#look me in the eyes and tell me guy gardner would give a shit about bruce waynes menacing aura

[mysterycitrus]

i think isolating the bats from their teams and external support systems is like….. functionally bad. like wdym red hood is on dicks speeddial but his actual soulmate donna troy isn’t. why is everyone in gotham. why do these people have no friends

[hangovercurse]

Live from New York

You’re hosting SNL and get close with one of the cast members

Request: “hi! can you do something about pete where the reader is hosting snl and throughout the week they’re flirting with each other but she’s unsure if they should date and he convinces her? maybe a combo of fluff/angst/smut? it can be whatever :,)”

Pete x Reader

Warnings: Cursing

A/N: I told myself I wasn’t going to take that long on this one and then I ended up watching an entire documentary on the making of an SNL episode because I wanted to be as accurate as possible… someone stop me pls

Word Count: 2834

Monday

Despite being a swiftly rising actress, you hated being the enter of attention. You’d always gotten anxious as a kid when a teacher made you stand in front of the class for presentations or during first-day introductions. So being front and center in a room of 30 people who were all there to study and try to impress you was not something you found pleasant.

“Hi, I’m Y/N Y/L/N.” You spoke timidly to the crowded room, people clapping from their spots on the floor or various couches around the room, “it’s great to be here.”

Lorne cleared his throat, “alright, let’s start with you, Anna.”

You looked around the room as a young woman pitched the first sketch of the night, listening intently to her ideas while trying to match faces with the names Lorne had given you earlier. Then your eyes locked with a pair of deep brown ones, the man wearing a soft smile on his face. He radiated gentle energy despite the tattoos you could see running down his arms.

The pitches continued with an air of lightheartedness and fun. You found nearly everything funny, so you couldn’t even begin to imagine how you were going to cut any of the sketch pitches.

After a lull in ideas, Lorne announced that cast members could now pitch ideas for Weekend Update character appearances. The man you’d taken an interest in earlier, who you’d since learned was named Pete Davidson, pitched a new set of characters for you and him.

“You know those weird stoner kids in high school who were always hanging out in the parking lot and acted really weird and mysterious? Those characters who just give really vague answers to anything you ask and act like they’ve seen some shit when they have the most normal home lives.”

You giggled, knowing the exact kinds of kids he was talking about. Colin and Michael also chuckled, writing the idea down with some notes of their own. Soon after that, everyone went back to pitching regular sketches, Jost and Che pitching an unusual number of sketches featuring you and Pete.

After a few long hours, the session wrapped; everyone leaving the office space except for you and Lorne, “so, what did you think?”

You chuckled lightly, “you have some seriously talented people on this show, Mr. Michaels. I don’t understand how you guys write an entire show every week.”

“We all work very hard; I’ll tell you that. Now, talk to me. Anything you really liked or really hated?”

You shrugged, “you’re the comedy mastermind, I know nothing. But I thought that weird kids from high school bit was pretty funny.”

Lorne nodded, “So did Jost and Che it seems. Sometimes the kid has a good idea.” You giggled at his reference to Pete as “the kid.” He sighed, “anything else? I noticed you liked that proposal sketch.”

“Yeah, that one was super funny. I will say, I wasn’t too in love with the dad-teacher one, but I would have no problem with it being done with someone else as the daughter.”

Lorne and you spent the rest of the workday discussing the different sketch ideas that came up and gauging what type of comedy suited you best. Before you left, he introduced you to Donna, your dresser who would be helping you out throughout the week.

Tuesday

After a quick tour of the studio by Donna, you were given a list of cast members and writers who wanted to meet with you to get ideas about sketches. You first stepped into a small room with a desk and futon, Donna introducing you to Chloe Fineman and Celeste Yim.

Chloe smiled brightly at you, “okay, so we were thinking that we could do something where I bring you to a sleepover with some friends that you don’t know. But at some point, you try to go to sleep because you have a soccer tournament in the morning but everyone else is being loud and it turns into this big overdramatic argument.”

You giggled softly, “I love that!”

After writing with them for a while, you were whisked away to room after room, finally landing in Colin Jost and Michael Che’s office, where they were hunched over a computer with Pete.

Colin smiled at you, “hey Y/N, how’s your day been?”

“Busy, how are you guys?”

The men responded with variations of “good,” before Michael spoke, “I know it’s late, so don’t feel obligated to stay longer than you’re comfortable with.”

You shrugged, “what time is it? It doesn’t feel that late.”

Pete laughed, teasing Colin and Michael, “c’mon guys, don’t you know that the young people of New York don’t sleep?”

You giggled in agreement as Colin frowned, “I’m only 38, that’s not that old.”

“I’m only 26, Colin,” you said, laughing at the men.

Michael patted Colin on the shoulder, “Jost, we’re getting old.”

Colin frowned before clearing his throat, “anyways, we had a couple ideas for some sketches with you and Pete, if you’re up for it, and we wanted to hash out your weekend update appearance.”

You smiled and nodded, “yeah, that sounds great.”

The rest of the night (and into the early morning) was spent with the three men, eventually joined by Heidi Gardner and Kyle Mooney to work them into the scripts. A majority of the writing process was simply messing around with various sketch situations until someone found a joke that worked best.

Pete watched you carefully the entire night, doing everything in his power to make you laugh. You had no complaints, doing your best to not openly flirt with him in front of the rest of the cast (and failing quite miserably).

Wednesday

Wednesday was the designated day for the roundtable readthrough. You took a place between Pete and Lorne, who began the reading, “we’ve got 41 sketches so let’s get started.”

The table read was just like any other you’d been through; Lorne wasting no time between sketches to discuss or joke. You struggled with containing your laughter throughout the reading, trying to act professionally. It didn’t help that Pete was making jokes any chance he got, eliciting even more giggles from you.

The three hours seemed to take no time at all as sketch after sketch was read out loud. Every so often you would catch Lorne looking at you with an eyebrow raised, usually after you read one of the sketches with Pete.

After everyone was dismissed, you were led to Lorne’s office with the head writers and producers. There was a large wall covered in sticky notes with each sketch’s name written on one. Lorne turned to you, “what do you think?”

You scanned the wall, listing off some of the sketches that you really liked, though most of them were  great, so you had trouble narrowing them down.

Lorne let out a small laugh, “you guys noticed how she picked out the sketches with Pete in them, too, right?”

Your face went hot, immediately turning to face the ground. Colin and Michael chuckled, “we noticed,” the latter commented.

“There’s nothing wrong with it, Y/N, just wanted to point it out to you.” Lorne teased before turning back to the wall and thinking.

You giggled, “you guys suck.”

As embarrassed as you were, your anxiety was surprisingly low. You had been worried about hosting since you got the invite, but the cast and crew had been nothing but kind to you. Even just being able to make jokes like this with the writers made you feel oddly comforted.

You worked on narrowing down which sketches to keep for rehearsals and which ones were going to get cut immediately, a job that was very easy for Lorne but very difficult for you.

Eventually you got it down to enough sketches that Lorne was satisfied and he sent out the list to the cast. He led you out of his office, “you know, you have a real affinity for comedy,” he told you. “I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about sketch comedy, but from that read through you seem to know what you’re doing.”

You blushed slightly, thanking him, “we’ll see if you’re still saying that on Saturday.”

He chuckled, “have a good night.” You waved at him as you walked towards the exit, running into none other than Pete Davidson.

“Hey, you headed out?”

You smiled, “yeah, just got out of my meeting with Lorne. Did you get a chance to look at the revised sketch schedule?”

Pete nodded, walking with you to the door of the theater, “yeah, I noticed you kept a lot of our sketches in there,” he bumped your shoulder, a playful smirk on his face.

A giggle rolled from your lips, “what can I say? We’re funny together.”

He raised an eyebrow, watching as you flagged down your taxi, “whatever you say.”

“Are you complaining about having to work with me?” You asked, opening the door.

He chuckled, “oh yeah. I am just dreading tomorrow.” Sarcasm laced his words, making you laugh.

“Goodnight, Pete.”

“Goodnight, Y/N.”

Thursday

Donna ushered you around all day, making sure you were in the rehearsal space when you needed to be and supporting you from the side. This part of the process came naturally to you, as it was the most similar to rehearsing and filming on movie sets.

When you weren’t rehearsing a scene, you were hanging out with Pete. It was strange how easily you got along, your humors aligning almost perfectly. Not to mention he was a huge flirt and was making it more and more obvious with you. You flirted right back, earning looks of amusement from Lorne throughout the day.

The day was a whirlwind, and by the time you were able to go home, you were exhausted. Pete walked you out to the street again, talking about one of the sketches that went wrong earlier until your taxi pulled up. This time he opened the door for you and helped you inside, “see you tomorrow.”

You smiled up at him, “bright and early.”

Friday

After hours of rehearsing, you plopped onto the couch in Pete’s dressing room, where you had found yourself a home over the past few days, “I don’t know how you guys do this every week. I’ve been here for four days and I’m exhausted.”

Pete chuckled, “to be fair, you’re the host. The key is to try and only get one sketch into the show so that you don’t have to do anything during the week.”

You laughed, letting a comfortable silence fall over you. Pete studied you, taking in your tired appearance, “you’re doing great though, being a host. I’ve seen some people come in and try to take control of everything and then no one has fun. You’re really good at just letting the comedy speak for itself. Not many people do that.”

Shrugging, you responded, “I mean, I’m not a comedian, I’m just an actor. You guys come up with everything. I don’t know enough to try and control things around here, I just do what I can to make your visions come to life. I figured that’s what a host should do.”

Pete nodded, “yeah, but again, a lot of people want their SNL episode to look a certain way. You don’t seem to care.”

“I just want to have fun, honestly.”

He smirked, “are you?”

You looked up to him with a smile on your face, “definitely.”

Suddenly the speaker in the room rang out, “Y/N and Pete to main stage 1.”

Groaning, you lifted yourself from the couch, Pete watching you with amusement, “c’mon Ms. Host, we’ve got a show to rehearse.”

Saturday

The day was hectic; filled with rehearsal after rehearsal. Lorne and Donna made sure that you were comfortable all day, but you could feel the stress radiating from every inch of the studio.

Stronger than that, though, was the sense of excitement buzzing around everyone. You were fit into more costumes than you could count, all leading up to the final dress rehearsal of the night in front of the live studio audience.

Dress ran smoothly, but you could see Lorne cutting lines from sketches from stage out of the corner of your eye. Luckily, Pete distracted you from all the anxious energy. “I know Lorne looks like a psychopath, but that’s just what he does. Everything’s fine, don’t stress about it,” he said over dinner.

You chuckled, “thanks. I feel so out of my league this week.”

“I told you, you’re great. Everyone here loves you. I heard Lorne talking about wanting you back as soon as possible.”

Rolling your eyes, you responded, “yeah right, I’m never gonna do anything big enough to get me on this show again.”

Pete laughed, “you could always make guest appearances with me on the Weekend Update.”

“You aren’t sick of me already?” you joked.

After dinner you were paraded around by Donna, who got you into your style for opening monologue. She smiled at you through your dressing room mirror, “how are you feeling?”

You gave her a nervous smile, “terrified, but ready.”

The lady chuckled, “you’ll do great. I’ll be right offstage if you need anything.”

“Thank you, for everything this week.”

She squeezed your shoulders, “don’t mention it, though if you really want to thank me, go ask that Davidson boy out on a date.”

Your eyes went wide, “Donna!”

A chuckle rang out through the room, “what? I say it for your own good.”

She led you through a maze of hallways and tunnels until you were in place to walk onstage, the speaker announcing your name to the audience followed by cheers.

Exactly 90 minutes later you were gathered with the cast on stage, “thank you to Fletcher, Lorne Michaels, this amazing cast and crew, and thank you all for watching. Goodnight everybody!”

You turned to Pete, who was standing beside you and let him pull you in for a hug, “you did it!” he cheered.

You passed around the cast, giving hugs to as many people as you can before Lorne announced, “that’s a wrap on Y/N Y/L/N and Fletcher!”

Everyone cheered, clapping for you and your musical guest before heading to their dressing rooms to change into their night clothes. You went back to your own dressing room, taking a moment to bask in the feeling of accomplishment.

A knock on your door pulled you out of your haze, “come in!”

Pete entered the room, a wide smile on his face, “congrats!” You let him pull you in for another hug, “so I know that there’s supposed to be this big party after the show, but I was wondering if you’d let me take you to dinner instead?”

Your breath got caught in your throat, those words being the last thing you expected to hear from him. Of course, you wanted to say yes because you did, truthfully, really like him. But part of you was hesitant.

You’d dated your fair share of celebrities, and things always ended very publicly and typically poorly. On top of that, you couldn’t help but feel that this might be happening a bit too quick. You started to doubt that he would still have feelings for you in a week since he wouldn’t be around you nearly all the time.

And then there was the issue of your insane work schedules. Having just lived through his, you weren’t sure if you would be able to keep a relationship like that.

“Pete, I think you’re amazing and I really like you, I just-“

Pete nodded his head, cutting you off, “I know we only met like a couple of das ago, but people go on dates with literal strangers all the time.”

You sighed, “it’s not that, Pete, it’s just that…” you paused, searching for words, “things like this tend to be very public with me, and I really don’t want to have a relationship where there’s all this pressure by the media to be perfect.”

He shrugged, “I get that, but it’s just dinner. And we can go somewhere quiet and private, no one has to know. And if things go further then we’ll just keep it on the down low until you’re ready. Trust me, I know what a public relationship is like, I’m not a huge fan either.”

“Yeah, but what about your work schedule. I mean, I’ve only lived in your world for six days and I want to sleep for a month. How do you even hold a relationship on this schedule?”

Pete moved closer to you, fingers grazing your arm, “we can make it work. I promise. Just give me one date, and if it’s not the best first date of your life, you have no further obligations to me.”

You giggled lightly, leaning into his touch, “I’m only saying yes because you’re kinda cute.”

He smiled down at you, eyes twinkling, I’ll take it.”

[ms19]

Sanzu with reader Rachel Gardner from Satsuriku no Tenshi

He just had to kill some guys who were getting in the way of the bonten he hadn't even noticed you when you were in an alley at night killing those guys until he was leaving and felt a handcuff pulling his shirt

What do you want shortly? He looked at you annoyed

you could kill me

And what do you say right? Shit I'm not listening: now he clearly heard it I just didn't know if it was a joke because you had no hope

You can kill me: you say still without esorection

He just stood there laughing as if you had said the joke of the year until he looked at you and saw that you weren't kidding

If you want to die so much, why don't you kill yourself

not suicide is bad

And who said that

The Bible

And again he was laughing: the bible is just empty words

And there's a lie, god exists and he doesn't approve of suicide because he kills me

Cause I'd kill you you're just wasting my time shit stop joking you're some gang or something

no i just want you to kill me

Annoying shitty low I won't kill you now leave me alone you annoying: he says coming out of the alley but you say

And if I'm finished

And what :he says turning around

And if I'm finished for you, you promise one day to kill me

When he looked into her eyes he could only remember mikey's so empty but his was different it was so beautiful and far away from the moon but he also knew it was dangerous because he didn't have an ounce of emotion

Okay, how exactly are you going to be useful to me?

I don't know tell me you i'm smart if you want

He took you to mikey and you started working at the boten after that day he always kills you for forgiveness you even live in the same house but in a separate room

He and ran sometimes even koko are always making lewd jokes trying to get a reaction from you needless to say they fail miserably sometimes he talks about his height are rarer and only when you are alone because only he can talk ran ran to say one time and almost got shot

He didn't clearly declare himself, he just said that you are his and you said that you are

He had the biggest smile in the world when he saw you kill and he kept saying THE ESSA AND MY SN IS SO HOT WITH A GUN IN YOUR HAND YOU HAVE SEEN IF YOU FEEL UPDATED FOR IT

Sometimes you get jealous because of the time you stay with the bonten you help to make several strategies but you are also happy that you and mikey understand you don't even need to say what loyal he and you two he already killed for you he would die for you more will never admit

he almost cried with happiness when you said he looks beautiful without a mask although he was almost unsure if you were talking seriously since you had no care when you said more he always goes without the mask when you're sorry he blushed when you saw smile for the first time

you even told him yours and your past and he his you never cared about the things you did how could he if he had done worse things and when you hugged him and look at him with so much adoration he didn't believe in god anymore I was sad

you were a servant sent to remind him that he will never go to heaven

on the rare nights you stay at home you watch a boring show on TV in a cilencio they comfort each other hugging or combing each other's hair and in those moments he can't help his heart from beating faster he has almost the wit of that you can hear but he doesn't care why don't he want to push you away not when he feels so loved and safe and these moments he wouldn't trade for anything in the world

Sometimes you're scared of your cilencio but eventually you get used to it since mikey looks like he's scared you'll get tired because he hasn't killed you yet and leave but you always say he's your god and only he can Killing you every time you get home goes straight to you hug you no matter if you're hurt or don't stay there admiring you how much you patch he tries not to get high around you

You're not stupid you know he's trying to delay your death as much as possible by always giving you an excuse that he still needs you which isn't totally a lie because he's attached to you and you don't mind living a little longer if you go to stay close to him.

[collecting-stories]

Igloo  - JJ (Outer Banks)

Request: Okay, so idk if you’ve watched Atypical but I read the Autism ReaderXJJ and I was wondering if you could do a story based loosely off of the “I just got a hand job in an igloo” moment (but like I guess more of an ‘i just got ate out in an igloo’ since it’s a fem!reader) ? (ALSO I don’t think there’s the exact moment secluded in a video but you can youtube ‘the best: sam gardner (atypical)’ and it’s at 1:03)

A/N: Consider this a continuation of Yellow. 

Warnings: Smut. Oral, female receiving. 

Outer Banks Masterlist

///

“Come here.” JJ weaves through the party, hand firmly grasping yours. It’s been almost two months since you’ve been to a party and just a few weeks since the two of you started dating. The parties you could have gone without permanently but you knew JJ liked to party and you couldn’t help feeling a little left out on a Friday night when he went out with the other pogues and you were left home alone.  

“Where are we going?” You asked, the sound of the bass beginning to set you off. It was so loud you could feel the vibrations in your stomach and it was making you a little woozy.  

You had been trying to pull through it but JJ was a surprisingly observational person and he noticed the slight tic you had of rolling your shoulder or cracking your knuckles to give your brain something to distract you. When you’d cracked them for the third time without the usual popping sound setting off JJ knew it was getting bad. So he’d told Pope that you guys would be right back and he grabbed your wrist, a touch that was sudden but managed to pull you back into the moment.  

“Here,” he had walked all the way outside in search of somewhere quiet to hide away from the endless stream of partying, finally pulling you into a life sized, blow-up igloo that had been set up on the lawn for some Christmas in July shindig.  

“What are we doing?” You asked, pulling back against his grip when he tried to get you inside.  

“Go in.” JJ instructed.  

“Like hell i’m going in there. I don’t need to add claustrophobia to the list of things wrong with me when that blow-up death trap collapses.”  

JJ smiled, leaning over to place a kiss on your cheek. “You’re adorable, now get your ass in the igloo.”

You and JJ had found a sort of compromise between your aversion to touch and his eagerness for it. The compromise was that you were slowly learning to like the feeling is his hands on you. Before you could go whole weeks without even a hug from your mom and now it felt like you couldn’t last minutes without JJ touching some part of you. Holding your hand, kissing you, keeping an arm around you, his knee knocking yours under a table. The touches became grounding whenever you felt yourself ready to float away.  

JJ crawled through first and you followed, coming into the igloo blow-up to find him laying on his back with his arms stretched out, “Ta-da.”

“I don’t really know if this is a ‘ta-da’ moment. We’re in a giant blow up igloo, in the dark.” You mentioned, hunching slightly because you couldn’t stand to full height.  

“Hold on,” JJ reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone and switching on the flashlight before lying it on the ground. “There you go.”

“Brilliant, that’s really helpful, JJ thank you.”

“I’m innovative.”

You hummed, still standing hunched near the entrance.  

“Come here,” JJ beckoned you over, waving his hand for you to come closer to him. You did, walking to his feet and stopping, “Come here,” he repeated, sitting up and opening his legs for you to stand between them. You came closer, and JJ planted a kiss right about your knee.  

“What do you want?” You asked as his hands settled on the backs of your ankles. “I’m sure this is a really great angle of me.”

JJ’s hands ran up your legs, pushing your dress up to your waist so he could see your underwear, “it is now.”

“Ew, JJ.” You laughed, swatting his hands away.  

“What? I’m distracting you...isn’t that what I’m supposed to do when you have a panic attack.”  

“I’m not having a panic attack.” You replied. This was miles away from the breakdown you’d had the night you met him. Just a mild bout of anxiety that you were slowly getting a hold of.  

“But you almost might’ve.”

“But I didn’t.”  

“Cause I’m distracting you.” JJ replies, clearly proud of himself. His hands returned to the back of your thighs.  

“By talking about sex?”

“I could distract you by having sex with you. That’d be new.”  

“JJ.” You groaned. You hadn’t had sex yet. Not because you didn’t want to or were waiting for anything special just because you were worried it would be too overwhelming.  

“I’ve been told I’ve got a very talented tongue.”

“I’m sorry, are you, bragging to me about girls you’ve had sex with in the past?”  

“No?” JJ said, looking up at you and offering his most innocent of smiles.  

“Oh my god.”  

“Okay, okay sorry...but seriously, let me distract you?” He asked, hands running up the back of your thighs and beneath your dress.  

“We’re practically in public JJ.”

“No one will know.” His fingers hooked into your underwear, resting there against your hips as he waited for your answer. “Can I?”  

You bit your bottom lip, eyes locking with his in the artificial light from the phone. “Okay.”  

“You sure?” JJ asked, kissing both knees this time.  

“Yea. Yes, positive.” You replied, you could feel the steady rhythm of your heart beating as he pulled your underwear down your legs and you stepped out of them.

“Take your shoes off.”  

“Why?”

“Cause, I don’t want you to fall.” JJ replied, tapping your ankles. You slipped off your sandals and watched him toss them aside.  

“Why would I-Oh my god!” You yelped in surprise as JJ lifted one of your legs off the ground and slipped it over his shoulder. You grab his shoulders for balance and he places a firm grip on your left thigh, holding you to him.  

“I really like this dress, it’s like a little tent,” JJ remarks, demonstrating by peeking up at you and then throwing the dress over his head, the hem just hitting his shoulders.  

You roll your eyes at his antics but the playfulness doesn’t last much longer as he places a kiss to your abdomen. He travels the short expanse of skin with his mouth, kissing a path toward the apex of your thighs. When you jerk a little against him, pressing yourself closer to his face, he stops, peering out from under your dress.  

“You okay?”

You nodded, embarrassed suddenly. “Sorry.”  

“It’s alright,” JJ promised, rubbing circles into your skin with the hand that was holding your hip, “you wanna stop?”

“No. It was just, sensitive.”  

JJ smiled tilting his head to the side and kissing your arm before disappearing back under your dress. He placed his mouth on your skin, just above your thigh. The skin there was especially soft and you felt his tongue poke out between his lips, giving you the smallest of kitten licks before he was sucking a bruise there. You gripped his shoulders a light tighter. He didn’t stay long, finishing his trail of kisses at your lower lips. His tongue pushed into your folds, licking a circle around your clit. He smiled against you when he felt your right hand move to the back of his head. You’d never had anyone touch you before, especially not put their mouth on you.  

JJ continued, closing his mouth around your clit, sucking the way he had on your thigh earlier, his tongue flicking out to brush over the bundle of nerves. The sensation was so intense that you didn’t notice the hand that had been on your hip move down between your legs. Your heel dug into his back as he slipped two fingers inside you, the ring on his index finger cold against your warmth, coating them with precum. Even though your dress covered his head JJ could hear the soft gasps and moans as he moved against you. You gripped his hair when his tongue replaced his fingers, slipping inside you as his nose brushed your clit. Your toes curled into the cold grass beneath your foot, thankful suddenly that JJ had the good sense to take your shoes off.  

He repositioned his hand, pressing his thumb against your clit and rubbing in slow circles as his tongue pushed in and out of you. JJ had been right about this being distracting, the party felt light years away, the only thing you could focus on was the way his tongue felt inside of you. A coil of tension wound itself in your stomach and you pulled JJ closer. His tongue curled inside you, hitting the perfect spot as his fingers sped up but it was the hand on your thigh, keeping your leg over his shoulder that did you in. When you pushed against him he pulled you, nails digging into your skin and you felt the coil burst as you came on his tongue.  

He doesn’t move, holding you against him just as tight as before. He grips your hip with one hand and keeps the other on your thigh as licks you clean, loving the short spasms that he causes when his tongue brushes your clit a few times. Finally he pulled his head away, blond hair appearing from beneath the hem of your dress. He looks up at you, mouth and chin glistening in the iphone light, and smiles.  

“You okay?” JJ asks, eyes tender as he watches you even out your breathing. Looking down at him, tears pricking the corners of your eyes and skin flushed, JJ is certain he’s never seen a more beautiful sight.  

“That was...”

He smiles, proud of himself at your loss for words. Carefully he relaxes his shoulder, letting your leg down.  

“Shit!” The sudden feeling of both your feet on the floor unbalances you and you fall back, ungraceful, on your ass. “Oh my god.” You whine, embarrassment overwhelming you as you cover your face with your hands. You can hear JJ laugh as he crawls over top of you. His wet lips leave a sticky kiss against your forehead and you gag. “Ew.”

JJ pulled your hands away, “hi.”

“Hi.” You smiled, “I just got eaten out in an igloo.”

“It was delicious too.” JJ replied pressing more kisses to your jaw and neck.

“You’re so weird.”  

“Telling you I enjoyed snacking on you-”

“JJ!”

“Sorry, sorry, you wanna go?” he asked, moving away from you to grab your underwear and your shoes, both of which he helped you put on.

“We can go back to my house, my mom is working the night shift.” You offered as you sat up.  

“Your mom isn’t home?”  

“No.”

“Has she not been home this whole time?” JJ asked, grabbing his phone and backpack. He kept the light on as the two of you crawled out of the igloo.  

“Yeah.” You jerked when you felt his hand against your ass. “What the hell?”

“Sorry, you got grass on your ass.”

“JJ!” You smacked his arm and he laughed.  

“I can’t believe we coulda been home alone this whole time.” He mentioned, pulling you into his side.  

“You wanted to come to the party!”

-

taglist: @maplelattes22 @poguesrforlife  @freckled-and-daydreaming  @chasefreakinstokes @millie-753 @fangirlwithme @alex12948 @howdyherron @katherine097 @tangledinsparkles @tragicmisfits @carbonated-beverage @mariofgreengables @damonsalvawhore27 @ssprayberrythings @dopedoodes @dolanfivsosxox @belledutchess @poguelifeeee @jjsthumbring @faded-blue @jolomez @timotaychalabae @parkerpetertingle

[maturemenoftvandfilms]

The Secretary of Agriculture

CHAPTER FOUR: The First Time

Featuring U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue

I'm a congressional intern attending the Congressional Summer Intern Lecture Series (ILS). The Lecture Series brings prominent professionals and influencers in their respective fields to speak to summer interns about a variety of topics, from policy discussions to advice about pursuing a successful career in Washington, D.C. and around the world. This year's speakers of interest were Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, Senator Cory Gardner and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

On Monday, October 21, 2019, Agriculture Secretary Perdue was the first Lecturer to speak and I sat right in the middle of the room with a full view of him. God how I wanted him. He was not just handsome--the man was hot. I looked at every line, every wrinkle on his face and guessed by the crow's feet he was in his mid to late sixties or early seventies. Built like a stereotypical suburban granddad, on the one hand, with white hair wrapped around his bald head, clean-shaven and strong-chinned. On the other hand I could tell he took good care of his body. He was the husky in shape type. His shirt was tight around a well-crafted chest and tucked cleanly into slacks that hugged his thighs and ass. Damn. What a fucking man.

I didn't take my eyes off the man as I did so. I wondered what would he think if he knew a guy like me wanted to fuck him. Just then, Sec. Perdue looked at me. In that minute I knew it--I could tell--he wanted me. I knew it instinctively, he had some latent homosexuality in him and he wanted me. I had to fuck him. After the lecture, even though we weren't supposed to, I walked over and greeted him.

"Hello young man." Sec. Perdue said, lingering by the exit door. He offered his hand as his blue eyes swept over me.

I had to snap out of my day dreaming because I was about to make a tent out of my pants. Well, one thing led to another and our conversation turned into how I would satisfy him if I got him into my bed.

I had to snap out of my day dreaming because I was about to make a tent out of my pants. I didn’t see his wife, and decided to make a bold move. I took the lounge chair next to him. He looked  at me, nodded, and we introduced ourselves. And yes, we both were attending the same trade show, so the conversation flowed easily. I found out that his wife went out shopping, and he was just relaxing  and trying to recover from the hectic day today.

Well, one thing led to another, and our conversation turned into how I would satisfy him if I got him into my bed.

"You really don't beat around the bush do you? He responded.

"Well sir, I was taught to say what's on my mind. I said.

"Well son, I feel the same way to tell the truth, life is too short to beat around the bush! He said.

"Well then, is there someplace we could go?" I said to Sec. Perdue.

"I think we could find a place." He said casting me a sly grin.

