. her bag brushes against her upper thigh and her hand dug around for her house keys, eagerness in every step she stepped closer to her door and as she dug deep for the bunch of keys.

a pair of trainers caught her eye once she closed her front door.

"arthur?"

"what gave me away?"

he sounded genuinely stunned and confused, peeking his head from around the kitchen door and grinning widely in her direction... yet the smile soon disappeared when he saw the look on her face and the tense and hunched-over posture she was sporting. her bag drops to the floor and her shoes go long forgotten in the hallway, kicked off and she made a mental note to move them later that evening, craving nothing more than to feel his arms wrapped around her.

and as soon as she wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her cheek against his chest and inhaling his scent. a strong mix of his cologne and his deodorant and a tiny hint of his shower gel and his shampoo, which gave her clarity that he'd gone home to freshen up before he surprised her after his trip away. his arms tighten around her, feeling her melt under his touch and all her aches and pains had seemingly fizzled away in that brief moment, and he knew she'd been after some intimacy for a while.

"lovie, what's the matter? what's happening?"

"i'm just glad you're home."

he hums, pressing a kiss to her hairline, but it sounds uncertain and he wanted to dig further and find out what the truth was... except he didn't want to push her into telling him something she just didn't feel like talk about in that moment.

"you've always been a terrible liar, yn," he laughs softly to lighten the mood and he can feel her frown into his chest, "but i'm not going to force you to talk to me about whatever is bothering you. but i'm here if you need to get things off your chest. you know that."

"i know. i just," she sighs and looks up at him, arms still tight around him like he'd walk away if she let go, "i've had a terrible week at work and everything's been going wrong and i don't know why or what the hell is happening to the universe but it seemed to be that week where the karen's and the moaners and the entitled arseholes come out."

"oh," he looks down at her and she smiles with a tight-lipped smile, "i'm sorry, lovie. a difficult week?"

she nods and he loosens his grip on her and cups her face with the palms of his hands, thumbs rubbing against her cheeks and she tilts her head into his touch. something she'd been longing for for a long few days.

"it didn't help that you weren't here, either," she says and his chest tightens a bit with guilt - through their facetime calls and their texts, she didn't make it clear she was struggling and having a tough time at home so it broke him, a little inside, to know she did it by herself and with no outlet. "but enough about me, tell me about sri lanka."

"that can wait," he says softly, dropping his hands from her face and enticing her to follow him into the kitchen, "talk to me. tell me the problem. get it off your chest and stop worrying about it by yourself."

she pouts at the loss of contact and follows him into her kitchen, seeing a bag full of her favourite takeaway food, a smile forming and the rumble in her tummy made her realise that she'd not eaten much for the entire day. he voluntarily gets plates out of her cupboards, followed by cutlery, before he starts to dish it out on their plates. her mouth watering at the aromas being given off.

"it's just been a stressful week," she stands beside him and watches as he shares out the food in the containers, "i really don't want to talk about it right now, okay? please, arthur."

"alright," he nods understandingly and she offers her help in dishing up their takeaway, taking the cutlery and a couple of glasses through to where her dining area was in her flat, with him hot in her heels and their dinner in his hands, "so, sri lanka, yeah?" x

[steddieas-shegoes]

One sentence for your brain kickstart

"How did you do that?!"

Eddie was certain that Nancy Wheeler was the one who sold her soul to the devil.

Or maybe he was just a little loopy from the drugs they were still pumping into his system.

He was told if he could finish all his exams with a C or better, he could graduate. Kind of a "we're sorry we were wrong about you but we want you gone" thing.

Nancy made him flashcards, and sat with him for a couple hours every afternoon going over her own study guides for classes.

She'd quickly found that he was smart enough to pass without her help, except for one subject: pre-calculus.

He tried, she watched him try, and she tried so hard to explain in a way that he could understand, but he just couldn't.

"I'm calling in reinforcements," she said on the third afternoon in a row of Eddie getting so frustrated his heart rate spiked and a nurse walked in to make sure he was okay.

"Who at Hawkins is smarter than you?" Eddie asked, doing his best not to let the frustrated tears fall yet.

"Overall? No one. But in pre-calc? Steve."

No way.

There was no way.

"Steve Harrington? The Steve that carried me out of hell? The Steve that looked me in my eye yesterday and asked if I knew any Hobbits in real life?" Eddie's confusion only grew as Nancy started to nod along. "You can't be fuckin' serious. My future depending on the abilities of Steve."

"If he can't help, I'm not sure who can."

So they finished up his biology practice exam and waited.

When Steve arrived, Nancy caught him up on everything while Eddie watched him nodding along, hands on his hips like he was receiving his next instructions during a basketball game.

She left, saluting him on her way out the door, an unreadable smirk on her face.

"So. Pre-calc is trying to kill you?" Steve asked as he sat in the chair Nancy had just occupied.

"It may succeed," he grumbled back.

"Nah. If I can pass with an A, you can." Steve looked over one of the papers Nancy had handed to him before leaving, brows furrowing. "This is from the practice test you did?"

"Failed it," Eddie nodded, playing with the rings on his finger.

Steve set the papers down on his meal tray on wheels, pulling it closer so they could both look at it.

"I see where you were going. You just took a wrong turn, see?" Steve started working the problem from the beginning, the pencil scratching against the paper as Steve found the answer with ease.

"How did you do that?!" Eddie asked after a moment of shocked silence.

"I'll show you slowly. You're just overthinking the third step."

Steve explained each step, showing him as he went exactly what to do.

It took a couple tries, but Eddie finally got it.

The next day, Nancy gave him another practice test.

He passed with a B.

And after another study session with Steve, he passed the real thing with an A.

When Steve heard, he leaned down and kissed the top of his head unexpectedly.

Eddie stared up at him with wide eyes.

"Dammit. I knew the drugs were good, but now I know I've been dreaming this whole time," Eddie whispered, afraid to wake himself up.

"They haven't even given you anything today so you could take your exams, Eds."

"Oh. Right." Eddie blinked. "So, that was real?"

Steve answered with a brush of his lips against Eddie's.

[ladykailitha]

A Love For Christmas Part 7

Hello! Welcome to penultimate chapter! I've been loving the little guess on the elf, who will be revealed tonight in the final chapter. Thank you to everyone who liked, commented, and reblogged. You make my day brighter.

Sledding is fun is because it's dangerous. And the company holiday party arrives.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

~

The next thing I put the little elf in charge of was the sleds used for sledding. There isn’t much to do in the North Pole, so we always trying to have some fun. Ice skating and sledding are two such pleasures we get to enjoy year round.

I let out a jolly laugh to see that they were finally having fun. Just enjoying themselves and being free.

I should have known that wasn’t going to last.

They got up on the highest hill with the swiftest sled and with one mighty push, they were careening down the slope, getting faster and faster.

I thought for sure they would hit the bottom of the slope and jackknife right into the snow bank at the bottom.

But I was wrong.

What happened might well be considered worse.

They hit the bottom of the slope, but instead of slowly, like it was meant to, it kept going. The elf tried to steer. To get it to slow down.

But it was fruitless.

They saw what was coming and dived off the sled, rolling into the snow. They rose in time to watch the runaway sled crash through the remaining snowpeople, knocking them down like bowling pins or dominoes.

They looked up at me, eyes wide with shame and bewilderment. There was no reason it should have continued like that.

And I suspected sabotage and sure enough another elf’s name appeared on my naughty list that afternoon.

So I gathered up the elf and told them, I would find something special for them to do. Something I knew they could be good at if they tried.

Making friends.

~

When Steve told Eddie that he had never gone sledding because it was too dangerous, the arborist made his mission to get Steve on the slopes as soon as possible. But that meant it would be the morning of the office Christmas party, which Steve was absolutely fine with.

Hell, if it was as dangerous as his mother claimed, maybe he would be in the hospital with a broken leg and he wouldn’t even have to go.

He bought a nice two person sled as well a single seater and brought them to Eddie’s nursery as that was where he was meeting him.

Wayne came out first as he always did because he liked talking to Steve.

“Hey Steve,” he greeted warmly. “I hear you’re taking Eddie to that fancy ‘do of yours tonight. Aren’cha worried he might bring little bit more...bedlam then the occasion calls for?”

Steve threw back his head and laughed. “God, I hope so! I hope he brings all the chaos loving, long haired, metalhead energy he has in him. I want people to see how wonderfully wild and outrageous he is, because I that’s what I adore about him.”

Wayne blinked at him for a moment and then rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “And Eddie is aware of this...plan?”

“Yup!” Eddie said cheerfully, popping out from behind one of the Noble firs. “It’s part of the reason I agreed to go. Me and Stevie here are going to have a real good time.”

Wayne shook his head fondly. “All right, as long you both know what you’re in for, I’m not going to stop ya.”

“We’re taking my van,” Eddie said, turning to Steve, “if that’s okay.”

