#macie does her own asks

[11queensupreme11]

How do the gods feel about Percy being an 'It Girl'? Idk, every time I think of her, i just imagine all the popular girls from high school 😭

omg i gotta talk about this in detail forgive me 😂😂

you know those tiktok stories ppl post about their glow ups? like they'd show pics of them when they were kids or in middle school, to how they look now in high school/collage/working adult????

THAT'S PERCY!!!!!

percy canonically was seen as a loser in the earlier books. she was constantly shuffled around boarding schools, which are EXPENSIVE btw, and in my fic the explanation for that is that these schools willingly took percy in with free tuition/lowered tuition because of how HORRIBLE her record is, and they wanted to take her in in hopes they could "improve" her and make their school look better cuz "hey we took this criminal poor child in and we made her a stellar student! we're so much better than the other schools, so give us donations and send ur kids to us because we actually work!" and that obviously just... never happened lol 💀

BUT ANYWAY, those schools are expensive and usually filled with wealthy kids from wealthy families, and they can CLEARLY tell percy isn't one of them. maybe because she's always wearing the same shoes, or she can't afford to get another uniform so she's always got the same crummy one with rips or stains they couldn't get out or "hey i saw percy and her mom walking to the laundromat, they're so poor they don't even have their own washing and drying machine haha!", or "guys i saw percy working at the macy's parade! hahaha, she's so poor she's gotta work during summer break!", etc.

like EVERYONE always knew her as that kid with no money and no dad who's always committing crimes ("hey isn't that jackson girl a terrorist?!"), she's a loser with barely any friends, and the friends she DOES make are losers too (grover and tyson were always looked down on, and in my fic she attends the di angelo's school, and they were looked down on too).

so imagine seeing that kid grow up into her teens and then get hit with the biggest glow up you've ever seen (cuz her face claim's adriana lima) 😂😂😂😂 i think her life started getting better around the time she she started attending goode high (a regular high school, not for elites like her previous school, so no one there knows her aside from her "crimes" on tv). and it's not just the glow up too, she's also a little more outgoing and confident in herself, more comfortable in her skin, etc. she's got a glow up inside AND outside. like imagine strolling around ur school and a girl who looks like a victoria's secret super model just walks by and she NOTICES you and just waves and says "oh hi! 👋😄"

percy has always been seen as a poor loser, but then high school happened and BAM she's now suddenly the most popular girl in school 🥺 she probably has a lot of mortal friends too. so not only is she popular in the demigod/godly world, but also popular in the mortal world (her high school, i mean lol). she's on the swim team, she's the ✨it girl✨ she probably got a ton of juniors or seniors trying to ask her out to prom/homecoming and shit despite being a freshman/sophomore 😂 and because she's got so many friends from school, she most DEFINITELY spent a lot of her free time hanging out with them, like just shopping in new york, going to skate parks, walking around the city, etc. (and with her demigod friends too ofc if they're in new york at the time). her insta, tiktok, and twitter's probably FULL of pics/vids of her just hanging out and being social 😂 she's the girl that's everywhere but home, always out and doing shit 😭

okay okay, i rambled too much im sorry, i just really love talking about percy being an ✨it girl✨ everywhere she goes

but anyways... the yanderes...... WOULD FUCKING HATE IT 😂

poseidon and beelzebub are the biggest introverts EVER. the thought of going out and touching grass would actually give them psychic damage 😂

poseidon's so lucky he was never in sally's position because he wouldn't be able to handle it. his daughter is everywhere BUT HOME 😭😭😭 like pls go home already child, stop hanging out with people, what do you mean you're at a SLEEPOVER RIGHT NOW? NO, COME HOME. do you even know the ppl you're talking to? YOU JUST MET THEM???? DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS, IDC IF THEY'RE COMPLIMENTING UR OUTFIT 😭😭😭 poor percy, in ror verse her life of excitement's gone, no going around hanging out with friends and doing random shit, she's got an overbearing dad now 😭

beelzebub's screaming, crying, throwing up, dramatically sliding his back down the door and everything 😭 going to midgard with percy was already hard enough for him, he literally had to handcuff her because she just WOULDN'T. STAY. STILL. and everyone kept staring at her and everything (remember when he read the mind of that one taxi cab driver and he lost his shit 😂). percy ALWAYS wants to go outside and he can't fucking take that shit, but he loves her so he takes her out anyway and it kills him every time 😭😭 BECAUSE EVERYONE ALWAYS WANTS TO TALK TO HER, AND SHE NEVER DOES ANYTHING ABOUT IT like sweetie..... stranger danger 😭

hades would be crying internally like "pls.... stay home.... just stay home pls 😭". he's glad his niece is so well-liked, she deserves to be adored by everyone!!! but maybe... maybe this is just a lil too much popularity... 😭 he'd burst into tears from the sight of her social media accounts alone, she's always out and about and rarely home, always with different ppl. it's so shocking to him cuz he's more comfortable hanging out with ppl he's close to like family and stuff, what do you mean percy's got different friend groups and she's always hanging out with them, what do you mean she's in hundreds of group chats in various texting apps, what do you mean seniors were asking her out to dances, STAY AWAY *HISSSSSS*

APOLLO WOULD BE SO HYPOCRITICAL 😂 he is ALSO a very popular god who's very extroverted and outgoing but holy shit would he meet his match in percy and he starts to see the downsides to such popularity 😂 he's soooooo glad that all of percy's old friends are universes away, but if that starts happening again in THIS universe he'd be on his hands and knees begging her to stay home and stop hanging out with ppl 😭 he now understands why poseidon kept her in the palace, cuz once she's out, she's going EVERYWHERE and meeting EVERYONE and nothing's gonna send her back home unless they drag her 😂

anubis is extroverted af so he definitely understands!!!!!!! jk. he'd be fine with it for the first few 24 hours, then everyone starts to become a threat to him because they keep stealing percy's attention. he'd be like "can't you stay home 🥺 pretty please 🥺🥺🥺 kebechet and i miss you so much 🥺🥺🥺 ur rarely home nowadays 🥺🥺🥺" and he and kebi would work together to guilt her into spending more time with them, and it would work 💀💀💀

loki would make the fatal mistake of taking her around valhalla and meeting other gods and shit, and then immediately regret it once he realizes that he's got a super sociable ✨it girl✨ in his hands who easily befriends everyone she meets 💀 he'd probably try to horde her in the palace, but that doesn't work cuz now she's helping servants out with the cooking and cleaning, having tea parties with odin, petting huginn and muninn, doing thor's hair, hanging out with the valkyries, etc. into the basement she goes, i guess! 😭😭😭

cú chulainn 1000% also understands what it's like to be popular. i'm pretty sure all of ireland knew him; ladies loved the dude and men feared and hated his ass cuz he either killed someone they cared about or fucked their wives and daughters 💀 so yes he definitely understands, but karma strikes him and it strikes him BADLY because percy is absolutely gonna be 100000000% more popular than him. like, he takes her out and looks away from her for ONE SECOND, and she's suddenly got 61341 friends already, half of which are probably in love with her or some shit 😭 hell, she'd probably unknowingly steal the hearts of the girls who crushed on him and all those dudes who hated his ass? yeah now they forgot about him cuz "wow who's the pretty girl next to him?? 😳😳" he'd be so stressed fr, he can't take her ANYWHERE cuz they all WANT HER. deserved karma if you ask me 💀

[xkaidaxxxx]

Fake love.

Hawks x reader

mentions: Angst, Pregnancy, Baby girl.

1.3k words

“ Keigo you don’t love me.” you said. “ I do love you more than anything,” he replied. “No you don’t…I see the way you look at Macy.” you replied. In this situation you are correct. Macy is one of his sidekicks. She’s so beautiful. She looks like she came out of a princess movie. Her hair flows amazingly. Her laughter is contagious and when she smiles she makes someone else’s day better. She has her own faults. Everyone does but she’s such a wonderful match for Hawks. When he comes home from work he somehow manages to bring her up in a conversation and praise her, even during important events where heroes and their loved ones are invited. There was a specific night that embarrassed you and made you cry like there was no tomorrow. “ Hey Hawks, it's been awhile. This must be your wife?” Macy questions smiling at you. “ No she’s my girlfriend.” he corrected her. “ Hi I’m Y/n. It’s very nice to meet you, Hawks mentions you all the time.” You said and the paparazzi showed up at just the right time to hear what you said. Cameras start flashing, voice records out, and notepads. 

“ Hawks, are you dating Macy?”

“ How long has your relationship been going?” 

“ Is there a proposal coming up?” 

“ Do you work with her because you two are dating” 

“ Give us some updates Hawks.”

“ Macy, do you love him?” 

“ Macy, what type of dates have you gone on with him?” 

And many more questions. 

He didn’t even deny it. Not even Macy. She smiled and walked inside in a hurry. You were pushed to the back by the paparazzi. 

“ You all are not allowed out here. Please leave. I don’t want to call the police here and have you all arrested.” he said. 

“You are in love with her!” 

“ You want her out of harm's way!” 

“ Hawks, are you planning to retire to marry her and have children?” 

He walked inside slamming the door forgetting you. 

You cried hailing a taxi to go home. When you walked inside you slammed the door shut and locked it. “ How did he forget about me? Why didn’t he say he’s with someone else..with me? Why have we been dating for 3 ½  years and he hasn’t asked me to marry me? Am I not giving him what he needs? Am I not good enough?” you asked those heartbreaking questions. “ I am good for him. I give him all my love and support. I love him. I cook and clean and always make sure he’s healing well when he has injuries. I wake up in the middle of the night to make sure he isn’t bleeding when he has cuts. I give him all I have to offer and that’s not enough. He doesn’t appreciate me. He doesn’t love me.” you said. That night and almost all the time your bed felt cold regardless if he was there. You knew that the relationship was loveless so why did you stay?

A week later you were tangled in between the sheets with him feeling happy. Happy because he showed you a bit of love. He was being so gentle and kind. He did start paying attention to you but to him it was almost a job. A task that reminds himself to do. It’s not a natural thing like in any relationship. You picked up on it and it made you feel like a burden. Gave you mixed feelings.

Happy he’s putting in effort and hurting because it’s almost a job instead of being a good boyfriend .

“ I’ll be home early today sweetheart.” Keigo said ruffling his wings. You think it’s cute when he does that “ Okay my love. See you soon.” You replied holding his hand to help you balance has you tip toed to peck his cheek. “ nice energy boost sweetheart.” He said flying away. You closed the door.

You guys are playing house at this point.

2 players

You’re the sad housewife

He’s the breadwinner

You prepared dinner and served it, waiting at the table reading the message that he’s close on by.

5 minutes turn to 15 minutes.

15 minutes to 36 minutes.

The food is obviously gone cold.

Eventually it hit 2am, he showed up drunk. You opened the door and saw his hero friends holding him up.

“ Do you need help taking him upstairs?” Best Jeanist asked. “ No sir. Thank you all for bringing him home.” You replied taking him and closing the door.

“Keigo get up. Now!” You ordered. He stood up leaning against the countertop. “I’m s’hungry. Dinner?” He said seeing the cold food.

You didn’t even bother to talk to him. You simply went upstairs to sleep.

This happened a least 5 times. When he was brought home..each time the guys would ask if you needed help. If you were okay. After all, heroes save people. Each time you said you’re good.

He did suddenly change. He did give you more attention. He’s doing it as a routine. Not out of love but out of pity. Out of guilt .

————————————————————————

Things he’d say to himself:

-Okay remember ask her about her day.

-watch her as she gets ready for bed and give her a kiss here and there

-don’t forget it’s date night

-Make sure to buy gifts

-never cause something to upset her

————————————————————————

4 months went on by.

“ You’re joking. False positive. It’s a false positive.” You said and decided to take another test. Minutes went on by. “ Definitely Positive.” You spoke trying to calm yourself down. You threw away the pregnancy tests. “ I’m pregnant. I need to set up and appointment.” You said. You were thinking about abortion but you’re creating a baby. A life. That’s something you shouldn’t take away. You decided to keep it.

You were 1 1/2 months along. You were getting signs a week ago. Now you’re showing a bit of a bump.

You’re so nervous and excited to have a baby. You thought Keigo will be overjoyed. You were working on a way to tell him about it.

Tshirt?

Straight up test in his face?

You chose to sit him down, saying you have a gift and hand him a pregnancy test.

The day finally came an you were glowing! You changed into something cute and did you make up. You wore the jewelry he had recently bought you. “Sit down very quickly. I have news for you!” You said jumping up and down. “Hey I’ll be away for about a year on hero work. The United States is waiting for me. I leave in 3 hours..endeavor is waiting for me outside..I’ll keep you updated. Tell me about your news later or I’ll be late.”he said leaving a peck on your cheek. “ Don’t promise that you’re going to write or call…you’ll be busy and I’ll only be worried if you don’t respond soon.I love you so much Keigo” you said. “ I’m still going to call. I love you princess. I’ll try and get home early.”he said leaving. As soon as you were about to tell him you're 2 months pregnant this man is saying his goodbyes and leaving“ God, Keigo, just please remember we had it all. I gave you absolutely everything I had to offer you.”You said. “Time for a fresh start.” with that you went on about your day. It took about 2 months to find a new place to live. You now live about 2 hours away from the countryside of Japan. It was peaceful. The neighborhood held a welcome party for you. When you went to your monthly check ups the woman would feel bad for you. You had no husband, not even a boyfriend that could accompany you. “ It’s a girl!” the gynecologist said happily. You looked at the screen with tears slipping. “ She’s going to be such a cutie pie.” you said giggling. When you hit 7 months It was even harder. You struggled washing your clothes, picking up things from the floor, you couldn’t put on shoes, so you wore slippers all the time. You’d have sleepless nights when your baby girl kicked and moved around a lot and when you craved something, you’d have to drive yourself to the store. 

