#junior doctor contract

[unfortunately-obsessed]

Gonna strangle (affectionately) @bruciemilf one day but that's okay

Anyway I'm just knees-deep into this one particular scene and it's her fault. Just set the scene with me, hold my hand–

Martha went into labor for what feels like days ago already. Her screams are rhythmic, booming through the halls of Wayne Manor– why did she insist on a house birth?

Why did he let her?

He's a fool and she always is going to get what she wants from him. Now the air suffocates, heavy with an oppressive tension

Agatha rode off to the sunset with bottle of cognac– Jacob is locked outside with a look that can put a man through concrete

The truth is that Thomas could care less about what is happening in the world

Martha can't breath. What she does is ragged, uneven, fast and can't be called breathing

Thomas listens it, her chest heaving loudly, the begging in russian– for the first time in years, he doesn't know what to do

Pain twists in his throat, growing and throbbing

There's so much blood. Crumpled white sheets unsalvageable with crimson, eyes with dark circles beneath

He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know what do to do–

His feet heavy like lead, kneeled by Martha's side and praying like momma taught him to–

Gods. Martha is pale. Squirming. Panting, gasping, crying. Coated in sweat, blood and other much less dignified body fluids

All he can do is let her hold his hand numb, let the ears ring with her screams

Her voice wobbles, weakens, and pleads in russian, please, it hurts. Make it stop. Incessantly, and every time his chest squeezes more, pounding like he will throw up his own heart

"Shh, it's okay, dove," he whispers to her hair, pointedly not looking at the blood. "It's going to be okay."

He's not sure. Because he is a doctor and he knows what this hollow silence from Leslie means–

And, gods, how he can love a thing that is causing so much pain to Martha?

Thomas stammers. Everybody said the love is natural; it comes gradually.

Doctors spend an awful amount of time with death

Not the time to think about that

Only that the annoying voice at the back of his head hammers his forehead with a icepick

How comes his heart bubbles with acid, contracts painfully everytime Martha sobs? How come he can't not resent this baby–?

Until her hands leaves his and Martha moves from pure adrenaline onto sitting in her knees to take matters into her own hands, Thomas hands try to cling to her shoulders or stop her no wait don't that or do something but– Bloody thing and bloody hands and infinite red;

And a second cry tores the world with anger and furious tears.

Thomas Junior is born a healthy 9lbs, a glob of red bare flesh, covered in amniotic fluid, mad at the world for being born

Martha's holds her son with all the care and love in the world, hair plastered on her forehead. Smiles ruefully. "He's perfect."

TJ is born looking like a turnip

And Thomas feels a whole lot of nothing

[stargazer-sims]

In The City of Love

Belle: Excuse me!

Belle: Hello, parents! Is that necessary?

Davian: As a matter of fact, it was.

Félix: We are in the City of Love, after all.

Belle: Yeah, City of Love, not city of lust.

Davian: Hey! How do you know what lust is?

Belle: You and Félix are my parents. Do you think you really need to ask that?

Davian: No, seriously.

Belle: I'm ten years old and I know how to read at a university level. I find out stuff. Plus, you should visit the trailer park sometime. You can learn a lot, hanging out with Dylan and Nadim.

Davian: No thanks. I had enough of the Willow Creek trailer park when I was a kid. And now I'm not sure I want you visiting Junior any more when he's over there with Dylan and his boy toy.

Belle: *giggling* Boy toy.

Félix: We can discuss all of this when we're back at home.

Davian: Right. This trip is supposed to be all about fun.

Belle: And minimal embarrassing public displays of affection.

Félix: Belle, the last time Davian and I were here was when we were expecting you. We have a lot of nostalgia for this place. We'll try to restrain ourselves, but a few public displays of affection may be inevitable.

Belle: I thought you went to Tartosa while you were expecting me.

Davian: We did, at Christmas, but we came here in February. I got a contract offer that I couldn’t turn down, and Félix didn’t want me to leave him, so…

Belle: But, my birthday is in March. You must've been like, super pregnant or... whatever it's called when you have a science baby. It couldn't have been much fun to be here.

Félix: I had a few good days, although I'll admit it would've been more fun if I hadn't been so tired and uncomfortable. I'd say 'super pregnant' is an accurate description.

Davian: So much so, he actually needed a note from a doctor to say it was okay for him to travel.

Belle: Really?

Félix: We were here during the week of Valentine's Day, and you weren't supposed to be born until the eighteenth of March. We thought there'd be plenty of time between our trip and the date my surgery was scheduled for.

Davian: Except there wasn't. We were home for... what? Maybe less than a week before you started having problems?

Félix: Which were entirely my own fault, in retrospect.

Davian: You weren't going wild at the love hotel by yourself, you know, and we weren't exactly taking it easy when we got home either. I'd say it was partly my fault too.

Belle: Eww! Love hotel!

Félix: The important thing is, we got home safely and it all worked out in the end. We may have had you a little earlier than we anticipated, Belle, but I promise nobody was complaining.

Davian: The moment I saw you, I said to myself 'that is a princess'.

Félix: He did, honestly. The first words out of his mouth when he saw you were, 'our princess is here'.

Belle: I'd rather be an archaeologist than a princess.

Félix: We know, but you'll always be a princess to us. Besides, princess and archaeologist aren't mutually exclusive.

Davian: We're going to make this trip as much about you as it is about us, okay? We want you to have a fun time and learn a lot. Félix and I have some memories to revisit here, but we want to make a bunch of new ones with you, too.

Belle: I don't mind if you want to revisit old memories or whatever, but can you promise me one thing?

Davian: What is it?

Belle: No going to the love hotel, okay?

Davian: And leave you alone at our rental? I promise that's totally not going to happen. You don't have to worry.

Belle: Good.

Félix: Speaking of the rental, we should check the address and see if we can find it before dark. If it's not too far, I think it'd be nice to walk there.

Davian: Sounds good, and if it is far away, maybe we can hail one of those pink taxis.

Belle: Ooh pink taxis? Even if we can walk to the rental, we have to ride in a pink taxi at least once before we go home.

____________

BONUS: Here is their rental house!

[abbatoirablaze]

Locked Up Master List

This series is complete! ✔️

Working in a prison is hard. The only thing that could possibly be any harder would be to be a woman working in the prison. But that's the reality for the new prison shrink, the junior doctor in the medical ward, and one of the correctional officers.

They're surrounded by some of the worst men in the country, working in the federal prison.

There are the mafioso heads, James Buchanan Barnes and Steve Rogers. Former military who turned back to the family business once they got through their contracts. Only to get a reputation of disposing of bodies as long as their rap sheets. And while these two one-time best friends manage to be civil enough inside the walls, Barnes has already promised to repay Rogers for taking his arm before their trial.

But they're just the tip of the iceberg. There are far more dangerous men in the prison. Like Robert Pronge a paranoid schizophrenic who was a hitman for nearly ten years.

Or the suave, cannibalistic serial killer, Doctor Brendan Steven Kemp.

Or the eccentric billionaire playboy who murdered his grandfather for the fortune, Ransom Drysdale.

But sometimes it's not the ones who appear the most dangerous that have the most pull in the prison. It might just be the quiet and calm Curtis Everett.

Or even the warden, a certain sheriff that managed to campaign his way all the way up to the coveted chair.

There are far too many dangerous things lurking around the corridors of the prison. And unfortunately these women are Locked Up with them every single day.

This is going to be a dark series. Chapters will have individual tags, but this will include: noncon relationships, rape, blackmail, murder, violence, and more.

The Shrink

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4 -The Riot

Chapter 11-The Riot

Chapter 14-Two Weeks Later

Chapter 18-Starting Over Part 2

The Junior Doctor

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7 -The Riot

Chapter 12-The Riot

Chapter 15-Starting Over

The Correctional Officer

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10-The Riot

Chapter 13-The Riot

Chapter 16-After The Riots

Chapter 17-A Lasting Legacy

[yeollie-plz]

All Too Well

Preoutbreak! Joel x F! Reader

Synopsis: You met Joel your junior year of college. You had been so focused on your schooling until that fateful night. You were so young, so naïve. He was only a year older but it felt like he knew it all.

Genre: angst! so so angsty its insane

Warnings: break up, fighting, kissing, Y/N insert, pregnancy, labor and contractions, death, drinking (also underage drinking), drunk people, mentions of virginity and losing it, mentions of sex but no sex scenes, hospitals, doctor talk and mentions of medical complications, funerals

Gif credits to owners!

A/N: So I don't usually like song based fanfics but I had an idea and I ran with it. Tbh after I wrote it, I fell in love with it, hopefully you do too! Also! It is obviously the ten minute Taylor's version!

Oh, your sweet disposition and my wide-eyed gaze

It was right before your 21st birthday, you had been dragged by your friend Layla to a party at some sorority house. You didn't want to be there, but she insisted.

So now you were standing in the kitchen with a beer you hadn't even sipped and no Layla in sight. Your only company was the people that would stumble in to fill their cups and not utter a word. That was until Joel walked in. He had this air to him, he was calm and collected, and you could tell there was a kindness in his eyes.

He noticed you almost immediately and started a conversation. He told you how his brother dragged him here and you marveled at the sameness of your situations.

You two talked the whole night, neither one of you drinking. It comforted you that he was also sober.

It was almost one in the morning when Layla found you again. She was clearly wasted and you rolled your eyes.

"I should probably take her home." You told Joel.

Grabbing Layla to help her walk, you made your way out of the kitchen. Before you could leave he lightly grabbed your arm.

"Wait, can I get your number? I wanted to know if maybe we could get some coffee sometime?" You stared at him with shock. You had enjoyed the conversation but you didn't know he felt that way.

"Uh, yeah sure." You quickly grabbed a pen and random receipt from your bag. Jotting your number on it, you handed it to Joel with a smile.

He returned the smile and helped you and your friend to the car. You watched him in your rearview as you drove off, smiling to yourself.

'Cause there we are again on that little town street

You almost ran the red 'cause you were lookin' over at me

Wind in my hair, I was there

A few months and a few dates later, you and Joel had become official. You had never felt more like yourself. It was crazy to say a man had done that to you but you couldn't deny the facts. Even your school work had improved!

Your favorite nights were the nights you and Joel would just drive around. The two of you would drive around the town, every time you hit a red light he would look over at you with those soft eyes of his.

You did a lot of driving and he did a lot of staring. You would drive around and just talk about anything and everything. It was so simple, yet so perfect.

You taught me 'bout your past thinkin' your future was me

He told you everything about himself on those drives. How he grew up, his life with his family, even about his petty little fights with Tommy when they were younger.

It made you happy that he trusted you with every part of him. So, you told him all about you in return. You wanted all of him and gave all you back.

And I was thinkin' on the drive down: Any time now

He's gonna say it's love

You never called it what it was

You don't know when it happened but one day you woke and realized you were in love with Joel.

You wanted to scream out into the universe how much you loved this man. But it never felt like the right time.

A part of you wanted him to say it first. But no matter how many times he stared at you with those eyes, he never did.

