#my only thing about that is expensive. other than that i love lego | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

trashbag-baby666 · 9 months ago

Text

Lore drop for my favorite twink <3 i love you sm Ken 💕💕 brought to you by me and @mangokittokatsu

MOTA Masterlist!

•Kenny was born to two philanthropist, entitled, classy, rich people. But he was an accident that neither of them wanted to take care of really. They hired a nanny and she quite literally raised Ken until he was 12. That’s when his parents decided that he was old enough and fired her. This is what really starts out the, “here’s your monthly $10,000, go to school we’re going on our second cruise this year.”

•His grandma tries her best to take care of him from a distance since she lives in DC. She does call him nearly daily and they’re pretty close.

•Although, Ken’s a year younger than the others he joins a theater company when he’s 11 and meets Rosie. The Rosenthals quickly take pity in Ken and they give him rides to and from theater, let him come over and stay with them, feed him dinner. You know, actually loving this child.

•Ken and Rosie are bestie westies they would spend a lot of nights sitting in silence or talking about the boys Ken liked. Or they would make up their own theater performances and play dress up.

•The Rosenthals invite Ken to their family Hanukkah celebration. During Christmas they let him come over and Mrs. Rosenthal made Ken’s favorites and even got him a few presents. They’re really the closest thing Ken has to a family.

•So, when Ken gets his drivers license he’s left with his dad’s garage full of luxury cars. But his motorcycle is what really and always had caught his eye.

•His father tries to use this as an opportunity to love his son. Or you know, using expensive gifts to show their love. His dad teaches him how to drive it but it was really just Ken figuring it out by himself while his dad took business call after call.

•This is shortly before Curt started eye fucking Ken in gym class till he came over and talked to him. They were so down bad for each other, Curt giggled like a fucking school girl the first few times Ken took him for rides on his bike.

“Curt texted me last night telling me that Ken took him on his motorcycle!” John blabbed across the lunch table making a kissy face and sound at Curt.

Curt literally just reaches across the table and smacks him with a sandwich.

•Ken’s super super interested in engineering he picks up occasional shifts at the same garage Curt’s mom works at. Ken really knows his way around a car, he was super into them when he was younger. He’s just the kinda twink who can pop your hood and fix your problem for you.

•Ken tries out for the football just so he can spend more time with Curt. Think Kurt Hummel auditions for the role of kicker. Just look at this post lmao.

•Him and Curt listen to music together on the bus to and from football games. Corded headphones and each has one, they have a collaborative playlist together. Some of their favorites are Deftones, Mac Miller, Childish Gambino, Arctic Monkeys, etc. check out this playlist for more :3!

•Their ideal date night though is a hand selected bottle of wine from Angela Lemmons wine cellar, a cheesy movie or Marvels movie(they’re watching them in order), and a puzzle or a Lego set, sometimes they paint together.

•Usually, they finish the puzzle or lego set but sometimes they’re too wine drunk to finish or Curt’s carrying Ken up to his bedroom ;).

•If it wasn’t obvious yet, Ken is a wine connoisseur. He really likes white wines and anything a little fruity.

•Brady wants to learn his ways.

•Ken is an avid painter as well!! He liked doing it in art class and brought the interest home with him. So of course, his parents bought him the most expensive paints and brushes and canvas’s. Because that’s how they always were. He’s pretty much self taught aside from art classes. He paints this in high school and it now hangs in their house 15 years later.

•The only time Curt and Ken ever really fight it’s about money. Ken has more than plenty and Curt’s literally working every single day and pulls open to closes every weekend. Curt had been running on nearly no rest and three Red Bulls a day. He couldn’t afford to not work. over the course of five months, He watched Curt’s health decline and he was losing weight like crazy. He’d come home from work at 11 and pass out in Ken’s bed after stumbling out of his work clothes. That or he would sleep on the couch at his apartment. His back was hurting and he was so tired and nauseated.

•Flash forward it’s been too many months of this. Curt had called Ken around 8:30 asking him if he could come pick him up. He had kinda given into his body and left Ham and Dickie to man the Taco Bell without him. However, Ken was relieved that Curt maybe was coming to his senses.

•Curt literally stumbled out the door and regained his balance a little bit before getting into his car. Curt opened the passenger door and threw himself in and just said.

“Take me to the er.”

•This is when it really started, Ken had kept offering Curt money. But Curt will not take handouts or money from anyone. He feels like he needs to earn everything himself and he provides for his family at the ripe age of 18.

“Just take it, it’s not like I’m missing any of it.” Ken ripped the check from the checkbook and slid it across the table.

“No, I’m not taking your money. It’s fine I have it under control.”

“Curt, you were in the hospital.”

•Thus leads to Ken putting money into his account without him knowing. It’s never enough at a time for it to be super noticeable or he tucks it into a savings account.

#ken’s lore drop :3 #what’s waited till tomorrow starts tonight au #masters of the air #mota #mota hs au #ken lemmons #curtis biddick #curt x ken #kurt #rosie rosenthal #modern au #theo writes

19 notes · View notes

plusfuckingultra · 2 years ago

Text

I love her so much that spending money on myself makes me feel guilty and physically ill because that money could be spent on her, buying her Legos and seeing her smile and laugh because "These are expensive! You shouldn't be buying me these!" but knowing that I'm helping her improve at receiving gifts without guilt. Because she has trauma she's healing from. And simply buying her gifts, for the sole purpose of wanting to, helps her. So yes, buying a few things for myself must be evened out with at least 20 dollars worth of Legos being gifted to her, a set she picked out over FaceTime with much argumentation on her end, only for me to prevail and her to thank me for buying her something. She finally let me buy her something without needing to give something in return. She's healing. Because I love her.

I love her so much that 20 dollars worth of Legos, in my eyes, is not enough for her. I've always been selfish, buying things for myself alongside someone else's gift to make it up to myself, ensuring the item for myself is worth more money than the other person's gift. That's selfish, greedy. I've always hated spending money on other people. Perhaps that's because I've rarely had my own things, being the oldest child. Or perhaps that's on pure materialism. But I'm perfectly content walking into a store and buying anything and everything for her without even thinking about me because the smile on her face when she receives my gifts is something I cherish with my entire being. And buying her gifts is like buying a smile from her, a guaranteed grin on her beautiful face, and maybe a bonus kiss of appreciation and thanks. I will gladly give up everything in my own cart if it meant buying her a bigger, more expensive gift that's been on her wish list for years. A gift she'd absolutely argue with, one she'd try and make me use for myself, but is her passion, not mine. And she can smile. Because I love her.

I love her so much that I have an entire list of things I can't wait to buy her. Pinky promise rings, 55 dollars each, that I've been wanting to give her since February. A keychain set telling her to "Drive safe, I need you here, Mi Amor" as a daily reminder that no matter what her mind tells her, I will always love her and need her here. Soft blankets with her favorite colors and flowers. Matching pajama sets with both pants and shorts of the same pattern so we'd always be matching. Her many Lego sets on her wish list, organized by price, occasion, and want. The places I want to take her, like the giant Lego store in New York, the huge Build-A-Bear Workshop over there too, Great Wolf Lodge, and some cool museums I've seen that she'd love too. I'd pay for all of it. Because that'd mean we'd be together. And I'd get to see her smile. It's easy to think of spending money on her. Because I love her.

I love her so much that saving money doesn't sound like such a chore. Saving for a car so that I can drive to go visit her, or saving for airplane tickets and some extra spending money to spoil her when I visit. The more money I save, the faster I can visit her. I can see her again. I can hold her, hug her, breathe her in. I can kiss her, rest my forehead against hers, I can breathe. I can rest. With her. And suddenly, spending money doesn't sound as tempting as it once was, my growing savings account seemingly more appealing as thoughts of rushing to her arms flood my mind. I can save my money, I can be patient because I love her.

I love her so much that buying her a ring sounds like the simplest thing in the world. The most natural thing. An engagement ring. A wedding ring. I'd save up for years, and the moment I have enough money, I'd pay it all off in one go, never having to make multiple payments because saving money for her is so easy. It'll make her so happy. Happier than any Lego set, happier than any blanket, hoodie, or gift I ever send her. I'd be there to give it to her in person. Present it to her, just her. It'd just be us. No peering, judging eyes, just us in a shared safe space. The most expensive gift I'd have ever bought her, giving her the biggest smile ever, and possibly a few tears. She lies when she says she hates receiving gifts. She lies when she says she hates me spending money on her. Because she knows that the day I buy her the most expensive item she'd ever receive, she'll be the happiest woman on the planet. And truthfully, her gift wouldn't be the ring.

Her gift would be me.

I love her so much that I would give her myself, every single day, for the rest of eternity. And even though I would spend every cent I own on anything for her, she'd never truly want anything other than me.

She loves me so much that she doesn't care if I'd buy her gifts or not. Because I am gift enough.

#I love her #wlw #lgbtqia+#queer #sapphic #gay #lesbian #bisexual #writing #for her

7 notes · View notes

joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh · 2 years ago

Text

I like intrinsically want all the new Sonic lego sets, right. But fuckin. Money is a thing. And physical space is a thing since my room’s quite small and has a lot of stuff in it. So I very much need to dial back and get something specific if I want anything at all. Which then raises the hell that I don’t actually like most of the sets all that much? The fact that they’re all mostly just disconnected chunks of stuff isn’t really my style, and then like 3 of them are designed for that speed sphere thing I have a negative amount of interest in. Like really any singular set here isn’t really that appealing, especially for the price points.

But then if I am gonna try narrow it down anyway, because I still fundamentally like the idea of Sonic Lego sets, what set am I going for?

Green Hill Zone Loop Challenge is off the table - it’s the most expensive and the only things I’d really care for from it are the Eggman mech plus his and Amy’s minifigures. Those minifigures are available in other sets anyway, and everything aside from that is either sorta cool but not £100 cool, or just not something I really care about.

Speed Sphere Challenge exists in this weird zone of seeming appealing for being by far the cheapest, but then the DJ kit and Chaos Soda fridge are like the only parts I think are actually quite cool. The rest is fairly eh.

Death Egg Robot seems okay? I like the actual Death Egg Robot itself which looks like the main part of the build, plus it’s the other avenue for an Eggman minifigure and even comes with a tiny Cubot which is cool, but again there’s so much disparate junk and the speed sphere thing and it’s still one of the more expensive sets so like, idk man.

Tails’ Workshop is I think one of the more appealing ones to me, because it’s on the cheaper side, I get a Tails minifigure, and by far the coolest part to me is getting the Tornado. I actually like, want the Tornado standalone more than any other thing in any of these waves. The Tornado is sick. I can’t actually stress enough how much I love the Tornado and how cool the Lego Tornado looks. But then, ah, I just don’t really care about the rest of the set, yet it’s so much of the price? The Buzz Bomber looks rough and then Tails’ actual workshop is so small and separate from everything that it’d just feel like a paperweight. I’d still maybe consider this one because of the Tornado but like, argh, you know?

I think Animal Rescue Island is definitely the most appealing set overall to me. Compared to the other ones being a bunch of scattered pieces that feel very eh over all, this is actually just a whole complete island thing. And a fairly neat looking one at that! It also gets me a Tails and Amy minifigure and considering I already have a Sonic minifigure from the initial Green Hill Ideas set, I’d feel yk pretty good about the minifigures I’d have, although not having an Eggman minifigure is depressing but that’s like money still, you know how it is. This set’s also still in a relatively comfortable price range. Doesn’t really have any drawbacks and it’s a pretty cool set, I think it’s just that it’s not literally the most appealing possible set they could’ve come up with.

So I mean yeah idk I’ll. Probably buy Animal Rescue Island if any and see if I can’t work some other magic to get a standalone Eggman minifigure and even aim for getting the Tornado alone without Tails’ workshop. Or I’ll splurge and buy Animal Rescue Island and the Workshop? Maybe I’ll also pussy out and buy Speed Sphere challenge since it’s the cheap one. Idk. I shouldn’t be that surprised that these new sets are more kids and play focused than the Green Hill Ideas set - so compared to like nice displays there’s a lot more “you make your own fun” type things. Not gonna criticise that whatsoever, like duh obviously do that - but at the same time it does make it less appealing to me specifically and that’s why I will pass up on like most of these sets. I mean I don’t know how well I communicated this but I definitely feel like at least getting a minifig of every character is important to me. With Sonic I like the characters more than the locations and specific pieces of iconography so, minifigs are good for that. But then I still want cool iconography and junk so that’s the appeal of the Tornado. Perhaps if these sets do well we’d get more waves as it were, and suddenly I can just buy Lego Sonic sets that feel the most cool to me instead of worrying about whether or not I want to collect everything. Idk. We’ll see. If I do end up buying one of them I’ll post about it anyway soooooooo

#sonic #1.8.23

1 note · View note

miloscat · 2 years ago

Text

[Review] Disney Infinity: Twilight of the Republic (PS4)

A nice little game in a messy package.

Disney Infinity was this particular mega-corp’s attempt to devour some of the toys-to-life market that Skylanders had created. Like all these attempts it eventually failed, but not before incorporating Star Wars in its third iterative release. Essentially there’s two halves to this game: the Toybox mode with its emphasis on crossover mashups and player expression, and the story sets where you play through a more focused scenario within one of the fictional worlds.

I’m not sure about the earlier versions, but for 3.0 a handful of studios were contracted to create the individual story pack content. The plastic lumps of content and character figures are getting more expensive all the time but the one I was most interested in happened to come with the starter set and so was quite cheap. Twilight of the Republic is its name, and Ninja Theory the developer behind it. I’m familiar with their work on Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, but their involvement with the overall game is deeper than creating this new Clone Wars story.

They were brought on during development of 2.0 to begin a big revamp to the combat system, incorporating their experience with character action games to make the battling deeper and more fun. Apparently the changes were significant and appreciated, and can be seen all across 3.0. Although my experience is limited, I did recognise touches that were familiar from Enslaved, like the clambering system or the cinematic slowdown on killing the final enemy in a group, and the combat is pretty decent for a kids’ game (Traveller’s Tales made similar changes in the Lego Skywalker Saga).

Anyway, my time with Infinity started with exploring the Toybox and its endless menus, tutorials, and loading zones. This mode is an evolution of Avalanche’s work on the Toy Story 3 game, but even after several iterations it’s a clunky mess. Game creation tools inevitably have some jank but I found this whole half of the game to be pretty unsatisfying. It’s too bad because I find the crossover aspect to be a fun idea but even in this sandbox it’s handled a bit clumsily. The more baffling thing about the whole Disney Infinity project to me is the disconnect between the Toybox’s attempt to mash up various properties and the utter restrictiveness of the story modes.

For example, you can either load into the Toybox or the current playset from the menu. Once you’re in the Star Wars mode, only the small handful of relevant figures will work... and even the other Star Wars figures have to be unlocked with collectibles before they’re allowed to participate! My Rapunzel and Merida figures had to look forlornly on as I played through the actual real game part of the game. It really makes the Disney Infinity tagline “play without limits” feel like a bold-faced lie. But accepting that, I was able to play this story campaign as Ahsoka and have a good time with it as a Star Wars game-ette. Like a novella for games.

Twilight of the Republic (or TotR) is an original story, unlike the other story packs which rehash the Original Trilogy and The Force Awakens respectively. It’s set in the Clone Wars and once again all the actors from the CG show reprise their roles, which I love. Ashley Eckstein’s Ahsoka, Sam Witwer’s Maul, Ahmed Best even returns as Jar Jar for more ridiculous antics! To be fair, the story is for the most part an excuse to revisit setpieces and locations from The Phantom Menace (like the podrace and Maul battle in Theed palace) and Attack of the Clones (Geonosis and Coruscant) but with Clone Wars stuff like Grievous, Cad Bane, and Maul’s Mando troops inserted.

