#involving being his sick little sisters Big Brother who needs to stay strong for her

[coern-art-very-cool-and-nice]

the boy in the spotlight versus the girl in the mirror

unshaded version

[troublesometrollhunters]

Imagine being pregnant in TrollMarket

~ You were one of Jims teachers. Recently pregnant and left alone to raise the baby you moved to Arcadia for a fresh start. However monsters and mayem were not on the pregnancy itinerary and now you've stumbled into a whole world of trouble that doesn't involve your pregnancy problems.

~ Jim swears to you as long as he's Trollhunter no harm will come to you or your baby and he's so sorry that you got caught up in this mess. However your quick to forgive and soon the Trollhunter team becomes your family, the kids becoming your own children in a way.

~ Jim is quick to cook you anything you want. If you have a weird pregnancy craving he'll make whatever you want. Pickled pears? Got it! Something super sweet? Of course. Something really spicy? Sure. Icecream? He'll get the machine and make you some! He loves cooking for you and is glad he can help outside of trollhunting.

~ Toby throughout the entire process becomes your hype man. Becoming pregnant can be hard on your body and how you see yourself. Especially since the hormones make everything seem like a big deal. Sometimes the weight is upsetting or you feel fat and like a slob other times your so tired but feel lazy for taking a nap. He's there to tell you your amazing and beautiful and you should always feel that way because it's true. Self care is key and he's determined to make sure your taken care of the whole pregnancy.

~ Claires an expert in pregnancies because of her baby brother. She helps you make a list of things you should get for the upcoming baby and enjoys maternity shopping with you. You may be a pregnant lady but that doesn't mean you should be forced to live in sweatpants for nine months. She also helps you pick out cute baby clothes and toys for the nursery.

~ Poor Blinky in his excitement mixes up troll customs with human ones and creates weird hybrid things that don't actually exist and defiently don't help the pregnancy.

~ The kids and trolls keep up on absolutely everything. You're very well taken care of the whole pregnancy. Jim makes sure your eating. Toby makes sure you take care of yourself. And Claire helps you with house stuff when you need it. Draal, Blinky, and Aarrrgh also get very involved. They want to hear about your doctor appointments and see all the sonograms and ultrasounds. (Good luck getting their hands off you when the baby begins kicking)

~ You never got a baby shower so the troll team surprises you. Claire organizes the party, Jim handles the cake and food, meanwhile Toby invites all your friends and decorates. You get gifts from trolls, people, and even changelings. Strickler didn't come but he sent an expensive gift and a nice card.

~ You don't think much of it as it's a busy fun day full of gifts, laughter, games, and love. When the parties over they have one last surprise for you. Taking you upstairs the kids are excited to show you a recently decorated nursey!

~ Blinky had painted the walls of the room to look like an enchanted forest. There was elegant trees with birds and critters and flowers full of bees and butterflies. Soft green carpet laid on the floor and you nearly cried as you looked around. Draal had built you a beautiful crib of wood with little pieces of heart stone hanging off of it. And Aarrrgh smiled as he'd put in some shelves and arranged toys. Stepping further into the room taking it in, the crib was full of fluffy pillows and soft blankets. All of them were fantasy themed with pixies or tales of fae. Hand made dolls of the trolls were in a toy bin and plushies of goblins and other creatures were placed around the room. There was a gorgoues rocking chair in the corner and next to it a shelf full of young troll books and childrens toys. There was also a wooden changing station with soft pillows for your baby that held all the supplies you needed to clean and change them. You cry telling them this is the best gift ever.

~ Bular found you by accident. About half way through your second term Goblins were chasing the trollhunting team and out of options they hid at your house since you were the closest. The U.V lights you installed made the goblins flee and you thought that was the end of that until a changeling tried to break into your home a couple days later.

~ The team decides Trollmarket was the safest place for you. Staying in Trollmarket until the baby comes and you can safely move everyone is excited. Trolls may not love humans but the fact that your carrying a life inside of you is seen as a glorious thing. Trollmarket would never turn a pregnant person away even if they are a human. You get an influx of gifts from trolls around the market and they all make a point to smile and wave whenever they see you, something they didn't do before.

~ If your feet ever become sore, don't worry about it. In human standards you may be big but in troll ones your small. Blinky, Aarrrgh, Draal they'll carry you if they see you struggling. It's also a troll instinct to want to feed anything that's tiny so be prepared for trolls constantly offering you strange things to eat because they think you should be bigger for the baby. Gifts are a common occurrence as you live with Blinky. Weapons. Troll toys. Books. You also receive a lot of interesting letters.

~ Blinky tells the babies stories every night before you got to bed. He reads human fairy tales but also tells troll lore excited. Aarrrgh snuggles next to you and wherever the baby kicks he laughs. You always go to bed warm and happy as your baby rests soundly in your stomach.

~ Draal gets very protective of you when you locate to Trollmarket. He was protective before but after the attack he's now a guard dog, constantly by your side unless the team really needs him. When the baby starts kicking he's nervous to touch your belly at first. He'd seen the others do it and he wanted to as well. Taking his hand you gently put it your stomach and his eyes widen as he feels a strong kick against it.

"They're a warrior!" He states excited and you chuckle. With who they'd be raised with you had no doubt they'd be a warrior.

~ Aarrrgh is very cuddly the entire pregnancy. He wants the baby to be warm and safe so he often curls up around you when you take naps. He's often nuzzling your baby bump and asking questions. Human pregnancies and troll ones are very different and sometimes he gets confused but he does his best.

~ Blinky reads way to many books that Claire brings over about babies. Now he thinks he's an expert on all things baby related. The entire pregnancy he gives ludicrous advice thinking it'll help the pregnancy and the baby. It's sweet but he becomes a bit overbearing and the kids sometimes have to intervene.

~ Vendel gets annoyed when the others have to leave and he's stuck with you. But as you waddle around the Heartstone complaining about sore feet and back pains he pauses. He leads you somewhere to sit down. He gives you a chunk of heartstone to hold and wraps you in blankets so your warm. Wandering away he comes back with tea for the both of you and starts a pleasant chat.

~ You've wandered into a dangerous world and your worried about your baby, about the kids. They shouldn't be alone... They shouldn't be taking care of you, your the adult! Vendel notices the sad way you say alone and care. He sees your lip tremble and it hits him your scared. He softly asks you if your afraid to be alone, if your afraid you won't get the care you need. Your hands instinctively touch the baby bump and your thoughts wander to the father who'd walked out on you. You nod feeling tears in your eyes and he gently puts his head to yours humming something soft and soothing.

"You are not alone here and you will be cared for here."

You begin sobbing relieved as he rubs your back. No you suppose you had nothing to worry about.

~ Vendel knows a lot about human pregnancies thanks to asking you and doing some light research. Blinky likes to challenge the old man about it and they often bicker about what's good and not good for you and the baby. It can be quit entertaining if not alarming.

~ Vendel gives you potions for morning sickness so you no longer puke when you wake up and he gives you tea to sooth your aching muscles. He gifts you a heartstone necklace so that peace may always be with you as you carry the baby.

~ Your in Blinkies library one day. The kids are out patrolling and your enjoying a nice night when suddenly your soaked. At first you assume you peed yourself and are a tad emabrassed but you know Blinky will understand. Calling him in for some assistance he pauses seeing you and that's when the contractions start. You didn't pee, your water just broke.

~ Going to a hospital may take too long and getting out of the canal was too dangerous at this point. You're very carefully picked up by Aarrrgh before your rushed to the heartstone. Someone had ran ahead so Vendel was getting ready as you were brought in.

~ There are soft blankets to lay on and your put on a Heartstone slab which eases the pain of labor. Trolls excitedly wait outside of the heartstone for the baby to come. Hours pass and although your sweaty and exhausted you can't help but smile as your baby is placed in your arms.

~ The kids run in along with Draal and they stare at you holding your newborn. You're covered in blankets and sweaty but you couldn't be happier as you stare at your baby. They're swaddled in a soft furry blanket holding a chunk of heartstone with wide eyes. They look around and you smile.

"Hi... Hi... I'm your mama..." You mumble holding them close. "This is your family..."

~ Vendel takes the baby to check on them and you sleep after the draining expeirnce when you wake you smile holding your child close. Vendel was the official grandpa and you'd named Aarrrgh and Blinky the godfathers of the child. You said the kids could be sisters and brothers if they wanted and you told Draal he was an uncle. They were all very excited.

~ You give your baby a human name and a Trollish one. One you'd use in the human one and one you'd use in TrollMarket. Holding them close and looking at your family you smile. You wouldn't have it any other way.

@arcadia-trash

[cl-01-kestis]

An Unlikely Pair - Wrecker x Pregnant!Reader

Summary: As Anakin’s older sister, you were rejected by the Jedi even though you wield the force. But you put your talents towards something else as a Senator and visit Anakin on Anaxes.

Warnings: fluff, lots of pregnancy hormones and baby bonding, open ending

“How’s my sister in law doing?” You asked your brother as you walked beside him towards the ship he would be flying on in a few minutes. Rex walked beside you as the three of you chatted amongst yourselves quietly.

“She’s asking about you, you should probably call her when I leave” Your brother replied with a smile, his hand pressing on your shoulder as he came to a halt.

“She’ll be asking to go baby shopping with me again, you know how excited she is” You looked down at your barely visible belly and back up at Anakin who smiled, pressing his palm against your uterus and unable to control the grin taking over his face.

“Of course she’s excited, a little niece or nephew on the way? I’d almost say she’s more excited than me” Anakin chuckled, rubbing your tummy once more before turning around and looking ahead. Rex stuck with you as your brother walked forward to Hunter, who you had met right before Anakin left for Skako Minor. You heard of the Bad Batch, Rex had filled you in and you couldn’t help but admire them.

You kept a hand on your tummy which held your 6 month old baby, rubbing it softly as you chatted with Rex for a while, talking about the mission he was going on and making small talk about your due date considering everyone knew about your baby at this point. The only issue - there was no father. You were experiencing what your mother went through all those years ago with Anakin and it was very strange to you, the Senate had put you into questioning and done multiple physical tests on you to see if there was a father, but it turns out there was none at all and you were in fact still a virgin. You still accepted the fact you were pregnant though and now you’ve made a full commitment to be a mother when the time comes. The baby was put there for a reason, not just randomly in your opinion.

“Morning sickness has never been so bad, every morning at 3am I’m up and spewing my guts out” You groaned, Rex bearing the burden of all your complains and whining, but to your surprise he wasn’t yet bored or annoyed.

“Perks of being pregnant general, the little guys strong! I guarantee it’s a boy” Rex nudged you playfully with his shoulder.

“Maybe, Ani and I put our bets on a little girl” You smirked, nudging him back which caused him to let out a loud laugh, drawing the attention of Anakin and Hunter who were speaking with the rest of Hunters team, the Bad Batch.

“You two fine over there?” Your brother yelled over, his brow raised and arms crossed as he turned to look at the both of you.

“Just discussing whether the baby is a boy or girl” You chuckled, walking up to Anakin with a beaming smile on your face as Rex followed. Your palm lay flat on where your uterus would be and you put your other hand on your hip.

“Girl, for sure” Your brother said without hesitation, looking to Rex who raised his hands up in defence all whilst fighting the smile off his face.

“You’re expecting, Senator?” You turned to look at Hunter who had a surprised expression on his face, watching you with wide eyes and trailing his gaze to your slightly swollen stomach.

“Yes, 3 months to go” You chirped positively, removing your hand to reveal your stomach which showed a lot through your thin material dress. Hunter smiled and walked up to you, offering his palm. You knew of his abilities, hyper sensitive to many things so you let him feel your stomach to see if he sensed anything to do with your baby.

Hunter closed his eyes as his palm flattened on your tummy, and smiled when he felt the small life form.

“A beautiful healthy baby, congratulations to you Senator, and you Master Skywalker, they’ll be lucky to have an uncle like you” Hunter took his hand off your stomach and patted your shoulder, offering you a smile which you gladly returned. Once he turned away you looked to Anakin with a big bright smile.

“You hear that? My babies beautiful and healthy!” You poked Anakin’s shoulder, earning a chuckle from him as he bent down and kissed your stomach.

“Speaking of babies, go and get some rest, you’ll be exhausted from this morning” Anakin’s tone shifted to concern and you met his offer with the nod of your head, surprising yourself with a yawn as you patted your tummy and nodded.

“Sounds like a plan, don’t get killed Skyguy” You kissed your brothers head by waving him to lean down, tangling your fingers through his hair and stroking it softly before letting go and nuzzling your head with his; something the two of you had done since he was born.

“Love You Ani” You murmured, leaning back and starting to make your way towards the barracks where your bed was awaiting you.

But on your way there, you started feeling dizzy. Your hand was on your tummy as usual, protecting it, but your sight started going fuzzy and your body felt heavy. You needed sleep but you physically couldn’t get there. Just as you were about to collapse onto your knees, a pair of strong hands caught you just in time and picked you up into a chair lift.

Multiple voices yelled out to you, including your brothers and Rex’s. Your eyes fluttered open and the first thing you saw was Wrecker, the strongest man in the Bad Batch. You felt safe in his arms, looking up at him with a smile which he returned, only shy and awkward. His eyes were glued to your baby bump and he looked so scared when Anakin walked up to see it you were alright.

“Wrecker- thank you, thank you a lot” Anakin said with such distress, eyes wide and disturbed as his hand raised up to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear. Hunter rushed to Wreckers side and placed a hand on his shoulder, relieved that his comrade was able to save you in time from falling and possibly causing damage to your baby.

“Take her to the barracks, look after her for now Wreck” Hunter instructed, nodding to Anakin who directed Wrecker to the bunker you were sleeping in. It didn’t take long for the big brute to find his way to your barrack, cradling you so delicately considering you were so much smaller than him. He was nervous as he opened up the barrack, relieved to find there was no other clones or Jedi inside as he looked around to find your bed. The one in the corner caught his gaze when he noticed a pile of fancy Senator clothes beside it.

Wrecker tip toed over to the bed and placed you down on it so delicately, your eyes fighting to stay open as you yawned and reached out to grab his arm when he was about to lean back. Wrecker froze at the sudden contact of your hand touching him but he felt so at ease when he noticed the expression on your face.

“It’s alright Senator, you’re safe” His gravelly voice reassured you, taking your hand and cupping it right in his own. His size difference was incredible compared to you, your hand was fully spread in the palm of his and he found it incredibly... cute?

“Is the baby safe?” You asked in a tired tone, letting him hold your hand for a while as you closed your eyes briefly before looking down at your tummy.

“The baby’s fine, ma’am, you had us all a little scared back there though” Wrecker smiled, shedding a little light on the situation. His smile made you forget about the hassle of your fall, he radiated positive and playful energy and you felt so intrigued by it.

“Thank you, and please, call me (Y/N)” You chuckled, your hand still grasping his wrist as he sat on the bed beside you. Wrecker felt himself grow comfortable at your presence, but he looked at your belly and noted to himself that there must be a father involved, disappointing him slighlty as he continued to let you hold onto him.

“You here on your own? I wouldn’t consider this as a place for a pregnant woman” Wrecker looked around the barracks, feeling uneasy as you shrugged and replied with a soft hum.

“I’ve been in many wars, far before I was a Senator, so l know these places like they’re my home” You smiled, sitting up and crossing your legs since it was more comfortable for your baby bump. Wrecker’s arms were ready to catch you if you fell, worry all over his face as he tried to stay calm and collected. You found it cute.

“You were a soldier?” Wrecker asked with a curious tone, placing his hands back down on his lap as he watched you protectively in case anything happened. After crossing your legs, you nodded.

“Once, but I resigned and took interest in doing politics” You were so open with him, he can’t remember the last time he sat down like this and had a conversation with someone that wasn’t his brothers. A woman as well, a very beautiful one at that.

“Do you miss it?” He asked, raising a brow.

“Sometimes, I miss the thrill of it all” You sighed, your fingers tapping a soft rhythm on your tummy as you looked up to meet Wrecker’s gaze, directing your attention towards his cybernetic eye which was pure white and had a slightly noticeable light grey iris on it. You looked at the large scar covering up half of his face, curious as to know how he got it but you kept your mouth shut.

“What position were you?” Wrecker looked more comfortable speaking about your past career in the army considering it was something he was engineered for, the topic of war was something he was able to discuss instead of other matters such as politics and pregnancy.

“I was an officer, much like Captain Rex, but I was promoted to Commander right before I fell pregnant, the timing is impeccable” You laughed dryly, eyes still looking at Wrecker as he chuckled at your comment and shrugged.

“You can’t control it, I’m guessing the dad knows?” Wrecker asked with a positive upbeat tone but you said nothing in reply, causing him to replace his smile with a confused frown.

“You wouldn’t believe me, but there is no dad- biologically impossible, yes I know, but the Senate ran multiple tests on me and found it out to be true” You sighed, crossing your arms over your chest and looking up at the bunker bed ontop of you. Wrecker stared at you with wide, surprised eyes and blinked a few times before coming back to reality.

“That’s pretty impressive, it’s a miracle child then” He smiled once again, calming your nerves and making the corners of your lips twitch up.

“You could say that, pregnancy is the burden of my existence though” You sat up when you felt your back get uncomfortable, keeping one arm on your spine whereas the other was on your knee. You were sitting opposite from the colosal clone who wore the softest expression, his helmet sitting next to him as he supervised you in case you fell back.

“You thinking of any names?” Wrecker perked up as the question slipped past his lips, leaning his elbows on his knees which brought him a little closer to you as you started rubbing your stomach.

“For a girl I want to name her Shmi-Eisley after my late mother and the place I grew up,” You felt your heart ache at the memories of you and your mother when you were barely a little girl, long before Anakin was born. You and your mother were very close and unlike Anakin, you had a father, but he vanished months before you were born so you never knew who he was. But now her burden of pregnancy has passed down onto you and you have no idea why, it felt like a prophecy being repeated.

“I don’t really have any names for boys yet but I’m thinking about it” You scratched the back of your neck.

“You want it to be a girl?” Wrecker tilted his head. You replied with a curt nod.

“I hope so, but a boy would be just as good” You smiled at the thought of holding your own baby, heart swelling with happiness as you stroked the area above your uterus, using the force to feel their heartbeat. Wrecker watched with an intrigued stare as you closed your eyes and furrowed your brows slightly, your face unreadable as you smiled and let out a small chuckle.

“You want to feel it? The baby’s kicking quite a lot” You offered, holding back a grin as a kick startled you in perfect timing. Wrecker looked concerned, as if he didn’t trust himself with the task and reluctantly took his glove off and brought his hand forward to touch your stomach. You arched your back slightly to stick your tummy out some more, your hand resting on the top so he had room to press his large hand against it.

“It’s alright, here,” You gently took Wrecker’s hand halfway, pulling it towards you and resting his palm flat on the side of your baby bump so he could feel it. Wrecker looked at your stomach intensely, eyes focused and a small frown plastered to his face until he finally felt it, a small kick against his hand.

Leaning back with wide eyes, wrecker let out a loud laugh and stared at your stomach in amazement, bewildered he had even felt such a thing. The baby kicked more and you found yourself leaning back and taking deep breaths, slight pains jabbing your body as you tried to sooth them. Wrecker shifted off his bunker and onto his knees so he was closer to you than before, his hand reaching out once more to press against your tummy.

You watched with wide eyes and gasped when the baby stopped kicking, as it if sensed Wrecker’s presence and was immediately comforted by it. Your heart swooned at the sight of Wrecker grinning to himself as your baby settled just by his touch, rubbing his thumb delicately over the material of your dress.

Shyly, you placed your hand ontop of his and his eyes looked up to meet yours, a blush covering his handsome face as the small strokes of his thumb paused. His heart hammered inside his chest, his breathing was short and he felt like he was about to combust. The most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on was letting him bond with her baby, only for her to bond with him. It was an experience he never thought would occur but he wasn’t complaining, this felt so relaxing to him but at the same time it put him on edge.

He was engineered to fight, not feel.

“The little one okay?” He asked, his tone quiet and a complete contrast compared to how he usually sounded. He sounded as though the baby heard his every word and he tried not to disturb it.

“Yeah,” You smiled. “They like you”.

Wrecker looked up at you, his eyes looking into yours for much longer than the both of you realised. Your heart fluttered and you found yourself reaching over to rest your hand on Wreckers cheek. Using your force abilities, you pressed to fingers against his temple to see what he was thinking. He looked confused but he put the pieces together; you and Skywalker were siblings, of course you had the force as well.

He relaxed once again and let out a soft, pleasant sigh, allowing you to go into his mind and shuffle around his thoughts. He made an unreadable expression, clearly feeling you in his head and trying not to laugh, maybe it was ticklish for him? The thought made you smile.

There wasn’t many thoughts in his head, he was relaxing so much his worries started to fade and the only thoughts you could read were the ones he felt about you. You felt your face flush, hearing his thoughts about how beautiful you were and how much he wanted to know more about you. You heard him worrying about how you would react to him feeling that way, angry? Your smile faded and you took your fingers from his temple, returning to cup his cheek as his expression became worried.

“I want to know you better as well, Wrecker” You giggled, earning a sigh of relief from the big brute who smiled uncontrollably and placed a hand on your waist. You looked at his face, your fingers delicately trailing around his scars and sharp jaw. Wrecker was more handsome than first glance, he had beautiful eyes, even if one of them wasn’t real. You loved the way he looked at you, although it caused your baby to kick your stomach as if it was telling you off. You ignored it, you just wanted to enjoy this moment with Wrecker, you didn’t know the next time you’d get to see him so you took every minute with caution.

-

“You get along suspiciously well with Wrecker” Your brother stood beside you with his arms folded, his hip touching yours as you watched the Bad Batch from a respectable distance whilst they negotiated their next mission.