Miu decided to come two weeks early. If Keigo stayed by your side during your pregnancy you wouldn’t have struggled much. He’d be taking you to the hospital, not the ambulance. Miu’s dada wasn’t there to see her be born. Wasn’t there to hold your hand, wipe your tears and sweat away as you pushed. It was only the nurses and the doctor. After the birth of your daughter you still gave her , her fathers last name. 

The worst part of all of it is that you’re young. 19 having a child with a 23 year old man. Not a huge age gap,but you are barely starting your life. Soon after your daughter turned 4, you moved back to get her a better education and you a better job. $9,500 yen an hour isn’t bad for a beautiful home and to raise Miu. Everything is good for you and little Miu. You both had each other and that’s all that mattered.

————————————————————————

Love yall

<3

[call-me-eds]

The Boy is Mine (call-me-eds version)

I was not tagged in @carolmunson 's writing challenge, and encourage with her for other small writers to jump in and participate in anything that sparks interest or creativity! Find the guidelines here and check out her ongoing masterlist to see all of the other incredible editions :)

Masterlist

A romantic night in at the trailer. 

Fluff | WC: 2.5 K

“I ran out of, like, nice cups, is this okay?” Eddie extended a plastic souvenir cup with the Cubs logo half chipped off, and it took everything in you not to slap it out of his hand. 

The gravity of this night was not being taken seriously by anyone, and it was driving you up a wall. You could only give your own 100%, nothing more, but apparently you’d need to drag the effort from the Munson’s with your bare hands.

“No, it’s not okay! This is a date, you need to make a good impression,” you abandoned your station at the counter to start rifling through cabinets. There were three open bottles of whiskey in the trailer but not a single cocktail glass. Eddie’s soft voice barely pulled your wandering thoughts from wondering how long it would take you to run home to get two of your own glasses.

“Baby, do I need to remind you that neither of us are going on this date?” he asked, avoiding the urge to come behind you and put his hand on your shoulders to manually relax them. He didn’t want to lose a limb and you were dangerously close to the knife block. He looked on, feeling helpless in his own home while you ran around like the queen was coming over.

Whatever, it could have been possible that you were going a little overboard, but all you wanted was for Wayne to have a good night. He was so kind and hardworking, and putting up with Eddie was an exhausting job. The man was a saint.

So you messed with one of the lightbulbs to dim the light, fluffled the one throw pillow that the men had, and convinced Wayne to take his time getting ready while you and Eddie made a round of drinks that didn’t come with a tab or need a bottle opener. 

“We don’t have time for reminders, just line the rims,” you said, carefully putting down the only two matching drinking glasses. They weren’t the martini glasses in your vision, but they would have to do. 

“Vanilla frosting?” he confirmed. “What, is this Christmas-themed?” he joked, but took care in looking at the photo on the recipe you ripped out from an old home magazine you found. He gently inserted the glass and spun it around. No matter how much he teased you, you knew that he wanted the night to go well for his uncle just as badly as you did.

“So what if it is? Who doesn’t love Christmas?” you asked, going back to arranging the food you put on a tray you found that might have been older than Eddie. He finished his task, taking the care he knew you would have, quickly swiping his finger through the sugary substance when you were turned away.

“Everyone does, it’ll be a hit,” he said, maybe just to make you feel better, and licked his finger clean before you could catch him. “But if you don’t relax, you’re going to hit the floor,” he side-swiped you and pressed a kiss to your cheek, going to the sink.

With the self-imposed expectations you put on yourself to ensure your boyfriend’s father figure had a great night was the guilt that came from forcing your man to anticipate your wants for the night. There weren’t any canceled plans, and just a few snippy comments, but you were sure there were other ways Eddie would want to be spending his Saturday night off from work. Between ironing the one tailored shirt in Wayne’s closet and taking your own laundry down from the clothesline, you told Eddie to call Steve and make plans to meet him and Robin at The Hideout for a few drinks. 

Non-peppermint drinks. Which smelled like Macy’s in December and were definitely from the holiday edition of the magazine. You didn’t have time to overthink your out-of-season choice, though, because Wayne was coming out of the bathroom smelling suspiciously like Eddie when you went out on special occasions. A mental note fleetingly popped into your head to buy your boyfriend his own, different scented, bottle of cologne.

“I could have sworn I told you two to scram,” Wayne said, a hint of sincerity in his mocking tone. His eyes scanned over your spread with equal parts appreciation and confusion. Fine, maybe wintery cocktails, carrots, and crackers didn’t exactly go together, but you were working on a tight timeline and whatever you could scrounge up from the Quick-Mart.

“We’re going soon, I swear,” you promised, mixing the combination of ingredients that you thought might be on the sweet side for Wayne’s preference, but were sure that his date would prefer to a Heineken. There wasn’t a cocktail shaker at your disposal, a measuring cup and a fork would have to get the job done.

Eddie could read the two of you like a book. The nervous energy you were emitting had him wanting to stay out of the way, so he washed and dried the few dishes you dirtied in record time. The domestic act may not have been as exciting as ripping a guitar solo, but it was just as sexy to you, especially when you didn’t even need to ask. Not that you were paying a speck of attention to him at the moment.

“Now Sally’s just coming over for a little while before we go to our rummy game,” Wayne said, sounding like he was warning you both to behave before leaving you with a babysitter. “So you don’t have to be out all night, but I don’t want you making her feel crowded,” he pointedly looked at Eddie this time, who couldn’t even pretend not to understand.

The last time the two of you had been around when Wayne’s “friend” Sally came over, Eddie wouldn’t stop asking her questions about her job, her family, her weekend routine, and you feared he was getting dangerously close to inquiring about her medical history and savings account.

“We’ll be out of your hair, don’t worry,” you confirmed, doing one last sweep to make sure there wasn’t a trace of Eddie in the living room. As endearing as he might be, your boyfriend had a tendency to leave anything that belonged to him in the shared space of the trailer. 

“Now listen, here, partner,” the dark-haired Tasmanian devil strode up to his uncle in imitation and smacked a hand on his shoulder. “We’re not going far, so if there’s any funny business going on under this roof I will know about it.” The two of you heard a version of the same speech any time Wayne was going to the bar or leaving for a shift and you two would be by yourselves. It had the opposite effect, making you act all the more quicker so you’d be put back together when he came back home.

“Son, I was getting into funny business before you were born,” he responded, knocking Eddie’s bravado right off its kilter.

“Oh, ew, I don’t want to think about that!” he whined, blush appearing faster than his hands could cover his face.

“Well, if you don’t quit it, we’re going to have a problem, then.”

“Leave him alone, let’s go,” you said, grabbing the bag of snacks reserved for you two from your grocery trip. “Have fun, Mr. Munson,” you smiled. Even though you were setting him up for a night of romance and intimacy, you still couldn’t bring yourself to call him by his first name. 

“Thank you, Darlin’, I’ll see you later,” he said, reaching out to ruffle Eddie’s hair before he was out of reach. 

“Hey!” You opened the door to separate the two before a wrestling match broke out and a button popped or a hair came out of place.

“And if you don’t start opening doors, boy, you won’t even be in amusing business, nevermind funny!” he called after the two of you, making you laugh. He kept walking, grabbing your hand and waving it around so his uncle could see the small act of romance.

The two of you strolled in between the trailers as the sun was dipping below the horizon. You let the stillness of the evening come over you, decompressing from your few high-string hours. The adrenaline seeping out of you made you more tired than you should have been before sunset, and you accepted that your actions were a bit overkill. But you just couldn’t help yourself.

“Your uncle looked really nice,” you commented, smiling at the thought of him deciding what to wear and pulling out his fanciest belt buckle. “Like a real gentleman.”

“And you like that?” Eddie asked. “You’re not exactly dating the swankiest guy in town,” he flicked the hand that wasn’t holding yours up and down, gesturing to his sweatpants and t-shirt. You wouldn’t dignify his self-deprecation with a response, so you just squeezed his hand.

“He was nervous, it was cute,” you deflected. Eddie sat down in one of the chained-down adirondack chairs that the trailer park had surrounding a few singed logs that were last tended to before you had even met the Munsons. He reached down to grab the security measure and tug another chair as close as it could possibly get to his.

“I don’t understand why we couldn’t have just stayed in my room or something,” he said as you sat down. “I could have behaved myself.” Even as the words came out of his mouth, his mumbling was evidence even he didn’t believe it. “Whatever, I’ll just read about it in his little notebook later that he pretends isn’t a diary.”

“Eddie!” you laughed. “Let him have some privacy, he’s a grown man.” As you and Eddie got older, he tended to treat his uncle more like a roommate than an elder. When you first started dating he would have taken his arm from being around your shoulders when Wayne walked into the room, where now he tried to convince you that walking around in his boxers wasn’t weird, it was like wearing your own shorts.

“You love him more than me,” he deduced, flopping in the chair like a depressed fish.

“Aw, don’t be like that. that’s not even true,” you swung your leg over the arms of your chairs, and his hand drew like a magnet to your calf, starting to rub it with the amount of pressure he learned you preferred.

“Yes it is, that’s why you always want to come over to my place. You’re using me to get to him and his union insurance,” he teased, sending you into a further fit of giggles.

“Would someone that bought you your nasty snacks be using you?” you asked, handing him the plastic bag with the beef jerky he loved so much.

“You do always say this will give me a heart attack,” he smiled, ripping open one of the packages with his teeth. The two of you sat in silence for a few minutes, Eddie’s massaging hand lulling you into a level of relaxation that let you both know you wouldn’t be joining Steve and Robin at the bar like you originally planned. With all of his talk of malintentions on your front, you were pretty sure that he was trying to lull you into the state you were in now so he wouldn’t want to go out. 

Eddie talked a big game, but when faced with the decision to hit the town or stay curled up in bed with you, he was hiding your shoes, boiling water for tea, and putting a blanket on the radiator for maximum comfort. 

“Hey, you know I appreciate it, right?” he asked through his chewing. 

“What, the snacks? They were like, two bucks,” you told him. He pinched your skin lightly, chastising you for making him talk about how he truly felt,

“No, you doing all of that for Uncle Wayne.” You kept your eyes on the stars that were starting to dot the sky. It was always so much easier to spot them from the trailer park, even more so with Eddie by your side.

“I was happy to,” you reassured. It wasn’t a secret how much you loved spending time not only with your boyfriend, but with his uncle. He always made space for you in his home and trusted you with the most important thing in his life. 

“I know, but it still means a lot, Sweetheart. I love you,” he lifted your leg slightly so he could lean down and press his lips to your ankle where your leggings separated from your sock.

“I love you,” you answered automatically.

“Next week I’ll make sure he goes out so I can give you a romantic evening,” he promised.

“This is a romantic evening,” you hummed.

“Baby,  I know I’m white trash, but don’t let me drag you down into thinking this is romance,” he laughed. You sighed and finally took the bait from all of his negative quips.

“Okay, what’s your idea of romance, then?” 

“Not helping my uncle get laid,” he scoffed. You pulled your leg from his grasp to lightly kick at his chest. “Alright, alright. If I had unlimited cash I would start by hiring a chef to cook for us so we wouldn’t even need to leave the house,” he started, cajoling your leg back into his grasp to continue his massage.

“Does that mean I wouldn’t have to dress up?” you asked.

“Ideally, you wouldn’t be wearing anything,” he said, fully meaning it. “I’d have a new piece of jewelry come out with every course, so I guess you could wear that. And after we ate, maybe I’d hire someone to play us a concert, like Prince or someone. Then we’d go fly to France for dessert on my private jet and come home to the penthouse and watch the sunrise,” he finished.

“That’s not romantic at all,” you said. “That’s just expensive.” You pulled away this time not to punish him, but to get closer. His hand was warm from the work it was putting in on your muscles as opposed to the normal chill. 

“Okay, so then what was the right answer?” he asked. 

“This, just being together,” you said, knocking the air from his chest and the canned response from his lips. 

It was a simple answer that held much more beneath the surface. What you weren’t saying was that every time you were with him felt like you were winning the lottery. The idea of a five-star meal and some diamonds were nice, but you’d take Eddie heating up a can of soup on the stove, a bracelet made of string and beads, and him playing the same guitar riff over and over for hours over anything he could cook up in his mind.

Despite the nice picture he painted, running through his mind was a more similar scene to yours, except there was a ring on your finger.

“I guess that sounds good, too.”

[annavere]

Tossing my hat in the Teen Wolf meta ring, because I've been thinking about this all day. I've read various theories about why Peter Hale offered Stiles the bite and then accepted a refusal, when he didn't offer a choice to either Scott or Lydia. Most of these seem to involve Peter respecting Stiles more than the others, or being aware that Stiles would be a very unpleasant adversary as an unwilling bite-ee.

My theory: He offers Stiles the bite, because Stiles might actually accept it. He doesn't make the same offer to Scott or Lydia, because neither of them would say yes. Peter is a very patient man (usually). His modus operandi is sitting around, collecting information, avoiding conflicts, then swooping in at the perfect moment (usually late in the season) to mop up. He's a manipulator by preference, but if he can't manipulate, he'll use force. He needs Scott, and Lydia, and there's no point asking if they want the bite, since they're not going to give the answer he wants to hear.

Obviously, given the short window of opportunity, he can't just walk up to Scott in the forest at night and say "Hey kid, wanna become a werewolf? You can have claws and fangs, it'll be great. No asthma! Think it over. You've got ten minutes." That's not gonna work, so why bother? If Sheriff had found Scott, leaving Stiles alone in the woods, Peter wouldn't have asked him for permission, either. Lest we forget, Melissa McCall was also on his bite-happy list, and the premise applies to her as well: Nothing would have induced that sensible woman to say yes.

