#like every time one of them makes any kind of personal announcement someone else start quoting jared's twitter tantrum at them

[cheesiedomino]

RentABoyfriend.com ꙳ ੭ * ‧

synopsis: you’re tired of being single so you to take an unusual route in helping with that— but what happens when you start catching real romantic feelings for your rental boyfriend?

genre: seo changbin x fem!reader | fake relationship/dating au wc: 5.1k tags/warnings: fluff, v minor angst, mild cursing, (kinda) nerdy changbin, use of pet names, mentions of alcohol usage, just overall very cute story dw <33

[this is part of my valentine’s series where i write a short story for each member surrounding themes of love, newfound romance, relationship hardships & more.]

“I have a date tomorrow guys.”

Everyone’s head instantly lifts up from their phones at this sudden announcement, collectively drawing their attention at you. You weren’t expecting all of them to gasp and swap such looks of genuine confusion. It’s starting to make you think maybe this situation was a lot more serious than you’ve bargained it out to be.

You couldn’t fathom it either honestly, the realization of you going out with someone probably won’t settle in until you’re physically on the date. Based on their initial responses though, you might regret everything you’re about to say, but it’s far too late to retract any of your statements now.

“No way.. with who??” Danielle is the first out of everyone to ask.

Taehyung chimes in as well, “Yeah, who’s the lucky person? They’ve gotta be something seriously special to be talking to you.”

Well, you suppose you could put it that way.

You already have a preconceived notion of what they’re going to think of this “idea”. Mentally preparing yourself to receive a flood of questions and critique from your close friends.

“Actually… I rented him. For the week.”

Now they’re all looking at you like you’ve officially lost it. The room got scarily quiet, no one wanted to be the first to speak. You should’ve anticipated on their reactions being like this, it isn’t everyday someone just openly admits to buying a partner online. Nowadays there’s a lucrative market for just about anything, when you stumbled upon an ad for this service called ‘RentABoyfriend.com’ you didn’t think much of it. You laughed the concept off at first, thinking how lonely people must be to buy someone else’s time.

But the ads kept popping up, they wouldn’t stop showing in almost every YouTube video you were watching— even one of your favorite YouTubers promoted them before! So one day you finally decided to check this website out, you wanted to see what the hype’s all about so you signed up just for shits and giggles. You weren’t expecting to actually be somewhat interested in trying this thing out, but after going through a couple different profiles and reading hundreds of positive reviews you were practically sold.

“You rented out a boyfriend..? Seriously ___? I mean, I’m not judging but you’re a gorgeous girl you can easily get a boyfriend without paying for someone’s companionship, I don’t see why you need to rent one.” Mark bluntly expressed his opinion, he was probably the most outspoken out of all of you guys.

Taehyung and Danielle both agreed in unison, it’s practically 3 against 1 at this point. You knew you should’ve waited to tell them but you weren’t anticipating on them being this judgmental about it. You were hoping for a little more support, as they’re all way more experienced than you in the dating scene and could lend some helpful advice about your first date, ever.

See, the thing is you’ve never tried dating before so you wouldn’t know the first thing about it or what to expect from your future partner. You’ve never had a boyfriend, let alone held hands or kissed someone of the opposite sex. Being in your twenties it’s kind of embarrassing to say you’ve never done those things, but you thought what better way to try it out than renting a full-on experience that can give you just that? Well minus the kissing part, but you can make it work.

You were skeptical of doing this whole ‘rent-a-boyfriend’ thing at first because you didn’t think there’d be anyone you’d find suitable enough. A big part of the reason that you’re still single is because you’re extremely picky, you want to date a guy who’s so perfect that he must’ve came straight out of an indie romance film. Your friends would tease you for having such unrealistic standards when it came to dating but you were the all-or-nothing type, you’ll be single with fifty cats before you settle for less. Renting a boyfriend is definitely an unconventional idea of easing into dating but you thought it might be worth a try anyway.

What’s the worse that could happen?

( 1 day earlier )

Hovering your cursor over the bold red text of the website, you read over the main rules before going on to select the person you want for your date.

‘The rules are simple:

You are allowed to see only ONE person at a time, if you want to switch boyfriends you’ll have to pay a $50 fee.

MUST be over 18 to rent a boyfriend, we have implemented an age verification system before the date as we do not tolerate anyone under this age to use our services.

NO kissing, or sexual intimacy allowed. If this is found out later on by our agency we will terminate your contract and ban you from using our services in the future.

Remember to have fun !! ^_^ Our services are great for people who are new to dating or have never been in a relationship. We provide the ~ultimate~ boyfriend experience to all our clients. Customer satisfaction is 100% guaranteed ! (NO REFUNDS)’

Well jeez… they seemed a bit strict but you can deal with those rules and restrictions for the most part.

After hours of skimming through hundreds of profiles, you have a hard time choosing which you like most. Did you want an artsy, shy kind of guy? The tattooed, bad boy aesthetic type? You really couldn’t pick one until you stumble upon a particular profile that catches your eye almost immediately.

SEO CHANGBIN | 168 CM | PART-TIME LIFEGUARD | 24 | *POPULAR ↝

5 Facts About Me: I’ve traveled to over 50+ different countries and counting (ask me which my favorites are), I can speak 4 languages (working on my fifth), love to sing and used to have a rap trio with my buddies from college, I can & will easily lift you up ;) also have a secret talent for cooking, there’s nothing I can’t do!

Why Choose Me? First of all, why not choose me? I’m the best candidate for whatever kind of date you need, something casual, social gatherings, weddings, you name it! I’m very social and can make most people laugh (unless they’re the literal Grinch reincarnated), I’m able to get along well with anyone and just love to have a good time. I hope we can get to know each other and make great memories in the future :)

Going through his pictures you couldn’t believe someone was capable of being this humanely attractive. Don’t even get started on those impeccable muscles either… He really had to sport them in every other one of his photos, wearing the tightest shirts to show the outline of his insanely sculpted frame. You might have just been mesmerized from his godlike visuals alone. They even had a Valentine’s Day deluxe package that comes with seven dates in total for half the price, which they specified was for a limited time only.

$600 later you’ve got a full week of dates lined up with the hottest guy you’ve ever seen in all your years of living. You should’ve definitely went shopping before considering all this because now you actually have a reason to get dolled up for someone.

You were so nervous about going on this date you almost cancelled last minute out of fear. Typing out several different elaborate paragraphs to Changbin on why you couldn’t make it. You didn’t have his real phone number, it was all through an app facilitated by the rental company that was included in the package. Even though you were feeling overwhelmed and practically shaking with anxiety about meeting up with a guy, you still forced yourself to go anyway. You didn’t just dish out all that money just to not show up and waste his time on top of all that.

Your rental boyfriend texted you the location to meet at, it was near a train station so you both could see each other out in a public open space. The outfit you wore was fairly simple, a black mini skirt with warm tights underneath and a cropped turtleneck sweater. You accessorized the look with some dainty jewelry, a thin scarf, and knee high boots to pull everything together. It wasn’t something you usually wore but you had certain clothes you saved for a special occasion like this.

Upon your arrival, you notice him standing near a vending machine and waves over at you with the biggest smile plastered on his face. You awkwardly wave back, giving a soft smile as you slowly walk up to him. He looks even better in person, you don’t even feel adequate enough to be in such a gorgeous man’s presence. No wonder he’s so popular on the site, he’s practically unreal.

“Hi, you must be ___. It’s so nice to finally meet you, might I add you look really beautiful today, I think you’re making my heart race just by looking at you. Happy Valentine’s Day!” Changbin introduces himself, buttering you up with some sweet compliments before handing you the most insane bouquet of roses you’ve ever seen.

You take the flowers and almost stumble backwards from how heavy they were, “Wow, thank you!” Changbin prevents you from falling, quickly coming up behind you to get your balance back.

“Careful honey, can’t have you injured on our first date!” He voices with concern, “I hope you love the idea I came up with, I’ve only been to this place once before but I’m sure it’s still as fun as I remember it, let’s go!” Eagerly grabbing your hand to begin the journey, he turns around again to examine your body language.

“You seem a little tense babe? Do you need a massage?” He asks in a concerned tone again, this is all really beginning to freak you out. You know this is what you signed up for but this was all starting to feel a bit too personal, all the nicknames and sweet talk he’s giving is just something you aren’t used to.

“Uh, no! It’s o-okay.” You shook your head, denying anything suspicious going on. Truth be told you were barely able to contain your composure right now.

Changbin keeps on insisting, “The massage is included in the package so you don’t have to worry about getting charged extra.”

“N-no it’s okay, really. I’m just nervous that’s all, sorry I just don’t meet up with guys…” you shyly admit, finding it hard to look him in the eye.

He nods in understanding, “No need to be nervous with me sweetheart. I’m here to make you feel as comfortable as possible.” The smile he flashes at you instantly makes you warm on the inside, he seems like a genuine, caring person. You think things might go well for you after all.

The rest of the night was full of only good vibes and laughter by the end of it all. Changbin took you to an adult arcade that had old video games like Pac-Man, Super Mario, and Space Invaders, the other side was a bar where people could sit, drink, and socialize. He bought all your drinks that night, let you use up most of his tokens and overall had the most fun you could’ve ever had with someone. He was so easygoing but also knew when to act super caring and would be all lovey dovey with you. He was gentle, nurturing, and could have conversations about anything. You loved that he’d randomly drop some interesting fact you never knew about, or talked about a certain niche topic that he’d go on multiple rants over. It didn’t feel like you were renting someone out to date you, it felt natural— like you’ve known him for longer than a couple hours. Changbin walked you home and held your hand the entire time, along with the flowers he provided a teddy bear and a heart shaped box of chocolates. If that didn’t scream boyfriend goals then you don’t know what does.

The next day you wake up to Changbin blowing your phone up this morning. You had over 26 messages from him, which was pretty excessive in your humble opinion. The first thing he said was good morning then he goes on to express how fun yesterday was and he can’t wait to do it again. He even sent a couple mirror selfies of him at the gym, ‘conceited much?’ You thought. But then again, if you were Seo Changbin you’d probably be full of yourself too.

For today’s date you wore a pretty red sundress that made your skin glow in the sunlight. It’ll definitely get him to compliment you even more— which you secretly love when he does. Changbin calls you before he heads out to the date, letting you know how excited he is to see you again. You couldn’t stop smiling like an idiot on the train as you made your way to the destination, thinking about what he’s planned for you two next. This time you’ll be meeting up at a park but you still have no clue what you’re doing.

Changbin texts you where exactly he is in the park, it was pretty huge so it took you a while to get to him. As you get closer you see him sitting on a large blanket by the lake, on top of it were a bunch of different foods and snacks scattered all around that came out of a huge picnic basket. You were speed walking at this point trying to get to him. His arms opened out for a hug and you lean right into him, what you didn’t expect was for him to suddenly stand up and lift you in his arms to swing around you like a doll.

“Put me down I’m scared of heights!” You squeal out in fear of being too high up in the air. Maybe you really should’ve taken the bio on his profile more seriously when he mentioned certain things.

Finally putting you down after minutes go by of you protesting, Changbin sits you back onto the blanket. He brought an assortment of breads, cheese, fruits, lemonade that he made himself and a couple seltzers. You’ve never seen anyone put such time and effort into a date before, even being here with him is like living in a daydream. He was definitely succeeding in making you feel comfortable, which is something you never thought was possible with men. He actually took his time getting to know you and didn’t sound arrogant whenever he talked about himself, Changbin was so different than other guys who’ve tried hitting on you in the past. He was actually respectful, intelligent, and could easily carry a conversation without long, awkward pauses.

He was literally everything you’re looking for in a guy. But you’ll be seeing him for this week only then it’s bye bye forever. That revelation makes you a little upset, but you try pushing those thoughts in the back of your mind. It’s irrelevant and unnecessary to think about. Yet you can’t help but wonder about certain things though, wanting to know more about his job and what it’s like on a daily basis for him.

“Can I ask you something? I need you to answer it honestly.” You say out of nowhere, hoping that didn’t come out as weird as you thought.

Changbin nods, “of course, shoot.”

“How many clients do you usually get?”

This question definitely catches him off guard, he’s never really been asked this before and he’s debating on if he should as it might be a breach of privacy.

“I don’t think I can answer that, sorry.” He responds in the nicest way possible, but deep down he wants to know why you’d want to know how many other people he sees a day.

You were going to push him a bit more to try and get an answer but you decide to let it go and just enjoy the rest of the picnic. You didn’t want to bring the mood down with your odd questions and/or end up making him feel so uncomfortable that he won’t want to see you anymore. It was definitely something you shouldn’t have asked but you were curious to know anyway. Overall besides that small incident, you had another wonderful time with Changbin and couldn’t wait for tomorrow to come any faster.

Changbin had a foolproof way of getting you to blush like a giddy high school teen whenever he texted you. He’d always refer to you as ‘pretty girl’ or ‘princess’ which gave you insane amount of butterflies. You loved how clingy he could get and would double text when you don’t reply fast enough, always needing constant attention from you which you never minded giving.

He texted you at around three in the afternoon, proposing his next plan for today’s date.

‘Let’s go out for drinks tonight, it’s all on me ;)’

You liked his message, replying that you’ll be there and put a series of hearts at the end. Speaking of hearts, yours is fluttering at high altitudes from the way you can’t stop thinking about your “boyfriend” Changbin. This has been better than anything you could’ve expected, you never want this week to come to an end. It’s only been three days but you’ve begun to grow feelings for him, they weren’t too strong just yet but they were most definitely there. You couldn’t let that halt you from having a good time tonight, you’ll have to accept it soon enough he’s not your actual boyfriend. He’s doing this because you paid him to, if it wasn’t for your money he wouldn’t be here right now.

‘This relationship is purely transactional’ you unfortunately keep reminding yourself of the reality you’re in. Psyching yourself out of this sudden somber mood that’s consuming you, distracting your pessimism by raiding your closet for some cute clothes to wear tonight’s date. After what seemed like hours of tearing your entire room apart, you decide to settle on this sparkly black mini tube dress, pairing it with a leather jacket and more platform shoes because you’re obsessed with feeling tall. Once it’s 7 PM you head out to the bar you’re seeing Changbin at, he was already waiting for you inside the place. Eyes instantly lighting up when he sees you coming towards him, just like he always does he motions for a hug, pulling you in tightly like he hasn’t seen you in years.

His hugs felt so cozy, like sitting in front of the fireplace on a crisp, snowy winter’s evening. You never wanted to escape the warmth of his arms, it was one of those forms of physical touch that felt so overly personal to you. The thought of him hugging someone the same way he hugs you slightly enrages something in your spirit but again, it isn’t your place to get genuinely upset over him doing his job. You’re not entitled to him exclusively, but you feel like if you keep this up feelings will only continue to develop. This wasn’t something you considered when going into this and now you feel like you’ve just made a huge mistake.

“You okay babe?” Changbin notices you acting a bit strange, choosing not to pursue it after telling him you’re fine. He knows something’s wrong but doesn’t want to mess up the flow of the date, instead he orders a drink for the both of you and switches on to a lighter subject. “Let’s go shopping tomorrow at that new centre that just opened last week. I need to buy some new AirPods, I accidentally lost one of them in a taxi..”

“Sure,” you nod at his suggestion, in desperate need of some new clothes anyway. “Sorry about your AirPods, that sucks!”

He takes a sip of his bubbly drink that’s now on the table, “Eh, it’s okay this is probably the fourth time this has happened so far.” This has pretty much become a regular occurrence for him by now.

As the date progresses, things continue getting better. You’re both laughing, engaging in much deeper conversation than ever before. You definitely had more than enough alcohol in your system by now, feeling congested and claustrophobic as more people came into the bar. Changbin takes note of your discomfort and asks if you want to get some fresh air outside, you wasted absolutely no time to agree.

While you two were outside continuing your chat about some wild conspiracy he read about online, Changbin’s attention was soon drawn to a different building nearby. Gazing up in confusion at his sudden outburst of excitement, you wonder where he could be leading you next.

“Noraebang!” He shouts loud enough anyone miles away could’ve heard that, he’s now grabbing your hand to frantically drag you along with him.

You were never one to carry a tune but Changbin was actually very good at karaoke and singing in general, he had such a lovely voice. You could seriously listen to him sing all night— which you basically did since you kept begging for an encore until it hit 4 am. That’s when you both decided to finally call it a night, you wanted to pay for the Uber since he’s paid for all the drinks and every other expenses for today. You felt bad because you were the one renting him to be your boyfriend yet he’s constantly shelling out money left and right. He still insisted on paying and ultimately won the whole debacle, making you swallow your pride and get into the Uber with him. Changbin’s definitely not just someone you’re going to forget about after this week is over. You dread the day this all comes to an end, wishing there was a way to relive these moments again and again.

“I’m a little under the weather today, sorry I can’t make it Binnie.” Your voice is hoarse from coughing and unbearable throat pain. You’ve already consumed half a bag of cough drops, throat lozenges, and random cold medicine you’ve found in your cabinets.

He sounds mildly disappointed, but springs back up with a new proposal, “I can come over and bring some soup if you’d like!”

You appreciate his gesture but still refuse, you know he’s only saying all this because he has to, not because he wants to. “N-no you don’t have to, I’m sure you can go see other clients today. One less person to worry about right?”

The call went silent for a minute, he wasn’t quite sure how to respond to such a deprecating comment.

“I don’t want to see other clients, I want to see you ___.” He sighs, unwilling to give up so easily, “I’ll be at your place soon, m’kay?” He hangs up before you could even respond or say no again.

You had no choice but to wait for Changbin to show up now. Before you got sick, the last two dates you went on were debatably the best so far. You had gone out shopping together, accidentally wearing almost the same kind of outfit. Changbin was wearing a white graphic tee with blue baggy jeans and you wore something practically identical. The two of you looked like a real, official couple and people would stare as you walked hand in hand, it really did seem like the perfect relationship on the outside.