The short level snippets are sandwiched between some shallow spaceship traversal, the occasional planetbound vehicle sections, and the bit I most enjoyed: roaming the little hubs. Getting around with Force Jumps and mid-air dashes was great fun, and I loved exploring the toy-like towns to find collectibles and do sidequests for NPCs. Occasionally some minor goodies were locked behind having “tech” or blaster characters, but I still reached the level cap and got most of the stuff just playing as Ahsoka.

Just off the back of Ninja Theory’s improvements to the engine and the otherwise breezy pace, this might be the best Clone Wars game out there(!?); I certainly had a lovely time with it. And it is the only game that was made late enough to use Ahsoka’s superior post-Season 3 design. The greater package of Disney Infinity and how it’s put together is something I’m more inclined to turn my nose up at, just a real sloppy bundle of blah. Those figures though, it must be said the redesigns of the characters almost universally look fantastic!

#disney infinity #disney infinity twilight of the republic #Ninja Theory #review #ps4

1 note · View note

theramseyloft · 4 years ago

Text

Beginner’s housing for a pet pigeon

We can go into the complexities involved in housing multiple pigeons at a later time.

Right now, we’re going to focus primarily on setting up for a single bird who is intended to be a companion animal.

The biggest problem you are going to run into is that the housing commercially available for birds is designed either to display a finch or a parrot.

Finch cages make excellent hospital cages for pigeons, but that is their only useful application.

A Hospital cage needs to be small to discourage the bird from moving around too much and doing anything other than eating and drinking, so that their recovery, be that from disease or injury, can progress with as few delays as possible.

A healthy bird cannot tolerate this degree of confinement for long.

Parrot cages are huge and expensive, but too narrow for a pigeon to be physically able to use.

The bare minimum requirements for any cage a pigeon will be housed in for more than an hour a day is that it be two inches wider than the full wingspan of the bird at the narrowest point, to allow their wings at least an inch of clearance on either side.

They are cliff nesters that don’t roost on branches. Round perches hurt their feet, so they need either flat platforms or square perches.

Pigeons cannot climb the way parrots can. They can only walk or fly, and they cannot comfortably fly if their wings will clip into things like hanging toys or ramps.

So they tend to prefer their enclosure be as uncluttered as possible.

Socialization is best done outside the enclosure, so that’s where most of the toys should be.

Dog kennels set up like this one above are kinder to both the pigeons and the wallets of their care taker than pretty much any indoor bird cage available.

A Labrador sized (usually marketed as a “Large”) kennel will fit bird about homer sized and smaller.

Larger breeds or breeds with longer flight and tail feathers will need a larger size as a base line.

These are very simple to modify.

The nest box is a bunny/ferret corner litter box, about $8-10 at most pet shops. Easy to clean and comfortable.

The perch is a garden stake cut to length, about $5 from the garden center at Walmart or a hardware store like Lowes or home Depot.

Honestly, if I had this to do over, the birds would get a wider, shallower food dish.

Pigeons are ground foragers. It’s easier for them to eat comfortably from a shallow dish than a deep one.

The water dish can be as deep as the pigeon can reach the bottom of.

This is the upper level of a ferret nation Double modified for my first breeding pair of Lucerne waaaay back before my loft was built, when I had a grand total of four breeding pair of pigeons and 16 pairs of Ringneck doves.

This one also has a garden steak cut to fit as a perch.

Their nest box is a large dog bowl full of timothy hay.

Notice that this enclosure has a single hanging bell toy exactly at standing head height for the birds, well out of the way of their wings.

This probably looks unbearably spartan, especially if you come form a parrot back ground.

Remember that pigeons cannot climb and will not fly in a space where their wings may bump into clutter.

The cage for an indoor pet pigeon should serve the same function as the kennel does for an indoor dog:

That is NOT where the dog lives!

At most, it’s where they sleep at night, and where a puppy stays when they can’t be supervised until they’ve learned the house rules.

Pigeons are absolutely smart enough to learn house rules just like a dog or cat.

And pet pigeons are happiest when they have the freedom of motion to exercise, play, and interact with their human flock mates at will.

While they can free fly an entire house, a single bedroom is enough space for most breeds to move around happily.

Pigeon proofing is pretty simple.

They aren’t capable of chewing like parrots, so no need to worry about your electrical chords being damaged and your bird giving them self a nasty shock.

They can’t damage wood or drywall or fabric by chewing.

Pigeons don’t eat plants, but do like the feel of ripping them and will use strips of leaves as nest bedding, so house plants may need to be protected by glass covers.

Things displayed on shelves in the room or rooms the pigeon will have access to need to be heavy enough or well enough wedged in that the bird can’t pull them down if they land awkwardly on them or push them off if they bump into or try to squeeze past them.

Papers need to be stored where they won’t be scattered by the wind that their powerful wings kick up in flight.

Any crevices too high or awkward for you to easily clean need to be blocked some how.

Poop is simple.

The poop of a well fed, healthy pigeon with a good diet should be round and solid enough that it can be easily picked up with a square of toilet paper or a tissue when wet or vacuumed up when dry.

Once you know your bird’s favorite perches, you can make clean up even easier on yourself by laying down puppy pads under them that you can just change out as often as needed.

Once a pigeon has mastered the house rules, you can do away with the cage entirely.

This is the feeding station we set up for Ankhou and Bird-bird.

On the little feed tray for cats were the feeder and waterer with oystershell offered free choice from a dish between them.

Pigeons are one of the very few animals that recognize their reflection in the mirror as a a reflected view of themselves, instead of another bird.

Most like to practice dancing, strutting, their sweeping charge, and bow-cooing in front of mirrors, so those are excellent enrichment for them.

Being cliff nesters, bricks are simply the most comfortable thing for a pigeon to stand on.

Strutting back and forth on the rough surface in front of a mirror will help them keep their claws blunted.

The bricks are holding down a crinkle sack for cats, laid out flat.

Pigeons love noise stims. Particularly crinkly, jingly, or chiming.

The noise it made made dancing in front of the mirror extra fun on the crinkle mat.

The dead keyboard serves a similar function.

This beans box from Walmart full of straw served as Bird-Bird’s nest box.

She laid eggs fairly regularly, and slept in there most of the time.

Ankhou was a man of simple tastes.

This baby doll blanket on the nightstand at my bedside was where he slept at night.

Social bird was social and wanted to be as close as possible to us at all times and involved somehow in everything we did.

Pigeons like to take baths, and our free flying pet liked to be offered the opportunity to take one when we showered, but did not like to actually be in the shower with us.

So we got him a little pyrex casserole dish about as long as he was that stayed on the side of the bathtub and made a habit of filling it for him before we got into the shower.

Anhkou didn’t care much for forage pans or puzzle toys, but many pigeons do and they are very simple to make.

A pan or tray with a few fists full of straw, paper strips, sand, or a mix of all three with a high value treat like Safflower seeds sprinkled in to find mimics the way rock doves would forage for seed in the wild.

Puzzle feeders for pigeons are as simple to make as crumpling a sheet of paper with a few high value seeds inside.

Pigeons love crinkly sounds and tugging on the crumpled paper or blowing it around by flapping at it will reward them with a few spilled seeds and a fun noise.

The little wicker balls for kitties with a jingle bell inside complete the holy trinity of stick-texture, shiny, and jingly, and many pigeons love to kick, peck, and toss them.

They like to pick up and shake and toss bread ties with a small jingle bell fastened to the end.

Bird-Bird’s favorite toy was the bell intended to go on a kittens collar.

She liked to strut around with it holding it by the loop by which it was supposed to fasten and very softly jingling it.

Q-tips with the cotton tips removed and toothpicks with blunted or clipped ends are basically pigeon Legos.

Miniature wind chimes like this little angel and her harp are fun auditory stims too.

If you can swing it (ha!), pigeons enjoy swings, as long as the perch is flat.

Experiment with your birds and see what kind of enrichment they enjoy. ^v^

1K notes · View notes

hominivorax-hematovore · 3 years ago

Photo

Yes, hello, I am in fact still alive and remembered that tumblr exists. I posted this whole thing elsewhere months ago, but TFCon is coming up and I realized I had never actually posted it here. So.

Custom deluxe class Rescue Bots made from TR figures, because if Hasbro isn't going to give me mainline Generations-styled Rescue Bots, then I'm damn well going to make them myself. I am a grown-ass woman with 0 children and I love Rescue Bots, and I am not at all sorry about it. It's adorable as fuck and it's the one single Transformers series where I could be absolutely sure going in that my favourite characters weren't going to end up dying horribly. Plus it has Steve Blum, which as far as I'm concerned is always a plus. (I do feel like Heatwave is stuck in the wrong show. That is a bot in desperate need of permission to curse who's trapped in a show for toddlers. #LetHeatwaveSayFuck) It's just genuinely a good show with writers who actually care about the characters and whose humor is on point, and honestly, there is some real tragedy in that backstory if you think about it at all. The *very last* crew of a civilian rescue force, lost floating in space for years and years, only revived by chance, coming to an alien planet and discovering that both their home planet and literally all of the other rescue bots are dead and have been for centuries at minimum. They have to adapt to this weird alien world with its weird alien people, and they're not even allowed to go help fight the Decepticons because they're not actually soldiers and they would be dead in approximately five seconds if they ended up anywhere near a real battle. ...Okay, at this point I'm just trying to justify why I even bothered with this project and I don't know why. The other giant alien robot fans here get me, I'm sure. I've been thinking about how much I wanted a good set of RB figures for a while now, and I finally decided that since I had a little bit of cash to spare, if nobody else was going to make them for me I was damn well going to do it myself. I went searching and found www.deviantart.com/trenttroop 's shop on Shapeways selling many, many different faceplates for TR Headmasters, including the RB crew. https://www.shapeways.com/product/F4XBQTASG/rescue-bots-faceplate-four-pack-1?optionId=60329171&li=marketplace(Link to the four pack of faceplates!) Those were an immediate buy, and a starting point for this whole silly, somewhat expensive project. So now I had the line I was going to work with, and the faces I needed for them to be slightly better than "eh, paint him red and call him Heatwave", and now I had to pick bodies for the boys. I then spent a good while poring over images of the figures in the line, waffling on a couple of the options presented, and finally settling on bodies for each of the crew. I ended up getting three out of the four of these guys for an absolute *steal* on offerup-I paid 42 USD *total* for Hardhead, Highbrow and Breakaway, which is only slightly more than *just* the cheapest Breakaway I found for sale on ebay. And then there was Perceptor. Dear friggin' lord, Percy. Why in the name of Primus's shiny metal asshole is he so expensive? The ebay listings for him are *insane*, especially when I was just going to rip him out of any packaging and turn him into someone else. I ended up getting one for 15.40 USD for the figure. From a seller in *Australia*. He cost me 27 dollars extra in postage, and was somehow *still* roughly 20 USD cheaper in total than purchasing the next cheapest Perceptor (60 USD without shipping) from a US seller. After the bots came various bits and pieces I needed, like a ladder and tires for Heatwave and the arm light pieces for Chase. All of these little extra bits were...more expensive than I expected, not gonna lie, because I no longer have the buckets of lego that I used to and buying the specific ones I needed was kind of a pain in the ass. (At least I already had the Autobrand stickers from Toyhax, one less thing to spend money on.) Now, enough about the purchasing of bits, on to the bots! The final list for my RB crew is: Chase-Breakaway Boulder-Hardhead Blades-Highbrow Heatwave-Perceptor Chase's was an easy enough choice, since Breakaway's alt mode was good for Chase and the chest shape fit him very well. All he needed was some paint and for me to make him a lightbar and mount it, pretty much. That's made from some leftover Kreo bits, shaped, sanded, and painted, and mounted with a couple more pieces of Kreo to create a moveable piece that can sit behind his head in root mode. It does unfortunately prevent him from transforming, but I keep all of my bots in root mode anyway, so I'm not terribly bothered. He also got a set of forearm "lights", made from appropriately shaped and painted lego pieces, and then a full repaint. I will say that the arm lights (which end up on his door panels in alt mode) are not show-accurate in shape, but I decided to take a cue from TFA Prowl and make them an actually symmetrical set of lights/blasters instead of whatever is going on with his RB character design. My custom, my rules. I took the main elements of his paintjob directly from the show, of course, and then expanded upon the very basic blocky scheme with details inspired by some other figures as well as some fanart I've seen. I also took the arms and legs off his titan master and sculpted a new headback over what was left, which I also did with the others. (No, I am not taking criticism, constructive or otherwise, on this point. I don't care about the gimmick, the main reason I went with this line was because it would be easiest to do face swaps on.) Boulder's was also pretty easy, as it's not a huge line and I had to work within the deluxe part. Hardhead is close enough in body shape and has treads, so he was a pretty solid base to start from. I started with the intent of adding some extra treads on his arms to make him read more Boulder and less obviously Hardhead, but they ended up looking pretty awful and obviously tacked on even just laid out on the figure, so instead I chose to swap his arms around so that the treads were on the front and then slightly modify them around the elbow joints to give a slightly greater range of motion, and then of course swap the hands over to the new correct sides. (That does mean he can't transform unless I swap them back, but I don't mind that.) I then shaved down the center of his chest completely (went a little too far and ended up with a hole, actually-oops) and added a chopped down piece of Lego windshield and the roof of a cheap dollar store semi truck (the same cheap dollar store semi I used to add a grill to Heatwave) to make his chest more accurate looking and, again, less obviously Hardhead-y, gave him a resculpted headback and then painted him up. I couldn't quite figure out how to give him scoop feet, but I think he's more stable on the feet he's got now, and not *all* of the toy iterations of Boulder actually have the exaggerated scoop feet anyway, so I'm calling him good for now. Blades I waffled a bit more on, because there were a couple options and all of them required me to compromise a bit and get creative. I feel like Misfire or Topspin might possibly also have worked if I'd wanted to go that route (there have been Blades toys where he was inexplicably a non-helo aircraft), but ultimately I went with Highbrow because *helicopter*. I feel like there might be shades of G1 Blades happening in things like the shape of the ankle/tail rotor, but I can't say I'm particularly mad about it. The only modifications I did on him were a shavedown of his faceplate (the sculpt is good, but he was approaching Animated-Sentinel-Prime levels of chinnage-more the fault of the RBA design than the creator of the faceplates), sculpting the headback and adding a curved panel on his chest to round it out a little and cover that weird square bit that seems to serve no real purpose. And then there's Heatwave. I know Perceptor seems perhaps an odd choice at first glance-after all, a tank/microscope is not, in fact, the same thing as a firetruck. I considered Kup or Blurr for the large clear cockpits, but in the end Percy won out as a base because the chest shape was perfect for Heatwave, and having at least that bit be accurate was important to me for having him read correctly. This guy took just a little bit more work than the others, although to be fair, not *much* more. I chopped the grill off of a cheap dollar store semi-truck of the approximately correct size and placed it over the autobrand on his abdomen, and then I removed his microscope and replaced it with a telescoping ladder attached to the whole assembly so that it sits between his shoulders and folds against his back to stick up behind his head as it should. Added some pegs and tires to his ankles and forearms and lego bits to his shoulders for lightbars and then I, once again, resculpted the headback and then painted him up properly. This Heatwave is absolutely allowed to say fuck, Hasbro be damned. Annnd that's it. I spent probably way too much money making this happen, for no purpose other than my own amusement. I hope that my making this post at least somewhat justifies the amount of money, time, and physical/mental energy I put into customizing these guys. I'm under no illusions that they're perfect, but they're mine and I like how they turned out.