The journey to his hotel room was unbearable. Officials to dodge, people for Sec. Perdue to nod away. But once we hit the quiet hallway on his floor, Sec. Perdue's hands were on me as he steered me into what I assumed was his hotel room. I could only catch a quick glimpse of the large room and spacious bed before the lock clicked and Sec. Perdue was grinning at me again, his eyes blue and hungry.

"Fuck, you're hot, son."

I grinned back, moving toward him and plunging my tongue into his mouth. He moaned, suddenly weak and desperate; this powerful man, the United States Secretary of Agriculture, moaning as a simple intern kissed him. We began frantically pulling off our clothes. I didn't know if he was eager or just didn't have much time to "fraternize with the interns" before continuing on with his duties, but he wasn't waiting for any conversation. I certainly didn't mind.

As he slipped down his jockeys, I had to stop undressing, and stare at his wonderful dick. All 6 1/2 inches of it pointed at the ceiling, and was framed by his grey pubic bush. His ripe nuts were hanging low to his body. I was just staring at his young beautiful body. All my blood had to be in my 7- inch dick as I was harder than I could remember being in a long time. I placed the palms of my hands on his firm chest as he placed his hand on my hard dick, feeling and testing the size.

"Oh, yeah," he moaned, as he ran his hand down my tender, sensitive cock. I was afraid I was going to cream my underwear right then.

We sat on the bed at the same time hugged each other very hard before laying back onto the bed. Sonny spread his legs wide as I moved between his legs, my hands stroked their way up his inner thighs before I kissed the tip of his leaking cock. It throbbed as I held it firm at the base and began sucking it. As I developed a steady rhythm I felt his legs clasp around my back, I reached out and began playing with his nips as my mouth worked on his cock.

“I'm going to cum. I'm going to cum.” The old man warned. I wanted his load so I sucked and tongued his massive dick even more. “I'm cuming.”

And it did! I felt a strong stream of cum jetting form his dick. I swallowed and kept swallowing as Sonny’s cock squirted out his load. Then even as I continued to suck the last few drops of his cum out, the old man’s cock deflated.

Still wanting to fuck him, I did something that the old guy wasn't expecting. I pushed his legs up, moved my face closer to his ass, I stuck out my tongue and slid it through the sweaty hairy crack. The scent drove me wild, I continued licking him here for ages. Then I brushed my tongue against his hole a few times before sliding the tip of it in.

“Yes!” Sonny moaned softly as my tongue worked in and out, eating him.

I could feel his body quiver as my tongue plunged deeper into his ass hole. I could feel his asshole relaxing; I moved my tongue away from him so that I could finger his ass.

“Shit!” Sonny called out in panic when he felt the first of my fingers slip in his hole.

“What are you doing?” He cried out, but he didn’t make any effort to stop me as I slipped a second finger in.

"Just opening you up." I quickly answered as by now, I easily had three of my fingers in him.

A sure sign he was ready to be fucked. I moved up and pointed my cock head towards his butt hole, I pressed against him and the tip of my cock slid in.

"Ahh... shit,  you're killing me!" He cried out as I grabbed hold of his legs, sliding in further.

What a sight! My over-sized cock was stuffing itself into the tight hole of the United States Secretary of Agriculture! Not wanting to hurt him, I let him slowly adjust to me before I began to slowly fuck him. Sonny began moaning. It was very quiet, but with an encouraging note and every so often he would squeeze my dick with his ass muscles. I began to pick up the pace when I instantly hit the right spot as his cock came back to life. I leaned over and kissed him as I drove my dick deep into him. I broke our embrace and started planting kissing on his cheeks, forehead and all over his face.

"Fuck my ass!" The old man said in a choking, husky voice.

"Yeah... You like it. You want it. You love it. You were born to be fucked like this!” I said before kissing him again.

I known was getting closer as continued to fuck his hairy old ass. I wanted to fuck him for hours, but the pleasure mounted quickly and I couldn’t stop myself as his asshole felt too good to pull my cock out. I just fucked him harder and faster and extracted as much pleasure as possible knowing that the end was near.

“I’m cumming. I’m cumming!” Sonny suddenly yelped as another orgasm hit him, shooting more jism onto his belly and my chest.

During this, his ass muscles contracted spasmodically as a woman's vaginal muscles do at orgasm which brought on my own. I was yelling something profane, nearly screaming and I came, punching an enormous load deep into his daddy bowels. I shot spurt after spurt into him while he cried "Yes! Yes!" as I slowed my pace and finished him off with gentle strokes.

Suddenly I was getting dressed like a madman as now the fantasy was done. Sonny was still lying on his back, breathing like he was having an attack with his cock was surprisingly semi-erect.

"Thanks... I enjoy it." He said.

"You want my telephone number. Maybe when you're in town you could give me a call and stop by?" I said as I reached for a pen and quickly scribbled my phone number on a piece of the newspaper.

"Yea, maybe I'll call you."

[kindrednerdspirit]

Sometimes a Thing Feels so Right: Part 4

Excerpt: This revelation, however, is not without its issues, because Casey now finds herself in the tricky situation of knowing it’s best to avoid private moments with Iz, but she also wants private moments with her.

Monday, first block. Casey’s perspective.

It’s 20 minutes before track practice starts and Casey has one goal: avoid any potential private moments with Izzie. Her decision is influenced by her most recent talk with Elsa. In a bizarre turn of events, the universe decided Casey would connect with Elsa on a deeper level twice in one week. Their first talk about Casey’s grandma helped her understand Elsa’s helicopter parenting and why she gets, well, annoyingly intrusive. Their second talk was an accident. A host of Izzie feelings reached a boiling point for Casey and her Izzie issues spilled out in front of Elsa.

For context, this is how it all went down:

The smell of roast fills the Gardner house. Sam works at the kitchen table as Elsa takes dinner out of the oven. He is sketching a new piece for his art class. 

“Sam, honey, do you mind telling your sister that dinner is ready?” Elsa asks as she cuts the roast.

“I do mind. I have to finish this sketch by tomorrow.”

Elsa is not surprised by her son’s very literal answer. He had been in flow for hours, sitting in the same spot since he got home from class. This is not a battle she wants to take part in, so she walks up the stairs to get Casey. Strangely, the door is ajar by a few inches. Curious in a way that any parent is interested in their teenager’s “secret” life, Elsa peers in before announcing dinner is ready. Casey is lying on her bed, curled toward the wall and sniffling.

She acts like she hasn’t been spying, and quietly knocks. “Case, dinner is ready.”

“Uh, sure. I’ll be right down.” Casey’s voice is soft.

Don’t meddle, don’t meddle, don’t meddle. Elsa repeats the phrase over and over in her head as she walks back into the kitchen and takes dinner into the dining room. A few minutes pass before Casey makes her way downstairs.

She sees Sam drawing at the kitchen table. “Why aren’t you eating?”

“I need to finish my sketch. It’s due tomorrow.”

“So, take a 10 minute break, eat, then finish it.”

Sam avoids eye contact and looks at the table the entire time he speaks. “Professor Shinerock says you have to find your peak time to achieve flow. My peak time is in the afternoon around 2:30, so this is when I have to start working on my art, because it’s when I’ll be at my most creative and productive. Professor Shinerock says to continue working in flow state for as long as possible.” 

“You know what else helps creativity and productivity? Not starving.”

“Of course, starving ruins creativity and productivity, because you’d be dead!” Sam tilts his head and furrows his brow. “That’s a ridiculous thing to say.” Without another word, Sam puts on his headphones and returns to his sketch.

“If you’re not eating by the time I’m done dinner, I’m pretending you’re an egg.” Casey walks away with a smile, knowing that Sam did not hear her warning. She sits at the table with Elsa and starts helping herself to potatoes. The two sit in silence for a minute, save for cutlery clanging against their plates.

“Sweets, I know I shouldn’t meddle--”

“So don’t.” Casey finishes.

“--but I’m just going to say one thing, then nothing else. Promise.”

Casey rolls her eyes but let’s her mum continue. Elsa takes a deep breath to collect herself. “You just found out that UCLA is interested in you, but you seem sad. And you haven’t had Izzie over in weeks, you mope around the house, you’re unexpectedly crotchety...”

“Mum!” Casey groans. “Please, get to the point.”

“I don’t know if Izzie is jealous about UCLA scouting you, but whatever is happening between you two... it will sort itself out. Try not to fret too much.”

Casey stares at her plate and pauses to mull over her mum’s words. “How do you know?” She’s afraid to look at Elsa. Afraid that if she does, all her emotions will flood out.

“Because of how you two look at each other. It’s special.” Elsa smiles, reflecting on when she first met Doug. When they first met, they shared the same long stares and goofy smiles as Casey and Izzie. Boy, that seemed like a lifetime ago.

“Thanks.” Casey is surprised by her mum’s kind words. “I don’t know if it will, though.” Her voice cracks. She shuts her eyes, because she can feel the tears forming. Elsa practically leaps out of her seat to embrace her daughter. She kisses Casey’s head, then soothingly brushes back her hair with her fingers.

“She’s… embarrassed to be seen with me.” Casey murmurs.

Elsa nods, knowingly. “I’m sorry, love.” She tucks a strand of hair behind her daughter’s ear. “Not everyone is as confident and comfortable with themselves as you.”

Casey smiles sheepishly and swipes away the tears. Of course, Elsa feels protective of Casey. She doesn’t want anybody breaking her daughter’s heart. At the same time, Elsa also understands Izzie’s situation to a certain extent, making her feel like a protective momma bear toward her, too. They have the shared experience of growing up with an absent parent, and perhaps, similar insecurities. Not to mention that both Casey and Izzie are just beginning to understand their sexual identities, so it's not surprising that this self knowledge is leading to difficult feelings.

Elsa is suddenly very grateful for reading up on parenting tips for LGBTQ+ kids. She chooses her next words carefully, so as not to imply to Casey that she knows about Izzie’s home situation. “Give her time, hon.” 

“I think I love her.” Casey sniffles.

“I know.” 

“Love who?” Doug walks into the room looking for dinner. He just got back from work, and somehow slipped into the house without the girls noticing. The question hangs in the air a few beats too long.

“Uhm, Izzie.” Despite not wanting this conversation to happen in this moment, Casey looks her dad in the eye.

“Yeah, I love her too!” He grins and pulls out a chair, completely oblivious to what is going on. Casey is not sure what to do, so she looks at her mum. The two watch as Doug happily sticks a fork into the roast beef, then proceeds to scoop carrots. The girls stifle some laughter. Maybe it’s best to let this one slide, considering Casey and Izzie’s relationship status is currently unknown.

“What?” Doug asks after noticing the girls’ looks.

“Nothing, Dad. Girl stuff.” Casey looks at her mum as she says it, knowing it will mean something more to her. She then grabs her plate and excuses herself from the table before dropping her dishes in the sink. Sam is still in the kitchen, completely absorbed in his art.

“I warned you!” Casey shouts. “Prepare to be egged!” With that, she scrambles onto Sam’s chair and sticks her butt on his head.

“Hey, stop! What are you doing?!” Sam protests.

“Don’t blame me. You’re the one who compared me to a penguin, so now, you’re my egg.”

“Why would that make me an egg? That makes no sense! You ruined my flow!” They continue squabbling, wrestling, and yelling.

Meanwhile, Doug looks at Elsa with a bemused but impressed expression. “Girl talk? Really?”

Elsa cannot help but beam.

***

Needless to say, when Casey found herself stretching on the field 20 minutes early, it was a calculated move. It’s amazing how saying something out loud can make things so clear. Once she told Elsa that Izzie was embarrassed to be seen with her as her girlfriend, something clicked. Casey could never pretend to be just friends with Izzie, it would never work out. She simply wasn’t the type of person to pretend, the type to play a role, even if it meant keeping Izzie close. 

This revelation, however, is not without its issues, because Casey now finds herself in the tricky situation of knowing it’s best to avoid private moments with Iz, but she also wants private moments with her. 

While she works on her quads, Izzie jogs past and veers off to stretch on her own. She’s wearing the tight Adidas shorts that show off her beautiful curves. Casey always considered her own muscular legs to be tall and lanky, but Izzie’s… they were shapely in all the most appealing ways from her legs to her hips. The same hips she held onto whenever she pulled Izzie close. She fit so comfortably in her embrace, with her delightful warmth and faint smell of vanilla beans.

The best part was when Iz was really close and her chin would dip up. Casey would look down and see the same desire in her eyes as she felt all over her body. A shiver would go down her spine, her breathing would quicken. And everything else would just, sort of, disappear. Fade off into the background. Iz would smile, showing off her button dimples and Casey would want to devour her right then and there for being too adorable.

Oh. My. God. Casey! You have one job. Actually, two jobs. No private moments with Izzie and no getting turned on by Izzie because it’s a slippery slope, my dude. Quick, think of gross things. Zahid kissing Gretchen? Zahid in a robe? Ew, ew, ew! Too far. Poor Zahid. I love the guy for being Sam’s friend, but he’s a serious vagina mood killer.

Izzie looks up from her stretching and their eyes meet. She has the longing eyes and Casey knows exactly what she wants. Shit. It’s too hard, so she looks away. Much too hard. The rest of track practice follows a similar pattern of eyes meeting and diverting. 

***

After 60 minutes of failing miserably at ignoring Izzie, Casey is relieved when Coach blows the whistle. She hustles to the locker room with a few other teammates. Casey is talking to another teammate when Iz jogs over, her high ponytail bouncing with each step. She cannot help but disassociate from the conversation, because she sees the infamous Adidas shorts. And just like that, she’s done for. Blood rushes toward her southern regions. The Zahid tactic fails. Once again, Casey curses her body and heart for betraying her brain. 

“Yo, Newton! Wait up!” Iz shouts.

At the sound of her voice, Casey wavers for a millisecond. She decides to continue listening to her peers, pretending not to hear. But Iz is persistent. Casey’s words from the other night with Elsa race through her head.

She’s embarrassed to be seen with me.

The words are upsetting. There’s so many reasons why, it’s hard to pick only one, but she mostly feels frustrated. Frustrated that she cannot hold or kiss Izzie in public, that she cannot share her love with the world, despite their mutual feelings. Worst of all, she feels the immense hurt that comes with knowing she cannot pretend to be just friends. She hates that it has to be all or nothing. But to do otherwise, would be to betray herself. All these complicated emotions build up inside her until she finds herself towering over Izzie.

“I don’t know how to make this more clear. I don’t want to talk to you.”

Her cold tone surprises even her. She watches Izzie’s eyes widen, then feels her heart clench in response. Despite everything, her instant reaction is to make Iz feel better. And she easily could. Casey could slip her arms around her, up to the small of her back. Then, she could gently pull Izzie toward her and lean in. She could hover in front of her lips to tease Iz, the two sharing the same, delicious air.

“I--”

“Please, don’t follow me.” Casey cuts off Iz with a firm response. She gulps--that was close. Her feet hurry toward the locker room, whisking her away as quickly as possible. She hated feeling like an overdramatic school girl or like she was in some terrible rom-com. Big deal. Just be friends, right? At the same time, though, she knew there was no other way.

[aion-rsa]

10 Injustice Characters the DC Animated Movie Needs to Get Right

https://ift.tt/3fCncB7

As we wait an announcement pertaining to the existence of NetherRealm Studios’ Injustice 3, we at least know that Warner Bros. is set to adapt the games into a DC animated movie.

Ever since its release in 2013, the Injustice franchise has not only become a staple of NetherRealm’s roster, but the comic spinoffs have made it a beloved part of the DC multiverse. The plot revolves around a reality where the Joker was able to mess with Superman so badly that the Man of Steel gradually became a mass-murdering dictator, with the support of several members of the Justice League. Left without any other option, Batman brought in counterparts of the Justice League from the “mainstream” universe to help him fight a civil war against his former friend. It was a story that merged the Justice Lords two-parter from the Justice League cartoon with Marvel’s original Squadron Supreme comic series.

A popular prequel series was released, mostly written by Tom Taylor, that explained the five years in-between Superman killing the Joker in cold blood and Batman’s last stand. Sometime later, the game’s story was adapted into the comic Injustice: Ground Zero. And the Injustice universe has only continued to grow since then.

As snazzy as NetherRealm’s story modes are, they are going to have to make some changes to the narrative for the animated movie. It’s not like every character is going to stumble into exactly four best-two-out-of-three fights in a row before someone else is the focus. Knowing that there will be alterations, some characters are really going to need some tender love and care.

Superman (Both of Them)

Injustice: Gods Among Us didn’t invent the idea of an evil Superman, but things are a bit over-saturated these days. Face it, “Dark Superman” has been done to death, what with Brightburn, The Boys, Invincible, and everything Zack Snyder intended with his Justice League movies.

It’s important that the animated movie really get into the WHY of what turned Superman evil instead of the Joker just getting a tragic win over him. The Injustice comic nudged him over and over again with multiple betrayals and manipulations before he finally snapped and angrily broke every bone in Green Arrow’s body. Hit all that, or at least enough of it.

More importantly, Injustice is a story of two different Supermen. The mainstream Superman has to ring true. He has to be the beacon of hope and positivity that pop culture has been missing for the past decade.

Ultimately, as long as they don’t do that minigame where Superman blows up cars and the people in them with his eye-lasers, we’re cool.

Batman

In this DC take of Marvel’s Civil War, Batman is by default the better person when compared to Superman. He has a line he won’t cross and that means no murder and no tyranny. That said, he still needs to be portrayed as a flawed hero. He may be competent, but he still behaves like a total douche at times and deserves to take one to the chin every now and then.

Being a paranoid futurist who buries himself in contingency plans means alienating allies, friends, and even family members. There’s a great moment in the Injustice comic where he reveals that he infected Cyborg with a virus within a week of meeting (you know, just in case), which Killer Croc says is outright sinister. It’s this kind of behavior that led to Superman’s fall to darkness, because even if Bruce wasn’t behind any of the horrors, he still chose coldness and paranoia over being there for a friend who was going through some serious shit.

Harley Quinn

A hype trailer for Harley painted her as a major protagonist in the first game but the game’s story mode just didn’t measure up. The comics did a better job and the Ground Zero volume was specifically about telling the game’s story from Harley’s perspective. I’m not saying that she should be joined by her team of BFF henchmen from Ground Zero, but she should definitely be a prominent hero.

Similar to the Mark Waid comic series Irredeemable and Incorruptible (also about an evil take on Superman), Harley’s turn to heroism is the universe’s response to Superman’s actions. She’s done some horrible things and may never make up for her actions under the Joker’s thumb, but she’ll keep fighting to stop Superman’s atrocities.

Wonder Woman

While Batman did a bad job trying to pull Superman from the darkness, Wonder Woman succeeded in pushing him in. It’s noted here and there, but this Wonder Woman was also altered by tragedy. In this timeline, Steve Trevor turned out to be a Nazi traitor. His betrayal left Diana feeling much less optimistic and hopeful than her mainstream self.

Wonder Woman’s villainy isn’t as pronounced as Superman’s, but she’s definitely the friendly face who eggs him on and wants him to stand over all mankind. As Superman uses her to fill the void left from Lois Lane’s death, the power couple become very good at bringing out the worst in each other.

Damian Wayne

The Injustice game did Damian a little dirty, revealing deep into the story that the Nightwing fighting on Superman’s side was not Dick Grayson, but Damian. According to Batman, Damian murdered Dick. The comics dove deeper into that and made it more of a freak accident brought on by Damian being an impulsive and angry child. Still, Bruce and his son were unable to make amends due to their shared lack of warmth.

Later stories, and even Injustice 2, added more depth to Damian. It always made sense that he’d join Superman’s Regime, but there was a soul in there who would eventually see that this wasn’t the right path. In the comic Injustice vs. Masters of the Universe, which was treated as a sequel to Injustice 2’s dark ending, Damian took up the mantle of Batman to oppose Superman and even grew a long-missing sense of humor in the process.

Lex Luthor

The great tragedy of the DC multiverse is that Superman and Lex Luthor just can’t get along. They will always be at odds no matter what Earth they come from. The Injustice universe was the one exception, as Luthor was portrayed as fairly warm and altruistic. Much like Batman, he has contingency plans up the wazoo, but they don’t come off as creepy.

Seeing him there as Superman’s longtime friend who sadly has to stab him in the back brings back that multiversal truth about the duo. Just because this is a world where Superman kills and things get very bleak doesn’t mean it’s the worst world and that it isn’t worth saving. The mainstream Cyborg is reluctant to come to terms with this heroic Luthor, but he ultimately accepts the miracle that this universe created a Luthor worth befriending and even looking up to.

Hal Jordan

Maybe it’s just me, but I was never a fan of how Geoff Johns retconned Hal’s past and gave him deniability for everything he did as Parallax. I liked that a boring hero dude like Hal snapped, did some bad stuff, and then had to accept his failures in an attempt to be better. With Injustice, they gave us that exact Hal.

Read more

Games

Injustice Beat Zack Snyder’s Justice League to the Punch

By Matthew Byrd

Comics

Injustice: Year Zero Brings the Justice Society to DC Alternate Universe

By Jim Dandy

Overflowing with willpower and being an otherwise competent space cop, Hal is still something of a dunce at times, and he’s susceptible to manipulation in the right situation. He’s already following Superman’s lead, but having Sinestro pop in to indoctrinate him into the Sinestro Corps makes him actually interesting. Let Hal be the worst version of himself here so he can double back on it in the sequel and beg Guy Gardner’s ghost for forgiveness.

Shazam

Injustice may be the B-side to Mortal Kombat, but the game itself is fairly tame on the violence. Joker’s death isn’t actually shown on screen, Luthor’s end is fairly clean, and Grodd taking a trident to the torso is relatively tame.

But what we absolutely, positively have to see in the animated movie is Shazam’s death scene to really give an idea of how far gone Superman is. It’s bloodless from our point of view, but it’s grisly as hell and made worse when you remember that Shazam is a literal child under all the mystical power.

Batgirl

The Barbara Gordon version of Batgirl was one of the first DLC characters added to Injustice, but it’s unfortunate that she’s not in the main story mode — something the animated movie could fix by giving her a more prominent role in the fight against the Regime. Her ending gives her a kickass backstory where she returns to the cowl after her father dies at Superman’s hands. The comics go deeper into this, even making it so that Superman doesn’t directly kill Commissioner Gordon.

In this continuity, she was already wheelchair-bound as Oracle. She had to go under a very dangerous procedure under Luthor’s care in order to walk again. This is one of the storylines that could make for a captivating arc in the movie.

Alfred Pennyworth

Alfred isn’t in either Injustice game. He’s already dead by the start of the first game. But I don’t care. Alfred needs to be in the animated movie because he is the heart and soul of the Injustice comics. While others bow to Superman, follow him, or even try to reason with him, Alfred Pennyworth doesn’t play those games. He will straight-up verbally clown Superman for his actions without flinching. He is not afraid of the Kryptonian, no matter how red his glowing eyes get.

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This comes to a head in the comics when Alfred takes a pill that gives him Kryptonian strength and he kicks the absolute shit out of Superman for ruining his family. I know I’m asking for a lot, but I simply need to see Alfred stomp a mudhole in Superman so hard that his own shoe explodes from the impact.

The post 10 Injustice Characters the DC Animated Movie Needs to Get Right appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[mystical-flute]

Uncharted Waters 12: My Monsters are Real (And They're Trained How to Kill)

AO3 || Ko-FI

It was supposed to be a normal day.

Yugi had won the tournament, she’d soothed Seto’s ego after his loss, Marik was, apparently, no longer hunting down the items, Mai and Bakura were awake and safe, and the blimp would be en route back to Domino at any moment.

And then the alarms had started blaring.

Two portals had been opened, one in the warehouse district near the docks, and the other at a local park. Kenji and Yume had the agents divided up, orders given to suit up and try to blend in.

Reika had opted for her batons instead of her gun since they were easy to hide under the sleeve of the leather jacket she wore. Her hair was thrown into a messy ponytail, a cloaking device blocking anyone from recognizing her.

She hoped, anyway. There was no telling who may have come through.

“Two at once. You don’t think someone’s managed to co-op our tech, do you?” Aiko asked as they sped through the Domino streets.

Reika was holding onto the door for dear life, Aiko’s tires letting out the worst screeching sound. “No idea. You realize your dad said to blend in, not to go Mad Max on the roads, right?”

“We gotta get there and figure out what happened, don’t we?”

“We aren’t cops, Aiko! We don’t have si- rens !” Reika yelped at a sharp turn, before exhaling in relief when the warehouses came into view. “That’s the one, at the end.”

Because of course , it would be the last warehouse in a parade of sketchy-looking warehouses.

“Weird. It looks like it hasn’t been used in a while,” Aiko remarked, before she spoke into her earpiece. “This is Aiko. Agent Reika and I have made it to the warehouse. We’re beginning our inspection now.”

Reika frowned as she noticed the camera. “This is Reika. Can anyone at headquarters see if the cameras at this warehouse are in use?”

“Doesn’t look that way. The warehouse is supposed to be abandoned,” came the voice on the other end of the line. “Last time any sort of payment was made on it was two years ago. You’re clear for entry.”

It was unnerving how easy it was to gain entry, and after they’d divided up, she found herself wandering the lower level with Aiko.

“This is so weird,” Aiko whispered her gun at the ready. “What is all this stuff?”

Lab equipment was all she could guess. Tables were lined with beakers and test tubes, some containing God-only-knew-what sort of liquid.

“I don’t want to know, but I feel like we should call someone else about it,” she replied as they paused outside another door. “Count of three. One, two, three!”

Aiko kicked in the door.

It was a storage closet containing clean lab equipment.

“Just a storeroom, commander,” Aiko said. “We’re moving on.”

“Copy that.”

They continued down a hallway, and that’s when she heard it. A steady, rhythmic beeping.

“Is that… a heart monitor? Like they use in hospitals?” Reika questioned.

“Sure sounds like it. It’s coming from here…” Aiko said, kicking open the door, gun at the ready before pausing. “Huh. What is that?”

Reika peered into the room and felt the color drain from her face.

“No,” she whispered, edging inside.

“Holy shit, is that a kid ?”

“No…”

“It’s not?”

She ignored Aiko, forcing herself to sprint the distance to the machine. Her hand, shaking, gently rested against the glass as she stared at the figure, and the scream she’d been fighting back ripped from her throat, legs buckling and knees slamming into the hard cement floor below.

Noah Kaiba was floating in the strange, blue liquid, the steady, rhythmic beeping around her confirming her worst fears.

This was a KaibaCorp warehouse.

Noah was here.

Had Leichter known?

Sobs and dry heaves wracked her body as she curled into herself, head pressing into her knees, the world around her vanishing as all she felt was grief, six years worth, pouring onto her hands and spilling onto her lap.

“ - can’t get her to respond. She’s just been sitting there sobbing,” she heard Aiko say as reality slowly came back into focus. “Reika?”

“Huh?”

How long had it been?

“What is going on? Who is that?”

Her hands, still shaking, reached up to wipe the tears from her face as her eyes cleared.

“ That ,” she croaked, her voice strained, “is Noah Kaiba. The biological son of Gozaburo. H - he was in a car accident six years ago… Gozaburo said he was dead ! He told me he was dead !”

Hiro looked at her in concern. “I don’t know why Gozaburo would have said such a thing, because according to these documents… Noah did flatline, but they were able to save him moments later.”

It should have been good news. It should have been one of the best pieces of news she’d heard in her life, but all Reika felt was horror and despair.

“Then why is he here ?” she managed to choke out, her hand slamming against the machine. “Why didn’t he get to grow up?”

“I don’t know. I’m still looking into it.”

Reika held back a sob and tugged at her hair, then frowned when she remembered she’d put her cloaking device in. She tugged it out of her hair and let her natural appearance return. Even if Noah couldn’t see her right now, it felt wrong to not look like herself.

She slowly stood on shaking legs, using Aiko for support. “What now?”

“Now… we figure out what the hell that portal signal was. Someone wanted us here for a reason,” Hiro replied.

“I’ve found the transporter,” Yume said into their earpieces. “I’m gathering the data now.”

“Noah…” she whispered, putting her hand on the pod again. “I’m so sorry. I’m going to get you out of there.”

How? She had no idea, but now that she knew Noah was here, alive, it was only fair that she fought to get him out.

“I found something!” Miho cried from across the room. “Joey and Yugi went into a virtual game with Mokuba, right Reika?”

“Yes?” Reika responded, drawing the word out with dread.

“Noah is in a virtual world too. These papers say Gozaburo designed it after his accident, to protect his body,” Miho explained. “But the project was abandoned five years ago.”

Aiko frowned. “Five years ago? But Noah’s accident was six years ago. Why would Goz - ”

“Because he had a shiny new toy to play with,” Reika whispered, swallowing back another wave of nausea. “He abandoned Noah. Left him here to rot !”

“This is sick…” Hiro said. “We’ve got to get him out of there.”

Reika nodded as her communicator buzzed. “Agent Reika speaking.”

“... Reika?”

The little color that had returned to her face drained from it again. “Roland? How did you get this line?”

“The blimp has been hijacked. Fuguta was shot trying to protect Mr. Kaiba. Before he passed out, he gave this line to me. Which is good because our radio and cell phones are down and -”

“ Roland . Where are you?”

“Roughly fifty miles from Alcatraz.”