You chuckled at his comment, leaving no reply and crossing your arms above your belly as you continued spectating Wrecker get along with his brothers. You understood each of them had a special gift, they were all incredible soldiers but something about Wrecker made him stand out compared to the rest. Whether was his size, his volume, his attitude, or his abilities, to you it was everything about him.

“He’s good with Shmi” You stated. Anakin immediately knew what you meant, Shmi was the name the both of you called your baby. Your little brother smiled, looking towards Wrecker who was talking with Rex and Cody.

“If she likes him, you should keep him around” Anakin suggested with a smirk, nudging your shoulder with his and making you chuckle softly before shrugging your shoulders.

“Maybe, depends whether or not he’s going to stick around” Your tone shifted quickly into a sad, disappointed one. Your brother wrapped an arm around your shoulder, rubbing it reassuringly whilst kissing your temple.

“Wrecker’s a clone, he’s a soldier, you do realise if you were to keep him around it would be difficult?” Anakin raised a brow, keeping you close to him as you rest your head on his shoulder.

“That’s a good point, but then again I’ve never felt this way towards someone,” You sighed.

“Is this how you feel towards Padme?” You looked up at your brother for closure, arms still folded and head cranked up a bit just so you could see his face. He was too tall, that was the only thing you didn’t like about him.

“Depends on what you’re feeling? Describe it to me” He turned to face you, a supportive smile on his face as you let out another sigh and rubbed your upper arms.

“It’s a weird feeling, I get all fuzzy and warm, my heart feels uncomfortable” You murmured, careful not to speak too loud in case any clones heard, which is the last thing you want. Your brother stared at you with wide yet amused eyes, patting your shoulder before letting you go and folding his arms once more.

“Sounds like you’ve got feelings for Wrecker, maybe even fallen in love” Anakin shrugged, sticking his bottom lip out and trying to fight back a smile as you gulped down your throat dryly.

“Then what do I do?” You asked.

“You’ll just have to wait and see” Your brother responded.

[justaghostingon]

From Above

A Dream smp drabble

Note: everyone involved is the character and not the person.

There’s a world above, the piglin children whisper to each other, small voices hushed to keep the older members of the tribe from hearing. Its not a natural place, weird and wrong, where the sky is the color of diamonds, the ground the color of rot, and the air pushes you like it has a mind of its own.

It is where the fae live.

Micheal is all of three, three and big enough to speak his Piglish in two syllables instead of one and he is so proud of it. He is three and he is already starting to rot properly, a nice dip down his head to show his skull, and his mother tells him he is beautiful, he is all of three, and he fears the fae.

His sister does not help, she whispers the stories into his ear when their mom isn’t looking, of strange beings who clothe themselves in purple plates with weapons enchanted and pockets full of gold, ready to gift a piglin or strike them down without warning or reason. “The don’t follow the rules of trade,” she whispers in his ear, “it’s impossible to predict what it is they will do. Sometimes they’ll even pick you up for the trade and wisk you away to live with them forever.” She smiles, tusks visible against her pretty rot.

Micheal shutters, pulling closer to his brother, a way from he knowing smile. His brother seems to sense his fear, and steps between him ans his sister.

“Fae aren’t real,” his brother states, sticking his tongue out. “If they were, we’d have seen some. There’s nothing above.”

“There is too!” His sister protested. “They walk by the pathways and portals. I know! I heard it from another band! If u wait by a portal, you’ll see one too!”

“You’re just making it up!” His brother inisits. “You just wanna scare us. And if you keep it up, I’ll tell mom.”

“Tattle tale,” his sister whines, but she stops, fear of Mom enough to quell her tongue.

But the silence is not enough to stop Micheal wimpering and demanding Mom to hold him whenever they move to close to the portals and pathways that cut awkwardly through their land.

Micheal is four, and he is hiding.

His sister has shoved him into a small hole, and pushed a lose rock half over the edge, enough to disguise him in the shadows, hopefully enough to keep the Blood from noticing, and killing a young Rot like him. “Stay here,” she tells him. “Until I come and get you.”

“What about you?” He whispers, uncertain if she can hear him over the fiercesome clash of Rot and Blood, two tribes at war over sacred gold with their band stuck in the middle. But his sister hears, and shakes her head.

“I need to find our stupid brother,” she replies, lifting a rotted finger to wave at him, “stay quiet, or the fae will come for you.”

Then she is gone, and Micheal waits. And waits, and waits.

He waits until the cries have died to pained whimpers, to silence. He waits as the air fills with the smell of Rot come to take its own beyond, as the scent of lava sharp with burning skin claims the fallen Blood, and still his sister does not return.

But the fae do.

“What do we have hear?” The rock is yanked from his hole, and two hands wisk him into the air. He blinks, adjusting after so long in the hole, gazing at the thing that is holding him.

He is a fae, there can be no doubt. His skin is to pale for a proper pink. His brown fur only upon his head. His tusks are all wrong, perched curving on his head and not in his mouth. He craddles Micheal against the purple plates on his chest, to frightened to move, and smiles back at the other fae behind him, “can we keep him?”

“Slow down Tubbo,” the other fae bends his long, long body down to smile his heteocromatic smile at Micheal. “Where are your parents little one?”

Micheal does not want to answer, terrified of what his answer could make the fae do, but as the silence carries onwards, he chokes out, “w-waiting.”

“What did he say Ranboo?” The one called Tubbo asks.

“He says he’s waiting,” the taller replied, giving Micheal another smile, eyes like lava and rot pinning him in place. “Would you like some gold while you wait?”

Gold appears in his hand, glistening and perfect, and Micheal felt the tension leave his body. They’d given him gold. That meant they wouldn’t kill him. He’d passed whatever unknowable test the fae held. He grasped it with trembling hands, pulling it close like the life-line it was.

A sharp growl emits between them, and it takes Micheal a minute to realize its from his stomach, having forgotten his hunger between the fear and the waiting.

“Looks like its more than gold he wants,” Tubbo joked, producing bread from no where like Ranboo had done only seconds earlier. “Here little guy, have some food.”

Micheal has never heard of fae giving food, but he is to hungry to protest, snagging it so quickly he nearly drops his gold, and stuffing it in his mouth whole.

He chokes, and strong hands pull it back, freeing his throat for the air to fill. “Slowly,” the taller one murmurs. “You’ll make yourself sick.”

“Looks like we’d better keep an eye on you,” Tubbo agrees, as he settles them both on the rocky floor, Micheal still in his arms. “At least until your parents come back.”

Ranboo nods as he settles beside them both, hands breaking the bread into smaller pieces to press into Micheal’s hands. “Until they come back,” he echoes.

But still Micheal’s family do not come.

The fae are far kinder than his sister had told him, and he wonders why he was ever afraid of these gentle creatures who shower him in bread and gold and toys. He couldn’t wait to tell her how wrong she’d been. She’d be so shocked, his brother too.

But as time ticks down, his new friends begin to grow antsy. They try to hide it from him, but he’s spent most of his young life looking up at that exact expression on the elders of his tribe’s faces. The look that meant they’d be on the move again.

“Which direction did your family go?” Tubbo asks him, glancing around the outcropps of stone and lava.

“That way,” Micheal grunts, pointing with his hand. Tubbo does not understand his words, bur he understands the guesture, and rises to his feet.

“I’m going to look around a bit,” he say to Ranboo. “Keep an eye on him for me.”

Ranboo nods, and pulls Micheal close. Together they watch Tubbo march towards to place where the Rot scent is thickest.

Tubbo returns quickly, feet rapidly pounding down on stone. “We’re leaving,” he skitters to a hault before Ranboo and Micheal, skin paler than before and eyes glittering brighter.

“What?” Ranboo gasps, and Tubbo pulls his head forcefully down and hisses into his ear to fast and too low for Micheal to understand.

“He has the right to know,” Ranboo pulls his head back, hand stroking Micheal’s fur where the rot hadn’t set in yet. “So he doesn’t wonder.”

“No child should see that,” Tubbo growls, low and dangerous and unmoving. “None.”

“What’s happening?” Micheal asks, and both turn to look at him.

“Your family can’t come back for you,” Ranboo offers. “They’re stuck in the beyond...or where ever it is that zombie piglins go.”

“Then I’ll wait,” Micheal says, not comprehending the heartbroken looks he was recieving. “I’ll wait.”

“The girl with the rotted fingers is part of your family right?” Tubbo pipes up, and Micheal nods, recongnizing his sister’s description. “She gave me permission to take you,” Tubbo explains a blinding smile on his lips. “So you’re coming with us.”

Micheal hesitates. This doesn’t sound right. His sister wouldn’t want him to go to The Above. Not after all the stories she’s told. But Tubbo’s smile quells his worries. After all, fae can’t lie right? She must have changed her mind.

“Okay,” he nods, and Tubbo and Ranboo’s faces fall with relief. “I’ll come. Until they come and get me.”

“Of course,” Ranboo pulls him tight against the purple plates on his chest. “You’ll have a home with us.”

Micheal is four when the fae take him to the above, to a world of wonders, where the sky is blue and the grass is green, to live in a house made of wood in a land covered in snow. He is four when he gets a chicken as a pet and gold for toys. He is four when he loses his family, and gets two new parents to replace them.

Micheal is four when he learns to love the fae.

[judylicious]

And When He Smiles I Swear I Can’t Breathe

Alan Rubin x fem!Reader

Word count: 2,211

Fandom: Blues Brothers

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Blues Brothers characters or movies. This refers to Alan Rubin as a character in the movie, not the real Alan (although he obvsly played himself but you know what I mean)

I’d like to add that I made everyone of the band a few years younger (so the age gap between the reader and Alan isn’t that big), so he’s approx. in his early 30s.

Sophia, Lisa and Lex are two OCs created by two lovely people within the fandom.

Warnings: swearing, mentions of abuse

Chapter IX

Alan watched Charlotte taking a bite from her fried eggs. “What?”, she murmured. “Are we gonna pretend nothing happened last night?”, Alan gave her serious look. The girl shrugged her shoulders. “Wouldn’t be the first time.” “Huh, is that supposed to make me laugh?”

 Charlotte didn’t look up. “Why were you at the rehearsal room?” “Where else should I have gone?” “Lisa? Sophia? Or here’s a funny idea, could have given me a call.” “Look, I prefer to go into seclusion when something’s wrong. I’m sorry but I don’t wanna bother anyone with my crap.” “And I’d prefer if you’d come to me, you ain’t bothering no one, alright?”, he said in a soft tone and stroke her cheek. “Does he hit your mum and sister, too?” “No.”, she shock her head but saw a questioning look in Alan’s eyes. “My parents had broken up before my mum found out she was pregnant with me. So for my sake they gave their relationship another shot and apparently it worked but for my father I’m still the unwanted child. And I guess by forcing me to do well, in College and life, I won’t’t be such a big disappointment for him.” “Meaning if you moved out your mum and sister wouldn’t be in danger?” “Believe my, I tried getting my own place but…” “You could live with me until you find your own flat.”, Alan looked at her with raised eye brows. “I can’t, I really can’t.” “Why not?” “Cos I don’t wanna drain on your pocket, that’s why.” “I don’t care. I want you out of there as soon as possible.” “I will figure something out, okay? Don’t wanna jump the gun.” “Jumping the gun? What are you waiting for, Charlotte?”, Alan asked concerned, irritated she didn’t wanna move out. “I will come up with something alright?!”, she said bugged. “Just think about my offer, you’re more than welcomed here.” 

A few days had passed and Charlotte still hadn’t figured out what to do. She came back from jogging, when she noticed a stranger’s car in their driveway. Her father’s office was being refurbished this week, so he met all his clientele at home, in his home office. She hurried down the hallway to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, not keen on being seen in her current shape, all sweaty and her face red like a tomato. When passing by she took a quick glance into her father’s office though and realised she knew the person a few moments later only, so she went back. “What are you doing here?” “Oh, hi!”, the person greeted her with a big, fake smile. “Are you one of Mr. Ellington’s precious daughters? I didn’t know that!” “No, I’m Mrs. Mop.”, Charlotte replied sarcastically. “You do look like her.” “What’s going on here?”, Frank said in a harsh tone and gave his daughter a push against her shoulder as he entered the room. “Be nice to Ms…? I’m awfully sorry, what was your name again?” “No harm done, Sir. My name’s Brooks. Lari Brooks.” “I apologise for my daughter Ms Brooks and also for this chaos. I should have been prepared more thoroughly for this week of Home Office. I left some of my notes in my car, I’ll be back in a moment… Charlotte, go and get us a coffee, won’t you?” “Frankly I’d like to take shower.” “Yeah, you can do that afterwards.” Charlotte closed her eyes and took a deep breath before facing Lari again. “Oh kiddy, milk and sugar for me please.” Ugh that creepy smile again. “Listen up, bitch!”, Charlotte leaned over the desk. “I don’t know what kind of ratty games you’re playing here, getting in touch with my father but stay the hell away from Alan! You heard me?” Lari started laughing, not the reaction Charlotte was hoping for. “You really think Alan is interested in you? He’s not the man for relationships but you’ll figure that out soon enough. Once he had his fun with you he’s gonna drop you like a bad habit.” Lari looked her up and down. “Tsk, I’m surprised he even thinks he will get it up with you in the first place.” Charlotte clenched her fist. “Not that it’s any of your business but he already did!” “Oh good to know he’s finished with you then.” “He is finished with you, or why do you think he started seeing me?” “See honey, what-“ “I’m not your honey!” Lari sighed. “What you don’t see is, Alan needs a real woman at his side. Not only to satisfy his sexual needs but he certainly doesn’t wanna play babysitter for you. And he doesn’t need no social project either.” Charlotte backed down and slowly removed her hands form the table. “Oh, honey, don’t you think I haven’t noticed your bruises. And don’t you think I don’t know who did that to you.” Charlotte swallowed hard. For God’s sake, where was her father when she needed him. What was taken him so long? “Does your father know you’re dating Alan?” Charlotte clammed up. “Aha, I thought so.”, Lari grinned. “Would be such a shame if he did, eh?” “Why haven’t you made any coffee by now?! Frank bumped back into the office, a stack of files under his arm. “Come on!” dragging her into the kitchen. “I asked you for a simple favour.” “You didn’t ask…” “I swear to God, make that fuckin coffee or I loose my shit.”, he hissed through gritted teeth and Charlotte quietly set up the coffee brewer, while Frank went back to his newest client. While the machine ran, she tried to catch a few scraps of their conversation. What was her game? It was surely no coincidence she wanted to hire her dad. Charlotte overheard that apparently she had some trouble with a former affiliate of hers. What a pretence. And Charlotte started to worry. Knowing about her and Alan, Lari had her by the short and curlies. After serving the coffee, Charlotte quickly got into the shower. As the warm water ran over her body she couldn’t help but bursted out into tears. She knew Lari was right. Alan didn’t want no helpless, little girl at his side, that needed to be rescued from her father. And Charlotte wanted to be that independent and mature woman he was looking for but also felt trapped, like she couldn’t break away from her father. That was also why she didn’t wanna move in with Alan, even it was temporary only. She feared someone like Alan would eventually be sick of dealing with such preschool problems, when he was at a complete different state of life than Charlotte was. And perhaps her intuition on this one wasn’t letting her down.

During the next days, Charlotte and Alan didn’t see much of one another, they didn’t had a fight but both felt some tension between each other. While Alan was trying to give Charlotte some room to decide what she wanted to do in order to sort out her problem at home, Charlotte felt rejected and that Alan didn’t wanna see her.

So when she and her besties, Sophia and Lisa were on their way to another concert of the boys, she had mixed feelings. The three entered the backstage area, where they were happily welcomed by the band. Jake pulled Sophia into his strong arms, giving her passionate kiss, while Lou and Lisa were still a bit shy around other people, so the saxophonist grabbed his girlfriend’s hand and gave her a short peck on her cheek. As Charlotte and Alan met they faced each other awkwardly. “Hi Alan.” “Hi Charlie, you look gorgeous tonight.” “Thanks.”, she responded with a little smile. Everyone who was watching the two instantly felt something was wrong and were kind of embarrassed to be present. The blonde girl turned around to her friends “Think I’ll be heading to our seats already, see you in a bit.” 

Lisa and Sophia gave each other a look before hurrying after her friend. “Charlie, wait! What was this all about?”, Sophia grabbed her arm. “Nothing.”, she shrugged her shoulders in response. “Did you break off?” “Were we even a couple?” “Were?”, Lisa asked shocked. “Relax, we didn’t. It’s.. I don’t know… tensed. He hasn’t been calling me for a couple of days.” “Have you called him?” “No… I didn’t wanna bother him.” “Why do you keep saying that?” “Because it’s true. Alan could date everyone. It’s just a matter of time ’til he’s tired of my bs with my dad.” “Why would he? He offered you to move in with him for now.” “Right, so what if that wasn’t a genuine offer? Perhaps he only felt the need to say that.” “Jeez, you still think the worst of everyone!”, Sophia rolled her eyes. “Last thing you told us is that he asked you to think about it. So I guess he’s just waiting for an answer.”, Lisa explained. “Go and talk to him after concert.” “But before that we’re gonna enjoy the music, nothing will cheer you up like their songs, trust me.”; Sophia said with a big smile and grabbed Charlotte’s hand, dragging her to their seats.

Meanwhile Lou got after Alan. “Hey man, are you and Charlotte alright?” “Yeah, yeah, we’re fine.” “C’mon Alan, talk to me!” The trumpet player sighed. “I don’t even know what it is! I told her she could live with me until she found a flat for herself cos I want her away from her manic father and gave her some time to think about it and since then: nothing. I don’t know what else to do if she keeps refusing my help! Maybe it’s all too much for me.” “What are you saying? I thought you liked her, for real!” “Yes, I do.” “Sometimes a relationship needs some work, especially at the beginning.”, Lou advised. “See? This is why I never got involved in anything serious before. It just complicates things.” “Even if things are difficult at the moment, I’ve never seen you any happier than being with Charlotte. So perhaps it’s time you step out of your comfort zone if you wanna make things work with her.” They got interrupted by Elwood, yelling across backstage. “2 minutes guys!” “Lou gave his friends a warm smile and a pat on the shoulder “Think about it.”

The concert was extraordinary. They were rocking the crowd and the atmosphere was purely captivating. After the band finished playing “Hey Bartender” Jake got on the mic again. “This next song, we haven’t played in front of anyone yet, so feel honoured to be the first.” He put in one of his little giggles there. “It’s called ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ by the Spencer Davis Group. And me, Blue Lou and Mr. Fabulous here, would like to dedicate this song to three incredible, young ladies in our lives, who also happen to be in the audience tonight. Sophia, Lisa and Charlotte. Sophia? I love you babe!”, he said and pointed to his girl in the audience causing Sophia to scream, who soon got drown out by the band starting to play. Charlotte was excited to hear the boy’s version of that song, thinking back when Alan told her, they worked out a nice part for the horns and they clearly didn’t disappoint. 

After like three or four encores, the girls were all hyped up and on their way backstage. “Relax, just tell him how much you liked the song and that you wanna talk with him in private. It’s your Alan after all.”, Lisa tried to support Charlotte.

When they walked up the little stairs their glances first hit Elwood. He was caught up in a passionate kiss with someone in his arms, his hands all over that someone. As soon as he realised all eyes were on him, he cleared his throat. “Everyone this is Lex by the way.”, he said and a big grin formed on his lips. “We met a few nights ago. Please be nice to them.” Lex seemed a big nervous as they were playing with their dark, slightly wavy hair but all that seemed to vanish when Elwood pulled Lex back into his arms and planted a kiss on their cheek. The two seemed like a great match. Lex was really casual looking, they were wearing a jeans jacket and a graphic tee combined with a pair of combat boots. They clearly seemed to be on the same level, funny and not taking things too serious. Most of the guys had a stupid grin on their face except for Jake of course, who already knew about his brothers new partner in crime but everyone was just happy for Elwood, he deserved to be with someone after everything he went through. 

That amusement didn’t stay for long though as Charlotte noticed Alan. He was sitting in a corner on one of the amplifiers, focused on cleaning his mouthpiece, Lari standing next to him. She was straddling his shoulder and trying to get his attention. From the distance it was hard to tell if he was wrapped up in a chat with her but frankly, Charlotte didn’t even wanted to know. 

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8

[k-writer1998]

Who Said Love Was Easy (3/12)

      There are many different kinds of people who come and go from your life. Some will stay constant and sturdy like a river, growing alongside you, others will come like a whirlwind who wreaks havoc and leaves just as quickly, then there is everything in between. In this twisted maze of connections, that is where our story begins. A steadfast boy, a girl with a past, a little bit of alcohol, mistakes, and some love. Where can you go wrong with that?

angsty fluff

w.c: 2.1k

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      Summer lectures, design deadlines and no focus because of that brat. It’s been three years, they shouldn’t have this effect on me anymore… Even if I tell myself that, that woman has such a strong oppressive energy. I always feel like I’m suffocating. Ugh just thinking about it makes me sick to my stomach. Needing a change of pace I decided to walk to the pub to wait for Changbin. The bustle of the city was a comforting white noise to drown out my thoughts since I really needed to just… not think for a bit. That is, until I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand. With this new sense of anxiety I finally noticed the black car, not so subtly, following me. Luckily the street the pub was on was too narrow for cars and it was entering my line of sight. I checked my phone reflection as a man got out and of course it would be him. Picking up my pace to get away did nothing as he still caught me and forced me to turn around, keeping a hold on my wrist.

“Why are you running away from me?”

“I don’t know, maybe because some random car was following me, a girl who is alone, for over five minutes?” I reply sarcastically.

“I’ve been calling you but you weren’t answering.”

“Call? I probably blocked your number. Look, I’m not interested in pretending to rekindle some broken bond.”

“Y/n… don’t be like this you know I-”

“Don’t pull the remorseful brother act, Youngho-oppa. If you really cared you would have looked for me after I left,” I spat.