You got even closer when he came over the following day, resulting in you two cuddling while watching movies and baking cookies. He’s expressed that he’s never been to another client’s home before but it wasn’t “technically” against any rules. The more you kept hanging out together, the harder it was coming to terms with the fact you’re actually falling for Changbin. He made every experience with you more exciting than the last, which he did exactly that night. When the cookies were done you fed a piece to him, making little airplane sounds as you do it, he eagerly takes a bite of the chewy treat and compliments both your efforts.

“These taste way better than I thought, oh my god they literally melt in your mouth. Try it!” He takes another cookie from the tray and feeds it to you this time.

There was something so overly domestic about that moment you couldn’t shake the feelings of wanting to kiss him right then and there. But you can’t. If you did such a thing you’d never be allowed to see him again, plus you don’t want to be known as that one creepy client who just couldn’t keep their hands to themselves. As you were cuddling on the couch though, things may have taken a turn for the better… or worse?

Changbin would “yawn” at the movie and subtly wrap his arm around you, he’d subconsciously pull you in closer and it didn’t make it any better that you were under the same blanket. You weren’t complaining at any of this though, you were pretty much in heaven. It took everything in you not to look up and stare, gluing your eyes to the movie that was displayed on the TV. But as the night progressed you were practically snuggling up with him like he was your real boyfriend. The way he’d run his fingers gently down your back, soothing you in a way that could lull you asleep. His touch was the most relaxing thing ever, you were so calm with him and loved how he brought a side of you that’s never been shown. After this encounter you can no longer deny the way you feel— you are officially falling deeply in love your rental boyfriend, Seo Changbin.

The sound of your doorbell ringing alarms you of a new visitor, who was none other than your “boyfriend” waiting patiently outside the door for you. You feel and look like death itself, coming downstairs to answer the door still in your PJ’s and hair a disheveled mess. Every five seconds was interrupted with you coughing your lungs out, barely able to speak above a whisper. Changbin looks thrilled as ever to see you, even when you clearly don’t look your best he’s still coming up to hug you tightly. His hugs are always blocking off your airways from the way his muscles squeeze you, it’s even worse when you’re sick— practically gasping for air.

“Sorry babyy, I just missed you so much. I couldn’t stop thinking about you all day and soon as you said you’re sick I dropped everything to go make you this soup. It’s a specialty I make whenever my friends are sick, the perfect remedy to cure my princess.” He goes into your kitchen to heat up the soup in your microwave, making you wait patiently on the couch as you’re wrapped up in multiple blankets.

Your body feels like it’s -2 degrees, you were freezing. The crazy thing is your thermostat was set to 80 degrees, it was definitely you that was the problem. He propped your feet up on the table, rested a tray in your lap and set the bowl of soup on top. Brushing a couple strands of hair out your face he looks at you intently, examining your symptoms as if he’s a doctor.

“It’ll be okay soon love, I’m here to nurse you back to health again. Can’t see my pretty baby sick like this, makes me all sad.” He pouts, giving you a soft head pat like you’re a delicate kitten.

He takes a spoonful of the hot soup, slightly blowing on it before telling you to open up so you can eat. You don’t know what’s gotten into you but you feel like he’s gone too far with all this. It’s not fair for you to continue on if it’s just become torture now. He’s practically dangling in your face that you’ll never have a partner as perfect as him in your life.

“I- I can’t do this anymore Changbin..” you say lowly, refusing to eat the soup he made.

“What do you mean? I’m just feeding you soup, it’s my duty as your boyfriend to-”

“This isn’t real… none of it is. I’m stupid for even doing this but I was lonely.. I’m sorry but I’d prefer something that isn’t temporary.” You cut him off to express your pent up frustrations, ready to be let down and rejected by him as gently as possible.

“Then let’s make it real,” he proposes without any hesitation, “honestly I stopped faking it around our third date, it was all me after that. I never said anything because well… this is my job and I’ve never fallen for a client before so this is still all very new to me..”

You’d be screaming right now if you weren’t sick, instead you’re internally freaking out at this confession, it feels like your hearts doing cartwheels and somersaults.

“Seriously?” Eyes widening as you look at him, suddenly your body heat rises and you know it’s not because of the soup or the layers of blankets that’s covering you.

He nods, “I thought it was kinda obvious when we kissed yesterday..”

Oh yeah… you forgot that did happen. You thought it was another fever dream you might’ve just made up in your head. You shared your first kiss with someone you deemed so special and important to you, someone you never would’ve guessed could come into your life and shift the entirety of your world like magic. There was no one else in existence you wanted more than Changbin.

“Doesn’t that mean you’ll have to quit your job? I don’t want to be the reason you stop making such good income.. I’ll feel so bad.” You knew deep down you didn’t feel that badly about him quitting to date you instead. It was just the thought of him leaving something he’s been doing for years behind all for some girl he’s known for simply a week.

He shrugs at your comment, “I’ll be just fine, I was planning on finding a new job soon anyway. It gets kinda old after a while, I felt like I was on autopilot most of the time. You were able to get me to open up and show my true self, I could never thank you enough for that ___.” Changbin couldn’t resist the urge to plant a kiss to your forehead.

After everything that’s been said and done. What you’ve come to understand is that love is learned, a development that takes time to grow and blossom into something extraordinary. Just like learning a new language or a musical instrument, we learn love from society and cultures we’re raised in, it’s a beautiful thing once we know how to cherish it. Your newfound romance with Changbin is something you’ll learn to cherish forever and ever.

[End <3].

[look-at-the-soul]

Every little thing you do- Part 9

Tommy Shelby x reader

Series master list

Hello again! Thank you so much for the love to this series 🙌🏻 I’m enjoying so much the process for each part, and trust me, your feedback is super valuable (I sometimes take inspiration from your POV, like this part…) let’s give an amazing character the best welcome 🥰✨

Also special thanks to @blondie-22 for the gif!!!! (Always portraying what I have in mind ♥️)

Word count: 3,350

“Are you sure you don’t want my company?” Tommy asked for the third time as he pulled in front of the market.

“No, because you’ll start complaining as I go through the stands, but I appreciate the offer.”

“And what about the basket? You’ll have to carry it by yourself on your way back.” He tried again, feeling a bit uneasy for leaving Y/N alone.

“Tom, I’ll only buy cherries, apples and sugar, grandma has the rest.” Y/N gave him a deep frown in response by his overprotective attitude.

Giving up, Tommy raised his hands from the steering wheel. “Fine, but I’ll send someone to join you anyways.”

Y/N wanted to ask if something was wrong, but deep down she knew Tommy wouldn’t tell her much, so she decided to just thank him for the ride and step down of his vehicle.

“I’ll meet grandma at the Garrison and then we’ll go over your house.” She announced leaning down.

“Looking forward for that pie.” Tommy smiled right before driving away towards Watery Lane.

The market wasn’t too crowded as she expected, people trying to sell a bit of everything invaded her personal space, Y/N tried to keep the basket in front of her tummy, in an attempt to protect her baby. She just kept walking to the fruit stands since they were in the middle…

Passing by the stand with the rugs, another one offered jewelry, the sellers were shouting, inviting everyone in, making special offers to get the customers attention.

Reaching the fruits and vegetables stands, she closed her eyes relishing in the smell for several seconds, it was hard to hide she was mouthwatering so Y/N decided to hurry up to get the items she needed and go back to start baking as soon as possible.

“Do you need anything else?” The kind woman offered, making the count in her head.

“That would be all, thank you.” Y/N noticed as more and more people started gathering at the market.

She was now aware of her surroundings, especially after Tommy explained that he didn’t trust Father Hughes. That she needed to be more careful

“Actually… do you’ve any sugar?”

The woman shook her head. “A few stands down they might have though.”

“Wonderful, thank you so much.” With a smile, Y/N paid for her items and as she was about to move forward, she almost bumped into someone. “Lee-Anne!”

“Y/N!” Her sister squealed in delight, arms wrapping around each other immediately. “What are you doing here?”

“I needed some ingredients for a pie.”

“How’s the baby? How are you feeling? Grandma just keeps me updated with bits.”

Y/N couldn’t help but look down, she should have been a role model for her sister.

“We’re both doing okay, Tommy and the Shelby’s had been nothing but kind to us… Although, I wish we could be together and I’m sorry for the way this happened.”

“Mum and Dad shouldn’t have kicked you out.” Lee-Anne stated.

“Don’t blame them, I embarrassed them…“

But before her sister could protest again, their mother’s voice resonated.

“Mum it’s fine, I was just happy to see Y/N.” Lee-Anne explained.

“Happy? How could you be happy? She doesn’t even care to keep a low profile, she’s showing her sin proudly.” Her mother’s words cut like a knife.

“Look, I know this isn’t ideal or what you wanted for me, but this is my reality now.” Y/N tried to keep her voice down. “And I’m trying to do my best.”

“Is it the speech that gánster prepared you to repeat?” Her mother shook her head slightly. “Being so close to him only confused you, to see right what is wrong by all means.”

“Why are you even blaming him now? Tommy has been nothing but a real friend to me.”

“You don’t even care that people have been talking about you hmm? Your honor rolling from mouth to mouth, having everybody in Birmingham whispering about you and him, I thought your reputation would be over as the word would spread about Scott not marrying you, but now people are wondering if the baby is a Shelby.”

Y/N gasped too shocked by what her mother just said.

“What are you talking about?”

“Please don’t even try to hide it anymore, all of that secrecy between the two of you, going out for a ride in his horse since you were younger… he acting so protective the day he took you from YOUR house without your father’s permission.”

“He was defending me!” Y/N exploded.

“That’s what they call it now?” With a scoff her mother looked away. “I overheard one of the women that washes clothes, she was talking to someone else who works for I don’t know who and basically they were gossiping about you… and him.”

Y/N was trying to process her mother’s words, taking her time to let it sink in.

Where the hell did that rumor came from? She had been so engrossed in the foundation project and her baby that barely had time to have tea and gossip about anyone.

“I never thought you’d be someone’s mistress.”

The disappointment in her mother’s statement was like a punch in Y/N’s gut, she felt anger raising inside of her.

“Who said that? That’s not true!”

Y/N felt so upset, but at the same time she tried to remain respectful of her mother, wherever she was in the wrong.

“I made a mistake, but my father shouldn’t have hit me like that, I was bleeding, had marks all over my back for days.”

“The way you behaved, what did you expect?” She found tears in her mother’s eyes. “Can you imagine how your father felt for a second?”

“And what about me? What about how I felt?”

“Don’t talk to me like that!”

Y/N let out a shaky breath slowly, trying to regain control of her emotions.

“Think whatever you want Mother.” Y/N adjusted the basket in her hands, while a tear slipped down her cheek. “Tommy saved me and my baby that day… what people think or say about me isn’t my business.”

Walking past her sister, Y/N gave her a half smile, wishing they could get the chance to spend more time together, but she understood Lee-Anne still had to obey their parents and live under their rules.

So now people just assumed she was Tommy’s mistress? How easy it is to talk about someone else behind their back and destroy the good things they had done in a few minutes. Just because Tommy decided to support her and her baby.

As if Tommy would see her differently…

Leaning against the wall after walking for a couple of minutes, Y/N finally allowed herself to crumble, the facade of strong, independent woman was slowly overshadowed by the truth, her mother was right. She wasn’t able to push away the tears any longer.

“Are you alright? Can I help you?” A soft voice called after her worryingly.

“Yes, just getting emotional over something silly. Thank you.” Y/N lied at the stranger wiping the tears with the sleeve of her dress.

The woman looked at her not buying her answer, but decided to change the subject. “I might just take a break, do you mind if I wait here?”

“Not at all.” Y/N replied absently, her mind replaying her mother’s words over and over.

She was right though, as much as she wanted to pretend that everything was alright, that she could take anything life decided to throw at her, not having her parents by her side was a consequence she never imagined, she had failed them terribly and their distance was understandable.

“Is someone you know around? You look pale.” The woman studied Y/N’s features.

Y/N shook her head. “I just feel a bit dizzy, it should pass in a minute.”

The woman looked around not really knowing what to do, what if she got sick? What if something happened to the baby?

“I’m Frances, what’s your name dear?” The woman asked trying to think of something in case she needed help. If she knew her name, at least she could look for her family.

“Y/N!” Scudboat shouted from a few feet away. “There you’re.”

“She isn’t feeling alright.” Frances explained.

The blinder took off his peak cap and started rolling it in his hands nervously.

“What’s the matter?” Polly intervened as she joined them.

“She’s dizzy, I was just keeping her company ma’am, in case she needed help.”

Polly stared at the woman for a second, before fishing inside her handbag and retrieving a small flask. “Here, smell this.”

The strong alcohol aroma hit her immediately, Y/N was fighting a silent battle within her heart. The truth that slipped from her mother’s lips, her own reality she couldn’t deny, everything came at her suddenly.

Polly wrapped her arm around Y/N, poor thing looked so lost.

“I think you need to lay down.” Polly suggested in a motherly tone, but she regretted her words, Watery Lane was full of cops searching every corner for evidence, they took Tommy and John as a warning, scared the hell out of Esme, the place was now a mess and with Tommy out of the picture, she knew Y/N couldn’t deal with that right now.

A worried look crossed both Scudboat and Polly’s eyes.

“My place isn’t far away.” The kind Frances offered shyly. “It isn’t much, but she can rest for a while.”

“Yes, wonderful idea.” Polly exclaimed relieved.

“You’re an angel.” Y/N added knowing she really needed to calm down.

“This way, please.” Frances smoothed her skirt, before offering her hand to Y/N. The blinder following their steps carrying the basket.

And it was indeed very close, the kind woman immediately offered Y/N to lean against the cushions and lift her feet up.

“Can I offer you water or some tea?” Frances asked walking towards the window to let some air in. “My home is modest, but there’s always food and tea for anyone.”

Polly thanked her for her thoughtful gesture but had to turn down the tea offer.

“Sorry for the inconvenience, but I really need to go out right now.” Polly apologized, thinking she needed to sort out everything at the betting shop.

“Oh, she can stay here, I live by myself.”

“Polly I don’t want to give Frances any troubles, I’m fine.”

Polly shot Y/N a knowing look. “You need to rest.”

And with that, Y/N knew she wouldn’t win that argument. Polly was the boss and she had to obey.

“What were you buying if you don’t mind me asking?” Frances asked Y/N with interest once that Polly and Scudboat left, she brought the girl a biscuit, the last one she had for the week.

“Some cherries and apples, my grandma and I would bake a pie but I forgot the sugar.”

“I could give you some.”

Y/N lost it in that moment, she started crying inconsolably.

Without asking anything else, or pushing her to talk, tentatively Frances rubbed Y/N’s back in a comforting motion.

“Sorry.” Y/N sobbed, embarrassed by the sudden outburst. “I’ve just been holding it for so long.”

“What is it?”

“Moments before we met at the market, I had an unpleasant encounter with my Mother, she doesn’t approve nor support my pregnancy. I hadn’t seen her for several weeks and I know, I know this is far from the ideal happy family but there’s nothing I can do to turn things around, we had a disagreement and I guess that made me feel sick.”

Y/N took a deep breath and looked at Frances through her wet lashes. “I’m just touched by your generosity, a complete stranger offering me a hand when my own blood doesn’t care about me nor my baby.”

Frances studied her for an instant, then covered her hand in hers.

“I’m sure your mother loves you and this baby, but she’s tied to strict society rules.”

“I wouldn’t bet on that, she does just as my Father’s says, she breaths if he says so.”

“Why don’t you tell me about this woman, Polly?”

Y/N’s eyes sparkled. Polly had always been like an aunt to her, she always had a comforting hug to offer and a word to say when things were wrong.

“She’s Tommy’s aunt, they’re my chosen family now.”

Taking a bite of the biscuit that Frances offered, Y/N adjusted herself to face her. “May I ask about you Frances?”

“We’ll I’m just a newly widow, I went to the market get the ingredients to make jam and tomorrow I’ll go from house to house to sell it.”

Y/N swallowed hard, she was only noticing her completely black attire. How hard it must’ve been to lose her partner and finding a way to make money.

“I’m really sorry to hear that.”

“Thank you. There are good and bad days, but I need to do something to have an income.” Frances let out. A heavy sigh. “I’m running out of my husband’s savings.”

Y/N gave Frances a smile full of sympathy, thinking of a way to help her.

“Can I help you to make the jam?” She offered.

“Only if you’re feeling better.”

“Well if you’ve the courage to make and sell jam, the least I can do is try to help you.”

She always wanted to learn to make jam actually and this was exactly what she needed right now to clear her mind and focus on something to find some peace.

“Do you mind if I ask you who is Tommy?” Frances asked with interest as she started cutting the fruits she’d use for the jam.

A genuine smile spread rapidly among Y/N’s lips. “He’s the best man I know… picked me of the ground and provided me with more than I deserve.”

Frances noticed how the young girl’s eyes lit up as she talked about this man, she assumed he wasn’t the father but a very close person to her heart, but decided to not cross the line and ask anything too personal.

Hitting the steering wheel with his fists, Tommy cursed under his breath. For being so weak, for not anticipating his enemies moves.

The moment that Hughes mentioned Y/N and her baby before Tommy was released from the cell, he felt his blood raising, tensed, alarmed and scared for the first time. He didn’t like the fact that Hughes knew about Y/N, the threaten he slipped didn’t go unnoticed by Tommy.

“It would be a shame that poor Y/N goes through the same that happened to your aunt…”- he had been so close to punch him in the face and smash his head against the brick wall, but Tommy knew he was trying to provoke him.

Parking outside Arrow House, he stormed inside the property, terrified to learn by Hughes that they delivered the baby’s furniture that afternoon.

