#it’s all a game and we’re this close to flipping the board

[daylighteclipsed]

anyone else feel like the whole world is this 👌 close to completely snapping

[dixons-sunshine]

Plus Four | Daryl Dixon x Fem!Reader

The air was tense. It was thick. One could cut through the air with one of Daryl’s hunting knives. Death glares were being passed around like popsicles on a hot day. You were well aware of the fact that your next actions would make or break the strong familial bonds you’ve made with the people sitting around the table in the prison you all shared.

Daryl sent you a threatening look, although you could see that there was no real anger behind it. He was more pleading than anything else. “Don’ even dare.”

You sent him an apologetic look. “I’m so sorry. I have to.” You placed the small card down on the pile in front of you, an extremely prominent ‘plus four’ in the corner. “Uno.”

Daryl threw his cards down in frustration. “C’mon! I can’t deal with this shit no more. Y’all teamin’ up on me or somethin’?”

From the other side of the table, Carol, Michonne and Rick laughed at Daryl’s dramatics—although Rick definitely hadn’t been laughing a few minutes prior when he had gotten hit by a chain of ‘plus two’s’. In fact, he had reacted the exact same way Daryl was reacting.

“Lighten up, Daryl.” Rick adjusted his cards in his hands. “I’m sure you’ll win the next round.”

“Fuck off, Rick,” Daryl grumbled under his breath, reluctantly picking up his cards again, and adding four cards to his already humongous pile. “We’re gon’ need marriage counselin’ after this. Ain’t too sure we can recover from this without professional help.”

You laughed and placed a hand on your partner’s shoulder, gently rubbing it in the hopes to bring him some comfort. “I’m sorry, Dar. I really am.”

Daryl scoffed and shook his head. “Yeah, so ya keep tellin’ me. S’the third ‘plus four’ ya’ve given me this whole game. S’fuckin’ ridiculous.”

Michonne laughed and leaned back in her chair. She was the first person to finish the game, and was closely followed by Carol. The two women found the whole situation immensely amusing. “Come on, guys,” Michonne mused out loud. “We’re getting bored over here. We wanna move over to monopoly.”

“Good lord, then we’re all gonna need counseling,” you laughed and shook your head. “You’re gonna need to strap me down if I end up in jail or else I’m gonna flip the table.”

“M’close to flippin’ the table over this stupid ass game. Ain’t too sure how m’gonna react once we move over to monopoly.” Daryl sighed and dropped his head to the table. “I have a feelin’ this game s’gon’ go on for a whole year. I might jus’ fold and go to bed.”

“You can’t do that, Babe,” you told him playfully, before moving forward to whisper in his ear. “Finish this and play a round of monopoly with us, and I promise we’ll do something more fun than board games. How does that sound?”

Daryl lifted his head from the table and straightened his back at your promise. He cleared his throat and stared at Rick expectantly. “I believe s’yer turn, no?”

Rick nodded and continued with the game. Michonne leaned over to you and whispered to you questioningly. “Well, that was a quick switch up. What did you tell him?”

You smirked and shrugged. “Oh, nothing. I just wouldn’t come into our room without knocking first tonight.”

Michonne’s eyes widened, before she shook her head and chuckled. “Well, that’s certainly one way to motivate him.”

“Oh, you don’t know the half of it.”

[onceuponaoneshotfanfic]

"Just Friends"

Part of my 900 Followers Celebration!

Request: I'm gonna get another cheeky one in under the wire! 🥰Let's go for "please don't be in line with someone else, please don't have somebody waiting on you" and "We were never just friends..." Biggest congrats to you on the big 900! What a writer! 😘

Roy Kent x Reader

1.1k words

Warnings: Language, drinking, little bit of angst, kind of implied smut at the end?

It had been a great game for Richmond, and especially for Roy. You were so glad you’d been able to attend; it had been a while since you’d last made it to the Dog Track, despite Roy’s begging for you to come. Part of it was that you were unusually busy with work, but you had to admit that part of it was because it was getting harder and harder to spend time with Roy.

Keeley had introduced the two of you at a party, and the two of you clicked, quickly becoming the best of friends. Of course, you initially found him attractive; over time, though, you found yourself desperately in love with him, with the kindness that laid under this gruff exterior and his quick wit and his love for his niece… and about a million other little things.

But he was Roy Kent. You’d seen the models he dated, and you were definitely not his type.

Still, you knew he was happy to see you after the match, when he wrapped you in a big hug on the pitch and insisted you come to the team celebration.

“Be my date,” he’d teased, oblivious of how his words twisted your stomach.

So, there you were, in some club, sticking close to Roy, fully aware of the eyes shooting daggers in your direction. Several women- most of them stunning- had come up to him with flirtatious invitations to dance, but he’d declined. What he did instead was buy you drink after drink and laugh as he watched you joke around with the Greyhounds while he sipped his beer.

Soon enough you were just tipsy enough to start clinging to Roy, beaming up at his smirking face as he brushed some hair off of your face. “Should take you home,” he murmured, eyebrows raised. “You’re pretty fucking plastered.”

Reluctantly, you let Roy load you into a taxi and walk you to your door. He chuckled as he watched you struggle to get your key in the lock and shoved you aside to do it himself. He stood on your porch, the dim streetlight framing him angelically.

“I’m glad you came out,” he murmured, his thumb stroking your cheek. “Fucking missed you lately.” He frowned, ignoring the fact that the taxi was waiting for him. “You been avoiding me?”

You shook your head frantically. “’course not,” you lied.

He nodded, not quite believing you. “Good. Good.” He took a step back, letting his hand fall from your face. “I’ll call you tomorrow, alright?”

“Alright,” you whispered.

Once Roy was gone and your door was locked, you collapsed into bed, flipping your mobile over and over.

You’d lied to Roy. You never lied to Roy. Well, except for all those times when you’d made up an excuse for why you couldn’t hang out or make it to a game. Or the couple of times when he teasingly asked you if you fancied anyone and you vehemently denied being interested in anyone. Other than that, you never lied to Roy.

With a mix of alcohol and guilt in your stomach, you unlocked your phone and hit Roy’s contact before you could talk yourself out of it. It took only two rings before-

“What, you fuckin’ miss me already?” Roy chuckled.

“Please don’t be in love with someone else,” you blurted out, squeezing your eyes shut to avoid looking at the spinning ceiling. “Please don’t have somebody waiting on you.”

There was a long pause from his end. “The fuck are you talking about?” he finally asked quietly.

With a giant sigh, you sat up in bed. “I have been avoiding you,” you admitted. “Because I love you, Roy. I fucking love you.” You were close to drunken and embarrassed tears. “And-and I know we’re just friends, and you date models and shit, but I fucking love you.” Your eyes focused on the picture board above your dresser, where there was a rather sweet picture of you and Roy on the pitch at Nelson Road. “I love you.”

“Fuck, I-” Roy cleared his throat. “I gotta fucking go.”

He hung up. He hung up. Roy fucking hung up on you.

“Shit, shit, shit,” you hissed, the tiny part of your brain that was sober realizing what you’d just done. You tried to call Roy back, but he sent you to voicemail.

With a groan, you laid back on the bed, more miserable than you’d ever been in your entire life. You’d done it- you’d ruined your friendship with Roy Kent. Your favorite person in the world. He’d never talk to you again. He’d never look at you again. He’d probably have you banned from Nelson Road. He’d probably laugh with some gorgeous model in bed about how you actually thought you had a chance with Roy Kent. He’d probably-

Ding dong!

Okay, apparently he’d come back to your house to tell you to your face that he never wanted to see you again.

Stumbling more from panic than drunkenness, you made your way through the house as quickly as you could, banging your shoulder into a wall hard enough that you’d probably have a bruise the next morning. You finally managed to yank the door open to reveal Roy on your porch, his face crumbled as he took in your panicked expression.

“You love me?” he rasped, hands balled into fists by his side.

There was no point in lying to Roy Kent ever again. “Yes,” you admitted in your smallest voice. “I’m sorry, I know we’re just friends-”

His hands were cupping your face as he tugged you onto the porch. “Friends?” he repeated incredulously, a laugh escaping his lips. “We were never just friends, you drunk muppet.”

He brought your mouth to his, pressing the smallest, most tentative kiss to your lips; spurred by the realization that you finally had Roy Kent kissing you, you leaned into him, wrapping your arms around his waist to pull him closer. His beard tickled your face the way you’d always known it would, and when his tongue skimmed your bottom lip, you thought your heart was going to stop.

Roy pulled back with a smile, hands still grasping your face. He nodded behind him, gesturing to the still-waiting taxicab. “Should I go ahead and let him go?” His raised eyebrows begged you to say yes.

Emboldened by Roy’s kiss, you nodded, taking a step backwards and tugging him towards your open front door. “Think you better. You might be here awhile.”

Waving off the cab driver, Roy reattached his lips to yours, humming with delight as you pulled him inside.

[silverhallow]

Karting catastrophe

Inspired by @bridgertonbabe’s Bridgerton Spouse Support Chat

Summary: none of the Bridgerton’s had the bridgerton brain cell™️ when they decide to go go-karting… and of course it ends as all games nights do… in catastrophe

It had seemed like a good idea at the time, they hadn’t had a chance to be competitive with one another for months since their spouses flat out refused to have more than one games night a year after Phillip had nearly had a heart attack during a Heated monopoly games night…

But as they were waiting to be loaded into the ambulance and took the hospital, they had to admit… maybe this time it had gone too far…

Anthony had arranged to hire the go-karting facility after Greg had suggested they turn the go-karting into something more… competitive and since Mario-Kart was one of the earliest games they’d ever played together as a family of 8 it seemed the most logical.

Each of them came with their own “weapon” and they’d brought frisbees and balls from the kids' play pens. Eloise had rocked up with a shopping bag full of banana peels and weirdly Hyacinth had rocked up with baby oil.

Anthony and Benedict brought their sons Nerf guns, Colin, Daphne and Francesca had water guns, Hyacinth and Gregory each had a BB gun and Eloise had brought a paint gun…

It had started out fun but after Eloise got Hyacinth in the helmet with the paint gun that things started getting out of hand.

Hyacinth had been furious that it had caused her to crash into the barrier and ended up at the back of the field.

She’d started pouring the oil onto the track and firing her BB gun at anyone and everything thing

Benedict and Colin were out in front with Anthony and Francesca close behind them. Eloise was towards the back of the field and saw as Gregory fired blindly behind him and saw the BB pellet his Hyacinth in the face through her open Visor and everyone turned their head to hear the yell of pain and swearing come from the youngest and that’s when the pile up happened.

Anthony had turned at the wrong time and he hit the back of Colin’s kart which hit Benedict causing the kart to flip and Anthony and his kart landed on his leg Daphne smashed into them as Francesca flew into Colin, her kart smashed into his leg as she smashed into her steering wheel, Gregory smashed into the pile up, Eloise having seen it but sliding on the oil couldn’t stop had at least slowed down and she had about stopped and so it was just her wrist that hurt and Hyacinth having stopped as she’d been hit in the face has scrambled out of her kart and gone over to the pile up but her vision was so blurry that when she aimed a kick at Gregory for hitting her,missed completely and hit her toe off the kart and she heard the crack and let out of yell of pain which couldn’t be heard over the yells from the rest of the Bridgerton’s who were all in states of injury.

The owner saw it all happen and grateful he had charged a full days rental and a disclosure that should they damage anything they’d pair for the full lot of the damage and with a roll of his eye called for ambulances.

And it was where they all were now as a technician asked “who should we call to come meet you at the Hospital? Your mother?”

“NO!” They all yelled despite their various states of pain and agitation.