      Unlike his sister Younghee who openly showed her indifference, not hearing from him was worse than being thrown out. Youngho was the only one in the entire family that showed me a smidge of kindness, let alone acknowledging my presence when no one else did. It wasn’t until a year after being kicked out did I learn I was nothing more than a stray puppy he played with cause he was bored.

“Don’t be like this y/n. Mom hasn’t been in the right state of mind since dad died. She didn’t mean to hurt you and she’s trying to make it up to you,” he coaxed, pulling me in to stop the wandering ears from hearing.

“That’s a load of shit and you know it. That woman never liked me the minute I was brought in and she made sure everyone but dad knew that. Will she give back the shares to dad’s company that are rightfully mine?”

      His eyebrow twitched and I caught the crack in his facade. Every single one of them are selfish creatures and they will never betray their true nature, a fact I learned the hard way and will not underestimate again.

“Y/n things are sensitive now as is, you can’t just ask for something like that. Why would you want something like those? Aren’t you studying design?”

“Wow, someone did their research. If design doesn’t work I should at least have the shares to give me some support. It was a decent portion wasn’t it?” I pushed.

“Stop acting like a child there are bigger things going on so just cooperate. The faster you do the less we have to see each other. Do you think I have time to chase you around like this?”

      And his true color shows. By now his hold on my arm had turned into a vice grip and it hurt like hell but I couldn’t show weakness now, they don’t get to win after everything.

“Ha… I can’t believe I waited six months to hear from you like you actually cared. Sometimes you really are worse than your mother.”

      My head snapped to the side in an instant and it was numb for a moment before the stinging settled in. I knew something of this caliber would happen… for his own reasons he hated his mother. Who knew it would tick him off that much? Before either of us could come back from the shock, a hand broke the hold on my wrist and my line of sight was covered by someone’s back. The mystery person shielded me from my brother and I immediately recognized the ring on their pinky. Should I be glad or panicked that Jeongin’s here?

“Sorry I’m late, is this person bothering you?”

“Oh? Is this your boyfriend?” Youngho smirked, eyeing him up and down.

“No.” I roll my eyes, trying my best to mask my unease. Jeongin doesn’t need to be dragged into my family drama. I tug at his hand lightly and he turned to look back at me, “Come on, we’re late meeting the others. This conversation is over anyways.”

      Once in front of the pub, Jeongin turned to examine my face. Seeing such concern in his eyes I couldn’t stop the surge of emotion that came over me as tears started to fall.

“Are you okay?! You must’ve been scared…” he panicked and I shook my head.

“Thank you,” I sniffed.

“You still got hit… I can’t believe-”

“It’s whatever.” This was not the first time someone from that family raised their hand to me, I expected nothing less… and I did purposefully push his buttons. “I deserved it. I provoked him.”

      In an instant my gaze that was trained on the ground was forced to meet his piercing eyes by the gentle force of his hand nudging my chin. He had leaned in so that we were eye level and my brain nearly short circuited at his close proximity. Well that’s one way to stop tears.

“It doesn’t matter if you provoked him, that shouldn’t have happened y/n. No one deserves that, do you understand?”

      It surprised me how serious he was about this. I don’t know if it was the butterflies from how close he was or the unsettling feeling of being… perceived, but I couldn’t think. Instead I numbly nodded, my eyes never leaving his as if under a spell. The corner of his lips quirked up at my response before he ushered me into the pub and sat me in my usual seat. He tossed a bag to Chan, that I hadn’t noticed he had, before disappearing to the back. Jeongin re-emerged with some ice and placed it on my face causing me to wince a bit. Taking it from his hands, he reached for my arm but I instinctively pulled away.

“Is your arm okay?”

“It’s fine. Probably slightly bruised at most but nothing serious.”

      He eyed me suspiciously but before he could say anything Jaehyung barged over, worry written all over his face.

“Y/n! What happened?!”

“It’s nothing,” I smiled. He immediately whirled on Jeongin and gave him a pointed look.

“I caught some guy bothering her when I was out buying Chan-hyung some Advil and he… slapped her,” he responded guiltily. 

      I don’t know if I should admire or be annoyed by his honesty. I tiredly rubbed my forehead, already feeling the anger rolling off of Jaehyung. 

“Don’t feel guilty Jeongin,” I smiled before turning to Jaehyung. “Thanks for getting mad for me but it’s not worth it Jaehyung-oppa.”

“Was it your fam-”

“Yes,” I cut him off, but that was more than enough for Jeongin to put the pieces together. Not wanting to hear anything from either of them I add, “I’m fine, really. Plus Changbin is coming so don’t worry okay?”

“Not worry? You usually end up home drunk and always make bad decisions with him.”

“Ninety-six percent of the time it’s me, bad decisions help relieve stress you know,” I smile like a child trying not to get in trouble.

      Jaehyung ruffled my hair with a resigned sigh before telling me not to come home too drunk and went off. Jeongin kept me company but I had to ignore his eyes that were filled with questions I didn’t want to answer. Luckily Changbin came soon after but his eyes zeroed in on my cheek and was ready to square up with Jeongin before I intervened.

"Nope. I'll explain later, let's go." I gave him no time to argue as I waved Jeongin goodbye and sped to the door.

      Knowing that I’ve come from a deprived childhood, Changbin’s lenient with me and my impulses. That being said, tonight is a total bust. Instead of somewhere fun, we’re at some restaurant because as Changbin puts it, he needs to “gage my recklessness” since I “act up more” when my family is involved.

“I ordered some food… and alcohol since I promised to take you out to have fun but before that, what the hell happened? Who hit you? Wh-”

“Are you going to keep going or do you actually want me to answer the questions?”

“Obviously answer them you smart ass. ”

“Long story short it was Youngho and the guy from the pub basically saved me more or less.”

      His eyes softened at the mention of my brother. The first six months I was kicked out I stayed with Changbin until Hyorin, my mom's best friend who had been acting like an actual guardian for me since my dad died, helped me find an affordable place. He’s the one who saw the emotional toll it took when the one person I believed to be on my side threw me away. 

“I would’ve thought he would be too busy with company stuff to come out, especially since he is under a microscope right now with the chairman’s health issues and all.”

“That’s why wicked stepmother and her children are on my tail. They’re trying to exploit our relationship, tied by nothing more than my father’s blood, to try to win grandma over cause she is fond of me and has a big share.” I ran an annoyed hand through my hair before whining, “so can we go clubbing?”

“Yeah… no. I’ll be having to pry off some guy from trying to take you home because you’re wasted.”

“No. That only happened like… four? times…”

“Four times too many. But drink your fill here and let Mr. Neighbor know that you’re staying at mine. If I bring you home drop dead drunk again I think he would actually kill me.”

“You’re probably right,” I laugh before shooting a quick text to Jaehyung. Once I put my phone down, the waitress came in with our order and I pointed at Changbin, “no talking about the unholy trinity or I’m leaving to go be unsupervised.”

“Yes, yes. I spoil you too much,” he sighs before adding, “how is the chairman anyways?”

“Grandpa still wants to believe I don’t exist and last I heard from grandma was that his heart isn’t in good health. It’s hard to treat when they’re trying to hide it from the company. Everyone knows he’s sick but not how bad,” I respond flatly.

“... Okay one question and I’ll stop. Who are the other runner ups other than… you know who?”

      I downed my second shot in annoyance. Changbin and Jaehyung could be good friends if they let it happen, they’re both so nosy… I could care less about company drama though so I tell him. Not like I’ll get in trouble.

“I- Are you asking me to leave?”

“Oh come on, if they’re this desperate that means there are other strong candidates right?”

“Fine.” I glare, shoving some food in my mouth before answering, “They’re looking into my cousin Wooin and a long-term director Jihyo. They have high performance with successful big projects under their belt in addition to having the favor of various important people.”

“Okay, so what’s this about finding Loverboy? It’s been what? A year with no contact?”

“Of course I do. That was the first time I formed a fat crush on a guy I just met,” I roll my eyes. “It’s the guy you wanted to beat up, Jeongin. It’s been a few months but he’s been working at Jaehyung’s pub.”

      I don’t know if it was the alcohol doing its job but I started to get sentimental as I thought back to our first meeting. That night was during a relatively low point in my life and I was losing touch with the world around me, but he was the first thing I found interest in after a long time. As if my brain wanted to torture me, the image of his face mere inches from mine popped back into my mind.

“Did something already happen?! Your face is red!”

“Shut up. He still has a girl he likes so no.”

“Still?” Changbin whistles in surprise, “That’s what I call devotion. Does he remember you?”

“Nope. To make matters… interesting, she works there too and has a crush on Jaehyung-oppa.”

“Wait that cute new waitress? On that old man? And I thought you had problems,” he laughs.

[thehardy-boys]

Woman? Tommy Shelby x reader

Hi everyone!!! It’s been way tooooo long! I’m really sorry, you would not believe the year I’ve had!!!! But I’m back for a bit and I’m really trying to catch up on requests. If you’ve sent one in don’t worry I haven’t forgotten about you!!!

Request: Tommy Shelby request please? The reader needs money for her younger siblings so she dresses in her father's old clothes, cuts her hair and goes to work for the Shelby's and learns how to fight and fire guns, caughting tommy's interst he takes her under his wing thinking she's a boy but when things go bad in a trade off the reader is badly hurt and while helping her tommy finds out the truth. \(> ♡ <)

The clouds were beginning to darken as you hurried home from your job at the tailor shop. You could tell that the rain would be starting soon. It had been a long day of measuring limbs and trying very hard not to poke the customers with bobby pins. 

But, at last, the day was finished and you couldn't wait to get home. Most days you barely had any time at home because of the number of jobs you had. But today was Friday and Friday was a special day because you didn’t have another job for the rest of the evening.

 But, unfortunately, most Friday evenings were spent worrying about your finances. You were barely scraping through with the money that you had. Both of your younger brothers were far too young to start a serious job and anyways, you wanted both of them to have an education rather then drop out and work themselves to death, like you had. 

As you had matured your life had become increasingly panicked and miserable. When you weren’t working you were taking care of your brothers and when you weren’t doing that you were trying to sleep. But most times you could barely sleep a wink, to occupied with the idea of having to live on the streets and both your brothers dying of starvation. And each week the cycle would just start all over again, working, taking care of your brothers and worrying. It was endless.

Your one wish in life was to have one job that could support all three of you. You had yet to come upon one. Most jobs required some level of higher education that you didn’t have or the employers didn’t see the benefits of hiring a woman for the job. It was a dead end. You were stuck and tired. 

When you entered your small apartment you carefully removed your wet shoes. You hung up your coat and started making dinner for the three of you. Both brothers, Liam and Tom, were busy with their homework. 

“How was school, then?” You asked, putting on a cheery voice. 

“S’okay,” Liam responded not looking up from his paper.

“Learn anything good?” Both boys shook their heads.

You nodded getting the feeling that neither one of them wanted to talk. You knew both boys were aware of how little money you all had. Liam, on multiple occasions, would propose the idea of him dropping out of school and taking up a job at the coal factory across town. But each time you vigorously shook your head. You didn’t want him condemned to the life that you have. You wanted both of them to grow up and get out of Birmingham and live a life. 

It was late. Liam and Tom had had their dinner and gone to bed. You were worried, you needed money, a lot of it and quickly. Your bank statements and bills were scattered all over the dining room table. You paced for ages, you bit your lip and chewed your fingernails until finally an idea came to you.

 You quietly dragged a box from underneath your bed and opened it. Inside there was an assortment of tattered men's clothes. You sorted through it and picked out the nicest looking articles of clothing. You put on a pair of trousers and a belt. You needed a couple of layers for your top half to hide your chest. So you put on a couple of undershirts, then a waistcoat, and finally a jacket which completely covered any feminine features. The only thing left was your hair. At the moment it was too beautiful and silky looking, you needed to cut it. You hacked away for a couple of minutes until you were satisfied. The end result left you quite surprised. You actually resembled a young man, a rather good-looking young man. 

You cleaned up the mess you made. You filed away all of your bank statements on the table and when you had finished it was nearing six in the morning. You thought you would try your luck and see if you could find any work out on the streets. Even though it was early most factories would already have started work. Men hurried about the streets lugging big packages of either coal or metal. The market in the center of the town had vendors already setting up their stalls. You had hunted for work all morning. It was nearing lunchtime and no one seemed to want to give you the time of day. You had been to the butchers, bakers, metal factory, multiple pubs and none of them wanted you.

 You didn’t have enough money to buy any lunch so you surrendered and decided to walk home. You were so deep in thought and so hungry that you ran right into a pack of men. 

“Oi! Watch where you’re going mate!” 

Before you could even regain your balance, one of the men pushed you over onto the ground. You didn’t dare look up and instead focused your attention on the ground. You mumbled a few apologies and just hoped the group of men would move on. 

You noticed out of the corner of your eye that one of the men went in to punch you and you braced yourself for the hit but someone stopped him.

“Stop it, Arthur, look at him. He’s sick.” You didn’t think your lack of food and sleep showed so much but that was probably because you were used to looking at your gaunt features in the mirror. It took Arthur a couple of seconds but eventually he moved back and instead decided to yell at you. 

“You know who you just ran into!? Eh!?” You glanced up at the group of men. And immediate dread ran through your veins. The infamous Peaky Blinders were standing over you. Only two out of the three brothers had their eyes trained on you. 

The third brother didn’t seem to deem you worthy of his attention. 

“I’m talking to you!” The eldest shouted when you still wouldn't look them in the eyes. 

“I’m sorry.” You mumbled to the ground. 

“Come on, Arthur, he’s not worth our time.” Thomas said, already walking forward. The rest of the brothers followed suit not even bothering to look back. You sat there for a second until you realized that you had a golden opportunity. You jumped up and ran after the Blinders. 

“Scuse me!?” You shouted after the men. They turned to look at you, all looking vaguely surprised.

“Wot?” Arthur yelled back.  

It took you a few seconds to gather your wits about you, “I’m looking for work.” None of the men said anything so you continued.

“I need work, I have two brothers and I don’t have any money. I want them to stay in school but I don’t have the money to pay for it or pay for food or anything. I just need work. Any work at all.” Your desperation seemed to shine through strongly because the middle brother, Thomas Shelby seemed to finally find you interesting enough to really look at. 

“What can you do?” He asked. His eyes were piercing, as strong as his voice.

“Anything. Absolutely anything.” You looked at him and there seemed to be a shift in his dolphin blue eyes.

“Okay,” He said throwing out his cigarette and stepping towards you, “Okay, come with us.”

He seemed to almost be challenging you, trying to see if he would scare you off. But, you needed this job badly. You stood your ground.

“Where are we going?” 

His mouth quirked up and he granted you a nod of approval. 

They brought you to The Garrison. The pub was full, now with it being near lunchtime. It was also thick with smoke from the rowdy pub goers. They led you through to the back room. You trailed behind, feeling only mildly out of place. You watched as all three brothers and a few other men set up a table and a few chairs. Tommy walked over to you while lighting a cigarette. 

“Here's your first job. We’re having a business meeting, right?  You need to stand guard by the door.  Look tough. Don’t say anything. Just stand, alright?” His deep accented voice flooded your ears and you found yourself nodding right back. You walked over and stood. 

It continued on like this. You worked all day six days a week doing small jobs. Standing guard, being a bodyguard, trailing someone, or occasionally helping with the accounting. They were easy, insignificant jobs. You could tell you had yet to earn their trust but you weren’t complaining, it paid good money. You could tell that the brothers didn’t trust you enough yet to do the important work, work that involved the family business but you weren’t surprised, you were a stranger after all. 

But soon a couple weeks became a month, and then the month became a year and you maintained your loyalty and perseverance. And you were rewarded with a few quick smiles from the Shelby family. You and Finn become quick friends you helped teach him how to do his math better and since then Finn had always put in a good word for you with the family. And his words seemed to pay off because soon you found the sister, Ada, becoming more friendly. 

“No, no, no, not like that, like this.” You laughed as you tried to show Ada how to fold the paper into a swan. 

“I was doing that! I was!” She yelled indignantly but with a smile, of course.

“Having fun Ada?” The voice was unmistakable, cold but if you really listened there was a hint of warmth in between his words.

“(y/n) was just showing me how to fold a swan, look!” She proudly brandished her rather crooked piece of paper. Thomas chuckled.

“Very nice, Ada. (y/n) I got a job for you.” You immediately stood from your seat and listened to his instructions. 

Since Ada had become a friend of yours the rest of the family seemed to relax more around you. It was only when Polly Shelby walked up to you in the crowded betting shop and handed you a pastry from the local bakery that you finally gained the approval of every Shelby, along with their trust. You had been leaning over Michael and helping him with the betting money when Polly had walked up to you. You turned around expecting her to give you some sort of order but instead she held out a pastry.

“For me?” 

Polly rolled her eyes, “Who else?”

You took it from her, “Thanks, Mrs.Shelby. I really appreciate it.”

You glanced around the room and found all three sets of Shelby brother eyes on you. 

“Back to work now.” Polly stated and walked off leaving an atmosphere of authority in her wake. 

And since Polly’s acceptance of you all the Shelby’s have accepted you. You had been given more meaningful work. You had been Polly’s bodyguard, dealt with illegal gun shipments, and occasionally kept tabs on Ada in secret (much to your discomfort, you didn’t like lying to her). Both John and Arthur have welcomed you with open arms and on multiple occasions made you drink more alcohol then you would like to admit.

It was Tommy, however, who although deemed you trustworthy still hadn’t warmed up to you. You, of course, weren’t that surprised you had heard from Ada that Tommy was disconnected and cold from most. And he was, of course, undeniably handsome. But you didn’t voice those opinions allowed to Ada. But all in all you were happier, you had more money, and both of your brothers were well fed and finally enjoying their childhoods instead of worrying about your finances. 

It was a cold morning and as you walked down the mostly empty Birmingham streets you could barely see anything because of the cold mist. You wrapped your jacket closer around you as you hurried to the betting shop. You were just rounding the corner of the street on which the shop was located when a hand grabbed your upper arm and twirled you around.

You gasped and tensed yourself for a fight but you found yourself looking into those ocean eyes that, as far as you knew, meant no harm to you. 

“(y/n), what are you doing up so early?” You didn’t fail to notice that his hand was still wrapped securely around your arm.

“Michael called me in, needed help with the stocks.” You replied.

“Never mind Michael, I need your help, come with me.” 

You opened your mouth to respond but Tommy turned and walked in the opposite direction. You quickly scurried after him.

“Where are we going?” You asked him and then immediately became anxious when he stopped walking and looked over at you. 

“We’re going to the stables. My horses, they need grooming and you seem to be the best person for the job. I get the sort of feeling you’d be good with them.” He started walking again.

“I really love horses, when I was a little gi-boy, when I was a little boy I loved running into the fields to try and spot a few. The family next door owned a herd of them. We never had enough money to buy a horse but I always loved the idea of owning my own horse. Must be lovely for you, having so many.” You replied with a smile, still hurrying to keep up with his long legs. 

He stopped abruptly, again and turned to look at you. You also halted in your steps and looked up at him.

“You’re a bit odd, you know that?” He stated, looking over your face, no real heat behind his words. He said it more as just an observation.

You chuckled, “I've been told that before.”

“You look- you’re,” Tommy for once struggled to find the right words to say. “ Softer than most gangsters I've seen, you’ve got a softer, kinder face than most. It’s just different.” 

“Good different?” You asked.

Tommy made a non committal sound and was once again walking off towards the stable. 

Since then, tending for Tommy’s horses has been part of your job description. You enjoyed every moment in those stables, you much preferred it to holding guns and playing bodyguard. It even brought you a bit closer to Tommy, he began to warm up to you a bit.

Somedays you would be grooming the horses and Tommy would come in, not saying anything, and just sit down on one of the many barrels of hay and smoke and think. Never staying for very long, but staying long enough for you to grow quite fond of him and long enough for you to realize how attractive those cheekbones really were, how emerald blue his eyes really were, and how sad he looked, how tired. 

Somedays you both would chat, usually briefly and softly.

“How are you then?” He would always ask. 

You’d answer and he would always listen. 

Sometimes you’d talk about the weather, occasionally the horses, sometimes about the business but usually it was just comfortable silences.

“You’ve got a girl, then?” He asked on a particularly cold Tuesday afternoon. 

The question took you by surprise and you had to remind yourself that you were a man. 

“Um, I don’t really have the time, you know? Between this job and looking after my brothers I don’t really have, you know, time.” You finished lamely. 

You glanced over at Tommy and he was staring back at you, he nodded. 

“How about you then, Mr.Shelby?” You asked.

“Suppose same as you, don’t have the time, I mean a quick fuck here and there but nothing substnatial.”

“You want something...substantial?” You carefully asked, feeling that you may be crossing a line.

Tommy sighed and thought for a few minutes.

“I mean, yeah, I do. I just, I can’t...find anyone.” He sounded so much younger, hints of vulnerability shining through. 

You enjoyed these times with Tommy, you felt even a little privileged being able to see him when he’s quiet, vulnerable, unguarded. 

It was late or really early in the morning and you were stationed at the Shelby’s house with Polly, Ada, and a few other young Blinders. All of you waiting to here how the deal had gone down. Tommy had expressed concerns about the deal, feeling that the client might try and stab the Blinders in the back. 

The kitchen, where you all were sitting was charged with anxiety and worry. 

“Should be back by now.” Polly mumbled, shakily lighting a cigarette. 

You glanced over and gave her a compassionate look and before you could say anything you all heard the front door bang open.

“Help, we need help over here!” You heard Arthur’s voice yell. You immediately jumped up and headed over to the front hall and saw blood. Tommy’s shoulder was gushing rich red blood. 

“His shoulder, grab him! Come on!” John yelled at you. You immediately jumped into action, you held Tommy by the waist and dragged him into the front room and laid him out on the coach.