Meanwhile, he definitely stalked Lydia, and was in the room with her at both Macy's and the winter formal, where the conversations he had opportunity to overhear would tell him Lydia had her life on track exactly as she wanted it. She was not going to jump at the chance to become a supernatural creature of any sort (especially not to bail his sorry ass out in event of his demise). It wouldn't help with her school popularity or her winning of the Fields Medal, therefore… "Pass."

Stiles, however, is tempted (at least according to Peter). "Do you know what I heard just then? Your heart beating slightly faster over the words 'I don't want.' You may believe that you're telling me the truth, but you are lying to yourself." Hence Peter can shrug and walk away, because Stiles wants it, and that means Stiles can eventually be put in a position where he'll say yes.

We see the exact same behavior play out again a season later, with Lydia. The man who didn't care about violating her physical and mental autonomy is suddenly willing to play nice, asking permission to kiss her and backing off when she refuses. Why? Because while she would never have agreed to have her latent banshee powers triggered, she is attracted to him. She places boundaries and he accepts them, because it's only a matter of time before she capitulates. Sure enough, he creates a scenario that works for her in the very next episode. When she finds out who young!Peter is, she rejects any further make out sessions, and (although he remains the handsy stuff of nightmares) he does not force that particular issue. Given the "only have eyes for you" vibe every time they are ever in a room together afterward, he is presumably content to wait her out.

This, after all, is the man who says of teenagers: "One minute, it's 'I hate you, don't talk to me.' The next, it's frantic groping in any dark corner they could manage to find." This statement is the closest he ever comes to commenting on his own actions after spending a month in Lydia's mind. Teenagers, according to his self-serving universe, refuse things they secretly want, things Peter knows they want because he can hear their heartbeats. And if Stiles and Lydia say no, but mean yes, he's already won. He'll collect later.

So, tl;dr: Peter Hale, provided nothing urgently requires him to override the issue, does care about consent and is willing to abide by it - but only if the answer is eventually going to be yes.

[deedala]

what are the Gallaghers/Milkoviches up to in the year of our Lord 2024?

hello macy!! 🥰💖

oh wow thank you for asking!!

✨🌱 gallagher/milkovich family updates under the cut🌱✨

ian and mickey are doing great, their business is running smoothly and they're very successful and happy. once their parole ended they started making time to take road trips out of the state to places theyve always wanted to see. they're currently on a road trip right now in fact!

debbie and franny are great. franny does really well in school and has started playing tee ball and really enjoys it! debbie's business is going well, she's currently single (by choice) but has really reconnected with some of her old welding school friends as well as becoming good friends with calista, whose influence and guidance has really helped ground her. she's matured a lot, but of course she's still good ole debbie, just less messy and a bit more confident in herself.

fiona did that reality dating show down in florida but it was not a great experience. she decided to move to louisville near kev and v. being with her best friends again while still being away from chicago has been really good for her. she has a steady job at a laundromat (that she doesnt own)

lip and tami are doing fine, fred is fine. tami was not pregnant! phew! lip struggled for a little bit but he and brad are back on their feet fixing bikes and its going well.

carl quit being a cop and took over the alibi full time with his former cop former partner guy. the alibi did not really turn into a cop bar after-all, but the cliente has changed a little as they made some changes to the vibe and did some good marketing and its become a pretty solid business.

liam is also great. he's well taken care of living with lip and tami and fred. he also bounces around to his other siblings' apartments pretty regularly just to hang out, sometimes babysits franny, plays video games with mickey, goes jogging with carl or ian (sometimes both!). he's actually on his way to two weeks of summer camp right now. he won a camp scholarship through school to go and he's extremely stoked!

mandy is living somewhere on the north side in an apartment with some friends. she's got a desk job now in the admin office of the chicago make up school. its a solid paying job and she enjoys the atmosphere. she's been thinking of maybe becoming an MUA herself but hasnt decided yet. she hangs out with ian and mickey regularly(sometimes together and sometimes just one of them!)

sandy and debbie have texted a few times but things are still weird for now. sandy doesnt stay in chicago, she likes to bounce around a lot and do her thing. when she is in town she always hangs out with mickey and mandy and she's doing a-ok.

[blank-house]

I think i may have caught some bugs!

For the fish toy we win at the games, when Percy talks about shared custody, does that mean the game assume he won it or is it just flavor text i missundersood?

Also i might remember it wrong but for the study sessions, the MC asks who Quynh is but i think we met her at the carnival?

Nope just flavor text! He’ll say that no matter who owns it in the end because you guys were together for it :,)

Anddddd you don’t meet Quynh at the carnival! The only one who’s of note there that’s not part of the main cast is Macy, your genderfluid RA

[antiquepearlss]

quick thanks giving ask before i have to disappear for personal reasons

ill be back soon dw bbys

what r the tts(& hugo cuz varian just HAD to bring his new boyfriend to thanksgivinh this year) favorite foods for thanks giving?

varian & quirin will always love pumpkin pie, its obvious, but i think varian would also like mashed potatoes

Rapunzel likes the corn bread(she just would idk WHY but i think shed liek corn bread okay HEAR ME OUT)

eugene & lance like it all, but eugene likes the gravy, like just the gravy, yes the other food is good, but gravy is just on top i fear

lance is a foodie, he likes it all

the girls like the turkey, except they fuckinh hate when its dry, so they drench their turkey in gravy if its dry

Hugo likes the stuffing and bread rolls, like hes a bread guy, he LOVES bread, and stuffing is like his thing

OH qnd cass(this is from my brother) likes the shit thats not even supposed to be at a thanks givinh dinner, like my brother said ahed like potato salad😭🙏 shes a diva what can i say

and as a whole lance def does the cooking, like dont even try me he does the cooking and its FIRE🙏 and they all get together on thanks giving and just have fun and talk, they just chill and eat and then take a big group nap bcuz of the food coma LMAO

I know this is about favorite foods but I’m just going to go ahead and drop my whole Thanksgiving scenario because I can. Also because those headcanons are canon actually and I can’t beat them. Rapunzel would like corn bread. Varian def likes the turkey and stuffing. Hugo likes the bland foods like bread and mashed potatoes. Lance liking all of it is so canon. Raps and Varian definitely love the desserts after. Eugene tries to bring like, low-calorie/diet alternatives but Lance throws them away. Also I love the Cass hc.

So Thanksgiving is always at Quirin’s house. Lance wants to have it at his but it’s too small, and Rapunzel plans most of everything else, so she lets Quirin lead this one.

Quirin and Lance do most of the cooking. Sometimes the others will bring a side dish, but Quirin and Lance prefer they didn’t. (They’re both kind of a diva in the kitchen) No one is allowed to help in the kitchen, except for Rapunzel and maybe Varian. The two men started off as kinda rivals when it came to cooking Thanksgiving foods, but they finally calmed down and now they’re a dream team. (The Quirin Lance friendship is weirdly super important to me??) Rapunzel and Varian do the baking, though.

I think Thanksgiving football is a thing? (I wouldn’t know, I did not grow up in a sports family lol.) So if it is, everyone watches that, but not really because they’re not sports people either. They just add their own stupid commentary to it while they wait for the food to be done. If they actually play a game, it just turns into Eugene and Varian and/or Hugo wrestling. Cass will play wrestle the girls, too. Eugene is not playing though, he fights to win. (Also Hugo and Varian are annoying and deserve to be smacked around a little.) I think it would be funny if Hugo and Varian wrestle and they get very aggressive about it. Couple goals.

They definitely watch the Macy’s parade, too. Rapunzel adores it. Lance likes the musical acts. Varian isn’t allowed to watch it because they’re worried it’ll inspire him /j. If the food still isn’t done, Quirin pops in the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special to get them to stfu. I also think it would be really funny if Lance made them watch these really obscure 1970-80’s Thanksgiving specials that aired once and no one knows about. They also watch that one scene from The Addams Family Values. You know the one.

Rapunzel also brings little crafts for everyone, too. And you can’t get out of them because they’re all too weak to her pouty face. Hand turkeys, paper towel turkeys, acorn turkeys, leaf turkeys, paper plate turkeys, if she gets her hands on something, she’s turning it into a turkey. It’s a new craft every year.

Varian absolutely tries to do educational stuff, and it works about half the time. Documentaries about the first Thanksgiving, little worksheets for third graders because they were free to print, stuff like that. I think he and Rapunzel (and to a lesser extent, Hugo) probably do go on rants about the lack of education about Native American history, so I think they take this opportunity to study and teach it.

(Eugene: Varian wtf why do I have to do this? Varian: because it’s educational! And also the only one that was free to print.)

I think Hector and Adira show up occasionally. Not every year, but maybe every two or three years. They also never give a heads-up, so it’s just a headache for everyone involved except them. Cass usually spends it with her father, but if he’s busy she’ll do it with Raps’ family (which for the sake of this post, is Quirin, Eugene, and Varian. Idk Frederic and Arianna are anti-Thanksgiving ig.)

Because they’re the youngest, Varian and the girls are tasked with setting the table and are just, so grumbly about it. Varian once suggested plastic plates and cutlery to cut down on dishes and Quirin grounded him for a month /j.

Once they actually sit down to eat it’s actually pretty chill. Quirin forces them all to say things they’re thankful for, and about half of them actually give serious answers. I think Hugo always gives a snarky answer, but one year he said “Varian.” So Var Bear definitely cried into his mashed potatoes that year. Rapunzel goes on soliloquies so she’s always last. There’s a 50/50 chance Varian will start talking about the latest scientific marvel, before going “and like, my family too.” Lance has a list. Cass gives one word answers. Eugene is usually not very serious, but sometimes he’ll say something sweet (followed by something funny.) Kiera and Catalina have never given a serious answer and they never will.

“so what are you thankful for?”

“the teletubbies reboot”

“my lobotomy”

“your mom”

“weed”

The dinner itself is actually pretty tame. This group of people aren’t exactly the type of people to argue about like, politics lol, nor would they get unnecessarily chaotic during the meal. (Hugo is too scared of Quirin to pick a fight with his nephew in front of him on a holiday.) They just kinda vibe and hang out. They seem like the type of people to keep talking even an hour after they’ve finished their food, though. They really enjoy eachother’s company.

Once they’re done, Rapunzel usually is the one to volunteer to do dishes, and Varian helps her out (and forces Hugo to help as well.) And because they’re them, the dishes are somehow washed, dried, and put away in the span of fifteen minutes. They also measure out the leftovers for everyone to take home.

Maybe after the dinner they all go on a walk or something idk. Just to take in the last of the fall foliage before everything is barren and dead. Also because Old Corona is generally very chill and cold, so sometimes it snows which Raps loves.

So this one is purely based off of my family, but after the dinner/walk they all watch a Christmas movie and fall asleep. It is not uncommon for all of them to just spend the night there because of the food coma they’re in. Cass usually does leave, though. Raps takes pictures and makes a lil scrapbook.

Max, Fidella, and Ruddiger all get some leftovers, too. (Usually leftover stuffing and mashed potatoes because you shouldn’t give animals turkey!)

Also one year Quir an Var had Thanksgiving with Ulla’s family, so naturally everyone went with them because where else are they supposed to go?? And so they all sat at the kids table with Varian to make him feel better. Fred and Ari tried to host a Thanksgiving once, and it was so stiff and formal and uncomfortable, that everyone just agreed to never do it again. Donella went to a dinner once with Hugo, she was weirdly delightful.

[fckinwild-kiwi]

Dec. 14th: Let’s Play House

Day 14: Morning Routine/Handiwork Around the House

It’s time for day fourteen of @comp-lady’s Domestic December writing challenge!

Warnings: Swearing, *Slight* Allusions to Smut (This is an 18+ blog, minors dni)  Word Counts: 1.3k+ Words Pairings: Eddie Munson x Reader

You and Eddie had finally agreed, after the New Year you two would begin saving up money to move in to your own apartment with hopes that it would be by at least the middle of summer. With Eddie’s income working at the record shop and the money you’ve been saving from your job as a para in a school, you would finally save enough money to make a deposit on a studio or one bedroom apartment in Hawkins. 

“I think we should practice living together,” Eddie randomly blurted as he played on your bed. 

“You mean compared to what we have already been doing?” You said before laughing. “We already stay at each other’s places every night.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Eddie agreed, sitting up and putting his head on his hands. He stayed quiet. You could tell something was beginning to eat away at him, it wasn’t in his nature to have long bouts of silence.

“What are you thinking about,” You said, walking to the edge of the bed to sit down before nudging your shoulder against his.

“I really want to have a trial run of living together, like actually,” Eddie said, turning his body to face yours. “People fall out of love all the time and the find little things they hate about each other because of their living arrangements. I don’t want that with us.” 

“Baby,” You whispered, now turning your body to face Eddie’s as you looked into his eyes. “We have been living a trial run, but if you want to make it feel more official, I can see if my Mom and Macy would give us the weekend alone? They might be able to go visit my grandparents or something.”

“We could decorate the house together for Christmas,” Eddie said, his eyes lighting up with excitement as he thought about the possibilities. 

“I swear on my heart, I will not fall out of love with you based on your living habits. Shit, I already know how messy you are, Eddie Munson,” You mumbled, pulling his head towards you to press a kiss to his nose. “But if it will ease your mind, I’d love a little domestic moment between us.”

The next day you had asked your mom if she would be okay with giving you and Eddie the space for a “domesticated trial run,” as your mom was calling it. She eagerly agreed but Macy was extremely hurt.

“Why don’t you guys want me here with you?” Macy asked Eddie the night they were getting ready to leave. 

“Sweet girl,” Eddie sighed, his eyes widening as he tried to determine the best way to approach this conversation. “You know we both love you right?” 

When Macy acknowledged Eddie’s question, he continued, “We want to live together sometime soon in a place that is our own home that you can visit us in. We want to pretend that we are living together alone for a few days to make sure we’ll be okay. I need to know if you sister farts in her sleep or not.” 