“Yup!” Steve replied licking his lips and pursing them to hide the bright smile on his face. “I’ll just grab my sleds and I’ll meet you at the van.”

“Great!” Eddie said full dimples on display and Steve couldn’t help the feeling of warmth that sunk into his soul that it was aimed at him.

He hurried to his car and got the two sleds out of his car and trotted over to Eddie’s van.

Eddie tilted his head to the side. “Wha’cha got two for?”

“I’m too chicken to go myself the first couple of times,” he said holding up the two-seater. “So I’m hoping you’ll go with me in this. And then...” he held up the single person sled, “once I’m brave enough to go on my own, that’s what this is for!”

Eddie cocked his head to the other side, admiring him. “That’s some good thinking. Of course I’ll come with you the first couple of times until you get your sled legs.”

Steve laughed, putting the sleds in the back of Eddie’s van. “What the fuck is sled legs?”

They both got in the van.

“It’s like sea legs only with sledding.”

Steve shook his head. “Of course it is. What was I thinking?”

“You weren’t,” Eddie said, starting the engine. “But that’s because you’re in the presence of the wonderful me! It’s such a trial to be this pretty!”

He leaned into Steve’s space and fluttered his eyelashes at him. So Steve did the only thing he could think of.

He kissed the tip of Eddie’s nose. “You’re cute.”

Eddie blushed and sputtered. “You’re going to ruin my reputation is what you’re going to be doing here, Stevie.”

Steve just laughed.

They got to the park where they were doing the sledding and the hills were covered in people of all ages screaming and laughing and just have a blast.

“This always looked so fun to me growing up,” Steve said wistfully. “But my mom would never allow me to go. Not even when my best friends tried to sic their moms at her. It was just too much for her precious boy.”

“Well, you’re in for a treat!” Eddie said gleefully throwing himself out of the van. Steve scrambled to catch up.

They grabbed their sleds and raced to the hill.

Will spotted them first and started waving vigorously. Steve and Eddie grinned, then made their way to them.

“Hey!” Mike said with a returning grin. “You guys made it. We’ve been here for hours!”

And they certainly looked it. Their cheeks and noses were red and their pants were soaked to their skin, but they looked like they could go all day without breaking their stride.

“Some of us work for a living,” Eddie groused. “Teenagers!”

“Nancy and Robin both work and they’ve been here all morning,” Dustin huffed, pointing over to the two girls.

There standing on the top of the hill in snow suits. Robin, Steve clocked immediately. She was in a mix-matched suit that was navy blue on the bottom but an ugly brown up top. The other girl was all in pink with bright blue mittens, cap, and scarf. Her curly hair stuck from her under her cap and her cheeks were rosy.

Honestly, if Steve hadn’t known any better, he would have pegged Eddie as her brother, not Mike.

“That was nice of their bosses to let them take the day off,” Steve said with a smirk. “Eddie’s is running the nursery with just him and Wayne, and my boss is a bag of dicks. So...maybe don’t compare what you don’t know.”

Everyone turned and looked at Steve wide-eyed like they had just witnessed a murder. Which, Steve thought with a huff, they probably had.

Then everyone oohhing and whistling and calling Mike out. He just rolled his eyes and said, “Whatever.”

That was when Steve knew he had truly won.

Eddie set down his sled and then took the two seater from Steve. “You ready for this, big boy?”

“I guess, I’m ready as I’ll ever be,” Steve said with a smile.

Eddie set up the sled at the top of the hill and said, “All right, you get on first and steer and I’ll push, okay?”

Steve nodded and did as he was told. Then suddenly they were off, sliding down the hill at breakneck speed. Steve did his best to avoid hitting the major bumps and too soon they were at the bottom of the hill.

“That was fun!” Steve said, turning around to face Eddie. “Let’s do that again!”

And so they did. Steve spent most of the afternoon on the two seater or drinking hot chocolate with Robin, trying to warm up to go back at it. She was there to supervise.

“I’m here to make sure no one gets hurt,” she said dryly. “I’m just too uncoordinated to do it.”

“So come with me on the two-seater,” Steve said. “I’ll push and you steer.”

Robin chewed her lip and then nodded. Steve grabbed it from where it was sitting next to him and hauled it over to the top of the hill. Once they were all sorted, Steve pushed them off with a shriek of laughter and they were tearing off down the hill.

They slowed at the bottom and she looked back at Steve with a wide grin. “Let’s do that again!”

Steve laughed as she echoed his previous statement.

Then it was time for Steve to try his solo trip down the hill. Robin agreed to push him gently down the hill and Eddie offered to spot him at the bottom to help ease his fears.

Steve got settled on the sled but before Robin could even push him, the sled wobbled and started off down the hill on its own. Steve yelped as he struggled to steer the sled. But it was no good, he was heading right for a bump.

“Look out!” he cried as he hit the bump going top speed.

Everyone at the bottom of the hill scrambled to get out of the way. Steve caught air and landed hard at the bottom of the hill, tumbling out of the sled and rolling to the side.

Eddie was standing over him when he finally dared to open his eyes. “Hey, you okay?”

Steve took a moment to take stock. “Sadly, yes. But I think that means I’m done for the day.”

Eddie burst out laughing and helped him to his feet. They said their goodbyes to everyone and made their way to Eddie’s van.

“Thanks so much for today,” Steve said as he climbed in. “It’s been really nice hanging out with you guys all month.”

Eddie smiled fondly. “Of course, Stevie. I just hope you find Christmas just a little bit better.”

“Yeah.”

~

Eddie was dressed up as nicely as he could be, black button up shirt, nice black slacks, but he paired them with combat boots, a leather jacket and as many chains as he could get his hands on. Steve was dressed in a simple dark grey suit with a white shirt and red tie. Eddie thought he looked dashing.

They walked in through doors of Steve’s office building and while Eddie had been there before with the trees he hadn’t seen it decked out. Joyce’s ornaments were beautifully placed and Claudia’s cooking was being doled out by servers in black vests.

“Wow,” he murmured. “You sure do know how to plan a party. Damn, man. You did good for someone who out-nerved Robin that day when you came to the nursery.”

Steve blushed. “Thanks, Eds.”

Eddie’s head whipped over at the nickname and he just lit up brighter than the Christmas tree.

Then a loud, boisterous man came storming up to them. “Steven, what is the meaning of this? You were supposed to bring a date, not the help!”

Steve blinked at him a moment and then cocked his head to the side. “But you didn’t say that though. You said I was expected to bring someone, not a date. So I picked Eddie. He’s been a real asset to helping plan this party, I couldn’t have done it without him.”

Mr. Harrington stuttered and stammered before leaving the way he came, in a huff.

“So...that was you’re dad I’m assuming,” Eddie said with a grimace. “Because hooboy, I can see why you don’t talk about him much.”

“Yep,” Steve said dryly, rocking back on his heels. “Clint Harrington, asshole extraordinaire.”

“Hey, I’m going to get something to drink,” Eddie said trying to change the subject. “You want anything?”

“Just water.”

Eddie frowned at that but went and got him an apple cider, some food and goodies, and brought Steve over some water.

“There you go,” he said brightly.

“Thanks,” he said taking a sip of the water.

He held up his plate. “You want any of this?”

Steve shook his head. “I’ll eat later.”

Eddie dug into his food and they chatted. Everyone gave them both a wide berth and Steve loved every moment of it.

“Thanks for this,” Steve said brightly after the third person skirted around them. “I’ve never had such a peaceful party before.”

Eddie chuckled. “You’re welcome. I’m going to get more of the gingerbread snaps, you want anything.”

Again Steve shook his head.

“I don’t know why you won’t take any of the spoils of your labor,” Eddie said, shaking his head. “You deserve to eat this too.”

Steve looked up at him with a slight smile. “I’m allergic to orange. I literally can’t have any of it because it’s likely been touched by orange in someway, and I’d rather not spend Christmas in the ICU.”

Eddie eyes went wide. “Come again?”

Steve shrugged. “My parents do this every year. I’ve been allergic since I was seven, but they always had Christmas with everything covered in orange and complained when I refused to eat any of it.”

“Dude,” Eddie hissed. “That’s like child abuse.”

“Yeah.”

Eddie looked around and saw that everyone else was having fun while Steve was forced to put on a smile and not enjoy any of it.

“Do you want to get out of here and grab a burger?”

Steve laughed. “Yeah, sure. I just need to do something really quick. I’ll meet you by the car.”

Eddie nodded and went downstairs.

Steve slipped into his office and sent off an email with a grin on his face. As he was leaving his father stopped him.

“I’m don’t know what you are trying to pull with this,” he hissed. “But your mother doesn’t want to see you until after New Year’s, she that upset!”

Steve shook him off. “Maybe I’ll get to eat something for Christmas for a change.”

He stormed off, racing down the stairs and out into the crisp winter air. Eddie was by Steve’s car and he just held his arms open.