Aware of this failure to protect her, Tommy rushed upstairs, heart pumping against his ribs, worry installed on his shoulders.

Finding Y/N stepping outside her bedroom, she was telling him about the furniture delivered and that her grandma had been visiting earlier, but he went straight to the crib, frantically looking for something.

“What’s wrong Tommy?” Y/N asked not understanding his actions.

“Has someone been here?” He demanded out of breath.

“Just the delivery men.”

As he lifted the mattress, he stopped abruptly at the sight of a card.

There it was, the direct threat towards an unborn child. Tommy decided to hide it inside his suit jacket. Defeated, he walked backwards until his body found the opposite wall.

“Tommy?” Y/N’s voice trembled. “You promised to leave the illegal stuff behind.”

“And I’m trying, I swear I’m trying.”

Y/N saw his recklessness fade away, he was just a man trying to do the right thing, but it was just him against the world.

Eliminating the space between them, Y/N caressed his face.

“I know you’ll keep us safe.” She assured him. “Hmm?”

Fixing his eyes on her, he knew he’d get a bullet for her in a heartbeat.

But now he could only think of her baby, Y/N couldn’t even come close to imagine the risk she was facing.

“Listen to me…” Tommy stated breaking their embrace, taking her face between his hands. “I won’t let anything happen to you, do you understand?”

Not waiting for an answer, he kissed the top of her head softly and pulled her back into his arms. Looking around the nursery, it was slowly coming together, it now had the furniture, Y/N talked about knitting a blanket and her grandmother was making a piece for the baby.

He needed to find out who the hell leaked Y/N’s information to Father Hughes and how did they manage to walk into his house to place that note in the crib.

And he needed to do it before they could hurt Y/N and her baby.

Two days later, she was back to thank Frances for her kindness.

“I won’t take long.” Y/N announced at Tommy’s driver. He had been adamant about her not being alone for a second so now she had a chaperone watching her every move.

It had been a busy day at the institution, Y/N had lots of work to do, unfortunately she had been feeling sick most of the morning, so she gave up and decided to get some air. Heading to the market, she bought a sack of flour, vegetables, eggs, milk, a couple of fresh baguettes and headed towards Frances’ house.

It wasn’t her intention, but since the window was open, she overheard the conversation unfolding inside.

“If you know what’s best for you, you’ll accept my proposal.” A man said before walking outside.

Y/N tried to pretend she was knocking on the house next door and waited until the man was out of her eyesight to call out for Frances.

“Frances, are you alright?”

Y/N rushed without waiting to be invited inside, leaving the basket next to her feet.

“No… that man says my husband, my Bert gave him the papers of our house in exchange for some money he needed, but he didn’t get the chance to pay for the loan.” Frances cried.

A gasp escaped Y/N’s lips, this was a mess.

“Take a deep breath.” Y/N proposed not knowing what to do. “Do you’ve someone who can help you?”

“No… I’m on my own.”

With a sigh, Y/N took a look around the small unit, Frances came from a harder background than her, her whole house was the size of her living room, and she had everything there; kitchen, bathroom, bed and the living room. Pondering in the options, decided to do what Tommy had done for her; help without asking questions.

“Why don’t you prepare a bag with your essentials and we’ll figure out the rest later.” Y/N proposed straightening her back.

“But I’ve nowhere to go.” Frances explained.

“You do, I’m taking you somewhere.”

Eventually, they arrived at the Institution, Y/N explained Frances she could stay there while it started operations, it wasn’t properly a house, but there was a sofa to sleep on, and a kitchen with the utensils she might need.

“How can I thank you for this?” Frances needed answers, feeling overwhelmed.

“No need, you helped me the other day… I’m just returning the favor.”

She would see later if there was an open position that Frances could take either at the Institution or the betting shop with Tommy, but for now, she had the day covered.

Next part

🥰 I hope you enjoyed reading this part! Let me know in the comments what you think? ✨

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[hanihazeljade]

Forced Playdate

Timothy is good at keeping good boy image in his appearances in public vicinity but somehow this girl that he was forced to get along with, frustrates every single neuron he has and things go awry.

Part 3 of Disgustingly Green , Skill Issue

(CW: mean, mean, mean Timothy)

Timothy was called one day and he was forced to be nice with this girl, her named is probably Maya or Gia? He didn't remember, she was named in his head as a rambunctious brat.

Well apparently, the brat's father and the weird man that throw him are friends, probably the father is also a weird and idiot person, because birds and their feathers.

Lunch with the kid is a disaster. She use her hands to eat her food like a baby and the food sometimes fly around his plate, making his appetite finally left him. Thank goodness he was not put in a high chair or else he will just drop himself and hope he will die.

If such a kid don't have manners, and the father's friend don't have manners, then by analytical and statistical basis, the father is also a rambunctious brat that doesn't have any manners, and Timothy will do his best to avoid those people.

But of course, the Waynes are twats that doesn't make his life any easier.

Tim doesn't know why he was being forced to be buddy buddy with this uncivilised monkey. At first he can tolerate it as maybe she is just really got a lenient parent, a single father even, but as time goes by Timothy starts to get irritated by passing second.

The little girl, Sophia(?), he still can't remember and he rather stays that way, kept asking him so many questions and kept telling him that they should play. Rolling his eyes internally, he rather jump to Gotham Bay instead of playing with this monkey.

"Didn't your parents taught you manners?" Timothy suddenly asked, losing his cool altogether. The girl just tilt her head. She is already six and yet can't articulate her words better, His mother wouldn't be proud if he was this late bloomer.

"Manners?" she finally replied, titled her head in a manner that some people will say it's adorable, still kind of dumb answer but at least she kinda shut up for now.

"You are a lady, you need to act like one. Not an uncivilised homosapiens." Tim rolled his eyes. The little girl definitely didn't understand what he said, but her father did and boy, was he pissed.

"She's six!" Roy growled, obviously not fancying the idea his daughter is not allowed to be a little kid and be a stuck up spoiled little brat.

Tim just scoffed, like how her mother would whenever his father said something dumb, "And when I'm six, I know how to behave like a decent human being, not some animal who acts on it's instinct." Timothy said as he glared sharply to Roy. The kid was cute but those eyes are not. Roy never thought that he can see the Tim's eyes like that. It was always light and some life in them but now, Tim is like those pretentious rich people he met during Ollie's parties.

"You spoil her too much, but what should I expect to someone who befriend a failure like that man." Timothy rolled his eyes, "You people disgust me."

Tim sighed, he didn't give anyone a chance to speak as he announced, "I will be in my room. I am exhausted dealing with people like you." Timothy said with disgust as he left in silence.

[kitty-tea]

Why do you hate me?

Link to masterlist

Part two

Severus Snape x f!reader

WC: 1.5k

Summary: After starting your job as a professor at Hogwarts, you don’t understand why Professor Snape is the one person who doesn’t seem to like you.

Warnings: age gap, angst, SFW, crying, slightly OOC Snape

I still have some stuff I need to catch up on but maybe I can make a part two soon?💁🏻‍♀️

You were more than thrilled when you were accepted to fill in the position for the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. As Dumbledore introduced you to the school at the Welcoming Feast, your eyes went over to the Slytherin table where you recognized some of the students you went to school with who were younger than you. Your memory went back to your last year sitting at that table with them, and it was as if you’d blinked and they were already old enough to be taking their N.E.W.Ts the upcoming year. You gave a wave to them as they saw you which they returned with a thumbs up.

It seemed as if someone else didn’t give off the same welcoming energy that the rest of the staff and students were giving you. That person was none other than your former head of house, Severus Snape, who was sitting right next to you, rolling his eyes.

He had started teaching when you were in your first year, and it didn’t take long for you as an impressionable student to accept his strict ways of teaching. It wasn’t until your fourth year when you noticed you’d feel different around him than you did with any other teacher which made you realize you were developing a little crush on him that you waited for to go away throughout the rest of your time in school. It never did.

And now, there you were, sitting right next to him, with the same flame within you that caused you to blush.

After Dumbledore was finished making the rest of his announcements, you turned to Snape with a smile on your face.

“Hello Severus, you’ve been a teacher for a while now. Doesn’t it get exciting seeing all these new faces ready to have their minds filled with knowledge? I saw a good number of new additions to our wonderful house during the Sorting Ceremony!”

“It’s Professor Snape to you. And what makes you think I would enjoy having new students to teach?” Even though he turned to you with that same scowl on his face from all those years ago, there was something different about the way he looked at you that you couldn’t put your finger on.

“I’m sorry.” You apologized quickly, a meek smile on your face. “I just thought that… well, you’re a teacher, so… or maybe you see it as having new victims to torture?” You didn’t know why you had rambled on like a fool as the butterflies in your stomach continued to flutter. Having a crush on someone you’re not supposed to can make you do strange things, sometimes without your control it seems.

“The students better hope their new teacher takes her job seriously enough and doesn't treat it as a joking matter.” Snape pointed his sharp features at you which were emphasized by his pale face making you shrink back into your seat.

The more time went on throughout the school year, the more apparent it became that your former teacher hated you no less if not more than he used to. Every wave you gave to him in the corridors was only returned with a scowl, every “hello” with a “go away.” You didn’t understand why he could be so rude to you when you’ve been nothing but kind to him. Hearing rumors that he favored the Slytherins over the other three houses, you thought that he would have treated you with less disdain, but even as a student and teacher, it seemed like he treated you as if he forgot that you shared the same house.

The more you thought about it, you noticed that he used to single you out from the other Slytherins in your school days. You remembered storming out of class in your seventh year one time after he yelled at you for being an “embarrassment” to your house. All you had done was defend a Gryffindor student from the taunts of your fellow housemates. He then had the audacity to complain that you were the one disrupting his class!

Since becoming a teacher, you had in a way used Snape’s mistreatment of you as a motivation to be kind to every student and work with them in a way that was suitable to their needs. You never wanted another student to feel the same way about you that you had towards Snape.

Within a month of school, you had gained a reputation as one of the nicest teachers at Hogwarts, a stark contrast to how everyone else viewed Snape. There were some nosey older students who had taken the liberty of spreading gossip around which included information of how you were once his pupil making the younger students wonder in disbelief of how you turned out nothing like him.

Then there was Snape himself, whom you’d sometimes catch looking in your direction, looking as if he was dazed out, a sight that amused you as someone who had only seen him wear one other expression on his face. It was only when the soft sound of your laughter would hit his ears that he’d snap out of whatever trance he was in, narrowing his black eyes at you silently accusing you of mocking him.

You didn’t understand what was so different about him, what changed since the last time he saw you before you started teaching.

This lead to you becoming more intrigued with him, striking up a conversation with him whenever you were together only to be shut down by his familiar dismissiveness.

It was a Hogsmeade weekend which meant that you were alone in the library with the exception of some studious first and second year students. You had taken advantage of the near emptiness of the library to gather however many books you could fit onto two hands before leaving for your quarters. Thinking about how excited you were to bundle up in your blankets with the books you considered reading to your students, you sprinted through the castle. Maybe you got a little too excited because the next thing you knew you were plumeling face first into a wall of black fabric before the books were knocked out of your hands.

“I should’ve known it was you. Running around like the invasive pest that you are.” You looked up to meet Snape’s eyes for daggers, his taller frame looming over you.

“I’m so sorry, sir.” Your eyes widened as you frantically fidgeted with the skirt of your dress.

“Even after I thought I’d seen the last of you, you return like a persistent weed that has evolved into a thorn in my side.” He used his snarky attitude to ignore your apology.

Something inside of you deflated at the sound of his words, puncturing the previous excitement that was bubbling inside you making you momentarily forget about the books you had to pick up.

“I just thought we could be friends now that we’re coworkers.” You said in a near whisper.

“It might have escaped you when you were that pathetic student, but you can’t force everyone to be your friend.” He was clenching his fists at his sides.

“Why don’t you at least try being nice for once then?!” Hot tears were starting to simmer inside your eyelids, threatening to pour out. You hated how no matter how hard you tried standing up for yourself, you’d cry every time.

“Still weak as ever.” Snape said, eyeing your tears that were now running down your red cheeks.

“I am sick of you always treating me and looking at me like… I’m pathetic and calling me that!” You started to choke on your sobs. “Everyone has been kind to me! I don’t understand why you can’t be too when I’ve always tried being friendly with you, but you’ve been nothing but mean to me!”

“Being a pathetic excuse for a Slytherin doesn’t help.” Snape said loud and clear.

“Being a pathetic excuse for a teacher doesn’t help!” You shouted as loud as the tears would spill out fast. “You act like you know everything and that everyone else is beneath you! Maybe that’s why all the students hate you!”

“Thank you. For bringing my attention to something that is absolutely not new and wasting my time.” Snape said sarcastically, huffing under the layers of black.

“Why do you hate me?” You finally asked the question, a wall of tears clouding your vision.

The next thing you felt was calloused fingers brushing along the soft skin of your wet cheek before a pair of lips landed onto yours.

You were in too much of a shock to dwell on the fact that the man you’ve had a crush on for years was kissing you. You planted your hands against his hard chest as you returned the kiss. You let out a breathy whimper as his tongue traced your bottom lip. Both of you closed your eyes, savoring the moment until it was time to break away unless you wanted to take your last breath in his arms, which you would’ve been happy to.

“Because it infuriates me that I’ve wanted to do that to you every time I’ve looked at you since that day you returned to Hogwarts. You have no idea what you have done to me with those innocent eyes I can’t stop thinking about.” Snape’s voice broke you out of your daydreams before he stormed off without giving you a chance to speak.

You wanted to call out after him as you stood alone, trembling in your dried up tears.

[dairy-farmer]

(cw: abortion mention, birth control tampering)

Started thinking about Bruce making a birth control implant that can be remotely switched off for Tim. Maybe he inititally justified it to himself that it would be a useful feature if he decided to market it (though subconsciously he is psychosexually aroused by Tim's fertility and potential to carry Bruce's children).

Of course he would never switch it off. Except.... Tim is popular. He always has a girlfriend of some sort, in addition to a dozen boys trying to catch his attention at any time (canon lol). It only gets worse once pubery hits Tim proper. Bruce is horrified to learn (through having no respect for Tim's privacy) that his little angel is turning into a slut.

After witnessing Tim being bent over and rawed by some jock or stoner one too many times (while spying on Tim 🤨) he decides that Tim needs to learn a lesson in responsibility. Actions have consequences and sluts get impregnated.

Of course Bruce will let Tim get an abortion after though! It's only to teach Tim that he shouldn't spread his legs for just anyone. He should only have sex with someone special... someone who Tim could accept marrying... someone who would step up when Tim inevitably gets pregnant...

Any day now Tim will come crying to Bruce and they will go to a good clinic together. Bruce will be there for Tim in the aftermath and comfort him. Teach him about what kind of man Tim should save himself for....

Bruce absolutely does not expect Tim to announce that he is now engaged and retiring from vigilantism at family dinner.

Bonus if the baby daddy that Tim marries is one of W.E.'s aging shareholders (specifically one Bruce loathes), or one of Bruce's Justice League colleagues.

oh my god ohmygod this is so GOOD!!!!! bruce implanting birth control in tim that he can remotely turn 'on' and 'off' is EXACTLY the kind of crazy, psychotic controlling sort of thing he'd do. of course he was never planning on turning it 'off' but he'd also not been exactly...transparent with tim about the fact that he COULD turn it off. tim was just under the impression that he had regular run of the mill birth control specially formulated and developed by bruce because of course bruce wouldn't trust anything he didn't personally make. bruce even personally implanted it. the moment tim got his period bruce had told him going on birth control was nonnegotiable, that he couldn't have tim stopping active duty because he'd been stupid enough to get knocked up.

more than once bruce had needed to 'fix' mistakes made by his other children. jason had thankfully never been sexually active, too jaded by his time in the street which was really a blessing in disguise in bruce's book. as for dick...he'd had his phase of playing fast and loose with a condom thinking he was cool and edgy and sticking a middle finger up to bruce by having unprotected sex.

bruce had covertly tested each and every woman until one day...one of them had turned up positive. she likely wouldn't notice for several more weeks and bruce couldn't have dick becoming unfocused so...he'd dealt with it. a quick painless injection in the middle of the night while she was sleeping and then a heavier than normal period that came early a day or so later and everything was fixed. either way dick learned his lesson a little later. a brief stint with the clap and a round of antibiotics and dick knew better than to run that risk again. he never knew just how much bruce did for him.

bruce had been expecting tim to be different. because tim was different. he was stricter, more disciplined, more committed to the cause than his brothers had been. the way tim submitted so easily to bruce...it was no wonder bruce had developed an affection for him.

the two of them went through hell together and often only had each other to commiserate with given that they were the only ones that took protecting gotham seriously. everyone else thought of gotham as a playground or some big and elaborate game.

not bruce. and not tim.

the others sometimes joke (perhaps with an edge of bitterness) about how tim is more trusted than them, more relied upon than them despite the fact that they've been working with bruce for longer. their petty childish jealousy they try to cover up is exactly why bruce chooses tim over them, because tim is more focused on the important things than bullshit like getting bruce's approval.

so yes bruce does hold tim up on a bit of a pedestal. how can't he?

tim keeps him humble. keeps him on his toes and on the straight and narrow.

so bruce feels an affection for him, maybe more than a bit of fondness given that bruce has stared down at the switch for 'off' on tim's birth control while his cock was in his hand. he'd be lying in bed, it'd be late and the manor quiet and bruce would be gripping his aroused cock while thinking of the tight stretch of tim's cunt when bruce had opened him up with a speculum to examine the entrance to his womb.

a little womb that would be open to house a baby at bruce's command, to house his baby.

tim's still far too young for such things, still only barely 17 but...bruce likes to fantasize of the day. of when he'll press into a pudgy virgin cunt and fuck tim stupid and dripping full of his cum.