Eddie winked at you and your mom as Macy giggled at the word fart. “She does,” Macy said as she looked over at you before laughing harder.

“You’re such little traitor,” You said, stalking towards your sister to wrap her in a hug. “Be good this weekend, we’ll see you soon!”

“Have a good weekend, my lovelies,” Your mom said before she wrangled Macy into the car and drove away. 

“Soooo,” You whispered, making sure the car was out of eyesight before turning to Eddie. “We’re all alone, in a big house, what ever should we do?”

“I want to fix the ceiling fan in Macy’s room,” Eddie said, before turning towards the house and beginning his walk back. 

“What!” You shouted. “We are home alone and that’s what you want to do?”

“You’re incredibly sexy, baby,” Eddie said, chuckling. “And we’ll have plenty of time for that later, let me be the man of the house for a few hours.”

“I can not believe you,” You gawked. “Okay, go be the man of the house.”

Fist pumping the air, Eddie ran into the house and up the stairs to Macy’s room. As you began to follow him up the stairs, you could hear him banging around. 

“Eddie, what the fuck are you doing?” You questioned as you walked into the room. Spread before you were tools that you had never seen before. Eddie had a pencil behind his ear and an empty tool belt on his waist. “You were left alone for less than two minutes!”

“Oh, I had all of this stuff ready when Macy and your mom left,” Eddie said, shrugging. “Can you go get me a ladder?”

“Jesus Christ,” You mumbled, walking out of the room to grab the ladder from the garage. After finding the ladder, you began carrying it up the stairs. As you approached the stairs, you could hear a faint singing sound coming from Macy’s room. 

“We’ll know for the first time, if we’re evil or divine,” Eddie sang as you walked in to the bedroom. Placing the ladder against the wall, you walked over to Eddie and gently grabbed his face to press a kiss against his lips. 

“Dio?”

“Dio,” He agreed, kissing you again. “Thank you for the ladder, I’m going to try and fix this fan now.”

“Mm,” You mumbled as you watched your boyfriend start climbing the ladder with a look of concentration. Quickly, the idea of Eddie being a little domestic handyman began to grow on you. There was the man of your dreams, putting in manual labor to fix your little sister’s ceiling fan. And, he was wearing grey sweatpants, your domestic dream. “You look incredibly sexy up there with your work face on,” You said, smirking up at the curly-headed boy. 

“You think I’m sexy up here?”

“It’s definitely working for me,” You answered, proceeding to wink. 

“What about when I do this,” Eddie said, flexing as he turned the wrench, tightening the fan to the ceiling. 

“Yeah, baby,” You said, giggling at his macho display. “My big strong handyman!”

He chuckled as he finished fixing the fan. Before long, Eddie climbed down the ladder and jumped off the last step before dusting off his hands and presenting you with jazz hands. “I did it!”

“Macy is going to be so excited when they get home on Sunday!”

“Now imagine, five years from now, we’re married and our first child’s little dangly thing from their crib is loose. I’ll be able to fix it because that’s way easier than a ceiling fan,” Eddie said, matter-of-factly. There was no way to argue with his logic, fixing a mobile. 

“We’re married in five years? With a baby?” You questioned, stuck on the fact that he was thinking so far ahead and he spoke so sure of your future. 

“Well I’d like to think so,” Eddie said, his neck and cheeks heating up with a soft pink blush. “I’m pretty confident in our love.”

“Oh, my handsome boy,” You gushed. “Me too. If you’re so confident, why were you so worried about our ability to live together successfully?”

“Oh, I wasn’t,” Eddie said, shrugging. “I just wanted an excuse to show you how great it’s going to be when we do live alone. There’s nothing you could do, even farting in your sleep which you definitely do, that would make me fall out of love with you. But I also had to prove that I am capable of fixing anything.”

“I hardly think tightening a ceiling fan equates to the ability to fix anything,” You scoffed, before smiling at Eddie. “You’re sneaky but I love you. I’m excited for this weekend alone too.”

“C’mon, let’s go practice playing house,” Eddie said, scooping you up in his arms as you squealed.

“When you say, play houses do you mean?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna rock your world, baby,” Eddie said, huskily before dropping you on your bed.

[afteriwake]

“You’re safe in my arms. The hard part is over.” Pepperony

So this is just a piece of fluffy fluff in my new "The Ending He Deserved" series, where Tony survives endgame and gets the life he should have had (dammit). So enjoy some Christmas (In JULY) fluffiness!

Mommy's Secret Present - Morgan accidentally spills a secret to her father while they're going Christmas shopping.

READ @ AO3 | SERIES PAGE

“You’re safe in my arms. The hard part is over.” He bundled Morgan up as they made their way out of the store. He forgot just how much loud noises made Morgan’s ears hurt, and the Christmas crowds at Macy’s was particularly rowdy. But they’d gone into the city to get some Christmas shopping done for Pepper and Peter and Happy and May, and it was all done. They could go some where quiter and decompress now. Everyone should be happy with the gifts he and Morgan picked out, but even if they weren’t, his primary concern right now was his daughter.

They got out to the bustling sidewalk and she lowered a hand from her ears, running it along his prosthetic arm. She liked to touch it when she was stressed, and he let her run her fingers along the cool silver metal whenever she liked. He got the feeling she wanted a metal arm of her own, but he wasn’t liking of the idea of her losing a limb like he had.

He didn’t like thinking about the final fight with Thanos, when his heart stopped for just a moment after using the gauntlet until something in the stones jump-started it again. His arm was gone, but he had his life ahead of him, which was more than he could say for some extraterrestrial tyrants. Morgan had slept by his side in his bed as soon as she could, and she rarely left his side now. Maybe one day she’d be able to process it better, but she had already been a daddy’s girl. For a little while, he’d enjoy the extra attention.

Finally he spotted an ice cream shop and turned to Morgan. “Want some ice cream? Or a hot cocoa?”

“Ice cream!” she said happily, her other hand lowering from its position over her ear. He grinned back.

“Ice cream it is, my little princess,” he said, ducking into the shop. They settled in at the seating in front of the window and had their ice creams. She seemed better, and if she was up for it, he wanted to hit Tiffany’s and get a special mother’s gift for Pepper. Pepper had all sorts of lovely jewelry, but nothing signifying her daughter’s birth. Maybe a necklace? A ring with Morgan’s birthstone? He turned to his daughter “Morgan Monster, I have a question for you,” he said, using her favorite nickname. She may be his little princess, but she liked scaring off the monsters under her bed by being a bigger, scarier monster, and he was so fond of it the nickname had just come naturally.

“Yes, Daddy?”

“Should we get Mommy a ring or a bracelet for a mommy gift? You know, with your birthstone in it, and her birthstone?”

“Shouldn’t we wait for the baby?” she asked before turning her attention back to the ice cream.

Tony blinked. “What baby?”

“Mommy went to the doctor last week and she said Mommy was going to have another baby.”

Tony felt a surge of pure joy at the news, but he knew they needed to keep it under wraps that he knew. “Hey, Morgan Monster, let’s keep that news between us, okay? I think your mommy wanted to surprise me.”

“So I ruined the surprise?” she asked, and when she turned to look at him she had a frown, her brows furrowed and a look of confusion on her face.

“No! I can act surprised. But maybe I should just let you pick out a special necklace that you think Mommy would like right now. How does that sound?”

The confusion melted off her face, replaced with a wide toothy grin. “Okay, Daddy!” She started talking about pretty colors and Tony settled in to listen to her and help plot out what kind of special necklace they should get for Mommy, all while a warm feeling filled him up at the idea of another little one with Pepper coming on the way. They hadn’t been trying for a second child, but that child would absolutely be just as loved as his little princess.

[lovesosweeet]

better left unsaid // cth

chapter eighteen

in which orion has leukemia, and calum doesn’t know.

calum hood x fem!oc

read other chapters

august 17, 2018 los angeles, california orion

When I wake up, I can feel it in my bones.

It’s 10 am, so I slept in a little, which is unusual for me. Duke is still asleep at the foot of the bed, unmoving as I stir awake. I’ve learnt that I feel awful after chemo, but it’s manageably awful. I feel horrific right now.

I’m freezing but covered in sweat. My head is pounding and the light that leaks into the room is blinding. My nose feels completely stopped up, so I’ve been breathing through my mouth, making it feel dry and sticky. In my bones, I can tell something is wrong. I know I have to ask for help, and truthfully, I’m terrified of what could be wrong. 

I grab my phone and call Emelia. I would call Macy, because she’s closer, but whatever this sickness is that I apparently have could affect her and make her sick, too. That’s the thing with chemo: once you get even a little bit sick, it’s immediately serious. Any infection can be life-threatening because chemo knocks down all your body’s defenses. I can’t risk Macy’s life, and I can’t even ask her family for help, either, since they could just carry whatever it is and give it to her. 

“Hello?” Emelia answers. 

“I need you,” I say, barely audible. My throat is scratchy, too.

“What?”

“I need you to pick me up.” My voice is somehow slightly louder, but still as hoarse. 

“Are you okay?” She asks, and I can hear her shuffling around on her end of the line. “Should I call 911?”

“No!” I say as loudly as I can. “Don’t call 911. Just come pick me up as soon as you can.”

“I’m coming. I’ll be there in 15.”

“Thank you.”

“Orion,” she says.

“Yeah?”

“Call Ashton. Let him know what’s going on.”

My stomach sinks, and I know she’s right. I have to tell him if anything goes wrong, and this sure feels like something is going wrong. “Okay. See you soon.” It’s not worth arguing. I know she’d yell at me about it again if she got here and I hadn’t called him.

Emelia hangs up, and then it’s back to quiet in the apartment. 

I don’t bother to check the time conversion before I call Ashton, but I’m pretty sure it’s really late there. He doesn’t pick up on my first try, so I check his location on Find My Friends to see where he is. It shows that he’s at a place called Universal Bar, so I try again. When there’s still no answer, I try not to get annoyed. 

On my third try, he finally picks up. I can hear the loud music in the background and the rush of overlapping voices around him. 

“Hey, just a sec!” He yells into the speaker, making me wince. I hear him tell someone that he’s going to step outside and I just wait until he makes his way outside. I can tell he’s made it because of the sudden quietness. It’s not silence, but there’s far less background noise.

“What’s going on?” Ashton asks.

“I’m sick.” The two words are hard to say with my throat burning like it is, and I wince at the sound of my own scratchy voice that’s distorted further by my clogged nose. 

“Are you okay?”

“I don’t know, I just woke up and…” I trail off. “I don’t know. I just know something’s wrong.”

He does a sharp intake of breath — or maybe he puffs air out, I’m not sure. “Do you need me to do anything? Should I call you an Uber? Or an ambulance?”

“No! Emelia is coming. She’ll drive me.”

“Oh, good, okay,” he breathes. “Do you want me to stay on the phone while you wait for her?”

“Uh, maybe. I kinda feel like I might pass out.”

“Can I do anything?” Ashton asks. 

I think, trying to allow him to help me. This feels like a time when I can accept that I should accept help. I know how serious getting a cold while on chemo is, and it scares me. I’ve been scared this whole time, but I’m more scared now. Sadly, I don’t know if there’s anything I can ask of Ashton.

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Do you…” He trails off.

“What?”

“Do you want me to uh, get Cal?”

“No!” I quickly say. 

“O, you promised that you’d tell him if it got bad.”

“No, let me… let me get to the hospital and get checked out. If they say it’s bad I’ll tell him.”

Ashton inhales and exhales sharply. He’s quiet for a few moments, seemingly thinking over what I said and what he should say next. 

“Orion, I don’t know how you can do this,” he eventually says, his words barely audible. It's almost a whisper.

With the throbbing in my head, ache in my body, and tenderness in my throat, I can’t talk about this right now. I can’t think about it. “Not now, Ashton.”

He hems and haws again, finally letting out an exasperated sigh. “How long until Emelia gets there?”

I sigh. “Probably another 10 minutes or so.”

“Good.”

Ashton doesn’t say anything after that. I don’t know how I’m going to fill the time that I asked him to stay on the phone with me for, since he wants to talk about things that I don’t want to and I can barely think straight. I feel like I could close my eyes and fall asleep and never wake up because of how tired I am. 

“What are you doing tonight?” I ask, trying to avoid spending too much time just wallowing in my bed and listening to quietness on the phone. 

“We had the day off and just hung with our families. We’ve got our final show of the Aus leg tomorrow, or, I guess today, since it’s past midnight. We’re out now with some friends.” He doesn’t miss a beat in my conversational redirection, thankfully. 

“Sounds fun,” Is all I can manage to think to reply. 

“Yeah, then we’re going back to Sydney for a few days for a break, then off to Canada.”

“That’s good,” I say. 

“You know, Cal could probably fly home after the show, spend a few days with you before we head to Toronto.”

He’s right, and I know he is. There’s a full week, plus a day or so for travel, between the Australia and North America legs. Calum could catch a red eye after the show and he could be here the day after tomorrow, with me. He could be there for me. 

“I can’t,” I whisper. How can I tell Cal what’s going on over the phone and expect him to show up for me?

“You don’t have to lie!” He yells. This conversation is getting old so quickly. I understand why he keeps bringing it up, but my stance is unmoving and it becomes more agitating each time he questions me. I think he feels the same, given his increasing anger on our call.

Thankfully, I’m saved by the bell, or rather, the sound of my front door opening. Emelia calls out my name and I hear her footsteps heading toward the bedroom.

“Emelia’s here, you can let me go,” I tell Ashton.

He stops and starts speaking several times after that, and Emelia appears in the doorway to the bedroom. I hold up a finger to tell her to wait a minute, and, with worry painted all over her face, she nods. 

“Let me know what the hospital says.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Don’t be like that, O.”