Steve dashed right into them and buried his head into Eddie’s neck. “I just quit.”

Eddie’s jaw dropped. “You did what now?”

“I sent in my two weeks notice, dated today,” Steve said with a grin. “They won’t see until the 5th of next month when they all come back, but by then the two weeks will be up and they’ll have to give my severance as well as all my PTO that I’ve accrued.”

“And just how much will that be?” Eddie asked looking down at this man of his dreams.

“At least sixty thousand dollars,” Steve replied, his grin growing wider. “Enough to get me through school to get my teaching degree so I can teach middle school.”

Eddie burst out laughing. “You are a menace, Steve Harrington.”

“Yeah.”

“Come over to our place on Christmas,” Eddie said, “enjoy the holiday for a change.”

“That sounds wonderful.”

~

Part 8

Tag List: COMPLETED

1- @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @zerokrox-blog @sadisticaltarts @dolphincliffs

2- @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @cryptid-system @kultiras

3- @maya-custodios-dionach @goodolefashionedloverboi @val-from-lawrence @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog

4- @bookbinderbitch @bookworm0690 @forgottenkanji @dreamercec @blondie1006

5- @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @genderless-spoon @fearieshadow @thesecondfate

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

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

8- @gutterflower77 @a-lovely-craziness @just-a-tiny-void @w1ll0wtr33 @beelze-the-bubkiss

9- @steddieislife @tartarusknight @themoonagainstmers

[ephie-om]

You lounge in a beanbag chair in Levi's room, engrossed in a manga he's insisted you are only allowed to read where he can keep an eye on you, lest you mess up the pages. At the moment, however, he's neck-deep in a failing raid in one of his MMOs. Over the course of the past ten minutes, you've watched his stress levels rise and rise as his tail erratically twitches and tenses with every dodge. You hear the tinny voices of his teammates through his headset, calling out instructions and strategies. Levi himself has been largely quiet, which to them might mean he was focused, but you knew it meant he was about to blow.

You adjust your position enough to get a view of the screen just in time to see the massive warrior's sword cleave through his teammates, downing one of them. A game sprite surrounded by a blazing yellow light- a healer, you would guess- tries to run towards the slowly crawling form but is stopped in his tracks by a tentacle rising from the ground. You watch the revive timer slowly tick down, and Levi finally breathes in. Here he goes, you think, and tuck the manga in your arms to protect it from his rage.

"Dodge through," he says, quiet but firm. "Astaroth, you need to dodge through that gap to your left." The healer moves and finally manages to get to his teammate. "Saleos, there's a couple frames after that beam attack where the boss is invincible, so don't waste any attacks on her. Focus on positioning yourself to attack once her defense drops." You sit up, enraptured by this new side of Levi. Suddenly it made sense to you why he never seemed like the Grand Admiral of Hell's Navy; he never had a reason to in everyday life. But here, he could strategize, give orders, boost morale. No wonder this was where he thrived.

The voices on his headset have gone much quieter once they realize following his orders will win them the battle. It continues on for a few more minutes with Levi peppering in instructions where needed, and an occasional "Good job; great timing on that attack." Finally the health bar turns black, the boss staggers, drops her sword, and falls. Cheers erupt from the headset, but Levi is quiet once again. Confused, you get up to look at him, only to find his face split by a grin. "Well done everyone, really. We need to have these classes more often, the synergy is what took her down in the end." He says his goodbyes and the headset finally comes off. He stands up to stretch, turns his head just enough to see you, and screams. "H-how long have you been standing there?? What, like you've never seen a raid before?" His tail lashes back and forth, agitated. There was the Levi you knew.

You laugh. "That was amazing. You were amazing, Levi. I've never seen you do that before." A blush floods his neck and face and you swear even his scales turn a deeper magenta.

"That's just what I'm supposed to do, I mean, I'm the highest level in the party, of course I would know the most about the mechanics, they were expecting me to say something anyway-"

"You must be proud of yourself."

He stops in his tracks. "Proud?" You nod encouragingly. Almost subconsciously, his posture straightens. He smooths his hair back into place and relaxes his shoulders. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess I am pretty proud of that." You smile at him again, glad he found something he could admit he was good at. "But d-don't expect me to let you in here again if you're going to stare at me all creepy!"

[harleehazbinfics]

Home is where my Heart is.

Chapter 7: Stayed Gone Table of Contents | Profile

Word Count: 1014 A/N: yeah we're going to the singing bits yaaaay. just imagine her voice trying to meld into his and creating this like light airy but enchanting sound on top of his deep and dark tone. cuz yes we love blending and harmonizing in this family. also also alastor will be in bold and miledy in italics and both will be like this for the song. enjoyyyyy (thank you sm transcribers of the wiki id actually die if encoded all of that gshdajsdg)

“This is such a nice day,” I hummed enjoying my tea while Alastor sat opposite of me reading the paper with his coffee and enjoyed the mundane moment together.

Until it wasn’t, as a rocket launches below us. “Come show yourself, Alastor! Come face—oh, there you are. Face my wrath!”

“Who are you?” he jeers enjoying getting on his nerves while I smiled at the two. Al clearly doesn’t dislike him but instead enjoys toying with him, he doesn’t completely shut him down unlike an unpleasant certain someone. I actually find Sir Pentious quite cute how he tries to size Alastor up despite failing several times but he’s got guts I give him that.

“Who am I? Who am I? I am the great Sir Pentious! Inventor! Architect of Destruction! Villain extraodinare!” He announces while the both of us slide within Al’s shadow and appear in front of Charlie and the others.

“Ooh! He’s a bad boy!” Nifty calls as she appears on top of Al’s shoulder.

He takes Nifty and places her in my arms and replies, “Ha, well if all that's true, you'd think I'd have heard of you.”

“I attacked you literally last week,” Sir Pentious replies, only for Alastor to cock his head, “We've done battle, like... 20 times.”

 “Well, you must have been really bad at this,” he teases putting his cane down.

“Silence! Now cower! For when I've ssslain you, the almighty Vees will finally acknowledge me as their equal.”

“Ooh! Wait, who are the Vees?” Nifty asks while in my arms.

“Oh, nobody important,” both Al and I respond giving each other a knowing look.

While Al kept beating up the poor lad, I turn my eyes on the drone in the sky noticing the familiar logo on it. A devious smile creeps on my face as I place Nifty on the ground and shot it down with a lance made of water. It falls with a crash conveniently landing on my feet. I crushed it under my heel before turning back to the group.

“Thanks for another forgettable experience,” Al says pleased with himself while he leans on his cane looking down at Sir Pentious.

“Thank you...” he pauses before tearing off a piece of his tailcoat, “for letting your guard down!

“Oh, deer,” I mutter, wide eyed as I watched Al transform into his demon form and makes an explosion that causes the snake to fly off to the distance.

“Well, it looks as though I need a visit to the tailor! Best of luck, chums,” he announces, taking me with him.

“Wait, you're LEAVING?! Alastor! We need your help! We need you to do your job,” Vaggie yells gesturing to the hotel.

“We need a wall,” Angel deadpans pointing at the broken wall.

“Of course! Can't let my new project fall into disrepair already. What would the papers say?!” he exclaims.

With a snap of his fingers his shadows appear with building equipment. He turns away from the group and takes us to the pentagram. We enjoy a little stroll before getting inside the boutique, he got his suit redone while I looked at the new dress they had on display. I bought a couple dresses that caught my eye and exited the building together, only to be greeted by Vox’s unpleasant face singing on the television. We shared a look and went back to Al’s studio with a smile.

“Salutations! Good to be back on the air,” We greeted in sync blending our voices ever so often creating a seductive distortion.

“Yes, I know it's been a while since someone with style treated Hell to a broadcast.” Al starts off while I finish, “Sinners rejoice!”

“What a dated voice!” Vox yells.

I drape my arms around Al’s neck as he sat back on his seat in an easy going way while keeping the microphone to his face and replies, “Instead of a clout chasing mediocre video podcast.”

“Is Vox insecure, pursuing allure? Flitting between this fad and that. Is nothing working? Ha ha!” we tease him enjoying the annoyance in his voice.

“IGNORE THEIR CHIRPING!”

“Every day he's got a new format!”

“YOU'RE LOOKING AT THE FUTURE! He's the shit that comes before that!”

“Is Vox as strong as he purports? Or is it based on his support? He'd be powerless without the other Vees!”

“Oh, PLEASE.”

“And here's the sugar on the cream. He asked ME to join this team!”

“Hold on!”

“I said no, and now he's pissy! That's the tea.”

“You old timey PRICK! I'll show you suffering!”

“Uh oh, the TV is buffering!”

“I'LL DESTROY YOOOOU YOU LITTLE—"

His little temper tantrum leads him to short circuit causing the electricity in the entire pentagram to disappear.

“I'm afraid you've lost your signal.”

“Let's begin.” He sings menacingly slowly transforming to his demon form. “Let's begin.” I sang hauntingly on top of his voice, my eyes turn black leaving my glowing blue irises hypnotically.