“Then who?” He asked with a sigh

“We can’t call Kate she’ll just be pissed we didn’t invite her and refuse to come” Anthony muttered from his spot on the board as the paramedics put the neck support around him as he’d gotten serve whiplash in the crash

“Michael won’t come, he thinks I’m out with Eloise today…” Francesca hissed as the paramedic examined her ribs

“And Phil won’t come for the same reason”

“Simon won’t come cause he thinks we’re all idiots and hates it when we do shit like this” Daphne whined

“luce thinks I’m with mum so…”

Benedict grunted something barely intelligible “what did he say??” Hyacinth called out

Eloise rolled her eyes “he said to call Sophie… Penelope can’t come as she’s too far along and out of everyone then two are the least likely to murder us all”

Colin had to agree as he knew Penelope at 8 months pregnant wouldn’t be able to drive over and Sophie was the calmest in temperament out of everyone.

Since Benedict was in too much pain Eloise gave the paramedics Sophie’s number, was put in her ambulance and with the rest of the Bridgerton’s was whisked off to hospital.

Sophie Bridgerton was sitting feeding her 9 month old daughter when her phone rang, it was a number she did not recognise but as Benedict had said he was going to an art exhibition and often forgot to charge his mobile before he went, she naively assumed it was him calling from a borrowed phone to tell her a) that his phone had died b) what time he was coming home and c) to check in on Vi and the boys.

So imagine her surprise as she answered her phone with a tentative “hello” to hear a male voice she did not recognise

“Mrs Bridgerton?”

“Yes? Who is this please?” She asked politely

“My name is Andrew and I am a paramedic with London Ambulance Service” the voice replied

“Paramedic??” Sophie practically screeched down the phone, panic and worry over taking her entire body

“Yes ma’am there is nothing to worry about we’ve got your husband and his siblings and we are taking them to the Royal London Hospital, we were told to call you to meet them there” he explained

“Wait… siblings?” Sophie asked

“Yes ma’am all 8 of them”

“What happened??”

“The details are a little hazy but there was some sort of pile up and accident at Best Go Karting in Canary Wharf” he replied and Sophie’s panic and worry turned instantly into a fury.

Go karting?! On a Wednesday afternoon, when he said he was going to an art exhibition whilst she was at home with all four kids?!?

“Right… well I’ll have to gather the kids and I’ll be along shortly” Sophie said keeping her voice as calm as she could, knowing she was likely to explode but she was prepared to give him a chance to explain. To see the level of his injury as it could just be a strain or something…

the paramedic gave her some instructions and she confirmed them back and as she hung up the phone she sighed heavily.

She was furious. Not only had Benedict lied to her, the bridgerton siblings no doubt had lied to the others because of any of the other spouses knew about this they would have given the others a heads up and the last chat in the spousal support group was them giving Phillip some advice on dealing with a pregnant Eloise.

“Charlie?!” She called up the stairs, it was half term so the boys were upstairs playing

“Yes Mama?” Came the voice of her 6 year old son

“Can you get your shoes and coat on and help your brothers please, we have to get your dad and see your aunt and uncles at the hospital” she said appearing at the bottom of the stairs and looking up

“Has daddy hurt himself again?” He asked curiously

“I think so” she replied

“Is he in trouble?”

“Oh you have no idea… hurry up please, if Alex tries to fight tell him if he behaves mama will get him a McDonald’s for tea”

“Mcdonalds??” came the squeak of 4 year old Alex, his dark curls appearing at the top of the stairs as he peered at his Mama with bright happy eyes.

“If you behave and do everything Charlie and Mama say” Sophie replied.

Alex beamed, nodded his head eagerly and ran off to listen to his older brother and within 20 minutes Sophie had all four kids in the car without so much of a complaint.

It took Sophie 30 minutes to make her way through the traffic and a further 10 minutes to get parked and the three boys waited patiently as she got Baby Violet into her pushchair and headed into the hospital in search of her ridiculous family.

It was Eloise that Sophie spotted first as she made her way into the hospital and she looked sternly as her sister-in-law, but mostly because Eloise was 6 months pregnant and should have known better.

She turned to Charlie and handed him a £5 note, “take your brothers to the shop and get some sweets whilst Mama talks to Aunt El and sees Papa okay?” she said.

Charlie beamed, took two year old William’s hand and Alex followed. Sophie knew the best way to get her kids to behave was through food and bribes and as they walked away she just looked at Eloise and with a glare said “spill”

Eloise grimaced and with a heavy sigh, explained everything that had happened right down to their discussion about calling her. “I’m waiting for them to come look at my wrist, I can’t have an X-Ray so they’re working out how to figure out if it’s broken or not…” she said

“The baby?” Sophie asked knowing when she told Phillip it would be one i oh f the first things he’d ask.

“They’re fine, it was the first thing they did when I got here. I’m the least injured, it would have been Hyacinth if she hadn’t tried to attack Greg” Eloise explained but before Sophie could do anything more than sigh, Eloise was called into the room to see her doctor and another doctor walked over to Sophie to explain what had happened and the extent of the injuries to the Bridgertons.

Sophie listened and felt her blood boiling as she listened; Anthony had whiplash so was in a neck brace, Daphne had a fractured Arm, Gregory a broken one as well as a bruised coccyx, they suspected Eloise just had a sprained wrist, Francesca had fractured a couple of ribs, Hyacinth had sustained an eye injury which would leave her with a black eye and she was wearing a patch and she’d also broken her toe kicking the go-kart and Benedict and Colin had fared the worst each breaking a leg.

Sophie felt her legs nearly go at the news. Her husband. Her idiot husband had broken his leg…

Was it not bad enough that she had four kids to deal with, now she had her injured husband, and her idiot brother-in-law was about to be a father in a month’s time had broken his as well…

“I can take you in to see your husband if you wish” the doctor said as Sophie digested all the information

“I will in a five minutes i just have a phone call to make” Sophie said

The doctor nodded “he’s in room two when you’re ready” the doctor said and walked off and headed into Francesca’s room.

Sophie had had enough, she knew exactly who needed to be called, the only person who could them see sense, to realise that they’re far too old to be doing shit like this and that they had to be more bloody responsible.

Mario Kart go karting… honestly…

With a sigh Sophie whipped her phone out and dialled the number that belonged to her mother-in-law.

“Sophie dear, this is a pleasant surprise, hello dear”

“Hello Violet, sorry but this isn’t a pleasant surprise… i’m at the hospital” Sophie said

“Oh no, is everything alright? Are the boys and Vi okay?” Violet asked sounding panicked

“Oh my kids are okay… i’m calling about yours” Sophie said

“Oh no is Ben okay?” Violet asked, assuming it was just the one she was calling about

“No he is not. He’s broke his leg… and the rest of his idiotic siblings are here also…” Sophie said and as Violet made a noise of confusion “they lied to everyone and went off to go karting and not just go karting, mario-karting…”

“Please tell me you’re making this up” Violet said

“I wish i was Violet” Sophie said as she then rattled off their injuries and everything Eloise had told her

“I am going to murder them. What do they think they’re playing at??” Violet said “I will be right down. They need their heads banging together, i am sick of this”

“Thank you Violet, I suspect some of them may require a lift home as when everyone else finds out… i can’t imagine they’ll come for them and Penelope can’t even drive at the moment so…”

“I’ll bring the minivan…” Violet said

Sophie thanked her mother-in-law and decided she’d go see her husband before she told the rest of the spouses.

The boys were still down the shop so she pushed the pushchair with a sleeping Violet into room two where Benedict was sitting in a leg brace, looking sheepish as he spotted his wife.

“I can explain…” he said sheepishly

“Can you? Can you explain why you lied to me, why your siblings all lied to their respective partners and you all went off to do something childish and not to mention Dangerous?”

“Soph… please… I am sorry I lied but firstly it wasn’t my idea and I was crashed into… and secondly, if i had told you, you would have told the other and we were just having a fun day out, we used to do it like once a month and we’ve never been injured before…”

“You do this once a month??” Sophie asked incredulously.

“Used to… we’ve not been since Violet was born and it had never been go karting…” Benedict said but seeing the look on his wife’s face he knew better than to say anything more “Look I am really sorry and I know i’m in trouble but can I take Vi and have cuddles to cheer me up please?” as he held his arms out expectantly figuring Sophie would feel a little sorry for him with his injury since it wasn’t actually his fault

“No” Sophie said and Benedict’s mouth fell open as he stared at his wife “you are not getting Violet cuddles until your leg is out of that bloody cast. We are a week into the summer holidays and you’ve rendered yourself useless for the remainder of the school holidays meaning not only do I have to look after FOUR children on my own now, but I am going to have to look after you because you’re so feckless and reckless and didn’t think for one second that this was the stupidest idea you lot could have ever come up with!” sophie replied, not even raising her voice and the moment she finished Benedict burst into tears.

Sophie knew withholding his daughter from him was the worst punishment but she was sick of them all, she was fed up of them being so reckless and competitive and he had to be taught a lesson.

“Please soph… don’t… don’t do this” Benedict sobbed

“Too late… oh and your mother is on her way… she wants a word with you all” Sophie said as she turned Violet around in her pushchair “they’ll take you down for a cast shortly then we’re going home and you’re in the spare room. I’ll be outside, letting the others know about you bloody idiots” she said as she left the room leaving her husband crying and a little panicked knowing his mother was on her way and that they were all in trouble.

Sophie sat down watching as one by one the siblings were taken into one room as per her request (curtsey of Violet) and she saw the look on their faces when they spoke to Benedict and learned their mother was en route and that was why they were being gathered in one room.

Sophie knew it was extreme but as she texted the Spousal group chat, and watched Violet, the family matriarch walk into the ward, a face like thunder, her shoulder set as she threw the door open and looked at children in various states as she yelled “WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU ALL THINKING? LYING TO YOUR PARTNERS? I TAUGHT YOU BETTER THAN THAT”

Francesca tried to speak up “mum we didn’t…”

“DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT LYING TO ME FRANCESCA BRIDGERTON” as she slammed the door shut and it muffled the sounds but Sophie smirked to herself as she watched each of the Bridgerton’s in turn jumping as they were yelled at.

Charlie, Alex and William all appeared a few minutes into Violet’s tirade and Alex blinked “Grandma is angry”

“I think Papa and everyone are in big trouble” Charlie said as Alex’s face lit up with a cheeky grin.

“What did Papa do?” he asked

“He lied to Mama, and broke his leg, so Papa is not allowed cuddles from anyone until his leg is better do you understand?” she said to her boys.

“Papa naughty?” two year old William asked “no snuggles?”

“Yes Papa has been naughty, we don’t tell lies do we?” Sophie asked

All three boys shook their heads “no or our noses get big!” Charlie said

“Exactly, or you hurt yourself like your Uncle’s and Aunties have” Sophie said.

Sophie just sat and watched smugly as Violet continued to yell and berate her children for nearly an hour. Phillip turned up half way through and Eloise spotted him through the window and mouthed “Rescue me”

Phillip just shook her head and took a seat next to Sophie “how long has Violet been yelling?”

“Half hour so far…” Sophie grinned

“Hopefully this will teach them a lesson”

“Between that, no Snu Snu and the film I've got of the first twenty minutes of her tirade should hopefully be enough” Sophie grinned.

“You’ve gotta send that to the chat” Phillip said and Sophie agreed, sending the video to the rest of the Spouses and they just hoped, beyond hope, that it would be the last time that they’d be visiting the hospital for a game night related injury.

[daryldixonfanfiction]

What you fight for! pt.9 - RUN!

Masterlist

summary: Escaping the city seems all too good to be true until they stumble upon a horde of walkers.

Warnings: protective!Daryl, sniper!Daryl, walkers and a lot of them, unaliving, close call, fluff, mutual pining, age gap, unrequited love, angst, child's death, suicide.

wc:3.6k

Making it safely past the guards without getting notice they continue onwards. Walking down the residential area Daryl keeps a watchful eye, never letting down his guard. Maybe it was ingrained in him, he was never the one to relax. And Henry never shutting his mouth like they weren’t still in danger only made him feel annoyed and he was agitated about keeping Julia safe, he always was.