“Oh god, god! What are we going to do?” Polly started to panic and Michael had to pull her back and out of the room.

“I know first aid. I’ll deal with it.” You stated calmly as you carefully took off Tommy’s jacket and shirt to see how bad the wound was.

“Gunshot, went straight through.” Tommy mumbled. 

“I know, don’t worry, I got you.” You comforted. The Shelby family was buzzing around you. You went about cleaning the wound, sewing it up, then bandaging the thing up. Tommy didn’t make much noise, except for a few grunts when the needle went through or when the alcohol stung the wound. Throughout the process you would occasionally glance up at Tommy’s face and find him already watching you. 

With a look on his face you just couldn't place. 

You volunteered to stay up with him and watch over his wound. Tommy was lying on the couch and you were sitting on the floor, your back leaning against the front of the couch. 

“Thank you.” His voice startled you and you shot up on your knees to look over at him.

“How do you feel? Your shoulder?” Your were worried. 

Tommy smiled and slowly pushed himself up so he was in more of a sitting position. 

“Fine.” He replied with a grimace. 

“What went wrong?” You asked. “If you don’t mind me asking” You stated as an afterthought.

Tommy chuckled but it turned into a pained wince.

“The bastards turned on us, the moment we handed over the goods, they pulled out their fuckin’ guns and started shooting.” He winced again. 

“Sorry.” You said, and then realized how lame it sounded. 

Tommy smiled only slightly, “Not your fault.” 

Soon his eyes began to droop. “You better rest, Mr.Shelby.” You stood up and started to help him lie back down.

“Tommy, call me Tommy.”

“Okay, Tommy.”

Just before he fully slipped under he mumbled something, “You’ve got...really pretty eyes.” And he reached up and brushed your cheek gently and then he was gone. Fully asleep.

And you stood there, shocked. He couldin’t have known you were a girl, was he gay? No, maybe, no, could be. Your brain was going a mile a minute, you didn’t sleep all night. 

When morning came you left the house early and did your rounds at the stable and then did a few errands for Polly and all day you didn’t run into Tommy. All week actually, you didn’t see him. It wasn’t like you were actively avoiding him you just made sure you kept really busy so you kept away from the Shelby house, the betting shop and by luck whenever you were in the stables he was never there. You just didn’t want to have an awkward conversation with Thomas Shelby, you didn’t want to lose your job, you didn’t want anything, you just wanted to live your life and make money. 

You found that you really missed seeing Tommy. You missed just seeing him in the betting shop and exchanging a small smile. You missed your small talks in the stables, you missed him. He had become a rather strange comfort in your life. It was Sunday, which meant it was usually a quiet day, not a lot of work. You were sitting in the betting shop with Ada and Michael. Just talking. The door burst open and all three Shelby boys barreled in.

“(y/n), we need you, get your gun, get your things, we need backup.” Tommy said as he ran into the back room. You quickly gathered your things and followed the boys out to the car.

You learnt to ask no question when you were on a serious mission and instead wait to be told instructions. 

“We have a transaction with a client we know is going to try and kill us, we need you there, as soon as you see one of us take our guns out so do you, and shoot, shoot to bloody murder. Understand?” Tommy said all this without looking back at you and never taking his eyes off of the road. 

You nod.

You pull up to an old crumbled bridge. You all step out. Tommy leads all three of you, you bring up the rear. You slip both hands into your pocket, casually, just so you can reach the gun easier. 

You carefully watch the business and the moment you see Tommy reach in and pull his gun so do you. And then it’s just full out war. You hit two of the men, one in the shoulder, the other in the abdomen. The brothers take care of the rest.

And just as soon as it had started it stopped. And all that was left was the slight ringing in your ears from the gunshots. 

“Good work (y/n).” Tommy said pocketing his gun.

You give him a curt nod and as you all begin to turn and head back towards the car one last gunshot rings through the air. 

You were confused, none of the brothers had their guns out. Then it was just pain, surges of pain and you looked down and it looked like a rose had blossomed over your shirt. But it wasn’t a rose it was blood, your blood. Tommy glanced back at you and you saw just a glimpse of his face, his beautiful face. And then you staggered and fell all the way down. 

And then it was just pain and lights and blurred faces. Tommy yelling at his brothers to help you. Tommy picking you up and dragging you over to the car. Then it was Polly holding your face looking at you with worry. Then it was Tommy’s voice yelling. And then, then someone tried to remove your jacket and you were ripped from your pain induced dream. 

“No!” You yelled and ripped away from the hands, “no, I can’t, I’ll do it.” You stood up and braced yourself with one of the chairs scattered throughout the room. 

(y/n), you can’t do it, please, you can’t.” It was Tommy, it was Tommy and you were so glad, so grateful. You looked at him and you looked at his eyes and you begged him with your eyes to understand. 

“I’ll do it, alright, I’ll help you, just me, alright? No one else.” He said this with his arms open, palms up, inviting. 

You swallow, swallow the pain and nod. 

And then you were alone. Tommy stepped closer and gently helped you into the seat you were leaning on. You allowed him to remove your jacket.

He looked up at you before he moved to unbutton your shirt.

And you looked at him and gave a slight nod.

And you watched as he unbuttoned the piece of cloth. He helped take it off of you. Then you were left in a simple white t-shirt. 

And you realized this was it, this piece of cloth held the power over your job, the power over your life. And you gentle took it off and let it slip between your fingers onto the floor.

That was it. You were left with nothing on your torso except the binding around your breasts. 

You sat there with your head hung and then you let your head fall onto your hands. You didn’t want to look at him, you didn’t want to look at anything so you closed your eyes.

You could feel the wound seeping slowly. You could feel the pain become part of your soul and you felt the sadness and despair peek in and make a home in your mind. 

“You’re a woman.” Such a simple statement, but the words that had dictated your life for years. 

“Yeah.” You whispered hoarsely. You raised your head and glanced at Tommy. 

“You can fire me, you can.” You said. “I’ll understand.”

Tommy just stared at you, his arms crossed.

“Let me clean you up.” Was all he said.

And you nodded.

He cleaned your wound with alcohol, sewed the wound up, his fingers were firm but the held a soft kind of gentle. And then he wrapped it up and then there was silence. You slowly stood up and without looking once at Tommy put on your undershirt, then buttoned up your dress shirt, and then finally you pulled on your jacket. 

“Thanks.” You said and walked out. 

Three weeks had gone by. You were back to working at least three jobs a day and not even making enough money to buy a loaf of bread. You weren’t sad, you were angry. You were angry that you had gotten shot and you were angry that you had let Tommy know, you shouldn't have let him see, you should have gone home and dealt with it yourself. 

You didn’t know if Tommy was angry, you didn’t know what he felt, maybe betrayed? Who knows, you hadn’t seen a Blinder in three weeks. Your hair was still short, a constant reminder of your life before, a reminder of everything you had lost. You had gone back to wearing your normal clothes, gone back to your normal life. 

And it was a Friday when you saw his eyes. Those sea glass eyes. And you almost stopped walking but you forced yourself forward, he wouldn't recognize you, he wouldn't, you repeat that in your head like a mantra as you slowly walked towards him through a sea of people. 

And you were almost passed him when his hand gripped your wrist and you stopped breathing. 

“Can I talk to you?” he asked. He looked at you, and the way he looked at you, you felt he just knew. Knew everything, everything about anything. And you felt this kind of tug, a tug on your heart strings. Cause you really fucking wanted him. You wanted him and nothing else. Because he was a good man.

And you say, “yes.”

He pulls you away from the current of people and leads you next to a bakery stall. 

You look at each other, his hand it still on your wrist. He doesn't seem to want to move it.

“I’m really sorry.” You say, “sorry that I lied to you, I just-I needed a job, my brothers were starving I need-” Tommy cut you off with a shake of his head.

“No, no, love, I’m sorry. Okay? I’m sorry, because I should have said something that night, I should have stopped you, because I don’t care, I don’t care that your a woman, you did some of the best work I had ever seen, better than most men. Alright? I don’t care. And I’m sorry, I want you back. I want you to take the job back.” he looked at you. And then you saw it, you saw that emotion you had seen in the stables, vulnerability. 

“I can have the job back?”

“Yes, and more, I can give you a better job. Even better.” He grabbed both your hands in his and stared at you. Those eyes, god, those eyes. 

“Thanks, Tommy, I really appreciate it.” You replied softly.

And you looked at each other and you just felt your entire chest open up to him, and you wanted to be his and you really wanted him to be yours. 

He leaned in, leaned in so close, his lips were so close. It was perfect for once, the scent of freshly baked bread, the scent of the flower stall across the street, and the overwhelming scent of Tommy.

And then his lips were so soft, the way they molded against yours was heaven. 

When you separated there was this glow around your eyesight. And the glow you realized, was happiness.

“You’ll be mine, won’t you?” Tommy asked now letting go of your hands and instead slipping his gentle hands around your waist and pulling you closer. You nod. 

“And you’ll be mine?” You asked snaking your hands up around his neck.

“Yeah, love, all yours.” and he ducked down to steal another kiss but you decided to give it to him for free. 

[davieslandon]

Discord Thread || Landon&Jaycee

Discord thread featuring: Landon & @jayceelynd

When: sometime after Jaycee find out she’s pregnant then timeskip to April 4th  

Mentions: @romanbeckett @aaronhart93 @quentindelancret

Description: Jaycee tells Landon she’s pregnant and that the baby is his; timeskip: Jaycee gives birth to Baby Sebastian Beau Davies on Easter Day, with Landon by her side.

Trigger Warnings: accidental pregnancy, mentions of morning sickness, talks of labour, breastfeeding

Jaycee.

Jaycee had take five tests so far and went to the drugstore to to buy five more on her way to Landons house. Elle was at school so they’d have time to discuss this and figure things out. Jaycee loved Landon to pieces and he has been the best friend a girl could dream of. Picking on one another with mean come backs, with nothing but love for one another behind the remarks. Truth is, she’d take a bullet for Landon and Elle, and the fact that she was pregnant with someone she cared for and knew was a great dad. It comforted her, even though her nerves were a mess as she knocked on his door. Why didn’t she think it was weird she hasn’t had her period in four months, and her boobs have plumped up more than than usual. With her water bottle she walked in and grabbed Landons hand, her cheeks flushed from the cold air outside. “Landon, I’m sorry to rush over here. I just. I really really need to talk to you..” she turned around and the see through grocery bag showed the test, and a urine specimen cup to use the tests in. It was visible she was nervous and scared, as she furrowed her brow trying to read him. “I um.. Can we go to your bathroom?” She needed to sit down and talk but she’d drank so much water to retest for him, she was about to burst. Besides, they’ve both seen one another naked multiple times from the show they were on to recently a few months back. 

LANDON

One of the benefits of being a journalist was the opportunity to work from home. It made things easier back when Elle wasn’t going to school yet and the habit stuck around, even once his daughter got older. He was much more likely to get some work done in the comfort of his own home with no one around to distract him than he was at the office. A knock at the door brought him out of his working zone and he got up with a sigh. When he saw Jaycee on the other side of the door, his confusion only grew. His friend knew that he usually spent the time Elle was at school working and didn’t interrupt him so the fact that she was here right now, looking frazzled...it worried him. “What’s going o-“ His words cut off when he noticed what was in her grocery bag. Those were pregnancy tests. Landon felt his stomach drop to his feet and he stared at Jaycee with wide eyes. She didn’t even need to say anything for him to come to his own conclusions because why else would she come to his place with pregnancy tests? In a daze, he followed Jaycee to his he bathroom, feeling completely caught off guard. When he saw her take one of the tests out of the bag, Landon finally managed to get his mouth working again. “You’re pregnant?”

Jaycee.

Jaycee couldn’t hold it, and nodded for him to follow her to the bathroom. Deciding the leave the door open so he could talk and watch her do the tests correctly. “I have taken fivw tests already that say I am pregnant, and I have five more to double check. Landon I don’t get it..” after collecting a sample to dip the tests in, she cleaned herself up then washed her hands. It wasn’t that she’d think Landon wouldn’t believe her, she herself didn’t believe it. It has to be fluke or something. “And I’m pretty sure when we got snowed in is when we got pregnant.” She licked her lips, it was obvious she was scared and nervous of just telling him. Walking towards his bathroom, sitting down as soon as she pulled her pants down. Grabbing the cup to capture what she needed for the other tests as well and finished cleaning up. Standing with her hands on the counter as she took in a deep slow breath through her nostrils, taking the tests she divided them up to be opened by them both. Jay laid the dipped tests on its box. “I want to keep this baby, are you okay with that.?” She asked him with panicked eyes, trying to stay strong.

LANDON

Landon knew that the next tests Jaycee was planning on taking would only confirm what the others said. With five tests saying that his friend was pregnant, how could it be a false positive? It was pretty much impossible but he also knew that wasn't the right thing to say right now, not when Jaycee looked so nervous already. This was pretty similar to what he'd gone through with his sister six years ago. The disbelief that this could actually happen and the fear over what it would mean. Only this time he was the father and not just a concerned brother. Jaycee also wasn't the only one in disbelief. How could he have let this happen? Whenever someone asked him if he was planning on having more children his answer was always the same. Maybe in the future. Landon still remembered the conversation he had with Alison when she was thinking of giving Des a little sibling. He understood the reasoning behind it but he wasn't ready. For six years, he raised Elle on his own. He had help from his family and friends but it was different than having a partner to share the experience with. Landon always said that the next time he did it, it would be with someone he was in love with and wanted to spend his life with. And most importantly planned. And now here they are. He shook himself out of his thoughts at Jaycee's question and nodded. Having adopted his sister's baby, there was no way that he was going to be against keeping his own. "Of course I'm okay with that, and I'm going to be involved and present. I promise."

Jaycee.

Her hip rested against the sink countertop, with her arms crossed under her newly swollen chest. Should have been her first sign because she’s never been big up top. “I know you will, and knew you would. You’re a great father and I know this baby wasn’t planned. But he or she never could be a mistake. I was told it’s probably be impossible to be a mom, and you know it’s something that bothered me..” picking at her full bottom lip as her eyes showing how she zoned out, knowing and feeling he’ll be someone co parenting could be so easy with. “I’m just thankful it’s yours, and someone I trust. And you know I’m going to always love Elle as mine as well. And she can still come stay over to visit with her brother or sister while it’s my time. I would encourage it.. I’m rambling cause I’m so nervous, holy shit Lan..” she cupped her hands over her nose and mouth as she softly cried. “What if I’m horrible like my mom with my own child.. Don’t let me be my mom, please..” she shrugged softly and opened her arms needing to be held and he could probably use some comfort as well. “I have an appointment later today if you want to go. I’m okay with Elle go if you’re okay with it. They’ll be doing an ultrasound.. And hearing the heartbeat.” Her voice chokes up a bit at the thought of hearing something she prayed to one day hear.

LANDON

Even though this was very unexpected and not exactly what Landon had planned for the moment, he would never even think about referring to his child as a mistake. He was just grateful that at least it was with Jaycee. They might not be together like that, especially after he came out as gay, but they did love each other. She was always there for him, whether that was a shoulder to cry on or someone to help him with Elle. And he knew for a fact that she would be a great mother who would love their child unconditionally. Landon was quick to pull Jaycee in for a hug when she started crying, murmuring comforting words in her ear. “You could never be a horrible mum Jay, no way. You treat Elle like your own and you know she loves her cool aunt to pieces. This is something you’ve always wanted but thought you couldn’t have...this baby is going to be so loved and you’re going to be a great mum.” What he was saying was also a way of comforting himself. He went from planning on going back to college for his masters to finding out he was going to be a dad again. It wasn’t something easy to wrap his head around. “I’ll be there”, he reassured. “But I’ll try and find someone to look after Elle while we’re there. I need to wrap my head around it myself before I tell her about it. And you know that once Elle finds out she’s going to be a big sister she won’t keep the secret for very long.”

Jaycee.

Jaycee wanted to comfort him as well, knowing he had to be feeling some form of panic. Using her hands to rub his back, while she looked down at the tests that were all boldly positive. “Thank you, that means a lot. And you know if you still want to get your masters then go for it. I got Elle when you need me to.” Jaycee would have offered that regardless, because she loves that little girl to pieces. Laughing softly at agreeing needing to wrap their heads around the news. “I still can’t believe I’m pregnant.” Her eyes shined a bit from when she was crying, but she was beaming with a bright smile. “Well I guess after the appointment we can discuss different announcement looks. If you want to stay ahead of Miss Elle.” Smirking until her stomach growled causing her to laugh. “I can’t wait to eat after my appointment. I have to fast for blood work.” Scrunching her freckled nose as she playfully pouted.

LANDON

Landon knew that he could count on Jaycee to have his back, just like he would always have her back. She was being serious when she offered him to look after both Elle and the baby so he could get his masters done like he planned before all this happened. He just wasn’t sure he could do it now. When Elle was a baby and during the first years of her life before starting school, Landon was always around. He was present for all the big accomplishments like her first word and her first step. There was nothing he feared more than the baby not getting the same attention from him that Elle got. What if he was at a lecture that he couldn’t get out of while his child was learning how to walk? No, he would hate himself forever if that were to happen but he also didn’t want to make Jaycee feel guilty so he just smiled. “You’re the best, thank you.” Landon wasn’t expecting his day to turn into such a rollercoaster of emotions and it was finally setting in...he was going to be a dad again. Talk of announcements brought Landon out of his reverie. Shit. He was going to have to tell Roman and Aaron about this. They didn’t deserve to find out from some announcement on social media. After the appointment I promise to take you to McDonald’s or something”, he chuckled, hearing the way her stomach was growling.

Jaycee.

Leaning against the sink counter she just dazed out looking at the test, then down at her flat stomach. Brows furrowed as she thought how this was going to go, praying she didn’t disappoint herself or Landon in being a mother. Turning to her side she raised her sweater that was baggy over her plum colored yoga pants, looking from the mirror to her stomach and yeah she was bloating but she thought it was going to be a painful period. Tiniest little bump was evident but only if you really knew how small Jaycee was. “Hey I’ll take McDonald’s. Chocolate shake sounds really good right now.” She spoke while she dropped her sweater, blushing a bit. Probably looking like a weirdo looking at her stomach, or thinking she’ll freak out over gaining weight. And to be honest she was a little, but she’s stronger and would never ruin a chance to be a mom. “Are you okay?” She asked him in a soft tone, knowing she just fastened a seatbelt to a crazy ride for him. “I know it’s a lot.. I am still not sure if it’s true and probably won’t until the doctors appointment.” She pulled the ends of her sweater to bunch them up into her fisted hands as she laughed softly.

LANDON

Landon looked on as his friend lifted her sweater and looked down at her stomach. This might not be the first time Landon found himself about to raise a child, but it was a completely different situation then it was with Elle. With Elle it was a completely different experience because his sister was the one who was pregnant and she never showed any interest in being the one to raise her. As much as he loves his sister, Landon never quite managed to figure out how she kept herself so detached from the situation and from the baby growing inside her. Once Elle was born, his sister signed over her custody to him and took on the role of fun aunt without a second thought. It wasn’t going to be the same this time as Jaycee was obviously going to be a very big part and it left Landon wondering about what he should be doing. Was he supposed to act like a doting father to me to his partner even though he and Jaycee weren’t together? Hopefully he would get more than enough time to come to figure it out and get used to the idea. “Yeah I’m fine. It’s just...quite a situation and unexpected. This isn’t how I thought I’d have my second child but it is what it is.” He knew the chances that more than five pregnancy tests were wrong were slim but he didn’t say anything. If that thought reassured Jaycee, then he wasn’t about to ruin it.

Jaycee.

”It’s not how I’d picture having my first child. Neither of us planned this, and some how or some way we will figure it out. We’re friends before anything and Elle and this Baby  comes first.” She didn’t know what to expect, but she was definitely trying to hide she was upset. Holy hormones! Walking out of the bathroom after she cleaned up the mess she had made. Disinfecting the counter top was the least she could do, for getting upset and causing a scene. Uncrossing her arms from under her chest she held her hands up and looked up at him. “I’m sorry, that’s now the right way to speak to you. I don’t doubt you want to be in this babies life, and I know you’d want to be part of everything. So if you want to discuss living arrangements we can. I’d have my own room of course, and we can decorate both nurseries. Yours first, like I said earlier. I’m just repeating myself, yeah?” She pressed two fingers to each temple and massaged. “I just believe you and I could make this work. I don’t expect you to want to be with me just because. And I trust you’re not going to bring just anyone into our child’s life, unless you trusted them. Because I’ve seen you with Elle, so in a way maybe it was meant to happen this way. I can’t think of my baby as a mistake.. I know that much..” she laughed softly, before placing her hand to her neck to massage it. Her other hand going to her mouth as she yawned. “Sorry, I’m just so tired. I think I’m going to take a vacation as we figure things out, and my body adjusts to these hormones.”

LANDON

Landon wasn’t sure what he said to upset Jaycee. He was supportive and had every intention of helping raise this baby, but he didn’t think he could be blamed for being shocked. It’s not like they planned this and now all of a sudden he found himself about to become a dad again. He was caught off guard but Landon also knew that saying all that would just make things worse if his friend was already upset with him. So while he would usually argue at being talked to like that, he knew that keeping calm was key right now so he just tried his best to smile. “Exactly, Elle and the baby come first. I’m glad we’re in agreement.” If there was something he wouldn’t settle for was for his daughter to be made to feel like lesser to the baby but he knew that Jaycee would never do that. She loved Elle too much. “We will make this work and I’m going to be with you every step of the way. And you know that I don’t bring just anyone around Elle so I’ll do the same with our baby. I never said this baby was a mistake Jay, no child of mine could ever be a mistake. All I said was that it was unexpected and you can’t really tell me it wasn’t. That doesn’t mean I’m...upset about it, or anything like that.” Landon wished there was something he could say that would help the girl feel a little better about it all, but he wasn’t sure what that was. “We’re going to be okay...I promise.” 