'Cause there we are again in the middle of the night

We're dancin' 'round the kitchen in the refrigerator light

Down the stairs, I was there

You were taking a nap at Joel's house one day when you were awoken to the sound of music downstairs. It was an old song you didn't recognize. Following the sound through the house, you found Joel gliding around the linoleum of the kitchen. You let out a laugh which stopped him in his tracks.

He met your eyes with that look, the look that made you melt. The look you knew all too well. He offered his hand to you. Gladly, you took it. You two danced for the rest of the song.

He pulled you close as it faded away, ghosting a kiss on your lips. That was the night he took your virginity. There was no good reason you had waited, you just had. But it felt right to lose it to him. He felt right.

And there we are again when nobody had to know

You kept me like a secret, but I kept you like an oath

Sacred prayer and we'd swear

It became the norm, you two would drive around and talk and end up at his place between the sheets. It never made you feel dirty, it made you feel loved.

But it was the lack of actual dates or him being uninterested in hanging out with your friends that made you start to pull away.

It wasn't until one night when Tommy stopped by unannounced to Joel's and he didn't even know who you were. You drove home crying that night.

Joel found you the next day with flowers in his hands, apologizing over and over again. He made an excuse of not wanting Tommy to know about his private life and how he hadn't found the right time.

He swore he told Tommy everything that night and how he would get the three of you together soon. You took him at his word and you two ended up in the sheets once again.

Except this time it felt different.

Well, maybe we got lost in translation

Maybe I asked for too much

But maybe this thing was a masterpiece 'til you tore it all up

Runnin' scared, I was there

You decided you weren't going to just be compliant anymore. You were human and you needed, no you deserved more!

You brought it up one night and it became a huge fight. Screaming and crying, you two broke up.

You hadn't seen or talked to him for two months until those blue lines showed up on the pregnancy test.

And you called me up again just to break me like a promise

So casually cruel in the name of bein' honest

You called him after crying all night. He needed to know that you were pregnant with his child.

Joel almost let it go to voicemail, but he finally answered. But when he did, he wouldn't even let you speak. He just muttered an, "I'm busy." and hung up.

You cried all night for the second night in a row.

But then he watched me watch the front door all night

Willin' you to come

And he said: It's supposed to be fun turning 21

A week later and it was your 21st birthday. You decided to spend it with your parents since you knew if you spent it was Layla she would force you to drink. With your newly found condition, that was not possible.

All day and night you stayed in your room, not even wanting to eat. All you wanted to do was tell Joel. You hadn't even told your parents yet.

You wanted to keep the baby but you couldn't do it alone. At least you didn't want to do it alone.

It wasn't until your dad came to your room to try and coax you out, that you finally broke down and told them everything.

Time won't fly, it's like I'm paralyzed by it

I'd like to be my old self again

But I'm still tryin' to find it

After plaid shirt days and nights when you made me your own

A few more months went by and you were starting to show. You hadn't tried to make anymore attempts to contact Joel in a while. You decided to focus on yourself and the life you were growing inside of you. Whom, you found out at your last scan, was a girl.

You were out on night with Layla when you saw Tommy out on a date with some girl. Neither him nor Joel would've found out if it weren't for that night.

He saw you instantly and made his way over. He casually stroke up conversation, it felt more like a formality than anything.

You nervously swiped your hand across the table, knocking your fork to the floor. All eyes fell upon it.

"Oh, don't worry I'll get it." Tommy said as he knelt down.

As his hands gripped your fallen fork, his gaze began to move upward to your eyes but stopped at your swollen stomach. You cursed yourself for wearing something so tight tonight.

You gulped, letting his name fall past your lips. He stood back up and tried to wipe the shock from his face.

"Is that? Is Joel the..." His question trailed off, but you nodded still, knowing what he was asking.

"Y/N, why haven't you told him? He's been besides himself since the breakup."

You shook your head, "I tried, he just hung up on me."

Tommy put his hand on your shoulder.

"You need to tell him. He'll be happy, I promise."

You sighed and nodded your head solemnly. You knew you had to tell him, it was just so hard.

You went home that night and pulled out the flannel he had left at your place. You slept in it that night, his smell lulling you to sleep. Tomorrow was the day you would finally tell him.

Back before you lost the one real thing you've ever known

It was rare, I was there

The next afternoon you knocked on Joel's door. It was cold out, so you had bundled up a little more. Yet, there was still no hiding it.

His look of shock at your appearance was nothing compared to the look he made when saw your pregnant form.

He started to say something but you cut him off.

"Joel, just listen. I wanted to tell you, I tried but you kept hanging up on me and eventually I just kind of gave up. I never wanted to hide it from you. I never wanted to raise the baby without you but you had given me no choice. I saw Tommy last night and he said things that made me realize I needed to try again. So here I am."

There was a long silence between the two of you.

"Thank you." he finally uttered out.

"For?" You looked up at him, trying to read his face. All you were met with were those eyes you had grown to love.

"Everything. Showing me how to love. Giving me the greatest gift I could ever receive...for coming back." He reached out and touched your stomach. His hands moved slowly to your hips, pulling you towards him.

Leaning his forehead against yours, he finally said those three words you had waited so long to hear.

"I love you."

That's when you felt a raindrop fall on the top of your head. Both of your eyes met the sky to face the falling rain.

"It's raining." You said breathlessly.

"I'm not sure if that's a good sign or not." Joel said with a chuckle.

"I don't think it is, but I'm sure we can change that. I love you too."

He smiled and kissed you.

And did the twin flame bruise paint you blue?

Just between us, did the love affair maim you too?

'Cause in this city's barren cold

I still remember the first fall of snow

And how it glistened as it fell

You were now nine months along. You had moved in with Joel and even set up a nursery for your baby girl. Joel surprised you by painting her room purple, your favorite color. He had become that guy you had fallen in love with again and you couldn't be happier.

It was an even colder night when you woke up with a start. A shooting pain going through your spine. Shaking Joel awake, telling him you were sure you had just had a contraction.

He rushed around the house in a flurry, your eyes just following him around. He would've been making you dizzy if it weren't for the crippling moments of pain you kept feeling.

You yelled his name as another contraction hit.

"Joel, we have to go." He finally looked at you, doubled over in pain. He rushed over and tried to rub your back.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry darlin', I was so busy trying to get everything ready that I forgot how much pain you were in."

"It's fine, we just should go now before I have the baby in our living room. You can bring stuff to the hospital later."

"You're right. Let me help you to the car, baby."

Hours later and you were still having contractions but you were not getting any more dilated than before. The doctor came in to tell you they needed to do a C-section.

"A C-section? What do you mean? She can't give birth naturally?" Joel asked, confused. He seemed a little concerned as well.

"Well the baby just isn't moving along as much as we would like. So for both the baby and the mother's benefit we should do the Caesarean."

"it's fine, Joel, It's just a few cuts. We will be back to you in no time. Both of us." Joel looked at you and then back to the doctor for conformation, who nodded.

"Fine, but take care of her." Joel gave in, slumping down into his chair.

"Of course sir."

They took you away to surgery. Too long ago now for Joel's taste. Time was moving too slowly and Joel was losing it. Tommy had shown up about 30 minutes ago. He had been trying to calm Joel's worry this whole time.

The doctor finally came their way.

"Y/N Y/LN's family?"

Tommy and Joel nodded.

"The baby is perfectly healthy, congratulations you have a little girl. But, unfortunately, Miss Y/L/N began to hemorrhage as I was trying to sew her up. She lost a lot of blood and we were unable to find the source of the bleeding in time. She flatlined on the table and we were unable to revive her. I'm so sorry."

Joel just blinked at the doctor, it took him a minute to process the news. Then it hit him and he sunk down to his knees in the waiting room.

Tears began to fall from his eyes as the rain began to fall outside.

Wind in my hair, I was there, I was there

Down the stairs, I was there, I was there

Sacred prayer, I was there, I was there

It was rare, I was there, I was there

Joel didn't want to attend the funeral but Tommy made him, he said something about how the baby should be there.

He had named her Sarah. One night when you two were laying on the couch, watching a movie you had mentioned how much you liked the name. Joel made a mental note of it.

The three of them arrived at the funeral, Joel couldn't bring himself to talk to your parents. After their last interaction, there was no point. They had all but blamed Joel for your death. He even made Tommy bring Sarah over to them, knowing he couldn't do it himself. But they deserved to cuddle and love their granddaughter, after all it was the last part of you they had left.

As he watched the casket lower into the ground he remembered everything about you. The way you smiled, the way you laughed, the way you unconditionally loved him even after what he did to you.

Joel looked down to the baby in his arms. She looked so much like you. He promised himself he would protect her at all costs. He would protect her the way he couldn't protect you.

[idyllic-affections]

the contract's cycle.

summary. changsheng's contract is a cycle.

trigger & content warnings. angst angst and more angst on the side, mentions of death & chronic illness.

tropes, pairings, fic length, & other notes. angst, hurt/slight comfort. baizhu & reader. 0.7k words. they/them pronouns for reader. this post is an expansion of invisible disability? it's rather visible to me. this post contains spoilers for baizhu's story quest.

author's thoughts. i did baizhu's story quest (i am telling lies. i did not do it, i watched someone else do it on youtube. genshin burnout is REAL i swear). got fic inspo. wrote fic. this is a little messy but please spare me i wrote this on a whim at 10:30 at night HSKSHJFGFGD

baizhu, who does not want anyone else to fall victim to changsheng's contract, yet also does not want her to die as a consequence of having no host.

it takes time, but despite this, he eventually realizes that what he has with junior herbalist [name] is the virtually the same as an apprenticeship—it is the same as what he had with his master before him, and what his master had with his own master before him, and so on. baizhu only refused to label his relationship with [name] as such for fear of them becoming the next in line, should he fail to attain immortality.

he does not intend to fail, but he cannot deny that he may not be able to succeed, either.

he suddenly finds himself scared, because if he's become so close with them without even consciously realizing it... that means that something drew him in, that he is endeared with them like a parent would be to a child because they are undoubtedly very much like him—a selfless, gentle soul void of ill intent. that fact simply scares him. they're so young, too young. maybe they'll change as they get older. maybe they'll become less selfless and kind. maybe he should encourage them to be more selfish? perhaps that might change something?

(he is only fooling himself.)

[name] is a viable host for changsheng; she herself has confirmed it, albeit a little reluctantly, upon baizhu's request. "it is a matter of my host's natural temperament," she reminded, "and that does not change as someone gets older. you know this, baizhu."

baizhu is now terrified. his fear has increased tenfold, because they are already chronically ill. he was not necessarily so weak before taking on changsheng's contact; his current state is a consequence of transferring countless ailments onto his own body. if he is fated for an early death... archons, their death would be even earlier. his heart drops at the thought.

briefly, he wonders if his predecessors ever felt like this—did they, too, fear the deaths of their apprentices, or is it different in his case because of how young his is? is it different because, even though he hesitates to say it aloud, he thinks of them as his own child? or were all his predecessors the same way?

he doesn't realize it, but gradually, the liyuean doctor begins withdrawing from them.