“Why can’t we use flashlights?” Sam askes and Henry answers, “Daryl doesn't want us to draw attention.” “But no one is here.” “No, no one is here. No one’s gonna be here because my plan worked.”

“So much goddamn talkin’,” Daryl sighs, annoyed as always. Julia stifles a laugh.

“I’m just saying…I delivered,” Henry insists. “Make this right, go down the street, embankment behind the last house…and we’re free as a bird.”

They turn the corner. The sight of a fence holding a huge herd of walkers behind the houses caught his eye and Daryl hushed them into silence. The herd was big enough to take down the fence and if the dead took a whiff off there sent it would be game over. Daryl hurried them onwards and just when he looked back to Julia a gunshot almost hit her.

“Move, move!” Daryl ushers them behind a car. 

“The fuck is that comin’ from?” Henry whispered, holding his little brother close.

“Shut up,” Daryl hushed him. Pearing behind the car bumper he sees a muffle flash from a distance. It was coming from a second story window across the road. In fear and panic Henry takes Sam's hand and runs,

“What are you doing?!” Daryl questions.

“Getting the fuck out of here!” Henry said. A bullet barely misses them, making Henry return just as fast and he asks, fear lased in his voice,

“What do we do?” 

Daryl peers behind the car again, the sniper shoots another shot, clearly wanting to kill them. He leans his back against the car and sighs,

“All right. Stay here?”

“What?” Julia says panicked. Her hand fisting the fabric on his arm. Clearly scared for him to leave. And he new the only way this would work was for her to be on board,

“If you don’t move, he’s not gonna hit you. I’m gonna go around, try to get in the house through the back and I’ll take him out.”

“But if you go out there, he's gonna kill you.”

“It’s dark, and he has shit ame.” Daryl shakes his head. “Nobody's gonna kill me.”

“Then he's gonna kill us.” Julia insists.

Daryl stared down at her. Her brown eyes were practically begging him, his stomach did a flip. Her looking at him like that was similar to how she had looked at him underneath him. And it was hard to deny her. But this was how they made it out alive. And Daryl questions,

“Do you trust me?”

There was no beat of a moment, no hesitation - and she said,

“With my life.”

Daryl was struck by her answer to his very soul. How could she trust him so completely? And he could only feel more undeserving of her trust, but it was good enough. 

He nods and crawls to the front of the car, then runs to another car across the street, as the sniper takes shots at him but misses each time. He keeps running and makes it behind a fence, brushing away tree branches as he ushers true woodland. Coming up to the house he runs around it, then pauses when he sees the bridge in the distance Henry told him about. 

They were so close to getting out he could almost taste it. 

He then moves quietly inside the house by the back door. Floorboards creak under his feet with every step he takes. Holding his crossbow ready and aimed forward, he sports the staircase leading up to the upper level and begins climbing it with his back to the wall. He can hear the shots coming from above and stops, eyeing the upper level. Daryl creeps up to a room, the door is ajar. Light shines true onto his face as he shuffles closer. Narrowing his eyes he approaches. An old man with wavy gray hair holds a rifle. The man turns to him from where he sits on a chair by the window and looks at him. Daryl orders with his crossbow pointed at him,

“Put the gun down, slide it over to me, and then stay up here for another hour.”

The old man looked away and Daryl felt the pit of his stomach sink, because he knew what he had to do if the man didn't comply. “That’s all you have to do.” 

The old man tilts his head back in his direction, “Please don’t do it. Please." Daryl tried.

But the old man grabs his gun and moves to point it at him - and in that same second Daryl automatically fiers a bolt, sending the man limp to the floor. For a moment he wonderd if the man did so in knowing how it would end as he never seemed scared - but it was done and there was no taking it back.  

Daryl didn't like killing and he had taken pity on him as he was clearly very old, probably half blind by his bad aime. Retrieving the bolt he then puts his crossbow on his back to pick up the man's rifle off the floor. But just when he walks to the window the static coming from a walkie-talkie breaks the silence. 

Then. 

“ANTONY? ANTHONY? ANTHONY HOLD THEM WHERE THEY ARE. WE’RE ALMOST THERE.” A woman's voice specs over the static,

Fuck.

The fucking killing party that had ambushed them from before had found them. Daryl looked to the window and to his horror approaching headlights down the street were coming in fast, right towards where Julia and the others were hiding. Daryl yells as loud he can from the open window,

“RUN!! RUN!! RUUUUN!!!

Daryl looks true the scoop and he sees Julia and the others looking back to the incoming vehicles before they make a run for it. A large truck with a huge plow spray painted RUN on the front drives straight into cars, clearing the road like a bulldozer. He could feel himself begin to shake, the heart pounding feeling of fear breaks a cold sweat on his back, making his fingers slippery. But he couldn't let the fear consume him, he had to focus. All he let himself think of ways of protecting her.

Daryl uses the rifle to shoot at the truck and the approaching cars, acting as their sniper. Julia, Henry and Sam run for their lives, but on their feet they were no match for the fast approaching vehicles. Julia uses her gun to shoot behind her until she runs out of bullets. Just when the truck was right behind her Daryl takes one deep breath as he aims and hits the driver of the truck just as Julia trips over herself. It wears off the road and crashes into the tall fence. Hundreds of walkers could be heard from the fence pushing up against it.

Many more vehicles pull up and park as Julia is left on the ground, staring at the scene behind her, she gets up and escapes just before the crashed truck catches on fire and explodes behind her. Julia falls to the ground again and Daryl finds it hard to see her clearly. The dense smoke covers the area and burning rubell liters ground casting an orange hue over the street. Then he sees Henry run up to Julia and usher her away behind a car where they hide as armed people pore out of the cars. Four men begin to advance the house at the leader's orders as others stand guard towards the fence where walkers could be heard groening and pushing at the fence.

Daryl is quick to lean his back against the wall and reloads the rifle - then the women's voice he recognises from the walkie-talkie begins, Daryl listens from the window,

“Dead end guys. Gonna step on out? Save us some time?” Onely silence followed, the leader continued. “No? That’s all right. Doesn't matter.”

“I’ll come out!” Henry suddenly spoke up. “Just let my brother and the girl go!”

“No,” the leader answered monotonically. “Sorry. The girl is with the man who killed Bryan. And your brother…Well, he's with you.”

“You don’t understand!” Henry pleads.

“But I do,” the female leader insists. “I know why you did what you did. But that doesn't make it right. My people want justice, and that’s what’s gonna happen.”

“Hes just a fucking kid!” Henry pleads again, clearly scared for his brother.

“Well, kids die. They die all the time. You think the whole world revolves around him? That he's worth…everything? Well, this is what happens when you fuck with us. You all are going to have to pay the price.”

Then, Daryl ses Henry stand with his hands up, Julia and Sam still hiding behind the car. He steps forward and stares at the leader and that’s when Daryl knew for sure that he was one of the good people. He wasn't only protecting his brother, he was protecting her too.

The woman shrugs and tilt’s her head, “It ends the way it ends,” she said, holding Henry at gunpoint.

Daryl held his breath knowing for what was coming - but it never happened. 

Horrifying screams from the men by the fence could be heard true the dense smoke. Everyone's attention turns to the sound of the dead and to their horror, a herd of hundreds of walkers were hedging straight for them. 

Chaos erupts as everyone begins to fire towards the horde but the dead are too many, overpowering them. Henry runs back to Sam and Julia as the infected attack the people. A walker sneaks behind the car and Daryl shoots it from his lookout. He sees them make a run for it and shoots down the infected after them. A walker gets a hold of Julia, he shoots it down instantly. She begins to army crawl towards a vehicle, Daryl tracks her movements and continues shooting walkers that get in her way. Julia then stands and runs towards the car, its back window is broken open and she sliders true to the tiny opening inside. Daryl shoots a walker clawing at the window and he sees her thinking in there and all he wanted was for her to get out of there and get her to safety. He would never forgive himself if anything happened to her. 

Julia may be immune but she wasn't immune to being eaten alive.

Another Walker claws at the window, and to its horror it begins to open the dore, something he had never seen or knew a walker could do.

He begins to frantically shoot to warn Julia of the incoming threat, and never before had he felt so powerless. When the walker got inside the car it felt like the longest seconds of his life. There was nothing he could do then believe she could get out of this situation herself. It almost felt like he couldn't breathe, the fear of losing her felt overbearingly overwhelming. But then he could see her head moving about in the car and she had crawled her way to the front, making her way out and trapped the walker inside the car. Julia sits on the ground, Daryl sees her scanning the chaos before her, spotting Henry and Sam hiding under a car as two walkers try to get to them. Then she looks up at him as if knowing he would have her back in what she was about to do. Julia sprints towards them and doges, infected as Daryl shots them down. A car ramming true walkers almost hits her but she keeps going towards where Henry and Sam are kicking at the walkers clawing at them. Julia reaches them and takes down a walker, driving her knife into its head then moves to the other, Daryl shoots it down before she could take it out. Julia helps Henry and Sam up and they run towards the house he's in. 

Daryl takes it as his time to exit the house. Running towards the way he knew Henry would lead them towards the bridge. 

“STOP!” the female leader shouts, holding the tree of them at gunpoint up ahead.

Daryl runs even faster - than out of the darkness a walker sneaks behind the woman and before she could shoot it bites into her neck. She is being devoured on the ground when he finally makes it to them.

Seeing Daryl right there before her, Julia felt relief flooding in. She wanted to cry, leep into the safety of his big arms and stay there forever - but there was no place for such a thing. A silent thank you echoes in her mind as he takes a firm hold of her hand, clearly not wanting to be separated again, and neither does she. A silent reinsurance of ‘I got you’ - and Julia returns it just the same.

“This way now!” Daryl orders urgently, “Move!”

And they run away from the chaotic scene between the people and the horde of walkers.

Making it safely over the bridge they take shelter in the unbounded military radio station outside the city. And to their disappointment there were no survivors from the fireflies there, but at least some food. They agreed on heading west to Wyoming together in the morning.

Daryl and Henry keps watch in the main room as Julia lets Sam look at her drawings in her diary, a distraction from the horror the kid had just been true. The soft glow of the lantern and Julia's motherly voice coming from the twin bedroom offers a calmness only she could provide. 

He found her selfless in that way. Being able to put behind one selves needs for someone else. Like she did for Sam. Then as it was late Henry insisted for his little brother to go to bed and he did as he was told. But it didn't take long before the kid came out of the bedroom asking for Julia to tuck him in instead of his brother. The kid clearly took a liking to her and Daryl knew it had to do with what Henry had told him.

Julia followed the kid inside and she could be heard speaking were softly, and very much so the only thing he heard was her saying,

“Go to sleep now. I will be right here when you wake up.”

“Promis?” Same asked and Julia answered reassuringly, “I promise.”

“Julia?”

Julia hummed in acknowledgment and Sam said with his little voice, “Can you sing me goodnight? Mommy always did.”

“ofcourse, what songs did she sing?”

“I don’t remember.”

“That’s okay."

Soothing melodies of her lullaby fill the room. It felt so calming all the men could do was to stop and listen. Her voice sounded almost religious. Angelike. She was the universe singing to it’s own song. It sounds like life falling in love with being alive. A reminder that life could still be beautiful in an ugly world. And he realized that it was moments like these that gave a reason to keep fighting. And he wowed he would do whatever it takes to keep it so.

Daryl moved to the bedroom, admiring from the dore and washes her soothingly smooth back the kids hair. Daryl sees how Sam melts into her touch and how his eyes begin to become heavy, fluttering close into the world of dreams. And when he falls asleep Daryl steps inside. 