that's what bruce thinks. until he snoops in tim's phone. bruce does it only semi-often. just to make sure tim isn't acting out or doing things he shouldn't. tim is staying over at the manor and sleeping off his return from a long mission and bruce has his phone and a plug to sync to his computer where a program will sort through it for him.

it's how bruce finds the messages and the pictures. tim sending photos of his bare tits and little cunt to numbers, some of which bruce recognizes and some of which he doesn't. bruce is even more horrified to find an app. its heavily encoded and a bitch to break through but bruce's programs are second to none.

it's an app that must be manually installed most likely through manual upload of a usb cable connected to a computer with the program. it's a....hookup app. of a sort.

certainly one that's not publicly available. and as bruce looks through the source code he recognizes the style and writing and design....it's a tim origional creation.

tim created an app for capes to be able to discretely hookup with one another. not only had tim created it, he was an avid user, rotating through the roster of users, arranging meet up times, sometimes even inviting people over to the manor when bruce (accompanied by alfred) were away on business.

bruce can feel his emotions bubbling as he see several profiles of heroes he works with. hal jordan is on there, posing smugly with his ring out like some everlasting frat boy. the things he text bruce's tim have bruce's stomach clenching with disgust.

the discovery is unsteadying. throwing into question everything bruce knows about tim. it also makes him...angry.

how dare tim disrespect his body like this? how dare he not value himself the way he should by sending any cape or person who asks a picture of his tits or pink little cunt?

tim was turning into...into...a whore. an honest to god slut.

where did he get that kind of bravery to go around acting like that? that's when the realization hits bruce.

this was his fault. his implant that he'd told tim would guarantee him safety from pregnancy.

all those messages he'd seen from tim telling others that he didn't like condoms, that it didn't feel as good with one and if it was okay if they did it without- that one message alone had gotten tim a lot of messages expressing interest in fucking him bareback like he wanted.

bruce is almost trembling as he holds a tablet with all the messages out on display. his gut is swirling with a mix of disgust and disapproval.

bruce can barely believe what he's uncovered even after spending hours reading messages and looking at the pictures exchanged.

so when morning comes and tim wakes up...bruce doesn't say anything. he doesn't confront him. he just watches tim stumble around the kitchen in a half asleep haze and trying to convince himself the uncoordination isn't due to superboy fucking tim the entire ride home from space.

bruce keeps watch for a while longer. standing back and waiting to see if there's any truth to the messages and to his displeasure... there is.

bruce watches from the security cameras of wayne enterprises as tim's 'late night at the office' is him spreading his legs for an older executive at W.E- one that had been around since bruce's father was on the board. and one that bruce had deeply despised because he hadn't been able to get rid of him.

and that's not the only time. tim meets up with and is fucked by another three people just that week alone. by the time the next monday comes around bruce has made his decision.

tim must be taught a lesson. must be taught the dangers and consequences of his actions.

allowing him to get pregnant would do it. allowing for him to slowly be filled with fear as he notices how he's gaining weight and growing a bump in his abdomen.

he'd learn his lesson for sure. he'd come to bruce sobbing and saying that he hadn't meant for this to happen and that he didn't know what to do.

bruce thinks of tim's tear streaked face as he presses the button to turn his birth control 'off'. and then he sits and waits.

he doesn't go through tim's phone or follow him around. he just waits. days and weeks later and he's telling himself it's be any day now. as the weeks start passing bruce finds himself growing the slightest bit concerned. afterall there's a window he needs to beat. both to visit a reputable clinic that can be paid to keep quiet and be discreet and also for the birth control to serve as a back up. bruce's specially designed device is more than 80 times smaller than an IUD, about the size of a pinhead and it can be remotely activated to terminate a pregnancy but only until the 14th week. after which traditional methods will have to be used.

and so bruce is growing concerned about tim's lack of reaction until...until dinner where all the family is gathered where tim clears his throat and says he has an important announcement.

bruce is not the only one shocked at tim's reveal that he's pregnant, engaged, and planning on retiring. but he is the only one winded at the realization that something has gone horribly wrong.

tim is glowing and happy and proudly toting a pretty and perfectly dainty ring.

'marquise princess cut diamond' bruce internally realizes. a bit of an older style, not often chosen nowadays. most people buy mass manufactured rings but tim's...bruce spies little twin rubies on either side of the diamond, pressed into the decorative band. and...that's a custom job. that's not cheap especially not if its a hastily bought ring to go along with the hasty engagement.

that ring cost money, serious money.

bruce's heart sinks as tim sighs out the name of that WE executive. the one old enough to be bruce's father. the one bruce couldn't stand. the one that had knocked tim up and was now marrying.

bruce can't get a word out. can't force himself to choke out a single congratulations like the rest of the family.

all bruce can do is sit there and think about how he may have greatly miscalculated.

[bluefairyhere]

Afterwards || MGK scenario

¬Colson meets a fan backstage. Pairing->f!reader x colson baker Word count-> 2.0k cw. fluff, some deep convo, fan service, mentions of suicide, swearing.

The noise was unreal. You still couldn't belive you finally made it to kells' concert. It had been an odissey to get enough money to afford the plane and concert tickets, at some points you even wondered if it was worth it. However being here made you have no doubt--It was absolutely worth it.

"Thank you beautiful people for coming today," he practically yelled into the mic, his bright pink hair dripping drops of sweat."I'm afraid this will be the last song of the night."

The crowd sobbed loudly, but the sad atmosphere was quickly replaced with the festival of cords that was the beginning of WWIII. To you it felt like Colson was flying around, his instense energy being contagious to every single fan that was singing along the extravagant lyrics. Everyone was jumping and laughing like one big, jolly being.

Eventually the song was over, and everyone was ready to go back home, but Kells was thinking otherwise.

"Before y'all go back home, the crew and I have one more thing." you looked around just to see excited faces."We've decided to gift a V.I.P meet n' greet behind the scenes to three random people;"

He stepped aside and signaled to the big screens around him, which started showing pink explosions and sparkling silver and black dashes. Then, a series of numbers started to appear—it was ticket numbers.

Your heart was pounding fast, and you could feel the adrenaline pouring through your entire self. You knew it was beyond highly unlikely your number would appear on that screen, yet you couldn’t help but hope…

The first couple of numbers had already been announced, meaning there was only one left. One opportunity to meet Colson left. You knew it wasn’t gonna be you, but even being aware of it didn’t prepare you for the disappointment of realizing the third and final ticket number belonged to the person right next to you. The screen showed the number 118, while your number was 117.

You scowled silently. What a drag. At least i got to enjoy myself for a few hours was all you could say to yourself to make you feel better. You looked to your right, expecting to see the lady excited out of her mind, but she looked quite neutral. Thinking it was odd, you continued gathering your stuff to go back home.

“Excuse me.” You felt a slight pat on your shoulder along with the sound of a voice getting lost in the background noise. You turned around. “I can’t really attend the backstage thingie, I promised the sitter I’d be back home early. Would you like to go instead?”

To say you couldn’t believe your ears would be an understatement. “Sorry?” You said in shock. The lady looking back at you seemed to be in her late 30s, short brown hair and kind eyes. She giggled.

“I realize it’s weird, but I really can’t stay any longer. If you can’t accept it there’s no problem, I’ll just ask someone else.”

But before she finished the sentence you interrupted with frantic nodding. “I’ll take it! It was just so unexpected! Are you really sure?”

“I’m really sure I can’t afford a different sitter right now,” she smiled honestly. “So yea.”

She offered you her ticket and you took it, hesitant. And there it was, the winning ticket—or one of them anyway—in your hands. You felt on top of the world.

“You have no idea how much this means to me, thank you so much.” You said while smiling as well, and she just brushed it off.

“Never meet your idols is something I’ve always firmly believed anyways. Have a good time!” After saying that she quickly left.

It took you a while to get it together. The whole situation felt crazy to say the least. You just knew your friends were gonna be so jealous (in a nice way) and eager to hear the whole thing. They simply were not gonna believe this!

You made your way to the backstage entrance, where a bodyguard and some other staff members were to make sure everything went smoothly. The other two people in front of you, who you assumed were the other winners, seemed to be really excited as well.

One of the staff members explained that each of us would have approximately ten minutes with Colson, in the order the winners were announced. They also gave you some merch, which you naturally loved. You immediately put on a little rubber band around your wrist that came in the carefully organized package.

After some time, it was finally your turn. You were so excited the waiting felt like a blink. The bodyguard walked you through a hallway with a bunch of doors on either side, until finally you reached one that had a piece of paper sticked to it. “MACHINE GUN KELLY”

Your heart immediately skipped a bit, you couldn’t believe you were actually going to meet MGK. Machine Gun Kelly. Colson Freaking Baker. You inhaled some air hoping it would calm you down—of course it didn’t—and the bodyguard opened the door.

There he was. A smoky blunt on one hand and his phone on the other. He wasn’t really sweaty anymore, and his hair was a mess yet his face looked so calm. His see-through shirt revealed his contoured torso full of tattoos. You knew he was tall but seeing him in person for the very first time... he seemed taller than anyone could ever be. Just the arch of his nose and piercing eyes made you feel like oxygen wasn’t so necessary anymore-

“You don’t have to stand all the way there,” his raspy voice took you out of the trance in a heartbeat, which made you a little shy due to your awkward demeanor. “C’mere”

Once again hesitantly you walked a little closer to him, who was no longer leaning against the wall nor unaware of your presence. Colson was standing up—god he got even taller-- and looking at you in a curious manner. “What’s your name?”

You whispered the answer, unable to look into his eyes for longer periods of time than twenty seconds each. He giggled, amused.

“You’re not very talkative, are you?” Now it was your turn to giggle. For some reason his unpreoccupied remark eased you into the moment. “Sorry,” you sighed “college didn’t teach me anything on how to talk to someone like you.”

He walked closer to you and sat in a nearby chair. “Woah, someone like me? And here I thought we're getting along.”

You laughed out loud again and he smiled in return and inhaled the blunt resting between his fingers. Now you were starting to feel actually comfortable.

“I didn’t mean it like that!” You hugged yourself while walking a little closer as well. “I meant someone so famous and admirable. We’re just very different.”

He appeared to think about it for a second and then signaled to a chair close to his with his almost fully smoked blunt, indicating you should sit down.

“I don’t think we’re that different, you and I.” He stated firmly, looking right into your eyes. You could feel your ears burning a bit, but naturally decided to just ignore it.

“We are very, very different…” you began right after you sat on the chair but stopped mid-sentence because you weren’t sure about how to adress him, which he somehow seemed to notice.

“Call me whatever, I literally don’t care.” Usually that sentence would’ve sounded harsh due to its very nature, but coming out of his mouth it didn’t make you feel any of those things. He meant it, he didn’t seem to mind at all.

“Is Colson alright?” He nodded while inhaling the last puff out of his blunt. "ye's fine."

You could feel once again the air filling up with awkwardness, but you weren't gonna let it. It's not every day you get to have a one-on-one conversation with THE Machine Gun Kelly.

"Tell me something about you."You spat before you could think twice about it. He frowned, unsure of what you meant."Tell me something you'd like me to know about you. Something I shouldn't know, or something you've never said to anyone. Tell me something about you." You stared right into his cerulean gaze."Anything."

He laughed outloud, strong peals of laughter filling the room. You wondered how come this was better than all the songs he performed at the concert--the sound of his laugh."What's so funny?"

"You were so shy like a second ago and now you're asking shit like that." He pointed, still slightly smiling. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because I do." You quickly replied, simply. "It's not every day a girl gets to be face to face with the one and only MGK."

Colson's smile became a mere smirk. You could tell he was thinking what could he possibly tell you.

"I make music for myself" he spat suddenly ", not for the fans. For me. The fact that they---you like it is just a plus. It's what helps me sleep at nights."

When you asked him to give you something you certainly weren’t expecting something half as deep as that.

"I guess we never really think you celebrities have demons as bad as that... not for real, anyway. Thanks for sharing that with me, you obviously didn't have to."

"Well, there's not much of a point. Not like we'll be meeting again." As he said this, the realization came down to you. You were not meeting again. You felt your heart irrationally sink.

"Still I appreciate i-" his raspy voice interrupted you before she could finish the sentence.

"Your turn."

"Sorry?"

"Your turn. Tell me some spicy shit about you, something not many people know."

Your mind went blank. Something about you no one knows? You were a rather private person so there were a bunch of things people didn't know, but which to pick? He shared a deep one so it was only fair and right for you to do the same.

"I love when it rains at night." His square-ish smile welcomed the statement.

"Dude, how is that deep?" You breathed in as you took long blinking.

"I was going to kill myself. It was like midnight or something, I had the pills ready and I was lying on my bedroom floor. There's a big skylight on the ceiling, you know? I was about to take them when suddenly it started raining." He wasn't really smiling anymore."And that made me smile. I like night time, and I like it when it rains, so together it's like... I don't know. I love it. And I realized if i did it, i was not going to be able to see the nightsky while it's raining, hear the drops of rain against the buildings and the ground. Nor would I smile again.”

"Now that is deep." He walked towards a metalic table and poured two glasses of what seemed to be gin. He then walked toward you and offered you one."I guess we’re not so different after all… Cheers to that."

You took it while smiling, mumbling "cheers to that, indeed" as your glasses clinked.

"Why did you tell me that?" He asked after taking a few sips. You shrugged and took another sip, looking up into his blue irises and feeling yourself getting lost in them.

"You said so yourself, it's not like we'll ever meet again. Might as well do some trauma dumping." You both laughed at the joke---self-deprecating humor is something you could instantly say you had in common.

"I like you, y/n. We might actually have to meet again." Your heart skipped a bit as he said that. Had you heard right? You somehow managed to keep your cool.

"Why? You just said we were never meeting again." You sighed. "I hope it's not pitty because of what I just told you."

"It ain't. You just peaked my interest. No one'd managed to do that for a while." He stared right into your eyes as he said that. Made you shiver.

"So we meet and what?" You asked, your heart running inside your chest.

"And we have a drink, what the fuck else?"

"Isn't there some rule that forbids you from doing shit like that, anyway?"You asked, genuinely curious.

"Ain't rules meant to be broken?" He answered and smirked before walking to the table once again and refilling his glass. He looked at you and softly swung the bottle in your direction, silently offering, but you shook your nead no since you hadn't finished the previous serving. "So what do you say? Tomorrow midnight at your favorite club?"

[myprongsfootera]

Prongsfoot Microfic: Speculate

@prongsfoot-microfic 2/24 - 364 words

It probably wasn’t kind to speculate on other people’s love lives, but Lily couldn’t help it. 

Sirius had unceremoniously dumped Emmaline and rumors had been running rampant that he was already dating someone else. Sirius had heard Emmaline’s friends swear that he had told her that himself. Some kind of “it’s not you, it’s me - I’m already in love with someone else” type of line. Lily would believe it of him. 

But in the two weeks since their big breakup, she hadn’t so much as seen Sirius talk to any other girls. She’d been watching so carefully, trying to see if she could pick up on anything, but she hadn’t spotted one single noteworthy interaction. 

And she hadn’t meant to gossip, but she’d confided in Mary and Marlene and they’d said the same. 

Sirius had just been spending a ton of time with James. More than usual, even, now that he was single. 

Lily hadn’t thought anything of it at first, but it had been going on for a long time. She just kept waiting for Sirius to make a big announcement and start walking hand in hand with some new girl any day. 

And yet he didn’t. 

She started to wonder if he was only getting together with his mystery girl under cover of darkness.

And then Lily spotted something that she wasn’t meant to. 

She crept down the stairs into the common room at 2:00 in the morning one night when she couldn’t sleep and she saw James and Sirius dozing curled up together on the couch in front of the dying embers of the fire. Even as they snoozed, their fingers were linked on James’ chest like they’d fallen asleep holding hands. 

All of a sudden Lily understood. 

She’d been waiting for the wrong thing. 

Even as they’d all been speculating and guessing and waiting, the truth had been right in front of them. Sirius hadn’t been hiding a connection at all, he’d been spending every second of the day with the person he was in love with. It was just that that person was James. 

Lily’s face split into a grin. 

Mary and Marlene weren’t going to believe this.

[luckystarchild]

STOP SHARING THIS TWEET.

This is 99.99% likely to be fake. As someone who works in the anime industry, let me tell you why.

This has been sent to me dozens of times over the past few days, and it's pretty obvious to me that it's fake.

I work in the anime industry. Here's why I don't put any stock in this "official" announcement at all.

1. THE 'SOURCE' IS A TOTAL RANDO

The source is a random Twitter/X account. It isn't a studio or licensor. It's not even one of the "reputable" leakers. It's just some random person making a claim with zero backing and slapping the words "official" and "confirmed" on it.

Accurate leaks have happened, but they're usually accompanied by some kind of source claim (a leaked press release, a leak within the company, etc.) and a claim that an announcement is coming soon. This has nothing. This is just a random person saying shit for clicks.

Every one of their posts has "FOLLOW FORE MORE" in a subtweet. They're just farming for followers. The rest of the account is just random anime edits and posts + promotions for a discord they run.

I could literally write anything in a tweet and slap "OFFICIAL, CONFIRMED" on it, but if you see those words, you need to be asking, "Who confirmed it? What makes this official?" And in this case, it's NOTHING and NOBODY in the world of anime.

Media literacy, folks. It applies to Twitter/X. It ESPECIALLY applies to Twitter/X.

2. THIS 'SOURCE' DOESN'T UNDERSTAND THE ANIME INDUSTRY

"Studio has not been announced" is a WILD thing to suggest here, because YYH's rights are LITERALLY OWNED BY AN ANIME STUDIO. Studio Pierrot is still a license-holder for this IP, and it would be weird as hell for them to not handle a remake.

(Also, "studio not announced"... NOTHING has been announced. The wording here is very sneaky, as it implies an announcement was made but the studio was just left out of it. If an announcement had been made, it would be Pierrot/the studio/Shueisha doing it.)