“I'm gonna make you wish that I stayed gone!” “Tune on in.”

"When I'm done, your status quo will know its race is run!

Oh, this will be fun!"

I laughed in delight, celebrating our wonderful comeback to our radio show. Al gives me smile and stands there quietly enjoying my reaction.

“That was wonderful! We haven’t done that in so long!” I gushed holding onto his hands. “I thought I’d have to wait 200 hundred years to sing with you again.”

He laughs petting my head, “No need for drastic measures, my dear. I’m here to stay.”

I beamed a smile and gave him a brief hug. “I’m guessing you’ll be greeting our new guest,” I asked while fixing his bow.

“But of course! I need to welcome their little toy they reeled in for us,” he smirks, “Have a good rest. I’ll see you later.”

I wave him off before I went back to our room, relaxing in our bed drifting to sleep.

‘Mom! Dad! I found some flowers over here!’

Tears fall down my face as I recall much happier times.

[it-happened-one-fic]

However Many Songs - Idia (Glorious Masquerade)

Author Notes: So, I've been having a lot of fun reading Glorious Masquerade and I saw an opening and received encouragement from friends to just go ahead and write some fics for this event. This one is Idia's and I actually didn't have a specific song I listened to while writing this. It was really just some my Idia playlist instead. As per usual, reader is gender-neutral. I hope you enjoy!

Type: Gender-neutral reader/ sfw/ Glorious Masquerade/ romance/ fluff

Word Count: 840

I glanced over at Idia, who was currently looking around nervously at the slew of unfamiliar faces that surrounded us. It was painfully obvious that the young man was nervous, and I had no doubts that his outfit only made matters worse.

It was sad, though, to see everyone else enjoying themselves, even if some of them would never admit it, while Idia seemed perfectly miserable. But then a social, of all things, probably seemed like hell itself to the socially anxious young man.

I found myself shifting over so that I was standing next to him and waiting until his darting gaze finally settled on me. I smiled slightly at the young man who peered at me with an oddly wary confusion as I began to speak, “It really was nice of them to give everyone such fancy outfits.”

I gestured vaguely to Rollo as I spoke, and Idia stared at me for just another moment in silence. He snorted though, seemingly relaxing at my presence as he rolled his eyes at my words, “I guess ‘fancy’ is one word for this get-up.”

I frowned at his sarcastic tone, swatting him lightly on his arm, “They’re nice clothes, Idia. Even if you don’t like them.”

I watched as he actually grinned at my words, twisting to face me more fully. “They’re expensive clothes,” He corrected in a smugly amused tone before gesturing mockingly towards himself as he continued, “You can’t seriously look at this collar and call it ‘nice.’”

My eyes fell to the frilly collar in question before my gaze lifted back to Idia’s face, where I could see a genuine, if arrogant, smile on his face. It was one of the few real smiles he’d worn during this entire trip, and here we were at the tail end of it all.

“Alright, the collar is a bit much… But you do look nice, Idia, even if you don’t think so,” My words seemed to catch him off-guard. Causing his bright yellow eyes to widen as his mocking grin disappeared and was replaced by a surprising expression.

“I know you didn’t really want to come on this trip,” I continued. Knitting my hands together as I spoke, and did my best to put all of the things that had gone quite gloriously wrong during this trip out of my mind, “But I’m glad you did.”

I smiled at him genuinely and got to watch as Idia faltered. Stumbling over his words as the very edges of his hair slowly started to turn a soft pink, “I-I... That’s-... You-...” He grimaced slightly before trying again, “I didn’t really have a choice.”

Despite his defensive-sounding words, I kept smiling. Lifting one shoulder in a half-shrug, “Even so, it’s nice that we’ve gotten to take this trip together.”

I glanced away, watching the people dance by us with laughter on their lips as I continued, “We don’t have very many classes together, so even when you do show up, I don’t get to see you very often. So this….”

I trailed off slightly, briefly watching the couples swirl by us, totally unaware of the two of us where we chatted on the outer fringes of the celebration, before I looked back his way, “Just standing here with you and chatting… It’s nice.”

He stared at me, his hair now a bright pink and his face a mask of wide-eyed embarrassment. He let out a squeaky sort of sound that seemed to have been him starting to say something before he looked away, coughing slightly.

When he tried again, I could more clearly understand his flustered words, even though he was still looking away from where I stood next to him, “I guess if you look at it that way, it is nice.”

He looked back towards the masquerade ball that still swirled its way across the floor just in front of us as a soft, comfortable silence fell between us.

I didn’t even know how many songs had already been cycled through as I continued to watch him closely from the corner of my eye. Finding myself smiling as his hair returned to its typical blue and his mouth twitched slightly before a defeated sigh escaped his lips, “We stick out like sore thumbs standing over here like wall flowers.”

I laughed at his bitter words, earning myself a half-annoyed look before his expression cleared and he tilted his head, “Hey, You.” I blinked in surprise at his stare and oddly pointed words. He looked suspiciously like he’d thought of something.

He swallowed, almost like bracing himself for something, before he straightened and held out his hand, “Dance with me for one song?”

Despite the slightly commanding phrasing, his voice was soft and held the slightest of timid quivers. 

That tell-tale pink tint slowly returned to his hair as soon as he spoke, and I felt a grin slip onto my face as I took his hand and responded honestly, “I’ll dance with you for however many songs you want, Idia.”

[morrigan-sims]

simblr game: Freeze!🧊✋️ Stop there and show simblr the most recently saved household within your gallery and, if you like, tell us all about them while your at it! 🤗🤍

ahhhh, hi!!!! Thanks so much for the ask! And for giving me the opportunity to talk about this boy.

His name is Orion, he's ~18 in this picture, and he's the 2nd worst thing that's ever happened to Carrion.

[more details under the cut, because I talk too much. fair warning, it's really long.]

tl;dr: This kid used to be friends with Carrion before he was Carrion, and is (accidentally) the reason Carrion has his monster transformations in the first place. Carrion got mad at him and punched him but accidentally transformed mid-swing. After that he was left for dead, and to this day does not know whether or not Orion survived. I don't know either and left it up to the DM.

I sometimes re-write scenes from my dnd games in full prose form, and I also sometimes write little "vignettes" of moments from the characters' pasts, also in full prose. So far the only two who have gotten that kind of treatment are Rook and Carrion, but I hope to do it with others eventually.

So anyways, I've had in my head for months the idea to write out a prose vignette of the backstory behind Carrion's name. But the idea was always very vague: Reverence attacks one of his fellow paladins and is left for dead because of it. (Hence the line, "Soon you'll be nothing but carrion" that struck me like a bolt of lightning.)

Talking with the DM of Carrion's game (hiiii Izzy 💖💖💖) a couple of weeks ago gave me a better idea of where I wanted the vignette to go (a tragedy of misunderstandings / no one wanted to hurt anyone / the path to hell is paved with good intentions). And then exactly one week ago (down to the minutes, actually. I was writing between 7-8:30pm) I actually sat down and wrote the damn thing.

And because it's me, it turned out sadder than I expected it to. (And the concept on its own was already sad enough.) Orion here is a BIG part of that. He originally wrote himself into the story as a bit of a plot device. A young, freshly knighted paladin who wasn't allowed to go on the mission that got them the Delirium shard. So he begged the older paladin stationed on guard with him (Reverence, aka Carrion) to let him have a peek. Reverence relents, Orion opens the chest, and Carrion transforms. It only lasts a few seconds though, before he's back in his normal body.

Now, as far as the paladins know, any transformations are permanent, and essentially result in your death. So they try desperately for WEEKS to find someone who can "cure" him. Unfortunately they're wrong, and the ticking clock they're all imagining doesn't actually exist. But they exhaust all of their resources and options in an attempt to help one of their own.

Now, Reverence has been confronted with the fact that he's going to die at any moment (or so he thinks), and so he's understandably in a bit of a shitty mood. He keeps his distance from the other paladins when they camp, but is eventually approached by one of his friends, a guy named Beren. (I have a sim of Beren, too. I'll add his pic at the bottom of this post.) Reverence and Beren talk, and they're having two very different conversations. Rev assumes that Beren was sent to watch him because he's dangerous now, meanwhile Beren volunteered to hang out with and keep an eye on his friend who recently got bad news.

Things get a little tense, and Orion (who has also volunteered to hang out with Rev, but had gone to get food for the three of them) walks in at just the wrong moment. He assumes Reverence is threatening Beren, and draws his sword. The combo of the reminder of how this started and a fear instinct, on top of the already heightened emotions and stress he's feeling, makes Reverence snap, throwing a punch at Orion.

Not having control of things, he transforms mid-swing, and by the time he realizes what's happened and that he might actually truly hurt Orion, it's too late. Orion goes down, and Reverence is tackled by the rest of the paladins.