“You should get some sleep,” Daryl said softly 

Julia hums and moves a piece of hair from Sam’s face. His eyes studies her, and he asked,

“You okay?"

Julias hand on Sam's face stills for a second - but then, 

"He's scared.”

Daryl steps closer, standing behind her where she's sitting on the shear by the bead. He studies her side profile and her soft features in the dim glow. Then followed where her hand moved, her thumb making soothing circles on Sam's hand. 

“You think he will be okay?” He asked.

“I hope so,” she answered softly and he could see the exhaustion under her eyes. “I promised him I would be here when he wakes up.”

Daryl hums in understanding, knowing she wouldn't leave the kids' side, he moves and grabs a blanket off the other bed and without a word he drops it over her shoulders, a silent act of kindness. He's met with her sweet smile and her kind eyes. A wordless thank you that made his heart pound and his stomach swirl with butterflies. He wanted so badly to confess to his feelings, but instead he stepped closer, tilting her chin up like he had done before and asked one more time,

“You sure you’re alright?”

Julia nods, looking true her eyelashes straight into his blue ones. It was dangerous. He shouldn't be this close, feel this comfortable with someone he could never have. The way she looks up at him with those brown eyes, reminds him of how she had looked knelt between his knees all those knights ago. Fuck. Why couldn't he control his mind? He had to stop before it was too late... And he did so, reluctantly removing his hand from her chin. And he didn't miss how she closed her eyes as if she didn't  want him to let go. But he knew it to be his imagination playing tricks on him, making him see things that weren't there.

Softly Daryl closed the bedroom door, going back to keeping wash with Henry in the main room and kept watch as long as his body would let him, because just like Julia he was completely exhausted.

Daryl flinches awake as Julia and Sam spill out of the beedrome. He was disoriented by the sudan comotion and Julia’s terrified screams for help, but then he jumped into action realizing Sam must have turned into a walker.

Julia and Sam struggle on the floor, she is being pinned down, Daryl doesn't hesitate to lunch for the gun on the floor, but Henry snages it before he can reach it,

“Nope, nope, nope.” Henry warns, keeping the gun pointed at him.

“Daryl!” Julia screams on the floor.

Daryl was panicking inside. Eny second and the kid would rip her into pieces.

Daryl reaches for his weapon but Henry fiers at his feet, stopping him. Julia screams for him over and over and he didn't care anymore, her life was far more important than his. Then, Henry spins around and shoots his brother and Sam’s body falls off Julia and lays limp on the floor, blood starts to seep out from the body. Henry Stads frozen and Julia sits up disheveled.

“Julia. Are you okay?" Daryl asks, breathing heavy.

Slowly Julia turns and looks at him, clearly shaken by what had happened. He steps forward but Henry points the gun at him. Daryl puts his hands up, and moves very carefully towards Henry who was in both shock and disbelief after having to shoot his own brother. Daryl begins calmy, 

“Easy, easy, easy,” Henry’s hold on the gun becomes unsteady, Daryl tries to calm him before he does something stupid. “Henry, gimme the gun. Henry, gimme the gun.”

“What did I do?” Henry said in disbelief.

“Shh,” Daryl calms.”

“What did I do? What-what-,” he stutters. “-what did I do?” He looks at his brother with tears in his eyes, becoming pale, looking like he wanted to throw up. “Sam…” his voice broke, but there was no answer.

“Henry, gimme the gun. Gimme the gun.” Daryl motions for the weapon.

And for a second it seemed like Henry came to his senses - but he saw the shift behind his eyes and his stomach sank. Henry points the gun to his own head and to his horror pulls the trigger.

“Henry, no!” Daryl shouts, but it was too late.

Henry's lifeless body collapses to the floor. Julia stares with watery eyes, completely distraught of seeing two people dying right before her eyes.

He had never seen her so broken.

He didn't know what to do, or what the right thing to say was. Neither did he understand how it all had gone so wrong, so terribly wrong when it had just seemed to look up finding Henry and Sam. Julia was like a doll, unmoving and emotions less. She looked so small, so fragile on the floor - just blankly staring into nothing.

Daryl kneels before her, trying to get her attention and even though her eyes were looking into his, she was somewhere else. As if she had removed herself from the present  in order to cope.

-

He knew Sam meant alot to her so he buried them outside in the yard with two merkershift crosses on each grave. Just when he finished evening out the dirt on top with a shovel, Julia for the first time sins Henry opted out hours ago moved on her own, walking up to him with both of their stuff.

With a somber expression Julia leaves her bracelets on Sam's grave, and he washes her in silence as she does so. The midday sky was clear, the sun shining down on them and he didn't exactly know how he was going to get her to Wyoming, six states away across the country, but he knew they would probably be walking. 

He puts down the shovel wis his pac now on, then looks at her there still sitting down by the grave,

“Julia.” Daryl said softly. “We should go.” And he reaches his hand out, Julia looks at him and he encourages. “Comon.” And she takes it.

Pt.10 masterlist

[noonaishere]

Online/Offline [C.S] - fifty-seven | five yeets deep

The whole group had Keeho’s stream up on their screens. It was his room, empty, with his chair and microphone set up in front of the camera. You all began humming Pomp and Circumstance, as Keeho entered the room in the background. He opened the door, T-posed awkwardly in the doorway for a moment, walked into the room and closed the door behind him. He stood, purposefully awkwardly for another moment, before walking over to his desk and sitting in the chair and putting his headphones on.

You all cheered.

“Woo!”

“Yeah!”

“It’s our boy!”

“Our boy is back!”

Keeho pretended to shush you in a solemn way.

“Yoon Keeho,” you said, effecting a reporter’s voice, “how do you feel about JUPiTER’s combined seven music show wins from this comeback?”

Keeho pulled one of the Music Bank awards towards him from where it was hidden from the camera and pretended to get choked up.

“He has one!” Yeji shouted and started laughing.

“MuBank!” San yelled.

“Ooooh,” Mick and Bracken said together.

“Show off,” Ryujin laughed.

“If you win, you might as well flaunt,” Keeho said as he dabbed at the no tears he had on his face with an imaginary handkerchief.

You laughed.

“But yeah, it’s actually really cool we won so many. The producers worked really hard in making us some amazing songs, the choreographers and dancers worked really hard making choreos that made us look good, the staff worked really hard with our costumes and hair and makeup and getting us where we needed to be and making sure were taking care of ourselves in the flurry of it all, and we took all that and worked really hard to bring the fans something they would love. And then our fans worked so hard voting and streaming and coming out at 1am to see the recordings and cheer for us… We’re all really proud of all of us and how we did, I think our wins were well deserved and extremely appreciated.”

“Do you get to keep the award Keeho?” Yeji asked.

“No, I have to give it back to my manager tomorrow so they can put it in the case at the company.” He put it back out of the camera’s view.

“They put all the awards in one case?” 

“Yeah, each artist or group has a case and they put any awards you win in it. Our dance team has a huge case actually, since they win so many contests.”

“That’s really cool.”

“Oh yeah, they totally deserve it. They’re called To The Beat and you should check out their youtube channel.” He winked and fingergunned at the camera.

“We’re all super proud of you, big guy.” You said.

“As my oldest and bestest friend, that means a lot, Cat.”

“It better.” 

He laughed. “Now, can you introduce me to the new guy?”

“Oh!” You said. “Keeho, this is Morn. MorningStar. I asked him to stream while you were away during your comeback.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” San said.

“Mhm, mhm.” Keeho nodded. “And what is this, you talk to boys now?”

“I’m talking to you, dumbass.” You said.

“I’m telling your parents that you’re meeting boys.”

“Tell them I met you, stupid.”

“Should I leave the stream?” San asked.

“Don’t pay attention to him, Morn, he’s an idiot.”

Keeho jokingly slammed his hands on his desk. “I don’t care how polite he is, he’s a boy!”

“I’m going to call your mom.”

Keeho’s eyes went wide and the other group members laughed.

“Anyway, so what games do we have lined up?”

“Yeet!”

“Yeet!”

“Yeet!”

“Yeet!”

“Yeet!”

“That’s it. The stream is out of control,” Ryujin said. “We are five minutes into this game and are already five Yeets deep.”

You laughed and hit the button to flip the table again. “Yeet!”

“Stop flipping the table! We’re not getting anywhere!” She yelled.

“I can’t believe you guys planned virtual board games for my return stream.” Keeho said.

“I can’t believe you’d think we’d plan anything else.” Mick retorted.

“Touché.”

“Touchy,” Bracken said, flipping the table.

Ryujin’s icon lit up as you heard her sigh loudly.

“Maybe we should take it easy on our lovely hostess, everyone.” San suggested.

“Maybe…” Keeho trailed off as the table reset and then flipped again. You knew he was the one who did it.

You all laughed again.

“Yeji, what are you doing?” Mick asked. “You’ve been quiet for a while.”

“Playing Lost Ark on another screen.” Bracken gasped. “During our game of Cluedo?”

“Clue.” Keeho corrected.

“Stephen, I will not have--”

“Not again.” You said.

“Are we really playing the game, Bracken? Or have you all been flipping the table since we started and we haven’t even handed all the clue cards out yet?” Ryujin asked.

“Cluedo,” Bracken corrected.

“I meant the cards have clues on them--”

“They are clues, Bracken,” Keeho said forcefully. “Not ‘cluedos’.��

You still had the streams of the members who used webcams - Keeho, Mick, and Bracken - up and you laughed as you watched Bracken widen his eyes and sighed incredulously.

“You can’t just just not call the game by its name, Keeho.”

“Umm, I am calling it by its name, Bracken? It’s called Clue.”

“Mate, it’s from the UK and it’s called Cluedo.”

“What about you, Mick? You’re from the US and moved to Australia, which do you call it?”

Dead air for a second and then Mick said, “...No entiendo.”

“Why is it even called ‘Cluedo’ anyway?” San asked. “My English isn’t great, but that’s not a word, right?”

“I’m looking it up,” you said. 

One of the reasons you were thankful to have Keeho in your life is that, as someone who lived in Canada when he was younger, he was invaluable when it came to high school English classes. Teachers thought you put a ton of time into studying when really, it was just that you had a friend who was fluent in English. And that wasn’t a fact that was known to many, since he didn’t want to be bothered by people who wanted to be his friend because they thought he could do their English homework for them, in addition to the people who were already bothering him because they wanted to be friends with an idol trainee. It was easy enough for you to open google and type ‘Why is it called Cluedo’ in english. You opened a link and scrolled for an answer as Keeho and Bracken continued to argue.

“Huh.” You said.

“What?” San asked.

 “I honestly didn’t expect an answer like this: apparently the word ‘Cluedo’ is a portmanteau of ‘clue’ and ‘ludo.’”

“What’s ‘ludo’?” Yeji asked.

“‘Ludo’ is the latin word for ‘play’, and the title ‘Cluedo’ is supposed to mean that you use the clues to play the game and solve the mystery.”

“Huh.” Mick said.

“Or you flip the table a million times and don’t even start.” Ryujin said.

“Or that,” you chuckled.

The table flipped.

“Cat, if that was you--!” Ryujin yelled.

You laughed. “It wasn’t! I was reading the thing! I would have said it if I did it!”

“Lowkey, kind of want to play Lost Ark with you, Yeji.” Ryujin said.

“Come play.” Yeji responded.

“Do you all mind if we leave to stream that?”

“I don’t mind.” You said.

Everyone else agreed.

“Before you go, Ryujin…”

“Yeah?”

“I wasn’t the one who flipped the table just then.”

“...I believe you.” She left.

“That’s because it was me,” Mick said and laughed evilly. Two seconds later, he laughed hysterically.

“What are you laughing at?” Bracken asked.

“Ryujin’s cursing me out in my chat.”

“Deserved.” San said.

“Yeah… most of the flips were me. I’m sorry Ryujin. I’ll host the game next time and you can flip the table on me.”