Not only has Pierrot made animated content for the series as recently as the 2018 OVAs, their copyright info is on literally every piece of YYH merch being produced this year (alongside Shueisha and Togashi). They still have some rights. They (in part) hold the IP. They still make art for it. They will be the studio for any remake unless they willingly let go of that license. Considering they're still making money off of it through merch sales and the liveaction adaptation (tho that's another can of licensing worms we could discuss), that's highly, HIGHLY unlikely.

The likelihood of Pierrot letting some other studio handle the remake is very, VERY slim. It's one of their hallmark, legendary series. Why would they ever let that go to a competitor?

The "studio hasn't been confirmed" bit tells me this person doesn't know who actually owns the rights to YYH, and when they don't even know that basic piece of information, it puts everything else they say into question.

3. THE TIMING IS SUSPICIOUS

Anime series are in production long before they air. How long in advance depends on the project. You can't keep a lid on a high profile project for an extended period. For big projects, studios want to start the hype train sooner rather than later. (Obviously there are exceptions to this (see the Fruits Basket remake) but we'll get to that later.)

This tweet claims the project is coming out in 2024. We are at the VERY TAIL END of 2023. It is basically 2024 already. That tweet isn't an official announcement (despite the word "official" on it), which means the studio/license holder would have to announce it even LATER than this tweet did. The latest anime seasonals begin airing in Q4/October/the Fall Simulcast season. That gives Pierrot less than a year of lead-up time to market the anime before its latest possible air date in 2024, and for this particular property, that does not seem realistic OR wise.

Let's examine Pierrot's recent treatment of the latest Bleach installment as evidence. They announced the project in March 2020 via a livestream event. They began airing the project in October 2022, MORE THAN TWO YEARS LATER. That gave them two years to market the series.

YYH, like Bleach, is one of Pierrot's hallmarks. The idea that they'd give it less than a year of marketing is just not realistic. They'd likely give it the same kind of treatment as the new Bleach arc, given it's one of their past tentpole titles getting revived.

(Also note that Pierrot animated the new Bleach installments after years of no new Bleach. They didn't let go of those rights. They held on and made more content later. Now apply that logic to YYH, and arrive again at: To suggest another studio would handle a new series is farfetched.)

If the tweet had said the series was dropping in 2025 or later, it would be much more believable. But the details they gave, again, discredit their claims from the jump.

If a new YYH was coming out in 2024, btw, the series would already be well underway and likely have been in production behind the scenes for quite some time. They probably would've announced it last year if they intended a 2024 release.

4. THE LIVEACTION OF IT ALL

A liveaction adaptation for YYH is about to drop (December 14 on Netflix).

I can already hear the argument of, "Oh, well maybe they'll announce a new anime for 2024 when the liveaction comes out," and while that might be a possibility, I think there's another, far more likely alternative.

If the liveaction does well and the license holders make a fuckton of money on it, or if they at least see a large resurgence in interest in the IP, THEN I think the license holders/anime production committee would start thinking about a new anime adaptation to cash in on that interest. But I do not see them making that decision before the streaming numbers for the liveaction come in, and I do NOT see them working on the anime before the liveaction has even aired.

The anime world moves slowly. The execs and committees behind the scenes like numbers and sales figures. If they see good numbers, balls might start rolling. But it's unlikely they're already in production NOW, let alone far enough into production to support a 2024 release for a remake.

If the Netflix show gets the ball rolling on a new YYH anime, that anime won't come out in 2024. There just isn't time.

And I can now hear some muttering the argument of, "Oh, well they probably just held the news to time it with the liveaction," but see again their habit of announcing projects with lots of lead-up marketing time.

CONCLUSION: THIS SEEMS FAKE.

BUT...

Given the details above and the COMPLETE LACK OF EVIDENCE supplied by the tweet, I do not expect we'll get an ACTUAL "official, confirmed" announcement for a remake anytime soon.

In the event that I'm wrong, what I'd predict is the announcement of a remake (one made by ACTUAL official sources, AKA Pierrot and Shuiesha) sometime in Q1 or Q2 2024. Pierrot would be the studio, and the project would be slated for late 2025, or even more likely, sometime in 2026. (And yes, projects slated for 2026 and later are in the works right now.)

I think the above is a longshot, but it's possible. The timing suggested in the tweet everyone is sharing isn't realistic at all, however.

Long story short:

DO NOT TRUST RANDOM TWITTER ACCOUNTS.

ANYONE CAN SAY "OFFICIAL" or "CONFIRMED"

THE ONLY OFFICIAL SOURCES FOR ANIME NEWS ARE STUDIOS AND LICENSORS

QUESTION EVERYTHING

[coimbrabertone]

NASCAR is Kinda Maybe Vaguely Doing Something and People Are Mad About It

In a race weekend of rain, delays, and Stewart Haas cars hitting the barriers every five minutes, the biggest story coming out of the NASCAR Chicago Street Race seems to be this crossover EV prototype...and people are mad at it.

Well, people are also mad that Bubba Wallace steered race winner Alex Bowman into the wall after the race, but one: a NASCAR driver getting mad and bumping into someone else after the race is a non-story, two: the same people that are mad at Bubba are probably the same people that are mad about the EV prototype.

So, at the Chicago Street Race, NASCAR finally unveiled the EV prototype that everyone already knew about - they were going to unveil it at the LA Coliseum preseason race but then they didn't because that race also saw rain and they ended up truncating the weekend - so how did they do this?

Did they announce it was going to replace one of the three national touring series? Maybe trucks since, you know, trucks and crossovers are both big.

Or maybe the Xfinity cars, since those are still a generation behind and Ford and Chevy just run the same models there as in Cup, so maybe a crossover for that series would make sense.

Or maybe start out with a new, more standalone series on street courses or something, sorta like a stock car version of Formula E.

Well, no, they did none of that.

Quite literally all they did was having the car speed off from a standing start and talk about some of the specs.

It's a 1300 hp car designed in collaboration with Ford, Chevy, and Toyota, David Ragan has been the test driver, and it was to promote a new collaboration agreement between NASCAR and ABB - who is also the title sponsor of ABB. That's all it was.

And yet, NASCAR fans are acting like these things are gonna replace Cup for next year. It's a dramatic overreaction.

I'm not even particularly a fan of EVs. I enjoy the noise and power coming from a car and I think that EVs - particularly Teslas and wannabe Teslas like the Ford Mustang Mach E - are deliberately garish, bulbously proportioned, and expensive props that the driver uses to convey how much more environmentally conscious and morally superior they are to the average driver.

So yeah, to a degree I understand why the "core" NASCAR fan or whatever may not agree with that message.

But...they're not even doing anything with it. It's a promotional piece for NASCAR to take to corporate events and all that.

The closest NASCAR is to an EV series is that there was also talk about them partnering with Dana White to invest in Nitrocross, an EV rallycross series that Conor Daly raced in once.

Even if NASCAR did launch an EV national series, you could just, you know, not watch it. I don't pay attention to Formula E or MotoE despite having long been an F1 fan and currently being a MotoGP fan.

It's just weird to see this very weak, very minor gesture from NASCAR and there being this vicious backlash towards it. I'm the kind of person that gets vaguely disappointed every time I find out a new performance car has some sort of hybrid element to it, so do you have any idea how off-base you need to be for me to disagree with your anger on this?

It's just such a nothing storyline, calm down.

Elsewhere in the Chicago Street Race weekend, the Xfinity race was pretty great actually, another SVG win and some cool battles between him, Gibbs, and Larson throughout, so that was nice. The Cup race was pretty good when it was running but that long rain delay did kinda suck a lot of the energy out of it. Plus, SVG getting speared by an out-of-control Briscoe was pretty lame.

Especially since Chase Briscoe and Josh Berry in their SHR cars would basically spend the whole second half of the race hitting the barriers and/or going off every five or so laps.

Oh, and postrace, Bubba Wallace banged doors with Alex Bowman while Chase Elliott banged doors with Daniel Suarez because, once again, this is NASCAR and that's just the kind of stuff that happens in NASCAR. People are only mad when Bubba does it though. Odd. I wonder if there's a certain thing about Bubba that leads to him being on the receiving take of all this bad faith criticism...

Other than that, Indycar had its hybrid era start at Mid-Ohio in a race that started off boring but ended in Pato O'Ward holding off Alex Palou to take the win for Arrow McLaren.

Something much appreciated since, earlier in the day, McLaren was running 1-2 in the British Grand Prix until they kept Oscar out on slicks on a wet track to lose second, and then switched Norris onto the wrong tyres once things dried up.

And then there was MotoGP. Pecco Bagnaia was chasing down Jorge Martin in the closing stages, Martin first in the championship, Pecco second after dominating the last two race weekends to chip away at Martin's lead. Martin is feeling the pressure, feels he needs to win to stop the bleeding, but just pushes too hard into turn one, the bike slides out from under him, and Pecco goes through to win.

Marc Marquez, the man who beat Jorge Martin to be Bagnaia's 2025 Ducati teammate, came through in second, his brother Alex Marquez in third, and Enea Bastianini - Bagnaia's current teammate - came through in fourth. After the Spanish GP sprint, Jorge Martin was forty-two points ahead of Bagnaia, as recently as after the Catalan GP, that gap was thirty-nine points, now? Bagnaia leads by ten.

Pecco won the Catalan GP main race, swept both races at Mugello, both races at Assen, finished third behind Martin and Miguel Oliveira at the German GP sprint, but then won the German GP main race as Martin crashed out to take the championship lead. Truly a tremendous four race run from Bagnaia.

Keep in mind, nobody won back-to-back main races at all in 2023! Pecco just won four in a row.

This is why I love MotoGP so much, it still has that drama, that magic, that I find so many series lack these days.

Unfortunately, it's schedule is also crap, so MotoGP is off until August 4th. Fuck.

NASCAR at Pocono and Indycar's double race weekend at Iowa will hopefully provide some entertainment next weekend. Now I just need to hope I don't die of MotoGP withdrawal in the meantime...wish me luck.

[kindlyanni]

Hello 👋

New reader here! Of both of your comics, though I admit I'm more into The Witch Door. Funfact: I don't know why, but my brain keeps calling it The Witch Next Door... which wouldn't be totally wrong, in a way, but still.

I've never really been into vampires, but the story going on in Transfusions Book 2 is getting more and more interesting, so I'll keep reading it ^^ And I'm fascinated by the dedication throughout all those years, almost fifteen years!, along with the evolution of the storytelling, the style itself, the layout, etc. That's impressive.

I'm also very glad to read stories set in Finland, which isn't a place I've come across often in mainstream media. I like to discover a new country this way.

Now, I've got a few questions, some maybe silly, sorry 😅

1. Is coffee like a thing in Finland? Or is it your own habit showing up? Because your characters sure drink a lot of coffee every time! I am used to a certain drinking coffee habit in my own country, although I'm a tea person, but I don't know, it seems to be a very, very strong habit there.

2. I prefer waiting for chapters to be completed to read them. Is there a way to know when one is done? Do you announce the last pages on this blog?

3. I love the incorporation of Finland folklore and myths in The Witch Door! Would you happen to have any book recommandations in English to learn more about it?

4. Is there or will there be a physical copy of The Witch Door at some point? (No, I'm not well into it at all, that's not true...)

Thank you and have a nice day, night, or whatever time is it when you see this :)

Hi there!

I get that vampires are not everyone's cup of tea. I am glad to hear people like TWD, as it's the newer and probably less known webcomic of mine. :)

Is coffee a thing in Finland, you ask? Finns consume the most coffee per capita in the world, according to some studies, or we're in top 2 at least. ~4 cups/day average. In Finland coffee breaks are mandatory at work places. In Finland coffee is a form of socialising, of hospitailty. If someone comes over you at least offer to make coffee for them. Many Finns drink coffee several times a day. Fun fact, I started drinking coffee when I turned 30. Didn't like the taste before that. I make 3 cups after waking up and take my time drinking it. I try to take breaks from drinking coffee every now and then though. Jousia drinks a lot of coffee, like a lot. It's because he also works when he's sleeping so he's always tired, but at this point it's a bit of an addiction.

Sometimes.... I usually make "chapter ended" posts on instagram, because I don't post weekly updates there, but I could start making those kind of posts on here too, it makes sense. If I just remember to do that. But you'll also know when chapter is over when I start posting chapter extras between chapters. :)

Unfortunately I don't know any Finnish folklore/mythology books in English. If someone else does, feel free to drop recommendations in the replies!

I can't say. I don't know. I might put together pdf's at some point!

Thank you, have a nice day as well :)

[genericpuff]

Sorry but I think you’re being super negative about the whole “Rachel Presents” announcement.

Rick Riordan is a white author who is passionate about mythology. After Greek mythology and briefly going into egyptology, he used his influence to give People of color a chance to write modern mythology stories from their own culture and experiences—and most importantly he stayed in his lane.

I think Rachel choosing to step back and give other people a voice is a great outcome, considering you guys all joked about how horrific it would be if she tried to appropriate another culture in her next series.

You also said she should have given LO to another creator who had the passion and dicipline to finish for her. That’s ESSENTIALLY what she’s going to be doing with RP. Maybe her true calling is just…being an Idea guy. She has wonderful concepts and cool ideas, but lacks commitment. In this scenario, we could end up with super amazing stories, with proper editing from Random house and proper commitment from new creators. I don’t really see the issue here, everyone wins.

(And lots of authors do the whole “___ presents” format. I don’t think she deliberately copied RR. Most likely her books sales did well and Penguin House approached her with this offer.)

lmao what? I was against the folks saying she should give it to another creator. I don't think not liking the series should mean she's obligated to "give it to someone else." The series is hers and so it's her responsibility to finish it. I do think she should have ended it a long time ago or if she was really miserable making it then she should step away, but she shouldn't be giving it to someone else to finish for her just because "boo you suck at writing your own comic". She started this, she should finish it.

And this is literally her doing exactly that - appropriating other cultures - with extra steps. Just instead of being on the front lines with her own work, she's sponsoring other works based on her own bar for quality (which we know is EXTREMELY low) and slapping her name on them so she can take a "backseat". It's really icky to see from a creator who practically failed upwards and is now using "herself" as a selling point, when she has no real legitimacy outside of LO, which was only as successful as it was because of WT constantly sinking money into it and advertising it over other series on the platform (and because it's based off a story that was VERY popular to romanticize at the time, the H x P myth. Like it was literally what was popular on Tumblr when it started as a hobby comic on Tumblr.)

I'm outlining all of these posts with "speculation" because obviously I don't know what's really going on behind the scenes here, but I think it's really disingenuous of Rachel to sell herself as some top tier brand name for mythological works as a whole when she's caused so much actual harm to the Greek myth community and its sources. It's furthering the notion that she has any credibility as a "folklorist" when really she just pulls whatever comes off the front page of Google. And the similarities between herself and Rick Riordan do matter here because of how commonplace it is these days for Rachel to rip off other works rather than take inspiration and make it into something that's organically her own.

That's my two cents. It's not me trying to be "negative", it's me being genuinely concerned over the blatant appropriation from a white woman gaining even more control over the depictions of cultures and mythologies that she claims she's educated on and isn't. Unlike Rick Riordan, Rachel does not have any formal education in the subject she's claiming to be educated about. Unlike Rick Riordan, Rachel allows her fanbase to use her work as a source on Greek myth and she obfuscates the line between "fiction" and "fact". Rick Riordan started Rick Riordan Presents after he had multiple hits under his belt that were celebrated and loved. Rachel is starting Rachel Smythe Presents after a one hit wonder that could be chalked up to a total fluke that wasn't even able to go out with a bang.

Rick Riordan writes fictional stories inspired by Greek myth for children. Rachel is writing fictional stories claiming to be "retellings" of Greek myth - and now other mythologies if the implications of this project follow through - for adults. It's disingenuous and it frankly deserves to be paid attention to and called out.

I do genuinely want to see creators given an avenue to monetize their work and that's why I think the thought of it is nice, but any amount of further digging just makes this feel like a grift that will lead young and inexperienced creators down a path that won't benefit them (or take advantage of them) due to the blatant lack of care and management exhibited by Rachel over the past 5 years. Just because Rachel had one massive hit that lined her pockets for years does NOT qualify her to be a titan of the industry. Not by a long shot.

To quote Super Eyepatch Wolf,

"Let's say you decide you want to become a carpenter, and particularly, how to build a nice chair. Think about the kind of person you'd want to learn that skill from - would it be from someone who's built nice chairs every day for 30 years, or would it be the guy who built ONE nice chair 5 years ago out of a special kind of wood that doesn't exist anymore, who has NO experience with the kind of wood available to you now?"

EDIT to add: it was more likely Rachel's representative, Britt Seiss who landed this deal for her, not Penguin House themselves. That's what agents are for.

EDIT EDIT: this is ALL assuming she even FOLLOWS THROUGH with this project, because god knows the only reason LO has even gone on as long as it has was because she was being held responsible via a contract, she's NOTORIOUSLY bad for committing to things and has even admitted to it in interviews. She barely even works on LO as it is. Spring of 2024 could roll around and this project could entirely fizzle out. Again, not me trying to be a negative nancy here, I'm just stating my own concerns based on what we all know about Rachel at this point and how she operates.

[newcomernewcums]

thank you for keeping us well fed 🙇‍♀️

i am here to COOK, im holding myself back by the scruff of my fuckin neck from writing a one shot or starting something else before i finish the next chapter, BUT, that being said, i’d love to answer some prompts about our favorite big buff men in the 141 if anyone has any ideas…

AAAAANYWAY, eat some more!