After that, he wakes up in chains hearing Beren try and persuade Theodore (the leader of the paladins and Reverence's mentor) that he should have killed Rev while he was unconscious. Rev tries to ask about Orion, but gets no straight answer.

Because Theodore is too selfish to do the (based on their knowledge) "right" thing and give Reverence a quick death, they leave him bound on a ledge about 40ft down a cliff. The last thing Reverence hears as the paladins walk away is Theodore saying to Beren "Put Reverence out of your mind. Soon he'll be nothing but carrion."

When he survives, he takes that name and plots to kill Theodore, not knowing or understanding that Theodore did what he did out of love, and also has regretted it every day since -- to the point that he literally lost his divine magic over it.

Now, here's the kicker. I never specified if Orion lived or died. And I told the DM that it was her choice. So we'll see what happens. Both options are thoroughly upsetting for Carrion, so I'm happy with either.

As promised, here's a pic of Beren.

He's trans and does woodcarving, and neither of those things are relevant to his role in the story, or even mentioned, but I know them about him anyways.

[cyripticchronicler]

Ink and Destiny - Part 3

A/N: Sorry for the wait! I've had a hectic week. Thank you for all the support with my writing, I love you all ahhh.

@lilianelena39 Thank you for asking to be tagged! I hope you like it.

Masterlist

Part one Part two Part four

The days that followed were filled with shy touches and hidden smiles. It’s only been a week since you went on that date with James, and it hasn’t left your mind since. 

After eating, he’d ask you to read to him, you spent the rest of the date muttering the love story to James as he lay on his back, making comments now and then. 

The awkwardness of the first date was long gone, and you found yourself growing comfortable around him. He seemed more comfortable around you too, with the way he gripped your hand tightly in his or the way he relentlessly teased you. 

You were still quiet, barely muttering a few words but James filled in the silence. 

He was holding your hand now, you two having run into each other whilst you were on your way to the owlery. James had decided to ditch Sirius and Remus, claiming you were much nicer than them- earning a giggle from you and a scowl from Sirius. 

“You never finished that book,” James muttered, breaking the peaceful silence. 

“I didn’t know you wanted to know the ending,” You said honestly, James looked genuinely offended and you had to bite back a smile. 

“Of course I do, the letter was heartbreaking.” 

You grinned, “Well if you must know, he proposes again and she accepts.”

He let go of your hand, placing his hands over his ears as if it could erase what he just heard. “Spoilers!” 

You couldn't help the laugh that burst out of you, “The book came out years ago! There are spoilers everywhere!”

“Yes, but I was trying to hint at another date where you read to me again but I guess that’s not possible since you’ve told me the ending.” He grumbles, feigning anger as he reaches for your hand again. 

“Well…I never told you what happened to the others.”

He took the bait, “I am dying to know what happens with the others, so maybe if you’re up to it we could go on another date, say, this Saturday?” 

You pretended to think for a moment, “Saturday, hmm, I’m not sure.”

You both stop at the entrance of the owlery, James pulling you into him slightly. You couldn’t stop the blush painting your cheeks.

He’s never touched you like that before.

“I’ll beg if you want,” He whispers, laughing when you playfully hit his arm, cheeks redder than a tomato. 

“No begging is needed. Saturday is fine.” It left you three days to plan your outfit and mentally prepare. 

James grins triumphantly, following you around the owlery, hand still gently placed on your waist. 

—

You stared at the wobbly heart drawn on the inside of your wrist. You hadn’t noticed when it appeared but your eyes can’t look away. 

Not all soulmates are together romantically, sometimes they are platonic soulmates, hell, on rare occasions they’re enemies who despise each other. 

But there’s a part of you that hopes you and James are romantic soulmates. There’s also a part of you that’s still unsure about him. You two are complete opposites, you’re quiet, he’s loud, and you shrink away at any attention on you whereas James thrives in it. 

“Opposites attract, it’s basic science in the muggle world.” Lily had reassured you when you voiced your concerns. Maybe she was right. Merlin, you hoped she was right. 

But you push those thoughts away for now, noting you only have half an hour to finish getting ready. You’ll talk to James about your thoughts. If there’s one thing you hate most in romance books it is the miscommunication trope. 

You hastily draw a sloppy heart back before returning to your makeup. You keep it simple, applying a couple of coats of mascara and some concealer before adding lipgloss. 

Your outfit is simple, black jeans and the top you feel most comfortable in, paired with a thick coat to keep out the cold weather. 

You reach The Three Broomsticks in no time, relishing in the warmth. Noting James isn’t here yet, you find a secluded table in the corner.

A minute later James walks through the door, nose red from the cold. He perks up when he spots you, smiling warmly and he takes the seat across from you. 

You notice the heart on his wrist as he sits, his coat pulled up like he was staring at it just a moment ago. 

“You always seem to be here earlier than me, perhaps on our second date I’ll arrive an hour early to beat you.” Your heart flutters at the thought of him already planning a second date.

You’re silent, mind racing for something snarky to respond with. James doesn’t seem bothered by your silence, instead asks you if you’d like a butterbeer and you nod your head gratefully. 

You take the time he’s gone to calm your thoughts. It seems as if you haven’t pushed those thoughts from before down far enough.

“The weather has changed drastically since our first date, don’t you think?” James asks as he sits back down. You nod your head. Just two weeks ago you were wearing dresses but now it seems as if it’s going to snow at any moment. 

 “Climate change.” You respond dumbly. 

“I hope you brought the book with you, maybe we could find a quiet place for you to read for me. Or we could head back to the common room and you read to me there.”

You shake your head, “I couldn’t bring it, I didn’t want to risk bending it by putting it in a bag but didn’t want to risk getting it wet either.”

James seemed disappointed, “Later then, when we get back.”

You nod your head dumbly. 

“Are you okay? You’re awfully quiet.” James’s eyes shine with amusement, a hint of concern peeking through. 

“Do you think we’d be happy together?” You blurt, taking a sip of the butterbeer to busy your fidgeting hands. 

“Yes,” James answers honestly, with no hesitation. “Do you not…think we’d be happy together?” He asks rather nervously. 

“We’re quite different from each other.”

He ponders for a moment, “Different isn’t always a bad thing, Love. We balance each other out.”

“Oh.” You’ve never thought of it from that perspective. Awkwardly taking a sip of your drink, you meet James’s eyes. “I just… I’m not used to attention- I hate it actually- and you’re popular so I can’t help but think once everyone finds out we’re dating they’re going to pay more attention to me.”

You’ve only met a couple of times since the first date, and besides the walk to the owlery, it was in secrecy. 

“We don’t have to tell people straight away- whatever this is. It can be our little secret, for now, Love. Is there anything else worrying you?” 

You shake your head. “It’s not very secretive if we’re sitting together in broad daylight in one of the most popular stores in Hogsmeade.”

He drains the rest of his drink, “I guess we’ll have to find somewhere else to go. Come with me.” You don’t miss the glint of mischief in his eyes but go to follow him anyway. 

“Where are we going?” You whisper, desperately trying to catch up as he runs through the snow. He stops a few minutes later and you attempt to catch your breath as you examine your surroundings. 

“Where are we?” You ask when you don’t recognise the place. There's nothing and no one around, just the path you came from.

“You’re not going to murder me are you?” 

James laughs, stalking closer, “I don’t plan on it, no. I’m rather fond of you.” 

Your heart skips a beat, “Even if we’re so different?” 

He nods, a small smile painting his face as he wraps his arms around your waist. “Of course, my Love. It would just be boring if we were so alike.” 

You nod your head in agreement, “It would, wouldn't it?” Ever so slowly, you wrap your arms around his neck, pulling him closer as one of his hands go to hold your jaw. 

His lips touch yours and like last time they’re soft and warm but unlike before, the kiss is filled with hunger.

He pulls you closer against him and you moan, tangling your fingers in his hair. James immediately deepens the kiss, tongue swiping across yours and you pull away in shock. 

He doesn’t let you go far, nose burrowing into your neck, “I’m sorry, Love. You just taste so good.” 

“Oh,” you whisper, breathless.

He laughs, “Yeah, Oh.”

—-

“That's how it ends?” James asks you, peering up from where his head lays on your lap, your hand threading through his soft curls. 

You’re laying on your bed. The common room was too busy and James stated the boys would just bother them if they went to his room so you shyly offered to read to him in your room.

The girls were all doing their own thing tonight, thankfully giving you and James time alone. 

You immediately thought of other things you could be doing alone but James seemed determined to hear the rest of the book and you weren't sure you wanted to do those activities with him yet. 

“I don’t get why that’s your favourite book,” At your offended look he continues, “Sorry, Love, but that's such a bad ending.”

You laugh incredulously, “It’s not a bad ending! They end up happy and in love.”

“You’re such a hopeless romantic,” He jokes and you roll your eyes. 

“If you’re not a hopeless romantic then I want you to leave right now.” You point to the door playfully and James leans up, face inches from yours. 