#rescue bots #transformers #transformers: rescue bots #Custom action figure #transformers toys #i smile every time i look over at my shelf and see them #i'm a whole adult and i love rescue bots and i'm not even sorry #goddamn it hasbro give us deluxe class Rescue Bots #they're canonically part of aligned continuity you have no excuse #think of the $$$ from the grown up collectors who'd be happy to have something other than optimus prime number 453635 #it's me. i'm grown up collectors #hasbro i am begging you #i love these boys so much #tf blades #tf boulder #tf chase #tf heatwave #let heatwave say fuck #no seriously. let him say it. just once. please. have you seen the shit he deals with on the daily?

49 notes · View notes

weezly14 · 3 years ago

Text

we could call it even (5/?)

“Peter could only be hers in Queens; over time, as she visited less often, he became less hers. She decided that it was better that way.“ To quote Taylor Swift, “it always leads to you in my hometown.”

this chapter is brought to you by taylor swift. specifically, the 1.

i'm impatient but also, chapter 6 is the one i've been waiting for. so this is a few days earlier than planned, mostly because i'm anxious for you all to read the next chapter.

and well spotted re: the marvelous mrs maisel line. (i have opinions, but it's a good line regardless.) there was also a west wing reference, so bonus points if anyone catches it.

as always, enjoy.

wanna catch up? one. two. three. four.

five.

if one thing had been different would everything be different today?

---

Michelle was too in her head, and felt guilty for worrying her sister, and being a shitty aunt, and never visiting before now, so when Gina went to work Michelle took Jesse to the Lego Store at Rockefeller Center. They went ice skating, and she bought him a giant Lego set that was too expensive but fuck it, she had a good job and, until recently, split bills with Miles. She could afford to buy a ridiculous Lego set to ease her guilt and make her nephew smile.

Plus, helping him build it that afternoon gave her something to focus on.

---

She never cheated on Miles.

Peter was – Miles knew about Peter. Maybe not all the details, but the ex, high school sweetheart, first love, home from break hookup – she’d been honest about all that. But by the time she met Miles, she was ready to move on, for real. To start actually getting over Peter. She hadn’t had a steady partner for all of college, because she always knew that she’d go home for a week or two and Peter would be there and she didn’t cheat, she wouldn’t do that. So she couldn’t be in anything serious, or even semi-serious. College was a series of hookups, of keeping her feelings to herself, of no strings attached arrangements – of holding on to some hope that she and Peter might still –

And, she really was very busy.

But she’d met Miles at work in LA after graduation, another clerk with law school aspirations and a creative streak. He painted, and he’d lived in Queens, too, until he was 10, so they could reminisce about the city. He was handsome, and funny, and kind. He liked her.

She didn’t go out on a real date with him until after the funeral, and it wasn’t a swift and easy courtship. They were both strong-willed, and they both had dreams. They went to work together, but they applied to different schools and wanted to go into different types of law. They didn’t talk about the future, because they both wanted to focus on their own careers first, not factor someone else into plans.

But they were together, and serious enough. Miles met Gina and Jesse on their visits. He met a few of her old high school friends. She met his parents and friends. When they ended up at different, but local, law schools, they moved in together because it made sense, and it was cheaper. They had fun together, the sex was good, they had similar interests. On paper, there was nothing to complain about.

And maybe it was subconsciously about Peter, but mostly she thinks it was just her.

Miles wanted to get married. Not immediately, but it was on his list. He wanted to get married and have kids, and they had been together for years, and lived together, and had met their respective loved ones, and they were starting out their careers, and it would make sense for them to wait another year or two but it was most definitely the path they were on. The path that starts with marriage and ends with a mortgage in a good school district and a kid or two for the Christmas cards.

Michelle wasn’t sure she wanted to be on that path. With Miles, or anyone.

It’s devastating to tell someone you love that you love them, but you know you don’t want to be with them forever. It’s awful to break up with someone for no other reason than there’s a feeling in your gut and a voice in your head saying go.

And Miles, to his credit, took it as well as could’ve been expected. He cried and she cried, and he went to his best friend’s, and she cashed in all the vacation she hadn’t taken and booked a plane ticket to New York. He told her she could keep the apartment, that he’d clean out his things while she was gone, and she hadn’t talked to him since she broke his heart. She’d told Gina and Betty that they broke up, and it was mutual, and to her credit, Gina hadn’t pushed, and neither had Betty. But it was final. There were no questions of can’t we try again? Miles had been upset, but not completely surprised.

Just because there wasn’t a reason for them to break up didn’t mean they had a reason to stay together.

So here she was, sleeping on her sister’s couch in her parent’s old apartment, successful by any professional standard but a mess in every other area of her life. She had spent more time with her nephew in the past 3 days than she had in probably his entire life. She had a half empty home across the country, and possibly no friends left in LA because she imagined Miles would get all of them in the break up. And she’d just found out her ex-boyfriend was Spider-Man, and had pushed her away out of some misplaced sense of responsibility and protection.

The parts of her that ached the most wanted to just say fuck it, email in two weeks notice and never go back to LA, just stay here and start over.

But she knew that wouldn’t fix anything. She and Peter would still be in the same place, and maybe –

Maybe she needed to stop running away to start over.

---

How’s babysitting?

Michelle sees the text from Peter when she sits down to have dinner with Jesse. Gina won’t be home for another few hours, so Michelle is on bedtime duty, too.

Good. We built Legos

Nice

You figure out work shit?

Yeah. I’ll be working overtime, but my boss told me I looked like shit when I got in, so feeling sick was believable I guess

“Mama says no screens at dinner.”

“Sorry, J,” Michelle says, turning her phone over and focusing on him. He reminds her so much of Gina, and she wonders how much he looks like Louis. She remembers him, sure, but they were never close. Does Jesse take after Gina, or is it just all Michelle can see? She wonders what Gina sees when she looks at him.

He has more of a personality this time – last time she saw him was easily a year ago, and they’d gone to Disneyland, and his personality had mostly been Excitement. But now he’s like a – like a person. She’s never spent much time around kids, and it blows her mind a little bit, what they’re like and how they grow and just – and people do this, raise kids, without any sort of training? She’s around the same age that Gina was when she had Jesse, and Michelle cannot imagine having a baby.

“No one calls me J,” he tells her matter of factly, taking a bite of his food.

“I won’t if you don’t like it,” she says. More proof of how little she knows him.

“I don’t know,” he says thoughtfully. “Mama calls me Jess. But there’s a girl Jess in my class, and she’s nice, but I don’t know if I wanna be Jess, too.”

“Fair.”

“You can call me J, if you want.”

“What do you want?”

“Ice cream.”

“No, silly,” she says, matching his smile and reaching out to tickle his side. He giggles. “Do you want to be Jesse or J?”

“Can I have more than one? Do you have more than one name?”

“Yeah.”

“What is it?”

“Well. Most people call me Michelle. But you and your mom usually call me Shelley. And my friends used to call me MJ.”

“They don’t anymore?”

She thinks of Peter.

“Some do.”

“Why?”

She shrugs.

“I was MJ in high school, but then I decided I wanted to be called Michelle.”

“MJ sounds nice.”

“Yeah.”

He takes a bite of his macaroni, brow furrowed in thought.

“Can I be J, but just you, and Jesse for everyone else?”

“Of course.”

“Ok.” He smiles at her. “Then it’s like we have a special handshake, but it’s names.”

She smiles back, heart expanding. “I guess it is.”

He goes back to his pasta.

“I like you here.”

“I like me here, too,” she says, heart clenching. God, kids are so honest. She imagines it’s got downsides, but how nice was it to be around a kid, to be told the unfiltered truth?

“Can you come back for my birthday? Mom said I can have a birthday party,” Jesse informs her.

The immediate of course is on her tongue, but she can’t promise that, not without looking at her calendar, and God, that makes her feel like shit.

“I’ll work on it, okay?”

---

so, if you wanna come by later. I don’t know when gina’s supposed to get back.

You still have a key

We can talk another night too, if you want

Michelle?

You’re probably busy with Jesse, sorry, I forgot

I’m going out for a bit

But if you wanna talk tonight we can

You have a key

---

She doesn’t look at her phone until later, after she and Jesse have cleaned up dinner and worked on the Legos, and started the bedtime routine. It’s not until Jesse is tucked into bed that she sees all of Peter’s messages.

Gina gets back in an hour. Too late?

His response doesn’t come immediately.

No, that’s fine. I’ll be there.

Where’d you go? Are you still out wherever?

Around. I’ll be there by the time you are.

He doesn’t say it, but she has a feeling he’s out being Spider-Man.

She spends most of the hour googling Spider-Man sightings, information, videos – and wondering where the fuck in that skintight suit he can stash a phone.

---

Gina opens the apartment door and sighs heavily. She hangs her coat up and drops her keys in the bowl by the door.

“Rough day?” Michelle asks from the couch. She closes out of the Bugle app on her phone (what a load of bullshit that site is – but she has more questions for Peter now).

“Just long. My feet are killing me,” Gina says.

“Want me to heat up leftovers?”

“No, I’m okay.” Gina collapses on the couch next to her. “How was he?”

“He was great. He’s a great kid,” Michelle says, hoping her sincerity comes through.

“Doing my best.”

“You’re doing an amazing job.”

“Thanks.” Gina closes her eyes and sighs.

Not for the first time since she’s been home, Michelle wonders how her sister does it all, and how things might be different if she’d stuck around. Would she be a regular babysitter? Would she and Gina have split the rent on a bigger apartment? Would Gina be so tired?

“Are you heading off again?” Gina asks after a moment. The guilt in her gut grows.

“Is that okay?”

Gina shrugs. Michelle looks at her, waiting for her to say more, because clearly she wants to. Gina meets her gaze.

“What’s going on, Michelle?”

She squirms, resisting looking away for as long as she can. God, if only the ground could open up and swallow her whole.

“It’s complicated.”

“No shit. I mean – generally. You haven’t been here in years. You broke up with Miles. You called to tell me you were coming, and had ended a years long relationship, both of which came out of nowhere. Do you even have a return ticket, by the way? And then, you’ve spent almost every night since you got here with Peter. What’s going on, hon?”

Michelle takes a deep breath and looks up at the ceiling, resting her head on the back of the couch. Hearing it all laid out like that makes it sound – makes it sound like she’s about as messed up as she feels.

“I don’t know, G. I’m a mess.”

“You’re not a mess, you’re in your twenties.”

“I loved Miles, you know? But I would look at him sometimes and think, we’re not gonna last more than three years. And it felt so shitty to think that, and why stay, when I know it’s gonna end? Why string him along? He started bringing up marriage.” She bites her lip. “I mean, be honest. Did you think I was gonna stay with Miles?”

“No,” Gina answers, and Michelle feels like she should feel something about how quick her response was. “I liked him. I knew you cared for him. I didn’t think it would last forever. I just didn’t think it would end so suddenly.”

Michelle shrugs.

“So why come home? Did he kick you out?”

“No, nothing like that. He wouldn’t. He left. Told me I could keep the apartment.” She shrugs again. “I just didn’t want to be there alone. And I haven’t seen you and Jesse in a long time, and –”

“And Peter.”

Michelle huffs.

“Not everything is about Peter!”

“Where are you headed tonight?”

Michelle doesn’t answer.

“He asks about you. Not every time he babysits, but enough that I gathered you two weren’t speaking.”

“Yeah. We didn’t really keep in touch.”

“That surprised me more than Miles. And I was pretty surprised when you told me about Miles.”

“You said you weren’t surprised I broke up with him.”

“Not that. When you started dating him.”

Oh.

“Why was that so shocking?”

“Dad had just died. And Peter was – I mean, without him and May? I just sort of figured you two were, I don’t know. Part of me thought maybe you already were back together. But then you went back to California all of a sudden, and then you’re telling me about Miles. I didn’t see it coming.”

“Me neither,” Michelle mumbles.

“What happened with you two?”

“Nothing.” It’s a lie and it isn’t. “He’s here, I’m there. We grew up.”

“Mmhmm.”

“It’s so hard to be here,” Michelle says. “This apartment especially. How do you do it? How do you not just constantly think of Dad?”

Gina doesn’t say anything for a while. For a moment, she wonders if she’s hurt her feelings somehow.

“Thinking about Dad isn’t the worst thing. There were a lot of memories here before he died.”

“I guess.”

“So when are you going back? You never answered.”

“I didn’t buy a ticket yet.”

“Thinking about staying?”

“I don’t know. Maybe? I do and I don’t. I don’t know why I want to stay.”

(Except she sort of does.)

Gina looks at her thoughtfully for a while, and Michelle feels herself wilting under her gaze. It feels like Gina can see right through her, can see all the things Michelle isn’t saying.

“I think you need to decide what you want. And if you’re willing to work for it,” Gina says finally. Michelle isn’t quite sure how those two statements are connected.

“I’ve done that my whole life.”

“Yeah, with school. You’re not in school anymore, though, you’re in the real world. It’s not as simple as studying for the exam or reading the right books. I think you need to sit with yourself, and really think: What do I want? Actually want, not what you think you’re supposed to want.”

“Yeah, but what if I figure that out, and –”

She doesn’t know how to – it feels too much like admitting something, committing to a desire she doesn’t want to name. That might not want her back.

“Well, sometimes that’s life. But you gotta fight for it.”

Michelle looks at her sister, and realizes, not for the first time, just how much she’s gone through. Never knowing her father. Abandoned by her mother. Raising Michelle. And then she found someone, and he died, leaving her a single mom. And then their dad died, too. And Michelle escaped to the other side of the country. Has Gina ever had what she wanted? Why should Michelle get to?

“Do you regret it?”

“What?”

“Anything. Everything. Getting married, or –”

Falling in love.

“What, because he died?” Gina snorts. “We got married because we loved each other. We knew we were gonna die, but we said, I’m gonna love you until that day. At least. Not his fault that day came a lot sooner than we wanted. But I can’t regret that. I don’t.” She fixes Michelle with a Look. “There are a lot of people who never have that at all, or who have it but throw it away.”

“But now you’re –”

“I have a little boy who makes it all worth it. And he reminds me of Louis. So much it hurts, sometimes, because Louis would’ve – but I have a little piece of him still. On the bad days, it helps.”

Michelle nods.

“I miss my husband everyday, but I would never trade the time I had with him for anything. Given the choice, I’d do it all over again. Even knowing how it would end. That’s love, I think. Knowing you might be completely destroyed by this person, but knowing it would still be worth it. It’s a leap of faith.”

Michelle bites her lip. They’re not talking about Peter, but aren’t they? That’s where her mind is. And maybe that means something.

“I think I’m afraid of what I might want,” she admits, still unable to stop hedging.

“Yeah.”

“It’s not just up to me.”

“I know.”

(And what would he say? And what if – not if – clearly, bad things happen to him. Yes, everyone dies, but it feels like Peter – his life feels so much more precarious now.)

“I miss Dad,” she says quietly.

“Me, too.”

Gina grabs Michelle’s hand and squeezes it. They stay like that for a while.

“I’m going to bed,” Gina finally says. Michelle nods.

“I’m going to Peter’s.”

“Might be easier to think away from him,” Gina suggests, but Michelle shakes her head.

“We need to talk about some stuff first.”

“Okay.”

Gina turns to go down the hall, but Michelle calls her.

“You’re an amazing mom, you know that? And an amazing sister.”

Gina smiles softly.

“Thanks, M.”

---

When her father had his heart attack, Michelle got on the first flight she could, and even though she hadn’t told Peter what was happening, he was waiting for her at the airport. Gina had reached out to May, and May told him.