Reika moved the communicator away from her mouth, covering the mouthpiece with her hand. “Fuguta is down. He’s been shot,” she whispered, going back to Roland. “Roland, who hijacked the blimp? What happened?”

“It was a boy. He couldn’t have been older than Mokuba. I think they called him Noah.”

Her eyebrows raised as she looked around the room again, blocking the mouthpiece. “Get Yume in here. Now. KaibaCorp’s blimp has been hijacked and her daughter is on board.”

Hiro’s face went white as he began speaking into his device.

“Continue, Roland.”

“He ordered Seto, Mokuba, Yugi, Joey Wheeler, Tristan Taylor, Téa Gardner, and Mai Valentine out of the blimp. When we tried to follow, Fuguta was shot. I don't know what happened after that. What is this device I’m calling you on? Why did you call yourself ‘Agent’?”

“I’ll explain later,” Reika said. “If I need anything else, I’ll contact you.”

Reika had to take deep breaths as she ended the communication. “If the virtual world Noah is in is on KaibaCorp’s servers… and the virtual reality game Seto created is on KaibaCorp’s servers…”

“The Big Five might be involved,” Aiko finished, reading her mind. “Good God, Reika, do you think they would agree to kidnap the people you care about? I mean, didn’t you tell me Leichter was a mentor to you?”

“They did it once before. What’s stopping them from doing it again with who was supposed to be the original heir to KaibaCorp? The KaibaCorp that they wanted?”

AIko didn’t respond.

“Alright, listen up! We don’t have time to waste. Kenji and his team will stay here and look for more information,” Yume said as the squad gathered in the room. “Meanwhile we’re going to go to the KaibaCorp blimp to figure out what happened there. Cloaking devices on. We don’t need everyone to know who we are… Reika, you’re free to leave yours off.”

The coordinates were added to Yume’s teleporter, the deep blue ripping open. One by one, the agents stepped through.

The first thing she noticed was the whimpering girl sitting in one of the pilot’s chairs.

“Hey…” she said softly, kneeling next to her. “What’s your name?”

“S-Serenity.”

Reika smiled. “So you’re the famous Serenity I’ve heard so much about! I’m Reika. I’m Yugi’s cousin. You’re worried about Joey, huh?”

Serenity nodded. “Y-you look worried too.”

“I am. But I’m going to make sure everyone gets back here safely.”

“How?”

Reika smiled, giving Serenity a look of confidence. “I’m going to beat up the bad guys, of course!”

“Hey Serenity, I thought - Reika? How the hell did you get here? Who are you people?” Duke asked, tensing as he took in the strangers.

Yume straightened. “We’re special agents. We’ve received word that KaibaCorp has access to technology it shouldn’t, and when we heard one of our agents was shot, we came to investigate.”

Roland lost what little color he had left in his face. “One of your -”

Another agent stepped forward. “Commander, I’ll stay behind to fill in Roland and check on Fuguta. The rest of you should go and find the kids that were kidnapped.”

Yume nodded. “Very well.”

“I’m coming with you!” Duke suddenly said. “I’m not just going to sit here while my friends get hurt!”

“Me either!” Serenity said, suddenly filled with confidence.

Yume sighed, looking like she expected this. “Fine. We have enough weapons to protect you both should things go south.”

“Wait! You can’t go out there! They have guns attached to the walls! They’re motion activated!” Roland fretted. “If anything happened to Miss Muto, Mr. Kaiba would kill me!”

She was touched at the sentiment and angry that her house of cards was collapsing all at the same time. “Roland,” she said softly. “It’s okay, I promise. Let’s test the guns. See if they’re still operational now that Noah has what he wants.”

Duke had brought Serenity an apple, so they tossed that out of the blimp. When no guns went off, Reika slowly stepped outside as well.

“They’re not operational. Noah must be distracted. Let’s go.”

The agents huddled around Duke and Serenity, and the group made their way into the building, winding their way through the hallways, some agents breaking off to gather information after fighting off the robot guards, before they finally arrived at a large room, filled with pods, not unlike the one Noah was in.

Yugi and the others were inside.

“Joey!” Serenity squeaked, rushing over to his pod.

Duke followed, holding her back. “Serenity, don’t touch it! We don’t know what it does.”

“But we have to get them out of there!”

“We will,” Yume said, though she was trembling as she stared at Téa’s pod. “The question is, how?”

“I’ll go in,” Reika said. “If the Big Five are involved, maybe I can convince them this is a bad idea and they’ll tell me the way out of there.”

Yume sighed. “I don’t like it, but I don’t see what other choice we have. Just be careful, Agent Muto.”

Reika nodded, getting into one of the spare pods and feeling the world fade to black.

She felt a soft pillow under her head and the weight of her batons still hidden in her jacket.

She could smell the barest hint of cigar in the air.

She could see bright lights behind her still-closed eyelids.

She could hear a man with an American southern accent whispering as soft jazz played from a nearby speaker. It was familiar. Comforting.

It was wrong .

Reika’s eyes flew open as she quickly sat up, a wave of dizziness washing over her for a moment when she tried to orient herself.

“Miss Reika.”

She took a deep breath, raising her head and locking eyes with him. “Mr. Leichter.”

“You’re lucky I managed to secure your mind before it got too far in this world,” Leichter chastised. “Otherwise, you’d be in your worst memories. I don’t want that for you. I don’t want you here at all.”

“Did you expect me to not try to stop you once I found out you’d kidnapped people I loved again ?” she questioned.

“You should know by now that people that cross KaibaCorp very rarely get the chance to escape. Your family should not be an exception to the rule. But I can make this world better for you. Anything you want can be yours here,” Leichter said, crossing the room and standing before her.

She rolled her eyes. “Okay then, what I want is for all of us to get out of here. Including you and the rest of the Big Five. I can help you, Leichter.”

Leichter laughed softly and grabbed her chin. “No, Miss Reika. You can’t help me. No one can.”

“That isn’t true. I have friends - ”

“It’s too late for that.” The grip on her chin tightened, and he frowned, considering. “Your eyes are holding so much pain. I’ll protect you though. No more yelling or fighting.”

“What are you talking about?”

Leichter’s eyes seemed to soften, just a touch. “Your parents… then Master Noah… and going to school, was it? Must have been so difficult…”

Why was he questioning her going to school?

Reika felt her pulse quicken as she tried to pull away, to no avail. “Leichter, let go.”

“No, no, Miss Reika. I think I’d like to see some of your happy, happy memories from your time away.”

The office fell away, and for a moment, they stood in darkness.

“So you made it to California okay?” Yugi had asked on the phone.

“Yep! LAX was a nightmare to get through, but I found my guide. I’m unpacking now. You should see it, Yugi. The sun, the sand, the water…”

“We have all of that in Japan.”

She’d laughed. “I know, but it feels… different somehow. It’s probably just the butterflies.”

“So what are you going to do first?”

“You mean after I take a nap?”

Yugi laughed. “Yeah, after that.”

“I dunno. I’ll probably get to know my roommate, or take a walk around campus. It’s huge, so I should get my bearings before classes start.”

“That’s a good idea. I should get to bed. It’s past midnight here.”

“Yeah, get some rest, Yugi. I’ll try to call you later.”

The scenery returned, and it was the I.D.R.A’s base in Loguetown, an apartment above a bakery, with the teleporter hidden in an attic. Large windows faced the sea, and she remembered how she used to watch the ships in her downtime, wondering when she’d find a crew of people she could trust to take her out there with them.

“This is not California, Miss Reika…” Leichter suddenly said. “This isn’t anywhere I’ve ever seen. And you know I’ve been to many countries with Mr. Kaiba.”

Reika said nothing, staring down at the floor.

Leichter grabbed her chin again, forcing her gaze. “Miss Reika, did you hear me?”

“The I.D.R.A is watching. You should be more gentle with me,” she snarled as the room twisted and warped to the deck of the Going Merry.

They were safe. They had managed to escape from Loguetown and no Marines were in sight. The skies had finally cleared too, and it was nothing but peaceful.

“So what do you think so far?” Sanji questioned as she sat with him in the galley. “Any regrets?”

She laughed softly. “It’s certainly a lot to get used to, but no, no regrets. Even if I did have some, wouldn’t it be too late?”

“I’m sure Nami-swan would be able to find an island to drop you off at.”

She wrinkled her nose. “And sit for another month to find someone going to Loguetown? No way! I’m where I need to be.”

“What do you mean?”

Reika paused, sipping at the tea he’d insisted she have. “I mean… I feel like I belong here, on this ship, with you guys. I spent so long feeling trapped and helpless after my parents went missing that it's nice to feel like I belong somewhere, that I can do something to try to find them. You know?”

“I guess,” Sanji said, taking a drag of his cigarette. “It took me a while to feel like I belonged here. I’m just surprised you could leave your aunt behind so easily.”

“Who says it’s easy?” she questioned. “But it’ll be worth it when I can find out what happened to them and give the rest of the family some peace of mind.”

“The I.D.R.A managed to ensnare you. Oh, Miss Reika, I’m so sorry. If I had known, I would have stopped them much sooner!”

She stepped away from him, her arms raised in a defensive position. “Stopped them? They’re the only ones that can find my parents!”

Leichter waved his hand and the world warped, spinning out of control. “I know. I know, that’s the one thing you want in this world. And I will give it to you.”

“Leichter, what are you - ”

The spinning stopped, Leichter vanished, and Reika fell to her knees at what the world had twisted into.

Her childhood bedroom.

“Not here…” she whispered. “Anywhere but here.”

“I told you I would take care of you, Miss Reika. You won’t have any more pain here.”

“Leichter, please !”

“Little star! Can your father and I talk to you?”

“Mama…” she whispered, gasping as her eight-year-old self appeared in the room.

Her parents entered right after. Genji scooped her into his arms, and her younger counterpart laughed, lifting her arms in the air.

“I’m flying!” Little Reika giggled.

“You are!” Miaka said, her laughter joining Reika’s.

Reika’s knees dug into the carpet as she watched the scene. The bedroom was exactly as she remembered it. Purple bed sheets and pillows,, with twinkling fairy lights hanging above it (“Your mother was rightfully convinced you would be born on Tanabata,” Aunt Kumi had told her), her keyboard was against another wall. Shelves of books were near the door, and stuffed animals lined her bed.

“Mr. Kaiba says we get to play for you next week!” Little Reika announced. “We’re gonna play -”

“Shh! We want to be surprised, Reika!” Genji said. “But Mama and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Miaka smiled. “That’s right. And we’ll make sure to take a video so the rest of the family can watch too!”

“But that’s not all we had to tell you.”

Little Reika looked at them curiously.

“In two weeks, your Mama and I will be going to California for our anniversary, which means you’ll be staying with grandpa for a while. Is that okay?” Genji asked.

No!

“Okay!” Little Reika said. “Will you bring me a present home?”

“Of course we will. We wish we could bring you with us,” Miaka said. “But we’ll tell you all sorts of stories when we get home.”

(She often wondered if lying was as hard for her parents as it was for her)

“We’ll miss you so much, but I’m sure it’ll fly by. I bet grandpa has new games he can show you.”

Little Reika nodded. “Yeah! I like the Capsule Monsters game he showed me last time I was there!”

“You didn’t stop talking about it for a week! I bet you’d kick my butt at it!” Genji said with a wide smile, reaching to tickle her.

(Reika swore she could feel the feather-light touches too)

“Look at the time! I think we should start dinner,” Miaka said, kissing Little Reika’s forehead.

(Th at she felt, and it was a jolt to her system)

Genji lifted Little Reika onto his back, and the trio left the room.

Reika let out a shaking breath. “I don’t have a choice but to follow, do I?” she whispered, to no response.

Right. Azila was safe in the real world.

Heading downstairs, she froze again. Instead of dinner, the scent of pancakes and bacon filled the room.

“Ah, there you are, Reika! I swear, teens today sleep much later than we used to,” Miaka chastised from the table.

She was looking right at Reika. Not through her, not at a specter of a past Reika, but her .

Like this was real.

“I - ” she managed to choke out, her throat dry.

“Drink some juice, sweetheart, you sound half-asleep still,” Genji said as he flipped a pancake.

Reika wordlessly lifted a glass of orange juice to her lips, taking a large gulp. “I’m just really happy to see you.”

“Oh little star, did you have that nightmare where your father and I don’t come home again?”

“I… yeah.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that. Your father and I are here to stay .”

Wait, why did that sound wrong?

“But visually, vocally, it would be the same!” Pegasus cried.

“It wouldn’t be them .”

She gripped the glass harder than she’d meant to, and it shattered, the orange juice stinging as it mixed with the tiny cuts now on her hand.

“Oh goodness, let’s get that cleaned up!” Miaka said. While she had her back turned, Reika bolted for the door, and the world began to spin.

Her worst memories? Fine. She could handle that.

She was eight, and her parents never came home.

She was twelve, and her friend was assumed dead.

She was sixteen, and she found out her parents were never in California.

She was eighteen, and she turned herself into a criminal.

The Going Merry was eaten by a whale as soon as they entered the Grand Line.

Nami was ill, terribly so. Vivi thought she might die if they hadn’t found Drum Island.

She was clinging to a sled as it climbed up a mountain, frostbite cutting through her mittens.

(“If I take you up there and your friends don’t come, then what?” Kureha sneered.

“Then you can toss me off the mountain.”)

She was marching through a desert with the crew, the sun beating down on them.

She was thrown from a window, landing in the waters outside the casino.

She was in an alley, Mr. 3 in front of her and ready for a fight.

The clash began as it had before, before she was pinned to the ground, one baton just out of reach of her fingers while the other sat near a trash can.

Mr. 3 was babbling, and then the knife came down, cutting into her chest and shoulder and she screamed out in pain, just like before.

“REIKA!”

That didn’t happen before.

Panic surged through her as she grabbed the baton. “Jupiter’s Storm!” and Mr. 3 was blasted away.

She tried to scramble to her feet, to hide the blood that was dripping down her arm but the pain was too intense, and she found herself unable to move as Yugi and his friends loomed over her.

And the foundation to her house of cards was gone.

“Oh,” she wheezed. “Son of a bitch .”

[harryandmolly]

Complicit // 5

summary: Shawn is under more pressure than he’s ever known. He craves release and comfort, the simplicity of sex. He gets more than he bargained for.

warnings: language, NSFW (my permanent tag for this series), fraying at the edges

WC: 7.3k

---------

The dialing sound Niall’s phone makes is the British one. He tries to feel comforted by it. It reminds him of calling his nan. He could use some comfort, that’s why he’s calling Niall. 

It rings twice more. Shawn’s very sure he’s about to get his voicemail which he doesn’t even think Niall checks and he doesn’t blame him because Shawn mostly texts him anyway, but he really wanted to kind of talk this out and--

“Hey, mate,” Niall greets. It sounds like he’s outside, probably in London. He hears traffic and distant car horns.

“Heyyyy,” Shawn begins casually, pressing his fingers through his hair and striding out to the balcony of his house even though he’s completely alone, “What’s up, man?”

“I’m over in London for a couple meetings and a friend’s wedding. Headin’ out to me local. What’s up?”

Shawn sighs. He squints one eye at the horizon, then the other. “I just did something… really stupid.”

Niall chuckles. His favorite start to any story. “How stupid?”

“Pretty… fucking stupid,” Shawn groans, closing both his eyes, “I just got back from Vegas.”

“I know! Everyone’s buzzin’ about iHeart Summer. Heard you killed it, mate, congratulations! Good craic?”

“Yeah, yeah, it was great,” Shawn mumbles distractedly, “But I brought Penny.”

“Oh,” Niall chirps, clearly expecting him to admit something much worse, “That’s fine, lad, I’ve flown Karina’r out places before. ‘S not a big deal.”

Shawn nods impatiently, “No, no, I know, it’s not that. We just… god, we had the most amazing night. It was… honestly, I really think it was the best sex I’ve ever had. And then I did something completely insane.”

Niall’s brow furrows. He keeps one eye up on the crosswalk signal. “Don’t tell me ya fookin’ married ‘er.”

“I… I bought her a necklace. A really, really expensive, insane necklace. Frank Sinatra gave it to Ava Gardner in like the 1950s. I had it delivered to her.”

Niall guffaws. His cornflower blue eyes dance as he cackles, stepping into the street, unbothered by the eyes he draws. “You’re kidding me.”

“I’m not,” Shawn croaks, slumping a shoulder against the sliding door, angling his eyes down, “I don’t know what the fuck I was thinking. I got carried away. We just… that night… and then the festival, I mean, shit, I’ve never played a show like that before. I’ve never had a night like that onstage. I thought I had and then I played that show and it’s like… god, Ni, she got me somewhere. I don’t even know where. 

“So I got back after the show like, buzzing. We were out all night celebrating after. I got back at like 5 AM and I called the guy that helped me pick out those earrings for my mom for Christmas and he said he had this necklace and Sinatra fucking designed it and, dude, she loves Sinatra, like loves him, and I just snapped and bought it. Put the fucking deposit on my Amex and called La Splendeur to arrange the delivery.”

Niall’s still laughing. “Wow.”

“I’m such an asshole,” Shawn mumbles, letting a short chuckle break through, “I mean, what the hell is she going to think? She’s going to think I’m fucking obsessed with her.”

“It kinda sounds like you are,” Niall prods, shoving his free hand in his pocket as he strides down the busy street.

“I know I am, but I don’t need her knowing that!” Shawn gripes.

“Listen, girls like her get fancy gifts all the time. She’s used to it, mate. It probably won’t faze her.”

That definitely doesn’t make Shawn feel better. If he’s going to be an obsessed asshole, he at least wants to be the only one in her life.

“Or worse, she’ll think I’m just throwing money at her because that’s all she’s worth to me.”

Shawn realizes with a swoop of his gut that that’s his true fear. The idea that Penny thinks he just wants to buy her makes him want to lose his lunch over the railing. He winces and rubs a hand over his eyes. 

“Mate, you’re overreacting. When you’re with her, do you treat her like a hooker?”

Shawn blinks. “No, of course not.”

“No. Because you’re a good lad. She’s spent enough time around you to know that. She’s not going to think you’re trying to reduce her to a piece of jewelry. She’s probably flattered. I’m sure she loves it. It’s a thoughtful gift, too, if she loves Sinatra. Hey, I love Sinatra and you’ve never bought me a priceless necklace that he designed.”

Shawn snorts. “When you fuck me like she can, I’ll get you his whole collection of pinky rings.”

Niall beams. “That’s the spirit.”

+

“I haven’t even touched it yet,” Penny hisses into the phone, circling the red box sitting dead center on her bed like a snake charmer eyeing a viper.

“Well, you should. It’s been in a box since the 90s. It deserves a little skin,” Silver replies.

Penny purses her lips. “I… cannot believe he did this.”

“Well, not to sound… anyway, it’s hardly the most expensive gift you’ve ever received.”

Penny’s mind jumps to the Aston Martin in her garage and she bites her lip. “No, I know… but… I mean, it’s so soon.”

Silver bobs her head and runs her finger along the strand of pearls at her throat, they themselves a gift from a client long ago.

“It’s the buzz, baby. Everyone’s saying his name after that performance of his. He probably just wanted to show you some gratitude. Several thousand dollars worth.”

Penny perches beside the open Cartier box, still a safe distance. She reaches out with a fingertip, timidly stroking the largest stone at the center, where it would hang beautifully between her collarbones if she weren’t too chicken to try it on.

She swallows. “He can’t… know how much this means to me. He can’t possibly, I’ve only mentioned it in passing.”

She’s referring to her lifelong love affair with Frank Sinatra. The people who know her well, and there are few, know Old Blue Eyes has been the apple of Penny’s eye since she was a kid. So to own something that was once his, that he helped to design, something he made for someone so important to him… 

“I don’t know if I can keep this,” Penny breathes.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Silver nearly snaps, “This isn’t a sweater you can return. This is practically a historical treasure. And it’s yours, he wanted you to have it. And… Pen, it was Frank’s.”

“That’s the other thing!” Penny squeaks, springing up from the bed to launch into another pacing session, “I’m sure he has no idea of the implications of this necklace. He doesn’t know the story. Ava Gardner was the love of Frank’s life. He loved her madly until the day he died. Everything they went through together, everything they put each other through… it’s the stuff of Hollywood legend. It’s the kind of love you wish on your worst enemy.”

Silver quiets. Penny is flying off the handle. The only way to calm her down is to keep head head low.

“You’re right, I’m sure he doesn’t know. Please don’t panic, Penny m’love, it’s a nice gift. Take it as that. And for the love of god, insure it.”

Penny slumps into the vintage 40s armchair in the corner of her sun-strewn bedroom, eyeing the necklace again.

“Peter’s going to die when I tell him.”

Silver smiles. “I’ve got to dash, petal, give me a call tomorrow when you have time to run through our corporation paperwork.”

Penny signs off and drops her phone into the seat beside her. Slowly, she stands, heading for the full length mirror. She focuses on her neck, her unblemished throat, her stately collarbones. She runs her fingertips against her skin. She reaches down and lifts her tank top, tossing it aside. Her breasts are soft and full, more than a generous handful crowned by perky brown nipples. She cups them, massaging her warm skin, enjoying the weight of them in her hands. Then she goes for her pajama shorts, the little blue ones with the fluffy white clouds on them. She pushes them down until they drop around her ankles.

She stands naked as the day she was born in her bedroom. She turns, admiring the swell of her ass in her reflection, the glorious mapping of stretchmarks around her hips and thighs, brushing a hand over the birthmark on her lower back. She takes a deep breath and steps to the bed, reaching for the red box.

The necklace is so heavy. She knew it would be heavy, studded by 159 diamonds (she counted), but it’s even heavier than she imagined. Maybe it’s heavier to her because of its significance. 

The clasp is fiddly. She very gently eases it open, lifts her gaze to the mirror and guides it around her throat, only releasing her hold when she’s very sure the clasp is secure. Her eyes are closed. She adjusts its position until she can feel with her fingers that the largest diamond is dead center in the little valley between her collarbones. She can’t look until it’s perfect.

And oh god, it’s so perfect.

One of Penny’s hands covers her mouth, the other rests against her stomach as she sucks in a gasping breath. Her eyes well. Her bronzed cheeks flush. Slowly, she pries her fingers away from her mouth and takes a closer look.

It’s magnificent. It’s the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen. And it’s hers.

He got it for her.

Penny wets her lips and closes her eyes, overwhelmed again. He can’t possibly know it, but he just gave her her most prized possession. How does she thank him? More importantly, how do they proceed from here?

The latter question seems too much to answer so soon. So she focuses on the former.

Chewing on her lip, staring at the largest center stone like it will show her the secrets of the universe, Penny thinks. After a few moments, her eyes flit to a shelf holding a bulky black DSLR camera with a folded tripod stashed underneath.

An hour later, she’s loading a set of photos onto a thumb drive and planting a pouty berry red kiss onto a piece of cardstock. Both get folded into a padded envelope addressed to a Mr. Shawn Mendes with no return address.

+

Standing over his suitcase with a hand on one hip, Shawn scrolls down to “Orthodontist” in his contacts and hits “new message,” feeling heat rise in his cheeks.

He hasn’t been home from Vegas for 48 hours yet. He’s unpacking his suitcase only to repack for the next festival, Wet & Wild Summer Fest in Atlanta. He’s calmed down a bit about the necklace fiasco. Niall helped assuage his concerns, as did a little time and space. Not much, but a little. He finds he starts to get twitchy after the 24 hour mark away from her when he doesn’t have another booking lined up.

It should be concerning. It should have him stepping back to reevaluate his priorities. It should mean his dick is fucking exhausted.

But it doesn’t.

Hey Penny, it’s Shawn. Idk if Colette gave you my number. I wanted to see if you’re around before I leave for Atlanta on Wednesday. So… tomorrow I guess lol

He hits send before he can think too hard about it. Thinking too hard is always his downfall. He hopes the message comes off as charming and casual. He shoves his phone in his pocket, on vibrate of course, so he doesn’t stare at it and pick it apart.

After-overthinking. Also one of his downfalls.

Five minutes later, the buzz in his back pocket feels like it gives him a mini heart attack.

Orthodontist: Hi! I wish I could. I’m not available tomorrow. 

Orthodontist: P.S. Received your gift. It took my breath away. I’m sending you a little something to show my gratitude.

Shawn drops the phone on top of the pyramid of sock rolls he’s loading into the suitcase and presses his face into his hands with a groan.

So much to overanalyze.

Admittedly, he had half deluded himself into imagining he was her only client now, that she’d cleared the bench for him. But that was naive. Of course he’s not her only client. Not only is she likely one of if not the most sought after women at La Splendeur, she has an established career with probably plenty of regulars. He’s just been lucky so far that she’s been so available to him.

He shouldn’t be reading into this as a “stay away from me you expensive necklace-buying freak” thing. Right?

Right.

Plus, she’s sending him something. What the fuck could she be sending him? His mind floods with possibilities, from the filthy to the ridiculous. 

But, really, the biggest thing is the pang he feels at the idea of going at least another week without seeing her. He would like to imagine their last encounter, as… un-fucking-believable as it was, would keep him on a high long enough to get him through it, but he’s too hooked on her already. He seems to need a fix more frequently than even last week, and even more desperately.

He really should think about slowing this down. Maybe stopping altogether.

… but god, what is she sending him?

+

She’s got Frank’s Come Fly with Me album spinning on the record player and her favorite Fleur du Mal skin-toned slip on as she brushes some Guerlain highlight on her cheeks, her eyes straying to the stunning necklace against her throat so often that she’s almost running late from the distraction.

Penny is never late.

She huffs at herself and stands back to assess. She catches Pamela’s big brown eyes in the mirror and grins, her shimmery nude-painted lips spreading.

“Stop looking at mommy like that,” she teasingly begs. At the sound of Penny’s voice, Pamela’s tail thumps against the ground. Penny laughs and shakes her head, her flossy curls bobbing around her upper arms as she reaches for her dress, a floaty sand-colored number by Alice + Olivia. In the right light, she looks almost bare. It doesn’t matter. Everyone’s going to be looking at the necklace.

With a final intoxicating spritz of Tom Ford Costa Azzurra, Penny steps outside to greet Gus.

Jamie got asked to a community center dance by a boy. Ty is beside himself, Gus likes to think he’s handling it well. Penny lives for the details.

Christian Becker is already waiting for her under the overhang of the Beverly Hilton. He doesn’t have to -- she wouldn’t have a problem following a young intern in to find him. He’s entirely too famous and important to be standing outside an event like this waiting for her. But he always likes to, so she lets him.

Christian is a thrice-divorced father of four. He’s the editor-in-chief of Vertigo Magazine, a once upstart music blog turned highly respected online publication (Lady Gaga was last month’s cover feature.) He’s also one of Penny’s oldest clients.

Gus rolls down the window as Penny gathers her clutch to step out.

“Evening, Gus,” croons Christian, smooth as ever as he leans into the passenger side with his wire transfer confirmation on his phone. Gus barely checks it. Christian is “good people,” as Gus likes to say.

“Mr. Becker, you’re looking well. How are the kids?”

“Getting bigger every day. How’re Jamie and Ty?” He holds open the door and takes Penny’s hand. Gus doesn’t bother to answer, smiling warmly as he watches Penny emerge from the back of the car. Christian releases a low whistle, looking her up and down as she steps out into the evening.

“Miss Penny, you’ve done it again.”

She tilts her chin coyly, narrowing her eyes. “And what is it I’ve done this time, Mr. Becker?”

“You got more beautiful. We’ve talked about this, Penny. You gotta stop that.”

She laughs, a laugh close to her very own. She shakes her head. “You sound like a grandpa.”

Christian mimes a dagger being driven into his chest, wincing. “I’m only 54.”

Penny nods placatingly, “And your Winnie is almost 16.”

“God, don’t remind me. C’mon, honey, let’s head in. Have a good night, Gus. Don’t worry. I’ll have her home by 10!”

Gus chuckles and pulls away back into the line of exotic cars leaving the event. Christian, head to toe in Dior, holds his flawlessly-tailored arm out for Penny to hold. She takes it and strides forward, matching his springy steps.

They look well together. Christian doesn’t look any older than 45, save for the salt and pepper hair. He’s extremely tall, fit and built, rugged, the kind of man who you can’t quite imagine without his facial hair. 

Christian’s smart. He’d have to be, obviously, to turn a blog screaming amongst the din of millions into a revered and oft-referenced bible of music. But he’s smart about the industry, too. He knows how it looks to walk into an event with a 21-year-old in a mini dress whose only contribution to a conversation is extolling the virtues of Ed Sheeran’s last album.

So instead, Christian brings Penny along as a friend. Truly, that’s all it is, all it has been since after their first night together. He said he liked her too much to continue sleeping with her, muttering something about how “everything my dick touches turns to shit.” Their dates are not sexual, they’re business. Penny can work a room. She can charm anyone into an exclusive interview, into drinks to discuss a potential venture. She’s his most powerful secret weapon and one of his favorite conversationalists. 

Tonight is Vertigo Magazine’s annual “Summer Lovin’” party where guests, exclusively musicians and industry types, gather to mix and mingle. Christian likes to brag that for the last eight years, a hit collab has come out of initial conversations had at “Summer Lovin’.” The bragging works -- it’s one of the hottest tickets in town.