“Let me make my own choices. I’m gonna hang up now. Bye.” I fight the urge to throw my phone across the room after I hang up. 

“What’s going on? Are you alright?” Emelia asks, approaching the bed and then taking a seat. 

“I feel sick,” I tell her. “Like, real sick, not chemo sick.”

Her worry seems to grow as her eyebrows knit together. “We need to go to the hospital.” 

I nod.

“Yeah, I know, I just can’t get there alone and I don’t want to get Macy sick too and—“

“It’s fine, I’m glad you called me. Do you need help getting up? Do you want me to pack you a bag of stuff just in case they want to admit you?”

It���s then that I realize there are a lot of logistics to going to the hospital now. There’s Duke to think about. Who’s going to walk him and feed him? How long will I be at the hospital and do I need to bring clothes? 

“Maybe just grab an extra outfit and throw it in my chemo bag,” I say, my voice hoarse and hushed. 

“Okay, I’ll go do that really quick. I’ll see if Macy or her family can take care of Duke in the meantime. If you get admitted we’ll rethink things.”

I just nod. Emelia leaves the bedroom to get my bag and I struggle to sit up in the bed, my head spinning as I do it, but I manage to be upright. When Em returns, she heads straight for the closet. 

“Can you grab me a hoodie?” I ask. She doesn’t reply, but when she emerges from the closet she’s holding out a green hoodie for me to take. Somehow I manage to put it on without her help while she grabs my phone charger from the nightstand. 

“Here, think you can stand?” She asks, holding out her hands to help me up. I nod weakly and take her hands, letting her pull me to my feet. 

Getting out of the apartment and into the elevator takes a long time since I move so slowly, and while the elevator goes down to the lobby, I lean against the wall. The metal is cool on my forehead and feels nice. We get to the first floor and the doors open with a ding. Emelia wraps an arm around me to help me to the lobby, stopping at the desk to hand a key to my apartment to Ron.

“We’re leaving this here for Macy and her family, will you make sure it gets to them?”

I don’t look at Ron, but I can imagine his facial expression is confused and worried. I hate that he has to see me like this. 

Once she’s given the key to Ron, we head to the parking garage. Thankfully, the visitors' spaces are right outside the door, so Emelia’s car is close. She helps me into the passenger seat and then she walks around to get behind the wheel. The drive feels shorter than normal, so I think she speeds quite a bit, but I’m too miserable to care about it. 

Emelia pulls up to the door of the ER where a valet is waiting. She hands over her keys and swaps for the slip of paper they give her before she walks inside to grab a wheelchair for me. 

“Need help?” Em asks, opening my door.

“No, I got it, but maybe you can get the bag?”

She nods, leaving the wheelchair a few feet from the car. While she grabs my backpack from the backseat, I awkwardly fling myself into the wheelchair. I hear her slam the car doors shut for me and then she’s pushing me inside, where we’re met with glaring fluorescent lights that make my head hurt more. 

Emelia wheels me up to the check in counter, where they start the interrogation process to check me in. 

“Orion Moss,” I say. “November 5th, 1996.”

The man behind the desk in front of me nods, emotionless, typing in my information to find my charts. “What brings you in today?”

“Uh, fever, body aches, headache, sore throat,” I answer. “I’m in chemo right now and they said to come in if I get a cold or anything.”

Surprise washes over him. “You should’ve called us from the parking lot. Here, put this on,” he says, handing me a surgical mask. “Your immune system is compromised, that should help stop you from breathing in any additional viruses and bacteria.” 

I put the mask on. “Sorry,” is all I manage to say. 

“Fill out this form and bring it back up when you’re done.” He hands me a clipboard and a pen, and Emelia then wheels me away from the counter. 

“Need me to fill it out for you?” Emelia asks.

I shake my head. “I can do it, but thanks.” 

I start to fill it out, writing down my address and medication list, along with information about Dr. Harris and my primary care physician. I’ve done it a million times before, and my headache isn’t making it impossible to do, just a lot harder. 

“Did you reach out to Macy?” I ask Em while I check some boxes. 

“Shit, no, I’ll do that now,” she says and pulls out her phone. 

After I’ve filled out the form, Emelia takes it up to the counter for me. She comes back and sits next to me in a chair that looks wildly uncomfortable. She’s on her phone, and I’m guessing she’s talking to Macy. I realize that I’ve completely neglected to be in contact with Calum today and curse myself.

From: bass boy💕 hi good morning!!! we’re out celebrating. wish you could be out with us. we could use an unofficial photographer. i can’t believe we’re already almost done with one of the legs. just a month and a half til we’re in san diego! i’m back at the hotel now. gonna go to bed. love you sm, talk to you when i wake up! 

Right, it’s very late there, so my lack of response will be fine until it’s morning there. Since I’m unsure of what the next several hours will hold for me, I go ahead and reply. 

From: bass boy💕 hi good morning to you when you see this! glad time is moving quick and i’ll get to see you play in my hometown so soon! i’m sick again ugh probably gonna sleep a lot to try to beat the cold I hopefully set myself up for success by mentioning that I may not be on my phone much today. 

“Your moms are coming,” Emelia says, pulling me back to the real world, the one outside of my phone. 

I want to fight back, ask why she felt like it was her place to tell them what’s going on, but I know I can’t. She just did it because she cares, so I should accept that she wants to help. Besides, it will be nice to have them here with me.

“Thanks,” I say. She’s just being a good friend. 

Someone calls my name and Emelia wheels me toward them and into an exam room. They ask me to rehash everything I told them at check-in and on my form — sore throat, headache, fever, chemo, etc. — and then grab my temperature and a blood sample. For the blood draw, I asked if I could go ahead and lay on the bed, and they helped me onto it. She also swabs my nose and throat to test for the flu and strep. The nurse moves quickly, not making much conversation and seeming rather disinterested in me. 

“We’ll get in touch with Dr. Harris and a physician will be in shortly to discuss your labs,” she says, grabbing all of her equipment and disappearing as quickly as she had appeared. 

“Macy said it’s no problem to take care of Duke,” Emelia says when the nurse disappears. 

I nod. “Cool, that’s good.” I close my eyes and try to relax against the stiff and uncomfortable plastic mattress. Despite it being uncomfortable and the hospital blanket being incredibly scratchy, I feel like I could fall asleep here. Having my eyes closed also protects them from the nauseating lighting in here. I feel so awful. 

“Are you not answering Ashton or something? He keeps texting me.”

I sigh, grabbing my phone and checking my notifications. He hasn’t tried to text me.

“No, he was angry with me when I called him earlier though.”

“He’s asking if I have any news to share.”

I roll my eyes. “I told him I’d tell him what they say.”

“He cares,” Emelia defends, sighing. 

“Can he care a little less?”

I don’t know where it comes from, but she chucks a ball of paper that hits me in the face. “People love you and I don’t know why you expect that they can just not worry about you.” 

“He’s allowed to worry about me but he doesn’t need to micromanage our communication,” I say. 

“Says the girl who got mad at her boyfriend for not texting her enough the other day even though he had taken the time out of his day to sit down and call her.” 

Under more standard circumstances, I’d argue with her and say I didn’t get mad. It wasn’t an argument. I wasn’t micromanaging. Today, though, I don’t have the energy to think or fight on the topic. My brain is a mass of mush that can’t think critically. 

“I’m gonna try to sleep. Wake me up when the doctor comes?”

“Of course. Get some sleep.” 

—

I don’t know how long I’m asleep before there’s a hand on my shoulder, shaking me awake. When I open my eyes, there’s a man in green scrubs leaning over me. 

“Hi Orion, my name is Dr. Smith,” he says. 

“Hi,” I say, sleepily. I rub at my eyes and yawn, trying to sit up but not having the energy to. 

“You tested positive for the flu,” he continues. “We’re going to admit you to monitor your symptoms. Dr. Harris will be here tomorrow to continue your care, but the rest of the oncology team here will take great care of you in the meantime.” 

“How long will I be here?” I ask with a grossly scratchy voice. 

“Hard to say, most likely about a week.” 

I nod. 

“We’re going to take you up to the oncology ward now,” Dr. Smith tells me. I then notice the other hospital employees in the room. 

They start pressing buttons on the bed I’m in and then it starts moving. They tell me I can stay where I am while they wheel it out of the room. I don’t see her, but I’m sure Em is walking behind it. I hear her footsteps trailing along with us, into the elevator. We ride it up a few floors before they push my bed into a room that’s just as horribly lit by fluorescent lights as the ER was. 

Once I’m in the new room, Dr. Smith pulls Emelia out into the hallway to discuss things with her, I assume because he can tell I’m too sleepy to really think right now. After they talk for a few moments, Emelia walks back into the room and sits by my feet on the bed. She’s now wearing a surgical mask like I am.

“Do you need anything? He said they should bring lunch by sometime soon.”

I shake my head. “No, I just wanna sleep.”

Emelia nods. Her eyes hold a lot of pity for me and I hate it. “Another nurse should come soon and get you hooked up to an IV and give you some meds.” 

“Yay,” I reply with absolutely zero enthusiasm, making Emelia crack a very small smile for a second. 

“Don’t forget to update Ashton.”

She’s right, but after our conversation earlier, I don’t really want to reach out to him again. I don’t want him to make me tell Calum. This news isn’t something I want to share with him over the phone or over text. It’s a face-to-face conversation. Besides, everything seems to be under control. I don’t need to tell him yet. The hospital staff is going to take care of me. It’ll be fine. I’m going to be fine and it’s all going to be fine.

To: irwie they tested me for the flu and it’s positive. i’ve been admitted and will probably be here for about a week.

I don’t know what time it is there right now, but he replies quickly. He must’ve stayed up waiting to hear from me. 

From: irwie are you going to tell calum?

As much as my life does revolve around Calum, and as much of it as I’d love for it to, it doesn’t. It can’t. This isn’t about him.

To: irwie based on current status, no.

He’s apparently turned on his read receipts. The “read” notification pops up right as it sends, and he doesn’t even try to type a reply to me. I lock it after that, and then a nurse comes in with an IV stand and a basket of medical supplies. 

“Hi Orion,” she says. She’s wearing a mask, so her words are muffled.

“Hi,” I reply. 

“We’re going to give you some fluids and here’s some ibuprofen to knock down that fever.” She hands me a cup with two pills and a bottle of water before she starts getting the needle ready for the IV. 

I take my pills and hold my arm out to her, pulling the sleeve up on my sweatshirt to reveal the crook in my arm. I stare at Emelia while the nurse puts in the IV. She gives me a warm smile and a thumbs up. 

When the nurse is done, she pulls my sleeve down for me. After she makes sure I have everything I need for the time being, she leaves the room again, pulling the door closed behind her. Emelia tells me she’s going to go get a coffee, and then I’m alone again.

I try to tell myself everything is going to be fine, and it’s OK if I wait until San Diego to tell Calum. I decide that I have to tell him then, otherwise Ashton will probably do it for me, and that’s definitely not what I want. It’s a good distraction, I guess — worrying about Ashton and Calum and my relationship, rather than the flu. The flu, which I’ve had several times in my life, is deadly in the wrong circumstances.

These are the wrong circumstances.

chapter nineteen

a/n: lil nanowrimo update we are at 8.7k words

[minicomics]

J.M.C Staff

Staff Karly Patterns: Karyl (Kaufni, Pomo or Kaufmo Pomni) would be in the staff as the principal would wish for her to be the headroom teacher and to assist the students with their problems in their studies or their attitudes as she is okay for her to strike with a ruler if they try to do any discipline. She would drink a bit of coffee at times as she would be a bit of a lazy one but still is there to help out. She would be rather dragged in as the principal pleads her to join which he did. Betty Pom Pom: Betty (Bitty Pomni) is the cook of the campus as she makes some tasty treats and meals for the students as well as breakfast meals like pancakes as she enjoys making them at times. She would be there to help the principal for this fun experience and also to see what she can do. She also enjoys the students as she likes to see new friends and how there day is going. Betty would be there to assist with the meals and also give them extra if they want second. Though would ask help for herself as she couldn't clean all the dishes on her own. Gala Macy Prime: Gala (GameMaster Pomni) is the theater mistress in the campus theater as she would make a sort of drama class and give sorts of roles on what the others should do and also to play some children games for her fun as she enjoys others to play around. She would be greeted by the principal as to wonder if she could join which she did though would ask if she would use the theater as her playroom to mess around and have fun with these students to see what they got. Elsa Picies: She is the assistant secretary to the principal as she would be there for the serious tone and be sure that the student doesn't cause any trouble Elsa (Eclipse Pomni) would be quite firm if they cause trouble or that if they try to harm one another as she doesn't mind a bit of violence. But when it comes to knifes and trying to injure them more than before then that is where she come in to stop them. She has been granted to have her powers with her as to be using them in case for emergencies and to grab things with the tentacle pos-negative abilities. Though there are times that she would come around to chat with others and chat or talk about these issues and try to resolve them. But also tell them that she does not want them to be rude as this real-life experience could help them be better. River Lou My's: And lastly the principal of the campus is River Lou My's (Ringleader M.) Would be the one to partake this idea as well as taking control of the campus as to make sure that whatever happens. Like blown up or if someone dies then he be sure to snap his fingers and make it back to normal. Though would send the ones responsible to detention and he wishes that they would learn their lesson for what they did. By doing three-page essay about things, such as soap or the books that they read about. Though he keeps it secret of that part as to be sure not anyone could partake or take advantage on him and his abilities. But for River he would be a good principal and always be sure to help and that what they deal with could be helped.