She remembers rushing into his arms, letting him hold her right there in the middle of baggage claim. Remembers him taking her hand and hailing a taxi, paying the fare and walking into the hospital with her, one hand holding hers and the other holding her bag. She remembers how he knew where to go, how she and Gina ran into each other’s arms, sobbing. How he’d held back, waiting in the hall when she went in to see her dad, and then took her back to the apartment, the place she’d grown up.

When her father died, Peter and May became a constant presence at their apartment. One of them was always there, heating up food, helping with phone calls and arrangements and Jesse. She feels like she barely slept that week, surviving on coffee and bagels that Peter would put in her hands at regular intervals, would urge her to at least take a few bites of.

“You guys really don’t have to do all this,” she’d said to May at one point.

“In Jewish tradition, when someone dies, you sit shiva. We bury them as soon as possible, and then we sit in mourning for seven days. And we sit beside the mourners, and pray with them, and grieve with them, and be whatever they need us to be. And you’re mourning, Michelle,” May had told her gently. “And we love you. So we’re going to stay here with you, and be whatever you need.”

Michelle hadn’t argued.

(She’d wondered, dimly, who sat shiva with May and Peter when Ben died. What had Peter needed then?)

She remembers Peter carrying her father’s casket alongside her uncles and cousins. Remembers feeling his presence behind her during the service. Remembers the plate of food he brought her at the wake, how he stood with her and watched her pick at it. He wasn’t overbearing, but he was there. Solid and steady.

(Everyone asked who he was. One of my oldest friends, she had said. Ex-boyfriend couldn’t capture the depth of what he was to her in that week. And in the midst of her grief, he let her dictate the terms.)

She went to him because he loved her, and she needed to feel loved.

She left because she was scared of what that meant.

---

She uses the key to unlock Peter’s door, and when she steps in, he is nowhere to be seen. But the lights are on.

She hears a light thud from his bedroom.

“How was Spider-Man-ing?” she asks as she leans against the doorframe to his bedroom, watching as he takes his mask off.

“I wanted to make sure you made it here,” he says, a touch defensively.

“I did.”

“I see that.”

Pause.

“How does that even work?” she asks.

“What? The suit?”

“Looks uncomfortable,” she says, approaching him. His hair is messy from the mask, and his cheeks are pink from the cold. How does he not freeze? Is it made of fancy warming fabric?

He shrugs.

“Tony made it. So it’s not too bad.”

“How do you – ”

He presses the spider on his chest, and the suit loosens. He pulls his arms out and shrugs it off, in nothing but his briefs. The Spider-Man suit lies pooled on the floor.

She’s seen Peter Parker in just his boxers – and less – countless times. In sexual and not situations. She knows the lines of his body, the cut of his shoulders. But it’s like she’s seeing him for the first time now. She’s letting her eyes roam his form, looking for – signs, evidence, something. Scars, cuts, anything that might indicate his long held secret. But she sees nothing. Just the same Peter she’s always seen.

“You should put some clothes on,” she says finally. He nods, like he’d been waiting for her to let him.

She sits on his bed as he pulls on the same flannel pants from before, and grabs an old Midtown High t-shirt. She smirks.

“Can’t believe you still have that.”

“It’s comfy,” he defends.

She nods as he approaches the bed. She brings her legs up and settles in the center of the bed, crossing her legs, motioning for him to join her.

“So.”

“What are your questions?”

She has so many, and no idea where to start.

“Were you ever going to tell me?��

Pull off the band aid.

“I almost did. A few times.”

“What stopped you?”

He shrugs.

“That’s not good enough. You had a reason. Why?”

He runs a hand through his hair, face twisting into a look like frustration.

“I dunno, first it was – we were in high school, and I liked you, and I didn’t want to scare you off. And then we were talking about college, and I wanted – I almost told you then. But I thought it would be easier for you to just – clean break. Because this whole thing has its risks.”

“For you, or for me?”

“Both,” he admits. “I heal pretty fast, but I still get hurt. And I deal with some pretty nasty people. People who would hurt you if they knew.”

“Yeah, but you wear a mask. So if they don’t know who you are, why does it matter if we’re together or not?”

“Because they could find out who I am. And if they do, they could use you to get to me.”

“Well, sure, I’ll go with that logic – but in all this time, no one’s ever figured you out, have they?”

“Sort of.”

“Sort of?”

“There have been – close calls. Closer than I’d like.”

“And yet – ”

“I have to keep my distance. At least try. I can’t let anyone get too close, because I’m putting them in danger. So even if I wanted to explain it all back then – ”

“I could’ve made my own decision.”

He gives her a Look.

“You wanted to go to Stanford.”

“So did you. And we could’ve, I don’t know, tried long distance.”

“But you’d still –”

“Because your enemies would fly to California to get me?”

“You’d be in danger when you came back.”

“Oh, because just hooking up – that didn’t paint a target on my back?”

He winces.

“I didn’t – I didn’t want that to happen. I tried to stay away from you.”

That stings. Her eyes burn and her chest aches and it fucking hurts to hear him say it. Like he regrets it – like it was just sex, and even then, he wishes they hadn’t. She feels like an idiot.

“Tried really hard, huh?” she says. She feels a tear and his face falls as he realizes his words.

“No, I didn’t mean it like – Em, I don’t regret that – I just – you’re right, being with me at all – that wasn’t smart, on my part. But I don’t regret it.”

“No, you just wouldn’t do it if you could go back.”

“Do you remember –” He stops and takes a deep breath. Wipes her tears and keeps his hand on her face. “Remember when that – when you almost – that guy. And Spider-Man saved you?”

“I resent the implication that I needed saving,” she says, but she remembers. That memory takes on a new meaning now.

“Do you know how much I think about that? And that’s not even the nightmare scenario.”

“I can make my own decisions. I should get to decide what risks are worth it.”

“I know you should. But when we were 18? All I could think about was – was losing you. Watching you die, because I couldn’t stop it, or it was my fault.”

“Peter,” she breathes.

“I know that’s a shitty answer. But I was scared. And the longer it – I mean, once we started college, it was, well. I didn’t tell her. And if I tell her now, maybe she’ll – and if I could only have you on school breaks – I could sort of rationalize it. You weren’t my girlfriend, so you were safe. But when you came home, we could pretend, and it could be enough.”

“Did it feel like enough for you?” she asks, thinking back to the nights they’d spend, not just having sex but talking, catching up, working out the things they worried about. The nights when he was her best friend again, and she could talk to him about anything. Mornings teasing each other over toast and laughing, because he was just – fun. She had fun with him. Until she had to leave, and they’d barely even say goodbye. Wouldn’t even commit to a next time.

“No,” he whispers.

“Yeah.”

“I was afraid that I waited too long, so if I did tell you, you’d be so angry I didn’t for so long, you’d never talk to me again.”

She’s not sure that’s not not how she might’ve reacted.

“But then your dad –”

“Peter –” she says, a warning in her tone. If he tries to use her father’s death to justify lying to her –

“I wanted to tell you. I think I would have. Being with you that week – that’s when I realized, shit. Something could happen to me, and you would – you might – I don’t assume that – obviously your dad is way more –”

“You realized that we might have to bury you? And it would be really shitty for me to not know why?”

“Yeah,” he breathes, anguished.

“Fuck, Peter.”

She thinks about it. Thinks back, and wonders how she would’ve reacted then. How things might’ve been different if –

“But you left.”

“And you couldn’t have called?” she demands.

“I did, MJ. Remember? You didn’t respond. And I wasn’t going to force –”

“So it’s my fault?”

It feels like her fault but no, this is all his fault for lying and being a martyr and –

“No. No.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I’m just telling you – I know I’m an asshole. I know I should’ve told you. I wanted to, MJ, you have no idea. And I almost did. But I thought you were done. I didn’t know if you were ever gonna talk to me again.”

“I wasn’t really planning on it, honestly.”

He sucks in a breath.

“I probably deserve that.”

They sit in silence a few moments. All she can think is the past few years, the possibilities, the what might have been.

“I feel like – I don’t feel like I know how to just be your friend anymore,” she admits. “Being around you is hard, Peter. Because –”

I love you.

“I know.”

Does he?

They sit there for another moment. He tentatively reaches for her hands, and she lets him take them. He runs his fingers over hers. Twines them, rubs circles with his thumbs.

“So now you know.”

“Now I know.” She looks at their joined hands. “Does that change anything?”

“I don’t know,” he says. “Yes. Should it?”

She thinks about what Gina said. About deciding what you want. About knowing things will end. About it being worth it anyway.

“What do you want?” she asks quietly, still looking at their hands.

He looks at her – she can feel his gaze, so she lifts her eyes to meet his.

“You. It’s always been you.”

She kisses him.

#spideychelle fic #petermj fic #spideychelle #idk tags are weird this will end up where it ends up

11 notes · View notes

tiny-maus-boots · 3 years ago

Text

Queen of Hearts pt 14

A/N: thank you as always to @chloes-yellow-cup for being my bestie and still doing all the things i hate to do. and a big thanks to @kimmania for your constant encouragement and supply of Legos. i love you awesome nerds.

14.

“Hit me with your best shot…”

Aubrey’s long arm stretched out along the back of the dark leather of the modern style sofa she was settled on. For the most part she could tune out the dry croak from the desk, but…

“Why don’t you hit me with your best shot.”

This was the sixth time in an hour that she was hearing the song. She was going to have to remind Lilly to remove it from the jukebox after tonight.

“Hit me with your best shot…”

The rough warble across from her died down and she thought for a moment that the singer had finally drifted off asleep. Aubrey’s head turned to the screen that showed a live feed of the cameras around The Dirty Bird. Movement flickered though them as Stacie and the Doc walked between the tables and around the bar toward the back office. She turned her head to check on the figure standing but slumped over her desk only to find dark blue eyes watching and waiting for her attention. The small woman raised herself to her elbows from her slouch and belted out just as the door opened.

“FIRE AWAAAAYYYYY!!! Pew pew pew.”

Aubrey sighed as Detective Mitchell’s finger guns gave out on the click of her tongue and she collapsed back over the desk to cradle a half empty bottle of grappa, ass up where she stood. Stacie’s wide eyes panned slowly toward her, body bouncing lightly with barely restrained glee.

“Oh my God….” Chloe took one look at the Detective and pinned Aubrey with a glare. “How drunk is she?”

The blonde raised a shoulder as she considered. “She’s been worse.”

“Doc. Doooooocccc….I hurt. Right. Here.” Beca raised a hand and brought it back to point at her butt. Her finger wavered as she tried to locate the exact spot which caused the most pain and then pointed for emphasis with a little too much enthusiasm. “Right. OW. Here. OWIE.”

Stacie eased onto the sofa and settled in comfortably in Aubrey’s lap to watch Doc Beale work. The redhead moved behind Beca and settled her bag on the desk. She took a great steadying breath before wrestling away the grappa from the prone detective and snapping on a pair of gloves. Aubrey admired the way Doc Beale efficiently and deftly managed to get Beca’s jeans over her hips and halfway down her legs with practiced ease. Beca seemed to admire it too because she stirred enough to look blearily over her shoulder with a smile.

“If you wanted to check out my assetsssss Doc, you didn’t have to wait til I got stabbeded in it. Right. There. Ow.”

“Yes, I see. Please stop poking the wound in your ass cheek. How even….?”

“I was tailing my guy. My big fish. Fishy fishy fishy. That’s a fun word to say.” Chloe muttered something Aubrey couldn’t hear over Stacie’s soft chuckling. “I heard that! Plenty of people would be DE-FUCKING-lighted to spend their date night starin’ at a little of this action.”

Aubrey bit her lip to keep the laugh from breaking free as the detective wiggled her ass unmindful of the tight skinny jeans trapping her legs and toppled into a slide nearly off the desk before Chloe managed to grab and right her teetering form.

“Head down, ass up. Now tell me again how you managed to get stabbed in the butt cheek with glass?”

“You said that like you’re used to giving that order. I might be down for that, just be gentle with me.”

Beca gave her a leer that the doctor promptly ignored as she prepped her tools.

“Detective, remember that I have some very sharp instruments here that I am excellent with.”

Beca gave her a dubious look but obediently turned and bent over the desk again so the other woman could examine the wound. Chloe was utterly focused on the task of cleaning and debriding the punctures in a circular pattern. Aubrey had been sure it was going to require at least a few stitches from what she saw before she called for real medical help.

“I told you. I was following the big fish.”

“And you followed him into a bar I’m guessing.”

“Right, rule numero dos of detectivering. Don’t stick out like a sore thumb.”

Chloe blinked and looked up from her work to focus on Beca. “What’s numero uno?”

“That’s not a real number, Doc.”

“Solid rebuttal.”

“Did…did you just make pun of my rump? Oh my God I’m in love. I’d get down on one knee right now and propose. Except you’re feeling up my butt right now and that’s kinda nice.”

The doctor’s bright blue eyes narrowed and she jabbed the needle into the hunk of flesh she had just grabbed in preparation for the injection. She depressed the plunger quickly as her patient yelped and attempted to squirm away.

“HEATHEN! Oh God. I’m dying. Help. I’m dying, Dr. Kevorkian is killing me….my vision…I can’t see.”

“Open your eyes, idiot. That was just an antibiotic booster. Have you had a tetanus shot recently?”

“Pretend I said whatever answer will prevent you from being a literal pain in my ass.”

It was too much for Stacie and she turned her head to bury her laughter in Aubrey’s neck. The blonde tightened her grip on her fiancée and enjoyed a satisfying laugh at the detective’s expense. She hadn’t known what she’d find when she had gotten Beca’s distress call. They had all been on high alert since coming back to Los Angeles, trying to close ranks as best they could without being obvious about it. She had been waiting for an attack to come and her first thought when she had gotten the call was that it had finally begun. Each moment waiting in her office while Lilly retrieved the Detective from her hiding place in an abandoned warehouse building down at the port had been like a stone on her chest. She had needed this humor to ease the cold grip of fear on her heart.

Aubrey’s line of business didn’t lend itself to close relationships with members of law enforcement, at least not for long. What she and the Detective had was something altogether different than any of the other criminal-cop business agreements she had formed during her career. Beca was someone she trusted at her side, more…trusted at her back. The idea that someone would try to take her out was sobering and her laughter faded. Stacie sensed the change in her and cupped Aubrey’s face gently to bring their foreheads together. Words weren’t necessary for Stacie to understand what she was thinking and feeling. The blonde took a deep breath and straightened her spine. One hand came up to adjust and smooth her tie. If it had started…she wanted to know who was coming for her people.

“So, who’s the fish?”

Beca lifted her head from the desk and struggled to focus on Aubrey. It took her a few seconds to process the question. She seemed to have forgotten the conversation while Chloe worked silently to finish working on her wound.

“A security guard. He’s got bad taste in bars and also what I would loosely refer to as ladies.”

She couldn’t imagine where a security guard would fit in with Alice’s plans and frowned. Maybe this wasn’t about her. Beca had other cases she was working, maybe this was just another Tuesday night for the cop.

“A security guard? Sounds kind of small time for you.”

Denim blue eyes flashed to hers, some of the haze of alcohol burned away by intensity of her drive. The small brunette’s lips quirked into a smirk. Aubrey was suddenly very sure that nothing Beca did was small time or without a very good reason.

“It only takes a small stone in the right place to make a rockslide.”

Chloe slowed her movements as she finished her work. Something about what Beca said must have been interesting to the doctor because she kept her attention on the detective while she cleaned up the trash and peeled her gloves off to toss in the black plastic trash bag left there for that purpose. Aubrey guessed she was re-evaluating her previous estimations of the foul mouthed, perpetually smug, woman.

“You’re not wrong, Bec. So, what’s this small stone guarding?”