PricexReader headcannon (Falling in love + getting together (pretty SFW)):

Your first day with the 141 is a blur. You’re jittery the whole time, leftover excitement from being recruited mixed with new butterflies about meeting everyone, proving yourself, solidifying your future. Meeting Captain Price is crystal clear in your mind, though. It felt like all the racing stopped when he greeted you, offering his hand to shake with kind eyes and a handsome smile.

You brush off your nerves at first, attributing your anxiety around the man to the fact that he’s your superior, a person to impress, a man the rest of your team admires, that you admire. It isn’t until you’re both trapped, mission gone wrong, surrounded by combatants and sure that you’re going to die that you finally admit to yourself that your need to impress this man ran deeper than him being your commander.

As soon as you manage to pry open your mouth, taking a deep breath in to make a death-bed confession, your radio’s buzzing to life, Ghost on comms with a plan and an extraction team.

You push the feelings deep, deep down, ignoring just how the butterflies in your stomach fly lower whenever Price is in the room, almost pulsating whenever he leans down to tell you something, gruff voice tickling your ear.

Price falls second, but he falls hard. Tumbling into the Grand Canyon hard, busting his nose on the way down hard. He likes the new recruit. Hell, he chose you himself. But that’s what you were, a recruit, someone for him to lead, to direct. Sure, he’s happy that you fit into the team so well, can play along with Soap’s antics and sit quietly with Simon, but he never gets close. Tries not to, especially since there’s a twinge in his chest every time you look up at him with those honest eyes, beautiful and pure and shining at him like diamonds.

It on a particularly bad mission—one of those that he’s sure he’s not making it out of—that it hits him. You’re both hunkered down, hiding from combatants in an abandoned building, curled tight against a wall to ensure there were no sightlines from the many windows in the room. It’s one moment that changes it all. He looks down at you, his brave little soldier, and you meet his eyes with nothing but resolve and determination and he deliriously thinks that you look like an angel.

That’s all it takes for him to get stuck on you, every meeting, every mission, every single goddam waking moment he finds his eyes trailing after you, finds himself leaning too close, lingering too long. He can’t get you out of his head and its driving him crazy.

You finally get together on a good night. A celebration, one successful mission after disappointment after disappointment, a mission that goes good enough that it has Soap opening the meager liquor cabinet on base. You don’t drink too much, but you can feel your cheeks heating up, the ends of your sentences slurring a bit. Its good, you’re happy here, with these men you’ve found a family in. Price is drinking too, you notice, and you can’t help but feel like his eyes are trained on you the whole night. You feel them when Ghost pats you on the shoulder, when Gaz slings his arm around your waste, when you and Soap dance around the sparse room to an upbeat song blasting out of his phone.

You can feel yourself drifting off as you all talk late into the night, finally announcing that you’re heading to bed well past dark. To your surprise, Price’s voice startles you, coming from right over your shoulder, an offer to walk you to your room. ‘Just to make sure you make it,’ he jokes. You give him a shy smile, somehow still unable to banish the giddy feeling that you always get in your chest when he’s around. You both make smalltalk as you walk through the familiar corridors, but he doesn’t turn around once you reach your door. He continues the conversation, slowly moving into your space, towering over you as you press yourself back into the wall.

You cant stop your eyes from flicking down to his lips, not missing the smirk that spreads as he clocks the motion. Maybe, just maybe, you didn’t have to ignore the yearning you feel almost every day, maybe… if you just take a chance…

His eyes widen in surprise as your fingers wrap around his dog tags, pulling him down to you with a coy look. There’s a second of indecision, a moment of pause where you think, terrifyingly, that he may back up, move out of your space, and then he’s sliding your lips together, groaning into your mouth as you fumble with the door handle behind you.

[drinkingbitterboy]

alright. i have emotionally recovered from miles posting on instagram this morning, which truly threw off my plan to do a little concert recap bc i was busy yelling at my phone/on tumblr. as you do.

a couple notes:

i don't really do concert photos; literally took a grand total of 4 during the actual show. so sorry, don't have much there!

i did not get a poster :( turns out they ran out before AM even went on stage?? i'm sad, but not too pressed bc really i'd much rather have a good view than wait in the merch line.

here we go!!

so getting into the arena was kind of a shit show lmao. we rolled up around door open and the line stretched 5 city blocks and doubled back on itself; it was mostly organized but asshats loved to pop in when the line got broken up by the streets. took us almost an hour to make it our five blocks and the line behind us was still just as long by then. at least folks waiting by us in line were nice! beyond nice conversation the true highlight was outfit spotting. shoutout to the absolutely dedicated guy who showed up in the full on fwn clown outfit complete with face paint by himself. in this weather! found a couple folks dressed exactly like the car alex (again, why are you wearing a blazer in this weather) and you know. felt real old about it seeing some of the other concert outfits. i'm sorry, not to be judgemental of the tiktok girlies, but holy shit. i managed to out myself once as a weird fan about it bc i had "inside knowledge" aka i saw the ig stories james and davey posted lmao. i'm so sorry i'm incapable of holding it in when i want to correct someone. had a grand time talking to some people in line next to me around my age; one of them even had an old sias shirt from seeing them live back then! good bonding about "hey what have you done since they announced this album?" one guy switched jobs twice, we got married, and the other couple had a baby. jfc.

further highlights include the person who wrote the batphone and cheeseburger notes, a couple other car truck bits i didn't take pics of saying things like "who the fuck are the arctic monkeys", and the true comedy of whoever designed the tickets. big mike wazowski energy

fontaines dc sounded great! a lot of folks around me had no clue who they were, though. so the crowd wasn't too excited overall. also i have no idea who put together the playlist in between sets bc it was nuts.

and then: the big reveal (that i then updated tumblr on)

i'm really surprised the whole set made it! the anticipation before they took the curtain down was absolutely palpable. also, didn't get a picture of it but at one point someone had a giant pole and was trying to poke something right at at the top of the frame of the screen. no idea what that was about but it was hilarious. not pictured: the bonus screens on either side of the stage.

an aside: my partner is fucking hilarious. every time a roadie came on state with an instrument he'd go "i don't think that one is a monkey." he also generally calls them the "monkfys" anyway bc he really latched onto that clip aksdjfs

so this was interesting! they didn't show the body paint symbols at all on any of the screens; instead, they showed this colorful wheel thing.

and then the actual show. oh my word. opening with sculptures was absolutely my dream and honestly i don't have words for what it's like to see alex in person. he's absolutely captivating. hypnotizing. one of the most amazing things is watching how he proceeds through the show--how he goes from suave and put together with his choreographed arm movements for emphasis and his little things like the little bubble pop in that song. and then he starts to loosen up (along with his hair), we get the silly dramatic theatre kid during cornerstone and do me a favour, and by the time we hit body paint he's just completely letting loose. even when they played much of the usual setlist and i obviously know the music super well--better than anyone else around me--it was still absolutely thrilling to just be there and listen to the music and sing loudly and jump around until we felt the floorboards creak. they felt really high energy last night! turns out coming off of a break is good for them!

related, getting to watch the transformation into the poofy lion hair in real life is incredible.

i must admit, i am not immune to things like alex waving in our general direction to the crowd and walking over to our side of the stage and all of the charming bits. just can't help it.

otherwise, the only other person i could consistently see was nick - we were standing stage right, maybe 15 yards back? so you know. gorgeous as always. i'm sure jamie was wonderful also in his insane leather jacket -- didn't see him at all lol. i managed to get a very convenient window to center stage so i actually saw alex a decent amount. worked out well because i couldn't actually see the screens super well. i'm short. here's the only two pictures i actually took of the band, right at the beginning:

and now for the rest of the setlist -- we all know they played a lot of the usual suspects. as expected, much of the crowd was pretty young and very invested in only AM and the hype songs. i didn't mind; at least i wasn't the only person screaming for perfect sense (weren't a lot of us, i was the only one in my general area, but that's alright. i don't care.) my spouse was entertained by the person next to us who looked up the spotify set playlist in between every song; he was like "why look it up? if you don't know the songs well enough to identify by intro then how is the list supposed to help?" anyway, holy shit when is snap getting out of the playlist? and yet even though i was not thrilled by it it was still so fun to sing along.

4 out of 5 had a really funny bit at the end while he was just kinda ad libbing lines. "four stars out of five, not quite there yet, but almosttttt." teddy picker and view from the afternoon were absolutely fantastic, too. and then we get the basic AM bits again, though turns out the crowd was also really hype for fluorescent adolescent. 10/10

i was so goddamn loud for perfect sense. shoutout to the spouse again for only knowing that song bc i learned to play it and then played it constantly bc i wanted to manifest it aksjdflaskdj

he was constantly saying "very nice. very nice. very good" in between songs, which was adorable. "hope you're having a lovely evening, folks." as my partner put it: "very good. that's him like yes, i've met my crowd interaction quota for the night"

and then of course we brought out the drama for do me a favour and cornerstone. i cracked up that there were already gifs of the "forcing a smile" bit by the time i got home.

mirrorball started with alex conducting the stings again. i love it so much. also makes my musician ass miss performing lmao. but really, i can't get over how good mirrorball is. it's so dramatic, so emotional, then the actual mirrorball reveal??? i cried. it's insane. it's beautiful. it's honestly indescribable. i generally don't like people filming a lot or taking tons of pictures but you know what? mirrorball is an exception. holy mother of god.

and then 505!! i know i mentioned this earlier but really??? the mirrorball is only lit up like this for 505 and then they pull it back up?? there better be a mirrorball for me, he says, then we pull it down for the very miles song, and then they get rid of it???????? i had some thoughts.

our end of the stage got a bit distracted during do i wanna know bc we had someone go down in the crowd and had to call someone over to help. good news is that they were pretty close to the wall/barrier so it was easy to make space. even so, i realy can't get over how good that guitar sounds.

and then body paint. we've all seen videos of the extended outro and really, truly, it's just a life-altering experience to watch it life. it sounded incredible, it looked incredible with the rainbow lights, everyone looked like they were having a blast. i am a little biased bc i'm so attached to that song i'm getting tattoos about it on monday lmao. but man. not over it.

and finally the encore. ONE POINT PERSPECTIVE?????? i was NOT expecting it and absolutely lost my shit. unfortunately at this point bc we did some shifting around i no longer had a good view of anything. so it goes.

dancefloor, as always, was an absolute jam. bonus points bc now it's forever associated with our wedding. and r u mine had the place going nuts bc you know, the AM only folks, but really, i am also not immune to how hard that song goes.

all in all, that concert was absolutely incredible. i had an absolute BLAST and it was such a joy. i loved getting to be loud and truly did not care that there were bits where i was the only one who knew all the words. even my partner who is only really a tangential am fan had a really good time. they sounded amazing. i'm absolutely still on a high from it. hopefully the transition to a smaller venue again after the huge stadium tour was nice for the band, too!

and now time for some more coffee.

[betweenthings2]

gatty “we are so lucky to have you” would be so perfect

Thank you for the ask!! The prompt list is here if anyone else would like to see it =) I know my promised one month turn around on prompts has truly fallen apart, but I do love them and I have so much fun writing them and I very much appreciate you guys sending them to me.

Words of affirmation- "We are so lucky to have you."

The sound of the clock is the only thing George can focus on. It's too loud, too much, especially in the small, quiet room. His desk is under a big window that overlooks their back yard and he can see Matty, smiling and playing fetch with Mayhem, pausing periodically to scratch the dog behind his ears and push curls out of his own face. George wishes he were down there, too, but he'd agreed with Matty on an ambitious timeline and now nothing is going like he wants it. Things had been better earlier in the day, when Matty was here, too, sitting on the floor with a guitar and listening, but he, and Mayhem, got restless and George sent them both outside.

He regrets that now and the clock is still too fucking loud. George is half tempted to take it down and just throw it at the wall, anything to get it to shut up, but he doesn't. Instead, he gets it down and takes the batteries out, leaving everything sitting on the edge of the desk. The ticking sound seems to echo for a few moments, then it's blissfully quiet. Still when he sits back down to keep working, nothing really works right and his gaze keeps wandering out the window to Matty and Mayhem. They look happy.

Despite knowing Matty had promised to come back when he'd left, George can't help but jump slightly when Matty knocks on the doorframe to announce his return. He stays there until George pauses what he's working on and turns to  invite him in. Matty's been making an effort about respecting George's space when he's working. George has mixed feelings about that--on one hand it's nice to have the space and time to focus, but on the other, he likes having Matty around, even if he is quick to get bored or restless.

"What'd the clock ever do to you?" Matty asks, crossing the room.

George shrugs. "Saw you guys outside," he offers.

Matty smiles. "Was probably for the best that you got tired of us."

"I didn't get tired of you," George protests. "You got bored and Mayhem wanted to go out."

"Whatever you say," Matty agrees. "I thought about making dinner, but then I remembered the last time I tried to cook, so I've brought tea," he raises the mug slightly, "and I've ordered takeaway from that Indian place. Mayhem and I are gonna walk down as get it. How's it goin'?"

"I'm just making it worse at this point," George mutters, glancing at his laptop then back to Matty.

Matty frowns sets the mug he's carrying on the desk and reaches out to cradle Georges jaw, thumb brushing over his cheekbone. "That's not true, love. I'm pretty sure you'd have to work to make something worse," he says. "Lemme hear?"

"Yeah, ok," George agrees. He pulls up the track that he'd been working on and plays in from the beginning, studying Matty for any kind of reaction while he listens. When it's over he says, "Dunno what's wrong with it, 's just not doing what it's supposed to."

Matty nods. "You haven't made it worse," is what he starts with, "but I see what you mean. Let me think on it?"

"Think on it all you want, but it's all like that." George sighs. "We should have someone else do this. I don't know why we thought I was the person to do this."

"First of all," Matty starts, "we are so lucky to have you. So, so lucky. Second of all, I'm absolutely certain that you are the best person to do this. You wanna come pick up the takeaway with us?"

George shakes his head. "We're on a deadline."

"The deadline is bullshit. I came up with the deadline and every time I come up with a deadline we end up pushing it back, and there's no point in you sitting here and making yourself miserable. Come for a walk. You'll feel better. You can go back to being miserable after if you want."

"Do you think that maybe that's why we end up pushing things back?" George asks. "Because you don't take your own deadlines seriously?"

Matty shrugs, but he says, "That sounds like something my therapist would say which is a little bit weird for me, so no more saying wise things, just get up and come with me."

"Alright," George agrees, letting Matty urge him to his feet and lead him out of the room and downstairs. Much to his chagrin, he feels better just getting up and moving a little bit, and he says, "Are you gonna be insufferable if I say you were right?"

"Insufferable, probably not," Matty answers. "A little obnoxious, probably."

George can't help but laugh and he pauses before pulling his shoes on to pull Matty close and say, "Thank you."

Matty tugs him down for a kiss then says, "Always."

[falseroar]

Murder on the Warfstache Express

Part 5: Buddy System

((Abe attempts to reassure the other passengers that he has the situation under control before beginning his investigation, starting with the body.

Links to the previous chapter, Part 4: Putting on the Brakes and to Part 1 here if you'd like to start from the beginning.))

He’d been through similar situations before, more times than he ever cared to remember, but all of that experience told him just how important it was to take charge, and fast. Panic could spread faster than any measly rumor, and in a confined space, so far from any help or backup where escape wasn’t an option, for either the killer or potential future victims?

Yeah, that kind of scene never ended pretty.

Which is why Abe turned to face the other passengers pressing in behind him and raised both his badge and a lantern so they all could clearly see it.

And the dozen or so pictures that came tumbling out of the wallet with it, but no time to reopen those old wounds.

Instead, Abe said, “Okay, listen up everyone: we’ve got a dead body here, and it looks like foul play. There’s no way anyone’s walking off this train in the middle of that storm out there, or at least they’re not getting very far, which means whoever did the deed is still here with us. And you better believe I’ll be finding the person responsible before this train starts moving again, and not just because it’s going to be a few hours before the engine can be dug out of the snowdrift it's currently lodged in.”

Despite his clear words and obvious determination, Abe noticed the others in the train car didn’t look as reassured by that announcement as he’d been hoping for, but he pressed on.

“Benjamin, I want everyone in the lounge car while I examine the body. You’ll all be safer sticking together until I can interrogate each and every one of you, which means buddy system: no one goes anywhere by themselves, got it?”

Benjamin hesitated and everyone else milled around, looking at each other as though hoping someone else would speak up.

Everyone except Dorene, who shrugged and said, “Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep after this. Can I pick up a few things from my room, just to make the wait in the lounge a little more comfortable?”

“No,” Abe said, at the same instant Benjamin answered, “Of course, madam.”

The two men glared at each other, and Benjamin continued, “I would suggest everyone at least grab their blankets and something warm to wear—the boiler and thus heat may still be working, but the more comfortable everyone is in the lounge, the easier their stay will be.”

“Meaning the less excuse they’ll have to start complaining later,” Abe mused, once again realizing that should have stayed an internal thought, but now that Benjamin had said it everyone was ducking back into their rooms.

Even Benjamin was starting to head toward one of the compartments, but Abe caught his arm and lowered his voice so no one could overhear when he said, “That master key for the passenger compartments, give it to me.”

“What?” Benjamin really could pull off the affronted look whenever he felt like it, couldn’t he?

“I want to make sure no one else can access Happy’s room,” Abe said, the lie plausible enough that Benjamin, with only the slightest hesitation that seemed to accompany everything he did when the detective suggested it, handed over the key. “Thanks.”

Abe let go and pocketed the key while Benjamin ducked into his compartment. In just a few moments he was back and shepherding the other passengers toward the lounge car, Abe watching the procession until they were safely on the other side of the car doors.

Leaving him alone, with the body.

Over the years, Abe had become intimately familiar with a wide variety of bodies, almost all of them dead. Not something he was particularly proud of, but in moments like this it meant he had the experience to know what he was looking at as he examined the agent’s body to find the cause of death.