[kaiyahh21]

When love finds you

loser!ellie fem!reader, I wanted to post this story bc it has been in my drafts for literally monthsss😞 warnings:, may come as offensive to people, if so I’m sorry😭😭

ellie Williams couldn’t hide her disdain for cheerleading. the incessant cheers, the forced smiles, and the meticulous routines were all elements she found utterly irksome. to Ellie, the entire cheerleading culture seemed like a superficial spectacle, a stark contrast to her own down-to-earth demeanor.

she often rolled her eyes at the cheerleaders’ pep rallies and cringed at their overly enthusiastic chants. for ellie, the whole cheerleading squad embodied everything she despised about conformity and artificial enthusiasm. as a result, she made it a point to distance herself from anything cheer-related

she always wore her baggy jeans or her ripped ones, everyday with her beat up converse. her friends looked the exact same as her, the so called “popular girls” call them emo, as if they don’t have style.

Dina and Jesse walked over to Ellie and started talking to her. u couldn’t make out what they were saying, since you were atleast half a mile away from them. you saw Ellie look at you, you stared for a minute.. then u noticed that she was looking at you and you quickly looked away.

everybody know that u were more of a stylish and happy person. u were more popular than the popular girls. Ellie always hated cheerleaders, but she always stared at you or walked up to you. it was funny to think that the girl who hated cheerleaders likes the most prissiest one.

after that day, ellie surprisingly walked up to you, some people stared in shock because ellie wasn’t the type to casually walk up to a cheerleader since everybody knew that she hated them. especially after the popular girl Lina clemonte embarrassed her Infront of everybody. Lina was the schools pick me and attention seeker. everybody hated her especially Ellie. Ellie started to talk to you after math class for the past few weeks. you’ve gotten to know her and you knew u started to catch feelings. you didn’t wanna break ur friendship with Ellie, so y kept quiet for a few years.

one day, Ellie texted you asking if u wanted to go out with her, not as a get together, but she meant as a date. your heart was jumping for joy as your thumbs were typing back. text messages with Ellie:

Ellie: hey.. I was wondering if u wanted to go out tonight if u didn’t have any plans..

uhh I don’t know if I have any plans today, atleast not that I know of. and sure id love to go out with you.

ok does 7 sound good?

7 sounds perfect! I’ll be there soon.

a few hours later you get ready and go on your merry way, soon after u get there, you see Ellie standing there waiting for you. u were surprised to see her not in her baggy and raggedy clothes.

You didn’t really expect to see her in actual clothes. it was shocking but u didn’t care that much. she saw you and walked up to you. “hey y/n u look nice” she says with a slight blush, she looks down at her shoes and looks back up once u respond “thanks Ellie, you too” you blushed slightly knowing that she saw u blushing. “let’s go” she says as she holds ur hand and walks to the entrance of the restaurant. when you guys entered, you surprisingly saw the popular girls. Ellie cleared her throat. “ uhm.. well let’s just get a table..” she obviously noticed. you got a table and sat down. the popular girls, lina, Macy, and Gina sat down on the table right across from you. you knew that tonight will be hell.

sorry if this was short😭😭 I’m making part 2 soon!

PART 2 SOON!!

[staceymcgillicuddy]

Day 20: Gift Wrapping

@hellcheerxmas

December 1996 Indianapolis, Indiana

There are certain undeniable perks to being a backing musician for a moderately successful rock band. Seeing the world from the back of a tour bus? Check. Doing what he loves every night while having the freedom to plug away at his own music? Double check. Getting a more-than-decent paycheck every month, plus bonuses? Triple check. Perks all the way down.

Of course, the travel doesn’t leave much time for home, family, or shopping for Christmas presents, which is how Eddie ends up at Macy’s in Indianapolis on December 24, along with every other poor schlub who put off shopping until the last minute. 

Money helps, though. He’s got a definite idea of what he wants to buy his uncle, and while it’s not a Rolex, it’s a nice fucking watch. Nice enough that it’s not sold out like the cheaper models. The salesman is more than happy to box it up and run his charge card while looking at Eddie in abject confusion, like he can’t quite figure out how this punkass in a denim jacket and ripped jeans can afford to spend five hundred bucks on a timepiece. 

Let him wonder. 

“Any chance you can gift wrap it?” Eddie asks. His fingers are nimble on frets and strings, less so with paper and tape. Yet another perk of a disposable income—he doesn’t have to worry about shit like that anymore. 

“Yes, sir. Our wrapping station is just behind the escalators. You can’t miss it.” 

The man is right—there’s no missing the gold-and-silver station, which looks suspiciously like a customer service desk covered in foil. There’s no one manning it, but there’s a bell and a sign requesting he ring it for service, so he does.

There’s rapid movement from behind the partition, and a slim, blonde woman in a black dress emerges. 

“Hi, sorry,” she says, and Eddie knows her instantly.

“Chrissy?” 

She blinks, and he’s prepared to be mortified. Ready to have her look him up and down without that same spark of recognition firing in her brain. But then, her eyes soften, and she laughs. “Eddie Munson?” 

He’s back in high school again. Fighting the urge to fantasize about what’s under her cheer skirt when she passes him in the cafeteria. Watching the way she taps her pencil against her paper during a test. Glaring daggers at her dumb boyfriend across the parking lot. “Uh, hi. Wow. Long time no see.” 

Long time no see? Jesus fucking Christ, man, you’ve slept with models. 

“Gosh, I know. How are you? I, um, I heard you moved to Los Angeles?” 

That she knows anything about what happened to him post-graduation is shocking, and he fumbles out, “I guess. I mean, I did. Just home visiting my uncle. You know. Christmas.” 

So, yeah. Any progress toward being a chill adult can be wiped out by two seconds of mere proximity to his high school crush. Good to know. 

“Sure. Do you want me to wrap that?” 

“Uh. Yes. Thank you.” He pushes the box forward and watches as her hands fly across various accouterments, tearing paper and tape with practiced ease. There are no rings on any of her fingers. “How are… how’s it going?” 

“Oh, you know. Fine.” She cuts the paper in half and then in half again to accommodate the smaller box. 

“Cool. Yeah, cool. Doing anything fun for Christmas?” Never let it be said that Edward Munson is not a cunning linguist, capable of intelligent, suave conversation with all the chicks. 

“Not really. My roommate and I are going to try and make a beef wellington.” 

“That sounds fancy.” 

“Oh, totally. You want a ribbon on this?” 

“Please,” he says because he doesn’t care, but it’ll buy him a few more seconds of awkward small talk. “I’m in a band.” 

Chrissy’s mouth curls into a smile like he’s not awkwardly inserted a Very Cool Fact about himself into the conversation. “Corroded Coffin. I remember.” 

“No. Well, yes. In school. But now I'm with Gravity Well. I do backing guitar. I’m not like in the band…” The verbal diarrhea was a problem, it really was. Someone ought to invent Imodium for the verbose asshole. 

“I have their new album,” she says, putting him out of his misery as she ties the ribbon in place and slides the neatly wrapped box across the counter. “That’s cool, Eddie.” 

Having thoroughly humiliated himself at warp speed, he figures it’s about time to slink out with his tail between his legs. “Um, what do I owe you?”

“It’s complimentary.” She points to a sign that says as much. “Though tips are appreciated.” 

“Oh, sure…” he fumbles for his wallet. 

“Or, you know. You could just take me out for a drink.” 

[lyon-amore]

What if...? Duskwood Chapter 26

Chapter 25 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Macie POV*

 I enter the Rogers' garage, looking for Richy with my eyes. I thought he would be at reception, as Jessy isn’t here.    "Um... I'm not doing anything wrong walking in on my own right?" I whisper. After all, I was visiting a friend.     I walk into the car repair area and find him with Dan's car. I'm sure he hasn't examined the car so far because he didn't believe it had been tampered with either. I approach slowly, lucky that his back is to me, so I can give him a surprise.

 I place my hands like I have a gun and place it on his back.    "You are under arrest, Mr. Roger!" I exclaimed, trying to put on a slightly deep voice, although impossible,     Richy is startled and hits his head as he stands up. I let out a laugh and he turns around, looking pained.    "Please-…. Macie?" Richy looks at me nervously, almost as if he's seen a ghost.    "Hello Richy." I greeted, with a charming smile.    "What-" he chuckles, looking around "what are you doing here?" He asks with an annoyed tone "I mean! It's not that I'm not glad to see you!" He points to me with his hands, still nervous "You're here, Wow! Ah… Wow, I don't know what to say…"    "Do I look that bad in person?" I joke, seeing that he can't speak.    "Yes- I mean!" He stop talking and sigh "I better shut up before I says any more nonsense."     I laugh again and lean against the car, looking at him.    "Dan's famous car…" I say without taking my eyes off all the wreckage. "Did you manage to find anything?"    "No sign of tampering" he replies, taking off his gloves. ", But what are you doing here? And where are you staying? I ask out of concern, since everyone in Duskwood wants… Well, you know." He makes a gesture like shooting himself in the head, pretending that he dies.     I nod making an annoyed sound. Luckily it hasn't happened yet.    << Faster than I thought. >>    "I'm here for work," I replied, putting my hands in the pocket of my sweatshirt, "a report on the Pine Glade festival" I see him nod, also leaning against the car "and I'm staying at Jessy's house."  "Really? Have you seen her?" He asks me worried about her.    "Yes, just before leaving, she told me 'Make yourself at home' and she left me in her house alone.    "How strange that she didn't tell me you were here..."    "Well, with the Phil topic…" I let out a long breath. It has been a strong blow for her.    "Yeah, about Phil…" I see that he really seems to feel bad about the situation "I can't believe they arrested him, I mean… Just giving free drinks to pretty girls shouldn't be a crime."     I roll my eyes. Even at times like this he jokes.    "Do I remind you that because of you and that pack of matches, Cleo and Thomas wanted to enter the basement?" I ask angrily.    "I was trying to help with any clues, too" he says, shrugging. ", But where's Jessy?"    "She's…" I take a breath and get serious. Ground set "She's gone to Iris's house, Jennifer Hanson's mother" I use the last name she had found on the internet researching on my own. Of this I hadn’t yet told.     I see Richy's expression change, even this time he does turn pale. He starts to look at the floor, nervous.    "You gave me the wrong name" I give him a friendly shove, with a laugh "or as it was ten years ago, maybe you didn't remember it right?"    "Yeah, that's it" he laughs, holding on to his cap. ". That case was a long time ago, the truth is that I still gives me the willies. Knowing that the murderer was never found made all of Duskwood nervous for a while," he explains calmly. Although his hand tells me otherwise when I see it, gripping the car tightly "But I already told you, there's no way Jennifer's case and Hannah's are related."    "Well, it seems so." I brush my hair behind my ear, doing this, I can show my eyes, searching his with confidence "Hannah told Iris that the same man who killed Jennifer was after her."    "And that's the man who kidnapped her?" he asks me, turning around to put away the tools.    "For now, it's the first theory I have" I see him concentrating on keeping each tool well placed in its place, slowly "and the clue we have is a car, an AMC Gremlin."     He drops a tool and curse.    "Sorry." he apologizes, looking at me. "Don't tell me that now you're going to make that hacker go file by file looking for that car on the internet?" He laughs, going back to put the tool right.    "And why not?    "Because I doubt I'll be able to find anything," he replies, moving closer again "there aren't any files on our computers from that time… And I wouldn't want it to get into our current files, you know what I think of it."    "That's why Jessy is going to take care of it" I dare say, ", if you don't mind, of course."    "If she finds something," he crosses his arms thoughtfully, "they're files from ten years ago. Who knows if they'll still be around?"    "For trying," I shrugged "But since you didn't take care of that, you may not even know if it still around, right?"    "Yeah, I guess you're right," he sighs, touching his cap again. "And when is Jessy coming back?"    "First she is going to go to the Duskwood police station, she wants to be able to find out who accused Phil."    "And if he was the hacker?" He asks me. I don't see anything strange in his question, he means it "Think about it, he is very interested in looking for Hannah and with everything that has been said, maybe he has given false information."    "Can you all stop accusing Jake without knowing him?" I get upset, letting my feelings out, "Jake is innocent! He wouldn't do something like that, he would risk more trouble."     Richy looks at me surprised at my anger, he almost seems hurt for saying that.   "Wait here." he tells me before heading back to the offices.        I try to relax. Anything that involves accusing or pointing fingers at Jake for something he hasn't done bothers me. I can't stand being treated like this.    <<But of course, only I really know Jake…>> 