“Not what. Where. Dude works at the port.” She grunted and stood gingerly with a backward glance at her own butt. “Hm. Nice, think chicks will dig the scar?”

If Chloe had been considering there may be more to Beca than outrageous flirtation it was only a brief passing fantasy. She sighed and rolled her eyes then glared at Aubrey.

“18, Aubrey.” It was almost enough to make her face split into a grin and she had to turn her chuckle into a soft cough. Chloe tied up the bag and dropped it in the trashcan sure that it would be disposed of carefully. It wasn’t the first time she’d had to patch one of them up, they knew the drill by now. “You owe me so big.”

“I’m good for it. So, Detective, what about this dock rat?”

Beca stopped checking herself out long enough to pull her pants up and wink at Chloe before answering. Doc pretended not to notice but Aubrey could see her watching Beca from the corner of her eye while she played around with the tools in her bag.

“When I figure how he connects to Richie Rich, I’ll let you know.”

Stacie’s body tensed in her arms and Aubrey glanced at her curiously. Her girl chewed her lower lip in thought, a habit that Aubrey found adorable. “Something on your mind, Stace?”

“It’s probably nothing. Just something Edith said about someone I went to prom with. His dad got him a job down at the docks.” Stacie shrugged it off but Aubrey could tell she was still chewing on it. “Probably just coincidence.”

Aubrey and Beca exchanged a look. After a lifetime of double crosses and plot twists, neither of them believed in coincidences. The detective dug around in her pocket for her phone. She wasn’t quite sober yet but a hell of a lot steadier than a few moments ago. Aubrey snatched the phone easily out of the air when it was tossed her way and glanced at the screen.

It was a video and she angled it so Stacie could see too. Her fiancée pressed play and sighed. Beca could be heard in the background giving a lot of very specific direction to the two women practically fucking on a pool table in a disgusting looking rathole of a bar. Aubrey was pretty sure the women were hookers and the corner of her mouth quirked in amusement. Stacie took the phone out of her hand turned it to face back to the detective.

“Really Beca?”

“I thought it was pretty good for my directorial debut. But your gutter brain is making you miss the real show.”

Aubrey took the phone back and focused on the whole scene. Behind the women in a shadowed booth two men were clearly having an animated discussion. One was further into the shadow than the other but his gestures were strong and decisive. She watched as the other, younger seeming, man’s gestures became conciliatory and submissive the longer the conversation went on. In the foreground a flurry of noise and activity caused the camera to shake and wildly as if it were being swung around. There were glimpses of rough faces and snatches of shouts and curses. At one point there was a good stretch of scuffed flooring where she assumed Beca had been crawling away from the obvious brawl happening around her.

The camera came up again in time to catch the men leaving their booth in a hurry. Each of them caught in the neon blue glow from beer signs on the walls. Stacie snatched the phone out of her hand and hit pause. Long legs dropped down to the floor from the sofa and she stood in shock.

“Bree…this is Senator Grant. The guy he’s with is his son Kodie, we went to high school...Jesus Christ…”

“You know him?”

“Weston stole his money.”

They looked at each other then turned twin green-eyed gazes on Detective Mitchell. The small woman’s brow was furrowed in thought, her lower lip caught between her teeth as she worried it.

“The kid is on the videos.”

Mitchell didn’t have to say which videos, they all knew. Even Doc Beale. Stacie looked away from them, uncomfortable with the knowledge that she had been in some of those videos. Aubrey let out a long settling breath and stood. She gently took the phone from Stacie’s shaking hand and brought it to lips to brush a soft kiss over Stacie’s wrist. It gave her a wan smile but it was something. Stacie would be okay. Aubrey looked down at the phone and watched the video again. And again. And once more. She studied every gesture, every twitch of posture, every unconscious expression she could make out.

“I want the kid. He’s the weak link.”

Beca grunted and limped around the desk to grab her keys and helmet, ready to go back to work with a hole in her ass nearly as big as the one in her pants. It wasn’t going to happen that way and Aubrey reached out to snag both items from the sidebar and hand them to Stacie who easily placed them on a shelf far too high for Detective Mitchell to reach without finding a stand on.

“White she devil.”

“Sorry, Bec. Can’t have you half-assing anything.”

She didn’t like it and Aubrey could tell but Beca sighed and grunted. “Solid burn.”

Aubrey gave her a quick grin then turned to eye the Doctor who was watching them all curiously. Her gaze met Aubrey’s and a brow went up. Honestly, she almost felt a little bad about needing to have the Doc take Beca somewhere safe. She didn’t ask, she didn’t need to. Chloe knew what she was thinking and started to shake her head no until Beca tried to drag a chair over to the get her stuff.

“I really hate you, Aubrey Posen.”

“No, you don’t, Doc.”

“You WILL be making a very large donation to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.”

“Absolutely.”

“And vacation for my office girls. Two weeks!”

“I’ll buy the plane tickets myself.”

“And if she pisses me off just once I will trank her and leave her on a park bench.”

The last was a bluff but Aubrey treated the threat seriously. “Understood. Anything else?”

“….I’ll think of something!” Aubrey bit back another grin and nodded seriously. She slipped her hands into her pockets as the doctor steeled herself mentally to take on Beca. “Come one Detective, as much as this pains me to say…you’re coming home with me.”

Beca dropped the helmet she had finally just retrieved on the ground and left it like discarded trash to limp over to Chloe. “Okay.”

“God…you’re so easy.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing, Doc.”

Chloe gave her a final glare and slung the detective’s arms over her shoulder to help her limp out of the office. Stacie settled the length of her body along Aubrey’s back, hands coming up to finger the buttons of her vest.

“How well do you know this Kodie, joker?”

Stacie hmmm thoughtfully. “Not as well as I did in high school. Edith told me he got caught up in some trouble recently. I think I know how we can get to him though.”

“How?”

“He likes cocaine and paying for his um let’s call them dates. I had Happy make some calls for you.”

The smile came to her face easily and she leaned into Stacie’s embrace. This wasn’t anything like what her mom and dad had. Her mother had never been this involved in what her father did for work. She had kept as distant from it as she could, turning her nose up at the family that protected them, running from the darkness of the business. Stacie would never do that to her. She knew it all way down to the bottom of soul. Aubrey turned in her arms and brought their heads together.

“You got more cards up your sleeve than a Vegas croupier, you know that?”

“Hmm. I learned from the best.”

Aubrey closed the distance, her brushing softly over Stacie’s. There were a lot of words she could say about how she felt about the woman in her arms. She could probably write pages on it, but words didn’t matter half as much as action did. She was going to marry this woman and spend her life giving her the best of everything. They were going to be happy and she didn’t care who she had to kill to make it happen.

“Let me take you home?”

“Aubrey…in your arms? I’m already there.”

#queen of hearts #staubrey #pitch perfect au #the debt collector series

37 notes · View notes

vivian24l · 4 years ago

Text

DamiraeWeek2021

Day One: Family/In-laws

The Second Wayne Reunion

Damian tapped his fingers against the wheel.

“Anxious?” asked Raven.

“You know how last year turned out. I was surprised Father agreed to another reunion this year.”

One year ago, Dick had come up with the idea of having a family reunion. He had invited the whole Wayne family together under one roof once again. The results of the party didn’t end so well. Dick clearly wanted to make the reunions annual, because he once again invited everyone.

Damian took another left. They had to drive across Gotham to reach Wayne Manor. After getting married, he and Raven bought a stretch of land on the other side of Gotham. Together they designed their house and hired people to build it.

Damian let out a sigh. “That bastard, Grayson.”

“Language,” said Raven.

He glanced at the rear view mirror. Their daughter, Rashida, was asleep in the back. Although, she could be pretending. Rashida is an intelligent child, more mature than her actual age. However, she does tend to do dangerous things.

They pulled up at Wayne Manor at long last. Rashida woke up instantly.

“We're here!” she announced. The five year old got out of their car immediately to stretch her legs.

“Rae! Watch this!” shouted Mar’i. She flew up into the sky while Rae watched from the ground. Mar’i shot a green starbolt at a low cloud. The cloud lit up in green light before evaporating into thin air.

“Impressive,” commented Rae. She joined her cousin in the air. The two girls turned the clouds green and purple.

Sitting in deck chairs, Raven and Koriand’r watched the kids flying around.

“Did you teach her that?” questioned Raven.

Kori let out a laugh. “Of course not, Mar’i and Jacob discovered it. Speaking of Jacob, where is he?”

It was Raven’s turn to laugh. “I saw him with Jackson, they were building something out of Legos. How do you not know what your son is doing?”

“I’ve been very busy lately,” Kori defended herself.

“Hey sisters! Mind if I join you?” Stephanie didn’t wait for an answer, she took a seat in a chair across from Kori. “Cass and Babs will be here with the food in a few minutes.”

“Is Valkyrie joining us this year?” asked Kori.

“She sure is! Val better not drop out last minute,” said the blonde. “I can’t believe Dick allowed her to skip last year. I mean, like seriously? This is a family reunion and therefore Val can not be missing out.”

“She was on a mission,” said Raven. “Then again, you can’t blame her, this family can be quite a handful.”

“Makes me wonder how we are able to put up with them,” joked Stephanie.

“How’s the cooking going?” asked Raven.

Damian turned around to face his wife. “Fairly well,” he answered.

Raven nodded. She took in the scene. Pots and pans were on the stove. A large bowl of lettuce sat on the counter. Nearby stood a container of tofu, waiting to be opened.

“Where’s Richard? I thought he’d be cooking as well,” said Raven.

Damian let out a “tt”. He stirred the soup inside a large pot. “Grayson left an hour ago, he said something about napkins.”

“You do know that not everyone here is vegetarian, correct?” questioned Raven as she noticed that there wasn’t a single speck of meat in any of the dishes.

“I also know that they will have to pay for making me cook a meal for twenty people.”

“21, actually,” corrected Raven. “Valkyrie’s running late.”

“And there I thought she would skip like last year.”

Raven grabbed a spare apron. “I suppose it’s up to me to save everyone from eating tofu turkey tonight.”

“How heroic.”

“Mother? Father?” called Rashida.

“We’re in the kitchen, ibna,” answered Damian.

“What are you making?” Rashida stood on the tip of her toes and watched as Raven mixed together the stuffing for the turkey.

“Dinner. Would you like to help, love?” asked Raven.

“Actually I can not,” said Rashida.

“And why is that?”

“Mar’i and I are in need of some pots. We’re going to make popcorn the old fashioned way! But instead of making a fire, we’ll be heating it with our powers,” explained Rashida..

“Is anyone supervising you?” asked Damian.

“Of course, Uncle Jason’s helping us.” Rashida pulled a large pot out of the cabinet. “This will do perfectly,” she said. “Good luck on your cooking!”

“Should I be concerned that Jason is overseeing their popcorn-making?” asked Damian.

“You should have some faith in him,” said Raven.

“I think we’re done here,” said Raven.

Damian nodded. “This should be enough food for the whole family, including leftovers for everyone to take home.”

They have made a total of twelve different dishes, two-thirds of which are plant-based. Raven have also made five different types of pastries for dessert.

They left the kitchen to join the rest of the family in the living room. Selina was reading a book to her grandchildren. Rashida, however, was not with her cousins, she was throwing knives with her uncle. They took turns throwing from different positions, each time getting bullseye on the target board.

“Why couldn’t our daughter have some non-violent interests,” sighed Raven.

Damian smiled. “She’s the granddaughter of the first Batman and Trigon, and great granddaughter of Ra’s Al Ghul. And I should add that her adoptive grandfather also happens to be Superman. So I would say that throwing a few knives is perfectly fine.”

“I just want her to have a childhood full of peace and innocence, unlike ours,” Raven murmured.

“She is habibti, she is.” Damian held his wife close. They seated themselves on the couch and silently watched the scene before them.

The peace in the room could not be contained for long. Dick burst through the door holding a large bag.

“Guess what I got?” he sang.

Rashida didn’t even spare her uncle a glance. “A bag full of games,” she answered.

“Uh, yeah. Great guess, Rae,” stuttered Dick. It still intrigued him how she knew what was inside. Well she is her parents’ daughter.

Dick laid out the contents on the table. There was a wide variety of games from classic card games to Twister.

The doorbell rang as soon as he took out the last game.

“That must be Val!” Kori rose to answer the door.

A minute later, the said woman arrived in the room. She could’ve been a younger version of Cassandra, except her features are more sharp. The youngest of the Wayne siblings, Valkyrie was adopted at the age of thirteen. That was ten years ago.

She came just like her oldest adoptive brother, holding a large bag. All the kids, including Rashida, ran over to see what was inside.

“Alright, settle down first,” Valkyrie said. She pulled out four colorfully wrapped boxes and handed one to each of the kids.

Mar’i opened her box and gasped in surprise. “Thank you so much Aunt Val! They’re beautiful.” The twelve year old has received silver bracelets, similar to her mother’s, but with detailed markings on them.

When Jackson opened his box, his jaw dropped. Inside was a Build-Your-Own 3-Dimensional Holographic Projector. “Thank you Aunt Val!” said the eight year old.

Jacob’s gift was eight limited edition action figurines. “How did you-? How is this-?” The boy was so shocked to see eight expensive figurines, that were probably worth a hundred dollars each, in front of him.

“I have my ways, little one,” answered Valkyrie.

“Thank you so much,” he said, giving Valkyrie a big hug.

“Your welcome, and please I’d like some personal space.”

Rashida slowly opened her box. Inside was a white cloak. The fabric was quite unusual. It was soft, stretchy, thin, and light. Yet the fabric also felt strong, and sturdy. The bright ruby glowed in the golden clasp. Unlike Raven’s cloak, this one had sleeves. The hems and cuffs of the cloak were embroidered with intricate designs. Rashida slipped on the cloak, it fitted perfectly. “Thank you, Aunt Valkyrie,” said the five year old.

“There are no gifts for your siblings? Wow, how kind of you,” spoke up Jason.

Valkyrie smiled. “Of course not, only ones for the kids,” she pulled out two more boxes, “and the parents.”

Selina and Bruce gave her their thanks then proceeded to open their gift. Silent received a full set of cat themed jewelry, while Bruce received a grey tie.

“I actually needed a new tie,” he said.

#damirae week 2021 #damirae #damian wayne #ravenroth #damian x raven #demonbirds #rashidawayne #batfam

87 notes · View notes

melanielocke · 3 years ago

Text

Lost in the Shadows - Chapter 25

AO3

Taglist: @nott-the-best @foxglove-airmid @alastair-esfandiyar-carstairs1 @justanormaldemon @styxdrawings @ipromiseiwillwrite @a-dream-dirty-and-bruised@alastair-appreciation-month

Previous Chapter: Chapter 24

Next Chapter: Chapter 26

Uncle Jem had brought several of the Carstairs family’s old notebooks, and the past week they’d spend studying them to see if there was anything interesting. They’d rescued Grace, but no one had been able to find Tatiana since, nor did they know what they were up against exactly and if they could defeat it. Cordelia believed cortana could kill it, but walking in with no plan would just get them all killed.

Thomas felt like they were running out of time. He hadn’t told anyone yet, but he felt tired lately, much more than usual. For Alastair that was normal, he guessed, Alastair was always tired and therefore Thomas had no reason to complain. Still, it was odd and sudden. Then he’d gotten a bit of a headache, and right now he struggled to finish his lunch, which was already much smaller than what he usually ate. He’d eaten much less than he usually did the past days, truth to be told. He just didn’t have the same appetite. He was feeling a little chilly too, but guessed he should just put on a cardigan.

‘Are you alright, Tommy?’ his mother asked. ‘You’ve been eating so little lately.’

‘Just nervous, that’s all,’ Thomas said.