The ballroom is packed. Real palm trees surround them, along with bamboo and waiters serving cocktails in exotic fruit. The theme is Blue Hawaii. Under the Dior, Christian’s in a custom designed Hawaiian shirt printed with Vertigo Magazine’s logo. The DJ is playing Iz.

Penny fixes him with a look. Christian barks a laugh.

“Too much?”

“I just got back from Vegas and I can confidently say, yes. This is too much.”

Christian grins in that boyish, easily forgivable way. “Just like I like it, then.”

He loops an arm around her waist as he surveys the garish decorations proudly, planting his lips on her temple as she swipes a frothy coconut beverage off a passing waiter’s tray.

Christian glances down at her and hums. “Speaking of too much, you’re the one dripping in diamonds.”

Penny only barely tries to hide her bashful smile. She lifts a delicate hand to press against the heavy stones. “Oh, you noticed?”

“Hard not to. A client gift?” he guesses, narrowing his eyes.

“Nobody you know,” Penny lies smoothly.

Christian laughs again, squeezing her hip. He ducks his head to speak into her ear when he gets distracted, waylaid by a passing VIP that Penny doesn’t recognize but probably should. Christian releases her temporarily to schmooze with a crooked smile and she turns to glance around the room.

She bobs her head to an oddly chosen Hawaiian folk song and twiddles the biodegradable straw in her drink. There are famous faces everywhere -- the Little Mix girls, Luke Bryan, Pitbull, Dave Grohl. Penny chuckles to herself. Only Christian could get away with throwing a party like this and still having the who’s who of the industry at his beck and call.

She sweeps a curl off her shoulder, unwilling to let anything get in the way of her necklace’s glimmer. As she does, she feels a gaze. It’s not exactly unusual for her. But there’s heat in it, enough to make her look back.

Head to toe in deep blue, shirt unbuttoned to mid chest, a perfectly placed curl hanging over his forehead is Shawn bloody Mendes staring straight at her, watching Christian Becker’s fingers absently trace over the ridges of the necklace against her collarbone.

+

Penny swings her head back around so fast her long hair swirls, catching in the scruff of Christian’s beard. She plays it off, giggling and swiping at it as she rests a hand against his upper back and tries not to feel like she’s on fucking fire.

This has happened before, she reminds her rioting body, You have been in this position. 

Of course she has. LA is a small, small town. There are only so many people that can afford her. Of course she’s been at public events and seen former or even current clients. It does not have to be an international incident.

But it fucking feels like one. Her heart is sprinting. Her head feels light enough to pop off her body to float around with the paper lanterns on the ceiling. Her hand on her chest is the only thing steadying her until Christian’s bulky, muscled arm pulls her back in gently by her waist.

Like the professional she is, she snaps in. Her smile is dazzling. Her quippy comment is light but witty, charming. The hand she places on Christian’s upper abdomen when they all laugh is soft but firm. She’s in control.

+

Shawn flies into a possessive, unadulterated rage for about 15 seconds before cold reality hits hard.

Somehow even before she turned around, he knew she’d be wearing it. She’s wearing his fucking necklace while another man’s hands are all fucking over her. His stomach is in knots. His neck burns hot, he bets even his exposed chest is flushed. He wants to scream, maybe even go full caveman and drag her away from Christian Becker, of all fucking people. He even likes Christian Becker. But Penny, he…

So not the path to go down right now.

Thankfully, the red mist doesn’t last long. He’s immediately disgusted with himself for even letting his mind start to go there. But he still can’t stop staring at her.

She didn’t take the Blue Hawaii theme as literally as he did. She’s radiant in a floaty dress that looks like a beach and he looks like a dopey extra on a movie set. He wasn’t even planning on coming to this party -- he’d much rather have spent the night with her in some hotel he doesn’t care about the name of getting his stupid mind blown. But Andrew convinced him, told him Tiffany had a suit ready, even had blue suede boots. 

So Shawn decided to play dress up and be friendly with industry types even if the only thing he cares about right now, other than Penny screwing his brains out, is the album he’s already written that’s being released in the fall. He’s not in the headspace to think about a collab right now. But that’s what he pays Andrew for.

It didn’t even cross his mind that she could be here. It did not even occur to him. But he knew it was her when he saw her even between throngs of people in dim lighting. It’s her bare shoulder blades. He adores them. He’d know them anywhere.

Once she’s turned back around, her poker face back on, letting Becker pet her and show her off, he slugs back a sip of his rum cocktail. He forces himself to turn around because he will certainly blow their cover if he keeps staring at the call girl he’s obsessed with from across the room.

Now that the rage is gone, it’s replaced by a hollow, whiny feeling. Turns out despite Niall’s sage advice and what Shawn thought were enough self reminders that this is something he could simply walk away from, he aches.

He’s being ridiculous. The truth is, he barely knows Penny. He doesn’t even know her last name. And it’s not like he thought he was her only client. He’s not insane. But… he feels a little lame beside Christian Becker. The man is a legend. He’s done blow with at least 75% of Shawn’s heroes. The stories he can probably tell make Shawn want to pout. 

But he can’t pout. He can’t even talk to her. He has to just deal with this and try to find a way to be a man about it. The best way is probably to ignore her as much as he can. It’s hard when she feels like a magnet in the center of a room, sparkling brighter than the disco ball even without the necklace.

God, the necklace. He had finally gotten to a place of feeling kind of ok about that outrageous gesture and now he can worry about it all over again, he can feel like a desperate young fool trying to get the attention of a sophisticated woman in a garish and heavy-handed way. He frustrates himself nearly to tears.

And then he sees her, in front of him this time, tooling with Christian around the bar. Before he can steel himself, he realizes she’s already watching him. He’s… stunned. He almost picks his hand up and, like, waves like an idiot but then she’s leaning into Christian as he says something.

He looks down. His glass is empty. He’ll wait to go to the bar.

+

It’s all she can do to keep from planting her feet, locking her knees and screaming “NO!” like an impassioned toddler when Christian suggests a trip to the bar. Shawn has been stationed there for 45 minutes with a couple members of his team and, inexplicably, Brad Paisley. She hopes there isn’t anything fruitful coming from that conversation. But soon she’ll be close enough to listen for herself.

She doesn’t usually drink so much on the job, for obvious reasons. But how she could be expected to get through this fiasco without booze is beyond her, so she keeps the pina coladas coming. Christian doesn’t seem to mind. Her strong desire to focus on anything other than Shawn and his sad, but somehow searingly hot eyes, his bare chest, his fucking blue suede shoes is compelling enough to have her at the top of her game. She’s wheeling and dealing beside him better than even he’s ever seen.

She talks a little louder, a little faster until she has slowly managed to get Christian far enough from the bar that she can breathe again. She still feels Shawn’s eyes every few moments, like he’s checking to make sure she’s still there, she’s still with her date, she’s still wearing the necklace.

As the night wears on, the eye contact grows… reckless. They’re both drinking. They’re both loosening up. They’re both curious. So they’ve made it a sport. They lock eyes occasionally, but never for very long, just long enough to get their pulses racing. Shawn will glance at her, she’ll tuck hair behind her neck, exposing the spot below her ear that gets her gasping his name. She’ll spare him a glance, and he’ll wet his lips before he takes a sip of his drink through a smirk.

It’s childish and irresponsible and it has Penny a little wet.

Finally, Christian takes the stage to thank his guests. Penny stands in the crowd, a beacon of grace despite the gallon of fucking Malibu rum in her system. She’s literally shoulder to shoulder with people like Questlove and Demi Lovato, but the only thing she can think about is where he might be.

And then, without knowing, she knows. She can feel him. He’s standing right behind her. She can smell his fucking cologne. She can feel the testosterone-fueled heat tumbling off him. She can even feel the smirk on his face -- it’s enough to make her want to turn around and force him to his knees. 

The worst part for Penny is knowing he’d go willingly.

She huffs an aggravated sigh and senses him chuckle, unable to hear it over Christian’s corny speech. She folds her hands over her front, nudging at her Cartier ring with her fingers. She tries not to imagine Shawn slowly looking her up and down but her goddamn skin is crawling with it like it’s ready to drag her back into his arms without her permission.

She grits her teeth and fights fire with fire.

Penny reaches back and drags her curls over one shoulder, exposing the shoulder blades he likes to teethe at, the clasp of the necklace he bought her, and the sensual nape of her neck all at once. She turns her face, lips parted, profile backlit by the stage lights. She doesn’t have to see him to feel him go stiff all over.

Checkmate.

+

The night is winding down. Shawn can already feel his hangover starting in his fucking teeth. He didn’t watch Penny leave with Christian. The game they were playing seemed a lot less fun when he realized it had to end without them in the same hotel room. He stayed behind after his team left to catch up with a couple producer friends he hasn’t seen, and to prolong heading home alone to wonder if Penny touches Christian the way she touches him.

He shakes his big, heavy head and reaches for his phone. He wants to text her. What the fuck he would say is of no consequence -- he’s not actually going to do it. He just wants to think about the option.

He doesn’t have to think about it, though. Because she’s there, standing by the pickup line, slouched against a column, probably waiting for Christian.

He’s a fucking masochist, but she already knows that. He strides up casually and stands on the other side of the column.

“Nice night?” he grunts, just hoping his voice doesn’t break.

Penny doesn’t look terribly surprised to see him. Shawn bristles at his own predictability.

“Lovely.”

“You look… really beautiful,” he murmurs, his eyes holding on hers instead of scraping over her heavenly body, “The necklace looks amazing on you.”

Her eyes show a flash of guilt. She purses her lips and ducks her head. “Thank you. It’s…” She trails off, wetting her lips, “This means more than you know, Shawn.”

The same tingle he got when the jeweler sent him the photo sparks up again from his toes, the one that told him the necklace belongs to Penny. He lets it overwhelm him enough to look over at her, his smile tipping into goofy territory.

“I’m glad you like it.”

Penny runs a finger along the side of her neck. Shawn follows it, swallows roughly. He looks back down.

“Where’s… um…” He can’t bring himself to say his name.

“He left. His kids were waiting up for him.”

Shawn’s head lifts so fast his neck cracks a little. “He’s… you’re not…”

Penny’s nose twitches. She keeps her eyes forward on the cars. “Christian hires me to attend events with him. He enjoys my company. I act as a good buffer. We don’t fuck.”

She spares him one glance. His jaw has dropped.

“You’re… going home?” Shawn chokes.

“I’m going home.” Penny’s voice is smooth and warm like her naked skin.

Shawn takes a deep breath. He reaches behind the column and gently wraps his fingers around her wrist.

“Don’t.”

The air in Penny’s lungs leaves in a rush. She takes a moment to gather herself before glancing at him. She swallows and lifts her chin, ready to give him his marching orders.

“Stay here. Do the wire transfer. Gus will be here any minute. Show it to him. I’m getting a room. I’ll text you the number.”

He doesn’t have time to comment or argue (not that he would) before she turns on a heel and walks inside. If Shawn’s not totally delusional, she’s hurrying a little.

+

Gus is comfortable enough around Shawn to openly chuckle at his eagerness now. Another on the long list of indicators that Shawn spends too much time with Penny. Instead of bristling, he grins crookedly.

“Does she drive everyone this crazy?” Shawn asks, tucking his phone back into his pocket after Gus nods at the wire transfer confirmation.

Gus, behind the wheel, bobs his head with a mysterious twinkle in his eye.

“Yeah. But maybe you more than others.”

Shawn licks his lips and nods as Gus pulls away, still laughing. After two seconds of staring at his shoes, Shawn bolts for the elevator.

The party has cleared out, mostly. The only people left to see him bouncing on his toes waiting for the lift are the ones busy breaking down the event. When the elevator doors slide open, Shawn lurches inside. 

As it rises, Shawn grips either end of the mirrored doors, unwilling to look his reflection in the eye. He hears his own breathing, feels the way his heart riots in his aching chest. He closes his eyes. He has to calm down. He’s too riled up for her already, has been all night. The way she couldn’t stop looking at him, the way he couldn’t stop thinking about her -- about how she feels and tastes and sounds when she’s so close to coming that he doesn’t need the verbal warning she sometimes gives, he knows it like he knows his own name.

The elevator dings and he’s burrowed far enough into the thought of her that it actually takes him a second to scramble upright and get himself out before the doors shut. 

He knocks quietly, like he’s aware that the walls of this hotel held a lot of influential people only hours earlier. Tonight, he has to trust those walls with his secrets the way he trusts Penny. He fights not to scrape a hand through his hair -- Anna did it just so, so that the curl dropping over his forehead lands just right.

She opens the door barefoot, dressed but looking and feeling naked. In better light he can see the way the color of the dress nearly matches her skin tone beneath it. He grunts gently, letting his head fall back.

“Jesus, sometimes I just…” His voice wanders. He shakes his head and lifts it back upright to look at her.

“You fucking overwhelm me,” he mutters. His eyes land on the necklace again.

Still standing in the doorway, he wets his lips and shifts on his feet.

“Touch me,” she rasps, her chest filling as she inhales, tilting her chin up slightly as she invites him to her neck.

Shawn pulls himself into the room, letting the door shut behind them. He cups the side of her neck with one hand and explores with the calloused fingertips of the other, enjoying the way it sits on her, the way the largest stone in the center fits perfectly between the notches of her collarbone in the spot he likes to bite when she lets him.

“It’s perfect,” he whispers, his hand falling away. His smile is wistful.

You’re perfect.

His jaw clamps shut. He looks at her, waiting. Her eyes are hot with anticipation, but she’s not anticipating him -- it’s like she herself doesn’t know what she’s going to do to him, with him when she lets herself move. He revels in her electric indecision, willing and ready.

She throws herself into his body with a weak whine, one kind of like the sounds he’s prone to making around her. He catches her easily, holding her up so her toes skim the ground as she plunders his mouth. She’s still not quiet once she pins herself to him. She moans and whimpers and sighs like she’s never had him before. He’s too stunned to react beyond letting her do whatever the fuck she wants while he holds her.

Soon, she grows restless, unsatisfied by the limitations of standing in the center of the room, wrapping around him like a python. She needs more. Whatever it is, he’ll make sure she has it.

Penny nudges him backwards and wriggles until the tips of her toes meet the ground. She steers him to the bed, shoving him when they get close enough. He collapses into it with a yelping groan, but she swallows it so fast he’s gasping for breath in her mouth like he needs the oxygen in her lungs.

Does he know? Can he possibly know her so deeply already? The panic has been static in her mind for a couple of days since the necklace arrived.

Logically, she understands it -- she’s mentioned Sinatra, has played him a few times in Shawn’s presence. He probably just saw Frank’s name attached to the piece and thought she’d like it. He’s thoughtful. That’s all.

It doesn’t have to be deeper, but it feels so much fucking deeper. Everything did tonight. She’s never been so distracted on a date, even in similar circumstances where she was dodging one client while on the arm of another.

She’s deluded, she’s drunk on the night and his suit and his lips and his eyes and her fucking necklace but it felt… so big. Frank and Ava big. 

It’s just a necklace, it’s just a necklace, she chants in her head, squeezing her eyes shut as she shamelessly ruts against his pelvis, her dress riding up to her waist, the silk of her panties soaked through already. It’s no wonder why -- as she’s been tangling with her own mind, she’s been riding him hard.

She breaks off from his swollen mouth away to his jaw and he gasps an inhale so loud she thinks she was suffocating him. But he doesn’t let her go. He only locks his heavy arms around her tighter, one anchored to her ass, the other stretched between her shoulder blades that he loves so much.

“Fuck, Penny, I’m--”

She knows what he’s going to say. He’s beyond hard. He might even be as close as she is. He walked in the door under five minutes ago and she’s already heading for an orgasm like a train off its tracks.

She doesn’t fucking care. She’s not stopping now.

“No,” she hisses, “Just like this. Keep fucking me just like this.”

His breath stops in his throat. His eyes, glazed and dark, snap up to hers.

It’s just a necklace, it’sjustanecklace--

God, she’s going to fucking come. His cock is so hard against her clit even through their clothes. Her whole body pulses with it. She comes so much better, harder with something inside to clench down on but her body doesn’t care now.

“Penny.”

It’s not a whisper or a murmur, it’s just a breath and he says it like it’s his last one.

It’s not just a necklace. It wasn’t just a necklace to Ava. It wasn’t just a necklace to Frank.

Penny comes jerking, hips spasming, thighs clenched around him. It’s short and sizzling hot and she chants his name right through it until she sinks her teeth into his shoulder and he comes too, silent like she’s never seen him, his face going bright red as his voice fails him and his wet mouth drops open in a scream without sound.

It takes him longer to come down than her. As he trembles beneath her, she noses at his earring, the little hoop in his left lobe, peppering it with kisses, tasting and licking the salt from his sweat dripping down from his sideburns.

He’s quiet beneath her like he’s not sure what to say. She has no issue with this -- she doesn’t have much to say either. His hand, the one on her back, traces the distance between her shoulder blades with his fingers like he’s trying to measure without looking.

Slowly, like it’s difficult to physically separate from him, she lifts her head. Despite the circumstances, his hair is still pretty intact. It makes her smile and tug at the forehead curl with a smirk.

“You like it?” Shawn whispers, his voice fucked and broken.

Was he loud while she was on him? She doesn’t know. She couldn’t hear anything over her own frantic thoughts, until he said her name. She’s not even sure he said it. Maybe she just watched his lips form around it and her vivid imagination did the rest.

“Yeah,” she coos, “It’s got me all shook up.”

Shawn snorts appreciatively and lets his hand wander up her back, under her hair to play with the clasp of her necklace.

Penny closes her eyes. She doesn’t want to keep thinking about it right now. About what it means, about what it could mean, about what it meant for the lovers for whom it was made 70 years ago. 

She lets him cradle her in his arms and tip her off him, rolling her onto her back. He ducks his face into her neck, fluttering kisses, a varying pattern of barely-there brushes and firm, wet smacks along her necklace, like he plans to kiss her once for each one of the 159 diamonds in the settings.

Penny relaxes into the bed, closing her eyes and massaging his scalp with both hands like she knows he likes. She’s got him purring like a kitten for her in under 20 seconds.

Through her welcome haze, she feels his hand trail up her arm, reaching for the strap of her dress, then the other. She wriggles free of the sticky, clingy material as he drags it off her, the clinking of the zipper teeth loud in a room only soundtracked by their breathing, which is picking up pace again. He kisses each of her puckered nipples through her satin slip, then pushes that away too, followed by her drenched panties.

He sits back on his knees to stare down at her. She can see his cock starting to twitch under the fabric again. She lifts her arms over her head and sighs loud.

Shawn shivers. He shakes his head and wets his lips to speak.

“Fuck Ava Gardner. Sinatra designed that necklace for you.”

Before he can see the shocked tears in her eyes, Shawn spreads her legs, ducks his head and buries his face between them.

+

Shawn is awoken in the afternoon the next day by his doorbell. He rolls out of bed and checks the app on his phone to peek at the doorbell camera. He quietly prays to whatever’s listening that it’s not a teenage girl. He doesn’t have the energy.

It appears to be a delivery. He pulls a shirt over his head and stumbles to the door, signing and accepting the padded envelope.

On a piece of off-white cardstock is a red lip print that makes his pulse pound in his ears. He dumps the envelope onto the coffee table. Only a thumbdrive falls out.

He races to his laptop, throwing himself onto the bed as it boots up. He tries to jam the thumbdrive in upside down, winces and flips it over.

The drive has encryption software installed and asks him to create a password. After a few flutters of his tired eyes and a heaved sigh, he types: Sinatra.

The folder opens to tiny thumbnails, about 30 of them, and Shawn’s chest shudders hard before he can even get a close look.

She’s bare except for the necklace. She’s perched at the end of her bed, lying on top of it, on her side, sitting up, standing by the window, facing him, turned away. He gets so overwhelmed by all the images he stops himself and focuses on the first one, lets himself digest it.

She’s sitting on the end of the bed (and his heart skips a beat just looking at it, knowing it’s where she puts herself to sleep at night) with her legs crossed delicately at the ankle like the first time he met her. Her posture is perfect and elegant but not at all forced -- it’s just how she sits. She has a hand lifted to her chest, acknowledging the necklace, and her face is turned, her eyes down. He stares at the photo for minutes on end and can’t remember why he ever regretted buying the necklace, not for a second.

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[mirkwoodshewolf]

You’re still the smartest girl I know; John Deacon x daughter teen reader

*Author’s note*

Hey guys wow my final crunch time at college has kept me REALLY busy with all these final projects that I need to do, so my thanksgiving break is gonna be INSANE with doing all this work that I need to do BUT the good news is is that I had this request done in my downtime that I had, so to the anon who requested this awhile back, I’m SOOO SORRY for getting it to you so late but I hope you love it either way.

I also have updates on a few of my series so I may end up making a post about my writing updates and what all I plan to work on to try and get more organized with all that I have to do. So I’ve got two updates for you guys so I hope you all like this fic.

Warnings: school, mild angst, failing school, FLUFF, Dad!Deacy (cause let’s face it its a warning because he’s FREAKIN ADORABLE!!!) and my unknown knowledge of how Catholic schools work, so if I’m wrong about something, PLEASE send me a comment or an inbox to correct it. 

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things​

@psychosupernatural​

@ixchel-9275​

@waddles03​

@queendeakyy​

@platawnic​

@kairosfreddie​

___________________________________________________________

I just don’t get it.  My dad graduated with 8 GCE O level and 3 A level in electronics, he’s designed his own amp, and helps with not only the family finances but the band finances too. He’s the smartest guy I know and I share half of his genius, or at least I should.  

I needed to sustain at least a 3.50 average to stay in my current Catholic secondary school but with my failing classes I’m barely at a 2.50.  It’s not that I don’t try to do the work I do the homework and attend the lectures, it’s just that some of my classes like Geometry and Ancient religions, the teachers make the assignments so confusing.

Even when I would write the papers, they always found something to pick at and I end up with either C’s or even D’s on my papers, even when I would stay up all night skimming through book after book to get the required aspects they ask for. Also their quizzes and exams are so unfair, they would tell us this or that would be on the test, but by the time the test came around, absolutely NONE of the stuff they said would be on it, is on it. Hell they’ve put things down that we haven’t even learned yet.

It was currently Fall break and I spending some time with my family for the holiday trying to get my mind off of school.  I was watching over my brothers rough house in the backyard.  God they were so lucky they don’t have to deal with the harsh school life just yet.

“So (y/n) how’s school going love?” I heard my mum say.  I quickly looked up at her and said quickly.

“School’s fine.” She looked at me skeptically.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Yeah mum, everything’s fine.” Then fortunately saved by the bell, the doorbell rang and I immediately shot up and said. “I’ll get it!” I quickly raced to the front door and cracked it open.  And there at the door was the mail carrier.  He took out of his bag our mail for the day and he said.

“Here’s your mail ma’am.”

“Thanks Gardner, have a good day.” I said.  He nodded and walked off the curb and continued down the road with his route. I closed the door and skimmed through the mail.  Most of it was bills, some Queen stuff for dad to sign and look over, but then there was a letter from the school sent to me.  At this point my heart was racing.

“Who was that?” Oh shit dad.  I turned around to see him coming down the stairs holding my baby sister who had probably just woken up from her nap.

“Oh just the mail. Mostly bills this time, but then again what else is new. And there’s some Queen stuff for you to look over dad.” I handed him most of the mail but kept the letter from London University for me.

“Well what’s that?”

“What? Oh this oh it’s just junk mail. Something about 20% interest rate on life insurance from a different company. Damn things are just scams anyway. I’ll shred it dad.” I walked up and kissed his cheek then my baby sister before racing upstairs.

As soon as I reached my room, I closed the door and locked it and leaned against it in a panic.  Nervously I opened up the envelope and it read the worst thing I could imagine.

To Miss (Y/n) (M/n) Deacon,

It has come to our attention of your low grades. It is required that your parents come in for a meeting with the Headmaster in regards to your low grades.

At that point my mind went blank as I ignored all that the letter said.  Tears formed in my eyes.  Goddamnit why did they send this letter? Cause first comes the letter, then the phone calls will follow.  I’ve tried so hard to keep my struggles in school away from my parents because I didn’t want them to get involved, that all I needed to do was try better since that’s all teachers seem to push onto me, if not then I’ll make it up in summer school.  

I just wanted to prove that I was as smart as my dad is.

So I hide the letter in the folds of my diary knowing that my parents don’t go snooping around it and putting it in the secret place where I know my snoopy brothers can’t get to it (thank god I change places every week) and tried to forget about it.  It was then a knock was heard at my door.

“(Y/n)? Poppet is everything okay in there?”

“Uhh—yeah dad everything’s fine.”

“Then why is your door locked?”

“I’m changing clothes dad, I’m meeting Stacy and Courtney for a movie later tonight.” There was a brief moment of silence before he said.

“Alright but at least unlock it. We’ve talked about this before, plus your brothers think girls are gross so I doubt they’d pop in on their sister changing.”

“Okay dad sorry.” Thank god he bought it.  I then went over to my phone and tried to make my lie seem real as I called both Stacy and Courtney to meet me at the theater in 15min.

Thankfully since it was the weekend, my parents let me go out later than usual so long as I was back before ten.  My dad gave me some money for the tickets and food and we kissed each other goodbye and I drove off to the theater.

I soon met my two best friends and we decided to just walk around the mall instead going to see a movie.  It was there I told the girls everything.  As they were trying on new stuff from a new store called The Gap, I said to them.

“What am I gonna do girls?”

“Well you know me girl, if I were you I’d just come clean.” Said Courtney.

“Are you crazy?! No way can she tell them about this. Okay chick this is what you do. You answer any calls the school makes and come up with any and every excuse you’ve got.” Stacy said as she peeked over her changing room into Courtney’s.

“Stace, no offense but your parents may buy into that but I’ve met her mum and dad and they aren’t stupid like yours are.”

“Yeah you got a point. Hell I could go to prison for murder and my parents wouldn’t care.”

“Guys hello! Back to me.” I begged.

“Sorry. Well looks like your screwed chickadee.”

“Oh gee thanks Stace.”

“Look (y/n). All I can tell you is that you won’t be able to hide this forever. Just—show them the note and tell them the truth. I’m sure they’ll understand if you explain it to them. And I can back you up about Mr. Crowley. Guy’s a right up arsehole if you ask me. Gave me -20 points because I used the wrong citation for the Bibliography page. And it was only one source that was labeled wrong” Said Courtney.

“Yeah and our Geometry teacher Miss. Ringo, I can barely understand what she’s saying with that thick Dutch accent of hers. Gave me a 30% on our last exam.”

“That’s because all you did was doodle and call her an old bat.” I said bluntly.

“Oh yeah. But oh man you should’ve seen the look on her face on the last homework assignment we had.”

“I don’t even wanna know.” Said Courtney.

“Trust me you don’t.” I vouched.

“Hey come on, let’s forget about school, get you to try on some clothes. We’ll go to the food court and get your mind off of things. Sound good?” Stacy said as she came out wearing a new jean jacket with suspenders underneath.  I nodded and said with a smile.

“Thanks guys, you’re the best friends I could ask for.”

“Hey divas in diapers remember? The three musketeers. The triple threat angelz.”

“With a Z because…..”

“We’re bad bitches!” we all exclaimed as we held our right hands out in a fist touching each other’s in a triangle shape.  And so that’s how it was, the girls helped me get my mind off of the letter and the stress of school with a good Girl’s day out.

A couple days later I was back in school in my Ancient Religions class. Mr. Crowley of course barely allowed any time for me to fully write down what he had on the board because he immediately went to the next thing.  He never once asked if anyone had any questions and if someone stopped him, he’d slam the ruler down on the student’s desk and either ask them to meet him after class, or just give them detention.

“Alright students; I’m going to give you your final assignment for the semester for you to do just before winter break.” Everyone groaned.  He had just give us a 10 page paper on how Christianity as a whole effected the Global conquest, and now he’s giving us another essay to do. “Hey, hey, hey, hey! No complaints you miscreants!”

But just before he could continue, the intercom beeped above us.

“Mr. Crowley?”

“Yes?” he said annoyedly.

“Will you please send Miss. Deacon into the office.”

“She’s on her way.”

“Thank you.”

“(Y/n) Deacon.” At that point everyone but Courtney all made the ‘oooo busted’ vocals. I flipped them off as Mr. Crowley made me my hall pass so that I wouldn’t get caught by a teacher patrolling the halls.  I grabbed my bag and left the classroom.

I walked down the second floor staircase, down to the main level and turned towards the entrance where the main office was.  I walked in and I said.

“I’m (Y/n) Deacon. I was told to come here from Mr. Crowley’s class.” The receptionist said.

“Ahh yes Miss. Deacon. The Headmaster would like to speak with you.” Oh shit. This is probably about that letter.  I swallowed nervously and hung my bag further up my shoulder and walked down the corridor towards the Headmaster’s office.  It felt like the walkway was getting longer as I walked towards that dreaded office room, that was until finally I arrived at it.

Slowly I reached up and knocked on it.  There was a brief period of silence before a low voice said.

“Come in.” I opened the door and there standing at the grand desk was Headmaster Byron.  He was a fairly older man (if I had to make a guess I’d say currently around Miami’s age). He was a bit—you now stout shape wise. He was going bald and he wore glasses over his hazel eyes. “Ahh Miss. Deacon please sit down.” I walked in and nervously sat down at the chair in front of me.