[name] notices that baizhu seems to be engaging less with them, that he's less involved with them overall, and they worry about if they've somehow disappointed him. they become more fidgety and distressed during their work hours, always trying to understand what it is that they did wrong, and trying to amend it without even knowing what they did.

changsheng eventually exposes hers' and baizhu's shared secret because maybe she's seen a teacher and their student fall out and maybe she doesn't want to see it again. who knows? but baizhu sure as hell won't tell them, so she takes it upon herself to do so, and the doctor is helpless to stop her because she... is stubborn.

[name], though very worried, expresses little surprise once changsheng finishes her explanation. all they do is peer up with gentle sincerity directed mostly at baizhu. "changsheng isn't normal—no offense, changsheng, don't get mad—so... i somewhat figured that something like this was going on. it's not exactly uncommon in liyue. this is the nation of contracts, after all, but... why didn't you tell me sooner? are you worried that i would be her next contractee? is— is that why you're ignoring me lately?"

(changsheng forces baizhu to apologize to them for that. he didn't offer much resistance and was quick to console and reassure them.)

baizhu is now even more set on his quest than before, because he will not let another person fall victim to the contract's cycle, "fate" be damned. he will not let [name] fall victim to the contract's cycle.

([name] knows that deep down inside, if something ever happened to baizhu... they would take on changsheng's contract, because like all those before them, they do not want to see her die, and changsheng has, albeit begrudgingly, accepted that they are just like all their predecessors.

if there is a life in front of them that deserves to be saved, why shouldn't they do everything within their power to save it?)

please consider reblogging, it helps me out quite a lot!

[witchofimber]

Hey, for @thethreebroomsticksfic Weasley Week I decided to write the most angsty shit possible for Molly Weasley. Below is a preview, rest of the work is on AO3.

Trigger Warnings: Postpartum depression (including intrusive thoughts about harm coming to a baby), complex family relationships, grief, surgery mention, smoking.

“When I became a mom, no one ever said, ‘Hey, you made a death today. You made your children’s deaths.’ Meanwhile, I could think of little else.” - Samantha Hunt 

Families have mythologies. There are stories that Molly’s children pass around like calling cards, touchstones. Ron stealing that car, Fred’s first word being “George” and George’s first word being “No.” The fact that Percy was the only baby born exactly on his due date, contractions starting right at five as if he’d politely waited for the end of business hours. How Ginny, Charlie and Bill came early, but Ron and the twins came late. How Charlie’s labour was only eight minutes, and Bill’s was nearly forty hours. As if the circumstances of birth would press into her children like wax. See? I knew who you’d be even then. I knew you right from the start. You were always going to be this person. 

Here’s something that she doesn’t tell her children: that for almost every second of those forty hours of labour, nineteen and terrified, she wanted to die. She begged for it. She begged for Arthur, for her brothers, for her mother. She begged the doctor to cut her open. Hour thirty-five, thrashing on the table - just cut it out! Cut it out cut it out get it out of me! 

If there’s a shape of his birth in Bill, it’s made of agony. 

---

When she thinks of those first few years of Bill, when she was still half a child and yet somehow a mother - 

Well, mostly she doesn’t think of them. There’s really no reason to, not anymore.

But if she were to - 

Arthur was working long hours. He had to, of course - junior ministry salaries weren’t meant to support a family. Overtime was the only thing that was keeping them fed. And he was such a good father when he was home. Not a word of complaint, not a hint that he was tired. Go to sleep, love, you need a nap. I’ll look after my little Bill. 

It was that possessive my that made Molly dig her fingernails into her palms. 

Oldest sons always belong to their fathers, don’t they? Arthur would bounce Bill on his knee and says he could be an auror, he could be minister, he could be a curse-breaker - all these grand futures he didn’t get to have himself, poured into the body of his son. 

Molly looked at Bill’s chubby face and thought he could be charging into the line of fire, he could be the target of an assassination, he could die alone on the floor of a dusty vault. She fed Bill in the kitchen and thought about all the knives around them, the kettle sitting full and hot like a taunt. She bathed him with her heart in her throat, barely blinking. She was constantly aware of all the things that could hurt him, including herself. After all, she didn’t love the baby. 

At forty-six, she knows now that this kind of obsessive fear was love - love done poorly, love swallowed by self-loathing, a conviction that Bill knew she wasn’t good enough for him. At twenty she would lie awake at night, thinking of all the things she’d done wrong and pinching the inside of her wrist. 

---

One week after the end of the war, and Ginny is the only child still in the house. Molly thought, automatically, that the whole brood would fly home to her. In the summer, when her children were still children, she would stand at the twilight doorway with a sonorous to her throat and watch them race across the meadows towards her, the kitchen windows their lighthouse across a sea of dark. Tall, rangy Bill herding Fred and George, Ron and Ginny chasing each other in squabbling circles, Percy with a mouth already full of complaints and accusations, Charlie loping slowly, always last. But Bill is with his own family now. Charlie is in Romania. Percy writes her fearful owls and avoids his father’s gaze. George is apparently drunk in the flats of various friends. Ron bounces between George and Harry, trying to watch over them, flooing back home to grab soup and hangover potion. So only Ginny - her much-loved girl, her longed-for daughter, her baby - is in the house, and that fact should not fill Molly with dread. 

Ginny has recently adopted a sort of omni-benevolent glow towards Molly, a tacit acknowledgement that she forgives her mother everything. Molly can’t be too angry about this. She did the same to her own mother. 

One night, passing the washing up silently between them, Molly says, “You know - dearest - if you were pregnant, I would be there for you.” 

“What? Mum, I’m not pregnant. I’m not even - no.” 

“I - good, that’s good, but - you know, whatever you need, whenever you need it. I’ll be there for you. I’ll never abandon you.” 

“Ok.” Ginny shoots her a half-amused glance under her eyelashes. “Is this you angling for grandbabies? Because, like, I’m pretty sure I’m last in the queue for that.” 

Some days Molly cannot remember why she ever wanted a daughter so desperately. It’s just another set of fears. 

---

Charlie appeared like a miracle or a Muggle magic trick. Step right up, see the lady step into the Ministry elevator! Watch her as the doors close - do you see her put her hand on her stomach? That faint frown? And now, on the ground floor the doors open and - ta dah! A baby! 

(And blood, of course, and two very shocked aurors. And Molly sitting half-naked on the floor of the lift, staring at Charlie in her arms. Too confused to be anything else. What are you doing here? she’d asked Charlie with her eyes, and he’d stared back - I don’t know, what am I doing here?) 

When Charlie was eight, they’d lost him. She remembers standing at the kitchen door, all her other children crowded around her, as she called his name over and over again. Thinking, stupidly, don’t let your voice crack, you’ll scare the children. Arthur and Bill had gone out with lanterns, searching down creeks and up dale, their voices getting further and further away until they disappeared under evening birdsong. And finally, at midnight, Charlie had emerged from the trees - right next to the house, he’d only been hiding in the branches. He must have heard her calling. 

She floocalls him at four, which is six for him. She knows the time difference by heart. It’s a thought that hasn’t left her since Charlie moved away. She’ll be doing the last of the washing up at ten, thinking about how Charlie is probably getting his last drink of the night in. She’ll roll over on a sleepless night to see it’s three am and know that thousands of miles and two hours away, Charlie is just beginning to get up. She is so used to Charlie’s hand on the clock pointing at work that it has become invisible. 

“How’s things?” says Charlie, no hello. 

“Good,” says Molly automatically, then - “Well. No.” 

“No, yeah. No.”

“How are the dragons?” 

Molly knows a lot about dragons now. She reads books on them when she has the time, asks Hermione questions, idly browses through Ron’s Care of Magical Creatures textbooks. She is aware, in a way that makes her prickle with guilt, that she does this so she has something to talk to Charlie about. 

“Good. Well, Andrei has this bonkers idea that he won’t let go of - there’s only one Welsh Green stud left in Eastern Europe, so he’s talking about trying to crossbreed…” 

He rattles on. Molly listens, nods, asks thoughtful questions. At the end, he says - “And… well… the political situation.” 

“Oh?”

“It’s complicated.”

“You could come back - “ Home - “here.” 

Charlie snorts. “Oh, yeah, Britain. Very politically stable at the moment.”

“We could be together again. As a family.” She doesn’t say your family needs you. She has finally learnt, after years of mistakes, that that’s not a lever that will ever work on Charlie. “I could take care of you.” 

“I’m fine, Mum.” 

“I know, but darling - “

“I just - I need to be here, you know? Or I - I can’t be there. I can’t come back.” 

When Charlie had emerged from the trees age eight, looking cold and distant, she’d grabbed him by the shoulders and nearly shaken him with the force of her love. Where were you? What were you doing? Didn’t you hear me calling? 

I did, he said, I just didn’t want to come in. 

But why didn’t you come back?

He’d stared at her, a little blankly. I told you. I didn’t want to come in. 

Read the rest here

[hooked-on-elvis]

🥳 Happy Birthday to beautiful Jan Shepard! 🎂

Born Josephine Angela Sorbello on March 19, 1928, Jan is turning 96 years young today. ♥

Jan Shepard interviewed by Joe Krein (2007)

Joe: Can you tell me a little about yourself, where you were born and raised? Jan: I was born in a little town called Quakertown, Pennsylvania, in Bucks County. It’s about 40 miles north of Philadelphia. I had a wonderful time there growing up, it was a tiny little town and everybody knew everybody. You got to do everything when you were in high school. I was a cheerleader and a drum majorette. I was in drama. I loved growing up there.

(...)

Joe: Did you want to become an actress? Jan: Ever since I was in second grade I was Miss Cleanliness, in a way. I got up on that stage and something happened. I saw all those people and it made me want to do something nice. So I did two class plays. I did junior high and senior class plays as the leading lady. I did summer stock when I got out of high school. I did that for quite a while and that was great fun. Joe: So did you go to Hollywood and say “I want to be a star”? Jan: I went to New York first and I got a terrible cold. I had gotten a reference from Samson Raferson, who did a lot of plays. He lived in our area. He sent me to Sherill Crawford doing Brigadoon. So I went there and I could barely talk. You think to yourself once they see you that you would be in Broadway by the weekend. You just think that they are waiting for you. But she said go back home and do summer stock. Do as much as you can of that. It was one of those things that you are so eager and you had no clue as of how to become an actor. So I went back home and then I had a chance to visit some relatives in California. So I never went back to New York. Joe: So what studio did you sign up with? Jan: I did some things with 20th Century, but mostly I did television like ABC, CBS and then Paramount. So I was working all the time. The kids that were under contract with Paramount, they had a class picture taken, and I wasn’t in it because I was the only one working. Will never forget that. How I wish I was in that picture. Joe: You must see a lot of turn over, kids coming and then going home. Jan: Yeah. You know there is a lot of wonderful talent walking the street, and honestly it’s a matter of luck. Plus it helps with who you know. What helped me was I moved in with Amanda Blake from Gun Smoke. We shared an apartment and Ross Hunter had an apartment in the same building. I was working a regular job then. We would walk together in the morning to work. There was an agent that also lived in the building. I was out sunning myself one day and he came over and started talking. He said, “Do you need an agent?” I said yes. That’s how it all started. Quite by accident. Joe: You worked in television? Jan: About 500 episodes. I did so much television. I did so many pilots and series. One of my first series was with McDonald Carrie, who was Doctor Christian. I was a regular on that show. I did two soap operas. Day in Court and Clear Horizons. I did so many Westerns. Every show that was in the fifties and sixties, seventies. At least five hundred television shows.