The thing was, Thomas didn’t usually eat less when he was nervous. If anything he ate more, he’d always been a stress eater. Instead he figured he was coming down with something. Someone else might just have said, ‘I think I’m getting sick, I’m going to rest a bit’, but after a childhood of frequent illness and worrying parents Thomas couldn’t get the words over his lips. He’d make sure to rest a bit more, he told himself. But he didn’t want to worry anymore, and he especially didn’t want his parents to start taking care of him like they used to when he was young.

Instead, he returned his attention to Alastair, who had long finished eating and gone outside to read. A ray of sunlight fell on his cheek, illuminating his warm golden brown skin. His eyes were fixated in a journal so old it looked like it might fall apart any moment. Not in Alastair’s careful hands though. He was holding the journal with meticulous care, so no damage would come to it. With his free hand, he pushed a lock of hair behind his ear, but it was not yet long enough to stay there so it fell back in front of his face. Back in school, Alastair would slick his hair back with hair gel, always perfectly in order, not a hair out of place. Thomas, who usually took a comb through his hair and left it at that, had wondered where he found the time. Now it was falling in soft wavy locks over his face. At school Thomas would never have guessed Alastair’s hair was wavy, but it was loose now and Thomas had grown to love gently running his fingers through it. He’d always loved Alastair’s dark hair, he thought. Alastair had shown him a picture from when he’d dyed it blonde, and although that looked alright, Thomas thought his dark hair was much more beautiful.

‘Anything interesting?’ Thomas asked, sitting down on the bench next to Alastair.

A gnome came up to his feet. Thomas and his mother had been feeding them to gain their trust, and not long since the gnomes had learnt that Thomas meant a chance for food. He guessed there were still plenty of cookies he didn’t feel like eating at the moment anyway, but he also wasn’t motivated to go into the kitchen and get anything. Thomas guessed resisting that adorable smile was good practice for when he got pets.

‘Nothing yet,’ Alastair said. ‘But I think I’m getting to the part that described that witch. It might give us some clues about what else Lucie can do.’

‘Have you discussed with Cordelia where you’ll live after the summer?’ Thomas asked.

Alastair had confided in him that even if his mother managed to get back the house and could go and live there, he was considering moving in with uncle Jem for the time being. His father’s house held too many bad memories, and Thomas could understand it would not be good for his recovery to live there again. Alastair had not yet made a decision, but Thomas thought it might be good for him.

‘She has not yet decided what she’ll do,’ Alastair said. ‘She is a bit young to live without her mother after all. Besides, with our mother pregnant it would be better to have someone with her. If she doesn’t get the house back, I presume she would stay with Risa and with me gone there might be enough space for Cordelia as well. But I’m almost nineteen, I figured it might be time to move out. Even if I’m moving in with another relative instead of getting my own place.’

‘That’s just practical, living on your own would be expensive. Besides, Jem won’t be another parent, will he? So you’ll still get to practice your adulting skills in a relatively safe environment. Does Jem live far away from your mother?’

‘Completely different part of London, but still in the city,’ Alastair said. ‘Easy to travel to university from there. It’s a big house, so I’ll really have my own space and get to take care of myself, with Jem still there in case I can’t. I’ve lived there until I was about six. When I was still happy, there are no bad memories tied up to that place. I thought maybe I could be happy again there.’

‘Where does Jem live exactly?’ Thomas asked.

Alastair gently put the notebook away, closing it carefully and putting it down in his lap. He took his phone out of the pocket of his jeans, showing him a screen of google maps with a marker where Jem lived.

‘Oh, that’s not far from where my parents live,’ Thomas said. ‘Only a few stops with the metro. We live close to the station.’

‘I didn’t realize. Well, that’s convenient. Makes it easy to have sleep overs or go out together if we don’t live too far away.’

‘Precisely,’ Thomas said. ‘Would you like to go for a walk when you’re finished here? A short one, I am a little tired. But I’d like some fresh air.’

Alastair carefully bound up his notebook and put it on the table inside with the others, before coming with him.

‘It’s safer to bring Lucie,’ Alastair said. ‘In case we get trapped in between again.’

Alastair had a point, although Thomas would like some time alone with him. He was so busy at work all the time, ever since Jem had arrived he was preoccupied with the journals. Thomas missed their walks.

‘Alright, we’ll walk to uncle Will and aunt Tessa and ask her and Cordelia to come. I’m curious if uncle Gabriel and aunt Cecily are coming this way too. Jem said they were struggling to find a babysitter.’

‘Right, for little Alexander,’ Alastair said.

‘And Christopher,’ Thomas added. ‘My other cousin. He’s almost seven now.’

‘What’s he like?’ Alastair asked.

‘Different from Alexander, that’s for sure,’ Thomas said. ‘Alexander is a menace. Sweet, but fierce and hyperactive and if you don’t watch him for two seconds he’s swinging from the curtains somewhere. Christopher… he’s not as wild. He’s curious and is obsessed with science. He likes to do simple experiments, and we sometimes have to keep him from setting things on fire. I’m not sure he realizes “Don’t try this at home” applies to him as well. Fortunately, putting on a science show on tv usually keeps him from blowing anything up. Usually, my sisters and I babysit them when necessary, but he also adores uncle Henry, who is an inventor.’

It occurred to Thomas that Henry was Charles’ father. Sometimes children did not resemble their parents, he guessed. It had been a bit of a shock for everyone to learn that Charles had been Alastair’s former lover. Even if not everyone knew how awful he’d been to Alastair, they all had pieced together how much older Charles was. His father most of all had been horrified, since he’d known Charles since he was a baby. Thomas suspected he’d go confront Charles himself if Alastair hadn’t asked him not to. He knew Alastair was still ashamed of his past relationship and was still trying to make sense of it all. Thomas was glad he’d found trust in him and his parents, even if Thomas suspected Alastair still kept the worst of it to himself. Who could blame him? He wasn’t sure if Alastair finally believed his parents cared about him now, but at least he seemed to trust them which was a big step for Alastair. His mother had told him about her past and how she’d gotten her scar in an attempt to let him know he could talk about it and she understood.

‘As a child I had a phase where I liked science too,’ Alastair said. ‘I think I often had phases like that with different interests. When Cordelia and I were very young, we both loved architecture and played with all sorts of building toys and legos together. I also really liked math for a while. Then the animals from the forests in Devon. I lived there for a while in a small village. I think that’s when I grew a bit obsessed with hedgehogs.’

‘Christopher has been obsessed with science for some time now,’ Thomas said. ‘But we’ll see how it goes and what he’ll like in the future. He’s being assessed for autism and ADHD. He’s a sweet kid, but he struggles socially. Not a lot of friends unfortunately. I honestly think he prefers my company over his peers.’

‘I know what that’s like,’ Alastair said. ‘To be the child with the weird interests and never fit in with other children.’

‘You lived in Devon for a while. What was it like there?’

‘The scenery was amazing. The forests there are beautiful. The people… not so much, I prefer London.’

‘I lived in the countryside for a couple of years too when I was little, for my health. I think where I lived the people were nicer, more involved than in the city.’

Alastair made a face. ‘Not when you’re foreign and your mother wears a roosari. The people in Devon are mostly white. I don’t think Father really considered that when he moved us there, it was mostly about him. They might be kind if you’re part of their group, but they’re hostile to outsiders. Fortunately, we moved back after a couple of years.’

‘Ah, of course,’ Thomas said. ‘I’m sorry.’ He felt stupid for not considering that earlier.

‘Well, people are racist everywhere. But at least in London there are more people of color and people are at least used to the idea that not everyone’s white.’ My mother still gets dirty stares and comments for her roosari, but she’s not the only one who covers her hair. So while in Devon, I much preferred to spend my time in the woods looking for hedgehogs than with other people. I guess I still do.’

Thomas felt a bit numb in his head, shivering even if it wasn’t cold at all. Perhaps going for a walk wasn’t the best idea, but he wanted to spend some time outside just the same. He should have brought something warm to wear, was all. He wasn’t really sick, it was just not as warm as he’d expected. But Alastair wasn’t shivering at all, he seemed to enjoy the sun on his skin. Thomas did too but it didn’t bring him any warmth.

‘You need to go back for a cardigan?’ Alastair asked. ‘There are goosebumps all over your arms.’

‘Oh. No, I’ll be fine.’

Thomas felt faint in the head and by the time they made it to the Herondale’s house, his vision became a little blurry and he collapsed against the door. He was awfully nauseous yet didn’t feel like he was going to throw up. Alastair noticed his sudden movement and his reflexes were quick. He tried to catch him.

‘Why are you so goddamn heavy, Tom,’ he groaned, trying and failing to stop both of them from crashing into the door.

Leaning against Alastair and the door, Thomas pushed himself upright again, blinking a couple of times until he felt he could stand on his own feet again. Alastair’s soft fingers went from his cheek to his forehead, and Thomas immediately recognized what he was doing. It was the same thing his parents and sisters had done his entire childhood. If they didn’t have a thermometer at hand, they’d feel his forehead, his neck, and determine if he was allowed to go anywhere. Alastair was going to determine he was sick and then all that was left was for everyone to tuck him into bed and start taking care of him. Thomas had hoped to avoid that.

‘You’re burning up,’ Alastair said. ‘You should not be going outside, much less for a walk. Come, we’re here anyway, I’m sure you could use the couch.’

Alastair led him inside, one arm around his waist and the other in his hand, and packed him in blankets on the couch, fetching a thermometer and some paracetamol.

‘Alastair,’ Thomas said, trying to piece together words through the headache and light headedness.

‘Just let me get this,’ Alastair said, pushing the thermometer into Thomas’ ear.

‘Alastair,’ Thomas repeated.

’38,6,’ Alastair said. ‘Tom, you have a serious fever. Why didn’t you say anything? I’ll make you some tea, just relax.’

‘Alastair!’ Thomas yelled, startling the boy.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Please don’t. I can make my own tea, I can take my own temperature,’ Thomas said, trying to calm his breath. ‘I hate it when people take care of me. I told you about my sickness as a child. I don’t want things to be like that again, I don’t want to be taken care of. So please, don’t. Just let me do it.’

Alastair sat down next to him. ‘You were about to walk into the woods with a fever. I’ve seen how stubborn you are.’

‘Yes. I am stubborn. I didn’t realize it would be so bad. But please, let me make these mistakes by myself. I don’t want to be treated like a sick child again.’ Thomas paused, blinking away the tears in his eyes. He didn’t realize this would make him so emotional. ‘I always loved that about you, how you believed I could take anything. How you didn’t treat me as if I was fragile because I was small and used to get sick.’

Alastair sighed. ‘I was an ass to you, Tom. It had nothing to do with respect, or thinking you’re strong.’

‘I know, and it did hurt sometimes. But I loved that you believed I could take it. I knew you didn’t mean any of the things you said, and with me, it was always a bit more light hearted, teasing perhaps.

But you never forced me to go to bed and rest when I did not want it. Matthew grew up around me being sick all the time, and I think he learnt from a young age that I was fragile and to be taken care of. James too. But I never wanted that. I’ll rest, I promise. But I’ll make my own tea, alright?’

‘I’m sorry, Tom. You can make your own tea. Make some for me as well?’

Alastair settled onto the couch while Thomas went into the kitchen to put on the kettle, still wrapped in a blanket. He was too cold to go without it. While waiting for the kettle to boil, Thomas realized Alastair did have a point, he could barely stand upright. Still, he was determined to at least do this. If he wanted anything later, he could always ask Alastair. He picked out a selection of tea bags for Alastair and put in a herbal teabag for his own. Thomas didn’t believe herbal tea cured sickness, but it was worth a shot.

He settled back on the couch, wrapped the blankets back around himself and took two paracetamol, hoping that would at least lower the fever.

‘I really can’t believe you think of my being rude to you as something positive,’ Alastair said. ‘I made fun of your height all the time.’

Thomas shrugged from underneath the blanket. ‘I never minded when you called me pipsqueak or wee little Thomas, or, I don’t know, you had plenty to say.’

Alastair raised an eyebrow. ‘You certainly took your revenge.’

Thomas tried to find a comfortable position on the couch, blankets around him. Alastair did have a point with the paracetamol, and Thomas took two. Hopefully they’d lower his fever.

‘Perhaps I’ll start calling you pipsqueak,’ Thomas said. ‘The name suits you much better now.’

Alastair made an undignified sound. ‘I’m not that short.’

‘You’re plenty shorter than me,’ Thomas said. ‘I always kind of liked it, pipsqueak. It sounded sweet even if you meant it to be hurtful. Sometimes I feel like you never really did a good job at being mean anyway.’

‘I never wanted to hurt anyone,’ Alastair said, ‘and I did have a bit of a weak spot for you then. I can be even worse than what you’ve seen, but I save that for bigots.’

Thomas put his hand on Alastair’s cheek. ‘I always thought you were holding back on being mean, even if you could still be quite vicious. But pipsqueak is mine now.’

Alastair looked mortified. ‘I guess I can’t stop you, can I?’

Thomas lay down on the couch, head on a pillow. Why were all these blankets so small? His feet were still cold and he’d have to find a solution for that. Really, blankets should be made for tall people. Nobody short would complain about having a bit of leftover blanket.

‘It’s concerning, that you’re getting sick after all these years,’ Alastair said softly.

‘It’s nothing,’ Thomas said. ‘Everyone gets a fever every once in a while.’

‘I haven’t had a fever in years. Colds, at times, but rarely a fever,’ Alastair said.

‘You don’t get the flu?’ Thomas asked.

‘Not that I remember,’ Alastair said. ‘But I figured that’s just the age, as a child I would get the occasional fever like all children do, and I imagine I’ll get them again when I’m older.’

Thomas had gotten the flu a couple of time over the past years. Never anything serious or with abnormal frequency, but it had sent the entire family into a panic whenever it happened.

‘Please don’t tell my parents,’ Thomas said. ‘That I’m sick, I mean.’

‘How did you plan to keep it from them?’ Alastair asked.

‘Well, I was hoping I’d be better by the next morning,’ Thomas said. ‘I could sleep over here and then when I’m better pretend nothing happened.’

Alastair was skeptical. ‘I really don’t think you’ll feel better that soon, even if it is a normal flu.’

Lucie and Cordelia entered the room through the garden door, Cordelia turning her sword back into the familiar necklace. ‘Those are a lot of blankets,’ Lucie pointed out. She was right, and Thomas moved them around a bit so at least the biggest blanket would cover his feet, reaching up to his waist.

‘We wanted to revisit the ruins,’ Cordelia said. ‘See if there’s anything else that can give us information on Tatiana or the thief of souls. I was wondering if you would be coming.’

‘Thomas is sick,’ Alastair said.

‘Don’t stay behind on my behalf,’ Thomas said.

Alastair frowned. ‘You sure? I would gladly stay here with you.’

‘I think I’m going to get some sleep anyway,’ Thomas said. ‘Please don’t trouble yourself on my behalf. Go, I’ll still be here when you get back.’

‘Get well soon,’ Lucie said, putting her arms around him briefly. ‘You know how the tv works in case you want to watch a movie.’

‘I’ll be alright, Lu. Good luck with your mission.’

Thomas wanted to believe he had just caught the flu. Bad luck, nothing more. But perhaps that wasn’t the case. Perhaps he wouldn’t get better. Perhaps this meant they were running out of time.