Jaycee.

Hearing him out and speaking she felt like such an ass, Landon of all people. Someone she’s known for years and knew very well would never feel how her fears were screaming at her. Sitting on the end of his bed she sighed softly, before catching herself yawn. Placing her hands to her face as she shook her head, apologizing. “Lan..” she looked up at him with pure apologetic eyes, tears threatening to fall. “I’m so sorry if I was mean, holy shit what was that?” She gasped with her hand on her chest, trying to calm herself down a bit. Taking in slow breaths, before exhaling slower to relax her anxiety of the day. “I know all of that and I know you know Elle is just as equal to me. I think I just panicked and wanted you to know everything.” Two single tears fell from each eye as she sniffled a bit, while she looked down at her hands bunched up in her oversized sweater. “You know know..” she looked up smiling softly. “Elle is going to be the best big sister there is..” she imagined her excitement in wanting to hold her sibling for the first time, was something she’d be sure to catch not only for Landon but it’s a memory she wants for herself too. Using her sweater as she cleared her face up, she walked up to her friend and just hugged him. She needed it and she trusted his promises. “Did you know morning sickness is NOT morning sickness? I’d like to slap whoever came up with that term.” She tried to joke as she looked up at her sweet friend, now father of their child. Together, their family will no doubt be filled with laughter and fun. “I am hoping peppermint yeah I got will help, but then I get such heartburn after drinking it.” She laughed softly. 

LANDON

Landon didn’t hold it personally. When his sister was pregnant with Elle, he lost count of how many times she was close to snapping his head off over an innocent comment he made which she took personally. It was all part of the experience and the joys of being around a pregnant woman. Not that he was about to tell Jaycee that, he valued his life thank you very much. So he just smiled and shrugged good naturedly, which only turned more sympathetic when he noticed that she was crying. “Hey, it’s okay”, he mumbled, squeezing her comfortingly. “I’ve got thick skin and I know better than to get insulted over something like that.” If there was one thing he was grateful for, it was that he wouldn’t have to ever experience morning sickness himself. It was no secret that the name was very misleading and it wasn’t only experienced in the morning. “My sister used to swear by ginger tea and saltines. If you’re lucky, it might even help you avoid getting heartburn. Although I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t want to try, ginger tea’s disgusting.” 

Jaycee.

Nodding her head, sniffling as he assured her it was okay. “I just, I wouldn’t ever talk to you like that. I know we’re both mentally freaking out and that’s okay..” Jay scrunched her nose at the idea of ginger tea, but she’d try anything natural and safe. It was dangerous to have morning sickness so much. Not only for her and the baby, but her past as well. Thankfully she’s strong and has a powerful group surrounding her, reminding her they’re her family. “I will give any a try, maybe pick some up after the appointment?” She asked with a soft tone,smiling. Reaching for her pink water bottle the entire dance crew had, she took a sip of water. Drinking her water as if she’d been dying of thirst, without being messy. “I swear I go through double waters bottles a day now.” She laughed softly, trying to stay hydrated with morning sickness was important and she’s always been self conscious of what she puts in her body. “You know I have nausea meds from when I.. well you know the past. And Google says they’re safe. But, this might be the only child I ever get a chance to carry and I’m just so protective already. Besides I’d want your opinion on anything like that too.” She spoke with her hands, her phone went off and she saw it was and email making her smile. She opened it and saw the head shots for the girls came in and showed him. “Those two are going to keep us all stressed. They’re so precious.” She leans in to look at them again. “Elle and Destiny’s head shots will be the models of dance for the studio. So when you walk in there’s my girls.” Her eyes lit up as she spoke about the girls and the dance academy. 

LANDON

“It’s okay, really...I know it’s a stressful time for both of us.” Landon wasn’t about to take it personally. This was a shock for both of them but he couldn’t even begin to imagine what it was like for Jaycee, finding yourself pregnant after being sure that wouldn’t ever happen for you...that wasn’t something Landon could ever relate to. So he was going to do anything he could to help out and make the experience a little more bearable, even if it meant buying shitty ginger tea that was never ever going to drink himself and keeping it in his cupboard. He could understand her feeling of protectiveness towards the baby. Having just found out about the baby’s existence, he already felt like he loved them so he couldn’t even imagine what it felt like for Jaycee. But he wasn’t about to force his friend to feel like shit over an opinion that he wasn’t really entitled to anyways. After all, he wasn’t the one suffering from constant nausea. “Maybe check with the doctor while we’re at the appointment to make sure? If you get their go ahead then I don’t see why you shouldn’t take them, especially if they help you out”, he reasoned. Landon looked at the photos on Jaycee’s phone, a fond smile on his face. He loved those two girls with all his heart and it was heartwarming to see Jaycee love them just as much. This is what he meant when he said his friends in Kingsboro were like his family. “They’re going to get really big heads if you keep spoiling them like that.” The smile on his face made it obvious he was only teasing though. 

Jaycee.

Leaning her head against his shoulder, instant calm at how assuring he was. He always calmed her nerves in the craziest of situations. She was so nervous joining the show with him and Aaron but Landon was just so easy to get along with, with her at least. Anyone was to say otherwise she’d ask them what they did, no Landon. “Yeah I’ll ask the doctor, cause I’m scared I’d the ginger tea tastes as bad as you say it does. It won’t help me.” She giggled softly as she saw his face light up looking at the girls, those two ruled their world and they knew it. “They already know they control our lives, and we just added to it.” She bumped his shoulder playfully, before putting her phone in her back pocket. “I just want them to always be confident in themselves, not just their beauty. So I was adamant on them shooting while doing their leaps and warm ups. Of course they had to be little divas. But those head shots are basically for you and Landon. I’m just proud.” She smirked, shrugging her shoulders. Placing the flat of her hand her upper stomach as she felt a cold flush run over her, then got really hot. Holding her other hand to her mouth she walked fast to the bathroom and rushed before she threw up on his floor. Her long hair to the side, hoping none got in the toilet, (thankfully none did cause ew) she flushed it and rested her cheek on the cold porcelain and closed her eyes. “I’m surprised I lasted as long as I did before that happened..” she tried to joke, but wasn’t completely sure if she wasn’t going to sick again. 

————Time Skip ————

Jaycee.

After being woken up at 3 am with her water breaking. She was so scared but Landon had been the best coach she could have ever asked for. From feeding her ice chips, to using a cool washcloth on her forehead to keep her cool. When they got there she was dilated to a five and they gave her an epidural as soon as she was in their room. It was going so fast she never let go of his hand until they were able to sleep for a few hours before it was time to push. And it was as if it all was a blur once they placed their son on her chest, Jaycee looked up at Landon crying in a sweaty tired mess. “He’s here.. he’s so beautiful.. Hey so you’re the little dude that kicked all the time” she leaned her head against Landons smiling, but tired from all the pushing. They took him to weigh him and make sure he was all good before handing him to Landon, bundled up. It was a moment she’ll never forget, watch him take in his son. “He looks so much like you.” She was still a crying mess, but she laughed. The baby wrapping his tiny hand around Landons finger, as he pouted a bit.

LANDON

It was almost like time stopped having any meaning from the moment he got the text from Jaycee at 3am, who he thought was sleeping in the other room, to tell him her waters broke. From getting dressed, to texting everyone that the baby was coming so Elle wouldn’t be left sleeping on her own, it wasn’t hard to believe that he completely lost track of time. The benefit of having to drive to the hospital so early in the morning was that the usual Kingsboro traffic was pretty much non-existent and pretty soon they were being admitted to their private room. With Jaycee being dilated to five, Landon encouraged her to get some sleep after the epidural was administered. It was going to be a very tiring process and his friend needed all the sleep she could get. The plan wasn’t for him to fall asleep as well, sitting in the chair next to the bed and holding Jaycee’s hand but having not gotten any sleep at all before getting the girl’s text, and rushing around to get everything for the unexpected labour, maybe it wasn’t that surprising that he ended up drifting off for a few hours as well. Landon tried his best to be supportive to Jaycee throughout the labour. He fed her ice chips to make sure she didn’t get dehydrated and cooled her face down with a washcloth every time it seemed like it was getting to be too much. The situation was completely different than when his sister gave birth to Elle but one thing that was exactly the same was the helplessness he felt at seeing someone he cared about going through so much pain in order to bring to life his child. All he could do was to be a supportive and encouraging presence for Jaycee. The emotions that went through him as soon as his son was born and placed on Jaycee’s chest was indescribable. That was his boy. His son. It was both surreal and one of the most beautiful moments of his life. “Look at him”, he whispered, in awe at the sight in front of him.

One of his biggest worries after finding out about Jaycee’s pregnancy was that he would never be able to love his son as much as he loved Elle. How was it possible, when Elle was his whole world and had been for six years? It seemed impossible to think that he could hold so much love in his heart. It wasn’t something he ever told Jaycee because he didn’t want to worry her and was glad he didn’t. Because the moment the nurse handed him his son to hold, all bundled up and a small finger wrapped around his, Landon was hooked. It’s true what people say, the moment another child is born your heart grows a little more to make space for another. His baby was barely a few minutes long and Landon already felt like he would do anything for him. “Hey Baby S”, he cooed, tears streaming down his face and yet still able to make reference to the joke him and Jaycee had going on. He walked closer to the bed and sat down so that Jaycee would be able to get a closer look at their son. “Look angel, that’s mummy.” 

Jaycee.

Look at him, and the way he just kept looking at his dad was enough to bring more tears. Jay was exhausted and honestly wouldn’t have made it through without how he comforted her. After they got her fixed up and comfortably resting on an ice pack, thankful that she was still numb. The doctor congratulated Landon and handed him a pack of cigars, as they let them know the lactation nurse would be in soon. Scooting over so he could sit better the best she could. “Hey my sweet little miracle, look at you.” She cooed, sniffling. The moment he was on her chest, Jaycee was so helplessly in love with their son. Looking into Landons eyes, both of them a teary mess, her chin trembled. “Thank you for giving me the best gift there is.” Her voice broke, her eyes filled with so much love and joy. Watching her best friend hold their son was something else. Jaycees eyes were heavy as the days of not sleeping weighed on her, but she was trying so hard to fight it. “I can’t stop staring at him, he’s.. Perfect. Our little Easter Bunny.” She ran the tip of her pointer finger over his nose. “He is definitely playing by his own rules, already.” She joked sleepily as the lactation nurse came in, and helped Jaycee learn how to hold him right and he latched right away. The nurse gushing how amazing he was doing and that she wasn’t even needed. Of course Jaycees heart swelled when she said that, but she just watched him in awe. Bonding even more over feeding him, gently caressing his head. “I love you so much, every breath I take is for you. I will love you beyond my last breath.” Tears still flowing, as she laughed a bit. Still in awe and shock he was in her arms, nursing. Once he was done and she was able to burp him, handing him back to his daddy. “You ready to go see daddy again, I know he can’t get enough of you either.” She felt so happy and drowsy. “If I fall asleep I’m sorry in advance.” She joked knowing better.

LANDON

This was one of the most emotional moments of Landon’s life so he couldn’t even begin to imagine what it felt like for Jaycee. His friend thought she’d never get to have something like this and now here they were, looking down at their son. Jaycee was right in calling him their little miracle. “Thank you”, he said, voice breaking as he got emotional again. If someone had told him a year ago that he would be here, looking at his son with Jaycee right there with him, he would have laughed. Now he couldn’t imagine his life any other way. Landon watched with a fond smile as Jaycee fed their son and then took him back in his arms once he was done. “I can’t believe you’re even apologising. You literally just gave birth Jay, I’d be worried if you weren’t sleeping”, he said, although his eyes barely left their baby’s face. “Get some sleep love, we’ll be right here when you wake up.” 

Jaycee.

Jaycee couldn’t say anything when he thanked her back, all she could do was nod as she choked up. The baby was making the cutest noises as he stretched and yawned. “I think he thinks it’s nap time too, look at you taking all the credit.” She joked, leaning over to kiss their son on his head, as a tear slid down her cheek. “You should get some sleep too, lord knows I’m not big enough for this bed to take it all up. If you decide to chill with him in your arms and watch tv you won’t bother me.” She a assured him, turning on her side to face them but giving him enough room to be able to lay on his side or back. Not even remembering when she fell asleep for a good four hours before she popped her eyes opened, looking around. And smiled when she saw the baby resting on Landons chest and they’re out. The nurse came to check on her and the baby quietly helping her to the bathroom. About 30 minutes passes when she emerges showered in her nursing gown she got with its matching floral robe, and fluffy slippers, feeling more alert and fresh. Gently crawling into the bed, wincing a bit.

[stydiaeverafter]

She spotted a way into our hearts

Pairing: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand

Characters: TK Strand, Carlos Reyes, Owen Strand, Judd Ryder, Paul Strickland, Marjan Marwani, Mateo Chavez. 

Tags: animals, mentions of cancer, family feels, fluff, established relationship. 

Words: 2K | Rating: G | On AO3

Summary: TK didn’t know how it happened. One moment he was out on a crazy call putting a fire out, and the next moment he was returning back to Firehouse 126 with a Dalmatian.

When I found out there was going to be a dog on 911 Lone Star, I immediately got excited. If you haven't noticed, I love writing animals into my fics. This will be my own adaptation of how the story will go with the dog.

My good friend Stef inspired this idea and helped me out with it, so thank you, hun!! I appreciate it. I'm always inspired by your passion for writing and your strength! This fic is for you: @bellakitse  Thanks as always to my Junkyard Family for their support and love! Ya'll are the best! 

She spotted a way into our hearts

TK didn’t know how it happened. One moment he was out on a crazy call putting a fire out, and the next moment he was returning back to Firehouse 126 with a Dalmatian.

“A dog?” his father questioned with a raised brow, “Did you even put out the fire?”

“Yes, of course. I did in record speed too, I might add,” TK replied. “But the dog just sort of followed me around.”

Owen laughed in the way he did, which didn’t involve much humor, “And you thought ‘hey, why not take someone’s dog home with me?’”

“I asked around, they said it was a stray. Every time they tried to take it to the shelter, it would run and hide. It wouldn’t get up close to anyone. Really timid they said. But she wasn’t like that with me.” He looked down at the dog. “Clearly.”

“Hmmm…” The Captain looked around at the others that had been on the scene with TK, “Is this true?”

“Sure is, Cap,” Mateo replied with a cheesy grin. It was clear he already loved the dog. He was an adorable puppy himself practically jumping up and down.

“So what exactly are you saying here, TK?” His father asked as he looked down at the Dalmatian who was now lying down next to their firetruck.

TK winked, “I thought it was pretty obvious.”

“We’re not adopting a firehouse dog. I’m sorry, but no. We have so many other obligations and things to do. How can we add this dog to the list as well?” He paused and gave the Dad Look, “You couldn’t even keep a goldfish alive when you were younger. Lasted what, two days?”

“Three actually, and it was not my fault. I thought Goldie would like to watch tv next to me and eat chips. If anything, I was being a good big brother.”

Owen ignored his humor and turned to walk away. TK decided to say it, “The dog might be sick. Might not have much time left….”

This stopped Owen in his tracks.

TK knew he had won the argument. The dog was here to stay.

***

The neighbors had told TK that they had thought the dog was sick, because of how it was acting. Sure enough, the dog had cancer. Broke each one of their hearts when they found out. TK knew that his father was even more bonded to the dog now, even though he would never admit to it. The doctors were going to operate on the tumor, but they were hopeful; to everyone’s happiness.

Life with the dog meant something a little different to everyone.

Owen tried to act like he didn’t care too much, but he always left his door wide open and TK observed that one day there was a nice big fleece bed in there for the dog. His father said it was nothing; TK knew otherwise.

Mateo would be silly with the dog and they’d play around in the water coming from the hose. It was actually a very sweet sight to see. Childlike and innocent.

Paul and Marjan had a new workout buddy. Sometimes the dog would put her paw on their stomachs when they were trying to do sit-ups, or nudge to the weight they were contemplating trying to do.

Judd was indifferent at first. TK knew that to be Judd though. He was always hesitant to let someone new into his life; the man had been through a lot after all, and TK assumed he was scared of losing her to the disease.

However, over time something beautiful between them developed. TK hadn’t meant to walk by the kitchen late one night, but as he did he heard crying. Judd was sitting on the floor by the refrigerator. His tears were falling right on the dog’s head, which she didn’t seem to mind. She just rested her head on his lap. It was touching to witness, and TK quietly went back up to bed.

When Michelle would visit the house, she always brought a special treat for her and gave her a few snuggles before going on her way.

Everyone seemed attached in one way or the other.

The funny thing about the dog was, it didn’t seem all that close to TK, nor interested… yet he was the one who had found her. And she was the one who had followed him around like a love-sick puppy. Yet, she spent her time with all the others. TK didn’t understand it.

One day Carlos unexpectedly stopped by 126. The police were trying to work out a case on what could’ve been motive for someone starting a fire. So Carlos was trying to get all the information he could from them.

He didn’t often visit him at work, so TK couldn’t help his heart starting to beat faster when they made eye contact from across the room.

After some time, Carlos was making his way over to talk to TK when all of a sudden, the dog went bounding over to his man.

Carlos bent over, “Well hello there, mi amor!” He looked back up at TK, “You got a dog? You didn’t tell me that!”

“Long story... She’s a favorite around here. Even though she seems to not love me too much.”

“That couldn’t possibly be true, now could it, Peca?”

“Peca?”

“It means freckle in Spanish,” Carlos replied as he rubbed the dog’s spotted ears. She seemed so content and happy. It must be Carlos’ magic touch.

TK smiled down at Carlos, “I like that. Peca. It suits her.” He looked up and called out to his team, “Just wanted to let everyone know, our dog’s name is now Peca!”

“I love that,” Marjan yelled from her yoga mat.

“Absolutely,” Mateo answered; Paul nodding from behind him with a thumbs-up.

Carlos laughed, “Well I’m glad I could help out.”

“You always do,” TK assured him, rubbing his hand softly.

Carlos grabbed his hand tightly and bit his lip, “You told me that same thing last night.”

“Hey! Not in front of Peca.”

His boy just shrugged with that beautiful smile of his, “So she’s here to stay?”

“Yea, but she’s a bit sick. Has cancer.” When Carlos’ face fell, TK shook his head reassuringly, “No, she’s a fighter, babe. She’s here for the long haul.”

“I’ll bet my badge on that!”

***

The day of the surgery came faster than TK had anticipated. In just a short time, they’d all become extremely attached. Even though Peca seemed to still be a little withdrawn from TK, she seemed comfortable and happy at Firehouse 126.

They were all there waiting in the waiting room at the local Austin Animal Hospital. They were whispering stories about things Peca had done that had made them laugh, a smile plastered to every one of their faces. But TK could feel the tension in that small room.

He wished Carlos could’ve been there. But his boyfriend had been on a call of his own and unfortunately couldn’t make it. Carlos was like the tether that always kept him grounded, and TK could feel the anxiety spiking within him.

TK felt like they were all holding their breath. Every time the doors would open, they would all look startled looking up quickly.

TK didn’t want to imagine hearing the worst from the doctor. He didn’t know if his heart could take anymore. He was already on edge with father; he didn’t want to say goodbye to her. It hit too close to home.

For all of them.

He looked around at his brothers and sister. These people had all touched his life in such a short time, just like Peca had. He was so grateful to each one of them.

Peca had only brought them together even closer.

When doors opened, TK quickly looked up. But it wasn’t the veterinarian. It was Carlos.

“Baby!” TK said with a small smile as he quickly stood up, “What are you doing here?”

“We got done with the call, and I wanted to be here for our girl.” Yes, she was just as much Carlos’ girl as the rest of theirs. She loved Carlos probably the most. Just like TK did. The man was easy to love. They hugged for a long moment, then Carlos pulled away, “Any word?”

“Not yet,” TK replied, holding on to Carlos’ strong hand.

“She’s a fighter, don’t you forget it.”

“You bet your badge on it,” TK reminded him with a wink.

“Exactly.”

This time when the doors opened, it was the doctor. They all formed a circle around him.

It felt like waiting forever, but then he spoke, “Peca is going to be just fine.”

They all exhaled loudly and started hugging each other. TK couldn’t help the tears forming in his eyes. Carlos rubbed his back softly.

“I got the tumors out successfully. She is as healthy as a horse otherwise. We’ll need to see her for routine check-ups, but I think the worst is behind us.” The doctor looked around, “She’s still slowly coming to. Maybe one of you could come to sit in there with her. I don’t want her to get startled.”

And wouldn’t you know it, they all looked at him. “Who me? She doesn’t even care for me.”

“She followed you that day, TK. Peca obviously did that for a reason, brother,” Paul replied with a reassuring shrug.

His father nodded, “Go on, son.”

For some reason, they knew he needed this moment with her.

TK started walking and looked back to see Carlos looking at him with a look of incredible love. He was so lucky to have someone like Carlos in his messed up life.

He walked down the white long hallway into a small animal recovery room. Everything smelled too sterile for TK’s liking. Reminded him of the times he woke up in the hospital. Not something he wanted to remember at that moment.

And there she was. Peca. She seemed so small on the large table. He felt a bit awkward as he bent down over the bed. A nurse brought him a stool to sit on and he wanted to kick himself for looking stupid as he hesitated.

The truth was, maybe he was holding his heart back. Maybe he was the reason Peca didn’t let him in. He wasn’t letting her. Unconsciously of course.

“Hey, girl,” he whispered. “I’m really glad you’re okay.”

He looked towards the door. Maybe this was a mistake. They should’ve let Mateo, Marjan or even Judd into the room over him.

But he turned his focus on her and looked at her breathing slowly. It was almost hypnotic.