I stay waiting giving the car touches with my finger. If all goes well, this may be over soon.    "I'm done" Richy returns, hands behind his back and a smile. ". Extends your hand."     I roll my eyes and sit up, moving away from the car. I listen and extend my hands. He leaves a chocolate bar in my hand, with the logo of his store on it. I look at it with great interest, as if it were the best thing that exists. It's just that it's a chocolate!   "You said that you prefer chocolate to a cup before, so I ordered a few at the bakery. " he answers me while I spin the chocolate bar "Well?"     I open the package and take the chocolate to my mouth. Delicious!    "Um… Is this blackmail for what you said about Jake?" I ask, covering my mouth to eat.    "More of an apology." He smiles.     I stare at him, hesitating for a moment. He's a good friend and yet… I can't believe what I'm thinking.    "Hey Richy." I start to say, afraid.    "Yes Macie?" He doesn't erase his smile. It’s hurts.    "Is there something that worries you? Or what would you like to tell me?" I ask, while I cover the chocolate again "You know I'm your friend, right? You can be honest with me."     Richy looks away, hiding with his cap.    "I'm just…" he exhales "I'm worried about Jessy" he says, trying to look me in the eye " Hannah's kidnapping, your false accusations, the attack, Phil's arrest… I'm really worried about her, it's just that…" he squeezes hand tightly. "She shouldn't go through all this."    “I know."     I try to stay calm. I mustn’t get upset.    "Why... why don't you take more chocolates?" He signals for me to follow him to the reception. It seems like he's already kicking me out in a roundabout way. He hands me the glass bowl "Take the ones you want."    “Okay…” I take five and put them in my sweatshirt. I hear how he laughs "What? What's happening?    "Leave a little bit for the others."    “There is no sign that says 'Take only one'.”    "Thanks for the idea."     I laugh too, at least, letting the atmosphere between the two of us be more relaxed.    “I have to go now” I say, pointing to the door. ”I loved seeing you in person.”    "And me too, and how long will you stay?"    "Until the festival ends, why?"    "Oh, well…" he scratches his neck nervously, avoiding looking at me "We could all go together and show you the Pine Glade festival and help you tell you everything we know."    "I'd love to."     He goes to hug me but he remembers that his uniform is full of car oil. He ends up shaking my hand to say goodbye. I hope my theory was worth coming here for, if not… I'll feel like the worst person in the world. On the way to the motel, I stopped by the cafeteria to buy two coffees. I was sure Jake was going to need one. I knock on his door and he opens a little to see who's outside. I see that he is wearing the mask and sweatshirt.    "Ah, it's you" he says more relieved ", everything okay?"    "Yeah, I'm done." I hand him the cup and he takes it. "I thought you would need a couple of batteries."     He lets out a laugh and he looks at me.    "Thank you."    "Are you doing well?"    "I still have a little more left" he looks inside for a moment and then at me "Can you wait a little longer?"    "Sure, I'll be in my room then." I waved, indicating that I'm close.    "Or also…"     He stays quiet and stops looking at me. I wait a bit for him to invite me in.    "Get some rest." he finally tells me.    "Sure" I smile while inside I scream. ". Send me a message then okay?"    "Yes, do not worry."     He closes the door and I head to my door. If I had suggested staying in his room, would he have invited me?    "Do you want to come in?" I turn to hear Jake after opening the door "I still have to look at chats, but if you want we can talk about it while I'm reading."     I will reply when I receive a notification. I pick up my phone and look at the group chat. Thomas asks to continue the conversation about Phil's arrest.    "The group?"    "Yes," she answered, a little annoyed at having chosen the most inopportune moment. "Is the invitation still standing?" I ask, now daring "I can stay in bed talking to the group while you're busy."    "In…in my bed?" He asks nervously.    "Yeah, well... You're using the only seat in the room for the computer-"    "Of course, right." I see how he blushes. I control myself in laughing, what was he thinking? "Come on, they'll be waiting for you in the group."     I approach with a smile and enter the room.

 I lie face down on the bed and Jake returns to his work reading the chats. I hope they haven't waited too long for me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Thomas Can we please carry on here? Cleo Yes, I’m back already, too Macie Richy? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Richy was usually one of the first to always go online and I know he was already done looking around with Dan's car because he was there. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Dan So, is everyone allowed to speak their minds now? Macie Everyone already is Dan Good My case is crystal clear I screwed up with Phil because I left him hanging in the Aurora Shortly afterwards, my car’s brakes suddenly fail Just as I happened to be driving home from the date with his sister ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 I roll my eyes at what he says. That's not a reason to accuse Phil of anything and after talking to him several times, he's not the least bit interested in the stories of Jessy and her friends, but I find it normal that he gets upset because he didn't show up for work. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Cleo When I wanted to question Phil about Hannah, he reacted very oddly Ran his mouth off about Hannah  and couldn’t get rid me quick enough -------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------

 <<Hey, Cleo, when they accused you of something, don't get mad when you react badly, advice for someone who's been accused. >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Macie Which I can understand from today’s point of view Cleo Excuse me? Macie According to him, you weren’t exactly being affable Cleo I might have tried breaking down his reserve, far point But that doesn’t excuse the way he acted Macie And ridiculous clues are not justifiable either 😑 Dan Hey, who said I was done talking? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    "Ooh!" I get out of bed and reach for a candy bar, opening it. "Open your mouth, Jake." I walk over to him, standing next to him.   "What for?"    "Just do it." I laugh at his doubt.     He opens his mouth and bites into some chocolate. He makes a sound that he likes and he looks at me.    "Thank you." he says after finishing eating the piece.    "You're welcome, I'll leave it here" I leave the chocolate on top of the paper in which he was wrapped on the table and return to bed.    "Roger's Garage?" Jake asks. He must have taken the chocolate.    “I went to see Richy,” I say, looking up from my phone. “Any problem?    "No, none," he answers awkwardly "But I remember you said you were going to see someone special."     I smile at how upset he seems.    "A friend can also be special, Jake." I replied, while smiling to hear him like that.    "Yes, of course, yes, I know…" I hear him murmur "Friends are also… Special."     I shake my head, letting out a laugh.    "What?" He asks me, turning around a bit.    "No, nothing, everything perfect." I answered, trying to put on an innocent face.     Jake rolls his eyes and goes back to the computer, taking a sip of coffee.    "And the chocolate isn't that good" he finally says ", I've had better."    "Uh-huh, sure."     I still need more evidence and theories to talk about my suspicions. He told me at the beginning that he suspected someone, what if he is the same person I think? I must not jump at first and accuse without first building the scenario in my mind. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Jessy I’ve just been to the police And they know pretty much everything About Lilly's video, that we got involved, that we’re hiding evidence! That a wanted hacker among us And they know about you, Macie Macie That can only mean trouble for Jake ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    "Jake." I get up from the bed and walk over to him, showing him the conversation. I start to bite my thumbnail, nervous "what do we do?"     He stares at the screen, frowning.    "Well, the Duskwood police don't know what I am like or who I really am at the moment," he hands me back the phone. " And it's not his job to arrest me either, don't worry about me, I care more about you. Did they say something to you while you were going to see Richy or when you came back?"    "No, I was wearing the hood all the time" I answered, more concerned. ". I also imagined it on my part, but what about you?"    "It's all under control." He takes my hand and smiles at me. "Nobody's going to get me, and you know why."     I know he's saying that so I won't worry, but it's horrible to think that they could take him away from me.    <<I feel that I am becoming obsessed with this fear, I must calm down a bit. Jake's safe in here, as long as he doesn't get out of here, he'll be fine. >>

 I return to the conversation. Jessy and Cleo argue again. I actually wonder if they've ever been friends or just have Hannah in common as a friend. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Jessy I know one of you has testified against Phil The police chief told me ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh perfect. We have a snitch in the group. What else can happen? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Thomas Because of Phill called Hannah. The same day she disappeared Jessy Who says that? Thomas Macie ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Saying it that way, it seems that I have accused Phil, when in fact is not like that. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Jessy You talked about Phil? As suspect? Macie But only because Cleo and Thomas Jessy Why didn't you tell me, Macie? ☹️ Macie Because I don't believe that Phil kidnapped Hannah. Richy Jessy, it was me who that whole thing going It’s me you should be angry ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Jessy logs out. Great…

 I see the chat between Richy and Jessy. She believes that she has been Richy, but it is not true. He has not been, of that I am sure of it, and I have been able to notice it. In the end, Jessy decides to quit her job because she believes that Richy is to blame for her brother's arrest.

 I stretch out on the bed closing my eyes. All this tension in the group is not good, if everyone starts accusing each other, we could end up not trusting each other.

 It's perfect, I get to Duskwood and things get worse than before. *Jake POV*

 I finish reading the chats and turn in my chair to tell Macie. I close my mouth when I see her lying on the bed, without writing. Is the conversation over?

 I get up, careful not to wake her, and I approach her, watching her sleep. I look at hers lips and think about kissing her. These thoughts… I have to calm down.

 She slowly opens her eyes, looking at me sleepily.    "I have read up on everything." I say, without raising my voice.    "Welcome back..." she answers, sitting up in bed.    "Thank you" I see how she stretches herself and she complains "tired?"    "No, I had just closed my eyes for a few seconds," she answers and yawns. I laughs at her and she looks at me badly. "Well, okay, but because I haven't slept well in a long time."    "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it's time to work."    "Don't disappoint me, I was looking forward to it." she sits down and she looks at me waiting.    "There really were quite a few things that I had to catch up on" I begins to say, pulling a chair closer to the bed. ". It seems that the group begins to divide."     Macie looks at me concerned. From the messages that I have been reading, in the end she has grown fond of the group, they were even playing through the link that I saw.    "I'm scared of being pulled to one side."     I don't know what to say exactly. I see all of Macie and Lilly's friends as mere objects to help me uncover the truth behind Hannah's kidnapping. Or that's what I think, when I saw that Jessica was attacked, I felt that it must be my fault. I gave Macie a hard time seeing her friend get attacked.    <<And again my thoughts return to her. >>    "Yes, I understand" I put a hand on her shoulder, trying to reassure her. ". A situation like this can have its benefits, because it presents two opposite points of view simultaneously. The difficulty for you now lies in remaining objective” Macie frowns, a little annoyed. ". It seems that the group begins to divide."    "I'll try…"     She have to keep an eye on each action now, we cannot let this be a setback.    "I have to admit this arrest has come as real surprise to me."    "And I don't think Phil was counting on being arrested, either." I see in her eyes how worried she is for him and it bothers me.     I don't understand why worry about someone who treats her sister badly and who sees women as objects. If you're pretty, a free drink? He is the worst guy there is. I am thankful that I am not like him.    "I don’t suppose he was" I finally answered, trying to calm me down. "The police have been investigating for a long time on levels that we have not been able to access. I think the general mood has influenced our expectations of the police significantly."    "In other words, that very possibly thanks to 'The Three Musketeers', that has helped them."    “We could pretty much say but" I start thinking about what we have so far of any clues that it's Phil. I hate that there isn't any "it seems like there isn’t enough evidence on either side."    “I have to find out who gave evidence against against Phil."     Seeing her determined face makes my heart race.

I can't help but get nervous, what she does is incredible. I love that instinct to want to know the truth, it's very natural.    "Yes" I start to think about the situation "Who would gain anything from keeping information about Phil secret from the group?"     I await Macie's response, who seems to hesitate.    “Someone who thinks they can get to Hannah that way."     By stopping the alleged kidnapper, he may talk. Although there is no indication that Phil is... At the moment.    "It's true," I admit. "In any case, we can’t assume that we will find out who it was any time soon."    "It bothers me a lot" she says angrily. "Whoever is in the group, I'm not going to forgive them."     I don't know if Phil is important to her, but it hurts. The way she cares about him makes me feel bad about myself. Inferior to him.    "I've seen the conversation you had with Phil" I open the topic and I feel like I should stop, but I can't control myself, it's as if I can't think clearly because of what I feel for her "Why did he invite you to come to the Aurora?"     Macie looks at me surprised. So far I haven't noticed, but my voice sounds like I'm upset.    "Because I'm his sister's friend." she replies innocently.     I frowned. Actually, I'm not angry with her, but with him. I don't trust Phil or what he might try to do with her.    "You said you would go."     I see how she outlines a smile. I should have stopped.    "Are you jealous?"    “No.” I lie.    "Yes."     I sigh and cross my arms, ignoring her gaze.    "He seems very unlikable."    "What?" She lets out a laugh "On the contrary."     I don't know if she wants to bother me or is serious.    "Well, then it’s just me who doesn’t like him" I continue to contradict her. I don't know what you saw in him to say that. "You shouldn't have come to Duskwood, Macie" I fix my eyes on her brown ones, quite serious. ". It's too dangerous for you to be here."    "An objective analysis leaves no room for jealousy" she now answers, crossing her arms.    "But my worries about you do." I reply quickly, approaching her and resting my hands on the bed.     We stare at each other and she brings her hand to my face, caressing me lovingly.    "Don't worry" she smiles at me calmly ", nothing will happen to me while I'm in Duskwood."    “Promise me” I say firmly “, that you'll be careful while you're here."    “I promise you Jake, I'm not going to put myself in danger."    "Thank you Macie." I lean my forehead against hers, closing my eyes. "I couldn't bear knowing you're in trouble…” I whispered, close to her lips.    "I could say the same, you know?" She answers me and I feel the air from her mouth close to mine.    I walk away slowly, remembering not to have a distraction right now. I was supposed to talk about everything she's accomplished without me and chatting and here I am… Worried that I might lose her. Is not professional of me.    "I…" I clear my throat, once again leaving the big space between us "I saw that you noted the name 'Alan' on Hannah's telephone list.    "I even know who he is" I see how he breathes in and out with difficulty, is he okay? ". He's the Duskwood police chief."    “Interesting…” I think the reason why she would call him, would she be because of the man who was following her?  "So Hannah contacted the police shortly before she disappeared. Perhaps she wanted help."    “Or she wanted to give testimony.” I remember Macie saying that maybe she did something terrible. I'm afraid that's the case, but it should be accepted. "But the conversation didn’t last very long."

     Seat when remembering the duration of the call.    "Well spotted. Giving evidence in such a short time would therefore have not been possible.” I see Macie clutching the sheets tightly, thinking. It seems that something is bothering her a lot, I would love to know what she is ". In spite of everything I would like to tie in with our last lead. You do want to carry on investigating, don’t you?"     She looks at me like I was right, with a half smile.    "I wouldn't stay here otherwise," she lets out a slack laugh. "We are closer to Hannah than ever before."    "Yes Macie, we are" I replied with a smile. She's spent too much of her life on this case. "The fact that Hannah got this bracelet from a pawn shop could take us a huge step further."    "I've thought about that too. That way, we can find out who left it there in the first place. "    "Correct." I get up from my chair, pacing the room. "It almost vexes me that I didn’t think of it earlier. "    "Don’t worry, I could say the same." she excuses me and I smile at her.    "This fact furthermore tells us another important detail about the original seller." I should have thought of that. Maybe we're lucky and the store owner can tell us something. "Taking an object to a pawn shop usually means that you return at later point to retrieve your item once again."    “So it wasn’t Jennifer’s killer then.” Macie jumps up, like a light bulb has gone off.    "Yes. We must assume so" I answered at her deduction. "We should find out who originally handed in the bracelet, I’m sure you know that this is a task for you.” I winked at her, knowing that so far, her help has come in handy.    “Great! I was already looking forward to a mission.” she answers me with a wink and I laugh.