“You—wanted to see me sir?”

“Yes. I’ve called you down here regarding a letter I had sent over the fall break. I expected to hear a call from your parents but I hadn’t heard anything back from them. Is there a problem?” Oh god what do I say to him?

“Well I—I guess the mail service was just a little slow. Because we haven’t received the letter just yet.”

“Hmm well that’s unusual. Usually the mail service is properly on time. I mean at least we’re more organized than the American system at least to my knowledge.”

“Yeah guess they must’ve lost it.” I said nervously fiddling with my fingers, anxiously picking at my nails.

“In that case; I can send you with another copy of the letter. But if I don’t hear anything within 24hours expect the first phone call.” I nodded as he handed me the same letter that I had gotten in the mail over the break.  I thanked him and quickly headed out of the office. On my way back to class I ripped the letter up into as many pieces as I could before discarding it into the nearest bin and returned to class like nothing happened.

After school I was in my room trying to make sense of the math homework I had to deal with and that’s when a knock was heard at my open door.  I looked up and there stood my mum.

“Hey love. So you’re dad’s working late tonight with the band so I’m ordering a pizza for dinner. What would you like on yours?”

“Get me a full cheese and my toppings are sausage and pepperoni.”

“You got it. Doing homework?” I nodded solemnly. “Which class is it for?”

“Geometry.”

“Oh yeah, I remember taking that class. Hardest thing I ever knew. In fact all math was difficult for me. Thank god for your dad though, he was always better at finances than I was. That’s how we met as a matter of fact, I was struggling with my Algebra homework and he offered to help me since we were in the same class together.” Lucky her that she at least had dad to help her, meanwhile I on the other hand had absolutely no one to help me.

Everyone was in it for themselves, not even the teacher was willing to give us tutoring sessions if we didn’t get any of the stuff taught in class. He just expected us to memorize and do everything correctly.

“Say, speaking of geometry did you get the midterm results back yet?” Oh god that’s right. Dad actually skipped out on Queen rehearsals to help tutor me for the upcoming fall midterm exam.

Unfortunately for all that hard work, nothing we had practiced was on the midterm, half the stuff was gibberish to me so I just wrote random answers that I could and I ended up with an F.

“He uhh—he got super busy grading our other stuff that he didn’t have time to look over the midterms. But he said hopefully in the next week or two he’ll get to it.”

“Are you sure?” I nodded and she looked at me skeptically.

“Okay, if you say so. I’ll call you when dinner arrives okay?”

“Sounds good mum. Love you.”

“Love you too.” She kissed the top of my head and left my room.  I turned away and tossed my books and homework off my bed and buried my face into my bedsheets and softly began to cry.

Why? Why does this have to happen to me?! Why can’t I just get the damn work? Why do I have to be such a fucking idiot!?!?

Days passed and I still didn’t have the heart to tell my parents that I was failing school.  And when the phone started ringing I tried to make an effort to try and answer it before they did, fearing that it was the school.

Some calls it was to which I would make excuses for the school and then tell my mum and dad that it was just boring telemarketers trying to sell us stuff. Other times it’d be Uncle Freddie or uncle Roger calling for Deacy about some Queen business stuff (and of course I chatted with them, I’ve known them ever since I was a baby, plus Freddie was my godfather—or I should say fairy godmother).

But it wasn’t until one day when I came home from an afterschool football game Stacy and Courtney invited me to, that I would pay dearly for the lie that I had been trying to keep.

“Yeah I know and when Bobby finally scored the winning goal I swear it was a one and a million shot he got that!” Stacy exclaimed as we got out of her car and walked up my driveway before stopping at the gate.

“I tell you you’ve got one lucky man right there Stace. Your boy’s gonna go far in football.” Said Courtney.

“All I know is that for the first time in decades our school is finally in the playoffs and that we might have a shot of winning the district championship since 1971.” I said.

“Well we definitely have the best team to get us there. Not to mention the cutest.” Courtney said before snickering towards the end.

“I’ll drink to that.” I said taking a shot of my water.

“(Y/n). Can you come in here please?” I looked up to see my dad standing there by the door.  His arms crossed over his chest and I could tell something was wrong.

“Yeah dad I’ll be right there. See you girls Monday then?”

“We’ll save you a seat at the cafeteria before homeroom.” The girls then walked back to the car and they drove off.  I opened the gate and trotted up the stairs before standing in front of him.

“Is something wrong dad?”

“Come in the house and let’s talk.” He placed a hand on my shoulder and guided me inside.  As we walked through the house towards the kitchen, I could feel the tension in the air. It was so thick, you could cut it with a knife.  My mum sat there at the kitchen table looking distraught almost. “Have a seat.” Okay now I was getting a little freaked out.

I sat down and that’s when dad stood behind mum placing his hands on her shoulders.

“(Y/n), has something been going on at school that you’re not telling us?” asked my mum concerned.

“No—why do you ask?”

“Well we caught Robert and Michael reading your diary and—”

“They what!? MICHAEL! ROBERT GET YOUR ARSES DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW YOU LITTLE BUGGERS!!!”

“Hey! Hey! Hey! Language and lower that tone in your voice!” dad snapped at me. “We handled the boys, but it was then we found this.” He took something out of his pocket before unfolding it and placing it down right in front of me on the table.  My heart sunk and my throat grew dry.

It was the first letter sent in by my school.

“So we called the school and they said they’ve been trying to get in touch with us. And that you said we didn’t receive any letter the first time around so the Headmaster gave you a second letter.” Mum stated more in an interrogating tone than the concerned tone she had earlier.

“Have you really been failing your classes? And this time don’t. Lie. To us.”

“No!” I exclaimed.

“They said you’re barely holding a 2.50 GPA.”

“Well I—I just….I don’t mean to I-I-I-I….the teachers they’re…..” I kept rambling as I felt tears in my eyes and my throat clenched. “I don’t get why I’m being target.”

“The better question is why did you lie to us!? You’ve known about your grades for what weeks? And you lied to us every time a grade was mentioned! Do you have any idea the level of betrayal you’ve given to me and your mother!?” my dad’s voice slowly raised up in anger.

I tucked away in fear at his intimidating voice.  He rarely and I say this with a big emphasis that my dad rarely gets mad, but when he does—oh god help us all.  I didn’t answer.  Couldn’t answer him.

“(Y/n) (m/n) Deacon answer me when I’m talking to you!” he snapped.  I looked up fearfully and ashamed and I did the only thing that was running through my mind.

Run.

I got up and as quick as I could I raced out of the house and down the street.  I fucked up. I know, but at this point it was too late. Just seeing my dad get angry with me, I knew he hated me now.

I ran all the way down the street and turned left and ran towards old widow Johannsson’s back garden.  I opened the gate that stood around her AC vent and locked the door so that no one could open it.  I leaned against the corner of the gate and just sobbed as hard as I could.

All of my fears and sorrow came out as I wept hysterically and choked on my sobs, that’s when I heard my dad’s voice calling out my name.  I held my hand over my mouth to try and keep quiet as his voice got louder and louder.  I soon saw him through the cracks in the fence as he looked around.  Unfortunately a sniffle just had to come out and soon dad turned towards the fence.

“(Y/n)?”

“Please just go away and let me cry in peace.” I choked out.

“That’s not going to happen, now c’mon open the gate.”

“No you—you already hate me.” He scoffed out a sigh.

“Wha—what makes you think I hate you?” he asked in disbelief.

“You only yell when you hate someone. And now you hate me. You hate me that I lied to you. You hate me for keeping secrets. And you hate me because I’m stupid.”

“Hello? What—what is going on out here?” widow Johansson came out on top of her deck and looked down towards us.

“I’m sorry Valarie but—could you give us a few minutes?” she must’ve looked down and saw me because that’s when she slowly backed off and allowed my dad to talk to me again. “(Y/n), love I—I don’t hate you. Yeah I’m upset because you lied to your mum and I but I could never, ever hate you.”

“But you do dad don’t deny it. I kept this from you and you’ll never forgive me. You’ll never love me again because I’m a stupid bitch who can’t understand anything!”

“First of all you are not a stupid bitch. You are a brilliant, smart, beautiful young girl. And I will always love you no matter what.”

“Stop saying that. Please just go away please…..” I trailed off before pleading out one last time. “Please.” With that I didn’t hear another response from him as I continued to softly weep.  I could hear footsteps walking up widow Johansson’s back deck and then the back door closed.  I looked up and saw my dad as well as widow Johansson gone.  I wiped my tears and just curled myself into a ball.

I don’t know how much time passed but I knew it wasn’t long, maybe 5-7 minutes because the next thing I hear are footsteps walking back down the deck and my dad sitting himself down against the gate.  It was then I heard a guitar being strummed before a familiar tune was being played.

It was strange to hear it on guitar instead of an electric piano like it was on the record but the tune was easily recognizable, especially when my dad softly began singing the lyrics.  And sure he didn’t have as good a voice as my uncles did but—he still made the song count.

Oh, you're the best friend that I ever had I've been with you such a long time You're my sunshine and I want you to know That my feelings are true I really love you Oh, you're my best friend

While it is true that my dad wrote this song for my mum back when a Night at the Opera came out, he also written it for me as well.  Because when he first played it for us, he said he wanted a song dedicated to his favorite girls.  

So taking the electric piano he practiced and practiced till he knew how to play the tune and since then the song’s been like a comforting lullaby to me.  And he’s played and sung it to me ever since.

Ooh, you make me live Whenever this world is cruel to me I got you to help me forgive Ooh, you make me live now honey Ooh, you make me live

You're the first one When things turn out bad You know I'll never be lonely You're my only one And I love the things I really love the things that you do Oh, you're my best friend

Ooh, you make me live

I'm happy at home You're my best friend

He stopped playing and slightly turned towards me.  I wiped away my tears and just like it always did, it made me stop crying.

“Guess I still got it huh?”

“Shut up.” I muttered which made him softly chuckle.

“Can you please open the gate love? Let me see my best friend.” He asked.  I slowly scooted towards the gate and slowly reached for the handle.  I held onto it for a while and I pulled one side down which caused the other side to lift up.  The gate slowly opened and there sitting a few feet away from me was my dad.  “There she is.”

I sniffled and wiped away the tearstains but I was still afraid to look him in the eye for more than a second.  I felt his hand cup the side of my face wiping away the tears.

“Do you think you can talk to me now?” I nodded. “Okay. Now (y/n) please explain to me why you lied to us about your grades?”

“Because I—I wanted to prove myself.”

“Prove yourself about what?”

“That I could be as smart as you. You’re the smartest man I know and you never seem to get stumped about anything. You graduates college with the highest in your major, you’ve built your own amps from old junk, and you handle both our finances as well as the bands. But—the schoolwork I’m given is so beyond hard. I tried my best dad it’s not that I don’t do the homework because I do. I really do, it’s just that…..”

“Hey, hey poppet. Shh, it’s okay. It’s okay.” I sniffled and harshly wiped my tears away but my dad stopped me and replaced my thick sleeve with his gentle but calloused fingers.  “I know you do the homework. I’ve seen you do it and so has your mum.”

“But the teachers make it so unfair to learn. They say this or that will be on the test but then something we haven’t even learned yet is what ends up as majority of the questions. Or they’re not consistent with what they want on the papers before giving us a bigger paper the next day after the previous one. Dad I—I’m a failure. And I didn’t want you to be ashamed of having a stupid daughter like me.”

“Oh (y/n),” he scooted closer to me and cupped both sides of my face forcing me to look up at him with teary eyes. “I am in no way, nor will I ever be ashamed to have you as my daughter. You’re my first baby girl and I love you soo much. You don’t have to be a genius like me to be my daughter, because you are smart in your own clever way.”

“But I—I’m failing my classes, how can I be smart when I’m failing?”

“You’re still trying, are you not?” I shrugged.

“I guess.”

“Then that proves your smart. Oh my sweet girl I wish you had come to me about this sooner instead of feeling like you had to hide this from me.”

“I’m sorry daddy.” I softly choked out.

“It’s okay love. Now come here, you deserve cuddles and kisses right now.” I immediately fell into his arms and buried myself into his shoulder.  He rubbed my back in soothing circles and stroked through my hair. “We’ll get this sorted out okay? But promise me that you’ll never lie to us about school again, okay?”

“I promise…..never again.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

And they did just that.  I showed my parents everything regarding exams, homework and showed just how unfair the work was for me.  I showed them my notes and told them what my teachers were really like.

The next day they scheduled a meeting with the headmaster and they talked about how the teachers are treating me and my fellow classmates unfairly with too much work and not unfair teachings of not asking for help.

Now one would think after telling you this I got off scot-free right? Wrong. I was grounded for the same amount of time that I had lied to my parents about school, so that meant over a week and a half of no TV, no after school activities and no phone privileges.

But after getting the teachers fired and currently dealing with substitutes for the rest of the year, whenever dad wasn’t busy with Queen; he made a promise to sit down with me and if there was anything I was stuck on, he’d help me with it. No matter how long it took.

[blackaquokat]

I SAW THE LIGHTNING THIEF MUSICAL ON SUNDAY

Okay, so first off, the stuff that stood out to me, and then after the highlights, THE STORY OF A LIFETIME INVOLVING A CAST MEMBER THAT HAPPENED BEFORE THE SHOW EVEN STARTED 

This is going to be very long, strap in.

***Spoilers Under the Cut***

--Chris McCarrell, indeed, slides out to the edge of the stage and sits like, “Paint me like one of your French Girls, audience” for a full moment before singing.

--For a cast of SEVEN people, all of their voices fill that stage SO WELL.

--I’d only ever heard the soundtrack, but in the show (this time, anyway) Percy says he stopped Nancy Bobofit from “setting the first graders on fire” instead of preventing wedgies and it was just as if not more hilarious because his delivery was just totally stiff terror in the face of Mrs. Dodds.

--HE ACTED SO DEVASTATED WHEN HE THOUGHT MR BRUNNER THOUGHT HE WAS TROUBLE AFTER HE GOT EXPELLED, LIKE, HE LOOKED LIKE HE WAS ABOUT TO CRY, HIS VOICE SHOOK, MY BOOOOOII

--When Smelly Gabe appears, Percy not only covers his face with his shirt but also SPRAYS ACTUAL AIR FRESHENER behind the bastard’s back, I was on the FLOOR

--Chris mimics the body language of an awkward twelve year old so well. Fiddling with his jacket, looking down, awkward motions with his hands, he nailed it.

--SALLY IS STILL THE BEST MOM EVER AND THE MUSICAL CAPTURES HER STRENGTH AND LOVE AND AGENCY SO WELL, SHE TOTALLY GETS GABE TO BACK OFF OF PERCY AND IT’S GLORIOUS

--”Percy was attacked by a fury!” “What? Grover, YOU’RE THE FURRY!”

--Just before his mom is “crushed” by the Minotaur, Percy said, “Mom?” shakily and I was freaking SHOOK, MY FEELINGS

--During the first Dream Sequence, Poseidon comes down with the GOOFIEST grin and hands off the seashell. There’s this long, hilarious silence before he says. “It’s a seashell.” The audience couldn’t stop laughing up until Percy said, several beats later, “Like I said. Weird.”

--MR. D SHARPENING A PENCIL IN KATIE GARDNER’S FACE AFTER HER RANT ABOUT TREE RIGHTS

--During the entirety of Another Terrible Day, Percy is just standing in the back, slack-jawed, in a “What the Hell have I walked into” look

--Chiron does this hilarious dancy step with his feet to mimic the clip-clopping of horse steps and every time it got a laugh. 

--In the books, Luke is described as the Hot Boy of the Camp, that half the demigods are in love with him, and honestly, it’s one of the reasons I think James Hayden Rodriguez is perfect because you take one look at him and you’re like, “Yeah, I can see everyone falling in love with this guy in no time flat,” because aside from being REALLY attractive (like, damn boi, you’ve got amazing arms and face and just a LOT going for you) he’s so damn sweet and you want to trust and I DON’T THINK I EVER WANTED CANON TO CHANGE SO BADLY FOR HIM UNTIL THE MUSICAL CAME OUT

--Okay, so seeing Luke portrayed in this show made me care SO MUCH MORE about him than I did reading the books, which is a very strange feeling for me, ngl. His adorable interactions with Percy and Annabeth made me SO EMOTIONAL I MEAN

--Like, when Annabeth acts all suspicious about Percy, Luke is there to validate her skills and tease her and she teases him right back, like, you can definitely see she “likes” him and it could be interpreted that he feels something for her too, and he had such chemistry with Percy too, was endlessly supportive up until, you know, the end (I...may or may not be on board with this Tragic OT3, FRICK)

--OH ON THAT NOTE, when Grover finds Percy after the Minotaur, he’s all, “I’m sorry, Percy, I’m the worst Satyr Guardian ever” and Percy just HUGS HIM, “GROVER, I’m SO GLAD YOU’RE HERE” LIKE MY TWO BOIS I MISSED THEM

--”Grover, are you ever going to wear pants again?” followed by a gleeful “NOPE!!”

--Clarisse’s first two entrances involved this loud fighting yell before her song started

--Percy’s first time with his sword in Camp and he freaking made lightsaber noises when he swung, I read about it but I was NOT PREPARED, it was the cutest damn thing

--I was equally unprepared when Annabeth walked up behind him and when he turned and saw her and yelled out, “MY DREAM GIRL!!” Long beat of silence while the audience laughs their asses off, and he follows it up with, “I mean...you were the girl...in my dream...earlier...”

--When Percy says, “I love girls,” when Annabeth calls him out on assuming her dad was where she got her Godly heritage, Luke gives him the BIGGEST side-eye, it was adorable and Percy did his best to recover, but alas, he is but an awkward noodle.

--”Luke, Hermes kids are fast--” “Actually, that’s a stereotype--” I MEAN

--Percy sitting on the toilet and rolling it across the stage with his feet after the fight sequence, my God, what a visual.

--CHAPTER TITLE DROP, LUKE CALLS PERCY THE SUPREME LORD OF THE BATHROOM

--The Campfire Song was just amazing, everyone’s familiar body language with each other, Luke and Annabeth, Luke and Percy, Grover’s adorable little dance during his bit, everyone comforting him when he starts crying, everyone agreeing that “Chiron wins” in the shitty dad department, everyone’s sympathetic horror with every bad story they all tell,

--after Silena’s bit about how her mom “steals her mascara and all of her dates” she says to Katie, “She’s why I cry,” my sister and I can’t stop talking about how much we related to that moment (not about our mom, but more about our other relatives)

--When Percy is claimed, you can see the horror on everyone’s faces, but he doesn’t, and he’s like, “I’m...the son of the Sea God. That is so COOOOOL!!!” Then he realizes he just squealed like an anime girl and tries to recover by posing and saying to Luke next to him, “Hey,” in a very Miles Morales-from-Spiderverse kind of voice. 

--The dread on Luke’s face whenever he interacts with Percy from here on out, by the way, hurts me so much. You can tell every time he talks with Percy that he really doesn’t want to manipulate him, doesn’t want to do this, but he does, and even before the reveal, you can see how unsure and guilty he feels, even if Percy is totally clueless, like even when Percy agrees to go to the Underworld you see he’s THIS CLOSE to maybe trying to talk Percy out of it again and when Grover hops in to join the quest, there’s another layer of Luke going, “Oh no, not Grover too, shit, no!” and I SWEAR, JAMES HAYDEN RODRIGUEZ, IF THIS TURNS INTO A SHOW, YOU’RE THE ONLY LUKE I WANT

-- Mr. D: “WE’RE NOT TALKING ABOUT SOME TIN FOIL PROP THAT YOU’D FIND IN A BROADWAY MUSICAL”

--Percy yells for Mr. D to eat his pants in Latin. It’s amazing.

--Chiron: ”You must talk to” *everyone looks at the ceiling* “Our mummy.” Percy: “...when you say ‘mummy,’ you mean old-person slang for Mom, right?”

--Percy, in the most ‘I am so done’ voice ever: ”You’re expelling me? Again?!”

--This is turning into an appreciation post for Rodriguez, but for real, after Good Kid (which gave me ALL THE FEELS just like when I first heard it on the soundtrack), Luke goes to him with this nervous but genuine grin and laugh, like, “Hey, so when you’re the son of the Sea God, and you want to be left alone, maybe don’t go to the lake? It’s the first place anyone will look.” And they have this real sweet moment where Percy confides in Luke, and Luke validates his anger with the gods and says, “I’m not saying you owe them anything BUT” and if you’ve read the books or already listened to the show, you KNOW how this turns out but you see how SINCERE Luke is about Percy’s pain and his own pain and how much he obviously is already regretting that he has to manipulate Percy into going to the Underworld and DAMN IT CANON

-- Clarisse: ”Don’t get eaten by monsters!” Chiron: *claps hand over Clarisse’s mouth* “Have a great quest!”

--The immediate Squad Energy that Percy, Annabeth, and Grover embody right before the act break, what LEGENDS

--Act II opens up in the middle of Mrs. Dodds attacking the bus. Percy: “I LIKED YOU BETTER AS A MATH TEACHTER!!”

--Mrs. Dodds: ”PREPARE FOR ETERNAL SUFFERING!!” Percy: “I’M SUFFERING NOW!!”

--Cheerful Stoner Stranger from the bus just before the bus explodes into confetti: “Not my weirdest experience on a Greyhound!”

--I knew the show was low-budget going in, but I at least thought the squirrel would be a puppet not a freaking figurine that Sarah Beth Pfeifer sat next to in plain sight to voice, I was dying

--On that note, Annabeth visibly holds back laughter at Percy’s “that’s kinda nuts” joke, these idiot CUTIES

--Grover is the only one who catches onto Medusa, who is played by Chiron’s actor in DRAG, but not even in a funny way, it’s played straight (not that Medusa wasn’t hilarious, but that fact that it was a drag role wasn’t mocked at all)

--Annabeth starting to explain why Medusa hates her and muffling her words by drinking her bottle while Percy and Grover are NOT impressed

--Annabeth teaching Percy how to hold a sword better because this adorable dumbass just twirled the damn thing into his shoulder because he forgot it was sharp

--MY GRAND PLAN, MY GOD and intersecting it with Annabeth saying, “When boys screw up, Percy, they get a second chance” Like, this show pulled no punches, and then afterwards when he’s sending Medusa’s head to Olympus and signs Annabeth’s name next to his and she’s like, “WAIT NO STOP” and the “Impertinent” interaction that not only is in the books but also comes back at the end of the show HELL YEAH

--DRIVE. WAS AMAZING. It was my mom’s favorite on the soundtrack and it still is (although now Bring on the Monsters competes as her favorite)

--YOU CAN HEAR LUKE AGAIN WITH HIS HESITATION ABOUT SACRIFICING PERCY DURING THE STRANGEST DREAM REPRISE

--Grover: “Percy, you almost woke everyone up. Well, not Annabeth.” Annabeth, in her sleep: “Mom...you remembered my birthday...”  WILL THESE DEADBEAT GODS VISIT THEIR KIDS, I SWEAR---

--OKAY SO TREE ON THE HILL, LEMME TELL YOU

--On the second level, you see Annabeth, Luke, and Thalia re-enacting the scene while Grover narrates at the bottom and not only does Jorrel Javier look SERIOUSLY emotional and on the verge of tears for the whole thing, but at the top when Thalia is re-enacting her death, LUKE GOES TO REACH FOR THALIA TO SAVE HER AND ANNABETH PULLS HIM BACK AND THEN THEY JUST HUG EACH OTHER SO TIGHTLY BECAUSE THEY DON’T WANT TO WATCH THALIA DIE AND THEN THEY STAND BEHIND THALIA AND REACH OUT THEIR ARMS TO SYMBOLIZE HER TURNING INTO THE TREE AND YA’LL I SHIT YOU NOT I ALMOST BURST INTO REALLY LOUD SOBBING I WAS NOT OKAY

--They did the Bathtub Story from the book. Every second that passed I was more in love with the show.

--Charon: ”Ya’ll wanna hear my song?” *choruses of refusals* “SORRY I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THIS SWEET ASS RIFF!!”

--DOA is just as much of a bop in person as it is on the soundtrack.

--OKAY SO, Percy is almost yanked into Tartarus with his winged shoes and the mood is like, SUPER SERIOUS, as they all realize he almost fell into the pit and when Annabeth says, “I think that’s Tartarus,” Percy says, in this confused but still scared and serious soft voice, “You mean like the fish sauce?” and just. Annabeth and Grover both. Annabeth looks at him like, “THIS is the idiot I’m going to fall in love with over the next four books,” while Grover just Facepalms so much he shoves his glasses up his forehead and shakes his head, another RELATABLE MOMENT that my sister and I won’t shut up about

--Hades. I just...there’s nothing else I can say, but Ryan Knowles, Sarah Beth Pfeifer, Jorrel Javier, Jalynn Steele, and James Hayden Rodriguez deserve about fifty Tonys for all the roles they do in this show, for real

--SON OF POSEIDON, WHAT A HYPE SONG, AND ALL THE TOILET PAPER DURING THE LAST NOTE IT WAS GLORIOUS IT COVERED HALF THE FLOOR AUDIENCE

--My Poseidon and Sally feels have returned with a vengeance. That Miles Morales moment with Percy that I mentioned earlier? Poseidon does the same thing when he sees Sally, and the two of them are just Vibing it up while Percy is between them like, “THIS IS SO WEIRD”

--As Poseidon leaves, he turns away from Sally and makes this fist bump gesture like, “Hell yeah, best time of my life was this woman right here”

--Percy, after Poseidon exits: “So that’s my dad?” Sally, in a very horny tone: “THAT’S your dad.” Like, GET IT, Sally

--Sally: “Oh, what is this package, Percy?” Percy, with a shit-eating grin: “Oh, it’s a...DIY Statue Kit” *Sally goes to open it* “WAIT NO DON’T IT’S MEDUSA’S HEAD!!” and the Grossed Out Look on her face as she exits the stage. Priceless.

--Luke is Very Obviously avoiding Percy when they return to camp. More on this later because My. Feels.

--Annabeth: “Hey Clarisse! We met your dad! He’s not as tough as you are!” Clarisse: “Hey, get back here! You saw my dad!” *slightly vulnerable voice* “Did he ask about me?”  YOU DUMBASS GODS, TALK TO YOUR DAMN KIDS WILL YOU???

--Annabeth and Percy grinning like idiots over Sally’s Medusified statue of Gabe, what cuties, I love that their romance wasn’t forced in the show, it was handled so gracefully because they are Twelve and in the Very Early Stages of their Undying Love for each other (and Luke, I promise you guys, all three of these idiots are in love with each other and it hurts me so much)

--OKAY SO PERCY RUNS UP TO LUKE CLEARLY EXPECTING TO BE COMFORTED AND TO SLIP INTO THEIR SWEET AND SUPPORTIVE DYNAMIC BUT THEN PLOT AND PAIN AND LAST DAY OF SUMMER HIT ME THE HARDEST ON THE SOUNDTRACK BESIDES TREE ON THE HILL AND IT DIDN’T DISAPPOINT

--And the hardest part? The way Rodriguez plays Luke, you really CAN’T be angry with him. I mean, there’s no justifying his actions because it’s freaking KRONOS, but given that we’ve been given the time to see what a great guy he was, how much he cared about the campers, how many he must have seen never come back from quests the Gods gave them, who feel abandoned by their parents, Luke’s own quest, how he watched Thalia die with little to no intervention from the Gods, how he must hate to see Annabeth killing herself to prove her worth to the Gods for a quest that could get her killed, and then Percy coming in after losing his mom and sympathizing with his justifiable bitterness towards the Gods, the show doesn’t shy away from the fact that the Gods are effed up and you just can’t blame Luke at ALL for how he feels about the Gods, but it makes everything hurt all the more.

--The Most Millenial/Gen Z ending ever, “We didn’t ask for this, we shouldn’t be the ones fighting this war, but if we don’t, we all die, so fine, we don’t want to do this, but no one else will, so here we are, ready to fight” and then Bring on the Monsters which is one of the best closing numbers to a show ever, I swear.

--All in all, the critics can suck it, this show has more heart and love and hilarity and depth than half the stuff on Broadway and the fact that it’s going to have such a short run is a Crime.

--I sincerely hope they can do another one, if at all possible. I would go watch it too if it’s made by the same creative team and the same actors (maybe even more actors).

OKAY NOW FOR MY STORY!!!!!!

So I had paid leave to use up, hence our trip to NYC last weekend, and we stayed in a hotel really close to the theatre. My sister and I, having been fans of the books for half our lives, were wearing Camp Half-Blood t-shirts. Anyway, we were so excited that we got there an hour and ten minutes early, and they weren’t letting anyone in for another half hour, so we decided to take a few pictures and go get a snack.

While we’re taking pictures, suddenly behind us my sister and I hear “TAKE ANOTHER ONE!!” so I turn around thinking What the hell and then have the biggest Brain Glitch of my life because it’s CHRIS FREAKING MCCARRELL WITH A COFFEE/SMOOTHIE THING AND A MUFFIN STANDING BEHIND US AS IF HE WAS JUST LA-DEE-DA-ING ALONG TO THE THEATRE AND DECIDED HE WANTED TO GIVE AN INNOCENT FAN A HEART ATTACK, because he could have just gone in and we wouldn’t have even noticed but NOPE HE CAME RIGHT UP TO US, AND I’M STILL IN SHOCK, NGL.