#Thomas Lightwood #Alastair Carstairs #Lucie Herondale #Cordelia Carstairs #Thomastair #Lucelia #fanfiction #the last hours #tlh

20 notes · View notes

darwindrawz · 4 years ago

Text

✨The first fandom I was ever in: an incredibly emotional infodump by Darwin✨

Ahem,

When I was but a little smol child, like maybe four? My mom took me to see the very first “How To Train Your Dragon” movie in the theatre. Up until that point, I was a hardcore fan of only three movies in this order: Cars, Toy Story, and Finding Nemo. Owen Wilson practically agreed to be my other dad when he decided to voice Lighting McQueen. He raised me. I didn’t want to watch anything else.

My mom wasn’t super sure I was ready for it, since it was rated PG and this was 2010 when five year olds weren’t watching movies like Jumanji or whatever little kids like these days (I sound like such a boomer I know lmao). But she was determined to find other movies to watch with me, because “You’ve Got A Friend In Me” can only be heard so many times before it begins to gnaw away at one’s brain and rip apart their soul.

So one fine sunny day, she loaded me into my (Cars themed) car seat, and drove me to the theatre behind the Sams Club in Cookeville Tennessee. I remember being excited, because I loved dinosaurs (I still do), and my mom had told me and my brother it was a movie about dragons, and they were kind of like dinosaurs I guess.

We got our popcorn, and our overpriced soda, and we seated ourselves in the moist, sticky pit that was the Cookeville AMC. After five hours of ads and trailers, the movie began.

And I was instantly hooked.

I was deathly quiet the whole movie, hanging on every line and every scene. I giggled, I clapped, I adored Toothless and his big puppy face. And when we left the theatre after an hour and a half of the greatest movie I had ever seen in my four years of life, my mother held my hand in the way to the car and asked me what I thought.

I said: “Can we come back tomorrow and see it again?”

And we didn’t. Because movies are fucking expensive and it was the Recession. BUT, she did manage to find it on Blu-ray at Walmart a few months later, and I watched the heck out of the DVD. I learned everything I could about everything. I learned the different dragon’s elements, their behavior, and their habitats. I drew crappy kindergarten fanart of Hiccup and Astrid and the other dragon riders.

I was, in every sense of the word, in the How To Train Your Dragon fandom.

Four years later, when I was eight, the second movie came out. I was ECSTATIC. I begged my mom to take me to see it the day it came out, which meant skipping school that day to go watch a movie about vikings and big scaly monsters. She reluctantly agreed, and I suited up.

And by suited up, I mean I put on my Toothless hat (it is what it sounds like), HTTYD t-shirt, Uggs (to look like a viking, duh), and bootcut jeans.

And once again, I was not disappointed. If anything, the second one only improved upon what the first movie had laid down, building on this intricate and beautiful world like delicately assembled lego set. This time though, I was more able to fully appreciate just how amazing these movies were. Before, it had been more of a “big dragon bois go brrr” type deal, and this time it was more like “these movies are a marvel of modern cinema”.

My involvement in the fandom only grew from there. I didn’t yet have access to the internet, but I participated in any way I could. I read all the books, I owned both special edition dvds, I collected action figures and charts and maps and literally every Berk related thing I could get my grubby little hands on. I talked the head off of anyone who allowed me to speak for more than two seconds.

Off topic, but in case you’re wondering, my favorite dragon is Cloudjumper. This wonderful mans:

So years and years went by. They didn’t release another movie, but I was fine with that. I had all the HTTYD content I needed, and with my newly granted access to google at the age of eleven, I was able to converse with other people who loved the franchise as much as I did, thus sparing my parents and little brother a lot of headaches.

Years went by, and I grew up. I grew up with How To Train Your Dragon. I didn’t think anything of it; it was just sort of always in the background, every present as I grew into the wonderful nerd I am today.

And then one day, as I was scrolling through undoubtedly some top 10 new movies website of some sort, I came across an ad that made me the happiest I had been in years. The happiest I had been since I finished the last movie.

They were making a new How To Train Your Dragon movie.

I ran screaming to my parents, barely able to form English sentences as I tried to convey what had happened to make me harbor the spirit of a rabid raccoon. I remember the looks on their faces. They glanced at each other, clearly amused at my antics. But they had grown used to this dragon-fueled obsession of mine, because it had been the only constant fandom in my life for ten years.

I showed them the article, and I remember seeing a look of confusion pass over my mother’s face as she pointed to a sentence on the screen of my phone. “It’s going to be the last one.” She said.

Honestly, I know it may sound silly and immature, but I think that was one of the saddest moments of my life.

How To Train Your Dragon. My friend. My best friend, even. The two amazing movies that had introduced me to the very concept of a “fandom”. They had always been there for me. When I was sad, I would watch them. When I was happy, I would watch them.

Hell, I watched them after I broke up with my first boyfriend while crying and eating chicken nuggets.

They were... they are... one of the greatest parts of my childhood. They always will be.

So the day finally rolled around that we all geared up and went to the theatre. A nice theatre, this time. I felt it was appropriate we went to a nice theatre, though, because this felt weirdly like a last dinner with a good friend before moving somewhere far, far away. This time, it wasn’t just my mother, my brother, and I. My dad came too. I guess he knew how important it was to me.

My mom loaded me up with snacks and soda. You would think we were going to a freaking LOTR marathon from how geared up we were to see this movie.

I remember distinctly as we sat down, my mom handed me a packet of Kleenex. “Just in case you need it.” She said with a sympathetic smile.

I did need it.

The movie was, as they always were, fantastic. I couldn’t critique it if I wanted to, though I know some sick horrible people have tried to. I enjoyed myself, I really did. It was funny, it was witty, it was action packed and heartwarming. It was... well... it was How To Train Your Dragon.

And then the ending rolled around.

I remember the feeling of dread that washed over me as I realized what was happening. When I realized that Hiccup was going to leave Toothless. I knew it was the right thing to do, but I couldn’t help but project myself into Hiccup, as I so often did while watching those movies. I felt what he felt.

He was leaving an old friend behind. His best friend. And he didn’t know if he could see him again. He could remember him, sure. He could look back on all the fond memories and smile. But he couldn’t make new ones.

And as the movie drew to a close, and I heard people stirring around me as they sensed the imminent end as well, I began to cry.

That was the first time I ever cried in a movie.

I cried and cried and cried, and I kept crying as the movie went off and the credits rolled. My mom hugged me, and my dad said things like “maybe there will be more one day” and “they’ll find a way to milk the franchise”.

I didn’t cry during a movie that much until two years later when I watched Endgame, for reference.

And I know it’s such a silly thing to do, to remember a movie series like it was a person you grew up with. But it really felt like that for me.

And I think that’s what all fandoms should feel like to their fans, whether they stop making content or not.

An old friend.

If you ever hear me talking about How To Train Your Dragon, don’t make fun of me for being as in love with it as some people are with things like Star Wars or Harry Potter. It’s my fandom, my original fandom, my best friend and my constant companion in life.

So yeah. I love How To Train Your Dragon. Always have, always will.

#darwin said something #darwin cries about kids movies #infodump #brain dump #ventish #emotional post #httyd #how to train your dragon #I wrote this because I saw a gif set lol #I cried again while writing it aaa

25 notes · View notes

queen-bunnyears · 4 years ago

Text

Tea and pasta ~ Tom Holland

Pairing: Single dad!Tom Holland x teacher!reader

Summary: Part two to “Drawings and Dates”, where Tom and you have a few dates. Hope you like it! If you are interested in a possible part three let me know!

Wordcount: 1800+

Warnings: Kissing, small talk about sex, one swearword max and divorce.

“Hey,” you looked up from your cup of tea to see Tom standing next to your table, “I am so sorry I’m late, my mum was late and,-”

“It’s okay Tom, sit down,” you said, smiling softly. He seemed nervous, fidgeting with his hands. Your heart pounded as well. You hadn’t had a date in weeks, and with a man like him? The only thing you knew about him was his son.

“How was your week?” he asked after ordering a cup of tea for himself.

“It was nice, I had a match last night,”

“A match? What do you play?”

“Volleyball, our home matches are always Thursday Night.”

“Volleyball is awesome!” he said, and he told you about playing on the beach with his friends. By the time you both got a second cup of tea you knew a whole lot more about Tom. He was passionate about acting, telling you a lot of funny anecdotes from set. But when he was talking about his son, family and friends his eyes shined brighter than the sun. The love he had for Adam was endearing, it made your insides feel mushy and soft. You told him about how you came to teaching, your love for children and seeing them grow.

“Oh gosh is it this late already? Sorry Tom I still need to prepare my lessons for tomorrow,” you said, putting your phone in your bag, taking your wallet out. You signalled the waiter you wanted to pay, but Tom put his hand over yours.

“Let me pay, a thank you for this lovely afternoon,” he said, looking into your eyes.

“Thank you Tom. I had a great time as well,” He leaned in, was he going to kiss you? No, a small kiss on your cheek. It disappointed you a bit, but you knew it was for the best. Kissing him here, after the first date was a bit soon. But you wanted to.

“See you next time,” he whispered in your ear.

“What?” Daisy’s voice rang way too loud through the teachers room.

“Hush Dais, it’s nothing, please keep your voice down,” you hurried to say, putting your hand over her mouth.

“It’s nothing?!? You had three dates since you met last Thursday sday and you call that nothing? That is three dates in six days,”

“I know, it just feels so easy with him,”

“Are you going to his place tonight?” Daisy asked, opening a pack of biscuits.

“Yeah we are going to have dinner,” you said, giving her a cup of tea, before pouring your own.

“Doesn’t Adam come to his house tonight?”

“No their arrangement is that she takes him to school Thursday morning, and he picks him up,”

“Great. Not that he is’t a sweet boy, but if you and mister perfect are gonna have sex he would be a bit in your way.” Daisy said, taking a careful sip of her tea.

“Sex? Daisy please,”

“No Tom please,” She giggled, and you felt your cheeks heating. Shame or because of the idea of you and Tom having sex? “Come on you kissed on the second date right?” she continued.

“Yeah when he dropped me off at home,”

“Well, we both know it’s time for sex to happen.” she said as if it were a fact. You softly hit her on her arm, but you failed to hold in your laughter.

__________

“Don’t forget, do not change or god forbid add anything, just heat it up!” A boy with brown hair walked out of the lawn you had just decided to be Toms. He saw you standing next to your car and smiled.

“Are you Y/n?” you nodded. “Have fun tonight, I hope you like pasta.” He laughed and got into the car behind yours. You walked into Tom's lawn, ringing his doorbell. Tom’s house was small, in a very cute and proper neighborhood. Houses here were expensive, everybody wanted to live here because of the location and the pretty houses. There were christmas lights in the windows, and the curtains were a nice, navy colour. The door swung open and he stood on the other side. He pulled you in for a short kiss and took the bottle of wine from your hands.

“You brought a cabernet sauvignon? Amazing, Sam was just mocking me because I only had Merlot and it wouldn’t be good with the pasta,” He laughed while stepping aside so you could get into his house, “You could have at least gotten the right wine,” he mocked his brother in a high voice.

“So that was Sam,” you said, following him into his living room.

“Yeah it was, He came here to drop off our dinner,”

“Our dinner?”

“Yeah he is like a chef and my cooking skills are very mediocre so he offered to make us pasta. Although he told me this would be the first and last time so if you like it a lot you should probably date him.” he laughed.

“I am very curious to taste this pasta,” you said.

And it was amazing. Perfectly balanced, flavourful and better than any you had before. But better than the sauce was Tom. He was charming, kept making you laugh at the worst times, and listened to your stories. It was perfect. All of your previous dates had been great, but now at his own home he was even better. He felt at ease, and he made you feel at ease too. After dinner you sat down on the couch.

“Would you like some tea?” he asked, softly pecking your lips and wrapping his arms around you. You returned his kiss, chasing after his lips when he broke it too soon. He chuckled and gave you a small kiss on your nose.

“Let’s make some tea,” he said. After he had put the kettle on you eagerly wrapped your arms around him, looking into his eyes.

“God I feel like a teenager with a crush,” he laughed, resting his head on your shoulder. You softly hummed in reply. “I really like you. I do,” he continued, looking at your face anxiously, “I understand if you don’t feel the same, I mean, I am a trying-to-get-divorced father. Not the most-” you broke his sentence by putting your finger against his lips.

“Tom, would I be here, in your kitchen on a wednesday night if I wasn’t sure it was worth it? I like you too,” you said, “Dating with the father of one of my students would be a bit risky if I didn’t feel good about it.”

He sighed in relief. Then he finally pressed his lips against yours. You had kissed before, and ever since Monday afternoon you had been wanting to do it again. Tom was an exquisite kisser. He kissed you like it was all he wanted to do, like he would be perfectly content kissing you for the rest of his life. You knew you would be. Your senses were sent into overdrive. His scent, the feel and taste of his lips, his hair underneath your hand on the nape of his neck. His soft sighs when you softly tugged on his hair, his chuckle when you moaned as he softly bit on your lip. You were pressing his body closer to yours, trying to feel more, to get more.

But then that stupid, stupid kettle was done and whisled falsely through the room. Tom carefully let you go, pouring tea in weird mismatching christmas cups. Sitting on the couch your conversation from dinner easily resumed. Then the bell rang. Tom got up, patting your thigh and putting down your thigh.

“I have no clue who that could be,” he said. You stayed in the living room, deciding to clean up your dinner plates in the kitchen while Tom went to the door.

“Kathy? Adam?” you heard his voice, “Hi buddy, what are you doing here?” the moment he talked to Adam his voice went soft.

“I don’t have time to take him to school tomorrow so you can do it,”

“What? “ Tom said, “Adam, why don’t you go into the living room.” you heard Adam shuffle inside, opening the living room door. When you walked out of the kitchen he squealed and ran towards you.

“Miss Y/n! Daddy miss Y/n is here,” he said, laughing and he gave you a hug. You took his backpack off and helped him out of his coat and hat.

“Hey Adam. You wanna have something to drink?” when he enthusiastically nodded you took him into the kitchen for a cup of tea. You hoped the kitchen would be out of earshot, so he wouldn’t hear Kathy who immediately spoke.

“You have a girl over Tom? Is this a bad timing?” Kathy laughed cold. Tom wanted to slam the door in her face, but he kept calm, slowly counting to ten in his head.

“Yeah I do, listen Kathy you can’t just bring him over unannounced,”

“You wanted to see Adam more didn’t you? It’s not such a big deal, stop whining.”

“Co parenting only works when you keep the promises you made Kathy. See you next week,” he knew he sounded cold, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. The door closed in her face, and he walked back into the living room.

Soft voices came from the kitchen, and when he opened the door Y/n sat there, drinking a cup of tea with Adam, who was cheerily chatting about his new lego set he had upstairs in his bedroom. You looked up when he came in, softly smiling. Adam hopped down his chair and gave his dad a hug.

“Daddy, can I show miss Y/n my lego duplo prince castle?” Tom laughed, taking Adam’s empty cup out of his hands.

“If she wants to,” he said, both boys looking at you for approval. You nodded and followed Adam up the stairs, while Tom picked up Adam’s backpack. Adam had an impressive lego collection. You smiled at the lego death star on the shelf above his bed.

“I believe you told me about that one, didn’t you?” Tom already opened his mouth to answer when he saw you looking at Adam.

“Yeah Daddy and I built it last Christmas,” Adam said, and he showed you his new castle next, and after that all his plushies. Tom’s heart warmed when he saw you play along with Adam.

“Hey, thanks for looking after him while I talked to Kathy,” Tom walked into the kitchen. When Tom had decided it was bedtime for Adam, you had gone downstairs to wash the dishes while they did their night routine.

“It’s fine Tom. Is he asleep now?”

“Yeah I read a book and he fell asleep halfway through the first page,” he said, with a big smile on his face. “I am sorry for this,-” he wrapped his arms around you.