“I’ll become a hopeless romantic for you,” He mutters, looking at your lips. 

“Good.” You push him off the bed and he groans in fake pain. “Go to bed, the girls will be back soon and I’ll never hear the end of it if they spot James Potter in my bed.”

“Fine. I want to see you soon though, maybe after the Quiddich game next week?” 

“Won’t you be too busy celebrating the win?” 

“You think we’re going to win?” He asks, happiness and shyness clear in his voice. His cheeks turn red when you nod, “I can think of other ways to celebrate the win with you, Love.” 

You roll your eyes, playfully pushing his shoulder. “Go.”

He taps his lips and you can’t help but blush. You mean for it to be a quick peck but James has other ideas, tilting your head as he kisses you deeply. 

He places an open-mouthed kiss on your neck before leaving with a quick wink. 

As soon as the door closes you let out a squeal, kicking your feet as you hug your pillow to your chest tightly. 

“I heard that.” James’s voice resonates through the door. 

Your cheeks flush, “Go away.” 

His footsteps fade and you relax into your bed.

It’s only until the next morning that you notice the words on your wrist.

I’m kicking my feelings and squealing about you too. Not so different after all.

[farenmaddox]

saw the WIP challenge from @wanderingcas about posting a snippet from something you're working on and getting some motivation for it. I've gotten all in my head about my post-canon SPN fic and completely stalled out on it, so I thought I'd just... try this and see if it helps.

“You’re in heaven?” Sam speaks up, when Dean can’t seem to find any words.

“Oh. Yes. I suppose that would be news. To be fair, Jack having the power to bring me there was news to me.”

Dean is so, so fucking stupid. Obviously Jack came to get Cas, that would still be part of fixing all of the shit from before, not interfering in new stuff. Obviously Cas isn’t just suffering in the Empty for eternity, holy shit. It makes him so relieved that he kind of has to lean on one of the posts for a minute.

“Dean?” Cas asks, tensing up immediately.

“M’good,” he mumbles, waving him off. He just… needs to breathe.

Sam rushes in and pulls Cas into an absolutely crushing hug, saying, “Thanks for coming. Is… is Jack...?”

“He can’t visit without violating the rules. He asked me to say hello on his behalf, though.”

“Oh,” Sam says, deflating a little. “That’s okay. Glad you’re here, anyway. Are you, uh, do you have to go back right away? Does the interference thing include, you know, talking to us?”

“I’m not Jack. I am free to do as I wish,” Cas says.

“Man, it would be nice if you wished to help us get rid of some vamp bodies,” Dean mutters, because the enormity of what just happened is slamming into him like a truck, and he kind of wants to do the rest of this debrief somewhere that isn’t covered in his own blood, maybe after getting those kids home to their deeply traumatized mother.

Cas just looks at him for a long time, but that’s not new. Dean just looks back. He’s so, so tired and there’s work to do, and this is how they operate, right? Do the job until the job’s done, and then they do the celebrating. Cas knows that as well as anybody.

“Fine,” Cas says, short and clipped. And then the bodies are just gone, and so is the blood, from one blink to the next.

Dean chuckles in spite of himself. “You that eager to get to the part where you yell at me, ya big fuckin’ hypocrite?”

Read the rest (approx. 500 more words) under the cut

Cas flinches away from that, actually, and goes striding back out of the barn. “The children are hiding behind a large tree roughly fifteen yards that direction,” he says, waving vaguely. “I assume there wouldn’t be room in the car if you need to transport them, so I’ll meet you in town.”

Sam and Dean stare at each other.

“Jesus,” Dean mutters. “Well, it’s definitely Cas, huh?”

Sam’s face twitches. Dean’s twitches right back.

A few seconds later, they are fully busting-up, clutching-their-guts, howling-like-animals laughing. They collapse into each other’s arms, and yeah, there are a couple of tears thrown in there. Just like, a few. Because hell, Dean had been dying, literally and actually dying, and they had been having a fucking Moment, and it’s not that easy to shake off.

Eventually they get their shit together and find the boys, and they bring them to their mom, who is not great, but is obviously better for having her kids back. There’s a lot of crying going on when Sam and Dean retreat, but their job is done and the part with the tissues and trying to put lives back together doesn’t have anything to do with them.

Cas is waiting by the car when they come back out. Sam immediately rushes in and gives him another hug, the sap, saying, “Sorry, man, I just… it’s really good to see you.”

Cas gives him a huge smile and return hug. “You too, Sam,” he says.

“Let’s get this show on the road,” Dean says, already making for the driver’s seat. “I can’t wait to get out of this town.”

“Absolutely the fuck not,” Sam says immediately.

“What?”

“Dean, it’s a fourteen-hour drive to get home from here.”

“And?”

“And I’m not having this conversation in the car! And no, I’m not sitting in the world’s most uncomfortable silence for fourteen hours either! We’re taking our happy asses to a motel or something and finishing what we started in the barn, and it wouldn’t kill us to get some sleep, either.”

Dean stutters something that is trying to be a protest, but isn’t. Sam’s just scowling at him and still pitching a bitch-fit.

“And you’re talking to Cas, too, because you obviously need to!”

“Do I get a say in this?” Cas asks with his eyebrows raised.

“No!” Dean and Sam snap at him at the same time.

“The most recent person to do self-sacrificial bullshit in this family loses voting privileges until the next person screws up,” Dean adds. Cas opens his mouth, scowling, and Dean points a finger at him. “Just now in there does not count, because I did not fucking do that on purpose and you know it.”

Cas closes his mouth.

[my-stories-vault]

Part 2 ~ Love and War.

Pairing: Dean Winchester X Y/N Singer; American Dean Winchester X English Y/N L/N; American Dean Winchester X American Y/N L/N; English Dean Winchester X English Y/N L/N

Blurb: You must've read a lot of enemies-to-lovers, let me show how someone can be your lover and enemy . . .

Warnings/Trigger Warnings (18+): language, gore, major and minor character deaths, break up, major angst, surprise ending, the Supernatural Wars (TSW) spoilers.

Song Inspiration: Love and War by Fleurie.

Challenge: This chapter is a surprise ending and a connecter to my three series, the Supernatural Wars, Purgatory Series, and another one that's in the works right now (find those stories from the links below)! The first chapter can be read as a standalone one-shot, but this chapter will have to be read as part of the series. Hope you enjoy 🥰❤️!

{ Series Masterlist ; Main Masterlist }

Love and War: Purgatory Bonus.

Sitting in the library, my ass felt like it had been stuck with a superglue to the chair; it almost hurt to sit in now.

I could've gotten up, fetched a good whiskey, and paced around a little; probably hit the training center or the garage or the gun range - anything that would prove soothing after the long day this was turning out to be - anything that could get me out of this goddamn research, out of wallowing in my misery.

See, we had a couple of teensy-weensy problems on our hands.

Firstly, we had been thrown into another frying pan that kids liked to call the apocalypse these days.

Secondly, monsters seemed to be turning up all over our radars these past few days, and almost all the hunters in America were running on back-to-back cases to save people. Something that even Sam and I had been doing when we found her.

Which makes my third point: Y/N.

So, she was basically this girl we found on the roadside, lying unconscious in the middle of nowhere; wearing ripped clothes, her skin smattered with bruises and scratches that made me think that she had gone ten rounds with a wild cat - whose personality she seemed to match. But here's what got our panties in a twist: she didn't remember anything sans her name.

She shouldn't have been a clinch in our plans to take up the Rugaru case up in the north, but here came the clinch.

I've seen her before. In Purgatory.

Hell, I've done more than "seen" her before. I've loved her. I've gotten my heart ripped out by her. And here she stands - without any recollection of what she did, or how she got here. Without realizing that she's the Brit who saved my life.

She had come adorning my amulet - a replica of what I had years ago. We didn't how she got it, she didn't know how she got it.

But, frankly, it didn't matter right now. All that mattered was that she has been messing with my goddamn mind since the first fucking moment she met me.

Now that I've finally found her again, I've promised myself that I wouldn't go through that again - I wouldn't let her go. There was something inside me that told me that if I lost her today, I would have to grieve her.

And I can't do that. Not again.

I was brought out of my reverie when a storming and determined Y/N rushed out with Sammy on her heels.

'Whoa, whoa, easy there,' I stood up with my hands raised.

She stopped dead in her tracks as if caught doing something illegal.

'What's going on?'

'She wants to go after Rowena,' Sam explained from behind her, towering over her.

'What, why?'

'I want to know what happened to them, Dean,' her accent bled into her voice, too strong - unlike the accent she had phased out or rather tried to, over the years when she lived in Purgatory but coming back here seemed to have brought it back full force.

'You lost me.'

She sighed as if speaking to an insolent kid. 'The book Rowena gave me. It contained a story of—of a far-away kingdom, two lovers, and seven regions. And . . . I just need know what happened to them! The pages where the end should be are missing!'