 I see that then she doubts for a moment whether to speak to me or not. She gives me a few looks, too, almost accusatory.    "What's going on, Macie?" I ask worried, approaching her and taking her hands "What are you worried about?"    "You… you deleted Hannah's emails, didn’t you?" She asks me, and I notice that she doesn't hold my hands like she used to, like she's doubting me.    "Yes. But by now I’m sure you understand why I had to do that."     She nods slowly. Something else worries her.    "Yes, I think I do…" she shrugs doubtfully "Do you ever ask yourself if we're going too far?"    "How far is too far when it comes to a person’s life?" I don't want to argue with her, but I want to understand her concern." I cannot answer that question" she lowers her head, looking at the floor "Can you, Macie?"     Macie looks at me hard. We both have different opinions on how to finish the search for Hannah. I know she couldn't help but become attached to the group. I left her alone and they was the support of her that she had.    "As soon another life is in danger because of it."    "You mean your friends, right?"     Macie goes to answer, but her cell phone rings.

 She breaks apart and she pulls her cell phone out of her sweatshirt. Little by little I see how her face is changing. I don't understand that expression. Is it fear or emotion?    "What is it?" I ask worried.    "So we're not going too far, are we?" She tells me, showing me the chat.     In it she showed me that Jessica had sent her a photo. A photo of a door with a bloodstained crow on it.

 He had just marked her.

Chapter 27

[thecandywrites]

Monster March Day 5- Other-Taurs

The Velvet Spa

Thanks as always to @borealwrites for their Monster March 2023 prompts. As well as @catbatart for their's as well. Short and sweet again. However, this is the first one that will have more of a second part that is it's own multi part story for another prompt later on in the list. But this more or less lays the groundwork for future ones. Enjoy.

Monster March Day 5- Other-taurs

The Velvet Spa

“Goodmorning, this is Macy with The Velvet Spa, how can I help you?” Macy asked. 

“Goodmorning, this is Mack Goodwin, I’d like move up my scheduled velvet stripping appointment, and I’d like to keep it with Bianca if at all possible.” Mack offered. 

“Of course, let me just look at her schedule real quick. She has a 10am on the 7th.” Macy offered. 

“Does she have anything sooner? That cold snap we just had has me entering the rut sooner than I anticipated and that cold snap really did a number on the velvet and it’s already really oily and itchy.” He pleaded. 

“Well, she does have an emergency opening tomorrow evening at 6. But her emergency appointment slots are usually double the usual because you’re skipping the line so to speak.” Macy gently broke it to him.

“I’ll take it. I’ll happily book it and prepay for it too. I just need it off and Bianca is the best.” Mack insisted. 

“Of course. I’ll get that booked for you. Is the card ending in 3443 still the card you wish to use?” She asked. 

“Yes, that one should be fine, and please could you add on a 25% tip too?” He asked. 

“Of course.” Macy reassured him. 

“And done and done, we’ll see you in here tomorrow at 6pm Mack.” Macy offered. 

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” He offered before he hung up. 

At 5, he was in that spa and doing his best to simply rest in the special moose-taur chairs that they had. Since this place catered to taurs of all kinds and the various kinds of minotaurs too. 

He tried to distract himself with various games on his phone, anything to keep his hands from reaching up to scratch at the velvet on the antlers, as he had already bought a tub of itch cream and slathered it on and wrapped them up in the special taur bathroom. But it felt like he needed several buckets of itch cream. 

And thankfully right at 5:50- Bianca came out. 

“Mack, I’m ready for you.” Bianca called as she had walked, what was usual last client of the day, but because of the early cold snap, her emergency appointments had all filled up for the rest of the week, and then the appointments the usual clients had booked in advance had quickly filled in too. 

Mack nearly hit the already high ceilings as he jumped up onto all fours in the seat and bounced out of and over the chair. 

“Easy, easy, come on, room 8.” Bianca giggled as she managed to put her little, delicate hands up right at his waist where his waist met the rest of his moose-taur body to keep him from crashing into the actual bench of a reception desk as he took a step back and bowed his head in embarrassment but appreciated her pat of his taur shoulder and followed her to the special room that she had set up just for her special true taur clients as she quickly added special sections of the special bed so he could lay his taur body down, while also laying is more human side forward so that his head would more or less lay between two huge sinks specifically designed for massive antlers. 

“Ok, is that comfy enough or do we need more support?” She asked once he settled in. 

“Could I just get a little more here?” He asked as he pulled his chest up and patted to where he would lay in. Since this was like a massive massage chair, specifically made for larger taurs, like moose-taurs and caribou-taurs. She grabbed the special insert and wedged it in and then had him lay down before she adjusted the special head rest. 

“There? Better?” She asked but she could already see his body fully relax into it. 

“Yes, so much. Thank you.” He thanked her. 

“Let’s get you numbed up. Because I can see that the numbing lotion ain’t cutting it is it?” She asked thoughtfully as she was already washing her hands and then drying them to get her special gloves on. 

“It helped, but not as much as the injections do.” He had to admit as she was already getting into her special pharmaceutical refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of her favorite local anesthetic drug and filled her needle with enough to numb all of the velvet on the antlers. 

“Ok, pin pricks.” She gently warned as she cleaned the nerve branches of the velvet that was still, mostly active as the local anesthetic both kept the nerves from firing before she could remove the velvet and it would keep too much blood loss from happening too. 

Mack welcomed the pin pricks because he knew the numbing that was sure to follow would be phenomenal before he practically moaned and sighed to feel the relief bloom all over his antlers. 

“Better?” Bianca asked once she was done injecting all of it but paused to see if he would need any more. 

“So much better.” He answered. 

“Ok, let me do a quick check ok?” She said before she disposed of the syringe but had a second on standby just in case she needed to pull more from the bottle as she put the special walkway that would allow her to climb up and stand over him to get to his velvet without climbing onto his back herself. She walked around and squeezed the various tines, palms and beams. 

“Feeling anything?” She asked thoughtfully as she tested all of them. 

“Nope. I just feel you touching them from the pressure on my skull.” He answered. 

“Perfect. Ok, lets get all of this pesky velvet off. Nothing like a hundred degree difference between having nearly 60 degree warm fall winter and then a cold snap of minus 53 degrees and a blizzard for a few days and then back to regularly scheduled- descend into winter. That cold snap just sent everyone into the rut early and velvet that usually would take another few weeks is taking mere days to decide it needs to come off.” Bianca said as she unwrapped his antlers and used her various scalpels and other tools in her special belt along with a gigantic bag on her hip to catch all the velvet she would take off of his antlers. 

“You’re telling me.” He chuckled. 

“Although I doubt Cathy minds you chasing her around the house a bit earlier than usual.” Bianca gently teased. 

“No she does not.” Mack laughed as he just fully relaxed and practically melted into the special cushioned chair/bed as he could feel Bianca climb the various special stools she had so she could get up and get all the velvet off even the tallest points of his antlers and work her way down as the soft music filled the room. 

“So I take it your schedule is crazy?” He guessed. 

“Very much so. I even scheduled in dinner for my appointments, because currently, I’m out until 9pm for the next few weeks.” She revealed. 

“Yikes. What about the kids?” He asked. 

“Well, thankfully my parents understand and while Rodger isn’t there to watch them anymore, at least his parents are.” You admitted. 

“Still miss him?” Mack asked. 

“It gets better every year.” Bianca admitted about her husband who had died due to a falling tree since her husband had co owned a lumber mill and had bought a parcel of land for the trees, but instead- had literally struck gold, when he hadn’t struck gold with his wife that is. And even though she had been a single mom of three when he met her, he was quick to marry her up and give her two more kids when he did. Because really good women were more precious than gold and more beautiful than the northern lights, no matter what form they took. 

Bianca got into being a velvet stripper among the various other things she had licenses and certifications for when she was growing up. Bianca started helping her antlered taur friends take the velvet off their antlers. Then once she graduated highschool, went and got a professional medical license for it and then started accumulating many, many more in the years since. 

And then when he died, she actually took his life insurance money, all the money from selling the land that had the gold claim on it- and built her dream home and her specialty medical spa and now The Velvet Spa was a place where every taur or any other person who had antlers or even horns came to get them serviced among other things. 

And because Bianca was a human, her and her little nimble fingers could get in there and remove velvet way better than most. And having a husband and kids who were the whole spectrum of minotaurs, between moose minotaur with her eldest, an elk minotaur with her second, a deer minotaur with her third and then her youngest two being caribou minotaur from her late husband, meant she knew all too well what it was like having antlers and velvet. Like a mosquito bite times a thousand. And with all her years of experience, she and her spa had a sterling reputation at being the best. To the point, people came to her and her spa from all over the Arctic Tundra. And she had multiple locations now and had made a chain of the business. But her original clientele were practically cult followers. And once someone had her work on them, they didn’t want anyone else to work on them because she always had the best results. 

“So, were we going with winter white or did we want to go with any other stains for the antlers today? Grulla is pretty popular this year.” She asked as she finished with one antler and double checked to make sure she got everything before she started on the other. 

“Nah, could we go fawn brown?” He asked since once the antlers shed their velvet, they could take a staining of the bone super easy and she could stain the antlers any color the client wanted. 

“Oh yeah, that would look really good with your dark brown coat.” She readily agreed as she continued to work on his velvet and cut it all off, and used a special scraper that was practically a modified icecream scoop with a razor edge to get the wide palms of antler velvet off. 

“And we’re done! Velvet’s off, lets get these washed and then dyed for you.” She offered before she got her cleaning supplies and her pre-soaked dye sponge out of it’s wrapper and drenched it with the special dye to make his antlers the desired color. Like hair color, but for antlers. 

She meticulously washed all the blood and leftover residues from his antlers before she meticulously got the stain sponge and started to stain his antlers his favorite color. It used to be that whatever a taur would scrape their velvet off with, like the bark from trees, and dirt would color up the antlers. But with her, she could make the antlers look both “natural” yet “modern” with various stains, even the bright colored ones. The people who worked construction or the salt trucks often preferred their antlers get a reflective paint put on so they could work safely, even in the dark night. 

“And…done!” She announced happily as she finished with his antlers and pulled the walkway up so he could get up and out of the special chair. 

“But I don’t want to move, I was so comfortable.” Mack mock complained. 

“Come on, up, up, up.” She cooed as she reached out the scratch around the base of his antlers on his head and laughed when he rolled his head into her fingernails. Since she had taken off her gloves already before he got those infuriating itches scratched before he pulled back just enough to grab her up and give her a hug with his upper person half while he was still down on the ground. 

“Thank you so much.” He offered. 

“You’re welcome Mack.” She smiled happily as she hugged him back for a few seconds before she withdrew to help change the room over and let him get up. 

“Ice the bases when the local wears off if they start to ache, take your favorite pain reliever too if it gets bad. And of course, if you have any other issues or problems call back and we’ll get you fixed up. And of course, if anything gets infected, don’t hesitate to go get medical intervention in the meantime, ok?” She offered as he stood up again before she withdrew the special bolsters and cushions to suit the next client she had in the room since she had two rooms, one for conventional taurs and the other more for various kinds of minotaurs that was right across the hall while he looked at his antlers in the high mirrors in the room. 

“Will do, you’re the best.” He offered 

“I try. Do you still want to keep your antler shed appointment or do you think you’ll need to move it up earlier because you’re entering the rut early too?” She asked. 

“Nah, let’s keep it for now.” He shook his head no. 

“Ok, then lets get you out and back home to Cathy.” She offered before she opened the massive door to let him out as he gingerly left the room and turned in the hallway to get out of there as she walked him out and then collected her next client. 

“Mr. Leopold?” She called out before a caribou minotaur practically jumped out of his seat. 

“That’s me.” He offered before he followed her back. 

“Hi, we’re back in room 4.” She offered as she exchanged Mack’s file for her other client’s and went to repeat the process. 

[capricorndevil15]

27, 40, A! for the oc meme!

 Yay, thanks for these questions! I'll answer them for Macy, Holly, and Lila since that's what I want to do. :>

27. What causes them to feel dread? 

Probably a lot of things lol. But, all of them dread loneliness. Lila gets especially nervous when she's losing control of a situation, and she can always feel it slipping right before it happens.

Macy feels dread in a situation where she's trapped, like if she's in a social situation where she can't figure out a way to get what she wants, or someone is preventing her from doing what she needs to do. Also, any time she knows she's being judged. But trapped is worse.

I think Holly is also afraid of being trapped, but for her, the threat of being exposed is even scarier. Also, any situation where her friends are in danger would make Holly really scared.

40. How sensitive are they to their own flaws?

They are all sensitive but in different ways, I think. Holly is overly critical of herself and defaults to blaming herself in most situations where a mistake is made. I think she might describe herself as being a massive stupid collection of flaws where a person should be.

Macy feels shame for perceived flaws, but she also resents society for making her feel that way about herself. She has a lot of simmering anger about this. But, she also has moments of clarity where she'll realize when she's truly made a mistake, and she often really wants to make things right when that happens.

Lila is maybe the most aware of her actual flaws, and somehow also the least critical of herself. She is aware of everyones' flaws, and if you won't change, why should she. Lila's world if just not fair. I think the difference between her worldview and Holly's is mostly that Holly hopes for a moment to be vulnerable but is afraid it will never come, whereas Lila never ever wants to be vulnerable and prefers to hide.

A) Why are you excited about this character?

Oh my gosh. I love them! Macy is a type of character that I just adore, and she's a strong protagonist to write. She's intense and a driving force in anything she does. Holly is much gentler in comparison, and she has a lot of depth to her character. And I really believe in Lila, too! :3

Thanks a bunch for these asks and for letting me talk about my OCs <3