(...)

Joe: Were you an Elvis fan? Jan: No (laughing). Joe: Don’t feel bad, a lot of people have said that to me. Jan: It was so funny because I was sitting with Dan Duriah. I was doing a two hour film. We were sitting on the set. I had the reporter in front of me and it said “ELVIS PRESLEY”. “What kind of a name is that?” He said, “I don’t know.” I said there’s some kid in the south called Elvis Presley. I said he’s never going to make it (laughing). That was the first time that I had ever heard of him. So I didn’t know who he was. I happened to like his voice. I liked his voice but I am not the kind of person who is adoring movie stars. There was maybe one or two that I adored or would like to work with, but I was never like those type of people. But once I met him, I just adored him. Joe: When did you find out that you were going to do an Elvis film? Jan: I was doing a play at Paramount, with Dolores Hart, who is my goddaughter. She is now a nun. Joe: Oh, yes, I know who she is. Jan: She used to be under contract with Hal Wallis. Dolores came up to me after work. She said, “Jan, there is a part in this movie I am going to do with Elvis Presley you would be perfect for. The part would be playing his sister.” I said, “Yeah, right, terrific.” I just let it go at that. But the next thing I know she calls me and says Hal Wallis wants to see you. “I’ve talked to him about you.” So I went up there. He said to me, “I would like you to make a test.” So they gave me the script. When I arrived at the studio, there was four other girls that were testing. I figured I would be the only one. I was in shock, I almost walked out. Peter Baldwin, who was playing the Elvis role, who was a friend of mine, he said, “Stay, stay. These other girls are no way better than you.” I was the last one to be tested. After I just went home and prayed that I would get this role. I got it!

Elvis, Jan and Dolores Hart on set during making of King Creole, 1958.

Joe: And this was for...? King Creole! That was Elvis’s favorite movie. Plus it’s the fans favorite movie. It’s also mine. Jan: Yes, it’s mine, too. But I have only seen two movies of his. I only saw them because I was in them. That’s nothing to do with Elvis. It’s just because I was working all the time. I was doing soap operas. Different scripts every day, learning new lines every day. You just don’t have the time to go out and see movies. I had no social life at all. If you do have five minutes on a weekend, you want to sleep.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Joe: Can you tell me how you met Elvis? Jan: When you’re assigned a film role, you have to go to the doctor, because of the insurance company. They have to make sure you don’t have a bad heart, any of that nonsense. They made my appointment for me at the studio, so I was there and I had on a white shirt and these slacks my mother had made for me that were like wine coloured. I went in the office and I was waiting to be called in. In walks Elvis with two of his buddies. I looked at him and he looked at me and we started to laugh. His jacket was the identical material and colour of my slacks. He looked at me and he said, “Honey, I’m either going to have to give you my jacket or you’re going to have to give me your pants” (laughing). That was my first meeting with Elvis. Joe: Goodness. Jan: Girl scout’s honour. Joe: Did you get along with Elvis? Jan: Oh, wonderful. He said if he had a sister, he wished it would be me. We got along so great because we worked alone the two of us the whole first week of the show. I would come to work and I would find on the set a pair of earrings he put there for me that cost about ten cents that he had liberated from the set. I have a marvelous picture where we are waiting to perform and we were just sitting down at the dining room table. I handed him this jewelry and I said I can’t take these from you, Elvis, you know it’s too much. You’re the last of the big spenders. He is there laughing so hard and they snapped this picture of the two of us. It’s a fabulous picture of him. But he would do little things like that. And he would play music on his guitar. He would ask me what I wanted to hear. Elvis loved Danny Boy.

Joe: Did you ever date Elvis? Jan: No, I was married (laughing). Joe: Oh, sorry, I didn’t know that. Jan: No, I was married, honey. But the thing was: Dolores Hart gave me a surprise birthday party. All the kids from Paramount studio were there. It was a big surprise to me. I was there for about ten minutes and in walks Elvis with the boys. He had this huge stuffed tiger under his arm. He knew I loved cats, so he had this stuffed cat and he named it Danny Boy. He gave me this big box. For weeks I had been asking Elvis for pictures that I could give the kids in my neighborhood when they had heard I was doing a picture with him. They all pleaded for photos of him. So I would always ask him for pictures for the kids. “Come on, please, I need pictures.” So he hands me this box and I placed it off to the side. He said, “Oh, no, you need to open that now.” So I opened it and it was a movie camera with a light bar and film. He said, “Now you can take your pictures.” You know if Colonel Parker was there, he would not had allowed that.

Early 1958. Elvis and Jan during surprise birthday party to Jan Shepard.

Joe: Oh, you’re right. Jan: Dolores said the next day she ran into Elvis and she said, “I was so surprised that you came.” He said I had to come, “She’s my sister. I wouldn’t miss her birthday party” (laughing). I ran into him in the studio. He said to me, “I hear Elvis was at your birthday party.” “Yeah, he was”. He said, “You know he never goes anywhere, people go to him, he never goes to other people’s homes.” Joe: That’s very true. Jan: I said I think we bonded a little bit. Joe: Was Elvis a good actor? Jan: Wonderful! Oh, just marvelous! I will never forget. You know every person that sings is a good actor. Because they have the sense of timing, the sense of rhythm, a sense of what words mean. He was a brilliant actor because he didn’t need any advice. He knew automatically what to do and act, as the show was going on. I kept saying to him, “Oh, Elvis, for God sake, you’re doing such a great job.” So one day we went for lunch. We were sitting there at a table and in walks Marlon Brando. Elvis was sitting with his back towards him. There was a table right behind Elvis that was empty, so Brando saw Elvis as soon as he walked in. So Brando got into the chair right behind Elvis. I said to Elvis, “Marlon Brando is sitting behind you.” Elvis said, “Oh, my God” and his head sunk into his sandwich. I said, “Look, he wants to meet you, I saw him looking at you, just say hi to him.” Well, that’s exactly what happened. He got up and bumped his chair. Marlon stood up and the two of them shook hands. They did a little small talking. Elvis was very cool. Elvis then walked out of the café very cool. But the minute we got outside he leaped up. He couldn’t believe he met Marlon Brando. He was so excited, we just danced all the way back to the studio. Then one day after the show had been released, someone sent me the review of King Creole. The title was “Bourbon Street Brando.” I raced over to Paramount and I grabbed Elvis and I said, “Look at this.” I showed him the “Bourbon Street Brando”, he just couldn’t believe it. I said, “See, I told you, you were going to be great in this!” Joe, Elvis was!

Scene of King Creole, 1958. Elvis as Danny Fisher and Jan Shepard as Mimi Fisher, Danny's sister.

Joe: Now you did another movie with Elvis. Jan: Yes, Paradise Hawaiian Style

Note: In Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966) Jan Shepard played Betty Kohana, wife of Danny Kohana played by actor James Shigeta who's a friend and eventual business partner of Elvis' character Rick Richards.

Joe: Can you tell me about that movie and how you got the part? Jan: I had gone over to Paramount to have lunch with Dolores Hart. She was getting a wardrobe fitting for some picture. I ran into Paul Mason. He said, “Hi”. He asked what was I doing there. He said, “Hey, we need a wife for Jimmie Sakita for a movie Elvis is doing. Would you be interested?” He said, “It’s not a huge part, but it’s a good part.” I said, “Yeah, ok.” He told me to go up and see Hal Wallis. “I will give him a call and tell him you’re coming.” So I went up there. Well, Hal Wallis’s office is full of art. He has originals of Remington’s and Chares Russell, all those wonderful western painters. I walked in and I said, “Oh, my God, you have a Remington!” I knew art because my husband is an artist. Hal Wallis was very impressed, he asked me if I wanted that role? Yeah, fine, that would be wonderful! That’s how I got the part. Joe: Now what did Elvis say when he saw you? Jan: Well, the minute he saw me he asked how was Dolores because now she has been a nun for the past year. And I said she was good, I’ve seen her, I’ve gone there. And Maria Cooper, Gary’s daughter and I were the godmothers for her when she went into the monastery. And I said, “I’ve been there and she’s doing great and she, you know, I said you know if they let me wear eyelash mascara, I’d go in that place and say it’s beautiful. She’s home. This is where she wants to be and he wanted to see if she was okay and how you were doing. You know, and I noticed he was not the Elvis that was the little teddy bear that would run across the stage and pick up and swing you around. He was not that anymore. Joe: He changed? Jan: He was never in his dressing room and you know King Creole. He is always out with a group and having fun and playing the guitar and, you know, just a lot of fun. And he went to his dressing room and it was closed and I noticed he was drinking a lot of water. He had lot of glasses of water and he was drinking. Also, there was an attitude that was so different. He was kind of jaded and at the movies, he and I knew Charlie Afura who did all his choreography. Charlie was showing him something on stage, some dance moves or something, and he was just looking at Charlie, like “Charlie, I’ve done this four or five times already. I know what you want,” because it was the same movie every time. Joe: Right. Jan: He was always doing the same movie and I know he was tired of it.

(...)