“I like how you avoided the name of the game that time,” Keeho said.

“Speaking of,” Bracken interjected, “I can’t play this game with a man who refuses to call it by its correct name.”

“Uh huh.” Keeho said. “If you look up the game it literally says ‘called Clue in North America’ on every single link. It’s almost like they did it themselves.”

“Do British people speak a lot of Latin that they’d know it’s ‘clue’ and ‘ludo’ together?” San asked innocently.

“Bracken?” You asked. “Thoughts?”

He didn’t say anything for a few moments.

“You’re part of the Commonwealth, did you immediately know those were the words it was made from when you first saw or heard the title?”

Silence.

“You there?”

Di-Dng!

“Did he just leave?!” You yelled.

Mick laughed. “He’s going ‘AHH!’ in the other room. I’ve never seen him this worked up about something before.”

“I win.” Keeho said.

“How did you win?” San asked.

“Did he really have a horse in the race for no reason?” You asked no one in particular.

San laughed.

“I’m going to get going, I think,” Mick said. “We actually have to take the dog to the vet tomorrow and that’s always a chore.”

“Shouldn’t have gotten a husky.”

Mick chuckled. “Yeah, I could do without the screaming. From both of them. But we’ll see you guys later.”

You all said bye and Mack left.

“So, what do we do now?” Keeho asked.

“Mmm…” You mused.

“...mmmmmMinecraft?” San asked.

“Yes!”

“I can’t believe you started playing Minecraft again,” Keeho said.

“Why?” 

“You were so bad at it,” he laughed.

“Hey!” You laughed. “I’ve gotten better.”

“I saw some of your streams, Cat: not by much.”

“Heyyy,” you pouted.

“She hasn’t done too bad,” San interjected. “She built a whole section of our house. Come look at it.”

San invited Keeho to the world the two of you shared and all of you hopped into it. Keeho spawned in a random spot and San sent him the coordinates, and suddenly Keeho was with the two of you in the house.

“Come see,” San’s avatar ran off and you and Keeho followed behind. Once you all made it outside, he ran over to the wing you built all on your own. “See?”

“Oh, wow, that’s actually pretty nice. Did you do it in Creation Mode or regular?”

“I did it in Regular.” You said proudly.

“Wow…” Keeho walked around the building for a bit.

“She worked really hard on it, you need to acknowledge that.” San said as Keeho looked around at the house.

Keeho walked back and looked at him for a second. “Yeah. You did a really good job, Cat.”

“Thank you.” You said.

San’s avatar turned to look at you and you wondered if it meant he was smiling at you. You smiled back reflexively, feeling a little silly as you did so since he couldn’t see it.

“We should find a group of bandits and fight them.” You said.

“Let’s go!” San said and ran off, You and Keeho following behind him.

   previous | main cast | masterlist | next

Send an ask or leave a comment if you want to be added to the tag list! 🧋

@rachs-words • @stayatinykatsy •

[sweeter-innocence-fics]

You Brought Your Worst and I’m Right Here - Chapter Four: Was it just a summer fling?

Pairing: Gale of Waterdeep x female Tav

Work Summary:

After an explosive falling out between Gale and his academic adviser, Mystra, Tav is left to pick up the pieces.

Modern/College AU.

Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Epilogue

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 1699

Read on AO3.

Masterlists.

Taglist: @mrs-kai-anderson @ang3l1te @missryerye

Taglist info

Previous Chapter

Notes: all the usual warnings, plus arguing/shouting and general mental health stuff

---

A year ago

The chessboard was set. It was a Saturday night in the winter of their third year, all of their friends were out celebrating the end of exams, and Tav and Gale were sitting across from each other, chessboard between them.

Tav hadn’t much liked chess before she met Gale. Even still, he usually won, because she didn’t have the patience to think through every move as carefully as she knew she should.

But she liked playing with Gale. His eyebrows drew together in concentration, and when the games were close, she catch a glimpse of his tongue poking out from between his teeth. It was precious.

She took a sip of her hot chocolate, eyes intent on his face. He didn’t notice. He was far too focused on the game.

They had a longstanding “loser pays for dinner” agreement, but Tav wasn’t worried. Gale never made her pay more than her fair share, even when he should. She knew he came from a pretty well-off family, so it was no skin off his back.

Decisively, he moved a bishop, taking one of her knights. She watched his fingers wrap around the elegantly carved little wooden horse and put it to the side. Her eyes followed the movement of his hands as he wove his fingers together, resting his elbows on the table.

He had strong, dextrous hands. Not for the first time, Tav wondered what it would feel like to interlace her fingers with his.

He cleared his throat, and her eyes darted to his, startled, like she’d been caught. There was an amused expression on his face.

“Your move,” he said, gesturing at the board.

“I know,” she said, voice coming out a little strained. “I’m just… contemplating my options.”

“Of course. By all means.” He sat back in his chair, that smug little smile on his face. If he were anyone else, she would probably want to punch him, but somehow Gale managed to make smug look charming.

She stared back at the board. Her stomach grumbled.

“Hungry?” he said. “We can order now, if you-”

“No, I’m fine.” She was starting to realise that perhaps chess was a bad idea. Her last exam of the semester had been yesterday, and her brain was very tired. Perhaps that explained why she was feeling more impatient than usual.

She took her move, fully aware that there were surely better moves that she hadn’t even considered. Sure enough, in two more turns, Gale was check-mating her. He didn’t even take a moment to bask in his victory like he usually did.

“Now can we order food? I’m famished,” he said. He was grinning at her in a way that made her empty stomach do a little flip.

“Fine. But after dinner, we’re playing Settlers of Catan.” Now that was a game that Tav had a better shot of winning.

“Fine by me.”

*

Now

Tav heard Gale’s voice before she saw him. Her heart leapt into her throat at the sound of the front door closing. He was home.

She strode over to her bedroom door, and then hesitated. Would he even want to see her, after she’d avoided coming to visit? Did she even want to see him?

Distantly, she heard Wyll saying something, and then a laugh. That was good. At least he didn’t sound miserable.

Her hand was resting on the doorknob. Her other hand went to her pocket, pulling out her phone. There were no new messages, but maybe she should check her emails? She scanned through her messaging apps, and the next thing she knew, she was scrolling through twitter.

She perched on her desk chair. She wasn’t fully sitting down; she would get up and go downstairs in a moment. Just as soon as she’d finished reading this thread.

When the knock came at her door, startling her, she realised that it was getting dark in her room. Her lips curled into a frown as she got to her feet and switched the light on. Before she could talk herself out of it, she opened the door.

Gale was standing in the hallway outside of her room. When their eyes met, he smiled at her uneasily. All of the things that Tav should’ve, could’ve, still could say rushed through her mind in a torrent that made it hard to catch hold of any one string of words.

“I love you” and “I’m sorry” and “you scared the ever-loving shit out of me” availed themselves of her, but all felt too crass or too honest. She had to protect her heart, because no one else would.

“Hey,” said Gale. “Tav. It’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too,” she said stiffly. “I’m glad you’re…” Alive. “… okay.”

“Yeah.” There was a pause. Tav was finding that her eyes were happy to settle anywhere but on his face. She fixed her gaze on a painting hanging on the wall behind him. “How are you?”

“Oh, you know. I’m okay. Been busy, you know?” She braced herself. “Sorry I couldn’t come and see you in the hospital. It was… all a bit hectic, with coursework, and stuff, you know?”

Gale swallowed. “Of course. It’s fine. You don’t need to apologise.”

They were both lying, and they both knew it.

“Are you coming down for dinner?” he asked. “Karlach and Lae’zel are both coming over to celebrate my release.”

“Of course. I’ll be down in a minute.”

For the first time, Gale smiled. “I’ll see you downstairs.”

*

It had been four days since Gale had come home, and Tav hadn’t been alone with him since the first evening when he’d come and knocked on her door. She would disappear up to her room as soon as she got home from classes, emerge at mealtimes (Wyll was pretty insistent that they all try to eat dinner together, where possible) and then go back to her room.

Every so often, she could feel Gale’s eyes on her during dinner, but she staunchly avoided his gaze.

And it wasn’t that she wasn’t trying. Sometimes, she would make a concerted effort to make conversation with him, but every word felt stilted and forced.

It didn’t help that she was sleep deprived. She slept fitfully, plagued by nightmares of Gale’s limp body and vomit-stained sheets. It was all she could see whenever she closed her eyes.

She was alone in the kitchen when he cornered her. Her heart plummeted as he walked into the room.

“Tav. Hey,” he said, looking nervous.

“Afternoon,” she said, opening the fridge, just so that she would have somewhere to look.

“Can we talk?”

It took every ounce of her self-control not to visibly blanche. “Sure.” She still wasn’t looking at him.

“Are we�� okay? It feels like things have been… weird between us.”

Tav watched as the fridge door gave a little shudder. She couldn’t make sense of what she was seeing, until her eyes traced a path to her trembling hand that was curled, vice-like around the handle of the fridge door. She laughed – wet, throaty – at the absurdity of it, blinking back tears.

“Are we okay?” she repeated, stifling another hysterical laugh. She released the door, letting it fall shut. “Of course we’re not okay, Gale. You tried to kill yourself.”

She turned to look at him, then. His eyes were wide, his mouth slightly open as if he was about to say something, but no words came.

“I thought I’d lost you.” Her shaking hands came up to her face to rub away at the tears that were streaming down her cheeks. “I found you, did you know that? I found your unconscious body and I was scared that you were already dead. I thought I was going to live the rest of my life with you on my conscience because I couldn’t save you.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” he said, so softly that she almost missed it.

“I know that,” she snapped back at him, taken aback by the harshness of her own voice. “And all I could wonder is why you never talked to me. Why you never told me what was going on with you. Why you wouldn’t let me help you. You spent months pushing me away and leaving me to worry what I’d done wrong. And now you wonder why I can barely look at you?” She was almost shouting now. Her voice felt wrong to her own ears. Still, Gale was just staring at her. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.

“It hurt, Gale,” she said, much quieter now. “You hurt me and scared me and I don’t know how to forgive you, and I feel guilty because I know how hard this must be for you, but that doesn’t make me any less angry.”

“Is everything okay?” Wyll’s voice from the doorway made her jump. He stepped into the kitchen, looking from Gale to Tav and back, concern in his eyes. Astarion followed behind him, although his eyes stayed fixed on Tav.

She swallowed. She looked at Gale. He looked devastated, staring back at her with his big brown puppy dog eyes.

“Tav,” he said, and that made her hackles rise again. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

His apologies hit her like a blow to the chest. He was the one who needed help right now. What was she doing shouting at him and making him feel worse about himself? The last thing he needed was for someone to push him back towards the edge.

A sob shuddered through her and she stepped backwards, her back hitting the fridge. Gale reached for her but she shook her head, and he drew back.

“I don’t want you to apologise,” she said. Her voice sounded high and weak. “I just want you to be okay.”

She couldn’t look at any of them as she walked past them. Her feet carried her back to her bedroom, where she drew the deadbolt across and shut the curtains. In the dark, she stripped off her bra and jeans, leaving her in just a t-shirt and underwear, and then crawled into bed.

Next Chapter

[southerndragontamer]

Egotober Day 29: Fright

Virgil was in his room as he rocked with his hands over his ears, his heart raced in his chest and the shadows in the room were darker as they pulled in towards him and he tried to breathe right. He hated panic attacks, hated hated hated-he mentally shook himself a second to try to remember what had happened. Why he was like this, why Thomas was so panicked.

It had been a normal day so far, he’d poked at Thomas to turn the stove off after he’d finished cooking, to turn the water off in the bathroom after he’d done his teeth and to double check his pockets for his phone and keys. You know the normal small anxiety stuff that they both knew had to happen to get him to function right.