Then he let out a deep breath, one he had been holding in for far too long, “It’s not you. It’s me. Yea, I know that’s so cliche to say, but it’s the truth, girl. See, if I’m gonna be honest for a moment, I think you remind me of my dad being sick. And I… see I can’t lose my dad. We’ve been through so much together. Too much.” He looked down as his hands shakily moved to her soft spotted fur. TK stroked slowly, ignoring the annoying tears forming in his eyes. “But hey, maybe you’re the hope I needed. You’re a sign my dad will be alright, too.”

He exhaled sharply again thinking about the last few months and letting the fear in. It nearly knocked him off the stool. “Please be a sign….”

Grace would probably call this a sign from God, but at that exact moment, he felt something wet lick his hand. He looked over and saw Peca staring up at him. She stretched and licked his hand again. “Welcome back, girl.”

She moved closer and rested her head on his other hand as if she wanted to be near him even more. As he rubbed her ears, he felt a moment of peace wash over him like the waves of an ocean. This was what he needed. Exactly what he needed.

***

After that life went back to normal, but then again not really. Peca had changed all their lives for the better.

They all had a connection with the dog in an unspoken way. It was unique and beautiful.

Often she would ride on the firetruck with them; her presence soothing them before they rushed into danger. And she’d be there for the aftermath for cuddles and kisses. She joined them for dinners, especially Sunday night dinners, which had become the real deal. Movie nights and even game nights. Judd insisted she was a good luck charm when they played cards. Whenever you needed her, she was there. She completed the missing part of who they were. And they were there for her, too. They gave her a family. The Fire Fam. She'd never be alone again.

TK had bonded with her the day he had let his guard down; the day he had opened that door completely was the day their bond had started to form. Often he wondered if she was here to teach him a lesson. A lesson of living in the present moment and not taking people or moments, even the hard ones, for granted. And that sometimes we wouldn’t have the answers to the hard questions. Instead, we just live. Life had a funny way of teaching you these things.

These were the thoughts he had as he curled up next to Peca and Carlos in bed. He would often take her home with him; sometimes he just needed it. Tonight was one of those nights. He smiled softly being near to his loved ones.

His heart, like their bed, was full.

[fuckedstucky]

How to be a heartbreaker

Chapter 3

“Well then you’ll just have to protect me.” She said as they walked out of the club.

***

The pair walked into the cold New York evening together, Y/N pressed as closely as she could get to Steve. Looking at the pair you might think she was cuddling close to keep herself warm, but she was really trying to keep Steve warm. His coat was a thin, tan windbreaker that she knew could never actually keep him warm.

They walked silently down the dimly lit road into the heart of Brooklyn. Y/N kept looking over at Steve, he was shorter than her by about 4 or 5 inches, with her heels on. It was something that she thought would’ve bothered her and yet she found that she couldn’t have cared less. Steve was charming, sweet, had the sweetest pair of baby blue eyes she’d ever seen, pouty lips, and a strong jawline. She knew instantly that nothing he could ever do would make her change her mind about him. She was In love, and she’d only known him for a few hours.

She followed Steve up the stairs to his apartment, which he’d said that he shared with his mother. She could tell he was slightly embarrassed about telling her. She told him about her home life, it was just her and Frankie now that both their parents had passed. She told him how Frankie was getting deeper and deeper involved with shady people, and how that was one of the big reasons he was as protective as he was.

They walked into Steve’s apartment and it was surprisingly very quiet.

“Ma?” Steve called and got no response. Y/N could see the panic on his face, as he checked the fridge for his mother’s work schedule. Y\N walked around the kitchen and gasped.

“Steven, baby call an ambulance!” Y/N said falling to her knees in his den, by his unconscious mother. Steve quickly called the police and ran to his mothers side, Y/N rushed to get a cold compress.

The ambulance was there in 8 minutes, and they rode to the hospital. Steve never letting go of Y/N’s hand.

***

Steve and Y/N sat in the stuffy overflowing waiting room of the Brooklyn Baptist Hospital. Steve had just calmed down after giving himself an asthma attack.

“STEVE?! Stevie!” Bucky called running over to them. His hair was messed up, he had kiss marks on his neck and the collar of his shirt.

“Buck? How’d you know we were here?” Steve asked, still trying to settle his breathing.

“Y/N found my number in your address book, is your momma okay? Have you heard anything yet?” Bucky asked. Steve’s eyes met Y/N for a silent thank you.

“Tuberculosis, working in a TB ward finally caught up to her.” Steve sighed, tears filling his eyes. Y/N still hadn’t let go of Steve’s hand and was now rubbing his back softly.

“You don’t have to stay, ya know.” Steve mumbled looking up at her with tear filled red eyes. She squeezed his hand tightly.

“I’m not leaving, Steven.” Steve nodded silently, leaning his head against her shoulder. She could barely make out the small Thank you that Bucky whispers as Steve falls asleep.

***

When Steve woke up he looked over to see that he was leaning on Bucky’s shoulder. He looked around the room and Y/N was nowhere to be found. He sighed, knowing that either it was all a dream or she had fled while he was asleep to avoid the awkward goodbye.

“Whatcha lookin’ for, Sweetface?” Y/N said, walking up to him and Bucky in a form fitting baby blue dress, arms full of coffee cups and brown bags.

“I thought you’d left?” Steve said helping her with the coffee cups.

“Never. I had to change out of my stage dress.” She smiled. “Now I got some biscuits, and eggs, so you need to eat up.” She said sitting down across from him and a still sleeping Bucky.

“I’m not really all that hungry right now..” Steve started. “Well I am.” Bucky said yawning and grabbing a biscuit while he stretched.

“I thought you were shipping out today?” Steve said, taking a biscuit for himself. Y/N leaned back and drank a sip of her coffee.

“Nope, who told you that? I ship out in 3 months.” Bucky said, stuffing another biscuit in his mouth. “You did!” Steve called as Bucky got up to sit next to Y/N.

“Can you believe him, the kid is always makin stuff up.” Bucky laughed, throwing his arm around Y/N as she rolled her eyes at him before removing his arm.

Bucky and Steve both smiled at that.

***

“Rogers?” The doctor called into the waiting room. Steve shot up and practically ran to meet her.

“I’m Steve Rogers.” He said, out of breath.

“I’m sorry, son. Your Mother, Sarah, I’m afraid she only has a few days left. I’m so sorry, if you want you can go visit her.”

“How did this come about all of a sudden? She was fine.” Steve sighed looking to the doctor for answers.

“Sweetheart, it’s in our records that she’s been coming in for treatment for the past 6 months. I’m so sorry.” The doctor sighed and told Steve which room his mother was in.

Both Bucky and Y/N waited outside of Steve’s mothers room. They had been told that she had days left and would most likely not wake at all. Steve was seated by him mother’s bed, watching her chest rise and fall with unsteady breaths. It broke his heart that his mother had lied to him for so long about being sick.

After about 3 hours Bucky said he had to pick his sister Becca up from school but promised to be right back. He gave Y/N a kiss on the cheek and told him he was happy that she had stayed.

***

“Hey, Buck?” Steve called walking into the hospital hallway.

“He had to pick his sister up, is there anything I can do Sweetface?” Y/N said looking up from her book.

“Is there any way you can sit with my mom, I just don’t want her to wake up while I’m not there, ya know.” Steve said not making eye contact. She smiled softly before nodding.

“Of coarse.” Y/ N said, rubbing his shoulder as she placed a small kiss on his cheek, before walking into the room.

As soon as she stepped into the room, her breath caught in her throat. She’d never witnessed Tuberculosis this closely. She walked over to the chair by her bed and sat in it.

“I don’t know if you can hear me or not, but I’m Y/N Sinatra. I’m a friend of your son Steven, and you should know that he’s the greatest guy I’ve ever met. He’s so kind and smart and he just genuinely cares about people, you raised him so so well.” She whispered to Sarah Rogers.

“Thank you, Love. It means the world to hear that.” Sarah’s raspy voice whispered into the quiet hospital room. Y/N was shocked, she hadn’t thought that Sarah would be conscious.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be awake, how are you feeling?” Y/N asked, already handing her a cup of ice water. Sarah silently thanked her, before taking a sip of the water.

“So Sinatra huh? How exactly did you come across my Stevie?” Sarah asked sitting up as far as she could in bed. Y/N blushed, starting to fiddle with her hands.

“Yes ma’am, I’m Frankie’s little sister. And I only met Steve because he and Bucky were at one of my brothers shows tonight.”

“Stevie is a good boy, and I know you just met my son, but please watch out for him. It’s a harsh world and I don’t want him to meet me on the other side too quickly.” Sarah rasped, grasping Y/N’s hand.

“I-“ Y/N started to say but was cut off by Sarah. “Please.” Her eyes pleaded with Y/N.

“I will.” Y/N promised.

***

“Hey, thanks for being here with me.” Steve said, he and Y/N had gone to get some coffee, while his mother rested.

“I told you Sweetface, I really don’t mind.” Y/N said for what felt like the thousandth time this week. His mother was getting weaker and weaker, and it was getting so hard to watch Steve go through this.

“You don’t know how much this means to me.” Steve said, reaching up and pressing a kiss to her cheek.

“Now Steven, I know you can do better than that.” Y/N said, pulling his face towards hers and locking their lips together in a passionate kiss.

Tag list 💗🎟👛🌸💒

@kaetastic @hoppers-babygirl2

[theartofimaginaryfriends]

A Pretty Drei-dull Holiday (Part 5)

Fic series: Hanukkah Oneshots

Characters: Jewish!Percy x Jewish!Reader, Jewish!Sally, Paul Blofis, Estelle

Premise: The Jackson’s have a tense Hanukkah dinner with Y/N’s family.

Masterlist

taglist: @pjsolympians

Word count: 949

A/N: this fic isn’t ~happy~ but the holidays aren’t always. I’ve been to a couple tense Jewish dinners (different scenario than this, but still) where it was uncomfy. And I recognize that realistically, Sally wouldn’t fight with another parent, but when her son is involved I imagine she could be set off. Three more days and three more fics :) hope you enjoy this one!

For the fifth day: the fifth light is the light of Holiness. Purity of thought, nobility of action make all of life sacred. From the Prophet Isaiah, these words have been taken into Israel's prayer book: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts."

The Jackson's knew the L/N family well enough, but the Hanukkah dinner at their home felt different this year. Percy and Y/N had only recently started dating, and their relationship had added a certain amount of tension with Y/N's parents.

Percy's track record of getting in trouble and being on local news left Y/N's parents uncertain about their relationship. Not once had he been outwardly a threat, but that didn’t stop them from being cautious around the eighteen-year-old. They were especially protective of their children when he was around, and quite frankly weren't happy with their eldest's decision.

They walked out of the elevator that led up to the Penthouse, and followed the sound of latkes being fried, breathing in the delicious aroma. "Sally, how good to see you!"

Mrs L/N embraced her friend, as well as Paul, before giving Percy a tight-lipped smile. "It's good to see you, Mrs L/N."

"You too." she ushered them to the foyer, where Y/N was in a deep discussion with their little sister, Abby, about her most recent hyper fixation. Percy gravitated towards his partner, and gently placed a hand on their shoulder.

"Happy Hanukkah," they smiled up at him and stood up.

"Happy Hanukkah," he smiled back and kissed them. "You look beautiful, as always."

"Thank you," they said, blushing. He took a seat next to them, and after greeting Abby and father, listened to the twelve-year-old continue rambling on. Watching how the siblings interacted caused Percy to feel even more excited about Estelle growing up. The nine-month-old baby could only say a few words, but she was already showing a very strong personality. Seemed as stubborn as her older brother, and he was looking forward to watching her grow up.

As expected the air was tense. Y/N's parents hardly paid attention to Percy, and mostly talked to Sally and Paul. After all, they had a problem with the kid and not the parents. Y/N wanted to protest, but Percy wouldn’t let them. He kept telling them that he can deal with it for an evening, and it was no big deal. Sally, however, noticed the lack of attention on her son and tried to bring up something positive going on in his life any time she saw an opening. "Percy joined the swim team at his school. He's become captain, actually."

"Oh, how nice," Y/N's father replied, glancing over at Percy with slight distaste. He moved on to talk about Y/N's extracurricular, not-so-subtly attempting to one-up their boyfriend. This turned into a 'who has the better kid' competition, making Y/N increasingly more annoyed.

After they had lit the candles and sat down for dinner, the conversation died down. Everyone ate in a tense silence, the latkes and brisket not tasting as good as usual. The bitterness in the air tainted the food, leaving an unpleasant aftertaste in their mouths. "Y/N, why don't you tell Sally and Paul about your most recent art project?"

"Alright, that's it," they sighed, and put their utensils down. "First of all, they already know about it and I told them before I told you. Second of all, I don't understand why you can't see that Percy is a genuinely good guy. Whatever the two of you are so worked up about happened in the past. It's one thing to make this another uncomfortable and passive-aggressive family dinner, but it’s another to try and downplay his accomplishments by bringing up my own. I'm sick of staying silent because Percy and his parents don't deserve it. Come get me when you've apologized. I can't be around you right now."

Y/N got up from the table and disappeared into their room. They flopped onto their bed, and closed their eyes, needing a moment to themself. Not long after, someone opened the door, and joined Y/N on the bed, causing the mortal to open their eyes. "If looks could kill, I would be dead."

"I'm sorry," they grumbled.

"Hey, don't apologize," Percy spoke gently, pushing a stray hair out of their face.

"Did they?"

"Only for your behaviour," he rolled his eyes. "Which started an argument between our parents because my Mom agreed with you."

"Glad to know that I'm still in Sally's good graces," they gave a faint smile. "Still, I wish I didn’t address the elephant in the room until after the dinner was over."

"Everything happens for a reason, right?" Percy smirked, using a phrase Y/N said frequently.

"Yeah, yeah," they sat up and gave their boyfriend a playful glare. Percy lifted his arm, inviting Y/N to cuddle with him, and they sat there in silence while they listened to the voices increasing in volume. As the argument turned into full-on shouting, Abby entered the bedroom.

"Can I join you?" she asked, her voice small. "I don’t want to be out there anymore."

"I have a better idea," Y/N got up and grabbed their wallet. "Why don’t we go out, and get some sufganiyot at the bakery down the street?"

"Yes!" her eyes lit up.

"Mom's terrifying when she's mad, so absolutely." Percy agreed. "If they don’t notice us leaving, I'll text my parents to let them know where we are and that your sister is with us."

The three of them managed to leave the penthouse without the parents noticing, the four of them too busy arguing to even realize Abby left the table. Hopefully, things would die down by the time they got back, but if not it didn't matter. Y/N didn't need their parent's approval to date Percy. They loved him no matter what.

[homogrimoire-archive]

The Remnant Branches

CH. 6 - The Woe of the Wretched

Part 3: A Sibling's Love

Having completed his mission for Oz already, James returns to Jakob to deliver some unfortunate news. After, he begins his peaceful quest to search for any astronomical information this world may hold. This first takes him to the library in the nearby village.

AO3 Link

The elevator reached the surface with the sound of its old doors creaking open. Ironwood was feeling ambivalent, however. On one hand, his mission was complete, and he had five days left to do as he pleased. On the other hand, reviewing the video tapes revealed that the mother had perished in the factory while running away from her children with a man. It is only human to want to be free from burden too. Ironwood knew he had to at least tell Jakob that harsh truth.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re okay. You were in there for a while.” said Jakob as James entered the door.

“Yes, I’m fine, but, there’s no easy way to say this.” From the look on Jakob’s face, Ironwood could tell he already knew what was coming.

“It’s my mom, huh? It’s alright. Nier already told me. He said he found her on his way back, and brought me back some of her perfume.” he said sadly.

“How are you holding up?”

“I’ll be alright. And Gideon will come around eventually. … I just-” he let out a sigh. “I just don’t know what to feel now. It hurts that she left us, but I know this was all too much for her. She just wanted to be happy, and her happiness didn’t involve us, but I still love her. We had some good times, and she did try for a time, and she is my mom. I just can’t bring myself to hate her. I feel like I should be stronger, and not even cry for her. Is that bad?” he asked, eyes watery and voice on the verge of cracking. Ironwood thought for a moment.

“I will be honest, I can’t understand how you feel, so take this as a grain of salt: I don't think you’re wrong for wanting that. Ultimately, she hurt you, her child. But understand this,” James got down on a knee to be eye level with him, “you are strong. From all my years, I’ve learned that it's easier for people to hate than it is to love. It takes a lot of strength to love, especially after what she did. And look around you!” James got up and motioned him to look at the shop around him. “Despite everything, you’ve managed to run this shop and become an excellent blacksmith, all while taking care of your brother all on your own. That is no small feat, especially for someone your age. This is a tough time for you, but you will get through it. You are strong.”

“Thanks mister Ironwood.” Jakob sniffed. “I needed that. It's gonna be hard, but things will be alright. I think she would want us to be alright too. And besides, I still have Gideon.”

“I’m glad. Oh, and here’s some junk I collected on the way. I figured you could use it.” Ironwood tossed a bag full of scrap onto the counter.

“Sweet! Thanks!” he exclaimed happily.

“No problem Jakob. … It looks like I’ll be on my way now.”

“Alright, stay safe now. There are a lot more shades out there than here in the Junk Heap.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve faced all sorts of monsters before.” With a final wave goodbye, James closed the door behind him and made his way to the exit. He was never the best at goodbyes or any sort of closing remarks.

As he walked, he thought about how Jakob could still love his mother after what she did. However, he knew he would have to be content in knowing that he would never understand it. A child’s love for their parent was a powerful thing.

He rememberd that Nier told him that there was a library in his village just across the plains. He hoped he could get lucky and find some old star charts or any sort of astronomical information. While Remnant was overall more technologically advanced, this world had traveled into space, well beyond their atmosphere.

From the information stored at the factory, he learned that this world had sent people to their unbroken moon, set artificial satellites in orbit around their planet, and sent machines to study planets billions of miles away. It amazed Ironwood so, and he intended to learn as whatever he could from this world’s knowledge on outer space. It was about time he treated himself to enjoying his little hobby.

Astronomy was something that always interested him. So much of it was unknown. There was a sense of serenity in that. It was a place free of the chaos of a cruel world. He considered that space could be chaotic too, but in its own ways, ways much less cruel. Space is an exotic, previously unknown beauty to him. He dreams that it is a place free of duty and worry, where people are safe, and will never have to worry about the cruelest cruelties of life. Salem, Grimm, murder, and needless suffering are absent there in his dream.

However, more than that, much more than that, a part of him believes something. It is the part of him where his last shred of innocence exists, the part where he holds onto hope for a merciless and unforgiving world. It believes that there, he can finally love.

-

After about half an hour fighting aggressive shades across the plain, James finally arrived at the gates of the village. He knocked on the large door, and waited. Looking up, he saw a man looking down on him over the side of the top of the gate, and disappeared from view, shouting an ‘okay’ that led to the gate opening. A guard gave a grunt of acknowledgement as he passed. It was a quiet place, and nothing like Atlas. By the fountain, he noticed a woman at a fountain singing a song. It helped calm him after the heavy, heart racing, fighting.

Ku ata

Tsu no-o va-lai

Tzud-e jei

Fo-aul ae kai

She seemed like she could help him.

“Excuse me, miss, would you happen to know where the library is?” he asked her.

“Do I look like a tourist guide to you?” she said curtly. Ironwood didn’t know what to say. “I’m just joking with ya.” she laughed. “It’s that building at the top of the hill.” she pointed out. “I’m Devola, and if you need any help finding something, ask my sister Popola. She’ll be in the room on the second floor to the right.”

“Alright, thank you.” he waved as she resumed her song. He just hoped his encounter with the other sister wouldn’t be like that.

The library had all its books stacked up its walls, leaving it a rather open space. At first, he aimlessly wandered around, scanning the spines of the books he passed. So far, he hadn’t found what he was looking for, and decided to give Popola a visit. At a shelf next to the base of the stairs was a little girl struggling to reach a book. Her hair was a silvery white, akin to Nier’s. He noted that similarity. He reached for the book and handed it to her.

“Here you are.”

“Thank you mister!” she said with a bright smile. She took a seat at the stair’s first step and began to read the simple book. Aside from her pale skin, which could be attributed to a lack of sunlight, odd considering the eternal sun, she did not look sick to him. Once at the top of the stairs, he turned right and knocked on the door.

“Come in!” she shouted, and Ironwood entered. “Oh, a new face. Not often you see one of those. How can I help you?” she said, looking up from the paperwork on her desk.

“I’m looking for books on astronomy, or any information you have on it really.” he said.

“Hmm… Astronomy… I don’t recall there being any books on that here, but-”

“DEVOLA, HURRY, QUICK!” screamed a voice downstairs.

“Crap, crap, crap!” she fearfully repeated as she leaped over her desk and bounded downstairs. James made sure to get out of her way, and looked downstairs once she had past him.

At the bottom of the stairs was the girl from earlier. She was curled up, wincing in pain as a darkness enveloped her arms and legs. There seemed to be some lettering in it. It had almost seemed familiar to James, but it faded before he could more clearly see it.

However, he knew for sure that this was Nier’s daughter, Yonah, with her silver-white hair and some sickness that could only be the Black Scrawl. It was unlike any kind of sickness he had seen before. He saw Devola scoop her up in her arms and leave the library.

He made his way down the stairs and picked up the book she dropped, A picture book titled The Wizard of Oz. Amused at the title, but otherwise uninterested in it, he placed it back on the shelf. Aesop’s Fables, Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears were among the selection of books with colored pictures and big fonts.

Realizing he was the children’s section, he went back upstairs to browse another random section. He managed to find what he assumed was the philosophy section, based on the titles. It was filled with names unknown to him, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx, Karl Grün, Simone de Beauvoir, Georg Hegel, Zhuangzi, Mozi, and many more.