My gut reaction was to hug him and then I apologized because I hadn’t asked his permission and didn’t want to be That Person who didn’t respect boundaries (I am a very tactile, hugging kind of person and have to remind myself that not everyone is the same way, especially with performers) and he said I was fine and not to worry. My sister and I got a few pictures together with him and he asked if we were seeing the show that night, and we were, and he looked so pumped, and I got to tell him that I read Percy Jackson before Harry Potter and that it was my favorite book series and when he asked if I had listened to the soundtrack, My mom said yes, multiple times, but fondly, and he looked so excited that we were so excited to go that night.

So yeah. That happened.

And then after the show, we managed to catch Kristen Stokes on her way out, but we waited until she got to talk with and sign playbills for kids (there were so many kids in the theatre, it was adorable, even if the ones behind us kept crinkling their snack wrappers consistently during THE WHOLE SHOW which got annoying, ngl). My sister and I took a few with her and I got to tell her, also, that this was my favorite book series growing up and that she played Annabeth, a big role model for me, absolutely perfectly and she looked so touched. 

(Also, she was much shorter than me. I forget that even if I’m one of the shorter members of my family, I’m still pretty tall by usual standards.)

Anyway, WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE, PJO FANS, AM I RIGHT????

...I wanna see the show again, but idk what the chances of that happening are. If you haven’t seen it and have the ability to, I must encourage you to GO. PLEASE. GO SEE IT.

[ai-suru-hito-yo]

Calling You (Gardner Langway x Reader)

Summary: You and Gardner have been in a relationship for about a year now. Things are going great, the ups make the downs completely worth it, and you’re so in love with this goofball it almost hurts. Based on Calling You by Blue October.

Warnings: tooth-rotting fluff, probably rambling, very light references to possible smut but nothing detailed or explicit, some angst but I only write happy endings.

A/N: Sorry I don’t have the next part of WFSTRM ready yet! My dumb ass almost forgot I signed up for this event so I’ve been working on pumping this baby out. It’s just a lot of projection, honestly, because I am lonely and would very much like a cute and goofy ginger of my own (ahem Joe Mazzello hmu) Not beta’d because what are this? Written for @littledarlingwellaway​ ‘s 1k/Birthday extravaganza! Lyrics in italics. Timeline jumps around through different events in the relationship.

There's something that I can't quite explain

I'm so in love with you

You'll never take that away

You stared at the popcorn ceiling of your bedroom in your tiny apartment. No matter how long you stared, no matter how many little bumps you counted, sleep would not come. It was quiet except for a dog barking in the distance, and the quiet, deep breathing of the man currently sprawled across your chest, auburn locks in disarray after the number of times he had nervously run his fingers through his hair.

You and Gardner had just experienced your first real fight. You had been together for about 8 months now, and those months had been filled with mostly bliss, minus a bump or two in the road as you navigated the newness of suddenly finding someone else and their needs a part of your life. You had been out at date night, and Gardner said something accidentally insensitive (And what was it anyway? You could not possibly recall anymore, it was so trivial.) You had a bad day at work and immediately took the comment to heart, resulting in a serious overreaction and argument to end the night. You had fled home, only to see Gardner running up the sidewalk about 20 minutes later, a look of utmost determination on his face.

Finally, after talking things through and lots of reassurance, he finally passed out on your bed with you, wrapped entirely around your body, as if afraid you might slip away in the night if he failed to keep you anchored.

You looked down at his face, peaceful and relaxed in his sleep, looking paler than usual and downright ethereal in the moonlight streaming through your window. His plush lips parted slightly as he exhaled, and you studied last dark eyelash as they fanned against his pale cheeks. Your fingers gently brushed through his wild hair, and he stirred slightly. You froze, afraid the touch had woken him, but all he did was rub his face against your sweater before the sound of deep breaths filled the room once again.

As you resumed your stroking of his hair, you realized that whatever it was you had argued about was unimportant. You knew you loved Gardner, there was absolutely no doubt in your mind how you felt about the goofy, soft, awkward, beautiful man with his boat and his stamp collection and his zest for life and his unrelenting passion for the people and the things he cared about. You felt your eyelids slowly droop closed as you took comfort in the weight of your boyfriend pressing into you, keeping you safe and warm and loved.

And if I've said a hundred times before

Expect a thousand more

You'll never take that away

The first time he said it was an accident. He had truly not thought about it, not taken the time to really analyze how he felt about you, caught up as he was in the exhilaration of finding you and learning about you and developing this new, wonderful thing with you.

It was the simplest thing, too, that made him say it. He had been trying to make you laugh, telling you about some of the dumb suggestions Calvin had made as far as his next employment opportunity after he had quit being a mailman. Some throw-away comment that he made just as you had reached for your drink caused you to laugh and nearly drop the glass, which just caused you to laugh even more. Your eyes lit up and you threw your head back in mirth, letting out an unrestrained laugh, loud and happy, and it just hit him.

“God, I love you.”

Your laughter died down to soft giggles, before you realized what exactly he said. Your smile was still plastered on your face, but your eyes grew wide in shock. “W-what?”

“Um, I said I- yeah, yeah, I love you. I really do.”

You stared at him for a moment, silently, and Gardner could feel his heart rate pick up, his palms going sweaty from nerves. Had he said the wrong thing? Was it too soon? Should he not have said it? He was absolutely certain it was the truth, but now he was terrified he would scare you away.

“I-I'm sorry. I mean, I'm not sorry for how I feel, I won't apologize for that. But I'm sorry if you didn't want to hear that. I'm sorry If that was too soon. I'm really sorr--”

You never found out what else he was sorry for as you grabbed his shirt front and pulled him to you, right there in the middle of the bar, and planted your lips against his, effectively shutting him up for the next few minutes. When you finally pulled away again, you made sure to whisper for Gardner only,

“I love you, too, idiot.”

So expect me to be

Calling you to see

If you're okay when I'm not around

Asking if you love me

I love the way you make it sound

Three weeks. It had been three weeks since your boyfriend had been dragged off by his “brother” on some boys' trip as he had called it, leaving you behind and without his presence for 21 long days. They were due back at the end of the week, seven days that seemed to stretch out like a year before you.

You dragged yourself back home after another long day at work, wanting nothing more than the pint of Rocky Road in your freezer and a nice, long sleep. After a scalding hot shower, you put on your favorite pajamas (fuzzy warm pants and one of Gardner's old, faded t-shirts) and promptly fell asleep before you were even able to so much as braid your hair back for the night.

What must have been several hours later, judging by the darkness outside, you were pulled slowly from a rather deep sleep by an annoying and insistent sound. You reached toward your alarm clock, only to realize that the source of the noise was actually your phone, which you hd left on your bed during your shower and was now lodged somewhere under you. You lifted your leg and dug around, retrieved it from under your thigh, and promptly smashed the volume button before throwing it back down by your pillow. You were just about asleep again when the stupid thing started vibrating, alerting you to another call. This time you decided to answer it, letting out little more than a tired grunt.

“'Lo?”

There was a moment of silence, and then an robotic voice greeted you. “Hello. You have a collect call from,” pause, then a familiar voice, “It's me!!” you sat bolt upright, nearly dropping the phone. “Do you accept the charges?”

“Yes!” you practically scream into the phone. “Yes I accept!”

There was a bit of noise down the line, then quiet for a moment, before you tentatively spoke up again, “Uh...Gardner?”

“Honey I am so sorry it's collect I SWEAR I will pay you back!” Gardner's tired and slightly panicked voice called out to you. “I promise, the moment I get ho-”

“I don't give a shit about that,” you interrupted him, feeling an ache in your chest ease at the sound of his voice. You had been a little worried all day as you had not heard form him or Calvin for nearly three whole days now. Usually Gardner was calling you every night, excitedly telling you where they were now, what they had seen that day, and reassuring you that he loved you and he would be home soon. “Why are you calling collect? Where's your phone? Better yet, where have you been for three days, I've been so worried!”

“I know, I'm sorry,” your boyfriend assured you softly. Then his voice jumped an octave like it always did when he was irritated. “It's not because I didn't want to call, believe me. Let's just say Calvin had a little...mishap...which resulted in all but one of our bags falling into the Mississippi. My phone, my wallet, my camera, all of my clothes, as well as Calvin's phone, wallet, and clothes all in the bottom of a fucking river. Thankfully Calvin had his passport stashed in his car for some reason. We've spent most of today running around trying to get bank cards replaced so we can get back home.”

You sat in silence, stunned by everything your boyfriend had just told you. You could not decide whether to laugh or cry or scream or ask him if he was lying and playing a prank on you. Instead, you just sighed and asked him, “So, you're coming home, then?”

You could almost feel Gardner's sigh through the phone. “Yes. I'm calling it, we're cutting this road trip short and coming home.”

A squeak left your lips as you tried not to scream and cry. He was coming home early! Gardner was coming home, you would hopefully see him as early as tomorrow afternoon, and it was the best news you had heard in a very long time.

“Baby, I am so sorry your trip has ended on a sour note, I really am. I know you guys were really looking forward to boys time, and you deserve it. But I am so excited to see you,” by the time you reached the end of your statement, you were practically whispering, feeling choked up and near tears. You were acting ridiculous, you knew it, but it had really been tough not to have your goofy boyfriend around, your rock and your source of comfort, the one person you had grown so used to being the one constant in you otherwise hectic life, and it was really affecting your mood and your attitude badly.

A soft huff of laughter sounded over the phone, and Gardner asked, “You really miss me that much?” When you failed to answer right away, his tone turned softer and more serious. “Hey, are you okay?”

You sniffed and promptly pulled yourself together. “Yeah, I just miss you, Gardner. I miss you a lot. When will you be back? Where are you even?”

“I miss you, too, (Y/N). We're in some podunk town in southern Missouri right now. It's about a 9 hour drive home, and we're going straight through, no stops-no stops, Calvin!- except bathroom breaks. So sometime tomorrow afternoon.” The smile that split your face was one to rival the Cheshire cat, and you felt yourself relaxing just a little more as you were reassured that you and Gardner would soon be reunited. Thankfully, you had the whole next day off to plan a little something for just the two of you to enjoy after being apart, a little welcome home party.

“Okay,” you said quietly, phone pressed hard to your ear, as if that would suddenly make the physical distance between you smaller. “I guess I'll see you tomorrow.”

You let out a yawn and heard Gardner laughing down the line. “I'll let you go, honey. I just really needed to hear your voice and to tell you that I'm coming home.”

“I'm glad you did,” you told him honestly. “I had a really shit day, but it's all better now that I know I'll get to see you soon.”

“You still love me?” Gardner asked, and you chuckled.

“Of course I do, silly,” you assured him. “To the moon and back.”

“I know,” your boyfriend told you. “I just love hearing you say it. And I love you, too. More than anything.”

You rang off with promises that you would be home all day and that he could come over as soon as he was back in town. Feeling much warmer and more relaxed, you held the shirt up close to your nose, breathing in the lingering scent of Gardner's soap and distinct smells, and fell asleep with plans for the following evening swirling in your mind.

I thought that the world had lost its sway

Then I fell in love with you

And you took that away

You take away the old

Show me the new

You and Gardner had met shortly after he had gone through a really rough patch in his life. You did not know many details, but from what you gathered after a slightly tipsy conversation with Calvin, Gardner had just lost his job and experienced his first real heartbreak before you came into his life. Well, fell in (quite literally).

You had been in a hurry, rushing to find lunch on your short break from work, and all but ran into a cafe down the street. Unfortunately, someone had been about to step out when you reached to push the door open, and you promptly tripped over them and fell at their feet.

“Oh my god! I am so sorry!” a voice called out to you, and a hand circled your arm and helped pull you back to your feet. You brushed off your dress before you caught sight of a pair of feet still in front of you. Your eyes slowly made their way up a pair of legs, up, up, up, until you were looking into a pair of kind and rather stunning hazel eyes. The man before you looked to be about your age, with a strong nose and sharp jawline, skin so pale it was almost translucent, a bright shock of messy, red hair, and a slight smile. Despite the purple shadows under the man's eyes and the general tired look to him, the man was a cutie, and you could feel your face start to heat up as you realized you had been staring for far too long now.

“Oh!” you exclaimed, snapping out of your thoughts. “It's um, no problem. My fault, actually. Should have been paying more attention. Um, I'm (Y/N), by the way. Not that you should care, I'm just some strange girl from off the street.” You were rambling now and you knew it, but you could not seem to make yourself stop. Cutie seemed to be having a strange affect on you and you lost your mental filter entirely.

“I'll...just go now,” you said, promptly turning back to the cafe door, intending to scurry off back to work, appetite gone.

“I don't think you're strange,” Cutie suddenly spoke up.

“What?” you had stopped in your tracks, quickly turning back to him.

“I don't think you're strange,” he said again. “Although, it might seem a little strange for you to walk out of here, empty handed, after having just walked in.”

“Oh. Well I-uh,” you stammered, looking for some excuse, a reason to make a quick getaway. Oh, why doesn't a sinkhole just open up and swallow me whole, you thought as you realized you were caught out.

“Come on, I'm buying you a smoothie,” the stranger said, turning toward the counter before stopping and turning toward you again. “I'm Gardner, by the way.”

Calvin told you he came home that night, smiling for the first time in weeks, and had not stopped since.

“He wouldn't shut up about you, actually,” he said, leaning quite close before pushing himself off of your shoulder back to an upright position. “It was '(Y/N) this' and '(Y/N) that' for three whole days before I asked him if he even got your phone number or anything.”

You glanced at Gardner, who was pink faced and avoiding eye contact with you at the moment, remembering how you had seen him again in the same cafe five days later, and seemed strangely relieved when you pulled a pen from your purse and wrote your number on the back of his hand, telling him he could use it sometime if he wants. It had been a further week after that before he called you, and now you understood why. He had his heart broken, and was probably not entirely keen on repeating the experience.

You stood on slightly wobbly legs and made your way around the table to your boyfriend, wrapped your arms around his neck and perched yourself on his lap. He finally looked up at you, though still a bit reluctant, and you pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead.

He smiled up at you, and you leaned in to press a gentle kiss to the curve of his lips for good measure.

“What's that for?” he asked, looking up at you with a slight furrow to his brow. You smoothed it with a light touch before answering him.

“Nothing, really. Just wanted to make sure you know that I love you and I'm not going anywhere any time soon.”

It was quiet for a moment as Calvin had run off to who knows where in the house, following whatever crazy idea his alcohol-drenched brain had come up with. You felt more than heard Gardner take a deep breath before he spoke.

“You know you don't have to worry about me, right?” he asked, head tilted back to look up into your eyes now that his brother was no longer present to spill all his secrets.

“What d'you mean?”

“I mean, that stuff is all in the past. Yeah, I was in a funk when I met you, but as soon as you showed up, it was like it all happened to another person. It wasn't me anymore. You replaced all the bad things that I held onto with the good things I hadn't realized I actually needed. The world became easier to navigate. Nothing seemed to bad or so difficult anymore.”

Gardner ended his little declaration with a shrug, as if he had not just finished saying the most beautiful and profound thing someone had ever said to you in your life.

Instead of answering him, you simply stood and pulled him up to his feet. You wrapped your arms back around his neck, pulling him close and pressing your lips to his again. You felt his arms snake around your waist, locking behind your back and pulling you close. After some time that could have been minutes or hours for all the attention you had paid to the outside world at that moment, you pulled away from him, trailing one hand down his arm and interlacing your fingers with his long ones.

“Come on,” you said, pulling him toward the door.

“Where are we going?” he asked with a puzzled look.

You threw a coy smile over your shoulder before giving his hand another tug. “To the boat.”

Calling you to see

Do I try too hard to make you smile

To make a smile

In hindsight, you really should have seen it coming.

A ring your great-grandmother had given you had gone missing off your dresser. You thought you had placed it down next to your favorite apple cider candle, only for it to disappear, causing you to spend three days searching for it. You searched all the usual places, then all the unusual places, even your desk drawers at work, thinking perhaps you had misplaced it, but it was nowhere to be found. You gave up, officially declaring the jewelry lost, and spent the evening at home alone, trying to figure out how you were going to tell your mother that you lost her grandmother's ring.

You decided to drop by Gardner's boat one afternoon after work, only to walk in to him immediately slamming his laptop shut and staring at you with a wide-eyed, guilty look on his face. When you asked what he was doing, he claimed he was looking for something for Calvin.

“He's always trying new recipes, you know, so I thought I'd look some up for him,” he said, slipping the computer onto a shelf and gesturing for you to come sit by him. You were sure this was a lie, as Googling recipes certainly did not warrant such suspicious behavior, but decided to let it slide, as you had no real reason not to believe him.

However, the strange behavior got worse. One afternoon about two weeks later, you and Gardner both had some time off and were spending it together, when he got a phone call and slipped into another room to answer it. This was odd, as he usually only received calls form you, Calvin, or his boss. It certainly was not you on the other line, and he had never felt the need to leave the room for a call from work or his brother before. You knew it was wrong, but you decided to follow him.

He had stepped outside your apartment and into the hallway, so you stood by your door with your ear pressed against it, trying to catch anything you could. He must have been pacing, because you could only catch a few words at a time as the grew louder and then softer again.

“...sure that's right? How much...? ...meet you there at 4 tomorrow...look forward to it...”

You heard him approach your front door and quickly ran into your bathroom and locked the door behind you. You barely registered the front door opening and closing as your breathing picked up and you began to think of all the worst possibilities for his behavior. You did not register Gardner calling out your name before knocking at the bathroom door. The sound pulled you rather suddenly from your panicked thoughts, and you had to quickly sit down on the toilet lid before you fell over.

“(Y/N)? Are you alright?” he called through the door, concern evident in his voice. You knew you had to think fast.

“I-I don't feel good,” you called out, which was actually not a lie. You did find yourself suddenly feeling rather ill. “Maybe you should just go home.”

“What?! Are you sick? Unlock the door, let me come in and check on you.”

“No! I um-don't want you to get sick, too. It might be contagious.”

“I don't care. I've been around you all day, if it's contagious I'm gonna get it anyway.”

“Please just go, Gardner,” you called out. “I'm gonna try taking a shower and going to bed early. Maybe I'll feel better tomorrow.”

“Okay,” he finally relented, sounded disappointed and defeated. “I hope you feel better soon, honey. I love you.”

“Okay, thanks, you too,” you answered, turning on the shower to hopefully drown out any further disappointed sounds or words. Sleep never came to you that night, and you spent the whole next day wound tighter than a drum and jumping at every noise and movement.

At your lunch break you ducked into the ladies' room, hoping to freshen up a bit and try to get your act together for the afternoon. You stood staring at the dark shadows under your eyes that no amount of concealer would cover up, lost in thought, when your phone suddenly started ringing in your purse, causing you to jerk back violently before stomping your foot in pure frustration. You wrenched it out of your bag and answered it without even looking at who was calling.

“Hello?” you practically shouted into the phone?

“Hi, honey,” Gardner's happy voice answered you. “How you feeling today?”

“Fine,” you lied, your grip tightening around your phone.

“Oh, um, well I'm glad to hear that,” the man answered slowly, clearly a little puzzled by your grumpiness. “Think you'd be up for dinner out tonight? My treat.”

“I don't know, Gardner, I didn't sleep the greatest last night and my appetite hasn't been the greatest today,” you answered honestly. You had softened a little, as this was still the man you loved, and thought that maybe you were reacting a little strongly based only on your paranoid suspicions.

“Okay, we'll stay in, then,” he said, clearly not to be deterred from his plan to see you. “Come by the boat. It's supposed to be a beautiful night. I just really want to see you.”

You felt the last of your resolve crumble and you caved, agreeing you would come over. He agreed that if you started to feel ill again, he would bully Calvin into driving you home.

That evening you decided to walk the half a mile or so from your apartment to Calvin's house where Gardner still had his boat parked, taking time to reflect on all that had happened recently. You were not sure what to expect upon arrival, but it certainly was not what you saw.

Gardner had taken the cover off his boat, exposing the deck fully. He had gathered every blanket he owned, as well as a few you were certain you had seen in Calvin's house, as well as every cushion and pillow it seemed he could get his hands on, and piled them on the deck like some sort of hybrid nest-pillow fort. There was a bottle of sparkling cider set beside two trays loaded with food, and fairly lights were strung around the rigging, creating a soft glow around the nest. You had stopped in the middle of the sidewalk just staring at everything, which was where Gardner found you when he emerged from below deck with two glasses in his hands.

“(Y/N)!” he waved at you when he spotted you. “Come on up!” You climbed the ladder to the deck and Gardner reached out to help you on board, hands warm and clammy in they way they were whenever he was nervous.

“Do you like it?” he asked you with a small smile.

“I love it,” you answered honestly. “Did you do all of this?”

“Yep! Well, Calvin helped with the food and dragging all the cushions outside, but it was all my idea. I bought the juice and strung the lights and everything,” Gardner's hands started waving around excitedly as he explained, and you took hold of one again to calm him.

“You did this just for me,” it was more of a statement than a question.

“Well, you seemed so stressed lately I thought it might be nice for you to have a quiet, cozy way to unwind,” he explained, steering you toward a particularly plush looking pile of cushions. You arranged yourself on it in a way that hopefully looked less awkward than it felt, and Gardner promptly wrapped a blanket around your shoulders, enveloping you in warmth and his familiar scent.

You hugged the blanket around yourself, feeling infinitely better, and wondering how you could ever have doubted this wonderful man. He reached out to you with a glass of juice, and soon you both were digging into the food he had prepared. Sandwiches, fruits, and even chocolate and caramel sauces for dipping. It was delicious, and you realized just how hungry you were after barely eating for the past 24 hours. You talked and laughed over your dinner, the conversation slowly dwindling into companionable silence. You were licking a bit of stray chocolate sauce off your finger when Gardner caught your attention again.

“(Y/N)?”

“Gardner?”

“There's...another reason I wanted you to come over tonight. Another reason why I prepared all of this,” he started and turned to face you more directly. “I know I have my faults and my quirks, and sometimes it may seem like I try too hard, yet other times, not hard enough. But I love you more than life itself. What you and me have is so much...different when compared to anything I've ever known. I've not had anybody really be there for me, there because they actually wanted to be and not because they felt obligated or for some ulterior motive. When I look at you, I feel whole, I feel new, I feel invincible. Like I could fly. I could take on the world with you by my side. And that's what I really want. I'm not sure about the rest of the factors in my life, but I know that whatever happens, I want it to happen with you there, too.”

Time seemed to stand still as Gardner shifted so he was on one knee while reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a small blue box. You gasped, eyes comically wide as you stared at the box. It all made sense now. The missing ring, the sneaky internet research, the private phone calls. He had been in touch with a jeweler. He needed to know your ring size. Of course. The clues were all there, your mind had just come to the wrong conclusion.

Tears blurred your vision as Gardner opened the box, revealing the most beautiful ring you had ever seen. A princess cut stone of pure (y/b/s) sat in the middle of a sparkling white gold band, two much smaller white diamonds framing it, giving off the most brilliant shine even in the low light surrounding you. It was truly gorgeous, more so than any piece of jewelry or clothing or anything you had ever owned. Taking a deep breath to regain your composure, you looked back up into his hopeful face, flashing a watery smile.

“Ask me,” you said, wanting to hear his sweet voice speak those words. “Ask me, Gardner.”

“(Y/N), will you marry me?” he asked, brilliant hazel eyes flicking back and forth between yours.

“Yes,” you said, nodding vigorously. “Yes, yes, of course I will!”

You threw your arms around him, tackling him back into the pile of blankets and cushions behind him, peppering his entire face with kisses, leaving no exposed skin untouched. He laughed as you even kissed his ears, only stopping when Calvin's voice rang out from the house.

“Well?! What did she say?!”

“Oh, the ring!” you said, suddenly remembering it. “Where's the ring?”

Gardner picked the box up from where he had dropped it on a pillow and quickly slipped it onto your left hand. You stood and flashed your hand toward the house, making sure it caught the glow of one of the lights strung around you.

“What the heck do you think I said, Calvin?!” you shot back at him.

“Smart girl!” he called back to you. “You two have fun, now, and don't rock the boat! Or maybe do!”

You laughed as Calvin closed the window he was leaning out of. His words made you realize something and you quickly turned to Gardner, leveling him with your best serious face.

“I have one condition,” you stated firmly. The smile on Gardner's face slipped a little. “You can keep the boat, but I am NOT living in it!”

He laughed in relief, reaching out to pull you down to him again.

“Deal.”

[tessatechaitea]

Justice Society of America #9 (1993)

I bet Guy Gardner makes a "Wood is your biggest weakness!" joke.

Back in the late 80s/early 90s, there were two stories that every single DC comic book had to tell: the protagonist battles and defeats Lobo and the protagonist puts Guy Gardner in his place. The first one proved that the protagonist could beat the toughest bastich in the DC Universe. The second was just satisfying to a lot of customers. I hated every single one of these stories. Except maybe the Hitman story where they defeat Lobo by taking pictures of Bueno Excellente ass-fucking the unconscious Lobo. I don't think that's using rape in an offensive way because Lobo was a murderous, genocidal psychopath and Bueno Excellente loved to fuck things in the ass. I suppose my love of Lobo and Guy Gardner in my teens and twenties says something unpleasant about me. But you can't deny that Lobo was the character every DC fan most wanted to fuck. And I mean every DC fan. I still find it weird that somebody could create a character that was both super sexy and also looked like a clown. And I just felt sympathy for Guy Gardner. These were the days before you had to account for mental illness and traumatic brain injury when assessing somebody's personality and attitude. But I was there for you, Guy! I knew what you'd been through and how unfairly everybody treated you! If only Harley Quinn could have been around to tell everybody to stop being so hard on Guy because he was suffering from severe brain trauma and couldn't help flying into rages on a near constant basis. Instead we just had Batman to lay Guy out in one punch and "fix" his personality until he was hit on the head again like some amnesiac Fred Flintstone. When we last left the Justice Society of America, the people of Earth were being driven toward hatred due to the unearthing of Kulak by Hawkman and Hawkwoman. It reminds me of something that happened in 2016 but I just can't quite put my finger on it.

I suppose if comic book artists can't help making corpses sexy, I shouldn't be surprised that they're making me think about fucking a seventy year old.

I know Joan Garrick is just a fictional drawing but at least I'm honest about when fictional drawings of old people and corpses give me a boner.

"One cop's nightmare." Yeesh. I'm afraid to ask how this movie ends.

Doctor Mid-Nite relaxes at home listening to the radio while coming up with old man takes to impress his young assistant.

Just wait until he gets a load of Twitter and Internet memes!

Thunderbolt and his dull friend work out that some kind of sorcery is affecting the Justice Society members, causing everybody to despise them. But it doesn't seem super important so Johnny Thunder decides to leave it for morning. I can't blame him for not knowing the whole world can burn down in that time; he isn't outside the story like I am so he can't perceive the whole of it all. Normally I would blame him and call him an idiot but I'm feeling charitable tonight. Thunderbolt does rush off to investigate because he senses something familiar. So at least the Hex Bolt is being cautious instead of lazy. And maybe Johnny isn't being lazy but have you seen the way he's drawn? It's not like he's in a hurry for anything except maybe a nap. Meanwhile, a new program has popped up: Current Affairs Spotlight. It's basically the Kulak version of Fox News, reporting questions that they don't really want to answer but by simply asking them causes their audience to distrust the subject of the questions. On a related note, Sean Hannity is a huge piece of shit.

I mean, they do have "society" in their name. They were just asking for the socialist accusation.

Alan Scott smashes the television and flies off in a rage. I guess I know who else was watching that program and believed every bit of it because his traumatic brain injury causes problems with his ability to assess the validity of facts over propaganda! It seems like I know a lot of people like that these days. I forgot Alan Scott runs a television station until he starts complaining about the propaganda airing on his station. He says, "I don't think that Molly should be censoring programming, but the station should have some standards. And she knows that report is sensational nonsense." Welcome to modern media, Alan! It's no longer up to the standards of the station to decide what bullshit should be shoveled onto the viewing public! Now it's just about how much money can be made on advertising while espousing some kind of freedom of speech fair exchange of ideas nonsense! It's exactly the problem that has been exploited by people who actually want less free speech. You muddy and obfuscate the truth by putting out whatever outlandish bullshit you can come up with and then if a station refuses to air it, you claim they're biased toward the side of the political spectrum you're trying to fuck over with your bullshit. I mean, that's Fox News. The other stations are the ones that have been cowed by Fox News into being horrible both sides news vehicles. Guy Gardner attacks Alan on the way to the television station because Guy was watching the show, of course. Remember, random television news broadcasts was once how super heroes got all of their breaking news alerts! How could they fight crime otherwise?!

A man with a traumatic brain injury has the same general understanding of fascism and political theory as the average Fox News viewer.