Joe: When was the last time you saw Elvis? Jan: I saw him in Las Vegas. We went to a Casers Palace and I was so disappointed because he was into the karate stuff and he was turning his back to the audience all the time. And I just wanted to just go up there and spank him, you know. Joe: Yeah. Jan: Because he was just not him. You know. I think that when his mom died, that was just a terrible blow and that if she had lived Elvis would still be alive today. Joe: Yeah. When you were working in the movies, did you have the chance to have one on one conversations? Jan: Oh, yeah, all the time. Especially on the Creole, but not as much on Paradise Hawaiian Style. Yeah, like on the weekend it had rained all weekend and on Monday morning when Elvis came into the makeup room and I said, “Well, what did you do this weekend?” “I was on the phone with my mom all day, I didn’t go anywhere.” He told me one time they were on the road and they stopped at a diner, this was in the fifties. This big guy came over to him and picked him up by his shirt. He said, “I don’t like you”. Elvis said, “What’s wrong?” “My wife carries your picture around in her wallet.” Elvis said, “Hey, sir, I’m sorry, but that has nothing to do with me. I’m sorry, she should do that.” He let Elvis down and they took off. He had so much of that we had to fake people out when Elvis left the studio. We would send out a limo, the fans figured Elvis was in it. But Elvis was getting shoved into a taxi in the back of the studio. Elvis would be laying on the floor. Elvis said, “I know they don’t mean to do it, but sometimes they hurt me. They grab at me, pull my hair”. They have scratched his eye while trying to get some of that beautiful black hair. “I’ve been hurt,” Elvis said. “That’s why I don’t go anywhere.” We had a lot of conversations. One time I said to Elvis, “Why don’t you record Danny Boy?” He loved that song because he would sing it to his mom. Elvis said, “They don’t want that. They won’t let me sing something like that.” It was so funny, one day Pat Boone came walking on the set. Elvis spotted him and he started singing April Love, just the way Pat would sing it. Pat just grinned from ear to ear, Pat then came over and they met. But he never had the chance to become apart of the young Hollywood scene, because he was afraid to go out with the other young people who were at the studio. If he went to go to a movie, he had to rent the whole theatre. You know, Elvis never had a dime on him, he would follow me to the apple machine. I said to him, “You want an apple, right?” “Yes, please” (laughing). He never had any money. Joe: I know that to be true all the way up to the seventies. His men would carry his money and his keys. When did you hear that Elvis had passed? Jan: I was sitting with a friend at her business. The phone rang and they asked if I was there. They asked me if I had the radio on or had been watching television. I said no, why? “Elvis died.” I just couldn’t talk. When I was able to talk, I said I was so angry at him. I was so angry I could not even cry. Because he was doing all the wrong things and he knew he was, damn it! I could see that when I went to see him in Vegas. I said to myself, “That’s not my Elvis.” Joe: But you know the man was the greatest entertainer of the 20th century. Jan: There will never be another like him. In the Creole days he was just a big teddy bear. I asked him one time, “Ok, Elvis, when did all this swinging your hips start? Why do you do that?” “I do it for fun, I know just when to break it off.” I used to watch the little negro boys in his town, how they would sit on the curbs and sing. And they would stand up and dance. He said that’s where he got that from. They would sing and move their hips.

(...)

Joe: Well, I would like to thank you for talking to me today. Jan: You’re welcome, Joe.

Phone interview with Jan Shepard, done by Joe Krein, on June 22, 2007. YOU CAN READ THE FULL INTERVIEW ON: ELVIS100PERCENT.COM

Early 1958. Home movie. Birthday party to Jan Shepard. ♡

[twenty-orange-balloons]

Okay, I've been seeing some ice skating AU's around lately and it inspired me to write something. Fair warning: it's not madam Yu friendly and mostly exposition and little dialogue. LWJ POV.

--

"Why don't you skate anymore?" Lan Wangji finally asked, three months after Wei Ying had finally returned to his life. Honestly, the words have been begging to be released as soon as Lan Wangji set eyes on Wei Ying again.

The other had disappeared four years ago, just before the final of the Junior Olympics for ice skating. It was a shock to everyone involved, the brilliant and charming skater that was a shoe in for getting gold, his performances always bringing emotional reactions out of his audience.

Lan Wangji can still remember when he performed a song called "In the mountains" a song about longing and remembrance of a love in the POV of a grieving man. It was supposedly composed by an ancestor of Lan Wangji's actually, which is how Wei Ying heard it the first time.

The movements and expressions Wei Ying was able to bring out on the ice would forever be stuck in Lan Wangji's mind. It's one of Wei Ying's best performances, according to both Lan Wangji and the internet.

But two days before the final of the juniors, Wei Ying pulled out. Nobody knew until the next day, when everyone got a message informing them of the change.

Lan Wangji remembers rushing to Wei Ying's hotel room, confusion and worry warring in his heart. It didn't matter how long he knocked on that door, Wei Ying never answered. He only learned later, after running down to the lobby to the reception, that Wei Ying had already left early the night before.

For four years, Lan Wangji had been searching for him, trying to figure out just why Wei Ying left. But all he had to go on was an angry Jiang Cheng and an unfamiliar stone faced Jiang Yanli. Neither would spill the answer.

Even his number had changed, and no matter how often Lan Wangji emailed him, he never replied.

Wei Ying completely disappeared from the world, taking Lan Wangji's heart right with him. So seeing him again, on that sunny Wednesday afternoon, looking healthy and happy, was both a relief and a hit to his heart.

Mostly though, Lan Wangji was just happy to have him back in his life. Yet the thought always remained, just what happened?

Wei Ying hummed, looking over the horizon, watching birds sail in and out of view.

They were currently at the top viewpoint of a mountain after hiking for nearly three hours. It was pretty empty, only a few people around, quiet and peaceful.

It was something they used to do together, in the off season. Neither of their families loved the idea of them risking a twisted ankle just to watch the sunrise. But they both enjoyed it too much to actually stop, even when Wei Ying left, Lan Wangji would find himself going on hikes.

Watching Wei Ying right now, Lan Wangji realized he didn't need to know, if Wei Ying wanted him to, he would tell him.

But just as he was about to apologize and retract his question, Wei Ying answered.

He spoke of his time with the Jiāngs, he told of how fierce and strict Madam Yu was during training, he let Lan Wangji in on the fact that Madam Yu rarely let him rest, made him train for hours and hours, pushing his body to the limit every time.

Until one night, Wei Ying's body finally had enough. Apparently, Wei Ying had been attempting a quad when his ankles gave out on the landing and he tripped, slamming his head into the ice.

He ended up going to the hospital, getting ten stitches and told in no uncertain terms, that he couldn't skate for at least a month. And even that was pushing it, according to his doctor.

Madam Yu was pissed. But Wei Ying later found out, she had been training Jiang Cheng to take over Wei Ying's choreography without telling either of them. As soon as she was able, she threw out his contract and told him he had to leave since he couldn't perform as his contract states he had to do in order to keep his place there, so he left.

It was a loophole Wei Ying had been unaware of, and one she utilized to its fullest. Jiang Yanli had not been pleased, according to Wei Ying, she had made a big fuss, arguing day and night with her mother, even Jiang Cheng tried to talk her out of it.

Lan Wangji couldn't believe the woman.

Taking advantage of a serious injury to throw out a teenager she didn't like. And the fact that the rest of the Jiāngs couldn't do anything about it because she was the major shareholder in the company –

It was despicable.

"She took my phone and canceled my room at the hotel. I didn't even need to pack since she hired people to do it, then took it out of my paycheck. She told me I wasn't allowed back at Lotus Pier or to see her children. She threatened to draw up a restraining order if I didn't listen. So I took what I could and left. I stayed with the Wen's for a few months, before getting a job as a tutor for music, then science too. Actually, I started volunteering as a substitute at a local elementary school."

Lan Wangji could just imagine how those lessons went. Wei Ying always had a way with kids that made Lan Wangji's heart race. He remembers catching Wei Ying helping out the younger skaters who would do homework in the waiting rooms, and the laughter and cries of gratitude that sounded afterwards.

Wei Ying shrugged "Honestly, I think I'm grateful it happened, not the way it did, and I definitely regret how I left everyone, you, with no explanation, but it gave me a chance to get myself together. To find out what I really want in life."

"And what's that?" Lan Wangji asked.

Wei Ying turned to look at him, the setting sun causing his face to glow, eyes bright and smile wide, he said, "This."

And then he kissed him.

[stupidiinspades]

the more i read on my own disaster man, the more i realise he has made himself an eldritch abomination in mortal skin and the feats he has performed are actual legitimate insanity.

such as (but not limited to):

-- selling, re-selling, and subletting his soul to so many demons that a] eventually no one knew who held the actual contract and b] he eventually was forbidden from death because should ANY of those demons attempt to collect- it would cause a massive war in hell. [solved at the end of Ennis' run- now the three big wigs of hell get it?]

-- his soul is in turn worth thousands after he redirected a curse lain upon him to 8000 civilians elsewhere. it's one of several reasons hell wants him so damn bad.

-- apparently he fucking blackmailed God?? (I need to find the context. because what??)

-- finally managed to kill nabu (the spirit of doctor fate's helmet) after it forced him to put it on (the consent issues in this man's life are insane) by thinking lightning quick and locking them into an astral plane spell known as the 'audience of anubis'. he then challenges nabu to a game wherein the spirit has to prove to john whether he's ever truly 'given a damn about anyone', with anubis presiding over the event. nabu fails, and john essentially gets anubis himself to judge and kill the spirit- thus freeing him.

-- has bound and sealed away the goddess kali. on a similar page he can also summon angels.

-- i also can't forget to mention the time he allowed himself to be killed, before deadass straight up walking out of the afterlife and resurrecting himself as the natural result of that.

just in a general sense this man is utterly insane. it's no real wonder being his friend ends up with one's life being miserable or forfeit. constantine is playing a cosmic game of poker at all times with a revolving door of players that range from dick joe junior demon to the highest powers of divinity imaginable.

[freifraufischer]

So you've come back to gymnastics since Tokyo because you are excited and French Gymnasitcs is on Fire and Everything is Terrible....

[This original post was written for Reddit to help catch people up on what was happening while they weren't paying attention]

Welcome to an overview of "Everything is not okay in France". Before I get into the details of what is happening in the French Gymnastics Federation (FFG) you should be aware that they are hardly the only French sports establishment gleefully lighting themselves on fire. In mid June the headquarters of the Paris organizing committee was raided by French Police as part of corruption investigations, the head of the French Olympic Committee has resigned after her predecessor announced he was filing a complaint about mismanagement of funds, the French National Assembly has started a commission to investigate abuse and corruption in French sports broadly ... oh and they still haven't signed the contracts for all the Paris Olympic venues including the Stade de France. If you want the lowlights of French Sports scandals this year @darthmelyanna posted a summary.

Specifically the FFG ... before Tokyo it was decided that to give the French team the best training environment all Paris hopefuls would need to move from their home gyms to centralized locations at Pôle Gym St-Etienne (in south central France) or INSEP in Paris. This is not the first time there has been a push to centralize French gymnastics and the last time it didn't go well either. There was a massive sexual abuse case at INSEP which was dropped because of the age of the suspect... so you know it's totally reasonable to trust the environment there.

Anyway... many of the most promising French gymnasts come from a club called Avoine Beaumont Gymnastique and their gymnasts did not want to move (either away from their family or their coaches with whom they saw success). According to the coaches at Avoine-Beaumont the centralization push is about the ambitions of national team staff wanting to take credit for successes at the home Olympics and there is a lot of circumstantial evidence to suggest this true. The Avoine-Beaumont coach had been offered a job at INSEP and was previously on the national team staff but when he did not take the job he was forbidden to travel with his gymnasts.

According to Carolann Héduit (a French national champion and a European medalist) the FFG called her weekly to pressure her to move--including while she was in Tokyo at the Olympics--and have told her that her national championships mean nothing and they even pulled her funding only restoring it after there was national press attention. She has described the psychological impact as heavy and her parents and coaches believe the French federation are attempting to break her.