He picked up a book by Karl Marx and flipped through it. Interestingly, none of its words were capitalized. He assumed it was a printing error. Once he saw that it concerned economics as well, and he quickly put it back. He dealt with enough economics back home, and had no desire to read about it on his little vacation. He owed himself that much, even if he was starting to feel guilty for taking such a long break from his work. He managed to find the romance section, but quickly found that none of it was to his taste. Romance as a genre was he never really understood the appeal of anyways.

Eventually, he settled on a titleless book that was at the top of a first floor shelf. It seemed mysterious, and therefore interesting.

There was an android who was set to oversee a small village. Her name was Skald, and embedded in her was the incredible power of an ancient song from another world. The song allowed her to help and manage her village in incredible ways, but, it soon corrupted her and the villagers. As a result, her creators had her and the village destroyed.

Learning from their failure, the scientist removed the magical power of the song. Despite having less power than before, she still ran and oversaw the village well enough. Her creators were pleased and began to make plans for mass production. While her creators did that, she had grown close to another woman in her village. They did lots together, so much so that many began to believe they were sisters. And soon, they began to refer to themselves as sisters. The scientist saw that there was an increase in her performance during this time.

However, the woman died in an unfortunate and sudden accident, leaving Skald all alone. Her performance decreased greatly as a result, and she was eventually decommissioned. She was not saddened at the revelation of her fate. In fact, she seemed grateful. However, the scientists were saddened by their creation. They created something near immortal that could love, and would more often than not have that love ripped away from them eventually.

In honor of their creation, they learned from their cruel mistake. Skald was renamed Popola, the nickname given to her by the woman and villagers, and she would have a twin to be by her side. Her name would be Devola, after the woman who loved Skald as a sister. “Together, they could sing a song that would calm and heal the heart. Together, they would face an otherwise lonely existence. Together, love would allow them to survive a cruel world.” was the ending of the short story.

Ironwood wasn’t sure what to exactly think of the story. He wondered why someone would write such a preposterous backstory about their village leaders. But then his thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. In came the younger sister, Devola, who went to meet him.

“Good, you’re still here. Sorry about earlier.”

“It’s alright, things happen. Will she be alright?”

“Yeah, she’ll be fine, she just needs some rest and medicine. She’ll be back here tomorrow I’m sure, unless Nier gets back soon. But Popola wanted me to pass a message. She said that you should try the Lighthouse at the Seafront south of here, or the desert civilization east of here. There's a store there where you might find what you’re looking for.” She pointed in the directions he should go.

“Alright, thank you.” James said happily. “Oh, and before I forget and you might want to check out this book.” he said, handing her the book he read earlier. ‘“I can’t imagine why anyone would write something like this, and I think you wouldn’t want it in here.” Curiously, she took the book and glanced at the cover and its back, and quickly flipped through its pages.

“Ha! This is a strange little book. Thanks for catching it. Here, take this to keep it between us.” she tossed him a small sack that rattled. James opened it to find coins in it.

“Are you sure? I don’t think you need to give me this. It-”

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” she calmly interrupted. “You just go and have your fun.”

“Well, alright. Thank you then.”

As he walked to the eastern gate, he wondered what it would be like to have a sibling. However, he simply just could not imagine it. A sibling’s love was something he never felt, and would never feel. He wondered if he should feel sad about that or not.

-

We give the finality of death. Iron skin draws out fear and terror, and is bathed in flesh. We are satisfied by the snatching of life. We realize our purpose through the crushing of the bodies. In our delight, we spread death far and wide. We are the iron will. We kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.

This interloper knows what he does as he slashes the blade on the way to his destination.

He knows there is blood on his hands, and accepts it readily, for he knows he must.

What he does is as just as it is unjust.

He knows this, and slashes again.

It must be done, so he believes.

Anyone can do this, so long as they think they are right.

[bandsconcertsfood]

Neglect  Winchesters X Sister!Reader

Summary: Ignored by her brothers, Reader is tired of the hunting life, of life in general. She overdoses in her room while her brothers are out on a hunt. Once they return they expect to find dinner ready but all they find is Billy.

Word Count: 1,837

Warning: Suicide, neglect, rape

Third Person POV Y/N was just so tired of everything. She wasn't as courageous as her older brother Dean or as smart as her twin Sam, at least that was what she thought. She was just there. She was always there just in the shadows, always in the motel rooms and sometimes even forgotten in some small town. Now that they've got a bunker she's always inside. She doesn't remember the last time she left the bunker. No one but Castiel and Bobby knew her personally. Others like Kevin and Crowley just knew her as a name, nothing more. Now that it was just the 3 Winchesters living in the Bunker, she felt even more alone. She'd cook them dinner when they'd get back from hunts, they'd occasionally say thanks but for them it was just them and then her. They cared for her of course but they just sometimes forgot of her existence. Or they assumed she didn't want to tag along. They assumed because of the trauma they've lived that she chose to go mute. She didn't, they just didn't bother listening. During Sam's college days she had moved out, nobody noticed of course but once Sam was back on the job Bobby had called her and forced her to be with her brothers again. The angels knew about her, they felt bad, even the ones like Uriel and Zachariah, they all felt so bad they chose to not involve her in the business, they had been protecting her. She always had an angel watching over her. However, now that the angels are dying she's alone again.

Y/N was sitting on her bed reading War and Peace when she decided today was the day, she knew her brothers would be back in a few hours so she had to do it now. She walked over to her drawer and took out the mix of pills she's collected over the past few months. She was so dedicated that she just took them and decided to lay down. She didn't even cry or feel like she'd miss her brothers. Eventually she wakes up and is surprised Billy is there. "Billy?" She asked confused. "You killed yourself? You really are a Winchester" Billy says as she looks around and frowns, sensing something wasn't right. "Can I ask a question?" "I can't promise an answer" "Do you think they could have loved me," Y/N asked, Billy immedietly knew that Y/N was neglected, and not just now but her entire life. "You were always my favorite Winchester, Y/N. Are you sure you want to do this? I can knock some sense into those boys and change everything" She says gently, "let's go" was Y/N's only respond.

Dean's P.O.V Sam and I walked into the Bunker, tired after killing Vampires, expecting the smell of food or at least Y/N's music playing, meaning she was cooking. All we got was an eerie silence once I had shut the door. "Where's the food?" Sam asked as we put our stuff down and then walked to the War room. "What if she went grocery shopping?" I suggested casually but right away we couldn't help but start laughing, our sister was way to antisocial and lazy to even leave the bunker. We decided to check her room, just in case she died or something. Once we entered, we saw Billy, or Death, "boys, did you know Y/N had read the Mortal Instruments series over 5 times the past year alone" Billy asked as she looked through a book. Wow, Y/N had a huge book collection. "What did you do to our sister?" Sam asked, surprisingly worried. "She's happy now." "What did you do to her?" I asked, now getting anxious. "I want you to see her memories," Billy states as she clicks her fingers.

We were in a motel room. Sam and Y/N looked about 7 years old. "What?" Sam asked completely lost. "This is one of her favorite and happiest memories. Quite sad really. Do you know why it's a favorite?" Billy asked as she sat down on the bed. I decided to look around, Y/N was reading The House of Mirth, at a very young age she was already reading big chapter books. 11 year old me had just walked into the motel room, "I brought presents" he said. I smiled, I did always try my best with taking care of them. I look around and noticed there were only 2 dirty plates in the sink, I must have not ate to make sure they had eaten well. I noticed that Y/N frowned. "Here you go Sammy" I said as I handed Sam 3 presents that I had clearly stolen from a random house, "what about her," Sammy asked as he turned to his twin. I looked at now Sam and he frowned, remembering this night. "Oh yeah" young me whispered and started digging through his pockets. "Hey y/n, I brought you this" young Dean said as he threw a semi melted Snickers bar to the small Y/N who smiled widely as she put her book down, "thank you" is all she whispered as she ate happily. I started to tear up. "This was the 1st time Dean had given Y/N a present for Christmas, this was also the first time in 2 weeks she had something other than water" Billy said as she got up. "What kind of sick joke is this" Billy only clicked her fingers again.

The day Bobby had brought Y/N to our motel room. "Boys, keep your sister with you," Bobby said as they walked in, she looked like she had been crying. "This is one of her worst memories, want to guess why?" "Obviously because she was forced back into hunting" Sam said in a very confident tone, knowing Y/N had also wanted to leave the life, and did once Sam left for college. Dad never bothered checking in on her. Y/N had pulled Bobby to the side, this was by the time she had gone mute. "Bobby, I don't want to be with them, please don't make me stay. I was a good hunter with Rufus, I had a good life, don't do this" she begs him, her voice, I had completely forgotten what she sounded like, "Y/N was a good hunter with Rufus but once the Winchester boys were reunited Bobby wanted Y/N to be with you. This is a bad memory not because of hunting but because she knew she'd go back to being forgotten and ignored" Billy said as she walked out of the motel, we followed behind. She clicked her fingers again.

We were back in the bunker, "are you done" Sam asked as I noticed there were tear stains on his face. "Cassie!!" I heard a sweet melodic voice, was it Y/N? She walks into the library and started dancing, that's when I noticed there was music, Y/N always listened to Rock, it was her favorite but right now she was listening to the Mulan soundtrack, she never listened to Disney but right now she was singing along as if she'd done it before. "Cassie" She calls out again. A few seconds later Castiel appeared. "I brought you a book," he tells her as he hands her Fahrenheit 451, "you know you don't have to bring me a book every week" she giggles out, still accepting the book and hugging him. "Let's dance" she asked him, "Castiel never made her feel unwanted" Billy says as she sits in a seat. "Can you stop" I asked, not wanting to see this anymore. "Dean keeps calling me for help" Cass informed Y/N, she looked sad right away, "right, okay, go then" she says and goes to turn off her music but Castiel stops her. "He can wait".

Now, I don't know where we are. "I remember this night, please Billy, don't make us see this" Sam begs Billy, I look at him confused. It was a motel, I couldn't remember though. I look around and Sam and I are watching a movie, he looks about 16, which made me 20. Why can't I remember this night? That's when the door slams open and my little sister walked in, her clothes ripped, she's been crying and she's limping. What happened. "You could've picked up the phone" she whispers at us, we don't even look at her, just chatting and watching the movie. I remember, we had been called to the hospital the day after to pick her up but dad had made us leave, said he'd pick her up in a week. I never figured out what had happened. She walks over to her bed and we turn to her. "This is by far her worst, she had to endure the pain, all by herself." Billy sighs as she looks at Y/N with sympathy. 16 year old Y/N had taken off her clothes, not even caring that we were in the room, now Sam and I avert our eyes and look at each other, Sam was crying, what happened. "Look" Billy demands sternly and forces us to see. There was my little sister in a white towel but there was blood running down her legs, she walked to her small bag and got out clothes and walked into the restroom, I could hear her sobbing. "Hello? Bobby, I need help" she sobs on the other side of the door. "I called Sam and Dean but as I just got to the motel they've been watching movies. I called John, I told him what happened and he blamed me. Bobby, some old man raped me outside the library" she sobbed out. "He held me at gunpoint, I need to go to the hospital, what if I get pregnant? I'm scared dad" we heard a thump, she had dropped her phone. "Bobby was too far out, other side of the country, she had to walk to the hospital all by herself. She had to deal with the rape kit, the police, everything, all by herself. John felt she needed to be punished. In case you didn't figure it out, this was the day you assumed she had gone mute" Billy admits, and finally we're back in Y/N's room.

Y/N was on the bed, sleeping. "This is when she finally was at peace." I noticed the bottle, there was no label. Is she sleeping. "I gave her body to Castiel, we burned her before you got here. He felt you didn't deserve to be there." Billy says and pats my back as I cry. That's when my little sister's lifeless body disappeared. Sam fell to his knees and started sobbing. How could we just ignore her like that? "It was always just Sam and Dean against the world right? Imagine being the forgotten Winchester, she was strong for lasting as long as she did" is all Billy says before she disappeared. Leaving Sam and I alone in our sister's room. A sister that we didn't even get to say goodbye to.

[darylandbethfanforever9]

Downfall Of Us All: Chapter 11

Downfall Of Us All

Chapter 11

AN: Thank you to @jtargaryen18​ for helping e write this story, I couldn’t have done it without her.

Bucky searched the other rooms and came across piles of clothing. There was a black Chanel suit, with a white blouse, and other items of clothing. He checked the laptops, and all of them had been wiped clean. HYDRA wasn’t taking any chances. He felt sick as he remembered what Grace had said. HYDRA was going to use Jane, Darcy and Pepper as incubators for HYDRA agents. God knows, what they were going through right now. Sophie came in with a look of pure hatred, she started searching through the boxes when she pressed something. The bookcase behind Bucky opened, revealing an underground lab. "What the hell?" Bucky muttered darkly, he radioed the others and Steve cautioned him and Sophie to be careful, as they cautiously entered the room. There were Petri dishes, and four recently removed cryostasis chambers in the room. Bucky ventured further, and saw a room had no windows.

He cautiously took a look and was inwardly horrified, to see the six dead bodies of young women ranging from their twenties to early thirties. 

He looked at Sophie as they opened the door, and saw the bodies lying lifelessly on the ground. They'd been dumped like trash, wearing hospital gowns. "How long have they been dead?" Sophie asked quietly, horrified at what she was seeing. Had her mother been forced to face this daily? Being constantly experimented on and getting pregnant until the pregnancy was successful. "The two oldest have been dead for at least four weeks, but they've not rotted yet. These three youngest though, it looks recent." Bucky said quietly, when one of the women grabbed his metal. "El Diablo....his name is El Diablo. He won't stop, please get it out of me!" The woman screamed in agony, Sophie was horrified to see blood staining her legs. "We're going to get you help, don't worry." Sophie reassured comfortingly, when the woman's skin glowed orange. Bucky grabbed Sophie and pulled her behind a wall. The explosion shook the building, taking out a part of the room and smoke billowed around them. Bucky looked up to see that Sophie had conjured up a spider web to stop any debris from failing on them, he nodded in thanks. She nodded, as Bucky spoke to Steve. "Steve, you and the others better come down here. The woman just......she just exploded." He said quietly, feeling dread run through him.

"You're not gonna like it, Cap but I know what caused the explosion." Tony said grimly, no humour in his voice for once. His dark brown eyes looked grim, and troubled. "What do you think it is, Tony?" Steve asked quietly, Bucky and Sophie had re-joined the team as SHIELD agents took the bodies to the compound. None of them trusted the government to autopsy the bodies, so Bruce, Jemma and Helen had offered to do it. "Extrimis. It's an advanced form of genetic manipulation created by Maya Hansen and Aldrich Killian, using nanotechnology. It grants the human body the ability to heal and regenerate from physical damages, deformities and even psychological damages." Tony explained darkly and swallowed. "It can regrow limbs, but it's dangerously unstable. When the person with Extrimis tried to regrow the missing limb, they explode. Pepper's the only one, aside from Killian that hasn't exploded. Even after it was removed," he added grimly, and swallowed. "Do you think that's why they took Pepper? Because she had Extrimis in her?" Sophie asked quietly, Bucky standing close to her with Grace and Clint. "It's a possibility, you know. They're abducting Enhanced, Gifted, Mutant and Inhuman women. So, they took Jane and Pepper because they're both Enhanced but Darcy isn't." Bruce said gravely and sighed. That was when a flash of light appeared, and they saw two men standing in front of them. Thor, and Loki. "Have you found Lady Jane, and Lady Darcy?" Thor asked hopefully, Steve grasped his shoulder gently. "Not yet, Thor but we know who took them and why." Steve explained gently, Loki looked at him sharply. "Did HYDRA take Lady Jane and Lady Darcy, as hostages?" Thor asked intently, Steve shook his head. "No, Thor not for that reason. HYDRA took Jane, Darcy and Pepper to experiment, and breed children with them," he explained gently, seeing Thor's face turn in an expression of rage. "Do you have any idea where they are now, Captain?" The God of Thunder asked pleadingly, he still deeply loved Jane and was heartbroken when she'd left him.

"Working on," Tony joined them. "Sorry, big guy. We're going to do everything we can to find them." Even Loki's gaze was sympathetic on his brother. "Jane is strong," Loki told him. "She will last, brother, until we can find them." Thor nodded, his face grim. Steve just hoped he was right.

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They'd been back at the compound for a few hours. The bodies of those poor women were being autopsied. Sophie and Grace had disappeared into their rooms and even though Steve had invited him to watch the game with him, he just didn't feel up to it. Steve knew things like this took him back to the dark places in his memory from his decades with HYDRA and tried to keep him from going there. Some doors would never permanently close. The knock on his door was barely there, so he knew who it wasn't. Blowing out an exhale, he went to the door to find Sophie there. "Come in," he told her. Closing the door behind him, he led her back to the couch. Sophie wasn't here expecting him to act normal, to act like everything was okay. Her past was filled with shadows like his, the hurt she felt reflected in her eyes. "How's Grace?" he asked gently. Sophie shook her head. "Finally, asleep." "Are you okay?" "I'm trying, Bucky, I really am but…" Swiping at her tears, her gaze didn't leave her lap. "I just… Is there any way we can have her work on something else besides this? Can Steve help us? It's just knowing what I know now about what happened to her. Knowing what they put her through… They can't mean to put her through this. Maybe she can work on something else. With Peter. He's not even an adult yet, Bucky. He shouldn't be involved in something like this." "Hey," he whispered, watching her curl in on herself. "Come here." Pulling her in to him for a hug, he wrapped her up in his arms, just holding her. "We'll talk to Steve," he said into her hair. "I'm a little worried about the effect of all this on you. But no matter what happens, we'll get through this." Sophie held onto him so tightly, like he was the only anchor she had. They stayed there for long moments in the quiet of the room. In that moment, it was so hard to believe the outside world and all its ugliness even existed. In that moment, it was just them and feeling her heart beating against his was the sweetest thing he'd felt in years, decades. When she eased back to look up into this face, Bucky couldn't help but stare at her. Sophie was beautiful, kind-hearted. He hated everything Ross was putting her and Grace through, but he had to selfishly admit that if it hadn't happened, she wouldn't be here with him. In his arms… She deserved better. When Sophie gently pressed a kiss to his mouth, he froze. Her gaze searched his face and slowly, she smiled. When she kissed him again, he kissed her back, being so careful because it was already a miracle that she was here with him now. Her mouth was so soft and sweet...

Bucky relaxed into her kiss, smooth his flesh hand through her hair. He loved everything about it from her warmth against him to way her fingers were tangling themselves in her hair. When Sophie pulled back from his again, he could only stare at her in wonder. "That was nice," she told him shyly. He had to laugh at that. "I'm just glad I remembered how to be honest." The smile that earned him had his heart melting. "I read somewhere that you used to be quite a lady’s man back in the day," she said with a smile. His brows shot up. "You read about me?" "You were in our history books in school," Sophie explained, and he loved seeing her face lit up like that. "That was in your history books?" he wanted to know. Sophie shook her head playfully. "No, that was in some additional reading I did. I loved your story. I mean… you were a hero." Bucky shook his head. "I'm no hero, doll." "I think you are," she assured him. "You can't change my mind. You kind of live up to the legend."

Bucky didn't say anything to Sophie's words, she thought he was a hero and he wrapped his arms around her tightly. She leaned into his embrace, just needing Bucky's comfort, as Raymond and Starling settled beside them. "And you're a hero too, Sophie." Bucky said firmly, holding her close and Sophie leaned into him. She was deeply troubled by what they had found out today, and worried about Grace. She just hoped that they would find the three missing women and find her beloved nephew. Otherwise....it was just too painful thinking about it.

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Grace had only slept for three hours, before the nightmares had started haunting her again. This time it was Jane, Darcy and Pepper who were glaring at her. "You're the reason we were taken! Do you have any idea what they're doing to us?!" Jane screamed angrily, Grace could feel her heart pounding. "I'm so sorry, we're going to find you all. I swear, I never wanted this either," Grace confessed quietly, trying to remain calm but her hands were shaking. 'It's just a nightmare, just a nightmare. I'll wake up soon,' Grace thought desperately, tensing up when she saw Darcy stalking towards her with hatred burning in her sky-blue eyes. "This is you, and your sister's fault! They wanted you, but they took us instead to be experimented on, and raped! Some Avenger you are!" Darcy spat, and she saw someone else. The little boy had dark blonde hair, and dark hazel eyes. He was dressed in a pair of jeans, and a Captain America t-shirt. Zach. "Why couldn't you save me, mommy?" Zach asked upset, as she saw Rumlow behind him with a chilling smile. "Hey blondie."

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Grace woke up gasping for breath, tears swimming down her face silently as she sat in her bedroom. She felt her body shaking with sobs and buried her face in her hands. Her baby boy, her precious baby boy was out there somewhere. God knows, what he was going through or what was being done to him at this minute. It had almost been two years, and she wanted her son back. She cried silently and buried her face in her hands. She felt responsible for what was happening to Jane, Darcy and Pepper. For her son being taken away and failing to protect him. She stumbled out of the bed, she nearly ended up tripping over her converse trainers. She curled up, sobbing as she heard someone entering the room. "My baby, my baby boy. I'm sorry, I love you and Auntie Sophie loves you, and so does Uncle Peter and Aunt May. I'm sorry, god forgive me." Grace sobbed brokenly, weeping silently. Rough calloused hands, gently held her and she sobbed harder. She knew who it was, he wouldn't judge her for crying. For grieving over her son, and parents. "He's gone, Clint. I don't know why, but a part of me is saying he's gone. My baby boy's gone, but I don't want to believe it. I just want the pain to stop," she sobbed distraught, Clint held her tightly and felt his own eyes burn with tears. "Grace, we're not gonna stop looking for him. We'll find him, I promise honey." Clint promised firmly, Grace sniffled. "I'm scared Clint, I feel numb here." She said tiredly, gesturing to her heart, and Clint swallowed back tears of his own. God, he knew what she meant. He felt numb, like someone had torn his heart out and pieced it back together. But his grief for Cooper and Lila would never go away, it would stay with him. "Does it ever stop hurting? Will it ever go away, or am I going to be driven mad by it?" Grace asked numbly, her emotions were over the place and so were her powers. Clint held her tightly, feeling her relax in his arms. "No, the pain never goes away Gracie. We have to live with it and carry on. But you've got Sophie, Peter and us here to help you. You...got me." He said quietly, Grace held onto him. "Be honest with me, Clint. Do you think Zach's alive?" She asked bravely, wanting the truth from the archer. "It's been two years, with no sightings of him. But, he's a tough kid and if he is dead...then we'll make the bastards pay for what they've done." Clint vowed fiercely, Grace gave him a watery smile. "I just want him at peace, Clint. It's like I can sense him, but he's in limbo. What if we never find him?" She asked tearfully. Clint held her. "We won't stop looking Grace, we won't. We won’t give up or rest, unless we find him dead or alive." Clint said firmly, Grace sniffled.