Guy Gardner doesn't make a wood weakness joke because he doesn't know about Alan Scott. Len's idea for this battle was probably, "Guy can only beat Green Lanterns because he's cheating using that yellow ring! But now let's see him fight a fair fight against a Green Lantern!" Which is exactly what happens! Alan Scott gives Guy a lesson on how to be a Green Lantern. I'm sure later, when Guy isn't being manipulated by Kulak, he'll process the information and accept it as wise words and valued experience from an old timer. Or he'll just vent and fume and look for an occasion to get even with him. After defeating Guy, all of the normal people on the street begin attacking the Justice Society and calling them fascists and commies. I'll accept their gullibility because it was caused by sorcery. Otherwise I'd be rolling my eyes at, once again, every regular citizen of the DC Universe being bamboozled by some demagogue. Hawkman drives up to save the day but instead just drives everybody right into Kulak's clutches.

I am surprised that Thunderbolt being driven on a stake through his asshole made it into a Comics Code Authority book.

Justice Society of America #9 Rating: B+. Sure Guy Gardner got his ass kicked like usual but at least Guy Gardner was in the comic book! That totally made it worth it to me! Except for how he was portrayed and the lines they gave him and the assumption that everybody thinks he's stupid and the idea that his only redeeming quality is being tough. But he looked like Guy and they called him Guy and he made some yellow rockets with his ring! So cool!

[forwhycas]

Oh What a World (part 2)

So this part is wayyyyy longer than the first part, but it super cute and we find out a bit more about Charlie, super fluffy and swearing since who doesn't love a beautiful girl who swears like a trucker! This picture of Joe gives me life (even thought its blurry, if anyone has a better quality version, please send it to me) I hope you enjoy:)

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

When you got home you immediately hung up the clock and put the matching towels out as well. You snapped a picture and sent it to Joe.

 Charlie: Be jealous!

Joey: I’m not, but I’m glad you like it. I have a lot of pictures from today, did you want me to send them?

Charlie: Yes please!

 20 pictures later, and your favorite one was Joe holding you from behind your arms up pretending to be jack and rose from the titanic on the red steps. You zoomed in on somebodies face you noticed in the background, this woman’s face looked so annoyed, you screenshotted it and sent it to Joe.

 Charlie: This woman’s face is how I’m going to feel waking up in the morning, because my shift starts at 8 L

Joey: So call out, I’m sure wherever you work can handle a day without you.

Charlie: Well, I wish they could but I work at a group home, so if their one person down the place kind of runs awkwardly. Which can cause some pretty pissed off kids.

Joey: You work at a group home?

Charlie: Yea it’s part time, and definitely the most interesting job I’ve had. I might see if someone can cover for me though, I can feel myself already struggling to get out of bed tomorrow morning.

 You txt your coworker Emily, reminding her that she owed you.

 Charlie: Remember when I covered your shift that week you went on vacation with your friends?

Emily: Yes, do you need me to cover you this week?

Charlie: Yes please, final exams start next and I’m stressing L

Emily: I got you, I’ll txt Eric to let him know what’s going on.

Charlie: Thank you!

 You sighed with relief, while yes finals were next week, you were fully prepared! You just really haven’t had a day off from work in a long time, and you mine as well use the favor. You smiled at the fact that you could hang out with Joe tomorrow, he was easy to be yourself around and it was refreshing. Your phone vibrated.

 Joey: So?

Charlie: A whole week covered, and this week my classes are online because finals are next week, so basically all I have to do is a bunch of practice quizzes.

Joey: So what are you going to do with your new found freedom?

 You had so many ideas but the first one was to cover the tattoo you had on the side of your arm that had your exes initials. You facetimed Joe. When he picked up he was in bed looking super cozy, you kind of wished you were still with him, laying on his couch.

 “Sorry to interrupt, but I have the best idea! See this tattoo right here?” He nodded. “I want to get this covered up tomorrow.”

 “Who’s initials are those?”

 “My ex’es.”

 “Ah, well then I’m all for that.”

 “Want to come with me?” He yawned and nodded. “Awesome, do you have any tattoos that need covering?” He snorted.

 “I don’t have any tattoos Charlie.” He yawned again.

 “Well I have…” You started to count on your free hand. “10? No 14! Yea 14, catch up! Anyways go to bed grandpa! Meet me at mine for 11, I’m on the 5th floor, my last name is on the door. Do you even know my last name?” He nodded.

 “Everleigh? Right?” You nodded and said goodnight, he waved then hung up. You hopped in the shower and towel dried your hair the best you could before falling asleep. You awoke to pounding on your door. You checked your phone and you had 3 txt’s from Joe.

 Joey: I’m up, and heading over with coffee.

Joey: Warning I’m out of breath and I’ve only walked up two flights of stairs.

Joey: Your still asleep!

 The last txt was 10 minutes ago. You sprung up out of bed, realizing you slept in just underwear you grabbed your bath robe and wrapped it around you. You unlocked the door, and Joe was holding a tray with two coffees, an annoyed look on his face. You smiled, “Morning sunshine!” his face softened when you spoke, he pushed past you, you could feel the coldness radiating off of him.

 “Good morning, glad you got some extra sleep.” He smiled and slumped down onto your couch. Placing the tray of coffee on your end table. You sat down next to him and reached over him to grab one, placing it in his hand and then grabbing the other one.

 “Sorry, I guess I forgot to set an alarm. Thanks for the coffee, do you want something to eat?” You got up and went to your cabinets, you remembered the muffins you bought from the bakery down the block 2 days ago. “I have blueberry muffins!” You turned around to look at him. “I’m trying to cure your morning grumpiness with delicious muffins and you look like you want to kill me, has this friendship already run its course?” He chuckled. “Why are you looking at me like that?” He got up and came over to you.

 “You have a piece of hair sticking up the opposite way…there.” He was so close to you, not moving. “Also yes, I’ll take a muffin please.” You reached up to grab the container and put them on the counter, you got a pan and started to melt some butter on it. Joe was leaning against your counter on his phone.

 “Do you want a whole one, or a half one?”

 “I’ll split one with you, I’m not super into eating this early.” He nodded then went back to his phone. “There’s a really good tattoo shop called village tattoo, it’s by Washington Park. I went there with my friend Sebastian once, they do some good work. What are you getting to cover that up anyways?”

 “I think I’m gonna get some daisy’s and roses, It’ April’s and June’s birth month flower.” You cut the muffin half and through them on the pan, it sizzled slightly. You took a sip of coffee.

 “Who’s birthday is it in April and June?”

 “Well my dad’s birthday was April 17th, and mine is June 16th.” You grabbed some plates and grabbed one half of the muffin handing the plate with the muffin on it to Joe. You grabbed yours as well. “Try it.” You smiled weakly at him. You took a bite and you moaned. “Oh fuck this is good…” Joe took a dramatic bite, and his eyes rolled back into his head. “See it’s delicious! Your welcome for warming it up for you!” You nudged him in the side. “Right while you make love to that muffin I’m gonna get dressed. Make yourself at home.” You winked at him and walked across the living room to your door, you left it slightly open. You went through your closet and found a NYU long sleeve, you contemplated putting on a bra but did so anyways, you then contemplated putting on actual pants, you did that as well. Joe was walking around yourliving room, looking at all the paintings, mostly landscapes, and the family photos of you and your dad.

 “Are you an only child?” Joe yelled.

 “Yup!” You yelled with a mouth full of tooth paste. “You?” You spit it out and rinsed with some mouthwash. You washed your face and moisturized. Joe yelled another question.

 “A brother and a sister! Just you and your dad?”

 You took a deep breath and walked out of your room. “My mom dipped when I was about 10, I don’t remember much of her.” You walked over to your shoe tray and started to tie your nikes. “How far is this tattoo shop? Also is it grossly cold outside?” Joe put his still cold hands on the sides of your face. “Yea it’s grossly cold outside.” You pushed his hands away and wrapped the purple scarf you bought the day before, and the matching gloves. “Wallet!” You went to your cabinet above your fridge, where you always put it. Joe gave you a weird look. “The dead lock on this door sucks so I figure if someone’s going to break in the last place they would look for money is above the fridge.” You shrugged.

 “I have never seen a woman get ready so fast in my life.” You were zipping up your jacket and putting your wallet in your inside breast pocket. “Impressive, really.” You smiled at him and grabbed your coffee from the counter, grabbing your keys from the hook next to the door.

 “Ready?”

 “Yup.”

 Joe convinced you to take the subway for once. You just hated confined spaces. Which you expressed to him, but he told you that you had to get over your fear eventually. You sat so close to him your thighs touched. “Are you for real right now?” You turned your head towards him, not realizing how close you guys really were. You glanced at his lips for a split second. Then darted up to his eyes.

 “Yes, I’m claustrophobic, and I’m not just saying that.” He rolled his eyes and he put his hand out on his thigh, motioning for you to grab it. You hesitated and decided to just rest your head on his shoulder instead. Closing your eyes, taking a deep breath. He ended up grabbing your hand anyways. “Ugh Joe! Why are your hands so sweaty!”

 “Because it’s hot in here, I can’t help it!” He let go of your hand, wiped his hand on your jeans, then grabbed your hand again. “Better?” You snorted and gave him a disgusted look.

 “Yes, now that I have all of these Joe germs on my leg. Much better, thank you.” He rolled his eyes at you and reached in his pocket for his phone, he was scrolling through Instagram, you looked over his shoulder being snoopy. “I forgot to tell you, I started to watch Dear Sidewalk the other night with Dean.” You paused.

 “And?” He stopped scrolling and he looked at you from the side since your head was still on his shoulder.

 “Your very cute as a mailman…” Joe shook his head and continued scrolling.

 “Wait till you get to the end…”

 “I will say it’s odd having an actor as a friend, because while I’m watching Gardner going through all of this lovey dovey shit, all I can think about is you snorting orange juice out of your nose the other day at breakfast…”

 “Just when I thought you forgot…”

 “I wish I got it on video, I’d show it to every news outlet, make so much bank!” You chuckled to yourself, Joe turned towards you fully. “I’m joking!” You rolled your eyes and rested your head back on his shoulder, you grabbed your phone out of your jacket pocket and started to scroll through your Instagram as well.

 “So you do have social media…”

 “You’ve probably been spelling my last name wrong, I don’t know how though since it’s on my apartment door…” You grabbed his phone from his hands and looked up your Instagram account everleigh.charliee93, you followed it for him.

  “Do me a favor and stalk me later though.”

 “Who says I’ll stalk your Instagram?”

 “It’s human nature to be curious, I’m a psych major remember?” The train stopped and your breath hitched, squeezing his hand in the process.

 “Relax, this is our stop anyways.” He got up, putting his phone back in his pocket, his hands still attached to yours. You let it go once when you got back onto the streets, you saw the tattoo shop sign a few minutes later and squealed with excitement! Once inside you took your gloves off and waited at the front desk. A girl came out from the back with bright pink hair and gave you guys a cute smile.

 “What can I do for you guys today?”

 “I’m looking to get some letting covered up with some floral creation.” You stripped off your jacket and put it over Joe’s shoulder, then pulled up your sleeve, she took a look and asked what you were thinking for flowers. You told her your idea and she nodded and went to go get another artist.

 “This is Nick, he loves a good floral piece. Nick this is…”

 “Charlie! Nice to meet you.” You gave him a warm smile and he smiled back. Joe noticed how he wasn’t the only one who was effected by your smile. Nick’s face almost dropped when your face lit up.

 “So what kind of flowers are we talking about?”

 “Roses and daisies, just enough to cover this, not too much.” You motioned to the side of your left forearm.

 “Color?”

 “I think I’ll keep it black and white for now.”

 “Right let me take a few pictures and then size up the area and then I can get you a price range.” After doing so the damage was 200$

 “Yea that sounds about right! Do you have time for it today?”

 “I have the whole afternoon open, give me about 45 minutes to do a few sketches, then we can get going on it! Have a seat and I’ll come grab you when I’m ready. Rider can grab a copy of your ID and have you sign a few things in the mean-time.” You pulled out your wallet and started the process. You finally sat down on their huge couch in their waiting area, putting your legs over Joe’s lap.

 “What do tattoo’s feel like anyways?” Joe asked as he rested his hands on your legs.

 “The only way I can describe it is like a sunburn jabbing into your skin over and over again. Some places hurt a lot, others don’t. It also depends on a person’s pain tolerance, I have a pretty good tolerance for pain, so it doesn’t bother me too much.” You looked back down on your phone, smiling a little as you txted a potential date. “Is a paint and sip a good idea for a date?”

 “I would enjoy that, I have no artistic ability what so ever, but I’m sure someone would enjoy that. Why?”

 “I think I’m gonna ask this guy from my stats class out to do a paint and sip next weekend after finals are over.” Joe appeared great from the outside but in all actuality he was annoyed.

 “Friday or Saturday night?”

 “Ummmm, Friday night.” Joe was actually annoyed now, he had asked you to go out with him and his friend that night.

 “I thought you were coming out with me and my friend that night?” He tried not to outwardly appear pissed.

 “Well the paint and sip is at 6, I’m not meeting you guys till 9, right?” You looked up at him from your phone still smiling giddily.

 “True, but I wanted to pre-game with you!” He frowned like a child.

 “Well, pretend I’m their in spirit, I’ll be pre gaming with wine, so I’ll be showing up slightly buzzed.” You looked back down at your phone, and giggled when he said yes. “Ha, he said yes!”

 “You make it look so easy!” Joe crossed his arms, turning to face you.

 “That’s because it is…” You rolled your eyes, then felt bad for being bratty. “Look if I can casually ask someone out, anyone can! Who are you interested in right now?” You, he thought. He was shocked that he thought that, but then realized it was probably just because you were new in his life, he was fixated on you. He was blushing though.

 “Nobody? Yea no one.”

 “Nobody? Everybody is interested in someone.”

 “I mean, one person, I think?”

 “You think?” He shrugged.

 “Alright Charlie, let’s get you started!” Nick came out and he motioned for you follow him. Joe was relieved he was saved from the conversation going any further. You sprung up and grabbed Joe by the arm. Rider was right Nick enjoyed a good floral tattoo. He came up with 4 solid layouts in just under an hour. You loved all of them but went with the third choice as it flowed better with the shape of your arm. “So who’s initials are these anyways? I love getting a good story from new clients.” He was shaving the peach fuzz away as you got comfy in his chair.

 “My ex-fiance’. Quinten.”

 “Wow, well he fucked up!”

 “Royally.”

 “I see you have some other tattoo’s, but I always like to break a tattoo session in half, give the client a break for a smoke or some food. Where did you get your other tattoos from?”

 “I’m from the cape, so mostly black pearl and coastline. I like to keep it local.”

 “I love the cape actually, I’ve been to black pearl, where’s coastline?”

 “Provincetown, all the way at the tip of Mass.” He put the stencil on and gripped it with his hand.

 “I’ll have to check it out! So about the flowers, just your favorite flowers or?”

 “Oh, well my dad passed about 6 years now, and his birth month flower are daisies, and mine are roses, so I figured I’d cover up this assholes initials with something meaningful.” You shrugged. Joe didn’t know this but had a hunch since there weren’t many recent pictures of you with your dad back at your apartment.

 “Well I’m sure he would love it, my dad passed away a while back as well. Fuck cancer.” Nick frowned.

 “I’m so sorry, your right fuck cancer!”

 “How did your dad pass, if you don’t mind me asking?” There was always something about opening up to a tattoo artist, they made it so easy, they were like your therapist.

 “Early on set dementia. Very early…” You frowned but gave him a faint smile.

 “Oh god, I’m so sorry. Fuck Dementia!” You chuckled.

 “Fuck dementia!” You responded and looked over at Joe, who looked like his whole world had crashed and burned. He was thinking about you being sad and it made his heart sink. He just wanted to wrap you in his arms and tell you how sorry he was. But instead he said ‘fuck dementia’.

 “Alright darlin, gonna start off with some outlines, then we’ll break and do some shading! Sound good.” Nick questioned.

 “Yes sir!” After an hour of outlining and he got to one spot where it just felt like shit, your free hand grabbed Joe’s thigh, you bit your lip. “Wow that’s a tender spot.” Joe was brought out of his day dreaming session when your hand collided with his thigh. He was a year into your Instagram, you were right stalking someone else’s social media was just human nature. His free hand grabbed yours and he gave it a squeeze and a reassuring smile as he continued scrolling, he hit the post where you posted about your engagement. He didn’t even realize you had started to talk to him. “Earth to Joe?”

 “I’m sorry what?” He looked up from his phone fast.

 “I said you should get me some McDonald’s when Nick here is done with the outline. Pretty please.” You gave him the cutest smile ever, squinting your eyes together.

 “Well I can’t say no to that face, you’re lucky your cute when you do that.”

 “Oh my god, was that a compliment? Did I hear cute come out of that mouth?”

 “Yes, it was, don’t get used to it. What do you want?”

 “Everything off of the menu! Just kidding, I have to be stoned for that. Maybe just some McChickens and a large fry.” Joe was learning so much about you today.

 “Right, well I’m make sure not to go on a McDick’s run for you when your stoned then.” Nick was finished and wrapped your arm up. You stretched and let out a squeal, then yawned. Another thing to add to the list of cute things you do, he thought. You gave him your card, and he fought with you about how it was just McDonalds. “Well maybe Nick want’s something?”

 “I could go for a happy meal, mostly for the toy, my daughter loves those!”

 “See Nick’s kid wants a cute toy, take the plastic square!” You waved it in front of his face, he was un-amused. “Do it for the kid Joe, unless you hate kids!”

 “Definitely don’t hate kids, kids are great.” He zipped up his jacket, and left. Nick already had a cigarette between his lips and was gearing up to go out to have a smoke. It’s been months since you had one and just looking at it you already knew you were gonna ask to bum one off of him.

 “Nick can I trouble you for one of those bad boys?” he nodded and handed you one.

 “Didn’t think you would be the type, but yea kid here ya go.” You got your jacket on and headed outside with him, you sat on the bench that was right outside of the shops window, and sat down with him, he lit it for you and you guys got to talking about each-others dads and laughing about funny times you’ve had with them. Joe was walking back towards you and he crinkled his nose when he saw you take a drag. Not cute when you smoked, but it was somehow hot when you did. He was annoyed with himself for thinking that you looked hot when you did that and he finally approached you guys. 4 bags in one hand.

 “Alright so we got not one but two happy meals, because kids are great,” he glared at you “four McChikens, 3 large fries and a big mac.” He was staring at your lips as they curved around the cig and then blew out the smoke.

 “Thanks Joe!”

 “Thanks man! I can’t wait to see what toys these things have.” Nick put out his cig and you did to and you guys all chowed down before going back inside again. The shading seemed to go by faster and before you knew it, it was done. You got up to look at it in the mirror, you could cry, it was so pretty. You just nodded your head and hugged Nick. He blushed when you did so, catching him off guard with such a personal gesture. He took a few pictures and Joe took some for you on your phone.

 “Alright 150$.”

 “You said 200 before?”

 “Yes but your cool and sat so nicely for me, also your friend here got me some food. So 150$.”

You pulled out your card and paid and then slid him a 20$. He thanked you and you and Joe said goodbye to him and Rider.

 “So what now? It’s almost 4…”

 “I don’t know about you but I really could for a good nap.” You shoved your hands in your jacket pockets.

 “I’m always ready for a nap.” Joe smiled at you. You convinced him again to walk since you had enough of the subway. “If were gonna walk can we nap at my place, it’s closer and my legs hurt from walking yesterday.” You nodded and 20 minutes later you were in his kitchen cracking open a beer, annoyed that he was still deciding what to watch.

 “Joe! You’ve been searching for something for ages, just pick something, I’m really not picky, I’ll watch anything.” He ignored you and he kept searching. “Family guy?” he nodded. “Finally!” You yelled from the kitchen. He was laying on the couch. And you couldn’t help it, you snuggled up next to him, he didn’t mind at all. “This is fine right? Because I wanted to lay down first but your long ass legs took my spot first…” he rolled his eyes at you.

 “When you fall asleep don’t drool, this is a new sweater.” You rolled your eyes this time. Family guy was playing in the background and you closed your eyes. Between Joe’s laughing and the rising and falling of his chest you passed out quick. When you woke up Joe was wrapped around you, one of his arms draped over your waist, the other wrapped around your shoulder, your head resting on his bicep. He smelled delicious, his sweater heating you up, his bicep soft and comforting on the side of your face. You could stay like this forever, you shut your eyes again and tried to fall back asleep.

 When Joe awoke he realized he completely attached himself to you, but you looked so warm and cozy to him, one of your arms was underneath the pillow his head rested under and the other over his chest clutching at his sweater, he stretched his free arm and watched as you shivered so he grabbed the blanket that was draped over the side of his couch, he gingerly moved a piece of hair away from your face and watched you snuggled back into his arm, he could feel your soft breaths tickle it. He wrapped his arm back around your waist and fell back asleep.

 You awoke to the smell of coffee and something greasy. You had the blanket still wrapped around you and it smelled like Joe, you smiled and got up to stretch. “So did I drool on you?” Joe jumped a little as you entered his kitchen.

 “Nope! Much appreciated.” Joe was in sweatpants and a hoodie, which reminded you of the sweatpants you bought the other day.

 “MY SWEATPANTS!” You ran to the bathroom and put them on, along with washing your tattoo and finding some lotion on the top shelf of his medicine cabinet. You walked out and smiled while hopping up onto his counter. “I feel so much better, sleeping in those jeans was the worst! Also falling asleep in a bra is disgustingly annoying as well.”

 “Is that what was digging into my rib cage all night?”

 “You think it was digging into your rib cage all night! I have marks from the underwire!”

 “Well I’m making pancakes, so hopefully that’ll cheer you up.”

 “I fucking love pancakes! My dad always used to put m&m’s in them for me!” You smiled at him.

 “Sadly I don’t have any, but I’ll make a mental note for next time.” After breakfast you continued to watch some more family guy, before you started to get ready to leave.

 “Alright I guess I should head out, I’m already pre stressing for finals next week, make sure to txt me every once and a while to make sure I’m alive.” He chuckled.

 “I don’t miss college, but I will try to remember to shoot you a ‘are you still breathing’ txt.”

 “You’re the best! Alright wish me luck I’m gonna take the subway.”

 “Wow, all on your own! They grow up so fast!” He wiped away a fake tear.

 “Shut up!” You gave him a quick hug and you were on your way home. Subway wasn’t too bad, although you missed your stop twice, so it took you an extra 30 minutes to get home.

 Charlie: Finally home, I missed my stop twice! But I did it! Also I’ve finally taken off my bra and my boobs feel ten times happier!

Joey: So proud, glad your boobs aren’t angry anymore.

 You chuckled and took a long shower, right when you got out someone was knocking on your door. It was either Dean or your neighbor asking for something. Dean lived on the third floor and always came knocking for something. And your instincts were right, an out of breath Dean in half drag was standing there, hands on his knees.

 “I need to borrow some hair spray and hair gel to lay these edges, help!” You pulled him by the arm and sat him down on your toilet as you helped him style his edges.

 “Where have you been! I’ve been txting you for like 2 days and nothing!” He was using your mascara and a few other of your scarce beauty supplies.

 “Oh I was with Joe! He took me on a tour of the city on Friday and then yesterday we went to get a tattoo, I just got home a few hours actually.” Dean smirked at you. “What!”

 “You like him! You were with him for two days straight? Don’t answer me, or anybody in the group chat. You totally like him!”

 “I do not! He’s just a new friend and he helps me navigate the city, still a newby remember!”

 “Have you slept with him?”

 “What! No! Don’t get any craze ideas either, nothing is going on between us.” He was still giving you that same look. “Stop it! Finish up or you’ll be late!”

 “Charlie if you haven’t noticed, you have an effect on guys. You bat those long eye lashes of yours or give that cute cheesin smile and they are hooked.” You looked at him baffled.

 “I don’t know what youre talking about.” You crossed your arms over your chest.

 “Your fucking gorgeous and you don’t realize it, it’s a tragedy.” He was shaking his head and gave you a kiss on the cheek before he put your makeup bag away and started off for the front door. “Joe is gonna fall in love with you I can already tell…” he pulled you in for a hug. “Don’t forget to txt me tomorrow around 3 so we can take that online practice quiz together!” You nodded as he started to gingerly walk down the stairs in his glittery red go-go boots.

 “Please be careful in those shoes! Have fun tonight!”

 “You know it girl! Dinner is on me tomorrow night!” You chuckled and closed and locked your door again. Doing your nightly routine, and finally passing out around 3am, shortly after Dean sent you a ‘I’m alive and home safe’ txt. When you woke up it was 1pm, and you were scrolling through Instagram. You decided to post the picture of your new tattoo, ‘daisies and roses and permanent ink, oh my!’. You finally got out of bed a half hour later and txted Dean to make sure he would be up in time to take the practice quiz in time with you.

 Charlie: Your bitch ass better be up! T-1 hour till practice quiz.

Queen Dean: My bitch ass is up and doing a facial, counting my cash, I’m thinking Chinese food for dinner?

Charlie: I’ve been eating like shit lately so I mine as well keep the trend going!

Queen Dean: That’s my girl! Order it now by the time it get’s here I’ll be over, make sure to get extra egg rolls!

Charlie: Of course!

 Dean came barreling in 20 minutes later, green face mask on and everything.

 “I brought a sheet mask for you, and some undereye treatment, because those under eye circles are DARK! Don’t worry this will help though chica!” You chuckled at him and shuffled over on your couch.

 “I lit some candles, put your fave musical on and I have tissues just in case we cry, I think were set for this practice quiz.”

 “Your like my mom, stop it! But thank you, you know I have that test anxiety, I wish I could take all of my exams with you, you definitely know how to calm down a hysterical gay man.” He kissed your cheek, and set up his computer on your coffee table, your phone buzzed.

 Joey: good luck on your practice exam!

 You smiled and put your phone down. Dean of course picking up on your classic wide eyed smile. “Are you sure you don’t like him just a little bit?” He cocked his head to the side.

 “Dean I’m sure, he’s just wishing me luck on my practice exam, simple gesture, calm down.” Just then someone started to knock on your door. “FOOD!” Dean laughed at your excitement and got up to pay, all singles. “I see you had a goodnight.”

 “I’m convinced it’s because of the new fishnets you bought me, so thank you, now please shove these crab ragoons into your stomach, I can hear it yelling at me from here.” He placed all the food out on your coffee table and you two counted down the minutes till the exam. It took you an hour and a half out of the 2 it gave you. After demolishing all the food you were exhausted. Dean was already asleep in your bed but you were wired, and also too full to function. You decided to txt Joe.

 Charlie: While Dean is passed out after that hour and half torture, I’m over here in a food coma ready to do 5 more exams, any tips to tire me out?

Joey: Tea? A nice run? Sex?

 You snorted when you read that last one.

 Charlie: I do have tea, I’m in no shape to run, and sex? Well, I have no one to really do that with at the moment, sadly.

Joey: Well what about Dean?

Charlie: Dean is very much gay.

Joey: Did not know that. Well what about tinder? Isn’t that what every young person uses these days?

Charlie: Joe you do realize you are also young, right?

Joey: Well yes, but 33 years old’s on tinder is weird, for you though it’ll be easy.

Charlie: Maybe I should call up Bradley from my stats class, I mean I was gonna wait till the paint and sip to try to get some action, but…

Joey: You’re going to fuck a guy named Brad?

Charlie: BRADLEY! Also sex is sex, who cares what the person’s name is, you’re the one who suggested it!

Joey: I mean you’re right.

Charlie: Alright I’m done talking sex with you, I think I’m just gonna stick with tea for now, Bradley can wait till Friday!

 After a week of practice quizzes and a lot of fast food courtesy of Dean, you had come down with a nasty cold, probably due to stress, just in time for actual finals. You had to not only cancel your date but also going out with Joe and his friend.

 Charlie: I have a cold, I just had to cancel on Bradley:(

Joey: Well there goes your opportunity to get laid! Are you cancelling on me and Chase as well?

Charlie: If I didn’t have finals next week, I would push myself to go out, but I can’t. I’m sorry Joe L

Joey: Hey it’s ok, I think I might just cancel on him and reschedule to when you’re feeling better, I saw him last night anyways.

Charlie: I was looking forward to getting properly fuck up with you and him, but yea it’s gonna have to wait till next year.

Joey: Next year?

Charlie: Yea after finals, I’m out of here and I’ll be home for 2 weeks. Which reminds me, I got you a gift!

Joey: Oh did you?

Charlie: Nothing big, just a little something.

Joey: Well now I have to go get you something epic.

Charlie: You really don’t need to, I just saw it and I was like ‘Joe would like this’ so I got it.

Joey: Yea I’m gonna get you something now.

Charlie: I wanna see you before I leave though, maybe a movie night?

Joey: Sounds good to me, when were you thinking?

Charlie: Well I’m taking all my finals on Tuesday and Wednesday, so Thursday?

Joey: Sounds good, I’ll see you then.

Charlie: Remember to check up on me to see if I’m still alive, because I’m gonna need all the luck I can get!

Joey: Don’t be so dramatic, but I promise I will.

 You laughed, as you made your way to your kitchen to make some tea. After a long couple of days and a lot of cold medicine by Wednesday your cold was almost gone, just in time for your stats exam, the one you were nervous for the most.

 Charlie: I’m about to take my stats of psych exam, if I don’t txt you by at least 7, I’m dead on the floor.

Joey: lol, you’ll do just fine.