“It’s okay Tom, really,” you said, turning around to look at him. You had a million things you wanted to say to him, but when he kissed you, your mind went blank. You really had it bad, and in that moment you decided you didn’t mind that at all.

#tom holland #tom holland x reader #queen-bunnyears #tom holland imagine #My writing #fanfic

84 notes · View notes

brelione · 5 years ago

Text

Action Figures (Rafe,Kelce,Topper X Reader)

Warnings:Mentions of bulimia,cringy,kind of bad.

Takes place a few days after this

Series Masterlist

When you texted the group chat saying that you needed to go to Walmart,asking if anyone wanted to go with you your phone rang.Rafe had called you on Facetime,telling you that he was on his way with Topper and Kelce from the golf course. “HEY HOE!”Kelce shouted,trying to see you from behind Rafe.Rafe rolled his eyes as Kelce took his phone,getting into the truck. “Why do you have to go to Walmart?”Kelce asked,still holding Rafe’s phone. “Chocolate chips,hot sauce and nutella for toast.”You answered,sliding on your shoes.Kelce frowned,leaning closer to the phone. “Why cant I see your face?”He asked.

You rolled your eyes,glancing at the screen. “Because I don't like my face.”You answered.He pouted,eyebrows furrowed. “But I like your face-this is face time!You can see me and I cant see you and this is bullshit.”He grumbled.You lifted your phone so he could see your face,a lazy grin spreading across your features.He was quick to screen shot,giggling. “I hate you.”You mumbled before hanging up. “Give me my phone back!”Rafe exclaimed,reaching into the backseat and holding out his hand.You pulled on Rafe’s yellow shirt that he had left at your house,trying the excess fabric into a knot.

You heard a beep,jogging down your stairs,grabbing your mini back pack and putting your phone in your pocket before walking out of the house and locking your door.Topper got out of the front seat,keeping the truck door open for you.You grinned up at him,he blushed before closing the door for you. “Oof,your truck smells like weed.”You grumbled.Rafe chuckled,backing out of the driveway. “Sorry,sunshine.”He mumbled,rolling down the windows so you wouldn't have to smell the stench.

He gave you a second glance,smirking to himself when he saw what you were wearing. “Thats my shirt.”He spoke,poking at the fabric.You nodded,humming as you took out your phone.Kelce kept poking the back of your neck from the backseat until you turned around to look at him. “Can I help you?”You asked.He reached out his finger,poking the tip of your nose.You swatted his hand away,flicking his forehead. “Hi.”You grinned.He chuckled,messing up your hair.You hooked up your phone to the radio,playing the descendants two soundtrack.

“Play the third one!”Kelce exclaimed.You laughed,sliding down in your seat so he couldn't poke you again.When Rafe pulled into the Walmart parking lot the four of you got out,Rafe somehow managing to get you on his back.You held onto his shoulders as he jogged into the store,Topper grabbing a cart.You and Rafe went to the snack isle while Kelce and Topper went to go look at the movies.Things had been awkward between you and Topper since Saturday afternoon in the guest room.You tried to ignore the strange feeling from within you whenever you looked at him.

Rafe had his hand on your shoulder almost like a leash so he wouldn't lose you.Unfortunately nothing that you needed was in that isle,moving on to the one next to it.Rafe grabbed a jar of nutella and a loaf of bread when he saw it,making sure it was the type of bread you liked before tucking it under his arm.He held them both as you hunted for chocolate chips in the baking isle.Kelce sprinted past the isle,giggling to himself but turning around when he realised he had went past you.He grinned,standing in front of you and holding something behind his back. “What?”You asked.He grinned,holding out a Captain America action figure. “I know its not Bucky but its close enough-come to the toy isle with me!”He exclaimed,starting to jog but stopping when he noticed that you were simply walking.He grumbled something before throwing you over his shoulder and carrying you to the toy section.He put you down in front of the shelves of avengers action figures,legos and toy weapons.

He watched as your eyes scanned over the toys,your hand reaching out to smack his arm in excitement as you grabbed a plastic box that contained the one and only Spider Gwen. “Look-they have Spider Gwen!”You exclaimed,holding up the action figure.He grinned at your excitement,not knowing who you were talking about but glad it made you so happy. “Oh wait,you haven't seen Spider Verse….its fine we’ll just watch it later.”You spoke quickly,still looking at all the toys.Your phone dinged,making you take it from your pocket to check the notification.Rafe had texted you,asking where you were and if you had all left without him.

Isle 14 looking at action figur3s

You heard the loud slap of sneakers against tile,Rafe coming into view with bread,nutella and a bag of chocolate chips in his hand. “I found them.”he grinned,shaking the bag. “Did bottom die?”You asked,remembering the blonde.You looked back down at your phone,scrolling through to find Bitchy Bottom Ass Ho.You typed,asking where he was.

Im literally in the isle next to u tf

You giggled,going to find the boy.He was holding a few boxes of cake mix along with a pillow pet under his arm. “Loser.”You nodded. “Hoe.”He grinned,following you to the other isle with Rafe and Kelce. “We got everything?”Rafe asked.Kelce shook his head. “No,no I gotta go look at socks.”He answered,tossing a few action figures into the cart that Topper had stolen from them.You decided to go with Kelce,not sure what Topper and Rafe were doing. “Why do you need socks?”You asked,slipping under his arm.He smiled,biting his lip.

“I wanna see if they have any disney socks.”He answered.You tugged at his arm,dragging him to the women’s section. “Our shirts might fuckin suck and the jeans might make everyone insecure because of terrible sizing but us ladies do have some brilliant socks.”You smiled,showing him the shelf of socks.He smiled,looking at all of them. “Wait-are those ariel socks?”he asked.You handed him the largest pair,watching him get excited. “Oh hell yeah,they don't have Olaf socks though.”He sighed. “Yeah,but Amazon does.”You grabbed a pair of Winnie The Pooh socks for yourself,looking for any marvel socks.

“Can we watch Frozen later?”He asked,grabbing your hand again just because he enjoyed the feeling.You nodded,asking if he wanted to go to the book isle with you.He said yes,of course.He would take any chance to hang out with you alone.He could never let that slip to the boys,though.He didn't want to cause conflict in the group,he knew about Rafe’s pretty obvious crush on you and knew better than to turn things into a love triangle.He had seen plenty of movies to know how that would end.You felt strong arms lock around your waist,scaring you.You looked up,seeing Topper with a grin on his face. “And you did this for why?”You asked,the boy kissing your forehead and letting you go.The four of you went to self check out,Rafe deciding to buy like ten packs of gum.A worker checked your receipt,trying to ignore the fact that a group of grown men and an adult woman had just purchased action figures and disney socks.

You ended up in the backseat with Topper,showing him the Spider Gwen action figure. “Swear to god she’s like the baddest bitch ever and I love her so much.”You grinned,taking a picture of the box.Kelce leaned on the arm rest,looking back at you. “I thought that was Natasha?”He grinned.You sighed,putting the action figure away. “There can be multiple baddest bitches.”You told him before asking for the aux cord so you could play The Little Mermaid soundtrack. “After this can you play Lion King?”Topper asked.You smiled,biting your lip. “Yeah,ok,Taka.”You giggled.His face dropped,glaring over at you.He stuck his tongue out,whining.

Rafe chuckled. “You kids behave back there or im taking away your disney movies.”He smirked.You leaned forward,fighting against your seatbelt so you could lean your elbows on the arm wrest. “Rafe,why are you so bad at driving?”You asked.He scoffed,putting his elbow on top of your head as he turned around a corner. “Oh,as if you didn't run over a traffic cone.”He huffed.You pulled his arm away,biting his skin lightly. “Did you just bite me?”He asked.You grinned as he pulled over,unbuckling his seatbelt and turning to look at you. “(Y/N),I will make you get out of my truck.Don't test me.”He spoke sternly,trying not to grin. “Do it,bitch.”You smirked.

He looked outside the window,checking to see if anyone was around before getting out of the truck and opening the door to the backseat.He reached across you lap,unclicking your seatbelt.Topper grabbed your thigh,trying to help you but it wasn't helpful seeing as though Rafe had his arms around your waist,dragging you out of the truck.Topper was laughing,video recording. “Im a good driver-I swear I am.Im gonna drive you to insanity.”Rafe chuckled,poking you repeatedly and holding you to his chest.You tried walking backwards,eventually getting him to stumble.You took the chance to get him on the ground completely,sitting on top of his chest. “YOU HAVE BEEN DEFEATED!”You exclaimed,smacking his shoulder lightly.He smirked before rolling himself over,knocking you into the grass with his knees on either side of your hips. “Yeah?Im defeated?Am I really?”He smiled.

You glared up at him,sliding out from under him. “Yeah.”You answered,standing up and holding out your hand to him.He declined the offer,standing up and trying to brush the dirt off of his expensive pants.You sighed,getting back in the truck to see Kelce looking at you with a goofy grin. “You know what,Kelce?Shut up.”You flicked the tip of his nose.He bit his lip,chuckling before turning back around.Topper rolled his eyes,looking at his phone and texting someone.Your eyebrows furrowed at his expression,scooting across the leather seat to see what he was doing but he pulled his phone to his chest.

“What’s going on with you,Top?”You asked.He put his phone in his shirt pocket,looking away from you. “Nothing,(Y/N).”He answered.You huffed,moving back to your seat as Rafe began to drive again. “Can we get McDonalds?”Kelce asked.Rafe ignored him,still driving.You pouted,leaning forward. “Rafe?”You called out to him.He raised his eyebrows,looking up at you from the mirror so you knew he was listening. “Can we get McDonalds?”You asked.He nodded,turning down a different street opposed to the one that would lead directly to yours.Kelce rolled his eyes,glancing over at you and raising your eyebrows.

You leaned back in your seat,suddenly feeling kind of nauseous.This would happen every once in a while when you would forget to take your vitamins,sometimes you were too lazy to take the handful of pills and would instead just hold an icepack to the back of your neck for a while until you felt okay again.You must've looked like shit,Topper reaching a hand across to feel your forehead. “Are you feeling sick?”He whispered to you,his demeanor changing as he moved your hair off your shoulders,rubbing your back lightly. “Im fine,just forgot to take my vitamins.”You answered,enjoying his touch.It was helping with the nausea,you didn't really know why.Topper frowned,his hand moving back to your head and rubbing your scalp lightly.

“When was the last time you ate?”He asked.You shrugged,breathing through your nose and humming quietly because you had learned that if you hummed for long enough you wouldnt vomit. “Rafe,can you hurry up please?”Topper sounded anxious.You didnt know why he was acting so dramatic,he had seen you much worse before. “Why?What’s going on back there?”Rafe asked,now sounding just as anxious as Topper. “She forgot to take her vitamins,not looking too good.”Topper said quickly,urging the tall boy to drive faster.

You sighed,eyes still closed. “Im fine,guys.”You grumbled,feeling their glares. “What about breakfast?”Kelce asked.You imagined that he looked like an angry,concerned grandfather.You shook your head,making him frown. “How many times have I told you that i’ll come over to make you breakfast when you don't feel like it?Gosh,dammit.”He sighed.You felt the truck swerve slightly,Rafe rolling his window down and asking you what you wanted.You just shrugged,not wanting to accidentally vomit. “Get her a burger for iron...maybe two,fries,apple slices.Just order her a cheeseburger happy meal and a McFlurry.”Kelce told him quickly.

You weren't paying attention but heard the sound of a paper bag crumpling,being passe into the back seat along with a red happy meal box.Topper took his hand away from your head,pressing the side of a cold McFlurry cup to it instead.You took it from him,holding the cold cup between your thighs and looking down at the vanilla icecream that was changing colors from the obnoxious amount of m and ms.Topper opened the happy meal box,checking to make sure they got everything right.He peeled back the yellow paper that protected the burger,handing it to you.

You sighed softly,raising the sandwich to your mouth with slightly shaking hands.After a couple of bites you already felt better,finishing it when Rafe pulled into your driveway.The doors opened,you unbuckled your seatbelt and Kelce insisted on carrying you on his back.He put the pin into the key pad,knowing the combination for emergencies.He set you down in the living room,letting you sit on the couch.Rafe handed you your icecream,Topper giving you the Happy Meal box that now only contained a small box of fries,a small bag of apple slices and a toy for children.

Rafe set down all the Walmart bags,offering you the jar of nutella so you could dip your apple slices in the chocolatey goodness.Kelce handed you the TV remote so you could turn on the movie that you had told him about earlier. “Its animated?”He asked.You nodded,opening the nutella jar. “Yeah,it is.Its good though.”You answered,dipping an apple slice.Rafe noticed you hadnt touched your icecream before realizing he hadnt given you the spoon.The three boys had ordered sixteen cheeseburgers for themselves along with a ten piece chicken nugget and four orders of large fries. “Shit-fuck,you still need to take your vitamins.”Kelce got up and jogged to your kitchen,grabbing you the palm full of small pills,getting down on one knee and holding them out to you.

“Your majesty.”You rolled your eyes,taking the pills and pouring them into your mouth,swallowing them dry.Rafe shook his head in disapproval,handing you his mountain dew.You took a couple of sips until the lump in your throat had been washed down,handing the cup back to him.You only got through half of your fries before you felt full,putting the box down on the table and seeing the melting rainbow monstrosity of icecream. “Does anyone want this?”You asked,holding up the icecream. “You do.”Topper answered,biting into another cheeseburger and getting mustard on the side of his mouth.You gave him a dirty look,putting the cup down.Kelce put his arm around you,going to whisper in your ear. “Are you full or are you just stressed about the icecream?”He asked.

You shrugged,watching as his hand traced figure eights along your kneecap. “Okay,well try to get like halfway through,can you do that?”He asked.You nodded,grabbing the cup again.Kelce lifted his arm up so you could lean against his lap,his arm now resting on your stomach as the two of you watched the tv.You hadnt eaten icecream since sophomore year and everytime you had eaten it it would come back up and into your toilet right after.You missed it though,maybe Kelce knew that and thats why he had ordered it for you.You got some of the colorful dessert on your spoon,letting it melt in your mouth.

Out of the corner of your eye you could see the big grins on Rafe and Topper’s faces,proud of you. “That guy doesnt look like Tom Holland.”Topper pointed to the OG Peter Parker of the Spiderverse universe. “Ok,well neither do you.”Kelce fought back.Rafe grinned. “I mean,I kinda look like him.”He shrugged.You shook your head,your spoon hanging from your mouth. “Bullshit-SHUT UP!MILES IS COMING UP!”You exclaimed as Sunflower started playing.Rafe smiled at your excitement,unwrapping another burger. “Where’s the blonde girl?Uh...Spider Gwen?”Kelce asked.You flicked his chest,rolling your eyes. “It just started,just wait.”You answered.As Miles walked into class,sitting next to Gwen you ggigled. “THERE SHE IS!THERES MY QUEEN!”You exclaimed,pointing to her.

@sexytholland @28cnn @popcrone818 @fttayla @cherryobx @n1ghtsh4d3-67 @drewstarkeyobx @poguestyleskye @judayyyw @jjtheangel @copper-boom

@sunwardsss @outerbongs @httpstarkey @teenwaywardasgardian @imagines-07

If you’d like to be tagged in all future JJ imagines/headcannons/series comment with a heart,if you’d like to be tagged in all future Pope imagines/headcannons/series comment with a smiling face,if you’d like to be tagged in all future Rafe imagines/headcannons/series comment with a frowning face,if you’d like to be tagged in all future Kiara imagines/headcannons/series comment with a question mark and if you’d like to be tagged in all future Sarah Cameron imagines/headcannons/series comment with a plus sign.Or if thats too complicated you can just comment whose name you’d like to be tagged in.

304 notes · View notes