Her team mate Kaylia Nemour was probably the most promising French junior of her generation. She also refused to move and after a surgery when her own doctor approved her return to training the French federation's doctor--without examining her--not only refused to allow her to return to competition, but also said that she could not return to training and initiated an abuse investigation into her coaches. He had the authority to refuse to allow her to compete, he did not have the authority to tell her she could not train. He tried to publicly say he never did that but Nemour's mother had the letter in writing and posted it on twitter. Facing the prospect of not being able to compete Nemour switched to Algeria but the FFG opposed the country change meaning she couldn't compete for a year. That would have prevented her from competing at this year's world championship and most of her best opportunities to qualify for Paris. This was only reversed at the intervention of the French Minister for Sport the literal week before the 2023 African Championships where she qualified for Worlds. She has a VERY good chance of winning a medal on bars in Paris. Yet another Avoine-Beaumont junior's family is voicing that they may also be looking at a country change...

All while this is going on Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos was given leave to train in the United States at WCC. No one is clear why she was given this exception. Some fans have speculated that it is because she is from Martinique which is in the Caribbean and she wants to be closer to her family... but it is neither cheaper nor faster to travel from Houston to Martinique then from Paris to Martinique. MDJDS has talked about how it takes basically 24 hours for her to travel from Martinique to basically anywhere and because Martinique is a French department there are direct flights from Paris and no such thing from Houston. As of this post it would cost between $690-730 to fly from Paris to Martinique and almost $1200 to fly from Houston to Martinique. MDJDS is also not been treated super well when she has gone home to compete. Her WCC coaches were not allowed to stay with her in the week before the Paris World Challenge Cup and when she showed up the French National Team staff decided they didn't like her technique on one of her releases and decided to retrain it. A week before competition. It did not go well. She had a generally good 2023 French Championship but the difference between her being allowed to train in the states while the Avoine-Beaumont gymnasts are being put through hell to force them to leave home is... a choice. And not one I think anyone can explain.

While this was going on the Pôle Marseille was closed down after it's head was convicted of "moral harassment." One of the longest running French gymnastics meets Gym Massilia was abruptly cancelled last year and though it was said it would be back this spring... it's July and that hasn't happened.

All of this has been about WAG but it's also worth mentioning that the French federation hired Vitaly Marinitch to be the head coach of the French team. He had been publicly fired from USAG for drunkenly groping the wife of an athlete. In under 2 years the French also fired him for "alcohol related incidents".

A lot of this came to a head last month when a French sports television program aired a segment including many former French national team members describing physical and verbal abuse. It's... a hard listen if you can find a copy though the versions on youtube have been copywrite striked so I can't link it. The French Minister of Sport acted the next day ordering Nemour to be released to compete for Algeria and investigations into the coaches described in the report, as well as a "speedy conclusion" to the investigation into Avoine-Beaumont. The FFG has down played and been dismissive of the entire thing. Even claiming that the TV team did their investigation... because of Larry Nassar. But hey... the French gym fed president gets to spend a lot of time now answering questions before the National Assembly's investigative commission.

That's pretty much the state of everything right now... but please indulge me as I give a brief explainer about how France does not work the way you think it might. France is divided into administrative units called departments (think provinces or states). There are two "kinds" of departments those of Metropolitan France (the area you probably think of when you think of a map of France) and the départements et régions d'outre-mer or Overseas Departments. There is NO difference under French law between the two. Marine Boyer is from the French department of Réunion which is in the Indian ocean and MDJDS is from the French department of Martinique in the Caribbean. They are both full French citizens and their home departments have representation in the European Parliament. Does this sound very Colonialism-y or Empire-y to you? Of course it does. You wouldn't be wrong. But this does not change the reality of how French citizens are treated under the law. French political society highly values the idea that all French citizens are equal under the law and it would be deeply offensive to that power structure to suggest that a French citizen should be treated differently based on if they came from a Metropolitan Department or DROM.

One other side note: Many believe Avoine-Beaumont pushes too much difficulty too young. I am among the people who believes that. But there is also no evidence that they are doing anything different than would be done at INSEP. It's completely possible to side eye the pacing at Avoine-Beaumont and also think that they are the victims of a power grab. While I do not know of any complaints by current gymnasts against Avoine-Beaumont there is some evidence from the London quad of restrictive diets and abuse.

[thepixelelf]

this is definitely a stretch but a slightly off kilter dimension 20: mentopolis au where, consider Jeon Wonwoo, "junior researcher at Gobstopper Industries, a retro-futurist conglomerate, working on all sorts of amazing art deco technology in a gilded, non descript, past-like past..." ("gah, he paints a picture with his words!" 03:12) who works in the neuroscience department, kind of a loner, always focused on his research. Often closed off because he is led by his logic and ambition. Pushed down his sense of conscience years ago because of an incident involving an ice skate to the face but he doesn't like to talk about that or frankly even think about it so... work it is.

Anyway, one day Mr Big Boss Guy walks into Wonwoo's office/lab with you, and he introduces you to him as a specialist in projectiles. You two are going to be working on the new Psychometer project together. Wonwoo just nods, shakes your hand, and registers your sweet nice to meet you smile too late because he's already turned back to his calculations and now it would be too awkward to say nice to meet you too and damn it, why is he so damn awkward?

You don't pay it much mind— you've met plenty of awkward, shy nerds at Gobstopper Industries and while Wonwoo is maybe one of the nicer looking ones, you're no stranger to clipped greetings and noses buried in research. You yourself are quite the nerd, anyway, so it's no skin off your back.

[warning: fake science ahead! also cw for guns!]

For a while you two just work on your own things— him with his weird neuro something something tech, and you with your projectile prototypes. You're signed on as a temporary contract, so Mr Big Boss Guy never really told you what kind of thing you're making the projectiles for. But it does occur to you at some point... why would you put a projectiles guy and a neuro guy on the same project? What the heck are you even building?

So you ask him. "Hey, Jeon. Can I call you Jeon?"

He seems a bit jumpy at the sudden appearance of your voice, which is fair since you guys haven't really talked in the days since you started working together, but he turns to look at you and eventually nods.

"What is it exactly that you're researching?"

"Well... it's— it's... uh..." And it takes him a couple seconds to get his bearings, but then he goes on about brain waves and electrons and oxytocin and aromatherapy and a lot of other stuff that you honestly don't understand much of, but the more he speaks, the more you realize he's very much into all this research he's done. "It'll be a pioneer in mental health, this machine. If we can go into the mind and find exactly what's wrong— just imagine what that can do for the world."

You try to. You think about how the whole "mental health" thing is just starting to get on the public's radar, and what it would mean if doctors could just... look in there and then tweak the undesirable bits. Huh.

"That's fascinating," you tell him, not seeing the way his eyes practically light up at your, albeit monotone, interest. "And... why am I making it into a gun?"

At that, Wonwoo just blinks. "I... don't know. I think the decision came from marketing? Perhaps they think it will be more valuable if the machine is portable."

"Portable, huh," you mumble, but you don't say anything else. Wonwoo goes silent too because he literally cannot carry a conversation (esp with someone he finds smart and attractive) unless he is answering questions. So, you both just go on with your work.

Until another day, after you dropped off the latest prototype on the boss' desk, when you ask Wonwoo, "Hey, Jeon, with your mind reader thingy—"

"It's not a 'thingy'," he interrupts with an almost imperceptible pout, but you catch it and smile at how oddly cute your fellow researcher is.

"Okay, your Psychometer..."

(His eyes light up again. They keep doing that.)

"...is it only for looking?"

He frowns, not understanding. "What do you mean?"

You tilt your head to the side, tapping your sharpened pencil on your desk. "I mean... can you use it to do anything about the stuff it sees?"

"Tampering with the brain is an extremely dangerous endeavour. There's no telling what could happen if the Psychometer were used to manipulate emotions or desires—"

"Wait, so it can be used like that?"

Wonwoo's frown deepens, he scoots to the edge of his chair towards you, one hand on his knee. "No. The technology could potentially be altered to manipulate the brain, yes, but the result could be disastrous—"

You jolt up onto your feet. "It's a mind control device???"

"I don't think you understand—"

But you're not listening to him anymore. You lean over your workspace, eyes darting over all your blueprints and scrap metal prototypes. "Holy shit," you mutter to yourself. "And I designed it into a weapon..."

You didn't always know there was something off about Big Boss Guy, but after meeting and getting to know Wonwoo and his research, you thought it was a little strange. Big tech industries like Gobstopper don't care about the good of the people like Wonwoo does... they care about money. And Big Boss Guy always seemed so smug when you updated him on the Psychometer project... yeah, a patent for a brain scanner would probably make him millions... but a mind control device? He could move to fucking Mars if he sold it to the right people.

Or used it on the right people.

In a frenzied panic, you begin swiping your hands over your desk to try and collect all of your research into a pile, while Wonwoo watches you with his confusion mounting.

"What are you—"

"Wonwoo," you breathe out, heart beating much faster than healthy. "Can I call you Wonwoo?" You don't wait for his answer; you're not even looking at him. "You need to get all your shit on a hard drive, and then you need to delete it from every Gobstopper computer—"

"What? Why would I—"

You walk straight up to him and put both your hands on his arms. If he wasn't confused and defensive right now, he'd probably be flustered.

"We made a fucking mind control gun, Wonwoo. Do you know what that means?"

Who is he kidding? He's flustered. He shakes his head.

You close your eyes as you let out a sigh. "We made a weapon. A very dangerous weapon. And the only way to stop it from going to the wrong people is if—"

Wonwoo watches you stop, and it's not like when he can't continue speaking because he doesn't know the answer, or when you pause because you thought of something funny, like you often do, but you actually freeze. Your mouth stays slightly open, caught in whatever you were going to say next, and your arms go stiff. Wonwoo is about to speak when he hears his boss' voice from the entryway.

"The wrong people?" he says, calm as ever as he lowers the Psychometer prototype he'd just had pointed in your direction. "C'mon, Jeon. You know I'd never put this in the wrong hands." He admires the machine in his hand. "It's much better off with me, don't you think?"

It's not that Wonwoo has no idea what the fuck is going on. In fact, thanks to you and your recent revelation, he finally actually knows what the fuck is going on.

It's just that he has no idea what the fuck to do now.

"You can't— this—" He looks at you, who have never been so close to him for so long, and right now it's completely against your will. He hates that thought. "Whatever you did with the Psychometer, turn it off! Reverse it, just— let them go!"

His boss shows off a mocking pout. "But they were saying such mean lies, Jeon. I told you: this machine is going to change the world. Don't you want that?"

"Not like this!"

"Tell you what, Jeon," his boss says, unfazed. "How about you finish doing your job like you were asked, and I make your little projectile friend fall in love with you, eh? You'd like that, wouldn't you? I see the way you look at them when you think no one's watching."

Bile threatens to rise up Wonwoo's throat. To make you like him— no, he never wanted that.

"Don't," he growls.

"Alright, alright. Then I guess I'll just have to offer a slightly worse deal. You make me my fully functional Psychometer, and I don't go through all the steps up to making their death look like an accident." He pulls out a sleek, silver gun and points it straight at you.