The gears in my mind turned. We had called Rowena after Castiel mentioned how her memories weren't gone by fluke - but it had been devised that way by someone. The only creatures powerful enough to do that were the witches, hence, the call to a certain redhead.

She handed Y/N the book to keep her entertained while she investigated the "subject" (in Rowena's words, even though I told her not to call Y/N that). A book that Y/N refused to return when Rowena left - the witch just waved it off by saying that she'd collect it when she came back with a solution for Y/N's amnesia.

Before I could formulate a response, Y/N was already rushing up the stairs.

'Hold on, you're not going anywhere!' I demanded, wondering how the hell she was even going to find the damn witch.

Moreover, it had been years since I last saw her, and yet, she seemed to be the only woman who seemed to put a smile on my face and ease on my heart. I can't see letting her go without, at least, some fucking explanation.

'Y/N, you don't have your memories yet. We don't know what dangers lie ahead of you if you leave this place.'

'I know, Sam,' she exclaimed, standing a few steps higher from where Sam and I were at the bottom of the metal staircase that led us outdoors. 'But I can't shake this feeling out of my head. I feel like I lived this story. I can't sleep until I've found out the climax of this book!' Not waiting for us to recover, she turned toe and climbed up the steps two at a time.

We followed suit, my annoyance with her stubborn recklessness burgeoning - why was she always like this?

'Whoa, I'm not ready to play "Finding Dory"! You're not walking out of here - end of discussion.'

My hand reached out to her elbow, brushing against the scar her shirt's sleeves weren't long enough to cover.

And what happened next was too fast that it almost didn't register with me.

She gasped, all the air rushed out of her; her eyes misting over and fading under the white sheet that seemed to draw over her outstanding e/c irises; and then her head lolled forward, her body free-falling - almost hitting the ground but my reflexes made me hold her.

Her head hit my chest over my heart with a soft thud, and her limbs lost all their energy as she went limp in my arms. Her eyes closed just as my voice called her name out in panic.

Oh, this cannot be happening to me right now!

Y/N bolted on the bed, seemingly overwhelmed with the events that had unfolded. I knew this was a bad idea as soon as it had been suggested.

My fingers automatically found hers, latching on as if my life depended on her (it did).

'Darlin', you okay?' the depths of my concern were endless, and my heart threatened to burst past my ribcage like in the cartoons - but just slightly more fatal to my health.

'Dean,' she breathed out shakily, her eyelids fluttered open and her shoulders slouched as she leaned forward to rest in my arms.

I held her gratefully, breathing out through my nose in relief; my lips brushed on her forehead.

'Dean, darling, oh, my God.'

'What is it?' I pulled back, trying not to let the panic cloud my thinking. 'How can I help?'

She shook her head, gazing in my eyes with so much hurt.

Suddenly, she jutted forward, landing her lips on mine in a shocking yet I-will-die-if-I-do-not-do-this manner. My eyes widened before they closed in submission, letting her take the lead as my hands found purchase on either side of her waist.

Sebastian cleared his throat awkwardly, 'Still here, you know.'

Y/N pulled away gasping like a fish out of water, gulping as red flooded her face. 'I'm sorry, Mr. Slay.'

He chuckled, 'No worries, Y/N. Did you get it?'

She nodded, her haphazard hands producing two necklaces she went to the alternate universe for.

One necklace was a sign of the secret relationship and love, given by a Dean to a Y/N, and the other necklace was an amulet.

There was only one another universe where Y/N and I's namesakes and lookalikes were royalty - there were more royal couple like ours, but some had different names, or different birthmarks, or something or the other that differed.

There was only one other royal couple like ours, and we needed their symbols of love for this case.

Something that required Y/N to bend through space and time with the assistance of a redheaded witch, an angel I could not find myself trusting, and a few more odds and ends.

I would have been against it had it not been Y/N's only chance of surviving against Michael, the archangel whose vessel I was supposed to be, but Y/N won't let me say "yes".

As grateful as I am to her for protecting me, I don't like the fact that this involves teaming with other factions.

'Can I?' Seb stepped forward with a tentative hand extended.

She handed it over, 'Please, be careful . . . I can't go through that again.'

He smiled softly, exchanging a look with me, 'I will be. You should sleep the jet-lag off, Y/N.'

The room vacated and I finally turned to her, her breathing just now starting to even out. Brushing a strand out of her face, I smiled softly at the love of my life.

'Are you okay?' I repeated.

Tears welled in her eyes, and she swallowed the mythic lump gathered in her throat. 'Do you . . . do you know what happened?'

I pursed my lips, 'Rowena gave me a rundown.' I grimaced, 'I heard the other Royal couple died - I can't imagine it might have been fun for you, my love.'

'It wasn't,' she pouted, looking really upset. She sniffled, 'It wasn't . . . It wasn't that I just went there, I hitched a ride in the Y/N's of the other Universes.'

'Universes? Plural?'

She nodded, pulling my hand till she had maneuvered me around her body - up and out of my chair and lounging behind her on the bed; my legs tangled with hers, arms tightening around what I now understood was a shivering frame, and she settled against my chest with her head laid down over my heart. She took a few moments as my fingers carded through her open locks.

She kissed my chest, making my heart skip a beat despite so many times she'd done it.

'Well, first, I went to that Royal Universe like we planned - I-I-I didn't even remember myself or who I was when I was there,' she shuddered. 'It was only until that other woman died because of that arrow . . . did I come alive in her body, until then I was trapped in the back of her mind like some damn demon possession gone right?' She shook her head, 'I don't even know.'

'Did it hurt? Dying?'

'A bit,' she sniffled, 'didn't feel most of it - but what was worst was seeing you dead - died in my fucking arms!'

'I'm not going anywhere,' I whispered into her hair, my arms constricting further like shrinking steel bands.

She made herself smaller, slinging her legs over my thighs till she was sitting on my lap and burying her face into the crook of my neck, breathing my scent in till she had calmed down more.

'Anyway,' she cleared her throat when she had found her voice again, her words muffled against my neck and tickling me a bit - but I closed my eyes and relished the feeling.

'I had asked Rowena for a failsafe. Told her to keep an eye on me - whichever world I went into. So, she protected me as much as could there, protected me from some damn Phantoms, or something. I killed Gordon, I think - everything's so hazy like I'm missing a key detail. Then . . . when I could have probably died with how weary and bled out that vessel had grown, she transported me to another universe.

'I don't know why this one in particular. But it was one where there was this American hunter - you, and Sam - and you looked at me like I had done something to you! Like you missed me or something . . . Obviously, my brain had been fried to the point where I couldn't even remember my own last name!

'So, I didn't know what that look was for back there. I was just this girl they picked on the side of the road, I guess. With these necklaces.'

'Did you hijack that Universe's Y/N, too? The American version?'

'I think so, yeah, yeah, I think I did. But in our struggle for control, we both ended up cancelling out each other's memories, and I kinda won? Um, I guess, yeah. So, it was my personality with no memories while the original host sat on the back burner . . . Talking to me? Screaming, maybe, I don't remember.'

'How did you get out?'

'Rowena,' she raised her hand to rub her face tiredly.

'Do you want to sleep first, darling?' I asked her gently.

'Just let me finish the story,' she insisted, even though her eyes were already half-closed. 'So, the Rowena of the second universe gave me a book of the exact same story I had experienced in the first Universe - her way of trying to give me "my memories" back. But the pages in the end were ripped, and I panicked, because my own memories were like, behind a wall or something, and they were begging me to come back, and—' I breathed in deeply, 'No, wait, I think I fought with—No, I don't - I don't know! It just didn't work, so I panicked more. I really wanted my memories to come back . . . I really wanted to come back and—' She cut herself off, 'Why don't I remember?'

'You're okay, Y/N. It's okay,' I whispered into her hair. 'You don't have to think about it now. You got what you went for.'

A pregnant pause.

'I thought I'd never see you again,' her bottom lip trembled, twisting my heartstrings.

'As long as I'm here, no one can get you. You hear me? I would have found you wherever you ended up,' I said with all my conviction.

She relaxed further in my arms, and the pride over eliciting that reaction from such a strong woman boosted my low self-esteem.

'Long story short, the American version of you touched this scar,' her index finger absent-mindedly dragged along the scar she had gotten when she fell from a tree while we were on a hunt - a scar that only one other Royal couple replicated, who were now dead. 'And my memories rushed back to me, and I got pulled into reality. Our reality.'

'Now you're here,' I promised quickly. 'You're not going anywhere.' After a beat and a frown of realisation, 'I thought . . . I thought you could only hijack people who were similar to us. How did you hack that American?'

'Well,' she licked her lips, eyes sealed shut by now, breathing getting shallower by the minute, and I knew this would be the last question she answered for now. 'The second universe . . . I think she was a dream-walker or something. Technically, she can live my life - if she scouts my noggin and all, lives vicariously through me. Plus, I don't know . . . there must be some kind of connection between her and I, right? Plus, she had this scar - the one that triggered my return - I'm sure there's an explanation.'