It also meant that when he sat back a few minutes later with the feeling that something was off, he knew what he was talking about.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Abe muttered.

“Oh really? Do tell!”

Abe staggered to his feet and away from Wilford, who was peering over his shoulder at the body with benign interest.

“Don’t do that!” Abe yelled.

“Really, it’s on you for not expecting it at this point,” Wilford said, echoing Abe’s own thought. “How many times is this now? Because I really don’t remember, and I’m not entirely sure where we are in the story at the moment.”

Abe tried to ignore the heart hammering away in his chest and asked, “What are you doing in here? Didn’t you hear what I said earlier, you should be in the lounge car with the other passengers.”

“Au contraire, I did hear what you said!” Wilford planted one hand on his hip and used the other to shake a finger at Abe. “Buddy system, and I don’t see you with any buddy. Unless we’re counting this fellow sleeping on the floor?”

“Wh—he’s not sleeping, he’s dead!”

“Really? Could have fooled me.”

Abe couldn’t—no, he could absolutely believe Wilford would joke at a moment like this, but he still pointed out, “I don’t see how he could be anything but dead after what someone did to him. Poor sap’s been shot, poisoned, stabbed, and bludgeoned to death.”

“In that order?” Wilford asked.

Abe shook his head and admitted, “I don’t know. I think the injuries must have all happened fairly close to each other, but the body’s not…it hasn’t had time to start showing signs of decomposition. Which makes sense, since he was alive when Benjamin and I walked up front to talk to the engineer.”

“Oh, you got to talk to the engineer? Did he let you do the train whistle thing?”

“Did you hear the train whistle?” Abe asked and Wilford shrugged. Abe turned away and paced the floor, or at least that bit of it not occupied by the body or covered in blood. “Everyone else was in their rooms when we walked down the hall, which means they were all close enough to get in this room while Benjamin and I were gone.”

He rubbed his temples with his fingers and continued, “Then we came back and I went into my compartment, which means Benjamin had the time alone to do it too—except no, that doesn’t work, we all would have heard the gunshots if it happened after the train stopped.”

Abe’s chest ached and he remembered the nightmare he’d been having before the train slammed on its brakes, the familiar faces disappearing under his touch with each gunshot. Had the sound just been in his nightmare, or was the nightmare caused by the sound in real life?

Abe turned back on Wilford and said, “You. Did you bring your gun on board the train?”

“You mean this?” Wilford asked, casually drawing out the gun, that same damn gun.

“Put that down!”

“Well do you want to see it or not?” Wilford asked, the barrel of the gun waving back and forth as he held it loosely like it was just some toy until Abe took it from him. “Hey now, be careful with that. It’s an antique, probably.”

“I’ll tell you what it is, it’s—” Abe stopped, the tip of the gun inches from Wilford’s nose, and looked at the weapon in disbelief as the wrongness of the weight and feel of it finally registered.

He examined the gun and then, pointing it toward the window just in case he was wrong, pulled the trigger. The gun made a popping noise and a little flag popped out of the tip that said, in colorful cartoon letters, “Bang!”

“…It’s a toy?”

Abe stared at the gun, the same gun the Colonel shot him with back at that nightmare of a house before turning it on his partner, one of the very real bullets it shot still lodged somewhere in his heart.

“This…this doesn’t make any sense,” Abe said weakly, unresisting as Wilford took the gun and pushed the flag back in before tucking it into his waistband.

“And your point is?” Wilford asked, prodding him along like a teacher directing a student to keep moving toward the answer.

“…You didn’t do this?” Abe asked, before reason caught up with him. “Or at least you didn’t shoot him with that gun, but it doesn’t mean I’m ruling you out as a suspect. Tell me what you did after leaving my compartment earlier.”

“Mm…Hard to say. Really I just kind of do my own thing until the plot gets interesting again. Which would probably be when I saw this guy head up toward the luggage car, looking all sneaky-like. That’s when the shootout happened, but it barely lasted any time at all before the train stopped and everyone was yelling about the lights going out or something.”

“Wait,” Abe said, but he didn’t even know where to start breaking all of that down. “You saw Happy heading toward the luggage car?”

“Well he didn’t look very happy at the time, but yeah. Probably. I don’t know, he looks different without his fancy hat on his head, and for a moment I thought it might have been you. He really stole your old look, didn’t he? The hat, the long coat and suit and whatnot, but then he had to go and ruin the vibes with that silly ‘pew pew’ gun of his.”

Happy’s gun!

Abe pulled back the dead man’s coat to reveal the holster at his side and pulled out the single strangest gun the detective had ever seen.

While Wilford’s gun looked real and turned out to be a toy, the agent’s gun wouldn’t have looked out of place on a shelf in a toy store except that the grip was sized for an adult.

It had the general shape of a gun, or at least the important bits—trigger, barrel, the end you didn’t want to be on the wrong side of—but there was no sign of a cylinder to load the bullets or a magazine of any sort, and what Abe at first assumed to be the safety had three settings instead of just “on” or “off.” There were symbols by each of the settings, that in theory seemed straightforward enough: skull and crossbones, a crossed-out circle, and the setting in between that the gun was currently set at, which was marked with a set of jagged lines like lightning bolts.

Abe hesitated and then put the gun in the pocket of his jacket for now, figuring he could test it out later and see if it was a working weapon or not.

But then why would the agent have a fake gun on him?

Following that thought, Abe rifled through the agent’s pockets but all he turned up was a ticket to ride the train, the badge Happy had flashed earlier, and a folded piece of paper.

Abe flipped open the badge and paused. “Huh. Hey you, can you read this?”

He didn’t expect much, and in that way Wilford didn’t disappoint when he casually glanced at the strange writing on the badge next to the photo of Happy and said, “Nope! Can you?”

“It doesn’t look like any language I’ve ever seen, but more than that, I don’t know these insignias,” Abe said, straightening up as he spoke. “I’ve seen badges for FBI, CIA, MI6, STARS, BSAA, you name it, I’ve seen it. So what group was Happy working for?”

“You never asked?”

Abe scowled, mostly because he knew Wilford had a point. “I had more important things to worry about at the time, like finding you.”

“Aww, you think I’m important?”

Abe didn’t dignify that with a response, and instead turned his attention to the folded sheet of paper. Opening it, he found a letter written in the same strange letters as Happy’s ID, the official-looking letterhead at the top of the page identical to that of the badge.

So some kind of communication from the agency he worked for. Abe had a feeling that Happy’s whole reason for being on this train and the motive for someone else to kill him was right here in his hand, if he could only read a single word of it.

“Did you see anyone else going to the luggage car before or after Happy?” Abe asked.

“Can’t say I did,” Wilford answered, and Abe wondered why he even bothered asking when the man had a way of answering any question like he was just waiting for the other person to get the joke. “Hold on, where are you going now?”

Abe paused at the door, stuffing both badge and letter in yet another pocket. As much as he hated the idea of Wilford tagging along, he could hardly leave him alone with the body.

“Out of the room, now,” Abe said, turning back to find the compartment empty (minus Happy, of course). He spun around and glared at Wilford, who was tapping his foot impatiently in the center of the hallway and continued to do so while the detective locked Happy’s compartment behind him. “What are the chances of you going to the lounge car if I asked you to?”

Wilford clicked his tongue and shook his head. “Buddy system, remember? And we’re buddies, right?”

Abe ground his teeth together and closed the distance between them so Wilford could hear him clearly as he said, “We are not ‘buddies,’ we are not ‘friends’ or ‘pals’ or anything! You’re coming with me, and that’s only because I still think you’re the reason that man back there is dead!”

Wilford shrugged and asked, “Okay, so where are we going now?”

“If you saw Happy going into the luggage car, I’ll need to check that out, and question the engineer or conductor or whatever he’s supposed to be on what he saw and heard again. Not to mention interrogate all of the other passengers and crew. But before that…”

Abe held up the master key Benjamin gave him and said, “We’re going to have a look around these other rooms.”

((End of Part 5. Thanks for reading! Sorry this one is a bit shorter, but later chapters will make up for it.

Link to Part 6: Room by Room.

Tag list: @silver-owl413 @asteriuszenith @withjust-a-bite @blackaquokat @catgirlwarrior @neverisadork @luna1350 @oh-so-creepy @95fangirl @a-bit-dapper @randomartdudette @cactipresident @hotcocoachia @purple-star-eyes @shyinspiredartist @avispate @autumnrambles @authorracheljoy @liafoxyfox @hidinginmybochard))

[stardustandash]

the path forward is paved in history - Jedi Fallen Order & Survivor

Summary: Through the years Cal has had more Masters than most Jedi. Each one of them has a different lesson for him to learn about fear, anger, and obsession.

Word Count: 5,972

Tags: angst, introspection, spoilers for both games

This one is inspired by Down the Line by @breakfastteatime and this adorable art by @skynapple 

If you prefer reading on ao3 this is the link! (Note it is locked to registered users only)

Cal is eleven years old when he meets Master Tapal. The Lasat looms over him with an expressionless face for a long time before he agrees, without any fanfare, to take him on as a padawan. The sun is shining over the Coruscant temple and yet all Cal feels is the fear of leaving his crèchemates and heading off into the unknown with a Master he does not know. He doesn’t even get the chance to say goodbye before he’s on Master Tapal’s Venetor-class cruiser, the Albedo Brave, surrounded by newly minted clones and thrown into a war beyond his understanding.

The first few days on the Brave are spent learning every nook and cranny of the ship. Its new enough that Cal can’t sense echoes off the bulkheads or the door controls yet, and that kind of freedom after being so careful around the temple and its immense history is almost intoxicating. The only downside is Master Tapal himself. While Cal is thankful to have a Master, he’d always hoped for someone with prestige, like Master Kenobi or Master Yoda. Sometimes in the dead of night he’d hope for a Master who would understand his psychometry personally, but there was nothing to indicate there was anyone else with his power connected to the temple. So Master Tapal it is. And he could not imagine a stricter Master. Any time Cal was within earshot of him there were questions on Jedi teachings, or drills to be run in the practise room. By the end of the first week Cal is more sore and tired than he’s ever been before.

By the end of the first month he’s heading into active combat and starts to understand why Master Tapal has him going over exercises every day. At his side are Glow squadron, his very own squad of clones that he has trained beside for weeks. The gunship rattles as they fly down through the atmosphere on a planet Cal can’t remember the name of, only that it was full of forests and clear lakes. All he can think of is how every drill he’s ever run through in the practise room is leaking out of his ears. Probably visibly. Unlike the clones he doesn’t have the safety of a helmet to hide his expression behind.

“Don’t worry kid, we’ve got your back,” says Sunny as he places a hand on his shoulder.

The weight of it grounds Cal somewhat, even as the ship lurches around gunfire. He offers a weak smile in thanks.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” says Twitch, the leader of Glow squadron.

The grounded feeling vanishes along with the hand on his shoulder. Cal feels the fear creeping into him with cold fingers as the ground looms closer and closer. He wonders, briefly, if he should have insisted on staying at Master Tapal’s side and foregone leading his own men.

“Sixty seconds to landing,” announces the pilot over the ship comm.

Cal grips his handle a little tighter, his other hand moving towards the hilt of his lightsaber. He could do this. Maybe. The ship landed hard, then the doors were sliding open and Cal was following the rush of his men out and into the active battlefield.

Blaster bolts bounce off his lightsaber, every hit jarring against the bones of his wrists. Live rounds were nothing like the training bolts they used in practise. The droids are close, and getting closer. There are more of them then there are clones, and Cal is a singular entity alone on the battlefield. The lone Jedi. He can hear the droids barking orders to aim for him and senses the clones closing ranks around him. Someone behind him lets out a choked scream but Cal can’t force himself to turn and see who it was. All he knows is the parry of his lightsaber and the desperate scramble for cover behind the trees. He doesn’t think to comm Master Tapal that he’s pinned down and won’t make it to the meeting point. He doesn’t think to check in with his squad. All he can do is feel the adrenaline flowing through him to the beat of his pounding heart.

Someone else falls with a gasp and suddenly Cal can’t stand to stay hidden and wait for death to find him. He lurches out from cover and away from the grasping hand that tries to pull him back down.

“Commander, no!”

Cal barely hears the shout. He dashes forward with his ‘saber raised and launches himself into the closest droids. They fall to pieces beneath his blade. Some of them shriek in an almost humanoid way, but Cal doesn’t falter. He can’t. He swings and parries until the droids are falling back and he is panting with the effort it takes to keep standing.

Then he hears the rumble. Its low at first, then builds. For a moment Cal is sure he will feel the tremor of an earthquake, but instead through the lines of retreating droids come two rolling spheres. The droids close rank behind them, marching back for another attack. His breath catches in his throat as the spheres unravel into droids, thicker than the B-1s and with four blasters each. An energy field surrounds them and Cal doesn’t know what to do.

Cal watches as their photoreceptors lock onto him and their blasters spin into a ready position. He can hear Twitch yelling for him to get back into cover, but he can’t quite get his body to move. He is frozen, as if his blood has turned to ice. These droids are going to kill him. He knows this as he knows his hair is red. Red like the blood that’s about to paint the once serene landscape.

“Padawan, down!”

A voice echoes across the landscape, and Cal has spent the last month learning to listen to that voice no matter how tired and sore he was. He drops to the ground, getting a face full of dirt for the move even as red blaster bolts explode off the trees above him. He pushes himself up to his elbows and stares at the broad back of Master Tapal.

It was like watching something out of one of the old stories in the archives, from when the Jedi were the heroic figures from legend. Master Tapal stands with his lightsaber lit at both ends and without looking back at he takes on the rolling droids effortlessly, using the Force to augment his attack in the way Cal’s never quite been able to grasp. It is over before Cal has the thought to get himself off the ground and he ends up being hauled to his feet by Sunny. His legs don’t quite want to support him as the adrenaline leaves his system and he finds himself clinging to the clone for support as Master Tapal finishes the fight and comes over to them. He lowers himself to one knee in front of Cal, bringing him closer to eye level but still looming far above him.

“Are you hurt?” he asks.

His voice is not filled with concern, but neither is it uncaring. Cal finds the cadence soothing. It means that Master Tapal will take control of the situation, that he doesn’t have to worry anymore.

“No,” says Cal. “I don’t think so.”

Master Tapal eyes a spot on Cal’s arm and when he drops his eyes to look he sees a singed hole in his sleeve. There’s no pain, so he doesn’t think he’s actually hurt, but it surprises him nonetheless.

“Good. Now, Padawan, report.”

Cal gives his halting report, which is supplemented greatly by Sergeant Twitch. They lost Barrel and Oya in the fight. Gamut was injured. They did not reach their objective, although the droids have retreated off-world for now. Through it all Master Tapal listens with his impassive face, and at the end simply orders that the fallen be given the dignity of a burial and the rights of the dead.

As the clones honour their fallen brothers Cal stands to the side. It’s his fault that they died. If only he was a better commander, or didn’t freeze when the droids attacked. If only he had insisted on going with Master Tapal.

“You are thinking too loudly,” says the Master in question as he comes to stand and watch beside Cal.

“I’m sorry.”

“Do not apologize. Tell me what is on your mind.”

“It’s my fault they died. I know we aren’t supposed to feel fear, but I was so scared Master. And I couldn’t remember all our drills, and then the big rolling ones came out and-“

“Breathe, Cal,” says Master Tapal.

Cal takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, like he does for meditation.

“Everyone feels fear. What you must do is learn your fear, and face it. That is what it means to be a Jedi; to feel the fear and be able let it go.”

“But how do I do that?” asks Cal, feeling lost.

There is something soft about the expression on Master Tapal’s face. He isn’t sure if it is amusement or fondness, but it loosens part of the knot in Cal’s chest.

“I have something to show you,” says Master Tapal. “Come.”

Master Tapal starts walking away into the forest. Cal shoots one last glance back at what remains of his squad before following. He has to jog to keep up with Master Tapal’s long, striding steps and try his best to avoid the twisting roots that break through the uneven ground. They travel in silence, and somewhere along the way Cal starts wondering more about where they are going than what they are leaving behind. Eventually, as the sky begins to darken, they come out at the edge of the forest near one of the planet’s lakes. It’s turning a deep blue in the twilight, and the waters reflect the lights of a distant village. Master Tapal leads him along the shoreline to the edge of the village. As they approach Cal can hear the sounds of music and laughter. The shift from the solemnity of the clones mourning their brothers is jarring, but Master Tapal doesn’t seem to notice.

As they near the edge of the village Cal can see that they’re having some kind of fair or celebration. There are streamers and garlands of branches woven in between houses and the smell of sweets and alcohol clouds over the streets. He takes it all in with a sense of awe, until two hands seize him about his middle and lift him high off the ground. For a moment he struggles, then he stops as he is placed carefully on Master Tapal’s broad shoulders. From here he can look over the celebrations without getting caught up in the crowd, or bump into anything that might set off his psychometry. The gesture is thoughtful, and Cal feels the dim warmth of affection through the Force.

“What are they celebrating?” asks Cal once he’s secure and Master Tapal begins walking the streets.

“They are celebrating that the Seperatist forces have been driven away from the planet.”

Cal can see how that would be a cause for celebration if he lived here, but his thoughts linger on Barrel and Oya, who had given their lives to make it happen.

“They have experienced loss as well, Padawan, that is why they asked the Republic for assistance.”

“But Barrel, and Oya...”

“They knew the risk of battle, and died honourably,” says Master Tapal. “However, that is not the lesson we are here to learn.”

Master Tapal keeps walking, his steps smooth from Cal’s perspective, and they are drawn into the crowd.

“Your fear made you freeze today because you did not know the reason you are fighting. Fear is an instinct, it is found in every living being in the galaxy. However, if you have something to fight for, a reason to choose to pick up your lightsaber, then it is much easier to face that fear.”