"Fine— fine!" Wonwoo holds out a hand, the other one now holding onto your arm. "I'll build it, but..." He bites the inside of his lip. He hasn't taken anything close to risk in years. "...but I need their help."

His boss raises a brow. "I don't think they're gonna want to be helpful."

"I'll make sure the comply," Wonwoo assures him, although he's not that confident in his ability to convince you.

He just needs you back to normal.

His boss clicks his tongue and tucks away his gun. A long time ago, he told Wonwoo he liked him because he listens well to authority. "Alright, Jeon, but make sure they do, and fast. Otherwise, I'll have to find somebody else for the job."

Wonwoo doesn't miss the thinly veiled threat, but he pays no attention to it. His boss points the Psychometer at you once again, and with a gasping breath, you fall to your knees. Wonwoo immediately joins you at your side, not hugging you like he kind of wants to, but patting your back as you cough.

Faintly, he hears his boss ordering people to barricade both exits from the lab.

"Holy..." You gag, and cough, and almost throw up, but don't. "...shit."

"Are you alright?" Wonwoo asks.

You whip your head to glare at him. "Am I alri— Wonwoo, do you know what you just agreed to?!"

So you heard everything, huh.

(It's not what he should think about first, he knows that, but Wonwoo feels heat on his face knowing that you heard his boss talking about the way he looks at you.)

"It was the only way for him to unfreeze you..."

At that, your panic and anger soften. You sigh. "I... Thank you."

"You're welcome," he says automatically, then cringes at how the words sound.

"You know I'm not helping you make that thing, right?"

Wonwoo nods. "I don't want to make it either."

"Good, then..." You stand up, Wonwoo keeping his hands hovered only inches away in case you're unsteady on your feet, and you reach into one the the inner pockets of your labcoat.

From which you pull out a grappling hook.

Wonwoo's eyes widen, and he has half the mind to ask you if you keep one of those on you at all times (???), but you stride past him to look out the floor to ceiling windows of the lab— which is four floors off the ground.

You turn to him with a sickeningly sly grin. "You ever looked at a window and asked yourself if you could break it with a good ol' shove?"

Wonwoo shakes his head, incredulous. "No!"

"Well." You shrug, going to grab as much of his and your paperwork as you can and stuffing it into your bag. "It's either the window, or mister 'I'm gonna rule the world' out there."

Wonwoo weighs his options. On the one hand, you're...

Well, you're there.

And, okay, on the other is a guy with two different guns, so...

Wonwoo goes over to his computer, taps at a fews keys, and initiates a total manual reset.

Once he turns back around, you've already started tying rope around yourself. "Get over here," you grunt.

And so Wonwoo lets you literally tie him to you, and then he jumps out of a god damn fucking window.

and that's all for this episode of diMEN—

[canigetuuu]

that skater au gave me brain worms so. just. take whatever this is. I'm so tired.

John

started figure skating young

his dad was a genial and well respected business manager at a rink in Washington sponsored by the prestigious Skaianet Systems Inc, which brought major players like the vaulted Roxanne Lalonde to Olympic gold stardom

he's just a decent man though, trying to support his family

he brought John to the rinks sometimes and taught him to skate just for fun

however, John soon started showing a prodigious talent for it, and Dad Egbert was so so proud of him for it

John liked skating well enough at the time, and was kind of hoping that maybe if he took up skating his dad would axe the whole harlequin thing

(which he did)

(mostly)

at sixteen, after winning a few pretty impressive medals in the junior category, John was ready to call it quits and retire the professional skates

Tragically, however, it was around this time that James "Dad" Egbert, who had always been so supportive of John's skating, died very suddenly.

John grieves in a very particular way. He often gets (home)stuck in a version of denial which often looks like radical acceptance.

He is in fact actually very fucked up right now.

Vriska Serket, a young and notorious athlete turned coach who John had been working with for the last year or so at that time, pulls a Vriska, and hamfists John back into skating.

With her guidance, John becomes one of THE top US figure skaters, and at age 21 is ready for his second foray into the Olympic scene.

The winter Olympics are in less than a year, and John has taken up training in Vancouver...

Dirk

took up street hockey as a teen in his home town of Houston, Texas with his kid brother Dave, who said it was the height of irony to play a winter sport in the hottest place this side of satans tight asshole

Dave never liked it as much as Dirk did though

probably because Dave liked not fainting from heat stroke

I know, Dave is so weird

It got them out of that apartment though.

... (<- Bro silence being very loud)

Anyway

At 16, Dirk got scouted by a pale man in a suit working for a company called Abraxas, which he said was looking for young athletes to sponsor. <- very believable

That's very rude. I never lie.

And please, call me Doc Scratch.

Is it normal for traveling salesmen to have doctorates?

Oh it's not a title, though I imagine it would be very easy for me to acquire one. Haa haa, hee hee.

...

Things got very messy and horrible very quickly.

Events culminated in an extremely high profile law suit, where Dirk and many other athletes were represented by the Pyrope Firm to take down Abraxas, Doc Scratch, and his boss Lord English (H3'S SO PR3T3NTIOUS, UGH) and to free them all from their horrifying contracts

Pyrope won.

For now.

At age 18, Dirk had a scandal behind him, a kid brother to take care of beside him (the Bro silence got quieter), and a veritable mountain of legal reparations ($$$) to get him into any college he wanted.

...

dude, just go to the hockey school

I could support you better with a law degree.

After Dave had to go to the hospital due to the force of his laughing fit giving him a hernia, Dirk decided to go to the hockey school.

He joins the team there, and does well enough to get into the Big Leagues once he graduates with a combob philosophy/comp sci degree.

the Big Man. he is you

Dave, despite having a literal athlete brother, still has no idea how sports work.

And neither do I, so just assume that Dirk does really well and gets on a good team and is very normal about everything.

He is especially normal when, at age 24, he has to move to Vancouver, Canada since he got swapped to a different team and Dave doesn't come with him.

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUn

Bonus notes

Rose is John's friend who is also a figure skater. She's got a very turbulent relationship with her mother, former Olympic skater Roxanne Lalonde, which drags down her genuine love for skating with the weight of legacy.

John and Dave are internet friends who don't know each other's last names, and while John knows a lot about Dave's life, he keeps his own private.

Dirk started playing hockey not for the ironies like Dave thought but because his online friend Jake said he thought hockey players were cool, and Dirk had a crush on him.

Dirk and Jade went to the same college (she was home schooled and started college early) and took a robotics class together for two semesters. They're still friends to this day, though Jade actually is an engineer now.

Guess where she's interning.

(Psst, it's Skaianet)

Vriska stopped being a skater after a string of incidents involving two other former skaters and a lawyer, which resulted in her being banned from ever competing again. One is now in a wheelchair and the other quit the ice skating thing completely. Ghosted it, if you will. wonk.

Aradia is a roller derby skater, and she is incredibly hot. She might show up in the hypothetical actual fic i write for this au. Because I love her.

Me being me i'll probably find a way to include everybody else in this au, but for now, that's all. Ta.

[weiying-lanzhan-fics]

Insert Coin Now for Extra Life by TriviasFolly

Perfection!

Really enjoyed this story and was soooo excited to see it complete. Loved them slowly learning about each other and falling in love. Has been a wonderful ride - soft WangXian 🥰🥰🥰🥰

Quotes:

Except Lan Wangji wasn’t a frustrated closeted gay boy anymore. Now he was an alpha who was secure in his sexuailty, and more importantly good at getting what he wanted. He’d been working for Lan Corporation since he started college. He’d been closing deals since the summer before his junior year, his ‘harsh’ nature being preferred for hard sells over brother’s polite smiles. 

A soft knock on the door pulled Lan Wangji out of his thoughts. He looked up to see his brother’s head poking in. Lan Wangji waved him in, moving to slide the newspaper clippings back into the file they came in. 

“I thought you’d want to see this,” Lan Xichen held up a file in his own hand. 

“I was-” Lan Wangji shifted. 

“Wangji, spare me.” Lan Xichen smiled as he approached the desk. 

“Researching,” Lan Wangji finished. “For our upcoming business venture.” 

“Wangji, Jiang Wanyin turned us down.” Lan Xichen sat in one of the chairs in front of Lan Wangji’s desk. His hands folding over his knee as he crossed his legs, a natural ease Lan Wangji envied. “We can’t force him to make a deal with us.” 

“We won’t,” Lan Wangji’s gaze flickered back to the paused still of Wei Wuxian on his screen. “He’ll come to us.” 

“Jiang Wanyin made his opinion quite clear.” 

“Not him,” Lan Wangji looked back at his brother. “Wei Ying.” 

“And you think this why?” Lan Xichen arched an eyebrow. 

“Devotion,” Lan Wangji hummed. “To his pack, even back in highschool.” 

————

“I know,” Wei Wuxian shifted awkwardly. He felt a sense of shame come over him. He closed his eyes, as if it would make admitting it easier. “Lotus Pier Industries debts aren’t all we’re dealing with. I’m already behind on Yanli’s hospital bills, and I’m barely paying for our motel room. Not to mention I’ll have to deal with my student loans eventually. I know traditionally marriage contracts are expected to quickly produce children, but I can’t leave my family hanging. I’ll do whatever I can to make it up to you, but I can’t afford not to work. I need my jobs, however crappy they might be.” 

“Do you enjoy your job?” Wei Wuxian’s eyes flew open.

“That’s not the point,” Wei Wuxian protested. “I need it.”

“Do you enjoy your job?” Lan Wangji repeated. Wei Wuxian sighed, recognizing that old Lan stubbornness. 

“No,” Wei Wuxian raised a hand to his temple to rub it. 

“Then quit,” Lan Wangji replied. 

“Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian breathed “It’s not that easy!” 

“It is,” Lan Wangji replied, reaching into his jacket. He placed a black credit card on the table. Wei Wuxian’s eyes bulged out of his head as he saw his name on it. “Which hospital is Yanli in?” 

“General,” Wei Wuxian replied, the sight of his own name embossed on the card stunning him into answering. 

“I’ll see that she’s transferred to a Lan owned hospital.” Lan Wangji nodded, his hand slipping into his suit coat again and withdrawing a phone. “I’ll make sure the doctors examine her situation and see if there is anything that can be done to speed up or improve her recovery. Please get me the information on your student loans, as well as any other outstanding bills, and we can get them paid off.” 

Wei Wuxian found himself speechless. He swallowed around the dangerously large lump in his throat, feeling tears prick at his eyes again. Lan Wangji’s hand reached out, pushing the black card closer to him. 

————

Wei Wuxian stared at him in surprise. His brain slowly shifted the pieces together. Jiang Cheng had said he smelled weird, like an alpha. His mind flashed back to the kiss, specifically the way the kiss was the reason his headache had faded. It had been because Lan Wangji had scented him during it. His request for him to wear a ring. His sweater. Subtle ways to mark his territory. Who would have guessed Lan Wangji had a jealous nature? And that it could be formed that quickly. 

“He’s my brother,” Wei Wuxian laughed, more in shock at his realization. He saw Lan Wangji shift, subtly showing his neck in a show of submission. Like a child who knew he’d done something wrong. He reached up, lifting Lan Wangji’s face so he could look him in the eye. “What what are you suggesting?” 