'Probably,' I murmured.

When I look down, Y/N has slipped into the bottomless recesses of her brain, sleeping soundly, finally calm against me.

The way this woman rules on my heart - I swear I could die for her.

A/N: Can I just say I love plot twists?

Tag List.

@stoneyggirl2 @hobby27 @globetrotter28 @aylacavebear @emma1998sblog

@stanzie

[nebuladreamz]

Thinking about how if i ever had the opportunity to make. a mascot horror game or story that i'd have it take place right before the eventual Big Fall of the establishment

[Big ramble under the cut lmao]

Something something reuse how I thought for Security Breach we'd play as Vanessa and the five nights formula was doing the shift but slowly discovering through each shift that Some Shit is happening and she has to stop it (directly before we found out Vanessa was Vanny/Vanessa was the security guard's name)

LIKE!!! I fucking adore how a couple of standout mascot horror games have been [primarily Indigo Park, I'm willing to give it a shot and it's deadass because of Rambley and his role as an AI assistant], but a lot of what I've seen personally (stares at. Fucking. Garten of Banban), it's a lot of post fall. Always investigating or going through the abandoned place where shit's gone wrong (thank you BATIM for starting the chapter-based formula -bangs head-)

But like. I've always thought about what it would be like for a mascot horror game to take place before the fall, or even during it depending on the execution.

Before the fall, you're either a kid who's a regular at the establishment (daycare, amusement park, whatever) or even an employee working there-

(or even MORE interestingly, if we go with a chapter-based thing or even similar to FNAF in terms of there's a set thing for whatever, the POV keeps changing between different people- wait I'm cooking. i'll get back to that later actually)

-And slowly as it all develops, you watch as everything begins to just. Fall apart. Employees leaving, the place coming down into disrepair, something's up with the main mascots of the place but you don't know what (at least in universe, we all know this formula as players)

Actually, coming back to the changing POVs, you can even draw in inspiration from DBH (I only watched gameplay back then oops) where the perspective changes between different people. A child enjoying their day, a first time employee, a long time employee, a parent of a child. Hell, depending on things, you could even have a moment where (depending on the location) you play as a fucking burglar looking to steal shit (before getting. Fucking bass boosted)

And eventually there'd come the inevitable end where it all closes down, leaving whatever living mascots inside to rot (insert Abandoned by Disney line here /j)

LIKE!!! I want to see people expand on the formula!! I want to see people fuck around and find out!!!

Honest to god, I might take this and run with it myself cause now I'M getting ideas.

[jadeylovesmarvelxo]

I see you have your requests open. Maybe something about reader getting majorly injured? Like car accident or something. And the boyfriend Eddie hearing about it?

Request by @mugloversonly 💌💞

Eddie found out about your accident in the middle of Hellfire. The club was knee deep in the current campaign, he has thrown himself into it since you had been gone for two days at a cheer competition.

He never expected that the first time he would fall in love (after many cynical years of believing it to be a load of bullshit) that it would be with someone from the dark side.

But you were different from Jason and the rest, Eddie fell for you instantly as you did for him. Six months later and he was still in a blissful state. He missed you like crazy and he couldn't wait to see you tomorrow when you were back from the competition.

Suddenly Dustin's walkie talkie crackles to life and he hears Steve Harrington's voice.

"Dustin, I just heard from Robin who's friends with Alice on the cheer team. Princess was in an accident" Eddie doesn't hear much after that. In fact his blood runs cold and he immediately jumps into action.

"Gentlemen and lady, he nods to Erica' We will have to reconvene another time" all he can think about is getting to you.

All he heard was the word accident and he was taken back to when he heard the news that his mom died. He feels as numb as he did at six years old when he realised his mom wasn't coming home.

His eyes blur and he wipes the tears away hastily. No. You would be fine this wasn't like that. He wishes he'd asked how you got injured but Eddie reacted before he could do so.

He drives to the hospital in blind panic and argues with the nurse on reception that confirms you arrived at the hospital half an hour ago.

The frustration is building. He just wants to see you and hold you. Before he can argue some more Chief Jim Hopper has his hand on Eddie's shoulder to calm him.

"It's okay son, she's fine. I'll take you to see her okay?" Eddie nods as relief seeps into his bones.

"What happened?" He demands and Jim explains that when you and some of your cheer friends went for a celebratory dinner after winning the competition, a reckless driver nearly drove into your path. You moved at the last second but fell on the pavement and broke your arm.

"I've already arrested the little punk" Hopper confirms before Eddie can think of making the dickhead driver suffer.

Hopper has to restrain Eddie the minute he sees the guy being led out of the ward he was on in handcuffs, there's not a scratch on him and Eddie feels his anger rise again.

Only the thought of seeing you keeps him calm.

As soon as he sees you he's at your side at once. You're fast asleep, arm in a sling and he feels a rush to protect you from anything that could ever hurt you. He never wants to see you lying on a hospital bed again, the thought physically pains him.

Gently he takes your hand and reaches down to kiss your forehead. This wakes you and you smile brightly even though you must be in pain.

"Eddie" he exhales in relief when your beautiful eyes focus on him. He's so happy that you're awake but he's still furious at the dickhead who put you in here in the first place.

He's not a violent guy but if he ever got his hands on the asshole, then there would be hell to pay.

"Princess, I was so worried" a moment passes between the two of you where you both cling to each other, soothed by each other's presence.

"I'm okay, my arm is broken and I have a few bruises but I'm fine, might need my handsome boyfriend to play doctor for a couple of weeks" you tease and he chuckles, he'd do anything for you.

"I'll be the best doctor you've ever seen sweetheart, might spoil my patient a little bit though" (well a lot)

He will make sure you're comfortable, loved and that you don't have to lift a finger, this whole situation could have been a whole lot worse and he's just grateful that his princess will be okay.

♥️♥️♥️

[things-arent-what-they-seem66]

*Drops request in your inbox*

#35. Lucifer and Adam had gotten together recently, but already act like a married couple in their never ending honeymoon phase. So when Lilith comes back, everyone is expecting drama, and they get it but not what they thought.

Lilith is expecting to get that 'picture perfect family' back, like she wasn't just up and gone for years without any explanation on where she was at or why she didn't call back to Charlie's numerous voicemails. So Lucifer is indifferent, because why should he care that Lilith is finally back, after so long? He's moved on, long since got rid of his ring, got The One, His Adam, His Rightful Queen, like he should have from the beginning. The only good thing from his marriage with Lilith was Charlie, so if Lilith wants stay, BUT, only for Charlie, then Lucifer would allow it, other than that, he wants nothing to do with her. And he says all of this with a straight, will kinda, his face turn all mushy and bright when talking about His Adam.

*Runs away from inbox*

35. “Because love isn’t linear. You know that, right?”

It seemed like the honeymoon phase of their relationship was going to go on forever. Sure they had only been dating not even a full year, but knowing each other this long it was as if Adam and Lucifer were already married.

Everything seemed perfect. Then Lilith came walking in the door. Angel busted out the popcorn waiting for the drama which was sure to come.

Lucifer looked at the face of his ex-wife, she was still as beautiful as the day she left, sure. But his feelings for her had left along with her. "What are you doing here?"

Lilith gave him a smile. "Isn't it obvious? I'm here for us, our family." Her eyes shifted to Adam. "Adam."

"Bitch."

"Charming as ever. Now, where were we?"

"You were leaving." Lucifer said as he opened the door behind her.

She blinked unbelieving. "What?"

"You heard me. If you want a relationship with Charlie and act like her mother for the first time in years, I can't stop you there. But as far as US? We ended the moment you left out that door without a moment's notice. I've moved on." Lucifer turned a gentle gaze to Adam, who smiled back at him.

"Oh you have go to be fucking kidding me, him!?" Lilith seethed.

Lucifer walked over to Adam and took his hand. "Yes him, the way it should have been from the fucking beginning. The only good that came out of our cold marriage was Charlie and that is the only thing I wouldn't change. But I should have been with him in the first place. He's my other half ." His Adam, the rightful Queen of Hell was with him at last. “Because love isn’t linear. You know that, right? There are ups and downs and I've had that with Adam. It hasn't been easy getting to the point we are at now, but fuck it all to Hell it's worth it."

"You're serious?"

"Dead serious."

Lilith glanced down and saw his ring was gone. He meant it. "Fine. But when you two crash and burn like I know your shitty relationship will, don't come crawling back to me."

Lucifer glared. "Don't worry I won't and I think you underestimate how good we are together."

Lilith gave a glare of her own before leaving in a huff.

Adam was stunned by what just happened. "Wow."

"I meant every word, my dove." Lucifer said pulling Adam in close.

Adam smiled, his heart fluttered in his chest. "I love you, Luci."

"I love you, too, Adam."