Cal looks around at the life surrounding them in the village, of the people dancing arm in arm, or laughing over jokes, or the few children that race underfoot with delighted shrieks, and soaks in Master Tapal’s words. He thinks he understands. Bravery in battle is not the product of experience, but rather the knowledge that things will be worse for others if he lets the fear take over.

Cal is eighteen years old when he meets Cere. He is no longer a padawan, and that’s okay, because she’s no longer a Jedi. Not really. There just two remnants of a lost faith who’ve found each other and are trying to claw back some shred of their people from the Empire. At first Cal doesn’t understand why she needs him, or rather why she needed another Jedi. She’s strong, capable, and has a level head, all traits he associated with Master Tapal.

It’s not until the Force starts to curl itself around him once more that he feels the darkness simmering below the surface. It’s one thing for her to tell him she gave into the dark side, it’s another to have it buzzing in the background whenever Cere is in the room. Still, she hides it admirably, and tries to impart what knowledge of the Jedi she still possesses when she can. Cal can feel himself growing stronger under her guidance, and the walls that he built around himself on Bracca are crumbling brick by brick. It is nice, to be able to trust and learn again, even if this time his Master isn’t actually a Jedi. He isn’t really a padawan. Instead they form a bond that Cal can’t describe, and he includes Greez and BD-1 in that bond. Its comfortable, familiar, familial. They are more open with their emotions than Master Tapal or the clones ever were, and in turn Cal starts to trust them both. And then that trust betrays him.

The encounter with Sorc Tormo and the Haxion Brood is the first time Cal starts to feel the call of the dark. It’s just a whisper in the back of his mind, but its presence is unsettling. More unsettling is that instead of heading straight for Kashyyyk they’ve detoured to Bogano as Greez wants to check over the Mantis after crashing her through the arena. After everything Cal wants to be alone and preferably carving his way through the Empire’s troopers. Instead he settles for sitting at the edge of their makeshift landing pad with his feet dangling over the misty drop and the dark whispers muttering in the back of his mind.

Cal senses Cere approach more than hears her. She stands behind him for several minutes before eventually stepping up beside him.

“Beautiful sunset,” she says.

It is a beautiful sunset. The sky is alight with an amber glow that’s starting to turn pink where it meets the clouds, and the sun itself is on fire behind the Zeffo vault. With the gentle wind just shy of warm, it’s a serene sort of evening. At least on the outside.

Cal says nothing.

“I know you’re angry with me about Trilla.”

The words seem like an understatement for the storm of unrest they churn in him. He’s angry, yes, but also sad. Disappointed. Cal stays quiet as Cere slowly lowers herself to sit next to him on the marshy ground. He wants to offer his poncho for her to sit on instead, but stops himself.  

“I know I made a bad call, not telling you the truth sooner.”

“You lied to me,” Cal says. “You said she was dead.”

Cal glances out of the corner of his eye and catches the frown on her face, the pinching of her brows. It’s not an angry look. Cere’s sadness is broadcast through the Force strong enough he could almost reach out and grasp it.

“After what they put her through, any part of her that was Trilla, my Trilla, is dead. But you’re right, I shouldn’t have kept what she became from you,” said Cere. “I’m sorry.”

The admission and apology are said so simply it throws Cal for a loop. He had been expecting excuses, or defensiveness from Cere, not this. He doesn’t know what to do with this other than let the silence between them grow comfortable rather the tense air that’s been choking them since the rescue.

“They did the same thing to you. What they did to Trilla,” Cal says as indigo creeps along the eastern horizon.

“They did.”

“But you conquered your darkness, why couldn’t the Inquisitors?”

“Because I didn’t conquer it, or overcome it. I cut myself off from the Force when I realized what I had done to escape, and I am too afraid to let it back in and tempt me deeper,” says Cere.

“Is that what I should do then, if I ever feel the darkness?” asks Cal. He purposefully keeps the question light and hypothetical, though the look Cere gives him says she understands why he’s asking.

Cere reaches out to put a warm hand on his shoulder. “All Jedi must face the darkness. It is the only way to truly see what the light has to offer. I drowned in it, but you’re strong enough to overcome whatever’s rooted in you.”

“Yeah, but how do I do that?” asks Cal, his tone growing sharp.

“Reach out, feel the Force around you. Like those boglings over there, feel them through the Force, how their lives entwine with the light.”

She points to a group of boglings keeping a wary eye on them from the other edge of the platform. Cal follows, and takes a deep breath in and lets it go slowly. The feeling of the Force around him is still strange after spending so many years suppressing his own connection to it. He reaches out with it towards the boglings. They are simple creatures brimming with curiosity about the strange intruders on their home. Some of them are hungry, some of them are sleepy, and some of them are interested in an activity that makes Cal blush as red as his hair. Yet he can feel it, the energy winding through them that connects them back to the planet, and the planet to the stars. They have no concept of evil and darkness. They only have life, all the things that entails, and death. Cal tries to grasp that understanding of the world and pull it into himself.

It doesn’t quite work, Cal still has the hurt from the betrayal like a wound on his heart, but the dark whispers have quieted. He isn’t ready to forgive Cere, but the anger is starting to ebb away, draining out of him into the Force.

“Feel better?” asks Cere.

“Kinda.”

“Good.”

Cere stands and wipes the mud from her pants as best she can. It’s a losing battle, considering how wet the ground is. She reaches down a hand to help Cal off the ground and brushes the dirt off of him once he’s up. The action is methodical and once she realizes what she’s doing her hand drops away. He almost misses the fussing as she steps back. They’re saved from whatever awkward comment would come next by Greez bustling out from the Mantis.

“She’s all patched up and ready to go, but how about some dinner before flying into a warzone?” says Greez as he waves them over from the bottom of the ramp.

Its easy to relax with Greez around, even if he is the reason the Haxion Brood kidnapped Cal. They enter the ship to the smell of simmering nerf stew, one of Cal’s favourite meals Greez has made so far. It smells like an apology Greez is too proud and ashamed to say out loud, and he feels the weight of the unsaid words in the extra-full bowl he’s passed.  

There’s still the tempting darkness, but Cal surrounds himself with the light from Greez, Bogano, and even the faint glimmer that pierces through Cere. The Force winds around him like a river as he eats, washing away the darkness into something simple and light.

Later, when they’re trapped in the Fortress Inquisitorious, Cal clings to the memory of the boglings in the Force as the terrifying Inquisitor draws closer, baiting Cere into darkness. He uses it to wrestle away the fear and anger and cast a line to the light dying within her and tug it to the forefront. She will never be free of the darkness, but Cal will not let her fall.

Cal is twenty-three when he meets Master Cordova. He does not feel twenty-three. He feels like he’s a kid meeting Master Skywalker again, faced with someone he couldn’t actually believe was real until he was standing in front of them. It feels strange to meet someone he’s known so intimately. He has felt Master Cordova’s joy and sadness as if they were his own, and he has heard his voice so many times through both echoes and BD’s recordings.

The strange feeling doesn’t go away as they step into Cere’s archives. It persists all through their discussions and lingers afterwards as Cere and Greez take a moment to themselves to catch up after being apart for so long. With their pilot indisposed, Merrin and Bode begin to chat about the Hidden Path, and how Merrin’s helped people fleeing the Empire. Something about it makes Cal’s gut twist, knowing she was doing more to actually help people than he ever had on Saw’s endless missions.

He is drawn from these thoughts as Master Cordova approaches. BD-1 chirps happily and jumps down from Cal’s shoulder to dance playfully about Master Cordova’s feet like an excited tooka. Again, Cal’s gut twists in ugly jealousy.

“Cal, if you have a moment?” asks Master Cordova.

“Of course,” says Cal.

Master Cordova gives him a polite bow before gesturing towards the back of the archive. The bow is foreign and yet overwhelmingly familiar. It’s something that Cal had forgotten about completely in the ten years since the Jedi fell. Just another way he is failing to upkeep the legacy of the Jedi, like he’d once sworn to do.

The overlook Master Cordova leads him to is a perfect nook in the rock that houses the Anchorite base where they can look out over the sands, but Cal doubts any watchful eyes will spot them. Cal wanders to the natural railing that lines the overlook and leans against it. The air is cold, but fresh and clear. BD-1 hops up next to him to see the landscape, and Master Cordova follows behind.

“I thought it might be nicer to talk out here, away from the eyes of everyone else.”

Cal nods, still somewhat in disbelief that Master Cordova is here talking with him in the flesh, and not through a holo projector recording.

“It is so nice to finally meet the person who followed my puzzle to the holocron. Cere has told me of your adventures,” says Master Cordova.

“To be honest, I didn’t ever think I would be meeting you. From what Cere told me and from how you left BD-1 behind, I had assumed you, well…”

“That I had died? It is not hard to see how you might come to that conclusion.”

“If you weren’t dead, why would you leave the holocron and BD behind?”

“Because I knew that I would not be a good Master to any of those children.”

Master Cordova says it so simply, though it raises even more questions for Cal. He sighs, and for a moment Cal can see the years where they weigh on him. He hadn’t been a young man when the Purge happened, and ten years of hiding from the Empire hasn’t been kind to anyone.

“Did Cere ever tell you that she was my first, and only apprentice?”

“No,” says Cal. He is surprised, from all the echoes and things left behind, he had gotten the sense that Cordova liked to pass on his knowledge.

“I had thought that maybe I could share my love of ancient civilizations with a younger mind. Cere can tell you about the many lectures and ruins I have put her through without concern for passing on the most fundamental elements of our order.”

“She might have mentioned it once,” says Cal.

“Then she is far kinder than I deserve. No, after Cere I knew that I would rather focus myself on studying the history of other Force wielders in the galaxy, like the Zeffo. Secretly I had hoped that Cere had survived, and would be the one to find the holocron. She always did well with younglings.”

Cal doesn’t know how to feel about that, but it doesn’t feel good. Master Cordova must see the look on his face as he gives him a smile.

“As you are, in a sense, my grandpadawan, I guess it is fitting that finding the holocron fell to you instead.”

He puts a friendly hand on Cal’s shoulder. It’s not a hug, not like Greez’ anyway, with four arms and a squeeze at the last second that knocks his breath out of his lungs, but it feels like acceptance and home.

The Force ripples between them and Cal can feel the thin thread of a bond with Master Codova sitting fresh at the edge of his awareness. Through it he can feel the inquisitiveness that is inherent to Master Cordova, and the sense of pride he has when looking at Cal.

“It’s too bad you couldn’t find the Zeffo,” says Cal, uncomfortable with that pride.

Master Cordova shakes his head. “It is for the best. As I said I would not have found Cere again, nor sought out other survivors if I had kept trying to find them.”

“But it was your life’s work. I felt your excitement in the Zeffo tombs, the joy of every discovery. I can’t believe you would give all that up.”

“Ah, my boy, the Zeffo were my passion, but that passion turned to obsession. I neglected my duties to my fellow Jedi, to my padawan, and even to the rest of the galaxy. I knew something bad was coming, but I did not care to face it, instead I only cared about my own research and the pursuit of knowledge.”

The way Master Cordova says the words and looks at Cal makes him think he’s trying to hint at something else. Whatever it is, he doesn’t get the message across. Instead of trying again in simpler terms Master Cordova turns to look out over the sands towards the ruins. There’s a longing on his face that Cal understands from the echoes he’s found. It’s the desire to get his hands on history, to walk the halls of the ancients and try and catch a glimpse of what their lives must have been like.

“The archive is amazing,” tries Cal. “When we get to Tanalorr maybe we can move it there, so it won’t be under threat from the Empire.”

“It truly is a marvel. Cere has been nothing but dedicated to the preservation of Jedi knowledge and texts. It is my hope that more than just the Jedi may see fit to add works the Empire has forbidden from their own cultures. If the Empire is ever to fall, there will be many across the galaxy who will wish to reclaim their heritage.”

That resonates with Cal, and for a moment he is once again a small boy on his Master’s shoulders, being told to fight for those who cannot. He has been thinking of Tanalorr as a place for the Jedi, for hiding and rebuilding the order. But of course there are others who would need to escape the Empire. Anyone who the Empire deemed unworthy also deserved a place where they didn’t have to look over his shoulder.

“Thank you, Master,” says Cal.

“I’m not sure what you have to thank me for,” replied Master Cordova. “But I can guess from the look on your face that you have reached an understanding you were looking for.”

“Yes,” says Cal, and he attempts to imitate the bow Master Cordova gave him earlier.

Master Cordova bows back, and gestures towards the door. “Shall we go rejoin the others? I’m sure you would like to say goodbye to Cere before you leave.”

Cal nods. His feelings towards Cere are complicated, but now that he’s back in the same space with her he can feel lack of her presence in the last few years all the clearer. It will be good to reconnect, even if he doesn’t quite know how to do it.

As they make their way back towards the archive Cal can feel Master Cordova’s eyes on him, and feel the hint of worry running faintly through their bond. He wonders what it was Master Cordova had been trying to tell him earlier, but figures if it were that important, he would have told him outright.

Cal is twenty-three as he stands in front of three pyres. The smoke is thick and carries the rancid stench of burning meat, but he refuses to move. Greez has corralled the little one back to the Mantis, he thinks. Merrin followed some time after that. Only Cal remains, the last Jedi. But he owes it to all three of the bodies before him to ensure that they are sent off properly, in a tradition that maybe only he now remembers. It’s what he wishes he could have done for Master Tapal, forever entombed in a rusting escape pod on a lonely, wet planet.

He does not cry. He cried all his tears on Jedha and has let go of his anger enough for it to leave a void within him. There should be more emotion there, he thinks. Sadness at such needless death, or pity at how in striving for peace Bode found only chaos and death.

As the sun rises over the horizon the last of the embers burn away, leaving nothing but piles of ash in place of three people Cal had considered his family. He takes a deep breath in and lets it out slowly. With it he tries to invite something to fill the void left behind. It takes a few more breaths, but something does come. Not from within, but from behind him. Rocks crunch underfoot as Merrin walks towards him. At her side is Kata, eyes red-rimmed but face set with sad understanding.

“It is done?” asks Merrin.

“It is done,” echoes Cal.

“Greez has the compass installed on the Mantis, we can head back to Koboh whenever you are ready.”

Cal gives her nod of thanks before crouching down to Kata’s level. “Are you ready? Did you leave anything on your dad’s ship?”

It escapes none of them that he stumbles over the word ‘dad’. The guilt threatens to choke him, but he tries to keep it at bay. For Kata or for himself he cannot tell. Still, Kata doesn’t go running from him in terror, or scream and call him a murderer, instead she nods.

“Do you want to come with me and show me what it is?” asked Cal.

“Okay.”

Together they set off towards the lonely temple and Bode’s abandoned fighter. Merrin trails after them, but gives them enough space to have a conversation if they want to without being overheard. Though she would probably hear anyways. Tanalorr, for all its beauty, is surprisingly quiet and empty. Cal has yet to see a bush rustle or hear a bird call. He thinks animals were here, once. Maybe when Dagan built his temple, but nothing is here now. It’s as if the Force is waiting, paused here until the time is right to be filled with life again. And Cal brought it only death instead.

He tries not to look at the temple as they pass it. It’s a monument to a lost culture now. The last of the Jedi Masters have returned to the Force. Cal is a facsimile, an attempt to capture the spirit of the Jedi Order, but he is too far removed, too far lost from the path. The archive is gone, burned in its own pyre back on Jedha, so it’s not like he has anywhere to start over from.

The thoughts swirl around Cal’s mind as he watches Kata climb into the fighter and pull out a pathetically small bag. It’s only big enough to maybe hold one extra set of clothes, maybe two since she is still small. She hops back down to the ground and hugs it to her chest like a stuffed toy. It’s a bitter replacement for the one she gave to Bode as he burned. She stands under the fighter for a long time. Cal gives her that moment. Force only knows how long it took him to walk away from the escape pod after it crashed on Bracca. When she finally moves, Kata comes to stand at Cal’s side and reaches for his hand.

“Are you ready?” asks Cal.

“I think so. I don’t want to be here anymore.”

Cal gives her hand a squeeze, and this time Merrin leads the way back to the ship without comment or complaint. As they walk Cal can feel the Force reaching out between himself and Kata and winding them together with thin threads. It doesn’t happen as fast as with Master Cordova, and the bond will take time to form properly, but it is there all the same.

It’s not until they’re back on the Mantis with Greez navigating their way back through the Abyss with the help of the compass that Cal realizes what the bond means. She’s Force sensitive. He can sense her like a slight glimmer of starlight on a dark night. Not strong enough to use it consciously, but enough to sense things on a deeper level, enough to be in danger from the Empire.

Cal gives himself the rest of the trip to mourn her future. She will never know the Jedi. He doesn’t have the knowledge to teach her anything other than the rough combat style he’s made himself and the basics of meditation. Cere should be here, he thinks with a fierce ache. She would know what to do, and how to pass on the wisdom he lacks. He should be taking Kata to Jedha and the archive to be fussed over by Cere and entranced by Master Cordova’s stories. Instead she will learn from what little he can remember.

When they land on Koboh Kata is eager to explore, rushing off the ship as soon as the hatch opens, Cal and Merrin trailing behind her in her wake. She rushes into the dry grass and dusty earth with glee, happy to be on a planet full of life again. Cal watches as she stops to inhale the scent of nekko and dust and the nameless earthy smell that makes up Koboh. He wouldn’t call the emotion that wells up in him happiness, he’s still too far in his grief for that, but watching her take in Koboh makes him feel lighter.

Then Kata spots something in the grass and makes her way over to it. Curious, Cal gets closer as well. It’s a bogling, staring up at Kata with wide eyes and spindly legs ready to run. She slowly reaches out a hand, and the bogling is brave enough to let her pet it. It leans into the gentle scratch behind the ear, before spotting Cal behind her and taking off towards the others in its pack. Cal watches them go, and thinks he might just have something to teach Kata after all.