 You chugged some water and took a caffeine pill to keep you alert. 3 hours later you were half asleep on your couch and your phone chimed.

 Joey: It’s 7, are you dead?

Charlie: Nope, but I feel it, I’m actually tired and ready to fall asleep at a normal time, this is odd.

Joey: Go to bed then, I’ll see you tomorrow night. My place or yours?

Charlie: Mine, I don’t want to leave this apartment till I have to drive home Friday night.

Joey: Alright, so I’ll see you tomorrow night around 7. Also why did you drive into the city, it’s going to be a nightmare for you to get out of here with all the tourists!

Charlie: Yea 7 is good, also I didn’t feel like shipping all of my stuff from Mass to here, so I stuffed my car with all of my shit, and I’m an aggressive driver so it’ll be fine. I’m gonna drink some tea and pass the fuck out, see you tomorrow night Joey!

Joey: Ugh. Stop with Joey, goodnight Charlie.

 It was 1 in the afternoon when you awoke, you checked your phone and there were 5 txts from Dean.

 Queen Dean: Charlie, I need to borrow those sequined tights you have.

Queen Dean: Is your bitch ass still asleep?

Queen Dean: It’s noon, you never sleep this late, have exams really killed you?

Queen Dean: I miss you!

Queen Dean: Come out with me and the gang tonight!

 You smiled, and finally opened your eyes enough to txt him back.

 Charlie: Me and Joe are doing a movie night, so I can’t, when I get back though I promise I’ll go out with everyone.

Queen Dean: Ughhhhhhhh, I’m coming down for those tights, so put clothes on.

 You groaned and wrapped your robe around you, you unlocked the door for him and made your way to the kitchen to start making some food. Dean came in a few minutes later with a plate of pancakes and bacon. You moaned when he sat them down in front of you.

 “Ed just woke up too, so he made a plate for you. Where’s those tights!” You shoved some food in your mouth and got up to go to your dresser pulling them out for him.

 “Please don’t rip them, I haven’t worn them yet!” Dean was about the same build as you, just much taller. So he borrowed a lot of your basic essential wardrobe.

 “I promise! Enjoy that food, I gotta do a dry run of my outfit for tonight. Speaking of tonight, you and Joe?” He wiggled his eye brows.

 “Me and Joe hang out all the time just us two. Although last time I did fall asleep on him…” You thought back to his arms wrapped around you and you started to blush.

 “Oh my god! You did not tell me about this, how was that? He does have some nice arms.”

 “Well I told you about how he took me to that tattoo shop, after that we went back to his and watched some family guy and I fell asleep on top of him and when I woke up I was gonna skip out but his arms were around me so I stayed. And your right his arms are quite nice…”

 “Oh my god you do like him!”

 “Nope, but he’s nice looking I’m not gonna deny that.”

 “Would you sleep with him?”

 “Jesus Dean!”

 “I bet you he’s lar…”

 “I really don’t want to think about Joe’s dick! He’s my friend, just like you’re my friend, nothing more!”

 “Well that’s too bad you would look cute next to him, sure he’s a little bit older but you two would be cute together!”

 “I’m not really looking to be in a relationship with anybody for a while, last one really fucked me up.”

 “Well don’t date him then, just fuck and be friends.” Dean shrugged.

 “Not really into casual sex these days.”

 “Ugh! Your lame sometimes, I’m gonna leave you to eat your food, have fun with Joe, tell him I said hi!” He left with your tights and you devoured the pancakes. You ended up falling asleep again, and woke up around 6:30. You checked your phone, and you had a txt from Joe.

 Joey: Heading over now, I picked up some snacks.

 Shit! You hopped in the shower and just as you were getting out you heard a knock on your door. You quickly wrapped a towel around your head and secured your robe around your body. You opened the door and Joe looked so cozy in his sweatpants and Yankees hoodie.

 “Sorry I fell asleep again, but I’m up!” You moved aside so he could come in. Joe tried his hardest not to eye you up and down, since your robe was way too short. “Make yourself at home, I’m gonna put some clothes on.” You closed the door behind him and made your way back to your bathroom. You got on your usual attire and tied up your hair in a bun.

 “I got skittles, pop-corn, chocolate covered almonds, and m&m’s!” Joe yelled from your living room. You smiled as you rubbed your moisturizer into your face. You came out and plopped onto your couch next to him.

 “You know I’ve gained a whole 7 pounds since I started to hang out with you.” You said as you grabbed the bag of m&m’s.

 “Hey I just like good food, you’re the one who always eats whatever I get.” He stuck his hand in the bag and devoured whole hand full of m&m’s.

 “So I’m thinking Wizard of Oz, it’s my favorite, but I will cry when Dorothy says goodbye to everyone in Oz, so fair warning on that.” You grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch and through it over you and Joe.

 “I mean that is a very sad part, I’ll probably cry as well.” You turned the t.v on and started the movie up, you couldn’t help but sing along with Judy Garland as she sang somewhere over the rainbow. Jo stared at you in disbelief, he didn’t know you could sing. Another thing to add to the list of cute things he thought. “Oh wow.” He was looking at you.

 “What, I can’t not sing along.” You shrugged.

 “Yea but you can sing, like good! Is there anything you can’t do?”

 “Run, I cannot run to save my life.” You laughed.

 “Ha! I can run, so I have one thing over you, that and my height!” He had a smug look on his face.

 “Well congrats on being a giraffe.” You rolled your eyes and grabbed the bag of kettle corn, and through some pieces of it at his head. “Don’t you dare throw any at my hair, it’ll get lost!”

 “So you can throw food at me but I can’t throw food at you? That seems very unfair.”

 “Life’s unfair!” You shoved some of it in your mouth and then snuggled up next to him. He welcomed you with open arms. As the movie went on and it got to when Dorothy was saying goodbye to everyone in Oz, you tried your hardest not to cry, but the tears poured out. You looked up at Joe to see if he was crying as well, he wasn’t but he did look super sad, he caught you staring and you smiled at him as tears ran down your face.

 “Jesus Charlie you weren’t kidding.” His free hand reached for the side of your face and wiped them away, his hand lingered just a little bit too long and you began to blush at the contact, it was sweet and you almost melted into his touch. When his hand moved away you turned to look at the tv again. “Any other movies that make you cry?”

“Marley and Me, Pride and Prejudice, Titanic, The Persuit of Happyness, My Girl, Awkenings, The Green Mile, ummmmm oh and Finding Neverland!” You looked up at him, eyes still glossy.

 “Right well, let’s not ever watch any of those! Although those are all great movies, don’t feel like seeing you cry anymore.” You got up from leaning into his side and reached for the remote.

 “Here, you pick something.” You handed him the remote then assumed your position next to him.

 “Your like a cat, you know that?” He motioned to the way you were curled up next to him.

 “You should see me when I go home to my dog, he get’s annoyed so fast when I make him sleep in my bed and I’m all up in his personal bubble.”

 “What kind of dog?”

 “Jacks a Chocolate lab, he’s 4, and he is the absolute love of my life, I’m so excited to go home to see him.” Joe looked down at you and you had that wide smile on your face, the one you make when you talk about something that makes your extremely happy.

 “Who takes care of him when your gone?”

 “My Aunt Sherry, she lives a town over, which means when I pick him up he’s going to be even more excited to see me because I’m taking him on a car ride, and those are his favorite!” Joe was in awe of how happy you were right now, and his heart was racing just imagining how cute you would look sleeping in bed with your dog next to you. “If I remember I’ll facetime you when I get home Friday night so you can see how fucking crazy he get’s when he’s in my car.” Joe nodded at you and finally decided on Dunkirk. “Oh this is the one with Harry Styles in it! He’s so pretty, I’m pumped now.”

 “Harry Styles?”

 “Yea he was in one direction? You know that song what makes you beautiful?” He looked down at you with his eye brows furrowed. “Ugh I keep forgetting your older than me, hold please.” You reached for your phone and looked up all the members for him. “This ringing a bell?”

 “They’re all English right?”

 “Yup! And Harry was always my favorite, so I am pumped! Even though it’s a sad movie I’m ready to see this man’s perfect face.” A few minutes in and their he was. “Ahhhhhh look at him, that’s my man!”

 “So your into older English men?”

“Well fist of all, I’m the same age as him and second of all I don’t have a type. But you’re going to look at me in the eyes and tell me he’s not an attractive person?” He looked at the screen again and paused it.

 “I mean he’s not ugly.” He shrugged.

 “You should here him sing, he’s a fucking angel!” Joe pushed play and the movie continued. You ended up falling asleep an hour in, per usual. Joe nudged you and you buried your face further into his side.

 “Well hello, you were so excited to see Harry that you fell asleep and missed the ending.”

 “He didn’t die did he?” You yawned and slowly sat up straight.

 “No, you missed so many good parts though, promise me you’ll re-watch it when you get home.”

 “Promise.” You yawned again and stretched your arms up, Joe got up and headed for your door, he started to tie his shoes, you gathered all the leftover snacks for him.

 “No keep them, eat them on your way home tomorrow, think of it as a filler Christmas gift, because I’m still figuring out what to get you.” You wrapped your arms around him going on your tippy toes, he wrapped his arms loosely around your waist and buried his face into your neck. You pulled away slightly, your arms loosening their grip, however his arms were pulling you closer. You could hear your heart pounding through your ears, he glanced at your lips and you found yourself moving closer to his. His breath fanned onto your lips and you closed your eyes, you’d suddenly forgotten how to breathe.

 “Charlie!” your eyes snapped open and both you and Joe jumped away from each other. You leaned your head out of your doorway to see a drunk Dean staggering towards you. “Shit was I interrupting something?”

 “No!” You and Joe stated at the same time. “Um no, were just saying goodbye.” You smiled shyly at Joe. Dean was clearly drunk.

 “Hey Dean! Fun night?” Joe was blushing and thank god Dean was too drunk to pick up on anything.

 “Yea! You guys should have been their!” Dean smiled at Joe and you.

 “Well next time I’ll gladly go out with you guys. Promise…I’m gonna head out, you guys enjoy your winter break! Bye Charlie.” He gave you both a small wave and you watched him head down the stairs. You let out a sigh, and turned your attention to Dean, you helped him to his apartment and then went to bed thinking about Joe.

[kindrednerdspirit]

Sometimes a Thing Feels so Right: Part 5

Excerpt: A slow smile spreads across Izzie’s face. “This time, I’m ready to broadcast our business.” “Oh yeah?” Casey murmurs. “Pretty sure we’ve already done that.” The curve of Izzie’s lips makes it hard for Casey to think about anything else, so she inches closer until their foreheads touch. The two giggle as they re-live the forehead promise from their not-so-distant past. To draw out the moment, Casey gently rocks her temples against Izzie’s, enjoying how tantalizingly close their lips are.

One Block Later. The Library.

When Izzie walks into the library for the student council meeting, she’s pleased to see Mel is early, too.

Mel looks up from her notebook. “Hey. I know we already have the safe space posters printed and ready to hang up, but I have some ideas for future designs. And ideas for other ways we can make Clayton Prep an LGBTQ+ friendly place.” 

“Great! Hold that thought.” Izzie quickly texts Jason to check up on him.

Hi Jase. Did mum help you and Alysha get ready for school?

The two girls jump into it. They’re about 15 minutes into their work when Harmony and Scarlet show up.

“Wow, you’re early!” Scarlet exclaims, looking at the girls. Izzie shrugs and keeps working. Scarlet scrutinizes her as she makes her way over to the table. Her eyes burn into Izzie, making it hard for her to concentrate.

“What?” She asks, her voice a bit too sharp.

“Your energy feels different, that’s all.” Scarlet ignores Izzie’s tone, continuing her visual inspection. “Did you hear anything else from Brad?”

The pen in Izzie’s hand stops in its tracks. The last people she wants to hear about are Brad or Nate or some other guy she cannot care less about. In the past, she’s repeatedly made this clear, but these two are relentless. Izzie sighs, because she knows It’s time to go public. Before she can change her mind, she looks directly at Harmony and Scarlet and straightens her back, so she’s not slouching in her chair.  “You know that I think Nate and Brad are assholes and I’m tired of repeating myself… so, I’m hoping you’ll listen to this--I’m gay.”

Harmony’s eyes widen and repeatedly blink. Scarlet doesn’t look much different than Harmony, but she’s able to form some words.

“Oh, shit, Izzie. I--we didn’t know.” A long silence fills the library. “Sorry.”

To her right, Mel shifts in her seat, but despite everything, Izzie feels fine. Actually, she feels an odd sense of relief. She realizes she rarely sees Scarlet uncomfortable, so she decides to enjoy the moment.

“Damn, you two, nobody died. I like girls, it’s cool.” Izzie looks over at Mel and the two burst out laughing. “We have to go ladies, but no hard feelings. Really.”

The two girls take their LGBTQ+ posters and leave, so they can start hanging them up in the hallways. Meanwhile, Harmony and Scarlet find themselves alone and digesting the news.

“Do you think her and Casey--” asks Harmony.

“Yes,” replies Scarlet with a firm nod.

“So, we probably shouldn’t have written ‘slut’ and ‘ho’ on her shoes then--”

“No, we shouldn’t have,” she says with a firm head shake.

Harmony inches her hand toward Scarlet’s. “Should we--”

The warmth of Harmony’s hand startles her, making her quickly pull away. “No.”

Concern clouds over Harmony’s face. “Should I--”

“Yes.” Scarlet replies a bit too quickly. She forces herself to look at the wall, anywhere but her friend. In a flash, Harmony grabs her notebook and pencil case, then scurries out of the library.

Break Between Classes. In the Hallway.

“I can’t reach any higher.” Izzie protests while on her tippy toes. She’s holding a stapler with an outstretched arm.

Mel is holding the safe space poster with ease against the bulletin board. “Would you like me to find you a box?”

“Haha. Very funny.” Iz rolls her eyes. “But, yes, a box would help.”

With a grin Mel takes the stapler from Izzie. “Or, you know, I can do this and you can hold the posters.” She proceeds to staple the top right-hand edge of the poster. Out of the corner of her eye, she spots Casey walking down the hallway.

“Yo, Izzie. Casey 4 o’clock.”

At the sight of Newton, Izzie sucks in a quick breath. This is her chance. “Here, Mel. Hold these or something.” Izzie drops the small stack of posters on the ground and whirls around to face Casey’s direction. Her body is shaking as she tries to find the right words.

“Hey. Can we talk?” Izzie’s voice quavers.

“Nope,” Casey replies firmly.

“I’m sorry.” Iz follows Newton to her locker, while Newton aggressively puts in the lock combination.

“I'm sick of you apologizing. You led me on, you're jerking me around. I hate it.”

“I really like you.”

Her pleading and stating the obvious irks Casey even more. “Yeah, in this moment, but in ten minutes, you might be embarrassed by me or kissing some random guy. Just leave me alone.” She slams the locker door, then abruptly turns and starts marching down the hallway.

“Newton!” Izzie is on Casey’s heels. “Will you stop for two seconds so I can explain?” 

It’s as if Casey is seeing red. She’s exhausted from avoiding Izzie at track this morning, nevermind what is currently happening. Needless to say, when she turns to face Izzie, she is done with this conversation.

“What?” Her brow is furrowed, but when she notices Izzie’s close proximity, her eyes soften.

They are close enough for their bare legs to touch. One of the few perks of a Clayton Prep skirt. Izzie hovers close before dipping her chin up. “I’m done being weird,” she murmurs. Casey’s heart is practically bursting as she watches Izzie’s lips part. It’s deja vu of the dance. The two of them in the exact same position with their lips close, but it’s different this time. This time, Izzie initiates. But like before, time slows as the two enjoy one another’s presence and touch. Their legs gently bump together as their arms intertwine.

Her lips taste delicious, like soft, warm vanilla beans. Exactly how Casey remembers. She brushes away a strand of Izzie’s hair after pulling away. Their eyes are locked on one another, a happy glow emitting from the couple. 

Izzie hasn’t felt this good in weeks, not since the dance. She figured she’d feel self-conscious after kissing Casey in front of everyone in the hallway, instead she feels fine. More than fine, even. There’s a strange sense of pride. She’s happy to show off what she has with Newton to Clayton Prep.

“That was pretty weird.” A dumbstruck grin spreads across Casey’s face. This is not what she imagined happening during her walk from Biology to English. She’s still wondering whether the last few minutes actually happened.

Doubt sets in at Newton’s response. Izzie feels her inexperience showing. Was the kiss okay? Did Newton feel the same?

“Bad weird?” She tentatively asks.

Casey just chuckles and throws an arm around Izzie’s shoulders, leading her toward their next class.

“I have so much to tell you!” 

Iz giggles, ecstatic to have her girlfriend holding her close, to have her favourite person back.

“First of all, I told my dad that I love you.” Casey feels her body being pulled back, as Izzie’s feet stop moving. Her eyebrows shoot up as she struggles to find the words.

“Wow, Newton, I--”

“But he thought I meant as a friend.” The two girls laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. “I would’ve corrected him but.. I wasn’t sure about us.” There’s an uncomfortable silence for a few beats. Iz presses her hand firmly against Newton’s. 

“You can be sure about us.”

A Few Weeks Later. Getting Ready for the School Dance. Gardner’s House.

When Casey walks down the stairs in her 1980s-style yellow and black patterned button-up shirt with black suspenders, Elsa feels a surge of pride in her daughter. She cannot restrain herself, she has to throw her arms around her girl and squeeze tight.

“I’m so proud of you!” Casey’s outfit matches the 1980s theme of Clayton Prep’s dance, and it’s reminding Elsa of her first high school dance with its overabundance of neon, big hair, and hormones.

“Mum!” Casey protests with an eye roll. “It’s not like it’s prom or grad, it’s just a dance. Or what you kids used to call it, sock hops.” She’s waiting in the living room, so she can make a quick escape with Izzie when she shows up.

Elsa is now leaning on Doug, enjoying the moment, ignoring her daughter’s teasing. “Can you believe that our youngest is going to her first dance with her first girlfriend?” Her eyes are starting to water. Doug pulls Elsa in with one arm, so her chin is resting on his shoulders. 

“They grow up fast.” He says quietly enough so only Elsa hears.

By this point, Casey has noticed the water works are starting, so she wanders over to Sam who’s sitting on the couch sketching. She gets all up in his personal space by resting her chin on his shoulders. There’s no hesitation or pause in the pencil’s movements. It’s as if Casey isn’t even there.

Ding-dong.

Within seconds, Casey is flinging open the door. She needs a quick exit to escape from the Elsa paparazzi. Except that as soon as she sees Izzie, the quick exit gets scratched. Izzie is wearing a denim jumper, somewhat similar to her own, but more stylized with buttons and rolled up sleeves. Her ears are adorned with her usual hoop earrings, but she’s paired them with a Boy George inspired hat.

A sheepish smile spreads across her face. “Hey, Newton.” She peers around her girlfriend to look at the Gardner family. “Hi Gardners!”

There’s a flurry as Elsa ushers Izzie and Casey inside. “You girls look so cute! Come in, I just want to take a few pictures.”

Casey gives Izzie an apologetic look, but of course, Izzie doesn’t mind. It’s kind-of nice seeing Casey’s family wanting to document and remember this moment. There are pictures taken of them as a couple, then they move on to taking some pictures of the Gardner family.

Sam pauses while Elsa is taking one of him and Casey.

“Are you and Izzie more serious than you and Evan?” His question is genuine.

“Dude, what the hell?” Casey exclaims before glancing over at Izzie. Izzie laughs, not bothered by his question.

“I need another person to go to for advice, like Evan, but I don’t know if I should expect your relationship status to change.”

Casey playfully punches her brother’s shoulder.

“Ow!” His face is scrunched up. “Why did you do that?”

“Because I’m your sister. It’s basically my duty to communicate with you in annoying ways.” Casey walks over to Izzie, wraps her arm around her, then pulls her in for a kiss on the cheek. “I can’t say she’ll give you advice, weirdo, but she’ll be around for awhile.”

***

Synthesizers and dreamy British, New Wave sounds fill the gymnasium. There is a lot of neon, big hair, hormones, and bright lights on the polished gym floor. Izzie stretches out her arm, holding up an inviting palm to Newton. A slow, confident smile spreads across Casey’s face before she takes Izzie’s hand.

“You look…” Her brain is at a sudden loss for words.

“You too.” Izzie finishes her sentence, then promptly blushes before looking at her feet.

“C’mon, let’s show these Clayton Prep losers how to dance.” Casey proceeds to reach into her pocket and pull out fingerless gloves. Izzie’s eyebrows shoot up. 

“I got them from Elsa’s closet.” 

“My girlfriend is unbelievably cool.” Iz says with a wink before placing Newton’s fingerless-gloved hands around her waist. “Hold Me” by Fleetwood Mac begins playing from the speakers. In response, Casey pumps a fist in excitement and carefully but skillfully dips Izzie with her other arm. 

“The power of the fingerless gloves.” She giggles.

“And you think Sam’s a weirdo?” Iz smirks.

The two begin Snoopy dancing to the upbeat piano and guitar licks. Elsewhere, Harmony and Scarlet are dancing suspiciously close, while Mel is talking up some girls at the punch bar. Despite the entire student body surrounding her, Iz doesn’t feel self-conscious at all. She’s just happy she’s no longer hiding anything.

“Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper begins playing, so the girls ditch the Peanuts-inspired dancing. Izzie cannot help but think of the hotel party as the familiar electricity between them pulls their bodies together. Her hands slip around the small of Newton’s back as their bodies rhythmically sway together.

A slow smile spreads across Izzie’s face. “This time, I’m ready to broadcast our business.” 

“Oh yeah?” Casey murmurs. “Pretty sure we’ve already done that.” The curve of Izzie’s lips makes it hard for Casey to think about anything else, so she inches closer until their foreheads touch. The two giggle as they re-live the forehead promise from their not-so-distant past. To draw out the moment, Casey gently rocks her temples against Izzie’s, enjoying how tantalizingly close their lips are.

Iz bites her lip. She wants to resist the urge to taste Newton, but her deliciously warm lips are too inviting. Goosebumps appear on her goosebumps. She feels the familiar tingly feeling that only Newton has ever given her. She could get used to this. This whole being happy at school, time away from her home responsibilities, being comfortable with her identity. Iz feels the remaining tension in her body loosen and the warmth of Newton’s arms around her. She feels safe in her embrace. Neither wants to let go, so they continue moving back and forth, as one, with their foreheads pressed together well after the song ends.

The End

[includeangieinthesequel]

For my fic Will’s Son

Oof the formatting is weird. I’m so bad at tumblr posts

1. What inspired you to write the fic this way?

I read a story about Kurt getting Diane pregnant and it was set during one of the earlier seasons of TGW. I loved it and it was cute but because Diane was an older mom she struggled a lot. I wanted Diane to have a baby but I wanted to keep the McHart love story we all love so much. So I decided to have Will be the dad and honestly as crazy as it seems it’s hilarious to think of Diane and Will raising a baby together. Which is why I did flashbacks to get a glimpse of them during the pregnancy and with a little one. It gives me time to think of the next chapter while keeping it cute if I’m writing an angsty or more romantic present time chapter. Also I just love doing flashbacks in stories.

2. What scene did you first put down?

The first chapter lmao. I just went for it because I didn’t know what I wanted to do but I wanted to establish Will and Alicia’s relationship first. I also wanted to establish that Will’s kid was Diane’s.

3. What’s your favorite line of narration?

Literally all of chapter 17.

Jk jk

Okay so when I wrote this line I just had to take a moment to exclaim to myself how fucking good I am. I had to look up a picture of Julianna Margulies’ eyes and I just went for it. The line is “Her features remained soft except those honey colored eyes whose specks of green reflected concern.” Bitch I’m so fucking good at imagery. That whole chapter was my favorite for narration. My other fave from that chapter is “It was like she lost her mind for a moment....Will really derailed her train of thought. Not even derailed, he crashed that shit.” That’s my fave paragraph because when I was writing the chapter I had a great flow and then it was like I lost my mind because I couldn’t think so Alicia had to lose her mind too. These characters are often feeling what I am too. It’s how I write good shit.

4. What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

Okay again, I’m gonna hype myself up. Guys I’m a funny person okay? I’m always trying to make people laugh in my writing and in real life. It’s hard to say. There’s also a chapter I haven’t posted yet that’s got a funny line in it. But I’ll give you my favorite line that isn’t funny.

“You wanna talk, baby? Let’s talk. I’ll listen.” That’s the most Will Gardner line I’ve ever written and it reminds me of the elevator scene when he asks if he’s being too hard on her. It’s flirty, fun, and very sexy. This chapter is PG and it’s still kind of sexy the way Will talks to her. It’s also from that chapter I love so much.

5. What part was the hardest to write?

Anything involving Alicia. Just.. fuck. If you’ve ever tried to write Alicia Florrick it’s hard as hell. She a complex character with a complex mind and she figures things out before I do. It’s like come on lady slow down just a little.. It’s like I know her future but I don’t know how she got there. Which is wild because with Diane and Kurt I just write whatever the fuck I want and they just follow along. Oh and Will! Will depends on Alicia’s story! She’s not even the main character and I struggle so hard with writing her. So just Alicia is the hardest part to write. I love the challenge but damn...

6. What makes this fic special or different from your other fics?

It’s not gay.

I’m pansexual. I like to read and write both lgbt things and straight things but I tend to write more for lesbian couples. My longest stories before this one were about Tanya and Rosie from Mamma Mia. Which is wild because it made me realize how different Tanya is from Diane Lockhart and as much as I want to compare them and write them the same I can’t. I can expand more on that but I won’t right now. The other thing that makes it different is the fact that I don’t rely on smut to fill in chapters or even fuel the next plot line. That could’ve been a Tanya thing but I don’t know. Smut doesn’t fit into this story with the way these characters are written. It’s also different because I’m not pushing myself to get to 2k words in every chapter. I take my time and when a chapter is ready it’s ready even if it’s only 300 words. It just has more flow and its not as immature as my Mamma Mia stuff. I literally cringe at that stuff now. My writing has grown a lot since then and it’s only been a few months.

7. Where did the title come from?

Nowhere. I think I need to change it so I can get more readers interested. I just wanted to post it because I was excited and had written three chapters before I decided to share it. So I just put the first thing that came to mind. I suck at chapters most of the time. I tend to save each chapter under a specific topic or a phrase or even a song that inspired it. I hate the title so much which is why I’ve started titling each chapter.

8. Did any real people or events inspire any part of this?

Heck yeah, baby. I pull inspiration from everything but the thing that’s most specific is my own life and friendships. Will and Diane’s relationship is taken from mine with my best friend. We’re platonic soulmates. In chapters 20+ you’ll see how this ties in but for now I’ll tell you this; I was a little in love with this person and they loved me too and we fell hard but we couldn’t be together and we shouldn’t have been because the moment we shared (like Will and Diane’s one night stand) was just a moment and though it felt like it was perfect and like we were in love we aren’t meant to be together and even if we are I’m sure the universe will find a way. But we’re best friends. They’re a little younger than I am and they’re totally Will and I’m Diane and the similarities are crazy.

9. Were there any alternate versions for this fic?

No. However, I’m thinking there needs to be so I can put Will and Diane together for once.

10. Why did you choose this pairing for this particular story?

Will/Diane: it was funny and wild and I love doing obscure stories.

Will/Alicia: it’s my fix it fic. They make me so emo and I just want them to be happy.

Kurt/Diane: because I wanted people to read it. Kidding lol. Because I love McHart so much and I enjoy writing them.

11. What do you like best about this fic?

How different it is. It’s just as fun as it is romantic and I’m so used to doing one or the other. I also love the response I’m getting to it. I didn’t expect it to be so well liked. I love writing babies and I love writing cute/funny lines. I also love romance. I love that I can reread it and laugh like I didn’t write it.

12. What do you like least about this fic?

It’s moving so slowly. I already know how I want it to end but getting there is taking entirely too long. It could be because half of it is flashbacks but guys I’m struggling. I’ve already written the first chapter of the sequel. I’m not even done yet.

13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn’t listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?

I don’t listen to anything while writing because I need to focus. The music I was listening too around the time I started writing was 90s R&B and Bruno Mars. I needed the raw emotion to fuel the feelings the couples had for each other. The soft, sexy, bass is exactly how Will and Alicia see each other. It’s how I would want to write their smut if I decided to write some for them. I would write it like a Boyz II Men song. Oh and for Kurt and Diane it’s literally just Mamma Mia songs and Motown. Angel Eyes kills me and it’s just so beautiful. Their love is beautiful and soft and angelic. They’re also classic like Motown and not always perfect but the feeling is there vague as it maybe. Definitely check out 90s hits like Boyz II Men, Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston. Do it. Also Motown cause Queen Baranski loves it.

14. Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from this fic?

Love is hard and Alicia deserved better. Also, love can come at any time in your life. That’s why I kept the classic Kurt and Diane love story. I made Willicia too easy so McHart is that much harder.

15. What did you learn from writing this fic?

I learned about babies’ growth and development. I knew a lot already because I’ve taken child care courses but I needed a refresher. I learned about cowboys and their lingo. I learned that readers like cute stuff and they don’t mind weird ideas. I learned that throwing in Mamma Mia references is always cool. And I learned that I don’t need to add smut to keep it interesting.