"Let's get you back to bed," Clint whispered. "You have to rest, honey." "Clint, I can't sleep," she told him even as she let him gently ease her to her feet. "I see them. I see him when I close my eyes." "I know… Netflix then," he offered. "You don't have to sleep. We'll catch a movie or a show like we did the other night. And I'll be right here." Grace nodded. She didn't want to be alone. She didn't want to burden Sophie. Since her sister had learned what really happened to her, the sadness in her eyes was more weight she carried. She knew Sophie was the older sister, would somehow blame herself. Clint was the one person who could listen to her without pity, who understood her. "Stay here? With me?" Clint nodded. "I can do that." Grace led him back to her bed. Something just occurred to her. "You were already here," she told him. "How… how did you know?" "You… I see you in my dreams, Grace," he admitted, sitting on the end of her bed. "I'll hear your voice and I'll follow it. Guess, I'm just figuring out that's… that's real." Grace moved to stand between his thighs, pulling her to him, his cheek pressed against her stomach. "I'm sorry, Clint," she whispered. "I'm not trying to… pull you into my dreams." He looked up, his grey eyes filled with concern. "I'm not complaining, Grace. I guess I want you to know if you ever need to reach me, do it. I want to be there for you." When she didn't know what to say to that, he reached up on her bed and grabbed the remote. He smiled, "So what are we watching?" "Something funny?" "No chick flicks," he teased. "I could have lived my entire life without seeing The Notebook." Grace couldn't help but chuckle at that. "You're just afraid I'll tell everyone you cry at sad movies." "I so do not," he playfully argued. "Mmmm-hmmm. Keep telling yourself that." Grace glanced back over her shoulder. "I'll go see what I've got for snacks." Clint got Netflix started and rose to follow her. "I'll come with you."

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The next day Grace was feeling slightly better. Netflix with Clint had amounted to watching one of the endless Mission Impossible movies for about twenty minutes and falling asleep. Clint was stretched out next to her, three of her cats curled up and cosy on him. She couldn't help but smile at that. Stretching she threw her legs over the side of the bed, knowing they needed to get downstairs for training. The autopsies would take place today and she needed to stay busy. So busy… Clint opened one eye, blinking like a sleepy owl to see what was weighing him down. He laughed. "My left leg is asleep. How much does one of the cats’ weigh?" "He's big boned," Grace told him. "Yeah," he said teasing. "You ready to go train?" Grace nodded, and they agreed to meet in the gym within the hour. When she got there, Steve and Bucky were already there, looking to be in deep conversation. Then Peter strolled in. He smirked at her, shook her head. "I want another shot at that." "At what?" she had to ask. Just to see Peter's smiling face made her happy. He was like having a baby brother and she couldn't resist teasing him. "At the Black Widow… thing," he told her, folding his arms across his chest. "Well, I can use the practice in taking you down, so let's do it," she said with laughter in her voice. Grace took off, running at Peter. Before she could finish the move, he shot web at her, pulling her right leg out from under her and dropping her to the mat hard. Grace was winded as she laid there, stunned for a moment. "Yes" Peter was celebrating above her. "That worked!" Sam had just walked into the gym, grinning as he watched Grace climb to her feet. "Oh, little man, you're in for it now," Sam warned, smiling at her and back to Peter.

 Grace took off again, not going easy on Peter and vaulted over him, incorporating some of her gymnastic moves. She wrapped her legs around his neck, pinning him to the floor. "Holy shit, ok I give up!" Peter shouted quickly, amazed at how fast Grace was on her feet. She laughed and helped him up off the training mat gently. "You beat me, Peter. Just need to be quicker on your feet, and we'll make you faster," Grace said amused, Peter smiled as Clint entered the room with Sophie, and Natasha. Grace smiled when she saw Sophie walk over to Bucky, she was glad that her sister had someone to help her with everything that was going on. She felt better than she had yesterday, this team was truly feeling like a family to her. And she was going to help them save Darcy, Jane and Pepper.

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The autopsies on the six unknown women was taking place, and Helen Cho with the assistance of Bruce and Jemma examined the bodies. "Signs of multiple sexual assault on the three-woman, cause of death appears to severe blood loss. Jane Doe six appears to have given birth three weeks ago, and has vaginal scarring," Jemma said quietly, wishing they knew the poor women's names. It didn't feel right calling them Jane Doe, all three women were definitely Inhumans. But aside from that information, they learnt nothing else about them so far. DNA tests were being run, and Tony was running facial recognition software with Lilia. Everyone was praying they'd find Darcy, Jane and Pepper before HYDRA hurt them. "So, all six gave birth?" Bruce asked wearily, he felt sick at what he was seeing as Director Nick Fury entered the lab. He didn't like the grim expression on Fury's face, he looked horrified and Bruce swallowed. "We found a grave near the HYDRA base, three of our agents found the bodies of three infants," Fury explained quietly, his expression grim. Bruce exchanged a look with Helen and Jemma, feeling his heart sink as he braced himself for the rage. Thankfully, the Other Guy was quiet, and not acting out but he was livid. "Send the bodies here, Fury. We'll treat them with respect, and compassion." Jemma said quietly, Fury nodded and left.

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Pepper woke up to see that she was in a bed and dressed in a hospital gown. She had no idea where she was, as she saw a with dark brown come in. "Excuse me, where am I?" Pepper asked wearily, watching as the woman did something with her IV drip. She was starting to feel groggy and slumped against the pillows. "You're in safe hands, Miss Potts." The woman said reassuringly, Pepper relaxed as she let the sleepiness take over her. Laura smirked, as she saw Rumlow enter. "I have to admit, I'm impressed. You work quickly, Rumlow and Foster only started crying when you reminded her that she got herself into this mess." Laura said impressed, by Rumlow's efficiency. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tagging list: @jtargaryen18​, @marvelfansworld​, @sapphirescrolls​, @queenoftheunderdark​, @nomadicpixel​, @redfoxwritesstuff​, and @sweater-daddiesdumbdork​, and @my-favourite-fics​

[jj-lynn21]

HOLLYWOOD MOBSTERS Starring Bill Skarsgard and his family ch 2

Warnings: violence discussed, cussing, angst, fluff, smut

ch 1  ch 3 ch 4  ch 5 ch6 ch 7

Thank you for reading  @fake-me-out  @crazyjam-pot @super-pink-a-palouza​ @polireader​ 

Photos from esquire Singapore Septemper 2019, Calvin Klein, IMDB and Ejalo’s Instagram 

The mud was thick at the cemetery. It seemed to ooze around Bill’s boots as he stood there with Genna’s mother and sister clinging to him in tears. His arms were around them both. He was blank. No more tears to cry. Other emotions buried deep. He wanted to be strong for them. He knew that some how this was his fault because of his family. None of the priest’s words were comforting. His family stood behind him for support. Genna’s Aunts, Uncles, cousins and friends stood on the other side of the coffin as it was lowered into the ground.

They all went to the Skarsgard mansion after for drinks and light bites. Bill did not eat. He really had not eat since the wedding. He was numb. His stomach was sick and he felt alone in the room full of people. He nursed a Jack and coke as people approach him with condolences. It just made his stomach worse. 

“Hey,” Valter sat in a chair beside him. His girl, Angel, on his lap. Both keeping a somber face. “We have to head back to The University. Classes and shit start back up tomorrow.” He placed his hand on Bill’s shoulder.

Bill put his hand over his brother’s. “Thanks for being here.” He said mechanically.

“You should eat something man,” Valter motioned for Angel to get up so he could. “Angel made the chocolate chip cookies. Best cookies you will ever have in your mouth. I guarantee it.”

Bill looks up, “Thank Angel. We appreciate your baking.”

She just nodded. They start to say their goodbyes. Alex motions Valter to another room.

“Angel, will you go get me a few of your amazing cookies before they are devoured by others?” Alex asked so he could talk to his bother alone. “We are all very proud of you going to graduate business school soon Valter. We would like you of course to work closer in the family business when you graduate. Do what you do now but at Bunny’s. Oversee the bar. The books. Everything that come in and out of there. What do you think? Feel free to give it some thought.”

Valter ponders the idea for a few moments, “Yeah, that would be cool. Hell, Angel is already a dancer at a college joint. Could she join Bunny’s?”

“Of course, if you are ok with her getting ogled,” Alex said.

“Why should I care who looks at her if she is coming home with me,” He thinks. “We will need our own place.”

Angel comes in with a plate full of cookies. She hands them to Alex.

Alex takes a bite closing his eyes making a big show of pleasure, “mmmm these are really the best.” He opens his eyes. “Drive safe Valter. And keep your eyes open.”

Alex walks Valter and Angel out. He nods to Gustaf to follow him. Bill sees this and follows them outside. Valter and Angel continue to his yellow hummer.

When Alex sees Bill he stops, “You don’t have to be involved in this right now Bill.”

“I think I’m already fucking involved so whatever you are discussing, I want in on it,” Bill was straight to the point.

Alex sighed knowing whatever he said wouldn’t sway his brother and maybe him learning more would help him. The three of them walk down to the beach. Its where they discussed a lot of business. The sounds of the waves crashing on the shore would more than likely interfere with any listening devises any of them might have on in case they decided to be snitches on the family. They had all heard of other families being brought down by just one member wearing a wire.

I ran the deal by The Malforals to share some of our shipment with them for what the regular customers pay plus thirty percent. They want to renegotiate. I said I’d send my best negotiator.”

“When did you talk to them,” Bill asked.

“Before I turned in last night,” He looked out to the ocean. “An hour before I was shot.”

“Do I have the authority to get the deal we want what ever it takes?” Gustaf has his hands in his pockets flicking at a pocketknife with his right thumb. He also had a bowie knife down his left sock, a gun down the back of his pants and another tucked in his shirt. He was a little more than just a negotiator. No one found that out until it was to late.

“Always,” Alex said.

“I’m going with you,” Bill insisted. “If these are the people that killed my girl, I want to know.”

“Just keep your cool little brother, “Gustaf implored. “We don’t want to start a war with this family if we can help it. But if they did have anything to do with her murder, I assure you I will have enough fire power to take them out. When is the meeting set up Alex?”

“Tomorrow night at ten at the usual place,” He turns back to the house. “I’ll let the two of you work out any more details. I shouldn’t know everything.”

“You need target practice,” Gustaf hands Bill the gun from inside his shirt. “It has a silencer so no one should hear us down here. I want to see you hit the third palm tree from shore to our right.”

“Just because I don’t use the skills Dad taught us doesn’t mean I forgot,” Bill checks the bullets in the chamber, takes the safety off and shoots dead on. “I fucked up the guys shoulder that shot my girl. I would have shot him dead in between his eyes if I wasn’t in the bathroom when the glass broke. Fuck, I need a new apartment. I’m not going back there but I’m not staying here. Fuck,” He takes another shot without looking and still hits the tree just not completely centered.”

“Let me have it,” Bill hands Gustaf the gun back. “How’s your knife skills?” He puts the gun back in his shirt after putting the safety back on. He hands Bill the bowie knife from his sock. “Same tree.”

“I can hit the farther one but alright,” Bill checks the wind to be a smart ass and tosses the knife hitting right above the bullet. “Well, did I pass your fucking test.”

“I’m not so sure you are in the right head space for this, but I also think you can do what needs to be done,” Gustaf said, “Just try to keep calm. No one gets hurt unless they earn it.”

When Valter and Angel get close enough to see the Frat house they notice yellow cautious tape around the door. Valter turns down a side street.

“What do you think is going on V,” Angel ask nervously.

“I don’t know other than even if we can’t see cop cars it doesn’t mean they’re not there.” He tries to think of his best options. “I’m going to drop you at your sorority or better yet, we should pull into student parking and I’ll walk you there. I love this car, but it doesn’t exactly blend in with our surroundings. If the cops are looking for me for any reason, I don’t want you involved.”

“You can lay low at the sorority until they’re gone?” Angel suggested, “The girls wouldn’t have a problem with that as long as we shared some of your party favors.”

Valter always had cocaine and marijuana close by for a quick sale. Everyone knew where to go for “party favors” to have a real lit party on campus. Most of the time he was just invited and made a killing selling for the family. There were other salesmen on campus but Valter had such pure shit it was worth the extra cost. And no one dare rat him out since they all knew some of his family members if not all were possible killers. Plus, they wouldn’t get what they needed if he wasn’t there. The campus was going to be practically dry when he graduated.

“No, sweetheart,” He parked and grabbed two hoodies from his bag in the back seat. “I don’t want you involved any more than you are just being around me now. Put this hoodie on. I’ll walk you close to your place. Then I’ll get some other transportation to get out of here.” Before getting out of the hummer Valter grabbed the bag from the back that was filled with money, cocaine, weed and some extra cloths.

They both put their hoods up as they walked casually down the sidewalk. About a block away Valter dropped his bag before pulling Angel close kissing her passionately. She fisted the front of the hoodie he wore. They both took a breath looking at each other like they were memorizing how each looked in this moment. Then kissed again his hands on her cheeks keeping her in the moment as long as he could.

“I love you Valter,” She said looking in his eyes.

“I love you to my Angel,” He picked up his bag, glanced around and headed away from her.

She just stood there shocked. She knew he must have thought something seriously was wrong because it was the first time he ever said ‘I love you’. Usually he would answer her ‘I love you’ with ‘ditto’ or ‘I know.’

As soon as he stepped into the road to cross, police sirens blasted. He was surrounded. As several officers manhandle him to the ground Angel covered her mouth so she wouldn’t scream. He would only be pissed at her if she got involved. 

[soyouthinkyoucansleep]

Battle of the Blades Episode 1 Review

For those who saw my earlier post, I got to go to the live taping of BOTB in Hamilton...my tickets were the front row (excluding VIP) so I got a really really good view! Here is my review of the show. I’m gonna talk about all of the couples in the order they skated. I was also gonna talk about the judges and some comments on the show overall but I’ll save that for another post since this is getting long.

A quick intro into the format. So during the commercial break, which is about 3 minutes, the skaters on deck get to warm up. For most of it, everyone focused on stroking with a few timers for lifts in there. The skaters are scored in the 10.0 system rather than 6.0 in the past which was a little weird. For today’s show, Tessa and Scott counted as one judge (they gave one score together). I felt like I was watching NCAA gymnastics for a bit. In the past, eliminations were based solely on viewer votes; the scores were just guidelines. Now like DWTS, its a combination of viewer votes and the judge's scores. The bottom two based on that will be required to compete in a skate-off next week and the winner of the skate-off is selected by the judges. Winner stays, loser goes home.

I went with my younger sister who is a figure skater so the technical comments come from her. It was great sitting with her to get that insight. Scroll below the cut for all my comments.

Natalie Spooner and Andrew Poje

They were the first ones to go so they had the pressure of setting the bar for everyone. Nat was away at Hockey Canada’s national team camp for about 8 days and she only got back to figure skating Monday morning, leaving three full days of rehearsals before the show.

Naturally, Natalie seemed very very nervous in this warm-up, almost looking like she was about to throw up. She kept looking at the ground while skating (a big no-no, as per my sister) and I noticed a few times Andrew reminded her to look up.

While the warm-up may have been a recipe for a bad skate, the routine was anything but! Nat had a huge smile on her face and seemed to have fun the entire time once the program got started. There was one major lift, a knee slide in there, and some footwork. Andrew and the choreographers did a good job adding a little mix of everything and they highlighted that Natalie was a strong skater (compared to many of the others). Completely forgot the fact that she’s hopping back and forth between hockey and figure skates because of her national team commitments.

They ended with 27.9 (9.3′s across the board) for T-3rd overall.

Colton Orr and Amanda Evora

Amanda is the reigning BOTB champion so there’s a little bit of expectation for her there. She’s skating for Boys & Girls Clubs of Canada in honour of a friend of hers who recently passed away (I think he’s the father of one of her students, Grace Knoop?)

Overall, they weren’t terrible but there wasn’t anything exciting about them. They did two lifts and a death spiral but the remainder mostly felt like stroking. Colton was also very right and like Kurt said, didn’t allow his lower body to move freely and separately from the upper body. Time could help with this but they were in last place with 27.4 (9.2 from Colby Armstrong, 9.1 from VM and Kurt). They will need the votes and potentially a good skate-off next week to be safe for week 3. My sister thinks they’ll be the ones to go home first and I agree with her.

Sheldon Kennedy and Kaitlyn Weaver

tw: abuse, sexual abuse

Sheldon’s intro piece focused on the abuse he suffered at the hands of his hockey coach Graham James. CBC did not shy away from the topic. They stated that Graham kept trading for Sheldon in the junior leagues so he could keep abusing him. The intro piece then showed how Sheldon took this terrible thing that happened to him and made it his life’s mission to educate the world and have these discussions so it doesn’t happen again.

What was truly amazing was how the crowd erupted in cheers for Sheldon at that part. It felt like the entire country of Canada is proud of Sheldon for the person he has become. I could see Sheldon getting a little emotional by that response.

They skated to Wake Me Up by Avicii which kinda tells the story of Sheldon wanting to run away from hockey to escape his abuse but found himself again and found joy in his life. And this routine was the literal definition of fun and joy. Sheldon and Kaitlyn had the biggest smiles on their faces and were both having the time of their life.

Not to take away from the fun, but they also skated probably the most difficult routine technically out there. There was an overhead lift. This is especially amazing considering Sheldon is only 5′10″ and Kaitlyn is 5′7″. Kaitlyn was not going easy on him and threw in a bit of the Yankee Polka pattern dance. YANKEE POLKA. AND they made sure to get the crowd involved too.

They received a well deserved, unanimous standing ovation. Like everyone was standing up, even the women with canes in the rows behind me. And they finished the night with 28.3 (9.4, 9.4, 9.5 from Kurt) in first place.

Amanda Kessel and Eric Radford

In the intro piece, you could see how much Amanda really looks up to her older brother Phil Kessel (Stanley Cup winner with Pittsburgh) and I think that’s so precious. She even chose Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto as her charity after seeing Phil bring the Stanley Cup to the kids and seeing their reactions and subsequently the work Sick Kids does for these children and their families.

Amanda and Eric skated to “Juice” by Lizzo so I was already excited for that. In terms of training footage, both Amanda and Eric posted a lot of lifts so I was excited to see what they were planning. They did do a fair number of lifts and a death spiral in there which were well executed. However, beyond that, I felt Amanda was very similar to Colton as she was very tight and rigid. Because she was the one being lifted, it was less noticeable compared to Colton–the lifts and tricks in a sense “broke apart” the tight skating.  They ended in second last, with 27.7 (9.3 from Colby, 9.2 from the others)

Brian McGrattan and Vanessa James

Brian McGrattan is a Hamilton Native so this was a homecoming for him. He lives in Calgary now but a lot of family and friends were here supporting him. Brian discussed his struggles with anxiety and depression which lead to alcoholism. He then sought treatment through the NHL’s alcohol abuse program.

Side note: It’s amazing that CBC, and these hockey players, are not shying away from these difficult topics. Brian McGrattan is a 6′4″, big, tattooed, enforcer. If he can come out on national TV and say “hey I struggled with depression and anxiety and I sought help”, I hope that inspires other boys and men to not shy away from these problems. The stigma with mental health is stronger with men and boys and I think people like Brian can make a difference. So kudos to the players and CBC for having these topics.

The program overall was elegant and vulnerable which is a completely different side to what people are used to for Brian, but he pulled it off really well. Brian truly opened himself up and was committed to the program. Technically they had some amazing lifts and a good connection. Overall they scored 27.9 to tie for 3rd with Natalie and Andrew but the individual judges were all over the place a bit (9.4 from Colby, 9.3 from VM, 9.2 from Kurt)

Bruno Gervais and Ekaterina Gordeeva

I’m just gonna start off by saying Bruno Gervais is an amazing dude. Just out of the goodness of his heart essentially, he started a charity with his close friend Max Talbot (husband of former Canadian Ladies’ Champion Cynthia Phaneuf) which provides underprivileged children with opportunities, ranging from sports to funding hospitals. They started this charity together when both were just 23 years old!

Katia is a queen. That is all that needs to be said. She was referred to as the G.O.A.T. by Kurt and Ron MacLean many times throughout the night, and rightly so. Both of them worked with Elladj Balde a fair bit which was very helpful for them. Elladj is trilingual (English, Russian, and French)–Katia’s first language is Russian and Bruno’s is French so Elladj communicated with them in their respective mother tongues.

Elladj’s influence was seen at the beginning of the routine with Bruno busting out some [very good] dance moves. His skating was very fluid and relaxed and he was very comfortable with the lifts, even doing a “combination lift” per se which involved a lot of twists and turns. They got a partial standing ovation from the crowd, the only other team to do so. I forget their score off the top of my head but they were in second place, close to Sheldon and Kaitlyn.

So that’s my review of the skates...stay tuned tomorrow for comments on the judges and the show overall.

Also, my messages are open if you want to ask me about anything in particular!