Even the game night with Thomas’ friends had been fine, Virgil hadn’t even been that bad about checking the math more than once in his head at Logan’s insistence on it but it had actually been…fun to watch them all geek out over the board game. But…oh…the anxious side felt his breath hitch in his metaphysical chest.

After the game night, when Roman and Remus had vanished into Imagination to work on their respective creativity, Patton had went to the kitchen and Logan to decompress from social interaction in the library with Janus at his heels for the same reason, Thomas had gone to do the same with some tv. And there had been a brief flip to a religious channel.

Virgil didn’t have anything against religion by concept, or thought that everyone was a nut job who forced their views down everyone’s throat and were closed minded to change because it didn’t fit ‘their version’ of their gods ideals that was actually so far from the original text due to how humans had played it like a game of telephone over the years no one remembered the real thing-Focus Virgil! He took a shaking breath and got back on track.

It had just been one line, something stupid about ‘gay marriage being unholy’ or similar but it had sent Thomas right back into the mindset he’d had as a teen before he’d come out and that was why Virgil was having a panic attack. He needed to get to Thomas, now. Before the others felt it, especially Remus. He shut his eyes tight, ignored the feeling of wrong, wrong, wrong that crawled up his spine and popped up next to a slightly hyperventilating Thomas, eyes locked on a blank tv. Virgil used his deeper tone to get his attention,

“Thomas. Thomas, look at me.”

Frightened hazel, pupils blown wide in panic and anxiety and fear- Virgil slowly reached out and took Thomas’ tense shoulders in shaking hands and looked him in the eye with glowing purple. He spoke slowly so that he could focus on the tone first, then the words.

“Thomas, you’re having a panic attack. I know why and it’s ok, I understand why it triggered this. But the old man is wrong, ah-ah no…deep breath in for me….hold it….yes he’s wrong Thomas. He doesn’t know what holy really is, he wouldn’t understand love is love if it bit him in the pope hat…let it out.”

Virgil smirked as his crude tinged joke got a huffed out sheepish laugh and he nodded in reassurance as he leaned in just a little closer, pulled him into a hug as he kept talking, like Patton did when he was in his own anxious spiral and brought him through his breathing exercises.

“Yeah there you go Thomas, deep breath in….seven seconds, hold it…it’s all ok. You aren’t wrong for loving someone, you were made this way when you were born. Nothing about you was ‘corrupted’ or ‘twisted’ or ‘just happened out of the blue’ or ‘a phase’ or whatever the hot pockets you’ve been told. Let it out….good. Now, since we’re calmed down wanna watch some Disney? There’s a Halloween inspired marathon on that has Nightmare Before Christmas and Hocus Pocus in it.”

[bigtimesinsmallspaces]

Total Eclipse of the Trip

There are a lot of lessons to be learned when you book a train trip that spans 12 plus days, 6000 miles, and a lifetime of dreams. There are routes, maps, and timetables to study, and then it is cobbled together with towns, sights, and special interests along the way. Back in January PG had her double screen home office displaying Amtrak maps as we began piecing together, bit by bit, the dream trip, leaving time for connections and considering the optimum direction for each train, as well as daylight hours for the most scenic sections. Why go through the Sierras in the dark? And if you do have to make a connection, it’s best to do it where you don’t mind hanging a bit, just in case you miss that connection and are stuck there for hours (days). Much of this I learned from hours of study on the Amtrak Facebook pages (sad stories of families stranded in Idaho after rock slides and other such bring my dream down a notch why don’t ya stories). So I learned early that there were going to be glitches over the course of these 6000 miles and I was poised to pivot with aplomb—extra night here, a layover there, I had backup plans for every step of the way. However, I was NOT prepared to pivot before we even began.

That’s right. There we are getting on the train in Philly, headed to DC and from there on the overnight train to Chicago, where on Monday we would board the king of all trains, the whisperer of the wind, the Amtrak flagship—the amazing California Zephyr. Hearts pounding with excitement we step on that train and as the doors close I hear my phone ringing. With a quick dismissal upon seeing an 800 number I assure PG it is just the Red Cross in pursuit of my blood.

Well with that buildup you probably guessed that my blood is not really in that much demand. Indeed that was Mrs. Amtrak calling to put a cabash on our 3000 hours of planning and 6900 miles of traveling. The California Zephyr was CANCELLED for Monday due to high winds. High winds? A train can’t go through high winds? I can ride my BIKE on the beach in high winds. I am incensed. But Mrs. Amtrak insists that safety is her concern and apparently she considers 90 MPH winds to be beyond high, and in fact she thinks they are very very high, and she does not care about our 3000 hours of planning or disappointment. We can have a refund. A REFUND? There is no amount of money that will convince us to pack up and go home. Without delving into the minutia of details for how to rearrange 6000 miles, start to finish, suffice it to say Philly Girl went to work on her computer, and with the help of multiple Amtrak agents in person and on the phone, and in person agents on the phone with other agents, we flipped our trip upside down and backwards, first on to Montana, then back to Chicago on the Zephyr at the end of our trip (hopefully the winds have died down by next week).

So right now we are in 93% eclipse Chicago on this beautiful, sunny, warm spring day after a beautiful overnight ride. Did we sleep? Sort of. More on some of the logistics later. But it sure was a beautiful ride through beautiful Harper’s Ferry, WV, Pittsburgh, Sandusky (Hello Will and Missy), and into Chicago this morning.

Chicago Union Station is amazing. Built in 1925, it covers many city blocks and features beautiful design and art. We cashed in some Guest Reward points to gain access to the Metropolitan Lounge. This is a game changer on long trips offering an array of snacks, coffee, a marvelous shower (yes a shower, did you think there would be no showers?), and best of all, a place to stash our luggage while we explored Chicago and experienced the amazing eclipse as well as an amazing lunch. If you ever take the train to Chicago know that the station is a joy and is located in a beautiful area with lots to do and see in walking distance.

We’re getting ready to board the Empire Builder headed west now. While the trip we had planned got eclipsed, we’re taking it all as a sign to make the most of whatever surprises come next.

[jbaileyfansite]

Interview with Glamour Magazine UK (2020)

“Nothing says sex more than a montage,” Jonathan Bailey the new leading man on the costume drama scene jokes. We are approx. five minutes into our interview, and we have already covered the delights of mince pies, stilton and Nando’s but our attention has turned to the racy romance in Netflix’s new TV show, Bridgerton and its sex scenes.

Bridgerton, Shonda Rhimes’ (the producer behind Scandal and Grey's Anatomy) first foray into costume drama, is set in London during the Regency era and follows the trials and tribulations of the marriage market. Johnathan plays the troubled Anthony who after the death of his father is forced to assume the role of head of the Bridgerton family that contains eight close knit siblings of which Daphne - played by GLAMOUR UK cover star, Phoebe Dynevor - becomes the most celebrated catch on the scene. The resulting ‘romance’ will have your grandmother clutching her pearls, let’s just say that.

It’s certainly a career making role for Jonathan, who previously appeared in Broadchurch and Doctor Who, as well as sweeping a Laurence Olivier Award win for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical for his portrayal of Jamie in the 2018 West End revival of Company.

As Jonathan prepares to hit the big time – by appearing bottom first on Netflix - he talks how life is just like a boogie board - you just have to ride those waves - when it comes to dealing with your mental health and self-esteem… sounds poetic, no?

What do you think is so game changing about the way Bridgerton approaches sex and relationships?

I think romance as a genre exists on a beach holiday with a glass of rosé and it hasn't been given the respect that I think Shondaland and Netflix are now giving it on this wider platform. Inherently romance is about identity and about basic human interaction and sex is a massive part of that. With Bridgerton, you're following eight siblings, all with different wants and they'll meet people along the way, and they'll interact differently. It shows how you can exercise respect, have sex in different ways and how sex changes through relationships as they change. With the romance in this - with the amazing Sabrina Bartlett (who plays Anthony’s love interest)- one of the things that we talked about a lot was how power through sex can change. With Phoebe's character, I think the most extraordinary thing is about conversation and about how important it is for parents to talk to their children about sex so that they don't go into these situations which can be incredibly vulnerable.

I think it is a game changer. It's so important to see everything through every gaze and the female gaze in terms of sex is not something we have seen much of. Let's reassert that balance! Ultimately, we're telling it at a time where it's incredibly safe to do so because of the post #metoo era as there's intimacy coordination and because there's now a safety and there's an understanding you can tell a story through sex. Whereas before, I think it was just a white-knuckle ride, you had to just get through it, and it would be the day on the schedule that you'd be slightly terrified of.

It’s actually so shocking that we still talk about sex in 2020 and get really bashful about it…

No, I know! I was speaking to a friend the other day about sex in TV and film and we worked out it's more awkward to watch it on your own. Somehow it makes it better when you're watching it with a friend or you're in a group or you're in the cinema, because then at least it's a collective experience. I think there's an inherent curiosity about sexuality because it's linked to tribalism and knowing where you stand with people and how you interact. That's why it's always exciting. I think with period dramas - which is genre that I love - we always know that there'll be an unbuttoning of the corset and maybe a kiss at the end with a firework. But what better way to flip that genre like Shonda Rhimes has done. I think with Anthony you see his bottom first and then it pans up. There's no better way to say, ‘we see the genre and we raise you!’ Bottoms up!

For the role you worked out with a personal trainer didn’t you…

Yeah, I did. I just finished Company in the West End and then I just went on a really delicious traveling escapade, which involved just enjoying all the delicacies that I could find. When you're getting your kit off, you just want to feel confident. I also think getting into the discipline of exercise really helps when you have a long grueling schedule so exercising and getting ready for a role is more of a mental thing as well as a literal physical thing.

Having to get your body out there on screen is quite a conscious process. How does that affect your own relationship with your own body image, would you say?

Once upon a time there would always be a caveat with an audition saying there'll be nudity and you have to be okay with that. That would always sort of send a tremor up your spine, but I think actually everything I've done involves me getting my bum out, weirdly! It's something that I've become used to, but you've just got to be really careful that you're doing it for the right reasons. Of course, it does bleed into your everyday life and when you're trying to sustain something for nine months, you go through different barriers in terms of what is healthy and what isn't.

There's an element of control that comes with acting which you've just got to be really mindful of. When you start trying to control how you want to be seen or how you see yourself or how you feel on a certain day, you can get into habits. If you're self-aware enough, you can identify them as they're coming in and then continue. I can see how you can get into unhealthy thought patterns when it comes to body image, but that's why it has to be a constant conversation.

You play a new kind of costume drama leading man as he is an anti-hero is many ways isn’t he?

There's a real obsession around the ‘Darcy’ figures in literary history. Here you meet someone who is so vulnerable, susceptible to other people's opinions and society's opinions change his value system. The idea of masculinity is very important in Bridgerton, I really thought, ‘God, if you were a therapist, and you could time travel, you'd want to go to the Bridgerton’s straight away and it down with them because you'd make a fortune.’ They have literally just lost their father and Anthony becomes a viscount and head of the family within one night. This is the patriarchal system, that’s how that worked, and that has completely limited and shattered female existence. There is also a very modern sensibility of mental health in men. Hopefully he's not just a baddie and there's something quite human going on.

There are redeeming features…

Yeah, like his hair or mutton chops. I could write a thesis on how having facial hair like that can augment your sense of self within your social circles. Suddenly people are like, ‘Oh my God, are you in a band? Are you from Camden?’ It just changes the shape of everyone's face and makes it sharp.

The sideburns are like 19th century contouring!

Exactly! Your cheekbones are on fleek.

Bridgerton brings up how some men really do struggle behind the very public roles that they play. How do you look after your own mental wellbeing and what societal pressures that have put pressure on your mental health?