“If we were married tomorrow,” Lan Wangji started. “You could move in with me. I could take care of you.” 

————

“Although I am pretty sure you could read a dictionary and I’d like it,” Wei Wuxian snorted. 

“I have a dictionary,” Lan Wangji replied, the corner of his mouth ticking up. It pulled another beautiful laugh from Wei Wuxian.

“Maybe I should put you to work reading me something a little more,” Wei Wuxian smirked as he looked up at him. “Stimulating.” He finished with a whisper and a wink. 

“I’m not reading your werewolf smut out loud,” Lan Wangji replied flatly. Wei Wuxian cackled, turning to bury his head into Lan Wangji’s neck to muffle the sound. It thankfully kept Wei Wuxian from noticing his bright red ears. 

E, 201k

Summary:

Aware that his social skills are better for closing business deals than attracting a mate, Lan Wangji had resigned himself to a lonely life. Until a video from an unknown 'friend' not only brings his high school crush back into his life, but reveals their status as an omega. It ignites a spark in Lan Wangji, pushing him to make Wei Wuxian his mate no matter the cost.

Wei Wuxian's last few months have been hell. After surviving the fire that burnt down the Jiang Estate, which killed his adoptive parents and landed his sister in a coma, he and his brother learn their parent's company had debts. Debts the Wens are now coming to collect. Barely able to keep his brother fed and housed, Wei Wuxian realizes he has one last card that might be able to keep his brother out of jail. His status as a male omega.

@triviasfolly

[professional-benaddict]

Omega Tony, Alpha Stephen and their pup Peter - 1/2

an AU created by @starksvinyls and @professional-benaddict

Omegaverse, mild descriptions of birth and c-sections, enemies to friends to lovers, whump, fluff, 0.7k

Single omega Tony is the one who carried Peter, but how that came to be is a long story.

In the spring, Tony finds out he is pregnant. A bit of backtracking reveals that Tony got knocked up by Stephen Strange, an arrogant and selfish surgeon that Tony met at a gala a few weeks back. The Alpha disappeared from Tony’s life as fast as he entered it in the first place. Tony wants to tell Stephen that he is pregnant with his pup, but the doctor totally ignored Tony when he tried to contact him. Tony becomes petty and makes no second efforts to let Stephen know. 

Eight months later, Tony is just at home when he starts feeling some concerning symptoms. He is not sure if the pains are contractions, but he is concerned enough to head to the ER. If Tony was not so blinded by panic and worry for his pup, he would have headed to a hospital that Stephen does not work at. 

Instead, Stephen is the only available doctor in the ER when Tony comes in. Tony outright growls at Stephen when he recognises him and cradles his swollen belly. A nurse is helping Tony stand and they look at Stephen with a look that says “a little help maybe?”. Stephen finally snaps out of it and helps Tony to an exam room in the ER. 

If Tony is not crying and screaming in pain and fear, then he growls insults at Stephen. The nurses exchange a few looks as they slowly realise that Stephen could be the patient’s pup’s Alpha. The doctor himself pays the omega’s insults no mind and focuses on examining him and figuring out why Tony is in early labour. However, they do not have much time, as the pup is deciding he is being born now. Stephen has no choice but to do an emergency C-section. 

When Tony hears that he needs a C-section, he becomes even more terrified, especially since he came into the hospital alone. Rhodey is deployed, he would never ask Obadiah, and he does not feel that close to Pepper yet. Tony’s distress is making his pup even more distressed. All the nurses are betas and all their attempts at calming Tony fall flat, so Stephen has to step in and use his Alpha pheromones to calm Tony down. And because the pup is his, the pup also calms down when Tony does. 

Stephen is just trying to help because the smell of distressed omega is a lot to handle, and even more so when they have been intimate and he subconsciously knows that the pup is his. Thanks to Stephen’s pheromones and the sedatives and pain management he ordered for the surgery, Tony only cries a little on the operating table. 

During the actual C-section, Stephen becomes quiet and entirely focused on the surgery at hand. He is skilfully quick, and soon he has the pup in his hands. A few nurses and another junior doctor come to help Stephen with the pup since he is a few weeks premature. At first, the pup does not cry, but after some rubbing and coaxing from Stephen, the pup lets out a piercing scream. Tony chuckles tearily on the table at the sound of his precious pup. 

A nurse cleans the pup and swaddles him in a blanket when Stephen has done a few checks. The pup seems healthy and well, so a prolonged hospital stay in an incubator is not needed. Now that the most dramatic part is over, Stephen finally steps out of himself. Through his surgical mask, he catches a wiff of the pup and realises he smells himself mixed with Tony. It takes a few seconds for it to sink in for Stephen that he is holding his son. 

“My pup! I want my pup!” Tony cries. 

“He’s a good pup.” Stephen replies, coming over to Tony with the crying pup. “You got some proper lungs there, based on your screaming. Time to meet your dad, pup.” 

Tony gasps in awe at seeing his pup and holds him up to his lips. 

While sewing up Tony, Stephen can hear the omega whisper. It seems he named his son Peter. Stephen thinks it is a beautiful name, and blinks rapidly to prevent himself from tearing up. 

Stephen comes to check on Tony later that day, but the omega is asleep, exhausted after his emergency surgery. Peter is sleeping soundly as well in a crib next to his dad. The Alpha exists quietly, not feeling entitled to seeing his son, especially when Tony is not awake. 

part two

[saintsenara]

as they should

solidarity with all junior doctors striking today - and it's always worth drawing attention to the fact that the starting salary for juniors in northern ireland is at least £3000 lower than someone on an equivalent contract in england, for reasons i've never fully been able to discern.

[glitchedgoalie]

☆ –– (mason gooding, he/him/his, cismale) who is TYLER KING anyways? ew. you don’t know about HIM, we’ll bet you want to. they’re feeling TWENTY-EIGHT and BAKING COOKIES feels like a perfect night to them. rumor has it they’re MOODY and CLINGY because they care, but they’re also PATIENT and HONEST in the best way. HE works to make a little money as a(n) (BACKUP) GOALIE FOR THE NEW YORK RANGERS. they’ve rented a place on cornelia street in the form of AN APARTMENT. GLITCH(A)/HITS DIFFERENT (A) is the song they could dance to the beat of forevermore.

basics.

full name: tyler james king. nicknames: most people go with ty. some people go with tj.his teammates call him kinger, mostly. gender/pronouns: cismale/he/him/his. sexual orientation: bisexual. birthday: february 28th. star sign: pisces are known to be adaptable, creative, romantic, intuitive...and indecisive. occupation: backup goaltender for the new york rangers. character inspo: take the best part of the scott brothers from oth and put them together, also a little bit of matt saracen from friday night lights.

personality.

positive traits: intuitive, patient, kind, creative, adaptability. negative traits: clingy, moody, sometimes obsessive/one-track minded, indecisive. hogwarts house: i know jkr sucks and we do not claim her but the she is a burned gryffindor (bottom third). alignment: chaotic good ennegram: 2w1 personality type: infp.

backstory.

ty and his siblings grew up mostly with their grandparents. their dad was in the military and never came home from his last deployment. his mom skipped town on them when ty was six. he doesn't really remember her.

what he does remember is his grandpa teaching him how to skate around that time. the ice was an escape for him. when he was flying around that frozen sheet, nothing could touch him. so he threw himself into it. he played on various youth teams and ultimately found that he loved playing goalie and that he was good at it, too. he never left the net after that first game.

because of their home situation, ty knew that if he wanted to go to college, he'd need a scholarship. so he trained hard, kept his grades up, and earned a scholarship to boston college.

he studied psychiatry mostly because it was a fairly easy course load that he could balance with his demanding athletic schedule, but he fell in love with it and really enjoyed his schoolwork.

the plan was always the nhl. he wanted to make enough money to pay his grandparents back for raising him and his siblings. he wanted to get them out of their tiny apartment and into a real house. ty backed up his freshman year, but he got the net his sophomore year and put up some dazzling numbers, helping his team get to the national championship...where they lost to their crosstown rival boston university.

the loss lit a fire under him and he trained hard over the off-season. his junior season started just where the last one left off: he led the conference in shutouts, goals against average, and wins. then, during a rematch against BU, an opposing player hit him just right and his left leg buckled, then got pinned against the post. he felt his ankle pop. that was it. junior season, gone. he'd broken his ankle in three placed and required surgery and physical therapy to even have a shot at returning to the ice.

but he did it. he followed his doctors' orders and was cleared to return for his senior season. only the school had recruited a younger goaltender, and he only played a handful of games that year. still, he showed up to practices and games with a smile on his face and was the best damn bench door opener the team could ask for. he hyped the boys up and helped out wherever he could. and they almost got the championship that year, but fell just short once again.

not playing consistently caused his draft stock to plummet. he wasn't drafted, but he did get an invite to the bruins' development camp.

ty didn't make the team out of camp, but he was offered a minor league contract with the team. he battled two years in the echl before finding his footing in the american hockey league, one step down from the nhl. he wasn't making sidney crosby money, but he was comfortable. and he sent as much as he could back to his grandparents in connecticut.

it was during his time in providence that ty fell in love for the first time. sure, he'd had relationships in college, but nothing serious. this was real. this was going to be forever...until it wasn't.

the breakup hit him hard and caused his performance on the ice to suffer. he was almost sent down to the echl again. but ty buckled down, strung together a few good games, and helped his team win the calder cup in 2022.

and then he was traded away that summer. he wasn't even the big piece of that trade. the bruins were getting a star winger and they had used him to sweeten the deal. so he packed up his shit and moved to hartford to start the whole process over.

he played well in hartford. enough that when the rangers' starting goalie got injured and they needed a backup for their backup, he got called up. and, as it turns out, the starter had to have the same season-ending surgery that ty had a few years back. at least he's benefiting from it this time!

so ty's been in new york for a couple of months now and is still trying to find his footing. it's not really the same as small-town providence, but...he thinks he likes it.

connections.

roommates! i put ty in hits different partially so he'd have some built in connections. give me the ragtag group of roommates that become family because they're all sort of hopeless romantics...or hate love, actually.

the ex that caused him to spiral. i have a juicy idea that this may have been a former teammate. ty was traded in the off-season last summer and had been playing with the rangers' ahl affiliate in hartford. could have been a teammate from his previous team in providence, with hartford, or just someone involved with either of those teams (social media manager, reporter, play-by-play person) who has recently gotten a job with the big club, too, and moved to nyc. awkward.

he's got a sort of thing going on with muse b from glitch, but i would love something like a PR relationship or even something that spawns from a sort of...charity auction. think the boytoy auction from one tree hill (aka bid to win a date with a player).

teammates or other people affiliated with the rangers! social media crew, coaching staff, play-by-play! or even just other people who use the practice space. figure skaters, speed skaters, etc.

give me jasmin savoy brown as his sister and i'll kiss you. if you're into that.