That's a really good question. I think there's just incredible amounts of labeling generally and as woman, as a man, as a gay man, as a mother, as a father, there's just a sense that there's opinions everywhere. And at this moment in time, that can come straight to your phone, but I know what the ‘balm’ is and for me it is having friends that you nurture you through and keeping transparency and openness. That’s not always easy and that requires work but when you get there and if you feel confident enough to be able to say how you're feeling moment to moment, you get a greater sense of your own identity.

If you do talk, sometimes you surprise yourself by how you're framing things in words, and it's completely different to how you think. My experience of any moments of real fear or trauma in certain ways is that you realize that other people have been through it. That's the power of storytelling as well as conversation. I am so lucky, and I escaped the Instagram teenage years!

I mean, MSN messenger was bad enough!

Yeah. I know – BRB and the wobbly nudge! I hated being nudged and I still hate being nudged. Who knows how self-image and self-esteem is really going to be affected going forward?

Existing authentically is the hardest battle of all really, isn't it?

Yeah! It's ebb and flow. I think it's like when you are in the sea, you've got your boogie board, if you're lucky you've got a wetsuit, and the waves are going to come, and you don't know how you're going to surf them. But as long as you know that that boogie board is yours and your pals are also down the road in the same sea then you're going to be all right because you know you're all experiencing similar waves and similar tides as them God, that was a real strong image, wasn't it?

‘Life is a boogie board,’ is truly a great way to look at life!

It’s a new mantra!

Source

[the-sparkling-diamond-satine]

OK for the WIP ask game, I esp wanna know more about - more than these actually, but to keep it to a manageable ask....

5. Fuffy Catholic boarding school

9. Fuffy Hope in a bottle

16. Echo Fuffy fake marraige

22. Fuffy 2020

24. Gender wishverse

Send me an ask with a title that intrigues you from my list of wip's and I'll tell you something about it or post a snippet from it.

Fuffy Catholic boarding school:

This one is summarized here, but since you asked, here is a snippet:

Buffy’s got one arm propped up by Faith’s head, leaning in so close that Faith can feel Buffy’s warm breaths on her cheek. The little gold saint medal Buffy never takes off from around her neck brushes Faith’s neck where it hangs. Faith flinches slightly, half expecting it to burn her. Crosses and holy water and medals with saints on them are supposed to hurt evil and sinful creatures, and Faith’s never considered herself to be anything but. And sure, Faith’s never gotten hurt touching any of that stuff before, but she’s also never had Buffy, the pride and joy of St. Cecilia’s school, straddling Faith in her own bed before, looking like a literal angel with her curly blonde head and her virginal white school-issued nightgown. Faith’s never had such dirty, sinful thoughts in her whole entire life, feeling Buffy’s strong thighs snug around her hips and looking up into Buffy’s green eyes, dark but with a hint of surprise, like she thought this was gonna feel wrong, and can’t believe how right it feels. Faith’s half expecting lightning to strike her dead right then and there for even so much as considering touching Buffy freaking Summers. There’s a cross on the wall behind her own head and a couple of nuns asleep three doors down for fuck’s sake. And then Buffy is kissing her. It’s close-mouthed and impossibly soft, just a gentle brush of Buffy’s lips against Faith’s own, but it’s still enough to make Faith believe in the existence of Heaven. Perhaps there’s something holy here after all. And if there isn’t? Faith tangles her hands in Buffy’s hair, kissing her back more firmly. If this is what descending into hell feels like, Faith hopes she gets to stay for all eternity. If hell is where they’re already headed, there’s nothing they can do about that now. So they may as well enjoy the fall.

Echo Fuffy fake marriage:

Summarized here. Snippet for you below:

Faith needs to move, to distract her mind from these dangerous thoughts because yeah, it is dangerous to want something she can never have, especially as desperately as she wants Buffy. She scoots around Buffy, tugging the door shut behind herself as she walks further into the room. The sound of the latch clicking into place helps hammer home that she and Buffy are now alone in this romantic place for newlyweds. This ‘sex room’ as Buffy called it. Faith flips on the lights as she passes the switch, saving them from the romantic lighting at least. It does help dull the atmosphere the staff tried to create, though only slightly. Buffy still hasn’t moved. “They think we’re going to have sex. They set this up for us to have sex in. All of this is for sex things to happen. Between us,” Buffy babbles. “Well, yeah, B,” Faith says easily, as if she weren't thinking the same thing (and feeling way less horrified about it). “That’s what people tend to do at places like this.”

Fuffy Hope in a bottle:

Buffy: hey whats up? It takes ten minutes, but she eventually gets a text back. Faith: that was the longest skating lesson ever. was starting to worry u fell through the ice Buffy: thats not even possible lol Buffy: also i didnt realize u were waiting for me Faith: i wasnt Her defensiveness only makes it seem like she really was waiting for Buffy, which is kind of weird. Maybe Faith’s some kind of friendless loser who was waiting by the phone for days for Buffy to text her back because the only person she has to talk to is Buffy.

Fuffy 2020:

Faith tries again, “Look, B—” “Faith, just drop it, okay? I’m not going back to your place. It really sucks being somewhere I’m obviously not wanted. You were right. I’m an adult, I’ll figure it out.” Faith chews on her lip, trying to decide how she can convince Buffy to come home with her. She can’t just let Buffy sleep in this park or a homeless shelter or something. Especially not in the middle of a freaking pandemic. She needs to—she could smack herself on the forehead, she can’t believe she’s being so stupid. Buffy literally told her what she needed to hear. “I missed you, too,” Faith blurts before she can talk herself out of saying it.

Gender wishverse:

My Buffy Summers is non-binary post will be posted eventually (after I finish writing it), my Wishverse!Buffy fuels my non-binary Buffy head canon meta post can be found here, and my previous answer about this fic can be found here, but since you asked, here is a little more info about this fic!

Originally I was planning to make this into a Faith/Buffy fic but that idea has been evolving. Honestly when I first started writing fic I was set on making everything Faith/Buffy, and even though I haven't been posting that long I've already changed my mindset on that haha. I like multiple ships so why not write them? And not everything I write needs to be ship-centric. We'll see where I end up once I actually start writing but currently I think this idea lives in my head as a Buffy and Anya friendship fic. My thoughts regarding Anya and gender are that she's over 1,00 years old and has certainly seen non-binary people before and would be so over the fact that people keep trying to erase them from history. Plus, Anya is aware of the Wishverse she's created. Two reasons for Buffy to reach out to Anya (even though she still kind of wants to be evil) and get some answers and help thinking through this :)

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

Henry VIII (La Monnaie De Munt, 2023): Reactions, Part III

annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd we’re back!!!

REAL HORSEY!!!!!!!!!!

“you can’t just RIDE past me :/“

“i don’t wanna have rules”

“you’re the only one i truly love”

that music can almost make you fall for him…almost…

oh you almost got it

“hoe (@ henry) don’t do it”

UH OH

“literally right in the middle of my spicy times???”

“you don’t get to stop my spicy times either”

welp

“you wanna have a PILLOW FIGHT???”

“naughty papal officials go under the plastic”

that’s a loaded statement

“it’s been less than half a millennium i don’t think the roman catholic church wants to do that AGAIN”

the boys are fightinggggggggg

Area Old Man Has Fallen And Cannot Get Up

“hi god pls don’t excommunicate everyone in england just because this one guy wants to be a dick”

this is weird but this aria is GORG

i mean do whatever you want but like. eh. (also. GOOD low note)

the demon dancers are multiplying also this set and music are both beautiful

SYNOD SCENE TIME FUCK YEAH

(aka probably the world’s first celebrity divorce trial)

anyway happy trinity sunday to all who observe

“my job is to repeat everything the guy on the chair says”

“can you pls fucking stop talking about leviticus”

THE COURT STENOGRAPHER ON THE LEFT LMAO

YEAH SING IT CATHERINE

she’s winning the people over

one of those deluxe Romantic moments. you know the kind.

the way he sang this while looking at the still-clapping audience was like him telling them to stop clapping for catherine, which is both funny and smart

“if you break my bestie’s heart i WILL start a war”

✨xenophobia✨

sucks to be you henry 🤷‍♀️

the first time i watched this opera was in january 2021 and this scene UNCOMFORTABLY reminded me of january 6 and that’s still what i think about every time

having the religious officials turn into the people of england right there is kinda genius actually

and in that moment she realized she was screwed

that calm stenographer is really the mvp here

dude went BEYOND flipping over the board game he just made a new one altogether

girlie knows how to make an entrance

“oh you think i care?”

POOR CATHERINE DESERVES SO MUCH BETTER

celebrity divorce and celebrity wedding all in the span of about twenty minutes

YET ANOTHER STUNNING ACT-CLOSING ENSEMBLE

[glam-overdrive]

ABOUT: GLAM OVERDRIVE

You’ve definitely heard the rumors about the modeling world—brutal schedules, stuck-up agents, and pressure to stay picture-perfect 24/7. Scary, right? A mess, to say the least.

Well, consider yourself lucky because you’ve just found us! We’re Glam Overdrive, a modeling agency that will flip the script of the modeling world into a whole lot of fun, and a little less predictable. At Glam Overdrive, we believe in breaking free from the rigid norms of the industry and embracing individuality, creativity, and self-expression.

Oh, oh. Did we mention the best part? At Glam Overdrive, you won’t just be strutting solo. You’ll get to bond with a fabulous squad of models who are just as fierce and fun as you are!

And here’s even more exciting news: we’re currently hiring new model recruits! You can trust us when we say that your onboarding experience will be nothing short of incredible—a fun-filled, unforgettable 7-day journey to kickstart your modeling adventure. So, if you’re ready to turn heads for all the right reasons, why not hop on board and join the wild ride?

ⓘ Glam Overdrive is a basic closed agency, drawing inspiration from the game Dress To Impress. While many of our activities share similarities with the game, our agenda remains highly flexible. Don’t worry if you don’t play the game—you’re still more than welcome to join us!

[m1ckeyb3rry]

Omg yeah x/y was honestly such a good era I loved mega evolutions (wtf happened to them?? Like we just got different renditions in the form of z moves and gigantamaxing ?? I forgot what it’s called but when they blow up the pokemon in a giant ass stadium LMAO) but I do miss mega evolution…I also haven’t played any of the switch games shdgsh I was meaning to but didn’t have enough time (or motivation oops) I completely forgot about greninja he most definitely has one….bonus points if it has that giant water shuriken like the ash greninja LMAO I can imagine Karasu collecting all the token bird pokemon too HAHA like talonflame, staraptor, etc.

LMAOO Kira was honestly a good choice I just remember being like this is such a rare find?? HAHA so glad I stumbled upon peregrine and found you too <3

Honestly I think it’s just because kiyora got thrown in with like no info no backstory and no dialogue…I’m glad we’re getting more of him in epinagi where they can actually focus more on him so we can see more of what he’s like because as of right now I’m just like…I barely know you dude LOL besides the fact that you’re a middle child…manifesting tabieita return so hard please come back my glorious kings I need your goofy little duo back!!!!!!! I also wanna know who’s saying Karasu won’t make it like??? There’s no way anyone from top6 BLLK isn’t making it tbh I feel like that’d be too big of a jump but clearly they aren’t reading because he really IS carrying pxg on his back like….hard carry. Shidou hasn’t done anything beyond the first goal Charles called it quits for awhile and Rin wasn’t able to do much either like Karasus always pressing Kaiser and Isagi and keeping up let’s be real there’s no way he won’t make it :| Also narratively I don’t think it’d really make sense for him to get dropped out either if anything I think the people most in danger are the people currently not in the top 23…? Or benched players like who’s making those assumptions now…..tabieita is for sure passing (also I feel like it’s especially because otoya is like 1 of 2 people doing anything on barcha from bllk so they’re bound to also get enough bids from barcha or other clubs I feel..) but yeah er I don’t even fully remember who else is on barcha from bllk haha…

JUST FINISHED READING AND OH. MY. GOSH. THAT WAS AMAZING??? I had sm fun reading it I was smiling at my phone and actually laughing. I’m CRYING Otoya and bestie getting shipped??? That’s hilarious esp how he like ends up cock blocking her attempts to get close to the others like Reo??? Peak comedy I ate that UP!!! And SHSJSBDH KARASU REUNION THAT WAS SO CUTE and honestly fit them so well with the banter too!!! I can only imagine how the aquarium date would go….imagine either he falls into the touch pool or at least gets splashed somehow and flips out LMFAOO

I LIVE for this journey of a story truly keeping the Karasu community alive and kicking I feel like this just added a millions years to my lifespan like I’ve been revived and rejuvenated thank you very much. Also Chigiris sister!!! Omg I love that we end up forming a little bestie group with her and yukis gf too!!! Girlbosses fr!!!!

Also the Karasu Y/n adopting Hiori agenda SO REAL IM SO ON BOARD HAHA I’m crying he fr is just their kid like it’s so funny and makes sm sense too….i lost it with the u20 match invites though like we really got the invite instead of his parents LMFAOOO the way you write him makes him so squishy too I just wanna squeeze him like the hamster he is idc if he’s 6 foot

But anyways I’m honestly running out of words to say because my vocabulary isn’t extensive enough to praise this as much as it deserves THANK YOU SO MUCH SHSGSHS I was never expecting a request of mine to your event to have led to something like this!!! So glad to have been able to chat with you as well as follow along with this story (I’m definitely going to go reread the entire series from start to finish at least three times)

Take care of yourself and I’m looking forward to whatever you put out next!!!! Can’t wait to ramble and chat more about karasu (or really even anything LOL) To more Karasu filled BLLK moments and writing masterpieces o7

- Karasu anon

YES i loved mega evolutions but everything after that felt like it was trying too hard to be gimmicky…i’m in the same boat i’ve played all of the 3ds games and a few of the ds ones but none of the switch ones. LMAOO i bet he missed the event to get the special ash greninja because he was on a date or smth so he had to pay nagi/hiori to give him theirs or hack his game so he could get it 😭 KARASU’S TEAM IS DEF 5 RANDOM BIRD POKÉMON + GARCHOMP I FEEL IT IN MY BONES he’s sooo garchomp coded somehow…maybe talonflame staraptor honchkrow skarmory and pidgeot?? idk though. i’ve considered writing a pokémon au before i think it would be so fun hehe but who knows

i will SCROUNGEEE wikis to find the most random characters for my fics…either that or i’ll jump straight to ocs. i think i tend to use canon characters at all costs for male characters and ocs for female characters because lbr most animangas have very very few female characters let alone well written ones (shoutout anri only female character in bllk fr) so i just make my own

YES i agree kiyora just randomly appeared and gave us a backstory and then passed…honestly i think i’d have been more interested if we didn’t know much abt his backstory until AFTER he passed to kaiser but it seems like he’ll be important for the rest of the match so i’m sure we’ll get more information on him soon

AGREED like people are saying NAGI isn’t going to start on the world cup team?? please be sooo fr he’s shown time and time again that he’s capable of insane chemical reactions w almost any player he 100% is starting. tabieitaken also are definitely going to be there even if they don’t start (i think of the three karasu has the best chance at starting just because we don’t see many other players playing in his position whereas chigiri, bachira, etc could be wingers instead of yuki/otoya)…yeah literally besides bachira and otoya barcha is a bunch of randoms 😭 i need these people to focus their worries on like nanase and zantetsu HAHA. personally i’m 10x more scared for zantetsu than karasu 🙁 i don’t want him to be kicked out of bllk we need more himbo rep in anime

OMG YAYYY I’M GLAD YOU LIKED IT!! help otoya and bestie hating one another but accidentally cockblocking each other for the entire fic was SOO fun to write 😭 poor bestie she just wanted a rich man but she’s stuck w otoya’s ninja ass. i think my fav moment of theirs was when he won her the plushie but instead of being romantic it actually furthers their enmity 😔 the bllk fans in-universe know what’s up!! otoya x bestie AND karasu x y/n…taste fr. lowkey poor bestie because not only is she single af and enemies with a guy who pretends to be a ninja in public, her OWN bff is in the most perfect relationship ever 😭💔 karasu invented boyfriendism like he’s so HDKDHDSJ in this fic!!!

it truly was such a journey 🥹 YES i needed there to be more female characters plus i thought it would be so funny if y/n is just going around adopting bllk characters…like hyoma’s HER brother now too wdym 🙄 she needs to meet rin ong i think she would cure him (and bestie needs to meet sae i think she would humble him so bad). i know for a FACT that the girlies of fwtkac groupchat is probably sooo fun. like bestie just spams otoya slander (she finds entire twitter threads dogging on him and makes up bs to get him cancelled online), y/n sends edits of everyone (especially otoya x bestie ship edits because she finds them hilarious), chigiri’s sister keeps trying to convince them to visit her in tokyo, and yuki’s gf is the designated hype girl 🥹

LMAOAOAO karasu w hiori is like the quintessential dad who DID NOT want to get a puppy but somehow he loves the dog the most and feeds it 5 million treats a day 😭 y/n and karasu truly are the parents that stepped up 😪 but also LMAOAOA no i thought it was so funny like imagine hiori knowing that karasu is probably going to invite his gf and being like “ya i’m going to invite your gf too” it’s like that one reddit meme where the guy says “if i could sleep w anyone in history i’d choose my wife who passed away” and some random dude says “i’d choose your dead wife too” HAHAAH but not romantic because hiori is just her little squishy child fr

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH i also did not expect an event request would get to be this extensive but i enjoyed it so much!! i’m hoping to work on my hiori requests so tentatively those will be next but we’ll see how things go hehe. and i look forward to many more conversations and ramblings in the future!!

bonus: karasu texting otoya after his aquarium date (screenshotted from an insta post i saw earlier LMAOOO)

[tyranno-snore-us]

Jwcc kids as incorrect quotes! *jazz hands*

Kenji : *closes a cabinet*  *a crash is heard behind the cabinet door*  Brooklyn : What was that?  Kenji : The sound of someone else's problem. Yaz : Unfortunately, due to several experiences in my youth, I cannot just 'walk up and join a circle of people talking', but it does sound lovely, thank you.

Sammy: Oh, fiddlesticks! That really ruffles my feathers!  Brooklyn : Please, just say fuck.

Brooklyn : Real life should have a fucking search function, or something.  Brooklyn : I need my socks.

Yaz : Given the circumstances, I will let you hug me for four to five seconds.  Sammy: Forty five seconds?!?  Yaz : No! I said four TO five seconds.  Sammy, hugging Yaz : Too late.

Sammy: You're a lying piece of shit!  Darius : Oh yeah? You're the idiot that thinks you can get away with everything you do, WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD!  Yaz : I'm leaving and I'm taking Ben with me!  Kenji , gathering cards: Aaaaand that's enough Monopoly for today.

*Everyone is playing a board game together*  Sammy: I will put 'A' down to make 'A'.  Brooklyn : I will add onto your 'A' to make 'AT'.  Kenji : I will add onto your 'AT' to make 'RAT'.  Darius : I will add onto your 'RAT' to make 'BIOSTRATAGRAPHIC'.  Kenji : *flips the board*

Kenji : I'll offer you some friendly advice-  Ben : I don't want your advice.  Kenji : Well, then consider it unfriendly advice.

Brooklyn : Get in, loser, we’re committing vehicular manslaughter!

Brooklyn : Why are you like this??  Yaz : I used too much "No More Tears" shampoo as a kid and I haven't felt a single emotion since.

Darius : That sounds super! Doesn’t that sound super, Ben ?  Ben : No.  Darius : I think I speak for Ben when I say it sounds really super. 

Ben : I think you're still suffering the effects of your party last night.  Kenji : All I drank was Redbull!  Ben : How many?  Kenji : Eighteen.

[nghtshroud]

There is no verbal response to Kurt’s reaction, a gentle cant of the Ghost Face’s mask being the only sign that there is a person under all that darkness, and not some awful psychopomp come to drag him to hell. His grasp loosens, and it is just enough to flip the blade over and between fingers, that razor edge hidden behind his fist. He’s no stranger to close quarters, more than a single victim had fought back, and then there was his father… 

It's what his dad had always wanted, a killer of man woman and child, but never theirs. He wanted Danny to murder without repercussions, across the ocean. It had always been them and never us, they are different and dangerous, we are the heralds of safety and freedom. Patriotic bullshit spewed when a few too many drinks piled up on the coffee table, one thrown across the room at him when he made an offhand comment; we’re all dangerous, to them, to one another, you hypocrite! Well, dad, look at how that panned out. You raised a killer all right! Drill after drill pretending to raise him right so he was prepared to enlist when he was old enough. Danny will admit, the training wasn’t all for naught. It gave him that rage-induced drive to put his old man in the dirt, confidence that his first design would not end up with him locked away in a box somewhere. 

A soft scoff escapes between grinning lips, hidden behind his guise. 

“The one, and the only,” comes a reply dripping venom. “You’re playing a game I don’t appreciate, kid, and you’ll make a fine example to any others.” 

He wasn’t quite to the point of a blissful rage at the moment, but some darkness set into his bones cries out for blood to spill. Danny knows it isn’t part of the plan, that working on the fly rarely yielded the results that he desired. Results, like what, Danny? Did you really want this dumb kid to die because he’d gotten off on killing? That wasn’t it, he did not give a single fuck if people died. Not even had Kurt’s victims been too far from the norm of his own; normal people living normal lives and dying just the same. So, what was it? 

Jealousy, perhaps, that someone else had taken a marker to his drawing board and scribbled all across it without his permission. 

Something deeper pulls taut and he feels ready to SNAP. 

It’s not even a breath of pause before he lunges at Kurt, pulling his arm back with clear intent to sink a knife’s serrated teeth into the younger killer. His free hand comes up between the two of them so he might keep the other’s weapon from finding purchase on his person, outstretched, and a way to keep them close together. He doesn’t have the stability to even consider that another killer might be able to react fast enough, what might happen if he doesn’t stick his knife into any piece of flesh he could reach. 

Kurt had always been a complex man, at least in his ability to be a highly effective serial killer, a remorseless and merciless murderer, while also being painfully unable to engage in the simplest of human activities. He was able to stalk his victims for days, over a week even if he needed to, and was able to keep the police off his tail for just as long. He wasn't even a suspect by the end of it, just another poor victim to a string of senseless murders. On the other side, however, perhaps it was due to him being too cocky or too oblivious, or perhaps just due to the other's exceptionally better skills, that he was barely able to detect the sudden shift in the air. It was silent, even for a junkyard, but his mind was too preoccupied with his nightly duties to notice the figure stalking him from the shadows.

It's only when he finally turns, his head ducking out from under the trunk of his car does he finally realize his predicament, his eyes widening and his jaw clenching as he nearly jumps out of his own skin. His trash bags are forgotten and a hand flies to a familiar weapon kept in the back for just emergencies - a knife, as identical to blade the man before him used. His heart pounded in his chest, in his ears, and there was a brief second flare of anger at being disturbed by some unknown stranger before it cooled nearly as quick as it formed. Kurt was no stranger to the face that stared back at him, pale white with darkness itself for eyes. A mask he modeled his own after, a man he'd been chasing for weeks.

He swallows, a mixture of fear an excitement that made his muscles feel electric coursed through him. He felt hot, he felt cold.

" Holy shit, " He speaks, almost breathless as his body attempted to figure out what emotion he was feeling. His hand still held onto the knife.

" You- are you- are you, you? Him? You're- are you really him? " More excitement crept into his voice than fear, though one could assume it was the adrenaline taking over. Fight or flight that hadn't yet kicked into gear.